Learn History - The American West 1840-95 GCSE

This course looks at the way in which the American West was settled and developed by various groups of people between 1840 and 1895, and the impact of this on the Native American peoples.

The Key Questions you need to understand are:

Why did people move westwards?

What conflicts arose between different cultures?

What were the changes that occurred?

There are three main topic areas:

The American West: inhabitants and early settlers

The Plains Indians: their beliefs and way of life
Early migration and settlement: trappers and miners in the far West; the reasons for increasing migration; the Oregon Trail; Joseph Smith and the Mormons at Salt Lake City.
Cattlemen and cowboys: ranching on the Great Plains; the life and work of the cowboy; reality and myth.

The settlement of the Great Plains

The reasons for the growth of Western settlement: the role of governments; motives and aspirations of migrants; the role of railroads and railroad companies
Survival on the Plains: the life and work of the homesteaders; the role of women.
Farming: problems and solutions.

Conflict on the Plains

Conflicts between settlers and the Native American peoples: the clash of cultures; the reasons for the Plains Wars and their outcomes; the Battle of the Little Big Horn and its impact: Custer and Sitting Bull.
Changing government attitudes and policy towards the Plains Indians.
The impact of settlement of the West on native peoples to 1895.

Buy the Textbook!

The American West: Student's Book (Discovering the Past for GCSE)
Colin Shephard, Dave Martin