Reasons for Westward Expansion
Susie is very rich. She is a single woman who is very bored at home on the East coast.
Adventure and Freedom
Barbed Wire
Name of the act that gave people 160 acres of land if they lived on the land for 5 years and made improvements.
Homestead Act
This animal, essential to Plains tribes for food, clothing, and shelter, was nearly wiped out by settlers and hunters
Buffalo
The term for African Americans who moved west in search of a better life.
Exodusters
Mark has a wife and 4 children and has always wanted to move West. The journey seemed to be too far and dangerous.
These 2 adaptions were developed due to the dry conditions and lack of water on the Great Plains.
Dry farming
Wheat farming
The 4 groups tasked with building the Transcontinental Railroad
Chinese immigrants, Irish immigrants, Civil War veterans, formerly enslaved people
These government-run areas forced Native Americans to live on specific land, often poor quality and far from their homes
reservations
The term for people who raced out during land runs sooner than they should have.
Sooners
George is a formerly enslaved person who wants to make it on his own. He is tired of sharecropping and thinks it would be good to be his own boss.
A chance for equality
This invention was created due to the long and dangerous conditions that existed to move west.
Railroads
Act that gave money and land for the construction of the Transcontinental Railroad and a telegraph line.
Pacific Railway Act of 1862
This U.S. policy aimed to erase Native American culture by encouraging them to adopt white American customs, language, and religion
The Transcontinental Railroad effectively connected what to what?
East to West Coasts
Tony works long hours but hates it. He wishes he could just get rich quick.
Economic Opportunities: Gold and silver discoveries
One invention and one adaption that were developed due to a lack of trees on the Great Plains.
Barbed wire
Sod houses
A law that divided Native American land into small individual plots instead of shared tribal land.
This event in South Dakota marked the last major conflict between the U.S. Army and Native Americans, resulting in hundreds of Lakota deaths
Wounded Knee Massacre
4 physical conditions of the Great Plains
Any of the following: Little rainfall, few trees, flat, much prairie grass/sod, hard and dry ground, hot summers and cold winters
Shay is Irish and has not had much luck finding a safe job on the East coast since moving to the U.S.
Immigration - a chance for job opportunities
Name all four adaptions used on the Great Plains
Wheat farming, dry farming, beef farming, sod houses
Protecting white settlers and settlements from Native American attacks.
Name 4 effects that westward expansion had on Native populations
Forced removal from ancestral lands, Broken treaties by the U.S. government, Conflicts and violence, Decline of buffalo herds, Assimilation policies tried to erase Indigenous culture.
Despite hardship, Indigenous communities have done what?
Preserved languages and traditions, Continued tribal identity and sovereignty, Passed down history and culture to future generations