APUSH Ch. 16 - The Conquest of the Far West

Californios

The Hispanic residents of California who were decedents of Spanish and Mexican peoples. When the Anglo-Americans arrived in California, they had little power to resist and were often excluded from the gold mines. Many also lost their lands through corruption or seizure.

Chief Joseph

This man was the chief of the Nez Perce, a small tribe which had managed to live unmolested in Oregon for a time. The government tried to force them into a reservation, and on the way some members killed some white settlers. This chief urged them to flee from American troops and moved with nearly 600 people in an effort to reach Canada. However, they were caught and Joseph surrendered in what he thought was an exchange of being allowed to go to the reservation in Idaho But the government refused, and his tribe was shipped around and most of them died.

Chinese Exclusion Act

This act, passed in 1882, banned Chinese immigration into the United States for 10 years and barred Chinese already in the country from becoming citizens. It was renewed in 1892 and made permanent in 1902. It reflected the growing fear of unemployment and labor unrest. It's motive was to protect American workers and help reduce class conflict. It caused the Chinese population to decline by 40% in the 40 years after it's passing.

Chisholm Trail

Cattle began to be driven from the Texas ranges to eastern markets on journeys known as "long drives." A main market facility emerged in Abilene, Kansas. Cattlemen drove millions of cattle up this specific trail to Abilene, which became a town that rivaled the mining towns in rowdiness.

Concentration Policy

This new Indian reservation policy, put into place in 1851, had each tribe being assigned it's own defined reservation, confirmed by separate treaties (most of which were illegitimate). It divided the tribes, making them easier to control and allowed the government to force tribes into scattered locations and take the most desirable lands for white settlement. This policy did not survive long.

Coolies

A derogatory term for Chinese workers who came to the United States and even other countries to work as indentured servants. They worked in mining during the gold rush and were a consistent presence throughout the building of railroads.

Dawes Severalty Act

1887 act that provided for the gradual elimination of tribal ownership of land and the allotment of tracts to individual owners. 160 acres was provided to the head of a family, 80 for a single adult or orphan, and 40 acres to each dependent child. Adult owners were given citizenship, but could not gain full right to their property for 25 years. The act applied to most of the western tribes, but not the Pueblo (who occupied the lands they already owned). In applying this act, the Bureau of Indian Affairs was promoting the idea of assimilation. Not only were they moving families onto their own plots of land, they took some Indian children and sent them to boarding school to learn to abandon tribal ways. They also moved to end Indian religious rituals and encourage Christianity.

Frederick Jackson Turner

A historian who delivered a paper titled "The Significance of the Frontier in American History" to the American Historical Association. He argued that the end of the "frontier" also marked the end of one of the most important democratizing forces in American life.

Frederic Remington

This painter and sculptor captured the romance of the west and its image as an alternative to the eastern way of life. He portrayed the cowboy as a natural aristocrat. He was one of the most beloved and successful artists of the 19th c.

Genizaros

Indians who were without tribes because they had voluntarily left them. The were at the bottom level of the Spanish caste system in the Southwest.

George A. Custer

Four years after the Sand Creek massacre a band of Arapaho and Cheyenne under Chief Black Kettle were captured on the Washita River, near the Texas border, by this U.S. army colonel. Under his command, the chief and his people were slaughtered. Later, in 1876, after Sioux warriors had gathered under Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull, the U.S. army was trying to force them back onto the reservation. The colonel and his regiment were surprised by the tribal warriors and they were all killed.

Geronimo

Apache chieftain who succeeded Cochise. He raided the white settlers' outposts in the Southwest as resistance to being confined to a reservation. With each raid, however, their numbers dwindled and by 1886 his band only consisted of 30 people. He then surrendered, and this event marked the end of formal warfare between Indians and whites.

Homestead Act

This act, enacted in 1862, permitted settlers to buy plots of 160 acres for a small fee if they occupied the land they purchased for 5 years and improved it. It was not as successful as hoped.

Little Bighorn

This battle took place in southern Montana in 1876. Sioux people had already left their reservation in 1875 and then when officials ordered them to return Sioux warriors gathered under Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull. The U.S. army tried to force them back onto the reservation. Colonel Custer and his regiment were surprised by the tribal warriors and they were all killed, mostly due to the fact that the chiefs had gathered 2,500 warriors, one of the largest Indian armies ever assembled.

Long Drive

Once cattle ranchers discovered that the cattle could be driven to distant markets and pastured along the trail, they began driving their herds north from Texas. Although they had to travel over rough country, were often attacked, and lost many cattle along the way, millions made the journey, also known as the __________.

Mark Twain

One of the greatest American writers of the 19th c. He was one of those who provided the romantic vision of the frontier. He wrote "Roughing It", "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer", and "Huckleberry Finn". His works reflected the vision of the West as the last refuge from the constraints of civilization.

Mestizos

A person of mixed Native American and European ancestry who had a lower place in the social hierarchy of the Southwest compared to those of pure European descent. However, they were regarded higher than those of complete Indian or African American heritage.

Plains Indians

This was a diverse group of tribes and language groups in the west. Some were allies, others were rivals. Some were farmers, some were hunters. However, they all shared some traits. Among them were their close and extended family networks. Most tribes were also subdivided into bands and within each tasks were divided by gender. Most of them practiced a religion centered on the power of nature. Many of the tribes subsisted through hunting buffalo, which was their main economic resource and required them to follow the herds and only settle in temporary tepees. This group also had many warriors, and proved to be the most formidable foes of the white settlers, but struggled to gather coalitions against white power.

Rocky Mountain School

This school of art celebrated the new West in grandiose canvases, and emphasized the ruggedness and dramatic variety of the region, reflecting the awe towards the land. Most famous painters included Albert Bierstadt and Thomas Moran.

Turner Thesis

The argument that the end of the "frontier" also marked the end of one of the most important democratizing forces in American life. Expressed that the best land was taken, and that it would now be more difficult for individuals to acquire land. Was wrong in the sense of calling the West a true "frontier."

Wounded Knee

The Sioux were aware that their culture was being destroyed and were also suffering from starvation. They turned to a prophet, Wovoka, who led them in a revival which included the mass "Ghost Dance." The white agents on the Sioux reservation thought that the dance might be a preliminary to hostilities. In December of 1890, the Seventh Cavalry of the U.S. army tried to round up a group of 350 starving Sioux here and fighting broke out. About 40 soldiers and more than 300 of the Indians died. It was essentially a one sided massacre.

buffalo

Many of the Plains Indian tribes relied on this animal as their economic basis. Its flesh was their food source and their skin was used for clothing, shoes, tepees, blankets, robes, and utensils. They also provided manure for fuel, bones for knives and arrows, and tendons for bow strings. Because of their reliance on this animal the Native Americans were required to follow the herds and only settle temporarily. Anglo settlers began to restlessly slaughter these animals. This was for food and supplies for the migrants, but also their hides became a fad in the East. They were also "in the way" of railroads and were the main resource of the tribes (so the white settlers felt they had to destroy them.)

Taos Indian Rebellion

When the U.S. aquired New Mexico, there was fear among the Hispanic and Indian populations that the AMericans would confiscate their land and threaten their societies. A group of Indians rebelled in this event and killed the new governor and other officials before being stopped by the U.S. military.

Juan Cortina

In Texas, many Mexican landowners were losing their land after the U.S. annexed it. Mexican resentments led to this main raiding a jail in Brownsville and freeing all the Mexican prisoners. He continued to harass Anglo communities, but was eventually captured.

foreign miners tax

The tax enacted by the California government that required all foreign miners to pay a tax in order to be able to mine gold. It helped to exclude the Chinese and the Mexicans.

Chinatowns

These were towns largely populated by Chinese immigrants. The largest one was in San Francisco. There, the community was governed by an organization from a single clan/community from China that filled the role of a political machine. These towns were also often led by prominent merchants (in the case of SanFran it was the Six Companies).

tongs

Chinese secret societies. Some of these were violent criminal organizations involved in the opium trade and prostitution. Few people knew they existed, except when rival tongs engaged in violent conflict.

Anti-Coolie Clubs

As anti-Chinese sentiment emerged, these clubs were started. They sought bans on employing Chinese and organized boycotts of products made with Chinese labor. Some of them attacked Chinese workers and set on fire factories which employed Chinese workers.

Workingmen's Party of California

A political party started by Denis Kearney, an Irish immigrant. It gained significant power in CA largely as a result of its basis of hostility towards the Chinese.

Timber Culture Act

Act passed in 1873 which permitted homesteaders to receive grants of 160 additional acres of land if they planted 40 acres of trees.

Desert Land Act

Act passed in 1877 that provided that people could buy 640 acres at $1.25 an acre provided that they irrigated part of it within three years.

Timber and Stone Act

Act passed in 1878 which applied to non-arable land and authorized sales at $2.50 an acre.

Comstock Lode

Silver was discovered here in 1858 by Henry Comstock

Cattle Kingdom

Area covering the Great Plains from Texas north to Canada, where many ranchers raised cattle, primarily "long horns" in the 1800s. A region dominated by the cattle industry and its ranches, trails, and cow towns. Success brings many into the cattle industry and increases competition. Fails when a combination of events; competition, drought, harsh winters.

Wyoming

First state to guarantee women suffrage

Indian Peace Commision

The commission established by Congress which consisted of soldiers and civilians to recommend a new and permanent Indian policy. They recommended replacing the concentration policy with a plan to move all the Plains Indians into two reservations, one in Indian Territory (Oklahoma) and the other in the Dakotas.

Sand Creek Massacre

When Arapaho and Cheyenne Indians came into conflict with white miners in Colorado, the white settlers called up a large militia. The governor urged all friendly Indians to congregate at army posts for protection. One band under Chief Black Kettle, camped near Fort Lyon, but the militia under Colonel Chivington (which largely consisted of drunk people) went to the camp and massacred 133 people. This massacre is named after the place where Fort Lyon was located.

Indian Hunting

This gruesome violent practice became somewhat of a sport for white vigilantes. Bounties were sometimes offered and skulls and scalps were brought back as proof. Some of it was in response to Indian raids on white communities, but much of it was because white people were committed to the elimination of the tribes.

Promontory Point

The point at which the two lines of the transcontinental railroad joined in 1869. It's in Utah.

barbed wire

Farmers needed a way to enclose their land to protect it from the cattle herds, but wood and stone fences were not suitable. So Joseph Glidden and I.L. Ellwood solved this problem by developing this product.