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Chapter 16 - The Conquest of the Far West

 1)The Societies of the Far West

a)The Western Tribes

i)Some dislocated eastern tribes in “Indian Territory”, others western tribes such as Pueblos had permanent settlements/farms + interaction w/ Spanish & Mexicans- caste system over other Ind tribes (genizaros=Ind w/o tribes)

ii)Plains Indians- some nomadic, some farmers. Many (including Sioux) hunted buffalo as main source of food + materials

iii)Warriors unable to defeat white settlers b/c disunited, internal conflict, disease

b)Hispanic New Mexico

i)American capitalist integration led Spanish-speaking to erosion of communal society + economies, land aristocracy from Santa Fe + Span/Mex peasants

ii)Territorial govt in 1850, in 1870s govt dominated by “territorial ring” where business ppl took advantage of impending statehood, used fed money for profit

iii)Arrival of RRs in in SW during 1880s/1890s brought new ranching, farming, mining brought new Mexican migrants

c)Hispanic California and Texas

i)Most Spanish missions that employed Ind as near slaves until 1830s. White settlers expelled Hispanic californios from the land. Market for cattle allowed some rancheros to continue to own land, but most Mexs became working class

ii)In Texas Mexs also unable to compete with enormous Anglo-American ranching kingdoms- most relegated to unskilled farm + industrial labor

d)The Chinese Migration

i)After 1848 gold rush, Chinese migration dramatically increased, settling mostly in CA. White sentiment soon turned negative b/c Chinese industrious and successful

ii)Chinese excluded from gold mining by CA 1852 “foreign miner tax”, other laws 1850s discouraged immigration—Chinese began to work on transcontinental Central Pacific RR

iii)After RR completion 1869 many Chinese moved to cities- formed “Chinatowns” w/ benevolent societies, “tongs”-secret criminal societies

iv)Many Chinese occupied lower jobs- unskilled laborers. Many started laundries

e)Anti-Chinese Sentiment

i)“Anti-coolie” clubs in 1860s/1870s sought ban on employing Chinese, formed b/c some whites felt Chinese laborers accepted low wages + undercut unions

ii)In CA, Democratic Party + Denis Kearney’s Workingmen’s Party attacked Chinese interest- based on economic tension, cultural + racial- “inassimilable”

iii)1882 Congress responded to pressure, passed Chinese Exclusion Act- halted Chinese migration, barred naturalization- aimed to help “American” labor

f)Migration from the East

i)Extremely great postwar migration to empty and settled areas alike. Most white Anglo-Americans, others foreign-born Eur immigrants—attracted by metal deposits, lands for farming and ranching

ii)Fed land policies encouraged settlement: Homestead Act of 1862 gave 160 acres of land for small fee, in return would improve land, create new markets mechanization + rising farm costs forced some small farmers off this land

iii)In response Congress passed Timber Culture Act (1863), Desert Land Act (1877), Timber and Stone Act (1878) to allow ppl to buy/develop more cheap land

g)1860s saw development of territorial govt, statehood soon followed for most

2)The Changing Western Economy

a)Labor in the West

i)Labor shortage led to higher wages than in East, but job instability (after harvest or RR completion, ect) led to communities of jobless in cities. Workers mostly mobile, single men

ii)Working class highly multiracial, but whites generally occupied higher job levels (management + skilled labor) than nonwhites in unskilled labor. Dual labor system reinforced by racial assumptions that held nonwhites more suited for worse conditions + harder labor- allowed whites greater social mobility

b)The Arrival of the Miners

i)First Western economic boom came from mining strikes in 1860s-1890s. During Pike’s Peak strike 1858 mining camps blossomed into “cities”, later Comstock Lode silver found in Nevada, 1874 Black Hill strike in Dakota Terr.

ii)After surface wealth used up, eastern capitalists often bought claims of pioneer prospectors, began retrieving from deeper veins w/ corporate mines

iii)In boom towns vigilantism used to combat outlaws. Men outnumbered women, prostitution very common. After boom most remained in town as wage laborer in corporate mine

c)The Cattle Kingdom

i)Economy also affected by the open range- provided cattle raisers w/ free lands to graze, RRs gave access to markets. Largest herds found in Texas

ii)After success of the long drive proven, easier routes to access rest of country sought- market facility grew up at Abilene, KS as railhead of cattle kingdom. Agricultural development in 1870s in W. Kansas led other routes to grow

iii)As settlement of plans increased new forms of competition emerged- sheep breeders used range to feed flock, farmers from the East fenced in their lands—“range wars” developed btwn ranchers and farmers

iv)Large profits in cattle business led cattle economy to become more corporate. This expansion onto already shrunken ranges from RRs and farmers became overstocked, and combined with bad winters from 1885-1887, thousands of cattle died—open-range industry never recovered, but ranches survived + grew

v)Although cattle industry mostly male, large number of women led them to have impt political presence- women won vote earlier in West than rest of nation (some states to swell population for statehood, bring “morals” to politics)

3)The Romance of the West

a)The Western Landscape

i)Painters of the “Rocky Mountain School
“ celebrated the West in grandiose paintings that attracted great crowds- emphasized ruggedness and variety of region, awe toward land that had been previously expressed by Hudson River valley painters

b)The Cowboy Culture

i)Cowboy life romanticized in contrast to stable, orderly world of the East. Owen Wister’sThe Virginian (1902) showed freedom from social contraints, only one example of magazine articles, novels, ect. about Western life

c)The Idea of the Frontier

i)Many Americans considered the West the last frontier. Mark Twain wrote about (mostly early) frontier life is Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

ii)Painter/sculptor Frederic Turner captured romance of West in his works comparing it to the East

iii)Theodore Roosevelt wrote history of West- The Winning of the West (1890s)

d)Frederick Jackson Turner

i)The historian Turner contended that by 1890s no single frontier line existed and the end of an era had come. Expansion has stimulated individualism, nationalism, democracy, American uniqueness. Mirrored sentiments of US

ii)Turner inaccurate and premature- ppl had always lived in “empty, uncivilized” lands and had been displaced, also in coming years much land still available

e)The Loss of Utopia

i)With nation feeling that there had been a “passing of the frontier”, ppl felt opportunities closing and with it ability to control own destiny

ii)“Myth of the garden” (West as Garden of Eden) lost

4)The Dispersal of the Tribes

a)White Tribal Policies

i)Traditional policy was to regard tribes as nations and wards of the president, therefore negotiate treaties w/ them ratified by Senate. As white settlers demanded more lands during 1850s led ppl to abandon idea of one large Indian Territory to policy of “concentration”- each tribe given negotiated reservation

ii)In 1867 after bloody conflicts Congress created Indian peace Commission to make permanent Indian policy- move all Plains Indians into Indian Territory (Oklahoma) and Dakotas. Failed b/c of poor administration by Bureau of Indian Affairs & killing of buffalo herds by whites + reduced Indian ability to resist white advance -led to violence

b)The Indian Wars

i)1850s-1880s showed nearly constant fighting as Indians struggled against threats to their civilizations- during Civil War conflict w/ Indians in Old Northwest and the Southwest

ii)Not only military that threatened tribes; white vigilantes participated in “Indian hunting” killed tribes for sport or bounties, wanted retaliation after raids

iii)Treaties made in 1867 saw temporary lull, but influx of settlers in 1870s penetrated Dakota Territory + change in govt policy to not recognize tribes as independent nations led to violence in 1875

iv)Sioux rose up under Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull in the Black Hills- at Battle of Little Bighorn 1876 Indians killed Colonel George Custer and regiment, Indians became disunited after and forced to return to reservation

v)Nez Perce Indians under Chief Joseph 1877 attempted to flee Idaho for Canada but caught by soldiers, forced to travel for years afterward to difft areas

vi)Last organized resistance came from Apaches under Chiefs Mangas Colorados, Cochise, and finally Geronimo- unwilling to bow to white pressures Geronimo conducted raids on white outposts (“Apache Wars”), surrendered 1886

vii)Atrocities against Indians had prompted much fighting- in 1890 Sioux religious revival under the prophet Wovoka led to “Ghost Dance” that celebrated vision of whites leaving + buffalo return- in Dec troops tried to round up some Indians at Wounded Knee, SD which turned into an Indian massacre

c)The Dawes Act

i)Efforts taken to destroy reservation + communal land ownership in order to force Indians to become farmers, landowners - abandon culture for white civili.

ii)Dawes Act of 1887 eliminated tribal ownership and gave land to individual owners. Bureau of Indian Affairs promoted assimilation, sometimes by removing children and sending them to white boarding schools, build churches

iii)Indians unprepared for capitalist individualism + corrupt administration led to abandonment of program, later Burke Act of 1906 also failed to divide lands

5)The Rise and Decline of the Western Farmer

a)Farming on the Plains

i)Before Civil War lands accessible only by wagon, transcontinental RR completed 1869 and subsidiary lines built afterward w/ land grants and loans

ii)Easier access to Great Plains spurred agriculture- RRs offered cheap land and credit, rainfall allowed farming

iii) Farmers faced problems: enclosing land expensive, but 1873 Joseph Glidden and IL Ellwood invited barbwire; arid land needed irrigation, especially after 1887 when series of dry spells followed- during 1880s booms credit easy, but arid weather of late 1880smany farmers unable to pay debt and forced to abandon farms

b)Commercial Agriculture

i)Commercial farmers specialized in cash crops sold on national/international markets. Relied on town stores for supplies and food, dependent on bankers’ interest rates, railroad freight rates, and US/Eur markets

ii)During late 19th century agriculture became an international business- US commercial farmers relied on risky world market to absorb surpluses

iii)Overproduction in 1880s led to price drops, economic crisis for small farmers

c)The Farmers’ Grievances

i)Farmers resented railroads and their higher freight rates for farm goods, credit institutions for their high interest rates and payments that had to be made in years when currency scarce, and prices that they had to pay for goods and the money they received- believed manufactures keeping farm good prices low

d)The Agrarian Malaise

i)Farmers isolated, lacked education for children, proper medical facilities, and community- this sense of obsolescence lead to growing malaise among farmers that created great political movement in 1890sSturdy yeoman farmers had viewed themselves as the backbone of American life, now they were becoming aware that their position was declining in relation to the rising urban-industrial society in the East

 

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