Deck 16: The Conquest of the Far West

Question 1

In the late nineteenth century, which of the following was NOT a major western industry?

A)mining
B)fur trading
C)ranching
D)commercial farming
E)railroad building

Answer 1

fur trading

Question 2

Which of the following Indian tribes was NOT found on the Pacific coast of the Far West?

A)Chumash
B)Chinook
C)Pomo
D)Creek
E)Serrano

Answer 2

Creek

Question 3

Chinese tongs were

A)secret societies.
B)prostitutes.
C)Chinese community officials.
D)merchants.
E)indentured servants.

Answer 3

secret societies.

Question 4

In the mid-nineteenth century, the Plains Indians were

A)usually able to unite against white aggression.
B)not as vulnerable to disease as eastern tribes.
C)among the least aggressive of all American Indians.
D)mostly sedentary farmers.
E)the most widespread Indian groups in the West.

Question 5

Which of the following statements regarding Hispanic New Mexico is FALSE?

A)At the time of the Mexican War, Hispanics greatly outnumbered Anglo-Americans.
B)The Spanish had settlements in the area since the seventeenth century.
C)Taos Indians, allied with Navajo and Apaches, forced out Anglo-Americans until 1847.
D)Military victories by the U.S.Army led to a large increase in Hispanic migration.
E)Descendants of the original settlers engaged primarily in cattle and sheep ranching.

Question 6

The Chinese from California became the major source of labor for the transcontinental railroad because

A)they had no other employment prospects.
B)they worked for lower wages than what whites would accept.
C)most were experienced in railroad construction.
D)most were forced into working for the railroads.
E)their more well-established unions won the railroad contracts.

Question 7

By 1900, one of the three American territories in the contiguous United States that had not been granted statehood was

A)Arizona.
B)Utah.
C)Colorado.
D)Nebraska.
E)South Dakota.

Question 8

The Homestead Act of 1862

A)gave without condition 160 acres to all settlers who would move to the West.
B)only applied to public lands within the borders of an organized state.
C)saw settlers on the Plains complain the claims were too large for grain farming.
D)proved to be enormously popular with western ranchers.
E)was expanded by the Timber Culture Act.

Question 9

Women in nineteenth-century western mining towns

A)were nearly all single when they first arrived.
B)had few economic opportunities outside of prostitution.
C)often found work doing domestic tasks.
D)generally worked as miners.
E)often greatly outnumbered the men.

Question 10

The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882

A)resulted in the deportation of half of the Chinese in the United States.
B)was ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.
C)banned Chinese in the United States from becoming naturalized citizens.
D)was only applied in California.
E)had little effect on the size of the Chinese population in America.

Question 11

Mining in the west

A)did not see any great mineral strikes until after the Civil War.
B)flourished until the 1930s.
C)saw corporations move in first, followed by individual prospectors.
D)kept ranchers and farmers from establishing their own economic base.
E)produced the region's first economic boom.

Question 12

During the 1840s, Hispanics living in California

A)lost ownership of large areas of lands.
B)saw an expansion in the power of Californios.
C)attempted to revive the Spanish mission society.
D)joined with white Americans to drive out Indians.
E)increasingly became part of the state's middle class.

Question 13

Which tribe should NOT be included among the Plains Indians?

A)the Yurok
B)the Sioux
C)the Arapaho
D)the Pawnee
E)the Cheyenne

Question 14

By the mid-1840s, the American West

A)contained few migrants from the United States.
B)was extensively populated.
C)had seen the elimination of nearly all Indian tribes.
D)closely resembled its popular image.
E)was still an empty, desolate land.

Question 15

In the second half of the nineteenth century, the working class in the western economy was

A)highly multiracial.
B)highly divided along racial lines.
C)paid higher wages than workers in the East.
D)All the answers are correct.
E)None of the answers are correct.

Question 16

In the 1870s, in the Far West the largest single Chinese community was located in

A)Seattle.
B)Sacramento.
C)San Diego.
D)Los Angeles.
E)San Francisco.

Question 17

The Comstock Lode primarily produced

A)copper.
B)silver.
C)gold.
D)lead.
E)zinc.

Question 18

During the nineteenth century, in the Far West the term "coolie"

A)was a description for all Asian immigrants.
B)was an epithet used by whites to describe members of Chinese tongs.
C)applied to all non-Indians who came to the Far West before the California gold rush.
D)was a slang term for prostitutes in mining towns.
E)referred to Chinese indentured servants.

Question 19

In the 1840s and 1850s, in the Far West, the response by white Americans to the Chinese

A)moved from initial hostility to gradual acceptance.
B)was one of consistent acceptance.
C)was one of consistent hostility.
D)moved from initial acceptance to gradual hostility.
E)depended mainly on whether the white American was pro-slavery or anti-slavery.

Question 20

The western cattle industry saw Mexican ranchers first develop

A)saddles.
B)spurs.
C)lariats.
D)leather chaps.
E)All the answers are correct.

Question 21

The 1876 Battle of Little Big Horn

A)took place in Wyoming.
B)saw the destruction of the entire Seventh Cavalry.
C)was a short-lived Indian victory.
D)marked the start of prolonged warfare in the Dakotas.
E)saw the Sioux united under Sitting Bull and Geronimo.

Question 22

In the 1850s, the United States policy of "concentration" for Indians

A)set the basis for Indian policy for the rest of the century.
B)affirmed and continued the previous federal treatment of Indians.
C)had many benefits for both whites and Indians.
D)reduced conflicts between whites and Indians.
E)assigned all tribes to their own defined reservations.

Question 23

The Indian leader who said, "I am tired.My heart is sick and sad.From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever," was

A)Black Kettle.
B)Sitting Bull.
C)Chief Joseph.
D)Crazy Horse.
E)Cochise.

Question 24

The town which reigned as the railhead of the cattle kingdom for many years was

A)Sedalia, Missouri.
B)Abilene, Kansas.
C)Dallas, Texas.
D)Omaha, Nebraska.
E)Deadwood, South Dakota.

Question 25

William Cody's Wild West shows

A)showed the realities of life on the frontier.
B)proved to be popular in Europe as well as the United States.
C)did not include representations of Indians.
D)ignored the fact that Cody had never actually lived in the West himself.
E)often competed against those of sharpshooter Annie Oakley.

Question 26

In the late nineteenth century, "Range wars" in the West were between

A)white Americans and Indians.
B)white American ranchers and Mexican ranchers.
C)white American ranchers and Chinese ranchers.
D)individual white American ranchers and large American ranching corporations.
E)white American ranchers and farmers.

Question 27

In the late nineteenth century, the popular image of the American West

A)presented a heroic image of cowboys.
B)perceived the region to be a place offering true freedom.
C)was promoted by the Rocky Mountain School.
D)All the answers are correct.
E)None of the answers are correct.

Question 28

The Sand Creek Massacre of 1864

A)involved the killing of Indian women and children.
B)saw the death of Chief Black Kettle.
C)was carried out by George Custer.
D)moved Colonel J.M.Chivington to denounce the United States Army.
E)All the answers are correct.

Question 29

In "The Significance of the Frontier in American History," Frederick Jackson Turner claimed

A)the frontier had made Americans a distinctive people.
B)the United States should expand its northern and southern borders into Canada and Mexico to create new frontier land.
C)the western wars between whites and Indians were a national disgrace.
D)most of the frontier land was of little practical use for Americans.
E)the frontier had repressed individualism, nationalism, and democracy in America.

Question 30

All of the following writers and artists made significant contributions to the romanticizing of the American West EXCEPT

A)Frederic Remington.
B)Mark Twain.
C)Theodore Roosevelt.
D)James Whistler.
E)Frederick Jackson Turner.

Question 31

In the 1880s, the open range cattle industry declined as a result of

A)Indian wars.
B)drought.
C)disease.
D)competition from Mexico.
E)changing consumer habits in the East.

Question 32

The Dawes Act of 1887

A)was intended to preserve traditional Indian culture.
B)denied United States citizenship to landowning Indian adults.
C)was viewed by the United States government as a plan to save the Indians.
D)ended the United States government's effort to assimilate Indian tribes.
E)reaffirmed tribal ownership of western lands in the face of white claims to it.

Question 33

In 1890, the "Ghost Dance"

A)was a spiritual revival among Plains Indians.
B)honored all the Indians who had died in battle with white Americans.
C)marked the resumption of hostilities by Plains Indians.
D)was inspired by the Paiute prophet Chief Joseph.
E)All the answers are correct.

Question 34

In 1890, at Wounded Knee, South Dakota

A)Plains Indians mounted their last major attack on white Americans.
B)the U.S.Seventh Cavalry massacred two hundred Indians.
C)the Sioux attempted to leave the reservation for Canada.
D)the U.S.Seventh Cavalry suffered no casualties.
E)All the answers are correct.

Question 35

Before 1860, the traditional policy of the federal government was to regard Indians as

A)members of dependent states.
B)a natural enemy of the United States.
C)wards of the president of the United States.
D)non-humans.
E)citizens of the United States.

Question 36

The "Rocky Mountain School" of painting

A)marked a sharp departure from the artistic style of the Hudson River Valley painters.
B)helped inspire a growth of tourism in the West.
C)emphasized the primitive art of Indians and other indigenous peoples.
D)first gained popular acceptance in the early twentieth century.
E)was a significant influence on the abstract art that would soon flourish in Europe.

Question 37

In the 1860s, cattle drives from Texas to Missouri

A)saw the herds suffer heavy losses.
B)proved that cattle could be driven to distant markets.
C)established a link to the booming urban markets of the East.
D)All the answers are correct.
E)None of the answers are correct.

Question 38

In Owen Wister's novel, The Virginian (1902), the American cowboy was

A)castigated for his poor relations with Indians, Mexicans, and Chinese.
B)lamented as having lost his innocence and decency.
C)seen as fast disappearing as urbanization spread west.
D)criticized for being too quick to use violence.
E)portrayed as a simple and virtuous frontiersman.

Question 39

In 1886, the end of formal warfare between the United States and American Indians was marked by the surrender of

A)Cochise.
B)Wovoka.
C)Mangas Colorados.
D)Sitting Bull.
E)Geronimo.

Question 40

The decimation of American buffalo herds in the late nineteenth century

A)destroyed the ability of Plains Indians to resist the advance of white settlers.
B)was accelerated by Indian tribes who killed large numbers of buffalo to sell to white Americans.
C)happened almost entirely in the space of a single decade.
D)All the answers are correct.
E)None of the answers are correct.

Question 41

In his writings during the late 1800s, the popular author Hamlin Garland

A)romanticized the agrarian life in the West.
B)criticized western farmers for failing to develop a stable industry.
C)reflected the growing disillusionment of western farmers.
D)argued the Plains should be abandoned by Americans.
E)suggested the trials of rural life refined and enlarged the human spirit.

Question 42

In the mid-nineteenth century, Hispanic society in the Southwest grew, despite the increasing Anglo-American settlement in that area.

Question 43

White hostility to the Chinese immigrant was rooted in the perception that they were lazy.

Question 44

In the late nineteenth century, the western agricultural economy

A)attracted mostly settlers who had little to no experience with farming.
B)saw the Plains states experience a drought during the 1870s.
C)began a long and steady improvement after 1880.
D)saw the development of massive irrigation projects.
E)saw the railroad become the most important factor in its development.

Question 45

In the late nineteenth century, in regards to western agriculture

A)the prices paid for American farm goods rose after the 1880s.
B)the reality of farming was very much like its popular image with the public.
C)commercial farmers were not self-sufficient and made little effort to become so.
D)increasingly, more farmers owned the land on which they worked.
E)American farm families were relatively unaffected by the effects of world production.

Question 46

Plains Indians were formidable foes of white settlers because they were usually able to present a united front against those white settlers.

Question 47

The power of the Navaho and Apache tribes in the Southwest was broken by Hispanic settlers before the arrival of the United States Army.

Question 48

In the late nineteenth century, fences for Plains farms were usually made from

A)barbed wire.
B)stones.
C)wood.
D)sod.
E)brick.

Question 49

The Timber Culture Act and the Desert Land Act were both designed to limit individual homesteaders in the American West.

Question 50

Which of the following was NOT a significant source of resentment for the late nineteenth-century farmers?

A)railroads
B)state governments
C)banks
D)manufacturers
E)prices

Question 51

A number of Chinese immigrants worked in the mines of California before turning to the railroad for employment.

Question 52

Permanent settlements were rare among the Plains Indians.

Question 53

By the end of the nineteenth century, the American West was firmly tied to the increasingly powerful industrial economy of the East.

Question 54

The real West of the mid-nineteenth century bore little resemblance to its popular image.

Question 55

By the end of the nineteenth century, the Hispanic presence in California was concentrated in the working class.

Question 56

During the late nineteenth century, Plains farm life

A)was marked by active community life.
B)became increasingly profitable for most.
C)was generally admired by the growing urban public.
D)often lacked any access to the outside world.
E)All the answers are correct.

Question 57

Plains Indians were not particularly vulnerable to infectious diseases brought from the eastern United States.

Question 58

A homestead unit of 160 acres was too small for grain farming on the Great Plains.

Question 59

By 1880, more than 200,000 Chinese had settled in the United States.

Question 60

More than 300,000 Indians lived on the Pacific coast before the arrival of Spanish settlers.

Question 61

Custer's defeat at Little Big Horn in 1876 was made possible in part by an unusually large gathering of tribal warriors.

Question 62

At the end of the Civil War, whites stepped up their wars against the western Indians on several fronts.

Question 63

Management of Indian affairs by the federal government was in the hands of the army.

Question 64

Between 1865 and 1875, the number of buffalo in the American West declined from 15 million to under 1,000.

Question 65

The Sand Creek Massacre was a rare story of Indians killing whites.

Question 66

The Dawes Severalty Act sought the gradual elimination of most tribal ownership of land.

Question 67

The most valuable mineral in the great Comstock Lode was gold.

Question 68

The post-1850 federal government reservation policy for American Indians had little benefits for either whites or Indians.

Question 69

Commercial farmers in the Midwest and West were forced to become self-sufficient.

Question 70

The number of men in mining towns greatly outnumbered the number of women.

Question 71

The western working class was highly multiracial and stratified along racial lines.

Question 72

Women in western mining towns were almost always prostitutes.

Question 73

Those who flocked to mining towns and failed to strike it rich most often left the West.

Question 74

By ancestry, the western cattle industry was Mexican and Texan.

Question 75

The story of the Nez Perce Indians is of a peaceful tribe forced to turn terribly violent.

Question 76

The 1866 attempt to create a "long drive" between Texas and Missouri ended in failure.

Question 77

White agents who observed the Indian "Ghost Dance" often did not understand it.

Question 78

In the 1870s, nearly one out of every eighty miners was killed on the job.

Question 79

American Indians were generally willing to accept the terms of the Dawes Act.

Question 80

During the latter half of the nineteenth century, the structure of the cattle industry became increasingly corporate.