West Flashcards
Why was the tipi a conical shape?
To resist strong winds
What are topics made out of?
10-20 buffalo skins, wooden pegs
What enabled the Sioux to move onto the Great Plains?
They owned horses, allowing them to travel long distances
What pushed the Sioux onto the Great Plains (2 answers)?
- the new settlers brought diseases eg measles which they weren’t immune to
- they faced the threat of attack from other Indian nations
What pulled the Sioux onto the Great Plains?
They were empty of other people and full of buffalo which was a good food source
How did hunting affect the numbers of buffalo?
There were 70-100 million, but in 1900s only 1000 due to hunting
Did the Sioux travel in nations?
No, they lived in bands
What jobs did women and men do?
Looked after tipis, prepared food, fetch good and water, make clothes
Hunted, protected family, counselled the village
How did marriage work for Sioux?
The man wanting to marry the woman must give her dad gifts eg. Buffalo hide, horses
Which spirit created the world according to Sioux?
Wakan tanka - he is the land
What did medicine men do?
Beat a drum to drive out evil spirit.
How did Sioux warriors earn fame?
Through warfare - capturing horses, counting coup
What is counting coup?
Getting close enough to an enemy to touch them, rather than kill them
What was the point one ware fare?
To protect hunting/living space and steal horses
Hat circles did the Sioux see in their lives (5 answers)?
Circles of the:
- horizon
- tipis
- village
- councils
- shields
What were the rages of the circle of life in the Sioux nation?
The circle of:
- birth
- childhood
- adulthood
- old age
- second childhood
- death
What did Sioux believed happened after death?
They become part of the land
What is scalping?
Taking an enemy’s scalp and using it as a trophy to show their success
When was the gold rush?
1849
Why did people move to the gold mines in California,1849?
Poor people thought they’d benefit from the gold and become rich
What hardships did gold miners face?
Bad drinking water, illness, theft, no family, low pay, hangings
What is panning?
Swirling river dirt and water until gold is left
Who came up with Americas ‘manifest destiny’, 1845?
John O’Sullivan
What did the manifest destiny mean?
It meant that god wanted white settlers to dominate America
What did mountain men do?
Trapped beavers and sold their coats as there was a high demand for fur in clothes
Why did mountain men need to be tough?
The terrain was difficult, weather conditions were extreme and faced wild animals and hostile Indians
Why were there no mountain men in 1840?
Beaver hats went out if fashion, lack of beavers due to over hunting, and blamed for the outbreak of smallpox among Indians
Who was cannibal Phil?
Someone travelling to the mountains and ate his own wife
When was the economic depression which forced pioneers west?
1837 - wages cut by 40%
When was the pre emotion bill and what Was it?
1842 - a farmer could buy land cheaply, without being outbid
What year was Joseph smith visited by an angel?
1820
What year and where did Joseph smith dig up the religious books?
1827, Manchester, New York
Why was Joseph smith attacked by mobs?
They thought he was a fraud
Ho many members did the Mormon movement have by 1831?
1000
Why did the Gentiles dislike Mormons?
Mormons outnumbered them and felt threatened
Why did the government declare the Mormons had to be exterminated?
They were ‘public enemies’, rumours spread that they’d been freeing slaves, and were held responsible for everything
What was polygamy?
The practice of having more than one wife
Why was Joseph smith jailed?
He was disliked for practicing polygamy which appeared in the papers so he burnt them. He was accused for running a dictatorship.
When did Joseph smith die?
27th June, 1844
How did Joseph smith die?
Mobs of 200 non Mormons attacked the jail and shot him dead, then roamed the countryside to hunt other non Mormons
Who led the Mormons after Joseph young’s death?
Brigham Young
How many wives did Brigham young have?
27
What traits did Brigham young have?
Intelligent, organised, determined, considerate, loving
Why did Young move 16,000 Mormons west (3 answers)?
- escape prosecution from non Mormons
- isolation, water and soil in the west
- in Mexico, escapes American government
Why was Salt Lake City successfully built?
- good organisation.
- young assigned jobs to suit everyone
What were houses in Salt Lake City made from?
Sun dried brick e
What was the 1862 Homestead Act?
An act to encourage settlers to move West by giving them 160 acres free if they farmed there for 5 years e
What was the 1873 Timber Culture Act?
An act which gave settlers a further 160 acres of oand if they planted trees on 40acres of it
What was the 1877 Desert Land Act?
An act which have settlers the right to buy 640 acres cheaply if lack of rain was a problem
Who invented barbed wire and when?
Joseph Glidden, 1874
What were sod houses?
Houses made of clay
What was the problem with sod houses?
They were hard to stop water leaking through and hard to clean which caused pests to inhabit them
What was the weathers impact on the Plains?
- The dry grass caused prairie fires,destroying crops
- too cold
- droughts/little rainfall
- 1871/4/5, grasshoppers destroyed 100acres of cornfields
What did homesteaders use for fuel?
Buffalo chips (dung)
Why was lack do water a problem?
- failure of crops led to bankruptcy and starvation
- ## difficult cleaning, prone to disease
How did homesteaders find a solution to lack of water?
- wells (but they were expensive and there was no guarantee of water)
- windmills - pumped water underground
What were the ethnic origins of cowboys (1866-1885)?
- Mexican - 12%
- black - 25%
- white - 63%
What was an open range ranch?
An un fenced ranch in Central America
When was the end if open range ranches?
1880s
Why did open range ranches end (4 reasons)?
- pressure on grass stocks, drought in 1883
- the winter of 1886-87, 1000s of cattle died
- technology - barbed wire, wind pumps
- rise of fenced ranches
What 3 types of conflict was there between homesteaders and cattle ranchers?
1) verbal disputes - threats of damage to cattle
2) sabotage - cutting barbed wire
3) violence - shooting,lynching,Johnson country war
When was the Johnson Country War?
1892
What were the causes of the Johnson country war?
Beef prices falling, more homesteaders, disputes over land, cattle rustling
What were Dime Novels?
Comics by Beedle and Adams in the 1860s, exaggerating real people and events
What caused crime in the west (5 answers)?
- geographical - area so large hard to enforce law
- economic - people committed crimes for money
- political - didn’t spend money in police
- social - friction with ethnic groups
- values - code of honorary to settle things individually
What were the forces of law and order (6 answers)?
- us marshals - oversaw a state of territory
- town marshals - appointed by town yearly
- sheriffs - ineffective due to large area
- Texas rangers - small army of lawmen
- judges - tried cases
- Pinkerton detective agency - private company hired by banks to provide protection
What is a vigilante?
Someone who took law into their own hands
What was the problem with vigilantes?
They would punish them without a fair trial if they thought it was right
What was the Mining Code?
Claims had to be recorded in the district recorder
What was Billy the Kidds real name?
Henry McCarty
Who killed Billy the Kidd?
Pat Garrett
What was significant about the age he died (21)?
He killed one person for every year he lived
What was the Bureau of Indian Affairs?
Managed relationships between government and Indians
What were the reservations?
An area of fixed land reserved for Indians to live in, with it’s own laws and customs
Who came up with the reservation idea and when?
President Andrew Jackson, 1830 (Indian Removak Act)3
What were reservations designed to do (4 answers)?
- separate Indians from contact with white settlers
- enable them to peruse happiness independently
- stop decay which lessens their numbers
- stop savage habits
What problems were there with reservations (5 answers)?
- forced to farm which was against their hunting life (they were nomadic)
- banned from religious ceremonies
- poor farming land
- government intervened (used to leadership)
- Indians not immune to diseases white people brought
When was the Battle of the Little Bighorn?
June 25th 1976
Who led the battle of the Little Bighorn?
George custor - arrogant and controversial
Who was mr Kellogg?
A journalist who travelled with custor to the Battle of the Little Bighorn
How did reservations destroy Indian culture (5 answers)?
- Economic - couldn’t steal horses, capture buffalo
- religion - religious ceremonies banned
- education - children taught how to be white at boarding schools so didn’t fit in with society
- territory - Sioux split into smaller groups
- political - heads of families became leaders, not chiefs.
What was the point in reservations?
To damage tribal structure and weaken Indians self belief
When was the wounded knee massacre?
29th December 1890
Which was the last battle of American, Indian war?
The wounded knee massacre
