Chapter 26 - The Great West and the Agricultural Revolution  

The Clash of Cultures on the Plains

  • Soldiers spread cholera, typhoid, and smallpox to the Indians in the west who reduced bison population through hunting
  • Federal government attempted to appease Plains Indians by signing treaties with “chiefs” of various “tribes” at Fort Laramie in 1851 and Fort Atkinson in 1853
  • Treaties marked the beginning of the reservation system in west
  • Indians usually didn’t recognize any authority outside of their own families
  • ==Plains Indians== ==were grouped into small plots of land==: Great Sioux Reservation, Dakota Territory, and the Indian Territory in Oklahoma

Receding Native Population

  • Colonel J. M. Chivington’s militia killed 400 innocent Indians in 1864, at Sand Creek, Colorado
  • A ==Sioux party== ==was attacked and killed in 1866 by Captain Fetterman’s command and civilians in Wyoming’s Bighorn Mountains==
    • ==Battle of Little Bighorn== ==was a rare victory for Indians in plains wars==
  • Nez Perce Indians were sent to reservation in Kansas in 1877
    • “Taming” of Indians was accelerated by white men’s diseases, railroads, and alcohol

Bellowing Herds of Bison

  • Over 15 million bison grazed western plains after the Civil War
  • By 1885, less than 1000 bison were left due to them being slaughtered for tongues, hides, and amusement

The End of the Trail

  • Nation began to realize the horrors it had committed against the Indians by the 1880s
  • A Century of Dishonor was published by Helen Hunt Jackson in 1881 with it talking about the record of government ruthlessness when dealing with Indians
  • Dawes Severalty Act of 1887 got rid of man tribes as legal entities, dissolved tribal ownership of land, and set up individual Indian family heads with 160 free acres
    • If Indians behaved like “good white settlers” then they would be able to get the full title to their holdings alongside citizenship
  • ==Dawes Act== ==was an attempt at assimilating Indians with white men== with it staying the basis of the government’s official Indian policy until Indian Reorganization Act of 1834

Mining: From Dishpan to Ore Breaker

  • Minerals such as gold and silver were found in the Rockies in 1858
  • “Fifty niners” rushed to Nevada in 1859 after gold and silver being discovered in Comstock Lode
  • Women in Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, and Idaho gained the right to vote before the women of the East
  • ==Frontier mining== ==was integral in bringing people and wealth back to the West==
    • Discovery of gold and silver allowed Treasure to resume species payments in 1879

Beef Bonanzas and the Long Drive

  • ==Transcontinental railroads== ==allowed for live cattle to be transported from Texas to the east==
    • Cattle-raisers organized the Wyoming Stock-Growers’ Association which was done to make the cattle-raising business more profitable

The Farmer's Frontier

  • Homestead Act of 1862 allowed a settler to acquire as much as 160 acres of land by living in it for 5 years, improving it, and paying a nominal fee of $30
    • Public land was being given away to encourage settlement of empty spaces and to provide a stimulus to family farms
    • A large portion of the land given away by the Homestead Act had terrible soil, worsened by the fact that it didn’t commonly rain
  • ==100th meridian== ==was an imaginary line running from Dakotas to Texas== with it separating the wet East from dry West
  • ==“Dry farming”== ==was the practice of using shallow cultivation to grow crops in the dry western environment== which dried and depleted soil over time

The Far West Comes of Age

  • West experienced a large population growth from 1870s to 1890s
  • ==Colorado== ==was admitted as a state in 1876, after Pike’s Peak gold rush==
  • Republican Congress admitted six new states from 1889 to 1890 as they were looking for more Republican electoral and congressional votes
  • Mormon Church formally banned polygamy in 1890

The Fading Frontier

  • All the unsettled areas on the American frontier were all broken up by isolated bodies of settlement by 1890
  • Western migration might have caused urban employers to maintain high wages in order to discourage workers from leaving to go farm the West
    • Western cities grew due to failed farmers, failed miners, and unhappy easterners seeking fortune in the cities
  • The area from the Rockies to the Pacific Coast was the most urbanized region in America by 1880

The Farm Becomes a Factory

  • High prices led to farmers concentrating on growing single “cash crops” like wheat and corn with them using their profits to buy produce and such
  • Speed of harvesting wheat increased in 1870s with the invention of the twine binder
  • Mechanization of farms brought for the idea of farms being “outdoor grain factories”

Deflation Dooms the Debtor

  • Western farmers had a one-crop economy like the southern cotton farmers due to them growing single crops
  • ==Deflation== ==in the late 1800s caused the relative prices of crops to decrease== leading to thousands of farms to become foreclosed
    • Some farmers became tenant farmers (rented instead of owning the land on which they farmed)

Unhappy Farmers

  • Poor soil and droughts forced many people to abandon their farms and towns in the late 1880s
  • Farmers sold their produce in an unprotected world market
    • Farmers were at the mercy of various corporations with the farmers making up half the population in 1890

The Farmers Take Their Stand

  • National Grange of the Patrons of Husbandry organized in 1867 with their first objective being to enhance lives of isolated farmers through social, educational, and fraternal activities
    • Some Grangers entered politics and made Grange Laws with Granger influence fading after courts reversed their laws
  • ==Greenback Labor Party== ==sought to improve the working conditions of laborers==

Prelude to Populism

  • Farmers formed the Farmers’ Alliance in the late 1870s which had limited power
    • Colored Farmers’ National Alliance was formed in the 1880s to attract black farmers
  • People’s Party (Populist Party) grew out of the Farmers’ Alliance with it calling for nationalizing the railroads, telephones, and telegraphic
    • The Populist Party wanted to institute a graduated income tax and create a new federal subtreasury and also wanted free and unlimited coinage of silver

Coxey's Army and the Pullman Strike

  • ==Panic of 1893== ==strengthened Populists’ stance of farmers and laborers being oppressed by the economic and political systems==
    • ==Jacob S. Coxey== ==led a protest in Washington in 1894, with him demanding that the government start a public works program==
    • ==Eugene V. Debs== ==helped in organizing the American Railway Union==
    • Pullman strike of 1894 started when Pullman Palace Car Company cut wages with federal troops having to break up the strike

Golden McKinley and Silver Bryan

  • ==McKinley== ==was the Republican candidate for election of 1896==
    • Republican platform supported the gold standard
  • Bryan was the Democratic candidate with him supporting inflation through the unlimited coinage of silver which caused many Populists to support him as a candidate

Class Conflict:  Plowholders versus Bondholders

  • McKinley won the election of 1896 with many of his votes being from the east
    • Election of 1896 was the last election in which a candidate had tried to win the election with help from farmers as future elections focused on the urban vote
  • Political era from 1896 to 1932 was known as the “fourth party system” which was characterized by lower voter turnout, weakening of party organizations, and fading of issues such as civil-service reform

Republican Stand-Pattism Enthroned

  • Dingley Tariff Bill was passed in 1897 with it instituting high tariff rates to generate revenue to cover annual Treasury deficits
  • Republicans  took credit for bringing prosperity to the nation, after the panic of 1893
  • ==Gold Standard Act of 1900== ==allowed for paper currency to be redeemed for gold==