Closing of the Western Frontier and Transition from Agrarian to Industrial Society

1. Closing of the Western Frontier and Transition from Agrarian to Industrial Society

2. Closing of the Western Frontier • As more settlers pushed west, the Native Americans were forced off their lands and onto reservations. • Settlers destroyed the buffalo, which many Great Plains tribes needed for their survival. • There were battles between Native Americans and the US Army • Buffalo Soldiers—all-black army units, named this by Native Americans, well-known for their bravery.

3. Keys to Western Settlement • Steel plow to break up tough prairie soil. • Windmill to pump water from wells. • Revolver • Barbed wire—cheap way to fence in land. • Railroad—moved both people and products; first transcontinental railroad completed in 1869.

4. Farmers’ Grievences • Expense of new, mechanized farm equipment • Surplus of farm products from other nations; this oversupply cut into American farmers’ ability to sell their crops. • Railroads charged high prices to haul farmers’ grain and livestock to the East.

5. Farmers’ Organizations • Farmers began organizing to protect their interests • Farm organizations included the Grange (organization in which farmers pooled their resources to purchase machinery and supplies and to sell their crops), farmers alliances, and the Populist Party (political party to address the concerns of farmers and other reformers)

6. Alabama Farmers • Cotton continued to be the main crop. • Alabama farmers were urged to diversify—plant other crops. • Diversification occurred only after the Boll Weevil destroyed the cotton crops.

7. Industrialization and Urbanization • Factors needed to industrialize: natural resources (coal and iron), rivers (transportation and water power) • New sources of power for industry: oil and electricity. • Revolution in communication: • Telephone (Alexander Graham Bell) • Radio (Guglielmo Marconi) • Transatlantic Cable (Cyrus West Field)

8. Industry and Labor in Alabama • Alabama industry included iron and steel (Birmingham); coal; railroads; lumber; shipping (Mobile); textiles. • Convict Leasing—businesses used convicts to do demanding work for no pay; made profit for businesses and state government; Governor Bibb Graves ended this practice in the 1920s

9. Monopolies and Mergers • Monopoly—company with complete control of a product or service • Merger—companies combining or absorbing smaller companies. • Robber Barons—wealthy capitalists who often became wealthy through ruthless business practices • John D. Rockefeller: Standard Oil Company • Andrew Carnegie: U.S. Steel

10. Ideologies of Big Business • Social Darwinism—from evolution ideas of Charles Darwin; only the strongest survive, in business as in the jungle. • Gospel of Wealth—Andrew Carnegie; people with wealth had a responsibility to use it to help the poor. • Horatio Alger—wrote children’s stories where people gained wealth through hard work; known as “rags to riches” stories.

11. Urbanization • People moved from farms to the city to work in factories. • Many factory workers were Immigrants; they would work for low wages just to have a job. • Child labor was used in factories. • Female labor was used in factories; less pay • All workers worked long hours, for low wages and in unsafe conditions. • Labor Unions—workers’ organizations to try to improve wages, hours, conditions; first important union was the American Federation of Labor (AFL) • Strike—refusal to work; labor unions’ main weapon for change; strike sometimes became violent

12. Immigration Restrictions • Native-born Americans often disliked immigrants because they would work for lower wages, cutting Americans out of a job. • Starting in the 1880s, laws were passed restricting the number of immigrants allowed in the country; first people to be restricted were the Chinese.