US History period 6 - 1865-1898

Question 1

The California gold rush

Answer 1

gold was found on January 8, 1948, and sparked a major migration from the North the the West. Prospectors hoped to find gold and get rich quick, but only few were successful. There was a lack of housing and sanitation systems in place for the new population of the West.

Question 2

Developing the West

Answer 2

Boomtowns formed as miners would move from town to town, in hopes of finding gold. They would build small civilazations and when they were unsuccesfull in their efforts, the towns would be abandoned and turned to ghost towns.

Question 3

The Homestead Act of 1862

Answer 3

This act gave massive amounts of land to almost anybody that wanted it. It divided up the West into 160 acre plots of landed that were given to westerners at a very low price. This led to a long period of isolationaism in the United States because of the literally distance between people. It made it difficult to grow and develop as a civilization.

Question 4

Jim Crow

Answer 4

This was a television character, played by a white man in black face. The character depicted a slave doing work in the field and was later used as a symbol for black people, so Jim Crow laws, refer to laws regarding the black population.

Question 5

Plessy vs. Ferguson

Answer 5

Homer Plessy challenged the segregation in trains by sitting in a whites only section. His case made it to the supreme court, but they ruled that as long as the accomodations were equal (seperate but equal) then it is legal. After that, everything became segregated, but unfortunately it was not equal.