Chapter 6: The South and West Transformed Section 2: Westward Expansion & the American Indian

1. Chapter 6: The South and West TransformedSection 2: Westward Expansion & the American Indian

2. Text Notes • By the end of the Civil War, about 250,000 Indians lived in the region west of the Mississippi River. Referred to as “the great American desert”. Although, they were lumped together as Indians in the minds of most Americans. Native Americans embraced many different belief systems, languages, and ways of life.

3. Bureau of Indian Affairs • The gov’t agency responsible for dealing with American Indian issues.

4. Text Notes • In the early 1800s, the gov’t carried out a policy of moving Native Americans out of the way of white settlement. President Jackson moved the Cherokees off their land in Georgia. And unto the Great Plains. This land was thought to be uninhabitable.

5. Reasons for Westward Expansion • Manifest Destiny- belief that God intended whites to settle west. • Gold and silver discovered in Indian territory. • Americans wanted a railroad that crossed the continent.

6. Reservations • Separate areas set aside by the gov’t for the Indians. • By the late 1860s, Indians were placed here.

7. Text Notes • Two more staggering blows threatened Native American civilization . White settlers introduced diseases to which Indians had no immunity, and the important buffalo herds were destroyed. In the 1870s, hunters slaughtered hundreds of buffalo in a single day.

8. Sand Creek Massacre • Cheyenne surrendered here, only to be massacred by the army. • 1864 • Most were women and children • Americans outraged!

9. John M. Chivington • Colonial of the US army at Sand Creek. He ordered the massacre. • “It is right and honorable to use any means under God’s heaven to kill Indians”

10. Text Notes • Once the Civil War ended, regiments of Union troops- both white and African American- were sent to the west to subdue the Indians. Requirement posters promised Calvary could claim anything taken from the Indians. The federal gov’t felt this was necessary to maintain control.

11. Sitting Bull • A spiritual leader and medicine man of the Sioux. • 1831-1890 • Had a dream

12. The Fort Laramie Treaty1868 • Sioux agreed to move their territory to the Black Hills. • Often Inidans drifted from reservations and gov’t didn’t hold up their end of the deal.

13. Text Notes • The conditions facing Native Americans had all the ingredients for tragedy. Indians were confined to isolated and impoverished areas. Promises made to them were eventually broken. Frustration turned to violence. Guns replaced treaties and the gov’t crushed the rebellions.

14. George Armstrong Custer • 1839-1876 • General of the Army’s 7th Calvary district. Led his men into a deadly trap at Little Bighorn.

15. Battle of Little Bighorn • Custer and his men were massacred by Sioux and Cheyenne. • 1876 • First major battle won by American Indians.

17. Nez Perce • A group in Oregon that refused to surrender and tried to flee to Canada. • Made it 30m outside Canada.

18. Chief Joseph • Nez Perce leader. • 1871-1904 • “I am tried of fighting.our chief are killed…It is cold and we have no blankets.the little children are freezing to death”

19. A Century of Dishonor • 1881 • A book written by Helen Hunt Jackson criticizing the gov’t actions against American Indians

20. Assimilation • Many whites believed that the only way for the American Indian to survive is if they were blended with America’s “White Society.” • Late 1800s

21. Dawes General Allotment Act • 1887 • American Indian families would receive a 160 acre lot for farming.

22. Wovoka • A Sioux religious leader that led a religious movement.

23. The Ghost Dance • This would cause white settlers to vanish • Dead Indian ancestors to come back to life • and the buffalo to return.

24. Massacre at Wounded Knee • December 29, 1890 • 300 Sioux and 30 soldiers were dead. Sioux were defenseless, but slaughtered.

25. Text Notes • In 1868 the Gov’t admitted its failure and granted the Navajo a reservation in New Mexico and Arizona. They rebuilt their communities and by the 1880’s their economies had stabilized.

27. Chapter 6: The South & West Transformed Section 3: Transforming the West

28. Comstock Lode • One of the world’s richest silver veins. • Over a 20 year period it mined about 500 m. worth of precious metal.

29. William Seward • US Secretary of State that purchased Alaska. • Less than 2 cents an acre • Many Americans considered it worthless calling it : Seward’s Icebox.

30. Text Notes • From the Sierra Nevada to the Black Hills, there was a similar pattern to the development of mining regions. First came the discovery of gold or silver. Then, as word spread people began to pour into an area. The discovery of gold at Pikes Peak in Colorado are among the first.

31. Life in Mining Communities • Male residents • Different nationalities • Crude and uncomfortable • No law enforcement • Intense competition • Violent

32. Viligants • Self appointed law enforcers who punished law breakers. • Late 1800s

33. Saloons • Owners had a better chance than miners of striking it rich

34. Text Notes • The first western mining was done by individuals, who extracted the minerals from the surface. By the 1870s, the reaming mineral wealth was located deep underground. Big companies with the capitol to buy mining equipment took over the industry.

35. Hydraulic Mining • Water shot at high pressure ripped away gravel and dirt to expose the mineral beneath. • Devastated the environment. • Late 1800s

36. Land Grants • Gov’t provided land to private investors to build railroad. • Late 1800s

37. Transcontinental Railroad • A rail link between the east and west coast. • US expected railroads to built by private enterprise. • 1863-1869

38. Affects of Railroads • The nation was tied together by moving products and people. • Spurred industrial development. • The growth of towns and cities were stimulated.

39. Text Notes • During the Civil War, Republicans tried to manage western development so that new western states would be free of slavery. They also wanted these areas to be populated by independent farmers who would improve the land.

40. Joseph McCoy • A cattleman from Illinois. His vision transformed the West, sparking an economic boom.

41. Texas Longhorn • English cattle interbred with Spanish cattle. • Hardy, able to travel long distances on little water. • Immune to Texas Fever

42. Open Range • The government allowed cattle ranchers to use public lands as free grazing land.

43. Cowboys • Workers who took care of rancher’s cattle. • Pop-culture romanticized cowboy life, but it was difficult. • Many Confederate veterans, Mexicans, Mexican Americans, and African Americans

44. Roundup • Ranchers drove cattle from open range to a central location. • ID by ranches brand.

45. Long Drives • To reach railroads, cowboys herded as many as 3,000 cattle. • Moved form Texas to rail lines in Missouri and Kansas.

46. Railhead • A town located along a railroad, where brokers bought cattle to ship east on railroad cars. • Cattle ranchers could now sell and ship cows. • Kansas: Abilene, Dodge City, and Wichita.

47. Joseph Glidden • A farmer who invented barbed wire. A cheap fencing material. • 1874

48. Section 3: continued Chapter 6: South & West Transformed

49. The End of The Cattle Boom • Ranchers eager for large profits crowded the open range with too many cattle. • Price crashed in 1885 as supply far exceeded demand. • Ranchers faced competition for the use of the open range b/c of barbed wire

50. Text Notes • Bad weather dealt the final blow to the open range. On the Southern Plains a severe winter in 1885-86 and droughts in 1886 diminished many herds. The following year, terrible blizzards hammered the Northern Plains. On January 15, 1887, temperature reached 46 degrees below zero in some areas.