Vocabulary

Unit Nine:Cotton, Cattle, and Railroads

expansion

the act or process of expanding; the quality orstate of being expanded; to extend

buffalo guns

powerful rifles with telescopes used by hunters to kill buffalo

extermination

complete and total destruction

brands

identification marks on livestock made by burning with a hot iron

cattle drives

the herding of large groups of cattle from the open range to market for sale

rustlers

cattle thieves

longhorn

breed of cattle that developed as Spanish breeds mixed with English cattle brought by U.S.

settlers

Texas fever

disease that plagued cattle, to which longhorns were resistant

stockyards

holding pens for livestock

open range

unfenced land

wrangler

one who herds or cares for livestock on the range

windmills

devices using wind power to pump water from underground to the surface

barbed wire

fencing designed with sharp points

range wars

occasionally violent disputes caused by the fencing of the open range

transcontinental railroad

railroad that runs across the continent

junctions

meeting places of two or more lines of railroad

immigrant

a person who comes to a country to settle

commercial agriculture

producing crops for sale instead of for use by afamily

progress

movement toward a goal; advance developmentor growth; steady improvement, as a society or

civilization; proceed

reform

to put or change into an improved form orcondition; to amend or improve by change orform or removal of faults or abuses; to put an

end to by enforcing or introducing a bettermethod or course of action

populism

a political belief that works to reduce theinfluence of big business on government

progressivism

a reform movement in the late 1800’s and early1900’s with a goal of improving society

suffrage

voting rights

platform

statement of political goals

monopoly

sole economic control of a field of business

temperance movement

a social reform effort that encouraged people todrink less alcohol