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THE AMERICAN WEST : EMPIRE & RESISTANCE

THE AMERICAN WEST : EMPIRE & RESISTANCE. Beyond the Frontier. 1840--settlement to Missouri timber country Eastern Plains have rich soil, good rainfall High Plains, Rockies semi-arid Most pre-Civil War settlers head directly for Pacific Coast. The U.S. in the 19 th Century.

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THE AMERICAN WEST : EMPIRE & RESISTANCE

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  1. THE AMERICAN WEST:EMPIRE & RESISTANCE

  2. Beyond the Frontier • 1840--settlement to Missouri timber country • Eastern Plains have rich soil, good rainfall • High Plains, Rockies semi-arid • Most pre-Civil War settlers head directly for Pacific Coast

  3. The U.S. in the 19th Century

  4. Native Peoples After the Civil War • 1867--250,000 native Americans in western U.S. • displaced Eastern peoples; Native Plains peoples/bands • By the 1880s • Most indigenous peoples on reservations • By the 1890s most native cultures in disarray

  5. Life of the Plains Peoples:Political Organization • Nomadic, hunt buffalo • skilled horsemen • tribes develop warrior class • Tribal bands governed by chief and council • Loose organization confounds federal policy, such as it was

  6. Social Organization • Sexual division of labor • men hunt, trade, supervise ceremonial activities, clear ground for planting • women responsible for child rearing, art, camp work, gardening, food preparation • Equal gender status common • kinship often matrilineal • women often manage family property

  7. Searching for an “Indian” Policy • Trans-Mississippi West neglected to 1850 • Indian Intercourse Act of 1834 excludes any white from Indian country without a license • Land regarded as “Indian” preserve

  8. Native Americans in the West: Major Battles and Reservations

  9. Policy Issues • After 1850 white travel on Great Plains rises • Federal government sparks wars by confining tribes to specific areas • Sioux War of 1865-1867 prompts "small reservation" policy to protect white migration

  10. Final Battles on the Plains • Small reservation policy fails • young warriors refuse restraint • white settlers encroach on “Indian” lands • Final series of wars suppress “Indians” • 1876—Little Big Horn: Sioux defeat Custer • most battles result in defeat & massacre of indigenous peoples • 1890—Wounded Knee massacre to suppress "Ghost Dance"

  11. Seeking the End of Tribal Life • 1887--Dawes Severalty Act • destroys communal ownership of “Indian” land • gives small farms to each head of a family • “Indians” who leave tribes become U.S. citizens • Near-extermination of buffalo deals devastating blow to Plains peoples

  12. “Settlement” of the West • Unprecedented settlement 1870-1900 • Most move west in periods of prosperity • Rising population drives demand for Western goods

  13. Land for the Taking:Federal Incentives • 1860-1900—Federal land grants • 48 million acres granted under Homestead Act • 100 million acres sold to private individuals, corporations • 128 million acres granted to railroad companies

  14. Land for the Taking:Speculators and Railroads • Most land acquired by wealthy investors • Speculators send agents to stake out best land for high prices

  15. The “Bonanza” West • Quest to “get rich quick” produces • boom-and-bust economic cycles • "instant cities" such as San Francisco

  16. The Mining Bonanza • Mining frontier moves from west to east • individual prospectors remove surface gold • big corporations move in with the heavy, expensive mining equipment • 1874-1876--Black Hills rush overruns Sioux hunting grounds

  17. Mining Regions of the West

  18. Mining Bonanza:Ethnic Hostility • 25-50% of mining camp citizens were foreign-born • Among them: French, Latin Americans, Chinese • 1850--California Foreign Miner's Tax seeks to drive “foreigners” out • 1882--federal Chinese Exclusion Act suspends Chinese immigration for 10 years

  19. Mining Bonanza: Effects of the Mining Boom • Contributes millions to economy • Helps finance Civil War, industrialization • Relatively early statehood for Nevada, Idaho, Montana • Invasion of “Indian” reservations • Scarred, polluted environment • Ghost towns

  20. Gold from the Roots Up:The Cattle Bonanza • The Far West ideal for cattle grazing • Cattle drives take herds to rail heads • Trains take herds to Chicago for processing • Profits enormous for large ranchers

  21. Cattle Trails

  22. Gold from the Roots Up:The Cattle Bonanza (2) • By 1880 wheat farmers begin fencing range • Mechanization modernizes ranching • 1886--harsh winter kills thousands of cattle • Ranchers reduce herds, switch to sheep

  23. Discontent on the Prairie Farmlands • Farmers’ grievances • declining crop prices; crop lien • rising rail rates • heavy mortgages •  Farmers Alliance / Populism, in the West and South

  24. RESISTANCE & EMPIRE • DO YOU SEE PARALLELS IN THE INITIATIVES OF THE AGRARIAN REBELS OF THE SOUTH AND WEST, THE PLAINS INDIANS, THE INDUSTRIAL WORKERS OF THE NORTH, AND PERSONS OF AFRICAN ANCESTRY, 1865-1892? • SOURCES OF RESISTANCE? • WHAT LANGUAGE AND CATEGORIES OF ANALYSIS ARE APPROPRIATE IN ADDRESSING THESE QUESTIONS? • HOW DO YOU DEFINE AMERICAN DEMOCRACY IN THIS PERIOD?

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