Chapter 17

“Vast, trackless spaces” – Walt Whitman 1890 census= Frontier Closed Significance of the Frontier in American History –

Frederick Jackson Turner Distinctive qualities of American culture forged

Individual freedom Political democracy Economic mobility

Safety valve For those dissatisfied in East Counteracted social unrest

Nothing more visible and dramatic than the destruction of the traditional Indian way of life Spanish forced Indians into trading networks in SW Navajos give up nomadic ways for agriculture Cheyenne and Lakota Sioux forced to Great Plains

Three sub regions: Northern Plains

Dakotas, Montana to Nebraska Dominated by large tribes like Lakota, Arapahos

Central Region 5 Civilized tribes Pursued agricultural life Pawnees

South Kansas, Colorado, Eastern NM and TX Comanche, Apaches migratory

Commonalities Adapted to environment by hunting Bison and Buffalo Life revolved around extended family ties and tribal cooperation

Arrival of settlers 1850s- miners/settlers Broke Bison habitat Construction of railroad Army followed

Federal Government Policies Introduced reservations

Expected to be agricultural Army outposts established

Opposition Navajos, Sioux

1867 Peace Commission Two districts: Nebraska/Kansas Become farmers, convert to

Christianity 1867 Medicine Lodge Treaty of

1867 Kiowa, Comanche, Cheyenne,

Arapahos Pledged to live in Oklahoma

1868 Fort Laramie Treaty 54,000 Indians signed Agreed to move to Great Sioux Reserve Given money and provisions

August 1868 War parties razed settlements

in Kansas and CO Cheyenne, Arapahos, Sioux

1869 Christian reformers

Wanted to reform reservations Board of Indian Commissioners

Failed to persuade Indians to stay on reservation

1874 Red River War

Against Comanche and Cheyenne

Army destroys Indian supplies Slaughtered Cheyenne fugitives

Southwest Guerrilla War Apaches Geronimo, surrendered 1886

Continuous battle from 1866-1891 Not all tribes signed 1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie

Government wanted gold in Black Hills Resistance

Chief Red Cloud, Chief Spotted Tail (2nd Sioux War) Raised settlements, intimidated federal agents, harassed citizens

Federal Government response 1874 General Sherman sent Colonel Custer into Black Hills Purpose to set up a fort and keep an eye on Indians, real reason=

GOLD Not supposed to attack June 1876

Custer led 600 troops to Little Big Horn Cheyenne and Sioux led by Chief Sitting Bull wiped out Custer Emotional American response, romanticized

Army pursued Indians for 5 years Sitting Bull surrendered 1881 Used same tactics with Chief Joseph and Nez Perce, Geronimo and

Apaches

America outraged with atrocities and government violation of treaties

Groups: Women’s National Indian Rights Association, 1883

Helen Hunt Jackson A Century in Dishonor 1881

Humanitarians break up reservations Don’t recognize tribes Introduce into mainstream society Sympathetic to Natives

Dawes Severalty Act 1887 Designed to reform Indian “weakness”

*Absence of private property* Treat Indians as individuals not tribes 160 acres farming, 320 grazing Gained citizenship in 25 years issues:

No specific timetable Slashed Indian acreage by 65% by 1934 Some successful, others alcoholism

Conditions for Sioux in Great Plains declined in 1880s Reduced meat rations More restrictions Disease killed 1/3 cattle

Prophet Wovoka Restored Ghost Dance Visions of future Reclaim Indian glory Movement spread quickly

Military response arrested Chief Sitting Bull

December 29, 1890 Wounded Knee 7th Calvary rounded up

340 Sioux Indians Accidental gunfire lead

to slaughter of all Sioux By 1900

Population down to 100,000 from 250,000

Navajos adjusted peacefully and prospered

1st Transcontinental Railroad 1862 Pacific Railroad Act

Grants and subsides for every mile of track

50 years, 9 routes built Used cheap Chinese labor Completed May 10, 1869

Settlers Railroads given land Tactics for settlement

Land sale offices “Garden of Eden” Long-term loans 2.2 million immigrant settlers

German, Eastern Europe Encourage cash crops

Wheat Corn Cotton

Homesteading on the Plains Homestead Act 1862

Repub. Party felt it would enable the poor to achieve economic independence

160 acres for $10 fee Live on land 5 years and

improve it Speculators took advantage Problems:

Dry areas needed more land Rattlesnakes Blizzards, droughts Burden on women

1877 Desert Land Act 160 acres for $1.25 if irrigated

within 3 years Timber and Stone Act 1878

160 acres of forested land $2.50 acre abused by speculators

Advancements in farming Mechanization Improved strains of

wheat/corn Efficient steel plows New wheat planters Barbed wire, 1874

Clashes between cattle ranchers and farmers

Problems: Unpredictable rainfall Grasshopper infestation Economic depression

1873-1878 1st group = “Sod-

busters” specialization

Communities prospered Church, Sunday schools Barn-raisings, quilting Cooperation a necessity Worked to be educated

and sophisticated New States

Rocky Mountain States 1889

Oklahoma 1907 Arizona, New Mexico

1912

Women’s suffrage Supported out west

Referendums Wyoming 1st state to

allow women to vote 1869

1910: four states Indiana Wyoming Utah Colorado

Anglo-life Adopted by Mexicans who

stayed in US Texas

Legacy of bitterness Planters vs. non-whites

California Collapse of ranch

economy Barrios Similar conditions of

Mexicans, Chinese, and Native Americans

Low wage labor Landowning rights

restricted

New Mexico/Arizona Easier adaptation Established connections

Architectural blends Estevan Ochoa

Problems: Land disputes Las Gorras Blancas 1888 Repercussions

Migrant work Women held family

together 1890s

Escalation of problems Anti-Catholicism

Mining Frontier Started with Gold Rush Attracted young men

Mining country “poor man’s paradise”

Life unpredictable From shantytowns to

metropolises Men out numbered women 3-1 Settlement of Alaska

Mining Stimulated economy Lured foreign investors US mainstream in world

economy Consequences

Scarred landscape Chemicals from smelters Water pollution

Cowboys and Cattle Frontier Heyday lasted 1867-1887 1868 Joseph G. McCoy

Realized $ from raising steers cheap in TX and drive north for shipment

Great cattle drives of 1860s and 1870s

Lived at mercy of market Panic of 1873 disastrous

Cowboys Young men 1/5 black- more freedom

Better relationships Myth

Tombstone, Abilene, Dodge City, and Deadwood had fewer shootouts and killings than D.C. in combined history

The End Prices fell in 1882

1st agribusiness during Panic of 1873 Land given by railroads

in exchange for bonds Led to 10,000 acre

factory-like farms George W. Cass

Boom in 1880s, Crash 1890s

Overproduction High investment costs Too much rain/ too little Reliance on one crop

Success in California’s Central Valley

Better irrigation Better variety in crops

1889 Congress transferred 2 million acres of Indian Land Punishment for civil war

April 22, 1889 Sooners Within weeks 6,000 homestead claims

American Adam Dime-store novel Virtuous, simple, masculine,

honorable 1860s, 1870s

Escape Teddy Roosevelt Proving ground for manhood

Conservation Movement Major John Wesley Powell

1860s, 1870s Studied landscape Went to Congress

George Perkins Marsh, John Muir

Yosemite 1890, Sierra Club 1892