American West- Homesteaders Flashcards
Why did few people settle on the Plains before 1865?
The poor soil and harsh climate discouraged them (along with the fact that the Plains were officially ‘Indian territory’), land was expensive to buy, and anybody wanting to go west faced a long, dangerous and uncomfortable journey.
Who started to move onto the Plains after 1865 ?
Freed Slaves
European immigrants
Younger sons from the eastern seaboard
other Americans - such as tradesmen and government officials
Why did Freed slaves move onto the Plains after 1865?
Freed slaves went there to start a new life as freemen, or to escape economic problems after the Civil War
Why did European immigrants move onto the Plains after 1865?
European immigrants flooded onto the Great Plains, seeking political or religious freedom, or simply to escape poverty in their own country.
Why did younger sons move onto the Plains after 1865?
Younger sons from the eastern seaboard - where the population was growing and land was becoming more expensive - went because it was a chance to own their own land.
Why did other americans follow these people onto the Plains after 1865?
They were followed by other Americans - such as tradesmen and government officials - who hoped to make their living from the farmers who had moved onto the Plains
When was the Homestead Act passed?
1862
What did the 1862 Homestead Act promise?
This allowed homesteaders to claim 160 acres of land free if they lived and worked on it for five years. The prospect of free land was very attractive to people who could never have afforded a farm back home.
Why did the railways encourage people to settle on the Plains?
In order to encourage the railroad companies to build the transcontinental railways, the government gave them a two-mile stretch of land either side of the railroad - part of the companies’ profit came from selling this land. Therefore they launched a massive sales campaign, offering a ‘settlement package’
What did the settlement package that the railways offer include?
a safe, cheap and speedy journey west
temporary accommodation in ‘hotels’ until the families had built their own home
other attractions such as schools, churches and no taxes for five years.
Why did the idea of Manifest Destiny?
The idea grew up that white Americans were superior, and that it was America’s manifest destiny (obvious fate) to expand and encourage ‘the American way of life’ on the Great Plains. The writer Horace Greeley, who popularised this idea, advised Americans: ‘Go West, young man’.
What Tall tales were spread in order to encourage people to go onto the Plains?
Once the population of an area reached 60,000, it could apply to become a state of the USA. Local governments therefore encouraged publicity campaigns which claimed (for example) that farmers in the west could grow pumpkins as big as barns and maize as tall as telegraph poles. Many people moved west thinking they would make a fortune.
What problems did the homesteaders face?
Building a house Dirt and disease Housework Isolation Law and Order
Why did homesteaders face a problem in building a house?
There was little wood to build log cabins.
How did the homesteaders overcome the problem of building a house?
Settlers built ‘sod houses’, while they lived out of doors - people did their cooking on an open fire.
Why did the homesteaders face a problem of dirt and disease?
Outdoor toilets and open wells. The sod houses leaked, and fleas and bedbugs lived in them ‘by the million’. It was impossible to disinfect the floor. As a result the death rate, especially from diphtheria, was high.
How did the homesteaders overcome the problem of dirt and disease?
A ‘good thick coat of whitewash’ killed bedbugs. ‘A layer of clay’ stopped leaks. Homesteaders eventually built more modern houses.
Why did the homesteaders face a problem of housework?
There was no wood for fuel, and no shops to buy items such as candles and soap. A typical household had only two buckets, some crockery and one cracked cup. There was no water and little food.
How did the homesteaders overcome the problem of housework?
A travelling shoe-maker or tinker might pass through who would provide or mend household items, but usually families just had to make do. The women collected ‘buffalo chips’ for fuel, stoked the stove, and made their own candles and soap. ‘I have often wondered how my mother stood it’, wrote an early settler.
Why did the homesteaders face a problem of isolation?
No doctors or midwives. No social life ‘because of the distances between farmhouses’. In the winter families were shut in ‘and longed for spring’.
How did the homesteaders overcome the problem of isolation?
People had to make the most of any trip to their nearest town, where the women talked of the harvest and the men smoked corncob pipes and talked politics.
Why did the homesteaders face a problem of law and order?
Local government was non-existent, and some early lawmen (such as Henry Plummer) were worse than the bandits.
How did the homesteaders overcome the problem of law and order?
Law courts and sheriffs such as Wyatt Earp slowly established law and order.
What problems did the first farmers on the Plains face?
Farming Drought Food Fences Insect Pests Law and order
Why did the first farmers on the plains face a problem of farming?
A hard crust on the soil made it hard to start farming.
Farmers could not afford a plough or machines.
There were not enough workers.
How did the first farmers on the Plains overcome the problem of farming?
Teams of ‘sodbusters’ using steel ploughs did the first ploughing.
After 1880, thresher teams travelled around following the harvest. Farmers could hire them for just a few days.
Why did the first farmers on the plains face a problem of drought?
There was only 38cm of rainfall in a year, and the hot summers evaporated dampness from the land. In the 1860s there were terrible droughts, followed by fires.
How did the first farmers on the Plains overcome the problem of drought?
The well driller and windpump allowed deep wells to be dug, which gave water. New methods of dry farming were invented (the ‘Turkey Red’ variety of wheat was imported from Russia, and farmers put a layer of dust on the soil after rain, which stopped evaporation).
Why did the first farmers on the plains face a problem of food?
Farmers could not grow enough on their farms to feed a family.
How did the first farmers on the Plains overcome the problem of food?
The government realised that 160 acres was not enough to sustain people. The Timber Culture Act of 1873 gave farmers another 160 free acres if they grew some trees.
Why did the first farmers on the plains face a problem of fences?
Lack of wood for fencing meant farmers could not keep cattle off their crops. This led to trouble with the cattlemen.
How did the first farmers on the Plains overcome the problem of fences?
Barbed wire (patented by Joseph Glidden in 1874) solved the problem of fencing.
Why did the first farmers on the plains face a problem of insect pests?
In the 1870s, grasshopper plagues stripped the cornstalks ‘naked as beanpoles’ and sent pregnant women insane.
Colorado beetle destroyed potato crops.
How did the first farmers on the Plains overcome the problem of insect pests?
Settlers tried to harvest the crops before the grasshoppers came. They tried to kill them, but gave up, ‘weary and dispirited’.
The government raised relief funds.
Modern insecticides solved this problem.
Why did the first farmers on the plains face a problem of law and order?
Rival settlers
Bandits
Renegade Native Americans
Vigilante cattlemen
How did the first farmers on the Plains overcome the problem of law and order?
Law courts and sheriffs such as Wyatt Earp slowly established law and order.
What did newly-occupied land on the Plains become?
At first, newly-occupied land on the Plains was federal territory (it belonged to the US government) and was administered by a governor, three judges and a US marshal.
What happened when the area reached a population of 5,000?
When the area reached a population of 5,000, it became a territory, with - in addition - locally elected sheriffs, who could deal with local criminals. New territories were notoriously lawless.
What happened when the area reached a population of 60,000?
When the population reached 60,000, the territory became a state, with its own laws, government and finances, although there was still a US marshal with responsibility for criminals who broke federal laws. Slowly, helped by improved communications (for instance the telegraph), law and order was established.
What groups were set up to try and install law and order?
Miners in the mining towns set up miners’ courts, which settled local matters such as disputed claims, but were powerless to stop gangs of outlaws or rustlers. In many areas, local citizens set up vigilante groups, who dished out summary justice to people suspected of crimes.
What two lawman are famous for helping to establish law and order?
Among the lawmen who helped achieve this were Pat Garrett (who shot Billy the Kid) and Wyatt Earp (famous for his shoot-out with the Clanton gang at the OK Corral).
What contributed to the problems of law and order in the West?
Distance (difficult to cover the large areas and isolated communities of the West)
Poverty and harsh conditions (people were prepared to resort to desperate measures)
More men than women (no calming influence; prostitution)
Different races (differences of language and culture led to there being little sense of a united community)
Culture of violence (everyone carried guns, and sorted out problems by using violence)
Land claims and gold (arguments over land ownership; greed, gamblers, criminals)
Cattle barons (fear of reprisal; ‘respectable’ citizens were scared to speak out; juries could be bribed and were often biased)
Poor court system (judges often had poor knowledge of law; courts often gave unfair verdicts; lack of convictions)
Vigilantes (often as much a problem as the criminals)
Who did the Governor Barber of Wyoming support in the Johnson County war?
Governor Barber of Wyoming supported the cattlemen, who said homesteaders (‘nesters’) were rustling (stealing) their cattle.
Who did the The sheriff of Buffalo (Red Angus) support in the Johnson County war?
The sheriff of Buffalo (Red Angus) supported the homesteaders, who said the cattle barons were stealing their land.
What was it that cattlemen regularly did to homesteaders?
The cattlemen regularly caught and hanged local homesteaders.
Among those they hanged were Ella Watson and Jim Averill (a poor local couple), and nine trappers who were out hunting wolves.
How did the Johnson County war start?
The cattlemen assembled a list of 70 rustlers they wanted killed. In spring 1892 they hired a lynching party of 43 cattlemen (including 20 hired gunmen).
The lynching party attacked a ranch known as the KC ranch. They killed Nick Ray and his partner Nate Chapman, who was roundup foreman of the local Northern Wyoming Farmers & Stock Growers Association.
What did Red Angus do in response to the lynching party?
In response, Red Angus raised a posse of 319 men, who rode out and trapped the cattlemen at a ranch called the TA.
The cattlemen were eventually rescued by the Army cavalry.
What was the result of the Johnson County war?
The cattlemen were charged with murder. They bribed the jury and the case was dropped. Nevertheless, the war marked the end of the power of the cattlemen.
When was the Timber Culture act created and what did it provide?
The Timber Culture Act of 1873 gave farmers another 160 free acres if they grew some trees.
