Westward Expansion Flashcards
Extending across a continent.
Transcontinental
An area of public lands set aside from Native Americans.
Reservation
- Plant seeds deep into the ground where there was some moisture.
- Allows for crops into climates that seemed un-farmable.
Dry farming
- In an act of desperation,Sioux began performing a ritual known as the Ghost dance.
- Officials found the dance alarming and banned it.
Battle of Wounded Knee
Moving from place to place with no permanent home.
Nomadic
Name given to the plains farmers
Sodbuster
To acquire a piece of U.S. public land by living on and cultivating.
Homestead / Homestead Act
Chief Sitting Bull allowed the dance to continue and during the arrest attempt, he was killed.
Sitting Bull
In 1874 he led an expedition that verified rumors of rich gold deposits there.
George Custer
- The government demanded that they move their tribe because of the gold rush.
- In anger some of his tribe go and kill a bunch of whit settlers.
To save his tribe, they tried to use a military retreat to escape to Canada.
Chief Joseph
List the physical features of the Great Plains.
- flatlands that rise east to west.
- land eroded by wind and water.
- low rainfall.
- frequent dust storms.
List the reasons for Westward Expansion.
- land
- adventure
- railroads
- gold and silver
- escape from discrimination
List the challenges and ways the settlers adapted to living on the Great Plains.
- there were lots of tornadoes, so they had to build sod houses.
- there were no water to grow plants , so they had to dig deep to where there is moisture.
- they used windmills to pump water out the ground.
Which immigrant group held the most dangerous jobs when building the transcontinental railroad?
Chinese
The loss of what animal had a big impact on Native Americans.
Buffalo
