1.2

• is the economic conditions in the East a push or pull factor?

  Push
• what year was the economic crisis?

  1837
• what were the outcomes of the economic crisis?

  banks collapsed, people lost businesses, savings, unemployment was at 25%, people with jobs had a 40% wage cut
• was the farmland in Oregon a push or pull factor?

  pull
• why was the farmland in Oregon appealing?

  as economic conditions in the East worsened the free land and farming land in the west was appealing
• what did people use to pass across the land?

  wagons
• what did fur trappers and traders do?

  dug out the south pass in the rocky mountains and marked out the best routes across the rivers
• what year did the first migrants successfully use the Oregon trail?

  1836
• what was the great emigration?

  by 1843, Marcus Whitman led a group of 900 across the Oregon trail
• was the government help a push or pull factor?

  pull
• how did the government help?

  encouraged people to migrate to the west as they wanted to claim it as a US territory
• what did the government do in 1841?

  provided money for a group of people to map the Oregon trail and report difficulties migrants may find

  they made this into a guidebook
• what was the gold rush of 1849?


  gold was discovered in the Sierra Nevada, California
• why did California's population reach 300,000 by 1855?


  people who couldn't find gold stayed to become farmers who needed supplies so people moved there to set up shops
• what was the positives of the gold rush?

  -economy was benefiting

  -gold rush made the west look desirable and successful

  -farming in California grew

  -money from the gold rush helped pay for the first transcontinental railroad
• what was the negatives of the gold rush?

  -rapid growth of towns led to lawlessness

  -new migrants murdered or enslaved Californian Indians to get them out the way
• what was the manifest destiny?

  belief that white Americans had the right to populate all areas of America
• why did Americans believe they should go to the west?

  it was God's will so there was nothing wrong with putting indigenous peoples into reservations
• how long was the oregon trail?

  3,200km
• how many extra km did it take to get to california?

  600km
• where did the oregon trail start and end?

  missouri river and willamette valley
• when did the journey have to be complete?

  before winter

  after April
• what did migrants eat?

  salted pork
• what was the best animal to take?

  oxen
• what was the problem with the oxen?

  very slow, moved at 3km an hour
• how did people travel?

  in wagons
• what was 3 problems with the oregon trail?

  -stuck in the mountains

  -falling ill

  -running out of supplies
• how many people died on the trail?

  20,000
• what disease did people die of?

  cholera
• what did indigenous people do?

  helped migrants through the mountains
• what was the donner party?

  300 migrants started the oregon trail in may 1846 with 60 wagons
• where had the donner party reached by july?

  Fort Bridger in the Rocky Mountains
• who decided to take a shortcut off the trail?

  80 people including the 2 donner brothers
• how far did the shortcut take the group off the trail?

  550km
• why did the shortcut fail?

  -the path hadn't been used much so the terrain was rocky and was difficult for wagons to pass through

  -long stretches with no water or grass

  -no forts to stock up on supplies

  -arguments started
• when did the 80 people reach the Sierra Nevada mountains?

  mid October
• what happened to the 80 people who took the shortcut?

  -got stuck in the rocky mountains due to a snow storm

  -oxen died

  -food ran out, resulted in cannibalism
• when did the first migrant of the donner party die?

  15 december 1846
• who were the mormons?

  a religious group who had different views to other Christians
• what did mormons believe?

  a man could have many wives