Chapter 17: Western Expansion and Its Impact on the American Character (1860–1895)

Homestead Act (1862)

A bill that did much to encourage settlers to move west; 160 acres of land were given to any settler who was an American citizen or who had applied for citizenship, who was committed to farming the land for six months of the year, and who could pay the $10 registration fee for the land

Massacre at Wounded Knee (1890)

A battle that was the last large-scale attempt by Native Americans to resist American settlement in the Great Plains region

Dawes Act (1887)

An act designed to break up Native American tribes by offering individual Native Americans land to be used for either farming or grazing

Farmers Alliances

An organization that united farmers at the statewide and regional levels; policy goals of this organization included more readily available farm credits and federal regulation of the railroads

Populist party

Formed in 1892 by members of the Farmers Alliances, this party was designed to appeal to workers in all parts of the country

Turner Thesis (1893)

A thesis by Frederick Jackson Turner suggesting that the innovations practiced by western settlers gradually became ingrained into the fabric of American society

1859

Silver discovered in Comstock, Nevada

1862

Homestead Act, Morrill Land-Grant Act

1862

Department of Agriculture created by Congress

1867

Founding of the Grange

1869

Transcontinental Railroad completed

1870s

Popularity of Deadwood Dick stories by Edward L. Wheeler and other dime-store novels on the West

1874

Barbed wire invented by Joseph Glidden

1876

Battle of the Little Bighorn

1879

Exoduster movement leaves the South for the Great Plains

1880s

Large movement of immigrants westward

1883

"Buffalo Bills Wild West Show" begins

1886

Beginnings of harsh weather that would help destroy the cattle industry

1887

Dawes Act

1889

Native American territories open for white settlement

1890

Massacre at Wounded Knee

1890

High point of political influence of the Farmers’ Alliances

1890

Wyoming women get the vote

1893

Beginning of great depression of the 1890s

1893

Publication of the Turner Thesis

1896

William Jennings Bryans "Cross of Gold" speech

Morrill Land-Grant Act

This bill promoted state higher education. To fund "land-grant" colleges, state governments sold hundreds of thousands of acres of federal land. Settlers and land speculators bought this land for 50 cents an acre.

Department of Agriculture

Farmers received agricultural news from the U.S. ____________, founded in 1862.

**Bonanza farms**

These farms replaced many Great Plains family farms. These larger agricultural concerns grew only one or two cash crops.

Giants in the Earth

Written by *O. E. Rolvaag* describes how the prairie's bitter struggle for survival drives an immigrant settler's wife to insanity and death.

O Pioneers!

Written by Willa Cather; The novel's immigrant protagonists build farms and achieve the American dream despite many hardships.

Exodusters

The most famous group of African Americans to leave the South for the West were the **___________**. They followed the Israelites' exodus from Egypt to the Promised Land.

Pike's Peak

Miners sought gold at ___________, Nevada

Comstock

Miners sought silver at ___________, Nevada

**Anaconda Copper Company**

Eastern mining companies like the **___________** dominated mining. These companies found that industrial copper and tin mining was just as profitable as precious metal mining.

1878 Timber and Stone Act

The **____________** allowed these companies to buy unsuitable government land cheaply. Lumber companies hired frontmen to buy cheap woodlands and transfer the titles to them. Lumbering a fast-growing nation made fortunes. that was building at a frantic pace.

open range

Cattlemen grazed their animals on the “**_________**,” unsettled public lands. Farmers and ranchers clashed as homesteaders moved in.

barbed wire

Invention of Joseph Glidden to protect farmers’ land

transcontinental railroad

In 1869, the **________** enabled massive western settlement. Whether tribes cooperated or attacked the settlers, they lost most of their land and were forced onto reservations under government supervision.

Seventh Cavalry

In June 1876, General George Custer's **_________** found the Sioux's main encampment. He and over 200 of his men died at the Little Bighorn.

buffalo

The disappearance of the _______ forced Native Americans to rely on government support even if they had won more battles.

1887 Dawes Act

This law assumed Native Americans would benefit from farming like their white neighbors. This split reservations among tribe members. Ironically, this well-intentioned bill hurt the Native Americans.

Ghost Dances

These dances were believed to cause white settlers to leave, buffalo to return, and warriors to rise.

Sitting Bull

When _________ promoted Ghost Dance among the Sioux, the military became alarmed. Indian police killed Sitting Bull during his arrest.

Indian territory

On April 22, 1889, the “**________**” of Oklahoma was opened to settlement. "Boomers" rushed to claim unclaimed land. People who had entered Oklahoma a day early to grab land were called “sooners.”

sooners

"Boomers" rushed to claim unclaimed land. People who had entered Oklahoma a day early to grab land were called “________.”

tightened money

After the Civil War, the federal government "__________" by removing wartime "greenbacks" from circulation.

greenbacks

After the Civil War, the federal government "tightened money" by removing wartime "_________" from circulation.

gold standard

They put the US on the ________, where every dollar in circulation could be exchanged for an equivalent amount of government-held gold.

**Grange**

Western farmers founded the **________** in 1867. By 1875, over 800,000 farmers had joined the organization.

**Greenback party**

In 1878, many farmers supported the **_________**, which advocated for paper money to inflate the currency. They won some congressmen and local officials but failed to change American fiscal policy.

Farmers’ Alliances

The **_________** linked farmer associations on a statewide and regional level. In 1889, the Southern Alliance represented a million members.

Colored Farmers National Alliance

African American association

federal warehouses

Another proposal called for _________ where farmers could store grain for credit when prices were too low.

Ocala Platform

In 1890, this program was summarized in the ______, which was issued at an Alliance Convention held in Ocala, Florida.

Mary Lease

She became a popular speaker, telling farmers to “raise less corn and more hell.”

Interstate Commerce Act of 1887

Created the Interstate Commerce Commission to regulate railroads, though initially, this did not prove effective.

Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890

Outlawed any business that exercised a “restraint of trade.”

**People’s Party**

On July 4, 1892, a convention of Farmers’ Alliances launched the **___________**. Supporters of the party became known as Populists.

Populist

Their platform called for increasing currency, a progressive income tax on the wealthy, direct senatorial elections, government ownership of railroads, telegraph, and telephone systems, the eight-hour workday, and immigration restrictions.

**James Weaver**

He’s a Civil War Union general and currency expert, was nominated for president. In 1892, the Populists received a million popular and 22 electoral votes.

William McKinley

He was the Republican nominee in 1896, supported the gold standard, a high tariff, and a "full dinner pail" for industrial workers.

William Jennings Bryan

He was the Democratic nominee, declared, “You shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold!”

Edward L. Wheeler

He romanticized gamblers and gunmen in Deadwood Dick: The Prince of the Road.

Buffalo Bill Cody

A former buffalo hunter and Army scout, became famous as the impresario of a show that featured cowboys doing rodeo tricks, staged Native American-cavalry battles, and trick shooting by stars like Annie Oakley.

**Frederick Jackson Turner**

His West interpretation was also significant. He wrote in 1893 that the westward movement shaped American culture. He believed the frontier fostered American democracy and self-reliance.