The Great West and the Agricultural Revolution
Thomas Bailey: The American Pageant
13th Edition
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| 326629419 | Indian Reservations | In the 1860's the US government began herding indians into smaller and smaller reservations to get them out of our hair. | |
| 326629420 | "Indian Wars" | Ranged from colonial times to the Wounded Knee massacre and "closing" of the American frontier in 1890, generally resulted in the conquest of American Indians and their assimilation or forced relocation to Indian reservations | |
| 326629421 | Colonel J.M. Chivington | Ordered the militia to massacre about 400 Indians in cold blood at Sand Creek, Colorado in 1864 who posed no threat (the Chivington Massacre). | |
| 326629422 | Bozeman Trail | 1866- a Sioux war party ambushed Capt. William J. Fetterman's command of 81 soldiers and civilians who were constructing the Bozeman trail to Montana. There were no survivors. | |
| 326629423 | Colonel Custer | Found gold in the Black Hills of South Dakota (Sioux land). Hordes of Gold seekers invaded the Sioux reservation in search of gold. This caused Sitting Bull and the Sioux go on the warpath, completely decimating Custer's Seventh Calvary at Little Big Horn in the process | |
| 326629424 | The Nez Perce Indians | revolted when gold seekers made the government shrink their reservation by 90%, and after a torturous battle, Chief Joseph finally surrendered his band after a long trek across the Continental Divide. | |
| 326629425 | Helen Hunt Jackson | Wrote "A century of Dishonor" and "Ramona," creating sympathy for the Indians. Humanitarians wished to help indians "walk the white mans road," while hard liners wanted to kick their sorry asses out of 'merica! | |
| 326629426 | Battle of Wounded Knee | the "ghost dance" was brutally stamped out by us troops. Women and children were killed too. This battle marked the end of the Indian Wars. Most Indians were dead or on reservations. | |
| 326629427 | Dawes Severalty Act of 1887 | 1887- If the Indians behaved (farmers on reservations), then they could get citizenships after 25 years. Reservation land not allotted to the Indians was sold to railroads under the act. They lost half the they owned in 1880 by 1900. | |
| 326629428 | 1934 Indian Reorganization Act | Was the first US policy towards the indians helping their population grow and rebound. It basically replaced the Dawes Severalty Act. | |
| 326629429 | "fifty Niners" | Fled to Pike Peak in Colorado when gold struck. | |
| 326629430 | Comstock Lode in Nevada | Gold and silver found in 1859 worth more than $340 million | |
| 326629431 | "lucky strikes" | smaller gold allures that brought people to Montana, Idaho, and other western states. | |
| 326629432 | The "long drive" | Cowboys who drove the cattle thousands of miles to the train station to be slaughtered at a meat packing facility. | |
| 326629433 | Barbed-wire | Joseph Glidden developed a way of making fencing cheaply by twisting together sections of wire into barbed points. It was used in the great plains and ended the era of the open range. | |
| 326629434 | Wyoming Stock-Growers' Association | started among Wyoming cattle ranchers to standardize and organize the cattle industry, and grew so large that it controlled the state legislature. | |
| 326629435 | The Homestead Act | 1862- Allowed people to get as much as 160 acres of land in return for living on it for years, improving it, and paying a nominal fee of about $30, or it allowed people to get land after only six months residence for about $1.25 and acre. It got people to move to the Great Plains; however, it really was not a great deal, because the plain life was not so great. Families often were destroyed by droughts, grasshoppers, lack of supplies, or debt, or all of the above. | |
| 326629436 | John Wesley Powell | explorer and geologist who warned that traditional agriculture could not succeed west of 100th meridian | |
| 326629437 | "dry farming" | using shallow cultivation methods. Unfortunately, after some time this created a finely pulverized surface soil that contribute to the "dust bowl." A Russian species of wheat was used that was drought resistant. | |
| 326629438 | "Sooners" | In 1889, people who illegally claimed land by sneaking past government officials before the land races began | |
| 326629439 | Turner Thesis | The historian Frederick Jackson Turner argued that the frontier was the key factor in the development of American democracy and institutions; he maintained that the frontier served as a "safety valve" during periods of economic crisis. | |
| 326629440 | Yellowstone | the first national park being opened (1872) after people started realizing that land is not infinite. | |
| 326629441 | The "safety valve theory" | the frontier was like a safety valve for folks who, when it became too crowded in their area, could simply pack up and leave, moving west. Few city dwellers actually did this, but it helped pipe up wages in the cities. The bosses figured, if they can get free land, why work for us. | |
| 326629442 | The Grange | 1867- Founded by Oliver H. Kelley to improve the lives of isolated farmers through social, educational, and fraternal activities. Eventually it spread to claim over 800,000 members (1875) and changed its goals to include the improvement of the collective plight of the farmer. Most successful in the upper Mississippi Valley. Got congress to pass Granger Laws. | |
| 326629443 | The Greenback Labor Party | Also attracted farmers and in 1878 the Greenback Laborites polled over a mil votes and elected 14 members of congress. | |
| 326629444 | Granger Laws | Grangers state legislatures in 1874 passed law fixing maximum rates for freight shipments. The railroads responded by appealing to the Supreme Court to declare these laws unconstitutional | |
| 326629445 | Farmers' Alliance | 1870's- was another coalition of farmers hating on the banks and railroads. It only aimed at land owning farmers and left tenant farmers in the dark. The believed in the nationalization of railrads, the abolition of nat. banks, a graduated income tax, and a new federal sub-treasury for farmers. | |
| 326629446 | Populists | Led by Ignatius Donnelly and Mary Elizabeth Lease. They attracted hurt farmers and eventually they would combine with the Farmers' alliance to make the populists party. The Panic of 1839 pissed them off more. | |
| 326629447 | "General" Jacob Coxey | set out for Washington in 1894 with a demand that the government relieve unemployment by an inflationary public works program | |
| 326629448 | the Pullman Strike | Led by Eugene Debs in Chicago was very dramatic. Debs helped organize the workers of the Pullman Palace Car Company. the company was screwed by the Panic of 1893 and cut wages by 1/3. The workers striked, but the US Attorney General Richard Olney called in Fed. Troops to break up the strike, because it was screwing with the US Mail system. Debs went to prison for 6 months and was a leading Socialist in America. | |
| 326629449 | William McKinley | 1896- leading republican candidate who had served in congress representing Ohio. He was conservative in business and his platform was for the gold standard, although, his personal opinion was different. He believed in bi-metalism. | |
| 326629450 | William Jennings Bryan | The "Boy Orator of the Platte" who was an advocate of free silver. He was nominated as the Democratic Candidate after his "Cross of Gold Speech." The Democratic ticked wished for unlimited coinage of silver with the ratio of 16 silver ounces worth as much as one ounce of gold. | |
| 326629451 | Election of 1896 | Republican William McKinley defeated Democrat William Jennings Bryan in 1896. Bryan was the nominee of the Democrats, the Populist Party, and the Silver Republicans.Economic issues, including bimetallism, the gold standard, Free Silver, and the tariff, were crucial. | |
| 326629452 | Dingley Tariff Bill | passed in 1897, proposed new high tariff rates to generate enough revenue to cover the annual Treasury deficits. This replaced the Wilson-Gorman law |
