The West 1860-1898 (Ream J.,Xoe A., Serena C.)

  • Homestead Act (1862)

    Homestead Act (1862)
    Federal government encourages Western settlement by granting 160 of land to families, including immigrants, for farming and ranches. [B]
  • National Grange of the Patron of Husbandry (1867)

    National Grange of the Patron of Husbandry (1867)
    Led by Oliver H. Kelley to provide isolated farmers with opportunities for expansion through education and networking [A]
  • Indian Peace Commission (1867)

    Indian Peace Commission (1867)
    The commission, established by Congress, recommended for the Plains Indians to be moved into two large reservations (Oklahoma and Dakota). [D]
  • Fort Laramie Treaty (1868)

    Fort Laramie Treaty (1868)
    The federal government moved Plains Indians and the natives were forced to give up ancestral lands in exchange by Washington that they’d be left alone and will be provided with food and supplies, as well as established the Great Sioux Reservation in Dakota territory. [D]
  • Transcontinental Railroad (1869)

    Transcontinental Railroad (1869)
    The First Transcontinental Railroad is completed by the Union Pacific and Central Pacific Railroad companies, promotes economic and social growth in the West, but also provokes conflict with Natives [A]
  • Standard Oil Company (1870)

    Standard Oil Company (1870)
    Oil company founded by Rockefeller that eventually controlled 95% of oil refineries in the US through vertical integration which is a type of business organization where the company controls the whole process of producing one product [B]
  • Battle of the Little Bighorn (1876)

    Battle of the Little Bighorn (1876)
    Gold was discovered in South Dakota in the Black Hills Indian Reservation. Whites attempted to take over native land leading to Sitting Bull and the Sioux’s decision to go to war. The natives decimated Colonel Custer’s Seventh Cavalry. [C]
  • Dawes Severalty Act (1887)

    Dawes Severalty Act (1887)
    Indian tribal lands were split into individual land allotments wiping out tribal ownership of land. The act gave full US citizenship if the natives assimilated to the whites’ way of life. [E]
  • The Significance of the American Frontier (1893)

    The Significance of the American Frontier (1893)
    Written by Frederick Jackson Turner, Turner argued that there is no more frontier left and emphasized the significance of the frontier to the development of further complications with the Natives of the areas. [C]
  • Election of 1896

    Election of 1896
    McKinley v Bryan: McKinley’s Republican platform supported the gold standard while Bryan, a member of the populist party, was in support of the unlimited coinage of silver.
    - Victory for big businesses (Republicans) affected the federal government’s policies for the mining of these minerals in the west and the privileged were pivoted against the underprivileged