The American West

Which territory is meant by the ‘American West’?

The area west of the ………… Mountains

How many settlers lived west of the Appalachian mountains

in 1800?387,000 people

In 1820?

2.4 million people

In 1860? ca. 16 mill. people (more than half of the U.S. population)

How long did a typical trip from east to west take (at 24 km per day)?

5-6 months

Was the Journey to the West a

CAKEWALK ?

Not

really!

Only 45 survived to reach California.

Famous case?

A group of 87 American pioneers who set off from Illinois in a wagon train, trying to reach California.

The Donner Party

(after Jack Donner, 1784-1847, who was the group leader after July 19, 1846)

The group got caught in the snows of the Sierra Nevada in the winter of 1846/47.

Some members resorted to cannibalism to survive.

Over 20,000 settlers died on their trip to the west.

MYTHOLOG

Y

The “Frontier” The constantly shifting boundary between white European settlement and wilderness

Stephen Matterson, American Literature (2003), 87.

The “Frontier Thesis” (Frederick Jackson Turner, 1893): A constantly moving boundary line – the ‘westward movement’ – has significantly shaped the American character.

“The existence of an area of free land, its continuous recession, and the advance of American settlement westward explain American development. […] The true point of view in the history of this nation is not the Atlantic coast, it is the Great West.”

Frederick J. Turner, “The Significance of the Frontier in American History” (1893)

Wild West Shows

William ‘Buffalo Bill’ Cody (1846-1917) toured with his show through America and Europe from 1883 to 1913,

staging battle scenes and hunts (with over 100 million spectators).

American West Pop Quiz

Choose the correct letter

(A, B, C, or D)

$ 100

The first major expedition into the far West was started in 1804 by Meriwether Lewis and William …

A: Bruce B: Wayne

C: Clark D: Kent

The Lewis and Clark Expedition

Secret expedition initiated by U.S. President Thomas Jefferson in 1804

After Congress approved of the expedition, Jefferson picked Meriwether Lewis (1774-1809; his private secretary) and

William Clark (1770-1839; the brother of a former war hero).

In May, 1804, the “Corps of Discovery” (as the expedition was called then) started in St. Louis and headed west up the Missouri River.

The16-year old Shoshone squaw Sacagawea [meaning: bird woman] joined the expedition, acting as a guide and translator.

Icons of the Westward Movement

The Lewis and Clark Expedition increased knowledge of the Louisiana Territory (purchased just a year before in 1803).

Furthermore, the expedition gave the US a claim to the Oregon territory along the coast.

Other famous expediti

ons

into the far West?

Zebulon Pike (American General,

1779-1813)

Mapping of the upper Mississippi, Colorado, and northern Mexico

$ 200

Which state was an independent republic between 1836 and 1846?

A: Arizona B: Florida

C: Louisiana D: Texas

The Republic of Texas (1836-1846)

After the Texas Revolution (1835-1836), the Republic of Texas (formerly part of Mexico) was formed as a renegade republic.

The Republic of Texas encompassed a region that included the present U.S. states of Texas and parts of Oklahoma, Kansas, and New Mexico.

In 1845, Texas was annexed by the U.S. government under Democratic President James K. Polk (against resistance from the Whig Party).

In 1846, Texas became the 28th state of the USA.

Nickname

? The Lone Star State

Sam Houston

(1793-1863)

Military commander during the Texas Revolution Victory at the battle of San Jacinto (April, 1836)

President of the Republic of Texas (1836-38; 1841-44)

U.S. Senator from Texas (1846-49)

Namesake of the 4th-largest city in the United States

An important figure in

the history of Texas

was …

Manifest

Destiny

What is “Manifest Destiny”?

The belief that the United States was destined, even divinely ordered, to expand across the North American continent, from the Atlantic to the Pacific.

John Gast, American Progress (1872)

The term was coined in 1845 by John O’Sullivan (a magazine editor) to justify to the annexation of Texas.

“[It is the] manifest destiny [of Americans] to overspread the continent allotted by Providence.”

John O’Sullivan, “Manifest Destiny” (1845)

$ 300

One of the most influential painters of the American West was …

A: Albert Bierstadt B: James Weindorf

C: Horst Sektort D: Martin Jägermeister

Albert Bierstadt (1830-1902)

Representative of the Hudson River School

Among the Sierra Nevada, California (1868)

Bridal Veil Falls (1872)

Painted large landscapes of the American

West Technique of luminism

(use of romantic, often glowing light)

American art movement (1820s – 1870s) Influenced by Romanticism

Main

Representatives

:

The Hudson River School

Celebrated the “beauties of nature” and expressed a new-found patriotism “American Renaissance” in literature (Thoreau, Emerson, Whitman)

Thomas Cole (founder), Albert Bierstadt, Frederic Edwin Church, John Caleb Bingham

$ 500

A major trailhead for American goods transported to the South was…

A: San Diego B: Santa Fe

C: Santo Domingo D: St. Petersburg

Commercial and military transportation route, connecting Santa Fe (in modern-day New Mexico) and Franklin, Missouri.

The Santa Fe Trail (1821-1880)

Initially designed as an international route between the United States and Mexico, it later became an invasion route during the Mexican-American War.

What was the

most popular trail

of the westward

movement ???

The Oregon TrailA 2,000-mile-long (3,200 km) east-west

wagon route connecting the Missouri River and the valleys in Oregon (spanning

the future states of Kansas, Nebraska, Wyoming, and Idaho).

Great Migration of 1843In 1843, an estimated 1,000 emigrants used the trail to get to Oregon Valley.

In 1859, OrEgOn became the 33rd state of the USA.

Nickname?The Beaver

State

$ 1,000

Which road served as a major path for those who migrated west almost a century later, during the 1930s?

A: Big Sur B: Blue Ridge Parkway

C: Pacific Coast Highway D: Route 66

Route 66Major U.S. road, originally leading from

Chicago (Illinois) to Santa Monica, CA (2,448 miles/3,940 km)

The Mother Road The Main Street of America

Will Rogers Highway

Historic Route 66, established on November 11, 1926

“One of the most famous roads in America”Major path for westward migrants during the ‘Dust Bowl’ in the 1930s

(period of severe dust storms that caused severe drought in the southern plains)

Originally used as a highway, but replaced by the Interstate Highway System in 1985

“(Get your kicks on) Route 66”

Composed by Bobby Troup, 1946(Perf. Chuck Berry, 1961)

Hymn?

Back to …

the “Old West”

$ 2,000

A discovery by James Marshall on January 24, 1848, in a small mill near Sacramento led to the …

A: Silver Flush B: Gold Rush

C: Bronze Intoxication

D: Platinum Turkey

300,000 men, women, and children came to California during these years, 90,000 of them in 1849 alone (“The Forty-Niners”)

The California Gold Rush (1848-1855)

$ 4,000

John C. Frémont, an explorer and the first Republican candidate for U.S. Presidency, came to California in 1845 to join the ….

A: Bear Flag Revolt B: Cat Banner Fight

C: Dog Post Skirmish D: Elk Sign Battle

The California “Bear Flag” was first raised in 1846 by rebellious white settlers in Sonoma, who declared independence for the state of California in the so-called “Bear Flag Revolt.”

California‘s

Nickname

?The Golden State

The modern flag of California is a refined version of the original one.

State flag at San Francisco City Hall

California was admitted to the USA as the 31st state on September 9, 1850.

With 38 mill. inhabitants, California is the most populous state in the USA today.

The Founding of

California as a U.S. State

is linked to which war?

The Mexican-American War (Apr. 25, 1846 – Feb. 2, 1848)

The Mexican-American War was fought in the wake of the U.S. annexation of Texas in 1845.

(Mexico considered Texas as its property.)

During the war, U.S. American troops invaded parts of New Mexico and California (later also Northeastern and Northwestern Mexico, even capturing Mexico City)

The war ended with a victory for …

… the United States.

Was California the las

t western

territory to be absorb

ed by the U.S.?

Gadsden Purchase (1853)

Named after James Gadsden, the American ambassador in Mexico at the time.

Purchase of a 29,640 square-mile territory in present-day southern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico (76,800 km2)

Austria: 83,871 km2

Which larger region was purchased from Russia in 1867?

Alaska (663,268 square miles / 1,717,854 km2)

Alaska = largest U.S. state by land mass (ahead of Texas and California)

Least populous state? Wyoming

For how much? $ 7.2 mill. (two cents per acre)

... but the 4th least-populous state.

No!

$ 8,000

In 1860, William Russell established a rapid mail delivery service between Missouri and California called the…

A: Pony Express B: Sprinter Path

C: Stagecoach Transfer D: Stallion Route

The Pony Express (April 1860-Oct. 1861)

It consisted of 150 stations about 15 miles (24 km) apart from each other.

In 1861, the Pony Express was replaced by the First Transcontinental Telegraph, but has since become part of the romance of the Old West (“rugged individualism” succeeding over technology)

Postal route between St. Joseph, Missouri, and Sacramento, California.

Riders were required to weigh no more than 125 lbs (57 kg), “young skinny, wiry fellows, willing to risk death daily… orphans preferred.”

$ 16,000

When the Republican Party first came to power shortly before the Civil War, they decided to give cheap land to Americans through a Law known as …

A: The House & Garden Law

B: The Domicile Bill

C: The Homestead Act D: The Bungalow Decree

The act, signed by President Abraham Lincoln in 1862, gave an applicant the right to purchase 160-640 acres of undeveloped land outside of the 13 colonies.

1.6 million homesteads were given to settlers (whites as well as freed slaves), turning 270,000,000 acres (over 1 million km2) into private property between 1862 and 1986 (10% of all U.S. territory).

The

Homestead

Act

$ 32,000

Which weapon became known as “the gun that won the West”?

A: Kodiak Deluxe B: 357 Magnum

C: Smith & Wesson D: Winchester

WinchesterThe first Winchester rifle was presented in 1866 (shortly after the Civil War).

One of the earliest repeating rifles (a lever-action mechanism enabled the holder to shoot many times before reloading).

Where does the name come from?

In 1856, a businessman named Oliver Winchester bought the assets of the bankrupt “Smith & Wesson Revolver Company,” reorganized the firm and perfected their “Volcanic Rifle.” The gun was then marketed as “Winchester.”

The Winchester rifle was very popular among settlers and in Western fiction remained commercially most successful gun in the U.S. through World War I

$ 64,000

What happened at Promontory Point, Utah, on May 10, 1869?

A: First armistice between natives and settlers

B: End of the Civil War

D: Founding of the first Mormon school

C: Completion of the transcontinental railroad

Transcontinental Railroad

1863-1869

The rails of the transcontinental railroad were joined at Promontory Point, Utah, on May 10, 1869, in a public ceremony.

90 percent of the workforce of the Central Pacific Railroad Company were men from…… China

Chinese workers were used as human guinea-pigs to deal with dangerous substances such as nitroglycerine.

Theodore Dehone Judah (“Crazy Judah”) (1826–1863) – railroad engineer and ‘architect’ of the Transcontinental Railroad

The final track, built by the Union Pacific Railroad and the Central Pacific Railroad Companies connected Sacramento, California, and Omaha, Nebraska, over a distance of 1,756 miles (over 2,800 km).

Over § 2 bill. in modern money

Costs?

$ 125,000

An important U.S. trading post in the Northwest was the Fort…

A: Astoria B: Esplanade

C: Excelsior D: Hilton

Primary trading post of the Pacific Fur Company in the Northwest

(Oregon)

Fort Astoria

First American-owned settlement on the Pacific coast (since 1811)

$ 250,000

Who became marshall assistant of Dodge City, Kansas, in 1875?

A: Jesse James B: Billy the Kid

C: Wyatt Earp D: Buffalo Bill

Iconic figure of U.S. folk history (close friend of Doc Holliday); farmer, cow-puncher, gambler, saloon-keeper, miner, buffalo hunter, boxing-referee.

Wyatt Earp (1848-1929)

Famous for the gunfight at the O.K. Carroll (Arizona Territory) on October 26, 1881.

Law enforcement was virtually non-existent (‘the Wild West’).

Wyatt Earp (sitting, 2nd from the left) with his group during the ‘Dodge City War’

$ 500,000

The American war hero General Custer was killed by a coalition of Native tribes led by Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull in the legendary battle of…

A: Giant’s Causeway B: Tinseltown

C: Little Bighorn D: Smallville

Also called…

The Battle of Little Bighorn (June 26, 1876)

Armed engagement between the 7th U.S. Cavalry (chief: General Custer) and combined Lakota-Northern Cheyenne tribes (chiefs: Crazy Horse & Sitting Bull) Part of the so-called “Indian Wars” (beginning in the 1770s)

“General Custer‘s Last Stand”

The Battle of Wounded Knee (massacre against Minneconju-Lakota-Sioux tribe

under Chief Big Foot in South Dakota, 1890)

What was the last

major battle against

Native Americans?

$ 1,000,000

Which state was the first to grant women voting rights in 1869?

A: Alabama B: Wyoming

C: California D: West Virginia

Wyoming gave women voting rights in 1869. This makes Wyoming the first U.S. state to do so.

Wyoming also had the first female justice of peace in the country (Esther Hobart Morris, 1870) and became the first state to elect a female governor (Nellie Tayloe Ross, 1924).

Wyoming

To attract women to the state.

Rea

son?

What is Wyoming‘s

Nickname?The Equality State

Women’s Voting Rights in the U.S.

The American

West Pop Quiz

Click the correct letter (A, B, C, or D)

$ 100

One of the most renowned painters of the American West was …

A: Albert Bierstadt

B: Heinz Weindorf

C: Horst Likörnest

D: Uli Sektort

Albert Bierstadt (1830-1902)

- Hudson River School, - Large landscapes of the American West - Technique of luminism (use of romantic, often glowing light)

AMONG THE SIERRA NEVADA, CALIFORNIA (1868)

BRIDAL VEIL FALLS (1872)

$ 200

A discovery by James Marshall on January 24, 1848, in a mill near Sacramento lead to the …

A: Silver Flush B: Gold Rush

C: Bronze Intoxication

D: Platinum Turkey

300,000 men, women, and children came to California during these years, many of them in the first years (»forty-niners«)

The California Gold Rush (1848-1855)

$ 300

Which weapon became known as »the gun that won the West«?

A: Kodiak Deluxe B: Kalashnikov

C: 357 Magnum D: Winchester

Winchester

Designed in 1873, one of the earliest repeating rifles; very popular among settlers and in Western fiction.

$ 500

George Armstrong Custer, a legendary Civil War hero, was killed by a coalition of Native tribes led by Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull in the battle of…

A: Giant‘s Dwarf B: Great Tinytown

C: Little Bighorn D: Small Largeville

„General Custer‘s Last Stand“ , June 26, 1876.Armed engagement between the 7th U.S. Cavalry (chief: General Custer) and combined Lakota-Northern Cheyenne tribes (chiefs: Crazy Horse & Sitting Bull)

- Part of the Indian Wars (since 1770s); last major battle at Wounded Knee (massacre against Minneconju-Lakota-Sioux tribe under Chief Big Foot in 1890)

The Battle of Little Bighorn

$ 1,000

When the Republican Party first came to power in 1860, they gave cheap land to Americans through a law from 1862 known as …

A: The House & Garden Law

B: The Domicile Bill

C: The Homestead Act

D: The Bungalow Decree

The Homestead Act (signed by President Abraham Lincoln in 1862) gave an applicant the right to purchase 160-640 acres of undeveloped land outside the 13 colonies.

1.6 million homesteads were given to settlers (whites as well as freed slaves), turning 270,000,000 acres (over 1 million km2) into private property between 1862 and 1986 (!) (10% of all U.S. territory).

It was ended by the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976, with the exception of Alaska, where ‘homesteading’ was allowed until 1986.

$ 2,000

Which state was an independent republic between 1836 and 1846?

A: Arizona B: Florida

C: Louisiana D: Texas

The Republic of Texas (1836-1846)

After the Texas Revolution (1835-1836), the Republic of Texas (formerly part of Mexico) was formed as a renegade republic. It encompassed a region that included the present U.S. state of Texas and parts of present-day Oklahoma, Kansas, and New Mexico.

In 1846, Texas became the 28th state of the USA.

The Republic of Texas (1836-1846)

$ 4,000

The trailhead for the King‘s Highway, which carried American-manufactured goods to the South, was…

A: San Diego B: Santa Fe

C: Santo Domingo

D: St. Petersburg

- Commercial and military transportation route, connecting Santa Fe and Franklin, Missouri (1821-1880).

The Santa Fe Trail

- Initially designed as an international route between the United States and Mexico, it later became an invasion route during the Mexican-American War (1846-1848).

$ 8,000

What happened at Promontory Point, Utah, on May 10, 1869?

A: First armistice between natives and settlers

B: End of the Civil War

C: Completion of the transcontinental railroad

D: Invention of the telegraph

Transcontinental Railroad (1863-1869)

The rails of the “First Transcontinental Railroad” were joined on May 10, 1869, in a public ceremony. This final track, built by the Union Pacific Railroad and the Central Pacific Railroad Companies connected Sacramento, California, and Omaha, Nebraska, over a distance of 1,756 miles (over 2,800 km). 90 percent of the workforce of the Central Pacific Railroad Company were men from China who had to deal with dangerous substances such as nitroglycerine.

$ 16,000

The town of Yerba Buena was renamed in 1846 and thenceforth called…

A: Phoenix B: Los Angeles

C: Las Vegas D: San Francisco

SAN FRANCISCO (YERBA BUENA)

The small town of Yerba Buena in the Mexican territory of Alta California was renamed “San Francisco” in 1846 after being taken by United States troops. (The name “Yerba Buena” was given to the town by Catholic priests after an aromatic herb native to the area, “good herb”).

In 1792, British officer George Vancouver first mentioned the name “Yerba Buena” in his logs when he anchored in the bay area.

$ 32,000

In 1827, the Cherokee declared themselves a sovereign nation within the boundaries of…

A: Alaska B: North Dakota

C: Georgia D: New Mexico

In a law suit from 1831, John Ross, principal chief of the Cherokee nation, defined the suitors as "the Cherokee nation of Indians, a foreign state, not owing allegiance to the United States, nor to any state of this union, nor to any prince, potentate or state, other than their own."

CHEROKEE NATION

Most of the Cherokee were expelled westward to the Ozark Plateau (Missouri and Oklahoma) during the 1830s. The Cherokee belong to the tribes usually referred to as the “Five Civilized Tribes” (Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and Seminole). According to the 2000 U.S. census, the Cherokee are still the largest of the 563 recognized Native American tribes in the United States.

$ 64,000

Which musical from 1946 fictionalizes the life of a former sharpshooter who toured with Buffalo Bill‘s Wild West Show?

A: Annie Get Your Gun

B: Billy Get Your Revolver

C: Chuck Get Your Pistol

D: Dave Get Your Rifle

Music and lyrics written by Irving Berlin (1946) (“There’s No Business Like Show Business”)

ANNIE GET YOUR GUN

Fictionalized the life of sharpshooter Annie Oakley (1860-1926), who had toured with Buffalo Bill and his Wild West Show in the 1880s.

The musical was a huge hit at Broadway in New York (1,147 performances).

“Buffalo Bill's Wild West and Congress of Rough Riders of the

World” (1893), formerly “Buffalo Bill’s Wild West” (1883)

$ 125,000

In 1860, William Russell established a rapid mail delivery service between Missouri and California called the…

A: Pony Express B: Sprinter Trail

C: Stagecoach Interregio D: Stallion Route

The Pony Express (April 1860-Oct. 1861), led from St. Joseph, Missouri, to Sacramento, California.

It consisted of 150 stations about 15 miles (24 km) apart from each other, requiring riders to weigh no more than 125 lbs (57 kg), „young skinny, wiry fellows, willing to risk death daily… orphans preferred“

Being replaced in 1861 by the First Transcontinental Telegraph, the “Pony Express” has since become part of the romance of the Old West (“rugged individualism” succeeding over technology)

$ 250,000

Who became marshall assistant of Dodge City, Kansas, in 1875?

A: Jesse James B: Billy the Kid

C: Wyatt Earp D: Buffalo Bill

Iconic figure of U.S. folk history (close friend of Doc Holliday); farmer, cow-puncher, gambler, saloon-keeper, miner, buffalo hunter, boxing-referee.

Wyatt Earp (1848-1929)

Famous for the gunfight at the O.K. Carroll (Arizona Territory) on October 26, 1881 (law enforcement was virtually non-existent).

$ 500,000

When white settlers declared California an independent republic in 1846, they raised the…

A: Eagle Post B: Coyote Sign

C: Skunk Banner D: Bear Flag

The California Bear Flag was first raised in 1846 by rebellious white settlers in Sonoma, California. They declared independence for the state of California in the so-called “Bear Flag Revolt.”  The revolt was soon put down. When the state was in war with Mexico, the flag was replaced by the U.S. flag. The modern flag of California is a refined version of the original one.

California became the 31st state of the USA on September 9, 1850.

$ 1,000,000

Which country was the first to grant women voting rights in 1869?

A: Alabama B: Wyoming

C: Oklahoma D: Utah

Wyoming (“the Equality state”) gave women voting rights in 1869, mainly to attract more women to the state.

Wyoming also had the first female justice of peace in the country (Esther Hobart Morris, 1870) and became the first state to elect a female governor (Nellie Tayloe Ross, 1924).