Content deleted Content added
m (GR) File:Standard Oil.jpg → File:Standard Oil Company 1889 CP04381 - DPLA - 032e381bb16b1a45abecfd1a6a86ae3a (cropped).jpg higher res |
|||
Line 1:
{{Short description|Census region of the United States}}
{{Redirect-several|dab=no|Midwest (disambiguation)|North Central Region (WFTDA)|Mid-Western Regional Council}}
{{Use American English|date=September 2024}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2024}}
{{Infobox settlement
| name = Midwestern United States
| settlement_type = [[List of regions of the United States|Region]]
| image_skyline = {{multiple image
| border = infobox
| perrow = 1/2/2/2
| total_width = 300
| caption_align = center
| image1= Chicago city view.jpg
| caption1 = [[Chicago]]
| image2 = Lake_Michigan_Sleeping_Bear_Dunes.jpg
| caption2 = [[Sleeping Bear Dunes]]
| image3 = St Louis night expblend.jpg
| caption3 = [[Gateway Arch]] and [[St. Louis]]
| image4= Covered Wagon In Scotts Bluff National Monument, Nebraska.jpg
| caption4 = [[Scotts Bluff National Monument|Scotts Bluff]]
| image5= Buffalo national river steel creek overlook.jpg
| caption5 = [[Ozark Mountains]]
| image6 = Mount Rushmore Closeup 2017.jpg
| caption6 = [[Mount Rushmore]]
| image7 = Minneapolis Skyline looking south.jpg
| caption7 = [[Minneapolis]]
| image8 = Grinter Sunflower Farm (36985501781).jpg
| caption8 = Sunflower field in [[Kansas]]
| image9 = HOF-Guitars - Guitars outside the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.jpg
| caption9 = [[Rock and Roll Hall of Fame]]
| image10 = Detroit_Skyline_(123143197).jpeg
| caption10 = [[Detroit]]
}}
| image_map = Map of USA Midwest.svg
| map_alt = Map of USA Midwest.svg
| map_caption = This map reflects the Midwestern United States as defined by the [[United States Census Bureau|Census Bureau]].<ref name="CensusRegionsMap">{{cite web|title=Census Regions and Divisions of the United States|url=http://www2.census.gov/geo/pdfs/maps-data/maps/reference/us_regdiv.pdf|publisher=U.S. Census Bureau|access-date=October 24, 2016}}</ref>
| subdivision_type = Subregions
| subdivision_name = {{hlist|[[East North Central states|East North Central]]|[[West North Central states|West North Central]]|[[Upper Midwest]]|[[#Cultural overlap|Lower Midwest]]|[[Great Plains]]}}
| subdivision_type1 = Country
| subdivision_name1 = United States
| subdivision_type3 = Largest [[Metropolitan statistical areas|metropolitan areas]]
| subdivision_type4 = Largest cities
| subdivision_type2 = States
| subdivision_name3 = {{hlist|[[Chicago metropolitan area|Chicago]]|[[Metro Detroit|Detroit]]|[[Minneapolis–St. Paul]]|[[Greater St. Louis|St. Louis]]|[[Greater Cincinnati|Cincinnati]]|[[Kansas City metropolitan area|Kansas City]]|[[Columbus metropolitan area, Ohio|Columbus]]|[[Indianapolis metropolitan area|Indianapolis]]|[[Greater Cleveland|Cleveland]]|[[Milwaukee metropolitan area|Milwaukee]]}}
| subdivision_name4 = {{hlist|[[Chicago]]|[[Columbus, Ohio|Columbus]]|[[Indianapolis]]|[[Detroit]]|[[Milwaukee]]|[[Kansas City, Missouri|Kansas City]]|[[Omaha, Nebraska|Omaha]]|[[Minneapolis]]|[[Wichita, Kansas|Wichita]]|[[Cleveland]]|[[Cincinnati]]|[[Saint Paul, Minnesota|St. Paul]]|[[Saint Louis, Missouri|St. Louis]]}}
| subdivision_name2 = {{hlist|[[Illinois]], [[Indiana]], [[Iowa]], [[Kansas]], [[Michigan]], [[Minnesota]], [[Missouri]], [[Nebraska]], [[North Dakota]], [[Ohio]], [[South Dakota]], and [[Wisconsin]]}} as defined by the [[United States Census Bureau|Census Bureau]].<ref name="CensusRegionsMap">{{cite web|title=Census Regions and Divisions of the United States|url=http://www2.census.gov/geo/pdfs/maps-data/maps/reference/us_regdiv.pdf|publisher=U.S. Census Bureau|access-date=October 24, 2016}}</ref> Regional definitions might vary slightly among sources.
| unit_pref = US
<!-- ALL fields with measurements have automatic unit conversion -->
<!-- for references: use <ref> tags -->| area_footnotes =
| area_total_sq_mi = 750522
| area_land_sq_mi =
| area_water_sq_mi =
| area_water_percent =
| area_rank = <!-- square miles -->
| population_total = 68,985,454
| population_as_of = [[2020 United States census|2020]]
| population_footnotes =
| population_density_sq_mi = auto
| population_density_sq_km =
| population_demonym = Midwesterner
| demographics_type1 =
| demographics_type2 =
| demographics1_footnotes =
| demographics1_title1 =
| demographics1_title2 =
| unemployment_rate =
| blank_name_sec1 =
| blank_info_sec1 =
| demographics1_info1 =
| demographics1_info2 =
| other_name = The Midwest, The Heartland, American Midwest
}}
The '''Midwestern United States''' (also referred to as '''the Midwest''', the '''Heartland''' or the '''American Midwest''') is one of the four [[List of regions of the United States|census regions]] defined by the [[United States Census Bureau]]. It occupies the northern central part of the [[United States]].<ref name="CensusRegionsMap"/> It was officially named the '''North Central Region''' by the U.S. Census Bureau until 1984.<ref>{{cite web|title=History: Regions and Divisions|url=https://www.census.gov/history/www/programs/geography/regions_and_divisions.html|website=United States Census Bureau|access-date=November 26, 2014}}</ref> It is between the [[Northeastern United States]] and the [[Western United States]], with [[Canada]] to the north and the [[Southern United States]] to the south.
The U.S. Census Bureau's definition consists of 12 states in the north central United States: [[Illinois]], [[Indiana]], [[Iowa]], [[Kansas]], [[Michigan]], [[Minnesota]], [[Missouri]], [[Nebraska]], [[North Dakota]], [[Ohio]], [[South Dakota]], and [[Wisconsin]]. The region generally lies on the broad [[Interior Plain]] between the states occupying the [[Appalachian Mountains|Appalachian Mountain range]] and the states occupying the [[Rocky Mountains|Rocky Mountain range]]. Major rivers in the region include, from east to west, the [[Ohio River]], the Upper [[Mississippi River]], and the [[Missouri River]].<ref name=Hobbs>{{cite book|title=World Regional Geography|author=Hobbs, Joseph John|publisher=[[Cengage Learning]]|year=2009|page=662|isbn=978-0-495-38950-7| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yAgGHnENHjoC&pg=PA662|access-date=June 13, 2017}}</ref> The [[2020 United States census]] put the population of the Midwest at 68,995,685.<ref name="Census2020">{{cite web |title=Change in Resident Population of the 50 States, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico: 1910 to 2020 |url=https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/decennial/2020/data/apportionment/population-change-data-table.pdf |website=Census.gov |publisher=United States Census Bureau |accessdate=April 27, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210426202412/https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/decennial/2020/data/apportionment/population-change-data-table.pdf |archive-date=April 26, 2021|url-status=live }}</ref> The Midwest is divided by the U.S. Census Bureau into two divisions. The [[East North Central States|East North Central Division]] includes Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin, all of which are also part of the [[Great Lakes region]]. The [[West North Central States|West North Central Division]] includes Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, North Dakota, Nebraska, and South Dakota, several of which are located, at least partly, within the [[Great Plains]] region.
[[Chicago]] is the most populous city in the American Midwest and the third-most populous in the United States. Other large Midwestern cities include [[Columbus, Ohio|Columbus]], [[Indianapolis]], [[Detroit]], [[Milwaukee]], [[Kansas City, Missouri|Kansas City]], [[Omaha, Nebraska|Omaha]], [[Minneapolis]], [[Cleveland]], [[Cincinnati]], [[Saint Paul, Minnesota|St. Paul]], and [[St. Louis]]. Chicago and its [[suburb]]s, colloquially known as [[Chicago metropolitan area|Chicagoland]], form the largest [[metropolitan area]] with 10 million people, making it the fourth-largest metropolitan area in [[North America]], after [[Greater Mexico City]], the [[New York metropolitan area]], and [[Greater Los Angeles]]. The American Midwest is also home other prominent metropolitan areas, including [[Metro Detroit]], [[Minneapolis–St. Paul]], [[Greater St. Louis]], the [[Cincinnati metro area]], the [[Kansas City metropolitan area|Kansas City metro area]], the [[Columbus, Ohio metropolitan area|Columbus metro area]], the [[Indianapolis metropolitan area|Indianapolis metro area]], [[Greater Cleveland]], and the [[Milwaukee metropolitan area]].
The region's economy is a mix of heavy industry and agriculture, with extensive areas forming part of the United States' [[Corn Belt]]. Finance and services such as medicine and education are becoming increasingly important. Its central ___location makes it a transportation crossroads for river boats, railroads, autos, trucks, and airplanes. Politically, the region includes multiple [[swing state]]s, and therefore is heavily contested and often decisive in elections.<ref>{{cite book |first1=Earl |last1=Black |first2=Merle |last2=Black |title=Divided America: The Ferocious Power Struggle in American Politics |year=2008 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |page=209 |isbn=9781416539056}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=Richard J. |last=Jensen |title=The Winning of the Midwest: Social and Political Conflict 1888–1896 |year=1971 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |page=15 |isbn=9780226398259}}</ref>
== The West ==
The term ''West'' was applied to the region in [[British America]] and in the early years of the United States, when the British colonial territories had not extended far from the Atlantic coast and the [[West Coast of the United States|Pacific seaboard]] was generally unknown. By the early 19th century, anything west of the [[Appalachian Mountains|Appalachians]] was considered the [[American frontier]]. Over time, the American frontier moved to west of the [[Mississippi River]]. During the colonial period, the French settled the upper Mississippi watershed, which included the valleys of the [[Missouri River]] and the [[Illinois River]], and called it the [[Illinois Country]].<ref name="Ekberg-French Roots">{{cite book |last=Ekberg |first=Carl |title=French Roots in the Illinois Country: The Mississippi Frontier in Colonial Times |date=2000 |publisher=University of Illinois Press |isbn=9780252069246 |pages=32–33}}</ref> In 1787, the [[Northwest Ordinance]] was enacted, creating the [[Northwest Territory]], which was bounded by the Great Lakes and the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers.<ref>{{cite report |date=1995 |title=Statistical Abstract of the United States 1995 |url=https://www.census.gov/prod/1/gen/95statab/preface.pdf |publisher=U.S. Bureau of the Census |access-date=April 9, 2020}}</ref> Some entities in the Midwest have "Northwest" in their names for historical reasons, such as [[Northwestern University]] in Illinois.<ref name="Pridmore">Jay Pridmore (2000) "Northwestern University: Celebrating 150 Years" Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press</ref>
One of the earliest late 19th-century uses of ''Midwest'' was in reference to Kansas and Nebraska to indicate that they were the civilized areas of the West.<ref name="Blaser 1990 69">{{Cite journal |last=Blaser |first=Kent |date=1990 |title=Of the Midwest |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=h9B5AAAAMAAJ&q=kansas+and+nebraska+midwest+civilized |journal=The Midwest Review |language=en |publisher=Wayne State College. |pages=69}}</ref> Another term applied to the same region is ''[[Heartland (United States)|Heartland]]''.<ref>Merriam-Webster online</ref>
== Prehistory ==
=== Precolumbian ===
{{Main|Mississippian culture}}
Among the [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|Native Americans]], [[Paleo-Indians|Paleo-American]] cultures were the earliest in North America, with a presence in the Great Plains and Great Lakes areas from about 12,000 BCE to around 8,000 BCE.<ref name="google">{{cite book|title=The Oxford Companion to Archaeology|author1=Silberman, N.A.|author2=Bauer, A.A.|date=2012|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0199735785|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xeJMAgAAQBAJ|pages=2–151|access-date=February 26, 2015}}</ref>
[[File:Monks Mound - Summer 2024.jpg|thumb|upright=1.15|[[Monks Mound]], located at the [[Cahokia Mounds]] near [[Collinsville, Illinois]], is the largest Precolumbian earthwork north of [[Mesoamerica]] and a [[World Heritage Site]].]]
Following the Paleo-American period is the [[Archaic period in the Americas|Archaic]] period (8,000 BCE to 1,000 BCE), the [[Woodland period|Woodland Tradition]] (1,000 BCE to 100 CE), and the Mississippian Period (900 to 1500 CE). Archeological evidence indicates that [[Mississippian culture]] traits probably began in the [[St. Louis, Missouri]] area and spread northwest along the Mississippi and Illinois rivers and entered the state along the [[Kankakee River]] system. It also spread northward into Indiana along the [[Wabash River|Wabash]], [[Tippecanoe River|Tippecanoe]], and [[White River (Indiana)|White]] Rivers.<ref name="Midwestlit">{{cite web |url=http://blogs.valpo.edu/midwestlit/2011/05/04/indian-american-culture-in-the-midwest-prior-to-the-arrival-of-europeans/ |title=Indian American culture in the midwest prior to the arrival of Europeans |access-date=June 17, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110812174337/http://blogs.valpo.edu/midwestlit/2011/05/04/indian-american-culture-in-the-midwest-prior-to-the-arrival-of-europeans/ |archive-date=August 12, 2011 }}</ref>
Mississippian peoples in the Midwest were mostly farmers who followed the rich, flat floodplains of Midwestern rivers. They brought with them a well-developed agricultural complex based on three major crops—[[maize]], [[beans]], and [[squash (plant)|squash]]. Maize, or corn, was the primary crop of Mississippian farmers. They gathered a wide variety of seeds, nuts, and berries, and fished and hunted for fowl to supplement their diets. With such an intensive form of [[agriculture]], this culture supported large populations.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Caborn-Welborn - Constructing a New Society after the Angel Chiefdom Collapse|first=David|last=Pollack|publisher=University of Alabama Press|year=2004|isbn=0-8173-5126-4|pages=27–28|author-link=David Pollack (archaeologist)}}</ref>
The Mississippi period was characterized by a [[mound builder (people)|mound-building]] culture. The Mississippians suffered a tremendous population decline about 1400, coinciding with the global climate change of the [[Little Ice Age]]. Their culture effectively ended before 1492.<ref>[[Timothy R. Pauketat]], ''Cahokia: Ancient America's Great City on the Mississippi'' (2009)</ref>
==== Great Lakes Native Americans ====
The major tribes of the [[Great Lakes]] region included the [[Wyandot people|Huron]], [[Odawa people|Ottawa]], [[Ojibwe]], [[Potawatomi]], [[Ho-Chunk]], [[Menominee]], [[Sauk people|Sauk]], [[Meskwaki]], [[Neutral Nation|Neutrals]], and the [[Miami people|Miami]]. Most numerous were the Huron and Ho-Chunk. Fighting and battle were often launched between tribes, with the losers forced to flee.<ref>[http://www.great-lakes.net/teach/history/native/native_1.html Native Peoples of the Region] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150617021328/http://great-lakes.net/teach/history/native/native_1.html |date=June 17, 2015 }} GLIN Daily News</ref>
Most are of the [[Algonquian languages|Algonquian language]] family. Some tribes—such as the [[Stockbridge-Munsee Community|Stockbridge-Munsee]] and the [[Brothertown Indians|Brothertown]]—are also Algonkian-speaking tribes who relocated from the eastern seaboard to the Great Lakes region in the 19th century. The [[Oneida people|Oneida]] belong to the [[Iroquois]] language group and the [[Ho-Chunk]] of Wisconsin are one of the few Great Lakes tribes to speak a [[Siouan languages|Siouan]] language.<ref>[http://www.mpm.edu/wirp/ICW-21.html Great Lakes History: A General View] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111217082131/http://www.mpm.edu/wirp/ICW-21.html |date=December 17, 2011 }} Indian Country Wisconsin.</ref> American Indians in this area did not develop a written form of language.{{citation needed|date=October 2016}}
[[File:Winnebago wigwam.jpg|thumb|upright=1.15|[[Ho-Chunk|Winnebago]] family (1852) - <small>Ho-Chunks are often referred to in historical sources by the derogatory [[Endonym and exonym|exonym]], ''Winnebago''</small>]]
In the 16th century, the natives of the area used projectiles and tools of stone, bone, and wood to hunt and farm. They made [[canoe]]s for fishing. Most of them lived in oval or conical [[wigwam]]s that could be easily moved away. Various tribes had different ways of living. The Ojibwe were primarily hunters and fishing was also important in the Ojibwe economy. Other tribes such as Sac, Fox, and Miami, both hunted and farmed.<ref>{{cite web |title=Fox |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Fox-people |website=Encyclopædia Britannica |access-date=June 21, 2020}}</ref>
They were oriented toward the open prairies where they engaged in communal hunts for [[American Bison|buffalo (bison)]]. In the northern forests, the Ottawas and Potawatomis separated into small family groups for hunting. The Winnebagos and Menominees used both hunting methods interchangeably and built up widespread trade networks extending as far west as the Rockies, north to the Great Lakes, south to the [[Gulf of Mexico]], and east to the [[Atlantic Ocean]].<ref>Kinietz, William Vernon, & Raudot, Antoine Denis. The Indians of the Western Great Lakes, 1615-1760. United States: University of Michigan Press, 1940. {{ISBN|9780472061075}}</ref>
The Hurons reckoned descent through the female line, while the others favored the patrilineal method. All tribes were governed under [[chiefdom]]s or complex chiefdoms. For example, Hurons were divided into matrilineal clans, each represented by a chief in the town council, where they met with a town chief on civic matters. But [[Ojibwe]] people's social and political life was simpler than that of settled tribes.<ref>Hyde, George E.; Indians of the Woodlands From Prehistoric Times to 1725; Norman, Oklahoma; University of Oklahoma Press; 1962.</ref>
The religious beliefs varied among tribes. Hurons believed in ''Yoscaha'', a supernatural being who lived in the sky and was believed to have created the world and the Huron people. At death, Hurons thought the soul left the body to live in a village in the sky. Ojibwe were a deeply religious people who believed in the Great Spirit. They worshiped the Great Spirit through all their seasonal activities, and viewed religion as a private matter: Each person's relation with his personal guardian spirit was part of his thinking every day of life. Ottawa and Potawatomi people had very similar religious beliefs to those of the Ojibwe.<ref name="Midwestlit" />
In the Ohio River Valley, the dominant food supply was not hunting but agriculture. There were orchards and fields of crops that were maintained by indigenous women. Corn was their most important crop.<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=13–15, 29, 64–65}}</ref>
==== Great Plains Indians ====
{{Main|Plains Indians}}
[[File:Oglala girl in front of a tipi.jpg|thumb|upright|Young [[Oglala Lakota]] girl in front of [[tipi]] with puppy beside her, probably on or near [[Pine Ridge Indian Reservation]], [[South Dakota]]]]
[[File:Cumulus Clouds over Yellow Prairie2.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.15|Cumulus clouds hover above a yellowish prairie at [[Badlands National Park]], [[South Dakota]], native lands to the Sioux.]]
The Plains Indians are the [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|indigenous peoples]] who live on the plains and rolling hills of the Great Plains of [[North America]]. Their colorful equestrian culture and famous conflicts with settlers and the US Army have made the Plains Indians archetypical in literature and art for American Indians everywhere.{{citation needed|date=December 2014}}
Plains Indians are usually divided into two broad classifications, with some degree of overlap. The first group were fully nomadic, following the vast herds of [[American bison|buffalo]]. Some tribes occasionally engaged in agriculture, growing tobacco and corn primarily. These included the [[Blackfoot]], [[Arapaho]], [[Assiniboine people|Assiniboine]], [[Cheyenne]], [[Comanche]], [[Crow Nation|Crow]], [[Gros Ventres|Gros Ventre]], [[Kiowa]], [[Lakota people|Lakota]], [[Lipan Apache people|Lipan]], [[Plains Apache]] (or Kiowa Apache), [[Plains Cree people|Plains Cree]], [[Saulteaux|Plains Ojibwe]], [[Tsuu T'ina Nation|Sarsi]], [[Shoshone]], [[Nakoda (people)|Stoney]], and [[Tonkawa]].{{citation needed|date=October 2016}}
The second group of Plains Indians (sometimes referred to as Prairie Indians) were the semi-sedentary tribes who, in addition to hunting buffalo, lived in villages and raised crops. These included the [[Arikara]], [[Hidatsa]], [[Iowa tribe|Iowa]], [[Kaw (tribe)|Kaw (or Kansa)]], [[Kichai people|Kitsai]], [[Mandan]], [[Missouria]], [[Nez Perce tribe|Nez Perce]], [[Omaha (tribe)|Omaha]], [[Osage Nation|Osage]], [[Otoe tribe|Otoe]], [[Pawnee people|Pawnee]], [[Ponca]], [[Quapaw]], [[Dakota people|Santee]], [[Wichita (tribe)|Wichita]], and [[Sioux|Yankton]].<ref>Schneider, Fred "Prehistoric Horticulture in the Northeastern Plains." ''Plains Anthropologist'', 47 (180), 2002, pp. 33-50</ref>
The nomadic tribes of the Great Plains survived on [[hunting]]; some of their major hunts centered on deer and buffalo. Some tribes are described as part of the "Buffalo Culture" (sometimes called, for the [[American bison]]). Although the Plains Indians hunted other animals, such as [[elk]] or [[Pronghorn|antelope]], bison was their primary game food source. Bison flesh, hide, and bones from [[bison hunting]] provided the chief source of raw materials for items that Plains Indians made, including food, cups, decorations, crafting tools, knives, and clothing.{{citation needed|date=October 2016}}<ref name="wildlife">{{cite book| last =Moulton| first =M| title =Wildlife issues in a changing world, 2nd edition| publisher =CRC Press| year = 1995 }}</ref><ref name="Smits94">{{cite journal |last=Smits |first=David D. |date=1994 |title=The Frontier Army and the Destruction of the Buffalo: 1865-1883 |jstor=971110 |journal=The Western Historical Quarterly |publisher=Western Historical Quarterly, Utah State University on behalf of The Western History Association |volume=25 |issue=3 |pages=112–338 |doi= 10.2307/971110}} PDF: [http://history.msu.edu/hst321/files/2010/07/smits-on-bison.pdf history.msu.edu] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200706150320/https://history.msu.edu/hst321/files/2010/07/smits-on-bison.pdf |date=July 6, 2020 }}</ref>
The tribes followed the bison's seasonal grazing and migration. The Plains Indians lived in [[teepees]] because they were easily disassembled and allowed the nomadic life of following game. When Spanish horses were obtained, the Plains tribes rapidly integrated them into their daily lives. By the early 18th century, many tribes had fully adopted a [[horse culture]]. Before their adoption of guns, the Plains Indians hunted with [[spear]]s, [[bow (weapon)|bows]], and [[bows and arrows]], and various forms of [[club (weapon)|clubs]]. The use of horses by the Plains Indians made hunting (and warfare) much easier.<ref>{{cite book |last= Hamalainen |first= Pekka |title= The Comanche Empire |year= 2008 |publisher= Yale University Press |isbn= 978-0-300-12654-9 |pages= 37–38}}</ref>
Among the most powerful and dominant tribes were the [[Dakota people|Dakota]] or [[Sioux]], who occupied large amounts of territory in the Great Plains of the Midwest. The area of the [[Great Sioux Nation]] spread throughout the South and Midwest, up into the areas of Minnesota and stretching out west into the Rocky Mountains. At the same time, they occupied the heart of prime buffalo range, and also an excellent region for furs they could sell to French and American traders for goods such as guns. The Sioux (Dakota) became the most powerful of the Plains tribes and the greatest threat to American expansion.<ref>[http://www.native-net.org/tribes/sioux-indians.html The Sioux Indians were a Great and Powerful Tribe]. Native Net: Online.</ref><ref>Hamalainen, 20–21</ref>
The Sioux comprise three major divisions based on Siouan dialect and subculture:{{citation needed|date=October 2016}}
* ''Isáŋyathi'' or ''Isáŋathi'' ("Knife"): residing in the extreme east of the Dakotas, Minnesota and northern Iowa, and are often referred to as the '''Santee''' or '''Eastern Dakota'''.
* ''Iháŋktȟuŋwaŋ'' and ''Iháŋktȟuŋwaŋna'' ("Village-at-the-end" and "little village-at-the-end"): residing in the [[Minnesota River]] area, they are considered the middle Sioux, and are often referred to as the '''Yankton''' and the '''Yanktonai''', or, collectively, as the ''Wičhíyena'' (endonym) or the '''Western Dakota''' (and have been erroneously classified as ''[[Nakota]]''<ref>For a report on the long-established blunder of misnaming as ''Nakota'', the Yankton and the Yanktonai, see the article [[Nakota]]</ref>).
* ''Thítȟuŋwaŋ'' or Teton (Prairie Dwellers): the westernmost Sioux, known for their hunting and warrior culture, are often referred to as the '''Lakota'''.
Today, the Sioux maintain many separate tribal governments scattered across several reservations, communities, and reserves in the Dakotas, Nebraska, Minnesota, and Montana in the United States, as well as [[Manitoba]] and southern [[Saskatchewan]] in Canada.{{citation needed|date=March 2024}}
==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 |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 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 Company 1889 CP04381 - DPLA - 032e381bb16b1a45abecfd1a6a86ae3a (cropped).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 implicating the state leader in the [[Murder of Madge Oberholtzer|abduction and murder of a young woman]]. 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>
== Geography ==
{{Main|Geography of Illinois|Geography of Indiana|Geography of Iowa|Geography of Kansas|Geography of Michigan|Geography of Minnesota|Geography of Missouri|Geography of Nebraska|Geography of North Dakota|Geography of Ohio|Geography of South Dakota|Geography of Wisconsin}}
[[File:Efmo View from Fire Point.jpg|thumb|The [[Upper Mississippi River]] viewed from [[Effigy Mounds National Monument]], Iowa]]
[[File:Flint Hills - 51424666164.jpg|thumb|[[Flint Hills]] grasslands of Kansas]]
[[File:View of Theodore Roosevelt National Park.jpg|thumb|Badlands of [[Theodore Roosevelt National Park]], North Dakota]]
[[File:Big waves on Devils Island shoreline (e99f5cd1-548c-439d-962d-0c03204c2bf8).jpg|thumb|[[Apostle Islands National Lakeshore]], Wisconsin]]
According to Brian Page and Richard Walker:<ref>Brian Page and Richard Walker, "From settlement to Fordism: The agro-industrial revolution in the American Midwest." ''Economic Geography'' 67.4 (1991): 281-315 at p 282. [http://www.jstor.org/stable/143975 online]</ref> The sequence of settlement that helped define the subregions of the Midwest was roughly as follows:<blockquote>1800-20, from Pittsburgh down the Ohio Valley to St. Louis at the junction of the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers; <br>1820-40, the southern Great Lakes shores, from northern Ohio to Milwaukee; <br>1840-60, infill of the Prairie heartland across to eastern Iowa and southern Minnesota;<br>post-Civil War, the penetration of the northern woodlands and eastern plains from the central Midwest.</blockquote>
The vast central area of the U.S., into Canada, is a landscape of low, flat to rolling terrain in the [[Interior Plains]], ideal for farming and growing food. Most of its eastern two-thirds form the [[Geography of the Interior United States|Interior Lowlands]]. The Lowlands gradually rise westward, from a line passing through eastern Kansas, up to over {{convert|5,000|ft|m}} in the unit known as the [[Great Plains]]. Most of the Great Plains area is now farmed.<ref name="Remote Sensing Tutorial">{{cite web|url=http://rst.gsfc.nasa.gov/Sect6/Sect6_4.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000415045641/http://rst.gsfc.nasa.gov/Sect6/Sect6_4.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=April 15, 2000|title=Remote Sensing Tutorial, Section 6, online|access-date=June 9, 2011}}</ref>
While these states are for the most part relatively flat, consisting either of plains or of rolling and small hills, there is a measure of geographical variation. In particular, the following areas exhibit a high degree of topographical variety: the eastern Midwest near the foothills of the [[Appalachian Mountains]]; the [[Great Lakes Basin]]; the heavily glaciated uplands of the [[North Shore (Lake Superior)|North Shore of Lake Superior]] in Minnesota, part of the ruggedly volcanic [[Canadian Shield]]; the [[Ozark Mountains]] of southern Missouri; and the deeply eroded [[Driftless Area]] of southwest Wisconsin, southeast Minnesota, northeast Iowa, and northwest Illinois.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Prairie:Ecosystems:Prairie Peninsula |url=https://www.museum.state.il.us/muslink/prairie/htmls/eco_pen.html |access-date=2025-01-01 |website=www.museum.state.il.us}}</ref>
Proceeding westward, the [[Appalachian Plateau]] topography gradually gives way to gently rolling hills, and then (in central Ohio) to flat lands converted principally to farms and urban areas. This is the beginning of the vast Interior Plains of North America. As a result, [[prairie]]s cover most of the Great Plains states. Iowa and much of Illinois lie within an area called the [[prairie peninsula]], an eastward extension of prairies that borders [[conifer]] and mixed forests to the north, and [[hardwood]] [[deciduous]] forests to the east and south.{{citation needed|date=October 2016}}
Geographers subdivide the Interior Plains into the Interior Lowlands and the Great Plains on the basis of elevation. The Lowlands are mostly below {{convert|1,500|ft|m}} above sea level whereas the Great Plains to the west are higher, rising in [[Colorado]] to around {{convert|5,000|ft|m}}.
The Lowlands, then, are confined to parts of Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, [[Tennessee]], and [[Kentucky]]. Missouri and [[Arkansas]] have regions of Lowlands elevations, contrasting with their Ozark region (within the Interior Highlands). Eastern Ohio's hills are an extension of the Appalachian Plateau.{{citation needed|date=October 2016}}
The Interior Plains are largely coincident with the vast [[Mississippi River]] Drainage System (other major components are the [[Missouri River|Missouri]] and Ohio Rivers). These rivers have for tens of millions of years been eroding downward into the mostly horizontal sedimentary rocks of [[Paleozoic]], [[Mesozoic]], and [[Cenozoic]] ages. The modern Mississippi River system has developed during the Pleistocene Epoch of the Cenozoic.{{citation needed|date=October 2016}}
Rainfall decreases from east to west, resulting in different types of prairies, with the [[tallgrass prairie]] in the wetter eastern region, mixed-grass prairie in the central [[Great Plains]], and [[shortgrass prairie]] towards the [[rain shadow]] of the Rockies. Today, these three prairie types largely correspond to the [[Maize|corn]]/[[soybean]] area, the [[wheat]] belt, and the western rangelands, respectively.{{citation needed|date=October 2016}}
Much of the [[Forest#Types|coniferous forests]] of the Upper Midwest were clear-cut in the late 19th century, and mixed [[Central U.S. hardwood forests|hardwood forests]] have become a major component of the new woodlands since then. The majority of the Midwest can now be categorized as [[city|urbanized]] areas or pastoral [[agricultural]] areas.{{citation needed|date=October 2016}}
=== Definitions ===
{{Redirect2|Lake states|Plains states|the geographic regions|Great Lakes region|and|Great Plains}}
[[File:Midwestern_United_States_subdivisions.svg|thumb|Divisions of the Midwest by the U.S. Census Bureau into [[East North Central States|East North Central]] and [[West North Central States|West North Central]], separated largely by the [[Mississippi River]]<ref name="CensusRegionsMap" />]]
[[File:Scotts bluff national monument.jpg|thumb|[[Scotts Bluff National Monument]] in western Nebraska]]
The first recorded use of the term ''Midwestern'' to refer to a region of the [[Central United States|central U.S.]] occurred in 1886; ''Midwest'' appeared in 1894, and ''Midwesterner'' in 1916.<ref name="oed.com">[[Oxford English Dictionary]] entries for ''Midwestern'', ''Midwest'', and ''Midwesterner'', http://www.oed.com/</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.loc.gov/item/ihas.200197407 |title=Regional Song Sampler: The Midwest {{pipe}} Library of Congress |website=Loc.gov |access-date=July 16, 2017}}</ref> One of the earliest late-19th-century uses of ''Midwest'' was in reference to Kansas and Nebraska to indicate that they were the civilized areas of the west.<ref name="Blaser 1990 69"/> The term ''Midwestern'' has been in use since the 1880s to refer to portions of the central United States. A variant term, ''Middle West'', has been used since the 19th century and remains relatively common.<ref>Examples of the use of ''Middle West'' include {{cite book |last= Turner |first= Frederick Jackson |title= The Frontier in American History |publisher= H. Holt and Company |year= 1921 |oclc= 2127640 |url= https://archive.org/details/frontierinameric00turniala}} {{cite book |last= Shortridge |first= James R. |title= Middle West: Its Meaning in American Culture |publisher= University Press of Kansas |year= 1989 |isbn= 978-0-7006-0475-3 |url= https://archive.org/details/middlewestitsmea00shor|url-access= registration }} {{cite book |last= Bradway |first= Becky |title= In the Middle of the Middle West: Literary Nonfiction from the Heartland |publisher= Indiana University Press |year= 2003 |isbn= 978-0-253-21657-1 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=yuq2ZNXLvAIC}} and {{cite book |last= Gjerde |first= Jon |title= The Minds of the West: Ethnocultural Evolution in the Rural Middle West, 1830–1917 |publisher= UNC Press |year= 1999 |isbn= 978-0-8078-4807-4 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=qDxRsvJ0zeUC}}; among many others.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/gmdhtml/rrhtml/regions3.html |title=About this Collection – Railroad Maps, 1828–1900 {{pipe}} Digital Collections {{pipe}} Library of Congress |website=Memory.loc.gov |access-date=July 16, 2017}}</ref>
Traditional definitions of the Midwest include the Northwest Ordinance ''[[Northwest Territory|Old Northwest]]'' states and many states that were part of the [[Louisiana Purchase]]. The states of the Old Northwest are also known as [[Great Lakes region (North America)|Great Lakes states]] and are east-north central in the United States. The Ohio River runs along the southeastern section, and the Mississippi River runs north to south near the center. Many of the Louisiana Purchase states in the west-north central United States are also known as the [[Great Plains]] states, and the Missouri River is a major waterway joining with the Mississippi. The Midwest lies north of the [[Parallel 36°30′ north|36°30′ parallel]], which the 1820 [[Missouri Compromise]] established as the dividing line between future [[Slave and free states|slave and non-slave states]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Hammond |first=John Craig |date=March 1, 2019 |title=President, Planter, Politician: James Monroe, the Missouri Crisis, and the Politics of Slavery |url=https://academic.oup.com/jah/article/105/4/843/5352833 |journal=Journal of American History |language=en |volume=105 |issue=4 |pages=843–867 |doi=10.1093/jahist/jaz002 |issn=0021-8723|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
The Midwest Region is defined by the [[United States Census Bureau|U.S. Census Bureau]] as these 12 states:<ref name="CensusRegionsMap" />
* '''[[Illinois]]:''' Old Northwest, Mississippi River (Missouri River joins near the state border), Ohio River, and Great Lakes state
* '''[[Indiana]]:''' Old Northwest, Ohio River, and Great Lakes state
* '''[[Iowa]]:''' Louisiana Purchase, Mississippi River, and Missouri River state
* '''[[Kansas]]:''' Louisiana Purchase, Great Plains, and Missouri River state
* '''[[Michigan]]:''' Old Northwest and Great Lakes state
* '''[[Minnesota]]:''' Old Northwest, Louisiana Purchase, Mississippi River, part of [[Red River Colony]] before 1818, Great Lakes state
* '''[[Missouri]]:''' Louisiana Purchase, Mississippi River (Ohio River joins near the state border), Missouri River, and [[Border states (American Civil War)|border]] state
* '''[[Nebraska]]:''' Louisiana Purchase, Great Plains, and Missouri River state
* '''[[North Dakota]]:''' Louisiana Purchase, part of Red River Colony before 1818, Great Plains, and Missouri River state
* '''[[Ohio]]:''' Old Northwest (Historic [[Connecticut Western Reserve]]), Ohio River, and Great Lakes state. The [[Appalachian Ohio|southeastern]] part of the state is part of northern [[Appalachia]]
* '''[[South Dakota]]:''' Louisiana Purchase, Great Plains, and Missouri River state
* '''[[Wisconsin]]:''' Old Northwest, Mississippi River, and Great Lakes state
Various organizations define the Midwest with slightly different groups of states. For example, the [[Council of State Governments]], an organization for communication and coordination among state governments, includes in its Midwest regional office eleven states from the above list, omitting Missouri, which is in the CSG South region.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.csg.org/about/regionaloffices.aspx |title=CSG Regional Offices |publisher=Council of State Governments |year=2012 |access-date=February 13, 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140220052340/http://www.csg.org/about/regionaloffices.aspx |archive-date=February 20, 2014 }}</ref> The [[Organization of the National Park Service#Midwest Region|Midwest Region]] of the [[National Park Service]] consists of these twelve states plus the state of [[Arkansas]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nps.gov/orgs/1671/national-parks-in-the-midwest.htm|title=National Parks in the Midwest {{!}} National Park Service|website=Nps.gov|access-date=July 16, 2017}}</ref> The [[Midwest Archives Conference]], a professional archives organization, covers the above twelve states, plus [[Kentucky]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.midwestarchives.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=114 |title=What is MAC |publisher=Midwest Archives Conference |year=2012 |access-date=January 3, 2018}}</ref> A 2023 [[Emerson College]]/''Middle West Review'' poll includes the above twelve states, plus [[Oklahoma]] and [[Wyoming]].<ref>{{cite press release|title=Middle West Review and Emerson College Polling Launch Largest-ever Study on Midwestern Identity|url=https://emersoncollegepolling.com/middle-west-review-and-emerson-college-polling/|publisher=[[Emerson College]] Polling|date=October 18, 2023|access-date=October 23, 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|first1=Emily|last1=Schmall|first2=Sara|last2=Ruberg|title=200 Years Later, Still Trying to Define the Midwest|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/18/us/midwest-states-harris-trump.html|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=October 18, 2024|access-date=October 23, 2024}}</ref>
{|class="wikitable sortable"
![[List of states and territories of the United States|State]]
!2020 census
!2010 census
!Change
!Area
!Density
|-
|{{flag|Iowa}}
| {{change|invert=on|3190369|3046355}}
|{{convert|55857.09|sqmi|abbr=on}}
|{{Pop density|3190369|55857.09|sqmi|km2|prec=0}}
|-
|{{flag|Kansas}}
| {{change|invert=on|2937880|2853118}}
|{{convert|81758.65|sqmi|abbr=on}}
|{{Pop density|2937880|81758.65|sqmi|km2|prec=0}}
|-
|{{flag|Missouri}}
| {{change|invert=on|6154913|5988927}}
|{{convert|68741.47|sqmi|abbr=on}}
|{{Pop density|6154913|68741.47|sqmi|km2|prec=0}}
|-
|{{flag|Nebraska}}
| {{change|invert=on|1961504|1826341}}
|{{convert|76824.11|sqmi|abbr=on}}
|{{Pop density|1961504|76824.11|sqmi|km2|prec=0}}
|-
|{{flag|North Dakota}}
| {{change|invert=on|779094|672591}}
|{{convert|69000.74|sqmi|abbr=on}}
|{{Pop density|779094|69000.74|sqmi|km2|prec=0}}
|-
|{{flag|South Dakota}}
| {{change|invert=on|886667|814180}}
|{{convert|75810.94|sqmi|abbr=on}}
|{{Pop density|886667|75810.94|sqmi|km2|prec=0}}
|-
|- class=sortbottom style="background:#fbfbbb"
|'''Great Plains'''
| {{change|invert=on|15910427|15201512|bgcolour=#fbfbbb}}
|{{convert|427993.00|sqmi|abbr=on}}
|{{Pop density|15910427|427993.00|sqmi|km2|prec=0}}
|-
|{{flag|Illinois}}
| {{change|invert=on|12812508|12830632}}
|{{convert|55518.89|sqmi|abbr=on}}
|{{Pop density|12822739|55518.89|sqmi|km2|prec=0}}
|-
|{{flag|Indiana}}
| {{change|invert=on|6785528|6483802}}
|{{convert|35826.08|sqmi|abbr=on}}
|{{Pop density|6785528|35826.08|sqmi|km2|prec=0}}
|-
|{{flag|Michigan}}
| {{change|invert=on|10077331|9883640}}
|{{convert|56538.86|sqmi|abbr=on}}
|{{Pop density|10077331|56538.86|sqmi|km2|prec=0}}
|-
|{{flag|Minnesota}}
| {{change|invert=on|5706494|5303925}}
|{{convert|79626.68|sqmi|abbr=on}}
|{{Pop density|5706494|79626.68|sqmi|km2|prec=0}}
|-
|{{flag|Ohio}}
| {{change|invert=on|11799448|11536504}}
|{{convert|40860.66|sqmi|abbr=on}}
|{{Pop density|11799448|40860.66|sqmi|km2|prec=0}}
|-
|{{flag|Wisconsin}}
| {{change|invert=on|5893718|5686986}}
|{{convert|54157.76|sqmi|abbr=on}}
|{{Pop density|5893718|54157.76|sqmi|km2|prec=0}}
|-
|- class=sortbottom style="background:#fbfbbb"
|'''Great Lakes'''
| {{change|invert=on|53085258|51725489|bgcolour=#fbfbbb}}
|{{convert|322528.93|sqmi|abbr=on}}
|{{Pop density|53085258|322528.93|sqmi|km2|prec=0}}
|-
|- class=sortbottom style="background:#fbfbbb"
|'''Total'''
| {{change|invert=on|68995685|66927001|bgcolour=#fbfbbb}}
|{{convert|750521.93|sqmi|abbr=on}}
|{{Pop density|68985454|750521.93|sqmi|km2|prec=0}}
|}
=== Major metropolitan areas ===
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! Rank<br />(Mid{{shy}}west) !! Rank<br />(USA) !! MSA !! Population{{shy}}<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.census.gov/library/visualizations/interactive/2020-population-and-housing-state-data.html |title=2020 Population and Housing State Data |publisher=[[United States Census Bureau]], Population Division |date=August 12, 2021 |access-date=March 10, 2023 }}</ref> !! State(s) !! class="unsortable" | <!--image-->
|-
| 1 || 3 ||align=left | [[Chicago metropolitan area|Chicago]] || 9,449,351 || [[Illinois]]<br>[[Indiana]]<br>[[Wisconsin]] || [[File:Chicago Skyline (44908380294).jpg|150px]]
|-
| 2 || 14 ||align=left | [[Metro Detroit|Detroit]] || 4,392,041|| [[Michigan]] || [[File:Detroit Skyline (26907335841).jpg|150px]]
|-
| 3 || 16 ||align=left | [[Minneapolis–Saint Paul|Twin Cities]] (Minneapolis–Saint Paul) || 3,690,261 || [[Minnesota]]<br>[[Wisconsin]] || [[File:Minneapolis Skyline looking south.jpg|150px]]<br>[[File:Saint Paul skyline, West Side (cropped).jpg|150px]]
|-
| 4 || 21 ||align=left | [[Greater St. Louis|St. Louis]] || 2,820,253 || [[Missouri]]<br>[[Illinois]] || [[File:Gateway Arch - St. Louis - Missouri (17275578342).jpg|150px]]
|-
| 5 || 30 ||align=left | [[Cincinnati metropolitan area|Cincinnati]] || 2,249,797 || [[Ohio]]<br>[[Kentucky]]<br>[[Indiana]] || [[File:Downtown Cincinnati viewed from Devou Park.jpg|150px]]
|-
| 6 || 31 ||align=left | [[Kansas City metropolitan area|Kansas City]] || 2,192,035 || [[Missouri]]<br>[[Kansas]] || [[File:Downtown - panoramio (15).jpg|150px]]
|-
| 7 || 32 ||align=left | [[Cleveland metropolitan area|Cleveland]] || 2,185,825 || [[Ohio]] || [[File:Cleveland skyline, January 2025.jpg|150px]]
|-
| 8 || 33 ||align=left | [[Columbus metropolitan area, Ohio|Columbus]] || 2,138,926 || [[Ohio]] || [[File:Downtown Columbus View from Main St Bridge - edit1.jpg|150px]]
|-
| 9 || 34 ||align=left | [[Indianapolis metropolitan area|Indianapolis]] || 2,089,653 || [[Indiana]] || [[File:Indianapolis-1872528.jpg|150px]]
|-
| 10 || 40 ||align=left | [[Milwaukee metropolitan area|Milwaukee]] || 1,574,731 || [[Wisconsin]] || [[File:Dji fly 20241201 160430 0031 1733092392756 photo.jpg|150px]]
|-
| 11 || 51 ||align=left | [[Grand Rapids metropolitan area|Grand Rapids]] || 1,150,015 || [[Michigan]] || [[File:Grand Rapids April 2022.jpg|150px]]
|-
| 12 || 57 ||align=left | [[Omaha–Council Bluffs metropolitan area|Omaha]] || 967,604|| [[Nebraska]]<br>[[Iowa]] || [[File:City of Omaha, Nebraska Skyline on the Missouri River (30899969517).jpg|150px]]
|-
| 13 || 74 ||align=left | [[Dayton metropolitan area|Dayton]] || 814,049 || [[Ohio]] || [[File:Dayton Skyline - Sunset September 2022.jpg|150px]]
|-
| 14 || 81 ||align=left | [[Des Moines metropolitan area|Des Moines]] || 709,466 || [[Iowa]] || [[File:Morning Skyline - Des Moines, Iowa - Winter on the Des Moines River (24805016620).jpg|150px]]
|-
| 15 || 85 ||align=left | [[Akron metropolitan area|Akron]] || 702,219 || [[Ohio]] || [[File:Downtown skyline as seen from Ohio & Erie Canalway at Martin Luther King Boulevard, Akron, Ohio - 20200530.jpg|150px]]
|-
| 16 || 87 ||align=left | [[Madison metropolitan area|Madison]] || 680,796 || [[Wisconsin]] || [[File:Aerial View of Campus, with Helen C. White Hall in foreground (14070186173).jpg|150px]]
|-
| 17 || 90 ||align=left | [[Wichita metropolitan area, Kansas|Wichita]] || 647,610 || [[Kansas]] || [[File:Wichita, Kansas skyline aerial view.jpg|150px]]
|-
| 18 || 96 ||align=left | [[Toledo metropolitan area|Toledo]] || 606,240 || [[Ohio]] || [[File:Toledo Ohio skyline.jpg|150px]]
|}
== Demographics ==
[[File:St Paul Cathedral 2012.jpg|thumb|[[Cathedral of Saint Paul (Minnesota)|Cathedral of Saint Paul, Minnesota]]]]
{| class="wikitable sortable"
!Race (2022)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Grid View: Table B03002 - Census Reporter |url=https://censusreporter.org/data/table/?table=B03002&geo_ids=02000US2&primary_geo_id=02000US2#valueType%7Cpercentage |access-date=2024-07-10 |website=censusreporter.org}}</ref>
!Population
!Share of <br> population
|-
|Total
|68,787,600
|100.0%
|-
|White (Non-Hispanic)
|50,186,628
|73.0%
|-
|Black (Non-Hispanic)
|6,797,609
|9.9%
|-
|Asian (Non-Hispanic)
|2,383,156
|3.5%
|-
|Native American (Non-Hispanic)
|268,845
|0.4%
|-
|Pacific Islander (Non-Hispanic)
|41,630
|0.1%
|-
|Multiracial (Non-Hispanic)
|2,901,606
|4.2%
|-
|Some other race (Non-Hispanic)
|293,288
|0.4%
|-
|Hispanic or Latino (Of any race)
|5,914,837
|8.6%
|}
{| class="wikitable sortable mw-collapsible"
|+Historical Racial Composition of the Midwest (1890-1960)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Table 3. Midwest (North Central) Region - Race and Hispanic Origin: 1800 to 1990 |url=http://www.census.gov/population/www/documentation/twps0056/tab03.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100327164219/http://www.census.gov/population/www/documentation/twps0056/tab03.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=2010-03-27 |website=US Census Bureau}}</ref>
!Racial composition
!1890
!1900
!1910
!1920
!1930
!1940
!1950
!1960
|-
|[[White American|White]]
|97.8%
|97.9%
|98.0%
|97.5%
|96.5%
|96.3%
|94.7%
|93.0%
|-
|[[African American|Black]]
|1.9%
|1.9%
|1.8%
|2.3%
|3.3%
|3.5%
|5.0%
|6.7%
|-
|[[Asian American|Asian]]
|0.0%
|0.0%
|0.0%
|0.0%
|0.0%
|0.0%
|0.1%
|0.1%
|-
|[[Native Americans in the United States|Native American]]
|0.3%
|0.2%
|0.2%
|0.2%
|0.2%
|0.2%
|0.2%
|0.2%
|}
{| class="wikitable sortable mw-collapsible"
|+Historical Ethnic/Racial Composition of the Midwest (1970-2020)
!Racial/Ethnic composition
!1970<ref>{{Cite web |title=Table 60- Race of the Population |url=https://www2.census.gov/library/publications/decennial/1970/pc-s1-supplementary-reports/pc-s1-11.pdf |website=US Census Bureau}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Table 2- Persons of Spanish Origin by Race |url=https://www2.census.gov/library/publications/decennial/1970/pc-2-1c/42043782v2p1a1cch7.pdf |website=US Census Bureau}}</ref>
!1980<ref>{{Cite web |title=Table 4- Spanish Origin and Race |url=https://assets.nhgis.org/original-data/modern-census/1980PL_80-S1-7.pdf |website=US Census Bureau}}</ref>
!1990<ref>{{Cite web |title=Table 103- Race and Hispanic Origin, Midwest 1990 |url=https://www2.census.gov/library/publications/decennial/1990/cp-1/cp-1-1.pdf |website=US Census Bureau}}</ref>
!2000<ref>{{Cite web |title=Profile of General Demographic Characteristics |url=https://data.census.gov/table?t=Race+and+Ethnicity&g=020XX00US2&y=2000 |website=US Census Bureau}}</ref>
!2010<ref>{{Cite web |title=Hispanic or Latino by Race |url=https://data.census.gov/table?t=Race+and+Ethnicity&g=020XX00US2&y=2010 |website=US Census Bureau}}</ref>
!2020<ref>{{Cite web |title=Race and Ethnicity |url=https://data.census.gov/table?t=Race+and+Ethnicity&g=020XX00US2&y=2020 |website=US Census Bureau}}</ref>
|-
|White (Non-Hispanic)
|89.6%
|87.5%
|85.8%
|81.4%
|77.8%
|72.6%
|-
|Black (Non-Hispanic
|7.9%
|9.0%
|9.5%
|9.9%
|10.2%
|10.3%
|-
|Asian (Non-Hispanic)
|0.2%
|0.6%
|1.3%
|1.8%
|2.6%
|3.5%
|-
|Native American (Non-Hispanic)
|0.3%
|0.4%
|0.5%
|0.6%
|0.6%
|0.6%
|-
|'Some other race' (Non-Hispanic)
|0.2%
|0.3%
|0.1%
|0.1%
|0.1%
|0.4%
|-
|Two or more races (Non-Hispanic)
|''—''
|''—''
|''—''
|1.4%
|1.7%
|4.0%
|-
|'''''[[Hispanic and Latino Americans|Hispanic or Latino]] (Any race)'''''
|1.9%
|2.2%
|2.9%
|4.8%
|7.0%
|8.7%
|}
According to the 2022 American Community Survey, 22.6% of the Midwest's population report [[German Americans|German]] ancestry, 10.6% report [[Irish Americans|Irish]] ancestry, 9.4% report [[English Americans|English]] ancestry, 5.9% report [[Mexican Americans|Mexican]] ancestry, 4.8% identify their ancestry as [[American ancestry|American]], 4.3% report Polish ancestry, and 2.6% report Norwegian ancestry.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Grid View: Table B04006 - Census Reporter |url=https://censusreporter.org/data/table/?table=B04006&geo_ids=02000US2&primary_geo_id=02000US2#valueType%7Cpercentage |access-date=2024-07-10 |website=censusreporter.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Grid View: Table B03001 - Census Reporter |url=https://censusreporter.org/data/table/?table=B03001&geo_ids=02000US2&primary_geo_id=02000US2 |access-date=2024-07-10 |website=censusreporter.org}}</ref> The Midwest is home to the largest concentration of [[German Americans|German-Americans]] within the US, with this group making up over 30% of the population in [[North Dakota]], [[South Dakota]], [[Wisconsin]], [[Iowa]], and [[Nebraska]]. In addition to German-Americans, the [[upper Midwest]] is home to a large population of [[Nordic and Scandinavian Americans|Scandinavian Americans]]. In Minnesota, 11.8% of the population identifies with [[Norwegian Americans|Norwegian]] ancestry, while 6.4% report [[Swedish Americans|Swedish]] ancestry.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Grid View: Table B04006 - Census Reporter |url=https://censusreporter.org/data/table/?table=B04006&geo_ids=04000US27&primary_geo_id=04000US27 |access-date=2024-07-11 |website=censusreporter.org}}</ref> In North Dakota, 22% of the population reports Norwegian ancestry, the highest rate in the country.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Grid View: Table B04006 - Census Reporter |url=https://censusreporter.org/data/table/?table=B04006&geo_ids=04000US38&primary_geo_id=04000US38 |access-date=2024-07-11 |website=censusreporter.org}}</ref>
While the Midwest historically had a very small [[African Americans|Black]] population,<ref>{{Cite web |date=September 13, 2002 |title=Midwest (North Central) Region - Race and Hispanic Origin: 1800 to 1990 |url=http://www.census.gov/population/www/documentation/twps0056/tab03.pdf |website=US Census Bureau|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100327164219/http://www.census.gov/population/www/documentation/twps0056/tab03.pdf |archive-date=March 27, 2010 }}</ref> this changed in the early 20th century as numerous African Americans left the [[Southern United States|South]] for major urban areas in the North and West, fleeing racial persecution and seeking new economic opportunities in a population movement known as the [[Great Migration (African American)|Great Migration]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021-05-20 |title=The Great Migration (1910-1970) |url=https://www.archives.gov/research/african-americans/migrations/great-migration |access-date=2024-07-11 |website=National Archives |language=en}}</ref> This drastically changed the demographics of many Midwestern cities that had previously been almost entirely populated by White Americans, leading to [[Redlining|segregation]] and discrimination against the growing Black population, [[Race riots in the United States|racial violence]], and "[[white flight]]" to [[suburb]]an areas. From 1910 to 1970, Black Americans increased from 2% of [[Chicago|Chicago's]] population to 33%, and became almost half of the population in [[Detroit]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Great Migration – The African American Midwest |url=https://africanamericanmidwest.com/history-migrations/the-great-migration/ |access-date=2024-07-11 |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Detroit Statistics |url=https://historydetroit.com/statistics/ |access-date=2024-07-11 |website=historydetroit.com}}</ref> As a result of the [[Great Migration (African American)|Great Migration]], Black Americans currently make up 10% of the Midwest's population, with over 96% being concentrated in urban areas, including major cities like Chicago, Detroit, [[Cleveland]], and [[Milwaukee]], as well as medium sized cities like [[Gary, Indiana|Gary]] and [[Flint, Michigan|Flint]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Sander |first=Logan |date=2020-06-03 |title=The Politics of Midwestern Identity & Racial Divides |url=https://www.midstory.org/the-politics-of-midwestern-identity-racial-divides/ |access-date=2024-07-11 |website=Midstory |language=en-US}}</ref> At the same time, most of the rural Midwest has remained overwhelmingly White, with almost two-thirds of the 1,055 counties in the Midwest being over 95% White.
[[Illinois]] is the most populous and racially diverse state in the Midwest,<ref>{{Cite web |publisher=US Census Bureau |title=2020 Census: Racial and Ethnic Diversity Index by State |url=https://www.census.gov/library/visualizations/2021/dec/racial-and-ethnic-diversity-index.html |access-date=2024-07-11 |website=Census.gov}}</ref> and out of all 50 states, it is also ranked as the most representative of the overall [[demographics of the United States]] on several metrics, including religion, race/ethnicity, and urban/rural divide.<ref>{{Cite web |last= |date=2024-05-13 |title=Illinois ranks as 'most normal state' in U.S. according to Washington Post |url=https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/illinois-ranks-as-most-normal-state-in-u-s-according-to-washington-post-data-analysis/3436002/ |access-date=2024-07-11 |website=NBC Chicago |language=en-US}}</ref> Almost half of the Hispanic population in the Midwest resides in Illinois, mostly in the Chicago metro area.
As of 2022, the median household income in the Midwest is $70,283, slightly lower than the national average of $74,755. 12.2% of the region's population lives below the poverty line, including roughly 16% of children under 18, and 10% of seniors over 65. The average household size in the Midwest is 2.4 people<ref name="Census profile: Midwest Region">{{Cite web |title=Census profile: Midwest Region |url=http://censusreporter.org/profiles/02000US2-midwest-region/ |access-date=2024-07-10 |website=Census Reporter |language=en}}</ref>
As of 2022, the median age in the Midwest is 39.2 years, with 22% of the population being under 18, and 18% being over 65. The age distribution in the Midwest broadly matches the US as a whole. In terms of [[sex]], 50.3% of the region's population are female, and 49.7% are male. Half of the population over the age of 15 are married, while half are unmarried<ref name="Census profile: Midwest Region"/>
=== Religion ===
Like the rest of the United States, the Midwest is predominantly [[Christians|Christian]].<ref>Sisson R., Zacher C.K., Cayton A.R.L. (2006.) The American Midwest: An Interpretic Encyclopedia, Indiana University Press, pg. 705.</ref>
The majority of Midwesterners are [[Protestant]]s, with rates from 48 percent in Illinois to 63 percent in Iowa.<ref>{{cite web|title=Tracking Religious Affiliation, State by State|url=http://www.gallup.com/poll/12091/tracking-religious-affiliation-state-state.aspx#2|publisher=Gallup, Inc.|access-date=February 28, 2013|first=Jeffrey M.|last=Jones|date=June 22, 2004}}</ref> However, the [[Catholic Church in the United States|Catholic Church]] is the single largest denomination, varying between 18 percent and 34 percent of the state populations.<ref>Philip Barlow and Mark Silk, ''Religion and public life in the midwest: America's common denominator?'' (2004)</ref><ref>{{cite web | title = American Religious Identification Survey 2001 | publisher = The Graduate Center of the City University of New York | url = http://www.gc.cuny.edu/CUNY_GC/media/CUNY-Graduate-Center/PDF/ARIS/ARIS-PDF-version.pdf | access-date = January 4, 2012 | archive-date = May 16, 2012 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120516021356/http://www.gc.cuny.edu/CUNY_GC/media/CUNY-Graduate-Center/PDF/ARIS/ARIS-PDF-version.pdf | url-status = dead }}</ref> [[Lutheranism|Lutherans]] are prevalent in the [[Upper Midwest]], especially in Michigan, Minnesota, [[the Dakotas]], and Wisconsin with their large German and Scandinavian populations.<ref>{{cite web|title=Ancestry in the Midwest|url=https://statisticalatlas.com/region/Midwest/Ancestry|publisher=Statistical Atlas|access-date=March 22, 2018}}</ref> [[Southern Baptist Convention|Southern Baptists]] compose about 15 percent of Missouri's population,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.adherents.com/largecom/com_sbc.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19991012125107/http://adherents.com/largecom/com_sbc.html |url-status=usurped |archive-date=October 12, 1999 |title=Southern Baptist Convention statistics |publisher=Adherents.com |access-date=October 3, 2010}}</ref> but much smaller percentages in other Midwestern states.
[[Judaism]] and [[Islam]] are collectively practiced by 2 percent of the population, with higher concentrations in major urban areas. 35 percent of Midwesterners attend religious services every week, and 69 percent attend at least a few times a year. People with no religious affiliation make up 22 percent of the Midwest's population.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pewforum.org/religious-landscape-study/region/midwest/|title=Religious Landscape Study: Adults in the Midwest|publisher=Pew Research Center|access-date=March 22, 2018}}</ref>
== Economy ==
=== Farming and agriculture ===
{{Further|Corn Belt|Wheat production in the United States|History of agriculture in the United States}}
[[File:Pastoral-barn.jpg|thumb|A pastoral [[farm]] scene near [[Traverse City, Michigan]], with a classic American red [[barn]]]]
[[History of agriculture in the United States|Agriculture]] is one of the biggest drivers of local economies in the Midwest, accounting for billions of dollars worth of exports and thousands of jobs. The area consists of some of the richest farming land in the world.<ref>Greyson S. Colvin, T. Marc Schober: ''Investors' Guide to Farmland'' (2012) {{ISBN|978-1-4752-5845-5}}, p. 25</ref> The region's fertile soil combined with the steel plow has made it possible for farmers to produce abundant harvests of grain and cereal crops, including [[maize|corn]], [[wheat]], [[soybeans]], [[oats]], and [[barley]], to become known today as the nation's "breadbasket".<ref>[http://www.factmonster.com/ipka/A0875014.html The U.S. Department of State] Fact Monster. Retrieved June 2, 2011.</ref> [[Henry A. Wallace]], a pioneer of hybrid seeds, declared in 1956 that the Corn Belt developed the "most productive agricultural civilization the world has ever seen".<ref>Edward L. Schapsmeier and Frederick H. Schapsmeier, ''Prophet in Politics: Henry A. Wallace and the War Years, 1940–1965'' (1970) p, 234</ref> Today, the U.S. produces 40 percent of the world crop.<ref>Smith, C. Wayne., Javier Betrán, and E. C. A. Runge. ''Corn: Origin, History, Technology, and Production''. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley, 2004. page 4. Print</ref>
The very dense soil of the Midwest plagued the first settlers who were using wooden [[Plough|plows]], which were more suitable for loose forest soil. On the prairie, the plows bounced around and the soil stuck to them. This problem was solved in 1837 by an Illinois [[blacksmith]] named [[John Deere (inventor)|John Deere]] who developed a [[steel]] moldboard plow that was stronger and cut the roots, making the fertile soils of the prairie ready for farming.{{citation needed|date=October 2016}} Farms spread from the colonies westward along with the settlers. In cooler regions, wheat was often the crop of choice when lands were newly settled, leading to a "wheat frontier" that moved westward over the course of years. Also very common in the antebellum Midwest was farming corn while raising [[Hog (swine)|hogs]], complementing each other especially since it was difficult to get grain to market before the canals and railroads. After the "wheat frontier" had passed through an area, more diversified farms including [[dairy cattle|dairy]] and [[beef cattle]] generally took its place.{{citation needed|date=October 2016}} The introduction and broad adoption of scientific agriculture since the mid-19th century contributed to economic growth in the United States.
[[File:maytag.jpg|thumb|right|Central [[Iowa]] cornfield, part of the [[Corn Belt]]]]
This development was facilitated by the [[Morrill Act]] and the [[Hatch Act of 1887]] which established in each state a [[land-grant university]] (with a mission to teach and study agriculture) and a federally funded system of [[agricultural experiment station]]s and [[cooperative extension]] networks which place [[extension agent]]s in each state. [[Iowa State University]] became the nation's first designated land-grant institution when the [[Iowa Legislature]] accepted the provisions of the 1862 Morrill Act on September 11, 1862, making Iowa the first state in the nation to do so.<ref name="point">{{cite web|title=Iowa State: 150 Points of Pride |url=http://www.ag.iastate.edu/coa150/pop8_20.php |publisher=Iowa State University |access-date=June 17, 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150621154306/http://www.ag.iastate.edu/coa150/pop8_20.php |archive-date=June 21, 2015 }}</ref> [[Soybean]]s were not widely cultivated in the United States until the early 1930s, and by 1942, the U.S. became the world's largest soybean producer, partially because of World War II and the "need for domestic sources of fats, oils, and meal". Between 1930 and 1942, the United States' share of world soybean production skyrocketed from 3 percent to 46.5 percent, largely as a result of increase in the Midwest, and by 1969, it had risen to 76 percent.<ref>{{Cite book|title = History of World Soybean Production and Trade – Part 1|last1 = Shurtleff|first1 = William|publisher = Unpublished Manuscript, History of Soybeans and Soyfoods, 1100 B.C. to the 1980s|year = 2004|___location = Soyfoods Center, Lafayette, California|last2 = Aoyagi|first2 = Akiko|url = http://www.soyinfocenter.com/HSS/production_and_trade1.php}}</ref>
Iowa and Illinois rank first and second in the nation in soybean production. In 2012, Iowa produced 14.5 percent, and Illinois produced 13.3 percent of the nation's soybeans.<ref name="ers.usda.gov" />
The [[tallgrass prairie]] has been converted into one of the most intensive crop producing areas in North America. Less than one tenth of one percent (<0.09%) of the original landcover of the tallgrass prairie biome remains.<ref>{{cite news|title=Carl Kurtz. ''Iowa's Wild Places: An Exploration With Carl Kurtz'' (Iowa Heritage Collection) Iowa State Press; 1st edition (July 30, 1996)}}</ref> States formerly with landcover in native tallgrass prairie such as Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Nebraska, and Missouri have become valued for their highly productive soils.
The [[Corn Belt]] is a region of the Midwest where corn has, since the 1850s, been the predominant crop, replacing the native tall grasses. The "Corn Belt" region is defined typically to include Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, southern Michigan, western Ohio, eastern Nebraska, eastern Kansas, southern Minnesota, and parts of Missouri.<ref name="Hart 1986">Hart (1986)</ref> {{as of|2008}}, the top four corn-producing states were Iowa, Illinois, Nebraska, and Minnesota, together accounting for more than half of the corn grown in the United States.<ref name="usda">{{cite web|url=http://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/state-fact-sheets|title=USDA ERS – State Fact Sheets|website=Ers.usda.gov|access-date=July 16, 2017}}</ref> The Corn Belt also sometimes is defined to include parts of South Dakota, North Dakota, Wisconsin, and Kentucky.<ref name="agcensus">{{cite web |url=http://www.agcensus.usda.gov/Publications/2007/Online_Highlights/Ag_Atlas_Maps/ |title=USDA – NASS, Census of Agriculture – 2007 Census Ag Atlas Maps |website=Agcensus.usda.gov |date=February 11, 2015 |access-date=July 16, 2017 |archive-date=October 20, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171020110328/https://www.agcensus.usda.gov/Publications/2007/Online_Highlights/Ag_Atlas_Maps/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> The region is characterized by relatively level land and deep, fertile soils, high in organic matter.<ref name="Britannica">[https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/137792/Corn-Belt Corn Belt], Encyclopædia Britannica Online</ref>
Iowa produces the largest corn crop of any state. In 2012, Iowa farmers produced 18.3 percent of the nation's corn, while Illinois produced 15.3 percent.<ref name="ers.usda.gov">{{cite web|url=http://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/state-fact-sheets/state-data.aspx?StateFIPS=19&StateName=Iowa#.U8Q5wbEXtQs|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120708012611/http://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/state-fact-sheets/state-data.aspx?StateFIPS=19&StateName=Iowa#.U8Q5wbEXtQs|url-status=dead|archive-date=July 8, 2012|title= Iowa State Fact Sheets|website=Ers.usda.gov|access-date=June 17, 2015}}</ref> In 2011, there were 13.7 million harvested acres of corn for grain, producing 2.36 billion bushels, which yielded 172.0 bu/acre, with US$14.5 billion of corn value of production.<ref name="iowaagriculture.gov">{{cite web|title=Iowa Agriculture Quick Facts 2011 |url=http://www.iowaagriculture.gov/quickfacts.asp |publisher=Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship |access-date=June 17, 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150618101414/http://www.iowaagriculture.gov/quickfacts.asp |archive-date=June 18, 2015 }}</ref>
[[File:Kansas Summer Wheat and Storm Panorama.jpg|thumb|[[Wheat production in the United States|Wheat production]] in [[Kansas]]]]
[[Wheat]] is produced throughout the Midwest and is the principal [[cereal]] grain in the country. The U.S. is ranked third in production volume of wheat, with almost 58 million tons produced in the 2012–2013 growing season, behind only China and India (the combined production of all European Union nations is larger than China)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://apps.fas.usda.gov/psdonline/circulars/grain.pdf |title=India to Import Wheat as Stocks Remain Tight, While Exporting Ample Rice |website=Apps.fas.usda.gov |access-date=July 16, 2017}}</ref> The U.S. ranks first in crop export volume; almost 50 percent of total wheat produced is exported.{{citation needed|date=October 2016}} The [[United States Department of Agriculture|U.S. Department of Agriculture]] defines eight official classes of wheat: [[durum]] wheat, hard red spring wheat, hard red winter wheat, soft red winter wheat, hard white wheat, soft white wheat, unclassed wheat, and mixed wheat.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.gipsa.usda.gov/fgis/standards/810wheat.pdf |title=Subpart M -- United States Standards for Wheat |website=Gipsa.usda.gov |access-date=July 16, 2017 |archive-date=July 19, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210719163310/https://www.gipsa.usda.gov/fgis/standards/810wheat.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> Winter wheat accounts for 70 to 80 percent of total production in the U.S., with the largest amounts produced in Kansas (10.8 million tons) and North Dakota (9.8 million tons). Of the total wheat produced in the country, 50 percent is exported, valued at US$9 billion.<ref name="voanews.com">{{cite news|title=US Seeks Fast Test to Settle GM Wheat Scare|url=https://www.voanews.com/a/us-seeks-fast-test-to-settle-gm-wheat-sacre/1675319.html|access-date=June 11, 2013|newspaper=Voice of America|date=June 4, 2013}}</ref>
Midwestern states also lead the nation in other agricultural commodities, including [[pork]] (Iowa), [[beef]] and [[veal]] (Nebraska), [[dairy]] (Wisconsin), and [[chicken eggs]] (Iowa).<ref name="ers.usda.gov" />
===Finance===
[[File:Chicago bot.jpg|thumb|The [[Chicago Board of Trade]] floor in 1993. It is one of the world's oldest [[futures exchange|futures and options exchanges]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Siler |first=Julia Flynn |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/02/21/business/at-chicago-boards-styles-differ.html |title=At Chicago Boards, Styles Differ |date=February 21, 1989 |work=The New York Times |access-date=February 24, 2020 |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>]]
[[Chicago]] is the largest economic and financial center of the Midwest, and has the third largest [[List of cities by GDP|gross metropolitan product]] in North America—approximately $689 billion, after the regions of New York City and Los Angeles. Chicago was named the fourth most important business center in the world in the MasterCard Worldwide Centers of Commerce Index.<ref>"[http://edition.cnn.com/2007/BUSINESS/06/13/global.economy/ London named world's top business center by MasterCard]", [[CNN]], June 13, 2007.</ref> The 2021 [[Global Financial Centres Index]] ranked Chicago as the fourth most competitive city in the country and eleventh in the world, directly behind Paris and Tokyo. The [[Chicago Board of Trade]] (established 1848) listed the first ever standardized "exchange traded" forward contracts, which were called [[futures contract]]s.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cmegroup.com/company/history/timeline-of-achievements.html |title=Timeline-of-achievements |publisher=[[CME Group]]|access-date=January 20, 2013}}</ref> As a world financial center, Chicago is home to major financial and [[futures exchange]]s including the [[CME Group]] which owns the [[Chicago Mercantile Exchange]] ("the Merc"), [[Chicago Board of Trade]] (CBOT), the [[New York Mercantile Exchange]] (NYMEX), the [[Dow Jones Indexes]], and the Commodities Exchange Inc. (COMEX).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cmegroup.com |title=Futures & Options Trading for Risk Management |publisher=CME Group |date=April 13, 2010 |access-date=November 6, 2011}}</ref> Other major exchanges include the [[Chicago Board Options Exchange]] (CBOE), the largest options exchange in the [[Western Hemisphere]]; and the [[Chicago Stock Exchange]]. In addition, Chicago is also home to the headquarters of the [[Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago]] (the Seventh District of the Federal Reserve).
Outside of Chicago, many other Midwest cities are host to financial centers as well. Federal Reserve Bank districts are also headquartered in [[Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland|Cleveland]], [[Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City|Kansas City]], [[Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis|Minneapolis]], and [[Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis|St. Louis]]. Major United States bank headquarters are located throughout Ohio including [[Huntington Bancshares]] in Columbus, [[Fifth Third Bank]] in Cincinnati, and [[KeyCorp]] in Cleveland. Insurance Companies such as [[Elevance Health]] in Indianapolis, [[Nationwide Insurance]] in Columbus, [[American Family Insurance]] in Madison, Wisconsin, [[Berkshire Hathaway]] in Omaha, [[State Farm Insurance]] in Bloomington, Illinois, [[Reinsurance Group of America]] in [[Chesterfield, Missouri]], [[Cincinnati Financial Corporation]] and [[American Modern Insurance Group]] of Cincinnati, and [[Progressive Insurance]] and [[Medical Mutual of Ohio]] in Cleveland also spread throughout the Midwest.
===Manufacturing===
[[File:U.S. STEEL PLANT - NARA - 547097 (retouched).jpg|thumb|The [[Gary Works]] of [[Gary, Indiana]] is the largest integrated steel mill in North America.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://ir.nisource.com/releasedetail.cfm?releaseid=58458 |title=U.S. Steel - Primary Energy Cogeneration Plant at Gary Works Wins National Recognition |website=NiSource, Inc. |date=October 14, 1999 |access-date=June 10, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071022151958/http://ir.nisource.com/releasedetail.cfm?releaseid=58458 |archive-date=October 22, 2007 }}</ref>]]
Navigable terrain, waterways, and ports spurred an unprecedented construction of [[transport]]ation [[infrastructure]] throughout the region. The region is a global leader in advanced manufacturing and research and development, with significant innovations in both production processes and business organization. [[John D. Rockefeller]]'s [[Standard Oil]] set precedents for centralized pricing, uniform distribution, and controlled product standards through Standard Oil, which started as a consolidated refinery in Cleveland. [[Cyrus McCormick]]'s Reaper and other manufacturers of agricultural machinery consolidated into [[International Harvester]] in Chicago. [[Andrew Carnegie]]'s steel production integrated large-scale open-hearth and [[Bessemer steel|Bessemer processes]] into the world's most efficient and profitable mills. The largest, most comprehensive monopoly in the world, [[United States Steel]], consolidated steel production throughout the region. Many of the world's largest employers began in the Great Lakes region.
Advantages of accessible waterways, highly developed transportation infrastructure, finance, and a prosperous market base makes the region the global leader in automobile production and a global business ___location. [[Henry Ford]]'s movable assembly line and integrated production set the model and standard for major car manufactures. The Detroit area emerged as the world's automotive center, with facilities throughout the region. [[Akron, Ohio]] became the global leader in rubber production, driven by the demand for tires. Over 200 million tons of [[cargo]] are shipped annually through the Great Lakes.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.glerl.noaa.gov/pr/ourlakes/facts.html|title=About Our Great Lakes -Great Lakes Basin Facts- |website=NOAA Great Lakes Environmental Research Lab |access-date=May 7, 2016|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120308072531/http://www.glerl.noaa.gov/pr/ourlakes/facts.html|archive-date=March 8, 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.great-lakes.net/econ/|title=Economy of the Great Lakes Region|access-date=May 7, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120504230612/http://www.great-lakes.net/econ/|archive-date=May 4, 2012|url-status=dead |website=Great Lakes Information Network }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url-status=dead |website=U.S Army Corps of Engineers |url=http://www.lre.usace.army.mil/ETSPubs/HFS/Great%20Lakes%20Navigation-Economic%20Strength%20to%20the%20Nation.pdf |title=Great Lakes Navigation System: Economic Strength to the Nation |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110718041740/http://www.lre.usace.army.mil/ETSPubs/HFS/Great%20Lakes%20Navigation-Economic%20Strength%20to%20the%20Nation.pdf |archive-date=July 18, 2011 |access-date=July 27, 2010 |date=January 2009}}</ref>
== Culture ==
[[File:Millwaukee Museum from south-west.jpg|thumb|The [[Milwaukee Art Museum]] is located on [[Lake Michigan]].]]
Following the sociological [[Middletown studies]] of 1929, which were based on [[Muncie, Indiana]],<ref>Sisson (2006) pp. 69–73; [[Richard J. Jensen|Richard Jensen]], "The Lynds Revisited", ''Indiana Magazine of History'' (December 1979) 75: 303–319</ref> commentators took Midwestern cities and the Midwest generally to be "typical" of the United States. Earlier, the rhetorical question ''[[Will it play in Peoria?]]'' had become a stock phrase, using [[Peoria, Illinois]] to signal whether something would appeal to mainstream America.<ref name="Scheetz">''Place Names in the Midwestern United States'' edited by Edward Callary published by Edwin Mellen Press 2000 ISBN 0773477233</ref> As of 2010 the Midwest has a higher [[employment-to-population ratio]] than the [[Northeastern United States]], the [[Southern United States]], or the [[Western United States]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://stats.bls.gov/news.release/srgune.t02.htm |title=Bureau of Labor Statistics |publisher=Stats.bls.gov |date=4 March 2010 |access-date=3 October 2010}}</ref>
[[Euchre]], a trick-taking card game, remains popular in the Midwest and parts of the Upper South, particularly in Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, and Pennsylvania.<ref>{{cite web |title=This Old-School Card Game is the Midwest's Best Kept Secret |url=https://www.purewow.com/family/euchre#:~:text=Might%20we%20suggest%3A%20euchre.,%2C%20Michigan%2C%20Ohio%20and%20Pennsylvania. |website=Pure Wow |access-date=September 28, 2022 |date=November 15, 2021}}</ref>
=== Education ===
[[File:Ohio University Cutler Hall.png|thumb|[[Manasseh Cutler Hall]], constructed by 1816, was the first academic building in the former [[Northwest Territory]].]]
[[File:Campus Spring.jpg|thumb|The [[University of Chicago]] is considered among the most prestigious universities in the US.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vmcgIYDVWoIC&pg=PA66|title=The University of Chicago and its Neighbors: A Case Study in Community Delveopment|author=Henry S. Webber|editor1=David C. Perry|editor2= Wim Wiewel|page=66|publisher=[[Lincoln Institute of Land Policy]]/[[M. E. Sharpe]]|series=The University as Urban Developer: Case Studies and Analysis|date=August 16, 2023 |isbn=9780765615411 }}</ref>]]
Many Midwestern universities are members of the [[Association of American Universities]] (AAU), a bi-national organization founded in Chicago of leading [[research universities]]. Of the 69 members from the U.S. and Canada, 17 are located in the Midwest. These include private schools [[Case Western Reserve University]], the [[University of Chicago]], [[Northwestern University]], [[University of Notre Dame]], and [[Washington University in St. Louis]] and public institutions, the [[University of Illinois Urbana–Champaign]], [[Indiana University Bloomington]], the [[University of Iowa]], the [[University of Kansas]], the [[University of Michigan]], [[Michigan State University]], the [[University of Minnesota]], the [[University of Missouri]], the [[Ohio State University]], [[Purdue University]], and the [[University of Wisconsin–Madison]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.aau.edu/about/default.aspx?id=4020 |title=AAU Membership |publisher=Association of American Universities |access-date=June 16, 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150623003501/http://www.aau.edu/about/default.aspx?id=4020 |archive-date=June 23, 2015 }}</ref>
Other notable major [[List of research universities in the United States|research-intensive]] public universities include the [[University of Cincinnati]], the [[University of Illinois at Chicago]], [[Indiana University Indianapolis]], [[Iowa State University]], [[Kansas State University]], the [[University of Nebraska–Lincoln]], [[Ohio University]], [[Southern Illinois University]], and [[Wayne State University]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://carnegieclassifications.iu.edu/lookup/standard.php#standard_basic2005_list|title=Carnegie Classifications – Highest Research Doctoral |date=April 14, 2018 |website=carnegieclassifications.iu.edu |access-date=April 14, 2018}}</ref>
Numerous state university systems have established regional campuses statewide. The numerous state teachers colleges were upgraded into state universities after 1945.<ref>{{cite book|editor-first3=Andrew R. L. |editor-last3=Cayton |editor-first2=Christian |editor-last2=Christian |editor-first1=Richard |editor-last1=Sisson |title=The American Midwest: An Interpretive Encyclopedia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n3Xn7jMx1RYC&pg=PA809|year=2006|publisher=Indiana UP|pages=809–12|isbn=978-0253003492}}</ref>
Other notable private institutions include [[Beloit College]], [[John Carroll University]], [[Saint Louis University]], [[Butler University]], [[Loyola University Chicago]], [[DePaul University]], [[Creighton University]], [[Drake University]], [[Marquette University]], [[University of Dayton]], and [[Xavier University]]. Local boosters, usually with a church affiliation, created numerous colleges in the mid-19th century.<ref>Kenneth H. Wheeler, ''Cultivating Regionalism: Higher Education and the Making of the American Midwest'' (2011)</ref> In terms of national rankings, the most prominent [[liberal arts colleges]] today include [[Augustana College (Illinois)|Augustana College]], [[Carleton College]], [[Denison University]], [[DePauw University]], [[Earlham College]], [[Grinnell College]], [[Hamline University]], [[Kalamazoo College]], [[Kenyon College]], [[Knox College (Illinois)|Knox College]], [[Macalester College]], [[Lawrence University]], [[Oberlin College]], [[St. Olaf College]], [[College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University]], [[Mount Union University]], [[Wabash College]], [[Wheaton College (Illinois)|Wheaton College]], and [[The College of Wooster]].<ref>Edward Fiske, ''Fiske Guide to Colleges 2015'' (2014)</ref>
=== Health ===
The rate of potentially preventable hospitalizations in the Midwestern United States fell from 2005 to 2011 for overall conditions, acute conditions, and chronic conditions.<ref>{{cite journal | author = Torio CM, Andrews RM | title = Geographic Variation in Potentially Preventable Hospitalizations for Acute and Chronic Conditions, 2005–2011 | journal =HCUP Statistical Brief |issue=178 | publisher = Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality | ___location = Rockville, Maryland | date = September 2014 | pmid = 25411684 | url = https://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/reports/statbriefs/sb178-Preventable-Hospitalizations-by-Region.jsp}}</ref>
===
{{Main|Inland Northern American English|North Central American English|Yooper dialect|Midland American English}}
[[File:Over-the-Rhine near Findlay Market.jpg|thumb|[[Over-the-Rhine]] in [[Cincinnati]]]]
The accents of the region are generally distinct from those of the [[American South]] and of the urban areas of the [[Northeastern United States|American Northeast]]. To a lesser degree, they are also distinct from the accent of the [[American West]].<ref>{{Citation |last=Gordon |first=Matthew J. |title=The West and Midwest: phonology |date=2008-03-18 |work=The Americas and the Caribbean |pages=129–143 |url=https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110208405.1.129 |access-date=2025-03-02 |publisher=Mouton de Gruyter |doi=10.1515/9783110208405.1.129 |isbn=978-3-11-019636-8|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
The accent characteristic of most of the Midwest is popularly considered to be that of "standard" American English or [[General American]]. This accent is typically preferred by many national radio and television producers. Linguist Thomas Bonfiglio argues that, "American English pronunciation standardized as 'network standard' or, informally, 'Midwestern' in the 20th century." He identifies radio as the chief factor.<ref>{{cite book|author=Thomas Paul Bonfiglio|title=Race and the Rise of Standard American|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yOdPLOOjplcC&pg=PA6|year=2010|publisher=Walter de Gruyter|page=6|isbn=9783110851991}}</ref><ref name="Media preference">{{cite web |url=http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/2002/12.12/08-vaux.html |title=Standing on line at the bubbler with a hoagie in my hand |first=Ken |last=Gewertz |publisher=Harvard Gazette |date=December 12, 2002 |access-date= August 11, 2010}}</ref>
Currently, many cities in the Great Lakes region are undergoing the [[Northern Cities Vowel Shift]] away from the standard pronunciation of vowels.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ic.arizona.edu/~lsp/Northeast/ncshift/ncshift.html |title=Northern Cities Shift |publisher=Ic.arizona.edu |access-date=October 3, 2010 |archive-date=November 20, 2005 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051120232510/http://www.ic.arizona.edu/~lsp/Northeast/ncshift/ncshift.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>
The dialect of Minnesota, western Wisconsin, much of North Dakota and Michigan's Upper Peninsula is referred to as the [[North Central American English|Upper Midwestern Dialect]] (or "Minnesotan"), and has [[Scandinavia]]n and [[Canadians|Canadian]] influences.{{Citation needed|date=January 2010}}
Missouri has elements of three dialects, specifically: [[Midland American English|Northern Midland]], in the extreme northern part of the state, with a distinctive variation in St. Louis and the surrounding area; Southern Midland, in the majority of the state; and [[Southern American English|Southern]], in the southwestern and southeastern parts of the state, with a bulge extending north in the central part, to include approximately the southern one-third.<ref>{{cite web|last=Lavov|first=William |display-authors=et al |title=A National Map of the Regional Dialects of American English|url=http://www.ling.upenn.edu/phono_atlas/NationalMap/NationalMap.html|publisher=Linguistics Laboratory, Department of Linguistics, University of Pennsylvania|access-date=September 18, 2013}}</ref>
=== Music ===
[[File:Hitsville USA.jpg|thumb|The [[Hitsville U.S.A.]] building in [[Detroit]] was the first headquarters and studio of [[Motown]], which played an important role in the [[racial integration]] of [[popular music]].]]
The heavy German immigration played a major role in establishing musical traditions, especially choral and orchestral music.<ref>Philip Vilas Bohlman ([[Philip Bohlman]]) and [[Otto Holzapfel]], ''Land without nightingales: music in the making of German-America'' (German-American Cultural Society, 2002)</ref> Czech and German traditions combined to sponsor the polka.<ref>{{Cite journal |jstor = 540477|title = Czech- and German-American "Polka" Music|journal = The Journal of American Folklore|volume = 101|issue = 401|pages = 339–345|last1 = Leary|first1 = James P.|year = 1988|doi = 10.2307/540477}}</ref>
The Southern Diaspora of the 20th century saw more than twenty million Southerners [[Great Migration (African American)|move throughout the country]], many of whom moved into major Midwestern industrial cities such as Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, and St. Louis.<ref>James N. Gregory, ''The Southern Diaspora: How the Great Migration of Black and White Southerners Transformed America''</ref> Along with them, they brought jazz to the Midwest, as well as [[blues]], [[bluegrass music|bluegrass]], and [[rock and roll]], with major contributions to [[jazz]], [[funk]], and [[Rhythm and blues|R&B]], and even new subgenres such as the [[Motown]] Sound and [[techno]] from Detroit<ref>Lars Björn, ''Before Motown: a history of jazz in Detroit, 1920–60'' (2001).</ref> or [[house music]] from Chicago. In the 1920s, South Side Chicago was the base for [[Jelly Roll Morton]] (1890–1941). Kansas City developed [[Kansas City jazz|its own jazz style]].<ref>Ross Russell, ''Jazz style in Kansas City and the Southwest'' (1983)</ref>
The electrified [[Chicago blues]] sound exemplifies the genre, as popularized by record labels [[Chess Records|Chess]] and [[Alligator Records|Alligator]] and portrayed in film ''[[The Blues Brothers (film)|The Blues Brothers]]''.<ref>[https://www.bfi.org.uk/film/3f602ee7-57a8-5b44-a14a-4a743d739127/the-blues-brothers The Blues Brothers] BFI Retrieved 18 January 2024</ref>
[[Rock and roll]] music was first identified as a new genre in 1951 by [[Cleveland]] [[disc jockey]] [[Alan Freed]] who began playing this music style while popularizing the term "rock and roll" to describe it.<ref name="Turning Points">{{cite book|last=Bordowitz|first=Hank|title=Turning Points in Rock and Roll|year=2004|publisher=Citadel Press|___location=New York|isbn=978-0-8065-2631-7|page=[https://archive.org/details/turningpointsinr0000bord/page/63 63]|url=https://archive.org/details/turningpointsinr0000bord/page/63}}</ref> By the mid-1950s, rock and roll emerged as a defined musical style in the United States, deriving most directly from the [[rhythm and blues]] music of the 1940s, which itself developed from earlier [[blues]], [[boogie woogie]], [[jazz]], and [[swing music]], and was also influenced by [[gospel music|gospel]], [[country music|country and western]], and traditional [[folk music]]. Freed's contribution in identifying rock as a new genre helped establish the [[Rock and Roll Hall of Fame]], located in Cleveland. [[Chuck Berry]], a Midwesterner from St. Louis, influenced many other rock musicians.<ref>[https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-39319988 Chuck Berry] BBC Retrieved 18 January 2024</ref>
[[File:Kansas_city_(16778782291).jpg|thumb|[[Downtown Kansas City]] looking over [[Union Station (Kansas City)|Union Station]] ]]
Since the founding of rock 'n' roll music, an uncountable number of rock, soul, R&B, hip-hop, dance, blues, and jazz acts have emerged from Chicago onto the global and national music scene. Detroit has greatly contributed to the international music scene as a result of being the original home of the legendary [[Motown Records]]. Notable soul and R&B musicians associated with Motown that had their origins in the area include [[Aretha Franklin]], [[the Supremes]], [[Mary Wells]], [[Four Tops]], [[the Jackson 5]], [[The Miracles|Smokey Robinson & the Miracles]], [[Stevie Wonder]], [[the Marvelettes]], [[the Temptations]], and [[Martha and the Vandellas]]. These artists achieved their greatest success in the 1960s and 1970s.
Midwest music fans loved country music, [[Heavy metal music|heavy metal]], [[arena rock]], [[heartland rock]], and TOP 40. In the 1970s and 1980s, native Midwestern musicians such as [[Bob Seger]], [[John Mellencamp]] and [[Warren Zevon]] found great success with a style of rock music that came to be known as [[heartland rock]], characterized by lyrical themes that focused on and appealed to the Midwestern working class. Other successful Midwestern rock artists emerged during this time, including [[REO Speedwagon]] (Illinois), [[Styx (band)|Styx]] (Illinois), and [[Kansas (band)|Kansas]].
[[Prince (musician)|Prince]], [[The Time (band)|The Time]], [[Morris Day]], [[Jesse Johnson (musician)|Jesse Johnson]], [[Alexander O'Neal]], [[The Family (band)|The Family]] (USA), St. Paul ([[Paul Peterson]]), [[Apollonia 6]], [[Vanity 6]], Sheila E., and [[Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis]] recorded [[Minneapolis sound]].<ref>[https://www.popmatters.com/94060-the-minneapolis-sound-2496026723.html Prince and Minneapolis sound] Popmatters.com Retrieved 18 January 2024</ref>
[[House Music]], the first form of [[Electronic Dance Music]], had its beginning in Chicago in the early 1980s, and by the late 1980s and the early 1990s house music had become popular on an international scale. House artists such as [[Frankie Knuckles]], [[Marshall Jefferson]] released many house music records. With the creation of house music in the city of Chicago, the first form of the globally popular electronic dance music genre was created. [[Techno]] had its start in Detroit in the late 1980s and early 1990s with techno pioneers such as [[Juan Atkins]], [[Derrick May (musician)|Derrick May]], and [[Kevin Saunderson]]. The genre, while popular in America, became much more popular overseas such as in Europe.<ref>{{Cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/13/magazine/letter-of-recommendation-detroit-techno.html |title = Letter of Recommendation: Detroit Techno|newspaper = The New York Times|date = July 13, 2017|last1 = Haider|first1 = Shuja}}</ref>
Numerous [[classical music|classical]] [[composer]]s live and have lived in midwestern states, including [[Easley Blackwood, Jr.|Easley Blackwood]], [[Kenneth Gaburo]], [[Salvatore Martirano]], and [[Ralph Shapey]] (Illinois); [[Glenn Miller]] and [[Meredith Willson]] (Iowa); [[Leslie Bassett]], [[William Bolcom]], [[Michael Daugherty]], and [[David Gillingham]] (Michigan); [[Donald Erb]] (Ohio); [[Dominick Argento]] and [[Stephen Paulus]] (Minnesota).
=== Sports ===
[[File:2007 Indianapolis 500 - Starting field formation before start.jpg|thumb|The 2007 [[Indianapolis 500]] at [[Indianapolis Motor Speedway]]]]
Professional sports leagues such as the [[National Football League]] (NFL), [[Major League Baseball]] (MLB), [[National Basketball Association]] (NBA), [[Women's National Basketball Association]] (WNBA), [[National Hockey League]] (NHL), [[Major League Soccer]] (MLS), and [[National Women's Soccer League]] (NWSL), have team franchises in following Midwestern cities:
* [[Chicago]]: [[Chicago Bears|Bears]] (NFL), [[Chicago Cubs|Cubs]], [[Chicago White Sox|White Sox]] (MLB), [[Chicago Bulls|Bulls]] (NBA), [[Chicago Sky|Sky]] (WNBA), [[Chicago Blackhawks|Blackhawks]] (NHL), [[Chicago Fire FC|Fire]] (MLS), [[Chicago Stars Football Club|Stars]] (NWSL)
* [[Cincinnati]]: [[Cincinnati Bengals|Bengals]] (NFL), [[Cincinnati Reds|Reds]] (MLB), [[FC Cincinnati]] or the Garys (MLS)
* [[Cleveland]]: [[Cleveland Browns|Browns]] (NFL), [[Cleveland Guardians|Guardians]] (MLB), [[Cleveland Cavaliers|Cavaliers]] (NBA)
* [[Columbus, Ohio|Columbus]]: [[Columbus Blue Jackets|Blue Jackets]] (NHL), [[Columbus Crew SC|Crew]] (MLS)
* [[Detroit]]: [[Detroit Lions|Lions]] (NFL), [[Detroit Tigers|Tigers]] (MLB), [[Detroit Pistons|Pistons]] (NBA), [[Detroit Red Wings|Red Wings]] (NHL)
* [[Green Bay, Wisconsin|Green Bay]]: [[Green Bay Packers|Packers]] (NFL)
* [[Indianapolis]]: [[Indianapolis Colts|Colts]] (NFL), [[Indiana Pacers|Pacers]] (NBA), [[Indiana Fever|Fever]] (WNBA)
* [[Kansas City]]: [[Kansas City Chiefs|Chiefs]] (NFL), [[Kansas City Royals|Royals]] (MLB), [[Sporting Kansas City|Sporting]] or the Wizards (MLS), [[Kansas City Current|Current]] (NWSL)
* [[Milwaukee]]: [[Milwaukee Brewers|Brewers]] (MLB), [[Milwaukee Bucks|Bucks]] (NBA)
* [[Minneapolis–Saint Paul]]: [[Minnesota Vikings|Vikings]] (NFL), [[Minnesota Twins|Twins]] (MLB), [[Minnesota Timberwolves|Timberwolves]] (NBA), [[Minnesota Lynx|Lynx]] (WNBA), [[Minnesota Wild|Wild]] (NHL), [[Minnesota United FC|United]] or the Loons (MLS)
* [[St. Louis]]: [[St. Louis Cardinals|Cardinals]] (MLB), [[St. Louis Blues|Blues]] (NHL), [[St. Louis MLS team|City SC]] (MLS)
Popular teams include the [[St. Louis Cardinals]] (11 [[List of World Series champions|World Series titles]]), [[Cincinnati Reds]] (5 [[List of World Series champions|World Series titles]]), [[Chicago Bulls]] (6 [[List of NBA champions|NBA titles]]), the [[Detroit Pistons]] (3 [[List of NBA champions|NBA titles]]), [[Milwaukee Bucks]] (2 [[List of NBA champions|NBA titles]]), the [[Minnesota Lynx]] (4 [[List of WNBA champions|WNBA titles]]), the [[Green Bay Packers]] (4 [[List of Super Bowl champions|Super Bowl titles]], 13 total NFL championships), the [[Chicago Bears]] (1 [[List of Super Bowl champions|Super Bowl title]], 9 total NFL championships), the [[Cleveland Browns]] (4 AAFC championships, 4 NFL championships), the [[Kansas City Chiefs]] (3 [[List of Super Bowl champions|Super Bowl titles]], 4 total NFL championships), [[Kansas City Royals]] (2 [[List of World Series champions|World Series titles]]), the [[Detroit Red Wings]] (11 [[List of Stanley Cup champions|Stanley Cup titles]]), the [[Detroit Tigers]] (4 World Series titles), the [[Chicago Blackhawks]] (6 Stanley Cup titles), and the [[Columbus Crew]] (3 MLS Cups).{{citation needed|date=October 2016}}
In [[National Collegiate Athletic Association|NCAA]] college sports, the [[Big Ten Conference]] and the [[Big 12 Conference]] feature the largest concentration of top Midwestern Division I football and men's and women's basketball teams in the region, including the [[Cincinnati Bearcats]], [[Illinois Fighting Illini]], [[Indiana Hoosiers]], [[Iowa Hawkeyes]], [[Iowa State Cyclones]], [[Kansas Jayhawks]], [[Kansas State Wildcats]], [[Michigan Wolverines]], [[Michigan State Spartans]], [[Minnesota Golden Gophers]], [[Nebraska Cornhuskers]], [[Northwestern Wildcats]], [[Ohio State Buckeyes]], [[Purdue Boilermakers]], and the [[Wisconsin Badgers]].{{citation needed|date=October 2016}} Other notable Midwestern college sports teams include the [[Akron Zips]], [[Ball State Cardinals]], [[Butler Bulldogs]], [[Creighton Bluejays]], Central Michigan Chippewas [[Dayton Flyers]], [[Grand Valley State Lakers]], [[Indiana State Sycamores]], [[Kent State Golden Flashes]], [[Marquette Golden Eagles]], [[Miami RedHawks]], [[Milwaukee Panthers]], [[Missouri Tigers]], [[Missouri State Bears]], [[Northern Illinois Huskies]], [[North Dakota State Bison]], [[Notre Dame Fighting Irish]], [[Ohio Bobcats]], [[South Dakota State Jackrabbits]], [[Toledo Rockets]], [[Western Michigan Broncos]], [[Wichita State Shockers]], and [[Xavier Musketeers]]. Of this second group of schools, Butler, Dayton, Indiana State, Missouri State, North Dakota State, and South Dakota State do not play top-level college football (all playing in the second-tier [[Football Championship Subdivision|Division I FCS]]), and Creighton, Marquette, Milwaukee, Wichita State and Xavier do not sponsor football at all.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://web1.ncaa.org/onlineDir/exec2/sponsorship?division=d1 |title=NCAA Sports Sponsorship: NCAA Sports Listing |publisher=NCAA |access-date=June 29, 2017}} To determine whether a Division I school sponsors football, and at what level, select "Football" from the "Sport" menu. In the "Division" menu, select "FBS" (for [[NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision|Football Bowl Subdivision]]) or "FCS" (for Football Championship Subdivision) as applicable. Finally, click on "Run Report".</ref>
The [[Milwaukee Mile]] hosted its first automobile race in 1903, and is one of the oldest tracks in the world, though as of 2019 is presently inactive. The [[Indianapolis Motor Speedway]], opened in 1909, is a prestigious auto racing track which annually hosts the internationally famous [[Indianapolis 500|Indianapolis 500-Mile Race]] (part of the [[IndyCar series]]), the [[Brickyard 400]] ([[NASCAR]]), and the [[IndyCar Grand Prix]] (IndyCar series). The [[Road America]] and [[Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course|Mid-Ohio]] road courses opened in the 1950s and 1960s respectively. Other motorsport venues in the Midwest are [[Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis|Indianapolis Raceway Park]] (home of the [[NHRA U.S. Nationals]]), [[Michigan International Speedway]], [[Chicagoland Speedway]], [[Kansas Speedway]], [[Gateway International Raceway]], and the [[Iowa Speedway]]. The [[Kentucky Speedway]] is just outside the officially defined Midwest, but is linked with the region because the track is located in the [[Cincinnati metropolitan area]].{{citation needed|date=October 2016}}
Notable professional golf tournaments in the Midwest include the [[Memorial Tournament]], [[BMW Championship (PGA Tour)|BMW Championship]] and [[John Deere Classic]].{{citation needed|date=October 2016}}
=== Cultural overlap ===
{{more citations needed section|date=September 2011}}
[[File:Mount Rushmore Closeup 2017.jpg|thumb|[[Mount Rushmore]] is located in the [[Black Hills, South Dakota|Black Hills]] of [[South Dakota]].]]
Differences in the definition of the Midwest mainly split between the Great Plains region on one side, and the Great Lakes region on the other. Although some point to the small towns and agricultural communities in Kansas, Iowa, the Dakotas, and Nebraska of the Great Plains as representative of traditional Midwestern lifestyles and values, others assert that the industrial cities of the Great Lakes—with their histories of 19th century and early 20th century immigration, manufacturing base, and strong Catholic influence—are more representative of the Midwestern experience. In South Dakota, for instance, [[West River (South Dakota)|West River]] (the region west of the Missouri River) shares cultural elements with the western United States, while [[East River (South Dakota)|East River]] has more in common with the rest of the Midwest.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Karolevitz|first1=Robert F.|last2=Hunhoff|first2=Bernie|title=Uniquely South Dakota|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=J1blPQAACAAJ|year=1988|publisher=Donning Company|isbn=978-0-89865-730-2}}</ref>
Two other regions, [[Appalachia]] and the Ozark Mountains, overlap geographically with the Midwest—Appalachia in Southern Ohio and the Ozarks in Southern Missouri. The Ohio River has long been a boundary between North and [[Southern United States|South]] and between the Midwest and the [[Upper South]]. All of the lower Midwestern states, especially Missouri, have major Southern components and influences, as they neighbor the Southern region. Historically, Missouri was a [[Slavery in the United States|slave]] state before the American Civil War (1861–1865) due to the [[Missouri Compromise]].
[[Western Pennsylvania]], which contains the cities of [[Erie, Pennsylvania|Erie]] and [[Pittsburgh]], shares history with the Midwest, and overlaps with Appalachia and the [[Northeastern United States|Northeast]] as well.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.america2050.org/2005/12/defining-the-midwest-megaregio.html |title=Defining the Midwest Megaregion |publisher=America 2050 |date=December 8, 2005 |access-date=July 16, 2017 |archive-date=October 4, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111004215153/http://www.america2050.org/2005/12/defining-the-midwest-megaregio.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>
[[Kentucky]] is not considered part of the Midwest; it is a northern region of [[Southern United States|the South]], although certain northern parts of the state could have possibly been grouped with the Midwest in a geographical context, even though it is geographically in the Southeast overall.<ref name="autogenerated1">{{cite book |title=''The North American Midwest: A Regional Geography''|url=https://archive.org/details/northamericanmid0000garl|url-access=registration|publisher=Wiley Publishers |___location=New York City |year=1955}}</ref> Kentucky is categorized as Southern by the U.S. Census Bureau due to its industries and especially from a historical and cultural standpoint with the majority of the state having a thoroughly majority Southern accent, demographic, history, and culture in line with her sister states of Virginia and Tennessee and even the areas that have certain Midwestern influences tend to be mixed with the native Southern culture of the area.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.travelsouthusa.org/states.html |title=Welcome to Travel South USA |publisher=Travelsouthusa.org |access-date=October 3, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100720024504/http://www.travelsouthusa.org/states.html |archive-date=July 20, 2010 }}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia|url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic-art/315026/3822/The-Upper-South |title=Encyclopedia – Britannica Online Encyclopedia |encyclopedia=Britannica.com |access-date=October 3, 2010}}</ref>
In addition to intra-American regional overlaps, the [[Upper Peninsula of Michigan]] has historically had strong cultural ties to Canada, partly as a result of early settlement by [[French Canadians]]. Moreover, the [[Yooper accent]] shares some traits with [[Canadian English]], further demonstrating transnational cultural connections. Similar but less pronounced mutual Canadian-American cultural influence occurs throughout the Great Lakes region.{{citation needed|date=October 2016}}
== Politics ==
{{more citations needed section|date=December 2014}}
[[File:Political party affiliation of United States Governors in the Midwest.svg|thumb|200px|Midwestern Governors by party as of 2024]]
[[File:Political party affiliation of members of the United States Senate in the Midwest, 117th Congress.svg|thumb|200px|Midwestern [[List of current United States senators|U.S. Senators]] by party for the [[118th United States Congress|118th Congress]]]]
[[File:Political party affiliation of members of the United States House of Representatives in the Midwest, 118th Congress.svg|thumb|200px|Midwestern [[List of current members of the United States House of Representatives|U.S. Representatives]] by party for the [[118th Congress]]]]
The Midwestern United States is a politically divided region, with the Democratic Party being stronger in the [[Great Lakes Region]] and the Republican Party being stronger in the [[Great Plains]] regions. The Upper Midwestern states of Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin reliably voted Democratic in every presidential election from 1992 to 2012. Meanwhile, Minnesota has the longest Democratic voting streak in the nation, having last voted for a Republican presidential candidate in 1972. Recently, Republicans have made serious inroads in Iowa and Ohio, two states that were previously considered swing states.
Missouri has been won by Republicans in every presidential election since 2000, despite its [[Missouri Bellwether|former bellwether status]]. Indiana has been won by Republicans in every presidential election since 1940, except for Lyndon Johnson in [[1964 United States presidential election|1964]] and Barack Obama in [[2008 United States presidential election|2008]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Election Statistics, 1920 to Present |url=http://history.house.gov/Institution/Election-Statistics/Election-Statistics/ |website=History, Art & Archives: US House of Representatives |access-date=July 30, 2018}}</ref> The Great Plains states of North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, and Kansas have voted for the Republican candidate in every presidential election since 1940, except for Democrat [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] in [[1964 United States presidential election|1964]]. The unicameral [[Nebraska Legislature]] is officially nonpartisan.<ref>{{cite web |title=Unicam Focus |url=https://nebraskalegislature.gov/education/lesson3.php |website=Nebraska Legislature |access-date=July 30, 2018}}</ref>
All Midwestern states use primary elections to select delegates for both the Democratic and Republican national conventions, except for Iowa. The [[Iowa caucuses]] in early January of leap years are the first votes in the [[United States presidential election|presidential nominating process]] for both major parties, and attract enormous media attention.<ref>David P. Redlawsk, [[Caroline J. Tolbert]], and Todd Donovan, ''Why Iowa?: how caucuses and sequential elections improve the presidential nominating process'' (2011)</ref>
=== East North Central ===
As of 2025, the state government of [[Illinois]] currently has a Democratic Governor [[J. B. Pritzker|J.B. Pritzker]] and [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] supermajorities in both houses of the [[Illinois General Assembly]]. Illinois also has 2 Democratic U.S. senators and a 14–3 Democratic majority [[United States congressional delegations from Illinois|U.S. House delegation]].
As of 2025, Wisconsin has a Democratic Governor [[Tony Evers]] and a Republican-controlled [[Wisconsin Legislature]]. Wisconsin also has 1 Democratic and 1 Republican Senator and a 6-2 Republican majority [[United States congressional delegations from Wisconsin|U.S. House delegation]]. Wisconsin is considered a [[purple state]], as the state was decided by less than 1 percentage point in [[2016 United States presidential election in Wisconsin|2016]], [[2020 United States presidential election in Wisconsin|2020]], and [[2024 United States presidential election in Wisconsin|2024]], with the nationwide winner also taking Wisconsin each time.
From [[1992 United States presidential election in Michigan|1992]] to [[2012 United States presidential election in Michigan|2012]], [[Michigan]] consistently voted for the Democratic presidential candidate, though in four of those six elections, the margin of victory was in the single digits. Beginning in [[2016 United States presidential election in Michigan|2016]], it has evolved into a true swing state, with [[Donald Trump]] winning Michigan in his two successful presidential bids in 2016 and [[2024 United States presidential election in Michigan|2024]]. The [[Michigan Legislature]] is also closely divided; the Democrats currently hold the minimum 20-18 majority in the [[Michigan Senate|Senate]] and the Republicans hold a narrow 58-52 majority in the [[Michigan House of Representatives|House]]. As of 2025, Michigan has 2 Democratic U.S. Senators and a 7-6 bare Republican majority in their [[United States congressional delegations from Michigan|U.S. House of Representatives delegation]].
Indiana is considered a Republican stronghold, having voting for that party's presidential candidate in every election since 1940, except for [[Lyndon B. Johnson|Johnson]] in 1964 and [[Barack Obama]] in 2008. As of 2025, the Republican party controls both U.S. Senate seats, has a 7–2 majority [[United States congressional delegations from Indiana|U.S. House congressional delegation]], and has a state-level trifecta (the governorship and both houses of the [[Indiana General Assembly]]).
As of 2025, Ohio currently has a Republican Governor [[Mike DeWine]] and Republican majorities in the [[Ohio General Assembly]]. Ohio also has 2 Republican U.S. Senators and a 10-5 Republican majority U.S. House delegation. Ohio has been a battleground state in presidential elections, and no Republican has won the office without winning Ohio. [[Donald Trump]] won Ohio by about 8 percentage points in both the [[2016 United States presidential election in Ohio|2016]] and [[2020 United States presidential election in Ohio|2020]] presidential elections, signaling a shift towards the right for the state's federal electorate. The [[2022 United States elections|2022 midterms]] resulted in strong Republican support at the state level, and moderate Republican support at the federal level, with Republican governor Mike DeWine winning reelection in a [[2022 Ohio gubernatorial election|landslide]] and Republican author [[JD Vance]] winning election [[2022 United States Senate election in Ohio|to the U.S. Senate]] by about 6 percentage points. Ohio's rightward shift continued in [[2024 United States presidential election in Ohio|2024]], with Trump (and Vance as his running mate) once again winning the Buckeye State, this time increasing his margin of victory to more than 11 percentage points, becoming the first presidential candidate to win the state by double digits since [[George H. W. Bush]] in [[1988 United States presidential election in Ohio|1988]] and having the largest margin of victory for any candidate since the [[1984 United States presidential election in Ohio|1984]] landslide reelection of [[Ronald Reagan]]. Additionally, Republican challenger [[Bernie Moreno]] defeated three-term incumbent Democrat [[Sherrod Brown]] in the state's [[2024 United States Senate election in Ohio|Senate election]]. With Moreno's election, this meant that with the exception of [[Jennifer Brunner]] on the state [[Supreme Court of Ohio|Supreme Court]], all statewide elected officials in Ohio are now Republicans.
=== West North Central ===
The Great Plains states of North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, and Kansas have been strongholds for the Republicans for many decades. These four states have gone for the Republican candidate in every presidential election since 1940, except for [[Lyndon B. Johnson]]'s landslide over [[Barry Goldwater]] in [[1964 United States presidential election|1964]]. Although North Dakota and South Dakota have often elected Democrats to Congress, after the 2012 election both states' congressional delegations are majority Republican. Nebraska has elected Democrats to the Senate and as governor in recent years, but both of its senators have been Republican since the retirement of [[Ben Nelson]] in 2012. Kansas has elected a majority of Democrats as governor since 1956, but has not elected a Democratic senator since 1932. From 1997 to 2010 and again since 2019, Kansas has had at least one Democratic House member (two in 2007 and '08).
Iowa had a Democratic governor from 1999 until [[Terry Branstad]] was re-elected in the mid-term elections in 2010, and has had both one Democratic and one Republican senator since the early 1980s until the 2014 election when Republican [[Joni Ernst]] defeated Democrat [[Bruce Braley]] in a tightly contested race.<ref>{{cite web|title = Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections|url = http://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/|website = uselectionatlas.org|access-date = February 15, 2016|first = David|last = Leip}}</ref> Between 1988 and 2012, Iowa also voted for the Democratic presidential candidate in all elections except 2004 (backing [[George W. Bush]] by less than 1%), but in 2016 and 2020 [[Donald Trump]] won the state by about 9 and 8 percentage points, respectively. Since the 2016 elections, Republicans have held a majority in both houses of the [[Iowa General Assembly]]. Following the [[2022 Iowa elections|2022 elections]], Iowa is considered a [[Red states and blue states|red state]] as Republicans hold all but one statewide office, both U.S. Senate seats, all four U.S. House seats, and Republican governor [[Kim Reynolds]] was [[2022 Iowa gubernatorial election|reelected]] by a margin of nearly 20 points. Trump won Iowa for a third time in 2024, this time by more than 13 percentage points, the largest margin of victory for a Republican in the state since [[Richard Nixon]] in 1972.
Minnesota voters have not voted for a Republican candidate for president since 1972, longer than any other state. Minnesota was the only state (along with [[Washington, D.C.]]) to vote for its native son [[Walter Mondale]] over [[Ronald Reagan]] in 1984. However, recent Democratic victories have often been fairly narrow, such as the [[2016 United States presidential election in Minnesota|2016 presidential election]]. The Democratic Party controls all statewide offices as of 2025 and hold the minimum 34-33 majority in the [[Minnesota Senate|State Senate]], but they do not have a governing trifecta since the [[Minnesota House of Representatives|State House]] is evenly split 67-67. The Minnesota congressional delegation has 2 Democratic Senators but [[United States congressional delegations from Minnesota|a 4-4 evenly split U.S. House delegation]].
Missouri was historically considered a bellwether state, having voted for the winner in every presidential election from 1904 to 2004 except for [[1956 United States presidential election in Missouri|1956]], when it backed losing Democrat [[Adlai Stevenson II|Adlai Stevenson]] by 0.22% and less than 4,000 votes. Democrats generally only hold sway in the large cities at the opposite ends of the state, Kansas City and St. Louis, with the Republicans winning the rest of the state. Since the 2012 elections, Republicans have had a 6–2 majority in the state's [[United States congressional delegations from Missouri|U.S. House delegation]], with African-American Democrats representing the two major cities. Missouri has had a Republican governor since the 2016 elections, as well as both U.S. Senators being Republican since the [[2018 United States Senate elections]]. As of 2025, Republicans have supermajorities in both houses of the [[Missouri General Assembly]].
== See also ==
* [[List of online encyclopedias of U.S. states]], free encyclopedias typically maintained by state historical societies, universities, or humanities councils
* [[Cuisine of the Midwestern United States]]
* [[Territories of the United States on stamps]]
== References ==
{{Reflist}}
== Further reading ==
{{Main list|Bibliography of Midwestern history}}
{{Refbegin|30em}}
** Sisson, Richard, Christian Zacher, and Andrew Cayton, eds. ''The American Midwest: An Interpretive Encyclopedia'' (Indiana University Press, 2006), 1916 pp of articles by scholars on all topics covering the 12 states. [https://archive.org/details/americanmidwesti0000unse online]
* Aley, Ginette et al. eds. ''Union Heartland: The Midwestern Home Front during the Civil War'' (2013)
* Anderson, Rodney, ed. ''The Rural Midwest Since World War II'' (Northern Illinois UP, 2014). [https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7591/j.ctvw1d4sf online]
* Baldwin, Bird T. et al. ''Farm Children: An Investigation of Rural Child Life in selected areas of Iowa'' (1930), in-depth look at children and their schools. [https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/630936 online review of this book]; [https://reader.library.cornell.edu/docviewer/digital?id=chla2830025#page/3/mode/1up online complete text of this book]
* Barlow, Philip, and Mark Silk. ''Religion and Public Life in the Midwest: America's Common Denominator?'' (2004)
* Bidwell, Percy and Falconer, John I. ''History of Agriculture in the Northern United States 1620–1860'' (1941) [https://archive.org/details/historyofagricul0000bidw online]
* Billington, Ray Allen. "The Origins of Middle Western Isolationism". ''Political Science Quarterly'' (1945): 44–64. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/2144457 in JSTOR]
* Bogue, Allan G. ''From Prairie to Cornbelt: Farming on the Illinois and Iowa Prairies in the Nineteenth Century'' (U of Chicago Press, 1963).
* Buley, R. Carlyle. ''The Old Northwest: Pioneer Period 1815–1840'' 2 vol (1951), Pulitzer Prize; [https://archive.org/search.php?query=%27%27The%20Old%20Northwest%3A%20Pioneer%20Period%201815%E2%80%931840%27%27 online]
* Buss, James Joseph. ''Winning the West with Words, Language and Conquest in the Lower Great Lakes'' (U of Oklahoma Press, 2011) [https://archive.org/details/religionpublicli00phil online]
* Campbell, Rex R. et al. ''A Revolution in the Heartland: Changes in Rural Culture, Family and Communities, 1900–2000'' (University of Missouri: Department of Rural Sociology, 2004) [https://mospace.umsystem.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/10355/52776/mx0929-2004.pdf online]
* Cayton, Andrew R. L. ''Midwest and the Nation'' (1990) [https://archive.org/details/midwestnationret0000cayt online]
* Cayton, Andrew R. L. and Susan E. Gray, Eds. ''The Identity of the American Midwest: Essays on Regional History'' (2001)
* Cordier, Mary Hurlbut. ''Schoolwomen of the Prairies and Plains: Personal Narratives from Iowa, Kansas, and Nebraska, 1860s-1920s'' (1997) [https://archive.org/details/schoolwomenofpra00cord online]
* Cronon, William. ''Nature's Metropolis: Chicago and the Great West'' (1992), influential study 1850–1900 [https://books.google.com/books?id=7OCQAwAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=%27%27Nature%27s+Metropolis:+Chicago+and+the+Great+West%27%27&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjvmY696eyJAxWDkYkEHTLeG8wQ6AF6BAgFEAI online]
* Friedberger, Mark. "The Transformation of the Rural Midwest, 1945–1985," ''Old Northwest,'' 1992, Vol. 16 Issue 1, pp. 13–36
* Friedberger, Mark. "The Farm Family and the Inheritance Process: Evidence from the Corn Belt, 1870–1950." ''Agricultural History'' 57.1 (1983): 1–13. uses Iowa census and sales data
* Friedberger, Mark. ''Shake-Out: Iowa Farm Families in the 1980s'' (1989)
* Fry, John. " 'Good Farming – Clear Thinking – Right Living': Midwestern Farm Newspapers, Social Reform, and Rural Readers in the Early Twentieth Century". ''Agricultural History'' 78#1 ( 2004): 34–49. [http://www.jstor.org/stable/3745089 online]
* Garland, John H. ''The North American Midwest: A Regional Geography'' (1955)
* [[Paul Wallace Gates|Gates, Paul W.]] ''The Farmers' Age: Agriculture, 1815–1860'' (1960) [https://archive.org/details/farmersageagricu0003gate online]
* Gjerde, John. ''Minds of the West: Ethnocultural Evolution in the Rural Middle West, 1830–1917'' (1999) [https://books.google.com/books?id=Fz3qCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA4&dq=%27%27Minds+of+the+West%22&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwif6v3a6eyJAxWilokEHeybA6MQ6AF6BAgFEAI online]
* High, Stephen C. ''Industrial Sunset: The Making of North America's Rust Belt, 1969–1984'' (Toronto, 2003)
* Hoganson, Kristin L. '' The Heartland: An American History'' (Penguin Random House, 2019) [https://issforum.org/roundtables/PDF/Roundtable-XXI-51.pdf online reviews]
* Jensen, Richard. ''The Winning of the Midwest: Social and Political Conflict, 1888–1896'' (1971) [https://archive.org/details/71JensenWinningofmidwest/page/n1/mode/1up online]
* Jordan, Philip D.''Ohio Comes of Age: 1873–1900 Volume 5'' (1968) [https://archive.org/details/historyofstateof05witt online]
* Lauck, Jon K. ''The Good Country: A History of the American Midwest, 1800–1900'' (2022) [https://books.google.com/books?id=EmVkEAAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=%27%27The+Good+Country:+A+History+of+the+American+Midwest%22&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi-uOiA6uyJAxUHkIkEHQpTHi8Q6AF6BAgIEAI online]
* Lauck, Jon K. "Trump and The Midwest: The 2016 Presidential Election and The Avenues of Midwestern Historiography" ''Studies in Midwestern History'' (2017) vol 3#1 [https://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/midwesternhistory/vol3/iss1/1/ online]
* Lauck, Jon K. and Catherine McNicol Stock, eds. ''The Conservative Heartland: A Political History of the Postwar American Midwest'' (UP of Kansas, 2020) [https://networks.h-net.org/node/85290/reviews/6534871/mattson-lauck-and-stock-conservative-heartland-political-history online review]
* Longworth, Richard C. ''Caught in the Middle: America's Heartland in the Age of Globalism'' (2008) [https://books.google.com/books?id=wqd5J53Oof4C&printsec=frontcover&dq=intitle:Caught+intitle:in+intitle:the+intitle:Middle+inauthor:Richard+inauthor:C+inauthor:Longworth&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiu9I_TiO-JAxUXOjQIHY0LAnMQ6AF6BAgFEAI online]
* Meyer, David R. "Midwestern Industrialization and the American Manufacturing Belt in the Nineteenth Century", ''[[The Journal of Economic History]]'', 49#4 (1989) pp. 921–937.[https://www.jstor.org/stable/2122744 in JSTOR]
* Miller, John E. ''Small Town Dreams: Stories of Midwestern Boys Who Shaped America'' (UP of Kansas, 2014) [https://books.google.com/books?id=WkqtEAAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=intitle:Small+intitle:Town+intitle:Dreams&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiHjrDjoO-JAxXICnkGHa2JC8YQ6AF6BAgIEAI online].
* Miner, Horace Mitchell. ''Culture and agriculture; an anthropological study of a corn belt county'' (1949) [https://chla.library.cornell.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=chla;idno=3152439 online edition]
* Nelson, Daniel. ''Farm and Factory: Workers in the Midwest 1880–1990'' (1995),
* Nordin, Dennis S., and Roy V. Scott. ''From Prairie Farmer to Entrepreneur: The Transformation of Midwestern Agriculture''. (2005) [https://books.google.com/books?id=dCj07pFrle0C&printsec=frontcover&dq=%27%27From+Prairie+Farmer+to+Entrepreneur%22&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj9-fPzoO-JAxVtvokEHUViAQcQ6AF6BAgFEAI online]
* Nye, Russel B. ''Midwestern Progressive Politics'' (1959) [https://archive.org/details/midwesternprogre0000unse online]
* Page, Brian, and Richard Walker. "From settlement to Fordism: the agro-industrial revolution in the American Midwest". ''Economic Geography'' (1991): 281–315. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/143975 in JSTOR]
* Rikoon, J. Sanford. ''Threshing in the Midwest, 1820-1940: A Study of Traditional Culture and Technological Change'' (Indiana University Press, 1988). [https://archive.org/details/threshinginmidwe0000riko online]
* Scheiber, Harry N. ed. ''The Old Northwest; studies in regional history, 1787–1910'' (1969) 16 essays by scholars on economic and social topics. [https://books.google.com/books?id=-SYUAAAAYAAJ&q=%27%27The+Old+Northwest;+studies+in+regional+history,+1787%E2%80%931910%27%27&dq=%27%27The+Old+Northwest;+studies+in+regional+history,+1787%E2%80%931910%27%27&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwip-_iHoe-JAxWQrYkEHXVVEBQQ6AF6BAgJEAI online]
* Scranton, Philip. "Multiple industrializations: urban manufacturing development in the American Midwest, 1880–1925." ''Journal of Design History'' 12.1 (1999): 45-63.
* Shannon, Fred A. "The Status of the Midwestern Farmer in 1900" ''[[The Mississippi Valley Historical Review]]'' 37#3. (1950), pp. 491–510. [https://www.jstor.org/pss/1893323 in JSTOR]
* Shortridge, James R. ''The Middle West: Its Meaning in American Culture'' (1989) [https://archive.org/details/middlewestitsmea0000jame online]
* Slade, Joseph W. and Judith Lee. ''The Midwest: The Greenwood Encyclopedia of American Regional Cultures'' (2004) [https://books.google.com/books?id=nffCEAAAQBAJ&dq=%27%27The+Midwest:+The+Greenwood+Encyclopedia+of+American+Regional+Cultures%27%27&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwihjueXoe-JAxXICnkGHa2JC8YQ6AF6BAgEEAI online]
* Sleeper-Smith, Susan. ''Indigenous Prosperity and American Conquest: Indian Women of the Ohio River Valley, 1690–1792'' (The Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture; 2018) [https://books.google.com/books?id=B3paDwAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=%27%27Indigenous+Prosperity+and+American+Conquest:+Indian+Women+of+the+Ohio+River+Valley,+1690%E2%80%931792%27%27&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwin2fumoe-JAxUIAHkGHYnfGDwQ6AF6BAgMEAI online]
* [[Jon C. Teaford|Teaford, Jon C.]] ''Cities of the heartland: The rise and fall of the industrial Midwest'' (Indiana UP, 1993). [https://archive.org/details/citiesofheartlan0000teaf online]
* Tucker, Spencer, ed. ''American Civil War: A State-by-State Encyclopedia'' (2 vol., 2015) 1019pp [https://books.google.com/books?id=WQTFEAAAQBAJ&dq=%27%27American+Civil+War:+A+State-by-State+Encyclopedia%27%27&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiarPaW6uyJAxWZjokEHVSaFG8Q6AF6BAgEEAI online]
* White, Richard. ''The Middle Ground: Indians, Empires, and Republics in the Great Lakes Region, 1650–1815'' (Cambridge UP; 1991) [https://books.google.com/books?id=fHLfiOZVzmMC&printsec=frontcover&dq=%27%27The+Middle+Ground:+Indians,+Empires,+and+Republics+in+the+Great+Lakes+Region,+1650%E2%80%931815%27%27&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwio_dG2oe-JAxVThIkEHQU5BhsQ6AF6BAgMEAI online]
* Wuthnow, Robert. ''Remaking the Heartland: Middle America Since the 1950s'' (Princeton UP, 2011) [https://books.google.com/books?id=MTGMMPU9UHYC&printsec=frontcover&dq=%27%27Remaking+the+Heartland:%22&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjlxZLBoe-JAxVsAHkGHR4XK7IQ6AF6BAgEEAI online]
{{Refend}}
===Historiography and memory===
{{Refbegin|30em}}
* Brown, David S. ''Beyond the Frontier: The Midwestern Voice in American Historical Writing'' (2009) [https://books.google.com/books?id=28YJVAG0cNUC&printsec=frontcover&dq=%27%27Beyond+the+Frontier:+The+Midwestern+Voice+in+American+Historical+Writing%27%27&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjugODSoe-JAxU7lYkEHWIfAxEQ6AF6BAgEEAI online]
* Frederick; John T., ed. ''Out of the Midwest: A Collection of Present-Day Writing'' (1944) prose and poetry. [https://books.google.com/books?id=n6RAAAAAIAAJ&q=%27%27Out+of+the+Midwest:+A+Collection+of+Present-Day+Writing%27%27+(&dq=%27%27Out+of+the+Midwest:+A+Collection+of+Present-Day+Writing%27%27+(&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjoy_Xgoe-JAxWjpIkEHYavDUoQ6AF6BAgGEAIonline]
* Garry, Patrick. "Cherished Lives and Lasting Values: Memoirs of the Rural Midwest." ''Middle West Review'' 10.1 (2023): 183-194. Reviews ten autobiographical memoirs of Midwest. [https://muse.jhu.edu/article/912196 excerpt]
* Good, David F. "American History through a Midwestern Lens". ''Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft'' 38.2 (2012): 435+ [http://wug.akwien.at/WUG_Archiv/2012_38_2/2012_38_2_0435.pdf online]
* Hoganson, Kristin L. ''The Heartland: An American History'' (2019) [https://issforum.org/roundtables/PDF/Roundtable-XXI-51.pdf online reviews]
* Hurt, R. Douglas. "Writing Midwestern State Histories." ''Middle West Review'' 10#1 (2023): 195-201. [https://muse.jhu.edu/article/912197 excerpt]
* Lauck, Jon K. ''The Lost Region: Toward a Revival of Midwestern History'' (University of Iowa Press; 2013) 166 pages; criticizes the neglect of the Midwest in contemporary historiography and argues for a revival of attention. [https://books.google.com/books?id=ARnbAQAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=%27%27The+Lost+Region:+Toward+a+Revival+of+Midwestern+History%27%27&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjXltj0oe-JAxUsrokEHaYEBc4Q6AF6BAgFEAI online]
* Lauck, Jon K. "Trump and The Midwest: The 2016 Presidential Election and The Avenues of Midwestern Historiography." ''Studies in Midwestern History'' 3.1 (2017): 1-24. [https://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1021&context=midwesternhistory online]
===Primary sources===
* Grant, H. Roger, ed. ''Railroads in the Heartland: Steam and Traction in the Golden Age of Postcards'' (1997) over 100 historic photographs from 1905-1915. [https://archive.org/details/railroadsinheart0000gran online]
{{Refend}}
== External links ==
{{Sister project links|auto=yes|d=Q186545}}
* [http://unp-bookworm.unl.edu/product/Midwest-History-Association,678087.aspx Issues of ''Middle West Review'']
* [https://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/midwesternhistory/ The Midwest History Association, scholarly association that published ''Middle West Review'']
* [http://www.umvphotoarchive.org/ Archives of photo images, upper Midwest]
{{Midwestern United States}}
{{Regions of the world}}
{{Regions of the United States}}
{{United States topics}}
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:Midwestern United States| ]]
[[Category:1880s neologisms]]
[[Category:Census regions of the United States]]
[[Category:Regions of the United States]]
| |||
.jpg){kind=link}