2. The New South
Plantation system gave way to tenant farming
and sharecropping
Farmers worked land they did not own
Traded a percentage of annual yield for the right
to work their share of land
Little cash available-most farmers lived in a
perpetual state of debt
Some growth in manufacturing
Cotton still King
Railroad improved shipping crops to market
8. The New West
The Migratory Stream
1870-1900: Americans settled more land in the
U.S. than had been occupied before the Civil War
Settlers’ ethnicities
African-American Migration
Exodusters
Buffalo Soldiers: “colored” cavalry units
14. The New West
Range Wars
Conflicting claims and goals of farmers &
ranchers
Ethnic prejudices
Farmers and the Land
Homestead Act of 1862
1900 Progressives encouraged water rights and
dams
15. The New West
Hoover Dam: when completed in 1936 –the world’s largest concrete structure
16. The New West
Pioneer Women
Same social rules as in the East
Hardships made life more egalitarian
Widows assumed control of land and
independence that would not have been tolerated
back home
The End of the Frontier
1890 Census showed no area remained where
fewer than 2 people per square mile resided
22. America’s Move to Town
The Allure and Problems of the Cities
Unregulated urban growth created problems in
sanitation, health and morale
Mortality rates
Cholera, yellow fever and typhoid
25. Immigration
Immigration Restriction
Immigrant communities
Nativist groups
Immigrants dangerous
Worked for substandard wages
Religious prejudice
Congress
Overturned Chester Arthur’s veto of the Chinese
Exclusion Act
Federal law limiting immigration on the basis of race and
class
26. Popular Culture
A Reading Public
Newspapers
Openly partisan
Vaudeville
Variety show: comedy, music, dance
Saloon Culture
Social club for poor
Women segregated in smaller rooms
28. Popular Culture
Outdoor Recreation
Relieved congestion of urban life
New York’s Central Park established in 1858
Bicycle: 1870’s
Working Women and Leisure
Church organizations
Small groups
30. Popular Culture
Spectator Sports
Football, Basketball, Baseball
White players only
African Americans in separate leagues
Urban base in large cities
33. Education and Social Thought
The Spread of Public Education
Prior to Civil War
Education in private academies often centered around
a religious denomination
Post Civil War
Vocational training
Morrill Act of 1862: Land Grant Colleges--30,000
Acres per representative to teach agriculture and
mechanics
Vocational Training & “Americanize” Immigrants
35. Education and Social Thought
Pragmatism
William James:
ideas gain validity
from their social
consequences and
practical
applications
36. Social Darwinism
Application by of
Darwin’s theory to
social issues
Man’s better
characteristics could
be passed on
Man can manipulate
society so that best
men thrive
Editor's Notes
Why was there a dramatic increase in sharecropping and tenancy in the late nineteenth century? Why did the South have more sharecroppers than other parts of the country? Why, in your opinion, was the rate of sharecropping low in the western territories of New Mexico and Arizona?
As the line of the “frontier” moved farther west, Native Americans who had been forced west by treaties and congressional decrees once again found Anglo settlers encroaching on land that bad been promised to them. Unwilling to move again, they attacked the immigrants as they passed through or attempted to settle their land. Perhaps the best known of the Indian Wars involved Lieutenant Colonel George Custer. Miners had been encroaching on the Black Hills of the Dakota territory in search of gold, violating the Black Hills Reservation of the Sioux. Custer and his detachment of 210 soldiers moved against a Sioux encampment only to find themselves surrounded by more than 2,500 warriors.
What was the Great Sioux War? What happened at Little Bighorn, and what were the consequences? Why were hundreds of Indians killed at Wounded Knee?
With the near-extinction of the buffalo came the rise of the cattle drive. The terminus for a cattle drive was whichever rail line was closest. As railways continued to extend west, the destinations of the cattle drives changed. As farmers continued to settle the plains, they began to mark their land with a new invention, barbed wire. Several hard winters and a period of drought led to the end of cattle drives, and the open range gave way to the closed.
The construction of Hoover Dam When completed in 1936, Hoover Dam was the world’s largest concrete structure.
The flow of population during this period switched from extending the frontier, as at the turn of the century, to retreating to the safety and security of cities. Technologies such as elevators, steam radiators, and less expensive steel allowed urban dwellers to live more compactly than ever before.
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Tandem tricycle In spite of the danger and discomfort of early bicycles, “wheeling” became a popular form of recreation and mode of transportation.
William James proposed the concept of pragmatism, that ideas gain their validity not from their inherent truth but instead from their social consequences and practical applications.
