Section 2: the West & industrialization (1870s-1890s)

Hist 221 Midterm

Sand Creek Massacre

US Army, Indians, 1864, Colorado, US massacred indians under a peace flag; exposed brutal treatment of them

Great Sioux War

Army, Sioux, Sitting Bull & Crazy Horse, 1876-77, Dakotas and montana, Conflict over gold in the Black Hills; culminated at Little Bighorn and symbolized Native resistance.

Dawes Severalty/Allotment Act

Congress and Indians, 1887, Western tribal lands, Divided tribal lands into individual plots to force assimilation; led to massive native land loss

Wounded Knee / Wovoka / Ghost Dance

Sioux, Army, prophet Wovoka, 1890, South Dakota, US troops massacred Sioux during Ghost Dance movement; marked the end of armed Native resistance.

Homestead Act

Congress, settlers, 1862, Great Plains and West, Gave 160acres to settlers; encouraged westward expansion and agricultural development

Uriah and Maddie Oblinger

Homesteaders, 1870s, Nebraska, Letters document real frontier life and hardships; valuable primary sources on westward settlement.

Thomas Edison

Inventor, 1870-80s, New Jersey, Pioneered electric light and phonograph; symbolized American innovation and industrial progress

Direct vs. Alternating Current / George Westinghouse

Edison (DC) vs. Westinghouse & Tesla (AC), 1880s–1890, us cities, “War of Currents” determined how America would be electrified; AC’s victory shaped modern infrastructure.

John D. Rockefeller / Standard Oil Co.

1870, Ohio, Oil monopoly; key example of Gilded Age capitalism and push for antitrust reform.

JP Morgan

Financier, banker, 1890s, NY, steel monopoly; symbol of finance capitalism and corporate power.