Treaties at Fort Laramie and Fort Atkinson marked beginnings of reservation system in the West. They established boundaries for the territory of each tribe. – In 1860s government intensified this policy and herded the Indians into smaller confines, famous was the “Great Sioux reservation” in Dakota territory. Important Battles Important Massacres – Sand Creek, Colorado, in 1864 Colonel J. M.
Chivington’s militia massacred 400 Indians who thought that they had been promised immunity – In 1866 a Sioux war party attempting to block construction of Bozeman Trail to Montana goldfields ambushed Captain William J. Fetterman’s command of soldiers and civilians in Wyoming’s Bighorn Mountains – In 1884 the government outlawed the sacred Sun Dance. When “Ghost Dance” spread to the Dakota Sioux the army stamped it out in 1890 at Battle of Wounded Knee The Black Hills – In 1874 Custer led a “scientific” expedition into Black Hills of South Dakota (part of Sioux reservation) and announced that he had discovered gold.
Enraged Sioux began to leave the reservation – Custer’s Seventh Cavalry set out to suppress the Indians and to return them to the reservation. They attacked 2,500 well-armed warriors camped along the Little Bighorn River in Montana. The “White Chief with Yellow Hair” and 264 officers and men were completely wiped out in 1876. Other Tribes – Apache tribes of Arizona and New Mexico were hardest to subdue. Led by Geronimo they were pursued into Mexico. Apaches eventually surrendered. They became successful farmers in Oklahoma. – Indians were “tamed” by railroads which shot right through the heart of the West. U. S. ould bring troops and settlers quickly.
Also ruined by diseases and firewater. Extermination of Buffalo destroyed their way of life. Inspiring Literary Works – Helen Hunt Jackson was a Massachusetts writer of children’s literature published A Century of Dishonor. It chronicled the sorry record of government ruthlessness and chicanery in dealing with the Indians. Ramona inspired further sympathy for the California Indians – In 1890 the frontier line was closed inspiring one of the most influental essays ever written about American history—Frederick Jackson Turner’s “The Significance of the Frontier in American History” in 1893.
The Coin’s Financial School (1894) was written by William Hope Harvey and showed how the little professor overwhelmed the bankers and professors of economics with his brilliant arguments on behalf of free silver. Assimilation of Indians – Dawes Severalty Act of 1887 dissolved many tribes as legal entities. It set up individual Indian family heads with 160 free acres. If Indians behaved themselves like “good white settlers” then they would get full title to their holdings, as well as citizenship, in 25 years. Full citizenship was granted to all Indians in 1924.
Fifty-Niners and Helldorados – In 1858 “fifty-niners” or “Pike’s Peakers” rushed west to rip at the ramparts of the Rockies. However, there were more miners than minerals. – Lucky strikes drew frantic miners in boomtowns, known as “Helldorados” – A spectacular feeder of the new slaughter-houses was the “Long Drive. ” The Frontier – Homestead Act of 1862 allowed a settler to aquire as much as 160 acres of land by living on it for 5 years. They would only have to pay a fee of $30. However many were not successful on their farms because of extreme droughts.
Corporations would send “dummy” homesteaders(employees bribed with cash or beer) to grab the best properties containing timber, minerals, and oil. – New technique of “dry farming” took root on plains. It included frequent shallow cultivation but over time contributed to the “Dust Bowl” several years later. – Barbed wire invented by Joseph F. Glidden solved the problem of how to build fences on the treeless prairies. Farmers Unite – The National Grange of the Patrons of Husbandry- known as the Grange- was organized in 1867. Its leader was Oliver H. Kelley.
His 1st objective was to enhance the lives of isolated farmers through social, educational, and fraternal activities. Their next goal was improvement of farmers’ collective plight. To avoid the trusts, they established cooperatively owned stores for consumers and cooperatively owned grain elevators and warehouses for producers. – Farmers found a home in the Greenback Labor party. In election of 1880, they ran Gen. James B. Weaver, an old Granger, but he only polled 3 percent of popular Vote. – Discontent came through the Farmers’ Alliance founded in Texas in late 1870s.
The farmers came together to break the grip of the railroads and manufacturers through cooperative buying and selling. The alliance was weakened by ignoring landless tenant farmers, also by the exclusion of blacks. – Queen of Populist Party was Mary Elizabeth(“Mary Yellin’”) Lease. She demanded Kansans should raise “less corn and more hell. ” – In 1892 the Populist canidate James B. Weaver won more than 1 million votes. Panic – Most famous marcher was “General” Jacob S. Coxey. He set out for Washington in 1894 with many supporters.
He demanded that the government relieve unemployment by an inflationary public works program – Pullman Strike of 1894 in Chicago. Eugene V. Debs, a labor leader, had helped organize the American Railway Union of 150,000 members. The Pullman Palace Car Company was hit hard by the depression and cut wages by 1/3 but held the line on rent for the company houses. The workers struck and paralyzed railway traffic from Chicago to the Pacific coast. U. S. Attorney General Richard Olney urged the dispatch of federal troops. He claimed strikers were interfering with the U. S. mail.
Money went in; education and infrastructure expanded. Most Flipinos emigrate to USA, the rest were given freedom on July 4, 1946. China: China defeated by Japan in 1895. Russia and Germany move in. American churches worry about missionaries, manufactures about markets. John Hay, Secretary of State, makes a bold move: 1899, sent out Open Door note. Declared fair competition and Chinese rights in all spheres of control. Italy accepted it—it had no holds in China. Brit, Germ, Fran, all accept conditionally. Russia declines. 1900, Boxers rise up, and kill two hundred missionaries/ Foreign forces quell Boxer Rebellion.
Powers demand money, USA takes $18 million. Hay now declares Open Door applicable to territory and commercial integrity. McKinley and Bryan, 1900: McKinley was renominated by Republicans in 1900. Teddy Roosevelt is VP (it was thought he would be less proactive than as gov of NY, where he served previously). Democrats take William Jennings Bryan. Bryan is pro silver. TR toured the country, and out did Bryan. Bryanites are anti-imperialism. McKinley wins 292-155. TR: Takes presidency in Sept 1901, when McKinley is assassinated. Age 42, youngest pres by far. High energy. He loved to fight. Speak softly, and carry a big stick”.
He was an outspoken moralist and reformer. He was a direct-actionist. He made many mistakes, but he always led. Panama: After the Oregon’s navel blunder, America looks to build canal. Britain gives US permission in South America. USA settles on site of abandoned French project in Panama, created by Philippe Bunau-Varilla. New Panama Canal Company drops price from $109 million to $40 million. Columbia rejects the treaty which, if passed, would grant the USA 6 miles wide of land, for $10 million, and annual payments of $250K. TR’s Response to Panama: Panamanians revolt.
Bunau-Varilla raised a puppet army. The revolution occurred on Nov. 3, 1903. US navy wouldn’t allow Columbia to end revolt. Panama is recognized as a country, and three days later allow the canal to be built in a 10 mile stretch (not 6). Completing the Canal: US upset relations with South America. TR needed canal to be started by 1904 election time. Work starts slow, taken over by Colonel George Washington Goethals. Sanitation a major problem. 1914, Canal completed. TR and the Monroe Doctrine: Germany sank two Venezuelean gunboats, because Venez. was not paying debts.
TR feared violation of the Monroe Doctrine. He created “preventative intervention. ”—Roosevelt Corollary to M. D. Next, USA takes over management of Domincan Republic tariff collections. This intervention proved a success. TR gave off “bad neighbor” impression. TR and the World: Russia and Japan fight in 1904. Russia wants Chinese Manchuria. Japan fears Russia. Japanese use preemptive strike on Russia in Port Arthur. Japan was short on supplies, and requests America intervene for peace. The two sides met at Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Japan wants Sakhalin Island. Russians won’t admit defeat.
Japan ends up with no indemnity for losses, and only southern part of Sakhalin. TR gets Nobel Peace Prize. Japanese in California: Japanese didn’t allow immigration to the US until 1884, with Hawaiian sugar plantations in need of labor. Millions then recruited to CA, to become servants and railroad workers. Faced racism and brutal work. San Fran orders segregation of Chinese, Japanese, and Korean students—tensions soar. TR invited S. F. school board to the white house, and broke the deadlock. “gentleman’s agreement” created—Japan stops allowing immigration to America, and the segregation is repealed.
