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Reading 6.2
Westward Expansion: Economic Development
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Transcontinental Railroads | Railroads that connected the Atlantic and Pacific coasts that Congress incentivized being built through large land grants and loans. |
| Great Plains | Large area of relatively flat land between the Mississippi River and Rocky mountains that was largely settled after the Homestead Act of 1862 for farming, which led to conflict with Native Americans. |
| Great American Desert | Term applied to the land west of the Missouri River and east of the Rocky Mountains because the landscape had almost no trees, little rainfall and tough prairie sod. |
| 100th Meridian | Vertical line that marked the spot in the Great Plains where west of the line it was difficult to grow crops since there were 15 inches or less of rainfall per year, harsh blizzards and hot dry summers. |
| Buffalo Herds | Large groups of animals of the Great Plains that Native Americans relied on for survival that almost went extinct because of American western settlement and overhunting. |
| Mining Frontier | Discovery of gold in California in 1848 caused the first flood of newcomers to the West and was followed by more mineral strikes that kept a steady flow of young prospectors pushing into the West. |
| Gold Rush | Discovery of sources of a precious metal encouraged people to flock to the Far West in hopes of striking it rich, the most famous example occurring in California in 1848. |
| Silver Rush | Discovery of sources of a precious metal encouraged people to flock to the Far West in hopes of striking it rich, the most famous example occurring in Nevada. |
| Boomtowns | Towns that grew quickly in the mining frontier because of rich mineral strikes that became infamous for saloons, dance-hall girls and vigilante justice. |
| Ghost Towns | Former boomtowns that quickly were abandoned after the rich minerals were taken from the ground. |
| Cattle Frontier | Western grassland areas were settled by ranchers who were willing to face the hardships of the West in order to raise large and lucrative herds of cattle. |
| Vaqueros | Mexican cowboys of the Great Plains who introduced the hardy “Texas” longhorn cattle to American ranchers. |
| Longhorn Cattle | Farm animals that many American ranchers raised in the Great Plains after being introduced to them by Mexican ranchers and vaqueros. |
| Cattle Drives | Long and dangerous trips overseen by cowboys to move cattle from ranches to stockyards in order to get the meat to market that stopped happening after the invention of barbed wire. |
| Barbed Wire | Invention that allowed Americans to fence in vast amounts of western lands without the availability of lumber, which changed the American West from open plains to fenced areas suitable for cattle. |
| Farming Frontier | Western land was settled and developed by pioneers who were willing to face the hardships of the West in order to gain land, grow crops or raise cattle and create a living for themselves. |
| Homestead Act | Law that promoted settlement of the Great Plains by offering parcels of 160 acres of public land for free to any person who moved onto the land and farmed it for at least five years. |
| Joseph Glidden | Inventor of barbed wire, which allowed Americans to fence in vast amounts of western lands without the availability of lumber and ended the era of cattle drives. |
| Dry Farming | Agricultural technique successfully adopted in the Great Plains in which seeds are planted deep in ground where there is some moisture. |
| Cash Crops | Agricultural products grown and sold for profit such as cotton in the South and wheat in the North and West. |
| Markets | National or international exchanges of goods and services between producers and consumers. |
| Deflation | Reduction of the general prices of goods and services in an economy, which can greatly harm producers such as farmers when the price of crops go down. |
| Middlemen | Wholesalers and retailers who help connect producers to their market consumers and typically take a cut of the sale as profit, which drives up the price for the consumer. |
| National Grange Movement | Farming social organization started by Oliver H. Kelley, that turned political as farmers sought to redress grievances with railroad companies, middlemen and trusts. |
| Cooperatives | Businesses owned and organized by the farmers of the National Grange Movement in order to work together to save costs charged by middlemen. |
| Granger Laws | Pro farmer acts passed by a variety of Midwestern states that were designed to address various abuses by the railroad companies and were initially upheld by the Supreme Court in Munn v. Illinois. |
| Munn v. Illinois | Landmark SCOTUS case that upheld the right of a state to regulate businesses of a public nature (such as railroads), however, the decision was overturned by the Wabash Case. |
| Farmers’ Alliance | Agricultural state and regional groups founded with the goal of economic and political action on behalf of farmers. |
| Ocala Platform | Proposed political ideas by delegates to the National Alliance (farmer organization) such as the direct election of senators that eventually led to the creation of a pro farmer political party, the Populists. |
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