America in the 1870s
U.S. History
before 1877
Barriers to westward
expansion
•
Buffalo
herds and Indians
•
Lack
of wood
•
Lack
of transportation
•
Lack
of rainfall
The last Indian wars
• Crescendo
of violence, 1860-1877
• Whites
and Indians
– Hopeless
savages, or wayward children?
• Army
uses tactics from the Civil War
Indian wars
•
Sand Creek massacre, November 1864
– Slaughter
of Black Kettle’s peaceful Cheyennes
•
Crazy Horse & Sioux ambush Capt. Fetterman’s 81 men, 1866
•
1868 treaty: Sioux & Cheyenne reservation
– Sitting
Bull, Crazy Horse, Cheyenne allies don’t sign
Last battles
•
Custer’s men discover Black Hills gold
– Custer
moves against angry Sioux, 1876
– Battle of Little Big
Horn: 600 against 12,000
– Sioux
give up the fight, go to reservations
•
By 1877 most Indians on reservations
•
Rising market in buffalo hides
– Hunters
methodically wipe out the buffalo
The decade of cattle drives
•
Large herds of cattle in Texas after Civil War
•
Railheads push west
– To
Abilene, Kansas, 1867; then Wichita and Dodge City
– Cattle
driven up the plains
•
Shipped to Chicago
– Armour
packing plant, 1865
Technology brings the
farmer
•
Barbed wire solves the wood problem, 1874
•
Windmills solve the water problem
•
Railroads solve the transportation problem
One hundred years a nation:
1876
America in 1876
•
Population: 47 million
•
Half the nation under the age of 23
•
Agricultural production exceeded industrial production
•
Average worker made $465/year ($10,670 today)
– Skilled
workers up to $1000
•
About 1000 millionaires ($23 million today)
•
Average income in South = half of other states
•
Ethnically, America was very white
– Very
few Hispanics, mainly in Southwest
African American population
density
America in 1876
•
Most men raised or made something for a living
•
Few people worked for others
– The
only large employers were railroads
– Exceptions:
servants and hired hands
•
Most people lived on farms or in very small towns
•
Most stores were owned by individuals or families
•
The “middle class” was relatively small
America in 1876
Southern Sharecroppers
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Philadelphia Centennial
Exposition
What’s to celebrate?
•
Sioux and Cheyenne kill General George Armstrong Custer and his
command at Little Big Horn, June 25
What’s to celebrate?
•
Hamburg Massacre, July 8, and other violence, assassinations, and
massacres in the South
What’s to celebrate?
•
Depression
– The
Panic of 1873
George Washington to
Ulysses Grant:
Corruption and decline?
•
Only 46 and politically inexperienced when elected, 1868
•
Scandal reaches the White House (but not Grant himself)
– Crédit
Mobilier of America, 1872, involving leading Republicans
– “Whiskey
Ring” scandal, reaching Grant’s secretary, 1875
– Secretary
of War impeached for bribery and resigned, 1876
Is Corruption Destroying
the Republic?
•
Widespread corruption in state governments
•
Rise of political machines and bosses in the cities
– Most
famous: Boss Tweed of New York’s Tammany Hall
– Widespread
voter fraud, and huge profits from graft
– Convicted
in 1872, escaped from prison in 1876 and living in Spain
What’s to celebrate?
•
Presidential election of 1876
– Marred
by fraudulent returns and political games-playing
– Solved
by backroom deal
Class warfare? Strikes
& violence
•
Railroad strike of 1877
– Wage
cuts, layoffs
– Spontaneous
strike spreads to most workers
– Battles
with police, militia, army
– Railyards
burned if military and strikebreakers used
– 100
killed; $100 million damage to RRs
America 1876: United but
Unsure
•
Pride in our united, growing democratic republic
•
Shaken by bloodshed, violence, depression, corruption
•
Cynical, with righteous self-confidence weakened
– Cause
of equal rights abandoned for 80 years
– Political
parties equally divided
– Series
of forgettable Presidents, 1876-1896
•
America nervously looks to the future