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GCSE THE WILD WEST (Treaties/Acts (Fort Laramie Treaty 1851 (this treaty…
GCSE THE WILD WEST
Treaties/Acts
Fort Laramie Treaty 1851
this treaty meant Indians had to allow migrants, railway surveyors and others to travel through their land without attacking them. they were paid an annuity of 50,000 dollars.
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Homestead Act 1862
This act meant 160 acre homesteads were offered to anyone - including immigrants - willing to pay 10 dollars. After 5 years they could pay 30 dollars and own the land.
Because of this, 80 million acres were settled and immigration from Europe was encouraged. Rich landowners used this to get more land cheaply
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Fort Laramie 1868
In response to Red Cloud's war, the government closed the Bozeman Trail and Red cloud and his people moved to a Dakota reservation that was for the 'absolute and undisturbed' use of the Indians. Yet, Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse refused to sign
Indian Removal Act 1830
this pressured Indians in the East to take lands west of the Mississippi River. They could still hunt buffalo and live a nomadic life.
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The Dawes Act
This offered Plains Indians land and, if they accepted, they became American citizens. This aimed to break up the power of the tribal chiefs and to encourage Indians to 'assimilate or die!'
after just 3 years, the Indians had lost half of their land and this led to homelessness and poverty
Reasons for Migration
Mormon Migration 1846-47
After the leader of the Mormons - Joseph Smith - was killed, the Mormons had to move to flea religious persecution
Under the leadership of Brigham Young, who the Mormons listened to because they believed he was God's prophet, they migrated successfully
reasons for success included Brigham's leadership and detailed planning, his consultation with trail guides and explorers and the advance party which signposted the way for those that followed - locating water sources, planting crops and setting up river crossings.
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The Great Migration 1843
Along the Oregon Trail, between seven hundred and a thousand Americans moved west
Panic of 1837
The panic of 1837 was an economic depression, which resulted in more whites willing to migrate west in search of gold and new oppurtunities
Railway 1862-69
an easier, quicker alternative to the Oregon Trail was needed
The government paid two companies - Central Pacific and Union Pacific - to build the rail. Nearly 2000 miles of track had to be laid over rough terrain
Towns grew on land adjacent to the rail which increased migration and also encouraged immigration from Europe
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Manifest Destiny
First appeared in a newspaper article in 1845 and is the belief that White Americans were destined by God to take over America and farm it effectively.
In contrast, Indians believed that they were a part of the land and no one could own it
Battles
Little Crow's War 1862
Due to the first Fort Laramie Treaty, Little Crow's band of Dakota Sioux moved onto two reservations where they almost starved due to debt, infertile land and corrupt reservation agents - they had to eat grass!
Little Crow seized opportunity to attack during the Civil War and the Warrior Brotherhood killed 600 settlers and burned Government Buildings in protest of their predicament.
After, the Sioux were moved to a reservation where many starved and soon after Little Crow was shot and scalped
Sand Creek Massacre 1864
Just when Black Kettle - leader of the Cheyenne - wanted to reach an agreement with the government, there was a massacre
Colonel Chivington led 700 cavalry troops to massacre 130 Indians, even when they showed surrender.
Then the Colonel claimed they had won a mighty battle yet Black Kettle escaped and told other Indians what had happened which led to many settler deaths
a new treaty was arranged in 1865 to move Cheyenne and Arapho onto new reservations. In 1867, the government cut that land in half
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Cattle
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Joseph McCoy
he realised Abilene could be a new end point for cattle drives. He ensured that cattle from here could be shipped to Chicago and had 450 acres for cow pens. Very successful.
John Iliff
He bought a cheap herd of cows to fatten and sell. By 1870, he had built a huge herd on the Colorado Plains: 26,000 cattle. He became Denver's first millionaire.
The Long Drive 1866
Beef was in high demand after the Civil War (61-65), especially in the North. But, due to an outbreak of Texan fever, the cattle couldn't pass through Kansas so Joseph McCoy had an idea:
Farming on the Plains
No wood
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no wood for fences meant that barbed wire was invented which kept cattle off of crops and protected them
Water was scarce
Dry Farming was used where water was preserved by planting crops that didn't need much - like 'Turkey Red' wheat
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Bad Law and Order
Rival settlers, bandits and vigilante cattlemen caused problems
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