The Last West and the New South, 1865-1900 PDF

# The Last West and the New South, 1865-1900 ## American Social Development - American society has been continually beginning over again on the frontier. - New opportunities and continuous touch with the simplicity of primitive society dominate American character. - The western expansion is the tr...

# The Last West and the New South, 1865-1900 ## American Social Development - American society has been continually beginning over again on the frontier. - New opportunities and continuous touch with the simplicity of primitive society dominate American character. - The western expansion is the true point of view in history, not the Atlantic Coast ## States Admitted to the Union 1864-1896 | State | Date Admitted | |---|---| | Washington | 1889 | | Montana | 1889 | | North Dakota | 1889 | | South Dakota | 1889 | | Wyoming | 1890 | | Idaho | 1890 | | Utah | 1896 | | | | | | | | | | | | | ## The West ### Settlement of the Last Frontier - During the post-Civil War era, most of the large-scale industrial development took place in the Northeast and Midwest. - The South and West supplied raw materials and consumed manufactured goods, resenting their colonial status. - This helped shape politics in the final decades of the 19th century. - The West included the Great Plains, the Rocky Mountains, and the Western Plateau. - Before 1860 these lands were known as the "Great American Desert" by pioneers going to Oregon and California. - The Western Plateau had few trees and received less than 15 inches of rainfall a year, which discouraged farming. - Winter blizzards and hot dry summers also discouraged settlement. - Open grasslands supported 15 million bison, which provided food, shelter, and tools. - 250,000 Native Americans lived in the West in 1865. ### Cattle Drives - In 35 years, conditions on the Great Plains changed dramatically with the vanishing of the buffalo herds. - The open western lands were fenced in by homesteads and ranches, crisscrossed by railroads, and modernized by new towns. - 10 new western states were formed, with only Arizona, New Mexico, and Oklahoma remaining as territories. - The rush for the West's natural resources decimated the buffalo and damaged the environment. - Native Americans paid a high human and cultural price as land was settled by miners, ranchers, and farmers. ### The Mining Frontier - The discovery of gold in California in 1848 caused the first flood of newcomers to the territory. - This began a feverish quest for gold and silver that would extend well into the 1890s. - This helped to settle much of the region, including Colorado, Nevada, Idaho, Montana, Arizona, and South Dakota. - The discovery of gold near Pike's Peak in Colorado in 1859 brought nearly 100,000 miners to the area. - The discovery of the Comstock Lode in 1859 produced more than $340 million in gold and silver by 1890. - This was responsible for Nevada entering the Union in 1864. - Idaho and Montana also received early statehood due to mining booms. - The great California gold rush in 1849 set the pattern for future rushes with placer mining (using simple tools). - This eventually gave way to deep-shaft mining that required expensive equipment and resources. - Rich strikes created boomtowns with saloons, dance halls, and vigilante justice. - Some boomtowns became lonely ghost towns when the gold or silver ran out. - Some towns, like Nevada's Virginia City, grew with theaters, churches, newspapers, schools, and railroads. - Mark Twain worked as a writer in Virginia City in the early 1860s. - San Francisco, Sacramento, and Denver expanded into prosperous cities. ### Chinese Exclusion Act - Most of the mining towns that endured and grew more like industrial cities than frontier towns. - Mining companies employed experienced miners from Europe, Latin America, and China. - Half the population was foreign-born in mining towns with one-third of miners being Chinese immigrants in the 1860s. - Native-born Americans resented the competition, leading to the Miner's Tax in California and the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882. - This prohibited further immigration of Chinese workers and was the first American act of Congress that restricted immigration based on race and nationality. ### The Cattle Frontier - The economic potential of the vast grasslands that reached from Texas to Canada was realized by ranchers in the decades after the Civil War. - Earlier, Mexican cowboys, or vaqueros, raised cattle on a small scale in Texas. - By the 1860s wild herds of 5 million "Texas longhorn" cattle roamed the grasslands. - The cattle business was easy to get into because both the cattle and the grass were free. - The construction of railroads into Kansas after the war opened up eastern markets for Texas cattle. - Joseph G. McCoy built the first stockyards in the region at Abilene, Kansas. - Cow towns, like Dodge City, sprang up along the railroads to handle the millions of cattle driven up trails in the 1860s and 1870s. - Cowboys, many of whom were African Americans or Mexicans, received about a dollar a day. ### The Farming Frontier - The Homestead Act of 1862 encouraged farming on the Great Plains by offering 160 acres of public land free to any family who settled on it for five years. - The promise of free land combined with promotions of railroads and land speculators induced hundreds of thousands of families to farm the Great Plains between 1870 and 1900. - About 500,000 families took advantage of the Homestead Act, while five times that number had to purchase their land. - The first “sodbusters” often built homes of sod bricks and faced hot and cold weather, plagues of grasshoppers, and a lonesome life. - Water and wood were scarce, leading to the invention of barbed wire by Joseph Glidden in 1874 and the use of mail-order windmills to drill deep wells. - 160 acres was often not adequate for farming the Great Plains, leading to the failure of two-thirds of the homesteaders’ farms on the Great Plains by 1900. - This forced those who survived to adopt "dry farming" and deep-plowing techniques and to plant hardy strains of Russian wheat. - Dams and irrigation helped western farmers by reshaping the rivers and physical environment. ## The Closing of the Frontier - The Oklahoma Territory, originally set aside for Native Americans, was opened for settlement in 1889. - Hundreds of homesteaders took part in the last great land rush in the West, leading to the U.S. Census Bureau declaring that the entire frontier, except for a few pockets, had been settled. - Turner's Frontier Thesis: historian Frederick Jackson Turner wrote about the “significance of the frontier in American history.” - Turner argued that 300 years of frontier experience had shaped American culture by promoting independence and individualism. - The frontier was a powerful social leveler, breaking down class distinctions and promoting social and political democracy. - The challenges of frontier life caused Americans to be inventive and practical-minded, but also wasteful in their attitude toward natural resources. - Turner saw the availability of free land as a safety valve for releasing discontent. - He saw the end of the frontier as a potential threat to the United States as it would no longer be able to release discontent. ## American Indians in the West - American Indians who occupied the West in 1865 belonged to dozens of different cultural and tribal groups. - In New Mexico and Arizona, Pueblo groups, like the Hopi and Zuni, lived in permanent settlements as farmers who raised corn and livestock. - The Navajo and Apache of the Southwest were nomadic hunter-gatherers who adopted a settled way of life, raising crops, livestock, and producing arts and crafts. - The Chinook and Shasta tribes of the Pacific Northwest were complex communities based on abundant fish and game. - Nomadic tribes, like the Sioux, Blackfoot, Cheyenne, Crow, and Comanche, of the Great Plains gave up farming in colonial times after the introduction of the horse. - They became skilled horse riders and developed a way of life centered on the hunting of buffalo. - They lived in smaller bands of 300-500, compared to their larger tribes, which was difficult for the government to understand. ### Reservation Policy - In the 1830s, President Andrew Jackson’s policy of removing eastern American Indians to the West was based on the belief that lands west of the Mississippi would permanently remain “Indian country.” - This expectation soon proved false as wagon trains rolled westward on the Oregon Trail and plans were made for a transcontinental railroad. - In 1851 at councils (negotiations) at Fort Laramie and Fort Atkinson, the federal government began to assign the Plains tribes large tracts of land, or reservations, with definite boundaries. - Most Plains tribes, however refused to restrict their movements to the reservations and continued to follow the migrating buffalo. ### Indian Wars - The settlement of miners, ranchers, and homesteaders on American Indian lands led to violence and conflict. - The Sioux War in 1866 turned the tables when Sioux warriors wiped out an army column under Captain William Fetterman. - Other treaties attempted to isolate the Plains Indians on smaller reservations with federal agents promising government support. - This led to new rounds of conflicts in the 1870s, and the Indian Appropriation Act of 1871 ended recognition of tribes as independent nations. - The Red River War against the Comanche in the southern plains and a second Sioux War led by Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse in the northern plains ensued. - The Sioux ambushed and destroyed Colonel George Custer’s command at Little Big Horn in 1876. - Chief Joseph’s effort to lead the Nez Perce into Canada ended in defeat and surrender in 1877. - The slaughter of most of the buffalo in the early 1880s doomed the way of life of the Plains people. - The Ghost Dance movement, a religious movement that was believed to return prosperity to Native Americans, was suppressed by the government. - Sitting Bull, the Sioux medicine man, was killed during his arrest. - In December 1890, U.S. Army forces gunned down more than 200 American Indian men, women, and children in the “battle” (massacre) of Wounded Knee in the Dakotas. ### Assimilationists - The injustices done to Native Americans were chronicled in Helen Hunt Jackson’s best-selling book A Century of Dishonor, which created sympathy and support to end Native American culture through assimilation. - Reformers advocated formal education, job training, and conversion to Christianity, setting up boarding schools such as the Carlisle School to segregate Native American children from their people and teach them white culture. ### Dawes Severalty Act (1887) - A new phase in the relationship between the United States government and Native Americans was incorporated into the Dawes Act. - It was designed to break up tribal organizations to move Native Americans towards a more peaceful, civilized, and law-abiding way of life. - It divided tribal lands into plots of up to 160 acres, depending on family size. - U.S. citizenship was granted to those who stayed on the land for 25 years and “adopted the habits of civilized life.” - The government distributed 47 million acres of land to Native Americans, but 90 million acres of former reservation land was sold over the years to white settlers. - This led to a significant reduction of the Native American population by the turn of the century. - In 1924, the government granted U.S. citizenship to all Native Americans. - The Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 promoted the re-establishment of tribal organization and culture. - Today, more than 3 million Native Americans belong to 500 tribes. ## The Latino Southwest - After the Mexican War in 1848, the Spanish-speaking landowners in California and the Southwest were guaranteed their property rights and granted citizenship. - Drawn-out legal proceedings often resulted in the sale or loss of land to Anglo arrivals. - Hispanic culture was preserved in dominant Spanish-speaking areas, like New Mexico, border towns, and the barrios of California. - Mexican Americans moved to find work in sugar beet fields, mines, and the building of railroads. - Before 1917, the border with Mexico was open and few records were kept for both seasonal workers and permanent settlers. ## The Conservation Movement - Concerns over deforestation sparked The Conservation Movement. - Breathtaking paintings and photographs of western landscapes helped to push Congress to preserve areas such as Yosemite Valley as a California state park in 1864, which became a national park in 1890. - Yellowstone became the first National Park in 1872. - Carl Schurz, as Secretary of the Interior in the 1880s, advocated the creation of forest reserves and a federal forest service to protect federal lands from exploitation. - Presidents Benjamin Harrison and Grover Cleveland reserved 33 million acres of national timber. - The Forest Reserve Act of 1891 and the Forest Management Act of 1897 withdrew federal timberlands from development and regulated their use. - "Conservationists" believed in scientific management and regulated use of natural resources, while “preservationists,” such as John Muir, aimed to preserve natural areas from human interference. - The Arbor Day, Audubon Society, and the Sierra Club were signs of a growing conservation movement in 1900. ## The New. South - Many Southerners promoted a. new vision for a self-sufficient southern economy built on modern capital-ist values, industrial growth, and improved transportation. - Henry Grady argued for economic diversity and laissez-faire capitalism. - Local governments offered tax exemptions to investors and the promise of low-wage labor. ### Economic Progress - The growth of cities, the textile industry, and improved railroads symbolized efforts to create a "New South" in the late 19th century. - Birmingham became a leading steel producer. - Memphis became a leading lumber center. - Richmond became the capital of the nation’s tobacco industry. - Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina overtook New England as the chief producers of textiles. - By 1900, the South had 400 cotton mills, employing almost 100,000 white workers. - Railroads were integrated into the national rail network, with an equal rate in population growth. ### Continued Poverty - Despite progress and growth, the South remained a largely agricultural region and the poorest in the country. - Northern financing dominated much of the southern economy. - Northern investors controlled the South's steel industry, with a large share of the profits going to northern banks and financiers. - Industrial workers earned half of the national average and worked longer hours. - Most Southerners remained in traditional roles as sharecroppers and farmers. - The poverty of the majority of southerners was not caused by northern capitalists, but by the South’s late start at industrialization and a poorly educated workforce. - The South failed to invest in technical and engineering schools. - Southern leaders provided little support for the education of either poor whites or African Americans, leading to limited economic opportunities in the fast-changing world. ### Agriculture - The South’s postwar economy remained tied to growing cotton. - The number of acres planted in cotton more than doubled between 1870 and 1900. - Increased productivity only added to the farmer's problems, as a glut of cotton caused prices to decline by more than 50 percent by the 1890s. - Per capita income in the South actually declined, and many farmers lost their farms. - More than half the region’s white farmers and three-quarters of the black farmers were tenants or sharecroppers. - They strained to make a living from small plots of 15-20 acres. - A shortage of credit forced farmers to take out loans from local merchants, putting them into debt. ### Fighting Back - Farmers felt victimized by the larger, impersonal forces of the industrial economy. - Industrial corporations kept prices high, wholesalers and retailers took a cut, and railroads charged high or discriminatory rates. - Local and state governments taxed property and land heavily but did not tax income from stocks and bonds. - Tariffs protecting various industries were viewed as another unfair tax paid by farmers and consumers. - Farmers sought to organize for their common interests, with the formation of the National Grange of Patrons of Husbandry in 1868. - This was a social and educational organization for farmers and their families that existed in almost every state. - The Granges worked in economics and politics to defend members against middlemen, trusts, and railroads. - They established cooperatives (businesses owned and run by farmers), and lobbied state legislatures to regulate railroad rates. ### Interstate Commerce Act (1886) - The Supreme Court upheld the right of a state to regulate businesses of a public nature, such as railroads. - States could only regulate local or short-haul rates, while railroads adapted to the Granger laws by raising long-haul rates. - The Supreme Court ruled that individual states could not regulate interstate commerce, nullifying many state regulations achieved by the Grangers. - This led to the Interstate Commerce Act of 1886, which required railroad rates to be “reasonable and just.” - It also set up the Interstate Commerce Commission, which had the power to investigate and prosecute pools, rebates, and other discriminatory practices. ### Farmers' Alliances - Farmers formed state and regional groups known as Farmers’ Alliances, which taught about scientific farming methods and engaged in economic and political action. - This potential for creating an independent national political party came to fruition in 1890 when the National Alliance met in Ocala, Florida, to address rural problems and created a political platform. - They supported direct election of U.S. senators, lower tariff rates, a graduated income tax, and a new banking system regulated by the federal government. - They also demanded that Treasury notes and silver be used to increase the amount of money in circulation, raising crop prices. - They proposed federal storage for farmers’ crops and federal loans to free farmers from dependency on middlemen. ## Segregation - After Reconstruction in 1877, the North ended its protection of the freedmen. - Democratic politicians came to power in the South, supporting the business community and white supremacists. - They favored separating, or segregating, public facilities for blacks and whites, treating African Americans as social inferiors. ### Discrimination and the Supreme Court - Federal laws had protected southern blacks from discrimination, but the Supreme Court struck down Reconstruction acts during the late 1870s. - In the Civil Rights Cases of 1883, the Court ruled that Congress could not legislate against racial discrimination practiced by private citizens. - In 1896, the Plessy v. Ferguson decision upheld a Louisiana law requiring "separate but equal accommodations" for white and black passengers, supporting a wave of segregation laws known as Jim Crow laws. - These laws were adopted beginning in the 1870s and required segregated washrooms, drinking fountains, park benches, and other facilities in virtually all public places. - It also led to the disfranchisement of black voters, with various political and legal devices being invented to prevent them from voting. ### Responding to Segregation - African Americans responded to segregation, disenfranchisement, and lynching, though they were oppressed but not powerless. - Ida B. Wells, editor of the Memphis Free Speech, a black newspaper, campaigned against lynching and the Jim Crow laws; her work was moved to the North due to death threats. - Bishop Henry Turner formed the International Migration Society in 1894; many African Americans moved to Kansas and Oklahoma. - Booker T. Washington advocated accommodation and self-reliance by working hard and earning money in a way that was "a little green ballot." - Washington established the Tuskegee Institute for African Americans in 1881 and argued for economic self-help and racial harmony. - In 1900, he organized the National Negro Business League to support black-owned businesses. - This led to mixed reactions from future civil rights leaders; some, like W.E.B. Du Bois, opposed segregation. ## Farm Problems: North, South, and West - By the end of the 1800s, farmers were a minority in the United States. - The number of farms doubled between 1860 and 1900, while people working as farmers declined from 60 percent to less than 37 percent in 1900. ### Changes in Agriculture - Farming became increasingly commercialized and specialized in the late 1800s. - Farmers concentrated on raising single cash crops, like corn or wheat, and purchasing food and goods from stores and catalogs. - They became more dependent on large, expensive machines, creating a need for bigger farms that were run like factories. - Small, marginal farms were driven out of business, facing the same problems as farmers in all regions of the United States. ### Falling Prices - Increased American production and increased production in Argentina, Russia, and Canada caused prices to drop for wheat, cotton, and other crops. - Each dollar was worth more as the money supply did not grow as fast as the economy, which put downward pressure on prices or deflation. ### Rising Costs - Industrial corporations kept prices high, wholesalers and retailers took a cut, and railroads, warehouses, and elevators charged high or discriminatory rates for shipment and storage of grain. - Local and state governments taxed property and land heavily but did not tax income from stocks and bonds. - Tariffs that protected American industries were viewed as unfair taxes paid by farmers. ### The Key Terms - **Western Environment (GEO)** - Great American Desert - 100th meridian - buffalo herds - Great Plains - mineral resources - **Western Development (WXT)** - mining frontier - boomtowns - Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 - commercial cities - longhorns - vaqueros - cattle drives - barbed wire - dry farming - Homestead Act - **American Indians (MIG, POL)** - Great Plains Tribes - Southwest Tribes - federal treaty policies - causes of “Indian wars” - Little Big Horn - assimilationists - Ghost Dance Movement - Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 - **Mexican Americans (PEO)** - Mexican War Aftermath - Spanish-speaking areas - Migration for jobs - **Conservation Movement (GEO)** - deforestation - Yellowstone - Yosemite - Department of Interior - conservationists - preservationists - Forest Reserve Act of 1891 - Forest Management Act of 1897 - John Muir - Sierra Club - **Southern Development (WXT)** - “New South” - Henry Grady - Birmingham (steel) - Memphis (lumber) - Richmond (tobacco) - integrated rail network - agriculture's dominance - sharecropping - tenant farmers - George Washington Carver - Helen Hunt Jackson - Dawes Act of 1887 - Tuskegee Institute - **Racial Discrimination (MIG, POL)** - white supremacists - Civil Rights Cases of 1883 - Plessy v. Ferguson - Jim Crow laws - literacy tests - poll taxes - grandfather clauses - white primaries - white juries - lynch mobs - economic discrimination - African American migration - Ida B. Wells - Booker T. Washington - economic cooperation - **Farm Protests Movements (POL)** - markets and farmers - crop price deflation - railroads and middlemen - National Grange Movement - cooperatives - Granger laws - Munn v. Illinois - Wabash v. Illinois - Interstate Commerce Commission - Ocala Platform of 1890 - **Frontier Closing (CUL)** - census of 1890 - Frederick Jackson Turner, *The Significance of the Frontier in American History* - role of cities, “nature’s metropolis”