Industrialization and Westward Expansion

Question 1

American Federation of Labor

Answer 1

a group of unions representing only skilled workers started as a conservative counter to the Knights of Labor

Question 2

Americanization

Answer 2

to cause something or someone to have characteristics of American culture

Question 3

Angel Island

Answer 3

location in San Francisco Bay that served as the port of entry for most immigrants arriving in the United States from Asia

Question 4

barbed wire

Answer 4

sharp-pointed wire used for fences

Question 5

Battle of Little Bighorn

Answer 5

Lakota victory over United States soldiers on June 25, 1876.

Question 6

Benjamin “Pap” Singleton

Answer 6

African American leader who helped and encouraged thousands of Exodusters to move to the West between 1877–1879

Question 7

Bessemer Process

Answer 7

a method of making steel quickly and cheaply that spurred the industrial growth of the late 1800s

Question 8

bonanza farms

Answer 8

large farms owned by investors who hired laborers to work the land

Question 9

Buffalo Soldiers

Answer 9

members of the all-African American units of the United States Army that were formed in the late 1800s

Question 10

California gold rush

Answer 10

the rush to find gold that brought thousands of new residents to California and produced millions of dollars in new wealth for the region and the United States

Question 11

Chinese Exclusion Act

Answer 11

a law passed by the U.S. Congress in 1882 that prohibited the immigration of Chinese laborers to the United States

Question 12

corporation

Answer 12

a business owned by many investors who buy shares of stock and risk only the amount of their investment

Question 13

Dawes Act

Answer 13

an 1887 law terminating tribal ownership of most reservation land and allocating some parcels to individual Indians while the remainder was opened for white settlement

Question 14

entrepreneur

Answer 14

a person who organizes manages, and takes on the risks of starting a business

Question 15

Eugene V. Debs

Answer 15

leader of the American Railway Union that called for the Pullman Strike

Question 16

Exodusters

Answer 16

African American settlers who moved west to set up their own farms and escape oppression in the post-Reconstruction South

Question 17

First Transcontinental Railroad

Answer 17

the stretch of railroad that linked the network of track in the eastern United States with the network in the West

Question 18

Ghost Dance

Answer 18

part of a religious awakening among the Lakota Sioux in 1890 in which they believed that if they returned to their traditional ways and ceremonies, the whites would be driven from their land

Question 19

Haymarket Affair

Answer 19

a peaceful 1886 labor demonstration in Chicago that ended with a bomb that killed a police officer and resulted in public disapproval of labor unions

Question 20

Homestead Act

Answer 20

law passed by Congress in 1862 providing 160 acres of land free to anyone who would live on the plot and farm it for five years

Question 21

Homestead Act

Answer 21

the law passed by Congress in 1862 providing 160 acres of land free to anyone who would live on the plot and farm it for five years

Question 22

Homestead Strike

Answer 22

an 1892 steelworkers’ strike in Pennsylvania that resulted in several deaths on both sides and nothing gained for the workers

Question 23

horizontal integration

Answer 23

the combining of competing firms into one corporation

Question 24

hydraulic mining

Answer 24

a form of mining that uses high-pressure jets of water to dislodge rock material or move sediment

Question 25

Interstate Commerce Act

Answer 25

Federal act passed in 1887 that addressed the problem of railroad monopolies by setting guidelines for how the railroads could do business

Question 26

Knights of Labor

Answer 26

a very inclusive union that wanted a society focused on production and worker-owned factories

Question 27

laissez-faire

Answer 27

a policy that allows businesses to operate with very little interference from the government

Question 28

Manifest Destiny

Answer 28

the idea that westward expansion of the United States to the Pacific Ocean was inevitable and unstoppable

Question 29

monopoly

Answer 29

a situation in which one company has total control over a service or a product, and faces no competition from other providers

Question 30

open range

Answer 30

a large area of grazing land without fences or other barriers

Question 31

Pacific Railway Act

Answer 31

a federal action that provided railroad companies with ownership of all public lands within 200 feet on both sides of a railroad track

Question 32

philanthropist

Answer 32

one who gives money or other help to improve the quality of human life

Question 33

protective tariff

Answer 33

a tax on imported goods that are meant to protect U.S. businesses from foreign competition

Question 34

Pullman Strike

Answer 34

a nationwide rail workers’ strike in 1894 that turned violent, gained nothing for the workers, and turned public opinion against labor unions

Question 35

reservation

Answer 35

an area of land granted, often by force, to a Native American tribe, usually in exchange for their own homeland

Question 36

Sand Creek Massacre

Answer 36

an 1864 military raid on a peaceful Cheyenne camp that resulted in the murder of approximately 200 Native American men, women, and children

Question 37

scrip

Answer 37

company-specific currency paid to a worker, instead of cash, that could only be used at company-owned stores

Question 38

Sherman Anti-Trust Act

Answer 38

Federal act passed in 1890 to try to break up trusts and restore competition

Question 39

Sitting Bull

Answer 39

Lakota Sioux chief who led his people to victory in the Battle of Little Bighorn

Question 40

skilled labor

Answer 40

a job that requires a certain level of training and skill that could take years to acquire

Question 41

Social Darwinism

Answer 41

application of Charles Darwin’s theory of biological evolution to society, holding that the fittest and the wealthiest should thrive and lead, the weak and the poor “deserve” their fate, and government action is unable to alter this “natural” process

Question 42

sodbusters

Answer 42

settlers that constructed cheap frontier homes of dirt and prairie grass due to lack of construction materials

Question 43

sweatshop

Answer 43

a factory where workers are employed for low wages under very poor and very hot conditions

Question 44

Terence V. Powderly

Answer 44

leader of the Knights of Labor labor union

Question 45

Thomas Edison

Answer 45

Famous inventor who is credited with creating things such as the phonograph and the light bulb

Question 46

topography

Answer 46

physical features of the land

Question 47

trust

Answer 47

a group of companies that works together to control industry and drive other companies out of business

Question 48

unskilled labor

Answer 48

a job that most able-bodied people can perform with a small amount of training

Question 49

vertical integration

Answer 49

practice in which a single manufacturer controls all of the steps used to change raw materials into finished products