An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States: Chapters 6–7

by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
This award-winning book traces the history of indigenous peoples before, during, and after the founding of the United States of America.

Here are links to our lists for the book: Introduction–Chapter 1, Chapters 2–3, Chapters 4–5, Chapters 6–7, Chapters 8–9, Chapter 10–Conclusion
30 words 54 learners

Learn words with Flashcards and other activities

Definition First
Print Flashcards

Other learning activities

Answer a few questions about each word. Use this to prep for your next quiz! Compete with other teams in real time to see who answers the most questions correctly! Test your spelling acumen. Read the definition, listen to the word and try spelling it!

Teaching tools

Create and assign quizzes to your students to test their vocabulary. Assign learning activities including Practice, Vocabulary Jams and Spelling Bees to your students, and monitor their progress in real-time.

Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. acquisition
    the act of contracting or assuming possession of something
    The largest acquisition took place in 1803, when Thomas Jefferson’s administration purchased 828,000 square miles of North American land from France.
  2. boon
    something that is desirable, favorable, or beneficial
    The additional territory would be a boon to land speculators and would-be settlers.
  3. tract
    an extended area of land
    Settlers’ desire for large tracts of land to develop into plantations was an important factor leading to the removal of southern tribal nations: the Choctaw, Chickasaw, Cherokee, Muscogee, and Seminole.
  4. render
    cause to become
    The United Nations has two definitions:
    Rendering an area ethnically homogeneous by using force or intimidation to remove persons of given groups from the area.
  5. relinquish
    turn away from; give up
    In 1805 the Choctaws ceded most of their lands to the United States for $50,500 (worth approximately $1,088,300 in 2018), and the Chickasaws relinquished all their lands north of the Tennessee River for $20,000.
  6. bridle
    headgear for a horse
    Their grotesque actions included using skin from bodies to make horses’ bridles and sending “souvenirs” from corpses to friends and family back home.
  7. relent
    give in, as to influence or pressure
    They begged Jackson to spare them and their holdings, but Jackson did not relent.
  8. reprimand
    rebuke formally
    Jackson, far from being reprimanded for his genocidal methods, won a commission from President James Madison to become major general in the US Army.
  9. panhandle
    a narrow strip of land projecting from a larger area
    The Indigenous peoples who are known today as Seminoles originally lived in towns along rivers in a large area that included what is now the Florida Panhandle.
  10. rhetoric
    using language effectively to please or persuade
    It is important to learn how to interpret the political rhetoric of government officials. They often say one thing but mean something else entirely.
  11. aborigine
    an indigenous person who was born in a particular place
    The emigration should be voluntary, for it would be as cruel as unjust to compel the aborigines to abandon the graves of their fathers and seek a home in a distant land.
  12. coerce
    cause to do through pressure or necessity
    All the treaties coerced the nations into ceding land and led to forced removals.
  13. arduous
    characterized by effort to the point of exhaustion
    Now known as the Trail of Tears, it was an arduous journey from remaining Cherokee homelands in Georgia and Alabama to what would later become northeastern Oklahoma.
  14. stockade
    a place where persecuted groups are forcibly confined
    Families at dinner were startled by the sudden gleam of bayonets in the doorway and rose up to be driven with blows and oaths along the weary miles of trail that led to the stockade.
  15. rabble
    a disorderly crowd of people
    In many cases, on turning for one last look as they crossed the ridge, they saw their homes in flames, fired by the lawless rabble that followed on the heels of the soldiers to loot and pillage.
  16. pillage
    steal goods; take as spoils
    In many cases, on turning for one last look as they crossed the ridge, they saw their homes in flames, fired by the lawless rabble that followed on the heels of the soldiers to loot and pillage.
  17. crude
    conspicuously and tastelessly indecent
    A Georgia volunteer, afterward a colonel in the Confederate service, said: “I fought through the civil war and have seen men shot to pieces and slaughtered by thousands, but the Cherokee removal was the crudest work I ever knew.”
  18. dismal
    causing dejection
    As soon as these animals perceived that their masters were finally leaving the shore, they set up a dismal howl, and, plunging all together into the icy waters of the Mississippi, they swam after the boat.
  19. assimilation
    the process of absorbing one cultural group into another
    Every Indigenous nation on the continent eventually dealt with settlers who, with the help of the US government, were bent on its destruction, removal, or assimilation.
  20. articulate
    put into words or an expression
    To achieve the goal Jefferson articulated, the fledgling United States would have to invade and occupy lands west of the Mississippi.
  21. fledgling
    young and inexperienced
    To achieve the goal Jefferson articulated, the fledgling United States would have to invade and occupy lands west of the Mississippi.
  22. foray
    a sudden short attack
    For the next 130 years Spain maintained strict control over the Pueblos and forced them to provide foot soldiers for Spanish forays against other Indigenous nations.
  23. friar
    male member of a religious order originally relying on alms
    The Franciscan friar Junipero Serra established the mission of San Diego later that year.
  24. secular
    not concerned with or devoted to religion
    Spanish troops protected the missions until 1779 when the colonial government’s emphasis shifted to creating, supporting, and protecting secular towns rather than missions.
  25. culminate
    end, especially to reach a final or climactic stage
    In 1810 Father Miguel Hidalgo, a priest who was deeply involved with Indigenous communities in Mexico, led a revolt that culminated in Mexico’s independence in 1821.
  26. astray
    away from the right path or direction
    Pretending to have gone astray, Pike and his contingent built a fort on Spanish-occupied land in what is today called southern Colorado.
  27. inroad
    an encroachment or intrusion
    Settlers from the US also began making inroads into Mexican territory through Mexico’s land grant system.
  28. decisive
    determining or having the power to determine an outcome
    The Anglo-American forces lost that battle, but within a month won the decisive battle at San Jacinto, and Mexico gave up the province of Texas.
  29. indomitable
    impossible to subdue
    When General Zachary Taylor’s troops captured Monterrey in 1846, Whitman hailed it as “another clinching proof of the indomitable energy of the Anglo-Saxon character.”
  30. preordain
    decree or determine beforehand
    The answer is that few people, including very influential writers, question the idea that the United States was preordained by a higher power to fill the continent.
Created on Tue Oct 20 21:38:47 EDT 2020 (updated Fri Nov 06 08:49:10 EST 2020)

Sign up now (it’s free!)

Whether you’re a teacher or a learner, Vocabulary.com can put you or your class on the path to systematic vocabulary improvement.