Changing Frontiers Chapter 7

       After the civil war, settlers from the East push the frontiers of the United States westward. New technologies appeared and it was a boom in that time. Many immigrants came into the cities and government and social reform struggled. But all this new growth brought remarkable rewards into the country. But the negative part was that appeared other problems such as: urban poverty, child labor, and the displacement of Native Americans.

       In the late 1800 there was the emergence of giant industries that built on new technology. The technological change and an explosion of new ideas transformed American life in the post Civil war years. In 1875 indoor electric lighting did not exit. Instead the rising and setting of the sun dictated the rhythm of work and play. Using profits gained during the Civil War, European investors and Americans business leaders began to invest heavily in these inventions. Ne fuels and sources of power also transformed daily life researchers began developing new uses for petroleum, including fuels such as gasoline that would eventually power new forms of transportation. Big business sought to control competition through various forms of consolidation.

       Industries growth depended on the labor of millions of workers, who toiled under harsh conditions that inflicted physical and emotional harm. Samuel Morse’s invention of the telegraph began a communications revolution. In 1876 Alexander Graham Bell an instructor of the hearing impaired, invented a “talking telegraph “. In 1850, an affordable process was developed for making steel, a metal that is lighter, stronger, and more flexible than iron. In addition to inventions, faster transportation, and darling construction projects, the late 1800’s also was a time of new thinking and actions in the business world.

      Historians have adopted the terms captains of industry and robber barons to describe the powerful industrialists who established large businesses in the era. Captains of industry suggest that the business leaders served their nations in a positive way. The term robber barons implied that the business leaders built their fortunes by stealing from the public. Andrew Carnegie made millions of dollars in the oil industry. Social Darwinism was a theory that applied to society Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution, first published in 1859. The creation of one giant business from many smaller enterprises was horizontal consolidation and vertical consolidation was one business that gained control of all phases of a products development.

       Socialism is an economic and political philosophy that advocated collective or government ownership of factories and property. One goal of socialism is to distribute broadly a society’s wealth. They sought to force employers to participate in collective bargaining in which workers negotiate as a group with employers. At Chicago’s Mc Cormick reaper factory, police broke up a fight between strikers and scabs. In protest, anarchist called a rally for the evening of May 4 in Chicago’s Haymarket Square.

      In Economy of the west after civil war people moved west in search of a new and better life. Only 4% of Americans lived in the West in 1840. In that time West included California, Oregon, Washington, and the 6 Great Plains states. In the Donation land law an American married couple could get 160 acres if they moved there before the end of 1850 and agreed to four years of farming. The Homestead Act declares that people could have 160 acres if they farmed and settled on the land. If they farmed the land for 5 years, they could have the land for free. They could have the land right away if they payed $1.25 for each acre.  Desert Land Act and the Timber and Stone Act were other cheap ways for people to get land in the West.

       Chief Joseph, Leader of the Nez Percé tribe was resistant to Native Americans to avoid defeat by the U.S. Army, he helped lead 600 Nez Perce toward the Canadian border. Exhausted and near starvation, he surrendered to the US army. Chief Joseph's legend as “the Red Napoleon” enabled him to lobby high government officials to return his band to the Nez Perce reservation. Between 1887 and 1934, the amount of land owned by Native Americans shrank by 65%. Some Disadvantages for farmers in the west water was scarce and not always pure, Working the prairie required hard work, Men had to travel far to earn cash while waiting for crops to come in and Women had to produce most of the articles the family needed like clothing, dairy products, preserved foods ,clothing ect. The Advantages excellent for farming wheat and raising cattle, Gold and silver miners often came to the West first , Copper was used in electric wiring, so it became valuable after electricity became widely used, Growing industries, especially the railroad, made coal and iron more profitable.

      Profit The large corporations enjoyed the most profit in the West. Farmers, ranch and railroad workers, and miners, made much less money. Farmers had a hard time making money because they had to pay fees to the railroads for product shipment. They also had to pay high interest rates. Sometimes, the demand for their products would decrease, and the farmers could not charge as much for their products.  1870s improvements in farm implements multiplied and 1880 they were using automatic grain binders and steam-powered threshors. Bonanza farms In 1864 the U.S. Congress provided an extensive land grant to aid in financing the Northern Pacific Railway Company. relied on professional farm managers. To achieve maximum efficiency, they specialized in the continuous cropping of wheat, which was well suited to the area. Farmers started protesting goverment’s economic policies: Tarif policy, money supply shrank after the civil war 1880 the number of tenant farmers who rented rather than owned had risen.

     Gilded Age Most famous label used to describe the post-reconstruction era (1877-1900) . Widespread corruption and Failure of the president to solve the economic,social, and political problems. Republicans such as New york, New england,upper midwest  wanted to restric immigration and enforce blue laws. Democratic party northern urban immigrants, laborers, southern planters and Western farmers claimed to represent the interests of ordinary people and favored free silver. The Social reforms were Nativism, Purity crusader and Social gospel movement.

       After the civil war many changes were happening and with this it brought new ideas. New technologies appeared and it was a boom in that time. Many immigrants came into the cities and government and social reform struggled. The country had a big growth that they in some point could not handle it. Some problems that occurred at the time were: urban poverty, child labor, and the displacement of Native Americans. But at the end the immigrants were the problem.