UNIT 5, CH 16

U.S. policymakers sought to stimulate the economy and integrate the trans-Mississippi West into the nation by promoting settlement, transportation, and industry through measures such as the Homestead Act, land-grant colleges, protective tariffs, and the transcontinental railroad. These policies encouraged farming, mining, ranching, and trade while linking western resources to eastern markets. However, this expansion deeply affected people living in the region: Native Americans were forced off their lands through warfare, broken treaties, and assimilation policies like the Dawes Act, while settlers and corporations benefited from new economic opportunities. As a result, the West became economically integrated into the United States, but at the cost of significant displacement, violence, and cultural loss for Indigenous peoples.

Transcontinental railroad

Railroad completed in 1869 that connected the eastern U.S. to the Pacific coast, promoting western settlement and national economic growth

Protective tariff

Tax on imported goods designed to protect American industries from foreign competition

Treaty of Kanagawa

1854 agreement that opened Japanese ports to U.S. trade, ending Japan’s isolation

William Seward

U.S. Secretary of State who negotiated the purchase of Alaska from Russia in 1867

Burlingame Treaty

1868 treaty encouraging Chinese immigration to the U.S. and promoting trade with China

Munn v. Illinois

1877 Supreme Court case allowing states to regulate private industries affecting the public interest

Gold standard

Monetary system in which currency is backed by gold, limiting the money supply

Crime of 1873

Decision to stop minting silver coins, angering farmers and debtors who wanted inflation

Homestead Act

1862 law granting free land to settlers who farmed it for five years

Morrill Act

Law that provided federal land to states to fund public colleges focused on agriculture and engineering

Land-grant colleges

Colleges established with federal land to promote practical education, especially in agriculture

Comstock Lode

Major silver deposit discovered in Nevada that boosted western mining and settlement

Long Drive

Movement of cattle from Texas ranches to railroad lines in the Midwest

“Rain follows the plow”

False belief that farming would increase rainfall on the Great Plains

Exodusters

African Americans who migrated from the South to Kansas after Reconstruction to escape racism

Emmeline Wells

Mormon feminist leader who supported women’s suffrage and polygamy

John Wesley Powell

Explorer and scientist who warned that western land was unsuitable for traditional farming

Yellowstone National Park

First national park in the U.S., created to preserve natural landscapes

U.S. Fisheries Commission

Federal agency created to manage and protect fish populations

Chief Joseph

Leader of the Nez Perce who resisted forced relocation before surrendering to the U.S. Army

Sand Creek massacre

1864 attack in which U.S. troops killed unarmed Cheyenne and Arapaho people

Fetterman massacre

1866 battle where Sioux warriors defeated a U.S. Army unit in Wyoming

Lone Wolf v. Hitchcock

Supreme Court case ruling Congress could break Native American treaties

Sitting Bull

Sioux leader who resisted U.S. expansion and helped defeat Custer

George Armstrong Custer

U.S. Army officer killed at the Battle of Little Bighorn

Dawes Severalty Act

Law dividing tribal land into individual plots to promote Native American assimilation

Battle of Little Bighorn

1876 battle where Native American forces defeated Custer’s troops

Geronimo

Apache leader who resisted U.S. military efforts in the Southwest

Ohiyesa (Dr. Charles Eastman)

Native American author and reformer who promoted education and assimilation

Ghost Dance movement

Religious movement among Native Americans promising the return of their lands and way of life

Wounded Knee

1890 massacre where U.S. troops killed Lakota Sioux, ending major Native resistance

Buffalo Bill Cody

Showman who popularized the myth of the American West through Wild West shows

Frederick Jackson Turner

Historian who argued the frontier shaped American democracy and character