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Fort Atkinson
The federal government tried to pacify the Indians by signing treaties at Fort Laramie in 1851 and Fort Atkinson in 1853 with the chiefs of the tribes. However, the U.S. failed to understand that such “tribes” and “chiefs” didn’t necessarily represent groups of people in Indian culture, and that in most cases, Native Americans didn’t recognize authorities outside of their families. -
Morrill Act
The Morrill Act of 1862 had provided a generous grant of the public lands to the states for support of education and was extended by the Hatch Act of 1887, which provided federal funds for the establishment of agricultural experiment stations in connection with the land-grant colleges.
Private donations also went toward the establishment of colleges, including Cornell, Leland Stanford Junior, and the University of Chicago, which was funded by John D. Rockefeller. -
Receding Native Population
In 1864, at Sand Creek, Colorado, Colonel J.M. Chivington’s militia massacred some four hundred Indians in cold blood—Indians who had thought they had been promised immunity and Indians who were peaceful and harmless. -
The Urban Frontier
From 1870 to 1900, the American population doubled, and the population in the cities tripled.
Cities grew up and out, with such famed architects as Louis Sullivan working on and perfecting skyscrapers (first appearing in Chicago in 1885). -
Carlisle Indian School
In 1879, the Carlisle Indian School in Pennsylvania was founded to teach Native American children how to behave like Whites, completely erasing their culture.