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THE MAKING of AMERICA, 1789 – 1900 Unit 2: the West, 1839 – 60 How Did Different Groups See the American West, 1839 – 60?

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THE MAKING of AMERICA, 1789 – 1900 Unit 2: the West, 1839 – 60 How Did Different Groups See the American West, 1839 – 60? THE MAKING OF AMERICA, 1789 – 1900 Unit 2: The West, 1839 – 60 How did different groups see the American West, 1839 – 60? The 2 million square miles of land between the Mississippi River and the West Coast of America is an extraordinary landscape. It is a region of endless pains of grasslands, mighty rivers, baking deserts, towering mountains and deep ravines. White Americans referred to it simply as ‘the West’. For thousands of years the West had been the home of many different tribes of Native Americans, each with their own language and culture. In the 1820’s White Americans began to travel West across the Plains and into the Rocky Mountains. These people were fur trappers known as mountain men. Hats made from beaver and other animal furs were fashionable in Europe and in America’s eastern cities. The mountain men hoped to make a fortune by trapping animals for their valuable fur. In the period 1820 – 40, the relationship between Indians and mountain men in the West was mostly positive and peaceful. There were plenty of animals to trap and both groups took advantage of the trade. From 1840, this changed. In the period after 1840, new groups would move to the West: • Migrants would travel over the Plains and through the Rocky Mountains and begin to settle in Oregon and California on the Pacific Coast. • People escaping religious persecution would settle in the desert at Salt Lake. • Gold would be discovered in the Rocky Mountains, bringing thousands of people to seek fortunes in the West. From 1840, white Americans wanted the land of the West as well as its animals. The competing visions of the West held by white Americans and Native Americans would eventually lead to conflict and war. A map of America showing the main Indian tribes in 1840. Name: The Plains Indians Aims: • Understand the culture of the Plains Indians. • Explain the nature and culture of the Lakota Sioux. • Compare and contrast them to other tribes in the American West. Starter A photograph of a Lakota Sioux Camp What are the main features you can see in this tribe? Explain the kind of lifestyle and culture you think this tribe would have. How far can it be argued from this source that this tribe lived a simple and peaceful lifestyle? ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ Similarities and differences in the cultures of different tribes The Apache The Cheyenne The Nex Perce Leadership and • Nomadic group and their lives • Organised into tribes • Organised into villages. organisation revolved around the buffalo and bands. Usually led Each village elected a • Both men and women were by a warrior or trader headman (leader), important to the tribe. Only • Partially nomadic but it chosen on his ability to men were chosen as band depended on the tribe. organise and negotiate leaders, but women held Some settles near trade important roles in the tribe as trading posts • Not really nomadic. Had well fixed villages Food • Survived almost entirely on • Mainly ate buffalo but • Hinted buffalo on the buffalo in the summer and also traded supplies with Plains in the summer but traded their meat in the white traders ate fish and camas roots winter for corn and other in the winter foodstuffs. Shelter • Lived in buffalo-hide tents • Lived in buffalo tipis • Lived in huts in the winter and tip[is in the summer Warfare • Hunted on horseback and • Fought on horseback • Fought on horses but used guns and horses. They using bows and guns only during summer raided the settlements of the • Young men learned to buffalo hunts. Sold Navajo and Pueblo Indians fight from childhood horses to other Plains and stole their corn instead of • Warrior societies, like tribes trading. the Dog Soldiers, were a • Warrior societies were • They were feared across the powerful force less influential than southwest Plains. headmen. Beliefs • The Apache were very clean. • Believed in the All Being • Believed in the They took frequent baths. • Thought that the Noaha- importance of staying They believed they were vose hill was the sacred near the Bitterroot cleaning their bodies of both centre of Cheyenne Mountains, which they bad luck and evil spirits. lan.ds saw as their sacred • The Apache believed their • Believed that the home ancestors were rocks and Cheyenne were a ‘called • Believed that land could trees and the wind and other out people’ not be bought or sold by things in nature. Because of people this, when they prayed to spirits, they were praying to their ancestors. But to the ancient Apache, that ancestor might be a rock or a tree or a mountain. Relationship with • Fierce resistance to White • Saw trade with white • Friendly with white white Americans Americans Americans as key to Americans. Helped to • Would conduct surprise their survival on the rescue the Lewis and assaults. plains. Brought trade Clarke expedition to the items to sell to other West in 1804 – 05. Indian tribes • Married into white trading families. The Lakota Sioux – A case study Most Plains Indians were nomads whose lives centred on the buffalo. They lived in temporary villages which could be moved easily to follow the herds. The men were skilled horsemen and members of warrior societies. The Plains Indians believed that the Great Spirit riled over the earth and that all living things had spirits of their own. M<post Plain Indians shared these cultural characteristics, but each tribe had its own language and distinctive culture. Hunting the buffalo Homes and families Beliefs Leadership Warfare Using the information, complete the boxes above Grades 9 – 7 Grades 6 – 4 Grades 3 - 1 1. How far could it be argued 1. Explain the main 1. Pick out three similarities between that the Lakota Sioux similarities and differences the four tribes studied culture was well suited to between the four different 2. Pick out three differences between life on the Plains? tribes studies. the four tribes studied ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ “REMEMBER THE COMMAND WORDS!” Below is an incomplete paragraph from an answer to the question: Write a clear and organised summary that analyses the culture of the Plains Indians, 1839 – 60. Support your summary with examples. (9 marks) The paragraph below begins with a relevant comment but is lacking detail and examples. Complete the missing information In some ways the cultures of Plain Indians were quite similar in terms of the way they were organised, what they ate and how they fought in wars. In terms of organisation, the Lakota Sioux _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ This was similar to _______________________________________________________________________________________________
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