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US History Old West Unit (1865-1890)

US History Old West Unit (1865-1890). Knight. Presidents During the Old West. Grover Cleveland 1885-1889. Chester A. Arthur 1881-1885. James Garfield 1881. Rutherford B. Hayes 1877-1881. Frontier Experience.

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US History Old West Unit (1865-1890)

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  1. US History Old West Unit (1865-1890) Knight

  2. Presidents During the Old West Grover Cleveland 1885-1889 Chester A. Arthur 1881-1885 James Garfield 1881 Rutherford B. Hayes 1877-1881

  3. Frontier Experience • Following Civil War (1865) land west of Mississippi River was settled mostly by Native Americans • Great Plains- the grassland extending through the west-central portion of the United States View Settlers Expand the Land Video

  4. Family Life on Plains Native Americans and the Frontier Video • Native Americans • Men hunted buffalo, women skinned and prepared hides, cooked food, cared for children • Groups were led by counsels • Exodusters • African Americans who left the South following the Civil War (1865) to come to the West for a better life

  5. Family life on Plains View Gold Rush Video • White/Black Settlers from Eastern US • First brought west after discovery of gold and silver • Mining camps and frontier towns sprang up • Land was available, claimed Indians had not “improved” it. Boomtowns

  6. Family Life on the Plains • Homestead Act 1862 • 160 acres of land. Free if they could cultivate it and make improvements after 5 years • Over 600,000 families took land from 1862 to 1900 • Peaked in Oklahoma Land Rush of 1889 (Sooners/Boomers) • Many settlers built homes out of sod “soddies”-lack of wood • Women worked as hard as men on Frontier and life was extremely hard View Land as Opportunity video View Homestead Act video

  7. Family Life on the Plains • Inventions that improved life on plains • Barbed wire -prevented animals from wandering off • Reaper -sped up harvesting • Steel plow -made planting more efficient • Steel windmill -brought up underground water for irrigation View Agriculture advancements on Plains video John Deere

  8. American Cowboy and Cattle Boom • American Cowboys borrowed many customs from Mexican vaquero • (Chaps, spurs, hat, etc) • Long Drive -moving cattle from distant ranges to busy railroad centers that shipped the cattle to market • Cattle industry helped encourage settlement out west. Cattle boom ended because of barbed wire and eventually the railroads Cattle Stockyards in Chicago 1876 View Cattleman video

  9. Bonanza Farms • Bonanza Farms -large farms in the West and Midwest that were controlled by large businesses and run by hundreds of workers. Specialized in 1 or 2 crops. Drought of 1890’s had devastating impact

  10. Railroad’s Impact on the West • Government provided free land and gave money to encourage Railroads (RR) to expand West • Transcontinental RR was built by Union Pacific and Central Pacific RRs, from Nebraska to California. Met at Promontory Point, Utah in 1869. • Impact of RR on West • Settled west • Caused cities to grow • Economy grew • Encouraged the development of new inventions/methods (refrigerated RR cars, mail order catalogs, RR delivered mail) View RR video

  11. Conflicts between Native Americans and Settlers • Assimilation-a plan in which Native Americans would give up their beliefs and way of life to become a part of the white or American culture • Assimilation Laws • Cut hair, speak English, stop practicing their own religion, etc. • Dawes Act -1887-gave Indian families 160 acres of land, encouraged them to become farmers and “Americanize” • Broke up large reservations • Created more land for whites Boarding house to assimilate Native American girls View Native American video

  12. Conflicts between Native Americans and Settlers View Buffalo Soldier video • After Civil War, US government fought war with Indians over Western Lands • Buffalo Soldier-a black soldier in U.S. Army in the West • Destruction of buffalo was major blow to Plains Indians way of life View Destruction of Buffalo video

  13. Conflicts between Native Americans and Settlers Battle of Little Bighorn • Battle of Little Bighorn 1876 • Large numbers of Plains Indians were off reservations • General Custer and 7th Cavalry • Last major victory for Plains Indians against U.S. Army • Caused outrage in America Custer Sitting Bull Effects of Battle of Little Bighorn Crazy Horse*

  14. Conflicts between Native Americans and Settlers • Battle or Massacre at Wounded Knee • Ghost Dance • Dec. 28, 1890 the 7th Cavalry rounded up 350 starving and freezing Sioux & took them to Wounded Knee Creek in South Dakota • A shot was fired and U.S. army unloaded on mostly women and children • Killed 300 Sioux • Left bodies to freeze on ground • Brought an end to Indian Wars and to an era *Quote on page 208 View Massacre at Wounded Knee Video

  15. Closing of the West • Frederick Jackson Turner wrote Frontier Thesis in 1893-all the land out west had been settled, no more unknown land to explore. (Is credited with increasing Imperialism amongst some in the U.S.-TR) • Helen H. Jackson wrote Century of Dishonor- 1881, about broken promises/treaties by American government to Indians View life at the end of 1800’s.

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