Unite 3 Vocabulary

Vocabulary (1)

1. allocating: Early methods for allocating unsettled land outside the original 13 colonies were arbitrary and chaotic.

2. controversy: At the time of the Articles of Confederation, the major controversy related to land measurement and pricing.

3. investigator: The General Land Office was underfunded and unable to hire a sufficient number investigators for its widely scattered local offices.

4. immigrant:  The new railroads provided easy transportation for homesteaders, and new immigrants were lured westward by railroad companies eager to sell off excess land at inflated prices.

5. implement: The Land Ordinance of 1785 finally implemented a standardized system of Federal land surveys that eased boundary conflicts.

6. legislation: That year, federal legislation was enacted establishing a graduated scale that adjusted land prices to reflect the desirability of the lot.

7. specify: Some land speculators took advantage of a legislative loophole caused when those drafting the law’s language failed to specify whether the 12-by-14 dwelling was to be built in feet or inches.

8. revenue: Sale of public land was viewed as a means to generate revenue for the Government rather than as a way to encourage settlement.

9. overlap:  As a result, overlapping claims and border disputes were common.

10. unprecedent: Economic prosperity drew unprecedented numbers of immigrants to America, many of whom also looked westward for a new life.

Vocabulary (2)

1. Wreak, havoc: Exploration and settlement of the western United States by Americans and Europeans wreaked havoc on the Indian peoples living there.

2. Sovereignty: In the 19th century the American drive for expansion clashed violently with the Native American resolve to preserve their lands, sovereignty, and ways of life.

3. Frontier, skirmishes: From the 1860s through the 1870s the American frontier was filled with Indian wars and skirmishes.

4. concession: The report and journal of proceedings of the commission appointed to obtain certain concessions from the Sioux Indians, December 26, 1876

5. congressional:  In 1865 a congressional committee began a study of the Indian uprisings and wars in the West.

6. reservation: This treaty was to bring peace between the whites and the Sioux who agreed to settle within the Black Hills reservation in the Dakota Territory.

7. exclusive: the United States recognized the Black Hills as part of the Great Sioux Reservation, set aside for exclusive use by the Sioux people.

8. encampment:  In 1876, Custer, leading an army detachment, encountered the encampment of Sioux and Cheyenne at the Little Bighorn Rive.

9. detachment: Custer’s detachment was annihilated, but the United States would continue its battle against the Sioux in the Black Hills until the government confiscated the land in 1877.

10. annihilate: Custer’s detachment was annihilated, but the United States would continue its battle against the Sioux in the Black Hills until the government confiscated the land in 1877.