Anna Gassett

4 September 2021

The American Yawp

Chapter 17 – Conquering the West

1. The Homestead Act granted official title to160 acre plots of land after how many years of
settlement?
a. One year
b. Two years
c. Five years
d. Seven years
C. Five Years. Pg. 31. Under the Homestead Act, men could head west, claim a 160-acre
plot of land, and after five years of living there and tending to the land, they could be
granted the title.

2. What economic opportunity drew the most migrants to the West?

a. Railroad work
b. Gold mining
c. Military work as Indian fighters
d. Access to land for agriculture
D. Access to land for agriculture. Pg. 31. Access to land for farming, especially under the
Homestead Act, was one of the main reasons people were so eager to move west.

3. The Dakota Uprising of 1862 began with what event?

a. Civil War Era reforms to western Indian policy
b. The death of five white settlers at the hands of four young Santee men
c. A Sioux ambush at Redwood Ferry
d. Governor Alexander Ramsay’s new use of the militia to disarm Sioux hunters
B. The death of five white settlers at the hands of four young Santee men. Pg. 32. When the
white population in the Dakota Territory grew, many Sioux became impoverished. The
killing of several white settlers by Sioux men fueled the fire for the Dakota Uprising of
1862.

4. How did President Lincoln respond to the Sioux Uprising

a. Attempted to commute the sentences of captured Indians in order to maintain peace
b. Ordered the execution of 303 by hanging
c. Demanded the surrender of Sioux territory in Minnesota
d. Create a new alliance with Taoyateduta (known to Americans as Little Crow) in order
to eliminate future conflicts
A. Attempted to commute the sentences of captured Indians in order to maintain peace. Pg.
33. 303 Sioux were sentenced to be hung; however, Lincoln pardoned all of them but 38.

5. What did the United States demand from the Comanche leading to the Red River War?
a. They had no demands. The official policy of the U.S. government was to call for the
extinction of the Comanche
b. The Comanche were instructed to worship the Christian God and renounce their
traditional spiritual practices
c. The United States demanded that the Comanche settle on government reservations
d. The Red River War did not involve the Comanche
C. The United States demanded that the Comanche settle on government reservations. Pg.
36. The Red River War began because some Comanche chose not to settle on government
reservations, which is what the U.S. demanded of them.

6. How was the transcontinental railroad funded?

a. Wealthy private business owners
b. Public stock offerings
c. Grants and loans from the federal government
d. Bonds soiled to foreign investors
C. Grants and loans from the federal government. Pg. 41. The 1862 Pacific Railroad Act
provided land grants and loans that funded the transcontinental railroad.

7. What was the purpose of Western cattle drives?

a. To avoid the cold of winter on the Great Plains and the heat of summer in Texas
b. To bring cattle to eastern markets, mostly through railroad hubs
c. To minimize the destruction of fields that resulted from over-grazing
d. To avoid hostile Indian bands
B. To bring cattle to eastern markets, mostly through railroad hubs. Pg. 42. Cattle were
brought along railroads to be slaughtered and sent to important hubs such as Chicago and
New York City.

8. Most practices and objects associated with American cowboys were modified from ______
ranchers.
a. Mexican
b. Native American
c. African
d. British-Canadian
A. Mexican. Pg. 43. Many of the important terms used by cowboys were adopted from
Mexican vaqueros.

9. Which city served as the most important railroad hub, connecting the East and the West?
a. St. Louis
b. Chicago
c. Cincinnati
d. Memphis
B. Chicago. Pg. 42. Chicago served as one of the most important hubs that connected the
East and the West and created a national network.

10. Which group received more land from the government?

a. Homesteading families
b. Railroad companies
c. Both received nearly equal an equal amount
d. Neither group received land from the government
B. Railroad companies. Pg. 41. Railroad companies received more than 175,000,000 acres
of land, whereas homesteading families were given 160 acres after occupying and tending
to the land for five years.

11. What was the purpose of the Dawes General Allotment Act?
a. Splintered vast Native American reservations into individual family homesteads
b. Determined the amount of land that would be given to each major railroad company
c. Modified the original Homestead Act to increase land available to private settlers
d. All of the above
A. Splintered vast Native American reservations into individual family homesteads. Pg. 44.
The overall goal of this act was to create a divide within the Native American tribes and
push them toward adopting a “whiter” style of life.

12. The Paiute prophet Wovoka promised that which of the following would occur if Indians
obeyed his instructions and participated in the ceremony that came to be called the Ghost
Dance
a. Dead relatives would return to Earth
b. Drought would end and the buffalo would return
c. Anglo settlers would disappear in an apocalyptic disaster
d. All of the above
D. All of the above. Pg. 45. Wovoka said that if his instructions were followed that the white
settlers would disappear, the buffalo would population the plains again, the drought would
go away, and dead family members would come back to life.

13. Approximately what percent of early rodeo contestants were women?

a. There are no indications of women participating in rodeos prior to 1928
b. 1%
c. 5%
d. 10%
D. 10%. Pg. 49. Because about 90% of rodeo contestants were men, 10% of them were
women. Women were imperative to the popularization of rodeo shows.

14. What explains the popularity of Wild West shows?

a. Tapped into anxieties about men losing their masculinity in the “softer” world of
factory and office work
b. Most Americans believed that Native cultures were disappearing, if not already gone,
and felt a sense of urgency to see their dances and hear their songs
c. The Old West seemed an uncomplicated place where the struggle between right and
wrong was clear, unlike modern America which seemed increasingly morally
complicated.
d. All of the above
D. All of the above. Pg. 50 & 51. Wild West shows allowed people to see extremely
masculine men and over-sexualized women, which people enjoyed seeing played out most
commonly in a romance. People were also excited to see Native American culture as it was
slowly disappearing in reality.
15. What was Frederick Jackson Turner’s “Frontier Thesis?”
a. An argument that European socialism had created an opportunity for the United
States to create an international empire
b. American culture was forged by the struggle between civilized settlers and savage
frontier life, giving it a democratic and hardworking spirit
c. The belief that Manifest Destiny was an immoral reading of scripture
d. All of the above
B. American culture was forged by the struggle between civilized settlers and savage
frontier life, giving it a democratic and hardworking spirit. Pg. 52. The available unsettled
land that was fought over gave America its strength and culture.

How would you characterize U.S. policy toward Native Americans during the era of western
expansion?
Western expansion was catastrophic to the Native Americans. It divided tribes of
Native Americans when they were forced to live on reservations and assimilate to the white
culture. The Natives were relegated to new land, so that they could be more “productive”
and farm the land. Their culture and ways of life were stripped from them. The buffalo,
which was an imperative resource, dropped rapidly in population and many Native
Americans were killed in conflict with the Whites. The vision of the West for the Whites
before heading over was that it was vast and unoccupied. This was obviously not the case.
Instead of respecting the Natives, their culture, and the land that they owned, the Whites
took everything from them.

In what ways did the west mythologize itself in the late nineteenth century?
The west was largely mythologized through “Wild West” shows. They depicted
characters such as Indians, cowboys, Mexican vaqueros, Buffalo Bill, and Annie Oakley. In
reality, Native American culture, land, and presence overall was depleting as a result of the
whites expanding westward. In these “Wild West” shows, Indians were portrayed as the
aggressors. They were always attacking the whites, which was not the truth. The Anglo
Settlers were made to seem less like conquerers, and more like innocent, wholesome
defenders, which is also false in reality.