The West #2 Flashcards
What were the Great Plains like in terms of climate and geography?
The Great Plains were immensely just grassland, sparsely wooded, with only a few navigable streams, and not much rainfall.
What 4 things were necessary before settlers could establish themselves permanently on the Great Plains?
-The suppression of the Native Americans.
-New methods of farming to cope with inadequate rainforest.
-A substitute to be found for wooden fencing.
-Transportation to take crops to the market.
What mechanical improvements came to locomotives after the Civil War?
-Coal-burning expansion cylinder locomotive.
-The Pullman sleeping car
-Safety coupler
-Westinghouse air-brake
How much land was given by the government to railroad companies on either side of the tracks they laid?
Congress charted and gave enormous land grants to 3 other rail lines.
~Northern Pacific- across the Dakotas to Oregon.
~Southern Pacific- New Orleans to LA then San Francisco.
~Santa Fe- across Arizona to San Diego.
What distinctive qualities of American culture were established on the frontier according to Frederick Jackson Turner?
Individual freedom
Political democracy
Economic mobility
What did Turner mean when he said that the West was a safety valve?
The confident statement that the frontier was a place of opportunity and escape, deactivated social dissatisfaction in America. The West acted as a ‘safety value’ as it drew off those who were unhappy with their situation in the East.
What activities was the federal government involved in, in the settlement of the West?
-Obtaining Native American land by treaty or war.
-Managing land sales.
-Regulated territorial politics.
-Distributed land and money to farmers, railroads, and mining companies.
What was the Morrill Land Grant Act?
It allowed western states to use lands donated by the government to establish public universities.
How were territories in the West different from those in the East regarding achieving statehood? What may have been the reason for this?
-Newly created territories in the west were Arizona, New Mexico, Idaho, Montana, and the Dakotas. They remained under federal control much longer than the pattern in the East.
-Many easterners didn’t want to grant statehood to these territories until white and non-Mormon settlers counterbalanced the prominent Latino and Mormon Population.
Although the West became known as a place of rugged individualism, it never would have been settled without what?
It would never have been settled without active government assistance.
What did territorial and state governments in the West do to get settlers to come?
Territorial and state governments in the West were eager for settlers and so they flooded European countries and eastern states with promotional literature that promised easy access to land.
What was the Homestead Act?(160acres)
It was when Congress provided 160 acres of federal land to anyone who agreed to farm the land. hundreds of thousands of families acquired land under this act.
What states make up the Middle Border? What agricultural empire was established here?
~The states that make up the Middle Border are Kansas, Nebraska, and Dakota
~They produced wheat and corn for national and international markets.
Who were the farmers that populated the Middle Border?
The farmers were a diverse group of native-born easterners, blacks escaping the Post Reconstruction South, and immigrants from Canada, Germany, and Scandinavia.
Why was living here so difficult, particularly for women?
~The families tended to invest in machinery that would save labor time and bring in cash like reapers, plows, and seed drills.
~But they wouldn’t invest in machinery that could ease a woman’s burden in the house. The farm wives cared for the animals, grew crops for food, cooked, cleaned, and raised the children.
