westward expansion Flashcards
sharecropping
landlord gives tenant land in exchange for share of crops
- mechanization and migration put an end to this (ppl had more access to land)
- ppl had no legal claim to land/crops they owned, only provided labor
tenant farming
landowners contribute land, tenants contribute labor
- unlike sharecropping, they can own supplies, equipment and animals
plessy v ferguson (1896)
“separate but equal”
- legal basis for racial segregation
- overturned in 1954 by brown v board of edu
migration pull factors
1) civil war displaced workers & slaves, no choice but to move out
2) entrepreneurs needed future chance, no choice but to invest/speculate on west
3) people moved to escape religious prosecution (utah, mormons)
pacific railways act (1862)
> 175 million acres of land creating the transcontinental railway across the middle of the country
- central pacific from right, union pacific from left
morrill land grant act (1862)
gave state government millions of acres to sell as land grants to make colleges specializing in agriculture
homestead act (1862)
160 acres each person — created 372k farms over 80 million acres with 600k claims
- expanded private property, enterprise, & a free market
homestead act requirements
1) must be 21 years or older + head of family
2) must be an american citizen / immigrant filing for citizenship
3) must build a 12x14 house and live in it for 6 months
4) farm the land for 5 years before official ownership
old immigrants
chinese, italians, irish, & european jews
exodusters
first generation of african americans post-civil war migrating west (50k)
- hoping for equity on the frontier
- led by benjamin ‘pap’ singleton
- from states along mississippi river to kansas
“the indian problem”
term for settlers wondering what to do about native american land that they wanted to expand into
natives before westward expansion
- lived in great plains (between mississippi river and rocky mountains)
- nomadic
reservations
- restricted movement of nomads
- govt designated tribes as groups w no leadership & subsequently selected leaders who didn’t represent majority opinion
- many state govs & soldiers had no intention on respecting reservations
reservations
- restricted movement of nomads
- govt designated tribes as groups w no leadership & subsequently selected leaders who didn’t represent majority opinion
- many state govs & soldiers had no intention on respecting reservations
bureau of indian affairs
branch to send supplies & rations to reservations
- was overrun by corruption and often did not deliver
differences in battle (natives vs us)
- both lacked coherent battle strategy
- natives were losing more to starvation and disease than americans
- many american soldiers didn’t even see battle while almost all native americans did
sand creek massacre (1864)
- cheyenne
1) usfg led cheyenne to sand creek to camp & promised safety
2) john chivington, who hadn’t scored any significant military wins against the cheyenne attacked the cheyenne & arapaho there
3) black kettle (chief) waved white flags but the 700+ men killed 150-500 natives
(happens during civil war)
sand creek massacre (1864)
- cheyenne
1) usfg led cheyenne to sand creek to camp & promised safety
2) john chivington, who hadn’t scored any significant military wins against the cheyenne attacked the cheyenne & arapaho there
3) black kettle (chief) waved white flags but the 700+ men killed 150-500 natives
(happens during civil war)
battle of little bighorn (1876)
sioux of northern planes fought back
1) govt tried to build bozeman trail thru the bighorn mountains (sioux hunting grounds)
2) red cloud launched 2 yr to stop project
3) success - treaty of fort laramie resolved & sioux reservation 1/2 size of south dakota was created
4) contained black hills, which usfg & colonel custer took interest in when hearing there was gold
5) usfg offered to buy, many chiefs left reservations (never signed treaty of fort laramie)
6) custer went to round up native americans and met 2k+ warriors (largest gathering) who killed custer + 200 soldiers
7) us army came and brought sioux back to reservations
8) crazy horse killed, sitting bull escaped to canada but was forced to come back to reservation out of starvation
treaty of fort laramie
1868 - made sioux reservation
battle of wounded knee
1) treaty of fort laramie and general allotment act respectively cut sioux land from 60 to 13 mile acres
2) “ghost dance” started as a ritual for america to be destroyed and the native american lifestyle (+ land, people, animals lost) be returned
3) pine ridge agency felt threatened and called the us govt to move them
4) usfg moved them to wounded knee creek
5) when going there to enforce ban, a gun was shot and gunfire was opened — 300 lakota killed
anti coolie act
tax on chinese products & such
- passed by california government
- 1962
las vegas land
- new mexico and land under new mexico land grant act that gave land to mexican/spanish under treaty of guadalupe hidalgo
las gorras blancas
white caps
- resisted against railroad track expansion through their land and cut down barbed wires placed by malicious americans ranchers trying to stave them out
