GO WEST YOUNG MAN UNIT 1 part 2

Question 1

Americanization

Answer 1

the process by which an Indian was “redeemed” and assimilated into the American
way of life by changing his clothing to western clothing and renouncing his tribal customs in exchange
for a parcel of land

Question 2

Battle of Wounded Knee

Answer 2

an attempt to disarm a group of Lakota Sioux Indians near Wounded Knee,
South Dakota, which resulted in members of the Seventh Cavalry of the U.S. Army opening fire and
killing over 150 Indians

Question 3

bonanza farms

Answer 3

large farms owned by speculators who hired laborers to work the land; these large farms
allowed their owners to benefit from economies of scale and prosper, but they did nothing to help small
family farms, which continued to struggle

Question 4

California Gold Rush;

Answer 4

the period between 1848 and 1849 when prospectors found large strikes of gold in
California, leading others to rush in and follow suit; this period led to a cycle of boom and bust through
the area, as gold was discovered, mined, and stripped

Question 5

Comstock Lode

Answer 5

the first significant silver find in the country, discovered by Henry T. P. Comstock in
1859 in Nevada

Question 6

Exodusers

Answer 6

a term used to describe African Americans who moved to Kansas from the Old South to
escape the racism there

Question 7

Fence Cutting War

Answer 7

his armed conflict between cowboys moving cattle along the trail and ranchers who
wished to keep the best grazing lands for themselves occurred in Clay County, Texas, between 1883 and
1884

Question 8

las Gorras Blancas

Answer 8

the Spanish name for White Caps, the rebel group of Hispanic Americans who fought
back against the appropriation of Hispanic land by whites; for a period in 1889–1890, they burned farms,
homes, and crops to express their growing anger at the injustice of the situation

Question 9

Manifest Destiny

Answer 9

the phrase, coined by journalist John O’Sullivan, which came to stand for the idea that
white Americans had a calling and a duty to seize and settle the American West with Protestant
democratic values

Question 10

Sand Creek Massacre

Answer 10

a militia raid led by Colonel Chivington on an Indian camp in Colorado, flying
both the American flag and the white flag of surrender; over one hundred men, women, and children
were killed

Question 11

sod house

Answer 11

a frontier home constructed of dirt held together by thick-rooted prairie grass that was
prevalent in the Midwest; sod, cut into large rectangles, was stacked to make the walls of the structure,
providing an inexpensive, yet damp, house for western settlers

Question 12

What does NOT
represent a
group that participated significantly in westward
migration after 1870?

Answer 12

former Southern slaveholders seeking land
and new financial opportunities

Question 13

What represents an action
that the U.S. government took to help Americans
fulfill the goal of western expansion?

Answer 13

the passage of the Homestead Act

Question 14

Why and how did the U.S. government
promote western migration in the midst of
fighting the Civil War?

Answer 14

It was in part because of the fear that the Confederates would go out west and make the empty land used with slaves.

Question 15

What specific types of hardships did an
average American farmer
not
face as he built his
homestead in the Midwest?

Answer 15

hostile Indian attacks

Question 16

What accounts for the success of large,
commercial “bonanza farms?” What benefits did
they enjoy over their smaller family-run
Counterparts?

Answer 16

The development of the technology made it possible for these farms to grow wheat with 20,00 excess acres of land. But smaller farms struggled because it cost about $1000 dollars to build a farm.

Question 17

How did everyday life in the American West
hasten equality for women who settled the land?

Answer 17

They worked tirelessly just like the men, and this made them viewed as equal partners as opposed in the east.

Question 18

Which of the following groups was
not
impacted by the invention of barbed wire?

Answer 18

illegal prostitutes

Question 19

The American cowboy owes much of its model
to what other culture?

Answer 19

Mexicans

Question 20

How did mining and cattle ranching transform
individual “get rich quick” efforts into “big
business” efforts when the nineteenth century
came to a close?

Answer 20

The development of settlements. The invention of barbed wire. Regular wages for miners.

Question 21

what was
not
a primary
method by which the American government dealt
with American Indians during the period of
western settlement?

Answer 21

appeasement

Question 22

What did the Last Arrow pageant symbolize?

Answer 22

the final step in the Americanization
process

Question 23

What brought the majority of Chinese
immigrants to the U.S.?

Answer 23

Gold

Question 24

How were Hispanic citizens deprived of their
wealth and land in the course of western
settlement?

Answer 24

land seizures

Question 25

What were some similarities and differences in the treatment of
Chinese immigrants and Hispanic citizens to that
of Indians during the period of western Settlement?

Answer 25

While 25,000 Mexicans were offered citizenship after the Mexican American war, none of the Chinese immigrants were ever made citizens through naturalization. Mexicans were displaced from their land while the Chinese were kept from gaining any. Both tried to rebel and make claims for themselves, but racist laws denied them that.

Question 26

Describe the philosophy of Manifest Destiny. What effect did it have on Americans’ westward
migration? How might the different groups that migrated have sought to apply this philosophy to their
individual circumstances?

Answer 26

It is the concept that God intended for the United states to rule the continent. And with incentive from the government, hundreds of thousands of people migrated west. Along with people from other countries arriving too. The gold rush made people think they could get rich quickly. Many were displaced from their homes and forced to move into remote areas.

Question 27

Compare the myth of the “Wild West” with its reality. What elements of truth would these stories
have contained, and what was fabricated or left out? What was life actually like for cowboys, ranchers, and
the few women present in mining towns or along the cattle range?

Answer 27

There was not as much violence as the media portrays. While in certain unmanned towns, there were criminals who did commit murder and robbery, most of it was for ranching, mining, farming. Most of the women there were prostitutes, and most cowboys were single males in their twenties, nearly a third were Latinos and blacks, set to hard work.