Lakhasly

Unlike Europe, where railroads were built and owned by governments, in the United States, not all railroads were built with government support; they were built by private enterprise. Railroads Spur Settlement and Growth The completion of the Transcontinental Railroad inspired a flurry of similar railroad building. Speculators vied for land in places where a new railroad might be built, and towns already in existence petitioned to become a stop on the western rail route. The Transcontinental Railroad Impacts the Frontier As industry in the West grew, the need for a railroad to transport goods increased as well. However, Congress encouraged.

Cowboys and Cattle Drives Once the cattle were rounded up, cowboys began the long cattle drive to take the animals to a railroad that would transport them to eastern markets. Cow Towns Cattle drives concluded in such railroad towns as Dodge City, Kansas, where the cattle were sold and the cowboys were paid. The Open Range Comes to a Close Open-range ranching flourished for more than a decade after the Civil War. When spring came, the ranchers would hire cowboys to comb thousands of acres of open range, “rounding up” cattle that had roamed all winter. The nature of cattle.

Westward Migration and Settlement Throughout its history, the nation’s westward expansion had been marked by migrants settling on public land they did not own. Yet, with the coming of the transcontinental railroad, millions of farmers moved into the West in the last huge westward migration of European Americans in the mid to late 1800s. These two laws encouraged further settlement and farming in the West, eventually leading to the close of the frontier. Farmers Settle the Plains The Great Plains were the last part of the country to be heavily settled by white people. The development of a plow that.

Still, four out of five Mexican Americans who lived in New Mexico lost their land, as did Mexican Americans in other southwestern states. Mexican Americans Defend Property Rights Throughout the Southwest—in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California—Mexican Americans fought to maintain their rights. Land Ownership Proves Difficult for Mexican Americans Like African Americans and Asian Americans, Mexican Americans struggled against discrimination in the latter decades of the 1800s. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, signed at the end of the Mexican-American War, guaranteed the property rights of Mexicans who lived in the Southwest prior to the war. With fewer than 20 percent of the nation’s total population, it was home to more than 80 percent of the nation’s Asian, Mexican and Mexican American, and Native American residents. As anti-Mexican feelings increased, a group of
Hispanic citizens in Tucson, Arizona, formed the Alianza Hispano-Americana in 1894 to protect the culture, interests.

Moreover, farmers felt that they performed honest labor and produced necessary goods, while bankers and businessmen were the ones who got rich. One is the crop of corn, one a crop of freight rates, and one a crop of interest. Southern farmers, especially black sharecroppers, faced the added problem of having to deal with dishonest merchants and landlords who paid less for crops and charged more for supplies than promised. Big Business Practices Affect Farmers Farmers blame big business, especially the railroads and the banks, for their difficulties. An increasing number of farmers mortgaged their farms to raise funds to survive and became tenant farmers—meaning they no longer owned the farm where they worked. The other two are produced by men who sit in their offices and behind their bank counters and farm the farmers. One is produced by farmers who sweat and toil to farm the land. On the contrary, the more crops farmers produced, the more prices declined. One study estimated that by the early 1890s, it was costing farmers more to produce corn than they could get by selling it, so they burned it to use as fuel. Farmers Face Economic Difficulty Following the Civil War, millions.

Alliances Encourage Reform Farmers’ Alliances, such as the Southern Farmers’ Alliance, became important reform organizations. Soon, the Southern Farmers’ Alliance organized only white farmers. Humphrey, a white Baptist minister, headed the Colored Farmers’ Alliance, which had been organized by African American and white farmers. Farmers’ Alliance members also tried to convince the government to force railroads to lower freight prices so members could get their crops to markets outside the South at reduced rates. Farmers Seek Change Through Alliances Farmers created a network of organizations, first in the Midwest and then in the South and West, to address their problems.

In 1894, the Populist Party continued to expand its base, gaining seats in the state legislatures and prompting the major political parties to consider endorsing its ideas. Like a prairie fire, the Populist Party spread rapidly, putting pressure on the two major political parties to consider their demands. Tom Watson, Georgia’s most famous Populist Party leader, made a strong case for casting aside racial prejudice in favor of a political alliance between the races. The Beginnings of Populism The spread of the Farmers’ Alliances culminated with the formation of the Populist Party, or People’s Party, in 1892. Early Impacts of the Populist Party For a new political party, the Populists did quite well in 1892. However, the Democratic Party successfully used racist tactics, such as warning that a Populist victory would lead to “Negro supremacy,” to diminish the appeal of the Populist Party. Both had risen to the rank of general in the United States and Confederate armies, respectively, and their nominations represented the party’s attempt to overcome the regional divisions that had kept farmers apart since the end of the Civil War. Populist Goals The Populist Party spelled out their views in their platform, which they adopted in Omaha, Nebraska, in July 1892. In the South, the Populist Party had to unite black and white voters if it hoped to succeed politically. The Populist Party proposed specific remedies to these political issues.

The decision of the Democratic Party to nominate William Jennings Bryan as their presidential candidate put the election for the Populists on an entirely different plane, leading some to believe they could win the White House that year. Bryan’s advocacy of “free silver,” or the coinage of silver as well as gold, and his support of a number of other Populist Party proposals, placed the Populists in a difficult situation. ” The speech so moved the Democratic delegates that they nominated Bryan as their party’s presidential candidate. Holding their convention after the Democrats, the Populists had to decide whether to.