Chapter 26 American Pageant 13 th ed America moves West Army troops met formidable resistance by Native Americans 20 of US soldiers were African American buffalo soldiers After Civil ID: 440860
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Slide1
The Great West & the agricultural revolution
Chapter 26
American Pageant
, 13
th
ed. Slide2
America moves West
Army
troops met formidable resistance by Native Americans
20% of U.S. soldiers were African American (buffalo soldiers)
After Civil War Americans moved to the West Encountered Native Americans & buffaloWithin 30 years, this landscape would change Between 1860 & 1890 Indians were sent to small reservations laden with empty promisesSlide3
Hostilities increaseSlide4
Hostilities decrease
Many
people sympathized with Native
AmericansMost just wanted white assimilation
Disease, the railroad, extermination of buffalo and firewater all ended native resistance Slide5
Forced assimilation
1887 Dawes Severalty
Act
dissolved tribes as legal entitieswiped out tribal ownership of
landprovided families 160 acres of landcitizenship in 25 years if behavedReservation land not allotted was sold to settlers; proceeds used for educationTried to make farmers out of Indians, ignored tradition of tribally held landsForced assimilation was Indian policy for 50 yearsSlide6
Mining Westward
Mining’s
first great
boomDiscovery, population boom, communities form
Gold and silver discoveries across West (CA, CO, ID, MT, NV)Boomtowns emerged, much crime & chaosFederal government supported large mining operations- provided inexpensive land, approved patents, provided RR land to move out oreMining boom helped fuel industrial growthCaused conflict with Native AmericansSlide7
Farming Westward
Homestead Act
1862
allowed settlers to acquire 160 acres of land by living on it for 5
years & making improvements Public land given away to fill it up, provide a family farm (500,000 people took advantage)More families than that bought land from railroads& land companiesLand speculators took advantage of system to grab up best land Railroads tempted immigrants with cheap landHigher wheat prices, iron plows made marginal land more attractive
However…
160
acres
inadequate to make a living; yields low
Drought
persistent problem, farming techniques led to “Dust Bowl” of the 1930’sSlide8
Moving Westward
Cities in the West served as a safety valve for defunct miners & farmers
“Oh shucks, I lost my farm. I’ll just move West.”
Good in theory, but an expensive venture
Some large-scale farms emergeTied to industry, reliant on one anotherFarming becomes mechanized and agribusiness appearedSlide9
Failing farms
Reasons for failing farms
Tenant farmers
Operated at a loss
Farmers overproduced driving prices down Government over assessed their land for taxesCorporations supplied farm equipment, seed, fertilizer; controlled
prices
Grain
storage operators and
railroads
charged high
fees
Nature
conspired against farmers- grasshoppers, floods, drought
In the South the boll weevil wreaked havoc on the cotton crop in the 1890’s
Farmers were slow to
organize; individualistic & independent, not well educated
The first major farmer’s organization was the
National Grange of the Patrons
of Husbandry
(The Grange)
Established
cooperatively owned stores, grain elevators and
warehouses
Entered
politics to control grain, freight prices, had biggest success in Upper MidwestSlide10
Populist Party
Late 1870’s Farmers’
Alliance established
in Texas
Grassroots movementBy 1890 over 1 million membersOrganized to break control of RR’s through cooperative buying and sellingIgnored plight of tenant farmers, excluded blacksRacial division kept farmers from working togetherBlacks formed Colored Farmers’ National Alliance
Populist Party
arose
as the direct successor to the Farmer’s Alliance
Populist party’s presidential candidate in 1892 was James B. Weaver
Influential Populist leaders were James B. Weaver, Mary Lease, Ignatius Donnelley, and William “Coin” Harvey
In a bid to win labor’s support, the Populist Party opposed injunctions against labor strikes Slide11
Populist Party Cartoon 1892Slide12
Jacob Coxey
Panic
of1893
strengthened
Populists’ position; depression loomedArmies of unemployed began marching to protest plight of labors & farmers Coxey’s “army” marched on Washington D.C., to demand that the government relieve unemployment with a public works program Slide13
Election of 1896
William “hard money” McKinley (R-Ohio) vs. William Jennings Bryan (D- Neb)
A “monetary” battle: gold standard or silver standard; Populists back silver
A
Republican victoryMcKinley was a “trust” man, for big business and big moneyGold Standard Act of 1900 allowed paper currency to be redeemed freely in gold, victory for conservativesSlide14
Adams, L. (2010). Retrieved on January 10, 2011 from
http
://lisaacademy.org/webshare/social%20studies/dean/APUSH/The%20Great%20West%20and%20the%20Agricultural%20Revolution.ppt
.
[Image of Helen Hunt book]. (20110. Retrieved on January 10, 2011 from http://booksxyz.com/profile1791691.php[Image of Indian land for sale]/ (20100). Retrieved on January 10, 2011 from http://www.virginiawestern.edu/faculty/vwhansd/his122/Images/Indian%20Land.jpg [Image of William McKinley]. (2011). Retrieved on January 11, 2011 from http://
www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/williammckinley