The Opening of the West and the Crisis of Rural America Flashcards

Vocabulary flashcards covering the key terms, laws, legal cases, and political movements related to western expansion, Native American relocation, and rural economic challenges.

Homestead Act of 1862

Federal legislation that promised settlers 160 acres of land for $1.65 an acre after improving it for six months, or for free if they farmed it for five years.

Oklahoma Land Run

America's first major land run on April 12, 1889, when fifty thousand settlers gathered along the border to claim two million acres of former 'Indian Territory' opened by the federal government.

Missouri Compromise

An 1820 agreement Henry Clay helped craft that admitted Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state, establishing that future states north of latitude $36^\text{o} 30'$ would be free states and those south would be slave states.

First Transcontinental Railroad

The railroad line completed in May 1869 at Promontory, Utah, where Central Pacific and Union Pacific tracks met, replacing a six-month sea voyage with a train ride under a week.

Trail of Tears

The forced westward relocation of Southern Indian tribes starting in 1830, during which nearly one-quarter of the Cherokee tribe perished.

Indian Wars

A 25-year series of skirmishes from 1864 to 1890 between land-hungry miners, ranchers, farmers, and federal troops against Native Americans on the Great Plains.

Buffalo Soldiers

African-American federal troops stationed at forts across the West to protect settlers and engage in combat during the Indian Wars.

Treaty of Fort Laramie (1851)

A treaty in which the federal government guaranteed a vast expanse of territory on the Great Plains to the Cheyenne and Sioux tribes.

Chief Joseph

The leader of the Nez Perce tribe who led 200 warriors and their families on a 1,200-mile retreat toward Canada in 1877 before surrendering just miles from the Canadian border.

Reservation System

A policy that confined Indian tribes to specific government-reserved lands via treaty, making them dependent on federal supplies of food, seed, and blankets.

Dawes Act

An 1887 law allowing Indian families to claim private property from reservation land to 'Americanize' them, which failed due to lack of respect for traditions and caused massive land sell-offs.

American Frontier

The line separating areas of settlement from less densely populated areas, which by the end of the Civil War was located at the Great Plains, Rocky Mountains, and Southwestern deserts.

Sherman Silver Purchase Act

A law passed by Congress requiring the federal government to purchase silver to help raise sagging crop prices for farmers.

The Grange

A national association of farmers' social clubs organized to share agricultural ideas, combat railroad abuses, and advocate for economic reforms.

Granger Laws

State legislation passed by Granger-backed lawmakers to regulate rates charged by grain elevators and railroads.

Munn v. Illinois (1877)

A Supreme Court decision upholding the state's authority to regulate private commercial properties, such as grain elevators, for the public interest.

Wabash v. Illinois (1886)

A Supreme Court decision overruling a state law regulating railroad rates on the grounds that only Congress has the power to regulate interstate commerce.

Interstate Commerce Act

An 1887 law—the first federal legislation to regulate private business practices—that banned unfair freight charges by railroads.

Farmers' Alliances

Organized groups formed by discontented farmers in the late 1870s to fight economic abuses and enter the political arena.

Populist Party Platform of 1892

A political platform advocating direct election of U.S. Senators, secret ballot, progressive income tax, initiative and referendum, eight-hour workday, and immigration restrictions.

William Jennings Bryan

The 1896 Democratic and Populist candidate for President who gave the 'Cross of Gold' speech championing bimetallism.

Bimetallism

The proposed economic policy of backing national currency with silver as well as gold to increase money supply and raise agricultural prices.