chapter 26 // BOLDED Flashcards
reservation system
The system that allotted land with designated boundaries to Native American tribes in the West, beginning in the 1850s and ending with the Dawes Severalty Act of 1887. Within these reservations, most land was used communally, rather than owned individually. The U.S. government encouraged and sometimes violently coerced Native Americans to stay on the reservations at all times.
Battle of the Little Bighorn (1876)
A particularly violent example of the warfare between whites and Native Americans in the late nineteenth century, also known as “Custer’s Last Stand.” In two days, June 25 and 26, 1876, the combined forces 2,500 Sioux, Cheyenne, Arapaho Indians defeated and killed more than 250 U.S. soldiers, including Colonel George Custer. The battle came as the U.S. government tried to compel Native Americans to remain on the reservations and Native Americans tried to defend territory from white gold-seekers. This Indian advantage did not last long, however, as the union of these Indian fighters proved tenuous and the U.S. Army soon exacted retribution.
Battle of Wounded Knee (1890)
A battle between the U.S. Army and the Dakota Sioux, in which two hundred Native Americans and twenty-nine U.S. soldiers died. Tensions erupted violently over two major issues: the Sioux practice of the “Ghost Dance,” which the U.S. government had outlawed, and the dispute over whether Sioux reservation land would be broken up because of the Dawes Act.
Dawes Severalty Act (1887)
An act that broke up Indian reservations and distributed land to individual households. Leftover land was sold for money to fund U.S. government efforts to “civilize” Native Americans.
mining industry
After gold and silver strikes in Colorado, Nevada, and other western territories in the second half of the nineteenth century, fortune-seekers by the thousands rushed to the West to dig. These metals were essential to U.S. industrial growth and were also sold into world markets. After surface metals were removed, people sought ways to extract ore from under the ground, leading to the development of heavy mining machinery. This, in turn, led to the consolidation of the mining industry, because only big companies could afford to buy and build the necessary machines.
mechanization of agriculture
The development of engine-driven machines, like the combine, which helped to dramatically increase the productivity of land in the 1870s and 1880s. This process contributed to the consolidation of agricultural business that drove many family farms out of existence.
Populists
Officially known as the People’s party, the Populists represented Westerners and Southerners who believed that U.S. economic policy inappropriately favored Eastern businessmen instead of the nation’s farmers. Their proposals included nationalization of the railroads, a graduated income tax, and, most significantly, unlimited coinage of silver.
Pullman strike (1894)
A strike by railroad workers upset by drastic wage cuts. The strike was led by socialist Eugene Debs but not supported by the American Federation of Labor. Eventually President Grover Cleveland intervened, and federal troops forced an end to the strike. The strike highlighted both divisions within labor and the government’s new willingness to use armed force and combat work stoppages.
fourth party system
A term scholars have used to describe national politics from 1896 to 1932, when Republicans had a tight grip on the White House and issues such as industrial regulation and labor concerns became paramount, replacing older concerns such as civil service reform and monetary policy.
Gold Standard Act (1900)
An act that guaranteed that paper currency would be redeemed freely in gold, putting an end to the already dying “free-silver” campaign.
Frederick Jackson Turner
Author of the 1893 The Significance of the Frontier in American History (America needed a frontier).
