U. S. History I-AP
Ms. Horn
The Emergence of Modern America
(Part I: The Development of the West: Exploitation and Expansion)
Unit Readings
The Enduring Vision, sections from Chapter 17
1. Intro- The Transformation of Indian Life (535-541)
1. Take note of the changes to Plains Indians since European settlement, the diversity among
tribes, generalizations of Plains Indian cultures, and impact of interaction with white Americans.
trans-Mississippi West
buffalo
reservations
Sand Creek Massacre
Bozeman Trail
Great Plains
William F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody
Bureau of Indian Affairs
Colonel John M. Chivington
Board of Indian Commissioners
2. Custer’s Last Stand - Ghost Dance (541-547)
1. How did various Indian tribes react to American attempts to take their land?
2. What role did missionaries play in U.S. - Indian relations?
3. Understand the divisions among the Sioux, their relationship to their land, and how the U.S.
reacted when gold was found there.
4. What actions did the U.S. government take to subdue the Indian population? To “civilize”
them?
Red River War
Sitting Bull
Treaty of Fort Laramie
Colonel George Armstrong Custer
Black Hills
Chief Joseph/ Nez Perce
Carlisle Indian School
Dawes Severalty Act
Wounded Knee
Battle of Little Bighorn/ “Custer’s Last Stand”
Richard H. Pratt
Helen Hunt Jackson, A Century of Dishonor
Ghost Dance/ Wovoka
3. Settling the West – Building a Society (547-556)
1. Contrast the opportunity of the west with the hardship of the west.
2. Was the west more egalitarian than the east? Explain
3. How did farmers feel exploited by big business, and what steps did they take to improve their
situation? To what degree were they successful?
Union Pacific/ Central Pacific
Promontory Point, Utah
federal land grants
Timber Culture Act, 1873
Oliver O. Kelley
Munn v. Illinois
4.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Exploiting the West – The Oklahoma Land Rush (556-562)
What impact did mining have on the settlement of the West? The cattle industry?
To what degree did the West give the poor man the opportunity to strike it rich?
What roles did blacks and Mexicans play in the cattle industry?
How did the Panic of 1873 affect life in the West?
How did the U.S. justify opening Oklahoma to white settlers?
Comstock Lode
Joseph McCoy
Sooners
5.
1.
2.
3.
Transcontinental Railroad
Pacific Railroad Act, 1862
Homestead Act
Desert Land Act, 1877
The Grange
Boom towns
Oklahoma land rush
The West of Life and Legend – Conclusion ( 562-565)
How did the mythic West impact American culture?
How did the mythic West differ from the reality?
Describe the origins of the conservation movement.
Frederick Jackson Turner
frontier thesis
John Wesley Powell
John Muir
Yosemite National Park, 1890
“The Significance of the Frontier in American History”
Frederic Remington
George Perkins Marsh
Yellowstone National Park, 1872