Question 1

The decline of the long drive and the cattle boom resulted from

Accepted Answer

The decline of the long drive and the cattle boom was due to homesteaders settling on range land, severe winters that killed many cattle, overgrazing and overproduction leading to reduced prices, and the introduction of barbed-wire fencing which restricted open range grazing.

Question 2

Explain the ultimate defeat of the Plains Indians by whites. Select and discuss at least three major reasons for the decline of the Plains culture; then tell which you think was the most important and why.

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The answer of Explain the ultimate defeat of the Plains...

Question 3

Sooners were settlers who "jumped the gun" in order to

Accepted Answer

Sooners were settlers who entered the Unassigned Lands in what is now Oklahoma before the official start of the Land Rush of 1889, thus "jumping the gun" to claim land illegally.

Question 4

Factors eventually leading to the defeat of the Plains Indians included

Accepted Answer

The arrival of the railroads in the West, disease, near-extermination of the buffalo, and warfare with the U.S. army were all factors that eventually led to the defeat of the Plains Indians.

Question 5

Why were the conflicts between federal and state military forces and western Indian tribes exceptionally bitter and cruel?

Accepted Answer

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Question 6

Western cities like Denver and San Francisco did serve as a major safety valve by providing

Accepted Answer

Western cities provided opportunities for economically struggling individuals, including farmers, miners, and easterners, to find new livelihoods and escape economic hardships.

Question 7

The Homestead Act was less successful than hoped. Why? Consider the provisions of the law. What were its strengths, its weaknesses, and its loopholes? How did the environmental conditions on the Great Plains affect the Homestead Act?

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The answer of The Homestead Act was less successful than...

Question 8

What is the safety-valve theory? Do you find it plausible? Why or why not?

Accepted Answer

The answer of What is the safety-valve theory? Do you...

Question 9

A major problem faced by settlers on the Great Plains in the 1870s was

Accepted Answer

The Great Plains had a scarcity of water, which made farming and sustaining life challenging for settlers in the 1870s.

Question 10

Frontier towns where cattle were shipped east after being driven north on the "Long Drive" from Texas included

Accepted Answer

The answer of Frontier towns where cattle were shipped east...

Question 11

After exploring much of the West, geologist John Wesley Powell advised in 1874 that

Accepted Answer

John Wesley Powell advised that land west of the 100th meridian could not be farmed without extensive irrigation due to the arid conditions.

Question 12

Among the following, the least likely to migrate to the cattle and farming frontier were

Accepted Answer

Eastern city dwellers were the least likely to migrate to the cattle and farming frontier as they were more accustomed to urban life and less experienced in farming compared to the other groups listed.

Question 13

How did the various mining, ranching, and farming stakeholders on the respective frontiers respond to the social and economic challenges and opportunities of the Industrial Revolution? What role did government play in addressing these challenges and opportunities?

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Question 14

What do you think was the major technological innovation that influenced life on the Great Plains frontier? Why?

Accepted Answer

The answer of What do you think was the major...

Question 15

In the long run, the group that probably did the most to shape the modern West were the

Accepted Answer

The answer of In the long run, the group that...

Question 16

In 1890, when the superintendent of the census announced that a stable frontier line was no longer discernible,
Americans were disturbed because

Accepted Answer

The idea of an endlessly open West was a fundamental part of American identity and history, symbolizing opportunity and expansion.

Question 17

If you had lived in the 1880s as a white farmer on the Great Plains, what would you have proposed as a solution to the Indian problem? What would have been your view on concentration, the Dawes Severalty Act, and the savagery of Indian warfare?

Accepted Answer

The answer of If you had lived in the 1880s...

Question 18

If you were a farmer in western Kansas in 1887, what would be three or four of your major problems? How would you try to solve them? Would you be likely to seek help? Where? Why? What measures would you adopt to solve these identified problems? Where would you turn to help solve these identified problems? Which political and professional organizations might you turn to help solve these problems?

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The answer of If you were a farmer in western...

Question 19

Was the reservation system inherently flawed from the beginning, or might it have worked if the federal government had enabled the Indians to keep more and better land and had treated them more fairly?

Accepted Answer

The answer of Was the reservation system inherently flawed from...

Question 20

The safety valve theory that the West dampened class conflict, while exaggerated, did have some validity because

Accepted Answer

Free Western land did attract many immigrants to the West who might have crowded urban job markets, thus dampening class conflict in the East.

Quiz 25: The Conquest of the West