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UNIT I Introduction. “The Gilded Age” Ch 8, 9, & 10. The Gilded Age. Post-Civil War and post-Reconstruction eras Substantial growth in population and land. Extravagant displays of wealth, materialism and excess of America's upper class Characterized by political corruption.
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UNIT I Introduction “The Gilded Age” Ch 8, 9, & 10
The Gilded Age • Post-Civil War and post-Reconstruction eras • Substantial growth in population and land. • Extravagant displays of wealth, materialism and excess of America's upper class • Characterized by political corruption
The Gilded Age The West Industrialization Political Machine • Miners • Ranchers • Farming the plains • Commercial farms • Plains Indian conflicts • Native America Assimilation • Population • Technology • Railroads • Big Business • Working conditions • Labor unions • Immigration • Nativism • Urbanization • Social Darwinism • Reform
Resource Exploitation. Depletion of the resources Mining Precious Metals Ranching Cattle Farming “Rain follows the plow” Native Americans Settling the West
Settling the West • Mining • Gold-Silver-Copper • Led to Boomtowns • Towns were populated by people that came in support of Miners. • Cooks - Shop Keepers – Blacksmiths – Tailors (levis) • Boom and Bust cycle • Mines dry up….Economy collapses….Ghost Town * Comstock Lode- the first major U.S. discovery of silver and gold ore, located under what is now Virginia City, Nevada.
Cattle Ranchers Texas, Oklahoma & New Mexico Civil War depletes Cattle in Great Plains. Supply and Demand for Beef. Railroads connect east and great plains Long Drive steers cattle long distances to Rail Roads for $$$$$$$$$. Chisholm Trail most widely used over 1.5 million. Settling the West
Resource Exploitation • Farming • “Rain follows the Plow” • Railroads • Easy to reach Plains • Homestead Act • Govt. Granted land • Concerns • Hot Summers • Brutally cold winters • Lack of water and trees • Insects destroy crops
Settling the West • Farming • Adapting to conditions • Dry farming • Deep planting of seeds to utilize moisture. • Wheat Farming • Bad soil • New technology • Cheap land = big profits • US leader in Wheat • Too much wheat =???? • Family farms lost.
Settling the West • Native Americans • Different tribes but similar values • Settlers • Took hunting grounds • Slaughtered buffalo • Broke treaties • Forcibly moved Native Americans to new lands. • NA resist • Attacks on settlers • Uprisings • Defending territories
Resistance • Gold discoveries in Dakotas and Wyoming brings Settlers to reservations • US sets up outposts to deter NA’s…Opposite effect. • Chief Red Cloud • Successfully fought off settlers and Army regiments in Wyoming. • Met with President Grant • Established peace treaty that US ignored. • Forced onto a reservation.
Resistance • Dakota uprising (Chief Little Crow) • NA’s starving on reservations • US late with payments (annuities) • “Let them eat grass” • Dakota slaughtered settlers • 307 Dakota sentenced • 38 put to death.
Resistance • Sand Creek Massacre- Chief Black Kettle • Sandy Creek, CO • Colonel Chivington- “Kill and scalp all, big and little!” • The Cheyenne were waiting at Fort Lyon to negotiate a peace treaty. • Chivington ignored the US and White flag and attacked. • NA’s massacred. • No Charges against Chivington…Angered many Americans.
RESISTANCE • Fetterman’s Massacre • Chief Crazy Horse- Lakota Indians • Crazy Horse tricked Fetterman and 80 soldiers into following a small band of Lakota, & lured him into an ambush where hundreds of Lakota Indians waited to massacre him & his men.
Resistance • 1867- Indian Peace Commission • Many NA’s ignore reservation and hunted in the plains. • Buffalo slaughter outrages NA’s • Roads and Trains cut through reservations • Food and Supplies were not delivered as promised. • Both sides violate treaty.
RESISTANCE • Battle of Little Big Horn • “Custer’s Last Stand” • US sends troops to S.Dakota • US Army attacks a group of NA’s. • NA’s much larger than Expected. • NA’s led by Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse overwhelmed the 7th Calvary • Sitting Bull- • Spiritual Leader of Lakota Indians. • Had a vision of victory of LBH which inspired warriors. • Refused to live on reservation and fled to Canada after LBH hunter by US troops.
Resistance • Nez Percé Chief Joseph • Americans tried to force Chief Joseph’s tribe onto a smaller Reservation in Idaho • “Our Chiefs are killed…The little Children are freezing to death. My People…have no blankets, no food 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.”
Ghost Dance- Ritual Dance for the day of reckoning. Return to the old way of life. Buffalo would return Settlers would disappear Reunite with ancestors Resistance
Resistance • Tragedy at Wounded Knee • Police sent to arrest SB for the Ghost Dance. • In protest of arrest gunfire broke out killing SB. • NA’s fled but were caught by troops @ Wounded Knee Creek. • Troops tried to force a surrender. • Fighting broke out. 200 Lakota and 25 US troops killed.
Assimilation • “Don’t kill the man just the Indian” • Teach them to speak English • Force them to be Christians • Dawes Act - passed by Congress in 1887 • 160 acres per family • 80 per single adult • tried to "Americanize" the Indians by breaking up the tribal system. • It failed. (could not farm and were not given farming equipment) • Most Indian tribes confined to reservations in the West. • The Dawes Act represents two conflicting ideas. • Americans would accept Indians as citizens. • But they would not accept them as Indians.