Unit 4: Agricultural Revolution - Study Guide

George Armstrong Custer:

boy general of Civil War fame, demoted to a Colonel. In 1874 he led a scientific expedition into
the Black Hills of South Dakota (part of the Sioux reservation) and announced that he had discovered gold. In 1876, he and
his 264 officers and men were completely wiped out at the Little Big Horn River.

Homestead Act of 1862:

the law provided that a settler could acquire as much as 160 acres of land by living on it for five
years, improving it, and paying a nominal fee averaging about $30.00. As an alternative, land may have been acquired after
only six months of residence at $1.25 an acre.

Sitting Bull:

Conspicuous leader of Sioux, a medicine man as wily as he was influential; was forced to take refuge north of
the border after the Battle of the Little Big Horn.

Dry Farming:

its method of frequent shallow cultivation supposedly were adapted to the arid western environment, but over
time dry farming created a finely pulverized surface soil that contributed to the notorious Dust Bowl several decades later.

Frederick Jackson Turner:

in 1893, published, The Significance of the Frontier in American History, he thought it served as a
safety valve; people could always flee to the west.

Chief Joseph:

Chief of the Nez Perce Indians of Idaho, finally surrendered his renegade band of some seven hundred Indians
after a tortuous 1700-mile, three-month trek across the Continental Divide toward Canada.

Combine:

machine that greatly increased production of grain in the Midwest and Great Plains

Crazy Horse:

fought in the Battle of Little Big Horn, had a stellar role.

Geronimo:

leader of the Apache tribes of Arizona and New Mexico, his eyes blazed with the hatred of whites.

Buffalo Bill Cody:

crack shot killed over 4,000 animals in eighteenth months while employed by Kansas Pacific.

Populists:

The people's party, formed in 1890's, attracted countless recruits from the Farmers Alliances.

Wounded Knee:

a so-called battle in 1890 killed 200 Indian men, women, and children, as well as 29 invading soldiers.

Comstock Lode:

a fantastic amount of gold and silver, worth more than $340 million, was mined by the Kings of Comstock.

Thomas B. Reed:

Republican Speaker of the House, wanted to change the House rules, believing the majority should
legislate.

Pension Act of 1890:

showered pensions on all Union Civil War veterans who had served for 90 days and who were now
unable to do manual labor.

Marcus Hanna:

made a fortune in the iron business, coveted the role of president-maker (McKinley). He organized his
campaign for McKinley.

McKinley Tariff Bill of 1890:

boosted rates to their highest peacetime level yet-an average of 48.4% on dutiable goods.

Yellow press:

stimulated overseas expansion. Pulitzer and Hearst whetted the popular taste for the excitement abroad.

Darwinism:

The belief in Charles Darwin's theory regarding the survival of the fittest. It loosened religious moorings and
promoted unbelief among the gospel-glutted.

Rough Riders:

was a colorful regiment of volunteers, short on discipline but long on dash, consisted largely of western
cowboys and other hardy characters, with a sprinkling of ex-polo players and ex-convicts.

Anti-Imperialist League:

sprang into being to fight the McKinley administrations expansionist moves. It consisted of the
most prominent people in America, such as the presidents of Stanford and Harvard Universities.

Queen Liliuokalani:

she was the last reigning queen of Hawaii, her opposition to reform led to her dethronement. She
insisted that native Hawaiians should control Hawaii.

Butcher Weyler:

a Spanish General who undertook to crush the rebellion (Cuban) by herding many civilians into barb wire
concentration camps, where they could not give assistance to the armed insurrections.

Frederic Remington:

an artist sent by Hearst to Cuba to draw sketches, and when the latter report that conditions were not bad
enough to warrant hostilities, Hearst replied, "You furnish the pictures, and I'll furnish the war."

John Hay:

Secretary of State who decided upon a dramatic move, in the summer of 1899, he dispatched to all the great
powers a communication soon known as the Open Door note.

Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty:

the price of the canal strip was left the same, but the zone was widened from six to ten miles. The
French company gladly pocketed its $40 million from the US Treasury.

Open Door:

a communication dispatched by John Hay to all the great powers, in which he urged them to announce that in
their leaseholds or spears of influence they would respect certain Chinese rights and the ideal of fair competition.

Jim Crow Laws:

designed to enforce racial segregation in public places, including hotels and restaurants, and baked up by atrocious lynching and other forms of intimidation.