Looking to the West, 1860-1900

1. Looking to the West, 1860-1900

2. Great Plains, Pacific Northwest, and the Southwest develop

3. Pacific Railways Acts of 1862 and 1864 • Passed during the Civil War when the Northern Republics dominated the Congress (no Southern opposition) • Union Pacific and Central Pacific Railroads • Received huge land grants from the federal government • 10 square miles of public land on each side of track • Railroads profited from selling land near tracks • Farmers needed railroads to transport goods to city

4. Morrill Land Grant Act of 1862

5. Homestead Act 1862 – 160 acres of public land to anyone who met these requirements

6. By 1900 – 600,000 claims of 80 million acresPROBLEMS

7. Life in the West

9. African Americans in the West

10. Frontier Women

11. Women’s Suffrage in the West

12. Native Americans – 1830s Jackson removed… to the Great Plains

14. Indian Territory • Located in today’s Oklahoma

15. Railroads and Settlers • Settlers felt they had a right to the land • Some settlers signed treaties with natives, but both sides had different intentions of what the treaties meant • The Federal Government wanted to place natives on Reservations (federal land set aside for natives)

19. Sioux – fought westward expansion!

22. Nez Perce - Northwest

23. “Tell General Howard I know his heart. What he told me before, I have it in my heart. I am tired of fighting. Our Chiefs are killed; Looking Glass is dead, Ta HoolHool Shute is dead. The old men are all dead. It is the young men who say yes or no. He who led on the young men is dead. It is cold, and we have no blankets; the little children are freezing to death. My people, some of them, have run away to the hills, and have no blankets, no food. No one knows where they are - perhaps freezing to death. I want to have time to look for my children, and see how many of them I can find. Maybe I shall find them among the dead. Hear me, my Chiefs! I am tired; my heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands I will fight no more forever.” Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce

24. September 30, 1877 • Nez Perce headed to Canada, but was blocked by the military • Many died while being held in the Indian territory, including all of Joseph’s children • Eventually Nez Perce were moved to a reservation in Washington state

25. Change in Culture of the West

26. Dawes Act of 1887

27. Indian Territory (Oklahoma)

28. Farming on the Plains

29. Farming • Dry farming – crops that do not require a great deal of water • 1870s – improvements – plow, harrows to break ground, seed drills • 1875 – steam powered threshers • 1890s – corn huskers and corn binders

30. 1862 – Department of Agriculture – added under the Morrill Act • 1880s and 1890s – formulated statistics on markets, studied crop and plant diseases • Distributed publications on crop rotation, hybridization, topsoil

31. Bonanza farms – farms controlled by large businesses and managed by professionals • Single cash crops • Surplus – prices fell

32. Debt • Farmers bought to much land and had to mortgage • 1849 – California Gold Rush (Sutter’s Mill, California 1848) • 1859 – rumors of gold strikes in the area of Pike’s Peak, Colorado • “Pikes Peak or Bust!” • Nevada – Comstock Lode • Mining towns led to gambling and drunkeness

33. Mining Techniques • placer mining – shoveled loose dirt into boxes and ran through water • 1850s and 1860s – deeply buried gold which was harder to get • Larger companies had to do the mining

34. Cattle Industry • Texas – early 1800s • Longhorn cattle • 1860s and 1870s – booming period • Plains – areas to pasture • Demand for beef in large cities • Railroad aided in cattle industry • Long drive – cowboys would move cattle from place to place (18 hours in the saddle)

35. Changes in the cattle industry by the 1880s • 1874 – Joseph Glidden – invented barbed wire • Overstocking of cattle • 1885 – beef prices began to fall • 1885 – 1886 – hard winter (loss of 85% of cattle)

36. Problems

37. Tariffs • Tariffs – encourage the sale of goods produced at home by taxing imports • Hurt farmers • Raised price of manufactured goods • Foreigners had no $ to buy American crops • Helped farmers • Protecting them from farm imports from other countries

38. Money Issue • Value of money is linked to amount in circulation • If money supply goes up =value of money goes down • CAUSES INFLATION • Reduce the supply of money and the value of money goes up • CAUSES DEFLATION • After Civil War – period of deflation

39. Monetary policy – printing/producing money or not • Disagreement over which is best.

40. Farmers want more money in circulation because they could pay their debts with cheaper dollars • Manufacturers and other businesses want less money in circulation because people can buy more goods

41. 1873 – nation went on the Gold Standard • Gold Standard: Countries set their currencies to match a specified amount of gold • Set it at $20.67 per ounce • Silverites were mad! Silver miners and western farmers are furious. • Want free silver – unlimited coining of silver to increase the supply of money

42. 1878 – Bland Allison Act – required government to purchase and coin more silver, increase $ supply, and cause inflation • Vetoed by President Hayes • Congress Overrode his veto • However, the treasure refused to buy more than the minimum under the law and refused to circulate silver dollars

43. 1890 – Sherman Silver Purchase Act • Passed to appease farmers who were suffering from debt by causing inflation • Government was required to purchase an amount of silver each month • Repealed in 1893 to prevent the depletion of gold reserves

44. 1867 – The Grange (Patrons of Husbandry) • Farms form cooperatives to obtain lower prices on equipment and supplies • Save money by buying in large quantities • Does not address the real problem: overproduction

45. Greenback Party – wanted to circulate more paper money to cause inflation • Elected 14 members to Congress in 1878 • Power faded because of the focus on silver

46. Farmer’s Alliances

47. Natural Disasters with no Federal Help • 1882 – Mississippi flooded • 1886 – 1887 – drought • 1887 – blizzard in the Northern Plains

48. 1876-1892 – no president won a majority of the popular vote • Not powerful presidents – usually protected American industry • James Garfield through Benjamin Harrison

49. 1887 – Texas Seed Bill – would provide seed grain to aid drought victims in Texas who used up all their seed corn • Grover Cleveland vetoed it • “though the people support the government, the government shouldn’t support the people”

50. 1887 – Interstate Commerce Act • Regulated railroad prices by prohibiting short haul/long haul price discrimination • Illegal to give special rates • Developed the Interstate Commerce Commission to monitor the railroads