Deck 16: The Conquest of the Far West Key

Question 1

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

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

Answer 1

Arizona.

Question 2

The Homestead Act of 1862

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

Answer 2

was later expanded by the Timber Culture Act.

Question 3

The western cattle industry saw Mexican ranchers first develop

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

Answer 3

All these answers are correct.

Question 4

By the mid-1840s,the American West

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

Question 5

The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882

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

Question 6

The Comstock Lode primarily produced

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

Question 7

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

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

Question 8

In the late nineteenth century,which of the following was NOT a major western industry that relied on the East for markets and capital?

A) fur trading
B) mining
C) ranching
D) both fur trading and ranching
E) commercial farming

Question 9

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

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

Question 10

Mining in the West

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

Question 11

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

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

Question 12

In the mid-nineteenth century,the Plains Indians were

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

Question 13

Which tribe should NOT be included among the Plains Indians?

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

Question 14

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

A) All these answers are correct.
B) paid higher wages than workers in the East.
C) highly stratified along racial lines.
D) highly multiracial.
E) both highly multiracial and paid higher wages than workers in the East.

Question 15

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) Descendants of the original settlers engaged primarily in cattle and sheep ranching.
C) Taos Indians, allied with Navajos and Apaches, forced out Anglo-Americans until 1847.
D) The Anglo-American population grew rapidly once the railroads began traveling to the Southwest.
E) The Spanish had had settlements in the area since the seventeenth century.

Question 16

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

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

Question 17

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

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

Question 18

Chinese tongs were

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

Question 19

During the mid-nineteenth century,Hispanics living in California

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

Question 20

Women in nineteenth-century western mining towns

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

Question 21

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

Question 22

The Sand Creek Massacre of 1864

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

Question 23

In the 1850s,the U.S.policy of "concentration" for Indians

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

Question 24

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

A) was promoted by the Rocky Mountain school.
B) both presented a heroic image of cowboys, and was promoted by the Rocky Mountain school.
C) presented a heroic image of cowboys.
D) perceived the region to be a place offering true freedom.
E) All these answers are correct.

Question 25

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

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

Question 26

In 1890,the "Ghost Dance"

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

Question 27

The Rocky Mountain school of painting

A) emphasized the primitive art of Indians and other indigenous peoples.
B) helped inspire the growth of tourism in the West.
C) marked a sharp departure from the artistic style of the Hudson River Valley painters.
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 28

The decimation of American buffalo herds in the late nineteenth century

A) was accelerated by the booming new market for buffalo hide.
B) was fostered by the railroad companies.
C) destroyed the ability of Plains Indians to resist the advance of white settlers.
D) happened almost entirely in the space of two decades.
E) All these answers are correct.

Question 29

Early in 1866,a massive joint cattle drive from Texas to Missouri

A) All these answers are correct.
B) saw the herds suffer heavy losses.
C) both proved that cattle could be driven to distant markets, and established a link to the booming urban markets of the East.
D) proved that cattle could be driven to distant markets.
E) established a link to the booming urban markets of the East.

Question 30

The Dawes Severalty Act of 1887

A) ended the U.S. government's effort to assimilate Indian tribes.
B) was designed to force Indians to become landowners and farmers.
C) was intended to preserve traditional Indian culture.
D) denied U.S. citizenship to landowning Indian adults.
E) reaffirmed tribal ownership of western lands in the face of white claims to it.

Question 31

,the American cowboy was

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

Question 32

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

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

Question 33

The 1876 Battle of Little Bighorn

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

Question 34

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

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

Question 35

Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West shows

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

Question 36

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

A) most of the frontier land was of little practical use for Americans.
B) the western wars between whites and Indians were a national disgrace.
C) that the end of the "frontier" also marked the end of one of the most important democratizing forces in American life.
D) the frontier had repressed individualism, nationalism, and democracy in America.
E) the United States should expand its northern and southern borders into Canada and Mexico to create new frontier land.

Question 37

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

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

Question 38

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

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

Question 39

Which Indian chief was murdered during the Civil War after white soldiers tricked him into surrendering?

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

Question 40

In 1890 at Wounded Knee,South Dakota,

A) the U.S. Seventh Cavalry massacred up to 200 Indians.
B) All these answers are correct.
C) the Sioux attempted to leave the reservation for Canada.
D) Plains Indians mounted their last major attack on white Americans.
E) the U.S. Seventh Cavalry suffered no casualties.

Question 41

The western farmers' first and most burning grievance was against

A) the railroads.
B) state governments.
C) eastern manufacturers.
D) the banks.
E) crop speculators.

Question 42

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

Question 43

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

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

Question 44

During the late nineteenth century,Plains farm life

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

Question 45

Men in mining towns greatly outnumbered women.

Question 46

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

Question 47

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

Question 48

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

Question 49

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

Question 50

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

Question 51

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

Question 52

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

Question 53

In the late nineteenth century,the surge of farming settlement in the West

A) spurred the development of massive irrigation projects.
B) was composed of mostly settlers who had little to no experience with farming.
C) was a result of many factors, but the most important was the railroad.
D) was primarily the result of federal subsidies for land ownership.
E) was brought to a dramatic halt by a major drought during the 1870s.

Question 54

In the late nineteenth century,regarding western agriculture,

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

Question 55

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

Question 56

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

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

Question 57

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

Question 58

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

Question 59

Permanent settlements were somewhat rare among the Plains Indians.

Question 60

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

Question 61

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

Question 62

In what ways did the American West not conform to its popular image?

Question 63

From the time of initial colonial contact to the close of the nineteenth century,the relationship between Native Americans and white Americans was marked by a high degree of violence by whites toward Natives.What were the popular ideas and cultural beliefs found in white American society that motivated this violence?

Question 64

Describe and assess the evolution of white American attitudes and policy toward American Indian groups in the last half of the nineteenth century.

Question 65

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

Question 66

Compare the myths and the realities of the American cowboy.

Question 67

What was Frederick Jackson Turner's "frontier thesis," and what are the criticisms of it?

Question 68

What deep-rooted American ideals and beliefs are found in the mythic status of western cowboys?

Question 69

In the late nineteenth century,why was assimilation between the peoples of the United States and Indian tribes difficult to attain?

Question 70

How did Native Americans respond to federal government policies-and to military actions against them?

Question 71

What economic factors would motivate someone to move to the West during the second half of the nineteenth century?

Question 72

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

Question 73

Late-nineteenth-century American farmers increasingly sold their produce in competitive international markets and bought their supplies in a domestic market protected by tariffs.

Question 74

Assess the Chinese experience in the West during the second half of the nineteenth century.Given the strong discrimination,why did they stay in the United States and how did they manage to support themselves?

Question 75

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

Question 76

Describe the origins and development of the Texas cattle industry.

Question 77

Between 1865 and 1885,the number of buffalo in the American West declined from 15 million to under 1,000.

Question 78

Describe the rise and decline of the western Plains farmer in the late nineteenth century.

Question 79

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