APUSH: Chapter 16 - Key Terms

Californios

Descendants of Spanish and Mexican conquerors; Spanish speaking inhabitants of California they were culture of Mexico carried to California.

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

Chinatowns

A district of any non-Chinese town, especially a city or seaport, in which the population is predominantly of Chinese origin.

Chinese Exclusion Act

1882 law that prohibited the immigration of Chinese laborers

Chisholm Trail

the major long drive route north from Texas to Abilene, Kansas, where cowboys drove herds of cattle to the railroads to be shipped back East for huge profits

Commercial agriculture

Agriculture undertaken primarily to generate products for sale off the farm.

Concentration policy

The creation of Indian reservations that allowed the government to force tribes into scattered locations, often with land unfitted for agriculture

Coolies

workers from China on US railroads and gold rush

Cowboy

A man or women who herds and tends cattle on a ranch, especially in the western U.S., and who traditionally goes about most of his work on horseback..

Dawes Severalty Act

Bill that promised Indians tracts of land to farm in order to assimilate them into white culture. The bill was resisted, uneffective, and disastrous to Indian tribes

destruction of buffalo

The buffalo centered way of life was threatened with vast herds driven to extinction by reduced grazing lands and hunting for sport and profit

economic importance of buffalo

economic basis for Indians way of life. Flesh was food and skin clothes tepees blankets robes and utensils Buffalo chips dried manure provided fuel bones became knives and arrow tips tendons became string for bows

Frederic Remington

Painter and sculptor, his works portrayed the cowboy as a natural aristocrat, living in a natural world in which all the normal supporting structures of "civilization" were missing.

Frederick Jackson Turner

American historian in the early 20th century best known for his essay *"The Significance of the Frontier in American History"* in which he argued that the spirit and success of the United States was directly tied to the country's westward expansion.

Genizaros

Detribalized Indians working as servants for the Spanish and Mexicans

George A. Custer

United States general who was killed along with all his command by the Sioux at the battle of Little Bighorn (1839-1876)

Geronimo

Apache chieftain who raided the white settlers in the Southwest as resistance to being confined to a reservation (1829-1909)

Ghost Dance Movement

The last effort of Native Americans to resist US domination and drive whites from their ancestral lands, came through as a religious movement.

Homestead Act

Passed in 1862, it gave 160 acres of public land to any settler who would farm the land for five years. The settler would only have to pay a registration fee of $25.

Little Bighorn

(1876) Battle during which the Sioux Tribe defeated the U.S. Army forces led by Colonel George A. Custer.

Long Drive

Refers to the overland transport of cattle by the cowboy over the three month period. Cattle were sold to settlers and Native Americans.

Mark Twain

United States writer and humorist best known for his novels about Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn (1835-1910)

mestizos

A person of mixed Native American and European ancestory

Mining

the excavation of the earth for the purpose of extracting ore or minerals

missions, decline

In 1830's after the new Mexican Government begun reducing the power of the church the mission society largely collapsed in place emerged secular Mexican aristocracy which controlled large estates (former missions) in fertile lands west of Sierra Nevada

mulatto

A person of mixed African and European ancestry

passing of the frontier

created new psychological and economic problems for a nation accustomed to a boundlessly open West

Plains Indians

Included people from many Indian nations including Cheyenne, Arapahos, Piutes, and Sioux. Came into great conflict with settlers because settlers did not respect the Indian land.

Rocky Mountain School

It was a group of Landscape painters in the Rocky Mountains who painted mostly Western landscapes. Thomas Moran, Thomas Hill, Albert Bierstadt, and William Keith are referred to as belonging to the Rocky Mountain School. It made people want to move westward, because it was so beautiful.

Sand Creek Massacre

an attack on a village of sleeping Cheyenne Indians by a regiment of Colorado militiamen on 29 November 1864 that resulted in the death of more than 200 tribal members

Taos Indian rebellion

In 1847, when the Taos Indians were afraid their land would be confiscated, they rebelled killing the new governor and other Anglo-American officials before being subdued by the U.S Army.

Tongs

Secret Chinese societies and violent criminal organizations involved in the opium trade and prostitution

Transcontinental Railroad

Railroad connecting the west and east coasts of the continental US

Turner thesis

The historian Frederick Jackson Turner argued that the frontier was the key factor in the development of American democracy and institutions; he maintained that the frontier served as a "safety valve" during periods of economic crisis.

Western tribes

most widespread Indian tribe, hunted buffalo

Wounded Knee

1890 confrontation between U.S. cavalry and Sioux that marked the end of Indian resistance