The
American
Pageant
David Kennedy, Stanford University
Lizabeth Cohen, Harvard University
Mel Piehl, Valparaiso University
Chapter
Twenty-six
The Great West
and the
Agriculture
Revolution
1865-1869
Treaties then War
• 1850’s
– Treaty of Fort Laramie – 1851 – gave the
Plains Indians control over the Great Plains
for "as long as the river flows and the eagle
flies". In return for safe passage of whites
along the Oregon Trail.
– Treaty of Fort Atkinson – 1853
– Agreements with Chiefs, but not always
recognized by their people.
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3
Treaties then War
• 1860’s
– Moved from ancestral land.
– Smaller Reservations
– Treaty of Fort Laramie – 1868 – Gave Lakota
tribes control over the Black Hills of South
Dakota.
– Indian agents became corrupt and denied
their own Indians proper food and supplies.
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4
“Indian Wars” begin 1864-1890
• Whites
– Disregarded treaties
– Cleared Indians out of
the West for further
white expansion
– Refused payment of
annuities owed for land
– Annihilated the buffalo
population
• 1865 – 15 million bison
• 1885 – less than 1000
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5
“Indian Wars”
• Indians
– Nez Perce – Chief Joseph
in Northwest
– Sioux – Crazy Horse &
Sitting Bull in Northern
Plains
– Apache – Geronimo in
Southwest
– Cheyenne & Arapaho - in
southern plains
• Massacres, scalping,
expert riders &
marksmen
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6
“Indian Wars”
• "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.“
• Chief Joseph, after 13
battles, and traveling
1800 miles trying to flee
to Canada, surrendered
the Nez Perce in 1877
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7
Nez Perce surrendered 40
miles from Canada
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8
“Indian Wars”
• Sand Creek Massacre – 1864 –
– Cheyenne & Arapaho were attacked by militia to open
up gold lands.
– Treaty reduced reservation to 1/13 of original size
– Treaty only recognized by minority of tribe
– 150 women, children, & elderly were killed (400)
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9
“Indian Wars”
• Battle of Little Big Horn
- 1876
– Sioux & Cheyenne under
Sitting Bull & Crazy Horse
– 7th Cavalry under George
Armstrong Custer
– Indians left reservations to
take part in a Sun Dance
– Army was sent in to put them
back on their reservations
– Indians won & 52% of
Custer’s men were killed,
including Custer, 2 brothers,
& 1 brother-in-law
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10
Crazy Horse
• Monument in
the Black
Hills
• Began in
1948
• 8 miles from
Mt.
Rushmore
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11
“Indian Wars”
• Wounded Knee – 1890
– The last of the Sioux
agreed to give up their
land and board a train to
Nebraska
– Army moved to disarm
them before transport
– Misunderstanding,
mayhem, massacre
– 300 Lakota Sioux were
killed in the massacre
– Was the end of the Plains
Indians & their
independence
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12
“Indian Wars”
• Geronimo– Was a medicine man,
but known as a warrior
– Evaded the military
after the loss of his
family
– Apache who refused to
be removed to the
reservations
– Finally surrendered in
1886
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13
Map 26.1: Indian Wars, 1860–1890
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14
Helen Hunt Jackson
• Born in 1830, died at
the age of 55 to
cancer.
• She began writing after
the deaths of her first
husband and both sons
• After attending a
lecture by Chief Sitting
Bear about the plight of
the Indians, she wrote
A Century of Dishonor
to change the U.S.
policies toward Indians
Dawes Severalty Act of 1887
•
•
•
•
Dissolved the legal entities of all tribes
Required full assimilation into white culture
Become farmers on the reservations
Allowed full citizenship in 25 years to
those who followed these steps (all Native
Americans were granted full citizenship by
1924)
59ers & Comstock Lode
• 1858 – Gold was
found on Pike’s Peak,
Colorado.
• 1859 – Gold & Silver
were found in the
Comstock Lode
Deposit in Nevada.
$340 million was
mined.
• Increased population
out west.
The Meat Packing Industry
• The “Long Drive” from
Texas to the Kansas
Railroad terminals, fed
the slaughterhouses of
Cincinnati, Chicago,
and New York
• Made famous the
Chisolm Trail, Abilene
(Marshall James B
Hickok), Dodge City
(Wyatt Earp), Ogallala,
and Cheyenne
Map 26.3: Cattle Trails
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19
End of an Era
• Barbed wire was
created in 1874 to
help sheepherders
and homesteaders
• The end of the open
range
• Breeders fenced in
their ranches &
created stockyards
closer to home,
(Dallas/Fort Worth)
Farmers move West?
• Geologists warned against agriculture
west of the 100th meridian
• Over-production + shallow cultivation
methods led to the “Dust Bowl”
Map 26.5: Average Annual Precipitation
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22
Farmers pushed westward
• Homestead Act of 1862 sold 160 acres of
land for about $30.
• A drought resistant wheat was being
grown in the “Great American Desert” with
much success
• Dams on the Missouri & Columbia Rivers
helped with irrigation
Map 26.6: American Agriculture in 1900
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24
Figure 26.1: Homesteads from the Public Lands (acreage legally transferred to
private ownership)
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25
The U.S. is Complete
• CO, ND, SD, MT, WA, ID,
WY become states
• 1890 Census announced
the U.S. frontier was
closed
• Frederick Jackson Turner
– thesis that frontier is
closed, America needs a
new frontier
• The “safety valve”,
allowing overcrowded
areas to expand, was no
longer in existence
• Realization that land was
not infinite, led to
preservation: national
parks – Yellowstone 1872,
Yosemite 1890
The Plight of the Farmer
• Mechanization:
– led to enormous farms
(factory farms)
– Sped up harvesting
– Required fewer workers
• Poor conditions were caused by:
– Droughts
– Grasshoppers
– Heat waves
• Economic losses due to:
– RR fixing price rates
– Banks high interest rates
– ***Overproduction
Aid for the Farmers
• The Grange – 1867 founded by
Oliver Kelley – cooperatives
• Granger Laws – established to
regulate grain elevator and RR
freight rates
• Greenback Labor Party
– Opposed shift from paper $
back to specie
– Government control of the
monetary system
– Graduated Income Tax
– Eight hour day
– Women suffrage
– Founded in Indianapolis, IN
in 1874
– After 1884 many Greenbacks
became Populists
Populists call for Change - 1893
• “Coxey’s Army” marched on
D.C. calling for relieving
unemployment by an “inflationary
government public works
program”
– They were arrested and the
march ended.
• The Pullman Strike in Chicago,
led by Eugene Debs, was
caused by wage cuts of 1/3,
rental fees, and product price
increases.
– Federal troops broke up the
strike because it interfered with
the transit of U.S. mail
– Debs went to prison for 6
months
Election of 1896
• Republican:
• William McKinley
–
–
–
–
–
Civil War Major
Congressman from Ohio
Conservative
Laissez-Faire
Gold Standard
• Democrat:
• William Jennings Bryan
– Lawyer
– Supporter of popular
democracy
– Prohibitionist
– Unlimited Coinage of
silver
– “Cross of Gold Speech”
Election of 1896
• McKinley won with
271 electoral votes
Map 26.7: Presidential Election of 1896 (with electoral vote by state)
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32
First order of business
• Dingley Tariff Bill of 1897 – raised tariff to
46.5% to increase revenue
• The territory of Hawaii was annexed in
1898
• Dispatched the USS Maine to protect
American interests in the Havana Harbor.
The End