american west

• permanent indian front tier: border along Mississippi river, dividing east from indian territory

  date: 1834
• donner party- oregon trail

  • george and jacob donner
  • group of pioneers leaving missouri with 500 wagons
  • wagons stuck in the snow at wasatch mountains
  • cannibalism to survive
  • 48 out of 87 survived
  • risk: attacked by indians and buffalo
  • stuck in freezing temperatures
• homestead act- 1862

  • gave farmers 160 acres of land
  • must be over 21, single or the head of a family to claim
  • gave chances to ex-slaves and women
  • ’proving up’- following rules for 5 years and then homestead could be bought for $30
  • rules: no multiple claims, had to live on the land, build a house and plant 5 acres of crops
• problems of homestead act- 1862

  • ‘proving up‘ was not common- 60% never proved up
  • more land went to railroads and cattle ranches who also sold the land
  • rich landowners abused scheme by getting employees to claim for land
• who and when created the windmill to pump water to the surface for homesteaders?


  halliday in 1854
• who invented barbed wire, when and what for?

  1. joseph glidden
  2. 1874
  3. homesteaders fencing
• who invented the sod buster, when and what for?

  1. john deere
  2. 1830
  3. to sod tough earth on plains
• what amendment abolished slavery and when was it signed?

  13th in 1865
• what did the 14th amendment do and when was it signed?

  1. gave equal rights and citizenship to african americans after civil war but didn’t guarantee vote
  2. 1868
• what was the 15th amendment and when was it signed?

  1. gave all americans right to vote but southern states made it difficult for black americans to vote
  2. 1870
• what is radical reconstruction?

  • time between 1866 and 1877
  • republican congress in charge or reconstruction in the south
• what were the laws of the reconstruction acts?

  1. army in charge of 10 southern states, dividing into 5 districts
  2. south states had to pass 14th amendment in order to rejoin USA
  3. declared all males should be allowed to participate in the election of state governments
• what were carpetbagger?

  • northeners who moved south to gain employment
  • helped to get south back on its feet
  • took many high-ranking jobs in congress
• what were the black codes?

  • series of local laws which restricted freedoms of african americans
  • varied from state to state
  • typically banned marriage between whites and blacks, stopped them from testifying in court and limited property ownership
  • from 1865
• what was freedmen’s bureau?

  • government agency set up to free slaves and very poor white people in the south
  • gave legal assistance, education, housing and food
• what were sharecroppers?

  • former slaves turned farmers
  • land owner supplied housing and tools while they grew crops
  • were allowed to keep a share of what they produced
  • not treated well by employers
• reconstruction allowed education to be available for 600,000 black students, destroyed infrastructure such as railroads were rebuilt and african americans received equality.
• despite reconstruction at the end of the civil war, former slaves were trapped in debt due to sharecropping and south attitudes failed to change (KKK formed).
• what were the 2 main reconstruction policies?

  1. states were allowed to rejoin union if they abolish slavery and pay war debts
  2. a pardon was offered to south citizens (except plantation owners and confederate politicians), and the return of their property.
• native americans used ambush and retreat tactics, they would runaway if they were loosing. this was the main role of brotherhoods
• warriors demonstrated bravery by 'counting coup'- they would touch their enemy with a coup stick without getting caught
• the organ trail:

  • merchants and traders began to lay it from 1810, from the east coast to the west
  • 2,000 miles long
  • ready for wagons 1836
  • 1841: gov created a map
  • 1843: great migration where 1,000 left oregan
• problems of building railroads 1863-1869:

  • costly, difficult to raise funds
  • had to navigate mountains and deserts
  • hostile native americans attacked railroad workers
  • difficult to find enough people willing to work on the railroads
  • terrible living conditions
• impact on settlers and famers:

  • travel became cheaper and easier
  • towns and businesses grew rapidly around railroads
  • transporting goods cheaper and easier so farmers could sell grain nationally
  • more products bought to settlers
• the permanent indian frontier created a border alomg mississpip river, dividing east from 'indian territory' in 1834.
• 1st indian appropriations act?

  1851
• indian removal act?

  1830
• nat turners rebellion?

  1831
• uncle toms cabin by harriet beecher?


  1852
• 1st fort Laramie treaty?

  1851
• the first fort Laramie treaty gave land and money to each plains tribe if they let settlers, travelers and gov agents cross the plains safely
• when signing the 1851 first fort laramie treaty:

  • it was difficult to gather all tribe leaders, as many bands within a tribe (gov often chose)
  • many tribes were unpresented
  • the natives did not see the land the same as the government, didnt understand boundaries
  • language
  • attitudes- some white americans were exterminators
• the 1864 sand creek massacre was the killing of over 150 cheyenne and arapaho by 700 us soldeirs in colorado. black kettle led the indians and flyed a white flag of truce, but colonel chivington launched an unprovoked attack
• little crows war?

  1862
• red clouds war?

  1866-1868
• red clouds war happened due to the creation of the bozeman trail in wyoming due to the 1862 rocky mountain gold rush. red cloud believed it broke the fort laramie treaty, and because they were in a smaller reservation than promised
• red clouds war in 1866-1868 caused:

  • the creation of the second fort laramie treaty in 1868
  • the us army to close the forts on the bozeman trail
  • the great sioux reservation created
  • the sioux agreed to not attack travellers, as long as white settlers did not build on their land.
• when was mountain meadows massacre?


  1857
• the mountain meadows massacre in 1857 was the killing of 120 travellers by mormon danites. it happened as they were expecting an attack from the us army and the pioneer party taunted them.
• when did utah end polygamy?

  1896