Key Topics in 19th Century American History: Cattle Drives, Native Policies, and Civil Rights

Cattle drives

D: Longhorn herds were driven north from Texas along trails like the Chisholm to Kansas railheads for shipment to eastern markets S: Fueled the open-range cattle boom and cowboy culture declined in the 1880s due to barbed wire overgrazing severe weather and rail expansion

Grange Movement

D: An agrarian organization National Grange of the Patrons of Husbandry 1867 that taught farmers and promoted cooperation S: Pressed for state regulation of railroads and grain elevators Granger laws encouraged cooperatives and influenced later Populist reforms

Cooperatives

D: Farmer-run businesses for collective buying selling and storage created through the Grange S: Reduced dependence on middlemen and railroads lowered costs for farmers and acted as a populist response to corporate power

Munn v. Illinois

D: 1877 Supreme Court case allowing states under police power to regulate businesses affecting public welfare S: Temporarily upheld Granger laws and affirmed state regulatory authority though later rulings limited that power

Frederick Jackson Turner

D: Historian who presented The Significance of the Frontier in American History 1893 S: Argued the frontier shaped American democracy and individualism influencing generations of historians views of U.S. development

Frontier Thesis

D: Idea that the moving frontier produced American democracy equality and rugged individualism separate from urban corruption S: Shaped national self-image but downplayed contributions of women and nonwhite groups and oversimplified environmental realities

Ghost Dance

D: A spiritual dance movement among Plains tribes notably the Lakota in 1890 promising restoration of lands and buffalo S: Showed Native desperation under reservation life alarmed authorities and helped precipitate the Wounded Knee massacre

Assimilation

D: Federal policy forcing Native Americans to abandon tribal culture and adopt white American ways through schools allotments and bans on traditions S: Destroyed cultural identity caused land loss and poverty and reflected paternalistic racism despite claims of civilizing

Helen Hunt Jackson

D: Author and reformer whose 1881 book A Century of Dishonor exposed U.S. mistreatment of Native Americans S: Raised public awareness and pressured reform though some policies it influenced like allotment harmed tribes

Dawes Act

D: 1887 law dividing tribal lands into individual allotments and selling surplus to whites S: Intended to assimilate Native Americans but led to massive land loss poverty and cultural erosion

Conservationist

D: Advocates who sought to protect natural resources and public lands from overuse in the late 19th century S: Responded to environmental damage and laid groundwork for national forests parks and later Progressive reforms

New South

D: Post-Reconstruction vision promoted by Henry Grady for an industrialized diversified Southern economy S: Largely unrealized agriculture poverty segregation and sharecropping persisted so white supremacy remained intact

Tenant Farmers

D: Farmers who rented land and paid rent in cash or a share of the crop S: Kept many Southern farmers especially Black farmers trapped in cycles of debt and dependence after the Civil War

Sharecroppers

D: Laborers who farmed someone else's land in return for a share of the crop and credit for supplies S: Entrapped poor farmers in the crop-lien system and chronic debt perpetuating economic exploitation similar to slavery's effects

Tuskegee Institute

D: Vocational school founded by Booker T. Washington to teach trades to Black students S: Promoted economic self-help and practical skills reflecting Washington's accommodationist approach over direct civil-rights agitation

Plessy v. Ferguson

D: 1896 Supreme Court ruling that allowed state segregation under the separate but equal doctrine S: Legalized Jim Crow segregation nationwide and institutionalized racial inequality until the mid-20th century

Jim Crow Laws

D: State and local statutes enforcing racial segregation and disenfranchisement poll taxes literacy tests S: Cemented white supremacy through legal and violent means denying Black Americans equal rights and opportunities for decades

Ida B. Wells

D: Black journalist and activist who investigated and campaigned against lynching S: Exposed lynching's false pretexts mobilized national outrage and helped found organizations fighting racial violence and discrimination

W.E.B. Du Bois

D: Scholar and activist who demanded immediate civil rights and higher education for Black Americans opposing Booker T. Washington's accommodation S: Co-founded the NAACP promoted the talented tenth and shaped confrontational civil-rights leadership

Booker T. Washington

D: Educator who urged Black Americans to pursue vocational training and economic self-improvement before pressing for political rights Atlanta Compromise S: Influential for promoting practical advancement but criticized for seeming to accept segregation and discourage direct demands for equal rights