Presidents chart # 17 Andrew Johnson # 18 Ulysses Grant 1865-1869 (No Election) Takes over for Lincoln, Reconstruction, impeached # 18 Ulysses Grant 1868, 1872 serves 1869-1877 Reconstruction, Transcontinental Railroad # 19 Rutherford Hayes 1876 serves 1877-1881 Election significance: Compromise of 1876 Reconstruction ends, labor strikes
The Great Plains
Why come to the west? Cheap land Plenty of land Railroads Huge land grants given by federal government 170 million acres Union Pacific and Central Pacific Railroads Minority labor
Government support Homestead Act 1862 Oklahoma 1889 160 acres of free land to any head of household in the West 600,000 families move Exodusters- African Americans moving from post-Reconstruction South to Kansas Railroad and businesses buy up land as well Oklahoma 1889 Opened up this territory to settlers Some got there earlier than allowed date Sooners
Protection Henry Washburn and Nathaniel Langford ask for some land to be protected from settlement Yellowstone National Park created in 1872 By 1890 the frontier was declared to be nonexistent anymore
Frontier “American social development has been continually beginning over again on the frontier. This perennial rebirth, this fluidity of American life, this expansion westward with its new opportunities, its continuous touch with the simplicity of primitive society, furnish the forces dominating American character.”
Challenges Housing Self Sufficiency Farming Education Debt Built homes from the land Self Sufficiency Families had to do everything for themselves (especially women) Farming New techniques come about to assist farmers Steel plow, reaping machine, grain drill, mechanical reaper Education Morrill Act financed agricultural colleges Learned new farming techniques Debt Crop prices fluctuated High railroad fees
News Report Your next assignment is to create a news broadcast that you will perform in front of the class on Monday You will have today, after lecture tomorrow, and all period Friday to work on this Your news report needs to be creative DO NOT JUST GO STAND UP AND TALK Every group member needs to have a speaking role Idea: Two anchors who pan to different “reporters” BE CREATIVE You must cover all of the information assigned to your group You will write a script that will be turned in after you perform You will be graded on the presentation, your creativity, and your information
Material Group 1 Opening up the West (railroads, Homestead Act etc.) Why did the frontier close? Life in the West Group 2 Farmer debt Farmers rise up Economy, railroads How did they organize? (Farmers Alliances)
Material Group 3 Populism (platform, members, activity) Silver or gold (Panic of 1893) Group 4 William Jennings Bryan Cross of Gold Speech End of Populism