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Chapter 5 Changes in the West 1865-1890

Chapter 5

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Changes in the West

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Chapter 5Changes in the West

1865-1890

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Native Americans

• Land was communal – no one person or tribe could own land

• Buffalo was central to life

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All parts of Buffalo were used

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• The buffalo were destroyed by settlers and tourists who shot them for sport

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1800: 65 million buffalo roamed the plains

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By 1890, less than 1000 buffalo remained

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Settlers Push Westward• Viewed Native American land as unsettled

• Advanced to claim land

• Gold was discovered in Colorado – intensified the rush for land

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Natives and Settlers Clash

• 1834 – all of Great Plains set aside as “Indian Lands”

• 1850s – Policy shift – native get smaller amounts of land

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Culture Clash

• Sand Creek Massacre – U.S. army attacks

• 150 native women and children killed

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Custer’s Last Stand

• Colonel Custer and infantry reach Little Big Horn

• Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull lead tribe

• Outflank and crush Custer’s troops

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Battle of Wounded Knee

• December 1890- 7th Cavalry (Custer’s old regiment) rounded up 350 Sioux and took them to Wounded Knee, SD

• 7th Cavalry slaughtered 350 unarmed Natives

• The corpses were left to freeze

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Assimilation

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Dawe’s Act 1887

• Attempted to assimilate natives

• Would break up reservations and introduce natives into American life – farming, etc

• By 1932 2/3rds of the land committed to Natives had been taken

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Growing Demand for beef

• After the Civil war the demand for beef rose sharply

• Urbanization and the rise of the railroad contributed to this

• Chicago Union Stock Yards

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Chisholm Trail

• Thousands of cattle driven from Texas to Kansas

• Abilene, KS – place where trail met the railroads

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The End of the Open Range

• Overgrazing, bad weather, and the invention of barbed wire led to the end of the cattle drive

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Settling on the Great Plains

• Homestead Act – federal land policy– Gave 160 free acres to any “head of

household”– Had to live on and farm land for 5 years

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Exodusters

• African Americans – moved from South to Kansas

• Took advantage of land deals

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Oklahoma Sooners

• In a less than a day 2 millions acres of government land being given away was claimed by settlers

• Some took possession of the land before the government officially declared it open – thus Oklahoma became known as the “Sooner State”

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Hardships

• Droughts, floods, fires, blizzards, locust plagues, bandits

• No neighbors nearby

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Soddies

• Homes were built from the land itself– Dug out of the sides of ravines or hills– If land was flat made homes out of dirt

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• Despite these hardships, the number of people living west of the Mississippi grew from 1% of the nations population to 30% by 1900

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Increased Technology Helped Farmers

• 1837- John Deere steel plow – slice through heavy soil

• 1847 – reaper – invented by Cyrus McCormick

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Age of the Railroads

• More people moved west and the railroads were born

• Government gave land grants to the railroads to help it grow

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Transcontinental Railroad

• Completed in 1890 with help from Chinese workers

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FARMER EDUCATION SUPPORTED

• The federal government financed agricultural education

• The Morrill Acts of 1862 and 1890 gave federal land to states to help finance agricultural colleges

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FARMERS AND THE POPULIST MOVEMENT

• In the late 1800s, many farmers were struggling

• Crop prices were falling, debt increased

• Mortgages were being foreclosed by banks

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ECONOMIC DISTRESS HITS FARMERS

• Between 1867 and 1887 the price of a bushel of wheat fell from $2.00 to 68 cents

• Railroads conspired to keep transport costs artificially high

• Farmers got caught in a cycle of debt

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FARMERS ORGANIZE FOR CHANGE

• 1867 – Oliver Hudson Kelley started the Grange

• By 1870, the Grange spent most of their time fighting the railroads

• Soon the Grange and other Farmer Alliances numbered over 4 million members

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POPULIST PARTY IS BORN

• Leaders of the farmers organization realized they needed to build a base of political power

• Populism – the movement of the people – was born in 1892 with the founding of the Populist, or People’s Party

THIS POLITICAL CARTOON SHOWS A POPULIST

CLUBBING A RAILROAD CAR

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POPULIST REFORMS• economic reforms-

increase of money supply (gold and silver standard), a rise in crop prices, lower taxes, a federal loan program

• political reforms- direct election of senators, single terms for presidents

• Populists also called for an 8-hour workday and reduced immigration

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POPULISTS MAKE GAINS

• In the 1892 Presidential election, the Populist candidate won almost 10% of the vote

• In the West, the party elected 5 senators, 3 governors and 1,500 state legislators

FRED AND PHIL VOTED FOR THE PEOPLE’S PARTY

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SILVER OR GOLD?• The central issue of

the 1896 Presidential campaign was which metal would be the basis of the nation’s monetary system

• Bimetallism (those who favored using both) vs. those that favored the Gold Standards alone

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BRYAN AND THE“CROSS OF GOLD”

• Republicans favored the Gold standard and nominated William McKinley

• Democrats favored Bimetallism and nominated William Jennings Bryan

• Despite Bryan’s stirring words, “You shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold,” McKinley won the 1896 election

BRYAN’S CROSS OF GOLD SPEECH

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THE END OF POPULISM• With McKinley’s election

victory, Populism collapsed, burying the hopes of the farmer

• Populism left two important legacies: 1) A message that the downtrodden can organize and be heard and 2) An agenda of reforms, many of which would be enacted in the 20th century

THE PEOPLE’S PARTY WAS SHORT-LIVED BUT LEFT AN

IMPORTANT LEGACY