Editing Midwestern United States (section)

==History==
=== European exploration and early settlement ===
==== The Middle Ground theory ====
The theory of the middle ground was introduced in Richard White's seminal work: ''The Middle Ground: Indians, Empires, and Republics in the Great Lakes Region, 1650–1815'' originally published in 1991. White defines the middle ground like so:
{{Blockquote|text=The middle ground is the place in between cultures, peoples, and in between empires and the non state world of villages. It is a place where many of the North American subjects and allies of empires lived. It is the area between the historical foreground of European invasion and occupation and the background of Indian defeat and retreat.|sign=Richard White|source=The Middle Ground: Indians, Empires, and Republics in the Great Lakes Region, 1650–1815, p. XXVI}}
White specifically designates "the lands bordering the rivers flowing into the northern Great Lakes and the lands south of the lakes to the Ohio" as the location of the middle ground.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Middle Ground: Indians, Empires, and Republics in the Great Lakes Region, 1650–1815|url=https://archive.org/details/middlegroundindi0000whit_d8e7|url-access=registration|last=White|first=Richard|year=1991|pages=XXVI–XXVII}}</ref> This includes the modern Midwestern states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Michigan as well as parts of Canada.

The middle ground was formed on the foundations of mutual accommodation and common meanings established between the French and the Indians that then transformed and degraded as both were steadily lost as the French ceded their influence in the region in the aftermath of [[France in the Seven Years' War|their defeat]] in the [[Seven Years' War]] and the [[Louisiana Purchase]].<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Middle Ground: Indians, Empires, and Republics in the Great Lakes Region, 1650–1815|url=https://archive.org/details/middlegroundindi0000whit_d8e7|url-access=registration|last=White|first=Richard|year=1991|pages=XXV–XXVI}}</ref>

Major aspects of the middle ground include blended culture, the [[North American fur trade|fur trade]], Native alliances with both the French and British, conflicts and treaties with the United States both [[Western theater of the American Revolutionary War|during the Revolutionary War]] and [[American Indian Wars|after]],<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Middle Ground: Indians, Empires, and Republics in the Great Lakes Region, 1650–1815|url=https://archive.org/details/middlegroundindi0000whit_d8e7|url-access=registration|last=White|first=Richard|year=1991}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=Indigenous Prosperity and American Conquest: Indian Women of the Ohio River Valley, 1690–1792|last=Sleeper-Smith|first=Susan|year=2018}}</ref> and its ultimate clearing/erasure throughout the nineteenth century.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Winning the West with Words, Language and Conquest in the Lower Great Lakes|last=Buss|first=James|year=2011}}</ref>

==== New France ====
{{Main|New France}}

European settlement of the area began in the 17th century following French exploration of the region and became known as [[New France]], including the ''[[Illinois Country]]''. The French period began with the exploration of the [[Saint Lawrence River]] by [[Jacques Cartier]] in 1534 and ending with their cessation of the majority of their holdings in North America to the [[Kingdom of Great Britain]] in the [[Treaty of Paris (1763)]].<ref>Charles J. Balesi, ''The Time of the French in the Heart of North America, 1673–1818'' (3d ed. 2000); W. J.
Eccles, ''The French in North America, 1500–1783'' (2nd ed. 1998)</ref>

==== Mapping of the Mississippi River ====
{{Main|Jacques Marquette|Louis Joliet}}
[[File:Marquette and jolliet map 1681.jpg|thumb|Map by Marquette and Jolliet drawn on their 1673 expedition, published circa 1681]]

In 1673 the [[Governor of New France]] sent [[Jacques Marquette]], a Catholic priest and missionary, and [[Louis Jolliet]], a [[fur trader]], to map the way to the Northwest Passage to the Pacific. They traveled through Michigan's upper peninsula to the northern tip of Lake Michigan. On canoes, they crossed the massive lake and landed at present-day [[Green Bay, Wisconsin]]. They entered the Mississippi River on 17 June 1673.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.mrnussbaum.com/history/marquette.htm |title=Marquette and Joliet |website=mrnussbaum.com |access-date=17 June 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111003002307/http://www.mrnussbaum.com/history/marquette.htm |archive-date=3 October 2011 }}</ref>

Marquette and Jolliet were the first to map the northern portion of the Mississippi River. They confirmed that it was easy to travel from the St. Lawrence River through the Great Lakes all the way to the Gulf of Mexico by water, that the native peoples who lived along the route were generally friendly, and that the natural resources of the lands in between were extraordinary. New France officials led by LaSalle followed up and erected a {{Convert|4000|mi|adj=on}} network of fur trading posts.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/topics/marquette_joliet/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060502132917/http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/topics/marquette_joliet/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=2 May 2006 |title=Marquette & Joliet |date=2 May 2006 |access-date=17 April 2021}}</ref>

=== Fur trade ===
{{Main|North American fur trade}}

[[File:Nanfan.svg|thumb|upright=1.15|Beaver hunting grounds, the basis of the fur trade]]
The [[fur trade]] was an integral part of early European and Indian relations. It was the foundation upon which their interactions were built and was a system that would evolve over time.

Goods often traded included guns, clothing, blankets, strouds, cloth, tobacco, silver, and alcohol.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Middle Ground: Indians, Empires, and Republics in the Great Lakes Region, 1650–1815|url=https://archive.org/details/middlegroundindi0000whit_d8e7|url-access=registration|last=White|first=Richard|year=1991|pages=[https://archive.org/details/middlegroundindi0000whit_d8e7/page/113 113]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=Indigenous Prosperity and American Conquest: Indian Women of the Ohio River Valley, 1690–1792|last=Sleeper-Smith|first=Susan|year=2018|pages=103, 128, 194}}</ref>

==== France ====
{{Main|Louisiana (New France)}}
[[File:Kaskaskia Bell 3321.jpg|thumb|The bell donated by King [[Louis XV]] in 1741 to the French mission at [[Kaskaskia, Illinois]]. It was later called the "Liberty Bell of the West", after it was rung to celebrate U.S. victory in the Revolution]]

The French and Indian exchange of goods was called an exchange of gifts rather than a trade. These gifts held greater meaning to the relationship between the two than a simple economic exchange because the trade itself was inseparable from the social relations it fostered and the alliance it created.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Middle Ground: Indians, Empires, and Republics in the Great Lakes Region, 1650–1815|url=https://archive.org/details/middlegroundindi0000whit_d8e7|url-access=registration|last=White|first=Richard|year=1991|pages=[https://archive.org/details/middlegroundindi0000whit_d8e7/page/98 98]–99, 1112}}</ref> In the meshed French and Algonquian system of trade, the [[Algonquian peoples|Algonquian]] familial metaphor of a father and his children shaped the political relationship between the French and the Natives in this region. The French, regarded as the metaphoric father, were expected to provide for the needs of the Algonquians and, in return, the Algonquians, the metaphoric children, would be obligated to assist and obey them. Traders (''[[voyageurs]]'', ''[[coureur des bois]]'') coming into Indian villages facilitated this system of symbolic exchange to establish or maintain alliances and friendships.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Middle Ground: Indians, Empires, and Republics in the Great Lakes Region, 1650–1815|url=https://archive.org/details/middlegroundindi0000whit_d8e7|url-access=registration|last=White|first=Richard|year=1991|pages=[https://archive.org/details/middlegroundindi0000whit_d8e7/page/112 112]}}</ref>

Marriage also became an important aspect of the trade in both the Ohio River valley and the French ''[[Pays d'en Haut|pays d'en haut]]'' with the temporary closing of the French fur trade from 1690 to 1716 and beyond.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book|title=The Middle Ground: Indians, Empires, and Republics in the Great Lakes Region, 1650–1815|url=https://archive.org/details/middlegroundindi0000whit_d8e7|url-access=registration|last=White|first=Richard|year=1991|pages=[https://archive.org/details/middlegroundindi0000whit_d8e7/page/68 68]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=Indigenous Prosperity and American Conquest: Indian Women of the Ohio River Valley, 1690–1792|last=Sleeper-Smith|first=Susan|year=2018|pages=102}}</ref> French fur traders were forced to abandon most posts and those remaining in the region became illegal traders who potentially sought these marriages to secure their safety.<ref name=":2" /><ref>{{Cite book|title=Indigenous Prosperity and American Conquest: Indian Women of the Ohio River Valley, 1690–1792|last=Sleeper-Smith|first=Susan|year=2018|pages=100}}</ref> Another benefit for French traders marrying Indian women was that the Indian women were in charge of the processing of the pelts necessary to the fur trade.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Indigenous Prosperity and American Conquest: Indian Women of the Ohio River Valley, 1690–1792|last=Sleeper-Smith|first=Susan|year=2018|pages=96–97}}</ref> Women were integral to the fur trade and their contributions were lauded, so much so that the absence of the involvement of an Indian Woman was once cited as the cause for a trader's failure.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Indigenous Prosperity and American Conquest: Indian Women of the Ohio River Valley, 1690–1792|last=Sleeper-Smith|first=Susan|year=2018|pages=99}}</ref> When the French fur trade re-opened in 1716 upon the discovery that their overstock of pelts had been ruined, legal French traders continued to marry Indian women and remain in their villages.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Indigenous Prosperity and American Conquest: Indian Women of the Ohio River Valley, 1690–1792|last=Sleeper-Smith|first=Susan|year=2018|pages=102, 108}}</ref> With the growing influence of women in the fur trade also came the increasing demand of cloth which very quickly grew to be the most desired trade good.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Indigenous Prosperity and American Conquest: Indian Women of the Ohio River Valley, 1690–1792|last=Sleeper-Smith|first=Susan|year=2018|pages=167}}</ref>

==== Britain ====
{{Main|Indian Reserve (1763)}}

[[Kingdom of England|English]] traders entered the Ohio country as a serious competitor to the French in the fur trade around the 1690s.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book|title=The Middle Ground: Indians, Empires, and Republics in the Great Lakes Region, 1650–1815|url=https://archive.org/details/middlegroundindi0000whit_d8e7|url-access=registration|last=White|first=Richard|year=1991|pages=[https://archive.org/details/middlegroundindi0000whit_d8e7/page/119 119]}}</ref> English (and later British) traders almost consistently offered the Indians better goods and better rates than the French, with the Indians being able to play that to their advantage, thrusting the French and the British into competition with each other to their own benefit.<ref name=":3" /><ref>{{Cite book|title=Indigenous Prosperity and American Conquest: Indian Women of the Ohio River Valley, 1690–1792|last=Sleeper-Smith|first=Susan|year=2018|pages=117, 167–168}}</ref> The Indian demand for certain kinds of cloth in particular fueled this competition.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Indigenous Prosperity and American Conquest: Indian Women of the Ohio River Valley, 1690–1792|last=Sleeper-Smith|first=Susan|year=2018|pages=167–168}}</ref> This, however, changed following the [[Seven Years' War]] with [[Great Britain in the Seven Years' War|Britain's victory]] over France and the cession of New France to [[Great Britain]].<ref name=":4">{{Cite book|title=The Middle Ground: Indians, Empires, and Republics in the Great Lakes Region, 1650–1815|url=https://archive.org/details/middlegroundindi0000whit_d8e7|url-access=registration|last=White|first=Richard|year=1991|pages=[https://archive.org/details/middlegroundindi0000whit_d8e7/page/256 256]}}</ref>

The British attempted to establish a more assertive relationship with the Indians of the ''pays d'en haut'', eliminating the practise of gift giving which they now saw as unnecessary.<ref name=":4" /> This, in combination with an underwhelming trade relationship with a surplus of whiskey, increase in prices generally, and a shortage of other goods led to unrest among the Indians that was exacerbated by the decision to significantly reduce the amount of rum being traded, a product that British merchants had been including in the trade for years. This would eventually culminate in [[Pontiac's War]], which broke out in 1763.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Middle Ground: Indians, Empires, and Republics in the Great Lakes Region, 1650–1815|url=https://archive.org/details/middlegroundindi0000whit_d8e7|url-access=registration|last=White|first=Richard|year=1991|pages=[https://archive.org/details/middlegroundindi0000whit_d8e7/page/264 264]–266, 285–289}}</ref> Following the conflict, the British government was forced to compromise and loosely re-created a trade system that was an echo of the French one.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Middle Ground: Indians, Empires, and Republics in the Great Lakes Region, 1650–1815|url=https://archive.org/details/middlegroundindi0000whit_d8e7|url-access=registration|last=White|first=Richard|year=1991|pages=[https://archive.org/details/middlegroundindi0000whit_d8e7/page/289 289]}}</ref>

=== American settlement ===
{{Main|American frontier#New Nation}}

[[File:United States land claims and cessions 1782-1802.png|thumb|The state cessions that eventually allowed for the creation of the territories north and southwest of the [[River Ohio]]]]
While French control ended in 1763 after their defeat in the Seven Years' War, most of the several hundred French settlers in small villages along the [[Mississippi River]] and its tributaries remained, and were not disturbed by the new British administration. By the terms of the [[Treaty of Paris (1763)|Treaty of Paris]], Spain was given [[Louisiana (New Spain)|Louisiana]]; the area west of the Mississippi. [[St. Louis]] and [[Ste. Genevieve, Missouri|Ste. Genevieve]] in Missouri were the main towns, but there was little new settlement. France regained Louisiana from Spain in exchange for [[Grand Duchy of Tuscany|Tuscany]] by the terms of the [[Third Treaty of San Ildefonso|Treaty of San Ildefonso]] in 1800. Napoleon had lost interest in re-establishing a [[New France|French colonial empire in North America]] following the [[Haitian Revolution]] and together with the fact that France could not effectively defend [[Louisiana (New France)|Louisiana]] from a possible British attack, he sold the territory to the United States in the [[Louisiana Purchase]] of 1803. Meanwhile, the British maintained forts and trading posts in U.S. territory, refusing to give them up until 1796 by the [[Jay Treaty]].<ref>{{cite book |first=Spencer|last=Tucker|title=Almanac of American Military History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TO2mx314ST0C&pg=PA427|year=2013|publisher=ABC-CLIO|page=427|isbn=9781598845303}}</ref> American settlement began either via routes over the Appalachian Mountains or through the waterways of the Great Lakes. [[Fort Pitt (Pennsylvania)|Fort Pitt]] (now [[Pittsburgh]]) at the source of the [[Ohio River]] became the main base for settlers moving into the Midwest. [[Marietta, Ohio]] in 1787 became the first settlement in Ohio, but not until the defeat of Native American tribes at the [[Battle of Fallen Timbers]] in 1794 was large-scale settlement possible. Large numbers also came north from Kentucky into southern Ohio, Indiana and Illinois.<ref>{{cite book|first= Beverley W. Jr.|last = Bond|title = The Foundations of Ohio|date =1941|chapter = 10|oclc = 2699306|location = Columbus |publisher = Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society|series = History of the State of Ohio|volume = 1}}</ref>

The region's fertile soil produced [[maize|corn]] and vegetables; most farmers were self-sufficient. They cut trees and claimed the land, then sold it to newcomers and then moved further west to repeat the process.<ref>Frederick Jackson Turner, ''The Frontier in American History'' (1921) pp 271-72.</ref>

==== Squatters ====
{{Main|Northwest Territory|Squatting in the United States}}

[[File:Northwest-territory-usa-1787.png|thumb|[[Northwest Territory]] 1787]]

Settlers without legal claims, called "squatters", had been moving into the Midwest for years before 1776. They pushed further and further down the Ohio River during the 1760s and 1770s and sometimes engaged in conflict with the Native Americans.<ref name=":5">{{Cite book|title=Winning the West with Words, Language and Conquest in the Lower Great Lakes|last=Buss|first=James|year=2011|pages=39}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=The Middle Ground: Indians, Empires, and Republics in the Great Lakes Region, 1650–1815|url=https://archive.org/details/middlegroundindi0000whit_d8e7|url-access=registration|last=White|first=Richard|year=1991|pages=[https://archive.org/details/middlegroundindi0000whit_d8e7/page/340 340]–341}}</ref> British officials were outraged. These squatters were characterized by British General [[Thomas Gage]] as "too Numerous, too Lawless, and Licentious ever to be restrained", and regarded them as "almost out of Reach of Law and government; Neither the Endeavors of Government, or Fear of Indians has kept them properly within Bounds."<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Middle Ground: Indians, Empires, and Republics in the Great Lakes Region, 1650–1815|url=https://archive.org/details/middlegroundindi0000whit_d8e7|url-access=registration|last=White|first=Richard|year=1991|pages=[https://archive.org/details/middlegroundindi0000whit_d8e7/page/340 340]}}</ref> The British had a long-standing goal of establishing a [[Indian barrier state|Native American buffer state]] in the American Midwest to resist American westward expansion.<ref>Dwight L. Smith, "A North American Neutral Indian Zone: Persistence of a British Idea" ''Northwest Ohio Quarterly'' 1989 61(2-4)|page=46-63</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Francis M. Carroll|title=A Good and Wise Measure: The Search for the Canadian-American Boundary, 1783–1842|url=https://archive.org/details/goodwisemeasures0000carr|url-access=registration|year=2001|publisher=U of Toronto Press|page=[https://archive.org/details/goodwisemeasures0000carr/page/24 24]|isbn=9780802083586}}</ref>

With victory in the American Revolution the new government considered evicting the squatters from areas that were now federally owned public lands.<ref>Alan Brown, "The Role of the Army in Western Settlement Josiah Harmar's Command, 1785-1790" ''Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography'' 93#2  pp. 161-172. [https://journals.psu.edu/pmhb/article/download/42499/42220 online]</ref> In 1785, soldiers under General [[Josiah Harmar]] were sent into the Ohio country to destroy the crops and burn down the homes of any squatters they found living there. But overall the federal policy was to move Indians to western lands (such as the [[Indian Territory]] in modern Oklahoma) and allow a very large numbers of farmers to replace a small number of hunters. Congress repeatedly debated how to legalize settlements. On the one hand, Whigs such as [[Henry Clay]] wanted the government to get maximum revenue and also wanted stable middle-class law-abiding settlements of the sort that supported towns (and bankers). Jacksonian Democrats such as [[Thomas Hart Benton (politician)|Thomas Hart Benton]] wanted the support of poor farmers, who reproduced rapidly, had little cash, and were eager to acquire cheap land in the West. Democrats did not want a big government, and keeping revenues low helped that cause. Democrats avoided words like "squatter" and regarded "actual settlers" as those who gained title to land, settled on it, and then improved upon it by building a house, clearing the ground, and planting crops. A number of means facilitated the legal settlement of the territories in the Midwest: [[Speculation|land speculation]], [[Public domain (land)|federal public land auctions]], bounty [[land grant]]s in lieu of pay to military veterans, and, later, [[Preemption (land)|preemption rights]] for squatters. The "squatters" became "pioneers" and were increasingly able to purchase the lands on which they had settled for the minimum price thanks to various preemption acts and laws passed throughout the 1810s-1840s. In Washington, Jacksonian Democrats favored squatter rights while banker-oriented Whigs were opposed; the Democrats prevailed.<ref>Richard White, '' "It's Your Misfortune and None of My Own": A New History of the American West'' (U  of Oklahoma Press, 1991) pp. 137-143.</ref><ref>On federal policy see  Benjamin Horace Hibbard, ''[[iarchive:historyofpublicl00hibb|A history of the public land policies]]'' (1924).</ref><ref>On the settlers and squatters, see Everett Dick, ''[[iarchive:lureoflandsocial0000dick|The Lure of the Land: A Social History of the Public Lands from the Articles of Confederation to the New Deal]]'' (U of Nebraska Press, 1970) pp 9-69.</ref><ref>Matthew Hill,  " 'They are not surpassed...by an equal number of citizens of any equal country in the world': squatter society in the American West", ''American Nineteenth Century History'', (2023), {{doi|10.1080/14664658.2022.2167296}}.</ref>

==== Native American wars ====
{{Main|American Indian Wars}}

In 1791, General [[Arthur St. Clair]] became commander of the [[United States Army]] and led a [[punitive expedition]] with two Regular Army regiments and some militia. Near modern-day [[Fort Recovery]], his force advanced to the location of Native American settlements near the headwaters of the [[Wabash River]], but on November 4 they were routed in battle by a tribal confederation led by [[Miami tribe|Miami]] Chief [[Little Turtle]] and Shawnee chief [[Blue Jacket]]. More than 600 soldiers and scores of women and children were killed in the battle, which has since borne the name "[[St. Clair's Defeat]]". It remains the greatest defeat of a U.S. Army by Native Americans.<ref>Leroy V. Eid, "American Indian Military Leadership: St. Clair's 1791 Defeat". ''Journal of Military History'' (1993) 57#1 pp. 71-88.</ref><ref>William O. Odo, "Destined for Defeat: an Analysis of the St. Clair Expedition of 1791". ''Northwest Ohio Quarterly'' (1993) 65#2 pp. 68-93.</ref><ref>John F. Winkler, ''Wabash 1791: St Clair's Defeat'' (Osprey Publishing, 2011)</ref>

The British demanded the establishment of a [[Indian barrier state|Native American barrier state]] at the [[Treaty of Ghent]] which ended the [[War of 1812]], but American negotiators rejected the idea because Britain had lost control of the region in the [[Battle of Lake Erie]] and the [[Battle of the Thames]] in 1813, where [[Tecumseh]] was killed by U.S. forces. The British then abandoned their Native American allies south of the lakes. The Native Americans ended being the main losers in the [[War of 1812]]. Apart from the short [[Black Hawk War]] of 1832, the days of Native American warfare east of the Mississippi River had ended.<ref>{{cite book|first=Blue|last=Clark|title=Indian Tribes of Oklahoma: A Guide|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-REv0Se_aR8C&pg=PA317|year=2012|publisher=U of Oklahoma Press|page=317|isbn=9780806184616}}</ref>

==== Lewis and Clark ====
{{Main|Lewis and Clark Expedition}}

[[File:Louisiana Purchase.png|thumb|[[Louisiana Purchase]] 1803]]
In 1803, President [[Thomas Jefferson]] commissioned the [[Lewis and Clark Expedition]] that took place between May 1804 and September 1806. Launching from [[Camp Dubois]] in [[Illinois]], the goal was to explore the [[Louisiana Purchase]], and establish trade and U.S. sovereignty over the native peoples along the [[Missouri River]]. The Lewis and Clark Expedition established relations with more than two dozen indigenous nations west of the Missouri River.<ref>{{cite book|first=Harry W.|last= Fritz|year=2004|url=https://archive.org/details/lewisclarkexpedi00frit |url-access=registration|title=The Lewis and Clark Expedition|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|page=[https://archive.org/details/lewisclarkexpedi00frit/page/13 13]| isbn= 978-0-313-31661-6}}</ref>
The Expedition returned east to [[St. Louis]] in the spring of 1806.

===Party politics===
[[File:LittleWhiteSchoolhouse.jpg|thumb|The first local meeting of the new Republican Party took place at the [[Little White Schoolhouse]] in [[Ripon, Wisconsin]] on March 20, 1854.]]

The Midwest has been a key swing district in national elections, with highly contested elections in closely divided states often deciding the national result. From 1860 to 1920, both parties tried to find their presidential and vice presidential candidates from the region.<ref>{{cite book |first=Lewis L. |last=Gould |title=Grand Old Party: A History of the Republicans |edition=2nd |year=2012 |page=126 }}</ref>

One of the two major political parties in the United States, the [[History of the Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]], originated in the Midwest in the 1850s; [[Ripon, Wisconsin]], had the first local meeting while [[Jackson, Michigan]], had the first statewide meeting of the new party. Its membership included many [[Yankee]]s out of New England and New York who had settled the upper Midwest. The party opposed the expansion of slavery and stressed the Protestant ideals of thrift, a hard work ethic, self-reliance, democratic decision making, and religious tolerance.<ref>{{cite book |last=Gould |title=Grand Old Party: A History of the Republicans |edition=2nd |year=2012 |page=14 }}</ref>

In the early 1890s, the wheat-growing regions were strongholds of the short-lived [[People's Party (United States)|Populist movement]] in the Plains states.<ref>John D. Hicks, "[https://www.jstor.org/stable/20160737 The Birth of the Populist Party]". ''Minnesota History'' 9.3 (1928): 219-247.</ref>

Starting in the 1890s, the middle class urban [[Progressive movement]] became influential in the region (as it was in other regions), with Wisconsin a major center. Under the [[Robert M. La Follette, Sr.|La Follettes]], Wisconsin fought against the Republican bosses and for efficiency, modernization, and the use of experts to solve social, economic, and political problems.<ref>David Thelen, ''Robert M. La Follette and the insurgent spirit'' (Univ of Wisconsin Press, 1985).</ref>

Theodore Roosevelt's [[Progressive Party (United States, 1912)|1912 Progressive Party]] had the best showing in this region, carrying the states of Michigan, Minnesota, and South Dakota. In 1924, La Follette, Sr.'s [[Progressive Party (United States, 1924–34)|1924 Progressive Party]] did well in the region, but carried only his home base of Wisconsin.<ref>Thelen, 1985.</ref><ref>Allen F. Davis, "The social workers and the progressive party, 1912-1916". ''American Historical Review'' 69.3 (1964): 671-688, {{JSTOR|1845783}}.</ref>

The Midwest—especially the areas west of Chicago—has always been a stronghold of [[United States non-interventionism|isolationism]], a belief that America should not involve itself in foreign entanglements. This position was largely based on the many [[German American]] and [[Swedish-American]] communities. Isolationist leaders included the La Follettes, Ohio's [[Robert A. Taft]], and [[Robert R. McCormick|Colonel Robert McCormick]], publisher of the ''Chicago Tribune''.<ref>{{cite journal |first=Ralph H. |last=Smuckler |title=The Region of Isolationism |journal=[[American Political Science Review]] |year=1953 |volume=47 |issue=2 |pages=386–401 |jstor=1952029 |doi=10.2307/1952029 |s2cid=144875635 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=John N. |last=Schacht |title=Three Faces of Midwestern Isolationism: Gerald P. Nye, Robert E. Wood, John L. Lewis |year=1981 |publisher=Center for the Study of the Recent History of the United States |isbn=978-0-87414-019-4 }}</ref>

==== Yankees and ethnocultural politics ====
[[File:Rome Waterfront, on the Ohio River.jpg|thumb|[[Ohio River]] near [[Rome, Ohio]]]]
{{Main|Indiana Territory}}

Yankee settlers from New England started arriving in Ohio before 1800, and spread throughout the northern half of the Midwest. Most of them started as farmers, but later the larger proportion moved to towns and cities as entrepreneurs, businessmen, and urban professionals. Since its beginnings in the 1830s, Chicago has grown to dominate the Midwestern metropolis landscape for over a century.<ref>"Yankees" in Reiff, ed. ''Encyclopedia of Chicago''</ref>

Historian John Bunker has examined the worldview of the Yankee settlers in the Midwest:

<blockquote>Because they arrived first and had a strong sense of community and mission, Yankees were able to transplant New England institutions, values, and mores, altered only by the conditions of frontier life. They established a public culture that emphasized the work ethic, the sanctity of private property, individual responsibility, faith in residential and social mobility, practicality, piety, public order and decorum, reverence for public education, activists, honest and frugal government, town meeting democracy, and he believed that there was a public interest that transcends particular and stick ambitions. Regarding themselves as the elect and just in a world rife with sin, air, and corruption, they felt a strong moral obligation to define and enforce standards of community and personal behavior....This pietistic worldview was substantially shared by British, Scandinavian, Swiss, English-Canadian and Dutch Reformed immigrants, as well as by German Protestants and many of the [[Forty-Eighters]].<ref>{{cite book|first=John|last=Buenker|chapter=Wisconsin|editor-first=James H.|editor-last=Madison |title=Heartland: Comparative Histories of the Midwestern States |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TMUCo0UXCjoC&pg=PA72|year=1988|publisher=Indiana University Press|pages=72–73|isbn=978-0253314239}}</ref></blockquote>

Midwestern politics pitted Yankees against the German Catholics and Lutherans, who were often led by the Irish Catholics. These large groups, Buenker argues:

<blockquote>Generally subscribed to the work ethic, a strong sense of community, and activist government, but were less committed to economic individualism and privatism and ferociously opposed to government supervision of the personal habits. Southern and eastern European immigrants generally leaned more toward the Germanic view of things, while modernization, industrialization, and urbanization modified nearly everyone's sense of individual economic responsibility and put a premium on organization, political involvement, and education.<ref>John Buenker, "Wisconsin"</ref><ref>Richard J. Jensen, ''Illinois: a Bicentennial history'' (1977) ch 1-3</ref></blockquote>

=== Development of transportation ===
==== Waterways ====
[[File:Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, Michigan City, Indiana, Estados Unidos, 2012-10-20, DD 03.jpg|thumb|[[Lake Michigan]] is shared by Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Wisconsin. Pictured is [[Indiana Dunes National Park]] in northwest Indiana.]]
Three waterways have been important to the development of the Midwest. The first and foremost was the [[Ohio River]], which flowed into the [[Mississippi River]]. Development of the region was halted until 1795 by Spain's control of the southern part of the Mississippi and its refusal to allow the shipment of American crops down the river and into the Atlantic Ocean.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Cefrey |first=Holly |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/51281165 |title=The Pinckney Treaty : America wins the right to travel the Mississippi River |date=2004 |publisher=Rosen Pub. Group |isbn=0-8239-4041-1 |edition= |location=New York |oclc=51281165}}</ref> This was changed with the 1795 signing of [[Pinckney's Treaty]].<ref name=":0" />

The second waterway is the network of routes within the Great Lakes. The opening of the [[Erie Canal]] in 1825 completed an all-water shipping route, more direct than the Mississippi, to [[New York (state)|New York]] and the seaport of New York City. In 1848, The [[Illinois and Michigan Canal]] breached the [[continental divide]] spanning the [[Chicago Portage]] and linking the waters of the Great Lakes with those of the [[Mississippi Valley]] and the [[Gulf of Mexico]]. Lakeport and river cities grew up to handle these new shipping routes. During the [[Industrial Revolution]], the lakes became a conduit for [[iron ore]] from the [[Mesabi Range]] of Minnesota to [[steel mill]]s in the [[Mid-Atlantic States]]. The [[Saint Lawrence Seaway]], completed in 1959, opened the Midwest to the Atlantic Ocean.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/places/united-states-and-canada/canadian-physical-geography/saint-lawrence-seaway|title=Saint Lawrence Seaway|website=Encyclopedia.com|access-date=April 17, 2021}}</ref>

The third waterway, the [[Missouri River]], extended water travel from the Mississippi almost to the Rocky Mountains.{{citation needed|date=October 2016}}

In the 1870s and 1880s, the Mississippi River inspired two classic books—''[[Life on the Mississippi]]'' and ''[[Adventures of Huckleberry Finn]]''—written by native Missourian Samuel Clemens, who used the pseudonym [[Mark Twain]]. His stories became staples of Midwestern lore. Twain's hometown of [[Hannibal, Missouri]], is a tourist attraction offering a glimpse into the Midwest of his time.{{citation needed|date=October 2016}}

Inland canals in Ohio and Indiana constituted another important waterway, which connected with Great Lakes and Ohio River traffic. The commodities that the Midwest funneled into the [[Erie Canal]] down the Ohio River contributed to the wealth of New York City, which overtook [[Boston]] and [[Philadelphia]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Building of the Erie Canal |url=https://live-bri-dos.pantheonsite.io/essays/the-building-of-the-erie-canal/ |access-date=August 18, 2022 |website=Bill of Rights Institute |language=en}}</ref>

==== Railroads and the automobile ====
[[File:00DI0943 - Flickr - USDAgov.jpg|thumb|[[Homestead Acts|Homesteaders]] in central Nebraska in 1888]]

During the mid-19th century, the region got its first railroads, and the railroad junction in Chicago became the world's largest. During the century, Chicago became the nation's railroad center. By 1910, over 20 railroads operated passenger service out of six different downtown terminals. Even today, a century after [[Henry Ford]], six [[Class I railroad]]s ([[Union Pacific]], [[BNSF]], [[Norfolk Southern]], [[CSX]], [[Canadian National]], and [[Canadian Pacific]]) meet in Chicago.{{sfnp|Condit|1973|pp=43-49, 58, 318-319}}<ref>{{Holland-Classic|pages = 66–91}}</ref>

In the period from 1890 to 1930, many Midwestern cities were connected by electric [[interurban]] railroads, similar to streetcars. The Midwest had more interurbans than any other region. In 1916, Ohio led all states with {{convert|2,798|mi|km}}, Indiana followed with {{convert|1,825|mi|km}}. These two states alone had almost a third of the country's interurban trackage.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.answers.com/topic/railways-interurban |title=US History Encyclopedia: Interurban Railways |publisher=Answers.com |access-date=October 3, 2010}}</ref> The nation's largest interurban junction was in Indianapolis. During the decade of the early 1900s, that city's 38 percent growth in population was attributed largely to the interurban.<ref>David P. Morgan (ed.): ''[https://archive.org/stream/interurbanera00midd/interurbanera00midd_djvu.txt The Interurban Era]'', Kalmbach Publishing Co., pp. 16–17.</ref>

Competition with automobiles and buses undermined the interurban and other railroad passenger business. By 1900, [[Detroit, Michigan|Detroit]] was the world center of the auto industry, and soon practically every city within {{Convert|200|mi}} was producing auto parts that fed into its giant factories.<ref>{{Cite journal |jstor = 3144703|title = The Automotive Industry: A Study in Industrial Location|journal = Land Economics|volume = 35|issue = 1|pages = 1–14|last1 = Hurley|first1 = Neil P.|year = 1959|doi = 10.2307/3144703| bibcode=1959LandE..35....1H }}</ref>

In 1903, Henry Ford founded the [[Ford Motor Company]]. Ford's manufacturing—and those of automotive pioneers [[William C. Durant]], the [[Dodge]] brothers, [[Packard]], and [[Walter Chrysler]]—established Detroit's status in the early 20th century as the world's automotive capital. The proliferation of businesses created a synergy that also encouraged truck manufacturers such as Rapid and [[GMC (automobile)|Grabowsky]].<ref name="Woodford">Woodford, Arthur M. (2001). ''This is Detroit: 1701–2001''. Wayne State University Press</ref>

The growth of the auto industry was reflected by changes in businesses throughout the Midwest and nation, with the development of garages to service vehicles and gas stations, as well as factories for parts and tires. Today, greater Detroit remains home to [[General Motors]], [[Chrysler]], and the Ford Motor Company.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.gm.com/our-company/about-gm.html|title=About GM {{!}} General Motors|website=Gm.com|access-date=February 23, 2019}}</ref>{{citation needed|date=October 2016}}

=== American Civil War ===
{{Main|American Civil War}}

==== Slavery prohibition and the Underground Railroad ====
[[File:US Slave Free 1789-1861.gif|thumb|upright=1.6|An animation depicting when United States territories and states forbade or allowed slavery, 1789–1861]]
The Northwest Ordinance region, comprising the heart of the Midwest, was the first large region of the United States that prohibited [[Slavery in the United States|slavery]] (the [[Northeastern United States]] [[Abolitionism in the United States|emancipated]] slaves into the 1830s). The regional southern boundary was the Ohio River, the border of freedom and slavery in American history and literature (see ''[[Uncle Tom's Cabin]]'' by [[Harriet Beecher Stowe]] and ''[[Beloved (novel)|Beloved]]'' by [[Toni Morrison]]).

The Midwest, particularly Ohio, provided the primary routes for the [[Underground Railroad]], whereby Midwesterners assisted slaves to freedom from their crossing of the Ohio River through their departure on [[Lake Erie]] to Canada. Created in the early 19th century, the Underground Railroad was at its height between 1850 and 1860. One estimate suggests that by 1850, 100,000 slaves had escaped via the Underground Railroad.<ref name="afroamhistory">[http://afroamhistory.about.com/od/undergroundrailroad/a/undergroundrr.htm The Fugitive Slave Law] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090125175114/http://afroamhistory.about.com/od/undergroundrailroad/a/undergroundrr.htm |date=January 25, 2009 }} African-American History, pp. 1–2. About.com</ref>

The Underground Railroad consisted of meeting points, secret routes, transportation, and safe houses and assistance provided by abolitionist sympathizers. Individuals were often organized in small, independent groups; this helped to maintain secrecy because individuals knew some connecting "stations" along the route, but knew few details of their immediate area. Escaped slaves would move north along the route from one way station to the next. Although the fugitives sometimes traveled on boat or train, they usually traveled on foot or by wagon.<ref>Bordewich, Fergus, 2005, p. 236</ref>

The region was shaped by the relative absence of slavery (except for Missouri), pioneer settlement, education in [[one-room school|one-room free public schools]], democratic notions brought by [[American Revolutionary War]] veterans, [[Protestant]] faiths and experimentation, and agricultural wealth transported on the Ohio River [[riverboat]]s, [[flatboat]]s, [[Barge|canal boats]], and [[rail transport|railroads]].{{Citation needed|date=September 2008}}

==== Bleeding Kansas ====
{{Main|Bleeding Kansas}}
[[File:THUMBNAIL001L.jpg|thumb|''[[Tragic Prelude]]'', in the [[Kansas State Capitol]]]]

The first violent conflicts leading up to the [[American Civil War]] occurred between two neighboring Midwestern states, Kansas and Missouri, involving [[Abolitionism in the United States|anti-slavery]] [[Free-Stater (Kansas)|Free-Staters]] and pro-slavery "[[Border Ruffian]]" elements, that took place in the [[Kansas Territory]] and the western frontier towns of Missouri roughly between 1854 and 1858. At the heart of the conflict was the question of whether Kansas would enter the [[Union (American Civil War)|Union]] as a free state or slave state. As such, [[Bleeding Kansas]] was a [[proxy war]] between [[Northern United States|Northerners]] and [[Southern United States|Southerners]] over the issue of [[slavery in the United States|slavery]]. The term "Bleeding Kansas" was coined by [[Horace Greeley]] of the ''[[New-York Tribune]]''.

The immediate cause of the events was the [[Kansas–Nebraska Act|Kansas–Nebraska Act of 1854]]. The Act created the territories of Kansas and Nebraska, opened new lands that would help settlement in them, repealed the [[Missouri Compromise of 1820|Missouri Compromise]], and allowed settlers in those territories to determine through [[Popular sovereignty in the United States|popular sovereignty]] whether to allow slavery within their boundaries. It was hoped the Act would ease relations between the North and the South, because the South could expand slavery to new territories, but the North still had the right to abolish slavery in its states. Instead, opponents denounced the law as a concession to the [[The Slave Power|slave power]] of the South.{{citation needed|date=October 2016}}

[[File:undergroundrailroadsmall2.jpg|upright=1.6|thumb|A map of various [[Underground Railroad]] routes]]

An ostensibly [[democracy|democratic]] idea, popular sovereignty stated that the inhabitants of each territory or state should decide whether it would be a free or slave state; however, this resulted in immigration ''en masse'' to Kansas by activists from both sides. At one point, Kansas had two separate governments, each with its own constitution, although only one was federally recognized. On January 29, 1861, Kansas was admitted to the [[Union (American Civil War)|Union]] as a free state, less than three months before the [[Battle of Fort Sumter]] officially began the Civil War.<ref>Robert W. Johansson, ''Stephen A. Douglas '' (Oxford UP, 1973) pp&nbsp;374–400</ref>

On May 21, 1856, the [[Free Soil Party|Free Soil]] town of [[Lawrence, Kansas]], was sacked by an armed pro-slavery force from Missouri. A few days later, the [[Sacking of Lawrence]] led [[Abolitionism in the United States|abolitionist]] [[John Brown (abolitionist)|John Brown]] and six of his followers to execute five men along the [[Pottawatomie massacre|Pottawatomie Creek]] in [[Franklin County, Kansas]], in retaliation.<ref>[https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p2952.html Africans in America Resource Bank: People and Events, 1853–1861, online]. Retrieved June 14, 2011.</ref> The so-called "Border War" lasted from May through October between armed bands of pro-slavery and Free Soil men. The U.S. Army had two garrisons in Kansas, the First Cavalry Regiment at [[Fort Leavenworth]] and the [[2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment (United States)|Second Dragoons]] and Sixth Infantry at [[Fort Riley]].<ref>[http://www.answers.com/topic/pottawatomie-massacre-1 Gale Encyclopedia of U.S. History: Pottawatomie Massacre]. Answers.com. Retrieved June 14, 2011</ref> The skirmishes endured until a new governor, John W. Geary, managed to prevail upon the Missourians to return home in late 1856.

National reaction to the events in Kansas demonstrated how deeply divided the country had become. The Border Ruffians were widely applauded in the South, even though their actions had cost the lives of numerous people. In the North, the murders committed by Brown and his followers were ignored by most, and lauded by a few.<ref>[http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h84.html United States History – Bleeding Kansas online]. Retrieved June 14, 2011.</ref> The election of [[Abraham Lincoln]] in November 1860 was the final trigger for [[secession]] by the Southern states.<ref>David Potter, ''The Impending Crisis'', p. 485.</ref>

The U.S. federal government was supported by 20 mostly-Northern free states in which slavery already had been abolished, and by five slave states that became known as the [[border states (American Civil War)|border states]]. All of the Midwestern states but one, Missouri, banned slavery. Though most battles were fought in the South, skirmishes between Kansas and Missouri continued until culmination with the [[Lawrence Massacre]] on August 21, 1863, in which [[Quantrill's Raiders]] raided and plundered Lawrence, killing more than 150 and burning all the business buildings and most of the dwellings.<ref>{{cite journal |url-status=dead |first1=Daniel E. |last1=Sutherland |url=http://wsw.uga.edu/files/CW_Guerrilla_Historiography.pdf |title=Sideshow No Longer: A Historiographical Review of the Guerrilla War |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181002143153/http://wsw.uga.edu/files/CW_Guerrilla_Historiography.pdf |archive-date=October 2, 2018 |journal=Civil War History |date=Mar 2000 |volume=46 |issue=1 |pages=5–23|doi=10.1353/cwh.2000.0048 |s2cid=144554839 }}</ref>

=== Immigration and industrialization ===
{{Main|Immigrants to the United States|Industrialization}}
[[File:Standard Oil.jpg|thumb|The first [[Standard Oil]] refinery was opened in [[Cleveland]] by businessman [[John D. Rockefeller]].]]
[[File:TamarackMiners CopperCountryMI.jpg|thumb|Miners at the [[Tamarack mine]] in Michigan's [[Copper Country]], 1905]]

By the time of the [[American Civil War]], European [[Immigration to the United States|immigrants]] bypassed the [[East Coast of the United States]] to settle directly in the interior: [[German American|German immigrants]] to Ohio, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, and Missouri; [[Irish American|Irish immigrants]] to port cities on the Great Lakes, like Cleveland and Chicago; [[Danes]], [[Czechs]], [[Swedes]], and [[Norwegians]] to Iowa, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and the [[Dakotas]]; and [[Finns]] to [[Upper Peninsula of Michigan|Upper Michigan]] and northern/central Minnesota and Wisconsin. [[Polish people|Poles]], [[Hungarian people|Hungarians]], and Jews settled in Midwestern cities.{{citation needed|date=October 2016}}

The U.S. was predominantly rural at the time of the Civil War. The Midwest was no exception, dotted with small farms all across the region. The late 19th century saw [[industrialization]], [[immigration]], and [[urbanization]] that fed the [[Industrial Revolution]], and the heart of industrial domination and innovation was in the [[Great Lakes region (North America)|Great Lakes states]] of the Midwest, which only began its slow decline by the late 20th century.{{citation needed|date=October 2016}}

A flourishing economy brought residents from rural communities and [[Immigration to the United States|immigrants]] from abroad. Manufacturing and retail and finance sectors became dominant, influencing the American economy.<ref>{{cite web|last=Conzen|first=Michael|title=Global Chicago|url=http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/277.html |publisher=Encyclopedia of Chicago |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230411153853/http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/277.html |archive-date= Apr 11, 2023 }}</ref>

In addition to manufacturing, printing, publishing, and food processing also play major roles in the Midwest's largest economy. Chicago was the base of commercial operations for industrialists [[John Crerar (industrialist)|John Crerar]], [[John Whitfield Bunn]], [[Richard Teller Crane]], [[Marshall Field]], [[John Farwell]], [[Julius Rosenwald]], and many other commercial visionaries who laid the foundation for Midwestern and global industry.{{citation needed|date=October 2016}} Meanwhile, [[John D. Rockefeller]], creator of the [[Standard Oil]] Company, made his billions in Cleveland. At one point during the late 19th century, Cleveland was home to more than 50% of the world's millionaires, many living on the famous [[Millionaire's Row]] on Euclid Avenue.

In the 20th century, [[African American]] migration from the [[Southern United States]] into the Midwestern states changed Chicago, St. Louis, Cleveland, Milwaukee, Kansas City, Cincinnati, Detroit, Omaha, Minneapolis, and many other cities in the Midwest, as factories and schools enticed families by the thousands to new opportunities. Chicago alone gained hundreds of thousands of black citizens from the [[Great Migration (African American)|Great Migration]] and the [[Second Great Migration (African American)|Second Great Migration]].{{citation needed|date=October 2016}}

The [[Gateway Arch]] monument in St. Louis, clad in stainless steel and built in the form of a flattened [[catenary arch]],<ref name="modernsteel.com">{{cite web |url=http://www.modernsteel.com/archives/PDFs_61-90/1963A9_3-4.pdf?bcsi_scan_955b0cd764557e80=0&bcsi_scan_filename=1963A9_3-4.pdf |title=Modern Steel Construction |website=Modern Steel Construction |publisher=American Institute of Steel Construction |date=1963 |access-date=July 16, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140318193636/http://www.modernsteel.com/archives/PDFs_61-90/1963A9_3-4.pdf?bcsi_scan_955b0cd764557e80=0&bcsi_scan_filename=1963A9_3-4.pdf |archive-date=March 18, 2014 |url-status=dead }}</ref> is the tallest man-made monument in the United States,<ref name="nhlsum">{{cite web|url=http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceId=2017&ResourceType=Structure |title= Gateway Arch |publisher=National Historic Landmarks Program |access-date=December 14, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090804114340/http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceId=2017&ResourceType=Structure |archive-date=August 4, 2009 |url-status=dead }}</ref> and the world's tallest arch.<ref name="nhlsum" /> Built as a monument to the [[westward expansion of the United States]],<ref name="modernsteel.com" /> it is the centerpiece of the [[Gateway Arch National Park]], which was known as the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial until 2018, and has become an internationally famous symbol of St. Louis and the Midwest.{{citation needed|date=October 2016}}

==== German Americans ====
{{Main|German American}}

[[File:Distribution of Americans claiming German Ancestry by county in 2018.png|thumb|upright=1.25|Distribution of Americans claiming German Ancestry by county in 2018]]

As the Midwest opened up to settlement via waterways and rail in the mid-1800s, Germans began to settle there in large numbers. The largest flow of German immigration to America occurred between 1820 and World War I, during which time nearly six million Germans immigrated to the United States. From 1840 to 1880, they were the largest group of immigrants.<ref>Günter Moltmann, "The Pattern of German Emigration to the United States in the Nineteenth Century". in ''America and the Germans, Volume 1'' (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2016) pp. 14-24.</ref>

The Midwestern cities of [[Milwaukee]], [[Cincinnati]], [[St. Louis]], and [[Chicago]] were favored destinations of German immigrants. By 1900, the populations of the cities of [[Cleveland, Ohio|Cleveland]], Milwaukee, [[Hoboken, New Jersey|Hoboken]], and Cincinnati were all more than 40 percent German American. [[Dubuque, Iowa|Dubuque]] and [[Davenport, Iowa]], had even larger proportions; in [[Omaha]], Nebraska, the proportion of German Americans was 57 percent in 1910. In many other cities of the Midwest, such as [[Fort Wayne, Indiana]], German Americans were at least 30 percent of the population.<ref name="Faust">{{Citation|last=Faust|first=Albert Bernhardt|title=The German Element in the United States with Special Reference to Its Political, Moral, Social, and Educational Influence|publisher=Houghton-Mifflin|location=Boston|year=1909|title-link=The German Element in the United States}}</ref><ref>Census data from Bureau of the Census, ''Thirteenth census of the United States taken in the year 1910'' (1913)</ref> Many concentrations acquired distinctive names suggesting their heritage, such as the "[[Over-the-Rhine]]" district in Cincinnati and "[[German Village]]" in [[Columbus, Ohio|Columbus]], Ohio.<ref>{{Citation|url=http://germanvillage.com/index.php|title=German Village Society|access-date=November 19, 2009|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080509124022/http://www.germanvillage.com/index.php|archive-date=May 9, 2008}}</ref>

A favorite destination was Milwaukee, known as "the German Athens". Radical Germans trained in politics in the old country dominated the city's [[Social Democratic Party (United States)|Socialists]]. Skilled workers dominated many crafts, while entrepreneurs created the brewing industry; the most famous brands included [[Pabst Brewing Company|Pabst]], [[Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company|Schlitz]], [[Miller Brewing Company|Miller]], and [[Valentin Blatz Brewing Company|Blatz]].<ref>Trudy Knauss Paradis, et al. ''German Milwaukee'' (2006)</ref>

While half of German immigrants settled in cities, the other half established farms in the Midwest. From Ohio to the Plains states, a heavy presence persists in rural areas into the 21st century.<ref name="Conzen">{{Citation|last=Conzen|first=Kathleen|title=Harvard Encyclopedia of American Ethnic Groups|editor-first=Stephan|editor-last=Thernstrom|publisher=Belknap Press|year=1980|page=407|chapter=Germans}}</ref><ref>Richard Sisson, ed. ''The American Midwest'' (2007), p. 208; Gross (1996); Johnson (1951).</ref><ref>Kathleen Neils Conzen, ''Germans in Minnesota''. (2003).</ref>

Throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, German Americans showed a high interest in becoming farmers, and keeping their children and grandchildren on the land. Western railroads, with large land grants available to attract farmers, set up agencies in [[Hamburg]] and other German cities, promising cheap transportation, and sales of farmland on easy terms. For example, the [[Santa Fe Railroad]] hired its own commissioner for immigration, and sold over {{convert|300,000|acre|km2}} to German-speaking farmers.<ref>C. B. Schmidt, "Reminiscences of Foreign Immigration Work for Kansas", ''Kansas Historical Collections, 1905–1906'' 9 (1906): 485–97; J. Neale Carman, ed. and trans., "German Settlements Along the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway", ''[[Kansas Historical Quarterly]]'' 28 (Autumn 1962): 310–16; cited in Turk, "Germans in Kansas", (2005) p 57.</ref>

===Politics 1860s–1920s===
The Midwest was a battleground for political and economic issues after the Civil War, with voters splitting along ethnic and religious lines rather than class. The [[Temperance movement in the United States|temperance]], [[Greenback Party|Greenback]], and [[Populist movement (United States, 19th Century)|populist]] movements gained attention in the region, with [[Pietism|pietists]] supporting the Republicans and ritualists backing the Democrats. [[Prohibition in the United States|Prohibition]] was a major issue in the Midwest, with both the [[Woman's Christian Temperance Union|Women's Christian Temperance Union]] and the [[Anti-Saloon League]] originating in the region. The [[Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|18th Amendment]] was ratified by most Midwestern state legislatures, but the Midwest also became a center of resistance to Prohibition, with ethnic, urban Catholic and German Lutheran voters supporting repeal while native-born, rural pietistic Protestant Midwesterners opposed it.<ref>Michael Kazin, ed. ''The concise Princeton Encyclopedia of American political history'' (2011) p 347.</ref><ref>Richard Jensen, The Winning of the Midwest: Social and Political Conflict, 1888-1896'' (1971).''</ref>

====Women====
The presence of women in the Midwest public stage in the late 19th and early 20th centuries aligned with the growing movements for women's rights and prohibition. Women's activism was often presented as an extension of their domestic cleaning role. Activists at the local and state level used the [[Woman's Christian Temperance Union]]'s crusade against alcohol, as a way to push for the right to vote. Midwestern states began allowing women to vote before the [[Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|19th Amendment]] was passed, and the leader of the campaign for the suffrage amendment was [[Carrie Chapman Catt]] from Iowa. The 1970s feminist movement also had Midwestern roots, with [[Betty Friedan]] from Illinois writing ''The Feminine Mystique'' in 1963. Economic necessity and the desire for a career also drove women to work outside the home, and certain occupations such as teaching and nursing became feminized.<ref>Michael Kazin, ed. ''The concise Princeton Encyclopedia of American political history'' (2011) pp. 347–348.</ref>

====Workers and Populists====
[[File:Debs Canton 1918 large.jpg|thumb|[[Eugene V. Debs]] speaking in [[Canton, Ohio]], in 1918, being arrested for [[sedition]] shortly thereafter.]]
The Midwest saw labor unrest and rebellion against the capitalist economic order, with strikes in Chicago in 1887 and 1894. Labor leaders organized a protest meeting at [[Haymarket Square (Chicago)|Haymarket Square]] in Chicago in 1886, where a bomb was thrown among police and eight anarchists were convicted of conspiracy for murder, an event known as the [[Haymarket affair]]. The [[Pullman Strike|Pullman Strike of 1894]] was a shutdown of most rail traffic in the Midwest and West. It turned violent and was broken by federal troops. [[Eugene V. Debs]], leader of the striking [[American Railway Union]], went to prison where he converted to Socialism. His version of socialism appealed to some immigrant groups but was too radical for most Midwesterners.<ref>Nick Salvatore, ''Eugene V. Debs: citizen and socialist'' (U of Illinois Press, 1982).</ref>

Farmers distrusted big business and adopted cooperative arrangements, such as those offered by the [[National Grange of the Order of Patrons of Husbandry|Grange]] in the 1870s or the [[Farmers' Alliance]] in the 1890s. They wanted cooperatives controlled by farmers to handle farm products, a reduction in rail freight rates, and the coining of silver money to raise prices. The Alliance turned to political action with the creation of the [[People's Party (United States)|Populist Party]] in 1892. It had local success in the wheat belt and silver mining areas. This venture as a third party was short-lived and they fused with the Democrats in 1896 and voted for Democrat [[William Jennings Bryan]]. Leftwing rural politics continued in the 20th century in the Dakotas and Minnesota with the [[Farmer-Labor party]]<ref>Kazin, ed. ''The concise Princeton Encyclopedia of American political history'' (2011) pp. 348–349.</ref>

===1920s===
The second [[Ku Klux Klan]] experienced a short surge in the Midwest in the early 1920s, fueled by anti-immigrant and anti-Catholic fears. The KKK in the 1920s was a local membership organization, but its autonomous locals were not coordinated and it had little impact on legislation. Members wanted enforcement of vice laws, especially Prohibition, which many immigrants violated. The Klan reached its peak of visibility in Indiana, where the governor supposedly had connections to the secret group. However, the hundreds of [[Indiana Klan]] chapters collapsed overnight due to a scandal involving the kidnapping and rape and death of a young woman by its state leader. The Klan represented a conformist impulse. Middletown (actually the city of [[Muncie, Indiana]]) was the base for a [[Middletown studies|pioneering sociological study]] conducted by [[Robert S. Lynd]]. The book revealed a powerful business class that promoted civic boosterism, patriotism, and straight-ticket voting, while discouraging political activism and dissent.<ref>Kazin, ed. ''The concise Princeton Encyclopedia of American political history'' (2011) p. 349.</ref>

====Progressive Era====
{{Main|Progressive Era}}

The negative effects of industrialization triggered the political movement of progressivism, which aimed to address its negative consequences through social reform and government regulation. [[Jane Addams]] and [[Ellen Gates Starr]] pioneered the settlement house outreach to newly arrived immigrants by establishing [[Hull House]] in Chicago in 1889. Settlement houses provided social services and played an active role in civic life, helping immigrants prepare for naturalization and campaigning for regulation and services from city government.<ref>Allen F. Davis, "The social workers and the progressive party, 1912-1916." ''American Historical Review'' 69.3 (1964): 671-688 [https://www.jstor.org/stable/1845783 online].</ref> Midwestern mayors—especially [[Hazen S. Pingree]] and [[Tom L. Johnson]], led early reforms against boss-dominated municipal politics, while [[Samuel M. Jones]] advocated public ownership of local utilities. [[Robert M. La Follette]], the most famous leader of Midwestern progressivism, began his career by winning election against his state's Republican party in 1900. The machine was temporarily defeated, allowing reformers to launch the "[[Wisconsin idea]]" of expanded democracy. This idea included major reforms such as direct primaries, campaign finance controls, civil service to replace patronage, restrictions on lobbyists, state income and inheritance taxes, child labor restrictions, pure food, and workmen's compensation laws. La Follette promoted government regulation of railroads, public utilities, factories, and banks. Although La Follette lost influence in the national party in 1912, the Wisconsin reforms became a model for progressivism in other states.<ref>Kazin, p. 348.</ref>