The American West, c1835-c1895: Conflict and Tension, c1835-1854 - Worksheets, Questions and Revision

12 original exam-style questions - 4 pages of questions with a full mark scheme - free printable PDF.

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This topic is chapter 3 of GCSE History: The American West, c1835-c1895 Practice Book.

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The American West, c1835-c1895: Development of Settlement, Ranching and the Cattle Industry
The American West, c1835-c1895: Changes to the Plains Indians' Way of Life, c1862-1868

6.3 The American West, c1835-c1895: Conflict and Tension, c1835-1854

EDEXCEL 1HI0 · about 55 minutes

Total Marks

Name: _______________________________ Date: ____ / ____ / ______

Answer ALL questions. Write in full sentences for Questions 15, 16 and 17. You are advised to spend about 65 minutes on this pack.

Name one Plains Indian nation that signed the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851.

(Total for Question 1 is 1 mark)

State one reason why the US government wanted an agreement such as the Fort Laramie Treaty (1851) with the Plains nations.

(Total for Question 2 is 2 marks)

Give the term used for a large-scale outbreak of disease, which spread rapidly along the trails in the early 1850s and caused many deaths among Plains Indian nations.

(Total for Question 3 is 1 mark)

Explain two consequences of the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851.

(Total for Question 4 is 8 marks)

Write a narrative account analysing how tension between Plains Indian nations and white settlers/the US government developed between the introduction of the Permanent Indian Frontier policy (1830s) and the Grattan Fight (1854).

You may use the following information in your answer:
- the growth of migrant traffic on trails such as the Oregon Trail during the 1840s
- the terms and aftermath of the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851

You should also use information of your own.

(Total for Question 5 is 8 marks)

Explain two of the following:
(a) the importance of the Permanent Indian Frontier policy for relations between settlers and Plains Indian nations
(b) the importance of increased wagon-train traffic on the Oregon Trail for tension with Plains Indian nations
(c) the importance of the Fort Laramie Treaty (1851) for relations between the US government and the Plains Indians

You must answer on TWO parts.

(Total for Question 6 is 16 marks)

State one reason why the Permanent Indian Frontier policy came under growing pressure during the 1840s.

(Total for Question 7 is 2 marks)

Name three ways in which increased wagon-train traffic on the trails affected the Plains Indians in the 1840s and 1850s.

(Total for Question 8 is 3 marks)

State one term agreed under the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851.

(Total for Question 9 is 2 marks)

State one way in which the terms of the Fort Laramie Treaty (1851) were not fully respected in the years that followed.

(Total for Question 10 is 2 marks)

Name the incident in 1854, near Fort Laramie, in which a dispute over a stray cow led to the deaths of a Lakota leader and, shortly after, of a US army lieutenant and his men.

(Total for Question 11 is 1 mark)

State one long-term effect of the Grattan Fight (1854) on relations between the US government and the Plains Indians.

(Total for Question 12 is 2 marks)

Mark scheme · 6.3 The American West, c1835-c1895: Conflict and Tension, c1835-1854

Question 1

B1 e.g. the Lakota (Sioux), the Cheyenne or the Arapaho (any one)
Answer: E.g. the Lakota (Sioux)

Question 2

B1 identifies a reason, e.g. it wanted to reduce the risk of conflict along the increasingly busy overland trails
B1 supporting detail, e.g. protecting migrant traffic and enabling the building of forts and roads mattered more to the government than maintaining a strict, unbroken frontier
Answer: It wanted to reduce conflict along the busy trails and to secure safe passage and the right to build forts and roads.

Question 3

B1 cholera
Answer: Cholera

Question 4

Level 1 (1-2): Identifies one or two general consequences of the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851, with little or no supporting detail or explanation.
Level 2 (3-4): Identifies and begins to explain one consequence, supported by accurate detail.
Level 3 (5-6): Explains two consequences of the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851, each supported by accurate and relevant detail.
Level 4 (7-8): Explains two consequences in a well-developed, logically structured way, supported throughout by precise and accurate detail, showing how the consequences connect.
Indicative content:
- The treaty gave the US government a formal basis to claim that Plains nations had agreed to allow migrant traffic and the building of forts and roads through their territory, which the government used to justify continued and growing use of the trails in the years that followed.
- Because the promised annual payments were not always delivered in full or on time, and because settlers and migrants continued to move through recognised tribal land, many Plains Indians came to see the treaty as broken, which increased distrust of US government promises.
- The defined boundaries the treaty set out for different nations sometimes cut across traditional hunting grounds shared or contested between neighbouring nations, which could create new sources of friction between Plains nations themselves as well as with the US government.
- The treaty did not stop the underlying pressures of increasing migration and disease, so tension continued to build through the 1850s, culminating in violent clashes such as the Grattan Fight of 1854.

Question 5

Level 1 (1-2): Simple, generalised statements, with little organisation or sense of change over time.
Level 2 (3-4): Some accurate knowledge is deployed, with limited organisation into a sequence; the account may be more a list of events than a developed narrative.
Level 3 (5-6): The account is organised and mostly coherent, and shows some analysis of how the situation changed, with accurate supporting detail.
Level 4 (7-8): The answer demonstrates a coherent, well-organised narrative that analyses connections between events across the period, showing clearly how the situation changed, fully supported by precise and accurate detail.
Indicative content:
- In the 1830s the US government's Permanent Indian Frontier policy set aside land west of the Mississippi for Indigenous nations, intending to separate them from areas of white settlement further east.
- Through the 1840s, however, growing numbers of migrants began crossing the Plains along trails such as the Oregon Trail, disturbing buffalo migration, damaging grazing land and spreading disease, including a serious cholera epidemic, which put the idea of a fixed, permanent frontier under increasing strain.
- In 1851 the US government negotiated the Fort Laramie Treaty with several Plains nations, defining tribal territories and promising annual payments in exchange for safe passage for migrants and the right to build roads and forts.
- In the years after 1851, however, promised payments were not always delivered in full, and settlers continued to move through recognised tribal land, so many Plains Indians increasingly distrusted US government promises even as trail traffic kept growing.
- This accumulating tension came to a head in August 1854 at the Grattan Fight, when a dispute over a single stray cow escalated into the deaths of the Lakota leader Conquering Bear and, shortly after, of Lieutenant Grattan and nearly all of his soldiers, showing how far relations had deteriorated since the 1830s.

Question 6

Level 1 (1-4): For each part answered: identifies a general point of importance, with little or no supporting detail or explanation.
Level 2 (5-8): For each part answered: begins to explain importance, supported by some accurate detail.
Level 3 (9-12): For each part answered: explains importance clearly, supported by accurate and relevant detail, with some analysis of consequences.
Level 4 (13-16): For each part answered: explains importance in a well-developed, analytical way, fully supported by precise and accurate detail, showing clearly why the event or development mattered for the outcome named.
Indicative content:
- (a) The Permanent Indian Frontier policy was important because it established the principle that Indigenous nations would be kept separate from white settlement, but the policy proved unable to withstand the scale of migration that followed, so its failure set the pattern for repeated later attempts, and failures, to fix a stable boundary between settlers and Plains nations.
- (b) Increased wagon-train traffic was important because it directly damaged the resources (buffalo grazing land, water) that Plains nations depended on and spread disease such as cholera, turning a policy of separation on paper into a source of real, growing conflict on the ground during the 1840s and 1850s.
- (c) The Fort Laramie Treaty (1851) was important because it was the first major attempt to formally regulate relations between the US government and several Plains nations at once, but its incomplete implementation on both sides meant it ultimately increased distrust rather than securing lasting peace, contributing to the violence of incidents such as the Grattan Fight in 1854.
- A strong answer on any two parts explains a clear causal chain from the policy or event named to its stated importance, using precise dates and detail rather than general description.

Question 7

B1 identifies a reason, e.g. increasing numbers of migrants began crossing the Plains on trails such as the Oregon Trail
B1 supporting detail, e.g. this brought settlers directly through land that had been designated for Plains nations, straining the idea of a fixed, permanent frontier
Answer: Growing numbers of migrants crossing the Plains on trails such as the Oregon Trail travelled directly through designated Indian Territory.

Question 8

B1 disturbance of buffalo migration routes
B1 damage to grazing land used to feed horses
B1 the spread of diseases, such as cholera, to which Plains Indians had little immunity
Answer: E.g. disturbance to buffalo migration, damage to grazing land, and the spread of diseases such as cholera.

Question 9

B1 identifies a term, e.g. Plains nations agreed to allow migrants safe passage along established trails, and to permit the building of roads and forts
B1 supporting detail, e.g. in return, the US government agreed to recognise defined tribal territories and to pay annual compensation to the signatory nations
Answer: Plains nations allowed safe passage for migrants and the building of roads/forts, and the US government recognised tribal territories and agreed to pay annual compensation.

Question 10

B1 identifies a way, e.g. the US government did not always deliver the promised annual payments in full or on time
B1 supporting detail, e.g. growing numbers of migrants and settlers continued to move through and settle on land recognised as tribal territory, straining the boundaries the treaty had set
Answer: Promised annual payments were not always delivered in full, and migrants/settlers continued to move onto recognised tribal territory.

Question 11

B1 the Grattan Fight (Grattan Massacre)
Answer: The Grattan Fight

Question 12

B1 identifies an effect, e.g. the US army responded with greater force against Plains nations in the following years
B1 supporting detail, e.g. this cycle of retaliation increased distrust on both sides and made further violent clashes more likely through the rest of the 1850s
Answer: The US army responded with greater force, increasing distrust and making further clashes more likely.

The American West, c1835-c1895: Conflict and Tension, c1835-1854 - Worksheets, Questions and Revision

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