Gilded Age vocab

Transcontinental Railroad

The railroad that connected the eastern and western coasts of the U.S., completed in 1869.

Pacific Railroad Act

Authorized the construction of a transcontinental railroad and telegraph line provided by gov. bonds and land grants to the Union Pacific and Central Pacific companies.

Central Pacific Railroad

A rail company tasked with building the western portion of the first transcontinental railroad, Sacramento CA to Eastward.

Union Pacific Railroad

One of two companies authorized by the Act of 1862 to build the transcontinental railroad tasked with building east from Omaha, NE.

Promontory Point

The site where the Central Pacific and Union Pacific railroads met in 1869 making the completion of the first transcontinental railroad and symbolic joining of the nation.

Morrill Land Grant Act

Provided federal land grants states to establish colleges formed on agricultural and the mechanical arts.

Sand Creek Massacre

1864, U.S Troops under Colonel John Chivington attacked and destroyed Cheyenne and Apache villages.

George Custer

US Army Commander in the Indian Wars. Was defeated at the battle of little Bighorn in 1876.

Wounded Knee Massacre

1890, 150-300 Lakota people were slaughtered by U.S. Troops at Wounded Knee Creek, marking the end of Indian Resistance and the Ghost Dance.

Ghost Dance

A late 19th century religious movement among Native tribes in the Western U.S. emerging as a response to Western expansion.

Crazy Horse

A leader of Oglala band who fought against the Gov.

Sitting Bull

A prominent leader of the Lakota Sioux tribe who fought against the U.S. gov. during the Sioux Wars.

Bonanza Farms

Large scale commercial agricultural operations that emerged in the late 19th century in the Midwest that produced crops on a massive scale.

Exodusters

Black Americans who moved Northwest in hope for a better life.

Dodge City and Abilene

Key cow towns in Kansas “King Cow”.

Buffalo Bill

William Frederick Cody, a prominent figure in American West known for his wild west shows.

Carlisle School

1879, A boarding school for Native children to convert them into European standards.

Wild West Show

Pulled people to the West.

Cattle drives

The process of herding large cattle herds from ranches in the South and West to railheads in the Midwest enabling the transportation of beef to eastern markets.

Dames Act

1887, U.S. Federal Law that authorized the President to break up tribal lands, allotting mainstream society by promoting farming and private property ownership.

Frederick Jackson Turner

“Frontier Thesis” American frontier shaped national character by democracy, individual and settlement of the American frontier.

Frontier Thesis

Argues that the Westward expansion and settlement of the American frontier.

Sooners

Individuals who illegally entered the Oklahoma district before the designated time for the land run of 1889.

OK Land Rush

A mass migration of settlers into the “Unassigned Lands” of the former western portion of Indian territory.