Goal 4 Part 1

Changes on the Western Front / Indian Wars / Government

Support for Settlement

Western Settlers Vs. Great Plain Indians

• Settler: “We will improve the land”

• G.P. Indian: “Land CANNOT be owned”• What drew them West?

– Gold – 1834 – GREAT PLAINS = ONE BIG

RESERVATION – Native American reaction: continue to hunt

Indian Wars (Great Plains) • Massacre at Sand Creek (1864)Cheyenne THOUGHT they were protected by the government - 7 hours / over 150 men, women, and children slaughtered *Treaty of Fort Laramie (1851) (temporary)

PURPOSE: Stop the warfare• Battle at Little Bighorn (1876)

– led by Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull (Sioux)– Col. Custer (*Custer’s Last Stand) DIES at Little Bighorn (Native American VICTORY!)****LEGACY**** Prolonged the defeat of the Native Americans!

End of Indian Wars

• Massacre at Wounded Knee (1890)– Custer’s OLD regiment (7th Calvary) gathered the

Sioux and set up camp at Wounded Knee in South Dakota (promised land)

– Native Americans were demanded to hand over guns– 7th Calvary murdered 300 unarmed Native

Americans.MOST IMPORTANT: THE EVENTS AT WOUNDED

KNEE “ENDED” THE INDIAN WARS!!!!!!

Events of Wounded Knee

Ghost Dance

– Ghost Dance –

a ritual dance to bring

back land and culture

of the Native Americans

***Helen Hunt Jackson’s Century of Dishonor (1881)***

• A novel that exploited the federal government’s many broken promises against the Native Americans.

(ex. Fort Laramie)

• Main topic: ASSIMILATION

Less dominant culture into a

more dominant culture

*Government SUPPORTS Assimilation*

DAWES ACT (1887)

Dawes Severalty Act (1887)– Legislation that aimed to “AMERICANIZE” the

Native Americans….– Provided education– Focused on Assimilation– CREATED RESERVATIONS and individual

land ownership

Buffalo

• The deliberate destruction of this animal crippled the Native Americans more than anything else

• Destroying this animal Removes resourceful toolsFor the Native AmericansTo use against the white man

Buffalo Soldiers

• African American

soldiers thatEscorted /protected many RR

crews, and other

operations in the West

Enemy:

Native Americans

Turner Thesis / Frontier ThesisFrederick Jackson Turner (1893)

• Movement Westward explains American development (shapes American culture)

• You think America – you think(1)development (2)settlement (3)Expansion& its effect on cultures*Going West creates “FREEDOM”

Inventions that “TAMED” the Prairie

(1) BARBED WIRE:

Ended the OPEN RANGEWhy : cheap and easy to use (series of plots instead

of wide-open West)

(2) Mechanical Reaper – Cyrus McCormick

(3) Steel Plow: - John Deere

(Note:____________________

(4) Steel Windmill –“Dehydration Farming”

- Droughts occur – Windmill brings up underground water!

Government Supports Settlement

• RAILROADS – 1850-1871 – federal government gives 170 million acres of land to R.R. companies to create connection – Central Pacific and the Union Pacific

Meet and create a transcontinental railroad

Union Pacific starts in Iowa

Central pacific starts in California

Finally met each other at

****Promontory Point, Utah May 10, 1869“GOLDEN SPIKE” to connect the two railroads to create

America’s FIRST “COMPLETED” transcontinental Railroad

Who built the Railroads? Civil War Veterans, Irish, Chinese

African Americans and Mexicans

Homestead Act (1862) ******Homestead Act******

• FREE LAND offers from the government of

“160 acres of land in the West” to the head of the household Duration: 5 YEARS– Why just give land away?

• Purpose: development, business, better economy

Exodusters

African Americans who moved from post-Reconstruction South to KANSAS!

• REASON: Escape racial discrimination (JIM CROW) / take advantage of the Homestead Act

MORRILL LAND-GRANT ACTS(1862 and 1890)

Federal government gave land to states in order to set up “institutions / colleges”

“Agricultural colleges / Farmer College”

Effect: major boost to higher education for farmers

FarmersVs.

Railroads

Farmers Unite to Address Common Problems

• Crop Prices = FALLING…so farmers mortgage off their farms so they can buy more land and produce more crops

• Most significant problem: RAILROADS were taking advantage of the farmers

• EXAMPLES:R.R. charged too much on shipping & storageR.R. had “middle-men” (relationships with others besides farmers)

• Why?

"The Iron Horse Which Eats Up The Farmers' Produce.” 1873

Greenbacks Banks Take Advantage

• Produced during the Civil War ($500 Million) • COULD NOT be exchanged for gold or silver

(greenbacks – low value)• Must be taken out of circulation• When taken out….hard money (coins and bills)

increased in value and used!!!• Farmers who BORROWED greenbacks after

Civil War….had to repay in HARD money!!! (stuck with debt!)

*Oliver Hudson Kelley (1867)Farmer’s Alliance

• started the “Patrons of Husbandry” (also known as the “GRANGE”)• Grange: farmer’s alliance

– Purpose: fight against the railroads!– REFORM:(1) REGULATE railroads (2) pushed for more money in

circulation (3) Cooperative buying and selling– First meeting: July 2, 1892 in Omaha, Nebraska , known as the

“Omaha Platform”BIRTH OF THE POPULIST PARTY (MOVEMENT OF THE PEOPLE)– *Colored Farmers’ National Alliance

• Organized by a white Baptist preacher, only housed African American farmers

Granger Laws

• Farmer Laws Reforms:• Federal loan program• More $ in circulation• Unlimited free coinageof silver• *Pushes for governmentRegulation / control over the Railroad industry

Munn V. Illinois (1877)

• Supreme Court ruling that upheld the Granger Laws! (farmers win!)

• Ruling: Federal Regulation of RR– Federal government gave more power to “STATE GOVERNMENT” to REGULATE a private industry (railroads)

if it affects“PUBLIC INTEREST”OVERALL: (If the railroad system takes advantage of the public,the federal government can step in!)Farmers think they are gaining power against the Railroad industry!!!!! (SHORT-LIVED)

Wabash Case (1886)

• Ruling: “narrowed” Munn V Illinois / *******Granger Laws are “UNCONSTITUTIONAL”********

• Reason: Grangers “CAN’T” regulate interstate commerce throughout the states (federal government controls that!)

• What court case????• Limited the rights for states to control

interstate commerce…leads to the creation of the I.C.C.

Interstate Commerce Act (1887)

– Reestablished the fact that the

“federal government” controls interstate commerce & not the state

MAIN PURPOSE: Federal government is loosing MONEY!! (Tax)

Established the

Interstate Commerce Commission - FIRST TRUE REGULATORY

COMMISSION

(federal government –

Gibbons V. Ogden)

Granger Rights

• Munn V. Illinois – states get more control and a voice FOR farmers

• Wabash Case– Federal government takes power AWAY from the state because of (INTERSTATE COMMERCE ISSUES)

• Interstate Commerce Act – “reestablishes” federal control over interstate commerce / forms the ICC

Farmers were in trouble because

(1) Mechanization = more machines / more debt

(2) New Farm Land = more land / more debt

(3) Specialization of crops = farmers only raise one crop / leads to problem if that ONE crop has problem growing

(4) Bad Weather = drought or flood / crop less

(5) Corporate Greed = bankers / monopolies / trusts / advantage for elite