UNIT I Introduction

“The Gilded Age”Ch 8, 9, & 10

The Gilded Age Post-Civil War and post-Reconstruction eras

Substantial growth in population and land.

Extravagant displays of wealth, materialism and excess of America's upper class

Characterized by political corruption

The Gilded Age

The West Industrialization Political Machine

•Miners •Ranchers•Farming the plains•Commercial farms•Plains Indian conflicts•Native America Assimilation

•Immigration•Nativism•Urbanization•Social Darwinism•Reform

•Population•Technology•Railroads•Big Business•Working conditions•Labor unions

Settling the West

Resource Exploitation. Depletion of the resources

Mining Precious Metals

Ranching Cattle

Farming “Rain follows the plow”

Native Americans

Settling the West

Mining Gold-Silver-Copper

Led to Boomtowns Towns were populated by people that came in support

of Miners. Cooks - Shop Keepers – Blacksmiths – Tailors (levis)

Boom and Bust cycle Mines dry up….Economy collapses….Ghost Town

* Comstock Lode- the first major U.S. discovery of silver and gold ore, located under what is now Virginia City, Nevada.

Settling the West

Cattle Ranchers Texas, Oklahoma & New Mexico Civil War depletes Cattle in Great

Plains. Supply and Demand for Beef.

Railroads connect east and great plains

Long Drive steers cattle long distances to Rail Roads for $$$$$$$$$. Chisholm Trail most widely used over 1.5 million.

Resource Exploitation Farming

“Rain follows the Plow” Railroads

Easy to reach Plains Homestead Act

Govt. Granted land Concerns

Hot Summers Brutally cold winters Lack of water and trees Insects destroy crops

Settling the West Farming

Adapting to conditions Dry farming

Deep planting of seeds to utilize moisture.

Wheat Farming Bad soil New technology Cheap land = big profits US leader in Wheat Too much wheat =???? Family farms lost.

Settling the West

Native Americans Different tribes but similar values Settlers

Took hunting grounds Slaughtered buffalo Broke treaties Forcibly moved Native Americans to new lands.

NA resist Attacks on settlers Uprisings Defending territories

Resistance

Gold discoveries in Dakotas and Wyoming brings Settlers to reservations

US sets up outposts to deter NA’s…Opposite effect.

Chief Red Cloud Successfully fought off settlers

and Army regiments in Wyoming.

Met with President Grant Established peace treaty that

US ignored. Forced onto a reservation.

Resistance

Dakota uprising (Chief Little Crow) NA’s starving on reservations US late with payments

(annuities) “Let them eat grass” Dakota slaughtered settlers 307 Dakota sentenced 38 put to death.

Resistance Sand Creek Massacre- Chief

Black Kettle Sandy Creek, CO Colonel Chivington- “Kill and

scalp all, big and little!” The Cheyenne were waiting

at Fort Lyon to negotiate a peace treaty.

Chivington ignored the US and White flag and attacked.

NA’s massacred. No Charges against

Chivington…Angered many Americans.

RESISTANCE

Fetterman’s Massacre Chief Crazy Horse- Lakota

Indians Crazy Horse tricked

Fetterman and 80 soldiers into following a small band of Lakota, & lured him into an ambush where hundreds of Lakota Indians waited to massacre him & his men.

Resistance

1867- Indian Peace Commission

Many NA’s ignore reservation and hunted in the plains.

Buffalo slaughter outrages NA’s

Roads and Trains cut through reservations

Food and Supplies were not delivered as promised.

Both sides violate treaty.

RESISTANCE

Battle of Little Big Horn “Custer’s Last Stand” US sends troops to S.Dakota US Army attacks a group of NA’s. NA’s much larger than Expected. NA’s led by Sitting Bull and Crazy

Horse overwhelmed the 7th Calvary Sitting Bull-

Spiritual Leader of Lakota Indians. Had a vision of victory of LBH which

inspired warriors. Refused to live on reservation and

fled to Canada after LBH hunter by US troops.

Resistance

Nez Percé Chief Joseph Americans tried to force

Chief Joseph’s tribe onto a smaller Reservation in Idaho

“Our Chiefs are killed…The little Children are freezing to death. My People…have no blankets, no food Hear me, my chiefs; I am tired; my Heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands I will fight no More forever.”

Resistance

Ghost Dance- Ritual Dance for the day

of reckoning. Return to the old way

of life. Buffalo would return Settlers would

disappear Reunite with ancestors

Resistance

Tragedy at Wounded Knee Police sent to arrest SB

for the Ghost Dance. In protest of arrest

gunfire broke out killing SB.

NA’s fled but were caught by troops @ Wounded Knee Creek.

Troops tried to force a surrender.

Fighting broke out. 200 Lakota and 25 US troops killed.

Assimilation “Don’t kill the man just the Indian”

Teach them to speak English Force them to be Christians

Dawes Act - passed by Congress in 1887 160 acres per family 80 per single adult tried to "Americanize" the Indians by breaking up the tribal

system. It failed. (could not farm and were not given farming

equipment) Most Indian tribes confined to reservations in the West. The Dawes Act represents two conflicting ideas.

Americans would accept Indians as citizens. But they would not accept them as Indians.