Clash of Culture of the Plains y y y The 360,000 scattered in trans-Missouri West were in the way of the advancing white

pioneers. Migration, conflict and dramatic cultural change are all part of the West. When the whites and the Indians clashed, they disrupted the fateful cycle of Indian culture. -- White people spread diseases such as cholera, smallpox and typhoid. -- Whites hunted for buffalo which was the life of an Indian tribe. Because of this, fights intensified between the tribes because of the scarcity of buffalos. The federal govt tried to calm the tribes by signing treaties with the chiefs of different tribes and separate them by dividing them into two colonies in the north and south of white settlement. -- Tribes and chiefs do not recognize a leader outside their family or a village elder. -- The governemnt intensified this policy again by confing Indians to the Great Sioux reservation in Dakota and Indiana territory. lots of tribes were supposed to move here. The Indians surrendered their lands only if the governement would leave them alone but provide them food, clothing and other family needs. -- This did not happen because there were a lot of corruption amongst federal Indian agents. They get more money by giving the worst of the worst things to Indians. -- Tis caused wars between the US Army and the Indians for more than a decade. -- Army people from Europe who flew to America to avoid military service, faced the Indians whose superb horsemanships taught them baffling mobility. -- Buffalo Soldiers- African American army personnel

Receding Native Population y Indian wars in the West are unmerciful. -- White people shot Indians from a distance just to make sure they don t make any trouble. -- Colonel Chivingston shot hundreds of Indians, women and children, the braves, too. The Fetterman Massacre -- Sioux party in 1866 ambushed Captain William J. Fetterman s 81 civilians in Wyoming. The Indians killed every single one of them. George Armstrong Custer said that Fetterman s ambusg awakened a bitter feeling toward the savage perperators Custer s scientific expedition -- announced that he had discovered goldin the Black Hills of South Dakota -- greedy gold-seekers came. Indians moved away Custer s Seventh Cavalry -- this people wanted the Indians to get supressed and to have them return to the reservation. -- But they were outnumbered, so Custer got wiped out by the Indians -- whites still hunted down the indians na nagpahiya kay Custer Nez Perce Indians -- were forced to go to the reservation area. -- the horde gave up after traveling for 3 months. -- Chief Joseph hoped to meet up with Sitting Bull, who had taken refuge north of the broder. -- they thought they would be returned to their lands but they were moved to a reservation in Kansas, in which many Indians died of disease, and the surviovrs ONLY gets to go back to Idaho. Apaches -- led by Geronimo; most difficult to control -- from Arizona and Mexico -- pursued by heliograph by federal troops -- were forced to surrender cuz Apache women had been exiled to Florida. The fire and sword policy of whites killed the Indian spirit. Indians were living in the ghetto where they could preserve their culture. White found out that its cheaper to feed them than to fight them. Althroughout the decade, they were ignored to death. The virtual extermination of the buffalo doomed the Plains Indians nomadic way of life. Factors? -- railroad, locomotives that brought settlers, farmers, etc., diseases

Bellowing Herds of Bison y Buffalo- Native Maericans life. Its flesh prvided food, poop provided fuel and skin provided clothings, lariats and harnesses. -- after the civil war, there are stil 15 mill. -- because there s so much, a locomotive had to wait 8 hours for a herd to amble across the tracks. -- William Buffalo Bill Cody therefore killed them and eat them, while waiting. He killed 4,000 in 18 months. (he was a worker of Kansas Pacific) -- The massacre began along with the building of the railroad. Only a few thousand left after 1885. -- This is an example of greed and waste that accompanied the conquest of the continent.

The End of the Trail y y y y y y y Helen Hunt Jackson wrote books to inspire the symphaty for the Indians. She published A Century of Dishonor and Ramona. Humanitarians wanted to persuade the Indians to assimilate to the white culture. Hard-liners wanted them to be punished The whites along with military men persuaded the government that the Indians don t do the Sun Dance Battle of Wounded Knee: The Ghost Dance cult was spread in Dakota, white got mad, attacked and killed 200 Indians and 29 soldiers. Dawes Severality Act- each family will hold 160 acres for five years and if they obediently behaves like white settlers, they would get full title to tehir holdings and citizenship for 25 years. Reservations lands not alloted to the Indians were sold to railroads and white settlers and some used to build schools for Native Americans. -- Carlisle Indian School- children were taught English and white values and customs. -- Kill the Indian and save the man was the school motto. -- field matrons were sent to teach Indian women the art of sewing, virtues of chastity and hygiene. Dawes Act tried to assimilate Indians into white culture, totally ignoring Indian culture. -- taking away land. Indians lost 50 % of their property. Because of new federal policies, Indians population lessen but mounted slowly.

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Mining: From Dishpan to Ore Breaker y y y y y y Gold was discovered in California in the late 1840s, and in 1858, the same happened at Pike s Peak in Colorado. Fifty-Niners flocked out there, but within a month or two, the gold had run out. The Comstock Lode in Nevada was discovered in 1859, and a fantastic amount of gold and silver worth more than $340 million was mined. Smaller lucky strikes also drew money-lovers to Montana, Idaho, and other western states. Anarchy in these outposts seemed to rule, but in the end, what was left were usually ghost towns. After the surface gold was found, ore-breaking machinery was brought in to break the gold-bearing quartz (which was very expensive to do). Women found new rights in these Western lands however, gaining suffrage in Wyoming (1869) (the first place for women to vote), Utah (1870), Colorado (1893) and Idaho (1896). Mining also added to the folklore and American literature (Bret Harte & Mark Twain).

Beef Bonanzas and the Long Drive 1. 2. As cities back east boomed in the latter half of the nineteenth century, the demand for food and meat increased sharply. The problem of marketing meat profitably to the public market and cities was solved by the new transcontinental railroads. Cattle could now be shipped to the stockyards under beef barons like the Swifts and Armours.

The meat-packaging industry thus sprang up.

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The Long Drive emerged to become a spectacular feeder of the slaughterhouses, as Texas cowboys herded cattle across desolate land to railroad terminals in Kansas.

Dodge City, Abilene, Ogallala, and Cheyenne became favorite stopovers.


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At Dodge City Wyatt Earp and in Abilene, Marshal James B. Hickok maintained order.

The railroads made the cattle herding business prosper, but it also destroyed it, for the railroads also brought sheepherders and homesteaders who built barbed-wire, invented by Samuel Glidden, fences that erased the open-range days of the long cattle drives.

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Also, blizzards in the winter of 1886-87 left dazed cattle starving and freezing.

Breeders learned to fence their ranches and to organize (i.e. the Wyoming Stock-Growers Association).

The legends of the cowboys were made here at this time, but lived on in American lore.

The Farmer s Frontier y y Miners and cattlemen created the romantic legend of the West but it was a farmer who wrote the final chapter of the frontier history Homestead Act- 160 acres, five years, fee of $30. -- given away to encourage filling of empty spaces -- provide a stimulus to family farm- The Backbone of Democracy -- about 40 million poor farmers took advantage of this law. -- but this law was not nearly effective as it was supposed to be. Many farmers faced drought. How can you plant if there s drought in the Great Plains? The what do you do? You become a worker of a tycoon corporation, who bribes you with a bottle of beer or cash to work for timber, minerals and oil -- Railroad companies also played a role. They would sell the land given to them by the governement for railroad building for a cheap price; Northen Pacific Railroad Pioneer explorers tried the prairies- who s soil was strerile since it did not have too much water or trees, and is prolly good for farming -- Once the prairie sod is broken with the hravy iron plows, it can be fruitful. -- Therefore, sodbusters poured into the prairies using sod to make their houses. 100th Meridian- imaginary line: divides the east and west. John Wesley Powell said that byond the line, so little rain will fall that farming was kinda impossible unless heavy irrigation. But farmers ignored this and still settled in the West. -- They tried to make farming possible by adapting the dry farming - shallow cultivation adapted to arid western env.- who will later on contribute to Dust Bowl. -- Other adaptations are the drought resistant grains which were also successful -- The barbed wire by Joseph Gilden made fences in the treeless prairies.

The Farw West Comes of Age y Boom in states equals boom in population -- Colorado the Centennial State -- North and South Dakota, Wyoming, Idaho, Montana and Washinton was admitted -- later Oklahoma came, The Sooner State it has vast stretches of fertile plains and bunched of eighty-niners went running there in 1889.

The Fading Frontier y All the unsettled areas were now broken into by isolated bodies of settlement. A frontier line was no longer discernible.

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Governemen set aside lands for national parks. Frontier was a symbol of opportunity and was a state of mind. Americans have been notorious ofr their mobility. Frontier as a safety valve when hard times come, unemployed can just nove west,t ake farming and prosper. -- that is not true somehow. During depressions, some can t move kasi di sila marunong mag farm or wala pera pang trasport. -- the thing that lured people was free acreage. -- employers made wages high so that people won t migrate to the West. -- By the end pf the century, area in the Rocky Mountains was themost urbanized region in America. US Histroy cannot be propelry understood unless it is viewed in the light of westward-moving experience. The pioneers planted the seeds of civilization in the western wilderness. The life we live, they dreamed of; the life they lived; they dreamed of.

The Farm Becomes a Factory y y From agriculture to factories; high prices persuaded farmers on growing single chas crops such as wheat and corn. Large-scale farmers in Mississipi Valley were now rich business people. They had to buy expensive machinery to plant and harvest. -- the combine; reaper-threasher; such use of this equipment require first-class management. -- The speed of harvesting wheat dramatically increade because of the combine -- Because machine replaced people, people had to find jobs in the new industril workforce. The farm was attaining the status of factory; farmers achieved miracles of production. The bonanza farms foreshadowed large agribusiness of the next century. California was an agricultural state due to the railroads delivery of fruit and vegetable crops and was grown by ill-paid Chinese immigrants and Mexicans. Henry Geroge said that California was not a state of farms but palntations and estates.

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Deflation Dooms the Debtor

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Once the farmers entered the once-crop agriculture, they became like the cotton growers in the South. If the prices stayed high, all is well, but if not, bankruptcy comes in. Grain fsrmers were engaged in one of the most competitive businesses in the world, where if prices in differesnt country flourished, American sodbusters would face ruin. Farmers does not like deflation cuz mababaon sila sa utang. In the 1880s, when world markets rebounded, produced more crops, and forced prices down, the farmers in America were the ones that found ruin. Paying back debts was especially difficult in this deflation-filled time during which there was simply not enough money to go around for everyone. Less money in circulation was called contraction. Farmers operated year after year on losses and lived off their fat as best they could, but thousands of homesteads fell to mortgages and foreclosures, and farm tenancy rather than farm ownership was increasing. The fall of the farmers in the late 1800s was similar to the fall of the South and its King Cotton during the Civil War: depending solely on one crop was good in good times but disastrous during less prosperous times.

Unhappy Farmers

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In the late 1880s and early 1890s, droughts, grasshopper plagues, and searing heat waves made the toiling farmers miserable and poor. Mother earth was being destroyed. Floods added to wastes of erosion, soils were becoming stressed and farmers pay high taxes. The railroads (by fixing freight prices), the middlemen (by taking huge cuts in profits), and the various harvester, barbed wire, and fertilizer trusts all harassed farmers. -- The railroad charged high rates to transport goods to market. If the farmers complained, the railroad would let their grain spoil or refuse to transport the goods all together. In 1890, farmers made up half the population of the nation. However, they were independent-minded and failed toorganize themselves economically. -- They only managed political uprisings.

The Farmers Take Their Stand y y y y The National Grange of the Patrons of Husbandry (the Grange) was organized by Oliver H. Kelley. It aimed to help the lives of farmers through social, educational and fraternal activities. They succeeded. Eventually they included improvement of the farmers plight to their goals. They tried to create special housing for the grain and stores for consumers. They tried through the states to regulate railway rates and storage fees, winning battles mostly in the west. The states created Granger Laws that were mostly appealed and reversed by judicial courts. The Greenback Labor party combined pro-inflation with improving the lot of labor. They achieved some seats in the Senate but James B. Weaver, their candidate for presidency, lost heavily. In the Greenback movement after the Civil War, agrarian unrest had flared forth as well. In 1867, the National Grange of the Patrons of Husbandry, better known as The Grange, was founded by Oliver H. Kelley to improve the lives of isolated farmers through social, educational, and fraternal activities. o Eventually, it spread to claim over 800,000 members in 1875, and the Grange changed its goals to include the improvement of the collective plight of the farmer. o The Grangers found most success in the upper Mississippi Valley, and eventually, they managed to get Congress to pass a set of regulations known as the Granger Laws, but afterwards, their influence faded. The Greenback Labor Party also attracted farmers, and in 1878, the Greenback Laborites polled over a million votes and elected 14 members of Congress. o In 1880, the Greenbackers ran General James B. Weaver, a Civil War general, but he only polled 3% of the popular vote.

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Prelude to Populism y y y y y y The Farmers Alliance tried to break free of railroads and manufacturers. However, it didn t allow landless tenants, sharecroppers, farmworkers, or blacks. Colored Farmers National Alliance was created to compensate. In the 1890s, the Populists emerged, calling for nationalization of the railroads, telephones and telegraphs; a graduated income tax; a federal subtreasury ; and coinage of silver. William Hope Harvey published Coin s Financial School which extolled the free coinage of silver. Ignatius Donnelly was elected to Congress three times. Mary Lease ( Kansas Pythoness ) was a famous rabble-rouser. The Populists began to grow, earning Congressional seats and polling votes in the presidential election. Racial differences hobbled the southern Populists but the western numbers were growing. The Farmers Alliance, founded in the late 1870s, was another coalition of farmers seeking to overthrow the chains from the banks and railroads that bound them.

However, its programs only aimed at those who owned their own land, thereby ignoring the tenant farmers, and it purposely excluded Blacks. o The Alliance members agreed on the (1) nationalization of railroads, (2) the abolition of national banks, (3) a graduated income tax, and (4) a new federal sub-treasury for farmers. Populists were led by Ignatius Donnelly from Minnesota and Mary Elizabeth Lease, both of whom spoke eloquently and attacked those that hurt farmers (banks, railroads, etc.). The Alliance was still not to be brushed aside, and in the coming decade, they would combine into a new People s Party (AKA, the Populist Party) to launch a new attack on the northeastern citadels of power. o

Coxey s Army and the Pullman Strike y The panic of 1893 made the unemployed march the streets in protest. A famous marcher Jacob S. Coxey demanded the government provide payment for the unemployed. The Commonweal Army finally reached the capital but was arrested for walking on the grass. The Pullman strike of 1894 was led by the American Railway Union run by Eugene V. Debs. The Pullman Palace Car Company maintained a company town. They decreased wages while maintaining the rent. Protesters overturned cars and the AF of L denied involvement, enhancing their reputation for respectability. The Chicago turmoil was heightened when US Attorney General Richard Olney requested federal troops on the grounds that the protesters were halting the mail. Cleveland agreed and sent troops. Federal troops crushed the Pullman strike and Debs was sentenced to prison time for disobeying an injunction to stop striking. This was the first time the injunction was used conspicuously, causing many to see the connection between big business and the government. The Panic of 1893 fueled the passion of the Populists. Many disgruntled unemployed fled to D.C. calling for change. o Most famous of these people was General Jacob Coxey. Coxey s Army marched on Washington with scores of followers and many newspaper reporters. They called for:  relieving unemployment by an inflationary government public works program.  an issuance of $500 million in legal tender notes. o The march fizzled out when they were arrested for walking on the grass. The Pullman Strike in Chicago, led by Eugene Debs, was more dramatic. o Debs helped organize the workers of the Pullman Palace Car Company. o The company was hit hard by the depression and cut wages by about 1/3. o Workers struck, sometimes violently. o U.S. Attorney General Richard Olney called in federal troops to break up the strike. His rationale: the strike was interfering with the transit of U.S. mail. o Debs went to prison for 6 months and turned into the leading Socialist in America.

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Golden McKinley and Silver Bryan y The election of 1896 hinged on the issue of gold standard vs. silver. The prominent Republican candidate was William McKinley, of the tariff bill of 1890. McKinley was the creation of Marcus Alonzo Hanna, a fierce Hamiltonian who believed that it was government s job to protect business. Hanna campaigned before the nomination with savvy and his own funds. The Republican platform straddled the money question but leaned towards hard-money policies. It called for the gold standard, even though McKinley was pro-silver in his Congressional term. The Democrats saw Cleveland for his intervention in the Pullman strike, the bargain with Morgan and his hard-money policies. He seemed to be more of a Republican than a Democrat. The Democrats lacked a leader, but gained one in William Jennings Bryan. He harshly advocated for silver in his Cross of Gold speech. The Democrat platform advocated the unlimited coinage of silver. Pro-gold Democrats bolted the party, nominated a lost-cause candidate and hope for a McKinley victory. The Populists now supported the Democrats, sacrificing themselves in the process.

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McKinley o The leading Republican candidate in 1896 was William McKinley, a respectable and friendly former Civil War major who had served many years in Congress representing his native Ohio. o McKinley was the making of another Ohioan, Marcus Alonzo Hanna, who financially and politically supported the candidate through his political years. o McKinley was a conservative in business, preferring to leaves things alone, and his platform was for the gold standard, even though he personally was not.  His platform also called for a gold-silver bimetallism provided that all the other nations in the world did the same, which was not bound to happen. Bryan o The Democrats were in disarray and unable to come up with a candidate, until William Jennings Bryan, the Boy Orator of the Platte, came to their rescue. o At the 1896 Democratic Convention in Chicago, Bryan delivered a movingly passionate speech in favor of free silver. In this Cross of Gold Speech he created a sensation and won the nomination for the Democratic ticket the next day.  The Democratic ticket called for unlimited coinage of silver with the ratio of 16 silver ounces worth as much as one ounce of gold.  Democrats who would not stand for this left the party. o Some Democrats charged that they d stolen the Populist ideas, and during the Election of 1896, it was essentially the Demo-Pop party.

Class Conflicts: Plowholders versus Bondholders y Mark Hanna assumed he could make tariffs the main issue, but Bryan quickly made the free silver issue prominent. Bryan created a panic among the easterners whose holdings could diminish overnight. This helped Hanna gather money for a propaganda campaign. They amassed a large amount of money and drew accusations of buying the election. Big businesses backed Hanna s campaign and threatened their workers with lost jobs and wages. McKinley won the election as voters were scared into voting. Bryan won the South and the west while McKinley won the eastern states. The factory workers of the east were threatened by inflation. Bryan s was the last campaign to center around agrarian votes. McKinley s election started a reign of Republican dominance and ended the age of high voter turnouts, party organizations, the money question and civil-service reform. A new age of industrial regulation and welfare began.

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McKinley won decisively, getting 271 electoral votes, mostly from the populous East and upper Midwest, as opposed to Bryan s 176, mostly from the South and the West. This election was perhaps the most important since the elections involving Abraham Lincoln, for it was the first to seemingly pit the privileged against the underprivileged, and it resulted in a victory for big business and big cities. Thus, the Election of 1896 could be called the gold vs. silver election. And, put to the vote, it was clear then that Americans were going with gold. Also in the election, the Middle Class preserved their comfortable way of life while the Republicans seized control of the White House of 16 more years.

Republican Standpattism Enthroned

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The tariff issue soon came to the fore. The Dingley Tariff Bill was passed in the House in 1897, but failed in the Senate because it wasn t high enough for lobbyists. The average eventually became 46.5%. Prosperity began to return in 1897 and the republicans took credit. The money issue gradually faded away. The Gold Standard Act of 1900 provided that currency would be redeemed for gold. Gold discoveries throughout the world provided for the gold standard. When McKinley took office in 1897, he was calm and conservative, working well with his party and avoiding major confrontations. The Dingley Tariff Bill was passed to replace the Wilson-Gorman law and raise more revenue, raising the tariff level to whopping 46.5 percent.