Westward Expansion 1865-1877 Flashcards
Manifest Destiny
Belief held by Americans that God chose them to populate these lands (from the Atlantic seaboard to the Pacific Ocean)
Gave white Americans the right to populate the whole of North America + spread Christian and republican values
Thought if these areas weren’t populated they could be targeted by rival countries
Racial doctrine of white supremacy granting no Native Americans/ non-white claims to any possession of land on the North American continent
Justified expansion of US- especially into Texas + California
Acts that followed the Homestead Act
The Timber and Culture Act 1873- gave homesteaders an additional 160 acres provided 40 acres were planted with trees
The Desert and Land Act 1877- offered a further 640 acres at $1.25 an acre provided some of it was irrigated
‘Bonanza Farms’
Very large farms- nearly 3,000 of these farms with other 1,000 acres by 1880
Railroads
1862- Lincoln signed the Pacific Railroad Act- authorised 2 companies to build a transcontinental railroad
Central Pacific, Union Pacific
Railroad companies were given land by the Government to cover the cost of the plan
Lured settlers onto Plains through ‘buy now, pay later’ schemes
1870- railroad carried 15,000 passengers
Railroads + The Native Americans
Native Americans not consulted- railway ran through their lands .
For Native Americans, the railroads disturbed the buffalo herds + brought more land-hungry settlers to the Plains
The Second Gold Rush
Black Hills of Dakota 1970s
Prospectors found gold in Custer, South Dakota in 1874- deposits were small
Larger deposits of gold found in Deadwood Gulch a year later
Gold-seekers flocked to Deadwood
Effect of The Second Gold Rush on the Native Americans
US Govt. recognised the Black Hills as belonging to the Native Americans, the Sioux, by the Treaty of Laramie of 1868- their rights were ignored
The Great Sioux War
Broke out after the discovery of gold in the Black Hills of Dakota
Gold prospectors + settlers poured into Native American territory
Govt. offered Native Americans $6 million but this failed
Govt. believed Native Americans were being unreasonable so hardened their attitude towards them- demanded all Native Americans to go to their reservations
Those who didn’t respond by 31 January 1876 were classed as hostile- many just ignored this
Political pressure by white Americans forced the removal of the Native Americans from the Black Hills (Against the Treaty of Laramie in 1868)
Led to the Battle of Little Bighorn 1876 + The Sand Creek Massacre of 1864
The Battle of Little Bighorn 1867
Custer + his men set to round up Sioux + Cheyenne tribes who left the Great Sioux Reservation lands + denied the authorities by refusing to return
Custer forced his men to attack the Native Americans tribe- His unit of 200 came under attack and all of his men were killed.
The Sand Creek Massacre of 1864
Soldiers withdrawn from the Plains during Civil War to fight in the East
Replaced by volunteers untrained + ill-disciplined
Led to brutality
A force of 700 troops of cavalry attacked an undefended camp of the Cheyenne tribe= killing + mutilating elderly men, women + children
Reservation Policy for Native Americans
Native Americans = problem for the US Govt.
Native Americans hostile + dangerous- US Govt. used reservation policy to bring an end to their nomadic lifestyles
Policy entailed locating Native Americans on Government- controlled reservations- to Americanise them
Separated Native Americans from hunting of the buffalo- tribal ways to be destroyed
Wanted to educate African Americans by conversion to Christianity + training them to become farmers (The future aim of the Dawes Plan)
Ideal to transform Native Americans into farmers unreasonable as land allocated was impossible to cultivate
Depended on food supplied by the Govt.- many starved
