Question 1

What makes the Turner Thesis so provocative? Why do most modern historians not accept it, or accept it only with reservations? What are the most valid parts of Turner's argument that still hold up?

Accepted Answer

The answer of What makes the Turner Thesis so provocative?...

Question 2

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 3

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 4

Do you agree that the frontier was for Americans as much a symbol and a state of mind as it was an actual place?
Did that symbol weaken with the closing of the frontier in 1890, or did it actually gain strength once the actual frontier was gone?

Accepted Answer

The answer of Do you agree that the frontier was...

Question 5

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.

Accepted Answer

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

Question 6

How does the new western history revive the idea of the West's uniqueness in American history? How does it differ from the Turner thesis? How does the West compare as a distinctive American region with New England, the South, or the Midwest?

Accepted Answer

The answer of How does the new western history revive...

Question 7

Why did free silver become the key issue of the farmers' revolt? What other issues were important to them? Explain why Populism came down to a single-issue movement by 1896 and how this fixation may have harmed their cause.

Accepted Answer

The answer of Why did free silver become the key...

Question 8

Populists often charged that there was conspiracy between government and big business aimed at holding down farmers and workers, and the federal courts were only the tools of banks and big business. What evidence did they cite for this charge? Does their argument convince you? Why or why not?

Accepted Answer

The answer of Populists often charged that there was conspiracy...

Question 9

Trace the history of the currency question in American politics from the aftermath of the Civil War to the passage of the Gold Standard Act.

Accepted Answer

The answer of Trace the history of the currency question...

Question 10

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 11

The authors contend that "American history cannot be properly understood unless it is viewed in light of the westward-moving experience." Do you agree? Why or why not? What unique contributions did the frontier make to American life?

Accepted Answer

The answer of The authors contend that "American history cannot...

Question 12

Write your definition of radical. Then use this definition to argue that the farmers' response to their problems in the 1880s and 1890s was or was not radical.

Accepted Answer

The answer of Write your definition of radical. Then use...

Question 13

Had you lived during this period, which political party⎯Democratic, Republican, or Populist⎯would have attracted your allegiance?

Accepted Answer

The answer of Had you lived during this period, which...

Question 14

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?

Accepted Answer

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

Question 15

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?

Accepted Answer

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

Question 16

Political historians often argue that the election of 1896 was a watershed election that marked the beginning of the fourth party system. Explain why this is so, and how American politics from 1865 to 1896 differed from the political situation that developed after the election of 1896.

Accepted Answer

The answer of Political historians often argue that the election...

Question 17

Explain why the Populist party became the most successful third party in American history up to that time. Explain why it failed to survive the decade of the 1890s.

Accepted Answer

The answer of Explain why the Populist party became the...

Question 18

For many years historians interpreted the 1896 election as the challenge of the people against the candidate of big business and the status quo. Explain why this view has largely fallen into disfavor, and why more of the people voted for McKinley. Are there any elements in the traditional view worth retaining?

Accepted Answer

The answer of For many years historians interpreted the 1896...

Question 19

Explain the relative decline in the importance of agriculture in the American economy in the late nineteenth century. In what ways was the farmers' protest based primarily on their economic woes, and to what extent was it a protest against the loss of an older American way of life based on agriculture and small towns?

Accepted Answer

The answer of Explain the relative decline in the importance...

Question 20

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...

Quiz 26: The Great West and the Agricultural Revolution, 1865-1896