Westward Expansion

Question 1

After the Civil War, pioneers settled from where to where?

Answer 1

Mississippi River to California coast

Question 2

Define push-pull factors

Answer 2

Events or conditions that either force (push) people to move or attract (pull) people to move.

Question 3

Push factors

Answer 3

Land
New location for a business
Ethnic/religious repression
Shelter for outlaws

Question 4

Pull factors

Answer 4

Government gave away public land or sold it for cheap to help settle west

Question 5

Pacific Railway Acts

Answer 5

1862 and 1864
Government gave land land to Union to build railroads.
Pacific and Central Railroads= 175 million acres

Question 6

Homestead Act of _____

Definition and effect, qualifications are a separate card

Answer 6

1862
For a small fee of $10, settlers could have 160 acres of land if they met certain conditions.
372,000 farms created.

Question 7

Conditions for Homestead Act of 1862

Answer 7

1. 21 or head of household
2. Citizen or filing for citizenship
3. Build a house 12 ft by 14 ft
4. Live there 6 months of the year
5. Farm land for 5 years

Question 8

Who did the Homestead Act bring west?

Answer 8

First white easterners, then other ethnic groups.
Germans in late 1800s to practice Lutheranism.
West coast: Irish, Italian, Euro Jews, Chinese

Question 9

Exodusters

Answer 9

50,000 blacks led by Benjamin “Pap” Singleton migrated west

Question 10

What was the big reality of westward expansion?

Answer 10

West already occupied by natives

Question 11

Great Plains

Answer 11

Vast grass lands between MS River and Rocky Mountains where natives lived and settlers wanted to live

Question 12

War in the west

Answer 12

Settlers believed they could buy land and be more productive with it.
Natives saw settlers as invaders because land could not be owned by individuals.
Easterners called it the “Indian Problem” but for natives it was a life or death battle.

Question 13

Native Life

Answer 13

Lived as farmers, hunters and gatherers.
Buffalo important for survival.
Horses changed native ways: became nomads traveling from place to place on horse. Led to a decline in village life, warfare between nations, and nomadic groups raiding others.

Question 14

Reservations

Answer 14

Federal land set aside for natives.
US made treaties with natives that were unfair and confined them to reservations.
Treaties often misunderstood by natives, sometimes bribed to sign and often cheated in exchange for land.

Question 15

Bureau of Indian Affairs

Answer 15

Supposed to manage supplies for reservations, but goods often mishandled or stolen.

Question 16

The main policy for dealing with natives was ________ but in ####, the US declared no more

Answer 16

Treaties

1871

Question 17

Frontier Army

Answer 17

Assembled because acts of violence on both sides set off cycles of revenge, mostly small hit and run attacks.
Supposed to drive settlers off reservations, escort mail, stop gunfights, protect from robberies.
Lacked supplies, was scattered.
Often pitted Indian groups against each other, usually prevailed in battles.

Question 18

Who were the Cheyenne?

Answer 18

Native group that occupied plains in Colorado Territory and led gruesome wagon raids east of Denver.

Question 19

Sand Creek Massacre

Answer 19

1864
Colorado’s governor took advantage of a peace campaign led by Cheyenne chief Black Kettle. Cheyenne followed orders to camp peacefully at Sand Creek. Colonel John Chivington led a force that slaughtered between 150-500, mostly women and children. Many Cheyenne agreed to move into reservations.

Question 20

Sioux

Answer 20

Native tribe that resisted expansion in Dakota, Wyoming, and Montana.
1865: US building the Bozeman Trail railroad through Sioux hunting grounds in Bighorn Mountains.
Sioux Chief Red Cloud launched a 2 year war that ended with the Fort Laramie Treaty, US abandoned trail.

Question 21

Red Cloud Speech

Answer 21

Cooper Union Hall, NY 1870
Settlers are white, rich, wise, but deceitful and violent. Natives are red skinned, poor, ignorant, but peaceful and welcoming. Accuses the US of treating the natives poorly and lying about treaty terms. Please be honest and help us get the land and goods as promised.

Question 22

Battle of Little Bighorn

Answer 22

AKA Custer’s Last Stand
June 1876
US wanted to buy Black Hills, Sioux reservation in South Dakota, because of rumor of gold. This angered Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse. Against orders and warnings, Lt. Colonel George Custer moved in Montana near Bighorn River to investigate and attack. The 2000-4000 natives massacred the 200-250 men.

Question 23

Aftermath of Battle of Little Bighorn

Answer 23

Sioux went to reservation.
Crazy Horse was killed.
Sitting Bull fled to Canada.
US revered Custer and his men as brave heroes.
Half of the army was sent west to get revenge on the natives.

Question 24

Ghost Dance

Answer 24

A prophet of the plains named Wovoka promised a return to traditional life if people practiced the Ghost Dance, a ritual in which people joined hands and whirled in a circle. Ghost Dancers believed that the world would soon end and that the Indians dead and alive would inherit the Earth.
Sitting Bull encouraged the Teton Sioux to practice dance. Army tried to arrest him and shot him. His 200 followers fled to join Chief Big Foot

Question 25

Wounded Knee

Answer 25

Wounded Knee Creek 1890
Chief Bug Foot and 350 natives were intercepted by an army patrol. As the Indians surrendered their weapons, the gun of deaf Black Coyote went off, and the soldiers started shooting. Those massacred include Sitting Bull’s followers

Question 26

Helen Hunt Jackson

Answer 26

Some Americans were disgusted with treatment of the natives. She wrote “A Century of Dishonor” in 1881. Stated “record of history with Indians; every page and every year has its dark stain”

Question 27

Assimilate

Answer 27

Natives were encouraged to adopt white ways.

Dawes Act will encourage idea of private property

Question 28

Dawes Act

Answer 28

1887
Federal law dismantled Indian concept of shared land in favor of private property.
Divided reservation land into individual plots. Indians who accepted received 160 acres and US citizenship.

Question 29

Land Rush/Race

Answer 29

In 1887, 2/3 of native land wound up in hands of whites called squatters.
Congress agreed to buy out Indian claims to the region. Settlers were called Boomers, took 2 million acres.

Question 30

Sooners

Answer 30

People who snuck past government officials early to mark claims for best land