Edexcel GCSE (9-1) History: the American West, c.1835-c.1895 Student Book (EDEXCEL GCSE HISTORY (9-1))

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Insect pests - In the 1870s, grasshopper plagues stripped the cornstalks 'naked as beanpoles' and sent pregnant women insane. Colorado beetle destroyed potato crops. Joseph Smith, founder of the Mormon religion, and his brother Hyrum were shot and killed while imprisoned for destroying a printing press. Unit 1: Schools History Project Development Study Option1C: The changing nature of warfare in Britain, C50AD to the prsent day (5HB01/1C) Unit 3: Modern World Source Enquiry: Option 3A War and transformation of British Society c1903-1928 (5HA03/3A) Option 11: Medicine in Britain c1250 – present and the British sector of the Western front, 1914 -1918: Injuries, treatment and the trenches.

This Act allowed farmers to buy 640 acres of land at a cheap price in areas where there was little rainfall and irrigation schemes were needed to farm the land This Act split up most of the remaining Indian land into 160 acre plots. Some of the plots were given to Indians but much of the land was allocated to white settlers. A group of soldiers opened fire on a group of Sioux at the Pine Ridge reservation in Wounded Knee Creek killing 153 Indian men, women and children. John O’Sullivan, editor of the New York newspaper ‘The Morning Post’, first used this phrase to express the long held belief that white Americans had a God-given right to occupy the entire North American continent.

This was a revolt by the Santee Sioux led by chief Little Crow in protest against the reservations. Realising that the Indians never fought during the Winter months, the army decided to mount a Winter Campaign to try to catch them by surprise and force them into submission. Unit 3: Modern World Source Enquiry: Option 3B War and transformation of British Society c1931-1951 (5HA03/3B)

Following the death of the Mormon leader, Joseph Smith, Brigham Young decided to take the Mormons away from the persecution they faced in the East and to build a new life for them at the Great Salt Lake. A travelling shoe-maker or tinker might pass through who would provide or mend household items, but usually families just had to make do. The women collected 'buffalo chips' for fuel, stoked the stove, and made their own candles and soap. 'I have often wondered how my mother stood it', wrote an early settler. People had to make the most of any trip to their nearest town, where the women talked of the harvest and the men smoked corncob pipes and talked politics. Settlers built 'sod houses', while they lived out of doors - people did their cooking on an open fire. Unit 3: Schools History Project Source Enquiry Option 3C: The impact of war on Britain c1903- c1954 (5HB03/3C)Unit 2: Schools History Project Depth Study Option2A: The transformation of British Society c1815-1851 (5HB02/2A) Wells Fargo established the stagecoach which allowed travellers to pay to be transported by stagecoach. Drought - There was only 38 cm of rainfall in a year, and the hot summers evaporated dampness from the land. In the 1860s there were terrible droughts, followed by fires. Farming - A hard crust on the soil made it hard to start farming. Farmers could not afford a plough or machines. There were not enough workers. Unit 3: Schools History Project Source Enquiry Option 3A: The transformation of Surgery c1845-c1918 (5HB03/3A)

F Glidden invented barbed wire. This invention meant that large areas of land could be fenced relatively cheaply. Dirt and disease Outdoor toilets and open wells. The sod houses leaked, and fleas and bedbugs lived in them 'by the million'. It was impossible to disinfect the floor. As a result the death rate, especially from diphtheria, was high. Unit 1: Schools History Project Development Study Option1A: Medicine and public health in Britain, C50AD to the present day (5HB01/1A) The well driller and windpump allowed deep wells to be dug, which gave water. New methods of dry farming were invented (the 'Turkey Red' variety of wheat was imported from Russia, and farmers put a layer of dust on the soil after rain, which stopped evaporation).This Act was an extension to the Homestead Act offering 160 acres of land for free provided that at least 40 acres was planted with trees. This Act offered anyone prepared to settle in the West 160 acres of land for free provided they built a home and farmed the land for five years.