levo

The American West, c1835–c1895

Indigenous peoples of the Plains: the destruction of their ways of life

  • 3 things to know
  • Paper 2 booklet P

Overview

The slaughter of the buffalo and the part played by the railroads and the army, reservation agents and reservation life, the banning of the Sun Dance and other customs, the boarding schools, and the Dawes Act of 1887 and its effects.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Your recallNot started
Key term

Why did white hunters slaughter buffalo in such numbers from the early 1870s?

Key term

What had become of the buffalo by the mid-1880s?

Key term

Why was reservation life so destructive?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    Why did white hunters slaughter buffalo in such numbers from the early 1870s?

    Model answer

    A new tanning process turned the hides into cheap leather for machine belts in eastern factories, so a hunter could make a fortune from skins and tongues.

  2. 2

    How did the railroads speed up the destruction of the herds?

    Model answer

    They carried hunters and their heavy rifles onto the Plains and hides away to market, and passengers shot animals from the carriage windows for sport.

  3. 3

    Why did army officers welcome the killing of the buffalo?

    Model answer

    Destroying the herds destroyed the food supply that made independent life possible, so the nations would have to come in to the reservations to be fed.

  4. 4

    What had become of the buffalo by the mid-1880s?

    Model answer

    Herds once counted in tens of millions were reduced to a few hundred scattered animals, and the hunting economy was gone with them.

  5. 5

    How much power did a reservation agent hold?

    Model answer

    He controlled the rations, decided who might leave the reservation and how land was used, and some agents stole or sold the supplies meant for the people.

  6. 6

    Why was reservation life so destructive?

    Model answer

    The land was usually too poor to farm and hunting was forbidden, so families lived on inadequate rations while hunger, disease and despair spread.

Other ways to work this

The same content, four other ways.

What is inside Levo

Six ways to work the same material.

1Closed book
2Open book
3Closed book

The 3-step method, run for you

Answer cold, learn it, then prove it stuck. Levo tracks the jump between your first attempt and your last.

Anglo-Saxon and Norman England, c1060–88
British America, 1713–83: Empire and Revolution
Conflict in the Middle East, 1945–95
Crime and Punishment in Britain, c1000–present

Cram a whole paper in one sitting

Sort every topic into what you know and what you do not, then drill only the weak ones.

£6.6 , fixed in 1921.
billionmillionthousand

Blank Blitz makes facts automatic

Rapid timed gap-fills on the terms and numbers you need to recall without thinking.

AThe huge loss of life left England short of workers.
BForeign craftsmen and labourers were wanted.
CCompetition for work also bred resentment.

Build It gets the exam shape right

Assemble a full-mark answer from its marking points, in the order an examiner wants them.

Strategy means the plan for a whole campaign.
TrueFalse

Test It catches misconceptions

Spot the fault in a statement. The traps are the mistakes students actually make.

721941163128510

Brain Breaks between sessions

Short focus games to reset attention, so the next set lands better than the last.

Every question in The American West, c1835–c1895, on a schedule.

Attempt a question from memory, write the correct version, then attempt it again. Levo records the jump between your first attempt and your last, and brings each question back on the day you are due to forget it.

Or £46 a year, about £3.83 a month. Cancel anytime.