Unit 11 Introduction Reading Assignment

What was the main impact of white colonizers on Indigenous people in North America?

• They forced Indigenous people from their land.

• They helped Indigenous people build new communities.

• They traded goods with Indigenous people.

• They protected Indigenous lands from other colonizers.

What animal lived in huge herds across the Great Plains of the American West?

Which two laws passed in 1862 stirred new interest in the West?

• The Homestead Act

• The Indian Removal Act

• The Fugitive Slave Act

• The Dred Scott Decision

• The Pacific Railway Act

What was required of homesteaders to gain ownership of the land?

• Clear and farm the land for five years

• Pay a small fee

• Build a house within a year

• Plant a specific crop

What was the impact of the Homestead Act on the number of farms in the U.S. between 1860 and 1910?

• The number of farms tripled

• The number of farms doubled

• The number of farms remained the same

• The number of farms decreased

What prevented many Black families from taking advantage of the Homestead Act?

• Sharecropping schemes and other challenges

• Lack of interest in farming

• High cost of moving west

• Government restrictions

What was the main purpose of the Pacific Railway Act?

• To build a transcontinental railroad connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Coasts

• To provide free land to settlers and control Canada

• To loan money to railroad companies and invade Mexico

• To connect the American North and South by airline industries

Which two railroad companies were responsible for the construction of the transcontinental railroad?

• Union Pacific

• Southern Pacific

• Northern Pacific

• Eastern Pacific

• Central Pacific

How did Congress assist the railroad companies financially in the construction of the transcontinental railroad?

• By giving them subsidies in the form of free land

• By providing tax breaks

• By offering low-interest loans

• By reducing import duties on construction materials

By what year had the railroads laid over 200,000 miles of track?