Lesson 19.3: Life in

the West

Today we will compare and

contrast the reality of the Old West to

the myth of the Old West.

Vocabulary • myth – widely-held belief in something

that is not true• territory – what a state usually is before

it is officially admitted to the Union• transcontinental – across an entire

continent

Check for Understanding• What are we going to do today?• What was Wyoming before it was a

state?• What is a transcontinental railroad?

What We Already KnowTens of thousands of people poured into California, Colorado, and other western territories where gold or silver had been

discovered.

What We Already Know

When the war with Mexico ended, 80

thousand citizens of Mexico suddenly found themselves

living as a minority in a nation with a strange culture,

language, and legal system.

What We Already Know

Women like Susan B. Anthony and

Elizabeth Cady Stanton had worked unsuccessfully for years to win voting rights for women.

Women in the West

In their letters and diaries, many women recorded the harshness of pioneer life. Others talked about

the loneliness.

Women in the West

While men went to town for supplies or did farm chores with other men, women rarely saw their

neighbors.

Women in the West

Living miles from others, Living miles from others, women were their women were their family’s doctorsfamily’s doctors——

setting broken bonessetting broken bones andand delivering babiesdelivering babies——

as well as as well as cookscooks..

• Western lawmakers recognized the contributions women made by giving them more legal rights than women had in the East.

• In most territories, women could own property and control their own money.

Women Women in thein the WestWest

• In 1869, Wyoming was the first territory in the nation to give women the vote.

• When Wyoming sought statehood in 1890, Congress demanded that the state repeal its woman suffrage law.

Women in the West

• But Wyoming law-makers stood firm and Congress backed down.

• By 1900, women had also won the right to vote in Colorado, Utah, and Idaho.

Women in the West

Raaisel my Raaisel my hierdie, hierdie, Batman!Batman!

How were women’s contributions to the West recognized by Western

lawmakers?A. They were given the right to vote

before Eastern states did.B. They were appointed to serve in

several territorial governments.C. Statues of prominent pioneer women

were erected.D. They were honored with state holidays

in several states.

The Rise of Western Cities• Cities seemed to grow overnight in the West.

Gold and silver strikes made instant cities of places like Denver and San Francisco.

• These cities prospered, while much of the area around them remained barely settled.

The Rise of Western Cities• Miners who flocked to

the “Pikes Peak” gold rush of 1859 stopped first in Denver to buy supplies.

• By 1867, Denver was the capital of Colorado Territory and the state capital when Colorado was admitted into the Union.

The Rise of Western Cities

• The key to Denver’s growth the construction of a railroad link to the transcontinental railroad.

• Between 1870 and 1890, its population grew from about 4,800 residents to nearly 107,000.

• The railroads also brought rapid growth to other towns in the West.

• Omaha, Nebraska, flourished as a meat processing center for cattle ranches in the area.

• Portland, Oregon, became a regional market for fish, grain, and lumber.

The Rise of Western Cities

Riddle tôi Riddle tôi điều này, điều này, Batman!Batman!

What factors led to the growth of cities in the West?

A. Gold and silver strikesB. TourismC. Expansion of railroad linesD. Introduction of the meat-packing and

food processing industriesE. Publication of Western 'dime novels'

Choose all that are true!

Mexicanos and Buffalo Soldiers

The Southwest included what are now New Mexico, Texas, Arizona, and California and had been home to

Mexicanos, people of Spanish descent whose ancestors had come from Mexico.

Mexicanos and Buffalo Soldiers

• After the Mexican War brought much of the Southwest under U.S. control, English-speaking white settlers began arriving.

• These Anglo pioneers were attracted to the Southwest by opportunities in ranching, farming, and mining.

• Their numbers grew in the 1880s and 1890s, as railroads connected the region with the rest of the country.

• As American settlers crowded into the South-west, the Mexicanos lost economic and political power.

• Many also lost land they claimed through grants from Spain and Mexico, because U.S. courts did not usually recognize these grants.

Mexicanos and Buffalo Soldiers

• In 1866 the U.S. Army created African-American regiments to serve mainly in the West and Southwest.

• Nicknamed “buffalo soldiers” by the Indians, African-American troops helped keep the peace on the frontier and fought in campaigns against the Indians.

Mexicanos and Buffalo Soldiers

Although there were still racial conflicts within the

military and among civilians, Army life

provided opportunity and a basic education for

many African Americans.

Mexicanos and Buffalo Soldiers

The Myth of the Old West

• America’s love affair with the West began just as the cowboy way of life was vanishing in the late 1800s.

• To most Americans, the West had become a larger-than life place where brave men and women tested themselves against hazards of all kinds and won.

The Myth of the Old West

• “Dime novels” told tales of daring adventure.

• Even when the hero was a real person like Wyatt Earp, Kit Carson, or “Calamity Jane,” the plots were fiction or exaggerated accounts of real-life incidents.

• Even serious works of fiction still showed little of the drabness of daily life in the West.

• White settlers played heroic roles in novels, plays and, later, in movies.

• IndiansIndians generally appeared as villainsvillains, and African Americans African Americans were not even mentionednot even mentioned.

The Myth of the Old West

• “Buffalo Bill” Cody, a buffalo hunter turned showman, brought the West to the rest of the world through his Wild West show.

• His show, with its reenactments of frontier life, played before enthusiastic audiences across the country and in Europe.

The Myth of the Old West

• The myth of the Old West myth of the Old West overlooked the contributions of MexicanosMexicanos and African African Americans Americans to cattle ranching.

• The railroads would notnot have been built without Chinese immigrant laborChinese immigrant labor.

The Real West

• Western legends often highlighted the attacks by Western legends often highlighted the attacks by Native Americans on soldiers or settlers without Native Americans on soldiers or settlers without considering the broken treaties that led to the considering the broken treaties that led to the conflicts.conflicts.

• Even the self-reliant Westerner who tamed the Wild West needed the help of the government to to fight Indiansfight Indians, , to help build the railroadsto help build the railroads, and , and to give to give the free land that drew homesteaders to the Westthe free land that drew homesteaders to the West..

Lesson 19.4a: The Farming Frontier

Today we will Today we will describe farming life describe farming life on the Great Plains.on the Great Plains.

Vocabulary • sod – the thick top layer of soil• Exoduster – African Americans who left

the South and settled on the Kansas prairie

• homestead – the land your family owns and lives on

Check for Understanding• What are we going to do today?• Where did Exodusters live before

relocating to the Great Plains?• Can an apartment be your homestead?

…Splain’ it Rucy…

What We Already Know

After the Civil War, angry

Southerners still abused

African Americans and

tried to keep them down.

What We Already Know

By 18901890, all the Native American all the Native American tribes had been defeatedtribes had been defeated and exiled to remote reservationsexiled to remote reservations,

leaving nearly all Western lands open to white settlement.

What We Already Know

The Great Plains werewere treelesstreeless, drydry, andand so different from any other lands they’d ever so different from any other lands they’d ever

seen, settlers seen, settlers initiallyinitially called it the called it the Great American Desert. Great American Desert.

The U.S. Government Encourages Settlement

• For years, people had been calling on the federal government to sell Western land at low prices.

• Before the Civil War, Southern states fought such a policy.

TheThe U.S. U.S. GoverGovernment nment EncouragesEncourages Settlement Settlement

They feared that a big westward migration would They feared that a big westward migration would result in more result in more nonnon-slave states. -slave states.

The Homestead Act PassesThe Homestead Act Passes

• During the Civil War, with no Southern Congress-During the Civil War, with no Southern Congress-men to oppose it, the government passed the men to oppose it, the government passed the Homestead Act. Homestead Act.

• This This 1862 law1862 law offeredoffered 160 acres 160 acres of free land to of free land to anyone who would live on the land and work it for anyone who would live on the land and work it for five years.five years.

New Settlers Move West to Seek a New Life

• Thousands of African Americans left the South Thousands of African Americans left the South to escape continuing discrimination. to escape continuing discrimination.

• A large group that migrated to Kansas A large group that migrated to Kansas compared themselves to the Biblical Hebrews compared themselves to the Biblical Hebrews leaving slavery in Egypt, and called themselves leaving slavery in Egypt, and called themselves ExodustersExodusters. .

The Railroads Encourage Settlement

• Hundreds of thousands of European immigrants – Swedes, Germans, Norwegians, Ukrainians, and Russians – also settled in the West.

• The immigrants often first learned about the West from agents for American railroad companies, who traveled throughout Europe with pamphlets proclaiming “Land for the Landless! Homes for the Homeless!”

The Railroads Encourage Settlement• From 1850 to 1870, the

government gave millions of acres of public land to the railroads to promote railroad expansion.

• The railroad companies resold much of the land to settlers, not only making themselves rich, but it also creating new customers for their services.

Adivina esto, Adivina esto, Batman? Batman?

How did railroads cause more Europeans to come to America?

A. The railroads advertised in Europe that land in America was cheap, or even free.

B. They came to help build the railroads.C. They used the railroads to sneak into

the country illegally.D. Railroad car manufacturers recruited

factory workers in European cities.

How did the federal government encourage and support

settlement of the Plains?A. It sold land at low prices to railroad

companies so they could re-sell it to settlers.

B. It guaranteed loans for settlers to buy privately-owned land.

C. It offered free land to settlers who agreed to live on it and improve it.

D. It purchased railroad tickets to help settlers’ families relocate to the West.

What TWO groups settled in the West in large numbers?

A. Civil War veteransB. African American ‘Exodusters’C. Chinese railroad workersD. Northern ‘Copperheads’E. Southern ‘scalawags’F. European immigrants

Who were the Exodusters?A. Former slavesB. European immigrantsC. Settled on the Kansas PlainsD. Civil War veteransE. Helped build the transcontinental

railroadF. Victims of the Homestead Act

Choose all that are true!

What was true about the Homestead Act?

A. It was passed by Congress during the Civil War.

B. It was supported strongly by Southerners.

C. It made free land available to settlers.D. It required settlers to live and work on

it for five years.E. African Americans were excluded

from the offer.

Choose all that are true!

Life on the frontier was a

challenge.

The Plains were nearly treeless, so farmers had

to build their first homes with blocks of sod, which is why

they were called sodbusters.

Farmers had to burn corn cobs and dried manure for fuel.

• They often had to dig deep into the ground for water.

• Settlers also had to face blizzards, prairie fires, hailstorms, tornadoes, grasshoppers, and drought.

New inventions helped farmers to meet some of their challenges.

• John Deere’s steel plow let farmers slice through tough soil.

• Improved windmills pumped water from deep wells to the surface.

New inventions helped farmers to meet some of their challenges.

Barbed wire allowed farmers to fence in livestock.

New inventions helped farmers to meet some of their challenges.Reapers made the harvesting of

crops much easier, and threshers helped farmers to separate grain

or seed from straw.

New inventions helped farmers to meet some of their challenges.

• These inventions also made farm work more efficient.

• From 1860 to 1890, farmers doubled their production doubled their production of wheat.

Holy 19Holy 19thth Century, Century,

BATMAN!!BATMAN!!……I can’t see I can’t see

out of my out of my mask!!mask!!

……Eazzzy Eazzzy Robin…Robin………easy… easy…

little little Buddy…Buddy…

Which inventions aided farmers on the Plains in the late 19th Century?

A. Steel plowB. Hay balerC. ReaperD. ThresherE. Seed drill

Choose all that are true!

What challenges did Plains farmers face?

A. Droughts and prairie firesB. Tornadoes and hailstormsC. Cattle rustlersD. Indian raidsE. Grasshopper swarmsF. Blizzards

Choose all that are true!