Booklet 2 : American West

Question 1

What did the Indian Removal Act of 1830 set up?

Answer 1

A ‘Permanent Indian Frontier’ in the western part of America (past the Mississippi). Removed Indians from the fertile farming lands of the south-east to the harsh western plains.

Question 2

What was the Bureau of Indian Affairs?

Answer 2

A government department. Indian Agents were government officials sent to the west to monitor and negotiate with the Sioux.

Question 3

What was the name of the Act that intended to protect the Indians from western settlers by setting up the Reservations?

Answer 3

Indian Appropriations Act, 1851

Question 4

When was the first Fort Laramie Treaty passed?

Answer 4

1851

Question 5

Name TWO terms of the first Fort Laramie treaty?

Answer 5

Sioux promised not to attack settlers on the trails to California and allowed the building of roads and forts and the US Government promised to protect Sioux hunting areas and pay the Sioux an annual subsidy (money).

Question 6

There were two arguments regarding how the Sioux should be treated. Who wanted to negotiate?

Answer 6

Indian Agents, government officials and people who lived in the east.

Question 7

Who supported the ‘exterminator’ solution to the Indian problem?

Answer 7

westerners (miners, homesteaders) and the army.

Question 8

Give FOUR reasons why the Sioux went to war in the 1860s.

Answer 8

Government did not pay subsidies, 1858 Gold Rush in Colorado and Kansas brought miners onto Indian lands, farmers moving to the Plains in the late 1850s, surveying and building the railroad.

Question 9

How are the Sioux to blame for the failure of the First Fort Laramie Treaty?

Answer 9

Not all Sioux bands agreed and warriors continued to attack settlers.

Question 10

What was the Homestead Act, 1862?

Answer 10

160 acres of free land. If you could farm successfully in 5 years, the land was yours.

Question 11

Name 3 aims of the Homestead Act?

Answer 11

Unite USA east to west, (as it was separated north to south through war), defeat the Sioux and settle the west, solved overcrowding due to immigration in the east.

Question 12

How did the government allocate a lot of the free land?

Answer 12

Land rush or Land race

Question 13

Why did the government want settlement on the Great Plains? (two reasons)?

Answer 13

Unify America (especially after the start of the Civil War between the North and South), defeat the Sioux, deal with overcrowding (immigration) and high land prices in the eastern states.

Question 14

Which President launched the building of the Transcontinental Railroad in 1863?

Answer 14

President Abraham Lincoln

Question 15

Give 2 reasons why the Transcontinental Railroad was built 1863-1869?

Answer 15

Unite USA east to west, support western settlement, encourage trade.

Question 16

Who built the railroad?

Answer 16

The Central Pacific Railroad company started in California and built towards the east. The Union Pacific started in Missouri and built towards the west.

Question 17

How did the government pay the Railroad builders (Union Pacific and Central Pacific)?

Answer 17

Government grants after 40 miles of track built and 12,000 acres of land for every 1 mile of track built. (Companies could then sell land to settlers).

Question 18

How did the Central Pacific company deal with labour shortages?

Answer 18

Chinese immigrants

Question 19

Colonel Dodge had to introduce marshal law (military control) on the Union Pacific line (across the Plains). Why?

Answer 19

Alcohol, gambling, prostitution, violence (shoot outs).

Question 20

Which railroad company had to deal with Sioux attacks?

Answer 20

Union Pacific (from the east to the west across the Plains)

Question 21

Name 3 consequences for the Sioux Indians of the Homestead Act and railroad.

Answer 21

Thousands of more settlers, not just travelling through but actually settling on Sioux hunting lands. The railroad disrupted buffalo herds. The railroad encouraged sport hunting of the buffalo, depleting the numbers for the Sioux.

Question 22

Why did the Sioux attack the railroad?

Answer 22

Cut through buffalo hunting grounds, brought more settlers out west.

Question 23

The first Sioux war is known as the Cheyenne War, 1863-67. What caused it?

Answer 23

Some Cheyenne Sioux refused to live on reservations and attacked railroad, settlers, miners, ranchers etc.

Question 24

Name two events where Indians were attacked for being off of the reservation.

Answer 24

Sand Creek Massacre, 1864 and Battle of Washita, 1867.

Question 25

Why was Sandcreek (1864) a ‘massacre’?

Answer 25

700 soldiers of the Colorado militia attacked mostly women, children and elderly (warriors were hunting) Sioux in camp at Sandcreek. There is evidence that Black Kettle (chief) flew a US flag over the village and that there were attempts by the Sioux to surrender, but the soldiers butchered them anyway. There is evidence that Colonel Chivington ordered the massacre and that Sioux bodies were mutilated by the soldiers afterwards.

Question 26

How is the cause of Red Cloud’s War (1865-68) similar to the Cheyenne War?

Answer 26

Americans left the trails and invaded Indian land (this time for Gold in the Rocky Mountains, 1862). The government did not protect Sioux land, so the Sioux attacked.

Question 27

Can the US government be blamed for Red Cloud’s War? Why or Why not?

Answer 27

Yes! The government did not stop miners trespassing on Sioux land. Whilst negotiating a peace treaty, the American Army was secretly building forts to defeat the Sioux.

Question 28

Briefly what happened at Fetterman’s Fort in 1866? Was it a massacre?

Answer 28

Sioux and Army troops were clashing regularly in the West. Captain Fetterman chased a small group of Sioux warriors who had been attacking loggers nearby. The Sioux lured Fetterman and his men into a trap, ambushed and slaughtered them. Difficult to define as a massacre as the army underestimated the strength of the Sioux and were beaten. They were not innocent as Fetterman’s intent was to kill the Sioux who had been attacking the loggers.

Question 29

What was Red Cloud’s major achievement in the Indian Wars?

Answer 29

Red Cloud was able to keep several different Sioux bands fighting together, even through the winter (when the Sioux didn’t usually fight). He kept the US army on the defensive from 1866-1868.

Question 30

Why did the government have to admit defeat by Red Cloudin 1868?

Answer 30

Red Cloud and the Sioux would not surrender. Another trail, away from Sioux land, was opened to the Gold mines so defeating the Sioux was no longer necessary.

Question 31

What were the terms of the Second Fort Laramie Treaty, 1868? (name 3)?

Answer 31

The government withdrew soldiers from the forts (and the Sioux burned them down), the Great Sioux Reservation was created, no non-Indians were allowed to enter this land.

Question 32

Was Red Cloud’s victory a success for all Sioux?

Answer 32

No, many Sioux were still unhappy about living on the Reservations. Younger, more radical leaders like Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse wanted the Americans completey pushed off of the Plains.

Question 33

Name one long term cause of the Mountain Meadow Massacre in 1857?

Answer 33

Morman traders charged travellers high prices, Mormons were converting Indians, polygamy or Utah territory expanding.

Question 34

Name one medium term cause of the Mountain Meadow Massacre in 1857?

Answer 34

The US government sent in a non-Mormon governor to rule Utah territory, this upset Brigham Young who set up the Nauvoo Legion to protect the Mormons. Tensions were high.

Question 35

What triggered the Mountain Meadow Massacre in 1857?

Answer 35

An eager Nauvoo Legion officer found out a wagon train of 150 settlers travelling to California was attacked. He was nervous this would be blamed on the Mormons, so massacred all 150 except 17 children that he brought back to Salt Lake City to be adopted. Then blamed this on the local Indians.

Question 36

Name two results of the Mountain Meadow Massacre?

Answer 36

1858 - Mormons were pardoned and US Army stationed in Utah. Bad publicity for the Mormons. Mormons struggled to convince USA to let Utah join as a state. Did not join until 1896 and had to ban polygamy.

Question 37

How did the Abolitionists cause the American Civil War 1861-65?

Answer 37

Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote Uncle Tom’s Cabin in 1851 which spread anti-slavery feeling in the north, Harriet Tubman helped develop the Underground Railroad which helped thousands of slaves escape to the north and Canada, further spreading anti-slavery feeling amongst northerners.

Question 38

How did Slavery cause the American Civil War 1861-65?

Answer 38

Although there were many differences between the north and the south, slavery was the underlying cause. The north had no need for slavery, whereas slaves were fundamental to the southern economy. Northerners were becoming anti-slavery. Mainly, they did not want slavery to spread to the new Western states. The south resented the north’s lack of support or understanding. This all comes down to the slavery issue.

Question 39

How did Westward Expansion cause the American Civil War 1861-65?

Answer 39

As western territories got 60,000 settlers, they applied to join the Union. There was debate whether they should join as free or slave states because it would tip the balance between the north and south in government.

Question 40

How did Sectionalism cause the American Civil War 1861-65?

Answer 40

Sectionalism simply means that the north and south were very different. The north had more cities, more factories, more railroad, more immigration from Europe and more mechanisation in farming whereas the south was very rural, had extremes of rich and poor, little immigration and relied entirely on labour demanding cotton and tobacco crops worked by slaves for 300 years.

Question 41

How did the 1860 Election cause the American Civil War 1861-65?

Answer 41

Nobody expected the Republican Abraham Lincoln to win, but the Democrats split in half (those who wanted to stay in the union and those that wanted to leave). As a result, Lincoln won. He did not want to ban slavery, only stop it spreading, however many Republicans were anti-slavery and the south was worried about a Republican government. South Carolina was the first to leave the union as a result.

Question 42

How did Secession cause the American Civil War 1861-65?

Answer 42

South Carolina and then Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Louisiana, Georgia and Texas voted to leave the Union and become the Confederacy. Lincoln would not let them leave and sent troops to Fort Sumter. Other southern states, such as Virginia, were not happy Lincoln sent troops so joined the Confederacy as well. The southern army attacked northern troops, starting the war.

Question 43

What was the 1820 Missouri Compromise?

Answer 43

A line was drawn through the centre of the western territories. New states above the line would join as free states and new states below would join as slave. This compromise worked for 30 years.

Question 44

The 1850 Compromise allowed California to join as a free state, but in exchange for what?

Answer 44

The Fugitive Slave Act meant that Northern states must return any escaped slaves to the south.

Question 45

What was the 1854 Kansas-Nebraska Act and how did it contribute to the war?

Answer 45

The US government decided to let new states such as Kansas and Nebraska vote on whether they wanted to be slave or free. This caused tension between the north and the south as each side sent in supporters to ‘convince’ people to vote one way or the other. There was even fighting!

Question 46

Name 3 social effects of the war on the USA?

Answer 46

Loss of thousands of northern factory workers and southern farmers, women work in factories and run plantations, Emancipation of slaves through the 13th Amendment in 1863, food shortages, inflation and high casualty rates (deaths and injuries).

Question 47

Give3 reasons why the southern economy was more badly affected than the north?

Answer 47

The south was agricultural, when men went off to fight plantations failed and profits were lost. The north had a navy and blocked trade to the south, this caused inflation and food shortages. The north had the benefit of factories and the US government treasury whereas the south struggled for funding, especially as they were unable to trade their cotton and tobacco due to the disruptions of war and the north had railroads, whereas what the south had were destroyed by northern troops.