The South and West Transformed

Chapter 8

The New South8.1

Industries and Cities Grow

• Better transportation– Increase in R.R.’s – Cities like Mobile, Nashville, and Atlanta grow as a

result.– Growth of shipping ports help New Orleans grow.

• New industries spread– Investments in iron-, coal-, and steel-processing– New crops increase: grain, fruit, tobacco grown

Southern Economy Lags

• Even though the South witnessed an economic transformation, it was still plagued by the C.W. and the damages it had caused.

• There were not many willing to invest their money in the economy of the South nor were there enough laborers due to poor wages.

• Few southern banks remained after the C.W. Northern banks were depended upon.

Southern Farmers’ Hard Times

• Lots of cotton and few buyers low prices.

• The Bowl Weevil destroyed many cotton crops.

• Dependence on one crop was too risky.

• The Farmers’ Alliance- Wanted the gov’t to lower train costs to leave more room for farmers’ profits.

Black Southerners

• Opportunities for education after the C.W.• Political involvement• A.A.’s in the Military • However, groups like the KKK and local

southern gov’ts sought to reverse the advances that A.A.’s had made during Reconstruction.

Westward Expansion8.2-8.3

Manifest Destiny

John GastAmericanProgressca. 1872

Nature vs. Progress

• Conflict among N.A.’s and whites stems from a difference in ideology.

• N.A.’s see land/nature as a precious gift that must be cared for.

• Whites see land/nature as something to make $$ off of.

Native Americans

• were “in the way of progress”• Big question: What to do with them??• Under President Jackson (1830’s), they were

moved to the Plains (aka Great American Desert).

Native Americans cont’d

• Now white settlers wanted to move further west in hopes of striking gold or staking a claim of land.

• This meant breaking land promises to the N.A. tribes.

• N.A.’s eventually put onto reservations

Native Americans Fight Back

• Battle of Little Big Horn- Gold discovered in Sioux lands white prospectors come Sioux tried to run them away.

• Fed. Gov’t sends Gen. Custer and men to fight the Sioux, but they are outnumbered. The Sioux win.

Native Americans Fight Back (cont’d)

• Nez Perce Tribe• Leader, Chief Joseph• They had assimilated into white society

(Christians, Sedentary).• In 1877, Feds wanted to move them to smaller

reservations for more room for settlers.• Chief Joseph and followers tried to hide from

troops. Later, they were found and sent to OK.

N.A.’s Fight Back (cont’d)

• Wounded Knee- US gov’t attempts to end a sacred “ghost dance” which the N.A.’s believe would keep settlers from their lands.

Assimilation for N.A.’s

• Boarding schools such as Carlisle (in Carlisle, PA) and Haskell Indian Nations (in Lawrence KS) were est. in order to help the process of assimilation.

• Dawes Act- passed in 1887. N.A.’s were no longer treated as tribal people, but as individuals. Each N.A. family was allotted 160-acre plots of land to farm.

Transforming the West

ProspectingProspecting

As more gold/silver was discovered, more people moved west along with businesses to cater to them.

Mining Centers: 1900

Mining Centers: 1900

Mining (“Boom”) Towns--Now Ghost Towns

Mining (“Boom”) Towns--Now Ghost Towns

Calico, CACalico, CA

Many towns only lasted as long as the gold did. Once all the gold was mined, the town was abandoned

Driving Cattle to Market

· After the Civil War, growing cities in the East increased their demand for beef.· Texas ranchers began to drive herds of longhorns hundreds of miles north to the railroads, where they were shipped east.

The Cattle Trails

The Cowhand’s Life

Cowhand – responsible for driving the cattle north to the railroads

• Cowhands learned their trade from Spanish vaqueros.

· Cowhands had to worry about stampedes, cattle thieves, and the dry, hot weather.

· Cow towns developed near the railroads, offering cowhands hotels, saloons, and restaurants.

Abilene, Kansas (late 1800’s)

Dodge City, Kansas, 1874

"Kansas has but one Dodge City, with a broad expanse of territory sufficiently vast for an empire; we have only room for one Dodge City; Dodge, a synonym for all that is wild, reckless, and violent; Hell on the Plains."

-- A Kansas Newspaper in the 1870's

Cattle Boom

· Cattle roamed free on the plains.

Cowboys at the end of an 1897 roundup in Ward County, Texas, pose with their herd of almost 2,000 cattle.

Barbed WireBarbed Wire

Joseph GliddenJoseph Glidden

Cow hands were no longer able to drive their herds openly through homesteaders lands. The frontier became sectioned off. In addition, harsh weather in the 1880’s and low prices for beef (b/c of high quantity) ended the cattle driving boom.

The Homesteaders

• People who moved to the Plains to live and farm.

• Little House on the Prairie• Homestead Act

Life on the Homestead

• OK, KS, NE, ND, SD (mainly)• Unpredictable weather unpredictable

harvest• Sod houses were dingy, insect-infested, dirty• Little civilization nearby

Oklahoma Territory Opened

• Last major land rush in 1889.• “Boomers” awaited the opening of the lands

for claiming.

• But some sneaky people broke the rules and claimed the best lands first.

Oklahoma City, OK 1889

Sooners

• Because “greedy, land-stealing cheaters” doesn’t fit on a jersey.

Just say