American West Flashcards
(48 cards)
Who were the first people to travel West and why? How did they inspire people to move West?
Mountain men. Went to hunt beaver for fashionable hats. Told crazy stories eg. pumpkins as big as barns.
List three pull factors which made people move West early on. (3)
- Gold discovered in California in 1848.
- Manifest Destiny: Xtian missionaries trying to convert indigenous people
- US Government promoted people moving so they could control all the land.
List three push factors which made people move West early on. (
- To escape religious intolerance in the East eg. Mormons
- Overcrowding, land was poor and expensive.
What is Manifest Destiny?
The belief that it was God’s Will for white people to settle across the whole of America, and spread ‘civilization’ and Christianity. It enabled white people to mistreat the Native Americans and exploit natural resources eg. Gold.
How long did it take to cross America on the Oregon Trail?
4 months
When did the first migrants travel the Oregon Trail in a covered wagon?
1836
When did the Donner Party leave? (and why was this bad?)
May 1846 - this is late in the year, meaning they were cutting it fine before the winter weather came in
How many people were in the Donner Party, and what was special about them?
300 migrants, with more women and children than usual
Which route did the Donner party take?
They took a hypothetical ‘shortcut’, proposed in a book. It was supposed to have lots of water and grass, but it was actually much slower.
What were the problems with the route the Donner party took? (4)
- TRAILS: route was not marked, hard to follow
- TERRAIN: rugged, rocky, steep slopes.
- RIVER CROSSINGS: Had to cross dangerous rivers, no ferries
- VEGETATION: Stretches with no grass or water
what happened when the Donner party reached the Sierra Nevada mountains?
Snow storm trapped them. Livestock died, food ran out. Many died, and some had resorted to cannabilism.
Why did the Mormons have to go West?
Persecuted because of polygamy. Their leader, Joseph Smith was killed.
What problems did the Mormons face on their trip?
- They had to leave early due to violence towards them, the journey was long and extreme weather.
What did the Mormons do to have their migration successful? (4)
- Consulted trail guides and explorers
- Migrants were divided into manageable groups with their own leader
- Taught to make a circle at night with their trailers
- Advance pioneers to build huts, plant crops, left clues etc, like checkpoints. This helped the other groups, made sure they didn’t die.
How did the Mormons deal with issues in Salt Lake City? (3)
- Lake was salty: irrigation with snow water from mountains for fresh water
- No trees: houses with mud bricks
- Split land according to who needed what eg. farmers need a big space
When was Gold discovered in California? What did this do to California’s population?
1848
Increased it to 300,000 by 1855.
Why did gold prospectors attract more people to move West?
They needed food, equipment, drink and entertainment, which meant people moved West to become shopkeepers etc. They often made more than the gold prospectors did.
Why was the Fort Laramie Treaty introduced and why did it make migrants crossing the trail feel safer?
- Guarantee the safety of migrants who were scared of Indigenous people. This encouraged further migration.
- Soldiers in forts, natives confined to terratories.
Give three consequences of the Gold Rush on California
- Rapid growth led to law and order problems
- Farming grew in California due to excellent farmland. Food was exported all over the world.
- The money helped pay for the First Transcontinental Railroad
Give four problems with farming on the Great Plains
- Extremes in weather: drought in summer, cold in winter. Damaged crops
- Water shortage: No rivers or lakes, could lead to crop failure
- Protecting crops: no trees = no wood. Nothing to build a fence with to keep cattle and buffalo out. Disputes of boundaries.
- Natural hazards: prairie fires, grasshoppers caused damage to crops
Give four problems with living on the Great Plains
- Water shortages
- Fuel: no wood
- Dirt / diseases: sod houses difficult to clean, attracted pests, illness was common
- Building materials: nothing to build houses with, so used blocks of compacted earth to build sod houses
Give the five dangers of travelling West (WAIST)
- WEATHER: Unpredictable. Snow in mountains
- ACCIDENT: If you had an accident eg. your horse dies, there is not much you can do about it. You had to be self-sufficient.
- INDIGENOUS: they usually didn’t attack, but the white settlers were very afraid they would.
- SICKNESS: no healthcare. As more migrants travelled, cholera infected water sources
- TERRAIN: Rivers and mountains.
Give five key points of the Homestead Act:
- 1862
- One plot was 160 acres
- Anyone who was head of the family could file a claim (inc. women, ex-slaves, but not indigenous people)
- It cost $10
- To ‘own up’ you had to pay $30, build a house, plant 5 acres of crops, live there for 5 years, and live there!
Achievements of the homestead act (2)
- 80 million acres were successfully turned into homesteads
- New settlers were drawn from all over the world by the promise of cheap land.
