What was true about William Jennings Bryan in the 1896 presidential election apex

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William Jennings Bryan (1860-1925), the U.S. congressman from Nebraska, three-time presidential nominee and secretary of state, emerged near the end of the 19th century as a leading voice in the Democratic Party and the nation. A devout Protestant, his populist rhetoric and policies earned him the nickname “the Great Commoner.” In his later years, Bryan campaigned against the teaching of evolution in public schools, culminating with his leading role in the Scopes Trial.

Early Life and Political Career

Bryan was born on March 19, 1860 in the small town of Salem, Illinois. His father, Silas, was a dedicated Jacksonian Democrat and a successful lawyer who served in various local elected positions and passed on his politics to his son. After graduating from Illinois College, Bryan earned a law degree from the Union College of Law in Chicago in 1883. He was admitted to the Illinois bar and began practicing law in Jacksonville, marrying Mary Elizabeth Baird in 1884; the couple went on to have three children.

In 1887, Bryan moved to the fast-growing state of Nebraska, where he settled in Lincoln and established a thriving law practice. At the outset of the 1890s, with drought destroying the livelihoods of many American farmers, the People’s Party (also known as the Populist Party) was growing as a force in U.S. politics by appealing to small farmers, shopkeepers and other less wealthy voters. Elected to the House of Representatives in 1890, when he was just 30 years old, Bryan championed populist causes including the direct election of senators, graduated federal income tax and the “free silver” movement, which sought to expand the federal money supply by basing U.S. currency on silver as well as gold.

‘Cross of Gold’ Speech and Election of 1896

Set off by the collapse of the powerful Philadelphia & Reading Railroad, the Panic of 1893 plunged the nation into a deep economic depression. In August 1893, Bryan earned admiration from free silverites with his three-hour speech in Congress decrying President Grover Cleveland’s (ultimately successful) effort to repeal the Sherman Silver Purchase Act of 1890 and again tie U.S. currency to the gold standard. After running unsuccessfully for the Senate in 1894, Bryan returned to Nebraska and became editor of the Omaha World-Herald.

In 1896, Bryan captivated the audience at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago with a passionate oration urging his countrymen to stand up for the common man against big business interests and support free silver. To those who cling to the gold standard, he declared in closing: “You shall not press down upon the brow of labor this crown of thorns, you shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold.”

The day after his “Cross of Gold” speech, Bryan won the Democratic presidential nomination; he also won the support of the Populist and National Silver parties. He campaigned relentlessly, traveling around the country and giving hundreds of speeches to millions of people, while his Republican opponent, Ohio Governor William McKinley, stayed home and gave speeches from his porch. But McKinley’s victory was fueled by a massive influx of campaign cash from Wall Street bankers and other wealthy business interests, all determined to crush Bryan’s radical brand of populism.

Progressivism and Pacifism

Now among the most famous politicians in the country, Bryan would run twice more for president, losing again to McKinley in 1900 and to William Howard Taft in 1908. Rather than continue the free silver battle, he dedicated himself to opposing American imperialism, which he saw as immoral and undemocratic. He also argued in support of a graduated income tax, antitrust laws and other government regulation of business, women’s suffrage and the prohibition of alcohol. Despite his electoral losses, Bryan continued to exert considerable influence through his fervently religious speeches as well as a weekly magazine, the Commoner.

After Bryan helped rally support behind Woodrow Wilson in the 1912 presidential election, Wilson chose the now-elder Democratic statesman as his secretary of state. Bryan’s pacifist stance put him increasingly at odds with the president, however, and he resigned in 1915 in protest after Wilson sent a second note to Germany demanding an end to submarine warfare after the sinking of the Lusitania, an action Bryan felt went too far toward violating American neutrality.

Anti-Evolution Crusade, Scopes Trial and Death

Though he continued to publicly oppose U.S. involvement in World War I after his resignation, Bryan changed course after the nation entered the conflict in 1917 due to extensive popular support for the war effort. For the last decade of his life, he largely dedicated himself to reforming the nation’s moral and religious character. At the center of these efforts was a campaign to end the teaching of evolution in public schools.

As an evangelical Christian and a believer in the literal interpretation of the Bible, Bryan also saw a grave threat in the application of Charles Darwin’s theory to human society. He argued that children being taught the “survival of the fittest” would in time stop caring about the poor and otherwise needier members of the population. Bryan’s inability to differentiate between social Darwinism and the scientific theory of evolution galvanized his more fundamentalist, religious supporters but earned him the disdain of many others who shared his progressive politics.

In 1925, high school biology teacher John Scopes went on trial in Tennessee as a test of the first state law banning the teaching of evolution. Bryan signed on as chief prosecutor, facing off against the criminal defense attorney Clarence Darrow. The Scopes “monkey trial” in Dayton, Tennessee, played out under the national spotlight, with journalists, religious leaders and onlookers crowding the courtroom. After the defense called Bryan himself as an expert on the Bible, Darrow subjected him to a brutal examination in the sweltering courtroom, revealing his lack of theological as well as scientific knowledge.

The jury predictably found Scopes guilty, but Bryan’s performance in the trial, and his thrashing in the national press, marked a less than stellar end to his long career as a public figure. On July 26, 1925, five days after the verdict was issued, Bryan died in his sleep after suffering a stroke. His widow accompanied his body in a special train car to Washington, where he was buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

Sources

Jill Lepore. These Truths: A History of the United States. (W.W. Norton & Company, 2018)

“William Jennings Bryan, the ‘Great Commoner.’” Constitutional Rights Foundation, Spring 2010 (Volume 25, No. 3)

Biographies of the Secretaries of State: William Jennings Bryan (1860-1925). Department of State: Office of the Historian.

John Nimick. “Great Commoner Bryan dies in sleep, apoplexy given as cause of death.” UPI Archives, July 27, 1925. 

Everything seemed to be falling into place for the Populists. James Weaver made an impressive showing in 1892, and now Populist ideas were being discussed across the nation. The Panic of 1893 was the worst financial crisis to date in American history. As the soup lines grew larger, so did voters' anger at the present system.

When Jacob S. Coxey of Ohio marched his 200 supporters into the nation's capital to demand reforms in the spring of 1894, many thought a revolution was brewing. The climate seemed to ache for change. All that the Populists needed was a winning Presidential candidate in 1896.

The Boy Orator

Ironically, the person who defended the Populist platform that year came from the Democratic Party. William Jennings Bryan was the unlikely candidate. An attorney from Lincoln, Nebraska, Bryan's speaking skills were among the best of his generation. Known as the "Great Commoner," Bryan quickly developed a reputation as defender of the farmer.

When Populist ideas began to spread, Democratic voters of the South and West gave enthusiastic endorsement. At the Chicago Democratic convention in 1896, Bryan delivered a speech that made his career. Demanding the free coinage of silver, Bryan shouted, "You shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold!" Thousands of delegates roared their approval, and at the age of thirty-six, the "Boy Orator" received the Democratic nomination.

Faced with a difficult choice between surrendering their identity and hurting their own cause, the Populist Party also nominated Bryan as their candidate.

The Stay-at-Home Candidate

The Republican competitor was William McKinley, the governor of Ohio. He had the support of the moneyed eastern establishment. Behind the scenes, a wealthy Cleveland industrialist named Marc Hanna was determined to see McKinley elected. He, like many of his class, believed that the free coinage of silver would bring financial ruin to America.

Using his vast wealth and power, Hanna directed a campaign based on fear of a Bryan victory. McKinley campaigned from his home, leaving the politicking for the party hacks. Bryan revolutionized campaign politics by launching a nationwide whistle-stop effort, making twenty to thirty speeches per day.

When the results were finally tallied, McKinley had beaten Bryan by an electoral vote margin of 271 to 176.

Understanding 1896

Many factors led to Bryan's defeat. He was unable to win a single state in the populous Northeast. Laborers feared the free silver idea as much as their bosses. While inflation would help the debt-ridden, mortgage-paying farmers, it could hurt the wage-earning, rent-paying factory workers. In a sense, the election came down to city versus country. By 1896, the urban forces won. Bryan's campaign marked the last time a major party attempted to win the White House by exclusively courting the rural vote.

The economy of 1896 was also on the upswing. Had the election occurred in the heart of the Panic of 1893, the results may have differed. Farm prices were rising in 1896, albeit slowly. The Populist Party fell apart with Bryan's loss. Although they continued to nominate candidates, most of their membership had reverted to the major parties.

The ideas, however, did endure. Although the free silver issue died, the graduated income tax, direct election of senators, initiative, referendum, recall, and the secret ballot were all later enacted. These issues were kept alive by the next standard bearers of reform — the Progressives.

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Organization was inevitable. Like the oppressed laboring classes of the East, it was only a matter of time before Western farmers would attempt to use their numbers to effect positive change.

Farmers Organize

In 1867, the first such national organization was formed. Led by Oliver Kelley, the Patrons of Husbandry, also known as the Grange, organized to address the social isolation of farm life. Like other secret societies, such as the Masons, Grangers had local chapters with secret passwords and rituals.

The local Grange sponsored dances and gatherings to attack the doldrums of daily life. It was only natural that politics and economics were discussed in these settings, and the Grangers soon realized that their individual problems were common.

Identifying the railroads as the chief villains, Grangers lobbied state legislatures for regulation of the industry. By 1874, several states passed the Granger Laws, establishing maximum shipping rates. Grangers also pooled their resources to buy grain elevators of their own so that members could enjoy a break on grain storage.

Farmers' Alliances went one step further. Beginning in 1889, Northern and Southern Farmers' Alliances championed the same issues as the Grangers, but also entered the political arena. Members of these alliances won seats in state legislatures across the Great Plains to strengthen the agrarian voice in politics.

Creating Inflation

What did all the farmers seem to have in common? The answer was simple: debt. Looking for solutions to this condition, farmers began to attack the nation's monetary system. As of 1873, Congress declared that all federal money must be backed by gold. This limited the nation's money supply and benefited the wealthy.

The farmers wanted to create inflation. Inflation actually helps debtors. If a farmer owes $3,000 and can earn $1 for every bushel of wheat sold at harvest, he needs to sell 3,000 bushels to pay off the debt. If inflation could push the price of a bushel of wheat up to $3, he needs to sell only 1,000 bushels. The economics are simple.

To create inflation, farmers suggested that the money supply be expanded to include dollars not backed by gold. The first strategy farmers attempted was to encourage Congress to print greenback dollars like the ones issued during the Civil War. Since the greenbacks were not backed by gold, more dollars could be printed, creating an inflationary effect.

The Greenback Party and the Greenback-Labor Party each ran candidates for President in 1876, 1880, and 1884 under this platform. No candidate was able to muster national support for the idea, and soon farmers chose another strategy.

Inflation could also be created by printing money that was backed by silver as well as gold. This idea was more popular because people were more confident in their money if they knew it was backed by something of value. Also, America had a tradition of coining silver money until 1873.

Birth of the Populists

Out of the ashes of the Greenback-Labor Party grew the Populist Party. In addition to demanding the free coinage of silver, the Populists called for a host of other reforms. They demanded a graduated income tax, whereby individuals earning a higher income paid a higher percentage in taxes.

They wanted political reforms as well. At this point, United States Senators were still not elected by the people directly; they were instead chosen by state legislatures. The Populists demanded a constitutional amendment allowing for the direct election of Senators.

They demanded democratic reforms such as the initiative, where citizens could directly introduce debate on a topic in the legislatures. The referendum would allow citizens — rather than their representatives — to vote a bill. Recall would allow the people to end an elected official's term before it expired. They also called for the secret ballot and a one-term limit for the President.

In 1892, the Populists ran James Weaver for President on this ambitious platform. He polled over a million popular votes and 22 electoral votes. Although he came far short of victory, Populist ideas were now being discussed at the national level. When the Panic of 1893 hit the following year, an increased number of unemployed and dispossessed Americans gave momentum to the Populist movement. A great showdown was in place for 1896.

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A homestead at last! Many eastern families who longed for the opportunity to own and farm a plot of land of their own were able to realize their dreams when Congress passed the Homestead Act in 1862. That landmark piece of legislation provided 160 acres free to any family who lived on the land for five years and made improvements. The same amount could be obtained instantly for the paltry sum of $1.25 per acre.

Combined with the completed transcontinental railroad, it was now possible for an easterner yearning for the open space of the West to make it happen. Unfortunately, the lives they found were fraught with hardship.

Money Problems

There were tremendous economic difficulties associated with Western farm life. First and foremost was overproduction. Because the amount of land under cultivation increased dramatically and new farming techniques produced greater and greater yields, the food market became so flooded with goods that prices fell sharply. While this might be great for the consumer, the farmer had to grow a tremendous amount of food to recoup enough profits to survive the winter.

Zillmer's Antique Farm Museum

New machinery and fertilizer was needed to farm on a large scale. Often farmers borrowed money to purchase this equipment, leaving themselves hopelessly in debt when the harvest came. The high tariff forced them to pay higher prices for household goods for their families, while the goods they themselves sold were unprotected.

The railroads also fleeced the small farmer. Farmers were often charged higher rates to ship their goods a short distance than a manufacturer would pay to transport wares a great distance.

A Harsh and Isolating Environment

The woes faced by farmers transcended economics. Nature was unkind in many parts of the Great Plains. Blistering summers and cruel winters were commonplace. Frequent drought spells made farming even more difficult. Insect blights raged through some regions, eating further into the farmers' profits.

Farmers lacked political power. Washington was a long way from the Great Plains, and politicians seemed to turn deaf ears to the farmers' cries. Social problems were also prevalent. With each neighbor on 160-acre plots of land, communication was difficult and loneliness was widespread.

Farm life proved monotonous compared with the bustling cities of the East. Although rural families were now able to purchase mail-order products through catalogs such as Sears and Roebuck's and Montgomery Ward, there was simply no comparison with what the Eastern market could provide.

These conditions could not last. Out of this social and economic unrest, farmers began to organize and make demands that would rock the Eastern establishment.

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Courtesy of Grant-Kohrs National Historic Site

Mining was not the only bonanza to be found in the West. Millions could be made in the cattle industry. A calf bought for $5 in Southern Texas might sell for $60 in Chicago. The problem was, of course, getting the cattle to market.

In 1867, Joseph McCoy tracked a path known as the Chisholm Trail from Texas to Abilene, Kansas. The Texas cowboys drove the cattle the entire distance — 1500 miles. Along the way, the cattle enjoyed all the grass they wanted, at no cost to the ranchers. At Abilene and other railhead towns such as Dodge City and Ellsworth, the cattle would be sold and the cowboys would return to Texas.

No vision of the American West is complete without the cowboy. The imagery is quintessentially American, but many myths cloud the truth about what life was like on the long drive.

Myth vs. Reality

Americans did not invent cattle raising. This tradition was learned from the vaquero, a Mexican cowboy. The vacqueros taught the tricks of the trade to the Texans, who realized the potential for great profits.

The typical cowboy wore a hat with a wide brim to provide protection from the unforgiving sunlight. Cattle kicked up clouds of dust on the drive, so the cowboy donned a bandanna over the lower half of his face. Chaps, or leggings, and high boots were worn as protection from briars and cactus needles.

Contrary to legend, the typical cowboy was not a skilled marksman. The lariat, not the gun, was how the cattle drover showed his mastery. About a quarter of all cowboys were African Americans, and even more were at least partially Mexican. To avoid additional strain on the horses, cowboys were usually smaller than according to legend.

The lone cowboy is an American myth. Cattle were always driven by a group of drovers. The cattle were branded so the owner could distinguish his steer from the rest. Several times per drive, cowboys conducted a roundup where the cattle would be sorted and counted again.

Work was very difficult. The workdays lasted fifteen hours, much of which was spent in the saddle. Occasionally, shots were fired by hostile Indians or farmers. Cattle rustlers sometimes stole their steers.

One of the greatest fears was the stampede, which could result in lost or dead cattle or cowboys. One method of containing a stampede was to get the cattle to run in a circle, where the steer would eventually tire.

Upon reaching Abilene, the cattle were sold. Then it was time to let loose. Abilene had twenty-five saloons open all hours to service incoming riders of the long drive.

Twilight of the Cowboy

The heyday of the long drive was short. By the early 1870s, rail lines reached Texas so the cattle could be shipped directly to the slaughterhouses. Ranchers then began to allow cattle to graze on the open range near rail heads. But even this did not last. The invention of barbed wire by Joseph Glidden ruined the open range. Now farmers could cheaply mark their territory to keep the unwanted steers off their lands. Overproduction caused prices to fall, leading many ranchers out of business.

Finally, the winter of 1886-87 was one of the worst in American history. Cattle died by the thousands as temperatures reached fifty below zero in some parts of the West. The era of the open range was over.

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Bonanza! That was the exclamation when a large vein of valuable ore was discovered. Thousands of optimistic Americans and even a few foreigners dreamed of finding a bonanza and retiring at a very young age.

Ten years after the 1849 California Gold Rush, new deposits were gradually found throughout the West. Colorado yielded gold and silver at Pikes Peak in 1859 and Leadville in 1873. Nevada claimed Comstock Lode, the largest of American silver strikes.

From Coeur d'Alene in Idaho to Tombstone in Arizona, boom towns flowered across the American West. They produced not only gold and silver, but zinc, copper, and lead, all essential for the eastern Industrial Revolution. Soon the West was filled with ne'er-do-wells hoping to strike it rich.

Prospecting

Few were so lucky. The chances of an individual prospector finding a valuable lode were slim indeed. The gold-seeker often worked in a stream bed. A tin pan was filled with sediment and water. After shaking, the heavier gold nuggets would sink to the bottom. Rarely was anything found of substantial size.

Once the loose chunks of gold were removed from the surface, large machinery was required to dig into the earth and to split the quartz where the elusive gold was often hidden. This was too large of an operation for an individual prospector. Eastern investors conducted these ventures and often profited handsomely. The best case scenario for the prospector was to locate a large deposit and sell the claim. Those who were not as lucky often eventually went to work in the mines of the Eastern financiers.

Western mining wrought havoc on the local environment. Rock dust from drilling was often dumped into river beds, forming silt deposits downstream that flooded towns and farmlands. Miners and farmers were often at loggerheads over the effects of one enterprise on the other. Poisonous underground gases, mostly containing sulfur, were released into the atmosphere. Removing gold from quartz required mercury, the excess of which polluted local streams and rivers. Strip mining caused erosion and further desertification. Little was done to regulate the mining industry until the turn of the 20th century.

Life in a Mining Town

Each mining bonanza required a town. Many towns had as high as a 9-to-1 male-to-female ratio. The ethnic diversity was great. Mexican immigrants were common. Native Americans avoided the mining industry, but mestizos, the offspring of Mexican and Native American parents, often participated. Many African Americans aspired to the same get-rich-quick idea as whites. Until excluded by federal law in 1882, Chinese Americans were numerous in mining towns.

The ethnic patchwork was intricate, but the socio-economic ladder was clearly defined. Whites owned and managed all of the mines. Poor whites, Mexicans and Chinese Americans worked the mine shafts. A few African Americans joined them, but many worked in the service sector as cooks or artisans.

It is these mining towns that often conjure images of the mythical American Wild West. Most did have a saloon (or several) with swinging doors and a player piano. But miners and prospectors worked all day; few had the luxury of spending it at the bar. By nighttime, most were too tired to carouse. Weekends might bring folks out to the saloon for gambling or drinking, to engage in the occasional bar fight, or even to hire a prostitute.

Law enforcement was crude. Many towns could not afford a sheriff, so vigilante justice prevailed. Occasionally a posse, or hunting party, would be raised to capture a particularly nettlesome miscreant.

When the bonanza was at its zenith, the town prospered. But eventually the mines were exhausted or proved fruitless. Slowly its inhabitants would leave, leaving behind nothing but a ghost town.

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The Photography Collection of A.E. Sheldon

When the Native Americans were placed on reservations, one of the last barriers to western expansion was lifted. The railroad could get people where they wanted to go, and the resources of the West seemed boundless.

How did the typical Westerner make a living? Although migrant settlers had skills too numerous to mention, the most dominant Western industries were mining, ranching, and farming.

"Pikes Peak or Bust!" was the motto of many gold-seekers who ventured west during the 1859 Colorado Gold Rush. Strikes of gold and silver were found in every western territory.

Eastern industry required lead and other precious metals. The inventions of the telephone, light bulb, and dynamo (a massive generator that could pump electricity directly into people's homes) all required copper wiring. New mining techniques presented the possibility for large-scale industry to provide these necessary ores. Life in the western mining towns contributed much to the legendary lore of the American West.

Demand for beef soared after the Civil War. Learning from the Spanish Mexican tradition, cattle ranchers sought their fortunes in Southern Texas. The archetypal American cowboy was needed between 1866 and 1889 to move the steer to market. Life on the open prairies became a reality for thousands of cowhands during the American cattle boom.

By far, the most numerous of western pioneers were the farmers. Seeking a dream of stable existence working a homestead of their own, thousands of migrant families had their dreams dashed by the harsh realities of western life. Nature, isolation, politics, and economics all seemed to work against the hopeful farmer.

Soon farm issues spilled into politics as new groups and political parties formed demanding a better deal for rural America. The nation voted zealously and in larger numbers than ever before when the 1896 election proposed to shift the balance of power in America back to its agricultural roots. But it was not to be. America's future seemed to lie in the direction of the industrial Northeast. But as the 19th century expired, millions of westerners struggled to keep the bucolic past hitched to the present.

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The armed resistance was over. The remaining Sioux were forced into reservation life at gunpoint. Many Sioux sought spiritual guidance. Thus began a religious awakening among the tribes of North America.

Arrival of the "Ghost Dance"

Called the "Ghost Dance" by the white soldiers who observed the new practice, it spread rapidly across the continent. Instead of bringing the answer to their prayers, however, the "Ghost Dance" movement resulted in yet another human travesty.

It all began in 1888 with a Paiute holy man called Wovoka. During a total eclipse of the sun, Wovoka received a message from the Creator. Soon an Indian messiah would come and the world would be free of the white man. The Indians could return to their lands and the buffalo would once again roam the Great Plains.

Wovoka even knew that all this would happen in the spring of 1891. He and his followers meditated, had visions, chanted, and performed what became known as the Ghost Dance. Soon the movement began to spread. Before long, the Ghost Dance had adherents in tribes throughout the South and West.

Although Wovoka preached nonviolence, whites feared that the movement would spark a great Indian rebellion. Ghost Dance followers seemed more defiant than other Native Americans, and the rituals seemed to work its participants into a frenzy. All this was disconcerting to the soldiers and settlers throughout the South and West. Tragedy struck when the Ghost Dance movement reached the Lakota Sioux.

Local residents of South Dakota demanded that the Sioux end the ritual of the Ghost Dance. When they were ignored, the United States Army was called for assistance. Fearing aggression, a group of 300 Sioux did leave the reservation. Army regulars believed them to be a hostile force preparing for attack. When the two sides came into contact, the Sioux reluctantly agreed to be tranported to Wounded Knee Creek on Pine Ridge Reservation.

A Final Tragedy

On the morning of December 29, 1890, the army demanded the surrender of all Sioux weapons. Amid the tension, a shot rang out, possibly from a deaf brave who misunderstood his chief's orders to surrender.

The Seventh Cavalry — the reconstructed regiment lost by George Armstrong Custer — opened fire on the Sioux. The local chief, Big Foot, was shot in cold blood as he recuperated from pneumonia in his tent. Others were cut down as they tried to run away. When the smoke cleared almost all of the 300 men, women, and children were dead. Some died instantly, others froze to death in the snow.

This massacre marked the last showdown between Native Americans and the United States Army. It was nearly 400 years after Christopher Columbus first contacted the first Americans. The 1890 United States census declared the frontier officially closed.

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After being forced off their native lands, many American Indians found life to be most difficult. Beginning in the first half of the 19th century, federal policy dictated that certain tribes be confined to fixed land plots to continue their traditional ways of life.

The problems with this approach were manifold. Besides the moral issue of depriving a people of life on their historic land, many economic issues plagued the reservation. Nomadic tribes lost their entire means of subsistence by being constricted to a defined area. Farmers found themselves with land unsuitable for agriculture. Many lacked the know-how to implement complex irrigation systems. Hostile tribes were often forced into the same proximity. The results were disastrous.

The Dawes Act

Faced with disease, alcoholism, and despair on the reservations, federal officials changed directions with the Dawes Severalty Act of 1887. Each Native American family was offered 160 acres of tribal land to own outright. Although the land could not be sold for 25 years, these new land owners could farm it for profit like other farmers in the West.

Electronic Text Center, University of Virginia

Congress hoped that this system would end the dependency of the tribes on the federal government, enable Indians to become individually prosperous, and assimilate the Indians into mainstream American life. After 25 years, participants would become American citizens.

The Dawes Act was widely resisted. Tribal leaders foretold the end of their ancient folkways and a further loss of communal land. When individuals did attempt this new way of life, they were often unsuccessful. Farming the West takes considerable expertise. Lacking this knowledge, many were still dependent upon the government for assistance.

Many 19th century Americans saw the Dawes Act as a way to "civilize" the Native Americans. Visiting missionaries attempted to convert the Indians to Christianity, although they found few new believers.

"Americanizing" the Indians

Land not allotted to individual landholders was sold to railroad companies and settlers from the East. The proceeds were used to set up schools to teach the reading and writing of English. Native American children were required to attend the established reservation school. Failure to attend would result in a visit by a truant officer who could enter the home accompanied by police to search for the absent student. Some parents felt resistance to "white man education" was a matter of honor.

In addition to disregarding tribal languages and religions, schools often forced the pupils to dress like eastern Americans. They were given shorter haircuts. Even the core of individual identity — one's name — was changed to "Americanize" the children. These practices often led to further tribal divisions. Each tribe had those who were friendly to American "assistance" and those who were hostile. Friends were turned into enemies.

The Dawes Act was an unmitigated disaster for tribal units. In 1900, land held by Native American tribes was half that of 1880. Land holdings continued to dwindle in the early 20th century. When the Dawes Act was repealed in 1934, alcoholism, poverty, illiteracy, and suicide rates were higher for Native Americans than any other ethnic group in the United States. As America grew to the status of a world power, the first Americans were reduced to hopelessness.

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The crackdown on Native Americans did not end with the pursuance of Custer's attackers. Any tribes resisting American advancement were relentlessly hunted by settlers and federal troops. The Lakota Sioux that fought for their lands were decimated by yet another American tactic.

Decimation of the Buffalo

Travelers west were encouraged to kill any buffalo they encountered. Buffalo robes became fashionable in the East, so profit-seekers slaughtered thousands of bison simply for their hides. Others shot them for sport, leaving their remains for the local vultures.

The army was even known to use Gatling guns on the herds to reduce their numbers. The plan was effective. At the end of the Civil War, an estimated 15 million buffalo roamed the Great Plains. By 1900, there were only several hundred, as the species was nearly extinct. The Sioux lost their chief means of subsistence and mourned the loss of the animal, which was revered as sacred according to tribal religion.

Chief Joseph and the Nez Percé

The year after Custer's infamous defeat, the Nez Percé Indians of Idaho fell victim to western expansion. When gold was discovered on their lands in 1877, demands were made for over 90 percent of their land. After a stand-off between tribal warriors and the United States Army, their leader Chief Joseph directed his followers toward Canada to avoid capture. He hoped to join forces with Sitting Bull and plan the next move from there.

Army officials chased the Nez Percé 1700 miles across Idaho and Western Montana. As they neared the border, the army closed in and Chief Joseph was forced to surrender. The entire tribe was relocated to Oklahoma where nearly half of them perished from disease and despair.

Geronimo and the Apache Struggle

Warfare also raged across the American Southwest. The Apache tribe led one of the longest and fiercest campaigns of all. Under the leadership of Geronimo, Apache attackers assaulted settlers in Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico. The army responded slowly but surely. Geronimo was relentlessly hunted, even across the Mexican border.

Finally, after the army seized female Apaches and deported them to Florida and deprived the warring tribesmen of a food supply, Geronimo was captured. His 1886 defeat marked the end of open resistance by Native Americans in the West.

Sooners Grab Oklahoma

The last land to be claimed by homesteaders was in Oklahoma. Previously dubbed "Indian Territory" by the federal government, Oklahoma had been used as a state-sized reservation of many tribes ranging from the Nez Percé in Idaho to the Cherokee of Georgia.

In 1889, the United States Government decided to open two million acres of land unassigned to any particular tribe for homesteaders. At noon on April 22, 1889, the land was legally opened to claim under the provisions of the Homestead Act. Thousands rushed across Oklahoma to grab a piece. Highlighted by a few gunshots, former Indian land was gobbled up in a matter of hours.

By nightfall, Oklahoma City qualified as a city of 10,000 tent inhabitants. Those who dared to stake a claim before it was legal were called Sooners, and the state acquired its future nickname. Successful homesteaders rested that night in triumph, leaving the Indians of the area to despair over yet another grand theft.

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Gold broke the delicate peace with the Sioux. In 1874, a scientific exploration group led by General George Armstrong Custer discovered the precious metal in the heart of the Black Hills of South Dakota.

When word of the discovery leaked, nothing could stop the masses of prospectors looking to get rich quick, despite the treaty protections that awarded that land to the Sioux. Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse, the local Indian leaders, decided to take up arms to defend their dwindling land supply.

Little Big Horn

Custer was perhaps the most flamboyant and brash officer in the United States Army. He was confident that his technologically superior troops could contain the Native American fighters. Armed with new weapons of destruction such as the rapid-firing Gatling gun, Custer and his soldiers felt that it was only a matter of time before the Indians would surrender and submit to life on a smaller reservation. Custer hoped to make that happen sooner rather than later.

His orders were to locate the Sioux encampment in the Big Horn Mountains of Montana and trap them until reinforcements arrived. But the prideful Custer sought to engage the Sioux on his own.

On June 25, 1876, he discovered a small Indian village on the banks of the Little Big Horn River. Custer confidently ordered his troops to attack, not realizing that he was confronting the main Sioux and Cheyenne encampment. About three thousand Sioux warriors led by Crazy Horse descended upon Custer's regiment, and within hours the entire Seventh Cavalry and General Custer were massacred.

The victory was brief for the warring Sioux. The rest of the United States regulars arrived and chased the Sioux for the next several months. By October, much of the resistance had ended. Crazy Horse had surrendered, but Sitting Bull and a small band of warriors escaped to Canada. Eventually they returned to the United States and surrendered because of hunger.

Reactions Back East

Custer's Last Stand caused massive debate in the East. War hawks demanded an immediate increase in federal military spending and swift judgment for the noncompliant Sioux.

Critics of United States policy also made their opinions known. The most vocal detractor, Helen Hunt Jackson, published A Century of Dishonor in 1881. This blistering assault on United States Indian policy chronicled injustices toward Native Americans over the past hundred years.

The American masses, however, were unsympathetic or indifferent. A systematic plan to end all native resistance was approved, and the Indians of the West would not see another victory like the Little Big Horn.

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The struggle would be violent. Despite numerous treaties, the demand for native lands simply grew and grew to the point at which rational compromise collapsed. Local volunteer militias formed in the West to ensure its safe settlement and development. The Native Americans were growing increasingly intolerant of being pushed on to less desirable territory.

The brutality that followed was as gruesome as any conflict in United States history. Accelerated by the Sand Creek Massacre, the two sides slipped down a downward spiral of vicious battle from the end of the Civil War until the 1890s.

Massacre

Sand Creek was a village of approximately 800 Cheyenne Indians in southeast Colorado. Black Kettle, the local chief, had approached a United States Army fort seeking protection for his people. On November 28, 1864, he was assured that his people would not be disturbed at Sand Creek, for the territory had been promised to the Cheyennes by an 1851 treaty. The next day would reveal that promise as a baldfaced lie.

On the morning of November 29, a group called the Colorado Volunteers surrounded Sand Creek. In hope of defusing the situation, Black Kettle raised an American flag as a sign of friendship. The Volunteers' commander, Colonel John Chivington, ignored the gesture. "Kill and scalp all, big and little," he told his troops. With that, the regiment descended upon the village, killing about 400 people, most of whom were women and children.

The brutality was extreme. Chivington's troops committed mass scalpings and disembowelments. Some Cheyennes were shot while trying to escape, while others were shot pleading for mercy. Reports indicated that the troops even emptied their rifles on distant infants for sport. Later, Chivington displayed his scalp collection to the public as a badge of pride.

Retaliation

When word spread to other Indian communities, it was agreed that the whites must be met by force. Most instrumental in the retaliation were Sioux troops under the leadership of Red Cloud. In 1866, Sioux warriors ambushed the command of William J. Fetterman, whose troops were trying to complete the construction of the Bozeman Trail in Montana. Of Fetterman's 81 soldiers and settlers, there was not a single survivor. The bodies were grotesquely mutilated.

Faced with a stalemate, Red Cloud and the United States agreed to the 1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie, which brought a temporary end to the hostilities. Large tracts of land were reaffirmed as Sioux and Cheyenne Territory by the United States Government. Unfortunately, the peace was short-lived.

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Little Bighorn Battlefield Natl. Monument

It was hard to believe the two regions were part of the same country. The rapidly industrializing East bore no resemblance to most of the American West. Except for few urban centers on the coast, the West knew nothing of cities. Instead, the West was an emerging patchwork of homestead farmers, miners, and cattle ranchers. While Easterners tried to make their way in these and other professions, Native Americans desperately clung to the hopes of maintaining their tribal traditions.

Conflict between whites and Native Americans was as old as the earliest settlements, but there were clear patterns of waxing and waning intensity. The transcontinental railroad became the catalyst for much of the new conflict. Before its completion, the only Americans to venture westward had done so on horseback or Conestoga wagon. Now thousands more could migrate much more quickly, cheaply, and comfortably. As the numbers of white settlers from the East increased dramatically, conflicts with the native tribes did so as well.

With the massacres at Sand Creek in 1864 and Wounded Knee in 1890 as bookends, an examination of the intervening years reveals some of the most gruesome behavior known in United States history. Both sides committed unspeakable atrocities.

What would propel two peoples to such inhumane conduct? It all revolved around land. Native Americans fought desperately to live on their ancestral lands as white Americans strove to claim it for their own. Battles raged from the Dakotas to Idaho and from Montana to New Mexico.

Leaders such as Geronimo, Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse, and Chief Joseph became legendary to the Native American people for their resistance, but victory was not theirs for the taking.

Although battles were won and lost by both sides, many factors favored the United States Army. One deciding determinant was technology. Repeating rifles were a new means of mass destruction. The railroad system and industry of the East kept the federal troops better supplied than the Native Americans.

The blossoming population of the East was dwarfing the numbers of Indian folk. The buffalo, once seemingly as plentiful as the trees, were now disappearing. Perhaps the greatest killer of all was disease. For every Native American killed by a bullet, a thousand died from European plagues.

Time proved to be on the side of the army, and soon the tribes were forced to submit to a new form of existence on the reservation. For those that survived, life would never be the same.

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Even the news was a business. As Americans streamed into cities from small towns and overseas, journalists realized the economic potential. If half of Boston's citizens would buy a newspaper three times a week, a publisher could become a millionaire.

The Linotype machine, invented in 1883, allowed for much faster printing of many more papers. The market was there. The technology was there. All that was necessary was a group of entrepreneurs bold enough to seize the opportunity. The result was an American revolution in print.

Birth of the Modern Paper

Anybody with a modest sum to invest could buy a printing press and make newspapers. The trick was getting people to buy them.

The modern American newspaper took its familiar form during the Gilded Age. To capitalize on those who valued Sunday leisure time, the Sunday newspaper was expanded and divided into supplements. The subscription of women was courted for the first time by including fashion and beauty tips. For Americans who followed the emerging professional sports scene, a sports page was added.

"Dorothea Dix," actually Elizabeth Gilmer, became the nation's first advice columnist for the New Orleans Picayune in 1896. To appeal to those completely disinterested in politics and world events, Charles Dana of the