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The Great West & the Agricultural Revolution
"Up to our own day American history has been
in a large degree the history of the colonization of the
Great West. The existence of an area of free land, its
continuous recession, and the advance of American
settlement westward, explain American
development."
Frederick Jackson Turner
1893
Expansion West
How did the federal government encourage westward expansion?
1) Transcontinental RR (underlying fed. subsidies)- Built by the Irish and Chinese; finished in 1869
2) Homestead Act (1862)- 160a/5yrs/$30 → 500k ppl- Many problems w/ land → ⅔ abandon
As a result:Larger numbers of migrants moved to the West in
search of land and economic opportunity, frequently provoking competition and violent
conflict
Expansion West
Why did migrants move to rural and boom town areas of the West?
1. To gain independence + self-sufficiency- “Safety-Valve” Theory
2. For economic opportunities- Railroad construction, farming, mining, ranching
As a result:Larger numbers of migrants moved to the West
in search of land and economic opportunity, frequently provoking competition and violent
conflict
Land Grants to Railroads, 1850-1890
Gold + Silver!!!!
● “Forty-niners” head out to California
● Pike’s Peak, Colorado● Comstock Lode (1859):
○ $340m in gold (Nevada)
Mining evolves into a corporate enterprise
Farming out West
Starting in the 1880’s, farmers took advantage of nutrient rich soil despite lack of rain by rerouting irrigation for 45m acres of land
Mechanization innovations:- The Combine- Bonanza Farms
Challenges:1. One-crop economy2. 80’s = fall in grain prices3. Owning land → renting land- Grasshoppers/Locusts
1870s-1890sCattle march from Texas to
Omaha/Chicago
Farmers Organize
The Grange (1867): - First major social organization of
farmers that provided an advocacy outlet and union-type of political power
- As financial problems grew, set up cooperatives + became a political organization that challenged the RRs
- 1875: 800,000 members- Prelude to Populist Party- Got Congress to pass “Granger Laws”
→ to regulate the RR (rates + fees charged by RRs and operators of warehouses and grain elevators)
When the banker says he’s brokeAnd the merchant’s up in smoke,They forget that it’s the farmer
Who feeds them all.It would put them to the test
If the farmer took a rest;Then they’d know that it’s the
farmerWho feed them all.
Farmers’ Alliance, (1878)
South + Midwest + Colored Alliances
Wanted to end the crop lien system- Re: basis of commercialization of southern
agriculture- LOC to struggling farmer → impossible to
get out of that debt = landless tenant farmers + sharecropping
Moved into the political realm in the 1890s under the Populist Party
- Controlled 8 state legislatures + had 47 representatives in Congress in 1890s
“It makes little difference… where one opens the record of the history of the Indians; every page and every year
has its dark stain. The story of one tribe is the story of all… and the United States
government breaks promises now as deftly as
then, and with added ingenuity from long
practice.”
Helen Hunt Jackson
1881
Native Life in Danger: ContextWhat were the impacts of the aforementioned expansion on Natives?
Relocation of Natives
Bureau of Indian Affairs (est. 1824)- ‘Temporary’ → to civilize/Christianize
Indian Removal Act (1830) → Natives pushed further and further West
- Plains Indians, predominantly hunting buffalo in wide open land
Native American Territory, 1890
Origins of the Reservation System
Ft. Atkinson Treaty (1853)- Promise to Natives of food, freedom, and
clothing on reservation land- Poor provisions + corrupt fed. agents
***Misunderstandings in these treaties***- “National” ties extended only to family- Americans don’t understand the
nomadic lifestyle of a nation
Origins of the Reservation System
Treaty of Medicine Lodge (1867)Set boundaries for southern plains tribes, but government failed to supply them as promised, so Indians resumed hunting… war broke out
General Sheridan destroyed villages→ 72 leaders imprisoned and subjected to experimental “civilization by immersion” program
→ Ghost Dance movement crushed at Wounded Knee
Origins of the Reservation System
Ft. Laramie Treaty (1868)Set aside distinct land for each of the major northern tribes: Sioux, Arapaho, Comanche, and others)1) Tribes will not attack settlers moving West2) Railroads/roads may be built in/through3) Military forts may be built in4) Each tribe → $50,000 for next 50yrs
Dawes Act (1887)
Purpose: to assimilate Native Americans into American society (“make them American”; eliminate their culture) --- citizenship after 25yrs
Provisions:- Native tribes were dissolved as legal entities
→ Wiped out tribal ownership of land → Heads of families would receive 160a of land
IMPACT: Native way of life is completed changed1) Many children are sent to boarding schools2) Hunting → Farming3) Most land = lost
Battle of Little Bighorn
Montana (1876): “Custer’s Last Stand”- Lt. Col. George Custer mistakenly led
men into attack against larger Native force
- Investigating the presence of gold...
The Ghost Dance & Wounded Knee
Ghost Dance: A religious movement by Native Americans- hoped to see the return of the
buffalo and the elimination of whites
Settlers became afraid of the movement; US gov’t orders end
Wounded Knee, South Dakota (1890)- One of the last violent conflicts
between Natives-US- ~300 Lakota killed, many women
+ children :(
Re: Politics in the Gilded Age
Panic of 1873Financial crisis that triggered a depression, resulting
in deflation under Pres. Grant
Farmers + miners: wanted inflation → introduce silver to achieve that
- Conservatives, afraid of inflation, instituted deflationary policies (Bland-Allison Act of 1873) actually making the situation worse
Money Issue → Biggest Political Issue Moving Forward
- Greenback Labor Party + Populist Party = to increase money supply
- Election of 1896 would prove boiling point
One of the longest protracted economic downturns in US history; will affect laborers and their unionization moving forward
Causes:- Overproduction of RR’s, mines, factories, etc.- Bankers made too many risky loans
Effects:Debate over hard currency vs. greenbacks
- Debtors wanted greenbacks. Why? → Paper $, inflation decreased value
- Lenders wanted hard currency. Why? → Hard $, not affected by inflation, increased value
Panic of 1873
VS
Politics of the Gilded AgeGovernment
Tended to do very little while the House
was dominated by the Democrats and the
Senate dominated by the Republicans.
PartiesParty differences blur and loyalties are determined by region, religion, and ethnicity; voter turnout high.
• Pro-business• Opposed to economic
reform/radicalism• “Sound currency” for
status quo of financial system
Republican Splinters• Stalwarts: believed in patronage• Halfbreeds: wanted civil service reform• Mugwumps: voted Democrat in 1884...
Populist PartyOmaha Platform (1892) written by Ignatius Donnelly (Congress 3x)
- Free and unlimited coinage of silver (at ratio of 16/1 - to stimulate inflation)Context: Gold Standard (1873): amount of money in circulation is limited by the amount of gold held in the treasury → deflation → crop $ decrease
- Graduated income tax (to redistribute wealth)- Nationalize (of the telephone/telegraph, RR)- Initiative, referendum, recall - Postal savings banks (safe repository run by gov’t)- Direct election of senators- Subtreasury plan not included; had been defeated
Legacy = FailurePopulism failed as a 3rd party cause but had a political influence for 25 years
beyond the 1896 election.
Kansas should raise less corn, more hell
Populist PartyOmaha Platform (1892) written by Ignatius Donnelly (Congress 3x)
- Free and unlimited coinage of silver (at ratio of 16/1 - to stimulate inflation)Context: Gold Standard (1873): amount of money in circulation is limited by the amount of gold held in the treasury → deflation → crop $ decrease
- Graduated income tax (to redistribute wealth)- Nationalize (of the telephone/telegraph, RR)- Initiative, referendum, recall - Postal savings banks (safe repository run by gov’t)- Direct election of senators- Subtreasury plan not included; had been defeated
Legacy = FailurePopulism failed as a 3rd party cause but had a political influence for 25 years
beyond the 1896 election.
Kansas should raise less corn, more hell
Populist IdeasA memory aid…
Fried Free unlimited coinage of silver
Green Graduated income tax
Gummy Government ownership of RRs
bears
Invade Initiative
Really Referendum
Really Recall
Dorky Direct election of Senators
Silly Subtreasury plan
People Postal savings banks
Panic of 1893An economic depression (worst in century)
under President ClevelandCauses:
- Stock-market crash + over-speculation + overproduction + no money supply
- ‘Free Silver’ agitation damaged US credit abroad → called in loans, withdrew their capital
Results:- 20% unemployment in 93’-’94 winter; 8,000 businesses collapsed- Federal budget deficit- Gold reserves fell below $100m, regarded as safe minimum of $350 in curr.- Pres. Cleveland repeals the Sherman Silver Act (1890)
- Increase tariffs (what East wanted) + doubled silver (what West wanted)
Election of 1896
Battle over gold and silver
Republican - William McKinley (Gold)- Ohio Civil War vet; Longtime member of Congress- McKinley gains votes from industrial workers
Democrat - William Jennings Bryan (Silver)- ‘Boy orator of the Platte’; Nominated 3x for Pres.- Populists split over support for Bryan
“You shall not press down upon the brow of labor this crown of thorns; you shall not crucify mankind upon a
cross of gold!”
Populism’s Legacy
If the populists lost, was it still considered a success?
Failure: Gold Standard Act (1900): Confirmed the nation’s commitment to the gold standard
Success:16th Amendment (1913): graduated income tax17th Amendment (1913): direct election of senatorsInitiative & Referendum (Progressive Era, state by state)Australian Ballot (1892, state by state)
