Connections
This mail relay system using horses set up in the 1860s helped connect the East and West coasts.
What is the Pony Express?
The railroad led to an explosion of population in this geographical area of the United States.
What is "The West"?
In 1873 the country adopted this. It meant that the amount of paper money available was determined by the amount of gold in the treasury. Prices fell because each individual dollar was worth more. (This is still talked about today by economists.)
What is the Gold Standard?
This area was where the Indigenous people were forced to move to previously. They had set up thriving communities there. But the United States government said that homesteaders could now claim land there. On April 22, 1889 thousands of settlers rushed in to stake their claims and kicked out the Indigenous communities.
What is the now the state of Oklahoma?
These two Indigenous leaders encouraged their citizens to resist the US governments attempts to force them off their land (Previously owned by them and then previously GIVEN to them through treaties with the US Government.)
Who are Chief Sitting Bull and Chief Crazy Horse?
This important wire let messages flow instantly across the United States and made the Pony Express obsolete. Think Morse code....
What is a telegraph line?
The demand for beef from Northerners increased so these people started raising a lot of cows in the Great Plains (particularly in Texas).
Who are ranchers?
This act in 1887 regulated (set rules for) the railroad industry.
What is the Interstate Commerce Act?
This event is when US Army in 1863 burned Navajo villages and forced the people on a painful 300-mile trek to a reservation in New Mexico.
What is the "Long Walk?"
1876 Lt. General George Custer had US forces trying to track Indigenous and force them onto reservations. He took 1/3 of his army to spy on an Indigenous village and was attacked and killed by warriors.
What is Custer's Last Stand Or the Battle of Little Bighorn?
These acts passed by Congress gave money (subsidies) to the railroad companies to build the first railroad that crossed the whole United States.
What are the Pacific Railway Acts?
This job came about because of the increase in beef production. They adopted the techniques and clothing of the Mexican vaqueros. They had a reputation for being wild.
Who are cowboys or cowhands?
This event started an economic depression that devastated the country. (People became more poor.)
What is the Panic of 1893?
The US government forced the Indigenous people living in the great plains/west into designated areas. For 200 years these people had been nomads--traveling long distances hunting buffalo and not settling into one specific area. This ruined their way of life.
What are reservations?
These Indigenous leaders helped their people resist US government attempts to move everyone to the reservations, but eventually were overpowered.
Who is Chief Joseph and Geronimo?
We have these people to thank for building the railroads. They faced terrible and dangerous conditions and were paid extremely low wages.
Who are Immigrants--mainly Chinese and Irish?
This man was one of the most famous peace officers of the western frontier. His participation in a gunfight at the O.K. Corral made him famous.
Who is Wyatt Earp?
This political party, advocated by farmers, became popular during the 1870s-1890s. The focus was on helping the average person. However, it fell apart after the 1896 presidential election.
What is the Populist Party?
What are Two Problems with the Reservation System?
The US government attempted to force the Indigenous people into their way of life by destroying their culture. One way was to force them to become farmers or they would risk losing their land and the other was to take their children away to boarding schools to "kill the Indian, save the man."
What is Assimilation?
This invention was created in 1883 to make time standard across the United States so you could know when the train was arriving. Before this, communities kept their own time based on the sun.
What are time zones across the United States?
This act passed in 1862 made federally claimed land in the west available to any homesteaders who wanted to farm it (including women and Black Americans). Settlers got 160 acres of land stolen from Indigenous people.
What is the Homestead Act?
I got nothing...
What is ran out of topics about economics?
In 1866 this Lakota warrior led a group of warriors to attack forts built by the US government in order to defend their territory and discourage continued settler migration.
Who is Red Cloud?
On December 9, 1890 American troops attacked and killed up to 300 Lakota (mostly children and older adults). This was the last major clash between the US government and Indigenous Americans. Over the 1800s, the Indigenous population had gone from 600,000 to less than 230,000.
What is the Wounded Knee Massacre?