Transcript GOAL 4: The Great West and the Rise of the

U.S. HISTORY
Goal - 4
Review
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GOAL 4: The Great West and the Rise of the
Debtor class (1860s-1896) Students will evaluate
the great westward movement and assess the
impact of the agricultural revolution on the
nation.
Objectives:
4.01 Compare and contrast the different groups of
people who migrated to the West and describe the
problems they experienced.
4.02 Evaluate the impact that settlement in the West
had upon different groups of people and the
environment.
4.03 Describe the causes and effects of the financial
difficulties that plagued the American farmer and trace
the rise and decline of Populism.
4.04 Describe innovations in agricultural technology
and business practices and assess their impact on the
West.
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Content Issue:
Manifest Destiny was a phrase that expressed the belief that the United
States was destined to expand from the Atlantic seaboard to the Pacific
Ocean.
Manifest Destiny advocated for or justify other territorial acquisitions.
Advocates believed that expansion was not only good, but that it was
obvious ("manifest") and certain ("destiny").
American expansion was good for democracy because
people in the western frontier actively participated in the
political process
Content Issues:
 The U.S.
government
opened the great
plains to western
settlement and as
a result native
American lands
were acquired by
white settlers who
wanted protection
from the U.S.
military leading to
many wars and
massacres of
Native Americans.
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Senator Henry Dawes a reformers believed that
Indians would never bridge the chasm between
"barbarism and civilization" if they maintained
their tribal cohesion and traditional ways. He
saw the Dawes Act as the first step toward
transforming, and assimilating native
Americans into main stream white culture.
Western settlers built Sod houses, because they were
literally, dirt cheap and wood was un available. Sod
houses were warm in the winter and cool in the
summer. Western families on the great plains huddle in
their sod homes as prairie fires swept their farms. Sod
homes were needed until the nineteenth century, when
the railroads made wood available on the prairie.
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Content Issues:
The Central Pacific started building the Transcontinental
Railroad eastward from Sacramento, demand for
Chinese workers increased greatly. The CP figured they
needed 5,000 Chinese immigrants workers to build the
railroad, but thousands more were required.
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Passed in 1882, the Chinese
Exclusion Act was a climax to
more than thirty years of
progressive racism. AntiChinese sentiment had
existed ever since the great
migration from China during
the gold rush, where white
miners and prospectors
imposed taxes and laws to
inhibit the Chinese from
success. Racial tensions
increased as more and more
Chinese emigrated, occupied
jobs, and created competition
on the job market. By 1882
the Chinese were hated
enough to be banned from
immigrating; the Chinese
Exclusion Act, initially only a
ten year policy, was
extended indefinitely, and
made permanent in 1902.
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Content Issues: the Interstate Commerce Act
The Grange fought against high rail road rates
created an Interstate Commerce Commission to
oversee the conduct of the railroad industry
With this act, the railroads became the first industry
subject to Federal regulation.
The Granger
movement laid the
foundation for the
Populist party.
 Fighting to bring
about economic and
political balance in
the west in the
following areas:
 Small Farmers and
Big Businesses
 Farmers and
Railroads rates
 Debt and the need
for Free silver or
cheap money
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Content Issues:
 The power of voters expanded Populism
 Regulation of railroads the Interstate commerce
Acts
 Government control of Big Business
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Interstate Commerce
Act
The Interstate Commerce
Act required that
railroads charge fair rates
to their customers and
make those rates public.
This legislation also
created the Interstate
Commerce Commission
(ICC), which has the
authority to investigate
and prosecute Railroads
businesses that
overcharged
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Refrigeration technology was primitive, but in 1878
Swiss commissioned engineer Andrew Chase to design
a refrigerated railroad car. Air circulated over ice in
refillable bins at the top of the car. As it cooled and
became heavier, the air dropped down into the
compartment, forcing warmer, lighter air out through
ventilators and keeping the compartment cold.
Refrigeration allowed Swift to sell his product
internationally, transforming the meat business.
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In the speech, Bryan
articulated the feelings of
Americans from the South
and West who felt that
the currency system and
its effects had injured
their financial and cultural
interests. These sections
saw a more flexible
monetary system and
some degree of inflation
as a cure for the
economic ills that afflicted
farmers, miners, and
industrial workers. Bryan
captured their grievances
and gave them eloquent
expression in his “Cross
of Gold” Speech.
Content Issues:
 The foundation of the College of Engineering
traces its roots to the Morrill Act of 1862.
 This act provided for a land grant institution
in each state and territory. the Agriculture
College and Experiment Station.
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Content issues
 Mormons and Irish
migration west was
due to religious
persecution in the
mid-1800,s
 These groups
moving west
Chinese, Blacks,
Irish and Mormons
were used as cheap
labor sources.
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Issues:
 Western expansion
was achieved by
the transcontinental
railroad
 Native American
genocide
 Homestead Act
 Morrill Land Grant
Act
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Content Issues:
Nativists believe there are right and wrongs type of
people immigrating to America
Nativist oppose immigration on the grounds it takes
jobs away from Americans
American businessmen support immigration for cheap
labor
Content Issues:
 Western Expansion had the greatest impact
on the exploitation of Native Americans
 Native Americans were forced to assimilate
into white society
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Content Issue: Cheap labor
 Northern factories used immigrants to work in
factories for low wages
 The south used black sharecroppers as cheap
labor after the civil war
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The open-range system on the plains allowed
interregional herd movement. In winter, Kansas cattle
sometimes drifted southward from the Platte and
Arkansas rivers into the Public Land Strip or Cherokee
Strip or southward from the Beaver River into more
southerly ranges, even as far south as the Little and
Red rivers. Fencing in the range could correct the
problem, and thus the barbed-wire product found early
application in the Texas Panhandle.
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The windmill was used to pump water to the crops for
irrigation of large farms.
The steel plow was the first step to making farm
equipment more efficient. A single plow to covered
more area the traditional methods. Western farmers
were able to plant enough crops to take care of our
growing nation agricultural needs.
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There was a time when as many as 50 to 60 million
buffalo roamed the great plains from Alaska to Mexico.
Massive herds moved across the plains leaving trails
that are today railroads lines.
The American Indians lived well on the prairie when the
buffalo were so plentiful.
When the Europeans moved west massive herds of
buffalo were exterminated.
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The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo had described the
U.S.-Mexico boundary vaguely, and following the
Mexican-American War, the United States and Mexico
continued to dispute the border between the two
countries. The addition of new American territories
granted by the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo was
driving western development, and there were rival
plans to build railroads to the west coast.