NOTHING THAT CAN BE MEMORIZED IS HISTORY

1. NOTHING THAT CAN BE MEMORIZED IS HISTORY

2. CHANGE IN THE AMERICAN WEST:ConvergenceConflict Continuity

3. SIGNIFICANCE OF 1821 • Mexico won its independence from Spain • Seeking new trading partners, new allies • Hugh Glenn and Jacob Fowler • Taos Trail: Pueblo to Taos via Sangre de Cristo Pass • Taos becomes southern trapping center • William Becknell • Opens the Santa Fe Trail to American trade • Franklin, MO to Santa Fe: 1200 miles

4. SANTA FE TRADE • Profitable • Mexicans paid hard cash for American goods • 1822: Trade totaled $15,000 ($250,000 in today’s dollars) • 1860: Trade totaled $3.5 million ($81.4 million in today’s dollars) • Romantic • Exotic location for descendants of Puritans • Fandangos, Flirting, and Fumar

5. EARLY FUR TRADE • Based on trapping beaver • Diversity among the trappers • French-Canadians • Mexicans • Americans from the East • Set basis for “Middle Ground” • Trappers established long-term relationships • 40% of Mountain Men married Indian women • 20% of Mountain Men married Mexican women • Average length of marriage = 15 years • Average number of children = 3

6. IN THE 1830s: BUFFALO ROBES BECAME THE CHIEF ARTICLE OF WESTERN TRADE. CHANGES THAT OCCURRED: • Buffalo robes obtained through trade not trapping • Permanent trading posts replaced the rendezvous

7. SEVERAL TRADING POSTS ESTABLISHED ON THE EASTERN PLAINS • 1832 – Gantt and Blackwell near Pueblo • 1833 – Bent’s Fort between Las Animas and La Junta • 1835 – Fort Vasquez near Platteville • 1836 – Fort Lupton • 1836 – Fort St. Vrain (Fort Lookout)

8. 1833 – 1848 BENTS’ FORT DOMINATED THE PLAINS From its position on the north side of the Arkansas River, astride the Mountain Branch of the Santa Fe Trail

9. Rectangular, Grey Adobe Structure: 180 feet by 135 feet • Round bastions at SE and NW corners • Walls: 2’ – 4’ thick and 15’ high • Midway along eastern wall – sheet metal and iron doors • Center of facility = fur press

10. Council Room Trading Room Kitchen Living Quarters Blacksmith Corrals

11. BENT’S OLD FORT: • Stood for nearly 20 years • International Center of Commerce • It was the DIA of its time BENT’S FORT: AGENT OF CHANGE CONVERGENCE – CONFLICT – CONTINUITY

12. CONVERGENCE: • Brought cultures together: BENT & ST. VRAIN CO. Marcellin St. Vraub Married: “Red” Ogalala Sioux William Bent Married: Owl Woman & Yellow Woman Cheyenne Ceran St. Vrain Married: Maria de la Luz Taos

13. CONVERGENCE: Mexican Skilled Labor

14. COMANCHE CHEYENNE CONVERGENCE: Native Americans Procured robes and principal trading partners ARAPAHOE KIOWA

15. CONVERGENCE: Brought different economic systems together American Capitalist + Spanish Closed Mercantilist and Native American Barter

16. CONVERGENCE: CREATED MIDDLE GROUND Santa Fe and Taos Families increased wealth New trading partners had more and better goods Native Americans increased wealth and prestige Cheyenne and Arapahoe gained “favored status” Increased wealth and position on the Plains Bent and St. Vrain Company profitable 1842: Income of $190,000 ($4.5 million today)

17. SO…… WHAT HAPPENED?

18. CONFLICT: WAR WITH MEXICO • Victory upset political, economic and social balance • Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo • Added all of SW to United States • Mexican citizens became US citizens • Charles Bent became Governor of New Mexico - killed • Ceran St. Vrain led militia in revenge/retaliation • William Bent lost Owl Woman to cholera • Brought by Army of the West • Native Americans victims of cholera epidemic • Lost one-third to one-half of population

19. CONFLICT: BASIS FOR MIDDLE GROUND = GONE Victory in War with Mexico opened door to new lands First event = California Gold Rush Changed image of the West Changed westward settlement Arrivals after 1848 have different goals Extraction of natural resources is primary Goals do not involve the assistance of ANY previous group Both groups = OBSTACLES to be removed, not accommodated

20. CONFLICT: HOW DO WE KNOW THAT THE BASIS IS GONE? BENT & ST. VRAIN CO DISSOLVED - 1849 BENT’S FORT IS GONE William Bent blew up Bent’s Fort in 1849 IMPORTANT TO NOTE SYMBOLISM Charles Bent killed in anti-European revolt in 1848 Cholera - European borne disease destroyed trade Dynamite - European technology destroyed fort

21. CONTINUITY • Once introduced, Anglo-American presence was permanent • American-style capitalism entrenched • Mexico City lost control of trade to Bent & St. Vrain Co. • Political conditions turned in favor of Americans • Stephen Kearney’s Army of the West entered Santa Fe without firing a shot.

22. THE NATURE OF CHANGE BEFORE 1850 • Convergence: “Middle Ground” is basis for relationships • Conflict: Emerged OUTSIDE the area • Not generated within as in King Philip’s War, French and Indian War, Blackhawk War, Cherokee Wars • Continuity: American culture established as PART of the system • THE NATURE OF CHANGE AFTER 1850 • Conflict originated within the area and dominated relationships • Continuity: American culture dominated the system • Convergence is not an option: • Acculturation not accommodation became the standard