Topics 6.2-6.5 Flashcards
Transcontinental railroad
A continuous rail line constructed between Nebraska and California, connecting the east and west coast to allow for easy travel
Great Plains
A huge, dry region in the center of North America, where Natives primarily lived
Great American Desert
The term applied to the land west of the Missouri River and east of the Rocky Mountains
100th Meridian
An imaginary line running from the Dakotas to Texas that separated the wet East from the dry East
Vaqueros
Skilled riders who herded cattle on ranches in Mexico, California, and the Southwest
Cattle drives
The forced migration of massive numbers of cattle to the railroads, where they could be shipped to the East
Homestead Act of 1862
A federal law promoting westward expansion by alloting 160 acres of free public land to settlers
Dry farming
A method used by farmers in the Plains to conserve moisture by reducing runoff and evaporation, thereby increasing soil absorption and retention of moisture
Deflation
An increase in the value of money in relation to avaliable goods, causing prices to fall
Middlemen
In trading systems, those who operate between the original producer of goods and the retail merchants who sell to consumers
National Grange Movement
A group of agarian organizations that worked to increase the political and economic power of farmers
Granger laws
Legislation to regulate rising fare prices of railroad and grain elevator companies after the Civil War
Munn v. Illinois (1877)
Upheld the Granger laws, allowing states to regulate certain businesses within their borders
Ocala Platform
Supported direct election of senators, lowering tariff rates, a gradual income tax, and a new banking system regulated by the federal government
“The Significance of the Frontier in American History” (1883)
A book published by Frederick Jackson Turner that claimed the frontier established liberty by releasing Americans from European mindsets and ending prior customs of the 19th century
Battle of Little Bighorn (1876)
- Colonel Custer marched his men deep into Sioux Territory to stop an uprising due to his claim to gold in the Black Hills
- 2500 Sioux warriors stopped and killed Custer and his army
Ghost Dance Movement
The last effort of Native Americans to resist US encroachment onto their lands, displayed through a religious movement
Assimilationists
Americans motivated to help Natives adapt into American society by giving them a formal education and converting them to Christianity
Helen Hunt Jackson
Author of “A Century of Dishonor” exposing the US government’s many broken promises to the Natives
Dawes Act of 1887
Divided communal tribal land into lots to be owned by individual Natives, subject to taxation once owned
Indian Reorganization Act (1934)
Decreased government control over Native affairs
Santa Fe Trail
A trail that extands from Missouri to New Mexico that was an important route for settlers moving west
Forest Reserve Act of 1891
Intended to protect some 172 million acres of timberland from deforestation
Forest Management Act of 1897
Gave the president the power to establish forest reserves to protect watersheds against lumbering, overgrazing, and forest fires
Conservationists
Advocates of preserving natural resources
Preservationists
Advocates of protecting nature from humans
Sierra Club
An organization founded in 1892 dedicated to the enjoyment and preservation of mountains and wilderness environments
New South
The shift in the South from an agarian society to an industrialized economy after the Civil War
Henry Grady
The editor of the Atlanta Constitution and a strong proponent of an industrialized South
Tenant farmers
Farmers who rented land and shared a portion of the crop with the landowner
George Washington Carver
Ex-slave who founded, taught, and did research at the Tuskegee Institute
White supremacists
People who believed in the supremacy of the white race
Civil Rights Cases of 1883
5 cases involving the Civil Rights Act of 1875 that allowed states to permit private discrimination by looking the other way
Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)
Permitted separate but equal facilities and legal segregation of the races
Jim Crow laws
Any state or local law that enforced racial segregation
Literacy tests
A test given as a precondition for voting, often to prevent blacks from voting
Poll taxes
A required fee before voting
Grandfather clause
People could vote if their ancestor voted before 1867, allowing ineligible voters to vote
Lynch mobs
Killings of blacks by white mobs for supposed crimes or for angering whites
Ida B. Wells
Black journalist who advocated against lynching
International Migration Society
A group that advocated for moving blacks back to Africa
Atlanta Compromise
Black and white southerners shared the responsibility of making their region prosper
Transatlantic cable
An undersea cable running under the Atlantic Ocean for telegraph communication, connecting continents
Telephone
Alexander Graham Bell’s invention that revolutionized instant communication for businesses and people
Kodak camera
Allowed people to take pictures and freeze a moment in time
Thomas Edison
Inventor of the phonograph, the motion picture camera, and a long-lasting, practical electric light bulb in Menlo Park, NJ
Subways
A transportation system that could transport people to urban residences even farther from the city’s commercial center
Skyscraper
Tall, steel-framed buildings that originated in Chicago and dominated cities
