Chapter Chronology

Quiz for Documenting the American Promise: “Young Women Homesteaders and the Promise of the West”

Select the best answer for each question. Click the “submit” button for each question to turn in your work.

Question

1. Under the Homestead Act of 1862, women could claim their own free land in the West if they were

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B.
C.
D.
Correct. The answer is c. Although most of the free western land claimed through the Homestead Act of 1862 went to adult men, the Act permitted women to claim their own plots of land if they were unmarried or the head of their household.
Incorrect. The answer is c. Although most of the free western land claimed through the Homestead Act of 1862 went to adult men, the Act permitted adult women to claim their own plots of land if they were unmarried or the head of their household.

Question

2. Why did Bess Cobb think her friends might describe her Dakota homestead as being in an uncivilized part of the United States?

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B.
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D.
Correct. The answer is b. Bess described how she could see visitors arriving from up to ten miles away, suggesting that the land around her was open and lacked many other homesteaders. This sparsely populated region was much different than the more densely settled eastern portions of the country.
Incorrect. The answer is b. Bess described how she could see visitors arriving from up to ten miles away, suggesting that the land around her was open and lacked many other homesteaders. This sparsely populated region was much different than the more densely settled eastern portions of the country.

Question

3. What can you conclude about migrating west in the second half of the nineteenth century from Lucy Goldthorpe’s experiences?

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B.
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Correct. The answer is a. Lucy describes how both she and her father faced hardship when they migrated west, even though such hardships seemed thrilling and even glamorous when she was a child. As an adult, Lucy discovered—like so many other migrants—that homesteading required major struggle and perseverance.
Incorrect. The answer is a. Lucy describes how both she and her father faced hardship when they migrated west, even though such hardships seemed thrilling and even glamorous when she was a child. As an adult, Lucy discovered—like so many other migrants—that homesteading required major struggle and perseverance.

Question

4. What does Effie Vivian Smith’s description of a "shack party" illustrate about how homesteading shaped relationships between young men and women in the early twentieth century?

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Correct. The answer is d. Since Effie lives in her own homesteading “shack” away from her parents and other adults, she is able to host parties for groups of male and female friends. Such mixed-gender socializing would be more difficult (and more circumscribed) for young women who lived in the more established parts of the country with their parents.
Incorrect. The answer is d. Since Effie lives in her own homesteading “shack” away from her parents and other adults, she is able to host parties for groups of male and female friends. Such mixed-gender socializing would be more difficult (and more circumscribed) for young women who lived in the more established parts of the country with their parents.

Question

5. What did Theona Carkin’s experience suggest about the value homesteading offered to American women in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries?

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B.
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Correct. The answer is b. Theona wrote, “By teaching off and on…upon selling the homestead, I was able to pay all my own college expenses.”
Incorrect. The answer is b. Theona wrote, “By teaching off and on…upon selling the homestead, I was able to pay all my own college expenses.”