Chapter 17: Go West Young Man! Westward Expansion, 1840-1900
Review Questions
1. Which of the following does not represent a group that participated significantly in westward migration after 1870?
- African American “exodusters” escaping racism and seeking economic opportunities
- former Southern slaveholders seeking land and new financial opportunities
- recent immigrants from Northern Europe and Canada
- recent Chinese immigrants seeking gold in California
2. Which of the following represents an action that the U.S. government took to help Americans fulfill the goal of western expansion?
- the passage of the Homestead Act
- the official creation of the philosophy of Manifest Destiny
- the development of stricter immigration policies
- the introduction of new irrigation techniques
3. Why and how did the U.S. government promote western migration in the midst of fighting the Civil War?
4. What specific types of hardships did an average American farmer not face as he built his homestead in the Midwest?
- droughts
- insect swarms
- hostile Indian attacks
- limited building supplies
5. What accounts for the success of large, commercial “bonanza farms?” What benefits did they enjoy over their smaller family-run counterparts?
6. How did everyday life in the American West hasten equality for women who settled the land?
7. Which of the following groups was not impacted by the invention of barbed wire?
- ranchers
- cowboys
- farmers
- illegal prostitutes
8. The American cowboy owes much of its model to what other culture?
- Mexicans
- Indians
- Northern European immigrants
- Chinese immigrants
9. How did mining and cattle ranching transform individual “get rich quick” efforts into “big business” efforts when the nineteenth century came to a close?
10. Which of the following was not a primary method by which the American government dealt with American Indians during the period of western settlement?
- relocation
- appeasement
- extermination
- assimilation
11. What did the Last Arrow pageant symbolize?
- the continuing fight of the Indians
- the total extermination of the Indians from the West
- the final step in the Americanization process
- the rebellion at Little Bighorn
12. What brought the majority of Chinese immigrants to the U.S.?
- gold
- work opportunities on the railroads
- the Homestead Act
- Chinese benevolent associations
13. How were Hispanic citizens deprived of their wealth and land in the course of western settlement?
- Indian raids
- land seizures
- prisoner of war status
- infighting