Changes on western frontier: chapter 13

Chapter 13 Notes: Changes on the Western Frontier Native Americans -Native Americans of the plains hunted, farmed, and traded in traditional ways. -Plains people relied on the buffalo for a variety of survival needs -The booming of the cattle industry in the late 1800s contributed to the decline of the Plains Indians’ culture. -The Sioux (war-like plains tribe) resisted the efforts of the U. S. government, the army & the settlers to remove them from their sacred lands. -Sitting Bull & Crazy Horse led the Sioux in their resistance against the government. -Sitting Bull fought the army at the Battle of Little Big Horn; he felt the Native Americans should continue to live in their traditional ways; he surrendered to the government in 1881 to prevent his people from starving; he continued to dislike the whites & their government; reservation police killed him in 1890; he remains an iconic symbol of Native American resistance today -Gold was discovered on Sioux land -Battle of Little Big Horn: June 25, 1876; Sitting Bull & Sioux killed Custer & all his men; also known as “ Custer’s Last Stand” -Red Cloud, leader of Sioux, signed many treaties with U. S government in order to keep peace and keep the army from killing his people; he petitioned the government to end white settlement of the Bozeman Trail and keep the traditional hunting grounds intact -Many attempts were made to assimilate or “ Americanize” the Native Americans; Senator Dawes was a leading proponent; wanted to make Native Americans into farmers. -The Ghost Dance Movement: a ritual that was believed would restore the Native Americans to their traditional way of life; Reservation police forcibly put down the movement, & arrested the leaders. -Battle of Wounded Knee: December 29, 1890; the Seventh Cavalry rounded up and killed 300 unarmed Sioux; this marked the end of the Indian Wars. Ranchers & Cowboys -Ranchers & cowboys ushered in the era of the long drive & the roundup (open range). -Demand for beef led to a boom in the cattle industry -Had to use railroads to ship cattle -Texas longhorn cattle took the place of the buffalo as the dominant animal on the Great Plains -Cowboys took many traditions from the Mexican Vaqueros -The open range era ended because of the overgrazing of land, extended bad weather, & barbed wire Homesteaders -Hundreds of thousands of homesteaders settled on the Great Plains, claiming land grants from the U. S. Government (Homestead Act). -They built their homes out of sod- “ soddy” -Exodusters- African Americans who moved from the post-Reconstruction South to Kansas Farmers & the Populist Movement -New settlement, barbed wire, and bad weather ended the cattle boom- people became farmers. -Farmers across the South, Midwest, and West organized to address their common economic problems. -Railroads often charged very high prices for shipping crops; making it impossible for farmers to get ahead financially -Frustrated farmers & laborers joined together to form the Populist Party -The Populist Party supported an increase in money supply, graduate income tax, a federal loan program, election of U. S. Senators by popular vote, one term for president & vice-president, and a secret ballot to end election fraud -Populists supported bimetallism over the gold standard; Republican Party supported gold standard -The Populists and Democrats ran William Jennings Bryan in the 1896; he lost to McKinley -McKinely’s election signaled the end of the Populist Party; however, many of them joined the Democratic Party, and their ideas became the basis of the Progressive Movement in the early 20th Century Miners -Discovery of gold and other precious metals led to the growth of mining camps and boomtowns in the Rocky Mountains & to the west. -Miners often conflicted with the Native Americans over the land