Name:__________
Hour:______
Unit 2 Test: Study Guide
1. Why did people move west starting in the 1860’s? How did the government
encourage people and businesses to move west? (Be sure to mention the Morrill-Land
Grant and Homestead Acts)
-Technological advances allowed for an easier life in the west. New ways to farm,
mineral deposits, and ways to make money from ranching led to western movement.
The government encouraged through cheap and legal ways to obtain land. The
Morrill Act( gave lands to set up higher education) as well as the Homestead and
Dawes Act which provided 160 acres to heads of households if they were willing to
settle on a piece of land and cultivate it for 5 years.
2. What impact did the increase of wheat on the world market have on farmers on the
Great Plains? How did farmers attempt to survive?
-The increase of wheat on the world market forced the price to decrease cutting the
farmers profit. This drove many individual farmers out of business forcing them to
sell land/ mortgage land for survival. Bonanza farms were able to survive due to large
amounts of acreage.
3. How did big business impact farming, ranching, and mining?
-Individual farmers were replaced by bonanza farms. Once shallow deposits were
depleted in boomtowns, large mining companies moved in to make a profit through
hydraulic and quarts mining. Once farmers settled and fenced off the open range most
ranchers were unable to stay in business, railroads began to run lines south to cash in
on the ranching industry.
4. Explain placer mining, hydraulic mining, quartz mining.
-Placer- picks, shovels, panning for shallow deposits done by the individual.
Hydraulic was done by companies and required blasting surface soot away with high
pressured water, quarts was digging shafts into the ground in order to get mineral
deposits form deep within the ground.
5. What is the long drive? How did barbed wire play a role in the ending of long drives?
6. Why was there so much violence between Native Americans and Americans?
Explain the experiences of the most important tribes and their chiefs during the Indian
Wars. (Be sure to explain, Wounded Knee, Chief Joseph and the Nez Perce, the
Dakota Sioux Uprising, Sand Creek Massacre and Little Big Horn.)
-Wounded Knee- 200 unarmed Lakota Sioux were killed due to the ghost dance, and killing of sitting bull.
-Nez Perce- demonstrates that even peaceful natives would be targeted and result in violence, several native
killed white tourists. The U.S. army began pursuing the Nez Perce and eventually they were exile to
Oklahoma.
-Dakota Sioux uprising-failure to pay annuities caused an uprising.
-Sand Creek- Cheyenne and Arapaho had been raiding supply wagon trains, 200 dead. U.S. army begins to
challenge natives. At Ft. Lyon the Cheyenne tried to negotiate a peace deal. Col. John Chivington refused
and massacred the natives at Sand Creek
7. What is assimilation and how did the U.S. government try to assimilate Native
Americans into our culture?
8. What was it like to be a farmer and rancher on the Great Plains? What farming and
ranching changes occurred in the late 1800s?
9. How did new innovations in business organization(economies of scale, monopolies,
laissez-faire, Gross National Product, entrepreneur) and technology help American
Industry grow?
10. What were the controversies surrounding American businessmen such as Carnegie
and Rockefeller during the 19th Century?
11. How did new technologies in the late 19th century affect the average person’s life?
12. Why was wealth distributed so unevenly during the Industrial Revolution? How did
workers respond to these inequalities?
13. Why did unions grow in prominence as a result of inequalities in the workplace?
How did employers and the government respond to unions and striking in the early
industrial era?(Be sure to explain the Pullman strike, Great Railroad Strike,
Homestead, and Haymarket Riot.)
14. How did Social Darwinism and the idea of laissez faire affect people’s attitudes
toward the poor?
15. Where did immigrants entering into the U.S. come from in 1900? What brought them
to the U.S.
16. When immigrants came to America, where did they usually settle? Why did they
settle in these places?
17. How did immigration from Europe change between the years 1890 and 1900? Why
did it change?
18. Why did cities grow during the Gilded Age? Describe the living conditions in cities
and explain the influence of political machines.
19. Explain ways in which American society changed during the Gilded Age including
leisure time (sports, saloons, vaudeville etc.) and education.
20. What complaints did the Populists make during the Gilded Age? How did they want
to fix these problems?
21. How did Booker T. Washington and WEB Dubois differ on education for African
Americans? What did these men and groups like the NAACP and the Niagara
Movement do to help stop discrimination?
22. What were Jim Crow laws? How were they enforced? How was it applied to
Southern society?
23. What was Plessy v. Ferguson? Why did this decision create inequality instead of
fixing it?