What you'll learn
How the USA expanded westward and was reshaped by civil war.
Expansion west
- Manifest Destiny and migration (settlers, the Gold Rush, homesteaders, railroads).
- The Plains Indians' way of life and growing conflict (e.g. Little Bighorn, Wounded Knee).
The Civil War (1861–65)
- Causes: slavery, states' rights, economic differences; Abraham Lincoln and secession.
- The war and the Emancipation Proclamation.
After the war
- Reconstruction of the South; conditions for freed African Americans.
- The closing of the frontier by 1890.
Exam tips
- Explain how expansion affected the Plains Indians.
- Give balanced causes of the Civil War.
Common mistakes
- Reducing the Civil War to slavery alone.
- Ignoring the Plains Indians' perspective.