Westward Expansion

Push Factors-The civil war displaced thousands of farmers, former slaves, and other workers

- eastern land was getting more expensive, especially to African Americans and immigrants

-Failed entrepreneurs saw the west as a second chance

-Ethnic and religious intolerance looked to the west for freedom

Pull Factors

Giving away public lands or selling them cheap

-Pacific Railway Acts

-Morrill Land-Grant Act

-Homestead Act-private

property ownership

Settlers From Far and Wide

-Cheap land and new jobs attract foreigners and people of different religious backgrounds

-Immigrants from Mexico, European nations such as Germany, Ireland, Italy as wells as many European Jews and Chinese settled in the west.

-ranching, mining, farm labor railroad construction, and other trades drew Americans and foreigners alike

Black Exodusters

Homesteaders-African Americans come to the west for a new chance at freedom

-Inspired by the biblical account of the Israelites flee from Egypt to a prophesized homeland in the book of Exodus, The African Americans called themselves EXODUSters.

“The Indian Problem”

-What could be done about the western Indians so there land could be used productively

-Native Americans believe the “problem” was a threat to their way of life

Native Americans

Settlers

US Government

railroads

Treaties and Reservations

-produced misunderstandings and fraud

-the Federal Bureau of Indian Affairs was responsible for providing critical supplies but did not react

-As a result, acts of violence on both sides began war on the western front.

Sand Creek Massacre

1864-US military killed many innocent Cheyenne Indians after promise of protection.

“Kill and scalp all, big and little!Colonel John Chivington

Battle of Little Bighorn 1876- government wanted control of Black Hills as a result the Sioux fought back and slaughtered Custer's soldiers

Sitting Bull

General Custer

The Battle of Wounded Knee

1890

-misinterpreted the Native American Ghost Dance as a violent act. Government took over reservation and shots were soon fired.

Changing Native Americans- give up their traditions- Dawes Act allowed Native Americans to become self-sufficient in their new society.

-This idea known as assimilation

Opening of Indian Territory

April 22, 1889-Government allowed settlers to stake claims on previously owned Indian land.

-Boomers had claimed 2 million acres by sun down

-Sooners sneaked past government officials before boomers and staked their claims early

Mining-Mining of precious metals such as gold and silver became goal of many settlers

-Towns sprung up around prosperous mining and eventually became ghost towns

-Technology advanced as mining became more popular, such as the use of dynamite, drills and hydraulics

Cattle Ranching-Began due to increase in demand for beef.

-Removal of Native Americans and Buffalo allowed for more land to be used for ranching

-Cow towns sprung along rail lines which became known as the Chisholm Trail

-More than 100,000 cattle that grazed over 1 million acres for one Cattle Baron

Farming-Majority of farmers were those who profited from the Homestead act-Suffered many nature related hardships -boom in technology such as new machines that eased labor

-Poor farmers build soddies-homes made out of sod.

Populism-People’s Party, a political party that grew from economic interest of farmers

Followers were called populists1.Increase circulation of money2.Unlimited mining of silver3.A progressive income tax4.Government ownership of communication and transportation systems

-This allowed prices of crops to increase