Unit 2: Westward Expansion & the Gilded Age

Slides/Notes from Class Presentations

Westward Expansion - Who moved and Why?

Manifest Destiny → A belief shared by many Americans in the mid 1800s that the United States should expand across the continent to the Pacific Ocean.

→ President Polk believed it was our manifest destiny, or “obvious fate” to settle land all the way to the Pacific Ocean in order to spread democracy.

Louisiana Purchase 1803Thomas Jefferson bought the Louisiana Territory from France for $15 million.Jefferson wanted to make sure the U.S. had control of the Port of New Orleans and the Mississippi River.The Louisiana Purchase doubled the size of the United States.The U.S. stretched from the Atlantic Ocean to the Rocky Mountains.

Texas 1831* In 1821, Texas was a part of Mexico.Stephen Austin was an empresario = agent to bring settlers to Texas.

* Stephen Austin brought the first 300 families to Texas - known as the Old Three Hundred.

* By 1830, 25,000 Americans were living in Texas. They were required to become Mexican citizens and become Catholic.* The Americans had to follow Mexican law.When Americans complained, Mexico closed Texas to further American immigration.

Oregon country 1846* In 1820, both the U.S. and Britain claimed to own Oregon Country.

* In the 1830s and 1840s, thousands of American pioneers were going west to settle in Oregon Country.

* President Polk wanted all of Oregon to the fifty-four fifty parallel. The American people cried, “Fifty-four forty or fight.”* Neither Polk nor Britain wanted war.

* Britain and the U.S. compromised. They split Oregon in half at the 49th parallel. The U.S. got the southern half.

Gadsden purchase 1853* After the war with Mexico, Americans wanted to guarantee that any southern railroad to California would be built completely on American soil.

* US paid $10 million for the southern parts of Arizona and New Mexico.

*The existing boundary between the U.S. and Mexico was fixed.

Who were the Homesteaders?

Miners California Gold RushHeavy in Asian Immigration

FarmersFertile Land Raised crops - food sources, not cash crops like the south

RanchersRaised cattle in areas where the BUFFALO used to roam

CowboysThe cattle herders - they moved the cattle to the RR from Ranching farms

Westward Expansion - Funko Pop

Directions:Pick one of the following and create a FUNKO POP Character

RancherFarmerMinerCowboy

Your FUNKO POP must include:

- A character name - Biography of the character (why

did they move out west, what incentives did they have, what do they do, and how “tough” do they have it?)

- Character Accessories (What things do they need to do their job and why?)

Impact on Native Americans

The Indian Removal Act

Signed by President Andrew Jackson on May 28, 1830. The law authorized the president to negotiate with southern Native American tribes for their removal to federal territory west of the Mississippi River in exchange for their lands

The Pacific Railway Act

Gave grants to companies to build the TRANSCONTINENTAL RAILROAD

Native Americans

Battle at Little Bighorn 1876Background:

- 1875 Sioux and Cheyenne Indian tribes angered about settlers entering their sacred lands - US Gov’t makes treaties with tribes to keep

settlers off the land - Doesn’t work: GOLD is discovered!

Battle at Little Bighorn

Sitting Bull:

- One of the most famous Native Americans at the time - Strong leader - Sioux turn to Sitting Bull to help solve their problem

Custer: His Last Stand!

- Leader of US military action against the Sioux - He chose to attack too early - Leaving the US troops

outnumbered- Within an hour, Custer and his men were killed

Massacre at Wounded KneeBackground:

- Ghost Dance begun in response to issues from Little Bighorn - The Ghost Dance with non stop trance dancing and

drumming with Indians dressed in full Indian dress meant to be spiritual but was actually perceived as psychological warfare to the military and settlers.

- Creates fear among the settlers - Sitting Bull refused to stop the Dance when it reached him

- Small fight ensues, killing Sitting Bull - His followers tried to flee south and escape

Massacre at Wounded Knee 1890

Battle or Massacre:

- Military tries to find the fleeing followers - Asks all tribe members to turn in their guns

- In the process, a shot is fired. - 300 Lakota Men, Women, and children are killed

Dawes Act 1887

Forty-Ninth Congress of the United States of America; At the Second Session,

Begun and held at the City of Washington on Monday, the sixth day of December, one thousand eight hundred and eight-six.

An Act to provide for the allotment of lands in severalty to Indians on the various reservations, and to extend the protection of the laws of the United States and the Territories over the Indians, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That in all cases where any tribe or band of Indians has been, or shall hereafter be, located upon any reservation created for their use, either by treaty stipulation or by virtue of an act of Congress or executive order setting apart the same for their use, the President of the United States be, and he hereby is, authorized, whenever in his opinion any reservation or any part thereof of such Indians is advantageous for agricultural and grazing purposes, to cause said reservation, or any part thereof, to be surveyed, or re-surveyed if necessary, and to allot the lands in said reservation in severalty to any Indian located thereon in quantities as follows:

To each head of a family, one-quarter of a section;

To each single person over eighteen years of age, one-eighth of a section;

To each orphan child under eighteen years of age, one-eighth of a section; and

To each other single person under eighteen years now living, or who may be born prior to the date of the order of the President directing an allotment of the lands embraced in any reservation, one-sixteenth of a section . . .

As a result of the Dawes Act, tribal lands were sectioned out into individual plots. Only Native Americans who accepted the individual plots of land were allowed to become US citizens. The remainder of the land was then sold off to white settlers.

As a result of the Dawes Act, tribal lands were sectioned out into individual plots. Only Native Americans who accepted the individual plots of land were allowed to become US citizens. The remainder of the land was then sold off to white settlers.

The Gilded Age

MonopoliesLet the Markets be - Laissez Faire

Industrial Revolution – switch from hand made products to machine made products

Industrialization

Natural Resources

Large Workforce

Free Enterprise

Entrepreneurs

LAISSEZ-FAIRE• A theory that economics work best when there is minimal involvement from government

• Government should NOT regulate:• the price or quality of goods • working conditions of laborers • business practices of bankers and industrialists

• Government CAN help by:• giving businesses land grants• favorable contract laws• Subsidies• high tariffs – makes buying American made goods cheaper!• low taxes

• A very “American” idea – the people decide what products they want, how they are produced and who can buy them

• Supply and demand

THE FREE MARKET• Industrialization and Laissez-faire brought benefits to some:

• Cities were booming• Entrepreneurs in banking, commerce and industry were becoming

enormously wealthy• Technological advancements were changing how Americans lived

and worked• Not everyone benefited from this progress

• Factory workers• Small businesses

Monopoly •Monopoly is the polar opposite of perfect competition.•Monopoly is a market structure in which a single firm makes up the entire market.•Monopolies are fairly common: U.S. Postal Service, local utility companies, local cable providers, etc.

Classify the 5 Monopolists Robber Baron

- Drains country of its natural resources

- Corrupts public officials to interpret laws in their favor

- Drives competitors out of business- Pays poor wages - Forces workers to work in dangerous

and unhealthy conditions

Captain of Industry- Increases goods available by

building factories - Raises Productivity - Expands markets - Creates more jobs- Funds many of the Nation’s public

institutions- Philanthropist

Vertical Integration

When a company owns all levels of a production.

HorizontalIntegrationWhen a company purchases all competitors in a market

Issues in the Cities

Jacob Riis

- “How the Other Half Lives”- First to use flash photography - Photographed the urban issues of

tenement housing- Purpose: shows & describes the

horrific living conditions of tenement housing for the poor and immigrants.

THE GOSPEL OF WEALTH• Andrew Carnegie• Rags to riches story- work your way up to the top

• Born in Scotland, son of a poor immigrant to the US

• Worked as a boy in a textile factory earning $1.20 a week, became a a messenger, a private secretary then superintendent of the Pennsylvania railroad company

• Invested in companies that served the railroads (iron mills, train car factories, bridges)

• By age 28 he started his own business – making $50,000 a year

• Met with Henry Bessemer – who had invented a new process for making high quality and cheap steel

THE GOSPEL OF WEALTH• Believed that those who profited from

society owed it something in return• Wealthy Americans had the responsibility

of practicing philanthropy – to give back to their communities

• Carnegie donated millions of dollars• Libraries• Museums• Universities/schools• Social programs

Nativism and Immigration

Gilded Age: What were the Major Issues?

Political Machines

Labor Unions Note

Labor Problems and The Rise of Unions