The Closing of the Frontier (1865-1900)

1. The Closing of the Frontier(1865-1900) Ch.17

2. I. Transformation of Native Americans • 1865-@400,000 • Subsistence • Nomadic • Settled

4. Transformation of Native Americans (cont’d) • Lakota (AKA Sioux) • Plains • Buffalo • Navajo, Apache, Comanche (SW)

5. II. Elimination of the Buffalo • Indian needed to live • Hurting the Indians • 1850—13 million • 1880—200 left!!! • Today 40,000 remain

6. III. Sand Creek • 1864—Sand Creek, CO • Typical of Indian treaty violations

7. IV. Post-Civil War Reservation Policy • Help reform Indians • Assimilate • “Reservations”easier to reform • Indians had no say • Not citizens

8. Chief Rain-in-the Face Sitting Bull Crazy Horse

9. V. Resistance • Sioux Wars 1876 • June 1876—”Custer’s Last Stand” • Sioux won-->revenge

11. Resistance (cont’d) 4. Ghost Dance • Land; Buffalo; NO WHITE MEN!! • Wounded Knee

13. Wounded Knee

14. VI. WNIA and IRA • Women’s National Indian Association • Indian Rights Association • Assimilate Natives

15. Dawes Severalty Act, 1887 "We must throw some protection" [over the Indian]. "We must hold up his hand." — Senator Henry L. Dawes, 1887. "...the real aim of [the Act] is to get at the Indians land and open it up for resettlement." — Senator Henry M. Teller, 1891.

16. VII. Dawes Severalty Act-1887 • 168 parcels • Given to individual families • If acceptedcitizens in 25 yrs.

18. 4. Effects: • Loss tribal lands • Gov. dependency • Disrupted Culture

19. VIII. Western Society • More men than women • Strike it rich; autonomy • Isolated, unprotected

21. IX. Railroads • May 10, 1869-Trans. RR • Stimulated: • Steel • Iron • Lumber • 4 Time Zones

23. Railroads (cont’d) 4. 1854-Chinese came during the Gold Rush • 7,000RR • Chinese Exclusion Act 1882-Prohibited Chinese immigration. • Gov. funded: aid and land grants

24. Railroads (cont’d) • Cornelius Vanderbuilt • RR monopoly

25. X. Great Plains Farming • Ag. big business! • Mechanization • Hatch Act 1887 • Ag. experiment Stations in every state • Science/Tech.

26. Farming (cont’d) • Difficult to Adapt: • Sod Houses (Sodbusters) • Little water • Insects • Weather • Monotony

27. Farming (cont’d) • Homestead Act, 1868 • Work the land for 5 yrs. • Given the title, 160 acres • Encourage settlement

28. XI. Cattle Boom • Cash Crop of W/SW • CowboysLong Drives Texas up to Cheyenne, WY (Long Drives) • Barbed Wire • Enclosed farms • Kept cattle off • Overgrazing; bad weather

29. XII. Myths about the West • . Myths About the West • It was a great equalizer - Americans took their prejudices with them to the West.a. If a minority group gained economically, legal attempts were made to restrict them.b. Hence, Blacks, Indians, Chinese, Mexicans and others discovered restrictions placed on them because they were non-white. • Persons who were poor migrated Westa. It took money to go West.b. Many who raised money for the Black exodus in the 1870s did not go themselves, but provided the means for other families to do so. • Everyone rode horses, carried guns and was a cowboy in the West - These Hollywood images hide the truth that the predominant figure in the West was a farmer, most of whom never saw an Indian.