Into the West and the New South

							The West and the New South: After Reconstruction 1865-1900

What was considered “frontier” region after the Civil War?
        The “Great American Desert”
        Today referred to as the Great Plains and the Rocky Mountains
        Area between the Mississippi Valley and California/Oregon
        Washington, Idaho, Montana, North & South Dakota, Wyoming, Nevada, Utah and Colorado
        Severe cold in the winter and severe heat in the summer
        Averaged just under 15 inches of rain per year
        By 1865, 15 million buffalo were the primary resource for 250,000 Native Americans

What brought settlers into the “west”?
        Discovery of Gold in California in 1848 began an overall movement west into the “mining frontier”
        Gold strike near Pikes Peak in 1859 brought 100,000 miners to Colorado
        Discovery of the “Comstock Lode” (Nevada)
               o     Produced over $340 million in gold and silver by 1890
               o     Population explosion resulting from the discovery was responsible for the admission of Nevada in 1864
        Boomtowns
               o     Mining towns that popped up near strikes
               o     Many became ghost towns within a few years after the gold or silver ran out
               o     Some survived to become important commercial centers: San Francisco, Sacramento and Denver
        Immigration
               o     Miners from Europe, Latin America, and China
               o     1/3 of western miners in the 1860’s were Chinese
               o     Nativist movements, like those in eastern cities, formed in response to increased immigration
               o     Chinese Exclusion Act (1882):
                               Prohibited further Chinese immigration to the US
                               The first major act of Congress restricting immigration based on race or nationality

What do   you need to know about cattle frontier or “cattle kingdom?”
          After the Civil War Cattle became the major industry in the grasslands that stretched from Texas, north to Canada until the 1890’s
          Cattle industry began on a smaller scale in Texas by Mexican cowboys or vaqueros
          Texas “longhorn” cattle originally came from Mexico
          Cowboys herded cattle on cattle drives (long drives) from the open range (grazing lands) to railroad stations in Kansas
          Many cowboys were African American and Mexican
          Cattle from Kansas was transported to Chicago or other eastern cities
          Cow towns: towns that sprang up along the rail lines: Abilene and Dodge City, Kansas
          Decline of the Cattle Kingdom in the 1880s
                o     Overgrazing and the drought of 1885-1886 killed 90% of cattle
                o     Homesteaders: settlers moving onto the plains looking for free land
                               Cut off the open range
                               Farmers put up barbed wire to fence off their homesteads
                o     Wealthy cattlemen turned to the development of large cattle ranches
                o     Railroads replaced the need for the long cattle drives
          The open range cattle industry ended by the 1890’s
          Impact of the Cattle Kingdom
                o     Change in American eating habits from pork to beef
                o     Legend of the rugged, self-reliant cowboy

What do you need to know about the “farming frontier?”
        Settlers began farming on the Great Plains after the Civil War
        Homestead Act of 1862
               o    Designed to encourage the settlement of federally owned western lands
               o    Offered 160 acres of land free to any family that settled the land for five years
               o    Settlers were called Homesteaders
        Sodbusters
               o    Farmers on the Great Plains
               o    The Great Plains had few trees for building homes and fences
               o    Houses were built from sod bricks (sod houses)
               o    In 1874 Joseph Glidden invented Barbed Wire, providing cheap easy to install fences for the Great Plains
               o    Steel windmills provided power sources for deep wells for irrigating the dry soil
               o    Introduced by John Deere in 1837, the steel plow was essential turning the tough sod for planting
               o    Dry farmers planted crops, like Russian wheat, that withstood the extreme weather

What do   you need to know about the Plains Indians?
          In 1865 dozens of Indian Nations occupied the “West”
          Approximately 2/3 of western Indians lived on the Great Plains: Sioux, Blackfeet, Cheyenne, Crow and Comanche
          The Plains Indians had given up farming in colonial times after the introduction of the horse by the Spanish
          The Plains Indian’s way of life was centered on the Buffalo

When white settlers wanted Indian land, what did the US government do with the Indians?
        Reservations
        Jackson’s plan in the 1830’s for western removal of the Indians was intended to provide a permanent “Indian Country”
        When white settlers began moving into the “Indian Country” the federal government began moving Indians onto reservations with
         definite boundaries
        Most Plains Indians refused to be limited to reservations and continued to follow the buffalo
What do   you need to know about the “Indian Wars?”
          Fighting between US settlers and the Plains Indians
          Miners, cattlemen, and homesteaders moved onto Native American Lands
          Negotiations between the US government and Indian Nations produced treaties isolating tribes to smaller reservations
          The US military was sent into the west to “defend” American settlers and force Indians onto reservations
          US miners moved onto Indian lands if gold was discovered
          Black Hills of the Dakota Territory
                o     Gold was discovered
                o     The area had been promised to the Sioux as a homeland
                o     Miners began to flood the region
                                  th
                o     1876, the 7 cavalry (led by George Custer) was ordered to move the Sioux
          The Battle of Little Bighorn (1876)
                o     Custer attacked a large camp of Sioux and Cheyenne
                o     Led by Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull, the Sioux and Cheyenne killed Custer and all 264 soldiers
          Chief Joseph’s attempt to lead a band of Nez Perce’ Indians into Canada was ended when he was defeated by the US Army in 1877
          Wounded Knee and the Ghost Dance
                o     Native American religious revival called the Ghost Dance
                                Combination of Native American religions and Christianity
                                Led by Wovoka, an Indian prophet who promised the return of the Sioux to dominance on the plains if they
                                 performed the Ghost Dance
                o     December 29, 1890, 90 men and 200 women and children were killed at Wounded Knee while traveling to participate in
                      the Ghost Dance
                o     Marked the end of any organized Native American resistance
          The slaughter of most of the buffalo by the 1880’s doomed the Plain’s Indian’s way of life
                o     Railroads cut migratory paths
                o     Slaughtered as a food source for railroad workers
                o     Hunted for sport by white settlers

What strategies did the US take to “help” the Indians?
         Assimilation
               o     Forcing Indians to adopt white culture: religion, education, farming, etc.
               o     A Century of Dishonor: book by Helen Hunt Jackson
                                Chronicled injustices by the US government against Native Americans
                                Created sympathy for Indians in the east
                                Most eastern favored assimilation
         The Dawes Severalty Act of 1887
               o     Abandoned the idea of dealing with Native American tribes as separate nations
               o     Designed to break up tribal organizations and reservations that reformers believed kept the Indians from becoming
                     “civilized”
                                Divided tribal lands into 160 acre plots or less, depending on family size
                                US citizenship was granted to those who stayed on the land for 25 years and “adopted the habits of civilized
                                 life”
               o     47 million acres of land were distributed to Native Americans
               o     90 million acres of former reservation was sold to white settlers by the government or to speculators by Indians
                     themselves
               o     Failure: by the turn of the century disease and poverty reduced the Native American population to just 200,000

What do   you need to know about Fredrick Jackson Turner’s “frontier thesis?”
          In 1890 the US Census Bureau declared that the entire frontier had been settled
          In 1893 Turner wrote an essay: “The Significance of the Frontier in American History”
          The essay argued that the frontier:
                o    Had shaped American society
                o    Promoted individualism and independence
                o    Acted as a social leveler by providing economic opportunity for those who moved west
                o    Broke down class divisions
                o    Required Americans to be inventive
          Turner argued that the closing of the frontier:
                o    Took away a “safety valve” for those discontent with American society
                o    Would lead to the class divisions and social conflict seen in Europe

What did the phrase “New South” mean after the Civil War?
         Desire by southerners for a self-sufficient southern economy built on modern capitalism, industrial growth, and internal
          improvements
         Henry Grady: Editor of the Atlanta Constitution newspaper
         Successes
               o    Birmingham, Alabama: developed into one of the nations biggest steel producers
               o    Memphis, Tennessee: became a center for the lumber industry
               o    Cheap labor enabled NC, SC, and Georgia to overtake New England as the top textile producers
               o    Establishment of a southern railroad network
How was the “New South” still the same old thing?
        Poverty
               o    Late start at industrialization
               o    Poorly educated workforce
        Remained a predominately agricultural economy
               o    Acres of land dedicated to cotton growing doubled between 1870 & 1890
               o    Increased production caused a drop in cotton prices
               o    Some farmers tried to diversify into other crops
                              George Washington: scientist at the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama
                              Promoted peanut, sweet potato, and soybean crops
        Segregation
               o    The end of Reconstruction meant the end of northern protection of freedmen
               o    In the 1883 Civil Rights Cases the Supreme Court ruled that Congress could not legislate against discrimination by private
                    citizens
               o    Plessy v Ferguson (1896): The Supreme Court upheld a Louisiana law requiring separate but equal accommodations for
                    black and white passengers on railroads
               o    The Plessy decision created an increase in Jim Crow laws allowing legal segregation in the south
        Civil Rights
               o    Lynch mobs killed over 1,400 black men during the 1890’s
               o    Poll taxes, literacy tests and whites only political primaries were intended to get around 14 th and 15th Amendment
                    protection of minority voting rights
               o    Economic discrimination kept blacks in agriculture and low-paying domestic work

What types of advances were made in response to segregation in the south?
        Booker T. Washington and the Tuskegee Institute
               o     Agricultural and Industrial school established by Booker T. Washington in Tuskegee, Alabama
               o     Taught southern African Americans trade skills and economic self-sufficiency
               o     Washington believed that economic gains for African Americans would eventually lead to social and political equality
        Later civil rights leaders would disagree with Washington’s position on gradual social and political equality through economics
        After WEB Dubois would instead argue for the immediate end to segregation and the granting of civil rights to all Americans
         regardless of race