America's History (Chapter 16)

Transcontinental Railroad

Railroad connecting the west and east coasts of the continental US

Protective Tariff

a tax on imported goods that is intended to protect a nation's businesses from foreign competition

Treaty of Kanagawa

(1854) trade treaty between Japan and the United States opening up two Japanese ports to U.S. trade; signed in response to a show of force by U.S. admiral Matthew Perry

Burlingame Treaty

guaranteed the rights of US missionaries in China and set official terms for the emigration of Chinese laborers to work in United States

Munn v. Illinois

1876; The Supreme Court upheld the Granger laws. The Munn case allowed states to regulate certain businesses within their borders, including railroads, and is commonly regarded as a milestone in the growth of federal government regulation.

Gold Standard

A monetary system in which paper money and coins are equal to the value of a certain amount of gold

The "Crime of 1873" refers to

Congressional action that required the U.S. Treasury to cease minting silver dollars and, over a six year period, retire Civil War-ear greenbacks, replacing them with bank notes from an expanded systems of national banks.

Homestead Act of 1862

this allowed a settler to acquire 160 acres by living on it for five years, improving it and paying about $30

Morrill Act

granted public lands to states to support higher education

land-grant colleges

Colleges and universities created from allocations of public land through the Morrell Act of 1862 and the Hatch Act of 1887. These grants helped fuel the boom in higher education in the late nineteenth century, and many of the today's public universities derive from these grants.

Comstock Lode (1859)

First major U.S. discovery of silver ore in Nevada, causing mining camps to spring up and became bustling centers as prospectors rush into the area

Long Drive

General term for the herding of cattle from the grassy plains to the railroad terminals of Kansas, Nebraska, and Wyoming

"rain follows the plow"

An unfounded theory that settlement of the Great Plains caused an increase in rainfall.

Exodusters

African Americans who moved from post reconstruction South to Kansas.

Yellowstone National Park

Established in 1872 by Congress, Yellowstone was the United States's first national park.

U.S. Fisheries Commission

A federal bureau established in 1871 that made recommendations to stem the decline in wild fish. Its creation was an important step toward wildlife conservation and management.

Sand Creek Massacre

In Colorado territory in 1864, U.S army colonel John M. Chivington led a surprise attack on a peaceful Cheyenne settlement along Sand Creek River. The Cheyenne under Chief Black kettle tried to surrender. First he waved the America Flag and the White flag of surrender. Chivington ignored the gestures. The U.S army killed about 200 Cheyenne during the conflict

Fetterman Massacre (1866)

Sioux war party, led by Crazy Horse, attacked and killed 81 soldiers; in an area that had been promised to the Sioux by the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851

Lone Wolf v. Hitchcock

A 1903 Supreme Court ruling that Congress could make whatever Indian policies it chose, ignoring all existing treaties.

Dawes Severalty Act (1887)

Legislation that allotted each head of household 160 acres of land; land deemed to be "surplus" beyond what was needed for allotment was opened to white settlers with the proceeds invested in education programs; designed to encourage the breakup of the tribes and promote the assimilation of Native Americans into American society.

Historical Significance:

Native Americans lost about 90 million acres of treaty land.

Battle of Little Big Horn, 1876

Battle at which Colonel George Custer's forces clashed with nearly 4000 well armed Sioux warriors led by Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull; Custer and more than 250 of his men were killed; U.S. reinforcements chased Sitting Bull to Canada where he received political asylum until hunger forced him to return.

Thomas Edison

American inventor best known for inventing the electric light bulb, acoustic recording on wax cylinders, and motion pictures.

Nicola Tesla

invented the first alternating current generator

Andrew Carnegie

A Scottish-born American industrialist and philanthropist who founded a Steel Company in 1892. By 1901, his company dominated the American steel industry.

John D. Rockefeller

Established the Standard Oil Company, the greatest, wisest, and meanest monopoly known in history

William Sumner

He was an advocate of Social Darwinism claiming that the rich were a result of natural selection and benefits society. He, like many others promoted the belief of Social Darwinism which justified the rich being rich, and poor being poor.

Terence Powderly

led the Knights of Labor, a skilled and unskilled union, wanted equal pay for equal work, an 8hr work day and to end child labor

Edward Bellamy

In 1888, he wrote Looking Backward, 2000-1887, a description of a utopian society in the year 2000.

Walter Rauschenbusch

New York clergyman who preached the social gospel, worked to alleviate poverty, and worked to make peace between employers and labor unions.

Chief Joseph

Leader of Nez Perce. Fled with his tribe to Canada instead of reservations. However, US troops came and fought and brought them back down to reservations

Sitting Bull

American Indian chief, he lead the victory of Little Bighorn

Jacob Riis

A Danish immigrant, he became a reporter who pointed out the terrible conditions of the tenement houses of the big cities where immigrants lived during the late 1800s. He wrote How The Other Half Lives in 1890.