American Stories
THIRD EDITION
By: Brands •
Chapter
17
The West: Exploiting an
Empire
1849‒1902
The West: Exploiting an Empire, 1849‒1902
17.1
Beyond the Frontier
What were the challenges of settling the
country west of the Mississippi?
17.2
Crushing the Native Americans
How did white Americans crush the
culture of the Native Americans as they
moved west?
The West: Exploiting an Empire, 1849‒1902
17.3
Settlement of the West
Why did Americans and others move to
the West?
17.4
The Bonanza West
Why was the West a bonanza of dreams
and get-rich-quick schemes?
Video Series:
Key Topics in U.S. History
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Conquest of the West
The Dawes Act
Chinese Exclusion Act
The Gold Rush
Home
Lean Bear’s Changing West
• 1863 – Indian chiefs met with Lincoln
• Lean Bear, the Cheyenne Chief
• A few years later federal troops invaded
Lean Bear’s land and killed him
• Promised peace
• The West became great colonial empire
• Place of conquest and exploitation
Home
Beyond the Frontier
• 1840 - Settlement reached Missouri
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Great Plains – treeless, nearly flat
Rockies – formidable barrier
Basin – desolate areas of Idaho and Utah
Pacific Coast – past Cascades and Sierra
Nevada, temperate
• Most pre‒Civil War settlers headed
directly for Pacific Coast
Home
Beyond the Frontier
Discussion Question
• What were the particular challenges of
settling the country west of the
Mississippi?
Beyond the Frontier
Crushing the Native Americans
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Life of the Plains Indians
Searching for an Indian Policy
Final Battles on the Plains
The End of Tribal Life
Home
Crushing the Native Americans
• 1865: 250,000 Indians in western U.S.
• Displaced Eastern Indians
• Native Plains Indians
• Pacific Coast tribes
• By the 1870s
• Most Indians on reservations
• California Indians decimated by disease
Crushing the Native Americans
Life of the Plains Indians
• Two-thirds of all Native Americans lived
on the Great Plains
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Many distinctive tribes
Nomadic and warlike
Migratory
Labor divided by gender
Crushing the Native Americans
Searching for an Indian Policy
• Early nineteenth century
• Indian Country - land west of the
Mississippi River
• Whites could not enter without license
• 1850s – Wagon trains, gold rush, and
talk of transcontinental railroad
• Government ended “one big reservation”
• New policy of concentration
• Whites poured into West
Crushing the Native Americans
Searching for an Indian Policy
(continued)
• Violence erupted as settlers moved west
• Sand Creek massacre
• Sioux War of 1865–1867
• Fetterman massacre
• Debate over Indian policy
• Humanitarians wanted to “civilize” Indians
• Others wanted firm control, swift reprisal
• Small reservation policy adopted
• Isolate Indians
Crushing the Native Americans
Crushing the Native Americans
Final Battles on the Plains
• Small reservation policy failed
• Young warriors refused restraint
• White settlers encroached on Indian lands
• Final series of wars suppressed Indians
• Little Big Horn
• Wounded Knee Massacre - 1890
• To suppress Ghost Dances
• Most battles resulted in Indian defeat
Crushing the Native Americans
Crushing the Native Americans
The End of Tribal Life
• Assimilation policy
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Congress stopped making treaties - 1871
Carlisle Indian School in Pennsylvania
Dawes Severalty Act - 1887
Near extermination of buffalo
• Native American loss of culture
• 1900 – only 250,000 remained in U.S.
• Poor lifestyle
Crushing the Native Americans
Crushing the Native Americans
Discussion Question
• How did white Americans crush the
culture of the Native Americans as they
moved west?
Crushing the Native Americans
Settlement of the West
• Men and Women on the Overland Trail
• Land for the Taking
• The Spanish-Speaking Southwest
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Settlement of the West
• Unprecedented settlement 1870–1900
• Most moved West seeking a better life
• Rising population drove increasing demand
for Western goods
• West was not a major “safety valve” for
social and economic tensions
Settlement of the West
Men and Women on the
Overland Trail
• Great migration westward
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First push aimed for California and Oregon
Gold Rush of 1849
Overland Trail
Migration usually a family affair
Journey was strenuous
Settlement of the West
Land for the Taking
• 1860–1900: Federal land grants
• Homestead Act of 1862
• Most land acquired by wealthy investors
• Water was dominant issue
• 1902 - National Reclamation Act
(Newlands Act)
• Railroads largest landowners in West
• Eager to have immigrants settle on land
Settlement of the West
Settlement of the West
The Spanish-Speaking Southwest
• Spanish-speakers of Southwest
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Contributed to culture and institutions
Spanish‒Mexican Californians
Culture shaped society
Continuous immigration kept culture strong
Settlement of the West
Discussion Question
• Why did Americans and others to move
to the West?
Settlement of the West
The Bonanza West
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The Mining Bonanza
The Cattle Bonanza
The Farming Bonanza
Discontent on the Farm
The Final Fling
Home
The Bonanza West
• Quest to “get rich quick”
• Produced uneven growth
• Caused boom-and-bust economic cycles
• Wasted resources
• Constant change
• “Instant cities”
• Institutions based on bonanza mentality
• West - an idea as well as a region
The Bonanza West
The Mining Bonanza
• Mining first attraction to the West
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California Gold Rush of 1849
Placer mining gave way to big business
Comstock Lode
Black Hills
• Towns grew from camps that sprouted
with first strike
• Governed by simple democracy
• More men than women
• Many foreign-born
The Bonanza West
The Mining Bonanza (continued)
• Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882
• Hostility toward foreign miners grew
• Suspended Chinese immigration for ten
years
• 1890s - bonanza over
• Contributed millions to economy and helped
finance Civil War
• Scarred and polluted environment
• Left ghost towns
The Bonanza West
What New Economic Patterns Emerged in
the West?
• How did railroad expansion shape
population growth in the West?
• How did western agriculture develop
during the late 1800s?
• How did the federal government’s
presence manifest itself as settlers
moved west?
The Bonanza West
The Bonanza West
The Bonanza West
The Cattle Bonanza
• The far West ideal for cattle grazing
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Cattle ranching dominated open range
Getting beef to eastern markets
Cowboys worked long hours for little pay
Laws and rules
• End of the great cattle drives
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Farmers moved in
Mechanization modernized ranching
Weather connection
The Bonanza West
Ranchers adapted
The Bonanza West
The Bonanza West
The Farming Bonanza
• 1870‒1900 – Millions of farmers moved
West to cultivate land
• Population on Plains tripled
• 1900 - 30 percent of population in West,
compared to less than 1 percent in 1850
• Exodusters
• Problems on the Plains
• New farming methods
The Bonanza West
Discontent on the Farm
• National Grange of the Patrons of
Husbandry (the Grange)
• Provided social, cultural, and educational
activities
• Banned political involvement
• Farmers’ grievances
• Transformation of American agriculture
• Nation’s garden
• Commercial and scientific
The Bonanza West
The Final Fling
• 1889 - Oklahoma opened to white
settlement
• Indians forced to give up rights to land
• Sooners and Boomers
The Bonanza West
Discussion Question
• Why was the West a bonanza of dreams
and get-rich-quick schemes?
The Bonanza West
Conclusion: The Meaning of the West
• Historians differ in their interpretation of
the American frontier experience
• Frederick Jackson Turner – Turner’s thesis
• “New Western historians”
• Image of frontier and the West influenced
American development