The Western Frontier 1870-1900

The Plains Indians Early Plains Indians farmed and settled in villages In 1598, the Spanish introduced the horse. Culture changed to nomadic bands that hunted buffalo Buffalo provided food, clothing and shelter Land held in common, used by all

Settlers Push West White settlers had very different culture & view of land If you don’t settle on land & “improve” it you lose rights Farmland, Gold & Silver in California & Colorado

Mining Towns Filthy, ramshackle, living quarters, shacks & tents Dirt/mud streets, wooden sidewalks Very crowded, often lawless & violent Some business opportunities besides mining

Government Regulationof Native Americans

During 1830’s Indians forcibly moved out of Southeast Treaties granted the lands of the plains to the Indians By the 1850’s settlers hungry for more land Government changed policies and began creating

individual reservations by tribe Many Indians ignored treaties & continued hunting

The Sand Creek Massacre, 1864 Discovery of gold in Colorado brought many settlers Settlers urged government to break treaties, force Indians out New Treaty signed, some Indians agreed to move east Cheyenne and Arapahoe under Black Kettle camped

at Sand Creek under an American flag. Colonel John Chivington and 1st Colorado attacked

& massacred women & children while men out hunting

Death on the Bozeman Trail Trail to Northwest from Nebraska, through Sioux homelands Red Cloud appealed to Washington to end settlement When rejected, Crazy Horse ambushes US Troops under

Captain William Fetterman at Lodge Trail Ridge Skirmishes continue til US closes the trail

Fort Laramie Treaty, 1868 Agreement between the United States and the Lakota people, Yanktonai Dakota, and Arapaho Nation Ended Red Cloud's War and guaranteed Lakota ownership

of the Black Hills and hunting rights in several states

Sitting Bull refuses to sign treaty

Gold in Black Hills White miners violate

treaty and continuemoving in to Black Hills

Skirmishes continue

Chief Gall – Hunkpapa Sioux

“We have been taught to hunt and live on the game. You tell us that we must learn to farm, live in one house, and take on your ways. Suppose the people living beyond the great sea should come and tell you that you must stop farming, and kill your cattle, and take your lands, what would you do? Would you not fight them?”

from Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee

The End of a Way of Life In 1870, new technique to tan buffalo hides developed Whites begin systematically hunting buffalo Once 10’s of millions, by 1878 all but extinct This hunting creates crisis for Plains Indians

Red River War 1874-75 Comanche under Quanah Parker begin raiding white settlements to stop the slaughter of buffalo

US Army responds and Comanches & others surrender Comanche, Kiowa, & others resettled in Indian Territory Indian resistance crushed in Southern Plains

Black Hills War, 1876 White miners continued to violate Laramie Treaty

seeking gold in Black Hills of Dakota Territory Sitting Bull organizes loose alliance between Lakota

Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes George Armstrong Custer & 7th Cavalry sent to region

to protect settlers

Little Big Horn: Custer’s Last StandJune, 1876

Crazy Horse, Gall & Sitting Bull overwhelm Custer Within an hour, Custer & his men are dead Tactical Victory; Strategic Defeat Eventually, the Sioux forced to surrender Sitting Bull and others flee to Canada

Chief Joseph & The Nez Percé In 1873 signed treaty keeping ancestral tribal lands In 1877, government revokes the treaty and sends troops under General Howard who offers reservation lands Chief Joseph refuses and leads tribe through 5 states,

fighting rearguard action trying to get to Canada Trapped and defeated less than 40 miles from border “I will fight no more forever”

Assimilation: The Dawes Act, 1887 Attempt to assimilate Indians into American society Each head of household received 160 acres The rest of the land was sold by the government By 1934 Indian owned land down by 66%

The Ghost Dance Spiritual ritual begun by Wovoka, Jack Wilson, Paiute Cleanse spirit and end white expansion Begin an era of cooperation between races Quickly spread through tribes of the west.

Wounded KneeDecember, 1890

The Ghost Dance spread to Lakota Sioux & increasedtheir resistance to assimilation

Police sent to arrest Sitting Bull who is killed Rest of Sioux flee and camp at Wounded Knee 7th Cavalry pursues, massacres and rounds them up.

Black Elk SpeaksI did not know then how much was ended. When I look back now from this high hill of my old age, I can still see the butchered women and children lying heaped and scattered all along the crooked gulch as plain as when I saw them with eyes still young. And I can see that something else died there in the bloody mud, and was buried in the blizzard. A people's dream died there. It was a beautiful dream. And I, to whom so great a vision was given in my youth, — you see me now a pitiful old man who has done nothing, for the nation's hoop is broken and scattered. There is no center any longer, and the sacred tree is dead.

Cowboys & Cattle As buffalo disappear from plains, cattle ranchers begin

to spread their herds Learned methods from Mexicans, longhorns were

descended from southern Spanish cattle

Vacquero = buckaroo Churqui = jerky Mesteňo = mustang Chaparreras = chaps Corral Rodeo Bronco Caballo

Growing Demand for Beef After Civil War, cities grow, as does demand for food Chicago grows as a stockyard center for slaughtering Herds roam free, driven to railheads, then to Chicago

The End of the Open Range Overgrazing & Extended bad weather Glidden invents barbed wire One big open range becomes

many small fenced ranches

Railroads Open Up the West Several companies raced to open first transcontinental RR Union Pacific & Central Pacific met in Utah 1868 Government made generous right of way grants, and other

property grants that RR's could sell

The Homestead Act of 1862 160 Acres free to any head of household who would settle Between 1862-1900, 600,000 families take advantage 1889, similar give-away in Indian Territory (Oklahoma) Railroads & Speculators bought up & resold many claims

The Homestead Act of 1862 One of the most important pieces of legislation in US History Settled the Great Plains & provided new lives & opportunities

for thousands of families, soldiers, immigrants, etc

The Closing of the Frontier: 1890 In 1890, the Census Bureau declared that the USA no longer

had a continuous frontier line

The Frontier Thesis:Frederick Jackson Turner

Born in 1861, Portage, WI 1893, “The Significance of the

Frontier in American History” Success of USA directly related

to Westward Expansion Rugged Individualism forged on

the Frontier Continual rebirth on Frontier Tremendous influence on media

historians, religion, etc Some modern historians now

reject Turner's Thesis

Settling the Great PlainsSod Houses & Dugouts

With no wood, or stone, settlers turned to sod bricks Some settlers dug into hillsides, or under ground

By 1900-1913, over one million sod dwellings in use 1850: 1% of US Population lived west of Mississippi 1900: 30% lived west of Mississippi

Women on the Plains Women who were single, widowed or divorced could

qualify as homesteaders, and thousands did Wives/Mothers

canning, doctoringfield work, clothing

Teachers Helped w/ churches

Technical Innovations in Farming Cyrus McCormick:

Mechanical Reaper, 1857 John Deere:

Steel Plows, 1837 Spring Tooth Harrow Corn Binder, etc 1830: Bushel of Corn – 3 Hours 1900: Bushel of Corn – 10 Minutes

Morrill Act: Agricultural Education In 1862 & 1890 Congress gave Federal Land to States to help finance agricultural colleges: Land Grant Colleges State Colleges, A&M, Tech, and Engineering Schools Justin Smith Morrill – Buchanan vetoes, Lincoln signs

A Second American Revolution?Princeton Professor James McPherson

1991, McPherson writes “Abraham Lincoln and theSecond American Revolution”

Contends that Lincoln's Emancipation, prosecution of Civil War, Homestead Act and Morrill Act fundamentally

changed the United States

Problems for Farmers

Debt Cycle Railroad Fees Retiring Greenbacks Falling Wheat prices:

1867: $2.00/Bushel1887: $0.67/Bushel

Farmers form Alliances:The Grange

Oliver Hudson Kelley Began as social club

and education society Grew to fight railroads &

set up cooperatives, technical advice& lobbying legislatures

Others followed:Southern AllianceColored Farmer’s Allianceand others

The Rise of the Populist Party Relief for farmers in debt Increase in the Money Supply:

Raise prices received for goods & services Graduated Income Tax Direct Election of Senators Single Term for President Secret Ballot 8 Hour Work Week Limits on Immigration Initiative, Referendum, Recall Won 10% of Vote in 1892 Elected 5 Senators 3 Governors 1500 State Legislators

Election of 1892

The Panic of 1893 Brief but severe Depression Gold supply low due to government silver purchases Government unable to redeem paper money for gold Phila. & Reading RR fails, 15,000 businesses, 600 Banks

Silver or Gold? All Paper Money was “Backed” by Bullion Bimetallism: Gold and Silver: William Jennings Bryan

More money in circulation, stimulate economy Gold Standard: Grover Cleveland

Less money in circulation, economy more stable

Bryan & The Cross of Gold Bryan delivers impassioned speech at Democratic

Convention in Chicago Receives Democratic Nomination Populists in turmoil: Support Bryan or not? In the end they

endorse Bryan, but also run candidate for VP

The Election of 1896: The End of Populism

William Jennings Bryan - DWilliam McKinley - R

The Election of 1896: The End of Populism