Chapter 16 APUSH

Transcontinental Railroad

The railway line completed on May 10, 1869, that connected the Central Pacific and Union Pacific lines, enabling goods to move by railway from the eastern United States all the way to California.

Protective Tariff

A tax or duty on foreign producers of goods coming into or imported into the United States; tariffs gave U.S. manufacturers a competitive advantage in America's gigantic domestic market.

Treaty of Kanagawa

An 1854 treaty that, in the wake of a show of military force by U.S. Commodore Matthew Perry, allowed American ships to refuel at two ports in Japan.

Burlingame Treaty

An 1868 treaty that guaranteed the rights of U.S. missionaries in China and set official terms for the emigration of Chinese laborers to work in the United States.

Munn v. Illinois

An 1877 Supreme Court case that affirmed that states could regulate key businesses, such as railroads and grain elevators, if those businesses were "clothed in the public interest."

Gold Standard

The practice of backing a country's currency with its reserves of gold. In 1873 the United States, following Great Britain and other European nations, began converting to the gold standard.

Crime of 1873

A term used by those critical of an 1873 law directing the U.S. Treasury to cease minting silver dollars, retire Civil War-era greenbacks, and replace them with notes backed by the gold standard from an expanded system of national banks.

Homestead Act

The 1862 act that gave 160 acres of free western land to any applicant who occupied and improved the property. This policy led to the rapid development of the American West after the Civil War; facing arid conditions in the West, however, many homesteaders found themselves unable to live on their land.

Morrill Act

An 1862 act that set aside 140 million federal acres that states could sell to raise money for public universities.

Land-Grant Colleges

Public universities founded to broaden educational opportunities and foster technical and scientific expertise. These universities were funded by the Morrill Act, which authorized the sale of federal lands to raise money for higher education.

Comstock Lode

Immense silver ore deposit discovered in 1859 in Nevada that touched off a mining rush, bringing a diverse population into the region and leading to the establishment of boomtowns.

Long Drive

Facilitated by the completion of the Missouri Pacific Railroad in 1865, a system by which cowboys herded cattle hundreds of miles north from Texas to Dodge City and the other cow towns of Kansas.

"Rain Follows the Plow"

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

Exodusters

African Americans who walked or rode out of the Deep South following the Civil War, many settling on farms in Kansas in hopes of finding peace and prosperity.

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

The November 29, 1864, massacre of more than a hundred peaceful Cheyennes, largely women and children, by John M. Chivington's Colorado militia.

Fetterman Massacre

A massacre in December 1866 in which 1,500 Sioux warriors lured Captain William Fetterman and 80 soldiers from a Wyoming fort and attacked them. With the Fetterman massacre the Sioux succeeded in closing the Bozeman Trail, the main route into Montana.

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

The 1887 law that gave Native Americans severalty (individual ownership of land) by dividing reservations into homesteads. The law was a disaster for native peoples, resulting over several decades in the loss of 66 percent of lands held by Indians at the time of the law's passage.

Battle of Little Big Horn

The 1876 battle begun when American cavalry under George Armstrong Custer attacked an encampment of Sioux, Arapaho, and Cheyenne Indians who resisted removal to a reservation. Custer's force was annihilated, but with whites calling for U.S. soldiers to retaliate, the Native American military victory was short-lived.

Ghost Dance Movement

Religion of the late 1880s and early 1890s that combined elements of Christianity and traditional Native American religion. It fostered Plains Indians' hope that they could, through sacred dances, resurrect the great bison herds and call up a storm to drive whites back across the Atlantic.

Wounded Knee

The 1890 massacre of Sioux Indians by American cavalry at Wounded Knee Creek, South Dakota. Sent to suppress the Ghost Dance, soldiers caught up with fleeing Lakotas and killed as many as 300.

William Seward

Secretary of state from 1861 to 1869 under presidents Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson. Believe that Asia is the key to America's prosperity through trade instead of conquest. Approve Burlingame Treaty with China. Negotiate the purchase of Alaska from Russia.

Emmeline Wells

Mormon leader. Join exodus to Utah in 1848. Seventh wife of church elder Daniel Wells. Began writing for Salt Lake City newspaper, The Woman's Exponent, in 1877.

John Wesley Powell

One-armed Union veteran. Employed by U.S. Geological Survey to lead an expedition in the West through the Colorado River and Grand Canyon. Published "Report on the Lands of the Arid Region of the United States." Proposed government develop West's water resources, build damns and canals, and organize landowners into local districts, but Congress rejected his plan.

Chief Joseph

Leader of the Nez Perce tribe. Tried to flee to Canada, but were forced to surrender just short of the border.

Sitting Bull

Leader of the Powerful Lakota Sioux tribe on the Northern plains who refused to go to a reservation. Repeatedly cross into Canada.

George Armstrong Custer

Lieutenant Colonel who led an expedition into South Dakota's Black Hill and proclaimed the discovery of gold in order to pressure Sioux to sell the Black Hills. Led the 7th Cavalry as an effort to surround the Indians, 210 men to assault on Sitting Bull's camp, but perished by Sioux and allies.

Geronimo

Leader of the Chiricahua Apache tribe during the final holdout in Southwest. Accepted reservation life but found conditions unendurable. Surrendered in 1886.

Ohiyesa (Dr. Charles Eastman)

Santee Sioux boy who practiced medicine with traditional healers, wrote popular books under his Sioux name, left for boarding school. Interpreted native experiences for national audiences.

Buffalo Bill Cody

Understood that U.S. had taken itself through conquest. His famous "Wild West" appeal few employment options for Plains Indians. A successful show that popularized Wild West shows, it consisted of a former Pony Express rider and Indian fighter, and the hero of popular dime novels for children. This show romanticized the West and the life of the cowboy.

Frederick Jackson Turner

Historian best known for his essay "The Significance of the Frontier in American History", which formed the Frontier Thesis. Argued that the moving western frontier shaped American democracy and the American character from the colonial era until 1890. In recent years western history has seen pitched arguments over his Frontier Thesis, with the only point of agreement being his enormous impact on historical scholarship and the American mind.