LOOKING TO THE WEST

America hitches up the wagon train

Agriculture, Mining, Business.N. Americans hadn’t “improved” the land, so Whites could use it better. — according to white leaders like Andrew Jackson and others!

Events or conditions that either force (push) or entice (pull) people to move elsewhere.Push: Civil War displacement, Farmland in East costly (especially for former slaves or immigrants), failed business people starting over, religious freedoms, outlaws.Pull: Government. Gave away or sold land cheaply.Homestead Act: People could have 160 Acres for a small fee and met other conditions. Immigrants especially were attracted by the prospect of cheap land!

Settlers moved west to Farm, Ranch, drive cattle, and many other reasons.

What was the “Homestead Act” and what did it promise to Americans?

OPENING “INDIAN TERRITORY” -

THE OKLAHOMA LAND RUSH

Indian Territory (Oklahoma+) contained 2 million acres of unassigned farmland.Congress agreed to buy out Native claims on the area. The land was opened to claims on April 22, 1889 at noon. By nightfall, almost all of the 2 million acres and been claimed.The area known as Indian territory would be entirely opened to settlement in a few years. Only a few reservations remain.

Indian Territory (Oklahoma+) contained 2 million acres of unassigned farmland.Congress agreed to buy out Native claims on the area. The land was opened to claims on April 22, 1889 at noon. By nightfall, almost all of the 2 million acres and been claimed.The area known as Indian territory would be entirely opened to settlement in a few years. Only a few reservations remain.

Sooners

A number of the people who participated in the run entered the unoccupied land early and hid there until the legal time of entry to lay quick claim to some of the most choice homesteads. These people came to be identified as "Sooners."

38

Between the Civil War and 1923, there were 38 wars fought between the US Government and Native American tribes.

Sand Creek Massacre

Sand Creek Massacre - 1864133 Native Americans killed, 105 were women and children25 US Soldiers died, possibly as a result of drunkenness and friendly fire. Before Chivington and his men left the area, they plundered the tipis and took the horses. After the smoke cleared, Chivington's men came back and killed many of the wounded. They also scalped many of the dead, regardless of whether they were women, children or infants. Chivington and his men dressed their weapons, hats and gear with scalps and other body parts, including human fetuses and male and female genitalia.[33] They also publicly displayed these battle trophies in Denver's Apollo Theater and area saloons.

Colonel John Chivington - US Army. A METHODIST PREACHER!!! - Sand Creek Massacre

Damn any man who sympathizes with Indians! ... I have come to kill Indians, and believe it is right and honorable to use any means under God's heaven to kill Indians. ... Kill and scalp all, big and little; nits make lice.

— Col. John Milton Chivington

Battle of the Little Big Horn

George Armstrong Custer - Civil War commander, temporarily a Major General. Present at surrender of Robert E. Lee.

The U.S. 7th Cavalry, including the Custer Battalion, a force of 700 men led by George Armstrong Custer, suffered a severe defeat. Five of the 7th Cavalry's twelve companies were annihilated; Custer was killed, as were two of his brothers, a nephew, and a brother-in-law. The total U.S. casualty count, including scouts, was 268 dead and 55 injured.

"Hurrah boys, we've got them! We'll finish them up and then go home to our station." —Reportedly said by General Custer at the Battle of Little Big Horn.

He died moments later

Under 700 US Troops vs as many as 3000 Native American warriors.

Massacre at Wounded Knee

“When I look back now from this high hill of my old age, I can still see the butchered women and children lying heaped and scattered all along the crooked gulch as plain as when I saw them with eyes young. And I can see that something else died there in the bloody mud, and was buried in the blizzard. A people's dream died there. It was a beautiful dream ... the nation's hope is broken and scattered. There is no center any longer, and the sacred tree is dead.”

—Black Elk, Oglala Lakota Medicine Man

Custer’s old regiment killed 300 unarmed native americans at Wounded Knee. Picture above shows a mass grave.

"There was a woman with an infant in her arms who was killed as she almost touched the flag of truce ... A mother was shot down with her infant; the child not knowing that its mother was dead was still nursing ... The women as they were fleeing with their babies were killed together, shot right through ... and after most all of them had been killed a cry was made that all those who were not killed or wounded should come forth and they would be safe. Little boys ... came out of their places of refuge, and as soon as they came in sight a number of soldiers surrounded them and butchered them there.”

—American Horse, Oglala Sioux Chief

Spotted Elk lies dead after Wounded Knee

“…helpless children and women with babies in their arms had been chased as far as two miles from the original scene of encounter and cut down without mercy by the troopers. ... Judging by the slaughter on the battlefield it was suggested that the soldiers simply went berserk. For who could explain such a merciless disregard for life? ... As I see it the battle was more or less a matter of spontaneous combustion, sparked by mutual distrust…”

— Hugh McGinnis, First Battalion, Company K, 7th Cavalry

Four infants were found alive, wrapped in their mothers’ shawls.

Civilian burial group.

DECIMATION OF THE BUFFALO/BISON

Before European settlers, 50 million

Over-hunting and drought.Comanche tribe was killing 280,000 a year. The US Army sanctioned and actively endorsed the wholesale slaughter of bison herds.The federal government promoted bison hunting for various reasons, to allow ranchers to range their cattle without competition from other bovines, and primarily to weaken the North American Indian population by removing their main food source and to pressure them onto the reservations. Without the bison, native people of the plains were forced to leave the land or starve to death.

"Let them kill, skin and sell until the buffalo is exterminated”

— General Philip Sheridan

Professional hunters, trespassing on Indian land, killed over 4 million bison by 1874, and Sheridan applauded

When the Texas legislature considered outlawing bison poaching on tribal lands, Sheridan personally testified against it, suggesting that the legislature should give each of the hunters a medal, engraved with a dead buffalo on one side and a discouraged-looking Indian on the other.

reduced to 80-2,000 in number by the end of the 1800s.

DAWES ACT OF 1887

General Alottment Act, Dawes Severalty Act - authorized the President of the United States to survey American Indian tribal land and divide it into allotments for individual Indians. Those who accepted allotments and lived separately from the tribe would be granted United States citizenship.Goal to stimulate assimilation of Indians into mainstream American society. Individual ownership of land on the European-American model was seen as an essential step. The act also provided what the government would classify as "excess" Indian reservation lands remaining after allotments, and sell those lands on the open market, allowing purchase and settlement by non-Native Americans.

Wars between the government and native tribes raged from 1861-1890. During and after this time, many Americans felt that Native Americans needed to be “civilized” and assimilated into white society.Boarding schools were set up to educate native children away from their cultures. Reservations were divided into individual plots to encourage private ownership of land over community ownership (Dawes Act).

BOARDING SCHOOLS

"A great general has said that the only good Indian is a dead one, and that high sanction of his destruction has been an enormous factor in promoting Indian massacres. In a sense, I agree with the sentiment, but only in this: that all the Indian there is in the race should be dead. Kill the Indian in him, and save the man.”

—Col. Richard Pratt (1892)

Carslile School in Pennsylvania

Two of our girls ran away...but they got caught. They tied their legs up, tied their hands behind their backs, put them in the middle of the hallway so that if they fell, fell asleep or something, the matron would hear them and she'd get out there and whip them and make them stand up again.

— Helma Ward, Makah, interview with Carolyn Marr

FARMING BUT NOT GROWING

Retiring of Greenbacks - following the civil war the US Government wanted tot make the paper money out of circulation. Govt had issued $500 million.Increased the value of money, but led to fewer people having money. Farmers who borrowed in less valuable greenbacks had to pay back more valuable hard currency.

Wheat Prices$2.00/bushel in 1867

$0.68/bushel in 1868

Crop prices fell, drought conditions. Price to take goods to market increased.Farmers in massive amounts of debt, banks foreclosing on farms.

Patrons of Husbandry - The Grange - united Farmers for better economic conditions. Farmers Cooperatives, and railroad regulation.

Farmers Alliance: dealt with economic issues.

How did Americans light their homes until

the late 1800s?

Whale Oil was the primary medium for lighting in america throughout the 1700s and 1800s.

August 1859He drilled using piping to prevent borehole collapse, allowing for the drill to penetrate further and further into the ground. Previous methods for collecting oil had been limited. Ground collection of oil consisted of gathering it from where it occurred naturally, such as from oil seeps or shallow holes dug into the ground. Drake tried the latter method initially when looking for oil in Titusville. However, it failed to produce economically viable amounts of oil. Alternative methods of digging large shafts into the ground also failed, as collapse from water seepage almost always occurred. The significant step that Drake took was to drive a 32-foot iron pipe through the ground into the bedrock below. This allowed Drake to drill inside the pipe, without the hole collapsing from the water seepage. The principle behind this idea is still employed today by many companies drilling for hydrocarbons.

Kerosene was the fuel of the day for lamps and heating. It’s by-product, gasoline, was seen as a waste product and thrown away.

Why is petroleum superior to Whale

Oil?

Edwin Drake

Railroad that reached from coast to coast.Investors did not see the potential in this, so the federal government subsidized the project. The railroad companies received 10 miles of land for every mile of track they laid. Finished in 1869 1883 due to railroads, America adopted time zones, which we still use today.Railroads could quickly transport goods and people , lowered costs of production, created national markets for goods, and stimulated other industries.

Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone, allowing for voice communication between two different places, in 1876. Bell’s American Telephone and Telegraph company was building long distance phone lines by 1885.

Edison and his second phonograph. Phonograph invented in 1877

Electric Light 1879

Thomas Edison invented the incandescent light bulb, allowing for indoor light without oil lamps. Edison also built the first power plant to provide electricity to many buildings.

Edison was a proponent of Direct Current. Electricity generated and sent at the same voltage as household appliance (lights).

Nikola Tesla - major innovator in electricity, radio and other fields.Worked for Edison in Europe in 1882, moved to NYC to work for Edison. improved Edison’s DC generator and motor. Quit Edison’s employ after a dispute with Edison over compensation. Invented the first successful AC induction motor in 1888, eventually winning the war of the currents. AC was cheaper, and could be transmitted over longer distances with less current loss than DC.

George Westinghouse - backed Alternating Current

The direct-current system generated and distributed electrical power at the same voltage as used by the customer's lamps and motors. This required the use of large, costly, distribution wires and forced generating plants to be near the loads. With the development of a practical transformer, alternating-current power could be sent long distances over relatively small wires at a convenient high voltage, then reduced in voltage to that used by a customer. Alternating current generating stations could be larger, cheaper to operate, and the distribution wires were relatively less costly. As the competing systems were protected by patents, there was commercial rivalry between the Westinghouse and Edison companies. A publicity campaign by Edison highlighted the safety issues of high voltage transmission.The lower cost of AC power distribution prevailed, though DC systems persisted in some urban areas throughout the 20th century. While DC power is not used generally for the transmission of energy from power plants into homes as Edison and others intended, DC power is still common when distances are small and is used in essentially all modern electronic devices, such as computers, telephones, and automotive systems.

Tesla believed he could perfect a system of wireless energy and information transmission, He also believed he could communicate with outer space. Later in his life he said he had developed a “directed energy” weapon, or “death Ray”.

THE GROWTH OF BIG BUSINESS

Robber Barons, Labor Unions, and the growth of ‘Murica!

Robber Baron

Robber Baron: Term used to describe business leaders in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Implies that these men gained their power and fortune by stealing from the public:Natural resourcesCorruption of elected officials

Captain of

IndustryThe term “Captains of Industry” implies that these men served the country well, by building factories, increasing the supply of goods, expanding markets and creating jobs.

Monopoly

Monopoly - iNdustry controlled by a single powerful firm. That firm usually either buys out its competition or drives them out of business, leaving the firm free then to raise prices.

OligopolyIn economics, an oligopoly is a market structure where the industry is dominated by a small number of sellers (oligopolists). The dominant sellers, since they are so few in number, are each likely to be aware of the actions of the others. The decisions of one firm influence, and are influenced by, the decisions of other firms.

An oligopoly is a market form in which a market or industry is dominated by a small number of sellers (oligopolists).

Cartel

A cartel is a special case of oligopoly when competing firms in an industry collude to create explicit, formal agreements to fix prices and production quantities. In theory, a cartel can be formed in any industry but it is only practical in an oligopoly where there is a small number of firms. Cartels are usually prohibited by anti-trust law.

William A. ClarkHe made a fortune with small smelters, electric power companies, newspapers, railroads and other businesses, becoming known as one of three "Copper Kings" of Butte, Montana, along with Marcus Daly and F. Augustus Heinze.Between 1884 and 1888, Clark constructed a 34-room, Tiffany-decorated, multimillion dollar home, incorporating the most modern inventions available, in Butte, Montana. This home is now the Copper King Mansion bed-and-breakfast and museum.Clark yearned to be a statesman and used his newspaper, the Butte Miner, to push his political ambitions. At this time, Butte was one of the largest cities in the West. He became a hero in Helena, Montana, by campaigning for its selection as the state capital instead of Anaconda. This battle for the placement of the capital had subtle Irish vs. English, Catholic vs. Protestant, and Masonic vs. non-Masonic elements. Clark's long-standing dream of becoming a United States Senator resulted in scandal in 1899 when it was revealed that he bribed members of the Montana State Legislature in return for their votes. At the time, U.S. Senators were chosen by their respective state legislators. The corruption of his election contributed to the passage of the 17th Amendment. The U.S. Senate refused to seat Clark because of the 1899 bribery scheme, but a later senate campaign was successful, and he served a single term from 1901 until 1907. In responding to criticism of his bribery of the Montana legislature, Clark is reported to have said, "I never bought a man who wasn't for sale."Clark died at the age of 86 in his mansion at 962 Fifth Avenue in New York City, one of the 50 richest Americans ever.In an 1907 essay Mark Twain portrayed Clark as the very embodiment of Gilded Age excess and corruption:He is as rotten a human being as can be found anywhere under the flag; he is a shame to the American nation, and no one has helped to send him to the Senate who did not know that his proper place was the penitentiary, with a ball and chain on his legs. To my mind he is the most disgusting creature that the republic has produced since Tweed's time.[5]

"I never bought a man who wasn't for sale.” —William Clark

“He is as rotten a human being as can be found anywhere under the flag; he is a shame to the American nation, and no one has helped to send him to the Senate who did not know that his proper place was the penitentiary, with a ball and chain on his legs. To my mind he is the most disgusting creature that the republic has produced since Tweed's time.” — Mark Twain

Boss tweed - Tweed was convicted for stealing an amount estimated by an aldermen's committee in 1877 at between $25 million and $45 million from New York City taxpayers through political corruption, although later estimates ranged as high as $200 million.[4] Unable to make bail, he escaped from jail once, but was returned to custody. He died in the Ludlow Street Jail.

Huguette Marcelle Clark (/ˈuːɡɛt/; June 9, 1906 – May 24, 2011) was an heiress and philanthropist, who became well known again late in life as a recluse, living in a hospital for more than 20 years while her mansions remained empty. She was the youngest daughter of United States Senator and industrialist William A. Clark. Upon her death at 104 in 2011, Clark left behind a fortune of more than $300 million, most of which was donated to charity after a court fight with her distant relatives.

Marcus Daly -Daly's legacy was a mixed one for Anaconda. From 1885 to 1980, the smelter was one of the town's largest employers and provided well-paid jobs for generations. When the smelter closed in 1980, during a labor strike, 25% of the town's workforce was put out of work and the town has not recovered. The smelter itself was torn down as part of environmental cleanup efforts in the 1990s, although the smokestack is still visible above the town.Daly's legacy was equally mixed for Butte, Montana. The Anaconda Company was bought out by the Amalgamated Copper Company in 1899, and by the 1920s it controlled mining in the city. It continued to be one of the state's largest employers and a mainstay of the state and local economies until the 1970s. In the 1950s, the ACM began open-pit mining in Butte, creating a steadily growing pit east of the main business district. In the mid-1970s, copper prices collapsed and the ACM was bought out by the Atlantic Richfield Company (Arco). Arco ceased mining in Butte in 1982, ending what Daly had begun almost exactly 100 years before. See Berkeley Pit for the lasting impact. Montana Resources now (2007) operates an open pit copper and molybdenum mine in Butte, and also recovers copper from the water in the Berkeley Pit.

Fritz Augustus Heinze - Copper KingHeinze had arrived in Butte well after the "Copper Kings", William A. Clark and Marcus Daly, were well established (Daly's company was the massive Amalgamated Copper Mining Company, later called Anaconda). In order to catch up, Heinze's strategies included reducing the working day for his miners from ten to eight hours and the miner’s considered him a hero. One of the mining laws directed that an owner could mine the veins that outcropped on his claim, and follow them underground beneath claims owned by others. This was known as the law of the apex, and Heinze maintained that his miners had the right to take out copper ore from beneath his neighbours. Using this law to his advantage Heinze would employ up to 30 lawyers at a time and tie up his opponents in the legal system with case after case.In 1903, frustrated when the Rarus property was subject to a court order to cease mining, Heinze’s miners moved down anyway from the Rarus into an adjoining Amalgamated property. Before being stopped, Heinze succeeded in taking out a hundred thousand tons of high grade copper ore. There was hand-to-hand combat with Amalgamated miners, opposition mine shafts were fouled through burning rubber and spreading caustic slaked lime, grenades were thrown, and high pressure hoses were fired. Dynamite was also set off, caving in the property and completely obliterating all the evidence. Heinze was charged with contempt of court yet he was fined only $20,000.

John Pierpont Morgan - In 1892, Morgan arranged the merger of Edison General Electric and Thomson-Houston Electric Company to form General Electric. After financing the creation of the Federal Steel Company, he merged it in 1901 with the Carnegie Steel Company and several other steel and iron businesses, including Consolidated Steel and Wire Company, owned by William Edenborn, to form the United States Steel Corporation.

In 1895, at the depths of the Panic of 1893, the Federal Treasury was nearly out of gold. President Grover Cleveland accepted Morgan's offer to join with the Rothschilds and supply the U.S. Treasury with 3.5 million ounces of gold[6] to restore the treasury surplus in exchange for a 30-year bond issue. The episode saved the Treasury but hurt Cleveland's standing with the agrarian wing of the Democratic Party, and became an issue in the election of 1896, when banks came under a withering attack from William Jennings Bryan. Morgan and Wall Street bankers donated heavily to Republican William McKinley, who was elected in 1896 and re-elected in 1900.

Cornelius Vanderbilt

According to "The Wealthy 100" by Michael Klepper and Robert Gunther, Vanderbilt would be worth $143 billion in 2007 United States dollars if his total wealth as a share of the nation's gross domestic product (GDP) in 1877 (the year of his death) were taken and applied in that same proportion in 2007. This would make him the second-wealthiest person in American history, after Standard Oil co-founder John Davison Rockefeller (1839–1937).[12][13] Another calculation, from 1998, puts him in third place, after Andrew Carnegie.[14]

Gospel of Wealth: People should be free to make as much money as they can or want. They should also give that wealth away. Carnegie gave billions to charities.The Carnegie steel company owned all aspects of the steel manufacturing: from mining to production to transportation of goods. Vertical ConsolidationBecause he owned all aspects of production, Carnegie could produce more and charge less (economies of scale). Smaller companies were at a disadvantage.

V e r t i c a l C o n s o l i d a t i o n

Verti

cal C

onso

lidati

on

John Davison RockefellerAccording to some methods of wealth calculation, Rockefeller's net worth over the last decades of his life would easily place him as the wealthiest known person in recent history. As a percentage of the United States' GDP, no other American fortune — including those of Bill Gates or Sam Walton — would even come close

John D. Rockefeller: Formed the “Standard Oil Company”, gaining control over almost the entire oil industry, creating a “monopoly”. He used “horizontal consolidation”, bring together and buying many other companies in the same business. Rockefeller and his partners got around monoploy laws by forming the company in a “trust”, managed by trustees. The companies were managed together, but never officially merged.

H o r i z o n t a l

C o n s o l i d a t i o n

Horizontal Consolidation

Senator John SHerman - Author of Sherman AntiTrust ActThe federal government, in response to Rockefeller’s Standard Oil Trust, passed the “Sherman Antitrust Act”. The law supposedly outlawed combinations of companies that interfered with interstate trade. In reality the law was not very effective in stopping companies like Standard Oil. It was vaguely worded and lawyers could maneuver around it.It was invoked to control labor unions. Federal lawyers argued that unions allowed workers an unfair advantage. Would not be really enforced until Teddy Roosevelt’s presidency.

Between 1860 and 1900, 14 million people emigrated to the United States.8-9 million Americans moved to cities by the end of the 1800s, escaping poor conditions in rural areas. They came to work in factoriesMuch factory work was paid as “piecework”, a worker would get paid for each thing they produce, not the hours they work. These were really the worlds first sweatshops.

In the past, workers had done many different tasks to make an item, often working on it from start to finish.The idea of “Division of Labor” was that each worker only do one small part of a process, and do it over and over. This could increase production.Relationships between workers and employers changed as well. As businesses grew, workers saw less and less of their employers, leading to an adversarial relationship.

Disparity of Wealth

Disparit(  of

Wealth$ $

By 1890, the wealthiest 9% of Americans held 75% of the nations wealth. As factory owners lived extravagant lifestyles, their workers survived on a few hundred dollars a year, barely making ends meet. Some workers began to be drawn to a european philosophy called “socialism”, which favored public control of the economy and production.Others came to believe that workers needed to band together to egt what they needed, and formed labor unions.

National Labor Union formed in Baltimore in 1866. This union represented 60,000 workers, but did not survive a national economic recession. Folded in

Knights of Labor - 1869 - wanted to organize skilled and unskilled labor into one union. Attracted many catholic workers, rejected radicalism and socialism.

Haymarket Riot - 1886It began as a peaceful rally in support of workers striking for an eight-hour day and in reaction to the killing of several workers the previous day by the police. An unknown person threw a dynamite bomb at police as they acted to disperse the public meeting. The bomb blast and ensuing gunfire resulted in the deaths of seven police officers and at least four civilians; scores of others were wounded.

The Haymarket affair is generally considered significant as the origin of international May Day observances for workers.

AFofL - 1886 - Organized skilled workers. Craft Union.Gained 250,000 members between 1886 and 1892. Tried to force employers into “collective bargaining”, where workers negotiate as a group with their employers. AFofL called for “closed shops” where only union members could work.

The Industrial Workers of the World, or IWW focused on unskilled labor and was a more radical union than the AFofL. IWW strikes were violent, and there were many socialist leaders in the union. IWW was kicked out of Butte, Montana during World War I for attempting to incite rebellion. Frank Little, an IWW leader was actually hung from a railroad trestle.

EMPLOYER RESPONSE

Forbid union meetings

Fired organizers

“Yellow Dog” contracts

Refused collective bargaining

Refused to recognize unions

Great Railroad Strike of 1877 - July, Baltimore and Ohio Railroads cut wages by 10%, the second wage cut in 8 months, due to a recession.Railroads also began running “double header” trains with 2 engines that could pull twice the cars with less staff. Workers in West Virginia called a strike, and tried to prevent other workers from running the trains. They clashed with local militiaThe striking and violence spread to other mid-western cities, eventually ending with President Hayes calling in the army.After this strike, troops were used to quell labor unrest and put down strikes.

1892 - Henry Frick, a partner in Carnegie steel, tried to cut employee wages. The union in Homestead, Pennsylvania, called a strike.Frick called in “The Pinkertons”, a private strike breaking group. During the night, they moved up the river and conflicted with strikers, shooting and killing several. Public sentiment was with the strikers until an anarchist, unconnected with the strike, tried to kill Frick. Without public support the union was forced to abandon the strike after 4 months.

1894 - Workers in Pullman Illinois built a special railroad car (the Pullman Sleeper) that was larger than other cars.The town was built for the workers, with all possible amenities. Workers felt, however, that the rules and restrictions in the town were too strict, including a ban on alcohol.In the Panic of 1893, Pullman reduced wages and laid off employees, but kept the rent and food prices in the town at the same levels.In response to worker concerns, 4 workers were sent to speak with George Pullman. Pullman fired 3 of the workers. The workers decided to strike, and Pullman shut down his plant rather than bargain with the union. Workers joined the new American Railroad Union. Called for boycott of the Pullman cars nationwide. Workers were not supposed to disrupt the U.S. Mail, but eventually the strike did.

GOVERNMENT RESPONSEFederal Intervention

Sherman Antitrust Act

Strike over in 1 week - President Cleveland sent Troops