migration and gold Flashcards
(17 cards)
what is manifest destiny
white settlers belief that going to the plains was bringing civilisation and christianity to the Indians and it was their god given right to settle and expand across the land.
3 push factors making people leave the east coast
- winters were very harsh and often led to bad health
- poor farmland
- minorities targeted eg. religous persecution, gingers
3 pull factors making people go to the west
- mountain men told fascinating stories about the west
- lots of fertile, free land
- gold discovered, good for economics
when was gold discovered, who discovered it
1848
James Marshal was the 1st american who discovered it
how many people went to california after it was discovered - within a decade (10 years)
250,000 million
1/4 million
how many people got cholera by the time they reached fort laramie
1,500 people
when gold was discovered in 1848 who was the president
James Polk
by ship how long did it take to get to california, how else could people get there
5 months
over the frontier
in 1846 which group of people tried to get to california for the gold
the Donner Party
how many people were in the donner party, how many wagons
300 migrants, 60 wagons
what went wrong for the donner party
4 main reasons
they found a short cut that had been written about by a man called Hastings, even though Hastings hadn’t actually used it before.
This route was not cut out, had steep slopes, and it went over streches of desert (it was not a short cut)
why didn’t many survive from the donner party and when did the first die
their livestock ran out and the first migrants died of starvation on 15th December
who was the original leader of the mormons and what happened to him
Joseph smith
he believed in polygamy and had multiple wives
what was the oregon trail
between what decades
key route for migrants moving west in the 1830s - 1860s
why did people move west in 1840s - 50s (4)
land, gold (1849 california gold rush), religious freedom (mormons), escape poverty
what challenges did settles face on the plains (4)
harsh weather, lack of wood/ water, isolation, conflict with the plains indians
who were the mormons and who was their leader
a religious droup persecuted for their beliefs and moved to utah under brigham young
