Westward Expansion Flashcards
After the Civil War, pioneers settled from where to where?
Mississippi River to California coast
Define push-pull factors
Events or conditions that either force (push) people to move or attract (pull) people to move.
Push factors
Land
New location for a business
Ethnic/religious repression
Shelter for outlaws
Pull factors
Government gave away public land or sold it for cheap to help settle west
Pacific Railway Acts
1862 and 1864
Government gave land land to Union to build railroads.
Pacific and Central Railroads= 175 million acres
Homestead Act of _____
Definition and effect, qualifications are a separate card
1862
For a small fee of $10, settlers could have 160 acres of land if they met certain conditions.
372,000 farms created.
Conditions for Homestead Act of 1862
- 21 or head of household
- Citizen or filing for citizenship
- Build a house 12 ft by 14 ft
- Live there 6 months of the year
- Farm land for 5 years
Who did the Homestead Act bring west?
First white easterners, then other ethnic groups.
Germans in late 1800s to practice Lutheranism.
West coast: Irish, Italian, Euro Jews, Chinese
Exodusters
50,000 blacks led by Benjamin “Pap” Singleton migrated west
What was the big reality of westward expansion?
West already occupied by natives
Great Plains
Vast grass lands between MS River and Rocky Mountains where natives lived and settlers wanted to live
War in the west
Settlers believed they could buy land and be more productive with it.
Natives saw settlers as invaders because land could not be owned by individuals.
Easterners called it the “Indian Problem” but for natives it was a life or death battle.
Native Life
Lived as farmers, hunters and gatherers.
Buffalo important for survival.
Horses changed native ways: became nomads traveling from place to place on horse. Led to a decline in village life, warfare between nations, and nomadic groups raiding others.
Reservations
Federal land set aside for natives.
US made treaties with natives that were unfair and confined them to reservations.
Treaties often misunderstood by natives, sometimes bribed to sign and often cheated in exchange for land.
Bureau of Indian Affairs
Supposed to manage supplies for reservations, but goods often mishandled or stolen.
The main policy for dealing with natives was ________ but in ####, the US declared no more
Treaties
1871
Frontier Army
Assembled because acts of violence on both sides set off cycles of revenge, mostly small hit and run attacks.
Supposed to drive settlers off reservations, escort mail, stop gunfights, protect from robberies.
Lacked supplies, was scattered.
Often pitted Indian groups against each other, usually prevailed in battles.
Who were the Cheyenne?
Native group that occupied plains in Colorado Territory and led gruesome wagon raids east of Denver.
Sand Creek Massacre
1864
Colorado’s governor took advantage of a peace campaign led by Cheyenne chief Black Kettle. Cheyenne followed orders to camp peacefully at Sand Creek. Colonel John Chivington led a force that slaughtered between 150-500, mostly women and children. Many Cheyenne agreed to move into reservations.
Sioux
Native tribe that resisted expansion in Dakota, Wyoming, and Montana.
1865: US building the Bozeman Trail railroad through Sioux hunting grounds in Bighorn Mountains.
Sioux Chief Red Cloud launched a 2 year war that ended with the Fort Laramie Treaty, US abandoned trail.
Red Cloud Speech
Cooper Union Hall, NY 1870
Settlers are white, rich, wise, but deceitful and violent. Natives are red skinned, poor, ignorant, but peaceful and welcoming. Accuses the US of treating the natives poorly and lying about treaty terms. Please be honest and help us get the land and goods as promised.
Battle of Little Bighorn
AKA Custer’s Last Stand
June 1876
US wanted to buy Black Hills, Sioux reservation in South Dakota, because of rumor of gold. This angered Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse. Against orders and warnings, Lt. Colonel George Custer moved in Montana near Bighorn River to investigate and attack. The 2000-4000 natives massacred the 200-250 men.
Aftermath of Battle of Little Bighorn
Sioux went to reservation.
Crazy Horse was killed.
Sitting Bull fled to Canada.
US revered Custer and his men as brave heroes.
Half of the army was sent west to get revenge on the natives.
Ghost Dance
A prophet of the plains named Wovoka promised a return to traditional life if people practiced the Ghost Dance, a ritual in which people joined hands and whirled in a circle. Ghost Dancers believed that the world would soon end and that the Indians dead and alive would inherit the Earth.
Sitting Bull encouraged the Teton Sioux to practice dance. Army tried to arrest him and shot him. His 200 followers fled to join Chief Big Foot
Wounded Knee
Wounded Knee Creek 1890
Chief Bug Foot and 350 natives were intercepted by an army patrol. As the Indians surrendered their weapons, the gun of deaf Black Coyote went off, and the soldiers started shooting. Those massacred include Sitting Bull’s followers
Helen Hunt Jackson
Some Americans were disgusted with treatment of the natives. She wrote “A Century of Dishonor” in 1881. Stated “record of history with Indians; every page and every year has its dark stain”
Assimilate
Natives were encouraged to adopt white ways.
Dawes Act will encourage idea of private property
Dawes Act
1887
Federal law dismantled Indian concept of shared land in favor of private property.
Divided reservation land into individual plots. Indians who accepted received 160 acres and US citizenship.
Land Rush/Race
In 1887, 2/3 of native land wound up in hands of whites called squatters.
Congress agreed to buy out Indian claims to the region. Settlers were called Boomers, took 2 million acres.
Sooners
People who snuck past government officials early to mark claims for best land
