Chapter 26: The Great West and the Agricultural Revolution (1865-1896)

American Indian Wars (1609-1924)

American Indian Wars (1609-1924)

Wars that were initially fought by European governments and also by the colonists in North America, and then later on by the United States government and American settlers, against various American Indian tribes. These conflicts occurred in the United States from the time of the earliest colonial settlements in the 17th century until the early 20th century.

What was the West like after the Civil War?

Still relatively untamed, wild, full of Indians, bison, and sparsely populated by a few Mormons and Mexicans until railroads brought people west. There were 360K Native Americans in 1860 by western grasslands of trans-Missouri.

What happened once whites arrived in the West?

Before clashing with the Whites, the Indians turned on each other (clashing with each other), contacted White diseases, battled for bison, and increased warfare;

Treaties of Fort Laramie and Atkinson (1851, 1853)

These treaties were an attempt by the federal government to pacify the Plains Indians and their tribe chiefs. However, whites failed to understand Indian governments and their society, as Natives mostly didn't recognize authority outside of their own family.

How did the U.S. amplify their policy of pacifying the Indians?

The government will increase the herding of Indians into smaller reservations, notably the Great Sioux Reservation in Dakota Territory (present-day South Dakota), falsely promising the Natives that they would be left alone. However, Indian agents were corrupt, often selling them bad goods, and Whites often disregarded treaties, and they often took back Indian land. Led to warfare between Natives and U.S. Army in parts of the West. War escalated until 1890.

Sand Creek Massacre (1864)

Event at which Colonel John Chivington and his troops attacked and destroyed a village of friendly Cheyenne and Arapaho encamped in southeastern Colorado Territory; killed over 150 inhabitants, about two-thirds of whom were women and children.

Fetterman Massacre (1866)

Event where Sioux war party attempting to block construction of the Bozeman Trail to Montana ambushed Captain Fetterman's command of 81 soldiers in Wyoming's Bighorn Mountains. Natives killed ALL of the soldiers. Lead to short Native triumphs and period of peace.

Gold discovery in the Black Hills

Event where Colonel Custer discovered gold in the Black Hills. The Sioux hunting grounds, and miners were invading the Indians' property, and this would contribute to the Great Sioux War of 1876.

Battle of Little Bighorn (1876)

Battle where General George Armstrong Custer and a regiment of cavalry attacked more than 2,500 Sioux and Cheyenne Indians led by Chiefs Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse camped on the Little Bighorn River in southern Montana. Custer and his 266 men were cut off and surrounded, and in a half-hour battle every cavalryman, including Custer, was killed. This incident led to fearful reprisals as small groups of Indians were hunted down or driven into Canada.

Nez Perce War (1877)

Battle that broke out when the Nez Perce refused to give up ancestral land initiating raids on Euro-American settlers and the ultimate flight of the rebelling tribe. aids in Pacific NW and skirmishes along the more than 1300 miles in Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana through which the tribe fled before being stopped 50 miles from their destination of Canada. Confined tribes to reservations resulting in the death of their traditional cultures. Ended when Chief Koseph surrendered after the long 300-mile Continental Divide toward Canada.

Apache Wars - Geronimo

War where the last group of Indians, led by Geronimo, who maintained organized resistance against the whites, eventually led to what is considered the most violent war among Indian conflicts. Surrendered after being pushed to Mexico.

Bison after the Civil War

After the Civil War, over 15 million bison grazed the western plains. By 1885, fewer than 1000 were left after the bison had been slaughtered for their tongues, hides, or for amusement.

Helen Hunt Jackson

Author of A Century of Dishonor (1881) & Ramona (1884). The book exposed the U.S. government's many broken promises to the Native Americans. For example, the government wanted Native Americans to assimilate, i.e. give up their beliefs and ways of life, that way to become part of the white culture. SYMPATHY FOR NATIVES.

How did humanitarians react towards Natives?

Aimed to be nice towards Natives and have them walk the "White Man's Road, but hardliners were the opposite. Both did not care for Native culture.

Sun Dance

Ritual of the Lakota and other tribes of the North American Plains that celebrates the new year and prepares the tribe for the annual buffalo hunt; performed in the late spring or early summer in a specially constructed lodge. Was outlawed by gov. in 1884, for short time.

Battle of Wounded Knee (1890)

The massacre by U.S. soldiers of 300 unarmed Native Americans at Wounded Knee Creek, South Dakota. Gov. shortly outlawed the Ghost Dance.

Dawes Severalty Act (1887)

Also called the General Allotment Act, it tried to dissolve Indian tribes by redistributing their land. Each Indian family head would be allotted 160 acres. American citizenship would be granted if the Indians remained on the land for 25 years and adopted "habits of civilized life." Surplus reservation lands were available for sale to white settlers. Designed to forestall growing Indian poverty, it resulted in many Indians losing their lands to speculators. Loss of culture and 50% of Native land. Their tribal land was taken by railroads. But Natives indeed got citizenship, in 1924 though.

Carlisle Indian Industrial School

Organized in Pennsylvania to assimilate Indians into the white culture; changed their clothes, hair, language, taught them academics as well as a skill. It completely separated children from tribes. "Field matrons" taught Native women to sew, chastify, and about hygiene.

Pikes Peak

The summit where discovery of gold in 1858 sent minors on a frantic rush to the Dakota territory, Montana, and Colorado. About $340M was found.

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.

Mining Frontier

The discovery of gold in California in 1848 caused the first flood of newcomers to the West. A series of gold strikes and silver strikes in what became the states of Colorado, Nevada, Idaho, Montana, Arizona, and South Dakota kept a steady flow of hopeful young prospectors pushing into the West. In addition, women even earned SUFFRAGE in Wyoming (1869), Utah (1870), Colorado (1893), and Idaho (1896).

Beef Bonanzas and the Long Drive

Transcontinental railroads enabled live cattle to be transported to the East from Texas. The cattle were butchered once they arrived in an Eastern city. Cattle-raisers organized the Wyoming Stock-Growers' Association to make the cattle-raising business profitable.

Homestead Act of 1862

Act that allowed a settler to acquire as much as 160 acres of land by living on it for 5 years, improving it, and paying a nominal fee of about $30 - instead of public land being sold primarily for revenue, it was now being given away to encourage a rapid filling of empty spaces and to provide a stimulus to the family farm, turned out to be a cruel hoax because the land given to the settlers usually had terrible soil and the weather included no precipitation, many farms were repo'd or failed until "dry farming" took root on the plains , then wheat, then massive irrigation projects

Dry farming

A farming method used in dry regions in which crops are grown that rely only on the natural precipitation. Increased after crop failures and increase of wheat prices in the 1870s. This method operated in the far west.

Which new 7 Western states joined the Union?

Colorado (1876), North & South Dakota (1889), Montana (1889), Washington State (1889), Idaho (1890), and Wyoming (1890). In addition, Utah was allowed to join in 1890, after Mormons finally renounced polygamy. By then, New Mexico, and Arizona remained as territories.

Oklahoma Land Rush of 1889

Event where the U.S. government made available land that formerly belonged to the Native Americans and thousands of "Sooners" jumped the boundary line and illegally went into Oklahoma, often forcing U.S. troops to evict them

Turner Thesis (1893)

Thesis by historian Frederick Jackson Turner suggesting that the innovations practiced by western settlers gradually became ingrained into the fabric of American society; democracy and self-improvement were also central to western expansion, Turner claimed. In short, Turner suggested that many of the characteristics of the "American character" were created by westward expansion. Later historians questioned parts of this thesis.

Safety Valve Theory

Idea that states that when hard times hit, the unemployed move West, took up farming and became prosperous. With the close of the frontier the less fortunate had no place to start a new life, thus leading to urban overcrowding and inner city problems.

Twine binder (1870s)

A major asset to wheat farmers which bound grain in bundles and deposited it in stacks

Deflation Dooms the Debtor

Event that occurred because Western farmers grew single crops (wheat or corn), they existed in a one-crop economy, like the southern cotton farmers. Farmers' livelihoods depended on the price of their single product, which was unpredictable and out of their control. In the late 1800s, deflation caused the relative prices of crops to decrease. Thousands of farms foreclosed, and some farmers became tenant farmers, renting instead of owning the land that they farmed.

Depression of 1893-1897

Grasshopper plagues, floods, droughts, and abandoned towns struck the west. Adding to injury, ALL GOVS- local, state, federal- gouged farmers with taxes. EVEN MORE: Farmers were held at the mercy of the harvester, barbed-wire, fertilizer, and railroad trusts, as they controlled output and prices. Farmers, however still made 1/2 of the population, but very disorganized. Profits dwindled, businesses went bankrupt and slid into debt. Caused loss of business confidence. 20% of the workforce unemployed. Led to the Pullman strike.

National Grange of the Patrons of Husbandry

This organization better known as the Grange, was organized in 1867 by Oliver H. Kelley; its objective was to enhance the lives of isolated farmers through social, educational, and fraternal activities; the Grangers gradually raised their goals from individual self-improvement of the farmer' collective plight. Was a cooperative; 800K members by 1875

Granger Laws

A set of laws designed to address railroad discrimination against small farmers, covering issues like freight rates and railroad rebates. Regulated grain elevators. Influence of this faded though because of Wabash (1886), a Supreme Court case.

Greenback Labor Party (1878)

Political party devoted to improving the lives of laborers and raising inflation, reaching its high point in 1878 when it polled over a million votes and elected fourteen members of Congress.

Farmers' Alliance

Organization founded in Texas in 1877, consisting of Southern and Western farmers. Their goals promote social gatherings/education opportunities, organize against abuse, form cooperative/women played a significant role, wanted political pressure, overthrow banks & railroads, graduated income tax, federal subtreasury for farmers, and nationalization of railroads, telephones, and telegraph. Weakened by ignoring landless tenant farmers, sharecroppers, farmworkers, and excluded Blacks. This later led to the founding of the Populist Party.

Jacob S. Coxey, Coxey's Army (1894)

An American politician and quarry owner in Ohio, who ran for elective office several times in Ohio. He twice led a namesake Army in 1894 and 1914, consisting of a group of unemployed men "Commonwealth Army/Coxey's Army" that he led on marches from Massillon, Ohio to Washington, D.C. to present a "Petition in Boots" demanding that the United States Congress allocate funds to create jobs for the unemployed.

Pullman Strike (1894)

A staged walkout strike by railroad workers upset by drastic wage cuts. The strike was led by socialist Eugene V. Debs but not supported by the American Federation of Labor. Eventually President Grover Cleveland intervened because it was interfering with mail delivery and federal troops forced an end to the strike. The strike highlighted both divisions within labor and the government's continuing willingness to use armed force to combat work stoppages.

William McKinley

Republican president, 1897-1901, who represented the conservative Eastern establishment; he stood for expansion, high tariffs, and the gold standard. He led the nation during the Spanish-American War (1898) and was assassinated in 1901 by a radical political anarchist.

Marcus Alonzo Hanna

American capitalist dealing in coal, shipping, shipbuilding, banking, and newspapers. He was in the Ohio Republican Party and helped elect William McKinley as governor in 1891 and 1893. As Chairman of the Republican National Committee, he assisted McKinley in winning the presidential election of 1896. Was a conservative and supported laissez-faire, gold, and gold-silver bimetallism.

William Jennings Bryan

Democratic candidate for president in 1896 under the banner of "free silver coinage" which won him support of the Populist Party. Famous for his "Cross of Gold" speech, which earned him a sensation and nomination for the Democratic candidacy. Platofmr demanded inflation through unlimited silver coinage; 16 oz silver/ 1 oz gold.

"Gold Bug" Democrats

Part of the Democratic Party that broke away from the principle of unlimited coinage of silver and the rest of the Democratic Party; included Grover Cleveland.

What was the focus of the 1896 campaign?

Originally it was tariffs by Hanna, but Bryan made it silver. Bryan stated that free silver was equally religious and financial- seen as the "Messiah" of free silver. He planned to cut people's earnings by half, with free silver. PANIC.

What were the reactions to Bryan's silver ideas?

Bryan's ideas about silver would cost the Democratic Party in the 1896 election, which strengthened Hanna's campaigning for McKinley. The Republicans amounted to $16 MILLION while the Democrats had only $1 MILLION.

1896 Election

Presidental election, McKinley SLAMMED. 271-176 (electoral) & 7,112,138-6,510,807 (popular). McKinley had support from the East and Upper Midwest. Most important since Abraham Lincoln; underprivileged PITTED the privileged, and big businesses & cities triumphed.

Dingley Tariff Bill (1897)

Tariff that established average rates at 46.5% after over 850 amendments were added, replacing the Wilson-Gorman Act of 1894. Much higher than the Wilson-Gorman Act and the McKinley Act in some categories. Czar Reed helped to pass this, as he returned as Speaker of the house.

Economy after 1897

Prosperity finally returned, and farm prices finally increased. The Panic of 1893 had run its course. Post-Civil War $ issue had faded.

Assassination of William McKinley (September 6, 1901)

Event where William McKinley was shot on the grounds of the Pan-American Exposition at the Temple of Music in Buffalo, New York. He was shaking hands with the public when Leon Czolgosz, a Polish anarchist, shot him twice in the abdomen.