THE GREAT WEST & THE
AGRICULTURAL REVOLUTION
Chapter 26
American Pageant, 13th ed.
America moves West
After Civil War
Americans moved to the
West
 Encountered Native
Americans & buffalo
 Within 30 years, this
landscape would change
 Between 1860 & 1890
Indians were sent to
small reservations laden
with empty promises

Army troops met
formidable resistance by
Native Americans
 20% of U.S. soldiers
were African American
(buffalo soldiers)

Hostilities increase
1868- Ft. Laramie
Agreement
guarantees new
reservation to Sioux
1864- Sand
Creek, CO U.S
troops attack
Indian camp,
kill 400
1866- Sioux
ambush US
Calvary in MT,
killing all; one of
the few Indian
victories (whites
abandon region
temporarily)
1874- gold
discovered in Black
Hills of North
Dakota, white
settlers swarm to
region that was part
of Sioux land and
Indians took to the
warpath
1876- Gen.
George Custer
attacks Indian force
on Little Bighorn
River (MT), superior
Indian force wipes
out all of Custer’s
troops
Hostilities decrease

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
Many people
sympathized with
Native Americans
Most just wanted white
assimilation
Disease, the railroad,
extermination of
buffalo and firewater
all ended native
resistance
Forced assimilation

1887 Dawes Severalty Act
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dissolved tribes as legal entities
wiped out tribal ownership of
land
provided families 160 acres of
land
citizenship in 25 years if
behaved
Reservation land not allotted was
sold to settlers; proceeds used
for education
Tried to make farmers out of
Indians, ignored tradition of
tribally held lands
Forced assimilation was Indian
policy for 50 years
Mining Westward

Mining’s first great boom

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Discovery, population boom, communities form
Gold and silver discoveries across
West (CA, CO, ID, MT, NV)
Boomtowns emerged, much crime &
chaos
Federal government supported
large mining operations- provided
inexpensive land, approved
patents, provided RR land to move
out ore
Mining boom helped fuel
industrial growth
Caused conflict with Native
Americans
Farming Westward

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Homestead Act 1862
 allowed settlers to acquire 160
acres of land by living on it for 5
years & making improvements
 Public land given away to fill it
up, provide a family farm
(500,000 people took
advantage)
 More families than that bought
land from railroads& land
companies
Land speculators took advantage of
system to grab up best land
Railroads tempted immigrants with
cheap land
Higher wheat prices, iron plows
made marginal land more attractive

However…
 160 acres inadequate to make a
living; yields low
 Drought persistent problem,
farming techniques led to “Dust
Bowl” of the 1930’s
Moving Westward

Cities in the West
served as a safety
valve for defunct
miners & farmers
shucks, I lost
my farm. I’ll just
move West.”
 Good in theory, but
an expensive
venture


 “Oh

Some large-scale
farms emerge
Tied to industry,
reliant on one
another
Farming becomes
mechanized and
agribusiness
appeared
Failing farms

Reasons for failing farms
 Tenant farmers
 Operated at a loss
 Farmers overproduced driving
prices down
 Government over assessed their
land for taxes
 Corporations supplied farm
equipment, seed, fertilizer;
controlled prices
 Grain storage operators and
railroads charged high fees
 Nature conspired against
farmers- grasshoppers, floods,
drought
 In the South the boll weevil
wreaked havoc on the cotton crop
in the 1890’s

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Farmers were slow to organize;
individualistic & independent, not well
educated
The first major farmer’s organization
was the National Grange of the
Patrons of Husbandry (The Grange)

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Established cooperatively owned
stores, grain elevators and
warehouses
Entered politics to control grain, freight
prices, had biggest success in Upper
Midwest
Populist Party

Late 1870’s Farmers’
Alliance established in
Texas
 Grassroots movement
 By 1890 over 1 million
members
 Organized to break
control of RR’s through
cooperative buying and
selling
 Ignored plight of tenant
farmers, excluded
blacks
 Racial division kept
farmers from working
together
 Blacks formed Colored
Farmers’ National
Alliance

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Populist Party arose as the
direct successor to the
Farmer’s Alliance
Populist party’s
presidential candidate in
1892 was James B.
Weaver
Influential Populist leaders
were James B. Weaver,
Mary Lease, Ignatius
Donnelley, and William
“Coin” Harvey
In a bid to win labor’s
support, the Populist Party
opposed injunctions
against labor strikes
Populist Party Cartoon 1892
Jacob Coxey

Panic of1893 strengthened
Populists’ position;
depression loomed

Armies of unemployed
began marching to protest
plight of labors & farmers

Coxey’s “army” marched
on Washington D.C., to
demand that the
government relieve
unemployment with a
public works program
Election of 1896

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William “hard money” McKinley
(R-Ohio) vs. William Jennings
Bryan (D- Neb)
A “monetary” battle: gold
standard or silver standard;
Populists back silver
A Republican victory
McKinley was a “trust” man, for
big business and big money
Gold Standard Act of 1900
allowed paper currency to be
redeemed freely in gold, victory
for conservatives
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Adams, L. (2010). Retrieved on January 10, 2011 from
http://lisaacademy.org/webshare/social%20studies/dean/APUSH/The%20Great%20West%20and%20the%20Agricultural
%20Revolution.ppt.
[Image of Helen Hunt book]. (20110. Retrieved on January 10, 2011 from http://booksxyz.com/profile1791691.php
[Image of Indian land for sale]/ (20100). Retrieved on January 10, 2011 from
http://www.virginiawestern.edu/faculty/vwhansd/his122/Images/Indian%20Land.jpg
[Image of William McKinley]. (2011). Retrieved on January 11, 2011 from
http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/williammckinley