Unit I: Westward Development

Question 1

Who was Henry Grady?

Answer 1

A journalist who helped rebuild southern states after the Civil War. He introduced the idea of “The New South”: Democratic, industrial, urban, and free of nostalgia for the southern plantation owners.

Question 2

What were the Great Plains known as?

Answer 2

“Great American Desert” Due to the difficulties that came with living there. Irregular rainfall and harsh winters were a challenge.

Question 3

What policy established large areas for native nations?

Answer 3

Containment Policy

Question 4

Pikes Peak (1859)

Answer 4

One of the first battles of the Indian wars of 1860s

Question 5

What policy is known as the “Report on the Condition of the Indian Tribes”

Answer 5

Reservation Policy (1867), restricted Indian nations to smaller areas

Question 6

What was the Battle of the Little Big Horn? (1876)

Answer 6

General George Armstrong Custer and 1/3 of the 7th Calvary were killed in the battle by Sioux warriors led by Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull. The Army was embarrassed and vowed conflict wouldn’t happen again, but it continued until 1890.

Question 7

What was Wounded Knee(1890)?

Answer 7

Last major (Lakota Sioux) conflict between federal troops and natives. There were more than 200 Native deaths and 25 soldiers deaths.

Question 8

What was the Red River War?

Answer 8

A war in Texas in which the US army fought with native warriors of Kiowa, Comanche, Southern Cheyenne, and southern Arapacho Indian tribes. From June 1874 to spring of 1875. Started from the tribes effected by the Treaty of Medicine Lodge in 1867 because natives were being abused under it.

Question 9

American Bison

Answer 9

15 million existed on the great plains in the 1860’s. By the 1880’s, they were almost extinct, with a killing rate of 3 million per year.

Question 10

Senator Henry L. Dawes (MA-Republican)

Answer 10

Senator from Massachusetts who gained passage of the Dawes Severalty Act in 1887.

Question 11

Dawes Act

Answer 11

A bill that provided the distribution of 160 acres of land for farming or 320 acres for grazing to each head of an Indian family that accepted the offer. The remainder of the “reservation land” was to be sold to private parties. The bill also declared natives US citizens so that they had to pay taxes.

Question 12

Navajo Nation

Answer 12

Largest reservation; covers 27,425 square miles (3,000 more than West Virginia)

Question 13

Stutter’s Mill

Answer 13

Gold was discovered in the area by James Marshall. Thousands of people moved hoping to become rich.

Question 14

Comstock Lode

Answer 14

Produced $350 million in gold and silver from 1859-1879. It was the largest find in the West.

Question 15

What were the main changes in the cattle business?

Answer 15

1. Prices declined
2. Competition from farmers and sheepherders developed
3. A disastrous winter in 1886-1887
4. Open range ranching ended in Texas

Question 16

Deadwood Dick

Answer 16

Nat love. He personified the rugged, tough cowboy. In 1907, he published his autobiography detailing his colorful career as a cowboy.

Question 17

Homestead Act (1862)

Answer 17

Allowed individuals to assume consume control over an area of government land by holding it for five years and making minor improvements.

Question 18

Why didn’t the Homestead Act work?

Answer 18

1. The program was unsuited to the plains region
2. The government provided only the land and nothing else that was needed to become a successful farmer
3. the best lands weren’t available to farmers, they went to railroads
4. law was loosely administrated and fraud was common

Question 19

What developments made western settlement possible?

Answer 19

1. Joseph Glidden’s invention of Barbed wire
2. The windmill supplied ground water
3. Drough-resistant crops were brought from Europe and flourished on the Great Plains
4. John Deere’s Steel plow broke the hard ground and made farming possible

Question 20

When was the Frontier Closed?

Answer 20

In 1890, the DIrector of the United States Census (Robert Porter) declared the Frontier was closed.