Chapter 5: Changes on the Western Frontier — Comprehensive Study Notes
The Culture of the Plains Indians
Distinct Native cultures (Sioux, Cheyenne, Osage, Iowa) thrived on the Great Plains.
Eastern tribes: hunted and farmed in villages along Missouri River.
Western tribes: nomadic buffalo hunters, traded with others.
Shared communal land-and-law systems; council leadership.
Traded skilled goods; respected nature spirits.
Horse (introduced 1598 by Spanish) increased mobility, expanded hunts, altered warfare, and facilitated trade (sometimes conflict).
Buffalo: central to life (hides for clothing/tepees/blanks, meat for food, bones/hooves for tools/glue).
Tepees: reflected nomadic lifestyle.
Worldview: harmony with nature, communal land use (no individual ownership).
A Walk in Two Worlds: Zitkala-Sˇa and Cultural Clash
Zitkala-Sˇa (Sioux, born 1876): embodied clash, sent to Quaker school at age eight.
Faced loss of dignity/identity (hair cut, forced assimilation).
Her story shows emotional/spiritual harm of assimilation and cultural loss.
Illustrated tensions from white settlement challenging Native ways and land laws.
Plains Native life: small family groups, women prepared hides, men hunted/trained as warriors.
Leaders: ruled by counsel; communal land use.
Medicine men/women (shamans): respected for spiritual sensitivity.
Children learned via stories, games, example.
The Culture of the Plains Indians
Two ecologies: Missouri River (farming villages, e.g., Osage, Iowa); plains (nomadic buffalo hunters, e.g., Sioux, Cheyenne).
Horses: expanded hunting grounds, enabled long-distance trade.
Horse and buffalo influenced gender roles and warfare prestige.
“Counting coup” (touching enemy, escaping unharmed): brought more honor than killing.
Crafted tepees, clothing, shoes, blankets from buffalo hides.
Pemmican and jerky: staple foods.
Family life: extended kin groups, leaders by consensus, shared land.
Religion: spirits controlled natural events; medicine men/women held respected spiritual roles.
Settlers Push Westward
European-Americans: viewed land as owned/improved; contrasted with Native communal beliefs.
Settlers saw plains as “unsettled,” moved west via railroads/wagons to claim land.
Increased settlement: intensified clashes with Native Americans, tragic outcomes.
Late 19th-century: “westward fever” as boomers sought “free” farmland.
The Lure of Silver and Gold
West’s allure: striking rich through mining.
Colorado gold rush (1858): drew tens of thousands to unsanitary mining camps.
Frontier towns: diverse miners (Irish, German, Polish, Chinese, African-American), women as laundresses, freight haulers, or miners.
Cities (Virginia City, Helena) grew from mining camps on Native lands.
Mining brought: environmental changes, labor disputes, boomtowns (rose and fell with ore yields).
The Government’s Native American Policy and Major Conflicts
Government policy shifted:
1834: plains designated one large reservation.
1850s: treaties defined tribal boundaries.
Native Americans resisted treaties, hunted on traditional lands, clashed with settlers.
Major conflicts:
Sand Creek Massacre (1864): militia Colonel John Chivington killed over 150 Cheyenne/Arapaho.
Fetterman Massacre (Battle of the Hundred Slain, 1866): Crazy Horse ambushed Captain William J. Fetterman, killing over 80 soldiers.
Bozeman Trail: through Sioux hunting grounds, sparked hostilities.
Treaty of Fort Laramie (1868): forced Sioux onto Missouri River reservation (Sitting Bull did not sign).
Government aim: restrict Native Americans to designated areas, reduce settler conflicts.
Custer’s Last Stand and Aftermath
Sioux and Cheyenne (led by Crazy Horse, Gall, Sitting Bull) defeated Custer’s Seventh Cavalry at Little Bighorn River (1876).
Sioux victory was temporary; ultimately defeated by late 1876.
Sitting Bull surrendered 1881, killed 1890.
U.S. government sought assimilation via Dawes Act (1887):
Broke up reservations, allotted 160 acres to individuals.
Government sold remainder to fund family farm purchases.
Aimed to “Americanize” Native Americans but disrupted traditional landholding and tribal cohesion.
The Dawes Act and Assimilation
Assimilation policies: dissolved tribal life, integrated Native Americans into white society.
Dawes Act: broke reservations into individual plots, distributed land to households; remainder sold to fund program.
By 1932: whites took ~\frac{2}{3} of Native American land.
Ghost Dance movement: emerged in response to loss/poverty; promised restoration of lands/lifeways.
December 1890: Sitting Bull killed during Ghost Dance crackdown; Wounded Knee massacre ended major armed resistance, concluding Indian wars.
The Destruction of the Buffalo and the End of the Open Range
Buffalo: central to Plains life (food, clothing, shelter, ritual).
Buffalo population decline: from ~6.5 \times 10^{7} (1800) to <1{,}000 (1890); one wild herd in Yellowstone by 1900.
Buffalo massacre: deliberate strategy to undermine Plains Indians’ way of life.
As buffalo declined: Native Americans forced onto smaller reservations.
Cattle/horses flourished on Plains: became big business.
Cattle ranching: drew heavily on Mexican vaquero influence (cowboy clothes, food, language, techniques shaped by Spanish/Mexican traditions).
Cattle, Cowboys, and the Rise of the Ranching Economy
Post-Civil War: demand for beef surged with urban growth; railroads created new markets.
Union Stock Yards opened 1865; mid-1860s: cattle moved via rail to eastern markets.
Chisholm Trail: major cattle route from Texas to Kansas; Abilene, Kansas key shipping center.
Long drive: one cowboy/250–300 head, cook in chuck wagon, wrangler for extra horses.
Trail bosses earned >100/month.
Open range era was short-lived: gave way to fenced ranges (barbed wire, 1874), droughts, harsh winters (1883–1887), and overstocking.
The Real Cowboy vs. the Legend
Popular image of Lone Cowboy: largely mythical.
1866–1885: ~55{,}000 cowboys worked plains; ~25\% African American, ~12\% Mexican.
Cowboys faced: long hours (10–14 daily), dangerous river crossings, harsh conditions.
Wild West shows (1880s, Buffalo Bill Cody): popularized mythic West, romanticizing frontier life (e.g., Wild Bill Hickok, Calamity Jane).
Settlers on the Great Plains and Agricultural Innovation
Plains settlement accelerated post-Civil War.
Homestead Act of 1862: offered 160 acres to eligible settlers; ~600{,}000 families benefited.
1889 Oklahoma land rush: thousands claimed land (some before opened, hence “Sooner State”).
Railroads: opened West, provided fast travel, marketed land to settlers.
Received large land grants (~170{,}000{,}000 acres, worth ~5{,}000{,}000{,}000) to aid construction.
By 1880: ~19{,}000{,}000 acres bought by individuals.
Major agricultural innovations: barbed wire (1874), steel plow, reaper, spring-tooth harrow, grain drill, windmills.
Made farming productive on Plains, creating nation’s “breadbasket.”
Agricultural education: funded by Morrill Acts (1862, 1890) and Hatch Act (1887).
Established agricultural colleges/research stations to improve crops on arid soils, promote dry farming.
The Closing of the Frontier and Turner’s Thesis
By 1880–1890: settlement transformed Great Plains.
1872 Yellowstone National Park: marked shift toward conservation.
Government later required railroads to relinquish land claims: evolving land management.
1893: Frederick Jackson Turner argued frontier shaped American character (later historians questioned).
Frontier effectively closed by 1900: U.S. Census Bureau declared no continuous frontier line.
Frontier’s legacy: contested, but left imprint on American identity/policy.
One American’s Story: Zitkala-Sˇa (The Education of Zitkala-Sˇa)
Zitkala-Sˇa’s experiences: illustrate cultural clash between Plains Indians and white settlers.
Her resistance to forced assimilation (hair-cutting) and later advocacy for Native rights: highlight ethical/cultural costs.
Her voice: connects to themes of identity, resilience, persistence of Native cultures.
One American’s Story: Esther Clark Hill
Esther Clark Hill’s recollections: emphasize settler courage and endurance on Great Plains.
Mother’s early leadership, dangerous task of driving runaways: show social/gendered dimensions.
Narrative presents women’s pivotal roles: farming, education, motherhood, community-building.
One American’s Story: Mary Elizabeth Lease and the Populist Movement
Mary Elizabeth Lease: connected farmers to broader political reform era.
Speaker for Farmers’ Alliance, Populist leader: urged action vs. foreclosures/debt (“raise less corn and more Hell”).
Populist movement: sought monetary reform (bimetallism), political reforms (direct election of senators, secret ballot), social protections (eight-hour workday, immigration limits).
Achieved electoral strength in West/South (1890s), influencing national policy.
Culminated 1896 campaign: William Jennings Bryan’s Cross of Gold speech (silver coinage).
Bryan won Democratic nomination; Populists endorsed Bryan but nominated own VP (Thomas Watson).
Election solidified end of Populism as viable third party, but left lasting agenda (reforms enacted 20th century).
Economic Turmoil and Monetary Policy: The Panic of 1893 and the Silver Question
1893 Panic: stemmed from overextended farm/industrial sectors, railroad overexpansion, draining gold reserve.
Major railroads collapsed (Philadelphia and Reading, Erie, Northern Pacific, Union Pacific, Santa Fe); bank failures followed.
Massive unemployment: ~3{,}000{,}000 workers affected; by December 1894, ~\frac{1}{5} of workforce unemployed.
Central issue in 1896 campaign: monetary policy (gold standard vs. bimetallism).
Silverites: more money in circulation would raise prices, relieve debtors.
Gold bugs: stable, gold-backed currency protected money value.
William Jennings Bryan: Cross of Gold speech advocating bimetallism.
McKinley: supported gold standard.
Election: McKinley victory; signaled Populism’s decline but left legacy of reform and political realignment.
Key Figures and Concepts
Sitting Bull (1831–1890): Sioux leader; opposed white encroachment; Little Bighorn victory; killed 1890.
Crazy Horse and Gall: Sioux leaders; central to Little Bighorn victory.
George A. Custer: U.S. Army officer; defeated at Little Bighorn (1876); death symbolized cultural clash.
Dawes Act (1887): Federal law; aimed at assimilating Native Americans (broke reservations, distributed land); resulted in significant tribal land loss.
Dawes Act; Ghost Dance; Wounded Knee (1890): Key moments in suppression of traditional Native cultures.
William F. Cody (Buffalo Bill) and the Wild West Show: Popularized romanticized frontier image.
Oliver Hudson Kelley; the Grange; Farmers’ Alliances; Populism: Grassroots movements organizing farmers vs. monopolies/debt; influenced national policy.
Homestead Act (1862): Land grant (160 acres to households); ~600{,}000 families benefited; Oklahoma land rush (1889) expanded settlement (“Sooner State”).
Morrill Acts (1862, 1890) and Hatch Act (1887): Federal support for agricultural education/research; led to colleges/improved farming.
Barbed wire (1874): Transformed land use; enabled enclosure, ended open-range cattle era.
The Chisholm Trail; Abilene, Kansas: Key pathways for cattle drives, growth of cattle industry.
Ghost Dance: Spiritual movement among Sioux; sought to restore traditional life/lands.
The Great Plains as a “breadbasket”: Evolution from desert to major agricultural hub due to innovations.
Connections, Implications, and Reflections
Ethical/philosophical implications: displacement/cultural erasure of Native Americans; conflict (individual vs. communal land); assimilation vs. self-determination.
Practical implications: government policy in shaping settlement/land use/economy; railroads’ power; technological innovations (plows, reapers, windmills, barbed wire) transforming agriculture.
Real-world relevance: recurring themes in American economic policy (regulating monopolies, debt/credit cycles, currency reform/stability).
Era marked shift from frontier myth to complicated narrative: expansion/progress often cost Indigenous cultures, environmental change, social upheaval.
Key Terms and Concepts (glossary-style recap)
Homestead Act: 160 acres to household heads; ~600{,}000 families; led to massive Plains settlement; later land sales funded Native land buy-back.
Dawes Act: Assimilation policy; broke reservations into 160-acre allotments; aimed to end communal landholding; led to significant tribal land loss by 1932.
Barbed wire: Enclosed land; helped end open-range cattle era.
Bonanza farms: Large, single-crop operations (15{,}000–50{,}000 acres); concentrated farming; debt/drought undermined many.
Populism: Reform movement (People’s Party, 1892); advocated monetary reform (bimetallism), direct election of senators, etc.; influenced later policy despite decline.
Silver vs Gold monetary policy: Debate over currency backing; led to 1896 campaign/Bryan’s Cross of Gold speech; gold standard victory decades later.
Ghost Dance: Spiritual movement among Sioux; symbolized resistance/decline; linked to Wounded Knee.
Wounded Knee (1890): End of major Indian wars; symbolized demise of Native resistance.
Chisholm Trail: Major cattle route from Texas to Kansas; Abilene key shipping center; reflected cattle ranching integration with rail.
Final thought: Why these topics matter for your exam
The chapter traces:
Dramatic transformation of American West.
Indigenous cultures adapting, resisting, suffering.
Economic/technological forces opening lands.
Rise/collapse of reform movements.
Enduring myth vs. realities of frontier.
Understanding these threads (cultural clash, policy shifts, economic cycles, innovations, reform) helps analyze how West shaped American history and why debates about land, policy, and identity recur.