1. Friday, 21 September 2018 AMERICAN WEST – FACT BUILDING
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
MUST – know about the topics to revise for the GCSE Exam.
SHOULD – remember the main facts for each topic.
COULD – complete revision tasks.

2. CONTENTS THE AMERICAN WEST – 1840-95
The Great Plains
Growing Up On The Plains
Life of Cowboy
Plains Indians
Visions
End of Open Range
The Buffalo
Sun Dance/Death
Homesteaders
Tepee
Early Settlers
Role of Government
Indian Warfare
Manifest Destiny
Life of Women on Great Plains
Chiefs/Councils
Railroad
Farming
Woman’s Life
Cattle Ranching
Law and Order
Indian Way of Life
Open Range
Struggle for Great Plains

3. Starter – the final frontier
There were FIVE barriers stopping settlers on the East Coast of America from travelling to the West.
LIST as many of the barriers as you can.

4. GO WEST!
Give TWO reasons WHY people in the East wanted to move West.

5. SUPER BUFFALO!
LIST THREE WAYS IN WHICH THE PLAINS INDIANS USED THE BUFFALO.

6. INDIAN TRIBES QUESTIONS 1) How were Indian tribes organised?
2) Why do you think it was only in Summer that the bands stayed together?
3) What advantage would there be in spreading out in small groups in Winter? What possible disadvantage?

8. LIFE IN A TEPEE
Advantages
Disadvantages

9. WHAT DOES THIS PICTURE SHOW?

10. Different Ways of Fighting
White Man
Indian

11. Fighting Talk QUICK QUIZ
1) What did Indians wear as a sign of brave deeds they had done?
2) What did it mean when an Indian painted a ‘blackened face’?
3) Why did Indians sometimes ride into battle unarmed?
4) How did Indians make decisions in their tribes?
5) Why did Indians sometimes disobey their Chief?
6) How might you be punished by an Indian council if you had stolen a horse?

12. FARMING SOLUTIONS PROBLEM Land was too hard to plough Lack of Water
Protecting crops from cattle
Transporting machinery to Great Plains
Not Enough Land to grow crops
Crops could not survive the weather
SOLUTION
New machinery transported to West.
Wind Pumps/’Dry Farming’
Barbed Wire
The Railroad
Timber & Culture Act 1873
New crops eg. Turkey Red Wheat.

13. CAUSES OF THE SIOUX WARS
CAUSES OF SIOUX WARS
US government broke promises made Whites and Indians to Indians. had different views of the land – Gold discovered in Black Hills 1869 Railroad completed
CAUSES OF THE SIOUX WARS

14. CAUSES OF SIOUX WARS
The U.S. Government broke promises made to the Indians – which led to the size of Indian reservations ‘shrinking’.
In 1854 a Sioux brave killed a lame cow.
In 1874 gold was discovered in the Black Hills.
The Whites believed it was their ‘Manifest Destiny’ to settle the Great Plains.
In December 1875 the US government told the Indians to return to their reservations or “be considered hostile”.
The whites and the Indians had different views of the land.
In 1874 gold-rich miners started to offer $200 for every Indian scalp.
In 1869 the Trans-Continental railroad was completed.
In 1864 a band of Cheyenne Indians, including women and children, were massacred by US soldiers at Sand Creek.

15. STARTER – THE EARLY SETTLERS
NAME OF SETTLERS
MOUNTAIN MEN
MIGRANTS
MORMONS
MINERS
WHY MOVED WEST? -

16. READING
WHITE ‘American West’ textbook
- PAGE 58 – SOURCE 2

17. WHY GO WEST?
PUSH FACTORS
PULL FACTORS

18. THE RAILROAD POSITIVE RESULTS OF THE RAILROAD
Increased employment.
Farming equipment could be transported to the Great Plains.
Helped Cattle Industry to grow.
Helped white americans to fulfil their Manifest Destiny.
Made communications easier.
Speeded up the settlement of the West.
Made establishing government easier.
Made the journey to the West easier.
Established trade links within America and the world.
NEGATIVE RESULTS OF THE RAILROAD
Went through Indian territory.
Destroy the Indian way of life.
A lot of workers died building the railroad.
Railroad builders killed buffalo for meat and this destroyed the Indian way of life.
Disturbed the Indian hunting grounds.
Enabled people like miners to travel West and dig for gold in the Black Hills of Dakota – thereby annoying the Indians.

19. Before the railroad the Indians had freedom to roam the Great Plains
HOW IMPORTANT WERE THE RAILROADS IN CHANGING THE TRADITIONAL WAY OF LIFE OF THE PLAINS INDIANS?
BEFORE
Indians were nomadic hunters/depended on buffalo.
Before the railroad the Indians had freedom to roam the Great Plains
AFTER
Sedentary farmers due to railroad leading to hunting of buffalo to the point of extinction – 1840 – 13 million buffalo, 1885 – 200.
After the railroad they were forced to exist as farmers on smaller reservations of land

20. WHY WAS THERE A RISE IN CATTLE RANCHING?
The Civil War The Railroad Goodnight-Loving Trail John Iliff Joseph McCoy (Cow Towns) High prices & big demand for beef Role of Cowboys
WHY WAS THERE A RISE IN CATTLE RANCHING?

21. LIFE OF WOMEN ON THE GREAT PLAINS
What PROBLEMS faced women living on the Great Plains?

22. Reasons For End of Open Range
Questions
1) Explain how the following factors led to the end of the open range;
- Falling Profits
- The Weather
- Barbed Wire
- Water Pumps
2) What do YOU think was the most important reason why the Open Range came to an end?

23. ROLE OF THE GOVERNMENT QUESTION
1) What did the Homestead Act of 1862 do for settlers?
2) Why did the US government bring in the Homestead Act in 1862?

24. REASONS FOR PROBLEMS OF LAW AND ORDER IN MINING TOWNS
A vast area – transport slow Towns sprang up
Difficult to enforce law & order quickly
Problems
created by
vigilantes
Shortage of reliable law Claim Jumping
enforcement officers.
WHY were there Problems of Law and Order in Mining Towns in the 1850s and 1860s?

25. REASONS FOR PROBLEMS OF LAW AND ORDER IN MINING TOWNS
The West was a vast area and transport was very slow – made it very difficult to enforce law and order.
New mining towns sprang up so quickly before federal or state law could reach them.
In their early days mining towns were tough, lawless places, run by men with the fastest guns, where violence was common and people took the law into their own hands = VIGILANTES
Shortage of reliable law enforcement officers and politicians did not think issue was important enough to spend money on.
In early days of gold mining, official law and order was often hundreds of miles away. Late arrivals on the gold fields often tried to steal land from those who had already staked a claim there = CLAIM JUMPING.

26. What problems were there for migrants travelling West?
THE JOURNEY WEST
Sandstorms, Rain Hunger, thirst.
Wagon trains broke.
Quicksands, swollen rivers Stampeding
Disease – cholera buffalo, hostile Indians.
What problems were there for migrants travelling West?

27. HOW BRIGHAM YOUNG HELPED ON THE JOURNEY WEST
He divided the 15,000 Mormons into manageable groups – each with their own leader.
He taught Mormons how to drive their wagons in parallel lines.
He taught them how to put their Wagons in a circle at night for safety.
Brigham Young was a natural leader with excellent organisational skills.
He set up resting places along the route – so nobody got too tired.
He insisted upon strict discipline and routine – everyone had a part to play and knew what was expected of them.
He broke the journey up into manageable sections.

28. How Brigham young helped the mormons to settle in salt lake city
Brigham Young shared the land out equally amongst the Mormons.
He set up a Perpetual Emigration Fund to help poor Mormons from Europe and the rest of America to move to Salt Lake City.
He provided leadership and organisation.
Brigham Young made the Mormons self-sufficient – so that they would not have to rely on anybody from the outside world.

29. OTHER REASONS WHY THE MORMONS SUCCEEDED IN REACHING AND SETTLING IN SALT LAKE CITY
The Mormons had experience of moving all that they had at short notice – as they often had to do this due to persecution in the East.
They had to learnt to live and work together as a group.
The Mormons had learnt to be very self-disciplined.
The Mormons had very strong faith in their religion.
The Mormons set up a committee to plan and dig irrigation ditches to get fresh water for the crops they were growing.

30. The American West

31. Spot the Mistakes Joseph Smith led the Mormons to Salt Lake.
White Americans were encouraged to migrate because of Spear of Destiny.
The government encouraged white settlement with the Railroad Act of 1862.
A famous example of a group that failed to successfully migrate west was doner party.
A new farming crop used by white settlers was chicken red wheat.

32. 6) Custer was defeated at the Battle of Wounded Knee
6) Custer was defeated at the Battle of Wounded Knee. 7) Gold was discovered in Hawaii. 8) There was conflict between Homesteaders and cattle rustlers in the Battle of Little Big Horn. 9) The first transcontinental highway opened in ) Native Americans believed when they died they went to the Happy Valley.

33. Spot the Mistakes Brigham Young led the Mormons to Salt Lake.
White Americans were encouraged to migrate because of Manifest Destiny.
The government encouraged white settlement with the Homestead Act of 1862.
A famous example of a group that failed to successfully migrate west was Donner party.
A new farming crop used by white settlers was turkey red wheat.

34. 6) Custer was defeated at the Battle of Little Big Horn 7) Gold was discovered in California. 8) There was conflict between Homesteaders and cattle rustlers in the Johnson County War. 9) The first transcontinental railroad opened in ) Native Americans believed when they died they went to the Happy Hunting Ground.

35. Paper Two Exam 1 hour 15 minutes 5 questions 50 marks + 4 SPAG
Inhabitants and settlers
Development of the Plains
Conflict on the Plains

36. The Great Plains
Plains Indians
Mountain Men
Early Pioneers
Mormons
49ers
Homesteaders

37. Turning description into explanation
Explanation not description!
Use words like:
because
therefore
as a result
which meant

38. Why was there a clash of cultures between white settlers and Plains Indians?
One of the most important reasons why there was a clash of cultures was because the Plains Indians were solely reliant on the buffalo. As more and more white settlers joined the Plains due to the attraction of a new life it led to people disrupting the buffalo’s natural migration and where they roamed. The Plains Indians relied on the buffalo for everything from food to clothes to their housing. Therefore if their normal migration was disrupted it would be harder to find and kill them. The white settlers would also have scared off the buffalo which would have created greater tension between the two groups.

39. Reasons Why Custer Lost the Battle of The Little Bighorn
- Refused the offer of Gatling machine guns.
- Pushed men and horses too hard – 73 miles in the 3 days leading up to the battle.
- Split his men up.
- Ignored warning sign of buffalo skull (a sign that Indians had held a Sun Dance = preparing for war)
Failed to wait for the other armies to arrive.
Mistakenly believed that there were no Indian braves in the village.
A much bigger Indian force than expected – between
1, 000 and 2,000.
Custer expected the Indians to run away.

40. Reasons Why Custer Lost the Battle of The Little Bighorn
- Tried to cross the river but got stuck in marshland.
- Custer believed that if he could win on his own he might one day be President.
Indians had better weapons – Winchester repeating rifles compared to Custer’s men who had single shot rifles.
Indian women waved flags and scared the horses of the 7th cavalry – threw men off their horses.
Benteen deliberately ignored his call for help.

41. Consequences of Indian Victory at Battle of Little Bighorn
Angered the US government who now adopted a ‘hard line’ policy against the Indians.
Moved Indians on to smaller reservations.
Forced Indians to become farmers on poor land that was not suitable for farming.
Forced the Indians to live on rations from the US government – poor quality meat.
Changed the Indian life from proud nomadic hunters to sedentary farmers.
US army massacred men, women and children at Wounded Knee.