SETTLING THE
WESTERN FRONTIER:
1865 - 1890
How the United States came to
occupy the West
Settling the Western Frontier, 1865 - 1890
 What is a “Frontier”?
 Where was the “American Frontier”?
 Can we identify or define the frontier simply as a place
geographically, or is it something else, something less palpable?
“The Frontier”
When historians discuss a
“frontier” they are usually
describing a place where two
unique cultures are making
contact with one another. On
one side of the frontier, there
is the familiar society known to
its inhabitants. On the
opposite side of the frontier is
the unfamiliar – the diverse,
unknown, exotic, “other.”
Often, Americans have viewed
the Western Frontier of the 19 th
Century as being “unsettled,”
“uncivilized,” chaotic, godless,
and frightening – inhabited by
cannibals or “savages.” At
times, it seems that Native
Americans were not there at all
when we watch shows like
“Little House on the Prairie” or
read passages describing
“virgin forests” uninhabited
and filled with limitless
deposits of natural resources.
 During the 19 th Century, the Frontier in the
American West might have been almost
anywhere west of the Mississippi River.
 The location of the Frontier, however, varies
according to time and place. During the 1760s,
the “Frontier” might have been anywhere west
of the Appalachians. By the 1840s, frontier
communities had been established on the West
Coast in places like California and Oregon. It
moved to the Southwest during the mining
booms of the 1850s; the Rocky Mountain region
later still. In the 1870s and beyond, isolated
communities on the Great Plains were
considered the “Frontier” towns.
 All of these places have one common link,
however, in that they were all communities
where American settlers found themselves
isolated from their Eastern heritage and
cohabitating a region populated by “others”:
diverse Native American Indian tribes; English
settlers; Mexicans; Chinese, Japanese, or
Filipino immigrants; Mormon émigrés; outcasts,
misfits, and wanderers. In many ways, the
“Frontier” shifted and flowed like running
water, or expanded and receded like the tides.
Who were the stakeholders on the Western
Frontier in American History?
Stakeholders:
Some Stakeholders on the Western Frontier –
• American Indians
• Railroad Barons
• English Settlers
• American Settlers
• Chinese Immigrants • Great Plains Farmers
• “Exodusters”
• Women
• Bankers & Investors
• Mexicans
• Homesteaders
• United States Military
• Mormons
• French Colonists
• “Buffalo Soldiers”
• Cattle Ranchers
• Russian Settlers
• Miners and Workers
Visions of Prosperity and Freedom on America’s
Western Frontier  Why did this group of Americans (or non-Americans) resolve to live on the
Western Frontier?
 What did this group of Americans (or non-Americans) hope to accomplish on
the Western Frontier?
 What advantages did the Western Frontier offer these people to encourage
prosperity and independence?
 Answer at least one of these questions for each of the eight (8) groups of
stakeholders on the Western Frontier which you identified.
 You may also feel compelled to acknowledge that the environment was not
always very hospitable towards these groups of settlers – the Western
Frontier could be a hard, isolated place to live for many reasons.
Stakeholders on the Western Frontier
The Mormons
Railroad Barons
• Members of the Church of Jesus
• Railroad barons like Leland
Christ of Latter Day Saints moved to Stanford of the Central Pacific
the Western Frontier under the
Railroad hoped to make a fortune
leadership of Brigham Young,
in the west by gaining monopolies
hoping to escape persecution in the on the transportation of crops and
United States, where the practice of livestock as they moved from
polygamy and certain other
Western farmland to Eastern
peculiarities of their faith had been
markets. When the
reacted to violently by American
Transcontinental Railroad was
communities. When they
completed in May of 1869, farmers
established “Deseret,” there
in California and cattle ranchers in
community near present day Salt
Texas were able to ship their
Lake City, Utah, the territory was
products to huge markets in
actually claimed by Mexico, not the
Eastern cities like New York, St.
United States. They had left the
Louis, Chicago, and Philadelphia –
country!
for a price, payable to Stanford!
Cooperation and Competition on the Western
Frontier
Write out at least eight (8) complete sentences which describe the
relationships between the different stakeholders on the Western
Frontier.
 How did the various stakeholders on the Western Frontier come
into conflict or compete for resources and prosperity in the West?
 How did the stakeholders in the West cooperate in order to
survive in a hostile environment or to defend themselves versus a
common enemy?
 Did certain stakeholders in the West seek to isolate themselves?
Were they successful in doing so?
Conflict, Competition, Cooperation, and
Communities on the Western Frontier
The US Army and American Indians
Buffalo Soldiers and American Settlers
• Buffalo Soldiers primary tasks were
• The United States Army was in
to clear the railroad tracks and to
violent conflict with American
maintain telegraph wires, to enforce
Indians when they began to
the reservation policy of the United
enforce the reservation policy of
States government against Native
the United States government.
American tribes, and to protect
American Indians won a bloody
American settlers as they crossed
victory at the Battle of Little
the Great Plains to settle Western
Bighorn, but the achievement was Frontier territories or establish
short lived; the US Army redoubled homesteads. Although some
its efforts to slaughter the buffalo American settlers maintained racist
and coerce American Indian tribes sentiments, Buffalo Soldiers hoped
to prove they were worthy of full
into living on reservations so that
by 1890, virtually no tribes lived on citizenship and equality through
their service to the Nation.
the Great Plains.
Categories, Categorize.
• Category “A”
Once you have completed
all eight (8) of your
sentences describing the
relationships between the
stakeholders on the
Western Frontier, you will
need to thoughtfully
categorize each of the
relationships you have
articulated. You will design
either two or three (2 or 3)
categories, title them, and
then place each of your
eight (8) sentences into
one of the categories.
• Category “B”
• Category “C” * - if necessary.
Categories;
Categorize.
 Groups in Violent Conflict
 Cooperative Inhabitants of
the Western Frontier
 Traders and Businessmen
 Cooperative Work
Relationships
 Economic Dependency
 Competition for Limited
Resources.
 National Rivalries
GENERALIZATIONS
If you had to distill this entire
conversation down to one
major point, what
generalization would you
make about the Western
Frontier? Are there universal
truths about the Western
Frontier which emerged from
our discussions about the
relationships between
diverse peoples in the West?
Is your generalization
surprising? Is it a positive
and inspiring statement
about the Western Frontier,
or a discouraging, negative
statement? How could we
summarize this discussion in
a sentence or two?
Generalizations About the Settlement of the
Western Frontier in American History
 The Western Frontier was settled by the cooperative efforts and
superior work ethic of diverse peoples.
 The Western Frontier was a place of violent conflict between American
settlers, the United States Military, and their rivals.
 Advancements in transportation and communication during the mid to
late 19th Century allowed the US territories and states on the Western
Frontier to stay connected with national government in the East.
 Racism and violence played a prominent role in the history of the
Western Frontier.
 Economic opportunity and political liberty encouraged immigration to
the Western Frontier during the 19 th Century.