Pacific Railway
Act
The "Pacific Railroad Acts" were a
series of acts of Congress (from 1862
– 1866) that promoted the
construction of the transcontinental
railroad in the U.S. through issuing of
government bonds and grants of land
to railroad companies.
transcontinental
railroad
Completed on May 10, 1869, it
connected the Central Pacific and
Union Pacific lines, enabling goods
to move by railway from the
eastern United States all the way to
California.
Munn v.
Illinois
An 1877 Supreme Court case
affirming that states could regulate
key businesses, such as railroads
and grain elevators, if those
businesses were “clothed in the
public interest.”
gold standard
The practice of backing a country’s
currency with its reserves of gold.
In 1873, the United States followed
Great Britain and other European
nations in following this practice.
“Crime of
1873”
A term used by those critical of a
law directing the U.S. Treasury to
cease minting silver dollars, retire
Civil War–era greenbacks, and
replace them with notes backed by
the gold standard from an
expanded system of national banks.
Homestead
Act
The 1862 act that gave 160 acres of
free western land to any applicant
who occupied and improved the
property. This policy led to the
rapid development of the American
West after the Civil War.
Morrill Act
A legislative act that set aside 140
million federal acres that states
could sell to raise money for public
universities.
Comstock
Lode
Immense silver ore deposit
discovered in 1859 in Nevada that
touched off a mining rush, bringing
a diverse population into the region
and led to the establishment of
boomtowns.
Long Drive
Facilitated by the completion of the
Missouri Pacific Railroad in 1865, a
system by which cowboys herded
cattle hundreds of miles north from
Texas to Dodge City and the other
cow towns of Kansas.
“rain follows
the plow”
An unfounded theory that
settlement of the Great Plains
caused an increase in rainfall.
Exodusters
African Americans who walked or
rode out of the Deep South
following the Civil War. Many
settled on farms in Kansas in hopes
of finding peace and prosperity.
Yellowstone
National Park
Established in 1872 by Congress, 2
million acres in Wyoming was set
aside as the first U.S. national park,
“a pleasure ground for the benefit
and enjoyment of the people.”
Dakota 38
Starving and angry Dakota Sioux in
Minnesota killed nearly 400 white
settlers. 307 were tried and found
guilty in a military court. Most were
pardoned by President Lincoln, but on
Dec 26, 1862, 38 were hanged in the
largest mass execution in U.S. history.
Sand Creek
Massacre
The November 29, 1864, massacre
of more than a hundred peaceful
Cheyennes, largely women and
children, by John M. Chivington’s
Colorado militia.
Indian
boarding
schools
These were set up by reformers
who realized the most effective
way to assimilate Native Americans
was to remove the children from
their families and immerse them in
white culture, language and
religion.
Dawes
Severalty Act
The 1887 law that gave Native
Americans severalty (individual
ownership of land) by dividing
reservations into homesteads. It was a
disaster for native peoples, resulting in
the loss of 66 percent of lands held by
Indians at the time of the law’s passage.
Battle of Little
Big Horn
The 1876 battle begun when
American cavalry under George
Armstrong Custer attacked an
encampment of Sioux, Arapaho,
and Cheyenne who resisted
removal to a reservation. Custer’s
th
7 Cavalry was annihilated.
Ghost Dance
movement
Religion of the late 1880s and early
1890s that combined elements of
Christianity and traditional Native
American religion. Plains Indians
hoped that through the dance they
could resurrect the great bison herds
and call up a storm to drive whites
back across the Atlantic.
Wounded
Knee
Massacre
The 1890 massacre of Sioux Indians
by American cavalry in South
Dakota. Sent to suppress the Ghost
Dance, soldiers caught up with
fleeing Lakotas and killed
approximately three hundred on
the banks of this creek.
Chief Joseph &
the Nez Perce
In 1877 the federal government forcibly
removed this tribe from their ancestral
lands (Idaho, Washington, Oregon).
Their chief attempted to lead them on a
1,100 mile trek into Canada. Just miles
from the border, they were captured by
troops and sent to reservations in Indian
territory (Oklahoma).
Sitting Bull
This Lakota holy man led his people as
a tribal chief during years of resistance
to U.S. government policies. In 1890, he
was killed by Indian agency police on
the Standing Rock Reservation during an
attempt to arrest him, at a time when
authorities feared that he would join
the Ghost Dance movement.
George
Armstrong
Custer
This Lieutenant Colonel was known as an
effective leader during the Civil War. After
the war he was notorious for his
ruthlessness in dealing with Indians, often
killing women and children. In 1876, he
th
led the 7 Calvary against Sitting Bull’s
camp, suffering the loss of all 210 troops at
the Little Big Horn River in Montana.
Dr. Charles
Eastman
Born a Santee Sioux, originally
called Ohiyesa, he was a shining
example of how the Indian could be
acculturated through the boarding
school process. He practiced
medicine at the Pine Ridge
Reservation in South Dakota.
Buffalo Bill
Cody
Famous for his “Wild West” show, he
entertained cheering crowds with
displays of riding and sharp-shooting.
Claiming his shows were an authentic
representation of frontier life and the
conquest of the Indians, he employed
Native Americans such as Sitting Bull in
the spectacle.
Frederick
Jackson
Turner
Historian whose 1893 essay, “The
Significance of the Frontier in American
History” asserted that the western
frontier had shaped American
democracy and character. Using the
most recent census data, he also
claimed that this moving line between
“civilization and savagery” had ceased
to exist in 1890.