US Expansion

Unit 2: Post Civil War America 1860’s-1900

The Birth of Modern America 1865-1900
Introduction
U.S. transformed from a rural nation, to an industrial nation.
Growth of Cities
Development of big business
The rise of technologies
Social pressures
Increased immigration
Unionization movements
The Populist Movement

I – Mining
The West held rich deposits of gold, silver and copper (served the needs of growing industries back East ).
Mineral Strikes brought the first waves of settlers who wanted to strike rich fast.
Placer Mining – using simple equipment like picks, shovels and pans to extract shallow deposits of ore
Quartz Mining – digging deep beneath the earths surface (large mining companies)

I – Mining
C. The Comstock Lode (Henry Comstock)
Six Mile Canyon, Western Nevada
First discovered (Grosh Brothers) 1857
Comstock (sheepherder) took over in 1859
He sold claims for insignificant funds
It didn’t become profitable until its bluish sand was found to be silver (silver ore)
One of the largest mineral strikes ever

I – Mining
This area became Virginia City
Outpost to boomtown (30,000 people overnight)
Opera house, shops (European Fashion), several news papers, six story hotel (West’s first elevator)
By 1898 Comstock’s silver veins were exhausted
Virginia City became a ghost town.

II – The Cattle Industry
Development
Many thought cattle could not survive in the west
Water was scarce
Eastern cattle could not survive off tough prairie grasses
Ranchers in Texas/Mexico let their cattle run wild
Over time the new breed – the longhorn – emerged.
Descended from Spanish cattle, brought two centuries
1865 (5 million roamed Texas)

II – Cattle Industry
Open Range – a vast area of grassland owned by the government
Cattle Drives
After the Civil War beef prices soared
By 1860 the railroad had reached the Great Plains
Provided a way to transport the cattle to markets back East.
The cattle could be sold for 10 times the price they could get in Texas

Hispanics, African Americans, former Confederate soldiers were hired by ranchers to head north on cattle (2,000 – 5,000) drives
1867-1871 nearly 1.5 million cattle were driven up the Chisholm Trail to Abilene, Kansas

C. The Cowboy
Mexican cow hands developed the tools and technology for rounding up and driving cattle
Cattle drives were rough and dangerous
Often spent their entire wage once they got to town
Dime Novel – Adventure book sold for a dime and helped spread the myths of the “Wild West” in the East

Ranching Becomes Big Business
Cattle - sent to slaughter houses or sold to ranchers in Montana and Wyoming
“ Range Wars” - between competing ranchers (many died)
The invention of barbed wire enabled hundreds of square miles to be fenced off cheap and easy
New European breeds replaced the longhorn
Investors (back east/Britain) caused an oversupply of animals
Dropping the prices causing ranchers to go bankrupt
The long cattle drive ended, the cowboy became a ranch hand

III – Farming on the Plains
Open your text books to page 292 and skim section 2
What geographic factors created challenges for settlers?
What factors played a key role in settlers moving west?
What hard times fell on the settlers?
Write the questions in your notes
Skip 5 lines in between

III – Farming on the Plains
Open your text books to page 292
What geographic factors created challenges for settlers?
Scarcity of wood - very little trees (only along rivers and streams)
Scarcity of water (wells needed to be drilled 300ft down)
Less than 20 inches of annual rain fall
Hot summers (100 + degrees F) and extremely cold winters
What factors played a key role in settlers moving west?
Railroads (easy travel)
Technology - horse drawn binders, steel plows, seed drills,
Homestead Act – for a $10 fee an individual could file for a 160 acre tract of public land that could be owned free and clear after 5 years
Wheat Belt – inexpensive land (U.S. largest wheat exporter)
Hard Times
1890’s – too much wheat on the world market
Drought – many sold out or went bankrupt

“Our Original Sin”
Would you rather be comforted, or told the truth?
“ If we look Indian history squarely in the eye, we are going to get red eyes. This is our past, however, and we must acknowledge it. It is time for textbooks to send white children home, if not with red eyes, at least with thought provoking questions.”
- Sol Tax, Anthropologist (1907 - 1995)

IV – Native Americans
Background:
Inhabited N. America for more than 20,000 years
The horse was introduced in 1598 by the Spanish in New Mexico
European invasion
brought diseases
small pox
measles
Guns were traded for by some, but not all tribes
Events:
The Oregon Trail (1841-1866)
The Gold Rush (1849)
The Transcontinental Railroad (1869)
Farming/Ranching

Indian Removal Act of 1830 (Congress/Andrew Jackson)
Reservations were meant to be temporary
Put on land that settlers didn’t want
Assimilation/Civilize
Boarding Schools

IV – Native Americans Tom Torlino (Navajo) as he appeared upon arrival to the Carlisle Indian School, October 21, 1882. Tom Torlino (Navajo) three years later

Current Status
563 Federally recognized tribal governments
Right to form governments; enforce laws, to tax
About 300 Indian Reservation in the U.S.
12 are bigger than Rhode Island 9 bigger than Delaware

The Reservation Process
“ High-handed officials, such as governor Isaac Stevens of Washington Territory, made no attempt at legitimate negotiations, choosing instead to intimidate or deceive Indian peoples into signing away their land.”
( Out of Many - Volume II)

Native American Reservations

Red Cloud – Oglala Sioux
1822-1909
His military success forced the U.S. to make treaties
Red Clouds War (1866-1868) over territory in Wyoming and Montana
1889 U.S. officials persuade the Sioux to relinquish 11 million acres of land to non-Indian settlers
His last days were spent at the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation

The Battle of Little Big Horn

Sitting Bull
1830’s - 1890
Sioux Medicine Man
Leader of Lakota warriors who were part of the victorious battle against the U.S. 7 th Cavalry (June 25 th 1876)
Led his tribe into Canada until 1881 when he was granted amnesty by the U.S. government

General George Armstrong Custer, leader of the U.S. 7 th Cavalry
Was sent to subdue Natives near the gold rich Black Hills
Underestimated the Lakota/ Northern Cheyenne forces
His detachment was killed to the last man
The details of this battle are still highly debated

Battle/Massacre at Wounded Knee?
Read Pages 301 and 302 in your text book titled “Tragedy at Wounded Knee”
Read contents from Wikipedia “Wounded Knee Massacre”
After reading write a paragraph summarizing the events at wounded knee in at least 6 sentences
Based on what you have read do you believe it to be a battle or a massacre? Describe your argument in at least 6 sentences

The Nez Perce Retreat
Led by Chief Joseph and Chief Looking Glass
Wallowa valley wanted by settlers
Government was forcing them onto a reservation
Tribe decides to go to Canada
Forced to surrender at Bear’s Paw Mountain

Chief Joseph’s Surrender Speech October 8 th 1877
Tell General Howard I know his Heart. What He told me before I have in my heart. I am tired of fighting, Looking Glass is dead. too-Hul-hul-sote is dead. The old men are all dead. It is the young men who say yes or no. He who led on the young men is dead. It is cold and we have no blankets. The little children are freezing to death. My people, some of them have run away to the hills, and have no blankets, no food; no one knows where they are--perhaps freezing to death. I want to have time to look for my children and see how many of them I can find. Maybe I shall find them among the dead. Hear me, my chiefs. I am tired; my heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands I will fight no more forever.

Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show
Circus like attraction that toured the country
Included:
Annie Oakley “Little Miss Sure Shot.” Shot the ashes off Kaiser Wilhelm II’s cigar
Buffalo Bill gave a melodramatic reenactment of Custer’s Last Stand
Sitting Bull often cussed at the crowd in his native language to their applause
At the turn of the century in 1900 many historians claim that Buffalo Bill was the most recognizable celebrity on earth

The Buffalo/Bison
Native Americans
Prior to the horse, buffalo were herded into large chutes, and then stampeded over cliffs
Provided meat, leather, sinew for bows, grease, dried dung for fires, hooves for glue
When the horse arrived a good horseman could easily lance or shoot enough bison for his entire family

The Buffalo/Bison
Hunting
Railroad companies wanted to destroy entire herds
Large herds on tracks could damage locomotive
Without the bison the tribes would leave, starve and die off

Economics
Bison skins were valuable for industrial machine belts, clothing (robes), and rugs
Huge export trade to Europe
Organized teams of one or two professional hunters, skinners, gun cleaners, re-loaders, cooks, wranglers, blacksmiths, large number of horse wagons, bullet removers
Pro hunters could kill up to 100 in a single stand, thousands in a career
Good hide was $3.00 in Dodge City, and a very good one (the heavy winter coat) $50.00 in a time when a laborer would be lucky to make dollar a day

The Buffalo/Bison
The fate of the Buffalo
Buffalo Bill Cody spoke in favor of protecting the bison
President Grant Pocket Vetoed a bill to protect them
By 1884 the American Bison was close to extinction
1890 as few as 750 existed
The Bronx Zoo maintained a remnant herd, some of which were transported to Yellowstone in the early 20 th century
The current population is estimated at 350,000, but this includes animals that carry cattle genes
Actual approximation is from 5,000 – 15,000 purebred bison in the world

V – Railroads
1862 – Lincoln signed the Pacific Railway Act
Union Pacific and Central Pacific (California - employed 10,000 Chinese laborers) created the transcontinental railroad
Land Grants – The government gave the companies land that they would turn and sell to settlers, real estate companies and other businesses.
1865 – 35,000 miles of track, all east of the Mississippi
1900 – the nation had over 200,000 miles of track
1883 – The American Railway Association divided the country into four time zones. Ratified 1918.

III - Westward Expansion
This 1891 cartoon expresses the views of those opposed to immigration into the USA.
The frock-coated politician is telling Uncle Sam that "If immigration was properly restricted you would no longer be troubled with anarchy, socialism, the Mafia, and such kindred evils!'" Captions on immigrants in the picture label them :Polish vagabond, Italian brigand, English convict, Russian anarchist, Irish pauper.

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