Homestead Act & Inventions
Under the Homestead Act, how many acres could a settler claim?
Up to 160 acres
What did a town become after the mine that supported it ran out of gold or other minerals?
a Ghost Town
What was the name for land Native Americans were forced onto, created by the federal government?
Reservations
What did the railroad companies create in 1883 to help with scheduling?
Time Zones
**BONUS** - When did the U.S. government adopt time zones?
What does the woman in the front of the painting personify?
How many years did a settler typically need to live on and improve the land to receive ownership under the Homestead Act?
5 Years
What two national parks were established in the late 19th century to protect natural areas from logging and other development?
Yosemite and Yellowstone
What was used by Native Americans for food, clothing, housing, and tools?
Buffalo/Bison
What was the name of the scandal where the evil railroad company asked the U.S. government for federal funds to improve and expand their railroads, was given the funding, and then pocketed (swindled) the money?
Credit Mobilier Scandal
What were two types of transporation in the painting?
Covered wagons, steam locomotives, stagecoach, ships
What invention/technology helped settlers communicate across long distances during westward expansion? How did it work?
Telegraph - Using Morse Code to send messages instantly across the continent by wire lines
What results after cattle eats all the vegetation in an area during cattle drives?
Dust storms
What was the Dawes Act (1887)?
Forced Native Americans to register with the Bureau of Indian Affairs and receive individual allotments of what was already tribal land
Give one reason why farmers were unhappy with the evil railroad companies in the late 1800s?
They would overcharge the farmers but give deals to big businesses. At the same time, farmers were in a drought and extremely poor.
What does the painter suggest about the West by the lighting of the painting?
The West is unexplored, uncivilized, and unknown (even though people already live there).
What legislation authorized construction of the first continental railroad in the United States? What year was it passed?
Why did cattle drives take place after the Civil War?
How did Native Americans view land versus European-Americans?
Native Americans - sacred land to be shared by all people of a tribe
European Americans - individual property of a single owner
What was the Interstate Commerce Commission's job?
Watch over the railroads and make sure they were being fair, reasonable, and transparent with their prices and services
What company's logo is shown in the painting?
Wells Fargo
How did the transcontinental railroad affect settlement patterns across the West?
Towns and businesses were typically built along the railroad.
What is the name for the large-scale removal of trees?
Deforestation
In what event were 230 unarmed Cheyenne and Arapaho people massacred in Colorado in 1864?
Sand Creek Massacre
What was the significance of the Interstate Commerce Act
It was the first time the U.S. Government tried to regulate big business (railroad companies).
What two items is the allegorical woman in the painting (Columbia) holding? What do these two items represent?
Schoolbook - Education and Civilization
Telegraph Lines - Industry and Technology