AP US HISTORY
CH 26
“GREAT WEST & THE
AGRICULTURAL
REVOLUTION”
1865-1896
A. CLASH OF CULTURES
ON THE PLAINS
Am
pop growing but
west still open by the
1880’s.
Indians (NA) POP
360,000 by 1860.
Most NA scattered along
Trans-Missouri West.
A
Clashes
inevitable:
Industrialization vs.
NA’s.
Apaches, Comanche,
Cheyenne, Sioux all
enter into phases of
conflict.
A.
NA
culture were under
attack by
–1. Disease.
–2. shrinking pop of Bison.
Fed
gov’t tried to pacify
the Plain Indians by
Treaties.
A
2
Treaties marked
beginning of the
reservation system
–1. Treaty of Fort Laramie
(lar-a–me) 1851
–2. Treaty of Fort Atkinson
1853
A.
1860
fed gov
intensified treaty
policy.
Great Sioux
Reservation in Dakota
territory & Oklahoma
territory.
A
NA
surrendered their
ancestral land only when
promised by fed gov’t that
they would be left alone &
provided w/ supplies.
Post CW fighting between
US Army & NA’s fiercely
raged in mid west a.k.a.
the Indian War’s (IW’S)
B. RECEDING NATIVE POP.
IW’s (1860’s-1890’s) were
savage.
1864 Sand Creek Massacre
(Colorado): US Col. JM
Chivington massacred 400
NA’s (Cheyenne)
Women shot while praying,
children brains bashed out &
braves tortured, scalped, &
mutilated.
Sitting Bull and Family Outside Tepee
B
Revenge
1866 by Sioux.
They try to block
construction of Bozemans
Trail.
Sioux ambush Capt.
William Fetterman, kill 81
soldiers in Wyoming
Bighorn Mts.
B.
Sioux left no survivors, one
soldiers face spitted w/ 105
arrows.
George Armstrong Custer, x
CW General, now in US
Cavalry turned Indian fighter
wrote ”Fettermans
annihilation awakened a
bitter feeling towards the
savage perpetrators”
B
By
1874 a new round of
warfare started up against
the Plain Indians.
A scientific expo in Black
Hills of SD was led by Col.
George Custer
 Scientific
B.
expo was on Sioux
Reservation, gold was discovered.
 SD will be saturated by gold
seekers.
 Sioux go on the war path.
 Sioux forces=2,500. Custer's
forces=264.
 Battle of Little Bighorn 1876.
Custer's 7th Cavalry forces
completely wiped out.
Sitting Bull
Sioux chief who guided
his people to victory
against General George A.
Custer's cavalry at the
Battle of the Little Bighorn
in 1876
The Black Hills and the
Battle of Little Big Horn (04:36)
B.
 Nez
Perce Indians lead by Chief
Joseph will be forced into a fight
by 1877 by U.S. Calvary (reason:
forced onto reservation).
 Chief Joseph hoped for a
rendezvous with Sitting Bull
after he took refuge after Little
Bighorn.
 Chief Joseph finally surrendered
1877 forced onto Kansas
Reservation.
B
Apache
Indians of New
Mexico and Arizona will join
in on the IW
They are led by Chief
Geronimo who despises the
white man.
Geronimo will surrender in
1886, forced on reservations
throughout FL, AL, and OK.
B
The
taming of the
NA’s was done
through 3 ways:
–1. RR
–2. Disease
–3. Loss of Bison
Apache prisoners, including
Geronimo (first row, third from
right), seated on an
embankment outside their
railroad car in Arizona in 1886.
C. BELLOWING HERDS OF BISON
 Millions
of buffalo populated the
plains when white Americans
arrived.
 They provided:
–1. Food
–2. Fuel (buffalo chips)
–3. Clothing (hides)
 Post
CW 15,000,000 buffalo on
the plains.
C
1868 KS Pacific RR had to
wait 8 hours for passing
buffalo.
Wm “Buffalo Bill” Cody killed
over 4,000 buffs in 18 mo.
while working for KS Pacific
RR
C
Buff were killed for 4 things:
–1. tongues
–2. hides
–3. sportsmanship
–4. slaughtered for lust and
excitement
By
1885 buf endanger of
complete extinction. Less
than 1,000 alive.
D. END OF THE TRAIL
 Helen
Hunt Jackson, writer of
children's literature wrote
“Century of Dishonor” 1881
 Her book discusses the Gov’t
ruthless policy in dealing with
the Indians/Moral Sense
awakened.
 She also wrote a novel called
“Ramona” 1884, a love story of
injustice of CA Indians.
D
Christian reformers try to
Christianize NA’s, through
reform schools.
They withheld food, force
NA’s to give up tribal religion
and assimilate into white
society.
1884 reformers urge Fed
Gov’t to force NA’s to give up
sacred “Sun Dance” and
“Ghost Dance”
Battle
D
of Wounded Knee
(SD) 1890, last battle of
the IW’s.
200 Sioux killed at SD.
The Dawes Severalty
(several-tee)=(ownership)
Act 1887, one of the most
important pieces of Indian
Legislation passes.
Wounded Knee Massacre (02:59)
Senator Henry Dawes
D
3 things in Dawes Act (aka
“gen allotment act”)
–1. dissolved many NA tribes.
–2. ended tribal ownership of
land ( let the Pres survey
land & divide it into
allotments)
–3. set up individual Indian
family heads w/ 160 free
acres
D
 NA’s
not granted full citizenship
until 1924.
 Dawes act allowed for the sale of
western land to RR & settlers
 1879 Fed Gov’t funded the
Carlisle Indian School in Penn.
 It separated NA children from
their tribes & taught them
English & white mans culture.
D
School
motto “kill the
Indian & save the man”
By 1900, NA lost 50% of
the 156 million acres
that had 2 decades
earlier.
The General Allotment Act and
Relocation Program (05:50)
E. MINING: FROM DISHPAN TO ORE
BREAKER
Conquest
of NA & birth of
RR gave way to an
explosion in the Mining
Frontier.
1858 Col. discovery of gold
(near “Pikes Pike”)
1859 Nev. gold discovery
“Comstock Lode”.
E
“Boomtowns”
AKA
“Helldorados”
sprouted.
Saloons, Liquor (rot
gut), vigilante justice,
boomtown to ghost
town.
From Boomtown to Ghost Town (02:58)
F. BEEF BONANZAS & LONG DRIVES
CW
ended, grassy plains of
Texas supported millions of
“Long-Horned” cattle.
Cattle used for hide, after CW
they couldn’t be used for
meat, no way to transport
back East/meat packing
industries.
F
 Problem
solved:
–1. TC RR
–2. Cattle now shipped to
stockyards.
– 3. Beef Barons industrialized
meatpacking business
–4. Fresh products now possible
because of Refrigerator Cars on
trains.
The Cattlemen (01:06)
G. FARMER FRONTIER
 Homestead
Act 1862=Allowed
settlers to acquire 160 of land by
living on it for 5 years, improve it
and pay a nominal fee of $30.00.
 New law was a Godsend for poor
farmers.
 1862 – 1902 500,000 families
took advantage of the
Homestead Act.
 Fraud was common with HSA.
 Most
G
of the time the “free land”
would end up the hands of grabbing
promoters/corporations use dummy
homesteaders.
 Drought caused problems for
farmers.
 New farming techniques called “Dry
Farming”=method of frequent
shallow cultivation (hurt later by
dust bowl 1930’s)
 Barbed wire was perfected by Joseph
Glidden 1874.
H. FAR WEST COMES OF AGE
Great
West opened for
business for 1870 -1880.
New states enter:
1. COl 1876 2. ND 3. SD
4. MON 5. WA
6. IDAHO
Note: 2-6 came in 1889-90.
H
Fed Gov’t has a land race in
OK in 1892. Scores of
overeager and well-armed
“Sooners”=illegally jump the
gun to enter the OK Territory.
April 1907 OK becomes the
Sooner State.
I. FADING FRONTIER
 1890
Superintendent of the
Censes announced for the 1st
time in U.S. History that a
“Frontier Line” was no longer
needed.
 The closing of the frontier
inspired the most influential
essay ever written, Frederick
Jackson Turner wrote: “The
Significance of the Frontier in
American History” 1893.
Frederick Jackson Turner
J. FARMS BECOME A FACTORY
 American
farming was changing.
 High prices for crops created
profit/cash crops (wheat and
corn best crops)
 Farmers were tired of being
taken advantage of
–1 Banking
–2 RR
–3 Manufacturer
K. DEFLATION DOOMS THE DEBTOR
Farmers
locked
themselves into a one crop
farm (wheat or corn).
As long as prices stayed
high life was good.
1880 prices drop,
bankruptcy hits the farm
belt.
K
Prices of their crops were
determined in the world
market. i.e.
If wheat fields of Russia
flourished, prices of foreign
wheat would fall, AM farms
ruined.
Low prices and deflated
currency main worries of AM
farmers.
 AM
farming family borrows
$1,000 1855, wheat worth $1.00
a bushel. They expected to pay
back the equivalent of 1,000
bushels, plus interest, when
mortgage due.
 But if they let their debt run to
1890, wheat prices fall to $.50 a
bushel, they would have to pay
back the price of 2,000 bushels
for the $1,000. loan, plus
interest.
K
Deflation
crunch on the
debtors (farmers) was
due to static $
supply/simply not
enough $ to go around.
L. UNHAPPY FARMERS
 Mother
nature didn’t help the
farmers during this time.
 Problems
1.Grasshoppers
2.Southern Cotton Boll Weevils
3.Floods
4.Dry Soil
L
Farmers
of
–1
–2
–3
–4
at the mercy
Harvest trust
Barbed Wire trust
Fertilizer trust
RR trust (high TP fees)
M. FARMERS TAKE THEIR
STAND
1868
prices down,
farmers need relief from
–1 low prices
–2 high debt.
They
demanded inflation
of paper currency.
M
Nat’l
Grange of the Patrons
of Husbandry (AKA The
Grange Organization) 1867
Grange movement led by
Oliver Kelly
Grange had 800,000 by
1875.
They
M
had 4 ideas:
–1 Cooperatively owned
stores
–2 Cooperatively grain
elevators
–3 Warehouses
–4 Manufactured
Harvesting Machinery
M
Grangers
entered
politics/successful in
Midwest region.
1880 Greenback Labor
Party (Granger)
presidential candidate
Gen. James Weaver/3%
of pop vote
N. PRELUDE TO POPULISM
Rural problems increasing.
Farmers Alliance founded in
Texas late 1870’s.
FA hurts themselves by not
recognizing:
–1
–2
–3
–4
landless tenant farmers
share croppers
farm workers
blacks
N
1880
Blacks founded
Colored Farmer National
Alliance
rd
Out of FA a 3
political
party emerges=The
“Peoples Party” AKA “The
Populist Party”.
 Pops
call for 4 things
–1. Nationalizing RR, telephones and
telegraph industry
–2. Instituting a gradual income tax
–3. Creation of a sub-treasury
–4. free and unlimited coinage of
silver
 1892
Populist scared both
political parties. They nominate
James Weaver as their
presidential candidate.
The Populists (02:48) 1st 1:5 min review, last part about pop’s
O. COXEY’S ARMY & THE PULLMAN
STRIKE
Eco
panic 1893.
Protest/marches
increase.
Most famous march led
by Gen. Jacob S. Coxey
(he was a socialist).
O
He marches on D.C. 1894.
Two platform ideas:
–1 Gov’t relief for unemployment
through public works
programs.
–2 Gov’t should issue
$500,000,000. in legal tender
(increase consumer spending)
 The
O
Commonwealth Army of
Coxey led demonstration in D.C. ,
turns violent. Coxey was
arrested for ignoring “Keep off
the Grass” sign.
 Chicago 1894 Pullman Strike, led
by Eugene V. Debs labor union
leader organized Am RR Union.
 Pullman Palace Car Co. hit hard
by depression, cuts workers
wages in Company Town.
Workers
O
go on strike,
turns violent, overturns
Pullman cars and paralyzes
railway traffic.
U.S. Atty Gen. Richard
Ulney, conservative, urges
Pres. Cleveland send in Fed
Troops.
O
Cleveland
“If it takes the
Army and the Navy to deliver
a post card in Chicago that
card will be delivered”.
Eugene Debs jailed for 6 mos.
Contempt of Fed Court (Fed
Ct. injunction)
P. GOLDEN McKINLEY & SILVER
BRYAN
Election 1896 issues:
–1 Grievances of farmers
–2 Depression plagued laborers
–3 Silver vs. Gold
Rep.
nominate Ohio
Congressman/Gov. Wm
McKinley
WM helped by Big City
Political Boss Marcus Hanna
P
 Rep
platform
–1 Gold standard
–2 Protective Tariffs
 Dem
nominate Wm Jennings
Bryan . They support silver
standard.
 WJB delivers famous speech at
Dem Nat’l Convention promoting
use of silver standard, aka Cross
of Gold speech.
William Jennings Bryan
P
“Having
behind us the producing
masses of this nation and the
world, supported by the
commercial interests, the laboring
interests and the toilers
everywhere, we will answer their
demand for a gold standard by
saying to them: You shall not press
down upon the brow of labor this
crown of thorns, you shall not
crucify mankind upon a cross of
gold”.
William Jennings Bryan (04:19)
Q. CLASS CONFLICT: PLOW
HOLDERS V. BONDHOLDERS
 WJB
keeps silver issue in forefront
1896 election.
 WM/Marcus Hanna push Protective
Tariff issue
 WJB campaigns hard, 27 states,
18,000 miles, 600 speeches (36
days).
 Rep strongest ally Big Business.
 Rep use fear tactics with help of
manufactories.
Q
Owners
told their workers
not to come to work
tomorrow if WJB
wins/threaten to pay workers
$ .50 on the dollar.
Election outcome
–WM 271 to 176 EC votes.
–Pop votes WM 7.1 mil to 6.4 mil