1. Comparative History
Part 1: Conquering & Settling the West
Part 2: The Great Depression
By Jessica Jefferson
History 141

2. Conquering & Settling the West
After the Civil War millions of American rushed Westward to develop
farms, ranches, mines, cities, and all the supporting infrastructure.
During this expansion, the American people came into contact with
the Natives of the land. Conflict arose and the Federal Government
set about to fix the problem by confining the local Indians to
reservations. This move was met with resistance from many tribes.

3. Conquering & Settling the West
Takeover of the Indians land by
the white person was not
confined to the U.S.; Canadian
National Governments were
doing the same, although they
experienced far less Indian-
White violence. Both the U.S.
and Canada aimed at integrating
existing Indians into
society, telling them when and
what to do, and even using
boarding schools with Indian
children to try and wean them
from their native culture.

4. Conquering & Settling the West
Tension mounted and battles occurred across the land.
Significant confrontations took place in the central plains
between Custer and the Sioux Indian tribes. Canada seemed to
avoid such extreme violence and worked with some Indian tribes
to suppress the treat of U.S. expansion into their territory.

5. Conquering & Settling the West
Both the U.S. and Canada elected to use schools as a way to
transform the Indian population. Hopes were to erase the Native’s
culture and produce functional members of White society.
Resistance of the side of the Indians occurred in both Nations, and
the enforced schooling became largely unsuccessful.

6. Conquering & Settling the West
Hostile takeover of Indian
land and culture was not the
only negative aspect of the
settlement of the West.
Aggressive expansion along
with industrial capability
built cities in places where
there were no people, and
then necessitated that
people fill them, regardless
of want or need. Cities such
as Billings Montana coldly
resembled
Karaganda, Kazakhstan.

7. The Great Depression
Depression during the 1920’s was not confined to America. Its
impact was much wider spread, impacting all the great Nations
of the world.

8. The Great Depression
A variety of causes for the depression can be speculated:
• Europe’s WWI debt.
• Overproduction of
agriculture.
• Failure of U.S. to step up
to world banking demands.
• Poor international policies.

9. The Great Depression
Impacts:
• 11,000 American banks failed.
• 13,000,000 people became un-employed.
Government intervention was necessitated by these conditions.
The New Deal in America, and land reform in Mexico were
responses to this need.

10. The Great Depression
The Great Depression came
to see the rise of two
powerful Nation leaders,
Roosevelt and Hitler, each
forever impacting the world.
Both leaders emphasized
“energy and commitment”,
and used work programs,
youth camps, farm subsides,
and advocated for
government supervised
interaction between
laborers and business
establishments.

11. The Great Depression
Although neither leader was successful in putting an end to the
depression, their tactics did see the countries through the worst
part of its years. For both Nations war would eventually put an
end to this dark period of their existence.