The American

West Pop Quiz

Click the correct letter (A, B, C, or D)

$ 100

One of the most renowned painters of the American West was …

A: Albert Bierstadt

B: Heinz Weindorf

C: Horst Likörnest

D: Uli Sektort

Albert Bierstadt (1830-1902)

- Hudson River School, - Large landscapes of the American West - Technique of luminism (use of romantic,

often glowing light)

AMONG THE SIERRA NEVADA, CALIFORNIA (1868)

BRIDAL VEIL FALLS (1872)

$ 200

A discovery by James Marshall on January 24, 1848, in a mill near Sacramento lead to the …

A: Silver Flush B: Gold Rush

C: Bronze Intoxication

D: Platinum Turkey

300,000 men, women, and children came to California during these years, many of them in the first years (»forty-niners«)

The California Gold Rush (1848-1855)

$ 300

Which weapon became known as »the gun that won the West«?

A: Kodiak Deluxe B: Kalashnikov

C: 357 Magnum D: Winchester

Winchester

Designed in 1873, one of the earliest repeating rifles; very popular among settlers and in Western fiction.

$ 500

George Armstrong Custer, a legendary Civil War hero, was killed by a coalition of Native tribes led by Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull in the battle of…

A: Giant‘s Dwarf B: Great Tinytown

C: Little Bighorn D: Small Largeville

„General Custer‘s Last Stand“ , June 26, 1876.Armed engagement between the 7th U.S. Cavalry (chief: General Custer) and combined Lakota-Northern Cheyenne tribes (chiefs: Crazy Horse & Sitting Bull)

- Part of the Indian Wars (since 1770s); last major battle at Wounded Knee (massacre against Minneconju-Lakota-Sioux tribe under Chief Big Foot in 1890)

The Battle of Little Bighorn

$ 1,000

When the Republican Party first came to power in 1860, they gave cheap land to Americans through a law from 1862 known as …

A: The House & Garden Law

B: The Domicile Bill

C: The Homestead Act

D: The Bungalow Decree

The Homestead Act (signed by President Abraham Lincoln in 1862) gave an applicant the right to purchase 160-640 acres of undeveloped land outside the 13 colonies.

1.6 million homesteads were given to settlers (whites as well as freed slaves), turning 270,000,000 acres (over 1 million km2) into private property between 1862 and 1986 (!) (10% of all U.S. territory).

It was ended by the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976, with the exception of Alaska, where ‘homesteading’ was allowed until 1986.

$ 2,000

Which state was an independent republic between 1836 and 1846?

A: Arizona B: Florida

C: Louisiana D: Texas

The Republic of Texas (1836-1846)

After the Texas Revolution (1835-1836), the Republic of Texas (formerly part of Mexico) was formed as a renegade republic. It encompassed a region that included the present U.S. state of Texas and parts of present-day Oklahoma, Kansas, and New Mexico.

In 1846, Texas became the 28th state of the USA.

The Republic of Texas (1836-1846)

$ 4,000

The trailhead for the King‘s Highway, which carried American-manufactured goods to the South, was…

A: San Diego B: Santa Fe

C: Santo Domingo

D: St. Petersburg

- Commercial and military transportation route, connecting Santa Fe and Franklin, Missouri (1821-1880).

The Santa Fe Trail

- Initially designed as an international route between the United States and Mexico, it later became an invasion route during the Mexican-American War (1846-1848).

$ 8,000

What happened at Promontory Point, Utah, on May 10, 1869?

A: First armistice between natives and settlers

B: End of the Civil War

C: Completion of the transcontinental railroad

D: Invention of the telegraph

Transcontinental Railroad (1863-1869)

The rails of the “First Transcontinental Railroad” were joined on May 10, 1869, in a public ceremony. This final track, built by the Union Pacific Railroad and the Central Pacific Railroad Companies connected Sacramento, California, and Omaha, Nebraska, over a distance of 1,756 miles (over 2,800 km). 90 percent of the workforce of the Central Pacific Railroad Company were men from China who had to deal with dangerous substances such as nitroglycerine.

$ 16,000

The town of Yerba Buena was renamed in 1846 and thenceforth called…

A: Phoenix B: Los Angeles

C: Las Vegas D: San Francisco

SAN FRANCISCO (YERBA BUENA)

The small town of Yerba Buena in the Mexican territory of Alta California was renamed “San Francisco” in 1846 after being taken by United States troops. (The name “Yerba Buena” was given to the town by Catholic priests after an aromatic herb native to the area, “good herb”).

In 1792, British officer George Vancouver first mentioned the name “Yerba Buena” in his logs when he anchored in the bay area.

$ 32,000

In 1827, the Cherokee declared themselves a sovereign nation within the boundaries of…

A: Alaska B: North Dakota

C: Georgia D: New Mexico

In a law suit from 1831, John Ross, principal chief of the Cherokee nation, defined the suitors as "the Cherokee nation of Indians, a foreign state, not owing allegiance to the United States, nor to any state of this union, nor to any prince, potentate or state, other than their own."

CHEROKEE NATION

Most of the Cherokee were expelled westward to the Ozark Plateau (Missouri and Oklahoma) during the 1830s. The Cherokee belong to the tribes usually referred to as the “Five Civilized Tribes” (Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and Seminole). According to the 2000 U.S. census, the Cherokee are still the largest of the 563 recognized Native American tribes in the United States.

$ 64,000

Which musical from 1946 fictionalizes the life of a former sharpshooter who toured with Buffalo Bill‘s Wild West Show?

A: Annie Get Your Gun

B: Billy Get Your Revolver

C: Chuck Get Your Pistol

D: Dave Get Your Rifle

Music and lyrics written by Irving Berlin (1946) (“There’s No Business Like Show Business”)

ANNIE GET YOUR GUN

Fictionalized the life of sharpshooter Annie Oakley (1860-1926), who had toured with Buffalo Bill and his Wild West Show in the 1880s.

The musical was a huge hit at Broadway in New York (1,147 performances).

“Buffalo Bill's Wild West and Congress of Rough Riders of the

World” (1893), formerly “Buffalo Bill’s Wild West” (1883)

$ 125,000

In 1860, William Russell established a rapid mail delivery service between Missouri and California called the…

A: Pony Express B: Sprinter Trail

C: Stagecoach Interregio D: Stallion Route

The Pony Express (April 1860-Oct. 1861), led from St. Joseph, Missouri, to Sacramento, California.

It consisted of 150 stations about 15 miles (24 km) apart from each other, requiring riders to weigh no more than 125 lbs (57 kg), „young skinny, wiry fellows, willing to risk death daily… orphans preferred“

Being replaced in 1861 by the First Transcontinental Telegraph, the “Pony Express” has since become part of the romance of the Old West (“rugged individualism” succeeding over technology)

$ 250,000

Who became marshall assistant of Dodge City, Kansas, in 1875?

A: Jesse James B: Billy the Kid

C: Wyatt Earp D: Buffalo Bill

Iconic figure of U.S. folk history (close friend of Doc Holliday); farmer, cow-puncher, gambler, saloon-keeper, miner, buffalo hunter, boxing-referee.

Wyatt Earp (1848-1929)

Famous for the gunfight at the O.K. Carroll (Arizona Territory) on October 26, 1881 (law enforcement was virtually non-existent).

$ 500,000

When white settlers declared California an independent republic in 1846, they raised the…

A: Eagle Post B: Coyote Sign

C: Skunk Banner D: Bear Flag

The California Bear Flag was first raised in 1846 by rebellious white settlers in Sonoma, California. They declared independence for the state of California in the so-called “Bear Flag Revolt.”  The revolt was soon put down. When the state was in war with Mexico, the flag was replaced by the U.S. flag. The modern flag of California is a refined version of the original one.

California became the 31st state of the USA on September 9, 1850.

$ 1,000,000

Which country was the first to grant women voting rights in 1869?

A: Alabama B: Wyoming

C: Oklahoma D: Utah

Wyoming (“the Equality state”) gave women voting rights in 1869, mainly to attract more women to the state.

Wyoming also had the first female justice of peace in the country (Esther Hobart Morris, 1870) and became the first state to elect a female governor (Nellie Tayloe Ross, 1924).