Question 1

Describe the government's philosophies for the Indian boarding schools in the late nineteenth century. What happened to Indian children once they arrived at these schools?

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Question 2

When Americans spoke of the West after the Civil War, to what areas were they referring? Describe the various ways in which people hoped to make a living in the West in the nineteenth century.

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Question 3

What factors accounted for the decline of the cowboy and the rise of the cattle king?

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Question 4

Who among whites protested the conditions on Indian reservations during the 1880s? How did Congress address these problems?

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Question 5

Which of the following describes African American cowboys in the West in the late nineteenth century?
A) They had a substantial presence in the region but not in the fiction of the time.
B) They were prominently featured in the dime novels of the post-Civil War era.
C) They were an insignificant presence, particularly in Texas and California.
D) They were celebrated in popular fiction despite their small numbers in the region.

Accepted Answer

African American cowboys had a substantial presence in the West in the late nineteenth century, with estimates suggesting that one in four cowboys was African American. However, they were not prominently featured in the fiction of the time, which tended to romanticize and mythologize the figure of the lone, white cowboy.

Question 6

What did the state and federal governments do to encourage railroad construction in the decades after the Civil War?
A) They gave railroad companies 180 million acres of public land.
B) They gave railroads rights-of-way across homesteaders' land.
C) They sold land to railroad companies at bargain prices.
D) They reclaimed acreage already settled by farmers and sold it to the railroads.

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Question 7

Of the 2.5 million farms established between 1860 and 1900, homesteading accounted for what proportion?
A) Three-quarters
B) Two-thirds
C) One-half
D) One-fifth

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Question 8

Between 1870 and 1900, the population of rural America shrank from 80 percent to 66 percent while the agricultural sector of the economy experienced what change?
A) It benefitted from the steady growth of the diversified family farm.
B) It suffered from the removal of government subsidies for small farms.
C) It grew through mechanization, commercialization, and expanding urban markets.
D) It became the primary source of income for laborers in the Northeast.

Accepted Answer

The agricultural sector of the economy grew through mechanization, commercialization, and expanding urban markets. This allowed for larger-scale production and transportation of crops, and the development of new technologies helped to increase productivity. As a result, agriculture became more integrated into the national economy and saw increased profits, despite the decline in rural population.

Question 9

Describe what life was like in the West for Californios and Chinese immigrants in the post-Civil War years.

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Question 10

Describe how the concepts of imperialism and colonialism explain the process of westward expansion in the United States in the nineteenth century?

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Question 11

Describe three important changes in the way farming was carried out after the Civil War.

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Question 12

What did settlers passing through the western portion of Kansas and Nebraska and the eastern portion of Colorado in the years after 1870 call the area?
A) The Comstock Lode
B) Homestead Act Lands
C) The Great American Desert
D) The Near West Plains

Accepted Answer

Settlers passing through the western portion of Kansas and Nebraska and the eastern portion of Colorado in the years after 1870 called the area "The Great American Desert" due to its harsh climate and lack of vegetation.

Question 13

How did the invention of barbed wire revolutionize the cattle industry?
A) It helped ranchers separate their herds from one another.
B) It expanded safe grazing areas.
C) It allowed ranchers to fence in their cattle.
D) It prevented disputes over ownership of cattle.

Accepted Answer

The invention of barbed wire allowed ranchers to fence in their cattle, thereby increasing their control over the movement and distribution of their herds. This helped to prevent the intermixing of herds and reduce the incidence of rustling or theft. It also allowed for more efficient management of grazing areas and prevented overgrazing by controlling which areas were used at any given time.

Question 14

Describe life in Virginia City, Nevada, in the 1870s.

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Question 15

What was the outcome of the transformation of agriculture to big business in the South and West during the post-Civil War era?
A) An increasing number of laborers worked land they would never own
B) Agricultural yields fell dramatically overall
C) The widespread use of machinery halved the size of the agricultural labor force
D) The total number of farms fell by more than half

Accepted Answer

The transformation of agriculture into a big business in the South and West during the post-Civil War era led to an increasing number of laborers working on land they would never own. This was due to the rise of tenant farming and sharecropping, which allowed wealthy landowners to rent out their land or divide it into small plots and sharecrop, while poor farmers were forced to accept these terms to survive. The use of machinery and other modern farming techniques also contributed to this trend, as it required large capital investments that only wealthy landowners could afford.

Question 16

By the late nineteenth century, farmers were no longer the self-sufficient yeomen anchoring the republic as originally described by which of the following men?
A) Thomas Jefferson
B) George Washington
C) Andrew Jackson
D) James Madison

Accepted Answer

Thomas Jefferson's vision for America was one in which farmers were the backbone of society, owning and working their own land, and providing for their families and communities. However, by the late nineteenth century, changes in technology, transportation, and trade had transformed agriculture into a more commercialized and specialized industry, and many farmers were struggling to make a living. This was a far cry from Jefferson's ideal of independent agrarianism.

Question 17

Explain why newly freed slaves, poor whites, and Hispanics had become sharecroppers and migrant workers by the beginning of the twentieth century.

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Question 18

Henry Miller and Charles Lux fit into which of the following categories?
A) Pioneers in the field of agribusiness
B) Small ranchers threatened by the consolidation of the ranching business
C) Enlightened benefactors of migrant laborers.
D) Adherents to the old Republican ideal of the self-sufficient yeoman farmer

Accepted Answer

Henry Miller and Charles Lux were pioneers in the field of agribusiness, significantly contributing to the development and expansion of agricultural business practices in the United States.

Question 19

What was the Ghost Dance religion? Why was it so important to those who participated in it? Why did it frighten the white settlers in the West?

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Question 20

By the 1870s, homesteaders discovered that most of the prime land in the West was
A) already set aside for protection by the federal government.
B) held by Native Americans, who refused to relinquish it.
C) already ruined by industrial enterprises seeking mineral wealth.
D) already in the hands of speculators.

Accepted Answer

By the 1870s, much of the prime land in the West was indeed already in the hands of speculators who had acquired it for investment purposes, making it difficult for homesteaders to find good land to settle on.

Quiz 17: The Contested West

Describe the government's philosophies for the Indian boarding schools in the late nineteenth century. What happened to Indian children once they arrived at these schools?

When Americans spoke of the West after the Civil War, to what areas were they referring? Describe the various ways in which people hoped to make a living in the West in the nineteenth century.

What factors accounted for the decline of the cowboy and the rise of the cattle king?

Who among whites protested the conditions on Indian reservations during the 1880s? How did Congress address these problems?

Which of the following describes African American cowboys in the West in the late nineteenth century?

What did the state and federal governments do to encourage railroad construction in the decades after the Civil War?

Of the 2.5 million farms established between 1860 and 1900, homesteading accounted for what proportion?

Between 1870 and 1900, the population of rural America shrank from 80 percent to 66 percent while the agricultural sector of the economy experienced what change?

Describe what life was like in the West for Californios and Chinese immigrants in the post-Civil War years.

Describe how the concepts of imperialism and colonialism explain the process of westward expansion in the United States in the nineteenth century?

Describe three important changes in the way farming was carried out after the Civil War.

What did settlers passing through the western portion of Kansas and Nebraska and the eastern portion of Colorado in the years after 1870 call the area?

How did the invention of barbed wire revolutionize the cattle industry?

Describe life in Virginia City, Nevada, in the 1870s.

What was the outcome of the transformation of agriculture to big business in the South and West during the post-Civil War era?

By the late nineteenth century, farmers were no longer the self-sufficient yeomen anchoring the republic as originally described by which of the following men?

Explain why newly freed slaves, poor whites, and Hispanics had become sharecroppers and migrant workers by the beginning of the twentieth century.

Henry Miller and Charles Lux fit into which of the following categories?

What was the Ghost Dance religion? Why was it so important to those who participated in it? Why did it frighten the white settlers in the West?

By the 1870s, homesteaders discovered that most of the prime land in the West was