Deck 15: The Ecology of the West and South, 1865-1900

Question 1

Which of the following is a correct statement about the ecologies among native tribes?

A) Deer were their livestock.
B) Swordfish were the primary prey of hunting and fishing parties.
C) Wheat was the most common crop.
D) Some of the tribes inhabited permanent settlements.

Answer 1

Some of the tribes inhabited permanent settlements.

Question 2

Most whites who migrated to the West and the Great Plains did so for which of the following reasons?

A) They wanted to Christianize the native peoples.
B) They were lured there by mining syndicates and lumber companies that promised high-paying jobs.
C) They were desirous of material success.
D) They were supposed to conduct government-financed agricultural research.

Answer 2

They were desirous of material success.

Question 3

The reservation policy of the U.S. government__________________.

A) led to the successful assimilation of most western Indians into mainstream American culture
B) weakened every aspect of traditional Native American life
C) allowed native tribes the independence they needed to protect and preserve their way of life
D) increased the possibility of unity among the disparate tribes and thus the increased possibility of violence against whites

Answer 3

weakened every aspect of traditional Native American life

Question 4

Which of the following was a result of the Clapp rider to the Indian appropriations bill of 1906?

A) Many Indians who were declared to be of mixed blood were duped into signing away their land to white speculators.
B) Indian reservations began to establish their own military forces.
C) After receiving training in scientific farming, many Indians gained economic independence.
D) The United States Army began to safeguard Indian reservations and Indian treaty rights.

Question 5

The Dawes Severalty Act was based on the belief that:

A) Indians should be allowed to participate actively in decisions concerning their future
B) By establishing reservations as enclaves protected from white encroachment, Indian culture could be preserved
C) Family units headed by men were the desired social model for all societies
D) Indians could best be assimilated into mainstream American society by teaching them the skills necessary to become factory workers

Question 6

In decisions handed down in both 1884 and 1886, the Supreme Court of the United States held that Indians__________________.

A) could have their own independent military force to protect their reservations against white encroachment
B) could not be relegated to reservations against their will
C) were protected by the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments
D) were not citizens of the United States

Question 7

Which of the following groups was the primary beneficiary of the Timber and Stone Act of 1878?

A) Lumber companies
B) Southern freedmen
C) Unemployed miners
D) Recent immigrants

Question 8

Most Whites associated with Indian reform groups of the 1880s believed that__________________.

A) Indians could never be successfully assimilated into American society
B) Indian cultures should be protected and preserved
C) Indians could succeed in American society only if they adopted middle-class values
D) Indians should be protected from white encroachment by the United States Army

Question 9

In the Southwest, the Navajo tribe placed great value on ______________________.

A) deer
B) buffalo
C) sheep
D) elk

Question 10

In attempting to change the sexual division of labor within western Indian tribes, reformers sometimes caused ______________.

A) a decline in the economic independence of Indian women
B) a feeling of emasculation among Indian males
C) warfare between tribal factions
D) a breakdown of the political systems of western tribes

Question 11

Which of the following had an impact on American awareness of Native American life in the 1880s?

A) Looking Backward
B) A Century of Dishonor
C) Wings of the Dove
D) The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Question 12

Plains Indians altered their environment by ____________.

A) the depletion of herds
B) growing irrigated crops
C) periodically setting fire to tall-grass prairies
D) trading tools, cloth, and tobacco

Question 13

Most individual prospectors who discovered veins of precious metal ___________________.

A) mined their claims by themselves
B) sold their claims to mining syndicates
C) mined their claims with a few friends
D) were denied their claims due to government fraud

Question 14

Canada's management of Indian affairs differed from that of the United States in that __________________.

A) the Royal Mounted Police adopted a more aggressive stance against Indian resistance to acculturation
B) Canada granted Indians the rights of British subjects and proceeded more slowly in attempting to acculturate them
C) the Canadian government treated Indian tribes as foreign nations
D) Canada outlawed intermarriage between whites and Indians

Question 15

Which of the following was instrumental in ending armed Indian resistance against whites?

A) The weakening tribal power due to assimilation into White society
B) The relentless pursuit of Native American tribes people by U.S. soldiers
C) Large military engagements that decimated the Native male population
D) The tireless work of White missionaries and teachers

Question 16

Which fish was crucial to the life of the Northwest Indians?

A) Trout
B) Bluefish
C) Swordfish
D) Salmon

Question 17

In 1890, agents of the federal government attempted to _______________.

A) suppress Indian religious activities such as the Ghost Dance
B) encourage factory and railroad construction near Indian reservations in order to promote social integration
C) make Indians responsible for educating their own children
D) deal with Indians through their tribes rather than as individuals

Question 18

The most common crop raised by Native Peoples in the western part of the country was __________________.

A) alfalfa
B) rye
C) wheat
D) corn

Question 19

Prior to the 1880s, the federal government believed that Indians could best be civilized by ____________.

A) Christianizing them
B) relegating them to reservations
C) democratizing tribal government
D) teaching them the concepts of capitalism

Question 20

From the experience of the Navajo people, one can conclude that ______________.

A) unity among the Indian tribes of a particular region could prevent white encroachment on Indian lands
B) the federal government actively attempted to protect Indian cultures from aggressive white settlers
C) some Indians were able to retain their traditional culture by refusing to trade with whites
D) the economic power of whites increasingly placed Indians in a dependent and thus weakened position

Question 21

Between 1870 and 1910, the idea of profiting from commercial farming in the Great Plains region became more appealing because _______________.

A) railroad expansion and the construction of grain elevators made it possible to meet the increasing demand for farm products
B) low interest rates on property-acquisition loans made it possible to acquire more productive farmland
C) federally subsidized irrigation projects cut the cost of making formerly arid land productive
D) the establishment of parity prices for basic commodities substantially increased per capita farm income

Question 22

Which of the following was true of the Exodusters, who migrated from the South to Kansas in the late 1870s?

A) They were white sharecroppers who were recruited to move to Kansas by the Kansas Farmers' Alliance.
B) Their move was subsidized by Southern state governments, which were encouraging African Americans to leave the South.
C) Many of them were former slaves.
D) They were drawn to Kansas by promises of jobs in the construction of the transcontinental railroad.

Question 23

Who established the first time zones in the United States in 1883?

A) President Benjamin Harrison
B) The railroads
C) The army
D) Congress

Question 24

As a result of the Newlands Reclamation Act of 1902, ___________________.

A) farmers in the West were allowed to organize into irrigation districts and operate irrigation projects
B) proceeds from the sale of public lands in the West would be used to finance irrigation projects
C) the federal government transferred all of its public-domain lands in California to the state
D) Western farmers intending an economically productive use of river water were given the right to appropriation

Question 25

The rapid development of railroads in the United States was accomplished _____________________.

A) in large measure through the investment of European banking firms
B) exclusively through the support of a large number of small investors
C) with the assistance of some of the largest government subsidies ever granted
D) almost entirely through the investment of a handful of shrewd millionaires

Question 26

Provisions of the Newlands Reclamation Act provide evidence of which of the following?

A) The federal government was more interested in conserving the nation's natural resources than in maintaining control over those resources.
B) The federal government attempted to impose the principle of riparian rights on individuals who purchased western public lands.
C) The federal government was unwilling to assume the power to regulate water development in the West, thus leaving such power to the states.
D) The federal government actively aided the agricultural development of the West.

Question 27

Who was a leading figure in the early conservation movement and called for Congress to give President Harrison the authority to create forest reserves?

A) Moses E. Clapp
B) Helen Hunt Jackson
C) Johnny Ringo
D) John Muir

Question 28

For which of the following reasons did the federal government refuse to transfer public domain lands to the states?

A) Such transfers were ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.
B) Such transfers would raise the question of who would regulate waterways that ran through more than one state.
C) Such transfers would deny the federal government the power to control water and land conservation.
D) The federal government feared that such transfers would lead to ecological problems associated with practices such as strip mining.

Question 29

What was the first national park in the United States?

A) Yosemite National Park
B) Yellowstone National Park
C) Crater Lake National Park
D) Glacier National Park

Question 30

Which of the following is true of the early conservation movement?

A) The early conservation movement met little opposition in the West because the people there felt close to nature.
B) Because the need for conservation was so clear, the movement met little opposition in any part of the nation.
C) The movement and its leaders were subjected to nationwide ridicule.
D) Opposition to the movement was strongest in the West.

Question 31

Which of the following was key to the successful granting of statehood to Utah in 1896?

A) The army won a final decisive victory over hostile Indians.
B) Democratic congressmen in Washington realized that Utah's voters were staunchly Democratic in their politics.
C) Non-Mormons would gain control of the state.
D) The Mormons had to agree to give up polygamous marriage.

Question 32

White settlers in the frontier communities of the American West made which of the following a distinguishing social characteristic?

A) Race
B) Level of education
C) Marital status
D) Religion

Question 33

Which group were the first Americans of northern European ancestry to practice extensive agricultural irrigation?

A) The Vikings
B) The Mormons
C) The Puritans
D) The Quakers

Question 34

The ideas associated with prior appropriation fostered the attitude that__________________.

A) access to waterways should go to the first person who claimed it
B) water, unlike other natural resources, may not be held and used as private property
C) only people who live along the banks of rivers and streams may appropriate from the water's flow
D) the natural beauty of the rivers and streams must be protected from corporate greed

Question 35

The nationwide standardization of time-keeping became a necessity for which of the following reasons?

A) In the event of a national emergency, the military needed to be assured of a regularity of time from place to place.
B) Railroad scheduling required that there be a regularity of time from place to place.
C) Monetary transactions undertaken by the nation's leading financial institutions required a regularity of time from place to place.
D) The transfer of raw materials to factories and finished products to consumers required a regularity of time from place to place.

Question 36

Which of the following is true of women in the West?

A) Through the home mission movement, many women helped sustain family and community life.
B) Virtually all of the women who moved to the West in the late nineteenth century were prostitutes.
C) They were usually single and moved to the West to establish their own economic independence.
D) Like most males, women who moved to the West were individual prospectors and received financial backing from Eastern banks.

Question 37

What was the primary purpose of laws against miscegenation passed by state legislatures in the American West?

A) To prevent white males from marrying Indian women
B) To prevent intermarriage between white women and Indian men
C) To prevent intermarriage between white women and men of Asian descent
D) To prevent white males from marrying Hispanic women

Question 38

California became the nation's leader in irrigated agricultural acreage largely as a result of ____________.

A) farming skills learned by white settlers from Native Americans
B) the creation of water divisions that regulated water rights
C) a state law that allowed farmers to organize irrigation districts
D) a law declaring the rivers of the state to be public property subject to state supervision

Question 39

The isolation of Western farmers was lessened by _____________.

A) long drives and declining prices for beef
B) the use of barbed wire and the expansion of the railroads
C) a high ratio of women to men and the wide use of machinery
D) the expansion of mail-order companies and the availability of Rural Free Delivery

Question 40

Which of the following was true of life in the Great Plains region?

A) Railroad expansion crippled farming in the region by using up all of the best and most fertile land.
B) Settlers in the Plains found that wells were cheap to dig once machinery was introduced into the region.
C) The pattern of settlement meant that settlers often suffered social isolation.
D) Pioneer farm families had little water but an abundance of timber.

Question 41

Which of the following was a feature of open-range ranching?

A) The rounding up of wild cattle roaming free on the range
B) The slaughtering and butchering of cattle on the range
C) The purchase of thousands of acres of land for grazing
D) The grazing of cattle on public land

Question 42

Which of the following is true concerning the struggle for supremacy between cattle ranchers and sheepherders?

A) Sheepherders claimed that cattle ruined the grazing land.
B) Both groups typically used the land illegally.
C) Sheepherders claimed that cattle left the land with a foul smell.
D) Sheepherders were generally peaceful, whereas ranchers were disposed to settle differences violently.

Question 43

Compare and contrast the social positions of each of the following groups in relationship to white men: women, African-Americans, Asian-Americans, and Native Americans.

Question 44

Discuss the similarities and differences between the reservation policy and the Dawes Severalty Act, and explain the consequences of both.

Question 45

Cattle ranching became increasingly profitable in the 1860s and gave rise to the lucrative cattle industry due to__________________.

A) a decline in beef imported from Europe
B) court decisions that allowed livestock to be moved freely across state lines
C) railroad expansion and population growth
D) investment funds made available by the discovery of mineral deposits in the West

Question 46

Discuss the factors that led Congress to pass the Dawes Severalty Act in 1887; explain the provisions of the act; and examine the features and consequences of United States Indian policy under the act.

Question 47

Examine the debate concerning water rights in the Western states, the various ways those states regulated water usage, and the importance of the Newlands Reclamation Act to the agricultural and general economic development of the West.

Question 48

Examine the characteristics of life on the Great Plains in the late 1800s. What developments ultimately helped to alleviate the hardships of Plains settlers?

Question 49

Discuss the features of the United States government's reservation policy and explain the consequences of this policy.

Question 50

After the Civil War, small backcountry farmers in the South shifted toward __________________.

A) subsistence agriculture
B) crops other than cotton
C) commercial farming
D) agricultural diversification

Question 51

Discuss the characteristics of the crop-lien system, and explain the system's impact on poor southern farmers.

Question 52

The Hatch Act of 1887 encouraged the advancement of agricultural science and technology by __________________.

A) providing grants of land to every state for the establishment of agricultural colleges
B) providing low-interest government loans to farmers for the purchase of farm machines
C) providing for agricultural experiment stations in every state
D) providing subsidies to support all scientific research related to agriculture

Question 53

As a result of changes in the Southern backcountry in the late nineteenth century, __________.

A) farmers in that area became more dependent on merchants.
B) yeomen farmers and African Americans began to ally against large landowners.
C) poor farmers were allowed to let their animals feed on the open range.
D) yeomen forged a political alliance with large landowners.

Question 54

Examine the factors responsible for the agricultural revolution of the late nineteenth century that made farming commercially viable in America.

Question 55

Discuss the impact, both positive and negative, of technological advances on ranching, farming, and mining in the late nineteenth century.

Question 56

Discuss the economic systems of the Native Americans in the Plains, the Southwest, and the Northwest, and explain the role of white settlement and United States government policy in the decline of these systems in the late nineteenth century.

Question 57

Under the crop-lien system, a Southern farmer ______________.

A) paid his farm workers in crops rather than in cash
B) borrowed against his future crop to buy needed supplies
C) harvested his crop with rented machinery
D) rotated the crops he planted from season to season

Question 58

A farmer operating under the crop-lien system usually ________________.

A) reduced soil erosion
B) increased his production
C) sank ever deeper into debt
D) added land to his holdings

Question 59

Discuss the characteristics of the natural-resource frontier and the methods used by developers to gain land and extraction rights. What role did the federal government play in the development of this frontier?

Question 60

Discuss the expansion of America's railroad system in the late nineteenth century, and examine the impact of this expansion on the American economy and on American concepts of time and space.

Question 61

Discuss the economic transformation of the South after Reconstruction.