Chapter 15 Section 2 Critical Thinking #5

5) What effects did the migration from rural areas to the cities in the late 19th century have on urban society?


The migration from rural areas to the cities in the late 19th century had effects on the quality of life in the cities. The urbanization lead to many problems such as crime, housing issues, transporation, and sanitation among other things (p. 470). It also caused tension between blacks and whites as they competed for jobs (p.469).
The rapid urbanization of cities caused many problems. One of these was the issue of housing. When citydwellers started living in tenements, they were meant as an improvement over the row houses and cramped boardinghouses. But due to poor sanitation measures by the city, garbage was infrequently picked up and people would dump garbage out the air vents, which would attract vermin and they would then be forced to board up the windows to keep the smell out. Getting water that was safe for drinking in the cities was also a problem. Cities such as New York and Cleveland built public waterworks, but many cities were still receiving inadequate piped water into the 1860s. This assisted in the spread of diseases such as cholera and typhoid fever (p. 470). Fires were a problem that were not helped by the lack of water. Most city dwellings were wooden. Candles and kerosene heaters were fire hazards, and when blazes did spring up, there wasn't enough water to put the fires out. This resulted in the formation of the first full-time, paid firefighter squad in Cincinnati, since often firefighters weren't available when they were needed. This lead to advancements, such as automatic fire sprinklers and the replacement of wood with stone, brick of concrete. Crime increased as well, as city populations grew. The first full-time police force was organized by N.Y.C. in 1844, but it wasn't enough to make a big impact (p. 471). Basically the problem was that cities weren't able to keep up with their huge growth, and things started to come apart. Sanitation and tranportation were also problems.
Urbanization caused tension between blacks and whites as well. Many southern farmers lost their jobs when advances in technology were made that meant that less laborers were needed for the same jobs. Many of the farmers who lost their jobs and had to move to cities to make a living were African Americans. They often moved North or West to cities like Chicago or Detroit to try to escape political opression, racial violence and economic hardship, but things weren't much better in these cities, and job competition caused racial tension between them and the whites (p. 469).

Chapter 15 Section 2 Critical Thinking #4

4) Which solution (or attempted solution) to an urban problem discussed in this section do you think had the most impact? Why?


The attempt made at finding a solution for housing had the greatest impact, though it was a negative one. Tenements were multi-family dwellings in the city that several immigrant families would live in together when the previous working class inhabitants of the home left the city. The alternatives were to buy a house in the outskirts of town and face problems with transportation or rent small boardinghouses in the city. Row houses were established as well; these were single-family dwellings shared walls with the other houses and crammed many families onto one block. Though tenements were in the central city and not as cramped as boardinghouses, they were often unsanitary and overcrowded. New York City passed a law in 1879 to improve the squalid conditions, setting minimum standards for plumbing and ventilation, and landlords started to build tenements with air shafts and windows in every room, but since garbage was picked up infrequently, people started to dump the garbage into air vents. This would attract rats and other unpleasant creatures one wouldn't like to have in their house, and people started to nail up the windows to keep the smell of rotting garbage out. Even though tenements were supposed to have been an improvement over row houses, boardinghouses and houses far from the city, they quickly ended up in terrible condition, cramped, filthy, unsanitary and worse than the original options (all p. 470).

Chapter 15 Section 1 Critical Thinking #4

4) What were the effects of the massive influx of immigrants to the U.S. in the late 1800s?

The results of the massive influx of immigrants to the United States in the late 1800s largely caused Americans to dislike immigration. Nativism was one of the things that rose as immigration grew, or overt favoritism towards native-born Americans. Nativism lead to anti-immigrant groups and and demands for immigration restrictions. Not all immigrants, however, were given a problem by nativists; if the immigrants were Anglo-Saxons, and from a country like England, Germany, or Scandinavia. Immigrants from Mexico and Asian countries were from the "wrong" countries. If the immigrants were of an unfavorable religion, they would be prejudiced against as well. The foundation of the nativist group the American Protective Association launched attacks again Catholics and many businesses and clubs wouldn't allow Jews in (p. 464).
As well as the rise of nativism and anti-immigrant groups, there was fear that immigrants would take all of the jobs available and leave native-born Americans without jobs or money. Particularly in the West, many native-born workers were afraid that all jobs would be taken by immigrants (Asians in the West, for the most part), who accepted lower wages. These fears led to movements passes by Congress, such as the Chinese Exclusion Act and The Gentleman's Agreement; there were many segregation movements pushed by anti-immigrant groups (p. 465).

Chapter 15-1 Critical Thinking #3

3) Which immigrant group do you think faced the greatest challenges in the United States? Why?



The Asian immigrants faced the greatest challenges in the United States. For one, the trip from Asia to Angel Island took 3 weeks, as opposed to the 1 week trip from Europe to Ellis Island. The majority of immigrants couldn't afford more than steerage, which was cramped, and dirty, and they would be crowded in with hundreds of strangers with unknown diseases with no fresh air (p. 462). Asians arrived in Angel Island in San Francisco Bay. Procedure was very different than the orderly way of doing things at Ellis island, almost opposite. Immigrants faced harsh questioning and long detention in filthy building where they waited to find out if they were going to be sent back to Asia (p. 463).
All immigrants faced problems once they actually got to the U.S., such as prejudice, and the difficulty of finding a home, but it seems that the Asians were received more hostility than other immigrants who were Anglo-Saxon, or from the "right" countries. Nativists were concerned that Asians were going to take the jobs of native-born Americans, since they accepted lower wages (p. 464). During the depression of 1873, when jobs were scarce, labor groups pressured the government to restrict Asian immigration, and anti-Asian feelings intensified. In 1882, Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act, which banned entry to the U.S. to all Chinese except for students, teachers, government officials, merchants, and tourists. The law wasn't repealed until 1943 (p. 465). In addition to this, the local board of education in San Francisco segregated the schools so that the Japanese had to go to a different school. Japan was infuriated at this, and luckily the Gentleman's Agreement was figured out between President Roosevelt in 1907, in which the school board agreed to desegregate the schools if Japan would restrict the emigration of unskilled workers coming to the United States (p. 465).

Chapter 15 Section 2 Guided Reading

15-2 GUIDED READING

1)

Reasons for being drawn to cities in the Northeast and Midwest:

Immigrants: Cities were the cheapest and most convenient places to live. They also offered many jobs for unskilled laborers at mills and factories.

Farmers: Advances in technology made farming more efficient but fewer laborers were needed to work the land. Many farms merged, and many rural people moved to cities to find work.

African-Americans: Many left their homes to escape racial violence, economic hardship, and political oppression.

2)

Problems and what were done about them:

Lack of safe and efficient transportation: Innovations in mass transit were made to enable workers to get to jobs easier. Street cars were introduced in San Francisco in 1873 and electric subways to Boston in 1897.

Unsafe drinking water: Cities such as New York and Cleveland built public waterworks. Filtration was introduced in the 1870s and chlorination in 1908, because the piped water was still unsanitary and inadequate, if the people had any at all

Lack of sanitation: By 1900 many cities had developed sewer lines and created sanitation departments, although this did not solve the problem completely. Private contractors called scavengers were hired to sweep the streets, collect garbage, and clean outhouses; however, they often did inadequate jobs.

Fire hazards: Cincinnati solved the problem of firemen not always being available by starting the first paid fire department in 1853. Most cities had professional fire departments by 1900. The introduction of the practical automatic fire sprinkler and the replacement of wood with brick, stone of concrete as building materials also made cities safer.

Crime: New York City organized the first full-time, paid police force in 1844, but most of them were too small to have much of an effect.

Urbanization: The growth of cities.

Social Gospel movement: A program that preached salvation thorough service to the poor.

Settlement houses: Inspired by the Social Gospel movement, some reformers established settlement houses, community centers in slum neighborhoods which provided help and assistance to the people, especially immigrants, in the area.

Jane Addams: One of the most influential members of the Settlement house movement and Ellen Gates Starr founded Chicago’s Hull House in 1889; one of the first. By 1910, about 400 settlement houses existed throughout the country.

Chapter 15 Section 1 Guided Reading Questions

Chapter 15-1 Guided Reading Questions

1)

Southern and Eastern European Immigrants:

Came from: Italy, Austria-Hungary, and Russia.

Came to the U.S. because: Many wished to escape religious prosecution; many Jews were forced out of Russia by pogroms. Others left because they wanted lives of freedom and independence in America. Others left because of the rising populations. The promise of plentiful jobs was a lure, as well.

Entered the U.S. at: Ellis Island; the East Coast.

Asian Immigrants:

Came from: Japan, China.

Came to the U.S. because: They were seeking their fortunes after the discovery of gold in California, as well as for jobs; the railroads were largely built by Asian immigrants.

Entered the U.S. at: West Coast; Angel Island.

Caribbean Islands and Central America:

Came from: Jamaica, Cuba, Puerto Rico, and other Islands.

Came to the U.S. because: Jobs were scarce and the Industrial boom in the U.S. seemed to promise jobs to everyone. Mexicans came because of political turmoil. The 1902 National Reclamation Act, which encouraged the irrigation and farming of arid land, drew Mexican farmers to the North. Political and social upheavals in 1910 caused more immigration.

Entered the U.S. at: Southeast and Southwest.

2)

The Difference Between Native-Born and New Immigrant Americans:

Immigrants: Nativism, or the overt favoritism towards native-born Americans, became a problem for immigrants when immigration grew. Anti-immigration groups were formed, and demands for restrictions on immigration were made. Many immigrants didn’t want to give up their cultural identities. Nativists often had no problem with Anglo-Saxon immigrants, but objected very much to immigrants from Asian and Latin countries. The immigrants also faced religious prosecution. Immigrants generally accepted lower wages. The Chinese Exclusion Act was passed by Congress in 1882, which for 10 years banned all immigrants except for students, teachers, merchants, tourists, and government officials. The law wasn’t repealed until 1943. The Gentleman’s Agreement was enacted in 1907, the terms of which were: Japan had to limit emigration of unskilled workers in exchange for the repeal of a San Francisco segregation order which put Japanese children into separate schools.

Native-Born Americans: Had a fear that immigrants (particularly Chinese immigrants) would take all of their jobs. Natives were preferred to immigrants, treated better, given higher wages, etc. Native-born Americans considered the country to be a “melting pot” where everybody of different races and cultures blended together to make one country, and were angered when immigrants wanted to keep their cultural identities.

Chapter 14 Section 3 Critical Thinking

Do you think that the tycoons of the late 19th century are best described as ruthless robber barons or as effective captains of industry?
-management tactics and business strategies
-contributions to the economy
-attitude toward competition

I think that the tycoons were better described as ruthless. Their cutthroat tactics and strategies for making more money were cruel to their workers and deceptive to their buyers. For example, oil tycoon John D. Rockefeller started off processing 2 to 3% of the country's crude oil, and within a decade, he controlled 90%. When he had monopolized the market, he raised his prices to be much higher than what they were. He also got large amounts of money because of how little her paid his workers; whole families would have to work in the factories in order to support themselves. I addition, the factories were poorly kept and dangerous, but if an employee was injured, they would not be given compensation. Work hours were long and there were no vacations; it was often a 7 day work week. While the average man made $498 and the average woman $267 in 1899, Andrew Carnegie made $23 million with no income tax.
The attitude of tycoons towards the competition was either to try to buy them out or run them out of business. In horizontal integration, companies would buy their competition and they would merge as one company. Alternatively, there was vertical integration, in which the companies would buy out their suppliers and thus be in charge of transportation and raw materials, which would make it much harder for their competition to get supplies. The policy seems to have been a "join or die" type of thing.

Chapter 14 Section 3 Guided Reading and q. #2 pParticic. 455

1) Vertical Integration: a) Vertical integration is when a company would buy out all of its suppliers in order to control raw materials and transportation systems.
b)This helped tycoons and big companies because they would have control over the raw materials and transportation systems, and would thus not have to worry about high prices from their suppliers and make it harder for their competitors to get supplies.

2) Horizontal Integration: a) When companies would buy out competing companies and they merge.
b) The competition would be very much limited if you own most of the other companies.

3) Social Darwinism: a) The belief that the market should not be regulated, and that success was determined by natural law and not be interfered with. Riches were a sign of God's favor and therefore the por were inferior and deserved their lives.
b) This would be helpful to tycoons because new competition would be less likely to rise up and challenge them, as well as the fact that people would veiw their success as God's favor.

4) Monopoly: a) Complete control over it's industry's production, wages and prices.
b) If you control everything, then what more needs be said?

5) Holding Company: a) A corporation that did nothing but buy out the stock of other companies.
b) It would help to get a monopoly

6) Trust: a) Participants would turned their stock over to trustees, people who ran the companies as one large corporation.
b) Competition would be eliminated.

7) The perception of tycoons as "robber barons": critics disliked them and began to call them robber barons due to their harsh tactics.

8) Sherman Antitrust Act: An act that made it illegal to form a trust that interfered with free trade between states or other countries.

Chapter 14 Section 2 Guided Reading

1) What problems did employees of railroad companies face?

Thousands of Chinese immigrants were employed by Central Pacific Railroad. The Union Pacific company employed Irish immigrants and otherwise unemployed Civil War veterans. They had to lay miles of tracks throughout treacherous terrain while they faced attacks from Indians. Many men were killed and disabled by disease and accidents. By 1888, the casualties were more than 2,000 employees killed and 20,000 injured.

2) What was it like to live as a Pullman employee in the town of Pullman?

The town of Pullman was much nicer than the housing complexes that were provided by the textile mills. Rather than just providing housing, the company gave the employees a town that provided all of their basic needs, and some luxuries as well, such as clean brick houses with at least one window in every room, services and facilities, shops a doctors office, etc. However, life in the town was very much tightly controlled by the company. Employees weren't allowed to loiter on their front steps or drink alcohol. It was a strict lifestyle, and Pullman expected that making the people live in such a controlled way he would get more stable work force.

3) Who was involved in Credit Mobilier, and what was the purpose of the company?

Credit Mobilier was formed by stockholders in Union Pacific Railroad as a construction company. The company was given a contract to lay track at two to three times the normal price, and would take the profits for themselves. About 20 representatives in Congress had stock shares donated to them in 1867. After an investigation was made, it was found that officers of the Union Pacific had taken 23 million dollars in stocks, bonds and cash. Also involved were James Garfield and Vice President Schuyler Colfax.

4) In what ways did railroad companies use their power to hurt farmers?

The railroads were hurting the farmers in several ways: the railroads were misusing the government land grants by selling them not to settlers, as was intended, but to other businesses; the railroad companies were also in formal talks to fix prices, which would keep farmers permanently in debt; and they would charge different customers different prices and charging more for short hauls than long ones, taking advantage of the fact that the farmers didn't have an alternate way of transporting goods.

5) Why didn't the decision in Munn vs. Illinois case succeed in checking the power of the railroads?

The decision in Munn vs. Illinois was that the state would have the right to regulate railroads for the benefit of farmers and consumers. However, in 1886 the Supreme Court ruled that a state couldn't set rates on interstate commerce. Congress then passed the Interstate Commerce Act in 1887, which established the right of the federal government to supervise railroad activities and established the Interstate Commerce Commission to enforce the law, in response to public outrage. However, they didn't get much accomplished due to resistance from railroads and long legal processes. The Supreme Court later ruled that the ICC couldn't set maximum railroad rates, and that was the figurative death blow, and it was powerless.

6) Why didn't the Interstate Commerce Act immediately limit the power of the railroads?

The Interstate Commerce Commission was formed as a result of the Interstate Commerce Act, and the group was supposed to supervise railroad activities, but had difficulty regulating railroad rates due to long legal processes and resistance from railroad companies. In 1897 the Supreme Court passed an act that said the ICC couldn't set maximum railroad rates. The ICC didn't have the power necessary to be effective again until 1906.

Chapter 14 Section 1 Guided Reading

1) Which natural resources played big roles in industrialization?

Copious ammounts of oil were discovered, and after the steam engine oil drill was invented, there was an oil boom that went to Kentucky, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana and Texas. Petroeum refining industries were started in Cleveland and Pittsburgh, and entrepreneurs rushed to make kerosene from oil. There were also abundant deposits of coal and iron. When the Bessemer process became popular, steel was used to make thousands of miles of railroad tracks. The railroads companies were the most important steel buyers, but other inventors found uses for it. Barbed wire and farm machines helped to make the Great Plains the breadbasket of the nation. It also became important in building; steel was used for bridges and skyscrapers.

2) How did Edwin Drake help industry to acquire larger quantities of oil?

Edwin L. Drake successfully used a steam engine to drill for oil in Pennsylvania in 1859. After this, removing oil from beneath the surface of the earth became easy and practical. Although oil had been used before this to make kerosene for lamps, but it was hard to get to it. After this method of recovering oil was discovered, though, an oil boom which went all through the country, from Kentucky to Texas and beyond. Petroleum-refining industries in Cleveland and Pittsburgh arose as entrepreneurs rushed to transform oil into kerosene.

3) How did the Bessemer process allow the better use of iron ore?

Before the discovery of the Bessemer process, iron was very plentiful in the U.S., but it was impractical to use because of how soft it was, and its tendency to break and rust. It also often contains other elements, like carbon. The Bessemer process allowed the other elements to be lifted out of the iron to make a lighter, more flexible, rust resistant metal out of the iron called steel. The Bessemer process was cheap and efficient, and by 1880, America was making more than 90% of the nation's steel using this process. It was sued for railroad tracks, as well as many other inventions like barbed wire and farming machinery.

4) What new uses for steel were developed at this time?

The railroads soon became the biggest customers to the steel industry, making thousand of miles of track with it, but there were also other inventions that used steel, barbed wire and farm machinery prominent among them. Steel also made innovative construction possible, and was sued to construct the Brooklyn Bridge, as well as skyscrapers. Before steel was used as a frame for buildings, their height was limited because the iron frames and walls supported the weight of the buildings.

5) How did Thomas Edison contribute to the development of the increasing numbers of inventions?

When Edison made a system to harness electrical power, many inventions were made, mostly time saving appliances, that used the new electric system. Among these were many kinds of machines, such as fans and printing presses, as well as numerous other types of factory machines used in various plants. When electricity became available in homes, many time saving appliances were invented, and the electric streetcar was invented. And since plants were no longer required to be located near a river or other power source, industry grew rapidly. Basically, inventors realized that electricity could power pretty much anything, and capitalized on that.

6) How did George Westinghouse contribute to it?

After Edison invented the incandescent light bulb and a system for producing and distributing electrical power, George Westinghouse contributed to it by adding innovations that would make it safer and less expensive. As a result, businesses were more likely to use it, since it cost less, and homes were more likely to have it, since it was now cheaper, and then all of the subsequent inventions followed the wider spread of electricity.

7) How did Christopher Sholes contribute?

Christopher Sholes invented the typewriter in 1867, and this invention created more jobs for women, who by 1910 made up almost 40% of the clerical workforce. His inventions helped make labor more efficient and quick.

8) How did Alexander Graham Bell contribute?

Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone in 1876, which opened the way for a worldwide communications network. This, too opened many more jobs for women.

Chapter 14 Section 2 Critical Thinking

The federal government was so eager to promote the growth of railroads because it realized how important railroads were to the development and settling of the West (p. 442). They unified the country; by 1869, there was the first transcontinental railroad, and others followed soon afterwards, as well as more regional lines. The railroads' demand for supplies also helped the country. The industries for iron, coal, steel, lumber, and glass grew hugely. The spread of the roads caused towns to flourish, established new markets and "offered rich opportunities to both visionaries and profiteers" (p. 443). Trade and interdependence were all promoted by the railroad's joining cities and towns that had once been isolated, and small towns started to specialize in specific markets. New towns and communities grew along the railroad lines, and were prosperous due to them.

Chapter Fourteen Section One Critical Thinking

The invention/development with the greatest impact of society was the discovery by Thomas Edison of how to harness electrical power. One of the things that made it so important was the wide range of places that it was used; in factories to power machines, in homes for light, and even in public transportation, with the invention of the electric streetcar.
The system developed by Edison revolutionized business in America. By 1890, many machines (such as the printing press) were powered by electricity. It was inexpensive and convenient, and we still use it today. It became available for use in the home and many time-saving appliances were invented in its wake. Besides the impact of these things in daily life, the growing of cities was promoted when the electric streetcar made travel easier and cheaper.
The effect on business was great as well; now plants could be located wherever manufacturers chose, instead of near a power source such as a river, as was done before. Labor was much easier and took much less time. As a result, industry grew hugely. After some companies became successful, many other businesses used their efficient processes as a model. Labor was much easier and took much less time.

Current Events Summary

There has been a mixture of good and bad foreign policy news coming from the Middle East for the last two weeks. Some uplifting news has come from Israel, where they have decided that they will allow refugees from Darfur to come into the country, something which they had been trying to curb. "Israel, with its history, must offer assistance," said Israeli Interior Minister Meir Sheetrit. "It can't stand by and shut its eyes ", due to the past of Israel, founded after World War II when the Jewish people faced persecution from the Nazis. The country had been trying to make the number of Africans entering Israel illegally through Egypt in recent months, but many citizens felt that this was wrong given the history of the country. The Interior Minister has been "working with the United Nations to set a quota of refugees to become naturalised Israelis".
However, it can't all be nice news: During a huge rally in Beirut marking the end of the war between Lebanon and Israel, the leader of Hezbollah (Sheik Hassan Nasrallah) made a speech warning Israel from attacking Lebanon again. "If you, the Zionists, are considering attacking Lebanon, I am reserving a surprise for you that will change the fate of the war and the region," he said, and "In the same way we were victorious in August 2006, I warn them that here in Lebanon there is a resistance, an army and a people... that reject humiliation and fear only God". The UN Security Council was able to stop the war, but it has been an "uneasy peace".
On Saturday the 6th it was reported that some Israeli jets entered the Syrian airspace from the Mediterranean, "possibly penetrating deep into the country". Unidentified drop tanks were found later near the Syrian border on Turkish land, which could mean that that was the escape route of the jets. Furious Syrian authorities reported that the weaponry of the jets was fired into a deserted area, and were successfully driven off. Most of what happened is a mystery, but it seems that the jets dumped their weapons in order to manoeuvre better during their escape. Israeli sources are staying quiet, and the Syrian government has complained to the UN. Strangely, though, the reactions from both sides have been "muted", and though Syria is angry, the country doesn't seem to have interpreted the attacks as a prelude to larger attacks.
Finally, and thankfully, there is some cooperation between the U.S. and the Middle East (although it's not technically a state or country, it is a very large group of people). Sunni insurgents are now joining the U.S. in resisting al Qaeda in Iraq. Relations have apparently progressed well, and although it was thought a year ago that it would be impossible to form a good relationship with the Sunni insurgents, the violence from the al Qaeda extremists became too much and the Sunni leaders went to U.S. troops for help. "In the three months since this has started, we have gathered more insurgents up, more terrorists, than we did in the preceding nine months. And that's because they have pointed out to us these people within their own ranks," said a Colonel in Iraq.

Guided Reading 13-3

Guided Reading 13-3

1) The farmers were trapped in a “vicious economic cycle” in the late 1800s. Prices for crops were falling, so many farmers were mortgaging their land so that they could buy more land and make more crops. The banks were foreclosing the land of increasing amounts of farmers if they couldn’t pay their loans, and the quality of land was getting worse. The railroads were also charging high prices for the shipment and storage of grain.

2) The Grange wanted to provide a social outlet and educational forum for isolated farm families, but by the late 1870s, the group was focusing most of its energy on fighting the railroads. It taught its members to organize, set up farmers’ cooperatives and sponsor state legislature to regulate railroads.

3) The platform of the Populist Party called for reforms to lift debt from farmers and give the people a greater voice in their govt. The economic reforms suggested by the party were an increase in the money supply to raise the price of goods; a graduated income tax; and a federal loan program. The party also proposed that U.S. senators be elected by popular vote, single terms for the president and vice president, a secret program to end vote fraud. They also called for an 8 hour workday and immigration restrictions

4) In 1893, the railroads had expanded faster than markets, and consequently Philadelphia and Reading Railroads went bankrupt, and then the Erie, the North

5) \Pacific, Union Pacific and the Santa Fe. The farmers were deeply in debt with many loans, and partly due to the govt.’s obligation to buy silver, the gold supply was low. This caused people to panic and trade their paper money for gold. Stocks fell quickly in Wall Street, and the price of silver plunged, which caused several mines to close. In one year, more than 15,000 businesses and 500 banks closed. Prices, consumer purchases, and wages fell, and investments declined. 3 million people lost their jobs.

6) There was a debate over what they monetary system of the U.S. should be. The two sides were the gold bugs and the people who supported bimetallism. Gold bugs were generally wealthy businessmen who believed that the currency should be exclusively backed by gold, which would make a more expensive yet more stable monetary system. Bimetallism was the monetary system in which the govt. would give citizens both silver and gold in exchange for paper money and checks. Bimetallism supporters were usually farmers and laborers who believed that bimetallism would stimulate the economy; the system would make more money, with less value to the dollar.

7) The presidential election of 1896 caused the end of populism for several reasons: for one, the group sacrificed their identity as a separate party because they didn’t nominate their own candidate, but endorsed the Democratic Party’s candidate. Their candidate lost to William McKinley, who was a gold bug, and so his election crushed the hopes of the downtrodden farmers who were the heart and soul of the party.

Guided Reading 13-2

Guided Reading 13-2

1) Effects of land grants given to railroad companies: Two railroad companies, Central Pacific and Union Pacific started a race to lay tracks. It was grueling work, and the Union Pacific company would drill through mountains and lay up to 8 miles of tracks a day. Both of the companies reached Utah by 1869. 15 years later, there were 5 transcontinental railroads, and the East and West were linked. Railroad companies would sell their land to settlers for 2 to 10 dollars an acre, and the companies would even send salesmen to Europe to find buyers, and so many of the settlers in the western lands were immigrants.

2) The Effects of the Homestead Act and other related laws passed in the 1870’s: To encourage land settlement in the West, the govt. started giving away land for free, and over 600,000 settlers took advantage of this. However, companies such as the railroads and ranchers also took this land for their own use and only about 10% of the land was used by the families for whom it was intended. More laws were passed to give away land in what is now Oklahoma, which attracted thousands of settlers. Settlers took about 2 million acres of land in less than a day, and some claimed land before the government declared the land open.

3) Effects of inventions and improvement in farm equipment: Many advancements in technology were made; John Deere invented the steel plow, and a reaping machine was invented. These didn’t reach the mass market until the late 1800’s. By 1890 there were more than 900 farm equipment manufacturers. It took only about 183 minutes to reap a bushel of grain in the 1830’s, and by and by 1900, it took only about 10. This made grain more available for a wider market.

4) Effects of the Morrill Land Grants Acts and Hatch Act: The Morrill Act gave federal land to the states to help finance agricultural colleges, and the Hatch Act established agricultural experiment stations to inform farmers of new developments. Researchers developed grains for dry soil and techniques for dry farming. These helped farming in the West to flourish, and resulted in it becoming “the breadbasket of the nation”.

Hardships of the Farmers:

- Elaborate machinery was expensive, and to compete, farmers had to borrow money to buy it. They could pay the money back when wheat prices were high, but when they fell they would have to raise more crops.

- Bonanza farming became popular when the prices for machinery went up, and many farmers had to mortgage their land in order to pay for the extra land, and as farms got bigger, so did their debts. When the plains experienced a drought, and large single-crop operations couldn’t compete with smaller farms which were more flexible with their crops, and the bonanza farms went bankrupt.

- The cost of shipping grain was high, and Western farmers were charged more than Eastern farmers by the railroad companies. Railroad companies sometimes charged more for short hauls, for which there was no competing for of transportation, than long hauls.

-Many farmers were growing as much grain as they possibly could on as much land as they could possibly grow, which led to them going further into debt.

Guided Reading 13-1

Guided Reading 13-1

1) The discovery of gold affected the settlement of the West because it caused thousands of miners to flood to the area. The land there had been Native American land before the miners came, and since the Native Americans didn’t believe that anyone could own the land, it was untouched. The settlers said that the fact that the Natives hadn’t settled down to “improve” the land meant that they had forfeited it, and what was once the unspoiled landscapes upon which the Natives had made their homes became dirty, ramshackle, overcrowded camps and boomtowns in which miners and entrepreneurs lived.

2) The federal government passed an act that gave the entire Great Plains to the Natives in 1834, but by the 1850’s, its policy had changed and the government made treaties that defined specific boundaries for each tribe. The Natives, however, ignored this for the most part and continued to hunt on their native lands, which sometimes lead to trouble. In 1864, many members of the Cheyenne tribe peacefully returned to the Sand Creek reserve in Colorado for the winter, under the impression that they were under the protection of the government. However, General S. R. Curtis, who was a commander in the West, sent a telegram to Colonel John Chivington ordering him to attack, and so he and his men descended upon the Cheyenne and Arapaho, who were camped at Sand Creek, killing more than 150 people.

3) The Terms of the Treaty of Fort Laramie were: in return for the government closing the Bozeman Trail (white men settling there caused skirmishes between the Natives and the whites), the Sioux would live on a reservation along the Mississippi River. The Treaty was forced upon the leaders, and Sitting Bull, who was the leader of the Hunkpapa Sioux, had never even signed it. The other leaders had seen it, but thought that they would be able to use their traditional hunting grounds under the treaty. The treaty failed because the settlers continued to move Westward and the Sioux continued to struggle against the restrictions imposed upon them. They hated that they were being forced to assimilate, and give up their traditional ways for farming and living in a house, as well as other practices of the white man.

4) After about 4 years of the Treaty of Fort Laramie being signed, miners started to search the Black Hills, which were sacred to the Sioux, for gold. When Colonel George Custer reported that there was a large amount of gold there, there was a gold rush, and the appeals of the chieftains did nothing. Sitting Bull had visions of soldiers and some Natives falling in battle during a sun dance, and when Colonel Custer came, the Natives were prepared. They outnumbered the Colonel and his men, and they efficiently crushed all of his troops. Within an hour, Colonel Custard and the entire Seventh Cavalry were dead.

5) The purpose of the Dawes Act was to force the Natives to assimilate, or basically become “Americanized”. The act broke up reservations and part of the land was given to each head of household or unmarried adult. The remainder of the land would be sold by the government to the settlers and the money made from the sales would be used to buy the Natives farm equipment. However, by the 1930’s, two thirds of the land set aside for the Natives was owned by white settlers and the Natives never got any money.

6) On December 28, 1890, about 350 starving a freezing Sioux were taken by the Seventh Cavalry to a camp at Wounded Knee Creek. The soldiers demanded the next day that the Natives give up their weapons, and a shot was fired from one side, it is unclear which. The Cavalry open fired with a cannon, and within minutes, 300 unarmed Natives were murdered. This was the last of the Indian wars.

Chapter 3 Section 3 Critical Thinking

Q: What do you think were the most significant factors in bringing an end to the Populist Party?

- Monetary policy

- Third-party status

- Source of popular support

- Popular participation policy

The Populist Party was a very short-lived political party in the late 1800’s. Some of the reasons for its demise were its monetary policy, its status as a third party, its supporters and its belief that the people should have more of a say in what the government did.

The Populist Party was in support of bimetallism, a monetary system that used gold and silver, rather than just gold. One of the reasons this was a factor in the collapse of the party was its candidate in the 1896 election, William Jennings Bryan (p.428). He was the presidential candidate of the Democrats as well, but his belief in bimetallism caused wealthy Democrats in favor of the gold standard to nominate their own candidate. Bryan lost support in cities, where the inflation that would result in his election would cause prices of goods to rise (p.429). He lost the election to William McKinley, who had support in the North and the Middle West (basically everywhere industrial). McKinley’s election “buried the hopes of the farmers”, to quote page 429 of the book, and the collapse of the Populist Party occurred quite soon after. Aside from their party’s faith in a candidate who would have a hard time getting elected as president, the Populist’s Party’s belief in bimetallism ensured that they would have no support in the more heavily populated cities, which made it very unlikely that they would ever be able to win an election and thus make a change.

The Populist Party’s status as a third party hurt them for several reasons. From the beginning, they were at a disadvantage: they had to make their own party from two previously existing parties who would be their rivals, and then attract people from those other parties to their cause. The competition for the Populist Party was well-established, and neither faced the problems that the Populists did. In addition, the Populists compromised their identity as a party by not electing their own presidential candidate; their nominee was William Jennings Bryan, who was also the Democratic nominee (p.429), and so they had split themselves. By doing this, they lost their identity and narrowed the range of people who would vote for them. The gold bug Democrats had nominated their own presidential candidate, and the Democrats who would vote for William Jennings Bryan would most likely vote for him with the Democratic vice presidential candidate.

The source of popular support for the Populist Party was largely struggling farmers, as well as other laborers to whom the platform of the Populist Party appealed. These people were not as rich or influential as the rich gold bugs, and that may have impacted the turnout of the election of 1896, which lead to the demise of the party. William McKinley was very rich, and his campaign was backed by millions of dollars. While William Jennings Bryan had to tour the country, campaigning in 27 states and making up to 20 speeches a day, McKinley “campaigned from his front porch, while thousands of well known people toured the country speaking on his behalf”(p.429). The people who were the base of the Populist Party didn’t have the money or fame that the supporters of McKinley, and were not nearly as influential people. Jennings Bryan had to wear himself to the ground to spread his message, and McKinley barely had to lift a finger. It is hard to overcome such wealth and influence, and the economic status of the struggling farmers was no help to their candidate.

What many of the difficulties of the Populist Party came down to seem to have been a struggle between the rich politicians and businessmen and the poor farmers. One wouldn’t think that the idea of a popular participation policy would be something that would hurt the party at first, but the people who were the opponents of the Populists were rich and in power. If these people were in charge of the government for the larger part, certainly they wouldn’t want that to change that. They would hate the idea of giving the “common folk” more power in their government, and would try hard to crush the Populists, because if the Populists died, then the idea of a popular participation policy died with them. And since these people were rich and influential, they could easily promote themselves far better than the poor farmers of the West, and get people to vote for them. The rivals of the populists were able to easily bury them.

Chapter 3 Section 2 Critical Thinking

Critical Thinking Chapter 3 Section 2

How successful were government efforts to promote settlement of the Great Plains?

- the growth in population on the Great Plains

- the role of railroads in the economy

- the Homestead Act

The efforts of the government to promote the settlement of the Great Plains were somewhat successful. They started by ensuring that people would have a good way to travel by giving land grants to the railroad companies, and then capitalized on the new transportation systems by passing the Homestead Act so that people came flooding into the West. The population growth of the West Certainly grew, but the land was not always put to the use it was meant for. For example, only a small amount of land meant for families in the Homestead Act was used by the people it was intended for. The government’s attempts were certainly successful, but there were a few drawbacks such as those.

The federal government made large land grants to the railroad companies so that they could lay tracks in the West (p. 420). One of the grants made it so that the companies Union Pacific and Central Pacific would receive 10 miles of land for every mile of track they put down. The competing companies made railroads that reached to Utah by 1869, and by the time that 15 years were past, the country had 5 transcontinental railroads, meaning that the West and the East Coasts were connected. The companies then began selling pieces of their land to settlers, and even sent agents to Europe to find potential buyers (p.421). By first giving the railroad companies land grants, the government ensured that settlers would be more willing to move to the Plains because of the ease of travel. It would be an easy journey, if you were a farmer, you would be able to ship your crops, and the land was being sold for 2 to 10 dollars an acre by the companies.

Now that the land was so accessible for people wishing to move West with the railroads, the government increased interest in Western land by passing the Homestead Act. The Homestead Act was a piece of legislation that offered 160 acres of free land to each head of household, and from 1862 to 1900, about 600,000 people took advantage of the government’s offer. However, much of the land was used by railroads and businesses for their own gain, and only about 10% of the land was used by the families it was intended for, and not all of the land was fertile. In some areas, more than 160 acres of land would be needed to make farming worthwhile (p,421). While these problems made the Homestead Act less successful, more legislation was passed to strengthen it, and in 1889 the government gave away a huge amount of land in what is now Oklahoma, and 2 million acres of land was claimed in less than a day in a huge land rush.

Despite the small problems of the Homestead Act, the proof of the government’s success was obvious in the West’s population rise: in 1850, only about 1% of the nation’s population was living in the West, and by 1900 the number was almost 30%. 19 million acres of government land had been purchased by 1880, and then there was all the land that had been given away to add to that (p. 422).

Though some of the government’s attempts to promote settlement of the Western Land were not 100% successful, the numbers do not lie; the fact that the nation’s population living in the West went from 1% to 30% in less than 50 years is not unimpressive. It was well thought out, and a large amount of people settled on the Plains and in the Western Lands.