US History Quiz: Westward: Homestead Act/Dawes Act/Railroad

The Homestead Act of 1862 helped the development of the West by

• providing free land to settlers

• granting land for construction of transcontinental railroads

• allowing slavery to spread to the territories

• placing Native American Indians on reservations

Which region of the United States was most directly affected by the passage of the Homestead Act?

• Atlantic Coast

• Rocky Mountains

• Appalachian Mountains

• Great Plains

Passage of the Dawes Act of 1887 affected Native American Indians by

• supporting their cultural traditions

• attempting to assimilate them into mainstream American culture

• forcing their removal from areas east of the Mississippi River

• starting a series of Indian wars on the Great Plains

In the second half of the 1800s, the federal government encouraged the building of transcontinental railroads by

• giving land to the railroad companies

• purchasing large amounts of railroad stock

• forcing convicts to work as laborers

• taking control of the railroad trust

Passage of the Homestead Act and of legislation supporting the construction of transcontinental railroads demonstrated the federal government’s commitment to

• limits on big business

• settlement of western territories

• conservation of natural resources

• equality for all immigrants

The Homestead Act, the mass killing of buffalo, and the completion of the transcontinental railroad are most closely associated with the

• rise of organized labor

• building of the Erie Canal

• northern migration of African Americans

• decline of the Plains Indians

In 1862, the Homestead Act and the Pacific Railway Act were passed primarily to

• achieve Northern victory in the Civil War

• develop the Midwest and western parts of the country

• improve the lives of freed slaves

• expand overseas markets to Asia and Europe

Most nativists of the late 1800s would most likely have supported the

• creation of settlement houses to aid new immigrants

• passage of the Chinese Exclusion Act

• continuation of the contract labor system

• assimilation of Native American Indians into mainstream culture

Which term did Americans use in the 1840s to describe the idea that the United States should possess the entire continent?

• containment

• globalization

• Manifest Destiny

• popular sovereignty

This pair of photographs suggests that the major purpose of the Carlisle Indian School was to

• train future leaders in tribal traditions

• prepare children for life on the reservation

• teach skills needed for working in factories

• promote cultural assimilation