1. Ch. 17 – Exploiting an Empire
Focused Group Discussion

2. Intro Story: Lean Bear
What is the main message and irony of the introduction story about Lean Bear, the Cheyenne Chief?

3. Label the “frontier” on the map (also known as the “Great American Desert”)

4. What factors delayed full settlement of the frontier until the late mid-late 19th century?

5. Crushing the Native Americans (p.420)
1867: __________(#) Indians in western U.S.
Displaced Eastern Indians
Native Plains Indians
By the 1880s:
Most Indians living on ___________.
California Indians decimated by disease.
By the _______(years), Indian cultures crumble

6. Life of the Plains Indians (p. 423)
List the major elements of the culture of the Plains Indians: -
- Gender roles: ____________________________

7. Government Policy towards Indians
Before the 1850s: -
After the discovery of gold in CA:
- Chivington Massacre (1864)
After the Sioux War ( ):
“civilizing”/assimilation
- Dawes Severalty Act (1887)

8. Explain the major battles on the Plains in the 1870s – 1890s.
 Battle at Little _________(1876):
Who was fighting and over what?
Who won?
Who had their “last stand”?
What happened to the Nez Perce and Chief Joseph (“I will fight no more forever”) when they rebelled against the government in 1877?
The Wounded Knee Massacre (1890)
- Response to the _____________of the Teton Sioux of SD:

9. Explain the impact of the virtual extinction of the buffalo:

10. Who were the Buffalo Soldiers ? (p. 426-427)

11. Settlement of the West (p. 428)
Settlers heading for gold in CA and OR were most likely to travel in family groups for up to 6 months along the _____________ Trail.
During which decades was the land settlement in the west the greatest?
What factors sparked massive western migration? -

12. Explain the consequences of the following government land/water policies. (p. 429-431)
Homestead Act of 1862
Timber Culture Act of 1873
Desert Land Act of 1877
Newlands Act (1902)

13. How did territorial governments function before statehood was granted?

14. What was the the lasting impact of Spanish-American culture on the Southwest?

15. Explain the “Bonanza West” (p. 432-440)
Instant cities
Economy of “boom and bust”
Opportunities for entrepreneurs
Life in mining camps
Gender
Ethnicities

16. What impact did the great mining boom have on the economy and currency of the US?

17. The Cattle Bonanza (p. 434-439)
When?
Where?
Who was part of it?
Which new technologies were developed?
Define bonanza farm

18. Who were the Exodusters?

19. The Frontier Thesis
What did Frederick Jackson Turner’s Frontier Thesis (1893) state about the effects of life on the frontier?
What evidence could support Turner’s thesis?
On what grounds has the Frontier Thesis been challenged by historians since Turner?