The American Frontier

Unit Objectives Learn and assess the justifications for Manifest Destiny Learn how Manifest Destiny shaped the West Learn how mining and ranching led to conflict with Native Americans Learn the impact of westward expansion on the Native Americans To identify key figures of the frontier era and their impact

Why did Americans start moving West?

GOLD, LAND, ADVENTURE, MANIFEST DESTINY What was the “Great American Desert”?

LAND BETWEEN THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER AND ROCKY MOUNTAINS

Great American Desert The land was thought to be worthless because no gold had been found there and it did not look like good farm land, so settlers just passed through on the way to Oregon and California The U.S. made treaties with the Native Americans setting aside that land for them Eventually gold was found there (Black Hills of South Dakota) and the land was discovered to be some of best farm land in the world, so the settlers violated the treaties to get the land

Mining (The Age of Exploitation) Material things meant much after the Civil War because many in the South had lost everything—many who had not wanted to risk everything they had to move west now had nothing left to lose Image vs Reality Image of how easy it was to strike it rich: EVERYONE GOT RICH EASILY

Reality: ONLY BIG CORPORATIONS THAT COULD AFFORD HEAVY MACHINERY GOT RICH FROM GOLD Usual settlement pattern on the Frontier: Flurry of activity around strike and a mining town would rise up only to become a “ghost town” after the mine ran out

Many moved West simply to make money off of the miners (Example: merchants who charged high prices because there was no competition) Many people were scammed into buying worthless land Important strikes: Pike’s Peak (Denver), Virginia City (Nevada), Black Hills (Dakotas) John McKay: Most famous and successful miner

Impact of mining Attracted people West Increased mineral wealth of the U.S. Increased problems with the Native Americans Opened more land in the West to farming (people who failed at mining turned to what they knew—farming)

Impact of Mining Brought the Railroad West Railroads were expensive to build and no company was willing to expand West until there was a need—now there was The Transcontinental Railroad connected Omaha, Nebraska with Sacramento, CA cutting the time to cross the frontier and making the journey much easier, but also helping to destroy Native American culture

Cattle Ranching Joseph Glidden: Invented barbed wire for fencing which led to the fencing in of the open range and problems with the Native Americans because the fences got in the way of the buffalo

Americans vs Native Americans There were few problems between American settlers and Native Americans when the settlers were simply passing through the Great American Desert on their way to the West Coast—things changed when settlers found uses for the Plains (gold, good farmland)

Dawes Act Native Americans were required to live on plots of land on reservations and adopt American culture and lifestyle Indian schools were created to “Americanize” the children and take away their own culture Some Native Americans fought it leading to war with the government, others willingly accepted it to avoid a war they could not win

Buffalo Slaughter Buffalo were killed by the thousand because they were important to the Native Americans (and because they got in the way of the railroads) The goal was to deprive the Native Americans of the resource that was so important to them and force them to accept living on reservations

General George Custer LED U.S. TROOPS AGAINST THE NATIVE AMERICANS WHO REFUSED TO GO TO THE RESERVATIONS Killed at the Battle of Little Big Horn by Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull (“Custer’s Last Stand”)—this battle was not like the others because it was a victory for the Native Americans

Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse

Crazy Horse Monument

Battle of Wounded Knee LAST MAJOR BATTLE OF THE INDIAN WARS 300 Lakota Sioux were massacred by U.S. troops because they mistakenly thought the Indians were hostile

The Ghost Dance The Indians had been performing a Ghost Dance which had been forbidden The Ghost Dance was meant to bring back ancestors and find ways to live in peace with the white man Sitting Bull was blamed and an attempt was made to arrest him Indians resisted and Sitting Bull was killed Indians fled the reservation U.S. troops tracked them down and tried to disarm them leading to the conflict

Chief Joseph and the Nez Perce Chief Joseph tried to lead his tribe to Canada rather than moving to a reservation—they were stopped just shy of the border “I WILL FIGHT NO MORE FOREVER”