Transcript The American West 1840-1895 - Ossett History

The American West 1840-1895
The story of the American West is the story of how white settlers
gained control of the whole of the North American continent from
the East Coast to the West Coast.
By 1890
they had
settled
right
across
to the
West
coast
White
settlers
arrived
on the
East
coast in
the
1600s
The Plains are a vast stretch of America, West of the Mississippi
River.
Why did Americans call the Plains the Great White Desert?
BECAUSE: They thought no-one could live there. They thought the
land was so poor that you could not grow anything to eat so no-one
could survive.
BECAUSE: Before 1830, no-one had really explored it so they did
not know much about it.
Why were the Plains Indians able to survive on the Plains?
BECAUSE: They made good use of the things that were there.
Buffalo: They were nomads – they followed the buffalo herd and hunted
them. They ate their meat and used the skin for clothes, shoes and for
their shelter – called a tipi.
BECAUSE: They were a close community who all helped each
other. A chief was in charge and men hunted and women
cooked and put up the tipis. All the decisions were made
together so everyone accepted them.
Why did Plains Indians live in tipis?
BECAUSE: Suited weather: Cone shape meant they were
not blown over by strong winds on plains. Cool in summer and
warm in winter because front flap could be open or shut.
BECAUSE: They were easy to put up and take down which
was important because the Plains Indians were always on
the move, following the buffalo herds.
What were the beliefs of the Plains Indians?
The Plains Indians believed in:
Wakan Tanka – the Great Spirit who was in everything.
The Happy Hunting Ground – which was their heaven.
Honour in battle – enemies were often touched with a coup
stick rather than killed.
Why did White Americans think the Plains Indians were
savages?
BECAUSE: They mutilated their enemies by scalping them
BUT Indians did this to stop them getting into the Happy
Hunting Ground.
BECAUSE: Indians sometimes had more than one wife BUT
this was to make sure every woman in the tribe was looked
after.
BECAUSE: They were not Christians
Why were horses important to the Plains Indians
BECAUSE: They were a sign of status, the more horses a
tribe had, the wealthier it was (like expensive sports cars
now!). Tribes often stole horses from each other and this
caused conflict.
BECAUSE: Horses made hunting buffalo easier so Indians
were better fed. Travelling was also easier. Indians
collapsed tipis and turned them into sleds called travois to
carry more things to trade or people.
Why did the first settlers travel West in the 1840s and
1850s?
BECAUSE: They were poor and thought they would have a
better life in the West, farming the Plains or that they
would get rich like those looking for gold.
BECAUSE: They wanted to be able to practise their religion
without being attacked for it eg Mormons.
Why was going West dangerous?
BECAUSE: Weather: Hot sun, cold nights, winds, flash floods.
Journey took months, if delayed could be hit by snow and
freezing winters.
BECAUSE: Easy to run out of supplies on such a long journey
and few places to stock up.
BECAUSE: They could get lost as trails were not well known,
especially at start of going West in 1840s.
Why did people dislike the Mormons?
BECAUSE: Mormons worked and lived together to create
strong communities. They did not like Non-Mormons which
made Non-Mormons suspicious of them.
BECAUSE: They were successful and so rich. This made NonMormons jealous of them.
BECAUSE: Mormons practised polygamy and took more than
one wife. Christians did not like this.
Why was the West such a lawless place?
BECAUSE: It was big, isolated and so far away from big
towns and cities. Criminals knew they could get away
with things because it took so long for law officials to
get there. There were lots of places to hide from the
law.
BECAUSE: There were so many different types of people
with different ways of life – homesteaders/cattle
ranchers and many different races of people
Europeans, Chinese etc who did not always understand
each other.
BECAUSE: The type of people who went there were
tough, carried guns and sorted out their own
problems.
What problems did railroad companies face in building the
railroads?
1) Money: Building railroads was expensive so government
gave companies land which the companies could then sell to
settlers.
2) Difficult land: Mountains and deserts are not easy to build
on but they did it with the help of skilled Chinese immigrants
going through the Rocky mountains.
What impact did the railways have?
1) SPEEDED UP SETTLEMENT: Settlers could now get to
West easier and quicker so thousands more went West.
2) UNITED THE STATES: Railroad meant Government
could now control whole of USA as could get law men out
to West much quicker and communication was improved.
3) DESTROYED BUFFALO: Railway tracks interfered with
buffalo migration, trains brought in hunters who killed
millions of buffalo. Huge impact on Indians – beginning of
end, no buffalo, no way of life.
Why did the Open Range end?
BECAUSE: There was no money in it. Too many cattle
meant too much beef so price dropped.
BECAUSE: Invention of windpumps meant cattle men
could get water when they wanted it so did not have
to drive cattle around to find it.
BECAUSE: Invention of barbed wire meant huge
amounts of land could be easily fenced off.
?
Homesteaders
PROBLEM
HARD SOIL: Land
never farmed
before. Too tough
to plant in.
WATER: Little rain
fell, droughts
common, crops
failed
FEW TREES: No
wood to fence off
their land
SOLUTION
SODBUSTER
PLOUGH: Its steel
blades could break
up soil.
WIND PUMPS:
Could draw water
up to surface.
BARBED WIRE:
Land could be
fenced off (but
led to conflict
with open range.
SIZE OF PLOT:
Homesteaders given
160 acres in
Homestead Act of
1862 but too small to
get good living out of.
SIZE OF PLOT:
Government
gave them
another 160
acres in 1873 if
they planted
trees on half of
land
TYPE OF CROPS:
American wheat was
too weak to grow in
harsh conditions
NEW CROPS: Red
Turkey wheat from
Russia introduced and
grew well in harsh
conditions.
Why did the Plains Indians win the Battle of Little Big Horn?
BECAUSE: Strong leaders: Crazy Horse was a military genius who
had worked out how to fight the US Army and had beaten them in
battle before. Sitting Bull had a vision that the Sioux would win.
This meant the Indians were full of confidence before the battle.
BECAUSE: General Custer of the US Army did not realise their
were so many Indians and divided his soldiers up into three
different groups so they were hugely outnumbered. He had also
exhausted his troops by making them march overnight.
What were conditions like on the reservations? - HORRENDOUS!
BECAUSE: Food rations to the Indians were often not enough and
the land was so poor they could not farm it to grow extra supplies.
BECAUSE: Indians’ children were sent away to boarding school to
become good Christians. Parents who refused to let them go were
not given any food.
BECAUSE: Chiefs had all their powers taken away and all Indian
traditions and customs were banned.
Why did the Plains Indians lose control of the Plains?
BECAUSE: US Government Policy: The US Government
took over the Plains bit by bit using treaties that they then
broke when white settlers wanted more land. It followed
Manifest Destiny – God wanted Americans to settle plains.
BECAUSE: When the Indians fought back because the
treaties were broken, the US Government sent in the US
Army who were better equipped than the Indians and
forced them onto reservations.
BECAUSE: The US Government destroyed the herds of
buffalo, killing millions of them between 1870-1885.
Without the buffalo, the Indians had no way of surviving on
the Plains so had to move onto reservations or starve to
death.