American West Flashcards
(50 cards)
1
Q
What is the most vital animal to Plains Indians?
A
- Buffalo
- Bisons
2
Q
What different ways were the buffalo used?
A
- Tipis
- Clothing
- Weaponry
- Food storage
3
Q
What is a tribe?
A
- Group of bands
4
Q
What is a band?
A
- Subgroups of tribes
- 30 to 200 people
5
Q
What does a band consist of?
A
- Chief
- Warrior society
- Council of elders
6
Q
What style did the Plains Indians live in?
A
- Nomadic
- Constantly moved around
7
Q
Why did the Plains Indians live a nomadic lifestyle?
A
- Follow migrations of buffalo
- Escape harsh weather
- Forage for new food
8
Q
What were Plains Indians men called?
A
- ‘Braves’
9
Q
What were Plains Indians women called?
A
- ‘Squaws’
10
Q
What did the men do within a band?
A
- Hunting
- Protecting
- Defending
- Taught children survival skills
11
Q
What did the women do within a band?
A
- Cooking
- Housework
- Clothing
- Taught children survival skills
12
Q
What did the Plains Indians believe in?
A
- Unowned land
- Mother Nature
- Spirits
- Visions
13
Q
What animals were considered sacred?
A
- Buffalo
- Eagle
- Lives only taken when necessary
14
Q
How was war different for Plains Indians?
A
- Flee than fighting
- Scalping
- Counting coup
15
Q
What is counting coup?
A
- Touching an opponent without being harmed
- Killing them
16
Q
What was the climate of the plains like?
A
- Extreme weather conditions
- Prairie grass
- Strong winds all year
17
Q
Why did people migrate West?
A
- Economic depression
- Government encouragement
- Homestead Act 1862
- Manifest Destiny
- Gold Rush
- Mormons escaping persecution
18
Q
What is the Oregon Trail?
A
- 3200 KM
- Independence Missouri to Oregon City
19
Q
Who were the Donner Party?
A
- Group of 87
- Took a shortcut from Oregon Trail
- Cannibalism
- 41 died
20
Q
What were the consequences of the Donner Party failure?
A
- Discouraged migration
21
Q
How was Mormonism founded?
A
- Joseph Smith
- Translated golden plates in his garden
22
Q
Why were the Mormons persecuted?
A
- Belief of polygamy
- Anti slavery
23
Q
How were Mormons led to Utah (Salt Lake City)?
A
- Joseph Smith’s death from a mob
- Brigham Young led migration
- Followed Oregon Trail
24
Q
Why was Brigham Young’s plan to migrate West successful?
A
- Travelled in Spring
- Irrigation systems
- Assigned land
- Invited skilled people to settle
- Left food and crops by fresh water
- Church owned land to keep order
25
What was the Indian Removal Act?
- 1830
- Moved Plains Indians to the west of Mississippi River
26
What was the Indian Trade and Intercourse Act?
- 1834
- Defined Plain Indians territory
27
What was the Fort Laramie Treaty?
- 1851
- No hurting white settlers
- $50k a year to remain on reservations
- Railroads on the Great Plains
28
What was the Indians Appropriations Act?
- 1851
- Forced onto reservations
29
What are reservations?
- Government controlled areas
- Enclosed space for Plain Indians
30
What were problems that were faced when farming the plains?
- Low rainfall
- Droughts
- Low timber
- Climate extremes
31
What were used to resolve problems when farming the plains?
- Windmill to pump water underground
- Dry farming (plough after rain)
- Sod buster (steel plough)
- Sulky plough
- Barbed wire
32
What does the term 'Federal territory' mean?
- Above the state
- Entirety of America
- Overrides state laws
33
What is the 'Wild West'?
- Lawlessness
- Towns had laws but weren't enforced
34
What are factors of lawlessness?
- Behaviour
- Low population
- Slow reaction
- Shortage of reliable officers
- Corruption
- Poverty
35
What are vigilantes?
- Enforces the law by breaking the law
- Drove criminals away
36
Why were sheriffs unreliable?
- Poorly trained
- Took bribes
- False accusations
- Low payment
37
What were the punishments of crimes in mining towns?
- Whipped
- Hanging
- Lynching ( hanging without trial )
38
What is claim jumping in the West?
- 10 square feet assigned to individuals
- Selling claims littered with gold
- Form of scam
39
What is the Homestead Act?
- 1862
- Selling $10 for 160 acres of land
- Must farm for 5 years
- Pay $30 to confirm payment
40
What were some features of the Homestead Act?
- 60% dropout rate
- 300 million acres in railroad
- 6 million acres sold in total
- Nebraska
- Encouraged west migration
41
What is the Timber Culture Act?
- 1873
- Additional 160 acres of land
- 40 acres used for trees
42
Why was the Timber Culture Act a success?
- 16 million acres assigned
- Reduced failure rate
- Provided crop shelter from wind
43
Why was the Timber Culture Act a failure?
- Third didn't grow
- Struggled for survival
- Loopholes and exploitation
44
Which companies built the transcontinental railroad?
- Union Pacific Railroad ( West, Chinese immigrants )
- Central Pacific Railroad ( East, Irish and ex slaves )
- Met in middle
45
What are the consequences of the transcontinental railroad?
- Increased tensions with Plains Indians
- Killed buffalo to feed workforce
- 12,000 deaths
- 5000 soldiers for protection
- $16,000 per mile
- $48,000 per mountain mile
46
What is Abilene?
- Cow town
- Kansas
- 500 to 7000 population after railroad
- 1870 jail torn down by cowboys
47
Who were the town marshals of Abilene?
- Thomas Smith 1870
- Boxed cowboys
- Banned carrying guns
- Enforced law
- Shot and killed
- Wild Bill 1871
- Did not enforce law
- Respected but fired
- 1871 cowboys banned from Abilene
48
What are cowboys?
- People who sold cows from barns
- Gun fights
- Gamblers and con men ( scammers )
49
What did lawless towns usually consist of?
- Brothels ( prostitution )
- Casinos
- Saloons
50
Who were the Reno Gang?
- Train robbers
- Civil war outlaws
- 1866 to 1868
- Pinkerton National Detective Agency
- Vigilantes lynched them after being caught
