american west: KT3 Flashcards
end of reconstruction
1877
- republicans established first state school system
- 600,000 african american pupils in schools
- african americans had equality before the law and right to own property set up business and enter proffesions
klu klux klan
- most white southerners hostile towards african americans
- began in 1866 Tennessee and spread rapidly
- carried out acts of terrorism to intimidate african americans
sharecropping
- landowner provided land housing tools and seed and a local merchant provided food and supplies on credit
- at harvest time sharecropper recieved a share of crop for their labour with landowner taking rest
- they then used their share to pay off debt to merchant
- system was inefficient and sharecroppers were in continual debt
exodus to kansas
- 1870 realised they were not all that free
- began migrating to kansas which had always been a free state
- became known as exodusters and were moving to promised land
- some sent hopeful letters that were read out in churches
- Benjamin Singleton produced thousands of handbills advertising benefits of new life in the west
- 1879 rumour spread that federal gov was going to provide free land and money in kansas
- over 4000 exodusters moved to river banks to catch steam boats
- no promised land for everyone so some returned home but most stayed farming or living in small settlements
- most freed slaves lacked resources to make this journey
oklahoma land rush
- 1893
- 1889 gov decided to open up 2 mill acres in oklahoma for settlement by passing Indian Appropriations Act (land previously part of Indian territory)
- some ‘sooners’ tried to sneak across boundary early but were stopped by army which showed army was able to remove intruders from Indian land
- Noon 22 April 1889 starting gun signalled territory was open
- 50,000 settlers crossed boundary (approx)
- by end of year population of oklahoma was 60,000
rivalry between ranchers and homesteaders
- root of rivalry was land
- early conflicts caused when homesteaders in Kansas tried to stop cattle drives as they were afraid of damage to crops and texas fever
- also disputes over access to water
- homesteaders that wanted to fence off crops to protect them could also cut off access to water
Custer County Nebraska
- 1870s
- homesteaders settling claims brought conflict with rancers already there
- ranchers led by Olive family from Texas saw homesteaders staking claims in fertile river valleys would cut off their cattle from water and make ranching impossible
why did tension increase
because of cattle rustling
when did ranchers try to drive homesteaders out
- 1877-79
- ended in a shootout between homesteaders and cowboys amd murder of two homesteaders
- it was unsuccessful on the rancers side
- muderes were initially convicted but later released
sheep farmers
- 1880s sheep competed with cattle for grazing
- most common in south western states
- sheep outnumbered cattle 10-1 in arizona
- sheep rearing required a smaller initial investment and offered quicker returns than cattle
- sheep cropped grass so short that cattle could not graze
- some violence took form of shooting shepards slaughtering sheep
- sheep owners often migrants so this hostility was fed by racial and religious intolerance (mormons, mexican americans, scots, basques)
barbed wire conflicts
- fence cutting in Texas 1880s-1890s from smaller ranchers and farmers to avoid being cut off from water or squeezed oout
- 1883 fence cutting war slightly prompted by a drought
- most enclosed private land but some did enclose public land
- some even blocked roads and cut off access to schools and churches
- much of cutting was done at night by armed bands orginally those directly affected but eventually others joined in
- a few deaths in armed clashes
- eventually public opinion forced an agreement that fences would not block public roads and that gates would be provided for farmers to use and fence cutting would stop
president grants peace policy
1869 depended on Plains Indians living on Reservations and only leaving to hunt buffalo
How did US gov destroy Indians way of life: extra troops
- after battle of little bighorn US gov decided to build first and send in troops and spend money necessary finally defeating sioux and their allies
- so sioux were confined to reservations where gov policy directed them into turning into peaceful farmers
- Indian agents continued to be drawn from religious denominations however there was still corruption
How did US gove destroy Indian way of life: tribal structures
- gov measures designed to break up tribal structures and groupings
- reservations reduced in size
- tribes and bands divided
- efforts to remove power of chiefs in the way that supplies were distributed and disputes settled
The dawes general allotment act
1887
- allowed the communal reservation lands to be broken up into individual plots
- intened to destroy power of cheifs and tribal structures
- Individual native americans could become landowning farmers so would not need to go ot cheifs or even see them as they were now self-sufficient
- allowed sale of any land left over to non native american buyers as a way to make more money
