Chief ____________________
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX, “THE GREAT WEST AND THE AGRICULTURAL REVOLUTION: 1865-1896”
“I will whine no more forever.” – Chief Joseph as a student
MAIN QUESTIONS FOR CHAPTER:
Describe and analyze the factors and groups that shaped the development of the West in this era.
To what extent were the complaints of the Populists justified?
Word or phrase
enmity (595)
arid (600)
inculcate (603)
dessicate (608)
Most
Relevant
Theme(s)
Meaning in context
active, often mutual hatred
quite dry
to impress on the mind by frequent repetition
to dry up
Identification
1.
Frederick Remington was a young New Yorker who went west to become a cowboy.
He became a famous artist there, painting vivid descriptions of the dying Old West (JM). He
was like the court stenographer because he kept a record through paintings just as a
stenographer keeps a record through words (JF).
2.
In fighting the American troops for their lands, the Plains Indians began to call black
personnel Buffalo Soldiers because their hair resembled the bison’s furry coat. It was like
when Cory was called a brillo pad on Boy Meets World just because of his curly hair (Jessie).
Summary
3.
At Sand Creek, Colorado in 1864, Colonel J. M. Chivington’s militia massacred in
cold blood some 400 Indians who apparently thought that they had been promised immunity.
Women were shot praying for mercy, children had their brains dashed out, and braves were
tortured, scalped, and unspeakably mutilated. It was like a terrorist attack; the Indians thought
that they were safe, but they were all killed (KH).
4.
The Fetterman massacre was when, in 1866, a Sioux war party ambushed William J.
Fetterman’s command of eighty one soldiers and civilians. The Indians did not leave a single
man alive and mutilated several of the corpses. Despite its continuation of the cycle of
cruelty, the massacre led to one of the few Indian triumphs. In another Treaty of Fort
Laramie, the government stopped efforts to construct the Bozeman Trail and established a
“Great Sioux reservation.” This lasted until 1874, when gold was discovered in the area and
warfare began anew. It was like a child discovering a jar on a shelf. At first he will be
discouraged by the height of the shelf, but when he realizes that the jar holds cookies, he will
stop at nothing to reach the jar (JS).
5.
General Custer claimed he had found gold in the Black Hills of South Dakota, part of
the sacred Sioux land. This claim caused hordes of gold-grubbers to flock to the hills,
sparking Sitting Bull and the Sioux Indians to defend their lands. In the process of defending
the sacred lands, the Sioux completely devastated Custer’s Seventh Calvary. This is like
when Toys “R” Us started selling Furbies at Christmas time and hundreds of parents rushed
to the store in order to get a Furby for their kid so Toys “R” Us had to shut the doors because
it was too crowded (Page).
6.
William “Buffalo Bill” Cody was a hunter for hire who worked for the Kansas Pacific.
Over an eighteen-month period, he killed over 4,000 buffalo. Buffalo were considered a
nuisance because herds of them would graze over train tracks and cause delays, sometimes
losing the passengers as much as eight hours. In response to this, the railroad companies
hired gunmen like Buffalo Bill to kill as many buffalo as possible. He was like a contemporary
logging company- while removing trees may help industry in the short term, it really only
depletes a valuable natural resource (JS).
7.
Helen Hunt Jackson was the author of A Century of Dishonor as well as Ramona,
both books that brought to light the plight of the American Plains Indians. She was like JK
Rowling, except her bestsellers were about changing the way people viewed Indians, instead
of chronicling the adventures of a teenage wizard (Jessie).
8.
Christian reformers often administered educational facilities on the Indian
reservations. To force Indians to give up their tribal traditions and assimilate into white
society, the Christians would sometimes withhold food. In 1884, these zealous white
Christians joined with military men in successfully persuading the government to outlaw the
sacred Sun Dance. The military men wanted to outlaw what they called the “Ghost Dance”
because it was often mistaken for the beating of the war drum. In 1890, at the Battle of
Wounded Knee, the “Ghost Dance” was stamped out by US Troops who killed an estimated
200 Indian men, women, and children. In this case, the troops were like Regina from Mean
Girls, forcing the Indians to conform to the ways of the popular kids (Page).
9.
The Dawes Severalty Act of 1887 was the offspring of the movement to reform
Indian policy. Reflecting the forced-civilization views of the reformers, the act dissolved many
tribes as legal entities, wiped out tribal ownership of land, and set up individual Indian family
heads with 160 free acres. If the Indians behaved themselves like “good white settlers,” they
would get full title to their holdings, as well as citizenship, in twenty-five years. The Dawes Act
was like the cookie a parent (the white man) gave a child (the Indian) for acting like a “big
boy” (Ekat).
10.
The golden gravel of California continued to yield gold, but in 1858 an electrifying
discovery of gold shook Colorado. These new “fifty-niners” (otherwise known as “Pikes
Peakers”) rushed west to rip at the ramparts of the Rockies. After one or two months, the gold
supply in Colorado dwindled, so the fifty-niners poured feverishly into Nevada in 1859, after
the fabulous Comstock Lode had been uncovered. The “fifty-niners” were like Freshman boys
when the lunch ladies announce free hamburgers at the end of lunch because they ran really
fast until the gold was gone (Page).
11.
The Comstock Lode was a fantastic amount of gold and silver, worth more than $340
million that was mined by the “Kings of the Comstock” from 1860 – 1890. The scantily
populated state Nevada, “child of the Comstock Lode,” was prematurely railroaded into the
Union in 1864, partly to provide three more electoral votes for President Lincoln. The
Comstock Lode was like finding your grandmother’s necklace that you lost in between the
seat cushions of the sofa. It was worth a lot and your grandmother liked you more for finding
it (Ekat).
12.
The “Long Drive” was a spectacular feeder of the new slaughterhouses. Texas
cowboys – black, white, and Mexican – drove herds numbering from one thousand to ten
thousand heads slowly over the unfenced and unpeopled plains until they reached a railroad
terminal. The “Long Drive” proved profitable. The “Long Drive” was like a big obstacle course
across American land with obstacles such as Indians, stampedes, cattle fever, and other
hazards (Ekat).
13.
The Homestead Act of 1862 allowed a settler to obtain as much as 160 acres of land
by living on it for five years, improving it, and paying a small fee of about $30. The act also
allowed a settler to purchase land after living on it for 6 months for $1.25 per acre. Before the
act, public land was sold for revenue; now it was to be given away to encourage a rapid filling
of empty spaces and to provide a stimulus to the family farm—the “backbone of democracy.”
The one problem with the act was that 160 acres was not usually enough for a family to
survive so the members would often give their land up before the five years was over. About
half a million families took advantage of the Homestead Act. The Act was similar to the
thoughts of a landlord to rent out an apartment for a low price to tenants who agree to
refurbish the apartment (Page).
14.
Sodbusters were people who broke the sod of the prairie with large iron plows and
four yokes of oxen. After they broke the sod they discovered that the earth was rich and
fertile. They used the land for everything, building their homes out of sod and burning
corncobs produced from the soil for heat. They were like whalers in the 18th and 19th centuries
killing whales and finding them extremely useful. Their sinew could be used as well as skin
and the oil, too. The whale was totally utilized, much like the sod (SW).
15.
“Dry farming” was a method of farming the plains that involved frequent shallow
cultivation of the land. While it was supposed to be an adaptation to the western
environment, over time it destroyed the top layer of soil that would contribute to the “Dust
Bowl” and other similar effects. It was like a child building in a sandbox. While his creations
might be amusing for awhile, they will be washed away as soon as the rain comes (JS).
16.
Joseph F. Glidden was the inventor of barbed wire, which he perfected in 1874. This
invention solved the problem of how to build fences on the plains where few trees could be
found., allowing farmers to enclose large tracts of land without worrying about finding huge
amounts of wood. This was like the odd piece of string or tape that helps you finish a project.
It may not look like something native to the environment, but it certainly does the job (JS).
17.
On April 22, 1889, Oklahoma became officially open for settlement. Many men had
illegally entered the tracts of land previous to this date and had to be evicted repeatedly by
federal troops. At noon on this day, the bugle sounded, and 50,000 eager “boomers” poured
into the newly available land. By the end of the year, Oklahoma had 60,000 residents and
was made into an official territory. It became a state in 1907. It was like a popular store on
the morning of its biggest sale. Crowds line up well before opening time in the hopes that
they will reach the best deals first (JS).
18.
In the later parts of the 19th century, the people and government began to realize that
the West had filled much faster than they had expected. One estimate, by the secretary of
war in 1827, had suggested that it would take five hundred years. In reaction to this
realization, the government set aside land for national parks, the first of which was
Yellowstone in 1872. It was like a greedy chef dividing up a cake. When more people arrive
to eat it than had been expected, he hides the best parts to save for later (JS).
19.
Frederick Jackson Turner was a historian who believed that “American history has
been in a large degree the history of the colonization of the Great West.” This theory stated
that the settling of the land beyond the Mississippi was in fact the last chapter in the long
history of the colonization of the US. His theory was like the idea in baseball that the game is
90 percent pitching. Both have exaggerated estimates of the importance of one part of the
whole (JS).
20.
The Chicago firm of Aaron Montgomery Ward mailed out its first catalogue in 1872.
This reflected the changing role of farmers in America. They had formerly been experts at all
facets of life- growing many different crops, subsisting off some of what they had grown, and
bartering with neighbors for needed goods. However, the expansion of industry in the late
19th century caused it to be more profitable for farmers to farm a single cash crop. Catalogs
like this one allowed farmers to use their profits to buy equipment to increase efficiency.
These catalogs were like a popular new toy. Kids beg their parents to buy them, but by the
time they do the toy has lost popularity and something newer and flashier has come into the
market, creating a vicious cycle (JS).
21.
Bonanza farms were giant farms in the Minnesota – North Dakota area. By 1890,
several of them spanned as many as 15,000 acres and required telephones to communicate
from one part to another. They were like bullies on the grade school playground. While
clumsy and cumbersome, they still dominated the field solely because of their great size (JS).
22.
Static money supply – there was simply not enough dollars to go around, and as a
result, prices were forced down. In 1870, the currency in circulation for each person was
$19.42; in 1890, it was only $22.67. Yet during these twenty years, business and industrial
activity, increasing manyfold, had intensified the scramble for available currency. Static
money supply is like when a teacher does not have enough colored pencils for all the
students to use on an in-class assignment (Ekat).
23.
The Granger Movement the Granges raised their goals from individual selfimprovement to improvement of the farmers’ collective plight. In a determined effort to
escape the clutches of the trusts, they established cooperatively owned stores for consumers
and cooperatively owned grain elevators and warehouses for producers. They also strove to
regulate railway rates and the storage fees charged by railroads and by the operators of
warehouses and grain elevators. Their organization has lived on as a vocal champion of farm
interests while brightening rural life with social activities. The Granger Movement was like a
big glass of ice water for farmers, after a long time running. This movement was for their
benefit, helping with the hardships of being a farmer (Ekat).
24.
A striking manifestation of rural discontent came through the Farmers’ Alliance,
founded in Texas in the late 1870s. Farmers came together in the alliance to socialize, but
more importantly to break the strangling grip of the railroads and manufacturers through
cooperative buying and selling. Unfortunately, the alliance weakened itself by ignoring the
plight of landless tenant farmers, sharecroppers, and farm workers. Even more debilitating
was the Alliance’s exclusion of blacks, who counted for more than half of the agricultural
population of the South. The Farmer’s Alliance was like the runny nose you get before the flu.
It was a gathering of driven and passionate people ready to fight for their cause and cause
commotion (Ekat).
25.
Out of the Farmer’s Alliance a new political party emerged in the early 1890s – the
People’s party. Better known as the Populists, these frustrated farmers attacked Wall Street
and the “money trust.” They called for nationalizing railroads, telephones, and telegraphs;
instituting a graduated income tax; and creating a new federal “sub treasury” – a scheme to
provide farmers with loans for crops stored in government-owned warehouses, where they
could be held until market prices rose. They also wanted the free and unlimited coinage of
silver – yet another of the debtors’ demands for inflation that echoed continuously throughout
the Gilded Age. The Farmer’s Alliance was like spring finally transforming into summer, the
Populist Party. The Populist Party (summer) provided for new opportunities and a release
form the harsh and suppressing other political parties that did not benefit farmers/working
men (Ekat).
26.
Mary Elizabeth Lease was nicknamed “the Kansas Pythoness” and “Mary Yellin’.”
She was an athletically built woman who made approximately 160 speeches in 1890
criticizing aristocracy, a government “of Wall Street, by Wall Street, and for Wall Street.” She
was like a punk rocker because she protested a corporate government and spent her time
sticking it to the man (Kristin).
27.
“General” Jacob S. Coxey was a wealthy Ohio quarry owner who set out for
Washington in 1894 in order to demand that the government relieve unemployment by an
inflationary public works program. He was like Robin Hood because he was a well-off man
advocating for the well being of the poor (Kristin).
28.
In the Pullman Strike B (1894), The Pullman Palace Car Company was hit by the
Depression and thus cut wages by about one third. The workers struck and paralyzed railway
traffic from Chicago to the Pacific Coast. It was like the LA riots, caused by lack of prosperity
and injustice toward the common man (Kristin).
29.
Marcus Alonzo Hanna made his fortune in the iron business and later devoted his
time and money into campaigning for future president William McKinley. Hanna believed that
the core function of a government was to help business. He was like a mobster, using his
riches to buy political influence (Kristin).
30.
William Jennings Bryan, an orator from Nebraska, won the Democratic nomination for
President in 1896 following his Cross of Gold speech. He was given the nickname “Boy
Orator of the Platte” by a skeptic. The Platte was a river in Nebraska that, apparently like
Bryan, was “six inches deep and six miles wide at the mouth.” He was like a used car
salesman. A lot is promised, but in the end his claims are more or less unreasonable (JS).
32.
The Election of 1896 was a fierce battle between William Jennings Bryan and William
McKinley for the White House. It resulted in a McKinley win, starting a Republican rule that
would rule for the next sixteen years. It was like the fierce election that put Bush in office in
2000 because it feels like he’s been in office for 16 years (Kristin).
33.
The Dingley Tariff proposed high new rates, but not rates high enough for some
lobbyists who continued to nag the senate for increased rates. A ridiculous 850 amendments
were added to the overburdened bill. The resulting average rate was 46.5%. It was like my
ridiculous English paper, which I feel like I have amended 850 times (Kristin).
34.
The Gold Standard Act, which was passed in 1900, stated that paper currency could
be redeemed freely in gold. It was like Chuck E. Cheese, where you can redeem your crappy
paper tickets for amazing prizes (Kristin).
Other Questions to Consider
A.
Assess the validity of the Turner thesis that the frontier served as a “safety valve” (p. 611).
B.
Describe and evaluate the impact of the Election of 1896.
C.
What TWO statistics in the chapter stand out as most significant? Be prepared to justify your choices.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT!
Was Turner right that “American history has been in a large degree the history of the colonization of the
Great West”?