Cumulative APUSH Quizlet (Periods 3-9)
rock 'n' roll
"Crossover" music style that rose to dominance in the 1950s, merging black rhythm and blues with white bluegrass and country. Featuring a heavy beat and driving rhythm, this music style became a defining feature of the 1950s youth culture
Samuel Slater
"Father of the Factory system" in America (came from Britain with memorized plans for a machine to spin cotton into thread)
Patrick Henry
"Give me liberty or give me death"- Virginia Assembly
Lincoln Stephens
"The Shame of Cities" Called out corrupt alliances between government and businesses
Admiralty Courts
(1764); violators of the Navigation Acts would be tried by British judges without a jury (guilty until proven innocent)
French alliance immediately resulted in...
-British changed strategies--- the French had a Navy -6000 French regulars came with Rochambeau -von Steuben taught the militia to act like an army
Jefferson presidency
-Let Alien & Sedition Acts expire -Repealed excise taxes (but otherwise left Hamilton's strategy intact) -Reduced army and navy
German Immigrants
-Strong sprinkling of liberal political refugees (after a failed attempt in Germany) -Had money and material goods -Moved west -Supported education
Anaconda Plan
1) Blockade Southern Coasts 2) Liberate slaves (undermine economic foundation of slaves) 3) Sieze Mississippi River (cut west off) 4) Send troops through GA and SC (break into pieces) 5) Capture Richmond (capital) 6) Try everywhere to engage the enemy to ware them out (Ulysses S Grant)
First Continental Congress
1174- Delegates from all colonies (except GA) convened in Philadelphia to draft a response to the Intolerable acts They established The Association which called for a complete boycott of British goods -wrote declaration of rights- an appeal to the king and British people
Sugar Act
1764- Tax on imported sugar from the West Indies. First tax on colonists Lowered significantly bc of protests
Stamp Act Congress
1765- Assembly of delegates from 9 colonies that met in NYC to draft a petition for the repeal of the Stamp Act. This helped ease sectional suspicions and promoted intercolonial unity.
Quartering Act
1765- Law that required colonists to feed and shelter British troops
Stamp Tax
1765- Widely unpopular tax on an array of paper goods, repealed in 1766 after mass protests. Lead to the popular colonial phrase "no taxation without representation"
Declaratory Act
1766- Alongside repealing the Stamp Act, it reaffirmed Parliament's right to tax the colonies
Townshend Acts
1767- External or indirect taxes on glass, paper, paint, tea, and others, the proceeds of which were used to pay colonial governors, who had previously been payed by colonial assemblies. Sparked more protests (and smuggling)
Boston Massacre
1770 an incident in which British soldiers fired into a crowd of colonists, killing five people
Shakers
1770ish Lively dance worship, emphasized simple, communal living and were all expected to practice celibacy, Transplanted to US from England by Mother Ann Lee. 6000 members by 1840.
Boston Tea Party
1773- Protest in which colonists dressed as Indians dumped British tea into Boston harbor
Quebec Act
1774- Allowed French residents of Quebec to retain their traditional political and religious institutions and extended their territory south to the Ohio R.
Intolerable Acts
1774- Series of laws passed by Parliament in retaliation of the Boston Tea Party. Closed the port of Boston Expanded the Quartering Act (allow soldiers into private homes)
Lexington and Concord
1775- "First battles" of the Revolutionary war, fought outside Boston. Colonial militia successfully defended their stores of munitions, forcing the British to retreat to Boston
Second Continental Congress
1775-1781- Representative Delaware's from all 13 colonies. Drafted the Declaration of Independence and managed the colonial war effort.
Model Treaty
1776- Sample treaty drafted by the Continental Congress as a guide for American diplomats. Reflected the American;s desire to foster commercial partnerships rather than political or military engagements
Common Sense
1776- Thomas Paine's pamphlet urging the colonies to declare independence and establish a republican government. The widely read pamphlet helped convince colonists to support the revolution
Valley Forge
1777-1778- Encampment where Washington's army spent a harsh winter. Reflected the main weakness of the American army—
Armed Neutrality
1780 Loose alliance of non-beligerant naval power organized by Russia's Catherine the Great, to protect neutral trading rights during the war for American Independence
Articles of Confederation
1781- First American constitution that established the United States as a loose confederation of states under a weak national Congress, which was not granted the power to regulate commerce or collect taxes. States gave land flames past the Mts to Congress to establish was new territories and then states (one good thing from this)
Treaty of Paris
1783- Peace treaty signed by Britain and US ending the Revolutionary War. The British formally recognized American independence and ceded territory east of the Mississippi while Americans, in turn, promised to resort Loyalist property and repay debts to British creditors
Treaty of Fort Stanwix
1784 US and Pro-British Iroquois signed granting the Americans the Ohio Country
Shay's Rebellion
1786 Armed uprising of western MA debtors seeking lower taxes and an end to property foreclosures. Though quickly put down, the insurrection inspired fears of "mob rule" (mobocracy) among leafing Revolutionaries. Agreed on need for stronger gov but not the methods.
Virginia Statue for Religious Freedom
1786- Prohibited state support of religious institutions and recognized freedom of religion (model for Amend. 1)
Great Compromise
1787 Reconciled the NJ and VA plans at the Constitutional convention, giving states proportional representation in the House and equal representation in the Senate.
Northwest Ordinance
1787- Created a policy for administering and forbade the expansion of slavery into the territories.
Three-Fifths Compromise
1787- Determined that slaves would count as 3/5 of a person for the purpose of apportioning taxes and representation in the House
New Jersey Plan
1787- In response to the Virginia plan, the "small state" plan proposed equal representation of each state regardless of population in a unicameral legislature
Virginia Plan
1787ish "Large State" proposal for the New Constitution, calling for proportional representation in both houses of a bicameral Congress
Declaration of the Rights of Man
1789 Declaration adopted during he French Revolution. Modeled after the American Declaration of Independence.
Bill of Rights
1791- Forst 10 amendments to the constitution (Madison). The amendments secured key rights for individuals and reserved all that was not delegated/prohibited by the constitution to the states
Haitian Revolution
1791-1806 War indicted by a slave uprising in French-controlled Saint Domingue, resulting in the first independent black republic in the Americas
Cotton gin
1793 Eli Whitney;s invention that sped ip the process of harvesting cotton. The gin made cotton cultivation more profitable, revitalizing the southern economy and increasing the importance of slavery in the south (his goal was to end slavery)
Neutrality Proclamation
1793- Washington's decision to remain neutral and not get involved in the conflict between England and France
Reign of Terror
1793-1794 Dark part of the French Revolution when thousands were executed for "disloyalty" D-R maintained faith in revolution while federalists withdrew their already hesitant support
The Age of Reason
1794 Thomas Paine's anticlerical treatise that accused churches of seeking "power and profit" and to "enslave mankind"
Battle of Fallen Timbers
1794- Decisive battle between Miami Confederacy and US troops when the British refused to shelter the Indians, forcing them to make a treaty with the Americans
Whiskey Rebellion
1794- Farmers in SW Pennsylvania rebelled against Hamilton's excise tax on whiskey. The government showed strength by putting down the rebellion with a swift militia (actually lead by President, Washington.
Pinckey's Treaty
1795- Spanish, fearing Us-British alliance, granted Americans free navigation of the Mississippi R. and the disputed territory of Florida.
Treaty of Greenville
1795- The Miami Confederacy agreed to cede territory in the Old Northwest in exchange for cash, hinting rights, and formal recognition of their sovereign status.
Washington's farewell Address
1796- Warned against permanent alliances Only form alliances temporarily in extreme circumstances
XYZ Affair
1797- Americans envoys go to France to meet with foreign minister but were asked to pay a large bribe so they left
Naturalization Act
1798- Acts passed by a federalist congress raising the residency requirements for citizenship from 5 to 14 years (prevent French radicals who come over from voting--mostly)
Sedition Act
1798- Made anyone convicted of defaming gov officials or interfering with gov policies liable to imprisonment and a fine. (expired in 1801)
VA and KY resolutions
1798-99 Statements from Madison and Jefferson that argued that states were the final arbiters of wether the federal gov overstepped its boundaries and could therefore nullify, or refuse to accept, nation legislation that they deemed unconstitutional
Midnight Judges
1801 Federal justices appointed by John Adams during the last days of his presidency. Their positions were revoked when the newly elected Republican congress repealed the Judiciary Act (Chief Justice John Marshall remained)
Tripolitan War
1801-1805 Four year conflict between the American navy and the North African nation if Tripoli over piracy in the Mediterranean. Jefferson, a staunch noninterventionist, reluctantly deployed American forces, eventually securing a peace treaty with Tripoli
Marbury v Madison
1803 Supreme court case that established the principle of "judicial review" -- the idea that the Supreme Court had the final authority to determine constitutionality
Corps of Discovery
1804-1806 Team of adventurers, lead by Lewis and Clark, sent by Jefferson to explore the Louisiana Territory and find a water route to the Pacific Ocean. They brought back detailed accounts of the West's flora, fauna, and native populations, and their journey demonstrated the viability of overland travel to the West (with only 1 death)
Orders in Council
1806-1807 Edicts issued by the British crown closing French-owned European ports to foreign shipping. The French responded by offering the seizure of all vessels entering British ports, thereby cutting off the American merchants from trade with both parties
Chesapeake Affair
1807 Conflict between Britain and the US that precipitated the 1807 Embargo. The conflict developed when a British ship, in search of deserters, fired on the American Chesapeake off the coast of Virginia
Embargo Act
1807 Enacted in response to British and French mistreatment of American merchants, the act banned the export of all goods from the US to ANY foreign port. This placed great strains of the American Economy, while only marginally affecting its European targets, and was therefore repealed in 1809 (people so mad at Jefferson that it somewhat revived the federalist party)
Non-Intercourse Act
1809 Passed, by Madison, alongside the repeal of the Embargo Act, it reopened trade to all nations except Britain and France. the act continued Jefferson's policy of economic coercion, still with little effect. (Embargo semi-caused Industrialism in New England
Macon's Bill No. 2
1810 Aimed at resuming peaceful trade with Britain and France, the act stipulated that if either Britain or France repealed its trade restrictions, the embargo would be reinstated against the non repealing nation. When Napoleon offered to lift his restrictions and the British refused, the US had to declare embargo on England--pushing them toward war
Fletcher v Peck
1810 Established firmer protection for private property and asserted the right of the Supreme court to invalidate state laws in conflict with the Constitution
Battle of Tippiecanoe
1811 Resulted in the defeat Shawnee Chief Tenskwatawa, "the Prophet," at the hands of William Henry Harrison in the Indiana wilderness. After the battle, the Prophet's brother, Tecumseh, forged an alliance with eh British against the US
War Hawks
1811-1812 Democratic-Republican congressmen who pressed Madison to declare war on Britain. Largely drawn from the South and West, the war hawks resented British constraints of American trade and accused the British of supporting Indian attacks against American settlements on the frontier (by arming them with guns)
War of 1812
1812-1815 Fought between Britain and the US largely over the issues of trade and impressment. Though the war ended in a relative draw, it demonstrated America's willingness to defend its interests militarily, earning the young nation a newfound respect from European powers
Treaty of Ghent
1814 Ended the War of 1812 in a virtual draw, restoring pre-war boundaries but failing to address any of the grievances that first brought America into this war
Hartford Convention
1814-1815 Convention of Federalists from 5 New England states who opposed the War of 1812 and resented the strength of southern and western interests in Congress and the White house. They came up with a list of grievances but the War was over before they could deliver them
Congress of Vienna
1814-1815 Convention of major European powers to redraw the boundaries of continental Europe after the defeat of Napoleonic France.
Era of Good Feeling
1816-1824 Popular name for the period of one-party, Republican, rule during James Monroe's presidency. The term obscures bitter conflicts over international improvements, slavery, and the national bank Everyone liked Monroe, even New Englanders
Rush-Bagot Agreement
1817 Signed by Britain and US, it established strict limits on naval armaments in the Great Lakes, a first step in the full demilitarization if the US-Canada boarder, completed in the 1870s
Anglo-American Convention
1818 Signed by Britain and the US, the pact allowed New England fishermen access to Newfoundland fisheries, established the Northern boarder of the Louisiana territory, and provided for the joint occupation of the Oregon territory for 10 yrs
Dartmouth College v Woodward
1819 Supreme Court case that sustained Dartmouth's original charter against changes proposed by the New Hampshire state legislature, thereby protecting corporations from domination by state governments
McCulloch v Maryland
1819 Supreme court case that strengthened federal authority and upheld the constitutionality of the Bank of the United States by establishing that the State of Maryland didn't have the power to tax the bank
Florida Purchase Treaty (Adams-Onís Treaty)
1819 Under the agreement, Spain ceded Florida to the US,and the 2 nations agreed on the Southwestern boarder of the Louisiana territory. Spain retained the territory from Texas to California, while abandoning its claims to the Oregon Country
Missouri compromise
1820 Allowed Missouri to enter as a lave state but preserved balance between North and South by carving free-soil Maine out of Massachusetts and prohibiting slavery from territories acquired in the Louisiana purchase, north of the line 36 30 (southern boarder of Missouri)
American System
1820s Henry Clay's 3-pronged system to promote American industry. Clay advocated a strong banking system, a protective tariff, and a federally funded transportation network (opposed by Federalists)
Cohens v Virginia
1821 Case that reinforced federal supremacy by establishing the right of the Supreme Court to review decisions of state Courts in questions involving the powers of the Federal Government
Monroe Doctrine
1823 Statement delivered by President Monroe, warning European powers to refrain from seeking any new territories in the Americas. The US largely lacked the power to back up the pronouncement , which was actually enforced by the British, who sought unfettered access to Latin American Markets (offended European powers)
Corrupt Bargain
1824 Alleged seal between presidential candidates John Quincy Adams and Henry Clay(influencer in the House) to throw the election, to be decided by the House, in Adam's favor. Though never proven, the accusation became the rallying cry for supporters of Andrew Jackson, who actually got the popular vote, but not the majority, in 1824
Russo-American Treaty
1824 Fixed the line of 54 40 as the Southernmost boundary of Russian holdings in North America
Gibbons v Ogden
1824 Suit over whether New York State could grant a monopoly to a ferry operating on interstate waters. The ruling reasserted that Congress had the sole power to regulate interstate commerce
New Harmony
1825-1827 Communal society of about 1000 members established in Indiana by Robert Owen. The community attracted a hodgepodge of individuals and fell apart due to fighting and confusion
Tariff of Abominations
1828 Noteworthy for its un-prescedently high duties on imports, Southerners vehemently opposed the tariff, arguing that it hurt southern farmers, who did not enjoy the protection of tariffs but were forced to pay higher prices for manufacturers goods.
Appeal of Colored Citizens of the World
1829 Incendiary abolitionist tract advocating the vigilant overthrow of slavery. Published by David Walker, a southern-born free black man
Indian Removal Act
1830 Ordered the removal of Indian tribes still residing east of the Mississippi to newly established Indian territory west of Arkansas and Missouri. Tribes resisting eviction were forcibly removed by American forces, often after prolonged legal or military battles
Nat Turner's Rebellion
1831 Virginia slave revolt that resulted in the deaths of 60 whites and raised fears among white slave owners
The Liberator
1831-1865 Antislavery newspaper published by William Lloyd Garrison who called for the immediate emancipation of slaves
Black Hawk War
1832 Series of clashes in Illinois and Wisconsin between US forces and Indian Chief Black Hawk of the Sauk and Fox tribes, who unsuccessfully to reclaim territory lost under the 1830 Indian Removal Act
Nullification Crisis
1832-1833 Showdown between President Jackson and the South Carolina legislature, which declared the 1832 tariff (milder than 1828) null and void in the state and threatened secession if the federal government tried to collect duties. Jackson dispatched the military but it was resolved by a compromise negotiated by Henry Clay in 1833
Force Bill
1833 Passed with the Compromise Tariff of 1833, it authorized the president to use the military to collect federal tariff duties
American Antislavery Society
1833-1870 Abolitionist Society founded by William Lloyd Garrison. By 1838 the organization had more than 250,000 members across 1350 chapters
Awful Disclosures
1836 Maria Monk's sensational exposé of alleged horrors in Catholic Convents. Its popularity reflected nativist fears of Catholic influence
San Jacinto
1836 Resulted in the capture of Mexican dictator Fanta Anna, who was forced to withdraw his troops from Texas and recognized the Rio Grande as Texas's SW boarder
Specie Circular
1836 US treasury decree requiring all public lands to be purchased with hard/metallic currency. Issued after small state banks flooded the marked with unreliable paper currency.
Texas Declares independence
1836- Sam Houston-military leader
Caroline
1837 Diplomatic row between the US and Britain. Developed after British troops set fire to an American steamer carrying supplies across the Niagara River to Canadian insurgents during Canada's short lived insurrection
Trail of Tears
1838-1839 Forced march of 15000 Cherokee from their GA and AL homes to Indian territory (about 4000 died)
Amistad
1839 Spanish slave ship dramatically seized off the coast of Cuba by the enslaved Africans aboard. The ship was driven ashore in Long Island and the slaves were put on trial. former president John Quincy Adams argued their case before the Supreme Court, securing their eventual release.
Opium War
1839-1842 War between Britain and China over trading rights, particularly Britain's desire to continue to sell opium to Chinese traders. The resulting trade agreement prompted Americans to seek similar concessions from the Chinese
Liberty Party
1840-1848 Antislavery party that ran candidates in the 1840 and 1844 elections before merging with the Free Soil party. Supporters sought the eventual abolition of slavery, but in the short term hoped the halt the expansion of slavery into the territories and abolish domestic slave trade.
Manifest Destiny
1840s-50s Belief that the US was destined by God to spread its "empire of liberty" across North America. Served as a justification for mid nineteenth century expansion
Conscience Whigs
1840s-50s Northern Whigs who opposed slavery on moral grounds. They sought to prevent the annexation of Texas as a slave state, fearing that the new slave territory would only serve to buttress the southern "slave power"
Creole
1841 American ship captured by a group of rebelling Virginia slaves. The slaves successfully sought asylum in the Bahamas, raising fears among southern planters that the British West Indies would become a safe haven for runaway slaves.
Self-Reliance
1841 Ralph Waldo Emerson's popular lecture essay that reflected the spirit of individualism pervasive in the American pop culture in the 1830s and 40s
Brook Farm
1841-1846 Transcendentalist combine founded by intellectuals, who emphasized living plainly while pursuing the life of the mind. The community fell into debt and burned to the ground
Treaty of Wangnia
1844 Signed by US and China, it assured the US the same trading concessions granted to other powers, greatly expanding America's trade with the Chinese
Narrative of the Life of Fredrick Douglas
1845 Vivid autobiography of the escaped slave end renowned abolitionist Fredrick Douglas
Wilmot Proviso
1846 Amendment that sought to prohibit slavery from territories acquired by Mexico. Introduced by PA congressman David Wilmot, the failed amendment ratcheted up tension between North and South over the issue of slavery.
Spot Resolution
1846 Measures introduced by Illinois congressman Abraham Lincoln, questioning president Polk's justification for war with Mexico. Lincoln requested that Polk clarify precisely where Mexican forces had attacked American troops
Walker Tariff
1846 Revenue enhancing measure that lowered tariffs from 1842 levels, thereby fueling trade and increasing treasury receipts
California Bear Flag Republic
1846 Short lived California Republic, established by local American settlers who revolted against Mexico. Once news of war with Mexico reached the Americans, they abandoned the Republic in favor of joining the US
Buena Vista
1847 Key American victory against Mexican forces in the Mexican War. Elevated General Zachery Taylor to national prominence and helped secure his successes in the 1848 presidential election.
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
1848 Ended the war with Mexico. Mexico agreed to cede territory reaching northwest from Texas to Oregon in exchange for $18.25 million in cash and assumed debts
Women's Rights Convention at Seneca Falls
1848 Gathering of feminist activists in Seneca Falls, New York, where Elizabeth Stanton read her "Declaration of Sentiments" stating that "all men and women are created equal"
Seventh of March Speech
1850 Daniel Webster's impassioned addressed urging the North to support the Compromise of 1850. Webster argued that topography and climate would keep slavery from becoming entrenched in Mexican cession territory and urged northerners to make all reasonable concession to prevent disunion
Fugitive Slave Law
1850 Passed as a part of the Compromise of 1850, it set high penalties for anyone who aided escaped slaves and compelled all law enforcement officers to participate in retrieving runaways. Strengthened the antislavery cause in the North
Clayton-Bulwer Treaty
1850 Signed by Great Britain and the US, it provided that the two nations would jointly protect the neutrality of Central America and that neither power would seek to fortify or exclusively control any future isthmian waterway
Know-Nothing Party
1850s Nativist political party, also known as the American Party, that emerged in response to an influx of immigrants, particularly Irish Catholics
Uncle Tom's Cabin
1852 Harriet Beecher Stowe's widely read novel that dramatized the horrors of slavery. It heightened northern support for abolition and escalated the sectional conflict
Gadsden Purchase
1853 Acquired additional land from Mexico for $10 million to facilitate the construction of a southern transcontinental railroads
Treaty od Kanagua
1854 Ended Japan's 200 year period of economic isolation, establishing an American consulate in Japan and securing American coaling rights in Japanese ports
Kansas-Nebraska Act
1854 Proposed that the issue of slavery be decided by popular sovereignty in the Kansas and Nebraska territories, thus revoking the 1820 Missouri Compromise. Introduced by Stephen Douglas in an effort to bring Nebraska into the union and pave the way for a northern transcontinental railroad. Indirectly killed the fugitive slave law in the north Brought the Republican party
Ostend Manifesto
1854 Secret Franklin Pierce administration proposal to purchase or, that failing, to take militarily, Cuba from Spain. Once leaked, it was quickly abandoned due to vehement opposition from the North
Bleeding Kansas
1856-1861 Civil War in Kansas over the issue of slavery in the territory, fought intermediately until 1861, when it merged with the wider national Civil War
The Impending Crisis of the South
1857 Antislavery tract, written by white southerner Hinton R Helper, arguing that nonslaveholding whites actually suffered the most in a slave economy Plantation owners in the south feared that the nonslaveholding majority would abandon them
Lecompton Constitution
1857 proposed Kansas constitution, whose ratification was unfairly rigged so as to guarantee slavery in the territory. Initially ratified by proslavery forces, it was later voted sown when Congress required that the entire constitution be put up to a vote
Freeport Doctrine
1858 Declared that since slavery couldn't exist without laws to protect it, territorial legislatures (popular sovereignty), not the Supreme Court, would have the final say on the slavery question. First argued by Douglas in 1858 in response to Lincoln's freeport question
Freeport Question
1858 Raised during one of the Lincoln-Douglas debates by Abraham Lincoln, who asked wether the people or Court should decide the future of slavery in the territories (popular sovereignty or Deed Scott)
Lincoln-Douglas Debate
1858 Series of debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas during the US Senate race in Illinois. Douglas won the election buy Lincoln gained national prominence and emerged as the leading candidate for the 1860 Republican nomination
Crittenden Amendments
1860 Failed constitutional amendments that would've given federal protection for slavery in all territories south of 36 30 where slavery was supported by popular sovereignty. Proposed in attempt to appease South
Constitutional Union Party
1860 Formed by moderate Whigs and Know-Nothings in an effort to elect a compromise candidate and avert sectional crisis (1860--nominated John Bell)
Molly Maguires
1860s-1870s Secret organization of Irish miners who campaigned, at times violently, against poor working conditions in the PA mines
Trent Affair
1861 Diplomatic row that threatened to bring the British into the Civil War on the side of the confederacy, after a Union warship stopped a British steamer and arrested 2 confederate diplomats.
Morrill Tariff Act
1861 Increased duties back up to 1846 levels to raise revenue for the Civil War
Congressional Committee on the Conduct of War
1861-1865 Established by Congress during the Civil War to oversee military affairs. Largely under the control of radical Republicans, the committee agitated for a more vigorous war effort and actively pressed Lincoln on the issue of emancipation
Confederate States of America
1861-1865 Government Established after 7 southern states seceded from the Union/ Later joined by 4 more states form the upper south
Homestead Act
1862 A federal Law that sold settlers 160 acres of land for about $30, if they lived on it for 5 years and improved it by, for instance, building a house on it. The act helped make land accessible to hundreds of thousands of westward-moving settlers, but many people also found disappointment when their land was infertile or they saw speculators grabbing up the best land
Merrimack and Monitor
1862 Confederate and Union ironclads, respectively. whose successes against wooden ships signaled an end to wooden warships. They fought a historic though inconsequential battle in 1862
Pacific Railroad Act
1862 Helped fund the construction of the Inion Pacific transcontinental railroad with the use of land grants and government bonds
Fort Henry and Fort Danielson
1862 Key victory for Union general Ulysses S Grant, it secured the North's hold on Kentucky and paved the way for Grant's attacks deeper into Tennessee
Peninsula Campaign
1862 Union general George B McClellan's failed effort to seize Richmond, the Confederate capital. Had McClellan taken Richmond and toppled the Confederacy, slavery would have most likely survived in the south for some time.
Alabama
1862-1864 British-built and manned Confederate Warship that raided Union shipping during the Civil War. One of many built by the British of the confederacy, despite Union protests
Vicksburg
1863 2 1/2 month siege of a Confederate fort on the Mississippi River in TN. This battle finally fell to Ulysses S Grant in July 1863, giving the Union army control of the Mississippi River and splitting the South
Emancipation Proclamation
1863 Declared all slaves in rebelling states to be free but did not affect slavery in non rebelling boarder states. The proclamation closed the door on possible compromise with the South and encouraged thousands of southern slaves to flea to Union lines
The Man Without a Country
1863 Edward Everett Hale's fictional account of a treasonous soldiers journeys in exile. The book was widely read in the North, inspiring greater devotion to the Union
"10 percent" Reconstruction Plan
1863 Introduced by President Lincoln, it proposed that a state be readmitted to the Union once 10% of its voters had pledged loyalty to the US and promised to honor emancipation
National Banking System
1863 Network of member banks that could issue currency against purchased government bonds. Created during the Civil War to establish a stable national currency and stimulate the sale of war bonds
Larid rams
1863 Two well-armed ironclad warships constructed for the Confederacy by a British firm. Seeking to avoid war with the Union, the British government purchased the two ships for their navy instead
New York Draft Riots
1863 Uprising, mostly of working-class Irish-Americans in protest of the draft (CONSCRIPTION). Rioters were particularly incensed by the ability of the rich to hire substitutes or purchase exemptions.
Woman's Loyal League
1863-1865 Woman's organization formed to help bring about an end to the Civil War and encouraged Congress to pass a constitutional amendment prohibiting slavery
Union Party
1864 A coalition party of prewar Democrats and Republicans formed during the 1864 election to defeat antiwar Northern Democrats -Lincoln was candidate
Wilderness Campaign
1864-1865 A series of brutal clashes between Ulysses S Grant and Robert E Lee's armies in Virginia, leading up to Grant's capture of Richmond in April 1865. Having lost Richmond, Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox Courthouse
Sherman's March
1864-1865 Union General William Tecumseh Sherman's destructive march through Georgia. An instant of "total war" purposely targeting infrastructure and civilian property to diminish morale and undercut the Confederate war effort.
Thirteenth Amendment
1865 Constitutional amendment prohibiting all forms of slavery and involuntary servitude. Former Confederate states were required to ratify the amendment prior to gaining reentry into the Union
Black Codes
1865-1866 Laws passed throughout the South to restrict the rights of emancipated blacks, particularly with respect to negotiating labor contracts . Increased Northerners' criticisms of President Andrew Johnson's lenient Reconstruction policies (virtually re-enslaved blacks)
Freedman's Bureau
1865-1872 It provided clothing, medical care, food, and education to both freedmen and white refugees (didn't work well). Union general Oliver O. Howard led the bureau. The bureau's greatest success was teaching some blacks to read. Because it was despised by the President and by Southerners, it expired in 1872.
Ex Parte Milligan
1866 Civil War-era case in which the Supreme Court ruled that military tribunals could not be used to try civilians if Civil Courts were open
Civil Rights bill
1866 Passed over Andrew Johnson;s veto the bill aimed to counteract the Black Codes by conferring citizenship on African Americans and making it a crime to deprive blacks of their right to sue, testify in court, or hold property.
National Labor Union
1866-1872 First national labor union in US history gained 60,000 members from many parts of the workforce, although it limited the participation of Chinese, women, and blacks. The organization devoted much of its energy to fighting for an 8-hour workday
Reconstruction Act
1867 Passed by the newly elected Republican Congress, it divided the South into 5 military districts, disenfranchised former Confederates and required that Southern States both ratify the 14th amendment and write state constitutions guaranteeing freedmen the franchise before gaining readmission to the Union
Tenure of Office Act
1867 Required the president to seek approval from the Senate before removing appointees. When Johnson removed his (Lincoln's) Secretary of War in violation of the act, he was impeached by the House but remained in office when the Senate fell one vote short of removing him
Force Acts
1870-1871 Passed by Congress following a wave of Ku Klux Klan violence, the acts banned clan membership, prohibited the use of intimidation to prevent blacks from voting, and gave the US military authority to enforce these acts
Standard Oil Company
1870-1911 Rockefeller's Company, which came to symbolize the trusts and monopolies of the Gilded Age. Bt 1877 Standard Oil controlled 95% of the oil refineries in the US. It was also 1 of the 1st multinational corporations and at times distributed >half of its kerosine production outside the US. By the end of the century it had become a target for trust-busting reformers and in 1911 the Supreme Court ordered it to break up into several dozen smaller companies
Crédit Mobilier Scandal
1872 A construction company was formed by the owners of the Union Pacific RR for the purpose of receiving government contacts to build the RR at highly inflated prices. In 1872 a scandal erupted when journalists discovered that this company had bribed congressmen and even the vice president to allow the ruse to continue.
Liberal Republicans
1872 Wanted to purify administration in Washington and end military reconstruction. They nominated Greeley(editor of the NY Times) and had no chance of winning
Battle of Little Bighorn
1876 A particularly violent example of the warfare between whites and Native Americans in the late 19th century, also known as "Custer's Last Stand." In 2 days, June 25th and 26th, the combined forces of 2500 Sioux, Cheyenne, and Arapaho Indians defeated and killed >250 US soldiers, including Col. George Custer. The battle came as the US government tried to compel Natives to remain an reservations and Natives tried to defend territory from white gold-seekers. This Indian advantage didn't last long, however, as the union of these Indian fighters proved tenuous and the US army soon exacted retribution.
Big Sister Policy
1880s A foreign policy of Secretary of State James G Blaine aimed at rallying Latin American nations behind American leadership and opening Latin American markets to yankee traders. The policy bore fruit in 1889 when Blaine presided over the First International Conference of American States
Chinese Exclusion Act
1882 Federal legislation that prohibit most further Chinese immigration into the US. This was the first major legal restriction on immigration in US history.
Pendelton Act
1883 Congressional legislation that established the Civil service Commission which granted federal government jobs on the basis of examinations instead of political patronage, thus ruining the spoils system
Haymarket Square
1886 A May day rally that became violent when someone they a bomb in the middle of the meeting (killing dozens). Eight anarchists were arrested for conspiracy contributing to the disorder, although evidence was thin. 4 were executed, 1 committed suicide, and 3 were pardoned in 1893
Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific Railroad Company v Illinois
1886 A Supreme Court decision that prohibited states from regulating the railroads because the Constitution grants Congress the power to regulate interstate commerce. As a result, reformers turned their attention to the federal government, which now held sole power the regulate the railroad industry
Dawes Severalty Act
1887 An act that broke up Indian reservations and distributed land to individual households. Leftover land was sold for money to fund the US government efforts "to civilize" Native Americans
Interstate Connerce Act
1887 Congressional legislation that established the Interstate Commerce Commission, compelled railroads to publish standard rates, and prohibited rebates and pools. Railroads quickly became adept at using the act to achieve their own ends, but it gave the government an important means to regulate big business.
Battle of Wounded Knee
1890 A battle between the US Army and the Dakota Sioux, in which 200 Natives and 29 US soldiers died. Tensions erupted violently over 2 major issues: the Sioux practice fo "Ghost Dance," which the US government had outlawed, and the dispute over whether Sioux reservation land would be broken up because of the Dawes Act
Sherman Anti-Trust Act
1890 A law that forbade trusts or combinations in business, this was landmark legislation because it was 1 of the first congressional attempts to regulate big business for the public good. At first the law was mostly used to restrain trade unions, as the courts tend to side with companies in legal cases. In 1914 the act was revised so it could more effectively be used against monopolistic corporations
McKinley tariff
1890 Shepherded through Congress by President William McKinley, this tariff raised duties on Hawaiian sugar and set off renewed efforts to secure the annexation of Hawaii to the United States
Homestead Strike
1892 A strike at a Carnegie steel plant in Homestead, PA that ended in an armed battle between the Strikers, 300 armed Pinkerton detectives hired by Carnegie, and federal troops, which killed 10 and angered >60. The strike was part of a nationwide wave of labor unrest in the summer of 1892 that helped the Populists gain support from industrial workers
World's Columbian Exposition
1893 Americans saw this world's fair, held in Chicago, as their opportunity to claim a place among the world's most "civilized" societies, by which they meant countries of Western Europe. The fair honored art, architecture, and science, and its promoters built a mini-city in which to host the fair that reflected all the ideals of city planning popular at the time. For many this was the high point of the City Beautiful Movement.
Pullman Strike
1894 A strike by RR workers upset by drastic wage cuts. The strike was led by socialist Eugene Debs but was not supported by the American Federation of Labor. Eventually President Grover Cleveland intervened and federal troops forced an end to the strike. The strike highlighted both divisions within labor and the government's new willingness to use armed forces to combat work stoppages.
Plessy v Fergusson
1896 A Supreme Court case that upheld the constitutionality of segregation laws, saying as long as blacks were provided with "separate but equal" facilities, these laws did not violate the 14th Amendment. This decision provided legal justification for the Jim Crow System until the 1950s
Teller Amendment
1898 A proviso to President William McKinley's war plans that proclaimed to the world that when the US had overthrown Spanish misrule, it would give Cuba its freedom. This amendment testified to the ostensibly "anti-imperialist" designs of the initial war plans
Rough Riders
1898 Organized by Theadore Roosevelt this was a colorful, motley regiment of Cuban War volunteers consisting of western cowboys and ex-convicts. Roosevelt emphasized his experience with the regiment in subsequent campaigns for governor of New York and Vice President under Willian McKinley
Anti-Imperialist League
1898-1921 A diverse group formed to protest American colonial over-sight in the Philippines. It included university presidents, industrialists, clergymen, and labor leaders. Strong in the Northeast this organization was the largest lobbying organization on a US foreign policy issue until the end of the 19th century. It declined in strength after the US signed the Treaty of Paris (which approved the annexation of the Philippines), and especially after hostilities broke out between Filipino nationalists and American forces
Open Door Note
1899-1900 A set of diplomatic letters in which Secretary of State John Hay urged great powers to respect Chinese rights and free open competition with their spheres of influence. The notes established the "Open Door Policy," which sought to ensure access to the Chinese market for the US, despite the fact that it didn't have a formal sphere of influence on China
Gold Standard Act
1900 An act that guaranteed that paper currency would be redeemed freely in gold, putting an end to the already dying free silver campaign.
Boxer Rebellion
1900 An uprising in China directed against foreign influence. it was suppressed by an international force of about 18000 soldiers, including several thousand Americans. This rebellion paved the way for the revolution of 1911, which led to the establishment of the Republic of China in 1912
Foraker Act
1900 Sponsored by Senator Joseph B Foraker, a Republican from Ohio, this accorded Puerto Ricans a limited degree of popular government. the first comprehensive congressional effort to provide for governance of territories acquired after the Spanish-American War, it served as a model for a similar act adopted in the Philippines in 1902
Hay-Pauncefote Treaty
1901 A treaty signed between the US and Great Britain giving Americans a free hand to build a canal in Central America. The treaty nullified the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty of 1850, which prohibited Britain or the other US States from acquiring territory in Central America.
Platt Amendment
1901 Following its military occupation the US successfully pressured the Cuban government to write this into their constitution. It limited Cuba's treaty-making abilities, controlled its debt, and stipulated the US could intervene militarily to restore order when it saw fit.
Insular Cases
1901-1904 Beginning in 1901, a badly divided Supreme Court decreed in these cases that the Constitution did not follow the flag. In other words, Puerto Ricans and Filipinos would not necessarily enjoy all American rights.
Elkins Act
1903 Laws passed by Congress to impose penalties on railroads that offered rebates and customers who accepted them. The law strengthened the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887. The Hepburn Act of 1906 added free passes to the list of railroad no-nos
Roosevelt Corollary
1904 A brazen policy of "preventative intervention" advocated by Roosevelt in his annual message to Congress in 1904. Adding ballast to the Monroe Doctrine, his corollary stipulated the the US would retain a right to intervene in the domestic affairs of Latin American nations in order to restore military and financial order.
Lochner v New York
1905 A setback for labor reformers, this Supreme Court decision invalidated a state law establishing a 10hr day for bakers. It held that the "right to free contract" was implicit in the due process clause of the 14th Amendment.
Industrial Workers of the World
1905 The IWW, aka the "Wobblies" was a radical organization that sought to build "one big union" and advocated industrial sabotage in defense of that goal. At tis peak in 1923, it could claim 100000 members and could gain the support of 300000. The IWW particularly appealed to migratory workers in agriculture and lumbering and to miners, all of whom suffered from horrific working conditions.
Pure Food and Drug Act
1906 A law passed by Congress to inspect and regulate the labeling of all foods and additional provisions passed in 1911 to strengthen it, aimed particularly at the patent medicine industry, The more comprehensive Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act of 1938 largely replaced this legislation
Meat Inspection Act
1906 A law passed by Congress to subject meat shipped over state lines to federal inspection. The publication of The Jungle earlier that year so disgusted American consumers with its description of conditions in slaughterhouses ad meatpacking plants, that it mobilized public support for government action.
Muller v Oregon
1908 A landmark Supreme Court case in which crusading attorney (and future Supreme Court Justice) Louis D Brandeis persuaded the Supreme Court to accept the constitutionality of limiting the hours of women workers. Coming on the heels of the Lochner v New York, it established a different standard for male and female workers
Root-Takahura Agreement
1908 Agreement by which the US and Japan agreed to respect China. The agreement was credited with easing tensions between the 2 nations, but it also resulted in a weakened American influence over further Japanese hegemony in China
Payne-Aldrich Bill
1909 While intended to lower tariff rates, this bill was eventually revised beyond all recognition, retaining high rates on most imports. President Taft angered the progressive wing of his party when he declared it was "the best bill ever passed"
New Freedom
1912 Platform of reforms advocated by Woodrow Wilson in his first presidential campaign, including antitrust legislation to protect small business enterprises from monopolies, banking reform, and tariff reduction. Wilson;s strategy involved taking action to increase opportunities for capitalist competition rather than increasing government regulation of large trusts
New Nationalism
1912 State interventionist reform program devised by journalist Herbert Croly and advocated by Teddy Roosevelt during his Bull Moose presidential campaign. TR didn't object to continued consolidation of trusts and labor unions. Rather, he south to crest stronger regulatory agencies to ensure that they operated to serve public interest, jot just private gain
Federal Reserve Act
1913 An act establishing 12 regional Federal Reserve Banks and a Federal Reserve Board, appointed by the president, to regulate banking and create stability on a national scale in the volatile banking sector. The law carried the nation through the financial crisis of the First World War of 1914-1918
Underwood Tariff
1913 This tariff provided for a substantial reduction of rates and enacted an unprecedented, graduated federal income tax. By 1917 revenue from the income tax surpassed receipts from the tariff, a gap that has since been vastly widened (Wilson)
Federal Trade Commission Act
1914 A banner accomplishment of Woodrow Wilson's administration, this law empowered a standing, presidentially appointed commission to investigate illegal business practices in interstate commerce like unlawful competition, false advertising, and mislabeling of goods
Clayton Anti-Trust Act
1914 Law extending the anti-trust protections of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act and exempting labor unions and agricultural organizations from antimonopoly constraints. The act conferred long-overdue benefits on labor
Jones Act
1916 Law according territorial status to the Philippines and promising independence as soon as a "stable government" could be established. the US didn't grant independence until July 4, 1946
Workingmen's Compensation Act
1916 Passed under Wilson, this law granted assistance to federal civil-service employees during periods of disability. It was a precursor to labor-friendly legislation passed during the New Deal
Adamson Act
1916 This law established an 8 hour day for all employees on trains involved in interstate commerce, with extra pay for overtime. The first federal law regulating the hours of workers in private companies, it was upheld by the Supreme Court in Wilson v New (1917)
Committee on Public Information
1917 A government office during WWI known popularly as the Creel Committee for its chairman George Creel, it was dedicated to winning everyday American's support for the war effort. It regularly distributed pro-war propaganda and sent out an army of "four minute men" to rally crowds and deliver "patriotic pep"
Espionage Act (Sedition Act)
1917 A law prohibiting interference with the draft and other acts of national "disloyalty." Together with the Sedition Act of 1918, which added penalties for abusing the government in writing, it created a climate that was unfriendly to civil liberties
Zimmermann Note
1917 German foreign secretary Author Zimmermann had secretly proposed a German-Mexican against the United States. When the note was intercepted and published in March 1917, it caused an uproar that made some Americans more willing to enter the war.
War Industries Board
1917 Headed by Bernard Baruch, this federal agent coordinated industrial production during WWI, setting production quotas, allocating raw materials, and pushing companies to increase efficiency and eliminate waste. Under the economic mobilization of the War Industries Board, industrial production in the US increased 20% during the war
Bolshevik Revolution
1917 The second stage of the Russian Revolution in November 1917 when Vladimir Lenin and his Bolshevik party seized power and established a communist state. The first stage had occurred the previous February when more moderate revolutionaries overthrow the Russian czar
Meuse-Argonne Offensive
1918 General John J Pershing led American troops in this effort to cut the German railroad lines supplying the western front. One of the few major battles that Americans participated in during the entire war, it was still underway when the war ended
Battle of Chateau Thierry
1918 The first significant engagement in WWI-and, indeed in any European war. To weary French soldiers, the American doughboys were an image of fresh had gleaming youth.
Fourteen Points
1918 Woodrow Wilson's proposal to ensure peace after WWI, calling for an end to secret treaties widespread arms reduction, national self determination, and a new League of Nations
Schenck v United States
1919 A Supreme Court decision that upheld the Espionage and Sedition Acts, reasoning that freedom of speech could be curtailed when it posed a "clear and present danger" to the nation
Volstead Act
1919 A federal act enforcing the 18th Amendment, which prohibited the manufacture, sale, and transportation of alcoholic beverages.
League of Nations
1919 A world organization of national governments proposed by president Woodrow Wilson and established by the Treaty of Versailles in 1919. It worked to facilitate peaceful international cooperation. Despite emotional appeals by Wilson, isolationists objected to the League created the major obstacle to the American signing of the Treaty of Versailles
Eighteenth Amendment
1919 This constitutional amendment prohibited the manufacture, sale, and transportation of alcoholic beverages, ushering in the era known as prohibition.
Treaty of Versailles
1919 WWI concluded with this vengeful document, which secured peace but imposed sharp terms on Germany and created a territorial mandate system to manage former colonies of the world powers. To Woodrow Wilson's Chagrin, it incorporated very few of his original Fourteen Points, although it did include the League of Nations that Wilson had long sought. Isolationists in the US deeply opposed to the League, led the opposition to the treaty, which was never ratified by the Senate
Red Scare
1919-1920 A period of intense anticommunism. The "Palmer raids" of Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer resulted in about 6000 deportations of people suspected of "subversive" activities
Criminal Syndicalism Laws
1919-1920 Passed by many states during the red scare, these nefarious laws outlawed the mere advocacy of violence to secure social change. Stump speakers for the International Workers of the World(IWW) were special targets
Nineteenth Amendment
1920 This constitutional amendment, finally passed by Congress in 1919 and ratified in 1920, gave women the right to vote over 70 years after the first organized calls for woman's suffrage in Seneca Falls, NY
Teapot Dome Scandal
1921 A Tawdry affair involving the illegal lease of priceless naval oil reserves in Teapot Dome, Wyoming and Elk Hills, California. The scandal, which implicated President Harding's secretary of the interior, was one of several that gave his administration a reputation for corruption
Sheppard-Towner Maternity Act
1921 Designed to appeal to new women voters, this act provided federally financed instruction in maternal and infant health care and expanded the role of government in family welfare.
Fordney-McCumber Tariff Law
1922 A comprehensive bill passed to protect domestic production from foreign competitors. As a direct result, many European nations were spurred to increase their own trade barriers
Nine Power Treaty
1922 Agreement coming out of the Washington "Disarmament" Conference of 1921-1922 that pledged Britain, France, Italy, Japan, the US, China, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Belgium to abide by the open-door policy in China. the Five Power Naval Treaty on ship ratios (5:5:3:1:0) and the Four Power treaty to preserve the status quo in the Pacific also came out of this conference
Adkins V Children's Hospital
1923 A landmark Supreme Court decision reversing the ruling on Muller v Oregon, which had declared women to be deserving of special protection in the workplace
Dawes Plan
1924 An arrangement negotiated in 1924 to reschedule German reparation payments. It stabilized the German currency and opened the way for further American private loans to Germany
McNary-Haugen Bill
1924-1928 A farm relief bill that was championed throughout the 1920s and aimed to keep agricultural prices high by authorizing the government to buy up the surpluses and sell them abroad, Congress twice passed the bill but president Calvin Coolidge vetoes it in 1927 and 1928.
Kellogg-Briand Pact
1928 A sentimental triumph of the 1920s peacetime movement, this 1928 pact linked 62 nations in the supposed "outlawry of war"
Black Tuesday
1929 The dark, panicky day of October, 29, 1929, when over 16,410,030 shares of stock were sold on Wall Street. It was a trigger that helped bring on the Great Depression
Agricultural Marketing Act
1929 This act established the Federal Farm Board, a lending bureau for hard-pressed farmers. The act also aimed to help farmers help themselves through new producers' cooperatives. As the depression worsened in 1930, the Board tried to bolster falling prices by buying up surpluses, but it was unable to cope with the flood of farm produce to market.
Hawley-Smoot Tariff
1930 The highest protective tariff in peacetime history of the United States, passed as a result of good old-fashioned horse trading. To the outside world, it was a part of ugly economic warfare.
Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC)
1932 A government leading agency established under the Hoover administration in order to assist insurance companies, banks, agricultural organizations, railroads, and local governments. It was a precursor to later agencies that grew out of the New Deal and symbolized a recognition by the Republicans that some federal action was required to address the Great Depression
Bonus Army
1932 Officially known as the Bonus Expeditionary Force (BEF), this rag-tag group of twenty thousand veterans marched on Washington to demand immediate payment of bonuses earned during WWI. General Douglas MacArthur dispersed the veterans with tear gas and bayonets
Norris-La Guardia Anti-Injunction Act
1932 This law banned "yellow dog," or antiunion work contracts and forbade federal courts from issuing injunctions to squash strikes and boycotts. It was an early piece of labor-friendly federal legislation
Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA)
1933 A New Deal program designed to raise agricultural prices by paying farmers not to form. It was based on the assumption that higher prices would increase farmer's purchasing power and thereby help alleviate the Great Depression (not regulated)
Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)
1933 A government program created by Congress to hire young unemployed men to improve the rural, out-of doors environment with such work as planting trees, fighting fires, draining swamps, and maintaining national parks. The CCC proved to be an important foundation for the post World War II environmental movement.
Glass-Stegall Banking Reform Act
1933 A law creating the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, which insured individual bank deposits and ended a century-long tradition of unstable banking that had reached a Crisis in the Great Depression
London Economic Conference
1933 A sixty-six nation economic conference organized to stabilize international currency rates. Franklin Roosevelt's decision to revoke American participation contributed to a deepening world economic crisis
National Recovery Administration (NRA)/ National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA)
1933 Known by its critics as the "National Run Around," the NRA was an early New Deal program designed to assist industry, labor, and the unemployed through centralized planning mechanisms that monitored worker's earnings and working hours to distribute work and established codes for "fair competition" to ensure that similar procedures were followed by all firms in any particular industrial sector (was not followed)
Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)
1933 One of the most revolutionary of the New Deal public works projects, this organization brought cheap electric power, full term-37employment, low-cost housing, and environmental improvements to Americans in the Tennessee Valley
(First) Hundred Days
1933 The first hundred days of Franklin D Roosevelt's administration, stretching from March 9 to June 16, 1933, when an unprecedented number of reform bills were passed by a Democratic Congress to launch the New Deal
Federal Housing Administration (FHA)
1934 Insured loans for building and repairing homes
Indian Reorganization Act
1934 Promoted tribal reorganization and gave federal recognition to tribal governments
Johnson Debt Default Act
1934 Steeped in ugly memories of World War I, this spiteful act prevented debt-ridden rations from borrowing further from the United States.
Reciprocal Trade Agreements Act
1934 This Act reversed traditional high-protective-tariff policies by allowing the president to negotiate lower tariffs with trade partners, without senate approval. Its chief architect was Secretary of State Cordell Hull, who believed that tariff barriers choked of foreign trade.
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
1934 Created to supervise stock exchanges and to punish fraud in securities trading.
Social Security Act
1935 A flagship accomplishment of the New Deal, this law provided for unemployment and old-age insurance financed by a payroll tax on employers and employees. It has long remained a pillar of the "New Deal Order"
Rome-Berlin Axis
1936 Nazi Germany under Adolf Hitler and Fascist Italy, led by Benito Mussolini, allied themselves under this nefarious treaty. The pact was signed after both countries had intervened on behalf of the fascist leader Francisco Franco during the Spanish Civil War.
Quarantine Speech
1937 An important speech delivered by Franklin Roosevelt in which he called for "positive endeavors" to "quarantine" land-hungry dictators, presumably through economic embargoes. The speech flew in the face of isolationist politicians
Court-Packing Plan
1937 Franklin Roosevelt's politically motivated and ill-fated scheme to add a new justice to the Supreme Court for every member over 70 who would not retrieve. His objective was to overcome the Court's rejections to New Deal reforms
Fair Labor Standards Act
1938 Important New Deal labor legislation that regulated minimum wages and maximum hours for workers involved in interstate commerce. The law also outlawed labor by children under 16. The exclusion of agriculture, service, and domestic workers meant that many black, Mexican-Americans, and women-who were concentrated in these sectors-did not benefit from the act's protection
Appeasement
1938 The policy followed by leaders of Britain and France at the 1938 conference in Munich. Their purpose was to avoid war but they allowed Germany to take the Sudetenland from Czechoslovakia
Hitler-Stalin Pact
1939 Treaty signed on August 23, 1939, in which Gernany and the Soviet Union agreed nor to fight with each other. The fateful agreement paved the way for german aggression against Poland and the Western democracies
Pearl Harbor
1941 An American naval base in Hawaii where Japanese warplanes destroyed numerous ships and caused three thousand casualties on December 7, 1941-a day that, in president Roosevelt's words, was to "live in infamy." The attack brought the United States into WWII
ABC-1 Agreement
1941 An agreement between Britain and the United States developed at a conference at Washington D.C., between January 29 and March 27, 1941, that should the United States enter World War II, the two nations and their allies would coordinate their military planning, making a priority of protecting the British Commonwealth. That would mean "getting Germany first" in the Atlantic and the European theater and fighting more defensively on other military fronts
Lend-Lease Bill
1941 Based on the motto "send guns, not sons," this law abandoned former pretenses of neutrality by allowing Americans to sell unlimited supplies of arms to any nation defending itself against the Axis powers. Patriotically numbered 1776 the bull was praised for keeping the nation out of WWII
Atlantic Charter
1941 Meeting on a warship off the coast of Newfoundland in August 1941 Franklin Roosevelt and British prime minister Winston Churchill signed this covenant outlining the future toward disarmament, peace, and a permanent system of general security. Its spirit would animate the founding of the United Nations and raise awareness of the human rights of individuals after World War II
Fair Employment Practices Commission (FEPC)
1941 Threatened with a massive negro march on Washington (Led by A Philip Randolph) to demand equal opportunities in war jobs and in the military, Franklin D. Roosevelt's administration issued an executive order forbidding racial discrimination in all defense plants operating under contract with the federal government. This organization was intended to monitor compliance with the executive order.
Office of Price Administration (OPA)
1941-1947 A critically important wartime agency charged with regulating the consumer economy by rationing scarce supplies, such as automobiles, tires, fuel, nylon, and sugar, and by curbing inflation by setting ceilings on the prices of goods. Rents were controlled as well in parts of the country overwhelmed by war workers. This administration was extended after World War II ended to continue to fight against inflation
Battle of Midway
1942 A pivotal naval battle fought near the island of Midway 6/3-6/6. The victory halted Japanese advances into the Pacific
Bracero Program
1942 Program established by an agreement with the Mexican government to recruit temporary Mexican agricultural workers to the United States to make-up for war labor shortages in the Far West. The program persisted until 1964, by which time it had sponsored 4.5 million boarder crossings.
Smith-Connally Anti-Strike Act
1943 Passed amidst worries about the effects that labor strikes would have on war production, this law allowed the federal government to seize and operate plants threatened by labor disputes. It also criminalized strike action against government-run companies
Cotton picker
1944 A machine to pick cotton to accompany the cotton gin. Allowed many African American sharecroppers to leave and pursue other jobs in factories, etc. (migrated north)
D-Day
1944 A massive military operation led by American forces in Normandy beginning on June 6, 1944. The pivotal battle led to the liberation of France and brought on the final phases of World War II in Europe
GI Bill
1944 Known officially as the Servicemen's Readjustment Act and more informally as the __ ____ of Rights, this law helped returning WWII soldiers reintegrated into civilian life by securing loans to buy homes and farms and set up small businesses. It also made tuition and stipends available for them to attend college, as wells job training programs. The act was intended to cushion the blow of 15 million returning servicemen on the employment market.
Bretton Woods Conference
1944 Meeting of Western allies to establish a postwar international economic order to avoid crises like the one that spawned WWII. Led to the creation of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, designed to regulate currency levels and provide aid to underdeveloped countries (America took lead and provided most of the money initially).
War Refuge Board
1944-1945 A US agency formed to help rescue Jews from German-occupies territories and to provide relief to inmates of Nazi concentration camps. The agency performed notable work but it did not begin operations until very late in the war, after millions had already been murdered
Postdam Conference
1945 From 7/17 to 8/2, President Harry S Truman met with Soviet leader Stalin and British leaders Winston Churchill and later Clement Attlee near Berlin to offer an ultimatum to Japan: surrender or be destroyed
Yalta Conference
1945 Meeting of Franklin Roosevelt, Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin in February 1945 at an old statist resort on the Black Sea, where the Big Three leaders laid the foundations for the postwar division of power in Europe, including divided Germany, and territorial concessions to the Soviet Union.
Nuremberg War Crimes Trial
1945-1946 Highly Publicized proceedings against former Nazi leaders for war crimes and crimes against humanity in postwar Germany. The trials led to several executions and long prison sentences.
Baby Boom
1946-1964 Demographic explosion from births to returning soldiers and others who had put off starting families during the war. This large generation fo Americans forced the expansion of many institutions such as schools and universities.
Cold War
1946-1991 The 45 year long diplomatic tension between the United States and the Soviet Union that divided much of the world into polarized camps, capitalists against communists. Most of the international conflicts during that period, particularly in the developing world, can be traced to the competition between the US and the USSR.
Truman Doctrine
1947 President Truman's universal pledge of support for any people fighting any communist or communist-inspired threat. Truman presented the doctrine to Congress in 1947 in support for his request for $400 million to defend Greece and Turkey against Soviet backed insurgencies.
Taft-Hartly Act
1947 Republican-promoted anti-union legislation passed over President Truman's veto that weakened many of labor's New Deal gains by banning the closed shop and other strategies that helped unions organize. It also required union leaders to take a noncommunist oath, which purged the union movement of many of its most committed and active organizers.
Operation Dixie
1948 Failed effort by the CIO after WWII to unionize southern workers, especially in textile factories.
Marshall Plan
1948 Massive transfer of aid money to help rebuild postwar Western Europe, intended to bolster capitalist and democratic governments and prevent domestic Communist groups from riding poverty and misery to power. The plan was first announced by Secretary of State George Marshall at Harvard's commencement in June 1947.
Executive Order 9981
1948 Order issued by president Truman to desegregate the armed forces. The president's action resulted from a combination of pressure from civil rights advocates, election-year political calculations, and the mew geopolitical context of the Cold War.
Berlin Airlift
1948-1949 Year-long mission of flying food and supplies to blockaded West Berliners, who the Soviet Union cut off from access to the West in the first major crisis of the Cold War.
National Security Council Memorandum Number 68 (NSC-68)
1950 National Security Council recommendation to quadruple defense spending and rapidly expand peacetime armed forces to address Cold War tensions. It reflected a mew militarization of American foreign policy, but the huge costs of rearmament were not expected to interfere with what seemed like the limitless possibilities of postwar prosperity.
Korean War
1950-1953 First "hot war" of the Cold War. It beach when the Soviet-backed North Koreans invaded South Korea and UN forces, dominated by the United States, launched a counter offense. The war ended in stalemate in 1953.
Checkers Speech
1952 Nationally televised address by vice presidential candidate Richard Nixon during which he defended himself against allegations of corruption. Using the new mass medium of television shortly before the 1952 election, the vice-presidential candidate saved his place of the ticket by saying the only campaign gift he had ever received was a cocker spaniel named Checkers.
Army-McCarthy Hearings
1954 Congressional hearings called by Senator Joseph McCarthy to accuse members of the army of communist ties. In this widely televised spectacle, McCarthy finally went too far for public approval. The hearings exposed the senator's extremism and led to his eventual disgrace.
Operation Wetback
1954 A government program to round up and deport as many as 1 million illegal migrant workers in the United States. The program was promoted in part by the Mexican government and reflected burgeoning concerns about non-European immigration to America.
Policy of Boldness
1954 Foreign-Policy objective of Dwight Eisenhower's secretary of state, John Foster Dulles, who believed in changing the containment strategy to one that more directly engaged the Soviet Union and attempted to roll back communist influence around the world. This policy led to a build up of America's nuclear arsenal to threaten "massive retaliation" against communist enemies, launching the Cold War's arms race.
Brown v Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas
1954 Landmark Supreme Court decision that overturned Plessy v Ferguson (1896) and abolished racial segregation in public schools. The Court reasoned that "separate" was not inherently "equal," rejecting the foundation of the Jim Crow system of racial segregation in the South. This decision was the first major step toward the legal end of racial discrimination and a major accomplishment for the civil rights movement.
Battle of Dien Bien Phu
1954 Military engagement in French colonial Vietnam in which France forces were defeated by Viet Minh nationalists loyal to Ho Chi Minh. With this loss, the French ended their colonial involvement in Indochina, paving the way for America's entry.
Montgomery Bus Boycott
1955 Protest by black Alabamians against segregated seating of city busses, sparked by Rosa Parks's defiant refusal to move to the back of the bus. The ___ _______ lasted from December 1, 1955 until January 26, 1956, and became one of the foundational moments in the civil rights movement. It led to the rise of Martin Luther King Jr., and ultimately to a Supreme Court decision opposing segregated busing.
Suez Crisis
1956 International crisis launched when Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal, which had been owned mostly by French and British stockholders. The crisis led to a British and French attack on Egypt, which failed without aid from the United States. The Suez crisis marked an important turning paint in the post-colonial Middle East and highlighted the rising importance of oil in world affairs.
Hungarian Uprising
1956 Series of demonstrations in Hungary against the Soviet Union. Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev violently suppressed this pro-Western uprising, highlighting the limitations of America's power in Eastern Europe.
Sputnik
1957 Soviet satellite first launched into Earth orbit on October 4, 1957. This scientific achievement marked the first time human beings had put a manmade object into orbit and pushed the USSR noticeably ahead of the United States in the space race. A month later, the Soviet Union sent a larger satellite, _______ 2, into space, prompting the United States to redouble its space exploration efforts (NASA, billions of dollars toward missile development, National Defense Education Act of 1958).
Kitchen Debate
1959 Televised exchange in 1959 between Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev and American Vice President Richard Nixon. Meeting at the American National Exhibition in Moscow the two leaders spared over the relative merits of capitalist consumerism culture versus Soviet state planning. Nixon won applause for his staunch defense of American capitalism, helping lead him to the Republican nomination for president in 1960.
Bay of Pigs Invasion
1961 CIA plot in 1961 to overthrow Fidel Castro by training Cuban exiles to invade and supporting them with American airpower. The mission failed and became a public relations disaster early in John F Kennedy's presidency.
New Frontier
1961-1963 President Kennedy's nickname for his domestic policy agenda. Buoyed by youthful optimism, the program included proposals for the Peace Corps and efforts to improve education and healthcare
Apollo
1961-1975 Program of manned space flights run by America's National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The project's highest achievement was the landing of Apollo II on the moon on July 20, 1969.
Cuban Missile Crisis
1962 Standoff between JFK and Soviet premier Mikita Khrushchev in October 1962 over Soviet plans to install nuclear weapons in Cuba. Although the crisis was ultimately settled in America's favor and represented a foreign-policy triumph for Kennedy, it brought the world's superpowers very close to the brink of nuclear confrontation.
Voter Education Project
1962-1968 Effort by SNCC and other civil rights groups to register the South's historically disfranchised black population. The project typified a common strategy of the civil rights movement, which sought to counter racial discrimination by empowering people at grassroots levels to exercise their civic relations through voting.
The Feminine Mystique
1963 Best-selling book by feminist thinker Betty Friedan. This work challenged women to move beyond the drudgery of suburban house-winery and helped launch what would become second wave feminism
March on Washington
1963 Massive civil rights demonstration in August 1963 in support of Kennedy-backed legislation to secure legal protections for American blacks. One of the most visually impressive manifestations of the civil rights movement, the march was the occasion of MLK's famous "I have a dream" speech.
Freedom Summer
1964 A voter registration drie in Mississippi spearheaded by a coalition of civil rights groups . the campaign drew the activism of thousands of black and white civil rights workers, many of whom were students from the North, and was married by the abduction and murder of three such workers at the hands of white racists.
Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party
1964 Political party organized by civil rights activists to challenge Mississippi's delegation to the Democratic National Convention, who opposed the civil rights planks in the party's platform claiming a mandate to represent the true voice of Mississippi, where almost no black citizens could vote, the MFDP demanded to be seated at the convention but were denied by party bosses. The effort was both a setback for civil rights activism in the South and a motivation to continue to struggle for black voting rights.
Great Society
1964-1968 President Lyndon Johnson's term for his domestic political agenda. Billed as a successor to the New Deal, the Great Society aimed to extend the post-war prosperity to all people in American society by promoting civil rights and fighting poverty. Great Society programs included the War on Poverty, which expansed the Social Security system by creating Medicare and Medicare to provide healthcare for the aged and the poor. Johnson also signed laws protecting consumers and empowering community organizers to combat poverty at grassroots levels
Six-Day Way
1967 Military conflict between Israel and its Arab neighbors, including Syria, Egypt, and Jordan. The war ended with an Israeli victory and territorial expansion into the Sinai Peninsula, the Golan Heights, the Gaza Strip, and the West Bank. The 1967 war was a humiliation for several Arab states, and the territorial disputes it created formed the basis for continued conflict in the region
Philadelphia Plan
1969 Program established by Richard Nixon to require construction trade unions to work toward hiring more black apprentices. The plan altered Lyndon Johnson's concept of "affirmative action" to focus on groups rather than individuals.
Stonewall Rebellion
1969 Uprising in support of equal rights for gay people sparked by an assault by off-duty police officers at a gay bar in New York. The rebellion led to a rise in activism and militancy within the gay community and furthered the sexual revolution of the 1960s
Earth Day
1970 International day of celebration and awareness of global environmental issues launched by conservationists on April 22, 1970
Equal Rights Amendment (ERA)
1972 An amendment that declared full constitutional equality for women. Although it passed both houses of Congress in 1972, a concerted grassroots campaign by antifeminists led by Phyllis Schlafly persuaded enough state legislatures to vote against ratification. The amendment failed to become part of the Constitution.
Southern Strategy
1972 Nixon reelection campaign strategy designed to appeal to conservative whites in the historically Democratic South. The president stressed law and order issues and remained noncommittal on civil rights. This strategy typified the regional split between the two parties as white southerners became increasingly attracted to the Republican party in the aftermath of the civil rights movement
Roe v Wade
1973 Landmark Supreme Court decision that forbade states from barring abortion by citing a woman's constitutional right to privacy. Seen as a victory for feminism and civil liberties by some, the decision provoked a strong counteraction by opponents to abortion, galvanizing the pro-life movement.
War Powers Act
1973 Law passed by Congress limiting the President's ability to wage war without Congressional approval. The act required the president to notify Congress within 48-hours of committing troops to a foreign conflict. An important consequence of the Vietnam War, this piece of legislation sought to reduce the president's unilateral authority in military matters. (the president could only use troops for 60 days without declaring war)
Proposition 13
1978 A successful California state ballot initiative that capped the state's real estate tax at 1% of assessed value. The proposition radically reduced average property tax levels, decreasing revenue for the state government and signaling the political power of the "tax revolt" increasingly aligned with conservative politics
Malaise Speech
1979 National address by Jimmy Carter in July 1979 in which he chided American materialism and urged a communal spirit in the face of economic hardships. Although Carter intended the speech to improve both public morale and his standing as a leader, it had the opposite effect and was widely perceived as a political disaster for the embattled president.
Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty
1987 Arms limitation agreement settled by Regan and Mikhail Gorbachev after several attempts. The treaty banned all intermediate-range nuclear missiles from Europe and marked a significant thaw in the Cold War
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
1990 Landmark law signed by President George H. W. Bush that prohibited discrimination against people with physical or mental handicaps. It demonstrated a legislative triumph for champions fo equal protections to all.
Operation Desert Storm
1991 US-led multi country military engagement in January and February of 1991 that drove Saddam Hussein's Iraqi army out of neighboring Kuwait. In addition to presaging the longer and more protracted Iraq War of the 2000s, the 1991 war helped undo what some called the "Vietnam Syndrome" a feeling of military uncertainty that plagued many Americans.
Southern Free Blacks
250,000 free blacks in the south by 1860 Created own communities Prohibited from working in certain occupations and couldn't testify against whites At risk of being sold back into slavery
Square Deal
3 Cs 1) Control Over Corporations 2) Consumer Protection 3) Conservation of Natural Resources
Congress of Industrial Organization (New CIO)
A New Deal-era labor organization that broke away from the American Federation of labor in order to organize unskilled industrial workers regardless of their particular economic sector or craft. the _____ gave a great boost to labor organizing in the midst of the Great Depression and during WWII. In 1955 this organization merged with the AF of L
Fundamentalism
A Protestant Church movement emphasizing the literal truth of the Bible and opposed religious modernism, which sought to reconcile religion and science. It was especially strong in the Baptist Church and the Church of Christ, first organized in 1906
United Negro Improvement Association (UNIA)
A black nationalist organization founded in 1914 by the Jamaican-born Marcus Garvey in order to promote resettlement of African Americans to their "African homeland" and to stimulate a vigorous separate black economy within the US
McCarthyism
A brand of vitriolic, fear-mongering anti-communism associated with the career of Senator Joseph ________. In the early 1850s, Senator ________ used his position in Congress to baselessly accuse high-ranking government officials and other Americans of conspiracy with communism. The term named after him refers to the dangerous forces of unfairness and fear wrought by anticommunist paranoia.
American Plan
A business-oriented approach to worker relations popular amongst firms on the 1920s to defeat unionization. Managers sought to strengthen their communication with workers and to offer benefits like pensions and insurance. They insisted on an "open-shop" in contrast to the mandatory union membership through the "closed-shop" that many labor activists demanded in the strikes after WWI
Students for a Democratic Society (SDS)
A campus-based political organization founded in 1961 by Tom Hayden that became an iconic representation of the New Left. Originally geared toward the intellectual promise of "participatory democracy." This organization emerged at the forefront of civil rights, antipoverty, and antiwar movements during the 1960s
"Lost Generation"
A creative circle of expatriate American artists and writers, including Earnest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Gertrude Stein, who found shelter and inspiration in post-WWI Europe
Harlem Renaissance
A creative outpouring among African American writers, jazz musicians, and social thinkers, centered around Harlem in the 1920s, that celebrated black culture and advocated for a "New Negro" in American social, political, and intellectual life.
Good Neighbor Policy
A departure from the Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine, this policy stressed nonintervention in Latin America. It was started by Herbert Hoover but associated with Franklin D Roosevelt
Pragmatism
A distinctive philosophy that emerged in the late 19th century around the theory that the true value of an idea lay in its ability to solve problems. The believers thus embraces the provisional, uncertain mature of experimental knowledge. Among the most well-known purveyors were William James, John Dewey, and Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.
Peace Corps
A federal agency created by President Kennedy in 1961 to promote voluntary service by Americans in foreign countries. This agency provides labor power to help developing countries improve their infrastructure, health care, educational systems, and other aspects of their societies. Part of Kennedy's New Frontier vision, the organization represented an effort by postwar liberals to promote American values and influence through productive exchanges across the world.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
A governmental organization signed into law by Richard Nixon in 1970 to regulate pollution, emissions, and other factors that negatively influence the natural environment. the creation of this organization narced a newfound commitment by the federal government to actively combat environmental risks and was a significant triumph for the environmental movement
Clement L. Vallandigham
A leader of the copperheads
Common Law
A legal system based on custom and court rulings (England)
Southern Renaissance
A literary outpouring among mid-twentieth-century southern writers, begun by William Faulkner and marked by a new critical appreciated of the region's burdens of history, racism, and conservatism.
Trust
A mechanism by which 1 company grants control over its operations, through ownership of stock, to another company. The Standard Oil Company became known for this practice in the 1870s as it eliminated its competition by taking control of smaller companies
American Federation of Labor
A national federation of trade unions, included only skilled workers, established in 1886. Led by Samuel Gompers for 4 decades the AF of L sought to negotiate with employers for a better kind of capitalism that rewarded workers fairly with better wages, hours, and conditions. The AF of L's members were almost all white mails until the mid 20th century.
Tuskegee Institute
A normal and industrial school led by Booker T. Washington in Tuskegee, AL. It focused on training young black students in agriculture and trades to help them achieve economic independence Washington justified segregated, vocational training as a necessary first step on the road to racial equality , although critics accused him of beingg too "accommodationist" (ex. WEB DuBois)
Recall
A progressive ballot procedure allowing voters to remove elected officials from office
Referendum
A progressive reform procedure allowing voters to place a bill on the ballot for final approval, even after being passed by the legislature.
Regionalism
A recurring artistic movement that in the context of the late 19th century aspired to capture the peculiarities , or "local color," of America's various regions in the face of modernization and national standardization
Social Gospel
A reform movement led by Protestant ministers who used religious doctrine to demand better housing and living conditions for the urban poor. Popular at the turn of the 20th century, it was closely linked to the settlement-house movement, which brought middle-class, Anglo-American service volunteers into contact with immigrants and working people
Grandfather Clause
A regulation established in many Southern states in the 1890s that exempted from voting requirements anyone who could prove that his ancestors had been able to vote in 1860. Because slaves couldn't vote before the Civil War, these clauses guaranteed the right to vote to many whites while denying it to blacks
Yellow Journalism
A scandal-mongering practice of journalism that emerged in New York during the Gilded Age out of the circulation battles betweenJoseph Pulitzer's New York Works and William Randolph Hearst's New York Journal. The expression has remained a pejorative term referring to sensationalist journalism practiced with unethical, unprofessional standards
who owned slaves
A small portion (about 2000 families) owned more than 100 slaves 1/4 of southerners owned 1-2 slaves (resembled northern farmers--worked hard with their slaves) People without slaves dreamed of them--liked their "racial superiority"
Miranda Warning
A statement of an arrested person's constitutional rights, which police officers must read during an arrest. The warning came out of the Supreme Court's decision in Miranda v Arizona in 1966 that accused people have the right to remain silent, consult an attorney, and enjoy other protections. The Court declared that law enforcement officers must make sure suspects understand their constitutional rights, thus creating a safeguard against forced confessions and self-implication.
Tweed Ring
A symbol of Gilded age corruption corruption, "Boss" Tweed and his deputies roan the NYC Democratic Party in the 1860s and swindled $200 million from the city through bribery, graft, and vote-buying. Boss Tweed was eventually jailed for his crimes and died behind bars.
Fordism
A system of assembly-line manufacturing and mass production maned after Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company and developer of the Model T car.
Scientific Management
A system of industrial management created and promoted in the 20th century by Frederick W Taylor, emphasizing stopwatch efficiency to improve factory performance. The system gained immense popularity across the US and Europe.
Pony express
A system of messengers on horseback established in 1860 to carry mail across the United States.
Australian Ballot
A system that allows voters privacy in marking their ballot choices. Developed in Australia in the 1850s, it was introduced in the progressive era to help counteract boss rule
Patronage
A system, prevalent during the Gilded Age. in which political parties granted jobs and favors to party regulars who delivered votes on election day. This was both an essential wellspring of support for both barite and a source of conflict within the Republican party.
Gilded Age
A term given to the period 1865-1896 by Mark Twain, indicating the fabulous wealth and the widespread corruption of the era.
Fourth Party System
A term scholars have used to describe national policies from 1896-1932, when republicans had a tight grip on the White House and issues such as industrial regulation and labor concerns became paramount, replacing older concerns such as civil-service reform and monetary policy
City Beautiful Movement
A turn-of-the-century movement among progressive architects and city planners, who aimed to promote order, harmony, and virtue while beautifying the nation's new urban spaces with grand boulevards, welcoming parks, and monumental public buildings
Closed Shop
A union organization term that refers to the practice of only allowing unionized employees to work for a particular company. The AF of L became known for negotiation these agreements with employers.
Panic of 1873
A worldwide depression that began in the US when one of the nation's largest banks abruptly declared bankruptcy, leading to the collapse of thousands of banks and businesses. The crisis intensified debtor's calls for inflammatory measures such as printing of more paper money and the unlimited coinage of silver. Conflicts over monetary policy greatly influenced politics in the last quarter of the 19th century.
Supply-Side Economics
AKA Reganomics Economic theory that underlay Ronald Regan's tax and spending cuts. Contrary to Keynesianism, this theory declared that government policy should aim to increase the supply of goods and services, rather than the demand for the,. It held that lower taxes and decreased regulation would increase productivity by providing increased incentives to work, thus increasing productivity and the tax base.
Wagner Act
AKA the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), this law protected the rogue of labor to organize into unions and bargain collectively with employers and established the National Labor Relations Board to monitor unfair labor practices on the part of employers. Its passage marked the culmination fo decades of labor protests
Louisiana Purchase
Acquisition of the Louisiana Territory from France. The purchase more than doubled the territory of the US (for <$0.03 per acre), opening up vast tracts for settlement
Impressment
Act of forcibly drafting an individual into military service, employed by the British navy against American seamen in times of war against France, 1793-1815. This was a continual source of conflict between Britain and the US in the early national period
Compromise of 1850
Admitted California as a free state, opened New Mexico and Utah to Popular Sovereignty, ended the slave trade (but not slavery itself) in Washington DC, introduced a more strict fugitive slave law, and Texas given $10 million for lost land to New Mexico. Widely opposed in both North and South, it did little to settle the escalating dispute over slavery.
West Virginia
Admitted to the union in 1863 Mountainous region if Virginia that broke away in 1861 to form its wen state after VA seceded from the Union. Most of the residents of West Virginia were independent farmers and miners who didn't own slaves and thus opposed the confederate cause.
Great Rapprochement
After decades of occasionally "twisting the lion's tail," American diplomats began to cultivate close, cordial relations with great Britain at the end of the 19th century-a relationship that would intensify further during WW1
Mining Industry
After gold and silver strikes in Colorado, Nevada, and other western territories in the second half of the 19th century, fortune-seekers by the 1000s rushed to the West to dig. These metals were essential to the US industrial growth and were also sold into world markets. After surface metals were removed, people sought wats to extract one from under the ground, leading to the development of heavy mining machinery. this, in turn, led to the consolidation of the mining industry, because only big companies could afford to buy and build the machines.
Convention of 1800
Agreement to formally the US treaty with France, originally signed during the Revolutionary War.
Immigration Act of 1924
Also known as the "National Origins Act" this law established quotas for immigration to the United States. Immigration from southern and eastern Europe were sharply curtailed, while immigrants from Asia were shut out completely
Keynesianism
Am economic theory based on the thoughts of British economist John Maynard Keynes holding that central banks should adjust interest rates and governments should use deficit spending and tex policies to increase purchasing power and hence prosperity
Containment Doctrine
America's strategy against the Soviet Union based on the ideas of George Kennan. The doctrine declared that the Soviet Union and communism were inherently expansionist and had to be stopped from spreading through both military and political pressure. Containment guided American foreign policy throughout most of the Cold War.
Hudson River School
American artistic movement that produced romantic renditions of local landscapes
Loyalists (Tories)
American colonists who opposed the Revolution and maintained they loyalty to the king.
Samuel Adams
American revolutionary who helped found the Committees of Correspondence. Also a propagandist
Ku Klux Klan
An Extremist, paramilitary, right-wing secret society founded in the mid nineteenth century and revived during the 1920s. It was anti-foreign, anti-black, anti-Jewish, anti pacifist, anti-communist, anti-internationalist, anti educationalist, and anti bootlegger, but pro Anglo-Saxon, and pro-protistant. Its members, whites throughout the South after the Civil War. By the 1890s, Klan-style violence and Democratic legislation succeeded in virtually disenfranchising all southern blacks.
Sharecropping
An agricultural system act emerged after the Civil War in which black and white farmers rented land and residences from a plantation owner in exchange for giving him a certain "share" of each year's crops. This was the dominant form of Southern agriculture after the Civil War, and landowners manipulated the system to keep tenants in perpetual debt and unable to leave their plantation.
Tampico Incident (1914)
An arrest of American sailors by the Mexican Government that spurred Woodrow Wilson to dispatch the American navy to seize the port of Veracruz in April 1914. Although war was avoided, tension increased between the US and Mexico.
Abstract Expressionism
An experimental style of mid-twentieth-century modern art exemplified by Jackson Pollock's spontaneous "action paintings," created by flinging paint on canvases stretched across the studio floor.
Naturalism
An offshoot of mainstream realism, this late-19th century literary movement purported to apply detached scientific objectively to the study of human characteristics shaped by degenerate heredity and extreme or sordid social environments
National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA)
An organization founded in 1890 to demand the vote for women. This organization argued that women should be allowed the vote because their responsibilities in the ho,e and family made them indispensable in the public decision process. During WW1, this organization supported the war effort and lauded women's role in the Allied victory, which helped to finally achieve nationwide woman's suffrage in the 19th Amendment (Stanton, Anthony) (white only membership)
Polk
Annexed Texas 54 40 line of Oregon California (Nevada and Arizona) Lower tariff Independant treasury All in his political campaign and all delivered within his four years
Northern Free Blacks
Another 250,000 free blacks in North Some states forbade their entrance, most denied them the right to vote, some denied public education Hated by Immigrants (Irish)--Job competition
Contras
Anti-Sandinista fighters in the Nicaraguan civil war. The Contras were secretly supplied with American military aid, paid for with money the US secretly made selling arms to Iran
Shiloh
April 1862 Bloody Civil War battle of the Tennessee-Missouri boarder that left more than 23000 soldiers dead, wounded, or missing and ended in a marginal Union victory. Grant was resupplied with troops from the railroad and won the second day after loosing the first.
International Style
Archetypal, post-World War II modernist architectural style, best known for its "curtain wall" designs of steel-and-glass corporate high-rises.
Battle of Long Island
Aug 1776- Battle for the control of NY. British troops overwhelmed the colonial militias and retained control of the city for most of the war
Second Battle of Bull Run
Aug 1862 Civil War battle that ended in a decisive victory for Confederate General Robert E lee, who was emboldened to push further into the north.
V-J Day
August 15, 1945, heralded the surrender of Japan and the final end to World War II
Bank War
Battle between president Andrew Jackson and congressional supporters of the Bank of the US over the bank's renewal. Jackson vetoed the bank bill, arguing that the bank favored money interests at the expense of Western farmers
Social Darwinists
Believers in the idea, popular in the 19th century, that people gained wealth by "survival of the fittest." Therefore, the wealthy had simply won a natural competition and owed nothing to the poor and indeed service to the poor would interfere with this organic process. Some of these people also implied that people in power were naturally endowed with gifts that provided one of the popular justifications for US imperial ventures like the Spanish-American War
Civil Law
Body of written law enacted through legislative status or constitutional provisions
Muckrakers
Bright young reporters at the turn of the 20th century who won this unfavorable monger from Teddy Roosevelt but boosted the circulation of their magazines by writing exposés of widespread corruption in American society. Their subjects included business, manipulation of government, while slavers, child labor, and the legal deeds of trusts and helped spur the passage of reform legislation
Jay's treaty
British agreed(again) to withdraw from American soil. Jay agreed to pay back debts pre-War. (good thing--made Spanish nervous)
General Howe
British general in PA— was not committed to the war. Had his own agenda.
Radical Whigs
British members of Parliament that made the corruption and dangers of the King known. Their ideas shaped American political thought.
Lusitania
British passenger liner that sank after it was torpedoed by Germany on May 7, 1915. IT ended the lives fo 1198 people, including 128 Americans, and pushed the US closer to war (First American casualties inWWI).
South Weaknesses (at outset)
Build Government Wanted states rights (hard to unify to fight) President had low power Little to no industry (factories, RRs) Slavery (had to stay home to watch and couldn't have them to fight) Slave rebellions Less educated Low taxes
1777 British Plan
Burgoyne would push down from Canada Howe would go North--- instead he went South to Philadelphia, where he claimed to be clearing Washington's army for when Burgoyne got there but he obviously had is own agenda
Peggy Eaton
Calhoun's wife slandered Peggy Eaton, causing a heated debate between Jackson and Calhoun
Responsorial
Call and response style of preaching that melded Christian and African traditions. Practiced by African Slaves in the south.
Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)
Cartel comprising Middle Eastern states and Venezuela first organized in 1960. ____ aimed to control access to and prices of oil, wrestling power from Western oil companies and investors. In the process, it gradually strengthened the hand of non-western powers on the world stage
Bank of the United States
Chartered by Congress as part of Hamilton's financial plan, the bank printed paper money and served as a depository for treasury funds. Drew opposition from Democratic-Republicans
Land-Grant Colleges
Colleges and Universities created from allocations of lands through the Morill Act of 1862 and the Hatch Act of 1887. These grants helped fuel the boom in higher education in the late 19th century and many of today's public universities strive from them,
patriots (whigs)
Colonists who supported the Revolution
Holding Companies
Companies that own part of all of other companies' stock in order to extend monopoly control. Often a holding company does not produce goods or services of its own but only exists to control other companies. The Clayton Anti-Trust Act of 1914 sought to clamp down on these companies when they obstructed competition
Compromise of 1877
Compromise that enables Hayes (Republican) to take office in return for the end of Reconstruction
Texas (after independence)
Considered by Mexico a territory in revolt Mexico had a much stronger army than Texas Threatened with war if America brought them in Britain also wanted Texas to stop southern US expansion and have a pawn in wars. US annexed Texas through a joint resolution (9 years after they declared independence)--they still had to deal with Native Comanche raids
Ida M Tarbell
Criticized Standard Oil Company
Dr. Francis Townsend
Criticized the New Deal for not doing enough for older Americans.
Insurrectos
Cuban insurgents who sought freedom from colonial Spanish rule. Their destructive tactics threatened American economic interests in Cuba plantations and RRs
Battle of Trenton
Dec 1776- Washington surprised and captured a garrison of sleeping German Hessians, raising the morale of the army and setting the stage for his victory at Princeton over a small British detachment a week later.
Fredericksburg
Dec 1862 Decisive victory in VA for Lee who successfully repelled a Union attack on his lines
Scalawags
Derogatory term for pro-Union Southerners whom Southern Democrats accused of plundering resources of the South in collusion with Republican governments after the Civil War
17th Amendment
Direct election of US Senators
Black Power
Doctrine of militancy and separatism that rose in prominence after 1965. Activists rejected MLK's pacifism and desire for integration. Rather, they promoted pride in African heritage and an often militant position in defense of their rights
South Strengths (at outset)
Don't have to win, just drag it out Good military leaders Home field Advantage King Cotton Trade with Europe Unified (slavery etc) Know how to fight
Romanticism
Early 19th century artistic movement in European and American literature and arts that, in reaction to the hyper-national enlightenment, emphasized imagination over reason, mature over civilization, institution over calculation, and self over society.
Panic of 1837
Economic crisis triggered by bank failures, elevated grain prices, and Jackson's efforts to curb over speculation on western lands and transportation improvements. In response, President Buren proposed the "Divorce Bill," which pulled treasury funds out of the banking system all together, contracting the credit supply.
Revolution of 1800
Electoral victory of Democratic Republicans over the Federalists, who lost their congressional majority and the presidency. The peaceful transfer of power between rival parties solidified faith in America's political system
John Locke
English philosopher who argued that people have natural rights Influenced the colonies in declaring independence and building their new government
Spain and Holland
Enter war in 1779 along with French. This makes it a true "world war" and stretches the British forces thin.
Transportation Revolution
Era between 1800 and 1840 which improved transportation in the US: the national road was built
The Federalist Papers
Essays written by Jay, Madison, and Hamilton, published during the ramification debate in NY to lay out federalist arguments in support of the constitution.
Anti-Masonic Party
Est. ca. 1826 Founded in New York, it gained considerable influence in New England and the mid-Atlantic during the 1832 election, campaigning against the politically influential Masonic order, a secret society. They opposed Jackson and drew much support from evangelical protistants
North Strengths (at outset)
Established Government Strong political leaders Senate not in session when war started (Lincoln had control) Industrialization Wealthier Transportation Banks, gold, treasury Moral cause Large population (5:2) Produce corn, wheat
The National War Labor Board (NWLB)
Established by President Franklin D Roosevelt to act as an arbitration tribunal and meditate disputes between labor and management that might have led to work stoppages and thereby undermined the war effort. This organization was also charged with adjusting wages with an eye to controlling inflation.
War Production Board (WPB)
Established in 1942 by executive order to direct all war production, including procuring and allocating raw materials, to maximize the nation's war machine. The _____ had sweeping powers over the US economy and was abolished in November 1945 soon after Japan's defeat
Bank Holiday and Abandoning the Gold Standard (Gold Reserve Act)
FDR created a bank holiday to keep more banks from going bankrupt. He also took the US off the gold standard, to cause some inflation.
Tallmadge Amendment
Failed proposal to prohibit the importation of slaves into the Missouri territory and paved the way for gradual emancipation. Southerners vehemently opposed the amendment, which they perceived as a threat to the sectional balance between North and South (defeated in the Senate)
Harpers Ferry
Federal arsenal in Virginia seized by abolitionist JOHN BROWN in 1859. Though Brown was later captured and executed, his raid alarmed southerners, who believed that northerners shared Brown's extremism
Civil Rights Act of 1964
Federal law that banned racial discrimination in public facilities and strengthened the federal government's power to fight segregation in schools. Title VII of the act prohibited employers from discriminating based on race in their hiring practices, and empowered the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to regulate fair employment
Federal Highway Act of 1956
Federal legislation signed by Dwight D Eisenhower to construct thousands of miles of modern highways in the name of national defense, officially called the National Interstate and Defense Highways Act, this bill dramatically increased the move to the suburbs, as white middle-class people could more easily commute to urban jobs
Panic of 1857
Financial crash brought on by gold-fueled inflation, over speculation, and excess grain production. Raised calls in the North for higher tariffs and for free homesteads on western public lands.
Tariff of 1816
First protective tariff in American history, created primarily to shield New England manufacturers from the inflow of British goods ager the War of 1812
Boarder states
Five slave states (MO, KY, MD, DE, WV) that didn't secede during the Civil War. To keep the slates in the Union, Lincoln insisted that the war was not about abolishing slavery but rather protecting the Union.
Culture of slaves
Formed black churches-THE cultural free haven Resistance to enslavement included breaking tools, stealing food, and running away Slaves kept an extended kin network even though families were ripped apart
Berin Wall
Fortified and guarded barrier between East and West Berlin erected on orders from Soviet primer Nikita Khrushchev in 1961 to stop the flow of people to the west. Until its destruction in 1989, the wall was a vivid symbol of the divide between the communist and capitalist worlds
Alamo
Fortress in texas where 200 American volunteers were slain by Santa Anna in 1836. "Remember the Alamo" became a battle cry supporting Texas Independence
Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU)
Founded Ohio 1870s to combat the evils of excessive alcohol consumption, this union went on to embrace a broad reform agenda, including campaigns to abolish prostitution and gain the right to vote for women
American Temperance Society
Founded in Boston, 1826, as part of growing 19th century effort of reformers to limit alcohol consumption
Europe Economic Community (EEC)
Free trade some in Western Europe created by the Treaty of Rome 1957. Often referred to as the "Common Market," this collection of countries originally included France, West Germany, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. The body eventually expanded to become the European Union, which by 2005 included 27 member states.
Détente
French for "reduced tension," the period of Cold War thawing when the US and USSR negotiated armament treaties under Presidents Nixon, Ford, and Carter. As a policy prescription, _______ marked a departure from the politics of proportional response, mutually assured destruction and containment that had defined the earlier years of the Cold War.
Land Act of 1820
Fueled the settlement of the Northwest and Missouri Territories by lowering the price of public land. Also prohibited the purchase of federal acreage on credit, thereby eliminating one of the causes of the panic of 1819
Federalist 10
Geographic expansion of US would preserve virtue (why it would work)
Kristallnact
German for "night of broken glass," it refers to the murderous pogrom that destroyed Jewish businesses and synagogues and sent thousands to concentration camps on the night of November 9, 1938. Thousands more attempted to find refuge in the United States but were ultimately turned away due to restrictive immigration laws.
U-boats
German submarines, maned for the German Unterseeboot or "Undersea-boat," proved deadly for Allied ships on the war zone. U-boat attacks plated an important role in drawing the United States into the First World War
Hessians
German troops hired by George to aid in putting down the colonial insurrection. This hardened the resolve of the colonists, who resented the use of paid foreign fighters
Central Powers
Germany and Austria-Hungary, later joined by Turkey and Bulgaria, made up this alliance against the Allies in World War I
Adam's Presidency
Good secretary of state, bad president Had to clean up/take blame for some of Monroe's policies nationalist-urged congress to build roads and canals Tried to deal fairly with Native tribes in Georgia
William Henry Harrison
Governor of the Louisiana Territory Became a war hero
Reform Bill of 1867 (England)
Granted suffrage to all male British citizens, dramatically expanding the electorate. the success of the American democratic experiment, reinforced by the Union victory in the Civil War, was used as one of the arguments in favor of the bill
Allies
Great Britain, Russia, and France, later joined by Italy, Japan, and the US, formed this alliance against the Central Powers in World War I
Dust Bowl
Grim nickname for the Great Plains region devastated by drought and dust storms during the 1930s. The disaster led to the migration into California of thousands of displaces "Okies" and "Arkies"
Hoovervilles
Grim shanty towns where impoverished victims of the great Depression slept under newspapers and in makeshift tents. Their visibility (and sarcastic name) tarnished the reputation of the hoover administration
Start of the Union
Hard to unite when there is no common goal Fell into hard economic times + a lot of debt 1776-Continental Congress asked states to write new constitutions to integrate republicanism MA wrote constitution & ratified in 1780
America First Comittee
Headed by Charles Lindberg. It was anti-war (mostly because Lindberg was like "don't hurt my german friends) until Pearl Harbor.
Public Works Administration (PWA)
Helped construction workers get jobs doing public projects (highways, bridges, sewers)
Works Progress Administration (WPA)
Hires jobless people to build public buildings and parks.
Ecological Imperialism
Historian;s term for the spoliation of western natural resources through excessive hinting, logging, mining, and grazing
Republic Motherhood
Ideal of family organization and female behavior after the revolution that stressed the role of women in guiding family members to civic virtue
Abraham Lincoln Brigade
Idealistic American volunteers who served in the Spanish Civil War, defending Spanish republican forces from the fascist general Francisco Franco's nationalist coup. Some three thousand Americans served alongside volunteers from other countries.
Yalta Conference
If the war wasn't over by September, Russia would declare war on Japan. So instead we dropped the bomb. Russia could take Berlin (Not a good decision).
New Immigrants
Immigrants from southern and eastern Europe who formed a recognizable wave of immigration from the 1880s until 1924 in contrast to the immigrants form western Europe who had come before them. These new immigrants congregated in ethnic urban neighborhoods, where they worried many native-born Americans, some of whom responded with nativist anti-immigration campaigns and others of whom introduced urban reforms to help the immigrants assimilate
Modernism
In response to the demanding conditions of modern life, this artistic and cultural movement revolted against comfortable Victorian standards and accepted chance, change, contingency, uncertainty, and fragmentation. Originating among avant-garde artists and intellectuals around the turn of the 20th century, modernism blossomed into a full fledged cultural movement in art, music, literature, and architecture
Underground Railroad
Informal network of volunteers that helped runaway slaves escape from the south and reach free-soil Canada. seeking to halt the flow of runaway slaves to the North, southern planters and congressmen pushed for a strong fugitive slave law
Greek Revival
Inspired by contemporary Greek architecture, search of democratic architectural vernacular
Napoleon III and France during the Civil War
Installed a French government in Mexico City in 1863. Maximilian was the French emperor of Mexico City. These actions were in direct violation of the Monroe Doctrine. Napoleon hoped that the Union would not retaliate due to its weakness from fighting the Civil War. When the Civil War ended in 1865, though, America threatened to invade Mexico. Napoleon was forced to abandon Maximilian and Mexico City.
United Nations (UN)
International body formed in 1945 to bring nations into dialogue in hopes of preventing further world wars. Much like the former League of Nations in ambition, this organization was more realistic in recognizing the authority of the Big Five powers in keeping peace in the world. Thus, it guaranteed veto power to all permanent members of its Security Council-Britain, China, France, the Soviet Union, and the United States.
House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC)
Investigatory body established in 1938 to root out "subversion." Sought to expose communist influence in American government and society in particular through the trial of Alger Hiss.
Ancient Order of Hyberians
Irish semisecret society that served as a benevolent organization for downtrodden Irish immigrants in the US
Battle of New Orleans
January 1815 Resounding victory of American forces against the British, restoring American confidence and fueling an outpouring of nationalism. Final battle of the War of 1812 (actually 2 weeks after the peace treaty was signed in Europe)
1st Chief Justice
John Jay (wrote federalist papers)
The Grapes of Wrath
John Steinbeck's novel which portrayed the migration of "Okies" (Oklahomans) to California
Olive Branch Petition
July 1775 Drafted by the Continental Congress, professing American loyalty and seeking an end to hostilities. King George rejected the petition and declared that the colonies were in rebellion.
Bull Run
July 1861 First major battle of Civil War and a victory for the South, it dispelled Northern illusions of swift victory
Gettysburg
July 1863 Civil War Battle in PA that ended in Union victory, spelling doom for the Confederacy, which never again managed to invade the North. Site of General George Pickett's daring but doomed charge on Northern lines
Declaration of Independence
July 4 1776 Formal pronouncement of independence, drafted my Thomas Jefferson and approved by Congress. The declaration allowed Americans to appeal for foreign aid and served as inspiration for future revolutionary movements.
Bunker Hill (Breed's Hill)
June 1775 Outskirts of Boston on Breed's Hill, the battle ended the colonial militia's retreat and had a heavy cost to the British
Irreconcilables
Led by Senators William Borah of Idaho and Hiram Johnson of California, this was a hard-core group of militant isolationists who opposed the Wilsonian dream of international cooperation in the League of Nations after WWI. Their efforts played an important part in preventing American participation in the international organization.
Charles Sumner
Led the Republican radicals in the Senate for black freedom and racial equality (the guy that almost got beaten to death)
Thaddeus Stevens
Led the radicals in the House of Representatives
Sandinistas
Left wing anti-American revolutionaries in Nicaragua who launched a civil ear in 1979.
Employment Act of 1946
Legislation declaring that the government's economic policy should aim to promote maximum employment, production, and purchase power, as well as to keep inflation law. This general commitment was much shorter on specific targets and rules than its liberal creators had wished. The act created the Council of Economic Advisors to provide the president with data and recommendations to make economic policy.
Voting Rights Act of 1965
Legislation pushed through Congress by President Johnson that prohibited ballot-denying tactics, such as literacy tests and intimidation. This was a successor to the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and sought to make racial disenfranchisement explicitly illegal
Gettysburg Address
Lincoln's speech deliver at the dedication of the cemetery at Gettysburg battlefield. In the address, Lincoln framed the war as a means to uphold values and liberty
Tariff of 1857
Lowered duties on imports in response to high treasury surplus and pressure from southern farmers
William H. McGuffey
Made grade school readers
Iran-Contra Affair
Major political scandal of Ronald Regan's second term that was revealed in 1986. An illicit arrangement of "selling arms for hostages" with Iran and using money to support the Contras in Nicaragua, the scandal deeply damaged Regan's credibility
Glasnost and Perestroika
Meaning "Openness" and "reconstructing" cornerstones of Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev's reform movement in the USSR in the 1980s. These policies resulted in greater market liberalization, access to the West, and ultimately the end of communist rule.
McCormick reaper
Mechanized the cutting of crops
Liberal Protestants
Members of a branch of Protestantism that flourished from 1875-1925 and encouraged followers to use the Bible as a moral compass rather than to believe that the Bible represents scientific or historical truth, Many liberal Protestants became active in the social gospel and other reform movements of the era.
Federalist 51
Men won't always do what is best so the government must be prepared to check them (separation of powers)
Gone to Texas
Mexico won independence in 1821 Agreed to give land tracts to Stephen Austin as long as the families that he brought converted to Roman Catholicism, Mexican citizenship, and no slavery.
Realism
Mid-19th century movement in European and American literature and arts that sought to depict contemporary life and society as it actually was, in all its unvarnished detail. Adherents eschewed the idealism and nostalgia of the earlier romantic sensibility (William Dean Howells--Father of American realism)
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
Military alliance of Western European powers and the United States and Canada established in 1949 to defend angst the common threat from the Soviet Union, marking a giant stride forward for European unity and American Internationalization.
Vietnamization
Military strategy launched by Richard Nixon in 1969. The plan reduced the number of American combat troops in Vietnam and left more of the fighting to the South Vietnamese, who were supplied with American armor, tanks, and weaponry (the problem was that the South Vietnamese didn't really care about the war).
Telegraph
Morris-made it easier to communicate across the country
Free schools
Most americans thought schools was for the rich but conservatives eventually thought it would be beneficial to have public schools to educate people for the workforce and future voters.
Settlement Houses
Mostly run by middle-class native-born women, these places in immigrant neighborhoods provided housing, food, education, childcare, cultural activities, and social connections for new arrivals to the US. Many women, both native born and immigrant, developed lifelong passions for social activism in these places. Jane Adams's Hull House in Chicago and Lillian Wald's Henry Street Settlement in NYC were two fo the most prominent.
Dollar Diplomacy
Name applied by President Taft's critics to the policy supporting US investments and political investments abroad. First applied to financing of railways in China after 1909, the policy then spread to Hate, Honduras, and Nicaragua. President Woodrow Wilson disavowed the practice, but his administration undertook comparable acts of intervention in support of US Business interests, especially in Latin America
Code Talkers
Native American men who served in the military by transmitting messages in tier native languages, which were undecipherable by German and Japanese spies.
The Association
Non-importation/non-exportation/non-consumerism agreement. Still wanted to go back (didn't want independence yet)
Congress of Racial Equality (CORE)
Nonviolent civil rights organization founded in 1942 and committed to the "Double V"-victory over fascism abroad and racism at home. After World War II, this organization would become a major force in the civil rights movement.
Copperheads
Northern Democrats who obstructed the war effort by attacking Abraham Lincoln, the draft, and, after 1863, emancipation.
Transcontinental railroads
Northern Pacific (Lake Superior to Puget sound Southern Pacific (New Orleans to San Francisco)
New Guard
Not as concerned with conserving the union but purifying it (new generation--after compromisers)
Popular Sovereignty
Notion advanced before the Civil War that the sovereign people of a given territory should decide whether to allow slavery. Seemingly a compromise, it was largely opposed by northern abolitionists who feared it would promote the spread of slavery to the territories
Battle of Saratoga
Oct 1777----- Very Important Decisive colonial victory in upstate NY, which helped secure French support of the Revolutionary cause (Arnold's army trapped British) British humiliated- offer colonies home rule but are too late(caused alliance treaty w/ France)
Battle of Yorktown
Oct 1781 Washington, with the aid of the French Army and Greene & Morgan, besieged Cornwallis' army on a peninsula. While the French Naval Fleet prevented British reinforcements from coming ashore. Cornwallis surrendered, dealing a heavy blow to the British war effort and paving the way for eventual peace
Black Monday
October 19, 1987 Date of the largest single-day decline in the Dow Jones Industrial Average until September 2001. The downturn indicated instability in the booming business culture of the 1980s but did not lead to a serious economic recession.
Populists
Officially known as the People's party, the populists represented westerners and southerners who believed that US economic policy inappropriately included nationalization of the RRs, a graduated income tax, and, most significantly, the unlimited coinage of silver
Oneida Community
One the the more radical utopian communities established in the 19th century it advocated "free love", birth control, and eugenics. Utopian communities captured the reformist spirit of the age
Antifederalists
Opponents of the 1787 Constitution, they cast the document as antidemocratic (subordination of states, encroachment on rights--Bill of Rights)
Black Panther Party
Organization of armed black militants formed in Oakland, CA in 1966 to protect black rights. The ________ represented a growing dissatisfaction with the nonviolent wing of the Civil Rights movement and signaled a new direction to that movement after the legislative victories of 1964 and 1965.
Freedom Riders
Organized mixed-race groups who rode interstate buses seep into the South to draw attention to and protest racial segregation beginning in 1961. This effort to challenge racism, which involved the participant of many northern young people as well as southern activists, provided a political and public relations success for the civil rights movement.
Judiciary Act 1789
Organized the federal legal system, establishing the Supreme Court, federal district and circuit courts, and the office of the attorney general
Mason-Dixon Line
Originally Drawn by surveyors to resolve the boundaries between Maryland, Delaware, and Pennsylvania in the 1760s, it came to symbolize the north/south divide over slavery
British qualities
Outnumbered colonists 3:1 Had wealth, naval power, and could hire soldiers Soldiers treated badly Struggled with communication over the distance
Greenbacks
Paper currency issued by the Union Treasury during the Civil War, not backed by gold. Inadequately supported by gold, these fluctuated in value throughout the war, reaching a low of $0.39 on the dollar
Wade-Davis Bill
Passed by Congressional Republicans in response to Lincoln's "10 Percent" Reconstruction Plan, it required 50% of a state's voters pledge allegiance to the Inion and set stronger safeguards for emancipation. Reflected division between Congress and the president, and between radical and moderate Republicans, over the treatment of the defeated South (Lincoln "Pocket vetoes" by bot singing after congress had adjourned.
Judiciary Act of 1801
Passed by the departing federalist congress, it created 16 new federal judgeships ensuring a Federalist hold on the judiciary
Compromise Tariff of 1833
Passed to solve Nullification Crisis, it provided that tariffs would be gradually lowered, over 10 yrs, to 1816 levels
Funding at Par
Payment of debts in full. Proposed by Hamilton after the Rev War
Carpetbaggers
Pejorative used by Southern whites to describe Northern businessmen and politicians who came to the South after the Civil War to work on Reconstruction projects or work on Southern infrastructure
Racketeers
People who gain money illegally by fraud, bootlegging, gambling, or threats of violence. These people invaded the ranks of labor unions during the 1920s, a decade when gambling and gangsterism were prevalent in American life.
Writ of Habeas Corpus
Petition requiring law enforcement officers to present detained individuals before the court to examine the legality of the arrest. Protects individuals from arbitrary state action. Suspended by Lincoln during the Civil War
Spoils System
Policy of rewarding political supporters with public office, first widely employed at the federal level by Andrew Jackson. The practice was widely abused by unscrupulous office seekers, bit it also helped cement party loyalty in the emerging 2 party system People were fired based on their political party instead of their merits
Moral Majority
Political action committee funded by evangelical Reverend Jerry Falwell in 1974 to promote traditional Christian values and oppose feminism, abortion, and gay rights. The group was a major linchpin in the resurgent religious right of the 1980s
Burned-Over District
Popular name for western New York, a region particularly swept up in the religious fervor of the Second Great Awakening
Seward's Folly
Popular term for Secretary of State William Seward's purchase of Alaska from Russia. The derisive term reflected the anti-expansionist sentiments of most Americans immediately after the Civil War
Pet Banks
Popular term for pro-Jackson state banks that received the bilk of federal deposits when Jackson moved to dismantle the Bank of the US in 1833
Silent Majority
President Nixon's administration's term to describe generally content, law-abiding, middle-class Americans who supported both the Vietnam War and America's institutions. As a political tool, the concept attempted to make a subtle distinction between believers in "traditional" values and the vocal minority of civil rights agitators, student protestors, counterculturists, and other seeming disruptors of the social fabric.
Nixon Doctrine
President Nixon's plan for "peace with honor" in Vietnam. The doctrine stated that the United States would honor its existing defense commitments but, in the future, countries would have to fight their own wars
Fair Deal
President Truman's extensive social program introduced in his 1949 message to Congress. Republicans and Southern Democrats kept much of his vision from being enacted, except[t for raising the minimum wage, providing for more public housing, and extending old-age insurance to many mote beneficiaries under the Social Securities Act.
Privateers
Privately owned armed ships who attacked merchant ships of enemy nations (American privateers-more numerous than the American navy-attacked British shippers)
Affirmative Action
Program designed to redress historic racial and gender imbalances in jobs and education. There term grew from an executive order issued by Lyndon B Johnson in 1965 mandating that projects paid for with federal funds take concerted action against discrimination based on race in their hiring practices. In the late 1960s, president Nixon's Philadelphia plan changed the meaning of affirmative action to require attention to certain groups rather than protect individuals against discrimination.
Initiative
Progressive reform measure allowing voters to petition to have a law placed on the general ballot. Like the referendum and recall. to brought democracy directly "to the people" and helped foster a shift toward interest group politics and away from old political machines
Gag Resolution
Prohibited debate or action on antislavery appeals. Driven through the House by proslavery southerners, passed every year for 8 years, and was eventually overturned with the help of John Quincy Adams Free Speech and press were put in jeopardy
Maine Law of 1851
Prohibited the manufacture and sale of alcohol, a dozen other northern states followed Maine's lead, though most statues proved ineffective and were repealed within a decade.
Federalists
Proponents of the 1787 constitution, favored a strong national government. Argued that the checks and balances in the new constitution would safeguard liberties
Patent Office
Protect inventions
Tariff of 1842
Protective measure passed by Congressional Whigs, raising tariffs to pre-compromise tariff of 1833 rates (reluctantly signed by President Tyler)
Land Ordinance of 1785
Provided for the sale of land in the Old west and earmarked the proceeds toward repaying the national debt
Civil Works Administration (CWA)
Provided temporary jobs repairing roads and bridges.
lyceum
Public lecture hall that hosted speakers on topics ranging from science to moral philosophy. Part of a broader flourishing of higher education
Union League
Reconstruction era African American Organization that worked to educate Southern blacks about civic life, built black schools and churches, and represented African American interests before government and employers. It also campaigned on behalf of Republican candidates and recruited local militias to protect blacks from white intimidation
"Smoking Gun" Tape
Recording made in the Oval Office in June 1972 that proved conclusively that Nixon know about the Watergate break-in and endeavored to cover it up. Led to a complete breakdown in congressional support for Nixon after the Supreme Court ordered he handed the tape to investigators.
Americal Colonization Society
Reflecting the focus of early abolitionists of transporting freed blacks back to Africa, the organization established Liberia a West African settlement intended as a haven for freed slaves. (Northerners still didn't want blacks around...)
Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI)
Regan administration plan announced in 1938 to create a missile defense system over American territory to block a nuclear attack. Derided as "Star Wars" by critics, the plan typified Regan's commitment to vigorous defense spending even as he ought to limit the size of government in domestic matters.
black belt
Region of Deep South with the highest concentration of slaves. IT emerged in the 19th century as cotton production became more profitable and slavery expanded south and west (SC, GA, AL MS, LA)
Deism
Religious doctrine that emphasized reasoned, moral behavior and the scientific pursuit of knowledge. Most Deists rejected biblical interact and the divinity of christ, but they believed that a supreme being created the universe
Mormons
Religious followers of Smith, who founded a communal, oligarchic religious order in the 1830s, officially knows as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Mormons, facing deep hostility from their non-Mormon neighbors, eventually migrated West and established a flourishing settlement in the Utah desert (lead by Brigham Young)
John Adams
Revolutionary course leader
New British Plan
Roll up colonies starting from the south--get loyalist support. Greene and Morgan drive troops North, mostly through political campaigns to turn the population against the British (the British were also mistreating the Americans, which helped)
Father Charles Coughlin
Roman Catholic priest who used popular radio sermons to criticize Roosevelt
Irish immigrants
Rot attacked Irish potato crop for years A quarter of the people were killed by disease in the 1840s Mostly Roman Catholic
William Seward
Said slavery was wrong in the territories because the bible said-- a power "higher" than the constitution
Kent State University
Scene of massacre of 4 college students by National Guardsmen on May 4, 1970, in Ohio. In response to Nixon's announcement that he had expanded the Vietnam War into Cambodia, college campuses across the country exploded into violence. On May 14 and 15, students at historically black Jackson State College in MS were protesting the war as well as the Kent State shooting when highway patrolmen fired into a student dormitory killing 2 students.
Pentagon Papers
Secret US government report detailing early planning and policy decisions regarding the Vietnam War under Presidents Kennedy and Johnson. Leaked the the New York Times in 1971, it revealed instances of governmental secrecy, lies, and incompetence in the prosecution of the war.
Sons and Daughters of Liberty
Secret society who intimidated tax agents; tarred and feathered some tax collectors The women helped by making clothes and other goods that were otherwise imported from Britain
Senator Huey Long
Senator and New Deal critic who had a proposal to redistribute wealth from the rich to the poor. Was going to run against FDR in 1936 but was assassinated in 1935
James Monroe
Sent by Jefferson to buy as much of the West as possible (including New Orleans) from Napoleon who recently acquired the Louisiana region from Spain(in 1800)
Antietam
Sept 1862 Landmark battle in the Civil War that essentially ended in a draw but demonstrated the prowess of the Union army, forestalling foreign intervention and giving Lincoln the "victory" he needed to issue the Emancipation Proclamation
Watergate
Series of scandals that resulted in President Richard Nixon's resignation in August 1974 amid calls for his impeachment. The episode sprang from a failed burglary attempt at Democratic party headquarters in Washington;s Watergate Hotel during the 1972 election
Panic of 1819
Severe financial crisis brought on primarily by the efforts of the Bank of the United States to curb over speculation on Western lands. It disproportionately affected poorer classes, especially in the West, sewing the seeds of Jacksonian democracy.
Industrial revolution
Shift toward mass production and mechanization that included the creation of the modern factory system -fueled immigrants -slow start in America bc people were focused on moving west
Neutrality Acts of 1935, 1936, and 1937
Short sighted acts passed to prevent American participation in a European war. Among other restrictions, they prevented American from selling munitions to foreign belligerents
Arron Burr
Shot Hamilton Moved West and plotted with Wilkinson to separate the west but Wilkinson chickened out and told on Burr. Went to Britain to try to get them to attack America. Accused of treason, eventually went to supreme court where Marshall released him on a technicality because he hated Jefferson.
Executive order No. 9066
Signed by President Franklin D Roosevelt on February 19, 1942, it authorized the secretary of war to designate military zones from which certain categories of people could be excluded. Fueled by historic anti-Japanese sentiments as well as panic following the December 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, the order led to the forced removal of some 120,000 persons of Japanese ancestry (70,000 of them US citizens) from the Western Military Zone (the coastal sections of WA, OR, and CA). Most but not all of those removed were interned in relocation camps in the interior West. The order was rescinded in December 1944, and legislation passed in 1988 offered an official government apology and modest financial compensation to surviving citizen internees
Appomattox Courthouse
Site where Robert E Lee surrendered to Ulysses S Grant in April 1865 after almost a year of brutal fighting throughout Virginia in the "Wilderness Campaign."
breakers
Slave drivers who employed the lash to brutally "break" the souls of strong-willed slaves
North Weaknesses (at outset)
Slavery Had to attack offensively Wars are expensive Miss southern cotton Not all united against slavery Lots of people disinterested
Contrabands
Slaves freed through a won battle. They either went free or joined the military--started before the Emancipation proclamation. (Freed constitutionally by the 13th amendment)
Clipper ships
Sleek ships that sacrificed cargo space for speed.
Fifty-four forty or fight"
Slogan adopted by mid 19th century expansionists who advocated the occupation of Oregon Territory, jointly held by Britain and the US. Though President Polk had pledged to seize all of Oregon to 54 40 he settled on the 59th parallel as a compromise with Britain
Fort Sumpter
South Carolina location where Confederate forces fired the first shots of the Civil War in April of 1861, after Union forces attempted ro provision the fort
Redeemers
Southern Democratic politicians who sought to test control from Republican regimes in the south after reconstruction
Brain Trusts
Specialists in law, economics, and welfare, many of them young university professors, who advised President Franklin D Roosevelt and helped develop the policies of the New Deal.
Nonimportation agreements
Started in 1765- Colonial consumer boycotts of British exports as a response to taxes passed by parliament(Stamp Act, Townshend Act, Intolerable Acts, etc)
Committees of Correspondence
Started in 1772 Organized network for passing along news of British activity to the colonies, maintained colonial opposition through pamphlets and letters(propaganda)
Universities
State sponsored universities and universities free from religion developed (initial purpose)
SALT I
Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty agreement between Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev and America president Jimmy Carter. Despite an accord to limit weapons between the two leaders , the agreement was ultimately scuttled in the US sSenate following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979
America's qualities
Strong leaders (George Washington, Ben Franklin) Foreign aid from France Self sustaining agriculture Not well organized for war
Levitown
Suburban communiteit with mass-produced tract houses built in the New York and Philadelphia metropolitan areas in the 1950s by William Levitt and Sons. Typically inhabited by white middle-class people who fled the cities in search of homes to buy for their growing families
Internal growth of slavery
Suppression fo slave trade increased internal growth of the "industry" Slavery was a big investment in the south, sometimes Irish were hired to to the dangerous work to prevent injury Bred slaves like cattle-some women promised freedom after 10 children
Dred Scott v Stafford
Supreme Court Decision that extended federal protection to slavery by ruling that Congress didn't have the power to prohibit slaver in any territory. Also declared that slaves, as property, were not citizens of the US Republicans regarded this as Taney's opinion not a real Court decision
Sharecropping
System in which a farmer tended a portion of a planter's land in return for a share of the crop. The former slave owners always required more product than the land could do so the freedmen had to work the next year to pay off the debts from the previous year
Jim Crow
System pf racial segregation in the American south from the end of Reconstruction until the mid 20th century. Based on the concept of "separate but equal" facilities for blacks and whites, the Jim Crow system sought to prevent racial mixing in public, including restaurants, movie theaters, and public transport. An informal system , it was generally perpetuated by custom, violence, and intimidation
Excise tax
Tax on goods produced domestically. (Whiskey tax highly controversial)
Tariff
Tax on imports. Traditionally manufacturers support tariff, while farmers(dependent on world markets) oppose them
New Right
Term for a loose network of conservative political activists and organizations that emerged in the 1970s and 1980s. More populists in tone than previous generations of conservatives, the New Right emphasized hot-button cultural issues like abortion, busing, and prayer in school. They also espoused a nationalist foreign trade policy outlook that rejected détente and international treaties.
Boll Weevils
Term for conservative southern Democrats who voted increasingly for Republican issues during the Carter and Regan administration
Military-Industrial Complex
Term popularized by President Dwight Eisenhower in his 1961 Farewell Address, referring to the political and economic ties between arms manufacturers, elected officials, and the US armed forces that created self-sustaining pressure for high military spending during the Cold War. Eisenhower also warned that this powerful combination left unchecked could "endanger our liberties or democratic process," favoring defense concerns over more peaceful goals that balanced security and liberty.
Stagflation
Term referring to the simultaneous occurrence of low employment growth and high inflation in the national economy. The phenomena characterized the economic troubles of the 1970s and posed both an intellectual challenge to economists and a policymaking challenge to government officials
Old Northwest
Territories acquired by Congress from the states.. Well-organized management and sale of lands in the territories under the Land Ordinances of 1785 and 1787.
Goliad
Texas outpost where American volunteers, having land down their arms and surrendered, were massacred by Mexican forces in 1836. The incident (along with the slaughter at the Alamo) ruled American support for Texan Independence
Iranian Hostage Crisis
The 444 days from November 1979 to January 1981 in which American-embassyworkers were held captive by Iranian revolutionaries. The Iranian revolution began in January 1979 when young Muslim fundamentalists overthrow the oppressive regime of the American-backed Shah, forcing him into exile. Deeming the United States "the Great Satan" these revolutionaries triggered an energy crisis by cutting off Iranian oil. The hostage crisis began when the revolutionaries stormed the American embassy, demanding that the United States return the Shah to Iran for trial. The episode was marked by botched diplomacy and a failed rescue attempt by the Carter administration. After permanently damaging relations between the two countries, the crisis ended with the hostages' release on the day Ronald Regan became president, January 20, 1981
Where did the Indian Territory (Oklahoma) stand
The Indians sided with The Confederacy because some tribes owned slaves of their own. They even sent representatives to the Confederacy Congress
Reservation System
The System that allotted land with designated boundaries to Native American Tribes in the West, beginning in the 1850s and ending with the paws land Severalty Act of 1887. Within these reservations, most land was used communally, rather than owned by individuals . The US government encouraged and sometimes violently coerced Native Americans to stay on the reservations at all times.
Compromise of 1877
The agreement that finally solved the 1876 election and officially ended Reconstruction. In exchange for the Republican candidate, Rutherford B Hayes, winning the presidency, Hayes agreed to withdraw the last of the federal troops[s from the former confederate states. This deal effectively completed the southern return to white-only Democratic-dominated electoral politics
Mechanization of Agriculture
The development of engine-driven machines, like the combine, which dramatically increased the productivity of land in the 1870s and 1880s. This process contributed to the consolidation of agricultural businesses that drove many family farms out of existence
New Deal
The economic and political policies of Franklin Roosevelt's administration in the 1930s, which aimed to solve the problems of the Great Depression by providing relief for the unemployed and launching efforts to stimulate economic recovery. This program built on fedoras of the progressive era to expand greatly an America-style welfare state.
Mercantilism
The economic theory that colonies exist to bring profit to the mother country
Hetch Hetchy Valley
The federal government allowed San Francisco to build a dam here in 1913. This was a blow to conservationists who wished to protect the Yosemite National Park, where the dam was located
Sunbelt
The fifteen-state crescent through the American South and Southwest that experienced terrific population and productivity expansion during WWII and particularly in the decades after the war, eclipsing the old industrial Northeast.
Cumberland road
The first road built by the federal government
Civil Rights Act of 1875
The last piece of federal Civil Rights legislation until the 1950s, the law promised blacks equal access to public accommodations and banned racism in jury selection, but it provided no means of enforcement and was therefore ineffective. In 1883, the Supreme court declared most of the Act unconstitutional
Great Migration
The movement of 6 million African Americans from the rural south to the Urban North and West in 2 major ways. The first from WWI until the onset of the great Depression, brought more than 1.5 million migrants to northern cities. From 1940 to 1970, another 5 million left the South, pushed off the land by the mechanization of cotton farming and lured north and west by hopes of greater economic opportunity and more equitable political participation. After 1970, increasing numbers of African Americans trekked back to the South in what was called the New Great Migration, as new jobs became more plentiful in the South than in the older industrial cities of the North and racial relations improved in the South
American Expeditionary Forces (AEF)
The name given to the US Army force deployed to Europe in WWI commanded by General John J Pershing and composed mostly of conscripts. Because the US entered the war so late, by the time AEF was raised, trained and deployed, the war was in its last year (1918). Inits of the AEF fought at canting in May and at Chateau Thierry and Belleau Wood in June, its major engagements were at Saint Mihiel and the Meuse-Argonne
Interlocking Directories
The practice of having executives or directors from one company serve on the board of directors of another company. JP Morgan introduced this practice to eliminate banking competition in the 1890s
Vertical Integration
The practice perfected by Carnegie of controlling every step of the industrial process in order to increase efficiency and limit competition
Horizontal Integration
The practice perfected by Rockefeller of dominating a particular phase of the production process in order to monopolize a market, often by forming trusts and alliances with competitors
Alien Enemies Act
The president could jail or deport aliens in times of nonwar
Rendezvous
The principle marketplace of the Northwestern fur trade, which peaked in the 1820s and 30s. Each summer, traders set up camps in the Rocky Mts. to exchange manufactured goods for beaver pelts
Bible Belt
The region of the American South, extending roughly from North Carolina west to Oklahoma and Texas, where Protestant Fundamentalism and belief in literal interpretation of the Bible were traditionally strongest
Knights of Labor
The second national labor organization, organized in 1869 as a secret society and opened got public membership in 1881. They were known for their efforts to organize all workers regardless of skill, race, or gender. After the mid 1880s their membership declined for a variety of reasons, including their participation in strikes and discord (skilled v unskilled workers)
V-E Day
The source of frenzied rejoicing, May 8, 1945, marked the official end to the war in Europe following the unconditional surrender of what remained of the German government
"Waving the Bloody Shirt
The use of Civil War imagery by political candidates and parties to draw votes to their side of the ticket
Navigation Laws
These laws were established by Great Britain to increase its control over colonial trade. Caused colonial money shortage and the king can veto colonial laws that interfere with mercantilism. Loosly enforced until 1763
Neutrality Act of 1939
This act stipulated that European democracies might buy American munitions, but only if they could pay in cash and trans port them on their own ships. a policy known as "cash and carry." It represented an effort to avoid war debts and protect American arms-carriers from torpedo attacks
Commonwealth v Hunt
This said labor unions were not illegal conspiracies as long as they were "honorable and peaceful"
Commonalities between north and south
Tied together in economics-cotton and textiles
Market Revolution
Transformation of a subsistence economy into a national network of industry and commerce
Kansas colonization
Two governments were set up because the two parties wanted it to be slave/free
The Jungle
Upton Sinclair--showed terrible food sanitation of the time
Minstrel Shows
Variety shows performed by white actors in blackface. First popularized in the mid 19th century
My Lai
Vietnamese village that was the scene of a military assault on March 16, 1968, in which American soldiers under the command of 2nd Lieutenant William Colley murdered hundreds of unarmed Vietnamese civilians, mostly women and children. The atrocity produced outrage and reduced support for the war in America and around the world when details of the massacre and an attempted cover-up were revealed in November 1969
Anthony Burns
Virginia slave-fugitive whose attempted rescue from a Boston jail ended in violence
States who refused to ratify
Virginia, New York, North Carolina, Rhode Island. Theoretically had enough states but would geographically break up the US
Liberia
West African nation founded in 1822 as a haven for freed blacks, 15,000 of whom made their way back across the Atlantic by the 1860s
Baron von Steuben
Whipped regulars into shape- came from the American alliance with France
Peculiar institution
Wildly used term for the institution of American Slavery in the South. Its use in the first half of the 19th century reflected a growing division between the North, where slavery was gradually abolished, and the South, where slavery became increasingly intrenched
Civic Virtue
Willingness of citizens to sacrifice personal self-interest for the public good. Deemed necessary for a successful republic
Camp Followers
Women and children who followed the Continental army during the American Revolution, providing vital services like cooking and sewing in exchange for rations.
Effects of cotton and slavery
Women sometimes ran the house, staffed by slaves. Cotton quickly exhausted the soil whooped caused mass westward migration Repelled immigration bc immigrants had to compete with slave labor
Woman's Army Corps (WACs), Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Services (WAVES), and US Coast Guard Woman's Reserve (SPARS)
Women's branches of the US Army, Navy, and Coast Guard. Established during WWII to employ women in noncombat jobs.
Noah Webster
Wrote textbooks(partially to promote patriotism) and dictionary
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)
Youth organization founded by southern black students in 1960 to promote civil rights. Drawing on its members' youthful energies, this organization, in its early years, coordinated demonstrations, sit-ins, and voter registration drives
Federal Style
architectural style that imitated Old World style and borrowed from the Greeks and romans. Emphasized symmetry, balance, and restraint (Charles Bullfinch, Benjamin Latrobe)
Greenville
argued that the colonists had virtual representation in Parliament (at this point colonists were ok with with legislation because it effected the whole British empire but not taxation)
Limited liability
bankruptcy laws: spread costs over taxpayers (law changed so capitalism would work better)
Aroostook War
began 1839 Series of clashes between American and Canadian lumberjacks in the disputed territory of northern Maine, resolved when a permanent boundary was agreed upon in 1842
California Gold Rush
began 1849 Inflow of thousands of miners to northern California after news reports of the discovery of gold at Sutter's Mill in January of 1848 had spread around the world by the end of that year. The onslaught of migrants prompted Californians to organize a government and apply for statehood in 1849 Most of the newcomers were lawless and the current citizens were concerned. They quickly wrote a new constitution that abolished slavery and then applied for statehood
Second Great Awakening
early 19th century Religious revival characterized by emotional mass "camp meetings" and widespread conversion. Brought about a democratization of religion as a multiplicity of denominations vide for members
West Africa Squadron
est 1803 British Royal Navy Force formed to enforce the abolition of slave trade in 1807. It intercepted 100s of slave ships and freed thousands of slaves
US Sanitary Commission
est 1861 Government agency founded with help of Elizabeth Blackwell that trained nurses, collected medical supplies and equipped hospitals in an effort to help the Union Army. The commission helped professionalize nursing and gave many women the confidence and organizational skills to propel the women's movement into the postwar years.
Dominion of Canada
est 1867 Unified Canadian government created by Britain to bolster Canadians against potential attacks or overtures from the US
Society of the Cincinnati
est. 1783 An exclusive order of military officers of the Continental Army
Tammany Hall
est. 1789 Powerful New York political machine that primarily drew support from the city's immigrants, who depended on its patronage, particularly social services
New England Immigrant Aid Company
founded 1854 Organization created to facilitate the migration of free laborers to Kansas in order to prevent the establishment of slavery on the territory.
Federal Emergency Relief Act (FERA)
granted federal funds to state and local agencies to help the unemployed.
loose construction
legal doctrine that the federal government can use powers not specifically granted or prohibited in the Constitution to cary out its constitutionality mandated responsibilities.
Fifteenth Amendment
ratified 1780 Prohibited states from denying citizens the franchise on account of race. It disappointed feminists, who wanted the amendment to include guarantees for woman's suffrage
Fourteenth Amendment
ratified 1868 Constitution amendment that extended Civil rights to freedmen and prohibited states from taking away such rights without due process
Republicanism
the belief that government should be based on the consent of the people.
Lancaster turnpike
the road built in the 1790s by a private company, linking Philadelphia and Lancaster, Pennsylvania
Assumption
transfer of all debts to one party (the federal government)
Cotton is King
when the cotton gin was invented cotton became the staple crop of the south. Made greater production and so the southerners needed more slaves 75% of Britain's cotton (main industry) came from the south