America in the Gilded Age: 1870-1900
The South:
Still recovering from the
Civil War but was no longer
forced to “reconstruct”
The “New South”?
Sharecropping
Jim Crow reigned supreme as
whites legally segregated the
South into 2 distinct societies
America in the Gilded Age: 1870-1900
The North:
Experienced a “2nd Industrial Revolution,”
mass immigration, & urbanization
Railroads, Steel, & Oil
America in the Gilded Age: 1870-1900
The West:
Manifest
Destiny
continued after
1865 as miners
homesteaders,
& ranchers
headed West
Washington
North
The United
by 1890
Montana
Idaho States
Dakota
Established new
states & closed the
frontier by 1890
Colorado
Wyoming
South Dakota
..but this
came at the
expense of
Native
Americans
Western raw
materials fueled
eastern factories
Crushing the
Native Americans
Plains
In 1865, 2/3The
of all
IndiansIndians
Their culture
lived on the Great Plains
was dependent
upon the buffalo
& the horse
Tribes of several 1,000 people were
subdivided into bands of 100s which made
it difficult for the U.S. to negotiate treaties
Searching for an Indian Policy
■Before the Civil War, the West
was “one big reservation”
–The Indian Intercourse Act
(1834) forbade whites from
entering
“Indian
country”
without
a license
Searching for an Indian Policy
■But…rapid Western expansion in
the 1850s brought a new Indian
“concentration policy” with distinct
boundaries
for each
tribe “as
long as the
waters run
and grass
grows”
Searching
forall,anbigIndian
Policy
“Kill
and scalp
and little”
■Concentration
did not last
Congress investigated
& as
condemned
Chivington’s
attack
whites
ignored
these boundaries:
–Sand Creek Massacre (1864)—
Col John Chivington attacked
700 sleeping Indians in CO after
a peace agreement was signed
–Sioux War (1865-1867)—gold
miners wanted a Bozeman Trail
(across Sioux hunting grounds)
to connect mining towns; Sioux
murdered 88 U.S. soldiers
Searching for an Indian Policy
■In 1867, the U.S. formed the
Indian Peace Commission :
The
discovery
of
gold
in
South
Dakota
–Ended
Bozeman
Trail
plans
led a Sioux army of 2,500 to ambush
–Made
reservations”
in the
& kill Lt “small
Col Custer
& his 197 soldiers
Dakota
& Oklahoma
“Custer’s
Black
soldiers
Last
Stand”
in the set
U.S.
offterritories
army
demands
called
“buffalo
forNative
revenge
soldiers”
among
were
Americans
used
to fend
■Few
Americans
settled
into
off
Indian
attacks
in
the
West
The
U.S.
army
was
ordered
to
stop
these reservations peacefully:
Sioux
“ghost
dances”
&
machine
–Red
River
War
(1874)
gunned 200 men, women, & children
–Little Big Horn (1876)
–Wounded Knee Massacre (1890)
End ofandTribal
Life
“KillThe
the Indian
save the
man”
of Carlisle
■In —Richard
1871, thePratt,
U.S.founder
adopted
its 4th
Indian policy: Assimilation
–U.S. citizenship was offered to
all Indians who farmed, lived
away from their tribe & “adopted
the habits of civilized life”
–Dawes Severalty Act in 1887
offered farms (160 acres to
families & 80 to men) & the
protection of U.S. laws
The End of Tribal Life
■The final blow to Indian culture
came with annihilation of buffalo:
–Began with the construction of
the transcontinental RR in 1860s
–From
1872 to
1874,
3 million
buffalo
were killed each year
1 hunter = 100 buffalo per day
Settlement of the West
Rails Across the Continent
■In 1862, Congress authorized the
transcontinental railroad:
–Union Pacific worked westward
from Nebraska (Irish laborers)
–Central Pacific worked eastward
from CA (Chinese immigrants)
–May 10, 1869 the 2 tracks met
at Promontory Point in Utah
■By 1900, 4 more lines were built
to the Pacific
The national gov’t doled $65 million &
of acrestoinRailroads
land grantsby 1871
Federalmillions
Land Grants
(received reduced rates for shipping)
The Transcontinental Railroad
“Pullman cars” &
“refrigeration cars”
In 1870, RR companies developed the 1st time
zones to better schedule the RR system; the US
would not adopt time zones until 1918
Railroad Construction, 1830-1920
Bonanza
2/3The
of allFarming
homesteaders
farm their
land incentives
■Thefailed
U.S.togov’t
offered
for farmers to settle the West:
–Homestead Act (1862)—gave
160
acres
of
land
if
families
500 million acres doled to businesses
pledged
tomillion
live there
for 5 years
but only 80
to homesteaders
–Other gov’t acts helped develop
western lands by planting trees
& building irrigation systems
–Due to land grants, RRs were
the largest western landowners
The Farming Bonanza
■In 1870, homesteaders pushed
West & adapted to the harsh
farmingAconditions:
pioneer sod house
–Farmers used dry farming
techniques & planted tougher
varieties of wheat
–New machinery sped harvesting
& planting; led to bonanza farms
–By 1890, the U.S. became a
major crop exporter
Homestead Sales, 1870-1940
In 1900, the West made up 30% of the
U.S. population (was 1% in 1850)
The Mining Bonanza
■Mining was the 1st magnet to
attract settlers to the West
■CA (1849) started the gold rush,
but strikes in Pikes Peak, CO &
Carson River Valley, NV (1859)
set off wild migrations to the West:
–Comstock Lode = $306 million
–John Mackay’s Big Bonanza
made him richest man in world
Created
need
for
gov’t,took
lawmachinery
enforcement,
Corporations
Individual
“placer
hadlocal
the
miners”
expensive
little
skill or
to
sanitation,
prostitutes
money
extract
to start,
most
butbusinesses,
ofcould
the gold
not reach
in the deep
Westlodes
Mining
Regions of
the West
Discoveries of gold & silver led
to overnight mining towns
"Courts
of Justice
Closed to Chinese
Mining
Bonanza
Extra
Taxes
to
'Yellowjack'"
½ of the mining population
■¼ to
was foreign born:
–Latin American miners brought
experience & new techniques
–Chinese brought a tireless ethic
■Led to hostility & riots:
–Foreign Miners’ Act in 1852
charged a monthly mining fee
–Chinese
Exclusion
Pacific
Chivalry:Act in 1882
“Encouragement
to Chinese
Chinese Immigration”
suspended
immigration
A cattle bought for $4 in Texas
In the 1860s,
cattle
ranching
boomed
sold for $40 in Kansas
Ranchers
used the
“open range”
The
to graze
Cattle
longhorns
Bonanza
By 1867, ranchers
started using trains to
ship cattle to Chicago
The Cattle Bonanza
■½ of all cowboys were black &
¼ were Mexican
■By 1880, the
“open range”
was ending:
–Wheat growers,
homesteaders, & barbed wire
blocked the range
–Many switched to raising sheep
Exodusters
■Exodusters
were black
farmers who
moved West
to escape
Southern crop
liens & Jim
Crow Laws
The Final Fling
■In 1889, Congress responded to
“Sooners”
couldn’t
noon
Oklahoma
“Boomers”
waiting
for
noon
demands
to
openwait
theuntil
Oklahoma
Territory to white settlement
■On April 22, 1889, about 100,000
“Boomers” & “Sooners” flooded
into the last “Indian land”
–White migrants claimed 2 million
acres in Oklahoma homesteads
–Moved out Creeks & Seminoles
LandsIndian
Lost byReservations
Native Americans
Today(1894)
The Myth of the West
– Frederick Jackson Turner
• Frontier Thesis
– Literature
• Dime novels – cowboys,
gunslingers, lawmen,
outlaws, bank robbers
• More myth than reality
• Still shapes our concept
of west
Conservation Movements
■ Movement to protect land from
development, mining, deforestation, etc.
■ Land used for parks (Yellowstone,
Yosemite, etc.)
■ John Muir leader of movement