Westward Expansion & Native American Policies (19th–early 20th c.)

Vocabulary flashcards covering key terms related to U.S. westward expansion, economic migration, and Native American policies discussed in the lecture notes.

Manifest Destiny

The 19th-century belief that the United States was destined to expand across the continent from the Atlantic to the Pacific Oceans.

Transcontinental Railroad (1869)

Rail line linking the eastern and western United States; drastically reduced travel and communication times, created a national market, and generated thousands of jobs.

Push Factors

Negative conditions (e.g., famine, war, unemployment, overcrowding) that drive people to leave their homeland.

Pull Factors

Positive attractions (e.g., jobs, land, gold, freedoms) that draw migrants to a new location.

Economic Opportunities in the West

Chances to earn a living through mining, farming, ranching, and supporting labor in new western settlements.

California Gold Rush (1849)

Mass migration to California after gold was discovered, spurring rapid population growth and economic activity.

Klondike Gold Rush (1896)

Gold discovery in Alaska and the Yukon that triggered a wave of prospectors to the far north.

Homestead Act (1862)

Law granting 160 acres of public land for $10 to citizens who: were 21 or heads of household, built a dwelling, farmed the land, and lived on it at least 6 months per year for 5 years.

Indian Wars

Series of armed conflicts between U.S. forces and Native American tribes on the frontier, ending with most tribes confined to reservations.

Reservations

Designated areas, chiefly in Oklahoma and the West, where Native Americans were relocated; often infertile land with poor living conditions and widespread poverty.

Dawes Act (1887)

Federal policy aimed at assimilating Native Americans by dividing communal lands into individual farm plots; undermined tribal culture and assigned infertile land to many families.

American Indian Citizenship Act (1924)

Legislation that conferred full U.S. citizenship on all Native Americans born within the United States.