Lesson 19.4: The Farming Frontier

Lesson 19.4: The Farming Frontier

Today’s Essential Question: How did settlers come to live on the Great Plains and how did they respond to the various

challenges they faced there?

Vocabulary • Exoduster – African Americans who left the

South and settled on the Kansas prairie• homestead – the land your family owns and

lives on• cooperative – businesses owned and

operated by their members• regulate – control by passing laws• inflation – high prices as a result of too much

money in circulation

Check for Understanding• What is today’s Essential Question?• Where did Exodusters live before

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

Explain.• Why is it important that the purity of

food be regulated?• Why is inflation bad for most people?

What We Already Know

After the Civil War, angry

Southerners still abused

African Americans and

tried to keep them down.


By 1890, all the Native American tribes had been defeated and exiled to remote reservations,

leaving nearly all Western lands open to white settlement.


The Great Plains were treeless, dry, and so different from any other lands they’d ever seen, settlers initially called it the

Great American Desert.

What We Already KnowFrom time to time,

a new political party emerges to

challenge the established

parties, like the Democratic Party

did in 1828 and the Republican Party

did in 1856.Andrew Jackson

Abraham Lincoln

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.

The U.S. Government Encourages Settlement

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

The Homestead Act Passes

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

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

New Settlers Move West to Seek a New Life

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

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

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.

Get your whiteboards and markers ready!

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.

88. How did the federal govern-ment 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

89. 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.


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.


Barbed wire allowed farmers to fence in livestock.


Reapers made the harvesting of crops much easier, and threshers

helped farmers to separate grain or seed from straw.


• These inventions also made farm work more efficient.

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


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

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


91. What challenges did Plains farmers face?

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


The Problems of Farmers• Improved machinery helped farmers to grow

more food, but such a large supply of crops caused prices to drop.

• While farmers received less money for their goods, they had to spend more to run a farm.

• New farm machinery and railroad rates were especially costly.

The Problems of Farmers

• Railroads charged the farmers high fees to carry their crops to market.

• The railroads also usually owned the grain elevators where crops were stored until shipment.

• Farmers had no choice but to pay the high costs of storage that railroads charged.

• These high costs made farmers angry, so they joined together to seek changes.

In 1867, farmers formed the Grange, officially known as

the Patrons of Husbandry.



• The Grange began as a social organization, to meet the social needs of farm families who lived great distances from one another.

• But soon its members began working to improve the economic conditions of farmers.


• Grange members formed cooperatives, which are businesses owned and operated by their members.

• The cooperatives bought grain elevators and sold crops directly to merchants, allowing farmers to keep more of their profits.


• Through the Grange, farmers also demanded help from their state governments to regulate railroad rates.

• In 1877, the Supreme Court ruled in Munn v. Illinois that government could regulate railroads because they were businesses that served the public interest.


92. What problems in the 1890s led the farmers to take political action?

A. Railroads charged unfair shipping rates.B. There were too many cooperatives in

place in the Plains states.C. Farm machinery was expensive.D. Crop prices were falling.E. There were no grain elevators where

crops could be stored until shipment.


93. What was the Grange?

A. Developed new technology that would help farmers produce larger crops

B. Wanted to create inflation by sticking to the gold standard

C. Tried to elect political candidates who were sensitive to farmers' concerns

D. Originally formed to meet the social needs of farm families who lived great distances from one another

How did members of the Grange try to solve their problems?

A. They asked Congress to raise tariffs on foreign agricultural products.

B. They introduced laws that lowered mortgage interest rates.

C. They formed cooperatives and helped pass laws that regulated railroad rates.

D. They helped pass laws that banned producer and consumer cooperatives.

Why did farmers seek action against the railroads?

A. The railroads charged unfair shipping rates.

B. The railroads owned the grain elevators and demanded high storage fees.

C. The railroads had banned the formation of cooperatives.

D. The railroads were refusing to haul the crops of Grange members.

How did the courts aid the farmers?

A. The courts ruled that government could regulate railroads because they were businesses that served the public interest.

B. Laws that allowed the railroads to charge unfair rates were ruled unconstitutional.

C. In the Munn v. Illinois decision, ownership of grain elevators by railroads was banned.

D. Railroad companies were ruled to be in violation of laws banning resale of free government land granted by the Homestead Act.

The Rise of Populism

• In 1890, several farm groups formed the Populist Party, or People’s Party.

• The Populist Party wanted the government to adopt a free silver policy, meaning the unlimited coining of silver.

• Since silver was plentiful, more money would be put in circulation.

The Rise of Populism

• Farmers hoped that increasing the money supply would cause inflation, resulting in higher prices for all goods -- including crops.

• This would help farmers pay back the money that they had borrowed to buy new farm tools or to improve their farms.

The Rise of Populism• Opponents of free silver

wanted to keep the gold standard.

• Under this system, the government backs every dollar with an amount of gold.

• Since the nation’s gold supply was limited, fewer dollars would be in circulation and inflation would be less likely.

The Rise of Populism• The Populist Party also called

for government ownership of railroads and shorter working hours.

• Although the Populist candidate, James B. Weaver, lost the 1892 presidential election, the party won more than a million votes.

• This was a good showing for a third-party candidate.


Which of the following does NOT describe the Populist Party?

A. A third national political partyB. Believed a policy of inflation would be

good for AmericaC. Made up of business ownersD. Originated from several Western farm

groups

94. What was the platform of the Populist party?

A. Free and unlimited coinage of silverB. Continuation of the gold standardC. Government ownership of railroadsD. Votes for womenE. Shorter working hoursF. Ban on cooperatives


Why did farmers support a free silver policy?

A. Silver had been found on a number of Western farms, and farmers hoped to become wealthy.

B. “Free silver” would increase the money supply, causing inflation and a rise in crop prices.

C. “Free silver’ would be easier to earn than silver that had to be paid for.

D. A free silver policy would allow farmers to turn the tables on the railroad companies.

The Election of 1896

• By the next presidential campaign, money issues mattered much more to voters.

• The nation had suffered a serious depression known as the Panic of 1893.


The Republican candidate, William McKinley, favored the

gold standard.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a9/William_McKinley_by_Courtney_Art_Studio%2C_1896.jpg


• The Democratic Party nominated William Jennings Bryan of Nebraska.

• Bryan urged the Demo- cratic convention to support free silver in his stirring “Cross of Gold” speech.

The Cross of Gold Speech• My friends, we say not one word against those who live

upon the Atlantic Coast; but those hardy pioneers who braved all the dangers of the wilderness are as deserving of the consideration as any people in this country.

• It is for these that we speak. We do not come as aggressors. Our war is not a war of conquest. We are fighting in the defense of our homes, our families, and posterity.

• We have petitioned, and our petitions have been scorned. We have asked, and we have been ignored. We have begged, and they have mocked us.

• We beg no longer; we ask no more; we petition no more. We defy them!

The Cross of Gold Speech• You come to us and tell us that the great cities

are in favor of the gold standard. I tell you that the great cities rest upon these broad and fertile prairies. Burn down your cities and leave our farms, and your cities will spring up again as if by magic. But destroy our farms and the grass will grow in the streets of every city in the country.

• Having behind us the working people of the nation and the world, we shall answer their demands for a gold standard by saying to them, “You shall not press down upon the brow of labor this crown of thorns. You shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold!”


The Populists joined the

Democratic Party in supporting

Bryan, and farmers in the South and the West voted

overwhelmingly for him, as did Eastern

factory workers.


• McKinley, who was backed by industrialists, bankers, and other business leaders, won the East and the election by about half a million votes.

• This election was the beginning of the end for the Populist Party.


What was the most important issue of the election of 1896?

A. Election reformB. Illegal immigrationC. The war in Spanish CubaD. Free coinage of silver

To whom did Bryan compare the work–ing class in his “Cross of Gold” speech?

A. The wealthy upper classB. Jesus ChristC. The Founding FathersD. William McKinleyE. Himself

Who supported William Jennings Bryan in the election of 1896?

A. Southern and Western farmers

B. Eastern businessmenC. Eastern factory workersD. RepublicansE. DemocratsF. Populists


Who supported William McKinley in the election of 1896?

A. Southern and Western farmers

B. Eastern businessmenC. Eastern factory workersD. RepublicansE. DemocratsF. Populists


The Closing of the Frontier

• By the 1880s, fenced-in fields had replaced open plains.

• The last major piece of open land was settled during the Oklahoma land rush in 1889.

The Closing of the Frontier

With the blast of a starting gun, thousands of white settlers rushed to claim 2 million acres of land that

had once belonged to Native Americans.

The Closing of the Frontier • In 1890, the Census

Bureau declared officially that the country no longer had a continuous frontier line, and so the frontier no longer existed.

• In 1893, historian Frederick Jackson Turner wrote an influential essay on the frontier.

The Closing of the Frontier • Turner said that the frontier was a promise to all

Americans, no matter how poor, that they could advance as far as their abilities allowed.

• To Turner the frontier meant opportunity, and its closing marked the end of an era.

The Closing of the Frontier • Today many historians think Turner gave

too much importance to the frontier in the nation’s development and in shaping a special American character.

• These historians point out that the United States remains a land of opportunity long after the frontier’s closing.


Which of these is true about the Oklahoma land rush?

A. It helped prove the accuracy of Frederick Jackson Turner’s thesis.

B. It did not have any impact on the Indian Territory.

C. It was prohibited by the Supreme Court.

D. It led to the last major piece of open land being settled.

When did the frontier officially disappear?

A. With the publication of Frederick Jackson Turner’s essay

B. With the publication of the 1890 census results

C. When the Oklahoma Land Rush endedD. It has not officially ended even yet.

Documents

Lesson 19.4: The Farming Frontier