Making Of America - Unit 4: Settlement And Conflict On The Plains, 1861-77 Flashcards
(27 cards)
Homesteaders - why did people move?
The Homestead Act offered people 160 acres of land free for five years
Ex slaves could buy land to farm and escape the South - cheap land could be bought on the Plains
A banking crisis in the 1870s meant that many people were out of work
The 1860s were Ann unusually good period for rain on the plains. New technology meant that water could be extracted from the ground more easily
Railroad companies advertised the plains as a great place to farm. Railroads allowed people to sell farm goods to cities more easily.
What impact did railroads have on groups in America? - companies
Railroads made their companies and people associated with them very wealthy
What impact did railroads have on groups in America? - Native Americans
The railroads cut through Indian lands and disrupted the buffalo hunting grounds. They also encouraged more settlers and cattle ranchers to settle on Indian lands on the Plains
What impact did railroads have on groups in America? - migrants
Thousands of workers were needed to build the lines. Over 12000 workers were Chinese immigrants. They received little pay in dangerous conditions. Accident rates were high among all workers especially when blasting through the Sierra Nevada mountains.
What impact did railroads have on groups in America? - new towns
New towns were created on railroad lines. Many of these were drunken and unruly. However, towns soon grew and law and order improved. The first railroad inspired the building of other lines across the USA could be done in days instead of months.
What were windmills for?
Digging down and extracting water
How did the invention of barbed wire help homesteaders?
What is the windmill for?
Digging down and extracting water
How did the invention of the barbed wire help homesteaders?
invented in 1874 - keeps animals here
What problems were there with ploughing the land?
Weeds and the roots of grass (because it’s so dry, roots were far down)
Problems faced by homesteaders and how they overcame them
Many houses were small and the lack of wood to burn meant that they were cold in winter - children were often tasked with collecting buffalo chip (dung) which could be burned for cooking and heating
There were few trees on the Plains so building houses was difficult - homesteads were built of sod (earth) instead of wood. The sod houses could be built quickly and at a low cost.
The Plains were a hostile environment and farmers had to be very adaptable and inventive to survive - farmers learned dry-farming techniques and brought over new types of wheat, such as Turkey Red (needs less water)
Many homesteaders did not manage to last a full five years on the Plains - Homesteaders often worked together to plough land (make it easy for planting crops) - it was better to have one effective farm than 3/4 failing ones
Buffalo and wild cattle could trample across farmland and ruin a year’s crops - barbed wire fencing was a cheap and easy way to enclose a large area of land
Families often lived a mile from the nearest town. People became lonely and felt isolated - as more people moved, farmers grouped together to build churches and schools - communities began to be created
Reasons for tensions between white settlers and Native Americans, 1861-1877 - Land
US government forced the Plains Indians to give up land in exchange for reservations. Land was sacred to the native people. Adapt or die was the white govt’s ethos
Reasons for tensions between white settlers and Native Americans, 1861-77 - Native Americans
The destruction of the buffalo affected their ability to live as before and the reservations were inadequate for their needs. reservations were often the poorest, driest lands where Indian people were expected to farm but could not
Reasons for tensions between Native Americans and white settlers, 1861-77 - Gold
the gold rushes of the 1840s and 1850s resulted in many white Americans settling in the West. New towns grew up along the routes to the gold when gold was discovered in the sacred Black Hills
Reasons for tensions between Native Americans and white settlers, 1861-77 - Different visions
To the white Americans, the West was an area to be exploited and civilised. The Eastern vision of the USA was to expand into the West to build a great nation of prosperity and success. This was different to the NA vision of respect for the land and the animals.
Reasons for tensions between NA and white settlers, 1861-77 - gun ownership
Handguns and rifles had become a normal part of both the American settlers and the native people by 1850. Both sides used violence to solve conflicts. Winchester rifle!
Reasons for tensions between NA and white settlers, 1861-77 - railroads
Railroads expanded across the Plains. By 1869 the transcontinental railroad had been built. The railroads disrupted native hunting grounds for buffalo. Land was now owned by rail companies either side of the railways - 6400 acres
Reasons for tensions between NA and white settlers, 1861 - 77 - US government
The US government reacted to the resistance of the native American people to further expansion. There was a belief that the native people were inferior and that the US had a manifest destiny to civilise them.
Little Crow’s War, 1861-62 (Causes)
Little Crow (a Dakota chief) had signed a reservation agreement in 1861 in return for supplies from the US government. (Dry, infertile, not good farmland)
Santee Sioux was forced to give up 28 million acres of land for payment and supplies (which was not met)
When the Dakota were starving (a lack of meat and corn) in 1862, the reservation agent refused to open the emergency stores for wheat.
Little Crow went to negotiate with a reservation trader and was told, ‘If they are hungry, let them eat their own dung’
Little Crow’s War, 1861-62 (Events)
Summer of 1862, Little Crow led warriors and attacked white farms in Minnesota. They killed 500 settlers (should have attacked the govt)
The Minnesota militia attacked all Dakota in the area. They rounded up men, women and children and took them to huge prison camps.
Little Crow’s War, 1861-62 (Consequences)
26th December 1862, 38 Dakota were publicly hanged while hundreds more were sent to prison. Some settlers were angry so many had been spared, Little Crow’s head was put on display
Lincoln decided those accused of rape and murder should be executed
300 Santee Sioux put on trial - fastest was 52 seconds
The remaining Sioux were forced to move to a reservation in Dakota and many starved or died of disease
Sand Creek Massacre, 1864 - Causes
1858 gold discovery at Pike’s Peak meant that settlers poured onto the lands of the Cheyenne (Colorado). The Indians struggled for food (1861 - US govt forced tribes onto a small reservation between Arkansas River and Sand Creek). Some warriors began to attack white settlements.
Lincoln granted the Governor of Colorado permission to fight the ‘Indian threat’ for a limited period of 100 days. The Volunteers were formed.
Sand Creek Massacre, 1864 - Events
By September, the fighting Volunteers had seen no action.
Chief Black Kettle went to an army fort to discuss peace, but the fort did not support.
13th November, a white settler was killed by a young warrior. 16 days later, the US Volunteers rode to Black Kettle’s camp.
Chivington, leader of the Volunteers, said ‘kill and scalp all, nits make lice’
29th Nov - Chivington rode his troops to Black Kettle’s camp
BK was killed - confident with peace agreement and waved the US flag (troops did not want peace)
