Chapter 26 Outline

Chapter 26 Outline

      I.         1865-1896

a.     the wild west was transformed very quickly

    II.         The Clash of Cultures on the Plains

a.     Pioneers moved in on native American lands

b.     They spread cholera, typhoid, and smallpox among the native population

c.      White intruders also shrunk the bison population even further by hunting and stealing their prairie grasses

d.     The federal government attempted to make peace with the Native Americans by signing treaties with the chiefs, this began the reservation system

e.     The nomadic culture of the plains Indians, however, could not be contained to a reservation, and many wars /battles were fought between the US army and native Americans

f.      Federal Indian agents were often corrupt and the promises of food, and shelter were often not kept, or Indians were given defective supplies

  III.         Receding Native Populations

a.     Native population began to diminish

b.     Aggressive whites sometimes shot peaceful Indians on sight just to prevent future trouble

c.      Custer led a scientific exploration into the Sioux region and declared that he found gold. This resulted in many gold seekers to flood Native territory causing clashes amongst the groups

d.     One of the only Native wins was the Battle of the Little Bighorn

e.     Native Americans were finally pushed onto reservations

f.      One of the most important things that the government used to fight the Natives was they were able to use the US army to suppress the Natives

g.     Indians died from diseases, firewater, and the extermination of the Buffalo

   IV.         Bellowing Herds of Bison

a.     By 1885 fewer than one thousand buffalo were alive

     V.         The End of the Trail

a.     People like Helen Hunt Jackson inspired sympathy for the Indians

b.     Christian reformers attempted to help Natives, but some withheld food to force the Indians to give up their tribal religions and assimilate to white society

c.      In1884 the US government outlawed the sacred sun dance. When the natives continued to do this the Battle of Wounded Knee in 1890 took place

d.     Dawes Severalty Act of 1887: dissolved many tribes, wiped out tribal ownership of land, set up individual family heads with 160 free acres. If Natives assimilated as good white settlers they would gain full title to their holdings. They would also be granted citizenship in 25 years

e.     Full citizenship was granted to all Indians in 1924

f.      Former reservation land not given away under the dawes act was to be distributed to the railroads to educate and “civilize” the Native peoples

g.     Indian population began to increase

   VI.         Mining: From Dishpan to Ore Breaker

a.     The age of big business came to the mining industry

b.     Miners were replaced by impersonal corporations

c.      The mining frontier attracted population and wealth

d.     Women won a kind of equality on the rough frontier

e.     The outpouring of silver and gold enabled the treasury to resume specie payments in 1879 and injected the silver issue into American politics

 VII.         Beef Bonanzas and the Long Drive

a.     There was no way to get the meat of the long horned cattle to market profitably until railroad cars and stockyards were formed

VIII.         The Farmers’ Frontier

a.     Homestead Act of 1862 allowed a settler to acquire as much as 160 acres of land by living on it for five years, improving it, and paying a nominal fee of about 30 dollars

b.     Fraud was spawned by the Homestead act

c.      Farmers also moved west due to higher wheat prices and the lure of riches

d.     They quickly went broke as a six year drought took place in the 1880s

e.     The development of barbed wire solved the issue of treeless prairies and fences

f.      Hydraulic engineers had more to do with the shaping of the modern West than any other group because they helped with irrigation

   IX.         The Far West Comes of Age

a.     Six new states were admitted to the Union: North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana Washington, Idaho, and Wyoming

     X.         The Fading frontier

a.     1890 all unsettled areas were broken into

b.     There was no longer an unsettled west

c.      The government set aside land for national parks

   XI.         The Farm Becomes a Factory

a.     High prices shifted farmers to concentrate on growing single cash crops rather than being self sufficient.

b.     Farmers became consumers and producers

c.      Agricultural modernization drove many marginal farmers off the land

d.     The farm was attaining the status of a factory as new machinery was produced

 XII.         Deflation Dooms the Debtor

a.     As farmers relied on one crop as long as the prices stayed high all was well

b.     The price of grain fell and farmers soon became debtors

c.      In a vicious circle, their farm machinery increased their output of grain, lowered the price, and drove them even deeper into debt

d.     By 1880 one fourth of all American farms were operated by tenants due to bankruptcies

XIII.         Unhappy Farmers

a.     The earth was going sour

b.     Farmers had no choice but to sell their product in an unprotected world wide market

c.      They were by nature independent and individualistic. This made it difficult for them to join together to fight for prices.

XIV.         The Farmers Take Their Stand

a.     Oliver h. Kelley objective was to enhance the lives of isolated farmers through social, educational, and fraternal activities

b.     He led the National Grange of the Patrons and Husbandry

c.      The Grangers helped fight for the collective plight of all farmers

d.     Farmers also used the Greenback Labor Party to voice their grievances

 XV.         Prelude to Populism

a.     The Farmer’s Alliance was formed in the 1870s

b.     Farmers came together to socialize , and also to fight against the railroads and manufacturers through cooperative buying and selling

c.      They still excluded blacks

d.     The Farmers’ Alliance created the Populist party

                                               i.     Their platform was nationalizing railroads, telephone, and the telegraph, instituting a graduated income tax, and creating a new federal sub treasury

XVI.         Coxey’s Army and the Pullman Strike

a.     “General” Jacob S. Coxey was a populist marcher

                                               i.     his platform was that the government relieve unemployment by an inflationary public works program, supported by some 500 million dollars in legal tender notes to be issued by the treasury

b.     In Chicago the Pullman strike of 1894 happened where laborers overturned Pullman railroad cars due to cutting wages, but remaining at the same rent prices

                                               i.     The Federal government sent in troops to break up the fight due to the post not being delivered

                                              ii.     This was the first time that Washington used this excuse to break a strike up

XVII.         Golden McKinley and Silver Bryan

a.     Whether to maintain or inflate the currency by monetizing silver loomed as the issue on which the election would turn

b.     William McKinley

                                               i.     Republican of Ohio

1.     The Republican platform leaned toward hard money policies and condemned hard times and democratic incapacity while praising the protective tariff

2.     But McKinley himself was favorable to silver

                                              ii.     Had a creditable civil war record

                                            iii.     Had long years of service in congress

c.      William Jennings Bryan

                                               i.     He radiated honesty, sincerity, and energy

                                              ii.     Democratic platform: demanded inflation through unlimited coinage of silver at the ratio of 16 ounces of silver o 1 of gold even though the market was 32 to 1

XVIII.         Class Conflict: Plowholders versus Bondholders

a.     The McKyinleyites amassed the most formidable political campaign chest with about 16 million dollars

b.     McKinley won the presidential election of 1896

c.      This was a victory or big business, the big cities, middle-class values, and financial conservatism

XIX.         Republican Stand-pattism Enthroned

a.     McKinley was cautious and conservative, allowing many big businesses to have free reign

b.     The Dingley Tarriff Bill was jammed through the House in 1897

                                               i.     The result was that the average rates became 46.5 percent

c.      Farm prices rose

d.     Gold Standard Act of 1900 provided that the paper currency be redeemed freely in gold

e.     This improved the circulatory system

f.