Transcripts For CSPAN2 Elliott 20240704

For president ronald reagan, barack obama talks about the workings of the presidency including history making he witnessed exploring the american story. What American History tv saturday on cspan2 and find a full schedule on the Program Guide a lot anytime online at cspan. Org history. Alumni is to was professor of history at u of a and earned a phd at the university of colorado and a story we hear going to colorado to study the history of american self but they dont do that at the university of colorado so he went on to become one of the leading scholars of the American West. Hes written nine books including the last indian war, the essentialor west in one prizes including the western Historical Association and the society of american historians in the organization of american historians. Those of you who have been in class with him though hes an outstanding teacher and recognized with the Achievement Award arkansas professor of the year the carnegieit foundation d a finalist for the Robert Foster terry award for the nations best college teacher. We think hes the nations best for sure. Subject of tonights talk is the American West and the age of expansion. This is a monumental synthesis thats my take. Monumental synthesis based on decades of research in the American West also says a lot about the country as a whole. In boulder, colorado to study the american just received his commission changed because this book needs to bring together the threads of American Civil War east and west to rethink American History. I will warn you, i am a european specialist. If i had read this one is a college student, i think i would be in a different field today. Join me in welcoming professor elliott west. [applause] thank you. You can hear me, cant you . Thank you my hearing aid. Oh, if i take them off, i wont hear myself. [laughter] say again, please. Just kidding. [applause] thank you for having us here discussed. Thank you for all contributed to the kennedy lecture. A privilege and honor to take part in this lecture. Could make me laugh harder than tom kennedy and those of you who know can appreciate that. This is about the American Economy and i want to take one thing to talk about that despite my infatuation with the american cawest. I particularly have been drawn to what we call the birth of the American West. A 30 year. When what we call the American West came into being, one most of us are familiar with and culture, a period when indian wars,cu mining and all of the things that dominate the culture. What i hope to get across to you is much more than that so will. Are we talking about . Its a 30 year period that begins with extension of the United States until 1948. Twentyeight months and 15 days in the Pacific Northwest and treaty with england e in 1846 we go to war with mexico to the south and war lasted a couple yearsed in 1848 we found tree souls california, theor southwet and it adds up to about 1,200,000 square miles writer three quarters of a billion acres in less than three years. What if that were to happen today . Say today it expands today july 1, 2025. What would we look like . July 4, 2025 . It would expand, it would reach a coax mexico and Central America and have a columbia so imagine less than three years country added that much territory and its an area of complexity geographically in terms of sources and demographically in terms of human makeup and if you were to zoom in or mexican territory, it is a hodgepodge of dozens of native groups of overlapping authorities and cultures. Thirty years later, a generation later all of that has come into coherence by 1948 and its integrated into the United Statesy politically, economicaly and become by 1880 what we call today the west, to west has been born so what we see is the birth of this and thats what this was contracted to be, thats what i was supposed to do. [laughter] and i did, it is a fabulous story, much more complex but as i wrote that, ive been increasingly convinced that much more than a. Its a couple stories. Thirty years to about 1880, there were years in which the trajectory of American History narrative shifts. It moves in a new direction in the 19th century, americas emerging so the birth of the American West and Historical Movement in modern america. And not only in time but they are intertwined and that the idea i want to play with. And the way we have grown up thinking about the birth of the west and ive mentioned it before. Cowboys and indians and what they have to do with it . Nothing. As it they are floating out there and apart from what is going on in United States history. Both were staged to entertain us instead of showing whats going on in this country. Theres no true. What im trying to emphasize is those two stories are interlocking so how do you show this . Imagine a fault experiment. The most important traits in modern america, the 20th and 21st century fundamentally different from the United States before 1850fo, what we need in contrast to the earlier one . Go back with the birth of the west and see if there are connections and changes going on around 1880 so looking at three of the items, the stories are trinitarians. Three f points. Three ways to illustrate this is there is a change. I think we can say United States is the wealthiest and most powerful economy, while these people and most powerful economy in the history of the world. We have gone through stages of industrial growth and power and postindustrial economy now and we do that more thoroughly and productively generating more wealth than any other nation in the world. Okay. Elections between that and what was going on in the west during these years. Yes. To begin with what i call the first chapter of the book, the great coincidence. A treaty that ended this expansion will sign with mexico city on the left and that was signed february 2, 1848. January 24, 1848, 9 days before the treaty, james marshall, a happygolucky guy as you can see looked down and he was overseeing a mill in Northern California and saw this shiny stuff convicted up and its worth about 50 cents. Roughly 200 hours before we acquired california, set loose what was by far Human History up until that time. More of california in one year, 1852 produced throughout the world, the entire 18th century. If you add in australia sold to california, more gold is produced between those two old russias in five years and between 1492 and 1848. Incredible. Virtually the same moment we acquired california and is revealed as one of the richest place on earth. God looks after dogs, drunks and United States of america. You got a record. This triggered a series of old russias in australia and canada across the United States. That proved to be one of the richest strengths in Human History up until that time and then there were others. One thing is to generate incredible amounts of raw wealth, the very definitionn of wealth used to finance this retooling of the American Economy and moderate establishment. You need to make that change, the most important metal is for wine in factories, it is very valuable and it turns out the American West had at that time, by far the largest most productive concentrations of copper on earth and in history. In 1865, michigan accounted for reduction of three fourths of all in the United States. In 1885, the amount of copper produced in the United States increased nine times over and two thirds was produced in montana and arizona. The basic stuff to accomplish thisan to pay for it all. Removing into the age of metal but in some ways it was still the age of would and it is an unprecedented amount of products to build infrastructure to be with this new economy. The amount of wood that was cut to build this load and produce the silver was enough would to build modernrn houses for modern city of 50000 people and that went down into this one area for this retooling, this remaking. Of the things you might not think of 1872 and 1884 there were 1019 according to officials. 99. 9993 over 12 years. Youve asked yourself why . One of they do that . Why did you happen just like somebody flipped the switch and killing all these bison. Money obviously for the guys shooting it but where is the demand . In 1870, there is a global shortage of labor. Not for boots or hats or upholstery. Leather that was used, synthetic. Leather was used for both of these machines and caskets in these industries. But cattle of course, there was a huge demand for industrial. In 1871, 21 in pennsylvania and one in germany experienced, discovered that they could treat bison hides and turn it into industrial but black, they go out there and start killing. Twelve years, they are basically gone. There is a nice parallel and it looks like a fauci, it is industrial slaughter as part of this Industrial Revolution taking place in this country so is there a connection . The west gave resources needed and love for the factories available. This revolutionary technologies in movement, this movement of information for everyone on those lines you see or left. We are less aware of the revolution and steam power to move in commerce. In 1849, exactly coincidence with the beginning of this you see here. In this commerce using those technologies on san francisco, one of the busiest on earth. Of course the telegraph demonstrated whats gone wrong. And the your before it explodes in the transcontinental in 1861 and 32 million are sent every year in this country and in tokyo so the world is shrinking because of these new technologies. What does that mean for the west . The one thing, it allowslolo us forces to get where we want them and connects to those sources. It integrates the west into the International Economy and become one economic tissue by the 1880s. Also, it took a while to catch on but it allows the American West itself to go through this industrialal revolution in ways you wouldnt normally think of. So far talked about, the east to accomplish the industrial transformational but because of this, but is happening in the west itself as well. The west was industrializing faster earlier than the east in areas you might not think of like agriculture. You probably think of homesteading and you should but that was nots all that was goig on. Ll within a decade, its one of the most productive grain producing areas in the world. By 1875, the value of grain exports, not just produced, exported out of california was greater then the value of gold and silver produced in california. A major world provider. Therg largest foreign market for reign of california was liverpool. 17000 miles away from the central value. It is this industrial method. Industrial grain production. These are called mega farms in the Central California together covered 76000 acres, one produced in one season on of grain to get 40 ships sent around the pacificou rim and to england. And these are enormous claims, productions of grain as you can see, it is in and out during these years and labor, often important from abroad and the industry, industrial production. Areas you would expect like mining allows it on these farms. Not only providingng resources, ththey are in many ways leading the way. This is part of the birth. Point to, hours trying to figure out a way to illustrate this soe categories of nobel prizes. Industry and medicine from 2010 until the 2154 in the United States. Six nations after us and if we are not the leader, we are up there in terms of scientific muscle in the world today but work with the have to do with it . You can read a of western history on this without getting the slightest inkling during those years was one of the most productive scientific laboratories on earth and field after field, the scientists during the regimes from the breakthroughs, they are historical and structural, the history of the earth and mechanisms of the formation of earth. The social scientists and American School of anthropology is emerging during these years. Meteorology show people out there doing this work recognized all over this world, epidemiology, one of the most fundamental breakthroughs in understandingr of disease in a particular disease is transmitted from connected to of all things, the most categorized of texas, theres a problem and it led to this moment of understanding how diseases pass one person to another but what i would like to focus on is one of the most active ones and paleontology, categorization of fossils and the oldest story in the world. This was a really hot topic and for obvious reasons and its the most contentious idea and that was Charles Darwin siri of evolution by natural selection. He said this is a chain of species over unimaginable amount of time and can see these studies and you can see these relationships im talking about so they went out the with these guys. Oc marsh was a professor of paleontology atpa keio with the wealthy and the way. These two guys are superstars and are engaged in this ferocious competition bitter enemies and spurred them scoop the other one, front page news. Read the front page in the rivalry of these two guys, the loading and hatred but the result was hundreds of species. This is a popular topic at the time. We take it to the great plains and american southwest. What was interesting to me t whn i got into it is these guys were superstars. Some of the most interesting work iser being done by westerns themselves. Self trained paleontologists making these discoveries. Bill reed was a neat hunter in the Union Pacific railroad and they would see those guys and they are interested in reading up on this and it was pretty good and he caught his eye when he found some stuff and identified in and about these things here because i want some money and he said great. He went on to become his top, theo richest of the time. Bill reed oversaw the on earthing and reassembly from dinosaurs. The carnegie museum. Anybody seen that . It was the meat hunter who oversaw the exhibition. Charles, a teenager in upstate new york when he moved to kansas where his brother george went on to become Surgeon General of the United States and had a ranch and came across these ancient trees. It went on to work in montana and it became one of the leading in the states and the world. This is triceratops, this is the London Museum so they are doing this but the big guys get out of work, the two most important breakthroughs affirming the ideas when it came. Marshall go out and leave the expeditions and those are all yale grad students trying hard to trust. [laughter] every species today is descended from earlier ones and reached the current position, embodiment to be a series of gradual changes that come about through genetic drift, change that link together and he said prove it so he did. The study of horses, in particular his feet, starting with horse toes and freed an animal and going back 50 billion years of two the modern horse and fitting together or speak he shows and this is how it works. Can see here he makes his way up then these are the toes and the feet to the modern horse. This was the first demonstrated evolutionary chain, the first time anyone had ever been able to show evidence for what darwin productive. Also argued if you take this bridging is tree of life will and you canan kick branches off and you follow the print done and reaching out so if you follow the printing out you will find these relationships between seemingly very different animals that are related if you go back far enough. Critics said prove it and he said okay so he did. He published this. And will safely and the study of aquatic birds primarily out of kansas marsh others working with him. What he showed his darwin for example suggesting birds were connected to reptiles and supplying off, they would escape to the island and the birds flying. But is saying is the birds were trying to eat us a few minutes ago so they are distant cousins. Really. Show us. Re so these go back and million, 60 million years ago so large berg like penguins around the leg bones but what he showed quite clearly is related to reptiles but what is really a stunner was a superstar, agent birds 6 feet long with teeth, two birds, teeth and you can traces back to crocodiles and this was the clincher. When i read this about two thirds, i said i was so astonished the midwives looked through the mouth of richard. [laughter] for the love is with the rest the royal bird of the west. I love that. This was convincing proof of claim and he had a copy and the next day they wrote him back and said this is the best evidence of confirming order in the last 20 years and it was published in 1980. 81 the species in 1859, it was the best proof of ideas found since i wrote this book. So is there a connection between modern american and scientific superstar and birth of the west . I think there is. That was it. I wish we could show this. This is a little more complex and the citizenship and from the beginning is a remarkable range of ethnicities and origins but modern americans of the pistol start because the United States extended citizenship and basic rights around citizenship and virtually all of these across the board but modern america because it this way. Its a Diverse Society and beginning of the 19th century, the embrace of american citizenship has widened and to reach around. A larger part of our society, bring them into citizenship and what is the good news. The extension of citizenship has always been limited, never complete and always contested. Some cases baltic. That is economic power and also part of the definition is contrast to american. When i say to you during this 30 year period, america embarked on his experience in which we bring former people in two the nationale embrace and american household. The first thing you would think of would be emancipation and it should. 4 million enslaved people are free and given the right to vote on paper the right to citizenship. We know there was compromise from beginning. But it begins begins before that and it begins in the west. So the west story begins with the expansion through the session 100,000 former citizens are admitted as citizens and their rights to property are guaranteed. At the same time american borders are now with dozens of different people. Wegi dont give them citizenship until 1924 officially but the promise is youll become americanan citizens. Youve got to be more like y us. But the government says is we will make s you citizens. You will become one of us but its going to take time. You have to change first. You have to become like the rest of americans before you can fit in. You are all y good. Reservations des moines the main point of reservations was to take their land away and opened up to settlements by other settlers coming in but the reservations were seen as this kind of social Cultural Laboratory in which indian peoples would be transformed into mainline americans. How were we going to do it . What a great way to look at this is a term called peace medals. President handed out medals to leaders of different groups as symbols of friendship and of alliance. On onesided one side it affected jefferson and from one side the current president , lincoln. The other side of these metals shows what that particularar administration considered the ideal relationship between the government and the indian peoples. What is our vision for you . Chairpersons said we have come a long way by 1862. This is the verso. Can you see much of this . Heres an indian with a headdress. Number one you have to the farmers. Understand you are not farmers now but i dont understand that you cant possibly form out there in wyoming. Nevertheless you are going to be farmers and thats the basic first step into American Economic life. You are going to be. Christian conversion and you will send your kids to school. Agriculture, christianity education for the children. Those are the three steps in which you will become american citizens. Theres also wonderful detail here. Can you see this . S . Baseball. During recess you go out and play baseball. So therefore things agriculture christianity education and in baseball. To become a real american. Whats interesting here courses this is 1862. Move ahead three years and its the same way supposedly the freed people were going to beam brought into america for the freedmanss bureau. The School Oliver howard and evangelical and of course 40 acres and a mule. So what we arel doing here is e prototype in the west is extendedo to free people in the east with emancipation and its all part of thee same process. This is the offer. A course the other side of that is this side of it is the imposition of the cultural order, of a racial order in this process. If its really going to work we will have this racial system dominated racial system. This is part of it. What are they saying here . You may thank you have your own religion and you may think you are raising your children the right way but you are not. We are imposingwh this idea. It gets much than this. In certain parts of the west we are looking atts the resistanceo expanding. We expand at the same time we resistsi it. In some parts of the west is outright genocide. Its a tricky term and i argue with my colleagues about where you can apply it and where you cant. This is california no question california this is attempted genocide of peoples. Population of california drops by more than half in 12 years after 1848 and 90 within 52 years. Its killing sponsored by the legislature that passes bills paying rent the militia to slaughter and he and. The federal government provides money to reimburse California Legislature for the slaughter. Other places its not quite so outright but the point is at the same time they are expanding the citizenship they were resisting it and saying okay heres the offer but its on these terms. And how about thes . Especially in Southern California and the southwest. The same thing is going on. They are given citizenship to become out right concerted effort to marginalize the main area of Economic Life and there may be resistance to it and in the very famous but on a larger scale goes far beyond that. Heres a specific one based on recent research. The associate with the southeast. Mississippi the highest rate into the 1930s. What is the rate of lynching based on Extensive Research . If a hint. Whats the rate per 100,000 in the city during thosesi years . 53. What is the rate of the 30 years before that before 1880 in Southern California and the southwest . At 73. Now again please remember this has been studied farad more thoroughlyou in the southeast ad it has in the southwest. These people who did this are pretty thorough at least appointed course here oh the chinese. The most anomalous of these groups inal these years are the chinese. What about them . They are never offered citizenship in fact in 1882 the congress are the only time in American History the chinese exclusion act of 1892 congress excludes or produces immigration to this country and closes the door absolutely for a group based simply on their place of origin. The other great wall of china keeping the chinese out. So the point here i think is another money point that modern america, think about modern america as we talk a great game and we offer citizenship in the upper right to let the people at the same time its always resisted and always this questionon of just how poor was adam we are in this country. So if you see this then you look in the 20th century we see the doors narrowed in the early 20th century with the exclusion actow of 1924 which we kept out the smelling people from Eastern Europe and after world war ii the door swung open is done away with in civil rights legislation power and red power and we are seeing it pulling back. More resistant to it. Once again the focus is out west and we are talking about a wall. Its not metaphorical. Oh gosh at 7 00. The point im trying to emphasize tonight is first a couple of things for the story of the bird to the west by itself is a wonderful story. But its a story that is also closely intertwined with the story of the birth of modern america. The birth of the west the birth of modern america are really inseparable. The west at one time born of modern america in the west at the same time is helping to give birth to the west to differ to modern america. The west is both a child and a midwife of the modern america we know in the 21st century but the point im trying to make on the type of the book is that if we are going to understand American History generally we have got to make more of an effort to look atwe that history truly continental way to bring the west fully into the story and to look at the american narrative from coasttocoast. Thanks very much. [applause] thank you. Do we have time for questions . Oh come on. C hey jeanine. C hi. This is so interesting and i just wanted i just wondered if you could elaborate a little bit more on the third because its a great disinterested in politics and government. Why not also in the book talk about the west as a leader in expanding citizenship. Thats a very good point. Part of the expansion of courses between genders. In fact i do write about that in the west. You could speculate that they talk about this. The fact is the west led the way in the nation in with the abolishment of the principals that a woman essentially gives legal identity inal marriage. The west has by far and away the most generous access to divorce in the nation. Divorce in the west was seven times the rate of the south atlantic in three times the rate of new england. Women are given rights in the Legal Systems across the west and not for use and ease. Its interesting to speculate why that is my have some ideas but that was certainly the case. Its gender neutral the homestead acts that anyone can take up 160 acres male or female and 10 of the homestead taken up on the Northern Plains either single women or widowed never married women. Everything connected with homestead. Itsmp more complicated than th, its very complicated story. The larger picture in the west is in fact one in which womens rights are significantly expanded. Theres another aspect to this. There has been some really interesting work done on what are called women in waiting. These are gold rush widows and thousands of men, many of them husbands and fathers who go out to the fields and do other mining in the west and they leave the women, they leave their wives and mothers at home to take on womens work. I mean mens work. They had to run a business and take care the farm and take on those responsibilities that have been done by men before that. If you follow that story in a lot of cases they didnt come back w and the women would say glad you are back on and others would come back and say okay time for you to take over. I dont think so. Its one more way in which we see westward expansion in the civil war interact with these who are after all to events in which thousands of men left their homes and left women behind to take on male roles and you cant tell me there was not some connection between that and the fact that in the t generatin if you years ahead we saw the rise of modern feminism in the United States. I think its one way to point to this meredith. A student of the 80s and there were very different questions about the west back then Frontier West region and west is a process in the course the new western history. I noticed in your book you basically referred to frontier in et al. A talus sees an italicized words one time and i was wondering if youd address that. I think its very intriguing because when we were in the new western history many of us said we are never using that wordt again. Thank you. He is our colleague and m. I. A. State student 200 years ago and he asked me why he didnt why use the word frontier label at the end and italics and he knows perfectly well why i did that. He sent me up here. Its nott so much that its negative. The person most associated with the newest history prefers to call it the s word. Its just okay lets get beyond that. There other ways to look at this and we dont need to shoehorn everything in this concept of the frontier and how we define it and so forth. Its time to move on. We can use it occasionally in the text. Hi elliott. I wanted to ask about that territory before 1840s so just going by this map which he defined the American West geographically as all territory west of the Mississippi River . I use the missouri river. That might be a little bit different. Im curious whatsle going on in the louisiana territory from 1803 until the 1840s. Thats a great question. The louisiana purchase, right . Territory that we are to count webefore the treaty. Okay. Well, course the missouri compromise drew a lone a line across north of us in bella vista. Everything south of that is date and north of that is a much larger territory. Thats kind of a bad deal. Why do we get the small parts down there and we get this huge expansion. A iowa and minnesota none of that was considered usable at all. Because it didnt have enough rainfall. Think of this. In 1845, the time you are talking about, right . It was called Indian Country and left up to the tribes. 1845 none of that had any government whatsoever. It adds up to about one quarter of all american territory. In 184,514th of all the United States had no government whatsoever. Thats because it was considered irrelevant. It was a national irrelevance. The followup to that what happens is when we get that land to the pacific and gold is discovered. Suddenly that country becomes important. Not because of what he can produce before a. Becauseca now its right in the middle of this expanded country and we got to get across it. So it got to start dealing with the to get transit rights and then we had to build a railroad across there. We had to organize because you cant make this law work without being organized to define the property. It becomes important, the expansion makes that area are relevant up until then suddenly makes that area very important simply because its in the middle of the country. As history changes from that point on. The very good question, thank you. Anybody else . Yes sir. With the contribution to paleontology was anthropology also expanded in the last . Yeah. [laughter] i was hoping no one would ask that. It is an impact its a fieldvely new anthropology. John was powell who is the head of the bureau called the science of man. The everton anthropology were quite extraordinary railroad surveys in 1850 serving ways to go out on the routes of the transcontinental railroad. All were scientists among them areand anthropologist and the k recorded incredible amount of ecological material describing these areas and what they found on the way out there and publish these gorgeous volumes. The only copies we have nearby or crystal bridges. The publications, the cost of publications of the scientific explorations in 18 50s was roughly one fourth of the entire national budget. It included remarkable stuff. E zoology and biology and botany and gentle maulucci and all this including i anthropology and it gives a boost to the study of anthropology and what expansion did was offer this huge number of strange peoples to go out there and study and they did. This was also ade period of socalled race science or pseudoscience which major figures some of the most famous at harvard who believed in polygenesis and there isnt one human race but their human races and you can divide all of humanity into different racial categories and their our species. They are a course also ranked in terms of ability intelligence and cultural possibilities and guess whos on top . As you go down the line guess whos at the bottom and are close to the bottom except for africanamericans. Its called the American School of anthropology and becomes a very wellknown as racial fear rising and moving ahead into germany in the 1930s figures like racial theorists look to the American School of anthropologys confirmation. Its a very side. Obviously it has nothing to do with anthropology. So was very active and was also very influential and affect this particular social science impacts it. On a chippy or note. Anyone else . Okay well thank you very much and thank you. It was an honor to be at the kennedy center. [applause] [inaudible conversations]