Question

Summarize the struggles to settle the west after the civil war and describe the final outcomes

Answer 1

With the defeat of the Southern Confederacy the consequenses of the Civil War were the abolition of slavery in America and reordering the U. S. as an indivisible nation. No more separated and independent states that rivaled against each other.

At the end of the Civil War, there were gold, silver, and other precious metals in the mountains of the West. People opened mines opened. Gold was found in Central City, Colorado. Other ones found deposits of copper.

Due to the shortage of rain, people built ranches with large herds of cattle or sheep instead of growing crops. The cattle were sent to Chicago when it was ready to sell

In the nineteenth century, if precious metal like gold were found on an Indian reservation, the government would take the reservation away. The tribe was relocated in another reservation with no resources.

At that time, Native Americans in the West were no free at all to roam the plains. There were resistance from tribes in what was called the Great Sioux War, but they were defeated. Native American tribes were obligated to sign peace treaties and government sent them to reservations.

Life in the West became tough. But that did not impede people from the East to move on. Originally, most westerners were white or European immigrants, and then later, immigrants from Mexico, Africa, and Chinese populated the West's diversity.

Answer 2

After the Civil War, railroads to the West meant that large areas of land became open to settlement and economic development. Settlers of all races came, looking to mine, farm and ranch. They transformed the Great Plains. The American bison was virtually wiped out and the natural grasses replaced with wheat. The cattle industry became very important, and with it, the image of the cowboy.

These changes transformed the lives of American Indians. Many conflicts followed, and most Indians were eventually confined to reservations in undesirable areas of the West.

The settlers faced many struggles. Their lives were far from glamorous, involving long, hard hours of labor, poor living conditions and economic hardship. However, they were motivated by the promise of prosperity and adventure. The West became a crossroads of cultures, a struggle for prosperity, profit and cultural dominance. It is still one of the most enduring and popular images of America.