Government Fights Business Abuse-

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  1890: Congress passed the Sherman Antitrust Act which made it illegal to form a trust that interfered with free trade between states or with other countries
  
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  The act didn’t clearly define terms such as trust, making it difficult to prosecute companies under the law
  
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  Trusts such as Standard Oil would simply reorganize into individual corporations when attacked by the government
  
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  The Supreme Court threw out 7 of 8 cases that the gov. brought against trusts
  
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  Eventually, the gov. stopped prosecuting and business consolidation continued
  

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  ***The most significant factor in the development of labor unions during the nineteenth century was working conditions
  
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    many factory workers worked 6 or 7 days a week
    
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    no vacation, unemployment, workers compensation for injuries
    
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    injuries were common- In 1882, an average of 675 workers were killed on the job
    
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    Wages were so low that most members of a family had to work- child labor was rampant
    

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  1866: National Labor Union (NLU)- first national organization of laborers
  
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  1869: Knights of Labor- Open to all workers, regardless of skill, race, or gender
  
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    ***The Knights of Labor was the first union to welcome blacks and whites alike
    
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    At its height in 1886, the Knights of Labor had about 700,000 members
    
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  1886: The American Federation of Labor (AFL)- formed by Samuel Gompers, the AFL organized skilled workers from other separate craft unions
  
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    ***Concentrating on higher wages and better working conditions, the AFL developed into the largest labor union in the United States
    
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    Used collective bargaining to reach agreements on wages, hours, and working conditions
    
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    Also successfully used strikes to raise wages and shorten workweeks
    
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  1893: The American Railway Union- founded by Eugene V. Debs, the ARU combined skilled and unskilled RR workers
  
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    a successful strike in 1894 helped the ARU with higher wages
    
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  1905: The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW)- Founded by William Haywood, the IWW included miners, lumberers,, and cannery and dock workers
  
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    The IWW supported socialist goals of gov. control of business and property, and equal distribution of wealth
    

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  Their work stoppage spread to other RR lines, ultimately stopping traffic on 50,000 miles of track for more than a week
  
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  President Rutherford B. Hayes, seeing that the strikes were impeding interstate commerce, sent troops to stop the strike
  

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  A striker had been killed and several others wounded at the plant the day before
  
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  At around 10 the night of May 4^th, as police arrived, someone tossed a bomb into the police line
  
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  Police fired on the workers; seven police officers and several workers were killed
  
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  8 workers were charged with inciting the riot, four were hanged
  
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  ***Members of the Knights of Labor grew disillusioned as newspapers printed articles blaming workers for the violence that occurred
  

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  Frick hired armed guards of the Pinkerton Detective Agency to protect scabs (strikebreakers) as they entered the plant
  
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  A battle between strikers and detective agency forced the Pinkerton’s out and kept the plant closed until July 12, when the Pennsylvania National Guard arrived
  
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  The workers continued the strike until November, but by then they had lost public support and gave in to the company
  
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  ***It would take 45 years for the steelworkers to mobilize as an effective union again
  

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  A strike was called in the spring of 1894
  
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  Eugene V. Debs asked for arbitration to settle the dispute, but Pullman refused
  
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  Following the hiring of strike breakers, the strikers turned to violence
  
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  President Grover Cleveland sent troops to put down the strikes, Debs was jailed, most of the strikers jailed while others were blacklisted (never to work for the RRs again)
  

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  Opportunity to own land
  
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  The possibility to strike it rich following gold discoveries in California (1848), Colorado (1858), Black Hills, South Dakota (1872)
  
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  Other economic opportunities: Buffalo hunts, cattle, railroads, and of course…farming
  
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  Government programs to encourage settlement and cheap land
  

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  Declared the entire Great Plains as an enormous reservation set aside for Native American tribes
  

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  Federal Government signed treaties with individual tribes, setting specific boundaries for each
  
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  ***marks the beginnings of the reservation system in the West
  
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  Most Indian tribes spurned the treaties and continued to hunt on traditional lands, leading to deadly clashes with settlers
  

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  Col. J.M. Chivington’s militia massacred 250 Cheyenne and Arapaho warriors, and 150 women and children who were shot in cold blood while praying for mercy
  

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  The Sioux indian tribe unsuccessfully appealed to the US government, hoping to stop the construction of the Bozeman Trail which ran through Sioux hunting grounds to the Montana gold fields
  
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  A Sioux war party, led by Crazy Horse, ambushed Captain William J. Fetterman and eighty-one soldiers in Wyoming’s Big Horn mountains
  
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  The Indians left no survivors, mutilating the corpses
  
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  Native Americans called this the Battle fo the Hundred Slain; whites called it the Fetterman Massacre
  
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  Treaty of Fort Laramie (1868)- Government agreed to stop construction of the Bozeman Trail, in return, the Sioux agreed to live on a reservation along the Missouri River.
  
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  Many Sioux leaders, including Sitting Bull, NEVER SIGNED the treaty
  

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  Following six years of raiding by Kiowa and Comanche warriors, The U.S. Army responded by herding friendly tribes onto reservations and opening fire on all others
  
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  Led by Gen. Phillip Sheridan, the U.S. army crushed indian resistance on the southern plains
  

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  Col. George Custer announced the discovery of gold in Wyoming’s Black Hills
  
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  Sioux appealed to US government to respect their lands…to no avail
  

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  The Sioux and Cheyenne held a sun dance in early June
  
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  Gen. George Custer and the 7^th Cavalry were sent to end the sun dance and force the Sioux and Cheyenne back onto their reservation
  
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  Led by Crazy Horse, Gall, and Sitting Bull, the Indian alliance crushed Custer and his men in two days of fighting
  
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  The victory was short lived, by late 1876 the Sioux were beaten
  
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  Sitting Bull eventually surrendered in 1881 and later traveled with Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show
  
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  ***Despite Custer’s defeat, he became a national hero as Wild West shows portrayed him and his troops fighting courageously against a much larger enemy force.
  

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  Book exposed the government’s broken promises and mistreatment of Native Americans
  

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  Schools were set up to teacher Indian children white American culture
  
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  ***Quotes from the Carlisle Indian Industrial School: “We all wore white man’s clothes and ate white man’s food”
  

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  Broke up the tribal reservations and apportioned the land to individual Native Americans- 160 acres to heads of households and 80 acres to each unmarried adult
  
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  The remaining land would be sold to settlers, and the income was to be used to Native Americans to buy farm implements…Native Americans received NO MONEY from the sale of these lands
  
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  ***The Dawes Act represented a MAJOR CHANGE in US policy toward American Indians after the Civil War.
  

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  Dec. 28, 1890, the 7^th Cavalry rounded up approximately 350 starving and freezing Sioux- took them to a camp near Wounded Knee Creek, South Dakota
  
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  Dec. 29^th- soldiers demanded the Sioux give up their weapons, a shot was fired…
  
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  The soldiers opened fire on the Indians with cannon and machine guns
  
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  Over 300 unarmed Sioux were killed
  
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  ***the massacre at Wounded Knee represented the culmination of the U.S. military operations against Native Americans
  

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  Longhorns- sturdy breed of cattle accustomed to the dry grasslands of southern plains
  

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  The Chicago Union Stockyards were the main thoroughfare for ranchers to get cattle from the plains to eastern markets
  
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  The Chisholm Trail quickly became the primary route of the long drive, the overland transport of cattle from the range of Texas to the railroads in Abilene, KS.
  
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  By 1868, more than 75,000 head of cattle was shipped to Chicago and then to eastern markets through Abilene
  
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  ***Dodge City, KS was another famous ending point of cattle drives and the home of legendary frontier figures Wyatt Earp, Bat Masterson, and Doc Holliday
  

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  Overgrazing of pasture land
  
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  Alternating patterns of dry summers and harsh winters between 1883-1887 wiped out entire herds
  
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  Ranchers turned to smaller herds of high-yield stock
  
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  Joseph Glidden invented barbed wire
  

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  Federal Land policy
  
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  Completion of the transcontinental railroad lines
  

***“The great work, commenced during the Administration of Lincoln, in the middle of a great rebellion, is completed under that of Grant, who conquered the peace”

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  The quote above was a telegraph message sent from Promontory Summit, Utah, marking the completion of the first transcontinental railroad.
  
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  The railroads helped spur the growth of the American west
  

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  From 1850-1871, the federal gov. made huge land grants to the railroads- 170 million acres, for laying track in the West
  
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  Union Pacific and Central Pacific received 10 square miles of land for every mile of track laid in a state, and 20 square miles for every mile of land laid in a territory
  
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  The two railroads, the Central Pacific moving east from Sacramento, CA, and the Union Pacific moving west from Omaha, NE, began laying the transcontinental line
  
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  Civil War vets, Irish, Chinese, & Mexican immigrants, and African Americans did most of the backbreaking work
  
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  May 10, 1869- the first transcontinental line was finished
  
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  Within 15 years, 5 transcontinental lines stitched the country together
  
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  RRs sold some land to farmers, some sent agent to Europe to recruit buyers
  
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  By 1880, 44% of Nebraska settlers and 70% of settlers in Minnesota and Wisconsin were immigrants
  

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  Offered 160 acres of land free to any citizen or intended citizen willing to improve the land within 5 years
  
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  By 1900, up to 600,000 families took advantage of this offer
  
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  Exodusters- African Americans who left the South after the Civil War and went to Kansas to seek land and opportunity
  

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  Some took the land before the government officially declared it open. Oklahoma would become known as the “Sooner State”
  

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  Argued that the process of moving from the East to the West shaped the American character.
  
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  By moving from settled to unsettled land, Americans shed the ''European'' part of themselves, and became American in the process.
  
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  ***Some historians have proposed an alternative to Turner’s thesis- arguing that the city, not the Western frontier, was the “safety valve” for ambitious and enterprising Americans
  

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  Dugouts- built into a hill
  
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  Soddy- built by stacking blocks of prairie sod. Were warm in winter, cool in the summer…but also were havens for snakes, bugs, and leaks.
  

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  Worked hand in hand with men in the field
  
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  Sheared sheep to make wool clothes
  
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  Hauled water from wells
  
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  Canned fruits and veggies
  
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  Became skilled in doctoring
  
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  Also contributed to schools and churches to build communities
  

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  1837- John Deere’s steel plow
  
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  1847- Cyrus McCormick’s reaper
  
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  1841- Grain drill to plant seeds
  
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  1878- Corn/grain binder
  
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  1880s- Combine reaper-thresher
  
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  ***These inventions increased production and made more grain available for a wider market
  

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  Morrill Act (1862 & 1890)- gave federal land to states to help finance agricultural colleges
  
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  Hatch Act (1887)- established agricultural experiment stations to inform farmers of new developments
  
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  ***These two pieces of legislation helped spawn over one hundred colleges and universities
  

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  When wheat prices were high- they could pay off debt; when wheat prices fell- farmers raised more crops to make ends meet (This NEVER works)
  
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  This gave rise to bonanza farms- huge single-crop farms, often as large as 50,000 acres, created by railroad companies and investors
  
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  Drought during the years between 1885-1890 caused many bonanza farms to go bankrupt
  

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  Charged western farmers higher fees than those in the east
  
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  Sometimes charged more for short-hauls than for longer hauls
  

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  Crop prices falling
  
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  Famers went further in debt buying more land to produce more crops
  
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  Fertile farm land was becoming scarce
  
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  Banks foreclosed on mortgages of farmers who could pay their loans
  
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  Railroads took advantage of farmers by charging excessive prices for shipping and storage
  

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  $500 million in “Greenbacks” (paper money) were printed during the Civil War, couldn’t be exchanged for gold or silver
  
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  worth less than hard money
  
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  After the war, gov. began to take greenbacks out of circulation- increasing the value of greenbacks left in circulation
  
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  This meant farmers had to pay back loans with dollars that were worth more than the dollars they had borrowed, at the same time that they were getting less and less money from their crop sales- OUCH!
  
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  Farmers pushed the gov. to issue more money into circulation
  
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  The Bland-Allison Act of 1878 required the gov. to buy and coin $2-4million of silver each month, but it wasn’t enough to raise prices to level farmers wanted
  

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  Lack of competition
  
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  Railroads made secret agreements with middlemen- grain brokers and merchants- that allowed railroads to control grain storage prices and influence market prices of crops
  
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  ^***The increasing domination of markets by a few powerful buyers contributed to declining crop prices and increasing rural poverty in the 1890s
  

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  Many suppliers charged high rates of interest, charged higher prices for items bought on credit than with cash
  
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  ***Farmers got caught in a cycle of falling prices and rising debt. IT WAS TIME FOR REFORM!
  

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  1867- Oliver Hudson Kelley started the Patrons of Husbandry, which became known as The Grange
  
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    Original purpose was a social and educational outlet for isolated farmers
    
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    By 1870s, members spent most time & energy fighting RRs
    
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    Taught members how to organize, set up cooperatives, and to sponsor state legislation to regulate RRs
    
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  The Grange gave rise to other orgs., such as the Farmers Alliances, who included others who sympathized with farmers
  
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    Educated people on how to get lower interest rates on loans
    
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    Pushed for gov. control over RRs and banks
    
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    Membership quickly grew to over 4 million, mostly in the West and South
    
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  The Grange was successful at the state and local level in gaining passage of “Granger laws”
  
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    1871: Illinois authorized a commission “to establish maximum freight and passenger rates and prohibit discrimination.”
    
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      States right to regulate RRs to benefit farmers and consumers was upheld in the Supreme Court case Munn v, Illinois (a short lived decision that would be overturned in 1886)
      
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      Granges convinced many state legislators in the West, Midwest, and South to pass similar laws
      
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    Public outrage following the 1886 Supreme Court ruling that said a state could NOT set rates on interstate commerce (RR traffic) prompted Congress to pass the Interstate Commerce Act in 1887
    
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    Established the right of the federal gov. to supervise RR activities and establish a five-member Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC)