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GA- Forgien Policy 1877-90 (The lives of Native Americans (The Dawes Act,…
GA- Forgien Policy 1877-90
The lives of Native Americans
Americansisation
By 1880 most NA were settled on reservations
1887 held 138 million acres but most was unsuitable for agriculture
Gov wanted to intergrate the NA and americanise them reducing mistreatmet
Bureau of Indian affiars
prevent corruption
Indian rights assosiation
Even those that were sympathetic belived in Americanisation
Becoming educated as christian farmers
Congress set up a fund to educate the NA children away from thier parents
By 1899 $2.5 mil spent per year on 148 boarding schools for 20,000 children
The Dawes Act
1887
Broke resesrvations into small units held by families and individuals
head of each family got 160 acres of farmland or 320 acres grazing land
signle adult male got 80 acres
NA that adopted the habits of civilised life would get citizenship in 25 years
At the time it was praised
later people critisise that NA were assumed to turn into farmers during the agricultural depression
most of the land was unfarmable
Surplus land was sold commercially
Most Indians had littler understanding of what it all meant
Priat property alien to NA culture
In a short time most had sold or lost their land to white americans and lived in poverty in shocking conditions
Battle of Wounded Knee
Sioux in South Dakota relied on Wovoka teachings that promised their land and power would be restored if they did the Ghost Dance
The Ghost dance craze spread and the US authority became afraid
The authority attempted to arrest the chief called the Sitting bull who was encouraging the dance and it led to his death
Many Sioux fled and the army persued
Dec 1890 7 th Caalry ended up firing into a group of Sioux at wounded Knee . 200 died woeman and chidlren mostly. 31 soldeirs
Neither side ment to fight but it was born of misunderstanding distrust and fear
Different views
M Josephy Jr wrote a series of sympathetic works between 1960-70 critisising the descruction of the NA way of life.
in less than 2 decates their entire social structure was destroyed
Reservation policy=alcholism desies, dependacne and poerty
By 1900 only 100,000 of the 240,000 NA from the Plains in 1865 had survived
Did not americanise but condemed to a lack of identity
Consistently the poorest people in the US
Donald L Parman
Those willing to conform to the white man the reservations offered self sufficiency
off reservation jobs were popular with 75-100 hired by the Buffalo Bill Wild West shows in 1880's
There were so many different iews on how to deal with the NA it was difficult to agree some wanted suppression others Americanisation
The Plain settlers are often glorified but also fought brutally with torture and killing ie no prisoners at LittleBighorn
Settlement in the West
Impact of railways
in 1890 there was the Pacific Railroads and 4 other transcontinental lines
Northern Pacific 1883
Southern Pacific 1883
The Aitchison, Topeka, Santa Fe 1884
The Great Northern 1893
All transcontinetal railroads were partially financed by generous land grantsoveral 70 million hecters
States also helped financially adancing $200 million and land grants of 19 million hecters
corruption was involved but there was benefits
Sections of land near the railroad tracks fetched twice the normal price
Revolutionised the West with people goods and raw materials ina nd out
Stimulated growth of iron steel and lumber etc
cattlemen and farmers were largely the product of the railroads
Life on the Plains
Agriculture
lots of new farming methods ie dry farming and farm machiens
1873 Gidden amd the first effective barbed wire - cheap fencing
deep drilled wells and steel windmills provided the water
production
increased from 211 mil bushells in 1867 to 599 million in 1900
used to tak 35 hours of labout in 1840 for 15 bushells but in 1900 only 15 hours
wheat export rose from 6 millin in 1967 to 102 million in 1900
boom and bust
very dependant on exports and the fluctuating price of wheat
farmers unable to determine the prices of things they bought and sold
1870 the cereal prices tumbled
corn sold for 78c in 1867 fell to 31 c by 1879
farmwes who had borrowed heavily went bankrupt
impored by the late 1970s but the boom and bust cycle was the norm
political
in the bust years 1880s-90s the farmers opened a reolt against big business and federal government
Many supported the popultist party
gov control of communications and transport
gradual income tax
more siler in the currency so more money in circulation
1892 Weaver , the Populist candidate won 1 mil votes
Cattle and ranching
At the end of thte civil war the ranching frontire - Texas
New land policies allowed individuals to aquire land at 50c an acre
1867 Joseph McCoy devised a route North from Texas known as the long drive
1866-85 5.71 million cattle went north by this route
1868 Armour founded a meat packing business in Chicago followed by Swift and orris.
1906 novel The Jungle written by Sinclair described the terrible conditions in the Chicago meat packing business
Cowboys
20 yrs after the Civil war 40,000 cowboys roamed the plains most teens or early 20s
1/3 came from dierse and ethic minority back grounds and were expert horsement
wage was only $25-30 a month and worked and everage 18 hr day
continious clouds of dust and lots of hazards as well as occasional NA
Cattle-ranching
By 1880 cttle ranching had spread from Texas to Canada
huge areas of technichally public land were used for grazing and maintained through force fraud and perjury
often disputes over cattle ranching land . The most important was water , who owned the water controlled the land
Vigilantes sprung up to maintain order
leading ranchers baneded together to form livestock assosiations with rules and cattle brands
these worked reasonably well
Not ery popular as thye often unjustly faoured bug ranches over small ones
Beef Bonanza
1880s the Eastern and Europe market poured money into
1883 british companys owned / controlled 8 mil hec of western grazing land
mid 1800a cattle ranginf was a large scale enterprise ie Swan Land and cattle owned 100,000 head of cattle and the cowboys became farm hands only roaming the large land owned by the boss
End of Open-range
Winter of 1885 and 1887 were very rough and starssled a summer of drought
millions of cattle died possibly 90% most companys ruined inc Swan Land and Cattle
Those that survived down sized so they could provide shelter and fencing - scientific breeding and the end of cowboys
Changed the nations eating habits from Pork to Beef
Problems
neigboughs miles away ie women giving birth
soil was rich but the elements could be harsh ie tornadoes and 15cm deep locust clouds
Land was cheap but machienery and other things were not freight charges and high interest - crippling loans
End of the frontire
Turner essay
1893 young historian presented 'The Significance of the frontier in the American History'
grown up in Wisconsin where the pinonerring life was still rememebred
Went to University in Baltimore that was very European
Points
deepest roots of Americas past was ' the existance of an area of free land'
accessable land was a safety vale against social discord and violence
Harshness of the frontier created invaluable self relient individuals
Americas development different from Europe as it had no heirachy / aristocracy
USA had a unique democracy adn abundance of natural resources that made America free
Reactions
encouraged people to think about new frontiers outside the geographical nation
perpetuated the myth that the West was 'different'
Pierson 1942- many factors that effected American culture other than the Frontier
Billington-1949 Turner never defines the frontier and it was not a safety valve as most free land was bought by land speculators and migration was usually to the citys not the frontier
Riley- ignored the femals due to his context and upbringig making the frontire sound like an exclusivley male phenomenon
hasty generalisations, ignoring the role of immegrants and indians and promoted provincialism ( narrow minded concern only for your area)
losing the wilderness and uncivilised part of America for some meant losing the essence of Freedom
By 1990 there was officially no longer a frontier
Forgien and imperial Policies
Navy
70-80's isolationsim still dominated but there was a growing interest to expand the navy to protect Us posession nd secure the position as a world power
Expanded Navy would demonstrate Americs willingness to back up with force if necessary
1882 Secretary of the navy , Hunt advocated naval expansion
review
of 140 ships only 42 were opperational
mainly wooden not new steamships
of 17 steam ships 14 were fom the civil war
Thayer Mahan wrote books in 1890-18902 about The influence of Sea Power
nations with powerful naies and oversea bases would grow in strength to maintain them
Advocated - modern steam fleet, coaling stations and bases in the Carribean and Pacific and cutting a cananl across Latin America
Hawaii
US became interested in using Hawaii as a station and provisions point for ships too and from Asia
Since 1875 the USA had imported sugar free of duty as the Hawiian governemnt refused favourabe trading rights to other countries
Hawaii was reliant on the USA economically
1887 the Senate agreed to further the 1875 agreement with Hawaii to establish a naval base at Pear Harbour Oahu
Latin America
1880's Garfields Secretary of State Blaine was interested in a Pan-American conference advocated in 1881
Help the USa act as a leader across the continent to stop future wars and benefit from trade links
Due to Garfields short presidency the origional proposal came to nothing
Under Harrisons secretary of state Blaine dot the 18 countries to meet in Washington October 1889
2 main aims
free trade
internal arbitration (neutral judgemtent)
the agreements were weak with a opt-out clause for the arbitrationion if the countrie felt theri independant action was threatedned
Set up International Beaureu of American Republic ie Pan-American Union
it set a precedent for future conferences and co-operation