Alan Brinkley,
AMERICAN HISTORY 13/e
Chapter Sixteen:
The Conquest of the Far West
1
© 2010, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Chapter Sixteen:
The Conquest of the Far West

Introduction
 Myth and Reality
Cowboy of the West
(The Palma Collection /
Getty Images)
2
© 2010, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Chapter Sixteen:
The Conquest of the Far West

The Societies of the Far West
– The Western Tribes
 Caste System
 Plains Indians
 Economic
Importance of
the Buffalo
 Indian
Weaknesses
Buffalo Runners
(Library of Congress)
3
© 2010, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Chapter Sixteen:
The Conquest of the Far West

The Societies of the Far West
– Hispanic New Mexico
 Taos Indian Rebellion
 Hispanic
Resistance
Taos, New Mexico
(Royalty Free / CORBIS)
4
© 2010, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Chapter Sixteen:
The Conquest of the Far West

The Societies of the Far West
– Hispanic California and Texas
 Decline of Mission Society
 Declining Status of Hispanics
5
© 2010, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Chapter Sixteen:
The Conquest of the Far West

The Societies of the Far West
– The Chinese Migration
 Racism
 Building the
Transcontinental Railroad
 Establishment of
“Chinatowns”
Early Chinatown
(Library of Congress)
6
© 2010, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Chapter Sixteen:
The Conquest of the Far West

The Societies of the Far West
– Anti-Chinese Sentiments
 Anti-Coolie Clubs
 Chinese Exclusion Act
 Chinese Resistance
A Chinese Family in
San Francisco
7
© 2010, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Chapter Sixteen:
The Conquest of the Far West

The Societies of the Far West
– Migration from the East
 Homestead Act
 Government
Assistance
Norwegian Settlers in 1890s
(Library of Congress)
8
© 2010, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Chapter Sixteen:
The Conquest of the Far West

The Changing Western Economy
– Labor in the West
 Limited Social Mobility
 Racially Stratified
Working Class
Immigrant Orange Pickers in
Los Angeles (Library of Congress)
9
© 2010, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Chapter Sixteen:
The Conquest of the Far West

The Changing Western Economy
– The Arrival of the Miners
 Life Cycle of a Mining Boom
 Comstock Lode
 Boomtown Life
 Gender Imbalance
San Francisco, 1852
(Library of Congress)
10
© 2010, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Chapter Sixteen:
The Conquest of the Far West
Mining Towns, 1848-1863
11
© 2010, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Chapter Sixteen:
The Conquest of the Far West

The Changing Western Economy
– The Cattle Kingdom
 Mexican Origins
 Chisholm Trail
 Competition with
Farmers
 Political Gains
for Women
Cowboys on a
“Long Drive”
(Library of Congress)
12
© 2010, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Chapter Sixteen:
The Conquest of the Far West
The Cattle Kingdom c. 1866-1887
13
© 2010, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Chapter Sixteen:
The Conquest of the Far West

The Romance of the West
– The Western Landscape
 “Rocky Mountain School”
Panorama of Lake Chelan WA, 1908 (Library of Congress)
14
© 2010, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Chapter Sixteen:
The Conquest of the Far West
Mountain Valley
(Royalty-Free / CORBIS)
15
© 2010, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Chapter Sixteen:
The Conquest of the Far West

The Romance of the West
– The Cowboy Culture
 Myth of the Cowboy
– The Idea of the Frontier
 Romantic Image of the West
 Frederic Remington
– Frederick Jackson Turner
 Turner’s Frontier Thesis
16
© 2010, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Chapter Sixteen:
The Conquest of the Far West
“The existence of an area of free land, its
continuous recession and the advance of
settlement westward, explain American
Development.”
Frederick Jackson Turner
17
© 2010, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Chapter Sixteen:
The Conquest of the Far West

The Romance of the West
– The Loss of Utopia
 Psychological Loss
18
© 2010, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Chapter Sixteen:
The Conquest of the Far West

The Dispersal of the Indians
– White Tribal Policies
 “Concentration” Policy
 Poorly Administered Reservations
 Decimation of the Buffalo
Hunting Bison
on the Plains
(Library of Congress)
19
© 2010, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Chapter Sixteen:
The Conquest of the Far West

The Dispersal of the Indians
– The Indian Wars
 Indian Resistance
 Sand Creek Massacre
 “Indian Hunting”
 Little Bighorn
 Chief Joseph
 “Ghost Dance”
 Wounded Knee
Chief Little Crow, 1851
(Library of Congress)
20
© 2010, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Chapter Sixteen:
The Conquest of the Far West

The Dispersal of the Indians
– The Dawes Act
 Assimilation
21
© 2010, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Chapter Sixteen:
The Conquest of the Far West

The Rise and Decline of the Western Farmer
– Farming on the Plains
 Key Role of the Railroad
 Barbed Wire
 Drought
 Hard Times for Farmers
Drought
(© Creatas/
PunchStock)
22
© 2010, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Chapter Sixteen:
The Conquest of the Far West
Map of the Northern Pacific Railroad
23
(Royalty-Free / CORBIS)
© 2010, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Chapter Sixteen:
The Conquest of the Far West

The Rise and Decline of the Western Farmer
– Commercial Agriculture
 Consequences of Overproduction
– The Farmers’ Grievances
 Farmers’ Grievances
24
© 2010, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Chapter Sixteen:
The Conquest of the Far West

The Rise and Decline of the Western Farmer
– The Agrarian Malaise
 Isolation
Oregon Barn
(Glen Allison/
Getty Images)
25
© 2010, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Chapter Sixteen:
The Conquest of the Far West
Patterns of Popular Culture:
The Wild West Show
Poster for Buffalo Bill’s
Wild West Show
(Library of Congress)
26
© 2010, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Chapter Sixteen:
The Conquest of the Far West
Where Historians Disagree:
The “Frontier” and the West
Los Angeles, 1877
(Royalty-Free /CORBIS)
27
© 2010, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.