1. Humanities Department
Student Expectations:
Before we begin learning, please ensure that you:
Are standing behind your desk in silence;
Have your learning diary and pencil case on your desk;
Have a smart uniform.
Please be seated in SILENCE.
Copy and underline today’s date and title.
Monday, 22 July 2019
Revise content and skills for KT2 assessment

2. The American West 1835-1895 Learning Journey:
KT1 – The Early settlement of the West
KT2 – Development of the Plains 1862 – 1876
KT3 – Conflicts and Conquest

3. The American West 1835-1895 KT2 – Development of the Plains, 1862-1876
Chapter 4:
The Development of Settlement in the West
Chapter 5:
Ranching and the Cattle Industry
Chapter 6:
Changes in the Way of Life of the Plains Indians
Significance of Civil War and post-war reconstruction, impact of Homestead Act and Pacific Railroad Act and completion of First Transcontinental Railroad
Problems and solutions faced by homesteaders, the use of new methods and new technology, the impact of the Timber Culture Act
Continued problems of law and order in settlements and attempted solutions, including the roles of law officers and increase in federal govt. influence
The cattle industry and factors in its growth, including the roles of Iliff, McCoy and Goodnight, the significance of Abilene and of increasing use of the railroad network
The impact of changes in ranching on the work of the cowboy
Rivalry between ranchers and homesteaders
The impact of railroads, the cattle industry and gold prospecting on the Plains Indians
The impact of US Govt. policy towards the Plains Indians, including the continued use of reservations; President Grant’s ‘Peace Policy, 1868’
Conflict with the Plains Indians: Little Crows War, Sand Creek Massacre, Red Cloud’s War and the second Fort Laramie Treaty

4. What was the Homestead Act?
Aims/ Consequences
Limitations
After the Civil War, post-war reconstruction began.
It led to a new wave of settlement in the West.
It provided incentives for people to take up unclaimed land in the West and build a new life there.
Before the Civil War, southern states blocked the plans to give away land as family farms because they wanted the land to be used as slave plantations.
US Govt. wanted individual families to settle there – not just rich landowners.
Land was available cheaply but settlers had to prove they had lived on/ improved the land
By million acres of land had been homesteaded
Significant in encouraging white settlement of the Plains, especially Nebraska
The plots (160 acres) were too small as a lot of the land wasn’t suitable for farming
The govt. gave 300million acres to railroad companies, who sold it to settlers.
Despite the government’s aims, rich landowners found ways of buying up land using the Homestead Act

5. The First Transcontinental Railroad 1869
Why did the US Government need railroads to connect the east and west coasts?
Railroads would let federal law officers reach new settlements that were having problems with law and order
Railroads would enable troops to be moved around to control Indian uprisings
Railroads would allow all Americans to keep in touch, creating national unity
Railroads would promote settlement of the West
Railroads would transport goods to ports in Oregon and California, which were well positioned to trade with the Far East.
Railroads would help to fulfil Manifest Destiny making it easier to migrate and secure more areas of the country

6. The First Transcontinental Railroad 1869
Pacific Railroad Act 1862
Government Support
Promoting Settlement
The Pacific Railroad Act could only be passed after southern states left the union in 1861, as they had blocked the route as it was more beneficial to the North
The Act split the job of building the railway between two companies: Union Pacific (in the East) and Central Pacific (in the West)
Financial support - $61 million in loans given to railroad companies
45 million acres of free land for railroad companies to sell to settlers
Government also agreed treaties with Plains Indians along the route to move them out of the way on to reservations
Railroad companies sold plots of land along their routes and set up towns at railheads
Railroad ‘bureaus of immigration’ sent agents to Europe to persuade immigrants to ‘come West’ and buy their land
The railroad companies used effective marketing to sell the idea of settling in the West

7. Homesteaders: Finding Solutions
Problem
Explanation
Solution
Sod houses, barbed wire, cattle dung for fuel
Lack of timber
Couldn’t build houses, fences, nothing to cook/ heat with
Low rainfall, few rivers and lakes
Drills to find underground water, wind mills
Lack of water
Hard land
Crops wouldn’t grow, difficult to plough
Stronger machinery, dry farming, new crops
Natural disasters (prairie fires, pests)
Fires and best destroyed whole fields of crops quickly
No solutions
Landholdings = too small
160 acres (Homestead Act) couldn’t support a family
Timber Culture Act
Desert Land Act
Disease
Sod houses were hard to keep clean
Women cared for sick with home remedies
Homesteads were too far from towns with schools
Women taught the young
Lack of education
Railroads improved travel – supplies could be imported
Isolation
Life was lonely and tough

8. More Problems for Law and Order
Impact of Civil War
Impact of Railroads
New towns created by the railroads became known as ‘Hell on Wheels’
These towns grew very quickly and had no local law enforcement
Some were ‘cow towns’, where cowboys, who had just been paid after weeks of hard work enjoyed drinking, gambling and fighting
‘Hell on Wheels’ towns were notorious for heavy drinking, gambling and prostitution
Trains replaced stagecoaches for transporting valuables making them a target for train robbers
Men from defeated southern states often resented the victorious US Govt and its laws
Large numbers of young men had been traumatised by the experience of the war and found it hard to fit back in to society
The war devastated the south’s economy leaving many without jobs

9. Tackling Lawlessness:
Railroads and telegraph improved communication between law officers, leading to an overall increase in federal government influence
Many towns dealt with lawlessness themselves and elected sheriffs and town marshals
Many cow towns passed laws banning firearms
Sheriffs and marshals enforced these laws by force of personality (and fighting)
Gangs of outlaws were sometimes too powerful to control and intimidated whole communities into supporting them
Pinkertons – were private detectives hired to track down robbers and thieves

10. The American West 1835-1895 KT2 – Development of the Plains, 1862-1876
Chapter 4:
The Development of Settlement in the West
Chapter 5:
Ranching and the Cattle Industry
Chapter 6:
Changes in the Way of Life of the Plains Indians
Significance of Civil War and post-war reconstruction, impact of Homestead Act and Pacific Railroad Act and completion of First Transcontinental Railroad
Problems and solutions faced by homesteaders, the use of new methods and new technology, the impact of the Timber Culture Act
Continued problems of law and order in settlements and attempted solutions, including the roles of law officers and increase in federal govt. influence
The cattle industry and factors in its growth, including the roles of Iliff, McCoy and Goodnight, the significance of Abilene and of increasing use of the railroad network
The impact of changes in ranching on the work of the cowboy
Rivalry between ranchers and homesteaders
The impact of railroads, the cattle industry and gold prospecting on the Plains Indians
The impact of US Govt. policy towards the Plains Indians, including the continued use of reservations; President Grant’s ‘Peace Policy, 1868’
Conflict with the Plains Indians: Little Crows War, Sand Creek Massacre, Red Cloud’s War and the second Fort Laramie Treaty

11. Why was there a ‘beef bonanza’?
Cattle Trails and Cow Towns
Why was there a ‘beef bonanza’?
Quarantine – laws blocked Texan cattle from Missouri and Kansas as they carried Texas Fever, a disease that could infect other animals
1855
Civil War – Texans fought for Confederates, while they are way fighting the cattle survive, breed and multiply!
Beef is in high demand in northern towns and cities but long drives are blocked due to Texas Fever
Beef Bonanza – investors pile in to cattle industry from around the world – rise of cattle barons
1870s
Railroad reaches Abilene and Joseph McCoy sets up the first cow town cows are driven to Abilene
1867

12. Cattle Trails and Cow Towns
McCoy and Abilene
Goodnight-Loving
John Iliff
The railway created new railheads outside quarantine zones.
McCoy saw potential in Abilene, Kansas
He built stockyards and hotels there
Extended the Chisolm Trail up to Abilene
Promoted the new route, encouraging ranchers to drive their cattle there
New settlements in West opened up new cattle market
Government needed to buy cattle to provide Indians on reservations with food and settlers in west needed it
They first blazed their trail which was further west than others in 1866
1868 Goodnight’s trail extended to Colorado and Wyoming meaning cattle ranches began to grow there
Iliff saw the difficulties of the long drive
He thought it would be a better idea to raise cattle on the Plains and he began ranching in Denver in 1866
He became a millionaire by selling his beef to miners, Indian reservations and railroad worker gangs
This was the stat of ranching on the open range of the Great Plains

13. Cowboys Who were they? What were they like? Young, single men
Black American, Indian, Spanish and Mexican as well as white American
Former soldiers, drifters and some were criminals on the run
Tough, hardworking and often hard-drinking
On long trails they could ride between hrs per day in all weathers
Cowboys on the same cattle drive often worked miles apart, so life could be lonely
Cowboys on a Trail
Cowboys on Ranches
Work was seasonal (spring round-up, autumn long drive)
Work = rounding up, branding, driving cattle, caring for sick/ injured cattle
Dangers = stampede, wild animals, crossing rivers, quicksand, hostile Indians, extreme weather
Slept in the open air, cooked on campfires
Free time = saloons and brothels in cow towns
Year-round, but fewer were needed
Work = rounding up, branding, driving to market, checked ranch boundaries, mended fences, cared for sick and injured cattle
Dangers = less than on trails, rustlers, wild animals, Indian attacks
Slept in bunkhouses and used cookhouses
Free time = drinking, gambling, guns, knives were all banned and many struggled to cope with this lifestyle

14. Ranchers vs. Homesteaders
Ranching relied on public land so that cattle could roam.
Federal law stated that everyone could use public land for free.
They divided up the open range between ranches and only bought a few plots here and there.
When the homesteaders came this caused problems as they filed claims on the public land and turned the land into homesteads
Ranchers used tactics to block homesteaders from taking this land by:
Filing homestead claims themselves to all the parts of the range that homesteaders might be interested in.
Buying and fencing just enough land to block access to other plots.
Taking homesteaders to court over rights to the land, knowing that homesteaders were too poor to pay court fees
Ranchers and homesteaders argued over fencing
Farmers said ranchers should fence their land to stop cattle roaming on to crops
Ranchers said fencing was the farmers’ responsibility
Open conflict became common between ranchers and homesteaders

15. The American West 1835-1895 KT2 – Development of the Plains, 1862-1876
Chapter 4:
The Development of Settlement in the West
Chapter 5:
Ranching and the Cattle Industry
Chapter 6:
Changes in the Way of Life of the Plains Indians
Significance of Civil War and post-war reconstruction, impact of Homestead Act and Pacific Railroad Act and completion of First Transcontinental Railroad
Problems and solutions faced by homesteaders, the use of new methods and new technology, the impact of the Timber Culture Act
Continued problems of law and order in settlements and attempted solutions, including the roles of law officers and increase in federal govt. influence
The cattle industry and factors in its growth, including the roles of Iliff, McCoy and Goodnight, the significance of Abilene and of increasing use of the railroad network
The impact of changes in ranching on the work of the cowboy
Rivalry between ranchers and homesteaders
The impact of railroads, the cattle industry and gold prospecting on the Plains Indians
The impact of US Govt. policy towards the Plains Indians, including the continued use of reservations; President Grant’s ‘Peace Policy, 1868’
Conflict with the Plains Indians: Little Crows War, Sand Creek Massacre, Red Cloud’s War and the second Fort Laramie Treaty

16. Impact of Cattle Industry Impacts of Gold Prospecting
Impacts on the Plains Indians
Impact of Railroad
Impact of Cattle Industry
Impacts of Gold Prospecting
Railroad disrupted the buffalo which led to its eventual extermination
Railroads encouraged settlement on the Plains
The government persuaded tribes to give up their land along railroad routes and move to reservations
Cattle and buffalo competed for same grass. As cattle numbers increased buffalo herds were put under pressure
Cattle trails often crossed Indian lands – some tribes allowed this for a fee, but other tribes did not and they attacked
Gold prospecting in California, Rocky Mountains and Montana led to whites trespassing on to Indian lands
In some cases treaties were signed but in later cases this led to the breakout of war

17. Government Policy Why did Indians move to Reservations?
Impact of Reservations:
Settlement meant there was less land to hunt on and fewer animals
US Govt. promised protection of their lands and regular supplies of food
Tribes desperate for food would sign treaties in order to be fed
Some tribes sided with US Govt. for support with their enemies
US Army used force to move them
Reservations were made smaller so that Indians could not survive by hunting. This meant they became dependent on US Govt.
The Bureau of Indian Affairs agents were often corrupt and cheated tribes out the resources they were promised
If conflict arose because of these pressures, the government used it as an excuse to take more land from the tribes
President Grant’s Peace Policy
Realised that bad reservation management was leading to conflict
Appointed new agents who had strong religious views so that they wouldn’t cheat the Indians out of land
Made an Indian, Ely Parker, the Commissioner of Indian Affairs
Obtained a budget of $2million to improve reservations and create more

18. The Sand Creek Massacre 1864
The Indian Wars
Little Crow’s War 1862
The Sand Creek Massacre 1864
Red Cloud’s War
Bozeman Trail established which breaks Fort Laramie Treaty as it crosses hunting grounds of Lakota Sioux
Red Cloud leads attacks on travellers. Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse join him.
Begins negotiations with govt. but after learning govt. are buildings fort along trail he calls off talks
Red Cloud leads ambush on Fetterman’s men
The US Army changes approach and tries to negotiate
Conflict began when crops failed on Santee Sioux reservation and US Govt failed to pay the Indians
Little Crow and others attacked the agency and stole food and burned agency buildings
Killed several US soldiers
US Army took control, Little Crow’s army were captured or surrendered
Moved to a smaller reservation where land was baron
After being moved to Sand Creek the Cheyenne were starving
Black Kettle led troops to attack wagon trains, stole food, but didn’t attack travellers
Chivington led raid on camp, and despite waving white flags Chivington’s men massacred women, men and children
Black Kettle escapes and spreads word of massacre
Both Indians and whites are horrified

19. Fort Laramie Treaty, 1868
US government agrees to abandon three forts and the Bozeman Trail.
Red Cloud agrees to move his tribe to a reservation which includes Sioux sacred places such as the Black Hills of Dakota.
Both parties are in favour of the treaty. However, the Indians, now split into reservations on separate sites, find it hard to act together.
Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse do not agree to stay on the reservation.
This will lead to future conflicts