Chapter 26 - The Great West and the Agricultural Revolution, 1865 Flashcards
Indian Territory
Present day Oklahoma; American Indians in the SE were forced to move there in the 1830’s
Sioux
Native Americans in the Dakotas. Massacred Custer at Battle of Little Bighorn. Many were later massacred at Wounded Knee in 1890; Moved from the great lakes; transformed into nomadic traders and deadly buffalo hunters
Great Sioux Reservation
The place where native americans were promised to be left alone with food and clothing by the federal government if they gave up their ancestral land. It was all a lie.
Tenth Cavalry
a unit of the US army, African-American personnel on the frontier (one of the original “Buffalo Soldiers”)
George Armstrong Custer
colonel and fought against Native Indians, wrote that Fetterman massacre “awakened a bitter feeling toward the savage perpetrators”, announced that he had discovered gold in the Sioux reservation, led the Seventh Cavalry: Americans wanted revenge for his humiliation
Bozeman Trail
an overland route connecting the gold rush territory of Montana to the Oregon Trail. Its most important period was from 1863-1868
Sitting Bull
Native american chief who inspired the Sioux tribes to fight against the american policies by uniting together in their struggle for survival on the Great plains.
Battle of Little Bighorn
1876 Battle in the Black Hills of the Dakota Territory where Custer’s Seventh Cavalry was massacred when they attempted to suppress the Sioux and return them to their reservation. Crazy Horse led the Sioux in battle, and killed every one of Custer’s men. The Indians were later pursued over the plains and crushed in a series of battles.
Chief Joseph
Leader of Nez Perce. Fled with his tribe to Canada instead of reservations searching for Sitting Bull. However, US troops came and fought and brought them back down to reservations where he surrendered his men.
Buffalo Bill Cody
employed by the Kansas Pacific, and killed over 4,000 animals in 18 months
Helen Hunt Jackson
children’s author from Massachusetts; wrote A Century of Dishonor (about the government ruthlessness in Indian dealings) and Ramona (a love story of injustice to the California Indians); inspired sympathy for them
Ghost Dance
Spiritual revival in 1890 by Indians that would lead to the massacre at Wounded Knee
Battle of Wounded Knee
A battle between the U.S. Army and the Dakota Sioux, in which several hundred Native Americans and 29 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. Ended the Indian Wars
Dawes Act
dissolved many tribes as legal entities, wiped out tribal ownership of land, and set up individual Indian family heads with 160 free acres. If the Indians behaved like “good white settlers” then they would get full title to their holdings as well as citizenship. The Dawes Act attempted to assimilate the Indians with the white men; remained Indian policy until the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934
Carlisle Indian School
1879 Government funded Indian school to educate and civilize the Natives; paid for by the proceeds of the Dawes act where indian lands were sold for railroads
Indian Reorganization Act
“Indian New Deal” 1934 partially reserved the individualistic approach and belatedly tried to restore the tribal basis of Indian life, Government legislation that allowed the Indians a form of self-government and thus willingly shrank the authority of the U.S. government. It provided the Indians direct ownership of their land, credit, a constitution, and a charter in which Indians could manage their own affairs.
Pike’s Peak
a mountain peak in the Rockies in Central Colorado where gold and silver were discovered…this led to a mad rush in the direction of this area; “59ers” “Pikes-Peakers”
Comstock Lode
the first major U.S. discovery of silver ore, located under what is now Virginia City, Nevada, on the eastern slope of Mount Davidson, a peak in the Virginia Range. After the discovery was made public in 1859, prospectors rushed to the area and scrambled to stake their claims. Mining camps soon thrived in the vicinity, which became bustling centers of fabulous wealth
Silver Senators
the Treasury injected the silver issue into American politics, representing the West, using influence to promote the interests of the silver miners
Long Drive
Process in which Texas cowboys would drive herds of cattle thousands strong over the plains until they reached a railroad terminal, such as Dodge City, Abilene, or Cheyenne. Barbed fences slowed down this process.
Wild Bill Hickok
a gunman who killed only in self-defense or in the line of duty, ordered the “cowtown” at Abilene; shot in the back of the head while playing poker
Homestead Act
allowed a settler to acquire as much as 160 acres of land by living on it for 5 years, improving it, and paying a nominal fee of about $30. The Homestead Act turned out to be a cruel hoax because the land given to the settlers usually had terrible soil and the weather included no precipitation. Many homesteaders were forced to give their homesteads back to the government.
Great American Desert
After the devastating 6-year drought in the West in the 1880s had destroyed farmers’ crops, “dry farming” took root on the plains. Once wheat was introduced to the West, it flourished. Eventually federally-financed irrigation projects caused this place to bloom
John Wesley Powell
Explorer of the Colorado River’s learned that agriculture was impossible in the west due to little rain. His idea led to Great American Desert.
Joseph F. Glidden
Perfected barbed wire, and solved the problem of how to build fences on the treeless prairies
Boomers
50,000 settlers that legally entered Oklahmoa after the government supplied freed Indian land
Sooners
who were illegally jumping the gun to enter the Oklahoma Territory, and had to be evicted repeatedly to federal troops
Frederick Jackson Turner
United States historian who stressed the role of the western frontier in American history
Yellowstone
Yellowstone - Signed into a national park in 1871 by Ulysses S. Grant, it is the first ever national park in the world, established in Wyoming, Montana and Idaho
Francis Parkman
a historian and writer who wrote about the Oregon Trail
George Catlin
sent out the first catalogue in 1872, changed the market and allowed for mail order more available than what they see in the stores
Frederic Remington
First painted portraits of American Indian Life. First person to envision the idea of a national park; influenced Yellow Stone
Montgomery Ward
sent out the first catalogue in 1872, changed the market and allowed for mail order more available than what they see in the stores
Combine
increased the speed of harvesting wheat by the 1880s; The mechanization of farms brought about the idea that farms were “outdoor grain factories.”
Deflation
The Farmers were chained to a one crop economy and deflation was inevitable. The reduction of general level of prices. There were not enough dollars to go around and prices were forced down.
The Farmers’ Alliance
Founded in texas in the late 1870s farmers came together in alliance to socialize and break the grip of railroads and manufacturers through buying and selling.
Mary Elizabeth Lease
The woman who demanded that Kansans should raise “less corn and more hell.”
The Grange
Organized in 1867 by Oliver H. Kelly. He wanted to enhance the lives of isolated farmers through social, educational, and fraternal activities. The grange provided picnics and concerts to get farmers out of their homes.
Cooperatives
A jointly owned commercial enterprise (usually organized by farmers or consumers) that produces and distributes goods and services and is run for the benefit of its owners. anarchist. an advocate of a political theory favoring the abolition of governments.
Election of 1890
Election between Mckinley and William Jennings Bryan. Many new laws were passed and many states went democratic for the first time. Tariffs, trusts, and silver.
Greenback-Labor Party
Party who wanted to increase circulation of paper money and formed by farmers. Combined inflationary appeal with a program for improving labor.
James B. Weaver
A Granger who possessed a remarkable voice, and was elected for the Greenbackers. A favorite of civil war veterans.
Coxey’s Army
Jacob S. Coxey set out with supporters and newspaper reporters to Washington. He was demanding that the government relieve unemployment by an inflationary public works program, supported by $500million in legal tender notes to be issued to the treasury.
Eugene V. Debs
Man who organized the American Railway Union of about 150,000 members. PArt of the pullman strike.
Pullman Palace Car Company
The company that maintained a model town near Chicago for its employees and was hit by a depression. Cut wages by one third, while holding the line on rent for the company houses.
Mark Hannah
A hardcore Hamiltonian that believed the prime function of the government was to aid business. Became the personification of big industry in politics.
William McKinley
Was an American politician and lawyer who served as the 25th President of the United States. McKinley led the nation to victory in the Spanish–American War, raised protective tariffs to promote American industry, and maintained the nation on the gold standard in a rejection of inflationary proposals.
William Jennings Bryan
e was at the 1896 Democratic convention with his Cross of Gold speech that favored free silver, but was defeated in his bid to become U.S. president by William McKinley.
Cross of Gold speech
Speech by William Jennings Bryan. He supported bimetallism or “free silver”, which he believed would bring the nation prosperity.
Fourth Party System
The Fourth Party System is the term used in political science and history for the period in American political history from about 1896 to 1932 that was dominated by the Republican Party, excepting the 1912 split in which Democrats held the White House for eight years.
Dingley Tariff Bill
The Dingley Act of 1897 introduced by U.S. Representative Nelson Dingley, Jr., of Maine, raised tariffs in United States to counteract the Wilson–Gorman Tariff Act of 1894, which had lowered rates.
