A Century of Change 4 Ways of Life 6 Where in the West 8 Native Peoples Ways of Life 10 First Contact 12 The Government Takes Action 14 The Settlers Arrive 16 New Neighbors 18 The Loss of the Buffalo 20 The Coming of the Railroad 22 At War 24 A Changed Land 26 A Legacy of Settlement 28 Glossary Timeline 30 On the Web Books 31 Index 32
A Century of Change Native peoples lived throughout North America for thousands of years before European settlers arrived Westward expansion by new settlers in the 1800s changed the lives of the Native nations forever µ US buys French territory µ Jefferson aims to develop the West In the early 1800s France and Spain owned much of the land west of the Mississippi In 1803 President Thomas Jefferson bought the vast Louisiana Territory from France for 15 million The purchase almost doubled the size of the United States Jefferson hoped to profit from resources in the West such as land minerals and fur US expansion however was a threat to Native peoples in the West They faced the prospect of losing their traditional lands did you know In 1845 the newspaper editor John O’Sullivan used the phrase manifest destiny to describe a belief that it was the right of the United States to take ownership of land in the West Supporters of manifest destiny believed that the white government would benefit Native peoples But it did them terrible harm Go West µ Shaping the nation µ Across the continent In 1812 Americans went to war with Britain their former colonial ruler The United States wanted to remove any foreign influence from their country The war made Americans think about what sort of country they wanted to live in Many began to believe they should impose their government across North America and over the Native nations who already lived in the West 4 Right Although there was no clear winner in the War of 1812 Native nations fought for both sides Despite their help they were left out of land negotiations after the war
µ Work the land for five years µ Build a home and it’s yours The US and Canadian governments were eager to encourage settlers to move to the West especially to farm the Great Plains In May 1862 President Lincoln signed the Homestead Act to make moving west more attractive The act allowed any US citizen or immigrant to claim 160 acres 65 ha of government land in the West for free In Canada the Dominion Lands Act of 1872 promised the same amount of land However these acts ignored that these lands were already occupied by First Nations µ Transcontinental railroad completed µ Lines meet in Utah In 1869 the Union Pacific and Central Pacific Railroads met in Utah completing the first transcontinental railroad Settlers built farms near the tracks and towns grew up Native peoples called the railroad the iron horse For them it was an unwelcome sign of change The track crossed prime hunting lands Native peoples including the Northern Cheyenne Sioux and Arapaho fought to try to defend their territory Right Workers and company officials celebrate the completion of the transcontinental railroad at Promontory Summit Utah on May 10 1869 5
