Notes Ch 5: Changes on the
Western Frontier
Chapter 5 Section 1: Cultures Clash on
the Prairie (vocabulary card)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Great Plains: grasslands in middle of US
Treaty of Fort Laramie: 1868, Sioux agree to live on reservation
Sitting Bull: Leader of Hunkpapa Sioux
George Custer: Colonel of US Cavalry
Assimilation: make Native Americans part of white culture
Dawes Act: Law that broke up Native American reservations
Battle of Wounded Knee: US massacre of Sioux at Wounded Knee
Creek, South Dakota
8. Longhorn: Cattle accustomed to grasslands
9. Chisolm Trail: Major cattle route from San Antonio, TX to Kansas
10. Long drive: 3 month overland transport of cattle
Notes
• Culture of Plains Indians, Settlers Push
Westward
– Native Americans lived on Great Plains
– Life centered around buffalo
– Lived in small extended family groups
– After Civil War, white settlers move to Great Plains
Government Restricts Native
Americans; Bloody Battles Continue
• Clashes between Native Americans and
settlers
• Massacre at Sand Creek: Army attacked and
killed 200 Cheyenne in retaliation to an attack
on settlers
• Battle of Little Big Horn: George Custer and
troops defeated by Sioux Indians and their
leader Sitting Bull
The Government Supports
Assimilation; The Battle of Wounded
Knee
• Government expected Native Americans to give
up their beliefs and become part of white culture
• Dawes Act 1887 broke up reservations and gave
land to Native American families for farming
• White settlers killed nearly all buffalo
• Sioux practices Ghost Dance to replenish buffalo
• Nervous US army kill 300 unarmed Sioux at Battle
of Wounded Knee
Cattle Becomes Big Business; A Day in
the Life of a Cowboy; The End of the
Open Range
• Cattle ranchers drove cattle from San Antonio,
TX to Kansas to be shipped to Chicago meat
packing factories
• Cowboys worked 10-14 hour days, worked in
mostly in spring and summer
• Bad weather and new technology brought an
end to the open range
Chapter 5 Section 2: Settling the Great
Plains (vocabulary card)
1. Homestead Act: offered free land to western
settlers
2. Exodusters: African-American settlers in
West
3. Soddy: frontier home dug into side of hill or
made of sod
4. Morrill Act: established agricultural colleges
5. Bonanza farm: Large, single crop farms
Notes Chapter 5 Section 2: Settling on
the Great Plains
Settlers Move Westward to Farm
• Transcontinental Railroad encouraged settlers to move west
• US gov’t gave huge tracts of land to railroad companies
• Central Pacific from Sacramento, California and Union
Pacific from Omaha, Nebraska build railroad from east to
west and meet at Promontory Point, Utah
• Irish, Chinese, Germans, African-Americans, and Mexican
Americans work on railroads
• Railroad sold some of their land and recruited people from
Europe to settle in west
• Homestead Act offered 160 acres to anyone that would
farm it for 5 years
• 1872: Yellowstone National Park was created
Settlers Meet the Challenges of the
Plains
• Endured hardships: harsh climates, Native
American attacks, isolation
• Lack of building materials led settlers to build
unique homes
• New technology like the steel plow, barbed wire,
reaper, and windmills made farming easier
• Colleges formed to study new farming techniques
• Farmers risked losing their land by going into
debt to get supplies
Chapter 5 Section 3: Farmers and the
Populist Movement (vocabulary card)
1. Oliver Hudson Kelley: founded the Grange
2. Grange: Organization that fought for farmers’ rights
3. Populism: Political movement to help farmers and
laborers
4. Bimetallism: backing money with gold and silver
5. Gold standard: back dollars with gold
6. William McKinley: 1896 Republican Pres. Nominee
7. William Jennings Bryan: 1896 Democratic/Populist
presidential nominee
Notes: Ch 5 Section3: Farmers and
the Populist Movement
Farmers Unite to Address Common
Problems
• Farmers facing financial problems after Civil War
• Withdrawal of “greenbacks” meant farmers would have
to pay back loans with money worth more than what
they borrowed
• Farmers wanted government to increase the money
supply
• Farmers paid high prices to transport crops
• O. H. Kelley organized the Grange to discuss social and
educational issues of farmers, but also fought railroads’
unfair pricing
• Farmers’ Alliances worked with farmers to help them
get lower interest rates and protest railroads
Rise and Fall of Populism
• Populist Party/People’s Party formed to gain more
political and economic power for common people
• Made government more democratic: direct election of
senators and secret ballot
• Panic of 1893 led to the issue of backing paper money
with gold, or gold and silver
• Silverites favored bimetallism to increase money supply
and raise prices
• Gold bugs favored gold standard to keep prices low
• Election of 1896: William McKinley wins and Populism
ends