HISTORY (chapter 17 & 18)
Battle of Washita
1868, George Custer took his troops to the camped Cheyenne in the Washita Hills and attacked the Indians, he reported that 100 men, women, and children were killed, burned their food, clothes and lodges. 21 of his men died. Arapho and southern cheyanne signed a medicine lodge treaty with the government promising the tribe a reservation in oklahoma with their traditional land and buffalo on it to survive. what they received wasn't what they were promise. they got upset and rebelled raiding white people, killing them. George Armstrong Custer and the 7th Calvary attacked Black kettle and his tribe (cheyanne tribe) killing leader black kettle and 100 men, women, and children. In the late 1860s, Winter Campaigning was adopted as a method of rounding up warlike Indians and forcing them on reservations. The Battle of the Washita, fought here in Oklahoma, kicked off Winter Campaigning. A force led by George Armstrong Custer attacked the Cheyenne village of Black Kettle, killing the old chief and many others. Later Rebellions Even as plains Indians were settled on reservations, rebels among them left the reservations in uprisings such as the Red River War. The most famous uprising of the 1870s was that of the Sioux on the northern plains. The Battle of Little Big Horn marked a temporary victory for the Indians, but ultimately the destruction of the buffalo doomed them to reservation life.
Knights of Labor
1st effort to create National union. Open to everyone but lawyers and bankers. Vague program, no clear goals, weak leadership and organization. Failed including a renewed call for an eight-hour workday, equal pay regardless of gender, the elimination of convict labor, and the creation of greater cooperative enterprises with worker ownership of businesses. Much of the KOL's strength came from its concept of "One Big Union"—the idea that it welcomed all wage workers, regardless of occupation, with the exception of doctors, lawyers, and bankers. It welcomed women, African Americans, Native Americans, and immigrants, of all trades and skill levels. This was a notable break from the earlier tradition of craft unions, which were highly specialized and limited to a particular group. the Haymarket affair, which occurred on May 4, 1886, in Chicago's Haymarket Square (Figure 18.12). There, an anarchist group had gathered in response to a death at an earlier nationwide demonstration for the eight-hour workday. At the earlier demonstration, clashes between police and strikers at the International Harvester Company of Chicago led to the death of a striking worker. The anarchist group decided to hold a protest the following night in Haymarket Square, and, although the protest was quiet, the police arrived armed for conflict. Someone in the crowd threw a bomb at the police, killing one officer and injuring another. The seven anarchists speaking at the protest were arrested and charged with murder. They were sentenced to death, though two were later pardoned and one committed suicide in prison before his execution. The Knights was begun by Uriah Stevens in 1869 as a secret fraternal society for garment cutters. The Knights welcomed all toilers regardless of race, nationality, sex, or craft and organized them geographically. Their goal was, through education, to eventually abolish the wage system and make every man his own employer by establishing producer's cooperatives. The Knights advocated the 8-hour day, abolition of child, convict, and contract labor, legislation requiring arbitration, safety and public health laws, and a number of political demands as an income tax, postal savings banks, currency reform, abolition of the national bank, and prohibition. While the Knights were opposed to strikes, under the leadership of Terrence Powderly, they grew rapidly following and as a result of the Railroad Strike of 1877. However, the Railroad Strike of 1886, combined with their identification with the Haymarket Affair, branded them as radical and they experienced a rapid decline.
Andrew Carnegie
A Scottish-born American industrialist and philanthropist who founded the Carnegie Steel Company in 1892. By 1901, his company dominated the American steel industry. Carnegie saved his profits during prosperous times and used them to buy out other steel companies at low prices during the economic recessions of the 1870s and 1890s. Carnegie's famous essay, The Gospel of Wealth, featured below, expounded on his beliefs. In it, he borrowed from Herbert Spencer's theory of social Darwinism, which held that society developed much like plant or animal life through a process of evolution in which the most fit and capable enjoyed the greatest material and social success. Social Darwinism added a layer of pseudoscience to the idea of the self-made man, a desirable thought for all who sought to follow Carnegie's example. The myth of the rags-to-riches businessman was a potent one.
J. P. Morgan
A investment banker who took control and consolidated bankrupt railroads in the Panic of 1893. In 1900, he led a group in the purchase of Carnegie Steel, which became U.S. Steel. (p. 321, 323) J. Pierpont Morgan and Company financial firm. The firm bought and sold stock in growing companies, investing the family's wealth in those that showed great promise, turning an enormous profit as a result. Investments from firms such as his were the key to the success stories of up-and-coming businessmen like Carnegie and Rockefeller. Ultimately, Morgan's most notable investment, and greatest consolidation, was in the steel industry, when he bought out Andrew Carnegie in 1901. Lauded by admirers for the efficiency and modernization he brought to investment banking practices, as well as for his philanthropy and support of the arts, Morgan was also criticized by reformers who subsequently blamed his (and other bankers') efforts for contributing to the artificial bubble of prosperity that eventually burst in the Great Depression of the 1930s.
Cornelius Vanderbilt
A railroad owner who built a railway connecting Chicago and New York. He popularized the use of steel rails in his railroad, which made railroads safer and more economical.
Pacific Railway Act (1862)
A series of laws that promoted the construction of the *Transcontinental Railroad* authorizing the issuance of government bonds and the grants of land to railroad companies. The Pacific Railway Act was pivotal in helping settlers move west more quickly, as well as move their farm products, and later cattle and mining deposits, back east. The first of many railway initiatives, this act commissioned the Union Pacific Railroad to build new track west from Omaha, Nebraska, while the Central Pacific Railroad moved east from Sacramento, California. The law provided each company with ownership of all public lands within two hundred feet on either side of the track laid, as well as additional land grants and payment through load bonds, prorated on the difficulty of the terrain it crossed. Because of these provisions, both companies made a significant profit, whether they were crossing hundreds of miles of open plains, or working their way through the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California. As a result, the nation's first transcontinental railroad was completed when the two companies connected their tracks at Promontory, Utah, in the spring of 1869. Other tracks, including lines radiating from this original one, subsequently created a network that linked all corners of the nation (
Bessemer Process
A way to manufacture steel quickly and cheaply by blasting hot air through melted iron to quickly remove impurities. The Bessemer process, named for English inventor Henry Bessemer, and the open-hearth process, changed the way the United States produced steel and, in doing so, led the country into a new industrialized age. As the new material became more available, builders eagerly sought it out, a demand that steel mill owners were happy to supply. As a result, the steel industry rapidly became the cornerstone of the American economy, remaining the primary indicator of industrial growth and stability through the end of World War II.
Homestead Act of 1862
Act that allowed a settler to acquire as much as 160 acres of land by living on it for 5 years, improving it, and paying a nominal fee of about $30 - instead of public land being sold primarily for revenue, it was now being given away to encourage a rapid filling of empty spaces and to provide a stimulus to the family farm, turned out to be a cruel hoax because the land given to the settlers usually had terrible soil and the weather included no precipitation, many farms were repo'd or failed until "dry farming" took root on the plains , then wheat, then massive irrigation projects "The Homestead Act allowed any head of household, or individual over the age of twenty-one—including unmarried women—to receive a parcel of 160 acres for only a nominal filing fee. All that recipients were required to do in exchange was to "improve the land" within a period of five years of taking possession. The standards for improvement were minimal: Owners could clear a few acres, build small houses or barns, or maintain livestock. Under this act, the government transferred over 270 million acres of public domain land to private citizens."
1. Which of the following does not represent a group that participated significantly in westward migration after 1870?
African American "exodusters" escaping racism and seeking economic opportunities former Southern slaveholders seeking land and new financial opportunities recent immigrants from Northern Europe and Canada recent Chinese immigrants seeking gold in California
Cowboys
Cattleman's Frontier Following the Civil War, an abundance of cattle roamed theTexas plains, while growing eastern cities demanded meat.Men could round up these cattle, drive them to Gulf ports, and sell them from $3 to $5 per head. However, if they drove them north to railhead towns in Missouri and later Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado, or Wyoming, they could get from $30 to $50 per head. This resulted in the development of the long drive. Beginning in 1866, cattle were rounded up and branded in the spring, then driven north on trails that continually moved west to keep up with the advancing railroad. Cowboys Cattle drovers, often in their teen years, herded the cattle hundreds of miles across Texas and Indian Territory to the railroad. Trail bosses took advantage of the free grass to fatten their herds as they slowly moved them north to Dodge City or Abilene. Cowboys became almost mythological figures and many books were written about them. In reality, they were honest, hard-working young men trying to save money from the Long Drives to get married and buy their own ranch. The long drive and the open range cattle industry supplied Texas cattle to eastern cities and to the northern plains. In the late 1860s, 1870s, and early 1880s, it provided opportunities for many individuals. Expansion of the railroads, the barbed wire fence, homesteaders and sheepmen, declining beef prices, and overstocking and overgrazing of the range brought an end to the Open Range. The harsh winters and hot, dry summers of the mid-1880s spelled the end. Following the winter of 1886-1887 came a thaw which revealed piles of corpses, the remnants of the once great cattle herds. Failure to effectively manage the range and provide adequately for the cattle resulted in the death of 95% of the western cattle herds. Ranchers found they had but two choices: To modify their practices, buy land, fence their ranges, improve their breeds, and provide year-round for their cattle, changes which cost a great deal of money, or to sell out to cattle corporations. The end of the Cattleman's Frontier was at hand.------------------------------------------------------------- Cattle handlers who drove large herds across the southern Great Plains. The era of the cowboy lasted from 1870 to the late 1880s. borderlands. At the end of the Civil War, as many as five million longhorn steers could be found along the Texas frontier, yet few settlers had capitalized on the opportunity to claim them, due to the difficulty of transporting them to eastern markets. The completion of the first transcontinental railroad and subsequent railroad lines changed the game dramatically. Cattle ranchers and eastern businessmen realized that it was profitable to round up the wild steers and transport them by rail to be sold in the East for as much as thirty to fifty dollars per head. These ranchers and businessmen began the rampant speculation in the cattle industry that made, and lost, many fortunes. So began the impressive cattle drives of the 1860s and 1870s. The famous Chisholm Trail provided a quick path from Texas to railroad terminals in Abilene, Wichita, and Dodge City, Kansas, where cowboys would receive their pay. These "cowtowns," as they became known, quickly grew to accommodate the needs of cowboys and the cattle industry. Cattlemen like Joseph G. McCoy, born in Illinois, quickly realized that the railroad offered a perfect way to get highly sought beef from Texas to the East. McCoy chose Abilene as a locale that would offer cowboys a convenient place to drive the cattle, and went about building stockyards, hotels, banks, and more to support the business. He promoted his services and encouraged cowboys to bring their cattle through Abilene for good money; soon, the city had grown into a bustling western city, complete with ways for the cowboys to spend their hard-earned pay Between 1865 and 1885, as many as forty thousand cowboys roamed the Great Plains, hoping to work for local ranchers. They were all men, typically in their twenties, and close to one-third of them were Hispanic or African American. It is worth noting that the stereotype of the American cowboy—and indeed the cowboys themselves—borrowed much from the Mexicans who had long ago settled those lands. The saddles, lassos, chaps, and lariats that define cowboy culture all arose from the Mexican ranchers who had used them to great effect before the cowboys arrived. Life as a cowboy was dirty and decidedly unglamorous. The terrain was difficult; conflicts with Native Americans, especially in Indian Territory (now Oklahoma), were notoriously deadly. But the longhorn cattle were hardy stock, and could survive and thrive while grazing along the long trail, so cowboys braved the trip for the promise of steady employment and satisfying wages. Eventually, however, the era of the free range ended. Ranchers developed the land, limiting grazing opportunities along the trail, and in 1873, the new technology of barbed wire allowed ranchers to fence off their lands and cattle claims. With the end of the free range, the cattle industry, like the mining industry before it, grew increasingly dominated by eastern businessmen. Capital investors from the East expanded rail lines and invested in ranches, ending the reign of the cattle drives.
Monopoly
Complete control of a product or business by one person or group Seeking still more control, Rockefeller recognized the advantages of controlling the transportation of his product. He next began to grow his company through vertical integration, wherein a company handles all aspects of a product's lifecycle, from the creation of raw materials through the production process to the delivery of the final product. Horizontal integration
Discuss the settlement of the trans-Mississippi West, including a description of the region and its native inhabitants, an examination of the methods used by the three major groups which settled the region to overcome the problems they encountered, and an evaluation of the impact of the end of the frontier on American life and character.
Enviornment: The Trans-Mississippi West appeared to settlers from the east to be dry, treeless, and forbidding, peopled by warlike, nomadic plains tribes whose lives revolved around the buffalo. Plains tribes: Extremely warlike, the Plains tribes fought each other for control of sections of the area. The Sioux, being the most numerous, were the most powerful. Other powerful tribes included the Comanche, Kiowa, and Blackfoot. The plains tribes had reached a Golden Age. With the introduction of the horse by the Spanish, they seemed to be masters of their environment. With the horse for transportation and the buffalo for food, clothing, shelter, fuel, tools, and ornaments, they wandered their sectors of the plains. Culture Conflict: The plains tribes' nomadic lifestyles did not coexist well with the increasing presence of U.S. citizens on their lands. The problem was that the Plains tribes legally claimed vast amounts of territory, however, they could not occupy it as their numbers were small and diminishing. Thus, when settlers came to the Plains what they saw was a vast area of unoccupied land. Treaties: A series of treaties with the United States shrunk their domains, but still U.S. citizens demanded more land, which they considered open land. Ultimately, in the late 1860s, the U.S. government adopted a plan to confine the Plains Tribes on small reservations in the Black Hills of Dakota Territory and in western Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma). Indian Wars: In the late 1860s, Winter Campaigning was adopted as a method of rounding up warlike Indians and forcing them on reservations. The Battle of the Washita, fought here in Oklahoma, kicked off Winter Campaigning. A force led by George Armstrong Custer attacked the Cheyenne village of Black Kettle, killing the old chief and many others. Later Rebellion: Even as plains Indians were settled on reservations, rebels among them left the reservations in uprisings such as the Red River War. The most famous uprising of the 1870s was that of the Sioux on the northern plains. The Battle of Little Big Horn marked a temporary victory for the Indians, but ultimately the destruction of the buffalo doomed them to reservation life. The last "uprising," an outgrowth of the messianic Ghost Dance Movement, occurred at Wounded Knee in South Dakota in 1890. Over-reaction on the part of U.S. soldiers led to the slaughter of several hundred men, women, and children. The Lakota believed that the Ghost Dance ritual would reunite the living with spirits of the dead, cause the white invaders to vanish, and bring peace, prosperity, and unity to Indian peoples throughout the region. Destruction of buffalo is what forced the indians into reservations The Transcontinental Railroad The building of a transcontinental railroad to tie the nation together had been a dream for several decades. The first transcontinental, the Union Pacific-Central Pacific, built with the aid of government land subsidies and loans, was completed at Promontory Point in Utah in 1869. Three Groups Settle West - The Frontier By the end of the Civil War, three distinct groups were moving into the Trans-Mississippi West: The Miners: two technique to mine: Quartz and Hydraulic Mining and Placer Mining Contributions of Mining Frontier Many mining towns became ghost towns. However, some, like Colorado Springs and Denver, found a new reason for existence. The mining frontier was also important because: The gold and silver produced was used by the Union to finance the Civil War and by capitalists to industrialize the U.S. It focused attention and interest on the West. It brought political organization as well as schools, churches, and businesses, to the mountain regions. the Cattlemen: Following the Civil War, an abundance of cattle roamed theTexas plains, while growing eastern cities demanded meat.Men could round up these cattle, drive them to Gulf ports, and sell them from $3 to $5 per head. However, if they drove them north to railhead towns in Missouri and later Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado, or Wyoming, they could get from $30 to $50 per head. this became known as the long drive. cattle would feed off of the free grass, until barbed wired fence was invented. Expansion of the railroads, the barbed wire fence, homesteaders and sheepmen, declining beef prices, and overstocking and overgrazing of the range brought an end to the Open Range. and the Farmers: The Farmer's Frontier Farmers spilled onto the Great Plains in the late 19th century, encouraged by government land policies and lack of inexpensive land in the east. The Homestead Act (1862 and the most important), the Timber Culture Act (1873), and the Desert Land Act (1877) provided free or inexpensive land to farmers. Farmers were at first daunted by the difficult environment, strange animal and plant life, and warlike natives. However, they soon overcame the lack of wood, lack of water, harsh climate, and tough sod. The lack of wood was overcome by the use of barbed wire for fencing and by the construction of sod houses. The lack of water was met by the use of windmills and of dry farming techniques. New types of wheat and tough, new machinery helped the farmer conquer the variable weather, lack of rain, shortage of labor, and hard to plow sod. But expensive machinery led to indebtedness, which, combined with falling prices (the price of wheat fell by more than half in the Gilded Age) led to bankruptcy for many. Those who held on can still be seen today. In addition, corporate farms sprang up buying huge tracts of land. End of the frontier: By the Oklahoma Land Run of 1889, most of the west had been settled. the Director of the Bureau of the Census announced that a frontier line no longer existed in the United States. Turner thesis: argued that the frontier had acted as a safety valve for the United States, preserving democracy.The frontier created an American who was tough and independent and did not want the far-away Federal Government to tell him how to live his life.
John D. Rockefeller
Established the Standard Oil Company, the greatest, wisest, and meanest monopoly known in history But Rockefeller chose a more certain investment: refining crude oil into kerosene, which could be used for both heating and lamps. As a more efficient source of energy, as well as less dangerous to produce, kerosene quickly replaced whale oil in many businesses and homes. Rockefeller worked initially with family and friends in the refining business located in the Cleveland area, but by 1870, Rockefeller ventured out on his own, consolidating his resources and creating the Standard Oil Company of Ohio, initially valued at $1 million. By 1879, the Standard Oil Company controlled nearly 95 percent of all oil refining businesses in the country, as well as 90 percent of all the refining businesses in the world. Seeking still more control, Rockefeller recognized the advantages of controlling the transportation of his product. He next began to grow his company through vertical integration, wherein a company handles all aspects of a product's lifecycle, from the creation of raw materials through the production process to the delivery of the final product.
Samuel Gompers
He was the creator of the American Federation of Labor. He provided a stable and unified union for skilled workers. This group became the American Federation of Labor (AFL), led by Samuel Gompers from its inception until his death in 1924. More so than any of its predecessors, the AFL focused almost all of its efforts on economic gains for its members, seldom straying into political issues other than those that had a direct impact upon working conditions. The AFL also kept a strict policy of not interfering in each union's individual business. Rather, Gompers often settled disputes between unions, using the AFL to represent all unions of matters of federal legislation that could affect all workers, such as the eight-hour workday. The American Federation of Labor The American Federation of Labor (AF of L), a loose alliance of national trade unions, was formed in 1881 by Samuel Gompers. Gompers believed unions must control the labor supply to effectively bargain with employers, so the AF of L refused to organize unskilled workers. The AF of L supported the basic concepts of capitalism, but wanted workers to receive a greater share of the rewards. It supported "bread and butter" issues like higher wages, shorter hours, better working conditions, and benefits which would directly help laborers, and avoided general reform issues. Unlike the other unions, the AF of L recognized the strike as a legitimate weapon to achieve labor goals.
California gold rush, 1849
Hundreds of thousands of people from around the world, mostly young men, came to California in 1849 after gold was discovered in search of instant riches. Led to quick population of California, and new conflicts over slavery as California petitioned for admission as a free state. Led to Compromise of 1850 The allure of gold has long sent people on wild chases; in the American West, the possibility of quick riches was no different. The search for gold represented an opportunity far different from the slow plod that homesteading farmers faced. The discovery of gold at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California, set a pattern for such strikes that was repeated again and again for the next decade, in what collectively became known as the California Gold Rush. In what became typical, a sudden disorderly rush of prospectors descended upon a new discovery site, followed by the arrival of those who hoped to benefit from the strike by preying off the newly rich. This latter group of camp followers included saloonkeepers, prostitutes, store owners, and criminals, who all arrived in droves. If the strike was significant in size, a town of some magnitude might establish itself, and some semblance of law and order might replace the vigilante justice that typically grew in the small and short-lived mining outposts. Placer Mining These prospectors were placer miners. They mined by "washing" the silt in stream beds in pie tins, rocker boxes, or sluices. The worthless dust washedout with the running water, while rocks andthe heavier gold dust sank to the bottom. Quartz and Hydraulic Mining Soon placer miners sold their claims to larger mining companies. These companies brought in machinery either to crush the rock (quartz mining) or send high powered streams of water against the mountains to "wash out" the gold (hydraulic mining) and hired employees to do the dirty work. Contributions of Mining Frontier Many mining towns became ghost towns. However, some, like Colorado Springs and Denver, found a new reason for existence. The mining frontier was also important because: The gold and silver produced was used by the Union to finance the Civil War and by capitalists to industrialize the U.S. It focused attention and interest on the West. It brought political organization as well as schools, churches, and businesses, to the mountain regions.
Haymarket Affair 1886
In chicago, a bomb went off during a union rally, police fired weapons as a response killing civilians and police. Unions were blamed and associated w/ socialism and anarchy. As a result there was less unionization as well as strong anti-immigrant sentiment The Haymarket Rally On May 1, 1886, recognized internationally as a day for labor celebration, labor organizations around the country engaged in a national rally for the eight-hour workday. In one night, however, the KOL's popularity—and indeed the momentum of the labor movement as a whole—plummeted due to an event known as the Haymarket affair, which occurred on May 4, 1886, in Chicago's Haymarket Square There, an anarchist group had gathered in response to a death at an earlier nationwide demonstration for the eight-hour workday. At the earlier demonstration, clashes between police and strikers at the International Harvester Company of Chicago led to the death of a striking worker. The anarchist group decided to hold a protest the following night in Haymarket Square, and, although the protest was quiet, the police arrived armed for conflict. Someone in the crowd threw a bomb at the police, killing one officer and injuring another. The seven anarchists speaking at the protest were arrested and charged with murder. They were sentenced to death, though two were later pardoned and one committed suicide in prison before his execution.
How were Hispanic citizens deprived of their wealth and land in the course of western settlement?
Indian raids land seizures prisoner of war status infighting
Gustavas Swift
Introduced the assembly line in his meat packing factories and invented refrigerated railroad cars The meatpacking industries, previously decentralized, was revolutionized by Gustavus Swift, who concentrated operations in Chicago (to achieve the economies of scale and reduce transportation costs) and used refrigerated cars to deliver meat. By turning waste items into useful products, he further increased profits. Other industrialists quickly followed suit, including Gustavus Swift, who used vertical integration to dominate the U.S. meatpacking industry in the late nineteenth century.
2. What was the major advantage of Westinghouse's "alternating current" power invention?
It was less prone to fire. It cost less to produce. It allowed machines to be farther from the power source. It was not under Edison's control.
Which of the following "robber barons" was notable for the exploitative way he made his fortune in railroads?
Jay Gould Cornelius Vanderbilt Andrew Carnegie J. Pierpont Morgan
Bonanza Farms
Large scale farms often over 50,000 acres, where farmers set up companies to operate Although many farms failed, some survived and grew into large "bonanza" farms that hired additional labor and were able to benefit enough from economies of scale to grow profitable. Eventually, the arrival of a more extensive railroad network aided farmers, mostly by bringing much-needed supplies such as lumber for construction and new farm machinery. While John Deere sold a steel-faced plow as early as 1838, it was James Oliver's improvements to the device in the late 1860s that transformed life for homesteaders. His new, less expensive "chilled plow" was better equipped to cut through the shallow grass roots of the Midwestern terrain, as well as withstand damage from rocks just below the surface. Similar advancements in hay mowers, manure spreaders, and threshing machines greatly improved farm production for those who could afford them. Where capital expense became a significant factor, larger commercial farms—known as "bonanza farms"—began to develop. Farmers in Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota hired migrant farmers to grow wheat on farms in excess of twenty thousand acres each. These large farms were succeeding by the end of the century, but small family farms continued to suffer. Although the land was nearly free, it cost close to $1000 for the necessary supplies to start up a farm, and many would-be landowners lured westward by the promise of cheap land became migrant farmers instead, working other peoples' land for a wage. The frustration of small farmers grew, ultimately leading to a revolt of sorts, discussed in a later chapter.
The American cowboy owes much of its model to what other culture?
Mexicans Indians Northern European immigrants Chinese immigrants
Battle of Wounded Knee (1890)
On December 29, 1890, five hundred troops of the U.S. 7th Cavalry, surrounded an encampment of Lakota Sioux with orders to disarm the Indians and escort them back to the railroad for transport to Omaha, Nebraska. Shooting broke out near the end of the disarmament, and by the time it was over, twenty-five troopers and one hundred and fifty-three Lakota Sioux lay dead, including sixty-two women and small children. Many of the dead on both sides may have been the victims of "friendly fire" as the shooting took place at point blank range in chaotic conditions. The massacre was the final major confrontation between Native Americans and white men on the Northern Plains. The final episode in the so-called Indian Wars occurred in 1890, at the Battle of Wounded Knee in South Dakota. On their reservation, the Sioux had begun to perform the "Ghost Dance," which told of an Indian Messiah who would deliver the tribe from its hardship, with such frequency that white settlers began to worry that another uprising would occur. The militia prepared to round up the Sioux. The tribe, after the death of Sitting Bull, who had been arrested, shot, and killed in 1890, prepared to surrender at Wounded Knee, South Dakota, on December 29, 1890. Although the accounts are unclear, an apparent accidental rifle discharge by a young male Indian preparing to lay down his weapon led the U.S. soldiers to begin firing indiscriminately upon the Indians. What little resistance the Indians mounted with a handful of concealed rifles at the outset of the fight diminished quickly, with the troops eventually massacring between 150 and 300 men, women, and children. The U.S. troops suffered twenty-five fatalities, some of which were the result of their own crossfire. Captain Edward Godfrey of the Seventh Cavalry later commented, "I know the men did not aim deliberately and they were greatly excited. I don't believe they saw their sights. They fired rapidly but it seemed to me only a few seconds till there was not a living thing before us; warriors, squaws, children, ponies, and dogs . . . went down before that unaimed fire." With this last show of brutality, the Indian Wars came to a close. U.S. government officials had already begun the process of seeking an alternative to the meaningless treaties and costly battles. A more effective means with which to address the public perception of the "Indian threat" was needed. Americanizationprovided the answer.
Vertical Integration
Practice where a single entity controls the entire process of a product, from the raw materials to distribution
Transcontinental Railroad
Railroad connecting the west and east coasts of the continental US The Transcontinental Railroad The building of a transcontinental railroad to tie the nation together had been a dream for several decades. The first transcontinental, the Union Pacific-Central Pacific, built with the aid of government land subsidies and loans, was completed at Promontory Point in Utah in 1869. Four other transcontinental railroads were built, three of them with generous government subsidies. The Southern Pacific and Santa Fe were to the south of the Union Pacific- Central Pacific, while the Northern Pacific was to its north. The northernmost transcontinental, the Great Northern, was built by James J. Hill using private funding. The Original Transcontinental Railroads were the Union Pacific, Central Pacific, Santa Fe, Southern Pacific, Northern Pacific, and Great Northern.
Discuss Industrialization. How did the United States become the world's leader in industrial output and economic power? List and discuss at least three (3) reasons, in detail, for American industrial success.
Raw Materials An abundance of basic raw materials and energy sources supplied American industries. Timber Coal Iron Ore Oil Labor A growing supply of labor, composed of displaced farmers and immigrants, provided an inexpensive work force. Capital Capital was available from American and European bankers and investors to finance industrialization new processes in steel refining (bessmers process) , along with inventions in the fields of communications and electricity ( thomas edison and alexander graham Bell), transformed the business landscape of the nineteenth century. The next stage of invention in electric power came about with the contribution of George Westinghouse. Westinghouse Electric Company delivered AC power, which meant that factories, homes, and farms—in short, anything that needed power—could be served, regardless of their proximity to the power source. Andrew Carnegie ( steel magnate) John D. Rockefeller ( oil tycoon) and J. P. Morgan ( business financer ) However, the development of commercial electricity by the close of the century, to complement the steam engines that already existed in many larger factories, permitted more industries to concentrate in cities, away from the previously essential water power. In turn, newly arrived immigrants sought employment in new urban factories.
Robber Barons
Refers to the industrialists or big business owners who gained huge profits by paying their employees extremely low wages. They also drove their competitors out of business by selling their products cheaper than it cost to produce it. Then when they controlled the market, they hiked prices high above original price. for example. Jay Gould bought older, smaller, rundown railroads and offered minimal improvements and then capitalized on factory owns desires to ship their goods on this popular, cost efficient form of transportation.
Plains Indian Tribes
Sioux, Cheyenne, Blackfeet, Comanche, Pawnee
Social Darwinism
The application of ideas about evolution and "survival of the fittest" to human societies - particularly as a justification for their imperialist expansion. andrew carnegie
Manifest Destiny
The concept of Manifest Destiny found its roots in the long-standing traditions of territorial expansion upon which the nation itself was founded. This phrase, which implies divine encouragement for territorial expansion, was coined by magazine editor John O'Sullivan in 1845, when he wrote in the United States Magazine and Democratic Review that "it was our manifest destiny to overspread the continent allotted by Providence for the free development of our multiplying millions." Although the context of O'Sullivan's original article was to encourage expansion into the newly acquired Texas territory, the spirit it invoked would subsequently be used to encourage westward settlement throughout the rest of the nineteenth century. Land developers, railroad magnates, and other investors capitalized on the notion to encourage westward settlement for their own financial benefit. Soon thereafter, the federal government encouraged this inclination as a means to further develop the West during the Civil War, especially at its outset, when concerns over the possible expansion of slavery deeper into western territories was a legitimate fear. The idea was simple: Americans were destined—and indeed divinely ordained—to expand democratic institutions throughout the continent. As they spread their culture, thoughts, and customs, they would, in the process, "improve" the lives of the native inhabitants who might otherwise resist Protestant institutions and, more importantly, economic development of the land. O'Sullivan may have coined the phrase, but the concept had preceded him: Throughout the 1800s, politicians and writers had stated the belief that the United States was destined to rule the continent. O'Sullivan's words, which resonated in the popular press, matched the economic and political goals of a federal government increasingly committed to expansion.
Horizontal Integration
Type of monopoly where a company buys out all of its competition. Ex. Rockefeller Through his method of growth via mergers and acquisitions of similar companies—known as horizontal integration
Dawes Severalty Act (1887)
adopted by Congress in 1887, authorized the President of the United States to survey American Indian tribal land and divide it into allotments for individual Indians. Those who accepted allotments and lived separately from the tribe would be granted US citizenship. The act was an attempt to destroy Indian culture and the unity of the tribe and make each Native American head of household more like the White citizen/farmers.
9. Which of the following was not a key goal of the Knights of Labor?
an end to convict labor a graduated income tax on personal wealth equal pay regardless of gender the creation of cooperative business enterprises
What specific types of hardships did an average American farmer not face as he built his homestead in the Midwest?
droughts insect swarms hostile Indian attacks limited building supplies
What brought the majority of Chinese immigrants to the U.S.?
gold work opportunities on the railroads the Homestead Act Chinese benevolent associations
8. What was one of the key goals for which striking workers fought in the late nineteenth century?
health insurance disability pay an eight-hour workday women's right to hold factory jobs
1. Which of these was not a successful invention of the era?
high-powered sewing machines movies with sound frozen foods typewriters
Which of the following does not represent one of the management strategies that John D. Rockefeller used in building his empire?
horizontal integration vertical integration social Darwinism the holding company model
Sodbusters
name given to Great Plains farmers because they had to break through so much thick soil, called sod, in order to farm Of the hundreds of thousands of settlers who moved west, the vast majority were homesteaders. These pioneers, like the Ingalls family of Little House on the Prairie book and television fame (see inset below), were seeking land and opportunity. Popularly known as "sodbusters," these men and women in the Midwest faced a difficult life on the frontier. They settled throughout the land that now makes up the Midwestern states of Wisconsin, Minnesota, Kansas, Nebraska, and the Dakotas. The weather and environment were bleak, and settlers struggled to eke out a living. A few unseasonably rainy years had led would-be settlers to believe that the "great desert" was no more, but the region's typically low rainfall and harsh temperatures made crop cultivation hard. Irrigation was a requirement, but finding water and building adequate systems proved too difficult and expensive for many farmers. It was not until 1902 and the passage of the Newlands Reclamation Act that a system finally existed to set aside funds from the sale of public lands to build dams for subsequent irrigation efforts. Prior to that, farmers across the Great Plains relied primarily on dry-farming techniques to grow corn, wheat, and sorghum, a practice that many continued in later years. A few also began to employ windmill technology to draw water, although both the drilling and construction of windmills became an added expense that few farmers could afford.
What were the core differences in the methods and agendas of the Knights of Labor and the American Federation of Labor?
personal credit advertising greater disposable income mail-order catalogs
Which of the following groups was not impacted by the invention of barbed wire?
ranchers cowboys farmers illegal prostitutes
Which of the following was not a primary method by which the American government dealt with American Indians during the period of western settlement?
relocation appeasement extermination assimilation
Exodusters*
the African Americans migrating to the Great Plains state (ie: Kansas & Oklahoma) in 1879 to escape conditions in the South In addition to a significant European migration westward, several thousand African Americans migrated west following the Civil War, as much to escape the racism and violence of the Old South as to find new economic opportunities. They were known as exodusters, referencing the biblical flight from Egypt, because they fled the racism of the South, with most of them headed to Kansas from Kentucky, Tennessee, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas. Over twenty-five thousand exodusters arrived in Kansas in 1879-1880 alone. By 1890, over 500,000 blacks lived west of the Mississippi River. Although the majority of black migrants became farmers, approximately twelve thousand worked as cowboys during the Texas cattle drives. Some also became "Buffalo Soldiers" in the wars against Indians. "Buffalo Soldiers" were African Americans allegedly so-named by various Indian tribes who equated their black, curly hair with that of the buffalo. Many had served in the Union army in the Civil War and were now organized into six, all-black cavalry and infantry units whose primary duties were to protect settlers from Indian attacks during the westward migration, as well as to assist in building the infrastructure required to support western settlement (
Scientific Management
the application of scientific principles to increase efficiency in the workplace Fredrick Taylor's principles of scientific management, also called "stop-watch management," where he used stop-watch studies to divide manufacturing tasks into short, repetitive segments. A mechanical engineer by training, Taylor encouraged factory owners to seek efficiency and profitability over any benefits of personal interaction. Owners adopted this model, effectively making workers cogs in a well-oiled machine.
11. What did the Last Arrow pageant symbolize?
the continuing fight of the Indians the total extermination of the Indians from the West the final step in the Americanization process the rebellion at Little Bighorn
Why and how did the U.S. government promote western migration in the midst of fighting the Civil War?
the homestead act and the pacfific railway act
Which of the following represents an action that the U.S. government took to help Americans fulfill the goal of western expansion?
the passage of the Homestead Act the official creation of the philosophy of Manifest Destiny the development of stricter immigration policies the introduction of new irrigation techniques
What accounts for the success of large, commercial "bonanza farms?" What benefits did they enjoy over their smaller family-run counterparts?
they made enough profit to get all the good machinery to aid in farming and could hire help. the smaller family couldn't afford these luxuries.
