The Meaning of the West in Late 19th Century America

Tuesday, May 10, 2011
10:00 a.m.–11:30 a.m. (EST)

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Leader

Elliott West

Alumni Distinguished Professor of History
University of Arkansas

About the Seminar

An exploration of how the two great events in nineteenth-century American history, the acquisition of 1.2 million square miles of western territory and the Civil War, created what was essentially a new nation.

Presentation

PowerPoint: 8.3 MB

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Seminar Recording

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Assigned Readings

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1. Homesteading
   • The Homestead Act (1862)
   • Daniel Freeman, first to file for homestead (document and photo)
   • Diary of Luna E. Warner, teenager on a homestead, 1871–72 (PDF)
2. Transcontinental Railroads
   • Speeches of Senators on 1867 excursion (PDF)
   • Cartoon suggesting unification (PDF)
   • Maps showing North American railroads in 1879, 1885, 1893
3. The Rise of the Cattle Kingdom
   • Historic Sketches of the Cattle Trade, Joseph G. McCoy, 1874 (PDF)
   • Map of Cattle Trails: see Powerpoint, no. 1
   • The Recollections of an American Cowboy: Reflections Upon the Life on the Range, George Martin, c.1880 (PDF)
4. The Industrial West
   • Chart of US gold and silver production, map of global copper deposits, photos of gigantic tree, ox team pulling cut timber: see Powerpoint, nos. 2–4
   • Photograph of hydraulic mining: see Powerpoint, no. 5
   • “A Day at Dutch Flat”, Albert F. Webster, excerpts (PDF)
5. “The World’s Convention”: The Polyglot West
   • The Shirley Letters from the California Mines in 1851–52, excerpts (PDF)
   • French poster, “La Californie”: see Powerpoint, no. 6
   • States with highest percentage of foreign born: see Powerpoint, no. 7
6. Dealing with the “Indian problem”
   • Report of the Secretary of War, 1868 (PDF)
   • White and Indian Images of Battle of the Little Big Horn: “Custer’s Last Fight”
   • Drawing by Kicking Bear: see Powerpoint, no. 8
   • “The Future of the Red Man”
   • Before and after photographs of Chiricahua Apaches at Carlisle Indian School: see Powerpoint, no. 9
   • “Ishi: The ‘Last Wild Indian.’”: see Powerpoint, no. 10 and video
7. The Mythic West
   • Frederick Jackson Turner, “The Significance of the Frontier in American History”
   • Owen Wister, The Virginian (PDF)
   • Thomas Edison film of cattle branding (1898)
   • The first “western” movie, Thomas Edison’s “Cripple Creek Bar-room Scene” (1899)
   • Frederic Remington, “The Coming and Going of the Pony Express” (1900): see Powerpoint, no. 11