Alan Nie
Period 1
AP USH
Notes and Key Terms for Pages 434-453
The Plains had the most diverse lands and people of the states
Indian tribes had dominance of the West before European influence,
but when they did come, they cut the population of 300,000 by half
 The Pueblos had made an alliance with the Spanish, giving them a
bonus against other tribes
Caste System- the Spanish/Mexicans were at the top, the Pueblos at the
middle, and the rest (Apaches, Navajos, and other Indians) were at the
bottom, similar to elsewhere in the Spanish Empire
Genizaros- bottom of the caste system, “Indians without tribes”
Plains Indians- widespread group in the West, settled in tribes (a few to a
thousand), simple government, and jobs were separated by sex, etc.
 Most tribes thrived on buffalo ,and when they stopped, they would set
up, and leave the land undisturbed, respect to nature
 The Indians used all the parts of the buffalo, with it being the most
important thing to them
 The Plains had been trained in warfare from their many (and short)
fights with other tribes, males became the warrior class
 The Sioux became the strongest tribe in the West
 The Plains Indians had many weaknesses, they were split until an
alliance formed (Sioux, Arapaho, and Cheyenne), tribes were
belligerent to each other, they were weak against European diseases,
they didn’t have enough guns nor people to push back the wave of
settlers
 Native Mexicans stayed in many places, even with European influence
 In NM, there were the top, large landowners, middle, regular
landowners, and the low, the workers in Mexico
 After the Mexican war, General Stephen Keyes made a government
made of only whites, ignoring 50,000 Hispanics
 After a rebellion, it was turned into a military district, then a
territorial government
Territory rings- entrepreneurs who took government power to take
money/land from the large landowners, elites lost most of their power over
the people
 US Army ends Indian attacks, and the Hispanics expand into the
West, those survived as settlers didn’t come in waves
 Whites began to come in, and they soon became racist
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Alan Nie
Period 1
AP USH
Few of the Spanish missions didn’t depend on a slave society of the
Indians, with profits coming from missions to Spain
 Missions declined when the Mexican government chopped down the
power of the church, became secular
 The whites came first, and that made most of the lands in California
into farms quickly
 The californios, the Hispanic people in California, suffered as a result,
lost the power to mine gold, lost their land, to the white settlers and
miners
 Due to many things (expansion, growing debt, nature), ended the
powerful grip of the Hispanic ranchers
 The whites had taken all the land and made many Mexicans into
workers
 Same thing happened in Texas, rapid removal of the old Mexican race
 The Mexicans had been removed from their homes, but had it better
than the Indians
 The Chinese also immigrated to California, and were welcomed and
helped out when they came
 Their industry, success became a thing the whites hated, and soon
became racist against them
 The Chinese were kicked out of the mines, and soon many of them
worked on the transcontinental railroad
 They were chosen, as they worked hard, didn’t ask for much, ok with
low wages, and didn’t know about labor organization/union
 The company didn’t care about the workers and the few strikes that
appeared were ceased immediately
 When the railroad completed, they became workers, farmers, and
some even became successful
Six Companies- top leading merchants in San Francisco, who organized and
fought for the rights of the Chinese
 ½ of the Chinese population were in urban areas, with the community
binding everyone together, they were successful
 Life was hard for the urban Chinese, they were at the lowest of the
social hierarchy, many owned cleaners
 Most Chinese women came as prostitutes and only when women
became balanced with men, that natural increase begin
Anti-Coolie Clubs- as the Chinese presence grew, anti-Chinese sentiment
grew and the resentment soon became organized into these clubs
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Alan Nie
Period 1
AP USH
 With racism, comes the Democratic Party
 Many didn’t like the industry of the Chinese, but also the culture
Chinese Exclusion Act (1882) - banned Chinese immigration for 10 years,
then expanded, then made permanent by 1902, declined the Chinese
population in its existence
 The Chinese didn’t like that, so they complained and sued, but that
still did nothing to change things
 Europeans, seeing land in the US, came over by the millions, after the
Civil War ended
Homestead Act of 1862- lets one buy 160 acres of land for a small fee, if
they lived on those 160 acres and improved it. Let farmers own lands for
free, helped regular people improve their lives, made new markets and new
outposts
 The Homestead Act wasn’t perfect, as the costs for running a farm
increased with machines, 160 acres was not enough for a family, this
estimate was based on the Eastern farms, no the West
 Many left, as it was difficult to run a farm with the Act
Government Assistance- Timber Culture Act (1873), Desert land Act (1877),
and the Timber and Stone Act (1878) let many buy lands at little cost, but
there was fraud, and many got more land than that
 Government came once states could be formed
 In the 1860s, there were territorial governments everywhere
 Nevada (1864), Colorado (1876), North and South Dakota, Montana,
and Washington each became states
 Utah could not become a state until the Mormon leaders convinced
them that polygamy (multiple wives) didn’t occur anymore
 Oklahoma, Arizona, and New Mexico each were not states yet
 The West had yet made an economy
 There were many people without jobs in the West, as work was quick
to disappear when a project was done
 The landless were the most mobile, and single of the country
 There seemed to be little social mobility, because as in rest of the
country, those who come with more stuff, usually become more
successful
 There was diversity in the workforce, as Asians, whites, blacks,
Indians, and Spanish were working in the same place
 Although most whites were at the top and at the bottom was everyone
else
Alan Nie
Period 1
AP USH
Racism set the mood for the economy, the whites were at the top
because they needed it, and the others were at he bottom because
they could stand it
 The mining boom was first, coming quickly and going just as fast
1.
find gold
2.
people swarm in, taking surface gold
3.
once surface gold goes, corporations move in, digging deeper
4.
commercial mining appears, digging even deeper
5.
once gold disappears, so does everything else
 first found in Pike’s Peak in Colorado
 50,000 stormed in turning camps into cities “overnight”, and once the
gold rush calmed, those cities turned back into camps, with the mining
corporations taking over the business
Cornstock Lode- found gold and silver; many moved into here, everything had
to be shipped in. Once most of the surface guys went, the companies came in
and made big profits.
Black Hills- found gold here too, and the same process happened as before
 Other metals were more successful than gold, as once gold was found,
it was gone, but the other metals needed time to dig up.
Boomtown Life- hectic, optimistic, not many struck it rich, but “Bonanza
Kings”, those who made it, mostly came from the poor than the rich
 Outlaws soon became a staple of the West, as law didn’t seem to
matter there, and many survived until an actual government was made
 Women mostly worked with their families, and sometimes even for
prostitution
 Many people who didn’t find gold, found work in the mining companies
that replaced them
 The mining conditions were terrible, with heat, ventilation, and gravity
killing workers all over the West
 It dropped later, but mining is still a dangerous job
 Cattle was also a huge market in the West
 The railroads brought markets, and brought famers to end the land
Mexican Origins- the technique of ranching transferred from the Mexicans
to American ranchers, longhorn bulls also came from Spain
Long drives -sending herds across many miles to the railroads where it could
be transported to markets, heavy losses, but it could be done
Chisholm Trail- trail of long drive that led to Abilene, a major railroad stop
 Once farmers invaded, the ranchers had to find new land and trails
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Alan Nie
Period 1
AP USH
The cowboys first had to organize, find their herd of 2k to 5k of cows,
and then set out
 Stray calves with no identifying symbols, were called mavericks
 Many cowboys were veterans of the confederacy, then most were
blacks
 Ranches emerged as home bases for ranchers, had a house, employee’s
houses, and a land for grazing
 Ranches grew as business grew, and disease, Indians, or robbers could
take cows
 Competition between grazing land and farming land began to emerge,
and violence erupted
Range Wars- not directly relates, when the sheep ranchers fought over
land with the cow ranchers
 With the huge profits coming from it, many came in to participate,
and it soon became overcrowded
 2 bad winters came, killing off many animals and the range soon
disappeared
 Fenced in grazing became big and soon provided the food for the
country
 The cattle industry became dull of women, and gave them power
too
 Equal rights for women was started in Wyoming, giving women
more power there
 Women got rights in the West before the women in the East, as
they were needed for balancing (in Utah, where polygamy needed a
negative), numbers (to swell up electorate)
 Women persuaded men that they would add morality and
community if they were elected, and these arguments would also
be used in the East
 The West had a romantic appeal to it
Rocky Mountain School- the age of artists drawing big pictures of the
uncivilized West, and the variety of the West amazed them
 With these paintings being popularized, tourism also appeared
Myth of the Cowboy- the low job of cowboy became famous, as he defied
standards and went against the order and lawfulness of the East
 They had many bad traits, but the books gave light only on the
manliness, freedom, and violence of them

Alan Nie
Period 1
AP USH
The West stood as the final frontier, the place where someone could
go for freedom, peace and prosperity
 Mark Twain, Frederic Remington and Theodore Roosevelt (future prez)
all romanticized the West in books, art, or words
Turner’s Frontier Thesis- he thought that the frontier was empty and the
disappearance of it would be the end of the dream
 Now that the West was rapidly going, people started to stop believing
in the freedom of the West
 Wild west shows started after the West, making the West seem
perfect and the best place to be
 Buffalo Bill started the trend, repeating many events of the West and
making it seem awesome
 Imitators also began, making the shows even bigger
 Many Indians also popped into the show, where they did their
traditional parts
 Buffalo Bill’s own show was a success, and was shown to many large
crowds and famous people
 Success soon declined as WW1 came in, but the legacy still lasted
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WHD 450-451
Opinion started that the frontier good and beautiful
Turner and his thesis took off, that the West was the best thing that
ever happened, and it was the story to after WWII
 After WWII, historians began to turn on that idea of the West is
awesome, and started to turn against Turner
 New historians believe that the West was the product of a capitalist
economy and was more of a conquest than settlement
I think that the West was just a product of expansionist feelings after the
Civil War, and what happened after was just an effect of those feelings.
Those feelings were just too much to bear and caused people to do some
really bad stuff to retain their dream of freedom.
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