The Early Settlement of the West, c1835–c1862 (Edexcel GCSE History)

An attack from an Indigenous tribe.

They did not bring supplies for their journey.

Half of the Donner Party caught tuberculosis.

Half of the Donner Party took a poorly marked shortcut.

The Missouri Compromise.

The Indian Removal Act.

The Dawes Act.

The Fort Laramie Treaty.

Manifest Destiny.

Economic crisis in the East.

The abolition of slavery.

Religious persecution.

To create a boundary between East and West by building new military bases.

A land route used by settlers migrating West.

A railroad that connected East to West.

A trail used only by fur traders.

Increased competition for food and resources on the Plains.

A desire to annex Texas.

The discovery of gold in Oregon.

Tensions between tribes and the US Army.

It was close to other cities.

It was a fertile farming area.

It was outside of US jurisdiction.

The US government assigned them the land.

The tribes had only one leader, making negotiations complex.

European settlers did not understand the multiple-chief structure of Indigenous tribes.

Indigenous tribes refused to communicate with the US government over treaties.

The tribes did not have any form of government.

They believed in controlling and dividing land like Europeans.

They believed land could be owned and traded freely.

They believed that the land was a gift from the spirits and could not be owned.

They did not have any concept of land or territory.

Buffalos provided all of the food, clothing and materials needed for surviving the Plains. They were essential to the lives of Indigenous peoples.

Buffalos were used for transportation across the Plains. As a result, they were important for the nomadic lifestyle of the Indigenous tribes.

Buffalos were primarily used for sporting activities so they had little impact on the day-to-day lives of Indigenous tribes.

Buffalos were used only during spiritual rituals. Whilst they were important for Indigenous culture, they did not impact how the Indigenous peoples lived on the Plains.

There was no difference in the methods used by both societies as they had access to the same weapons.

European settlers idolised the tribal methods of warfare. When they settled in America, they adopted fighting on horseback, counting coup and scalping.

The Indigenous peoples had much more advanced ways of fighting that suited the terrain of the American West. They won many battles with the European settlers.

European settlers were disgusted with methods of tribal warfare, especially scalping. The settlers viewed the Indigenous peoples as savages.