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Westward Expansion/Continental Railroad
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21
Social Studies
8th Grade
10/15/2012

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Cards

Term
Frontier-
Definition
Unsettled area. A place with no settled government.
Term
Comstock Lodge-
Definition
In 1859 miner Henry Comstock discovered a huge deposit of gold and silver in Nevada. This made settlers move west since they all wanted to get GOLD.
Term
Boomtowns-
Definition
Communities near mines.
Term
Cattle Kingdom-
Definition
The Great Plains from Texas to Canada, where many ranchers raised cattle in the late 1800s, became known as the Cattle Kingdom.
Term
Cattle Boom-
Definition
Beef (cattle meat) was in high demand.
Term
Transcontinental Railroad-
Definition
A railroad that would cross the continent and connect the East to the West.
Term
Golden Spike-
Definition
Congress required the two completed rail lines to connect at Promontory, Utah. On May 10, 1869, a golden spike was used to connect the railroad tie joining the two tracks. Alexander Toponce witnessed the event.
Term
Results of the railroad-
Definition
The transcontinental railroad increased both economic growth and the population in the West. Railroad companies provided better transportation for people and goods. They also sold land to settlers, which encouraged people to move West.
Term
The Dawes Act-
Definition
Passed Laws that helped with Native American assimilation. This allowed funding to teach Native Americans to learn how to read and write English. Also allowed Native Americans to own their own land.
Term
Reservation-
Definition
A piece of land that was set aside for the Native Americans to live on.
Term
Assimilation-
Definition
Adapting to American culture and society.
Term
The Dawes Act-
Definition
Passed Laws that helped with Native American assimilation. This allowed funding to teach Native Americans to learn how to read and write English. Also allowed Native Americans to own their own land.
Term
Battle of the Little Big Horn-
Definition
Sioux forces led by Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull surrounded and defeated Custer and his troops.
Term
Homestead Act-
Definition
Gives away 160 acres of free land to any American settlers willing to farm on it. (attracted: african americans, former slaves, pioneers, farming families, single woman * unmarried women*. etc.)
Term
Exodusters-
Definition
Former slaves who leave the south and move west to claim land.
Term
Sodbusters-
Definition
Nickname given to anyone that claims free land and farms on the hard soil (sod).
Term
Sodhouse-
Definition
House made of sod (dirt,mud) that western settlers lived in.
Term
Dry Farming-
Definition
A new method of farming that shifted the focus away from water-dependent crops such as corn. Instead, farmers grew more hardy crops like red wheat.
Term
Populist Party-
Definition
it called for the government to own railroads and telephone and telegraph systems. It also favored the free and unlimited coinage of silver.” To gain the votes of workers, the Populists backed an eight-hour workday and limits on immigration.
Term
End of the frontier-
Definition
By 1870 only small portions of the Great Plains remained unsettled. For most of the next two decades, this land remained open range.
Term
Cash crop of the west-
Definition
Wheat (nickname: Breakbasket of America)
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