Westward Expansion: Crash Course US History #24

In which John Green teaches you about the Wild, Wild, West, which as it turns out, wasn't as wild as it seemed in the movies. When we think of the western expansion of the United States in the 19th century, we're conditioned to imagine the loner. The self-reliant, unattached cowpoke roaming the prairie in search of wandering calves, or the half-addled prospector who has broken from reality thanks to the solitude of his single-minded quest for gold dust. While there may be a grain of truth to these classic Hollywood stereotypes, it isn't a very big grain of truth. Many of the pioneers who settled the west were family groups. Many were immigrants. Many were major corporations. The big losers in the westward migration were Native Americans, who were killed or moved onto reservations. Not cool, American pioneers.
Hey teachers and students - Check out CommonLit's free collection of reading passages and curriculum resources to learn more about the events of this episode. America’s Westward expansion was fueled by both Manifest Destiny and a desire to grow the nation and its resources - though at a cost: www.commonlit.org/texts/manif...
As Americans continued to stream West under the name of Manifest Destiny, American Indians saw their lives changed forever as they moved from practicing resistance to lives on reservations: www.commonlit.org/texts/from-...
Chapters:
Introduction: The Wild, Wild West 00:00
The Western Frontier 0:52
Who Settled in the West? 1:43
Railroads Facilitated Westward Expansion 2:20
Forced Removal of Native Americans 3:22
Indigenous Resistance & The Ghost Dance Movement 4:20
The Dawes Act 5:01
Mystery Document 5:50
American Indian Boarding Schools 7:01
Cowboys 8:04
Ranches Became Family-Run Farms 8:52
Irrigation Projects in the Great Plains 9:51
The Legacy of the Westward Expansion Era 10:49
Credits 12:09
Crash Course is on Patreon! You can support us directly by signing up at / crashcourse
Want to find Crash Course elsewhere on the internet?
Facebook - / youtubecrashcourse
Twitter - / thecrashcourse
Instagram - / thecrashcourse
CC Kids: / crashcoursekids

[@sigbaconater910]

Online clases, exam due tonight at 11:59 PM, time is 10:21 PM I have to write two 750 essays about this. Wish me luck!

[@hannahl.8635]

"And it was a lot of beef, if you know what I'm talking about. I'm actually talking about beef." I almost spit out my soup.

[@vincentyang7415]

it had beef in it?

[@MarkMcDaniel]

*spat.

[@ajk9585]

"Books for putting on your shelf and pretending to have read..." Yup, we've all done that XD

[@kennedygreen-hawkins8999]

"What’s that? It’s going dry. MY GOD THIS IS A DEPRESSING EPISODE"

[@therealxenith3237]

I died at that part! LOL XD

[@rebecca9725]

thats what she said

[@SebastianMuriel]

I would like to thank Crash Course for being helping me get an A in APUSH this semester. I have my final tomorrow and I'm so ready! You guys are awesome!

[@aydeflor18]

I feel like people completely blow past the channel name "Crash Course." He's not going to discuss every single thing in US History. People are mad because he leaves out important bits of American history that they themselves declare more important than others. I would think it important for him to expand on the Mexicans turned Americans who lived in the West a long time before the country's expansion and their assimilation to the change -- but that's only an opinion! not something turned to true importance to the country's history just because I deem it important. It's also not something that should be brushed aside as unimportant, however understandable why it wouldn't be included in a (what?) crash course! Just enjoy whats given to you for free as a subscriber and stop criticizing. If it bothers you that much, do the work yourself -- make you're own crash course (and I mean that seriously, not as a form of insult).

[@Slyismylife54321]

***** You're name is console peasant, so I know you're PC Master Race.

[@fuge511]

tell them to read their APUSH textbooks hahaha

[@Cherry-hu4xm]

I’m here because the quarantine means no history lessons and I need to pass my exams 😬

[@neilchintalapudi4184]

2020 gang!

[@bethanyreese2937]

Same. My teacher said if I dont watch this I wont get my notes😂😣

[@jorgemarques739]

What's the situation there in U.S ? I'm from Brazil

[@codymann2980]

Same I have to do this for my U.S. History Class

[@jaketaubman9607]

My teacher sends me these videos.

[@mackenzie7144]

*Quarantine squad where you at*

[@yne_aspekt7249]

Just a Beanut Butter Cup right here🖐

[@vP3ppy]

Here

[@fatedplaysyt3805]

I’m here yeet

[@songmingi3703]

Here

[@Delta285]

homeschooling with this as part of my collage coarse. Looks like this is coming to an end.

[@11thNite]

The best US history teacher I had in high school did not shy away from the sadness, moral degradation and mortal consequences of the westward expansion, but neither she nor I nor any history teacher I have yet met were able to drive home the correlations, causes and momenta that related industrialization to westward expansion. Kudos.

[@leahb3384]

"kill the indian, save the man" my apush teacher would constantly quote a "paraphrase" of that when we got on her nerves and instead say "kill the teenager, save the man"

[@paulcosby8662]

Leah B dang that's depressing

[@pollyeffinpocket1644]

Wow

[@iheartamerica100]

I am so glad these crash courses exist. My teacher doesn't help me at all. These help a lot. Thaaaaanksss

[@Groot-yp5hd]

i feel you pain

[@surpriseshotty2383]

my teacher helps but these are awesome

[@n3v3rg01ngback]

highawesomeness Maybe you’re a shitty student.

[@Rea13434O]

Dark Rainbow I doubt they’re taking the initiative to watch history videos if they’re a shitty student

[@not_obsidian]

My teacher throws crash courses at us instead of teaching lmao

[@KellyNaylor]

As depressing as this is, I've studied so much about the history of the Indigenous People of North America that I can say it's not really as depressing as the reality... but mostly because it only scratches the surface of the topic. But thank you, John, for at least shedding more light on the topic than any of the history classes I had from grade school through college.

[@crashcourse]

Well, I don't think use of Crash Course should be the metric for good teaching. But I'm glad the show is appearing in classrooms! -stan

[@madisonsappia7124]

I have been watching Crash Course for about 3 years now, and I just realized that this John Green is the same one that wrote Paper Towns, Fault in our Stars, Looking for Alaska etc. I love this man!!!!

[@TheKenchixx]

uhm my new history teacher is called Mr Green lol

[@vincentyang7415]

hah

[@TheNueKid4]

i had a subsitute teacher name mr green, and he was gae!!! his voice tho it was the funniest thing

[@zacktessean7921]

Kenchixx ahhh you don’t know what it’s like in quarantine

[@TheNueKid4]

@@zacktessean7921 yea ur rite

[@sadgho5t798]

Did I ask

[@dodgev142]

If you use closed captioning/subtitles it says SUCK IT STAN SUCK IT after the mystery document even though he didn't actually say that.

[@cheezeyman0495]

Oh Stan

[@sirpixelot8853]

LOL

[@harutooo_8184]

Shawn Dodge lol

[@LanSu11i3]

my guess would be a mistake in editing haha

[@horus9442]

"mistake" looool

[@crashcourse]

I think it varies depending on the school, the state, etc. There are a lot of teachers out thee doing a great job. Sometimes they run up against problematic textbooks or mandated curricula, and there are all sorts of other issues. -stan

[@bobdull6699]

Hey John Green, I know that AP scores have been posted for over a month but I would just like to take a minute to thank you for helping me get a four on my AP US History test. You rock!!

[@AironExTv]

Good episode. Makes we want to learn more about that period. Btw, when I was in school (here in Berlin, Germany), it wasn't up until 12th grade that we learned about the charming horrors of 1933 - 1945 in this country. We were kinda surrounded by history with the Berlin Wall all around us and several divisions of soldiers occupying the city, but the actual history of the first to second world wars was was not taught to us. I learned that from TV documentaries and later books. All pre-web.

[@LottoDigTex]

LMFAOO!!! if you guys put on the closed caption on at 7:00 it reads... "suck it "OH YES YES SUCK IT STAN SUCK IT!" i dont think that was suppose to be in there lol

[@thomasmoe9145]

*George Takei Voice* Ooooooooooohhhhh mmmmmmmyyyyyy..........

[@jacobguerra7690]

lololo

[@TheNueKid4]

It doesn't say that. But i know its like 5 years later

[@jaketaubman9607]

uuuh no it doesnt.

[@LottoDigTex]

Sorry y’all, u missed it

[@PlainsPup]

This has gotta be my favorite Crash Course US History episode.

[@garland3rader]

You have provided me lots of help throughout all your videos. Thank you for being detailed and also understandable!

[@frodoswaggins3132]

This was my second correct guessing of the mystery document author. I highly recommend reading about Hinmatóowyalaht’quit (Chief Joseph) and the Nez Perce war.

[@Rix227]

We watched this in my us history 2 class today. Y'all do some great work over there. Keep doing what you're doing!

[@kennedygreen-hawkins8999]

"And now let us move from tragedy to tragedy."

[@harunsuaidi7349]

It was around this time Bioshock Infinite backstory began to took place, right?

[@SyrupFan]

More like 1880s to 1910

[@malkielmirzakandov8565]

Think so.

[@xanderthecommander7491]

Harun Suaidi You're thinking of The Wounded Knee Massacre (1890) 150 Native Americans were slaughtered and Booker DeWitt took part in this

[@sparklejames4614]

Harun Suaidi 1:00

[@0xxdemonxx029]

Harun Suaidi *take* not took

[@vidhispark]

This is awesome way of learning things. Thank you for making it. Keep up the good work! :)

[@lindsayzmail]

You mentioned Australia's policy of removing aboriginal children from families and placing them with white foster families which lasted until the 1970's but that happened in the US and Canada as well. They took children from their mothers in the hospital after they were born and put them in the foster system. That's what happened to my mom, who was born in 1967 and she ended up getting adopted by a white family. Her little brother, who was also adopted, was also taken in this way.

[@erraticonteuse]

It's astonishing to me that I didn't learn about allotment until literally the last possible moment in my education-- my final semester in law school when I took the totally elective class of Federal Indian Law. It did always feel like there was a gap in my US History classes, where we just stopped talking about the Natives until the 1970s (if we got that far), but then no one had ever taught me that the tribes had been treated as sovereign nations up until a certain point either.

[@BetweenGraces]

John, THANK YOU. I'm a teaching student and I needed something like this for my lesson on friday. You are awesome!

[@alanmullinax6785]

I love you all I can not thank you enough for all the work you do. I am a non traditional student and without you all help i would probably fail.

[@vel9761]

Haha, if you turn captions on when he guesses the name, you can read a part of the video they edited out XDXD

[@corscott5]

guys, I don't care where you are in the video, go back/forward to 6:48 and watch with the captions on, it's fucking great

[@vel9761]

Corey Scott That's what I was talking about lol

[@LeenaSregneva]

haha

[@vincentyang7415]

um i dont see it

[@maceym.3162]

For those of you who have read the little house books by laura ingalls wilder, I'm pretty sure the ghost dance was the Indian dance in little house on the praire, as it was in the same state as laura was ,and is the same time period if i'm not mistaken.

[@blairn9663]

Green rules all things HISTORY and HUMOR!

[@lindseysmith3005]

These videos are awesome! Super helpful with AP History!

[@shaylynneswanberg5101]

I love these videos!!!!! I haven't seen them in so long!

[@lilliansunshine7499]

I was actually really moved when he started showing the pictures of nature and speaking of the atrocities done to Native Americans. That was a good choice, very respectful

[@dubsy1026]

he didn't even cover a fraction of it. have you ever heard of the battle at wounded knee? 400 native Americans were doing the ghost dance, when the 7th cavalry turned up and placed cannons around them. they then confiscated any blade, gun, or even kitchen implements. then, one ONE supposedly resisted, so they started firing indiscriminately into the crowd, killing over 240. 23 Americans were killed by friendly fire. 20 medals of honour were awarded for this and they are STILL valid. this was business as usual for the American army at that point

[@JJ-pm4ob]

+Dubsy 102 That doesnt sound like a battle to me.

[@reeky8373]

I’m here cause of Coronavirus and have no school and this is for my online school.

[@ksutubagal]

Thanks for mentioning Abilene, KS as part and the end of the Chisholm Cattle Trail for a time. There's a maker outside our post office denoting the end of the trail. Traffic blocking trains are still active in town despite the lack of cattle!

[@gabrielelias983]

This series is really starting to hit its stride. I'm enjoying the push and pull between myth and reality, especially when played out in political economic arena. Thanks!

[@samwelltarly6700]

We welcomed them as brothers, knowing nothing of their greed. Born hunters, not the hunted, as the white man hunts for me. We are descendants of the animals, we live upon them free. Our trail of tears would end, one day at wounded knee. When we do the ghost-dance, the buffalo will return Paint ourselves for war, let blood and fire burn. Great spirit make us strong, take us to the sky The Cherokee are brave, we are not afraid to die. There has been much killing, there will be much more The medicine man is dancing, he's calling us to war. Hatchets sing with pride, let the white man die. Lyrics from "Spirit Horse of the Cherokee" by Manowar

[@paris2685]

Samwell Tarly thats deep

[@katywilbekin3152]

This is a nice poem with some truth to it; however, no humans are descendants of animals.

[@BifronsCandle]

Surprised there was no mention of Wounded Knee, both a low point and an end for the Indian Wars'.

[@jbien-aime9272]

Watching these videos make me slightly depressed. Luckily, it's John Green.

[@MsCuteliltaz]

I was watching with earbuds blasted cuz ur voice was kinda low....and then the intro music came, I NEARLY HAD A HEART ATTACK. AND IT WAS NIGHT, AND I WAS TRYING TO KEEP IT LOW. xD thank you john u really are the best

[@lenanguyen383]

This helped me a lot! I’m in 4th grade and my class is learning about westward expansion!

[@carterlavering2553]

JUSTICE MENTIONED ‼‼‼‼‼‼‼‼‼‼‼

[@blueripcord]

Love the reference to Gold Rush! I have to go back and play that again.

[@Kira.D07]

“MY GOD WHAT A DEPRESSING EPISODE!” I almost choked on my water

[@WhitDough]

Watching these with the subtitles on is far more entertaining.

[@roking13]

John Green, sometimes you make me feel that nothing good ever happened in history...

[@christophergreen8434]

Crash course is awesome. Keep it up!

[@VanRamsey]

I GUESSED THE AUTHOR OF THE MYSTERY DOCUMENT!!! I'm so damned proud.

[@Merlmabase]

Great episode, and I appreciate the ongoing there-are-no-easy-answers theme in crash course. Keep it up!

[@JeffreyWuFilm]

I think most American students experience with U.S. history prior to college is one of disillusionment. So when John doesn't sugarcoat it or is "hating on America" as some people might say, it is very much appreciated and extremely fascinating.

[@theresabjorke8057]

Thank you for helping me learn by your videos

[@AlanNadeauIII]

4-3 in no-shock to shock. Great Job John (GJJ)

[@ValeAzul]

THANK YOU, THANK YOU PEOPLE FROM Crash Course FOR MAKING ME THINK BETTER...really had a romanticised idea of the "Wild" west...because of this episode I can actually feel new sinapsis in my brain...THAAAANKK YOUUUUUUUU...and I´m not even american, but from the good propaganda, soon to be canadian...jejejejeje

[@kennedygreen-hawkins8999]

"And it was a lot of beef. You know what I’m talking about. I’m actually talking about beef."

[@charlotte7356]

Thank you! This is great for my GCSE history course!!

[@Cloverlord444]

0:41 nice quote from "The Power of One" Movie

[@sbrandybuck]

"If you know what I'm talking about... I'm actually talking about beef." HAHAHA I LOVE YOU

[@DylanKreutzer]

Oh my god he made an Oregon Trail reference this makes me so happy

[@skeletontv6549]

Thank you I love yall at crash course

[@anchimel]

The animated machine from Wild, Wild West at the beginning was a nice touch.

[@shaydag8802]

The Jesus restoration on the wall at 3:30 !!!!!! hahaha!

[@mikecronis]

Oregon Trail Apple II game reference for 1000 points. White man as Mr. Rogers at 06:28 for 200 points.. and you went over all my entire Native American History College Course in 10 minutes. Robot spider at 10:50 from Wild Wild West. Amazing.

[@RandomUser0239]

This helps me a lot every time I need help he will have a video on what I'm studying thx

[@coconutboy5]

ONe of your funniest yet bud. Haha keep em comin

[@EmzieEvs]

Please do more on the west, also medicine in history :) I absolutely loved crash course English, will you be doing more? If so, please cover some English literature eg. pride and prejudice please :) thank you so much for making this course!!

[@elizabethgrace6382]

I must say that John is getting significantly less confident in his guessing abilities

[@colormewicked88]

Oregon Trail on the board! Love it!!

[@MegaTARDIS101]

Love the Justice reference at 6:12

[@OfficialShootMeFirst]

I'm over half Native American (Cherokee)...this episode depresses me so much. I wish I knew more about my religion or my people's traditions. Instead I've been sucked into the modern day America as a normal citizen....I love this country but what Americans did to all this country's vast population of Native Americans is wrong. I watch these videos trying to learn as much as possible about my people.

[@adamhadim2680]

Wikipedia bro

[@l.thomas1762]

At least you know SOME. Being black wiped out anything I could possibly know. I don’t even know what country I’m from

[@ratatat12356]

you lost because your people were busy cannibalizing while we were creating guns. go cry

[@Camelotsmoon]

Trololol. Anyway it is a shame, I'm not sure how it would've turned out if people would've cohabitated better, probably a lot more tolerant obviously, but the problem was the European superiority that was brought over and especially (can't really blame people to much about this one) the disease. Ultimately though people will be people, and it's not like native Americans back then weren't apt to try and use the colonists to benefit themselves with trade and such which would spark wars with other tribes, but totally agree, the broken promises and constant land grabs were horrible. On a side note too I went to Arizona a few months ago twice and stayed there a couple days both times, it was fascinating. It was very different from what I'm used to in the South East, there's just none of that different culture over here, it makes me wonder what this area would've been like.

[@hackerofawesomeness]

You should look at early French-Indian relations. John talks about it in an earlier video. Basically, the french and Indians traded a lot and intermarried, creating mutually beneficial trade ties with Natives for a very long time. This is because France never put large numbers of people here, so they never dwarfed the native population.

[@abrahambestiii2337]

So Canada was using residential schools up until the 1990s. Not sure if anyone has mentioned this.

[@ariannadoss2778]

Omg thank u so much for making this cause my history class is so confusing

[@bradygriffith1893]

I guessed the mystery document in 1 try! Thank-you Idaho history.

[@KarateKidX]

Wow, I actually guessed the mystery document before John did.

[@feliciasimons9393]

I love this show

[@BByrlvr69]

x) "Putting books on your shelf and pretending to have read." Thanks for that, John. You know my family too well.

[@kathleens3278]

random star wars blaster sound at 3:57

[@shannon924]

lol

[@ladyfoxy223]

And it was a lot of beef, if you know what I'm talking about... I'm talking about beef. Hahaha :)

[@existentialv0id]

i ended up laughing so hard! John Green is sooooooo funny!!!

[@ezanahidaru3740]

John Green is so useful.

[@gore4651]

at 3:35 hahahah oh you guys are making fun of that poor lady who messed up jesus!! lol

[@humicroav215]

Came here to say this!

[@naenkota5248]

Thank you for putting this up,It really helps me in My 9th grade us history class😊

[@scarletarmada5637]

+NaeN Kota What? I learned this in 5th grade. Are educational systems different depending on what state you live in?

[@bombasticbrian.]

+Scarlet Armada yes

[@scarletarmada5637]

Patient Zero Good to know. I guess the "American schooling is terrible" argument is unfounded then.

[@bombasticbrian.]

+Scarlet Armada my school system sucks. 10th graders have to do freaking ALGEBRA 1! I should be in Precalc!

[@scarletarmada5637]

smh what state/school district do you live in. my school district is pretty cool. Lots of good school here

[@sprucemoose18]

As far as drilling a shedload of information about a certain period of history into my head within the span of approximately 12 minutes goes, I think they are already very interesting.

[@p1nkpumpkin773]

I'm actually from Arizona and grew up on a farm. A litter of chickens is usually 12 chicks it can varie to 6-8 or even 13-15. A litter is amount of whatever animal that is born at the same time.

[@MsFantasyIsland]

I really like all of your videos. I'm curious to know history from the perspective of the people who were already inhabiting the land. I think that would make for an interesting series.

[@BrianHutzellMusic]

Maybe not exactly what you’re looking for, but Howard Zinn’s “A People's History of the United States” (ISBN-13: 978-0062397348) provides some alternate perspectives on American history.

[@Obstreperous_Octopus]

"...books for putting on your shelf and pretending to have read" *looks over at book shelf.* : ( So true...

[@Werstist]

Ha ha, Thought Bubble, I get the reference from 3:30 with the picture in corner. I remember that news story !

[@kelsiegraceembler4126]

What is the picture?

[@disposableutopia]

Awesome presentation!!

[@Cheekster15]

This was my favorite episode yet. I liked your point of how American's (and indeed all of humanity) is constantly in a myth making business. The world was not always empirically understood as we think it is. Perhaps the greatest goal of history is not to tell what happened, but how it shaped our current identity. KEEP IT REAL John!

[@chipo715]

lol, the subtitles are awesome this episode. " Oh - Oh Yes! Yes! Suck it Stan! Suck it! " lol

[@dand4139]

2:49 I believe is the train depot of my home town, Durand.

[@Sarah-yx9zp]

This was so entertaining

[@jumpmancami5490]

I'm here bc of red dead redemption 2

[@acidlysynth4063]

10:10 Me: laughs then completely cuts if off and says "we're all gonna die".

[@aznneozanet]

When it comes to getting you down it never lets you down.

[@victoriaalexis1001]

can you do a video on literally, the Louisiana purchase and pros and cons...like it would be greatttt

[@biggkemo]

And all this time I thought that Black people were the only ones victimized by European colonialism. I was so wrong...