UNIT 1: AGRARIANISM TO INDUSTRIALISMPART 1 NOTES

Chapters 13

Growth of the mining industry Prior to the discovery of gold in the Dakota Territory, previous events in other

western regions created similar industries. The mining industry grew out of the discoveries in Colorado and Navada prior

to the Dakota discovery. After the Civil War, many Americans headed west to build cattle ranches on

the Great Plains (a regions extending west to the Rocky mtns) Many Americans thought the conditions were too harsh and challenging

The Texas Longhorn (descended from Spanish cattle) adapted to the harsh conditions of the Great PlainsMexicans had begun cattle ranching in New Mexico, California, and Texas

Open Range

A vast area of grassland owned by the federal governmentallowed cattle ranching to grow

Provided areas for ranchers to graze their herds of cattle free of charge

A trail drive on the Matador Range of Texas, around 1910. Even long after the era of the great cattle drives, short drives like this one to the railhead at Lubbock, Texas, remained a part of cowboy life. Photographed by Irwin E. Smith.

Range Wars

sheepherders moved their sheep onto the open range and began to block the cattle trails they caused "range wars" among those groups

Barbed wire was used to fence off the open ranges, which led to the end of the long cattle drives

Reasons for decline:Range wars, investors, bad extended winters

F. Inventions used to move out West

Barbed wire- In 1873, Joseph Glidden developed a way of making fencing cheaply by twisting together sections of wire into

barbed points.

With this invention, farmers could cheaply and efficiently fence in 160 acres of land.

This caused a conflict between the ranchers, who grazed their cattle on the open range and managed long drive (transporting of cattle from ranges to the cow towns which had railroads.)

Ranching and cattle drives

The Chisholm Trail was a trail that cowboys used to move cattle to a railroad line for sale.

At first, ranchers saw barbed wire as a threat because it kept their herds from roaming freely.

The long drive

By the end of the Civil War railroads had reached the Great Plains

Cattle ranchers made a ten times the  profit by driving their cattle north to the railroad so they could be shipped east

1866-rancher rounded up thousands of longhorns and cattle and drove them to Sedalia, Missouri

the Chisholm Trail became a major trail north

Ranching becomes big business The Civil War and the building of

railroads changed the demand for cattle

Large amounts of cattle were slaughtered to feed the armies

After the war beef prices soared making cattle driving the biggest business of the Mid-West

Geography of the Plains

In the 1890s, some farmers tried to survive by mortgaging their land.

Dry farming-the land was so bad that they had to dig deeper for moist land to grow crops

Sodbusters plowed the soil on the Great PlainsVery dry, only 20 inches of rain per year

Stephen Long-1819, he led an expedition through the GP and declared it to be a desert and not fit for settlement

Cornelius Vanderbilt – owned the New York Central – became rich from railroad

Inventions used to move out West

Railroad – This early mechanization of agriculture gave farmers the ability to produce for themselves a surplus supplies of grain and animal products.

The best way to move these products to the major cities was by railroad.

More than any other development, the railroad revolutionized the development of farming and industrial regions west of the Mississippi.

The beginnings of settlement

The lifestyle of someone living in the Great Plains was very challenging and often difficult.

RAILROADS advertised the plains as the ticket to prosperity

Nebraskan claimed farming would increase rainfall there

1870s-rain fell increased above avg. and changed ideas of GP being a desert

Homestead Act a law that helped support the

growth of the Great PlainsPeople could register for $10 and own 160 acres of land and get the title to it after living there for five years

The Wheat Belt

Bonanzas-large profitable wheat farms1860s-farmers used new machines to farm the Great Plains-steel plows, reapers, and threshing machines

New technology allowed wealthy land owners to grow large tracts of wheat, or bonanza farms and this area became known as the Wheat Belt

The wheat-growing region that started at the eastern edge of the Great Plains and moved further westward

Closing the Frontier

Buffalo Bill Cody: Men like Buffalo Bill Cody were hired to kill

buffalo He was an experienced and smart hunter

who knew how to evade (escape from) Native Americans

Some companies sold the hide and others wanted to free the plains of these animals for settlers

Native Americans

The native American population in America suffered a dramatic decline between 1850-1900 as a result of the dramatic decline in the buffalo population.

Most of the Native Am living in the GP were nomadsPlains Indians were divided into bands of 500 people each

A council headed each band

Gender determined their tasks

Religion was based on the power of the natural world

Charles Rath, famous buffalo hunter, seated on rick of 40,000 hides in Robert Wright's Dodge City hide yard in 1878

Stacks of buffalo hides towered along Front Street. - filthy buffalo hunters and traders filled the town's establishments - and the term "stinker" was coined.

Train-masters would take their red caboose lanterns along when visiting the town's "soiled doves" - and the term "red light district" came to life.

Cultures under pressure

Native Americans resented broken promises & treaties by the US government, they attacked ranches and wagon trains-led to war

Annuities-payment given to the NA once a yearTraders usually tricked the NA out of their money

Who was the leader of the Sioux?

Chief Sitting Bull

166. What event resulted in over 200 unarmed Sioux being massacred by US troops in 1890?

What? Massacre at Wounded Knee

Who? Sioux Indian leader, Sitting Bull and US Army

Details - Wovoka, a prophet of the Sioux, developed a religious ritual called the Ghost Dance. The Sioux believed this dance would bring back the buffalo and return the Native American tribes to their land. White settlers were afraid and called on the US Army. They thought Sitting Bull was leading an revolt and arrested him.

Why? The Ghost Dance alarmed white settlers around the Sioux reservations, and they called on the US Army for help.

Result - While the Indians were handing over their weapons in surrender, someone fired a shot. The soldiers then opened fire, killing more than 200 unarmed Sioux (including nearly 70 women and children)

Massacre at Wounded Knee

Ghost DanceThe Ghost dance replaced the Buffalo dance when the buffalo disappeared from the plains. It's practice swept across the west fanned by the desperation of a proud

people destroyed by the humiliation of welfare. It culminated in the tragedy of Wounded Knee. In the belief that the dance would help to bring about the return of the buffalo, their ancestors

and their way of life, they danced until they dropped unconscious to the ground.

• 200 unarmed Sioux killed

• Including nearly 70 women and children

Ranchers vs. Indians

Chief Little Crow led an uprising against Dakota traders over foodSioux chiefs Red Cloud, Crazy Horse, and Sitting Bull rebelled and decided to fight to keep their lands

1866-Red Cloud's forces defeated the US army in Montana (Fettermans Massacre)

1864-Colonel John Chivington was ordered to attack Chief Black Kettle and his tribe who came to meet the US to discuss a peace treaty.  His troops killed hundreds of women, children but he was never charged

Indian Peace Commision

1867-two large reservations were created, one for the Sioux and the other for the Plains Indians

Indians refused to move to the reservations Those who did faced harsh conditions

The Dawes Act of 1887:Turning Tomahawks into Plowshares

Above are before/after photographs of Tom Torlino, a Navajo who was "civilized" at an Indian Training School.

Below is a map showing land held by Native American tribes before the Dawes Act and 100 years later.

The last Native American Wars

1870s-many NA had left the reservations The could not hunt the buffalo and settlers

had killed many of them Professional hunters killed thousands of

buffalo for their hides others just for sport Railroad Co. hired hunters to kill buffalo

blocking the tracks

George A. Custer

1876-gold miners raided reservations looking for gold mines

June 25, 1876-Custer attacked one of the largest groups of NA tribes (2,500) ever assembled with only 210 soldiers and they were all killed

Ghost Dance

Dancing welcomed the day the buffalo would return

US government banned ghost dancing

Wounded Knee Creek—25 Soldiers and more than 200 NA killed

Assimilation

A Century of Dishonor (Helen Jackson)-describes the govt’s broken promises and attacks on NA

Some Americans believe NA situation would change if they could assimilate and become landowners

Allotments-NA reservations were broken up into separate pieces of land

Much of the land was not suitable for farming

Dawes Act

General Allotment Act The US government attempted to settle

Indians on plots of land to farm Result:

Many Indians had no interest or experience in agriculture

Many simply sold their lands to speculators for outrageously low prices

Native Americans were plunged deeper into poverty

UNIT 1: AGRARIANISM TO INDUSTRIALISMPART 2 NOTES

Chapter 14

The US Industrializes

By 1900s—US had become the world’s leading industrial nation

Gross National Product (GNP)—total value of goods a country produces—US’s was 8x greater by end of Civil War

Industry expansions: Natural resources Railroads Petroleum Population increase

Edwin Drake—drilled the 1st oil well in Titusville, PA

Government's role in industrialization

“Laissez-faire”-Let the people do as they choose (business model). Supply and demand control the government to prices and wages

Morrill Tariff: Increased tariffs (taxes on import goods)

greatly Provided railroad grants Sold public lands with mineral resources for

very cheap

New inventions

Northrop automatic loom-changes bobbins without stopping

Famous quote by Alexander Graham Bell: “Come here Watson, I want you.” Developed the telephone

Thomas Edison-phonograph and the light bulb; first electric company in NYC

1877-Gustavius Swift—shipped the first refrigerated load of fresh meat

176a. There was rapid electrical growth due to household appliances and inventions such as the light bulb, telephone,

generator, transatlantic cable. Who invented them?

Light Bulb Generator Thomas A. Edison

176b. There was rapid electrical growth due to household appliances and inventions such as the light bulb, telephone, generator, transatlantic cable. Who invented them?

• On March 10, 1876, Alexander Graham Bell sent the first telephone

transmission.

Alexander Graham Bell

• With Bell’s invention, the communication industry grew at a rapid pace.

• Soon, people could communicate across the nation and across the world.

176c. There was rapid electrical growth due to household appliances and inventions such as the light bulb, telephone, generator, transatlantic cable. Who invented them?

† Cyrus West Field –

† Transatlantic cable -first telegraph cable beneath the Atlantic ocean in 1866.

† It allowed the United States to communicate with Europe immediately through telegraph messages

Linking the nation

To make the rail service more reliable, in 1883 the American Railway Assoc. divided the country into four time zones.

Pacific Railway Act-law (signed by Lincoln) that built railroad across USA by Union & Central Pacific Railroad Companies

Grenville Dodge: former Union general who oversaw the project Employed 10,000 workers (immigrants, farmers, miners, farmers,

and ex-convicts) Leland Stanford:

Sold stock in Central pacific Railroad Co. Made a hug fortune Founded Stanford University

Cornelius Vanderbilt-began the first direct rail service from NY to Chicago

Robber Barons

Jay Gould-practiced insider trading, cheated investors, bribed govt. officials, cheated on contracts

Credit Mobilier—a construction company that greatly overcharged the Union Pacific for the work it did; led to UP bankruptcy

James J. Hill— entrepreneur one of the good guys built the Great Northern Railroad—became the most

successful railroad without fed grants promised settlers low fares product were made in USA and shipped to China

177a. What were the captains of industry referred to during the late 1800’s?

Robber barons Many of them acquired their wealth by

exploitation and ruthlessness. John D. Rockefeller Andrew Carnegie Cornelius Vanderbuilt

The rise of big business

Economies of scale resulted in lower costs and lower prices

Corporations can achieve economies of scale by investing in more machines and larger manufacturing facilities

Edwin Drake-drilled the first oil well Andrew Carnegie-Founded a steel in

Pittsburgh “The basic force shaping capitalism is

the class struggle between workers and owners.”-Karl Marx

176e. There was rapid electrical growth due to household appliances and inventions such as the light bulb, telephone, generator, transatlantic cable. Who invented them?The Bessemer Process –

Sir Henry Bessemer – developed a faster and more efficient way of making steel.

This process involved blowing air through molten iron to burn away impurities.

Increased production of steel meant railroads could be expanded faster.

Steel also made it possible to build skyscrapers in the cities.

Bessemer, Alabama, an important steel center, is named after Sir Henry Bessemer.

The rise of big business

Corporation-made big business possible Stockholders-people who owned the corporation

Stock-shares of ownership from stockholders

Economies of scale-made goods cheaper because they could make many good quicker

How businesses run: Fixed costs-costs a company pays whether it operates

or not—taxes Operating costs-costs that occur when company runs

—wages & buying supplies

The consolidation of industry Holding company-owns stock of

companies that produce goods Andrew Carnegie-a poor immigrant who

rose to become a leader in business (steel industry)

Bessemer process—a new way of making steel cheaply (Henry Bessemer)

Making business bigger:

Vertical integration- owning all the businesses that you need to

produce a product Horizontal integration-

combining companies from the same business and making one

Goal: corporation to control the market Trust-Standard Oil Company Monopoly-own the market

179. What man was associated with Standard Oil Company?

John D. Rockefeller Owner of Standard

Oil Company Monopoly in the oil

industry by ensuring that his company was the only supplier of oil from the drilling to the refining.

180. Who was the immigrant from Scotland responsible for the steel industry boom? He was a “philanthropist”.

Andrew Carnegie Owned steel company that controlled

the iron and coal mines and owned railroads and steam ships.

His company controlled the production of steel and forced out competition.

Gospel of Wealth – Andrew Carnegie believed people with wealth had a responsibility to use it for the betterment of the poor.

By the time Carnegie died in 1919, he had given away some $350 million.

Selling the product

Aaron Montgomery Ward owned one of the first successful mail-order businesses.

Operating costs-wages, shipping charges, and supplies

Working in the US

Because of the shortage of workers in California, the Central Pacific Railroad hired workers from China

Early working conditions: Monotonous & repetitive (same thing all

day) Unhealthy & unsafe

Industrialism brought higher standards of living

Deflation-hurt the working man’s wages

185b. What types of labor problems existed that early unions tried to correct?

1. Child labor - paid a fraction of an adult’s wage and developed illnesses and deformations in their bodies as a result of overwork.

2. Female labor - clerical, teaching and nursing. Paid at a much lower rate than men.

3. Unsafe working conditions - Employees worked in unhealthy conditions

4. Low wages5. Long hours

Early unions

Two kinds of workers: Craft workers-special skills/training, made

more $; formed unions Common laborers—had few skills

Unions: Blacklisted—a list of “troublemakers”; once

on the list, made it impossible to work

The struggle to organize

Marxism: Ideas of Karl Marx Idea-workers would eventually revolt and

needed to overthrow factories and the govt. Anarchism:

Government was not necessary A few violent acts were necessary to get rid

of govts.

Union Groups

Knights of Labor- one of the first nationwide industrial unions Fought for equal pay for women, end child labor,

worker-owned factories, supported arbitration Haymarket Square (Chicago) incident hurt

membership American Federation of Labor (AFL)-

Lead by Sam Gompers, Fought for higher wages, better work conditions,

preferred negotiations over strikes, recognition of unions

The most famous union during the Industrial Age was the American Federation of Labor (AFL).

It lobbied Congress to pass laws concerning …

40 hour work week Minimum age requirement for working Workplace safety standards

185c. What types of labor problems existed that early unions tried to correct?

Working women

Servants-30% Teachers, nurses, or secretaries-30% Clothing/food industry-about 40% Paid less than men, not included in

unions 1903-two women founded the Women’s

Trade Union League (WTUL)

UNIT 1: AGRARIANISM TO INDUSTRIALISMPART 3 NOTES

Chapter 15