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Which argument for expansion probably had the greatest appeal among Americans, and why?

Which argument for expansion probably had the greatest appeal among Americans, and why?. Colonial America: How the West was Lost. I. Visions of the West. A. Turner’s Frontier "The Significance of the Frontier in American History," 1893:

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Which argument for expansion probably had the greatest appeal among Americans, and why?

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  1. Which argument for expansion probably had the greatest appeal among Americans, and why?

  2. Colonial America: How the West was Lost

  3. I. Visions of the West A. Turner’s Frontier • "The Significance of the Frontier in American History," 1893: • "The existence of an area of free land, its continuous recession, and the advance of American settlement westward explain American development." • Frontier "that coarseness and strength combined with acuteness and acquisitiveness; that practical inventive turn of mind, quick to find expedients; that masterful grasp of material things... that restless, nervous energy; that dominant individualism" = Americanism

  4. Rugged Individualism • Farm life on Plains is very difficult: hard work, essentials (water, fuel) are scarce • Weather is unpredictable (heat, storms, blizzards, floods, prairie fires), plus insects • 98 Meridian

  5. Democracy for women (compare early South Carolina + slaves) • Homestead Act (1862) disperses settlement and creates social isolation • Also lonely because many were bachelors; many abandon farms for cities (late 1800s) • Isolation diminished by mail-order companies and extension of RFD post service

  6. B. Cowboys and Indians • William “Buffalo Bill” Cody • “Buffalo Bill’s Wild West” (1883) • Buffalo hunt w/ real buffalos, Indian attack on the Deadwood stage with real Indians, Pony Express ride, and presentation of Custer’s Last Stand w/Lakota who had actually fought • Toured Europe, great acclaim • ½ circus, ½ history lesson • Annie Oakley, Sitting Bull • 1,700 dime novels •  violent, gunfighting, gambling, get-rich-quick, lawless hedonism= “Wild West”

  7. II. Realities of the West • A. Rugged Cooperation • Massive gov’t assistance throughout (and today) • Pacific Railway Acts (1862, 1864): US 180 million acres to rail companies; States 50 million acres • Morrill Land Grant Act (1862): “land grant” colleges • Homestead Act (1862): 160 acres, small fee if: 1) 21 / head household, 2) citizen or imm. seeking, 3) build house, 4) farm 5 years 372,000 farms, 80 million acres • 50 years post-CW more land than since Jamestown • Cheap land immigrants + blacks (50,000 Exodusters)

  8. Expansion tension w/ Indians violence cavalry removal + massacre [Sand Creek (500), Wounded Knee (200)] “Indian Emancipation Act” • “Disappearing Indian” • Indian “monopoly” on land stymie competition break-up Dawes Act (General Allotment Act), 1887 1) 160 acres of land to head of each family; single over 18: 80 acres; under 18: 40 acres 2) same legal protection as whites’ 3) Federal government, for 25 years, would hold land in trust: Indians could not sell land for 25 years 4) Full citizenship rights 5) Fed sell all remaining land not allotted

  9. Unsuitable for farming; choose land for culture > economics; refuse farm; not enough land debt to whites (sharecropping / debt peonage) lose 2/3 land  1934 Indian Reorganization Act

  10. Destruction of the Buffalo • 1) Weather • 2) Indians • 3) Competition horses/cattle • 4) Bill Cody

  11. Mechanization agriculture + need for irrigation (environment) + boom/bust cycle concentration in large, commercial farms • Also true (diff. particulars) for ranching + mining

  12. B. Mild West • 1) Not as violent: more died violently in RxR accidents than gun • 1889: 50 gunmen Wyoming Stock Growers Association vs. small ranchers + farmers: 3 days shooting, 1 death (shot self); Feds save gunmen • 2) Violence often socio-economic conflict: competition for land, resources, power • 3) Violence usually not personal conflicts but rather conflict between social groups (e.g. pan miners vs. capitalists’ goons—see Pale Rider) • Cleaned up quickly as big biz moves in

  13. The Ranching Frontier • Population growth + RxR (bulk transportation) cattle ranching mushrooms after 1860s • Penny press claims 25-40% profit • Drive cattle 1,000+ miles from TX to rail link, but soon move to raising herds near rail link (long drives inefficient) • Mexican + black cowboys • Profitable open-range ranching w/ massive use gov’t lands; dominated large ranchers w/ backing (London, NYC)

  14. Grazing Wars • Massive cattle ranching conflicts commercial farms + sheep herds (“wooly critters”) • West lacks materials for traditional fences: who owns what? Mass production barbed wire solves conflict • Wire accelerates farming (protect); ranching moves toward big business, away from open-range (large-scale isolate) • Winter 1887-88 Small ranchers out, most cowboys wage-earners

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