Unit one Flashcards
(45 cards)
When did the Dawes Act happen?
1887!
What was the Dawes Act?
The Dawes Act broke up communal native land and privatized it for selling as individually owned lots.
Why was the Dawes Act created?
Because Anglo-Americans and the U.S. government realized that they couldn’t push natives any further into the frontier.
How much land did the natives lose by the time the Dawes Act ended
about 2/3rds
What was the main philosophy behind the Dawes Act?
To “Americanize” Native ppl
Who were the Exodusters
African Americans who moved from the South to the North.
Were there Hispanic Americans in the West?
Yes, from the acquisition of land after the U.S.- Mexico war.
Were there Asian American immigrants?
Yes, they moved from the West to the East. They helped build the railroads, and they helped build the California economy.
When was the National Grange established?
1867
What was the goal of the National Grange?
To improve the lives of farmers living on the frontier
When was Turner’s thesis written?
1893
Who wrote Turner’s Thesis
Fredrick Jackson Turner
What was the main idea of Turner’s thesis?
The very idea of the American frontier shaped the American character.
What was the main critique of Turner’s Thesis?
That it was mainly white American East-West migration focused. and lacked intersectionality.
What were “Bonanza farms”?
They were corporate-owned farms that used money from companies outside the west to buy up land and add modern technology to the farms. They saw land as an investment opportunity.
Who started the populism movement?
Common people in the U.S. South and Midwest, wanted the help of the Government. (mostly farmers. Black and white.)
Why was the populist movement started?
Many farmers were still in debt from the civil war. And the Infrastructure of the South was destroyed. They wanted help from the government.
What is sharecropping?
Sharecropping got big in the 1870s among both black and white farmers. It’s when corporations rent land to tenant farmers and take a cut of their production.
explain credit in the 1870s
Banks and local general stores gave out loans to help build credit. However, Northern-supplied shops exploited credit relations.
Name two ways Northern supplied shops exploited people in the South.
By selling goods at a higher price than they were worth. And by giving out loans with really steep interest.
Why did the common people want help from the government (populism)
Because they felt exploited by credit relations. And they didn’t like how the railroads controlled the price of shipping.
They were in economic unrest because they were being price gouged, and they had too much international competition to compete in the market.
When and where was the first Farmer’s Alliance founded?
In Lampasas TX, in 1877
What did Farmers Cooperatives do?
The Farmer’s Cooperatives were where farmers would help each other out, they would pool money to be able to buy in bulk so they could get price breaks on goods. They also had communal silos for easy one-stop shopping. (collaboration v. competition.)
What was the Subtreasury plan?
The Subtreasury plan proposed that the government should supply loans to farmers, rather than for-profit institutions.
