Monday: Watch men who built america video
Tuesday: Finish video and go over worksheet
Wednesday:
Why did the Open Range -Long Drive- Cowboy era end so quickly?
-the demand for beef fell and prices dropped
-farmers and sheepherders moved into the Great Plains and put up fences
-more railroads were built in the south so long drives weren’t needed
-less than 15 years
US Native American Policies
Reservations
- West of Appalachians was for Native Americans
- Indian Country was good chunk of Louisiana Purchase (Native Americans were pushed here)
Kansas Nebraska Act 1854
- Split Kansas and Nebraska into those two territories
- What is now Oklahoma was Indian territory
Indian and Oklahoma Territory Merge in 1907 forming state of Oklahoma
- White people dominate most of state
- Was no longer Indian territory
- Indian lands in Arizona and New Mexico (mostly out west)
Destruction of Buffalo
- People killed off buffalo for money or to hurt Native Americans
Dawes Act - 1887
- Gave land to Native American families to farm (160 acres)
- Ended tribal ownership of land
- Those that agree to this will be granted US citizenship
- Goal was to “Americanize” Native-Americans and help them get out of poverty
- Native-Americans lost much of their land as excess was opened to white settlement (the real goal)
- Not required but the other option was not good (war)
- Ended in the 1930’s under President Roosevelt’s Indian Reorganization Act
Famous Indian War Battles
- Battle of Little Bighorn (Custer’s Last Stand) - 1876
-troops on horses
-whites were trapped on both sides by Native Americans
-Native Americans won
- Battle of Wounded Knee-1890-last major skirmish between NA and US Army
-Native Americans surrendered and did what we told them to do
KEY QUESTIONS
How did railroads and the Homestead Act help settle the Great Plains?
-what brought people to west
-goods to and from west
-the reason why people went there
Thursday:
KEY QUESTIONS
What challenges did settlers/farmers face on the Great Plains?
How did settlers/farmers solve some of these problems?
Struggles on the Great Plains
- Life on the Great Plains was not easy
- Lonely
- Bad weather
- Grasshopper plagues – rocky mountain locust
- Hard work
- Native Americans
- There were native American attacks on settlers throughout the mid-late 1800s in many parts of America
- Attacks were common, but they were also sporadic, and usually involved a fairly low number of casualties.
- Lack of Trees
- Railroad Prices and debt
- Railroads charged farmers high prices due to lack of competition
- Many farmers mortgaged their farms to buy more seed and supplies
- Crop prices fell due to overproduction
- After the civil war, the amount of money in circulation went down, so money became more valuable which made it harder to pay back debt
- Farmers wanted more money in circulation
- This would cause inflation which would be good for crop prices
KEY QUESTIONS
Describe what the Grange was and their purpose
Describe what the Interstate Commerce Act did?
Describe who the Populists were and what they believed in?
The grange
- The national grange of the order of patrons of Husbandry
- Organization in the US that encourages families to work together to promote the social, economic and political well-being of farmers
- Started after the Civil War (1867) and is still around today
The Granger Laws
- Series of state laws passed in several midwestern states- Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois- in the late 1860s and early 1870s
- Designed to fight back against railroad abuses
- Wanted railroads and grain elevators to charge fair prices
- Munn v Illinois-1877-Supreme Court supported farmers
- Wabash v Illinois(1886)-Supreme Court supported the railroads
Friday: Watch video
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