Topic 2 - The West

Question 1

Why did White Americans see the Plains as uninhabitable before the 1840s?

Answer 1

-The Plains we’re between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains.
-There are few resources like wood or water on the Plains.
-Temperatures varied from well below freezing to over 40°c.
- White Americans saw it as a great desert.

Question 2

How did the Lakota Sioux adapt their culture to suit life in the 1800s?

Answer 2

-The Sioux we’re divided into large groups: the Lakota and the Dakota.
-The Lakota were experienced with horses so they could follow the buffalo on the Plains and have a source of food.
-By the 1830s the Lakota Sioux had obtained guns from White American traders.
-The Sioux homelands began to fill up with other Native American people escaping expansion.
-By the 1830s, the Lakota had permanently moved on their Plains and their culture had changed to match their new life.

Question 3

What are the similarities and differences in Leadership and Organisation within the Lakota Sioux, Cheyenne and Nez Perce?

Answer 3

• The Lakota Sioux was organised into nations and each nation had bands and was usually lead by a powerful leader. They lived a Nomadic lifestyle following the buffalo.
• The Cheyenne was organised into nations and bands and was usually lead by a powerful leader. It was partially nomadic depending on the nation. Some settled near trading posts.
• The Nez Perce was organised into villages with each village electing a headman, who was chosen on his organisation and negotiation skills. They were fixed villages not really nomadic.

Question 4

What are the similarities and differences of food within the Lakota Sioux, Cheyenne and Nez Perce?

Answer 4

• The Lakota Sioux mainly ate buffalo.
• The Cheyenne mainly ate buffalo but also traded supplies with white traders.
• The Nez Perce hunted buffalo on the Plains in the summer but ate fish and camas roots in the winter.

Question 5

What are the similarities and differences of shelter within the Lakota Sioux, Cheyenne and Nez Perce?

Answer 5

• The Lakota Sioux lived in tipis made from buffalo hides.
• The Cheyenne lived in buffalo tipis.
• The Nez Perce lived in huts in the winter and tipis in the summer.

Question 6

What are the similarities and differences of warfare within the Lakota Sioux, Cheyenne and Nez Perce?

Answer 6

• The Lakota Sioux fought on horseback using bows and guns. Young men learned to fight from childhood and warrior societies were very powerful in Sioux politics.
• The Cheyenne fought on horseback using bows and guns. Young men learned to fight from childhood and warrior societies were a powerful force.
• The Nez Perce fought on horses but only during summer buffalo hunts. They sold horses to other Plains people and warrior societies were less influential than headmen.

Question 7

What are the similarities and differences of beliefs within the Lakota Sioux, Cheyenne and Nez Perce?

Answer 7

• The Lakota Sioux believed in the great spirit, Wakan Tanka. They believed that the Black hills of Dakota were the sacred centre of Sioux power and that no one could own land. They thought farming was disrespectful to the Earth.
• They Cheyenne believed in the All being and thought that the Noahavose hill was the sacred center of Cheyenne lands. They thought that the Cheyenne were a ‘called out people’.
• The Nez Perce believed in the importance of staying near the Bitterroot Mountains (sacred home). They thought land couldn’t be bought or sold by people.

Question 8

What are the similarities and differences of relationships with white Americans within the Lakota Sioux, Cheyenne and Nez Perce?

Answer 8

• The Lakota Sioux traded with white Americans but fought to keep control of lands and hunting groups. Some were willing to sign treaties but they were regularly broken by the US.
• The Cheyenne saw trade with white Americans as key to their survival and brought trade items to sell to other Native American nations. They married into white trading families.
• The Nez Perce were friendly with white Americans and helped rescue the Lewis and Clark’s expedition on the West in 1804-05.

Question 9

What happened across the Plains in 1839-60?

Answer 9

• There were few journeys to the west and the journey was up to 3000 miles.
• Hundreds of thousands of while settlers travelled to the west.
• Most of these over landers were in wagons and travelled to territories in the Far West.

Question 10

Why did people travel westwards?

Answer 10

• The banking system collapsed in 1837 so many people were unemployed and poor.
• Land in the east was beginning to fill up. So farmer competition was high.
• Navigators had begun to map safe routes to the far west.
• In 1848, California land was taken from Mexica in a war so became US land.
• Some believed they wanted to convert west Native Americans to Christianity.
• Territories ran advertising campaigns to encourage people to travel West.

Question 11

Stage 1 of journey to California or Oregon and it’s dangers or issues.

Answer 11

Stage 1 - Before they went people had to decide which route to take and which company of travellers they wanted to join.
Dangers or Issues - Buying the right equipment, supplies and travel guided was important for emigrants.

Question 12

Stage 2 of journey to California or Oregon and it’s dangers or issues.

Answer 12

Stage 2 - Families loaded their possessions into a covered wagon and joined a wagon train heading on either of the trails.
Dangers or Issues - The wagon had to carry enough supplies for the whole journey. Families took guns and injured themselves.

Question 13

Stage 3 of journey to California or Oregon and it’s dangers or issues.

Answer 13

Stage 3 - First part of the journey was easy going and families travelled about 20 miles a day.
Dangers or Issues - Wagons for stuck and injuries like broken bones or crushed limbs were common and many people died of cholera or typhoid.

Question 14

Stage 4 of journey to California or Oregon and it’s dangers or issues.

Answer 14

Stage 4 - Wagons were taken through one of the few passes over the Rocky Mountains.
Dangers or Issues - Groups who arrived at the Rockies too late in the autumn had to spend winter on the Plains or risk crossing the mountains. Many died.

Question 15

Stage 5 of journey to California or Oregon and it’s dangers or issues.

Answer 15

Stage 5 - The final leg was a little easier. Local Native Americans often helped to ferry travellers down the rivers.
Dangers or Issues - Diseases were a major issue. Late summer or autumn floods also claimed many lives.

Question 16

What was the name of a group who tried to settle in the West?

Answer 16

The Mormons

Question 17

Who’s were the Mormons?

Answer 17

They were a religious group set up in the early nineteenth century and they wanted to practice their religion freely.

Question 18

Where did the Mormon leader (Brigham Young) choose to build a new settlement?

Answer 18

Brigham chose to build a settlement in Utah territory, the Great Salt Lake.

Question 19

When and how was Salt Lake City established?

Answer 19

It was established in the late 1840s and by 1852 has a population of over 10,000. It was planned carefully and had irrigation ditches (helped to water land)to allow farming to begin straight away.

Question 20

What did the Mormon church do?

Answer 20

The Mormon Church decided how much land each family got. Nobody was allowed to own water. The Mormon temple was build at the centre of the city and in 1850, Brigham Young became the first Governor of Utah.

Question 21

Why did California have a rush of settlers between 1848-1851?

Answer 21

• In January 1848 gold was discovered at Sutter’s Mill, California Territory.
• In February 1848 Mexico sold California to the USA
• In 1849 over 50,000 Americans headed to California to ‘strike it rich’
• In October 1848 California became a state.
• In 1850 San Francisco grew to be a city of 34,000 and a busy trading port.
• In 1850-51 huge numbers of Chinese people and miners went to find riches in California.

Question 22

What are mining settlements and what were they like?

Answer 22

• Mining settlements weee quickly built towns for miners.
• They were heavily male dominated and were often full of gambling dens and saloons.
• Many miners forced native peoples from the land to set up mining camps.
• Robberies and murders were common in mining camps.
• Women made money in mining settlements by prostitution of making food and doing laundry for the miners.

Question 23

How did people make money from the gold rush?

Answer 23

• Small business owners made a lot of money by selling shovels or gold-washing pans.
• An industry grew up selling maps and supplies to get to California.
• After 1852, crushing mills (machines to get gold out of rock) were needed to extract gold and they were paid for by rich businessmen from the East.

Question 24

How did the gold rush impact the Native Americans in California?

Answer 24

They were pushed off the land to make way for miners. A law was brought in which allowed Native Americans to be sold into forced labour.

Question 25

How did the gold rush impact the immigrants in the West?

Answer 25

In 1850, California passed a law which said that all non-US miners had to pay a $20 tax. This forced thousands of Mexicans and Chinese people to leave.

Question 26

How did the gold rush impact the Plains Indians?

Answer 26

The miners who travelled West cut right through the Plains Indians hunting grounds. The government was forced to sign the Fort Laramie Treaty in 1851 which promised not to disrupt the Plains hunting or to settle on the Plains.

Question 27

How did the gold rush impact California?

Answer 27

San Francisco grew to have 56,000 people by 1860 and was the 15th largest city in the country. Mining lead to environmental destruction, clogging rivers with silt and putting harmful chemicals into the water supply.

Question 28

How did the gold rush impact America as a whole?

Answer 28

California became a free state very suddenly in 1850. This threw the delicate balance of slabs and non-slave states into crisis. It led to demands to connect the country up fully with a railroad.

Question 29

When was Pike’s Peak gold rush?

Answer 29

In 1858 gold was found at Pike’s Peak in Kansas territory. This land was occupied by the Cheyenne. Over 100,000 people had come to Pike’s Peak by 1859.

Question 30

The settlement of Kansas:

Answer 30

Thousands more people settled in the eastern half of Kansas Territory and established farms. This proved that the Plains weren’t just a desert land. The settlement broke the treaties the USA had signed so nations like the Cheyenne and Kiowa began to fight back against white settlers on the Plains. By 1860 a War between the USA and Plains Indians seemed inevitable.