Cattle, Cowboys, and Beef Barons
Were cowboys mainly of one race?
No -- cowboys tended to be diverse: Black, white, Mexican, and Indian
What was the greatest push factor for westward migration?
Civil War
Why were women treated more equitably during this time?
There were fewer women than men on the frontier.
What types of crops were grown during this time?
Cash crops (wheat, corn, cotton, etc.)
Was there still racism and inequality in the New South?
Yes
How many of the famous Texas cows were driven up north by these cowboys?
Over 4,000,000
What did the Homestead Act of 1862 do?
Offered land to farmers which after 6 months could be purchased for $1.25 per acre.
Which crops did farmers convert to due to the severe conditions of the plains?
Grains (sorghum and wheat)
What was the main way that the US became one of the world's largest bread and meat producers at this time?
Expensive Machinery
Name a tactic that White sharecroppers used to keep Slaves in their clutches.
Kept them in debt, Gave them low paging wages, kept them from obtaining skills, etc.
The first cowboys were employed to drive cattle deeper west. How many of these cowboys were initially employed?
Around 40,000.
Why were the farmers benefiting from the Homestead Act disappointed?
The farmland wasn’t great.
Land in the West was cheap; however, farming was not affordable. Name an example of a good that was troublesome for farmers to obtain.
livestock, equipment, and/or seed
What is the “Crop Lein” system?
A merchant would extend a farmer’s credit in exchange for a portion of their crops.
What is one way that White supremacists keep African Americans from voting?
Literacy Tests Poll Tests or the residency rule/Mississippi plan.
Beef was an important product in early Texas, what type of cow -- that was previously only killed for sport -- became a staple of Texas culture for its population and meat?
Longhorn Cattle
What problem arose to African Americans settling in Kansas?
Many had to hire themselves out to white farmers (kickstarting the cycle of sharecropping).
Over 20,000 pioneers traveled westward to settle and enter the Farming Industry. What was the depressing fate of around have of these unfortunate people?
They obtained a great sum of debt and were forced to quit.
What's the difference between tenant farmers and sharecroppers?
Tenant farmers would use their own supplies on someone else's land while sharecroppers borrowed everything from supplies to land. Tenant farmers tended to earn more.
The Supreme Court ruled these exploitations unconstitutional. Was this successful in Changing the South?
No
Being a cowboy was not the most sought-after job then as it required long hard work. With this being said what were many of these cowboys' earlier professions/backgrounds?
Slaves (many slaves had a head start because of their knowledge of animals they learned while taking care of them), Civil War Veterans, and Immigrants.
Those who traversed the Great Plains found large settlements of Indians, along with scatterings of Mexicans, Asians, and _________
Anglo-Americans.
What was a farmer's toughest opponent when it came to crop yield?
Weather(fires)-leads to crop inconsistency and therefore a large income inconsistency.
Due to an increase in competition and expense, what were many farmers forced to do?
Becoming diverse farmers as single-crop farming was not viable anymore.
Who are Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois?
Among other notable achievements, they both fought for equality.