Paper 1 Section A/A: America, 1840–1895: Expansion and consolidation

June 2023

Q1: How does Interpretation B differ from Interpretation A about the defeat of the

Plains Indians? Explain your answer based on what it says in Interpretations A and B.

Answer:

For example, the interpretations differ about the reasons why the army defeated the Indians and solved the ‘Indian Problem’. In Interpretation B the buffalo hunters are responsible, not the army, because the hunters killed the buffaloes which the Indians relied on for everything. However, in contrast in Interpretation A, the Plains Indians were defeated because the West was filled with farmers who were brought by the railroad and the army used the railroad to get troops and supplies to the forts in the West. For example, according to Interpretation A the Plains Indians were defeated by the railroad whereas Interpretation B says that it was the Buffalo hunters.

Q2: Why might the authors of Interpretations A and B have a different interpretation

about the defeat of the Plains Indians? Explain your answer using Interpretations A and B and your contextual knowledge.

Answer:

For example, students may argue that the beliefs, circumstances and motives of Sherman and Cook were different. General Sherman who is retiring in 1883 so he wants to reassure the American President that the ‘Indian Problem’ is over. As an army man who fought against the Plains Indians, he wants the army, which he led, to get some credit for this and the railroad helped them do it. Cook in Interpretation B has experience of the army as a scout but argues that the hunters killed the buffaloes and therefore took away the Indians’ way of life and forced the Indians to ask for peace. As late as 1907, as a buffalo hunter and cowboy, he wants recognition as an American hero. For example, Interpretation A was from an army man who fought against the Indians. He is saying the army won the war. However, in Interpretation B, was a buffalo hunter so he would want them thanked for solving the ‘Indian

Q3: Which interpretation gives the more convincing opinion about the defeat of the

Plains Indians? Explain your answer based on your contextual knowledge and what it says in Interpretations A and B.

Answer:

For example, Interpretation A is convincing because the railroad helped the white people populate the Plains and Interpretation B is also right because the Buffalo hunters stopped the Indians living freely on the Plains. There was no policy on the part of the government to destroy the buffaloes but the army realised the importance of the Buffalo hunters in removing the buffaloes as the animals were the main reason the Indians could live the nomadic hunter- gatherer lifestyle on the Plains. So, the army often provided the Buffalo hunters with ammunition for free as the soldiers realised that the buffalo hunters work made it harder for the native Indians. However, it was the Indians who were defeated by technology, and the manpower and military superiority of the army which finally persuaded the Indians to go onto reservations. For example, Interpretation B is convincing because by 1883 the buffalo herds and been destroyed and the Indian tribes were on reservations. However, that was because the Indians rarely fought as a united army, except at the Big Horn (1876), after that the army mounted a winter campaign to hunt down the Indian in their isolated tribes. The railroad was essential to restocking the forts across the Plains and the army did respond when homesteaders were attacked by the Indians. Where the homesteaders went, the army followed to protect them. So, Interpretation A is more convincing because without the army the Indian wars would not have ended and the Indians moved to the reservations. For example, Interpretation A is convincing because the East-West railroad was completed in 1869 and homesteaders used it to go West. The army used it to resupply their forts with weapons and soldiers. By 1883 the major Indian wars were over. After 1876 and the Battle of the Little Big Horn, the army forced all the Indian tribes onto reservations under army control. For example, answers stating that Interpretation A is convincing as all the homesteaders went onto the Plains and the Indians attacked them and they needed protection and the army defeated the Indians in battle. Interpretation B is convincing because they got everything that they needed from the buffalo that lived on the Plains.

Q4: Describe two problems overcome by the Mormons when they moved West.

Answer:

For example, one problem was to provide for each family when they settled in a desert around the Great Salt Lake. The Mormons overcame the problem of water supply by building an irrigation system, they handed out land for farming depending on family size, and they learned to build houses using Adobe bricks. Another problem was that when the Mormons moved west to the Great Salt Lake, they had to find their way and shelter on the journey. To overcome these problems, they sent out an advanced pioneer band to build camps along the way. For the journey they had leaders and were divided into smaller groups of wagons, led by a captain, and had a strict daily routine. They were taught how to form a defensive circle. For example, the Mormons overcame the problem of travelling West by planning their journey carefully. They built up food stores and Winter Quarters where they could rest during the winter of 1846.

Q5: In what ways were the lives of Homesteaders affected by government actions?

Explain your answer.

Answer:

For example, the government affected Homesteaders because it passed laws like the Pacific Railways Act, 1861 and gave the railway companies land in order to sell to pay for building the line. The railway companies were able to advertise the cheap land through exaggerated newspaper adverts that would bring in thousands of homesteaders. So, the building of the railroad which settled the West was paid for by land given by the government and promoted using ideas of Manifest Destiny, and backed up by the force of the US army who dealt with the Indians. For example, the government affected the homesteaders because it was very keen to settle the American West. So, they encouraged a belief in Manifest Destiny so that people in the big cities of the East would be inspired to travel west and make a new life for themselves there. For example, the homesteaders’ lives were affected by the government because they were given land by the 1862 Homestead Act. They got 160 acres for just ten dollars. The Timber and Culture Act of 1873 gave them another 160 acres of free land if they planted 40 acres with trees. They needed extra land because for a large family 160 acres of the poor-quality land was unlikely to produce enough for them all to live on. For example, the government dealt with the Indians by making treaties with them such as the first Fort Laramie Treaty in 1851. These tried to keep the Indians away from the Homesteaders. For example, the government made a law to give them land if they farmed it.

Q6: Which of the following was the more important cause of the American Civil War:

• political differences between North and South • economic reasons? Explain your answer with reference to both bullet points. and AQA will be happy to rectify any omissions of acknowledgements. If you have any queries please contactthe Copyright Team.

Answer:

For example, students will explain the part played by both economic reasons and political differences for the start of the American Civil War and may, for example, conclude that different groups/people were motivated by different reasons or by a combination of both. For example, Lincoln, elected as President in November 1860, believed that the Union should be preserved at all costs, opposed secession, but had also campaigned to stop the expansion of slavery into the new territories. For abolitionists such as Harriet Beecher Stowe or John Brown it was clearly the economic system that depended on slavery which was the main issue, while for the Southern states the political aim of seceding from the Union was to protect an economic system based on For example, students may explain how the powerful industrial economy of the North differed from the agricultural South which relied on slavery, and how the Tariff of 1828 was resented in the south as it made European imports more expensive to protect northern industries. Also, when the 13 original states had formed the Union, there was no agreement about how a State could secede if it disagreed with the policies of the Washington government. So, the Civil War started about the issue of the circumstances under which and how states could For example, economic reasons were important because slavery was a major issue dividing the two sides. Outlawed in the North but flourishing in the South, the Confederacy was established partly to defend its use while a strong and growing abolitionist movement in the North wanted to end it. For example, it started because of the issue of slavery; it started when the Southern states broke away from the North.