TEXES Social Studies 4-8

Ellesmere Island

10th largest island located in Canada. Contains remnants of the last ice age.

Madagascar

4th largest island is located in the Republic of Madagascar. Home to the Toliara coral reef.

Atlantic Ocean

Bordered by Americas in the wet and Africa and Europe in the east. Consists of the Mediterranean Sea, Caribbean Sea, Baltic Sea and the Gulf of Mexico. The saltiest ocean. The water in the North circulates clockwise while in the South in circulates anti-clockwise. Second youngest of oceans, less than 30 million years old.

Pacific Ocean

Covers 46% of the total water surface of the Earth, and covers more than a third of the total surface area. Largest of all the Oceans.

Rift lake

Lakes formed due to movements within a tectonic rift zone

Continental Drift

The movement of the Earth's continents relative to each other, appearing to drift across the ocean bed. First put forward by Abraham Ortelius in 1956 and later developed by Alfred Wegener in 1912.

Dot Maps

Thematic maps that use points to show the precise locations of specific observations or occurrences, such as crimes, car accidents, or births

Conical Projection

These projections superimposes a cone over the sphere of the earth, with two reference parallels secant to the globe and intersecting it. Distortion increases further from the chosen parallels.

Cartograms

Type of thematic map in which some thematic mapping variable - such as travel time or Gross National Product - is substituted for land area or distance

Roger Williams

Banished from Massachusetts in 1636 because he called for separation of church and state. He established the Rhode Island colony in 1647 and had 800 settlers by 1650, including Anne Hutchinson and her "Antinomians" who attacked clerical authority.

Metal Figurines in Art

Figurines made of metal, primarily bronze, are common at early Greek sanctuaries like Olympia; depicting animals. In the Classical and Hellenistic periods, more elaborate bronze statuettes, connected with monumental sculpture, also became common.

Kerch Style

Final decades of Attic red-figure vase painting occurred between 370 and 330 BC. Crowded compositions with large statuesque figures are typical. Added colors include blue, green, and others. Volume and shading are indicated by the use of diluted runny glossy clay. Whole figures are added as appliques, i.e. as thin figural reliefs attached to the body of the vase.

Stamp Act Congress (1765)

First Congress of the American Colonies, was a meeting held between October 7 and 25, 1765, in New York City, consisting of representatives from some of the British colonies in North America; it was the first gathering of elected representatives from several of the American colonies to devise a unified protest against new British taxation.

San Antonio

First municipality in Texas and one of the ten largest cities in the United States.

Antioch Mosaics

Grouping of over 300 mosaic floors created around the 3rd century AD and discovered during the archaeological excavations of Antioch between 1932 and 1939. Show the link between artistic styles of ancient Greece and Rome, and the art of early Christianity.

Four Major Physical Regions of Texas

Gulf Coastal Plains, Interior Lowlands, Great Plains, and Basin and Range Province

Lucretia Mott (1793-1880)

Had formed the idea of reforming the position of women in society when she was amongst the women excluded from the World Anti-Slavery Convention in 1840. In 1848 she was invited by Jane Hunt to a meeting that led to the first meeting about women's rights. Mott helped write the Declaration of Sentiments during the 1848 Seneca Falls Convention.

Hernando de Soto (1495-1542)

Led the first European expedition deep into the territory of the modern-day United States (Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama and most likely Arkansas). He is the first European documented as having crossed the Mississippi River.

Missouri Compromise (1820)

Legislation passed by the 16th United States Congress on May 8, 1820; Provided for the admission of Maine as a free state along with Missouri as a slave state, thus maintaining the balance of power between North and South. As part of the compromise, slavery was prohibited north of the 36°30′ parallel, excluding Missouri. President James Monroe signed the legislation on April 6, 1820.

Isolines

Lines on a map that connect data points of equal value

Ninety five Theses

List of propositions for an academic disputation written in 1517 by Martin Luther, posted on the door of a church in Saxony and started the Reformation. Repentance required by Christ involves inner spiritual repentance rather than merely external sacramental confession.

Nile

Longest river in the world and is the primary water source of Egypt and Sudan.

Address to Congress (1941)

Made by Franklin Roosevelt on December 8, 1941, it declared war on Japan and described the attack on Pearl Harbor as "a day which will live in infamy".

JFK Inaugural Address (1961)

Made by JFK on January 20, 1961 it contained the famous line: "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country".

Brandenburg Gate Speech (1987)

Made by Ronald Reagan on June 12th, 1987, this speech was about the Berlin Wall and the end of the Cold War. It contained the famous line, "Tear down this wall".

The Fourteen Points (1918)

Made by Woodrow Wilson on January 18, 1818 and outlined Wilson's pans for peace and the League of Nations.

Fuller Projection

Maintains the accurate size and shape of landmasses but completely rearranges direction

Spatial Map

Maps that show relationships between things in space (and no, that's not outer space...)

Renaissance Art

Marked a cultural rebirth at the close of the middle ages; development of highly realistic linear perspective. A wider trend towards realism in the arts, painters studied other techniques, light, shadow, and human anatomy.

Cognitive Maps

Mental representations of how a physical space is organized

New Immigrants

Much poorer peasants and rural folk from southern and eastern Europe, including mostly Italians, Poles and Jews. Some men, especially the Italians and Greeks, saw themselves as temporary migrants who planned to return to their home villages with a nest egg of cash earned in long hours of unskilled labor. Others, especially the Jews, had been driven out of Eastern Europe and had no intention of returning.

Sediment

Naturally occurring material that is broken down by processes of weathering and erosion, and is subsequently transported by the action of wind, water, or ice, and/or by the force of gravity acting on the particles.

Three Basic Rights Guaranteed to Texans

In the Texas Constitution of 1836: Freedom of Speech, Freedom of the Press, and Freedom of Religion.

Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919)

Led the expansion of the American steel industry in the late 19th century and is often identified as one of the richest people (and richest Americans).

Thomas Jefferson Rusk (1803-1857)

Secretary of War between Texas and Mexico, chief justice of the Supreme Court of Texas and Senator from Texas after admission to the Union.

Slavery in the United States

The modern conception of slavery in the United States was formalized in 1640 (the John Punch hearing) and was fully entrenched in Virginia by 1660.

The Organization of American States (1948)

A continental organization that was founded on 30 April 1948, for the purposes of regional solidarity and cooperation among its member states.

Expressed or Enumerated Powers

These are specifically spelled out in the Constitution. Implied-these are not expressly stated, but are reasonably suggested by the expressed powers.

Samuel de Champlain (1574-1635

"The Father of New France", was a French navigator, cartographer, draftsman, soldier, explorer, geographer, ethnologist, diplomat, and chronicler. He made from 21-29 trips across the Atlantic, and founded New France and Quebec City on July 3, 1608. Set up a fur empire.

Migration Period

(375-568 AD) A time of widespread migrations of peoples, notably the Germanic tribes and the Huns, within or into Europe in the middle of the first millennium AD.

Guadalupe Peak

/known as Signal Peak, is the highest natural point in Texas, with an elevation of 8,751 feet (2,667 m) above sea level. It is located in Guadalupe Mountains National Park, and is part of the Guadalupe Mountains range in southeastern New Mexico and West Texas.

Qin Dynasty

221-207 BC; conceptualized central government, development of the legal code, written language, measurement and currency of China after the tribulations of the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods. Marked the beginning of Imperial China.

Borneo

3rd largest island is located in Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei. Located in the west mid-Pacific Ocean it is the only island administered by three countries. Double the size of Germany. Mount Kimabalu, the highest peak in Southeast Asia, is located here.

Confucius

551-479 BC; was a Chinese teacher, editor, politician and philosopher of the Spring and Autumn period.

Baffin Island

5th largest island is located in Canada and is the largest island of Canada.

Sumatra

6th largest island is located in Indonesia. Prone to earthquakes and Tsunamis; located at the subduction zone of Indo-Australian and Eurasian tectonic plates.

Spring and Autumn Period

722-476 BC; local military leaders used by the Zhou began to assert their power, marked by the falling apart of the Zhou power. China now consisted of hundreds of states lead by local leaders.

The Cuban Missile Crisis (1961)

A 13-day (October 16-28, 1962) confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union concerning American ballistic missile deployment in Italy and Turkey with consequent Soviet ballistic missile deployment in Cuba. The confrontation is often considered the closest the Cold War came to escalating into a full-scale nuclear war.

The Jungle

A 1906 novel written by the American journalist and novelist Upton Sinclair (1878-1968).[1] Sinclair wrote the novel to portray the harsh conditions and exploited lives of immigrants in the United States in Chicago and similar industrialized cities. His primary purpose in describing the meat industry and its working conditions was to advance socialism in the United States.

Comte de Rochambeau (1725-1807)

A French nobleman and general who played a major role in helping the Thirteen Colonies win independence during the American Revolution.

Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna (1794-1876)

A Mexican politician and general who fought to defend royalist New Spain and then for Mexican independence. He greatly influenced early Mexican politics and government, and was an adept soldier and cunning politician, who dominated Mexican history in the first half of the nineteenth century to such an extent that historians often refer to it as the "Age of Santa Anna".

Second Continental Congress

A convention of delegates from the Thirteen Colonies that started meeting in the spring of 1775 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Managed the Colonial war effort and moved incrementally towards independence, adopting the United States Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776.

Blanket Primary

Allowed voters to vote in the primaries of both parties, was used at various times by three states. The Supreme Court ruled against this practice in 2000.

Anne Hutchinson (1591-1643)

A Puritan spiritual adviser, mother of 15, and an important participant in the Antinomian Controversy which shook the infant Massachusetts Bay Colony from 1636 to 1638. Her strong religious convictions were at odds with the established Puritan clergy in the Boston area, and her popularity and charisma helped create a theological schism that threatened to destroy the Puritans' religious community in New England.

Hernan Cortes (1485-1547)

A Spanish Conquistador who led an expedition that caused the fall of the Aztec Empire and brought large portions of what is now mainland Mexico under the rule of the King of Castile in the early 16th century. Cortés was part of the generation of Spanish colonizers who began the first phase of the Spanish colonization of the Americas.

Francisco Vasquez de Coronado (1510-1554)

A Spanish conquistador and explorer who led a large expedition from Mexico to present-day Kansas through parts of the southwestern United States between 1540 and 1542. His expedition marked the first European sightings of the Grand Canyon and the Colorado River, among other landmarks.

Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca (1488-1560)

A Spanish explorer of the New World, and one of four survivors of the 1527 Narváez expedition. During eight years of traveling across the US Southwest, he became a trader and faith healer to various Native American tribes before reconnecting with Spanish civilization in Mexico in 1536.

The Council of Economic Advisers (CEA)

A United States agency within the Executive Office of the President established in 1946, which advises the President of the United States on economic policy; provides much of the objective empirical research for the White House and prepares the annual Economic Report of the President.

Clean Air Act (1963)

A United States federal law designed to control air pollution on a national level. It is one of the United States' first and most influential modern environmental laws, and one of the most comprehensive air quality laws in the world.

Interstate Commerce Act of 1887

A United States federal law that was designed to regulate the railroad industry, particularly its monopolistic practices. The Act required that railroad rates be "reasonable and just," but did not empower the government to fix specific rates. It also required that railroads publicize shipping rates and prohibited short haul or long haul fare discrimination, a form of price discrimination against smaller markets, particularly farmers in Western or Southern Territory compared to the Official Eastern states.

Panic of 1907

A United States financial crisis that took place over a three-week period starting in mid-October, when the New York Stock Exchange fell almost 50% from its peak the previous year. Panic occurred, as this was during a time of economic recession, and there were numerous runs on banks and trust companies. The 1907 panic eventually spread throughout the nation when many state and local banks and businesses entered bankruptcy.

Monroe Doctrine (1823)

A United States policy of opposing European colonialism in the Americas beginning in 1823. It stated that further efforts by European nations to take control of any independent state in North or South America would be viewed as "the manifestation of an unfriendly disposition toward the United States."

Nullification Crisis

A United States sectional political crisis in 1832-33, during the presidency of Andrew Jackson, which involved a confrontation between South Carolina and the federal government. It ensued after South Carolina declared that the federal Tariffs of 1828 and 1832 were unconstitutional and therefore null and void within the sovereign boundaries of the state.

Teapot Dome Scandal

A bribery incident that took place in the United States from 1921 to 1922, during the administration of President Warren G. Harding. Secretary of the Interior Albert Bacon Fall had leased Navy petroleum reserves at Teapot Dome in Wyoming and two other locations in California to private oil companies at low rates without competitive bidding. In 1922 and 1923, the leases became the subject of a sensational investigation by Senator Thomas J. Walsh. Fall was later convicted of accepting bribes from the oil companies and became the first Cabinet member to go to prison.

Federalist Papers (1787-1788)

A collection of 85 articles and essays written under the pseudonym "Publius" by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay to promote the ratification of the United States Constitution.

Anti-trust Law

A collection of federal and state government laws that regulates the conduct and organization of business corporations, generally to promote fair competition for the benefit of consumers.

Warsaw Pact (1954)

A collective defense treaty signed in Warsaw among the Soviet Union and seven Soviet satellite states of Central and Eastern Europe during the Cold War; in response to NATO.

American Revolution

A colonial revolt that took place between 1765 and 1783. The American Patriots in the Thirteen Colonies won independence from Great Britain, becoming the United States of America. They defeated the British in the American Revolutionary War in alliance with France and others.

War of 1812 (1812-1815)

A conflict fought between the United States, the United Kingdom, and their respective allies.

Vietnam War (1955-1975)

A conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam and the government of South Vietnam. The North Vietnamese army was supported by the Soviet Union, China and other communist allies and the South Vietnamese army was supported by the United States, South Korea, Australia, Thailand and other anti-communist allies.

Provisional Congress of the Confederate States

A congress of deputies and delegates called together from the Southern States which became the governing body of the Provisional Government of the Confederate States of America (CSA) from February 4, 1861, to February 17, 1862. It sat in Montgomery, Alabama, until May 20, 1861, when it adjourned to meet in Richmond, Virginia, on July 20, 1861. It added new members as other states seceded and directed the election on November 6, 1861, at which a permanent government was elected.

Bonne Projection

A conical projection, in which areas are accurately represented but the meridians are not on a true scale.

US Constitution in 1787

A convention was called to write a new constitution. This constitution created the three branches of government with checks and balances of power; executive, legislative and judicial. It also created bicameral legislature so that there would be equal representation for the states in the Senate and representation for the population in the House.

Yorktown (1781)

A decisive victory by a combined force of American Continental Army troops led by General George Washington and French Army troops led by the Comte de Rochambeau over a British Army commanded by British peer and Lieutenant General Charles Cornwallis.

Legislative Branch

A deliberative assembly with the authority to make laws for a political entity such as a country or city. Legislatures form important parts of most governments; in the separation of powers model, they are often contrasted with the executive and judicial branches of government.

Robber Baron

A derogatory metaphor of social criticism originally applied to certain late 19th-century American businessmen who used unscrupulous methods to get rich.

Popular Sovereignty

A doctrine rooted in the belief that each citizen has sovereignty over themselves. Citizens may unite and offer to delegate a portion of their sovereign powers and duties to those who wish to serve as officers of the state, contingent on the officers agreeing to serve according to the will of the people. In the United States, the term has been used to express this concept in constitutional law. It was also used during the 19th century in reference to a proposed solution to the debate over the expansion of slavery. The proposal would have given the power to determine the legality of slavery to the inhabitants of the territory seeking statehood, rather than to Congress.

Economic Report of the President

A document published by the President of the United States' Council of Economic Advisers (CEA). Released in February of each year, the report reviews what economic activity was of impact in the previous year, outlines the economic goals for the coming year (based on the President's economic agenda), and makes numerical projections of how the economy will perform.

Bay of Pigs Invasion (1961)

A failed military invasion of Cuba undertaken by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)-sponsored paramilitary group Brigade 2506 on 17 April 1961. Launched from Guatemala and Nicaragua, the invading force was defeated within three days by the Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces, under the direct command of Castro.

Panic of 1873

A financial crisis that triggered a depression in Europe and North America that lasted from 1873 until 1879, and even longer in some countries (France and Britain); American post-Civil War inflation, rampant speculative investments (overwhelmingly in railroads), the demonetization of silver in Germany and the United States, a large trade deficit, ripples from economic dislocation in Europe resulting from the Franco-Prussian War (1870-71), property losses in the Chicago (1871) and Boston (1872) fires, and other factors put a massive strain on bank reserves, which plummeted in New York City in September and October 1873 from $50 million to $17 million.

Inquiry based Learning

A form of active learning that starts by posing questions, problems or scenarios—rather than simply presenting established facts or portraying a smooth path to knowledge. The process is often assisted by a facilitator. Inquirers will identify and research issues and questions to develop their knowledge or solutions. Inquiry-based learning includes problem-based learning, and is generally used in small scale investigations and projects, as well as research.[2] The inquiry-based instruction is principally very closely related to the development and practice of thinking skills.

Freedman

A former slave who has been released from slavery, usually by legal means. Historically, slaves were freed either by manumission (granted freedom by their owner) or emancipation (granted freedom as part of a larger group). A fugitive slave is one who escaped slavery by fleeing.

Coinage Act of 1873

A general revision of the laws relating to the Mint of the United States. In abolishing the right of holders of silver bullion to have their metal struck into fully legal tender dollar coins, it ended bimetallism in the United States, placing the nation firmly on the gold standard. Because of this, the act became contentious in later years, and was denounced by people who wanted inflation as the "Crime of '73".

Seven Years' War

A global conflict fought between 1756 and 1763. It involved every European great power of the time and spanned five continents, affecting Europe, the Americas, West Africa, India, and the Philippines. The conflict split Europe into two coalitions, led by the Kingdom of Great Britain (including Prussia, Portugal, Hanover, and other small German states) on one side and the Kingdom of France (including the Austrian-led Holy Roman Empire, the Russian Empire, Bourbon Spain, and Sweden) on the other.

World War 2 (1939-1945)

A global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945, although related conflicts began earlier. The vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—eventually formed two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis. The Empire of Japan aimed to dominate Asia and the Pacific and was already at war with the Republic of China in 1937, but the world war is generally said to have begun on 1 September 1939, the day of the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany and the subsequent declarations of war on Germany by France and the United Kingdom.

Trefoil

A graphic form composed of the outline of three overlapping rings used in architecture and Christian symbolism.

Thirteen Colonies

A group of British colonies on the east coast of North America founded in the 17th and 18th centuries that declared independence in 1776 and formed the United States of America.

Mesopotamia

A historical region in West Asia situation within the Tigris-Euphrates river system, now known as Iraq plus Kuwait, parts of Syria, and Turkey. The Sumerians and Akkadians dominated from the beginning of written history (3100 BC) to the fall of Babylon in 539 BC. Series of complex societies during the succeeding Bronze Age.

Adam Smith (1723-1790)

A key figure during the Scottish Enlightenment era; laid the foundations of classical free market economic theory; he developed the concept of division of labor and expounded upon how rational self-interest and competition can lead to economic prosperity.

Meromictic lake

A lake with surface and deep-water layers that don't intermix.

Brown v. Board of Education (1954)

A landmark United States Supreme Court case in which the Court declared state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students to be unconstitutional. The decision effectively overturned the Plessy v. Ferguson decision of 1896, which allowed state-sponsored segregation, insofar as it applied to public education.

Marbury v. Madison (1803)

A landmark case by the United States Supreme Court which forms the basis for the exercise of judicial review in the United States under Article III of the Constitution. The landmark decision helped define the boundary between the constitutionally separate executive and judicial branches of the American form of government.

Civil Rights Act of 1964

A landmark civil rights and US labor law in the United States that outlaws discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin. It prohibited unequal application of voter registration requirements, racial segregation in schools, employment, and public accommodations.

Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857)

A landmark decision by the United States Supreme Court on US labor law and constitutional law. It held that "a negro, whose ancestors were imported into [the U.S.], and sold as slaves", whether enslaved or free, could not be an American citizen and therefore had no standing to sue in federal court, and that the federal government had no power to regulate slavery in the federal territories acquired after the creation of the United States. Dred Scott, an enslaved man of "the negro African race" who had been taken by his owners to free states and territories, attempted to sue for his freedom.

Roe v. Wade (1973)

A landmark decision issued in 1973 by the United States Supreme Court on the issue of the constitutionality of laws that criminalized or restricted access to abortions. The Court ruled 7-2 that a right to privacy under the Due Process Clause of the 14th Amendment extended to a woman's decision to have an abortion, but that this right must be balanced against the state's interests in regulating abortions: protecting women's health and protecting the potentiality of human life.

Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)

A landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court issued in 1896. It upheld the constitutionality of racial segregation laws for public facilities as long as the segregated facilities were equal in quality, a doctrine that came to be known as "separate but equal".

Sherman Act of 1890

A landmark federal statute in the history of United States antitrust law (or "competition law") passed by Congress in 1890 under the presidency of Benjamin Harrison. It allowed certain business activities that federal government regulators deem to be competitive, and recommended the federal government to investigate and pursue trusts.

Comstock Lode

A lode of silver ore located under the eastern slope of Mount Davidson, a peak in the Virginia Range in Nevada (then western Utah Territory). It was the first major discovery of silver ore in the United States, and named after American miner Henry Comstock; made public in 1859.

Watergate Scandal (1970s)

A major political scandal that occurred in the United States during the early 1970s, following a break-in by five men at the Democratic National Committee (DNC) headquarters at the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C. on June 17, 1972, and President Richard Nixon's administration's subsequent attempt to cover up its involvement. Activities included such "dirty tricks" as bugging the offices of political opponents and people of whom Nixon or his officials were suspicious. Nixon and his close aides also ordered investigations of activist groups and political figures, using the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) as political weapons.

Tigris-Euphrates River System

A major river system in Western Asia. Was once a part of the Fertile Crescent region in which civilization first emerged.

Thematic Map

A map that displays one or more themes, such as population, or income level-within a specific area.

Reference Map

A map type that shows reference information for a particular place, making it useful for finding landmarks and for navigating

Factor Market

A market where factors of production are bought and sold, such as the labor market, the physical capital market, the market for raw materials, and the market for management or entrepreneurial resources.

Direct Primary

A means for members of a political party to participate in the selection of a candidate from their party to compete against the other party's candidate in a general election.

First Continental Congress (1774)

A meeting of delegates from twelve of the Thirteen Colonies who met from September 5 to October 26, 1774, at Carpenters' Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, early in the American Revolution. It was called in response to the Intolerable Acts passed by the British Parliament, which the British referred to as the Coercive Acts, with which the British intended to punish Massachusetts for the Boston Tea Party.

Crimean War (1904)

A military conflict fought from October 1853 to February 1856 in which the Russian Empire lost to an alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, Britain and Sardinia. The immediate cause involved the rights of Christian minorities in the Holy Land, which was a part of the Ottoman Empire. The French promoted the rights of Roman Catholics, while Russia promoted those of the Eastern Orthodox Church. The longer-term causes involved the decline of the Ottoman Empire and the unwillingness of Britain and France to allow Russia to gain territory and power at Ottoman expense.

Craft Unionism

A model of trade unionism in which workers are organised based on the particular craft or trade in which they work. It contrasts with industrial unionism, in which all workers in the same industry are organized into the same union, regardless of differences in skill.

Merchantilism

A national economic policy designed to maximize the trade of a nation and, historically, to maximize the accumulation of gold and silver. was dominant in modernized parts of Europe from the 16th to the 18th centuries.

Prohibition (1920-1933)

A nationwide constitutional ban on the production, importation, transportation, and sale of alcoholic beverages from 1920 to 1933.

Pullman Strike (1894)

A nationwide railroad strike in the United States on May 11, 1894, and a turning point for US labor law. It pitted the American Railway Union (ARU) against the Pullman Company, the main railroads, and the federal government of the United States under President Grover Cleveland. The strike and boycott shut down much of the nation's freight and passenger traffic west of Detroit, Michigan. The conflict began in Pullman, Chicago, on May 11 when nearly 4,000 factory employees of the Pullman Company began a wildcat strike in response to recent reductions in wages.

Compromise of 1850

A package of five separate bills passed by the United States Congress in September 1850, which defused a four-year political confrontation between slave and free states on the status of territories acquired during the Mexican-American War (1846-1848). The compromise, drafted by Whig Senator Henry Clay of Kentucky and brokered by Clay and Democratic Senator Stephen Douglas of Illinois, reduced sectional conflict.

Russian Revolution

A pair of revolutions in Russia in 1917 which dismantled the Tsarist autocracy and led to the rise of the Soviet Union. The Russian Empire collapsed with the abdication of Emperor Nicholas II and the old regime was replaced by a provisional government during the first revolution of February 1917; the Provisional Government was toppled and all power was given to the soviets.

Open Primary

A party nominating election in which any qualified voter can take part. The voter makes a public choice at the polling place about which primary to participate in, and the choice does not depend on any registration or previous choices.

Closed Primary

A party nominating election in which only declared party members can vote. Party membership is usually established by registration. Currently 26 states and the District of Columbia use this system.

Dust Bowl

A period of severe dust storms that greatly damaged the ecology and agriculture of the American and Canadian prairies during the 1930s; severe drought and a failure to apply dryland farming methods to prevent wind erosion (the Aeolian processes) caused the phenomenon. The drought came in three waves, 1934, 1936, and 1939-1940, but some regions of the high plains experienced drought conditions for as many as eight years.

Progressive Era (1897-1920)

A period of widespread social activism and political reform across the United States, from the 1890s to the 1920s; eliminating problems caused by industrialization, urbanization, immigration, and corruption in government.

Second Industrial Revolution (1870-1914)

A phase of rapid industrialization in the final third of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th; the establishment of a machine tool industry, the development of methods for manufacturing interchangeable parts and the invention of the Bessemer Process to produce steel, the Second Industrial Revolution is generally dated between 1870 and 1914 up to the start of World War I.

Continental Crust

A platform of metamorphic and igneous rock, largely of granitic composition.

Boston Tea Party (1773)

A political protest by the Sons of Liberty in Boston, Massachusetts, on December 16, 1773. In defiance of the Tea Act of May 10, 1773, the demonstrators, some disguised as Native Americans, destroyed an entire shipment of tea sent by the East India Company.

Spoils System

A practice in which a political party, after winning an election, gives government civil service jobs to its supporters, friends and relatives as a reward for working toward victory, and as an incentive to keep working for the party—as opposed to a merit system, where offices are awarded on the basis of some measure of merit, independent of political activity.

Emancipation Proclamation (1863)

A presidential proclamation and executive order issued by President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863. It changed the federal legal status of more than 3 million enslaved people in the designated areas of the South from slave to free. As soon as a slave escaped the control of the Confederate government, by running away or through advances of federal troops, the slave became legally free. Ultimately, the rebel surrender liberated and resulted in the proclamation's application to all of the designated slaves. It did not cover slaves in Union areas that were freed by state action (or by the 13th amendment in December 1865).

Land Degradation

A process in which the value of the biophysical environment is affected by a combination of human-induced processes acting upon the land.

William Lloyd Garrison (1805-1879)

A prominent American abolitionist, journalist, suffragist, and social reformer. He is best known as the editor of the abolitionist newspaper The Liberator, which he founded with Isaac Knapp in 1831 and published in Massachusetts until slavery was abolished by Constitutional amendment after the American Civil War. He was one of the founders of the American Anti-Slavery Society, and promoted "immediate emancipation" of slaves in the United States.

Ulysses S. Grant (1822-1885)

A prominent United States Army general during the American Civil War and Commanding General at the conclusion of that war. He was elected as the 18th President of the United States in 1868, serving from 1869 to 1877. As Commanding General, Grant worked closely with President Abraham Lincoln to lead the Union Army to victory over the Confederacy.

Tariff of Abominations of 1828

A protective tariff passed by the Congress of the United States on May 19, 1828, designed to protect industry in the northern United States. Enacted during the presidency of John Quincy Adams, it was labeled the Tariff of Abominations by its southern detractors because of the effects it had on the antebellum Southern economy. It set a 38% tax on 92% of all imported goods.

Compromise of 1877

A purported informal, unwritten deal that settled the intensely disputed 1876 U.S. presidential election. It resulted in the United States federal government pulling the last troops out of the South, and formally ended the Reconstruction Era. Through the Compromise, Republican Rutherford B. Hayes was awarded the White House over Democrat Samuel J. Tilden on the understanding that Hayes would remove the federal troops whose support was essential for the survival of Republican state governments in South Carolina, Florida and Louisiana.

USS Maine (ACR-1)

An American naval ship that sank in Havana Harbor during the Cuban revolt against Spain, an event that became a major political issue in the United States.

Texas Revolution (1835-1836)

A rebellion of colonists from the United States and Tejanos (Texas Mexicans) in putting up armed resistance to the centralist government of Mexico; opposed to the regime of President Antonio López de Santa Anna, the Mexican government believed the United States had instigated the Texas insurrection with the goal of annexation. The Texas war of independence ended on April 21, 1836, but Mexico refused to recognize the independence of the Republic of Texas, and intermittent conflicts between the two states continued into the 1840s. The United States recognized the Republic of Texas in March 1837 but declined to annex the territory.

Fertile Crescent

A region where agriculture and early human civilizations like the Sumer and Ancient Egypt flourished due to inundations from the surrounding Nile, Euphrates and Tigris River.

Mosan Art (11th and 12th century)

A regional style of art from the valley of the Meuse in present-day Belgium, the Netherlands, and Germany. Contains strong classical elements.

Interstate Commerce Commision

A regulatory agency in the United States created by the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887. The agency's original purpose was to regulate railroads (and later trucking) to ensure fair rates, to eliminate rate discrimination, and to regulate other aspects of common carriers, including interstate bus lines and telephone companies. Congress expanded ICC authority to regulate other modes of commerce beginning in 1906. The agency was abolished in 1995, and its remaining functions were transferred to the Surface Transportation Board.

Return to Normalcy

A return to the way of life before World War I, was United States presidential candidate Warren G. Harding's campaign slogan for the election of 1920.

Classical Style

A revolution in Greek statuary, associated with the introduction of democracy at the end of the aristocratic culture associated with the kouroi. From 500 BC statues began to depict human form in a variety of poses.

Sutter's Mill

A sawmill, owned by 19th-century pioneer John Sutter, where gold was found, setting off the California Gold Rush, a major event of the history of the United States.

Protestant Reformation

A schism in Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther and continued by John Calvin in 16th century Europe. Started with the Ninety-five These in 1517 and lasted until the end of the Thirty Years' War. Reformation of the Catholic Church.

Plate Tectonics

A scientific theory describing the large-scale motion of seven large plates and the movements of a larger number of smaller plates of the Earth's lithosphere, began between 3 and 3.5 billion years ago.

Townshend Acts (1767)

A series of British acts passed beginning in 1767 and relating to the British American colonies in North America.

Navigation Acts (1651)

A series of English laws that restricted colonial trade to England. They were first enacted in 1651 and throughout that time until 1663, and were repealed in 1849. They reflected the policy of mercantilism, which sought to keep all the benefits of trade inside the Empire and to minimize the loss of gold and silver to foreigners. They prohibited the colonies from trading directly with the Netherlands, Spain, France, and their colonies.

Pacific Railroad Acts (1862)

A series of acts of Congress that promoted the construction of a "transcontinental railroad" (the Pacific Railroad) in the United States through authorizing the issuance of government bonds and the grants of land to railroad companies; began federal government grant of lands directly to corporations; before that act, the land grants were made to the states, for the benefit of corporations.

New Deal

A series of federal programs, public work projects, financial reforms and regulations enacted in the United States during the 1930s in response to the Great Depression.

Trail of Tears

A series of forced relocation, sometimes at gunpoint, of Native American nations from their ancestral homelands in the Southeastern United States to other areas, one of which was an area West of the Mississippi River that had been designated as Indian Territory. The forced relocations were carried out by government authorities following the passage of the Indian Removal Act in 1830.

Cambodian Campaign

A series of military operations conducted in eastern Cambodia during 1970 by the United States and the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam) during the Vietnam War. The invasions were a policy of President Richard Nixon; 13 major operations were conducted by the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) between 29 April and 22 July and by US forces between 1 May and 30 June.

Great Society

A set of domestic programs in the United States launched by Democratic President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964-65. The main goal was the elimination of poverty and racial injustice.

Great Depression (1929-1941)

A severe worldwide economic depression that took place mostly during the 1930s, originating in the United States; Between 1929 and 1932, worldwide gross domestic product (GDP) fell by an estimated 15%. Personal income, tax revenue, profits and prices dropped, while international trade plunged by more than 50%. Unemployment in the U.S. rose to 25% and in some countries rose as high as 33%.

Nat Turner's Slave Rebellion

A slave rebellion that took place in Southampton County, Virginia, during August 1831. Led by Nat Turner, rebel slaves killed from 55 to 65 people.

No Taxation Without Representation

A slogan originating during the 1750s and 1760s that summarized a primary grievance of the American colonists in the Thirteen Colonies, which was one of the major causes of the American Revolution.

Republic of China (1912-1949)

A sovereign state in East Asia that occupied the territories of modern China, and for part of its history Mongolia and Taiwan. Founded in 1912 after the Qing dynasty.

Cold War (1947-1989)

A state of geopolitical tension after World War II between powers in the Eastern Bloc (the Soviet Union and its satellite states) and powers in the Western Bloc (the United States, its NATO allies and others).

Azimuthal Projection

A stereographic projection onto a plane so centered at any given point that a straight line radiating from the center to any other point represents the shortest distance. Can be measured to scale.

Art Deco

A style of visual arts, architecture and design that first appeared in France just before World War I; influenced the design of buildings, furniture, jewelry, fashion, cars, movie theaters, trains, ocean liners, and everyday objects such as radios and vacuum cleaners. Influenced by the bold geometric forms of Cubism; the bright colors of Fauvism and of the Ballets Russes; the updated craftsmanship of the furniture of the eras of Louis Philippe and Louis XVI; and the exotic styles of China and Japan, India, Persia, ancient Egypt and Maya art. It featured rare and expensive materials, such as ebony and ivory, and exquisite craftsmanship. The Chrysler Building and other skyscrapers of New York built during the 1920s and 1930s are monuments of this style.

Pangaea

A supercontinent that existed during the late Paleozoic and early Mesozoic eras. Assembled around 335 million years ago and began to break apart about 175 million years ago.

Attack on Pearl Harbor (1941)

A surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii Territory, on the morning of December 7, 1941; led to the United States' entry into World War II.

Regressive Tax

A tax imposed in such a manner that the tax rate decreases as the amount subject to taxation increases; In terms of individual income and wealth, a regressive tax imposes a greater burden (relative to resources) on the poor than on the rich: there is an inverse relationship between the tax rate and the taxpayer's ability to pay, as measured by assets, consumption, or income. These taxes tend to reduce the tax burden of the people with a higher ability to pay, as they shift the relative burden increasingly to those with a lower ability to pay.

Direct Tax

A tax on property "by reason of its ownership"[4] (such as an ordinary real estate property tax imposed on the person owning the property as of January 1 of each year) as well as a capitation (a "tax per head").

Open Door Policy

A term in foreign affairs initially used to refer to the United States policy established in the late 19th century and the early 20th century, as enunciated in Secretary of State John Hay's Open Door Note, dated September 6, 1899 and dispatched to the major European powers. The policy proposed to keep China open to trade with all countries on an equal basis, keeping any one power from total control of the country, and calling upon all powers, within their spheres of influence, to refrain from interfering with any treaty port or any vested interest, to permit Chinese authorities to collect tariffs on an equal basis, and to show no favors to their own nationals in the matter of harbor dues or railroad charges.

Civil Rights Movement (1954-1968)

A term that encompasses the strategies, groups, and social movements which accomplished its goal of ending legalized racial segregation and discrimination laws in the United States and secured the legal recognition and federal protection of the citizenship rights enumerated in the United States Constitution and federal law.

Conquistador

A term used to refer to the soldiers and explorers of the Spanish Empire or the Portuguese Empire in a general sense.[1][2] During the Age of Discovery, they sailed beyond Europe to the Americas, Oceania, Africa and Asia, conquering territory and opening trade routes. They colonized much of the world for Spain and Portugal in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries.

Choropleth Map

A thematic map that uses tones or colors to represent spatial data as average values per unit area

Mercator Projection

A type of cylindrical projection. A modified cylindrical projection that is helpful to navigators because it allows them to maintain a constant compass direction between two points.

Burning of the Gaspee (1772)

A very significant event in the lead-up to the American Revolution. HMS Gaspee[1] was a British customs schooner that had been enforcing the Navigation Acts in and around Newport, Rhode Island in 1772.

Boxer Rebellion (1900)

A violent anti-foreign, anti-colonial, and anti-Christian uprising that took place in China between 1899 and 1901, toward the end of the Qing dynasty. Beijing, Tianjin, and other cities in northern China were occupied for more than one year by the international expeditionary force under the command of German General Alfred Graf von Waldersee.

Korean War (1950-1953)

A war between North Korea (with the support of China and the Soviet Union) and South Korea (with the principal support of the United States). Korea was ruled by Imperial Japan from 1910 until the closing days of World War II. In August 1945, one day after the bombing of Nagasaki, the Soviet Union declared war on Imperial Japan, as a result of an agreement with the United States, and liberated Korea north of the 38th parallel.

Oinochoe

A wine jug and a key form of ancient Greek pottery. Typically has one handle and is made from painted terracotta.

13th Amendment

Abolished slavery and involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime. In Congress, it was passed by the Senate on April 8, 1864, and by the House on January 31, 1865. The amendment was ratified by the required number of states on December 6, 1865. On December 18, 1865, Secretary of State William H. Seward proclaimed its adoption. It was the first of the three Reconstruction Amendments adopted following the American Civil War.

Olive Branch Petition

Adopted by the Second Continental Congress on July 5, 1775 in a final attempt to avoid a full-on war between Great Britain and the thirteen colonies represented in that Congress.

14th Amendment (1868)

Adopted on July 9, 1868, as one of the Reconstruction Amendments. The amendment addresses citizenship rights and equal protection of the laws and was proposed in response to issues related to former slaves following the American Civil War.

Frederick Douglass (1818-1895)

After escaping from slavery in Maryland, he became a national leader of the abolitionist movement in Massachusetts and New York; actively supported women's suffrage, and held several public offices.

Ancient Greece

All three stages of the stone age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, and Neolithic) are here. Home to the first advanced civilizations in Europe beginning with the Cycladic civilization on the islands of the Aegean Sea around 3200 BC, the Minoan civilization in Crete (2700-1500 BC) and the Mycenaean civilization on the mainland (1900-1100 BC). Collapse into the Dark Ages occurred around 1200 BC.

16th Amendment

Allows the Congress to levy an income tax without apportioning it among the states or basing it on the United States Census. This amendment exempted income taxes from the constitutional requirements regarding direct taxes, after income taxes on rents, dividends, and interest were ruled to be direct taxes in the court case of Pollock v. Farmers' Loan & Trust Co. (1895). The amendment was adopted on February 3, 1913.

Shang Dynasty (Ancient China)

Also called Yin Dynasty ruled in the Yellow River valley from 1600 to 1046 BC succeeding the Xia Dynasty and followed by the Zhou Dynasty. Earliest dynasty of tradition Chinese hisotry.

Indus Valley Civilization

Also known as Harappan Civilization, was a Bronze Age civilization (3300-1300 BCE) mainly in the northwestern regions of South Asia, extending from what today is northeast Afghanistan to Pakistan and India. One of the three early cradles of civilizations of the Old World. Harappa was it's major city.

Confucianism

Also known as Ruism, is described as tradition, a philosophy, a religion, a humanistic religion, a way of governing, or simply a way of life. Developed through teachings of Chinese philosopher Confucius (551-479 BC).

Deep Lake

Also known as Vestfold Hills, the lowest point in Antarctica

Igneous Rock

Also known as magmatic rock is one of the three rock types. Formed through the cooling and solidification of magma or lava.

Sugar Act

Also known as the American Revenue Act or the American Duties Act, was a revenue-raising act passed by the Parliament of Great Britain on 5 April 1764; arrived in the colonies at a time of economic depression. Sparked the American Revolution.

American Revolutionary War (1775-1783)

Also known as the American War of Independence,was a global war that began as a conflict between Great Britain and its Thirteen Colonies which declared independence as the United States of America.

Roanoke Colony

Also known as the Lost Colony, was established in 1585 on Roanoke Island in what is today's Dare County, North Carolina. It was a late 16th-century attempt by Queen Elizabeth I to establish a permanent English settlement in North America. The colony was founded by Sir Walter Raleigh.

Ratification of the US Constitution

Amendment proposals may be adopted and sent to the states for ratification by either: A two-thirds (supermajority) vote of members present—assuming that a quorum exists—in both the Senate and the House of Representatives of the United States Congress; or A two-thirds (supermajority) vote of a national convention called by Congress at the request of the legislatures of at least two-thirds (at present 34) of the states. (This method has never been used.)

Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)

American Founding Father who was the principal author of the Declaration of Independence and later served as the third President of the United States from 1801 to 1809. A proponent of democracy, republicanism, and individual rights motivating American colonists to break from Great Britain and form a new nation, he produced formative documents and decisions at both the state and national level. Represented Virginia in the Continental Congress.

John Adams (1735-1826)

American statesman who served as the second President of the United States (1797-1801) and the first Vice President (1789-97). Delegate from Massachusetts to the Continental Congress.

Stamp Act (1765)

An Act of the Parliament of Great Britain that imposed a direct tax on the colonies of British America and required that many printed materials in the colonies be produced on stamped paper produced in London, carrying an embossed revenue stamp. The purpose of the tax was to help pay for troops stationed in North America after the British victory in the Seven Years' War and its North American theater of the French and Indian War.

Tea Act (1773)

An Act of the Parliament of Great Britain. The principal objective was to reduce the massive amount of tea held by the financially troubled British East India Company in its London warehouses and to help the financially struggling company survive. A related objective was to undercut the price of illegal tea, smuggled into Britain's North American colonies.

Minoan Civilization

An Aegean Bronze Age civilization on the island of Crete which flourished between 2600 and 1100 BC. Preceded the Mycenaean civilization of Ancient Greece. Pottery during this period depicted labyrinths and minotaurs, namely after the mythical King Minos.

Dorothea Dix (1802-1887)

An American activist on behalf of the indigent mentally ill who, through a vigorous program of lobbying state legislatures and the United States Congress, created the first generation of American mental asylums. During the Civil War, she served as a Superintendent of Army Nurses.

Robert E. Lee (1807-1870)

An American and Confederate soldier, best known as a commander of the Confederate States Army. He commanded the Army of Northern Virginia in the American Civil War from 1862 until his surrender in 1865.

Horace Mann (1796-1859)

An American educational reformer and Whig politician dedicated to promoting public education. He served in the Massachusetts State legislature (1827-1837). In 1848, after public service as Secretary of the Massachusetts State Board of Education, Mann was elected to the United States House of Representatives (1848-1853).

The Truman Doctrine (1947)

An American foreign policy whose stated purpose was to counter Soviet geopolitical expansion during the Cold War. It was first announced to Congress by President Harry S. Truman on March 12, 1947[1]:547-9 and further developed on July 12, 1948 when he pledged to contain threats to Greece and Turkey. Direct American military force was usually not involved, but Congress appropriated financial aid to support the economies and militaries of Greece and Turkey. The Truman Doctrine implied American support for other nations allegedly threatened by Soviet communism.

Marshall Plan (1948)

An American initiative to aid Western Europe, in which the United States gave over $13 billion (nearly $140 billion[2] in current dollar value as of September 2017) in economic assistance to help rebuild Western European economies after the end of World War II.

John D. Rockefeller (1839-1937)

An American oil industry business magnate, industrialist, and philanthropist. He is widely considered the wealthiest American of all time, and the richest person in modern history; revolutionized the petroleum industry, and along with other key contemporary industrialists such as steel magnate Andrew Carnegie, defined the structure of modern philanthropy.

Rutherford B. Hayes (1822-1893)

An American politician who served as the 19th President of the United States from 1877 to 1881. He assumed the presidency at the end of the Reconstruction Era through the Compromise of 1877. In office he ended Army support for Republican state governments in the South, promoted civil service reform, and attempted to reconcile the divisions left over from the Civil War and Reconstruction.

Jefferson Davis (1808-1889)

An American politician who served as the President of the Confederate States from 1861 to 1865. He was a member of the Democratic Party who represented Mississippi in the United States Senate and the House of Representatives prior to becoming president of the Confederacy.

Joseph Smith (1805-1844)

An American religious leader and founder of Mormonism and the Latter Day Saint movement. When he was twenty-four, Smith published the Book of Mormon. By the time of his death fourteen years later, he had attracted tens of thousands of followers and founded a religious culture that continues to the present.

Susan B. Anthony (1820-1906)

An American social reformer and women's rights activist who played a pivotal role in the women's suffrage movement. Born into a Quaker family committed to social equality, she collected anti-slavery petitions at the age of 17. In 1856, she became the New York state agent for the American Anti-Slavery Society.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815-1902)

An American suffragist, social activist, abolitionist, and leading figure of the early women's rights movement. Her Declaration of Sentiments, presented at the Seneca Falls Convention held in 1848 in Seneca Falls, New York, is often credited with initiating the first organized women's rights and women's suffrage movements in the United States. Stanton was president of the National Woman Suffrage Association from 1892 until 1900.

Mayflower

An English ship that famously transported the first English Puritans, known today as the Pilgrims, from Plymouth, England to the New World in 1620.

Leonardo Da Vinci (1452-1519)

An Italian Renaissance polymath who is considered the father of paleontology, ichnology, and architecture and is considered one of the greatest painters of all time.

Machiavelli (1469-1527)

An Italian diplomat and write of the Renaissance period. Father of modern political science and wrote Prince and Discourses.

Giovanni da Verrazzano (1485-1528)

An Italian explorer of North America in the service of King Francis I of France. Explored the area between Florida and the St. Lawrence Seaway for France.

Petrarch (1304-1374)

An Italian scholar and poet in Renaissance Italy who was one of the earliest humanists. Considered the founder of Humanism.

American Anti-Slavery Society

An abolitionist society founded by William Lloyd Garrison, and Arthur Tappan. Frederick Douglass, an escaped slave, was a key leader of this society who often spoke at its meetings. William Wells Brown was also a freed slave who often spoke at meetings. By 1838, the society had 1,350 local charters with around 250,000 members.

Northwest Ordinance (1787)

An act of the Congress of the Confederation of the United States (the Confederation Congress), passed July 13, 1787. The ordinance created the Northwest Territory, the first organized territory of the United States, from lands beyond the Appalachian Mountains, between British North America and the Great Lakes to the north and the Ohio River to the south. The upper Mississippi River formed the Territory's western boundary.

Woman's Christian Temperance Union

An active temperance organization that was among the first organizations of women devoted to social reform with a program that "linked the religious and the secular through concerted and far-reaching reform strategies based on applied Christianity."

Roosevelt Corollary

An addition to the Monroe Doctrine articulated by President Theodore Roosevelt in his State of the Union address in 1904 after the Venezuela Crisis of 1902-03. The corollary states that the United States will intervene in conflicts between European countries and Latin American countries to enforce legitimate claims of the European powers, rather than having the Europeans press their claims directly.

Articles of Confederation (1776-1777)

An agreement among the 13 original states of the United States of America that served as its first constitution; had an extremely limited central government and no centralized power to tad or regulate trade with other nations or between states. With no national tax, the Revolution was financed by printing more and more money, which caused inflation. Gave states more authority.

Teller Amendment

An amendment to a joint resolution of the United States Congress, enacted on April 20, 1898, in reply to President William McKinley's War Message. It placed a condition on the United States military's presence in Cuba. According to the clause, the U.S. could not annex Cuba but only leave "control of the island to its people." In short, the U.S. would help Cuba gain independence and then withdraw all its troops from the country.

Information and Communications Technology (ICT)

An another/extensional term for information technology (IT) which stresses the role of unified communications[1] and the integration of telecommunications (telephone lines and wireless signals), computers as well as necessary enterprise software, middleware, storage, and audio-visual systems, which enable users to access, store, transmit, and manipulate information.

Mexican-American War

An armed conflict between the United States of America and the United Mexican States (Mexico) from 1846 to 1848. It followed in the wake of the 1845 American annexation of the independent Republic of Texas, which Mexico still considered its northeastern province and a part of its territory after its de facto secession in the 1836 Texas Revolution a decade earlier.

Supply and Demand

An economic model of price determination in a market. It postulates that in a competitive market, the unit price for a particular good, or other traded item such as labor or liquid financial assets, will vary until it settles at a point where the quantity demanded (at the current price) will equal the quantity supplied (at the current price), resulting in an economic equilibrium for price and quantity transacted.

Market Economy

An economic system where decisions regarding investment, production, and distribution are based on the interplay of supply and demand, which determines the prices of goods and services; investment decisions, or the allocation of producer good, are primarily made through capital and financial markets.

Coriolis Effect

An effect whereby a mass moving in a rotating system experiences a force acting perpendicular to the direction of motion and to the axis of rotation. On the earth, the effect tends to deflect moving objects to the right in the northern hemisphere and to the left in the southern hemisphere and is important in the formation of cyclonic weather systems.

Free Market

An idealized system in which the prices for goods and services are determined by the open market and consumers, in which the laws and forces of supply and demand are free from any intervention by a government, price-setting monopoly, or other authority.

The White Man's Burden

An imperialist poem written by Rudyard Kipling. A variety of factors converged during the "New Imperialism" of the late 19th century, when the United States and the other great powers rapidly expanded their overseas territorial possessions. Some of these are explained, or used as examples for the various forms of New Imperialism.

Republic of Texas (1836-1846)

An independent sovereign country in North America that existed from March 2, 1836, to February 19, 1846.

Age of Enlightenment

An intellectual and philosophical movement that dominated the world of ideas in Europe during the 18th century, "The Century of Philosophy". Included a range of ideas centered on reason as the primary source of authority and legitimacy, and came to advance ideals like liberty, progress, tolerance, fraternity, constitutional government and separation of church and state.

NATO

An intergovernmental military alliance between several North American and European countries based on the North Atlantic Treaty that was signed on 4 April 1949; constitutes a system of collective defence whereby its member states agree to mutual defence in response to an attack by any external party.

League of Nations

An intergovernmental organisation founded on 10 January 1920 as a result of the Paris Peace Conference that ended the First World War. It was the first international organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace.

Anglo-Spanish War (1585-1604)

An intermittent conflict between the kingdoms of Spain and England that was never formally declared. The war was punctuated by widely separated battles, and began with England's military expedition in 1585 to the Netherlands under the command of the Earl of Leicester in support of the resistance of the States General to Spanish Habsburg rule.

Region

Any area that exhibits unity in terms of certain criteria

Metamorphic Rock

Arises from the transformation of existing rock types, in a process called metamorphism. The original rock or protolith is subjected to heat (greater than 150 to 200 C) and pressure, causing physical or chemical change. Makes up a large part of the Earth's crust and form 12% of the Earth's land surface.

Irish Catholics in the US

Arrived in large numbers in the 1840s and 1850s in the wake of the great famine in Ireland when starvation killed millions. Their first few decades were characterized by extreme poverty, social dislocation, crime and violence in their slums. By the late 19th century, the Irish communities had largely stabilized, with a strong new "lace curtain" middle-class of local businessmen, professionals, and political leaders typified by P. J. Kennedy (1858-1929) in Boston. In economic terms, Irish Catholics were nearly at the bottom in the 1850s. They reached the national average by 1900, and by the late 20th century they far surpassed the national average.

American Civil War (1861-1865)

As a result of the long-standing controversy over slavery, war broke out in April 1861, when Confederate forces attacked Fort Sumter in South Carolina, shortly after U.S. President Abraham Lincoln was inaugurated. The nationalists of the Union proclaimed loyalty to the U.S. Constitution. They faced secessionists of the Confederate States, who advocated for states' rights to expand slavery.

7 Continents

Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, Europe, and Australia. Asia is the largest while Australia is the smallest.

Silver Mining in the United States

Began on a major scale with the discovery of the Comstock Lode in Nevada in 1858. The industry suffered greatly from the demonetization of silver in 1873 by the Coinage Act of 1873, known pejoratively as the "Crime of 73," but silver mining continues today.

Forest Service (1875)

Born from Theodore Roosevelt's conservation group, Boone and Crockett Club, due to concerns regarding Yellowstone National Park beginning as early as 1875; Congress created the office of Special Agent in the Department of Agriculture to assess the quality and conditions of forests in the United States.

Transcontinental Railroad (1865-1869)

Built between 1863 and 1869 to join the eastern and western halves of the United States. Begun just before the American Civil War, its construction was considered to be one of the greatest American technological feats of the 19th century. Known as the "Pacific Railroad" when it opened, this served as a vital link for trade, commerce, and travel and opened up vast regions of the North American heartland for settlement. Shipping and commerce could thrive away from navigable watercourses for the first time since the beginning of the nation.

Imperial China

Can be divided into three subperiods: Early, Middle and Late.

National Division of Power

Can coin money, regulate interstate and foreign trade, raise and maintain armed forces, declare war, govern United States territories and admit new states, and conduct foreign relations.

Concurrent Division of Power

Can levy and collect taxes, borrow money, establish courts, define crimes and set punishments, and claim private property for public use.

State Division of Power

Can regular trade and business within the state, establish public schools, pass license requirements for professionals, regulate alcoholic beverages, conduct elections, and establish local governments.

Ancient Egypt

Civilization of ancient Northeastern Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River. Followed prehistoric Egypt and coalesced around 3100 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under Menes. In 30 BC it fell to the Roman Empire.

Terracotta Figurines

Clay is a material frequently used for the making of votive statuettes or idols, even before the Minoan civilization and continuing until the Roman period.

House of Representatives

Composed of Representatives who sit in congressional districts that are allocated to each of the 50 states on a basis of population as measured by the U.S. Census, with each district entitled to one representative.

Senate

Composed of senators, each of whom represents a single state in its entirety, with each state being equally represented by two senators, regardless of its population, serving staggered terms of six years; with fifty states presently in the Union, there are 100 U.S. Senators.

French and Indian War (1754-1763)

Comprised the North American theater of the worldwide Seven Years' War of 1756-63. It pitted the colonies of British America against those of New France. Both sides were supported by military units from their parent countries of Great Britain and France, as well as by American Indian allies. Fighting took place primarily along the frontiers between New France and the British colonies, from Virginia in the south to Newfoundland in the north.

Keynesian Economics

Comprises various macroeconomic theories about how in the short run - and especially during recessions - economic output is strongly influenced by aggregate demand (total spending in the economy). In the Keynesian view, aggregate demand does not necessarily equal the productive capacity of the economy; instead, it is influenced by a host of factors and sometimes behaves erratically, affecting production, employment, and inflation.

The "Big Four"

Considered the Allies: the United States, Soviet Union, United Kingdom, and China.

Central Powers

Consisting of Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria - hence also known as the Quadruple Alliance[1] (German: Vierbund) - was one of the two main factions during World War I (1914-18).

Executive Branch of Texas

Consists of the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Comptroller of Public Accounts. Land Commissioner, Attorney General, Agriculture Commissioner, the three member Texas Railroad Commission, the State Board of Education, and the Secretary of State.

Social Security Act (1935)

Created Social Security in the United States, and is relevant for US labor law. It created a basic right to a pension in old age, and insurance against unemployment. Signed into law by Franklin D. Roosevelt on August 14, 1935. Part of the New Deal Acts.

Central Pacific Railroad

Faced a labor shortage in the more sparsely settled West. It recruited Cantonese laborers in China, who did prodigious work building the line over and through the Sierra Nevada mountains and then across Nevada to their meeting in northern Utah.

Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854

Created the territories of Kansas and Nebraska and was drafted by Democratic Senator Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois and President Franklin Pierce. The initial purpose of the Kansas-Nebraska Act was to open up thousands of new farms and make feasible a Midwestern Transcontinental Railroad. The popular sovereignty clause of the law led pro- and anti-slavery elements to flood into Kansas with the goal of voting slavery up or down, resulting in Bleeding Kansas.

History of China

Date from as early as 1500 BC from the Shang dynasty.

Code of Hammurabi

Dating back to about 1754 BC, Babylonian code of law; earliest records of slavery, Mesopotamian.

Like Deep

Deepest part of the Arctic Ocean found in the Eurasian Basin.

Mariana Trench

Deepest point on the earth; is in the North Pacific Ocean.

Slave Holding States in the Union

Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri

Texas Name

Derives from taysha, a word in the Caddoan language of the Hasinai, which means "friends" or "allies".

Romanesque

Development of stone architecture that mimics Roman forms. Roman brick and stone buildings were recycled for their materials. Had massive stone walls, openings topped by semi-circular arches, small windows, and arched stone vaults. High relief became a central feature of facades, especially in France.

North Polar Basin

Divided in to the two oceanic basins, the Amerasian Basin and the Eurasian Basin by the Lomonosov Ridge.

Christopher Columbus (1451-1506)

During his first voyage in 1492, he reached the New World instead of arriving in Japan as he had intended, landing on an island in the Bahamas archipelago that he named San Salvador. European explorer credited with establishing and documenting routes to the Americas, securing lasting European ties to the Americas, and inaugurating a period of exploration, conquest, and colonization that lasted for centuries.

Erasmus (1466-1536)

Dutch Renaissance humanist and theologian. Helped prepare Latin and Greek editions of the New Testament and would later be influential in the Protestant Reformation.

Cycladic Civilization

Early Bronze Age culture of Greece in the Aegean Sea during 3200-2000 BC. Known for their flat female idols carved out of the island's pure white marble centuries before the great Middle Bronze Age (Minoan) culture arose in Crete, to the south.

King George III (1738-1820)

Early in his reign, Great Britain defeated France in the Seven Years' War, becoming the dominant European power in North America and India. However, many of Britain's American colonies were soon lost in the American War of Independence.

United States Constitution in 1789

Effective March 4, 1789, originally comprising seven articles, delineates the national frame of government. Its first three articles entrench the doctrine of the separation of powers, whereby the federal government is divided into three branches: the legislative, consisting of the bicameral Congress; the executive, consisting of the President; and the judicial, consisting of the Supreme Court and other federal courts. Articles Four, Five and Six entrench concepts of federalism, describing the rights and responsibilities of state governments and of the states in relationship to the federal government. Article Seven establishes the procedure subsequently used by the thirteen States to ratify it. It is regarded as the oldest written and codified constitution in force of the world.

Bill Clements

Elected in 1978, he was the first Republican to be elected governor of Texas since Reconstruction.

Cotton Gin

Eli Whitney invented this in 1793 in America.

Constantine the Great (324-337)

Emperor of the Byzantine Empire, created the city of Constantinople and legalized Christianity.

Constitution of 1824

Enacted on October 4 of 1824, after the overthrow of the Mexican Empire of Agustin de Iturbide. In the new constitution, the republic took the name of United Mexican States, and was defined as a representative federal republic, with Catholicism as the official and unique religion.

Puritans

English Reformed Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to "purify" the Church of England from its "Catholic" practices, maintaining that the Church of England was only partially reformed.

Thomas More (1478-1535)

English lawyer and author who wrote Utopia.

British America

English territories in North America (including Bermuda), Central America, the Caribbean, and Guyana from 1607 to 1783.

Warring States Period

Era in ancient Chinese history of intensive warfare all around China with the goal of creating one Chinese Empire, as well as bureaucratic and military reforms and consolidation, following the Spring and Autumn period and concluding with the Qin wars of conquest.

Maryland

Established by Lord Baltimore in 1632 in the hopes of providing refuge for English Catholics. The Protestant majority opposed this religious tolerance.

James Stephen Hogg

Established the Texas Railroad Commission to oversee the operation of Texas railroads.

17th Amendment (1913)

Established the popular election of United States Senators by the people of the states. The amendment supersedes Article I, §3, Clauses 1 and 2 of the Constitution, under which senators were elected by state legislatures. It also alters the procedure for filling vacancies in the Senate, allowing for state legislatures to permit their governors to make temporary appointments until a special election can be held.

Salem, Massachusetts

Europeans first settled it in 1626, when a company of fishermen[24] arrived from Cape Ann, led by Roger Conant. Conant's leadership provided the stability to survive the first two years, but John Endecott, one of the new arrivals, replaced him by order of the Massachusetts Bay Company.

John Nance Garner

FDR's vice president during his two terms; a Texan

Pure Food and Drug Act (1906)

First of a series of significant consumer protection laws which was enacted by Congress in the 20th century and led to the creation of the Food and Drug Administration. Its main purpose was to ban foreign and interstate traffic in adulterated or mislabeled food and drug products, and it directed the U.S. Bureau of Chemistry to inspect products and refer offenders to prosecutors. It required that active ingredients be placed on the label of a drug's packaging and that drugs could not fall below purity levels established by the United States Pharmacopeia or the National Formulary.

Lorenzo de Zavala (1788-1836)

First vice-president of the Republic of Texas and signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence

Constructivist

Follows the guidelines of the Constitution, opposes the establishment of a powerful central government.

Treaty of Portsmouth (1905)

Formally ended the 1904-05 Russo-Japanese War.

Continental Army

Formed by the Second Continental Congress after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War by the colonies that became the United States of America. Established by a resolution of the Congress on June 14, 1775, it was created to coordinate the military efforts of the Thirteen Colonies in their revolt against the rule of Great Britain.

East India Company

Formed during the 16th to 19th century to pursue trade with the East Indies but ended up trading with Qing China and seizing control of the Indian subcontinent.

Tessellated Mosaic

Formed from uniform pieces (tesserae) of materials such as stone and glass.

National Woman Suffrage Association

Formed on May 15, 1869 in New York City. The National Association was created in response to a split in the American Equal Rights Association over whether the woman's movement should support the Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Its founders, Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, opposed the Fifteenth Amendment unless it included the vote for women.

Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905)

Fought between the Russian Empire and the Empire of Japan over rival imperial ambitions in Manchuria and Korea; Both sides accepted the offer of Theodore Roosevelt, the President of the United States, to mediate; meetings were held in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, with Sergei Witte leading the Russian delegation and Baron Komura, a graduate of Harvard, leading the Japanese delegation. The Treaty of Portsmouth was signed on 5 September 1905.

Battle of San Jacinto (1836)

Fought on April 21, 1836, in present-day Harris County, Texas, was the decisive battle of the Texas Revolution. Led by General Sam Houston, the Texian Army engaged and defeated General Antonio López de Santa Anna's Mexican army in a fight that lasted just 18 minutes. Santa Anna, the President of Mexico, was captured the following day and held as a prisoner of war. Three weeks later, he signed the peace treaty that dictated that the Mexican army leave the region, paving the way for the Republic of Texas to become an independent country.

Battle of Appomattox Court House (1865)

Fought on the morning of April 9, 1865, was one of the last battles of the American Civil War (1861-1865). It was the final engagement of Confederate States Army General-in-Chief, Robert E. Lee, and his Army of Northern Virginia before it surrendered to the Union Army / Army of the Potomac under the Commanding General of the United States, Ulysses S. Grant. Lee, having abandoned the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia, after the ten-month Siege of Petersburg and Richmond, retreated west, hoping to join his army with the remaining Confederate forces in North Carolina of the Army of Tennessee under Gen. Joseph E. Johnston.

Massachusetts

Founded by the self-governed Massachusetts Bay Company in 1628. Land was bought from the Indians.

Ancient Rome

Founded in 8th century BC and finally collapsed in 5th century AD. Began as an Italic settlement in the Italian peninsula and expanded to become one of the largest empires in the ancient world.

American Federation of Labor (1886)

Founded in Columbus, Ohio, in December 1886 by an alliance of craft unions disaffected from the Knights of Labor, a national labor association; the largest union grouping in the United States for the first half of the 20th century.

Alien and Sedition Acts (1798)

Four bills passed by the Federalist-dominated 5th United States Congress and signed into law by President John Adams in 1798. They made it harder for an immigrant to become a citizen (Naturalization Act), allowed the president to imprison and deport non-citizens who were deemed dangerous (Alien Friends Act of 1798) or who were from a hostile nation (Alien Enemy Act of 1798), and criminalized making false statements that were critical of the federal government (Sedition Act of 1798).

Antarctic Ocean

Fourth largest ocean. Referred sometimes as the Southern Ocean and located near the South Pole. Joins the waters of the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Oceans and has a great influence on the earth's weather patterns. Youngest of all oceans and marine life rich.

France in the American Revolution

France formally allied with the Americans and entered the war in 1778, and Spain joined the war the following year as an ally of France but not as an ally of the United States.

John Calvin

French theologian and reformer in Geneva during the Protestant Reformation. Principal figure in the development of the system of Christian theology later called Calvanism. Father of the Protestant movement in France.

Renaissance

From the 14th to the 17th Century, regarded as the cultural bridge between the Middle Ages and modern history. Started as a cultural movement in Italy in the Medieval period and spread to the rest of Europe.

Gothic

From the early 12th century, French builders developed this style marked by the use of rib vaults, pointed arches, flying buttresses and large stained glass windows. Used mainly in churches and cathedrals and continued into the 16th century.

The Axis Powers

Germany, Italy and Japan

Silt

Granular material of a size between sand and clay, whose mineral origin is quartz and feldspar. May occur as a soil (often mixed with sand or clay) or as sediment mixed in suspension with water and soil in a body of water such as a river.

Reconstruction Era (1865-1877)

Has two senses: the first covers the complete history of the entire country from 1865 to 1877 following the American Civil War (1861 to 1865); the second sense focuses on the attempted transformation of the Southern United States from 1863 to 1877, as directed by Congress, from states with economies dependent upon slavery, to states in which former slaves were citizens with civil rights.

Thomas Paine (1737-1809)

He authored the two most influential pamphlets at the start of the American Revolution and inspired the rebels in 1776 to declare independence from Britain. Virtually every rebel read (or listened to a reading of) his powerful pamphlet Common Sense (1776).

Juan Ponce de Leon (1474-1521)

He became the first Governor of Puerto Rico by appointment of the Spanish crown. He led the first known European expedition to La Florida, which he named during his first voyage to the area in 1513.

Panifilo de Narvaez (14-1528)

He came to participate in the conquest of Cuba and led an expedition to Camagüey escorting Bartolomé de las Casas.

Rene-Robert de la Salle (1643-1687)

He explored the Great Lakes region of the United States and Canada, the Mississippi River, and the Gulf of Mexico. He claimed the entire Mississippi River basin for France.

Paul Revere (1734-1818)

He is best known for his midnight ride to alert the colonial militia in April 1775 to the approach of British forces before the battles of Lexington and Concord.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

He is best known for his role in the advancement of civil rights using the tactics of nonviolence and civil disobedience based on his Christian beliefs and inspired by the nonviolent activism of Mahatma Gandhi. Assassinated in 1968.

Chinese Immigrants

Hired by California construction companies for temporary railroad work. The European Americans strongly disliked the Chinese for their alien life-styles and threat of low wages. The construction of the Central Pacific Railroad from California to Utah was handled largely by Chinese laborers. In the 1870 census, there were 63,000 Chinese men (with a few women) in the entire U.S.; this number grew to 106,000 in 1880.

Sam Adams (1722-1803)

His 1768 Massachusetts Circular Letter calling for colonial non-cooperation prompted the occupation of Boston by British soldiers, eventually resulting in the Boston Massacre of 1770.

Sam Houston

His victory at the Battle of San Jacinto secured the independence of Texas from Mexico in one of the shortest decisive battles in modern history. He was also the only governor within a future Confederate state to oppose secession (which led to the outbreak of the American Civil War) and to refuse an oath of allegiance to the Confederacy, a decision that led to his removal from office by the Texas secession convention. Performed military service during the War of 1812.

Spanish American War (1898)

Hostilities began in the aftermath of the internal explosion of the USS Maine in Havana Harbor in Cuba, leading to U.S. intervention in the Cuban War of Independence. American acquisition of Spain's Pacific possessions led to its involvement in the Philippine Revolution and ultimately in the Philippine-American War.

Molasses Act of 1733

Imposed a tax of six pence per gallon of molasses, had never been effectively collected due to colonial evasion.

Alonso Alvarez de Pineda (1494-1520)

In 1519 he led several expeditions to map the western coastlines of the Gulf of Mexico to Florida.

First documented Africans

In 1619, the first documented Africans came to Jamestown—about 50 men, women, and children aboard a Portuguese slave ship that had been captured in the West Indies and brought to the Jamestown region.

William Penn (1644-1718)

In 1681 he received a royal charter for the establishment of Pennsylvania as a colony for Quakers. However, religious tolerance allowed immigrants from a mixed group of denominations, who prospered from the beginning.

Annexation of Hawaii

In 1897 President of the United States William McKinley signed the treaty of annexation for Hawaii, but it failed in the Senate after the 21,000 signatures of the Kūʻē Petitions were submitted.[citation needed] After the failure, Hawaii was annexed by means of joint resolution, called the Newlands Resolution.

The Shot Heard Round the World

In April 1775, English soldiers on their way to confiscate arms in Concord passed through Lexington, Massachusetts and met the colonial militia called the Minutemen. A fight ensued. In Concord, a larger group of Minutemen forced the British to retreat.

Corbel

In architecture this is a structural piece of stone, wood or metal jutting from a wall to carry a superincumbent weight, a type of bracket. Has been used since Neolithic and is common in Medieval architecture.

Manifest Destiny

In the 19th century, a widely held belief in the United States that its settlers were destined to expand across North America.

Charles Cornwallis (1738-1805)

In the United States and the United Kingdom he is best remembered as one of the leading British generals in the American War of Independence. His surrender in 1781 to a combined American and French force at the Siege of Yorktown ended significant hostilities in North America.

Venezuelan Affair (1902)

In the early 20th century, Venezuela was receiving messages from Britain and Germany about "Acts of violence against the liberty of British subjects and the massive capture of British vessels" who were from the UK and the acts of Venezuelan initiative to pay off long-standing debts. After British and German forces took naval action with a blockade on Venezuela (1902-1903), Roosevelt denounced the blockade. The blockade began the basis of the Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe doctrine.

Naturalization Act (1798)

Increased the period necessary for immigrants to become naturalized citizens in the United States from 5 to 14 years.

David G. Burnet (1788-1870)

Interim President of the Republic of Texas

Transatlantic Slave Trade

Involved the transportation by slave traders of enslaved African people, mainly from Africa to the Americas, and then their sale there. The slave trade used mainly the triangular trade route and its Middle Passage, and existed from the 16th to the 19th centuries.

People's Republic of China

Is a unitary sovereign state in East Asia and the world's most populous country. This republic was created by the Communist Party of China 1949 after the Chinese Civil War.

Legislature of Texas

Is bicameral (has two chambers); The House of Representatives has 150 members while the Senate has 31.

5th Amendment (1791)

Is part of the Bill of Rights and, among other things, protects individuals from being compelled to be witnesses against themselves in criminal cases. "Pleading the Fifth" is thus a colloquial term for invoking the right that allows witnesses to decline to answer questions where the answers might incriminate them, and generally without having to suffer a penalty for asserting the right.

Magna Carta (1215)

It promised the protection of church rights, protection for the barons from illegal imprisonment, access to swift justice, and limitations on feudal payments to the Crown, to be implemented through a council of 25 barons.

Whig Party (1834-1854)

It started in opposition to Jackson's authoritarian policies, and was particularly concerned with defending the supremacy of Congress over the executive branch, states' rights, economic protectionism, and modernization. Notable members include: Daniel Webster, Henry Clay, Winfield Scott, and a young Abraham Lincoln.

Gilded Age (1870-1900)

Its beginning in the years after the American Civil War overlaps the Reconstruction Era (which ended in 1877),[1]. It was followed in the 1890s by the Progressive Era; era of rapid economic growth, especially in the North and West. As American wages were much higher than those in Europe, especially for skilled workers, the period saw an influx of millions of European immigrants. The rapid expansion of industrialization led to real wage growth of 60% between 1860 and 1890, spread across the ever-increasing labor force.

Employment Act of 1946

Its main purpose was to lay the responsibility of economic stability of inflation and unemployment onto the federal government.

Edwin Waller (1800-1881)

Judge, signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence

World War 1 (1914-1918)

Known as the First World War, the Great War, or the War to End All Wars, was a global war originating in Europe that lasted from 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918; The war drew in all the world's economic great powers,[9] assembled in two opposing alliances: the Allies (based on the Triple Entente of the Russian Empire, the French Third Republic, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland) versus the Central Powers of Germany and Austria-Hungary.

Boston Massacre (1770)

Known as the Incident on King Street by the British,[2] was an riot on March 5, 1770, in which British Army soldiers shot and killed several people while under attack by a mob. The incident was heavily publicized by leading Patriots, such as Paul Revere and Samuel Adams, to encourage rebellion against the British authorities.

Krater

Large vase in Ancient Greece, particularly used for watering down wine. The material was ceramic and was the vaseform of the Bronze Age and the Iron Age.

Bay of Bengal

Largest bay in the worth and 10 largest sea. Located in the northeastern part of the Indian Ocean.

Sperm Whale

Largest living toothed animal found in the Atlantic Ocean.

Anson Jones (1798-1858)

Last president of the Republic of Texas called the architect of annexation

Spanish Occupation of Texas

Lasted for 105 years, still seen as names of Texas cities, towns, and counties.

Middle Ages

Lasted from 5th to 15th century. Began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and merged into the Renaissance.

Intolerable Acts (1774)

Laws passed by the British Parliament in 1774 after the Boston Tea Party. The acts took away self-governance and historic rights of Massachusetts, triggering outrage and resistance in the Thirteen Colonies.

Fugitive Slave Laws

Laws passed by the United States Congress in 1793 and 1850 to provide for the return of slaves who escaped from one state into another state or territory. The idea of the fugitive slave law was derived from the Fugitive Slave Clause which is in the United States Constitution (Article IV, Section 2, Paragraph 3).

Stratum

Layer of sedimentary rock or soil, or igneous rock that were formed at the earth's surface, with internally consistent characteristics that distinguish it from other layers. Seen as bands of different colored or differently structured material exposed in cliffs, road cuts, quarries, and river banks.

Benito Mussolini (1922-1943)

Leader of the National Fascist Party in Italy.

Precambrian Era

Occured 4.6 billion years ago. Earliest part of Earth's history set before the current Phanerozoic Eon. Accounts for 88% of the Earth's geologic time. Subdivided into three eons: Hadean, Archean, Proterozoic.

Zhou Dynasty (Ancient China)

Occurred between 1046 and 256 BC and supplanted the Shang, and introduced the concept of the Mandate of Heaven to justify their rule. Began to weaken in the 8th century and eventually splintered into smaller states.

The Crusades

Occurred during the 12th and 13th centuries, it was Intended to seize parts of the East from Muslim Control.

Texas Secession from the Union

Occurred on February 1, 1861. Became a "supply state" for the Confederate forces until mid 1863.

Joint Economic Committee (JEC)

One of four standing joint committees of the U.S. Congress. The committee was established as a part of the Employment Act of 1946, which deemed the committee responsible for reporting the current economic condition of the United States and for making suggestions for improvement to the economy.

Cuneiform Script

One of the earliest systems of writings invented by the Sumerians. Means "wedge shaped".

The Berlin Blockade (1948-1949)

One of the first major international crises of the Cold War. During the multinational occupation of post-World War II Germany, the Soviet Union blocked the Western Allies' railway, road, and canal access to the sectors of Berlin under Western control. The Soviets offered to drop the blockade if the Western Allies withdrew the newly introduced Deutsche mark from West Berlin. Aircrews flew over 200,000 flights in one year, providing to the West Berliners up to 8,893 tons of necessities each day, such as fuel and food.

Bleeding Kansas (1854-1861)

Or the Border War was a series of violent confrontations in the United States between 1854 and 1861 which emerged from a political debate over the legality of slavery in the proposed state of Kansas. The conflict was characterized by years of raids and retributive murders carried out by rival factions of anti-slavery "Free-Staters" and pro-slavery "Border Ruffians" in Kansas and neighboring Missouri.

Executive Branch

Organ exercising authority in and holding responsibility for the governance of a state. The executive executes and enforces law.

Protolith

Original rock form; can be sedimentary, igneous, or existing metamorphic rock.

5 Major Oceans

Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, Southern, Arctic.

Platt Amendment

Passed as part of the 1901 Army Appropriations Bill; stipulated seven conditions for the withdrawal of United States troops remaining in Cuba at the end of the Spanish-American War, and an eighth condition that Cuba sign a treaty accepting these seven conditions. It defined the terms of Cuban-U.S. relations to essentially be an unequal one of U.S. dominance over Cuba. The long-term lease of Guantánamo Bay continues.

Fugitive Slave Act of 1850

Passed by the United States Congress on September 18, 1850, as part of the Compromise of 1850 between Southern slave-holding interests and Northern Free-Soilers. It required that all escaped slaves were, upon capture, to be returned to their masters and that officials and citizens of free states had to cooperate in this law.

Hundred Schools of Thought

Philosophies and schools that flourished from the 6th century to 221 BC, during the Spring and Autumn period and the Warring States period of ancient China. Known as the Golden Age of Chinese Philosophy.

Six Basic Principles of the Constitution

Popular sovereignty, limited government, separation of powers, checks and balances, judicial review, federalism

Fall of the Western Roman Empire

Process or decline in this empire in which it failed to enforce its rule, and its vast territory was divided into several successor polities.

Aeolian Processes

Processes pertaining to wind activity, specifically to the wind's ability to shape the surface of the Earth. Winds may erode, transport, and deposit materials and are effective agents in regions with sparse vegetation, a lack of soil moisture and a large supply of unconsolidated sediments.

Fluvial Processes

Processes that are associated with rivers and streams and the deposits and landforms created by them. These landforms include Basins, Channels, Delta, Floodplain, Canyons, Islands, Gully, Waterfalls, etc.

14th Amendment (1865)

Prohibits the federal and state governments from denying a citizen the right to vote based on that citizen's "race, color, or previous condition of servitude". It was ratified on February 3, 1870, as the third and last of the Reconstruction Amendments.

19th Amendment

Prohibits the states and the federal government from denying the right to vote to citizens of the United States on the basis of sex. It was adopted on August 18, 1920. Until the 1910s, most states did not give women the right to vote. The amendment was the culmination of the women's suffrage movement in the United States, which fought at both state and national levels to achieve the vote.

Red Scare

Promotion of widespread fear by a society or state about a potential rise of communism, anarchism, or radical leftism. The term is most often used to refer to two periods in the history of the United States with this name. The First Red Scare, which occurred immediately after World War I, revolved around a perceived threat from the American labor movement, anarchist revolution and political radicalism. The Second Red Scare, which occurred immediately after World War II, was preoccupied with national or foreign communists infiltrating or subverting U.S. society or the federal government.

Information Seeking Behavior Theory

Purports that students progress through levels of question specificity, from vague notions of the information needed to clarify defined needs or questions. Students are more successful in the search process if they have a realistic understanding f the information system and problem. They should understand that the inquiry process is not linear or confined to certain steps, but is flexible, individual process that leads back to the original question.

Bill of Rights (1789-1791)

Ratified in 1797; The first ten amendments to the United States Constitution. The amendments add to the Constitution specific guarantees of personal freedoms and rights, clear limitations on the government's power in judicial and other proceedings, and explicit declarations that all powers not specifically delegated to Congress by the Constitution are reserved for the states or the people.

Virginia Company

Refers collectively to two joint stock companies chartered under James I on 10 April 1606 with the goal of establishing settlements on the coast of North America.

Big Stick Ideology

Refers to U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt's foreign policy: "speak softly, and carry a big stick." The idea of negotiating peacefully, simultaneously threatening with the "big stick", or the military, ties in heavily with the idea of Realpolitik, which implies a pursuit of political power that resembles Machiavellian ideals.

Welfare Capitalism

Refers to a capitalist economy that includes public policies favoring extensive provisions for social welfare services. The economic mechanism involves a free market and the predominance of privately owned enterprises in the economy, but public provision of universal welfare services aimed at enhancing individual autonomy and maximizing equality.

Anti-Federalists

Refers to a movement that opposed the creation of a stronger U.S. federal government and which later opposed the ratification of the 1787 Constitution. Worried that a strong federal government might create a monarchy. Wanted a Bill of Rights included.

Command Economy

Refers to the nominally-planned economies of the former Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc, highlighting the central role of hierarchical administration in guiding the allocation of resources in these economic systems as opposed to planned coordination.

Triple Entente

Refers to the understanding linking the Russian Empire, the French Third Republic, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland after the signing of the Anglo-Russian Entente on 31 August 1907. The understanding between the three powers, supplemented by agreements with Japan and Portugal, was a powerful counterweight to the Triple Alliance of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy.

Byzantine Iconoclasm (730-842)

Refers to two periods in the history of the Byzantine Empire when the use of religious images or icons was opposed by religious and imperial authorities within the Eastern Church and the temporal imperial hierarchy. Means "breaker of icons" included destruction within a culture's own religious icons for religious or political motives.

Square Deal

Reflected three basic goals: conservation of natural resources, control of corporations, and consumer protection; aimed at helping middle class citizens and involved attacking plutocracy and bad trusts while at the same time protecting business from the most extreme demands of organized labor.

Rosa Parks

Refused to obey bus driver James F. Blake's order to give up her seat in the "colored section" to a white passenger, after the whites-only section was filled; on December 1, 1955.

The Gettysburg Address (1863)

Reiterated the principles of human equality espoused by the Declaration of Independence and proclaimed the Civil War as a struggle for the preservation of the Union sundered by the secession crisis, with "a new birth of freedom" that would bring true equality to all of its citizens. Lincoln also redefined the Civil War as a struggle not just for the Union, but also for the principle of human equality.

1836-1845

Republic of Texas

Gold Reserve Act (1934)

Required that all gold and gold certificates held by the Federal Reserve be surrendered and vested in the sole title of the United States Department of the Treasury.

Fugitive Slave Clause

Requires a "person held to service or labour" (usually a slave, apprentice, or indentured servant) who flees to another state to be returned to the owner in the state from which that person escaped. The passage of the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which abolished slavery except as punishment for a crime, made the clause mostly moot.

Classified, Reserved or Exclusive Powers

Reserved powers are not granted to the national government, but not denied to the states. Exclusive powers are those reserved to the national government, including concurrent powers.

Three Rivers that Form Texas' Boundaries

Rio Grande, Sabine, and Red

Relief

Sculptural technique where the sculpted elements remain attached to a solid background of the same material. Cut from a flat surface of stone or wood leaving the unscuplted parts seemingly raised.

Mirabeau B. Lamar (1798-1859)

Second president of the Republic of Texas

Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865)

Served as the 16th President of the United States from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. Lincoln led the United States through its Civil War—its bloodiest war and perhaps its greatest moral, constitutional, and political crisis. In doing so, he preserved the Union, paved the way for the abolition of slavery, strengthened the federal government, and modernized the economy.

Theodore Roosevelt (1901-1909)

Served as the 26th President of the United States from 1901 to 1909; he championed his "Square Deal" domestic policies, promising the average citizen fairness, breaking of trusts, regulation of railroads, and pure food and drugs. Making conservation a top priority, he established many new national parks, forests, and monuments intended to preserve the nation's natural resources. In foreign policy, he focused on Central America, where he began construction of the Panama Canal.

Woodrow Wilson (1913-1921)

Served as the 28th President of the United States from 1913 to 1921; led the United States during World War I, establishing an activist foreign policy known as "Wilsonianism."

Andrew Jackson (1767-1845)

Served as the seventh President of the United States from 1829 to 1837. Created the Democratic Party in 1828.

Treaty of Paris of 1856

Settled the Crimean War between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the Ottoman Empire, the British Empire, the Second French Empire, and the Kingdom of Sardinia; made the Black Sea neutral territory, closing it to all warships, and prohibited fortifications and the presence of armaments on its shores. The treaty marked a severe setback to Russian influence in the region.

Early Texas History

Settlement in the region dates back to the end of the Upper Paleolithic Period, around 10,000 BC

The Confederacy

Seven Southern slave states individually declared their secession from the U.S. to form the Confederate States of America, or the South. The Confederacy grew to include eleven slave states. The Confederacy was never diplomatically recognized by the United States government, nor was it recognized by any foreign country (although the United Kingdom and France granted it belligerent status). The states that remained loyal to the U.S. (including the border states where slavery was legal) were known as the Union or the North.

Homestead Acts (1862)

Several United States federal laws that gave an applicant ownership of land, typically called a "homestead," at no cost. In all, more than 270 million acres of public land, or nearly 10% of the total area of the U.S., was given away free to 1.6 million homesteaders; most of the homesteads were west of the Mississippi River.

Mexican War of Independence (1810-1821)

Severed control that Spain had exercised on its North American territories, and the new country of Mexico was formed from much of the individual territory that had comprised New Spain.

James A. Garfield's Assassination (1881)

Shot at 9:30 am on July 2, 1881, less than four months into his term as President, and ended in his death 79 days later on September 19, 1881.

William McKinley's Assassination (1901)

Shot on the grounds of the Pan-American Exposition at the Temple of Music in Buffalo, New York. He was shaking hands with the public when Leon Czolgosz, an anarchist, shot him twice in the abdomen.

A Middle School or High School Student

Should be able to: and distinguish between primary and secondary sources such as diaries, letters, photographs, documents, newspapers, media, and computer technologies. Recognize how someone's point of view can be influenced by nationalism, racism, religion, or culture and ethnicity. Apply cause and effect reasoning and chronological thinking to past, present and future situations.

The Indian Removal Act of 1830

Signed by President Andrew Jackson on May 28, 1830. The law authorized the president to negotiate with southern Indian tribes for their removal to federal territory west of the Mississippi River in exchange for their lands. Large amount of resistance from the Indian tribes, the Whig Party, and whites in the northeast, especially New England. The Cherokee worked together as an independent nation to stop this relocation.

Chinese Exclusion Act (1882)

Signed by President Chester A. Arthur on May 6, 1882, prohibiting all immigration of Chinese laborers. The act followed the Angell Treaty of 1880, a set of revisions to the US-China Burlingame Treaty of 1868 that allowed the US to suspend Chinese immigration. The Chinese Exclusion Act was the first law implemented to prevent a specific ethnic group from immigrating to the United States.

Treaty of Paris 1783

Signed in Paris by representatives of King George III of Great Britain and representatives of the United States of America on September 3, 1783, ended the American Revolutionary War. The treaty set the boundaries between the British Empire in North America and the United States, on lines "exceedingly generous" to the latter. Details included fishing rights and restoration of property and prisoners of war.

Kalpis

Similar to the Hydria, this vessel lacks a vertical, or third, handle.

Topological Map

Simplified so that only vital information; lack scale, and distance and direction are subject to change and variation, but the relationship between points is maintained

Arctic Ocean

Smallest and shallowest of all the oceans. Includes the Hudson Bay, the North Sea and Barents Sea. Mostly covered with ice. Located in the Northern Hemisphere; has the lowest salinity among all the oceans because of the lower amount of evaporation, flow of heavy freshwater from rivers and streams, and has limited connection to other oceans.

States in the Confederacy

South Carolina, North Caroline, Virginia, Florida, Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, Texas, and Tennessee.

Countries that Shaped Texas

Spain, France, Mexico, the Republic of Texas, the Confederacy, and the United States

Reconquista

Spanish and Portuguese for the "reconquest", is the period in history of the Iberian Peninsula of about 780 years between the Umayyad conquest of Hispania in 711 and the fall of the Nasrid kingdom of Granada to the expanding Christian kingdoms in 1492.

Carter Doctrine

Stated that the United States would use military force if necessary to defend its national interests in the Persian Gulf; a response to the Soviet Union's intervention in Afghanistan in 1979, and was intended to deter the Soviet Union—the United States' Cold War adversary—from seeking hegemony in the Persian Gulf region.

Father of Texas

Stephen F. Austin

Martin Luther

Strongly disputed the Catholic view on indulgences. Taught that salvation and eternal life are not earned by good deeds but are received only as the free gift of God's grace through the believer's faith in Jesus Christ.

Constructivism

Supports a view of inquiry-based learning as an opportunity for students to experience learning through inquiry and problem solving. This process is characterized by exploration and taking risk, curiosity and motivation, engagement in critical and creative thinking, and connections with real-life situations and real audiences.

Laissez-Faire

Synonymous with what was referred to as strict capitalist free market economy during the early and mid-19th century as a classical liberal (right-libertarian) ideal to achieve. An economic system in which transactions between private parties are free from government intervention such as regulation, privileges, tariffs, and subsidies.

Custom Duties

Taxes imposed on imported goods. They serve to regulate trade between the United States and other countries.

Excise Taxes

Taxes on specific goods such as tobacco, liquor, automobiles, gasoline, air travel, and luxury items, or on activities such as highway usage by trucks.

Third Party System (1854-1890)

Term of periodization used by historians and political scientists to describe the history of political parties in the United States from 1854 until the mid-1890s, which featured profound developments in issues of American nationalism, modernization, and race. This period, the later part of which is often termed the Gilded Age, is defined by its contrast with the eras of the Second Party System and the Fourth Party System.

Chester W. Nimitz

Texan admiral and commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet.

U.S. Government in Texas

Texas has a Governor, elects two U.S. Senators and 32 U.S. Representatives.

Jose Antonio Navarro (1795-1871)

Texas statesman, revolutionary and politician

Miriam A. Ferguson

Texas' first woman governor

Great Slave Lake

The 10th largest lake in the world and is the deepest lake in North America; the 2nd largest lake in the Northwest Territories of Canada. The Hay River is the primary inflow while the main outflow is the Mackenzie River.

Texas Annexation

The 1845 incorporation of the Republic of Texas into the United States of America, which was admitted to the Union as the 28th state on December 29, 1845. The Democrats and the Whigs, opposed the introduction of Texas, a vast slave-holding region, into the volatile political climate of the pro- and anti-slavery sectional controversies in Congress; first signed by President Tyler on March 1st then officially signed by Polk on December 29th.

Caspian Sea (Lake)

The 1st largest lake in the world because it can be considered both a lake and a sea. It is a saltwater lake and the world's largest enclosed inland water body.

James A. Garfield (1881)

The 20th President of the United States served for four months before he was assassinated.

William McKinley (1897-1901)

The 25th President of the United States; led the nation to victory in the Spanish-American War, raised protective tariffs to promote American industry, and maintained the nation on the gold standard in a rejection of inflationary proposals.

Warren Harding (1921-1923)

The 29th President of the United States; slogan was "return to normalcy" after the end of WW1

New Guinea

The 2nd largest island in the world is located in the Western Pacific Ocean. It is administered by two countries-the Western part to Indonesia and Eastern part to Papua New Guinea.

Lake Superior

The 2nd largest lake in the world and apart of the North American Great Lakes. Water from this lake flows outward into Lake Huron. Formed due to glacial movements.

Coral Sea

The 2nd largest sea located in the northeast coast of Australia. Includes the Great Barrier Reef, bounded by the Queensland in the west, Vanautu and New Caledonia in the east, and Solomon Islands in the southern extremity. Includes the Gulf of Papua and reaches to New Guinea.

Calvin Coolidge (1923-1929)

The 30th President of the United States after the death of Warren G. Harding; Elected in his own right in 1924, he gained a reputation as a small government conservative. He restored public confidence in the White House after the scandals of his predecessor's administration and left office with considerable popularity.

Herbert Hoover (1929-1933)

The 31st President of the United States from 1929 to 1933 during the Great Depression; tried to combat the ensuing Great Depression in the United States with large-scale government public works projects such as the Hoover Dam and calls on industry to keep wages high. He reluctantly approved the Smoot-Hawley Tariff of 1930, which sent foreign trade spiralling down. He believed it was essential to balance the budget despite falling tax revenue, so he raised the tax rates.

Dwight D. Eisenhower (1953-1961)

The 34th President of the United States; main goals in office were to contain the expansion of the Soviet Union and reduce federal deficits. In 1953, he threatened the use of nuclear weapons until China agreed to terms regarding POWs in the Korean War.

John F. Kennedy (1961-1963)

The 35th President of the United States; served at the height of the Cold War, and much of his presidency focused on managing relations with the Soviet Union. He increased the number of American military advisers in South Vietnam. Was assassinated in 1963.

Lyndon B. Johnson (1963-1969)

The 36th President of the United States; designed the "Great Society" legislation by expanding civil rights, public broadcasting, Medicare, Medicaid, aid to education, the arts, urban and rural development, public services, and his "War on Poverty".

Richard Nixon (1969-1974)

The 37th President of the United States; ended American involvement in the war in Vietnam in 1973 and brought the American POWs home, and ended the military draft. Nixon's visit to China in 1972 eventually led to diplomatic relations between the two nations, and he initiated détente and the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty with the Soviet Union the same year.

Gerald Ford (1974-1977)

The 38th President of the United States; signed the Helsinki Accords, marking a move toward détente in the Cold War. With the collapse of South Vietnam nine months into his presidency, U.S. involvement in Vietnam essentially ended. Domestically, he presided over the worst economy in the four decades since the Great Depression, with growing inflation and a recession during his tenure.

Jimmy Carter (1977-1981)

The 39th President of the United States; pardoned all evaders of the Vietnam War drafts. Two new cabinet-level departments, the Department of Energy and the Department of Education, were established. He established a national energy policy that included conservation, price control, and new technology.

Lake Victoria

The 3rd largest lake in the world, a tropical lake, and is the 2nd largest freshwater lake. Named after Queen Victoria is fed by inflows from the Kagera River. Relatively shallow lake, bounded by Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania and has 84 islands within its body.

Arabian Sea

The 3rd largest sea and is part of the Indian Ocean. Bounded by India on the east, Arabian peninsula on the west, Pakistan and Iran on the north and Somalia on the northeastern region. Regarded as the major marine trade route in the world.

Ronald Reagan (1981-1989)

The 40th President of the United States; His supply-side economic policies, dubbed "Reaganomics", advocated tax rate reduction to spur economic growth, economic deregulation, and reduction in government spending.

Lake Huron

The 4th largest lake in the world, bounded between Michigan in the US on the west and Ontario on the north and east. A part of the Great Lakes, this lake is the 3rd largest freshwater lake. Formed due to the movement of glaciers; home to the largest Lake Island (Manitoulin Island) in the world.

South China Sea

The 4th largest sea and part of the Pacific Ocean. This sea is bordered to Singapore, Malacca Straits and the Taiwan Straits. Considered one of the major shipping transitions in the area.

Lake Michigan

The 5th largest lake located in the Great Lakes region of North America. Located entirely in the United States it is the 3rd largest by surface area and 2nd in volume. Formed by glacial movements and is connected to the ocean by means of manmade waterways and canals such as the Saint Lawrence and Great Lakes channels.

Weddell Sea

The 5th largest sea with the cleanest water on Earth. Part of the Southern Ocean containing the Weddell Gyre. Discovered in 1823 this sea is mostly covered by ice and is home to penguins, leopard seals, and killer whales.

Lake Tanganyika

The 6th largest lake in the world and a part of the African Great Lakes. The longest freshwater lake and the largest surface area located amidst the highlands of Africa. It is the 2nd deepest and largest freshwater lake in the world by volume. Formed due to tectonic movements.

Carribbean Sea

The 6th largest sea, located in the tropics of the western hemisphere and bounded by Greater Antilles to the north, Lesser Antilles to the east, South America to the south and Mexico and Central America to the west, and is part of the Atlantic Ocean. The deepest part of this sea is the Cayman Trough at 7686m below the sea level between Jamaica and the Cayman Islands.

Honshu

The 7th largest island is located in Japan. Home to the largest mountain in Japan, Mount Fuji. Contains the largest lake of Japan, Lake Biwa.

Lake Baikal

The 7th largest lake in the world and is considered a rift lake. Located north of the Mongolian border in Russia's southern Siberian region. The world's largest ice-free freshwater lake and contains around 20% of the world's total fresh water.

Mediterranean Sea

The 7th largest sea, considered part of the Atlantic Ocean, this sea is almost completely enclosed by land on the east by Levant, on the south by North Africa and on the north by Europe. The sea is also connected to around 60 countries and its basins.

Victoria Island

The 8th largest island in the world and the second largest island of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Contains 15 mile wide Tunnunik impact create formed between 130 and 350 million years ago by a meteorite.

Great Bear Lake

The 8th largest lake located 200 km south of the Arctic Circle within the Northwest Territories of Canada. The 4th largest lake in North America.

Tasman Sea

The 8th largest sea, a part of the South Pacific Ocean between Australia and New Zealand. Was one of the major part of voyage of Captain James Cook in the 1770s.

Great Britain

The 9th largest Island is located in the United Kingdom comprised of autonomous regions of England, Scotland and Wales. Human habitation started 500,000 years ago.

Lake Malawi

The 9th largest lake in the world located in Mozambique, Tanzania and Malawi. 3rd largest and 2nd deepest lake in Africa. Considered a meromictic lake.

Bering Sea

The 9th largest sea. A marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean, separated by the Alaska Peninsula from the Gulf of Alaska. Named after Vitus Bering who explored it in 1728 as he sailed from the Arctic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean.

Jamestown

The Colony of Virginia was the first permanent English settlement in the Americas. Served as the capital of the colony of Virginia for 83 years, from 1616 until 1699.

Miranda v. Arizona (1966)

The Court held that both inculpatory and exculpatory statements made in response to interrogation by a defendant in police custody will be admissible at trial only if the prosecution can show that the defendant was informed of the right to consult with an attorney before and during questioning and of the right against self-incrimination before police questioning, and that the defendant not only understood these rights, but voluntarily waived them.

Due Process Clause

The Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution each contain this clause; acts as a safeguard from arbitrary denial of life, liberty, or property by the government outside the sanction of law.

Reconstruction Amendments

The Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth amendments to the United States Constitution, adopted between 1865 and 1870, the five years immediately following the Civil War.

Alaska Purchase (1867)

The United States' acquisition of Alaska from the Russian Empire on March 30, 1867, by a treaty ratified by the United States Senate, and signed by President Andrew Johnson.

Louisiana Purchase (1803)

The acquisition of the Louisiana territory by the United States from France in 1803. The territory contained land that forms Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Nebraska; the portion of Minnesota west of the Mississippi River; a large portion of North Dakota; a large portion of South Dakota; the northeastern section of New Mexico; the northern portion of Texas; the area of Montana, Wyoming, and Colorado east of the Continental Divide; Louisiana west of the Mississippi River (plus New Orleans); and small portions of land within the present Canadian provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan. Its non-native population was around 60,000 inhabitants, of whom half were African slaves.

Battle of Fort Sumter (1861)

The bombardment of Fort Sumter near Charleston, South Carolina by the Confederate States Army, and the return gunfire and subsequent surrender by the United States Army that started the American Civil War.

Singapore

The busiest port in the world located on the Indian Ocean.

Federal Reserve System (1913)

The central banking system of the United States; after a series of financial panics (particularly the panic of 1907) led to the desire for central control of the monetary system in order to alleviate financial crises.

Mumbai Port

The chief trading port in India on the coast of the Indian Ocean and is known to be the Gateway of India.

American Imperialism

The concept of expanding territorial control was popularized in the 19th century as the doctrine of Manifest Destiny and was realized through conquests such as the Mexican-American War of 1846, which resulted in the annexation of 525,000 square miles of Mexican territory.

Byzantine Empire (285-1453)

The continuation of the Roman Empire in the East during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinople. It fell to the Ottoman Turks in 1453.

Texas Constitution (1876)

The current constitution is among the longest of state constitutions in the United States. From 1876 to 2015 the legislature proposed 673 constitutional amendments, of which 491 were approved by the electorate and 179 defeated.

Christian Monasticism

The devotional practice of individuals who live ascetic and typically cloistered lives that are dedicated to Christian worship. Began early in the history of the Christian Church and modeled after the Old Testament.

Sumer

The earliest known civilization in the southern region of Mesopotamia, modern-day Iraq, during the Chalcolithic and Early Bronze ages. Dating between 4500 and 1900 BC the civilization lived along the valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates. Early cuneiform script writing emerged in 3000 BC

Bimetallism

The economic term for a monetary standard in which the value of the monetary unit is defined as equivalent to certain quantities of two metals, typically gold and silver, creating a fixed rate of exchange between them.

Product Market

The marketplace in which final goods or services are offered for purchase by consumers, businesses, and the public sector. Focusing on the sale of finished goods, it does not include trading in raw or other intermediate materials.

Helsinki Accords

The final act of the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe held in Finlandia Hall of Helsinki, Finland, during July and August 1, 1975. Thirty-five states, including the US, Canada, and all European states except Albania and Andorra, signed the declaration in an attempt to improve relations between the Communist bloc and the West. The Helsinki Accords, however, were not binding as they did not have treaty status.

Battle of Palmito Ranch

The final battle of the American Civil War; fought May 12 and 13, 1865, on the banks of the Rio Grande east of Brownsville, Texas and a few miles from the seaport of Los Brazos de Santiago, more than a month after Robert E. Lee had surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant in the Eastern Theater. Though the Battle of Appomattox Court House is identified as the last major battle of the war, Palmito Ranch was the last land action between organized forces of the Union Army and Confederate States Army that resulted in casualties.

Barbara Jordan

The first African-American U.S. congresswoman from Texas

Europeans in Texas

The first Europeans in Texas were the French. La Salle led an on foot expedition from Texas to the mouth of the Mississippi. The french continues to claim Texas even after the Spanish arrived. The french are memorialized as one of the "six flags over Texas".

George Washington (1732-1799)

The first President of the United States from 1789 to 1797 and was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. He served as Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, and later presided over the 1787 convention that drafted the United States Constitution.

Gonzales

The first battle of the Texas Revolution was fought here.

Battles of Lexington and Concord (1775)

The first military engagements of the American Revolutionary War fought on April 19th, 1775. They marked the outbreak of armed conflict between the Kingdom of Great Britain and its thirteen colonies in America.

Seneca Falls Convention (1848)

The first women's rights convention.[1] It advertised itself as "a convention to discuss the social, civil, and religious condition and rights of woman".[2][3] Held in Seneca Falls, New York, it spanned two days over July 19-20, 1848. Attracting widespread attention, it was soon followed by other women's rights conventions, including the Rochester Women's Rights Convention in Rochester, New York, two weeks later.

Mount Kilimanjaro

The highest point in Africa located in Tanzania

Vinson Massif

The highest point in Antarctica

Puncak Jaya

The highest point in Australia located in Indonesia (Papua)

Mount Elbrus

The highest point in Europe located in Russia

Denali

The highest point in North America located in the United States

Aconcagua

The highest point in South America located in Argentina

Mount Everest

The highest point on Asia located in China and Nepal

Humanism

The intellectual basis of the Renaissance; man is the measure of all things. Included the study of poetry, grammar, history, moral philosophy and rhetoric.

Greenland

The largest island in the world located between the Atlantic and Arctic Ocean. It is an independent territory of Denmark. More than 80% of the land is covered by ice caps and glaciers.

Philippine Sea

The largest sea in the world. Part of the North Pacific Ocean and borders the Philippine archipelago on the southwest, Taiwan on the west and Japan on the north. With great tectonic plates at the base the sea has a very complex and diversified relief undersea. Enclosed some of the deepest trenches in the world, namely Philippine trench and the Mariana Trench. Tuna is found here.

Immigration during the Gilded Age

The last big waves of the "Old Immigration" from Germany, Britain, Ireland, and Scandinavia, and the rising waves of the "New Immigration", which peaked about 1910. The United States was producing large numbers of new unskilled jobs every year, and to fill them came number from Italy, Poland, Austria, Hungary, Russia, Greece, and other points in southern and central Europe, as well as French Canada. The older immigrants by the 1870s had formed highly stable communities, especially the German Americans. The British immigrants tended to blend into the general population.

Qing Dynasty

The last imperial dynasty of China, established in 1636 and ruling China from 1644 to 1912. It preceded the Ming Dynasty and succeeded by the Republic of China.

Mycenaean Greece

The last phase of the Bronze Age in Ancient Greece, spanning the period from 1600-1100 BC. Represents advanced civilization in mainland Greece: innovations in the fields of engineering, architecture and military infrastructure, while trade over vast areas of the Mediterranean was essential for this empire.

Anson Jones

The last president of Texas

Woman's Suffrage Movement (1840-1920)

The legal right of women to vote, was established over the course of several decades, first in various states and localities, sometimes on a limited basis, and then nationally in 1920.

13 Days

The length of the siege of the Alamo

Lake Assal

The lowest point in Africa located in Djibouti

Lake Eyre

The lowest point in Australia

Caspian Sea

The lowest point in Europe located in Russia

Death Valley

The lowest point in North America located in the United States

Laguna del Carbon

The lowest point in South America located in Argentina

Dead Sea

The lowest point on Asia located in Israel, Jordan and Palestine

Confederate States Army

The military land force of the Confederate States of America (Confederacy) during the American Civil War (1861-1865).

Wall Street Crash of 1929

The most devastating stock market crash in the history of the United States (acting as the most significant predicting indicator of the Great Depression), when taking into consideration the full extent and duration of its after effects. The crash, which followed the London Stock Exchange's crash of September, signaled the beginning of the 12-year Great Depression that affected all Western industrialized countries.

Mosaic

The most enduring of the Roman decorative arts.

Great Society

The name of President Johnson's program to bring civil rights and a better society to all Americans

California Gold Rush (1849)

The news of gold brought some 300,000 people to California from the rest of the United States and abroad. The sudden influx of immigration and gold into the money supply reinvigorated the American economy, and California became one of the few American states to go directly to statehood without first being a territory, in the Compromise of 1850.

2000

The number of Texans who fought for the Union.

Reasons for the Crash of 1929

The overproduction of agricultural produce created widespread financial despair among American farmers throughout the decade; steel production declined, construction was sluggish, automobile sales went down, and consumers were building up high debts because of easy credit.

Treaty of Ghent (1814)

The peace treaty that ended the War of 1812 between the United States of America and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

Roaring Twenties

The period of Western society and Western culture that occurred during and around the 1920s. It was a period of sustained economic prosperity with a distinctive cultural edge in the United States and Western Europe; emphasizing the era's social, artistic and cultural dynamism. Jazz music blossomed, the flapper redefined the modern look for British and American women,[9][10] and Art Deco peaked.

Quakers

The persecution of them in North America began in 1656 when English Quaker missionaries Mary Fisher and Ann Austin began preaching in Boston. They were considered heretics because of their insistence on individual obedience to the Inner light. They were imprisoned and banished by the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

1888

The present capitol building in Texas was completed

Water Quality Act (1972)

The primary federal law in the United States governing water pollution. Its objective is to restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the nation's waters by preventing point and nonpoint pollution sources, providing assistance to publicly owned treatment works for the improvement of wastewater treatment, and maintaining the integrity of wetlands. It is one of the United States' first and most influential modern environmental laws.

Aridification

The process of a region becoming increasingly dry. Refers to long term change rather than seasonal variation. Measured by the reduction of average soil moisture content.

Speculation

The purchase of an asset (a commodity, goods, or real estate) with the hope that it will become more valuable at a future date. In finance, speculation is also the practice of engaging in risky financial transactions in an attempt to profit from short term fluctuations in the market value of a tradable financial instrument—rather than attempting to profit from the underlying financial attributes embodied in the instrument such as capital gains, dividends, or interest.

Eugenics

The set of beliefs and practices which aims at improving the genetic quality of the human population, played a significant role in the history and culture of the United States prior to its involvement in World War II.

Kent State Shootings (1970)

The shootings on May 4, 1970 of unarmed college students by members of the Ohio National Guard during a mass protest against the Vietnam War at Kent State University in Kent, Ohio. Twenty-eight guardsmen fired approximately 67 rounds over a period of 13 seconds, killing four students and wounding nine others, one of whom suffered permanent paralysis.

RMS Lusitania

The sinking caused a storm of protest in the United States because 128 American citizens were among the dead. The sinking helped shift public opinion in the United States against Germany, and was a factor in the United States' declaration of war nearly two years later.

Judicial Branch

The system of courts that interprets and applies the law in the name of the state. The judiciary also provides a mechanism for the resolution of disputes. Under the doctrine of the separation of powers, the judiciary generally does not make statutory law (which is the responsibility of the legislature) or enforce law (which is the responsibility of the executive), but rather interprets law and applies it to the facts of each case.

Quantitive Research

The systematic empirical investigation of observable phenomena via statistical, mathematical or computational techniques.

McCarthyism (1947-1956)

The term refers to U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy and has its origins in the period in the United States known as the Second Red Scare, lasting roughly from 1947 to 1956 and characterized by heightened political repression as well as a campaign spreading fear of Communist influence on American institutions and of espionage by Soviet agents.

Production

The transformation of inputs into final products.

Industrial Revolution

The transition to new manufacturing processes in the period from 1760 to 1840. Included going from hand production to machines, new chemical manufacturing and iron production, increasing use of steam power, the development of machine tools and the rise of the factory system. Textiles were the dominant industry. With the first cotton mill in 1733.

War on Poverty

The unofficial name for legislation first introduced by United States President Lyndon B. Johnson; believed in expanding the federal government's roles in education and health care as poverty reduction strategies.

Inherent Powers

These are powers not expressed by the Constitution but ones that national governments have historically possessed, such as granting diplomatic recognition.

Indian Ocean

Third largest ocean, bordering the eastern coast of Africa, the shores of the Middle East and India in the north. 20% of all the water on the Earth's surface is in this ocean. 40% of the world's offshore oil production occurs here. This ocean is warm enough to keep phytoplanktons low resulting in limited life forms.

Jacksonian Democracy

This era, called the Jacksonian Era (or Second Party System) by historians and political scientists, lasted roughly from Jackson's 1828 election as president until slavery became the dominant issue after 1848 and the American Civil War dramatically reshaped American politics.

KKK (Ku Klux Klan)

Three distinct movements in the United States that have advocated extremist reactionary positions such as white supremacy, white nationalism, anti-immigration and—especially in later iterations—Nordicism,anti-Catholicism and antisemitism; flourished in the Southern United States in the late 1860s, then died out by the early 1870s; The second group was founded in the South in 1915 and it flourished nationwide in the early and mid-1920s, including urban areas of the Midwest and West.

Muckraking

Took on corporate monopolies and crooked political machines while raising public awareness of chronic urban poverty, unsafe working conditions, and social issues like child labor.

Hellenistic

Transition from the Classical to this period occurred during the 4th century BC. Following the conquests of Alexander the Great (336 to 323 BC), sculptures became more naturalistic and also expressive; depicting extremes of emotion. Subjects of common people, women, children, animals and domestic scenes; commissions by wealthy families for the adornment of their homes and gardens.

US Constitution in 1788

Transmitted to the United States in Congress Assembled then sitting in New York City, the new Constitution was forwarded to the states by Congress recommending the ratification process outlined in the Constitution. Each state legislature was to call elections for a "Federal Convention" to ratify the new Constitution.

Treaties of Velasco

Two documents signed at Velasco, Texas on May 14, 1836, between Antonio López de Santa Anna of Mexico and the Republic of Texas, in the aftermath of the Battle of San Jacinto on April 21, 1836.

Amphora

Type of container of a characteristic shape and size from as early as the Neolithic period. Used mostly for wine, often made from ceramic, but other metals have been used. Had a large storage container, the pithos, and multiple loops on the neck.

Caudillo

Type of personalist leader wielding military and political power.

Hydria

Type of water carrying vessel in the metalwork and potter of Ancient Greece. Created from bronze by the mid-5th century. Has three handles, two on the body for lifting and the third handle, a vertical one, used for pouring water. Found in both red- and black- figure technique.

Sedimentary Rock

Types of rock that are formed by the deposition and subsequent cementation of that material at the Earth's surface and within bodies of water. The particles that form this rock by accumulating are called sediment.

Lomonosov Ridge

Underwater ridge in the Arctic Ocean.

Inequality of Income During the Gilded Age

Unequal distribution of wealth remained high during this period. From 1860 to 1900, the wealthiest 2% of American households owned more than a third of the nation's wealth, while the top 10% owned roughly three fourths of it. The bottom 40% had no wealth at all.

Hepburn Act (1906)

United States federal law that gave the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) the power to set maximum railroad rates and extend its jurisdiction. This led to the discontinuation of free passes to loyal shippers. In addition, the ICC could view the railroads' financial records, a task simplified by standardized bookkeeping systems.

New Frontier

Used by liberal Democratic presidential candidate John F. Kennedy; unemployment benefits were expanded, aid was provided to cities to improve housing and transportation, funds were allocated to continue the construction of a national highway system started under Eisenhower, a water pollution control act was passed to protect the country's rivers and streams, and an agricultural act to raise farmers' incomes was made law.

Social Darwinism

Used to refer to various ways of thinking and theories that emerged in the second half of the 19th century and tried to apply the evolutionary concept of natural selection to human society.

Fr. Jacques Marquette (1637-1675)

Was a French Jesuit missionary who founded Michigan's first European settlement, Sault Ste. Marie, and later founded St. Ignace, Michigan. In 1673 he and Louis Jolliet were the first Europeans to explore and map the northern portion of the Mississippi River.

Jeffersonian Democracy

Was one of two dominant political outlooks and movements in the United States from the 1790s to the 1820s. The term was commonly used to refer to the Democratic-Republican Party (formally named the "Republican Party"), which Jefferson founded in opposition to the Federalist Party of Alexander Hamilton.

Grover Cleveland (1885-1889 & 1893-1897)

Was the 22nd and 24th President of the United States, the only President in American history to serve two non-consecutive terms in office (1885-89 and 1893-97).

Harry S. Truman (1945-1953)

Was the 33rd President of the United States; he assumed the presidency during the waning months of World War II and the beginning of the Cold War. Known for implementing the Marshall Plan to rebuild the economy of Western Europe, the establishment of the Truman Doctrine and NATO against Soviet and Chinese communism, and for intervening in the Korean War.

Matias de Galvez (1717-1784)

When Spain entered the Anglo-Spanish War as an opponent of Great Britain in 1779, he became involved in defending the colonial territories against British attacks.

Reasons for the Dust Bowl

With insufficient understanding of the ecology of the plains, farmers had conducted extensive deep plowing of the virgin topsoil of the Great Plains during the previous decade; this had displaced the native, deep-rooted grasses that normally trapped soil and moisture even during periods of drought and high winds. The rapid mechanization of farm equipment, especially small gasoline tractors, and widespread use of the combine harvester contributed to farmers' decisions to convert arid grassland (much of which received no more than 10 inches (250 mm) of precipitation per year) to cultivated cropland.

free enterprise

a type of economy in which people are free to buy, sell, and produce whatever they want

Declaration of Independence

announced that the thirteen American colonies, then at war with the Kingdom of Great Britain, would now regard themselves as thirteen independent sovereign states no longer under British rule. With this the states formed a new nation - the United States of America.

cultural pluralism

policy that allows each group within society to keep its unique cultural identity

William Howard Taft (1909-1913)

served as the 27th President of the United States (1909-1913); he focused on East Asia more than European affairs and repeatedly intervened to prop up or remove Latin American governments. Taft sought reductions to trade tariffs, then a major source of governmental income, but the resulting bill was heavily influenced by special interests.

The Three Federally Recognized Tribes in Texas

the Alabama-Coushatta Tribe, the Kickapoo Traditional Tribe of Texas, and the Ysleta Del Sur Pueblo of Texas

oppertunity cost

the loss of potential gain from other alternatives when one alternative is chosen.

Medicare

the name originally given to a program providing medical care for families of individuals serving in the military as part of the Dependents' Medical Care Act passed in 1956.

Edward Burleson (1798-1851)

third Vice President of the Republic of Texas. After Texas was annexed to the United States, he served in the State Senate. Prior to his government service in Texas, he was a commander of Texian Army forces during the Texas Revolution. Before moving to Texas, he served in militias in Alabama, Missouri, and Tennessee, and fought in the War of 1812. the soldier that was given Santa Anna's sword when he surrendered.