Chapter 16: The Conquest of the Far West

Frederick Jackson Turner

United States historian who stressed the role of the western frontier in American history (1861-1951)

Concentration Policy 1851

government assigned all Indian tribes their own defined reservations, often times confirmed with illegal treaties with representatives chosen by whites. This policy divided tribes making it easier to control them and allowed government to take over the most desirable land

Coolies

Chinese unskilled workers whose condition was close to slavery, railroads and gold rush.

Ghost dance

Sacred dance performed in order to restore the Native American way of life. Wishing for settlers to disappear, buffalo would return, and Natives would reunite with ancestors

Anti-Coolie Clubs

-emerged in 1860s and 1870s

-Sought a ban on employing Chinese

-Organized boycotts of products made with Chinese labor

-Resulted from white workers resentment of Chinese laborers accepting low wages

-Some of these clubs attacked Chinese workers in the streets and were suspected of setting fire to factories in which Chinese worked

Barbed Wire

Joseph Glidden,He marketed the first barbed wire, solving the problem of how to fence cattle in the vast open spaces of the Great Plains where lumber was scarce, thus changing the American West.

Buffalo

To the Plain Indians, it was the economic basis for their way of life.

-flesh: main source of food

-bones: knives, arrow tips

-skin: materials for clothes, shoes etc

- tendons: bow strings

-dried manure: fuel

Chief Josehph

Nez Perce Indian who moved with 200 men and 350 women, kids, elders in an effort to reach Canada and take refuge with the Siourx there.

Chinese Exclusion Act 1882

Banned Chinese immigration into the US for ten years and barred Chinese already in the country from becoming naturalized citizens.

Chisholm Trail (1860s-80s)

Cattle trail from San Antonio, TX to Abilene. Kansas (Abilene: railhead of the cattle kingdom)

Comstock Lode

First discovered in 1858 by Henry Comstock, some of the most plentiful and valuable silver was found here, causing many Californians to migrate here, and settle Nevada.

Dawes Severalty Act 1887

Allotted lands to various Indian tribes and extended protection through federal laws over the Indians. It was designed to encourage the breakup of the tribes and promote the assimilation of Indians into American Society. Dawes' goal was to create independent farmers out of Indians -- give them land and the tools for citizenship.

Frederick Remington

Was an American painter, illustrator, sculptor, and writer who specialized in depictions of the American West. Artist who accompanied the USV during the Spanish-American War.

Helen Hunt Jackson's Ramona

Wrote Ramona in 1884. Portrayed the West as an agrarian paradise

Homestead Act 1862

this allowed a settler to acquire 160 acres by living on it for five years, improving it and paying about $30

Mark Twain

American writer who wrote about the frontier in novels and memoris

Plain Indians

Western tribe: most widespread Indian presence: diverse group of tribes and language groups

-varieties: some had alliances, others were enemies; farmers, nomadic hunters

-similarities: cultures based and close and extended family networks and an intimacy with nature (spirituality)

-importance of buffalo: econ. basis

-most powerful warriors: Sioux

-weakness: Inability to unite against whites, out manned/gunned, prone to smallpox, distracted on tribe conflicts.

Timber Culture Act 1873

allotted homesteaders additional 160 acres in return for planting and cultivating 40 acres of trees

The Desert Land Act 1877

Additional 640 acres available at $1.25 /acre if the land was irrigated within 3 years

The Timber and Stone Act 1878

Allowed anyone in Nevada, California, Oregon, and Washington to buy land that was unfit for civilization for 2.50 an acre

Genizaros

Indians without tribes. The were at the bottom level of the Spanish caste system.

Wounded Knee

Army regiment tried to round up a group of about 350 cold and starving Sioux.

-fighting broke out (don't know how) and about 40 white soldiers and more than 300 Indians died

-battle turned into a one-sided massacre as white soldiers shot Indians with their new machine guns

Far West

Land beyond Mississippi river

Battle of Little Bighorn 1876 S. Montana

Most famous white and Indian conflict: tribal warriors surprised white colonel Custer and 264 members of his regiment, surrounded them, and killed every man

-Indian chiefs gathered about 2500 warriors: one of the largest Indian armies ever assembled at one time in the US (didn't have poll. organization or supplies to keep the troops united: US army killed/returned them to Dakota: Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull accepted defeat and reservation life)

Cattle Kingdom

-open range provided a huge area on the Great Plains where cattle raisers could graze their herds free of charge and unrestricted by the boundaries of private farms

-railroad gave range-cattle induct. acc ess to markets

-East markets offered lots of money for cattle: challenge was how to get cows from range to railroad centers

-Chisholm Trail

-long drives

Sand Creek Massacre

an attack on a village of sleeping Cheyenne Indians by a regiment of Colorado militiamen on 29 November 1864 that resulted in the death of more than 200 tribal members, In Colorado territory in 1864, U.S army colonel John M. Chivington led a surprise attack on a peaceful Cheyenne settlement along Sand Creek River. The Cheyenne under Chief Black kettle tried to surrender. First he waved the America Flag and the White flag of surrender. Chivington ignored the gestures. The U.S army killed about 200 Cheyenne during the conflict.

Rocky Mountain School

The Rocky Mountain School was more a school of thought than an actual institution. Its members were influenced by the beauty of the Rocky Mountains and the surrounding landscape. The most famous members were Albert Bierstacht and Thomas Moran. Their works romanticized the West.

Boomtown Life

Towns usually full of people and optimism; often attracted a lot of outlaws. Towns that developed due to the gold and silver extraction

Chinatowns

Often led by prominent merchants. Usually formed by people from the same clan or community in China.

Indian hunting

White vigilantes began engaging in this activity with the goal to eliminate the whole Indian population because they believed it was an impossibility for whites and Indians to coexist.

Crazy Horse

A chief of the Sioux who resisted the invasion of the Black Hills and joined Sitting Bull in the defeat of General Custer at Little Bighorn