THE WEST POST CIVIL WAR

CHAPTER 13

13.1 CULTURES CLASH ON THE PRARIE

✕ We will study in this chapter: The rise of corporations, heavy industry, mechanized farming and technological innovations transformed the American economy from an agrarian to an increasingly urban industrial society.

VOCABTRY TO DEFINE THESE WORDS IN YOUR NOTEBOOK LEAVE SPACE IF NOT SURE

✕ Great Plains✕ Treaty of Fort Laramie✕ Sitting Bull✕ George A. Custer✕ Assimilation✕ Dawes Act✕ Battle of Wounded Knee✕ Longhorn✕ Chisholm Trail✕ Long Drive

–Unique & highly developed Native American ways existed on the Great Plains –the grassland extending through the west-central portion of the U.S.

– The horse and buffalo•Horses•The buffalo was used for many purposes:

Clash of cultures•Clash of cultures → owning land:

Native Americans vs.Settlers

•The lure of silver and gold–Discovery of gold in Colorado in 1858–Mining camps were rough areas

•Virginia City, Nevada•Helena, Montana

Assimilation:– The Dawes Act

• Passed by Congress in 1887 to “Americanize” Native Americans

• Broke up reservations

• Gave 160 acres to each head of household and 80 acres to each unmarried adult

• By 1932, whites had taken 2/3 of the land set aside for Native Americans

– Between 1883 and 1887 a destructive pattern of dry summers and harsh winters wiped out many cattle herds

– Ranchers began to fence off their land using barbed wire, invented by Joseph F. Glidden

• a. Barbed wire was cheap and easy to use

Settling on the Great PlainsCh. 13 Section 2

Objective: Understand how the Great Plains transformed and the hardships that settlers faced○ Heading West○ Railroads open the west

■1850-1871 → the federal gov’t. made land grants to the RRs

■Two major companies

● Union Pacific● Central Pacific

• Homestead Act• Passed in 1862• 160 acres of land free to any citizen who was the head of

the household• Exodusters: African-Americans who moved from the post-

Reconstruction South• In 1889 a major land giveaway takes place in Oklahoma

• Some claim land before the event starts →Oklahoma• Eventually we no longer have an unexplored frontier

Boomer Sooner ??????

– Hardships- droughts, floods, fires, blizzards, locust plagues, and occasional raids by outlaws and Native Americans

– Dugouts were homes built into the land

– Soddy: a sod home– Women’s work– Technical support for

farmers

In 1837, John Deere invented a steel plow that could cut through heavy soil

In 1847 Cyrus McCormick began to mass-produce the reaping machine

– Agricultural Education• Morrill Act of 1862 and 1890 gave federal land to the

states to help finance agricultural colleges– HANDOUT

• Hatch Act of 1887 established ag. experiment stations to inform farmers of new developments

Bonanza

Large farms

• Between 1885-1890, much of the plains experiences drought, and the large, single crop farms could not compete

• RRs would charge higher rates for western farmers

• When there was no competition, the RRs would charge more for a short haul than a long one

13.3Farmers Unite to Address Common Problems

– Late 1800’s farmers stuck in a vicious economic cycle. – Farmers would mortgage their farms to buy more land

and produce more crops– Land was becoming scarce/ Railroads taking

advantage of farmers.

Farmers’ Alliances

• 1867 – Oliver Hudson Kelley – started the Grange– Originally supposed to provide a social outlet and an

education forum for isolated farm families– Ended up fighting railroads

• Farmers’ Alliances– Sent lecturers from town to town to educate people

Populism

– The movement of the people / Populist or People’s party

– Economic reforms• Increase in money supply, a graduated income tax, federal

loan program.– Political

• Election of U.S. senators by popular vote, single terms for the president and vice president

• Called for 8 hour work day• Restrictions on immigration

– Eventually became the platform of the Democratic Party

Panic of 1893

– Railroads grew faster than markets. In February 1893, six railroad companies went bankrupt.

Republicans and Democrats split

– Republicans– Democrats– Major debate was over money

• Bimetallism – monetary system in which the government would give citizens either gold or silver in exchange for paper currency or checks

• Gold standard – backing dollars solely with gold

• Populist party chooses– Join forces?– Nominate their own candidates?

• Republicans nominate William McKinley• Democrats nominate William Jennings Bryan

– Dilemma• Endorsed Bryan, nominated their own candidate, Thomas Watson

of Georgia for VP, kept party organization in tact

• End of Populism– Election techniques

• Bryan• McKinley• McKinley wins election carried the East, Bryan carried

South and farm Midwest

– Marked the end of populism• Silver Lining!