American West Exam prep

• History
• Upper Secondary (Key Stage 4)
• GCSE

Which two topics will you be tested on in the exam on the 17th June?

1. American West
2. Conflict and Tension
3. Health and the people
4. The Restoration

Interpretation A

The native lifestyle was environmentally sustainable. Indians lived with the landscape, taking only what they needed. They respected the land, rivers and trees. They looked after the herds of buffalo and were peaceful. 

Written by George Gainsford, a mountain man that lived with the natives during the 1800s.  

Interpretation B

The natives were barbaric and brutal. They would attack innocent women and children. They would scalp their victims, cut out their organs and leave their bodies out to rot. 

Written by a homesteader called Emily Thomas who saw her family massacred in an Indian attack. 

How does interpretation B differ from interpretation A about the native lifestyle. What do you use?

1. Content
2. Provenance
3. Everything
4. Opinion

How does interpretation B differ from interpretation A about the native lifestyle?

Why might the authors of interpretation A and B have a different interpretation about the native lifestyle. What do you use?

1. Content
2. Provenance
3. Everything
4. Opinion

Why might the authors of interpretation A and B have a different interpretation about the native lifestyle?

Knowledge about Native Americans

Which interpretation do you find more convincing concerning native lifestyle.
Explain you answer using interpretation A and B and your contextual knowledge.

What structure do you use for a describe question?

1. SOURCE
2. PEE x2
3. PEE x2 with solutions
4. SIGNIFICANCE

What does this picture tell you about how the Mormons broke US laws? 

The Mountain Meadow massacre

What does this picture tell you about how the Mormons broke US laws? 

What structure do you use for an importance question?

1. SOURCE
2. PEE x2
3. PEE x2 with solutions
4. SIGNIFICANCE

Effects of the Civil War

The Homestead Acts

To encourage people to settle on the land the government passed three acts:

1. The Homestead Act - a family could claim 160 acres of land free as long as they lived on it and farmed it for 5 years.
2. The Timber Culture Act - settlers could claim another 160 acres of free land as long as they planted 40 acres of trees on it.
3. The Desert Land Act: settlers could buy 640 acres very cheaply in areas where rainfall was scarce. 

The clothes that people wore were simple and good for farming, Many people had only one outfit. 

A house made of sod bricks. Bricks that are dug from the ground. 

An extended family of settlers. many people were needed to make a farm work so famillies would stick together. 

The land was used to farm wheat crops like Turkey Red

When the family first arrived there would have been tall grass on this land. They would have cleared the land, built the house and brought all tools, equpiment and furniture with them.  

How did the Homesteaders settle the plains?

How did the defeat of the plains indians settle the plains?