1.1
Reasons for Westward Migration
Homestead act: 1862 act providing 160 acres of land free to anyone who would settle
the land and farm it for five years.
● Drew many white settlers West.
● Settled on land owned by Native Americans (ranches, farms).
● Brought racial conflict.
Pacific Railroad Act: series of acts of Congress that promoted the construction of the
transcontinental railroad in the United States through authorizing the issuance of
government bonds and the grants of land to railroad companies.
★ Construction of transcontinental railroads.
Transcontinental Railroad: allowed travel from the East to the West (first t railroad)
● The Union Pacific rail line from California connected to the Central Pacific line
points East.
● Brought economic prosperity. New markets/goods shipped worldly/transporting
goods was faster/easier. Encouraged westward migration.
● Native Americans lost their land. The US government moved tribes on reservations.
Reasons:
★ Homestead Act.
★ Hopes of economic prosperity (through farming).
★ Various transcontinental railroads.
★ Precious metals (gold, silver, etc). Construction of boomtowns.
Medicine Lodge Creek Treaty: An 1867 treaty between the Comanches and The
Army in which the Comanches agreed to settle on a reservation.
● The US army attacked their main encampment when the Comanches began
using it as a base from which to raid (warfare).
● Gov wanted them to use the reservation to become settled farmers.
Buffalo soldiers: African American soldiers that fought battles in the West against
Native Americans. Organized in regiments.
, Indian resistance:
Ghost Dance: Indians believed that if they returned to their traditional ways and
ceremonies, the whites would be driven from their land.
★ Traditional dance done in order to drive whites from their land.
The US Army defeated the Sioux during the Sioux War of 1876-1877 and at the
Battle at Wounded Knee.
★ Brutal battle resulting in the deaths of hundreds of Indians.
Indian resistance to . . .
★ White settlers taking Indian land.
★ Disruption in tribal practices/traditions. Whites encouraged individualism.
★ Assimilation into white culture (schooling, convert to Christianity).
Peace/managing Grant’s Peace Policy: A new effort by President Grant to end the Plains Indian Wars
Indian affairs by creating a series of reservations on which tribes could maintain their traditional
ways.
>>>> ● Goal: end Indian Wars/assimilate Indians into white culture/end corruption in
BIA.
● Indians didn’t favor; confined to reservations/poor supplies provided
Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA): government agency that handled Indian reservations
and affairs.
● Initially controlled by the government. Then, the gov gave Christian
missionaries control of the reservations to assimilate Indians in white culture.
Dawes Act: An 1887 law terminating tribal ownership of most reservation land and
allocating some parcels to individual Indians while the remainder was opened for white
settlement.
★ End to the Indian reservation system.
● Encouraged individualism and farming. Different from communal tribal
activities.
Indian Appropriation Act: ended federal recognition of sovereign Indian territories +
nullified treaties.
Carlisle Indian School: A boarding school for Native American children opened in Carlisle,
Pennsylvania to teach white ways and separate Indian children from tribal culture.
,1.2
Cattle Industry
In the 1800s (particularly after the Civil War) the demand for beef increased. Buffalo
roamed on an open range of federal lands. Cattle owners/cowboys branded these
buffalo to mark their property. They shipped meat and cattle along the transcontinental
railroad, where it became accessible in markets.
Barbed wire fences confined herds to small areas and to keep ranchers off the best
grass/away from them. This caused conflict among ranchers when it came to property
rights.
● Mexicanos were against the barbed wire fences, Anglo-Americans were not.
Traditionally, land not used for home sites/farming was open to all. This led to
much conflict between the two groups.
Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show became extremely popular. They traveled across the
US, spreading myths about Western life. All of the cowboys were portrayed as white,
yet there were also Native American, black, and latino cowboys. Native Americans
were portrayed fighting white cowboys, however in real life, they never actually
fought, but kept their distance.
Outlaws were part of Western life.
Mineral Wealth
People sought mineral wealth in the West. They built boomtowns, which were mainly
temporary and began working. Latinos and Chinese people received the lowest-paying
and lower skilled jobs. Europeans received the highest paying jobs.
1.3
Second Industrial Revolution 1870s-1900s
Inventions: telephone, automobiles, electric light bulb (Thomas Edison)
● The assembly line invented by Henry Ford drastically improved the speed of
manufacturing. People would work with interchangeable parts at a specific
workstation.
● At World's Fairs, the newest inventions were displayed.
● Created a greater standard of living, better production, and rapid
industrialization. Major technological developments.
, Gilded Age: Term applied to America in the late 1800s that refers to the superficial
display and worship of wealth characteristic of the period.
★ Increased the gap between rich and poor.
★ Capitalism.
★ Due to the prosperity of large corporations (rather than small family
businesses). Existed only to make money.
★ Corporations financed by the sale of shares of the company in stock exchanges
(New York Stock Exchange).
Panic of 1873: A major economic downturn—launched when the country's leading
financier, Jay Cooke, went bankrupt—during which thousands lost their jobs and from
which the country took years to recover.
● Occurred when Cooke’s Northern Pacific Railroad failed. Declared bankruptcy
when he couldn’t pay investors.
● Different industries connected.
● Consequences: Banks collapsed/railroad construction stopped/thousands of
Americans lost jobs.
Monopoly Trusts
John D. Rockefeller owned a Cleveland oil refinery. Eventually, he merged with
another oil producer to create the Standard Oil Company. It later became a monopoly
which dominated the oil industry. Competitors had no choice but to sell their
companies to Standard Oil (no anti monopoly laws).
● Horizontal integration: the acquisition of another/other company(ies) in the
same business line.
Andrew Carnegie built a steel mill in the US which dominated the steel industry.
● Vertical integration: control over one or more factors of production.
Wealthy bankers/stockholders/business owners were often called robber barons:
people who became wealthy through exploitation (unethical/questionable means)
● Monopolies paid their workers low wages. Poverty was great.
● “The Gospel of Wealth”: the philosophy that the rich have the duty to use
their money to benefit society/the poor. Still saw poor as inferior.
Electoral Politics
Stalwarts: A faction of the Republican Party in the 1870s and 1880s who wanted the
party to stay focused on the reforms for Reconstruction.
● Others wanted to focus on corporate interest.
Mugwumps: A reform faction of the Republican Party who supported Cleveland, the
Democratic nominee, over the Republican Blaine in the 1884 election.
After 1870, many U.S. business leaders greatly increased the range and scope of
exports to international countries. The value of exports increased massively.
Reasons for Westward Migration
Homestead act: 1862 act providing 160 acres of land free to anyone who would settle
the land and farm it for five years.
● Drew many white settlers West.
● Settled on land owned by Native Americans (ranches, farms).
● Brought racial conflict.
Pacific Railroad Act: series of acts of Congress that promoted the construction of the
transcontinental railroad in the United States through authorizing the issuance of
government bonds and the grants of land to railroad companies.
★ Construction of transcontinental railroads.
Transcontinental Railroad: allowed travel from the East to the West (first t railroad)
● The Union Pacific rail line from California connected to the Central Pacific line
points East.
● Brought economic prosperity. New markets/goods shipped worldly/transporting
goods was faster/easier. Encouraged westward migration.
● Native Americans lost their land. The US government moved tribes on reservations.
Reasons:
★ Homestead Act.
★ Hopes of economic prosperity (through farming).
★ Various transcontinental railroads.
★ Precious metals (gold, silver, etc). Construction of boomtowns.
Medicine Lodge Creek Treaty: An 1867 treaty between the Comanches and The
Army in which the Comanches agreed to settle on a reservation.
● The US army attacked their main encampment when the Comanches began
using it as a base from which to raid (warfare).
● Gov wanted them to use the reservation to become settled farmers.
Buffalo soldiers: African American soldiers that fought battles in the West against
Native Americans. Organized in regiments.
, Indian resistance:
Ghost Dance: Indians believed that if they returned to their traditional ways and
ceremonies, the whites would be driven from their land.
★ Traditional dance done in order to drive whites from their land.
The US Army defeated the Sioux during the Sioux War of 1876-1877 and at the
Battle at Wounded Knee.
★ Brutal battle resulting in the deaths of hundreds of Indians.
Indian resistance to . . .
★ White settlers taking Indian land.
★ Disruption in tribal practices/traditions. Whites encouraged individualism.
★ Assimilation into white culture (schooling, convert to Christianity).
Peace/managing Grant’s Peace Policy: A new effort by President Grant to end the Plains Indian Wars
Indian affairs by creating a series of reservations on which tribes could maintain their traditional
ways.
>>>> ● Goal: end Indian Wars/assimilate Indians into white culture/end corruption in
BIA.
● Indians didn’t favor; confined to reservations/poor supplies provided
Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA): government agency that handled Indian reservations
and affairs.
● Initially controlled by the government. Then, the gov gave Christian
missionaries control of the reservations to assimilate Indians in white culture.
Dawes Act: An 1887 law terminating tribal ownership of most reservation land and
allocating some parcels to individual Indians while the remainder was opened for white
settlement.
★ End to the Indian reservation system.
● Encouraged individualism and farming. Different from communal tribal
activities.
Indian Appropriation Act: ended federal recognition of sovereign Indian territories +
nullified treaties.
Carlisle Indian School: A boarding school for Native American children opened in Carlisle,
Pennsylvania to teach white ways and separate Indian children from tribal culture.
,1.2
Cattle Industry
In the 1800s (particularly after the Civil War) the demand for beef increased. Buffalo
roamed on an open range of federal lands. Cattle owners/cowboys branded these
buffalo to mark their property. They shipped meat and cattle along the transcontinental
railroad, where it became accessible in markets.
Barbed wire fences confined herds to small areas and to keep ranchers off the best
grass/away from them. This caused conflict among ranchers when it came to property
rights.
● Mexicanos were against the barbed wire fences, Anglo-Americans were not.
Traditionally, land not used for home sites/farming was open to all. This led to
much conflict between the two groups.
Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show became extremely popular. They traveled across the
US, spreading myths about Western life. All of the cowboys were portrayed as white,
yet there were also Native American, black, and latino cowboys. Native Americans
were portrayed fighting white cowboys, however in real life, they never actually
fought, but kept their distance.
Outlaws were part of Western life.
Mineral Wealth
People sought mineral wealth in the West. They built boomtowns, which were mainly
temporary and began working. Latinos and Chinese people received the lowest-paying
and lower skilled jobs. Europeans received the highest paying jobs.
1.3
Second Industrial Revolution 1870s-1900s
Inventions: telephone, automobiles, electric light bulb (Thomas Edison)
● The assembly line invented by Henry Ford drastically improved the speed of
manufacturing. People would work with interchangeable parts at a specific
workstation.
● At World's Fairs, the newest inventions were displayed.
● Created a greater standard of living, better production, and rapid
industrialization. Major technological developments.
, Gilded Age: Term applied to America in the late 1800s that refers to the superficial
display and worship of wealth characteristic of the period.
★ Increased the gap between rich and poor.
★ Capitalism.
★ Due to the prosperity of large corporations (rather than small family
businesses). Existed only to make money.
★ Corporations financed by the sale of shares of the company in stock exchanges
(New York Stock Exchange).
Panic of 1873: A major economic downturn—launched when the country's leading
financier, Jay Cooke, went bankrupt—during which thousands lost their jobs and from
which the country took years to recover.
● Occurred when Cooke’s Northern Pacific Railroad failed. Declared bankruptcy
when he couldn’t pay investors.
● Different industries connected.
● Consequences: Banks collapsed/railroad construction stopped/thousands of
Americans lost jobs.
Monopoly Trusts
John D. Rockefeller owned a Cleveland oil refinery. Eventually, he merged with
another oil producer to create the Standard Oil Company. It later became a monopoly
which dominated the oil industry. Competitors had no choice but to sell their
companies to Standard Oil (no anti monopoly laws).
● Horizontal integration: the acquisition of another/other company(ies) in the
same business line.
Andrew Carnegie built a steel mill in the US which dominated the steel industry.
● Vertical integration: control over one or more factors of production.
Wealthy bankers/stockholders/business owners were often called robber barons:
people who became wealthy through exploitation (unethical/questionable means)
● Monopolies paid their workers low wages. Poverty was great.
● “The Gospel of Wealth”: the philosophy that the rich have the duty to use
their money to benefit society/the poor. Still saw poor as inferior.
Electoral Politics
Stalwarts: A faction of the Republican Party in the 1870s and 1880s who wanted the
party to stay focused on the reforms for Reconstruction.
● Others wanted to focus on corporate interest.
Mugwumps: A reform faction of the Republican Party who supported Cleveland, the
Democratic nominee, over the Republican Blaine in the 1884 election.
After 1870, many U.S. business leaders greatly increased the range and scope of
exports to international countries. The value of exports increased massively.
