Unit 2 American History Vocab

Bonanza Farms

large farms that came to dominate agricultural life in much of the West, operated similar to factories

Homestead Act

Provided free land in the West to anyone willing to settle there and develop it. Encouraged westward migration.

Dawes Act

Law that distributed reservation land to individual Native American owners

Exodusters

African Americans who migrated from the South to the West after the Civil War

Technology that led to the agricultural boom of 1880s

reaper, thresher machines, barbed wire, steel plow

Indian Boarding Schools

Native Americans were forced to attend to learn new customs, religions and language of the settlers

Great Plains

vast grassland between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains

Red Cloud’s War

Sioux leaders' struggle to keep U. S. miners off the Bozeman Trail ended with a win for the Sioux and the signing of the Treaty of Fort Laramie

Sand Creek Massacre

An attack on a group of Cheyenne by a regiment of Colorado militiamen that resulted in the death of more than 200 tribal members

Boomtown

a community experiencing a sudden growth in business or population, especially in the West

Open Range

A vast area of grassland owned by the government where ranchers could graze their herds for free

General Custer

United States general who was killed along with all his command by the Sioux at the Battle of Little Bighorn

Dry Farming

a way of farming dry land in which seeds are planted deep in ground where there is some moisture

Sodbusters

The name given to Great Plains farmers because they had to break through so much thick soil, called sod, in order to farm

Wounded Knee

After killing Sitting Bull, the 7th Cavalry rounded up Sioux at this place in South Dakota and 300 Natives were murdered.

Soddy

A frontier home usually dug into a hill or made from sod

Transcontinental Railroad

Connected the East and West Coast with the Central Pacific and Union Pacific lines

Chisholm Trail

A former cattle trail from San Antonio in Texas to Abilene in Kansas

Battle of Little Bighorn

Battle after the Treaty of Fort Laramie is broken by the US Government.  The Sioux fought General Custer and won

The grange

• Educational help for isolated families

• Fought railroads

• Made cooperatives to help with debt

Farmer’s Alliance

A Farmers' organization worked for lower railroad freight rates, lower interest rates, and a change in the government's tight money policy

• helped educate people ad speaking to farmers from town to town

• Taught how to deal with banks

• Helped teach how to stay out of debt

  
  

Populist Party

Represented mainly farmers, favoring free coinage of silver and government control of railroads and other monopolies

• Had William Jennings Bryan run for president (never won)

• Wanted direct election of senators, regulation of railroads, 8 hour work days, graduated income tax, and currency reform to help farmers

• Political Party

• The “People Party”