Chapter 14 Terms

Front 1

Assimilation

Back 1

Process by which people of one culture merge into and become part of another culture

Front 2

Battle of little big horn

Back 2

1876 Sioux victory over army troops led by George Custer

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Bimetallic Standard

Back 3

Currency of the U.S., prior to 1873, which consisted of gold or silver coins as well as U.S. treasory notes that could be traded in for gold or silver

Front 4

Bland-Allison Act

Back 4

1878 law that required the federal government to purchase and coin more silver, increasing the money supply and causing inflation

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Bonanza farm

Back 5

Farm controlled by large businesses, men-aged by professionals, and raising massive quantities of single cash crops

Front 6

boomers

Back 6

settlers who ran in land races to claim land upon the 1889 opening of Indian Territory for settlement

Front 7

Cross of Gold Speech

Back 7

William Jennings Bryan’s 1896 address at the Democratic Convention; one of the most famous speeches in American history

Front 8

Dawes Act

Back 8

1887 law that divided reservation land into private family plots

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Deflation

Back 9

a drop in the prices of goods

Front 10

Dry farming

Back 10

techniques used to raise crops in areas that receive little rain; water conservation techniques

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Exoduster

Back 11

an African American who migrated to the West after the Civil War

Front 12

Free silver

Back 12

the unlimited coining of silver dollars

Front 13

Ghost Dance

Back 13

a Native American purification ritual

Front 14

Great Plains

Back 14

grassland between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains

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Homestead Act

Back 15

1862 law that gave 160 acres of land to citizens that met certain conditions

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Homestedder

Back 16

one who farmed claims under the homestead

Front 17

Interstate Commerce Act

Back 17

1887 law passed to regulate railroad and other interstate business

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Land Speculator

Back 18

person who buys up large areas of land in the hope of selling them later for a profit

Front 19

Long drive

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: moving of cattle from distant ranges to busy rail road centers that shipped the cattle to the market.

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Massacre at Wounded Knee

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1890 shooting of a group of unarmed Sioux by armed troops

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Monetary policy

Back 21

: the federal governments plan for the makeup and quantity of the nations money supply

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Morrill Land-Grant Act

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passed by congress in 1862, this land distributed millions of acres of western lands to state governments in order to fund state agricultural colleges

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Pacific Railway Acts

Back 23

law passed in 1862 and 1864 giving large land grants to the Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroads

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Placer mining

Back 24

a mining technique in which miners shovel loose dirt into boxes and then run water over the dirt to separate it from gold or silver particles

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Populist

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follower of the People’s Party (or Populist party) formed in 1891 to advocate a larger money supply and other economic reforms

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Push-pull factors

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events and conditions that either force (push) people to move elsewhere or strongly attract (pull) them to do so

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Reservation

Back 27

federal land set aside for Native Americans

Front 28

Sherman Silver Purchase Act

Back 28

law passed by Congress in 1890 to increase the amount of silver the government was required to purchase every month

Front 29

Sooners

Back 29

In 1889, people who illegally claimed land by sneaking past government officials before the land races began

Front 30

The Grange

Back 30

established in 1867 and also known as the Patrons of Husbandry, this organization helped farmers form cooperatives and pressured state legislators to regulate businesses on which farmers depended

Front 31

Turner thesis

Back 31

1893 theory of Frederick Jackson Turner that claimed that the frontier has played a key role in forming the American character