America in the Gilded Age: 1870-1900The South:

Still recovering from the Civil War but was no longer forced

to “reconstruct”

The “New South”?Sharecropping

Jim Crow reigned supreme as whites legally segregated the South into 2 distinct societies

America in the Gilded Age: 1870-1900

The North:Experienced a “2nd Industrial Revolution,”

mass immigration, & urbanization

Railroads, Steel, & Oil

America in the Gilded Age: 1870-1900

The West:Manifest Destiny

continued after 1865 as miners homesteaders,

& ranchers headed West

The United States by 1890

Established new states & closed the

frontier by 1890

Colorado

Washington Montana North Dakota

South Dakota

Idaho

Wyoming

Western raw materials fueled eastern factories

..but this came at the expense of

Native Americans

Crushing the Native Americans

The Plains Indians In 1865, 2/3 of all Indians lived on the Great Plains

Tribes of several 1,000 people were subdivided into bands of 100s which made it difficult for the U.S. to negotiate treaties

Their culture was dependent

upon the buffalo & the horse

Searching for an Indian Policy■Before the Civil War, the West

was “one big reservation”–The Indian Intercourse Act

(1834) forbade whites from entering “Indian country” without a license

Searching for an Indian Policy■But…rapid Western expansion in

the 1850s brought a new Indian “concentration policy” with distinct boundaries for each tribe “as long as the waters run and grass grows”

Searching for an Indian Policy■Concentration did not last as

whites ignored these boundaries:–Sand Creek Massacre (1864)—

Col John Chivington attacked 700 sleeping Indians in CO after a peace agreement was signed

–Sioux War (1865-1867)—gold miners wanted a Bozeman Trail (across Sioux hunting grounds) to connect mining towns; Sioux murdered 88 U.S. soldiers

“Kill and scalp all, big and little”Congress investigated &

condemned Chivington’s attack

Searching for an Indian Policy■In 1867, the U.S. formed the

Indian Peace Commission :–Ended Bozeman Trail plans –Made “small reservations” in the

Dakota & Oklahoma territories■Few Native Americans settled into

these reservations peacefully:–Red River War (1874)–Little Big Horn (1876)–Wounded Knee Massacre (1890)

Black soldiers in the U.S. army called “buffalo soldiers” were used to fend

off Indian attacks in the West

The discovery of gold in South Dakota led a Sioux army of 2,500 to ambush

& kill Lt Col Custer & his 197 soldiers “Custer’s Last Stand” set off demands

for revenge among AmericansThe U.S. army was ordered to stop Sioux “ghost dances” & machine

gunned 200 men, women, & children

The End of Tribal Life■In 1871, the U.S. adopted its 4th

Indian policy: Assimilation –U.S. citizenship was offered to

all Indians who farmed, lived away from their tribe & “adopted the habits of civilized life”

–Dawes Severalty Act in 1887 offered farms (160 acres to families & 80 to men) & the protection of U.S. laws

“Kill the Indian and save the man” —Richard Pratt, founder of Carlisle

The End of Tribal Life■The final blow to Indian culture

came with annihilation of buffalo:–Began with the construction of

the transcontinental RR in 1860s–From

1872 to 1874, 3 million buffalo were killed each year

1 hunter = 100 buffalo per day

Settlement of the West

Rails Across the Continent■In 1862, Congress authorized the

transcontinental railroad:–Union Pacific worked westward

from Nebraska (Irish laborers)–Central Pacific worked eastward

from CA (Chinese immigrants)–May 10, 1869 the 2 tracks met

at Promontory Point in Utah■By 1900, 4 more lines were built

to the Pacific

Federal Land Grants to Railroads by 1871The national gov’t doled $65 million &

millions of acres in land grants (received reduced rates for shipping)

The Transcontinental Railroad

In 1870, RR companies developed the 1st time zones to better schedule the RR system; the US

would not adopt time zones until 1918

“Pullman cars” & “refrigeration cars”

Railroad Construction, 1830-1920

The Farming Bonanza■The U.S. gov’t offered incentives

for farmers to settle the West:–Homestead Act (1862)—gave

160 acres of land if families pledged to live there for 5 years

–Other gov’t acts helped develop western lands by planting trees & building irrigation systems

–Due to land grants, RRs were the largest western landowners

500 million acres doled to businesses but only 80 million to homesteaders

2/3 of all homesteaders failed to farm their land

http://lincoln.lib.niu.edu/fimage/lincolnimages/38_advertisingposter.djvu

The Farming Bonanza■In 1870, homesteaders pushed

West & adapted to the harsh farming conditions:–Farmers used dry farming

techniques & planted tougher varieties of wheat

–New machinery sped harvesting & planting; led to bonanza farms

–By 1890, the U.S. became a major crop exporter

A pioneer sod house

Homestead Sales, 1870-1940

In 1900, the West made up 30% of the U.S. population (was 1% in 1850)

The Mining Bonanza■Mining was the 1st magnet to

attract settlers to the West■CA (1849) started the gold rush,

but strikes in Pikes Peak, CO & Carson River Valley, NV (1859) set off wild migrations to the West:–Comstock Lode = $306 million–John Mackay’s Big Bonanza

made him richest man in world

Mining Regions of the West

Discoveries of gold & silver led to overnight mining towns

Created need for local gov’t, law enforcement, sanitation, businesses, prostitutes

Individual “placer miners” took little skill or money to start, but could not reach deep lodesCorporations had the expensive machinery to

extract most of the gold in the West

Mining Bonanza■¼ to ½ of the mining population

was foreign born:–Latin American miners brought

experience & new techniques–Chinese brought a tireless ethic

■Led to hostility & riots:–Foreign Miners’ Act in 1852

charged a monthly mining fee–Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882

suspended Chinese immigration Pacific Chivalry:

“Encouragement to Chinese Immigration”

"Courts of Justice Closed to ChineseExtra Taxes to 'Yellowjack'"

The Cattle

Bonanza

In the 1860s, cattle ranching boomed

Ranchers used the

“open range” to graze

longhorns

By 1867, ranchers started using trains to ship cattle to Chicago

A cattle bought for $4 in Texas sold for $40 in Kansas

The Cattle Bonanza■½ of all cowboys were black &

¼ were Mexican■By 1880, the

“open range” was ending:–Wheat growers,

homesteaders, & barbed wire blocked the range

–Many switched to raising sheep

Exodusters ■Exodusters

were black farmers who moved West to escape Southern crop liens & Jim Crow Laws

The Final Fling■In 1889, Congress responded to

demands to open the Oklahoma Territory to white settlement

■On April 22, 1889, about 100,000 “Boomers” & “Sooners” flooded into the last “Indian land”–White migrants claimed 2 million

acres in Oklahoma homesteads–Moved out Creeks & Seminoles

Oklahoma “Boomers” waiting for noon“Sooners” couldn’t wait until noon

Lands Lost by Native Americans (1894)Indian Reservations Today

The Myth of the West– Frederick Jackson Turner

• Frontier Thesis– Literature

• Dime novels – cowboys, gunslingers, lawmen, outlaws, bank robbers

• More myth than reality• Still shapes our concept

of west

Conservation Movements■ Movement to protect land from

development, mining, deforestation, etc.■ Land used for parks (Yellowstone,

Yosemite, etc.)■ John Muir leader of movement