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Transcontinental Railroads
Railroads that connected the Atlantic and Pacific coasts that Congress incentivized being built through large land grants and loans.
Great Plains
Large area of relatively flat land between the Mississippi River and Rocky mountains that was largely settled after the Homestead Act of 1862 for farming, which led to conflict with Native Americans.
Great American Desert
Term applied to the land west of the Missouri River and east of the Rocky Mountains because the landscape had almost no trees, little rainfall and tough prairie sod.
100th Meridian
Vertical line that marked the spot in the Great Plains where west of the line it was difficult to grow crops since there were 15 inches or less of rainfall per year, harsh blizzards and hot dry summers.
Buffalo Herds
Large groups of animals of the Great Plains that Native Americans relied on for survival that almost went extinct because of American western settlement and overhunting.
Mining Frontier
Discovery of gold in California in 1848 caused the first flood of newcomers to the West and was followed by more mineral strikes that kept a steady flow of young prospectors pushing into the West.
Gold Rush
Discovery of sources of a precious metal encouraged people to flock to the Far West in hopes of striking it rich, the most famous example occurring in California in 1848.
Silver Rush
Discovery of sources of a precious metal encouraged people to flock to the Far West in hopes of striking it rich, the most famous example occurring in Nevada.
Boomtowns
Towns that grew quickly in the mining frontier because of rich mineral strikes that became infamous for saloons, dance-hall girls and vigilante justice.
Ghost Towns
Former boomtowns that quickly were abandoned after the rich minerals were taken from the ground.
Cattle Frontier
Western grassland areas were settled by ranchers who were willing to face the hardships of the West in order to raise large and lucrative herds of cattle.
Vaqueros
Mexican cowboys of the Great Plains who introduced the hardy "Texas" longhorn cattle to American ranchers.
Longhorn Cattle
Farm animals that many American ranchers raised in the Great Plains after being introduced to them by Mexican ranchers and vaqueros.
Cattle Drives
Long and dangerous trips overseen by cowboys to move cattle from ranches to stockyards in order to get the meat to market that stopped happening after the invention of barbed wire.
Barbed Wire
Invention that allowed Americans to fence in vast amounts of western lands without the availability of lumber, which changed the American West from open plains to fenced areas suitable for cattle.
Farming Frontier
Western land was settled and developed by pioneers who were willing to face the hardships of the West in order to gain land, grow crops or raise cattle and create a living for themselves.
Homestead Act
Law that promoted settlement of the Great Plains by offering parcels of 160 acres of public land for free to any person who moved onto the land and farmed it for at least five years.
Joseph Glidden
Inventor of barbed wire, which allowed Americans to fence in vast amounts of western lands without the availability of lumber and ended the era of cattle drives.
Dry Farming
Agricultural technique successfully adopted in the Great Plains in which seeds are planted deep in ground where there is some moisture.
Cash Crops
Agricultural products grown and sold for profit such as cotton in the South and wheat in the North and West.
Markets
National or international exchanges of goods and services between producers and consumers.
Deflation
Reduction of the general prices of goods and services in an economy, which can greatly harm producers such as farmers when the price of crops go down.
Middlemen
Wholesalers and retailers who help connect producers to their market consumers and typically take a cut of the sale as profit, which drives up the price for the consumer.
National Grange Movement
Farming social organization started by Oliver H. Kelley, that turned political as farmers sought to redress grievances with railroad companies, middlemen and trusts.
Cooperatives
Businesses owned and organized by the farmers of the National Grange Movement in order to work together to save costs charged by middlemen.
Granger Laws
Pro farmer acts passed by a variety of Midwestern states that were designed to address various abuses by the railroad companies and were initially upheld by the Supreme Court in Munn v. Illinois.
Munn v. Illinois
Landmark SCOTUS case that upheld the right of a state to regulate businesses of a public nature (such as railroads), however, the decision was overturned by the Wabash Case.
Farmers' Alliance
Agricultural state and regional groups founded with the goal of economic and political action on behalf of farmers.
Ocala Platform
Proposed political ideas by delegates to the National Alliance (farmer organization) such as the direct election of senators that eventually led to the creation of a pro farmer political party, the Populists.
Turner's Frontier Thesis
Idea by an American historian that the ability of Americans to move into new land allowed the United States to prosper and support democratic values, but new land was no longer available.
Frederick Jackson Turner
American historian who developed the Frontier Thesis and foresaw the challenges of Americans no longer being able to move to new land where they had complete freedom.
"The Significance of the Frontier in American History"
Influential essay written by American historian Frederick Jackson Turner on his Frontier Thesis and the importance of new land for the United States.
Indian Wars
Series of conflicts between the U.S. Army and Native American tribes in the late 1800s over American settlement of the Great Plains that resulted in Native Americans being forced onto reservations.
Little Bighorn
Battle during the Indian Wars between American troops led by General Custer and the Sioux led by Chiefs Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse that resulted in the destruction of Custer and his troops.
Ghost Dance Movement
Native American religious ritual that promised a rebirth of Native American prosperity, which frightened Americans into outlawing its practice and led to the Massacre of Wounded Knee.
Massacre at Wounded Knee
Tragedy that marked the end of the Indian Wars, in which the U.S. Army opened fire on a Native American camp and killed more than 200 Native American men, women and children.
Helen Hunt Jackson
Author and future muckraker, her books exposed the unjust manner in which the U.S. government had treated Native Americans as well as protested the Dawes Severalty Act.
Assimilation
Idea of "Americanizing" people through formal education, job training and religious conversion that was often forced on Native Americans and resulted in boarding schools such as the Carlisle School.
Dawes Act (1887)
Law that broke up tribal reservations into individual parcels and intended to help Native Americans integrate into American society, but in practice caused widespread poverty and homelessness.
Indian Reorganization Act (1934)
Law that promoted the reestablishment of tribal organization and culture by returning reservation land control and some political power to Native American tribes
Santa Fe Trail
Nearly 1,000 mile overland route that connected the American Southwest to Missouri and farther east, which helped open the American Southwest to American settlement and economic development.
Deforestation
Ecological problem caused by cutting down too many trees for lumber or clearing land for agricultural use.
Yosemite
Iconic state park in California that became one of the earliest national parks in the United States as part of the conservation movement.
Yellowstone
First national park in the United States and it was created as part of the conservation movement.
Forest Reserve Act of 1891
Law that authorized the president to withdraw federal timberlands from development and regulated their use as federally managed forest reserves.
Forest Management Act of 1897
Law that built on the Forest Reserve Act and helped withdraw federal timberlands from development and regulated their use.
Conservationists
Environmental activists who believed in scientific management and regulated use of natural resources.
Preservationists
Environmental activists such as John Muir who believed in protecting natural areas from human interference.
John Muir
Environmental activist and preservationist who was a leading founder of the Sierra Club and pushed for the creation of more national parks.
Sierra Club
Environmental activist group founded by John Muir to promote preservationism and other environmental priorities.
New South
Vision of Henry Grady for the Southern economy to become self-sufficient and built on modern capitalist values, industrial growth, modernized transportation and improved race relations.
Henry Grady
Southern newspaper editor who promoted the "New South," which achieved some success, but ultimately proved difficult to implement because of the South's agricultural past and racial divisions.
Birmingham
City in Alabama that developed into one of the nation's leading steel producers as part of the "New South."
Memphis
City in Tennessee that developed into one of the nation's main lumber centers as part of the "New South."
Richmond
Former Confederate capital and city in Virginia that became the capital of the nation's tobacco industry as part of the "New South."
National Rail Network
System of railroads that connected the various regions of the United States that rapidly grew in the South after the Civil War as part of the "New South."
Tenant Farmers
Agricultural workers who rented land from large landowners in order to grow crops, which forced many former slaves to continue to depend on their landowners for survival.
Sharecroppers
Agriculture workers who paid for the use of land with a share of the crop, which forced many former slaves to continue to depend on their landowners for survival.
George Washington Carver
African American scientist at Tuskegee Institute who promoted the diversification of farm crops in the South through growing peanuts, sweet potatoes and soybeans.
Tuskegee Institute
Educational institution founded specifically for African Americans by Booker T. Washington that focused on agricultural and technical training.
White Supremacists
Racist individuals who favored treating African Americans as social inferiors through tactics such as separating or segregating public facilities and potentially violence.
Civil Rights Cases of 1883
Landmark SCOTUS cases that ruled Congress could not ban racial discrimination practiced by private citizens and businesses used by the public.
Plessy v. Ferguson
Landmark SCOTUS case that created the "separate, but equal" doctrine and legalized racial segregation, which contirubted to the rise of Jim Crow laws.
Jim Crow Laws
State laws that institutionalized racial segregation in the South by segregating schools, buses and other public accommodations, which made it near impossible for Southern blacks to vote.
Literacy Tests
Examination of a person's ability to read and write in order to vote, which effectively barred many African Americans from participating in elections.
Poll Taxes
Fees charged for the right to vote that many African Americans could not afford since many African Americans were poor sharecroppers, which effectively barred them from participating in elections.
Grandfather Clauses
Laws that required voters to have a grandfather who had voted in elections before Reconstruction, which effectively barred many African Americans from participating in elections.
Lynch Mobs
Groups of racist individuals who would torture and kill African Americans in order to maintain the racial status quo and intimidate African Americans.
Economic Discrimination
Prevention of African Americans from getting higher paying skilled trade and factory jobs, which prevented most African Americans from rising into the middle class.
Ida B. Wells
Newspaper editor, women's rights activist and future muckraker who campaigned against Jim Crow laws and lynchings by advocating for national anti-lynching laws.
International Migration Society
Organization formed by Bishop Henry Turner to help African Americans emigrate to Africa.
Booker T. Washington
Founder of the Tuskegee Institute who urged African Americans to address racism by using economic cooperation to gain gradual improvements in their social, political, and economic status.
Atlanta Compromise
Belief held by Booker T. Washington that African Americans should focus on the economic improvement of the South in exchange for better education and some legal rights.
Economic Cooperation
Idea supported by Booker T. Washington that African Americans should focus on vocational training and that economic gains would lead to gradual social and political gains as well.
W. E. B. Du Bois
Opposed to Booker T. Washington's "gradualist" approach to equality, he argued for immediate and full equality socially, politically, and economically and co-founded the NAACP.
Transatlantic Cable
Cyrus W. Field's improvement of an electronic communication method made it possible to send messages across oceans in minutes and created nearly instantaneous global communication.
Telephone
Invention by Alexander Graham Bell that allowed for electronic verbal communication, which eventually surpassed the telegraph in popularity.
Alexander Graham Bell
Inventor of the telephone who also was an innovator in optical telecommunications, hydrofoils and aeronautics and later became a founding member of the National Geographic Society.
Eastman's Kodak Camera
Invention which allowed people to take pictures and freeze a moment in time forever in a photograph.
Henry Bessemer
Inventor of a new process for making steel that was cheaper and more efficient, which allowed for the industrial mass production of steel.
Thomas Edison
American inventor whose inventions include the phonograph and incandescent light bulb, which demonstrated budding innovation and improved standards of living in the United States.
Menlo Park
Thomas Edison's research laboratory in New Jersey, which was the world's first modern research laboratory and contributed to the concept of mechanics and engineers working collaboratively.
Electric Power
Energy source that was utilized by inventors such as Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse to revolutionize machinery and lighting.
Electric Light
Invention that revolutionized life, especially in the cities, by allowing humans to take more advantage of time when it is dark outside.
George Westinghouse
Inventor of a transformer for producing high-voltage alternating current that allowed for the lighting of cities and the operation of electric streetcars, subways and electrically powered machinery.
Subways
Underground that could transport large numbers of people in urban centers, which were made possible by new inventions such as Westinghouse's electric transformer.
Brooklyn Bridge
Massive steel suspension bridge in New York City that allowed for workers to live farther away from the urban center and also showed the importance of steel in construction.
Skyscraper
Tall buildings predominantly built in urban centers that were made possible through the use of steel skeletons, the invention of the elevator and central steam-heating systems with radiators in every room.
Otis Elevator
Invention that allowed groups of people to be moved quickly between different floors of a building, which allowed for the building of skyscrapers.
R. H. Macy
Creator of a large department store in New York City that expanded with new locations all across the United States.
Large Department Store
Businesses such as Macy's, which had large locations that sold many different consumer products and became popular in urban centers.
Mail-Order Companies
Businesses such as Sears, Roebuck & Co. that used the improved rail system to ship a wide variety of products to customers who ordered from their thick catalogs.
Sears, Roebuck & Co.
Mail-order company that used the improved rail system to ship a wide variety of products to customers who ordered from their thick catalog, which became known as the "wish book."
Packaged Foods
Manufactured food that was sold ready to make by companies such as Kellog and Post
Canning
Food storage process that allowed meat and vegetable products to be mass produced, stored, transported and sold.
Gustavus Swift
Founded a meat-packing empire by developing the first practical ice-cooled railroad car, which allowed his company to ship dressed meats to all parts of the country and even abroad.
Advertising
New marketing technique which became its own big business that promoted a consumer economy by encouraging people to buy more products.
Consumer Economy
Economic system focused on the consumption of manufactured goods that was encouraged by new mass production inventions and advertising.
Nation's First Big Business
Railroad companies became the first companies to grow so large that they could dictate national economics and politics.
American Railroad Association
Organization that divided the country into four time zones for the simplification of transportation, which resulted in railroad time becoming standard time for all Americans.
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