The American Pageant
Chapter 26
The Great West and the Agricultural Revolution, 1865-1896
Westward Migration – “Push Factors”
Westward Migration – “Pull Factors”
• Government Incentives
• Pacific Railway Act (1862 & 1864)
• Morrill Land Grant Act (1862)
• Homestead Act (1862)
• Increased Protection of Property Rights in the West
The Settlement of the West
v During & after the Civil War Americans began to flood onto the Great West
v From the Great Plains in the east to the California desert in the west
v Area inhabited by:
v
The Settlement of the West
• By 1890, area settled / carved into states & territories
• One of the most rapid settlements in all history
• “Land Fever” spurred by the Homestead Act
• Key Role of Farmers, Ranchers, Miners and Land Speculators
• Federal Land Grants to Railroad Co.s
The West and the “Safety Valve” Theory
The Mining Frontier
• Mineral-rich areas of the West were rapidly settled
• Prospectors followed by commercial miners
• Pike’s Peak, Colorado
• Though few profited, thousands stayed in region to mine silver, or farm grain
• Comstock Lode discovered in Nevada in 1859
• Copper mining
• Boom towns à ghost towns
• Corporations gradually came to dominate mining
Significance of Mining
The Ranching Frontier
• Railroad à transportation of meat
• Beef tycoons like Swift and Armour emerged
• Refrigerator cars à fresh meat to the East
• "Long Drive"
• Texas cowboys: former Confederate soldiers, northern whites, blacks, and Mexicans.
• Challenges to the "long drive"
– Barbed-wire
– Terrible winter & summer 1885-1887
– Overgrazing and over-expansion
Native Americans in the West
The Plains Indians
• The Spanish introduced the horse in the 1500s
• Became more nomadic / warlike as they had more range & competed for resources
• By 1860, there were 10s of thousands
• Women assumed domestic & artistic roles
• Men dominated religious and military life
• Most developed a powerful warrior class
Conquest of Native Americans
The Importance of Buffalo to the Plains Indians
ØPrimary Source of food, clothing, shelter, tools, etc.
Ø pre-Columbus:
Ø By 1868,
Ø By 1885,
The Extermination of the Buffalo
Government Policies Toward Native Americans in the West
• Viewed tribes both as Independent Nations and as Wards of the State
• Treaties with them required ratification by the US Senate
• Tribes often victimized by white officials
• As white settlers moved west they exerted more pressure for access to Indian lands
• US frequently responded by violating treaties they made with Native Americans
The Final Destruction of Native Americans in the West
1868-1890, constant warfare raged between Indians & whites
U.S. troops largely made of Civil War veterans
1/5 of all soldiers assigned to frontier were black
US led by Sherman, Sheridan and Custer
Plains Indians expert fighters w/ state-of-the-art weapons
Sand Creek Massacre, Colorado, 1864
Sioux War of 1876-1877 / Battle of Little Big Horn
Nez Perce led by Chief Joseph
Battle of Wounded Knee (1890) / Role of the Ghost Dance
Key Factors Resulting in the Conquest of Native Americans in the West
Results of the Indian Wars
By 1890, effectively all North American tribes in reservations
Killing off the buffalo resulted in Indians being subdued
White diseases ravaged Native Americans
National sentiment began to urge reform toward Indians
Helen Hunt Jackson: A Century of Dishonor (1881)
Dawes Severalty Act of 1887 (Allotment Act)
Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 ("the Indian New Deal")
Indians finally received full citizenship in 1924
Today, 2 million Native Americans live in U.S.
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