The Great West & the Agricultural Revolution

"Up to our own day American history has been

in a large degree the history of the colonization of the

Great West. The existence of an area of free land, its

continuous recession, and the advance of American

settlement westward, explain American

development."

Frederick Jackson Turner

1893

Expansion West

How did the federal government encourage westward expansion?

1) Transcontinental RR (underlying fed. subsidies)- Built by the Irish and Chinese

2) Homestead Act (1862)- 160a/5yrs/$30 → 500k ppl- Many problems w/ land → ⅔ abandon

As a result:Larger numbers of migrants moved to the West in

search of land and economic opportunity, frequently provoking competition and violent

conflict

Expansion West

Why did migrants move to rural and boom town areas of the West?

1. To gain independence + self-sufficiency- “Safety-Valve” Theory

2. For economic opportunities- Railroad construction, farming, mining, ranching

As a result:Larger numbers of migrants moved to the West

in search of land and economic opportunity, frequently provoking competition and violent

conflict

Land Grants to Railroads, 1850-1890

Gold + Silver!!!!

● “Forty-niners” head out to California

● Pike’s Peak, Colorado● Comstock Lode (1859):

○ $340m in gold (Nevada)

Mining evolves into a corporate enterprise

Farming out West

Starting in the 1880’s, farmers took advantage of nutrient rich soil despite lack of rain by rerouting irrigation for 45m acres of land

Mechanization innovations:- The Combine- Bonanza Farms

Challenges:1. One-crop economy2. 80’s = fall in grain prices3. Owning land → renting land- Grasshoppers/Locusts

1870s-1890sCattle march from Texas to

Omaha/Chicago

Farmers Organize

The Grange (1867): - First major social organization of

farmers that provided an advocacy outlet and union-type of political power

- As financial problems grew, set up cooperatives + became a political organization that challenged the RRs

- 1875: 800,000 members- Prelude to Populist Party- Got Congress to pass “Granger

Laws” → to regulate the RR

When the banker says he’s brokeAnd the merchant’s up in smoke,They forget that it’s the farmer

Who feeds them all.It would put them to the test

If the farmer took a rest;Then they’d know that it’s the

farmerWho feed them all.

Farmers’ Alliance, (1878)

Wanted to end the crop lien system- Re: basis of commercialization of

southern agriculture- LOC to struggling farmer → impossible

to get out of that debt = landless tenant farmers + sharecropping

Moved into the political realm in the 1890s under the Populist Party

- Controlled 8 state legislatures + had 47 representatives in Congress in 1890s

“It makes little difference… where one opens the record of the history of the Indians; every page and every year

has its dark stain. The story of one tribe is the story of all… and the United States

government breaks promises now as deftly as

then, and with added ingenuity from long

practice.”

Helen Hunt Jackson

1881

Native Life in DangerWhat were the impacts of the aforementioned expansion on Natives?

Relocation of Natives

Bureau of Indian Affairs (est. 1824)- ‘Temporary’ → to civilize/Christianize

Indian Removal Act (1830) → Natives pushed further and further West

- Plains Indians, predominantly hunting buffalo in wide open land

Native American Territory, 1890

Origins of the Reservation System

Ft. Atkinson Treaty (1853)- Promise to Natives of food, freedom, and

clothing on reservation land- Poor provisions + corrupt fed. agents

***Misunderstandings in these treaties***- “National” ties extended only to family- Americans don’t understand the

nomadic lifestyle of a nation

Origins of the Reservation System

Treaty of Medicine Lodge (1867)Set boundaries for southern plains tribes, but government failed to supply them as promised, so Indians resumed hunting… war broke out

General Sheridan destroyed villages→ 72 leaders imprisoned and subjected to experimental “civilization by immersion” program

→ Ghost Dance movement crushed at Wounded Knee

Origins of the Reservation System

Ft. Laramie Treaty (1868)Set aside distinct land for each of the major northern tribes: Sioux, Arapaho, Comanche, and others)1) Tribes will not attack settlers moving West2) Railroads/roads may be built in/through3) Military forts may be built in4) Each tribe → $50,000 for next 50yrs

Dawes Act (1887)

Purpose: to assimilate Native Americans into American society (“make them American”; eliminate their culture) --- citizenship after 25yrs

Provisions:- Native tribes were dissolved as legal entities

→ Wiped out tribal ownership of land → Heads of families would receive 160a of land

IMPACT: Native way of life is completed changed1) Many children are sent to boarding schools2) Hunting → Farming3) Most land = lost

Battle of Little Bighorn

Montana (1876): “Custer’s Last Stand”- Lt. Col. George Custer mistakenly led

men into attack against larger Native force

- Investigating the presence of gold...

The Ghost Dance & Wounded Knee

Ghost Dance: A religious movement by Native Americans- hoped to see the return of the

buffalo and the elimination of whites

Settlers became afraid of the movement; US gov’t orders end

Wounded Knee, South Dakota (1890)- One of the last violent conflicts

between Natives-US- ~300 killed, many women +

children :(