| A | B |
|---|
| The Great Plains was originally seen the "Great American Desert" | The area was viewed as unsuitable for settlement and considered one large reservation |
| The nomadic nature of the Plains Indians and their horsemanship | Made the Indians difficult to subdue and neutralized whites advantages in weaponry |
| The California Gold Rush | 1st event to attract large numbers of Anglo settlers into the Far West, attracted the Chinese, and broke the power of the Californios |
| The Chinese alien ways, willingness to work for lower wages, and work ethic | Increased nativists sentiments in California and resulted in the Chinese Exclusion Act (1882) |
| Gold is discovered in the Black Hills of the Dakotas | The northern Plains Indians (ex: the Sioux) go on the warpath- leads to Custer's massacre at Little Big Horn |
| Mismanagement and corruption by the Bureau of Indian Affairs and an alien way of life to the Indians | Made the reservations places of poverty and misery for the Native Americans |
| The declining buffalo herds, recent defeats, and demoralization of the reservations | Made Wovoka's Ghost Dance appealing to the Northern Plains Indians |
| White fears of the Ghost Dance | The massacre at Wounded Knee |
| The massacre at Wounded Knee | Marked the end of the Indian Wars |
| Reformers' attempts to force the Native Americans to conform to white ways | Undermined Native American culture and morale |
| The extermination of the buffalo | The #1 factor for the defeat of the Plains Indians because the source of their life was eliminated |
| The Dawes Severalty Act (1887) | Attempted to assimilated the Native Americans but accelerated the poverty of reservations because white speculators bought Indian lands and they were left with nothing |
| Helen Hunt Jackson's A Century of Dishonor (1881) | Exposed the federal government's long record of injustices toward the Native Americans and broken treaties |
| The Homestead Act and growth of the railroads in the West | Increased conflicts with the Plains Indians and made the Great Plains the fastest growing region in the U.S. in the post-Civil War period |
| The arid climate of the Great Plains | Made 160 acres insufficient and the use of agricultural techniques like dry farming to be used |
| The lack of wood on the Great Plains | Caused settlers to build sod houses, use buffalo chips to heat homes, and rely on barbed wire for fencing |
| The federal government opening up Indian Territory to white settlement | Oklahoma became the final fling of settlement in the West |
| Mining booms in the West | Often brought the first settlers into an area but often ended up as ghost towns |
| Census of 1890 declares there is no longer a discernible frontier line | Frederick Jackson Turner writes The Significance of the Frontier on American History |
| The popularity of the "Wild West" in the East | Dime novels by Bret Hart and Buffalo Bill's Wild West show were extremely popular |
| Millions of semi-wild longhorn cattle and a growing demand for beef | Enterprising Texas Civil War veterans lead cattle to railroad cow towns in Kansas |
| The invention of barbed wire, "fencing wars", and more direct railroad routes | Ended the cattle drives |
| Severe winters of the mid-1880s | Killed scores of cattle and severely weakened the cattle industry |
