chapter 17. “vast, trackless spaces” – walt whitman 1890 census= frontier closed ...
TRANSCRIPT
Chapter 17
“Vast, trackless spaces” – Walt Whitman 1890 census= Frontier Closed Significance of the Frontier in American History –
Frederick Jackson Turner Distinctive qualities of American culture forged
Individual freedom Political democracy Economic mobility
Safety valve For those dissatisfied in East Counteracted social unrest
Nothing more visible and dramatic than the destruction of the traditional Indian way of life Spanish forced Indians into trading networks in SW Navajos give up nomadic ways for agriculture Cheyenne and Lakota Sioux forced to Great Plains
Three sub regions: Northern Plains
Dakotas, Montana to Nebraska Dominated by large tribes like Lakota, Arapahos
Central Region 5 Civilized tribes Pursued agricultural life Pawnees
South Kansas, Colorado, Eastern NM and TX Comanche, Apaches migratory
Commonalities Adapted to environment by hunting Bison and Buffalo Life revolved around extended family ties and tribal cooperation
Arrival of settlers 1850s- miners/settlers Broke Bison habitat Construction of railroad Army followed
Federal Government Policies Introduced reservations
Expected to be agricultural Army outposts established
Opposition Navajos, Sioux
1867 Peace Commission Two districts: Nebraska/Kansas Become farmers, convert to
Christianity 1867 Medicine Lodge Treaty of
1867 Kiowa, Comanche, Cheyenne,
Arapahos Pledged to live in Oklahoma
1868 Fort Laramie Treaty 54,000 Indians signed Agreed to move to Great Sioux Reserve Given money and provisions
August 1868 War parties razed settlements
in Kansas and CO Cheyenne, Arapahos, Sioux
1869 Christian reformers
Wanted to reform reservations Board of Indian Commissioners
Failed to persuade Indians to stay on reservation
1874 Red River War
Against Comanche and Cheyenne
Army destroys Indian supplies Slaughtered Cheyenne fugitives
Southwest Guerrilla War Apaches Geronimo, surrendered 1886
Continuous battle from 1866-1891 Not all tribes signed 1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie
Government wanted gold in Black Hills Resistance
Chief Red Cloud, Chief Spotted Tail (2nd Sioux War) Raised settlements, intimidated federal agents, harassed citizens
Federal Government response 1874 General Sherman sent Colonel Custer into Black Hills Purpose to set up a fort and keep an eye on Indians, real reason=
GOLD Not supposed to attack June 1876
Custer led 600 troops to Little Big Horn Cheyenne and Sioux led by Chief Sitting Bull wiped out Custer Emotional American response, romanticized
Army pursued Indians for 5 years Sitting Bull surrendered 1881 Used same tactics with Chief Joseph and Nez Perce, Geronimo and
Apaches
America outraged with atrocities and government violation of treaties
Groups: Women’s National Indian Rights Association, 1883
Helen Hunt Jackson A Century in Dishonor 1881
Humanitarians break up reservations Don’t recognize tribes Introduce into mainstream society Sympathetic to Natives
Dawes Severalty Act 1887 Designed to reform Indian “weakness”
*Absence of private property* Treat Indians as individuals not tribes 160 acres farming, 320 grazing Gained citizenship in 25 years issues:
No specific timetable Slashed Indian acreage by 65% by 1934 Some successful, others alcoholism
Conditions for Sioux in Great Plains declined in 1880s Reduced meat rations More restrictions Disease killed 1/3 cattle
Prophet Wovoka Restored Ghost Dance Visions of future Reclaim Indian glory Movement spread quickly
Military response arrested Chief Sitting Bull
December 29, 1890 Wounded Knee 7th Calvary rounded up
340 Sioux Indians Accidental gunfire lead
to slaughter of all Sioux By 1900
Population down to 100,000 from 250,000
Navajos adjusted peacefully and prospered
1st Transcontinental Railroad 1862 Pacific Railroad Act
Grants and subsides for every mile of track
50 years, 9 routes built Used cheap Chinese labor Completed May 10, 1869
Settlers Railroads given land Tactics for settlement
Land sale offices “Garden of Eden” Long-term loans 2.2 million immigrant settlers
German, Eastern Europe Encourage cash crops
Wheat Corn Cotton
Homesteading on the Plains Homestead Act 1862
Repub. Party felt it would enable the poor to achieve economic independence
160 acres for $10 fee Live on land 5 years and
improve it Speculators took advantage Problems:
Dry areas needed more land Rattlesnakes Blizzards, droughts Burden on women
1877 Desert Land Act 160 acres for $1.25 if irrigated
within 3 years Timber and Stone Act 1878
160 acres of forested land $2.50 acre abused by speculators
Advancements in farming Mechanization Improved strains of
wheat/corn Efficient steel plows New wheat planters Barbed wire, 1874
Clashes between cattle ranchers and farmers
Problems: Unpredictable rainfall Grasshopper infestation Economic depression
1873-1878 1st group = “Sod-
busters” specialization
Communities prospered Church, Sunday schools Barn-raisings, quilting Cooperation a necessity Worked to be educated
and sophisticated New States
Rocky Mountain States 1889
Oklahoma 1907 Arizona, New Mexico
1912
Women’s suffrage Supported out west
Referendums Wyoming 1st state to
allow women to vote 1869
1910: four states Indiana Wyoming Utah Colorado
Anglo-life Adopted by Mexicans who
stayed in US Texas
Legacy of bitterness Planters vs. non-whites
California Collapse of ranch
economy Barrios Similar conditions of
Mexicans, Chinese, and Native Americans
Low wage labor Landowning rights
restricted
New Mexico/Arizona Easier adaptation Established connections
Architectural blends Estevan Ochoa
Problems: Land disputes Las Gorras Blancas 1888 Repercussions
Migrant work Women held family
together 1890s
Escalation of problems Anti-Catholicism
Mining Frontier Started with Gold Rush Attracted young men
Mining country “poor man’s paradise”
Life unpredictable From shantytowns to
metropolises Men out numbered women 3-1 Settlement of Alaska
Mining Stimulated economy Lured foreign investors US mainstream in world
economy Consequences
Scarred landscape Chemicals from smelters Water pollution
Cowboys and Cattle Frontier Heyday lasted 1867-1887 1868 Joseph G. McCoy
Realized $ from raising steers cheap in TX and drive north for shipment
Great cattle drives of 1860s and 1870s
Lived at mercy of market Panic of 1873 disastrous
Cowboys Young men 1/5 black- more freedom
Better relationships Myth
Tombstone, Abilene, Dodge City, and Deadwood had fewer shootouts and killings than D.C. in combined history
The End Prices fell in 1882
1st agribusiness during Panic of 1873 Land given by railroads
in exchange for bonds Led to 10,000 acre
factory-like farms George W. Cass
Boom in 1880s, Crash 1890s
Overproduction High investment costs Too much rain/ too little Reliance on one crop
Success in California’s Central Valley
Better irrigation Better variety in crops
1889 Congress transferred 2 million acres of Indian Land Punishment for civil war
April 22, 1889 Sooners Within weeks 6,000 homestead claims
American Adam Dime-store novel Virtuous, simple, masculine,
honorable 1860s, 1870s
Escape Teddy Roosevelt Proving ground for manhood
Conservation Movement Major John Wesley Powell
1860s, 1870s Studied landscape Went to Congress
George Perkins Marsh, John Muir
Yosemite 1890, Sierra Club 1892