Westward Movement Unit Review Concept Map and Terms

Westward Movement—Unit Review Sheet

Homework--Know the following Vocabulary and Concepts:

Imperialism: When one or more nations uses military or economic means to gain control over another nation or region’s people, government, land, or economy as a way to expand their own territory, power, or wealth.

Westward Expansion: America’s imperialistic efforts to gain control of territories in the American West.

Manifest Destiny (Obvious Fate): God’s will that the U.S. expand its borders westward across the American continent; from sea to shining sea. Also it is a justification of our imperialism (westward expansion).

Virgin Continent theory: Is the idea that America was an untouched and uninhabited wilderness that was waiting to be explored, settled, and tamed. Also it is a justification of our imperialism (Westward Expansion).

Cultural Diffusion: The spread of ideas and cultural traits from one culture or people to another.

Ethnocentrism: Is the belief that one’s own culture is superior to all others.

Stereotype: Is a fixed image placed on members of a group and does not account for individual differences.

The “Big Issue”: The “Big Issue” was land and the reason it became an issue was due to the fact that both groups had different concepts or ideas about how the land should be used. For example, many Native American groups placed a significant amount of spiritual value on land. For some tribes, their nomadic lifestyles depended upon the free movement from one region to the next in order to utilize different resources. Whites saw this lifestyle as “unsettled” or “uncivilized,” and moreover, the large gaps between native villages were evidence that the continent was an “uninhabited wilderness.” For many White people, land was something that had a monetary value and its connection to spirituality was very limited, if at all. According to many Whites, Native American land use appeared to be limited to wandering bands of hunters that were always on the brink of starvation. Therefore, why should they not take the land and develop it to meet the needs of White society; furthermore, it was there Manifest Destiny.

Assimilation: Is the process by which one society or group of people and their cultural characteristics become absorbed into another typically more dominant culture; it can be forced or voluntary. (The Cherokee are a poignant example of how Indians tried to assimilate in order to survive amongst the dominant White society.)

Indian Removal: A U.S. policy developed in the 1820’s, which sought to remove all Indians from the East, to territories west of the Mississippi River. (The Indian Removal Act of 1830 was passed by the U.S. Congress under the urgings of Pres. Andrew Jackson.)

Worchester vs. Georgia: Ruling by U.S. Supreme Court that the laws of Georgia had no authority over tribes which had signed treaties with the federal government. The Court also said that the federal government had the legal responsibility to enforce it’s treaties with the Native Americans.

New Echota Treaty: A backroom deal by Major Ridge and a small band of unelected Cherokee delegates who signed away Cherokee rights to land because they believed that resistance was hopeless, and that they should just take the best deal they could get and go west.

Trail of Tears: Though there were other Indian removals, the “Trail of Tears” is the name given to the Cherokee removal from lands in the east to that west of the Mississippi in what is now modern day Oklahoma. During this removal in 1838, 17,000 Cherokee were dragged from their homes and herded west by federal troops. Estimates claim that over 4,000 lost their lives during the long walk to Indian Territory.

Push Factors: Are negative things that force people to make changes (bad things where you are).

Pull Factors: Are positive things that make people want to make changes (good Things somewhere else).

Important People:

Andrew Jackson: Elected president Sequoyah: Cherokee who invented

in 1828 on the promise that he would the Cherokee alphabet. Was illiterate

give out free land. Was a strong advocate before creating the Cherokee written

of Indian Removal. Language.

Note: Also know who John Ross, Major Ridge, and Daniel Webster are.