SAT US HISTORY
Bacon's Rebellion
- 1676, - Nathaniel Bacon, a Virginia planter, accused the royal governor of failing to provide poorer farmers protection from raiding tribes. - In response, Bacon led 300 settlers in a war against local Native Americans, - and then burned and looted Jamestown. - The rebellion highlighted the increasing rift between rich and poor in the Chesapeake region.
Sugar Act
- 1764 British law which lowered the duty on foreign-produced molasses as an attempt to discourage colonial smuggling. - further stipulated that Americans could export many commodities—including lumber, iron, skins, and whalebone—to foreign countries only if the goods passed through British ports first. - The terms of the act and its methods of enforcement outraged many colonists.
Jay's Treaty
- 1795 treaty - which provided for the removal of British troops from American land and opened up limited trade with the British West Indies, but said nothing about British seizure of American ships or the impressment of American sailors. - While the American public criticized the treaty for favoring Britain, it was arguably the greatest diplomatic feat of the Washington administration, since it preserved peace with Britain.
Tallmadge Amendment
- 1819 amendment to the bill for Missouri's admission to the Union. - Proposed by Representative Tallmadge, the amendment sought to prohibit the further introduction of slaves into Missouri and would have mandated the emancipation of slaves' children. - The proposal was blocked by the Senate, but it sparked intense congressional debate over the balance of slave and free states. - In 1821, Congress reached a compromise for Missouri's admission known as the Missouri Compromise.
Gibbons v. Ogden
- 1824 Supreme Court case - involving state versus federal licensing rights for passenger ships between New York and New Jersey. - A devoted Federalist, Chief Justice Marshall ruled that the states could not interfere with Congress's right to regulate interstate commerce. - He interpreted "commerce" broadly to include all business, not just the exchange of goods.
Harpes Ferry
- 1859 raid on a federal arsenal in ____________________, Virginia, led by John Brown. - Twenty-one men seized a federal arsenal in a failed attempt to incite a slave rebellion. - Brown was caught and hanged.
Haymarket Riot
- 1886 rally in Chicago to protest police brutality against striking workers. - - - The rally became violent after someone threw a bomb, killing seven policemen and prompting a police backlash. - After the riot, leaders of the Knights of Labor were arrested and imprisoned, and public support for the union cause plunged.
Homestead Act
- 1892 Pittsburgh steel workers' strike against the Carnegie Steel Company to protest a pay cut and 70-hour workweek. - Ten workers were killed in a riot that began when 300 "scabs" from New York (Pinkerton detectives) arrived to break the strike. - Federal troops were called in to suppress the violence.
Pullman Strike
- 1894 strike against the Chicago-based Pullman Palace Car Company after wages were slashed and union representatives were fired. - Led by Eugene Debs, the boycott completely crippled railroad traffic in Chicago. - The courts ruled that the strikers had violated the Sherman Antitrust Act and issued an injunction against them. - When the strikers refused to obey the injunction, Debs was arrested and federal troops marched in to crush the strike. In the ensuing frenzy, thirteen died and fifty-three were injured.
McCulloch v. Maryland
- 1896 Supreme Court case that determined states could not tax federal institutions such as the Second Bank of the United States. - The ruling asserted that the federal government wielded supreme power in its sphere and that no states could interfere with the exercise of federal powers. - The ruling angered many Republicans, who favored states' rights.
Laissez-faire
- A "hands-off" approach to the economy, allowing markets to regulate themselves. - means "let do" in French.
Specie Circular
- A 1836 executive order issued by President Jackson in an attempt to stabilize the economy, which had been dramatically expanding since the early 1830s due to state banks' excessive lending practices and over-speculation. - required that all land payments be made in gold and silver rather than in paper money or credit. - It precipitated an economic depression known as the panic of 1837.
Munich Pact
- A 1938 agreement between Britain, France, Italy, and Germany. - permitted Germany to annex the Czech Sudentenland after Hitler declared he would take it by force. - Intended to appease Hitler and avoid war, the pact only emboldened him further.
Brown V. Board of Education Topeka
- A 1954 landmark Supreme Court decision - reversed the "separate but equal" segregationist doctrine established by the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson decision. - The Court ruled that separate facilities were inherently unequal and ordered public schools to desegregate nationwide. - This decision was characteristic of the Supreme Court rulings under liberal Chief Justice Earl Warren.
Freedom Ride
- A 1961 program, - led by the Congress of Racial Equality and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, - in which black and white members of the two organizations rode through the South on public buses to protest illegal segregation in interstate transportation.
Lusitania
- A British vessel sunk by a German U-boat in May 1915, killing more than 120 American citizens. - The sinking of the ____________ prompted President Woodrow Wilson to plan for a military buildup, and encouraged American alliance with Britain and France in opposition to Germany.
Clarence Darrow
- A Chicago trial lawyer. - earned fame in the 1925 Scopes Monkey Trial. - Although his client, the teacher John Scopes, lost the case, he argued masterfully in court, and in so doing weakened the influence and popularity of fundamentalism nationwide.
George Armstrong Custer
- A Civil War hero. - was dispatched to the hills of South Dakota in 1874 to fight off Native American threats. - When gold was discovered in the region, the federal government announced that his forces would hunt down all Sioux not in reservations beginning January 31, 1876. - Many Sioux refused to comply, and he mobilized his troops. - At the Battle of Little Bighorn, the Sioux wiped out an overconfident him and his men.
Bill Clinton
- A Democrat, - served as president from 1993 to 2001, during a period of intense partisanship in the U.S. government. - His few major domestic and international successes were overshadowed by the sex scandal that led to his impeachment and eventual acquittal.
Jacques Cartier
- A French sailor who explored the St. Lawrence River region between 1534 and 1542. - searched for a Northwest Passage, a waterway through which ships could cross the Americas and access Asia. - He found no such passage but opened the region up to future exploration and colonization by the French.
Samuel de Champlain
- A Frenchman who explored the Great Lakes and established the first French colony in North America at Quebec in 1608.
Hiroshima
- A Japanese city that was site of the first-ever atomic bomb attack. - On August 6, 1945, the U.S. dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, killing 70,000 of its citizens instantaneously and injuring another 70,000, many of whom later died of radiation poisoning.
Whiskey Rebellion
- A July 1794 riot that broke out in western Pennsylvania in response to a high excise tax on whiskey initiated by Alexander Hamilton. - In a show of national strength, President George Washington led a force of militiamen to crush the rebellion.
Dorothea Dix
- A Massachusetts schoolteacher. - studied the condition of the insane in poorhouses and prisons. - Her efforts helped bring about the creation of asylums, where the mentally ill could receive better treatment.
Sacajawea
- A Native American woman who proved an indispensable guide to Lewis and Clark during their 1804-1806 expedition. - showed the men how to forage for food and helped them maintain good relations with tribes in the Northwest.
Dwight D. Eisenhower
- A Republican, served as president from 1953 to 1961. - Along with Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, he sought to lessen Cold War tensions. - One notable success in this realm was the ending of the Korean War. - Before serving as president, he was the supreme commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force in World War II, coordinating Operation Overlord and the American drive from Paris to Berlin.
Andrew Carnegie
- A Scottish immigrant who in 1901 founded Carnegie Steel, - then the world's largest corporation. - In addition to being an entrepreneur and industrialist, he was a philanthropist who donated more than $300 million to charity during his lifetime.
Huey Long
- A Senator from Louisiana and one of the most vocal critics of FDR's New Deal. - His liberal "Share Our Wealth" program proposed a 100 percent tax on all income over $1 million, and large redistribution measures. - His passionate orations won him as many followers as enemies: - he was assassinated in September of 1935 at the capitol building in Baton Rouge
Tecumseh
- A Shawnee chief who tried to unite Native American tribes in Ohio and Indiana to thwart white settlement. - His forces were defeated in the 1811 Battle of Tippecanoe. - later allied with the British during the War of 1812.
J.P. Morgan
- A Wall Street financier and business leader during the era of industrialization. - In 1901, Morgan bought Carnegie Steel and established the world's first billion-dollar corporation, U. S. Steel Corporation.
Flapper
- A central stereotype of the Jazz Age. - was a flamboyant, liberated, pleasure-seeking young woman seen more in media portrayals than in reality. - The archetypal _________ look was tomboyish and fashionable: short bobbed hair; knee-length, fringed skirts; long, draping necklaces; and rolled stockings.
Intolerable Acts
- A combination of the four Coercive Acts—meant to punish the colonists after the 1773 Boston Tea Party—and the unrelated Quebec Act. - Passed in 1774 - were seen as the blueprints for a British plan to deny the Americans representative government and were the impetus for the convening of the First Continental Congress.
Fidel Castro
- A communist revolutionary. - ousted an authoritarian regime in Cuba in 1959 and established the communist regime that remains in power to this day.
Economic Opportunity Act
- A component of Lyndon B. Johnson's Great Society. - established an Office of Economic Opportunity to provide young Americans with job training. - It also created a volunteer network devoted to social work and education in impoverished areas.
Trust
- A conglomerate of businesses that tends to reduce market competition. - During the Industrial Age, many entrepreneurs consolidated their businesses into trusts in order to gain control of the market and amass great profit, often at the expense of poor workers and consumers.
Court Packing Scheme
- A court reform bill proposed by FDR in 1937. - It was designed to allow the president to appoint an additional Supreme Court justice for each current justice over the age of seventy, up to a maximum of six appointments. - Though he claimed the measure was offered in concern for the workload of the older justices, the proposal was an obvious attempt to dilute the power of the older, conservative justices. - The Senate voted against the proposal later that year. - Many historians argue that the proposed bill resulted in a loss of credibility for FDR, helping slow the New Deal to a standstill.
Scalawags
- A derisive term that Democrats gave to Southern moderates who cooperated with Republicans during Reconstruction.
Anne Hutchinson
- A dissenter in the Massachusetts Bay Colony who caused a schism in the Puritan community. - Her faction lost out in a power struggle for the governorship and she was expelled from the colony in 1637. - She traveled southward with a number of her followers, establishing the settlement of Portsmouth, Rhode Island.
Roger Williams
- A dissenter who clashed with Massachusetts Puritans over the issue of separation of church and state. - After being banished from Massachusetts in 1636, he traveled south, where he founded a colony in Rhode Island that granted full religious freedom to its inhabitants.
Bay of Pigs Invasion
- A failed attempt by U.S.-backed Cuban exiles to invade Cuba and overthrow Fidel Castro's communist government - April 1961.
Upton Sinclair
- A famous muckraker who published The Jungle in 1906. - his novel exposed the unsanitary conditions in several meatpacking plants. - It and other exposés led to the passage of laws designed to ensure the safety of foods and medicines.
Benito Mussolini
- A fascist Italian dictator who rose to power in 1922. - aligned himself with Hitler, creating Rome-Berlin Axis in 1936. - The union of the two fascist forces paved the way for World War II.
Edgar Allan Poe
- A fiction writer who gained popularity in the 1840s for his horrific tales. - He published many famous stories, including "The Raven" (1844) and "The Cask of Amontillado" (1846).
Marshall Plan
- A four-year plan (begun in 1948) to provide American aid for the economic reconstruction of Europe. - The U.S. government hoped that this plan would prevent further communist expansion by eliminating economic insecurity and political instability in Europe. - By 1952, Congress had appropriated some $17 billion for it, and the Western European economy had largely recovered.
Test Offensive
- A general offensive launched throughout South Vietnam by the Vietcong and North Vietnamese on January 31, 1968, the first day of the Tet, or Vietnamese New Year. - Although the forces did not succeed in capturing the cities, they did cause widespread devastation, killing many thousands of American troops. - The month-long attack led the American public to believe that victory in Vietnam was unattainable.
Conquistador
- A general term for any one of a group of Spanish explorers in the New World who sought to conquer the native people, establish dominance over their lands, and prosper from natural resources. - They established a large Hispanic empire stretching from Mexico to Chile and wreaked havoc among native populations.
Union
- A general term for the United States during the Civil War. - the Northern army.
United Nations
- A group of 51 countries founded it on October 24, 1945. - Its central mission is to preserve peace and global stability through international cooperation and collective security. - Today, it claims around 191 countries as members.
Pilgrims
- A group of English Separatists who sought refuge from the Church of England in the Netherlands. - In 1620, they sailed to the New World on the Mayflower and established the colony of Plymouth Plantation.
Spheres of Influence
- A group of nations or territories in the unofficial economic, political, and social orbit of a greater power. - NATO countries were in the U.S. sphere of influence, while the Communist countries of the Warsaw Pact were in the USSR's sphere of influence. - The term is also used to describe European and Russian influence in China at the end of the nineteenth century, when certain countries had exclusive trade and development rights in key Chinese ports and regions.
War Hawks
- A group of westerners and southerners, led by John Calhoun and Henry Clay, who pushed for war against Britain. - objected to Britain's hostile policies against U.S. ships, including impressment and the seizure of shipping goods, and advocated fighting instead of submitting to such treatment. - They also hoped that through war, the U.S. would win western, southwestern, and Canadian territories.
Boxer Rebellion
- A group of zealous Chinese nationalists terrorized foreigners and Chinese Christians, - capturing Beijing (Peking) in June 1900 - threatening European and American interests in Chinese markets. - The United States committed 2,500 men to an international force that crushed the rebellion in August 1900.
Federal Home Loan Bank Act
- A late attempt by President Hoover to address the problems of destitute Americans. - The 1932 _____________ Act established a series of banks to make loans to other banks, building and loan associations, and insurance agencies in an attempt to prevent foreclosures on private homes.
Samuel Adams
- A leader of the Sons of Liberty. - suggested the formation of the Committees of Correspondence - fought for colonial rights throughout New England. - He is credited with provoking the Boston Tea Party.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
- A leader of the transcendentalist movement and an advocate of American literary nationalism. - He published a number of influential essays during the 1830s and 1840s, - including "Nature" and "Self Reliance."
Mark Twain
- A leading literary figure during the Industrial Age. - His most famous books include The Gilded Age (1873), The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876), and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884).
Malcolm X
- A major advocate of Black Power who helped lead the Nation of Islam to national prominence. - In 1965 he was assassinated after a well-publicized break with the Nation of Islam over his newfound dedication to cross-cultural unity.
Yalta Conference
- A meeting between the Big Three (FDR, Churchill, and Stalin) from February 4 to February 11, 1945. - Although FDR and Churchill's bargaining power with Stalin was severely hindered by the presence of Soviet troops in Poland and Eastern Europe, Stalin did agree to declare war on Japan soon after Germany surrendered. Plans for a United Nations conference in April 1945 were also approved.
Hartford Convention
- A meeting of Federalists near the end of the War of 1812, in which the New England-based party enumerated its complaints against the ruling Republican Party. - The Federalists, already losing power steadily, hoped that antiwar sentiment would lead the nation to support their cause and return them to power. - Perceived victory in the war, however, turned many against the Federalists, whose actions in Hartford were labeled traitorous and antagonistic to the unity and cooperation of the Union.
Constitutional Convention
- A meeting to amend the Articles of Confederation. - Delegates came to the convention from every state except Rhode Island in May 1787, and decided to draft an entirely new framework of government that would give greater powers to the central government. - This document became the Constitution.
Oliver North
- A member of the National Security Council who was involved in the Iran-Contra scandal. - In 1987, investigations revealed that he had headed the initiative to secretly and illegally fund the contras in Nicaragua, who fought against an anti-U.S. regime.
Radical Republicans
- A minority group that emerged in Congress during the Civil War. - Led by Congressman Thaddeus Stevens and Senator Charles Sumner, the Radicals demanded a stringent Reconstruction policy in order to punish the Southern states for seceding, and called for extended civil rights in the South. - Often aligned with moderate Republicans during the early years of Reconstruction, they were a dedicated and powerful force in Congress until the mid-1870s.
James Buchanan
- A moderate Democrat with support from both the North and South - served as president of the United States from 1857 to 1861. - could not stem the tide of sectional conflict that eventually erupted into Civil War.
Triangular Trade
- A name for the trade routes that linked England, its colonies in North America, the West Indies, and Africa. - At each port, ships were unloaded of goods from another port along the trade route, and then re-loaded with goods particular to that site. - New England rum was shipped to Africa and traded for slaves, who were brought to the West Indies and traded for sugar and molasses, which went back to New England.
Underground Railroad
- A network of safe houses and escorts established by Northern abolitionists to foil enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Act. - helped escaped slaves reach freedom in the North and in Canada.
Containment
- A policy established during Truman's presidency, - at the start of the Cold War, - called for the prevention of further Soviet expansion by any means. - soon evolved into a justification for U.S. global involvement against communism.
Popular Front
- A political group active in aiding the leftist forces in the Spanish Civil War. - Prominent American intellectuals and writers, including Ernest Hemingway and John Dos Passos, joined the group.
Redemption
- A political movement to overturn Reconstruction in the South. - shifted the power in state governments from Republican to Democratic hands, undid Republican legislature, and reinstated the oppression of freedmen.
Rosie the Riveter
- A popular advertising character during World War II. -—a well-muscled woman carrying a rivet gun—symbolized the important role American women played in the war effort at home. - represented the new, hard-working, independent woman.
Townshend Duties
- A popular name for the Revenue Act of 1767, which taxed glass, lead, paint, paper, and tea entering the colonies. - The colonists resented that the act was clearly designed to raise revenue exclusively for England rather than to regulate trade in a manner favorable to the entire British Empire.
Marcus Garvey
- A powerful African American leader during the 1920s. - founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) and advocated a mass migration of African Americans back to Africa. - was convicted of fraud in 1923 and deported to Jamaica in 1927. - While the movement won a substantial following, the UNIA collapsed without his leadership.
William Randolph Hearst
- A prominant publisher who bought the New York Journal in the late 1890s. - His paper, along with Joseph Pulitzer's New York World, engaged in yellow journalism, printing sensational reports of Spanish activities in Cuba in order to win a circulation war between the two newspapers.
Herman Melville
- A prominent American fiction writer in the 1840s and 1850s. - His best-known novel is Moby-Dick (1851).
Martin Luther King Jr.
- A prominent Civil Rights leader who rose to fame during the 1956 Montgomery bus boycott. - Throughout the late 1950s and early 1960s, King tirelessly led the struggle for integration and equality through nonviolent means. -He was assassinated in 1968.
Elizabeth Cady Stanton
- A prominent advocate of women's rights. - organized the 1848 Seneca Falls Convention with Lucretia Mott.
F. Scott Fitzgerald
- A prominent author during the Roaring Twenties, - wrote stories and novels that both glorified and criticized the wild lives of the carefree and prosperous. - His most famous works include This Side of Paradise, published in 1920, and The Great Gatsby, published in 1925.
Eugene Debs
- A prominent socialist leader and five-time presidential candidate. - formed the American Railway Union in 1893 and led the Pullman Strike a year later. - He helped found the Industrial Workers of the World, or Wobblies, in 1905. - A pacifist, he opposed the government's involvement in World War I. - In 1918, he was imprisoned for denouncing the government's aggressive tactics under the Espionage Act and Sedition Amendment; - he was released in 1921.
Henry David Thoreau
- A prominent transcendentalist writer. - Two of his most famous writings are Civil Disobedience (1849) and Walden (1854). - advocated living life according to one's conscience, removed from materialism and repressive social codes.
Boston Tea Party
- A protest against the 1773 Tea Act, which allowed Britain to use the profits from selling tea to pay the salaries of royal governors. - In December 1773, Samuel Adams gathered Boston residents and warned them of the consequences of the Tea Act. - Following the meeting, approximately fifty young men dressed as Mohawk Indians boarded the ships and dumped the cargo into the harbor.
Puritans
- A radical Protestant group that sought to "purify" the Church of England from within. - Persecuted for their beliefs, many of them fled to the New World in the early 1600s, where they established the Massachusetts Bay Colony in present-day Boston. - placed heavy emphasis on family values and strict morality.
Industrial Workers of the World (Wobblies)
- A radical labor organization founded in 1905. - advocated revolution and massive societal reorganization. - The organization faded away around 1920.
Jane Addams
- A reformer and pacifist best known for founding Hull House in 1889. - Hull House provided educational services to poor immigrants.
John Brown
- A religious zealot and an extreme abolitionist who believed God had ordained him to end slavery. - In 1856, he led an attack against pro-slavery government officials in Kansas, killing five and sparking months of violence that earned the territory the name "Bleeding Kansas." - In 1859, he led twenty-one men in seizing a federal arsenal in Harper's Ferry, Virginia, in a failed attempt to incite a slave rebellion. - He was caught and hanged.
To Secure These Rights
- A report issued in 1957 by Truman's Presidential Commitee on Civil Rights. - The report, titled To Secure These Rights, called for the elimination of segregation.
Rationalism
- A school of thought heavily influenced by the Enlightenment. - criticized most traditional religion as irrational and unfounded. - held that religious beliefs should not simply be accepted but should instead be acquired through investigation and reflection.
Manhattan Project
- A secret American scientific initiative to develop the atomic bomb. - Scientists worked for almost three years in Los Alamos, New Mexico, and on July 16, 1945 succeeded in detonating the first atomic blast. - The bombs were subsequently dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of World War II.
Iran-Contra Affair
- A series of investigations in 1987 exposed evidence that the U.S. had been selling arms to the anti-American government in Iran and using the profits from these sales to secretly and illegally finance the Contras in Nicaragua. - (The Contras were a rebel group fighting against the communist-linked Sandinista regime in Nicaragua.) - Oliver North, a member of the National Security Council, had organized the operation from within the White House. - There was no proof that Ronald Reagan was aware of North's actions.
The Federalists Paper
- A series of newspaper articles written by John Jay, James Madison, and Alexander Hamilton, - enumerated the arguments in favor of the Constitution and refuted the arguments of the Anti-federalists.
Palmer Raids
- A series of raids coordinated by Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer. - Throughout 1910, police and federal marshals raided the homes of suspected radicals and the headquarters of radical organizations in thirty-two cities.term-336 - resulted in more than 4,000 arrests, 550 deportations, and uncountable violations of civil rights.
Lincoln-Douglas Debates
- A series of seven debates held from August 21 and October 15, 1858 between senatorial candidates, the debates pitted Abraham Lincoln, a free-soil Republican, against Stephen A. Douglas, a Democrat in favor of popular sovereignty. - The debates were hard-fought, highly attended, and ultimately inconclusive, but they crystallized the dominant positions of the North in regard to slavery and propelled Lincoln into the national arena.
Letters from a Pennsylvania Farmer
- A series of twelve letters published by John Dickinson. - The letters denounced the Townshend Duties by demonstrating that many of the arguments employed against the Stamp Act were valid against the Townshend Duties as well. - The letters inspired anti-British sentiment throughout the colonies.
Lost Generation
- A small but prominent circle of writers, poets, and intellectuals during the 1920s. - Artists like Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Ezra Pound grew disillusioned with America's postwar culture, finding it overly materialistic and spiritually void. - Many became expatriates, and their writings often expressed their disgust with America.
Ku Klux Klan (KKK)
- A southern vigilante group founded in 1866 in Tennessee. - By 1868, they operated in all Southern states. - The group often conducted raids and lynchings to intimidate black voters and Republican officials. - faded away in the late nineteenth century, but resurfaced in 1915. - Capitalizing on middle-class Protestant dismay at changing social and economic conditions in America, the Klan took root throughout the South as well as in Western and Midwestern cities, and was dominated by white native-born Protestants. - Membership and influence declined again in 1925, when corruption among Klan leaders was exposed.
Transcendentalism
- A spiritual movement that arose in the 1830s as a challenge to rationalism. - aimed to achieve an inner, emotional understanding of God rather than a rational, institutionalized one. - They believed concepts such as absolute truth and freedom were accessible through intuition and sudden insight. - Among the more prominent _______________ were the writers Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau.
Silent Majority
- A term coined by Richard Nixon during the 1968 presidential campaign. - According to Nixon, he represented them —Americans tired of chaos, student protests, and civil rights agitation and eager for a conservative federal government.
Iron Curtain
- A term coined by Winston Churchill for the area of Eastern Europe controlled indirectly by the USSR, usually through puppet governments. - This area was cut off from noncommunist Europe.
Ross Perot
- A third-party candidate in the 1992 presidential election who won 19 percent of the popular vote. - his strong showing demonstrated voter disaffection with the two major parties.
First Great Awakening
- A time of religious fervor during the 1730s and 1740s. - The movement arose in response to the Enlightenment's increased religious skepticism. - Protestant ministers held revivals throughout the English colonies in America, stressing the need for individuals to repent and urging a personal understanding of truth instead of an institutionalized one. - precipitated a split within American Protestantism.
Salvation Army
- A welfare organization imported from England to the U.S. in 1880. - provides food, shelter, and employment to the urban poor while preaching temperance and morality.
Walt Whitman
- A writer and a disciple of transcendentalist Ralph Waldo Emerson. - His major work, Leaves of Grass (1855), celebrated America's diversity and democracy.
Articles of Confederation
- Adopted in 1777 during the Revolutionary War. - established the first limited central government - - reserving most powers for the individual states. - - didn't grant enough federal power to manage the country's budget or maintain internal stability, - and were replaced by the Constitution in 1789.
Committee to Defend America First
- Advocated isolationism and opposed FDR's reelection in 1940. - Committee members urged neutrality, claiming that the U.S. could stand alone regardless of Hitler's advances on Europe.
Rosa Parks
- African American seamstress who sparked the Montgomery bus boycott by refusing to give up her bus seat for a white man in December 1955.
Atomic Energy Commission
- After World War II, - it worked on developing more effective ways of using nuclear material, - such as uranium, - in order to mass-produce nuclear weapons.
Non-intercourse Act
- After the repeal of the Embargo Act, this 1809 law restricted trade with Britain and France only, opening up trade with all other foreign ports.
Limited Test-Ban Treaty
- Agreed to in July 1963 by JFK and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev. - prohibited undersea and atmospheric testing of nuclear weaponry and was characteristic of a period of lessening tensions—known as détente—between the world's two superpowers.
Transcontinental Treaty
- Also known as the Adams-Onís Treaty. - was signed in 1819 between the U.S. and Spain. - By the terms of the treaty, Spain ceded eastern Florida to the U.S., renounced all claims to western Florida, and agreed to a southern border of the U.S. west of the Mississippi extending all the way to the Pacific Ocean.
Corrupt Bargain
- Although Andrew Jackson won the most popular and electoral votes in the 1824 election, he failed to win the requisite majority and the election was thrown to the House of Representatives. - Speaker of the House Henry Clay backed John Quincy Adams for president, ensuring Adams's victory, and Adams rewarded Clay by making him secretary of state. - Jackson and his supporters, enraged that the presidency had been "stolen" from them, denounced Adams and Clay's deal as a _____________.
Erie Canal
- America's first major canal project. - Begun in 1817 and finished in 1825, - stretched from Albany to Buffalo, New York, - measuring a total of 363 miles.
Booker T. Washington
- An African American leader and the first principal of the Tuskegee Institute (1881). - adopted a moderate approach to addressing racism and segregation, urging his fellow African Americans to learn vocational skills and strive for gradual improvements in their social, political, and economic status.
W.E.B. Du Bois
- An African American leader opposed to the gradual approach of achieving equal rights argued by Booker T. Washington. - advocated immediate equal treatment and equal educational opportunities for blacks. - He was one of the founders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 1909.
Pearl Harbor
- An American naval base in Hawaii that was bombed by Japan on December 7, 1941. - The surprise attack resulted in the loss of more than 2,400 American lives, as well as many aircraft and sea vessels. - The following day the U.S. declared war against Japan, officially entering World War II.
Henry Hudson
- An English explorer sponsored by the Dutch East India Company. - In 1609, he sailed up the river than now bears his name, nearly reaching present-day Albany. - His explorations gave the Dutch territorial claims to the Hudson Bay region.
John Rolfe
- An English settler in Jamestown. - married Pocahontas, the daughter of the chief of the Powhatan tribe, and introduced the Jamestown colonists to West Indian tobacco in 1616. - Tobacco soon became the colony's lifeblood, bringing in much revenue and many immigrants eager for a share in the colony's expanding wealth.
Panama Canal
- An articifial waterway built by the U.S. between 1904 and 1914 as part of Roosevelt's "big stick" diplomacy. - The canal stretches across the isthmus of Panama, connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. - Panama gained full control of the canal in 1999.
Hull House
- An early settlement house founded in Chicago in 1889 by Jane Addams. - provided education, health care, and employment aid to poor families.
Great Debate
- An eight-month discussion in Congress over Henry Clay's proposed compromise to admit California as a free state, - allow the remainder of the Mexican cession (Utah and New Mexico territories) to be decided by popular sovereignty, - and strengthen the Fugitive Slave Act. - Clay's solution was passed as separate bills, which together came to be known as the Compromise of 1850.
Medicare Act
- An element of President Johnson's 1965 Great Society program. - created Medicare and Medicaid to provide senior citizens and welfare recipients with health care.
Henry Clay
- An important political figure during the Era of Good Feelings and the Age of Jackson. - engineered and championed the American System, a program aimed at economic self-sufficiency for the nation. - As speaker of the house during Monroe's term in office, he was instrumental in crafting much of the legislation that passed through Congress. - A gifted negotiator, he helped resolve the Missouri Compromise of 1820 and designed the Compromise of 1833 and Compromise of 1850. - He led the Whig Party until his death in 1852.
James Fenimore Cooper
- An influential American writer -- in the early nineteenth century. - His novels, The Pioneers (1823), The Last of the Mohicans (1826), and others, employed distinctly American themes.
The Liberator
- An influential abolitionist newspaper published by radical abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison from 1831 to 1865. - expressed controversial opinions, such as the belief that blacks deserved legal rights equal to those of whites.
Enlightenment
- An intellectual movement that spread through Europe and America in the eighteenth century. - Also known as the Age of Reason, ___________ ideals championed the principles of rationalism and logic. - Their skepticism toward beliefs that could not be proved by science or clear logic led to Deism.
Lucretia Mott
- An outspoken proponent of women's rights. - organized the Seneca Falls Convention in 1848 with Elizabeth Cady Stanton.
Sacco and Vanzetti Case
- Anarchist Italian immigrants who were charged with murder in Massachusetts in 1920 and sentenced to death. - was circumstantial and poorly argued, although evidence now suggests that they were in fact guilty. - It was significant, however, because it showcased nativist and conservative forces at work in America.
Bank Veto
- Andrew Jackson's 1832 veto of the proposed charter renewal for the Second Bank of the United States. - The veto marked the beginning of Jackson's five-year battle against the national bank.
Democratic Party
- Andrew Jackson's party, - organized at the time of the election of 1828. - Throughout the mid- and late 1800s, they championed states' rights and fought against political domination by the economic elite. - They opposed tariffs, federal funding for internal improvements, and other extensions of the power of the federal government. - The party found its core support in the South. - The party underwent a major transformation in the 1930s during Franklin Delano Roosevelt's presidency, - when they began to embrace a more aggressive and involved federal government. - FDR's New Deal policies cost them the support of the white South—their traditional stronghold—and won them the support of many farmers, urban workers, blacks, and women. - Their support base remains in place today.
Eisenhower Doctrine
- Announced in 1957. - committed the U.S. to preventing Communist aggression in the Middle East, with force if necessary.
Nixon Doctrine
- Announced in July 1969 as a corollary to Nixon's efforts to pull American troops out of Vietnam, - pledged a change in the U.S. role in the Third World from military protector to helpful partner.
Horace Mann
- Appointed secretary of the Massachusetts Board of Education in 1837. - reformed the public school system by increasing state spending on schools, lengthening the school year, dividing the students into grades, and introducing standardized textbooks. - set the standard for public school reform throughout the nation.
Anti-Imperialist League
- Argued against American imperialism in the late 1890s. - members included such luminaries as William James, Andrew Carnegie, and Mark Twain..
Republican Party
- Arose as the opposition party to the dominant Federalists during the Washington administration, they aimed to limit the power of central government in favor of states' rights and individual liberty. - A long period of their dominance began with Thomas Jefferson's election in 1800 and ended with Democrat Andrew Jackson's election in 1828. - A new _________ Party was formed in the mid-1850s after the collapse of the Whig Party. - As a sectional party concentrated in the North, the ________________ Party focused primarily on promoting the issue of free soil. - In 1860, the party successfully elected Abraham Lincoln president, and dominated politics during the Civil War and early Reconstruction. - Because of its origin as an antislavery party, the ____________ Party held the black vote for over sixty years, until FDR's New Deal policies caused black voters align with the Democrats.
Elastic Clause
- Article I, Section VIII of the Constitution. - The article states that Congress shall have the power "to make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution . . . powers vested by this Constitution in the government of the United States." - This clause was a point of much contention between those who favored a loose reading of the Constitution and those who favored a strict reading.
Thurgood Marshall
- Attorney who successfully argued the case of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka in front of the Supreme Court in 1954. - In 1967, he became the first African American appointed to the Supreme Court.
Thomas Paine
- Author of influential pamphlet Common Sense, which exhorted Americans to rise up in opposition to the British government and establish a new type of government based on Enlightenment ideals. - Historians have cited the publication of this pamphlet as the event that finally sparked the Revolutionary War. - also wrote rational criticisms of religion, most famously in The Age of Reason (1794-1807).
Horatio Alger
- Author of popular young adult novels, - Ragged Dick, - during the Industrial Revolution. His "rags to riches" tales emphasised that anyone could become wealthy and successful through hard work and exceptional luck.
Force Bill
- Authorized President Jackson to use arms to collect customs duties in South Carolina as part of the Compromise of 1833.
Adolph Hitler
- Became Chancellor of Germany in January 1933. - led the nation to economic recovery by mobilizing industry for the purposes of war. - His fascist Nazi regime attempted to secure global hegemony for Germany, undertaking measures of mass genocide and ushering Europe into World War II.
Gulf War
- Began when Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in August 1990. - In January 1991, the U.S. attacked Iraqi troops, supply lines, and bases. - In late February, U.S. ground troops launched an attack on Kuwait City, successfully driving out Hussein's troops. - A total of 148 Americans died in the war, compared to over 100,000 Iraqi deaths.
Panic of 1893
- Began when the railroad industry faltered during the early 1890s, sparking the collapse of many related industries. - Confidence in the U.S. dollar plunged. The depression lasted roughly four years.
Revolutionary War
- Began with the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776 and ended with the Treaty of Paris in 1783. - The American colonists defeated the British and won independence.
Spanish-American War
- Broke out in 1898 over U.S. concerns for the Cuban independence movement. - The U.S. decisively won the war, gaining the territories of Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines, and securing independence for Cuba. - The victory also marked the entrance of the United States as a powerful force onto the world stage.
United Negro Improvement Association
- Brought from Jamaica to the U.S. in 1916 by Marcus Garvey. - urged economic cooperation among African Americans.
Selective Service Act
- Called for the nation's first peacetime draft. - The act was passed in September 1940.
John D. Rockefeller
- Chairman of the Standard Oil Trust, which grew to control nearly all of the United States' oil production and distribution.
Bank of the United States
- Chartered in 1791, - was a controversial part of Alexander Hamilton's Federalist economic program.
Second Bank of the US
- Chartered in 1816 under President Madison. - served as a depository for federal funds and a creditor for state banks. - It became unpopular after being blamed for the panic of 1819, and suspicion of corruption and mismanagement haunted it until its charter expired in 1836. - Jackson fought against it throughout his presidency, proclaiming it to be an unconstitutional extension of the federal government and a tool that rich capitalists used to corrupt American society.
Worcester v. Georgia
- Chief Justice John Marshall ruled in 1832 that the Cherokee tribe comprised a "domestic dependent nation" within Georgia and thus deserved protection from harassment—in this case, from forced migration out of Georgia. - Known to be vehemently racist against Indians and eager to secure Native American land for U.S. settlement, Andrew Jackson refused to abide by the decision, reportedly sneering, "John Marshall has made his decision; now let him enforce it." - The Cherokee removal continued on unabated and as aggressively as ever.
John Marshall
- Chief Justice of the Supreme Court from 1801 until his death in 1835. - Under his leadership, the Court became as powerful a federal force as the executive and legislative branches. - his most notable decision came in the 1803 Marbury v. Madison case, in which he asserted the principle of judicial review. - During James Monroe's presidency, he delivered two rulings that curtailed states' rights and exposed the latent conflicts in the Era of Good Feelings.
Roger B. Taney
- Chief justice of the Supreme Court from 1836 to 1864. - In support of slavery laws, he delivered the majority opinion on Dred Scott v. Sanford.
Earl Warren
- Chief justice of the Supreme Court from 1953 to 1969. - His liberal court made a number of important decisions, primarily in the realm of civil rights, including Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka in 1954.
Congregationalism
- Church system set up by the Puritans of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, in which each local church served as the center of its own community. - This structure stood in contrast to the Church of England, in which the single state church held sway over all local churches. - assured colonists a role in directing the individual congregations, which became the center of religious, and often political, life in New England communities.
Black Power
- Coined by Stokely Carmichael, - and adopted by Malcom X, - the Black Panthers, and other civil rights groups. - - The term embodied the fight against oppression and the value of ethnic heritage.
Tories
- Colonists who disagreed with the move for independence and did not support the Revolution.
Ulysses S. Grant
- Commanding general of western Union forces for much of the war, and for all Union forces during the last year of the war. - he later became the nation's eighteenth president, serving from 1869 to 1877 and presiding over the decline of Reconstruction. - His administration was marred by corruption.
Hooverville
- Communities of destitute Americans living in shanties and makeshift shacks. - sprung up around most major U.S. cities in the early 1930s, providing a stark reminder of Herbert Hoover's failure to alleviate the poverty of the Great Depression.
Battle of Britain
- Conducted during the summer and fall of 1940. - In preparation for an amphibious assault, Germans lauched airstrikes on London. - Hitler hoped the continuous bombing would destroy British industry and sap morale, but the British successfully avoided a German invasion.
Berlin Wall
- Constructed by the USSR - completed in August 1961 to prevent East Berliners from fleeing to West Berlin. - it cemented the political split of Berlin between the communist and authoritian East and the capitalist and democratic West. - it was torn down on November 9, 1989, setting the stage for the reunification of Germany and signifying the end of the Cold War.
Francisco Franco
- Controlled the rightist forces during the Spanish Civil War. - His fascist government ruled Spain from 1939 until 1975.
Second Continental Congress
- Convened in May 1775 after fighting broke out in Massachusetts between the British and the colonists. - Most delegates opposed the drastic move toward complete independence from Britain. - In an effort to reach a reconciliation, the Congress sent the Olive Branch Petition to King George III, offering peace under the conditions that there be a cease-fire in Boston, that the Coercive Acts (part of the Intolerable Acts) be repealed, and that negotiations between the colonists and Britain begin immediately. - When King George III rejected the petition, the Congress created the Continental Army and elected George Washington its commander in chief.
First Continental Congress
- Convened on September 5, 1774, with all the colonies but Georgia sending delegates chosen by the Committees of Correspondence. - The congress endorsed the Suffolk Resolves, voted for an organized boycott of British imports, - sent a petition to King George III that conceded to Parliament the power of regulation of commerce, - but stringently objected to Parliament's arbitrary taxation and unfair judicial system.
American System
- Crafted by Henry Clay - backed by the National Republican Party. - proposed a series of tariffs and federally funded transportation improvements, - geared toward achieving national economic self-sufficiency.
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)
- Created as a part of the first New Deal to increase faith in the banking system by insuring individual deposits with federal funds.
Joint Chiefs of Staff
- Created by FDR in February 1942 to oversee the rapidly growing military. - included representatives from the army, navy, and air force.
Civil Works Administration
- Created by FDR to cope with the added economic difficulties brought on by the cold winter months of 1933. - spent approximately $1 billion on short-term projects for the unemployed but was abolished in the spring of that year.
Peace Corps
- Created by JFK in 1961. - sends volunteer teachers, health workers, and engineers on two-year aid programs to Third World countries.
Reconstuction Finance Corporation
- Created by President Hoover in 1932 to make loans to large economic institutions such as railroads and banks. -loaned over $2 billion in 1932, but that amount was too little, too late in the fight against the Great Depression. - continued operating under FDR.
Public Work Administration
- Created by the National Industrial Recovery Act as part of the New Deal. - spent over $4 million on projects designed to employ the jobless and reinvigorate the economy.
National Conservation Commission
- Created in 1909 by Theodore Roosevelt. - aimed to achieve more efficient and responsible management of the nation's resources.
Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)
- Created in 1933 as part of FDR's New Deal, - pumped money into the economy by employing the destitute in conservation and other projects.
Agricultural Adjustment Administration
- Created in 1933 as part of FDR's New Deal. - controlled the production and prices of crops by offering subsidies to farmers who stayed under set quotas. - The Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional in 1936.
Second New Deal
- Created in 1935 after FDR's first New Deal began to crumble in the face of opposition and antagonistic Supreme Court rulings. - was characterized by greater government spending and increased numbers of work relief programs. - The most lasting measure of it was the creation of the Social Security system.
War Production Board
- Created in 1942. - oversaw the production of the thousands of planes, tanks, artillery pieces, and munitions that FDR requested once the U.S. entered the war. - The board allocated scarce resources and shifted domestic production from civilian to military goods.
Students for a Democratic Society
- Created in 1962. - united college students throughout the country in a network committed to achieving racial equality, alleviating poverty, and ending the Vietnam War.
Office of Censorship
- Created in December 1941. - examined all letters sent overseas and worked with media firms to control information broadcast to the people in an attempt to limit information leaks during World War II.
Judiciary Act of 1789
- Created the American court system. - The act established a federal district court in each state and gave the Supreme Court final jurisdiction in all legal matters.
Federal Trade Commission Act
- Created the Federal Trade Commission in 1914 - to monitor and investigate firms involved in interstate commerce and to issue "cease and desist" orders when business practices violated free competition. - The act was a central part of Wilson's plan to aggressively regulate business.
Social Darwinism
- Darwin's theories of evolution and survival of the fittest as applied to human societies. - Andrew Carnegie and others cited social Darwinist theories to justify the widening gap between the rich and the poor during the era of industrialization.
Rosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine
- Declared (during Roosevelt's 1904 State of the Union address) that the United States, not Europe, should dominate the affairs of Latin America, and that although the U.S. had no expansionist intentions, any "chronic wrongdoing" by a Latin American nation would justify U.S. intervention as a global police power.
Suffolk Resolves
- Declared that the colonies need not obey the 1773 Coercive Acts, since they infringed upon basic liberties. - were endorsed by the First Continental Congress.
Northwest Ordinance
- Defined the process by which new states could be admitted into the Union from the Northwest Territory. - forbade slavery in the territory but allowed citizens to vote on the legality of slavery once statehood had been established.
Annapolis Convention
- Delegates from five states met in Annapolis in September 1786 to discuss interstate commerce. - discussions of weaknesses in the government led them to suggest to Congress a new convention to amend the Articles of Confederation.
Freeport Doctrine
- Democrat Stephen A. Douglas's attempt to reconcile his belief in popular sovereignty with the Dred Scott decision. - In the famed Lincoln-Douglas debates of 1858, Douglas argued that territories could effectively forbid slavery by failing to enact slave codes, - even though ____________________ deprived government of the right to restrict slavery in the territories.
Woodrow Wilson
- Democrat, president from 1913 to 1921. - An enthusiastic reformer, he supported measures to limit corporate power, protect laborers, and aid poor farmers. - In foreign relations, he advocated the principles of "new freedom," encouraging democracy and capitalism worldwide. - During the early years of World War I, he struggled to preserve American neutrality. - Once the U.S. entered the war, he charged ahead aggressively. - His key contributions to the war, beyond providing American forces, were the elucidation of his Fourteen Points and his advocacy of the League of Nations.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt
- Democrat, president from 1933 until his death in 1945. - broke the unofficial tradition initiated by George Washington of presidents serving no more than two terms in office. - was the architect of the New Deal and the visible force behind the United States' efforts at recovery from the Great Depression. - In forging the New Deal, he exercised greater authority than perhaps any president before him, giving rise to a new understanding of the role and responsibility of the president. - Under his leadership, the modern Democratic Party was formed, garnering support from labor unions, blacks, urban workers, and farmers. - In the later years of his presidency, he heavily supervised both the civilian and military effort in World War II. - He has been called the most popular president in American history.
John F. Kennedy
- Democrat, served as president from 1961 until his assassination in November 1963. - A young and charismatic leader, he cultivated a glorified image in the eyes of the American public. - His primary achievements came in the realm of international relations, most notably the peaceful resolution of the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Franklin Pierce
- Democrat, served as president of the United States from 1853 to 1857. - was the last president until 1932 to win the popular and electoral vote in both the North and South. - was little more than a caretaker of the White House in the years leading up to the Civil War
Free-Soil Party
- Democratic Party, the abolitionist Liberty Party, and antislavery Whigs. - nominated Martin Van Buren as their candidate for president. - The party didn't win the election, but it did earn 10 percent of the national popular vote—an impressive showing for a third party. - The relative success of the party demonstrated that slavery had become a central issue in national politics.
William Jennings Bryan
- Democratic candidate for president in 1896. - His goal of "free silver" (unlimited coinage of silver) won him the support of the Populist Party. - - Though a gifted orator, he lost the election to Republican William McKinley. - He ran again for president and lost in 1900. - In the 1920s, he made his mark as a leader of the fundamentalist cause and the key witness in the Scopes Monkey Trial.
Jimmy Carter
- Democratic president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. - is best known for his commitment to human rights. - During his term in office, he faced an oil crisis, a weak economy, and severe tension in the Middle East.
Compromise of 1850
- Designed by Henry Clay and pushed through Congress by Stephen A. Douglas. - aimed to resolve sectional conflict over the distribution of slave-holding versus free states. - It stipulated the admission of California as a free state; the division of the remainder of the Mexican cession into two separate territories, New Mexico and Utah, without federal restrictions on slavery; the continuance of slavery but abolition of the slave trade in the District of Columbia; and a more effective Fugitive Slave Law. - The compromise, however, proved incapable of stemming controversy over slavery's expansion
Trail of Tears
- Despite the Supreme Court decision in Worcester v. Georgia, federal troops forced bands of Cherokee Indians to move west of the Mississippi between 1835 and 1838. - Their journey, in which 2,000-4,000 of the 16,000 Cherokee died, became known as the Trail of Tears.
Open Door Policy
- Developed by Secretary of State John Hay in 1899. - aimed to combat the European spheres of influence that threatened to squeeze American business interests out of Chinese markets. - It pressured European powers to open key ports within their spheres of influence to U.S. businessmen.
Dawes Plan
- Devised by banker Charles G. Dawes in 1924. - scaled back U.S. demands for debt payments and reparations from World War I, and established a cycle of U.S. loans to Germany. -- These loans provided Germany with funds for its payment to the Allies, thus funding Allied debt payments to the U.S.
Joseph Stalin
- Dictator of the Soviet Union from 1928 until 1953. - coordinated Soviet involvement in World War II, intitially cooperating with U.S. forces. - The relationship between the USSR and the U.S. soured during World War II, eventually leading to the Cold War.
Declaration of Independence
- Drafted by Thomas Jefferson, - was approved by Congress on July 4, 1776. - The document enumerated the reasons for the split with Britain and laid out the Enlightenment ideals (best expressed by John Locke) - of natural rights to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" upon which the American Revolution was based.
Panic of 1873
- Due to overexpansion and overspeculation, the nation's largest bank collapsed, followed by the collapse of many smaller banks, business firms, and the stock market. - precipitated a five-year national depression.
Axis Powers
- During World War II, - the ______ powers included Germany, Italy, and Japan. - The three powers signed the Tripartite Pact in September 1940.
Antifederalists
- During ratification, they opposed the Constitution on the grounds that it gave the federal government too much political, economic, and military control. - They instead advocated a decentralized governmental structure that granted the most power to the states. - Thomas Jefferson
Impressment
- During the 1800s, a British policy whereby the British boarded American ships in search of British naval deserters, whom they would force (impress) back into service. - Often naturalized or native-born Americans were also seized, provoking outrage in America. - was one of a string of British violations against U.S. neutrality rights that helped spark the War of 1812.
Sherman's March to the Sea
- During the Civil War, Union general William T. Sherman led his forces on a march from Atlanta to Savannah and then to Richmond. - Sherman brought the South "to its knees" by ordering large-scale destruction.
Whigs
- During the Revolutionary War, they were colonists who supported the move for independence. - In the mid-1830s, they arose in opposition to President Jackson. - The party consisted of the core of the National Republican Party as well as some Northern Democrats who had defected in protest against Jackson's strong-armed leadership style and policies. - promoted protective tariffs, federal funding for internal improvements, and other measures that strengthened the central government. - Reaching its height of popularity in the 1830s, the party disappeared from the national political scene by the 1850s, when its Northern and Southern factions irrevocably split over the slavery issue.
Three-Fifths Clause
- During the framing of the Constitution, Southern delegates argued that slaves should count toward representative seats, while the delegates of Northern states argued that to count slaves as members of the population would grant an unfair advantage to the Southern states in Congress. - The result of this debate was the adoption of the __________ clause, which allowed three-fifths of all slaves to be counted as people.
Nathaniel Hawthorne
- Early American fiction writer. His most famous work, - The Scarlet Letter (1850), - explored the moral dilemmas of adultery in a Puritan community.
New Look
- Eisenhower's Cold War strategy, preferring deterrence to ground force involvement, and emphasizing the massive retaliatiory potential of a large nuclear stockpile. - Eisenhower worked to increase nuclear spending and decrease spending on ground troops.
Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO)
- Emerged from within the American Federation of Labor in 1938. - The CIO became an influential labor group, operating during an era of government and business cooperation. - In 1955, it merged with the AFL to become the AFL-CIO.
Second Great Awakening
- Emerged in the early 1800s as part of a backlash against America's growing secularism and rationalism. - A wave of religious revivals spread throughout the nation, giving rise to a number of new (largely Protestant) denominations during the second quarter of the nineteenth century. - Revivalist ministers often stressed self-determination and individual empowerment.
Fundamentalism
- Emerged in the early 1900s as a reaction to the many scientific and social challenges facing conservative American Protestantism. - insisted upon the divine inspiration and absolute truth of the Bible, and sought to discredit or censure those who questioned the tenets of Protestant faith. - peaked in the 1920s with the anti-evolution movement, culminating in the Scopes Monkey Trial.
Office of War Information
- Employed artists, writers, and advertisers to shape public opinion concerning World War II. - publicized reasons for U.S. entry into the war, often portraying the enemy Axis powers as barbaric and cruel.
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
- Ended the Mexican War in 1848. - The treaty granted the U.S. control of Texas, New Mexico, and California. - In return, the U.S. assumed all monetary claims of U.S. citizens against the Mexican government and paid Mexico $15 million.
Treaty of Paris (1763)
- Ended the Seven Years War in Europe and the parallel French and Indian War in North America. - Under the treaty, Britain acquired all of Canada and almost all of the modern United States east of the Mississippi.
Embargo Act
- Endorsed by Thomas Jefferson and passed in December 1807. - The act ended all importation and exportation in response to the Chesapeake-Leopard affair. Jefferson hoped the embargo would put enough economic pressure on the French and British that the two nations would be forced to recognize U.S. neutrality rights in exchange for U.S. goods. - The embargo, however, hurt the American economy more than it did Britain's or France's, leading to the act's repeal in March 1809.
Separatists
- English Protestants who would not offer allegiance in any form to the Church of England. - One group, the Pilgrims, founded Plymouth Plantation and went on to found other settlements in New England. - Other notable groups included the Quakers and Baptists.
William Penn
- English Quaker who founded Pennsylvania in 1682 after receiving a charter from King Charles II. - launched the colony as a "holy experiment" based on religious tolerance.
Judicial Review
- Established by Chief Justice John Marshall in Marbury v. Madison (1803). - held that the Supreme Court could declare an act of Congress unconstitutional.
Office of Strategic Service
- Established by the Joint Chiefs of Staff in 1942 to conduct espionage, collect information crucial to strategic planning, and assess the strengths and weaknesses of the enemy.
Social Security
- Established by the Social Security Act of August 1935. - provides benefits to the elderly and disabled. - These benefits are subsidized by income tax withholdings.
Freedmen's Bureau
- Established in 1865 and staffed by Union army officers. - worked to protect black rights in the South and to provide employment, medical care, and education to Southern blacks.
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)
- Established in 1909 by a group of African Americans (led byW.E.B. Du Bois) who joined with white reformers. - called for an end to racial discrimination, attacked Jim Crow laws, and fought to overturn the 1896 Supreme Court decision Plessy v. Ferguson. - In the 1920s, it served as a counterpoint to the more radical black rights group, the UNIA, led by Marcus Garvey.
House of Burgesses
- Established in Jamestown, Virginia, in 1619. - is considered to be the New World's first representative government. - It consisted of 22 representatives from 11 districts of colonists.
John Cabot
- Explored the northeast coast of North America in 1497 and 1498, - claiming Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, and the Grand Banks for England.
"Good Neighbor" Policy
- FDR's policy toward Latin America, initialized in 1933. - He pledged that no nation, not even the U.S., had the right to interfere in the affairs of any other nation.
Fireside Chats
- FDR's public radio broadcasts during his presidency. - Through these broadcasts he encouraged confidence and national unity and cultivated a sense of governmental compassion.
New Deal
- FDR's strategy for relief and recovery in the United States during the Great Depression. - measures emerged during the first hundred days of FDR's presidency.
Strict Constructionists
- Favored a strict reading of the Constitution, especially of the "elastic clause," in order to limit the powers of the central government. - Led by Thomas Jefferson, they comprised the ideological core of the Republican Party.
Popular Sovereignty
- First espoused by Democratic presidential candidate Lewis Cass in 1848 and eventually championed by Stephen A. Douglas. - stated that Congress should not interfere with the issue of slavery in new territories. - Instead each territory, when seeking admission into the Union, would draw up a constitution declaring slavery legal or illegal as it saw fit. - became the core of the Democratic position on slavery's expansion during the 1850s.
George Washington
- First president of the United States. - Commander in chief of the Continental Army during the American Revolution, Washington led the Continentals to victory. - He defined the role of the president by setting precedents— he intervened little in legislative affairs and concentrated mostly on diplomacy and finance. - A Federalist, he supported Alexander Hamilton's economic campaign. - officially resigned from office in 1796 after serving two terms in office, establishing an unofficial policy that presidents serve no more than two terms in office.
New England Confederation
- Formed by New England colonies of Massachusettes, Connecticut, New Haven, and Plymouth in 1643 as a defense against local Native American tribes and the encroaching Dutch. - The colonists formed the alliance without the English crown's authorization.
Liberal Republicans
- Formed in 1872 when a faction split from the ranks of the Republican Party in opposition to President Ulysses S. Grant. - argued that the task of Reconstruction was complete and should be put aside. - Their defection served a major blow to the Republican Party and shattered what congressional enthusiasm remained for Reconstruction.
Populist Party
- Formed in 1892 through farmers' alliances in the Midwest and South with poor laborers. - agitated for various reforms that supported farmers and the poor, including "free silver" (the unlimited coinage of silver), which would ease debt payments. - In 1896, the Democrats appropriated parts of the ______________ and nominated William Jennings Bryan for president. Bryan lost the election despite the joint backing of the Democrats and Populists.
North Atlantic Treaty Organization
- Formed in 1949 to counter the Soviet threat in Eastern Europe. - ________ members agreed to be a part of a unified coalition in the event of an attack on one of the nations. - Throughout the Cold War, it was the primary Western alliance in opposition to communist forces.
National Organization for Women (NOW)
- Formed in 1966. - was a central part of the 1960s women's liberation movement. - The organization lobbied Congress for equal rights, initiated lawsuits, and raised public awareness of women's issues.
Joint-Stock Company
- Formed in the absence of support from the British Crown, the companies accrued funding for colonization through the sale of public stock. - These companies dominated English colonization throughout the seventeenth century.
Jefferson Davis
- Former secretary of war, he was elected president of the Confederacy shortly after its formation. - was never able to garner adequate public support and faced great difficulties in uniting the Confederate states under one central authority.
War of 1812
- Fought between the U.S. and Great Britain from 1812-14. - Although it ended in stalemate with the Treaty of Ghent, the American public believed the U.S. had won the war after news spread of General Andrew Jackson's decisive victory at the Battle of New Orleans, which occurred two weeks after the signing of the treaty. - For years following this apparent victory, an ebullient spirit of nationalism and optimism pervaded America.
Russo-Japanese War
- Fought from 1904-1905. - The war pitted Russia against Japan in a battle over Manchuria, China. - Roosevelt aided in the negotiation of a peace treaty in the interest of maintaining the balance of power in the Far East, an area recently opened to American business through the Open Door policy.
Battle of Antietam
- Fought in Maryland on September 17, 1863. - Considered the single bloodiest day of the Civil War, - casualties totalled more than 8,000 dead and 18,000 wounded. - Although Union forces failed to defeat Lee and the Confederates, they did halt the Confederate advance through Northern soil.
French and Indian War
- Fought in North America from 1754-1763. - The war mirrored the Seven Years War in Europe (1756-1763). - English colonists and soldiers fought the French and their Native American allies for dominance in North America. - England's eventual victory brought England control of much disputed territory and eliminated the French as a threat to English dominance in the Americas.
Women Christian Temperance Union
- Founded in 1874. - worked alongside the Anti-Saloon League to push for prohibition. - Notable activists included Susan B. Anthony and Frances Elizabeth Willard.
American Federation of Labor
- Founded in 1886. - sought to organize craft unions into a federation. - The loose structure of the organization differed from its rival, the Knights of Labor - it allowed individual unions to remain autonomous. - Eventually it joined with the Congress of Industrial Organizations to form the AFL-CIO.
Anti-Saloon League
- Founded in 1895, - the league spearheaded the prohibition movement during the Progressive Era.
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
- Founded in 1920. - seeks to protect the civil liberties of individuals, - - brings "test cases" to court in order to challenge questionable laws. - In 1925, it challenged a Christian fundamentalist law in the Scopes Monkey Trial.
Southern Christian Leadership Conference
- Founded in 1957 by Martin Luther King Jr. and other prominent clergymen. - fought against segregation using nonviolent means.
Eugenics
- Founded on the premise that the "perfect" human society could be achieved through genetic tinkering. - Popularized during the Progressive era, writers on eugenics often used this theory to justify a supremacist white Protestant ideology, - which advocated the elimination of what they considered undesirable racial elements from American society.
Mao Zedong
- Founder of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in 1921. - In 1949, he defeated Chiang Kai-shek's nationalist forces and established the People's Republic of China (PRC).
William Lloyd Garrison
- Founder of the abolitionist newspaper The Liberator. - was the most famous white abolitionist of the 1830s. - Known as a radical, he pushed for equal legal rights for blacks and encouraged Christians to abstain from all aspects of politics, including voting, in protest against the nation's corrupt and prejudicial political system.
James Madison
- Fourth president of the United States (1809-1817). - began his political career as a Federalist, joining forces with Alexander Hamilton during the debate over the Constitution. - He was one of the authors of The Federalist Papers and a staunch advocate of strong central government. - later became critical of excessive power in central government and left the Federalist Party to join Thomas Jefferson in leading the Republican Party.
U-boat
- German submarines in World War I. - attacks against French and British passenger ships carrying American citizens provoked outrage among the American public, strengthening calls for the U.S. to join the war against the Central Powers.
Central Powers
- Germany and Austria-Hungary during World War I. - fought against the Allies (Great Britain, France, and Italy). - In 1917, the U.S. joined the war effort against them.
Puppet Governments
- Governments set up and supported by outside powers. - were established by both the U.S. and the USSR. during the Cold War. - The two superpowers hand-picked the leaders of developing nations in order to maintain influence over those countries.
John Winthrop
- Governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony. - was instrumental in forming the colony's government and shaping its legislative policy. - He envisioned the colony, centered in present-day Boston, as a "city upon a hill" from which Puritans would spread religious righteousness throughout the world.
Indian Removal Act
- Granted Jackson the funds and authority to move Native Americans to assigned lands in the West. - Passed in 1830, the Act primarily targeted the Cherokee tribe in Georgia as part of the federal government's broad plan to claim Native American lands inside the boundaries of the states.
Black Codes
- Granted freedmen a few basic rights - also enforced heavy civil restrictions based on race. - were enacted in Southern states under Andrew Johnson's Reconstruction plan.
J. Edgar Hoover
- Head of the FBI from 1924 until his death in 1972. - He aggressively investigated suspected subversives during the Cold War.
J. Robert Oppenheimer
- Head of the Manhattan Project, the secret American operation to develop the atomic bomb.
Potsdam Conference
- Held July 17-August 2, 1945. - At the conference Truman, Churchill, and Stalin met to coordinate the division of Germany into occupation zones and plan for the Nuremberg Trials. - was the final meeting between the Big Three powers under the pretense of a wartime alliance.
Virtual Representation
- Held that the members of Parliament not only represented their specific geographic constituencies but also took into consideration the well-being of all British subjects when deliberating on legislation. - Prime Minister George Grenville invoked the concept to explain why Parliament could legally tax the colonists even though the colonists could not elect any members of Parliament.
Emergency Committee for Unemployment
- Herbert Hoover's principal effort to lower the unemployment rate. - Established in October 1930, the committee sought to organize unemployment relief by voluntary agencies, - but Hoover granted the committee only limited resources with which to work.
Speakeasies
- Hidden bars during the Prohibition Era that offered live jazz music and hard liquor. - were often run by organized crime rings.
Reganomics
- His economic philosophy which held that a that a capitalist system free from taxation and government involvement would be most productive. - believed that the prosperity of a rich upper class would "trickle down" to the poor.
The Rosenburgs
- Husband and wife who, in 1950, were accused of spying for the Soviets. - countered the accusation on the grounds that their Jewish background and leftist beliefs made them easy targets for persecution. - In a trial closely followed by the American public, they were convicted and sentenced to death. - They were executed on June 19, 1953.
Dred Scott v. Sandford
- In 1857, the Supreme Court ruled that no black, whether slave or free, could become a citizen of the United States or sue in federal court. - The decision further argued that the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional because it violated the Fifth Amendment's protection of property, including slaves, from being taken away without due process.
Scopes Monkey Trial
- In 1925, Tennessee teacher John T. Scopes willfully violated a state statute prohibiting the teaching of evolution in public schools. - Prosecutor William Jennings Bryan and Scopes's lawyer Clarence Darrow faced off during the highly publicized trial, and although Darrow lost the case he made a fool out of Bryan, substantially weakening the anti-evolution cause throughout the U.S.
Cuban Missile Crisis
- In 1962, a year after the failed Bay of Pigs Invasion, - the U.S. government learned that Soviet missile bases were being constructed in Cuba. - President John F. Kennedy demanded that the USSR stop shipping military equipment to Cuba and remove the bases. - U.S forces set up a naval blockade, preventing Soviet ships from reaching Cuba without inspection. - After a stressful waiting period during which nuclear war seemed imminent, Soviet Premier Khrushchev backed down and began dismantling the bases in return for a U.S. promise not to invade Cuba.
Oil Embargo
- In 1973, OPEC (the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries) nations refused to export oil to Western nations. - in effect until 1974, sparked rapid inflation in the West and had a crippling effect on the U.S. economy. - The ensuing economic crisis plagued Gerald Ford's tenure as president.
Shay's Rebellion
- In August 1786, western Massachusetts farmers, led by Daniel Shays, violently tried to shut down three county courthouses in order to prevent foreclosure proceedings. - was easily put down, but it alerted many government officials to the weaknesses of the nation under the Articles of Confederation.
Women's Strike for Equality
- In August 1970, tens of thousands of women around the country held demonstrations to demand the right to equal employment and legal abortions. - This coordinated effort was known as the Women's Strike for Equality.
Chesapeake-Leopard affair
- In June 1807, the British naval frigate HMS Leopard opened fire on the American naval frigate USS Chesapeake, killing three men and wounding twenty. - British naval officers then boarded the American ship, seized four men who had deserted the Royal Navy, hanged them from a yardarm, and sailed away. - Outraged, Thomas Jefferson responded with the Embargo Act in an attempt to force Britain to respect American neutrality rights.
Truman Doctrine
- In March 1947, Truman proclaimed before Congress that the U.S. would support people anywhere in the world facing "attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures." - committed the U.S. to a role of global policeman.
March Against Death
- In November 1969, 300,000 people marched in a long, circular path through Washington, D.C. for 40 hours straight, each holding a candle and the name of a soldier killed or a village destroyed in Vietnam. - The march was a high point in the student antiwar movement and a poignant symbol of antiwar sentiment in the United States.
Cash-and-Carry
- In September 1939, - - FDR persuaded Congress to pass a new, amended Neutrality Act, which allowed warring nations to purchase arms from the U.S. as long as they paid in cash and carried the arms away on their own ships. - the program allowed the U.S. to aid the Allies but stay officially out of the war.
XYZ Affair
- In response to continued French aggression at sea, John Adams sent a diplomatic envoy to France to negotiate for peace in 1797. - Charles de Talleyrand, the French foreign minister, refused to meet with the U.S. delegation and instead sent three anonymous agents, X, Y, and Z, to try to extort over $12 million from the Americans in exchange for negotiation rights. - This widely publicized attempt at extortion aroused public outrage among the American people, some of whom called for war.
Virginia Resolves
- In response to the 1765 Stamp Act, Patrick Henry persuaded the Virginia House of Burgesses to adopt several strongly worded resolutions that denied Parliament's right to tax the colonies. - these resolutions persuaded many other colonial legislatures to adopt similar positions.
Compromise 1833
- In response to the escalating Nullification Crisis, Andrew Jackson signed two laws aimed at easing the crisis. -. The first measure provided for a gradual lowering of import duties over the next decade, and the second measure, known as the Force Bill, authorized the president to use arms to collect customs duties in South Carolina.
Proclamation of American Neutrality
- In the early 1790s, Britain and France went to war with each other. - The American public was torn over which nation to support: the South largely backed France, while the North favored the British. - Issued in 1793, the Proclamation was George Washington's response to the public division, and it stated that the U.S. would maintain neutral during the war.
Marbury v. Madison
- In this 1803 case, Chief Justice John Marshall ruled that the Judiciary Act of 1789 was unconstitutional because Congress had overstepped its bounds in granting the Supreme Court the power to issue a writ of mandamus (an ultimatum from the court) to any officer of the United States. - This ruling established the principle of judicial review.
Korematsu v. U.S.
- In this 1944 case, the Supreme Court upheld FDR's 1942 executive order for the evacuation of all Japanese-Americans on the West Coast into internment camps. - The camps operated until March 1946.
Assembly Line
- Industrialist Henry Ford installed the first one - Model T car in 1908, and perfected its use in the 1920s. - ___________ manufacturing allowed workers to remain in one place and master one repetitive action, maximizing output. - It became the production method of choice by the 1930s.
Deists
- Influenced by the spirit of rationalism, - - - believed that God, like a celestial clockmaker, had created a perfect universe and then stepped back to let it operate according to natural laws.
Cotton gin
- Invented in 1793 - Eli Whitney. - separated the fibers of short-staple cotton from the seeds. - The mechanization of this task made cotton plantations much more efficient and profitable, giving rise to a cotton-dominated economy in the South.
Benjamin Franklin
- Inventor, patriot, and statesman. - served as an ambassador to France during the Revolutionary War, playing a key role in getting France to recognize the United States' independence. - As the oldest delegate to the Constitutional Convention, the other delegates admired his wisdom, and his advice proved crucial in the drafting of the Constitution. - has often been held up as the paradigm of Enlightenment thought in Colonial America because of his fascination with—and contributions to—the fields of science and philosophy.
Muckrakers
- Investigative journalists who worked during the early 1900s to expose the corruption in American industry and politics. - Their writings and publications encouraged widespread political and social reform. - include Upton Sinclair, Ida Tarbell, and Lincoln Steffens.
Emancipation Proclamation
- Issued by Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863. - freed all slaves under rebel (Confederate) control. - It did not affect the slave states within the Union or Confederate states under Union control, and therefore in practice freed few slaves. - Nevertheless, it gave the war a new objective—emancipation—and crystallized the tension between the Union and the Confederacy.
Stamp Act
- Issued by England in 1765. - required colonial Americans to buy special watermarked paper for newspapers and all legal documents. - Violators faced juryless trials in vice-admiralty courts, as under the 1764 Sugar Act. - provoked the first organized response to British impositions.
Monroe Doctrine
- Issued by President Monroe in December 1823. - asserted that the Americas were no longer open to European colonization or influence, and paved the way for U.S. dominance of the Western Hemisphere.
Sussex Pledge
- Issued in 1916 by Germany after the U.S. threatened to break off diplomatic relations with Germany following a German U-boat attack against the French ship Sussex, which carried U.S. civilians. - Germany pledged not to attack merchant ships without warning, temporarily easing the diplomatic tension between the U.S. and Germany.
Shoot-on-sight Order
- Issued in 1941 in response to German submarine attacks on American ships in the Atlantic ocean. - The order authorized naval patrols to fire on any Axis ships found between the U.S. and Iceland.
Atlantic Charter
- Issued on August 14, 1941 - during a meeting between President Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. - outlined the ideal postwar world, - condemned military aggression, - asserted the right to national self-determination, - and advocated disarmament.
Kitchen Cabinet
- Jackson's presidential cabinet, dubbed so because the members were his close political allies and many had questionable political skill. - Instead of serving as a policy forum to help shape the president's agenda, as previous cabinets had done, Jackson's cabinet assumed a mostly passively supportive role.
Macon's Bill No. 2
- James Madison's 1810 ploy to induce either Britain or France to lift trade restrictions. - Under the bill, U.S. trade sanctions were lifted with the promise that if one country agreed to free trade with the U.S., sanctions would be reimposed against the other nation.
New Frontier
- John F. Kennedy's domestic policy. - focused on reform at home and victory in the Cold War.
Lyndon B. Johnson
- John F. Kennedy's vice president until Kennedy's assassination made him president in 1963. - He stayed in office until 1968, when he declined to seek reelection. - is best known for his attempts to enact his Great Society program at home and his decision to commit troops to Vietnam.
Berlin Blockade
- June 1948, - the Soviets attempted to cut off Western access to Berlin by blockading all road and rail routes to the city. - In response, the U.S. airlifted supplies to the city, a campaign known as "Operation Vittles." - it lasted until May 1949.
Gospel of Success
- Justification for the growing gap between rich and poor during the Industrial Revolution. - centered on the claim that anyone could become wealthy with enough hard work and determination. - Writers like Horatio Alger incorporated this ideology into their work.
King George III
- King of England from 1760-1820. - Colonists were torn between loyalty to the king and resistance to acts carried out in his name. - After George III rejected the Olive Branch Petition, the colonists considered him a tyrant.
Henry Cabot Lodge
- Leader of a group of senators known as "reservationists" during the 1919 debate over the League of Nations. - he and his followers supported U.S. membership in the League of Nations only if major revisions were made to the covenant (part of the Treaty of Versailles). - President Wilson, however, refused to compromise, and the treaty was rejected. - The U.S. never joined the League of Nations.
Federalists
- Led by Alexander Hamilton. - believed in a strong central government at the expense of state powers and were staunch supporters of the Constitution during the ratification process. - They remained a political force throughout the first thirty or so years of the United States. - entered into decline after the election of Thomas Jefferson to the presidency and disappeared as a political party after the the Hartford Convention, - at the close of the War of 1812.
National Republican Party
- Led by Henry Clay and John Quincy Adams. - were one of the two new political parties that emerged in the late 1820s to challenge the dominant Republican Party. - found its core support in the industrial Northeast. - During Jackson's second term in office, the party reconfigured into the Whig Party.
Battle of Tippecanoe
- Led by future president William Henry Harrison, - - U.S. forces defeated Shawnee forces in the Battle of Tippecanoe - 1811. - The U.S. victory lessened the Native American threat in Ohio and Indiana.
Writs of Assistance
- Legalized by Parliament during the French and Indian War. - were general search warrants that allowed British customs officers to search any colonial building or ship that they believed might contain smuggled goods, even without probable cause for suspicion. - The colonists considered the writs to be a grave infringement upon their personal liberties.
Nullification Crisis
- Like the tariff bills of 1816 and 1824, the Tariff of 1828 hurt the Southern economy while benefiting Northern and Western industries. - For this reason, Southerners called it the "Tariff of Abominations." - Vice President John C. Calhoun denounced the tariff as unconstitutional on the grounds that federal laws must benefit all states equally, and urged that states nullify the tariff within their own borders. - South Carolina did so in November 1832, punctuating a debate over tariffs and states' rights that raged within the administration and the entire federal government between 1828 and 1833.
Gettysburg Address
- Lincoln's famous "Four score and seven years ago" speech. - Delivered on November 19, 1863, at the dedication of a cemetery for casualties of the Battle of Gettysburg, Lincoln's speech recast the war as a historic test of the ability of a democracy to survive.
Ten Percent Plan
- Lincoln's plan for Reconstruction in the South following the Civil War. - The plan was more lenient than many members of Congress, especially the Radical Republicans, wanted—Southern states would be readmitted to the Union once 10 percent of the state's voting population took an oath of loyalty to the Union and the states established new non-Confederate governments. - Congress proposed its own, more punitive, Reconstruction plan with the 1864 Wade-Davis Bill.
Alger Hiss
- Longtime government employee who, in 1948, was accused by Time editor Whitaker Chambers of spying for the USSR. - After a series of highly publicized hearings and trials, he was convicted of perjury in 1950 and sentenced to five years imprisonment, - emboldening conservatives to redouble their efforts to root out subversives within the government.
Great Society
- Lyndon B. Johnson's program for domestic policy. - aimed to achieve racial equality, end poverty, and improve health-care. - Johnson pushed a number of _______________ laws through Congress early in his presidency, but it failed to materialize fully, as the administration turned its attention toward foreign affairs—specifically, Vietnam.
John Steinbeck
- Major American author in the 1930s. - his novels depict simple, rural lives. - His most famous work is The Grapes of Wrath (1939).
Boston Massacre
- March 1770 - a crowd of colonists protested against Boston customs agents and the Townsend Duties. - Violence flared and five colonists were killed.
Congressional Caucus
- Met during the early years of the United States to choose presidential candidates. - It is significant in that it denied the public any voice in the nomination process, instead leaving the choice up to a centralized group of politicians based in Washington, DC. - By the election of 1824, it had become a symbol of undemocratic elitist rule. - Resented by much of the American public, the caucus lost its political influence in the early 1820s.
National War Labor Board
- Monitored and regulated the efforts of organized labor during World War II. - Although the board restricted wage increases, it encouraged the extension of many fringe benefits to American workers.
Elvis Presley
- Most famous rock star of the 1950s. - His sexually charged dance moves and unique sound played a major role in defining the growing genre of rock-and-roll, which became prominent during the 1950s.
Work Progress Administration
- Much of the $5 billion allocated to FDR by the Emergency Relief Allocation Act of 1935 went to the creation of the WPA. - Over eight years, it provided work for the unemployed of all backgrounds, from industrial engineers to authors and artists. - Partially owing to its efforts, unemployment fell by over 5 percent between 1935 and 1937.
Tariff of Abominations
- Name given by Southern politicians to the 1828 tariff because it seriously hurt the South's economy while benefiting Northern and Western industrial interests. - Resistance to the tariff in South Carolina led to the Nullification Crisis.
Tenements
- Narrow, four- or five-story buildings with few windows and limited electricity and plumbing. - - Housing mostly poor ethnic minorities and immigrants, they were common during the Industrial Age due to a dramatic increase in the urban poor population.
Henry Kissinger
- National security adviser and, later, secretary of state under President Nixon. - A major proponent of détente, he often met secretly with communist leaders in efforts to improve East-West cooperation.
Camp David Accords
- Negotiated by President Carter, - were signed by Israel's leader, Menachem Begin, and Egypt's leader, Anwar el-Sadat - March 26, 1979. - The treaty, however, fell apart when Sadat was assassinated by Islamic fundamentalists in 1981.
Jazz Age
- Nickname for the 1920s due to the development and flourishing of jazz music, as well as the highly publicized (if exaggerated) accounts of wild parties, drinking, and dancing.
Baby Boom
- Nickname for the 1950s, - when economic prosperity caused U.S. population to swell from 150 million to 180 million.
Carpetbaggers
- Nickname given to northerners who moved South during Reconstruction in search of political and economic opportunity. - The term was coined by Southern Democrats, who said that these northern opportunists had left home so quickly that they were able to carry all their belongings in rough suitcases made from carpeting materials.
The beats
- Nonconformist writers - Allan Ginsberg, - Howl (1956) - Jack Kerouac, - On the Road (1957). - rejected uniform middle-class culture and sought to overturn the sexual and social conservatism of the period.
Suez Canal
- North-south waterway in Egypt that connects the Mediterranean and the Red Seas. - In 1956, the Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser tried to nationalize the canal, which had been owned by British and French interests. - In response, Britain, France, and Israel invaded Egypt. - The U.S., United Nations, and USSR condemned the intervention and pressured the forces to withdraw in November 1956.
Teapot Dome Scandal
- Occurred when President Harding's secretary of the interior, Albert B. Fall, secretly leased government oil reserves to two businessmen in exchange for a $400,000 payment. - was exposed after Harding's death in 1923, and came to symbolize government corruption.
Mayflower Compact
- Often cited as the first example of self-government in the Americas. - The Pilgrims, having arrived at a harbor far north of the land that was rightfully theirs, signed it to establish a "civil body politic" under the sovereignty of James I.
Korean War
- On June 24, 1950, troops from the Soviet-supported People's Democratic Republic of Korea, known as North Korea, invaded the Republic of Korea, known as South Korea. - Without asking for a declaration of war, Truman committed U.S. troops as part of a United Nations "police action." - was conducted by predominantly American forces under the command of General Douglas MacArthur. - Limited fighting continued until June 1953, when an armistice restored the prewar border between North and South Korea.
Tiananmen Square
- On June 3 and 4, 1989, China's communist army brutally crushed a pro-democracy protest in Beijing's _______________. - Diplomatic relations between the U.S. and China significantly soured as a result of the attack.
Transcontinental Railroad
- On May 10, 1869, - was completed when the Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroads joined their tracks at Promontory Point, Utah. - The railroad dramatically facilitated western settlement, shortening to a single week a coast-to-coast journey that had once taken six to eight months by wagon.
Stokely Carmichael
- Once a prominent member of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, - abandoned his nonviolent leanings and became a leader of the Black Nationalist movement in 1966. - He coined the phrase "Black Power."
Smoot-Hawley Tariff
- One of Herbert Hoover's early efforts to protect the nation's farmers following the onset of the Great Depression. - Unfortunately, the tariff raised rates to an all-time high, hurting farmers more than it helped them. - Ninety-four percent of the imports taxed were agricultural imports.
Federal Emergency Relief Act (FERA)
- One of the New Deal's most comprehensive measures, passed May 1933. - appropriated $500 million to support state and local treasuries that had run dry.
John Jay
- One of the authors of The Federalist Papers. - was instrumental in the drafting of the Constitution.
Ernest Hemingway
- One of the best-known writers of the 1920s' "lost generation." - An expatriate, he produced a number of famous works during the 1920s, - including The Sun Also Rises (1926) and - A Farewell to Arms (1929). - A member of the Popular Front, he fought in the Spanish Civil War, depicted in his 1940 novel For Whom the Bell Tolls. - His work, like that of many of his contemporaries, reflects the disillusionment and despair of the time.
Daniel Webster
- One of the country's leading statesmen in the first half of the nineteenth century. - was a Federalist lawyer from New Hampshire who won, most notably, the Dartmouth College v. Woodward (1819) and McCulloch v. Maryland (1819) Supreme Court cases. - First elected to Congress in 1822, he became a powerful defender of northern interests, supporting the 1828 tariff and objecting to nullification. - opposed many of President Jackson's policies and became a leader of the Whig Party. He was instrumental in negotiating the Compromise of 1850.
Knights of Labor
- One of the first major labor organizations in the U.S., founded in 1869. - fell into decline after one of several leaders was executed for killing a policeman in the Haymarket riot of 1886.
Young Men's Christian Association
- Organization that attempted to alleviate some of the struggles of the poor by providing young people with affordable shelter and recreational facilities. - Founded in America in 1851.
Seneca Falls Convention
- Organized by Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton in 1848. - issued a Declaration of Sentiments, modeled on the Declaration of Independence, declaring that all men and women were created equal.
Committees of Correspondence
- Organized by New England patriot leader Samuel Adams. - comprised a system of communication between patriot leaders in the towns of New England and provided the political organization necessary to unite the colonies in opposition to Parliament. - These committees were responsible for sending delegates to the First Continental Congress.
Black Panthers
- Organized in 1966 - Oakland, California by Huey Newton and Bobby Seale - stressed a black pride, economic self-sufficiency, and armed resistance to white oppression.
Joseph Pulitzer
- Owner of the New York World, the main competitor of William Randolph Hearst's New York Journal. - Though the World was the (slightly) more reputable of the two papers, both engaged in yellow journalism, exaggerating facts and sensationalizing stories about the Spanish-American War.
Tennessee Valley Authority
- Part of FDR's New Deal. - worked to develop energy production sites and conserve resources in the Tennessee Valley. - It pumped money into the economy and completed a number of major projects, but eventually faced heavy criticism from environmentalists, advocates of energy conservation, and opponents of nuclear power.
Nuetrality Acts
- Passed by Congress between 1935 and 1937. - The acts made arms sales to warring countries illegal and forbade American citizens to travel aboard the ships of belligerent nations in an effort to keep the U.S. out of World War II.
Chinese Exclusion Act
- Passed by Congress in 1882 amid a wave of anti-immigrant sentiment among American workers. - The act banned Chinese immigration for ten years.
Alien and Sedition Acts
- Passed by Federalists in 1798 in response to the XYZ Affair and growing Republican support. - On the grounds of "national security," - increased the number of years required to gain citizenship, - allowed for the imprisonment and deporation of aliens, - and virtually suspended freedom of speech. - - -- Popular dissatisfaction with the acts secured Republican Thomas Jefferson's bid for presidency in 1800, and were the undoing of the Federalist Party
Gag Rule
- Passed by Southerners in Congress in 1836. - tabled all abolitionist petitions in Congress and thereby prevented antislavery discussions. - was repealed in 1845, under increased pressure from Northern abolitionists and those concerned with the rule's restriction of the right to petition.
North American Free Trade Agreement
- Passed by a narrow margin in Congress in November 1993. - removed trade barriers between Canada, the U.S., and Mexico. - President Bill Clinton championed this and other efforts to integrate the U.S. into the international economy.
Personal Liberty Laws
- Passed by nine northern states to counteract the Fugitive Slave Act. - These state laws guaranteed all alleged fugitives the right to a lawyer and a trial by jury, and prohibited state jails from holding alleged fugitives.
Gulf of Tonkin
- Passed by the Senate in 1964 following questionable reports of a naval confrontation between North Vietnamese and U.S. forces. - The resolution granted President Johnson broad wartime powers without explicitly declaring war.
Tea Act
- Passed in 1773. - eliminated import tariffs on tea entering England, and allowed the British East India Company to sell directly to consumers rather than through merchants. - This lowered the price of British tea to below that of smuggled tea, which the British hoped would end the boycott. - The British government hoped to use revenue from the Act to pay the salaries of royal governors in the colonies, a plan that outraged many colonists and prompted the Boston Tea Party.
Declaratory Act
- Passed in 1776 just after the repeal of the Stamp Act. - stated that Parliament could legislate for the colonies in all cases. - Most colonists interpreted the act as a face-saving mechanism and nothing more. - Parliament, however, continually interpreted the act in its broadest sense in order to control the colonies.
Fugitive Slavery Act
- Passed in 1793 and strengthened as part of the Compromise of 1850. - The act allowed Southerners to send posses into Northern soil to retrieve runaway slaves. - During the early 1850s, Northerners mounted resistance to the act by aiding escaping slaves and passing personal liberty laws.
Kansas-Nebraska Act
- Passed in 1854. - The act divided the Nebraska territory into two parts, Kansas and Nebraska, and left the issue of slavery in the territories to be decided by popular sovereignty. - It nullified the prohibition of slavery above the 36º30' latitude established by the Missouri Compromise of 1820.
Pendleton Act
- Passed in 1883. - established a civil service exam for many public posts and created hiring systems based on merit rather than on patronage. - The act aimed to eliminate corrupt hiring practices.
Dawes Severalty Act
- Passed in 1887. - called for the breakup of Indian reservations and the treatment of Native Americans as individuals rather than as tribes. - Any Native American who accepted the act's terms received 160 acres of farmland or 320 acres of grazing land and was guaranteed U.S. citizenship in twenty-five years. - Intended to help Native Americans integrate into white society, in practice the Dawes Act caused widespread poverty and homelessness.
Interstate Commerce Act
- Passed in 1887. - forbade price discrimination and other monopolistic practices of the railroads.
Sherman Anti Trust Act
- Passed in 1890 with the intention of breaking up business monopolies. - The act outlawed "every contract, combination in the form of trust or otherwise, or conspiracy in the restraint of trade." - was largely used to break up union strikes in the 1890s. - It was not until the early 1900s that the government launched an aggressive antitrust campaign.
Platt Amendment
- Passed in 1901. - authorized American withdrawal from Cuba only on the following conditions: - Cuba must make no treaty with a foreign power limiting its independence; - the U.S. reserved the right to intervene in Cuba when it saw fit; - and the U.S. could maintain a naval base at Guantánamo Bay.
Pure Food and Drug Act
- Passed in 1906 in response to questionable packaging and labeling practices of food and drug industries. - The act prohibited the sale of adulterated or inaccurately labeled foods and medicines.
Meat Inspection Act
- Passed in 1906. - The act set federal regulations for meatpacking plants and established a system of federal inspection after the muckrakers' exposés revealed the unsanitary and hazardous conditions of food processing plants.
Federal Securities Act
- Passed in 1914. - The act made corporate executives liable for any misrepresentation of securities issued by their companies. - It paved the way for future acts to regulate the stock market.
Espionage Act
- Passed in 1917, - the act enumerated a list of antiwar activities warranting fines or imprisonment.
Sedition Amendment
- Passed in 1918 as an amendment to the Espionage Act. - provided for the punishment of anyone using "disloyal, profane, scurrilous, or abusive language" in regard to the U.S. government, flag, or military.
National Origins Act
- Passed in 1924. - established maximum quotas for immigration into the United States. - This law severely restricted immigration from southern and eastern Europe, and excluded Asians entirely.
Smith-Connolly War Labor Disputes Act
- Passed in 1930. - The act limited the right to strike in key industries and authorized the president to intervene in any strike, eroding the generally amiable relationship between the government and organized labor during World War II.
Fair Labor Standards Act
- Passed in 1938. - provided for a minimum wage and restricted shipment of goods produced with child labor, and symbolized the FDR administration's commitment to working with with labor forces.
Civil Rights Act
- Passed in 1964, - the act outlawed discrimination in education, employment, and all public accommodations.
Voting Rights Act
- Passed in 1965. - guaranteed all Americans the right to vote and allowed the federal government to intervene in elections in order to ensure that minorities could vote.
Wade-Davis Bill
- Passed in July 1864. - set forth stringent requirements for Confederate states' readmission to the Union. President Lincoln, who supported a more liberal Reconstruction policy, vetoed the Wade-Davis Bill by leaving it unsigned more than ten days after the adjournment of Congress.
National Defense Act
- Passed in June 1916. - called for the buildup of military forces in anticipation of war and was largely a response to German threats to American neutrality.
Lend-Lease Act
- Passed in March 1941. - The act allowed the president to lend or lease supplies to any nation deemed "vital to the defense of the United States," such as Britain, and was a key move in support of the Allied cause before the U.S. formally entered World War II. - was extended to Russia in November 1941 after Germany invaded Russia.
Frederick Douglass
- Perhaps the most famous of all abolitionists. - An escaped slave, he worked closely withWilliam Lloyd Garrison to promote abolitionism in the 1830s.
National Recovery Administration (NRA)
- Perhaps the most important element of the first New Deal, they established a forum in which business and government officials met to set regulations for fair competition. - These regulations bound industry from 1933 until 1935, when the Supreme Court declared the it unconstitutional.
John C. Calhoun
- Political figure throughout the Era of Good Feelings and the Age of Jackson. - served as James Monroe's secretary of war, as John Quincy Adams's vice president, and then as Andrew Jackson's vice president for one term. - A firm believer in states' rights, he clashed with Jackson over many issues, most notably nullification.
National Labor Relations Act
- Popularly known as the Wagner Act. - 1935 - provided a framework for collective bargaining. - It granted workers the right to join unions and bargain, and forbade employers from discriminating against unions. - The act demonstrated FDR's support for labor needs and unionization.
New Jersey Plan
- Presented at the Constitutional Convention as an alternative to the Virginia Plan. - proposed a unicameral Congress with equal representation for each state.
Dynamic conservatism
- President Eisenhower's philosophy of government. - He called it _____________ to distinguish it from the Republican administrations of the past, which he deemed backward-looking and complacent. - He was determined to work with the Democratic Party rather than against it and at times opposed proposals made by more conservative members of his own party.
James Monroe
- President from 1817 until 1825. - His presidency was at the core of the Era of Good Feelings, characterized by a one-party political system, an upsurge of American nationalism, and his own efforts to avoid political controversy and conflict.
Andrew Jackson
- President from 1829 to 1837. - A strong-willed and determined leader, he opposed federal support for internal improvements and the Second Bank of the United States and fought for states' rights and Native American removal. - His opponents nicknamed him "King Andrew I" because of his extensive and unprecedented use of the veto power, which they deemed to be tyrannical and against the spirit of democracy. - Before becoming president, he gained popularity as a general who launched aggressive military campaigns against Native Americans and led the U.S. to a stunning victory over British forces at the Battle of New Orleans in January 1815.
Martin Van Buren
- President from 1837 to 1841. - Beset by the panic of 1837 and unable to win over Jackson's opposition, the Whigs, he lost his bid for reelection in 1840.
James K. Polk
- President from 1845 to 1849. - A firm believer in expansion, he led the U.S. into the Mexican War in 1846, after which the U.S. acquired Texas, New Mexico, and California. - Many Northerners saw him as an agent of Southern will aiming to expand the nation in order to extend slavery into the West.
Zachary Taylor
- President from 1849 until his death in 1850. - he, a Whig, advocated popular sovereignty and in 1849 encouraged California to apply for statehood as a free state, thereby igniting the controversy that led to the Compromise of 1850.
Andrew Johnson
- President from 1865 (after Lincoln's assassination) until 1869. - his plan for Reconstruction in the South was considered too lenient by the Radical Republicans in Congress; as a result, Congress fought his initiatives and undertook a more retributive Reconstruction plan. - his relationship with Congress declined steadily during his presidency, culminating in impeachment proceedings in 1868. - He was ultimately acquitted.
Theodore Roosevelt
- President from 1901 to 1909. - rose to fame as the leader of the Rough Riders, a volunteer unit during the Spanish-American War. - He went on to become governor of New York and was vice president to William McKinley during McKinley's second term in office. - After McKinley's assassination in 1901, he assumed the presidency, and served until 1909 (he won the 1904 election). - A Progressive reformer, he worked to regulate the activities of corporations and protect consumers and workers. - pursued an aggressive style of foreign relations known as "big stick" diplomacy.
William Howard Taft
- President from 1909 to 1913. - Though handpicked by Roosevelt, he was not as enthusiastic about progressive reform, and soon allied himself with the conservative wing of the Republican Party by raising tariffs. - In doing so, he offended many Progressive Republicans, including Roosevelt, and precipitated a split in the Republican Party.
Warren G. Harding
- President from 1921 until his death in 1923. - ushered in a decade of Republican dominance in the U.S. - He accommodated the needs of big business and scaled back government involvement in social programs. - After his death, Harding's administration was found to be rife with corruption.
Calvin Coolidge
- President from 1923 to 1929, - nicknamed "Silent Cal." - The reticent president believed that government should interfere with the economy as little as possible and spent his time in office fighting congressional efforts to regulate business.
Herbert Hoover
- President from 1929 to 1933, - during the stock market collapse and the height of the Great Depression. - A conservative, he made only limited efforts to control the economic and social problems of the nation—efforts that were generally considered to be too little, too late. - He did, however, set the stage for many future New Deal measures.
Boris Yeltsin
- President of the Russian Republic in 1991, when hard-line Communists attempted to overthrow Mikhail Gorbachev. - After helping to repel these hard-liners, he and the leaders of the other Soviet republics declared an end to the USSR, forcing Gorbachev to resign. - played an increasingly important role in global politics thereafter.
Abraham Lincoln
- President of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. - His eloquent and forceful performance in the Lincoln-Douglas Debates of 1858 earned him the Republican nomination for president in 1860. - His victory in the election precipitated the secession of the first southern states, paving the way for the Civil War. - A moderate Republican, his primary goal during and after the Civil War was to restore the Union. - He began planning for a lenient Reconstruction in 1863, but was assassinated before it could be fully implemented.
CIA
- Primarily concerned with international espionage and information gathering. - In the 1950s, it became heavily involved in many civil struggles in the Third World, supporting groups likely to cooperate with the U.S. rather than the USSR.
Winston Churchill
- Prime minister of England from 1940 to 1945. - was known for his inspirational speeches and zealous pursuit of war victory. - - Together he, FDR, and Stalin mapped out the post-war world order as the "Big Three." - In 1946, he coined the term "iron curtain" to describe the USSR's division of eastern Europe from the West.
Declaration of United Nations
- Prompted by American entry into World War II, representatives from 26 nations signed the declaration on January 1, 1942. - The signing countries vowed not to make separate peace agreements with the enemy and to uphold the Atlantic Charter.
Wilmet Proviso
- Proposed in 1846 before the end of the Mexican War. - stipulated that slavery be prohibited in any territory the U.S. gained from Mexico in the upcoming negotiations. - passed in the House of Representatives due to strong support from the North, but stalled in the Senate.
Spoils System
- Provided for the removal and replacement of high-ranking officials from the previous president's term with loyal members of the winning party. - Andrew Jackson was one of the first presidents to use the _____________ extensively, claiming it was necessary to liberty. - Based on the adage "to the victor go the spoils."
Panic of 1837
- Punctured the economic boom sparked by state banks' loose lending practices and over speculation. - Contraction of the nation's credit in 1836 led to widespread debt and unemployment. - Martin Van Buren spent most of his time in office attempting to stabilize the economy and ameliorate the depression.
Underwood Tariff
- Pushed through Congress by President Wilson in 1913. - reduced average tariff duties by almost 15 percent, and established a graduated income tax to cover the lost tariff revenue.
McKinley Tariff
- Raised protective tariffs by nearly 50 percent in 1890, the highest in U.S. history.
Revenue of 1942
- Raised taxes to help finance the war effort. - The act hiked rates for the wealthiest Americans and included new middle- and lower-income tax brackets, vastly increasing the number of Americans responsible for paying taxes.
Thirteenth Amendment
- Ratified December 6, 1865. - prohibited slavery in the United States.
Sixteenth Amendment
- Ratified in 1913. - allowed the federal government to collect a direct income tax. - Shortly thereafter, Congress instituted a graduated income tax with an upper tax rate of 7 percent.
Seventeenth Amendment
- Ratified in 1913. - provided for the direct election of U.S. senators rather than their selection by state legislatures.
Nineteenth Amendment
- Ratified in August 1920. - granted women the right to vote.
Fourteenth Amendment
- Ratified in July 1868. - guaranteed the rights of citizenship to all people, black or white, born or naturalized in the United States. - It also provided for the denial of congressional representation for any state that denied suffrage to any of its male citizens.
Fifteenth Amendment
- Ratified in March 1870. - prohibited the denial of voting rights to any citizen based on "race, color, or previous condition of servitude."
Eighteenth Amendment
- Ratified on January 16, 1919. - prohibited the manufacture, transport, or sale of alcoholic beverages. - It was sporadically enforced, violated by many, and repealed in 1933.
Connecticut Compromise
- Reconciled the Virginia Plan and the New Jersey Plan for determining legislative representation in Congress. - established equal representation for all states in the Senate and proportional representation by population in the House of Representatives.
Sexual Revolution
- Refers to the easing of sexual taboos in some segments of society during the 1920s. - Female sexuality and fashion were celebrated, divorce laws were relaxed in many states, and casual dating became more common.
First Hundred Days
- Refers to the first hundred days of FDR's presidency, - from March 4 to June 16, 1933. - During this period of dramatic legislative productivity, FDR laid out the programs that constituted the New Deal.
Navigation Acts
- Regulated trade in the colonies (1651-1673) in order to exclusively benefit the British economy. - The acts restricted trade between England and the colonies to English or colonial ships; - required certain colonial goods to pass through England or Scotland before being exported to foreign nations; - provided subsidies for the production of certain raw goods in the colonies; - and banned the colonists from competing with the English in large-scale manufacturing.
Camp Meetings
- Religious revivals on the frontier during the Second Great Awakening. - Hundreds or even thousands of people—members of various denominations—met to hear speeches on repentance and sing hymns.
Farmers' Alliance
- Replaced the Grange as a support group for the nation's farmers during the 1880s. - The alliances were politically active in the Midwest and South, and were central to the founding of the Populist Party.
Sharecropping System
- Replaced the plantation system after the Civil War as the primary method of agricultural production in the South. - consisted of plantations, subdivided into small farms, that were rented to freedmen for leases paid in the form of a share (usually half) of the crop produced. - The system gave freedmen a measure of independence but also ensured that whites maintained control of the land.
Stamp Act Congress
- Representatives of nine colonial assemblies met in New York City in October 1765 in anger over the Stamp Act. - The colonies agreed that Parliament could not tax anyone outside of Great Britain and could not deny anyone a fair trial, both of which had been dictates of the Stamp Act. - The meeting marked a new level of colonial political organization.
William McKinley
- Republican candidate who defeated William Jennings Bryan in the 1896 presidential election. - A supporter of big business, he pushed for high protective tariffs. - Under his leadership, the U.S. became an imperial world power. - He was assassinated by an anarchist in 1901.
Ronald Regan
- Republican, president from 1981 to 1989. - His presidency revolved around two goals: economic prosperity and victory in the Cold War. - initiated major tax cuts and a massive military buildup.
Richard Nixon
- Republican, served as president from 1969 until his resignation on August 9, 1974. - oversaw a moderately conservative domestic program; gradually pulled troops out of Vietnam; and improved relations with the nation's communist enemies. - He resigned from office after being implicated in the Watergate scandal.
George Bush
- Republican, vice president to Ronald Reagan - president of the United States from 1989 to 1993. - His presidency was marked by economic recession and U.S. involvement in the Gulf War.
Hayes-Tilden Compromise
- Resolved the conflict arising from the election of 1876, in which Democrat Samuel J. Tilden won the popular vote but Republican leaders contested some states' election returns, thereby ensuring Republican Rutherford B. Hayes's victory. - To minimize protest from the Democratic Party, Republicans agreed to end Reconstruction by removing federal troops from the last two occupied states in the South.
Missouri Compromise
- Resolved the conflict surrounding the admission of Missouri to the Union as either a slave or free state. - 1820 - made Missouri a slave state, admitted Maine as a free state, and prohibited slavery in the remainder of the Louisiana Territory.
Federal Reserve Board ("The Fed")
- Responsible for making monetary policy in the United States. - operates mainly through the mechanisms of buying and selling government bonds and adjusting the interest rates. - During the Great Depression, it was given greater power and freedom to directly regulate the economy.
Stephen A. Douglas
- Rose to national prominence as Speaker of the House, when he pushed the Compromise of 1850 through Congress. - was the leading Northern Democrat of his day, a supporter of popular sovereignty and the author of the Kansas-Nebraska Act. - He battled Abraham Lincoln for a seat in the Senate (successfully) in 1858, and for president (unsuccessfully) in 1860.
Christopher Columbus
- Sailed to the New World under the Spanish flag in 1492. - Although not the first European to reach the Americas, he is credited with the journey across the Atlantic that opened the New World to exploration. - In 1493, he established Santo Domingo on the island of Hispaniola as a base for further exploration.
John Smith
- Saved the Jamestown colony from collapse in 1608, its first year of existence. - His initiatives improved sanitation, hygiene, and organized work gangs to gather food and build shelters, thereby dramatically lowering the mortality rates among Jamestown colonists.
Treaty of Greenville
- Signed by 12 Native American tribes after their defeat at the Battle of Fallen Timbers in 1794. - cleared the Ohio territory of tribes and opened it up to U.S. settlement.
Treaty of Tordesillas
- Signed by Queen Isabella of Spain and King John II of Portugal in 1494. - The treaty divided all future discoveries in the New World between their respective nations. - This soon proved unworkable because of the flood of expeditions to the New World and the proliferation of different countries' claims to territory.
Warsaw Pact
- Signed in 1954 between the USSR and its Eastern European satellites—Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, and Romania. - allowed the stationing of Soviet troops in each participating country. - It was seen as the Soviet response to the formation of NATO.
Helsinki Accords
- Signed in 1975 by Gerald Ford, - Soviet Premier Leonid Brezhnev, and the leaders of thirty-one other states in a promise to solidify European boundaries, respect human rights, and permit freedom of travel.
Treaty of Versailles
- Signed in June 1919 at the end of World War I. - President Woodrow Wilson had hoped for a generous peace settlement to promote democracy, peace, and liberalism throughout war-torn Europe instead of simply punishing the Central Powers. - The treaty proved more vindictive against Germany than Wilson would have liked. It punished the Germans severely, forcing them to assume all blame for the war and to pay massive reparations. - Other elements of the treaty included demilitarization of the west bank of the Rhine, the creation of new nations to grant autonomy to oppressed geographic and ethnic groups, and the formation of the League of Nations.
Strategic Arms Limitations Treaty
- Signed in May 1972 by President Nixon. - limited each of the superpowers to 200 antiballistic missiles and set quotas for intercontinental and submarine missiles.
Treaty of Paris (1783)
- Signed in September 1783 and ratified by Congress in January 1784. - ended the Revolutionary War and granted the United States its independence. - It further granted the U.S. all land east of the Mississippi River, and contained clauses that bound Congress to urge state legislatures to compensate loyalists for property damage incurred during the war, and to allow British creditors to collect debts accrued before the war. - opened the door to future legislative and economic disputes.
Tripartite Pact
- Signed in September 1940 by Germany, Italy, and Japan. - These nations comprised the Axis powers of World War II.
Independent Treasury Act
- Signed into law in 1840. - The bill established an independent treasury to hold public funds in reserve and prevent excessive lending by state banks, thus guarding against inflation. - was a response to the panic of 1837, which many blamed on the risky and excessive lending practices of state banks.
Treaty of Ghent
- Signed on Christmas Eve in 1815. - ended the War of 1812 and returned relations between the U.S. and Britain to the way things were before the war
Paris Accords
- Signed on January 27, 1973. - settled the terms of U.S. withdrawal from Indochina, ending the war between the U.S. and North Vietnam but leaving the conflict between North and South Vietnam unresolved.
Treaty of San Lorenzo
- Signed with Spain in 1795. - granted the U.S. unrestricted access to the Mississippi River and removed Spanish troops from American land.
Utopian Communities
- Small, experimental communities that sprang up in the U.S. beginning in the late 1820s. - In these communities, reformers attempted to build perfect societies and present models for other communities to emulate. - Most of these communities collapsed by the late 1840s.
Bootleggers
- Smugglers of alcohol into the United States - the Prohibition Era (1920-1933), - often from Canada or the West Indies.
John Quincy Adams
- Son of John Adams - president from 1825 to 1829. - As James Monroe's secretary of state, he worked to expand the nation's borders and authored the Monroe Doctrine. - His presidency was largely ineffective due to lack of popular support; - Congress blocked many of his proposed programs.
Clayton Antitrust Act
- Spearheaded by Woodrow Wilson in 1914. - The act improved upon the vague Sherman Antitrust Act by enumerating a series of illegal business practices.
Jim Crow Laws
- State laws that institutionalized segregation in the South - from the 1880s through the 1960s. - Along with segregating schools, buses, and other public accommodations, these laws made it difficult or impossible for Southern blacks to vote.
Albany Plan
- Submitted by Benjamin Franklin to the 1754 gathering of colonial delgates in Albany, New York. - called for the colonies to unify in the face of French and Native American threats. - Although the delegates approved it, the colonies rejected it for fear of losing their independent authority. - The Crown rejected the it as well, wary of cooperation between the colonies.
Harry S. Truman
- Succeeded FDR as president after FDR's death in April 1945. - served until 1953. Truman ordered the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and he proved instrumental in committing the U.S. to action against the threat of Soviet aggression in Europe during the Cold War. - At home, he attempted to extend the New Deal policies of his predecessor in what he called the Fair Deal.
Mexican War
- Tension between the U.S. and Mexico grew after Texas accepted Congress's offer of admission to the Union despite the Mexican government's opposition. - In 1846, after Mexican troops crossed the Rio Grande, the U.S. declared war against Mexico. - The U.S. won the war easily. - The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ended the war and granted the U.S. possession of Texas, New Mexico, and California in exchange for $15 million.
Louisiana Purchase
- Territory purchased from Napolean by the U.S. in 1803. - nearly doubled the size of the nation and opened the West to exploration and settlement. - But the new aquisition also caused strife: border disputes with foreign powers as well as congressional debates over the admission of new states from the region (whether the states would be slave-holding or free).
Plessy v. Ferguson
- The 1896 Supreme Court decision ruled that segregation was not illegal as long as facilities for each race were equal. - This "separate but equal" doctrine served to justify segregation throughout the early and mid-1900s. In 1954, the Supreme Court overturned the "separate but equal" doctrine in the landmark Brown v. Board of Education case.
Roe v. Wade
- The 1973 Supreme Court case that legalized most first- and second-trimester abortions in the United States. - represented a major victory for the women's rights movement.
Operation Overload
- The Allied air, land, and sea assault on occupied France. - centered on the "D-Day" invasion on June 6, 1944 in which American, British, and Canadian troops stormed the beaches at Normandy. - These Allied forces sustained heavy casualties but eventually took the beach and moved gradually inland.
Know-Nothing Party
- The American Party. - took the place of the Whig Party between 1854 and 1856, after the latter's demise. - They focused on issues of antislavery, anti-Catholicism, nativism, and temperance. - The party collapsed during the latter half of the 1850s, in part because of the rise of the Republican Party.
Mormonism
- The Church of Latter-Day Saints, founded by Joseph Smith in 1831. - The church's core tenets derive from the Book of Mormon, a book of revelation similar to the Bible. - Led by Smith, the Mormons moved steadily westward during the early 1830s, seeking to escape religious persecution. - After Smith was murdered in 1844, a new leader, Brigham Young, led the Mormons to Utah, where they settled and are still centered today.
Salutary Neglect
- The English government's policy of not enforcing certain trade laws it imposed upon the American colonies throughout the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. - The purpose was largely to ensure the loyalty of the colonists in the face of the French territorial and commercial threat in North America. - Following British victory in the French and Indian War, the English ceased practicing _________.
Unrestricted Submarine Warfare
- The German U-boat policy in which submarines attacked any ship—military, merchant, or civilian—without warning. - After a period in which Germany practiced limited submarine warfare as promised by the Sussex Pledge, the resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare in January 1917 pushed the U.S. even closer to entering World War I.
Holocaust
- The Nazis' systematic persecution and extermination of European Jews from 1933 until 1945. - More than 6 million Jews died in concentration camps throughout Germany and Nazi-occupied territory.
Grange
- The Patrons of Husbandry - Formed in 1867 as a support system for struggling western farmers, - offered farmers education and fellowship, and provided a forum for homesteaders to share advice and emotional support at biweekly social functions. - also represented farmers' needs in dealings with big business and the federal government.
Dartmouth College v. Woodward
- The Supreme Court under Chief Justice John Marshall ruled that the state of New Hampshire could not convert Dartmouth College to a state university because doing so would violate the college's contract, - granted by King George III in 1769, and the Constitution forbids states from interfering with contracts. - Republicans interpreted the decision and phrasing of the opinion as a shocking defeat for states' rights. - Their reaction exposed political conflicts concealed under the facade of cooperation during the Era of Good Feelings.
Leif Ericson
- The alleged leader of a group of Vikings who sailed to the eastern coast of Canada and attempted, unsuccessfully, to colonize the area around the year 1000—nearly 500 years before Columbus arrived in the Americas.
Manifest Destiny
- The belief of many Americans in the mid-nineteenth century that it was the nation's destiny and duty to expand and conquer the West. - Journalist John L. O'Sullivan first coined the phrase "______________" in 1845, as he wrote of "our __________________ to overspread and to possess the whole of our continent which Providence has given us for the development of the great experiment of liberty."
Taft-Hartley Act
- The centerpiece of a congressional effort to restrict union activity. - 1947 - banned certain union practices and allowed the president to call for an eighty-day cooling off period to delay strikes thought to pose risks to national safety. - Truman vetoed the measure, and though his veto was overridden, his actions roused the support of organized labor, a group crucial to his election victory in 1948.
Reconstruction Act of 1867
- The central law passed during Reconstruction. - invalidated state governments established under Lincoln's and Johnson's plans, provided for military occupation of the former Confederacy, and bound state governments to vote for black suffrage.
Robert E. Lee
- The commanding general of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia during the Civil War. - was a brilliant strategist, commander, and fighter. - Many historians believe that the Confederacy held out as long as it did only because of his skill and the loyalty of his troops.
Loose constructionists
- The core of the Federalist Pary, led by Alexander Hamilton. - They favored a loose reading of the Constitution—especially of the elastic clause—in order to expand the powers of the central government to include implied constitutional powers, not just enumerated ones.
Yellow Journalism
- The exaggerated and sensationalized stories about Spanish military atrocities against Cuban rebels that the New York World and New York Journal, among other newspapers, published in the period leading up to the Spanish-American War (1898). - swayed American public opinion in favor of war against Spain.
McCarthyism
- The extreme anticommunism in American politics and society during the early 1950s. - The term derives from the actions of Senator Joseph McCarthy, who led an intense campaign against alleged subversives during this period.
Battle of the Bulge
- The final German offensive in Western Europe - lasting from December 16, 1944, to January 16, 1945. - Hitler amassed his last reserves against Allied troops in France. - Germany made a substantial dent in the Allied front line, - but the Allies recovered and repelled the Germans, clearing the way for a march toward Berlin.
Emergency Banking Relief Act
- The first act of FDR's New Deal. - provided a framework for the many banks that had closed early in 1933 to reopen with federal support.
Sputnik
- The first artificial satellite to orbit the earth, launched by the USSR on October 4, 1957. - The launch prompted the space race between the U.S. and USSR—Americans were jealous of Soviet technological skill and afraid that the same rockets that launched it could be used to deliver nuclear warheads anywhere on the globe.
Tehran Conference
- The first major meeting between the Big Three leaders. - Held from November 28 to December 1, 1943, Churchill, FDR, and Stalin planned the 1944 assault on Vichy France and agreed to divide Germany into zones of occupation after the war.
Virginia Plan
- The first major proposal presented to the Constitutional Convention concerning congressional representation. - proposed the creation of a bicameral legislature with representation in both houses proportional to population. - The plan favored the large states, which would have a much greater voice than the small states under this plan. - In opposition, the small states proposed the New Jersey Plan. - The two sides eventually found common ground in the Connecticut Compromise.
Railroad Strike
- The first nationwide strike in the U.S. In 1877, workers on nearly every rail line from New York to San Francisco struck to protest wage cuts and firing. - The riots provoked widespread violence and resulted in more than 100 deaths, prompting President Hayes to send in federal troops to subdue the anterm-370gry mobs and restore order.
Bill of Rights
- The first ten amendments of the Constitution, which guarantee the civil rights of American citizens. - was drafted by anti-federalists, including James Madison, - to protect individuals from the tyranny they felt the Constitution might permit.
Harlem Renaissance
- The flowering of black culture in New York's Harlem neighborhood during the 1920s. - Black writers and artists produced plays, poetry, and novels that often reflected the unique African American experience in America and in Northern cities in particular.
Samuel Gompers
- The founding leader of the American Federation of Labor. - Under him, the AFL rarely went on strike, and instead took a more pragmatic approach based on negotiating for gradual concessions.
Inflation
- The increase of available paper money and bank credit, leading to higher prices and less-valuable currency.
Deep Throat
- The informant who helped Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein as they delved into the Watergate scandal. -his/her true identity remains a mystery to this day.
Battle of Gettysburg
- The largest battle of the Civil War. - Widely considered to be the war's turning point, - the battle marked the Union's first major victory in the East. - The three-day campaign, from July 1 to 4, 1863, resulted in an unprecedented 51,000 total casualties.
Mikhail Gorbachev
- The last Soviet political leader. - become general secretary of the Communist Party in 1985 and president of the USSR in 1988. - He helped ease tension between the U.S. and the USSR—work that earned him the Nobel Peace Prize in 1990. - He oversaw the fall of the Soviet Union and resigned as president on December 25, 1991.
Thaddues Stevens
- The leader of the Radical Republicans in Congress. - was a gifted orator and an outspoken legislator devoted to stringent and punitive Reconstruction. - worked toward social and political equality for Southern blacks.
Charles Sumner
- The leading Radical Republican senator throughout the Civil War and Reconstruction. - argued ardently for civil rights for blacks. - He later led the defection of the Liberal Republicans from the Republican Party.
Machine Politics
- The means by which political parties during the Industrial Revolution controlled candidates and voters through networks of loyalty and corruption. - party bosses exploited their ability to give away jobs and benefits (patronage) in exchange for votes.
Square Deal
- The name Theodore Roosevelt gave to his social policies, especially his intended relationships with capital and labor. - Roosevelt wanted to treat everyone fairly, and, in particular, eliminate government favors to big business.
Dust Bowl
- The name given to the southern Great Plains region (Arkansas, Texas, Missouri, and Oklahoma) - - during the 1930s, when a severe drought and fierce winds led to violent dust storms that destroyed farmland, machinery, and houses, and led to countless injuries. - Roughly 800,000 residents migrated west from there toward California during the 1930s and 1940s.
Watergate
- The name of a hotel in Washington, D.C. that has come to signify one of the greatest scandals in American history. - On June 17, 1972, burglars broke into Democratic National Committee headquarters in the Watergate hotel to wiretap the phones. - It was later discovered that these burglars had been employed by Nixon's Committee to Re-elect the President (CREEP). - In the ensuing investigation, it became clear that Nixon had known of the break-in and had participated in a cover-up attempt. - Faced with near-certain impeachment, Nixon resigned the presidency on August 9, 1974.
Minutemen
- The nickname given to local militiamen who fought against the British during the Revolutionary War. - were supposedly able to be ready for battle at a minute's notice.
Bull Moose Party
- The nickname of the Progressive Republican Party, led by Theodore Roosevelt in the 1912 election. - had the best showing of any third party in the history of the United States. - - Its emergence dramatically weakened the Republican Party and allowed Democratic nominee Woodrow Wilson to win the election with only 42 percent of the popular vote.
Alexander Hamilton
- The outspoken leader of the Federalists and one of the authors of The Federalist Papers. - supported the formation of the Constitution and later, as secretary of treasury under Washington, spearheaded the government's Federalist initiatives, - most notably through the creation of the Bank of the United States.
Era of Good Feelings
- The period between the end of the War of 1812 and the rise of Andrew Jackson in 1828, - during which the United States was governed under a one-party system that promoted nationalism and cooperation. - At the center was James Monroe's presidency, as Monroe strove to avoid political conflict and strengthen American nationalism and pride.
Bleeding Kansas
- The popular name for the Kansas Territory - 1856 - after abolitionist John Brown led a massacre at a pro-slavery camp, setting off waves of violence. - Brown's massacre was in protest to the recent establishment of Kansas as a slave state. - Pro-slavery sympathizers had crossed into Kansas in order to vote illegally in the elections set up by the Kansas-Nebraska Act, resulting in the ousting of antislavery legislators
Checks and Balances
- The principles established by the Constitution to prevent any one branch of government (legislative, executive, and judicial) from gaining too much power. - represent the solution to the problem of how to empower the central government while also protecting against corruption and despotism.
Détente
- The relaxation of tensions between the U.S. and USSR in the 1960s and 1970s. - During this period, the two powers signed treaties limiting nuclear arms productions and opened up economic relations. - One of the most famous advocates of this policy was President Richard Nixon's secretary of state, Henry Kissinger.
Quasi-War
- The series of French and American naval conflicts occurring between 1798 and 1800.
Mayflower
- The ship that carried the Pilgrims across the Atlantic, from the Netherlands to Plymouth Plantation in 1620, after intially fleeing England.
Nagasaki
- The site of the second U.S. atomic bomb attack on Japan. - was devastated by a nuclear blast on August 9, 1945. - The explosion caused 40,000 immediate deaths and 60,000 injuries.
Panic of 1819
- The start of a two-year depression caused by extensive speculation, the loose lending practices of state banks, a decline in European demand for American staple goods, and mismanagement within the Second Bank of the United States. - exacerbated social divisions within the United States and is often called the beginning of the end of the Era of Good Feelings.
Black Thursday
- The stock market crash of October 24, 1929. - After a decade of great prosperity, the market dropped in value by an astounding 9 percent, - kicking off the Great Depression.
Indentured Servitude
- The system by which adult males—usually English—bound themselves to labor on plantations for a fixed number of years in exchange for transport to the colonies and eventual freedom. - Some immigrants came willingly, while others were manipulated and kidnapped; often, the indentured servents were never able to secure their release due to debt. - The first Africans brought to the colonies were also indentured servants, but in the seventeenth century, as massive, labor-intensive tobacco plantations spread throughout the South, slavery became the preferred means of labor.
Domino Theory
- The theory that if any nation fell to communism, the surrounding nations would likely fall as well. - - Expounded by Dwight D. Eisenhower, it served to justify U.S. intervention in Vietnam.
Lewis and Clark
- The two were commissioned by Thomas Jefferson to explore the newly acquired Louisiana Purchase. - They traveled 3,000 miles between 1804 and 1806, collecting scientific data and specimens and charting the territory to the west of the Mississippi. - Their journey spurred national interest in exploration and settlement of the West.
Big Stick Diplomacy
- Theodore Roosevelt's foreign policy summed up his aggressive stance toward international affairs with the phrase, - "Speak softly and carry a big stick." - the U.S. declared its domination over Latin America and built the Panama Canal.
Mercantilism
- Theory of trade which stresses that a nation's economic strength depends on exporting more than it imports. - British ____________ manifested itself in the triangular trade and in a series of laws, such as the Navigation Acts (1651-1673), aimed at fostering British economic dominance.
Thomas Jefferson
- Third president of the United States (1801-1809). - resigned as George Washington's first secretary of state in opposition to Alexander Hamilton's continued efforts to centralize power in the national government. - Along with James Madison, he took up the cause of the strict constructionists and the Republican Party, advocating the limitation of federal power. - He organized the national government according to Republican ideals, doubled the size of the nation through the Louisiana Purchase, and struggled to maintain American neutrality in foreign affairs
Nuremberg Trials
- Trials of Nazi war criminals that began in November 1945. - More than 200 defendants were indicted in the thirteen trials. - All but thirty-eight of the defendants were convicted of conspiring to wage aggressive war and of mistreating prisoners of war and inhabitants of occupied territories.
Fair Deal
- Truman's attempt to extend the policies of the New Deal. - Beginning in 1949, - included measures to increase the minimum wage, expand Social Security, and construct low-income housing.
Mutual Assured Destruction
- U.S. Cold War policy, developed in the 1960s, that acknowledged that both the U.S. and the Soviet Union had enough nuclear weaponry to destroy each other many times over. - hoped to prevent outright war with the Soviet Union on the premise that any attack would lead to the complete destruction of both powers.
Maine
- U.S. battleship sunk by an explosion in Havana harbor in February 1898. - Though later investigations suggested that an onboard fire had caused the blast, popular rumor was that the Spanish were responsible. - The sinking of the __________, combined with sensationalist news reports of Spanish atrocities, led the American public to push for war against Spain.
Gerald Ford
- Vice president to Nixon after Spiro Agnew. - took over the presidency after the Watergate scandal forced Nixon to resign on August 9, 1974. - pardoned Nixon and pushed a conservative domestic policy, but was little more than a caretaker of the White House until his defeat in the election of 1976.
Millard Fillmore
- Vice president to Zachary Taylor until Taylor's death in 1850. - took over as president and served out the remainder of Taylor's term, until 1853. - He helped to push the Compromise of 1850 through Congress.
Robber Barrons
- Wealthy entrepreneurs and businessmen during the Industrial Age. - include Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller.
Dollar Diplomacy
- William Howard Taft's foreign policy. - Taft sought to address international problems by extending American investment overseas, believing that such activity would both benefit the U.S. economy and promote stability abroad.
New Freedom
- Woodrow Wilson's approach to foreign relations. - Unlike Roosevelt's "big stick" policies and Taft's dollar diplomacy, Wilson's foreign policy denounced imperialism and economic meddling, and focused instead on spreading democracy throughout the world.
League of Nations
- Woodrow Wilson's idea for a collective security body meant to provide a forum for the resolution of conflict and to prevent future world wars. - covenant was written into the Treaty of Versailles. - The U.S. Senate, however, voted against joining it, making it a weak international force.
Fourteen Points
- Woodrow Wilson's liberal and idealistic peace program. - His plan, outlined January 1918, - called for unrestricted sea travel, - free trade, - arms reduction, - an end to secret treaties, - the territorial reorganization of Europe in favor of self-rule, - and most importantly, the creation of "a general association of nations" to protect peace and resolve conflicts.
Federal Reserve Act
- Woodrow Wilson's most notable legislative success. - The 1913 ___________ reorganized the American banking system by creating a network of twelve Federal Reserve banks authorized to distribute currency.
H.L. Mencken
- Writer who satirized political leaders and American society in the 1920s. - His magazine American Mercury served as the journalistic counterpart to the postwar disillusionment of the "lost generation."
The Feminine Mystique
- Written by Betty Friedan in 1963. - The book was a rallying cry for the women's liberation movement. - It denounced the belief that women should be tied to the home and encouraged women to get involved in activities outside their home and family.
Uncle Tom's Cabin
- Written by Harriet Beecher Stow and published in 1852. - portrayed the evils of the institution of slavery. - The novel sold 1.2 million copies in two years and reached millions more through dramatic adaptations. - aroused sympathy for runaway slaves among all classes of Northerners and hardened many against the South's insistence upon continuing slavery.
A Century of Dishonor
- Written by Helen Hunt Jackson and published in 1881, - attempted to raise public awareness of the harsh and dishonorable treatment of Native Americans at the hands of the United States.
The awakening
- Written by Kate Chopin in 1899. - portrays a married woman who defies social convention first by falling in love with another man, and then by committing suicide when she finds that his views on women are as oppressive as her husband's. - The novel reflects the changing role of women during the early 1900s.
Silent Spring
- Written by Rachel Carson and published in 1962. - exposed the environmental hazards of the pesticide DDT. - Carson's book helped spur an increase in environmental awareness and concern among the American people.
Common Sense
- Written by Thomas Paine in 1776. - Paine argued that the colonists should free themselves from British rule and establish an independent government based on Enlightenment ideals. - became so popular and influential that many historians credit it with dissolving the final barriers to the fight for independence.
The Age of Reason
- Written by Thomas Paine. - was published in three parts between 1794 and 1807. - A critique of organized religion, the book was criticized as a defense of Atheism. - Paine's argument is a prime example of the rationalist approach to religion inspired by Enlightenment ideals.
Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions
- Written in 1798 by James Madison and Thomas Jefferson. - condemned the Federalists' broad interpretation of the Constitution and instead put forth a compact theory of the Union, which stated that states' rights superseded federal powers. - Virginia and Kentucky endorsed these resolutions in opposition to the Alien and Sedition Acts. - The arguments outlined in these resolutions would resurface in the mid-nineteenth century in the political crises involving tariff issues and slavery—issues that divided the North and South and led to the Civil War.
Douglas MacArthur
- an American general who commanded the United States army in the Pacific during World War II. - After the war, he oversaw the American occupation of Japan and later led American troops in the Korean War. - Though he pushed for total victory in the Korean War, seeking to conquer all of Korea and perhaps move into China, Harry S. Truman held him back from this aggressive goal. - After a month of publicly denouncing the administration's policy, he was relieved from duty in April 1951.
Constitution
- is the document that outlines the operation and central principles of American government. - As opposed to the Articles of Confederation, which it replaced, it created a strong central government with broad judicial, legislative, and executive powers, though it purposely restricted the extent of these powers through a system of checks and balances. - Written at the Constitutional Convention, the Constitution was ratified by the states in 1789.
Susan B. Anthony
- leading member of the women's suffrage movement. - served as president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association from 1892 until 1900.
John Adams
- second president, - served from 1797 to 1801. - A Federalist, he supported a powerful centralized government. - most notable actions in office were the undertaking of the Quasi-war with France and the passage of the Alien and Sedition Acts.
Zimmerman Telegram
- sent in 1917 from the German foreign minister to the German ambassador in Mexico. - was intercepted by British intelligence, and revealed Germany's plans to urge Mexico to enter the war against the U.S. in exchange for a pledge to help restore Mexico's former territories of Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas. - The unmasking of Germany's aggressive war plans, coupled with Germany's resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare, pushed the U.S. into World War I.
Saddam Hussein
- was the leader of Iraq. - In August 1990, he led an Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, sparking the Gulf War.
Harriet Tubman
A former slave who helped establish the Underground Railroad, a network of safehouses and escorts throughout the North to help escaped slaves to freedom.
Sons of Liberty
A group of colonists who led opposition to the Stamp Act.
Vietcong
A pro-communist guerrilla force working term-494 secretly within South Vietnam.
John Tyler
Became president of the United States in 1841, when William Henry Harrison died after one month in office.
House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC)
During McCarthyism, provided the congressional forum in which many hearings about suspected communists in the government took place.
Wagner Act
See the National Labor Relations Act.
Enforcement Acts of 1870 and 1871
Sought to protect black suffrage in the wake of Klu Klux Klan activities.
Confederate States of America
States that seceded during the Civil War.
Allies
WORLD WAR I - The partership of Great Britain, France, and Italy - were pitted against the Central Powers of Germany and Austria-Hungary. - In 1917, the U.S. joined the war on the their side. WORLD WAR II - they included Great Britain, the Soviet Union, the U.S., and France.