westward expansion
cultures clash on the prarie!
the settlers
==manifest destiny is the belief that god wanted us to move westward to the coast.== The settlers were mainly white but also some colored people. The land was already being used as a communal hunting ground for nomadic natives that followed the bison.
because they were nomadic the white settlers believed that no one owned the land and took it for their own. ==These two cultures clashed and the natives resisted the settlers, this will become the end of the native way of life.==
not very many people in the east knew what it meant to go west of the mississippi. It was basically avast desert that was occupied by “savage people”. ==They all believed that it was terrible farm land because nothing would grow out their besides really tall grass.== ==They were wrong though the grass just caused everything to not be able to grow, it was actually really good farmland.==
the natives
The Osage and Iowa native tribes lived near the missouri river; they hunted, planted crops, and lived and small villages for more than a century. The Sioux and Cheyenne lived west of the missouri; they were nomadic, gathered wild food, hunted buffalo, followed tribal law and traded food and clothing.
==the spanish in 1589 brought horses to mexico and the natives lives changed. They became more efficient hunters, could travel farther, in the mid 1700’s they left farms to hunt bison, and they increased their mobility so it increased trespassing too==. Young native men would take part in war parties and raids, they got prestige from this, they also gained honor from killing their enemies. They would make truces with other tribes to trade goods, share news, and enjoy harvest festivals together
==they would follow buffalo== herd into protective valleys in the winter and then to plains in the summer. They used the buffalo in many different ways, food, tools, sewing thread, and clothing and shelter.no one person ruled all of it, there was a counsel and the land was used by everyone.
==family life==; they lived in small extended family groups with ties to other bands that spoke the same language. the men were the warriors, hunters, led religious life, and ruled the family. the women managed village life, butchered the game, prepared hides, carved tools, made clothing, cared for children, and made tepees. In some groups the wise women ruled, sometimes they went to war, and sometimes they led the religious life.
==religion==; they believed that powerful spirits controlled events in the world. If someone showed sensitivity (visions) to spirits they would become medicine men or women (shamans). The children learn how to conduct themselves; stories, myths, games, and good examples. These were to teach them how to behave.
==government restrictions;== as the settlers moved west the government tried to prevent the natives from moving to some parts of lands. the natives forfeited their right by not settling down to “improve it”. the railroads allowed for more to more easily move west, this influenced government policies. In 1834 the gov. passed an act to designate all the great plains reservation because we thought it was bad land, then we found it it wasn’t and in the 1850’s they tried to take this back.
fort laramie treaty; 10,000 natives came to discuss the future, the u.s wanted them to stop following the buffalo so we could get more land and know better where they are and keep an eye on them. they also wanted them to go onto the reservations and permanently stay there. The native leaders did sign the treaty in return for the u.s government protecting them and their land from white settlers, this didn’t end up working as they did lose land eventually. then in 1859, one of the native reservations, pikes peak Colorado, prospectors found gold and the government told the natives they wanted control over it and they could have the other land. the tribes resisted this. the agreement was broken.
==sand creek massacre;== in the 1860’s new treaties were being mad. the natives were mad and moved from the land around pikes peak. they attacked the u.s’s supply trains and homes. in 1864 the Cheyenne assumed they were under protection of the government and were told they could go to the sand creek reservation for the winter. then general S.R. Curtis, the u.s army commander in west, said “i want no peace until the Indians suffer more. Colonel John Chivington and 700 volunteers attacked the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes and sand creek. they attacked 200 warriors and 500 women and children. over 150 were killed and most of them were women and children.
==assimilation;== this was a plan where natives would give up their beliefs and way of life so they could become part of the white culture. government built schools (usually far away) they could only speak english, couldn’t wear traditional clothing, attempted to discourage them from their own culture. They Americanized them**.** Not all reformers supported assimilation. Helen Hunt Jackson wrote A century of Dishonor, this focused on increasing public awareness about the problems that native americans faced, became a u.s agent for U.S bureau of Indian affairs.
==The deconstruction of the buffalo;== this was the most significant blow to tribal life on the plains. Tourists and fur traders shot buffalo for sport. In 70 years the settlers almost completely made the buffalo extinct. The transcontinental railroad is a huge factor because people would see bison herds and shoot them out of the train cars. It also brought more people to it which caused more building and hunting. General Sheridan approved that buffalo hunters were destroying the plains Indians main source, he encouraged this.This caused plains tribes to have to travel farther distances outside of reservations, the government solution was for them to become farmers. this involved ==the Dawes act; in 1887 he broke up the reservations and gave the land to individual native americans to farm, 160 acres to each head of the household and 80 acres to unmarried males. They gave the rest of the land to settlers. The income of this would be used by native americans to buy farm implements. Not very many of them took to farming. Federal agents replaced the leaders of the tribe and they had to give up the buffalo hunt. Because of this they are dependent on the government for their livelihood. By 1932 whites had taken about two-thirds of the territory that had been set aside fro the natives. in the end no money from the sale of the land was given to native americans.==
==The battle of wounded knee;== 1889 this battle was the start of native resistance. there was poverty and suffering of Sioux on reservations; bc of this they turned to Paiute prophet, Wovoka. they trusted him and he told them if they did a ghost dance then the everything would go back to how it was, the ghost dance was a ritual and government officials believed that this was a planned uprising from the natives. Government brought more troops in to fight them. They ordered the arrest of sitting bull, they thought he was a leader who permitted the dance to happen and did nothing to happen. the native american police to to a Sioux village to stop the dances and arrest him, a struggle happens when they arrest him, sitting bull ended up getting shot and killed.
mining and ranching!
notes - https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1a8Xhr7D9sI9715VZMd2XDu9LuKrY-rnBOwPGKz9DT_A/edit#slide=id.p
mining
people from all over moved west to get rich off silver and gold. Most of these people did not strike rich and ended up broke. Mining for these took lots of money; tools, time, deed for land. Most settlers who went west ended up going back to the east and becoming broke. In 1849 there was a gold rush in california, there was gold found in the rocky mountains and black hills. That is why there were a lot of natives moved off this land.
The next gold rush after 1849 was in 1858 in pikes peak colorado. tens of thousands of people went looking for gold and silver, most went broke. ==Then in 1859 the comstock lode happened==. the lode was a rich vein of ore. (an ore is a long line of minerals, they can go for miles and are all connected) There were two prospectors who went on the land to take the silver and gold and comstock says that its his land and they aren’t allowed to do that, so in the end comstock won and got all the silver and gold they mined. While they were mining the mud started to turn blue because the silver started mixing with the mud, this turned into a huge amount of silver. Henry comstock ended up selling the mining rights for $11,000 and 2 mules.
boom towns: temporary towns that popped up near mines and then became permanent towns the longer they stayed; they later became ghost towns when people left. They were created when men would go to mine and women and children would follow them. They were rough and tumble towns and that became respectable. As more people move there the law follows and then schools and churches start popping up.
the minerals were found in loose sand and gravel, placer mining was used to get these minerals. they would pan rivers to find gold and they would use sluicing, they ran water down wooden troughs and the minerals would separate as the water ran down it. mining was a gamble because you invest a lot of money and might not get it back. Because of the gamble mining companies were created. They wouldn’t lose as much money. The two methods were hydraulic mining and hard rock mining. by the 1880’s most people worked for mining companies so there isn’t as much of a risk. There was less risk but there was also chance of the tunnel collapsing on you, it was hot, there was flooding risks and explosions