Lesson #12: Change & Conflict in the American West

Open Ended

Home on the Range Oh, give me a home where the buffalo roam, Where the deer and the antelope play, Where seldom is heard a discouraging word, And the skies are not cloudy all day.

Chorus Home, home on the range, Where the deer and the antelope play, Where seldom is heard a discouraging word, And the skies are not cloudy all day. How often at night when the heavens are bright, With the light of the glittering stars, I stood there amazed and I asked as I gazed, Does their glory exceed that of ours.

What interesting things do you hear in this piece of music?

Open Ended

Home on the Range Oh, give me a home where the buffalo roam, Where the deer and the antelope play, Where seldom is heard a discouraging word, And the skies are not cloudy all day.

Chorus Home, home on the range, Where the deer and the antelope play, Where seldom is heard a discouraging word, And the skies are not cloudy all day. How often at night when the heavens are bright, With the light of the glittering stars, I stood there amazed and I asked as I gazed, Does their glory exceed that of ours.

What region of the country do you think this song is referring to? How can you tell?

Open Ended

Home on the Range Oh, give me a home where the buffalo roam, Where the deer and the antelope play, Where seldom is heard a discouraging word, And the skies are not cloudy all day.

Chorus Home, home on the range, Where the deer and the antelope play, Where seldom is heard a discouraging word, And the skies are not cloudy all day. How often at night when the heavens are bright, With the light of the glittering stars, I stood there amazed and I asked as I gazed, Does their glory exceed that of ours.

Do you think the settlement of this region had a more positive effect or a more negative effect on the person or people who wrote this song? How can you tell?

Open Ended

Who were some of the groups of people who migrated westward?

Open Ended

Which groups depicted in this image were most likely positively affected by westward expansion?

Open Ended

Which were most likely negatively affected?

Multiple Select

In the mid-1800s, many Americans headed west. Select the true statements about that migration onto the image of the covered wagon.

• The Mississippi River was the end of western migration at this time.

• A major difficulty on the trail was a lack of food and water.

• The travelers headed west were welcomed by the indigenous people of the Great Plains.

• All families generally had to eat was bread, bacon, & coffee.

Multiple Select

Which of the following were opportunities people sought as they traveled west?

• People wanted to become rich by mining gold.

• They believed that moving west would guarantee a life of luxury.

• The west had an abundance of grass to feed cattle.

• People who traveled west wanted a fresh start.

Multiple Select

Which of the following were challenges of railroad construction?

• There weren't enough workers for the railroad during the war.

• The railroad companies didn't have enough funds to continue building the railroad.

• The railroad companies faced conflicts with indigenous tribes who lived on the railroad route.

• There were debates whether the railroad should be in the North or the South.

• Railroad companies were not allowed to hire immigrant workers.

Open Ended

Describe what is being shown in the image titled, "Land Losses of Indigenous People, 1850-2022"

Dropdown

As settlers moved west, they clashed with tribes. Many of those tribes had been forced to relocate to the Great Plains after the ​ ​

Select answer

. Settlers slaughtered ​m

Select answer

, which were an important part of the tribal cultures. The federal government created ​

Select answer

for the tribes, but often did not honor ​treaties they made with the tribes. In order to encourage ​

Select answer

, Congress passed the ​

Select answer

, which prevented tribes from owning land as a group.

Multiple Choice

Which of these describes the effect of the Homestead Act?

• It gave land to settlers who would agree to live and work on it for five years.

• It gave states public land to help finance the establishment of agricultural colleges.

• It provided large plots of land to settlers, but only those with certain professions.

• It provided a cash incentive for settlers to sell their land back to the federal government.

Multiple Choice

Which of these beliefs would a member of the Populist Party NOT hold?

• The government should own railroads.

• The government should follow the gold standard.

• The government should create reforms that helped workers.

• The government should add silver into the money supply.

Match

Match the following

• a railroad that spans the continent

• the cattle-drive trail from San Antonio, Texas, to Abilene, Kansas

• an 1887 federal law distributing land to Indigenous individuals rather than to tribes, thereby encouraging Indigenous people to become assimilated

transcontinental railroad

Chisholm Trail

Dawes Act

• transcontinental railroad

• Chisholm Trail

• Dawes Act

Match

Match the following

• a political party founded in 1892 calling for policies to help working people, such as government ownership of railroads and coinage of silver

• African Americans who migrated from the South to the Great Plains following the Civil War

• an 1862 federal law that granted tracts of land called homesteads to western settlers who agreed to work the land and live on it for five years

Populist Party

Exodusters

Homestead Act

• Populist Party

• Exodusters

• Homestead Act