if (typeof xBookGlossaryTermsObj == "undefined") {
var xBookGlossaryTermsObj = { };
}
xBookGlossaryTermsObj['greatplains'] = "Great Plains: Semiarid territory in central North America.";
xBookGlossaryTermsObj['transcontinentalrailroad'] = "transcontinental railroad: A railroad linking the East and West Coasts of North America. Completed in 1869, the transcontinental railroad facilitated the flow of migrants and the development of economic connections between the West and the East.";
xBookGlossaryTermsObj['treatyoffortlaramie'] = "Treaty of Fort Laramie: 1851 treaty that sought to confine tribes on the northern plains to designated areas in an attempt to keep white settlers from encroaching on their land. In 1868, the second Treaty of Fort Laramie gave northern tribes control over the “Great Reservation” in parts of present-day Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota, and South Dakota.";
xBookGlossaryTermsObj['battleofthelittlebighorn'] = "Battle of the Little Big Horn: 1876 battle in the Montana Territory in which Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer and his troops were massacred by Lakota Sioux.";
xBookGlossaryTermsObj['buffalosoldiers'] = "buffalo soldiers: African American cavalrymen who fought in the West against the Indians in the 1870s and 1880s and served with distinction.";
xBookGlossaryTermsObj['dawesact'] = "Dawes Act: 1887 act that ended federal recognition of tribal sovereignty and divided Indian land into 160-acre parcels to be distributed to Indian heads of household. The act dramatically reduced the amount of Indian-controlled land and undermined Indian social and cultural institutions.";
xBookGlossaryTermsObj['ghostdance'] = "Ghost Dance: Religious ritual performed by the Paiute Indians in the late nineteenth century. Following a vision he received in 1888, the prophet Wovoka believed that performing the Ghost Dance would cause whites to disappear and allow Indians to regain control of their lands.";
xBookGlossaryTermsObj['comstocklode'] = "Comstock Lode: Massive silver deposit discovered in the Sierra Nevada in the late 1850s.";
xBookGlossaryTermsObj['longdrive'] = "Long Drive: Cattle drive from the grazing lands of Texas to rail depots in Kansas. Once in Kansas, the cattle were shipped eastward to slaughterhouses in Chicago.";
xBookGlossaryTermsObj['homesteadact'] = "Homestead Act: 1862 act that established procedures for distributing 160-acre lots to western settlers, on condition that they develop and farm their land, as an incentive for western migration.";
xBookGlossaryTermsObj['mormons'] = "Mormons: Religious sect that migrated to Utah to escape religious persecution; also known as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.";
xBookGlossaryTermsObj['californios'] = "Californios: Spanish and Mexican residents of California. Before the nineteenth century, Californios made up California’s economic and political elite. Their position, however, deteriorated after the conclusion of the Mexican-American War in 1848.";
xBookGlossaryTermsObj['chineseexclusionact'] = "Chinese Exclusion Act: 1882 act that banned Chinese immigration into the United States and prohibited those Chinese already in the country from becoming naturalized American citizens.";