1860-1900

1. What conditions lured people to migrate to the West?

2. Where did the western settlers come from?

3. How did the American frontier shift westward?

The events and conditions that drove American and immigrants west are called push-pull factors. Many farmers, former slaves, and other workers were displaced after the Civil War and could not afford eastern farmland. They were pushed west looking for a new start, cheaper farmland, or religious and ethnic freedoms. The West also pushed outlaws on the run. People were pulled by government incentives to settle the great open spaces. Railroads carried people west and also sold settlers portions of land. States sold western land to land speculators cheaply, who then resold it to settlers for a large profit. The Homestead Act in 1862 sold public land very cheaply and created more than 372,000 farms. The government also protected the rights of farmers, miners, and ranchers by giving them firm private property rights protected under the law.

Settlers came from far and wide. German and Scandiavian immigrants sought farm land in the West. Irish, Italians, European Jews, and Chinese settled in West Coast cities and moved west. Benjamin “Pap” Singleton led groups of southern blacks west on a mass “Exodus.” These settlers called themselves “Exodusters.” They were fleeing the violence and exploitation that followed Reconstruction for a better life.

1. There are many push-pull factors-events or conditions that either force (push) people to move elsewhere or strongly attract (pull) them to do so-for why Americans move to the West.

2. Some of the push factors: The Civil War has displaced thousands of people and eastern farmland is increasingly costly.

a) Other factors included cost of farmland in the east, failed entrepreneurs looking for a second chance, ethnic or religious oppression, outlaws running from the law.

3. Some pull factors: railroad expansion provides new avenues of migration, and the Homestead Act of 1862 allows qualified settlers to buy 160 acres for a small fee.

a) Opportunities arise with the expansion of the railroads and the Morrill Land Grant Act entice people to move west to get cheap land

Push

Civil War displacement

2nd Chance (re-do) Ethnic/Religious

oppression

Pull

Pacific Railway Act Railroad expansion Morrill Land-Grant

Act Land speculators Homestead Act

Settling the Great Plains, the vast territory between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains, brought settlers into conflict with Native Americans. Most Plains Indians were nomads, people who roamed from place to place following their main source of food—herds of buffalo. Competition for land caused a clash between settlers and the Plains Indians.

Settlers believed they had the right to take the land because they would produce more food and wealth. Between 1861 and 1890 battles raged between the United States army and Indian groups. The Indians were outgunned and usually suffered heavy casualties, but they continued to fight. Some key battles were the Sand Creek Massacre that defeated the Cheyenne, and the Battle of Little Big Horn, in which the Sioux killed General Custer and all his troops. The last conflict was the Massacre at Wounded Knee where American troops killed 200 unarmed Sioux men, women, and children.

The government put the defeated Indian nations on reservations, lands set aside for these people. Another government policy of assimilation tried to force Indians to adopt the American culture by giving up their religions, traditions, landguages, and customs. In 1887 the federal government passed the Dawes Act that divided reservation land into plots. Most land was unsuitable for farming, and most Indians had no desire to farm or own land. In 1889 Congress opened up the Indian Territory to thousands of settlers, called boomers and sooners, pushing Indian groups into smaller areas.

Objective Questions:

1. What caused changes in the life of the Plains Indians?

2. How did government policies and battlefield challenges affect the Indian wars?

3. What changes occurred in federal Indian policies by 1900?

1. Easterners who first cut trails into the western wilderness are soon joined by immigrants.

a) Immigrants were of many different ethnicities and spoke many different languages

b) Germans and Scandinavians tended to settle in rural farming areas

c) Irish, Italian, European Jews, and Chinese tended to settle in Eastern cities and then move to interior cities

d) Mexican immigrants contributed to the growth of ranching

2. Many African Americans, called Exodusters, migrate west fleeing conditions in the south.

a) Nearly 50,000 African Americans move westb) By 1890 settlements dotted the west with one about every ten

miles or so

Before the Civil War, Native Americans west of the Mississippi continue to inhabit their traditional homelands.

trade with the French gave them weapons to hunt with Spanish brought horses which made moving and hunting easier horses also increase warfare between tribes settlers saw the land as being wasted by the Native Americans and sought to settle it Native Americans saw the land as sacred

Initially, the government tries to restrict their movement through treaties

some treaties were negotiated in good faith, others were never honored and intentionally deceived the Native Americans

Acts of violence on both sides set off cycles of revenge that occur with increasing brutality

Between 1864 and 1890 the U.S. Army and the different Native American groups engage in several battles.

initial battles were inconclusive because the US army was too busy with Reconstruction while Native Americans had difficulty working together or were sometimes pitted against each other by whites

At the Sand Creek Massacre in 1864, U.S. troops slaughter between 150 and 500 Cheyenne people, mostly women and children

At the Battle of Little BigHorn in 1876 ( Montana), Lieutenant Colonel George Custer fights 2,000 Sioux warriors and dies, along with more than 200 soldiers.

The Massacre at Wounded Knee is the last major conflict - soldiers murder 300 Native Americans, mostly elderly men, women and children

Ghost Dance - A prophet name Wovoka starts a purification ceremonies promising to return to traditional life.

Sitting Bull led the Sioux in war gainst the federal troops after the government allowed miners on their reservation.

Chief Joseph led the Nez Perce in their flight from the American troops Fort Laramie Treaty - promising that the Sioux could have the Black Hill.

The Dawes Act divides reservation land into individual plots, but the Native Americans either sell their land, or are swindled out of it, and most falls into the hands of whites.

Native American territory is now open to settlement.

Objective Questions

1. How did mining spread in the West?2. What caused the western cattle boom?3. What was life like for a cowboy on the

Chisholm Trail?4. How did settlers overcome barriers in

farming the plains?

Once the Indian wars were over, miners, ranchers, and farmers flooded into the West. From California, mining moved inland when gold was discovered in CO. Mining became big business when gold was too far underground. Individual miners left, and corporations took over.

Americans learned about ranching from Mexicans in the SW, and when the Indians were removed and the buffalo killed, cattle ranching boomed on the Great Plains. Thousands of cattle were herded each year by cowboys and made the long drive to railroad towns. As the demand for beef grew, some ranchers became cattle barons, operating spreads of millions of acres of grasslands.

For homesteaders, people who farmed claims under the Homestead Act, life was not easy. Most began by living in a soddie, a house of tough prairie soil. Plowing the prairie soil was backbreaking work. Insects were everywhere, and plagues of grasshoppers often wiped out a field of grain. Falling crop prices created debt. Some families headed back east, buy most pulled together to make a living.

Plains farmers welcomed technological improvements in the 1870’s, including steam-powered corn huskers and wheat threshers. Like ranching, farming soon became big business and bonanza farms appeared. These farms, vast estates each devoted to a single cash crop, were owned by corporations and made possible an enormous increase in the nation’s food output.

The frontier was full of legend and stereotypes. Some were true, like Buffalo Bill’s Wild West shows, others exaggerated. The Turner thesis likened American character to frontier life. By 1890 the Census Bureau announced the official end of free western land.

After the stunning discovery of gold in California in 1848, a surge of fortune hunters flocks to the West Coast.

In 1859 rumors of gold at Pikes Peak in Colorado bring a stampede of wagons the claim was exaggerated but one of the biggest

strikes ever was found in Comstock, Nevada. another strike was made west of Denver as the more easily accessible gold was depleted

miners moved home and big businesses took over and sunk mines deep into the earth

1. Mexicans teach Americans cattle ranching in the early 1800s.a) cattle wandered the wild in vast quantities b) after the Civil War Texans founded ranches and rounded up

the cattle 2. Cow towns spring up all along rail lines and the cowboy

becomes a unifying national hero. a) refrigeration cars cut shipping costs in half and beef

becomes the meat of choice b) 8 million cattle are rounded up and sent east between

1867-1887 c) 1/5 of the cowboys were African or Mexican Americans

3. Government sought to destroy the buffalo to force the Native Americans onto reservations.

1. For most homesteaders…those who farm claims under the Homestead Act, life is rugged.

1. most homes are made of sod 2. labor was extremely hard, bugs destroyed crops, and spread disease

2. New advances in farming technology result in bonanza farms, operations controlled by large businesses, managed by professionals, and raising massive quantities of single cash crops.

3. Despite these large farms, most plains farms remain family owned and small.

1. farmers were at the mercy of the weather and prices – many were forced out of business because they could not pay off their initial investments.

4. Finally, in 1890, the Census Bureau announces the official end of the frontier.

1. he west produces the myths of Americans being socially mobile, ready for adventure, bent on individual self improvement, and committed to democracy.

The Big Idea: During the late 1800’s new organizations began fighting to improve conditions for farmers.1. Why did farmers complain about federal

post-Civil War economic policies?2. How did the government respond to

organized protests by farmers?3. What were the Populists’ key goals?4. What was the main point of William

Jennings Bryan’s Cross of Gold speech?5. What was the legacy of Populism?

Great Plains farmers in the late 1800s faced major economic difficulties. When businesses suffered a downturn, crop prices dropped. Tariffs helped protect them from foreign competition but also hurt farmers by raising prices on manufactured goods and farm machinery. Farmers formed alliances and organized protest groups such as the Grange to pressure lawmakers to regulate businesses that farmers depended on.

A major political issue for farmers was the money supply. In 1873, to prevent inflation, the government changed from a bimetallic standard, in which money was backed by gold or silver, to a gold standard. Silver miners and western farmers called for free silver, the unlimited coining of silver to increase the money supply. The government responded by passing the Sherman Silver Purchase Act that increased the amount of silver purchased by the government every year.

In 1891 alliances of farmers formed the People’s Party. The platform of the Populists had five main ideas: increased circulation of money, unlimited coining of silver, a progressive tax, government ownership of communications and transportation systems, and an eight-hour work day. Populist William Jennings Bryan ran for the presidency in 1896 with his Cross of Gold Speech, but lost.

In the end, populism faded when times improved and crop prices began to rise. But the Populists had begun a movement that would be carried on in the early 1900s.

1. The American economy rests on shaky ground. 2. Twice, in 1873 and 1893, the collapse of a financially ailing

railroad leads to a national panic. 1. demand for agricultural products was high during the civil

war 2. banks make it easier for farmers to borrow money to buy

land and machinery 3. after the war prices drop and farmers can’t make

payments to banks, banks take over land, banks fail, and investors in banks lose money

3. The federal government’s monetary policy also becomes a major political issue.1. farmers wanted the government to end tariffs 2. factory owners want tariffs to remain

1. Until 1873 United States currency is on a bimetallic standard, consisting of gold or silver coins. 1. farmers want the currency on a silver standard – more of it

and it is cheaper – it would cause inflation 2. factory owners want a gold standard – less of it and it is more

expensive – it would cause deflation.2. In 1873 Congress puts the nation’s currency on a gold standard. 3. This upsets farmers, who claim that ending silver, as a standard

would depress farm prices. 1. it also makes it harder to pay back loans

4. The compromise is the Sherman Silver Purchase Act, which increases the amount of silver the government purchases every month.

1. In the late 1800s farmers form several powerful Protest groups.

2. The government passes the Interstate Commerce Act, which regulates the prices railroads can charge to move Freight between states.

3. This act sets up the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) to enforce these laws

4. It is a blow to monopolies and trusts, while helping farmers. 1. the Sherman anti-trust act was also passed to break up

monopolies

1. In 1891 a new political party called the Populists is formed. Followers want more money in circulation and an eight-hour workday, among other provisions.

1. these included a progressive income tax and government ownership of communication and transportation

2. In the 1896 presidential campaign, a populist named Williams Jennings Bryan captures the Democratic nomination with an emotional plea for free silver, known as the Cross of Gold speech.

3. Even though populism appeals to many, Bryan loses the election to McKinley.

4. In 1900 after gold discoveries in South Africa, the Canadian Yukon, and Alaska, Congress returns the nation to a gold standard.

5. To the surprise of many farmers, crop prices begin a slow rise. 6. The silver movement dies, and with it does populism.

1. but the goals of populism and the desire for reform lives on

7.1 Terms

Push/Pull FactorsPacific Railway ActsMorrill Land-Grant

ActLand speculatorHomestead ActExoduster

7.2 Terms

Great PlainsNomadNative American ReservationBureau of Indian AffairsIndian WarsSand Creek MassacreFort Laramie Treaty of 1868Black Hills Gold StrikeRed CloudSitting BullCrazy HorseGeorge Armstrong CusterBattle of Litter Big HornGhost DanceMassacre at Wounded Knee

7.2 Terms Continued

Helen Hunt Jackson: A Century of DishonorNA Boarding SchoolsAssimilationDawes ActIndian TerritoryOklahoma TerritoryBoomersSooners

Sutter’s Mill, CAComstock LodePlacer miningCow TownChrisholm TrailLong driveCowboyCattle BaronsHomesteaderSoddieDry FarmingBonanza FarmTurner thesisDime novelStereotypeMyth of the WestJuliette Low-GSoA

(Cookies!!!)

Panic of 1873, and Panic of 1893TariffMoney SupplyInflation, and DeflationMonetary PolicyGold BugsGold StandardBimetallic StandardSilveritesFree SilverGreenback PartyBland-Allison ActSherman Silver Purchase ActPatrons of Husbandry-The GrangeFarmers’ AllianceMary Elizabeth LeaseInterstate Commerce ActPopulists WJB- William Jennings Bryan-Cross of GoldPresidential Election of 1896