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Winners and Losers Out West

Winners and Losers Out West. History 17B Lecture 2. Racism and Economic Motive Racial justifications used to take land, jobs, and lives. An “empty” frontier?. Individualism, free enterprise, and opportunity. White males benefited most. National Economic Unity

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Winners and Losers Out West

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  1. Winners and Losers Out West History 17B Lecture 2

  2. Racism and Economic Motive Racial justifications used to take land, jobs, and lives. An “empty” frontier? Individualism, free enterprise, and opportunity. White males benefited most. National Economic Unity Contrasting perceptions of the value of land. Republican Ideals and Western Expansion

  3. Spiritual Beliefs A reverence for nature. All living beings connected and in balance. Differences and Commonalities 30 different tribal groupings; 6 different languages; hundreds of dialects. Extended kinship of 300 to 500 people. Communal thinking. Great Plains Indians

  4. Surviving on the Great Plains • Scarce resources required adapting to the environment. • Hunting, fishing, eking out an existence. • Some farmers, but most nomadic hunters. • Importance of buffalo and the hunt.

  5. Desire for Land “Great Desert” (Plains) marked as Indian territory. But U.S. population doubled between 1860 and 1900. 31.4 million to 75.9 million Homestead Act of 1862 160 acres free for a promise to settle land for 5 years. Indian Removal

  6. Expansion of the railroads. Fostered settlement and development. Cattle Ranching Longhorn steers driven to Kansas for train trip to St. Louis and Chicago. Indian Removal

  7. Whites slaughtered 10 million buffalo in 1870s. Deprives Indians of self-survival. Forced Relocation Dangerous life on reservations. Nomadic tribes now expected to farm. Indian Removal

  8. Great Sioux War (1876-1881) Indians no match for Americans. Lakota Ghost Dance (1890) Wounded Knee Massacre (1890) Over 200 surrendering Indians slaughtered. Indian Removal

  9. Assimilation Reformers sought to “civilize” Indians through: Education, Christianity, individualism, farming Dawes Severalty Act of 1887 Citizenship granted. Divided reservations into 160 acre plots. Surplus land sold to white settlers. Indian Removal

  10. Racial and Economic Power A rancho society based on pursuit of pleasure, leisure…. …and exploitation. A highly stratified society Spanish ranching elite Laboring class (servants, artisans, farm workers, and vaqueros). Mestizo population (mixed Hispanic/Indian blood) Hispanic Southwest

  11. Racial Ideology and Economic Competition Non-whites called crude, uncivilized, and inferior. Competition for land, gold, jobs. American Annexation Mexican-American War, 1846-1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848) Gold Rush Anglo settlers overwhelmed Mexican residents. Hispanic Southwest

  12. Lower-class Mexicans and Mestizos Not an economic threat as long as in low-skilled jobs. Racial persecution Deprived of the vote. California Vagrancy “Greaser” Act (1855) Santa Fe, New Mexico Hispanic elite work with Anglos to exploit Mexican American peasants. Resistance Strikes and vigilante violence White Caps of San Miguel Hispanic Southwest

  13. An Indispensable Labor Force “Crocker’s Pets” and the transcontinental railroad. Central Pacific hired Chinese laborers in 1860s. Chinese made half of what whites make. The Anti-Chinese Movement

  14. The Anti-Chinese Movement • Where are they at Promontory Point, Utah on May 10, 1869? • Chinese were an indispensable but also unseen labor force in the Southwest.

  15. Employers used Chinese as a “wedge” against labor unions (who then blamed the Chinese!). Conflict with White Workers Whites claimed high paying jobs were “race specific.” But hard economic times after 1869 brought job competition. The Anti-Chinese Movement

  16. …and Exclusion Chinese Exclusion Act (1882) All Chinese laborers prohibited from immigrating to U.S. Violence… Boycotts, murders, and race riots LA (1871), Chico (1877), Seattle (1885), and Rock Springs, Wyoming (1886) Working Men’s Party of San Francisco: “The Chinese Must Go!” The Anti-Chinese Movement

  17. The Anti-Chinese Movement • A Racial Uniform • Chinese pushed into urban ethnic islands. • Socially and economically on the margins of society.

  18. Conclusion • Tragic Irony of America’s Frontier History • Democratic principles vs. racial justifications. • Easier to blame non-whites for racial inferiority than recognize American greed.

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