Chapter 16 Flashcards
Plains Indians
The most widespread Indian group in the West with many tribes and languages. Many survived with use of the Buffalo, which got hunted to extinction my settlers, leading to great conflict between the settlers and Indians
Buffalo
Wild animal that roamed the Great Plains in the west. They were crucial to Indian life providing clothing, shelter, food and weapons. Hunted by settlers leading to conflict with the Indians
Chinatowns
Large communities of Chinese immigrants with their own social structure and government. Led by prominent merchants, they were the support system for Chinese immigrants.
Chinese Immigration Act of 1882
An act by congress banning the immigration of Chinese for ten years and barring the naturalization of the Chinese already here. This was meant to protect American workers and was widely supported across the country, but it also fueled a racist idea of the Chinese as savages and babarians
Homestead Act of 1862
Act that permitted settlers to buy plots of 160 acres for a small fee if they occupied the land for 5 years and improved it. This helped poor citizens in the East gain an economic opportunity and gave the country new outposts of commercial agriculture.
Boomtowns
Towns where people would rush to due to the discovery of minerals there, such as gold and silver. These towns would thrive for a short amount of time, before being deserted when it was not as lucrative as they imagined.
Cattle Kingdom
The vast public grasslands in the Great Plains led to cattle raisers being able to graze their cattle free of charge. The railroads gave the cattle herders a way to make a lot of money off of cattle. It’s rise was also its fall, as railroads brought farmers to the plains, taking away the open range.
Wild West shows
Great demonstrations, like a circus, of what the West was supposed to be like. Promoted an idea of romanticism around the life of a cowboy.
Cowboy Culture
People came to see cowboys as heroes, courageous and dignified. When really they were just low paid cattle herding workers
Frontier Thesis
The thesis of Frederick Jackson Turner was that the advancement of US settlement West was the central story of American history.
Concentration Policy
Each tribe was assigned a separate reservation with defined borders. It benefited white people greatly but hurt Indian culture, allowing white men to take over the most desirable land
Reservations
Areas of land set aside for Indian tribes to live on.
Indian Wars
Fighting between white settlers and Indians from the 1850s to the 1880s. Groups of 30 to 40 Indians would attack stagecoaches, wagon trains, and isolated ranches. The US army became involved leading said groups to focus on white soldiers.
Sand Creek Massacre
An atrocity in the Indian Wars of the United States that occurred on November 29, 1864, when a 700-man force of Colorado Territory militia attacked and destroyed a village of friendly Cheyenne and Arapaho encamped in southeastern Colorado Territory, killing and mutilating an estimated 70–163 Indians, about two-thirds of whom were women and children.
Battle of Little Big Horn
2,500 Indian warriors met George Custer’s army, killing all 264 of Custer’s men as well as him. One of the largest Indian armies ever assembled.
