american west Flashcards
what is manifest destiny and why did people move west because of it
The belief that god wanted the united states to extend all the way to the Pacific. It helped the move because the government supported it as it would help them secure Oregon territory that was still shared with Britain
why did people move west because of religion
missionaries followed the Oregon trail to try and convert anyone to their religion, the trail was a great help to missionaries to spread their religion across native american tribes
why did people move west to escape debt
large number of emigrants travelled to Oregon to escape debt because of the Panic of 1837 when Andrew Jackson tore down the second national bank. people rushed to get their money but the bank ran out so people lost out, moving to Oregon was a way of not paying government back
why did people move west for business
Oregon trail consisted of many business opportunities, for example shop, due to minuscule amount of shops along the trail it could sell many things to travellers for higher prices, had lack of competition.
why did people move west for farming
missionaries would send back letters from the Oregon territory saying that farms would thrive there, rumours that congress would give families 640 acres of land if they settled there, east was getting too crowded to farm there, large number of farmers moved west
Indian society
some tribes were so large such as the Sioux they were called nations, Sioux nation made up of Lakota, Dakota and Nakota tribes. Chiefs were the leaders and no single system for choosing them, also had brotherhoods
Indians on the plains
Great Plains was a difficult place to live, survival depended on buffalo, horses were important used for hunting and sign of wealth
social and tribal structures
men were responsible for hunting, and protecting band, women were responsible for cooking and looking after tipi and raise children, old people valued for wisdom and experience
ways of life and means of survival
horses allowed them to be nomadic, horses showed bravery and measure of wealth, buffalo essential, buffalo dance to call spirits to help them hunt
beliefs about land
believe spirits had created all life and world, Sioux believed they came from the land and when they died should return to the land, land was owned by no one, high land was sacred as close to spirits
attitudes to war and property
to plains indian’s war was about series of raids by small groups for a purpose e.g steal horses, revenge or secure hunting grounds, war didn’t happen in cold winter months, took scalps as evidence of victory, hung outside tipis, if warrior lost his scalp he wouldn’t go to afterlife, used counting coup meaning got close to their enemys
US government policy
early history of the relationship between plains Indian’s and the people from founding colonies ranged from friendship to open hostility and war, indian nation was destryed as settlers moved in
reservations
at the beginning the settlers negotiated with the Indian Nations, native Americans surrended some of their land and were given reservations, it kept plains indians confined, in 1824 the Bureau of \Indian Affairs was set up to manage the relationship
The Indian Removal Act 1830
1830 indian removal act established a permanent indian frontier, boundary between USA and indian territory and removed many Indian nations from the south west to a smaller area which later became Oklahoma, supposedly taken for protection of Indians
Indians Appropriations Act 1851
by early 1850’s settlers were moving beyond permanent idian frontier, government encouraged this westward movement but knew Indians needed protection, outcome of this act legally recognised Indian reservations
manifest destiny
many americans believed that their country should occupy the whole continent, it was a god given duty to spread civilisation and democracy
economic depression
1837 USA hit with economic depression, banks collapsed, savings lost, wages cut, jobs lost, high unemployment drove eastward movement, chance of farming in Oregon and Calinfornia seemed good, farmers in mississippi valley struggled drove prices down
Gold Rush 1849
miners who moved west went in search of gold and became known as forty niners, they wanted wealth, 1848 news of discovery of gold in Foothills of Californias Sierra Neva mountains spread and by 1849 miners were arriving from around the world including China
the donner party
donner party set off from Missouri in May 1846 heading for California, by June they ahd reached Little Sandy River, they then decided to head for Fort Bridger and take the Hastings Cutoff rather than follow a more established route, they lost 4 wagons oxen and cattle and a months time, as they crossed Sierra Nevada mountains the snow came and became stranded, mid december food supplies running low, people bagn to die, out of 87 members on 46 survived and made it to california
mormon migration 1846-47
main reason to move was to escape persecution due to their religion and acceptance to polygamy, ore than 16,000 crossed Great Plains and many settled in area known as Salt Lake City
The Gold Rush
discovery of gold in California in 1848 attracted migration of many who were unprepared for journey but greedy for wealth. Led to population in California increasing from 15,000 to 250,000 by 1852 this brought violence and lawlessness
white settlement farming
faced problems such as water shortages, extremes of weather, lack of fuel, shortage of building materials, crops failed, grasslands hard to plough, praire lands suseptable to wild fires
tension between settlers and plains indians
as settlers crossed plains they affected lives of indians, made water even shorter and scared away animals that they hunted, they also brought an epidemic of smallpox
Fort Laramie Treaty 1851
treaty separated the 2 sides through reservation and hunting, plains indians promised not to attack travellers and to allow building of roads and forts in return for annual subsidy, didn’t please everyone
Problems of lawlessness
reasons = absence of family life, easy availibilty of alchol, practive of carrying weapons, frontier code which asserted a man had the right to stand his ground and defend with weapons
attempts to tackle lawlessness
county sheriff was responsible for law enforcement, ran the county jail and appointed deputies, city marshal was an elected official responsible for law enforcement within city boundaries, vigilante committes took law in their own hands
significance of the civil war
1861-65, during war regular troops were withdrawn from service in west and replaced with volunteer militia, disastrous effect on settler relations with Indians, slowed down the rate at which people were moving west as war caused disruption to railroad tracks
Central Pacific Railroad 1865
building started in 1865 and opened up further opportunities for settlers to move west, to maximise its income the railroad company encouraged settlers to settle along the line
Transcontinental Railroad 1869
May 1869 it was finished, workforce needed feeding and the buffalo was a goos source of fresh meat, William Cody who later became better known as Buffalo Bill killed 4820 buffalo
Southern Homestead Act 1866
Southern Homestead Act 1866 and Timber Culture ACt 1873 and Desert Land Act 1877 all gave settlers right to acquire land cheaply and further encourage movement west
Desert Land Act 1877
to encourage and promote economic development of the arid public lands of western states
Timber Culture Act 1873
Allowed homesteaders to get another 160 acres of land if they planted tress on 1 fourth of the land,
overcoming problems homesteaders faced
built windmills give them power to pump water and irrigate land, dry farming that trapped moisture in ground , barbed wire invented in 1874 providing cheap effective way to fence in and protect cattle
continued problems with law and order
weapons continued to be owned without licence, some ex confederate soldiers turned to bank robbery
growth of cattle industry
when people returned from war texan cattle ranchers found their herds had increased massively, weren’t worth much unless sold, they had to be driven to markets in eastern states, railroads provided transportation
Abilene
from 1868 cattle drives brought prosperity to Abiline, after months of driving cattle cowboys had money and wanted to celebrate, spent thei money in Abilenes saloons at gambling tables and brothels
Changes in the work of a cowboy
cowboys were men who worked with cattle on the cattle drives and in the ranches, skilled horsemanship, job entailed line riding, as more and more cattle were driven to markets their job became focused around managing the herd on its journey to a cow town
John Illif
John Illif was one of the earliest cattle ranchers, failed to be rich as a gold miner he realised that cattle could survive the winter on plains, he eventually had a herd over 35,000 beef cattle selling meat to the railroad builders
Charles Goodnight
he discovered that texan longhorn cattle could survive the winter on the plains and that the cold weather killed disease carrying ticks that lived off the cattle, he experimented further with cattle breeding and produced better quality meat
Joseph McCoy
was also a cattle rancher who bought land, built stock pens, and advertised Abilene as a cattle shipping point
rivalry between ranchers and homesteaders
movement of cattle annoyed homesteaders who resietd and quite often forced cattle drives along new trails away from their land, from 1865 onwards wealthy and powerful ranchers used force to move settlers off their land or charge them high rent
railroads, cattle industry, gold prospecting
advance of railroads across plains disrupted the hunting grounds of indians threatning their way of life, hunting buffalo became a white mans sport, leather industry benefitted as the railroads transported hides back to the east, developmwnt of cattle ranching meant that the land where buffalo had once roamed was now fenced off
US government policy
1862 when gold prospectors left the orgeon trail and crossed the Sioux lands breaking existing peace treaty, government took no action, 1867 to try and end fighting because of the sand creek massacre of 1864 government set up peace commssion, 1868 government agreed to the second Fort Laramie Treaty, 1869 President Grant advanced the peace policy, 1871 indians appropriations act ended
Little Crows war 1861-62
The Santee Sioux reservation was not suitable for farming and Native Americans were forced to live on credit, violence errupted and settlers were killed, the army moved in and Santee Sioux surrneded
The Cheyenne Wars 1864-67
these were sparked by the discovery of gold in Colorado, the area of Pikes Peak was Native Americans hunting ground but mining settlements allowed settlers to move across the land, there were outbreaks of fighting and the arm moved in, a peace comission was set up in 1867 to try to end the fighting
Changes in farming
expansion of railroads brought significant improvements in farming, homesteaders were able to buy farming machinary at cheaper prices, James OLiver improves steel ploughs, increased crop yeilds, homesteaders could not control weather and sever droughts led to bankrupcies
changes in cattle industry
railways allowed cattle to be transported to markets in the east but shipping live cattle further afield was inefficiet as much of the animal was inedible, development of refrigerated cars solved problem, more cattle was demanded put pressure on both price and stock of grass, winter of 1886 killed thousands of cattle
The exoduster movement
1870s black americans many of whom who had been freed from slavery at the end of the civil war looked to escape poverty, racism, intimidation and attacks from Ku Klux Klan. They became known as exodusters and looked to settle in kansas
