Vocabulary
This is the process by which Native Americans were forced to adopt white American culture.
Assimilation
This type of home was built from sod (grass and dirt) by settlers on the plains.
Soddies
This U.S. general was killed at the Battle of Little Bighorn.
George Custer
These two companies built the Transcontinental Railroad.
👉 What are the Union Pacific and Central Pacific?
This describes the difficult conditions Native Americans faced on reservations.
👉 What is poverty / loss of land / poor resources?
These were African Americans who moved west after the Civil War in search of land and opportunity.
Exodusters
This term describes a town that grew rapidly due to mining discoveries.
Boom Town
This event marked the last major conflict between the U.S. Army and Native Americans.
👉 What is the Wounded Knee Massacre?
These groups of people helped build the railroad, including immigrants from Ireland and China.
👉 Who are Irish and Chinese immigrants?
At these schools, Native American children were forced to adopt American culture.
What are reservation schools?
This large, flat region in the central United States was home to many Native American tribes and later settlers.
The Great Plains
Name one major challenge faced by homesteaders living on the Great Plains.
👉 What are droughts / isolation / lack of wood / harsh weather
The U.S. government supported this to weaken Native Americans by destroying their food source.
👉 What is the slaughter of the buffalo?
This major transportation system connected the East and West coasts of the United States.
👉 What is the Transcontinental Railroad?
This was done to Native children at schools to strip away their identity.
👉 What is cutting their hair / changing names / banning language?
These settlers illegally rushed into Oklahoma territory before it was officially opened.
Sooners
This law gave settlers 160 acres of land if they lived on and improved it.
👉 What is the Homestead Act?
This law attempted to break up tribal lands and force Native Americans to farm and assimilate.
The Dawes Act
This is one major impact the railroad had on the United States.
👉 What is faster travel / increased trade / westward expansion?
This term describes why people left their homes, such as poverty or lack of jobs.
Push factors
These workers drove cattle across long distances to railroads for shipment.
Cowboys
These were the terms settlers had to meet to keep their land under that law.
👉 What are living on the land for 5 years and improving it?
Life on these areas was difficult due to poor land, lack of resources, and loss of culture.
These are reasons people moved west, including opportunities and escaping problems.
Push and Pull Factors
This term describes why people were attracted to a new place, such as land or opportunity.
Pull Factors