Life in the West

Important Questions

1. Name 6 items made by Plains Indians from the various parts of the buffalo.

2. In addition to these items, what else did the Plains Indians use the buffalo for?

Agricultural TechnologyExplain the significance of each

invention listed below:• John Deere’s steel plow: • Windmills: • Barbed Wire

Agricultural Technology1. John Deere’s steel plow: made

cutting through tough prairie soil easier

2. Windmills: Wind power pumped water to the surface from deep wells

3. Barbed Wire**: Made it possible for ranchers to create fenced in areas for cattle to graze; ** This ended life on the open range

Locate information on the life of a cowboy in

your text.•Write a diary entry for one day, as if you were a cowboy.•Explain what your day was like. Make sure to use the information you read about and refer to it in your description of your day.

Vocabulary1. Great Plains2. Treaty of Fort

Laramie3. Sitting Bull4. George A. Custer5. Assimilation6. Dawes Act7. Battle of

Wounded Knee8. Longhorn9. Chisholm Trail10.Long Drive

11.Homestead Act12.Exoduster13.Sodhouse14.Morrill Act15.Bonanza farms16.Grange17.Populism18.Bimetallism19.William

McKinley20.William Jennings

Bryan

Women in the West

•Women who settled in the west found that they enjoyed greater freedom and flexibility than could be had in the east.

•Women had more opportunities to take on roles traditionally open to men.

Soddy

Transcontinental Railroad

• In 1862, Congress coordinated an effort among railroad companies to construct a transcontinental railroad

• Union Pacific (east) and Central Pacific (California) railroad companies joined their tracks at Promontory Point, Utah in 1869

Railroad video (History Channel)

Transcontinental Railroad,

Promontory Point, Utah

Immigrants• Chinese & Irish

immigrants worked to construct the railroad

• Chinese immigrants entered the country from the west coast

African Americans in the West• African Americans moved west for new

opportunities- they worked to construct the railroads & were cowboys

• Many African Americans served as soldiers for the US Army during the Indian Wars

• The “Buffalo Soldiers” served with distinction & showed great bravery

• African Americans who moved to the West after the Civil War were called exodusters

Native Americans & Westward Settlement• Native Americans in the Great

Plains depended on the buffalo for survival.

• Settlers and fur trappers came to the area and practically all of the buffalo were destroyed, therefore destroying the Indian way of life.

• Native Americans had been put on reservations (where they could live communally) to make way for white settlers.

The Indian Wars• To keep the peace between white

settlers and the tribes of the Great Plains, the Fort Laramie Treaty was signed.

• Famous Indian chiefs came to power at this time and resisted their tribes being put on reservations.

• While the U.S. army won most of the Indian wars, the Sioux & Cheyenne captured a major victory at the Battle of Little Bighorn.

• At this battle, Gen. George Armstrong Custer was killed.

CHIEFS

Ft. Laramie Treaty

1. What was the Nez Perce nontreaty policy?

2. How did the nontreaty policy affect U.S. government policy?

3. Why did Chief Joseph take the Nez Perce to Canada rather than fight the army troops?

4. What ultimately happened to Chief Joseph and his people?

Read about Chief Joseph & answer these questions:

The Indian Wars• In retaliation, the battles became more

brutal.• The Indian Wars ended with the

Massacre at Wounded Knee, in which almost 200 Sioux men, women & children were killed.

• In Helen Hunt Jackson’s book, A Century of Dishonor, she describes the shameful way Native American had been treated.

• In 1887, the Dawes Act (allotment) was passed which forced Indians to farm individual plots of land, taking away their tribal way of life.

Images from Wounded Knee, 1890

Collecting the Dead

Images from Wounded Knee, 1890

Mass grave

Respond to the following questions in your notebook:

1. Why were the buffalo important to the Sioux?

2. What is the purpose of the Fort Laramie Treaty?

3. What happened at Promontory Point, Utah?

4. What caused the Battle at Wounded Knee? In your opinion, was it a “battle” or a “massacre”? Explain.

Tom Torlino (Navajo) as he appeared upon arrival to the Carlisle Indian

School, October 21, 1882. Tom Torlino (Navajo) three years later

It's cheaper to educate Indians than to kill them."

--Indian Commissioner Thomas Morgan speaking at the

establishment of the Phoenix Indian School in 1891

Apache children on arrival at the Carlisle Indian School (Pennsylvania) wearing traditional clothing.

Apache children at the Carlisle School four months later.

Western Settlement

The government encouraged western settlement by passing the following laws:

1. Homestead Act: The government would give any settler 160 acres if they would cultivate it for 5 years

2. Morrill Land Grant Act: This law distributed millions of acres of western territory to state governments; The state governments would then sell the plots of land and use the money to open agricultural colleges

Problems of Farmers

Farmers faced problems in the 1870s & 1880s:

1. They received little profit from their crops due to overproduction.

2.Farm equipment became more expensive.

3.Railroads charged outrageous rates.4. Farmers fell deeply into debt.

The Grange• Farmers began banning together to

protect their interests• They started cooperatives (alliances)

called granges• They pooled money together to buy

machinery and supplies• Examples: Northwestern Alliance,

Southern Farmers’ Alliance, and Colored Farmers’ National Alliance

The Populist Movement

• The movement of the “people” (Populist) that demanded reforms to lift the burden of debt from farmers and other workers & to give people greater voice in their government.

• The Populist Movement started a Populist Party, to elect officials so changes could be made in the government

The Populist PartyPLATFORM & REFORMS

• Increase in the money supply, which would produce a rise in prices received for goods and services

• Graduated income tax• Federal loan program for farmers & workers• Direct election of U.S. Senators (popular vote)• Single terms for the president & vice president• Secret ballot voting• 8-hour workday• Restrictions on immigration

Bimetallism• Bimetallism is the belief that money should

be backed by both gold and silver (“Silverites”)

• “Gold Bugs” believed money should be backed by gold only.

• People viewed money as useless if it could not be turned in for gold or silver.

• Because silver was more plentiful than gold, silverites felt that money backed with both gold and silver would make more currency available (with less value per dollar).

• Silverites thought this would stimulate the economy, thus helping farmers and workers.

William Jennings Bryan (Democratic Party Presidential Candidate), supported by the Populist Party

“Cross of Gold Speech” (about the danger of the gold only standard)

Election of 1896• The candidates of the 1896 election were:

– Republican Party: William McKinley– Democratic Party (supported by the Populist

Party): William Jennings Bryan

• Bryan made a very famous speech called the “Cross of Gold” (mankind, workers and farmers, were being crucified “upon a cross of gold”)

• McKinley won, ending the Populist movement.

• However, many ideas of the Populist remained and sparked reform in the future.

Tin Man: Industrialists

OZ: “ounce” oz. of gold

Yellow Brick Road: Gold Standard

Wizard: the President

Dorothy: “Common” manScarecrow:

Farmer

Cowardly Lion:William Jennings

Bryan

Dorothy’s Ruby Slippers: They were actually silver in the book

representing the “silverites”

Toto:A dog

Review• Various people in the west (immigrants,

women, African Americans, Native Americans)• Indian Wars & boarding schools (assimilation);

Dawes Act; buffalo• How did the government encouraged Western

settlement?• How did the Populist Movement emerge

(problems faced by farmers);what was the Populist Party; what caused the end of the Populist Party; why is the Populist Party significant?

• Currency debate: Gold bugs v. silverites• Agricultural technology/advances• Life on the western prairie (soddy, cowboys,

open range, long drive)