Exploring the Wild West: A Crash Course U.S. History Quiz

Who argued that the West was key to American culture's characteristics?

• George Washington

• Frederick Jackson Turner

• Thomas Jefferson

• Henry David Thoreau

Which of the following was not a group that settled the West?

• Russian aristocrats

• European migrants

• African American former slaves

• Chinese migrants

What did the federal government NOT do to support western settlement?

• Passed laws to encourage homesteading

• Cleared out Native Americans

• Sponsored the construction of canals

• Sponsored the railroads

What was the primary reason for moving Native Americans off their land?

• Because the land was considered uninhabitable

• To protect Native Americans from settlers

• To use the land for national parks

• White settlers wanted the land

What was a major factor in the decline of the buffalo population?

• Overhunting by Native Americans

• Climate change

• Diseases brought by Europeans

• U.S. military campaigns

What was the Ghost Dance movement?

• A protest against the U.S. government

• A celebration of Native American culture

• A spiritual movement to bring back the buffalo

• A dance competition among tribes

What was the main purpose of the Dawes Act?

• To promote industrial farming

• To establish reservations

• To allot land to individual Native American families

• To provide land to Native Americans

What policy amounted to cultural genocide of Native Americans?

• Boarding school policy

• The Dawes Act

• The Indian Removal Act

• The Treaty System

What ended the era of open range ranching?

• The invention of barbed wire

• Railroad expansion

• Industrial meat processing

• Government regulations

What was NOT a result of the transformation in agriculture in the late 19th century?

• Rise of family farms

• Increase in agribusiness

• Use of migrant farm labor

• Decrease in crop diversity