TRANSCONTINENTAL RAILROADS
What major transportation innovation linked the East and West and helped create a national market?
The transcontinental railroad
What federal law encouraged western settlement by offering free land to farmers?
The Homestead Act of 1862
What term describes the long period of falling crop prices after the Civil War?
Deflation
What general goal did U.S. government policy toward Native Americans pursue during westward expansion?
To remove Native Americans from their lands to make way for white settlement
What discovery in 1848 accelerated settlement of the West and California?
Gold
Which two railroad companies built the first transcontinental railroad?
The Union Pacific and the Central Pacific
What type of farming focused on growing a single crop for sale, common on the Plains?
Cash-crop farming
Why did deflation hurt farmers more than industrial workers?
Farmers earned less for crops while their debts stayed the same
What federal policy attempted to force Native Americans to abandon tribal traditions and adopt white American culture?
Assimilation
Why did mining towns often develop rapidly and then decline just as quickly?
They depended on the success of nearby mines
At what location did the first transcontinental railroad meet in 1869?
Promontory Point, Utah
Why did farmers increasingly rely on banks and credit during westward expansion?
To purchase land, machinery, seed, and supplies
What organization formed to promote farmers’ economic interests and cooperation?
The Grange
What 1887 law broke up tribal lands and distributed plots to individual Native American families?
The Dawes Severalty Act
What role did women play in western communities compared to the East?
They often had greater economic opportunity and social independence
How did railroads contribute to the settlement of the Great Plains?
They transported settlers, goods, and equipment and promoted land sales
What natural challenges made farming on the Great Plains difficult?
Drought, extreme weather, and limited rainfall
What political movement emerged to challenge railroad power and big business?
The Populist Movement
How did the Dawes Act ultimately harm Native Americans?
It reduced tribal landholdings, weakened tribal culture, and benefited white settlers
Why were Chinese immigrants targeted by discrimination in the West?
They were blamed for job competition and economic hardship
Why were railroads economically controversial by the late 1800s?
They received government subsidies, charged high freight rates, and practiced discriminatory pricing
How did railroads influence agricultural production in the West?
They determined crop prices, shipping costs, and access to national markets
What monetary policy did many farmers support to increase the money supply?
Free silver (bimetallism)
What was the result of the Indian Wars of the late 1800s?
The defeat of Native American resistance and confinement to reservations
What was the long-term cultural impact of westward expansion on the United States?
It increased cultural diversity while intensifying racial and ethnic conflict