The West

1. The West 1848 -1893

2. Reflects the majestic landscape of the American West and the dawn of a new era.

4. Which of the following statements is true about women in the western territories during the 1800s? • They were educated and had more leisure time to pursue their interests and hobbies • They often mined for gold and assisted cowboys in the cattle industry. • They found a flexible society with more freedom and fewer traditional roles than in cities. • Their traditional roles and expectations were the same as they had always been.

5. The West 1848 -1893

6. The American Frontier • Prior to the Civil War, thousands had gone west, seeking fame, fortune, and new lives. • After the end of the war, the pace of settlement increased dramatically.

7. “Go West, Young Man” "Go West, Young Man!" • Why did people go West? Why would people want to migrate West?

8. Which of the following was NOT a pull factor for settlers who migrated West during the 1800s? • freedom of religion • discovery of gold • large tracts of land • the Civil War

9. Theme: Migration • The movement of people within the United States has had a significant impact on the nation. These movements have been both voluntary and involuntary. • Select a period of migration that had an impact on the United States and for each • Describe the historical circumstances that led to the migration • Discuss the impact of the migration on the United States

10. “No man has a right to fix the boundary of the march of a nation; no man has a right to say to his country: this far you should go and no further.” The author of this statement would most likely have supported the United States policy of • containment • manifest destiny • Sectionalism • isolationism

11. Gold!! • Gold and silver discoveries send many west. • First major Western Gold find was in California in 1848. • 80,000 Forty-niners came to California, few became rich. • Comstock Lode in Nevada • Gold and silver discovered in 1859. • Pike’s Peak • Gold discovery brought 100,000 into Colorado.

13. Mining • First pan-handlers sifted for gold in streams. • Big strikes led to the formation of Boomtowns. • Most boomtowns disappear when the gold ran out. • A few towns survive to become large cities: • San Francisco, Denver, Sacramento.

14. Who Made Money? • Many miners arrived too late to find gold • The people who made money were those who recognized how to supply goods and services to the miners. • Levi Strauss – Opened General Store in San Francisco • Rec’d patent for Jeans with rivets

15. Miners • People of all classes, races, and genders come West to mine. • Most were single white men, but there were African-American miners. • 1/3 of all Western miners were Chinese.

16. “The Most Rapid and Effective Americanization” • On the frontier, immigrants were refashioned into new people, no longer, English or German or Irish or Swedish but American

17. Cattle Ranching • Beef was in high demand after the Civil War as cities grew. • Easy to enter Cattle Ranching as range/feed was free. • Growth of railroads made it possible to get western beef to eastern markets.

18. Longhorns on the Range • As with mining, cattletowns develop near railheads to handle cattle drives. • Time of the cowboy and the open West. • The setting for much of the Hollywood West.

19. Cowboys from Texas herded the cattle to the stocking yards of Abilene, Dodge City, Cheyenne Large meat companies like the Swifts and Armours needed the cattle in the meat-packing plants of Chicago before shipping the meat to the East Coast markets

20. Men like Wild Bill Hickok and Wyatt Earp were hired to keep law and order in the rising towns of the West.

21. End of the Range • Cattle drives end in the late 1880s. • Overgrazing, a severe drought, and a harsh winter decimated cattle herds. • Joseph Glidden’s invention, barbed-wire, enabled farmers to fence off their land and ended the open ranges needed to feed cattle.

22. What impact did the invention of barbed wire have on the Western territories? • Cowboys and their cattle often got hurt or stuck on the sharp wire • Ranchers could fence in their own livestock as well as keep roaming cattle and other animals from grazing their land, effectively ending the open range. • Native Americans were more likely to raid a ranch with barbed wire because they thought it went against nature. • It opened lands previously closed to cattle grazing.

23. The Range Wars SheepHerders CattleRanchers

24. Lincoln County Wars • Billy the Kid joins “The Regulators” to bring murderers to justice • Billy would be hunted down by bounty hunters, the military and law men

25. Colt .45 Revolver God didn’t make men equal.Colonel Colt did!

27. Farming • Hundred of thousands move West to become farmers. • The 1862 Homestead Actgave 160 acres of land to anyone who would work the land for 5 years – for free! • The 1862 Morrill Actgave states western land to sell to fund new colleges—increased educational opportunities and provided cheap land for settlers.

28. Sodbusters“The Rain will Follow the Plow” • Farming on the Great Plains was not easy. • Sod was thick and hard to plow the first time. • Few trees, little wood for buildings, so many built their houses from sod.

29. What foreign policy action granted the United States the land within the Great Plains?

30. Great Plains Farming • Environmental factors made it difficult to farm the Great Plains: • Little rainfall • Many crops not suited to the conditions • Not until farmers adopted dry farming or irrigation did Great Plains farmers really succeed.

32. The Farmer is the Man When the farmer comes to townWith his wagon broken down,Oh, the farmer is the manWho feeds them all. . . .The farmer is the man,The farmer is the man,Lives on credit till the fall;Then they take him by the handAnd they lead him from the land,And the middleman’s the manWho gets it all. . . .-- American folk songThe problem identified by this folk song was a result of • farm productivity declining for several decades • too many Americans entering the occupation of farming • poor farming practices destroying cropland • low profits forcing many people out of farming

33. McCormick invents the mechanical reaper John Deere invents the steel plow Farming Becomes Mechanized

34. Early farmers who settled in the West found their existing farming equipment would not cut through the tough prairie soil. John Deere invented a new tool to solve this problem. What was the innovation he developed? • mechanical reaper • steel plow • barbed wire • windmill

35. Russian Immigrants Save the Great Plains! • Russian Mennonite immigrants from the Steppe region of Russia bring wheat seeds with them • This particular wheat grows well in the plains region • Region becomes the “Bread Basket”

36. Frederick Jackson Turner • A historian whose 1893 Frontier Thesis claimed that the West had been completely settled. • Used US Census data to back his the argument in his essay. • While many continued to move West, the frontier was considered closed. Americans would have to look for new frontiers to conquer.

37. “Up to our own day American history is the history of the colonization of the Great West. The existence of an area of free land, ...and the advance of American settlement westward explain American development.” This quotation of the 1890's suggests that the American frontier • should be preserved for free use by all the people • has mirrored European values and social patterns • will continue indefinitely as a region to be colonized • has had a positive effect on the growth of the United States

38. Review • What 3 options did settlers in the West have to choose from? • Mining • Farming • Ranching

39. Thinking beyond the Notes • Explain how the following characteristics central to being American were prevalent in the West. • Individualism • Self-Reliance • Practicality • Energy • Inventiveness • Confidence that the future would be better than the present

40. Theme: Migration • The movement of people within the United States has had a significant impact on the nation. These movements have been both voluntary and involuntary. • Select a period of migration that had an impact on the United States and for each • Describe the historical circumstances that led to the migration • Discuss the impact of the migration on the United States

41. In the second half of the 19th century, agriculture in the United States was transformed most by the • increase in prices paid for farm products • decline in the population growth rate of the United States • decline in demand for agricultural products • increase in the use of farm machinery

42. The main reason for the passage of the Homestead Act in 1862 was to provide for • irrigation of desert lands • national parks • farms on the Great Plains • reservations for Native American Indians

43. During the period from 1865 to 1900, the rapid growth of cities in the western part of the United States resulted mainly from • better roads • a greater number of canals • the invention of the telegraph and telephone • the growth of railroads

44. “The Most Rapid and Effective Americanization”Which statement about the westward movement in the United States during the 19th century is most accurate? • The frontier discouraged interest in the expansion of voting rights. • The frontier experience tended to decrease social class differences. • Western expansion slowed the rate of industrialization. • The West was settled mostly by immigrants from Asian nations.

45. Which was a major result of the Homestead Act of 1862? • increased public awareness of the need for conservation of natural resources • increased development of Western lands • decreased conflicts between Native American Indians and white settlers • decreased economic opportunities for easterners