US History ID Vocab

Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)

A public corporation headed by a 3-member board. The TVA, a highly controversial New Deal program, built 20 dams, conducted demonstration projects for farmers, and engaged in reforestation to rehabilitate the area.

Arab Oil Embargo, 1973

Egypt and Syria attacked Israel. Moscow backed Egypt and the U.S. supported Israel. Both the U.S. and U.S.S.R. put their armed forces on alert. In an attempt to pressure America into a pro-Arab stance, OPEC, the international oil cartel dominated by an Arab majority, imposed an embargo on all oil to the U.S.

Quarantine Speech

1937 - In this speech Franklin D. Roosevelt compared Fascist aggression to a contagious disease, saying democracies must unite to quarantine aggressor nations. Isolationists were outraged at FDR's apparent move to appease internationalists.

Destroyer Deal

1940 - U.S. agreed to "lend" its older destroyers to Great Britain. (Destroyers were major warships that made up the bulk of most countries' navies.) In return, England gave the U.S. military bases in the Atlantic. Signaled the end of U.S. neutrality in the war.

Massachusetts Bay Company

A group of Puritans merchants who organized an enterprise designed to take advantage of economic opportunities in America. Obtained a land grant in New England which became a haven for Puritans. In 1630, 1,000 Puritans (mostly families) migrated to New England in a move known as the "Great Migration."

Stephen Crane (1871-1900), Red Badge of Courage

An American novelist, short story writer, poet and journalist. Prolific throughout his short life, he wrote notable works in the Realist tradition as well as early examples of American Naturalism and Impressionism. He is recognized by modern critics as one of the most innovative writers of his generation. His major work, The Red Badge of Courage, a novel in which a young recruit in the Civil War is faced by the cruelty of war, made Crane an international success. Although he was born after the war and had not at the time experienced battle firsthand, the novel is considered an example of Realism. Crane will later become a reporter in the Spanish-American War.

Patrick Henry (1736-1799)

An American orator and member of the Virginia House of Burgesses who gave speeches against the British government and its policies urging the colonies to fight for independence. In connection with a petition to declare a "state of defense" in Virginia in 1775, he gave his most famous speech which ends with the words, "Give me liberty or give me death." Henry served as Governor of Virginia from 1776-1779 and 1784-1786, and was instrumental in causing the Bill of Rights to be adopted as part of the U.S. Constitution.

Court-packing plan

Because the Supreme Court was striking down New Deal legislation, Roosevelt decided to curb the power of the Court by proposing a bill to allow the president to name a new federal judge for each who did not retire by age 70 and 1/2. At the time, 6 justices were over the age limit. Would have increased the number of justices from 9 to 15, giving FDR a majority of his own appointees on the court. Congress did not pass the court-packing bill.

American Federation of Labor (AFL)

Began in 1886 with about 140,000 members; by 1917 it had 2.5 million members. It is a federation of different craft unions open only to skilled workers. The AF of L rejected radicalism and sought improved hours and wages for its members. Samuel Gompers was the first president and led the labor movement in achieving solid gains for workers. He maintained a focused view of trade unionism, believing that unions should concentrate on better collective bargaining agreements and legislation affecting labor, while avoiding broad social issues.

The Great Railroad Strike of 1877

Began when the eastern railroads announced a 10 percent wage cut and which soon expanded into something approaching a class war. Strikers disrupted rail service from Baltimore to St. Louis, destroyed equipment, and rioted in the streets of Pittsburgh and other cities. State militias were called out, and in July President Hayes ordered federal troops to suppress the disorders in West Virginia. Baltimore and Philadelphia experienced the most violence. In all, over 100 people died before the strike finally collapsed several weeks after it had begun. This strike was America's first major national labor conflict, and it illustrated that disputes between labor and capital could no longer be localized in the increasingly national economy.

Lusitania incident

British passenger liner sunk off the Irish coast by a German submarine on May 7, 1915. In the sinking, 128 Americans lost their lives. A warning to Americans against taking passage on British vessels, signed by the Imperial German Embassy, appeared in morning papers on the day the vessel was scheduled to sail from New York, but too late to accomplish its purpose. The vessel was unarmed, though the Germans made a point of the fact that it carried munitions for the Allies. Following the disaster there were demands from many for an immediate declaration of war, but President Wilson chose the course of diplomacy. After prolonged negotiations, Germany finally conceded its liability for the sinking of the Lusitania and agreed to make reparations and to discontinue sinking passenger ships without warning. The incident contributed to the rise of American sentiment for the entry of the United States into World War I.

Sam Houston (1793-1863)

Former Governor of Tennessee and an adopted member of the Cherokee Indian tribe, Houston settled in Texas after being sent there by Pres. Jackson to negotiate with the local Indians. Appointed commander of the Texas army in 1835, he led them to victory at San Jacinto, where they were outnumbered 2 to 1. He was President of the Republic of Texas (1836-1838 & 1841-1845) and advocated Texas joining the Union in 1845. He later served as U.S. Senator and Governor of Texas, but was removed from the governorship in 1861 for refusing to ratify Texas joining the Confederacy.

Father Charles Coughlin

Headed the National Union for Social Justice. Began as a religious radio broadcaster, but turned to politics and finance and attracted an audience of millions from many faiths. Severely criticized FDR's New Deal claiming it did not go far enough in bring relief to the American people. Promoted inflationary currency, anti-semitism.

Hoovervilles

Many Americans held the president personally to blame for the crisis and began calling the shantytowns that unemployed people established on the outskirts of cities "Hoovervilles." Democrats urged the president to support more-vigorous programs of relief and public spending. Hoover continued to believe his policies were working. (Hoover's Declining Popularity)

Kent State Incident and Jackson State Incident

May 4, 1970 - National Guardsmen opened fire on a group of students protesting the Vietnam War. Four students were killed and nine others wounded, one of whom suffered permanent paralysis. Some victims were merely walking nearby or observing the protest at a distance. There was a significant national response to the shootings: hundreds of universities, colleges, and high schools closed throughout the United States due to a student strike of eight million students, and the event further divided the country along political lines.

Elvis Presley

One of the most powerful cultural forces for American youth was the enormous popularity of rock 'n' roll-and of the greatest early rock star, (_____). ______ became a symbol of a youthful determination to push at the borders of the conventional and acceptable.

New Left

One of the most visible results of the increasingly assertive youth movement was a radicalization of many American college and university students, who in the 1960s formed what became known as the (____________)-a large, diverse group of men and women energized by the polarizing developments of their time. The New Left embraced the cause of African Americans and other minorities, but its own ranks consisted overwhelmingly of white people.

Supreme Court: Roe v. Wade, 1973

Supreme Court ruled unconstitutional most State statutes restricting abortion. It ruled that a State may not prevent a woman from having an abortion during the first three months of pregnancy, and could regulate, but not prohibit abortion during the second trimester. Decision in effect overturned anti-abortion laws in 46 States.

Treaty of Versailles

The Palace of Versailles was the site of the signing of the peace treaty that ended WW I on June 28, 1919. In the resulting treaty the victorious Allies imposed punitive measures on Germany. Of the many provisions in the treaty, one of the most important and controversial required Germany and its allies to accept responsibility for causing the war and to disarm, make substantial territorial concessions and pay reparations to certain countries that had formed the Entente powers. The Treaty was undermined by subsequent events starting as early as 1922 and was widely flouted by the mid-thirties. The result of competing and sometimes incompatible goals among the victors was a compromise that nobody was satisfied with. Germany was neither pacified nor conciliated, which would prove to be a factor leading to later conflicts.

Munn v. Illinois, 1876

The Supreme Court ruled that an Illinois law that put a ceiling on warehousing rates for grain was a constitutional exercise of the State's power to regulate business. The case established the constitutional principle of public regulation of private businesses involved in serving the public interest.

Stagflation

The United States was encountering a new and puzzling dilemma: "(___________)," a combination of rising prices and general economic stagnation.

Antifederalists

They opposed the ratification of the Constitution because it gave more power to the federal government and less to the States, and because it did not ensure individual rights. Many wanted to keep the Articles of Confederation. The Antifederalists were instrumental in obtaining passage of the Bill of Rights as a prerequisite to ratification of the Constitution in several States.

March on Washington

To generate support for the legislation, and to dramatize the power of the growing movement, more than 200,000 demonstrators marched down the Mall in Washington, D.C., in August 1963 and gathered before the Lincoln Memorial for the greatest civil rights demonstration in the nation's history. President Kennedy, who had at first opposed the idea of the march, in the end gave it his open support after receiving pledges from organizers that speakers would not criticize the administration. Martin Luther King Jr., in one of the greatest speeches of his distinguished oratorical career, roused the crowd with a litany of images prefaced again and again by the phrase "I have a dream." The march was the high-water mark of the peaceful, interracial civil rights movement.

Theodore Weld (1802-1895)

Weld was devoted to the abolitionism movement. He advised the breakaway anti-slavery Whigs in Congress and his anonymous tract "American Slavery as It Is" (1839) was the inspiration for Uncle Tom's Cabin.

Kellogg-Briand Pact, 1928

"Pact of Paris" or "Treaty for the Renunciation of War," it made war illegal as a tool of national policy, allowing only defensive war. The Treaty was generally believed to be useless.

Great Awakening

(1739-1744) Puritanism had declined by the 1730s, and people were upset about the decline in religious piety. The Great Awakening was a sudden outbreak of religious fervor that swept through the colonies. One of the first events to unify the colonies. Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield helped begin this movement.

Betty Friedan, The Feminine Mystique, 1963

(____ ____) has been central to the reshaping of American attitudes toward women's lives and rights. Through decades of social activism, strategic thinking and powerful writing, Friedan is one of contemporary society's most effective leaders. Friedan's l963 book, The Feminine Mystique, detailed the frustrating lives of countless American women who were expected to find fulfillment primarily through the achievements of husbands and children. The book made an enormous impact, triggering a period of change that continues today. Friedan has been central to this evolution for women, through lectures and writing. She was a founder of the National Organization for Women, a convener of the National Women's Political Caucus, and a key leader in the struggle for passage of the Equal Rights Amendment.

Roger Williams, Rhode Island

1635 - He left the Massachusetts colony and purchased the land from a neighboring Indian tribe to found the colony of Rhode Island. Rhode Island was the only colony at that time to offer complete religious freedom.

Maryland Act of Toleration (Act of Religious Toleration)

1649 Ordered by Lord Baltimore after a Protestant was made governor of Maryland at the demand of the colony's large Protestant population. The act guaranteed religious freedom to all Christians.

Lewis and Clark expedition

1804-1806 - Jefferson commissioned Meriwether Lewis and William Clark to map and explore the Louisiana Purchase region. Beginning at St. Louis, Missouri, the expedition traveled up the Missouri River to the Great Divide, and then down the Columbia River to the Pacific Ocean. It produced extensive maps of the area and recorded many scientific discoveries, facilitating later settlement of the region and travel to the Pacific coast.

Tariff of Abominations

1828 - Also called Tariff of 1828, it raised the tariff on imported manufactured goods. The tariff protected the North but harmed the South; South said that the tariff was economically discriminatory and unconstitutional because it violated state's rights. It passed because New England favored high tariffs.

16th Amendment

1913 - authorized Congress to levy an income tax.

17th Amendment

1913 - gave the power to elect senators to the people. Senators had previously been appointed by the legislatures of their states.

18th Amendment

1919 - prohibited the manufacture, transportation, and sale of alcoholic beverages.

19th Amendment

1920 - gave women the right to vote.

Immigration Acts, 1921, 1924, Quota System

1921 - Immigration from a specific country was limited to only 3% of that nation's population living in the United States as reported in the 1910 Federal Census. 1924 - The quota of immigrants entering the U.S. was set at 2% of any given nation's residents in the U.S. as reported in the 1890 Federal Census. Immigrants from eastern and southern Europe were most impacted.

Scopes trial, Clarence Darrow, William Jennings Bryan

1925 - Prosecution of Dayton, Tennessee school teacher, John Scopes, for violation of the Butler Act, a Tennessee law forbidding public schools from teaching about evolution. Former Democratic presidential candidate, William Jennings Bryan, prosecuted the case, and the famous criminal attorney, Clarence Darrow, defended Scopes. Scopes was convicted and fined $100, but the trial started a shift of public opinion away from Fundamentalism, which tried to preserve what it considered the basic ideas of Christianity.

Bonus Army

1932 - Facing the financial crisis of the Depression, WW I veterans tried to pressure Congress to pay them their retirement bonuses early. Congress considered a bill authorizing immediate assurance of $2.4 billion, but it was not approved. Angry veterans marched on Washington, D.C., and Hoover called in the army to remove the veterans from the Capital.

Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA), Second AAA

1933 - The AAA offered contracts to farmers to reduce their output of designated products. It paid farmers from processing taxes on these products, and made loans to farmers who stored crops on their farms. The Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional.

Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)

1934 - Created to supervise stock exchanges and to punish fraud in securities trading.

Neutrality Acts

1935 - Upon the outbreak of war, all American exports would be embargoed for 6 months. 1936 - Gave the president the authority to determine when a state of war existed and prohibited loans to belligerents. 1937 - Gave the president the authority to determine whether a civil war was a threat to world peace and prohibited arms sales to belligerents.

Pearl Harbor

7:50-10:00 AM, December 7, 1941 - Surprise attack by the Japanese on the main U.S. Pacific Fleet harbored in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii destroyed 18 U.S. ships and 200 aircraft. American losses were 3000, Japanese losses less than 100. In response, the U.S. declared war on Japan and Germany, entering World War II.

Thomas Paine, Common Sense

A British citizen, he wrote Common Sense, published on January 1, 1776, to encourage the colonies to seek independence. It spoke out against the unfair treatment of the colonies by the British government and was instrumental in turning public opinion in favor of the Revolution.

Washington Gladden

A Congregational minister who criticized the excessive competition that often accompanied the growth of capitalistic ventures. He was especially outspoken when denouncing many of John D. Rockefeller's practices. Gladden is regarded as the founder of the Social Gospel movement emphasizing charity and social responsibility. Gladden's newspaper columns and many books that contained biblical solutions for the problems of the industrial age made him a national leader of the Social Gospel movement.

Andrew Johnson

A Democrat Southerner from Tennessee elected as vice president on the Union party ticket with Abraham Lincoln in 1864. When Lincoln was assassinated, Johnson became president. He opposed Radical Republicans who passed Reconstruction Acts over his veto. He was the first U.S. president to be impeached, but survived the Senate removal by only one vote. He was a very weak president.

Justice Samuel Chase

A Federalist judge appointed by Washington to the Supreme Court. Chase had been a Revolutionary War hero, and was a signer of the Declaration of Independence. Jefferson disagreed with his rulings and had him impeached for publicly criticizing the Jefferson administration to the Maryland grand jury. The Senate acquitted Chase, and the impeachment failed. (This is the only attempt in history to impeach a U.S. Supreme Court Justice.)

Citizen Genêt

A French diplomat who came to the U.S. 1793 to ask the American government to send money and troops to aid the revolutionaries in the French Revolution. President Washington asked France to recall Genêt after Genêt began recruiting men and arming ships in U.S. ports. However, Washington later relented and allowed Genêt U.S. citizenship upon learning that the new French government planned to arrest Genêt.

John Adams

A Massachusetts attorney and politician who was a strong believer in colonial independence. He argued against the Stamp Act and was involved in various patriot groups. As a delegate from Massachusetts, he urged the Second Continental Congress to declare independence. He helped draft and pass the Declaration of Independence. Adams later served as the second President of the United States.

Sam Adams (1722-1803)

A Massachusetts politician who was a radical fighter for colonial independence. Helped organize the Sons of Liberty and the Non-Importation Commission, which protested the Townshend Acts, and is believed to have led the Boston Tea Party. He served in the Continental Congress throughout the Revolution, and served as Governor of Massachusetts from 1794-1797.

Dred Scott Decision

A Missouri slave sued for his freedom, claiming that his four-year stay in the northern portion of the Louisiana Territory made free land by the Missouri Compromise had made him a free man. The U.S, Supreme Court decided he couldn't sue in federal court because he was property, not a citizen.

Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919)

A Scottish-American businessman, a major and widely respected philanthropist, and the founder of the Carnegie Steel Company which later became U.S. Steel. He is known for having built one of the most powerful and influential corporations in United States history, and, later in his life, giving away most of his riches to fund the establishment of many libraries, schools, and universities worldwide. Carnegie first invested in railroads, railroad sleeping cars, as well as bridges and oil derricks. But steel was where he found his fortune. His book, The Gospel of Wealth, argued that the wealthy had an obligation to give something back to society.

Tecumseh (1763-1813)

A Shawnee chief who, along with his brother, Tenskwatawa, a religious leader known as The Prophet, worked to unite the Northwestern Indian tribes. An American army led by William Henry Harrison at the Battle of Tippecanoe in 1811 defeated the league of tribes. Tecumseh was killed fighting for the British during the War of 1812 at the Battle of the Thames in 1813.

W.E.B. DuBois (1868-1963)

A black historian and sociologist and author a several books, he was a leader in the movement to win social justice for African Americans. In The Souls of Black Folks, he expressed his sadness, rage, and frustration with the hardships that black people encountered. Harvard educated, DuBois was considered a radical in that he demanded racial equality should be immediate. He was devoted to teaching, training, and mentoring college-educated black people to become leaders of their race. He formed the Niagara Movement in 1906. This group later became the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), possibly the most influential civil rights group in American history.

XYZ Affair, 1798

A commission had been sent to France in 1797 to discuss the disputes that had arisen out of the U.S.'s refusal to honor the Franco-American Treaty of 1778. President Adams had also criticized the French Revolution, so France began to break off relations with the U.S. Adams sent delegates to meet with French foreign minister Talleyrand in the hopes of working things out. Talleyrand's three agents told the American delegates that they could meet with Talleyrand only in exchange for a very large bribe. The Americans did not pay the bribe, and in 1798 Adams made the incident public, substituting the letters "X, Y and Z" for the names of the three French agents in his report to Congress. French behavior struck Americans as an insult to the nation's sovereignty.

League of Nations

A concept for an international peace keeping organization devised by President Wilson. It reflected the power of large countries. Although comprised of delegates from every country, it was designed to be run by a council of the five largest countries. It also included a provision for a world court. The League's goals included disarmament, preventing war through collective security, settling disputes between countries through negotiation, diplomacy and improving global quality of life. The diplomatic philosophy behind the League represented a fundamental shift in thought from the preceding hundred years.

"Credit Mobilier" - Bribery Scandal during U.S. Grant's Presidency

A construction company owned by the larger stockholders of the Union Pacific Railroad. After Union Pacific received the government contract to build the transcontinental railroad, it "hired" Credit Mobilier to do the actual construction, charging the federal government nearly twice the actual cost of the project. When the scheme was discovered, the company tried to bribe Congress with gifts of stock to stop the investigation. This precipitated the biggest bribery scandal in U.S. history, and led to greater public awareness of government corruption.

Hartford Convention, December, 1814

A convention of New England merchants who opposed the Embargo and other trade restriction, and the War of 1812. They proposed some Amendments to the Constitution that would increase the voice of minorities in deciding critical issues such as war, embargoes, and the admission of new States. It also advocated the right of States to nullify federal laws. They also discussed the idea of seceding from the U.S. if their desires were ignored. The Convention turned public sentiment against the Federalists and led to the demise of the party.

Battle of Saratoga, 1777

A decisive American victory resulting in the surrender of an entire British army of 9,000 men invading New York from Canada. British General John Burgoyne surrendered his entire army after being surrounded by much larger American militia forces. The capture of an entire British army secured the northern American states from further attacks out of Canada and prevented New England from being isolated. A major result was that France entered the conflict on behalf of the Americans, thus dramatically improving the Americans' chances in the war. The battle of Saratoga is commonly seen as the turning point of the Revolution.

Ballinger-Pinchot Controversy

A dispute between U.S. Forest Service Chief Gifford Pinchot and U.S. Secretary of the Interior Richard Ballinger. Pinchot accused Ballinger of abandoning federal conservation policy instituted under Theodore Roosevelt. President Taft sided with Ballinger and fired Pinchot. Controversy contributed to the split of the Republican Party before the 1912 Presidential election and helped to define the U.S. conservation movement in the early 20th century.

Copperheads

A faction of the Democrats in the North who strongly opposed the Civil War for which they blamed the abolitionists. They demanded immediate peace and resisted the draft laws. They wanted Lincoln and the Republicans ousted from power, seeing the president as a tyrant who was destroying American republican values with his despotic and arbitrary actions. The name Copperheads was given to them by their opponents, the Republicans, and probably derived from the venomous snake (the American copperhead) that strikes without warning — Copperheads reinterpreted this insult as a term of honor, and wore copper liberty-head coins as badges. They were also called "Peace Democrats" and "Butternuts".

Robert Fulton, Steamships

A famous inventor, Robert Fulton designed and built America's first steamboat, the Clermont in 1807. He also built the Nautilus, the first practical submarine.

"Rosie the Riveter"

A famous wartime image of that symbolized the new importance of the female industrial workforce. Women workers joined unions in substantial numbers, and they helped erode at least some of the prejudice, including the prejudice against working mothers, that had previously kept many of them from paid employment.

Sherman Antitrust Act, 1890

A federal law that committed the government to opposing monopolies; it prohibits contracts, combinations and conspiracies in restraint of trade. Supreme Court, however, held illegal only "unreasonable" restraint of trade, thereby establishing a huge loophole called the "rule of reason" which made the act largely ineffective. It was used successfully as a weapon against unions, however.

Harriet Tubman (1821-1913)

A former escaped slave, she was one of the shrewdest conductors of the Underground Railroad, leading 300 slaves to freedom. She made 19 trips into slave territory to lead fellow blacks to freedom. Her successes caused her to be referred to as "the Moses of her people."

Langston Hughes (1902-1967)

A gifted African-American poet, novelist, and playwright, who became one of the foremost interpreters of racial relationships in the United States and the name most often associated with the Harlem Renaissance. Influenced by the Bible, W. E. B. Du Bois, and Walt Whitman, Hughes depicted realistically the ordinary lives of black people.

Robert M. LaFollette (1855-1925)

A great debater and political leader who believed in libertarian reforms, he was a major leader of the Progressive movement from Wisconsin. A founder of the Progressive Movement, he was a spearhead for political reform in Wisconsin and the nation for 25 years. Unwilling to compromise on principle, "Fighting Bob" LaFollette earned the deep admiration of his supporters and the hatred of many foes. Elected to the U.S. Senate in 1905, he fought the same forces of privilege he had defeated in Wisconsin. A few progressive Republicans joined him, and they often held the balance of power in a Senate closely divided between the two parties. LaFollette opposed the protective Payne-Aldrich tariff and worked to regulate the railroads and other industries. He sought the GOP presidential nomination in 1908 and 1912. La Follette has been called "arguably the most important and recognized leader of the opposition to the growing dominance of corporations over the Government."

Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, 1964

A joint resolution of the U.S. Congress passed on August 7, 1964 in direct response to a minor naval engagement known as the Gulf of Tonkin Incident. It is of historical significance because it gave President Lyndon Johnson authorization, without a formal declaration of war by Congress, for the use of military force in Southeast Asia. The Johnson administration subsequently cited the resolution as legal authority for its rapid escalation of U.S. military involvement in the Vietnam conflict

Theodore Parker (1810-1860)

A leading transcendentalist radical, he became known as "the keeper of the public's conscience." His advocating for social reform often put him in physical danger, though his causes later became popular.

Land Ordinance of 1785

A major success of the Articles of Confederation. Provided for the orderly surveying and distribution of land belonging to the U.S.

Northwest Ordinance, 1787

A major success of the Articles of Confederation. Set up the framework of a government for the Northwest Territory. The Ordinance provided that the Territory would be divided into 3 to 5 states and set 60,000 as the minimum population for statehood. Outlawed slavery in the Territory, symbolically important but practically of little immediate effect.

Containment, George F. Kennan

A member of the State Department, he felt that the best way to keep communism out of Europe was to confront the Russians wherever they tried to spread their power. Would form the backbone of the nation's cold war diplomacy in fighting communism throughout the world, especially in Vietnam.

William Lloyd Garrison (1805-1879)

A militant abolitionist, he became editor of the Boston publication, The Liberator, in 1831 and founded the American Anti-Slavery Society. Under his leadership, The Liberator gained national fame and notoriety due to his quotable and inflammatory language, attacking everything from slaveholders to moderate abolitionists, and advocating northern secession.

Cherokee Indian removal, "Trail of Tears"

A minority of the Cherokee tribe, despite the protest of the majority, had surrendered their Georgia land in the 1835 Treaty of New Echota. During the winter of 1838 - 1839, troops under General Winfield Scott evicted them from their homes in Georgia and moved them to Oklahoma Indian country. Many died on the trail; the journey became known as the "Trail of Tears".

Stephen A. Douglas

A moderate Illinois senator, who introduced the Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854 that reopened the slavery issue and popularized the idea of popular sovereignty. He was one of two Democratic party nominees for President in 1860 along with John C. Breckinridge. He lost to Republican party nominee Abraham Lincoln. Douglas was one of the most important leaders in Congress in the 1850s.

Federal Reserve Act, 1913

A move away from laissez-faire government economic policies, the Federal Reserve Act officially provided for the establishment of Federal reserve banks, to furnish an elastic currency, to afford means of re-discounting commercial paper, to establish a more effective supervision of banking in the United States, and for other purposes. It brought the United States out of the 19th century financial world and into an acceptable financial position just in time for its entrance onto the world stage in WWI and the resulting economic chaos.

Transcendentalism

A philosophy pioneered by Ralph Waldo Emerson in the 1830's and 1840's, in which each person has direct communication with God and Nature, and there is no need for organized churches. It incorporated the ideas that mind goes beyond matter, intuition is valuable, and that each soul is part of the Great Spirit, and each person is part of a reality where only the invisible is truly real. Promoted individualism, self-reliance, and freedom from social constraints, and emphasized emotions.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton

A pioneer in the women's suffrage movement, she helped organize the first women's rights convention in Seneca Falls, New York in 1848. She later helped edit the militant feminist magazine Revolution from 1868-1870.

Iranian Crisis, the Shah, the Ayatollah Khomeini, 1978

A popular uprising forced the Shah to flee Iran and a Muslim and national leader, the Ayatollah Khomeini, established an Islamic Republic based on the Koran. President Carter allowed the Shah to come to the U.S. for medical reasons. Young Iranian militants broke into the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and kept the staff hostage for 444 days, releasing them January 1981.

Proclamation of 1763

A proclamation from the British government which forbade British colonists from settling west of the Appalachian Mountains, and which required any settlers already living west of the mountains to move back east. While the Proclamation of 1763 did improve England's relations with the Ohio Country natives, it greatly upset the colonists. The whole reason they had supported the French & Indian War from 1756-1763 was to gain access to land in the Ohio Country. By implementing the proclamation, England denied the colonists this opportunity. Many colonists became convinced that England did not care about nor understand the colonists' needs.

Sons of Liberty

A radical political organization for colonial independence which formed in 1765 after the passage of the Stamp Act. They incited riots and burned the customs houses where the stamped British paper was kept. After the repeal of the Stamp Act, many of the local chapters formed the Committees of Correspondence which continued to promote opposition to British policies towards the colonies. The Sons leaders included Samuel Adams and Paul Revere.

Dorothea Dix, treatment of the insane

A reformer and pioneer in the movement to treat the insane as mentally ill, beginning in the 1820's, she was responsible for improving conditions in jails, poorhouses and insane asylums throughout the U.S. and Canada. She succeeded in persuading many States to assume responsibility for the care of the mentally ill. She served as the Superintendent of Nurses for the Union Army during the Civil War.

Frederick Douglass (1817-1895)

A self-educated slave who escaped in 1838, Douglass became the best-known abolitionist speaker. He edited an anti-slavery weekly, the North Star and lectured with William Lloyd Garrison until they parted company on issues of prejudice in the North and secession of the South.

Navigation Acts

A series of British regulations designed to protect British shipping from competition which taxed goods imported by the colonies from places other than Britain, or otherwise sought to control and regulate colonial trade. Said that British colonies could only import goods if they were shipped on British-owned vessels and at least 3/4 of the ship's crew was British. Increased British-colonial trade and tax revenues. The Navigation Acts were reinstated after the French and Indian War because Britain needed to pay off debts incurred during the war, and to pay the costs of maintaining a standing army in the colonies.

King Philip's War, 1675

A series of battles in New Hampshire between the colonists and the Wompanowogs, led by a chief known as King Philip. The war was started when the Massachusetts government tried to assert court jurisdiction over the local Indians. The colonists won with the help of the Mohawks, and this victory opened up additional Indian lands for expansion.

Second Great Awakening

A series of religious revivals starting in 1801, based on Methodism and Baptism. Stressed a religious philosophy of salvation through good deeds and tolerance for all Protestant sects. Helped create new denominations such as the Mormons and Seventh Day Adventists. Notable leaders included Charles Finney and Theodore Weld. The revivals attracted women, blacks, and Native Americans.

Theocracy

A society in which the line between the church and the state government was hard to see.

Mary Elizabeth Lease

A speaker for the Populist party and the Farmer's Alliance. One of the founders of the national Populist party. She believed that big business had made the people of America into "wage slaves," and challenged her fellow farmers to "raise less corn and more hell."

Zimmerman note

A telegram sent to the government of Mexico by the Foreign Secretary of Germany, Alfred Zimmerman on January 16, 1917 at the height of World War I. The telegram was intercepted and decrypted by the British. Zimmerman's message proposed that Mexico should ally itself with Germany if the U.S. were to enter the war. It also suggested that if Mexico were to launch a pre-emptive strike on the U.S., it would have Germany's backing and would be rewarded with Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona if the Central Powers and its allies won the war. This letter evoked an outpouring of anti-German sentiment and President Wilson asked Congress to arm American ships so they could defend themselves from potential German submarine attacks.

Henry David Thoreau, Walden (1817-1862), "On Civil Disobedience"

A transcendentalist and friend of Emerson. He lived alone on Walden Pond with only $8 a year from 1845-1847 and wrote about it in Walden. In his essay, "On Civil disobedience," he inspired social and political reformers because he had refused to pay a poll tax in protest of slavery and the Mexican-American War, and had spent a night in jail. He was an extreme individualist and advised people to protest by not obeying laws (passive resistance).

Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)

A very popular New Deal measure, the CCC was created in April 1933. Within 4 months, 1300 CCC camps were in operation and 300,000 men between ages 18 and 25 worked on reforestation, soil conservation, and flood control projects. More than 2.5 million men lived and/or worked in CCC camps.

Helen Hunt Jackson, A Century of Dishonor

A widow of an army captain, Jackson became angered at what she considered the unfair treatment of Native Americans at the hands of US government agents. She became an activist and muckraker who started investigating and publicizing the agents' wrongdoing, circulating petitions, raising money, and writing letters to the New York Times on behalf of Indians. She also started writing a book condemning the government's Indian policy and the history of broken treaties. Her book, A Century of Dishonor, called for change from the contemptible, selfish policy to treatment characterized by humanity and justice, was published in 1881. Jackson then sent a copy to every member of Congress, but, to her disappointment, the book had little impact. She later led protests against the 1890 Dawes Severalty Act.

Slave revolts: Prosser, Vesey, Turner

Actual slave revolts were extremely rare, but the knowledge that they were possible struck terror into the hearts of white southerners everywhere. In 1800, Gabriel Prosser gathered 1,000 rebellious slaves outside Richmond; but two Africans gave the plot away, and the Virginia militia stymied the uprising before it could begin. Prosser and 35 others were executed. In 1822, the Charleston free black Denmark Vesey and his followers—rumored to total 9,000—made preparations for revolt; but again word leaked out, and suppression and retribution followed. On a summer night in 1831, Nat Turner, a slave preacher, led a band of African Americans armed with guns and axes from house to house in Southampton County, Virginia. They killed 60 white men, women, and children before being overpowered by State and federal troops. More than 100 blacks were executed in the aftermath. Nat Turner's was the only actual slave insurrection in the 19th century South, but fear of slave conspiracies and renewed violence pervaded the section as long as slavery lasted.

Missouri Compromise

Admitted Missouri as a slave State and at the same time admitted Maine as a free State. Declared that all territory north of the 36°30" latitude in the Louisiana Purchase would become free states, and all territory south of that latitude would become slave States.

Dr. Francis Townsend

Advanced the Old Age Revolving Pension Plan, which proposed that every retired person over 60 receive a pension of $200 a month (about twice the average week's salary). It required that the money be spent within the month.

Aaron Burr

After Burr lost to Jefferson as a Republican in the election of 1800, he switched to the Federalist party and ran for governor of New York. When he lost, he blamed Hamilton (a successful Federalist politician) of making defamatory remarks that cost him the election. Burr challenged Hamilton to a duel, in which Hamilton was killed on July 11, 1804. After the duel, Burr fled New York and joined a group of mercenaries in the southern Louisiana territory region. The U.S. arrested them as they moved towards Mexico. Burr claimed that they had intended to attack Mexico, but the U.S. believed that they were actually trying to get Mexican aid to start a secession movement in the territories. Burr was tried for treason, and although Jefferson advocated Burr's punishment, the Supreme Court acquitted Burr.

Cuban Missile Crisis, October 1962

After discovering that the Russians were secretly building nuclear missile launch sites in Cuba, which could have been used for a sneak-attack on the U.S., President Kennedy announced a quarantine of Cuba, which was really a blockade, but couldn't be called that since blockades are a violation of international law. After 13 days of confrontation that led to the brink of nuclear war, Khrushchev backed down and agreed to dismantle the launch sites

Texas War for Independence

After a few skirmishes with Mexican soldiers in 1835, Texas leaders met and organized a temporary government. Texas troops initially seized San Antonio, but lost it after the massacre of the outpost garrisoning the Alamo. In response, Texas issued a Declaration of Independence. Santa Ana tried to swiftly put down the rebellion, but Texan soldiers surprised him and his troops on April 21, 1836. They crushed his forces and captured him in the Battle of San Jacinto, and forced him to sign a treaty granting Texan independence. U.S. lent no aid.

National Republicans

After the 1824 election, part of the Democratic - Republican party joined John Q. Adams, Clay, and Daniel Webster to oppose Andrew Jackson. They favored nationalistic measures like recharter of the Bank of the United States, high tariffs, and internal improvements at national expense. They were supported mainly by Northwesterners and were not very successful. They were conservatives alarmed by Jackson's radicalness; they joined with the Whigs in the 1830's.

Herbert Hoover, Food Administration

After the United States entered the war in April 1917, President Woodrow Wilson appointed Hoover head of the American Food Administration. Hoover believed "food will win the war." He established set days to encourage people to avoid eating particular foods in order to save them for soldiers' rations: meatless Mondays, wheatless Wednesdays, and "when in doubt, eat potatoes." A process often dubbed "Hooverizing," this system helped conserve food for the war. Hoover helped reduce consumption of foodstuffs needed overseas and avoided rationing at home.

Gentlemen's Agreement, 1907

Agreement between the United States and Japan in 1907-1908 represented an effort by President Theodore Roosevelt to calm growing tension between the two countries over the immigration of Japanese workers. As the number of Japanese workers in California increased, they were met with growing hostility and racial antagonism fed by inflammatory articles in the press. On October 11, 1906, the San Francisco school board arranged for all Asian children to be placed in a segregated school. Japan was deeply wounded by San Francisco's discriminatory law aimed specifically at its people. President Roosevelt intervened. Japan agreed to deny passports to laborers intending to enter the United States. This was followed by the formal withdrawal of the San Francisco school board segregation order. Enabled US to preserve good relations with Japan as a counter to Russian expansion in the Far East.

Coercive Acts / Intolerable Acts / Repressive Acts

All of these names refer to the same acts, passed in 1774 in response to the Boston Tea Party, and which included the Boston Port Act, which shut down Boston Harbor; the Massachusetts Government Act, which disbanded the Boston Assembly (but it soon reinstated itself); the Quartering Act, which required the colony to provide provisions for British soldiers; and the Administration of Justice Act, which removed the power of colonial courts to arrest royal officers.

Dawes Severalty Act, 1887

Also called the General Allotment Act, it tried to dissolve Indian tribes by redistributing their land. Each Indian family head would be allotted 160 acres. American citizenship would be granted if the Indians remained on the land for 25 years and adopted "habits of civilized life." Surplus reservation lands were available for sale to white settlers. Designed to forestall growing Indian poverty, it resulted in many Indians losing their lands to speculators. Most Indians were unfamiliar with farming and were assigned poor lands so they could not secure a living. Many did not wish to become "civilized" as reflected in the white culture, but sought to retain their own tribal cultures.

Antietam

Also known as the Battle of Sharpsburg, fought on September 17, 1862, near Sharpsburg, Maryland and Antietam Creek, as part of the Maryland Campaign, was the first major battle in the American Civil War to take place on Northern soil. It was the bloodiest single-day battle in American history, with almost 23,000 casualties. Although the battle was tactically inconclusive, it had unique significance as enough of a victory to give President Abraham Lincoln the confidence to announce his Emancipation Proclamation.

Frederick Jackson Turner, Frontier Thesis

American historian who claimed in 1890 that the frontier no longer existed. Claimed that the frontier provided a place for homeless and solved social problems. His "frontier thesis" or "safety valve thesis" was used to explain America's unique non-European culture; it held that people who could not succeed in eastern society could move west for cheap land and a new start.

Lincoln Steffens (1866-1936), The Shame of the Cities

American journalist was one of the most famous and influential practitioners of the journalistic style called muckraking. He specialized in investigating government corruption, and two collections of his articles were published as The Shame of the Cities and The Struggle for Self-Government. The publication of Steffen's articles, in conjunction with the first chapters of Ida Tarbell's exposé of the Standard Oil Company, led to a sharp climb in McClure's circulation, and soon many other magazines were competing to boost their circulations by exposing the ills of American government.

U.S.S. Maine explodes

American warship sent to Havana, Cuba to protect U.S. interests during a time of local insurrection and civil disturbances. While at anchor on February 15, 1898 an explosion ripped through the ship sinking it in a matter of minutes. Two hundred and sixty-six men lost their lives. The explosion was a precipitating cause of the Spanish-American War that began in April 1898 and which used the rallying cry, "Remember the Maine!, To hell with Spain!" The episode focused national attention on the crisis in Cuba but was not cited by the William McKinley administration as a casus belli, though it was cited by some who were already inclined to go to war with Spain over their perceived atrocities and loss of control in Cuba.

New Right

Among the goals of what was known as the "New Right" were challenges to feminism and its achievements.

Ida B. Wells (1862-1931)

An African-American woman who achieved nationwide attention as leader of the anti-lynching crusade. A writer, she became part-owner of a newspaper, the Memphis Free Speech. In May 1892, in response to an article on a local lynching, a mob ransacked her offices and threatened her life if she did not leave town. Moving to Chicago, Wells continued to write about Southern lynchings. While investigating, she would go directly to the site of a killing, sometimes despite extreme danger. In 1895, she published The Red Record, the first documented statistical report on lynching. Wells was also a founder of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. She stands as one of America's most uncompromising leaders and most ardent defenders of democracy.

My Lai, Lt. Calley, 1968

An American army unit destroyed the village of My Lai in Vietnam suspecting it harbored Viet Cong soldiers. Although no enemy soldiers were found, a mass murder of nearly 500 women, children, and elderly occurred. Before being killed some of the victims were raped and sexually molested, beaten, tortured, or maimed. Some of the dead bodies were also mutilated. The incident was not revealed to the public until 20 months later. Lt. Calley, who led the patrol, was convicted of murder and sentenced to 10 years for killing 20 people. The incident prompted widespread outrage around the world and reduced U.S. support at home for the Vietnam War.

Secretary of the Treasury Mellon, tax cuts

An American financier, he was appointed Secretary of the Treasury by President Harding in 1921 and served under Coolidge and Hoover. While he was in office, the government reduced the WW I debt by $9 billion and Congress cut income tax rates substantially for the wealthy while ignoring middle-income Americans. He is often called the greatest Secretary of the Treasury after Hamilton.

Knights of Labor: Uriah Stephens, Terence Powderly

An American labor union that originally believed its predecessors had failed by limiting membership, the Knights proposed to organize both skilled and unskilled workers in the same union and opened their doors to blacks and women. In its early years, the organization was highly secret since in many areas union members were sum-marily fired. Founded in 1869 in Philadelphia by Uriah Stephens, the Knights opposed the use of strikes; however, new members and local leaders gradually radicalized the organization. By the mid-1880s, labor stoppages had become an effective tool, and the Knights won important strikes. However, failure in the Hay-market Square Riot in 1886 quickly eroded the Knights' influence. In the public mind, the eight-hour work day and other demands by the Knights had become radical ideas; to many, the terms "unionism" and "anarchism" were synonymous. Labor leader Terence V. Powderly's organizing skills had brought the group's membership to more than 700,000 in the early 1880s, but by 1900 that number had dropped to approximately 100,000.

Hamlin Garland

An American novelist, poet, essayist, and short story writer. He is best known for his fiction involving hard-working Midwestern farmers. His best-known work is Middle Board, an autobiographical story of the frustrations of agrarian life. During the eighty years of his life (1860-1940) Hamlin Garland was intimately involved with the major literary, social, and artistic movements in American culture. Pulitzer prize-winning author of over 40 books, campaigner for more humane treatment of Native Americans, proponent of impressionism in art, unabashed advocate of literary and cultural elitism, dabbler in research on psychic phenomena: the range of Garland's interests extended to nearly all aspects of American society.

Ernest Hemingway

An American novelist, short-story writer, and journalist. He was part of the 1920s expatriate community in Paris. Also considered part of the "Lost Generation." He received the Pulitzer Prize in 1953 for The Old Man and the Sea.

Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968)

An Atlanta-born Baptist minister, he earned a Ph.D. at Boston University. The leader of the civil rights movement and president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. He advocated nonviolent resistance and was tragically assassinated outside his hotel room in Memphis.

Pontiac's Rebellion, 1763

An Indian uprising after the French and Indian War, led by an Ottawa chief named Pontiac. They opposed British expansion into the western Ohio Valley and began destroying British forts in the area. The attacks ended when Pontiac was killed. The war was a failure for the Indians in that it did not drive away the British, but the widespread uprising prompted the British government to modify the policies that had provoked the conflict.

Christopher Columbus

An Italian explorer who sailed on behalf of the Spanish Queen Isabella. In search for trade routes across the Atlantic to Asia, he sailed in 1492 on three ships (Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria) and instead of landing in Asia he reached islands in the Caribbean.

Elijah Lovejoy (1802-1837)

An abolitionist and editor. The press he used was attacked four times and Lovejoy was killed defending it. His death was an example of violence against abolitionists.

Declaration of Independence, 1776

An act of the Second Continental Congress, adopted on July 4, 1776 which declared that the Thirteen British Colonies in North America were "Free and Independent States" and that "all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain" was dissolved. The document, explained the justifications for separation from the British Crown.

John Wilkes Booth

An actor, planned with others for six months to abduct Lincoln at the start of the war, but they were foiled when Lincoln didn't arrive at the scheduled place. On April 14, 1865, he shot Lincoln at Ford's Theatre. When he jumped down onto the stage his spur caught in the American flag draped over the balcony and he fell and broke his leg. He escaped on a waiting horse and fled town. He was found several days later in a barn. He refused to come out; the barn was set on fire. Booth was shot, either by himself or a soldier.

54º40' or Fight!

An aggressive slogan adopted in the Oregon boundary dispute, a dispute over where the border between Canada and Oregon should be drawn. This was also Polk's slogan - the Democrats wanted the U.S. border drawn at the 54º40' latitude. Polk settled for the 49º latitude in 1846.

Sedition Act of 1918

An amendment to the Espionage Act of 1917 passed at the urging of President Woodrow Wilson, who was concerned that dissent, in time of war, was a significant threat to morale. The passing of this act forbade Americans to use "disloyal, profane, scurrilous, or abusive language" about the United States government, flag, or armed forces during war. The act also allowed the Postmaster General to deny mail delivery to dissenters of government policy during wartime. Anti-war protesters were arrested by the hundreds as speaking out against the draft and the war became illegal under this law.

Lucretia Mott (1803-1880)

An early feminist, she worked constantly with her husband in liberal causes, particularly slavery abolition and women's suffrage. Her home was a station on the Underground Railroad. With Elizabeth Cady Stanton, she helped organize the first women's rights convention, held in Seneca Falls, New York in 1848.

Headright System

An effort to recruit new settlers and workers to the Virginia colony. Headrights were 50 acre grants of land which new settlers could acquire in a variety of ways. Each new settler received a single headright for him/or herself. This system encouraged family groups to migrate together, since the more family members traveled to America, the larger the landholding the family would receive.

D-Day

An enormous invasion force had been gathering in England for two years: almost 3 million troops, and perhaps the greatest array of naval vessels and armaments ever assembled in one place. On the morning of June 6, 1944, D-Day, General Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Supreme Commander of the Allied forces, sent this vast armada into action. The landing came not at the narrowest part of the English Channel, where the Germans had expected and prepared for it, but along sixty miles of the Cotentin Peninsula on the coast of Normandy. While airplanes and battleships offshore bombarded the Nazi defenses, 4,000 vessels landed troops and supplies on the beaches.

Battle of Cowpens, 1781

An overwhelming victory by American Revolutionary forces under Brigadier General Daniel Morgan, in the Southern campaign of the American Revolutionary War. It was a turning point in the reconquest of South Carolina from the British, part of a chain of events leading to the Patriot victory at Yorktown.

The Grimke sisters, Sarah and Angelina

Angelina and Sarah Grimke wrote and lectured vigorously on reform causes such as prison reform, the temperance movement, and the abolitionist movement.

Jackson's removal of deposits

Angry because Nicolas Biddle used Bank funds to support anti-Jacksonian candidates, Jackson removed federal deposits from the bank in 1833, firing the secretaries of treasury who would not comply. He was charged with abuse of power. Roger B. Taney, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, helped Jackson crush the Bank of the U.S.

Townshend Acts, reaction

Another series of revenue measures, passed by Townshend as Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1767, they taxed quasi-luxury items imported into the colonies, including paper, lead, tea, and paint. The colonial reaction was outrage and they instituted another movement to stop importing British goods.

National Interstate and Defense Highways Act of 1956

Appropriating $25 billion for the construction of 41,000 miles of interstate highways over a 10-year period. It was the largest public works project in American history to that point. Eisenhower argued for the highways for the purpose of national defense. In the event of an invasion by a foreign power, the military would need good roads to be able to quickly transport troops around the country.

Puritans

Ardent Protestants who hoped to "purify" the Church of England. They believed that the "reformation" did not create enough changes in theology. Political and religious dissenters.

Watergate Scandal, 1972

As part of a broad effort on by CREEP (Committee for the Reelection of the President) to sabotage political opposition, five men were arrested for breaking into the Democratic National Committee's executive quarters in the Watergate Hotel in Washington. Although Nixon apparently had no advance knowledge of the break-in, he subsequently obstructed an investigation of the crime. Two White House aides were indicted and resigned. The Senate began hearings in May, 1973. After fighting a two-year holding action, which included trying to withhold tape recordings implicating him, Nixon faced impeachment by the House of Representatives. The House Judiciary Committee recommended three articles of impeachment against Nixon: taking part in a criminal conspiracy to obstruct justice, "repeatedly" failing to carry out his constitutional oath, and unconstitutional defiance of committee subpoenas. Admittedly guilty of complicity in the burglary, the president resigned on August 9, 1974. He accepted a pardon from President Gerald Ford.

Bull Run

At Bull Run, a creek in Northern Virginia, Confederate soldiers charged Union men who were en route to besiege Richmond. Union troops fled back to Washington. Confederates didn't realize their victory in time to follow up on it. First major battle of the Civil War-both sides were ill-prepared.

Great Compromise

At the Constitutional Convention, larger states wanted to follow the Virginia Plan, which based each state's representation in Congress on state population. Smaller states wanted to follow the New Jersey Plan, which gave every state the same number of representatives. The convention compromised by creating the House and the Senate, and using both of the two separate plans as the method for electing members of each.

Bland-Allison Act, 1878

Authorized coinage of a limited number of silver dollars and "silver certificate" paper money. First of several government subsidies to silver producers in depression periods. Required government to buy between $2 and $4 million worth of silver. Created a partial dual coinage system referred to as "limping bimetallism." Repealed in 1900.

Ku Klux Klan in the 1920's

Based on the post-Civil War terrorist organization, the Invisible Empire of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan was founded in Georgia in 1915 by William Simmons to oppose the forces changing America and to fight the growing "influence" of blacks, Jews and Catholics in US society. It experienced phenomenal growth in the 1920's, especially in the Midwest and Ohio Valley States. Its peak membership came in 1924 at three million members, but its reputation for violence led to rapid decline by 1929.

Wade-Davis Bill, 1864

Bill declared that the Reconstruction of the South was a legislative, not executive, matter. It was an attempt to weaken the power of the president. In contrast to President Abraham Lincoln's more lenient Ten percent plan, the bill made re-admittance to the Union almost impossible since it required a majority in each Southern state to swear the Ironclad oath to the effect they had never in the past supported the Confederacy. The bill passed both houses of Congress on July 2, 1864, but was vetoed by Lincoln and never took effect.

Brigham Young, Great Salt Lake, Utah, 1847

Brigham Young let the Mormons to the Great Salt Lake Valley in Utah, where they founded the Mormon republic of Deseret. Believed in polygamy and strong social order. Others feared that the Mormons would act as a block, politically and economically.

Stamp Act, 1765

British legislation passed as part of Grenville's revenue measures which required that all legal or official documents used in the colonies, such as wills, deeds and contracts, had to be written on special, stamped British paper. It was so unpopular in the colonies that it caused riots, and most of the stamped paper sent to the colonies from Britain was burned by angry mobs. Because of this opposition, and the decline in British imports caused by the non- importation movement, London merchants convinced Parliament to repeal the Stamp Act in 1766.

Molasses Act, 1733

British legislation that taxed all molasses, rum, and sugar that the colonies imported from countries other than Britain and her colonies. The act angered the New England colonies, which imported a lot of molasses from the Caribbean as part of the Triangular Trade. The British had difficulty enforcing the tax; most colonial merchants ignored it.

Boston Tea Party, 1773

British ships carrying tea sailed into Boston Harbor and refused to leave until the colonials took their tea. Boston was boycotting the tea in protest of the Tea Act and would not let the ships bring the tea ashore. Finally, on the night of December 16, 1773, colonists disguised as Indians boarded the ships and threw the tea overboard. They did so because they were afraid that Governor Hutchinson would secretly unload the tea because he owned a share in the cargo.

Pendleton Civil Service Act, 1883

Brought about by the assassination of James Garfield by an immigrant who was angry about being unable to get a government job. The assassination raised questions about how people should be chosen for civil service jobs. Provided that Federal Government jobs be awarded on the basis of merit and that Government employees be selected through competitive exams. The act also made it unlawful to fire or demote for political reasons employees who were covered by the law. The law further forbids requiring employees to give political service or contributions. The result was more expertise and less politics. An unintended result was the shift of the parties to reliance on funding from business, since they could no longer depend on patronage hopefuls.

Black Tuesday

But on October 29, "Black Tuesday," all efforts to save the market failed. Sixteen million shares of stock were traded; the industrial index dropped 43 points; stocks in many companies became worthless. The market remained deeply depressed for more than four years. Many people believed that the stock market crash was the beginning, and even the cause, of the Great Depression. But although October 1929 might have been the first visible sign of the crisis, the Depression had earlier beginnings and more important causes.

Annexation of Hawaii

By the late 1800s, U.S. had exclusive use of Pearl Harbor. President Grover Cleveland did not want to forcibly annex Hawaii; he believed the annexation overstepped the national government's power. Spurred by the nationalism aroused by the Spanish-American War, in July 1898, Congress made Hawaii a U.S. territory for the use of the islands as naval ports. America's annexation of Hawaii in 1898 extended U.S. territory into the Pacific and contributed to the rise of the United States as a Pacific power.

Compromise of 1850: provisions, impact

Called for the admission of California as a free state, organizing Utah and New Mexico without restrictions on slavery, adjustment of the Texas/New Mexico border, abolition of slave trade in District of Columbia, and tougher fugitive slave laws. Its passage was hailed as a solution to the threat of national division.

Social Darwinism

Charles Darwin presented the theory of evolution, which proposed that creation was an on-going process in which mutation and natural selection constantly gave rise to new species. This theory of natural selection and "survival of the fittest" was applied to human society -- the poor are poor because they are not as fit to survive. Used as an argument against social reforms to help the poor.

Sumner-Brooks Affair, 1856

Charles Sumner gave a two-day speech on the Senate floor denouncing the South for crimes against Kansas and singled out Senator Andrew Butler of South Carolina for extra abuse. Preston Brooks, a congressman from South Carolina and Butler's nephew, entered the Senate and beat Sumner over the head with his cane for the insults to his State and family. The attack severely crippled Sumner who quickly became the first Republican martyr.

North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)

Chartered April 1949. The 11 member nations agreed to fight for each other if attacked. It is an international military force for enforcing its charter. Essentially created to protect Western Europe from the threat of the Soviet Union.

Taft-Hartley Act, 1947

Co-authored by Senator Robert A. Taft and Congressman Fred Allan Hartley, Jr. The act amended the National Labor Relations Act of 1935 and imposed certain restrictions of the money and power of labor unions, including a prohibition against mandatory closed shops, provided cooling-off periods before a strike could be called, gave the president the power to ask for an injunction to prevent a strike that could be dangerous to the health or safety of the nation, and required unions to file annual financial reports.

Triangular Trade

Complex pattern of trade between Europe, North America and the west coast of Africa. It involved rum, slaves and sugar but also included numerous other products shipped across the Atlantic.

Ku Klux Klan (Civil Rights Act) of 1871

Congress' response to the extraordinary civil unrest of the Reconstruction period which threatened the lives and the political and economic rights of all newly freed slaves. In the years after the Civil War, the South saw the emergence of white terrorist groups. In an attempt to protect African Americans from the policies of terrorism, intimidation, and violence of these organizations, Congress authorized the president to suppress terrorist factions by force and to impose harsh penalties on them

Hawley-Smoot Tariff, 1930

Congressional compromise serving special interest, it raised duties on agricultural and manufactured imports. It may have contributed to the spread of the international depression.

Mark Twain

Considered to be one of America's greatest humorists and writers, a master of satire. A regionalist writer who gave his stories "local color" through dialects and detailed descriptions. Twain published more than 30 works of literature that included satire, historical fiction, short stories, and nonfiction. He is perhaps best known for his novels about boyhood life on the Mississippi River in the mid-19th Century: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, considered to be Twain's greatest contribution to American literature, and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, both of which were based in part on his adventures as a child along the banks of the Mississippi.

Supreme Court: Gideon v. Wainwright, 1963

Court decided that State and local courts must provide counsel for defendants in felony cases at the State's expense in any serious felony prosecution. Before, counsel was only appointed if the death penalty was involved.

Supreme Court: Miranda v. Arizona, 1966

Court declared that police officers must inform persons they arrest of their rights: the right to remain silent and the right to counsel during interrogation.

Reconstruction Finance Corporation, RFC

Created in 1932 to make loans to banks, insurance companies, and railroads, it was intended to provide emergency funds to help businesses overcome the effects of the Depression. It was later used to finance wartime projects during WW II.

Glass-Steagall Banking Reform Act, 1933

Created the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, which insures the accounts of depositors of its member banks. It outlawed banks investing in the stock market.

Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America

De Tocqueville came from France to America in 1831. He observed democracy in government and society. His book (written in two parts in 1835 and 1840) discusses the advantages of democracy and consequences of the majority's unlimited power. First to raise topics of American practicality over theory, the industrial aristocracy, and the conflict between the masses and individuals.

Tehran Conference

December 1943 - A meeting between FDR, Churchill and Stalin in Iran to discuss plans for a second front in Europe and coordination of military efforts against Germany. They repeated the pledge made in the earlier Moscow Conference to create the United Nations after the war's conclusion to help ensure international peace.

Dennis v. U.S., 1951

Decided in the middle of the McCarthy era, this case upheld the conviction, 6-2, of eleven leaders of the Communist party for violating the 1940 Smith Act which was enacted in order to prevent the spread of Communism in the United States. This law made it a crime to plot the violent overthrow of government, even if no physical steps were taken towards that end. The Communists were convicted under the law, but then appealed, contending the Smith Act was unconstitutional. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the government, upholding a restriction of "free speech as is necessary to avoid danger."

Monroe Doctrine, 1823

Declared that Europe should not interfere in the affairs of the Western Hemisphere and that any attempt at interference by a European power would be seen as a threat to the U.S. It also declared that a New World colony which has gained independence may not be recolonized by Europe. (It was written at a time when many South American nations were gaining independence). Only England, in particular George Canning, supported the Monroe Doctrine. Mostly just a show of nationalism, the doctrine had no major impact until later in the 1800s.

Alexander Hamilton's Economic Program: ideas, proposals, reasons for it

Designed to pay off the U.S.'s war debts and stabilize the economy, he believed that the United States should become a leading international commercial power. His programs included the creation of the National Bank, the establishment of the U.S.'s credit rate, increased tariffs, and an excise tax on whiskey. Also, he insisted that the federal government assume debts incurred by the States during the war.

Mexican Revolution, Diaz, Huerta, Carranza

Diaz was ruler of Mexico for 34 years, and caused much terror and bloodshed. Many people fled to the U.S. to plan a revolution. Huerta, in 1913, overthrew Diaz as dictator and had him murdered. Carranza was the leader of the forces against Huerta. The Mexican Revolution was an unstable situation that led to distrust between the U.S. and Mexico.

Sherman Silver Purchase Act, 1890

Directed the Treasury to buy even larger amounts of silver that the Bland-Allison Act and at inflated prices. The introduction of large quantities of overvalued silver into the economy led to a run on the federal gold reserves, leading to the Panic of 1893. Repealed in 1893.

John Dickinson

Drafted a declaration of colonial rights and grievances, and also wrote the series of "Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania" in 1767 to protest the Townshend Acts. Although an outspoken critic of British policies towards the colonies, Dickinson opposed the Revolution, and, as a delegate to the Continental Congress in 1776, refused to sign the Declaration of Independence.

Tet Offensive, 1968

During Tet, the Vietnam lunar new year, Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army raiding forces attacked provincial capitals throughout South Vietnam, even seizing the U.S. embassy in Saigon for a time. U.S. opinion began turning against the war and Johnson's Vietnam policy.

Secretary of State John Hay, Open Door notes, September 1899

During the 1890s aggressive European nations had carved China into economic "spheres of influence" in which they exerted exclusive political and economic control. Secretary Hay sent imperialist nations a note asking them to offer assurance that they would respect the principle of equal trade opportunities, specifically in the China market, essentially creating an "open door." Hay claimed it a victory but all recipients of the notes rejected the idea of equal access.

Freeport Doctrine

During the Lincoln-Douglas debates, Douglas said in his Freeport Doctrine that Congress couldn't force a territory to become a slave State against its will.

Jacob Riis, How the Other Half Lives

Early 1900's muckraking writer/photographer who exposed social and political evils in the U.S. He was dedicated to using his photographic talents to help the less fortunate in New York. His photography helped capture the hardships faced by the poor. His most popular work, How the Other Half Lives, became a pivotal work that precipitated much needed reforms in the slums of New York. Jacob Riis's photography, taken up to help him document the plight of the poor, made him an important figure in the history of documentary photography.

Emma Willard (1787-1870)

Early supporter of women's education, in 1818 she published "Plan for Improving Female Education," which became the basis for public education of women in New York. In 1821, she opened her own girls' school, the Troy Female Seminary, designed to prepare women for college.

Mercantilism

Economic belief that the nation as a whole, not the individual, was the principal actor in the economy. In a mercantile economic system everything is set up in order to benefit the "mother" country and belief was that one nation could grow rich only at the expense of another nation. This economic belief led to the growth of European colonization and expansion of empires to extract as much wealth and resources from foreign lands as possible.

Suez Crisis

Egypt's dictator, Abdul Gamal Nasser, a former army officer who had led the coup that overthrew King Farouk, nationalized the Suez Canal in 1956, and was attacked by British, French and Israeli forces. The U.S. intervened on behalf of Egypt and damaged Britain and France's standing as world powers.

Rachel Carson

Emerging ideas of ecology. 1962 book Silent Spring.

Fugitive Slave Law

Enacted by Congress in 1793 and 1850, these laws provided for the return of escaped slaves to their owners. The North was lax about enforcing the 1793 law, which greatly irritated the South. The 1850 law was tougher and was aimed at eliminating the Underground Railroad.

Tenure of Office Act, 1866

Enacted by Radical Republicans, it forbade the president from removing civil officers without consent of the Senate. It was meant to prevent Johnson from removing radicals from office. Johnson's effort to remove Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, whom he considered a spy for the Radicals in cabinet meetings, was seen as a violation of the Tenure of Office Act and led to the impeachment of the president.

John Locke

English philosopher and writer who was an influential writer and thinker in the Enlightenment movement. His writings greatly influenced colonial ideas about political thought.

Primogeniture

English tradition of passing all inherited property to the firstborn son. This did not take root in New England and fathers divided their land among all of their sons.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

Essayist, poet. A leading transcendentalist, emphasizing freedom and self-reliance in essays which still make him a force today. He had an international reputation as a first-rate poet. He spoke and wrote many works on the behalf of the Abolitionists.

Granger Movement

Established originally for social and educational purposes, the local granges became political forums to channel farmer protest against economic abuses of the day. The granges sought to correct these abuses through cooperative enterprise. They were in part successful with the establishment of stores, grain elevators, and mills, but they met disaster in their attempt to manufacture farm machinery. Through political activity the grangers captured several state legislatures in the Middle West and secured the passage in Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Iowa of the so-called Granger laws, setting or authorizing maximum railroad rates and establishing state railroad commissions for administering the new legislation. Although technically not a political party, local granges led to the creation of a number of political parties, which eventually joined with the growing labor movement to form the Populist Party in 1892.

Whiskey Rebellion, 1794

Farmers in Pennsylvania rebelled against Hamilton's excise tax on whiskey, and several federal officers were killed in the riots caused by their attempts to serve arrest warrants on the offenders. In October, 1794, the army, led by Washington, put down the rebellion. The incident showed that the new government under the Constitution could react swiftly and effectively to such a problem, in contrast to the inability of the government under the Articles of Confederation to deal with Shay's Rebellion.

Monitor and the Merrimac

First engagement ever between two ironclad naval vessels. The two ships battled in a portion of the Chesapeake Bay known as Hampton Roads for five hours on March 9, 1862, ending in a draw. Monitor—Union. Merrimac—Confederacy. Historians use the name of the original ship Merrimac on whose hull the Southern ironclad was constructed, even though the official Confederate name was the CSS Virginia.

Virginia House of Burgesses

First meeting of elected legislature in what would become the United States. The meeting occurred on July 30, 1619 in the Jamestown Church.

Boss William Marcy Tweed

Flamboyant political boss and head of Tammany Hall, commonly known as "Boss Tweed, he controlled New York and believed in "Honest Graft." Tweed gathered a small group of men who controlled New York City's finances. They dispensed jobs and contracts in return for political support and bribes. He was convicted and eventually imprisoned for stealing millions of dollars from the city. The total amount of money stolen was never known, but has been estimated from $25 million to $200 million. While he was known primarily for his vast corrupt empire, Tweed was also responsible for building hospitals and orphanages, while widening Broadway along the Upper West Side.

"Bleeding Kansas"

Following the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, pro-slavery forces from Missouri, known as the Border Ruffians, crossed the border into Kansas and terrorized and murdered antislavery settlers. Antislavery sympathizers from Kansas carried out reprisal attacks, the most notorious of which was John Brown's 1856 attack on the settlement at Pottawatomie Creek. The war continued for four years before the antislavery forces won. The violence it generated helped precipitate the Civil War.

Treaty of Guadalupe Hildago

Formally ended the war with Mexico. Mexico recognized the Rio Grande boundary and ceded upper California and New Mexico. The US was to pay $15 million plus US claims against Mexico. The conclusion of the war ignited the issue of extending slavery into the territories and set the nation on the road to civil war.

Free Soil Party

Formed in 1847 - 1848, dedicated to opposing slavery in newly acquired territories. Supporters of the Wilmot Proviso advocated federal aid for internal improvements and urged free government homesteads for settlers. Composed of disaffected Democrats and Northerners who believed in "Free soil, free speech, free labor, and free men." Condemned slavery because it destroyed opportunities for free white workers to rise up. It was the first widely inclusive party organized around the issue of slavery and confined to a single section. Foreshadowed the emergence of the Republican party.

Lincoln's Ten Percent Plan

Former Confederate States would be readmitted to the Union if 10% of their citizens took a loyalty oath and the State agreed to ratify the 13th Amendment. Not put into effect because Lincoln was assassinated.

Gettysburg

Fought in and around the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, July 1-3. 1863, as part of the Gettysburg Campaign, was the bloodiest battle of the American Civil War and is frequently cited as the war's turning point. Union Major General George G. Meade's Army of the Potomac defeated attacks by Confederate General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia, ending Lee's invasion of the North.

Mormons: Joseph Smith (1805-1844)

Founded Mormonism in New York in 1830 with the guidance of an angel. In 1843, Smith's announcement that God sanctioned polygamy split the Mormons and let to an uprising against Mormons in 1844. He translated the Book of Mormon and died a martyr.

Greenback-Labor Party

Founded in 1878, the party was primarily composed of prairie farmers who went into debt during the Panic of 1873. The party fought for increased monetary circulation through issuance of paper currency and bimetallism (using both gold and silver as legal tender), supported inflationary programs in the belief that they would benefit debtors, and sought benefits for labor such as shorter working hours and a national labor bureau. They had the support of several labor groups and they wanted the government to print more greenbacks. This party made an important contribution to American politics by demonstrating the monetary policy could and should be part of the national debate.

Horace Greeley (1811-1873)

Founder and editor of the New York Tribune. He popularized the saying "Go west, young man." He said that people who were struggling in the East could make the fortunes by going west.

Bay of Pigs, 1961

Fourteen hundred American-trained and financed Cuban anti-Castro expatriates left from Nicaragua to try to topple Castro's regime, landing at the Bay of Pigs in southern Cuba. They had expected a popular uprising to overthrow the communist government and sweep them to victory, but the local populace refused to support them. When promised U.S. air cover failed to materialize, the invaders were easily killed or captured by the Cuban forces. Many of the survivors were ransomed back to the U.S. for $64 million. President Kennedy had approved this CIA clandestine operation.

Good Neighbor Policy

Franklin Roosevelt described his foreign policy as that of a "good neighbor." The phrase came to be used to describe the U.S. attitude toward the countries of Latin America. Under Roosevelt's "Good Neighbor Policy," the U.S. took the lead in promoting good will among these nations.

War Powers Act, 1973

Gave any president the power to go to war under certain circumstances, but required that he could only do so for 90 days before being required to officially bring the matter before Congress.

Battle of the Little Bighorn, 1876

General George Armstrong Custer and a regiment of cavalry attacked more than 2,500 Sioux and Cheyenne Indians led by Chiefs Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse camped on the Little Bighorn River in southern Montana. Custer and his 266 men were cut off and surrounded, and in a half-hour battle every cavalryman, including Custer, was killed. This incident led to fearful reprisals as small groups of Indians were hunted down or driven into Canada.

Dwight D. Eisenhower

General on D-Day and provided a moderate and undemanding leadership through most of the decade.

Office of Price Administration (OPA)

Government agency that successful combated inflation by fixing price ceilings on commodities and introducing rationing programs during World War II.

Little Rock, Arkansas School Desegregation Crisis, 1957

Governor Orval Faubus sent the Arkansas National Guard to prevent nine black students from entering Little Rock Central High School. Eisenhower sent in U.S. paratroopers to ensure the students could attend class.

Uncle Tom's Cabin

Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote the abolitionist book, Uncle Tom's Cabin. It treats slavery as a central theme and helped to crystalize the rift between the North and South having a profound effect on the North's view of slavery. It has been called the greatest American propaganda novel ever written, and helped to bring about the Civil War.

John Winthrop (1588-1649), his beliefs

He became the first governor of the Massachusetts Bay colony, and served in that capacity from 1630 through 1649. A Puritan with strong religious beliefs. He opposed total democracy, believing the colony was best governed by a small group of skillful leaders. He helped organize the New England Confederation in 1643 and served as its first president.

Eli Whitney: Cotton Gin (short for "engine"), 1798

He developed the cotton gin, a machine which could separate cotton from its seeds. This invention made cotton a profitable crop of great value to the Southern economy. It also reinforced the importance of slavery in the economy of the South.

Sinclair Lewis

He gained international fame for his novels attacking the weakness in American society. The first American to win the Nobel Prize for literature, Main Street (1920) was a satire on the dullness and lack of culture in a typical American town. Babbit (1922) focuses on a typical small business person's futile attempts to break loose from the confinements in the life of an American citizen.

Indentured Servitude

In return for passage to the New World, young men and women bound themselves to a master for a period of servitude (usually about 4-5 years).

Washington's Farewell Address

He warned against the dangers of political parties and foreign alliances. He stated the nation's intention was to extend commercial relations but restrict political alliances as much as possible since Europe's interests were not those of the United States.

John Bell

He was a moderate senator from Tennessee, and although a large slave owner, he opposed efforts to expand slavery and voted against the Kansas-Nebraska Act. In 1860 he wanted the union to stay together and helped found the Constitutional Union party and became its presidential candidate. He initially opposed secession, but eventually supported the southern cause.

Crispus Attucks (1723-1770)

He was an African American and one of the colonials involved in the Boston Massacre, and when the shooting started, he was the first to die. He became a martyr.

John Locke, Second Treatise of Government

He wrote that all human beings have a right to life, liberty, and property and that governments exist to protect those rights. He rejected the theory of the Divine Right of the monarchy, and believed that government was based upon a "social contract" that existed between a government and its people. If the government failed to uphold its end of the contract by protecting those rights, the people could rebel and institute a new government.

War Industries Board

Headed by Bernard Baruch, this was the most powerful agency of the war. It had to satisfy the allied needs for goods and direct American industries in what to produce and coordinate the purchase of war supplies. The organization encouraged companies to use mass-production techniques to increase efficiency and urged them to eliminate waste by standardizing products. The board set production quotas and allocated raw materials. It also conducted psychological testing to help people find the right jobs. It became the model for subsequent industrial mobilization planning.

Creel Committee

Headed by George Creel, this committee was an independent agency of the government of the United States intended to influence U.S. public opinion regarding American intervention in World War I. The committee depicted the U.S. as a champion of justice and liberty, and the Germans as evil monsters. It used newsprint, posters, radio, telegraph, cable and movies to broadcast its propaganda messages. As a result of the committee's work Liberty Loan drives were all oversubscribed, Red Cross contributions and a dozen other war -support causes were successful. Still, its slogans of "the war to end war" and "making the world safe for democracy" were cruel illusions.

Henry Cabot Lodge and the defeat of the League of Nations

Henry Cabot Lodge (1850-1924), a conservative Republican politician, proved a long-term adversary of Democratic President Woodrow Wilson and, ultimately, his nemesis. Lodge used his powerful position as Senate Majority Leader and Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to oppose Wilson's plan for U.S. participation in the League of Nations. Proposing a series of amendments to Wilson's bill ratifying U.S. entry into the League, Lodge succeeded in watering down U.S. involvement while simultaneously encouraging popular opposition to Wilson. Wilson, ignoring the advice of his closest advisors refused to compromise with his Republican opponents; as a consequence Congress never ratified U.S. entry into the League.

Compromise Tariff of 1833

Henry Clay devised the Compromise Tariff of 1833 which gradually reduced the rates levied under the Tariffs of 1828 and 1832. It caused South Carolina to withdraw the ordinance nullifying the Tariffs of 1828 and 1832. Both protectionists and anti-protectionists accepted the compromise.

Plessy v. Ferguson, 1896

In 1892, Homer Plessy boarded a car of the East Louisiana Railroad designated "white patrons only." Although Plessy was one-eighth black and seven-eighths white, under Louisiana state law he was classified as an African-American, and thus required to sit in the "colored" car. When Plessy refused to leave the white car and move to the colored car, he was arrested and jailed. The judge presiding over his first case, John Howard Ferguson, ruled that Louisiana had the right to regulate railroad companies as long as they operated within state boundaries. Plessy appealed to the United States Supreme Court in 1896. In a 7 to 1 decision, the Court ruled that the law mandating separate but equal accommodations for blacks and whites on intrastate railroads was constitutional. This case helped cement the legal foundation for the doctrine of "separate but equal" in regards to race relations, the idea that segregation based on classifications was legal as long as facilities were of equal quality.

Red Scare, Palmer raids

In 1919, the Communist Party was gaining strength in the U.S., and Americans fearing Communism associated labor violence with the Russian revolution. In January 1920, Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer commenced a series of raids in 33 cities that broke into meeting halls and homes without warrants. Four thousand "Communists" were jailed; some were deported. Communist Party membership declined by 80%.

Henry L. Mencken

In 1924, founded The American Mercury, which featured works by new writers and much of Mencken's criticism on American taste, culture, and language. He attacked the shallowness and conceit of the American middle class. The Baltimore Sun sent him to cover the Scopes Trial.

Korematsu v. U.S.

In 1944, the Supreme Court ruled that relocation was constitutionally permissible. In another case the same year, it barred the internment of "loyal" citizens, but left the interpretation of "loyal" to the discretion of the government.

Israel Created, 1948

In 1947 the UN General Assembly had approved the creation of a Jewish homeland by ending the British mandate in Palestine and partitioning it into two states: one Jewish and one Arab. On May 14, 1948, the Jews proclaimed the State of Israel, and all of the surrounding Arab nations declared war and invaded. After a short war, the Israelis gained control of the country. President Truman recognized Israel in the face of serious opposition from Europe and the U.S. State and Defense Departments.

Stokely Carmichael

In 1966, as chair of SNCC, he called to assert "Black Power," a slogan used to reflect solidarity and racial consciousness. Supporting the Black Panthers, he was against integration and believed that racism was an inherent part of the U.S. capitalist society.

American Indian Movement

In 1968, a group of young militant Indians established the __________________, which drew its greatest support from those Indians who lived in urban areas but soon established a significant presence on the reservations as well. To others, the goal was equality-to win for Indians a place in society equal to that of other groups of Americans.

American Liberty League

In August 1934, a group of the most fervent (and wealthiest) Roosevelt opponents, led by members of the Du Pont family, reshaped the American Liberty League (formed initially to oppose prohibition of liquor), to arouse public opposition to the New Deal's "dictatorial" policies and its supposed attacks on free enterprise.

Zoot-Suit Riots

In June 1943, animosity toward the zoot-suiters produced a four-day riot in Los Angeles, during which white sailors stationed at a base in Long Beach invaded Mexican American communities and attacked zoot-suiters (in response to alleged attacks). Afterwards Los Angeles passed a law prohibiting the wearing of zoot suits.

Rosa Parks, Montgomery Bus Boycott, 1955-1956

In Montgomery, Alabama, she refused to give up her bus seat to a white man as required by city ordinance. Her action, though planned, started the civil rights movement and led to a bus boycott lasting 11 months.

Boxer Rebellion, 1900

In an effort to expel foreign influence from their country, a secret super patriotic group of Chinese called the Boxers (their symbol was a fist) revolted against all foreigners in their midst. In the process of laying siege to foreign legations in Beijing hundreds of missionaries and foreign diplomats were murdered. Several nations including the United States sent military forces to quell the rebellion. American participation was seen as a violation of its noninvolvement policies.

SDI

In fact, the president proposed the most ambitious new military program in many years: the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), known to some as "Star Wars. " Reagan claimed that SDI, through lasers and satellites, could provide an effective shield against incoming missiles and thus make nuclear war obsolete.

Battle of the Bulge

In mid-December, German forces struck in desperation along fifty miles of front in the Ardennes Forest. In the _____ (named for a large bulge that appeared in the American lines as the Germans pressed forward), they drove fifty-five miles toward Antwerp before they were finally stopped at Bastogne. The battle ended serious German resistance in the west.

Teller Amendment, April 1898

In order to reassure anti-imperialist elements on the eve of declaring war on Spain, Senator Henry M. Teller of Colorado drafted an amendment to the declaration of war and Congress adopted the measure pledging that the United States had no designs on remaining in Cuba following conclusion of the conflict nor had any intention to annex the island.

"Flexible Response"

Kennedy abandoned Eisenhower's theory of massive nuclear war in favor of a military that could respond quickly to any situation at any time, at any place, in different ways.

"Spoils System"

In the politics of the United States, a spoils system is an informal practice when a political party, after winning an election, gives government jobs to its supporters as a reward for working toward victory, and as an incentive to keep working for the party. System was initiated after Andrew Jackson won the presidency in 1828. He systematically rewarded his supporters because he believed the popular election gave the victorious party a "mandate" to select officials from its own ranks.

Booker T. Washington (1857-1915), Tuskegee Institute

Indisputably one of the foremost educators of his day and the dominant black leader. He became controversial, and his legacy remains so today, because of his belief that blacks could earn the respect of white society by being responsible and not pushing too hard for civil rights. His defenders point out that Washington had few options and did the best he could under exceedingly difficult circumstances. In 1881 he founded the first formal school for blacks, the Tuskegee Institute. Washington encouraged blacks to seek a vocational education in order to rise above their second-class status in society. Tuskegee offered a number of academic courses, but emphasized training in the trades. Many students learned the building trades and put their talents to work constructing buildings and facilities on the campus. Great stress was laid on refined speech, proper dress and absolute cleanliness.

Initiative, referendum, recall

Initiative: people have the right to propose a new law. Referendum: a law passed by the legislature can be referenced to the people for approval/veto. Recall: the people can petition and vote to have an elected official removed from office. These all made elected officials more responsible and sensitive to the needs of the people, and part of the movement to make government more efficient and scientific.

National Organization for Women (NOW)

Inspired by Betty Frieden, a reform organization that battled for equal rights with men by lobbying and testing laws in court. NOW wanted equal employment opportunities, equal pay, ERA, divorce law changes, and legalized abortion.

Platt Amendment

Introduced by Connecticut Senator Orville Platt in March, 1901. The amendment ceded to the U.S. the naval base in Cuba (Guantánamo Bay), ensured U.S. intervention in Cuban affairs when the U.S. deemed necessary, and prohibited Cuba from negotiating treaties with any country other than the United States. Abrogated in 1934, but retained its lease on Guantánamo Bay.

Crittenden Compromise proposal

Introduced by John Crittenden, Senator from Kentucky, in December 1860. Offered a constitutional amendment recognizing slavery in the territories south of the 36º30' line, noninterference by Congress with existing slavery, and compensation to the owners of fugitive slaves. Republicans, on the advice of Lincoln, defeated it.

Marshall Plan

Introduced by Secretary of State George G. Marshall in 1947, he proposed massive and systematic American economic aid to Europe to revitalize the European economies after WWII to help prevent the spread of communism. Did much to rebuild Western Europe. Paved the way for the policy of containment.

Twenty-fourth Amendment, 1964

It outlawed taxing voters, i.e. poll taxes, at presidential or congressional elections, as an effort to remove barriers to black voters.

Jay's Treaty, 1794

It was signed in the hopes of settling the growing conflicts between the U.S. and Britain. It dealt with the Northwest posts and trade on the Mississippi River. It was unpopular with most Americans because it did not punish Britain for the attacks on neutral American ships. It was particularly unpopular with France, because the U.S. also accepted the British restrictions on the rights of neutrals.

"cult of domesticity"

It was the belief during the Age of Jackson that a woman's role in marriage was to maintain the home as a refuge for her husband, train the children, and set a moral example for children to follow. True women were expected to possess four virtues: piety, purity, submissiveness, and domesticity. Feminism opposed this understanding of gender roles. The "cult of domesticity" identified the home as the "separate, proper sphere" for women, who were seen as morally superior to and purer than men and thus better suited to parenting. According to this view, women were also believed to be resistant to "tainting" by the increasingly competitive, industrial world.

Casablanca Conference

Jan. 14-23, 1943 - FDR and Churchill met in Morocco to settle the future strategy of the Allies following the success of the North African campaign. They decided to launch an attack on Italy through Sicily before initiating an invasion into France over the English Channel. Also announced that the Allies would accept nothing less than Germany's and Japan's unconditional surrender to end the war.

Russo-Japanese War, Treaty of Portsmouth

Japan had attacked the Russian Pacific fleet over Russia's refusal to withdraw its troops from Manchuria after the Boxer Rebellion (1904-1905). War fought mainly in Korea. Japan victorious, the U.S. mediated the end of the war. Negotiating the treaty in the U.S. increased U.S. prestige. Roosevelt received a Nobel Peace Prize for the mediation.

Hoover-Stimson Doctrine, 1932

Japan's seizure of Manchuria brought this pronouncement by Hoover's Secretary of State, Henry Stimson, that the U.S. would not recognize any changes to China's territory, or any impairment of China's sovereignty.

John Spargo, The Bitter Cry of the Children

Journalist and novelist, he wrote of the unfair treatment of children used as child labor. Spargo was a British granite cutter who immigrated to the United States in 1901 where he became a leader of the conservative wing of the American Socialist Party. Stressed better education, better schools and teachers. Probably the most influential and certainly the most widely read of the Progressive-era exposés of child labor was Spargo's The Bitter Cry of the Children (1906).

National Youth Association (NYA)

June 1935 - Established as part of the WPA to provide part-time jobs for high school and college students to enable them to stay in school and to help young adults not in school find jobs.

Chief Justice John Marshall, Marbury v. Madison, 1803

Justice Marshall was a Federalist whose decisions on the U.S. Supreme Court promoted federal power over State power and established the judiciary as a branch of government equal to the legislative and executive. In Marbury v. Madison he established the Supreme Court's power of judicial review. One of President Adams' "midnight appointments" to a federal judgeship sued for the delivery of his commission by James Madison, secretary of State; Marshall held that Marbury's claim was valid but Section 13 (writ of mandamus) of the 1789 Judiciary Act conflicted with the constitutional limitations on the Supreme Court's area of original jurisdiction and was therefore invalid. The critical importance of Marbury is the assumption of several powers by the Supreme Court. One was the authority to declare acts of Congress, and by implication acts of the president, unconstitutional if they exceeded the powers granted by the Constitution. But even more important, the Court became the final authority on what the document meant. As such, the Supreme Court became in fact as well as in theory an equal partner in government, and it has played that role ever since.

Quakers

Known as the "Society of Friends," the Quakers were dissenting English Protestants seeking to find a home for their religion and their own distinctive social order. William Penn, a Quaker, became the proprietor of Pennsylvania and sought to create a "holy experiment."

Sit-ins, Freedom Rides

Late 1950's, early 1960's, these were nonviolent demonstrations and marches that challenged segregation laws, often braving attacks by angry white mobs. President Kennedy's decision to protect the freedom riders with federal marshals earned him support from black Americans.

Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine

Latin American nations were in deep financial trouble and could not pay their debts to European creditors. Roosevelt declared the U.S. would intervene and occupy the ports of those countries that were delinquent in paying their debts and manage the collection of customs taxes until European debts were satisfied. U.S. would act as international policemen. An addition to the Monroe Doctrine.

Eugene V. Debs

Leader of the American Railway Union, the first effective industrial union in the country. He voted to aid workers in the Pullman strike. He was jailed for six months for disobeying a court order after the strike was over. While in detention, Debs read widely and was deeply impressed by the writings of Karl Marx. He emerged from prison convinced that the plight of the worker was most accurately viewed as a class struggle. He was a founder of the Socialist Party of America. He was the Socialist presidential nominee in 1900, when he ran poorly, and 1904, when he ran a much stronger campaign. In 1905, Debs helped to establish the International Workers of the World (IWW), but soon found the organization too radical for his tastes. Debs made later presidential runs in 1908, 1912 and 1920, the last of which was his most successful with nearly one million votes. Debs also was regarded as one of the most gifted public speakers of his era, rivaling the great preachers and political orators.

Emilio Aguinaldo, Philippine Insurrection

Led a Filipino insurrection against the Spanish in 1896 and assisted the U.S. invasion. He served as leader of the provisional government but was removed by the U.S. because he wanted to make the Philippines independent before the U.S. felt it was ready for independence. Led an unsuccessful three-year armed resistance against the United States.

Chief Joseph

Led the Nez Percés during the hostilities between the tribe and the U.S. Army in 1877. Fought a long, 1500 mile retreat in order to avoid being removed from their homeland in the Wallowa Valley in Oregon and placed on a reservation. He and his tribe were finally cornered approximately forty miles from the Canadian border and forced to surrender. His speech "I Will Fight No More Forever" mourned the young Indian men killed in the fighting. For his principled resistance to the removal, he became renowned as a humanitarian and peacemaker.

Suspension of habeas corpus

Lincoln suspended this writ, which states that a person cannot be arrested without probable cause and must be informed of the charges against him and be given an opportunity to challenge them. Throughout the war, thousands were arrested for disloyal acts. U.S. Supreme Court eventually held the edict unconstitutional.

Twenty-sixth Amendment

Lowered voting age to 18.

Bonus Bill veto, 1817

Madison vetoed John C. Calhoun's Bonus Bill, which would have used the bonus money paid to the government by the Second National Bank to build roads and canals. Madison believed in strict interpretation, and using federal money for internal improvements was not a power granted to the federal government in the Constitution.

Captain Alfred Thayer Mahan

Mahan was a proponent of building a large navy. He said that a new, modern navy was necessary to protect the international trade America depended on. The arguments in his seminal work, The Influence of Seapower Upon History, 1660-1783, influenced naval policies of governments for decades. In the United States, it encouraged President Teddy Roosevelt to support a greater navy. It also motivated the U.S. government to project American power through its navy, thus contributing to American Imperialism

Fall of China, Mao Tse-Tung (Mao Zedong)

Mao Tse-Tung led the communists in China. Because of the failure to form a coalition government between Chiang Kai-Shek (Jiang Jieshi) and the communists, civil war broke out in China after WWII. The communists won in 1949, but the new government was not recognized by much of the world, including the United States. Instead, Chiang and the nationalists were forced to flee to Formosa, a large island off the southern coast of China, after the communist victory in the civil war. Throughout the 1950's, the U.S. continued to recognize and support Chiang's government in Formosa as the legitimate government of China, and to ignore the existence of the Communist People's Republic on the mainland. Communist China would not be recognized as the legitimate government until after Nixon's visit in 1972.

"Lend lease"

March 1941 - Authorized the president to transfer, lend, or lease any article of defense equipment to any government whose defense was deemed vital to the defense of the U.S. Allowed the U.S. to send supplies and ammunition to the Allies without technically becoming a co-belligerent.

National Labor Relations Act or Wagner Act

May 1935 - Replaced Section 7A of the NIRA. It reaffirmed labor's right to unionize and bargain collectively, prohibited unfair labor practices, and created the National Labor Relations Board.

Cyrus McCormick's Mechanical Reaper

McCormick built the reaping machine in 1831, and it made farming more efficient. Part of the industrial revolution, it allowed farmers to substantially increase the acreage that could be worked by a single family, and also made corporate farming possible.

Camp David Accords/Egypt-Israel Peace Treaty

Menachem Begin, Anwar Sadat Brought together at Camp David by President Carter, Anwar Sadat, representing Egypt and Menachem Begin, representing Israel; Israel returned land to Egypt in exchange for Egyptian recognition. Earned both men the Noble Peace Prize and was considered a spectacular foreign policy achievement for Carter.

F. Scott Fitzgerald

Most critics regard The Great Gatsby as his finest work. It was written in 1925, and tells of an idealist who is gradually destroyed by the influence of the wealthy, pleasure-seeking people around him.

Bacon's Rebellion, 1676

Nathaniel Bacon and other western Virginia settlers were angry with Virginia Governor Berkley for trying to appease the Doeg Indians after the Doegs attacked the western settlements. The frontiersmen formed an army, with Bacon as its leader, which defeated the Indians and then marched on Jamestown and burned the city. The rebellion ended suddenly when Bacon died of an illness.

"Muckrakers"

Name applied to American journalists, novelists, and critics who in the first decade of the 20th cent. attempted to expose the abuses of business and the corruption in politics. The term derives from the word muckrake used by President Theodore Roosevelt in a speech in 1906, in which he agreed with many of the charges of the muckrakers but asserted that some of their methods were sensational and irresponsible. Historians agree that if it had not been for the revelations of the muckrakers the Progressive movement would not have received the popular support needed for effective reform.

Sojourner Truth

Name used by Isabelle Baumfree, one of the best-known abolitionists of her day. She was the first black woman orator to speak out against slavery.

Gerald R. Ford

Nixon's vice president after Agnew resigned, he became the only president never to be elected assuming the office as a result of the Twenty-fifth Amendment. Taking office after Nixon resigned, he pardoned Nixon for all federal crimes that the former president "committed or may have committed." Although many American suspected Ford had made a bargain with the former president when Nixon appointed him vice president, Ford denied any such agreement.

Corn (Maize) Cultivation

North American Native societies that developed around agriculture and the cultivation of crops such as corn led to sedentary settlements. This was especially true with the Pueblo tribes that built densely populated settlements that resembled large apartment buildings.

Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh

North Vietnamese leader who had led the resistance against the Japanese during WW II and at the end of the war had led the uprising against the French Colonial government. He had traveled in Europe, educated in Moscow, and was an ardent communist. Became President of the North Vietnamese government established after the French withdrawal in WWII. Often called the George Washington of North Vietnam he helped Vietnam claim its independence from France in 1945.

Cairo Conference

November, 1943 - A meeting of Allied leaders Roosevelt, Churchill, and Chiang Kai-Shek in Egypt to define the Allies goals with respect to the war against Japan. They announced their intention to seek Japan's unconditional surrender and to strip Japan of all territory it had gained since WW I.

Lee Harvey Oswald, Warren Commission

November, 22, 1963 - Oswald allegedly shot Kennedy from a Dallas book depository building, and was later killed by Jack Ruby, a Dallas club owner with Mafia ties. Chief Justice Earl Warren led the official government investigation and ruled that both Oswald and Ruby acted alone.

Wounded Knee

Occupation of (_______________) more celebrated protest occurred in February 1973 at Wounded Knee, South Dakota, the site of the 1890 massacre of Sioux by federal troops. Members of AIM seized and occupied the town of Wounded Knee for two months, demanding radical changes in the administration of the reservation an

Shay's Rebellion

Occurred in the winter of 1786-87 under the Articles of Confederation. Poor, indebted landowners in Massachusetts blocked access to courts and prevented the government from arresting or repossessing the property of those in debt. The federal government was too weak to help Boston remove the rebels, a sign that the Articles of Confederation weren't working effectively.

Populist Party

Officially named the People's party, but commonly known as the Populist party, it was founded in 1891 in Cincinnati, Ohio. Wrote a platform for the 1892 election calling for free coinage of silver and paper money; national income tax; direct election of senators; regulation of railroads; and other government reforms to help farmers. First presidential candidate was James B. Weaver.

Battle of Wounded Knee, 1890

On December 29, 1890, five hundred troops of the U.S. 7th Cavalry, surrounded an encampment of Lakota Sioux with orders to disarm the Indians and escort them back to the railroad for transport to Omaha, Nebraska. Shooting broke out near the end of the disarmament, and by the time it was over, twenty-five troopers and one hundred and fifty-three Lakota Sioux lay dead, including sixty-two women and small children. Many of the dead on both sides may have been the victims of "friendly fire" as the shooting took place at point blank range in chaotic conditions. The massacre was the final major confrontation between Native Americans and white men on the Northern Plains.

Olive Branch Petition

On July 8, 1775, the colonies made a final offer of peace to Britain, agreeing to be loyal to the British government if it addressed their grievances (repealed the Coercive Acts, ended the taxation without representation policies). It was rejected by Parliament, which in December 1775 passed the American Prohibitory Act forbidding all further trade with the colonies.

Korean War

On June 24, 1950, the armies of communist North Korea swept across their southern border and invaded the pro-Western half of the Korean peninsula to the south. Within days, they had occupied much of South Korea, including Seoul, its capital. Almost immediately, the United States committed itself to defeating the North Korean offensive. It was the nation's first military engagement of the Cold War.

Stonewall Riot

On June 27, 1969, police officers raided the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in New York City's Greenwich Village, and began arresting patrons simply for frequenting the place. Someone started a blaze in the Stonewall Inn, almost trapping the policemen inside. The "Stonewall Riot" helped make the gay liberation movement-a movement that had been gaining strength since at least the 1950s-a significant and highly public force.

Triangle Shirtwaist Company Fire

On March 25, 1911, a fire broke out in a New York City sweatshop run by the Triangle Shirtwaist Company. The fire started on the eighth floor of the Asch Building and quickly spread upward to the two top floors of the building. Some workers, having no way of opening the doors that had been locked to prevent theft, leaped from windows to their deaths. Fire truck ladders, then able to reach only six stories were of little help, and the building's overloaded fire escape collapsed. One hundred forty-six individuals, mostly young immigrant women, died in the tragedy. The disaster touched off a national movement for safer working conditions, led to the creation of health and safety legislation, including factory fire codes and child-labor laws, and helped shape future labor laws.

Ida Tarbell (1857-1944)

One of the leading muckrakers, she is remembered for her investigations of industry published in McClure's magazine. Her 1904 book, History of Standard Oil Company, exposed the monopolistic practices of the Standard Oil Company. Tarbell wrote a detailed exposé of Rockefeller's unethical tactics, sympathetically portraying the plight of Pennsylvania's independent oil workers. Still, she was careful to acknowledge Rockefeller's brilliance and the flawlessness of the business structure he had created. She did not condemn capitalism itself, but "the open disregard of decent ethical business practices by capitalists." Her work strengthened the movement for outlawing monopolies.

Immigration Act of 1965

One of the most important pieces of legislation of the 1960s. The law maintained a strict limit on the number of newcomers admitted to the country each year (170,000), but it eliminated the "national origins" system established in the 1920s, which gave preference to immigrants from northern Europe over those from other parts of the world. It continued to restrict immigration from some parts of Latin America, but it allowed people from all parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa to enter the United States on an equal basis.

Social Security Act

One of the most important reform measures of the Second New Deal established a retirement for persons over 65 funded by a tax on wages paid equally by employee and employer. It also provided disability assistance and unemployment insurance.

Malcom X

One-time street hustler converted to a Black Muslim while in prison and advocated separatism. At first urged blacks to seize their freedom by any means necessary, but later changed position and advocated racial harmony. He was assassinated in February 1965.

Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)

Organized in the fall of 1960 by Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. as a student civil rights movement inspired by sit-ins, it challenged the status quo and walked the back roads of Mississippi and Georgia to encourage blacks to resist segregation and register to vote.

Meso-Americans

Organized native societies that occupied much of what is now Mexico and Central America. These civilizations included the Olmec people, the Aztecs and the Mayans. The culture of these societies had established religions, calendars, languages and numeric systems.

Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO), John L. Lewis

Originally formed by leaders within the AFL who wanted to expand its principles to include all workers in mass production industries. In 1935, they created coalition of the 8 unions comprising the AFL and the United Mine Workers of America, led by John L. Lewis. After a split within the organization in 1938, the CIO was established as a separate entity.

Pentagon Papers, Daniel Ellsberg

Papers were part of a top-secret government study on the Vietnam War and said that the U.S. government had lied to the citizens of the U.S. and the world about its intentions in Vietnam. Ellsberg, a former Pentagon employee, copied the papers and made them available to the New York Times, which published the papers.

Sugar Act, 1764

Part of Prime Minister Grenville's revenue program, the act replaced the Molasses Act of 1733, and actually lowered the tax on sugar and molasses (which the New England colonies imported to make rum as part of the triangular trade) from 6 cents to 3 cents a barrel, but for the first time adopted provisions that would insure that the tax was strictly enforced; created the vice-admiralty courts; and made it illegal for the colonies to buy goods from non-British Caribbean colonies.

Twenty-First Amendment

Passed February 1933 to repeal the 18th Amendment (Prohibition). Congress legalized light beer. Took effect December 1933. Based on recommendation of the Wickersham Commission that Prohibition had lead to a vast increase in crime.

Declaratory Act, 1766

Passed at the same time that the Stamp Act was repealed, the Act declared that Parliament had the power to tax the colonies both internally and externally, and had absolute power over the colonial legislatures.

Espionage Act, 1917

Passed at the urging of President Woodrow Wilson, who feared any widespread dissent in time of war, thinking that it constituted a real threat to an American victory. The Espionage Act prescribed a $10,000 fine and 20 years' imprisonment for interfering with the recruiting of troops or the disclosure of information dealing with national defense. Additional penalties were included for the refusal to perform military duty. Over the next few months around 900 went to prison under the Espionage Act.

Voting Rights Act, 1965

Passed by Congress in 1965, it allowed for supervisors to register blacks to vote in places where they had not been allowed to vote before. Convinced Southerner politicians of the importance of black voters.

Edward Bellamy, Looking Backwards, 1888

Penned this utopian novel which predicted the U.S. would become a socialist state in which the government would own and oversee the means of production and would unite all people under moral laws. This utopian saga captured the attention of thousands of people in the United States and sparked an upsurge in interest in socialism. Bellamy avoided that term and referred to his movement as "Nationalism."

Dawes Plan

Post-WW I depression in Germany left it unable to pay reparation and Germany defaulted on its payments in 1923. In 1924, U.S. Vice President Charles Dawes formulated a plan to allow Germany to make its reparation payments in annual installments.

Prohibition, Volstead Act, Al Capone

Prohibition - 1919: the 18th Amendment outlawed the manufacture or sale of intoxicating liquors. Volstead Act, passed in 1919, defined what drinks constituted "intoxicating liquors" under the 18th Amendment, and set penalties for violations of prohibition. Strongly opposed in eastern cities. Al Capone: In Chicago, he was one of the most famous leaders of organized crime of the era.

Interstate Commerce Act, 1887

Prohibits rebates and pools and required that railroads publish their rates openly. Forbade unfair discrimination against shippers and outlawed short haul-long haul charges. Created the Interstate Commerce Commission, the first true federal regulatory agency, to monitor the business operation of carriers transporting goods and people between States.

Clay's American System

Proposed after the War of 1812, it included using federal money for internal improvements (roads, bridges, industrial improvements, etc.), enacting a protective tariff to foster the growth of American industries, and strengthening the national bank.

Brownsville Incident

Racial incident that grew out of tensions between whites in Brownsville, Texas and black infantrymen stationed at nearby Fort Brown. About midnight, Aug. 13-14, 1906, rifle shots on a street in Brownsville killed one white man and wounded another. The city's mayor and other whites asserted that they had seen black soldiers on the street firing indiscriminately. Despite evidence that spent shells had been planted as part of a frame-up, investigators accepted the statements of the mayor and the white citizens. President Theodore Roosevelt ordered 167 black infantrymen discharged without honor. His action caused much resentment among blacks and drew some criticism from whites, but a U.S. Senate committee, which investigated the episode in 1907-08, upheld Roosevelt's action.

Seneca Falls, July, 1848

Reaction to the "cult of domesticity" standards led to the Seneca Falls Convention in 1848 in Seneca Falls, New York. It was led by Lucretia Mott, Susan B. Anthony, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. They re-wrote the United States Declaration of Independence into the Declaration of Sentiments to include women, and listed a set of grievances that women had towards men. Eleven resolutions, one of which called for women's suffrage, were adopted.

Reaganomics

Reagan's 1980 campaign for the presidency had promised to restore the economy to health by a bold experiment that became known as "supply-side" economics or, to some, "Reaganomics.

Great Society

Reforms meant a significant increase in federal spending. For a time, rising tax revenues from the growing economy nearly compensated for the new expenditures.

Non-Intercourse Act, 1809

Replaced the Embargo of 1807. Unlike the Embargo, which forbade American trade with all foreign nations, this act only forbade trade with France and Britain. It did not succeed in changing British or French policy towards neutral ships, so Macon's Bill No. 2 replaced it.

Wabash, St. Louis and Pacific Railroad Company v. Illinois, 1886

Reversing its position initially put forth in Munn v. Illinois, the Supreme Court held that individual States could control trade in their States (intrastate), but could not regulate railroads coming through them (interstate). Only Congress had exclusive jurisdiction over interstate commerce.

Frances Perkins

Roosevelt appointed the first female cabinet member in the nation's history, Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins.

Berlin Blockade, 1948

Russia under Stalin blockaded Berlin completely in the hopes that the West would give the entire city to the Soviets to administer. To bring in food and supplies, the U.S. and Great Britain mounted airlifts that became so intense that, at their height, an airplane was landing in West Berlin every few minutes. West Germany was a republic under France, the U.S. and Great Britain. Berlin was located entirely within Soviet-controlled East Germany.

Election of 1876: Hayes and Tilden

Rutherford B. Hayes - liberal Republican, Civil War general, he received only 165 electoral votes. Samuel J. Tilden - Democrat, received 264,000 more popular votes that Hayes, and 184 of the 185 electoral votes needed to win. Republicans did not concede votes won by Tilden in Florida, Louisiana, South Carolina, and Oregon. These States submitted two sets of popular votes. To break the electoral deadlock, Congress sets up a 15-member Electoral Commission. Balance favored Republicans 8-7 and commission decided that Hayes was the winner; fraud was suspected.

Washington Disarmament Conference, 1921-1922

Secretary of State Charles Evans Hughes met with nine other countries in the nation's capital to discuss limits on naval armaments. They felt that a naval arms race had contributed to the start of WW I. They created quotas for different classes of ships that could be built by each country based on its economic power and size of existing navies. The Conference established a 5-5-3-tonnage ratio on the construction of large ships. It meant that Japan could only have 3 tons of ship for every 5 tons in Britain and the U.S. Britain, the U.S. and Japan agreed to dismantle existing vessels to meet the ratio.

Public education, Horace Mann

Secretary of the newly formed Massachusetts Board of Education, he created a public school system in Massachusetts that became the model for the nation. Started the first American public schools, using European schools (Prussian military schools) as models.

John Breckinridge

Senator from Kentucky and V.P. under James Buchanan. An unsuccessful candidate for President in 1860, nominated by the Southern faction of the split Democratic party, losing to Abraham Lincoln but receiving more electoral votes than the other major candidates, John Bell of the Constitutional Union Party, and Stephen A. Douglas, the Northern Democrats' nominee. Breckinridge won the South with his pro-slavery platform, but was unable to win the Border States; received almost no support in the North. Strongly for slavery and states' rights.

Emancipation Proclamation

September 22, 1862 - Lincoln freed all slaves in the States that had seceded, after the Northern victory at the Battle of Antietam. Lincoln had no power to enforce the law.

Anne Hutchinson, Antinomianism

She preached the idea that God communicated directly to individuals instead of through the church elders. She was forced to leave Massachusetts in 1637. Her followers (the Antinomianists) founded the colony of New Hampshire in 1639.

Fort Sumter

Site of the opening engagement of the Civil War. On December 20, 1860, South Carolina had seceded from the Union, and had demanded that all federal property in the State be surrendered to State authorities. Major Robert Anderson concentrated his units at Fort Sumter, and, when Lincoln took office on March 4, 1861, Sumter was one of only two forts in the South still under Union control. Learning that Lincoln planned to send supplies to reinforce the fort, on April 11, 1861, Confederate General Beauregard demanded Anderson's surrender, which was refused. On April 12, 1861, the Confederate Army began bombarding the fort, which surrendered on April 14, 1861. Congress declared war on the Confederacy the next day.

Jane Addams, Hull House

Social reformer who worked to improve the lives of the working class. In 1889 she founded Hull House in Chicago, the first private social welfare agency in the U.S., to assist the poor, combat juvenile delinquency and help immigrants learn to speak English.

"Irreconcilables": Borah, Johnson, LaFollette

Some senators known as "irreconcilables" opposed the Treaty because it committed the U.S. to the League of Nations. This group of 16 senators could not be reconciled to, or made to accept, the Treaty. They argued that joining the League would threaten American independence in making foreign policy. The handful of Senate "irreconcilables," led by senators William Borah of Idaho, Hiram Johnson of California, and Robert LaFollette of Wisconsin, were basically isolationists who were uncompromising in their opposition to U.S. membership in the League of Nations.

Dixiecrats, J. Strom Thurmond

Southern Democrats disgruntled over the strong civil rights proposals of the Democrats' 1948 National Convention formed the States' Rights Democratic party and nominated Thurmond (governor of South Carolina) for president.

Adams-Onis Treaty

Spain gave up Florida to the U.S. and the U.S./Mexico border was set so that Texas and the American Southwest would be part of Mexico.

Pullman Strike, 1894

Started by enraged workers who were part of George Pullman's "model town," near Chicago. It began when Pullman cut wages up to 40 percent which were not accompanied by rent reductions. Workers belonged to the American Railway Union led by Eugene V. Debs. To support strikers, railroad employees refused to handle trains with Pullman cars. Most railroad transportation out of Chicago halted. Pullman refused to negotiate, secured an injunction under the Sherman Anti-Trust Act and President Cleveland sent in troops to ostensibly ensure that delivery of the US mails was not interrupted. The arrival of troops led to mob protests and violence. Debs was jailed for defying the injunction and continuing the strike. With troops on the scene and Debs in jail the strike collapsed. It marked the first effective use of the injunction against a labor union.

Truman Doctrine, 1947

Stated that the U.S. would support any nation threatened by communism. Played a large role in the developing cold war with the Soviet Union. Helped set the stage for the Marshall Plan.

Thaddeus Stevens, Conquered Territory Theory

Stevens was the most powerful leader of the Radical Republican in the House of Representatives. He believed in harsh punishments for the South. Believed that conquered Southern States were not part of the Union, but were instead conquered territory, which the North could deal with however it liked.

SALT I & II Agreements

Strategic Arms Limitations Talks by Nixon and Brezhnev in Moscow in May, 1972. Limited anti-ballistic missiles to two major departments and 200 missiles. The Second Strategic Arms Limitations Talks: the second treaty was signed on June 18, 1977 to cut back the weaponry of the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. because it was getting too competitive. Set limits on the numbers of weapons produced. Not passed by the U.S. Senate as retaliation for U.S.S.R.'s invasion of Afghanistan, and later superseded by the START treaty.

Josiah Strong, Our Country

Strong was a Protestant clergyman and founder of the Social Gospel movement. He argued that America and its people were superior because they were Anglo-Saxon and thus had a responsibility to civilize and Christianize the world. In writing Our Country, Strong combined nativist beliefs with overseas economic and cultural expansionism and the book became a best seller and a reference point for later expansionists.

Enlightenment Ideals

Suggested that people had substantial control over their own lives and the course of societies. This movement stressed the importance of science and human reason.

Charles River Bridge v. Warren Bridge, 1837

Supreme Court ruled that a charter granted by a State to a company cannot work to the disadvantage of the public. A State could not make laws infringing on the charters of private organizations. The Charles River Bridge Company protested when the Warren Bridge Company was authorized in 1828 to build a free bridge where it had been chartered to operate a toll bridge in 1785. The court ruled that the Charles River Company was not granted a monopoly right in their charter, and the Warren Company could build its bridge. Began the legal concept that private companies cannot injure the public welfare.

Encomienda

System used by the Spanish in the New Mexico Region of North America. Encomiendas were licenses issued by the Spanish to exact labor and tribute from the native population. This forced labor system would later lead to an unstable relationship with the local native population and resulted in numerous revolts from the Pueblo tribes in the region.

"Yellow journalism"

Term used to describe the sensationalist newspaper writings of the late 19th, early 20th centuries. The most famous yellow journalist was William Randolph Hearst. Yellow journalism was considered tainted journalism - omissions and half-truths. It is fair to say that the press fueled the public's passion for war with Spain in 1898. Without sensational headlines and stories about Cuban affairs, the mood for Cuban intervention may have been very different. At the dawn of the twentieth century, the United States emerged as a world power, and the U.S. press proved its influence.

Roanoke

The "Lost Colony" of Roanoke was one of the first attempts by England to establish a permanent colony in North America. Sir Walter Raleigh secured the grant for the colony from Queen Elizabeth but the colony only lasted a few years and in 1590 the colony was found deserted.

Chesapeake-Leopard Affair, 1807

The American ship Chesapeake refused to allow the British on the Leopard to board to look for deserters. In response, the Leopard fired on the Chesapeake. As a result of the incident, the U.S. expelled all British ships from its waters until Britain issued an apology. Britain did not apologize and anti-British feeling increased.

Articles of Confederation: powers, weaknesses, successes

The Articles of Confederation delegated most of the powers (the power to tax, to regulate trade, and to draft troops) to the individual states, but left the federal government power over war, foreign policy, and issuing money. The Articles' weakness was that they gave the federal government so little power that it couldn't keep the country united. The Articles' only major success was that they settled western land claims with the Northwest Ordinance. The Articles were abandoned for the Constitution.

Boston Associates and the Lowell Factory Girls

The Boston Associates were a group of Boston businessmen who built the first power loom. In 1814 in Waltham, Massachusetts, they opened a factory run by Francis C. Lowell. Their factory made cloth so cheaply that women began to buy it rather than make it themselves. Lowell opened a chaperoned boarding house for the girls who worked in his factory. He hired girls because they could do the job as well as men (in textiles, sometimes better), and he didn't have to pay them as much. He hired only unmarried women because they needed the money and would not be distracted from their work by domestic duties.

Dominion of New England, 1686

The British government combined the colonies of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, and Connecticut into a single province headed by a royal governor (Andros). The Dominion ended in 1692, when the colonists revolted and drove out Governor Andros.

Dust Bowl

The Dust Bowl, also known as the "Dirty Thirties," was a series of dust storms in the central United States, caused by a massive drought and decades of inappropriate farming techniques. Beginning in 1930 and lasting until 1941, this ecological disaster caused an exodus from the Oklahoma Panhandle region and also the surrounding Great Plains in which around 300,000 to 400,000 Americans were displaced. Topsoil across millions of acres was blown away because the indigenous sod had been broken for wheat farming and the vast herds of buffalo were no longer fertilizing the rest of the native grasses.

First Continental Congress, 1774

The First Continental Congress met to discuss their concerns over Parliament's dissolutions of the New York (for refusing to pay to quarter troops), Massachusetts (for the Boston Tea Party), and Virginia Assemblies. The First Continental Congress rejected the plan for a unified colonial government, stated grievances against the crown called the Declaration of Rights, resolved to prepare militias, and created the Continental Association to enforce a new non-importation agreement through Committees of Vigilance. In response, in February, 1775, Parliament declared the colonies to be in rebellion.

Force Bill, 1833

The Force Bill authorized President Jackson to use the army and navy to collect duties on the Tariffs of 1828 and 1832. South Carolina's ordinance of nullification had declared these tariffs null and void, and South Carolina would not collect duties on them. The Force Act was never invoked because Congress passed it the same day as the Compromise Tariff of 1833, so it became unnecessary. South Carolina also nullified the Force Act.

Quartering Act, 1765

The Grenville government built up British troop strength in colonial North America at the end of the French and Indian War to protect the colonies against threats posed by remaining Frenchmen and Indians. In March 1765, Parliament passed the Quartering Act to address the practical concerns of such a troop deployment. Under the terms of this legislation, each colonial assembly was directed to provide for the basic needs of soldiers stationed within its borders. Specified items included bedding, cooking utensils, firewood, beer or cider and candles. This law was expanded in 1766 and required the assemblies to billet soldiers in taverns and unoccupied houses. Repealed in 1770.

Harlem Renaissance

The Harlem Renaissance was a flowering of African-American social thought and culture based in the African-American community forming in Harlem in New York City. This period, beginning with 1920 and extending roughly to 1940, was expressed through every cultural medium—visual art, dance, music, theatre, literature, poetry, history and politics. Instead of using direct political means, African-American artists, writers, and musicians employed culture to work for goals of civil rights and equality. For the first time, African-American paintings, writings, and jazz became absorbed into mainstream culture and crossed racial lines, creating a lasting legacy.

Boston Massacre, 1770

The Massacre was the 1770, pre-Revolutionary incident growing out of the anger against the British troops sent to Boston to maintain order and to enforce the Townshend Acts. The troops, constantly tormented by irresponsible gangs, finally on March 5, 1770, fired into a rioting crowd and killed five men: three on the spot, two of wounds later. The funeral of the victims was the occasion for a great patriot demonstration. The British captain, Thomas Preston, and his men were tried for murder, with Robert Treat Paine as prosecutor, John Adams and Josiah Quincy as lawyers for the defense. Preston and six of his men were acquitted; two others were found guilty of manslaughter, punished, and discharged from the army.

Maysville Road Veto, 1830

The Maysville Road Bill proposed building a road in Kentucky (Clay's state) at federal expense. Jackson vetoed it because he did not like Clay and he pointed out that New York and Pennsylvania paid for their transportation improvements with State money. Jackson applied a strict interpretation of the Constitution by saying that the federal government could not pay for internal improvements.

Harding scandals: Teapot Dome

The Naval strategic oil reserve at Elk Hills, also known as "Teapot Dome" was taken out of the Navy's control and placed in the hands of the Department of the Interior, which illegally leased the land to oil companies. Several Cabinet members received huge payments as bribes. Due to the investigation, Daugherty, Denby, and Interior Secretary Albert Fall were forced to resign.

Macon's Bill No. 2, 1810

The Non-Intercourse Act expired in 1810 and was replaced by Macon's Bill No. 2, which reopened free commercial relations with Britain and France but authorized the president to prohibit commerce with either belligerent if it should continue violating neutral shipping after the other had stopped.

Mann-Elkins Act, 1910

The Progressive movement prompted Congress to pass the Mann-Elkins Act to strengthen the weak Interstate Commerce Commission. The Act prohibited charging higher rates for a short haul than a long haul. Although it empowered the ICC to suspend rates, it did not authorize it to set rates. The Act was not a complete failure. It satisfied the public's anxiety and provided the foundation on which a more effective system of regulations could be built.

Quebec Act, 1774

The Quebec Act, passed by Parliament, alarmed the colonies because it nullified many of the Western claims of the coast colonies by extending the boundaries of the province of Quebec to the Ohio River on the south and to the Mississippi River on the west. The concessions in favor of the Roman Catholic Church also roused much resentment among Protestants in the Thirteen Colonies as some colonials took it as a sign that Britain was planning to impose Catholicism upon the colonies.

Civil Rights Act, 1866

The Republican-dominated United States Congress passed this act in March, 1866, as a counterattack against the Black Codes enacted by all former slave States. Included were rights to make contracts, sue, bear witness in court and own private property. President Johnson vetoed the bill but was overridden. Considered the most important action taken by Congress towards protecting the rights of Freedmen during Reconstruction.

Huey Long, Share the Wealth

The Share the Wealth society was founded in 1934 by Senator Huey Long of Louisiana He called for the confiscation of all fortunes over $5 million and a 100% tax on annual incomes over $1 million. He was assassinated in 1935.

Slavery and the Constitution: slave trade, 3/5 Clause

The South's slave trade was guaranteed for at least 20 years after the ratification of the Constitution. Slaves were considered 3/5 of a person when determining the state population for purposes of congressional representation.

Berlin Wall, 1961

The Soviet Union, under Nikita Khrushchev, erected a wall between east and West Berlin to keep people from fleeing from the East, afterwards Kennedy asked for an increase in defense funds to counter Soviet aggression.

Specie Circular, 1836

The Specie Circular, issued by President Jackson July 11, 1836, was meant to stop land speculation caused by States printing paper money without proper specie (gold or silver) backing it. The Circular required that the purchase of public lands be paid for in specie. It stopped the land speculation and the sale of public lands went down sharply. The panic of 1837 followed.

Worchester v. Georgia 1832

The Supreme Court decided Georgia had no jurisdiction over Cherokee reservations. Expanded tribal authority by declaring tribes sovereign entities, like States, with exclusive authority within their own boundaries. President Jackson refused to enforce the decision and Georgia ignored the ruling.

Brown v. The Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, 1954

The Supreme Court overruled Plessy v. Ferguson, and declared that racially segregated facilities are inherently unequal and ordered all public schools desegregated "with all deliberate speed." The majority opinion, 8-0, relied heavily on sociological and psychological factors as well as legal arguments. Directed lower courts to implement the desegregation order "with all deliberate speed." This speed was lacking for a number of years.

E.C. Knight Company case, 1895

The Supreme Court ruled eight to one that since the E.C. Knight Company's monopoly over the production of sugar had no direct effect on commerce, the company could not be controlled by the government. The impact of this decision was tremendous. Manufacturers assumed they were immune from antitrust legislation and a wave of consolidation followed. Little progress would be made to combat manufacturing monopolies until the trust-busting days of the Teddy Roosevelt administration.

Cherokee Nation v. Georgia: 1831

The Supreme Court ruled that Indians were not independent nations but dependent domestic nations which could be regulated by the federal government. From then until 1871, treaties were formalities with the terms dictated by the federal government.

Louisiana Purchase, 1803

The U.S. purchased the land from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains from Napoleon for $15 million. Jefferson was interested in the territory because it would give the U.S. the Mississippi River and New Orleans (both were valuable for trade and shipping) and also room to expand. Napoleon wanted to sell because he needed money for his European campaigns and because a rebellion against the French in Haiti had soured him on the idea of New World colonies. The purchase removed France as a threat to the American economy. The Constitution did not give the federal government the power to buy land, so Jefferson used loose construction to justify the purchase.

Olympic Boycott, 1980

The U.S. withdrew from the competition held in Moscow to protest the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. The Soviet Union had sent troops into neighboring Afghanistan to support its communist government against guerrilla attacks by fundamentalists Muslims. About 64 other nations withdrew for this and other reasons.

Works Progress Administration (WPA), Harold Hopkins, Federal Arts Project

The WPA was a relief measure started in May 1935 and was headed by Harold Hopkins. It employed people for 30 hours a week (so it could hire all the unemployed) building public buildings, projects and roads. The Federal Arts Project had unemployed artists painting murals in public buildings; actors, musicians, and dancers performing in poor neighborhood; and writers compiling guide books and local histories.

Webster-Hayne debate

The Webster-Hayne debate in 1830 was over an 1830 bill by Samuel A. Foote to limit the sale of public lands in the west to new settlers. Daniel Webster, in a dramatic speech, showed the danger of the states' rights doctrine, which permitted each State to decide for itself which laws were unconstitutional, claiming it would lead to civil war. States' rights (South) vs. nationalism (North).

Chinese Exclusion Law, 1882

The act excluded new immigration of Chinese laborers from immigrating to the United States for 10 years and denied citizenship to Chinese in the U.S. Supported by American workers who worried about losing their jobs to Chinese immigrants who would work for less pay. It was the first immigration law passed in the United States targeted at a specific ethnic group.

McNary-Haugen Bill, vetoes

The bill was a plan to raise the prices of farm products. The government could buy and sell the commodities at world price and tariff. Surplus sold abroad. Twice Coolidge vetoed it. It was the forerunner of the 1930's agricultural programs.

Glorious Revolution, 1688

The bloodless coup in 1688 in England when James II (a Catholic) gave up the throne and his daughter Mary and her husband William of Orange (of the Netherlands) - both Protestants - replaced James II to reign jointly. No Catholic monarch has reigned in England since.

Japanese relocation

The bombing of Pearl Harbor created widespread fear that the Japanese living in the U.S. were actually spies. FDR issued executive order 9066, which moved all Japanese and people of Japanese descent living on the west coast of the U.S. into internment camps in the interior of the U.S.

"Corrupt Bargain"

The charge made by Jacksonians in 1825 that Clay had supported John Quincy Adams in the House presidential vote in return for the office of Secretary of State. Allegedly Clay knew he could not win, so he traded his votes for an office. Many assumed Clay sold his influence to Adams so he could be secretary of state and thus increase his own chance of being president someday. The election's backlash catapulted Jackson to the presidency in 1828, and the Democratic-Republican Party split in two.

National Industry Recovery Act (NIRA) and National Recovery Administration (NRA)

The chief measure to promote recovery was the NIRA. It set up the National Recovery Administration and set prices, wages, work hours, and production for each industry. Based on theory that regulation of the economy would allow industries to return to full production, thereby leading to full employment and a return of prosperity. It established code authorities for each branch of industry or business. The code authorities set the lowest prices that could be charged, the lowest wages that could be paid, and the standards of quality that must be observed.

"republican motherhood"

The concept of "republican motherhood" arose during and after the American Revolution. As the principles of liberty and democracy rose in importance to the rebelling colonists, American society gradually came to promote the idea that women needed to clearly understand and embrace these values, so that they could be transmitted to children at a young age and help secure their central position in the minds and hearts of Americans. "Republican motherhood" is usually seen as a phenomenon peaking between 1775 and 1800 (but extending well into the early decades of the 1800s), while the formation of the republic was still first and foremost in the minds of Americans.

Compromise of 1877

The election of 1876 was extremely close, with the vote in several States contested on charges of fraud. The contested results were given to the House of Representatives which created a commission to determine the winner of the disputed votes. Rutherford B. Hayes, the Republican candidate, calmed Democratic opposition by promising internal improvements in the South and removing federal troops from the region. With Southern Democratic acceptance of Rutherford B. Hayes' Republican presidency, the last remaining Union troops were withdrawn from the Old Confederacy which ended the Reconstruction process. The country was at last reunified as a modern nation-state led by corporate and industrial interests. The Hayes election arrangement also marked the government's abandonment of its earlier vague commitment to African-American equality.

Vicksburg

The final significant battle of the Vicksburg Campaign. In a series of brilliant maneuvers Union Major General Ulysses S. Grant and his Army of the Tennessee crossed the Mississippi River and drove the Confederate army of Lieutenant General John C. Pemberton into defensive lines surrounding the fortress city of Vicksburg, Mississippi. Grant besieged the city, which surrendered six weeks later, yielding command of the Mississippi River to the Union.

Mayflower Compact, 1620

The first agreement for self-government in America. It was signed by the 41 men on the Mayflower and set up a government for the Plymouth colony.

Glasnost

The first he called glasnost (openness): the dismantling of many of the repressive mechanisms that had been conspicuous features of Soviet life for over half a century.

Lexington and Concord, 1775

The first military engagements of the Revolution, fought on April 19, 1775 within the towns of Lexington and Concord near Boston. The battles marked the outbreak of open armed conflict between Britain and its thirteen colonies in North America. 700 British Army regulars, were ordered to capture and destroy military supplies that were reportedly stored by the Massachusetts militia at Concord. The first shots were fired just as the sun was rising at Lexington. The militia was outnumbered and fell back. Other British colonists, hours later at the North Bridge in Concord, fought and defeated three companies of the king's troops. The outnumbered soldiers of the British Army fell back from the Minutemen after a pitched battle in open territory. More Minutemen arrived soon thereafter and inflicted heavy damage on the British regulars as they marched back towards Boston. The occupation of surrounding areas by the Massachusetts Militia marked the beginning of the Siege of Boston.

Jamestown

The first permanent English settlement in North America. In 1607 the colony of Jamestown was established along the James River and the Chesapeake Bay. After few years of very rough conditions known as the "starving time", John Smith is credited with saving the colony by mandating work and order. The colony began to thrive once John Rolfe introduced tobacco cultivation to the Virginia colony.

Underwood-Simmons Tariff, 1913

The first successful downward revision of the tariff since the Civil War, the Underwood-Simmons Tariff Act enacted an across-the-board reduction in tariffs, making manufacturers more efficient and providing consumers with competitive pricing. To compensate for lost revenue, a rider to the act created a small, graduated income tax. It lowered tariffs on hundreds of items that could be produced more cheaply in the U.S. than abroad.

Adolf Hitler

The stridently nationalistic leader of the Nazis, who was rapidly growing in popular favor. He was the one that decided that Germany needed to expand and that Jews were not of the "master race".

Sunbelt

The most widely discussed demographic phenomenon of the 1970s was the rise of what became known as the "Sunbelt"-a term coined by the political analyst Kevin Phillips. The Sunbelt included the Southeast (including Florida), the Southwest (particularly Texas), and above all, California, which became the nation's most populous state, surpassing New York, in 1964. By 1980, the population of the Sunbelt had risen to exceed that of the older industrial regions of the North and the East.

United Nations

The new United Nations would contain a General Assembly, in which every member would be represented, and a Security Council, with permanent representatives of the five major powers (the United States, Britain, France, the Soviet Union, and China), each of which would have veto power. The Security Council would also have temporary delegates from several other nations. These agreements became the basis of the United Nations charter, drafted at a conference of fifty nations beginning April 25, 1945, in San Francisco. The U.S. Senate ratified the charter in July by a vote of 80 to 2 (in striking contrast to the slow and painful defeat it had administered to the charter of the League of Nations twenty-five years before).

Perestroika

The other policy Gorbachev called perestroika (reform): an effort to restructure the rigid and unproductive Soviet economy by introducing such elements of capitalism as private ownership and the profit motive.

Ostend Manifesto

The recommendation that the U.S. offer Spain $120 million for Cuba. It was not carried through in part because the North feared Cuba would become another slave State.

Charles Sumner, State Suicide Theory

The same Senator who had been caned by Preston Brooks in 1856, Sumner returned to the Senate after the outbreak of the Civil War. He was the formulator of the state suicide theory, which claimed the Southern States had relinquished their rights when they seceded. This, in effect, was suicide. This theory was used to justify the North taking military control of the South. Sumner was an outspoken radical Republican instrumental in the impeachment of Andrew Johnson.

"New Immigration"

The second major wave of immigration to the U.S.; between 1865-1910, 25 million new immigrants arrived. Unlike earlier immigration, which had come primarily from Western and Northern Europe, the New Immigrants came mostly from Southern and Eastern Europe, fleeing persecution and poverty. Language barriers and cultural differences produced mistrust by Americans.

Eugenics

The study of or belief in the possibility of improving the qualities of the human species or a human population, especially by such means as discouraging reproduction by persons having genetic defects or presumed to have inheritable undesirable traits (negative eugenics)or encouraging reproduction by persons presumed to have inheritable desirable traits (positive eugenics)

Election of 1800, tie, Jefferson and Burr

The two Democratic-Republicans Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr defeated Federalist John Adams, but tied with each other. The final decision went the House of Representatives, where there was another tie. After a long series of ties in the House, Jefferson was finally chosen as president. Burr became vice-president. This led to the 12th Amendment, which requires the president and vice-president of the same party to run on the same ticket.

Homestead Strike, 1892

The workers at the Carnegie steel plant in Homestead, Pennsylvania went on strike protesting a 20% reduction in wages, forcing the owner to close down. The workers fought a bloody battle with 300 Pinkerton detectives hired by the company to guard the plant and help break the strike. To prevent further violence, the governor of Penn-sylvania sent in the State militia. Eventually, the union's resources were exhausted, and the strike collapsed. Steelworkers would remain largely devoid of union protections until the rebirth of labor activism in the 1930s.

Alien and Sedition Acts

These consist of four laws passed by the Federalist Congress and signed by President Adams in 1798: the Naturalization Act, which increased the waiting period for an immigrant to become a citizen from 5 to 14 years; the Alien Act, which empowered the president to arrest and deport dangerous aliens; the Alien Enemy Act, which allowed for the arrest and deportation of citizens of countries at war with the US; and the Sedition Act, which made it illegal to publish defamatory statements about the federal government or its officials. The first 3 were enacted in response to the XYZ Affair, and were aimed at French and Irish immigrants, who were considered subversives. The Sedition Act was an attempt to stifle Democratic-Republican opposition, although only 25 people were ever arrested, and only 10 convicted, under the law. The Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions, which initiated the concept of "nullification" of federal laws were written in response to the Acts.

Committees of Correspondence

These started as groups of private citizens in Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New York who, in 1763, began circulating information about opposition to British trade measures. The first government-organized committee appeared in Massachusetts in 1764. Other colonies created their own committees in order to exchange information and organize protests to British trade regulations. The Committees became particularly active following the Gaspee Incident.

Embargo of 1807

This act issued by Jefferson forbade American trading ships from leaving the U.S. It was meant to force Britain and France to change their policies towards neutral vessels by depriving them of American trade. It was difficult to enforce because merchants and everyone else opposed it whose livelihood depended upon international trade. It was disastrous to the national economy, so the Non-Intercourse Act replaced it.

Kansas - Nebraska Act, 1854

This act repealed the Missouri Compromise and established a doctrine of congressional nonintervention in the territories. "Popular sovereignty" (doctrine that stated that the people of a territory had the right to decide their own laws by voting) would determine whether Kansas and Nebraska would be slave or free States.

The Federalist Papers, Jay, Hamilton, Madison

This collection of essays by John Jay, Alexander Hamilton, and James Madison, explained the importance of a strong central government. It was published to convince New York to ratify the Constitution. Judiciary Act, 1789 Created the federal court system, allowed the president to create federal courts and to appoint judges.

Clayton Antitrust Act (Labor's Magna Carta), 1914

This law extended the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890 to give it more power against trusts and big business. It outlawed practices that had a dangerous likelihood of creating a monopoly, even if no unlawful agreement was involved. Labor unions and agricultural cooperatives were excluded from the forbidden combinations in the restraint of trade. The act restricted the use of the injunction against labor, and it legalized peaceful strikes, picketing, and boycotts. The Clayton Antitrust Act was the basis for a great many important and much-publicized suits against large corporations.

Pure Food and Drug Act, 1906

This law forbade the manufacture or transport or sale of mislabeled or adulterated food or drugs and poisonous patent medicines and gave the government broad powers to ensure the safety and efficacy of drugs in order to abolish the "patent" drug trade. It paved the way for the eventual creation of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) still in existence as the FDA.

Civil Rights Act of 1964, Public Accommodations Section

This portion of the Act stated that public accommodations could not be segregated and that nobody could be denied access to public accommodation on the basis of race.

Tariff of 1816

This protective tariff helped American industry by raising the prices of British manufactured goods, which were often cheaper and of higher quality than those produced in the U.S.

Pinckney's Treaty, 1795

This treaty between the U.S. and Spain which gave the U.S. the right to transport goods on the Mississippi River and to store goods in the Spanish port of New Orleans.

Treaty of Paris, 1783

This treaty ended the Revolutionary War, recognized the independence of the American colonies, and granted the colonies the territory from the southern border of Canada to the northern border of Florida, and from the Atlantic coast to the Mississippi River.

Williams Jennings Bryan

Three-time candidate for president for the Democratic Party, nominated because of support from the Populist party. He never won, but was the most important Populist in American history. His famous "Cross of Gold" speech electrified the Democratic National Convention in 1896 when he asked that the people of the country not be "crucified on a cross of gold." He was referring to the Republican's proposal to eliminate silver coinage and adept a strict gold standard.

Bank Holiday

To prevent a complete collapse of the banking system, FDR first declared a "bank holiday," calling for the closing of all banks, and then called Congress into special session to pass banking-reform legislation, the Emergency Banking Act. So great was the panic about bank failures that the "bank holiday," as the president euphemistically described it, created a general sense of relief.

Treaty of Paris, 1763

Treaty between Britain, France, and Spain, which ended the Seven Years War (and the French and Indian War). France lost Canada, the land east of the Mississippi, some Caribbean islands and India to Britain. France also gave New Orleans and the land west of the Mississippi to Spain to compensate it for ceding Florida to the British.

Truman-MacArthur Controversy

Truman removed General Douglas MacArthur from command in Korea as punishment for the general's public criticism of the government's handling of the war. Intended to confirm the American tradition of civilian control over the military, but Truman's decision was widely criticized.

Stamp Act Congress, 1765

Twenty-seven delegates from 9 colonies met from October 7-24, 1765, and drew up a list of declarations and petitions against the new taxes imposed on the colonies.

Bombing of Laos and Cambodia, 1969

U.S. bombed North Vietnamese positions in Cambodia and Laos. Technically illegal because Cambodia and Laos were neutral, but done because North Vietnam was itself illegally moving its troops through those areas. Not learned of by the American public until July, 1973.

Public Works Administration (PWA), Harold Ickes

Under Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes, the PWA operated as a recovery program and distributed $3.3 billion to State and local governments for building schools, highways, and hospitals, etc.

Marcus Garvey (1887-1940)

Universal Negro Improvement Association Black leader who advocated "black nationalism and financial independence for blacks. He started the "Back to Africa" movement. He believed blacks would not get justice in mostly white nations.

Upton Sinclair, The Jungle

Upton Sinclair was a famous novelist and social crusader from California who pioneered the kind of journalism known as "muckraking." His best-known novel, The Jungle, was an expose of the dangerous working conditions as well as the unsavory products created by the Chicago meat-packing industry of the early twentieth century. The Jungle was influential in obtaining passage of the Pure Food and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act of 1906.

Meat Inspection Act, 1906

Upton Sinclair's The Jungle heightened public awareness of the appalling and unsanitary conditions in the meat-packing industry. Public pressure forced a reluctant Congress to consider a Meat Inspection bill in 1906 which laid down binding rules for sanitary meat packing and government inspection of meat products crossing State lines. Changed the face of health care and food safety legislation in America from that point on.

Vice-President John Calhoun: South Carolina Exposition and Protest

Vice-President John Calhoun anonymously published the essay South Carolina Exposition, which proposed that each State in the union counter the tyranny of the majority by asserting the right to nullify an unconstitutional act of Congress. It was written in reaction to the Tariff of 1828, which he said placed the Union in danger and stripped the South of its rights. South Carolina had threatened to secede if the tariff was not evoked; Calhoun suggested nullification as a more peaceful solution. Later a South Carolina senator, he said the North should grant the South's demands and keep quiet about slavery to keep the peace. He was a spokesman for the South and states' rights.

Chesapeake Region

Virginia (established at Jamestown in 1607) and Maryland (established by the Calverts.)

Battle of Yorktown, 1781

Was a decisive victory by a combined assault of American forces led by General George Washington and French forces led by General Comte de Rochambeau over a British Army commanded by General Lord Cornwallis. It proved to be the last major land battle of the American Revolutionary War, as the surrender of Cornwallis's army prompted the British government to eventually negotiate an end to the conflict.

Washington's Neutrality Proclamation, 1793

Washington's declaration that the U.S. would not take sides after the French Revolution touched off a war between France and a coalition consisting primarily of England, Austria and Prussia. Washington's Proclamation was technically a violation of the Franco-American Treaty of 1778.

Watts race riot, 1965; Detroit race riot, 1967

Watts: the riot began due to the arrest of a black by a white and resulted in 34 dead, 800 injured, 3500 arrested and $140,000,000 in damages. Demonstrated the confrontational nature of the civil rights movement. Detroit: the army was called in to restore order in race riots that resulted in 43 dead and $200,000,000 in damages. Was a clear indication of the militancy of the civil rights movement.

Haymarket Square Riot, 1886

When Chicago strikers, demonstrating for an eight-hour day, were brutally treated by police, workers led by the Knights of Labor organized a protest meeting in Haymarket Square. Police advanced on the demonstrators when suddenly a bomb was thrown and killed seven and wounded more than sixty. Eight radicals were arrested, tried, and found guilty of murder. Although the Knights condemned the bombing, public opinion wrongly identified organized labor with violence and because the workers were immigrants, the incident promoted anti-immigrant and anti-union feelings.

Panic of 1837

When Jackson was president, many State banks received government money that had been withdrawn from the Bank of the U.S. These banks issued paper money and financed wild speculation, especially in federal lands. Jackson issued the Specie Circular to force the payment for federal lands with gold or silver. Many State banks collapsed as a result. A panic ensued (1837). Bank of the U.S. failed, cotton prices fell, businesses went bankrupt, and there was widespread unemployment and distress.

Leisler's Rebellion, 1689

When King James II was dethroned and replaced by King William of the Netherlands, the colonists of New York rebelled and made Jacob Leiser, a militia officer, governor of New York. Leisler was hanged for treason when royal authority was reinstated in 1691, but the representative assembly that he founded remained part of the government of New York.

Wilmot Proviso

When President Polk submitted his Appropriations Bill of 1846 requesting Congress' approval of the $2 million indemnity to be paid to Mexico under the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, Pennsylvania Representative David Wilmot attached a rider which would have barred slavery from the territory acquired. The South hated the Wilmot Proviso and a new Appropriations Bill was introduced in 1847 without the Proviso. It provoked one of the first debates on slavery at the federal level, and the principles of the Proviso became the core of the Free Soil Party, and later the Republican Party.

Nullification crisis, South Carolina Exposition and Protest

When faced with the protective Tariff of 1828, John Calhoun presented a theory in the South Carolina Exposition and Protest (1828) that federal tariffs could be declared null and void by individual States and that they could refuse to enforce them. South Carolina called a convention in 1832, after the revised Tariff of 1828 became the Tariff of 1832, and passed an ordinance forbidding collection of tariff duties in the State. Jackson protested this.

Whigs: origins, policies

Whigs were conservatives and popular with pro-Bank people and plantation owners. They mainly came from the National Republican Party, which was once largely Federalists. They took their name from the British political party that had opposed King George during the American Revolution. Among the Whigs were Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, and, for a while, Calhoun. Their policies included support of industry, protective tariffs, and Clay's American System. They were generally upper class in origin.

Adamson Act, 1916

Wilson pushed passage of this act that mandated an eight hour workday and time and a half for overtime. Although directed at a single industry, railroads, the law was a significant victory for workers and a clear statement of the power of Congress to regulate interstate commerce.

Fourteen Points

Wilson's idea that he wanted included in the WWI peace treaty, including freedom of the seas and the League of Nations. When peace negotiations began in October, 1918, Wilson insisted that his Fourteen Points should serve as a basis for the signing of the Armistice.

Henry George, Progress and Poverty

Writer, demonstrating a gift for expressing complex ideas in simple terms. In 1879, he published Progress and Poverty, in which he pointed out that the wealthy extracted huge profits from the ownership of land. Land existed in a fixed amount and became more valuable as populations increased and as cities developed. Society, rather than the landlord, was responsible for the increase in value; George termed this profit "unearned increment." He advocated the enactment of a single tax system that would transfer unearned increment to the government to fund a variety of social programs. All other forms of taxation could be abolished and monopolies and poverty would disappear. George's ideas were immensely popular and single tax societies were formed throughout the nation. Tax reform and the curbing of the power of the idle rich became popular causes.

Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions

Written anonymously by Jefferson and Madison in response to the Alien and Sedition Acts, they put forth the doctrine of nullification declaring that states could nullify federal laws that they considered unconstitutional.

Twentieth Amendment

Written by George Norris and also called the "Lame Duck Amendment," it changed the inauguration date from March 4 to January 20 for president and vice president, and to January 3 for senators and representatives. It also said Congress must assemble at least once a year.

De Lôme Letter

Written by the Spanish minister in Washington, Enrique Dupuy de Lôme, the letter was critical of U.S. President William McKinley and the prospects for peace. It was intercepted by a Cuban agent and leaked to William Randolph Hearst's New York Journal. Publication of the De Lôme letter forced the recall of the minister and pushed the two nations one step closer to war.

Yellow Dog Contract; Ironclad Oath; Blacklisting

Yellow Dog Contract and Ironclad Oath were agreements workers signed promising they would not join a labor union. If it was discovered they had joined a union they would be summarily fired from their job. Blacklisting was the practice common among man-agement of circulating the names of workers who belonged to unions or workers fired because of their union activities. Employers would not hire workers whose names appeared on the "blacklist." Used effectively to discourage workers from joining labor unions.

John Peter Zenger trial

Zenger published articles critical of British governor William Cosby. He was taken to trial, but found not guilty. The trial set a precedent for freedom of the press in the colonies.

Benito Mussolini

__ Fascist Party had been in control of Italy since the early 1920s; by the 1930s, the regime was growing increasingly nationalistic and militaristic, and Fascist leaders were loudly threatening an active campaign of imperial expansion. More ominous was the growing power of the National Socialist (or Nazi) Party in Germany.

John Steinbeck, Grapes of Wrath

__ novels portrayed the trials of workers and migrants in California. Depression Literature

McCarthyism, Senator Joseph McCarthy (1908-1957)

_______ is a term describing the intense anti-communist suspicion in the United States in a period that lasted roughly from the late 1940s to the late 1950s. This period is also referred to as the Second Red Scare, and coincided with increased fears about communist influence on American institutions and espionage by Soviet agents. Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy began a sensational campaign in February, 1950 by asserting that the U.S. State Department had been infiltrated by Communists. In 1953 he became Chair of the Senate Sub-Committee on Investigations and accused the Army of covering up foreign espionage. The Army-McCarthy Hearings made McCarthy look so foolish that further investigations were halted.

Eisenhower Doctrine

________ proposed and obtained a joint resolution from Congress authorizing the use of U.S. military forces to intervene in any country that appeared likely to fall to communism. Used in the Middle East.

The Beat Generation

a group of young poets, writers, and artists generally known as the "beats" (or, derisively, as "beatniks"). They wrote harsh critiques of what they considered the sterility and conformity of American life, the meaninglessness of American politics, and the banality of popular culture. The beats were the most visible evidence of a widespread restlessness among young Americans in the 1950s

Cesar Chavez

an American farm worker, labor leader and civil rights activist, who, with Dolores Huerta, co-founded the National Farm Workers Association.

Counterculture

challenged the structure of modern American society, attacking its banality, hollowness, artificiality, materialism, and isolation from nature. it became known, were drugs: marijuana-which after 1966 became almost as common a youthful diversion as beer-and the less widespread but still substantial use of other, more potent hallucinogens, such as LSD.

Manhattan Project

government secretly poured nearly $2 billion into the _____-a massive scientific and technological effort conducted at hidden laboratories in Oak Ridge, Tennessee; Los Alamos, New Mexico; Hanford, Washington; and other sites.

Eleanor Roosevelt

resigned from the organization and then (along with Interior Secretary Harold Ickes, another champion of racial equality) helped secure government permission for her to sing on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial