Opening up the West, exploiting it, then closing it down

Here is what you’re looking for today…Transcontinental RailroadHomestead ActWhere & Why Cowboys learned their skillsChisholm TrailGreat PlainsHorses (importance)Buffalo (importance)American CharacterNative American Character

The Age of RailroadsFrom 1850-1871, the

government gave 170 million acres in land grants to the railroad companies – some to lay tracks, as well as much alongside the tracks for sale.

This program was designed to open up the western territory.

In 1869, the transcontinental railroad connected the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific Railroads at Promontory Point, Utah

HomesteadersThe Homestead Act of

1862 offered 160 acres of free land to any citizen who was head of a household, which hundreds of thousands of families took advantage of.

Several thousand Exodusters – African-Americans fleeing post-Reconstruction South, also took advantage of this opportunity to expand their options in the West.

The Beef IndustryAs cities got larger, and

settlers and railroads starting expanding across the country, the demand for beef grew. Cities had to build stockyards next to rail lines to house the animals waiting to be processed.

Settlers started learning the skills they needed to meet the demand for beef– a profitable business for cowboys and railroads.

CowboysSettlers had to learn their

cowboys skills from Mexicans – though the settlers had to drive their cattle much longer distances to get them to the markets and railway lines.

A current cowboy’s food, clothes, and vocabulary came directly from the Mexican vaqueros.

Spurs, chaps, broncos, jerky, mustangs, corral, ranch and rodeo.

Chisholm TrailRanchers in Texas

originally traveled along direct routes to get their cattle to market, however, this caused conflict with farmers.

The ranchers were forced to find alternate routes. This led to the creation of the Chisholm Trail in 1867, to lessen problems and make travel more efficient.

President Jackson sets a standard on treatment of Native Americans

1830 Congress passed the Indian Removal Act forcing all Native Americans to move west and out of the lands wanted and needed by the white settlers

Cherokee Nation resisted the move and fought for their rights in the U.S. Supreme Court

President Andrew Jackson and the removal of the Native Americans

Worcester v Georgia-The court ruled that the Cherokee Nation was a distinct political community and was not bound by Georgia or United States law.

President Jackson refused to abide by the Supreme Court decision and said, “John Marshall (Chief Justice of the Supreme Court) has made his decision now let him try to enforce it.” (1830)

President Andrew Jackson and the removal of the Native Americans

Trail of Tears-20,000 Native Americans were forced to move West (1838), most of them Cherokees from the South-

By the end of the forced march more that ¼ of them had died

Plains Indians Great Plains=The vast

grassland extending through the west-central portion of the U.S.

Highly developed way of life existed

Planting of crops and settled villages

Nomadic tribes traded and produced goods

Lived by code of tribal law.

Plains Indians

Horses introduced in 1598 by the Spanish changed the Plains Indians way of life

Travel farther and hunt more efficiently Farming was secondary to roaming the

plains Buffalo

Buffalo was used as food, clothing, shelter and fuel – a necessity for their way of life

Destroyed by tourists and fur traders for sport, hides, and tongues

The number of buffalo in the U.S. went from 65 million in 1800 to 1000 by 1870

Settlers push west (1850s-1890s) Manifest Destiny, gold

(49ers), silver, pushed settlers into Indian Country

1862 Homestead Act-400,000-600,000 settlers used this

1869-Transcontinental railroad finished (10 days to travel coast to coast)

White man butchers buffalo for sport, for $ received from tongues and hides

Cultural ConflictAmerican Character

Rugged Individual-tame the land

These characteristics were found in the frontier and its opportunities

Character is formed by interaction with the environment. Use, settle, and improve the land.

The measure of a person is economicIt is a function of how much

wealth is accumulated.The white man is looking to

better his station in society, so as to turn new opportunity into prosperity

Cultural ConflictNative American Character

Success is based on character

Character is created by bravery and loyalty

Interaction with the land-very religious/the land sustains them

Source of most conflicts: Whites felt that

Indians used land inefficiently (underutilized)

Thus the justification for taking it

Clash turns to ConflictThe major conflicts between settlers and natives:Hunting of the BuffaloMassacre at Sand CreekBattle of 100 SlainBattle of Little Bighorn (Custer’s Last Stand)

Red River WarWounded Knee

By 1890 the Indian Wars come to an end. More whites move west and the Native Americans were forced to live on smaller and smaller plots of land

Clash turns to Conflict

Here is what you’re looking for today…EthnocentrismAssimilationDawes ActBuffalo Bill CodyEnd of the Open Range

EthnocentrismRelations between white

settlers and Native Americans have been inconsistent. In many ways stereotypes have had Native Americans being the savages, but in other ways they have been intelligent trading partners to be respected.

American ethnocentrism – judging another culture based on the values of our own, has done more to harm that relationship than help.

Trying to make things betterAssimilation – in an

attempt to ease relations with Native Americans, many sympathizers believed that assimilation of Natives into white society was the answer – asking them to give up their beliefs and ways of life to become part of the white culture. This included cutting hair, speaking English, converting to Christianity, and wearing cotton instead of leather.

In 1887, Congress passed the Dawes Act in order to “Americanize” the natives and make them more acceptable. If Americans valued land, it was important that natives did as well – so heads of household were given 160 acres of reservation land. Any reservation land not given out would then be sold and the money used to buy farm equipment for them. Because of this most reservation land was sold off, and Native Americans never received money from the sale of their land.

Keeping up the stereotypesNo matter what concessions were

made, white settlers continued to think of Native Americans as savage – mostly because of things like Buffalo Bill Cody’s Wild West Show.

Buffalo Bill Cody was a man who consistently put forth the stereotypes of Native Americans as savage in his Wild West Show. Much like a circus or a fair, his shows were so popular in the East that they were widely attended, and seen as true commentary on what relations with Native Americans were like.

End of the Open RangeCowboys

As fast as cattle As fast as cattle herds multiplied and herds multiplied and ranching was big ranching was big business, the cattle business, the cattle frontier met its end.frontier met its end.

Over grazing of the Over grazing of the landland

Bad/Unpredictable Bad/Unpredictable weatherweather

End of the Open RangeBarbed Wire

Joseph Glidden Joseph Glidden invention of invention of Barbed WireBarbed Wire, , which created a which created a series of fenced-series of fenced-in ranches owned in ranches owned by few.by few.

Here is what you’re looking for today…Vicious CycleWho held the power in the WestPopulist Party (why created?)Populist Party PlatformBimetallism1896 Election importanceWilliam McKinleyWilliam Jennings BryanWhy Populism ended

FarmersFarmers were struggling

with more than having a few cattle running through their land – they were rapidly losing money and their way of life!

Farmers and settlers had to try to turn the Great American Desert (the Great Plains) into the breadbasket of the nation.

Vicious CycleCrop prices dropped

(From 1867 to 1887, a bushel of wheat went from $2 to $.68) so farmers had to mortgage their farms to buy more land, so they could make more money – and then try to pay off their debt.

Land became scarceWhen farmers

couldn’t pay off their debts, banks foreclosed

CorruptionBecause of the lack of

competition, as well as political corruption, railroads raised their prices as high as they pleased.

Grain brokers and merchants got rich, and farmers lost everything.

Farmers ended up using credit for supplies, worked twice as hard, and ended up in debt more every year.

The Money IssueFarmers were using

paper currency, called greenbacks. After the Civil War, the government took that money out of circulation because they were worth less than the price of gold or silver.

Farmers ended up paying back their debts in gold and silver – worth more than what they originally borrowed in paper.

SilverFarmers requested that

the government put more money into circulation. They got more silver, but not enough.

Farmers started rallying together against railroads and banks – and they used the legal system. They received a lot of cooperation with state and local governments, but very little in Washington.

PopulismIn 1892, the Populist

Party was created go give the people a greater voice in politics, and try to reform the burden of debt from farmers and other workers.

Their platform: Increase money supply so

they could get a rise in price of goods and services

Institute graduated income tax and a federal loan program

Restrict immigration and mandate an 8-hour work day.

Panic of 1893 In 1893, America hit a wall,

financially. Farmers were overextended

with debt and loans Railroads grew quicker than

the markets that needed them

People started panicking and traded their paper money for gold

The price of silver plunged, causing mines to close and stock prices to fall

By the end of the year 15,000 businesses and 500 banks had collapsed

The panic became a depression and 3 million people lost their jobs – the worst financial crisis we’d ever faced.

Election of 1896By the time the election

of 1896 rolled around, people needed change.

The election was between Northeast Industrial Republicans and Southern and Western farmer Democrats

The biggest issue of the election was which metal would be the nation’s monetary system?

Political PartiesDemocrats (who had

adopted the Populist Party platform) wanted bimetallism – backing paper money with gold and silver. This would make money more available and less expensive.

Republicans wanted the gold standard, providing a more stable currency, though costs would be higher.

The CandidatesWilliam McKinley of

Ohio was the voice of the Republicans, representing the voice of the wealthy and powerful.

William Jennings Bryan represented the Democrats, and rallied against Republicans crucifying the common man on a “Cross of Gold”

The ElectionMcKinley, backed by

power, won the election, settling once and for all the question of money in America.

His election meant an end to the Populist party, but the legacy of giving the average citizen a voice in government remained.

End of an EraAt the end of the 19th

century, farmers were in debt, railroads were powerful, but failing, and the era of the cowboy was over. The land had been overgrazed, bad weather destroyed herds, and the barbed wire fence ended what was once the open range and the frontier.