Spaniards
Pueblos
Apaches, Navajos, etc.
Genizaros—Native Amer. w/o tribes
Plains Indians
Diversity of tribes and
languages
Some alliances
Some sedentary farmers;
others nomadic hunters
Common Traits:
Close and extended family networks
Intimate relationship with nature
Bands of 500 people (tribes)
Most participated in decision-making process
Male and female roles
Buffalo hunting
Hispanic Peoples of Southwest
Small aristocracies
Pushed out by Anglo-Americans, particularly
after the railroads entered the region
Ranching, farming and mining
1900--new wave of Mexican immigration into the
region in search of work--from the start, were
subordinate to Anglo-Americans
English-speaking prospectors
organized to exclude Californios
Many Californios lost lands
Corrupt business deals
Outright seizures
Most Mexican power in southern
half of the state
Devastation of Mexican ranch
culture: reckless expansion,
growing indebtedness,
severe drought 1860s
Bottom line: Anglo-American migration was
catastrophic for Hispanics; more so for Native Americans
Chinese Migration
Better lives
Gold Rush
Initially welcomed
Very industrious &
successful
Whites began to consider as rivals and threats
1852—CA Foreign Miners Tax
Other discriminatory laws—drove Chinese out
of prospecting
90% of labor force on Central Pacific Railroad
1866—struck for higher wages—starved
San Francisco’s Chinatown
Six companies

Benevolent societies

Role of eastern political
machines

Led by prominent merchants

Worked together to promote
Chinese interests in city
and state
Tongs: secret societies
Some: violent, criminal organizations
(opium trade & prostitution
Much discrimination—2/3 of laundry workers. Why?
The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882:
Banned Chinese immigration into the U. S.
for 10 years and barred Chinese already in the
U. S. from becoming naturalized citizens
Renewed in 1892 and made “permanent” in
1902
By 1900, over 400,000 homesteaders
(Homestead Act of 1862)
160 acres—if 5 years
Assumption—mere possession of
land would assure keeping families
Insufficient land for grazing
Women in the West
Working in dance halls and as prostitutes
Social mobility limited—advancement was easiest
and most rapid for those who were
economically advantaged to begin with
No greater than in East
Whites—upper tiers
Lower tiers: hard labor in mines,
building railroads, agriculture
(nonwhites)
Myths: Several about Chinese, Blacks,
Mexicans, Filipinos—genetically
and culturally suited to manual
labor
Pike’s Peak—gold strike 1858; Denver—major city
Washoe-Comstock—1859
Dominated by Californians
Railroads
made the cattle industry—
needed means to get cattle
to eastern markets.
After Civil War—demand for beef
in the East skyrocketed.
December 1865—
Chicago Union
Stock Yards opened
By spring 1866, railroads
had reached Sedalia, MO.
Drive cattle to Sedalia then ship by
rail to Chicago and points east.
Many problems on road
to Sedalia, however.
Hostile weather
Rough land and
rain-swollen rivers
Farmers who didn’t want cattle
trampling crops & spreading
disease
Solution: Joseph McCoy of
Springfield, IL bought land
near Abilene, KS and built
cattle pens.
Chisholm Trail:
San Antonio,
TX to Abilene
rail center
1867—35,000
head shipped; 1868—75,000 head
Cowboys: 55,000 from
1866 to 1885.
25% African American;
12% Mexican
Work day: 10-14 hours on ranch;
18 hours on trail
Age: 15-40; Avg—24; bowlegged
Usually owned saddle but not horse
Most cowboys worked all
spring and summer for
bosses who banned drinking,
gambling and cursing.
Winter: lived off savings or did odd
jobs, ranch to ranch.
Spring: roundup—rode range and
chased all longhorns they could
find into a large corral
Kept herd penned without
food for several days so the
cattle preferred grazing to
running away.
Then sorted herd &
claimed
those with
their brand. They also
branded those that
had none.
The long drive to Abilene:
3 months; 1 cowboy for
every 250-300 head of
cattle
Also:
Trail boss;
cook with a
chuck wagon;
Extra wrangler
who cared for the remuda
Monthly pay:
Trail boss: $100+
Cook: $35-50
Wrangler: <$1.00 a day
Took great risks; diet: coffee,
beans, bacon, bread, dried fruit.
End of the cattle frontier
Overgrazing
Range wars with
sheep herders
Weather: 1883
drought; prairie fires; blizzard of
1887 (-60 degrees with 60 mph
winds; 1” of snow p/hr for 3 days)
cattlemen lost 40-90% of herds
Women’s suffrage
Wyoming territory—first
Utah: Mormons granted to stave off criticism of
practice of polygamy
Other places: women granted suffrage before statehood
to swell the electorate
Women were thought to bring a moral voice to the
politics of the region and strengthen the sense of
community
Owen Wister
19th century Americans
romanticized the
cowboy into a
powerful and enduring
figure of myth
Wister’s The Virginian:
romanticized the lead character’s
natural decency, courage and
compassion: a powerful symbol
of the virtues of the frontier
Frederick Jackson Turner
The clearest and most
influential statements of the
romantic vision of the frontier
“The Significance of the Frontier
in American History”
The end of the frontier also marked
the end of one of the most important
democratizing forces in American life.
His assessments were both inaccurate and
premature
The Federal Government and Native American Tribes
Independent nations but wards of the President
Concentration: 1851—new reservations policy—each
tribe assigned its own defined reservation,
confirmed by separate treaties (often with
unauthorized representatives
Treaty of Fort Laramie (1851)
Native Amer.
control of
400-mile-wide
slice east of Rockies
and from Arkansas River to
Can. NA would not attack
settlers & let Army build forts
for annual payments.
The Federal Government and Native American Tribes
Independent nations but wards of the President
Concentration: 1851—new reservations policy—each
tribe assigned its own defined reservation,
confirmed by separate treaties (often with
unauthorized representatives
Bureau of Indian Affairs
Appalling record
People of gross incompetence and dishonesty
Poor and usually corrupt administration
Led to constant conflicts between
Native Americans and nearby whites
Bison
Relentless slaughter
Railroads
White demand for
Pile of bison skulls around 1870
buffalo hides
1865: 15 million; 1875: less than 1,000
Sand Creek Massacre
Drunken Colorado
Militia—massacred
133 (105 women &
children)
Bozeman Trail
Red Cloud raids—Sioux resented intrusion into
the heart of their buffalo range
Fetterman Massacre—December 21, 1866
Black Hills War—Battle of Little Big Horn
Nez Perce
Small, relatively peaceful
No treaty with U. S. government
Forced on reservation based on
pressure from settlers
During journey, 4 drunk members
killed 4 white settlers
U. S. troops driven off at White
Bird Canyon
Chief Joseph and others tried to
reach Canada, caught short of
border
Chief Joseph
“I will fight no
more forever.”
Apache Wars (Geronimo)
Most violent of all Indian conflicts—tribes most
desperate
Whites—most flagrant and vicious atrocities
Wounded Knee, South Dakota, Dec. 29, 1890
Wovoka
Remington’s Ghost Dance
Brigadier General James Forsythe
U. S. Army: 25 KIA; 39 WIA Corpse of Big Foot
Sioux: 153 KIA, 50 WIA, 150 missing
In 1890, U. S. Census Bureau officially declared the
frontier closed
The Dawes Act and the policy of
Assimilation
Federal government:
Destroy forever tribal structure
Forced Native Americans to become
landowners and farmers; to
abandon collective society and to
assimilate into white civilization
Took Native American children
away from parents and sent to
boarding schools run by whites—
attempt to get them to abandon
Sen. Henry L. Dawes
tribal ways
Moved to stop religious rituals; encouraged spread
of Christianity
By 1900, 800 million acres
of farmland in USA
Railroads opened the west
Federal Government made
huge land grants to railroads: 10 sq
mi of public land for every mile of
track in a state; 20 sq mi of public
land for every mile of track in a
territory.
Promontory, UT
May 10, 1869
Central Pacific
eastward from
Sacramento
Union Pacific
Westward from
Omaha, NE
By 1884, four transcontinental
railroads in USA
Laying track was grueling
work
Civil war veterans,
Irish & Chinese
immigrants, African
Americans & Mexican
Americans
End of the cattle frontier
Invention of barbed wire
Joseph Glidden
of Illinois
10,000 lbs sold in
1874; 27 million lbs
sold in 1878
Life on the Great Plains
was one of hardships
Droughts
Floods
Blizzards
Fires
Locust
Plagues
Most early houses built from the land.
Dugouts and sod houses or soddies
Warm in winter, cool in summer, small,
little air or light, haven for snakes, insects
& pests
Women’s lives were very hard.
Fed & clothed family
Worked in fields,
plowing, planting &
harvesting
Maintained livestock
Reared children
Made butter, cheese,
soap, candles.
Laundry by hand.
Problems encountered by farmers
Growth depended heavily on irrigation
Battles over water—central and enduring
characteristic of western life
Farming on the hard sod
was difficult. Wooden plows
broke; harvesting by hand with a
scythe was slow.
1837: John Deere: steel plow
1847, Cyrus
McCormick
invented the
reaper.
Other inventions:
Spring-tooth harrow (1869);
Grain drill; cord binder (1878)
To produce a bushel of
grain
1830: 183 minutes;
1900: 10 minutes
Agricultural Education
Morrill Land Grant Acts (1862/1890)
gave federal land to states to help
pay for agricultural colleges (such as
Texas A&M.)
Hatch Act of 1887 established
experiment stations to communicate
new developments in agriculture to
farmers in every state.
While farm machinery
improved the efficiency of
the farmer, it was also the cause of
great debt by farmers.
Machinery costs, railroad transport
costs, etc. forced farmers into debt.
High wheat prices: could pay debts;
when priced dropped, problems
Major grievances of farmers
Inequitable freight rates—higher for farm goods
than for other goods
Railroads also controlled elevator and warehouse
facilities—arbitrary storage rates
High interest charges from banks, etc.
Farmers had to take loans at whatever
interest rates they could get
Often 10-25%
Pay back during years when prices
were dropping
Wanted an increase in volume of
currency in circulation
Prices were the third grievance
Experiment: Bonanza farms
George Cass and Oliver Dalrymple
10,000+ acre, single crop spreads
Drought of 1885-90
hurt bonanza farms
Smaller farms more
flexible in crops
Experiment failed
Key factors in growth of U.S. industry
Wealth of resources
Large and growing labor supply
Surge in technological innovation
Emergence of a talented, ambitious and
ruthless group of entrepreneurs
Favorable federal government
Great & expanding domestic market
Removing carbon from iron makes
a lighter, more flexible, rustresistant metal: Steel
Bessemer Process (1850,
Englishman Henry Bessemer)
injected air into molten
iron to remove carbon
and transform it into
steel.
By 1880, 90% of US Steel
Deposits of coal and iron ore also
led to industrial strength.
Coal: PA, OH, WV, VA, KY
Iron ore: Mesabi Range of MN—100
mi by 3 mi
Early key to industrial expansion:
discovery of oil in U. S.
1859—Edwin L. Drake—Titusville,
PA. Use steam engine to drill
for oil.
Began oil boom:
KY, OH, IL, IN
Led to oil-based
kerosene and
gasoline
Frederick Winslow Taylor
Manage human labor to make it compatible
with the demands of the machine age
Employer could increase control of
workplace
Subdivide tasks
Interchangeable workers
Diminish manager’s dependence on
any particular employee
Reduce need for highly skilled workers
Modern machines, trained experts—could
make production more efficient
Most important change in
production technology:
emergence of mass production
and assembly line
Model T: 1914: $950.00
1929: $290.00
Largest American customers for
steel: Railroads
Principal agent of industrial development
in late 19th Century
Others as well: barbed wire,
plows, etc.
Steel transformed the face
of the USA
Brooklyn Bridge—1883
First bridge to use steel cables.
1,595 span of East River in NYC
At the time, its towers were higher
than any human-made structure
except the pyramids of Egypt.
Brooklyn Bridge—1883
Designed by John Augustus Roebling
Some people were concerned about soundness.
Showman P. T. Barnum
drove a herd of elephants
across.
William Le Baron Jenney—designed
first skyscraper with a steel frame:
The Home Insurance Building in
Chicago, IL.
Strength of steel frames
allowed architects and
engineers to design
buildings as high as
they could.
Emergence of big business
embodied in life of Andrew
Carnegie
Born of very poor
parents; came to
US at 13 (1848)
His initiative led to
his employer giving
him stock options. Made then
reinvested dividends
Carnegie continued buying
stock in various companies
Earned mega-bucks in dividends
1873—entered steel business
1899, Carnegie Steel one of
world’s largest steel producers
Carnegie’s management
practices . . .
worked to make better products
more cheaply
Used new techniques and
machinery in plants
Hired chemists and
metallurgists to
improve quality of
steel
Carnegie’s Management
Practices
Created detailed accounting
systems to track the precise
cost of each process and item
Hired talented people through
competitive salaries and stock
options
Encouraged competition among
employees to promote efficiency
Carnegie tried to buy out
competing steel producers
through a process called
horizontal consolidation.
Companies producing
similar products merge
Carnegie achieved
a near monopoly—
controlled 80% of
U.S. steel production.
Carnegie attempted to
control entire steel industry
Vertical integration—bought out
all of his suppliers
Coal/iron mines
Ore freighters
Railroads
Total control over
quality & cost of steel
Age of vicious competition
Many entrepreneurs tried to
eliminate competitors
Led to rise of oligopolies—
markets with few providers
of a given product
Often formed
through mergers
Trusts were illegal but the
law was not vigorously enforced
Example:
John D. Rockefeller
Standard Oil
Company of Ohio
Used trusts to
control 90% of
U. S. oil industry
Standard Oil Company
Rockefeller
Huge profits
Paid extremely low wages
Sold oil at a price lower than
cost of producing it to drive
competitors out of business
After gaining market control,
increased prices far above
original level
Sometimes mergers
created monopolies—complete
control over all aspects of an
industry
Sometimes created through
holding companies—companies
that do nothing but buy stock
of other companies
Holding Companies
United States Steel under
John Pierpont (JP) Morgan
1901—U. S. Steel
bought Carnegie
for $500 million—
world’s largest
business
organization at
the time.
Sometimes monopolies
formed through trusts—
companies turned over stock
to a group of trustees who ran
separate companies as a large
corporation.
Social philosophers tried
to explain Carnegie’s
success as Social Darwinism
Based on biological theory of
Englishman Charles Darwin
Through natural
selection, only the
strong survive.
Economists used Darwin’s
ideas of natural selection
to justify doctrine of
laissez faire (“allow to do”)
Translated to a lack of government regulation
Englishman Herbert Spencer:
free competition would ensure
survival of the fittest businesses
Social Darwinism
Appealed to wealthy
Appealed to Protestant work
ethic of many Americans
Supported belief that riches
were a sign of God’s favor;
poor must be lazy or inferior
Carnegie’s The Gospel of
Wealth: the wealthy should
consider all revenues in excess of
their own needs to be used for
the good of the community
Enhanced by novels of
Horatio Alger
Poor boy from small
town goes to big city
to seek his fortune—
by work, perseverance,
& luck, succeeds
Rockefeller and others like
him called Robber Barons
Justified their business tactics
through philanthropy
Rockefeller gave over
$500 million to charity
Carnegie gave over $325
million: 90% of his wealth—
Carnegie Hall in NYC, >3,000
libraries (including Oakdale),
Carnegie Foundation
Age of immigrants
1870-1920—20 million Europeans
arrived in U. S.
1870-1890—most British, Irish &
German
U. S. was
considered
a “Golden
Door”
Age of immigrants
1890s on, more and more from
Southern and Eastern Europe:
Italy, AustriaHungary and
Russia.
European immigration: why?
Anti-Jewish pogroms in Russia
Rising population/scarce farm land
Limited industrial jobs
Flee revolution and upheaval
Desire for personal
independence
Non-European Immigrants
1882—Congress limited
Chinese immigration
Japanese recruited to work in Hawaii;
U.S. annexed Hawaii in 1898 and
Japanese began moving to West Coast
1880-1920—260,000 to eastern and
southeastern U.S. from Jamaica, Cuba,
Puerto Rico & other Caribbean islands
Mexicans via annexation
European Immigrants
Arrived by ship—deplorable conditions
Immigration stations:
Ellis Island in New York
Physical exam
Literacy in native
language
Ability to work
Have at least $25.00
in their possession
Asian immigrants: Angel
Island in San Francisco Bay
Much harsher treatment
compared to Ellis Island
Most immigrants had to
deal with culture shock
Caused gravitation to ethnic
communities in towns (Ripon) or
segments of cities (North Beach or
Chinatown in San Francisco)
U. S. became a melting pot
People blended together
abandoning native
customs and languages
Some refused to give up their cultural
identities causing friction with natives
and some strong anti-immigrant
feelings
Situation caused a rise in “nativism”
West Coast: prejudice against Asians
Depression of 1873—anti-Chinese
sentiment based on fear that the
few jobs would go to Chinese who
would accept lower wages
Violent riots often backed by
organized labor
1882—Chinese Exclusion Act; re-passed
1892, 1902; repealed 1943
San Francisco—1906, segregated
Asian students into separate schools
Anti-American riots in Japan
President T. Roosevelt intervened
1907-08—Gentlemen’s
Agreement: San Francisco
stopped segregation;
Japan limited emigration
to U. S.
Factory wages at turn of 20th century:
$400-500 per year
$600 was considered minimum for
a reasonable level of comfort
Conditions:
•
Strict, monotonous schedules
•
Machines performed tasks once
•
valued in artisans
•
Impersonal & demanding system
•
6 days/week; 10 hours/day
•
Many unsafe/unhealthy
Most disturbing aspect of factory labor:
Loss of control over work conditions
Women:
•
17% of workforce
•
Lower wages than adult males
•
75% under 25
•
$6-$8 per week
•
Annual wage (1900)
Male: $597
Female: $314
Child labor
Under 16 in 1900—1.7 million
10% of all girls 10-15
20% of all boys
38 states—child labor laws
Agricultural sector jobs exempt
Children on farms: 12 hours/day
Children in factories: 10 hours/day
Canneries: 16 hours/day girls
High accident rates
Accident rate: highest in world (of any
industrialized nation)
1907: 12 railroad men a week died on
the job
Factories: thousands of workers:
occupational diseases
Lead or phosphorus poisoning
Few owners took preventive measures
1866: National Labor Union
640,000 members
Disintegrated after Panic
of 1873
Excluded women
Molly Maguires
Ancient Order of
Hibernians
Terrorist attacks to
intimidate coal
mine operators
Great Railroad Strike of 1877—the
first major national labor conflict in U. S.
Baltimore to St. Louis
Knights of Labor
Uriah S. Stephens
Open to all who toiled
Included women
Championed:
• 8-hour work day
• End to child labor
• Arbitration over strikes
• Equal pay for equal work
Leonora Barry
Women’s Bureau of the
Knights of Labor
Terence V.
Powderly
Expanded KoL
Moderate
Strikes against Powderly’s wishes led
to downfall of the union.
American Federation of Labor
Federation of Organized Trade and
labor unions of U. S. and Canada
Samuel Gompers
AFL: most important and
enduring labor group in U. S.
Association of autonomous
craft unions (mostly
skilled workers/artisans)
Goal: secure for workers greater share
of capitalism’s material rewards
Haymarket Square Bombing
May 4, 1886
Chicago
Strike against
McCormick
Harvester
Company
Bomb killed 7
officers and injured
67 others
Police fired into crowd
Homestead Strike
Amalgamated Association of Iron
and Steel Workers
Homestead: part of Carnegie System
Henry Clay Frick
Pitched battle won by union
Governor of PA sent national
guard to protect strikebreakers
Public turned against strikers
when a member tried to
assassinate Frick
After 4 months, Amalgamated
surrendered—symbolized general
erosion of union strength in late 19th
century
Pullman Strike of 1894
Pullman Palace Car company
600-acre company town
High rents
1893-1894—cut wages by 25% but
refused to reduce rents
Reasons why organized labor failed
to make greater gains
Wages for works rose hardly at all
Low wages could not keep up with
the rising cost of living
Major labor organizations represented
only a small portion of industrial
work force (4% in 1900)
AFL excluded unskilled workers, who
were emerging as the core of the
industrial workforce
Divided due to internal tensions
Immigrants—no long-range view in US
Boom in business and
industry focused in North
South remained agricultural,
with farmers at mercy of
railroads and their rates