Westward Expansion Study Guide

What was the main purpose of the Homestead Act?

• To bring an end to cattle drives

• To encourage settlement of the Great Plains

• To defeat the Native Americans

• To provide a market for steel plows

Which conclusion is supported by the information on the graph?

• Canals transport goods faster than railroads.

• Building railroads is more expensive than building canals.

• Railroad mileage increased faster than canal mileage.

• Businesses preferred shipping goods by canal.

Which of the following was NOT one of the challenges faced by homesteaders?

• High cost of land

• harsh weather

• Large amounts of grasshoppers

• Thick sod

What was the most significant economic impact of the transcontinental railroads during the late 1800s?

• Eliminating overseas trade with Europe

• Expanding trade nationwide

• Decreasing the influence of big business

• Rapid rebuilding of the South after the Civil War

According to the document, which of the following is not a reason to travel on the Union and Central Pacific Railroad Line?

• save time, money

• speed, comfort, safety

• you get to shoot buffalo

• avoid the delays and dangers of navigation

What region of the United States are the rail lines traveling to?

• North

• South

• East

• West

Why would a homesteader on the Great Plains have cheered the invention of barbed wire?

• Homesteaders needed something to mark the boundaries between farms.

• The wooden fences they were using rotted too quickly.

• The methods of dry farming required barbed wire to work.

• Homesteaders needed something to keep cattle from destroying their crops.

Explain why cattle drives were needed during Westward Expansion.

• Cattle could be sold for a lot more money in the north and east

• Cattle could be sold for a lot more money in the south and west.

Which term best describes the painting?

• Manifest Destiny

• Prospectors

• Subsidy

• The Battle of Little Big Horn

Settlers and Plains Indians came into conflict mostly because

• Native Americans had all of the good farm land.

• Native Americans claimed more land than they could use.

• Settlers ignored treaties protecting Indian lands.

• Chiefs like Sitting Bull had provoked the military into fighting them.