Study Guide: The Movement West
Key Terms:
Joseph Smith
Homestead Act
Morrill Land Grant Act
Oklahoma Land Rush
Chief Joseph
Battle of Little Big Horn
Helen Hunt Jackson
Assimilation
William Jennings Bryan
Populists
Greenbacks
Barbed Wire
Sutter’s Mill
Gold Bugs
Brigham Young
Comstock Lode
Dawes Act
Boomers
Sitting Bull
Sand Creek Massacre
Buffalo Soldiers
The Grange
Inflation
Omaha Platform
Munn v. Illinois
Laissez-Faire
Exodusters
Silverites
Mormons
Gold Rush
Wounded Knee
Sooners
Nez Perce War
Ghost Dance
Promontory Point, UT
Farmers Alliance
Deflation
“Cross of Gold” Speech
Wabash v. Illinois
Pacific Railway Act
William McKinley
Flashcards to Make:
1. Who were the Buffalo Soldiers?
2. Who was Chief Joseph?
3. What did the Populists argue in favor of?
4. What is the myth about American cowboys?
5. Why did cattle ranchers and sheep herders not get along?
6. What impact did barbed wire have on the frontier? Who invented it?
7. What year did the frontier close?
8. What did the Dawes Act do? Was it successful?
9. What is assimilation and what did it have to do with Native Americans?
10. What was Brigham Young’s role in the westward movement?
11. What were the push factors for people to move west?
12. What were the pull factors for people to move west?
13. What was the difference between the gold bugs and the silverites?
14. What was the Cross of Gold Speech?
15. What group was talked about in Helen Hunt Jackson’s A Century of Dishonor?
16. What were the Farmer Alliances? How were they different from the Grange?
17. What occurs when more money is put into circulation?
18. What occurs when money is taken out of circulation?
19. What is the nickname of the Battle of Little Big Horn? How was it both a success and a
failure for Native Americans?
20. What Native American battle is associated with the Ghost Dance?
21. What was the Comstock Lode and how did it influence the westward movement?
22. Why was the Homestead Act an incentive for people to move west?
23. How did the Pacific Railway Act and the Morrill Land Grant Act influence expansion?
Questions to Consider:
1. What were the 3 ways in which the government used land as a way to move west?
2. Who benefits from inflation? Why?
3. Who benefits from deflation? Why?
4. What were the ways in which people could get rich out west?
5. What were some ways the very rich in society were exploiting the poor?