Westward Expansion and Native American History

Vocabulary flashcards covering key terms, acts, figures, and historical events of U.S. Westward Expansion and Native American relations.

Manifest Destiny

The 19th-century belief that the United States had a divine mission and clear right to expand across the continent from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean.

Comstock Lode

A major bonanza discovery of silver and gold in Nevada that attracted thousands of miners to the West.

Boom Town and Ghost Town Cycle

The economic cycle where a gold or silver strike led to rapid town creation (Boom Town), followed by complete abandonment when mineral production decreased (Ghost Town).

Exodusters

African Americans who migrated from the South to western states like Kansas between the 1840s and late 1890s to escape Jim Crow laws and racial oppression, named after the biblical book of Exodus.

Homestead Act of 1862

A federal law offering 160 acres of public land to any citizen aged 21 or older for a $10 fee, provided they lived on the land for 6 months a year and farmed/improved it for 5 years.

Dry-farming

A farming technique adapted for the Great Plains that involved growing crops that required minimal rainfall during hot, dry summers.

Populist Party

A political party formed to assist struggling farmers by advocating for reduced railroad shipping rates, government assistance with grain prices, and the free coining of silver.

Barbed Wire

Fencing material with sharp points used by Plains farmers to enclose land and protect crops from cattle, which ultimately led to the collapse of the open-range Cattle Kingdom.

Transcontinental Railroad

A continuous rail line completed in 1869 when the Union Pacific and Central Pacific lines met in Utah, connecting the eastern United States to the Pacific coast.

Morrill Land Grant Act of 1862

Federal legislation that granted millions of acres of western land to state governments, which sold the land to speculators at $0.50 per acre to fund state colleges.

Land Speculators

Individuals who bought large tracts of western land cheap in the expectation of selling it later at much higher prices for profit.

Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA)

A government agency established by the United States federal government to manage policy and official relations with Native American tribes.

Treaty of Medicine Lodge (1867)

An agreement in which the federal government promised to protect Native hunting grounds and supply food rations in exchange for relocation; government failure to uphold it triggered the Red River War.

Red River War

A conflict on the Southern Plains involving Kiowas, Comanches, settlers, and buffalo hunters that marked the final act of Native American armed resistance in that region.

Treaty of Fort Laramie (1868)

An 1868 treaty restricting the federal government from taking additional Northern Plains Indian land for railroads and settlement in exchange for tribes agreeing to settle on reservations.

Sand Creek Massacre (1864)

An attack in Colorado where U.S. forces killed approximately 450 Cheyenne men, women, and children, forcing the Cheyenne to surrender land claims a year later.

Battle of Little Bighorn (1876)

An 1876 battle in Montana where Sioux forces led by Sitting Bull defeated Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer, killing Custer and more than 200 of his soldiers.

Dawes General Allotment Act (1887)

An act intended to assimilate Native Americans by breaking up reservations into 160-acre individual family homesteads and offering U.S. citizenship to those who surrendered tribal status.

Carlisle Indian School

An Indian boarding school established in Pennsylvania designed to forcibly assimilate Native children into white American culture.

Captain Richard Hopkins Pratt

The founder of the Carlisle Indian School who coined the assimilationist motto, 'Kill the Indian and save the man.'

Ghost Dance Religion

A messianic religious movement led by the prophet Wovoka, in which Plains Native Americans danced and prayed for a future free of white settlers and restored to their ancestors.

Massacre at Wounded Knee (1890)

An 1890 event in South Dakota where U.S. cavalry soldiers opened fire during a disarming process, killing over 200 unarmed Lakota Sioux men, women, and children.

Meriam Report (1928)

A federal report declaring the Dawes Act allotment policy a dismal failure that led to severe Indian poverty, massive land losses, and administrative bureaucracy.

Indian Reorganization Act of 1934

Legislation promoted by BIA Commissioner John Collier that reversed Dawes Act allotment policies, restored tribal lands, and permitted tribes to form self-governments and business councils.

Termination Policy (Public Law 280)

A 1953 federal policy attempting to end the government trust relationship with tribes and transfer jurisdiction to states, depriving tribes like the Menominee of political recognition and causing economic collapse.

Self-Determination Policy

An official federal Indian policy initiated by President Richard Nixon in 1970 that granted tribes direct management over their social programs, education, law enforcement, and local government.

American Indian Movement (AIM)

A Native American civil rights organization founded in Minneapolis in 1968 to combat police brutality, poverty, and federal treaty violations while fighting for tribal sovereignty.

Trail of Broken Treaties (1972)

A 1972 nationwide multi-tribal caravan to Washington, D.C., organized by AIM to demand treaty enforcement, which resulted in the week-long occupation of the BIA building.

The Twenty Points

A manifesto presented during the Trail of Broken Treaties demanding the restoration of treaty-making, return of 110 million acres of land, and abolishment of the BIA.

Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988

A federal law establishing the legal framework for Native American tribes to operate casinos on reservations to raise revenue for healthcare, education, and economic development.