Booklet 1 America Early Settlers Flashcards
What year did America declare independence?
1776
How many states were in the original United States
13
How many people did a territory need to join the union?
60,000
Name the two main mountain ranges in the American West.
Rocky Mountains and Sierra Nevada.
Which country did America defeat to win the South West in 1848?
Mexico
Describe the terrain and climate of the Great Plains.
Flat. Dry hot grasslands in summer, cold windy and snow covered in winter.
What did many people refer to the Plains as?
The Great American Desert
What is Manifest Destiny?
The American belief that it was God’s will that they inhabit the continent from east to west.
Define ‘pioneer’ in American history.
A person who travels to an area not yet settled with the intention of developing a new home.
Why did the Mountain Men go west in the late 1700s and early 1800s?
Hunt animals and bring back furs to trade.
How did Mountain men encourage future travellers to go west?
Told stories, developed trails, drew maps, had articles written about them etc.
When was the economic crisis in the eastern states that pushed a lot of people west?
1837+
Give 3 reasons why people wanted to leave the eastern states.
immigration, overcrowding, land prices up, crime (cities), poor living conditions (cities), unemployment
Why was California a popular destination up to 1848? (Name 2 reasons)
nice climate, lots of space, cheap land, good agricultural land.
Describe two methods of transport most pioneers used to get across the 3500 miles to California.
Boats until Independence, Missouri then covered wagon pulled by oxen or horse across the plains.
Name the four main geographical obstacles that made the journey difficult.
Rocky Mountains, Nevada Desert, Salt Lake/Flats, Sierra Nevada Mountains
Whose shortcut did the Donner Party follow?
Lansford Hastings
Why did the Donner Party get stuck in the Mountains in 1846?
Short cut took too long, got to the Mountains too late, snow.
Name one way the Donner Party and other pioneers encouraged further development.
Letters back to the east, stories covered in Dime novels, newspapers and journals.
What year did Joseph Smith start the Church of Latter Day Saints the Mormons?
1823
Who was the angel Moroni?
The angel that visited Smith and told him to go find the story of the Mormons.
What is the Book of Mormon based on?
Gold plates left by the first Israelites in America. Told the story of the Mormons.
Give four reasons why the Mormons were persecuted in the east.
Religious beliefs such as polygamy, economic success such as buying up land and setting up banks, blamed for 1837 economic crisis, anti-slavery, Joseph Smith wanting to become president, growing numbers.
What does polygamy mean and why did the Mormons practise it?
More than one wife, more women than men joined the Mormon religion in the 1840s.
Why was Joseph Smith murdered in 1845?
Wanted to run for American president. Murdered by an Anti-Mormon mob.
Who replaced Joseph Smith as leader of the Mormons and decided to take them out west?
Brigham Young
Give two reasons why Young chose the Salt Lake for the new Mormon settlement.
Isolated and unsettled so that Mormons could practise their religion without persecution
How did Young solve the issue of having a reliable trail to follow out west?
Young sent a group of pioneers out first to make a clear trail to follow.
Where did the Mormons get their resources?
Rest camps set up along the trail.
How did the Mormons get 16,000 people out west safely?
Split them into teams, strict time frames, winter camps.
How was Salt Lake land allocated?
Planned community, land allocated based on need (e.g. size of family or job)
What is the type of community called, where jobs and resources are shared and organised for all?
Co-operative
What was Deseret?
The state that Brigham Young wanted entered into the Union in the 1850s?
What was the Perpetual Emigrating Fund?
All expenses paid journey for new recruits to the Mormon religion
When was Gold discovered in California?
24th January 1848
What nickname was given to the miners and why?
49ers, because they all went out in 1849
Name 5 different ethnic groups that went west for gold?
Chinese, eastern Anglo Americans, Mexicans, Europeans, freed slaves (African Americans)
In what year did California become a state as a result of the Gold Rush immigration?
1850
Give 5 different entrepreneurial jobs that developed as a result of the Gold Rush.
prostitution, gambling, tool shops, b and bs, saloons (pub), bridge tolls, ferries, food, Levis jeans
How did the Gold Rush change America? (Name 2 things)
Took land from Native Americans, immigration and racial diversity, gold reserves made it an internationally wealthy country, California became a state,
