1 / 48

Industrial Development and the Expansion of Railroads in Late 19th Century America

This article explores the rapid industrial growth and expansion of railroads in the late 19th century United States. It covers topics such as speculators and railroads, the impact of railroads on American life, the building of the empire through railroad construction, and the problems and consolidation of railroads. It also discusses the Native American dealings, territorial governments, and foreign policy approaches during this period.

rebeccawilson
Download Presentation

Industrial Development and the Expansion of Railroads in Late 19th Century America

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Period 6: 1865-1898A Patriot’s History of the United StatesCh. 11-12 Target Test Date: Monday, Feb. 2; 10 days

  2. Ch. 11 Lighting Out for the Territories, 1861-1890 A Patriot’s History of the United States

  3. Railroads A Patriot’s History of the United States

  4. Industrial Development • Late nineteenth-century U.S. offers ideal conditions for rapid industrial growth • Abundance of cheap natural resources • Large pools of labor • Largest domestic market in the world • Capital, government support without regulation • Rapid growth 1865-1914

  5. Speculators and Railroads • Most land acquired by wealthy investors • Speculators send agents to stake out best land for high prices • river bottoms • irrigable areas • control of water • Railroads settle grants with immigrants

  6. An Empire on Rails • U.S. industrial economy based on expansion of the railroads • Steamships made Atlantic crossings twice as fast • The telegraph and telephone transformed communications

  7. "Emblem of Motion and Power" • Railroads transform American life • end rural isolation • allow regional economic specialization • make mass production, consumption possible • lead to organization of modern corporation • stimulate other industries • Railroads capture the imagination of the American people

  8. Building the Empire • 1865-1916--U.S. lays over 200,000 miles of track costing billions of dollars • Expenses met by government at all levels • Federal railroad grants prompt corruption • Railroads save government $1 billion in freight costs 1850-1945

  9. Federal Land Grants to Railroads as of 1871

  10. Railroad Construction, 1830-1920

  11. Linking the Nation via Trunk Lines • No integrated rail system before Civil War • After 1860 construction and consolidation of trunk lines proceeds rapidly • East linked directly with Great Lakes, West • Southern railroad system integrated in 1880s • Rail transportation becomes safe, fast, reliable

  12. Rails Across the Continent • 1862--Congress authorizes the transcontinental railroad • Union Pacific works westward from Nebraska using Irish laborers • Central Pacific works eastward using Chinese immigrants • May 10, 1869, tracks meet in Utah with the “golden spike” • By 1900, four more lines to Pacific

  13. Railroads, 1870 and 1890

  14. Problems of Growth • Intense competition among railroads • Efforts to share freight in an orderly way fail • After Panic of 1893, bankers gain control of railroad corporations • Bankers impose order by consolidating to eliminate competition, increase efficiency • In 1900, seven giant rail systems dominate

  15. Beyond the Frontier • 1840--most settlements stopped at Missouri timber country • Eastern Plains have rich soil, good rainfall • High Plains, Rockies semi-arid • Most pre-Civil War settlers head directly for Pacific Coast

  16. Physiographic Map of the U.S.

  17. Native American DealingsTerritorial Governments A Patriot’s History of the United States

  18. Crushing the Native Americans • 1867--250,000 Indians in western U.S. • displaced Eastern Indians • Native Plains Indians • By the 1880s • most Indians on reservations • California Indians decimated by disease • By the 1890s Indian cultures crumble

  19. Life of the Plains Indians:Political Organization • Plains Indians nomadic, hunt buffalo • skilled horsemen • tribes develop warrior class • wars limited to skirmishes, "counting coups" • Tribal bands governed by chief and council

  20. Searching for an Indian Policy • Before the Civil War most Natives were restricted to the West • Indian Intercourse Act of 1834 excludes any white from Indian country without a license • Land regarded as Indian preserve

  21. Native Americans in the West: Major Battles and Reservations

  22. Searching for an Indian Policy • After 1850 white travel on Great Plains rises (gold out West) • Federal government sparks wars by confining Indian tribes to specific areas • Sioux War of 1865-1867 prompts "small reservation" policy to protect white migration

  23. Final Battles on the Plains • Small reservation policy fails • young warriors refuse restraint • white settlers encroach on Indian lands • Final series of wars suppress Indians • 1876—Little Big Horn: Sioux defeat Custer but eventually lost, Sioux War ended major Indian warfare • 1890—Wounded Knee massacre to suppress "Ghost Dances"

  24. The End of Tribal Life • 1887--Dawes Severalty Act • destroys communal ownership of Indian land • gives small farms to each head of a family • Indians who leave tribes become U.S. citizens • Near-extermination of buffalo deals devastating blow to Plains Indians

  25. Territorial Government • Western territorial officials appointed • Territorial patronage systems persist • Some Westerners make livings as Congressmen • Territorial experience produces unique Western political culture

  26. Foreign Policy Approaches: 1867-1900 • Expansionist foreign policy • Acquisitions: Alaska, Midway Islands • Erode European influence in Latin America • diverts Latin American trade from Europe through a series of reciprocity treaties • U.S. supports Venezuela against Great Britain

  27. The Lure of Hawaii and Samoa • 1875--U.S. grants Hawaiian sugar free entry • Queen Liliuokalani retaliates for McKinley Tariff, attempts to reduce U.S. influence • 1893--American settlers pull off coup • 1898--Hawaii made U.S. possession • 1872--U.S. granted port facilities in Samoa • 1899--U.S. shares control with Germany

  28. Hawaiian Islands

  29. Western ResourcesTechniques & TechnologyBonanzas A Patriot’s History of the United States

  30. Settlement of the West • Unprecedented settlement 1870-1900 • Most move west in periods of prosperity • Rising population drives demand for Western goods

  31. Men and Women on the Overland Trail • California Gold Rush begins Great Migration • Settlers start from St. Louis, Missouri, in April to get through Rockies before snow • Pacific trek takes at least 6 months

  32. Land for the Taking:Federal Incentives • 1860-1900—Federal land grants • 48 million acres granted under Homestead Act • 100 million acres sold to private individuals, corporations • 128 million acres granted to railroad companies • Congress offers incentives to development • Timber Culture Act 1873 • Desert Land Act of 1877 • Timber and Stone Act of 1878

  33. Land for the Taking:Water and Development • Water scarcity limits Western growth • much of the West receives less than 20 inches of rainfall annually • people speculate in water as in gold • 1902--Newlands Act sets aside federal money for irrigation projects

  34. The Spanish-Speaking Southwest • Spanish-speakers of Southwest contribute to culture, institutions • irrigation • stock management • weaving • natural resource management • Spanish-Mexican Californians lose lands after 1860s

  35. The Bonanza West • Quest to “get rich quick” produces • uneven growth • boom-and-bust economic cycles • wasted resources • "instant cities" like San Francisco • Institutions based on bonanza mentality

  36. The Mining Bonanza • Mining first attraction to the West • Mining frontier moves from west to east • individual prospectors remove surface gold • big corporations move in with the heavy, expensive mining equipment • 1874-1876--Black Hills rush overruns Sioux hunting grounds

  37. Mining Regions of the West

  38. Mining Bonanza: Camp Life • Camps sprout with each first strike • Camps governed by simple democracy • Men outnumber women two-to-one • Most men, some women work claims • Most women earn wages as cooks, housekeepers, and seamstresses

  39. Mining Bonanza:Ethnic Hostility • 25-50% of camp citizens were foreign-born • French, Latin Americans, Chinese hated • 1850--California Foreign Miner's Tax drives foreigners out • 1882--federal Chinese Exclusion Act suspends Chinese immigration for 10 years

  40. Mining Bonanza: Effects of the Mining Boom • Contributes millions to economy • Helps finance Civil War, industrialization • Relative value of silver and gold change • Early statehood for Nevada, Idaho, Montana • Invaded Indian reservations • Ghost towns

  41. Gold from the Roots Up:The Cattle Bonanza • The Far West ideal for cattle grazing • Cattle drives take herds to rail heads • Trains take herds to Chicago for processing • Profits enormous for large ranchers • Cowboys work long hours for little pay • Cowboys self-governing

  42. Cattle Trails

  43. Gold from the Roots Up:The Cattle Bonanza (2) • By 1880 wheat farmers begin fencing range • Mechanization modernizes ranching • 1886--harsh winter kills thousands of cattle • Ranchers reduce herds, switch to sheep

  44. Sodbusters on the Plains:The Farming Bonanza • 1870-1900 farm population triples on plains • African American “Exoduster” farmers migrate from the South to escape racism • Water, building materials scarce • Sod houses common first dwelling

  45. New Farming Methods • Barbed wire allows fencing without wood • Dry farming--deeper tilling, use of mulch • New strains of wheat resistant to frost • 1885-1890--drought ruins bonanza farms • Small-scale, diversified farming adopted

  46. Discontent on the Farm • Farmers’ grievances • declining crop prices • rising rail rates • heavy mortgages • The Grange becomes a political lobby • Trans-Mississippi farmers become more commercial, scientific, productive • Farming bonanza dies in late 1890s

  47. Agricultural Land Use in the 1880s

  48. The Final Fling • 1889--Oklahoma opened to white settlement • Changing views of Far West • “Frontier thesis” treated West as cradle of individualism, innovation • New Western History sees West as arena of conflicting interests, erosion of environment

More Related