Unit 1: Rise of an Industrial Colossus

What events transformed the West after 1865 and determined the plight of indigenous communities?

• discovery of new deposits of gold, silver, and other minerals

• the Indian Wars on the Great plains resulting in the gov pushing more Indians onto reservations

• Ranchers and farmers acquiring more land

• railroad construction and its influence on migration and business

Where were the major places that gold, silver, and other minerals were discovered?

• Gold Rush in California, 1849

• Gold Rush in Colorado, 1859

• Silver Comstock Lode in Nevada, 1859 

• Gold in the Black Hills of South Dakota, 1874

Describe the events of the Indian Wars.

the federal government pushed more Indians onto reservations (lands that were often unsuitable for farming) and sent troops to those who didn’t cooperate

What did the Plains Indians do in 1862 against settlers? How long did this go on? What kind of warfare did they use?

• attacked settlers, troops, militias, and small party migrants

• intermittent clashes for 5 years

• often guerilla warfare

What happened at the 1864 Gen. Chivington’s Massacre (aka Sand Creek Massacre) at Sand Creek?

Gen. Chivington’s Colorado militia attacked an unsuspecting Cheyenne community at Sand Creek. Often known as the “foulest and most unjustifiable crime in the annals America”

What did the 1800s reservation policy do to the Plains Indians?

• all Plains Indians were confined to 2 small reservations (Black Hills of Dakota and Oklahoma)

• forced to become farmers

• 2 tribal council meetings were held from 1867-1868 at Medicine Lodge Creek and Fort Laramie where the chiefs yielded to the gov’s demands under the Treat of Fort Laramie

What happened when gold was discovered in the Black Hills in 1870?

influx of miners to the reservation area overwhelmed the tribes and the Sioux tribe joined other non-treaty tribes in the west

What happened at the Battle of Little Big Horn (aka Custer’s Last Stand)?

• Gen. Custer and his army went to blockade

• 264 US men vs 2500 Indians under the leadership of Rain-in-the-Face, Crazy Horse, and Sitting Bull

• the Indians won

What is a brief rundown of the demographic of the USA at this point?

• 1/3 of Californians are foreign born

• Spanish-speaking Americans in the Southwest

• Chinese & Irish laborers coming in

• Germans in Texas

• Scandinavians in the High Plains & Rockies

Which 4 corridors of rail crossed to the Pacific by 1900?

• Northern Pacific

• Union Pacific/Central Pacific

• Atlantic & Pacific/Southern Pacific

• Texas & Pacific/Southern Pacific

The first railroad, Chicago to San Francisco, involved which two private companies?

• westward-building Union Pacific RR

• eastward-building Central Pacific RR

Who did the Central Pacific RR rely heavily on the traverse the Sierra Nevada?

Chinese immigrants

What was the purpose of the Burlingame Treaty of 1868?

to provide cheap labor for Central Pacific RR construction, quadrupled the number of Chinese immigrants between 1850s and 1880s

What is the main market of San Francisco during the 1870s?

San Francisco is the commercial and financial heart of the Pacific Coast, center of light manufacturing, food processing, and machine shops

What were the events that led to the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882?

• once RRs were built, Chinese immigrants began to compete with other workers for jobs

• riots broke in San Francisco and CA Constitution denied “any native of China” the right to vote

• Chinese immigration reached 40k in 1882 and protests peaked, leading to the Chinese Exclusion Act (prohibited Chinese immigrations for 10 years, then indefinitely)

What were the impacts of the railroads?

• RR Stocks dominated the NYSE in the 19th century

  • RR need lots of funding

• RRs were trailblazers in multi-divisional business organization

  • employees were geographically dispersed, RR business was in need of a hierarchy of management

• RRs were pioneers in the history of telecommunications

  • communication was needed over long distances to prevent train wrecks along single track routes, etc.

What were the major areas of technological innovation?

• electricity and electrical engineering

• chemical and bio-engineering

• telecommunications

• automobile engineering

• aviation

What were 3 of Thomas Edison’s greatest innovations?

• lighting

• audio

• movies

What industries did electricity have a major impact on?

• factory production

• electric telegraph

• refrigeration

• elevators

• sky-scrapers

• electric tram tracks

Edison wanted to create cars powered by charging stations and batteries instead of oil. This didn’t happen, why?

the Electric Railway company was bought out by General Motors and freeways eventually replaced railways

In the 1880s there were 2 rival proposals for transmission system of electricity. Describe the Battle of the Currents.

• alternating current (AC) vs direct current (DC) for transmission system of electricity

  • Nikola Tesla argued that AC was cheaper, Edison argued that DC was safer

  • AC won

Briefly describe the significance of Charles Goodyear and rubber.

• C. Goodyear was a chemist that was able to make rubber products by vulcanizing it (making it durable with sulfur)

• this is important because natural rubber had to be imported

• rubber products found foothold in the fishing industry, rainy regions, and eventually tires

What innovations were made in materials science?

• Pierre Du Pont revolutionized nylon

• increase of tins, cans, bottles and longer shelf life

• canning and bottling industries grew to supply the new demand for processed foods, leading to supermarkets

What advancements were made in telecommunications?

• Alexander Bell and his telephone, but he wasn’t a good businessman

• JP Morgan sees potential in the telephone, sets up AT&T to rival Western Union’s telegraphs

• US becomes a big market for the radio

What advancements were made in automobile engineering?

• first gas powered cars were invented by the Duryea brothers

• first cars in LA were in 1897, called the Eerie-Sturgis gasoline carriage