WESTWARD EXPANSION

The Homestead Act promoted the development of western lands by -

• creating a system of dams for crop irrigation

• providing free land to settlers

• removing all restrictions on immigration

• moving Native Americans to reservations

Which statement accurately describes the development of the Great Plains in the late nineteenth century?

• Great profits were earned there in the steel industry.

• Railroads decreased in importance.

• Immigrants could not afford to farm these lands.

• Technological innovations made farming there possible.

Which factor helped farmers on the Great Plains overcome opposition from cattle ranchers?

• The farmers allied with Native Americans.

• Barbed wire allowed farmers to enclose their lands.

• Heavy rains made the Great Plains more suitable to planting than grazing.

• Ranchers refused to divide up the open range.

How did the passage of the Dawes Act affect Native Americans?

• It supported their existing cultural traditions

• It started a series of wars on the Great Plains

• It attempted to assimilate them into mainstream American culture

• It forced their removal from areas east of the Mississippi River

Which of the following was the main reason for the rapid settlement of the Great Plains during the late 1800s?

• Congress passed a law requiring all public lands to be sold at auction.

• Congress passed a law allowing people to claim public land and convert it to private property through homesteading.

• Speculators bought large parcels of land and then built factory towns to attract new immigrants.

• Native Americans sold most of their tribal lands directly to railroad companies.

How did the expansion of railroad transportation most benefit farmers in the United States?

• By raising the consumer price of agricultural products

• By increasing the variety of locally grown crops

• By providing farmers with affordable access to distant markets

• By encouraging farmers to form the first agricultural cooperatives

Homesteaders on the Great Plains found it necessary to build the type of house shown in the photograph because

• the ground was not stable enough to support heavier structures

• unpredictable weather conditions required settlers to build shelter rapidly

• access to timber was limited by distance and lack of transportation

• settlers lacked the skill required to build more-permanent structures

Which shows how the completion of the transcontinental railroad contributed to the closing of the western frontier?

• Improved Communications > Increased protection of sites sacred to Native Americans

• Greater ease of travel > Higher demand for unclaimed territory

• Advances in factory technology > Improved agricultural processes

• Faster shipping of raw materials > More profits for timber companies

In the mid-1800s, the growth of the populations of California and the western territories was mainly a result of the

• discovery of gold and silver

• opening of the Panama Canal

• migration of freedmen after the Civil War

• secession of the Southern states

In an effort to resolve conflicts with the frontier settlers in the 1870s, the federal government forced Native Americans to

• move west of the Mississippi River

• live on reservations with definite boundaries

• relocate to urban industrial centers

• help build the transcontinental railroad