US History - Unit 3 - Native Americans

Louisiana Purchase

The 1803 land deal in which President Thomas Jefferson bought a huge territory from France, doubling the size of the United States and giving control of the Mississippi River.

Gold Rush

The mass migration to California in 1849 after gold was discovered at Sutter's Mill. Thousands moved west hoping to get rich, leading to rapid population growth and statehood for California.

Indian Removal Act

A law passed in 1830 under President Andrew Jackson that forced Native American tribes living east of the Mississippi River to move west to Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma).

Trail of Tears

The forced march of about 16,000 Cherokee from Georgia to Indian Territory in 1838-1839. Thousands died from disease, exposure, and starvation along the journey.

Custer's Last Stand (Battle of Little Bighorn)

The 1876 battle in which Lakota Sioux and Cheyenne warriors defeated U.S. troops led by General George Custer in Montana. It was a short-lived victory for Native Americans as the U.S. Army soon retaliated.

Battle of Wounded Knee

The 1890 massacre in South Dakota where U.S. soldiers killed more than 250 Lakota men, women, and children. It marked the end of major Native American resistance on the Plains.

Carlisle School

A boarding school in Pennsylvania founded in 1879 to assimilate Native American children into white culture by forcing them to abandon their language, traditions, and clothing.

Destruction of the Buffalo

The mass killing of buffalo herds in the late 1800s by settlers, railroads, and the U.S. Army, which devastated Native American life on the Plains and destroyed a key food source.