The Early settlement of the West 1835 - 1862 Flashcards
Where was the American West and the Great Plains?
- American West = 2/3 of the USA west of the Mississippi River, an extensive natural grasslands of it was called the Great Plains
Survival of the Great Plains - how did they survive and what were the conditions?
- Hot summers and cold winters
- VERY dry - few rivers/streams
- Hunted buffalo
- Amazing horse riding and archery skills
- Nomadic lifestyle (travelling)
- Deep respect for nature
List 3 key features of Plain Indian survival.
- Tipis they lived in, could be moved by a harness to a horse, in winter they built lodges
- Horses - fighting, traveling, hunting, and were often sold
- Never wasted buffalo
List 8 key features of Plain Indian society.
- Nations - tribes - bands
- Warrior brotherhoods made up of brave and skilled young men
- Women were highly valued and respected, and look after family. Men could have more than one wife and women could not be chiefs.
- Land was sacred
- Chiefs - leaders in Plain Indian society (famous ones include Red Cloud, Crazy horse, Sitting Bull)
- Belief about nature and animals
- Beliefs about war - counting coup
What was the Indian Removal Act in 1830?
- Signed by President Andrew Jackson
- 46,000 forced to move west of the Mississippi from the east
- Jackson promised they would never have to give up the land
What was the Indian Trade and Intercourse Act in 1834?
- Gave Indians territory
- Permanent Indian Frontier was created to divide American lands
- Whites banned from settling
- White traders banned from selling weapons or alcohol to Indians
What was the Indian Appropriations Act 1851?
- Government gave money to Indians so they moved onto reservations
- Gov reduced the amount of hunting land available - hoped Indians would take white customs
What four changes happened in 1840?
- Indian territory was in the middle of the USA
- 1846 - Gained control of Oregon
- 1848 - New territory won with Mexico
- 1845 - Texas joins USA
What encouraged people to migrate West?
- Economic conditions - bank crashes, people wanted a fresh start
- Gold rush of 1849
- Farmland in Oregon
- Manifest Destiny - god’s will for Americans to populate
- Oregon Trail
Challenges for migrants
- Migrants had to finish the journey before winter - if they didn’t, they’d freeze to death
- Had to take enough essentials (mainly salt pork)
- Cholera
- Oxen were slow
- Large groups of 20 needed the essential skills
- Needed for enough grass for the animals to feed on
- Drowning and accidents on the Oregon Trail
What happened to the Donner Party?
The group split, 80 people tried taking a shortcut, mistake, no established route, and snowstorms trapped the group. Only half made it by eating the others.
Who were the Mormons?
- A religious group forced to move from state to state because other Christians disliked their beliefs (polygamy)
- Forced to leave Illinois in 1845 - Joseph Smith was murdered
- Brigham Young believed God wanted them to migrate to Salt Lake Valley, outside the USA
How was the Mormon journey well planned?
- Young counted how many people and wagons there were before leaving
- Researched the route
- He was strict and had roles for everyone to avoid arguments
- Regular rests
- Mormons were divided into smaller groups so people knew what to do if someone got split up
What were the 2 stages of the Mormon journey?
- Forced to begin in Feb, it was still cold
- Reached Omaha, and spent a harsh winter because it was too late in the year
- 1847 - led a small advance on a 2000km to Salt Lake Valley using the Donner Party
- When he got there, the others followed
Why did they successfully settle?
- Young’s group made the journey easier (noting water sources)
- Everyone obeyed Young
- They built irrigation systems
- New Mormon settlements spread away from the valley for better supplies
What were the problems whites faced on the Plains?
- Low rainfall and few rivers
- Few trees - not enough timber
- Extreme climate
- Grasshoppers (invading swarms)
Why were whites suspicious of Indians?
- They got caught in tribal conflict
- Inferior race which should be wiped out
- Indians sometimes stole their cows and horses
Why were Indians suspicious of whites?
- New settlers threatened their food supply
- The migrant trails disrupted buffalo hunting
- The oxen ate the grass they needed for livestock and hunting
What were the aims of the Fort Laramie Treaty in 1851
- Agree on the fixed territory
- End conflict
- Guarantee safe access for migrants
What did the Plain Indians agree upon for the Fort Laramie Treaty?
- End the fighting
- Allow the migrants to travel through safely
- Allow railroad surveyors to enter their land safely
- Allow gov to build roads and army posts on their land
-Pay compensation if they broke the treaty
What did the gov agree upon for the Fort Laramie Treaty?
- Protect them from white settlers
- Pay tribes an annuity of 50,000
What were the 4 problems with the treaty?
- Choosing council representatives
- Getting representatives from every tribe to attend
- Agreeing boundaries and ownership
- Language barrier
What were the effects of the Gold Rush?
- Violence and tension between the different ethnicities in mining camps
- Claim jumping - where men would try to steal someone else’s claim
- Prostitution and alcohol caused violence
- Salting a claim - tricking people into buying worthless pieces of land by scattering a few flakes of gold
- Road agents - gangs who robbed prospectors
Why did San Fran’s population boom?
- Former prospectors arriving in search of other jobs
- Chinese migrants arriving following a famine in China
- Rival gangs controlled the city - murder, theft and corruption were common
Racism in the west?
- Chinese miners could only work old claims
- Chinese miners taxed more heavily
- White people were encouraged to murder Cali Indians
How did they tackle lawlessness?
- Each territory under 60,000 people had a US marshal, 3 judges who was in charge of law enforcement.
- Also could elect a sheriff to keep the peace if over 5000 people
- If under 60,000 people, had federal government control
- If over, recognised as a state and had their own gov, laws and customs
Why was law enforcement hard in the 1850s?
- Territories were huge
- Law enforcers were badly paid
- Sheriffs had no legal training
