The early settlers, railways and cattle trails Flashcards
How did the west coast of America first have contact with Europeans?
Russian traders arrived by sea in the late 1700s and traded with the Tlingit Indians.
When did the mountain men become familiar with routes west through the mountains?
1840s
How did mountain men survive?
The used Native American survival skills.
How did mountain men marry?
Many took Native American wives, eg Jim Bridger had three in succession during 40 years.
Who first reported the Great Salt Lakes?
Jim Bridger
What were the plains known as?
The Great American Desert
Why were the Great Plains thought to be unsuitable for agriculture?
The extreme climate, sparse rainfall, and hard ground made farming difficult or impossible.
How risky was the journey west?
As many as 10% died.
What reasons pushed people west?
Poverty; disease; religious persecution; social persecution; taxation ; eastern overpopulation
What reasons pulled people west?
A new start; tall tales; newspaper reports; fertile, cheap land; government encouragement; gold and silver
How long were the Oregon and California trails?
2000 miles
How long would a covered wagon take to cover the Oregon or California trail
5 months
What was the deadline for getting west?
The journey had to beat the winter deadline.
What year was the Donner party?
1846
Which shortcut did the Donner party try?
the Hastings cut-off, it was meant to shorten the journey by hundreds of miles.
Where did the Donner party get stuck?
In deep snow in the Sierra Nevada mountains
Where were the Donner party aiming for?
California
How did members of the Donner party survive?
By eating those who died.
How many members of the Donner party survived?
Less than 50 out of 87.
How could young men without money go west?
By hiring themselves out as helpers on wagon trains
Who had the money to outfit a wagon?
Farmers who had sold their farms, teachers, clergy, craftsmen.
What did white Americans believe about North America?
The believed that is was their God-given right to occupy all the land, and govern it.
What was the phrase used to justify the whites taking the west?
Manifest destiny
How did the whites see their interactions with the natives?
They saw themselves as civilising the continent.
Who coined the term manifest destiny, and when?
John L O’Sullivan in 1846, talking about American relations with Mexico.
Why were the Great Plains settled?
People were hungry for land
Which were the first parts of the Great Plains to be settled?
The Low plains (eastern Kansas and Nebraska)
When were the first parts of the Great Plains settled?
1850s.
Where were the first settlements?
Along the rivers, only later advancing into the drier parts
What act gave land to settlers?
The Homestead Act of 1862
When was the Homestead Act passed?
1862
How long did the land have to be occupied under the Homestead Act?
Five years
How much land could each settler have free under the Homestead Act?
160 acres
How were houses built on the Great Plains?
They were made of clods of earth (sod houses)
How was the hard ground broken up when the Great Plains were first farmed?
Farmers paid to hire steel ploughs, known as “sod busters” for the first ploughing.
What was used as fuel on the Great plains?
Buffalo dung and cow pats
Why did the patchwork quilt become such an American symbol?
The settlers recycled every last scrap of material.
What did the Great Plains lack that made building houses so difficult?
Trees, so no wood.
Why was the land difficult to plough on the Great Plains?
It was very hard, so a light plough could not do the first plough.
What made the crops fail on the High Plains?
Lack of water, extremes of temperature
How did the farmers on the High Plains get around the lack of water?
They dug very deep wells, a hundred feet deep
What insect pest made farming on the Great Plains hard?
Grasshopper plagues.
What was the role of women on the Plains?
They worked with their men, did the housework, educated the children, maintained gardens, looked after the animals, and made items such as clothes, soap, candles.
Why were the women in the west allowed more autonomy than European women, or women in the east?
It was necessary for their survival that the women were strong and capable, and made decisions about their work.
How did the women combat the loneliness of the prairie?
They helped each other in childbirth, nursed the sick, set up church groups and other social networks.
When was gold found in California?
1848, 10 days before California changed from Mexico to the US
Who found the first gold in California?
James Marshall
Who was the president who boasted of riches to be found?
President Polk
What were the fortune seekers coming to California known as?
The 49ers
How did the 49ers get to California?
Some came along the settlers trails, others by boat (around Cape Horn, or crossing America at Panama)
Were all the 49ers looking for gold?
Some came to be store keepers, saloon owners, prostitutes
How was the first gold found?
By panning a river
What happened to the gold in the rivers?
It was soon exhausted
How was gold extracted after the rivers were exhausted?
By mining
What happened to prices when the 49ers arrived?
The prices were huge.
What happened to the 49ers who could not find gold?
If they could not afford to pay their passage home they were stuck working for mining companies in terrible conditions.
Before 1866 what was the law in the US about mining claims?
There was none.
What was the name for a man who stole another person’s mine?
A claim jumper
How did the miners respond to the lawlessness of the gold rush?
They formed their own miners courts
What sentence did the miners courts pass?
Death there were no prisons.
What was the appeals system against the sentence of the miners court?
There was none.
How long was the death sentence passed by a miners court delayed?
It wasn’t, often done immediately
What happened to the Native Americans during the gold rush?
Their numbers fell from around 150,000 to less than 30,000 from 1845-1870
Why did the population of Native Americans fall during the gold rush?
violent attacks, epidemics, and being driven off the land.
Why was the gold rush bad for the environment?
Timber for mine supports used up forests. Chemicals used for mining, eg mercury, polluted the environment
Why did the Mormons move west?
To escape persecution
What are the Mormons really called?
The Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints
Who started the Mormon church?
Joseph Smith
When was the book of Mormon published?
1830
What did the book of Mormon say?
Jesus Christ visited America after the resurrection; three of the lost tribes of Israel had come to America
What did Joseph Smith claim about the book of Mormon?
It was translated from gold tablets that he found after the angel Moroni told him where they were.
What were the Mormon beliefs?
Polygamy; Proselytisation; Politics; Property; People of God
What does polygamy mean?
A man could have more than one wife
What is proselytisation, as applied to the Mormons?
Mormons should try to convert others to their faith.
What is politics, as applied to the Mormons?
Church leaders should seek and be given political power
What was property, as applied to the Mormons?
Only the church could hold property, not the individual
What was people of God, as applied to the Mormons?
Obedience would make the Mormons Gods chosen people on earth and in heaven
Why were the Mormons persecuted?
Polygamy - not acceptable to Christians; Proselytisation - unacceptable when people did not want to lose people from the Christian faith; Politics meant that non-believers were threatened with religiously inspired legislation; claims to be the chosen people annoyed other people who felt this was arrogant; Mormons worked together for the church and this made them wealthy, which annoyed others.
How did the Mormons cope with dissent?
There was a violent militia formed, the Danites
