APUSH Unit 6 Vocab

transcontinental railroads

transcontinental railroads

railroad lines connecting the new frontier to the west and midwest

Great American Desert

name for the great plains before it was used to farming due to it’s lack of rain and harsh winters

barbed wire

invention made to replace fences in the great plains that helped pen in cattle, contributed to the downfall of the American bison because it restricted the free range

Homestead Act

federal program to promote farming in the West by granting 160 acres of land to anyone who farmedit for 5 years

National Granage Movement

group of farmers who gathered together to share knowledge, socialize, and promote economic equality for farmers

Granger Laws

federal laws that regulated railroad and grain elevator prices to protect the farmers who relied on the services

Munn v. Illinois

SCOTUS case that up help Granger laws and the ability of states to regulate public businesses

Frederick Jackson Turner

author of the Significance of the Frontier in American History

The Significance of the American Frontier

Thesis that talked about the role westward expansion played and how it provided an opportunity for people to “remake” themselves. Said that because migrants had settled out to the Pacific the US would loose the sense of expansion and a new place to go

Little Big Horn

Natives ambushed a US infantry, short lived win

Ghost Dance movement

religious resistance by Natives against the government, ended in 200 person massacure

Helen Hunt Jackson

author of A Century of Dishonor, a book sympathizing Indians and encouraging their assimilation to improve their situation

Dawes Act of 1887

divided native land into 160 acres parcels and gave it to families to divide them, were told that could earn citizenship after 25 years on the land

Indian Reorganization Act

part of the New Deal, reestablished tribal organization and culture

Santa Fe Trail

path that connected the Southwest with the East

Forest Reserve Act of 1891

Forest Management Act, 1897

John Muir

founder of the Sierra Club a group of preservationists

Sierra Club

preservationists who wanted to preserve natural areas from human effects

New South

post reconstruction south with more manufacturing and economic reliance

George Washington Carver

black academic at Tuskegee promoted diversifying crops and breaking into peanuts, soybeans, and sweet potatoes

Tuskegee Institute

where George Washington Carver studies

White supremasists

people in the south who believed in the white race being better

Civil Rights Cases of 1883

court ruling that said that Congress could not regulate racial discrimination by private citizens and business

Plessy v. Ferguson

SCOTUS decision saying separate but equal was equal and legal

Jim Crow Laws

laws in the south that enforces racial segregation

literacy test

tests necessary used in the south the disenfranchise black voters

poll taxes

a fee required to vote in the south

grandfather clause

said that if your ancestors voted you automatically biassed voting regulations

Ida B. Wells

International Migration Society

Booker T. Washington

W.E.B. DuBois

Atlanta Compromise