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| 596138378 | West after Civil War | Largely untamed, inhabited by Indians. Indians fought each other (was no single "Indian" identity like white men thought). | |
| 596138379 | Federal gov't dealings w/ Indians | Treaties made at Fort Laramie (1851) and Fort Laramie (1853). The agreements started the system of reservations where Indians were to live on certain lands unmolested by whites. Whites didn't get that a chief didn't speak for the whole tribe/group. | |
| 596138380 | US Army's new mission post Civil War | Move Indians off western land, led to Indian Wars. | |
| 596138381 | Indian Wars | 1864-1890. Not one war, skirmishes/altercations. At first Indians had advantages, b/c their bows were faster but with invention of Colt .45 revolver they were quickly outfaced. | |
| 596138382 | Sand Creek Massacre | 1864-400 Indians who had been given immunity (so they whites claimed) were massacred. | |
| 596138383 | Fetterman Massacre | 1868. Killed Capt. William J. Fetterman and his 81 soldiers as retaliation for Sand Creek. | |
| 596138384 | Treaty of Fort Laramie (1868) | Made between the federal government and the Sioux. The government gave up on the Bozeman Trail and the huge Sioux reservation was established. The treaty looked promising but was short-lived. | |
| 596138385 | Gold discovered in Black Hills | 1874, Custer went with his men to check it out. Custer's last stand followed. | |
| 596138386 | Battle of Little Bighorn (Custer's Last Stand) | 1876. Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse led some Sioux who refused to go to reservation. Custer went after them, but the Indians won. | |
| 596138387 | Nez Perce | Tried to flee into Canada, but were pursued. In Battle of Bear Paw, Chief Joseph surrendered. Nez Perce sent to Kansas reservation | |
| 596138388 | Apache | Troublesome to the army. Led by Geronimo, the army chased him and his tribe into Mexico, where they were wily adversaries. | |
| 596138389 | Why the Indians were subdued | (1) railroads, (2) diseases, (3) lack of buffalo, (4) war, and (5) the loss of their land to white settlement. | |
| 596138390 | Lack of Buffalo | Buffalo killed due to railroads, which cut the Great Plains into sections. Buffalo couldn't roam. Also, whites hunted them for sport and for meat. When buffalo died, so did the Indian way of life. | |
| 596138391 | Helen Hunt Jackson | Blamed federal gov't for breaking treaties and taking land from Indians. Wrote "A Century of Dishonor" which outlined all the ways the gov't wronged the Indians. Indians had to choose between becoming obsolete or conforming, some whites tried to help Indians but most considered them hostile and thought punishing them way the way to go. | |
| 596138392 | Battle of Wounded Knee | 1890. Not battle, but massacre. More than 200 Indians killed. Ended Indian Wars. | |
| 596138393 | Dawes Severalty Act | 1887, said that Indians no longer needed to be treated as separate nation within the US. No more treaties with them. Overall goal was to erase tribes and eventually "whitenize" Indians. Said Indians could become citizens after 25 years if they behaved well. Succeeded in killing the Indian way of life. | |
| 596138394 | Carlisle Indian School | Opened in 1879 to train Indian children in white ways. Succeeded. Jim Thorpe graduated from it, was professional athlete. | |
| 596138395 | Gold in Colorado! | Found at Pike's Peak in 1858. People who went didn't find much gold. | |
| 596138396 | Comstock Lode | Silver found in Nevada. Very successful, made lots of $. | |
| 596138397 | Growth of mining towns | Followed pattern: First, gold/silver was found. When word got out, they grew like wild—too fast for their own good. These boomtowns were nicknamed "Helldorados" because of their lawlessness. Saloons and bordellos quickly came to town, and a general store for supplies. Later, if the town remained, a post office, school, sheriff, and an opera house for entertainment might arrive. For many towns, when the minerals ran out, the townsfolk simply left and the town became a ghost town. | |
| 596138398 | Women in West | Had more independence than women in east. Prostitutes/entertainers. Could vote in Wyoming (1866), Utah (1870), Colorado (1893) and Idaho (1896). | |
| 596138399 | Railroads and Cattle | Used railroads to get beef from west to east. "Long Drive" cattle run from Texas to Kansas. | |
| 596138400 | Long Drive | Cattle run from Texas to Kansas. Cowboys rounded up cattle, herded them to railroads. Short lived b/c: Sheep herders came in and nibbled the grass off too short for cattle to feed. Several years of drought dried up the grass and hard freezes took their toll. Mostly, when railroads came to Texas, there was no need to drive cattle. The invention of barbed wire (and wire promoter Samuel Glidden) fenced in the land and the cattle business changed from roaming the open range to staying on a ranch. Ranching had become big business and big power, evidenced by the Wyoming Stock'-Growers Association who controlled the state. | |
| 596138401 | Homestead Act | 1862. Offered 160 acres of free land in west. Many settlers jumped on option, only to find land was really different than in east. | |
| 596138402 | 100th Meridian | 20 inch rainfall line, amount necessary to grow crops. Americans pushed past it in order to find new land. | |
| 596138403 | Dry Farming | How farmers dealt with really dry soil. Farmers plowed dew into first few inches of soil. System worked, but created a dusty top layer of soil (would lead to 1930s dustbowl). | |
| 596138404 | Far west comes of age | The Dakotas, Wyoming, Idaho, Washington and Montana became states in 1 fell swoop. Mormons banned polygamy in 1890, Utah admitted as state in 1896. Oklahoma became state in 1889. | |
| 596138405 | Census Bureau in 1890 | announced that there was no longer a "frontier" in America. | |
| 596138406 | Yellowstone | Became national park in 1872, followed by Yosemite and Sequoia in 1890. | |
| 596138407 | Turner Thesis | Frederick Jackson Turner wrote that the frontier had played an important role in American history and in people's psychology. | |
| 596138408 | Safety-Valve Theory | People could just pack up and go west if they wanted to! City dwellers didn't (didn't have right skills) but the fact that they could kept wages pretty high. | |
| 596138409 | Farming changed | Farmers began farming cash crops. Farmers could also order thing via mail order catalog (Montgomery Ward). | |
| 596138410 | Farms become food factories | Steam driver tractors could do much more than oxen. Combine harvested more wheat Farmers got themselves into shitload of debt. Cali was best--> big and productive. Refrigerator car invented in 1880s, moved goods eastwards. | |
| 596138411 | Market changes in 1880s | Farmer suffered when food prices dropped, made their goods worth less so they couldn't make the $ they needed to. | |
| 596138412 | Concerns of farmers | Low crop prices and deflated currency Crop prices dropped b/c machines could make more Deflated currency made it harder to pay off debts (needed to grow more crops and needed more $ in circulation). Farmers often lost their farms due to foreclosure, became tenant farmers. Farmers taxed to death by gov't, lots of natural disasters. | |
| 596138413 | Contraction | Less money in circulation. | |
| 596138414 | Farmers biggest enemy | RAILROADS! Farmers relied in them to get their goods to market. At railroads mercy. 1890s: 1/2 Americans still farmers. Weren't organized b/c they were independent minded and spread out too much (geographically). | |
| 596138415 | The Grange | 1869, the Grange started by Oliver H. Kelley. National farmers organization aimed at promoting farmers agenda. Initial goal was to set up meetings between farmers. By 1875 had 800,000 members. Set up co-ops. Tried (and failed) to make own farming machinery. Tried to regulate railroads. Setback by Wabash case. Results: 1. 1878 elected 14 members to Congress 2. 1880 nominated James B. Weaver but he only got 3% of vote. | |
| 596138416 | Wabash Case | Sup. Court case, said states couldn't regulate interstate commerce. | |
| 596138417 | Farmer's Alliance | Emerged in 1870s, similar to Grangers. Wanted to socialize and push farmers agenda. By 1890 had over 1,000,000 members but could have had more (excluded blacks, tenant famers and sharecroppers). Blacks made Colored Farmers Alliance. | |
| 596138418 | Populist PartyT | Wanted to: To fight the "money trust" on Wall Street. To nationalize railroads, telephone, and the telegraph. To start a graduated income tax (graduated meaning steps or levels, where the tax rate is higher the more a person earns). To start a "sub-treasury" to provide loans to farmers. To call for the unlimited coinage of silver. Coinage of silver was muy importante! | |
| 596138419 | Mary Elizabeth Lease | Said farmers should "raise less corn and raise more hell". | |
| 596138420 | Congress seats 1892 | In 1892, Populist party won seats in Congress. James B. Weaver, their candiate got over 1,000,000 votes. They were hindered by racial tensions in the South. Their challenge was to join the North and join up with city workers to make a political party with a rural/urban one-two punch. | |
| 596138421 | Panic of 1893 | Fueled Populists. Many people went to Washington DC to demand change. | |
| 596138422 | Jacob Coxey | "Coxey's Army" marched on Washington DC. Called for reliving unemployment but a gov't work program. Also wanted $500 million in paper money. March fizzled out. | |
| 596138423 | Pullman's Strike | Led by Eugene Debs. Workers of Pullman Palace Company hit hard by depression, wages cut 1/3. Workers went on strike. Debs helped them organize. Attorney General Richard Olney called in fed troops to break strike. Debs went to prison for 6 months. | |
| 596138424 | Election 1896 | Asked: Will US base currency in money, gold or silver or both? Repubs chose William McKinley (pro-tariff). His right hand man was Mark Hanna, who was pro-businesss. Democrats chose William Jennings Bryan (Cross of Gold speech--> wowed them!) Both candidates played on fears of people. McKinley won! a) gold was decided upon as America's economic basis, (b) it was a victory for business, conservatives, and middle class values (as opposed to the working class), and (c) it started 16 years of Republican presidents (and 8 of the next 36 years). | |
| 596138425 | Dingley Tariff Bill | Raised tariff rates to 46.5%. | |
| 596138426 | Gold Standard Act | 1900. Said people could trade in money for gold. | |
| 596138427 | McKinley's first year | The 1893 recession had run its course and it was time for growth. McKinley likely brought a sense of calm both in his pro-business policies and by simply having the gold/silver question answered. The economy, and especially Wall Street, never likes uncertainty. |
