6.3 Westward Expansion: Social and Cultural Development

LEARNING OBJECTIVE: Explain the causes and effects of the settlement of the West from 1877 to 1898

INTRODUCTION

Social and cultural development of the west had changed since the 1890s
- Settlement of Great Plains and Far West
  - another frontier to be conqured and settled by Europeans
  - Natives, Mexican-Americans, Asian immigrants, and other migrants shaped the region

THE CLOSING OF THE FRONTIER

Oklahoma was set originally set aside for American Indians
- Opened up for settlement 1899
  - hundreds of homesteaders rushed to the last great land in the west
  - entire frontier has been settled except for a few pockets

TURNERS FRONTIER THESIS

Historian Fredrick Jackson Turner published ¨The Signficance of the Frontier in American History¨
- Influential and proacative essay
  - described settlement of frontier as a necessary for civilization
- Early settlement
  - first wave of western settlers were hunters
  - cattle ranchers, miners, and farmers followed
  - 300 years of frontier experience had shaped American culture, premoted independce, individualism, inventiveness, pracitical midnfulness, and democracy (but waste of resources)

ROLES OF TOWNS AND CITIES

Frontier cities plated an early and primary role in the development of the frontier
- Development ¨boosters¨ tried to create settlement overnight
  - laid out town plots, and tried to establish towns as a territorys central hub of development
- Urban Markets made frontier development possivle
  - cattle ranchers frontier developed (railraod)
  - frontier development was interdependent with the growth of towns and cities

AMERICAN WITHOUT A FRONTIER

Closing of the frontier troubled Turner
- Turner thought of frontier as fresh start for discontented Americans
  - concerned about US falling to class divisions and conflict
Largest movement of Americans
- Rural communities—→ Cities
  - migrants saw more opportunity in industry and agriculture
  - era of western frontier and dominance of rural America came to an end

AMERICAN INDIANS IN THE WEST

West Natives belonged to different diverse cultural and tribal groups
- Pueblo groups
  - Located in New Mexico and Arizona
  - Hopi, Zuni, ect.
  - live in permanent settlements, raising corn and livestock
- Southwest groups
  - located in the southwest
  - Navajo, Apache, ect.
  - nomadic hunter-gatherers
  - raised crops and also produced arts and scrafts
- Pacififc Northwest groups
  - Located in Washington and Oregon
  - Chinook, Shasta, ect.
  - developed complex communities, hunting fish and game
- Great Plains groups
  - Consisted of 2/3 of tribal groups
  - Sioux, Blackfoot, Cheyenne, Crow, Comanche
  - nomadic tribes (gave up farming after horses were introduced, forming a way of life centered on buffalo hunting)
  - faced conflict w US gov (Americans had little understanding of their tribal organization and nomadic lifestyle).

RESERVATION POLICY

Andrew Jackson’s policy of moving Natives to “Indian country”
- Expectation was proven false
  - wagons moved westward on the Oregon Trail
  - plans for building a transcontinental railroad were put in place
- The federal government began to assign Natives reservation
  - put aisde a tract of land with definite boundaries
  - most tribes refused to restrict their movements (followed buffalo)

INDIAN WARS

Settlement by miners, ranchers, and homesteaders led to violence
- Fighting between US troops and Plains Indians were brutal
  - US army carried out several massacres
  - Sioux war (Soiux fighters wiped out army column)
- More treaties attemped to isolate the Natives
  - would move Natives to smaller reservations with government support
  - gold miners refused to stay of the land if gold was found
- Natvies denounced the treaties and tried to return to acestoral lands
- Indian Appropriation Act of 1871
  - ended recognition of tribes as independent nations
  - ended negotation of treaties to be approved by congress
  - Red River War against comanche and 2nd Souix war
  - Souix destroyed George Custer’s command (Little Big Horn)
- Pressure of US army forced tribes to comply
  - slaughter of most buffalo doomed the way of life for Natives
  - Natives were forced to change their traditions as nomadic hunters

GHOST DANCERS AND WOUNDED KNEE

Ghost Dance Movement
- Last effort by natives to resist US government
  - was believed to restore Native American prosperity
- US carried out campaign to supress the movement
  - killed Sioux medicine man, Sitting Bull
  - gunned down more than 200 Natives (Battle of Wounded Knee)
  - tragedy marked end of Indian Wars

ASSIMILATIONISTS

A Century of Dishonor (1881)
- Book that marked the injustices done to American Indians
  - written by Helen Hunt Jackson
  - created sympathy for American Indians
- Generated support for ending Indian culture through assimlation
  - formal education, job training, conversion
  - set up boarding schools to segregate Natives from their people
  - taught white culture, farming, and industrial skills

DAWES SEVERALITY ACT (1887)

Dawes Act of 1887
- Act designed to break up tribal organizations
  - some thought it kept Natives from become “civilized”
  - act divided tribal lands depending on family size
  - citizenship was granted to those who stay 25 years and acted civilized
- Federal gov set aside 47 million acres to Natives
  - 90 million of former reservation land were sold over the years
- New policy proved to be a failure
  - disease and poverty reduced Native population to around 200,000
  - remaining lived as wards of federal gov

CHANGES IN THE 20TH AND 21ST CENTURIES

Failed assimilation—→ US gov granting citizenship to all Natives
Indian Reorganization Act (1934)
- Part of Frank Roosevelt’s New Deal
  - premoted restablishment of Native organization and culture
  - increased Native identification
  - 3 million American Indians, belonging to 500 tribes, live in the US

MEXICAN AMERICANS IN THE SOUTHWEST

Mexico’s independence from Spain—→ increased trade and exchange w US
- Santa Fe Trail
  - 1000 mile overland route
  - linked Santa Fe, New Mexico, and western Missiouri
  - vital link until railroad was completed
- Mexican landowners were granted property rights and citizenship
- Hispanic culture was preserved in dominant Spanish-speaking areas
  - New Mexico territories, border towns, barrios of California
- Mexican Americans moved throughout west for work
  - worked in fields, mines, or building railraods
- Border with Mexico was open
  - few records were kept for seasonal workers or permanent settlers
  - Mexicans were drawn by America’s economic development
  - Mexicans, Natives, and settlers all competed for land

THE CONSERVATION MOVEMENT

Deforestation—→ Conversation movement
- Conservationist
  - believed in scientific mangement and regulated resources
- Preservationist
  - aimed to preserve natural areas from humans
  - John Muir founded the Sierra Club
  - established Arbor Day (day dedicated to plating trees)
  - grew environmental awareness by 1900
- Paintings and photographs captured western landcapes
  - meant to help push congress to preserve western icons (Yosmite, Yellowstone)
- Forest reserves and federal forest service
  - advocated by Carl Schurz
  - meant to protect federal land from exploitation
  - President Harrison and Cleveland reserved acres for timber
Closing of frontier—→ concern over loss of public lands and natural treasures
- Forest Reserve Act of 1891, Forest Management Act of 1897
  - withdrew federal timberlands and regulated their use