*All information taken from History Alive! Textbook. www.learntci.com
Chisholm Trail- the cattle-drive trail from San Antonio, TX, to Abilene, KA
Transcontinental Railroad- a railroad that spans the continent
Dawes Act- an 1887 federal law distributing land to individual Indians rather than tribes, thereby encouraging Indians to become assimilated
Homestead Act- an 1862 federal law that granted tracts of land called homesteads to western settlers who agreed to work the land and live on it for five years
Exoduster- African-Americans who migrated from the South to the Great Plains following the Civil War
Populism- a political philosophy that favors the common person’s interests over those of the wealthy people or business interests
Gold Standard- a monetary policy requiring that every paper dollar in circulation be backed by a dollar’s worth of gold in the U.S. Treasury
Populist Party- a political party founded in 1892 calling for policies to help working people, such as government ownership of railroads and coinage of silver