Bellwork
4/16/2012
Write 2 things you see in the picture.
What do you think this is a picture of?
Pupils at Carlisle Indian school, Pennsylvania. Established in 1879 by
Richard Pratt, the school attempted to assimilate Indian children into the
"white man's world" through education and financial support. Among its
students were four of Comanche chief Quanah Parker's children and those
of others involved in the Red River Wars
Land Runs of
Oklahoma
CONFLICT
Culture of Plains Indians
Government Policy
– Buffalo provided
• Instead of
food, clothing,
continuing
to
move
and shelter for the
the Indians
nomadic lifestyle
of the Indians.
westward, the
They did not
government
believe land
changed its policy.
should be bought
Indian land was
and sold, and
white farmers felt
seized, and they
it should be
were forced onto
divided.
reservations.
INDIAN WARS
• Army troops attacked and massacred surrendering
Cheyenne. Congressional investigators condemned the
Army actions, but no one was punished in the Sand
Creek Massacre.
• After the massacre, Cheyenne and Sioux stepped up
their raids. In return for closing a sacred trail, the
Sioux agreed to live on a reservation. Other nations
signed the Medicine Lodge Treaty and were moved
to reservation lands in western Oklahoma.
• George Armstrong Custer led his troops in headlong
battle against Sitting Bull and lost. The Battle of the
Little Bighorn was a temporary victory for the Sioux.
The U.S. government was determined to put down the
threat to settlers
The Government Passes Legislation to grant land
1. Pacific Railway Acts of 1862
gave railroad companies 10 square miles of land
on each side of the track for every mile of track
laid they resold the land to settlers. $$$$
2.
Morrill Land Grant Act (1862)
distributed millions of acres of land to state
governments they could sell the land to
found “land-grant” colleges.
Homestead Act (1862)
•
offered 160 acres of land to
settlers who
farmed, built a house and stayed.
Rules:
were citizens or immigrants who had applied for
citizenship
paid a $10 registration fee
built a house within six months
farmed the land for 5 years before claiming
ownership
END OF RESERVATIONS
• The Dawes Act of 1887 broke up
many reservations and turned Native
Americans into individual property
owners. Ownership was designed
to transform their relationship to
the land. The Indians received less
productive land, and few had the
money to start farms. Most of the
land given to the Indians was
unsuitable for farming.
Oklahoma Act of 1889
opened the last of the frontier
to new settlers; the
“Sooners” sneaked into the
territory before the official
start and claimed the best
land.
ORGANIC ACT
• Set up government for Oklahoma
• All Indian lands open for white
settlement
• All of Oklahoma available for
settlement by 1901.
www.nps.gov/home/images/wagon.gif
April 22nd, 1889
• LAND RUN!
•
•
•
•
Start on the line
Race to the claim you wanted
Pick up stake in ground
Plant your stake and get title from claim
office
The starting line for the first Oklahoma Land
Rush, April 22, 1889.
http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/homestead-act/images/homesteading-family.gif
Base camp before the 1889 land run. Boomers at Arkansas City, Kansas, 1889.
Photographer: William S. Prettyman.
http://www.nationalcowboymuseum.org/research/images/r_a_cunn_imag_lr89_1913_lg.jpg
Boomers on Kansas state line, April 19th, 1889.
Photographer: William S. Prettyman.
Waiting for land run at Purcell, Oklahoma Territory, 1889.
Photographer: William S. Prettyman.
Oklahoma City - April 29, 1889
Seven Days After the Land Run of 1889
©2002 Oklahoma State Senate Historical Preservation Fund, Inc. and Wayne Cooper
Type People Who Moved West
1. Speculators: people who bought
large areas of land in hopes of
reselling it for
a profit
2. Homesteaders: people who
rushed to accept offers of
free
land
3. Exodusters:
• African- American settlers who
moved west; took their name from
the biblical account of the Jews
escaping slavery in Egypt
4. Boomers:
people who kept relocating from
town to town looking for a quick
fortune, but seldom staying
long enough to make a
living
This poster urges Exodusters to move from Kentucky to Kansas.
Kansas State Historical Society
http://www.cjonline.com/stories/030203/our_ot.hist6.shtml
Exodusters waiting for a steamboat to carry them westward in the late 1870's.
Problems facing settlers
1. The extremely poor could not afford
the “free” land
2. Land companies claimed most of
the land, not individuals
3. Resettlement of the Native
Americans
C. Complaints of the Farmers
1. Low agricultural prices
2. Insufficient and expensive
credit –
3. High rates charged by
middlemen
4. High industrial prices
5. Demonetizing of silver (no more
minted coins made from silver)
The Populist Party
Farmers’ Alliance:
Organized to unify concerns of farmers with
miners and factory workers.
Effect:
Farmers and labor unions formed a new political
party
Wanted:
Free and unlimited coinage of silver
RAILROADS & MINING
A Rush for Gold.
1. People had been looking for gold since
the ’49 rush in California
2. Discovery of silver in Nevada (the
Comstock Lode) led to more strikes
3. By the late 1800s people flocked to the
West, Canada, and Alaska
http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h270/kule1/479px-California_Gold_Rush_handbill.jpg
“Boom to Bust”
GOLD OR SILVER STRIKE
Miners arrive to build a tent city
Merchants arrive to supply miners
Wood-frame structures replace tents
BOOM TOWN
Mining production falls
Miners move on
Stores close and merchants leave
Town is abandoned
GHOST TOWN
E. Railroaders
The federal government
helped the railroad
companies because it
would benefit the entire
nation; a subsidy is
financial aid from the
government.
Transcontinental Railroad
Central Pacific
Promontory Point, UT 1869
Union Pacific
the completion of the railroad
1.Sparked a spirit of unity in
the country
2. New states admitted (NV,
CO, ND, MT, WA)
Problems with the railroad
1. labor was scarce dangerous, low
pay, hard work
2. high rates because of no competition
3. discrimination regarding rates rebates
to large shippers, rural service high
4. corruption bribery, free
passes to
government officials
Rath & Wright's buffalo hide yard, showing 40,000 buffalo hides baled for
shipment. Dodge City, Kansas, 1878.
MAIN IDEA
• Native Americans fought the
movement of settlers westward, but
the U.S. military and the persistence
of American settlers proved too
strong to resist.