Review Western Expansion Study Guide

•What are the physical features and climate of the Great Plains?

a. Flatlands that rise gradually from east to west.

b. Land eroded by wind and water.

c. Low rainfall

d. Frequent dust storms

•What are the physical features and climate of the Great Plains? (same information as last slide)

a. Flatlands that rise gradually from east to west.

b. Little rainfall

c. Erosion of land by wind and water

d. Dust storms

WHAT WERE THE REASONS FOR WESTWARD EXPANSION

(WHY DID PEOPLE MOVE WEST)

Land ownership

• Desire for Adventure.

• Railroad and other Technological advances

GOLD AND SILVER

• Possibility of obtaining

wealth

END OF SLAVERY

• Desire for a new beginning

for former enslaved African

Americans.

1876

The Speese family homestead Cherry County, Nebraska (1915)

Did your reasons for westward expansion spell

L (Land ownership)

A (Adventure)

R (Railroads and other technological advancements)

G (Gold and silver)

E (End of slavery)

The “Great American Desert”

During the nineteenth century, people’s perceptions and use of the Great Plains changed.

Technological advances allowed people to live in more challenging environments.

Barbed Wire

Kept cattle in and other animals out.

Steel plows: Used in hard

soil.

John Deere, an Illinois blacksmith and manufacturer designed the first cast steel plow that greatly assisted the Great Plains farmers in cutting the tough prairie ground & sticky soil without clogging (Nicknamed "grasshopper plows“).

1837

Dry Farming:Growing crops without irrigation

Dry Farming: A type of farming practiced in arid areas without irrigation by planting drought-resistant crops (that mature in late spring or fall like “winter” wheat) and maintaining a fine surface tilth or mulch that protects the natural moisture of the soil from evaporation.

1863

Sod Houses: Houses made of Soil.

BEEF CATTLE RAISINGMajor source of income

and food in the west.

The open range was perfect for raising cattle for beef. The practice of the “cowboy” driving cattle to market became an iconic symbol of the West.

WHEAT FARMING:CROP EASILY GROWN IN DRY AREAS.

WINDMILLS: USED TO PUMP WATER.

•Windmills have been around since around 500-900 BC for grinding grain.

•A windmill for pumping water was perfected in the United States in 1854 (the Halladay Windmill).

1854

A steel-bladed water pumping windmill in the American Midwest (late 1800's)

RAILROADS: TRANSPORTED GOODS AND PEOPLE, CONNECTED EAST TO WEST.

FROM WAGON TRAINS TO THE TRANSCONTINENTAL RAILROAD

A “Boom Town”

BECAUSE OF NEW TECHNOLOGIES, PEOPLE SAW THE GREAT PLAINS NOT AS A “TREELESS WASTELAND” BUT AS A VAST AREA TO BE SETTLED.

Native American opposition to Westward Expansion

Americans Indians opposed westward settlement.

For about 10 years, in the 1870s, there were many battles between the United States armed forces and the American Indians (Native Americans)

The Battle of Little Bighorn was a temporary victory for American Indians. They were defending the land (that had been granted to them in a treaty) on the Great Plains. Once gold was discovered, the treaty was broken.

This battle was nicknamed “Custer's Last Stand”.

Sitting Bull, a spiritual leader, did not want to be forced from his lands on the Great Plains. The Great Plains Indians set out for a battle and won decisively against a much smaller United States army force.

Geronimo, a leader of American Indians in the southwest, refused to go to a reservation and sought justice from settlers in the southwest.

Although he was eventually captured, stories of his bravery made him a famous figure. (Last Native American to formally surrender to U.S.)

Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce Indians in the Pacific region, and his people escaped toward Canada rather than be forced onto a reservation, but it was only a temporary victory. He eventually surrendered ratherthan see innocents die from cold and

starvation.

“It is cold and we have no blankets. The little children are freezing to death. My people, some of them, have run away to the hills and have no blankets, no food. No one knows where they are--perhaps freezing to death. I want to have time to look for my children and see how many I can find. Maybe I shall find them among the dead. Hear me, my chiefs. I am tired. My heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever. “

Chief Joseph quote upon surrendering to the U.S. army

How was the American Indian population changed?o The American Indian population was reduced through warfare and

disease.

o The Battle of Wounded Knee was the final attack on American Indians. After Sitting Bull was killed on the Pine Ridge Reservation, some Lakota members went to Wounded Knee Creek. Although it is unclear why a gunshot was fired and by whom, the U.S. army opened fire on the Lakota killing between 150-300 Native Americans.

oThere were assimilation attempts and lifestyle changes because of the reduction of the buffalo population.

o American Indians' homeland was reduced through broken treaties.

Assimilation of Native- Americans

Dawes Act – • It was designed to encourage the breakup of

the tribes and promote the assimilation of Indians into American Society.

• Wanted to create independent farmers out of Indians

Carlisle School – set up to teach Native –American children to live in white society

An army captain (Pratt) started Carlisle Indian School in 1879. He thought that Indian children would learn white ways better if they were away from their homes. The boarding school was in Pennsylvania.

• It was far away from the Indian reservations. • When children came to the school, the teachers cut their long hair. • The students wore “American style” clothing• No one would let them speak their own language. • Many children became very homesick. • Their teachers showed them how to read and write in English. • They also taught them trades like farming, sewing, and baking. • The Indian children were sent to church and Sunday School. • Their teachers wanted them to know how to live in white society when they left the school.