chapter 7 Flashcards
overlander
someone who travels overland to the west
The idea that God has given the entire North American continent to the Americans to settle was called
manifest destiny
what were squatters
people who settled on land that wasn’t theirs
The Preemption act of 1830 gave what benefit to squatters?
the right to buy land at the government’s minimum price
what invention by John Deere allowed farmers to break up Midwestern sod?
steel-bladed plow
What did the horse-drawn McCormick reaper enable Midwestern farmers to do?
harvest more grain with less effort
emigrants who made the journey westward in wagon trains were called
overlanders
how did western native americans initially help settlers?
by offering water, trade, and information about the land
as overland traffic across the great plains increased, what concern did native americans begin to have?
that settlers would disrupt the migrating buffalo herds
in the treaty of fort laramie in 1851, the US government offered what to native tribes to ensure the safe passage of the settlers across the great plains?
land and money
what large group migrated west to what is now Utah in search of religious freedom
the mormons
secularize
to transfer the use, possession, or control of something from church to civil authority
mestizo
a person of mixed european and native american ancestry
vaqueros
men on horseback who herded cattle on haciendas (big piece of land)
In 1821, mexico won its independence from
spain
what happened to mexico’s northern territories after it won its independence?
they were largely neglected and undefended
what were frontier presidos?
mexican forts
among the threats to mexico’s northern territories was
the southward expansion of russian settlements
what happened to the spanish missions in north america?
they were transferred to the civil government and sold
how were native americans treated by the rancheros of california?
they were exploited for cheap labor
how did the mexican government handle Navajo and Apache attacks in New Mexico?
they were unable to defend the region
In order to attract more settlers to california, the mexican governer granted 50,000 acres to a settler who founded
sutter’s fort
which state eventually declared independence from mexico because americans outnumbered spanish-speaking residents?
Texas
most valuable animal in the mountains
beaver because of their pelt
