1. What role did Congress play in building the first transcontinental railroad, and which two companies completed it?

2. What groups of workers built the Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroads, and what challenges did each face?

3. What was the significance of the golden spike ceremony at Promontory Point in 1869?

1. What were the three transcontinental railroads completed by 1883 and what regions did they connect?

2. How did shortline and narrow-gauge railroads contribute to western settlement and development?

1. What were the major negative consequences of railroad expansion in the West?

1. What Mexican traditions and practices did American ranchers adopt in the cattle business?

2. How did railroad construction into Kansas transform the Texas cattle industry and create cow towns?

3. Who were the cowboys driving cattle up the trails, and what were their working conditions?

1. What factors caused the end of long cattle drives in the 1880s?

2. How did wealthy cattle owners adapt to the end of open-range ranching, and what impact did this have on American eating habits?

1. What environmental and economic challenges did homesteaders face on the Great Plains?

2. How did technological innovations like barbed wire and windmills help farmers adapt to Great Plains conditions?

3. Why did two-thirds of homesteaders' farms fail by 1900, and what was the impact on western population?

1. What agricultural techniques and crops did successful farmers adopt to survive on the Great Plains?

2. What role did government programs play in enabling agricultural success in the West?

1. How did farming become increasingly commercialized and specialized in the late 1800s?

2. Why were small farmers unable to compete with larger farms, and what was the consequence?

1. What caused crop prices to fall globally in the late 1800s, and how did deflation worsen farmers' debt problems?

1. What groups and institutions did farmers blame for their economic difficulties, and what specific practices harmed them?

2. Why did farmers view tariffs and property taxes as unfair compared to taxes on stocks and bonds?

1. What was the National Grange, and how did it evolve from a social organization into a political and economic force?

2. What specific reforms did Grangers achieve through state legislation, and what was the significance of Munn v. Illinois?

1. How did farmers' alliances differ from the Grange in their goals and methods?

2. What was significant about the participation of both poor White and Black farmers in the alliance movement?

1. What were the major reforms demanded in the Ocala Platform, and why did farmers want to increase the money supply?

2. How did the alliance movement's reform ideas influence the later Populist movement?