APUSH Period 6: 1865-1898

Overview

• Covers the post-Civil War era in the United States.
• Focuses on Western expansion, industrialization, labor movements, and social changes.

Western Expansion

• Post-Civil War economic opportunities in the West: mining, farming, cattle industry.
• Homestead Act: Provided 160 acres of land at low cost.
• Pacific Railroad Act: Route for Transcontinental Railroad.
• Government's role:
  • Removal of Native Americans.
  • Land grants and subsidies to railroad companies.

Conservation Movement

• Conflict between conservationists and corporate interests.
• Department of the Interior (1849): Manages federal land.
• US Fish Commission (1871): Preserves fisheries.
• John Muir (1892): Founded the Sierra Club.

Native American Policies

• Violent Conflicts: Sand Creek Massacre, Battle of Little Big Horn, Battle of Wounded Knee.
• Assimilation Policies: Reservation system, Dawes Severalty Act (1887).
• Native American schools: Assimilation through education.

Industrialization

• Large-scale production and technological change.
• Key figures:
  • Andrew Carnegie (Steel).
  • John D. Rockefeller (Oil).
• Business strategies:
  • Horizontal and vertical integration.
  • Establishing monopolies, trusts, and pools.

Labor Movements

• Knights of Labor (1869): Open to all workers.
• American Federation of Labor (1886): Focus on skilled workers.
• Challenges: Low wages, unsafe conditions, corporate and government hostility.

Farmers' Challenges

• Adaptation to mechanized agriculture.
• Economic issues: Falling prices, unfair railroad practices, high machinery costs.
• Farmers' Organizations:
  • The Grange Movement.
  • Farmers' Alliance.
  • Populist Party: Political reforms and stronger government role.

Social Changes

• Urbanization and migration to cities for job opportunities.
• Internal migration: African-American Great Migration.
• External migration: New immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe.
• Nativism: Opposition to immigrants, e.g., Chinese Exclusion Act.

Urban Challenges

• Divisions in cities: Class, race, and ethnicity.
• Poor living conditions: Tenement housing, child labor.
• Political machines: Corruption and control in urban areas.

Social Reforms

• Gospel of Wealth: Wealthy should help the less fortunate.
• Settlement House Movement: Assistance for immigrants.
• Social Gospel Movement: Christian responsibility to address urban poverty.
• Rise of the Progressive Movement.

Women's and Civil Rights Movements

• National American Woman Suffrage Association: Securing the right to vote.
• Leaders: Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Carrie Chapman Catt.
• African American leaders:
  • Booker T. Washington: Vocational skills for self-respect.
  • Ida B. Wells-Barnett: Campaign against lynching.

Government and Regulation

• Gilded Age: Surface prosperity hides underlying corruption.
• Initial government regulation efforts:
  • Interstate Commerce Act: Regulating trade between states.
  • Sherman Antitrust Act: Outlawing monopolies, initially used against labor unions.

These notes provide a high-level overview of the key topics and events in APUSH Period 6. For more detailed information, refer to additional resources or videos as mentioned.