Title: Westward Expansion (1840-1900)
Course: Question Banks

Q: Columnist John O’Sullivan wrote in 1839 that American history was characterized by the defense of “the oppressed of all nations … the rights of conscience, [and] the rights of personal enfranchisement.” Based on this idealized reading of American history, O’Sullivan and other proponents of Westward expansion argued that Americans were destined to
- give freedom of religious expression to Native Americans. (Incorrect. Some proponents of Manifest Destiny cited concerns about the spiritual state of Native people in the West. However, O’Sullivan’s reference to “freedom of conscience” did not mean Americans should allow indigenous people to continue their traditional religious practices.)
- extend the right to vote to Native and Hispanic people in the West. (Incorrect. O’Sullivan cited “the rights of personal enfranchisement” as one of several ways in which American democracy stood in contrast to European monarchies. Proponents of Westward expansion and Manifest Destiny tended to view indigenous people in a paternalistic way and did not intend to give them a democratic voice.)
- end slavery by diminishing the political power of Southern states. (Incorrect. Many Americans had strong opinions about the question of slavery in the Western territories, and the U.S. government would encourage Western development to counter Southern power during the Civil War. However, slavery did not fit into O’Sullivan’s idealized picture of American history, and it did not factor into the popular understanding of Manifest Destiny.)
- spread the benefits of democracy and Protestant values across the continent. (Correct! O’Sullivan drew a sharp contrast between American democracy and Protestant religion on one hand, and the “horrid carnage” which characterized the histories of monarchical nations on the other hand. Many Americans believed that their unique history conferred a moral duty to bring Enlightenment ideals to Native and Hispanic people in the West.)
A: spread the benefits of democracy and Protestant values across the continent.

Q: William Gilpin, an influential explorer from Colorado, delivered an address in the U.S. Senate in March 1846, in which he described Manifest Destiny as the “untransacted destiny” of the American people to “teach old nations a new civilization” and “to perfect science.” Gilpin was expressing a common belief among Americans in the 19th century. What was this belief?
- Railroads would make it easier for Americans to move West. (Incorrect. In the 1840s, Americans were migrating West on rough wagon roads such as the Oregon and Santa Fe trails. Railroad companies saw the potential to capitalize on Westward expansion, but they would do so until the latter half of the 19th century.)
- Americans should teach science to Native Americans. (Incorrect. Manifest Destiny held that Americans had a duty to teach democracy and Protestant values to Native and Hispanic people already living in the West. Sharing scientific knowledge, however, might have undermined the philosophy which Gilpin expressed in 1846.)
- Science would make it possible to locate natural resources such as gold and oil. (Incorrect. Although mineral resources would propel Westward expansion, they did not factor into thinking about Manifest Destiny in the 1840s. Americans at this time were more concerned with natural resources above – rather than underneath – Western lands.)
- Technology proved the superiority of one civilization over another. (Correct! Throughout human history, civilizations with advanced technology had conquered civilizations with less advanced weapons and infrastructure. Manifest Destiny included the common belief in American superiority over Native people, demonstrated by scientific and engineering marvels such as the telegraph and railroad. Gilpin expressed the belief that the “conquest” of the West through technological superiority would benefit the less advanced Native Americans who were already living there.)
A: Technology proved the superiority of one civilization over another.

Q: Americans began to re-evaluate Westward migration in the 1840s because of the potential for new economic opportunities and the ideology of Manifest Destiny. What was the main obstacle which prevented many families from going West during this time?
- The poor quality of wagon routes such as the Oregon Trail. (Incorrect. The Oregon Trail was the most popular of several identifiable wagon paths going West, which included the Santa Fe, California, and Mormon trails. These roads were undeveloped and made rough going in covered wagons, but many Americans braved this hardship. More than 400,000 settlers traveled the Oregon Trail from 1845-1870.)
- The fear of attacks from hostile Native Americans. (Incorrect. The U.S. government installed forts to protect settlers from Native Americans throughout the 19th century. However, Americans who were influenced by Manifest Destiny tended to think of the West as mostly unoccupied, and they expected Native civilizations to be easily subdued by White culture and technology. Violent conflicts over land would change this perspective in the latter half of the 19th century.)
- The lack of railroad access to the Western interior. (Incorrect. Although railroads would not give easy access to the West until later in the 19th century, thousands of settlers chose to journey West on rough wagon paths such as the Oregon Trail in the meantime.)
- The prohibitive expense. (Correct! Many Americans with families could not afford to make the journey West and were not willing to face the risks of failure. The Panic of 1837 had renewed interest in commercial farming in the West but had also left families too poor to make the journey. Even federal incentives to go West could not overcome the financial hurdle for many Americans.)
A: The prohibitive expense.

Q: The U.S. Congress passed two legislative acts in 1862 which were intended to stimulate Westward settlement, due to fears that the North might lose the Civil War. Which of the following statements describes the provisions of the Homestead Act?
- It provided grants and federal land as rights-of-way to railroad companies to improve Western infrastructure. (Incorrect. This statement describes certain provisions of the Pacific Railway Act, which was also passed in 1862 to help open the West to Americans through railroad construction. This act commissioned two railroad companies to connect the East and West and provided ownership of 200 feet of federal lands on either side of the new tracks.)
- It provided for the federal government to build forts in the West to protect settlers. (Incorrect. The U.S. government built several forts in the West – such as Fort Laramie in Wyoming and Fort Apache in Arizona – to protect settlers from Native American attacks and to provide relief to farmers during droughts. However, fort construction was not a provision of the Homestead Act of 1862.)
- It provided financial assistance to help the “exodusters” migrate out of the South. (Incorrect. “Exodusters” were Black Americans who escaped the South after the Civil War by moving into Western territories. The Homestead Act did not provide financial assistance to migrants, but many Black Americans used its provisions to become landowners in the West.)
- It allowed male citizens to claim federal lands in the West, make improvements, and gain title deeds. (Correct! The Homestead Act allowed settlers to claim 160-acre surveyed sections of federal land in the West and to make improvements such as plowing fields and building homes. After five years of working the land, a settler could apply for the official title deed. Thousands of settlers took advantage of the act’s provisions to start farms in the West.)
A: It allowed male citizens to claim federal lands in the West, make improvements, and gain title deeds.

Q: The Pacific Railway Act of 1862 commissioned the Union Pacific Railroad and the Central Pacific Railroad companies to build two sets of tracks which converged at Promontory Summit, Utah in 1869. The first transcontinental railroad benefitted Western settlers by
- connecting forts and turning them into trading centers. (Incorrect. The U.S. government built several forts in the West – such as Fort Laramie in Wyoming and Fort Apache in Arizona – to protect settlers from Native American. Some of these forts evolved into trading posts for miners and fur trappers, but this occurred before railroads came to the West.)
- turning Utah into the commercial center of the West. (Incorrect. Promontory Summit entered history as the place where the Union Pacific tracks (which began in Nebraska) and the Central Pacific tracks (which began in California) converged to form the first transcontinental railroad in 1869. However, Western commercial hubs tended to form around natural and mineral resources – in Utah and elsewhere.)
- convincing Eastern capitalists to invest in Western development. (Incorrect. The transcontinental railroad was the result – not the cause – of capital investments in railroad construction which preceded the Pacific Railway Act of 1862. The land grants and subsidies provided in the act supplemented enormous private investments in the Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroads, allowing both companies to make a tidy profit.)
- forming the backbone of a vast network of railroad lines throughout the West. (Correct! The transcontinental railroad connected East and West, and new railroads radiated from it like tributaries from a major river. These shorter railroad lines crisscrossed the Western interior, allowing settlers to migrate and to ship their crops, cattle, and mineral resources back to the East.)
A: forming the backbone of a vast network of railroad lines throughout the West.

Q: President Lincoln wrote in 1861 of the proposed legislation which became the Homestead Act, “I think it worthy of consideration, and that the wild lands of the country should be distributed so that every man should have the means and opportunity of benefitting his condition.” How did the Civil War give a new impetus to Lincoln’s personal idealism about Western settlement?
- The war drove formerly enslaved people to escape the South into the West. (Incorrect. Although the war drove both White and Black refugees into the Western territories, accommodating these former Southerners was not Lincoln’s primary motivation for signing the Homestead and Pacific Railway acts in 1862.)
- The North needed swift construction of railroads in the West to move war materials. (Incorrect. Although the Pacific Railway Act of 1862 commissioned two railroad companies to build the first transcontinental railroad, the route – between Nebraska and California – was far removed from the theaters of war and was never intended to transport war materials.)
- Lincoln hoped the West could become a new nation to replace the defeated Union. (Incorrect. The Lincoln administration never expected the West to become a distinct nation, regardless of the outcome of the Civil War. One of Lincoln’s wartime goals was to create stronger ties between the Western territories and the rest of the Union.)
- Lincoln wanted small farmers, rather than large slaveholders, to populate the West. (Correct! Lincoln, who was sometimes called a “man of the West” because of his roots in the border state of Kentucky, needed to bind the Western territories to the Union in case of Southern victory in the Civil War. This practical goal dovetailed with the moral goal of Lincoln’s new Republican Party to prevent slavery from taking root in the Western territories.)
A: Lincoln wanted small farmers, rather than large slaveholders, to populate the West.

Q: Passage of the Homestead Act in 1862, and completion of the transcontinental railroad in 1869, opened the West to thousands of new settlers. Prior to these measures, most of the Americans who had struck out in covered wagons on the Oregon Trail were
- Black refugees who fled from racism in the South. (Incorrect. Thousands of Black Americans known as “exodusters” fled from the violence and racism of the South and migrated into the West. However, this exodus occurred after the Civil War and with the benefits of the Homestead Act, not before.)
- wealthy capitalists who planned to invest in Western development. (Incorrect. Eastern business interests promoted Manifest Destiny and invested heavily in railroad construction in the West from a distance. Most early Western settlers were not businessmen.)
- poor families from the Trans-Appalachian region. (Incorrect. The cost of relocating to the West and buying the necessary supplies to start new farms prevented many settlers from going West in the decades before the Homestead Act and the transcontinental railroad.)
- White, native-born farmers of moderate wealth. (Correct! Starting new lives in the Western frontier required a level of financial security which many Americans did not have. Most of the settlers who made the arduous journey on the Oregon Trail before the Civil War hailed from established, modestly prosperous family backgrounds in the Eastern states. They could afford to take the financial risks of starting new farms in unplowed Western lands.)
A: White, native-born farmers of moderate wealth.

Q: Thousands of immigrants from Northern Europe and Canada settled in the American West in the second half of the 19th century. Which of the following statements most accurately describes how European immigrants shaped the culture of the West?
- Immigrants replaced farming with gold mining as the dominant industry. (Incorrect. The California Gold Rush, which began in 1848, drew mostly American and Chinese immigrants to the Pacific coast to seek their fortunes. Although gold attracted countless settlers to California, the American and European immigrants who settled inland territories with help from the Homestead Act were mostly small farmers.)
- Immigrants settled near Hispanic and Native communities, resulting in cultural assimilation. (Incorrect. All Western settlers – including European immigrants – were focused on survival rather than assimilation with indigenous people. Native Americans struggled to maintain their hunting grounds, while Hispanic people in the Southwest struggled to maintain their culture under the terms of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848).)
- Immigrants brought the concept of self-sufficiency to the West. (Incorrect. Many European immigrants enjoyed a level of self-sufficiency as Western homesteaders that they could not have had in their countries of origin. However, self-sufficiency had characterized American settlers from the early days of Manifest Destiny and was not unique to the European immigrants.)
- Immigrants formed communities similar to their countries of origin. (Correct! German, Scandinavian, Irish, and other immigrant groups tended to settle near neighbors of the same ethnic origins. Rather than losing their cultural identity in the American melting pot, immigrants in isolated Western communities preserved the cultures of their homelands.)
A: Immigrants formed communities similar to their countries of origin.

Q: In 1879, a Black American living in Louisiana wrote to the governor of Kansas, “I am very anxious to reach your state … because of the sacredness of her soil washed by the blood of humanitarians for the cause of black freedom." Which of the following statements most accurately describes the “exodusters” who migrated into the West in the 1870s?
- They left the South primarily to enlist in the U.S. Army in the West. (Incorrect. Although some Black Americans who had served in the Union army during the Civil War continued to do so in the West – gaining the nickname of “Buffalo Soldiers”– most Black migrants did not leave the South for this purpose.)
- They moved to the West to work on farms but could not become landowners under the Homestead Act. (Incorrect. Black settlers could apply for land ownership under the provisions of the Homestead Act, and many did. Historians estimate about 3,500 Black farmers gained the title deeds to their farms after working them for five years.)
- They left the South at the invitation of railroad companies, who needed labor to build new tracks in the West. (Incorrect. Asian immigrants who fled from the Opium Wars in China comprised most of the railroad labor force. Although some Black Americans helped to build railroads, this was not a motivating factor in the mass migration from South to West in the 1870s.)
- They fled racial violence in the South to become small farmers in the West. (Correct! Racial violence in the Reconstruction era drove thousands of freedmen into the West. Most of the “exodusters” became small farmers under the provisions of the Homestead Act of 1862. A smaller percentage worked as cowboys in Texas or served as “Buffalo Soldiers” in the Indian Wars.)
A: They fled racial violence in the South to become small farmers in the West.

Q: The Great Plains and Midwest—nicknamed the “Great Desert”—challenged settlers to come up with irrigation techniques that did not depend on rainfall. What was the primary method which farmers used to grow corn, wheat, and sorghum in the arid West of the 19th century?
- Windmills (Incorrect. A few settlers drilled wells and built windmills to draw water up from deep below the surface. However, most farmers in the 19th century could not afford to do so and had to find non-technological solutions.)
- Dams (Incorrect. Dams were not constructed in the West until passage of the Newlands Reclamation Act in 1902, which provided for the selling of federal lands to fund dams for irrigation purposes. Most Western settlers could not afford to build their own dams prior to this legislation.)
- Water delivered by rail (Incorrect. Western railroads delivered livestock and farm supplies to settlers at exorbitant prices, but they did not transport water for irrigation.)
- Dry-farming (Correct! Dry-farming (also called dryland farming) was a technique in which farmers turned up soil from deep below the surface. This soil contained moisture from the most recent rainy season and could be compacted to seal the water within. Settlers in the “Great Desert” used this method successfully in the decades prior to the Newlands Reclamation Act (1902), which would finance construction of the first Western dams.)
A: Dry-farming

Q: Nature posed a variety of challenges for small farmers in the West, such as tornadoes, droughts, and locust swarms. Other challenges were man-made. How did the increasing number of migrants to the West create financial problems for small farmers?
- Banks charged higher interest rates. (Incorrect. The cost of starting a new farm forced many Western settlers to borrow from banks with the intention of repaying after each harvest. Banks took advantage of their desperation and charged high interest rates, trapping many farmers in endless cycles of debt. Increasing migration to the West did not cause these high interest rates.)
- There was a shortage of steel-faced and chilled plows. (Incorrect. James Oliver improved on John Deere’s earlier steel-faced plow to create the “chilled plow,” which could cut through prairie grass in the Midwest. Increased migration did not result in a shortage of plows, but many farmers struggled to pay for them.)
- “Bonanza farms” drove small farmers off their lands. (Incorrect. “Bonanza farms” were large commercial farms which developed in Minnesota and the Dakota Territory. Many settlers who planned to become landowners under the Homestead Act found themselves working as laborers on huge, commercial wheat farms instead. “Bonanza farms” did not pose the central problem which plagued small farmers as migration increased.)
- Market values for crops declined. (Correct! The growing number of successful farmers in the West resulted in over-production and steadily declining market prices. At the same time, land values went up due to the improvements which farmers were making.)
A: Market values for crops declined.

Q: In Little House on the Prairie and other books about her childhood in the West, Laura Ingalls Wilder depicted her mother, Caroline Ingalls, as a resourceful frontier woman who played a crucial role in the survival and success of the homestead. Which of the following statements most accurately describes the role of women like Caroline Ingalls in the West?
- They performed domestic chores while their husbands did all the hard farm work. (Incorrect. Although women sewed, did laundry, and otherwise fulfilled the traditional roles of housewives, they also did manual labor such as milking cows and tending subsistence gardens.)
- They enjoyed legal equality with men and could buy and sell property. (Incorrect. Married women could not sell property, sue for divorce, serve on juries, or vote in the 19th century. However, many frontier women became managers of the homesteads after their husbands died, and their example helped to promote the cause of women’s suffrage in several Western states.)
- They engaged in political activism to demand women’s suffrage. (Incorrect. The hardscrabble lives of frontier families led to little free time for political activities. However, the example of capable women like Caroline Ingalls would help to win support for women’s suffrage in the Pacific Northwest and Upper Midwest in the early 20th century.)
- They were equal partners with their husbands in running homesteads and helped to break through social barriers. (Correct! Women did not have the same legal rights to buy or sell property that men had. However, they were partners with their husbands in the successful management of homesteads, both in domestic chores and in actual farm work.)
A: They were equal partners with their husbands in running homesteads and helped to break through social barriers.

Q: Which of the following statements most accurately characterizes the original Forty-Niners?
- They were small business owners who set up shop in California after the discovery of gold. (Incorrect. Although the discovery of precious metals resulted in the swift creation of towns in the West – along with stores, saloons, and houses of ill repute – the original “Forty-Niners” were not businessmen.)
- They were miners who came to Nevada after discovery of the Comstock Lode. (Incorrect. The Comstock Lode was a silver deposit discovered by Henry T.P. Comstock in 1859, which drew prospectors into Nevada and Colorado. The nickname “Forty-Niners” referred to a different group of people, in a slightly different context.)
- They were Eastern capitalists who invested in mining operations in the West. (Incorrect. Businessmen began to invest heavily in Western mines in the 1860s and 1870s, following the initial discoveries and removal of precious metals from superficial mines. The Forty-Niners were not connected to any organized business interests.)
- They were prospectors who poured into California to mine for surface gold deposits. (Correct! The discovery of gold at Sutter’s Mill started the California Gold Rush in 1849. Individual prospectors flooded the region to seek their fortunes via panning-- sifting for gold in dirt and gravel --or by diverting streams through a sluice box to catch tiny gold nuggets.)
A: They were prospectors who poured into California to mine for surface gold deposits.

Q: In 1859, Henry T.P. Comstock’s discovery of silver touched off a mining frenzy in Nevada and Colorado because silver held intrinsic monetary value as a precious metal. Which of the following statements describes how the copper discovered in Arizona differed in value from silver and gold?
- Copper was considered more valuable for minting coins in the 19th century. (Incorrect. The U.S. Mint used gold, silver, and copper to make coins in the 19th century, but silver and gold provided the standard of value for the national monetary system. The copper mined in the West held value for reasons other than its use in coinage.)
- Copper was easier to mine than silver because it did not require digging shafts. (Incorrect. The removal of all precious metals in the West required deep shaft mines in the 1860s and 1870s, following the initial removal of surface deposits. Copper mines shared many of the same dangers as silver mines – heat, poor ventilation, cave-ins, and dynamite explosions.)
- Copper mines did not attract saloonkeepers and prostitutes like silver did. (Incorrect. All precious metals attracted crowds of prospectors, and with them, towns sprang up with saloons, prostitution, crime, and the vigilante justice which characterized the legendary “Wild West.”)
- Copper was less glamorous, but had practical technological value. (Correct! Copper is sometimes considered a precious metal, but it did not have the same romantic intrigue that gold and silver held in the 19th century. Instead, copper promised wealth to successful miners because of its use in new technologies such as the telegraph and electrical wiring.)
A: Copper was less glamorous, but had practical technological value.

Q: The discovery of precious metals in the West resulted in history repeating itself, as each new mine attracted a flood of prospectors and new towns sprang up with stores, saloons, and prostitution. Going beyond these immediate developments, how did precious metals bring long-term historical change to the West?
- Crime and violence drove prospectors out of the new mining towns before they could collect the precious metals. (Incorrect. Although mining towns attracted criminal elements and vigilante justice, they only became ghost towns after the mineral resources were depleted. Frontier violence did not deter prospectors from seeking their fortunes in these communities.)
- Fatal accidents in mines caused business interests to divest from the West, leaving ghost towns behind. (Incorrect. Mine workers faced poor ventilation, heat, fires, dynamite explosions, and lung disease. However, these dangers did not persuade business interests to abandon Western mining -- on the contrary, capitalists invested in communities and infrastructure in the West. Mining towns only became ghost towns after the mineral resources were depleted.)
- Most of the settlers who came to the West under the Homestead Act chose to abandon their farms and become mine workers. (Incorrect. Precious metals attracted individual prospectors and, later, mining companies and their employees. However, most settlers continued to plant crops and to seek title deeds to their farms under the Homestead Act. These farmers desired social stability, while the short-lived mining towns brought crime and vigilante justice.)
- Settlers called for federal intervention and statehood. (Correct! Although short-lived, the mining towns attracted criminal elements and cycles of vigilante justice which came to characterize the “Wild West.” As more Americans moved West to become permanent residents – rather than temporary prospectors – they called for statehood of Western territories and federal intervention to maintain law and order.)
A: Settlers called for federal intervention and statehood.

Q: Eastern capitalists did not begin to invest in the Western beef industry until the second half of the 19th century. What historical development triggered the massive cattle drives of the 1860s and 1870s?
- Black Americans left the South to work as cowboys in Texas. (Incorrect. By some estimates, Black Americans may have comprised one fourth of the cowboys who worked in the Great Plains in the late 19th century. Although many Black cowboys were refugees from the Reconstruction-era South, their presence in the West did not start the cattle drives or the beef industry.)
- Mexican vaqueros taught Americans how to be cowboys. (Incorrect. Mexican and Hispanic American vaqueros were cattle drivers who provided many of the methods and vocabulary which White cowboys adopted. American cowboys obtained the lasso, the rodeo, and the word bronco from vaqueros. However, this cultural exchange was a result – rather than the cause – of the cattle drives.)
- Barbed wire was invented and patented. (Incorrect. Cattle drives began before Joseph Glidden patented his barbed wire design in 1873, and the new technology served the needs of settled ranchers more than Eastern businessmen who had been investing in free-range cattle drives up to that time.)
- New railroads connected Western territories to the East. (Correct! Businessmen knew that an estimated five million longhorn cows roamed Texas – the problem was their inability to transport them to Eastern markets. The transcontinental railroad, completed in 1869, and the subsequent network of shorter railroads throughout the West made it economically feasible to ship beef to the East.)
A: New railroads connected Western territories to the East.

Q: Barbed wire existed in various forms prior to 1873, when Joseph Glidden patented the design which would become the industry standard. How did barbed wire transform the Western beef industry?
- Ranchers hastened the extinction of bison by fencing in their grazing grounds. (Incorrect. North American bison herds were wiped out by the clothing and fertilizer industries, which harvested their leather and bones, rather than by the loss of pastures to ranches.)
- Conflicts over land between settlers and Native Americans came to an end. (Incorrect. Native Americans, who called barbed wire “devil’s rope,” were shocked by the concept that human beings could own land by fencing it in. Conflicts between cattlemen and Native Americans predated the invention of barbed wire and would continue until the end of the 19th century.)
- The “Wild West” became less violent. (Incorrect. Although never as “wild” as the dime novels suggested, the West was characterized by sporadic outbreaks of violence as settlers competed for natural resources. Mining towns such as Bodie, California – which had the highest murder rate in the nation from 1877-1883 – were particularly prone to fighting and frontier justice. Barbed wire only compounded the problem by creating tensions between large and small ranchers, leading to more violent altercations.)
- Capitalists began to invest in ranches instead of free-range cattle drives. (Correct! Barbed wire made ranching possible, and Eastern investors shifted their focus to ranches, closing the era in which cowboys drove wild cattle over long distances to railroad terminals. The role of cowboys changed from independent agents to employees of ranches financed by Eastern business interests.)
A: Capitalists began to invest in ranches instead of free-range cattle drives.

Q: Western cattlemen turned on each other in the Fence Cutting War in Texas (1883-1884) and the so-called “lynching bee” in Wyoming (1891-1892). What was the root cause of violent confrontations between White ranchers during this time?
- Wealthy ranchers lobbied for legislation against prostitution in the West. (Incorrect. The wives of middle-class ranchers and Christian missionaries worked to change the culture in frontier towns. Greater awareness of the problem, rather than direct lobbying on the part of ranchers, led to the passage of the Comstock Law in 1873 and the Page Act in 1875, but neither measure succeeded in ending prostitution in the West.)
- Cowboys blamed ranches for putting the cattle drives out of business. (Incorrect. Many cowboys had engaged in the cattle drives with the hopes of becoming ranchers in the future. When barbed wire made ranching feasible, many cowboys did become ranchers, albeit on a smaller scale and without the Eastern capital which poured into the larger ranches.)
- Wealthy ranchers stole cattle from small farmers. (Incorrect. Large, well-funded ranchers had no need to steal cattle from other settlers – but the reverse was sometimes true. Cattle rustling by small farmers was one of the symptoms of a larger conflict between the two classes of cattlemen.)
- Small ranchers were frustrated because large ranchers took all of the good land. (Correct! Large, well-funded ranchers claimed vast expanses of grazing land and watering holes. This left cowboys and small farmers without land and resources to start their own cattle operations. Resentment led to fence cutting and cattle rustling, followed by violent reprisals from the large ranchers.)
A: Small ranchers were frustrated because large ranchers took all of the good land.

Q: Which of the following statements most accurately describes the terms of the Treaty of Fort Laramie in 1851?
- The Cheyenne agreed to give up their lands in Colorado to prospectors. (Incorrect. Prospectors called for new treaties with the Cheyenne in the Colorado Territory during a gold rush in 1858. The Cheyenne, however, splintered over the question of being confined to reservations. These tensions did not lead to an agreement comparable to the Treaty of Fort Laramie.)
- The U.S. government granted citizenship to all Native Americans who left their tribes and settled with White citizens. (Incorrect. The Treaty of Fort Laramie in 1851 did not address the question of Native citizenship. In 1870, the Senate Judiciary Committee declared the Fourteenth Amendment’s definition of citizenship did not apply to Native people, and the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1884 that Native people could not become U.S. citizens by settling among White citizens.)
- The Indian Removal Act of 1830 was reversed, and several tribes were allowed to return to their homelands in the East. (Incorrect. The Indian Removal Act had forced thousands of Seminoles, Choctaw, Creek, and Chickasaw to relocate in the Oklahoma Territory in the 1830s. The “Trail of Tears” was never reversed, instead serving as a template for the U.S. government in its handling of the “Indian problem” in the West.)
- Several Great Plains tribes agreed to tribal borders in exchange for federal annuities. (Correct! The Treaty of Fort Laramie was intended to prevent the Great Plains tribes – such as Cheyenne, Sioux, and Arapahoe – from interfering with White settlers traveling to Oregon and California by creating distinct tribal borders. The tribes were promised annual payments of $50,000 for 50 years, but the U.S. government did not pay, and settlers eventually began to claim the reservation lands as well.)
A: Several Great Plains tribes agreed to tribal borders in exchange for federal annuities.

Q: Tensions between White prospectors and Cheyenne in the Colorado Territory led to the Sand Creek Massacre in 1864, in which Colonel John Chivington led the mass slaughter of a group of Cheyenne who were on a peacemaking mission. How did the Sand Creek Massacre lead to the very outcome which the prospectors had feared?
- The Cheyenne became even more determined to protect tribal borders in Colorado. (Incorrect. Tribal borders were an innovation of the Treaty of Fort Laramie in 1851 to protect White settlers migrating to Oregon and California. Native Americans had no traditions of borders or land ownership, and the raids which had made Colorado prospectors nervous had little to do with borders.)
- Black Kettle called for all Great Plains tribes to make war on the U.S. (Incorrect. Black Kettle, who led the peaceful group to their deaths at Sand Creek and survived the massacre, continued to call for peace and for a reservation for the Cheyenne during the remaining four years of his life. Black Kettle was killed by the U.S. Cavalry in the Battle of Washita River in Oklahoma in 1868.)
- The U.S. Army abandoned its attempts to remove Native Americans, leaving the prospectors defenseless. (Incorrect. Chivington’s actions at Sand Creek were condemned by his superiors, by the U.S. government, and by the press. However, the massacre did not change U.S. policies regarding the “Indian problem.” The army would continue to fight small battles with Native Americans throughout the 19th century.)
- The Cheyenne banded with other tribes and carried out raids throughout Colorado and Nebraska. (Correct! Survivors of the Sand Creek Massacre carried the news to their people, and the war pipe was smoked by Cheyenne, Sioux, and Arapahoe. Bands from these tribes retaliated by attacking, looting, and sometimes killing White men, women, and children in Colorado before proceeding north into Nebraska.)
A: The Cheyenne banded with other tribes and carried out raids throughout Colorado and Nebraska.

Q: Historians view the prolonged series of Chiricahua Apache raids in the Southwest, led by the famous Geronimo, as the closing chapter in the so-called “Indian Wars.” Which U.S. policy motivated Geronimo and other Native leaders to continue fighting rather than to accept terms of peace?
- The failure of the U.S. government to pay promised annuities. (Incorrect. In the Treaty of Fort Laramie (and other treaties), the U.S. promised to pay annuities to tribes who agreed not to interfere with White settlers. When the U.S. failed to deliver the payments, these tribes faced starvation. However, annuities were not the primary factor in Geronimo’s campaign.)
- The refusal of the U.S. to apply the Fourteenth Amendment to Native Americans. (Incorrect. The Fourteenth Amendment, ratified in 1868, said that all persons born or naturalized in the U.S. were American citizens. The Senate Judiciary Committee in 1870 and the Supreme Court in 1884 excluded Native Americans from citizenship under the amendment. The U.S. policy which motivated Geronimo to fight followed this view of Native people as non-citizens, but Geronimo did not seek citizenship for the Chiricahua Apache.)
- The removal of precious metals from Apache lands. (Incorrect. Copper and other precious metals drew prospectors into the Southwest – particularly in Arizona, the Apache homeland. Geronimo and his Apache warriors, however, had little interest in hanging onto Arizona’s mineral resources.)
- The confinement of Native Americans to reservations. (Correct! Starting with the Treaty of Fort Laramie in 1851, the U.S. government had tried to open Western lands and protect settlers by drawing tribal borders and restricting Native movement. Geronimo fought to restore the nomadic lifestyle of the Chiricahua Apache.)
A: The confinement of Native Americans to reservations.

Q: The Dakota War officially ended when U.S. troops defeated Sioux warriors in the Battle of Wood Lake in September 1862, taking more than 2,000 Dakota people prisoner. As a result of the armed rebellion, Minnesota settlers and government officials called for
- the commutation of the death sentences for Dakota prisoners. (Incorrect. Military tribunals charged Dakota warriors with murder and rape and sentenced 303 prisoners to death by hanging. President Lincoln commuted the sentences of all but a handful of these prisoners because he believed only those warriors who had killed civilians should be executed -- not because Minnesota settlers called for mercy.)
- the dismantling of the First Treaty of Fort Laramie. (Incorrect. The First Treaty of Fort Laramie (1851) had introduced the U.S. policy of confining Native Americans to reservations, and its terms had extended to the Dakota Territory. Starvation on the reservations was a factor in the decision of Sioux warriors to begin attacking White settlers in Minnesota. The Dakota War led to the U.S. doubling down on its reservation policy in new treaties in 1867 and 1868.)
- George Custer’s 7th Cavalry to be stationed in Minnesota to protect White settlers. (Incorrect. Custer’s 7th Cavalry did not become famous as Indian fighters until engagements in Oklahoma in 1867-1868. They were sent to the Dakota Territory in 1873 – a full decade after the Dakota War – to protect a railroad survey party rather than to protect White settlers in neighboring Minnesota.)
- the relocation of the Dakota people to lands further West. (Correct! Small bands of Sioux warriors had killed White settlers in retaliation for the loss of their hunting grounds, sparking the so-called Dakota War. After U.S. troops defeated the insurgents, fearful settlers and government officials called for the survivors to be hunted down, for the Dakota people to lose their reservations, and for the general removal of Native Americans to lands further West.)
A: the relocation of the Dakota people to lands further West.

Q: The Second Treaty of Fort Laramie in 1868 moved the Sioux people to the Black Hills of the Dakota Territory, away from White settlements. Why did the U.S. government rescind the terms of the treaty and force the Sioux to relocate again in 1876?
- The Sioux refused to remain in the Black Hills because their sacred lands were elsewhere. (Incorrect. The Sioux mostly honored the terms of the Second Treaty of Fort Laramie, and by 1876, they considered the Black Hills region to be sacred ground.)
- The U.S. Supreme Court had ruled that the Sioux had no rights to the Black Hills. (Incorrect. The Sioux had legal rights to the Black Hills under the Second Treaty of Fort Laramie. A century later, in 1980, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in <em>United States v. Sioux Nation of Indians</em> that the U.S. violated these rights when it forced the Sioux to sell the Black Hills in 1876.)
- The Sioux were using the Black Hills as a military base to revive the Dakota War. (Incorrect. The Dakota War had officially ended in 1862, followed by punitive U.S. military actions against Native Americans in Minnesota and the Dakota Territory in 1863. The Sioux people who were moved to the Black Hills did not attempt to continue this conflict.)
- White settlers were moving into the Black Hills after gold was discovered there. (Correct! Prospectors invaded the Black Hills with support from U.S. cavalry troops after the discovery of gold. The U.S. offered to lease or buy the land from the Sioux for $6 million, but the Sioux -- who now considered the Black Hills sacred -- refused to sell. The U.S. then imposed a selling price and ordered the Sioux to move to a reservation.)
A: White settlers were moving into the Black Hills after gold was discovered there.

Q: The Dakota War led to new treaties in the late 1860s which were designed to prevent similar conflicts by putting distance between Native Americans and White settlers. Which of these measures relocated the Comanche people to present-day Oklahoma?
- United States v. Sioux Nation of Indians (Incorrect. <em>United States v. Sioux Nation of Indians</em> was a decision by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1980 which said that the U.S. government had violated the legal rights of the Sioux people by forcing them to sell their lands in the Black Hills in 1876.)
- Second Treaty of Fort Laramie (Incorrect. The Second Treaty of Fort Laramie (1868) moved the Sioux people to the Black Hills region of the Dakota Territory.)
- Washita River Treaty (Incorrect. The Washita River in southwestern Oklahoma was the scene of the first substantial U.S. victory in the Southern Plains when Lt. Col. George Custer and the 7th Cavalry attacked a village of 6,000 Cheyenne people there. The Battle of Washita River did not result in any formal treaty or legislation to relocate Native Americans.)
- Treaty of Medicine Lodge Creek (Incorrect. The Treaty of Medicine Lodge Creek (1867) relocated the Comanche as well as Cheyenne, Arapaho, and Kiowa tribes to the Midwestern “Indian Territory,” which later became the state of Oklahoma.)
A: Treaty of Medicine Lodge Creek

Q: President Grant issued an edict in 1875 which provided legal justification for military action against the Lakota Sioux, including the action which resulted in the Battle of Little Bighorn. What did Grant’s edict say?
- Sioux people had to help White prospectors locate gold in the Black Hills. (Incorrect. Discovery of gold in the Black Hills region, which had been allotted to the Sioux in the Second Treaty of Fort Laramie, brought White settlers into the reservation, and created the initial tensions which led to Grant’s edict. However, Grant did not require the Lakota Sioux to help the prospectors seek their fortunes.)
- Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse had to surrender to arrest. (Incorrect. Sitting Bull (a holy man) and Crazy Horse (a war chief) were leaders in the Lakota Sioux movement to resist White encroachment in the Black Hills. However, they did not gain prominence until after Grant’s 1875 edict, when Sitting Bull organized a massive resistance force and Crazy Horse met Lt. Col. George Custer in the Battle of Little Bighorn.)
- Sioux warriors had to surrender their rifles to the U.S. Army. (Incorrect. Sitting Bull, a holy man who organized an armed resistance after Grant’s edict, refused to move from the Black Hills and said the Lakota Sioux had plenty of game and ammunition there. Many Lakota Sioux hunted with Springfield repeating rifles, and Grant’s edict did not require them to give them up.)
- Sioux people who did not return to their reservation would be considered hostile. (Correct! President Grant, in consultation with General Phillip Sheridan, ordered the Bureau of Indian Affairs to issue an ultimatum which said that all Sioux roaming outside of the Black Hills reservation should voluntarily return by January 31, 1876. Those who did not return would be considered hostile and face military action. Many Sioux ignored the edict.)
A: Sioux people who did not return to their reservation would be considered hostile.

Q: Lt. Col. George Custer, who became famous as an Indian fighter before the Battle of Little Bighorn, allegedly boasted, “There are not enough Indians in the world to defeat the Seventh Cavalry.” What was the main reason for his surprise defeat at Little Bighorn in 1876?
- Custer had not expected the Sioux warriors to have firearms. (Incorrect. Custer believed he was attacking a small encampment rather than a massive armed resistance force. However, the U.S. government and military knew that the Lakota Sioux had been using repeating rifles to hunt game in the Black Hills for some time before the confrontation at Little Bighorn.)
- Custer believed Crazy Horse would accept terms of surrender without a fight. (Incorrect. Crazy Horse was a Lakota Sioux war chief who had proven to be a skilled military strategist in an earlier altercation with General George Crook in Montana. Custer, who believed he was leading the 7th Cavalry in an attack on a minor encampment rather than an armed resistance force, did not know Crazy Horse was on the Little Bighorn River in June 1876.)
- The 7th Cavalry was exhausted from fighting in the recent Wounded Knee Massacre. (Incorrect The Wounded Knee Massacre against a group of Lakota Sioux people would not occur until 1890.)
- The 7th Cavalry was outnumbered by thousands of Sioux warriors. (Correct! Custer made a fatal mistake by attacking what he thought was a small Sioux encampment on the Little Bighorn River on June 25, 1876. Nearly 3,000 Sioux resistance fighters who had concentrated on the Little Bighorn easily overpowered the 7th Cavalry, killing Custer and 262 of his men. Custer’s miscalculation resulted in the single greatest loss of U.S. troops in the Indians Wars.)
A: The 7th Cavalry was outnumbered by thousands of Sioux warriors.

Q: Which of the following statements describes the role of Sitting Bull in the Battle of Little Bighorn?
- Sitting Bull taught the Ghost Dance to the warriors who defeated Custer. (Incorrect. The Ghost Dance was introduced by the Paiute prophet Wovoka in 1889 and had no connection to the Battle of Little Bighorn in 1876. Several tribes – including the Lakota Sioux -- adopted the new religion. In 1890, Sitting Bull was killed by Lakota Indian Police who tried to apprehend him for questioning about the Ghost Dance.)
- Sitting Bull directed the Sioux warriors to mutilate Custer’s body. (Incorrect. Many of the slain men of the 7th Cavalry were stripped, scalped, and mutilated after the Battle of Little Bighorn. Eyewitnesses gave different accounts of what happened to Custer’s body. Some said Cheyenne women pierced his eardrums with sewing awls, others claimed Custer’s body was bathed and wrapped like that of a chief. No historical evidence points to Sitting Bull giving instructions on the matter.)
- Sitting Bull planned the military tactics which resulted in Sioux victory. (Incorrect. The war chief Crazy Horse, rather than Sitting Bull, stood out among the Sioux and Cheyenne warriors at Little Bighorn as a skilled military tactician. Both leaders had prepared the united resistance force for war. However, Custer’s blunder into their encampment on the Little Bighorn River came as a surprise, and little tactical planning was necessary because the Sioux had numerical superiority.)
- Sitting Bull assembled the warriors who defeated Custer. (Correct! President Grant’s demand that the Sioux return to their reservations, followed by General George Crook’s attack on the Cheyenne people, convinced several tribes to unite in resistance. In spring 1876, Sitting Bull called for warriors from the united tribes to assemble at his village to prepare for war. Nearly 2,000 warriors answered this call and formed the encampment which Custer confronted in June 1876.)
A: Sitting Bull assembled the warriors who defeated Custer.

Q: The Lakota Sioux adopted the Ghost Dance religion after South Dakota became a state in 1889. Which of the following statements describes the connection between the Ghost Dance and the massacre at Wounded Knee Creek one year later?
- The prophet Wovoka urged Native Americans to assemble at Wounded Knee Creek to prepare for war. (Incorrect. The Paiute prophet Wovoka taught nonviolence, claiming that the Ghost Dance would bring back the buffalo herds and remove White settlements. Some tribes who embraced the Ghost Dance also believed it would make them invincible to bullets, and that it would bring the spirits of the dead to fight on their behalf.)
- The Ghost Dance influenced Chief Spotted Elk to raise an insurgency at Wounded Knee Creek. (Incorrect. Spotted Elk led a group of about 350 Lakota Sioux who left their reservation and tried to seek refuge at the Pine Ridge Agency amid federal efforts to stop Native Americans from traveling West to join other Ghost Dance adherents. Spotted Elk’s group practiced the Ghost Dance and were armed, but they were not insurgents.)
- Kicking Bear taught that the Lakota Sioux should leave South Dakota to practice the Ghost Dance at Wounded Knee Creek, leading to a confrontation with U.S. cavalry troops there. (Incorrect. The Paiute prophet Wovoka started the Ghost Dance religion in Nevada in 1889. Kicking Bear led a small Sioux delegation who traveled to Nevada and then returned to spread the religious revival in the Dakota Territory. Wounded Knee Creek did not have special significance in the Ghost Dance religion.)
- Federal agents feared the Ghost Dance and tried to arrest Sioux leaders, causing many Sioux to flee further West. (Correct! Sensationalized newspaper accounts of the Ghost Dance made federal agents nervous. They tried to round up Lakota Sioux leaders and accidentally killed Sitting Bull in the process. The Wounded Knee Massacre was a confrontation between federal troops and a group of fleeing Ghost Dance adherents.)
A: Federal agents feared the Ghost Dance and tried to arrest Sioux leaders, causing many Sioux to flee further West.

Q: Both the Lakota Sioux and the 7th Cavalry troops were armed at Wounded Knee Creek, and both sides sustained casualties in the altercation which occurred on December 29, 1890. Originally called a battle, historians now refer to the events at Wounded Knee Creek as a “massacre” because
- Captain Edward Godfrey described the skirmish as a massacre in his official report. (Incorrect. Godfrey wrote about the sudden deaths of Native men, women, children, ponies, and dogs within a few seconds of “unaimed fire” from the cavalry men at Wounded Knee Creek. Godfrey framed the incident as the swift reaction of cavalry troops to Sioux gunfire, rather than as an intentional massacre.)
- the Lakota Sioux used their concealed weapons to kill a disproportionate number of cavalry troops. (Incorrect. Some of the Lakota Sioux who were escorted to Wounded Knee Creek carried concealed rifles. Historians believe the accidental discharge of one of these weapons might have sparked return fire from the 7th Cavalry which resulted in the deaths of 150-300 Native men, women, and children, compared to the deaths of about two dozen cavalry.)
- Chief Spotted Elk ordered the Lakota Sioux to attack White men, women, and children at Wounded Knee Creek. (Incorrect. Spotted Elk led a group of Lakota Sioux to seek refuge at the Pine Ridge Agency during a time in which leaders of the Ghost Dance religion were being arrested. Although some of the men carried concealed rifles, the Sioux who were escorted to Wounded Knee Creek probably did not plan on attacking White settlers or troops.)
- the cavalry troops killed a disproportionate number of Native men, women, and children. (Correct! The Wounded Knee Massacre began when cavalry troops tried to disarm a group of Lakota Sioux under the leadership of Chief Spotted Elk. The details are uncertain, but historians believe a Native man accidentally discharged his rifle. When the smoke had cleared, about two dozen cavalry men had been killed by Sioux rifles, compared to 150-300 Native men, women, and children who were killed by the soldiers’ indiscriminate shooting. Some historians think the troops killed so many Native civilians in revenge for the defeat of the 7th Cavalry at the Battle of Little Bighorn in 1876.)
A: the cavalry troops killed a disproportionate number of Native men, women, and children.

Q: In his celebrated book Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee (1970), Dee Brown tried to tell the story of Westward expansion from the perspective of displaced Native Americans. The Wounded Knee Massacre in 1890 served as the climax for Brown’s narrative because it marked what historical turning point?
- The end of buffalo hunting culture in the Great Plains. (Incorrect. Completion of the first transcontinental railroad in 1869 began the long decimation of Western buffalo herds by making it possible for Americans to export beef, leather, and bones. Killing the buffalo that Native hunters depended on was also a tactic of some U.S. commanders in the Indian Wars. However, the Wounded Knee Massacre in 1890 had no direct impact on Native hunting culture.)
- The end of all Native American attempts to resist assimilation. (Incorrect. Native people struggled to preserve their cultures after 1890 despite the loss of lands and tribal sovereignty. In Dee Brown’s 1970 narrative, Native culture began a slow decline into oblivion at the end of the 19th century. More recent historians have challenged Brown’s interpretation.)
- Native Americans lost faith in the Ghost Dance and adopted White culture. (Incorrect. The Wounded Knee Massacre disproved the belief of some Native Americans that the Ghost Dance would make them invincible to bullets. Although many lost faith in the Ghost Dance as U.S. troops crushed resistance movements, individual Native people would continue to resist assimilation into the 20th century.)
- The end of sustained, armed Native American resistance to White expansion. (Correct! The Wounded Knee Massacre -- in which U.S. cavalry troops fired indiscriminately on Lakota Sioux men, women, and children – resulted from White fears of the Ghost Dance religion and the attempts of Native people to leave their reservations in the Dakota Territory. The massacre marked the end of organized Native resistance movements which had characterized the Indians Wars era.)
A: The end of sustained, armed Native American resistance to White expansion.

Q: Which of the following statements most accurately describes the connection between the Indian Wars and the “Americanization” of Native people at the end of the 19th century?
- The Indian Wars resulted in treaties that forced Native Americans to assimilate into White culture. (Incorrect. Most of the treaties required Native Americans to remain on reservations or to move to new locations. Aside from the general goal of turning nomadic hunters into farmers, the treaties did not require assimilation to White culture.)
- Native Americans voluntarily assimilated because it was the only way to bring peace to the West. (Incorrect. Some historians argue that the devastation of the Indian Wars and the loss of land to White settlers caused some Native Americans to agree to Americanization. However, Native people did not initiate this process.)
- Progressives believed assimilation would weaken Native resistance and help the U.S. win the Indian Wars. (Incorrect. Reformers of the Progressive Era did not think of assimilation in terms of its military usefulness. The “Indian Wars” were a series of small military engagements for different reasons – there was no single objective that assimilation might help to achieve.)
- Reformers hoped to save American Indians from extinction through assimilation. (Correct! Military force against Native Americans clashed with the idealism of the Progressive Era. Social reformers believed they could rescue American Indians from extinction by helping them assimilate to White culture via education, religious instruction, and the allotment of land for small farms.)
A: Reformers hoped to save American Indians from extinction through assimilation.

Q: Americanization is an umbrella term for various changes which reformers tried to impose on Native American culture, religion, and lifestyles during the Progressive Era. Protestant missionaries hoped to change Native family structures in what fundamental way?
- From independent households to communal reservation governments. (Incorrect. Most Native Americans lived within tribal social structures before and after U.S. treaties confined them to reservations. Reformers who tried to assimilate Native people to White culture approached their goals from the tradition of Western individualism and had no interest in preserving tribal decision-making.)
- From immodest Native clothing to less revealing Western styles of dress. (Incorrect. Although missionaries and other reformers tried to teach modesty and to replace Native clothing with Western styles, these efforts had little impact on Native family structures.)
- From male-dominated households to gender equality. (Incorrect. Many Native American tribes were patriarchal in the sense of having male chiefs, while women gained social status as field workers and laborers. However, gender equality was never a goal of Americanization efforts.)
- From tribal social units to small, patriarchal households. (Correct! Christian missionaries – particularly Protestant women missionaries – hoped to replace tribal social organizations with what we would today call the “nuclear family,” in which men were heads of the households and women fulfilled Western gender roles. However, many Native women gained social status through field work and manual labor, and many tribes resisted confining women to domestic roles.)
A: From tribal social units to small, patriarchal households.

Q: The Dawes General Allotment Act in 1887 enabled Native Americans to claim 160-acre tracts. Reformers cheered the act because they believed it would encourage nomadic hunters to become settled farmers. The Dawes Act dealt another blow to tribal sovereignty because it
- required claimants to perform the “last arrow” pageant. (Incorrect. The “last arrow” pageant was a symbolic gesture in which Native Americans shot an arrow into the air and changed into Western clothing to demonstrate their assimilation to White culture. The Dawes Act did not require “last arrow” pageants, although many Native people engaged in the ceremony when they claimed allotments under the act.)
- held the allotted lands in permanent trust. (Incorrect. The allotments were held in trust by the U.S. government for 25 years after being claimed. This meant Native heads of households could not re-sell their allotments during that time – ostensibly to protect claimants from dishonest speculators.)
- required claimants to send their children to the Carlisle Industrial Indian School. (Incorrect. The Carlisle School was one of several boarding schools in which reformers tried to assimilate Native students in the late 19th century. The redistribution of land under the Dawes Act fit the general goals of Americanization at the same time, but the act did not address schools or education.)
- extended U.S. legal protections to the Native allotments. (Correct! The Dawes Act extended property rights to Native Americans who claimed the 160-acre allotments. In doing so, the act placed tribal governments in a subordinate relationship to American law, 37 years before Native Americans gained citizenship in 1924.)
A: extended U.S. legal protections to the Native allotments.

Q: Thousands of Chinese immigrants were drawn to the West by the California Gold Rush and faced government-sanctioned discrimination. Which of the following statements describes the terms of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882?
- Chinese women were banned from entering the U.S. as “undesirables.” (Incorrect. The 1875 Page Act effectively banned the immigration of Chinese women because they were all assumed to be prostitutes. The Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882 affected all Chinese immigrants regardless of gender or profession.)
- Chinese miners were ordered to leave the West in what became known as the “Driving-Out Era.” (Incorrect. The Chinese Exclusion Act did not remove settled Chinese immigrants. However, during the “Driving-Out Era,” White settlers drove Chinese neighbors out of their communities, with violent incidents occurring in Wyoming and Oregon in the late 1880s.)
- Chinese immigrants were excluded from U.S. citizenship. (Incorrect. Chinese immigrants were already excluded from becoming naturalized citizens under laws dating back to 1790. The Chinese Exclusion Act did not address citizenship because it was not a possibility in the 19th century.)
- Chinese immigration to the U.S. was blocked for ten years. (Correct! Chinese immigrants continued to pour into California despite their persecution from White workers who competed with them for jobs. The Chinese Exclusion Act stopped the flow of Chinese immigrants – ostensibly for ten years, but the ban remained in place until its repeal in 1943. The Magnuson Act of 1943 would apply a quota formula, allowing 105 Chinese immigrants to enter the U.S. per year.)
A: Chinese immigration to the U.S. was blocked for ten years.

Q: Hispanic people who gained citizenship under the terms of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848), became ranchers, and then lost their lands in the Southwest to White expansion were nicknamed
- Rancheros (Incorrect. Rancheros were large, successful ranches which Hispanic Americans operated in the Southwest after the Mexican American War. White ranchers who migrated into the Southwest in the late 19th century displaced many of these Hispanic ranchers, whose property rights as U.S. citizens were not enforced.)
- Las Gorras Blancas (Incorrect. A few hundred Hispanic Americans organized as las Gorras Blancas (the White Caps) and raided White farms in New Mexico from 1889-1890. Their attempts to reclaim land and intimidate White settlers failed, and those White Caps who were not captured gave up on raiding and turned to elective politics instead.)
- Barrios (Incorrect. Barrios were small communities of Hispanic Americans who lived on the peripheries of major cities like Los Angeles, California.)
- Californios. (Correct! The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo concluded the Mexican American War and offered U.S. citizenship to approximately 75,000 Hispanic people who were living in the Southwest. Those who became citizens were nicknamed “Californios,” but the largest concentration of Hispanic Americans was in New Mexico. Many became successful ranchers and faced displacement as White cattle men moved into the Southwest in the second half of the 19th century.)
A: Californios.

Q: Hispanic Americans, like Native Americans, suffered land loss and displacement during the era of Westward expansion. Chinese immigrants were also displaced from their homes during the “Driving-Out Era.” In addition to displacement, what was another way in which White expansion affected both groups?
- loss of employment opportunities to White laborers (Incorrect. White miners and railroad workers resented Chinese immigrants for accepting lower wages and competing with them for jobs in the West. Tensions between White settlers and Hispanic residents of the Southwest, however, were based on competition for land rather than employment.)
- confinement to reservations and barrios (Incorrect. The U.S. policy of confining groups of people within reservations only applied to American Indians. Chinese immigrants did create their own cultural and social centers apart from White communities, and working-class Hispanic Americans tended to live in barrios around major cities like Los Angeles, but neither group was legally confined to certain areas.)
- denial of U.S. citizenship (Incorrect. Chinese immigrants were prohibited from becoming naturalized citizens under laws dating back to 1790. In contrast, Hispanic residents of the Southwest had gained citizenship under the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo – although they were effectively second-class citizens whose property rights were not enforced.)
- loss of cultural heritage (Correct! Chinese immigrants tried to preserve their culture by forming social centers in San Francisco and other Western cities. Some of these centers – like “Chinatown” at Rock Springs, Wyoming – became targets for violence during the “Driving-Out Era.” Hispanic citizens in the Southwest also struggled to preserve their cultural heritage amid legislation such as the “Sunday Laws,” which banned cockfights, bullfights, and other Mexican traditions.)
A: loss of cultural heritage

Q: In his 1902 novel The Virginian: A Horseman of the Plains, Owen Wister wrote: “The cowboy has now gone to worlds invisible; the wind has blown away the white ashes of his campfires; but the empty sardine box lies rusting over the face of the Western earth.” Novelists like Wister contributed to a key part of Western mythology by
- depicting Native Americans as victims of White expansion. (Incorrect. Native Americans were usually depicted as stereotypical villains in the fictionalized West of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.)
- popularizing the rodeo as entertainment. (Incorrect. Rodeos began as small contests between ranch hands and evolved into large events which marked seasonal round-up times and national holidays. Female bronco riders like Bertha Kaepernick helped to draw crowds in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and rodeo circuits were established. Novelists had little to do with their popularity.)
- promoting “Buffalo Bill’s Wild West” shows. (Incorrect. “Buffalo Bill” Cody’s traveling Wild West shows became the nation’s most popular form of entertainment from the 1880s through the 1910s. Cody did not need literary promotion to draw crowds, but the shows reinforced some of the mythic elements of the West found in dime novels.)
- depicting cowboys as heroic figures. (Correct! Real cowboys were cattle drivers or ranch hands who borrowed some of their methods and vocabulary from Mexican vaqueros. Novelists like Owen Wister refashioned the cowboy into a mythic archetype – a courageous, solitary figure who rescued White settlers from hostile Indians, train robbers and other dangers.)
A: depicting cowboys as heroic figures.

Q: “Buffalo Bill” Cody was a former Indian fighter who became an advocate for Native American treaty rights. He wrote in his autobiography that he believed “the march of civilization was inevitable” and that “sooner or later the men who lived in roving tribes…would be compelled to give way before the men who tilled the soil.” How did Cody’s Wild West shows reflect this perspective?
- The shows depicted Native Americans as allies of White settlers. (Incorrect. Native Americans played the role of villains in Cody’s fanciful re-enactments of the Battle of Little Bighorn. The Wild West shows tended to reinforce “cowboy vs. Indian” mythology, but Native performances in the shows were not limited to this narrative.)
- The shows made Sitting Bull and Geronimo into national celebrities. (Incorrect. Cody hired several historic Native Americans, including Sitting Bull, Geronimo, and the Sioux warrior who had allegedly killed Custer in the Battle of Little Bighorn. These figures drew audiences because they were already famous as opponents of the U.S. in the Indian Wars.)
- The shows featured mock gunfights between Annie Oakley and Native warriors. (Incorrect. Annie Oakley, known as “Little Sure Shot,” was one of several women who demonstrated sharpshooting skills in the Wild West shows. Oakley shot ashes from cigars and apples from dogs’ heads. She did not engage in shooting competitions with Native American performers.)
- The shows presented Native American traditions as historical curiosities. (Correct! Many Americans shared Cody’s belief that the Native American lifestyle was destined to be replaced by White civilization. Native Americans who performed in the Wild West shows gave audiences the chance to see traditional dances, clothing, and other aspects of Native cultures before they vanished forever.)
A: The shows presented Native American traditions as historical curiosities.

Q: Theodore Roosevelt moved from New York to the Dakota Territory and became a rancher in 1884. He later wrote of the experience, “It was here that the romance of my life began.” Young men of Roosevelt’s generation saw the cowboy lifestyle as a romantic alternative to what historical forces?
- challenges to traditional gender roles (Incorrect. Cowboys were admired for their masculine virtues, but not in response to any serious challenges to Victorian gender roles, which remained firmly in place at the end of the 19th century.)
- competition for jobs from Native Americans (Incorrect. The only employment opportunities for Native Americans in the 1880s were as performers in the traveling Wild West shows. Native people did not migrate into Eastern cities and did not compete with White workers for employment.)
- capitalism and the destruction of natural resources in the West (Incorrect. Environmental concerns did not factor into Western mythology because Americans saw natural resources as inexhaustible. Ironically, Roosevelt would become a conservationist after seeing the effects of overgrazing on his North Dakota ranch in the 1880s.)
- urbanization and industrialization (Correct! The Western cowboy represented masculinity and what Roosevelt later called “the strenuous life,” during a time in which many middle- and upper-class men believed that city life and industrial jobs were making them “soft” and “over-civilized.” Roosevelt’s background as a Western cowboy – although brief – added to his appeal among voters, and he later believed the experience helped to prepare him for the presidency.)
A: urbanization and industrialization

Q: Historians who apply the H.A.P.P.Y. analysis to William T. Hornaday’s 1889 essay, The Extermination of the American Bison, might look at Hornaday’s other published works to help them understand
- the original audience for Hornaday’s essay. (Incorrect. Knowing who a primary source document was written for can shed light on the author’s message, purpose, tone, and the inclusion or omission of facts. Hornaday wrote his treatise for the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution, but he also hoped to influence the U.S. government to protect the bison from extinction.)
- the significance of Hornaday’s essay for historical interpretations of the West. (Incorrect. The Y in H.A.P.P.Y. stands for “Why?” That is, what makes the primary source historically significant, relevant, or memorable? <em>The Extermination of the American Bison</em> is significant because it tells the story of Westward expansion through the lens of its effects on indigenous bison herds. Historians also find significance in the document as it reveals common misperceptions about U.S. policies toward Native Americans in 1889.)
- the specific circumstances in which Hornaday wrote the essay. (Incorrect. Historical context refers to the culture and circumstances in which the author wrote a primary source document, as well as the knowledge of the author and the intended audience. Historians might wish to look at the accuracy and limitations of zoological knowledge in 1889, or to compare Hornaday’s professional knowledge to that of average American citizens in the late 19th century.)
- Hornaday’s professional background and personal perspective. (Correct! Historians try to learn as much as they can about the author of a primary source document because this information can shed light on how the author perceived an event and which facts he chose to write about. Hornaday’s background as a zoologist suggests he had a genuine interest in the fate of American bison, rather than a hidden agenda of some kind.)
A: Hornaday’s professional background and personal perspective.

Q: William T. Hornady wrote in The Extermination of the American Bison in 1889: “There is reason to fear that unless the United States Government takes the matter in hand and makes a special effort to prevent it, the pure-blood bison will be lost irretrievably….” This quotation sheds light on which component of the H.A.P.P.Y. analysis for primary sources?
- The historical context in which bison were driven to the brink of extinction. (Incorrect. Historical context refers to the culture and circumstances in which a primary source was created. Hornaday wrote his treatise in 1889 and laid out the historical processes which had decimated the American bison. The quotation does not inform historians’ understanding of the time and circumstances in which Hornaday wrote.)
- The significance of the document for historians today. (Incorrect. The Y in H.A.P.P.Y. stands for “Why?” That is, what makes the primary source significant, relevant, or memorable? What is the value of the primary source for helping historians understand the past? <em>The Extermination of the American Bison</em> is significant because it tells the story of Westward expansion through the lens of its effects on indigenous bison. The results of Hornaday’s arguments might also give the document historical significance, but the above quotation does not.)
- The author’s emotional tone. (Incorrect. Tone is not one of the five main components of the H.A.P.P.Y. strategy, but it can provide clues to the document’s intended audience and purpose. Hornaday wrote his treatise for the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution. His emotional tone suggests that he hoped to make U.S. government officials and casual readers share his concern about the looming extinction of the bison.)
- The author’s goal in writing the essay. (Correct! Historians analyze the purpose of a document and ask what viewpoint the writer wanted to share with his readers, or what action he hoped to motivate. Hornaday’s main purpose in writing <em>The Extermination of the American Bison</em> was to explain why the bison herds were vanishing. The quotation gives us a clue as to the action he wanted to see – federal legislation to save the bison from extinction.)
A: The author’s goal in writing the essay.

Q: In 1905, William T. Hornaday founded the American Bison Society with the support of President Theodore Roosevelt to relocate Western bison to protected lands. This development can help historians analyze The Extermination of the American Bison (1889) because it sheds light on which component of the H.A.P.P.Y. strategy?
- The relevance of Hornaday’s 1889 essay in the present time. (Incorrect. Relevance is not one of the five main components of the H.A.P.P.Y. strategy. However, historians might gauge the significance of a document by asking whether it has relevance in the present day. <em>The Extermination of the American Bison</em> might hold relevance as a cautionary tale about the use (and misuse) of natural resources. The founding of the American Bison Society does not add relevance to the document.)
- The main message which Hornaday wished to convey. (Incorrect. The message or main idea is connected to the purpose of a primary source document. Hornaday’s later conservation work aligned with his message and purpose in <em>The Extermination of the American Bison</em>. However, historians glean the purpose of a document from what it says, not from later events.)
- The unique context of Hornaday’s 1889 essay. (Incorrect. Historical context refers to the time and culture in which a primary source was created. Hornaday wrote <em>The Extermination of the American Bison</em> in 1889, at a time in which Westward expansion had observable effects on the natural environment. Historical context might include events which occurred before the creation of a primary source, but not events which came after, like the founding of the American Bison Society in 1905.)
- The significance of Hornaday’s 1889 essay in conservation and Western history. (Correct! The Y in H.A.P.P.Y. stands for “Why?” That is, what makes the primary source significant, relevant, or memorable? One of the factors which lends significance to a document is the outcome or results. <em>The Extermination of the American Bison</em> is significant because it gained government and public support for bison conservation. Roosevelt’s support for the American Bison Society was an outcome of Hornaday’s 1889 essay, which can help us analyze its significance.)
A: The significance of Hornaday’s 1889 essay in conservation and Western history.

Q: A staged photograph of “Buffalo Bill” Cody with Sitting Bull and Annie Oakley, all wearing elaborate costumes, might suggest to the historian that the image was created to attract ticket-buyers to the traveling Wild West shows. Further research might confirm or dispel this theory. Which O.P.R.Y. technique for analyzing photographs includes making educated guesses about the intended audience?
- Observing the people, setting, artifacts and other details in an image. (Incorrect. Historians begin analyzing a photo by observing and taking note of its contents. These initial impressions provide a basis for further pondering and research, but theories about the intended audience are not part of the observation phase.)
- “Zooming out” to see the larger picture. (Incorrect. If observing a photo requires the historian to “zoom in” to see details, the research phase of O.P.R.Y. can be described as “zooming out” to look at the context. When, where, and why was the image created? Definite answers can only come from sources beyond the image. Historians might determine, through research, that the same image of “Buffalo Bill” Cody and his performers was published in national magazines. This might confirm the earlier theory about ticket-buyers as the intended audience.)
- Explaining why an image has historical significance. (Incorrect. The Y in O.P.R.Y. stands for “Why?” That is, why is the photograph significant? What can it tell historians about the time in which it was created? Definite knowledge of the intended audience might contribute to an analysis of significance, but making educated guesses about the audience precedes this knowledge.)
- Thinking deeply about the details of an image. (Correct! After making some general observations about an image, historians ponder its contents. What is happening in the image? When was it made, and why? Making an educated guess about the intended audience is part of this analysis. Historians who ponder the costumes in a photo of “Buffalo Bill” Cody and his performers might guess that the image was intended for advertising purposes.)
A: Thinking deeply about the details of an image.

Q: Andrew J. Russell’s “East and West Shaking Hands at Laying of Last Rail” is the most famous photograph taken upon completion of the transcontinental railroad at Promontory Summit, Utah on May 10, 1869. The image shows the chief engineers of the Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroads shaking hands in front of two locomotive engines. Which phase of the O.P.R.Y. analysis might involve looking at the long-term impact of the transcontinental railroad on Westward expansion?
- Taking note of the most obvious details in an image. (Incorrect. Historians begin analyzing a photo by observing the people, setting, and artifacts. These initial impressions are based on the contents of the image, not on the historian’s knowledge of events which occurred after the photo was taken.)
- Trying to confirm theories about the photo through research. (Incorrect. In the research phase of O.P.R.Y., historians test their educated guesses about when, where, and why the image was created. They also “zoom out” to consider the historical context of the image. Events which occurred after completion of the transcontinental railroad in 1869 would not tell historians much about the immediate context in which Russell took his photo.)
- Pondering when and why the photo was taken. (Incorrect. After making some general observations about an image, historians ponder or think deeply about its contents. Theoretical answers to the questions of “When?” and “Why?” can be confirmed or dispelled in the subsequent research phase of O.P.R.Y. Historians ponder the contents of an image, not events which they know happened after the image was created.)
- Explaining why an image is significant for historical understanding. (Correct! The Y in O.P.R.Y. stands for “Why?” That is, what makes the photograph significant or relevant? Like other primary sources, a photograph can shed light on the time in which it was created. Russell captured a moment in time in which the railroad opened the West to White settlers and forever changed the lives of Native Americans who stood in the way of expansion. The photo is also significant because it shows the excitement and optimism which Americans felt about the technological achievement of linking East and West by rail.)
A: Explaining why an image is significant for historical understanding.

Q: Some people believe that a tintype discovered in Fresno, California in 2010 shows Billy the Kid playing croquet in New Mexico in the 1870s. One of the historians who analyzed the tintype for the National Geographic Channel argued that a tree in the image had no leaves because New Mexico suffered a drought from 1876-1883. Which O.P.R.Y. technique might lead to the discovery of this information?
- Explaining the relevance of an image. (Incorrect. The Y in O.P.R.Y. stands for “Why?” That is, why is the photograph significant or relevant? The tintype might be significant as one of only two confirmed images of Billy the Kid, but this would not mean the image has relevance for the present day. A documented drought in New Mexico might help to narrow the date of the tintype, but it does not contribute to its significance or relevance.)
- Pondering the details in an image. (Incorrect. After making some general observations about an image, historians ponder or think deeply about its contents. The National Geographic historian observed the tree with no leaves in the tintype and speculated about its meaning. He could not have learned about a documented drought in New Mexico simply by pondering this detail in the image itself.)
- Observing the people, setting, and artifacts in an image. (Incorrect. The National Geographic historian observed the tree with no leaves in the tintype and pondered the meaning of this curious detail. Observing the image could not reveal that New Mexico suffered a drought from 1876-1883.)
- Researching the context and confirming or disproving theories. (Correct! Historians might notice a tree with no leaves in a photograph and ponder whether or not a drought might explain it. This theory could only be tested by researching climatic conditions in New Mexico at the time in which Billy the Kid was there.)
A: Researching the context and confirming or disproving theories.