Westward Expansion Notes

Reservation System

• The federal government restricted tribal members to reservations, which are legally defined portions of land reserved to federally recognized tribes.

Manifest Destiny

• Justification for westward expansion

• Believe it is destined by God

First Treaty of Fort Laramie (1851)

• Established the reservation system and no more interference from westward settlers

• Payments and promises to tribes, but were not kept

Homestead Act (1862)

• Provides tracts of land, or homesteads, to settlers in the West

• The act offered 160 acres of public land for a small fee to anyone who agreed to work the land and live on it for 5 years

Santee Sioux Act (1863)

• Ended with the hanging of 38 Sioux men

• Largest mass execution in US history

• Ordered by Lincoln 2 days after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed by him

Transcontinental Railroad begun (1866)

• US didn’t care about the treaties anymore

• In response, Lakota defeated US army under chief Red Cloud

Sand Creek Massacre (1864)

• Raid led by Colonel John Chivington on Native camp in Colorado

• White surrender flag was flying

• About 100 people killed, mostly women and children

Second Treaty of Fort Laramie (1868)

• Moved the remaining members of the Sioux tribe to the Black Hills

Transcontinental Railroad Complete (1869)

• Carried many hunters who killed the buffalo

• Sioux depend on buffalo

• Resulted in the elimination of source of food, clothing, and resources for Sioux

Indian Appropriation Act (1871)

• Western Indians forbidden from leaving their reservations

• Prisoners of war

• No more treaties were made

George Custer announces gold in Black Hills (1874)

• Massive invasion of settlers coming into Lakota nation because of discovery of gold in the Black Hills

Lakota War (1875)

• War begins over violation of Fort Laramie Treaty

Battle of Little Bighorn  (1876)

• Defeat of Colonel George Cluster by Sioux Chieftain Sitting Bull

• Greatest loss of US troops to an Indian attack during this era

Crazy Horse surrendered at Fort Robinson (1877) - pt1

• Chief Crazy Horse surrendered at Fort Robinson

• Later killed in custody

“Sell or Starve” Campaign (1877) - pt2

• New agreement “Sell or Starve”

• They must sign the agreement or there will be no food for their tribe

• Only 10% of men population signed

Dawes Act (1887)

• A tribe could no longer own reservation lands as a group

• Government distributed the land to individuals within a tribe and each family was granted its own plot of land to hold or sell

Wounded Knee (1890)

• Massacre of 150-300 members  members of the Sioux tribe

• Marked the end of Indian Wars

Sioux Nation vs. United States (1980)

• Terms of the 2nd Fort Laramie Treaty were violated

• Longest running court case in history ruled by US Supreme Court

• Court stated that Black Hills was illegally taken

• Court gave money to the Sioux but they refused and instead rallied

Ghost Dance

• Sioux practice that told of an Indian Messiah who would deliver the tribe from its hardship

Assimilation

• Forced Native Americans to follow the American culture

• Were not allowed to speak their own language or perform their cultural ceremonies

• Attempt to control and alter the customs and practices of Native Americans

• The Bureau of Indian Affairs' (BIA) Indian agents played large roles in the "resocialization" of Native Americans into Anglo-American culture

  • Bureau of Indian Affairs was within war department and created a tone of aggression

• Boarding schools

  • Objective of "civilizing" Native American children

Chinese Immigration (1850s)

• Reason of immigration was the Gold Rush of 1849

• Discriminatory actions include:

  • Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882

  • Labor Unions did not like immigrants, they thought they were stealing all the jobs of the Americans

    • Labor Union = an organization of workers formed to negotiate collectively with an employer to protect and further workers' rights and interests

  • Blamed for economic depression

  • Americans called them dirty and looked down on their culture

  • Boycotts of Chinese-produced products and violent protests

  • Creation of  “anti-coolie” clubs

    • Anti-Coolie Act (1862) aimed to protect White labor from the competition with the cheap Chinese labor

First Opium War (1839-1842)

• Between China and Britain

• The result of China's attempt to suppress the illegal opium trade

• Led to widespread addiction in China, caused serious social and economic disruption

• British traders were the primary source of the drug

Second Opium War (1856-1860)

• Fought by Britain and France against China

• Result of desire of Great Britain and France to get additional commercial privileges in China

• Wanted legalization of the opium trade, and to gain more legal and territorial allowance in China

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

• Promised US citizenship to Hispanics living in Southwest post Spanish-American War

Californios

• Mexicans living in the Southwest, many lost their land to white settlers

Las Gorras Blancas

• Hundreds of Mexican-Americans who tried to reclaim their land through raids then political strategy

Sunday Laws

• Prohibited activities like bullfights, cockfights, and other cultural gatherings common to Hispanic communities

Barrios

• Clusters of Hispanic working-class homes isolated from white American communities

Chisholm Trail

• A trail over which cattle were driven to market from San Antonio, Texas to Kansas

Central Pacific and Union Pacific

• Parts of the Transcontinental Railroad

• Central Pacific was built eastward from Sacramento, California and included Chinese laborers

• Union Pacific was built west from Omaha, Nebraska and included Irish, German, and Italian immigrants

Exodusters

• Former slave leaders organized postwar migration to Kansas and beyond

• Beginning of their journey to the Promised Land

• Exoduster Movement/Exodus of 1879

  • first general migration of black people following the Civil War

Push/Pull Factors

• Push

  • Displaced thousands of farmers, former slaves, and other workers

  • Failed entrepreneurs wanted a second chance

  • Farmland was increasingly costly

  • Ethnic and religious repression 

• Pull

  • Pacific-Railway Acts of 1862 and 1864

  • Railroads got 175 million acres of public land

  • Morrill Land Grant (1862)

  • Homestead Act (1862)

Oklahoma Land Rush of 1889

• 2 million acres of land for free to thousands of white settlers who raced for it

Cowboys/Ranchers

• Large profits from selling cattle

• Railroad lines allowed to drive cattle to “cow towns” in Kansas

• Harsh working conditions and living with the threat of Native American attacks and stampedes

Miners

• California Gold Rush (1848-1855) made people want to get jobs in John Sutter’s mill

• Desire for gold to get rich, didn’t actually

• Backbreaking, dangerous work

Native Americans

• Developed their own govs, and schools in reservation lands

• Railroads were a major threat to their existence

• Indian Removal Act (1830)

• Many conflicts with whites

Settlers

• New life

• Thought crops would thrive on new land, but didn’t due to droughts

• No lumber = no proper houses

• Difficult weather conditions

African Americans

• Joined westward movement and became farmers

• Opportunity to succeed as farmers

• Very hard to travel long distances on foot

• Continued racism

Railroad Workers

• Many Irish, German, Italian, Chinese immigrants

• Job opportunities

• Discrimination about culture

• Dangerous work

Women

• Contributions to Wild West

• Job opportunities like schoolteacher, sharpshooter, homemaker, hotel keeper, etc.

• More freedom

• Dangerous traveling trails and spreading diseases

• Struggled to raise their family

Frontier

• The dividing line between settled and unsettled land

Legacy

• Provided the US with vast natural resources and ports for expanding trade and the development of the economy

• Expand the US borders

• Made travel faster

• Offered many job opportunities

• Immigration from various countries

• Many new inventions for farmers

  • Barbed Wire

    • Used to fence the land and protect the crops

    • Restricted animals from entering the farmland and destroying the crops

  • Reaper

    • Helped to harvest crops faster, saved them from storms

  • Steel Plow

    • More efficient to plant crops in root filled soil

  • Steel Windmill

    • Brought underground water for irrigation

    • Prevented crops from dehydration in regions of unpredictable rainfall

• Frederick Jackson Turner

  • Believed that the American frontier has greatly transformed American culture and development

  • It allowed people to have new beginnings with opportunities and growth

  • America was able to learn and expand, and still continues to grow to this day.