Terms
Sand Creek Massacre- A misunderstanding where the family of Col. Chivington of the Colorado militia was killed by Indians, and Chivington took his troops and slaughtered 200 to 400 Cheyenne citizens.
George A. Custer- A flashy, flamboyant general who commanded a Michigan platoon during the Civil War, and also during the Indian Wars. He died at the Battle of Little Bighorn.
Comstock Lode- A giant supply of silver found in what is now Nevada.
Homestead Act 1862- 1862 Act which granted a quarter section (160 acres) of the public domain free to any settler who lived on the land for at least 5 years and improved it.
Timber Culture Act- Act which allotted homesteaders an extra 160 acres of land in return for planting and cultivating 40 acres of trees.
Helen Hunt Jackson- Author of “A Century of Dishonor”, a book chronicling the government’s dealings with Indians.
Ghost Dance- Dance done by Indians that was to reinforce the belief that the Earth would die and be reborn into a pure state. The Indians, living and dead, would then rule the Earth and there would be eternal peace and harmony.
“Range Wars”-
General Land Revision Act of 1891- Act which gave the president the power to establish forest reserves to protect watersheds against the threats posed by lumbering, overgrazing, and forest fires.
“Dime Novels”-
Frederic Remington- An American painter who specialized in depicting the American West.
Fort Laramie Treaty- The treaty acknowledging US defeat in the Great Sioux War in 1868 and supposedly guaranteeing the Sioux perpetual land and hunting rights in South Dakota, Wyoming, and Montana.
Chief Joseph- An Indian chief.
Edmunds Act- 1882 Act that effectively disenfranchised those who believed in or practiced polygamy and threatened them with fines and imprisonment.
Morrill Act 1862- Act by which “land-grant” colleges acquired space for campuses in return for promising to institute agricultural programs.
Newlands Act (National Reclamation Act)- 1902 act in which 1 million acres of irrigated land was added to the US.
Dawes Act 1887- A law terminating tribal ownership of land and allotting some parcels of land to individual Indians with the remainder opened for white settlement.
Long Drives- The massive amounts of cattle that were driven from the plains into cities where they were transported to processing plants.
Barbed-wire- An invention that “fenced-in” the American West. It was used to keep cattle in pens.
Yellowstone- The first American national park, the largest in existence.
William F. Cody- A famous cowboy also known as “Buffalo Bill”. He supplied the Kansas Pacific Railroad with bison meat he had acquired through hunting.
Wounded Knee- A massacre of Lakota Indians that ensued after, upon receiving orders to disarm and transport the Indians to a train station, a deaf Indian refused to relinquish his weapon. A fight broke out and a massacre of Indians by whites ensued.
Questions
1) The federal government enabled the West to be settled because it gave people many incentives to go out there. Therefore, Western settlers were not independent of the federal government because the federal government persuaded them to go out there.
2) Railroads enabled the rapid transportation of goods over long distances without exerting much manpower. By the end of the 19th Century, however, Westerners were upset with railroads because there were so many strikes and scandals that supply trains were getting slower and more infrequent.
3) The Indians were unable to successfully resist the whites because of less advanced technology and medicine.
4) It was awful for the Indians because they lost most of their land, and therefore their homes.
5) The phrase “internal empire” meant that the region had the supplies to where it could stand alone from the rest of the nation. The western frontier provided just as much if not more for America, as it provided untold amounts of natural resources and animals.
6) Early histories of those activities substantiate the belief that the West could help individuals succeed, as many cattle drivers and farmers had great success. Cattle farmers became less successful, though, as over time the number of animals was diminished. The individual self-employers of the 19th century began to be overtaken by industries as the 19th century ended.
Sand Creek Massacre- A misunderstanding where the family of Col. Chivington of the Colorado militia was killed by Indians, and Chivington took his troops and slaughtered 200 to 400 Cheyenne citizens.
George A. Custer- A flashy, flamboyant general who commanded a Michigan platoon during the Civil War, and also during the Indian Wars. He died at the Battle of Little Bighorn.
Comstock Lode- A giant supply of silver found in what is now Nevada.
Homestead Act 1862- 1862 Act which granted a quarter section (160 acres) of the public domain free to any settler who lived on the land for at least 5 years and improved it.
Timber Culture Act- Act which allotted homesteaders an extra 160 acres of land in return for planting and cultivating 40 acres of trees.
Helen Hunt Jackson- Author of “A Century of Dishonor”, a book chronicling the government’s dealings with Indians.
Ghost Dance- Dance done by Indians that was to reinforce the belief that the Earth would die and be reborn into a pure state. The Indians, living and dead, would then rule the Earth and there would be eternal peace and harmony.
“Range Wars”-
General Land Revision Act of 1891- Act which gave the president the power to establish forest reserves to protect watersheds against the threats posed by lumbering, overgrazing, and forest fires.
“Dime Novels”-
Frederic Remington- An American painter who specialized in depicting the American West.
Fort Laramie Treaty- The treaty acknowledging US defeat in the Great Sioux War in 1868 and supposedly guaranteeing the Sioux perpetual land and hunting rights in South Dakota, Wyoming, and Montana.
Chief Joseph- An Indian chief.
Edmunds Act- 1882 Act that effectively disenfranchised those who believed in or practiced polygamy and threatened them with fines and imprisonment.
Morrill Act 1862- Act by which “land-grant” colleges acquired space for campuses in return for promising to institute agricultural programs.
Newlands Act (National Reclamation Act)- 1902 act in which 1 million acres of irrigated land was added to the US.
Dawes Act 1887- A law terminating tribal ownership of land and allotting some parcels of land to individual Indians with the remainder opened for white settlement.
Long Drives- The massive amounts of cattle that were driven from the plains into cities where they were transported to processing plants.
Barbed-wire- An invention that “fenced-in” the American West. It was used to keep cattle in pens.
Yellowstone- The first American national park, the largest in existence.
William F. Cody- A famous cowboy also known as “Buffalo Bill”. He supplied the Kansas Pacific Railroad with bison meat he had acquired through hunting.
Wounded Knee- A massacre of Lakota Indians that ensued after, upon receiving orders to disarm and transport the Indians to a train station, a deaf Indian refused to relinquish his weapon. A fight broke out and a massacre of Indians by whites ensued.
Questions
1) The federal government enabled the West to be settled because it gave people many incentives to go out there. Therefore, Western settlers were not independent of the federal government because the federal government persuaded them to go out there.
2) Railroads enabled the rapid transportation of goods over long distances without exerting much manpower. By the end of the 19th Century, however, Westerners were upset with railroads because there were so many strikes and scandals that supply trains were getting slower and more infrequent.
3) The Indians were unable to successfully resist the whites because of less advanced technology and medicine.
4) It was awful for the Indians because they lost most of their land, and therefore their homes.
5) The phrase “internal empire” meant that the region had the supplies to where it could stand alone from the rest of the nation. The western frontier provided just as much if not more for America, as it provided untold amounts of natural resources and animals.
6) Early histories of those activities substantiate the belief that the West could help individuals succeed, as many cattle drivers and farmers had great success. Cattle farmers became less successful, though, as over time the number of animals was diminished. The individual self-employers of the 19th century began to be overtaken by industries as the 19th century ended.