CHANGES ON THE WESTERN FRONTIER

Chapter 5

CULTURES CLASH ON THE PRAIRIE

SECTION 1

THE GREAT PLAINS

• The grasslands in the west-central portion of the U.S.

• Life centered on the horse and buffalo

• Great Plains Indians lived in small extended family groups.

• Men hunted for food

• Women helped butcher the game and prepare buffalo hides .

WHITE SETTLERS• After the Civil War, many white settlers moved to the

Great Plains.

• Some were looking for gold; others wanted to own land.

Settlers & Native Americans Clash over Land & Resources

2 Major Battles :

• Battle of Sand Creek: Army attacked & killed about 200 Cheyenne in Colorado.

• Little Bighorn River: Sioux leader, Sitting Bull, defeated George A. Custer and army troops in 1876.

• 6 months later, Army defeats Sioux

Sitting Bull & George A. Custer

• Assimilation- U.S. government’s plan in which Native Americans would give up their beliefs & culture & become part of white culture.

DAWES ACT OF 1887

• Act broke up reservations & gave some land to each Native American family for farming.

• Plan failed b/c cheap land.

• Also, by 1900, nearly all buffalo dead

• Sioux performed “Ghost Dance” hoping to bring buffalo back

Sioux “Ghost Dance”

Ghost Dance

Shirt & Music

Battle of Wounded Knee

• Army made nervous about Ghost Dance.

• 1890, rounded up group of Sioux, including Sitting Bull.

• Tried to take Sioux’s weapons and fighting broke out.

• Army troops killed 300 unarmed Sioux .

Chief Big Foot lies dead.Native Americans buried in mass grave.

What was it like to be a Cowboy?

Cattle Ranching was BIG Business!

• Ranchers raised Longhorns, a sturdy breed 1st brought to Americas by Spanish

• American cowboys learned from Vaqueros….Vaqueros were Mexicans who worked on Spanish ranches in Mexico!

Chisholm Trail• Growing cities spurred demand for beef

• Cattle ranchers drove cattle over the Chisholm Trail from San Antonio, Tx. To Kansas. Called “Long Drive”

• From there, cattle shipped by rail to Chicago

Map of Chisholm Trail & Cattleman

“Long Drives” didn’t last long…

• Bad weather in the 1880’s

• Invention of barbed wire

Settling on the Great Plains

Section 2

3 Main groups went West:

1. Settlers who bought land from railroad companies at low prices & willing to farm it.

2. Homesteaders: Homestead Act of 1862 where government offered 160 acres of free land to anyone who would farm it for 5 yrs.

3. Exodusters: African Americans who moved from the post-Reconstruction South to Kansas.

Homesteaders

Exodusters

YELLOWSTONE PARKest. 1872

• Government sets aside land in Wyoming to create Yellowstone National Park.

• Millions of acres more were set aside later.

What was life like for Western Settlers?• Few trees, homes made of sod…”Soddys”

• Isolated from each other.. Made most everything they needed. Women worked in fields too.

• Farming Great Plains difficult work, but soon, inventions will help. (steel plow, reaper)

Government helps to improve farming techniques:

• Morrill Act of 1862 & 1890… helped est. agricultural colleges.

• Est. experiment station on Great Plains to develop new types of crops and new growing techniques.

• Justin Morrill pictured right.

• Huge single –crop farms.

• Resulted b/c farmers were in debt with purchase of new farming machinery & crop prices falling.

• Bonanza farms helped them to make more $ by raising more crops.

Bonanza Farming Folds!• Drought hits the Plains b/w 1885 & 1890

• Couldn’t compete w/ smaller farmers, who had more flexibility in crops grown.

• Also, high price of shipping crops also added to their debt.

FARMERS & THE POPULIST MOVEMENT

Section 3

FARMERS ON THE BRINK OF RUIN!

• Government refused to increase $ supply to Civil War levels

• Farmers paid high prices to transport grain.

• They wanted REFORM!!

Oliver Hudson

Farmer who started the GRANGE organization in 1867.

The GRANGE Organization:

• Purpose was to provide a place for farm families to discuss social & educational issues.

• By 1870’s, Grange members spent most of their time & energy fighting the railroads.

FARMERS’ ALLIANCES• Another organization that included teachers,

preachers, and newspaper editors who sympathized with farmers.

• Alliance members traveled throughout the Great Plains educating farmers about how to obtain lower interest rates; ways to protest the railroads, etc.

The Rise & Fall of Populism

Populist Party or People’s Party created in 1892 by Alliance leaders who realized they

needed political power to make far-reaching changes.

Beginnings of POPULISM:

• The Populist Party was the beginning of Populism….

• This was a movement to gain more political & economic power for common people.

• Party appealed to farmers and laborers.

PANIC!!!!!!• Starting in 1880’s, many companies went bankrupt b/c not able to

pay back loans.

• Many people lost jobs!

Panic continues into Presidential election of 1896!

Important issue: Whether the country’s paper money should be backed w/both gold & silver.

2 Sides of Election of 1896:

• “Silverites”- Favored bimetallism… a monetary system in which government would give people either gold or silver in exchange for paper currency or checks.(would make more dollars available therefore prices & wages would rise)

• “gold bugs”- Favored the gold standard…backing dollars solely with gold. (keep prices from rising)

Republicans & Democrats:REPUBLICANS

Were “gold bugs”.

Nominated : William McKinley for president.

DEMOCRATS

Democrats & Populists favored “bimetallism”.

Nominated : William Jennings Bryan for President.

MCKINLEY WINS!!!!!Brings an end to Populism

Although McKinley won, the movement left 2 powerful legacies:

• Message that poor people & less powerful groups in society could organize & have a political impact

• An agenda of reforms many of which would be enacted in the 20th

century.