2nd Industrial Rev. & Close of the West

Spread of Industrialization

1869- US builds transcontinental railroad

Railroads and telegraph connect nation

immigrants provide labor

Second industrial revolution

steel, chemicals, precision, machinery, electronics

internal combustion engine --> fossil fuels

Railroad Construction

railroads cut journey wes to days

Led to conflict with Natives

Chinese and other immigrant railroad workers face dangerous conditions

Railroads and banks engaged in massive gov. corruption

Chinese Exclusion act

helped cause panic of 1873

Farming and Raching

Technological advances allow for larger farms and ranches

Barbed wire

steel plow

"prairie fan" water pump

Refrigerated railroad cars

ENVIRONMENTAL DEVASTATION & WESTWARD EXPANSION

Buffalo are killed and used for products. Skin and meat used rest left to rot.

Govt. use this as a way to both make money and weaken Natives to promote western expansion.

Yellowstone National Park

First national park established March 1, 1872.

Sequoia: 25 September 1890. ...

Yosemite: 1 October 1890. ...

Mount Rainier: 2 March 1899. ...

Crater Lake: 22 May 1902. ...

Wind Cave: 9 January 1903. ...

Mesa Verde: 29 June 1906. ...

Glacier: 11 May 1910.

The Indian Wars - post civil war

After the Civil War, US stopped taking treaties with Natives seriously

Numerous wars of expansion

Deny Natives have nations --> called tribes to delegitimize their claims

Buffalo hunted to Near-extinction to weaken Natives’ ability to resist

Comanche Wars

Cayuse War

Apache Wars

Navajo Wars

Yuma War

Ute Wars

Sioux Wars

Mohave War

Modoc War

Nez Perce War

Many African Americans fought for the US calvary. Buffalo soldiers. Fought in the Indian Wars

Battle of the Little Bighorn - (1876)

Sioux (Lakota) Wars

Led by Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull

Last major victory of Natives against US

Custer attacked large camp

Vastly outnumbered

Surrounded and wiped out

press distorts story-US enraged

Sioux later defeated

forced onto reservations

Nez Perce War

Pretty Nose-female chief who fought in the battle

Lakota (Sioux) leader & holy man

Gen. Custer, leader of US cavalry against the Sioux

The black hills were sacred to the Lakota and the US government took the mountains and put the faces of presidents and founding fathers on it. -- Crazy Horse monument under construction

Nez Perce located in WA

Forced off land, despite treaty

pursued by army across west

trying to reach safety in Canada

Captured by US miles from border

Apache Wars

US takes control of land after Mexican-American war

Series of wars from 1849-1886

One by one, different bands of Apache surrender

Sent to reservations

Geronimo last to surrender with 30 followers in 1886

Scattered fighting afterwards

502 Apaches imprisoned in Florida for 27 years

overcrowding and illness

Wounded Knee Massacre

Most Sioux forced onto reservations

350 leave the reservation

Miserable conditions

US army surrounds their camp

US feared Ghost Dance religion

Takes Indians guns

US opens fire-kills about 300 Sioux

Called a “battle” by US

20 US soldiers get Congressional Medal of Honor

Dawes Severalty Act (1887):
Assimilation Policy

Most Natives forced onto reservations

Smaller plots of land

Inferior land

Poor for farming

Few resources

“Kill the Indian, save the man”

Gov. tries to eliminate Indian cultures & languages

Reservations & Boarding Schools

Boarding Schools

Children taken from parents

Forced to European and convert to Christianity

Violence, abuse, few rights

Native languages forbidden → erasure

Native religion forbidden

Rented out to work

Frequent beatings

Can’t leave

Violence & sexual abuse

No cultural connection to parents’ generation

Continues into 1970s