history chapter 16

how did cattle ranching develop on the western grasslands and become part of the integrated national economy?

Homestead Act gave free public plots of 160 acres each to applicants who occupied and improved them. Homestead Act was advertised in US and Europe. open lands drew investors and adventurers eager for the taste of the west. cattle ranching survived and became part of the integrated national economy due to new strategies.

how did the post-civil war nation's economic goals shape its foreign policy? what role did William Seward play in advancing that policy

San Francisco railroads made westerners hungry for trade with Asia, US policymakers developed a new model for asserting power in Latin America and Asia through international trade. Seward in 1868 secured congressional approval for the Burlingame Treaty with China and he purchased Alaska

trusts

a legal entity, invented in the 1880s, which enabled a group of companies to combine and operate as a single unit. by doing so, they avoided competing with one another for customers, and were also able to raise market prices and gain near-monopoly power over a given market. to form a trust, each company agreed to deposit stock with a central trustee and submit to the management of a central board of directors

Exodusters

african americans who left the Deep South in the late 1870s, in the wake of Reconstruction's collapse and the depression of 1873, and sought homesteads on the western frontier. the exodusters sought better opportunities in states such as Kansas, but like many farmers, the confronted falling crop prices and a harsh plains environment which was difficult to farm

protective tariff

an import duty designed to protect domestic products from cheaper foreign goods. a hot political issue through out much of US history, protective tariffs became particularly controversial in the 1830s and again between 1880 and 1914, when Whigs and Republicans for protectionism and Democrats for free trade centered their political campaigns on the issue

assimilation

efforts of US government agents and christian missionaries to persuade people of color to adopt white ways. through these policies, native americans were pressured to abandon their traditional religion, dress and customs and adopt christianity, speak only english, and accept US laws concerning private property, and adapt their work and family life to white expectations

lassiez faire view of the economy

federal and state government hands off the economy

severalty

individual ownership of land. the Dawes Severalty Act of 1887 sought to end tribal ownership of land, and grant indians deeds to individual property holdings; that is, severalty. policymakers believe that individual landholdings, especially by male household heads would contribute to Indian assimilation

gold standard

monetary system by which a country links the amount of money circulating, at any given time, to the amount of gold held in its Treasury. deliberate increases in the money supply, to encourage borrowing and stimulate economy activity, therefore depended not on federal policy decisions but on increases in the national and global supply of gold

what prompted the US government to set aside natural reserves such as Yellowstone? what were the results of that policy

officials feared overdevelopment, therefore congress began to preserve sites of unusual natural splendor. in 1864, congress gave 10 square miles of the Yosemite valley to california for "public use, resort, and recreation". leading writes urged the US to create more preserves.

greenbacks

paper money issued by the US treasury during the civil war to finance the war effort. greenbacks were legal tender in all public and private transactions. because it was issued in large amounts and was not backed by gold or silver, the greenbacks dollar value fell during the war from $1 to forty cents

what factors helped advance the integration of the national economy after the civil war?

railroads and protective tariffs

Great American Desert

the name given to the drought-stricken Great Plains by Euro-Americans in the early 19th century. believing the region unfit for cultivation or agriculture, congress designated the Great Plains as permanent indian country in 1843

polygamy

the practice of marriage to multiple partners, most often of one husband to multiple wives. polygamy was customary among native americans and african people, it was also practiced by many mormons in the US, particularly between 1840 and 1890

economies of scale

the reduction of per unit production and transportation costs achieved through large scale production. by developing mass production techniques, a manufacturer reduces its costs on individual items and can sell more of the product and for a lower price than its competitiors

what environmental conditions did the homesteaders confront on the great plains? how did they respond to these conditions, and what were the consequences of that response?

they faced record blizzards and bitter cold in 1886, further damage caused by a severe drought in the following summer. they responded to these conditions by abandoning the Long Drive as railroads reached Texas, and northern cattlemen began to fence small areas of land and plant hay. cattle ranching survived thanks to new strategies

total warfare

war is a test of the entirety of a society, women and children are also targets. Sherman and Sheriden have employed this in the south during the civil war minus women and children, was economic warfare, destroying buffalo hers was a wartime tactic