
Between 1865-1900 (25 year period) the western
frontier (West of the Mississippi River) was
divided into:
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18 new states
4 territories: Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma
Prior to this period and before the end of the Civil
War in 1865 the only inhabitants on the frontier
were:
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Indians (300,000)
Spanish Missionaries (Southwest)
Mormons (Salt Lake)
Trappers- Mountain Men
Buffalo- 15 million

By 1890 the land had been settled by:
Farmers
 Ranchers (cattle, sheep)
 Miners (gold, silver, copper)
 Merchants, Bankers, and Railroads


Two major obstacles slowed the development
of the frontier:
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Geography and Climate
Native Americans

Development was assisted by:
Military force
 Government land give-a-ways
 federal/state loans to railroads
 Investment by eastern and foreign bankers
 Disease
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Treatment of Native Americans:
 Reservation Policy- remove to unwanted areas
 Americanize- assimilate to American culture- abandon tribal
ways
Sand Creek Massacre- 1864- 150 Native American slaughtered
by the US Army (mostly women and children)
Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse- two leaders who refused to give
up fighting for their land
Battle of Wounded Knee- US Army killed 300 unarmed Native
Americans and left their bodies to freeze
Bitter end of the Indian Wars…
Factors that led to the removal of the Indians:
 Railroads
 Disease
 Alcohol
 Extermination of the Buffalo


1887 Dawes Act- Government act that forced Indians onto
reservations
1. broke up tribal governments
2. Assimilation- abandon native customs, traditions, way of life
3. Land allotments- 160 acres of land developed over 25 years
before title given
4. Indians dealt with as individuals
Homestead Acts- gave land away to white settlers
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
160 acres of land
$10 fee
develop in 5 years for title give
Most land went to:


Speculators- real estate agents who sold land at higher prices for a profit
Railroads were given prime land

Extreme Hardships

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Droughts
Floods
Fires
Blizzards
Locust plagues
Outlaw Raids
Indian Raids
Disease
Settlers Meet Challenges of the Plains

Homes- dugout (home dug into the side of a hill)
 soddy (stacked blocks of prairie turf)

Clothes- women had to shear sheep and card wool to make
clothes
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Barbed Wire- prevented
animals from trampling
crops and wandering off
Reaper- sped up harvest
saving crops from
inclement weather
Steel Plow- made planting
more efficient in root filled
soil
Steel Windmill- helped with
unpredictable rainfall (crop
dehydration) by bringing
up underground water for
irrigation

Morrill Land Grant Acts (1862 & 1890)- enacted
by Congress
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gave federal land to the states to help finance
agricultural colleges
Hatch Act (1887)- federal agricultural research
stations
Established…
Agricultural experiment stations to inform
farmers of new developments
Cycle of Debt for farmers
 Machinery-Expensive and usually required farmers to
barrow money
1. As prices went up farmers would make money to pay off
loans
2. As prices dropped they would try and plant as many crops
as possible to make up the difference
 Farmers would often barrow money to purchase more land
to grow more crops to make more money in order to make
money to pay off debts (never ending cycle)
Shipping Problems of Farmers
-Farmers were at the mercy of the Railroads
- Railroads established rates for western farmers that were higher
than the east
 - Railroads were monopolies (could charge what they wanted
because there was no competition
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Farmers Organize to solve their Own Problems
Grange(farmer organization)- Oliver Hudson
Kelly (1867) patrons of Husbandry
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Provided a social outlet for farm families
Eventually began a fight against the railroads
Farmers Alliances- included not only farmers
but others who sympathized with the situation
Colored Farmers Alliance
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Populism- movement of the people
Populist Party (People’s Party)- political effort of farmers to
use politics to solve their problems
Party Platform:
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Increase money supply
Graduated income tax
Federal Loan Program
U.S. Senate elections by popular vote
Single term for president and vice president
Secret ballots
8 hour work day
Immigration restrictions
Populist Party died out as the – Democratic party came
about

Bimetallism

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
A monetary system in which the government would
give citizens either gold or silver in exchange for
paper currency or checks
People who supported this were known as
“Silverites”
Gold Standard

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
A monetary system in which money is backed
entirely by gold
Supported by President Cleveland
Known as the “Gold Bugs”

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--William McKinley- Nominated by the Republican party and
committed to the Gold Standard. An Ohioan
--William Jennings Bryan- Nominated by the Democratic Party
and committed to Bimetallism
Gold Bugs
 Bankers and Businessman
 Wanted Gold Standard
 Wanted less money in circulation
Result: Deflation=Prices fall= Value of money increases= Fewer
people have money
Silverites
 Farmers and Laborers
 Wanted Bimetallism
 Wanted more money in circulation
Result: Inflation=Prices rise=Value of money decreases=More
people have money



William Jennings Bryan
had a tough Campaign
and had to overcome
people’s fear of inflation
with his Silverite Plan
Bryan was defeated by
McKinley by over
500,000 votes
With Bryan’s defeat
populism collapsed
 The
Growth of Industry
•
By 1920s, U.S. is world’s leading
 industrial power, due to:

- wealth of natural resources

- government support for business

- growing urban population

 Black
•
•
•
Gold
Pre-European arrival, Native Americans make fuel,
medicine from oil
1859, Edwin L. Drake successfully uses steam engine
to drill for oil
Petroleum-refining industry first makes kerosene, then
gasoline
Bessemer Steel Process
•
•
•
Abundant deposits of coal, iron spur industry
Bessemer process puts air into iron to remove
carbon to make steel
Later open-hearth process makes steel from scrap or
raw materials
New Uses for Steel
•
•
Steel used in railroads, barbed wire, farm machines
Changes construction: Brooklyn Bridge; steel-framed
skyscrapers
 Numerous
new inventions change the
landscape, life, work
The Power of Electricity
1876, Thomas Alva Edison establishes first research
laboratory

- 1880, patents incandescent light bulb

- creates system for electrical production, distribution
• Electricity changes business; by 1890, runs numerous
machines
• Becomes available in homes; encourages invention of
appliances
• Allows manufacturers to locate plants
anyplace; industry grows
•
 Christopher
Sholes invents typewriter in 1867
 1876, Alexander Graham Bell, Thomas Watson
introduces telephone
 Office work changes; by 1910, women are 40% of clerical
workers
 Inventions impact factory work, lead to industrialization
- clothing factories hire many women
 Industrialization makes jobs easier; improves standard of
living
- by 1890, average workweek 10 hours shorter
- as consumers, workers regain power in market
 Some laborers think mechanization reduces value of
human worker
 Rails
make local transit reliable, westward
expansion possible
 Government makes land grants,
loans to railroads
- to help settle West
- to develop country
A National Network
•
•
1859, railroads extend west of Missouri River
1869, first transcontinental railroad completed,
spans the nation
•
•
•
Railroads offer land, adventure, fresh start to many
People of diverse backgrounds build railroad under harsh
conditions:
- Central Pacific hires Chinese immigrants
- Union Pacific, Irish immigrants, Civil War vets
Accidents, disease disable and kill thousands
every year
 Railroad
•
•
•
Time
1869, C. F. Dowd proposes dividing earth’s surface into 24
time zones
1883, U.S. railroads, towns adopt time zones
1884, international conference sets world zones, uses railroad
time
- Congress adopts in 1918
•
•
•
•
•
•
Railroads require great supply of materials, parts
Iron, coal, steel, lumber, glass industries grow to
meet demand
Railroads link isolated towns, promote trade,
interdependence
Nationwide network of suppliers, markets
develops
Towns specialize, sell large quantities of their
product nationally
New towns grow along railroad lines
1880, George M. Pullman builds railcar factory on Illinois
prairie
• Pullman provides for workers: housing, doctors, shops,
sports field
• Company tightly controls residents to ensure stable work
force
• Wish for control, profit leads some railroad magnates to
corruption
• Union Pacific stockholders form construction company,
Crédit Mobilier

- overpay for laying track, pocket profits
• Republican politicians implicated; reputation of party
tarnished
•
Farmers angry over perceived railroad corruption
- railroads sell government lands to businesses, not
settlers
- fix prices, keep farmers in debt
- charge different customers different rates
 Grangers sponsor state, local political candidates
 Press for laws to protect farmers’ interests
 Munn v. Illinois—Supreme Court upholds states’
right to regulate RR
 Sets principle that federal government can regulate
private industry
•
Interstate Commerce Act
 1886, Supreme Court: states cannot set rates on interstate
commerce
 Public outrage leads to Interstate Commerce Act
of 1887
- federal government can supervise railroads
- establishes Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC)
Panic and Consolidation
 Legal battle with railroads; difficult for ICC to take action
• Abuses, mismanagement, competition almost bankrupt many
railroads
• Railroad problems contribute to panic of 1893, depression
• By mid-1894, 25% of railroads taken over by financial
companies
Carnegie Makes a Fortune
 Andrew
Carnegie one of first moguls to make own
fortune
New Business Strategies
•
•
•
•
•
Carnegie searches for ways to make better products
more cheaply
Hires talented staff; offers company stock; promotes
competition
Uses vertical integration—buys out suppliers to control
materials
Through horizontal integration merges with competing
companies
Carnegie controls almost entire steel industry
 Darwin’s
theory of biological evolution: the best-adapted
survive
•
Social Darwinism, or social evolution, based on
Darwin’s theory
•
Economists use Social Darwinism to justify doctrine
of laissez faire
A New Definition of Success
•
•
•
Idea of survival, success of the most capable appeals to
wealthy
Notion of individual responsibility in line with Protestant
ethic
See riches as sign of God’s favor; poor must be lazy,
inferior
 Businesses
try to control industry
with mergers— buy out competitors
 Buy all others to form monopolies—control
production, wages, prices
 Holding companies buy all the stock of other
companies
 John D. Rockefeller founds Standard Oil
Company, forms trust
- trustees run separate companies as if one
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Rockefeller profits by paying low wages, underselling others
- when controls market, raises prices
Critics call industrialists robber barons
- industrialists also become philanthropists
Sherman Antitrust Act

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Government thinks expanding corporations stifle free competition
Sherman Antitrust Act: trust illegal if interferes with free trade
Prosecuting companies difficult; government stops enforcing act
Business Boom Bypasses the South
•
•
•
South recovering from Civil War, hindered by lack of capital
North owns 90% of stock in RR, most profitable Southern businesses
Business problems: high transport cost, tariffs,
few skilled workers
Long
Hours and Danger
Northern wages generally higher than Southern
• Exploitation, unsafe conditions unite workers
across regions
• Most workers have 12 hour days, 6 day workweeks

- perform repetitive, mind-dulling tasks

- no vacation, sick leave, injury compensation
• To survive, families need all member to work, including
children
• Sweatshops, tenement workshops often only jobs for
women, children

- require few skills; pay lowest wages
•
•
•
•
•
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•
National Labor Union—first large-scale national
organization
1868, NLU gets Congress to give 8-hour day to
civil servants
Local chapters reject blacks; Colored National
Labor Union forms
NLU focus on linking existing local unions
Noble Order of the Knights of Labor open to
women, blacks, unskilled
Knights support 8-hour day, equal pay, arbitration
Craft Unionism
Craft unions include skilled workers from one or more trades
 Samuel Gompers helps found American Federation of
Labor (AFL)
 AFL uses collective bargaining for better wages, hours,
conditions
 AFL strikes successfully, wins higher pay, shorter workweek

Industrial Unionism
ndustrial unions include skilled, unskilled workers in an
industry
 Eugene V. Debs forms American Railway Union; uses strikes

 Some
labor activists turn to socialism:
- government control of business, property
- equal distribution of wealth
 Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), or Wobblies,
forms 1905
 Organized by radical unionists, socialists; include African
Americans
 Industrial unions give unskilled workers dignity, solidarity
Other Labor Activism in the West
•
•
Japanese, Mexicans form Sugar Beet and Farm
Laborers’ Union in CA
Wyoming Federation of Labor supports Chinese,
Japanese miners
The
•
•
Baltimore & Ohio Railroad strike spreads to other
lines
Governors say impeding interstate commerce;
federal troops intervene
The
•
•
•
Great Strike of 1877
Haymarket Affair
3,000 gather at Chicago’s Haymarket Square, protest
police brutality
Violence ensues; 8 charged with inciting riot,
convicted
Public opinion turns against labor movem
The
•
•
•
1892, Carnegie Steel workers strike over pay cuts
Win battle against Pinkertons; National Guard
reopens plant
Steelworkers do not remobilize for 45 years
The
•
•
•
Homestead Strike
Pullman Company Strike
Pullman lays off 3,000, cuts wages but not rents;
workers strike
Pullman refuses arbitration; violence ensues; federal
troops sent
Debs jailed, most workers fired, many blacklisted
Women Organize
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Women barred from many unions; unite behind powerful leaders
Mary Harris Jones— most prominent organizer in women’s labor
- works for United Mine Workers
- leads children’s march
Pauline Newman—organizer for International
Ladies’ Garment Workers
1911 Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire results in
public outrage
Management and Government Pressure Unions

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Employers forbid unions; turn Sherman Antitrust Act against labor
Legal limitations cripple unions, but membership rises

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
Push Factors- problems that cause people to move
Pull Factors- attractions that draw people to
another place
People were pushed from Europe due to
population growth, hunger, availability of land,
and religious persecution
People were pulled to the United States because of
the free democratic society, ample farmland,
minerals, plains, industry (jobs), and America
Letters (letters from relatives who had already
migrated).

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The voyage which once took 3 month now took
2 weeks due to technological advances
Travel was not easy on steerage( open area
below the main deck) where people slept in the
same room on metal beds, seasickness, spoiled
food, overcrowded, and filthy toilets.

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1892- Ellis Island Immigration Station was built
in the New York Harbor. Immigrants arriving
from Europe often arrived at Ellis Island.
Inspections and Exams
Medical Inspections (6 second exam)
 Physical examination (LHX)
 Legal Interviews (names shortened)
 Contract Laborers
20 % were denied entrance and had to stay for
treatment or await hearings only 2% were every
deported.


Main cities (industrial centers)
New York
 Boston
 Chicago
 Cleveland


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Population booms
Ethnic Cities (little Italy, China Town, etc..)


With a lack of education, money, and support
immigrants suffered
Immigrants need help
Relatives or friends
 Immigrant Aid Society (met in churches, groceries,
or saloons)
 Settlement house- community center that provided
aid to immigrants (child care, classes, health clinics,
and recreational opportunities)
 Political bosses- powerful leaders who ran cities
would help the immigrants in exchange for votes



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Assimilation- Americanization of immigrants
Nativism- Americans who disliked anyone
who was not “native” born
1894- Immigration Restriction League- all new
arrivals had to take literacy tests- the President
Vetoed it….but began to pass quota laws



Chinese seek gold, jobs, and new opportunities
Chinese Exclusion Act 1882- shut the doors on
China by prohibiting immigration from
Chinese laborers for 10 years (1st time the US
had restricted immigration)
Immigration went from 40,000 to 279 two years
later


Angel Island Immigration Station 1910- “Ellis
Island of the West” San Francisco Bay, mainly
used to restrict Chinese Immigrants
Other Immigrants



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
Japanese
Koreans
Filipinos
Hawaiians
Gentlemen's Agreement- notes between U.S.
and Japan where Japanese officials agreed not
to allow laborers to emigrate to the U.S.


North- French Canadians- came to US for Civil
War and over 900,000 came to US after mainly
from Quebec.
Mexico- immigrated to California and Texas to
work on farms, railroads, and in mines.

Mexican Revolution 1910- brought many more
Mexicans to the US.

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Racism
Lower Wages
Discrimination
Segregated Schools
Unwilling to become members of American
Society

1st Wave- 1820-1870


2nd Wave- 1880-1920


Northern and Western Europe
Southern and Eastern Europe
3rd Wave- 1965-present


End of quota system immigration from everywhere
33 million/12% of the population were immigrants
in 2003