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Explore the clash of cultures on the plains, receding native population, bison herds, and the agricultural revolution shaping the West in the late 19th century.
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Chapter 26 The Great West and the Agricultural Revolution, 1865–1896
I. The Clash of Cultures on the Plains • Migration and conflict • Indians forced west, displaced other Indians • Soldiers and settlers on the plains • Spread disease, killed bison, conflicts with natives • The federal government • Pacification via treaties (voluntary & forced) • Started the reservation system in the West
II. Receding Native Population • The Indian wars in the West were often savage • General Custer’s Battle of the Little Bighorn (1876) • Flight of the Nez Perce Indians (1877) • Battle of Wounded Knee (1890) • The “taming” of the Indians was engineered by • “Bullets, Bacteria and Bottles”
III. Bellowing Herds of Bison • The staff of life for Native Americans • Provided food, clothes, shelter, tools, energy • Effect of the railroads • The massacre of the herds began in deadly earnest • Numbers declined 20,000,000(1865) - 1,000 (1885)
IV. The End of the Trail • National conscience began to stir uneasily • Dawes Severalty Act (1887) • Reflecting the forced-civilization reformers’ view • Former reservation land taken from ‘tribes’ • The Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 • The “Indian New Deal” • Partially reversed the individualistic approach • Tried to restore the tribal basis of Indian life
V. Mining: From Dishpan to Ore Breaker • 1849 – California Gold Rush • 1858- Colorado, Nevada, Montana, Idaho Booms • Comstock Lode • Boomtowns, then “ghost towns” • Results of the mining industry • “Booms” & “Rushes” attracted people and wealth • Eventually industrialized (mechanized big business) • Facilitated the building of railroads • Intensified the conflict between whites and Indians
VI. Beef Bonanzas and the Long Drive • RRs allowed western cattle to be shipped east • “Beef barons” (Swifts and Armours) industrialized • The “Long Drive” by Cowboys (His, Anglo, black) • Grazed en route on the free government grass • Cattle boom ends • Conflict w/ farmers & ranchers (Range Wars) • Winter of 1886-1887 • Overexpansion and overgrazing took their tolls
VII. The Farmers’ Frontier • Homestead Act (1862) • First time land ‘given’ to people, not businesses • Not completely successful (small lots, fraud) • RRs helped develop the agricultural West • The profitable marketing of crops & beef • Sold ‘free’ land, transported immigrants • Innovations & inventions • “Dry farming” took root on the plains • Tough strains of Russian wheat • Barbed wire - Joseph F. Glidden (1874 • Dams & irrigation projects (Built by Feds)
VIII. The Far West Comes of Age • Fantastic surge in migration - 1870s to 1890s • Eight new western states joined the union • Oklahoma Land Rush • April 22, 1889, again in 1891, 1892, and 1893 • Land from different Indian reservations • Congress made it a territory (1889) • In 1907 it became the “Sooner State”
IX. The Fading Frontier • In 1890, the ‘closing’ of the frontier • Frederick Jackson Turner’s thesis • The frontier was a mindset and a “safety valve” • Trans-Mississippi West formed a distinct era & area • Native Americans, Hispanic, Anglo cultures merged • Topography & environment was more severe • Federal government played it’s largest role • Mystical proportions in the American mind • Immortalized by writers, painters, movie, TV • Unrealistic, dramatized, celebrated
X. The Farm Becomes a Factory • Farming changed into single “cash” crops • Mechanization of agriculture • Large-scale farmers were specialists & businessmen • The start of “agribusiness” • Agriculture was big business in California • Phenomenally productive Central Valley • Farmers were producers and consumers • Desired eastern goods and lifestyle • Sears and Roebuck mail order catalog (1888)
XI. Deflation Dooms the Debtor • Farmers borrow money before making money • As long as prices stayed high all went well • Low prices and/or deflation created problems • Part of the problem static money supply • Hard to get credit • Overproduction caused lower prices
XII. Unhappy Farmers • Mother nature conspired against agriculture • Insects (grasshoppers, boll weevil) • The good earth was going sour • Overuse, flooding, drought • Operating costs • All taxes were land-based • Dependent on “trusts” (harvest, RR, barbed wire) • Farmers made up ½ of the population in 1890 • Disorganized and independent
XIII. The Farmers Take Their Stand • Agrarian unrest • The Grange • Social and educational at first (self-improvement) • Later established cooperatively owned stores • Embittered Grangers went into politics • Chiefly in Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Minnesota • SCOTUS Wabash (1886) limited Grangers’ influence • Limited state power concerning interstate commerce • Many joined Greenback Labor party (1870s - 80s) • Elected 21 members of Congress, then faded
XIV. Prelude to Populism • The Farmer’s Alliance (Texas in late 1870s) • Expression of rural discontent • Didn’t include the landless, share-croppers, blacks • Populists: the People’s party • Frustrated farmers attacked the “money trust” • Called for nationalizing the railroads, telephone, telegraph • Instituted a graduated income tax • Wanted free and unlimited coinage of silver
XV. Coxey’s Army and the Pullman Strike • Coxey’s marchers wanted unemployment relief • Wanted public works program • Were arrested as they entered Washington • Labor protests got violent • Pullmanstrike of 1894 • President Cleveland called in federal troops • Both farmers and industrial workers embittered
XVI. Golden McKinley and Silver Bryan • The election of 1896 • Leading Republican candidate was William McKinley • Supported gold standard (“gold bugs”) • Protective tariff (pro-business) • Democratic camp nominated William Jennings Bryan • Didn’t nominated President Cleveland • Democrats split over silver • The Populists (“Silverites”) • Endorsed William Jennings Bryan for president • Supported Free silver (Bimetalism)
