APUSH Terms (Period 6)

PERIOD 6

1865———1898

[Year Civil War Ended]————[Start of Spanish-American War]

OVERLAPS PERIOD 5

Context of Period 6

• “40 acres and a mule” plan fell through for freedmen

  • In the Great American Desert

• Movement West

  • Incentive=Silver

  • Comstock Lode

• Mining became mass-production industry

  • Finite

  • Boomtowns/Helldorados

• Transcontinental Railroad

  • Allowed military to suppress native uprisings

  • 1862 Pacific Railroad Act

• Homestead Act

• New Agricultural Inventions

  • The Sodbuster

  • Refrigerated Car

  • Barbed Wire Fencing

• Farmer Grievances

  • Primary grievance=Railroads

    • Charged higher rates for farm goods than other goods

  • Banks also charged farmers high interest rates (some as high as 25%)

Great American Desert

PERIOD 6:

DEFINITION: Name for Great Plains bc they were arid and had water/timber scarcity, which made traditional pioneer living a challenge

Comstock Lode

PERIOD 6:

DEFINITION: Richest concentration of silver ever found

• Wealth produced was LARGER than the California Gold Rush of 1848-1849

Boomtowns

PERIOD 6:

• Also known as “Helldorados”

• Fell into dismay as quickly as they were built 

  • American laws didn’t apply

  • EXAMPLE: Deadwood South Dakota 

1862 Pacific Railroads Act

PERIOD 6:

DEFINITION: Act passed by President Lincoln which allowed for the construction of the Transcontinental Railroad

Homestead Act

PERIOD 6:

DEFINITION: Law that encouraged westward expansion

Fed. gov. gave free land but REQUIRED:

• You to build a house

  • Minimum size (12 x 14ft)

• Live in house 6 months of the year

• Farm land 5 years in a row before ownership set

• TARGETS FREEDMEN/POOR

60% OF WESTERN MIGRANTS FAILED

The Sodbuster

PERIOD 6:

DEFINITION: Deep Plow

• 1868

• “Sodbuster”=name given to West migrants

Refrigerated Car

PERIOD 6:

DEFINITION: Insulated train car with ice-bunkers to transport fresh meat and produce

• 1877

• Increased revenue

  • Could sell to new market

• Increased population

  • Foods like fruits and meat contained vitamins and protein, improving health

Barbed Wire Fencing

PERIOD 6:

• Invented by Joseph Glidden

  • Had relatively low cost

  • Innovative as it replaced wood fencing

  • Destructive effect on natural ecosystem 

  • Referred to as “The devil’s Rope” by N.Americans

Farmers’ Alliances

PERIOD 6:

• The Grange Movement=Starts America’s 1st major labor movement

  • GOAL=Regulating rates charged by railroads and warehouses

  • Involved ALL→Women and A.Americans

• Granger Laws=Strictly regulated railroad rates 

  • Worker complaints about working conditions=massive labor unrest through late 19th Century

Immigrants

PERIOD 6:

• Mostly Irish and Chinese

• In Nebraska, 25% of residents were foreign-born 

• Foreign miners tax targeted Chinese immigrants

Benjamin “Pap” Singleton

PERIOD 6:

• Foremost promoter of black migration and founder of Dunlap Community

Dunlap Community

PERIOD 6:

• Located in Kansas

• All black community (by choice)

• Settlers called Exodusters

Cowboys

PERIOD 6:

• Relied on cattle ranching 

• MAJORITY WERE MEXICAN OR BLACK

• Texas Longhorn=most sought after for their beef/hide

• “Law of the Open Range”=Allowed cattle to roam & graze freely w/o being fenced in

Causes of American Buffalo decline?

PERIOD 6:

• Drought

• Competition for forage

• HUMAN INTERACTION→Killed them for…

  • Sport

  • Hides

  • Depriving Indians of food to force Natives on gov. reservations

  • So they didn’t block railroads

What was the wild buffalo count from 1750 to 1900?

1750=30 million

1900=less than 100

Indian Wars

PERIOD 6:

DEFINITION: Final, violent collection of battles where Plains Tribes resisted westward expansion on their lands

“Middle Ground”

PERIOD 6:

DEFINITION: Land between Indian and White settlements

1st Treaty of Fort Laramie

PERIOD 6:

• 1851

DECIDED:

• N. Americans given control of Lakota Territory 

• U.S. agreed to make annual payments of $50,000 dollars to native tribes for next 50 years (later 10)

• U.S allowed to build forts & roads, just not

• Tribes agreed to not disrupt settlers routes (Oregon Territory)