Chapters 16 and 17
Main Themes of the Chapters
1) After the Civil War, the West was being conquered by Anglo-Americans,
who viewed the already-inhabited land as the “Last Frontier”
2) After the Civil War, heavy immigration from Europe, Asia, Africa, and
South America fueled the development of the West and the entire U.S. (it
also spurred racism and persecution)
3) The West was Romanticized by Anglo-Americans, and Native Americans
were forced to assimilate to white culture
4) The Industrial Economy was steadily built throughout the 19th century…at
the expense of the small farmer
5) In businesses, new techniques of centralizing power and increasing
investment within corporations developed during the Industrial Era
6) The work force within factories was made up of foreign immigrants,
women, and children who were employed in factories in unsafe
conditions being paid minimal wages
7) Workers saw opportunities to stand against their loss of power to
centralizing businesses by joining unions and other organizations
Chapter 16
Key Terms/Acts/Events/People of
Chapter 16
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“Last Frontier”
Caste System
“Territorial Rings”
Californios and Rancheros
Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882
“Coolies”
Anti-Coolie Movement
Foreign Miners’ Tax
Transcontinental Railroad
“Chinatowns” and “Tong Wars”
Homestead Act of 1862
Timber Culture, Desert Acts
“Indian Territory”
Rocky Mountain School
Wild West Sideshows
 Frederick Jackson Turner
 “Passing of the Frontier”
 Concentration” Policy
 “Treaty Chiefs”
 Indian Peace Commission and
Bureau of Indian Affairs
 “Indian Hunting”
 Battle of Little Big Horn, Sitting Bull,
and Crazy Horse
 Nez Perce and Chief Joseph
 “Ghost Dance”
 Battle of Wounded Knee (1890)
 Dawes Severalty Act of 1887
 Agrarian Malaise
Western Tribes and Hispanics in the
West
 Plains Indians consisted of a group of tribes (which had thousands of members)
subdivided into “bands” of 500 men and women related to each other
 Women were to tend to household and domestic affairs; men go out hunting
and supervise the tribe religiously and politically
 “Bands” were nomadic- they would hunt buffalo (on horses introduced by
Europe) and establish teepees for temporary settlement
 Tribes could never centralize or unite with each other which ultimately led to
their downfall
 New Mexico was under control of Mexicans who implemented a Caste System
(aristocrats owned land, peasants worked it, Indians were either enslaved or
indentured) until U.S. General Stephen Kearny tried to create government that
would place Anglo-Americans in power- forcing Mexicans to be subordinate
 Mexicans feared Anglo-American takeover (as well as Indians) causing the
Taos Rebellion- ultimately failed and Americans ushered in white govt.
 “Territorial Rings” were alliances formed by American businessmen and
federal govt. to gain 2 Million acres of land in New Mexico and replace
Hispanic Elite with Anglo-Americans
Western Tribes and Hispanics in the
West (Cont.)
 U.S. Army became more actively involved in dealing with Anglo-Indian conflicts,
and were able to break power of Navajo and Apache tribes (something Hispanics
were unable to do) allowing former elite Hispanics to migrate to Northern U.S.
 Hispanics, removed from their positions as aristocrats, searched for jobs
underneath Anglo-Americans and were restricted to lowest-paying jobs
 Same thing happened to Hispanics in California and Texas: with Hispanic Elite
eventually displaced by Anglo-Americans
 Some Anglo-Americans corruptly pushed Californios (Hispanics in California)
out of their land and forced them to the lowest social ring in society: migrant
farmworkers
 Rancheros (Southern California Hispanics) able to hold onto elite status a little
longer than Californios, but ultimately, were removed from their positions
 Hispanics in Texas also became an impoverished class relegated to unskilled farm
work and industrial labor
Chinese Migration and the Growing
Anti-Chinese Sentiment
 Chinese travelled to New World to escape poverty and strict social order- they
came as “coolies” (indentures servants whose condition was close to slavery)
 Chinese were driven out of prospecting and recruited as railroad workers, after
completion of Transcontinental Railroad, many were unemployed and had to look
for other occupations
 Chinese went to cities and merchant leaders established “Chinatowns” but
“tongs” (secret societies) initiated the “Tong Wars” and engaged in prostitution
and drug-dealing
 Chinese immigration greatly increases after California Gold Rush of 1848-1849,
and Chinese were initially welcomed by public…but, because of their acceptance
of low wages and having no need to unionize, Anglo-Americans saw them as a
threat to their business opportunities
 Irish particularly persecute Chinese Immigrants, Democratic Party supports
persecution, “Anti-Coolie” Clubs emerged: all upset that Chinese were
accepting extremely low wages, thus, undercutting union members
 Congress responded to political pressures from public (who feared
unemployment and labor unrest) and passed Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882
 Chinese tried to claim they were descendants of an enlightened civilization
(as opposed to Italians, Jewish people, and Irish)
Migration from the U.S. East
 Post-Civil War migration saw Millions of Anglo-Americans flocking to the West
(which was facilitated by the Transcontinental Railroad, the Romanticized West,
and Congressional action)
 Congress passed Homestead Act of 1862 which guaranteed 160 acres of land to
families who lived on and improved it for 5 years (BUT the land was too small for
grain farming of Great Plains, and many abandoned region before 5 years were up)
 Congress also passed many other Acts to encourage Anglo-American settlement
of the West, including:
 Timber Culture Act of 1873: Homesteaders could get additional 160 acres of
land if they planted 40 trees on it (make soil better)
 Desert Land Act of 1877: Homesteaders who irrigated part of their holdings in
3 years would be able to purchase 640 acres of land at $1.25 per acre
 Timber and Stone Act of 1878: Non-arable (not good for farming) land sold at
$2.50 per acre
 Statehood was granted to territorial governments of Nevada, Colorado, North and
South Dakota, Montana, Washington, and eventually, Utah
 Oklahoma (“Indian Territory”) was opened to white settlement in 1889
 All of these actions encouraged movement to the West (The Conquest of the Far
West)
Romancing the West
 “Rocky Mountain School” (like the Hudson River School) were group of painters
who captured the grand scenes of nature in the West (Albert Bierstadt and Thomas
Moran)
 Railroads moved through the West, causing cities and towns, which caused farms
(to supply food) to appear, and resort hotels to pop up near great landscapes
 Cowboy became a romanticized figure because he portrayed American virtues of
the self-made man who controlled his own destiny
 Cowboy appeared in pulp fiction novels, boy’s magazines, and Wild West
Sideshows
 Americans emphasized cowboy’s freedom from social restraints
 Americans were saddened by the idea of a “Last Frontier” and people like Mark
Twain and Theodore Roosevelt wrote that West was a place to gain physical and
mental strength, and breakaway from traditional, Eastern society
 Frederick Remington painted cowboy as an aristocrat, living in the natural
world with structures of “civilization” missing
 University of Wisconsin Historian Frederick Jackson Turner believed the end of the
West was the end of democratization efforts, and was right in that best farmland
was already taken making it more difficult for individuals to acquire valuable land
for a good price
White Tribal Policies and the Indian
Wars
 U.S. Government replaced Indian Sovereignty with reservation “Concentration”
Policy- each tribe was assigned its own reservation in 1851
 Treaties were signed by “Treaty Chiefs” selected by whites to benefit whites
 Congress established Indian Peace Commission-who wanted movement of
Natives to Oklahoma (“Indian Territory”) and the Dakotas
 Bureau of Indian Affairs was incompetent, unable to understand tribal traditions,
and very stupid overall
 Buffalo hunting destroyed Plains Indians ultimate source of food and clothingcontributed to the Indian Warriors believing they have to protect their cultural
traditions from the white men
 Indian Warriors travelled in “bands” of 30 and 40 attacking stage coaches and
ranches
 From 1850-1890, Indian Wars occur between various Plains Indians and white
Anglo-Americans
 Eastern Sioux rose up and killed 700 white people led by Little Crow (failure)
 Arapaho and Cheyenne form alliance under Black Kettle- defeated by Custer
 Rebellions by Natives led to rise of “Indian Hunting” by Anglo-Americans
(especially in California)- extreme drop in Native population from 1850-1870
White Tribal Policies and the Indian
Wars (Cont.)
 Battle of Little Bighorn (part of the Great Sioux Wars): Tribal chiefs Sitting Bull
and Crazy Horse raised largest Native American army in U.S. history, and defeat
U.S. General Custer
 But Indians did not have supplies to keep their troops united politically of
economically
 Nez Perce were under command of Chief Joseph were moved to a reservation
they accepted- angry Nez Perce Indians kill 4 white men during movement
 U.S. Army was in hot pursuit of Chief Joseph who tries to flee with his
group to Canada for 75 days- they are caught and shipped all over the
place for 4 years
 Chiricahua Apaches initially agreed to white demands for moving to
reservation, but Geronimo (new leader of the tribe) refused to assimilate and
failed in the last formal war between whites and Indians
 In 1890, Sioux Indians were faced with a declining culture created the “Ghost
Dance” which inspired visions of buffalo’s return and white people retreating
from the West- alarmed white people
 Battle of Wounded Knee (1890): 40 white soldiers used machine guns on
Indian men and women- much like a massacre
Forced Indian Assimilation
 Congress passed the Dawes Severalty Act of 1887 which further eliminated
Native American cultural traditions to further enact assimilation of Indians with
white culture
 Eliminated tribal ownership of land (eliminating communal traditions) and
gave 160 acres to head of the family (men), 80 acres to a single adult, and 40
acres to dependent children
 Bureau of Indian Affairs further promoted Indian assimilation to white culture by
taking Indian children away from families and sent them to Christian-operated
boarding schools
 Bureau of Indian Affairs so incompetent in administering lands that Congress
tried to speed up the process by passing the Burke Act of 1906...and it fails
Chapter 17
Industrial Technologies
 Railroads were able to be improved and expanded upon in late-19th century
because of booming iron and steel production (further improved because of
Bessemer Process-Henry Bessemer)
 Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Mesabi Range in Minnesota, Birmingham (Alabama)
became important ore-mining centers, while U.S. cities of Detroit, Cleveland,
Chicago, and Birmingham became steel-producing centers
 Steel and iron furnaces made larger and improved upon- allowed for expansion of
railroad track and creation of larger steamships and ironclads
 Automobile Industry takes off because of booming petroleum industry and the
“internal combustion engine”- first car invented by Duryea Brothers
 Automobile Industry reached new heights under direction of Henry Ford (Ford
Motor Company)
 Automobile Industry reshaped America’s social, cultural, and physical
landscape
 Wilbur and Orville Wright created first successful plane that was propelled
through air with “internal combustion engine”- new way to travel and wage war
 U.S. Government heavily funds research into Aeronautics Industry (by
establishing National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics)
 Airplane travel popularized by Charles Lindbergh and American planes used in
WWI to fight Central Powers on Western Front
The Science of Production
 “Scientific Management” emerged as a way of reorganizing production processes
by subdividing tasks (a.k.a. “Taylorism”- founded by Frederick Winslow Talyor)
 Sped up production
 Made workers interchangeable, thus diminishing a manager’s dependence
on any employee
 Reduced need for highly skilled workers, who were replaced by modern
machines that could be operated by workers with little skill, increasing speed
and productivity (still an issue we face in the 21st Century!)
 Henry Ford implemented most important change to industrial technology- the
Moving Assembly Line which enabled Ford to raise his worker’s wages, reduce
hours for his workers, and drastically improve efficiency (most Titans were not as
nice as Ford had been for workers, however)
*Railroad Expansion* (Important!)
 Railroads were the principal agent of industrial progress in the late-19th centurygave industrialists access to raw materials and distant markets (to sell their
finished goods)
 Towns, cities, farming communities all appeared next to railroad tracks and stops in
sparsely populated areas
 When tracks reached forests, Lumberers chopped down forests and sold timber
back to towns and cities for sale
 When tracks reached Great Plains, buffalo hunters (i.e. Buffalo Bill Cody)
hunted buffalo to near extinction and brought meat and skin to the East
 Chicago was principal city for all railroads (Chicago became slaughterhouse for
the nation)
 Railroad companies created their own time zones- established 4 time zones across
the North American Continent each an hour apart from their neighbor
 This prevented train collisions, and allowed for better organization and delivery
 Federal, state, and local governments as well as foreign investors all gave subsidies
to railroad companies
 Railroads came to be dominated by wealthy few…Cornelius Vanderbilt
 Railroads led to the growth of the mdoern corporation
Basic Business Terms of Incorporation
and Industry
 Corporation: A business that is divided up among shareholders who invested
capital into the business for a piece (percentage) of the business. The investors are
NOT liable for the business’s debts or obligations.
 Incorporation: The formal creation of a corporation when registration to the
government is mandatory to be recognized as a company.
 Consolidation: Acquisition of many smaller companies into a single one that
features a centralized structure.
 “Horizontal Integration”: Acquiring many companies within the same industry as
the parent company
 “Vertical Integration”: Acquiring many companies in different industries that a
company relied on to properly function (i.e. steel industry needed transportation)
 “Pool Arrangements”: Informal agreements made by various companies to fix
prices and eliminate competition
 “Trust Agreements”: Allowed stockholders to transfer their stocks to a small group
of trustees in exchange for shares (some ownership) in the trust itself- profited
from combination of companies underneath the Central Trust
 “Holding Company”: Central corporate body that would buy up stock (gaining
some ownership) to allow directors to control or influence subsidiaries underneath
the parent company (i.e. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil)
The Consolidating Corporation
 States pass laws of incorporation, allowing business organizations to raise money
by selling stock to members of the public
 Many Americans purchased stock in these companies because of limited
liability and they were not accountable for business's debts
 Made it possible to fund large projects (because of investment from American
public)
 Corporate leaders issued new managerial techniques that established a hierarchy
of control, modern cost accounting procedures, and the “middle manager”
 Businessmen consolidated large organizations by “vertical” and “horizontal”
integration
 Railroads made “pool arrangements” to get rid of competition, but they failed
because railroads didn’t cooperate… which led to centralizing “Trust Agreements”
 “Holding companies” emerged and states passed laws allowing corporations to
merge with one another making Trusts unnecessary
 Power and wealth was concentrated in the hands of few, wealthy people- Titans
 Industrial Titans responsible for stimulating new markets, creating industrial
infrastructure, and creating new jobs for unskilled workers
The “Self-Made Man”, the Survival of
the Fittest, and The Gospel of Wealth
 Most business tycoons were not “self-made” (except for Rockefeller, Carnegie, and
Harriman) but began their careers from positions of privelage
 Business tycoons often bribed politicians (by giving money to political parties and
individuals) to allow them to build or expand into certain areas and industries
 Huge competition for small businesses, had to compete with large corporations
who had monopolies on resources and firms
 Theory of Social Darwinism can be applied not only to African Americans during the
abandonment of Reconstruction, but also was an argument made for economic
standing as well
 Promoted by William Graham Sumner who stated individuals have absolute
freedom to struggle, to compete, to succeed, or to fail
 Businessmen seized on this argument because it appealed to American values of
freedom and individualism
 The “Gospel of Wealth” was proposed by Andrew Carnegie which advocated for
philanthropic works as contributions to further benefit societies (Carnegie built many
schools and libraries, places he believed poor could advance themselves)
 Russel Conwell blended Protestant values with climbing up the ladder, believing every
industrious person had the chance to work themselves up the economic ladder
Industrial Workers in the Capitalist
Economy
 First wave of industrial workers were Yeoman farmers bankrupted by life on the farm
and searched for new social and economic opportunity
 Second wave of industrial workers were immigrants from England, Ireland, Northern
Europe, Eastern Europe, Mexico (across the unregulated Southern border) and from
Asia
 Labor Contract Law would use false propaganda to bring immigrants to the U.S.would pay for their journey, but later take money out of their wages (this law
would be repealed, but not completely halted)
 Factory workers lived a life of economic worries, were challenged by boom-and-bust
cycle and consolidation of businesses made it much more frequent for workers to be
axed from the job (mechanization was replacing them) and had to work long hours
 Women had to work in factories to supplement their husband’s low-income, causing
many to see issue in allowing women out of domestic affairs and into wage-based
jobs
 Women were paid much less than men (gender-wage difference) and majority of
women industrial workers resided in the textile industry
 Child labor was used as a replacement for women in the work place, and they were
needed to supplement low-wage income earned by families
 Reformers viewed child labor as moral problem- 38 state legislatures passed child
labor laws
 Exhausted children were very susceptible to unsafe industrial accidents- death
Workers Attempt to Regain Power from
Consolidation- By Creating Unions
 Centralizing corporations tried to consolidate, but workers attempted to
counteract their loss of power by forming Unions
 Great Railroad Strike happened when Eastern Railroads announced 10% wage cut,
strikers rioted and militia was called to Baltimore to put them down (this event
symbolized the disputes between workers and employers)
 Noble Order of the Knights of Labor was founded in 1869 and opened
membership to anyone who “toiled” with lawyers, bankers, liquor-dealers and
gamblers excluded
 Supported women within the union, and championed abolition of childlabor and an 8-hour work day: ultimate goal- replace “wage system” with
a new “cooperative system” where workers would control large part of
economy
 There was a radical element to the Knights of Labor
 American Federation of Labor (the AFL) was an association of craft unions that
did not admit unskilled workers or women
 Under leadership of Samuel Gompers, AFL rejected government
assistance and the idea of a Worker’s Party (unlike the leadership of Alex
Morales)
Workers Attempt to Regain Power from
Consolidation- By Creating Unions (Cont.)
 Haymarket Square Incident involved a bomb thrown at Chicago police killing 7
officers and injuring 67 others-8 anarchists brought to trial, all hung
 Middle-class Americans saw Haymarket Square as protestors being anarchists
 Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers (affiliated with AFL) went on
strike at Carnegieś Homestead Plant near Pittsburgh (corun by Henry Frick)
 Frick, after an assassination attempt, called in 300 Pinkertons, but
protesters create a wall of oil fire, and defeated the Pinkertons
 Governor calls in 8,000 national guard troops which forces the workers to
surrender
 Pullman Strike occurred when workers in 27 states and territories, causing
transportation from Chicago to the Pacific to be paralyzed
 Illinois Governor John Peter Altgeld had sympathy for workers, but
President Grover Cleveland called in U.S. Army troops causing the strike
to quickly collapse
Main Themes of the Chapters
1) After the Civil War, the West was being conquered by Anglo-Americans,
who viewed the already-inhabited land as the “Last Frontier”
2) After the Civil War, heavy immigration from Europe, Asia, Africa, and
South America fueled the development of the West and the entire U.S. (it
also spurred racism and persecution)
3) The West was Romanticized by Anglo-Americans, and Native Americans
were forced to assimilate to white culture
4) The Industrial Economy was steadily built throughout the 19th century…at
the expense of the small farmer
5) In businesses, new techniques of centralizing power and increasing
investment within corporations developed during the Industrial Era
6) The work force within factories was made up of foreign immigrants,
women, and children who were employed in factories in unsafe
conditions being paid minimal wages
7) Workers saw opportunities to stand against their loss of power to
centralizing businesses by joining unions and other organizations
Chapters 16 and 17