Unit 2 Past Papers 2009 - 12
Source A: A photograph of homesteaders on the Plains in the 1880s.
Source B: A painting by John Gast in 1872.
Source C: The picture shows the finishing of the building of the first transcontinental railroad inMay 1869 at
Promontory Point in Utah.
Source D: A photograph of the Mormon temple in Salt Lake City taken in 1895.
Source E: A wagon train travelling West in the 1840s.
Question 1s (4 marks)
1) What can you learn from Source A about the lives of homesteaders on the Plains?
2) What can you learn from Source B about the idea of Manifest Destiny?
3) What can you learn from Source C about the first transcontinental railroad across the USA?
4) What can you learn from Source D about the Mormon settlement at Salt Lake City?
5) What can you learn from Source E about the problems people faced when travellingWest in the 1840s?
Question 2s (9 marks)
1) The boxes below show aspects of the culture of the Plains Indians. Choose one and explain how it
helped the Plains Indians to live successfully on the Great Plains. (9 marks)
a. Attitudes to land and nature
b. The social structure of tribes
2) The boxes below show two groups.Choose one and explain why they travelled west in the 1840s.
a. Trappers and Mountain men
b. Miners
3) The boxes below show two groups of people.Choose one and explain their importance in dealing with
lawlessness in the AmericanWest.
a. Vigilante groups
b. Sheriffs and Marshals
4) Choose one and explain their role in destroying the Plains Indians’ traditional way oflife after 1876.
a. The US government
b. The US army
5) The boxes below show two individuals.Choose one and explain his importance to the Mormons.
a. Joseph Smith in Kirtland, Missouri and Nauvoo in 1823-44
b. Brigham Young and the resettlement of the Mormons to the Great Salt Lake, 1845-47
Question 3 and 4s – you are given a choice here (12 marks)
1) Why were the Plains Indians able to live so successfully on the Great Plains?You may use the following
in your answer and any other information of your own.The picture shows a Plains Indian village and the
hunting of buffalos.
2) Why was it difficult to deal with problems of law and order in the 1860s and 1870s?
You may use the following in your answer and any other information of your own.
Being a lawman was both badly paid and dangerous. The quality of lawmen ranged from good to bad. Henry
Plummer combined his job as sheriff with leading a band of outlaws. His double life ended when he was tried and
lynched by vigilantes.
3) Why did so many people make the difficult journey west across America in the 1840sand 1850s?
You may use the following in your answer and any other information of your own.
• 1845: ‘The Emigrants’ Guide to Oregon and California’ was published
• 1848: Gold was discovered in California
• 1854: The Perpetual Emigration Fund was set up by the Mormons
4) Why was it so difficult for the Homesteaders to settle on the Plains in the 1860s?
You may use the following in your answer and any other information of your own.
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Many homesteaders lived in sod houses
In Kansas no rain fell between January 1859 and November 1860
The first railroad to cross the Plains did not open until 1869
5) Why were the Mormons able to settle successfully at Salt Lake City?
You may use the following in your answer and any other information of your own.
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1847: The Mormons arrived at the Great Salt Lake.
The Mormon Church shared out the land.
1849: The Perpetual Emigration Fund was set up.
6) Why was it so difficult to keep law and order in the cow towns?
You may use the following in your answer and any other information of your own.
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At the end of the Long Drive each year the population of Abilene rose from 500 to 7,000.
Cowboys were paid at the end of the Long Drive.
1878: Wyatt Earp was appointed Assistant Marshall of Dodge City.
7) Why did white settlers often find it difficult to understand the culture of the PlainsIndians?
You may use the following in your answer and any other information of your own.
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Older Plains Indians were sometimes left behind when theirtribes moved on
The Plains Indians used the Sun Dance for help from the spiritworld
White settlers believed land could be bought and sold
8) Why did the lives of cowboys change in the period 1865–80?
You may use the following in your answer and any other information of your own.
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1866: about 260,000 cattle were driven from Texas to the rail-headat Sedalia
In 1870 Charles Goodnight set up a ranch on the Great Plains
In 1880 36,600 tonnes of barbed wire were made and sold
9) Why was there so much conflict on the Plains between the cattle ranchers andhomesteaders?
You may use the following in your answer and any other information of your own.
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Texas Fever was spread among cattle by ticks.
1874: The invention of barbed wire.
1892: The Johnson County War.
10) In what ways did the work of cowboys change in the period 1865–95?
You may use the following in your answer and any other information of your own.
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The Long Drive from Texas to Abilene could take up to fourmonths.
1860s: John Iliff developed large-scale ranching in Wyoming.
1874: The invention of barbed wire.
Question 5 and 6as - you have a choice here (9 marks)
1) Explain why Brigham Young decided to migrate to the Great Salt Lake in 1846.
2) Describe the contribution made by women to the white settlement of the Plains.
3) Explain why Plains Indians resented living on the reservations.
4) Describe the part played by the cattle ranchers in the Johnson County War in1892.
5) Describe the importance of the buffalo to the lives of the Plains Indians.
6) Describe the Plains Indians’ beliefs about warfare.
7) Describe the effects of the discovery of gold in California in 1848 on thesettlement of the American
West.
8) Describe the problems of law and order in the mining towns in the far West in the1850s and 1860s.
9) Describe the difficulties faced by people migrating West in wagon trains in the1840s.
10) Describe the ways in which the railroads led to an increase in the numbers ofpeople settling in the West
after 1869.
Question 5 and 6bs – you have a choice here (16 marks)
1) ‘The invention of barbed wire was the main reason for the end of open rangeranching on the Plains.’ Do
you agree? Explain your answer.
You may use the following in your answer and any other information of your own.
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1874: Gliddon developed barbed wire
1886–87: The winter was very severe
Wind pumps were used in the 1880s
2) Severe weather was the main reason why it was so hard for Homesteaders to liveand work on the Great
Plains in the 1860s and 1870s.’ Do you agree? Explain youranswer.
You may use the following in your answer and any other information of your own.
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Temperatures on the Great Plains ranged from 40oC in summerto minus 40oC in winter
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Few trees grew on the Great Plains
Plagues of grasshoppers swept across the Plains
3) The coming of the railroads was the main reason for the growth of the cattleindustry on the Plains in
the years 1865–85.’ Do you agree? Explain your answer.
You may use the following in your answer and any other information of your own.
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In 1866 John Illiff established a cattle ranch on the Plains
1875–85: More than 250,000 cattle were transported by railroadfrom Dodge City
1878: Gustavus Swift developed refrigerated railroad wagons
4) ‘The Battle of the Little Big Horn in 1876 was a victory for the Plains Indians.’Do you agree? Explain
your answer.
You may use the following in your answer and any other information of your own.
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General Custer and more than 250 of his army officers were killed
Custer was seen as a hero by the American public
1877: Crazy Horse was captured and later killed by the US army
5) ‘The railroads were the most important factor in solving the problems faced by thehomesteaders in the
years 1870–90’. Do you agree? Explain your answer.
You may use the following in your answer and any other information of your own.
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1870s and 1880s: Farming equipment was manufactured in the easternstates.
1874: Barbed wire was invented.
By 1890, six railroads crossed the USA from east to west.
6) ‘The work of Joseph McCoy was the most important factor in the development ofthe cattle industry’. Do
you agree? Explain your answer.
You may use the following in your answer and any other information of your own.
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Joseph McCoy made Abilene a base for trading cattle.
1872: John Iliff supplied beef to Indian reservations.
1880s: Portable wind pumps were used on the Great Plains.
7) ‘Technology was the most important factor in solving the problems faced byhomesteaders in the 1870s
and 1880s.’ Do you agree? Explain your answer.
You may use the following in your answer and any other information of your own.
• 1869: The first railroad crossed the Great Plains
• 1873: The US government passed the Timber and Culture Act
• 1880s: Homesteaders started growing ‘Turkey Red’ wheat
8) ‘The discovery of gold was the main reason for the Sioux Wars in the 1860s and1870s.’ Do you agree?
Explain your answer.
You may use the following in your answer and any other information of your own.
• 1860s: Miners used the Bozeman Trail to reach Montana
• 1868: The Fort Laramie Treaty set up the Great Sioux Reservation
• 1875: There were over 1,000 miners in the Black Hills
9) The destruction of the buffalo was the main reason for the end of the PlainsIndians’ traditional way of
life’. Do you agree? Explain your answer.
You may use the following in your answer and any other information of your own.
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1885: There were approximately 200 buffalo left on the Great Plains.
1887: The Dawes Act was passed.
1890s: Christians often taught in schools on the reservations.
10) ‘Broken treaties were the main reason for the Sioux Wars in the 1860s and 1870s.’Do you agree?
Explain your answer.
You may use the following in your answer and any other information of your own.
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From 1863 onwards Sitting Bull refused to live on the reservation.
1868: Fort Laramie Treaty.
1874: Gold was discovered in the Black Hills.