CHANGES ON THE WESTERN FRONTIER...CULTURES CLASH ON THE PRAIRIE SECTION 1. THE GREAT PLAINS •The...
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CHANGES ON THE WESTERN FRONTIER Chapter 5
Transcript of CHANGES ON THE WESTERN FRONTIER...CULTURES CLASH ON THE PRAIRIE SECTION 1. THE GREAT PLAINS •The...
CHANGES ON THE WESTERN FRONTIER
Chapter 5
CULTURES CLASH ON THE PRAIRIE
SECTION 1
THE GREAT PLAINS
• The grasslands in the west-central portion of the U.S.
• Life centered on the horse and buffalo
• Great Plains Indians lived in small extended family groups.
• Men hunted for food
• Women helped butcher the game and prepare buffalo hides .
WHITE SETTLERS• After the Civil War, many white settlers moved to the
Great Plains.
• Some were looking for gold; others wanted to own land.
Settlers & Native Americans Clash over Land & Resources
2 Major Battles :
• Battle of Sand Creek: Army attacked & killed about 200 Cheyenne in Colorado.
• Little Bighorn River: Sioux leader, Sitting Bull, defeated George A. Custer and army troops in 1876.
• 6 months later, Army defeats Sioux
Sitting Bull & George A. Custer
• Assimilation- U.S. government’s plan in which Native Americans would give up their beliefs & culture & become part of white culture.
DAWES ACT OF 1887
• Act broke up reservations & gave some land to each Native American family for farming.
• Plan failed b/c cheap land.
• Also, by 1900, nearly all buffalo dead
• Sioux performed “Ghost Dance” hoping to bring buffalo back
Sioux “Ghost Dance”
Ghost Dance
Shirt & Music
Battle of Wounded Knee
• Army made nervous about Ghost Dance.
• 1890, rounded up group of Sioux, including Sitting Bull.
• Tried to take Sioux’s weapons and fighting broke out.
• Army troops killed 300 unarmed Sioux .
Chief Big Foot lies dead.Native Americans buried in mass grave.
What was it like to be a Cowboy?
Cattle Ranching was BIG Business!
• Ranchers raised Longhorns, a sturdy breed 1st brought to Americas by Spanish
• American cowboys learned from Vaqueros….Vaqueros were Mexicans who worked on Spanish ranches in Mexico!
Chisholm Trail• Growing cities spurred demand for beef
• Cattle ranchers drove cattle over the Chisholm Trail from San Antonio, Tx. To Kansas. Called “Long Drive”
• From there, cattle shipped by rail to Chicago
Map of Chisholm Trail & Cattleman
“Long Drives” didn’t last long…
• Bad weather in the 1880’s
• Invention of barbed wire
Settling on the Great Plains
Section 2
3 Main groups went West:
1. Settlers who bought land from railroad companies at low prices & willing to farm it.
2. Homesteaders: Homestead Act of 1862 where government offered 160 acres of free land to anyone who would farm it for 5 yrs.
3. Exodusters: African Americans who moved from the post-Reconstruction South to Kansas.
Homesteaders
YELLOWSTONE PARKest. 1872
• Government sets aside land in Wyoming to create Yellowstone National Park.
• Millions of acres more were set aside later.
What was life like for Western Settlers?• Few trees, homes made of sod…”Soddys”
• Isolated from each other.. Made most everything they needed. Women worked in fields too.
• Farming Great Plains difficult work, but soon, inventions will help. (steel plow, reaper)
Government helps to improve farming techniques:
• Morrill Act of 1862 & 1890… helped est. agricultural colleges.
• Est. experiment station on Great Plains to develop new types of crops and new growing techniques.
• Justin Morrill pictured right.
• Huge single –crop farms.
• Resulted b/c farmers were in debt with purchase of new farming machinery & crop prices falling.
• Bonanza farms helped them to make more $ by raising more crops.
Bonanza Farming Folds!• Drought hits the Plains b/w 1885 & 1890
• Couldn’t compete w/ smaller farmers, who had more flexibility in crops grown.
• Also, high price of shipping crops also added to their debt.
FARMERS & THE POPULIST MOVEMENT
Section 3
FARMERS ON THE BRINK OF RUIN!
• Government refused to increase $ supply to Civil War levels
• Farmers paid high prices to transport grain.
• They wanted REFORM!!
Oliver Hudson
Farmer who started the GRANGE organization in 1867.
The GRANGE Organization:
• Purpose was to provide a place for farm families to discuss social & educational issues.
• By 1870’s, Grange members spent most of their time & energy fighting the railroads.
FARMERS’ ALLIANCES• Another organization that included teachers,
preachers, and newspaper editors who sympathized with farmers.
• Alliance members traveled throughout the Great Plains educating farmers about how to obtain lower interest rates; ways to protest the railroads, etc.
The Rise & Fall of Populism
Populist Party or People’s Party created in 1892 by Alliance leaders who realized they
needed political power to make far-reaching changes.
Beginnings of POPULISM:
• The Populist Party was the beginning of Populism….
• This was a movement to gain more political & economic power for common people.
• Party appealed to farmers and laborers.
PANIC!!!!!!• Starting in 1880’s, many companies went bankrupt b/c not able to
pay back loans.
• Many people lost jobs!
Panic continues into Presidential election of 1896!
Important issue: Whether the country’s paper money should be backed w/both gold & silver.
2 Sides of Election of 1896:
• “Silverites”- Favored bimetallism… a monetary system in which government would give people either gold or silver in exchange for paper currency or checks.(would make more dollars available therefore prices & wages would rise)
• “gold bugs”- Favored the gold standard…backing dollars solely with gold. (keep prices from rising)
Republicans & Democrats:REPUBLICANS
Were “gold bugs”.
Nominated : William McKinley for president.
DEMOCRATS
Democrats & Populists favored “bimetallism”.
Nominated : William Jennings Bryan for President.
MCKINLEY WINS!!!!!Brings an end to Populism
Although McKinley won, the movement left 2 powerful legacies:
• Message that poor people & less powerful groups in society could organize & have a political impact
• An agenda of reforms many of which would be enacted in the 20th
century.
