Chapter 5 Changes on the Western Frontier (Photo: Blackfeet Tribe in Montana circa 1860)

Transcription

1 Chapter 5 Changes on the Western Frontier (Photo: Blackfeet Tribe in Montana circa 1860)

2 Culture Clash on the Prairie Chapter 5 section 1 (photo: Sioux Indians)

3 Over View Main Idea: The cattle industry boomed in the late 1800s, as the culture of the Plains Indians declined Why it Matters Now: Today, ranchers and Plains Indians work to preserve their cultural traditions

4 The culture of the Plains Indians Great Plains Grassland extending through west-central portion of the United States

5 The culture of the Plains Indians The Horse and the Buffalo Spanish brought horses to New Mexico in 1598 Provides speed and mobility Tribes also acquire guns from Spanish By the mid-1700 s tribes on the Great Plains could roam plains to hunt buffalo Increased mobility caused wars with other tribes Tepees made from buffalo hides. Skin used for clothing, shoes and blankets Buffalo meat was dried into jerky Buffalo provides many basic needs, central to life on the plains Family Life Lived in small extended family groups Young men trained to be warriors and hunters Women helped butcher the game Young women sometimes were allowed to choose their husbands No individual allowed to dominate group Leaders ruled by counsel not force Land was held in common for use by the whole tribe

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7 Settlers Push Westward Cultures differ between white settlers and Native Americans on the Plains Whites Owning land, making a mining claim or starting a business gave them a stake in the country Since the land was not improved the Native Americans forfeited their rights to the land Native Americans on the Plains Land could not be owned Lure of Silver and Gold Gold discovered in Colorado in 1858 brings tens of thousands of miners to the region Fortune seekers include: Irish, German, Polish, Chinese and African Americans Crowded boom towns are filthy, ramshackle living quarters

8 Colorado Gold miners in One can see Pike s peak in the background

9 The Government Restricts Native Americans Arrival of the railroads influences policy 1834 Fed Govt passed an act designating the entire Great Plains as 1 reservation 1850 s Fed Govt changes policy which defines specific boundaries for each tribe Native Americans ignore boundaries clashing with settlers and miners with tragic results

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11 The Government Restricts Native Americans Massacre at Sand Creek November 1864 very tragic event Cheyenne tribe believing they were protected by the U.S. Government, return to Colorado s Sand Creek Reserve for the winter Telegram General Curtis in the West to Militia Colonel Chivington I want no peace till the Indians suffer more Chivington attacks Cheyenne and Arapaho kills over 150, mostly women and children

12 Massacre at Sand Creek

13 The Government Restricts Native Americans Death on the Bozeman Trail Runs through Sioux hunting grounds in Big Horn Mountains Red Cloud (Sioux chief) unsuccessful appealed to Fed Govt to end White settlement on the trail December 1866 Crazy Horse ambushed Captain Federman, killing over 80 soldiers Fed Govt close the Bozeman Trail to settlers Treaty of Fort Laramie Sioux agree to live on a reservation on Missouri River Sitting Bull (leader of Hunkpapa Sioux) never signed it Other Sioux tribes did sign, however they expected to be able to continue to hunt on their traditional lands

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16 Plains Indians Culture Questions Page How did the horse influence Native American life on the Great Plains? How did the Native Americans utilize buffalos? Do you agree with how the white settlers viewed land ownership or the way Native Americans viewed land ownership? Why? What was the Federal Government s policy toward Native American Land during the first half of the 1800 s? Why is the massacre at Sand Creek an event not more commonly known about? If you could give yourself a Native American name, what would you like to be called? i.e. Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse

17 Bloody Battles Continue Red River War Texas Pan Handle US Army herds people of friendly tribes onto reservations, while opening fire on all others General Sheridan (Union Army veteran) gave orders destroy their villages and ponies, to kill and hang all warriors, and to bring back all women and children. The Army crushed resistance on the Southern Plains Marks the end of the free roaming Native American populations on the Southern Plains

18 General Sheridan

19 Bloody Battles Continue Gold Rush Colonel George Custer in 1874 says there is gold in the Black Hills, from the grass roots down. Red Cloud and Spotted Tail appeal to the Fed Govt again Custer s Last Stand Summer of 1876, when Colonel Custer reached the Little Big Horn River, the native Americans were ready for him

20 Colonel George A. Custer

21 Custer s Last Stand Crazy Horse, Gall and Sitting Bull lead with raised spears and rifles Outflank and crush Custer s troops One of Custer s scouts said this is the largest village I have ever heard of Within 1 hour all of Custer s men of the 7 th Calvary are dead (268 dead and 55 severely wounded) By the end of 1876 the Sioux are beaten Sitting Bull takes refuge in Canada until 1881 Sitting Bull forced to surrender to prevent his people from starving In 1885, Sitting Bull appeared in Buffalo Bill Cody s Wild West Show

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23 Buffalo Bills Wild West show advertisement

24 The Government Supports Assimilation Assimilation is a plan under which Native Americans would give up their beliefs and way of life to become part of white culture The Dawes Act 1887 Passes by Congress, aiming to Americanize Native Americans Broke up reservations, giving land to individual Native Americans 160 acres to each head of the household and 80 for each unmarried adult. Remainder sold to settlers, income given to Native American to buy farm equipment By 1932, 2/3 are taken by whites Native Americans never received any money from the sale of these lands

25 The Battle of Wounded Knee Ghost Dance involves 25,000 Sioux on the Dakota reservation to restore way of life Alarmed military leaders order the arrest of Sitting Bull December 1890, 40 Native American police are sent to arrest him Sitting Bull s bodyguard, Catch-the-Bear shot one of them The police kill Sitting Bull Custer s old Seventh Calvary rounds up 350 starving and freezing Sioux, taking them to Wounded Knee Creek in South Dakota The next day soldiers demand all weapons are surrendered A shot was fired, not clear from which side Soldiers of the Seventh Calvary slaughter 300 unarmed Native Americans, including several children Soldiers left the corpses to freeze on the ground Brought the Indian Wars and an entire era to a bitter end

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27 Cattle Become Big Business Vaqueros and Cowboys American settlers learned from Mexicans how to round up, rope, brand, and care for the animals. Texas Longhorns were accustomed to the dry grasslands of Southern Spain, brought by Spanish settlers Many of the cowboys traits were originated by the Mexican Vaquero, who were the first to wear spurs and chaps. The Mexican rancho became the American ranch Railroads in the great plainsincreased demand for Cowboys

28 Texas Longhorn

29 Cattle Become Big Business Growing demand for Beef skyrockets after the Civil War Railroads are transporting cattle to cities like Chicago and markets throughout the East Railroads running through Sedalia, Missouri However this part of the country has many thunderstorms and swollen rivers The Cow Town Chisholm Trail connected San Antonio, TX to Kansas via Oklahoma 35,000 cattle were shipped out of Abilene, KS during the 1 st year 75,000 the next year Ranchers were hiring cowboys to drive cattle to Abilene

30 Abilene, Kansas

31 Questions Native American Bloody Battles, pages What was the significance of the Red River War? What were the results of Custer s last stand? What events led to the Battle of Wounded Knee? What does the American Cowboy tradition owe to the Mexican Vaquero? Why do you think the Assimilation policy and Dawes Act failed? What developments led to the rapid growth of the cattle industry?

32 Settling on the Great Plains Chapter 5 Section 2

33 Overview Main Idea: Settlers on the Great Plains transformed the land despite great hardships Why it matters now: The Great Plains region remains the breadbasket of the United States

34 Settlers Move Westward to Farm It took 250 years, from Jamestown until 1870, to settle the first 400 million acres It took 30 years, from 1870 to 1900, to settle the second 400 million acres Due to Federal Land policy Due to completion of transcontinental Railroads

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36 Settlers Move Westward to Farm Railroads Open the West Federal Government makes huge land grants to Railroads 170 million acres (State of Texas is 167 million acres) For laying track in the West Union Pacific and Central Pacific receive 10 square miles for every mile of track laid in a state and 20 in a territory UP (West from Omaha) and CP (East from Sacramento) meet at Promontory Summit, Utah on May 10, 1869 Labor done by Civil War veterans, Irish, Chinese immigrants, African Americans and Mexican Americans 15 years later, there are 5 transcontinental Railroads The rails to the East and West coast are forever linked RR companies sold land to farmers and sent agents to Europe to recruit buyers, many immigrants move to America as land owners

37 Image following the driving of the Last Spike at Promontory Summit, Utah on May 10,1869

38 Government Support for Settlement Homestead Act of 1862 Fed. Govt. offers 160 acres of land to any citizen or intended citizen and the head of the household From 1862 to 1900, up to 600,000 families benefit Exodusters Several thousand African Americans who moved from Post-Reconstruction South to Kansas Corruption by Cattlemen fenced open land Miners and wood cutters claimed national resources Only 10% of land is actually settled by families

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40 Government Support for Settlement Fed. Govt. strengthens Homestead Act to encourage settlers 1889, major land give away in OK, in less than a day 2 million acres are claimed Some take possession too soon before the Govt. declared it open, this is why Oklahoma is called the Sooner State The Closing of the Frontier In 1872, the Yellowstone National Park is created 1890, the Census Bureau declared that the country no longer had a continuous frontier line The frontier no longer existed.

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42 Settlers Meet the Challenges of the Plains The number of people living West of the Mississippi River grew from 1% of the nation s population in 1850 to almost 30% by 1900 Dugouts and Soddies Dugouts - No trees, so people build homes into sides of hills Soddies Freestanding homes by stacking blocks of prairie turf Warm in the winter and cool in the summer Havens for snakes, insects and pests Leaked when it rains At least they were fire-proof

43 Soddy Country School House in Western Nebraska

44 Settlers Meet the Challenges of the Plains Women s Work Worked beside men in the fields, plowing the land, planting, harvesting of Wheat Sheared the sheep and used wool to make clothes Hauled water from the wells that they helped dig Skilled in doctoring from snakebites to crushed limbs

45 Settlers Meet the Challenges of the Plains Technical Support for Farmers Market for these items do not open until the late 1800 s 1837, John Deere invents a steel plow that cuts through heavy soil 1847, Cyrus McCormick mass-produces reaping machine, speeds up harvesting 1874, Barbed wire to fence the land 1978, the Corn binder In 1830 it took 183 minutes to produce a bushel of grain, by 1900 it only took 10 minutes These inventions made grain available for a wider market

46 McCormick s Reaping Machine, circa 1847

47 Settlers Meet the Challenges of the Plains Agricultural Education Morrill Act of 1862 and 1890 gave federal lands to help finance agricultural colleges Hatch Act of 1887 established agricultural experiment stations to inform farmers of new developments Designed grains for arid soils Techniques for dry farming, which helps the land retain moisture Allows the dry eastern plains to become breadbasket of the nation

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49 Settlers Meet the Challenges of the Plains Farmers in Debt Elaborate machinery was expensive, had to borrow money Bonanza Farms are created by Railroad companies and investors Enormous single crop farms of 15,000 to 50,000 acres Drought from 1885 and 1890, large single-crop operations can t compete with smaller farms (more flexible with the crops they grew) Bonanza Farms slowly fold into Bankruptcy Railroads charge Western Farmers more to ship grain than Eastern Farmers Henry Lloyd wrote in an article in March 1881 edition of the Atlantic Monthly No other system of taxation has borne as heavily on the people as those extortions and inequalities of railroad charges

50 The breadbasket of the nation

51 Questions on Settling the Great Plains, pages How did the railroads help open the West? In what ways did government policies encourage settlement of the West? Why is Oklahoma called the Sooner state? What is the last National Park you visited? When and where was the first National Park created? How did new inventions change farming in the West? If the government offered you 160 acres in a place you had never been before, what 3 essential things would you want to be available on your land (i.e. fresh water, fertile soil, etc.)? And what would you name your new Homestead?

52 Farmers and the Populist Movement Chapter 5 Section 3 (below: warning of the dangers not only facing farmers but the entire nation)

53 Main Idea: Farmers and the Populist Movement Chapter 5 Section 3 Farmers united to address their economic problems, giving rise to the Populist movement Why it matters Now: Many of the Populist reform issues, such as income tax and legally protected rights of workers, are now taken for granted

54 Farmers Unite Farmer s problems: Crop prices fell Farmer s had no cash, went further into debt and their lenders foreclosed on their mortgages The Railroad companies charged outrageous prices to ship crops (no regulation)

55 Farmer s Demands Regulate the Railroad companies (stop them from charging such high rates) Make cash more available (back the dollar with silver, not gold, so dollar would be worth less) Constitutional Demands: single term for President and Vice-President, secret ballot (to limit voter fraud) and popular election of Senators To get industrial workers to support them: 8 hour workday, restrict immigration

56 Different Groups Representing Farmer s Interests 1867, The Patrons of Husbandry (The Grange) Spent a lot of time fighting the Railroads 1880 s, Farmer s Alliance and Colored Farmer s National Alliance Educate farmers about interest rates Famous speaker was Mary Elizabeth Lease 1892, Birth of the Populist, or People s Party Demanded lifting burden of debt off of farmers and give people a greater voice in Government Definition of Populism struggle between the populace and a ruling faction

57 Mary Elizabeth Lease

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59 1896 Election Democrats William Jennings Bryan Southerners Wealthy Farmers Supported low tariffs (wanted other countries to buy their crops) Republicans William McKinley Northerners Wealthy business men (connected to the railroad) Southern African Americans (poor farmers) Supported high tariffs (did not want to compete with other countries)

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61 1896 Election Populist decide to improve their chances by supporting the Democratic candidate William Jennings Bryan, who agreed to support the silver-backed dollar

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63 The end of Populism With McKinley s election, Populism collapsed McKinley got 7 million votes vs. Jennings 6.5 million votes Lasting message from Populism movement The down trodden could organize and have political impact Reforms, many of which would be enacted in the 20 th Century

64 Populism Questions, pages Why did farmers think an increased money supply would help solve their economic problems? What were some of the causes of farmer s economic problems? What was the Populist party platform? Why was the metal that backed paper currency such an important issue in the 1896 presidential campaign? If you could start your own Populist political party, what would you name your political party? Why?