MOA

Sectionalism

A group's interest over a narrow range of things being seen as more important than anything else

Treaty of Greenville

1795 treaty in which 12 Native American tribes ceded control of much of Ohio and Indiana to the U.S. government, pushing the Indians further westward

Land Ordnance Act

Passed in 1785 - allowed people to buy land in the west, encouraging movement

Louisiana Purchase

Territory in western United States purchased from France in 1803 for $15 million, doubling the size of the US by adding 530 million acres of land

Encouragement to move west pre-1838

The federal government reduced the price of land

Religious attitudes to slavery

Many religious groups (namely Quakers) viewed it as a sin, however people in the South believed it was apart of God's plan

The original compromise over slavery

The Missouri compromise - Allowed slavery in the territories north of the Mason Dixon line but not south of it

Slavery and political power

There was tension between the north and the south over whether a slave counted as a person when talking about voting power for a new president. Compromise was made to say that a slave counted as 3/5 of a person

The cotton gin

Invented by Eli Whitney in 1793. It removed seeds from cotton fibres, making the process quicker and cheaper meaning that more cotton was grown and more slaves were needed for more acres of cotton fields

The significance of New Orleans

The Port of New Orleans was vital to Americans, enabled the expansion of the US economy by making trade with Europe easier. Contained within the Louisiana territory

Abolitionists

People who wanted to abolish slavery. Rose to significance 1800-1830 due to slave rebellions (e.g. St Dominique and New Orleans). Only found in the North

Growth of Slavery

The dependency on slavery & cotton created a unique Southern economy during the 1810s and 20s which increased the South's political power as more slaves lead to them having more voting power for presidents

Missouri Compromise

1820 compromise designed to deal with the issue of slavery in Missouri. Stated that states would be added in pairs (one free and one slave state) - in this case Maine and Missouri - and that any states south of the Mason Dixon lie would allow slavery whilst those north of it would not.

The Five Civilised Tribes

Seminole, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Cherokee and Creek- all of whom tried to assimilate all to differing degrees

How did the Cherokee try to assimilate?

They tried very hard to assimilate with American way of life as they could not move- built a capital city (New Echota), created an alphabet and newspaper, and built churches and schools

President Andrew Jackson and Indians

He believed native American Indians were racially inferior and wanted them removed from the south east to enable expansion of plantations

The Indian Removal Act

A law passed by Congress at Jackson's request in 1830 that allowed Indians to be expelled from the south, moving them westward past the Permanent Indian Frontier

What resistance was there to the Indian Removal Act?

Both the Seminoles and the Creek violently resisted attempts to remove them by the Indian Removal Act

Trail of Tears

Cherokee eventually forced to move by violence after keeping them in concentration camps over winter. Around 4000 died on the forced march to Oklahoma which was 800 miles and took 116 days

Where was the Permanent Indian Frontier?

Oklahoma, beyond which was the Indian Country

Manifest Destiny

The idea that took hold in the 1840's that it was natural for white Americans to spread out across the whole continent of America. It became the drive of much westward expansion

The Pre-emption Act

An 1841 act that made it easier for people to buy land in Oregon

Lakota Sioux

Nomadic tribe that followed Bison. Based in Great plains. Warfare was essential to their way of life and they had no clear leader due to their complicated tribal system

Why was the journey west so difficult?

It took several months and included different stages: across the plains the weather was very changeable and migrants often faced stampeding buffalo and hostile Indians. They also had to cross the rocky mountains which was difficult due to the snow.

Where did the journey west often begin and end?

People generally set off from towns along the Missouri River like Independence or Council Bluffs and once across the Rockies, people decided whether to go north to Oregon or south to California

Mormons moving west

Moved to escape religious persecution (for polygamy). They settled by the Great Salt Lake in Utah in 1847 and founded Salt Lake City because it was outside US territory

California Gold Rush

Mass migration to California following the discovery of gold at Sutter's Mill in 1848. It caused San Francisco to grow rapidly and California to quickly become a state

Negative Impacts of the California Gold Rush

It had terrible environmental impacts as the land and habitats were destroyed, it lead to the creation of new towns which were often lawless and extremely dangerous

When and why did the Gold Rush end?

In 1852 as only professional institutions could continue to mine for gold as it was only left in the mountains

Fort Laramie Treaty

An 1851 treaty in which Native American leaders agreed to a limited area and allowing white Americans moving west to travel safely across the trails on the Plains

Pikes Peak Gold Rush

Gold was discovered in 1858 in what was the Kansas Territory (would become Colorado) and lead to white settlers moving onto the plains into towns like Boulder and Denver that were set up around the area.

Tension from Gold Rushes

Both lead to an increased presence of white people on the Plains with Pikes Peak leading to people actually settling on the plains for the first time

Guerilla Tactics

Military tactics that differ from the usual- usually cover and protection to lay traps and ambush travellers and soldiers

Reasons for building the Transcontinental Railroad

They hoped it would boost trade, make it easier for people to settle on the plains and bring law and order to the 'wild' west

How did the government encourage the building of the railway?

They offered money ($50 million) and 10 miles of land either side of each mile of railway a company built

Who built the transcontinental railroad?

The Union Pacific Company in the east and the Central Pacific Company in the west

When was the transcontinental railroad completed?

1869

The problems with the Transcontinental railroad

It split the buffalo herd in two (north and south) and increased the presence of white settlers on the Plains

Cow Drives

Began in the 1850's as cowboys began to move cows to the north where they were more valuable along certain trails.

Texas Long Horn post Civil War

No one was their to control the cattle during the war so they bred into their millions. This reduced the price of cattle to $4 in Texas but in the North they were worth $40

Example of people who made money from a cattle drive

Goodnight and Loving drove 2000 cows north and sold them all in one go earning $24,000

Cow Towns

Towns such as Abilene and Wichita that emerged in the mid 1860s to serve the cowboys on cattle drives as near to the railroad so didn't have to go all the way north. They were lawless places to begin with but were quickly brought under control

Example of a Cow Town

Abilene - by 1871, 700,000 cows were transported through Abilene every year

Cows on the Plains

In 1866, John Iliff began to keep cattle on the plains. This quickly grew in popularity and lead to an increase of white settlers on the Plains and stress on vital supplies (e.g. water/grass) which caused tension between the ranchers themselves and the indians vs settlers as the cows posed a threat to the bufallo

How had views of the Plains changed?

Originally Indian country, by the 1860's it had use to white people and so white people now wanted to settle on it

Homestead Act

A law passed in 1862 by congress under Lincoln's presidency which offered people 160 acres of land on the Plains, if they settled on it for 5 years and paid a small administration fee. It lead to a huge increase in settlers on the Plains in the 1860's

Houses on the Plains

"Soddies" since soil had to be used because lumber and bricks were incredibly rare. Grass roofs caused many vermin to live their and in the Plains unpredictable weather houses frequently collapsed

Water / Farming on the Plains

Lack of water in summer lead to poor hygeine. People dug holes into the ground and inserted wind pumps to get water out. This was still not enough for farming so other methods like Dry Farming in summer and planting Turkey Red Wheat in summer were used

Other problems with life on the plains

Diseases like cholera and typhoid were very common. Isolation was rife. Lack of wood made fencing impossible (and therefore it hard to tell who actually owned the plains). Lack of wood also meant people turned to burning animal dung in winter.

Invention of barbed wire

Invented by Joseph Glidden in 1874 solving the fencing issue on the Plains

Fort Laramie Treaty

A law of 1851 which restricted the Plains Indians to specific areas and permitted the building of government forts, it was followed up by further treaties in 1853 and 1855 but the US frequently broke these, using Indian land for logging and failing to make payments

Life on reservations

Undeniably began to destroy Indian culture as they were forced to give up their nomadic lifestyles in favour of farming the land or living off of government meat handouts

Guns and people on the Plains

The increased number of both on the plains through the 1860's built massive tension between the Indians and settlers whose attitudes towards each other were already hardening

Treaty of Traverse des Sioux

An 1851 treaty between the US and the Santee Sioux that moved the Santee Sioux onto two large reservations and gave them large amounts of money in exchange for 21 million acres that they ceded to the US

The Santee Sioux's situation by the 1860's

Due to many failures by the US to maintain the treaty with the Santee Sioux, they were starving due to a lack of food and the general attitude to americans was hardening

What was the trigger of Little Crow's War?

When Little Crow went to a reservation agent and asked for them to open the emergency stores to feed his starving people, the agent responded by saying "let them eat grass or dung"

Little Crow's War

In 1862 after the actions of the Us agent, many Indians began to attack white settlers and the US army was called in, leading to the month long war that ended with 300 Santee Sioux members being sentenced to death, including Little Crow

Southern Cheyenne

Led by Black Kettle. They moved onto reservations in an attempt to protect their way of life but by 1864 they were struggling massively to survive, meaning that some began to attack settlers

US Responses to Southern Cheyenne Violence

They set up a temporary regiment called the 3rd Colorado volunteers to deal with the 'Indian Problem'

Sand Creek Massacre

An 1864 massacre of the Southern Cheyenne people where the 3rd Colorado Volunteers (lead by John Chivington) killed 130 Cheyenne

The Bozeman Trail

Path from Lakota lands to Montana gold fields mapped by John Bozeman which gold prospectors started using in 1864. It was disliked by the Lakota and so Red Cloud and his followers attacked settlers travelling across it

US response to Lakota violence

The US established a permanent military presence on the Plains which only served to further increase tensions

The Indian actions in Red Cloud's War

Red Cloud and his Lakota followers used guerrilla tactics against prospectors which US army was unable to deal with

The American's loss in Red Cloud's War

Captain Fetterman and 80 of his men killed by Red Cloud in 1866 at Fort Kearney as a warning to others about using the Bozeman Trail

The conclusion of Red Cloud's War

Unable to stop Red Cloud's tactics, the US government came to agreement at Fort Laramie in 1868 which created a 'Great Sioux Reservation' which was huge (the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty)

Who were Sheridan and Sherman?

Civil War heroes and the generals placed in charge of Indian campaign after 1868, striving to destroy Indians and remove them from the plains

Indian campaigns after 1868

Waging war on the Indians was seen as a way of bringing the North and South back together after the Civil War had torn them apart - giving them a common enemy to work against

Significance of the discovery of gold in the Black Hills

The Black Hills were sacred to the Lakota representing their strength and when gold was discovered there in 1874, hundreds of people burst onto the Great Sioux Reservation destroying the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty

US responses to the discovery of gold in the Black Hills

Tried to buy the Black Hills from Lakota, offering $6 million if they would move to Indian Territory in Oklahoma. When Lakota refused, decided to destroy them and their way of life

Battle of Little Bighorn

In 1876, in response to the Americans breaking the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty, Indian leaders Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse defeated Custer's troops who tried to force them back on to the reservation, Custer and all his men died

The end of the wars on the Northern Plains

The US army recovered from their loss at the Battle of Little Bighorn and rounded up the remaining Indian tribes, forcing them onto even smaller reservations and splitting up different tribes so they could not rally against the Americans

Indian Culture by 1900

Most of the traditional culture had been wiped out through the removal of Indians to reservations where they could no longer remain nomadic and the use of residential schools where children were 'americanised'

Buffalo by 1900

The populations had become incredibly small by 1900 due to hunters who wanted to make profit, the railroads and the ecological strain (e.g. lack of water) of more people on the plains

Reservations and their impact on Indian Culture

Forced Indians to farm, not hunt, run US style governments, become Christian and live in houses not tipis, destroying their culture completely

Indian Children

Sent to boarding (residential) schools where they were educated about their backward tribal ways. They were taught English, given English names and taught to read and write

Friends of the Indians

A group founded in 1883 which aimed to 'help' the Indians by helping them assimilate. They were mostly evangelical Christians and set up the boarding schools for children. In actuality, they just destroyed Indian culture

The Dawes Act

An 1887 act that removed Indian land from tribal possession, divided it, and distributed it among individual Indian families or American individuals. Designed to break tribal mentalities and promote individualism

The Oklahoma Land Rush

Occurred in 1889 due to the Dawes Act. Many people bought land and moved to Oklahoma as the government sold Indian land from under their feet

The Ghost Dance

A ritual the Sioux performed to bring back the buffalo and return the Native American tribes to their land. It began in 1890 in the Pauite Tribe

US responses to the Ghost Dance

It terrified the US so as Ghost Dance spread from reservation to reservation, the army was used to hunt the Ghost Dancers down. Caught them at Wounded Knee Creek where they were destroyed, ending physical Indian resistance to the US

The Democrat Party

Party mainly of the South. Believed in supporting large plantation agriculture and opposed to industrialisation. They were heavily for slavery

The Republican Party

Party mainly of the North who supported small scale land ownership, industrialisation and believed southern planters were too powerful

Border States

The five states on the border between the north and south that allowed slavery but did not secede from the union: Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, West Virginia and Missouri

Political Power by 1840

Whilst the South normally held more power due to their slave populations (slaves\=3/5 of a person), the rising northern population meant the north was gaining political power, rising tension between the sides

The Clay Compromise

An 1850 act which stated that new states taken from the land from Mexico would be able to vote on whether or not to allow slavery

The issues with the Clay Compromise

It was not viable as it allowed the expansion of slavery in the US (founding fathers had hoped it would die out on its own) and it encouraged the pro-slavery congress to pass the Kansas-Nebraska Act

The Kansas-Nebraska Act

1854 - Created Nebraska and Kansas as states and gave the people in those territories the right to on whether they would be a free or slave state. It essentially destroyed the Missouri Compromise and increased Southern politic power rising tensions even more

President James Buchanan

Elected in 1857 and was a southern pro-slavery president. He was seen to be supporting the south which angered the north and increased tensions further

The Dredd Scott Case of 1857

Supreme Court case which ruled that slaves are not citizens but are property, affirmed that property cannot be interfered with by Congress, and that slaves do not become free if they travel to free territories or states, fuelled abolitionist movement, hailed as victory for the south and angered the north

President Abraham Lincoln

Elected in 1861 on the promise to build a transcontinental railroad. He also affirmed that slavery could not continue to tear the country apart and it had to go one way or the other, leading the South believing he wanted to abolish slavery - despite him never actually saying this.

What did the South do in response to Lincoln's election?

They claimed he was attacking states' rights by trying to abolish slavery (which he wasn't trying to do) and used it as a reason to secede

1860-1861

7 states seceded from the Union (the first being South Carolina) and created the Confederate States

Who was the president of the Confederacy?

Jefferson Davis

Why / when did the Civil War begin?

It began in April 1861 when Confederate soldiers opened fire on union soldiers in Fort Sumter

What were the challenges for Black people in the north?

Faced huge challenges such as low wages, racial discrimination and lived in low quality housing

Life for Black people in the South

Most were slaves and they lived on plantations in horrific living conditions. It was also illegal to give them any means of education

Black people and the Northern army

Many volunteered but they were rejected due to the worry it would cause the border states to secede as they still had slaves and so the risk was that the black slaves would rise against the people who owned them

Black people and the Southern army

Some volunteered to fight for the Confederacy but were not allowed to and so dug trenches, cooked, and hauled supplies instead

The Second Confiscation Act

1862 law that liberated slaves of disloyal owners in Union-occupied territory, as well as slaves who escaped across Union lines. It allowed them to serve in the Union army once free as they were property and not people

The announcement of the Emancipation Proclamation

It was announced on the 22nd of September 1862 that if South were still fighting by January, all slaves would be freed