The West-TEST
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- Henry Comstock
- Struck gold in Sierra Nevada and attracted thousands of people.
- 13th, 14th, 15th Amendments
- Gave African Americans their rights. (FREE, CITIZENS VOTE!)
- Farmers on the Great Plains
- Faced many hardships such as harsh winters, dry climate, and swarms of grasshoppers. In the late 1800s, they faced hard times because of the falling crop prices.
- Transcontinental Railroad
- Completed to make cross-country travel faster and cheaper.
- Segregation
- Separation of blacks and whites during Reconstruction. Also known as Jim Crow Laws.
- Chivington Massacre
- This was a massacre in which U.S. soldiers killed approximately 150 men, women and children of the Cheyenne Village. Men, women and children were killed.
- Boom towns
- Centers of mining which attracted people to open up new businesses
- Exodusters
- African Americans who moved to Kansas, looking for a better life and to farm new land. They took the name from Exodus, the book of the Bible that tells about the Jews escaping slavery in Egypt.
- Buffalo
- The Plains Indians depended on this for food, tool making and clothing.
- Conflict between Native Americans and settlers
- The government had promised them land, farming supplies, and money under the treaties (Fort Laramie Treaty) However, when farmers wanted the land, or gold/silver was discovered nearby, they pushed them off their land and eventually onto reservations.
- Sun Dance
- A religious ceremony of the Plains Indians.
- Wounded Knee
- Took place in the Sioux War of 1876. This was a victory for the U.S. Army. It marked the end of the Indian wars. Men, women and children were killed.
- Reasons for People Coming West
- 1)Mine gold and silver 2) Homestead Act 3) Jobs in Transcontinental Railroad 4) Business opportunities in boom towns.
- William Jennings Bryan
- Was supported by the Democrat and Populist parties. He believed that the nation needed to increase the supply of money and he often spoke out on behalf of the farmers. Made a speech about helping the working class.
- Farmers on the Great Plains
- Faced many hardships such as harsh winters, dry climate, and swarms of grasshoppers. In the late 1800s, they faced hard times because of the falling crop prices.
- Sodbusters
- The Plains farmers were called sodbusters because they cut through the sod to the soil. They settled on the Great Plains after the Civil War. They faced great hardships.
- Comstock Lode
- The rich silver mining area in Sierra Nevada.
- Reservations
- Where Native Americans were sent to live on. They could not make decisions for themselves and had to change how they lived on a daily basis.........
- Fort Laramie Treaty
- This was a treaty that was broken when miners struck gold at Pikes Peak in Colorado. It stated that miners could only claim a specific area and in return, Native Americans were promised animals, goods, and land.
- Tepees
- Housing for Plains Indians which were easy to transport to follow the herds of buffalo.
- The Dawes Act of 1887
- Encouraged Native Americans to become farmers and provided for some American lands to be divided up among families.
- Plains Indians
- Included people from many Indian nations including Cheyenne, Arapahos, Piutes, and Sioux. Came into great conflict with settlers because settlers did not respect the Indian land.
- Ghost Towns
- When boom towns were deserted and people moved on to new mining sites.
- Who did railroad companies hire to build the transcontinental railroad?
- Immigrants. They worked for low pay.
- Homestead Act
- Encouraged settlers to move onto Plains by offering 160 acres of land if they farmed it for five years.
- Native Americans
- People who faced great conflict with the settlers coming out west
- Reasons transcontinental railroad was great
- Provided quicker movement of supplies and mail
- Subsidies
- Money or land given by the federal government to encourage railroad building.
- Open range
- This began to disappear when farmers settled west. They began to fence in their fields with barbed wire.
- vigilantes
- These were self-appointed law enforcers in the mining towns who tracked down outlaws and punished them without a trial.
- Populists
- They demanded government help with falling farm prices and regulation of railroad rates. They also called for an income tax, an eight hour workday, and limits on immigration. They also wanted FREE SILVER. They wanted all silver mined in the West to be coined into money. They said that farm prices dropped because there was not enough money in circulation. Free silver would increase the money supply and make it easier for farmers to repay their debts.
- Promontory Point
- The place where the first transcontinental railroad was completed