Reconstruction in a Nutshell

1. Reconstruction in a Nutshell • Period when the United States tried to rebuild itself after the CW • 1865-1877 • Three Phases: Presidential, Congressional, and Southern Democrat

2. Presidential • Lincoln (assassinated) wanted Confed states to join union with no restrictions or penalties • Johnson- wanted to cut power from wealthy landowners and high ranking Confed officers but believed “white men should manage South” • Radical Republicans- sought to destroy political power of former slaveholders and wanted AA full citizenship and right to vote

3. Congressional Reconstruction • Civil Rights Act 1866- give AA citizenship and forbade states from passing discriminatory laws • Johnson vetoed CRA • Radical and Moderate Rep change reconstruction process • 14th amendment-prevented states from denying rights and privileges to any US citizen

4. Congressional pt 2 • Reconstruction Act of 1867- did not recognize state governments (Lincoln and Johnson did) • States must AA suffrage and ratify 14th amendment (Johnson vetoed again, overruled again) • U.S. Grant President 1868- sought protection of AA- Federal troops in south • 15th Amendment- suffrage for all

5. For short time, AA were improving lives • Active role in politics- Hiram Revels- 1st AA senator • Sharecropping-assigned few acres on someone’s property along with seed and tools. Keep enough for family and gave rest of crop to landowner • KKK- violence, intimidation and threats of job loss

6. Southern Reconstruction • 5 year depression (panic of 1873)- diverted North’s attention away from South’s issues • Republicans slowly retreated from Reconstruction policies • Southern Democrats took control

7. Election of 1876 • Democratic- Samuel Tilden • Republican- Rutherd Hayes • SD in congress agreed to accept Hayes if federal troops removed from South • Reconstruction ends

8. Changes on the Western FrontChapter 5

9. Key Ideas To Think About • The late 1890s- The American West is the last frontier. Ranchers, cowboys, and miners have changed forever the lives of NA who hunted the plains. • Westward fever- grab “free” farm land

10. Great Plains • Page 205 • East (Lower Missouri River)- Osage and Iowa tribes • West- Sioux and Cheyenne • Peoples of Plains abided by tribal law and traded and produced crafted tools and clothing

11. Conflicts w/ NA • Why are Natives feared? • Barbaric • Not settled, nomadic (move around) • Not Christians • Rituals=uncivilized

12. How NA lived • Dependant on buffalo- food, clothing, shelter • Role of men- hunter, warrior, obtained food and supplies • Role of women- butcher game, prepared hides, cared for family • Education done so through stories, myths and games

13. Americanization • American effort to TEACH NA • Teach American culture, fashion, language and history • Get rid of “strange” NA culture • American schools –taught English and AM culture • Parents still teaching own values and customs

14. Assimilation • Blend NA into American society • Way for government to “Americanize” Natives

15. Dawes Act • 1887 • Teach Plains Indians how to farm own land • Broke up reservation land by redistributing land to head of family • 160 acres farmed; 320 acres for livestock • Remaining reservation land sold to white settlers • Failure

16. What Motivates Expansion in the West • Congressional Acts opens up with west • HOMESTEAD ACT- 1862, a law that provided 160 acres to citizen head of household; cultivate land for 5 years • Pacific Railway Act-1850-1871; 170 million acres, worth half bil $. • Union and Central Pacific race to lay track.

17. Who moves out West • Southerners- post CW, farms devastated • Exodusters- African Americans who move from the south to Kansas

18. Railway • Central Pacific- moved eastward from Sacramento, CA • Union Pacific- moved westward from Omaha, Nebraska • CW vets, Irish and Chinese Immigrants, AA, MA did hard labor • Both reached Utah in 1869 (transcontinental rr) • 15 years later- 5 transcontinental railroads

19. Railway • Coolies- Chinese immigrants- worked on RR • Paddies- Irish immigrants-worked on RR

20. Chinese Exclusion Act • The first significant Chinese immigration to America began with the California Gold Rush of 1848-1855 and continued with subsequent large labor projects, such as the building of the First Transcontinental Railroad. • At first tolerated; however, more immigrants and less jobs • 1882- It was one of the most significant restrictions on free immigration in U.S. history, prohibiting all immigration of Chinese laborers • Hard to prove not laborers

21. First Transcontinental RR • A railroad line linking Atlantic and Pacific coasts- 1869

22. Effects of RR • Railroad construction disrupted Native lifestyles • Forced off land • Set out to kill buffalo

23. Economic Effect of RR • Growth in 1800s • Expansion of potential markets for goods • Cattle, crops, resources, etc

24. Hardship for settlers • Droughts, floods, fires, blizzards, locust plagues, raids by outlaws and NA • Dugouts- when pioneers dug their homes in sides of ravines or small hills. • Soddy- like a dugout, sod home • Warm in winter, cool in summer • Leaked • Snakes, insects, yikes!

26. Inventions for Farmers • 1837- John Deere- steel plow, slice through heavy soil and not break • 1847- Cyrus McCormick- mass produce reaping machine • 1890- more than 900 manufacturers of farm equipment • Grain more available

27. Inventions • Steel plow- Deere • Barbed Wire- 1874 • Reaper-cut and thresh wheat in one pass • Spring tooth harrow-prepared soil

28. Feds support Farmers • Feds supported farmers through agricultural education. • Morrill Act- 1862 and 1890 gave federal land to the states to finance agricultural colleges. (MSU) • Hatch Act 1887- estag experiment stations to inform farmers of new developments grains for arid soils and techniques for dry farming- helped eastern plains to flourish

29. Bonanza Farms • Phenomenon occurred in West • Cultivation of single cash crop • Take loans on large plots of land to harvest crops • Good harvest=good profit • Bad harvest=loose everything and cannot repay dept • Too risky

30. Western Industries • Cattle boom- Spanish and English settlers brought cattle-breed of two= longhorn • After CW-cattle boomed • Dying buffalo population=demand for cattle • Eastern cities=food and leather

31. Cattle and Railroad • Cattle raised in west and shipped to factories in East • Invention of refrigerated box car –keeps beef fresh

32. Cowboys • Primary job- get cattle from ranch to ‘railhead’ or a city along the railroad • 15-24 years old • Long day 10-14 hours-spring “round up time”

33. Long drives/cattle drives • Long journey to move cattle • Ranches in TX, railroads in Cheyenne, Wyoming; Abilene or Dodge City, Kansas • Trails- Baxter Spring Trail, Western Trail, Chiholm trail (p. 224) • 3 months – dangerous • Rivers, stampedes • Each cattlehead=$$

34. Cowboy legend • After dropped off cattle, got paid and stayed in town and went to saloons • Saloons= alcohol, gambling and women

35. Cattle boom end • Ranching popular 20 years • Severer droughts and blizzard (1887) • Range wars- fighting with sheep herders • Two breeders- “open range” sheep ate all grass and land open to the public for livestock • These battles lead to end of open ranging b/c private owners will mark off their land with barbed wire

36. Mining • First attraction to new frontier • CA Gold Rush • Major industry in West • Not just gold, but silver, iron, etc.

37. Seward’s Folly (Alaska) • Mining in the north changes American minds about the purchase of Alaska • Purchase of Alaska in 1867 • Sec of State William Seward purchased from Russia for cheap • Seward-expansionist & Alaska “strategic location” • Useless until 1890s gold and other resources discovered

38. Mining Methods • Hard rock mining- use explosives to expose iron trapped in rocks • Hydraulic mining- using water at high pressure to break gravel and dirt to reach minerals • Effects/dangers- high temps and respiratory problems.. Deep in earth, explosives, these factors will help miners unionize

39. Closing Frontier • In 1872, Congress began to pass acts to help keep lands in west from being settled • National Parks (Yellowstone) • Attempts to preserve natural setting and resources

40. Populist Party • Farmers had many problems • Urban growth=need for more food • More crops=more land and equipment to ship food • RR rates- high cost of shipping • Bank loans had high interest rates (ate Farmer’s profits)

41. Solve Problems • Grange- Oliver Kelley 1867, social organization then pushed for political reform • Noted for: Granger Laws and Cooperatives • Cooperatives-Coops reduced costs- pooled resources for all to use. Also bought and sold goods at coops, could buy farming equip at wholesale price • G. Laws- fought from state to state to reduce RR shipping costs • Munn v Illinoise (1877)-state right to regulate rr • Wabash v Illinois (1886)- states cannot regulate rr traffic across all states (fed power) • First fed mandate (order) over rr

42. Interstate Commerce Act (ICA) • Due to Wabash- ICA of 1887 • Railroad rates must be fair and just • The ICA created the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC): investigate practices of rr companies • At first, hard to enforce

43. Farmer’s alliance • Texas 1870 • objectives: • Form cooperatives • Provide insurance for farmers • Regulate banks, and rr • Teach farmers how to be politically active • 3 groups • National Farmers’ Alliance- west • Southern Farmers’ Alliance- white farmers South • Colored Farmers’ Alliance- AA rejected from groups

44. Populist Party • People’s party- 1890s, formed by Farmers • Farmers trying to make a change • Goals: graduate income tax, regulations of banks, cooperatives, regulate rr, immigration restrictions • Voting- should be “by the people and for the people” so they want to elect their own senators directly (then HOR chose senators) • Free coinage of silver (currency)- led to downfall of party

45. Money issue • Why farmers wanted gov to coin more silver? • If prices increase on crops, ppl pay more money for the crop and farmers get more in profit (helps in shipping, intrest rates, etc)

46. SilvertiesvsGoldbugs Silverties Goldbugs Gold only • Bimetalism • Gold and Silver • Free Silver

47. Free Coinage of SilverIncrease dollar supply Gold and Silver (WJB) Gold (president cleveland) Less money in circulation Value of dollar increases Creditors Average against higher prices • More money in circulation • Value of the dollar decrease • Debtors/Farmers • Inflation=higher prices

48. Bland-Allison Act • Requires the U.S. Treasury to buy a certain amount of silver and put it into circulation as silver dollars. Though the bill was vetoed by PresidentRutherford B. Hayes, the Congressoverrode Hayes' veto

49. Sherman Silver Purchase Act • Did not authorize the free and unlimited coinage of silver that the farmers supporters wanted. • However, it increased the amount of silver the government was required to purchase on a recurrent monthly basis • Farmers had immense debts that could not be paid off due to deflation caused by overproduction, and they urged the government to pass the Sherman Silver Purchase Act in order to boost the economy and cause inflation, allowing them to pay their debts with cheaper dollars

50. Election 1896- William Jennings Bryan • Democrat and Populist candidate • Cross of Gold Speech- Gold standard crucifying human rights Read Caption on Page 223- who benefited by the gold standard?