Chapter 13 American History 2 – Flashcards
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Homestead Act of 1862
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A US governmental incentive which would settlers to settle in the the new West. With a small registration fee, a settler could get up to 160 acres of land. After 5 years of ownership, the settler(s) will be able to keep their land. Used to speed up the settlement of the West. gov controls land
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Sitting Bull
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Sioux leader Refused to sign Treaty of Fort Laramine 1868 led indian forces at battle of Little Big Horn Surrendered in 1881 Took up ghost dance Killed in 1890 by Indian police as they tried to arrest him
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Assimilation
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the process of being absorbed into the main stream culture
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morrill land grant act
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1872 distrubited land for the purposes of building agriculture and technigical colleges
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exoduster
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former slaves who fled the south after the civil war and headed west
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Lt. Col. George A. Custer
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Former Civil War general; leader in the Battle of Little Big Horn against the Sioux Native Americans in the Dakotas . He and all of his men were killed in that battle in 1876.
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Williams Jennings Bryan
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speech: Cross of Gold. He was a populist from Nebraska and the Great Commoner. In his speech he supported free silver. 3 time candidate for democratic party
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William McKinley
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McKinley led the nation to victory in the Spanish-American War,25th President of the United States
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populism
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people" against "the elite", and urges social and political system changes
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National Grange
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a social and educational organization for farmers
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three differences between the culture of the Native Americans and the white settlers of the great plains
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1. Most white settlers were Christian, native Americans weren't 2. Native Americans were usually more prepared for Midwest winters than the newer white settlers (survived more gruel-some winters than whites with stocking up on food, clothing, etc.) 3. Many Native Americans preferred to live and sleep outside during the the spring, summer, and fall while the white settlers depended on their houses for mostly all their shelters.
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how effective was the Dawes act in promoting assimilation of Native Americans into white culture?
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The Dawes Act was used strip Native Americans of their Identity, heritage, treaty rights and to steal their land. Native Americans lost, over the 47 years of the Act's life, about 90 million acres (360,000 km²) of treaty land, or about two-thirds of the 1887 land base. About 90,000 Indians were made landless.
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why did the cattle industry become such a big business in the late 1800's?
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All in all, it was all about supply and demand. Beef was highly demanded back east, and ranchers and cowboys had to go in and supply that demand.
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how did the cowboy culture reflect the ethnic diversity of the United States?
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Roughly 1/3 of cowhands were white, 1/3 were black, and 1/3 were Mexican. Most of the smaller spreads cared less about your skin color than if you could do the job well.
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what measures did the government take to support settlement of the frontier?
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the government passed the Homestead Act, which offered 160 acres of land free to any citizen or intended citizen who was head of the household.
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How did the settlers overcome the challenges of living on the great plains?
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They survived as hunter-gatherers. Most of them worked as farmers and ranchers. Many also worked on the railroads. In the latter part of the century, mining also became a significant source of work.
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What economic problems confronted American farmers in the 1890s?
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-fallinfg prices of wheat -rising costs of shipping grain -increasing prices of elaborate machinery -bonanza farms couldn't compete with smaller farms
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According to farmers and other supporters of free silver how would bimetallism help the economy?
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Supporters of bimetallism hoped that this measure would stimulate the stagnant economy. Retaining the gold standard would provide a more stable, but expensive, currency.
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Manifest Destiny
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The 19th century belief that the U.S. would inevitably expand westward to the Pacific Ocean & into Mexican territory(The idea that God had given the continent to Americans)
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Horace Greeley
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Influential journalist and founding editor of the New York Tribune newspaper
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Mexican-American War
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After disputes over Texas lands that were settled by Mexicans the United States declared war on Mexico in 1846 and by treaty in 1848 took Texas and California and Arizona and New Mexico and Nevada and Utah and part of Colorado and paid Mexico $15,000,000
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Oregon Trail
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Hundreds of thousands of Americans moved to Oregon Territory (now Washington, Oregon, and Idaho) during the years before the Civil War, most of them settling in the fertile Willamette Valley.
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Frederick Jackson Turner
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Historian of the late 1800s who explored the importance of the frontier in U.S. history
