Chapter 16: The Conquest of the Far West
[p442-470]
The Societies of the Far West
-Variety of land; arid/wet, plains/mts, deserts/forests
The Western Tribes
-Over 300,000 ppl before Spanish settlers
-mid 19th century: 150,000 remained
-Pueblos: huge civilization close w/ Spanish
Caste System
Genizaros
-complex relations of Pueblos & Spanish
Order:
Top: Spanish + Mexicans: Controlled Trade
2) Pueblos: subordinate but free
3) Genizaros
-Indians w/o tribes, at bottom of Caste System
Mulattoes & Mestizos
-people of mixed race
Plains Indians
-a diverse group of tribes & language groups
-had differences but all had culture based on:
-close and extended family networks
-intimate relationship w/ nature
-divided into bands of 500 ppl w/ own govt bodies
-many hunted Buffalo
Economic Importance of the
Buffalo
Provided economic basis for Plains Indians way of life
Indian Weaknesses
Ecological and economic: diseases *smallpox*, industry
Hispanic New Mexico
Descendants of Spanish settlers, center around farm& trade
Taos Indian Rebellion
-occurred bc fear new Am rulers of region would confiscate
lands and threaten societies. US Army subdued ppls
Hispanic Resistance
Mex-Ams fought to preserve control of society; not success
Hispanic California & Texas
CA- began as Christian missions , but ended up enslaving
Indian converts
The Californios
Hispanic residents of CA (many b4 US immigrants)
Decline of the Mission
Society
1830s: new Mex govt reducing power of church
Society changed to secular aristocracy
Declining Status of Hispanics
Mex-Ams became increasingly impoverished working class
mostly bc unskilled farm & industrial labor
The Chinese Migration
Chinese crossed Pacific as Euros corss Atlantic
Not all to US; some to HI, Astrlia, S+C Am S. Afca, Carrib
Many were “coolies” -> indentured servants close to slaves
Racism
-start as welcomed success, then relations turned hostile as
became rivals,threats. Became struggle to advance
economically w/ racism & threats [1/10 of CA pop]
Building the Transcontinental
Railroad
90% workers were Chinese: worked hard, few demands,
low wages. 1866: failed strike for ^ wages& shrter workdy
Completed in 1869. encouraged settlement
Establishment of Chinatowns
By 1900: ½ Chin pop lived in urban areas; flocked around
same clan, made societies, communities. San Fran popular
Anti-Chinese Sentiments
Chinese: most proscution from Am whites [other than Indns]
Anti-Coolie Clubs
Late 1860s/70s: sought ban on empl Ch & boycott Ch labor
products. Some clubs phys attacked workers
Chinese Exclusion Act
Banned Chinese immigration into US for 10 yrs and barred
Chinese already in US from becoming naturalized citizens
Chinese Resistance
-hated being lumped w/ Indians and African
-letter writing campaigns, petitioned president, filed in
Federal court. All efforts: no significant effect
Migration From the East
Attracted by:
Great wave of settlers after Civil War [millions of ppl]
-most from E. US, but over 2m were foreign born Euros
-gold and silver deposits
-shortgrass cattle pastures
-sod of plains and meadows of mts-> for farming/ ranching
Homestead Act
1862: permitted settlers to buy plots of 160 acres for small
fee IF: -purchased for 5 years & improved the land
PROGRESSIVE: gave free farms to anyone who needed it
>400,000 ppl stayed, but many more abandoned claims:
-unable to cope w/ bleak life on windswept plain
-economic realities too difficult to thrive w/o resources
Government Assistance:
-westerners looked to govt for solutions to probs:
-Congress increased Homestead allotments
-fraud ran rampant w/ acts -poli organization followed
Timber Culture Act 1873
Grants of 160 additional acres if planted 40 acres of trees
Desert Land Act 1877
Claimants could buy 640 acres at $1.24 if irrigated part of
holdings within 3 yrs
Timber and Stone Act 1878
-sales of nonarable land at $2.50/ acre
Sodbusters
Western farmers. Built houses w/ cleared sod
The Changing Western
Economy
-Mining, Timbering, ranching, Commercial Farming
Still relied on eastern corporations for control
Labor in the West
-labor shortages led to higher wages, but bad working cond
-no job security: migrant workers popular
Limited Social Mobility
- high % of single ppl: 10% -dance halls & prostitutes popular
Racially Stratified Working
Class
-white workers: upper tier of management& skilled labor
-emplyrs argued Chinese, Mex, Filipinos: genetically
&culturally better suited to manual labor
-small, accustomed to heat, accept low wages
The Arrival of the Miners
-hoped for quick fortunes from metals
Life Cycle of a Mining Boom
-brief, overall popular from 1860-1890. overnight cities
Guggenheim
-popular corp reviving profits after booms died down
Comstock Lode
-where silver was discovered (most valuable ore)
Boomtown Life
-hectic tempo, optimistic, heavy spirit
Gender Imbalance
-often attracted outlaws -hard to find single women
The Cattle Kingdom
-open range of vast grasslands
Mexican Origins
-branding, roundups, roping, gear: saddles, leather chaps
Cowboys on a “Long Drive”
-provided cattle for E. market.
-many hardships & danger, but lasting friendships
Competition with Farmers
“range wars”, result in property damage & even casualties
Political Gains for Women
-won vote earlier in West than in rest of nation
-sometimes to swell # of ppl required for statehood
-“moral voice” to politics
The Romance of the West
“ the last frontier”, inspiring, start new life
The Western Landscape
of grandeur & diversity, different from previous encounters
“Rocky Mountain School”
-school of painters who celebrated western grandiose
-paintings often toured US, grew tourism
–rails for transportation
The Cowboy Culture
-rugged, free-spirited: sharp contrast to rigid east
Myth of the Cowboy
-transformed from low-paid worker to powerful and
enduring figure of the myth, w/ no bad aspects
The Virginian 1902
Mst famous w. novel, swept thru US telling about cowboys
Mark Twain
Roughing It (1872): newspaper reporter in mining boom
-Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Hick Finn
Frederic Remington
Painter & sculptor, captured romance of west, missing
structures of civilization
Frederick Jackson Turner
Turner’s Frontier Thesis
-clear & influential statement of romantic vision
-33yr old Wisconsin U prof
-assessments of frontier were inaccurate & premature
The Loss of Utopia
“passing of the frontier”: an end to most cherished myth
Psychological Loss
Vague and ominous sense of lost opportunities
The Dispersal of the Tribes
-whites wanted it to be a “Virgin Land”
White Tribal Policies
-endless broken promises: white settlers disregarded
Senate’s teaties
“Concentration” Policy
Chief Garfield
1851: each tribe assigned own reservation
Example of how whites tried to assimilate Indians:
gave each member of tribe a Spanish of English name
Poorly Administered
Reservations
Bureau of Indian Affairs, appalling record: men of
incompetence and dishonesty
Decimation of the Buffalo
-not just hunting, rail Co. hired riflemen, rails bisected land
The Indian Wars
-incessant fighting of whites & Indians: 1850s- 1880s
Indian Resistance
-Indian warriors of 30-40 attacked wagon trains, then US
Army became involved: more of a war
Sand Creek Massacre
The Governor of Colorado urged friendly Indians to congregate
at mil. base, once there drunk soldiers killed 133 Indians; 105 of
them women & children
-Unofficial violence of white vigilantes
“Indian Hunting”
“Ghost Dance”
Wounded Knee
Spiritual & emotional, some whites thought mystical
1890: 7th Calvary round up Sioux, 40 whites 200 Indian die
What precipitated conflict is disputed, but turned into a massacre w/
white’s new machine guns.