Booklet 1 : American West

Question 1

What year did America declare independence?

Answer 1

1776

Question 2

How many states were in the original United States?

Answer 2

13

Question 3

How many people did a territory need to join the union?

Answer 3

60,000

Question 4

Name the two main mountain ranges in the American West?

Answer 4

Rocky Mountains and Sierra Nevada.

Question 5

Which country did America defeat to win the South West in 1848?

Answer 5

Mexico.

Question 6

Describe the terrain and climate of the Great Plains…

Answer 6

Flat ,dry hot grasslands in summer, cold ,windy and snow covered in winter.

Question 7

What did many people refer to the Plains as?

Answer 7

The Great American Desert.

Question 8

What is Manifest Destiny?

Answer 8

The American belief that it was God’s will that they inhabit the continent from east to west.

Question 9

Define ‘pioneer’ in American history?

Answer 9

A person who travels to an area not yet settled with the intention of developing a new home.

Question 10

Why did the Mountain Men go west in the late 1700s and early 1800s?

Answer 10

Hunt animals and bring back furs to trade.

Question 11

How did Mountain men encourage future travellers to go west?

Answer 11

Told stories, developed trails, drew maps, had articles written about them etc.

Question 12

When was the economic crisis in the eastern states that pushed a lot of people west?

Answer 12

1837+

Question 13

Give 3 reasons why people wanted to leave the eastern states?

Answer 13

immigration, overcrowding, land prices up, crime (cities), poor living conditions (cities), unemployment.

Question 14

Why was California a popular destination up to 1848? (Name 2 reasons)

Answer 14

nice climate, lots of space, cheap land, good agricultural land.

Question 15

Describe two methods of transport most pioneers used to get across the 3500 miles to California?

Answer 15

Boats until Independence, covered wagon pulled by oxen or horse across the plains.

Question 16

Name the four main geographical obstacles that made the journey difficult?

Answer 16

Rocky Mountains, Nevada Desert, Salt Lake/Flats, Sierra Nevada Mountains.

Question 17

Whose shortcut did the Donner Party follow?

Answer 17

Lansford Hastings.

Question 18

Name one way the Donner Party and other pioneers encouraged further development?

Answer 18

Letters back to the east, stories covered in Dime novels, newspapers and journals.

Question 19

What year did Joseph Smith start the Church of Latter Day Saints the Mormons?

Answer 19

1823

Question 20

Who was the angel Moroni?

Answer 20

The angel that visited Smith and told him to go find the story of the Mormons.

Question 21

What is the Book of Mormon based on?

Answer 21

Gold plates left by the first Israelites in America. Told the story of the Mormons.

Question 22

Give four reasons why the Mormons were persecuted in the east?

Answer 22

Religious beliefs such as polygamy, economic success such as buying up land and setting up banks, blamed for 1837 economic crisis, anti-slavery, Joseph Smith wanting to become president, growing numbers.

Question 23

Why did the Donner Party get stuck in the Mountains in 1846?

Answer 23

Short cut took too long, got to the Mountains too late, snow.

Question 24

What does polygamy mean and why did the Mormons practise it?

Answer 24

More than one wife, more women than men joined the Mormon religion in the 1840s.

Question 25

Why was Joseph Smith murdered in 1845?

Answer 25

Wanted to run for American president. Murdered by an Anti-Mormon mob.

Question 26

Who replaced Joseph Smith as leader of the Mormons and decided to take them out west?

Answer 26

Brigham Young.

Question 27

Give two reasons why Young chose the Salt Lake for the new Mormon settlement?

Answer 27

Isolated and unsettled so that Mormons could practise their religion without persecution.

Question 28

How did Young solve the issue of having a reliable trail to follow out west?

Answer 28

Young sent a group of pioneers out first to make a clear trail to follow.

Question 29

Where did the Mormons get their resources?

Answer 29

Rest camps set up along the trail.

Question 30

How did the Mormons get 16,000 people out west safely?

Answer 30

Split them into teams, strict time frames, winter camps.

Question 31

How was Salt Lake land allocated?

Answer 31

Planned community, land allocated based on need (e.g. size of family or job).

Question 32

What is the type of community called, where jobs and resources are shared and organised for all?

Answer 32

Co-operative.

Question 33

What was the Perpetual Emigrating Fund?

Answer 33

All expenses paid journey for new recruits to the Mormon religion.

Question 34

When was Gold discovered in California?

Answer 34

24th January 1848.

Question 35

What nickname was given to the miners and why?

Answer 35

49ers, because they all went out in 1849.

Question 36

Name 5 different ethnic groups that went west for gold?

Answer 36

Chinese, eastern Anglo Americans, Mexicans, Europeans, freed slaves (African Americans).

Question 37

In what year did California become a state as a result of the Gold Rush immigration?

Answer 37

1850

Question 38

Give 5 different entrepreneurial jobs that developed as a result of the Gold Rush?

Answer 38

prostitution, gambling, tool shops, b and bs, saloons (pub), bridge tolls, ferries, food.

Question 39

How did the Gold Rush change America? (Name 2 things)

Answer 39

Took land from Native Americans, immigration and racial diversity, gold reserves made it an internationally wealthy country, California became a state.

Question 40

What Native American tribe lived on the plains?

Answer 40

Sioux (pronounced Soo).

Question 41

Why were the Sioux nomadic?

Answer 41

followed the buffalo.

Question 42

Name 3 ways the Sioux used the buffalo to overcome a lack of resources on the Plains?

Answer 42

Food skin for clothes and tipi stomach for cooking pot tail for fly swatter horns for cups sinew for bows hooves boiled for glue

Question 43

What was considered wealth or currency to the Sioux?

Answer 43

Horses.

Question 44

Name 3 strategies the Sioux used to hunt the buffalo with horses?

Answer 44

Scouted and planned, buffalo hunt dance, split the herd, caused a stampede, picked out older/slower buffalo, women dismantled buffalo at the hunt, young braves trained.

Question 45

What was a travois and how does it prove that the Sioux adapted to their life?

Answer 45

Tipi posts tied behind horse to transport goods whilst following the buffalo herd.

Question 46

Why was the tipi the perfect shelter for the Sioux?

Answer 46

Easy to take up and down quickly, easy to transport, used resources available (buffalo skin), cool in summer and warm in winter.

Question 47

Why did the Sioux practise polygamy?

Answer 47

Braves lost in hunting/war. Distinct gender roles (e.g. men hunted) meant that women and children of dead braves/warriors would be looked after.

Question 48

What did the Sioux usually go to war over?

Answer 48

Horse theft.

Question 49

Name one Sioux weapon invented for warfare?

Answer 49

None, bow and arrow and tomahawk were invented as tools first then used for war.

Question 50

How did the Sioux get guns?

Answer 50

Trade with Mountain Men.

Question 51

Describe what a coup stick was for. (pronounced coo)?

Answer 51

It was braver to sneak up and touch an enemy than it was to kill them. Enemy was dishonoured if snuck up on.

Question 52

Why did the Sioux scalp their enemies?

Answer 52

As trophies from battle, but mainly to ensure that their enemies soul escaped and did not go into the afterlife.

Question 53

What were feathers for?

Answer 53

A uniform. Like war medals, the feathers indicated military achievements.

Question 54

When did the Sioux fight?

Answer 54

Usually in the summer when supplies were plentiful.

Question 55

Did the Sioux own land?

Answer 55

No, they believed that the land and all of the world’s creatures belong to the Great Spirit.

Question 56

What was a ‘nation’?

Answer 56

The overall Sioux tribe which broke up into smaller bands to follow the buffalo.

Question 57

How did a chief get his position?

Answer 57

Chosen by the council, elders, warrior society and medicine men for bravery and wisdom. Not inherited (from their father) or elected.

Question 58

What was the purpose of the ceremonial pipe?

Answer 58

Smoked whilst the council discussed matters to inform the spirit world and guide the council to make a good decision.

Question 59

Why did the Sioux and American government find it difficult to negotiate who owned the Plains?

Answer 59

Americans believed in owning land, but the Sioux did not.

Question 60

What was the Bureau of Indian Affairs?

Answer 60

A government department with agents sent to learn about the Sioux and help make decisions regarding how to deal with the Indians.

Question 61

What year as the Indian Removal Act passed?

Answer 61

1830

Question 62

What did the Indian Removal Act do? (2 things)

Answer 62

The Plains, west of the Mississippi River, would be Indian land and tribes from the south east were moved there.

Question 63

Why did the government have to pass the Indian Appropriations Act in 1851?

Answer 63

More Americans were moving across the Plains in the 1850s. To protect the Sioux, the government created reservations (land reserved for tribes).

Question 64

What was a reservation?

Answer 64

An area of land set up for the tribe to live on. There were attempts to teach the Sioux farming, Christianity and educate their children to read and write English.

Question 65

Why would the reservations be difficult for the Sioux?

Answer 65

The Sioux cannot be nomadic and hunt effectively if they are kept in one place. Their entire way of life would be lost.