Chapter 16 Vocab

transcontinental railroad

The railway line completed on May 10, 1896 that connected to central Pacific and Union Pacific lines enabling goods to move by railway From the eastern United States all the way to California

protective tariff

a tax/duty on foreign producers of products coming into or imported into the United States; tariffs give US manufacturers a competitive advantage in America’s gigantic domestic market

treaty of Kanagawa

an 1854 treaty that, in the wake of a show of military forest by the US Commodore Matthew Perry, allowed American ship fuel at two ports in Japan

Burlingame Treaty

An 1868 treaty that guaranteed the rights of US missionaries in China and official terms of emigration of Chinese laborers to work in the US

Munn V. Illinois

In 1877 Supreme Court case affirmed that states could regulate key businesses, such as railroads and grain elevators, if those businesses were “clothed in the public interest”

Gold standard

The practice of backing a country‘s currency with its reserves of gold. In 1873, the US, following Great Britain and other European nations, began converting to the gold standard

crime of 1873

The term used by those critical of an 1873 law directing the US treasury to cease minting silver dollars, retired Civil War-era greenbacks, and replace them with notes backed by the gold standard from an expanded system of national banks

homestead act

The 1862 act that gave 160 acres a free western land to any applicant who occupied and improved the property. This policy led to the rapid development of the American West, after the Civil War; facing arid conditions in the west, however, many homesteaders found themselves unable to live on their own land

morrill act

An 1862 act that set aside 140 million federal acres that states could sell to raise money for public universities

land-grant colleges

public universities funded to broaden educational opportunities and foster, technical and scientific and expertise. These universities were funded by the Morrill Act which authorize the sale of federal lands to raise money for higher education.

Comstock lode

immense silver deposit discovered in 1859 in Nevada that touched off a mining rush, bringing diverse population to the region and leading the establishment of boomtowns

Long drive

Facilitated by the completion of the Missouri Pacific Railroad in 1865 the system by which Cowboys herded cattle hundreds of miles north from Texas to Dodge City and other cow towns of Kansas

“rain follows the plow”

An unfounded theory that settlement of the Great Plains caused an increase in rainfall

Exodusters

African-Americans, who walked the road out of the deep south following the Civil War, many settling on farms in Kansas hoping to find peace and prosperity

Yellowstone National Park

Established in 1872 by Congress Yellowstone was the first national park of the US

US fisheries commission

A federal Bureau established in 1871 that made recommendations to the decline in wild fish. It’s creation was an important step towards wildlife conservation and management.

Sand Creek massacre

The November 29, 1864 massacre of over more than 100 peaceful Cheyennes, largely women and children, by John M. Chivington’s Colorado militia

fetterman massacre

A mass massacre in December 1866 in which 1500 Sioux warriors lured captain, William Fetterman, and 80 soldiers from a Wyoming fort and attacked them. With this massacre, the Sioux succeeded in closing the Bozeman Trail, the main route to Montana

lone Wolf v Hitchcock

A 1903 Supreme Court ruling that Congress could make whatever Indian policies chose, ignoring all existing treaties

Dawes severalty act

The 1887 law that gave Native Americans severalty (individual ownership of land) by dividing reservations into homesteads. The law was a disaster for native peoples, resulting over several decades in the loss of 66% of land held by Indians at the time of the laws passage

Battle of Little Bighorn

The 1876 battle began when American cavalry under George Armstrong Custer attacked an encampment of Sioux, Arapaho, and Cheyenne Indians who resisted removal to a reservation. Custer’s force was annihilated, but with white calling for US soldiers to retaliate, the Native American victory was short-lived.

Ghost dance movement

Religion of the late 1880s and early 1890s that combined elements of Christianity and traditional Native American religion if fostered plains Indians hope that they could, through sacred dances, resurrect the great bison herds and call up a storm to drive back across the Atlantic

wounded knee

The 1890 massacre of Indians by American cavalry at Wounded Knee Creek, South Dakota. Sent to suppress the ghost dance, soldiers caught up with fleeting Lakotas and killed as many as 300

William Seward

Was appointed Secretary of State by Abraham Lincoln in March 1861 until March 1869. He carefully managed international affairs during the civil war and also negotiated the 1867 purchase of Alaska

Emmeline Wells

Served as the fifth general president of the relief society. She was a wife, mother, a prolific writer, and proponent of women’s rights, especially during the women suffrage movement in the US.

John Wesley Powell

An American Explorer, geologist, and ethnologist best known for his exploration of the upper portion of the Colorado river and Grand Canyon

chief Joseph

A Nez Perce leader who led his tribe called the Wallowa band of Nez Perce through a treacherous time in the US and was a powerful advocate for people’s rights to remain on their homeland

Sitting Bull

The political and spiritual leader of the Sioux warriors who destroyed general, George Armstrong Custers forced and the famous battle of Little Bighorn

George Armstrong Custer

A union cavalry officer in the American Civil War in US commander in war against Native Americans over control of the Great Plains

Geronimo

A fearless Native American leader, who was able to guide his tribe while evading capture by the US Army

Ohiyesa (Dr. Charles Eastman)

An American physician, social reformer, and first well-known, widely read Native American author who is a Santee Sioux

Buffalo Bill Cody

Protected union Pacific Railroad laborers from Indians while they worked west and provided them with fresh buffalo meat

Frederick Jackson Turner

An American historian during the early 20th century known primarily for his frontier thesis