The West – 1800-1860

The West – 1800-1860 Cynthia Williams Resor Teaching American History December 7, 2012 Middle School – 2nd session; 4th year Activity • How did travelers in the early 1800s find their destination in areas with no roads? • What “sign-posts” did they use? • What “roads” did they use? • Draw/label the major rivers of Kentucky on the map. – Would adding the major modern highways be easier? • Draw/label the major rivers of the USA on the map. – Would adding the major modern highways be easier? The West before the Civil War was not a blank space . Today’s theme: Pretend you are a person living on the WEST side of the Mississippi River in 1804. You might be a ►French Canadian ► British ► Native American ► Russian ► Spanish ► A person with a mixed heritage How would you view Americans as they move into your home? Typical outline of textbooks What is missing? • Chapter 20 - Jeffersonian America: A Second Revolution? The Election of 1800 – Jeffersonian Ideology – Westward Expansion: The Louisiana Purchase – A New National Capital: Washington, D.C. – A Federalist Stronghold: John Marshall's Supreme Court – Gabriel's Rebellion: Another View of Virginia in 1800 • Chapter 21 - The Expanding Republic and the War of 1812 The Importance of the West – Exploration: Lewis and Clark – Diplomatic Challenges in an Age of European War – Native American Resistance in the Trans-Appalachian West – The Second War for American Independence – Claiming Victory from Defeat • Chapter 24 - The Age of Jackson The Rise of the Common Man – A Strong Presidency – The South Carolina Nullification Controversy – The War Against the Bank – Jackson vs. Clay and Calhoun – The Trail of Tears — The Indian Removals • Chapter 29 - Manifest Destiny The Lone Star Republic – 54° 40' or Fight – "American Blood on American Soil" – The Mexican-American War – Gold in California Today’s Literacy Theme: • CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.6-8.6 Identify aspects of a text that reveal an author’s point of view or purpose (e.g., loaded language, inclusion or avoidance of particular facts). • Textbook activities (see today’s e-folder) Some of the missing pieces of the story of the West before 1850 . Main source • Empires, Nations, and Families, A History of the North America West, 1800-1860 – By Anne Hyde (2011) – First pages for free – http://www.nebraskapress.unl.edu/supplements/exce rpts/Spring%2011/9780803224056_excerpt.pdf • ALSO very helpful – Organization of American Historians Magazine of History – November 2005 • Entire edition about the American West • Free in library database (PDFs in today’s e-folder) 1804 • In St. Louis - France and US conduct a formal ceremony to officially transfer the Louisiana purchase • 1804 – Lewis and Clark getting started from Kansas City on their journey • Who / what were they going to find in the new American territory? Louisiana territory BEFORE 1804 • France controlled this vast area from 1699 until 1762, the year it gave the territory to its ally Spain. • 1762 – 1800 – belonged to Spain (38 years) • Under Napoleon Bonaparte, France took back the territory in 1800 in the hope of building an empire in North America • A slave revolt in Haiti and an impending war with Britain caused France sell the entire territory to the United States • US had originally intended only to seek the purchase of New Orleans and its adjacent lands • To most people living in the Louisiana Purchase – the news (when they heard it) would make no difference • Approx. 500,000 Euro-Americans and approx. 2 millions Native Americans between Appalachians and Mississippi River • The Mississippi River was very important transportation route • – but what was west was mysterious. Power at local/family level, not national (thesis of Hyde’s history) • A lot had been going on West of the Mississippi BEFORE Euro-Americans go there • this part of history has been “forgotten” • “nations” and “empires” didn’t really matter because they changed or had little power west of the Miss. River • The real power lay with family / local networks • Relationships – marriage, adoption, bondage, partnership, apprenticeship, and friendship – provided the glue that held this world together (through long years of imperial rivalry and war) Another reason this part of history may have been ignored . • A mixed race history • A typical 19th century account of pioneers, “Annals of St. Louis” said that Charles Bent died single, Governor of Taos, New Mexico, murdered – BUT – he was not single, died in the arms of his wife, Ignacia Jaramillo Bent and three of his children – Why was his listed as single? – His brothers William, George and Robert all listed as unmarried- but all had Mexican or Native wives • Mary Easton Sibley said to have no children – she and her husband George adopted 3 children the orphans of their long- time Osage friend Sans Oreille, and gave them their names • John McLoughlin - a Canadian native of Scottish and French descent – Became one of most powerful men on Pacific Coast – Married 2 Native women and have children of mixed race – 1st wife – a Ojjbwe woman, died – 2nd wife Marguerite Wadin McKay - Cree and French Canadian 1804 - 4 important centers • St. Louis • Great Lakes • Santa Fe and Arkansas River • Pacific Coast 1804- 4 western sites St. Louis Great Lakes Santa Fe and Arkansas River Pacific Coast St. Louis in 1804 • News of Louisiana Purchase came as a complete surprise to people in St. Louis – Deal had been made in secret in 1803 – Didn’t know what it would mean to be a territory of USA – Most powerful Natives in the area - Osages didn’t believe it – The first American gov. of Louisiana Purchase area, Amos Stoddard –saw at least 7 different “castes” of mixed blood people Traditional Osage Tribal Lands by Late 17th Century Chief of the Little Osages c. 1807 Colonial Missouri c. 1795 History of St. Louis • Founded in 1763 by French traders • Became part of Spanish empire in 1764 when French lost land claims in North America • But St. Louis remained French and Indian world – In 1800, approx 80% of people born in St. Louis had at least one parent with Native blood – The first American gov. of Louisiana Purchase area, Amos Stoddard – saw at least 7 different “castes” of mixed blood people • Most business conducted in French (even though had been part of Spanish empire) – French-speaking clerks from St. Louis and New Orleans had run the “Spanish” government in St. Louis • Chouteau family was very powerful – owned counting house, warehouses, flour mills, wharves along Miss. River in St. Louis – diversified into transportation, lead mining, banking; owned land – Dominated region through fur trade with the Osages – Primary supplies of furs from Mississippi Valley to European markets – Had many family ties with Natives Mihanga (Sacred Son), daughter of an important Osage leader, and A. P. Chouteau’s first Osage wife and mother of one of his children (not the child in the picture) A.P. Chouteau’s children 11 children by his French Creole wife in St. Louis 7 children by Osage women This life confused Anglo-Americans When Washington Irving visited Chouteau’s trading house in La Saline in 1832, he said “white log house with piazza, surround by trees, Come to beautiful, clear river, group of Indian nymphs half naked on banks. Group of Indians round tree I courtyard – roasting venison. Half breeds, squaws, negro girls, running and giggling – dogs of all kinds – hens flying and cackling – wild turkeys, tames geese – piazza with buffalo skin thrown over railing – room with guns & rifles. About Chouteau’s family he said “a half-breed-sister of Mr. Chouteau’s concubine served them. In the hall Indians are seated on the floor – another Indian glares in at the window . Half-breeds loitering about the house – dogs and cats of all kinds strolling around in the house. • Painting by Charles Bird King, 1830 • Charles Bird King (1785–1862) was an American portrait artist, best known for his portrayals of significant Native American leaders and tribesmen. • http://shs.umsystem.edu/historicmissourians/name/s/sacreds un/index.html St. Louis - Exchange point in fur trade • Fur trade and its ancillary businesses among the largest and most profitable business in the world – Thousands for traders, merchants, bankers, politicians involved – Trappers, traders brought furs to St. Louis on small boats – Clerks made record for each traders – how many furs, amount of credit used to buy trade goods – Furs were packed, weighed and pressed to be loaded on larger boats for New Orleans, New York, London, Canton – Trade goods for Indians – guns, cloth, blankets, lead, beads, bridles, needles, thread, gunpowder, jewelry, kettles, axes arrived on these ships – Stored in warehouses and shipped up river at end of summer for winter trading season • Chouteau family traded TONS of goods for hundreds of thousands of pelts and hides – Osages granted Pierre and Auguste Chouteau honorary membership in a tribal clan to recognize their diplomatic importance – Both men married into the tribes and had children (but did not encourage the Native children to live as part of St. Louis families) Anglo-Americans arrive • During Spanish rule (1762 – 1800) – Spanish wanted to increase the population on the Spanish side of the Mississippi – recruited American settlers – Advertised Missouri as having rich land, peaceful Indians and freedom from ”chicanery and lawyers” – Many came in 1780s and 1790s • Anglo-Americans attracted into the fur business late – But by 1804 – it looked attractive Anglo-Americans arrive • Phillip and Isabella Whitley Sublette – From Lincoln County, Ky – moved 8 children to St. Charles, Missouri (just north of St. Louis) • Bent family would arrive from Virginia • George Sibley emigrated from North Carolina • Moses Austin (son Stephen would become famous in Texas) • • In 1799, Daniel Boone moved to St. Louis area (then Spanish).

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