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44 Cards in this Set
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Dime Novel
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Exaggerated, fictional novels written on great adventures in the west. Called 'dime novels' because they only cost a dime. They became very popular in the East for curious easterners. Buffalo Bill and Jesse James got their insane reputations from these novels. Famous novelists: Natalie Acres, Ray Foster, and Chuck Lewis
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John Chivington
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Just after gold was discovered in Sand Creek, Colorado, John Chivington passing through town with his little army. Black Kettle and his tribe lived nearby- they were friendlies who were flying the American flag. Chivington went in the village and killed everyone in it. Example of white brutality to Indians, and Colorado loved Chivington for it.
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Turkey Red Wheat
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A type of wheat from Russia that grows in very arid environments. This was useful in the Great Plains because it made the 'great American desert' the 'bread basket of America,' and of the world for that matter. A country that can feed itself is a happy country.
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George Catlin
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An artist who painted native Americans to display their dying culture to Americans. This was important because it was a source of light in the typically dark interaction between whites and Indians. Obviously his works did not open the government's eves much though because it didn't care much about Indians even after Catlin.
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Gifford Pinchot
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He is sometimes referred to as "the father of American Conservation" because of his conservative efforts for the protection of forests. Founded the Society of American Foresters. Important because of all the foresting corporations tearing down the forests and not replanting any of the trees.
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Chisholm Trail
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This was a major trail that cowboys used in the late 19th century to get longhorns from Texas to Kansas. It was important because of the size of the cow-moving operations. And cow-towns popped up at the end of the trail in Kansas.
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Homestead Act
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Passed in 1863. People called for free distribution of land. And, the government wanted to fill up the great plains area. So, sections of 160 square miles were given to people willing to settle on the plains. Recipients had to be head of the family and part of the union (since this was during the civil war). It was a revolutionary idea in terms of distributing land, and it was one of the most important pieces of legislation in U.S. history.
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Bonanza Farms
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these were the extremely profitable wheat farms along the railroads on the great plains. Called bonanza farms because of their success. The railroads around them made profit margin better, and the new technology like the reaper and John Deere plow made the harvesting process more efficient. The enormous output of wheat from these farms allowed America to feed itself.
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Thomas Moran
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This guy was a painter of the western landscape, and his works encouraged Americans to put forth effort to conserve western land and resources. Important because all the extractive industries did just the opposite.
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Cesar Chavez
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This was a Latino guy who stood up for Mexicans' rights to farm and coexist with white people in society. He and his buddies created the United Farm Workers, the first organization specific to farmers' rights since the 1930's. He was able to raise the payment to the workers in the UFW.
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Teddy Roosevelt
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He was all for Reserving stuff for later usage of resources. Conservation yes. He created lots and lots of national parks and wildlife reserves. His main purpose was to reserve natural resources because he was paranoid that America would run out.
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Indian Claims Commission
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This was a legislative committee put together to examine and justify all the wrong-doings that the American government did against the Indians. this was significant because it was the first cooperative effort by the American government to correct the problems it created. A little too late, though.
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Nat Love
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Nat "Deadwood Dick" Love. He was a Horse-dealer. He broke in horses for 5 cents a piece. He wrote an autobiography, and everything in it was really exaggerated. Probably pretty significant that he was a black guy. One of the cowboys that went up to Kansas with the longhorns and stuff.
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Longhorn
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This was a special type of bull that came exclusively out of Texas. It was exceptional because of its elongated horns and aggressive nature. The meat was not all that great, but it was in high demand. These cows were the ones that the cowboys herded to Kansas. Note they were immune to Texas Fever, but they carried it. So eventually, longhorns were banned from Texas.
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Wovoka
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This guy was a Payutte Indian who claimed to experience a vision from the Christian God that taught him a new, holy dance. some referred to this dance as 'the ghost dance.' It was a hit among native Americans. Some even thought that when they did the dance, their clothes were bullet proof. The result was dead people. As the dance caught on, it underwent some variations, so there remained some ambiguity about the original dance.
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John Muir
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this was an author in the west who wrote on the beauty of western nature. He was also a naturalist and a conservationist. So, he joins the club of early Americans who tried to save the west's forests and stuff through arts.
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Chief Joseph
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This dude was a leader of the Nez Perce Indians. U.S. wanted their land, so we tried to squeeze them into a reservation. The Nez Perce resisted. They killed many people and fled. They were almost in the clear when the US Army surrounded them. Chief Joseph was the only chief left, and he surrendered his people to the Army. It just shows how much we mistreated them, and how futile their efforts were to resist us. We caught them anyway.
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Ghost Dance
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Wovoka, said that God came to him and told him that if he sang and danced a certain way, the Americans would leave, the Buffalo would come back, and the dead Indians would come back to life. Called The Ghost Dance. Indians desperate to re-establish unity.
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Horace Greeley
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He was a main editor in the New York Weekly Tribune. His famous quote, "go west, young man." He was a major advocate for westward industrial expansion. People like this guy spread the word of opportunity to young, mostly unmarried, Americans. Sometimes the words were true. Sometimes they weren't. Nevertheless, the Greely and the Weekly Tribune got people to go west.
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Populists
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This was a party functioning on a progressive platform. They wanted an 8-hour day, free silver (inflation), government ownership of transportation, and the direct election of senators. Mainly functioned from about 1880-1892. When McKinley won the next election, it proved that no third party would ever win a presidential election. Populist ideals still pervade in the government.
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Owen Wister
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This guy was originally a Boston businessman, but he abandoned the city life to become a rancher with Theodore Roosevelt and Fredrick Remington. He returned to the east and wrote about his adventures with his friends. His breakthrough novel was THE VIRGINIAN. This was the most widely read western of all time.
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Buffalo Bill's Wild West
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in 1846, Buffalo Bill Cody rode on the Pony Express at the age of 14, fought in the American Civil War, served as a scout for the Army, and was already an Old West legend before mounting his famous Wild West show, which traveled the United States and Europe. It was an extremely exaggerated version of the story of the west. But unfortunately, that was the story that prevailed across America.
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Gentlemen's Agreement
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an agreement that Theodore Roosevelt made with the Japanese government when too many Japanese immigrants were flooding California. It stopped all immigration except for the wives of men Japanese men who were already in America
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Frederic Remington
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an artist who along with Theodore Roosevelt, and the writer Owen Wister, went West even after the supposed “close of the frontier” to find themselves in a test of manhood by struggling against raw nature. Remington was escaping a domineering mother who ridiculed his art and told him to take a real man’s job. He wished to cut women out of his life forever. He was said to have returned as a changed man. A cowboy. He went on to become America’s most successful commercial illustrator.
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Frederick Jackson Turner
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The righter of the “frontier thesis” published in 1893. He believed that the great west, the frontier, was the basis of the history of the United States. He also deemed the frontier officially closed in 1890. He became a one of the nation’s greatest historians.
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Yellowstone
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Yellowstone was the first "pubic park" that was set aside for the benefit and enjoyment of all the people. Yellowstone National park buffalo herd is the largest current herd on the continent.
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Benjamin Singleton
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He led black people, exodusters, out to the plains. He was a businessman. He charged all the exodusters that he escorted a $5 fee. Getting money. In return, the blacks got 160 acres of land in Kansas. The land was not good. Nothing to build houses with. They struggled to survive, so they turned back to the south.
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William Fetterman
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He claimed he could ride through the entire sue nation with 80 men. He was ordered not to go over lone pine ridge. Which he does anyways. 2000 indians were there. Fetterman and his men were killed in a couple minutes. Indians call it "battle of 100 slain". Whites call it the "Fetterman massacre".
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Exodusters
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Benjamin "Pap" Singleton. He led black people out to the plains. They were called the "Exodusters." They left because they didn't want to live in the unfair south anymore. Just run away from oppression. Many of these Exodusters left for Kansas. Kansas people welcomed the black people with open arms. Of course, the southerners didn't want the black laborers to leave. Makes sense. As they left, they sent letters back to their fellow black people saying that the government reserved the State of Kansas for black people to chill there.
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7th Cavalry
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George Armstrong Custer was sent with the 7th calvarly to survey the black hills. Sent to look for railroad. Actually to find a place for a fort. Ended up finding gold. Once word got out the army couldn't keep the minors out. The black hills is considered the holy place for the Sioux. Government offer to pay them for the hills but they say no.
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Grangers
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Originally a fraternal organization. Provided social events and gatherings for farmers. Often for farmers wives. Brings far off families together. Being social was appealing. Was growing slowly until a Panic of 1873. They it grew rapidly and it slowly turned into a political group. Start creating cooperatives: stores with cheaper goods for farmers, cheaper insurance (state farm, allstate, etc). Granger laws were created to regulate railroad rates and rebates, and prices of grains and stuff. Several laws were declared unconstitutional. But finally pushed through the Interstate Commerce act, 1887.
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Soddie
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poor tenant farmers that migrator west with home to climb the agricultural ladder built homes from the earth. They worked tough grassbound sod into bricks 1ft wide and 3ft long. They stacked them to create walls about 3ft thick. Two forked tree trunks would hold the ridgepole and tar paper would cover the rafters. These created cheap little homes called “soddies”.
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Dust Bowl
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A drought gripped the entire nation in the 1930s but hit the great plains the hardest. Thousands of people migrated to the pacific coast to escape the agricultural crisis. Huge dust storms swept across the plains and so it was called the Dust Bowl.
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Sitting Bull
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he was a Sioux holy man and tribal chief during years spent resisting the United States government. He motivated the Sioux to victory at the Battle of Little Bighorn. He worked with Buffalo Bill Kody in his wild west show for a while and made money by signing and selling pictures of himself. He was eventually killed at standing rock reservation when the government became afraid that he would join the ghost dance movement, which he had believed in. His death sent ripples of strong reaction across the country.
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Greenbacks
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greenbacks were the name for fiat money. The greenback party greatly supported the use of greenbacks saying that a growing industrial economy needed an expanding money supply. The farmers supported the use of greenbacks because it made their prices rise. During the Civil War congress had allowed the first federal issue of greenbacks, but afterwards when the congress ordered the retirement of greenbacks farmers not only received less for their crops, but had to pay back loans with money worth more than the money they had borrowed.
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Indian Reorganization Act
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Drafted by John Collier, the new commissioner of Indian affairs under Roosevelt, the Indian Reorganization Act put an end to the government campaign of repression and started an era of Indian cultural freedom. It was the most radical shift in Indian policy in American history. It allowed for religious freedom on all Indian Reservations.
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Mary Elizabeth Lease
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a good representation for the Populist Party, Mary Lease was a former homesteader and one of the first women to practice law in Kansas. She became known for her speaking style with biblical imagery, wit, and radicalism. She also had a hand in the Grange and the Farmers Alliance. These western parties allowing woman to take part as members was a critical part of the west being the first place to allow woman suffrage.
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Forest Reserve Act
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This act gives power to the president to create forest reserves for public use. The public thought this power would be used sparingly, but over the next decade over 47-million forested acres would become protected. But congress made it clear that the reserves were not intended for preservation but rather for use.
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Wounded Knee
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Wounded Knee creek is near the 1890 Wounded Knee Massacre on the Lakota Pine Ridge Indian reservation it was the last battle of the American Indian wars. Some of the remaining 7th cavalry were sent to the camp to disarm the Lakota Indians. A gun went off in a skirmish and it ended in the cavalry open firing on everyone in the camp including woman and children. At least 150 Lakota were killed.
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Great American Desert
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The Great Plains were known as the Great American Desert for a long time. This nickname was rather misleading considering the Great Plains are some of the most fertile lands in the world and lead people to avoid the area for generations before actually settling it. It was also the location of the Dust Bowl in the 1930s during the big drought. The key to turning the Great American Desert into fertile agricultural ground was water. Access to water was necessary for survival.
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Water
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Nothing can exist without water. Water is the key to survival anywhere but especially in the west. As cities developed more water was drained from the environment. Damns, aqueducts, and canals were put in place to sufficiently provide water for all the settlements. The biggest water user was agribusiness. The government had to intervene to cut water usage and start restoration of natural water in the west.
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Polygamy
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Polygamy posed a problem when woman’s’ suffrage came about. It became apparent that the Mormon wives in Utah always voted the same as their husbands. The wives were proved incapable of being independent and the electoral process degraded. After a couple unsuccessful attempts by congress to get rid of polygamy, the Mormons finally agreed in practice (but not in theory) to stop the act. Afterwards congress admitted Utah into the union of states.
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Morrill Act
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This act allowed for the creation of land-grant colleges. It was meant to teach branches such as agriculture and mechanic arts to promote liberal practical education of the industrial classes to get them to pursue professions in life. Basically it got people off their butts and to get an education and do something with it.
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Sod Buster
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Was created by John Deere to make farming in the Great Plains easier. It is what gave him his start. It was also the first in a long line of farming tools and machinery that would be invented for help the agricultural industry boom in the West.
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