Do you know what ASSIMILATION means? What would you do if the government forced you to move from...
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Transcript of Do you know what ASSIMILATION means? What would you do if the government forced you to move from...
Do you know what ASSIMILATION means?
What would you do if the government forced you to move from your home? You had 1 day to pack and head to a place you have never seen. When you get there you have no resources to continue your lifestyle.(no shopping malls, grocery stores, cell phone service, internet, etc.) How would you react?
Would you Assimilate into American culture, like the government wants you to? Would you secretly plot leave your new home or try to make it on your own? Would you band together and fight the US army officials in charge of watching you?
The Gilded Age: 1870-1900The Gilded Age: 1870-1900■After the Civil War, the U.S. entered
an era known as the Gilded Age when America experienced rapid changes
Overview of the West■After the Civil War, the area west
of the Mississippi River was settled:–Miners, ranchers, farmers
flooded into the “frontier” looking for economic opportunities
–Transcontinental railroads connected the country
–Plains Indians were forced to assimilate & move to reservations
■By 1890, the frontier was closed
The Mining Bonanza
■Mining was the 1st magnet to attract settlers to the West:
–Before the Civil War, miners discovered gold in California, Colorado, & Nevada
–After the Civil War, miners resumed their migration into the West to find more gold & silver
John Mackay became the richest man in the world & earned $25 a minute from his “Big Bonanza” in Sierra Mountains
$306 million in gold & silver was
discovered at the Comstock Lode
Mining Regions of the West
Silver miners in Leadville, CO
Mining towns were formed in the West; Needed gov’t, law
enforcement, & businesses
Corporations had the expensive machinery (“hydraulic mining
techniques”) to extract most of the gold in the West
■ Chinese & Latin American immigrants came to find gold
■ Nativism led Congress to pass the Chinese Chinese Exclusion ActExclusion Act in 1882 which ended Chinese immigration
Ranchers & The Cattle Boom
■After the Civil War, the demand for beef skyrocketed
■To meet this demand, ranchers drove Texas longhorns across the open “range” to railroad towns:
–Cattle bought in Texas for $4 could be sold for $40 in Kansas
–Cattle drives created new towns
Ranchers & The Cattle BoomRanchers used the “open range” to graze longhorns during the 3 month “long drive”
By 1867, ranchers started using trains to ship cattle to meatpacking cities like Chicago
Ranchers & The Cattle Boom
■By the 1880s, cattle ranching was difficult because:
–The “open range” was closed as farmers used new barbed wire fencing to close off their farms
–Overgrazing & drought left little grasslands for grazing cattle
–Competition from sheep herding
Homesteads & Farmers ■The U.S. gov’t offered incentives
for farmers to settle the West:
–Homestead ActHomestead Act (1862) gave 160 acres to citizens who pledged to “improve the land” for at least 5 years
–Other gov’t acts helped develop western lands by planting trees & building irrigation systems
Homesteads & Farmers■Life in the Plains was difficult:
–There were few trees so homesteaders built sod houses
–60% of homesteaders failed
■But many homesteaders adapted:
–Used dry farming techniques
–Planted tough varieties of wheat
–Used harvesting machinery
Exodusters
■Exodusters were black farmers who moved West to escape crop liens & Jim Crow laws in the South
Homestead Sales, 1870-1940In 1890, the western frontier “closed”:
There were no more unorganized territories in the West
Rails Across the Continent
■In 1862, Congress authorized the first transcontinental railroad:
–Union Pacific worked westward from Nebraska (Irish laborers)
–Central Pacific worked eastward from CA (Chinese immigrants)
–On May 10, 1869 the 2 tracks met at Promontory Point in Utah
The 1st transcontinental railroad connected the west coast to eastern cities in 1869
Chinese workers made up a large percentage of laborers
on the western leg
Irish workers made up a large percentage of laborers on the eastern section
Federal Land Grants to Railroads by 1871The national gov’t gave out $65 million & millions of acres to railroad companies to
connect the East & West coasts with railroads
The Plains Indians In 1865, 2/3 of all Indians lived on the Great Plains Their culture
was dependent upon the buffalo
& the horse
America’s Indian Policy ■America’s Indian policy changed:
–In the 1830s, Indians were moved across the Mississippi River into “one big reservation”
–In the 1850s, (due to Manifest Destiny), Indians were moved into concentrated reservations
–In the 1860s, reservations were violated by farmers & miners
Indian WarsIn 1876, Americans flooded into Sioux territory in South Dakota
when gold was discovered
The Sioux, led by Sitting Bull, retaliated by ambushing Colonel Custer & all 197 soldiers
in the Seventh Cavalry at Little Big Horn
Assimilation and the Dawes Act:
■A plan which would force Native Americans to give up their beliefs and way of life and become a part of white culture
■In 1887, Congress passed the Dawes Act aiming to “Americanize” the Native Americans (160 acres to INDIVIDUAL heads of household)
Indians WarsWhen the U.S. army tried to stop Sioux “ghost dances,” 200 men, women, & children were slaughtered during the
Battle of Wounded Knee
The Battle of Wounded Knee in 1890 was the last Indian war in American history
The End of Tribal Life■The final blow to Indian culture
came with annihilation of buffalo:–Began with the construction of
the transcontinental RR in 1860s–From
1872 to 1874, 3 million buffalo were killed each year
Conclusions
■By 1890, the frontier was closed:–Miners, ranchers, & farmers
flooded West at the expense of Indians
–But, Westerners began to grow frustrated due to their dependency on Eastern railroads, banks, & politicians