Transforming America The American West

An integral part of the changing American landscape in the late 19thcentury was the transformation of the West. We explore the causes of the changes occurring in the West, and we assess the consequences for people living and moving there, including American Indians, Mexican Americans, and those newly arriving.

After viewing this episode and completing the required reading, the student will be able to

  1. …describe the economic and social changes occurring in the West during this era and how these changes were connected to the rest of America.
  2. …explain why people moved into the West and how they coped with the conditions they faced.
  3. …explain how American Indians responded to their plight.

The Trans-Mississippi West held a special place in the American imagination for much of the late 19thand 20thcenturies. As Professor Patricia Limerick muses in the video for this lesson, at first it may seem strange that "a cultural myth involving single white guys on horses and open spaces" develops as the nation is experiencing industrialization and urbanization. But imagination sometimes helps us escape reality, including the realities of life in the American West in the late 19thcentury.

Historians now stress how connected the West was to Gilded Age America. Railroads were vital in linking the West to other parts of the country. Mining, ranching, and farming became commercial enterprises tied in with national and international markets. As elsewhere, some people profited, and many struggled to survive.

Among those who struggled the most were thousands of American Indians and Mexican Americans who had long been living in the West. Sadly, cultural clashes in the late 19thcentury would result in both groups losing a sense of place. How and why did this happen? More generally, how did the real changes occurring in the West during the Gilded Age transform America?

Select the single best answer to the following questions. Place your answer on the line.

  1. ThedevelopmentoftheWestbetween1870and1890was _____.
  2. separate and unique from that of the rest of the nation
  3. not connected to the growth of large cities
  4. an important part of a nationwidetransformation
  5. relatively free from racial and ethnictensions
  1. The wealth produced in the Nevada mining industry primarily _____.
  1. enriched speculators in San Francisco and other cities
  2. remained in the state's rapidly expanding mining towns
  3. was used to fund local education and construction projects
  4. discouraged immigrants from migrating to the region
  1. In the three decades after 1870, hundreds of thousands of Americans migrated to the West to _____.
  1. find work in the steel industry
  2. own their own land
  3. serve in territorial government
  4. earn wages in agribusiness
  1. All of the following were associated with cattle ranching in the late 19thcentury except _____.
  1. shortage of wage laborers
  2. distribution of products by railroads
  3. techniques of mass production
  4. investment of foreign capital
  1. Henry Miller and Charles Lux can best be described as _____.
  1. the Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller of the far West
  2. small ranchers in New Mexico
  3. enlightened benefactors of migrant laborers
  4. adherents to the ideal of the self-sufficient yeoman farmer
  1. The buffalo herds on the Great Plains were decimated by _____
  1. Native Americans who slaughtered the animals for their rituals
  2. U.S. soldiers provisioning western forts
  3. both buffalo hunters hired by the railroads and irresponsible sportsmen
  4. Chinese and Irish work gangs who were desperate for food
  1. At the Little Bighorn River in Montana in June 1876, Sioux Indians _____.
  1. launched an unprovoked attack on settlers
  2. defeated federal troops led by George Custer
  3. rejected the terms of the Fort Laramie Treaty
  4. secured their hunting grounds for future generations
  1. From the perspective of American Indians in the late 19thcentury, all of the following aspects of assimilation were of interest EXCEPT _____.
  1. adopting Christianity
  2. engaging in farming
  3. learning English
  4. embracing boarding schools
  1. Mexican Americans in the West in the late 19thcentury _____.
  1. did not maintain contact with Mexico
  2. controlled territorial politics
  3. refused to exercise citizenship rights
  4. lost title to vast amounts of land
  1. The proliferation of dime novels and outfits like William F. Cody's Wild West Company _____.
  1. painted a generally realistic portrait of life in the Old West
  2. spurred legislators to propose laws to clean up corruption in western mining operations
  3. depicted Native Americans as honorable men and women who had been victimized by white greed and encroachment
  4. mythologized and romanticized life in the Old West