Acts and Laws
and "Lawmakers"
and "Lawmakers"
A law that provided 160 acres of public land to settlers, who were required.
The Homestead Act
Individuals or groups that took law enforcement into their own hands in the absence of formal legal systems, especially in frontier towns.
Vigilante
The movement of the Mormon people, led by Brigham Young, to Utah in the mid-1800s to escape the religious persecution and establish a religious community.
Mormon Migration
A network of railroads that linked the eastern U.S. to western territories, completed in 1869, facilitating movement of people and goods.
Transcontinental Railroad
Indigenous peoples living in the Great Plains, including tribes such as the Sioux, Cheyenne, and Comanche, who were significantly impacted by western expansion.
Plains Indians
While prior to the Civil War (1830), it set the stage for policies that led to the forced relocation of Native American tribes to reservations in the West.
Indian Removal Act
Settlers who took advantage of the Homestead Act to claim free land in the West.
Homesteader
The movement of large herds of cattle from Texas to railheads in Kansas and other parts of of the Midwest, facilitating the beef industry in the U.S.
Cattle Drives
Pumping mechanisms, powered by wind, to draw water from deep within the earth.
Windmills
A series of conflicts between Native American tribes and U.S. military forces, primarily in the late 19th century, over land and sovereignty.
Indian Wars
A law that aimed to break up Native American tribal lands and encourage individual land ownership among Native Americans, leading to further erosion of Native territories.
Dawes Act
Workers on cattle ranches who managed herds of cattle, often romanticized in Western culture.
Cowboys
The expansion of farming and agriculture into the Great Plains, facilitated by technological advances like the steel plow and windmills.
Agricultural Frontier
The re-routing of water from rivers or lakes to locations closer to homes, crops and livestock.
Irrigation
A famous battle between the U.S. Army forces, led by General George Custer, and Native American warriors, led by Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse, resulting in a decisive victory for Native Americans.
Battle of Little Bighorn
Efforts by the U.S. government and missionaries to integrate Native Americans into white American culture, including the establishment of boarding schools and change in tribal governance.
Native American Assimilation
African American Soldiers who served in the U.S. Army during the Indian Wars, often stationed in the West.
Buffalo Soldiers
The migration of African Americans to Kansas in the late 1800s, seeking better opportunities and freedom from discrimination in the South.
Exoduster Movement
Invented in the Fall of 1873 by Joseph Glidden, this key technological advancement helped ranchers and farmers fence off large areas of land on the Great Plains, ending the open range and the cattle drive era.
Barbed Wire
The killing of over 200 Lakota Sioux by the U.S. Army at Wounded Knee Creek, marking the end of major Native American resistance to U.S. expansion.
Wounded Knee Massacre
A system in which Land was designated by the U.S. government for Native American tribes, often resulting in forced relocation and loss of traditional lands.
Reservation System
Farmers who worked the tough soil of the Great Plains, often using sod to build homes and structures.
Sodbusters
Periods of intense prospecting and mining for precious metals.
Silver and Gold Rushes
This revolutionary invention inspired this quotation:
"Abraham Lincoln may have freed all men, but Sam Colt made them equal".
Colt 45
A religious Movement among Native American tribes in the late 19th century that sought to restore their former way of life and drive out Eastern settlers, which led to the Wounded Knee Massacre.
The Ghost Dance