Transcript Transforming the South and West

Transforming the South and West
(1860s – 1900)
Themes
1.African Americans in the south
2.The national government dramatically impacted
the American West:
- Railroads
- Settlement
- Indian policy
- Farmers
3. Was the government influence and involvement
in the West a positive or negative for the nation?
4. Plessy vs. Ferguson
Black Population
• Almost nine million African Americans lived in the United States in
1900
• About 90% lived in the South
• In the 1870s as many as 15,000 African American families became
Exodusters
- One of the first migration of blacks, from the South, heading west
(Kansas)
- Make their own homesteads
• Sharecropping developed as a compromise between former slaves
and landowners
Economics: Sharecropping
• Landowners subdivided plantations into 50
acre plots
• Sharecroppers handed over %50 of their crop
as “rent”
• In the deep South 75% of the land was
sharecropped
The Barrow Plantation
(Before and After)
Sharecropping Map
Economics: Crop-Lien
• Merchants advanced sharecroppers supplies
on credit
• Items: seed, tools, livestock, furniture, etc..
• In the past, credit was only local. Now it is
state wide
• Problem- Interest Rates: Often 50% or more
Results of Sharecropping and CropLien
• Created a cycle of indebtedness
• Many African Americans were still illiterate
and did not have the proper education to
conduct business
• 1900: 75% of Southern blacks were
sharecroppers
Railroads
• Many agreed that connecting the west coast to
the east coast would be a great thing for the
nation
• However, the main obstacle in such a task is was
money.
• Along with money, geographic barriers would
prove to be costly
• The majority of the places in the Southwest were
still unsettled which would make it difficult to
earn profit.
Geographic Barriers
Pacific Railway Act
(1862)
• National government intervened in order to
off set the cost of construction and to
encourage businesses to become more
involved.
1. Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroads
could oversee construction of the
transcontinental railroad.
2. The companies received 10 (later 20)
sections of land for each mile of track built.
Federal Land Grants to Railroads
(1850 – 1900)
“Big Four”
• Collis Huntington, Leland Stanford, Charles
Crocker, and Mark Hopkins are given credit in
building the Central Pacific and developing
California’s railroad system.
• All 4 were born in New York and traveled West
due to the California Gold Rush which began
1848-49.
Pacific Railway Act
(1862)
3. The companies received between $16,00048,000 in low interest loans for each mile of
track built.
• This cost the U.S. Government a lot of money.
• The Railroad would have NEVER been built so
quickly without the government subsidies.
Problems/Corruption
• Tracks were constructed too quickly and some
needed replacement tracks.
• Both the Union and Pacific were fighting
against each other to see which could lay
more track which meant more loans.
• Surveyors sometimes were bribed to report
that the land was rocky or “hilly” in order for
the company to receive additional money.
Labor Shortages
• From 1861-1865 labor
was short due to the
American Civil War
• Central Pacific – Chinese
were recruited; later
Mormon followers
• Union Pacific – Irish
immigrants, former
slaves and Civil War
veterans
Completion of Transcontinental Railroad
• Both the Central and Union met at
Promontory Point, Utah in 1869.
• A trip, on horseback, had once taken 4-6
months might now take 5-6 days.
• Now the west railroads were ready to connect
with eastern railroads
• Only problem was that trains kept arriving late
• Railroads established time zones; not the
government
When East Meet West
• Promontory Point, Utah in May 1869
• The last spike “Golden Spike” was driven into
the ground by Leland Stanford.
Golden Spike
Power of Railroads
(Time Zones in 1883)
Railroads Impact on Environment:
Buffalo
• By the 1880s the once plentiful buffalo herds had
dwindled to a few thousand.
• Why?
- Killed to provide food for railroad crews
- Buffalo hunters could earn between $1.00 and
$3.00 per hide
- Killing buffalo undermined Native American
attempts to resist U.S. expansion (whites
purposely killed buffaloes because buffaloes were
used for Native American economy and spiritual
life)
Homestead Act
(1862)
• Government encouraged citizens to move out west
1. Adults could select 160 acres of surveyed, unclaimed
land
2. The land had to be occupied for five years and
“improved” (cut down trees, put of fences, and grow
crops)
3. After five years the land was their own for a $10.00 fee
*ALL 3 had a major impact pertaining to settlement in the
West. This act shows the government was heavily
involved with the settlement of the West.
Impact of Homestead Act
• Railroad companies
encouraged people to
move out west and start a
farm
• Allowed over 400,000
families to become
landowners.
• Problems!
• In order to be successful
people needed additional
money (at least $1,000).
Buy additional land and
irrigation.
Nature’s Obstacles
• Low level rainfall west of the Mississippi River
• Mosquitoes proved annoying and
grasshoppers could destroy crops
• Summer heat/humidity followed by winter
blizzards made for difficulties
• Homes were often made of sod due to the
lack of timber
Precipitation
Farmers
• Many moved West to farm as a result of U.S.
policies after the Civil War
• Some had prospered; many had not
• Starting in the mid-1880s till 1905 farmers
were not making enough money to pay back
their bills
• Farmers now turned “The Grange” for help
The Grange
• Founded by Oliver Kelly (1867)
• Goal: Provide education and emotional
support to farmers in the Great Plains and
Midwest
• Tried to end railroad discounts given to large
businesses
• Showed potential of involvement for farmers
in politics
• After 1875 membership dwindled.
The National Farmers’ Alliance and
Industrial Union
• Founded in Texas in 1877
• Goal
- not to keep a Jeffersonian Agrarian society BUT to bring
American farmers into the modern world of industry
• Strategy: support a system that allowed farmers to
store their products in warehouses until the best prices
were available.
• The Alliance would eventually split into different
groups
- One group which dealt with politics would be known as
the People’s Party or the Populists.
Natives American Population
(1500 – 1900)
• In 1500- between 10 to 12 million Native
Americans lived in what is now present day
United States
• By 1900 the population dwindled to about
500,000
• What happened?
• As more settlers moved west, they came into
contact with Natives Americans who already
lived there.
Major Indian/White Clashes
Battle of Washita
(1868)
• With many successful Indian raids in the Oklahoma and
Kansas by the Southern Cheyenne and Southern Arapaho.
• Maj. Gen. Phillip H. Sheridan, in command of the area,
devised a plan to attack the tribes during the winter
months.
• October of 1868 Lt. Col. George A. Custer and the 7th
Cavalry and road towards the Washita River.
• In the early morning Custer ordered the attack on the
Cheyenne.
• Black Kettle’s Cheyenne were taken by surprise and
defeated
• 21 Army soldiers died.
Oklahoma Land Rush
(1889 – 1906)
Little Bighorn, Montana
(1876)
• In late 1875, Sioux and Cheyenne Indians were
fed up with the intrusions of whites on their
lands in the Black Hills.
• A large group of Indians gathered with Sitting
Bull to fight.
• The army sent three columns into the Black
Hills to defeat the now allied Native American
tribes.
Little Bighorn, Montana
(1876)
• Before the main attack could commence
Custer charged onto the battlefield which
divided his forces.
• Custer sent 1 column under Captain Frederick
Benteen north of the village.
• Another column led by Major Marcus Reno
was to attack the south.
• Custer did not know that the Indian village
contained more than three times his strength.
Little Bighorn, Montana
(1876)
• Reno’s forces were halted and defeated.
• The Indian forces that defeated Reno’s column joined
the fight against Custer’s attack of 210 men.
• Custer ordered the men to shoot their horses to
provide cover but to no avail.
• Custer along with all his men were killed.
• Natives there stripped the bodies and mutilated all the
soldiers. They believed that the soul of a mutilated
body was forced to walk the earth for eternity.
• Known as, “Custer’s Last Stand”
Dawes Act
(1887)
• Too much conflict and death between whites
and Native Americans
• Congress passed the Dawes Act in 1887 in
order to assimilate Native Americans into
society
• *Congress believed that whites were superior
to Native Americans traditions. Tribal
traditions should be destroyed and
reservation lands should be broken up.
Reservation Land
Dawes Act
(1887)
1. Each Indian head of household received 160
acres of land to farm or 320 acres for grazing
2. Additional family members received 40 acres
of land each
3. Land was held in trust by the government for
25 years
4. Participation was mandatory
Impact of Dawes Act
• Why was the act mandatory ?
• As a result 2/3 of all tribal land was lost
between 1890 – 1930
• Land left over following the allotments to
Native Americans was opened to settlement
for whites
Ghost Dance
(1880s)
• Religious movement which opposed the Dawes
Act
• Originally popular in the Great Basin and
associated with Prophet Wovoka
• All whites would die and dead Indians would
return to earth, if Indians:
1. Lived together in peace
2. Abandoned “white” influences
3. Danced a particular dance
Ghost Dance and Sioux
• Ghost Dance was popular among the Sioux
Indians living in the Dakota territory
• It was outlawed by military authorities because it
was seen as a resistance against the government
• Tension increased as Sitting Bull was killed when
authorities tried to arrest him in December 1890
• Sitting Bull was targeted because he was one of
the leaders of the Ghost Dance
Ghost Dance and Wounded Knee
1. Cavalry was rounding up many Sioux near
Wounded Knee Creek
2. Wounded Knee Massacre (December 9,1890)
•
About 300 Indians killed; including seven
infants
• 29 U.S. Soldiers killed
Battle at Wounded Knee
• Local residents of South Dakota demanded
that the Sioux end the ritual of the Ghost
Dance
• It was said that Indian groups that
participated in the Ghost Dance were more
hostile
• When the Army was called in and took 300
Sioux Indians to Wounded Knee Creek on Pine
Ridge Reservation.
Battle at Wounded Knee
• On the morning of December 29, 1890, the
army demanded the surrender of weapons
from all 300 Sioux.
• A shot rang out, no one knows who shot first,
but the 7th Calvary massacred all 300 men,
women, and children.
Legalized Segregation
• Plessy vs. Ferguson:
- All railroad cars in the state of Louisiana were
racially segregated by law
- Homer Plessy sued because that is not equal
treatment under the law
Plessy vs. Ferguson: The Ruling
(1896)
• Supreme Court ruled: Separate facilities for
different races were legal as long as they were
equal in quality
• “Separate but Equal” doctrine
Jim Crow Laws
• State and local laws that established legalized
segregation all over the United States
• Just about everything was segregated:
hospitals, theaters, court rooms, schools,
cemeteries, etc..
• North, south, west, east: ALL segregated
Jim Crow
Jim Crow
Conclusion
• The American West and South changed
dramatically in years following the Civil War as
a result of policies adopted by the U.S.
Government.
• How would you evaluate these policies?