Key Concepts of American Expansion and Industry

This set of flashcards contains key vocabulary terms and their definitions related to American expansion, Native American history, and the Industrial Revolution.

Great Plains

Flat grassland region in central U.S.

Treaty of Fort Laramie

Treaty promising Native American land.

Sitting Bull

Sioux leader who resisted U.S. expansion.

Assimilation

Forcing Native Americans to adopt white culture.

Dawes Act

Divided tribal land into individual plots.

Battle of Wounded Knee

1890 massacre of Sioux tribe.

Homestead Act

Free land for settlers who farmed it.

Exodusters

African Americans who moved west.

Morrill Acts

Created land-grant colleges.

Bonanza Farms

Large commercial farming operations.

Farmers’ Alliances

Farmer groups fighting unfair practices.

Populism

Political movement supporting farmers and workers.

Bessemer Process

Cheap method for making steel.

Alexander Graham Bell

Inventor of the telephone.

Transcontinental Railroad

Railroad connecting east and west.

Cornelius Vanderbilt

Powerful railroad tycoon.

Munn v. Illinois

Allowed government regulation of business.

Interstate Commerce Act

Regulated railroad rates.

Andrew Carnegie

Steel industry leader.

Laissez-faire

Little government economic control.

Social Darwinism

Belief that wealth equals superiority.

J.P. Morgan

Influential banker and financier.

John D. Rockefeller

Founder of Standard Oil.