Chapter Summary
Chapter 17 begins a series of four chapters that analyze the transition of American society from an agrarian society to an urban, industrialized society. The expansion westward in the late nineteenth century closed the physical frontier that had been part of American society since its beginnings. As in the past, American expansion was carried out at the expense of Indians. Americans were and are an ethnocentric people. They see their civilization, their society, and their value and belief systems as being better than those of other peoples. This ethnocentrism led Americans to believe that they had a right to expand and to impose their values and beliefs on the peoples and societies they encountered. It is this attitude that formed the basis of the failed Dawes Severalty Act.
As Americans sought opportunity in this vast western region, they discovered and developed the riches of the land, thus conquering the natural-resource frontier-a prerequisite for the subsequent development of an industrialized economy. Exploitation of the land and its resources for profit raised questions in several areas: (1) who owns the resources, private developers or the American people; (2) which takes precedence-the desire for progress and profit or the desire to protect the natural landscape; and (3) who has rights to the precious streams, rivers, and basins of the West, only those along their banks or all those who intend a beneficial use of river water.
The natural-resources frontier, especially the mining and lumbering frontiers, produced personalities who enriched American folklore; but reality was far different from folk tales. Most westerners worked long hours as they attempted to eke out an existence for themselves and their families. Women and nonwhites suffered discrimination, especially with the development of racial categories by the dominant Anglo Americans and European immigrants. Furthermore, although individual initiative was important in the development of the West, individuals usually gave way to corporate interests, which had the capital necessary to undertake the expensive extraction of minerals, timber, and oil. In addition, the federal government, as owner of the western lands, encouraged the development of the area by actively aiding individuals and corporations through measures such as the Timber and Stone Act and the Newlands Reclamation Act.
As frontiers of opportunity were conquered in the West, the expansion of regional and transcontinental railroad lines-made possible by generous government subsidies-helped create a vast national marketplace. Besides providing nationwide economic opportunities to farmers and industrialists, the railroad altered concepts of time and space, gave rise to new communities, and brought technological reforms as well as organizational reforms that affected modern business practices.
Railroad expansion and Indian removal made possible the successful settlement and development of the farming and ranching frontiers. These frontiers shared the characteristics of the natural-resource frontier: use of public land for private enrichment; the importance of technological innovations to successful development; government promotion of settlement and development; the bowing of the individual to corporate interests; the emergence of a frontier folk culture, especially in relation to the ranching frontier; and contributions to urbanization and to national economic growth and expansion.
Learning Objectives
- Examine the factors that affected the life, culture, and economies of western Indian tribes in the late nineteenth century, and discuss the varying responses of the Indians to the pressures they experienced.
- Discuss the
characteristics of each of the frontier societies listed below, and explain
the contributions of each to the economic, social, and cultural transformation
of the West.
- The mineral, timber, and oil frontiers
- The farming frontier
- The ranching frontier
- Discuss the role of women and nonwhites in frontier society, and examine the prejudices these groups experienced.
- Discuss the early conservation movement in the United States, and indicate its successes and failures.
- Discuss efforts in the West at land reclamation through irrigation; assess the role played by state and federal governments in these efforts; and explain the debate over water rights that accompanied reclamation efforts.
- Examine the impact of the expansion of the railroad industry on the American economy, perceptions of time and space, standardization of time, technology, and business organization.
- Examine and assess the role played by federal, state, and local governments in the expansion of the railroad industry.
- Explain the responses of Plains' settlers to the living conditions and challenges they encountered, and discuss the impact of their experience on their lives.
- Discuss the forces responsible for the transformation of American agriculture in the late nineteenth century, and explain the consequences of this agricultural revolution.
Chapter Outline
- Introduction
Between 1870 and 1890, the population of the trans-Mississippi West expanded to nearly 17 million people. Nevertheless, much of the United States remained unsettled, providing Americans with the faith that they could always move on to another opportunity. - The Economic Activities
of Native Peoples
- Subsistence Cultures
Western Indians had distinct cultures, but they all lived in subsistence economies. On the Plains, buffalo provided the basis for survival, while the southwestern tribes depended on livestock and those of the Northwest on salmon. - Slaughter of Buffalo
White hunters slaughtered millions of buffalo, thus contributing to a complex combination of circumstances that doomed the bison and destroyed the economic and social foundations of the Plains tribes. - Decline of Salmon
Commercial fishing in the Northwest was one of several factors that led to the decline of the salmon population.The Transformation of Native American Cultures
- Subsistence Cultures
- Violence
Most of those who migrated to the West in the late nineteenth century were young males who had few qualms about using their weapons against animals or humans who got in their way. - Lack of Native Unity
The Indians of the Southwest and Northwest were separated by some two hundred languages and dialects, making it difficult for them to unite against white intruders. - Territorial Treaties
Most treaties that recognized Indian territory were violated. - Reservation Policy
From the 1860s to the 1880s, the federal government pursued a policy of placing Indians on reservations. - Native Resistance
Tribes reacted against white encroachment in a variety of ways. - Indian Wars
Whites responded to resistance by the western Indians through the use of military force. - Reform of Indian
Policy
Several groups worked to acculturate Indians, but these organizations often tried to force Native Americans to accept middle-class values. - Dawes Severalty Act
In 1887, Congress began making individual, rather than tribal, grants of land. - Attempts at
Assimilation
The government's Indian policy stressed private ownership of property and education programs in boarding schools away from the reservation. - Ghost Dance
Many Indians turned to spiritualism to preserve the last remnants of their culture. - The Losing of the West
The Dawes-Severalty Act, along with political and ecological crises, led to the decline of the western tribes.
- Violence
- The Extraction of
Natural Resources
- Mining and Lumbering
Unlike Indians living in subsistence economies, white Americans brought extractive economies to the West. - Women in Mining
Regions
Some frontier communities had a substantial white female population, but their independence was limited. - A Complex Population
The West was a multiracial and multicultural society. - Significance of Race
White settlers made race a distinguishing social characteristic in the West. - Conservation Movement
Many Americans believed that federal land should be open to private development - Admission of New
States
Several new western states entered the Union by 1890. - Legends of the West
The West gave rise to legends that became part of American folk culture.
- Mining and Lumbering
- Irrigation and
Transportation
- Rights to Water
The English heritage of riparian rights placed restrictions on individual access to water resources. Many westerners advocated prior appropriation, which gave the original claimant control over water. - California's Solution
California experienced the most dramatic water-related problems. Largely arid, yet potentially productive, the state led the way in irrigation and reclamation policies. - Newlands Reclamation
Act
The reclamation law of 1902 allowed the federal government to control the use of western water. - Post-Civil War
Railroad Construction
As the result of a railroad construction boom after the Civil War, the United States contained one-third of the railroad track in the world by 1900. - Rails and Markets
Railroads in the United States accelerated the growth of western and southern regional centers. To encourage construction, all levels of government provided bountiful subsidies to the railroad companies. - Standard Gauge;
Standard Time
Railroad construction brought technological and organizational reforms. Railroads also altered American concepts of space and time and led to a nationwide standardization of time through the establishment of time zones.
- Rights to Water
- Farming the Plains
- Settlement of the
Plains
Hundreds of thousands of emigrants moved into the Great Plains during the 1870s and 1880s. - Hardships of Life on
the Plains
Settlers on the Plains lived in an extremely harsh climate where the terrain was inhospitable and swarms of insects could ravage entire crops. - Social Isolation
Pioneers also faced severe social isolation, living lives of loneliness and monotony. - Mail-Order Companies
and Rural Free Delivery
Plains dwellers benefited from the advent of mail-order catalogues and the extension of federal postal service. - Mechanization of
Agriculture
After the Civil War, continued demand and high prices for farm commodities encouraged the use of machinery. - Legislative and
Scientific Aids to Farmers
Congress passed several acts designed to enhance agricultural development. Scientific innovation also helped improve farm output.
- Settlement of the
Plains
- The Ranching Frontier
- Longhorns and the Long
Drive
The long drive-the herding of longhorn cattle from Texas to the West and Midwest-gave rise to romantic lore but was inefficient. - The Open-Range.
Many operators ran huge herds on unfenced public lands. These giant operations captured the imaginations of easterners, but ultimately cattle began to overrun the range. - Grazing Wars
Use of the public land by both sheepherders and ranchers led to conflict between the two groups. - Barbed Wire
The invention of barbed wire in 1873 gave ranchers and farmers an economical means by which to enclose their herds and fields.
- Longhorns and the Long
Drive
Class Activities
- Have students examine incidents of Indian resistance and make presentations to the class. Topics could include the Northern and Southern Plains tribes, as well as the Apaches and the Nez Percé.
- Have students explore the advent of the preservation, or conservation, movement. Assign groups to research the different resources involved and the implications, pro as well as con, of developing those commodities. Encourage the class to discuss the issues in nineteenth-century, not twentieth-century, terms.
- Assign groups to examine the various cultural manifestations of the Wild West, such as those found in motion pictures, music, or literature. Have them make presentations to the class and lead discussions concerning the historical legitimacy of the depiction, the significance of the frontier in American history, and the implications of the legendary West for modern society.
Discussion Questions
- How were the trans-Mississippi Indians members of subsistence economies? How did their systems differ from a market economy? Did the Native Americans have other cultural traditions that brought about conflict with white Americans? If so, what?
- How did western expansion consist of exploitation? How did corporations fit into the West? What part did individuals play in closing the frontier? Was the West wild? Why or why not?
- What problems challenged western farmers and ranchers? How did people respond to those difficulties? What innovations helped Americans conquer the western frontier? What attracted folks to move to the Far West or the Great Plains?
- What economic problems did Southerners face after 1877? How did folks respond to those difficulties? What is the New South? Did a New South emerge after Reconstruction? Why or why not?
- Did black Southerners face any unique economic challenges from 1877 to 1892? If so, what? What social conditions did African Americans experience in the postwar South? Why did so much violence occur? What led to the Jim Crow laws? What purpose did those laws serve? What form did political discrimination take?
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