Westward Expansion

What was the main purpose of the Homestead Act?

• A: to provide a market for steel plows

• C: to bring an end to cattle drives

• B: to defeat the Native Americans

• D: to encourage settlement on the Great Plains

Why did many exodusters come to the Great Plains?

• A. European immigrants forced them from their homes in the East.

• B: They wanted to hunt buffalo.

• C: They were seeking religious freedom.

• D: They faced discrimination and lack of opportunity in the East.

Why is the Battle of Little Bighorn also known as “Custer’s Last Stand”?

• A: Custer resigned after witnessing the brutal Lakota

• B: Custer was seriously injured as he led his forces to victory.

• C: Custer surrendered after her forces were surrounded by the Lakota

• D: Custer was killed along with his entire forces.

What did pioneers use to guide them and tell them where to go as they traveled west?

• A: interstates

• B: gravel roads

• C: guidebooks developed by early explorers that used Native American trails

• D: state maps

Which technology was invented to help ease the conflicts between the cowboys and the farmers?

• windmills

• B: barbed wire

• C: dry farming

• D: steel plow

Although Native Americans cooperated with the settlers at first, their relationship grew hostile due to differences over which of the following?

• A: Slavery

• B: Voting rights

• C: Land ownership

• D: Gold and silver mining

Many reformers believed that Native Americans would prosper if they would do which of the following?

• A: Move to Canada to live on land better suited for farming

• B: Start schools to preserve their culture and heritage

• C: Look for better paying jobs in the larger cities on the East coast

• D: Give up their tribal customs and adopt the ways of the white man

Which of the following best describes the effect of westward expansion on the Native Americans?

• A: Conflict and displacement

• B: Better farming and trade

• C: Increasing job opportunities

• D: A growing population

What is one way that settlers adapted to the environment on the western plains?

• A: They did not raise children in the harsh climate.

• B: They became ranchers instead of farmers.

• C: They irrigated their crops.

• D: They planted tropical plants.

Most settlers believed that…

• A: they should buy land from Native Americans.

• B: the land belonged to the Native Americans.

• C: the land did not belong to anyone.

• D: they could own the land they lived on.