The South and the

West Transformed

Chapter 19Lecture Outline

© 2013 W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.

The Myth of the New South

• A Fresh Vision

– Henry W. Grady

believed the South

could be transformed

into a “perfect

democracy

with small farms and

diversifying

industries.

– With regional

prosperity would

come sectional peace

and racial harmony

The Myth of the New

South• Economic Growth

– Cotton demand rises

eightfold

– The Dukes and their tobacco

– Other natural resources

The Myth of the New South

• Agriculture Old and New

– The old plantation system gave way to the tenant farmer or

sharecropper. Farmers worked land they did not own, and

traded a set percentage of their annual yield for the right to

work the field the next season.

The Myth of the New South

The Myth of the New South

• Tenant farming’s effect on the South

– resulted in significant damage to the South

– tenant farmers planted high-yield crops in high demand

– drained the land of nutrients vital for future seasons

– increased use of fertilizers put the land at greater risk

– Once land depleted, tenant farmers moved to another field

The Myth of the New South

• The Redeemers

– small group of Democrats, known as Redeemers,

were in charge, and they gave themselves credit for

saving the South from the Yankee carpetbaggers,

thus “redeeming” the South

• Bourbons

– A group arose within the Redeemers that was

willing to make alliances with northern

conservatives when necessary. They were known

as the Bourbons, after the French royal family

Napoleon had deposed earlier in the century.

the South staggering under the oppressive weight of military

Reconstruction (left) vs

flourishing under the “Let ’Em Alone Policy” of President

Rutherford B. Hayes and the Bourbons (right).

The New West

• The Migratory Stream

– In the Great Plains, farmers found fertile soil, and in the

Southwest, the Great American Desert barred passage to

the California coast.

The New West• African-American Migration

– Thousands of former slaves

migrated west to seek new

opportunities in an untamed

land.

• Called Exodusters because

they made their exodus from

the South.

– Died out in the 1880s, as

many were unprepared for

the harsh living conditions of

the plains.

– Buffalo soldiers

Nicodemus, Kansas A colony founded by

southern blacks in the 1860s.

The New West

• Mining the West

– The Gold Rush of 1849 established a pattern in the search

for precious minerals:

1. gold or another valuable mineral would be discovered,

2. a rush of prospectors would flock to the area,

3. businesses would follow to provide the needs of these migrants,

4. all would flock to a newer find when the mine panned out.

The New West

• The Indian Wars

– Great Sioux War lasted 15 months led by Sitting Bull

– Miners had been encroaching on the Black Hills of the Dakota

territory violating the Black Hills Reservation of the Sioux.

– Colonel George Custer and his detachment of 210 soldiers

moved against a Sioux encampment only to find themselves

surrounded by more than 2,500 warriors

The Real General Custer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ukm4oaEJHNI

The Battle of Little Bighorn, 1876 A painting by Amos Bad

Heart Bull, an Oglala Sioux.

GeronimoBattled white settlers for 15 yrs

in US and in Mexico

Ghost Dance

• Lakota Sioux adopted it as a

ceremonial dance for New Moon

• Alarmed white authorities who

banned it

• Dec. 29, 1980 – Battle of Wounded

Knee

Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee Trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irjRMmQ1n-A

The New West

The New West• Indian Policy

– Americans well aware of wrong doing

on their part

– Changed nothing

– Reformers attempted to

“Americanize” the remaining Indians

through a series of laws granting land

to any native who would cultivate it.

• Dawes Act – divided tribal land,

granting 160 acres to each head

of family

The New West• Cattle and Cowboys

– near-extinction of the buffalo

came the rise of the cattle

drive.

– Terminus for a cattle drive

was whichever rail line was

closest.

• The End of the Open Range

– As farmers continued to

settle the plains, they began

to mark their land with

barbed wire.

– Several hard winters and a

period of drought led to the

end of cattle drives

Open Range Movie Trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4werfN6fQ44

The cowboy era Cowboys herd cattle near

Cimarron, Colorado, 1905.

The New West

• Farmers and the Land

– The Homestead Act of

1862 opened for

cultivation the last portion

of the Great Plains.

– This land was arid and

not easily cultivated.

– At the turn of the century,

Progressives pushed for

water rights and dams to

assist farmers in that

area.

– Bonanza Farms – farms

with machinery for mass

production

Far and Away – Land

Rush Scene

https://www.youtube.c

om/watch?v=yxaJY8U

Zxn4

• Pioneer Women

– Women in the West faced the same societal constraints as

in the east.

– However, many women who became widowed in the West

assumed control of their land and obtained independence

they would not have been allowed back home.

The New West

The New West

• The End of the Frontier

– In 1890, the census office could no longer find an area that

qualified as a frontier line.

– Previously, it was defined as an area where fewer than two

people per square mile resided.

– Frederick Jackson Turner