promontory point
site in Utah where the railway lines built by the Union Pacific and Central Pacific met in 1869, completing the first transcontinental railroad line and contributing to the integration of the western territories into the rest of the Union and the development of the Great Plains.
homestead act
convinced people to come to the west; if someone were to improve the land in 5 years, they were granted 160 acres of land.
grange
added cooperative programs, purchasing in bulk from suppliers and setting up its own banks, insurance companies, grain elevators, and processing plants; Iowa ____ attempted to manufacture farm implements
buffalo soldiers
the name Native Americans gave to African American U.S. cavalrymen, most of them Civil War veterans stationed in the West to fight the Indian wars of the 1870s and 1880s.
battle of little big horn
led by Sitting Bull, Sioux and Cheyenne warriors gathered here; victory for Crazy Horse's Sioux warriors; victory but not decisive.
a century of dishonor
written by Helen Hunt Jackson; which told the story of the unjust treatment of the Indians; boosted the Indian Rights Association after the Civil War
ghost dance
a religious movement that swept the Plains Indians in 1890; it stemmed from the preaching of the Paiute prophet Wovoka who claimed that the whites would disappear from the Great Plains and that the Indians would reclaim their lands.
wounded knee
the final episode in the war against the Plains Indians, but not the end of their story.
dawes act
1887; authorized the president to carve up tribal lands, with each family head receiving an allotment of 160 acres and individuals receiving smaller parcels; the land would be held in trust by the government for twenty-five years, and the Indians would become U.S. citizens; remaining reservation lands would be sold off, with the proceeds placed in an Indian education fund.
comstock lode
opening of this in 1859 in Nevada's Virginia City; soon boasted a stock exchange, mansions for the mining kings, fancy hotels, and a theater; when this played out in the early 1880s, Virginia City declined and became a ghost town.
boomtown
mid-to-late nineteenth-century frontier settlements created virtually overnight following the news of a gold strike; a high ratio of men to women and a transient population added to their rough-and-tumble atmosphere.
chinese exclusion act
barred further entry of Chinese laborers into the country.
oliver kelley
in 1867, he founded the National Grange of the Patrons of Husbandry mainly in hopes of improving the social life of farm families; a government clerk.
sitting bull
gathered on the Little Big Horn with Sioux and Cheyenne warriors and won that battle; attacked Custer; finally moved out of reservations; him and followers retreated to Canada, but in 1881 after five hard years they recrossed the border and surrendered at Fort Buford, Montana.
geronimo
- chief of the Apache, who made life miserable for white settlers in the Southwest; he was finally captured in 1886.
helen jackson
wrote A Century of Dishonor, which told the story of the unjust treatment of the Indians; boosted the Indian Rights Association after the Civil War
john muir
- arrived in California and headed straight for Yosemite; naturalist; became devoted to studying the High Sierras and protecting the from "despoiling gain-seekers... eagerly trying to make everything immediately and selfishly commercial;" result was the creation of California's national parks in 1890; preservationist.
liberal republicans
led by intellectuals, journalists, and reform-minded businessmen; wanted to replace corporate patronage with a merit-based system of appointments; disliked government activism spawned by the Civil war crisis; believed in free trade, market competition and limited government; candidate was Horace Greely for the Election of 1872.
civil rights act of 1875
- that everyone, no matter what race or color, was entitled to the same treatment in public areas; later it was declared unconstitutional (1883).
tweed ring
gathered a small group of men who controlled New York City's finances; They dispensed jobs and contracts in return for political support and bribes; broken by Samuel Tilden
ulysses grant
- his administration led to a revolt inside the Republican Party; won the election of 1872
samuel tilden
democratic opponent of Grant during the political crisis of 1877; governor of New York; wealthy lawyer with ties to Wall Street and a reputation for helping to break the grip of the thieving Tweed Ring on New York City politics; favored home rule for the South
rutherford hayes
favored home rule for the South, but did so more discreetly than Samuel Tilden; ended up winning the election of 1877 against Tilden.