Deck 19: Transforming the West 1865-1890

Question 1

The Central Pacific Railroad company relied heavily on the low-paid, hard work done by:

A) laborers who were native-born Americans.
B) immigrants from eastern Europe.
C) Chinese immigrants.
D) British Americans.

Answer 1

Chinese immigrants.

Question 2

Which statement best describes the cultures of the tribes that lived throughout the West?

A) Most tribes had a difficult time surviving without the benefits of technology.
B) Village Indians were having a difficult time living within the balance of nature.
C) The tribes shared the same rituals in regions from the Mississippi to the Pacific.
D) A wide spectrum of tribes had successfully adapted their lives to a variety of environments.

Answer 2

A wide spectrum of tribes had successfully adapted their lives to a variety of environments.

Question 3

Pueblo society was noted for its:

A) nomadic hunting and herding of sheep.
B) intensive agriculture and unified community goals.
C) reliance on living in small, isolated clans.
D) hunting of buffalo on the Great Plains.

Answer 3

intensive agriculture and unified community goals.

Question 4

All of the following tribes lived on the Great Plains EXCEPT the:

A) Cheyenne.
B) Arapaho.
C) Chinook.
D) Sioux.

Question 5

A common element among all tribes of the West was their:

A) belief that nature was to be shared and not privately owned.
B) use of teepees as an efficient living unit.
C) nomadic wandering, which relied on searching for dietary supplements.
D) belief in the same gods.

Question 6

What event in 1848 started a huge influx of whites into Indian territory?

A) the discovery of gold in Indian territories
B) the passage of the Homestead Act
C) the Sand Creek Massacre
D) the Battle of Little Big Horn

Question 7

The speaker of these words was:

A) United States general, Philip Sheridan.
B) Sioux chief, Sitting Bull.
C) Cheyenne chief, Black Kettle.
D) author, Mark Twain.

Question 8

Who is "they" in this statement?

A) the Sioux
B) immigrants from Asia
C) the Arapaho
D) European-American settlers

Question 9

Which statement best describes the speaker's meaning of "this mysterious power"?

A) the governmental decisions that force Indians off their land
B) the military strength of the combined tribes of the West
C) the god of Christianity that is honored by whites
D) the gods whose spirits are alive in a shared earth

Question 10

When the speaker refers to "fences" and "buildings," he is expressing disenchantment with:

A) the whites' rigid, territorial belief in private property.
B) Indians who have begun to assimilate to the ways of white culture.
C) his white countrymen, who believe in constructing mission homes.
D) people who have no understanding of the aesthetic beauty of art.

Question 11

The speaker concludes that "We cannot live side by side" because:

A) he feels whites will never stop wanting Indian lands.
B) Indians will never tolerate religious ideas expressed by whites.
C) he feels that his white countrymen will buy all of the Indians' land.
D) passage of the Dawes Act came too late to save the Indians.

Question 12

All of the following factors resulted in many Indian deaths on the Great Plains EXCEPT:

A) the spread of smallpox.
B) starvation caused by decimation of the buffalo herds.
C) Indians always refusing to move to new land.
D) the Indians' lack of immunities to new diseases.

Question 13

What statement best describes General Philip Sheridan's views on Indian resistance?

A) "There would be no conflict without the stubborn nature of the Indians."
B) "Looking at the situation, how could anyone expect the Indians to react in any other way?"
C) "The American military has always tried to avoid conflict with Indians."
D) "It is easy to defeat the Indians because they do not fight with honor or bravery."

Question 14

The leader of the Sand Creek Massacre, John Chivington, was:

A) a veteran hero of the Battle of Gettysburg.
B) sent by President Lincoln to negotiate with the Sioux.
C) an advocate of assimilation and coexistence.
D) a Methodist minister.

Question 15

Which state/territory had the greatest percentage of its area as Indian reservation land in the mid-1890s?

A) Wyoming
B) Oklahoma
C) Oregon
D) Nebraska

Question 16

The second Treaty of Fort Laramie:

A) was negotiated in 1879.
B) required the United States to abandon routes traveling through Sioux territory.
C) was a major defeat for the Sioux.
D) was respected by both sides for nearly three decades.

Question 17

Which statement about the Sand Creek Massacre is NOT true?

A) The brutal attack included the killing of women and children.
B) Many white Easterners expressed outrage over the killings.
C) The fighting began when Indians attacked a mining town.
D) The Cheyenne were killed despite their avocation of peace.

Question 18

At the Battle of One Hundred Slain:

A) the Cheyenne were defeated for the final time.
B) the Sioux routed a detachment that was sent to defeat them.
C) the Apaches were defeated, but Geronimo escaped.
D) the forces led by General Custer were annihilated.

Question 19

Whites destroyed the buffalo herds for all of the following reasons EXCEPT:

A) railroad survey operations disrupted grazing areas.
B) white sport hunters killed numerous buffalo.
C) buffalo were killed because they were seen as obstructions to railway traffic.
D) the government believed the Indians would survive better with fewer buffalo.

Question 20

An American force commanded by George A. Custer was overwhelmed during the:

A) Battle of the Little Bighorn.
B) Battle of the Rosebud.
C) Battle of Wounded Knee.
D) Battle of One Hundred Slain.

Question 21

The Sioux were finally defeated:

A) after their defeat at the Battle of Little Big Horn.
B) due to their inexperience in battle situations.
C) as a result of Crazy Horse's failed offensive at the Battle of Rosebud.
D) because they had to divide up their forces to hunt for food.

Question 22

It took 5,000 U.S. troops to capture 36 Apaches led by:

A) Sitting Bull.
B) Crazy Horse.
C) Geronimo.
D) Black Kettle.

Question 23

White reformers on the Board of Indian Commissioners believed that:

A) Indians should be left to live in their traditional ways.
B) Indians should not be taught to speak English.
C) Indians should be assimilated by teaching them to be Christians.
D) Indians should never have to accept the concepts of capitalism.

Question 24

What happened at Wounded Knee, South Dakota, in 1890?

A) The Dawes Act was signed by representatives of the Sioux.
B) Red Cloud addressed his tribe for the final time.
C) Geronimo was captured after eluding the army for two years.
D) At least 150 Sioux men, women, and children were slaughtered.

Question 25

Effects of the Dawes Act included:

A) more Indian land being owned by whites.
B) the widespread conversion of Indians to Christianity.
C) a sharing of natural resources between whites and Indians.
D) an immediate attack by the Sioux against the U.S. army.

Question 26

The first large gold rush in the Rocky Mountains occurred in:

A) the northern mountains of California.
B) the desert plains of Arizona.
C) the mountains of Colorado.
D) northwestern Oregon.

Question 27

All of the following statements are true about typical mining towns EXCEPT:

A) populations were overwhelmingly male.
B) saloons were very prevalent among local businesses.
C) personal violence was less common than collective acts of violence.
D) as towns developed, local agriculture and transportation decreased.

Question 28

Which of the following states had the least significant gold and/or silver deposits?

A) California
B) Idaho
C) North Dakota
D) South Dakota

Question 29

The Central Pacific Railroad had its terminus in:

A) California.
B) Oregon.
C) Washington.
D) British Columbia.

Question 30

The Chisholm Trail did NOT travel through:

A) Texas.
B) Nebraska.
C) Oklahoma.
D) Indian Territory.

Question 31

Which statement about prostitutes in mining towns is NOT true?

A) Many prostitutes came from broken homes.
B) As men came to control vice, many prostitutes suffered alcoholism and violence.
C) Many women chose prostitution because economic options were limited for them.
D) Most prostitutes were able to save enough to buy small homes or businesses.

Question 32

In Roughing It, Mark Twain wrote that men became influential in mining towns by selling:

A) governmental positions.
B) whiskey.
C) guns.
D) pardons for cattle-rustling.

Question 33

Which group suffered from the most prejudice in mining towns?

A) native-born whites
B) Irish-Americans
C) German-Americans
D) Chinese-Americans

Question 34

Mining eventually became a corporate operation because:

A) individual miners left the region because of conflict with Indians.
B) Indians sold their native lands to mining capitalists.
C) massive capital investment in equipment was conducive to financial success.
D) ethnic disputes destroyed unity in old mining towns.

Question 35

The development of mining technology resulted in:

A) less use of skilled labor.
B) much higher wages for mine workers.
C) economic depression in the West.
D) fewer deaths on the job.

Question 36

Poor conditions for miners resulted in:

A) management offering higher wages to immigrant workers only.
B) widespread unionization movements by miners.
C) a collapse of the industry's financial foundation.
D) a return to small-scale prospecting enterprises.

Question 37

Violence and conflict often erupted between miners and mine owners due to:

A) the lack of law enforcement in the West.
B) the refusal of owners to use court injunctions.
C) the practice of hiring native-born labor.
D) conditions caused by the industrialization of mining.

Question 38

All of the following statements about the Cattle Kingdom are true EXCEPT:

A) the food needs of urban areas in the East aided the economic growth of the West.
B) large-scale capital investment was not a major part of the Cattle Kingdom's growth.
C) the expansion of the railway industry helped transport meat throughout the U.S.
D) cowboys often made fortunes in ranching after investing their earnings.

Question 39

Joseph McCoy made an important decision when he:

A) decided to counterattack Sioux forces near Wounded Knee, South Dakota.
B) invested large amounts of capital to mine ore in Colorado.
C) established a northern shipping point for cattle in Abilene, Kansas.
D) sponsored passage of the Dawes Act.

Question 40

The Chisholm Trail was used to:

A) make it easier for pioneers to enter California.
B) move the Sioux to government-run reservations.
C) ship mining deposits to the East.
D) drive cattle northward.

Question 41

Which of the following was NOT a cow town?

A) Ellsworth
B) Dodge City
C) San Antonio
D) Cheyenne

Question 42

El Paso, Texas, became a major town when it:

A) emerged as a mining town that was inexpensive and cheap.
B) served as a military outpost in conflicts with the Navajos.
C) was discovered that huge gold reserves were located near its border.
D) built upon its existence as a center of shipping for cattle.

Question 43

The corporate cattle boom collapsed because:

A) the industry never succeeded in attracting foreign capital.
B) law enforcers could never stop the persistent stealing of cattle.
C) corporations overstocked ranges, which caused ecological disaster.
D) cowboys refused to work on corporate-owned ranges.

Question 44

Ecological disasters that plagued the Cattle Kingdom included all of the following EXCEPT:

A) the overgrowth of sagebrush as a result of overstocked ranges.
B) a series of deadly tornadoes that destroyed commercial ranges.
C) a prolonged drought that lasted through the mid-1880s.
D) the death of millions of cattle during the blizzards of the late 1880s.

Question 45

Which group was not a major part of the people known as "cowboys"?

A) African-Americans
B) Irish-Americans who left urban areas in the East
C) Mexican-Americans
D) ex-Confederates who did not return home after the Civil War

Question 46

All of the following statements are true about cowboys EXCEPT:

A) landowners never stopped cowboys from the practice of "mavericking" cattle.
B) they sometimes went on strike to protest low wages.
C) their image of rugged individuality was more myth than reality.
D) cowboys were initially seasonal employees who worked closely with owners.

Question 47

Canada's western development was least similar to America's in this respect:

A) mining.
B) cattle.
C) Indian policy.
D) homesteading.

Question 48

Australia's late nineteenth-century pastoral economy was based on:

A) cattle.
B) goats.
C) horses.
D) sheep.

Question 49

The Homestead Act:

A) promised freedom from taxation for middle-class landholders in the West.
B) guaranteed free acres of land to citizens who farmed the land for five years.
C) actually had the effect of slowing white settlement in the West.
D) gave away far more land to common people than had been given to railway companies.

Question 50

The Morrill Act was designed to promote:

A) homesteading.
B) agricultural colleges.
C) mining.
D) railroad expansion.

Question 51

Farming in the West:

A) had very similar conditions to the family farm of the East.
B) failed to become a major aspect of local economies.
C) was stimulated by the fact that most settlers received their land for free.
D) required a much larger scale of farming to achieve success.

Question 52

Railway companies encouraged settlers to come to the West:

A) because they could not find laborers to build rail lines.
B) so they would grow food that could be transported on rail lines.
C) because they wanted to distribute free land to new settlers.
D) so that Christianity could become the official religion in state constitutions.

Question 53

The Santa Fe Ring:

A) resisted the settlement of Anglo ranchers.
B) petitioned the president to endure civil rights for Indians.
C) were laborers from France and Italy who worked in vineyards.
D) seized millions of acres through fraud and legal manipulation.

Question 54

Which statement would have most likely been said by a member of Las Gorras Blancas?

A) "We must coexist with white property-owners if we are to prosper."
B) "Retaining Hispanic titles to great tracts of land is our greatest accomplishment."
C) "We raid at night, if needed, to stop the Anglo encroachment on our land."
D) "We denounce the portion of our heritage that is Indian."

Question 55

White pioneers on the Great Plains faced all of the following problems EXCEPT:

A) scarcities of water that harmed survival and domestic labor.
B) the loud clamoring of crowded neighbors who rushed to build housing.
C) a shortage of trees, which meant there was little wood for housing.
D) sod houses being plagued by snakes, mice, and insects.

Question 56

Today, Native Americans rank ___________________ on most measures of economic well being.

A) at the bottom
B) as just below average
C) as just above average
D) at or near the top

Question 57

In the 1970s, official investigations labeled Bureau of Indian Affairs attempts to force Indians to adopt white culture a/an:

A) "near-total success."
B) "qualified success."
C) "endeavor with mixed results."
D) "near total failure."

Question 58

A lack of timber caused a shortage of fencing that was finally solved by:

A) the invention of barbed wire.
B) less rigid concepts of private property.
C) military patrols of land boundaries belonging to small farmers.
D) a reliance on free-range farming.

Question 59

Many farmers of the Great Plains turned to growing wheat because:

A) the market for corn and cotton no longer existed.
B) farmers in the East had a monopoly on all other products.
C) it was more resistant to drought than corn.
D) the government subsidized small farmers' efforts to grow it.

Question 60

As western farming was incorporated into national life, it relied on all of the following EXCEPT:

A) rail transportation.
B) growing markets.
C) increased mechanization.
D) foreign capital.

Question 61

In the 1880s, western farmers were plagued by severe drought and:

A) protective trade barriers established by several foreign nations.
B) consistent victories by Indians on the Great Plains.
C) swarms of grasshoppers and mice that destroyed crops.
D) an increase in wheat prices that weakened their markets.

Question 62

The westward expansion had all of the following effects EXCEPT:

A) specialization of farm labor in the West.
B) aggressive exploitation of natural resources.
C) vast wealth for many pioneers.
D) the displacing of all Indian tribes.

Question 63

What is the correct order of events?

A) Sand Creek Massacre, Battle of Little Big Horn, gold found in Colorado
B) Gold found in Colorado, Sand Creek Massacre, Battle of Little Big Horn
C) Sand Creek Massacre, gold found in Colorado, Battle of Little Big Horn
D) Battle of Little Big Horn, gold found in Colorado, Sand Creek Massacre

Question 64

Which headline would have appeared in 1890?

A) "Invention of Barbed Wire Will Revolutionize Farming on the Great Plains"
B) "Civil War General Custer Killed by Sioux Attack"
C) "Rail Line Stretches to Pacific Coast!"
D) "Ghost Dance Ended as Militia Executes Sioux"

Question 65

Which event happened during the Civil War?

A) transcontinental railroad completed
B) passage of the Dawes Act
C) gold discovered in the Black Hills
D) the Sand Creek Massacre

Question 66

Which event happened last?

A) gold discovered in Idaho
B) the Battle of Little Big Horn
C) the massacre at Wounded Knee, South Dakota
D) transcontinental railroad completed

Question 67

"Exoduster" towns of blacks were established in Kansas and Nebraska in the:

A) 1860s.
B) 1870s.
C) 1880s.
D) 1890s.

Question 68

Which event happened first?

A) Battle of Little Bighorn
B) Wounded Knee Massacre
C) second Fort Laramie Treaty
D) passage of the Dawes Act

Question 69

In what year was the Western Federation of Miners created?

A) 1849
B) 1874
C) 1881
D) 1893

Question 70

What unique challenges faced white settlers on the Great Plains?

Question 71

In what ways did the Dawes Act aid and/or harm Indians?

Question 72

What combination of factors boosted the fortunes of agriculture in the West?

Question 73

How was the nature of the Cattle Kingdom changed by labor and environmental conditions?

Question 74

What were the major cultural differences that led to conflicts between whites and Indians on the Great Plains? Describe specific examples of these conflicts. Do you feel that these conflicts could have been avoided? Why or why not?

Question 75

What role did the mining industry play in migration to the West? What social trends and conflicts emerged as a result of this expansion of mining into the West?

Question 76

Compare and contrast the lives of women in the working class of the industrial Northeast with the lives of pioneer women of the Great Plains. If you had to choose, which life would you have preferred?

Question 77

How did railroads shape the settlement and development of the West? Give examples of the positive and negative effects of rail lines spreading from coast to coast.

Question 78

Analyze the cultural confrontations and class conflicts that developed as the railroad industry, Cattle Kingdom, and mining industry grew.

Question 79

Evaluate Sitting Bull's contention that the Plains Indians and whites "cannot live together." What evidence supports his claim? Can you think of policies or decisions, if they had been used, that would have made it possible for the two peoples to peacefully coexist? If no, why not?