The American West and Industrialization (1860-1900)

Physical Features of the Great Plains Impacting Western Settlement

• Lack of Timber:
  • Scarcity of trees made it difficult to obtain materials for fencing, constructing homes, and acquiring fuel.
• Low Rainfall & Drought:
  • Unpredictable and insufficient rainfall was a major obstacle to successful agriculture.
• Extreme Weather:
  • The Great Plains experienced harsh climatic conditions, including brutally cold winters and extremely hot summers.
• Sparse Water Sources:
  • Limited availability of rivers and streams hampered irrigation efforts.
• Impact:
  • These harsh conditions slowed the pace of western settlement.
  • The situation improved with the development of drought-resistant crops, steel plows, and windmills.

Lifestyle of the Great Plains Indians

• Nomadic Buffalo Hunters:
  • Tribes such as the Sioux, Cheyenne, and Comanche were nomadic, relying on buffalo herds for sustenance and following their movements.
• Horse Culture:
  • After the introduction of horses by the Spanish, tribes utilized them extensively for hunting and transportation, which transformed their way of life.
• Tipis and Communal Bands:
  • They lived in tipis and organized themselves into kin-based communal bands.
• Spiritual and Warrior Traditions:
  • Spiritual ceremonies such as the Sun Dance were significant, and warrior honor was highly valued, earned through feats in battle or hunting.

Major U.S. Government Indian Policies (1830–1890)

• 1830 – Indian Removal Act:
  • Forcibly relocated eastern tribes across the Mississippi River.
• 1851 – Reservation/Concentration Policies:
  • Confined tribes to specific, limited areas to make way for settlement by white settlers.
• 1867 – Indian Peace Commission & Medicine Lodge Treaties:
  • Aimed, with limited success, to negotiate the relocation of tribes onto reservations.
• 1887 – Dawes Severalty Act:
  • Dismantled tribal communal landholding by dividing reservation lands into individual parcels for Native Americans, intending to promote assimilation.

Most Significant Blow to Indian Tribal Life

• Buffalo Slaughter:
  • The systematic slaughter of buffalo by settlers and railroads decimated the primary food, material, and spiritual resource for Plains tribes.
  • By the 1870s–1880s, the consequences of this collapse were catastrophic.

U.S. Government Land Distribution Policy (1862–1890)

• 1862 Homestead Act:
  • Offered 160 acres of free land to settlers who agreed to improve and farm it for five years.
• Railroad Land Grants:
  • Granted millions of acres to encourage railroad expansion, which railroads often sold to settlers.

Largest Landowning Group in the West

• Railroad Companies:
  • Railroad companies held the most extensive land ownership thanks to substantial federal land grants.

Recipients of the Largest Amount of Public Lands

• Railroads and Big Corporations:
  • Railroads and large corporations received the majority of public lands, with settlers and speculators getting less.

Spanish Influences in Southwestern Life and Institutions

• Introduction of Ranching:
  • Introduced ranching practices and techniques.
• Irrigation Systems (Acequias):
  • Developed and implemented irrigation systems known as acequias.
• Spanish Legal Traditions:
  • Implemented Spanish legal traditions, including land grants and water rights.
• Cultural Contributions:
  • The Spanish language, Catholicism, architecture like adobe churches, and Hispanic traditions influenced communities.

Major Mining Strikes in the American West (1848–1876)

• 1848 California Gold Rush
• 1859 Comstock Lode:
  • Silver discovery in Nevada.
• 1860s–1870s: Boom Towns in the Rocky Mountains:
  • Colorado (Pikes Peak, Cripple Creek), Idaho (Boise Basin), Montana (Gold Rushes in Helena, Butte), Black Hills (Dakota Territory)

Typical 19th-Century Mining Camp

• Temporary, Lawless Boomtowns:
  • Rough saloons, gambling, and prostitution were common.
• Demographics:
  • Dominated by young male miners with few permanent structures.
• Vigilante Justice:
  • Vigilante justice prevailed due to the absence of formal law enforcement.
  • Many camps became ghost towns after the boom ended.

Steps in the Development of the Cattle Industry

1. Texas Cattle Drives to Kansas Railheads Post-Civil War
2. Open-Range Ranching on Public Domain
3. Expansion of Railroads Connected to Eastern Markets
4. Transition to Fenced, Smaller-Scale Farms:
   • Due to the introduction of barbed wire and overgrazing

Social and Legal Aspects of Cowboy Society

• Informal “Code”:
  • Cowboys adhered to an informal code that emphasized shared labor, loyalty, and courage, and they engaged in storytelling and music around campfires.
• Multicultural Workforce:
  • Comprised Mexican, Black, and Native cowboys.
• Legal Order:
  • Legal order was minimal, and justice often depended on vigilantes, small-town marshals, and cattlemen’s associations.

Physical and Nature-Related Problems for Western Farmers

• Weather Extremes:
  • Drought, grasshopper swarms, floods, and blizzards.
• Soil Issues:
  • Poor soil quality and soil exhaustion.
• Scarcity of Timber and Water
• Isolation:
  • Isolation from markets and communities.

New Farming Methods in the American West

• Dry Farming:
  • Deep plowing and summer fallow were used to retain moisture.
• Windmills:
  • Employed to pump groundwater.
• Drought-Resistant Crops:
  • Cultivation of drought-resistant crops such as winter wheat.
• Mechanization:
  • Use of steel plows and reaper-binding machines.

Problems Causing Western Farmer Discontent

• Falling Commodity Prices and Heavy Debt
• High Freight Rates:
  • Railroad monopolies.
• Unfair Mortgages and Credit:
  • From banks and merchants.
• Environmental Stresses
• Perceived Government Neglect
  • These grievances fueled the rise of the Grange, Farmers’ Alliance, and the Populist movement.

Factors Behind Rapid U.S. Industrial Growth

• Natural Resources:
  • Vast reserves of coal, iron ore, timber, petroleum, and waterpower.
• Expanding Labor Force:
  • Increase in immigration and rural-to-urban migration.
• Technological Innovation:
  • Bessemer steel process, electricity, telegraph/telephone systems.
• Capital & Infrastructure:
  • Investment from wealthy elites, banks, and government aid.
• Integrated Transport/Market Expansion:
  • Railroads connected regional economies into a national market.

Elements of the Transportation & Communications Revolutions

• Railroads:
  • Transcontinental lines, trunk networks, standardized time zones.
• Steamships & Canals:
  • Erie and coastal shipping improvements.
• Telegraph & Telephone:
  • Morse’s telegraph (~1844), transatlantic cable (~1866), Bell’s telephone (1876).
• Electric Power & Streetcars:
  • Edison’s electric light, urban street networks.

Railroad Advantages for Economic Growth

• Nationwide Distribution:
  • Delivered raw materials and finished goods across vast distances.
• Industrial Stimulation:
  • Fueled growth in steel, coal, timber, and construction.
• Market Integration:
  • Unified national economy via standardized schedules and pricing.

Post-Civil War Railroad Construction & Impact

• Construction Model:
  • Backed by government land grants & loans (~150M, 185M acres)
• Financing:
  • Private capital, stocks and bonds, European investment.
• Societal Effects:
  • Rapid expansion of cities, rural access to markets, rise of railroad tycoons (“robber barons”).

Major Northeast Trunk Lines

• Consolidated Routes:
  • Newly consolidated routes like New York Central, Pennsylvania Railroad, and Baltimore & Ohio became key trunk networks.

Construction and Financing of the First Pacific Railroad

• Union Pacific (eastward) and Central Pacific (westward):
  • Met at Promontory, Utah (1869).
• Funding:
  • Funded with land grants, federal subsidies, private capital, and railroad bonds.

Economic Results of Railroad Growth

• Stimulated iron, coal, steel industries
• Boosted settlement and commercial farming in the West
• Lowered transportation costs and sped delivery of goods
• Concentrated wealth in corporate systems and stock markets

Why the Steel Industry Boomed in the 1870s–1880s

• Adoption of the Bessemer Process:
  • Enabled mass steel production.
• Rich Coal and Iron Access:
  • Great Lakes & Appalachia.
• Rising Demand:
  • From railroads, construction, and machinery.

Carnegie’s Triumph in Steel to 1901

• Vertical Integration:
  • Controlled raw materials, transportation, and mills.
• Early Adoption:
  • Early adoption of Bessemer technology and continuous reinvestment.
• Aggressive Acquisitions:
  • Aggressive acquisitions during downturns to undercut competitors.

Rockefeller’s Oil Industry Dominance

• Horizontal Integration:
  • Bought and merged competitor refineries.
• Rebates and Pricing Tactics:
  • Pressured railroads and undercut rivals.
• Trust and Holding Structure:
  • Standard Oil Trust (1882) and later holding company.

The two MOST important late-19th-century innovations

• Bessemer steel process
• Electric power systems:
  • Light bulbs, electric grids

Changes in Selling and Merchandising

• Rise of chain stores, mail-order catalogs:
  • Sears and department stores.
• Use of brand names and national advertising:
  • Across newspapers and magazines.

Working conditions for wage earners

• Long hours:
  • 10-12 hrs/day.
• Low wages
• Unsafe work environments
• Prevalence of child labor, poor ventilation, and frequent accidents

Workplace conditions for women

• Employment in textile, garment, and clerical sectors
• Low-paying, repetitive jobs with limited upward mobility
• By century's end, women became noted secretaries and typists

Major components of the 19th-century labor movement

• Unions:
  • Knights of Labor, American Federation of Labor (AFL)
• Strikes and clashes:
  • Great Railroad Strike (1877), Homestead (1892), Pullman (1894)
• Political efforts:
  • Formation of labor parties, advocacy for laws on safety, wages, and hours

Major Lifestyle Changes (1877–1890)

• Urbanization:
  • Rise of middle-class suburban living, mass transit use.
• Consumer Culture:
  • Increased consumption of ready-made clothing, mass-advertised goods.
• Leisure Growth:
  • Participation in spectator sports, theater, vaudeville, cycling.
• Social Reform and Activism:
  • Growing public involvement in temperance, women’s rights, and social welfare.

City Architecture & Housing Evolution

• Skyscrapers:
  • Emergence based on steel-frame construction (e.g., Home Insurance Building, Chicago, 1885).
• Tenements:
  • Poorly ventilated, crowded multi‑family housing; subsequent dumbbell-design improvements and later reform laws.
• Middle-Class Apartments:
  • “French flats” like Manhattan’s Stuyvesant Apartments (1870) provided upscale urban dwellings.
• Urban Planning:
  • Early City Beautiful influence with Beaux-Arts civic spaces and boulevards.

Immigrant Social Traits (1877–1890)

• Origins:
  • Dominated by northern and western Europeans (Germans, Irish, Scandinavians).
• Skills:
  • Generally skilled or semi-skilled, moderate literacy, often integrated relatively quickly.

Immigrant Traits (1890–1910)

• Origins:
  • Shift toward eastern and southern Europeans (Italians, Poles, Russians, Greeks).
• Skills:
  • Lower literacy and skills, majority Catholic/Jewish, typically working-class; formed dense ethnic enclaves.

Urban Political Machines (1850–1900)

• Bosses:
  • Bosses like New York’s Tweed filled immigrant needs (jobs, housing, aid) in return for votes.
• Patronage Networks:
  • Patronage networks controlled city services, contracts, and municipal elections, often breeding corruption.

Major Reform Movements (1877–1890)

• Reform Movements:
  • Temperance, women’s suffrage, moral uplift organizations, anti‑trust groups, social settlement activism.

Popular Entertainment (1877–1890)

• Entertainment:
  • Vaudeville, minstrel shows, circuses, dime novels, spectator sports (baseball, boxing), bicycle riding, world’s fairs.

Middle-Class Family Changes (1877–1890)

• Shifts:
  • Decline of family-based production; rise of consumerism.
  • Women’s roles shifted from farm labor to domestic managers.
• Priorities:
  • Families prioritized education, comfort, and leisure; spent more on clothes, books, outings.

Educational Trends (1877–1890)

• Schooling:
  • Compulsory public schooling expanded; emergence of kindergartens.
• Curriculum:
  • Standardized curriculums and teacher training spread via normal schools.
• Schools:
  • Vocational and secondary schools grew, especially in urban areas.

“Separate but equal” case

• Plessy v. Ferguson (1896):
  • In the Supreme Court legally upheld racial segregation.

Factors boosting higher education to 1900

• Land-grant colleges:
  • Under the Morrill Acts.
• Research institutions:
  • Founding of research institutions (Johns Hopkins 1876).
• Philanthropy:
  • Rockefeller, Carnegie funding libraries and universities.

Blacks in higher education (1860–1900)

• HBCUs:
  • Emergence of HBCUs: Fisk, Howard, Hampton educated African Americans post‑Civil War.
• Limitations:
  • Limited facilities and enrollment but vital for professional and teaching class development.

Booker T. Washington’s Atlanta Compromise

• Vocational education:
  • Advocated vocational education and economic self-help for Blacks.
• Patience:
  • Urged patience in civil rights, focusing instead on gaining economic independence.
• Partnership:
  • Promoted by Washington as a partnership between Black economic progress and white acceptance.

Henry George’s wealth reform

• Single tax:
  • Proposed a single tax on land value to replace other taxes.
• Argument:
  • Argued this would curb speculation, reduce inequality, and distribute gains from land equitably.

Settlement House movement

• Reformers:
  • Founded by reformers like Jane Addams (Hull House, Chicago).
• Aimed:
  • Aimed to assist immigrants and poor urban populations via education, childcare, healthcare.
• Promoted:
  • Promoted social integration, civic engagement, and women’s empowerment through volunteerism.

Issues supported by the Gilded Age Democratic Party

• Tariffs:
  • Opposed high protective tariffs
• Government:
  • Supported limited federal government, emphasizing states’ rights and personal liberty
• Reforms:
  • Backed civil-service and anti-corruption reforms
• Voters:
  • Attracted immigrant and urban working-class voters via local party machines

Issues supported by the Gilded Age Republican Party

• Tariffs:
  • Endorsed high tariffs to protect industry
• Money:
  • Favored the gold standard and tight money policy
• Involvement:
  • Supported federal involvement in infrastructure and economic development
• Civil service:
  • Initially promoted civil‑service reform, though mixed due to factional splits (Half‑Breeds vs Stalwarts)

Characterizing both parties' strengths

• Balance:
  • Both were closely balanced with intense partisanship
• Republicans:
  • Republicans often dominated the presidency and Senate
• Democrats:
  • Democrats held a slight edge in the House of Representatives and in urban machine-based politics

Gilded Age presidents & accomplishments

• Rutherford B. Hayes (1877–1881):
  • Ended Reconstruction, advocated modest civil service reform
• James A. Garfield (1881) and Chester A. Arthur (1881–1885):
  • Expanded reform, passing the Pendleton Civil Service Act (1883)
• Grover Cleveland (1885–1889):
  • Focused on tariff reduction, opposition to government corruption, and enforcement of the Interstate Commerce Act
• Benjamin Harrison (1889–1893):
  • Supported high tariffs (McKinley Tariff) and strengthened antitrust enforcement

Laws passed by the Republican Congress in 1890

• Sherman Antitrust Act:
  • Outlawed monopolistic business practices
• Sherman Silver Purchase Act:
  • Increased federal silver purchases
• McKinley Tariff:
  • Raised protective tariffs to record levels
• Dependent Pension Act:
  • Expanded Civil War veterans' pensions

Populists' major complaints

• Railroads:
  • High railroad freight rates and unfair railroad control
• Money:
  • Deflationary monetary policy, with gold standard blamed for low crop prices
• Debt:
  • Heavy debt, mortgage foreclosures among farmers
• Power:
  • Concentrated power of banks, railroads, and big corporations

Ocala Platform of the Populists

• Direct election:
  • Direct election of U.S. Senators
• Federal crop warehouses:
  • Low-interest government loans and sub-treasury system with federal crop warehouses
• Expanded:
  • Expanded silver coinage, graduated income tax, and regulating/ethnic control of railroads

Populists in the 1892 election

• Nominee:
  • Nominated James B. Weaver, who captured 8.5\% of the popular vote and 22 electoral votes, winning several Western states
• Secured:
  • Also secured dozens of local offices and influenced national discourse

Difficulties in Cleveland’s second term

• Panic:
  • Took office at the start of the Panic of 1893 with collapsing railroads and bank failures
• Politics:
  • Faced partisan gridlock over monetary policy and tariff reform
• Populist:
  • Vulnerable to populist challenges and public disillusionment

Cleveland’s response to the Depression of 1893

• Vetoed:
  • Vetoed free silver bills to preserve the gold standard
• Bond:
  • Secured a 65 million bond issue from J.P. Morgan to stabilize Treasury gold reserves
• Deepened:
  • His austerity measures deepened the economic contraction and alienated many farmers

Why women & children entered the workforce post-1893

• Economic hardship:
  • Economic hardship forced families to find income
• Roles:
  • Rise in industrial and clerical roles offered low-paying, unskilled work accessible to women and children
• Laws:
  • No significant labor laws prevented their employment

Developments in American literature of the 1870s

• Realism:
  • Flourished with realist authors (besides Howells) like Mark Twain and Stephen Crane, who depicted social realities instead of romanticism
• Themes:
  • Naturalistic themes explored human struggle against social forces

Campaign strategies in 1896

• William Jennings Bryan (D/Populist):
  • Conducted a whistle-stop tour, delivering speeches across the country and focusing on the free silver issue
• William McKinley (Republican):
  • Ran a traditional front-porch campaign emphasizing protectionism, stability, and support for business

Economy & legislation under McKinley (1897–1901)

• Gold standard:
  • Continued the gold standard with the Gold Standard Act of 1900
• Trade agreements:
  • Supported reciprocal trade agreements and protective tariffs
• Benefited:
  • Benefited from rapid economic growth and recovery following the 1893 Depression

Results of the 1900 election

• McKinley wins:
  • McKinley wins re-election decisively, with Theodore Roosevelt as VP
• Bryan’s campaign:
  • Bryan’s campaign declined; Republicans strengthened Congress
• Signaled:
  • Signaled public approval of prosperity, imperialism, and gold-backed economy