The American west, c1835 - c1895

• Plain Indians

  • Bands
  • Tribes
  • Warrior societies
• Bands

  • Led by chiefs
  • Survival and protection of the band as a whole is more important than the individuals within it
• Chiefs

  • Chosen because of their wisdom and skills as warriors / hunters
  • Decide where their bands would go and what should happen to those who broke with customs and traditions
• Tribes


  • Band in the same tribe support each other
  • Tribal meeting held each year to arrange marriages, trade horses and discuss issue
  • Chiefs and elders formed the tribal councils that advised tribal chiefs
  • Some tribes were part of larger groups called nations
• Warrior societies

  • Best warriors from each band
  • Supervise hunting and protect their bands from attack
  • Lead short raids and wars
  • Band's council will always consult them before they made decisions
• Chiefs and leadership

  • No decision made until everyone at the council had agreed to it
  • Chiefs and elders often guided by the spirit world through vision
• Band roles

  • Men (braves): hunt and fight enemies
  • Women (squaws): make clothing, feed the family, look after the tipi
  • Elders: respected for their wisdom but left behind to die if their weakness threatened
  • Everyone look after children
• Importance of buffalo

  • Every part (except heart) of the buffalo was used for food, clothing and equipment
  • The heart is placed back on the plains as they believe that it gives new life to a herd
  • Meat eaten or stored for winter
• Importance of horses

  • Catching buffalo was quicker and easier on horseback
  • Wealth and status were measured by how many horses an individual or tribe had
  • Used in wars
  • Carried their belongings on their journey to find buffalo
• Nomadic lifestyle

  • Follow the buffalo migrations through the season
  • Bands move to sheltered valleys and lived in wooden lodges in winter
• Tipis

  • Made of wooden poles covered in buffalo hide
  • Shape protect them from strong winds
  • Flaps provide ventilation in the summer
  • Banked with soil to keep warm in winter
  • Could be taken down and packed away in minutes
• Bands would change their size


  If not much food -> split up and spread out -> increase chance of everyone getting to eat
• Beliefs about nature

  • Everything in nature had a spirit and these spirits could help humans or harm them
  • Humans were a part of nature and should work with the spirits of nature rather than trying to tame and control nature
  • They contact the spirit world through visions and special ritual dance
• Beliefs about land and property

  • Had sacred area (e.g lakota sioux: black hills)
  • Believe that no one can own land
• Attitudes to war

  • Avoid too much killing because young men were essential to each tribe's survival
  • War parties would run away if a fight turns worse
  • Warriors have highest respect if they land a blow on enemy and getting away without being injured
• Pull factors for moving west

  • Freedom and independence
  • Fertile land
  • More space
  • Oregon trail made it easier
  • Gold discovered
• Push factors for moving west

  • Collapse of wheat prices
  • Overpopulation
  • High unemployment
• Economic depression in east

  • Banks ran out of money
  • People lost their savings
  • Business closed
  • Unemployment (25%)
  • Corn prices dropped -> farmers leave
• Belief in manifest destiny

  • It was god's will that white americans should settle over all of america
  • So they did not see any problem in taking land that was used by plain indians
• California gold rush in 1849

  • Increase in migration to west
  • Significant consequences for law and order, settlement, farming and for plain indians
• Gold rush migrants

  • Thousands of people travelled to california hoping to find gold
  • Some came by ship or the oregon trail
  • Most did not find gold
• Consequences of the california gold rush

  • Lawlessness in mining camp
  • Racial tension grew between american settlers and foreign workers
  • Gold from california boosts us economy -> help fund railroads
  • Tension with plain indians grew due to increase use of oregon trail
  • Genocide of plain indians by migrants
  • Farming boom in california
  • Increase migration to california
• Struggles of travelling west

  • Oregon trail 3200 km long
  • Have to begin in april so there will be enough grass for animals
  • Need to take enough food (salt pork)
  • Steep, little to hunt, bad weather on trail -> lots of injuries
  • Early migrants used explorers or plain indians as guide (use guidebooks later)
  • Bad weather (sandstorms, disease, hostile plains indians…)
  • Need to complete journey before winter (or else stuck in mountains)
• Donner party

  • 300 migrants in 60 wagons
  • Led by donner brothers in may 1846
  • Well equipped but had more elderly, women and children than usual
  • 80 of the migrants decided to split off and try a shortcut (can reduce 550 km) that had been written by trail guide Lansford Hastings
  • Reached Sierra Nevada Mountains in mid october
  • Winter approached, oxen exhausted, forced the party to stop, snowstorms trapped them, livestock ran out / died
  • Only 40/80 survived by turning in cannibalism
• Consequences of the donner party

  • Less people migrate to west when news spreaded
  • Demonstrated the danger of migrating west
• Reasons for mormon persecution

  • Growing population of them -> could exercise political power through voting -> worried groups who did not share their beliefs
  • Slave owners angry at them for believing in freeing enslaved people
  • Practise polygamy -> offend christian groups -> see as blasphemy
• Mormon migration

  • New york -> ohio -> missouri -> illinois -> utah
  • 1830: Mormon church established by joseph smith in new york, kicked out of new york by angry mobs, moved to kirtland ohio
  • 1837: Economic crisis hit america, mormons blamed for it -> driven out of kirtland to move to missouri
  • 1838: Mormons left missouri, settled in illinois
  • 1844: Mormons grew to 35000, smith criticised again for his beliefs, mormons established secret police (Danites), smith was going to run for president
  • 27 june 1845: Smith was arrested, angry mob broke into prison to kill him, mormons ordered to leave illinois
  • 1845: Brigham young became new leader, planned to lead the mormons west in spring (better weather), left in february due to increased hostility in illinois (harsh winter), had to stay in winter quarters to endure harsh conditions
  • July 1847: Lead party (150 mormons headed west and reached the salt lake valley, August 1847: The larger party arrived, Brigham young organised them into groups to set up farms and create their new zion
• Reasons for the success of mormon migration

  Young split people into groups with leaders, lead an advance party first, young carefully researched the route in advance, young got the help of experienced trail guides, taught migrant to form their wagons in a circle at night
• Problems of settling the plains

  • Hot and dry summers, very cold winter
  • Pests eat crops
  • Extreme weather
  • Lack of trees (very little timber for fencing / building -> crops vulnerable)
  • Thick soil -> hard to plant
  • Dry grass burn easily -> fire
  • Lack of water (little rainfall)
• Dealing with a lack of timber

  • Lived in caves
  • Made sod houses from soil
• Tension with the plains indians

  • 1830: Indian removal act (forced 46000 plains indians to give up their lands in return for new lands west of mississippi river)
  • 1834: Indian trade and intercourse act (permanent indian frontier divided indian territory from the eastern states, forts guarded the frontier to stop white people crossing over in indian territory and vice versa)
  • 1848: Us victory in the mexican-american war (indian territory now sandwiched in the middle of USA)
  • 1851: Indian appropriations act (white americans wanted to settle on indian territory, government paid plains indians to give up lands and move to smaller areas (reservations), hope that this would help plains indians learn how to farm and live life like white americans)
• The first fort laramie treaty (1851)

  • Plains indians: End fighting between tribes, allow migrants to travel through their land safely, allow railroad companies to enter the land safely, allow government build roads through indian land, pay compensation if any indian broke the terms
  • US government: Protect plains indians from white american, pay the tribes $50000 a year if they kept the terms of the treaty
• Consequences of the fort laramie treaty

  Choosing council representatives hard, agreeing boundaries hard, translation problems
• Significance of the fort laramie treaty

  Increase white settlers in the west, loss of independence for plains indians
• Lawlessness in the west

  New crimes (e.g claim jumping), racial tensions from immigration, mining camps as a target for criminals, alcohol, gambling and prostitution
• Reasons for lawlessness

  Mining camps isolated in mountains (far from reach of law), mining camps mostly all male, prejudice against chinese immigration
• Reasons that government encourage the growth of railroads

  Enable troops to be moved around to control plains indians, allow all americans to keep in touch (create national unity), help to fulfill white america's manifest destiny, let federal law officers reach new settlements that were having problems with law and order, promote the settlement of the west
• The pacific railroad act (1862)

  Granted the job of building the first transcontinental railroad to 2 companies (Union pacific, Central pacific), removed any plains indians rights to the land along the railroad route, companies given $16000 for every mile of track built
• Significance of the pacific railroad act

  More immigrants settled in west, made migration easier -> attract more people, more social and business opportunities (set up towns in station), increased access to goods + technology for settlers, disrupt lands belonging to plains indians, easier for federal law enforcement to communicable and travel to deal with trouble
• The homestead act (1862)

  Encourage people to settle in the west, provide very cheap land ($10), allow most american citizens to file a claim for 160 acres of land, requires homesteaders to prove they had lived on the land for 5 years + improve the land in order to keep it (e.g plant), need to pay a further $30 to own the property fully afterwards