History: Chapter 16 Outline

Chapter 16: The Last West and the New South, 1865-1900

1.     The West: Settlement of the Last Frontier

a.     Before 1860, land between Miss. River and Pacific Coast known as “Great American Desert.”

b.     By 1900, buffalo herds wiped out, covered with homesteads, Native Americans suffering, only Arizona, NM, and OK not states.

c.      The Mining Frontier

                                               i.     Gold discovered in CA- 1848

1.     Gold Rush, extend to 1890s.

2.     CO, NV, ID, MO, AR, SD

                                              ii.     1859

1.     In Pike’s Peak, CO 1859 brought 100,000 miners.

2.     Comstock Lode (over 340 mill in gold/silver by 1890) in NV

a.     NV enters Union in 1864.

                                            iii.     Boom and bust towns

                                            iv.     Many foreigners

1.     Miner’s Tax- $20 a month for foreign-born miners

2.     Chinese Exclusion Act- Restricted immigration to US by Chinese laborers.

a.     1^st act of Congress to restrict immigration based on race/nationality

d.     Cattle Frontier

                                               i.     Vaquieros- Mexican cowboys

1.     Traditions/techniques/cattle come from Mexico.

                                              ii.     Railroads opened up east markets for cattle businiess

1.     Joseph G. McCoy

a.     Abilene, KN- first stockyard to handle millions of cattle driven up Chisholm, Goodnight-Loving, etc. during 1860s.

                                            iii.     1880s- Cattle business slowed down

1.     Overgrazing, grought of 1885-1886 killled 90% of cattle

2.     Arrival of homesteaders- barbed wire

3.     Wealthy cattlemen- ranches, scientific techniques

4.     American Cowboy

                                            iv.     The Farming Frontier

1.     Homestead Act of 1862- Encouraged farming on Great Plains

a.     Offered 160 acres of free land to families settling on it for 5 years.

2.     Problems and Solutions

a.     “Sodbusters”

b.     Extreme weather, plagues of grasshoppers, lonely, water scarce, wood hard to find

                                                                                                     i.     Barbed wire- 1874, windmills for water

                                                                                                    ii.     160 not enough

                                                                                                  iii.     2/3 failed

3.     Turner’s frontier thesis

a.     1890- entire frontier had been settled

b.     “The Significance of the Frontier in American History” (1893)

                                              v.     The Removal of Native Americans

1.     Pueblo, Hopi, Zuni all in permanent settlements

2.     Navajo, Apache all lived more settled

a.     Farm, corn, livestock

3.     2/3 in Great Plains

a.     Sioux, Blackfoot, Cheyenne, Crow, Comanche

                                                                                                     i.     Nomadic, horsemen

4.     Reservation Policy

5.     Indian Wars

a.     Sporadic fighting

b.     1865- CO militia massacred Cheyenne at Sand Creek

c.      Cap’t William Fetterman wiped out by Sioux in 1866.

d.     1870s- Red River War, Little Big Horn

6.     Assimilationists

a.     “A Century of Dishonor”

b.     Formal education, Christianity

c.      Carlisle School

7.     Dawes Severalty Act (1887)

a.     Abandon practice of dealing w/ N. Ams as separate nations

b.     Designed o break up tribal orginizations

                                                                                                     i.     Divided land

c.      Failure

8.     Ghost Dance movement

a.     Last effort to resist US domination

b.     1890- 200 N. Ams gunned down at Wounded Knee.

9.     Aftermath: US policy in the 20^th century

a.     Indian Reorganization Act (1934)

                                                                                                     i.     Reestablishment of tribal organization and culture.

2.     The New South

a.     West- being “won” by settlers, South recovering

                                               i.     South- New vision, more capitalist values

1.     Henry Grady- Editor of Atlanta Constitution.  Spread gospel of the New S.

a.     Economic diversity, laissez-faire.  Local gov’ts helped- tax exemptions, low wagers

                                              ii.     Plessy vs. Ferguson

1.     “Separate but equal accommodations”

                                            iii.     Jim Crow Laws- segregation

b.     Loss of civil rights

                                               i.     Prevent black voters from voting- literary tests, poll taxes, political party primaries for whites only.

                                              ii.     Grandfather Clauses- man can only vote if his gpa had cast ballots in elections before Recon.

                                            iii.     Discrimination- ban from juries, stiffer penalties, not given benefit of court-ordered sentence, lynch mobs, keep out of skilled trades and factory jobs.

1.     White immigrants learn, African Americans stayed in dead-end farming, low-pay domestic work.

c.      Responding to segregation

                                               i.     African Americans nearly powerless

1.     Disenfranchisement, segregation, lynching.

                                              ii.     Some black leaders advocated leaving oppression by moving to Kansas, Oklahoma, Africa

1.     Bishop Henry Turner formed International Migration Society- 1894, help migrate to Africa

2.     Ida B. Wells (editor of Memphis Free Speech, a black newspaper)- campaigning against lynching, Jim Crow laws.

                                            iii.     Booker T. Washington- est. an industrial and agricultural school in Tuskegee, AL.

1.     Best ind. School in the nation

2.     National Negro Business League- est. 320 chapters across the country.

3.     Later considered a sellout to segregation and discrimination.

                                            iv.     After 1900, W.E. B. Du Bois- demand end to segregation, granting of equal rights to all Americans.

3.     Farm Problems: North, South, and West

a.     Changes in Agriculture

                                               i.     Farming- becoming more commercialized and specialized.

                                              ii.     Farmers became more dependant on machines

1.     Large farms run like factories, small farms couldn’t compete- driven out of business

                                            iii.     Falling prices

1.     Global competition, increased production= falling prices

2.     Farmers w/ faced high interest need to grow 2, 3 times as much to pay debt.

                                            iv.     Rising Cost

1.     Farmers felt victimized

a.     High prices on manufactured goods kept, middlemen took their cut before selling to farmers, high rates for trains w/ no competition, taxes

b.     Fighting Back

                                               i.     Farmers start to organize for common interests and protection

                                              ii.     National Grange Movement

1.     National Grange of Patrons of Husbandry- 1868.

a.     Meant for social and educational org. for farmers and families, but by 1870s- economic ventures, political action again middlemen, trusts, and railroads. Later- storage fees, freight rates

                                                                                                     i.     IL, IO, MN, WI lobbied legislatures- passed laws regulating rates of railroads/elevators

b.     Strength- Midwest

c.      1873- Granges in almost all states

d.     Est. cooperatives- businesses owned and run by farmers- save money

e.     1877- Munn vs. Illinois

                                                                                                     i.     Right of state to regulate businesses of a public nature, such as railroads

2.     Interstate Commerce Act (1886)

a.     State laws regulating RxR- several problems (state borders, etc.)

b.     Interstate commerce- Federal business

c.      Wabash v. Illinois (1886)- Individual states couldn’t regulate interstate commerce. Nullified many of state regulations achieved by Grangers.

d.     Required RxR rates to be “reasonable and just”

e.     Set up Federal regulatory agency

                                                                                                     i.     Power to investigate, prosecute pools, rebates, etc.

1.     Helped RxR more than farmers

                                                                                                    ii.     RxR found ICC useful- help stabilize rates, stop competition

3.     Farmers’ alliances

a.     Late 1880s- discontent again, prices for crops fell to new lows

b.     1890- alliances, almost same reasons as the Grange

c.      Separate alliances formed, diff. states

d.     Educate farmers of new tech.

e.     Potential to turn into political party

4.     Ocala platform

a.     Farmers’ alliances almost grew into political party

                                                                                                     i.     Met in Ocala, FL in 1890

                                                                                                    ii.     Attacked both major parties as a subservient to Wall Street bankers and big business

                                                                                                  iii.     Created platform- important

1.     Direct election of US senators

2.     Lower tariff rates

3.     A graduated income tax

4.     New banking system regulated by the federal gov’t

5.     Demanded Treasury notes and silver be used to increase amount of money in circulation

a.     Farmers hoped for inflation, increase crop prices

6.     Proposed federal storage for farmers’ crops and federal loans

a.     Free farmers from dependency on middlemen and creditors

                                                                                                  iv.     Stopped short of becoming political party, still proved decisive in election of 1890.

b.     Many reform ideas of Grange and Farmers’ alliances to become part of the Populist movement.