APUSH AMSCO Main points of Unit 6
(6.3 and 6.4) Questions and Answers
100% Pass
Learning Objective (6.3) - ✔✔-Explain the causes and effects of the settlement of the
West from 1877 to 1898
Turner's Frontier Thesis - ✔✔Argument by historian Fredrick Jackson Turner says that
argued the American character was shaped by the existence of the frontier and the way
Americans interacted and developed the frontier, he felt that the frontier encouraged
individualism and democracy. He believed that the settling of the frontier was a form of
evolution of building a civilization. This was a generation of wave after wave of people
who were colonizing the frontier. Turner feared that without the promise of the frontier
that America would follow the patterns of class division and social conflict that was in
Europe. However, most of US migration at this time wasn't people going to the west but
people migrating to the city from rural communities
American Indians on the frontier - ✔✔About two thirds of tribal groups lived in the
Great plains. Nomadic tribes like the Sioux had given up farming in the 1700s with the
Katelyn Whitman, All Rights Reserved © 2025 1
, introduction of horses that helped them with farming. After the Reservation policy of
moving eastern Natives to the West were based on the belief that lands west of the
Mississippi river would be "Indian territory". Despite the building of the
transcontinental railroads, most plain tribes refused to restrict their movements to the
reservation and continued to follow the migrating buffalo where they roamed.
Indian Wars - ✔✔Multiple conflicts between American settlers or the United States
government and the native peoples of North America from the time of earliest colonial
settlement until 1890. The US Army were responsible for numerous massacres. In 1866,
the tables were turn when a Sioux fighters wiped out an army of US soldiers under
William Fetterman. On top of this conflict gold miners refused to stay off of Native land
if gold were found on them
Continuing conflicts with the Natives - ✔✔The Indian Appropriation Act of 1871 ended
recognition of native tribes as independent nations by the federal government and
ended negotiation of treaties to be approved by Congress. Before the Sioux were
defeated, they ambushed and destroyed Colonel George Custer's command in Little Big
Horn in 1876. Chief Joesph's efforts to defeat the US ended in defeat in 1877. The US
government continued to force the Natives to comply, even after violating treaties. At
the same time, the natives were doomed due to the slaughter of the buffalo and the loss
of their way of life.
Katelyn Whitman, All Rights Reserved © 2025 2
(6.3 and 6.4) Questions and Answers
100% Pass
Learning Objective (6.3) - ✔✔-Explain the causes and effects of the settlement of the
West from 1877 to 1898
Turner's Frontier Thesis - ✔✔Argument by historian Fredrick Jackson Turner says that
argued the American character was shaped by the existence of the frontier and the way
Americans interacted and developed the frontier, he felt that the frontier encouraged
individualism and democracy. He believed that the settling of the frontier was a form of
evolution of building a civilization. This was a generation of wave after wave of people
who were colonizing the frontier. Turner feared that without the promise of the frontier
that America would follow the patterns of class division and social conflict that was in
Europe. However, most of US migration at this time wasn't people going to the west but
people migrating to the city from rural communities
American Indians on the frontier - ✔✔About two thirds of tribal groups lived in the
Great plains. Nomadic tribes like the Sioux had given up farming in the 1700s with the
Katelyn Whitman, All Rights Reserved © 2025 1
, introduction of horses that helped them with farming. After the Reservation policy of
moving eastern Natives to the West were based on the belief that lands west of the
Mississippi river would be "Indian territory". Despite the building of the
transcontinental railroads, most plain tribes refused to restrict their movements to the
reservation and continued to follow the migrating buffalo where they roamed.
Indian Wars - ✔✔Multiple conflicts between American settlers or the United States
government and the native peoples of North America from the time of earliest colonial
settlement until 1890. The US Army were responsible for numerous massacres. In 1866,
the tables were turn when a Sioux fighters wiped out an army of US soldiers under
William Fetterman. On top of this conflict gold miners refused to stay off of Native land
if gold were found on them
Continuing conflicts with the Natives - ✔✔The Indian Appropriation Act of 1871 ended
recognition of native tribes as independent nations by the federal government and
ended negotiation of treaties to be approved by Congress. Before the Sioux were
defeated, they ambushed and destroyed Colonel George Custer's command in Little Big
Horn in 1876. Chief Joesph's efforts to defeat the US ended in defeat in 1877. The US
government continued to force the Natives to comply, even after violating treaties. At
the same time, the natives were doomed due to the slaughter of the buffalo and the loss
of their way of life.
Katelyn Whitman, All Rights Reserved © 2025 2
