Nadege Seppou
APUSH
Chapter 16: The Conquest of the Far West (pg. 433)
These people were unaware that Indians
Many people from the East thought the Far
lived in this area. The lack of
West was uncivilized and a place of
communication with the East and West
abandonment.
could be a possible reason why Americans
in the East thought the West was deserted
and abandoned; which was another reason
why many American wanted to go there, so
they could have a new beginning.
East Americans will probably be surprised The West was a place full of diversity.
to see that such people lived in the West.
Diverse in landscape and in the type of
From past times, white settlers will try
people that lived.
taking advantage of the people here.
Americans are always trying to take control
of what isn’t theirs in the first place. Native
Americans will most likely suffer the worst
treatment from white Americans, because
Americans already see them as inferior and
they have been defeated on several
occasions.
The Western Tribes
The Indian western tribes developed several civilizations. The Pueblos of the
Southwest were farmers and had settled permanently before the Spanish arrived.
They grew corn, and had adobe houses, and had good irrigation system, and they
had a good trade and commerce system.
Since the Indians lived with the Spanish in these villages, a caste system
developed. The caste system was a social structure. The Spanish and Mexicans
were at the top, and then the Pueblos, then Apaches, Navajos, and people captured
from wars including women and children were all at the bottom. This system
focused on racial ancestry of those from Europe.
The plain Indians were the most widespread Indian group. They either formed
alliances or continued to be in conflict. They had a diverse group of languages.
They were sedentary farmers, and some were nomadic. They had close family
system, and a close relationship with nature.
Many plain tribes raised and hunted buffalos. The economic importance of
buffalos was that they provided them with a way of life. They fed on the meat,
and used the skin for clothes, shoes, blankets, and utensils. They used buffalo
bones for tools, and the dried manure of the buffalo provided fuel.
Plain Indians were aggressive and they like fighting. The male of each tribe
belonged to the warrior class. The Sioux were the most powerful tribe and they
moved south they came to dominate the plains. The plan Indians gave white
settlers the most trouble, but they had weaknesses that caused them not to defeat
the white. Indian weakness included the fact that they couldn’t unit to fight the
whites, Indians were prone to eastern diseases, and they were not economically
and industrially advanced as the whites.
Hispanic New Mexico
Spanish speaking areas spread across the southwest, from Texas to Californian.
However they changed as English speaking Americans arrived, and as American
capitalist economy came into the land. This gave them more wealth and
opportunities.
Farming and trading had been the source for economy for New Mexico. They
ranch cattle and sheep. The aristocrat class consisted of landowning people, who
owned vast amounts of land and trading took place on these lands. The peasants
worked on this land or owned small amounts of their own. The Indians were
enslaved or either became laborers.
After America acquired New Mexico they tried making a territorial government
that would get rid of the ruling landowning aristocrats. Many Hispanics and
Indians became afraid as English speaking Americans were becoming their rulers
and took their land away. This caused the Taos Indian Rebellion. They killed
several Anglo Americans and the new rulers, but American troops soon caused
them to surrender. The Indians were afraid that their society was in danger.
Hispanic society survived even after Anglo Americans moved into their lands.
The American army was able to get rid of the tribes such as the Navajo that had
caused trouble to the New Mexican residents and had caused their commerce not
to progress. The Hispanic societies survived because they lived further away from
English speaking societies. Hispanic resistance was seen as they fought to keep
their societies and many peasants kept English speaking ranchers from coming
into the land. But when railroads were created that went into these societies, the
Anglo Americans quickly took over.
Hispanic California and Texas
The decline of mission society occurred when new Mexican government lowered
the power of the church. A secular Mexican aristocracy came about after they
decline. They controlled huge estates, and they were affected when Anglo
Americans moved into the land after the Civil War. American that flooded these
areas was so big that they could not be stopped. These Anglo Americans took
over many of the land, and excluded the Hispanic in engaging in the gold rush.
And they seized Hispanic land.
In the southern areas where Anglo Americans were less seen, Mexicans were able
to keep hold of their land. A large market for cattle was created in the areas
(north) where Anglo Americans settled. The drought that occurred destroyed
Mexican ranching. The lack of farming destroyed family economics, the
peasantry ended as many were caused to become migrant workers because they
couldn’t find work in California.
In Texas, there was a huge migration as many landowning Mexicans lost their
land after the territorial gains, they could not compete with the Anglo Americans
ranching empires. The status of Hispanics declined after rebels who tried ending
American power in Texas were finally captured and become poor working class
people; laborers and industrial labor.
The Chinese Migration
Many Chinese people lived in California (1/10th of population). White Americans
first accepted Chinese people because they were hard working, then they started
displaying racism towards them when Chinese people started taking over the
work force. Americans saw them as a treat, these people could not advance
economically as a result of discrimination.
Chinese could not advance in the mining business, and Californian excluded them
from participating the foreign miners’ tax. Many laws were formed to keep
Chinese people from coming into the territories. Many Chinese people who stayed
in the mountains became laborers.
When they couldn’t prosper through mining, Chinese people turned to the railroad
jobs. Many found jobs building the transcontinental railroad. They formed
90% of the work force and built the western part of the road. White employers
liked them because they did not join work organization, accepted low wages, and
were hard workers. Some were even recruited from China. Many of them died
during the construction of the road, but nothing was done to protect these people.
They sometimes went on strike, demanding higher wages and shorter workdays,
but it always failed. After the railroad was completed, many Chines people
became tenant farmers, or joined the agricultural workings.
Many Chinese people moved to the cities. In California, the moved into San
Francisco and started their own communities that later became known as
Chinatowns. They had leadership that was run by merchants. These organizations
helped run unions, find jobs for the Chinese, and protected the community. They
held festivals. Other organizations were secret societies. They worked as common
laborers, servants, and unskilled factory workers. Many started laundry businesses
because there weren’t many jobs provided to them. Many Chinese women were
sold into prostitution.
Anti- Chinese Sentiments
White resentment towards Chinese people increased as the Chinese community
grew. This created Anti-Coolie clubs; these were a group of people who wanted
to keep Chinese people from working and anything that had to do with Chinese
labor from being sold. They sometimes attacked them on the street. This
resentment was because Chinese people accepted low wages, and Union members
decreased. Chinese violence increased as a new political party in California called
Workingmen’s Party of California gained popularity, and they supported Chinese
resentment. People claimed the Chinese were uncivilized and did not want to
conform to American ways, so they needed to be excluded.
Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882 in response to the violence
and political pressure rising. This kept any Chinese people from coming to
America for 10 years and those that were here could not become citizens. Many
people supported the act, because they felt this would protect American workers
and would lower class conflict, since many were afraid of riding unemployment
and labor disorder. The law was renewed in 1892 and in 1902 it became
permanent, this lowered Chinese population in America.
Chinese people in America did not accept the law. Chinese resistance was seen
as these people did not want to fall under the same category as African Americans
and Indians because they believed they came from descendants that were
enlightened and civilized. They felt they were far better than the Italians and Irish
that were allowed to come into Americas, and the Six Chinese Companies in San
Francisco wrote letters to the president and tried suing the government, but
everything failed.
Migration from the East
People from the East now flooded the West not in thousands, but in millions.
They occupied different areas of the West, even the parts were no one had lived
before. Most of these people were from the East America, but substantial parts of
the population were European immigrants. Many were attracted by gold and
silver, and land that were suitable for farming and ranching. The transcontinental
railroad also attracted people to settle.
Land policies from the government such as the Homestead Act encouraged
people to settle in the West. The Homestead Act allowed settlers to buy 160 acres
of land for a cheap price if they stayed there for 5 years and worked on the land.
This was meant to provide opportunities for Americans who could not afford it,
and it was meant to create markets of commercial agriculture for the economy.
Many believed that the Homestead Act would give them a land that was enough
to maintain their family, but they weren’t aware that maintain a farm cost a lot of
money. They weren’t familiar with farming techniques suitable for Western land.
And 160 acres was too small to maintain grazing and grain farming. Many people
could not keep up with maintaining the land, so many looked to government
assistance to help them. The land acquired from the Homestead Act increased
and other land grants such as the Timber Culture, Desert Land, and Stone Acts
were given.
Labor in the West
Commercial farming increased in the West so more labor was needed, but labor
was hard to find. When they did fins labor, these workers were paid higher wages
than in the East. Working conditions was horrible and people could easily lose
their jobs. Anglo Americans lost their jobs to Chinese immigrants, and many of
these people traveled from place to place looking for jobs.
Mostly men owned land in the West and they were mobile, and they rarely got
married. This area had the majority of single people, and therefore prostitution
was common for women as a form of employment. There was limited social
mobility for those in Western society. Several Americans felt the west was a land
of opportunities, but it was extremely difficult to advance socially if a person
didn’t already have a substantial economic stability.
The working class of the West was multiracial. Whites, African Americans and
European immigrants all worked together with Chinese, Mexicans, and Indians.
However the west had a racially stratified working class. White workers
occupied higher positions such as being management and skilled labor, and the
lower end of miners and unskilled labor was occupied by nonwhite workers.
Whites had the misconceptions that Asian workers were better suited for manual
labor because they were smaller, and since they were used to heat they could
work well in the fields, and they felt nonwhite workers did not care for material
possessions so they could do the work white people dreaded.
The Arrival of the Miners
Mining provided the first economic boom of the West. It was very successful,
however it ended very quickly. The life cycle of a mining boom included:
people would hear of a gold or silver strike and they would all rush to the area and
this was followed by settlements, people abused the first deposits, when the
surface deposits declined different companies dug deeper to mine, then when
these deposits diminished commercial mining stopped and the land was taken up
by farmers and ranchers.
The most valuable ore of silver found was in Comstock Lode. The majority of
the people who took advantage of this land in Nevada were people from
California. Here they used quartz mining to obtain silver in deeper veins. People
made a lot of money form this, but then the profits ended. The next mineral
discovery occurred when gold deposits were found in the Black Hills of
southwestern Dakota Territory.
Even though gold and silver provided people with profits and got everyone
excited, other resources such as tin, lead, and zinc were also profitable. Profits
gained from these resources lasted longer than silver and gold. In Boomtown
Life, people lived happily always looking forward to god things happening.
Mining gave some quick and easy wealth. Gangs formed frequently during the
boom period. These mining areas suffered from gender imbalanced. Men
outnumbered women, and young men could not find partners their own age. Most
women that lived in the mining communities came with their husbands and
performed the same domestic jobs they did in the East. Single women and women
who husbands had no jobs worked for pay by being cooks, and prostitution
increased in this area. Working conditions in the mining areas were horrible:
some died from heat strokes, carbon dioxide because of poor ventilation.
The Cattle Kingdom
Cattle ranching changed the Western economy. The railroad gave the ranching
area access to markets and the Great Plains were ideal for ranching. The cattle
industry of the west had Mexican origins. Mexican ranchers were the once who
created ranching techniques that American ranchers later implemented. Texas had
the largest herds in the country; the cows came from Spanish stock, and the horses
also came from Texas.
Markets in the East paid huge sums of money for oxen and bulls. But cattlemen
had trouble transporting the animals to railroad centers. Some tried driving herds
to the centers, but many of the animals ended up dying. However it was a good
experiment because it showed that cattle could sometimes gain weight during the
journey and that they could also be pastured through the journey. These long
drives connected the city markets with countryside herders; this was the first
instance of the cattle kingdom. One of the first routes to markets in Abilene was
the Chisholm Trial. But as this route got increasingly crowded, other trials were
created by cowboys.
The Western Landscape
The West provided the most diverse type of landscape white American had ever
been accustomed to. The Rocky Mountain School consisted of various artists
who painted images of the West that were shown throughout various parts of the
country, and this attracted many to the west. These pictures captured the diverse
landscape of the west and they were highly esteemed. These paintings increased
tourism in the West as railroads allowed people to go further west and hotels were
even created along these areas.
The Cowboy Culture/ Idea of the Frontier
American characterized the west with a culture that was rough and free-spirited,
which was different from the East’s. This created the myth of the cowboy;
Americans romanticized the cowboy from a low paid worker to a powerful and
wealthy character. Cowboys were usually lonely, uncomfortable, and had no
opportunities for social mobility, but Americans did not realize this. They thought
the cowboy was free-spirited, and was violent, different from the norm. This was
displayed through different novels. Wild West shows increased America’s interest
in this fantasized cowboy lifestyle; the cowboy became a very popular hero in
American society.
Americans developed a romantic image of the west. They saw the west as one of
the last frontier. It was a place for a new start and better opportunity, and many
became absorbed in this idea. Writers such as Mark Twain romanticized the west
in their novels, and so did painters such as Frederic Remington. They made the
west appear to be a natural area where civilization was non-existent; freedom.
White Tribal Policies/Indian Wars
Before this time the federal government regarded Indian territories as separate
countries and left them alone in their own lands, but as white Americans moved
out west they wanted to take over these Indians lands. The concentration policy
was created during this time; white Americans wanted to create a reservation for
Native Americans. Each tribe was given its own reservation. The tribes were
separated from each other, and the government had more control over them; they
could move them anywhere they pleased.
One problem with this was that there were poorly administered reservations.
The people that were assigned in the Bureau of Indian Affairs to control these
activities were not qualified for their jobs. Most of them were not aware of Indian
tribal culture, so they rarely had success. Another problem was that white people
killed buffalo herds; which happened to be one of the Indian’s economic source.
White hunters killed these animals to be used in the new and successful markets.
This and the fact that the open plains were disappearing contributed to the
decimation of the buffalo. White people eliminated a source of Indian food, and
made them unable to resist white advancement, and also encouraged Indians to
fight in order to sustain their life styles.
Indian resistance increased as white settlers continued to increase and desired to
take over Indian land. The U.S. army was involved in the fighting and Indian
warriors planned to attacked white soldiers. In eastern Colorado as white miners
fought with Indians, and Indians attacked these people to save their territory. This
fight escalated and is known as Sand Creek Massacre.
In California white people engaged in Indian hunting. This was an activity for
most; sports. People awarded others who came back with skulls of Indian people.
Most white people wanted to eliminate all Indian population. In the battle of
Little Bighorn, white people tried forcing Indians back into their reservations.
White people won because Indians did not unity to organize troops against these
powerful white men. At Wounded Knee, white soldiers used their technological
advantage to destroy the Indian population. The Dawes Act was passed by
Congress as a way to Assimilate Indians. Congress wanted Indians to become
farmers and landowners, to leave their culture and conform to white society ways.
Tribal ownership was eliminated. Adult Indians who owned land were given
citizenship. The government took Indian children and sent them to boarding
school; with education they would sway away from their Indian tribal ways.