Chapter 26

Battle of Wounded Knee

A battle between the U.S. Army and the Dakota Sioux, in which two hundred Native Americans and twenty-nine U.S. soldiers died Tensions violently over two major issues: the Sioux practice of the "Ghost Dance," which the U.S. government had outlawed, and the dispute over whether Sioux reservation land would be broken up because of the Dawes Act.

Battle of the Little Bighorn

A particularly violent example of the warfare between whites and Native Americans in the late nineteenth century, also known as "Custer's Last Stand." In two days, June 25 and 26, 1876, the combined forces of 2,500 Sioux, Cheyenne, and Arapaho Indians defeated and killed more than 250 U.S. soldiers, including Colonel George Custer. The battle came as the U.S. government tried to compel Native Americans to remain on the reservations and Native Americans tried to defend territory from white gold-seekers. This Indian advantage did not last long, however, as the union of the Indian fighters proved tenuous and the U.S. Army soon exacted retribution.

Pullman strike

A strike by railroad workers upset by drastic wage cuts. The strike was led by socialist Eugene Debs but not supported by the American Federation of Labor. Eventually President Grover Cleveland intervened, and federal troops forced an end to the strike. The strike highlighted both divisions within labor and the government's new willingness to use armed force to combat work stoppages.

fourth party system

A term scholars have used to describe national politics form 1896 to 1932, when Republicans had a tight grip on the White House and issues such as industrial regulation and labor concerns became paramount, replacing older concerns such as civil-service reform and monetary policy.

mining industry

After gold and silver strikes in Colorado, Nevada, and other western territories in the second half the nineteenth century, fortune-seekers by the thousands rushed to the West to dig. These metals essential to U.S. industrial growth and were also sold into world markets. After surface metals were removed, people south ways to extract ore from under the ground, leading to the development of heavy mining machinery. This in turn, led to the consolidation of the mining industry because only big companies could afford to buy and build the necessary machines.

Frederick Jackson Turner

American historian in the early 20th century best known for his essay "The Significance of the Frontier in American History" in which he argued that the spirit and success of the United States was directly tied to the country's westward expansion.

Dawes Severalty Act

An act that broke up Indian reservations and distributed land to individual households. Leftover land was sold for money to fund U.S. government efforts to "civilize" Native Americans.

Gold Standard Act

An act that guaranteed that paper currency would be redeemed freely in gold, putting an end to the already dying "free-silver" campaign.

Jacob Coxey

He was a wealthy Ohio quarry owner. He set out for Washington in 1894. His platform included a demand that the government relieve unemployment through a public works program, supported by $500 million in notes issued by the treasury. His "Commonwealth Army" finally made it to Washington but he and his supporters were arrested for walking on the grass of the White House.

Populists

Officially known as the People's party, the Populists represented Westerners and Southerners who believed that U.S. economic policy inappropriately favored Eastern businessmen instead of the nation's farmers. Their proposals included nationalization of the railroads, a graduated income tax, and most significantly the unlimited coinage of silver.

William McKinley

Republican and twenty fifth U.S. president. He believed in sound money, high tariffs. Close associate of Mark Hanna, whose wealth came from iron.

mechanization of agriculture

The development of engine-driven machines, like the combine, which helped to dramatically increase the productivity of land in the 1870s and 1880s. This process contributed to the consolidation of agricultural business that drove many family farms out of existence,

reservation system

The system that allotted land with designated boundaries to Native American tribes in the west, beginning in the 1850s and ending with the Dawes Severalty Act of 1887. Within these reservations, most land was used communally, rather than owned individually. The U.S. government encouraged and sometimes violently coerced Native Americans to stay on the reservations at all times. (575)