APUSH Chapter 16 Study Guide
Topic: Westward expansion concludes; closure of “the last frontier”
Key Concepts:
 Social structures of the ethnic societies in the American West
 Effects of migrations from the East on indigenous cultures
 The role of the frontier in American history and culture
 Wars with Native Americans over control of the American West
 Rise of an agrarian political influence
 NOTE: pay attention to the “Where Historians Disagree” section in this chapter, pp. 466-467
and learn the theses of Frederick Jackson Turner and Henry Nash Smith, also the names of
their important works
I.
II.
III.
IV.
V.
VI.
Native American Societies affected by westward expansion
A. Plains Indians’ lifestyles, tribal structures
B. Plains Indians’ vulnerabilities to white culture
Spanish-speaking populations in the West, and westward expansion
Oriental populations in the West
Patterns of East/West and Europe/America West migration in the 1860s – 1870s
Utah statehood
Indian Resistance, and white response to Indian resistance
A. leaders of Indian resistance (Sitting Bull, Cochese, Geronimo, etc.)
B. causes of Indian resistance (railroad expansion, U.S. policy of concentration, white
westward migration, military atrocities against Indians
Important vocabulary: The Homestead Act of 1862, polygamy, Plains Indians, timbering, upward
mobility, boom town, “the frontier thesis,” Indian concentration, The Ghost Dance, assimilation,
transcontinental railroad, The Dawes Act
Names to know: Stephen Kearney, “the californios,” “the tongs,” “the coolies,” The Six Companies, the
“long drive,” Albert Bierstadt, Frederick Jackson Turner, Henry Nash Smith, Sand Creek Massacre,
Colonel J. M. Chivington, General George Armstrong Custer, Chief Joseph of the Nez Percé, Geronimo,
Sitting Bull, Cochese, Wounded Knee Massacre, Little Big Horn Massacre, Joseph Glidden, Hamlin
Garland, Promontory Point