1. The Great West and the Agricultural Revolution
CHAPTER 26

2. In 1834, the federal government had designated the Great Plains as one large reservation for Native Americans
Natives had adapted to the harsh land by giving up their farming heritage and becoming nomadic; using the horse to hunt buffalo

3. The Railroad
With the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad in 1869, now US troops and white settlers had the ability to move into the West

4. The Clash of Cultures on the Plains
As the White settlers began to populate the Great West, the Indians were caught in the middle
They turned against each other
They were infected with white man’s diseases
As the number of buffalo declined, tribes competed for food
Stronger tribes (Sioux) claimed lands from weaker tribes (Crow/Pawnee), displacing native groups much as the US government had done

5. Establishing the Reservation System
The federal government signed treaties with the “chiefs” of “tribes
The US govt did not understand (nor care to) the Native American society of scattered groups who did not recognize authority beyond the immediate family or village elder
Fort Laramie in 1851
Fort Atkinson in 1853
These treaties set up the reservation system
Implications??
The reservation policy also reflected the views of some of the educators and protestant missionaries that forcing the Indians to live in a confined space with little opportunity for nomadic hunting would make it easier to "civilize the savages."

6. The Clash of Cultures on the Plains
In the 1860s, the U.S. government intensified its efforts by herding Indians into still smaller and smaller reservations (like the Dakota Territory)
Indians were often promised that they wouldn’t be bothered further after moving out of their ancestral lands
Indian agents were often corrupt and pawned off shoddy food and products
White men often disregarded treaties and frequently swindled the Indians

7. The Plains Indian Wars
Violent conflict between the Native Americans, US Army and Western settlers 1864 to 1890
After the Civil War, the U.S. Army’s new mission became—go clear Indians out of the West for White settlers to move in
1/5 of the soldiers in the US Army sent west were African American men (Buffalo soldiers)

8. The Sand Creek Massacre
The gold and silver rush in the Rocky Mountains brought thousands of white settlers west
Cheyenne and Arapahos tribes were pushed off their land
Several attacks took place between natives and the US Army, until the Natives decided to negotiate peace
Though no treaties were signed, the natives believed that by reporting & camping near army posts, they would be declaring peace and accepting sanctuary. 

9. However on the day of the "peace talks” Col
However on the day of the "peace talks” Col. Chivington received a telegram his superior officer informing him that "I want no peace till the indians suffer more...No peace must be made without my directions."
Unaware of Curtis's telegram, Chief Black Kettle and some 550 natives, having made their peace, traveled south to set up camp on Sand Creek

10. The Sand Creek Massacre
Knowing that the indians had surrendered, Chivington ordered his 700 troops to fire upon the camp, killed more than 150 Native Americans (warriors, women, & children)
Many of the surviving warriors joined the Dog Soldiers, deciding there could be no successful negotiations with the white men and were waging war against them.
Several of these warriors fought at the Battle of the Little Big Horn

12. The Bozeman Trail

13. Settlers were using the Bozeman Trail to get to the west coast
The trail went right through Sioux hunting grounds
In December 1866, Crazy Horse and his warriors ambushed Captain Fetterman and his troops and killed 80 soldiers (Fetterman Massacre/Battle of the Hundred Slain)

14. Battle of the Little Bighorn River (Montana-- June 1876)
George Custer's 7th Cavalry was sent to scout ahead for enemy troops.
On the morning of June 25, Custer drew near the camp and decided to press on ahead rather than wait for reinforcements.
At mid-day on June 25, Custer's 600 men entered the Little Bighorn Valley
The 7th US Cavalry division, led by General George Custer, was outnumbered 4 to 1

15. Within an hour the entire 7th cavalry was dead
“Custer’s Last Stand”
Decisive Native American victory and the worst U.S. Army defeat in the long Plains Indian War.
Many white Americans were outraged and this battle confirmed their image of the Indians as wild and bloodthirsty.
The U.S. government increased its efforts to subdue the tribes. Within five years, almost all of the Sioux and Cheyenne were forced onto reservations.

17. Custer’s Last Stand

18. Sitting Bull
Sioux chief that encouraged members of his tribe to resist the reservation system
He fled to Canada, but returned in 1881 and surrendered in order to prevent his people from starving
Gained fame in Buffalo Bill Cody’s Wild West Show; earning $50 a week for riding once around the arena, in addition to whatever he could charge for his autograph and picture.

19. The Nez Percé Indians also revolted when gold seekers arrived on their reservation
The government favored white settlement and reduced the size of the reservation by 90%
Chief Joseph finally surrendered his band after a 1700 mile trek across the Continental Divide toward Canada
The tribe was relocated to Kansas

20. Chief Joseph
It is cold and we have no blankets.  The little children are freezing to death.  My people, some of them, have run away to the hills and have no blankets, no food.  No one knows where they are--perhaps freezing to death.  I want to have time to look for my children and see how many I can find.  Maybe I shall find them among the dead.      Hear me, my chiefs.  I am tired.  My heart is sick and sad.  From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever.

21. The most difficult Natives to subdue were the Apache tribes of Arizona and New Mexico
They were lead by Geronimo
Were excellent horse soldiers
They eventually surrendered after being pushed to Mexico
Relocated to Oklahoma

22. The Bison
In the early days, tens of millions of bison roamed the American prairie, and by the end of the Civil War, there were still 15 million buffalo grazing
The eruption of the railroad that really started the buffalo massacre
Many people killed buffalo for their meat, their skins, or their tongues
Others either killed the bison for sport or killed them, took only one small part of their bodies, leaving the carcass to rot
By 1885, fewer than a 1,000 buffalo were left

23. Destruction of the Bison

24. “Helping” the Natives
Sympathy for the Indians finally materialized in the 1880s
Helen Hunt Jackson’s book, A Century of Dishonor, exposed the government mistreatment of the Natives
Her other book, Ramona also told of the Indians' struggle

25. The End of the Trail
The Dawes Severalty Act of 1887 dissolved the legal entities of all tribes
Broke down tribal organization by dividing reservation land for individual farms (violate native belief in land ownership)
160 acres for head of household
80 acres unmarried adult
If the Indians behaved the way Whites wanted them to behave (farmers on reservations), they could receive full U.S. citizenship in 25 years

26. Forced Assimilation
Humanitarians (Christian missionaries) wanted to kindly help Indians “walk the White man’s road”
The Carlisle Indian School forced assimilation
Students were not permitted to speak in their native language, call each other by native names, and were forced to give up clothing & adornments of their traditional lifestyle

28. The Ghost Dance
The Sioux who went to live on the Dakota reservation faced disease and starvation
Indians believed this ceremony would return their traditional ways
The Army believed Natives were planning an uprising

29. Death of Sitting Bull On December 15, 1890, Sitting Bull was arrested
Military officials feared that he was organizing an effort to lead people off the reservation again.
He was to be taken into custody and removed from the reservation, but a number of Sioux men rallied to his side to prevent it.
Someone fired a shot that hit one of the Indian police; they retaliated by shooting Sitting Bull in the chest and head.

30. The “Battle” of Wounded Knee
U.S. soldiers were ordered to confiscate the weapons of Indians on the reservation out of fear of an armed uprising.
On December 29, 1890, a man named Black Coyote (who may have been deaf or just did not understand the order given in English) refused to hand over his gun.
He was confronted and a gunshot was fired, prompting several other Sioux and U.S. soldiers to fire their guns.

31. Many in the Wounded Knee camp tried to flee the outbreak of violence, but the U.S. troops pursued those who ran and fired indiscriminately, killing women, children, and the elderly.
Natives were killed.
***This marked the end of the Plains Indian Wars***

32. Wounded Knee

33. Mining Leads to Westward Expansion
Gold was discovered in California in the late 1840s, and in 1858
The Comstock Lode in Nevada was discovered in 1859, and a fantastic amount of gold and silver worth more than $340 million was mined
Smaller “lucky strikes” also drew money-lovers to Montana, Idaho, and other western states.

34. Boom to bust--Anarchy in these outposts seemed to rule, but in the end, what was left were usually ghost towns
After the surface gold was found, ore-breaking machinery was brought in to break the gold-bearing quartz

35. Comstock Lode

36. The Cattle Kingdom
As cities back east boomed in the latter half of the nineteenth century, the demand for food and meat increased sharply
The problem of marketing meat profitably to the public market and cities was solved by the new transcontinental railroads. Cattle could now be shipped to the stockyards

37. The Cattle Drives
The “Long Drive” emerged to become a spectacular feeder of the slaughterhouses, as Texas cowboys herded cattle across desolate federal land to railroad terminals in Kansas
Chisholm Trail
Dodge City, Abilene, Ogallala, and Cheyenne became favorite stopovers
Cowboys (Black, White, Mexican)

38. Cattle Drives

39. The Cattle Drives
The railroads made the cattle herding business prosper, but it also destroyed it
The railroads also brought sheepherders and homesteaders who enclosed their land with Glidden’s barbed-wire fences
The fences that erased the open-range days of the long cattle drives
Blizzards often killed a significant portion of the herds

40. End of the Cattle Kingdom
Breeders started to fence in their ranches and downsized their herds
As federal land was sold to homesteaders, there was no more free grazing
Cowboys were left without work and became “plow boys”

41. Free Land for Farmers
The Homestead Act of 1862 (wanted by Republicans during the Civil War)
Allowed people to get as much as 160 acres of land, In return they promised to:
1. Pay a filing fee of about $30.00
2. Live on homestead for five years
3. Improve it (successful farm)
It also allowed people to get land after only six month’s residence for $1.25 an acre ($200)

42. Homesteaders

43. The Farmers’ Frontier
Before the Homestead Act the U.S. government had sold land for revenue, now it was giving it away
This act led half a million families to buy land and settle out West
It often turned out to be a cruel hoax because in the dry Great Plains, 160 acres was rarely enough for a family to earn a living and survive
Often, families were forced to give up their homesteads before the five years were up, since droughts, bad land, and lack of necessities forced them out

44. The Farmers’ Frontier
Fraud was spawned by the Homestead Act, since almost ten times as much land ended up in the hands of land-grabbing promoters than in the hands of real farmers
Sometimes these cheats would not even live on the land, but say that they’d built a “twelve by fourteen” dwelling—which later turned out to be twelve by fourteen inches!

45. Taming Western Deserts
Due to higher wheat prices resulting from crop failures around the world, more people pushed further westward
Geologist John Wesley Powell warned that so little rain fell west of the 100th Meridian, that successful farming could only be attained by massive irrigation

46. Farming Had Long Term Impacts
To counteract the lack of water (and a six year drought in the 1880s), farmers developed the technique of “dry farming”-- Conserve limited moisture during dry weather by reducing or even eliminating runoff and evaporation
Years of dry farming and over cultivation weakened the soil into fine particles

47. Over time, this method created a finely pulverized surface soil that contributed to the “Dust Bowl” several decades later
The Federal Government financed the construction of dams along the Missouri, Colorado and Colorado Rivers

48. The Far West Comes of Age
New states like Colorado, North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Washington, Idaho, and Wyoming were admitted into the Union
Utah did not become a state until 1896
By the 20th century, only Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Arizona remained as territories

49. John Gast, American Progress, 1872

50. A) Explain the point of view reflected in the image regarding ONE of the following
Migration
Technology
American Indians
B) Explain how ONE element of the image expresses the point of view you identified in Part A
C) Explain how the point of view you identified in Part A helped to shape ONE specific United States government action between 1845 and 1900

51. Oklahoma
The U.S. government made available land that had formerly belonged to the Native Americans
Thousands of “Sooners” jumped the boundary line and illegally went into Oklahoma, often forcing U.S. troops to evict them
On April 22, 1889, Oklahoma was legally opened, and 18 years later, in 1907, Oklahoma became the “Sooner State.”

53. The Closing of the Frontier
Frederick Jackson Turner developed a thesis which examined the impact of the end of westward expansion
American history had always been about westward expansion. America was the Land of opportunity (although not equal opportunity)
The frontier had come to represent democracy for the American pioneer
No more westward land to settle…now what??

54. Conservation Before it’s Too Late
National Parks emerged as some people became concerned that all of the American land would become personal property
Yellowstone National Park was created in 1872
Yosemite and Sequoia parks were created soon after

56. The Fading Frontier
The “safety valve theory” stated that the frontier was like a safety valve for the overcrowded cities of the East
Assumed if the urban centers became too over populated a person could always move west
Few city-dwellers left the cities for the West, since they didn’t know how to farm

57. The West increasingly became less and less a land of opportunity for farms, but still was good for hard laborers and ranchers
Free acreage did lure a host of immigrant farmers to the West
The lure of the West led to city employers raising wages to keep workers in the cities

58. The Farm Becomes a Factory
Bonanza Farms—large scale farms using technology to mass produce
Farmers were now increasingly producing single “cash” crops (wheat)
Profits were used to buy manufactured goods
California vegetables and fruits, harvested by poorly paid Mexican and Asian workers were sold back East for profit

60. The Farm Becomes a Factory
New inventions in farming, such as a steam engine that could pull a plow, seeder, or harrow, the new twine binder, and the combined reaper-thresher sped up harvesting and lowered the number of people needed to farm

61. Passing the Blame
Farmers created many of their own problems through the use of new technology, but they often sought to blame banks and railroads for their losses rather than their own shortcomings

62. Deflation and the Debtor
In the 1880s, farmers produced more crops and forced down prices (supply and demand), leading to more debt and no way to repay it
Paying back debts was especially difficult in this deflation-filled time
Contraction--Less money in circulation

63. Farmers operated year after year on losses and lived as best they could
Thousands of homesteads fell to mortgages and foreclosures
Farm tenancy rather than farm ownership was increasing
The fall of the farmers in the late 1800s was similar to the fall of the South and its “King Cotton” during the Civil War
Depending solely on one crop was good in good times but disastrous during less prosperous times

64. Unhappy Farmers
In the late 1880s and early 1890s, droughts, grasshopper plagues, and searing heat waves made the toiling farmers miserable and poor
City, state, and federal governments added to the farmers misery by a continual raising of taxes

65. Taking Advantage of the Farmers for Profit
The railroads hurt the farmers by fixing freight prices
The middlemen (by taking huge cuts in profits),
The various harvester, barbed wire, and fertilizer trusts—put farmers at their mercy for supplies
In 1890, one half of the U.S. population still consisted of farmers, but they were spread out among many states making it hard for them to organize

66. The Farmers Take Their Stand
In 1867, the National Grange of the Patrons of Husbandry, (The Grange), was founded by Oliver H. Kelley
Social and educational opportunities for isolated farmers
Became more political as they sought to improve their situation

67. The Farmers Take Their Stand
The Greenback Labor Party also attracted farmers
In 1878, the Greenback Laborites polled over a million votes and elected 14 members of Congress
In 1880, the Greenbackers ran General James B. Weaver, a Civil War general, but he only polled 3% of the popular vote

68. Prelude to Populism
The Farmers’ Alliance,(late 1870s), was another coalition of farmers seeking to limit the power of the banks and railroads
Its programs only aimed at those who owned their own land
More than ½ of the Southern farming population was excluded as tenant farmers and/or black farmers (Black farmers formed the Colored Farmers National Alliance)

69. Populist Platform The Alliance members agreed on
Nationalization of railroads
The abolition of national banks
A graduated income tax
A new federal sub-treasury for farmers
Populists were led by Ignatius Donnelly from Minnesota & Mary Elizabeth Lease
Both of whom spoke eloquently and attacked those that hurt farmers (banks, railroads, etc.)

70. The Wizard of Oz… A Political Satire?
Some historians believe there are subliminal historical references within the children’s story, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, written by L. Frank Baum
Kansas—the land of the farmer

71. Oz– a utopian land with no disease or poverty
The Emerald City—Washington DC (powerful in part because of the wealth influencing politics)
In the book, Dorothy’s slippers weren’t ruby, they were silver

72. Munchkinland—a reference to the growing number of immigrants coming to America in search of a better life
The Yellow Brick Road—symbolic of the gold standard that wealthy businessmen wanted the American economy to be based upon

73. Uncle Henry—a typical farmer at the mercy of the crops, weather, and heavily in debt
Dorothy—Populist Party supporter Mary Elizabeth Lease who spoke on behalf of America’s farmer

74. The Scarecrow—Congressmen Jerry Simpson who wanted the economy to be based on silver
The Tin Man—unemotional labor leader Eugene Debs, representing the working man who wanted the gold standard

75. The Lion—Democratic presidential nominee William Jennings Bryan who “roared” in his speech but was seen as cowardly when called to put his plans into action
The Wicked Witch of the East—Banker J.P. Morgan who didn’t care about the plight of the farmer

76. The Wicked Witch of the West—Railroad tycoon Jay Gould who fixed railroad prices to hurt the farmers
The Wizard –President Grover Cleveland who supported big business and the gold standard

77. Coxey’s Army
The Panic of 1893 fueled the passion of the Populists. Many disgruntled unemployed fled to D.C. calling for change
Most famous of these people was “General” Jacob Coxey. “Coxey’s Army” marched on Washington with scores of followers and many newspaper reporters.
They called for relieving unemployment by implementing government public works programs

78. Coxey’s Army
The march fizzled out when they were arrested for walking on the grass

79. Pullman Strike (1894)
What do you remember???

80. Golden McKinley and Silver Bryan
The leading Republican candidate in 1896 was William McKinley
Civil War major, Ohio Congressman
His campaign was paid for by Marcus Alonzo Hannah (buying the election for $16 million in contributions??)

81. McKinley’s Platform
As a conservative in business, he adopted laissez-faire economics
His platform was for the gold standard, even though he personally was not
His platform also called for a gold-silver bi-metalism, if all other nations would do the same
This was a ploy to gain votes, other countries would never agree to the plan

82. Golden McKinley and Silver Bryan
William Jennings Bryan
The Democrats were in disarray and unable to come up with a candidate, Bryan, the “Boy Orator of the Platte,” came to their rescue
the Election of 1896, it was essentially the “Demo-Pop” party

83. The Democratic ticket called for unlimited coinage of silver with the ratio of 16 silver ounces worth as much as one ounce of gold
Democrats who would not stand for this left the party (Gold Bugs)

84. Bryan’s Cross of Gold Speech
1896 Democratic Convention
"Having behind us the producing masses of this nation and the world, supported by the commercial interests, the laboring interests and the toilers everywhere, we will answer their demand 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."
Bryan’s Cross of Gold Speech

85. Some common men were worried the silver would also reduce the value of their wages by half
Crop prices increased and farmers became less worried about Republicans (during the “Good Times”)
Factory workers had no reason to vote for inflation
Bryan’s ideas seem too radical and many voted for the McKinley as the safer bet

86. Election of 1896

87. Plowholders Versus Bondholders
This election was perhaps the most important since the elections involving Abraham Lincoln
privileged against the underprivileged
It resulted in a victory for big business and big cities
End of the 3rd party system(high voter turn out/close elections
Started Era of 4th party system (weak political parties, poor voter turn out, $ issue fades away)

88. The Election of 1896 could be called the “gold vs. silver” election
The vote made it clear that Americans were going with gold
Also in the election:
Farmers no longer catered to for their vote—cities/immigrants/big business become focus of schmoozing
The Republicans seized control of the White House for 16 consecutive years (all but 8 of the next 36 years)

89. Republicans Policy Enthroned
When McKinley took office in 1897, he was calm and conservative, working well with his party and avoiding major confrontations
The Dingley Tariff Bill was passed to replace the Wilson-Gorman law and raise more revenue, raising the tariff level to whopping 46.5 percent