CHAPTERS 17-20 UNITED STATES HISTORY

CH17 Q1: Identify the physical features of the Great Plains that impeded Western settlement.

Little rainfall and surface water, few trees, extreme temperatures, strong winds, droughts, and tough prairie sod.

CH17 Q2: Describe the lifestyle of the Great Plains' Native Americans.

Many were nomadic or semi-nomadic buffalo hunters. Horses increased mobility, and buffalo provided food, clothing, shelter, and tools.

CH17 Q3: Name the major U.S. government Native American policies from 1830-1890.

Removal west, reservations, smaller reservations, and assimilation. The Dawes Act divided tribal lands into individual allotments.

CH17 Q4: Identify the most significant blow to Native American tribal life.

The destruction of the buffalo herds, which damaged Plains tribes' food supply, economy, and way of life.

CH17 Q5: Describe U.S. government land distribution policy from 1862-1890.

Land was given or sold to settlers, states, and especially railroads. The Homestead Act offered 160 acres to settlers who lived on and improved the land.

CH17 Q6: Identify the largest landowning group in the West.

Railroad companies.

CH17 Q7: Discuss Spanish influences in Southwestern life and institutions.

Ranching, cattle culture, irrigation, mining, Catholicism, Spanish language and place names, and community-property and water-law traditions.

CH17 Q8: List the major mining strikes in the American West from 1848-1876.

California Gold Rush, Pike's Peak, Comstock Lode, Big Bonanza, and Black Hills gold rush.

CH17 Q9: Describe the typical 19th-century mining camp.

Usually isolated, mostly male, ethnically diverse, and loosely governed. Miners created local rules to settle claims and disputes.

CH17 Q10: Discuss the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882.

It suspended immigration of Chinese laborers for 10 years and barred Chinese immigrants from naturalization.

CH17 Q11: Describe the steps in the development of the cattle industry.

Texas longhorns were driven to rail towns, shipped east, and ranching spread on the open range. Barbed wire, overgrazing, and harsh winters helped end open-range ranching.

CH17 Q12: Identify major social and legal aspects of cowboy society.

Cowboys worked long hours for low pay. Many were Black or Mexican American. Cattle drives had strict rules and ranchers formed associations.

CH17 Q13: Describe physical and nature-related problems facing Western farmers.

Drought, little rainfall, scarce water, few trees, extreme heat and cold, prairie fires, grasshoppers, and crop pests.

CH17 Q14: Who were the Exodusters?

African Americans who left the South after Reconstruction, especially for Kansas, seeking land, opportunity, and greater freedom.

CH17 Q15: Explain new farming methods developed in the American West.

Dry farming, irrigation, and machinery such as steel plows, grain drills, binders, harvesters, and threshers.

CH17 Q16: Name the problems causing Western farmer discontent.

Falling crop prices, drought, debt, high interest and mortgages, expensive machinery, railroad freight rates, and grain-storage charges.

CH17 TERM: Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882

Federal law that suspended Chinese labor immigration for 10 years and barred Chinese immigrants from naturalization.

CH17 TERM: Comstock Lode

Huge silver-and-gold deposit discovered in Nevada in 1859 that encouraged western mining.

CH17 TERM: Dawes Severalty Act

1887 law dividing tribal lands into individual allotments to promote assimilation. It caused major Native land loss.

CH17 TERM: Exodusters

African Americans who migrated from the South to Kansas and other western areas after Reconstruction.

CH17 TERM: Ghost Dancers

Followers of a Native religious movement that promised cultural renewal and restoration of Native life.

CH17 TERM: Gold Rush of 1849

Mass migration to California after gold was discovered in 1848. Migrants were called Forty-Niners.

CH17 TERM: Homestead Act of 1862

Law offering qualified settlers up to 160 acres if they lived on and improved the land for five years.

CH17 TERM: National Grange of the Husbandry

Farmers' organization founded in 1867 that promoted cooperation and supported regulation of railroad and storage rates.

CH17 TERM: Newlands Reclamation Act

Federal law that used public-land-sale revenue to finance irrigation projects in the arid West.

CH17 TERM: Overland Trail

Major overland route used by settlers, stagecoaches, and travelers moving west across the Plains and Rockies.

CH17 TERM: Placer mining

Mining method that separates gold from sand or gravel in streams using pans, sluices, or similar tools.

CH17 TERM: Turner's Thesis

Frederick Jackson Turner's 1893 argument that the frontier strongly shaped American democracy and individualism.

CH17 TERM: Wounded Knee Massacre

1890 killing of hundreds of Lakota men, women, and children by U.S. troops at Wounded Knee, South Dakota.

CH18 Q1: Explain the factors that caused rapid industrial growth in the 19th-century U.S.

Natural resources, labor, capital, technology, a large market, government support, and expanding transportation and communications.

CH18 Q2: List the elements in the transportation and communications revolutions.

Railroads, steamships, telegraph, and telephone.

CH18 Q3: Explain the advantages of railroads in promoting economic growth.

They made transportation faster, cheaper, dependable, and year-round while linking regional markets into a national market.

CH18 Q4: Describe how post-Civil War railroads were constructed and their political/economic impact.

Private investors plus federal and state loans and land grants financed them. They opened the West, linked markets, boosted industry, and also caused corruption and speculation.

CH18 Q5: Name the major Northeast trunk lines.

Baltimore & Ohio, Erie, New York Central, and Pennsylvania Railroad.

CH18 Q6: Explain how the first Pacific railroad was constructed and financed.

Union Pacific built west and Central Pacific built east with federal loans and land grants. They met at Promontory Summit, Utah, in 1869.

CH18 Q7: Describe the economic results of railroad growth in the U.S.

Railroads created a national market and stimulated industry, but overbuilding, rate wars, debt, and failures caused instability and consolidation.

CH18 Q8: Explain why the steel industry grew in the 1870s and 1880s.

The Bessemer process made steel cheaper, while railroads, bridges, machinery, and buildings created huge demand.

CH18 Q9: Evaluate why Andrew Carnegie triumphed in steel to 1901.

He used new technology, reinvested profits, hired skilled managers, cut costs, and used vertical integration.

CH18 Q10: Describe why John D. Rockefeller triumphed in the oil industry.

Standard Oil cut costs, bought competitors, secured favorable railroad rates, and used horizontal integration and the trust system.

CH18 Q11: List the 2 most important innovations of the late 19th century.

Electricity, especially electric light and power, and the telephone.

CH18 Q12: Describe changes in selling and merchandising products in the late 19th century.

Department stores, chain stores, mail-order catalogs, advertising, brand names, and fixed prices expanded mass consumer culture.

CH18 Q13: Discuss working conditions of the late 19th-century wage earner.

Long hours, six-day weeks, low wages, unsafe workplaces, frequent accidents, unemployment, little security, and child labor.

CH18 Q14: Describe workplace conditions for 19th-century women.

Women earned less than men and often worked in textiles, garments, domestic service, teaching, and clerical jobs with limited advancement.

CH18 Q15: List the major components of the 19th-century labor movement.

National Labor Union, Knights of Labor, and AFL. Workers used unions and strikes for higher wages, shorter hours, and safer conditions.

CH18 TERM: American Federation of Labor (AFL)

Labor federation founded in 1886 and led by Samuel Gompers. It focused on skilled workers, wages, hours, and working conditions.

CH18 TERM: Chinese Exclusion Act

1882 federal law suspending Chinese labor immigration and barring Chinese naturalization.

CH18 TERM: Homestead Strike

1892 steel strike at Carnegie's Homestead plant. Workers fought Pinkertons, and the union was defeated after militia intervention.

CH18 TERM: Knights of Labor

Large labor organization open to many skilled and unskilled workers. It supported reforms such as the eight-hour workday.

CH18 TERM: Trunk lines

Large railroad systems connecting major cities and regions over long distances.

CH18 TERM: Trust

Arrangement placing several companies under one group of trustees, reducing competition and centralizing control.

CH19 Q1: List the major changes in American lifestyles from 1877-1890.

Rapid urbanization, industrial wage work, immigration, mass consumption, improved transit, and new leisure and entertainment.

CH19 Q2: Identify developments in city architecture and housing patterns in the late 19th century.

Steel frames and elevators produced skyscrapers. Transit encouraged suburbs while many workers lived in crowded tenements and ethnic neighborhoods.

CH19 Q3: Describe the social characteristics of immigrants from 1877-1890.

Many came from northern and western Europe. Many were young workers who settled in industrial cities and ethnic neighborhoods.

CH19 Q4: Describe the social characteristics of immigrants from 1890-1910.

More came from southern and eastern Europe. Many were poor or unskilled and often Catholic, Orthodox Christian, or Jewish.

CH19 Q5: Explain how urban political machines worked from 1850-1900.

Bosses and ward leaders provided jobs, food, legal aid, and other help in exchange for votes and loyalty. Patronage and corruption were common.

CH19 Q6: Identify the major reform movements from 1877-1890.

Civil-service reform, temperance and the WCTU, women's suffrage, Social Gospel, settlement houses, and urban health and sanitation reform.

CH19 Q7: Name the main types of popular entertainment from 1877-1890.

Theater and vaudeville, circuses, fairs, music, baseball, football, horse racing, bicycling, tennis, and parlor or card games.

CH19 Q8: Explain how the average middle-class family changed from 1877-1890.

Families became smaller, home and workplace separated, children stayed in school longer, and adolescence and suburban living expanded.

CH19 Q9: Identify main American educational trends from 1877-1890.

Public schools expanded, literacy rose, compulsory-attendance laws spread, and high schools and kindergartens increased.

CH19 Q10: Name the court case establishing the "separate but equal" doctrine.

Plessy v. Ferguson (1896).

CH19 Q11: Describe factors fostering growth in higher education to 1900.

Land-grant colleges, philanthropy, industrial wealth, research universities, coeducation, and demand for scientific and technical training.

CH19 Q12: Describe the place of Blacks in higher education from 1860-1900.

HBCUs such as Howard, Fisk, Hampton, Atlanta University, and Tuskegee expanded because segregation limited access to white institutions.

CH19 Q13: Describe the goal of Booker T. Washington's "Atlanta Compromise."

Emphasize vocational training, economic self-reliance, skilled work, and property ownership rather than immediate challenges to segregation.

CH19 Q14: Describe W.E.B. Du Bois's philosophies on African American rights and education.

He demanded immediate civil and political equality and supported liberal higher education and leadership by the "Talented Tenth."

CH19 Q15: Discuss Supreme Court cases affecting Black civil rights, 1875-1900.

The Civil Rights Cases of 1883 weakened federal protections, Plessy in 1896 upheld segregation, and Williams v. Mississippi in 1898 allowed discriminatory voting rules to stand.

CH19 Q16: Explain how Henry George proposed to close the gap between rich and poor.

In Progress and Poverty, he proposed a "single tax" on land values to reduce inequality.

CH19 Q17: Describe the background and goals of the Settlement House program.

Middle-class reformers lived and worked in poor neighborhoods and offered education, childcare, health, recreation, and job help. Hull House was the best-known example.

CH19 TERM: Civil Rights Cases

1883 Supreme Court decisions striking down key parts of the Civil Rights Act of 1875 and limiting federal power over private discrimination.

CH19 TERM: Mugwumps

Reform-minded Republicans who broke with their party in 1884 and supported Democrat Grover Cleveland.

CH19 TERM: National American Woman Suffrage Association

Organization formed in 1890 to campaign for women's voting rights.

CH19 TERM: New immigrant

Immigrant arriving mainly from southern and eastern Europe in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

CH19 TERM: Plessy v. Ferguson

1896 Supreme Court case that upheld racial segregation under the "separate but equal" doctrine.

CH19 TERM: Settlement houses

Community centers in poor urban neighborhoods offering education and social services to immigrants and workers.

CH19 TERM: Social Darwinism

Application of "survival of the fittest" ideas to society and the economy, often used to justify inequality and limited government aid.

CH19 TERM: Social Gospel

Religious reform movement arguing that Christian principles should address poverty, inequality, and other social problems.

CH19 TERM: Women's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU)

Women's reform organization founded in 1874 that campaigned against alcohol and later supported wider social reforms.

CH20 Q1: Identify the issues supported by the Gilded Age Democratic Party.

Generally lower tariffs, limited federal government, states' rights, and civil-service reform. Democrats were divided on currency questions.

CH20 Q2: Identify the issues supported by the Gilded Age Republican Party.

Generally protective tariffs, Union veterans' pensions, business and industry, and a stronger federal role. Many Republicans also backed the gold standard.

CH20 Q3: Name the court case giving states the right to regulate railroads.

Munn v. Illinois (1877), which upheld state regulation of businesses affected with a public interest.

CH20 Q4: List the laws passed by the Republican-controlled Congress in 1890.

McKinley Tariff, Sherman Antitrust Act, Sherman Silver Purchase Act, and the Dependent and Disability Pension Act.

CH20 Q5: Describe the Populists' major complaints.

Low farm prices, debt, high railroad rates, tight money and deflation, monopolies, and a political system they believed favored wealthy interests.

CH20 Q6: Discuss the Ocala Platform/Demands of the Populists.

Called for free silver, the subtreasury plan, tighter control or public ownership of transportation and communication, and reforms to help farmers.

CH20 Q7: Describe the role of the Populists in the 1892 election.

They ran James B. Weaver for president, won more than one million popular votes and 22 electoral votes, and showed strong support in the West.

CH20 Q8: Explain the difficulties of the second Cleveland administration.

The Panic of 1893, unemployment, the gold-reserve crisis, the Pullman Strike, tariff disputes, and Democratic divisions over silver.

CH20 Q9: Evaluate Grover Cleveland's response to the Depression of 1893.

He defended the gold standard, repealed the Sherman Silver Purchase Act, opposed broad federal relief, and used federal power during the Pullman Strike.

CH20 Q10: Describe how and why women and children entered the labor force after the Depression of 1893.

Families needed extra income. Employers also used women and children as lower-paid workers in factories, offices, domestic service, and other jobs.

CH20 Q11: Describe developments in American literature of the 1870s.

Realism and local-color writing grew. Authors such as Mark Twain and William Dean Howells focused on ordinary life and regional experience.

CH20 Q12: Describe the campaign strategies of the candidates in 1896.

McKinley used a well-funded front-porch campaign. Bryan traveled widely giving speeches and centered his campaign on free silver.

CH20 Q13: Evaluate the economy and domestic legislation of the first McKinley administration.

The economy recovered. Congress passed the Dingley Tariff in 1897 and Gold Standard Act in 1900, strengthening protective tariffs and gold-backed currency.

CH20 Q14: Describe the results of the election of 1900.

William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt defeated William Jennings Bryan and Adlai Stevenson. McKinley won 292 electoral votes to Bryan's 155.

CH20 TERM: Bland-Allison Silver Purchase Act

1878 law requiring the Treasury to buy $2-$4 million of silver each month and coin it into silver dollars.

CH20 TERM: Gold Standard Act

1900 law formally defining the U.S. dollar in terms of gold and placing the nation on a gold standard.

CH20 TERM: National Farmers' Alliance and Industrial Union

Major farmers' organization that promoted cooperatives and political reforms and helped inspire the Populist movement.

CH20 TERM: Ocala Demands

1890 Farmers' Alliance reform program supporting free silver, a subtreasury plan, and stronger government action on transportation and finance.

CH20 TERM: Pendleton Act

1883 law creating a merit-based federal civil-service system and competitive exams for some government jobs.

CH20 TERM: People's (or Populist) Party

Third party formed from farmers' movements in the early 1890s. It supported free silver, railroad reform, income tax, and other economic reforms.

CH20 TERM: Pullman Strike

1894 railroad strike involving Eugene V. Debs and the American Railway Union. Federal troops and court action helped break the strike.

CH20 TERM: Sherman Antitrust Act

1890 federal law outlawing combinations and monopolistic practices that restrained interstate trade.

CH20 TERM: Sherman Silver Purchase Act

1890 law requiring the federal government to buy 4.5 million ounces of silver each month and issue Treasury notes.