causes and effects of the settlement of the west from 1877-1898

• massive change in the west

  • the mechanization of it

  • farming was done by machines - mechanical reaper, combined harper

    • meant that farmers could harvest more crops

    • production of corn & wheat nearly doubled

    • small workers couldn’t afford these machines so their farms folded, bought out by bigger farmers

    • prices decreased due to the overproduction

  • however, all farmers suffered in general although small farmers suffered even more

    • industrial trusts made sure prices remained high on manufactured goods

      • farmers relied on buying those goods to survive, but those prices were so high that farmers struggled to pay for them

      • RAILROAD PROBLEMS

  • railroad owners were charging high prices for services

  • NATIONAL GRANGE MOVEMENT

    • bringing isolated farmers together

    • got political fast

    • pushed midwestern states to pass laws on railroad practices

    • granger laws - commerce act of 1886 - required railroad rates to be reasonable and just and created interstate commerce commission to regulate this

  • Oregon trail was tough to travel to the west from, so they created the transcontinental railroad

    • pacific railroad act - gave land to companies to create railroad

  • HOMESTEAD ACT - granted migrants 160 acres if they farmed it and settled

    • small farms were gobbled up by larger ones

    • DISCOVERY AND EXTRACTION OF GOLD AND SILVER

      • gold discovered in pikes peak - influx into surrounding regions in Kansas and nebraska

      • boomtowns were filled with migrants hoping to strike it rich

        • extremely diverse

social and cultural development

• settlers brought a LOT of cattle

  • led to romanticized vision of the cowboy

• new fencing technology - ended the days of open cattle drives

  • homesteaders were known as SODBUSTERS - first to cut through soil with their plows

    • only 1/5 of them got land this way, others bought from railroad companies

• census bureau declared frontier was officially settled

  • after the opening of the Oklahoma territory

    • originally designated as indian terrotiy, but relocated due to indian removal act

    • SIGNIFICANCE OF THE FRONTIER IN AMERICAN HISTORY - closing was not a cause for celebration, but for CONCERN

      • westward expansion had always been a means for releasing american disconent

      • frontier = fresh start

      • had leveled class and social hierarchies

  • however, the west did have lots of indians there

    • “indian problem” was solved by the reservation system

    • assigned to live on reservations on strict boundaries

    • natives needed to follow buffalo patterns but that wasnt really a problem anymore because american colonists had killed most of the population

• sioux war

  • federal government made even more treaties with the indians and restrict them to more reservatrions

  • gold was discovered on their lands

    • INDIAN APPROPRIATRION ACT - officially ended federal recondition of the sovriengty of indian nations and nullified all previous treaties

  • virtual extinction of the buffalo herds led to the indians to force to comply

• DAWES ACT - abandoned reservation system and divided reservation lands into 160 acre farms for them to assimiate

• ASSIMILATIONIST MOVEMENT - attempt to put an end to distinct american cultures through vocational training, etc

• GHOST DANCE MOVEMENT - indian prophet wavoka created this. if indians participated in this ritualistic dance, their ancestors would get rid of the white settlers

• WOUNDED KNEE - old man rose to perform ghost dance and a gun went off, army killed more than 200 men/women/children and the period if indian resistance was brought to an END.

THE NEW SOUTH - waht were the various factors that contributed to the continuity and change in 1898

• old south - before the civil war

• new south -

  • HENRY GRADY - Atlantic constitution - visioned that south would have industrial growth, laissez fair capitalism, etc

  • southern states surpassed New England states in terms of textiles

  • equal railroad construction

  • ONLY a few southern states were transformed though, mostly agriculutral

    • SHARECROPPING - system where p[eople without enough capital could sign up to work on a plantation and earn a portion of the plantation. usually free blacks and poor whites had no choice but do this, which was basically slavery

  • plessy vs fergusen

    • rules SEPARATE BUT EQUAL

  • JIM CROW LAWS - segregated everything, public facilities, etc

  • black people lost many of their gains from reconstruction

    • couldn’t run for office

    • accused of crimes and not given a court appearance

    • many blacks were violently lynched

  • IDA B WELLS

    • went against Jim Crow laws

    • fled to north and continued writing

  • HENRY TURNER - international migration society - migration of black Americans to africa

  • BOOKER T WASHINGTON - black people didn’t need to fight for their equality politically, they needed to become self sufficient economically

TECHNOLOGY

• Americans made things to be sold locally or regionally, but during industrialization mass production became popular to go to the rest of the world

• RAILROAD - quick and easy means of transportation

  • increased 5 fold

  • government

gilded age

• laissez faire

• govt wasn’t a protector of American public yet

• they didn’t try to make people’s lives better

  • doing very little

  • did a lot during civil war and reconstruction era

• hands off approach ended with the… PROGRESSIVE ERA!

  • progressive era - says govt should be working for the people, at least making it so that companies and big businesses have to be fair and treat people like humans

    • first time govt realized they need to look out for the people

    • TR, TAFT, WILSON

• FDR - new deal

  • helping prop people up during great depression

  • reform the system to make things better

  • ensure bank deposits, create mortgage programs

• then govt tried to do even more to make people’s lives better

  • protect water, the air you breathe, the houses, provide health insurance

  • medicare, medicaid

  • GREAT SOCIETY - lyndon b. johnson

  • helping people disabled - george h.w. bush

  • affordable care act - obama

how was the new deal tainted by racism?

• FDR did not do enough for racism as he could’ve

• huey long, father Charles coughlin, etc, but most people did like the new deal and FDR had a lot of clout

• however, he’s worried about political backlash and taking a strong stance on civil rights

• he does do some things

  • fair employment practices commission - esp in WW2

  • certain new deal programs trying to help African Americans - doesn’t do as much as he could’ve though

    • racist people IN the programs

political parties shift in the 1920s

• republicans used to be liberal

  • lincoln freed the slaves!

• progressive presidents

  • TR - republican

  • taft - republican

  • wilson - democrat, progressive

    • parties start to flip

  • harding & coolidge - return to normalcy, hands off on progressive organizations

    • parties flipped

  • FDR brings democratic party FAR left.

    • with the new deal, government has a LOT of inolvmenet in reforming society and creating jobs

    • republican party has stayed as the more conservative party

  • late 70s and 80s, it becomes really entrenched with conservation where they almost EMBRACED IT

    • “new right”

    • “neo conservatism”

    • anti abortion, anti womens rights, more traditional values

    • moral majority - extreme right

    • republicans realized this helps them get elected