Early settlement 1835-1862

• What are the great plains ‘great american desert’


  A large area of the west with a lot of natural grassland

  Which was boarded by the west by Rocky Mountains

  Had very hot summers and very cold winters

  Very dry with few rivers

  Strong winds

  Unsuitable for farming

  Natives developed a way to survive on the plains
• How did natives survive on the plains

  Hunted buffalo, found use for every part of the buffalo so they didnt waste any resources

  Eg bones - knives horns - cups

  Used horses for travelling, hunting and fighting

  Wealth was measured by the number of horses owned

  Raided each other to steal horses

  They lived in tipis - tent like structures, made of buffalo hides and could be packed up
• what was natives lifestyle

  nomadic

  as they relied on buffalos for resources they followd the herds as they moved

  leading to no fixed position
• social structure

  lived in groups called tribes

  large tribes were called nations

  most famous the Sioux which was divided into lakota, dakota and nakota

  made up of different bands which was 20 - server hundreds of people
• women

  couldnt be chiefs

  were highly valued and respected

  role was to look after families, make foods and product's from buffalo's

  both men and women had set roles in society: specialised roles for survival
• beliefs about land 


  land was sacred eg black hills were sacred for the Sioux

  didnt believe in owning, buying or selling land

  survived by hunting, fishing and gathering plants

  farming and mining was disrespectful
• warrior brotherhoods

  fighters of tribes were called warrior brotherhoods

  trained young men in fighting skills

  often warriors acted on their own and ignored chiefs and councils

  leading members formed a guards unit for the whole tribe - organised the yearly buffalo hunt and chose where camp was
• beliefs about war 


  survival was tough

  would raid each other for food, horses, weapons and people

  only would happen if likely to succeed

  to minimise death they used a type of fighting called ‘counting coup’

  where warriors would try to touch each other rather than kill them in battle - showed skill and bravery. Allowing leaders to be unharmed
• nature and animals

  believed in the Great Spirit called the Wakan Tanka who created the world and life

  believed they could contact the spirits through vision guests ( guided by spirit animals ) or preforming ritual dances like the sun dance

  treated animals and plants with respect as believed they had a spirit
• what did migrants see the natives as

  uncivilised savages who didnt make the best use of the land and believed it was there duty to civilise them
• Indian removal act 1830

  forced any natives in the eastern part of America to move west of the Mississippi river. President Andrew Jackson promised the natives that the land would be theirs forever
• Indian trade and intercourse act 1834 


  said that the west was officially Native territory and created a boarder called the permanent Indian frontier to separate the east and the west

  guarded by us army forts
• what changed in the 1840s


  in 1848 USA won new territories west of the natives territory from Mexico

  attitudes changed as usa wanted people to settle on the land, when crossing to the west migrants would go through native territory creating more tension
• Indian appropriation act 1851 


  provided Government funding to move natives into reservations: small area of land for each tribe to live on

  prevented their nomadic lifestyle

  contradicted to their beliefs about land
• pull factor - migrating west - mountain men 


  first people to travel west were Fur Trappers

  went in search for beavers and other animals to skin

  when fur was out of fashion many of theses early mountain men were guides for other travellers eg Jeddah Smith
• push factor - migrating west - economic crisis

  from 1837 - 1840 there was an economic crisis in the east

  banks collapsed and people lost their jobs, businesses and savings

  many people looked for a new life in the west
• pull factor - migrating west - Californian gold rush 1849 


  1848 - gold was discovered in California

  This encouraged mass migration (300,000)

  Population of California grew so quickly that it became an official state in 1850

  Helped improve us economy
• pull factor - migrating west - Oregon trail

  Oregon had excellent farming land which drew people in

  ran form east of Missouri to west of Oregon

  mapped and published by Jeddah Smith in 1825

  significant as as persuaded people that travelling through wilderness is possible
• pull factor - migrating west - manifest destiny

  the belief that it was settlers god given right to populate, settle and civilise America

  first used in 1840s

  Settlers believed it was their destiny to expand west after America gained western land
• push factor - migrating west - religious reasons

  earliest migrants were christian, who went west with the aim to civilise natives

  1846 - mormons forced to travel west after being forced out of west due to controversial religious views ( polygyny )
• Challenges - Time

  Journey would take several months

  Had to be times right

  If left before April wouldn't be enough grass for animals to feed on

  If left too late and didn't reach Oregon before winter then they may freeze to death

  Oxen used to pull wagons - strong but slow
• challenges - Geography

  Oregon trail consisted of tough terrain, much of it was deserts or mountains

  made journey very dangerous

  at least 20,000 are believed to have died on the trail
• challenges - preparation

  had to prepare thoroughly

  at least 20 wagons

  needed skilful people like carpenters and hunters

  had to take essential supplies to last whole journey

  many lived on preserved foods like salt pork
• challenges - disease

  migrants frequently caught diseases like cholera and dysentery

  as rivers along the way were used for drinking water and as toilets
• donner party - beginning

  in 1846 a group of 300 migrants set off west

  led by Donner brothers

  set off may 1846 ( too late )

  well equipped

  had more women, children and elderly people- not skilful
• Donner party - events

  journey was well until group reached Rocky Mountains in July

  80 of them wanted to take a short cut they had read about in a guidebook by Lansford Hastings

  However, Hasting never actually tried the shortcut he just assumed it would work. In reality the ground was rocky and steep. No established trails and river crossings
• Donner party - consequences

  when winter set in November, the group was trapped in a snow storm in the Sierra Nevada mountains

  all animals died and, food ran out and migrants began to starve

  Group was eventually rescued in the February, by then only half were still alive

  forced to eat the corpse of the fellow migrants to survive
• Mormon Migration - beginning

  Mormons were Christian groups founded by Joseph Smith in the 1830s

  Some of their views were very unpopular, particularly their polygamy. As a result, frequently forced to move state to state by angry locals disagreeing with their views

  In 1844, Mormons fled after an angry mob in illionis killed Smith.

  New leader, Brigham Young led the mormons west so not disturbed
• Mormon party - events

  left in april 1847 ( good time )

  Young led an advanced group of 150

  one aim was to establish a trail for other mormons to follow

  in July 1847 - arrived at Salt Lake Valley in Utah

  although required a lot of work to make suitable for mormons

  ideal as isolated from other settlers

  Young declared ‘this was the place‘
• mormons - success

  journey well planned - detailed and young spoke to explorers and trail guides. kept count of people, wagons and suppliers

  young was a successful leader - believed to have been chosen by god, everyone obeyed him. this stopped arguing. set group into small groups with leaders so knew what to do if spilt

  advanced party - 70,000 mormons followed the trail

  built irrigation systems - salt lake valley turned into fertile farm land

  utah made state in 1850
• 1850s

  Many states on the west had been populated

  Migrants became to settle on the next available land which was great plains

  In 1854, 2 new states in the plains were created. Kansas and Nebraska

  Significant because it was in the land that was promised to be for natives

  Life wasnt easy: dry grassland - hard to farm
• tensions between Americans and natives

  Government was keen to achieve ‘manifest destiny‘ So ignored previous agreements

  Natives disliked Americans as threatened their way of life

  and food supply as they scared buffalo herds and used valuable resources like grass

  Contradiction of ideas about land, settlers wanted to own land

  Conflicted between native groups and settlers thought they were attacking them

  Natives stole settlers cows and horses

  Americans saw them as uncivilised savages who were backwards in life
• fort Laramie treaty 1851

  government tried to solve tensions between natives and settlers by organising a treaty

  aim was mainly to protect settlers by stopping fighting between natives and for them to stay in fixed areas
• what was in the fort laramie treaty 1851 


  natives agreed to

  stop fighting with each other

  stick to fixed areas - each tribe had own land

  would let migrants and railroad surveyors enter areas safely

  let government build roads and army posts

  would pay compensation if treaty was broken

  Government promised

  cover covered belonged to natives and they would prevent people from settling on it

  pay tribes $50,000 yearly for 50 years

  could be in the form of food and supplies
• Impact of gold rush 1849 - population growth

  Mass migration - 8,000 to 300,000 in 10 years

  Prospectors gathered in towns called mining towns

  The law system couldnt cope with this many poeople
• Impacts of gold rush - social problems

  Mainly male population

  Problems with gambling, alcohol, fights over women
• impacts on gold rush - claim disputes

  thousands competing for small amount of gold

  stealing other peoples land

  conmen would trick people into buying worthless land, by sprinkling gold flakes on the land to look like gold
• impacts of gold rush - discrimination

  People came from all over the world

  Led to conflict and tension between different ethnicities

  Server racism towards Chinese migrants

  Some migrants where taxed more heavier
• impacts of gold rush - crime

  prospectors didnt make as much money as they wanted so turned to crime

  criminal gangs called road agents waited outside mining towns to rob people, high crime wave 1851 san Francisco
• attempts to tackle lawlessness

  each territory had a Government official called US marshal who were in charge of law

  put together a posse to hunt criminals