Westward Migration and Immigration - Study

1. What early economic opportunity drew people out west prior to the Civil War and led to statehood for California and Oregon?

• The Copper Rush
• The Iron Age
• The Silver Rush
• The Gold Rush

2. Manifest Destiny was...

• the initiatives designed specifically to draw more immigrants to the United States to settle wherever they so chose.
• the initiatives and policies designed to develop the U.S. into a global industrial, manufacturing, and agricultural power.
• the initiatives and policies designed to promote settlement and infrastructure across the continent from coast to coast.
• the policies to resettle immigrant populations out of eastern cities to reduce workplace competition for native-born workers..

3. Why did Boom Towns often turn to ghost towns prior to railway access during the period of westward expansion before, during, and after the Civil War??

• When the ore in a mine was exhausted, people would move for other towns or other mines.
• The intially good farm land would turn bad from a lack of crop rotation. When the crops could no longer grow, people would leave.
• Railways would tear out the tracks to the mining towns to reuse them in other places. This would cut off goods and services to the town
• The deaths of many miners in the dangerous industry gave rise to rumors of haunted mines that would scare away new residents.

4. Which best explains the role of 19th Century mining in U.S. economic development?

• Ore from mines was largely exported for less than it was worth and the U.S. suffered economically and enviromentally for decades until modern mining practices were developed.
• Ore from mines was used in the construction and manufacturing in factories in major and developing cities. However, because of the inferior quality of the minerals, U.S. products were looked at as inferior goods. The U.S. made slow economic progress as a result.
• Ore from mines was used in the construction and manufacturing in factories in major and developing cities. Because of the sheer volume and quality of the products and materials, the U.S. rapidly industrialized and underwent rapid, prosperous economic development.
• None of the above.

5. What Congressional legislation led to the completion of a transcontinental railroad that greatly increased travel and shipping goods and resources across the nation?

• The Pacific Railway Acts of 1862
• The Transcontinental Railway Act of 1890
• The Railway Acts of 1962
• The Central Pacific Transcontinental Railway Acts of 1849

6. Without the government incentive of free land given to the railway companies for building track, why was it unlikely that the companies would have undertaken the project on their own?

• The owners of the companies were bigoted towards the Irish and Chinese and without government incentives, they would have avoided major projects that would attract these immigrants.
• The companies were in the midst of a iron and steel shortage and so would have had to spend far too much money without government assistance to cover their materials.
• The project would have been costly due to building through harsh plains, desert, and mountainous terrain with very few settlements to provide revenue in between.
• The companies knew of the governments incentives plans and conspired not to build anymore railways unelss the government promised them money or land to do so.

7. Why were Irish and Chinese immigrants likely attracted to railway work?

• They faced little competition for jobs which offset the bias they faced in other established cities and towns.
• They already had skills from building railroads in their native lands.
• Ireland and China were world famous for mechanical engineering education, and they knew that their skills would fetch a large price from railway companies.
• Everybody loves trains and hard physical labor.

8. What act promised 160 acres of land for a 10 dollar registration fee to any citizen or immigrant (other than former Confederate soldiers)?

• The Railway Act of 1862
• The Homestead Act
• The Volstead Act
• Special Field Order No. 15

9. What was established as a result of the transcontinental railroad relating to coordinating station departure, arrival, and railway use times in organizing the railroad system?

• Global Positioning Systems to track trains.
• Metro and subway systems that integrated seamlessly with coastal rail systems.
• Standard time and time zones.
• Mechanical clocks and railway gates.

10. The life of homesteaders was characterized by...

• grueling factory work, life in tenement (group) housing, crowded sections of cities.
• sod grass housing, hard farm labor, self-sufficiency as towns were few and far between.
• hard railway labor, dormatory and tent housing, reliance on company rations and benefits.
• work requiring academic education, solid wood and brick construction homes and townhouses, relatively large amouts of leisure time.