America: Expansion

Question 1

How many American states were there originally?

Answer 1

13

Question 2

What year did Christopher Columbus arrive in America?

Answer 2

1492

Question 3

When was the first British colony set up in America?

Answer 3

1607

Question 4

Where was the first British colony set up in America?

Answer 4

Jamestown, Virginia

Question 5

When did America declare independence from Britain?

Answer 5

4th July 1776

Question 6

Why did early settlers come to America?

Answer 6

Most came to make money, others came to seek power or to escape religious persecution

Question 7

How much land were you given from 1616 if you came to America?

Answer 7

50 acres

Question 8

When did the first African slaves arrive in America?

Answer 8

1619

Question 9

Why did America want independence from Britain?

Answer 9

High taxes, no representation in the British parliament

Question 10

What do the stars represent on the American flag?

Answer 10

The 50 current states

Question 11

What do the stripes represent on the American flag?

Answer 11

The 13 original states

Question 12

How many people did a territory need to become a state?

Answer 12

60,000

Question 13

What is a federal system?

Answer 13

Where there is one overruling constitution but each state can decide some if their own laws

Question 14

Name 2 of the original American colonies

Answer 14

Virginia, New York

Question 15

What geographical problems did pioneers face when travelling across the USA?

Answer 15

• Distance (3500 miles)
• Topography eg. Mountains, marshlands, rocky ground
• Climate - very hot

Question 16

When was the Mexican-American war?

Answer 16

1846-1848

Question 17

What are the 3 mountain ranges that pioneers struggles to cross?

Answer 17

Rocky Mountains
Appellations
Sierra Nevada

Question 18

What was manifest destiny?

Answer 18

Manifest destiny is the idea that it was God’s will that white Americans needed to spread Christianity, freedom and democracy across the entire continent.

Question 19

What did Major Stephen Long say about the Great Plains?

Answer 19

That it was unfit for cultivation and uninhabitable

Question 20

What did the mountain men do?

Answer 20

Hunt and act as guides for other people travelling west. They also spread the news of fertile land in the west.

Question 21

When did the tragedy of the Donner party happen?

Answer 21

1846

Question 22

When did the gold rush begin?

Answer 22

1848 but most arrived in 1849

Question 23

What was the name of the financial crisis that lead to many Americans travel group west?

Answer 23

The Panic of 1837

Question 24

What were the push factors for people to leave the east?

Answer 24

• Pollution
• Financial crisis
• Overcrowded
• Poverty

Question 25

Why did mountain men initially travel west?

Answer 25

For hunting animals like moose and beavers and selling furs to settlers in the east

Question 26

How did the mountain men encourage future settlement?

Answer 26

- Told people in the east about the fertile land beyond the Sierra Nevada - Found routes through the mountains - Brought people through the mountains for money

Question 27

What were the pull factors for Americans travelling west?

Answer 27

- Fertile soil - Lots of space - Less disease - No pollution - People were successfully living there

Question 28

When was gold discovered in California?

Answer 28

24^th January 1848

Question 29

When did the first Gold Rush take place?

Answer 29

1848-1856

Question 30

What percentage of miners that travelled to California were men?

Answer 30

95%

Question 31

What impact did the Gold Rush have on California?

Answer 31

- Economy and population grew - Became a state - Native Americans driven out or killed - San Francisco became a large and wealthy city - Had the most immigrants in the country

Question 32

How many settlers travelled west in 1844?

Answer 32

1,500

Question 33

How many miners had arrived in California by spring 1849?

Answer 33

40,000

Question 34

What was the Great Plains also known as?

Answer 34

The great American Desert

Question 35

Name some characteristics of the Great Plains

Answer 35

- No trees - Little water - Extremely cold winters and hot summers - Ferocious winds - Mostly flat

Question 36

What percentage of miners were in their 20s?

Answer 36

Over 50%

Question 37

What proportion of miners that travelled to California were not Americans?

Answer 37

1/3

Question 38

How many miners had died of cholera in the Gold Rush by May 1849?

Answer 38

1,500

Question 39

What was life like for most miners in the Californian Gold Rush?

Answer 39

- Most made no money - Gambling - to try to make up for failed mining - Lived in log cabins

Question 40

What year did California become a state?

Answer 40

1850

Question 41

Apart from miners who else travelled to California during the Gold Rush

Answer 41

Traders, who charged high prices for goods which lead to many miners becoming bankrupt

Question 42

What happened to most of the miners that failed in the California Gold Rush?

Answer 42

Settled and became farmers

Question 43

Which 2 American civilisations practiced polygamy?

Answer 43

Mormons and Native Americans

Question 44

What did misjudgement did early settlers make about the plains? When was this realised?

Answer 44

That it was uninhabitable and could not be farmed on they realised they were wrong in the 1860s

Question 45

Where was gold first discovered in the USA?

Answer 45

Sutters Mill, California

Question 46

When did the construction of the transcontinental railroad begin?

Answer 46

1863

Question 47

When was the transcontinental railroad finished?

Answer 47

May 10th 1869

Question 48

What impact did the transcontinental railroad have on America?

Answer 48

- More Native American deaths - America was united from east to west - More settlers on the plains - Took 7 days to travel across America, it used to take 6 months

Question 49

How many people dies building the transcontinental railroad?

Answer 49

2,000 people

Question 50

When was the Pacific Railway Act introduced?

Answer 50

1862

Question 51

Which US president wanted a transcontinental railroad?

Answer 51

Abraham Lincoln

Question 52

What did the Pacific Railway Act include?

Answer 52

The government would give $16,000 and 6,400 acres of land for every mile of track laid