AQA GCSE History · AA

America, 1840–1895: Expansion and consolidation

Exam-style questions with answers for AA America, 1840–1895: Expansion and consolidation in AQA GCSE History (spec 8145). Practise with flashcards, a topic quiz, a random quiz across the course, 5 crosswords, or read every question and answer below.

All questions and answers

Question 1 · Spec 3.2.1 AA, Part one
Describe how early Americans viewed the Great Plains. [2 marks]
Answer:
They saw it as the ‘Great American Desert’ (1); a dry, treeless land unsuitable for farming, to be crossed rather than settled (1).
Question 2 · Spec 3.2.1 AA, Part one
Define the term ‘Manifest Destiny’. [1 mark]
Answer:
The belief that white Americans had a God-given right and duty to expand across the whole North American continent.
Question 3 · Spec 3.2.1 AA, Part one
Explain how Manifest Destiny encouraged westward expansion. [2 marks]
Answer:
It gave settlers and politicians a moral justification for taking land (1); so expansion was seen as inevitable and right, despite the presence of Native Americans (1).
Question 4 · Spec 3.2.1 AA, Part one
Why did the Mormons move west? [3 marks]
Answer:
Any three from: persecution in Missouri and Illinois (1); the murder of Joseph Smith in 1844 (1); hostility to their beliefs, including polygamy (1); wanting an isolated place to build their own community (1).
Question 5 · Spec 3.2.1 AA, Part one
Who led the Mormons to the Great Salt Lake in 1847? [1 mark]
Answer:
Brigham Young.
Question 6 · Spec 3.2.1 AA, Part one
Explain how Brigham Young helped the Mormons survive in the Salt Lake Valley. [3 marks]
Answer:
He organised the journey carefully in groups with supplies (1); he controlled land and water, so irrigation could make the desert farmable (1); he enforced cooperation and discipline, so the community worked together (1).
Question 7 · Spec 3.2.1 AA, Part one
State two reasons why pioneer farmers went west in the 1840s. [2 marks]
Answer:
Any two from: cheap fertile land in Oregon and California (1); economic depression in the East after 1837 (1); overcrowding (1); government encouragement and Manifest Destiny (1).
Question 8 · Spec 3.2.1 AA, Part one
Describe two dangers faced on the journey west by wagon trains. [2 marks]
Answer:
Any two from: disease such as cholera (1); river crossings (1); extreme weather and mountain passes (1); running out of food (1); poor guidebooks and routes (1).
Question 9 · Spec 3.2.1 AA, Part one
What happened to the Donner Party in 1846–1847? [2 marks]
Answer:
They took an untested shortcut and were trapped by snow in the Sierra Nevada (1); about half died and some survivors resorted to cannibalism (1).
Question 10 · Spec 3.2.1 AA, Part one
What started the California Gold Rush? [1 mark]
Answer:
The discovery of gold at Sutter’s Mill in 1848.
Question 11 · Spec 3.2.1 AA, Part one
Describe the problems in mining towns. [3 marks]
Answer:
Any three from: lawlessness and violence (1); racism towards Chinese and Mexican miners, eg Foreign Miners’ Tax (1); claim jumping (1); poor sanitation and disease (1); gambling and drinking (1).
Question 12 · Spec 3.2.1 AA, Part one
State two ways the buffalo was important to the Plains Indians. [2 marks]
Answer:
Any two from: food (1); hides for tipis and clothing (1); bones for tools (1); spiritual importance (1).
Question 13 · Spec 3.2.1 AA, Part one
Describe the Plains Indians’ attitude to land. [2 marks]
Answer:
Land was sacred and could not be owned (1); it was shared by everyone, which clashed with white ideas of private property (1).
Question 14 · Spec 3.2.1 AA, Part one
Explain why the Plains Indians were nomadic. [2 marks]
Answer:
They followed the buffalo herds (1); so they needed portable homes such as tipis and moved with the seasons (1).
Question 15 · Spec 3.2.1 AA, Part one
What was the Permanent Indian Frontier? [2 marks]
Answer:
A line set in the 1830s west of the Mississippi (1); land beyond it was to be left to Native Americans, who were moved there by the Indian Removal Act (1830) (1).
Question 16 · Spec 3.2.1 AA, Part one
Explain why the Permanent Indian Frontier broke down. [2 marks]
Answer:
Settlers crossed the Plains on the Oregon and California trails and wanted land (1); gold discoveries and the railroad brought more people, so the government stopped protecting the frontier (1).
Question 17 · Spec 3.2.1 AA, Part one
Explain why relations with the Plains Indians changed from the 1840s. [2 marks]
Answer:
Increased traffic on the trails damaged grass and scared buffalo (1); this caused tension and raids, so the government sought new treaties (1).
Question 18 · Spec 3.2.1 AA, Part two
What did the Fort Laramie Treaty (1851) agree? [3 marks]
Answer:
Plains tribes were given defined territories (1); they agreed to let settlers pass safely and allow roads and forts (1); the government promised annual payments (annuities) of goods and money (1).
Question 19 · Spec 3.2.1 AA, Part two
Explain why the policy of concentration failed. [2 marks]
Answer:
Tribes did not accept fixed boundaries, which clashed with nomadic life (1); settlers and miners ignored the treaty, eg the Colorado gold rush in 1858 (1).
Question 20 · Spec 3.2.1 AA, Part two
What happened at the Sand Creek Massacre (1864)? [2 marks]
Answer:
Colonel Chivington’s militia attacked Black Kettle’s Cheyenne camp, which was flying a US flag and a white flag (1); around 150 Cheyenne, mostly women and children, were killed (1).
Question 21 · Spec 3.2.1 AA, Part two
Explain why the Sand Creek Massacre increased conflict. [2 marks]
Answer:
It convinced many Native Americans that the government could not be trusted (1); Cheyenne, Arapaho and Sioux responded with revenge raids across the Plains (1).
Question 22 · Spec 3.2.1 AA, Part two
Why did Red Cloud’s War (1866–1868) begin? [2 marks]
Answer:
Miners used the Bozeman Trail through Sioux hunting grounds (1); the army built forts along it, which the Sioux saw as a treaty violation (1).
Question 23 · Spec 3.2.1 AA, Part two
Describe Fetterman’s Trap (1866). [2 marks]
Answer:
Captain Fetterman led about 80 soldiers out of Fort Phil Kearny chasing decoys, including Crazy Horse (1); they were ambushed and all were killed (1).
Question 24 · Spec 3.2.1 AA, Part two
What did the second Fort Laramie Treaty (1868) achieve for the Sioux? [2 marks]
Answer:
The army abandoned the Bozeman Trail forts (1); the Great Sioux Reservation was created, including the Black Hills (1).
Question 25 · Spec 3.2.1 AA, Part two
State three differences between the North and South before the Civil War. [3 marks]
Answer:
Any three from: the North was industrial, the South agricultural (1); the South relied on slavery, the North had abolished it (1); the North had a larger population and railways (1); the South favoured states’ rights (1).
Question 26 · Spec 3.2.1 AA, Part two
What was the Missouri Compromise (1820)? [2 marks]
Answer:
Missouri entered as a slave state and Maine as a free state (1); slavery was banned in the Louisiana Territory north of latitude 36°30′ (1).
Question 27 · Spec 3.2.1 AA, Part two
Explain how the Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854) broke down the Missouri Compromise. [2 marks]
Answer:
It let settlers in new territories vote on slavery (popular sovereignty) (1); this ended the 36°30′ line and led to violence in ‘Bleeding Kansas’ (1).
Question 28 · Spec 3.2.1 AA, Part two
Who was John Brown? [2 marks]
Answer:
A radical abolitionist who killed pro-slavery settlers in Kansas (1); in 1859 he raided the arsenal at Harpers Ferry to start a slave revolt and was executed (1).
Question 29 · Spec 3.2.1 AA, Part two
Explain why Lincoln’s election in 1860 led to secession. [2 marks]
Answer:
Lincoln opposed the spread of slavery and won without Southern votes (1); Southern states feared slavery would be ended, so seven states seceded before his inauguration (1).
Question 30 · Spec 3.2.1 AA, Part two
Describe the social and economic impact of the Civil War on Southern civilians. [3 marks]
Answer:
Any three from: food shortages and inflation (1); the Union blockade (1); destruction of farms, towns and railways, eg Sherman’s march (1); bread riots, eg Richmond 1863 (1); loss of men (1).
Question 31 · Spec 3.2.1 AA, Part two
State two effects of the Civil War on Northern civilians. [2 marks]
Answer:
Any two from: conscription and draft riots, eg New York 1863 (1); industrial growth (1); women took on new work, eg nursing (1); income tax introduced (1).
Question 32 · Spec 3.2.1 AA, Part two
What happened at the Mountain Meadows Massacre (1857)? [2 marks]
Answer:
Mormon militia and some Paiute allies attacked the Fancher wagon train from Arkansas (1); around 120 emigrants were killed, sparing only young children (1).
Question 33 · Spec 3.2.1 AA, Part two
Explain why tension grew between the Mormons and the federal government in the 1850s. [2 marks]
Answer:
Brigham Young ran Utah largely as a theocracy and resisted federal officials (1); polygamy was widely condemned, so President Buchanan sent troops in 1857 (the Utah War) (1).
Question 34 · Spec 3.2.1 AA, Part two
How was the Mormon conflict with the government resolved? [2 marks]
Answer:
Young accepted a non-Mormon governor and the army in Utah (1); in 1890 the Mormon Church banned polygamy, and Utah became a state in 1896 (1).
Question 35 · Spec 3.2.1 AA, Part three
What did the 13th Amendment (1865) do? [1 mark]
Answer:
It abolished slavery throughout the United States.
Question 36 · Spec 3.2.1 AA, Part three
What did the Civil Rights Act of 1866 state? [1 mark]
Answer:
That all people born in the USA were citizens with equal rights under the law, regardless of race.
Question 37 · Spec 3.2.1 AA, Part three
Define the term ‘Black Codes’. [1 mark]
Answer:
Laws passed by Southern states after 1865 that restricted the freedom of formerly enslaved people.
Question 38 · Spec 3.2.1 AA, Part three
Define the term ‘carpetbagger’. [1 mark]
Answer:
A Northerner who moved South during Reconstruction, often seen by white Southerners as exploiting the region for profit or power.
Question 39 · Spec 3.2.1 AA, Part three
Explain why Reconstruction in the South had limited success. [3 marks]
Answer:
Any three from: Southern resistance, including the Ku Klux Klan (1); Black Codes and later segregation laws (1); Northern interest declined (1); federal troops withdrew in 1877, so freed people lost protection (1).
Question 40 · Spec 3.2.1 AA, Part three
What was the Homestead Act (1862)? [2 marks]
Answer:
Settlers could claim 160 acres of public land (1); they gained ownership after living on and farming it for five years (1).
Question 41 · Spec 3.2.1 AA, Part three
State three farming problems faced by homesteaders on the Plains. [3 marks]
Answer:
Any three from: lack of water (1); no wood for building or fuel (1); extreme weather (1); grasshopper plagues (1); tough sod that was hard to plough (1).
Question 42 · Spec 3.2.1 AA, Part three
Describe three solutions to homesteaders’ farming problems. [3 marks]
Answer:
Any three from: wind pumps to reach underground water (1); barbed wire (patented 1874) for fencing (1); sod houses (1); dry farming techniques and Turkey Red wheat (1); sod-busting steel ploughs (1).
Question 43 · Spec 3.2.1 AA, Part three
Explain how the transcontinental railroad, completed in 1869, encouraged settlement of the West. [2 marks]
Answer:
It made travel west quicker and cheaper, bringing settlers and supplies (1); railroad companies sold land along the lines and advertised the Plains (1).
Question 44 · Spec 3.2.1 AA, Part three
Explain how the destruction of the buffalo affected the Plains Indians. [2 marks]
Answer:
The buffalo were their main resource for food, shelter and tools (1); without them they could not survive independently and were forced onto reservations (1).
Question 45 · Spec 3.2.1 AA, Part three
Describe the small reservations policy. [2 marks]
Answer:
From the late 1860s, tribes were moved to smaller reservations (1); they were expected to farm and adopt white culture, and were dependent on government rations (1).
Question 46 · Spec 3.2.1 AA, Part three
Why did the Battle of the Little Big Horn (1876) take place? [2 marks]
Answer:
Gold was found in the Black Hills, which led to a gold rush onto Sioux land (1); Sioux and Cheyenne who refused to move to reservations were attacked by the army (1).
Question 47 · Spec 3.2.1 AA, Part three
What were the consequences of the Battle of the Little Big Horn? [2 marks]
Answer:
Custer’s defeat led to public demand for revenge (1); the army defeated the Sioux, and the Black Hills were taken in 1877 (1).
Question 48 · Spec 3.2.1 AA, Part three
What was the purpose of the Dawes Act (1887)? [2 marks]
Answer:
To break up reservations into individual plots of land (1); to make Native Americans farm and assimilate into white culture (1).
Question 49 · Spec 3.2.1 AA, Part three
What happened at Wounded Knee (1890)? [2 marks]
Answer:
Soldiers trying to disarm Sioux under Big Foot opened fire (1); around 150–300 Lakota were killed, ending armed resistance (1).
Question 50 · Spec 3.2.1 AA, Part three
What did the 1890 census announce about the frontier? [1 mark]
Answer:
That the frontier was closed: there was no longer a continuous line of unsettled land.

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America, 1840–1895: Expansion and consolidation

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