The West and the
New South
1865-1900
“Up to our own day American History has been
in a large degree a history of the colonization
of the Great West. The existence of an area of
free land, its continuous recession, and the
advance of American settlement westward,
explain American development
Frederick Jackson Turner: the Significance of the Frontier in American History
The “Great West”
• Has always been America’s “safety valve” – and
this is our last big burst of westward (and
eastward from CA) movement
• 1860 Divided into “territories” and inhabited
primarily by Native Americans (primarily
nomadic plains Indians)- by 1890 it will be states
with only 2 territories left
• 3 waves of “frontier”
• Mining
• Cattle
• Farming
Western Settlement before
1860
• Early settlers had been trappers or
missionaries. Before RR travel was long
and dangerous, if your family went, you
were going for good. People began moving
beyond Mississippi 1830-1850, with the
biggest bump being the California gold
rush 1849.
Mining
• Gold/Silver discovered in Colorado and Nevada
in late 1850s- leading to mining booms (Virginia
City, Carson City), which drew people with
opportunity to “get rich quick”, and provided the
first western economy
• Copper (telegraph and telephone wires), Lead,
and Zinc eventually became more profitable than
gold or silver
• “Ghost towns” become
common as people move on
to the next strike
Comstock Lode
• 1857 Largest Silver deposit discovered in
Nevada- Henry Comstock and 3 others
• Corporations eventually came to dominate
mining (the 4 original claimants died broke)
• Significance of Mining
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Attracted population west
Helped finance the Civil War
Facilitated building of RR
Intensified conflict with Native Americans
Introduced Silver issue into politics
Geography, Native Cultures and
Ethnic Groups
• Large variations: Great Plains WI, IL, MN, IO, and
parts of NB, KA, and DK are great for farming,
but the further west you go (high plains: western
KA, NB, MT, WY, CO, NM) the drier things get.
• Then you get the mountains, and the true
deserts of AZ, NV, UT etc…
Native Americans
• 360,000 Native Americans in the Westwide variety of cultures. Before Civil
war the focus had been on moving
Indians west to get them out of the
way of Whites, now whites are
heading west. Gov’t tried to
“concentrate” tribes in specific areas
they don’t think whites will want.
Conflict most common with Plains b/c
they are nomadic, and white settlers
are not…..
Bureau of Indian Affairs
• Gov’t policy was contradictory, sometimes
Native Americans were “independent nations”
sometime “wards of the state”. They would be
moved with a guarantee of territory, that lasted
exactly as long as no white people wanted the
territory.
• Bureau of Indian Affairs (Dept of Interior)
created 1870 to “manage” the Issue by Ulysses S
Grant (So you know that’s going to end well….)
Mexican Landowners
• Large portions of SW had belonged to
Mexico, and there were still inhabitants of
Mexican ancestry. California and Texas were the
largest, both had issues with large influxes of
white populations pushing Mexicans off land
(legally and illegally) Become generally
impoverished, with strong class struggles
between groups
Chinese
• Chinese Empire was falling apart (Boxer/Taiping
Rebellions etc…) 1840-1900 300,000 arrive in US.
Came for econ opportunity, provided cheap
unskilled labor on pacific coast – European
immigrants tend to stay in east. Esp important in
building RR. Most are single men, face intense
discrimination- tend to isolate themselves
culturally in “Chinatowns” rather than integrate
into larger society
“Yellow Peril”
• Economic downturn in 1870s - war boom econ
over - made Chinese immigrants even more
unpopular, and seen as “dangerous”(primarily
b/c they won’t integrate culturally)
• 1882 California passes Chinese Exclusion Actwhich banned immigration from China for 10
years, and prevented Chinese in US from
becoming citizens
Advances in Transportation and
Communication
• Growth of RR helped spark 2nd Industrial
Revolution (boom for steel and coal)
• By 1900 there were nearly 200,000 miles of RR
track in US- more than all of Euro combined
• Will allow millions more to move west- without
perils of wagon trail, and influence where they
settle (proximity to RR vital to get crops
etc…back east)
Transcontinental RR
• 1862 Pacific Railway Act authorized the building of a
transcontinental RR (seen as important to national security)
• Union Pacific RR built west from Omaha Nebraska, and Central
Pacific RR built west from Sacramento (they had the tough job
over Sierra Nevadas and through desert) meet at promontory
point May 10th 1869 – golden spike
• RR got huge land grants, 20 square miles of land for each mile
of track constructed (they can sell what they don’t use) and
loans ranging from $16,000-$48,000 a mile. One of the big
scandals of the Grant admin was Credit Moblier construction
co, which pocketed $73 mil for $50 mil of work
• Links the country (telegraphs built along track too)
Pony Express
• April 1860- October 1861:
Brief, but legendary. To
speed communications,
riders on horseback carried
mail relay style with 157
stations 10 miles apart
(how far a horse can go at
flat gallop) Rider changes
horses at each station- and
mail can cross country (one
way) in 10 days
• Put out of business by
telegraph (transcontinental
line completed Oct 1861)
The Cattle Kingdom
• 2nd frontier economybegan before civil war,
especially in western
Texas (Longhorns)
• At first cattle is primarily
free range, the trick is to
get it to market, the
stockyards of Kansas City
and Chicago- where it
will be slaughtered and
processed
Long Drives
• Cattle country was not
near RR – could be as
far as 1000 mi. So after
war “trails” developed
to get cattle from
Southwest (esp TX,
NM) to RR (without
crossing land newly
claimed and barbed
wired by farmers)
• Goodnight-loving trail,
Chisholm trail, Abiline
Trail.
• Millions of cattle move
this way each year
Cowboys
• Another legendary feature
of the west- cattle drives
made them vital. Young
(generally unmarried), from
diverse backgrounds
(Confederates, Blacks,
Native Americans,
Mexicans). Cowboys were
part of the “safety valve” of
the West, head off in the
sunset and see what
happens
• Earliest were Mexican, and it
was “Vaqueros” who
developed things like 10
gallon hats and chaps, and
lasso etc
Ranches
• Cattle owner needs a
base of operations- the
Ranch: House, quarters
for cowboys/ranch
hands, grazing land for
cattle.
• Grazing began as open,
but as more people
came (and barbed wire
invented) specific
areas marked and
claimed.
Range Wars
• Competition for grazing land between ranchers and
farmers, involves cutting barbed wire, blocking trails,
spooking herds etc….
• Ethnic tensions play a part (esp between Hispanic and
White) Also large ranchers v. small ranchers- bigger is
always better in the west.
Could get intense
• Most violent “Fence Cutter’s
War” of 1883-4
Homesteaders on the Great
Plains
• Homestead Act of 1862 gave 160 acres for
nominal fee ($10-30) to anyone who
would live on land and “improve” for 5
years. Hugely popular after war, as diverse
groups move west: easterners,
“exodusters”, immigrants, southerners –
about 500,000 will go.
• Many (as much as 2/3 in some
areas) lost their “bet” with gov’t
and left land.
• Available until after wwi
New Farming Techniques
• One reason so many people lost land is that
climate too dry for traditional farming (where
rainfall will be main watersource)
• Dig wells, use windmills to pump water for
irrigation. Steel plows cut deeper into sod to get
down to fertile soil. Barbed wire allowed cheap
fencing of large scale territory
• Morrill Act of 1862 gave federal land for est. of
colleges to specialize in agricultural research and
technology
Hard Wheat
• Growing season too short
for spring wheat- so they
bring in winter wheat from
Russia (plant in fall, lies
dormant, then flowers in
spring) Harder to grind:
John Pillsbury of Minnesota
invents a new milling
process
• Use RR to transport crop
back east, and to get
manufactured goods
(harder to be self sufficient
on the plains)
• Creating an integrated
economy
Desert Farming
• Extensive irrigation
made new farmland
available- even in
desert areas. Mormons
early success story in
Utah.
• Turns out the Ogallala
Aquifer is below a
large area, it’s deep,
but once farmers get
down there it provides
need irrigation
Problems with the Homestead
Act
• Believe it or not, 160 acres wasn’t really a
profitable amount of land out west, you need
more.
• 1873 Timber Culture Act allows settlers an
additional 160 acres if they plant trees on at
least 40 acres
• Desert Land Act of 1877 you could buy up to 640
acres for $1.25 and acre if you created irrigation
Crop Liens
• Commercialization of
Agriculture. In order to
farm successfully on a large scale (without free
labor) you need machinery.
• Had to borrow $$ for equipment (plows,
threshers, reapers etc…) and less than stellar
harvests could make it impossible to get out of
debt.
• Banks (loans) and RR (trans costs) the “bad guys”
farmers blamed when times got hard
Western Women
• During mine/cattle ages
women were scarce (in 1890
Texas men outnumbered women 110-1) but
Farmers brought their families. Women could
claim land under homestead act (gave married
people option for 360 acres)
• West always offered greater equality- no room
for “cult of domesticity”, but also seen as
bringing morality to lawlessness of frontier.
Wyoming 1st state to give women the vote in
1869 (almost kept them from becoming a state
Economic Problems for
Farmers
• Gold standard limited the amount of currency in
circulation, which keeps prices artificially low, they want
US to use silver.
• Land speculators often made deals for the best land,
people claiming farms sometimes got bad areas
• No protective gov’t subsidies for farmers (like tariffs for
manufacturers) Farmers underrepresented politically,
and poorly organized until late 1800s (populism)
• Great plains can be a tough climate; broiling in summer,
freezing in winter, lots of insect issues
Indian Wars
• Many Americans in the late 1800s didn’t think blacks/whites
could live together in an equal society- well they were
CERTAIN whites/Indians shouldn’t be together
• I really like the phrase your book uses to describe this period:
“The history of relations between the United States and the
Indian tribes was … one of nearly endless broken promises”
White Tribal Policies
• Gov’t decided that the best way to
“deal” with Indians was to “concentrate”
them (on reservations)- that way they
would be segregated and easier to
control
• Bureau of Indian Affairs: divided tribes
and allocated them either to Indian
Territory (OK) or the Dakotas
(guaranteed to the Sioux in the Treaty of
ft Laramie 1868) Hot mess of corruption,
deception and general ineptitude
Decimation of the Buffalo
• Spanish horses and Firearms drastically altered plains culture
from 1600s- allowing them to move farther, faster, and base
their survival on hunting buffalo
• As whites move into area “buffalo hunting” – for sportbecame a fad. This leads to the decimation of the herds
(whites kill 1000s at a time, and leave most behind, they are
looking for “trophies”)
• Indians decide if they are
going to survive, they need
to fight to protect their way
of life.
Subjugation of the Plains
Indians
• Began in 1850s, and from 1868-1890 a state of near constant
warfare existed between Native Americans and Whites.
• Primarily Guerrilla style: Indians would raid settlements,
vandalize RR. Army would raid native villages, or deliberately
kill buffalo
• General Philip Sheridan in charge. Major Native disadvantage
is that tribes didn’t work together, and Army was in to win, at
any cost
Little Big Horn
• Sioux war became most intense after gold discovered in
Dakotas in 1875. Warriors led by Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse
attacked after their guarantees of land had been violated.
• Army sends General George Custer (known for recklessness
and vanity) to “handle” June 1876, Custer and 250 troops find
Sioux camp, where they are circled by 2500 Native Americans
and killed (164 Indians die)
• Newspapers carry accounts of “Custer’s Last Stand” (making it
sound heroic instead of stupid), which increased gov’t need to
handle situation. Start chasing Sitting Bull- who heads north to
Canada and claims asylum, but eventually forced to return and
surrender. Ends up in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show
Nez Pierce
• Led by Chief Joseph, had attempted to avoid conflict,
remained on their reservation in Idaho- maintained
positive trade etc…
• 1877- reaction to Little Big Horn- Gov’t demands they
give up their land, and they decide to fight, winning
several skirmishes before main army sent in, at which
point they decide to flee.
• 75 day, 1700 mi chase through west and Canada- finally
caught. Broken apart as a tribe, sent to Kansas and
Oklahoma
• Chief Joseph’s surrender speech famous
• I am tired of fighting. Our chiefs are killed. The old men
are all dead. It is the young men who say yes or no. He
who led the young men is dead. It is cold and we have no
blankets. The little children are freezing to death. My
people, some of them, have run away to the hills and
have no blankets, no food. No one knows where they
are--perhaps freezing to death. I want to have time to
look for my children and see how many I can find. Maybe
I shall find them among the dead. Hear me, my chiefs. I
am tired. My heart is sick and sad. From where the sun
now stands, I will fight no more forever.
Apache
• Carried on a 9 year guerrilla war from Rocky Mountains,
led by Cochise and Geronimo
• Eventually chased through Arizona to Mexico, where
Geronimo was captured by Mexican Army and sold to US
• Sent to Oklahoma, where they became successful cattle
ranchers
Oklahoma Land Boom
• Had been given to Native Americans because it seemed
such poor farmland, but new techniques meant that it
could be profitable, so gov’t (pressured by public and
land speculators) decides whites should have it.
• President Benjamin Harrison announces the land will be
“opened” for claims on April 22nd 1889. (Soldiers posted
to prevent “sooners” from claiming early) at Noon on
22nd, whistle blows, and 100,000 people rush in and
claim 2,000,000 acres within 6 hours
Reformers and Indians
• By 1880s (progressive era) many people had become
aware, and sympathetic to Indian Issues.
• Helen Hunt Jackson: A Century of Dishonor (1881)
chronicled gov’t ruthlessness and deceit. Similar impact
to Uncle Tom’s Cabin in exposing issues, but led to little
agreement on how to handle problem
• Basic decision was to “Assimilate” tribes, “for their own
good”
Dawes Act 1887
• Forced assimilation of tribes to eradicate their culture
• Provisions
• Dissolved tribes as legal entities
• Divided reservations into 160 acre plots, each “family”
(determined by gov’t) was required to “improve” land like white
settlers, if they did, it was theirs (along with citizenship) in 25
years, if not improved, went back to gov’t.
• Required Native American children to attend schools run by US
gov’t to teach “citizenship”
• Results
• Accelerated destruction of native cultures
• 2/3 of Native’s land lost (primarily in OK land rush)
• Amerindians get citizenship 1924, but Dawes Act remains official
policy until 1934 Indian Reorganization Act (Indian New Deal)
Wounded Knee
• One problem reformers had with Natives
was that they weren’t Christian. So Gov’t pressured to outlaw
native religious practices, like the Lakota “Ghost Dance”
(which was supposed to get rid of evil, Lakota thought it might
get rid of white people)
• Army came to a civilian encampment, and slaughtered 200300 old men women and children (29 soldiers killed, most
from friendly fire) Positive reaction from whites, who saw it as
stamping out a cult
• Last major clash between whites and
Amerindians.
Frontier: Reality and Myth
(this is at the end of section, find it)
• By 1890s the “Frontier” was gone, but legends and myths
lived on in things like Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show, Dime
Novels, and eventually “Westerns”. It became a lost
adventure, a nostalgic world- romanticized until the reality of
the backbreaking work of settlement no longer mattered.
• Frederick Jackson Turner wondered what would happen to
American ingenuity with no new lands to conquer, Huck Finn
deplored a world where no one lived except “civilized folks”
The Frontier represented the wild and free, the American
Spirit
The New South
• Also experiencing tremendous change (esp with RR
construction)
• The idea of “New” comes from shift in focus from plantation
agriculture to smaller farms, increasing industry, and growing
cities.
• Henry Grady editor of Atlanta Constitution said south had
everything needed (factors of production: land, labor, capital)
to out shine the north.
Economic Growth
• Cotton and tobacco continued to be the base of the economy,
only now instead of slave labor, the majority is done through
sharecropping (cotton) and tenant farming (tobacco) Coal
Mining also expanding in Appalachians.
• Tobacco farming revitalized in 1870s with machines for prerolled cigarettes (trad. Tobacco sold loose and people rolled
themselves) Duke (yes, like the university) family brought
modern business to tobacco with advertising and trading
cards. Bought out competitors, American Tobacco Company
became a huge corporation
Textiles
• Textile mills had originally been in North, but the cotton is in
the south- so after war mills moved there.
• Mill country settled in Piedmont (hilly, good streams) which
had been back country b/c plantations centered on coast. This
is an area where new RR being built- spurs econ growth, and
an alternate life to sharecropping
Company Towns
• Life of a mill worker tough (as bad as sharecropping) Mill itself
earned 30-70% profit, workers paid 50% of Northern wages –
often paid in “scrip” (company $$) not cash
• Mills ran a “company store” where employees could buy
food/goods with scrip or on credit, creating the same cycle of
debt/poverty seen with sharecroppers, with Mill owner
replacing planation owner in the scenario.
Industrial Lag
• Still way behind the North, which is booming, South isn’t even
close to catching up.
• With exception of a few companies (like American Tobacco)
most $$ came from the North- ex. US Steel owned the largest
Steel Foundry in the South (Birmingham) Northern companies
also controlled ¾ of the RR
• In 1890 south had 10% of industry in US, same amount it had
in 1860. Per Capita income 60% of national average. 70% of
workforce agricultural labor
Bourbon Redeemers
• Republicans pulled out or lost power as Reconstruction ended.
As Democrats took power back, many planter elites wanted to
eliminate industry and return to plantation agriculture. Saw
themselves as “Redeeming” the Southern way of life
• Opponents called them “Bourbons” after Fr. Royal family, who
(Napoleon said) had learned nothing from the revolution.
Contributions/Problems
• Established commissions to study and support agriculture and
healthcare, funded agricultural and teacher training colleges.
Even some women’s and African American colleges
• Did not eliminate all African American office holders. There
are blacks in legislatures in VA until 1890, SC until 1900, and
GA until 1908
• Cut public spending (which they felt unnecessary) for things
like schools and health care.
• Used prisons as yet another cheap source of labor “chain
gangs” could be hired by businesses, or used for public works.
Disenfranchisement
• It is interesting that the south was not geographically
segregated- blacks and whites had always lived and worked in
same areas (as opposed to North)
• Slaughterhouse cases 1883: Court ruled 14th amendments
protected against Federal infringements, not state (essentially
overturned Civil Rights Acts) and Congress doesn’t respond- so
states know they can do what they want.
• Planned Disenfranchisement begins in 1880s-90s, during
economic downturn. Can’t simply eliminate (15th amendment)
so use poll tax, literacy, grandfather clause etc… as well as
Gerrymandering to break up voting groups
Lynching
• Common form of intimidation. During 1890s around 200
blacks were lynched every year, 4/5 in the south (all time high
was 1892- 230)
Jim Crow Laws/Sep but Equal
• Next step is segregation. Again, violation of 14th, until
Slaughterhouse, and opens the loophole of creating “Separate
but Equal”Facilities without violating “Equal Protection”
• Southern (and Northern) states created sep hotels,
restaurants, schools, hospitals etc…
Plessy v Ferguson 1896
• Caps the failure of Civil Rights for African Americans PostReconstruction
• Homer Plessy arrested for refusing to leave a RR car for whites
(he was 7/8 white) Court upheld the law, saying that there
were black cars available
• Validated Segregation, which won’t be challenged again until
1950s.
But not all African
Americans just sat
there and smiled….
Many fought- even at the risk of their own lives
Booker T Washington
• Advocated education for African Americans to EARN equality.
(44% illiterate in 1900) 1881 Founded Tuskegee Institute in
Alabama teaching “useful trades as a means towards self
respect and economic equality”.
• Did not publically fight segregation (which earned him
criticism, in reality he worked hard under an assumed name)
urged instead that blacks should improve themselves, and
adopt white habits so they would be “more acceptable”
W.E.B. DuBois
• Opposed Booker T Washington’s views, wanted immediate
social and economic equality, and enforcement of political
equality.
• Niagara Movement: demanded end to segregation and
discrimination.
• Said the “Talented Tenth” (top 10%)of the Black community
should have full equality and access, to show progress and
encourage others to follow in their footsteps.
NAACP
• Founded 1910 by a group of white progressives, adopted
many ideas of Niagara movement, Dubois joins, and becomes
editor of their magazine “The Crisis”
• Goal: Equal rights for Blacks through use of lawsuits in Federal
Court