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Westward Expansion Post Civil War

Total questions: 14

Worksheet time: 7mins

Name
Class
Date
1.

The harsh “vigilante justice,” also known as frontier justice, of the mining camps developed because there were no

a)

Churches

b)

Mayors

c)

Police

d)

Schools

2.

Ranchers drove their cattle from Texas to Abilene, Kansas, because

a)

the people of Abilene didn’t raise cattle for themselves.

b)

from there, the cattle could be shipped by railroad to Chicago and markets in the East.

c)

the people of Abilene didn’t raise cattle for themselves.

d)

the cattle were safer there, away from thieves.

3.

Which of the following is not a reason for the end of the great age of the cowboy?

a)

Two fierce winters and a hot, dry summer led ranchers to pen in their cattle.

b)

Many people in the East began to raise their own cattle.

c)

Ranchers moved farther north and were closer to the railroads.

d)

Farmers moved in and took up much of the land.

4.

Which of the following is not a reason for the settling of the Great Plains?

a)

free land offered through the Homestead Act of 1862

b)

cheap land advertised and sold by the railroads

c)

a temporary increase in the amount of rainfall

d)

wars between sheep herders and cattle ranchers

5.

The main reason that settlers on the plains built sod houses is that

a)

they were warm in the winter.

b)

there were few trees from which to build wooden houses.

c)

they were cool in the summer.

d)

they were more attractive than wooden and stone houses.

6.

What caused the worst disaster faced by farmers on the Great Plains?

a)

very wet summers

b)

construction of railroads

c)

swarming grasshoppers

d)

bitterly cold winters

7.

A census measures

a)

the amount of company profits.

b)

the size of acreage.

c)

the number and value of minerals.

d)

the number of people or population.

8.

What was Seward's Folly?

a)

the passage of the Homestead Act

b)

the closing of the frontier

c)

the purchase of Alaska

d)

the construction of the transcontinental railroad

9.

Who was the most likely to become rich on the mining frontier?

a)

a mining company

b)

a storekeeper

c)

a hotel owner

d)

an individual miner

10.

Who helped build the transcontinental railroad?

a)

settlers

b)

immigrants

c)

miners

d)

cowboys

11.

On the long drive, cowboys worried most about the danger of

a)

thieves

b)

floods

c)

stampedes

d)

diseases

12.

Who said, "Go West, young man, and grow up with the country"?

a)

Billy the Kid

b)

William Seward

c)

Jesse James

d)

Horace Greeley

13.

Which invention was not used to help people farm the plains?

a)

barbed wire

b)

steel plows

c)

wooden fences

d)

dry farming methods

14.

Under the Homestead Act of 1862, U.S. Citizens and immigrants were given free what

a)

animals

b)

farm equipment

c)

land

d)

housing