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Explore the impact of Westward Expansion, the decline of the American Bison, and the problems with the Reservation System in the United States. Learn about famous Native Americans, battles, and the Dawes Act. Discover the challenges faced in building the Transcontinental Railroad and the economic consequences that followed. The settlement of the West by miners, cattlemen, and farmers, as well as the role of barbed wire and the railroad, will also be discussed.
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WESTWARD EXPANSION
Split Notes • Great American Desert • Last section in U.S. to be settled • “moniker” – name meant bad land
American Bison buffalo
American Bison (Buffalo) Indians had used buffalo for food, hide for clothing and shelter, bone, teeth for weapons, horn for ceremonials – killed their way of life 60 Million in 1860 – almost extinct by 1900 Why??
Buffalo Skulls Why???
Transcontinental Railroad
Plains Indians Numerous tribes Did not band together Dependent on the buffalo – hunting and gathering DID NOT want to change SOLUTION – move them !!!
Reservation System Problems Didn’t want to go Far from their lands – different life Land was not good (desert/mountains) Corruption – Indian agents
Two new government Departments formed – Deptof Interior —”coaxed” Indians to go to reservations Indian Agents War Dept --“handled” the Indians who resisted (the cavalry) – becomes Department of Defense
Famous Native Americans • Black Kettle – Sand Creek Massacre • Red Cloud – Declared war on U.S. • Crazy Horse – Great war chief • Sitting Bull – Medicine man (never signed a treaty) • Chief Joseph – “I will fight no more forever”
Red Cloud Sioux Chief – 1st to declare war on the United States (Fetterman massacre) Bozeman Trail https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4bKAGROSGk
Sitting Bull Sioux (Hunkpapa Lakota) Chief – never signed a treaty – “medicine” man – mystic leader – saw visions . . . led the Indians with Crazy Horse against Custer
Crazy Horse Sioux (Ogala Lakota) – great warrior – led the Indians with Sitting Bull against Custer
Ft. Laramie Treaty 1868 • Treaty signed by most Indian tribes – agreed to move to the reservation in South Dakota
General George Custer
Battle of the Little Big Horn • “Custer’s Last Stand” • 268 die (all of Custer’s 7th Cavalry) • Indians led by – Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull • Great Indian victory - - - but ……
Chief Joseph I will fight no more forever
Chief Joseph rides to surrender
Chief Joseph’s Speech “I am tired of fighting. Our chiefs are killed. Looking Glass is dead. The old men are dead. . . . It is cold and we have no blankets. The little children are freezing to death . . . Hear me my chiefs, I am tired. My heart is sad and sick. From where the sun now stands, from this day forward, I will fight no more forever.”
The Battle of Wounded Knee • The “Ghost Dance” - Sioux religion • promised a return of Indian lands • promised an end to white oppression • The Battle of Wounded Knee - 1890 • A massacre of 300 Sioux • 130 women, old men, small children • Revenge for the “Little Big Horn”
Dawes Act – 1887 • Divided reservations into sections for each nation. • Gave each family 160 acres to homestead (theirs after 25 years) • U.S. citizenship to be granted after 25 years.
Dawes Act – Pros & Cons • Con – (Indians) – “Who owns the air we breath? Who owns the clouds in the sky? (not land owners) • Pro – (Government) – • break up strong ties • Assimilate (white man’s way) • Of 138 million acres – Indians were cheated out of all but 52 million
Assimilation • To absorb a group into the culture of a larger population. • What does that mean??????
“Whatever you have wanted of me, I have obeyed…” Sitting Bull
Transcontinental Railroad
Paid by the mile! It was a race!! Union Pacific Railroad – from Omaha Nebraska to Promontory Point, Utah Central Pacific Railroad – from Sacramento, California to Promontory Point, Utah
The workers Union Pacific – ex-Union and Confederate soldiers – ex-slaves – Irish immigrants Central Pacific – Chinese immigrants Transcontinental Railroad
Difficulties building the railroad • Hard to blast through the mountains • Weather – cold, hot, wet, dry • Tools – • Dynamite • Shovels • Sledge hammers • Pick axes
East meets West Promontory Point, Utah: May 10, 1869
Economic Consequences • Coal • Steel • Meat packing (refrigerated car – Gustavus Swift) • Grain • Lumber
Three Groups are Responsible for Settling the West: • Miners – 1st • Cattlemen – 2nd • Farmers – 3rd
Barbed Wire • Joseph Glidden “The end of the open range.”
Final “Straw” Winter 1887-88 Cattle drives “chill out”
MOST IMPORTANT FACTOR IN SETTLEMENT OF THE WEST WAS THE RAILROADS.
#18 President Ulysses S. Grant (R) • Famous Civil War General • Hated the sight of blood (made him sick) • Smoked about 20 cigars a day (would die of throat cancer) *drank pickle juice • His presidency was filled with corruption – he appointed friends and old military buddies to high positions (Spoils System) • Secretary of the Interior and Secretary of War took kickbacks from profits slated to help the Indians – “The Indian Ring”
#19 Rutherford B. Hayes (R) • Nickname – “His Fraudulency” • Wife hated Alcohol and wouldn’t serve it – called her “Lemonade Lucy” • The family spent every night singing gospel hymns • Made a deal to end Reconstruction – pulled out the troops • Was very honest