The American West for GCSE History: Everything You Need to Know

You may think that the American West is all about gun-toting cowboys having shoot-outs with town sheriffs. This is just one of the many misconceptions that students have when studying the American West for GCSE History. 

The American West remains a popular course to study in GCSE history. Around 80,000 students study this topic each year. During my teaching career, I have taught the American West to hundreds of students. I have also been Head of GCSE History at my school where we taught Edexcel GCSE History.

As with many topics in GCSE History, remembering the key events that happened can be tricky. Students also find the Paper 2 Period Study one of the hardest papers to complete.

This guide will provide you with only the essential information about the American West for GCSE history. I will also give some helpful hints and tips about how best to prepare yourself for your GCSE history American West exam.

The Indigenous Tribes of the Plains

One of the most important things you can do when studying the American West is to understand the environment. When I taught this topic, I always dedicated one or two lessons to teaching about the environment of the Plains. This helps to immerse students in the time period.

The Great Plains are a vast expanse of land in the centre of North America. The Rocky Mountains border the west of the Great Plains and the Appalachian Mountains are to the East. The Plains experienced harsh weather conditions. Before 1835, America was home to indigenous people who had lived on the land for thousands of years. 

Everything you need to know about tribal structure

• Hundreds of tribes lived in the Great Plains. The Sioux Nation was the largest tribe on the Great Plains

• Some tribes were fierce enemies, like the Pawnee and the Sioux

• Tribes were divided into:

  • Sub-tribes, like the Dakota Sioux

  • Bands – groups of 20–500 people

• While tribes, sub-tribes and bands had chiefs, they were not always the overall leader. Tribes could have multiple chiefs

• Tribes contained warrior brotherhoods to fight and protect their communities. They did not have to follow the chief’s beliefs

Everything you need to know about tribal beliefs

• Many tribes were nomadic (had no permanent home). They followed the migration of the buffalo herds, living in tipis

• The buffalo was a vital resource for nomadic tribes. They would use every part of the buffalo to help them survive on the Great Plains

• Some tribes grew crops as well as hunting buffalo. This was not the norm

• The Sioux believed in the Wakan Tanka (Great Spirit). The Sioux thought that the Wakan Tanka gifted the land and all its resources to them. As such, they treated nature with great respect

• Women had a valuable role in indigenous tribes but were not treated equally to men

• Many indigenous tribes did not fight to cause death. They participated in counting coup. Scalping was linked to their beliefs about the afterlife

Everything you need to know about the European reaction to the indigenous people

• European settlers did not understand the tribal structure of the indigenous people. They did not understand how a tribe could have multiple chiefs and free choice to ignore the chief. This made signing treaties with indigenous tribes very challenging

• European settlers were horrified by the indigenous way of warfare. They thought that indigenous people were savages and needed “civilising”

Westward Expansion

When I taught this section of the American West, I would always get students to consider the push and pull factors that encouraged westward migration. A combination of these factors motivated people to undertake a dangerous and long journey to the West of the USA.

From the 16th century, Europeans established communities on the East Coast of the USA far away from the Great Plains. However, in 1837, there was a significant crash in the Eastern and Southern US economy. 

Many settlers were “pulled” towards the West. They believed the West held better opportunities for land, more wealth and fulfilling their religious calling.

Everything you need to know about Manifest Destiny

• Manifest Destiny was the belief that it was God's will for white, Christian settlers to control the whole of America. It was believed that the spread of Christianity would  “civilise” the indigenous people

• The belief that westward migration was God’s mission motivated settlers to overcome difficulties with migrating 

• The US government encouraged Manifest Destiny to increase the number of settlers travelling westward

Everything you need to know about trails to the West

• The Oregon Trail was a 2 000-mile-long route from Missouri to Oregon

• By the 1840s, groups as large as 900 people completed the trip

• By 1869, 400 000 people had used the Oregon Trail to settle in the West. An example of a successful migration was that of the Mormons

• The Oregon Trail made westward migration easier before the development of the Transcontinental Railroad in 1869

• Travelling on the Oregon Trail was dangerous. People died from a lack of food or clean water, and diseases and attacks from indigenous tribes. Taking shortcuts off the Oregon Trail could prove fatal. The Donner Party are an example of this, and of the dangers of travelling in the winter

• The development of the cattle industry after the American Civil War developed other trails west such as:

  • The Goodnight-Loving Trail (1866)

  • The Chisholm Trail (1867)

Everything you need to know about the impact of gold rushes on settlement

• Gold had been discovered in Sierra Nevada, California in 1848. In April 1849, 100 000 people (the 49ers) migrated to California to find gold

• California's economy and population boomed. Gold prospectors needed food, equipment, drink and entertainment. This encouraged more people to travel to California to provide these services. By 1850, California became a state because of the number of US citizens living there

• The rapid migration to California led to problems with law and order. San Francisco suffered many issues with lawlessness among white settlers, indigenous people and immigrants

• Many gold prospectors did not find gold. They returned to the East poorer than they had been before

Conflicts and Treaties

As European settlers expanded into and beyond the Plains, there was a need to:

• Negotiate with the indigenous tribes. This would allow settlers to cross the Plains without harm

• Control and limit the amount of land that indigenous tribes had. This would free up land to give to the white settlers

Students often find this section of the American West tricky to remember. There are a lot of official government acts and conflicts between the US government and various indigenous tribes. You could use the summary below to create flashcards or fact files on each one. Test yourself regularly to consolidate this knowledge.

I have written this section in chronological order. This is because the Paper 2 Period Study asks you to write a narrative account of a particular section of the American West. Try to create links between the events below. For example, consider how the Fort Laramie Treaty and the Indian Appropriations Act caused Little Crow’s War. This will help you tackle narrative account questions.

Everything you need to know about the Fort Laramie Treaty

• The Fort Laramie Treaty was signed in 1851

• The indigenous people agreed to:

  • Stop wars between tribes

  • Allow railway companies to survey their land

  • Allow the government to build roads and a place to station troops

  • Pay compensation if any tribal members broke the terms of the Fort Laramie Treaty

• The US government agreed to:

  • Protect the indigenous peoples and their land from the actions of white settlers

  • Give each tribe an annuity of $50 000

• The Fort Laramie Treaty ultimately failed because:

  • Tribal warfare continued to happen

  • White migrants ignored the terms and settled on indigenous land

  • The US Army did not protect the indigenous tribes as they had agreed to do

  • Due to language barriers and a lack of understanding of the tribal structure, the US government fined many tribes for breaking its terms

Everything you need to know about the Indian Appropriations Act

• The Indian Appropriations Act was signed in 1851

• The act moved indigenous peoples into reservations

• Some reservations had hunting grounds. However, they were much smaller than indigenous people were used to 

Everything you need to know about conflict on the Plains

• The Little Crow’s War happened in 1862

  • This was a conflict between the Dakota Sioux and the US government in Minnesota Territory

  • Tribal warriors launched attacks on white settlements due to broken treaties and starvation

  • The war ended with the defeat of the Dakota Sioux

• The Sand Creek Massacre occurred in 1864

  • The US Army attacked a peaceful village of Cheyenne and Arapaho people along Sand Creek in Colorado

  • Colonel Chivington led the attack which killed around 200 Cheyenne and Arapaho. They were mostly women, children and the elderly

• The Red Cloud’s War was fought between 1866 and 1868

  • Chief Red Cloud led the war. He was resisting white settlement

  • Lakota and Cheyenne forces lured and ambushed Captain William J. Fetterman's troops, causing many deaths. This is called the Fetterman’s Trap

  • Red Cloud's forces won, leading to the Second Fort Laramie Treaty in 1868

Everything you need to know about the Battle of the Little Bighorn

• The Battle of the Little Bighorn happened in June 1876

• The US Army, led by General Custer, attempted to force numerous indigenous tribes onto reservations

• General Custer sent 200 troops to attack 2 000 indigenous people. The tribes were under the command of Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse

• All 200 US troops were killed 

Life on the Frontier

When I taught this section of the American West, I always linked it to the environment of the Plains. This helped students to understand what environmental problems people found living on the Plains and how people overcame them.

The Plains had hot summers, bitter winters and unpredictable storms. There was very little freshwater supply. Creating a homestead (a farm) was an expensive and risky job. The average homestead cost between $800 and $1 000 to start up. If a settler could not grow crops, they quickly ran out of money.

Everything you need to know about the Homestead Act

• The Homestead Act was passed in 1862

• The act aimed to:

  • Increase settlement in the West

  • Make farming more affordable

• The Homestead Act gave 160 acres of land to create a farm

• It cost $10 to make a claim. Many different people, including women and former-enslaved people, could make a claim as long as they lived and worked on the land

• After five years, a person could pay $30 to “prove up”, or own, their homestead

• However, many railroad companies and cattle ranchers took more land from the government than homesteaders

Everything you need to know about how homesteading improved

• Railroads made homesteading easier because:

  • Homesteaders could use the trains to visit friends and family cheaply and quickly

  • Homesteaders could order manufactured products

• New inventions also improved homesteading

  • In 1854, the self-governing windmill helped pump water from over 30 feet underground

    • By the 1880s, steel blades and higher towers improved the pumping power of windmills

  • In 1873, Turkey Red wheat​ grew in the tough Plains environment

  • In 1874, barbed wire​ stopped cattle from eating homesteaders’ crops

    • By the 1880s, barbed wire became more affordable

  • In 1875, the Sulky Plow could plough through the tough, deeply rooted soil of the Plains

    • Seed drills could be used with the Sulky Plow to plant crops

  • Dry farming was a method of preparing the soil so that it trapped rainwater under the ground. This meant crops could grow with little to no water

The Legacy of the American West

The Paper 2 Period Study assesses your ability to explain how key themes or groups developed over the time period. In the American West, a key focus could be how settlement changed life on the Plains by the 1890s.

By the end of this time period, life on the Plains had changed dramatically. Indigenous people had lost all of their rights to the land. Railroads connected the East to the West. Once-infertile land in the Plains had been transformed into farms owned by migrant settlers. Cattle ranching also became common on the Plains. Settlers had created towns across the American West with local government and policing. 

Social and cultural impact

The settlement of the West had an immense impact on US society. The US government’s attitude to the indigenous tribes changed dramatically through this time. The US government:

1. Kept the indigenous tribes away from settlers through the Permanent Indian Frontier

2. Attempted to open up the Plains to white migrants through treaties

3. Fought with indigenous tribes to place them on reservations

4. Assimilated the indigenous people through the Dawes Act

A key change to the indigenous people’s way of life was the near-extermination of the buffalo. Indigenous people abandoned their nomadic and spiritual way of life. Many indigenous people were forced to learn how to farm.

Myths and Reality of the American West

Many students studying GCSE history American West think that the American West was a lawless place. Western films portray cowboys as criminals who murdered people in gunfights. Law enforcers like sheriffs are shown to be heroes fighting against lawlessness. Much of this perception is inaccurate.

• Early settlements struggled with law and order. The US government did not have enough law officials to control the territory. Mass migration and settlement placed too much demand on resources

• There were examples of lawlessness, for example, Billy the Kid and Wyatt Earp. By the mid-1800s, these people were exceptions. Many settlements had proper law enforcement. Murder was rare in the American West

• Cowboys were rarely gunfighters. Most cowboys who arrived in cow towns after the long drive gambled, drank and smoked to spend their wages. They would sometimes fight over alcohol or prostitutes

• The biggest conflict on the Great Plains was between homesteaders and cattle ranchers. Armed conflict, like the Johnson County War, was based on how best to use the available land of the Plains. A decline in the cattle industry resolved the issues between the two groups

Understand the American West and Set Yourself Up for Exam Success

You now have everything you need to know about the American West for GCSE history. You are ready to focus on how to revise for the exams. Here are a few tips to help you:

• Know how to refer to the indigenous people

  • Do not use “Indians” to refer to indigenous people in your exam answers

  • Either refer to the specific tribe or call them “indigenous people”

• Understand what skills your exam is testing

  • In Edexcel GCSE History, the exam is testing your knowledge of consequences, narratives and the importance of events in the American West

  • From my experience, students struggle with these exam questions because:

    • They are only asked in the Paper 2 Period Study

    • They require a different style of writing from what students are used to

  • I find that teaching students a structure to answer these questions helps them to access more marks in this paper. Here are my suggested structures:

• Prepare yourself with the right skills for your exam

  • When revising for Edexcel GCSE, I would advise you to:

    • Use timelines to learn the dates of key events

    • Make flashcards that test you on how each event impacted the development of the American West or the lives of the indigenous people

For general advice on how to revise, have a look at my top tips for How to Revise for History GCSE.