Cowboys and Indians

1
Cowboys and Indians
2
The Settling of the West

• First large-scale white settlements mining camps
• Boomtowns and mining corporations followed

3
The Settling of the West

• Next wave cattle ranchers
• Large scale cattle operations made possible by
  trains, refrigerated cars

4
The Mythical West
JESSE JAMES
WYATT EARP
DODGE CITY, KS
OK CORRAL
5
Buffalo Bills Wild West Show

• Rodeo and western circus

6
Settling of the West

• 1862 Homestead Act 160 acres of free land given
  to farmers
• Thousands move west new agricultural techniques
  allow for more production

7
The End of the Indian Culture

• Causes
• Technology advances

8
The End of the Indian Culture

• Causes
• Reservation system, run by corrupt US Dept. of
  the Interior

9
The End of the Indian Culture

• Causes
• the near extermination of the buffalo

10
Major Indian Battles

• Sand Creek, CO 1864
• US Army massacres Cheyenne, incites Plains
  Indians to retaliate against settlers

Col. John Chivington
11
Major Indian Battles

• Ranald Mackenzie vs. the Comanches
• Palo Duro Canyon
• 1874

12
Little Big Horn

• Caused by gold hunters entering Black Hills of
  South Dakota, violating Indian treaties.
• Combined Indian army, led by Crazy Horse and
  Sitting Bull, left reservation and began attacks

13
Little Big Horn

• US Army sent to force Indian
  return
• led by George Custer
• Sitting Bull

14
Little Big Horn

• June 25th, 1876 Little Big Horn River, MT
  Custer and entire command wiped out
• Shocked the country renewed push to eliminate
  Indian threat in the West

15
Last Defeat of the Indian

• Geronimo and the Apaches, 1882

• Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce, 1883

16
Wounded Knee, 1890Last Indian Battle

• The Ghost Dance religious ritual performed by
  Sioux Indians would bring back spirits of dead
  Indians to reclaim the land and defeat the whites

17
Wounded Knee, December 1890

• Sioux leave the reservation when forced to give
  up ritual
• US Army massacres over 300 Sioux, force the rest
  to return

18
Attempts to Assimilate the Indians

• Educational efforts

19
Attempts to Assimilate the Indians

• 1887 the Dawes Act 160 acres given to every
  head of Indian household, with equipment for
  farming
• Failed policy most land stolen from or sold by
  Indians by 1895

20
The Closing of the West

• Frederick Jackson Turner and The Significance of
  the Frontier in American History (1893) there
  is no longer a frontier in the West, thus
  American expansion has filled up the continent
• The safety valve theory the West offered a
  second chance to millions, thus relieving social
  and political pressures in the cities

"The existence of an area of free land, its
continuous recession, and the advance of American
settlement westward explain American
development."
21
The Closing of the West

• Impact of the closing of the West
• land more expensive more immigrants stay in
  cities, ex-farmers move to cities
• expansion moves overseas (i.e. American
  imperialism)
• 1889 Oklahoma Land Rush

22
The Farmers
Jay Gould

• Problems of the farmer
• 1 enemy the railroads and pools higher
  rates than for other customers
• Real problem overproduction, leading to lower
  prices
• Also higher prices caused by the tariff and the
  trusts

23
The Issue Over Money

• Hard money (specie) vs. Soft money (issued by
  the government) farmers wanted to increase
  money supply to cause inflation
• Higher prices makes it easier to pay debts

24
The Issue Over Money

• Inflation causes farm prices to rise deflation
  causes a fall money supply based on amount of
  gold in economy
• More money in the economy causes inflation
• Proposed solution add silver to the economy to
  increase money supply
• First proposed by William Coin Harvey

25
The Farmers Unite

• Formation of the National Grange of the Patrons
  of Husbandry

Oliver Kelley
Original purpose social and educational events
soon began political activity, focusing on the
money supply and the railroads
"We propose meeting together, talking together,
working together, buying together, selling
together, and, in general, acting together for
our mutual protection and advancement, as
occasion may require." -- 1874 Declaration of
Purposes of the National Grange
26
The Farmers Unite

• The Grange emerges as political force in the
  Midwest
• The Greenback-Labor Party first party that
  represented labor in elections

Candidate James B. Weaver
27
Granger Laws

• The Granger States farmers take over state
  governments in the Midwest in the 1880s
• i.e. Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota
• Targeted railroads for rate controls
• Thrown out by Supreme Court in Wabash v. Illinois

28
The Beginning of the Peoples (Populist) Party

• Wabash case destroys the Grange, replaced by the
  Farmers Alliances
• Foundation of the Peoples Party, called by most
  the Populist Party