FRIDAY 1212 The Homestead Act set aside millions

FRIDAY 12/12 The Homestead Act set aside millions of acres of land for settlers in the West; Settlers had two ways to get approximately 160 acres of land. They could either live on the land for five years and then pay $30, or live on the land for six months and then pay $1. 25 per acre. If you were a settler, which option would you choose? Why? AGENDA: TOTD P 25: Ranching and Mining Bio-in-a-Bag (drawing) Work on Study Guide

Open Range -Great Plains area- flat, dry land between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains -no boundaries to man or cattle- fences were not used back then, no geographic barriers -low population- land was scarcely populated -branded Cattle to keep track of who’s Cattle belongs to who

Cattle Kingdom -greater urban populations demanded more food **raises demand for meat -cattle drives to meet railroads: trains could move meat to eastern markets Chisholm Trail: major route out of Texas for livestock Abilene: cattle trail from northern Texas to the railway terminal in Abilene, Kansas. -legend of the cowboy: Mexican Influences – Roping skills, saddles,

Buffalo Soldiers: established by Congress as the first peacetime all-black regiments in the regular U. S. Army

Cattle’s Decline -too many cattle Demand for beef overproduction of beef –drove cost of beef down -disease Runoff from mining towns polluted farms -drought: cattle died of starvation -barbed wire fences blocked open range: ended the OPEN RANGE forever First Patent

Mining Towns -Gold Rushes California, 1849 Black Hills Boom towns – survived as long as gold and silver was there Comstock Lode: largest gold/silver found Alaska -Ghost Towns – When resources were “mined out” Vigilantes – self appointed law enforcers

Mining Life -large mix of people – “so a ____, a ____ and a ____ walk into a bar” -People from Mexico and China went to mine -many opportunities for everyone – Miners needed supply too, so shops had good business -saloons, gambling -hard luck

New Technology -deeper wells -steel plows -better farm equipment reaper, harvesters -Morrill Land Grants- 1862 provided grants of land to states to finance the establishment of colleges specializing in “agriculture and the mechanic arts. -railroad expansion transcontinental railroad, 1869

Life on the Farm -sod houses -weather extremes -drought -isolation

Decline of Farming -rise of industry -urbanization -end of the frontier -Frederick Jackson Turner “Frontier Thesis” -great debts -Railroad charges

Voting Discrimination -end of Reconstruction Ways the South “got around” giving African Americans voting rights -literacy tests -poll taxes -grandfather clause –

Segregation -black codes -Jim Crow laws -segregation -Plessy v. Ferguson, 1896 separate but equal doctrine

Race Relations -racial etiquette -lynching Ida B. Wells -discrimination in the Northern cities also -employment, housing, social discrimination - not nearly as violent as it was in South

Booker T. Washington -Founded Tuskegee Institute -gradual improvement was goal -economic equality first vocational training -Atlanta Compromise -Washington proposed that blacks and white could cooperate on certain economic issues while being separate in social issues

W. E. B. Du. Bois -Harvard educated -demanded full equal rights now -Niagara Falls Convention -helped found the NAACP

Other Discrimination -Mexican seasonal workers -continued resentment of the Chinese