This document provides an overview of Westward expansion and conflicts with Native Americans in the late 1800s. It discusses how increasing settlement by white Americans led to conflicts over land and differences in worldviews between Native Americans and settlers. Native Americans were forced onto reservations and faced disease, loss of buffalo, and wars as their way of life was disrupted. The Indian Wars ended with the Wounded Knee massacre in 1890. The document also examines economic and social changes in the post-Civil War West, including mining, cattle ranching, farming, and the growth of railroads. Corruption in politics during the Gilded Age is discussed along with civil service reforms and debates over economic issues like tariffs. Farmers faced difficulties that led to

1. Chapter 25 Section 1
The Cold War Begins
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Westward Expansion and the American Indians
Topic 10
Section 1

2. Chapter 25 Section 1
The Cold War Begins
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• Compare the ways Native Americans and
white settlers viewed and used the land.
• Describe the conflicts between white settlers
and Indians.
• Evaluate the impact of the Indian Wars.
Objectives

3. Chapter 25 Section 1
The Cold War BeginsWestward Expansion and the American Indians
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Terms and People
• reservation – specific area set aside by the
federal government for the Indians’ use
• Sand Creek Massacre – 1864 incident in which
Colorado militia killed a camp of unarmed
Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians
• Sitting Bull – Sioux chief respected as a fighter
and spiritual leader
• Battle of the Little Big Horn – 1876 battle in
which the Sioux defeated U.S. troops led by
Colonel George Custer

4. Chapter 25 Section 1
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Terms and People (continued)
• Chief Joseph – leader of the Nez Percés who
surrendered after trying to lead a group of Indian
refugees to Canada
• Wounded Knee – 1890 confrontation between
U.S. cavalry and the Sioux that marked the end
of Indian resistance in the Ghost Dance War
• assimilate – to adopt the culture and civilization
of the dominant group in a society
• Dawes General Allotment Act – 1887 law that
divided reservation land into private family plots

5. Chapter 25 Section 1
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How did the pressures of westward
expansion impact Native Americans?
As American settlers continued to push west,
they increasingly came into conflict with Native
Americans.
Such conflict often led to violence, with tragic
results.

6. Chapter 25 Section 1
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Section 2
After the Civil War, about 250,000 Indians
lived in the lands west of the Mississippi.
• Had different belief systems
• Spoke different languages
• Lived in different types of
houses
• Ate different foods
Native
Americans
came from
many diverse
cultures.

7. Chapter 25 Section 1
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Section 2
The diverse Indian peoples, however, shared a
common view toward nature—a view that conflicted
with that of many white Americans.
Native
Americans saw
themselves
as part of
nature and
viewed nature
as sacred.
Many white
Americans
viewed the
land as a
resource to
produce
wealth.

8. Chapter 25 Section 1
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During the 1800s, the government carried out
a policy of moving Indians out of the way of
white settlers.
Indians were
forced into
reservations,
no longer free to
roam the Plains.
At first, Indians in the East
were moved west, into the
Indian Territory of the Plains.
As frontier settlers continued
pushing west, however, this
plan changed.

9. Chapter 25 Section 1
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Two other crises also threatened
Native American civilizations.
Disease
Loss of the buffalo
Settlers introduced
diseases to which Indians
had no immunity.
Settlers slaughtered
buffalo herds.

10. Chapter 25 Section 1
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Some Native Americans fought to defend
their lands.
The Sand Creek
Massacre saw an
unarmed camp of
Indians under the U.S.
Army protection killed
by Colorado militia.
But attacks and
retaliation led to
distrust—and to
tragedy.
Promises were made and peace treaties were
signed, but they often were broken.

11. Chapter 25 Section 1
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Frustration turned to violence as the government
moved to crush Indian resistance.
• The Red River War led to
the defeat of the
Southern Plains Indians.
• The Sioux were victorious
at the Battle of the
Little Bighorn.
• Chief Joseph and the
Nez Percés surrendered
after attempting to retreat
to Canada.

12. Chapter 25 Section 1
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Fearful of insurrection, government officials
tried to ban the practice.
The ritual preached that white settlers would be banished
and the buffalo would return.
As their way of life slipped away, some Indians turned to
a religious revival based on the Ghost Dance.

13. Chapter 25 Section 1
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However, he was killed in a
confrontation with U.S. troops.
More than 100 Indians who fled
were killed at Wounded Knee.
The Indian Wars were over.
In an effort to end the Ghost Dance, the government
attempted to arrest Sitting Bull.

14. Chapter 25 Section 1
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Some critics attacked government policies and defended
the Indians’ way of life.
Most leaders, however, hoped that Native
Americans would assimilate into American life.

15. Chapter 25 Section 1
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• Replaced the reservation system
with an allotment system
• Granted each Indian family its own
plot of land
• Specified the land could not be sold
for 25 years
In 1887, Congress passed the Dawes General
Allotment Act to encourage assimilation.

16. Chapter 25 Section 1
The Cold War BeginsWestward Expansion and the American Indians
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Section 2

17. Chapter 25 Section 1
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• Analyze the impact of mining and railroads
on the settlement of the West.
• Explain how ranching affected western
development.
• Discuss the ways various peoples lived in the
West and their impact on the environment.
Objectives

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The Cold War BeginsWestward Expansion and the American Indians
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Terms and People
• vigilante – self-appointed law enforcer
• transcontinental railroad – rail link between
the eastern and western United States
• land grant – land given by the federal
government for building railroads
• open-range system – system in which
ranchers did not fence in their property, allowing
cattle to roam and graze freely

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Terms and People (continued)
• Homestead Act – 1862 law in which the
government offered farm plots of 160 acres to
anyone willing to live on the land for five years,
dig a well, and build a road
• Exodusters –African Americans who migrated
from the South to the West after the Civil War

20. Chapter 25 Section 1
The Cold War BeginsWestward Expansion and the American Indians
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What economic and social factors
changed the West after the Civil War?
In the late 1800s, miners, rail workers, ranchers,
and farmers moved to the frontier in hopes of
building better lives.
The industrial and agricultural booms they created
helped transform the West.

21. Chapter 25 Section 1
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The discovery of gold and silver created
the first great boom in the West—mining.
• With each new find,
prospectors rushed to
the site, hoping to
strike it rich.
• Others followed, bringing
food and supplies.
Mining camps
quickly
sprang up.
Many camps
grew into
thriving
communities.

22. Chapter 25 Section 1
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• In the early days,
vigilantes took the
law into their own
hands.
• As towns grew, they
hired marshals and
sheriffs.
Because they
had no judges
or jails, miners
often set their
own rules for
administering
justice.
Some towns, however, disappeared as quickly as
they appeared. Boomtowns turned to ghost towns
when the gold and silver ran out.

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• Could afford the heavy
equipment needed to
bring mineral ores out
from deep underground
• Were supported by
the government with
cheap land
Large companies soon took over the mining
business from individual prospectors.

24. Chapter 25 Section 1
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The railroads soon
began work to
fulfill a longtime
goal—to build a
transcontinental
railroad linking the
East and the West.
As industries
grew in the West,
so did the need
for railroads to
transport goods
and people.
The government supported this goal through:
• loans • land grants

25. Chapter 25 Section 1
The Cold War BeginsWestward Expansion and the American Indians
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In 1863, the Central Pacific headed eastward from
Sacramento. The Union Pacific headed westward
from Omaha.
They finally
met at
Promontory,
Utah, in
1869.

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• Tied the nation together
• Moved products and people
• Spurred industrial development
• Stimulated the growth of towns and cities
• Encouraged settlers to continue to move west
Work on the railroad had been difficult and
dangerous. But it brought tremendous changes
to the country.

27. Chapter 25 Section 1
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The railroad boom encouraged another
western boom—the cattle boom.
For years, ranchers
had used an open-
range system for
raising livestock.
• Property not fenced in
• Cattle were branded,
then grazed freely
• Cowboys rounded up
the cattle each spring

28. Chapter 25 Section 1
The Cold War BeginsWestward Expansion and the American Indians
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Cowboys then drove cattle north to the rail lines,
so they could be transported to market.
The long, hard
cattle drives
could last for
months.
They ended at
railroad towns,
called cow
towns.

29. Chapter 25 Section 1
The Cold War BeginsWestward Expansion and the American Indians
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Reasons
the open-
range
system
ended
The invention of barbed wire made
fencing cheap.
The supply of beef exceeded demand
and prices dropped.
Extreme weather led to the death
of herds.
By the mid-1880s, however, the cattle boom
was coming to an end.

30. Chapter 25 Section 1
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Like miners and ranchers, farmers also moved
west, looking for a better life.
Railroad companies
encouraged pioneer
settlement. So did
the government.
Under the 1862
Homestead Act,
the government
gave land to farmers
willing to tend it.
Easterners, Exodusters, and immigrants soon
poured onto the Great Plains.

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Life on the Plains was difficult and lonely.
With little wood
available, homesteaders
made houses from sod.
Storms, droughts, and
locusts ruined crops.

32. Chapter 25 Section 1
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New inventions and farming methods,
however, made life easier.
• Barbed wire
• Stronger plow
• Grain drill
• Windmill
• Dry-farming techniques

33. Chapter 25 Section 1
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For many Americans, the West was a place to
build new lives. But it also was a place of conflict.
• Cattle destroyed crops
• Sheep ruined grasses
• Mining runoff polluted water
• Control of resources disputed
Economic rivalries
Social conflicts
• Prejudice
• Discrimination
• Ethnic tensions

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The last land rush took place in 1889, when the
government opened the Oklahoma Territory to
homesteaders.
“boomers”
lined up to
stake claims
“sooners” sneaked
in early to take
the best ones
The next year, the government declared
there was no land left for homesteading.
The frontier closed.

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Section 3

36. Chapter 25 Section 1
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• Analyze the issue of corruption in national
politics in the 1870s and 1880s.
• Discuss civil service reform during the 1870s
and 1880s.
• Assess the importance of economic issues in
the politics of the Gilded Age.
Objectives

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Terms and People
• spoils system – a system in which politicians
awarded government jobs to loyal party workers
with little regard for their qualifications
• civil service – a system that includes federal jobs
in the executive branch
• Pendleton Civil Service Act – a law passed in
1883 that established a Civil Service Commission,
which wrote a civil service exam
• gold standard – using gold as the basis of the
nation’s currency

38. Chapter 25 Section 1
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Why did the political structure change
during the Gilded Age?
Congress passed few laws between 1877 and
1900, in an era marked by inaction and political
corruption.
The Gilded Age raised questions about whether
or not democracy could succeed.

39. Chapter 25 Section 1
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• Neither political
party achieved
control of both the
White House and
Congress for more
than two years in a
row.
• Presidents during
the Gilded Age were
elected only by slim
margins.
Between 1877
and 1897,
party loyalties
were evenly
divided.

40. Chapter 25 Section 1
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Corruption plagued national politics as many officials
accepted bribes.

41. Chapter 25 Section 1
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Writers, such as Mark Twain, expressed
concerns over the corruption.
This system
made the
political parties
extremely
powerful.
The spoils system, in
which party supporters
received government
jobs regardless of their
qualifications, shifted
power to a few.

42. Chapter 25 Section 1
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A movement arose to promote civil service
reform.
Ending the
spoils system
was difficult.
Change finally happened,
in part, because
President James Garfield
was assassinated by a
man who believed the
Republican Party owed
him a job.

43. Chapter 25 Section 1
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Chester A. Arthur became President and
supported civil service reform.
In 1883, he signed into law the
Pendleton Civil Service Act,
which established a merit-based system for
government employment.

44. Chapter 25 Section 1
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Tariffs taxed imported
goods, which supported
American industry but
increased consumer prices.
Monetary policy disputes
concerned the gold
standard, where gold
became the basis of the
nation’s currency.
The economic
issues of
tariffs and
monetary
policy caused
debate during
the Gilded Age.

45. Chapter 25 Section 1
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Monetary policy centered on a debate over the
Coinage Act of 1873.
Some people
wanted to
use only gold
as money.
Some wanted
to use both
gold and
silver.
Bankers were worried silver would undermine the
economy. Farmers favored it to create inflation and
raise their income.

46. Chapter 25 Section 1
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Section 4

47. Chapter 25 Section 1
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• Analyze the problems farmers faced and the
groups they formed to address them.
• Assess the goals of the Populists, and explain
why the Populist Party did not last.
Objectives

48. Chapter 25 Section 1
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Terms and People
• Oliver H. Kelley – a Minnesota farmer and
businessman who organized the Grange
• Grange – an organization of farmers who joined
to learn about new farming techniques, to call for
the regulation of railroad and grain elevator rates,
and to prompt the establishment of the ICC
• Populist Party – a political party formed in 1892
on a platform of silver coinage, government
ownership of the railroads, and fighting the corrupt
and unresponsive elite

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Terms and People (continued)
• William Jennings Bryan – the Democratic
nominee for president in 1896, who supported
many Populist principles including silver coinage,
and who toured the country to speak directly to
voters
• William McKinley – the Republican candidate for
president in 1896, who followed a traditional
strategy of letting party workers campaign for him

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What led to the rise of the Populist
movement, and what effect did it have?
Millions of Americans moved west after the Civil
War to pursue the American dream.
A variety of factors made their lives extremely
difficult, which led to the social and political revolt
known as Populism—and created one of the
largest third party movements in American
history.

51. Chapter 25 Section 1
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People moving to the West and South in the late
1800s knew that their lives would not be easy.
Problems
facing the
farmers of
the West
and South
They did not anticipate many problems that made
survival nearly impossible.
low prices for crops
high transportation, equipment,
and loan costs
drought
reduced influence in politics

52. Chapter 25 Section 1
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Frustrated
by these
problems,
farmers began to
organize.

53. Chapter 25 Section 1
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Section 2
Farmers created groups to address their
problems.
These groups formed a network called the
Granger movement. The Grange was
formally organized by Oliver H. Kelley
in 1867 and gained a million members.
The Grange declined after the 1870s,
but Farmers’ Alliances became
important reform organizations that
continued the Grange’s goals.

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The spread of the Farmers’ Alliances led to the
formation of the Populist Party in 1892.
The Populist platform,
outlined at the party’s
1892 convention in
Omaha, NE, called for:
coinage of silver
an income tax
government ownership
of railroads
bank regulations

55. Chapter 25 Section 1
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The debate
over monetary
policy was
an important
issue of the
day.
Those who
wanted a gold
standard were on
one side.
Those who wanted to
use silver—including the
Populist Party—were
on the other.

56. Chapter 25 Section 1
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Section 2
The Populists
did well in 1892,
electing three
governors, five
senators, and ten
congressmen.
The Populist
candidate for
president received
one million votes
in that election.

57. Chapter 25 Section 1
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An economic depression began in 1893 and
labor unrest and violence broke out. The
Populist Party grew.
In 1896, a young lawyer named William
Jennings Bryan spoke at the national
Democratic convention.
The speech, with its Populist message
of “free silver,” moved Democrats to
nominate Bryan. The Populist Party
chose to give him their support.

58. Chapter 25 Section 1
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William Jennings Bryan campaigned against
Republican candidate William McKinley
in a way that had never been seen before.
He toured the country,
talking directly to voters.

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McKinley won
against Bryan
in 1896 and in
1900.
Bryan’s emphasis
on money reform
wasn’t popular with
urban workers.

60. Chapter 25 Section 1
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The Populist Party was weakened by
supporting William Jennings Bryan on the
Democratic ticket.
It survived
another decade,
but its viability
as an alternative
to the two major
parties was over.
Many of the reforms
sought by the Populists
became a reality.
The new campaigning
style used by Bryan
became the norm.