The American West, 1835-1895 Work Booklet
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The American West, 1835-1895 Work booklet Name: 60 minutes 6 questions to answer. Total of 40 marks. Q1. Interpretation content to explain differences – 4 marks Q2. Interpretation provenance to explain differences– 4 marks Q3. How convincing is the interpretation? – 8 marks Q4. Describe 2 problems / solutions question – 4 marks Q5. In what ways were ……affected question – 8 marks Q6. Which was more important question – 12 marks 1 Timeline 1824 Bureau of Indian Affairs set up 1830 Indian Removal Act passed 1836 Oregon Trail opened 1845 Concept of Manifest Destiny becomes popular 1845 – 48 Mexican-American War 1846 - 47 Mormon migration 1849 California Gold Rush 1851- Feb Indian Appropriations Act passed 1851 – Sept Fort Laramie Treaty signed 1854 Kansas-Nebraska Act passed 1857-58 Mormon War 1859 Colorado Gold Rush Knowledge Organiser Key events 1 1830 – Indian Removal Act – 46,000 Indians from the Eastern states are forced by the US government to re-locate to the Great Plains. 2 1836 – the Oregon Trail offers safe passage for settlers across the Great Plains and Rocky Mountains to Oregon 3 1846 – 47 – The Mormon Migration – Migration of those from the Mormon faith westwards to find their homeland. They settled in Salt Lake, Utah 4 1849 – Gold Rush – The discovery of gold in California led to huge migration to the West, over 300,000 moved by 1855 5 1851 – The Fort Laramie Treaty – An agreement between Indians and government that Indians would not attack settlers using the Oregon Trail and in exchange for large areas of land being given to Indians “for all time” 2 Expansion west and the effect on the Plains Indians – 1830s to 1840s America has very different geographical regions: 1. In order to understand the events in this topic, you need to examine how the environment has influenced the American people – so we’d better start with a look at the geography of North America. 2. North America can be divided into several geographical regions, all of which are quite different from each other. Rocky Mountains Flood Plain The Mississippi river is the fourth Lying between the Great Plains and largest river in the World. It is the west coast are the Rocky wide, slow and treacherous and it Mountains – a major mountain range. covers more than 2,500 miles. It The slopes on either side of the has 250 tributaries and its flood Rockies are heavily wooded plain covers 1.25 million square especially in the south. Towards the miles. Consequently, in times of centre of the Rockies is the heavy rainfall, this land is prone to plateaux region. It’s relatively flat flooding. This made travelling west but does contain areas of desert. difficult as this was another The mountain was 1000 km wide and barrier. over 5km high with deep ravines and high passes that were completely blocked by snow for months every winter. Wildlife There was range of animals and birds. The most common were the The Great Plains great herds of buffalo. In the Central North America is dominated by Rocky Mountains there were black the Great Plains. The Plains are mostly a bears, grizzly bears, grey wolves, huge flat expanse of grassland. coyotes, cougars and wolverines. There are two areas: the low Appalachian Mountains plains to the east with long grass and the high plains to the west with short They were 2000 metres grass. The Great Plains become drier and high with steep rock more desert like the further south you faces and deep valleys. go. The weather across the Great Plains They kept the first white Climate varies hugely. The mountains on either settlers on the eastern sides of the Plains produce rain shadows coast of the continent. The climate was one of (regions with little rain). You often get extremes temperature with droughts in the summers and severe strong winds all year. In snow in the winter. winter these winds brought blizzards and freezing cold. Being so far from the sea means that In summer they were very there is a huge difference in hot drying up the land and temperature between summer and rivers. winter. 3 Describe 2 ways that the geography of America made it difficult to travel from the East to the West. Lying between the Great Plains There was range of animals and birds on the and the west coast are the Rocky Great Plains. The most common were the Mountains – a major mountain great herds of buffalo. In the Rocky range. The slopes on either side Mountains there were black bears, grizzly of the Rockies are heavily wooded bears, grey wolves, coyotes, cougars and especially in the south. Towards wolverines. the centre of the Rockies is the plateaux region. It’s relatively flat but does contain areas of One of the major obstacles when crossing the Great desert. The mountain was 1000 Plains was the Mississippi river. The Mississippi river km wide and over 5km high with is the fourth largest river in the world. It is wide, deep ravines and high passes that slow and dangerous and it covers more than 2,500 were completely blocked by snow miles. It has 250 tributaries and its flood plain covers for months every winter. 1.25 million square miles. Consequently, in times of heavy rainfall, this land is prone to flooding. This made travelling west difficult and this was another In winter the winds on the barrier. Great Plains brought blizzards and freezing cold. In summer Weather on the trail was bad. Great they were very hot drying up thunderstorms took their toll on the the land and rivers. travellers. Half a dozen people were killed by lightning strikes, many others were injured by hailstone the size of apples. Pouring rains were difficult because there was no shelter The climate was one of extremes on the open plain. temperature with strong winds all year. Another obstacle when crossing the Great Plains was the Appalachian Mountains. These were 2000 metres high with steep rock faces and Key: deep valleys. They kept the first white settlers on the eastern coast of the continent. Landscape Climate. 4 Wild animals. 1. Explain why the Rocky Mountains would have made the journey west difficult ----------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2. In order to travel west travellers needed to cross the Mississippi River, why would this have been a problem?-------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------- 3. What wildlife could be found on the Great Plains?------------------------------------------ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4. Why were the wildlife living on the Great Plains a problem for travellers making the journey west? --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ 5. What were the Great Plains?----------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------ 6. What was the climate like on the Great Plains?---------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------- 7. Explain how the climate of the Great Plains was a problem for travellers making the journey west.----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 8. Explain why the white Americans described the Great Plains as the Great American Desert. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5 Who were the Plains Indians? These