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Explore the reasons for westward expansion in the Old West, including opportunities for land ownership, technological advancements, and the desire for wealth and adventure. Learn about key inventions and adaptations such as barbed wire and the Transcontinental Railroad, and discover the challenges faced by settlers in the Great Plains. Dive into the Native American experience and their resistance to westward expansion, including the Battle of Little Bighorn and the Trail of Tears.
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The Old West of America involved the expansion of seventeen future states, which entered the Union as listed chronologically by earliest entry date:
Reasons for Westward Expansion • Opportunities for land ownership.
Reasons for Westward Expansion • Technological advances, including the Transcontinental Railroad.
Reasons for Westward Expansion • Possibility of obtaining wealth, created by the discovery of gold and silver.
Reasons for Westward Expansion • Desire for adventure.
Reasons for Westward Expansion • Desire for a new beginning for former enslaved African Americans.
Because of new technologies, people saw the Great Plains not as a “treeless wasteland” but as a vast area to be settled.
Westward ExpansionInventions & Adaptations Barbed Wire Wheat Farming Transcontinental Railroad Dry Farming Windmills Beef Cattle Raising Sod Houses Steel Plows DRWW BBSS
What were the physical features and climate of the Great Plains? • Flatlands that rise gradually from east to west. • Land eroded by wind and water. • Low rainfall. • Frequent dust storms.
Reasons for Increased Westward ExpansionL.A.R.G.E. Physical Features & Climate of the Great PlainsF.L.E.D. L– LandOwnership. A – Adventure. R – Railroads& other technological advancements. G– Goldand Silver/Obtaining wealth. E– Endof Slavery (a new beginning for former enslaved African Americans). F– Flat lands that rise gradually from east to west. L – Low rainfallfor animals and crops. E – Erosion from wind and water. D – Dust storms are frequent.
During the nineteenth century, people’s perceptions and use of the Great Plains changed. • Technological advances allowed people to live in more challenging environments.
Barbed Wire Kept cattle in and other animals out.
Steel plows: • Used in hard soil.
1837 John Deere, an Illinois blacksmith and manufacturer designed the first cast steel plow that greatly assisted the Great Plains farmers in cutting the tough prairie ground & sticky soil without clogging (Nicknamed "grasshopper plows“).
Dry Farming: Growing crops without irrigation
Sod Houses: Houses made of Soil.
Beef Cattle Raising Major source of income and food in the west.
Railroads:Transported goods and people, connected the east to the west.
"Inside this boundary all our people were born. It circles the graves of our fathers, and we will never give up these graves to any man.“ -Chief Joseph (the Elder) of the Nez Perce
Joseph succeeded his father as leader of the Wallowa band in 1871. Before his death, the latter counseled his son: “My son, my body is returning to my mother earth, and my spirit is going very soon to see the Great Spirit Chief. When I am gone, think of your country. You are the chief of these people. They look to you to guide them. Always remember that your father never sold his country. You must stop your ears whenever you are asked to sign a treaty selling your home. A few years more and white men will be all around you. They have their eyes on this land. My son, never forget my dying words. This country holds your father's body. Never sell the bones of your father and your mother.”
Americans Indians opposed westward settlement. For about 10 years, in the 1870s,there were many battles between the United States armed forces and the American Indians.
Opposition by American Indians to westward expansion. The Battle of Little Bighorn
The Battle of Little Bighorn was a temporary victory for American Indians. They were defending the land that had been granted to them in a treaty on the Great Plains. Once gold was discovered, the treaty was broken. This battle was nicknamed Custer's Last Stand.
Sitting Bull’s Dream “…white soldiers will fall from the sky…”
