american west

Question 1

What were the Plains Indians’ core beliefs about land and nature?

Answer 1

Land could not be owned, it was sacred; everything had a spirit; buffalo were life-giving.

Example: Black Hills of the Lakota Sioux.

Question 2

How were Plains Indian tribes organised?

Answer 2

Tribes were divided into bands, led by chiefs and councils; decisions had to be unanimous; warrior societies influenced decisions.

Question 3

How did Plains Indians use the buffalo?

Answer 3

All parts were used: food (meat), shelter (hides for tipis), fuel (dung), tools (bones). Buffalo were central to survival.

Question 4

What pushed and pulled people to the West?

Answer 4

Push: economic depression (1837), overcrowding. Pull: cheap land, gold (1849), Manifest Destiny, religious freedom (Mormons).

Question 5

Why was the Oregon Trail important?

Answer 5

2,000-mile route from Missouri to Oregon; enabled mass migration; used by 400,000 people by 1869.

Question 6

What happened to the Donner Party in 1846?

Answer 6

Took a new route, got trapped in snow in the Sierra Nevada; 87 settlers reduced to 46, some resorted to cannibalism.

Question 7

Why did the Mormons migrate West?

Answer 7

Faced persecution in the East; Brigham Young led them to Salt Lake Valley (1847); chose a harsh area to avoid conflict.

Question 8

What was agreed in the Fort Laramie Treaty (1851)?

Answer 8

Tribes had boundaries, allowed roads/forts; U.S. gave protection and $50,000/year. Broken repeatedly by settlers.

Question 9

What was the Homestead Act?

Answer 9

Gave 160 acres of free land to settlers if farmed for 5 years; encouraged 6 million acres to be settled by 1876.

Question 10

How did railroads affect the West?

Answer 10

Transcontinental Railroad completed 1869; linked East to West; brought settlers, destroyed buffalo, displaced Indians.

Question 11

What did the Timber Culture Act do?

Answer 11

Granted 160 extra acres to homesteaders if 40 acres were planted with trees — aimed to improve farming conditions.

Question 12

What was the role of cowboys?

Answer 12

Worked on cattle drives; faced harsh conditions; used lariats, branding, and worked long hours.

Question 13

What caused the end of open range ranching?

Answer 13

Harsh winters (1886–87), overgrazing, barbed wire fencing, increased homesteaders.

Question 14

What problems did homesteaders face and how did they solve them?

Answer 14

Problems: dry land, hard soil, isolation. Solutions: wind pumps, sodbusters (steel ploughs), dry farming.

Question 15

Why was lawlessness a problem in the West?

Answer 15

Boom towns grew too fast, lacked law enforcement; vigilante justice common. Government sent marshals, sheriffs.

Question 16

How did railroads affect Plains Indians?

Answer 16

Land loss, buffalo decline, military access increased, reservation system enforced more easily.

Question 17

What happened at Little Bighorn?

Answer 17

Custer attacked Sioux and Cheyenne; all U.S. troops killed. Seen as a national humiliation; led to revenge and increased reservation control.

Question 18

What was the Exoduster movement?

Answer 18

40,000 African Americans moved to Kansas after Reconstruction; driven by racism in the South and promise of land.

Question 19

What was the Oklahoma Land Rush?

Answer 19

2 million acres of land opened for white settlers; thousands raced to claim land once promised to Native Americans.

Question 20

What was the purpose of the Dawes Act?

Answer 20

Broke up tribal land into 160-acre plots; aimed to assimilate Indians; surplus land sold to white settlers.

Question 21

What caused the Wounded Knee Massacre?

Answer 21

U.S. Army feared the Ghost Dance; killed 250+ unarmed Sioux at Wounded Knee Creek. Marked the end of Indian resistance.

Question 22

What did the closure of the Indian frontier mean?

Answer 22

U.S. Census declared frontier settled; Indian Wars over; reservations fully enforced.

Question 23

What was the reservation system and what impact did it have on Native Americans?

Answer 23

Native Americans were forced onto government-controlled land with poor conditions. It undermined tribal structure, culture, and their nomadic way of life.

Question 24

What did assimilation mean in U.S. Indian policy?

Answer 24

It meant forcing Native Americans to adopt white American customs: farming, Christianity, English language.

Key example: Dawes Act (1887).

Question 25

What is the difference between open range and closed range ranching?

Answer 25

Open range allowed free grazing on public land (pre-1880s). Closed range used fenced land (barbed wire) and ended cowboy cattle drives after overgrazing and harsh winters.

Question 26

What was ‘the frontier’ in U.S. history, and why did it close in 1890?

Answer 26

The frontier was the line between settled and ‘unsettled’ land. In 1890, the U.S. Census declared all land settled. Native resistance was crushed, ending westward expansion.

Question 27

What was the Ghost Dance and why did it lead to violence?

Answer 27

A Native American spiritual movement in 1890 that promised a return to the old ways. U.S. officials saw it as a rebellion, leading to the Wounded Knee Massacre.

Question 28

What was the Indian Appropriations Act (1851) and its significance?

Answer 28

It funded reservations, beginning formal U.S. efforts to control Native populations and confine them to fixed areas. It laid the groundwork for assimilation policies.

Question 29

What did the Fort Laramie Treaty agree, and how did it fail?

Answer 29

Tribes agreed to stay in set territories; U.S. gave money and protection. Broken by settlers and the U.S. Army, it led to distrust and later conflict.

Question 30

How did the Dawes Act aim to assimilate Native Americans?

Answer 30

It split tribal lands into 160-acre plots for Native families. “Surplus” land was sold to whites, destroying communal life and tribal identity.