Download presentation
Presentation is loading. Please wait.
1
The Last West
2
Settling the “Last Frontier”
3
Frederick Jackson Turner
“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. The true point of view in the history of this nation is not the Atlantic coast, it is the Great West.” 1893
4
The New Midwest Post-CW- industrial development in NE, MW
South, West supply raw materials Consumers of Northern manufactured goods Colonial status?
5
Settlement Post-CW = settlement of Great Plains, Rockies, W. Plateau
The “Great American Desert” GEO- Few trees, little rainfall , blizzards, heat Buffalo 250K NA (1865) 1900- Buffalo GONE Fences, homesteads, ranches RRs Towns 10 new states Miners, ranchers, farmers > NA
6
BOOMER SOONER!
7
Washington is not a place to live in
Washington is not a place to live in. The rents are high, the food is bad, the dust is disgusting and the morals are deplorable. Go West, young man, go West and grow up with the country.
8
Mining CA- GOLD, ‘48 quest for gold/silver into 1890s
CO, NV, ID, MO, AZ, SD Pike’s Peak (CO, ‘59) Comstock Lode (NV, ’90- $340 m.) Prospectors deep-shaft mining = need for investment, capital (equipment, corporations) Strikes of gold, silver boomtowns Saloons, dancehalls, vigilante justice Out of resources? ghost town Survivors? San Francisco, Sacramento, Denver Theaters, churches, newspapers, libraries, RR
10
impact Silver discovery/mining increase in supply crisis over relative value of gold/silver-backed money 1880s, 1890s Pop. increase Environmental issues NAs lose land to miners
11
Chinese Exclusion Act Mining company workers from Euro., Latin America, China 50% pop. of mining towns = foreign-born 1/3 in 1860s = Chinese Resentment by American-born (competition) CA- hostility in form of Miner’s Tax $20/month on any foreign-born miner 1882- Chinese Exclusion Act No immigration into US by Chinese laborers = 1st restriction on immigration on basis of race/nationality Restrictions through 1965
12
Cattle Grasslands of TX – Canada Pre-CW- vaqueros in TX
American cowboy from Mexican traditions 1860s- wild herds of cattle in TX Grass, cattle = free RR open E. markets to W. cattle in ‘60s, ‘70s Stockyards- Abilene, Dodge City Trails- Chisolm, Goodnight-Loving (“Long drive”) African-American, Mexican cowboys ($1/day) $30-$40/head
13
Overgrazing, blizzards, drought (‘85-’86) 90%+ cattle dead
End of long drives in ‘80s Overgrazing, blizzards, drought (‘85-’86) 90%+ cattle dead Homesteader arrival + barbed wire fencing = end of open range Wealthy cattle owners change business Scientific ranching, new breeds (hay/grains tenderness) = taming of “Wild West” by ‘90s Result? Eating changes from pork to beef Image of “self-reliant American cowboy”
14
Farming Homestead Act- ’62
160 acres public land- free if settle, farm 5 years Free land + RR promotions + land speculators native-born & immigrant families into Great Plains 1870 – 1900 500k families Over 2 mil. Pay for land Best public land to RRs
15
Issues Housing for “sodbusters” Extremes of life Dugouts, soddy
Hot, cold Grasshoppers Loneliness Scarcity of water Little timber (no wood fences)
16
Solutions Joseph Glidden- barbed wire, ‘74 Mail-order windmills
fences Mail-order windmills deep wells for water “dry farming” Need more than 160 acres Weather Falling crop prices High cost of machinery 2/3 homestead farm failure by 1900 Survive by deep-plowing, Russian wheat, dams/irrigation Humans reshape environment
17
Horace Greely- “Go West, young man!”
Benjamin “Pap” Singleton- slave in TN, escaped to Detroit. Future for blacks in farm ownership “The Advantage of Living in a Free State” circulated after learning of cheap land in KS ,500 acres purchased to form Dunlap, “Exodusters” Fear by Southern whites of labor loss blockades of rivers, roads West Most homesteads too small to make a living. Many hire selves out to white farmers. Crop failures (drought, dust storms, fires) blacks to flee to cities
18
“The Only good indian is a dead indian.”
American Indians “The Only good indian is a dead indian.” -Gen. Phillip sheridAN
19
Occupying the west 1865 NA tribes NM/AZ- Pueblo (Hopi, Zuni)
Permanent settlements, AG, livestock SW- Navajo, Apache Nomadic, H-G background- move to settled life, AG, livestock, arts/crafts Pacific NW- Chinook, Shasta Fish, game Great Plains= 2/3 of all tribes- Sioux, Blackfoot, Cheyenne, Crow, Comanche Nomadic (horse), buffalo, loose organization Large tribes, small bands ( )
21
Reservation policy 1830s- AJ Indian Removal
E. tribes into West Believe lands W of MS River = “Indian country” Different view of Great Plains Wagon trails W to OR, plans for transcontinental RR end of “Indian country” ‘51- Treaty of Fort Laramie, Fort Atkinson Fed Gov. assign Plains tribes reservations Large tracts of land, boundaries Most refuse to restrict movement (buffalo, enemy territory)
22
Indian wars Late 1800s = settlement of Great Plains
Farmers, miners, cattlemen onto Indian land violence Indian raids begin- impact trains, mining camps Result of forced acceptance of treaties reduced land Sioux War- ‘66 Capt. Fetterman + army troops wiped out by Sioux
23
INDIAN WARS 1851- Treaty at Fort Laramie
WY: NA Chiefs agree to tribal borders, not bother emigrants on trails through land Peace for several years, but road building by army and settling by whites continued deeper into NA land (encroach vs. pass through) : 150k American settlers into Sioux territory in violation of treaty
24
Early 1860s-late 1870s, Indian Wars rage on frontier
NA raids on trains, mining camps 1864- Col. J.M. Chivington “90-day volunteers” approach NA Sand Creek. Ignore white flag of truce, slaughter 200 1867- Indian Peace Commission established to remove causes of the wars Should be accomplished at expense of tribes persuade them to reservations
25
Indian Appropriation Act, ’71
1867- Report on the Condition of the Indian Tribes Indian Peace Commission Medicine Creek Lodge (KS)- Kiowa, Comanche, Arapaho, Cheyenne w. OK Sioux Black Hills (Dakota territory) Indian Appropriation Act, ’71 End of recognition of tribes as independent nations Nullification of any previous treaties
26
Custer’s last stand OR…The Battle of Little Bighorn- June 25, 1876
Col. George Custer- Civil War vet, reckless, glory-seeker, last in class at West Point Expedition into Black Hills w/ gold seekers, followed by miners Into Sioux hunting lands Army did nothing to back promise of protecting grounds from settlers, but did move against Sioux wandering across range Great Sioux War- 15 months through WY, MT, SD, NE
27
Custer found main camp of Sioux & n. Cheyenne allies
Custer move in surrounded by 2,500 warriors all dead Crazy Horse 7th Cavalry 4+ miles away Army regain momentum and force Sioux off land, require payments Forced onto least valuable land, starvation, disease
28
Players of Little Big Horn
Sioux Chief Sitting Bull General Custer
29
Wounded knee By 1886, Indians Wars nearly at close
Chief Joseph- Nez Perce (ID): war launched when refused to give up land. Caught headed to Canada, exiled in OK Chief Geronimo (Apache) captured after 15 years of fighting “I will fight no more forever.” –Chief Joseph
30
Dec. 29, 1890- @ Wounded Knee, SD: rifle fired
1888- Wovoka ill, delirious. saw spirit world, learned of deliverer coming to rescue NAs, restore land. Told others must perform ceremonial new moon to bring about deliverer = Ghost Dance 1890- white authorities alarmed at spread, persistence, fervor of NAs. Sioux chief Sitting Bull killed Dec. 29, Wounded Knee, SD: rifle fired from who? Nervous soldiers react and fire into surrendering group of NAs “Battle” kills 200 NAs, 25 soldiers
31
Indian policy Frontiersmen lack tolerance, E. Americans see slaughter as immoral seek reform Helen Hunt Jackson, A Century of Dishonor, ’81 Sympathy for NA tribes support for end of NA culture (assimilation) Formal education Boarding schools- Carlisle School (PA) Segregated from own people Job training (AG/Industrial skills) Xnty White culture
33
Dawes Act Dawes Severalty Act of “Americanize” NAs- deal with NAs as individuals, not tribes Individual land ownership, agriculture Communal land 160 acres per head of family 47 million acres To “protect” land, gov. held control through a trust for 25 years After, person owned land & earned citizenship if “adopt the habits of civilized life” 90 m. acres of best land sold- white settlers, speculators, NAs
34
Act well intentioned, but harmful.
Reservations broken up Loss of NA land to whites Inexperienced with ownership, land not distributed to families sold off, fraud Est. 90 mil sold to white settlers, speculators Most NA land remaining unsuitable for AG Traditional culture lost 1925- all NAs granted citizenship 1934- Indian Reorganization Act Establish tribal organizations, culture 500 tribes, 3 million people
Similar presentations
© 2025 SlidePlayer.com Inc.
All rights reserved.