All APUSH Terms 2018

William Faulkner

A prominent writer who wrote "Soldier's Pay" in 1926. He also wrote other powerful books about the lives of Southerners during the Civil War. His many books include Soldier's Pay, The Sound and the Fury, and As I Lay Dying which used a new "stream of consciousness" form of writing

Rosie the Riveter

A propaganda character designed to increase production of female workers in the factories. It became a rallying symbol for women to do their part in the war effort.

Prison reform: Penitentiary system

A public building used for the confinement of people convicted of serious crimes. Prison is a place used for confinement of convicted criminals. Aside from the death penalty, a sentence to prison is the harshest punishment imposed on criminals in the United States.

Vietnamization

Nixon's policy of withdrawing troops from Vietnam while providing aid for the South Vietnamese to fight the war

Populist (People's) Party

They represented Westerners and Southerners who believed that U.S. economic policy inappropriately favored Eastern businessmen instead of the nation's farmers. Their proposals included nationalizing the railroads, creating a graduated income tax, and most significantly the unlimited coinage of silver.

Alfred T. Mahan

United States Navy flag officer, geostrategist, and historian. His concept of "sea power" was based on the idea that countries with greater naval power will have greater worldwide impact.

Rock 'n' Roll

"Crossover" music style that rose to dominance in the 1950s, merging rhythm and blues with white bluegrass and country; featuring a heavy beat and driving rhythm, rock 'n' roll music became a defining feature of 1950s youth culture

Marquis de Lafayette

"The French gamecock". A major general in the colonial army at age of just nineteen, he played a prominent role in the siege of Yorktown. He prevented Cornwallis' troops from retreating, which eventually led to Cornwallis' defeat.

V-J Day

"Victory over Japan day" is the celebration of the Surrender of Japan, which was initially announced on August 15, 1945. The actual day is celebrated on September 2 in the US.

Land-Grant Colleges

"land-grant colleges" resulted from this 1860s legislation that provided a generous grant of public lands to the states for the support of education

Poor Richard's Almanac

(1732-1758) Widely read annual pamphlet edited by Benjamin Franklin. Best known for its proverbs and aphorisms emphasizing thrift, industry, morality, and common sense.

United States v. E.C. Knight

(1895) In the anti- monopoly craze, Knight's large sugar company was put on trial with the intention of the government taking over the sugar trade. However, it was ruled that his monopoly had no real effect on U.S commerce, so it was not really a "monopoly". It was also established in this trial that mining and manufacturing were not affected by interstate commerce laws, putting control of trade out of Congress's reach.

Sine-Japanese War

(1937-1941) A war between China and Japan. China sought help from Germany, the USSR, and the US. When Japan attacked Pearl Harbor the war became part of WWII.

Recognition of Israel

(1948) Access to Middle Eastern oil was crucial to the European recovery program, and to the health of the U.S. economy. Afraid to antagonize the oil-endowed Arabs, Truman officially recognized the state of Israel on May 14, 1948.

Geneva Conference

(1954) Peace conference between France and Ho Chi Minh. France wanted Ho Chi Minh to stop attack French troops and Ho Chi Minh wanted the troops gone.

Roe v. Wade

(1973) Women may have abortions for any reason up until "viability" (24-28 weeks).

General Douglas MacArthur

(FDR) surrender the Philippines during WWII. The supreme Allied Commander during the Cold War in 1945. He was put in charge of putting Japan back together.

National Defense Education Act

(NDEA, 1958) After the Russian satellite Sputnik was successfully launched, there was a critical comparison of the Russian to the American education system. The American education system was already seen as too easygoing. In 1958, Congress established the NDEA, authorizing $887 million in loans to needy college students and in grants for the purpose of improving the teaching of sciences and languages,

NASA

(National Aeronautics and Space Administration) An independent agency of the United States government responsible for aviation and spaceflight, created to compete with the Russian Space Program.

NSC

(National Security Council) An agency in the Executive Office of the President that advises the president on national security

SALT II

(Second Strategic Arms Limitations Talks) A second treaty was signed to cut back the weaponry of the US and the USSR because it was getting too competitive. Set limits on the numbers of weapons produced. Not passed by the Senate as retaliation for USSR's invasion of Afghanistan, and later superseded by the START treaty

Jackson State University

10 days after Kent State shooting, this black school in Mississippi had state troops enter dormitories and begin shooting. Twelve people were injured and two were dead as a result.

Korematsu v. U.S.

1944 Supreme Court case where the Supreme Court upheld the order providing for the relocation of Japanese Americans. It was not until 1988 that Congress formally apologized and agreed to pay $20,000 to each survivor.

Pure Food and Drug Act

1906; companion to the Meat Inspection Act; designed to prevent the adulteration and mislabeling of foods and pharmaceuticals

Wabash, St. Louis and Pacific Railroad v. Illinois

1886 - Court case that stated that individual states could control trade in their states, but could not regulate railroads coming through them. Congress had exclusive jurisdiction over interstate commerce.

Dawes Severalty Act

1887, dismantled American Indian tribes, set up individuals as family heads with 160 acres, tried to make rugged individualists out of the Indians, attempt to assimilate the Indian population into that of the American

Muller v. Oregon

1908 Louis D. Brandeis persuaded the Supreme Court to accept the constitutionality of laws protecting women workers by presenting evidence of the harmful effects of factory labor on women's weaker bodies

Payne-Aldrich Tariff

1909; a moderately reductive bill to reduce tariffs, however senators had tacked on hundreds of upward tariff revisions; Taft signed it, outraging the progressive wing of his Republican party

My Lai Massacre

1968, in which American troops had brutally massacred innocent women and children in the village of My Lai, also led to more opposition to the war.

Federal Communications Commission (FCC)

1934; an independent government agency had the power to revoke the licenses of stations that failed to operate in the public interest. But it placed no effective controls on programming or on advertising practices

Wagner-Connery Act (NLRA)

1935; established National Labor Relations Board; protected the rights of most workers in the private sector to organize labor unions to engage in collective bargaining, and to take part in strikes and other forms of concerted activity in support of their demands.

Grover Cleveland

22nd and 24th president, Democrat, Honest and hardworking, fought corruption, vetoed hundreds of wasteful bills, achieved the Interstate Commerce Commission and civil service reform, violent suppression of strikes

Nathaniel Bacon

29-year old planter and leader of the Freeman who broke out of control against the Virginia governor. He led Bacon's Rebellion in 1675 by conducting a series of raids and massacres in Indian villages against Governor Berkeley's orders.

Warren G. Harding

29th President of the United States (1921-1923) also a Republican from Ohio. He promised to return to normal after WWI and used efforts to make no enemies during his presidency. Scandals affected his presidency such as the Ohio Gang that had to do with financial jobs that he offered his friends. He died from a heart attack while in office.

Muscle Shoals Controversy

A "socialistic" proposal, Hoover vetoed the bill to dam the Tennessee River and produce electricity that would be sold by the government. Hoover did not believe that the government should set up companies that would compete with privately own companies.

Pullman Strike

A 1894 strike by railroad workers upset by drastic wage cuts. The strike was led by socialist Eugene Debs but not supported by the American Federation of Labor. Eventually President Grover Cleveland intervened and federal troops forced an end to the strike. The strike highlighted both divisions within labor and the government's new willingness to use armed force to combat work stoppages.

Realism

A 19th century artistic movement in which writers and painters sought to show life as it is rather than life as it should be

William Pitt

A British Parliamentarian who rose to prominence during the French and Indian War. He was the brilliant tactician behind Britain's victory over France.

Enlightenment

A European intellectual movement of the late 17th and 18th centuries that emphasized reason and individualism rather than tradition. Important philosophers of the era included Locke, Newton, and Descartes.

Sussex

A French passenger steamer that Germany sunk with its submarines. After this incident, U.S. President Wilson informed the Germans that unless they renounced the inhuman practice of sinking merchant ships without warning, he would break diplomatic relations, leading to war.

Ida M. Tarbell

A Muckraker who published devastating but factual expose of the Standard Oil Company in her book "Mother of Trusts"

Congress of Industrial Organization (CIO)

A New Deal-era labor organization that broke away from the American Federation of Labor (AFL) in order to organize unskilled industrial workers regardless of their particular economic sector or craft. It gave a great boost to labor organizing in the midst of the Great Depression and during WWII. In 1955, it merged with the AFL.

Horace Greeley

A New York newspaper editor who ran for president in the election of 1872. He ran under the mantels of both the Liberal Republican and Democratic Parties.

Harry Hopkins

A New York social worker who headed the Federal Emergency Relief Administration and Civil Works Administration. He helped grant over 3 billion dollars to the states wages for work projects, and granted thousands of jobs for jobless Americans.

William Bradford

A Pilgrim leader that was also a self-taught scholar who read Hebrew, Greek, Latin, French, and Dutch. He was chosen governor thirty times in the annual elections. He worried that independent, non-Puritan settlers might corrupt his godly experiment in the wilderness. He lived from 1590-1657.

Vasco da Gama

A Portuguese explorer who became the first to reach India by sea. His discovery of the sea route to India opened up a significant trade route, connecting Asia and Europe.

Arthur H. Vandenberg

A Republican Senator from the U.S. state of Michigan who participated in the creation of the United Nations. He is best known for leading the Republican Party from a foreign policy of isolationism to one of internationalism, and supporting the Cold War, the Truman Doctrine, the Marshall Plan, and NATO. He warned that the top policy makers had to begin "scaring the hell out of the country" if they were serious about the bold new course of containment.

Roger Williams

A Salem minister and extreme Separatist who hounded his fellow clergymen to make a clean break with the corrupt Church of England. He also challenged the legality of the Bay Colony's charter and denied the authority of civil government to regulate religious behavior. In 1635, the Bay Colony authorities found him guilty of disseminating "new & dangerous opinions" and ordered him banished.

Schenck v. United States

A Supreme Court decision that upheld the Espionage and Sedition Acts, reasoning that freedom of speech could be curtailed when it posed a "clear and present danger" to the nation.

Benedict Arnold

A U.S. general and 'traitor' during the American Revolution. In 1780 he planned to surrender West Point to the British, but failed.

William Tecumseh Sherman

A Union general who captured Atlanta in 1864 and the burned the city in that November. His hated "blue bellies" burn buildings and tore up railroads throughout Georgia. He was a practitioner of "total war." After seizing Savannah as a Christmas present for Lincoln, his army veered north to South Carolina, where the destruction was even more vicious.

Frederick Law Olmsted

A United States landscape architect, famous for designing many well-known urban parks, including Central Park and Prospect Park in New York City, the country's oldest coordinated system of public parks and parkways in Buffalo, New York, the Niagara Reservation in Niagara Falls, and the landscape surrounding the United States Capitol building.

Cyrus McCormick

A Virginian who invented the mechanical mower-reaper in the 1830s. He is well-known for his work as an American inventor and for his work to found the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company.

Noah Webster

A Yale-educated Connecticut Yankee who was known as the "Schoolmaster of the Republic". His "reading lessons" used by millions of children in the nineteenth century, were partly designed to promote patriotism. He devoted twenty years to his famous dictionary, published in 1828, which helped to standardize the American language.

Battle of Coral Sea

A battle between Japanese and American naval forces that stopped the Japanese advance on Australia.

Montgomery Bus Boycott

A boycott of city busses led by Dr. Martin L. King after Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat on a city bus. After 11 months, the Supreme Court ruled that segregation of public transportation was illegal

Horace Mann

A brilliant graduate of Brown University and secretary of the Massachusetts Board of Education. He campaigned effectively for more and better schoolhouses, longer school terms, higher pay for teachers, and an expanded curriculum.

Modernism

A broad set of literary and artistic movements, extending through the first half of the twentieth century, in which writers and artists rejected traditional rules and conventions and sought new ways to represent reality. The earliest use of the term, by Cuban writer Rubén Dario, appears to date from the 1890s. Modernists often sought to turn nineteenth-century cultural conventions upside down, for example, by critiquing the idea of European and American "civilization" and "progress," and by celebrating artistic forms that had earlier been scorned as "primitive."

McCarthyism

A campaign against alleged communists in the US government and other institutions carried out under Senator Joseph McCarthy in the period 1950-54. Many of the accused were blacklisted or lost their jobs, although most did not in fact belong to the Communist Party.

Grandfather Clause

A clause in registration laws allowing people who didn't meet registration requirements to vote if they (or their ancestors) had voted before 1867

Buffer colony

A colony that would protect the more valuable Carolinas against Spaniards from Florida, and against the hostile French from Louisiana. For the British, this colony was Georgia.

Credit Mobilier Scandal

A construction company was formed by owners of the Union Pacific Railroad for the purpose of receiving government contracts to build the railroad at highly inflated prices—and profits. In 1872 a scandal erupted when journalists discovered that the Crédit Mobilier Company had bribed congressmen and even the Vice President in order to allow the ruse to continue.

Lord North

A corrupt prime minister who worked with King George III. This nobleman persuaded Parliament to repeal the Townshend Acts.

Samuel Adams

A cousin of John Adams who lived and breathed only for politics. In Massachusetts, he contributed by organizing the local Committees of Correspondence. He formed the first of such in Boston in 1772.

Office of Price Admissions

A critically important wartime agency charged with regulating the consumer economy through rationing scarce supplies, such as automobiles, tires, fuel, nylon, and sugar, and by curbing inflation by setting ceilings on the price of goods. Rents were controlled as well in parts of the country overwhelmed by war workers. The OPA was extended after World War II ended to continue the fight against inflation, but was abolished in 1947. The OPA froze wages and prices and initiated a rationing program for items such as gas, oil, butter, meat, sugar, coffee and shoes in order to support the war effort and prevent inflation.

Proclamation of 1763

A decree issued by Parliament in the wake of Pontiac's uprising, prohibiting settlement beyond the Appalachians. It contributed to rising resentment of British rule in the American colonies.

"Minute Men"

A defensive force formed at Concord who were said to have stood "at a minute's warning in case of alarm". They safeguarded important military supply depots.

Good Neighbor Policy

A departure from the Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine, the Good Neighbor Policy stressed nonintervention in Latin America. It was begun by Herbert Hoover but associated with Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Bering Sea Controversy

A dispute over the hunting of seals in the waters of the Alaska Territory. British sealers were captured in Alaskan territory which set off a debate over the areas that the U.S. regulated sealing; the U.S. extended their claim to sealing in the Bering Sea too. America also asserted its right to regulate sealing as well as protect the seals in the area. The dispute was finally settled by an arbitrator's decision in favor of Britain.

Franklin D. Roosevelt

A distant cousin of a former president, he was a tall and charming man before he caught polio in 1921, and his legs were paralyzed. He wore leg braces in public and rode in a wheelchair in private. He was elected president in 1932, defeating Hoover by a landslide. The Americans blamed the Republicans for the Great Depression, so they were happy to elect a Democrat who promised a "new deal for the forgotten man." He promised a New Deal to American and built his plan around the three R's of Relief, Recovery, and Reform.

Tallmadge Amendment

A failed proposal to prohibit the importation of slaves into Missouri territory and pave the way for gradual emancipation. Southerners vehemently opposed the amendment, which they perceived as a threat to the sectional balance between the North and South.

Black Legend

A false concept held that the conquerors merely tortured and butchered the Indians, stole their gold, infected them with smallpox, and left misery behind. The Spanish invaders did infect, enslave, and kill countless natives, but they also created a colossal empire.

Clarence Darrow

A famed criminal defense lawyer for Scopes, who supported evolution. He caused William Jennings Bryan to appear foolish when Darrow questioned Bryan about the Bible

John Adams

A famous Federalist, who served as Vice President to George Washington in 1789. He took part in the XYZ affair, the Revolution of 1880, and was known for his conflict with the French.

Lincoln Steffens

A famous Muckraker who published "The Shame of the Cities" in McClure's Magazine, which was an article exposing corrupt alliances between corporations and local governments

Big Sister Policy

A foreign policy of Secretary of State James G. Blaine aimed at rallying Latin American nations behind American leadership and opening Latin American markets to Yankee traders. The policy bore fruit in 1889, when Blaine presided over the First International Conference of American States.

Limited Liability

A form of business ownership in which the owners are liable only up to the amount of their individual investments. It assures that a public business can fail without any one person losing all of their money.

Big Stick Policy

A form of hegemony and was the slogan describing U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt's corollary to the Monroe Doctrine. Roosevelt attributed the term to a West African proverb, "Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far," but the claim that it originated in West Africa has been disputed. The idea of negotiating peacefully, simultaneously threatening with the "big stick", or the military.

Trench Warfare

A form of warfare in which opposing armies fight each other from trenches dug in the battlefield. Fighting with trenches, mines, and barbed wire. Horrible living conditions, great slaughter, no gains, stalemate, used in WWI

Manuel Noriega

A former CIA agent, Noriega was the de facto leader of Panama during the '80s until 1992. His government/soldiers continually harassed U.S. soldiers and civilians, drawing American into an armed conflict

Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC)

A government lending agency established under the Hoover administration in order to assist insurance companies, banks, agricultural organizations, railroads, and local governments. It was a precursor to later agencies that grew out of the New Deal and symbolized a recognition by the Republicans that federal action was required to address the Great Depression.

Environmental Protection Agency

A governmental organization signed into law by Richard Nixon in 1970 designed to regulate pollution, emissions, and other factors that negatively influence the natural environment. The creation of the it marked a newfound commitment by the federal government to actively combat environmental risks and was a significant triumph for the environmentalist movement.

Battle of Wounded Knee

A group of white Christian reformist tried to bring Christian beliefs on to the Indians. Fearing the Ghost Dance American troops were called to go with the reformist. While camped outside of an Indian reservation a gun was fired and the troops stormed the reservation killing Indian men women and children.

John Wilkes Booth

A half-crazed, fanatically pro-Southern actor who slipped behind Lincoln as he sat in his box seat at Ford's Theater in Washington and shot him in the head. He escaped with a broken ankle, eventually killing himself in a barn in Virginia.

Sinclair Lewis

A heavy-drinking journalist who wrote Main Street and Babbitt, belittled small-town America, and was the chief chronicler of Midwestern life. He was also a master satire

Buchenwald

A large concentration camp established in 1937 by the Nazis. It was located in north-central Germany, near the city of Weimar.

March on Washington

A large political rally that took place in Washington, D.C. on August 28, 1963. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his historic "I Have a Dream" speech advocating racial harmony at the Lincoln Memorial during the march. widely credited as helping lead to the Civil Rights Act (1964) and the National Voting Rights Act (1965). 80% of the marchers were black.

Espionage Act

A law prohibitng interference with the draft and other acts of national "disloyalty." Together with the Sedition Act of 1918, which added penalties for abusing the government in writing, it created a climate that was unfriendly to civil liberties.

Cotton gin

A machine for picking cotton that was fifty times more effective than the handpicking process. This machine, made by Eli Whitney in 1793, made the cultivation of cotton much more profitable. It helped revitalize the Southern economy and placed an emphasis on slavery in the South.

Pinckney Treaty (1795)

A major diplomatic success for the United States in 1795 with Spain. It gave the U.S. the right to transport goods on the Mississippi River, and store goods in the Spanish port of New Orleans. As a result, it also strengthened the bond between the U.S. and Spain, and re-established the boundaries of the U.S. and Spanish colonies.

John D. Rockefeller

A man who started from meager beginnings and eventually created an oil empire. In Ohio during 1870, he organized the Standard Oil Company. By 1877 he controlled 95% of all the refineries in the United States. It achieved important economies both home and abroad by its large scale methods of production and distribution. He also organized the trust and started the Horizontal Merger

Nativism

A movement based on hostility to immigrants, which was motivated by ethnic tensions and religious bias. It considered immigrants as despots overthrowing the American republic, and feared anti-Catholic riots and competition from low-paid immigrant workers.

Pan-Americanism

A movement in the U.S. to associate with other countries in the Americas of the western hemisphere. It encouraged U.S. involvement in other countries with military agreements, trade agreements, and other cooperation. This movement became increasingly important in the late 1800s and the early 1900s when the U.S. began to involved with international agreements.

Social Gospel

A movement in the late 1800s / early 1900s which emphasized charity and social responsibility as a means of salvation, taught religion and human dignity would help the middle class overcome problems of industrialization

Apollo 11

A multibillion dollar project to land an American on the moon, promoted by JFK; this was achieved in 1969

Know Nothing Party

A name derived from its secretiveness, this party was a formidable American party developed by the Order of the Star-Spangled Banner in 1849. It was a major political force from 1854-1855, with an objective to extend a period of naturalization, undercut immigrant voting strengths, and keep aliens in their place.

American Federation of Labor

A national federation of trade unions that included only skilled workers, founded in 1886. Led by Samuel Gompers for nearly four decades, the American Federation of Labor went south to negotiate with employers for a better kind of capitalism that rewarded workers fairly with better wages, hours, and conditions. The American Federation of Labor's membership was almost entirely white and male until the middle of the twentieth century.

Pueblos

A native group of North America, these people were cruelly abused by the Spanish. In Popé's Rebellion in 1680, these people stood up against the Spanish, destroying Catholic churches and killing Catholic priests and Spanish settlers.

John Peter Zenger

A newspaper printer who critiqued the policies of the corrupt royal governor of New York in the 1700's. He was charged with seditious libel, although later when standing trial he was found not guilty. This court case was the basis for the freedom of speech and press.

Hessians

A nickname coined by American colonists for the European mercenaries that the British hired to fight on their side. This was due to the fact that many of these mercenaries came from the German principality of Hesse.

Doughboys

A nickname for the inexperienced but fresh American soldiers during WWI. These recruits were supposed to receive 6 months of training in America and 2 more overseas, but the urgency was so great that many of these boys were swept swiftly into battle scarcely knowing how to handle a rifle.

Tuskegee Institute

A normal and industrial school led by Booker T. Washington in Tuskegee, Alabama. It focused on training young black students in agriculture and the trades to help them achieve economic independence. Washington justified segregated, vocational training as a necessary first step on the road to racial equality, although critics accused him of being too "accommodationist".

Harriet Beecher Stowe

A novelist, she was the author of "Uncle Tom's Cabin", about a slave who is treated badly, in 1852. The novel persuaded people, particularly northerners, to become anti-slavery, and helped bring about the Civil War. It also helped to crystallize the rift between the North and South, and has been called the greatest American propaganda novel ever written. A legend claims that when she visited President Lincoln in 1862, he greeted her with, "So is this the little lady who made this big war?"

John Trumbull

A painter from Connecticut known for his historical paintings particularly during the Revolutionary War. In childhood he was discouraged for his artistic affinity, however later he was able to travel to London to pursue his ambitions.

H.L. Mencken

A patron to many to writers in the 1920's. He criticized many subjects like the middle class, democracy, marriage and patriotism in his monthly American Mercury. "Bad Boys of Baltimore"

Peace of Paris

A peace treaty signed in 1783 by Britain and the United States ending the Revolutionary War. The British formally recognized American independence and ceded territory east of the Mississippi while the Americans, in turn, promised to restore Loyalist property and repay debts to British creditors.

Open Door/Notes Policy

A policy proposed by the US in 1899. Under this, ALL nations would have equal opportunities to trade in China.

Tammany Hall

A political machine, based in New York, that sought to attract the city's immigrants who depended on their social services. In particular this powerful political machine drew support from the Irish.

Jesse H. Jones

A politician and entrepreneur from Houston. He served as United States Secretary of Commerce from 1940 to 1945. His most important role was to head the Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC), (1932-45), a federal agency originally created by Herbert Hoover that played a major role in combating the Great Depression and financing industrial expansion in World War II. He was in charge of spending $50 billion, especially in financing railways and building munitions factories.

"Favorite son"

A politician whose electoral appeal derives from his or her native state, rather than his or her political views. A state delegation sometimes nominates and votes for a candidate from the state, or less often from the state's region, who is not a viable candidate. The technique allows state leaders to negotiate with leading candidates in exchange for the delegation's support.

John Muir

A rather eccentric man who is notable for his push for conservatism on a national level. He was a Scottish-born American naturalist, author, and early advocate of preservation of wilderness in the United States. His letters, essays, and books telling of his adventures in nature, especially the Sierra Nevada Mountains of CA, have been read by millions. His activist helped to save the Yosemite Valley, Sequoia National Park and other wilderness areas

Executive Order 8802

A regulation issued by President Truman in 1948 that stated that in the armed forces, everyone was to be treated equally in treatment and in opportunity no matter the race, religion, or nationality of the person. Before this document was established, there was much discrimination in the armed forces. For example, from the Civil war to the end of World War II, African Americans who wanted to work for the armed forces were segregated from whites. Therefore, they were not able to train or fight in the same areas as whites. Eventually by World War II the segregation started to die down because people had pointed out the hypocrisy of a segregated military fighting against racism in Nazi Germany. Thus, this document was created. Since the Korean War, the armed forces have no longer been segregated.

Second Great Awakening

A religious revival characterized by emotional mass "camp meetings" and widespread conversion. It brought about a democratization of religion as a multiplicity of denominations vied for members.

Joseph Smith

A rugged visionary, proud of his prowess at wrestling, who reported that he had received golden plates from an angel. After establishing his religious oligarchy, he ran into opposition from his non-Mormon neighbors. Reputed for having many wives, he and his brother were murdered and mangled by a mob in Carthage, Illinois.

Mark Twain

A satirist and writer, Twain is best known for his books The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884). His work critiqued American politics and society, especially the racial and economic injustice that he saw in the South and West. Twain traveled abroad extensively and his work was read and loved around the world.

Watergate

A scandal in Washington revolving around Richard Nixon. The members of an association to have Nixon re-elected, CREEP, were involved in a burglary, which was then linked to Kennedy. CREEP had also suspiciously received a large amount of money from unidentifiable places. Nixon was then accused of receiving illegal help in his re-election. He then tried to use the government to help him cover up his crime. Impeachment proceedings were beginning but Nixon resigned in August 1974

Kellogg Briand Pact

A sentimental triumph of the 1920s peace movement. This 1928 pact linked two sixty-two nations in the supposed "outlawry of war"

Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania

A series of papers written by John Dickinson, stated Parliament could not use power to raise revenue for itself in the colonies, but could regulate colonial trade. Because of this colonists felt they could 'approve' of Parliament's laws of trade (didn't work).

Panic of 1819

A severe financial crisis brought on primarily by the efforts of the Bank of the United States to curb overspeculation on Western lands. It disproportionately affected the poorer classes, especially in the West, sowing the seeds of Jacksonian Democracy. It is often mentioned as the end of the Era of Good Feelings.

Confederation

A significant stepping stone toward the present constitution. It clearly outlined the general powers that were to be exercised by the central government, such as making treaties and establishing a postal service.

Paul Revere

A silversmith and patriot who alerted the colonists that the British were coming before the Battle of Lexington and Concord. He spread the word by riding a horse at midnight.

Battle of Iwo Jima

A six-week battle on the island of Iwo Jima where several thousand American marines defeated 20,000 Japanese. This was a pivotal point in the war because the island was necessary for closer bases. The Americans captured the island in June 1945 but suffered heavy damages from the "kamikaze" Japanese pilots.

London Economic Conference

A sixty-nation economic conference organized to stabilize international currency rates. Franklin Roosevelt's decision to revoke American participation contributed to a deepening world economic crisis.

Beat Generation

A small coterie of mid-twentieth-century bohemian writers and personalities. This included Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, and William S. Burroughs, who bemoaned bourgeois conformity and advocated free-form experimentation in life and literature.

Jacob S. Coxey

A socialist American politician who ran for elective office several times in Ohio. He supported and helped establish paper. He also led protests of unemployment from the Panic of 1893.

Poll Tax

A special fee that must be paid before a person could vote. Thi was used to deny African Americans in the South the right to vote.

The Armistice

A state of temporary peace agreed between Germany and the Allied Forces so that peace terms can be discussed.

Homestead Strike (1892)

A steelworker strike near Pittsburg against the Carnegie Steel Company. Ten workers were killed in a riot when "scab" labor was brought in to force an end to the strike

Bernard Baruch

A stock speculator who was appointed to head the War Industries Board under President Wilson, Baruch went on to participate in the "Brain Trust" under Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal administration. During World War II, he repeated his service as an economic adviser, advocating price controls and rent ceilings.

Proposition 13

A successful California state ballot initiative that capped the state's real estate tax at 1 percent of assessed value. The proposition radically reduced average property tax levels, decreasing revenue for the state government and signaling the political power of the "tax revolt," increasingly aligned with conservative politics.

Cuban Revolution

A successful communist revolt in Cuba, lead by Castro, that overthrew President Batista in 1959. The ruler that replaced him was Fidel Castro.

Attack on Pearl Harbor

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

Tweed Ring

A symbol of Gilded Age corruption, "Boss" Tweed and his deputies ran the New York City Democratic party in the 1860s and swindled $200 million from the city through bribery, graft, and vote-buying. "Boss" Tweed was eventually jailed for his crimes and died behind bars.

Teapot Dome Scandal

A tawdry affair involving the illegal lease of priceless naval oil reserves in Teapot Dome, Wyoming and Elk Hills, California. This scandal, which implicated President Harding's Secretary of the Interior, was one of several that gave his administration a reputation for corruption.

"Brain Trust"

A term for a group of close advisors to a political candidate or incumbent, prized for their expertise in particular fields. The term is most associated with the group of advisors to Franklin Roosevelt during his presidential administration. Group of advisers to Franklin Roosevelt in his 1932 presidential campaign. Its principal members were the Columbia University professors Raymond Moley, Rexford Tugwell, and Adolf A. Berle, Jr. (1895 - 1971). They presented Roosevelt with analyses of national social and economic problems and helped him devise public-policy solutions. The group did not meet after Roosevelt became president, but members served in government posts.

Gilded Age

A term given to the post-Civil War period of 1865 to 1896. This title was sarcastically given by author Mark Twain; it indicated both the fabulous wealth and widespread corruption of the era.

Fourth Party System

A term scholars have used to describe national politics from 1896-1932, when Republicans had a tight grip on the White House and issues like industrial regulation and labor concerns became paramount, replacing older concerns like civil service reform and monetary policy.

Alexander Hamilton

A thirty-one year old charismatic New Yorker who saved the Annapolis Convention from complete failure by engineering the adoption of his report which called upon congress to summon a convention to meet in Philadelphia to bolster the entirety of the Articles of Confederation. He hoped to extend the powers of the government in order to create institutions that could strengthen the new country. As secretary of treasury, his genius was unquestioned, but critics claimed he loved his adopted country more than his countrymen.

Thomas Jefferson

A thirty-three year old Virginian lawyer who Congress appointed to draft a formal statement of Separation. By this point in his life, he was already recognized as a brilliant writer. On July 4, 1776 the Declaration of Independence was approved by Congress. In this statement, he described how the colonists weren't just entitled to British rights but universal "natural rights" of humankind.

Triangular Trade

A three way system of trade during 1600-1800s Africa sent slaves to America, America sent raw materials to Europe, and Europe sent guns and rum to Africa. This was a small, but immensely profitable subset of the Atlantic trade.

Florence Kelley

A tireless crusader for women's and labor rights, she was Illinois's first chief factory inspector and a leader of the National Consumers League, an organization dedicated to improving working conditions for women and children. She also went on to help found the NAACP.

Elias Howe

A twenty-six year old apprentice to a Boston watchmaker. In 1845, he invented a sewing machine that could make 250 stitches per minute, five times what the swiftest hand-sewer could do. He received a patent for his invention, but because the hand-cranked machine could only stitch straight seams for a short distance, it had limited commercial appeal.

Maysville Road veto

A veto by Jackson that prevented the Maysville road from being funded by federal money since it only benefited Kentucky. This was a blow to Clay's American System, and it irritated the West.

Yalta Conference

A wartime conference held at Yalta, USSR, that was attended by FDR, Churchill, Stalin. It agreed on the unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany and its occupation, status of Poland , citizens of the Soviet Union and of Yugoslavia were to be handed over to their respective countries, regardless of their consent, the United Nations once it was agreed that each of the five permanent members of the Security Council would have veto power, and Stalin's entry against Japan

nation-states

A way of organizing large populations in the Aztec Empire. This was not used in North America outside of Mexico at the time of the Europeans' arrival, which is why European colonizers were able to conquer the native North Americans

Headright system

A way to attract immigrants; gave 50 acres of land to anyone who paid their way and/or any plantation owner that paid an immigrant's way. It was employed in the tobacco colonies to encourage the importation of indentured servants.

Margaret Sanger

A woman famous for her birth-control movement

Schechter Poultry Corp v. US

A.L.A. Schechter Poultry Corp. v. United States, (1935), was a decision by the Supreme Court of the United States that invalidated regulations of the poultry industry according to the nondelegation doctrine and as an invalid use of Congress's power under the commerce clause. This was a unanimous decision that rendered the National Industrial Recovery Act unconstitutional, a main component of President Roosevelt's New Deal.

American Anti-Slavery Society

Abolitionist society founded by William Lloyd Garrison, who advocated the immediate abolition of slavery. By 1838, the organization had more than 250,000 members across 1,350 chapters.

Yamasee Indians

About 4 years after the Tuscarora War, these Indians were defeated and dispersed by the South Carolinians. Because of this, all the coastal Indian tribes in the southern colonies had been devastated by about 1720.

Gadsden Purchase (1853)

Acquired additional land from Mexico for $10 million to facilitate the construction of a southern transcontinental railroad.The treated established the transaction, in which the United States bought from Mexico parts (present southern Arizona and southern New Mexico). Southerners wanted this new acquired land to build a southern transcontinental railroad. The topic initiated a heated debate in the Senate, displaying the prevalence of sectional disagreement.

Teller Amendment

Act of Congress in 1898 that stated that when the United States had rid Cuba of Spanish rule, Cuba would be granted its freedom. It prevented Cuba from turning hostile towards the U.S., as well as gaining a somewhat kind of "smile" from Europe.

Impressment

Act of forcibly drafting an individual into military service, employed by the British navy against American seamen in times of war against France, 1793-1815. This was a continental source of conflict between Britain and the United States in the early national period.

Economy Act

Act passed that gave FDR the power to cut government workers' salaries and reduce payments to military veterans for non-service-connected disabilities as well as having the ability to reorganize federal agencies in the interest of reducing expenses. This expanded the role of the presidency more than any other act prior to it.

McCarran Internal Security Bill

Act requiring all communist organizations to register with the government and publish their records. Truman vetoed this bill but Congress overrode it.

16th Amendment

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

Joseph Hooker

After "Burnside's Slaughter Pen," Burnside yielded his command to this aggressive officer. Temporarily dazed by a near-hit cannonball, he was badly beaten by Lee, but not crushed.

Battle of Trenton

After General Washington and his troops crossed the Delaware River, they made their way to ___. On December 26, 1776, they surprised and captured a thousand Hessians who were caught off guard, as they had just concluded their Christmas celebration.

Battle of the Bulge

After recapturing France, the Allied advance became stalled along the German border. In the winter of 1944, Germany staged a massive counterattack in belgium and Luxembourg which pushed a 30 mile 'bulge' into the Allied lines. The Allies stopped the German advance and threw them back across the Rhine with heavy losses.

Webster-Ashburton Treaty

After the Aroostook War began over the border of Maine, Canadian and American ambassadors negotiated this treaty to settle the border dispute. Named after Daniel Webster and Lord Alexander Ashburton, who led the discussions, this treaty split the disputed area of Maine and gave Americans the iron-rich Mesabi range in Minnesota, as it settled the boundary dispute in the Great Lakes region.

William III

After the Glorious (or Bloodless) Revolution, the people of Old England dethroned the Catholic James II and enthroned him. He relaxed control over the American colonies, inaugurating a period of "salutary neglect" that lasted until the French and Indian War.

Battle of Guadalcanal

After the battle at Midway, American troops began moving in on Guadalcanal. After several desperate sea battles for naval control, the Japanese finally retreated.

Halfway Covenant

Agreement allowing unconverted offspring of church members to baptize their children. It signified a warning of religious zeal among second and third generation Puritans.

Nine Power Treaty

Agreement coming out of the Washington "Disarmament" conference of 1921-1922 that pledged Britain, France, Italy, Japan, the United States, China, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Belgium to abide by the Open Door Policy in China. The Five-Power Naval Treaty to preserve the status quo in the Pacific also came out of the conference.

Macon's Bill No. 2

Aimed at resuming peaceful trade with Britain and France, this stipulated that if either Britain or France repealed its trade restrictions, the United States would reinstate the embargo against the non repealing nation. When Napoleon offered to lift his restrictions on British ports, the United States was forced to declare embargo with Britain, pushing the two nations closer to war.

Sarah Palin

Alaskan governor chosen as McCain's running mate in 2008 to appease socially conservative Republicans; she frequently appeared unprepared or uneducated on key national and international issues and policies; became the fodder for many comedic acts and impersonators the most famous was done by Tina Fay

Triple Alliance

Alliance between Germany, Hungary-Austria, and Italy.

Triple Entente

Alliance between Russia, Britain, and France

General George Patton

Allied Commander of the Third Army and was instrumental in winning the Battle of the Bulge. He is considered one of the best military commanders in American history

Potsdam Conference

Allied leaders Truman, Stalin and Churchill met in Germany to set up zones of control and to inform the Japanese that if they refused to surrender at once, they would face total destruction

Ballinger-Pinchot Controversy

Also known as the "Ballinger Affair", this was a dispute between U.S. Forest Service Chief, Gifford Pinchot, and U.S. Secretary of the Interior, Richard A. Ballinger. Pinchot criticized Ballinger for opening public lands in WY, MT, and AL; however, when Taft dismissed Pinchot due to insubordination, protest arose from conservationists and Roosevelt supporters.This dispute contributed to the split of the Republican Party before the 1912 presidential election and helped to define the U.S. conservation movement in the early 20th century.

Civil Rights Act of 1968

Also known as the "Open/Fair Housing Act", which prohibited the discrimination of the sale or rental of private housing; passed by Johnson

Seminole Wars

Also known as the Florida Wars, these were three conflicts in Florida between the Seminole and the United States Army. Taken together, these were the longest and most expensive Indian Wars in both human and monetary terms in United States history. They occurred from 1816 to 1858.

Prison reform: Auburn system

Also known as the New York System, this is a penal method of the nineteenth century. In this system, persons worked during the day in groups and were kept in solitary confinement at night, with enforced silence at all times.

Lone Star Republic

Also known as the Republic of Texas, this was an independent, sovereign country that existed in North America for almost a decade. After the Texas Revolution in 1863, this territory was somewhat freed from control by Mexico. Later, this republic would seek admission into the U.S. as a new state, eventually being admitted in 1845.

Wilson-Gorham Tariff (1894)

Also known as the Revenue Act, this piece of legislation passed in 1894 slightly reduced the U.S. tariff rates from those imposed by the McKinley Tariff. It also established a 2% federal income tax; thus, wealthier Americans did not like it whatsoever. It effectively was the cornerstone of the Democrat's economic recovery policy. Unfortunately, it only led economic matters to get worse in the U.S., as domestic businesses took a hit due to cheap importation of goods from overseas.

Containment Doctrine

America's strategy against the Soviet Union based on ideas of George Kennan. The doctrine declared that the Soviet Union and communism were inherently expansionist and had to be stopped from spreading through both military and political pressure. Containment guided American foreign policy throughout most of the Cold War.

Ngo Dinh Diem

American ally in South Vietnam from 1954 to 1963; his repressive regime caused the Communist Viet Cong to thrive in the South and required increasing American military aid to stop a Communist takeover. He was killed in a coup in 1963.

Hudson River School

American artistic movement that produced romantic renditions of local landscapes. The aesthetic vision of these painters was heavily influenced by romanticism.

Francis Scott Key

American author and lawyer who composed the "Star Spangled Banner", which is now the national anthem. He wrote the song while he was observing the bombardment of Fort McHenry from the deck of a British ship where he was detained.

Nicholas P. Trist

American diplomat who negotiated the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848. The result of his diplomatic success was the ending of the Mexican-American War and acquiring a vast secession of territory from Mexico.

Walter Reed

American doctor who led the medical efforts to conquer yellow fever. This was during U. S. occupation of Cuba.

Oliver Hazard Perry

American naval officer whose decisive victory over a British fleet on Lake Erie during the War of 1812 reinvigorated American morale. His victory also paved the way for General William Henry Harrison's victory at the Battle of the Thames in 1813.

Barry Goldwater

American politician and businessman who was a five-term U.S. Senator from Arizona and the Republican Party's nominee for president in the 1964 election. Although he lost the election by a landslide, he is the politician most credited for sparking the resurgence of the American conservative political movement in the 1960s; he also impacted the libertarian movement.

John Foster Dulles

American politician principally known for serving as Eisenhower's Secretary of State. An ardent Cold Warrior, he drafted the "policy of boldness" designed to confront Soviet aggression with threat of "massive retaliation" via thermonuclear weapons, and supported American intervention in Vietnam.

James G. Blaine

American statesman who served in the House thirteen years (1863-1876), followed by a little over four years in the Senate (1876-1881). He served as Speaker of the House from 1869 to 1875. As Secretary of State under James A. Garfield and Chester A. Arthur, Blaine advocated a "Big Sister" policy of United States domination in Latin America.

American Relief and Recovery Act

Among the earliest initiatives of the Obama Administration to combat the Great Recession. It was based on the economic theories of John Maynard Keynes that called for increased government spending to offset decreased private spending in times of economic downturn. The Act was controversial from the outset, passing with no Republican votes in the House, and only three in the Senate, and helping to foster the "Tea Party" movement to curb government deficits, even while critics on the Left argued that the Act's $787 billion appropriation was not enough to turn the economy around.

Spanish Armada

An "Invincible Armada" of ships aiming to destroy the English, but was defeated. A devastating storm arose, scattering the crippled spanish fleet. This marked the beginning of the end of Spanish Imperial dreams, though Spain's New World empire would not fuller collapse for three more centuries

Richard Henry Lee

An American statesman from Virginia who believed that "these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free independent states". He presented this idea to the Congress on June 7, 1776. This later became a motion on July 2, 1776 leading to the formal statement of separation, known as the Declaration of Independence, which was penned by Thomas Jefferson and approved on July 4, 1776.

Federal Reserve Act

An act establishing twelve regional Federal Reserve Banks and a Federal Reserve Board, appointed by the president, to regulate banking and create stability on a national scale in the volatile banking sector. The law carried the nation through the financial crises of the First World War of 1914-1918

Emergency Banking Act

An act of the United States Congress spearheaded by President Franklin D. Roosevelt during the Great Depression. It was passed on March 9, 1933. The act allowed a plan that would close down insolvent banks and reorganize and reopen those banks strong enough to survive. This act allows only Federal Reserve-approved banks to operate in the United States of America.

Gold Standard Act

An act that guaranteed that paper currency would be redeemed freely in gold. This put an end to the already dying "free silver" campaign.

Robert Fulton

An ambitious painter-engineer who installed a powerful steam engine in a vessel that became known as the Clermont. He was also commissioned by Napoleon Bonaparte, in the year 1800, to design the Nautilus, the first practical submarine in history.

Dawes Plan

An arrangement negotiated in 1924 to reschedule German reparations payments. It stabilized the German currency and opened the way for further American private loans to Germany.

Helen Hunt Jackson

An author who wrote A Century of Dishonor which chronicled the government's actions against the Indians. She also wrote Romona, which was a love story about Indians. Her writing helped inspire a sympathy towards the Indians.

Samuel Slater

An early English-American industrialist known as the "Father of the Factory System." He was a British mechanic who escaped to America in disguise where he reconstructed the first efficient American machinery for spinning cotton thread.

Frederick W. Taylor

An engineer, inventor, and tennis player who sought to eliminate wasted motion. He is famous for his scientific management, especially time-management studies

Phillis Wheatley

An enslaved girl who was sold to a family in Boston. Although never formally educated she went on to publish poetry at 20 yrs. old when taken to England.

Andrew Carnegie

An entrepreneur who succeeded in industries ranging from telegraphy, railroading, bridge building, iron-and steel making and investments. He was recognized out of other business minds as a thinker who fashioned and publicized a philosophy for big business, a conservative rationale that became deeply implanted in the conventional wisdom of some Americans.

Ku Klux Klan

An extremist, paramilitary, right-wing secret society founded in the mid-nineteenth century and revived during the 1920s. It was anti-foreign, anti-black, anti-Jewish, anti-pacifist, anti-Communist, anti-internationalist, anti-evolutionist, and anti-bootlegger, but pro-Anglo-Saxon and pro-Protestant. Its members, cloaked in sheets to conceal their identities, terrorized freedmen and sympathetic whites throughout the South after the Civil War. By the 1890s, Klan-style violence and Democratic legislation succeeded in virtually disenfranchising all Southern blacks.

FDR's Quarantine Speech

An important speech delivered by Franklin Roosevelt in which he called for "positive endeavors" to "quarantine" land-hungry dictators, presumably through economic embargoes. The speech flew in the face of isolationist politicians.

Federal Security Agency

An independent agency of the United States government established in 1939 pursuant to the "Reorganization Act of 1939." For a time the agency administered the Social Security old-age pension plan, oversaw food and drug safety, administered public health programs, and federal education funding. Included in the FSA was the Social Security Board, the U.S. Public Health Service, Food and Drug Administration, the Civilian Conservation Corps, the Office of Education (later the United States Department of Education), the National Youth Administration and a number of other agencies.

William H. McGuffey

An influential Ohioan teacher-preacher of rare power. His grade-school readers, first published in the 1830s sold 122 million copies in the following decades. His readers hammered home lasting lessons in morality, patriotism, and idealism.

Anne Hutchinson

An intelligent, strong-willed, and talkative woman who was mother to fourteen children. She carried to logical extremes the Puritan doctrine of predestination. She claimed that a holy life was no sure sign of salvation and that the truly saved need not bother to obey the law of either God or man. She was brought to trial in 1638 for heresy, and she and her family were banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

OPEC

An international organization formed in 1960 of 12 oil-producing nations that attempts to influence global prices and supplies of oil. The members are Algeria, Gabon, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Venezuela.

Boxer Rebellion

An uprising in China directed against foreign influence. It was suppressed by an international force of some eighteen thousand soldiers, including several thousand Americans. This paved the way for the revolution of 1911, which led to the establishment of the Republic of China in 1912.

Arabic

Another British liner that was sunk by the German submarine force. After this ship sunk, Berlin finally promised not to sink any other unarmed passenger ships without warning.

Juan Ponce de Leon

Another ambitious Spaniard who explored Florida in 1513 and 1521, which at first thought was an island. Seeking gold--and probably not the mythical "fountain of youth"--he instead met with death by an Indian arrow.

Contras

Anti-Sandinista fighters in the Nicaraguan civil war. The Contras were secretly supplied with American military aid, paid for with money the United States clandestinely made selling arms to Iran.

Free Soil Party

Anti-slavery party who nominated candidates in the 1848 and 1852 elections. Members of this party strongly opposed the extension of slavery into the territories, arguing that the presence of slavery would limit opportunities for free laborers.

The Liberator

Antislavery newspaper published by William Lloyd Garrison, who called for the immediate emancipation of all slaves. It was first published in Boston in 1831 and ultimately gained recognition for advocating "immediate and complete emancipation of all slaves".

The Impending Crisis of the South

Antislavery tract, written by white Southerner Hinton R. Helper, arguing that non slaveholding whites actually suffered most in a slave economy. The book went largely unnoticed by his target audience, poorer whites. However the bold nature of his statement made the Southern elite afraid of what the non slaveholding majority might do. As a result the book was banned in the South and burned.

Unicameral legislature

Any body of government consisting of one legislative or parliamentary chamber. Under the Articles of Confederation, the United States had such a legislative system.

Bicameral legislature

Any body of government that consists of two legislative branches, and sometimes, two parliamentary chambers. The United States Congress is a good example of such a system, as it consists of the Senate and House of Representatives.

Stamp Act Congress

Assembly of delegates from nine colonies who met in 1765 in New York City to draft a petition for the repeal of the Stamp Act. This helped ease sectional suspicions and promote intercolonial unity.

Florence Kelley

As a lifelong battle for the welfare of women, children, blacks, and consumers, this woman led the women of Hull House to successfully lobby in 1893 for an Illinois anti-sweatshop law that protected women workers and prohibited child labor. She later moved to the Henry Street Settlement in New York and served for three decades as general secretary of the National Consumers League

Booker T. Washington

As head of the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, Washington advocated for vocational education for African-Americans so that they could gain economic security. Believing that southern whites were not yet ready for social equality, he instead concentrated on gaining economic power for blacks without directly challenging the southern racial order.

Safety Valve Theory

As the population of United States began to increase there had always been a way to release pressure, population wise. The West has always acted as a safety-valve; however, by 1890 this was gone, as there was no more American frontier.

Sirhan Sirhan

Assassinated Robert Kennedy in 1968; he was a young Palestinian who was apparently enraged by Kennedy's pro- Israeli policy. He shot Robert in the head amongst a crowd.

A. Mitchell Palmer

Attorney General in 1920s; earned the title of the "fighting Quaker" by his excess of zeal in rounding up suspects of Red Scare; ultimately totaled about six thousand; This drive to root out radicals was redoubled in June 1919, when a bomb shattered his home.

F. Scott Fitzgerald

Author of The Great Gatsby and This Side of Paradise, both of which appealed to young readers

Ernest Hemingway

Author of The Sun Also Rises and A Farewell to Arms, which exemplified the "Lost Generation" of WWI

Hinton R. Helper

Author of a book entitled 'Impending Crisis of the South' that stirred trouble. He attempted to prove that indirectly the non-slaveholding whites were the ones who suffered the most from slavery. The book was banned in the South but countless copies were distributed as campaign material for republicans.

Harriet Beecher Stowe

Author of the abolitionist book, which helped to crystallize the rift between the North and South. Her book was called the greatest American propaganda novel ever written, and helped bring about the Civil War. When she visited President Lincoln in 1862, there is a legend that he said: "So this is the little lady who made this big war?"

Gospel of Wealth

Based off the testimonies of Rockefeller and Carnegie, the "Gospel of Wealth" was the belief that success came from divine intervention. Although it was a popular belief for a short time, Social Darwinism eclipsed it very rapidly.

Great Marianas Turkey Shoot

Battle of the Philippine Sea where the Japanese lost 600 aircraft and 3 aircraft carriers. This meant that the Japanese didn't have much left. Spurance was criticized for not being aggressive enough because there were four more Japanese aircraft carriers that didn't get destroyed.

Richard Onely

Belligerent U.S. secretary of state who used the Monroe Doctrine to pressure Britain in the Venezuelan boundary crisis. As attorney general, Olney used injunctions against striking workers in the Pullman strike, setting a precedent, and advised the use of federal troops, when legal means failed to control the strikers.

Battle of Lake Champlain

Better known as the Battle of Plattsburg, this battle in the War of 1812 took place on Lake Champlain in New York on September 11, 1814. This American victory, under Thomas Macdonough, helped lead to the conclusion of peace negotiations between Britain and United States in Ghent, Belgium, later that year. This battle marked the final invasion of the northern United States during the war.

Washington Irving

Born 1783 in the city of New York, this American author was one of the first to garner international attention as a prominent literary figure. He initially gained recognition both in his native home and abroad when he published The Sketch Book in 1819-1820. But for his most famous novels, Rip Van Winkle and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, it was his English/American themes as well as pleasing style, delicate charm, and quiet humor that won over large audiences.

James Wolfe

Born into a military family, he joined the army at fourteen, and fought in his first battle at sixteen. At the age of thirty, in 1758, he was assigned Quebec, the most secure French position in North America. Fighting as a colonel in the British army, he led a successful attack against Quebec in 1759 which ended the French and Indian War.

Colonial charter

British colonial charters guaranteed inhabitants all the rights of Englishmen. This helped solidify colonists' ties to Britain during the early years of settlement. The Virginia Company received one of these documents in regards to the settlement at Jamestown.

Molasses Act

British legislation taxed all molasses, rum, and sugar the colonies imported from countries other than Britain and her colonies. The act angered the New England colonies, which imported a lot of molasses from the Caribbean as part of the Triangular Trade. The British had difficulty enforcing the tax; most colonial merchants did not pay it.

Thomas Hutchinson

British official and governor of Boston who went against colonial law and ordered cargo of tea to be unloaded in Boston. His house was pillaged and burned by the colonists.

Margaret Thatcher

British prime minister of the 1980's whose support of free-market economics and tough anti communism made her Ronald Reagan's closest partner.

Bay of Pigs invasion

CIA plot in 1961 to overthrow Fidel Castro by training Cuban exiles to invade and supporting them with American air power. The mission failed and became a public relations disaster early in John F. Kennedy's presidency.

U.S. v. Darby

Case in which the United States Supreme Court upheld the labor provision of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, holding that the U.S. Congress had the power under the Commerce Clause to regulate employment conditions. The unanimous decision of the Court in this case overturned Hammer v. Dagenhart (1918), limited the application of Carter v. Carter Coal Company (1936), and confirmed the underlying legality of minimum wages held in West Coast Hotel Co. v. Parrish (1937).

Sarajevo

City in Bosnia where the Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the heir to the throne of the Austrian Empire, was assassinated alongside his wife. This location is important because it was ultimately the spark needed to incite the war that had been looming in Europe.

Ex parte Milligan

Civil War Era case in which the Supreme Court ruled that military tribunals could not be used to try civilians if civil courts were open. This decision overruled Lincoln's utilization of martial law in the Milligan case.

"Bleeding Kansas"

Civil war in Kansas over the issue of slavery in the territory, fought intermittently until 1861.This series of violent political confrontations over the issue of slavery merged with the wider national Civil War.

Albert Gore

Clinton's vice president and a candidate for the 2000 presidential election. His running caused one of the closest elections in history and a fiasco with the voting system

Manhattan Project

Code name for the U.S> effort during WWII to produce the atomic bomb. Scientists like Albert Einstein had been pushing for this discovery and the government funded it with $2 billion.

Proprietary colonies

Colonies under the control of local proprietors, who appointed colonial governors. These colonies included Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Delaware.

Royal colonies

Colonies where governors were appointed directly by the King. Though often competent administrators, the governors frequently ran into trouble with colonial legislatures, which resented the imposition of control from across the Atlantic.

Charles II

Colonists fell into disfavor with this person as a result of having sheltered two of the judges who condemned his father, Charles I to death. When he was restored to the English throne in 1660, the royalists and their Church of England allies were once more firmly in the saddle. He was determined to take an active, aggressive hand in managing the colonies. His plans ran headlong against the habits of decades of relative independence had bred in the colonists. In 1662, He gave Connecticut, a rival of Massachusetts, a sea-to-sea charter grant, which legalized the squatter settlements.

Admiral Chester Nimitz

Commander of the U.S. naval forces in the Pacific and brilliant strategist of the "island hopping" campaign.

John Locke

Commonly known as the "Father of Liberalism", he was an influential Enlightenment thinker. He was considered one of the first and most important empiricists; he developed the prevailing empiricist theory which would later be rejected by transcendentalists.

Transcontinental railroads

Completed in 1869 at Promontory, Utah, it linked the eastern railroad system with California's railroad system, revolutionizing transportation in the west, A railroad that stretches across a continent from coast to coast. The Transcontinental Railroad made it so that it was easier to for mail and goods to travel faster and cheaper. It took land away from Native Americans and many were killed in the early stages.

Chesapeake affair

Conflict between Britain and the United States that precipitated the 1807 embargo. The conflict developed when a British ship, in search of deserters, fired on the American Chesapeake off the coast of Virginia.

Constitutional Convention

Congress issued a call for this "for the sole and express purpose of revising" the Articles of Confederation. All states chose representatives with the exception of Rhode Island, fearing they would be underrepresented in a new government. This took place on May 25, 1787 in Philadelphia.

Army-McCarthy Hearings

Congressional hearings called by Senator Joseph McCarthy to accuse members of the army of communist ties. In this widely televised spectacle, McCarthy finally went too far for public approval. The hearings exposed the Senator's extremism and led to his eventual disgrace.

Interstate Commerce Act

Congressional legislation that established the Interstate Commerce Commision, compelled railroads to publish standard rates, and prohibited rebates and pools. Railroads quickly became adept at using the Act to achieve their own ends, but the Act gave the government an important means to regulate big business.

Irreconsilables

Consisting of about a dozen Republican senators, this party could not accept U.S. membership in the League, no matter how the covenant was worded.

14th Amendment

Constitutional amendment that extended civil rights to freedmen. It also prohibited states from taking away such rights without due process.

Cumberland Road

Constructed in 1811, this road was the first interstate highway, and the only one entirely paid for by federal funds. It ran from Maryland to Illinois and helped with westward movement.

NAFTA

Controversial free trade agreement between the U.S, Mexico, and Canada that virtually eliminated trade barriers between the three nations.

NLRB . Jones and Laughlin Steel Corp

Court case where Jones & Laughlin was accused with discriminating against workers who wanted a union. It declared that the National Labor Relations Act (commonly known as the Wagner Act) was constitutional.

Hamilton's financial plan

Created by Alexander Hamilton to stabilize the American economy, it consisted of the federal assumption of all debts, including both state and federal debts. With this, he also proposed the chartering of the U.S. national bank to help restore American credit. Excise taxes were another part of this plan; they were one of the most controversial parts of it.

Two-term tradition

Created by George Washington, stated that each President could serve two terms, then voluntarily resign despite no laws requiring a specific date to resign. It lasted until 1940, when it was officially changed.

Trust

Created by Rockefeller, this system was made to wipe out smaller competition that would be useless to form an alliance with. The system was that small oil companies could put stock in the Standard Oil Company, virtually handing over their businesses. Any company that refused to put trust in the Standard Oil Company or left the agreement would be forced into bankruptcy.

Freedman's Bureau

Created to aid newly emancipated slaves by providing food, clothing, medical care, education, and legal support. Its achievements were uneven and depended largely on the quality of local administrators.

Knights of Labor

Created to continue the unfinished work of the NLU, the Knights of Labor gained national attention with its large protests and its inclusion of all "producing" laborers, farmers, factory workers, etc. It's inclusion of non-white workers and women gave it a larger population. However, the protests were actually quite unsuccessful, and the blame for a recent bombing was pinned on the Knights of Labor, undoing its credibility.

Federal Securities Act

Created to police the stocks and bonds markets, ensuring that citizens were buying what was advertised and any fraud or other illegal activities were sought out and punished

Theodore Dreiser

Criticized profiteers in his novels. Feels the want of money was the root of evil throughout the Gilded Age

Fidel Castro

Cuban socialist leader who overthrew a dictator in 1959 and established a Marxist socialist state in Cuba (born in 1927)

Seventh of March Speech (1850)

Daniel Webster's impassioned address urging the North to support of the Compromise of 1850. Webster argued that topography and climate would keep slavery from becoming entrenched in Mexican Cession territory and urged Northerners to make all reasonable concessions to prevent disunion.

Pocahontas

Daughter of Powhatan, "saved" John Smith by putting her head between his and the war clubs of his captors. This symbolized the Indians' desire for peaceful relations with the Virginians. She went on to become an intermediary between the Indians and the settlers, helping to provide needed foodstuffs and peace.

Battle of Fallen Timbers

Decisive battle between the Miami confederacy and the U.S. Army. British forces refused to shelter the routed Indians, forcing the latter to attain a peace settlement with the United States.

Freeport Doctrine

Declared that since slavery could not exist without laws to protect it, territorial legislatures, not the Supreme Court, would have the final say on the slavery question. First argued by Stephen Douglas in 1858 in response to Abraham Lincoln's "Freeport Question".

John Kerry

Decorated Vietnam War veteran who lost the 2004 presidential election

London Economic Conference

Delegates hped to stabilize values of nations' currencies & exchange rates to aid international trade; FDR pulled out, afraid this would hamper domestic recovery further depression & ultranationalism

George McGovern

Democratic Senator running against Nixon on antiwar platform in 1972 election, he lost in a landslide

John W. Davis

Democratic convention nominee in 1924 against Coolidge. He was a wealthy lawyer connected with J.P. Morgan and Company. Coolidge easily defeated him.

James M. Cox

Democratic nominee for presidential candidate in 1920 who was a newspaper publisher and the former governor of Ohio. He lost the election to Senator Warren G. Harding.

War hawks

Democratic-Republican Congressmen who pressed James Madison to declare war on Britain. Largely drawn from the South and West, they resented British constraints on American trade and accused the British of supporting Indian attacks against American settlements on the frontier.

Baby Boom

Demographic explosion from births to returning soldiers and others who had put off starting families during the war. This large generation of new Americans forced the expansion of many institutions such as schools and universities.

Scalawags

Derogatory term for pro-Union Southerners whom Southern Democrats accused of plundering the resources of the South in collusion with Republican governments after the Civil War. These Southerners often sought personal gain in backing the policies of Reconstructionism.

Caravel

Developed by the Portuguese, this ship could sail more closely into the wind. It allowed European explorers to explore the Western shores of Africa.

Old world diseases - Smallpox, measles, yellow fever

Different illnesses from the Old World, such as smallpox, measles, and yellow fever proved to be deadly to the native population of the Americas. Unlike the Europeans who brought the diseases over the New World on ships, the natives had not built up any immunities to these diseases. For example, smallpox claimed the lives of about ninety percent of the natives who encountered it.

Trent Affair

Diplomatic row that threatened to bring the British into the Civil War on the side of the Confederacy. This happened after a Union warship stopped a British steamer and arrested two Confederate diplomats on board.

Medgar Evers

Director of the NAACP in Mississippi and a lawyer who defended accused Blacks, he was murdered in his driveway by a member of the Ku Klux Klan

Battle of Lake Erie

During one of the biggest naval battles of the War of 1812, nine U.S. naval vessels defeated and captured six vessels of the British Royal Navy. This win ensured American control of the lake for the rest of the war, which proved to be invaluable, as it allowed the Americans to win the Battle of Thames, and break the Indian confederation of Tecumseh. This battle was fought on September 10, 1813 in Lake Erie off the coast of Ohio.

Battles of Vera Cruz/Mexico City (1847)

During the Mexican-American War, the port was blockaded again, this time by the Americans. Initial American attempts in 1847 to land in Alvarado were repulsed but eventually the Americans managed to land a few miles south of Veracruz, which surrendered after a 20-day siege, defeated General Santa Anna's forces at the Battle of Cerro Gordo, and marched inland through Xalapa towards Mexico City, led by General Winfield Scott.

Divorce Bill

During the Panic of 1837, this was Van Buren's attempts to help the ailing economy. Convinced that some of the financial fever was fed by the injection of federal funds into private banks, he championed this principle of separating the government from banking altogether.

Interlocking Directorate

During the depression of the 1890's, J. Pierpont Morgan created a system that benefited the many small businesses driven into the wall by big corporations. He would place a member of his own company on the business board of these tiny competitors, which would increase their profit. As their profit increased, his company would get a cut of the spoils.

Bank of the United States (rechartering of)

During the economic panic of 1837, the Whigs called for the expansion of bank credit, higher tariffs, and subsidies for internal improvements. Van Buren spurned this ideas and passed the "Divorce Bill" in attempt to help the ailing economy.

Francis Parkman

Early American historian who wrote a series of volumes on the imperial struggle between Britain and France in North America. Due to an illness, which was never properly detected in his lifetime, he was effectively blind for periods of time. To overcome this obstacle, he wrote in the darkness with aid from a guiding machine.

Federal style of architecture

Early national style of architecture that borrowed from neoclassical models and emphasized symmetry, balance, and restraint. Famous builders associated with this style include Charles Bulfinch and Benjamin Latrobe.

Romanticism

Early-nineteenth-century movement in European and American literature and the arts. In reaction to the hyper-rational Enlightenment, this movement emphasized imagination over reason, nature over civilization, intuition over calculation, and the self over society.

Capitalism

Economic system characterized by private property, generally free trade, and open and accessible markets. European colonization of the Americas, and in particular, the discovery of vast bullion deposits, helped bring about Europe's transition to capitalism.

Mercantilism

Economic theory that closely linked a nation's political and military power to its bullion reserves. Mercantilists generally favored protectionism and colonial acquisition as means to increase exports.

Supply side economics

Economic theory that underlay Ronald Reagan's tax and spending cuts. Contrary to Keynesianism, supply-side theory declared that government policy should aim to increase the supply of goods and services, rather than the demand for them. It held that lower taxes and decreased regulation would increase productivity by providing increased incentives to work, thus increasing productivity and the tax base.

Deism

Eighteenth century religious doctrine that emphasized reasoned moral behavior and the scientific pursuit of knowledge. Most of these people rejected biblical inerrancy and the divinity of Christ, but they did believe that a Supreme Being created the universe.

Radical Whigs

Eighteenth-century British political commentators who agitated against political corruption and emphasized the threat to liberty posed by arbitrary power. Their writings shaped American political thought and made colonists especially alert to encroachments on their rights.

Richard M. Nixon

Elected President in 1968 and 1972 representing the Republican party. He was responsible for getting the United States out of the Vietnam War by using "Vietnamization", which was the withdrawal of 540,000 troops from South Vietnam for an extended period. He was responsible for the Nixon Doctrine. Was the first President to ever resign, due to the Watergate scandal.

James Monroe

Elected in 1817 and serving until 1875, this politician was the 5th president. He was the last of the Founding Fathers to become president, and completed the Virginian dynasty, the term used to describe how four of the first five presidents were Virginians, of presidents. He was known for buying Florida from Spain and hand having the Anglo-American Convention in 1818 with Britain through his administration. He also established the Monroe Doctrine.

Clayton Antitrust Act

Enacted October 15, 1914, this law extended the anti-trust protections of the Sherman Antitrust Act and exempted labor unions and agricultural organizations from antimonopoly constraints. The act conferred long-overdue benefits on labor. Seeking to prevent anticompetitive practices, it also specified particular prohibited conduct, the three-level enforcement scheme, the exemptions, and the remedial measures.

Employment Act (1946)

Enacted by Truman, it committed the federal government to ensuring economic growth and established the Council of Economic Advisors to confer with the president and formulate policies for maintaining employment, production, and purchasing power

Tariff of 1833

Enacted on March 2, 1833, this was proposed by Henry Clay and John C. Calhoun as a resolution to the Nullification Crisis. Enacted under Andrew Jackson's presidency, it was adopted to gradually reduce the rates following southerners' objections to the protectionism found in the Tariff of 1832 and the 1828 Tariff of Abominations. This Act stipulated that import taxes would gradually be cut over the next decade until, by 1842, they matched the levels set in the Tariff of 1816.

Puritans

English Protestant reformers who sought to purify the Church of England of Catholic rituals and creeds. Some of the most devout members of this group believed that only "visible saints" should be admitted to church membership.

King George III

English monarch who strenuously attempted to assert the power of the British monarchy in 1770. He used the country's treasury to hire mercenaries. He ended any chance of reconciliation with the colonists after he refused to accept the Olive Branch Petition and declared the colonies as rebels.

Queen Elizabeth I

English queen that encouraged buccaneers to promote the twin goals of Protestantism and plunder by seizing Spanish treasure ships and raiding Spanish settlements. She also financially backed Sir Francis Drake and was honored by the naming of Roanoke Island.

Lord Baltimore

Established Maryland as a haven for Catholics. He unsuccessfully tried to reconstitute the English manorial system in the colonies and gave vast tracts of land to Catholic relatives, a policy that soon created tensions between the seaboard Catholic establishment and backcountry Protestant planters.

Pan-American Union

Established at the Pan-American Conference in 1890, this was an organization to help the Latin American countries and the U.S. cooperate. James Blaine called the conference to help solve problems with trade and law between the U.S. and Latin America.

National War Labor Board

Established by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to act as an arbitration tribunal and mediate disputes between labor and management that might have led to war stoppages and thereby undermined the war effort. The NWLB was also charged with adjusting wages with an eye to controlling inflation.

Committee of Public Information

Established by Woodrow Wilson, this was a government office during World War I known popularly as the Creel Committee for its Chairman George Creel, it was dedicated to winning everyday Americans' support for the war effort. It regularly distributed pro war propaganda and sent out an army of "four-minute men" to rally crowds and deliver "patriotic pep."

Northwest Ordinance Act

Established in 1787, this act created a policy for administering the Northwest Territories. It included a path to statehood and forbade the expansion of slavery into the territories.

Russo-American Treaty

Established in 1824, this treaty was intended to fix the southernmost limits at the line of 54°40'. This tract of land occupies the present-day southern tip of the Alaskan panhandle.

Federal Trade Commission

Established in 1914 by the Federal Trade Commission Act, its principal mission is the promotion of consumer protection and the elimination and prevention of anticompetitive business practices, such as coercive monopoly. This was one of President Woodrow Wilson's major acts against trusts. Trusts and trust-busting were significant political concerns during the Progressive Era.

War-Production Board

Established in 1942 by executive order to direct all war production, including procuring and allocating raw materials, to maximize the nation's war machine. The WPB had sweeping powers over the U.S. economy and was abolished in November 1945 soon after Japan's defeat.

Treaty of Versialles

Every nation that had fought on the Allied side in the war was represented; 1) Germany was disarmed and stripped of its colonies in Asia and Africa. it was also forced to admit guilt for the war, accept French occupation of the Rhineland for 15 years, and pay a huge sum of money in reparations to GB and France 2) Territories once controlled by Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Russia were taken by the Allies, independence was granted to Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Finland, and Poland, and the new nations of Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia were established. 3) Signers of the treaty would join an international peacekeeping organization, the League of Nations. This league called on each member nation to stand ready to protect the independence and territorial integrity of other nations.

Lee Harvey Oswald

Ex-Marine and communist sympathizer who assassinated JFK in Dallas, Texas, on November 22, 1963. He was murdered two days later as he was being transferred from one jail to another

Henry James

Expatriate novelist and brother of philosopher William James. A master of "psychological realism," he experimented in novels like The Portrait of a Lady and The Wings of the Dove with point-of view and interior monologue.

John C. Fremont

Explorer who helped overthrow the Mexican government in California after the outbreak of war with Mexico. He later ran for president as the Republican nominee in 1856, but was unsuccessful, as he lost the election to Democratic candidate James Buchanan.

Election of 1936

FDR (Democratic) reelected b/c of his New Deal programs and active style of personal leadership. Running against FDR was Alf Landon (Republican nominee)

Benito Mussolini

Fascist leader of Italy from 1922 to 1943 who established a military citizenship there, meaning all citizens were involved in the military to some degree. He launched Italy into World War II on the side of Axis Powers and became a close ally of Adolf Hitler.

Harper's Ferry raid

Federal arsenal in Virginia seized by abolitionist John Brown in 1859. Though Brown was later captured and executed, his raid alarmed Southerners who believed that Northerners shared in Brown's extremism.

Marilyn Monroe

Female icon and movie star who is best known for being the first to popularize commercial sexuality. She is iconic for playing "dumb blonde" characters in several movies.

Betty Friedan

Feminist author of The Feminine Mystique in 1960. Her book sparked a new consciousness among suburban women and helped launch the second-wave feminist movement.

Panic of 1857

Financial crash brought on by gold-fueled inflation, over speculation, and excess grain production. This raised calls in the North for higher tariffs and for free homesteads on western public lands.

Korean War

First "hot war" of the Cold war. Began in 1950 when the Soviet-backed North Koreans invaded South Korea before meeting a counter-offensive by UN Forces, dominated by the United States. The war ended in stalemate in 1953.

Anti-Masonic Party

First founded in New York, it gained considerable influence in the New England and the mid-Atlantic during the 1832 election, campaigning against the politically influential Masonic order, a secret society. This party opposed Andrew Jackson, a Mason, and drew much of their support from evangelical Protestants.

Nancy Pelosi

First woman to be Speaker of the House; Promised a new era of reform, openness, and a check on the Bush administration during the congressional elections of 2006

Sandra Day O'Connor

First woman to be named a Supreme Court justice. She was appointed by Reagan.

Border states

Five slave states - Missouri, Kentucky, Maryland, Delaware, and West Virginia - that didn't secede during the Civil War. In attempts to keep the states in the Union, Abraham Lincoln insisted that the war was not about abolishing slavery, but rather about protecting the Union.

Model T

Ford; A car that sold at an affordable price and pioneered the use of the assembly line

Joint-stock companies

Forerunner of the modern corporation, these temporary partnerships between multiple investors were utilized to fund commercial enterprises in the early 1600s. The famous Virginia Company of London was one of these companies.

Constitutional Union party

Formed by moderate Whigs and Know-Nothings in an effort to elect a compromise candidate and avert a sectional crisis. They met in Baltimore and nominated John Bell of Tennessee for the presidency.

Union Party

Formed during the presidential election of 1864, this was a coalition of pro-war Democrats and Republicans. They defeated the anti-war Northern Democrats, and their candidate McClellan.

Henry A. Wallace

Former Democratic VP who ran on the New Progressive Party due to his disagreement on Truman's policy with the Soviets. This ultimately caused the Democratic party to split even more.

Fort Duquesne

Fort that changed ownership several times throughout the French and Indian War. George Washington tried to capture this fort before he was forced to retreat to Fort Necessity. Located in present-day Pittsburg, the person who held this fort had control over three rivers, like the Ohio River.

Berlin Wall

Fortified and guarded barrier between East and West Berlin erected on orders from Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev in 1961 to stop the flow of people to the West. Until its destruction in 1989, the wall was a vivid symbol of the divide between the communist and capitalist worlds.

Women's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU)

Founded in 1874, this organization advocated for the prohibition of alcohol, using women's supposedly greater purity and morality as a rallying point. Advocates of prohibition in the United States found common cause with activists elsewhere, especially in Britain, and in the 1880s they founded the World Women's Christian Temperance Union, which sent missionaries around the world to spread the gospel of temperance.

Students for a Democratic Society (SDS)

Founded in 1962, the SDS was a popular college student organization that protested shortcomings in American life, notably racial injustice and the Vietnam War. It led thousands of campus protests before it split apart at the end of the 1960s.

Women's Christian Temperance Union

Founded in Ohio in the 1870s to combat the evils of excessive alcohol consumption, the WCTU went on to embrace a broad reform agenda, including campaigns to abolish prostitution and gain the right to vote for women.

The Big Four

Four power-wielding heads of state at Versailles for negotiations. Namely, these men were David Lloyd George of Great Britain, Georges Clemenceau of France, Vittorio Orlando of Italy, and Woodrow Wilson of the USA.

Court Packing Plan

Franklin Roosevelt's politically motivated and ill-fated scheme to add a new justice to the Supreme Court for every member over 70 who would not not retire. His objective was to overcome the Court's objections to the New Deal reforms.

Reciprocal Treaty of 1875

Free trade agreement signed and ratified in 1875 between the United States and the Kingdom of Hawaii. In this treaty, the U.S. gave Hawaii free importation of sugar to America. The U.S. gained the lands at Pu'u Loa which were later used for Pearl Harbor after a later agreement in 1887.

French Huguenots

French Protestant dissenters, the Huguenots were granted limited toleration under the Edict of Nantes. After King Louis XIV outlawed Protestantism in 1685, many Huguenots fled elsewhere, including to British North America.

Samuel de Champlain

French soldier and explorer, dubbed the "Father of New France" for establishing the city of Quebec. He fighted alongside the Huron Indians to repel the Iroquois.

Robert de la Salle

Frenchman and first European to travel down the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico. He named Louisiana after King Louis XIV in 1682.

Great Migration

From 1630 to 1642, the migration of seventy thousand refugees from England to the North American colonies, primarily New England the Caribbean. The twenty thousand migrants who came to Massachusetts largely shared a common sense of purpose - to establish a model Christian settlement in the New World.

Pequot War

From 1636 to 1638, the series of clashes between English settlers and Pequot Indians in the Connecticut River Valley. This conflict ended in the slaughter of the Pequots by the Puritans and the Narragansett Indian allies.

King Philip's War

From 1675 to 1676, the series of assaults by Metacom, King Philip, on English settlements in New England. The attacks slowed the westward migration of New England settlers for several decades.

Little Big Horn

General Custer and his men were wiped out by a coalition of Sioux and Cheyenne Indians led by Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse

George C. Marshall

General who was the army chief of staff who supported a plan for a major Allied invasion of France across the English Channel in the spring of 1943.

Nelson Rockefeller

Gerald Ford's vice president, a liberal Republican governor of New York and an heir to one of America's great fortunes. This angered the rights. The first VP not appointed by the people.

General Marshal Rommel

German field marshal noted for brilliant generalship in North Africa during World War II (1891-1944); was a German Field Marshal of World War II. He won the respect of both his own troops and the enemies he fought. He constantly fought the Western Allies and was linked to the conspiracy to kill Hitler.

Kristallnacht

German for "night of broken glass," it refers to the murderous pogrom that destroyed Jewish businesses and synagogues and sent thousands to concentration camps on the night of November 9, 1938. Thousands more attempted to find refuge in the United States, but were ultimately turned away due to restrictive immigration laws.

Glass-Steagall Banking Act

Government legislation that made 750 million dollars that had once been kept in the government's gold reserves now able to be used in the creation of loans. This allowed the banks to reopen and it it gave the president the power to regulate banking transactions and foreign exchange. It also took the U.S. off the gold standard and introduced FDIC.

Alfred M. Landon

Governor of Kansas Republican nominated to run against FDR; Weak on the radio and weaker in personal campaigning, and while he criticized FDR's spending, he also favored enough of FDR's New Deal to be ridiculed by the Democrats as an unsure idiot.

Jones Act (1916)

Granted full territorial status to the Philippines and promised independence as soon as a stable government could be established

Al Capone

Grasping and murderous booze distributor; known as "Scarface"; from Chicago; in 1925, he began six years of gang warfare that netted him millions of blood-splattered dollars; branded "Public Enemy Number One"; could not be convicted of the cold-blooded massacre, on St. Valentine's Day in 1929, of seven disarmed members of a rival gang; after serving most of an eleven year sentence in a federal penitentiary for income-tax evasion, he was released as a syphilitic wreck.

Hay-Pauncefote Treaty (1901)

Great Britain recognized U.S. Sphere of Influence over the Panama Canal zone, provided the canal itself remained neutral. U.S. given full control over construction and management of the canal. This nullified the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty of 1850, which prohibited the British or U.S. from acquiring any territory in Central America.Great Britain recognized U.S. Sphere of Influence over the Panama Canal zone, provided the canal itself remained neutral. U.S. given full control over construction and management of the canal. This nullified the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty of 1850, which prohibited the British or U.S. from acquiring any territory in Central America.

Dust Bowl

Grim nickname for the Great Plains region devastated by drought and dust storms during the 1930s. The disaster led the migration into California of thousands of displaced "Okies" and "Arkies".

Hoovervilles

Grim shantytowns were impoverished victims of the Great Depression slept under newspapers and makeshift tents. Their visibility (and sarcastic name) tarnished the reputation of the Hoover administration.

H. R. Haldeman

Haldeman was Nixon's Chief of Staff and was also involved in the Watergate scandal. He was deeply involved with Nixon's scandals since he and Erhlichman were Nixon's most trusted aids, doing whatever they felt necessary to protect Nixon.

Gen. Edward Braddock

Hardheaded and imperious British general, who lived from 1695 to 1755. His detachment of British and colonial soldiers was routed by French and Indian forces at Fort Duquesne.

Uncle Tom's Cabin

Harriet Beecher Stowe's widely read novel that dramatized the horrors of slavery. It heightened Northern support for abolition and escalated the sectional conflict.

Declaratory Act

Having withdrawn the Stamp Act, Parliament passed this act, reaffirming Parliament's right "to bind" the colonies regardless of the situation. This stated that Parliament had absolute and unqualified sovereignty over the North American colonies.

Henry VIII

He caused the English Protestant Reformation to form when he broke Roman Catholic Church in the 1530's. He broke away from the Church because he wanted a divorce from his first wife, Catherine of Aragon.

Ulysses S. Grant

He commanded the victorious Union army during the American Civil War and served as the 18th U.S. president from 1869 to 1877. An Ohio native, he graduated from West Point and fought in the Mexican-American War. During the Civil War, this aggressive and determined leader, was given command of all the U.S. armies. After the war he became a national hero, and the Republicans nominated him for president in 1868. A primary focus was Reconstruction, and he worked to reconcile the North and South while also attempting to protect the civil rights of newly freed black slaves. Some of his associates were corrupt and his administration was tarnished by various scandals. After retiring, he invested in a brokerage firm that went bankrupt, costing him his life savings. He spent his final days penning his memoirs, which were published the year he died and proved a critical and financial success.

Stephen Austin

He established the first major Anglo settlements in Texas under an agreement with the Mexican government. Though loyal to Mexico, he advocated for local Texans' rights, particularly the right to bring slaves into the region. Briefly imprisoned by Santa Anna for inciting rebellion, he eventually returned to Texas in 1836 to serve as secretary of state of the newly-independent republic until his death later that year.

Benjamin Franklin (role at convention)

He participated in the convention at the age of eighty-one, adding the urbanity of an elder statesman. Inclined to be indiscreetly talkative, he was assigned chaperones to accompany him to dinner parties to make sure he held his tongue.

Charles Francis Adams

He ran during the 1848 election for the role of vice president under the Free Soil Party. He was an American historical editor, politician, diplomat, and a son of President John Quincy Adams. He wrote a major biography of John Adams' life.

George Washington

He served as commander in chief of the Continental Army and hosted the Mount Vernon conference at his home, which allowed delegates to discuss changes to the Articles of Confederation. Unanimously elected president under the new national Constitution in 1788, he served two terms, focusing primarily on strengthening the national government, establishing a sound financial system, and maintaining American neutrality amidst the escalating European conflict.

Thomas Jefferson (as Sec. State & VP)

He served as the Secretary of State under Washington and vice-president under John Adams. He was against the Federalists' policy of supporting only the aristocratic class, choosing to support the common man. His supporters eventually formed the Democratic-Republican Party.

John N. Garner

He served in the House of Representatives before 1931 when he became the Speaker of the House. He was elected as VP with FDR. A conservative, he worked on FDR's New Deal until he broke his friendship with FDR after he attempted to enlarge the Supreme Court. The Split widened when he wanted to run for president after the end of FDR's 2nd term. He lost miserably to Roosevelt, and FDR broke the two-term tradition.

Lyndon B Johnson

He was Kennedy's vice president, and became president when Kennedy was assassinated. He escalated the war in Vietnam and the failure to win the war was blamed on him. Johnson had a great domestic policy called " The Great Society" and helped push for the passing of the civil rights act to end discrimination. He also issued all federal contractors to take "affirmative action" against discrimination.

Roger Taney

He was a Chief Justice for the Dred Scott case, and ruled against Dred Scott. Scott was suing for freedom because of his long residence in free territory. He held very Democratic ideals, and was fiercely pro-slavery. He denied Scott freedom because he was property and his owner could take him into any territory and legally hold him as a slave, as the Constitution defended property rights, and Scott was property.This court ruling was a major cause of the start of Civil War.

Aaron Burr

He was a Federalist that lost to Jefferson in the Election of 1800; however, he became Jefferson's first-term vice president. He was dropped from the cabinet in Jefferson's second term, so he joined with a group of Federalist extremists to plot the secession of New England and New York. Hamilton foiled his conspiracy, so he challenged Hamilton to a duel. At the duel, Hamilton refused to fire, so he killed Hamilton with one shot. He then allied with General James Wilkinson, and he apparently planned to separate the western part of the U.S. from the East. He was arrested and tried for reason.

Gouverneur Morris

He was a Founding Father of the United States who represented Pennsylvania in the Constitutional Convention. He signed the Articles of Confederation. His huge estate was sliced into 250 parcels, thus accelerating the spread of economic democracy.

John Jacob Astor

He was a German-born American businessman, fur trader and financier, who founded the fur-trading post of Astoria and the American fur company. He was the first prominent member of the Astor Family and the first multi-millionaire in the United States.

Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto

He was a Japanese Naval Marshal General and the commander-in-chief of the Combined Fleet during World War II. He was the commander-in-chief during the early years of the Pacific War and so was responsible for major battles such as Pearl Harbor and Midway.

George Goethals

He was a United States Army officer and civil engineer. He is best known for his administration and supervision of the construction and the opening of the Panama Canal.

ALbert B. Fall

He was a United States Senator from New Mexico and the Secretary of the Interior under President Warren G. Harding. Became famous for his involvement in the Teapot Dome scandal.

Frederick Douglass

He was a United States abolitionist who initially escaped from slavery and became an influential writer and lecturer in the North. He was one of the most prominent African American figures in the abolitionist movement, and escaped from slavery in Maryland. Additionally, he was a great thinker and speaker, and published his own antislavery newspaper called "The North Star". He wrote an autobiography that was published in 1845.

Robert Owen

He was a Welsh social reformer and one of the founders of utopian socialism and the cooperative movement. He worked in the cotton industry in Manchester before setting up a large mill at New Lanark in Scotland. In 1824, he traveled to America to invest the bulk of his fortune in an experimental 1,000-member colony on the banks of Indiana's Wabash River, called New Harmony. New Harmony was intended to be a Utopian society.

David Walker

He was a black abolitionist who called for the immediate emancipation of slaves, and wrote a pamphlet on black pride called "Appeal to the Colored Citizens of the World". It called for an end to white supremacy. He believed that the only way to end slavery was for slaves to physically revolt.

Martin Delaney

He was a black abolitionist who visited West Africa in 1859 to examine sites where African-Americans might relocate. He was one of the few black leaders at the time who took the notion of mass colonization of Africa seriously.

Dred Scott

He was a black slave who lived with his master in Illinois and Wisconsin territory for 5 years. He eventually sued for his freedom based on his long residence in free territory. This court decision was passed to the Supreme Court on March 6,1857. The Supreme Court ruled that the man in question was a black slave and not a citizen, and could not sue in a federal court.

Baron Von Steuben

He was a drillmaster from Prussia. He whipped the Continental army from a disorderly crowd into a professional army.

Hernan Cortes

He was a governor from Cuba who set sail bound for Mexico in 1519 with 16 horses, 600 men, and 11 ships. Before reaching Mexico, he rescued two slaves who speak the language of the Aztecs. Upon arrival in the Aztec empire, he uses his appearance to acquire gold. After losing a battle with the Aztecs, a smallpox epidemic sweeps the empire, killing 90% of the population.

James Otis

He was a lawyer in colonial Massachusetts, a member of the Massachusetts provincial assembly, and an early advocate of the Patriot views against British policy that led to the American Revolution. His catch phrase "Taxation without representation is tyranny" became the basic Patriot position.

John Brown

He was a militant abolitionist who took radical extremes to make his views clear. In 1856, he led a group of his followers to Pottawatomie Creek and launched a bloody attack against pro-slavery men, killing 5 people. This caused violent retaliation against him and his followers. This violent attack against slavery also gave Kansas the nickname, "Bleeding Kansas".

John Hancock

He was a patriot leader and the president of the Second Continental Congress. He was the first person to sign the Declaration of Independence, famously writing his name in big letters. He is also well-known as "King of the Smugglers".

James Fenimore Cooper

He was a prolific and popular American writer of the early 19th century. His historical romances of frontier and Indian life in the early American days created a unique form of American literature. He served in the U.S. Navy as a Midshipman, which greatly influenced many of his novels and other writings. The novel that launched his career was The Spy, a tale about counterespionage set during the Revolutionary War and published in 1821. He also wrote numerous sea-stories, and his best-known works are five historical novels of the frontier period known as the Leatherstocking Tales. His deepest theme was an exploration of the viability and destiny of America's republican experiment.

Nat Turner

He was a slave from Virginia, who led a group of slaves to kill their slaveholders and families. He was caught and executed on November 11, 1831. His revolt led to the deaths of about fifty-five white people.

Ethan Allen

He was a soldier of the American Revolution and leader of the Green Mountain Boys, whose troops helped capture Fort Ticonderoga from the British. The Green Mountain Boys consisted of Vermont settlers.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

He was an American poet and educator whose works include Paul Revere's Ride, The Song of Hiawatha, and Evangeline. He was also the first American to translate Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy, and was one of the five Fireside Poets. He wrote many lyric poems known for their musicality and often presenting stories of mythology and legend. He became the most popular American poet of his day and also had success overseas. He has been criticized, however, for imitating European styles and writing specifically for the masses. He was a professor at Harvard College, and he experienced the death of two of his wives.

Joe DiMaggio

He was an American Major League Baseball center fielder who played his entire 13-year career for the New York Yankees. He is perhaps best known for his 56-game hitting streak.

Theodore Dwight Weld

He was an American abolitionist whose pamphlet, "Slavery as it is" in 1839, inspired the novel, "Uncle Tom's Cabin". He also put together a group called the "land rebels". He and his group travelled across the old northwest preaching anti slavery gospel.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

He was an American essayist, lecturer, and poet who led the transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century. He was seen as a champion of individualism and a prescient critic of the countervailing pressures of society, and he disseminated his thoughts through dozens of published essays and more than 1,500 public lectures across the United States. He urged American writers to throw off European traditions with his address "The American Scholar."

Henry David Thoreau

He was an American essayist, poet, a mystic, abolitionist, nonconformist, and transcendentalist. Condemning a government that supported slavery, he refused to pay his Massachusetts poll tax and was jailed for a night. He is best known for his book Walden, a reflection upon simple living in natural surroundings, and his essay "Civil Disobedience", an argument for disobedience to an unjust state.

ALexander Graham Bell

He was an American inventor who was responsible for developing the telephone. His developing ultimately greatly improved communications in the country.

Lewis Cass

He was an American military officer, politician, and statesman; he was longtime governor of the Michigan Territory from 1813 to 1831, Secretary of War under President Andrew Jackson, and Secretary of State under President James Buchanan. During his long political career, he served as an American ambassador to France, and as a U.S. Senator representing Michigan. In the 1844 Democratic convention he stood as a candidate for the presidential nomination, losing on the 9th ballot to dark horse candidate James K. Polk.

John J. Audubon

He was an American ornithologist, naturalist, and painter. He was notable for his extensive studies documenting all types of American birds and for his detailed illustrations that depicted the birds in their natural habitats. His major work, a color-plate book entitled The Birds of America (1827-1839), is considered one of the finest ornithological works ever completed. Audubon identified 25 new species.

Samuel F. B. Morse

He was an American painter of portraits and historic scenes. He was also the creator of a single wire telegraph system, and co-inventor with Alfred Vail, of the Morse Code.

Walt Whitman

He was an American poet, essayist, and journalist. A humanist, he was a part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his works. He is among the most influential and unconventional poets in the American canon, often called the father of free verse. His work was very controversial in its time, particularly his poetry collection Leaves of Grass, which was described as obscene for its overt sexuality. He also located divinity in commonplace natural objects as well as the human body. "Song of Myself" celebrated the romantic artist-hero in free verse.

Neal S. Dow

He was an American prohibition advocate and politician. Nicknamed the "Napoleon of Temperance" and the "Father of Prohibition." In 1850, he was elected president of the Maine Temperance Union, and the next year was elected mayor of Portland. He sponsored the Maine Law of 1851, which prohibited the manufacture and sale of liquor. As mayor of Portland, he enforced the law with vigor and called for increasingly harsh penalties for violators.

Black Hawk

He was an Indian chief of the Sauk and Fox tribes who were bloodily crushed in the Black Hawk War of 1832 by American forces. He unsuccessfully tried to reclaim territory lost under the 1830 Indian Removal Act. He also fought for the British in the War of 1812.

Samuel Chase

He was an arrogant and tart-tongued Supreme Court justice. Jefferson urged for his impeachment, and he was so unpopular that Republicans named vicious dogs after him. In 1804, the impeachment charges against him were voted by the House of Representatives and then passed to the Senate. However, the evidence showed that he had not been guilty of "high crimes," but only of Unrestrained partisanship and a big mouth. The Senate failed to muster enough votes to convict and remove him.

Thomas Jefferson

He was inaugurated president on March 4, 1801. Nicknamed "Long Tom", he was tall with large hands a feet, red hair, and an overall arresting figure. He was previously the U.S. minister to France for five year before being elected president. His inaugural address stated many democratic principles and many other pledges to the American people. He established the rule of pellmell at official dinners and was shockingly unconventional. He was often forced to reverse many of the political principles he had so vigorously championed.

John T. Scopes

He was indicted for teaching evolution in Tennessee. His trial was watched all over the country. This trial represented the Fundamentalist vs. the Modernist. In the outcome he was only fined $100.00 dollars. While it seemed the Fundamentalists had won, the trial made them look bad.

Gifford Pinchot

He was known for reforming the management and development of forests in the United States and for advocating the conservation of the nation's reserves by planned use and renewal. He called it "the art of producing from the forest whatever it can yield for the service of man." He coined the term conservation ethic as applied to natural resources.

General Valeriano Weyler

He was named governor with full powers to suppress the insurgency and return the island to political order and the sugar industry to greater profitability when the 1896 Rebellion in Cuba was in full swing. In order to separate the rebels rom civilians, he relocated more than 300,000 people into "reconcentration camps."

Franklin Pierce

He was the 14th President of the United States and a northern Democrat who saw the abolitionist movement as a fundamental threat to the unity of the nation. His polarizing actions in championing and signing the Kansas-Nebraska Act and enforcing the Fugitive Slave Act failed to stem intersectional conflict, setting the stage for Southern secession.

James Buchanan

He was the 15th President of the United States. He tried to maintain a balance between proslavery and antislavery factions, but his moderate views angered radicals in the North and South. He was unable to forestall the secession of South Carolina in on December 20, 1860.

George HW Bush

He was the 42nd President of the United States, previously Ronald Reagan's vice-president. His policies and ideals derived heavily from his predecessor and were built on them. He was a well-to-do oil tycoon before devoting himself to the public. He served as a congressman, emissary to China, ambassador to the UN, and director of the CIA, before becoming president.

Mikhail Gorbachev

He was the Soviet leader from 1985 until the break-up of the Soviet Union in 1991; his reforms helped lead to the end of the Cold War with the United States.

Henry Morgenthau Jr.

He was the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury during the administration of Franklin D. Roosevelt. He played a major role in designing and financing the New Deal. After 1937, while still in charge of the Treasury, he played an increasingly major role in foreign policy, especially with respect to policies supporting China, helping Jewish refugees, and (in the "___ Plan") preventing Germany from ever again being a military power after the Allied victory in 1945.

Chester Arthur

He was the Vice President of James A. Garfield. After President Garfield was assassinated, September of 1881, Arthur assumed the position. He was chosen to run as Vice President, primarily, to gain the Stalwart's vote. Arthur was left in charge of the United States with no apparent qualifications. He was also in favor of civil service reform.

Jack Kerouac

He was the author of the best-selling book On the Road, which epitomized the Beat Generation of the late 1940s and early 1950s. His work is known for its spontaneous prose, and underlying themes of Catholic spirituality, jazz, promiscuity, Buddhism, drugs, poverty, and travel. His work led him to become an underground celebrity and a progenitor of the hippy movement.

Gen. Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna

He was the dethroned Mexican dictator who was exiled to Cuba; he had secretly been dealing with representatives of the U.S., pledging that if he were allowed back in Mexico through the U.S. naval blockades, he would work to sell all contested territory to the U.S. at a reasonable price. Once back in Mexico at the head of an army, he reneged on both of these agreements. He declared himself president again and unsuccessfully tried to fight off the U.S. invasion. He was double-crossed by Polk and eventually defeated at Buena Vista even after surprising Taylor's army.

John Deere

He was the founder of John Deere Company, which was the biggest manufacture of agricultural equipment in the world. He was an American blacksmith, and also invented the steel plow, which significantly decreased the amount of labor needed to plow the hard fields.

Dewitt Clinton

He was the governor of New York and also started the Erie Canal project. His leadership helped complete the canal, which greatly boosted the economy by cutting the amount of time traveled from west New York to the Hudson. (1769-1828)

Emperor Hirohito

He was the head of state under the limitation of the Constitution of the Empire of Japan during Japan's imperial expansion, militarization, and involvement in World War II. After the war, he was not prosecuted for war crimes as many other leading government figures were. During the postwar period, he became the symbol of the new state.

James I

He was the influence of James River, named by a tiny band of colonists pushing on up the Chesapeake Bay. On May 24, 1607, about 100 English settlers disembarked and called the place Jamestown inspired by King James I.

George Westinghouse

He was the inventor of the air brake for trains who developed the first alternating-current system in 1886. This allowed electric currents to cover long distances, and manufactured the equipment through the Westinghouse Electric Company.

William Lloyd Garrison

He was the most conspicuous and most vilified of the abolitionists, and published "The Liberator" in Boston. He also helped found the American Anti-Slavery Society, and favored Northern secession in renounced politics. He was a famous American abolitionist, social reformer, journalist, and also was a voice for the women's suffrage movement.

John C. Calhoun

He was vice president under Andrew Jackson, a leading Southern politician, and began his political career as a Nationalist and as an advocate of protective tariffs. He later became an advocate of free trade, states' rights, limited government, and nullification. He argued that because the federal government was creation of the states, the states should be the final arbiters of the constitutionality of federal laws. He proposed the Nullification Doctrine.

Henry Demarest Lloyd

He wrote the book "Wealth Against Commonwealth" in 1894. It was part of the progressive movement and the book's purpose was to show the wrong in the monopoly of the Standard Oil Company.

Election of 1848

Held on Tuesday, November 7, 1848, this was the election won by Zachary Taylor of the Whig Party, who ran against Lewis Cass of the Democratic Party and former President Martin Van Buren of the newly-formed Free Soil Party. Incumbent President James K. Polk, having achieved all of his major objectives in one term and suffering from declining health, kept his promise not to seek re-election. The choice of Zachary Taylor was made almost out of desperation; he was not clearly committed to Whig principles, but he was popular for leading the war effort.

Frances Willard

Her influence was instrumental in the passage of the Eighteenth and Nineteenth (women suffrage) Amendments to the United States Constitution. She became the national president of the World Woman's Christian Temperance Union in 1879 and remained president for 19 years.

Isabella of Castille

Her marriage to Ferdinand of Aragon, along with the expulsion of the Muslim Moors, unified the kingdom of Spain. She also gave Christopher Columbus 3 ships and about 90 men for his journey to sail west and funded his next trip back with 700 ships and 1,200 men.

Ferdinand of Aragon

His marriage to Isabella of Castille, along with the expulsion of the Muslim Moors, unified the kingdom of Spain. Also helped fund Columbus's journey, although his wife gave Columbus the supplies he needed.

Hubert Humphrey

Humphrey served under President Lyndon B. Johnson as the 38th Vice President of the United States. He was a founder of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party and Americans for Democratic Action. Humphrey was the nominee of the Democratic Party in the 1968 presidential election but lost to the Republican nominee, Richard Nixon.

Atlantic Charter

Idealistic American volunteers who served in the Spanish Civil War, defending Spanish republican forces from the fascist General Francisco Franco's nationalist coup. Some 3,000 Americans served alongside volunteers from other countries

Immigration Act of 1924

Immigration of Europeans changed from 3% to 2% and the year changed from 1910 to 1890, which was favorable to northern Europeans that to southern and eastern; absolutely against Japanese

Fundamental Orders

In 1639, they were drafted by settlers in the Connecticut River Valley. It was the first "modern constitution" establishing a democratically controlled government. Key features of the document were borrowed for Connecticut's colonial charter and later, its state constitution.

New England Confederation

In 1643, this was a weak union of the colonies in Massachusetts and Connecticut led by Puritans. The main purposes of this were for organization and defense against foes such as the Indians, French, Dutch. It was an early attempt at self-government during the the benign neglect of the English Civil War.

Bacon's Rebellion

In 1676, Bacon, a young planter led a rebellion against people who were friendly to the Indians. In the process he torched Jamestown, Virginia and was murdered by Indians. It was the first revolt in the American colonies and consisted of frontiersmen and protested against Native American raids; the farmers did not win.

Molasses Act

In 1737, it was a tax on imported molasses passed by Parliament in an effort to squelch the North American trade with the French West Indies. It proved largely ineffective due to widespread smuggling.

Sugar Act

In 1764, it was a duty on imported sugar from the West Indies. It was the first tax levied on the colonists by the crown and was lowered substantially in response to widespread protests.

Louisiana Purchase

In 1803, this was the acquisition of Louisiana territory from France for about $15 million. This purchase was a magnificent bargain with 828,000 square miles at about three cents an acre. The purchase more than doubled the territory of the United States, opening vast tracts for settlement.

Embargo Act

In 1807, this enacted in response to British and French mistreatment of American merchants, it banned the export of all goods from the United States to any foreign port. It placed great strains on the American economy while only marginally affecting its European targets, and was therefore repealed in 1809.

Clay's American System

In 1824, Henry Clay worked on an economic reform. He wanted to help stabilize the country and begin the pursuit for work recognition. His plan called for a protective tariff to be established for manufacturers, a new Federal Bank to be put in place, and the start of work on many internal improvements, such as roads and buildings.

Tariff of Abominations

In 1828, this became noteworthy for its unprecedentedly high duties on imports. Southerners vehemently opposed the Tariff, arguing that it hurt Southern farmers, who did not enjoy the protection of tariffs, but were forced to pay higher prices for manufacturers.

Indian Removal Act

In 1830, Congress passed this which ordered for the removal of Indian Tribes still residing east of the Mississippi to newly established Indian Territory west of Arkansas and Missouri. Tribes resisting eviction were forcibly removed by American forces, often after prolonged legal or military battles. Jackson's policy led to the forced uprooting of more than 100,000 Indians.

Force Bill

In 1833, this was passed by Congress alongside the Compromise Tariff. It authorized the president to use the military to collect federal tariff duties. It was known among Carolinians as the "Bloody Bill."

Specie Circular

In 1836, this was the U.S. Treasury decree requiring that all public lands be purchased with "hard," or metallic, currency. This was issued shortly after small state banks flooded the market with unreliable paper currency, fueling land speculation in the West.

Wilmot Proviso

In 1846, this was the amendment that sought to prohibit slavery from territories acquired from Mexico. It passed the House but failed in the Senate, where the South had greater representation. It was reintroduced in February 1847 and again passed the House and failed in the Senate. In 1848, an attempt to make it part of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo also failed. Introduced by a Pennsylvania congressman, this failed amendment ratcheted up tensions between North and South over the issue of slavery.

Walker Tariff

In 1846, this was the revenue-enhancing measure that lowered tariffs from 1842 levels from 32% to 25% thereby fueling trade and increasing Treasury receipts. Enacted by the Democrats, it was one of the lowest tariffs in American history.

54°40' or Fight

In 1846, this was the slogan adopted by expansionists who advocated the occupation of Oregon territory, jointly held by Britain and the United States. Though President Polk had pledged to seize all of Oregon, to 54°40', he settled on the forty-ninth parallel as a compromise with the British.

Matthew C. Perry

In 1852, president Millard Fillmore dispatched this commander to japan a fleet of warships. He produced silk-bound letters requesting free trade and friendly relations. On March 31, 1854, he persuaded the Japanese to sign the Treaty of Kanagawa which provided for proper treatment of shipwrecked sailor, American coaling rights in Japan, and the establishment of consular relations.

Peninsula Campaign

In 1862, this was the Union General George B. McClellan's failed effort to seize Richmond, which was the Confederate Capital. Lincoln diverted McClellan's reinforcements to chase Stonewall Jackson; however, McClellan was forced back by the Confederates and General Lee in the Seven Days' Battles. Had McClellan taken Richmond and toppled the Confederacy, slavery would have most likely survived in the South for some time.

Gettysburg Address

In 1863, Abraham Lincoln delivered this oft-quoted speech at the dedication of the cemetery at the Gettysburg battlefield. In just over two minutes, Lincoln reiterated the principles of human equality espoused by the Declaration of Independence and proclaimed the Civil War as a struggle for the preservation of the Union sundered by the secession crisis, with "a new birth of freedom" that would bring true equality to all of its citizens. Lincoln also redefined the Civil War as a struggle not just for the Union, but also for the principle of human equality.

13th Amendment

In 1865, this was the constitutional amendment prohibiting all forms of slavery and involuntary servitude. Former Confederate States were required to ratify the amendment prior to gaining re-entry into the Union. The amendment was ratified by the required number of states on December 6, 1865. On December 18, 1865, Secretary of State William H. Seward proclaimed its adoption.

Triangle Shirtwaist Fire

In 1911 the tragic fire killed 146 people, mostly women and children because the owner kept the stairwell doors locked to prevent theft, following stricter building acts and factory codes, and worker insurance

Adamson Act

In 1916, this law established an eight-hour day for all employees on trains involved in interstate commerce, with extra pay for overtime. It was the first federal law regulating the hours of workers in private companies, and, in 1917, was upheld by the Supreme Court in Wilson v. New.

Levittown

In 1947, William Levitt used mass production techniques to build inexpensive homes in suburban New York to help relieve the postwar housing shortage. Became a symbol of the movement to the suburbs in the years after WWII.

James Meredith

In 1962, He became the first black American to attend the University of Mississippi after being blocked several times by segregationist politicians. An icon of the Civil Rights Movement, Meredith receded from public view following his brace steps toward educational integration.

Battle of Fredericksburg

In December 1862, this battle was fought between Lee's Confederate Army of Virginia and Burnside's Union Army of the Potomac. Burnside ordered his more than 120,000 troops to cross the Rappahannock River, where they made a two-pronged attack on the right and left flanks of Lee's army; the rebel defenders turned back the Union assault. This was a decisive victory in victory in Virginia for Confederate Robert E. Lee, who successfully repelled a Union attack on his lines.

Battle of Bull Run (Manassas Junction)

In July 1861, this was the first major battle of the Civil War. Lincoln concluded to try an attack because success would demonstrate Union arms superiority and possibly lead to the capture of the Confederate Capital at Richmond. This would cause the South to be discredited, and the Union could be restored. The battle started off well for the Yankees; however, Confederate reinforcements arrived and claimed victory for the South. This battle dispelled Northern illusions of swift victory; however, it also inflated the southerners' overconfidence.

Battle of Gettysburg

In July 1863, this three-day battle was in Pennsylvania and ended in a victory for the Union when Gen. George Meade's army defeated Gen. Robert E. Lee's army. This spelled doom for the Confederacy, which never again managed to invade the North. More specifically, this was the site of General George Pickett's daring but doomed charge on the Northern lines. The battle involved the largest number of casualties of the entire war and is often described as the war's turning point.

Fall of France

In June 1940 France and most of Europe was conquered by Germany. Left Britain alone against Hitler. Hitler overran Denmark and Norway in April 1940, ending the "phony war." Hitler then moved on to the Netherlands and Belgium. By late June 1940, France was forced to surrender. When France surrendered, Americans realized that England was all that stood between Hitler controlling all of Europe.

Battle of Antietam

In September of 1862, Lee and McClellan faced off near Antietam creek in Sharpsburg, Maryland, in the the first battle of the American Civil War to be fought on northern soil. This was the landmark battle in the Civil War that essentially ended in a draw; however, it remains the bloodiest single day in American history, with more than 22,000 casualties. It demonstrated the prowess of the Union army, forestalling foreign intervention and giving Lincoln the "victory" he needed to issue the Emancipation Proclamation.

Nullification

In United States constitutional history, this is a legal theory that a state has the right to nullify, or invalidate, any federal law which that state has deemed unconstitutional. The theory of this has never been legally upheld by federal courts.

Second Battle of Bull Run

In Virginia during August 1862, this was the Civil War battle that ended in a decisive victory for the Confederate General Robert E. Lee, who was emboldened to push further into the North. Gen. "Stonewall" Jackson captured the Union supply depot at Manassas Junction, threatening Pope's line of communications with Washington, D.C. On August 29, Pope's Federals clashed with Jackson's men, who held their ground with heavy losses on both sides. The following day, after the rest of Lee's army arrived, 28,000 rebels led by James Longstreet launched a counterattack, forcing Pope to withdraw his battered army toward Washington that night.

Meuse-Argonne Offensive

In World War I, the final Allied offensive effort that brought about the end of the war. General John J. "Black Jack" Pershing led American troops in this effort to cut the German railroad lines supplying the western front. It was one of the few major battles that Americans participated in during the entire war, and was still underway when the war ended.

Dumbarton Oaks Conference

In a meeting near Washington, D.C., held from August 21 to October 7, 1944, U.S., Great Britain, U.S.S.R. and China met to draft the constitution of the United Nations.

Benjamin Franklin

In his life he was known by many titles, including inventor, author, politician, scientist and diplomat. He is also among the seven Founding Fathers of our country. In American history he made significant contributions to both education and literature. With his help the first American college free from denominational control (University of Pennsylvania) was launched. He also edited Poor Richard's Almanack, a yearly almanac, which represented the views of great minds such as himself.

Repressive/Intolerable Acts (1774)

In only Massachusetts, this was a punishment for the Boston Tea Party. It closed Boston's port, reduced powers of self-government, allowed for royal officers to be tried in England/other colonies, and provided quartering of British troops in empty houses/barns.

Protestant Reformation

In the 16th century, the movement to reform the Catholic Church. It was launched in Germany by Martin Luther. Reformers questioned the authority of the pope, sought to eliminate the selling of indulgences, and encouraged the translation of the Bible from Latin, which few at the time could read. The reformation was launched in England when King Henry VIII broke from the Roman Catholic Church.

National bank

In the United States, this term originally referred to the revolutionary-era Bank of North America. Later, it came to represent the First Bank of the United States, or its successor, the Second Bank of the United States. As part of Hamilton's Plan, it would save the government's surplus money until it was needed.

Quebec

In the outskirts of this town, a historic British victory over French forces took place. The surrender of this city marked the beginning of the end of French rule in North America.

Mary Baker Eddy

In the year 1879, she founded the Church of Christ, Scientist in Boston, Massachusetts. She preached that the true practice of Christianity heals sickness. She was the author of Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, and the founder of Christian Science, a set of beliefs and practices.

Korea/38th parallel

In the year 1948, this became the dividing line between North and South Korea, across which the fighting between communists and United Nations forces ebbed and flowed during the Korean War. Earlier, when Japan surrendered in August 1945, this was established as the boundary between Soviet and American occupation zones, dividing the Korean peninsula roughly in the middle.

Florida Purchase Treaty (Adams-Onís Treaty)

In this 1819 treaty, Spain gave Florida and other Spanish claims to Oregon which was replaced by the formerly American owned Texas. At the time Oregon was shared between the U.S. and Britain.

1844 election

In this election, Democrat James K. Polk defeated Whig Henry Clay in a close contest that turned on the controversial issue of slavery expansion through the annexation of the Republic of Texas. In place of Van Buren, Democrat James K. Polk emerged as America's first dark horse nominee. He ran on a platform that embraced America's popular commitment to territorial expansionism, often referred to as Manifest Destiny.

Election of 1948

In this election, the Republicans re-nominated New York governor Thomas E. Dewey. The Democrats nominated Truman for another term because Eisenhower refused to run. The Southern Democrats refused to support him because he was in favor of civil rights for blacks, so they nominated Governor J. Strom Thurmond from South Carolina, on a States Rights' party ticket. Former Vice President Henry A. Wallace ran as nominee of the new Progressive party. Wallace assailed dollar imperialism and seemed to be pro-Soviet. Because the Democrats were split between three candidates, Dewey seemed sure to win. However, Truman won and the Democrats regained control of Congress. Truman won because of support from farmers, workers, and blacks and because Dewey came across as being arrogant and evasive.

Treaty of Greenville

In this treaty, America received much land in the Old Northwest (Present day Ohio and Indiana) because of General Mad Anthony Wayne's victory over the Indians at the Battle of Fallen Timbers. It was signed in 1794, and ended the feud between the Miami Confederacy and Americans. As a trade, the Americans would give the Indians $20,000, the right to hunt the lands they lost, and recognition of their sovereign status.

Peggy Eaton Affair

In what is otherwise known as the Petticoat affair, this U.S. scandal involved members of President Andrew Jackson's Cabinet and their wives. Here, led by Floride Calhoun, wife of John C. Calhoun, the vice president, John and Peggy Eaton were socially ostracized after Peggy was accused of having an affair with him.

Caroline incident

Incident that began after an American steamer, the Caroline, was set afire by a British force. This ship carried goods across the river to Canadian insurgents, during Canada's short-lived insurrection. Later, a Canadian named Mcleod boasted about the raid and was arrested for murder, but he was later freed as his death would surely lead to war.

Revenue Act of 1934

Increased income taxes on higher incomes and also increased inheritance, large gft, and capital gains taxes

Ayatollah Khomeini

Iranian Shia Muslim religious leader, philosopher, revolutionary and politician. He was the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the leader of the 1979 Iranian Revolution that saw the overthrow of the Pahlavi Monarchy. After the revolution, he became the country's Supreme Leader, a position he held to his death.

California gold rush (1848)

Inflow of thousands of miners to Northern California after news reports of the discovery of gold at Sutter's Mill in January of 1848 had spread around the world by the end of that year. The onslaught of migrants prompted Californians to organize a government and apply for statehood in 1849.

Jean Jacques Rousseau

Influencing the the English Enlightenment, he was a prominent eighteenth-century philosopher. A Jacobin who believed in the importance of education of the whole person for citizenship.

Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FIDC)

Insured bank accounts due to loss of faith in banks during depression

Albany Congress (1754)

Intercolonial congress summoned by the British government. It aimed to foster greater colonial unity and assure Iroquois support in the escalating war against the French.

Natural Rights Theory

Introduced by John Locke, this theory is the belief of rights that are not dependent on the laws, customs, or beliefs of any particular culture or government. Therefore, Locke argued, these rights were universal, and should be enjoyed by all.

Ten Percent Plan

Introduced by President Lincoln, it proposed that a state could be readmitted to the Union. This would be reached once 10 percent of its voters had pledged loyalty to the United States and promised to honor emancipation.

Proclamation of Neutrality (1793)

Issued by George Washington, it proclaimed America's formal neutrality in the escalating conflict between England and France, a statement that enraged pro-French Jeffersonians.

Emancipation Proclamation

Issued on January 1, 1863 by President Lincoln, this declared all slaves in rebelling states to be free but did not affect slavery in non-rebelling Border States. This closed the door on possible compromise with the South and encouraged thousands of Southern slaves to flee to Union lines. While it didn't free a single slave, it was an important turning point in the war, transforming the fight to preserve the nation into a battle for human freedom.

Stamp Act

It mandated the use of stamped paper or the affixing of stamps, certifying payment of tax. It was a tax imposed by George Grenville in 1765 to raise revenues to support the new military force.

Chief Pontiac's War

It was a bloody campaign waged by Ottawa chief to drive the British out of Ohio Country in 1763. The natives were brutally crushed by British troops, who resorted to distributing blankets infected with smallpox as a means to put down the rebellion.

Roosevelt Corollary

It was a brazen policy of "preventative intervention" advocated by Theodore Roosevelt in his annual message to Congress in 1904. Adding ballast to the Monroe Doctrine, this stipulated that the U.S. would retain a right to intervene in the domestic affairs of Latin American nations in order to restore military and financial order.

Hoover Dam (Boulder Dam)

It was a massive public project that took six years to complete, creating the biggest artificial lake in the US. It was built to aid in irrigation, flood control, and production of electricity. The gigantic concrete structure was built on the Colorado River in Boulder City, Nevada. It helped provide water and electricity for the future population boom in California and Arizona.

U.S. Steel

J. P. Morgan and the attorney Elbert H. Gary founded this in 1901 by combining the Andrew Carnegie's Carnegie Steel Company with Gary's Federal Steel Company and William Henry "Judge" Moore's National Steel Company for $492 million. At one time, U.S. Steel was the largest steel producer and largest corporation in the world. U.S. Steel maintained the labor policies of Andrew Carnegie, which called for low wages and opposition to unionization. The Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers union that represented workers at the Homestead, Pennsylvania plant was, for many years, broken after a violent strike in 1892. Limited clashed over contract negotiations in what has become known as The Homestead Strike.

Martin van Buren

Jacksonian Democrat who became the eighth president of the United States after serving as vice president during Andrew Jackson's second term. As the president of the United States, he presided over the "hard times" wrought by the Panic of 1837, clinging to Jackson's monetary policies and rejecting federal intervention in the economy.

Kamikazes

Japanese suicide pilots who loaded their planes with explosives and crashed them into American ships. They demonstrated the Japanese mindset of never surrendering.

Meriwether Lewis

Jefferson's personal secretary who was sent with William Clark to explore the northern part of the Louisiana Purchase in 1804. With Clark, he ascended the Missouri River from St. Louis and spent the winter of 1804-1805 with the Mandan Indians in present-day North Dakota. Aided by Sacajawea, they struggled across the Rockies, finally descending the Columbia River to the Pacific coast.

Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty

John Hay and Frenchman, Bunau Varilla, negotiated the terms of building the canal and the zone for building it, Says the U.S. can build canal through Panama if they can stay independent. No Panamanian ever signed the treaty.

Henry Kissinger

Kissinger is a German-born American academic, political scientist, diplomat, and businessman. He served as National Security Advisor and later as Secretary of State in the administrations of Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford. After his term, his opinion was still sought by many subsequent presidents and many world leaders. Kissinger played a dominant role in United States foreign policy between 1969 and 1977. During this period, he pioneered the policy of détente with the Soviet Union, orchestrated the opening of relations with the People's Republic of China, and negotiated the Paris Peace Accords, ending American involvement in the Vietnam War.

Stephen C. Foster

Known as "the father of American music", he was an American songwriter primarily known for his parlor and minstrel music. He wrote over 200 songs; among his best-known are "Oh! Susanna", "Camptown Races", and "Old Folks at Home." He made a valuable contribution to American folk music by capturing the plaintive spirit of the slaves.

Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas

Landmark Supreme Court decision that overturned Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) and abolished racial segregation in public schools. The Court reasoned that "separate" was inherently "unequal," rejecting the foundation of the Jim Crow system of racial segregation in the South. This decision was the first major step toward the legal end of racial discrimination and a major accomplishment for the Civil Rights Movement.

Americans with Disabilities

Landmark law signed by President George H. W. Bush that prohibited discrimination against people with physical or mental handicaps. It represented a legislative triumph for champions of equal protections to all.

Pony Express

Lasting from 1860-1861, this short-lived mail service which relied on light-weight riders galloping between closely placed outposts was designed to speedily deliver between Missouri and California. It took around ten days for these riders to reach their destinations, which was remarkably quick at the time.

New Amsterdam

Later known as New York City, this was a company town. It was run by and for the Dutch Company, in the interest of their stockholders. There was no enthusiasm for religious toleration, free speech, or democratic practices; and governors were harsh and despotic. It attracted a cosmopolitan population, which was common in such seaport towns.

"War on poverty"

Law passed by Congress in 1973 limiting the President's ability to wage war without Congressional approval. The act required the President to notify Congress within 48 hours of committing troops to a foreign conflict. An important consequence of the Vietnam War, this piece of legislation sought to reduce the President's unilateral authority in military matters.

Elkins Act

Law passed by Congress to impose penalties on railroads that offered rebates and customers who accepted them. The law strengthened the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887. The Hepburn Act of 1906 added free passes to the list of railroad no-no's.

US Patriot Act

Law passed due to 9/11 attacks. It sought to prevent further terrorist attacks by allowing greater government access to electronic communications and other information; criticized by some as violating civil liberties.

Black Codes

Laws passed throughout the South to restrict the rights of emancipated blacks, particularly with respect to negotiating labor contracts. Increased Northerners' criticisms of President Andrew Johnson's lenient Reconstruction policies.

Daniel Webster

Lawyer, congressman, and secretary of state, he teamed up with Henry Clay in the Bank War against Andrew Jackson in 1832. Hoping to avoid sectional conflict, he opposed the annexation of Texas, but later urged the North to support the Compromise of 1850.

Chief Joseph

Leader of Nez Perce who fled with his tribe to Canada rather than the reservations. US troops later came, fought, and brought them back down to the reservations

John Jay

Leading American revolutionary and diplomat, who negotiated the Treaty of Paris and later, the much-criticized Jay Treaty of 1794, which averted war with Britain but failed to address key American grievances. Jay also served as the first chief justice of the Supreme Court from 1789-1795, a post he left to become governor of New York.

Sandinistas

Left-wing anti-American revolutionaries in Nicaragua who launched a civil war in 1979. This Nicaraguan group overthrew President Anastasio Somoza Debayle in 1979, ending 46 years of dictatorship by the Somoza family. They governed Nicaragua from 1979 to 1990.

Earl Warren

Liberal California politician appointed Chief Justice of the Supreme Court by Dwight Eisenhower in 1953 (served until 1969). Warren was principally known for moving the Court to the left in defense of civil and individual rights in such cases as Brown v. Board of Education (1954), Griswold v. Connecticut (1965), and Miranda v. Arizona (1966).

Eugene McCarthy

Liberal anti-war senator from Minnesota who rallied a large youth movement behind his presidential campaign in 1968. Challenging sitting president Johnson in the New Hampshire primary, he captured 41% of the vote and helped ensure that Johnson would quit the race

Townshend Acts

Light import duty on glass, white lead, paper, paint, and tea. Townshend, seizing on a dubious distinction between internal and external taxes, made this tax, unlike the Stamp Act, and indirect customs duty payable at American ports. The Non-Importation Agreements were quickly revived against this act, which proved less effective than the Stamp Act. These laws failed to produce revenue and led to near rebellion.

Gold Reserve Act

Limited use of gold for domestic purposes only; gold coins became collectors items

Gen. James Wolfe

Living from 1727 to 1759, this man was a young British commander. He skillfully outmaneuvered French forces in the Battle of Quebec during the French and Indian War.

Nicholas Biddle

Living from 1786 to 1844, he was a banker and financier. From 1822 to 1836, he served as President of the Second Bank of the United States until the bank's charter expired.

Lucretia Mott

Living from 1793 to 1880, she was one of the leading voices of the abolitionist and feminist movements of her time. Raised in a Quaker community, she became a member of the society's ministry and adopted its anti-slavery views. She and other women had become angry when they were not recognized at the London anti-slavery convention of 1840. She helped form the Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society in 1833, and later was among the founders of the American women's rights movement.

Santa Anna

Living from 1794 to 1876, he was a prominent Mexican general, president, and dictator. He opposed Texas' independence, later leading the Mexican army in the war against the United States.

Home Owners' Loan Corporation (HOLC)

Loaned money at low interest to homeowners who could not meet mortgage payments

Home Loan Bank Act

Lowered mortgage rates for homeowners and allowed farmers to refinance their farm loans and avoid foreclosure. Avoided eviction by reducing mortgage and loan rates as well as providing loans.

sectionalism

Loyalty or support of a particular region or section of the nation, rather than the United States as a whole. Slavery was particularly sectional issue, dividing the country into North and South to the extent that it led to the Civil War; for the most part, southerners supported slavery and northerners opposed it.

Iran Contra affair

Major political scandal of Ronald Reagan's second term. An illicit arrangement of selling "arms for hostages" with Iran and using money to support the contras in Nicaragua, the scandal deeply damaged Reagan's credibility.

Californios

Many of these people lived at or near the Spanish missions before the system fell into ruin. Vast ranches were formed by these people, and they prospered in California until the American victory. The lands these people recently acquired and the political power they recently established slipped away after the Mexican defeat and California Gold Rush. Unfortunately, by the 1870s, the brief ascendancy of these people had practically vanished.

Emily Dickinson

Massachusetts-born poet who, despite spending her life as a recluse, created a vivid inner world through her poetry, exploring themes of nature, love, death and immortality. Refusing to publish during her lifetime, she left behind nearly two thousand poems, which were published after her death.

Clara Barton

Massachusetts-born teacher and philanthropist who served as a nurse with the Union Army during the Civil War. After the war she became involved with the newly-formed International Red Cross, serving as the first president of the American branch from 1882 to 1904.

Glasnost

Meaning "openness," a cornerstone along with Perestroika of Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev's reform movement in the USSR in the 1980s. These policies resulted in greater market liberalization, access to the West, and ultimately the end of communist rule.

Perestroika

Meaning "restructuring," a cornerstone along with Glasnost of Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev's reform movement in the USSR in the 1980s. These policies resulted in greater market liberalization, access to the West, and ultimately the end of communist rule.

"spot" resolutions

Measures introduced by Illinois congressman Abraham Lincoln, questioning President James K. Polk's justification for war with Mexico. Lincoln requested that Polk clarify precisely where Mexican forces had attacked American troops.

McCormick reaper

Mechanized the harvest of grains, such as wheat, allowing farmers to cultivate larger plots. The introduction of this in the 1830s fueled the establishment of large-scale commercial agriculture in the Midwest.

Winfield Scott

Military officer and presidential candidate, he first made a name for himself as a hero of the War of 1812. During the war with Mexico, he led the American campaign against Mexico City, overcoming tremendous handicaps to lead his men to victory. He later made an unsuccessful bid for the presidency in 1852 as the Whig candidate.

Malcolm X

Minister of the Nation of Islam, urged blacks to claim their rights by any means necessary, more radical than other civil rights leaders of the time.

New Lights

Ministers who took part in the revivalist, emotive religious tradition pioneered by George Whitefield during the Great Awakening. The defended the Awakening for its role in revitalizing American religion.

Settlement House

Mostly run by middle-class native-born women, in immigrant neighborhoods, these provided housing, food, education, child care, cultural activities, and social connections for new arrivals to the United States. Many women, both native-born and immigrant, developed lifelong passions for social activism here.. Jane Addams's Hull House in Chicago and Lillian Wald's Henry Street Settlement in New York City were two of the most prominent.

Millennialism

Much of the religious enthusiasm of the Second Great Awakening was based on this belief that the world was about to end with the second coming of Christ. The preacher William Miller gained tens of thousands of followers by predicting the date the second coming would occur; however, this second coming didn't happen. His followers would eventually become the Seventh Day Adventists.

Emmett Till

Murdered in 1955 for whistling at a white woman by her husband and his friends. They kidnapped him and brutally killed him. his death led to the American Civil Rights movement.

Dollar Diplomacy

Name applied by President Taft's critics to the policy of supporting U.S. investments and political interests abroad. First applied to the financing of railways in China after 1909, the policy then spread to Haiti, Honduras, and Nicaragua. President Woodrow Wilson disavowed the practice, but his administration undertook comparable acts of intervention in support of U.S. business interests, especially in Latin America.

Reciprocity Trade Agreements Act (1934)

Nation sells abroad only if it buys abroad, tariffs only hurt trade & trade wars shooting wars; 39 countries agreed to this

NSC-68

National Security memo #68 US "strive for victory" in Cold War, pressed for offensive and gross increase ($37 billion) in defense spending, determined US foreign policy for the next 20-30 years

"Checkers" Speech

Nationally televised address by vice-presidential candidate Richard Nixon. Using the new mass medium of television shortly before the 1952 election, the vice presidential candidate saved his place on the ticket by defending himself against accusations of corruption.

Code Talkers

Native American men who served in the military by transmitting radio messages in their native languages, which were undecipherable by German and Japanese spies

Apache

Native American-Indian tribe; 1870's; group from Arizona and New Mexico led by Geronimo were difficult to control; chased into Mexico by Federal troops; they became successful farmers raising stock in Oklahoma

Huron Indians

Native group who had a strong relationship with the French and were enemies of the Iroquois. They allied with French in the French Indian War.

George Dewey

Naval commander whose spectacular May Day victory in 1898 (in the Philippines) opened the doors to American imperialism in Asia. He was the Admiral of the Navy, and the only one to hold such a rank.

Rome-Berlin Axis

Nazi Germany, under Adolf Hitler, and Fascist Italy, led by Benito Mussolini, allied themselves together under this nefarious treaty. The pact was signed after both countries had intervened on behalf of the fascist leader Francisco Franco during the Spanish Civil War.

Adolf Hitler

Nazi dictator of Germany from 1933 to 1945, he was the mastermind behind the Holocaust. He founded the National Socialist Party, or Nazi Party, which was extreme fascism that was characterized by anti-Semitism and scientific racism. His rapacious quest for power provoked World War II.

Herman Melville

New York author who spent his youth as a whaler on the high seas, an experience which no doubt inspired his epic novel, Moby Dick. This epic novel is a complex allegory of good and evil, told by its narrator Ishmael in terms of the conflict between a whaling captain, Ahab, and a giant white whale, Moby Dick. Although his novel is now seen as a literary masterpiece, when it was first published it wasn't regarded as popular.

Lord De La Warr

New governor who led a long-awaited relief party for the remaining colonists and met at the James River. He ordered them back to Jamestown, imposed a harsh military regime, and undertook aggressive military action against the Indians.

William Randolph Hearst

Newspaper publisher who adopted a sensationalist style. His reporting was partly responsible for igniting the Spanish-American War.

Anthony Wayne

Nicknamed "Mad Anthony", this general defeated the invading northwest Indians at the Battle of Fallen Timbers. This defeat of the Indians ended the alliance made between the British and Indians.

Spiro Agnew

Nixon's vice-president resigned and pleaded "no contest" to charges of tax evasion on payments made to him when he was governor of Maryland. He was replaced by Gerald R. Ford.

Congress of Racial Equality

Nonviolent civil rights organization founded in 1942 and committed to the "Double V"—victory over fascism abroad and racism at home. After World War II, CORE would become a major force in the civil rights movement.

Choctaws

North American native group living in the Southeast that spoke Muskogean. Three-sister farming and other agricultural methods helped this group become one of the most population dense societies in North America, such as the Cherokees and Creeks.

King George's War

North American theater of Europe's War of Austrian Succession that once again pitted British colonists against their French counterparts in the North. The peace settlement did not involve any territorial realignment, leading to conflict between New England settlers and the British government.

NATO

North Atlantic Treaty Organization; an alliance made to defend one another if they were attacked by any other country; participants are the US, England, France, Canada, and Western European countries

Copperheads

Northern Democrats who did what they could to obstruct the war effort. They attacked Abraham Lincoln, the draft, and after 1863, emancipation.

"conscience" Whigs

Northern Whigs who opposed slavery on moral grounds. They sought to prevent the annexation of Texas as a slave state, fearing that the new slave territory would only serve to buttress the Southern "slave power".

Popular sovereignty

Notion that the sovereign people of a given territory should decide whether to allow slavery. Seemingly a compromise, it was largely opposed by Northern abolitionists who feared it would promote the spread of slavery to the territories.

The Path Between the Seas

Novel written by David McCullough which was about those involved with the construction of the Panama Canal.

Nuremberg Trials

Nuremberg, Germany: City where high ranking Nazis were tried and sentenced after WWII (1945-1946). At first, Americans wanted to dismantle German factories and reduce the country to nothing. The Soviets, denied of American economic assistance, were determined to rebuild their nation through reparations from Germany. Eventually, Americans realized that a flourishing German economy was indispensable to the recovery of Europe. The Soviets refused to realize this.

Dartmouth College v. Woodward

Occurring in 1819, the ruling of this case was one of Marshall's best remembered decisions. Under King George III in 1769, this college was granted a charter which the state of New Hampshire had since altered. Despite the pleas of alumni Daniel Webster, who was Dartmouth's representative, Marshall had ruled that the original charter must hold for the reason being that it was a contract. Looking from a positive perspective, this ruling helped protect business enterprises from domination of state governments. On the other hand, this allowed chartered corporations to avoid public control.

Jay Gould

Often regarded as the most unethical of the Robber Barons. After damaging his reputation in a gold speculation that instigated the panic of Black Friday in 1869, he went on to gain control of western railroads and by 1882, had controlling interest in 15% of the country's tracks. Although mistrusted by many of his contemporaries, he was recognized as a skilled businessman.

Social Security Act

On August 14, 1935, it established a system of old-age benefits for workers, benefits for victims of industrial accidents, unemployment insurance, aid for dependent mothers and children, the blind, and the physically handicapped.

Battle of Buena Vista (1847)

On February 22-23, 1847, General Zachary Taylor's weakened force of five thousand men was attacked by some twenty thousand march-weary troops under Santa Anna. The Mexicans were finally repulsed with extreme difficulty, and overnight Zachary Taylor became the "Hero of Buena Vista."

Fair Employment Practices Committee

On June 25, 1941, President Roosevelt created the Fair Employment Practices Committee (FEPC) by signing Executive Order 8802, which stated, "there shall be no discrimination in the employment of workers in defense industries or government because of race, creed, color, or national origin." It was intended to help African Americans and other minorities obtain jobs in the home front industry. In 1943, Roosevelt greatly strengthened the FEPC with a new executive order, which required that all government contracts have a nondiscrimination clause. In the private sector the FEPC was generally successful in enforcing non-discrimination in the North, and it did not attempt to challenge segregation in the South.

Boston Massacre

On March 5, 1770, sixty-two townspeople began taunting and throwing snowballs at a squad of ten redcoats. Nervous and provoked by the crowd, the troops opened fire and killed five, wounding eleven citizens.

Battle of Saratoga

On September 19, 1777 General Burgoyne's army ran into the army of American general Horatio Gate, prompting a battle. The British had another battle on October 7, which Burgoyne and his troops lost again. Burgoyne and his army surrendered on October 17, 1777, in ___, after being surrounded by American forces.

Creeks

One group of North American natives that were Muskogean and lived in the American Southeast. Agriculture, such as three-sister farming helped this group become one of the most population dense societies in North America like the Choctaws and Cherokees. After European contact, this tribe survived longer than many others.

Sir Walter Raleigh

One of Queen Elizabeth's courtiers who launched important colonizing failures in the New World. He seduced and married one of the queen's maids of honor, thus he fell out of favor but continued his colonial ventures in the hopes of challenging Catholic Spain's dominance in the Americas. He was beheaded for treason.

Hispaniola

One of the larger islands in the Caribbean that is present-day Haiti. Columbus and his men found it on Christmas Day, naming it Navidad. Later in life, Columbus would be a colonial administrator on this island.

Oneida community

One of the more radical utopian communities established in the nineteenth century. It advocated "free love", birth control, and eugenics. These utopian communities, in general, reflected the reformist spirit of the age.

Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)

One of the most revolutionary of the New Deal public works projects it brought cheap electric power, full employment, low-cost housing, and environmental improvements to Americans in the Tennessee Valley.

Anti-Federalists

Opponents of the 1787 Constitution, they cast the document as antidemocratic. They also objected to the subordination of the states to the central government and feared encroachment on individuals' liberties in the absence of a bill of rights. Some leaders included Samuel Adams, Patrick Henry, and Richard Henry Lee, and their followers were mostly states' right devotees, backcountry dwellers, and one-horse farmers.

Executive Order 9066

Order of President Franklin D. Roosevelt authorizing the War Department to remove Japanese "enemy aliens" to isolated internment camps. Immigrants and citizens alike were sent away from their homes, neighbors, schools, and businesses. The Japanese internment policy was held to be constitutional by the United States Supreme Court in Korematsu v. U.S. (1944). It was issued because of the fear for the country's safety and also Japanese-American's safety.

H-Bomb

Ordered by Truman, the first U.S. H-bomb was exploded in 1952. The Soviets exploded their first H-bomb in 1953, and the nuclear arms race entered a dangerously competitive cycle

New England Immigrant Aid Society

Organization created to facilitate the migration of free laborers to Kansas in order to prevent the establishment of slavery in the territory. These travelers were often armed with sharp rifles nicknamed "Beecher's Bibles" after Reverend Henry Ward Beecher.

United Farm Workers

Organizing Committee Headed by Cesar Chavez, it succeeded in helping to improve working conditions. It was organized to help mainly the Chicano population

Old Lights

Orthodox clergymen who rejected the emotionalism of the Great Awakening. They were in favor of a more rational spirituality.

Middle Passage

Part of the Triangle trade, Africans were transported to the Americas, where they were traded for sugar and tobacco. The transatlantic voyages slaves endured between Africa and other colonies, where mortality rates were notoriously high.

Non-Intercourse Act

Passed alongside the repeal of the Embargo Act, it reopened trade with all but the two belligerent nations, Britain and France. This continued Jefferson's policy of economic coercion, still with little effect.

Smith-Connally Anti-Strike Act

Passed amidst worries about the effects that labor strikes would have on war production, this law allowed the federal government to seize and operate plants threatened by labor disputes. It also criminalized strike action against government-run companies.

Fugitive Slave Law

Passed as part of the Compromise of 1850, it set high penalties for anyone who aided escaped slaves and compelled all law enforcement officers to participate in retrieving runaways. The passage of this legislation strengthened the antislavery cause in the North.

Adjusted Compensation Act (Bonus Act of 1936)

Passed by Congress in 1924 after a bonus bill was vetoed by Harding in 1922. It gave every former soldier an insurance policy due in 20 years. It added about $3.5 billion to the total cost of the war. Coolidge vetoed it, but Congress upheld it.

Tea Act

Passed in 1773 by Parliament, its goal was to reduce the massive amount of tea held by the financially troubled British East India Company in its London warehouses and to help the struggling company survive. Therefore, tea was sold at a much lower cost; however, the Americans viewed this as a shabby attempt to make them swallow the principle of the tax.

National Security Act

Passed in 1947 in response to perceived threats from the Soviet Union after WWII. It established the Department of Defense and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and National Security Council.

27th Amendment

Passed in 1992, this amendment restricted congressional pay raises-Congress could no longer increase its own pay

Civil Rights Bill

Passed over Andrew Johnson's veto, the bill aimed to counteract the Black Codes by conferring citizenship on African Americans and making it a crime to deprive blacks of their rights to sue, testify in court, or hold property.

Treaty of Utrecht (1713)

Peace terms, signed here in 1713 showed how badly France had been beaten in Queen Anne's War. The British were awarded Acadia and Newfoundland as part of this peace negotiation.

Carpetbaggers

Pejorative used by Southern whites to describe Northern businessmen and politicians who came to the South after the Civil War to work on Reconstruction projects or invest in Southern infrastructure. This term reflected the South's persistent hostility and distrust towards Northerners even after the Civil War.

Declaration of Independence

Penned by Thomas Jefferson, this formal statement of separation was approved by the Congress on July 4, 1776. The separation was justified in this declaration due to misdeeds towards the colonists committed by King George III. These misdeeds included the following: imposing taxes without consent, dispensing with trial by jury, abolishing valued laws, establishing a military dictatorship, maintaining standing armies in peacetime, cutting off trade, burning towns, hiring mercenaries, and inciting hostility towards the Indians.

David Wilmot

Pennsylvania congressman best known for his "Wilmot Proviso"-a failed amendment that would have prohibited slavery from any of the territories acquired from Mexico. He later went on to help organize the Free Soil and Republican parties, supporting Abraham Lincoln in 1860.

Mayans

People from an advanced civilization located in the Yucatan Peninsula. These people had a complex written and spoken language, but they are most well known for their advanced calendar system and mathematics.

Habeas corpus

Petition requiring law enforcement officers to present detained individuals before the court to examine the legality of the arrest. This protects individuals from arbitrary state action. During the Civil War, Lincoln suspended it.

Declaration of Rights

Petition to the king which demanded the repeal of the Coercive Acts, refused the Declaratory Act, and stated that British control was limited to matters of trade. In 1775, Congress vowed to cut off all exports to Britain, Ireland, and the British West Indies.

Horizontall Integration

Pioneered by John D. Rockefeller, this system was not very efficient. The basic principle of horizontal integration was to ally with competitors to gain a total monopoly over a certain product. While it was not necessarily cost efficient, it was better for a highly competitive market

Kent State University

Place of a massacre of four college students by National Guardsmen on May 4, 1970, in Ohio. In response to Nixon's announcement that he had expanded the Vietnam War into Cambodia, college campuses across the country exploded in violence.

Moral Majority

Political action committee founded by evangelical Reverend Jerry Falwell in 1979 to promote traditional Christian values and oppose feminism, abortion, and gay rights. The group was a major linchpin in the resurgent religious right of the 1980s.

"Star Wars"

Popular name for Reagan's proposed space-based nuclear defense system, officially called the Strategic Defense Initiative

Seward's Folly

Popular term for Secretary of State William Seward's purchase of Alaska from Russia. The derisive term reflected the anti-expansionist sentiments of most Americans immediately after the Civil War.

Bill of Rights

Popular term for the first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution. The amendments secure key rights for individuals and reserve to the states all powers not explicitly delegated or prohibited by the Constitution.

"Pet" banks

Popular term for the pro-Jackson state banks that received the bulk of federal deposits when Andrew Jackson moved to dismantle the Bank of the United States in 1833. These banks were selected by the U.S. Department of Treasury to receive these surplus funds.

Plantation system

Portuguese adventurers in Africa were to be found the origins of this modern system. This kind of economy would shape the destiny of much of the New World.

"The new Frontier"

President Kennedy's nickname for his domestic policy agenda. Buoyed by youthful optimism, the program included proposals for the Peace Corps and efforts to improve education and health care.

"The Great Society"

President Lyndon Johnson's term for his domestic policy agenda. Billed as a successor to the New Deal, the Great Society aimed to extend the postwar prosperity to all people in American society by promoting civil rights and fighting poverty. Great Society programs included the War on Poverty, which expanded the Social Security system by creating Medicare and Medicaid to provide health care for the aged and the poor. Johnson also signed laws protecting consumers and empowering community organizations to combat poverty at grassroots levels.

Saddam Hussein

President of Iraq from 1979 to 2003. He waged war on Iran from 1980 to 1988 and in 1990, ordered an invasion of Kuwait but was defeated by the US and its allies in the Gulf War (1991). He was defeated in 2003 by an invasion led by the United States.

Sam Houston

President of the Republic of Texas and U.S. Senator, he led Texas to independence in 1836 as commander in chief of the Texas army. As a president of the Republic, he unsuccessfully sought annexation into the United States. Once Texas officially joined the Union in 1845, Houston was elected to the U.S. Senate, later returning to serve as Governor of Texas until 1861, when he removed from office for refusing to take an oath of loyalty to the Confederacy.

Turnpike

Privately funded, toll-based public road constructed in the early nineteenth century to facilitate commerce. The term was coined to describe the sharp pikes awaiting vehicles at the tollgate, which turned when drivers paid their toll.

OPEC and the 1970s oil crisis

Proclaimed an embargo on oil in response to us support of Israel; would limit/stop oil shipments to us or anyone else who supported Israel; Nixon began negotiations with arab oil producers; Kissinger negotiated an Israeli pull back from Sinai.

Enumerated goods

Products, such as tobacco, that were required to be shipped exclusively to Britain, even though prices might be better elsewhere. This requirement for the shipment of these goods originated from one of the laws from the Navigation Laws.

Affirmative Action

Program designed to redress historic racial and gender imbalances in jobs and education. The term grew from an executive order issued by John F. Kennedy in 1961 mandating that projects paid for with federal funds could not discriminate based on race in their hiring practices. In the late 1960s, President Nixon's Philadelphia Plan changed the meaning of affirmative action to require attention to certain groups, rather than protect individuals against discrimination.

15th Amendment

Prohibited states from denying citizens the franchise on account of race. It disappointed feminists who wanted the Amendment to include guarantees for women's suffrage.

Charles Townshend

Promising to get money from the colonists without ruffling any feathers, he proposed a light import tax on some objects; this revenue would be used to pay colonial officials. In 1767, he persuaded Parliament to pass the Townshend Acts.

Federalists

Proponents of the 1787 Constitution, they favored a strong national government. They argued that the checks and balances in the new Constitution would safeguard the people's liberties. Some leaders included George Washington and Benjamin Franklin, and most of them lived in the settled areas along the seaboard. Overall, they were more wealthy, educated, organized, and controlling of the press.

Lecompton Constitution

Proposed Kansas constitution, whose ratification was unfairly rigged so as to guarantee slavery in the territory. Initially ratified by proslavery forces, it was later voted down when Congress required that the entire constitution be put up for a vote.

Kansas-Nebraska Act

Proposed that the issue of slavery be decided by popular sovereignty in the Kansas and Nebraska territories, thus revoking the 1820 Missouri Compromise. Introduced by Stephen Douglass in an effort to bring Nebraska into the Union and pave way for a northern transcontinental railroad.

Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1933 (AAA)

Protected farmers from price drops by providing crop subsidies to reduce production, educational programs to teach methods of preventing soil erosion.

Congregational Church

Protestant Christian churches, in which each church runs its own affairs, and do not connect with one another, Many of the churches have Protestant theories of unity. They were established the the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and later in New England.

Reverend Josiah Strong

Protestant clergyman and author of Our Country: Its Possible Future and Its Present Crisis (1885). He touted the superiority of Anglo-Saxon civilization and helped summon Americans to spread their religion abroad.

Lyceums

Public lecture halls that hosted speakers on topics ranging from science to moral philosophy. They proved to be an essential part of a broader flourishing of higher education in the mid-nineteenth century.

Oliver Cromwell

Puritan soldier, who beheaded King Charles I and ruled over England for about a decade. He was displaced and Charles II was later restored to the throne in 1660.

Tom Watson

Radical Populist leader whose early success turned sour, and who then became a vicious racist.

19th Amendment

Ratified on August 18, 1920, this prohibits any United States citizen from being denied the right to vote on the basis of sex. The amendment was the culmination of the women's suffrage movement in the United States, which fought at both state and national levels to achieve the vote. It effectively overruled Minor v. Happersett, in which a unanimous Supreme Court ruled that the Fourteenth Amendment did not give women the right to vote.

18th Amendment

Ratified on January 16, 1919, this established the prohibition of alcoholic beverages in the United States by declaring the production, transport, and sale of alcohol illegal. For the following 13 years, prohibition was officially in effect, though the ability to enforce it was limited by the Volstead Act and by corrupt and complacent politicians who overlooked illicit manufacturing and smuggling. It was repealed in 1933 by ratification of the Twenty-first Amendment.

Underwood-Simmons Tariff

Re-imposed the federal income tax following the ratification of the Sixteenth Amendment and lowered basic tariff rates from 40% to 25%, well below the Payne-Aldrich Tariff Act of 1909. It was signed into law by President Woodrow Wilson on October 3, 1913, and was sponsored by Alabama Representative Oscar Underwood

Nuclear Test Ban Treaty

Reacting to Soviet nuclear tests, this treaty was signed on August 5, 1963 and prohibited nuclear testing undersea, in air and in space. Only underground testing was permitted. It was signed by all major powers except France and China.

Strategic Defense Initiative

Reagan administration plan announced in 1983 to create a missile-defense system over American territory to block a nuclear attack. Derided as "Star Wars" by critics, the plan typified Reagan's commitment to vigorous defense spending even as he sought to limit the size of government in domestic matters.

'Smoking gun tape"

Recording made in the Oval Office in June 1972 that proved conclusively that Nixon knew about the Watergate break-in and endeavored to cover it up. Led to complete break-down in Congressional support for Nixon after the Supreme Court ordered he hand the tape to investigators.

New Immigration

Refers to the second wave of immigrants from southern and eastern Europe. They were often more poor and less educated than "Old" Immigrants and congregated in ethnic urban neighborhoods. Many native born Americans responded with nativist views and anti-immigrant campaigns.

American Colonization Society

Reflecting the focus of early abolitionists on transporting freed blacks back to Africa, the organization established Liberia, a West-African settlement intended as a haven for emancipated slaves. This society became problematic however because most blacks had already become partially Americanized and didn't want to move elsewhere. In addition, by 1860 virtually all Southern slaves were no longer Africans, but native-born African-Americans who had their own distinctive history and culture.

Sally Tompkins

Renowned in the South, she ran a Richmond infirmary for wounded Confederate soldiers and was awarded the rank of captain by Confederate president Jefferson Davis. Under her supervision, she had the lowest death rate of any hospital Union or Confederate during the Civil War. Whatever her devotion and work, she has been remembered as the "Angel of the Confederacy".

21st Amendment

Repeal of Eighteenth Amendment; state and local prohibition no longer required by law.

Thomas B. Reed

Republican Speaker of the House in 1888, he gained a reputation for an iron grip over Congress and kept Democrats in line.

James A. Garfield

Republican candidate in the presidential election of 1880 (against Democrat Winfield Scott Hancock). He won the election but was assassinated by Charles J. Guiteau a year later.

Rutherford B. Hayes

Republican presidential nominee in 1876 (against Democrat Tilden). He was chosen because Grant was out of the running and the Conklingites and Blaineites were neutralizing each other, he was a compromising candidate. He won through the Compromise of 1877. While in office, he called in federal troops to quell the unrest over a railroad strike which brought the striking laborers support from the working-class

Meat Inspection Act

Required strict cleanliness requirements for meat packers and created a program of federal meat inspection. It came about in 1906 as a result of president Roosevelt reading Upton Sinclair's The Jungle. Roosevelt appointed a commission of experts to investigate the meatpacking industry. They reported back the disgusting conditions in the industry

Tenure of Office Act

Required the President to seek approval from the Senate before removing appointees. When Andrew Johnson removed his secretary of war in violation of the act, he was impeached by the house but remained in office when the Senate fell one vote short of removing him.

Jerry Falwell

Reverend and Leader of the Religious Right Fundamentalist Christians, a group that supported Reagan; rallying cry was "family values"; anti-feminist, anti-homosexuality, anti-abortion, favored prayer in schools

George Washington

Revolutionary war general who would become the first president of the United States. A Virginia-born planter, Washington established himself as a military hero during the French and Indian War. He served as commander in chief of the Continental Army during the War of Independence, securing key victories at Saratoga and Yorktown.

Daniel Shays

Revolutionary war veteran who led a group of debtors and impoverished backcountry farmers in a rebellion against the Massachusetts government in 1786, calling for paper money, lighter taxes, and an end to property seizures for debt. Though quickly put down, the rebellion raised the specter of mob rule, precipitating calls for a stronger national government.

H. Ross Perot

Rose as a significant third party candidate in the 1992 election. A tech-company billionaire who spent his own money campaigning, he ran on one main issue: the U.S. must get the debt under control-he caused the split votes letting Democrats win

Standard Oil Company

Run by John D. Rockefeller, the Standard Oil Company was created in 1870. The formation of the trust system in the company soon eliminated all competition, making it one of the top petroleum markets in the world.

Rural Electrification Administration

Rural Electrification Administration (REA), former agency of the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture administered loan programs for electrification and telephone service in rural areas. The REA undertook to provide farms with inexpensive electric lighting and power. To implement those goals the administration made long-term, self-liquidating loans to state and local governments, to farmers' cooperatives, and to nonprofit organizations; no loans were made directly to consumers.

Nagasaki

Second Japanese city that was hit by another atomic bomb on August 9, 1945.

Ostend Manifesto

Secret Franklin Pierce administration proposal to purchase or, that failing, to wrest militarily Cuba from Spain. Once leaked, it was quickly abandoned due to vehement opposition from the North.

Henry Clay

Secretary of State under John Quincy Adams, he was known as the "Great Compromiser". He helped negotiate the Missouri Compromise in 1820, the Compromise Tariff of 1833, and eventually the Compromise of 1850. He was a National Republican, and later became a Whig. He created the American System, which was a strong national agenda of international improvements and protective tariffs.:

Cordell Hull

Secretary of State under President Roosevelt and chief architect of the low-tariff reciprocal trade policy of the New Dealers. Foreign trade increased appreciably under all the trade pacts that he negotiated. One of the chief architects behind the United Nations, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1945 for "co-initiating the United Nations."

Edwin Stanton

Secretary of War under Presidents Lincoln and Johnson, Stanton advocated for stronger measures against the South during Reconstruction, particularly after widespread violence against African Americans erupted in the region. In 1868, Johnson removed Stanton in violation of the 1867 Tenure of Office Act, giving pretence for Radical Republicans in the House to impeach him.

John McCain

Senator from AZ who rain for President in 2008 on the Republican ticket; an independent thinker who could be explosive at times; plain speaker and had a reputation for honesty; survived 5 yrs in POW camp in Vietnam;

William Clark

Sent by Thomas Jefferson, this young army officer explored the northern part of the Louisiana Purchase. He and Meriwether Lewis ascended the Missouri River from St. Louis and spent the winter of 1804-1805 with the Mandan Indians in present-day North Dakota. Aided by Sacajawea, they struggled across the Rockies, finally descending the Columbia River to the Pacific coast.

Robert de la Salle

Sent by the French, this explorer was send down the Mississippi River in the 1680s. The Spanish did not begin to explore here until around 1716, when they established settlements in Texas.

Robert E. Lee

Served as a military officer in the U.S. Army, a West Point commandant and the legendary general of the Confederate Army during the American Civil War. In June 1861, he assumed command of the Army of Northern Virginia, which he would lead for the rest of the war. Lee and his army achieved great success during the Peninsula Campaign and at Second Bull Run and Fredericksburg, with his greatest victory coming in the bloody Battle of Chancellorsville. In the spring of 1863, he invaded the North, only to be defeated at the Battle of Gettysburg. With Confederate defeat a near certainty, he continued on, battling Union General Ulysses S. Grant in a series of clashes in Virginia in 1864-65 before finally surrendering what was left of his army in April 1865.

Dean Achenson

Served as the U.S. Secretary of State in the administration of President Harry S. Truman, and played a central role in defining American foreign policy during the Cold War. He helped design the Marshall Plan and was a key player in the development of the Truman Doctrine and creation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

Alice Paul

She led the National Woman's Party and the Congressional Union. Through her organizations and efforts, she campaigned for an equal rights amendment, and led several protests.

Sojourner Truth

She was a United States abolitionist and feminist who was freed from slavery in 1827. She went on to become a leading advocate of the abolition of slavery and for the rights of women. She often met prejudice from anti-feminist white abolitionists who also expected free black people to be quiet members of the movement.

Susan B. Anthony

She was a pioneer crusader for the woman suffrage movement in the United States and president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association from 1892 to 1900. Her work helped pave the way for the Nineteenth Amendment's addition to the Constitution in 1920, giving women the right to vote.

Lucy Stone

She was a pioneering abolitionist and women's rights activist. She is best known for refusing to change her last name when she married the abolitionist Henry Blackwell in 1855.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton

She was a prominent 19th century suffragist and civil rights activist, who became involved in the abolitionist movement after a progressive upbringing. She shocked many when she insisted on leaving "obey" out of her marriage ceremony. She helped organize the world's first women's rights convention in 1848, and formed the National Women's Loyal League with Susan B. Anthony in 1863. Seven years later, they established the National Woman Suffrage Association.

Harriet Tubman

She was an American abolitionist, humanitarian, and a spy for the United States Army during the American Civil War. Born into slavery, she escaped and subsequently made some thirteen missions to rescue approximately seventy enslaved families and friends, using the network of antislavery activists and safe houses known as the Underground Railroad. She later helped abolitionist John Brown recruit men for his raid on Harpers Ferry, and in the post-war era was an active participant in the struggle for women's suffrage.

Neutrality Acts of 1935, 1936, and 1937

Short-sighted acts passed in 1935, 1936, and 1937 in order to prevent American participation in a European War. Among other restrictions, they prevented Americans from selling munitions to foreign belligerents.

20th Amendment

Shortened "lame duck" period following election day in November- inaugurations for President, Vice President, Senators, and Representatives will now be in January instead of March. (1933)

Rush-Bagot Agreement

Signed by Britain and the United States, it established strict limits on naval armaments in the Great Lakes, a first step in the full demilitarization of the U.S.-Canadian border, completed in the 1870s. It limited naval power on the Great lakes for both the US and Canada, demilitarizing the Great Lakes. Both Britain and the U.S. were limited to one, armed large vessel on Lake Champlain and Lake Ohio.

Clayton-Bulwer Treaty

Signed by Great Britain and the United States, it provided that the two nations would jointly protect the neutrality of Central America and that neither power would seek to fortify or exclusively control any future isthmian waterway. Later revoked by the Hay-Pauncefote Treaty of 1901, which gave the United States control of the Panama Canal

Treaty of 1898

Signed on December 20, 1898 by Spain and the United States, this ended one war and set the stage for another. The treaty gave the United States temporary control over Cuba and actual possession of Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines. Spain received $20 million.

Elvis Presley

Singer whose music helped to transform and revolutionize popular music in the 1950s; fused rhythm and blues with bluegrass and country to form a new genre of music known as rock n' roll.

Roanoke Island

Sir Walter Raleigh's failed colonial settlement of the coast of North Carolina. Despite the colonists' many attempts, this colony failed miserably and vanished mysteriously.

Appomattox Courthouse

Site were Robert E. Lee surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant in April 1865 after almost a year of brutal fighting throughout Virginia in the "Wilderness Campaign."

Abraham Lincoln

Sixteenth president of the United States. An Illinois lawyer and politician, he briefly served in Congress from 1847-1848, introducing the famous "spot" resolutions on the Mexican War. He gained national prominence in 1858 during the debates in the Illinois Senate race and emerged as the leading contender for the Republican nomination in 1860. His election in 1860 drove South Carolina from the Union, eventually leading to the Civil War.

Christopher Columbus

Skilled Italian sailor who, with his crew, stumbled upon the Americas on October 12, 1492 when looking for a new overseas trade route to Asia. His voyage was funded by the Spanish rulers Isabella and Ferdinand, and he was given three ships and ninety men for the journey. After the first successful trip, he was given more ships and men by the Spanish rulers and went on two more voyages.

War of Jenkin's Ear

Small-scale clash between Britain and Spain in the Caribbean and in the buffer colony, Georgia. It merged with the much larger War of Austrian Succession in 1742.

"Hawks" and "Doves"

So-called Hawks supported the Vietnam War, whereas Doves opposed the war. This refers to the polarization of American society in the 1960s, when one side called for intensification of the Vietnam conflict, and another side wanted de-escalation or withdrawal.

Winston Churchill

Soldier, politician and prime minister of Britain. He is known as one of the greatest 20th century heroes and is remembered for his indomitable spirit while leading Great Britain to victory in WWII.

James Oglethorpe

Soldier-statesman and leading founder of Georgia. A champion of prison reform, he established Georgia as a haven for debtors seeking to avoid imprisonment. During the war of Jenkin's Ear, he successfully led his colonists in battle, repelling a Spanish attack on British territory.

Boer War

Sometimes known as the South African War, this conflict started in 1899, and stretched to 1902. Aided by its African allies, Great Britain defeated the South African Republic and the Orange Free State. Because they were fighting the war, the British gave up their opposition to an American-controlled Isthmian Canal (Panama Canal).

John Quincy Adams

Son of second president John Adams, he served as Secretary of State under James Monroe before becoming the sixth president of the United States. He was a strong advocate of national finance and improvement, and often faced opposition from states' rights advocates in the South and West. His controversial election - the allegedly "corrupt bargain" of 1824 - and his lack of political acumen further hampered his presidential agenda.

Joseph Stalin

Soviet dictator from Lenin's death in 1922 until his own death in 1953. He led the Soviet Union through World War II and shaped Soviet policies in the early years of the Cold War. He secured protective "satellite states" in Eastern Europe at Yalta Conference and pushed Soviet scientists to develop atomic weapons, escalating an arms race with the United States.

Francisco Coronado

Spanish explorer who traveled from Western Mexico through Arizona, and up to Kansas. He was searching for fabled golden cities, but found nothing more exciting than cliff dwellings and the Grand Canyon.

Conquistadores

Spanish explorers that set out along the Caribbean and the Americas in pursuit of gold and glory. Some of the motives that spurred their adventures include royal titles and favors by bringing new peoples under the Spanish flag, God's favor by spreading Christianity to pagans, escape from dubious pasts, and the idea of historical adventure modeled by heroes from classical antiquity.

Francisco Franco

Spanish general who became head of state after his fascistic troops prevailed over the republican Loyalists in the Spanish Civil War. He remained head of the Spanish state until his death in 1975.

Encomienda

Spanish government's policy to "commend," or give, Indians to certain colonists in return for the promise to Christianize them. Part of a broader Spanish effort to subdue Indian tribes in the WEst Indies and on the North American mainland.

Cuban Missile Crisis

Standoff between John F. Kennedy and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev in October 1962 over Soviet plans to install nuclear weapons in Cuba. Although the crisis was ultimately settled in America's favor and represented a foreign policy triumph for Kennedy, it brought the world's superpowers perilously close to the brink of nuclear confrontation.

Pullman Strike (1894)

Strike by railroad workers upset by drastic wage cuts. It was led by socialist Eugene Debs but the American Federation of Labor did not support this strike. Eventually, President Grover Cleveland intervened and federal troops forced an end to the strike. This highlighted both division within labor and the government's new willingness to use armed force to combat work stoppages

Little Rock Central High School

Students were initially prevented from entering the racially segregated school by Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus, and then attended after the intervention of President Eisenhower. This is often considered to be one of the most important events in the African-American Civil Rights Movement. On their first day of school, troops from the Arkansas National Guard would not let them enter the school and they were followed by mobs making threats to lynch.

Hawaiian Revolution

Successful revolt organized by a tiny minority of desperate whites (who wanted US control) in Hawaii. It was assisted by American troops who landed under the unauthorized orders of the expansionist American minister in Honolulu.

Dwight Eisenhower

Supreme Commander of U.S. Forces in Europe during World War II, Eisenhower the war hero later became the thirty fourth president of the United States. During his two terms, from 1952 to 1960, Eisenhower presided over the economically prosperous 1950s. He was praised for his dignity and decency, though criticized for not being more assertive on civil rights.

Insular Cases

Supreme Court cases of 1901 that determined that the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights did not apply in colonial territories under the American flag. This meant that inhabitants of unincorporated territories such as Puerto Rico may lack some constitutional rights.

Dred Scott decision

Supreme Court decision that extended federal protection to slavery by ruling that Congress did not have the power to prohibit slavery in any territory. This also declared that slaves, as property, were not citizens of the United States.

Jim Crow Laws

System of racial segregation in the American South from the end of Reconstruction until mid-twentieth century. Based on the concept of "separate but equal" facilities for blacks and whites, it sought to prevent racial mixing in public, including restaurants, movie theatres, and public transportation. An informal system, it was generally perpetuated by custom, violence, and intimidation

Jim Crow

System of racial segregation in the American South from the end of Reconstruction until the mid-twentieth century. Based on the concept of "separate but equal" facilities for blacks and whites, this system sought to prevent racial mixing in public, including restaurants, movie theaters, and public transportation. An informal system, it was generally perpetuated by custom, violence, and intimidation.

English Civil War

Taking place from 1642 and 1651, this conflict was between Royalists and Parliamentarians. In the end, the pro-Parliament forces were victorious, which led to the execution of Charles I.

Seneca Falls Convention

Taking place in Seneca Falls, New York, this was a gathering of feminist activists where women's rights were discussed. Here, Elizabeth Cady Stanton read her "Declaration of Sentiments", which stated that "all men and women are created equal".

Corps of Discovery

Team of adventurers, led by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, sent by Thomas Jefferson to explore Louisiana Territory and find a water route to the Pacific. Lewis and Clark brought back detailed accounts of the West's flora, fauna, and native populations, and their voyage demonstrated the viability of overland travel to the West.

Recession of 1937

Temporary reversal of the pre-war 1933 to 1941 economic recovery which occurred in 1937-38. It was part of the Great Depression in the United States, and had serious political results, and helped strengthen the new Conservative Coalition led by Senators Robert A. Taft and Richard B. Russell. Economic historians have not agreed on the causes, but many of the causes show that because the New Deal involved spending money from the Federal budget, President Roosevelt had to end New Deal spending, and thus programs, as a result. Depression suddenly intensifies

Iron Curtain

Term coined by Winston Churchill to describe the Cold War divide between western Europe and the Soviet Union's eastern European satellites. It was the name for the boundary dividing Europe into separate areas from the end of WWII in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1991.

"Saturday Night Massacre"

Term used by political commentators to refer to U.S. President Richard Nixon's dismissal of independent special prosecutor Archibald Cox, and as a result the resignations of Attorney General Elliot Richardson and Deputy Attorney General William Ruckelshaus on October 20, 1973, during the Watergate Scandal.

Old Northwest

Territories acquired by the federal government from the states, encompassing land northwest of the Ohio River, east of the Mississippi River, and south of the Great Lakes. The well-organized management and sale of the land in the territories under the land ordinances of 1785 and 1787 established a precedent for handling future land acquisitions.

Goliad

Texas outpost where American volunteers, having laid down their arms and surrendered, were massacred by Mexican forces in 1836. The incident, along with the slaughter at the Alamo, fueled American support for Texan independence.

Massive Retaliation

The "new look" defense policy of the Eisenhower administration of the 1950s was to threaten this, an attack with nuclear weapons. This threat would be a response to any act of aggression by a potential enemy.

XYZ Affair

The 'affair' is a description of when the French sent 3 officials to meet with the American Delegation. The Americans were supposed to meet the French prime minister, Talleyrand, but were instead met by the 3 officials demanding $250,000 to see Talleyrand. John Adams referenced them as, "X,Y, and Z".

Lochner v. New York

The 1905 supreme court case that debated whether or not New York state violated the liberty of the fourteenth amendment which allowed Lochner to regulate his business when he made a contract. The specific contract Lochner made violated the New York statute which stated that bankers could not work more than 60 hours per week, and more than 10 hours per day. Ultimately, it was ruled that the New York State law was invalid, and interfered with the freedom of the contract

Sit-Down Strikes

The 1936-1937 Flint Sit-Down Strike changed the United Automobile Workers (UAW) from a collection of isolated locals on the fringes of the industry into a major labor union and led to the unionization of the domestic United States automobile industry.

Root-Takahira Agreement

The 1905 agreement with Japan in which the U.S. pledged to respect each other's territorial possessions and to uphold the Open Door policy in China

US v. Nixon

The 1974 case in which the Supreme Court unanimously held that the doctrine of executive privilege was implicit in the Constitution but could not be extended to protect documents relevant to criminal prosecutions

Calvin Coolidge

The 30th President of the United States (1923-1929). Succeeded into presidency after the sudden death of Warren G. Harding. He restored public confidence in the White House after the scandals of his predecessor's administration, and left office with considerable popularity.

Harry Truman

The 33rd president of the United States, and successor of FDR upon his death in April 1945. He led the country through the last few days of WII and is best known for his controversial decision to use two Atomic bombs against Japan. He was crucial in the implementation of the Marshall Plan after the war, which would accelerate the recovery of Western Europe's economy.

U.S. v. Butler

The Agricultural Adjustment Act is an unconstitutional exercise of power. United States v. Butler, 297 U.S. 1 (1936), was a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that the processing taxes instituted under the 1933 Agricultural Adjustment Act were unconstitutional.

Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938 (2nd AAA)

The Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938 (P.L. 75-430) was legislation in the United States that was enacted as an alternative and replacement for the farm subsidy policies, in previous New Deal farm legislation (Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1933), that had been found unconstitutional. The act revived the provisions in the previous Agricultural Adjustment Act, with the exception that the financing of the law's programs would be provided by the Federal Government and not a processor's tax, and was also enforced as a response to the success of the "Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act," which passed in 1935.

States' Rights

The Articles of Confederation linked thirteen independent states together for joint action in dealing with common problems, such as foreign affairs. The Northwest Ordinance came to grips with the problem of how a nation should deal with its colonies. The poorer states' rights pooh-poohed the talk of anarchy.

Moctezuma

The Aztec chieftain who mistakenly welcomed the Spaniards into his capital and believed that Cortes was the god Quetzalcoatl. He was hospitable to Cortes, but the Spaniards' hunger for gold and power caused them to capture him and hold him for ransom.

Bankhead-Jones Farm Tenancy

The Bankhead-Jones Farm Tenant Act of 1937 (P.L. 75-210) was passed on July 22, 1937 and authorized acquisition by the federal government of damaged lands to rehabilitate and use them for various purposes. Most importantly, however, the law authorized a modest credit program to assist tenant farmers to purchase land, and it was the culmination of a long effort to secure legislation for their benefit.

Federal Emergency Relief Act

The Federal Emergency Relief Act was a relief effort for the unemployed with immediate relief goals. It looked for immediate relief rather than long-term alleviation, and its correlating Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) was headed by the zealous Harry L. Hopkins. The Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) was established because of this act.

Richard Cheney

The Vice President and President of the Senate as of January 19, 2009, Secretary of Defense under George W. Bush. Oversaw Operation Desert Storm

Richard J. Daley

The Chicago mayor who was at the forefront in battling anti-war demonstrators at the 1968 Democratic National Convention

Civilian Conservation Corps. (CCC)

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a public work relief program that operated from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men from relief families, ages 18-25. It provided unskilled manual labor jobs related to the conservation and development of natural resources in rural lands owned by federal, state and local governments. The CCC was designed to provide employment for young men in relief families who had difficulty finding jobs during the Great Depression while at the same time implementing a general natural resource conservation program in every state and territory.

Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC)

The Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) is a wholly owned government corporation created in 1933 to "stabilize, support, and protect farm income and prices" (federally chartered by the CCC Charter Act of 1948. The CCC is authorized to buy, sell, lend, make payments and engage in other activities for the purpose of increasing production, stabilizing prices, ensuring adequate supplies, and facilitating the efficient marketing of agricultural commodities.

Olive Branch Petition

The Continental Congress adopted this petition in July of 1775. This professed American royalty to the crown. The purpose of this petition was to prevent further hostilities between the British and the American colonists. However after the Battle of Bunker Hill, King George III wasn't open to reconciliation with the colonists; this petition was rejected.

Fair Labor Standards Act (Wages and Hours Law)

The FLSA establishes minimum wage overtime pay, recordkeeping, and youth employment standards affecting employees in the private sector and in Federal, State, and local governments

Farm Credit Act

The Farm Credit Act of 1933 offered short-term loans for agricultural production as well as extended low interest rates for farmers threatened by foreclosure. Small farmers were able to refinance their mortgages with the aid of twelve district banks. Local Production Credit Associations provided short and intermediate term loans for seasonal production, insuring that farmers would not lose out on essential crop yields. The act was passed on June 16, 1933, the last day of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's "Hundred Days" initiative.

Federal Farm Bankruptcy Act (Frazier-Lemke Bankruptcy Act)

The Frazier-Lemke Farm Bankruptcy Act was enacted on 28 June 1934 and restricted the ability of banks to repossess farms. The bill is named for North Dakota Senator Lynn Frazier and North Dakota Representative William Lemke. It also delayed foreclosure of a bankrupt farmers' property for five years, during which the bankrupt made rental payments. The farmer could then buy back the property at its currently appraised value over six years at 1 percent interest, or remain in possession as a paying tenant.

Geneva Convention (1882)

The Geneva Convention of 1864 was the first convention of four over the years, and was supported by sixteen different countries who came to the convention. It led to the treaty that medical corps were not to be targets in war; they were to signify their neutrality with a "red cross on a white ground." In the year 1882, this treaty was ratified by Congress.

Greensboro Sit-Ins

The Greensboro Sit-ins were protests where 4 students from the NC Agricultural and Technical College sat down at whites only lunch counter. Once they were there, they refused to move. Each day, they came back with many more protesters. Sometimes, there were over 100. These sit-ins led to the formation of the SNCC. Led to sit-ins across the country.

Jones-Connally Farm Relief Act

The Jones-Connally Farm Relief Act passed, a bill that effectively places an expanded roster of farm products under the control of the Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA). This act defined beef, dairy cattle, rye, grain sorghum, flax, peanuts, and barley as basic commodities covered by the First Agricultural Adjustment Act. It was adopted by Congress in April of 1934 to help struggling farmers.

National Recovery Act (NRA or NIRA)

The National Industrial Recovery Act, enacted June 16, 1933, was an American statute which purposed to authorize the President of the United States to regulate industry and permit cartels and monopolies in an attempt to stimulate economic recovery, and established a national public works program. The legislation was enacted in June 1933 during the Great Depression as part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal legislative program.

Samuel Tilden

The New York attorney who led the prosecution of the Tweed Ring in the 1870s

Powhatan

The Powhatan Indian chieftain and the father of Pocahontas. He was the one who subjected John Smith to a kidnapping and mock execution as a show of force. Later, he led the Powhatan Indians in the First Anglo-Powhatan War, negotiating a peace treaty in 1614.

George Grenville

The Prime Minister of Britain who ordered the British Navy to enforce the Navigation Laws and passed multiple laws such as the Sugar Act, Quartering Act, and the Stamp Act between 1763-1765. He regarded the measures as reasonable and just; however, the Americans regarded his actions as fiscal aggression since his legislation seemed to jeopardize the basic rights of the colonists.

Civil Works Administration

The Public Works Administration (PWA), part of the New Deal of 1933, was a large-scale public works construction agency in the United States headed by Secretary of the Interior Harold L. Ickes. It was created by the National Industrial Recovery Act in June 1933 in response to the Great Depression. It built large-scale public works such as dams and bridges, warships, hospitals and schools.

Thomas E. Dewey

The Republican presidential nominee in 1944, he was the popular governor of New York. Roosevelt won a sweeping victory in this election of 1944. He also ran against Harry Truman in the 1948 presidential election. Arrogant and wooden, seemed certain to win the election, and the newspapers even printed, "_____ DEFEATS TRUMAN" on election night. However, the morning results showed that Truman swept the election, much to Dewey's embarrassment.

Adam Smith

The Scottish "Father of Modern Economics" that attacked mercantilism in 1776. His ideas influenced the founding fathers of the United States, advocating for free trade. A huge defender of the large corporation system, he argued that the "invisible hand" of the market was in charge of the unspoken rules of business, and that interference from the government would do more harm than good. He also can be credited for explaining the system of supply and demand in a way that the common people could understand.

Warren Berger

The Supreme Court Justice during the Nixon administration. He was chosen by Nixon because of his strict interpretation of the Constitution. He presided over the extremely controversial case of abortion in Roe vs. Wade

Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act

The Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act (P.L. 74-46 of February 26, 1936) is a United States federal law that allowed the government to pay farmers to reduce production so as to "conserve soil", prevent erosion, and accomplish other minor goals. It was a piece of legislation passed in response to the Supreme Court's declaration that the Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA) was unconstitutional.

Soviet A-bomb

The Soviet project to develop an atomic bomb was a clandestine research and development program began during and post-World War II, in the wake of the Soviet Union's discovery of the United States' nuclear project. This scientific research was directed by Soviet nuclear physicist Igor Kurchatov, while the military logistics and intelligence efforts were undertaken and managed by NKVD director Lavrentiy Beria. The Soviet Union benefited from highly successful espionage efforts on the part of the Soviet military intelligence. Through its successful Russian Alsos and the atomic spy ring, the Soviet Union's espionage ultimately led them to conduct the first test of its implosion-type nuclear device, codename First Lightning on 29 August 1949, at Semipalatinsk, Kazakh SSR. With the success of this test, the Soviet Union became the second nation after the United States to have successfully developed and conducted nuclear tests.

Battle of Okinawa

The U.S. Army in the Pacific had been pursuing an "island-hopping" campaign, moving north from Australia towards Japan. On April 1, 1945, they invaded Okinawa, only 300 miles south of the Japanese home islands. By the time the fighting ended on June 2, 1945, the U.S. had lost 50,000 men and the Japanese 100,000.

Panama Canal

The United States built the Panama Canal to have a quicker passage to the Pacific from the Atlantic and vice versa. It cost $400,000,000 to build. Columbians would not let Americans build the canal, but then with the assistance of the United States a Panamanian Revolution occurred. The new ruling people allowed the United States to build the canal.

Vinland

The Vikings, the first Europeans to enter North America, landed in this area around the year 1000. Leif Erikson, the leader of the Viking voyage gave this part of North America this name because there were many grape vines. However, after numerous attempts to colonize this land, the Vikings gave up on this settlement.

Central Powers

The WWI alliance between Germany, Austria-Hungary, and the Ottoman Empire. This group opposed France and Britain on the Western front and Russia on the Eastern front.

Allies

The WWI coalition of powers, namely Britain, France, and Russia. They fought against the Central Powers during the war, and were eventually joined by others, such as the United States and Italy.

Gadsden Purchase

The acquired additional land from Mexico for $10 million to facilitate the construction of a southern transcontinental railroad. This is named after the American diplomat to Mexico who negotiated a purchase of this land south of the Gila River.

Compromise of 1877

The agreement that finally resolved the 1876 election and officially ended Reconstruction. In exchange for the Republican candidate, Rutherford B. Hayes, winning the presidency, Hayes agreed to withdraw the last of the federal troops from the former Confederate states. This deal effectively completed the southern return to white-only, Democratic-dominated electoral politics.

Antinomianism

The belief that the elect need not to obey the law of either God or man. This thought was most notably espoused in the colonies by Anne Hutchinson.

National Labor Board

The board was a composition of representatives from business and labor designed to arbitrate disputes between workers and employers. It settled any possible labor difficulties that might hamper the war efforts.

National War Labor Board

The board was a composition of representatives from business and labor designed to arbitrate disputes between workers and employers. It settled any possible labor difficulties that might hamper the war efforts.

Tecumseh

The brother of Tenskwatawa who urged his supporters never to cede land to whites unless all Indians agreed. When he was absent recruiting supporters in the South, the Prophet (his brother) attacked Harrison's army.

Massasoit

The chieftain of the Wampanoag Indians, the tribe that welcomed the plymouth pilgrims. Signed a treaty with those pilgrims in 1621 and helped them celebrate the first Thanksgiving after the autumn harvests that same year.

Black Tuesday

The dark, panicky day of October 29, 1929 when over 16,410,000 shares of stock were sold on Wall Street. It was a trigger that helped bring on the Great Depression

Popular sovereignty

The doctrine that stated that the sovereign people of a territory, under the general principles of the Constitution, should themselves determine the status of slavery. The public liked it because it accorded with the democratic tradition of self-determination. It tossed the slavery problem into the laps of the people in the various territories.

Calvinism

The dominant theological credo of the New England Puritans based on the teachings of John Calvin. Calvinists believed in predestination - that only "the elect" were destined for salvation.

Marcus Alonzo Hanna

The driving force behind McKinley's rise to the presidency, Hanna was a former businessman who raised money and devised strategy for McKinley's winning bid for the White House in 1896

George Pickett

The failure of his magnificent but futile charge finally broke the back of the Confederate cause. His charge has been called the "high tide of the Confederacy."

Brigham Young

The falling torch from Joseph Smith was seized by this barrel-chested Mormon Moses. In contrast to Smith's charm and affability, he was stern and austere. Although he had received only 11 days of schooling, he proved to be an aggressive leader, an eloquent preacher, and a gifted administrator. He was determined to escape further persecution, so he led his fellow Latter-day Saints to Utah.

Sunbelt

The fifteen-state crescent through the American South and Southwest that experienced terrific population and productivity expansion during World War II and particularly in the decades after the war, eclipsing the old industrial Northeast (the "Frostbelt").

Jackie Robinson

The first African American player in the major league of baseball. His actions helped to bring about other opportunities for African Americans.

Second Battle of Marne

The first battle that the US participated in overseas. They stopped Germany from taking France, and was thus a turning point of WWI.

Hiroshima

The first city in Japan to be destroyed by an atomic bomb on August 6, 1945. This bombing hastened the end of WWII.

Navigation Law of 1650

The first law passed by Parliament to regulate the mercantilist system. It was aimed at rival Dutch shippers trying to elbow their way into the American carrying trade. It required that all commerce was to be transported only in British vessels.

Comstock Lode

The first major U.S. discovery of silver ore, located under what is now Virginia City, Nevada, on the eastern slope of Mount Davidson, a peak in the Virginia Range. After the discovery was made public in 1859, prospectors rushed to the area and scrambled to stake their claims. Mining camps soon thrived in the vicinity, which became bustling centers of fabulous wealth.

Gerald Ford

The first man to be made president solely by a vote of Congress after the resignations of President Nixon and Vice President Agnew; outraged Democrats by granting Nixon a complete pardon; lost to Carter in the 1976 election

Revolution of 1880

The first peaceful change in ruling power in a western government. Democrats earned an electoral victory against the federalists. The federalists also lost the presidency and Congressional majority.

Crispus Attucks

The first person to die in the Boston massacre. He is often described as the "mulatto", or leader of the crowd.

Tariff of 1816

The first protective tariff in American history, created primarily to shield New England manufacturers from the inflow of British goods after the War of 1812. The Tariff of 1816 also helped American industry, and raised prices of British manufactures goods which were cheaper and of higher quality than those proved in the United States.

Battle of Chateau-Thierry

The first significant engagement of American troops in World War I—and, indeed, in any European war. To weary French soldiers, the American doughboys were an image of fresh and gleaming youth.

Bonus Army

The former soldiers of WWI were now impoverished by the Great Depression and demanded all of the bonus money that they earned. About 20,000 men marched on the capital in 1932 and set up a camp on vacant lots. A bill to finance their demands failed, but Hoover managed to get enough money to pay 6,000 of them. They were then told to leave, resulting in riots. Hoover called in the army to force these men to evacuate. The force was more brutal than Hoover had intended, using tear gas and bayonets. A baby was allegedly killed during the evacuation. This incident ruined Hoover's reputation.

Orval Faubus

The governor of Arkansas during the time of the Little Rock Crisis. He attempted to block the integration of the school by using the national guard, leading to a confrontation with Eisenhower and ultimately integration of the school.

Charles G. Finney

The greatest of revival preachers who, trained as a lawyer, abandoned the bar to become an evangelist after a deeply moving conversion experience as a young man. He held huge crowds spellbound with the power of his oratory and the pungency of his message. He led massive revivals in Rochester and New York City in 1830 and 1831. He denounced both alcohol and slavery and served as president of Oberlin College in Ohio. Also, he devised the "anxious bench" where repentant sinners could sit in full view of the congregation, and he encouraged women to pray in public.

Franz Ferdinand

The heir to the throne of the Austrian Empire who was assassinated by the Black Hand, a terrorist group, on his trip to Sarajevo. Not the first, but the last and only successful attempt to take his life took place on June 28, 1914. His murder is often seen as one of the immediate causes of the war.

Supreme Court

The highest federal court in the United States, consisting of nine justices and having jurisdiction over all other courts in the nation. It is the final interpreter of federal constitutional law. It first met on February 2, 1790; however, it was established by the United States Constitution in 1789 under the Judiciary Act of 1789.

Hawley-Smoot Tariff Act

The highest protective tariff in the peacetime history of the United States, passed as a result of a good old-fashioned horse trading. To the outside world it smacked of ugly economic warfare.

Judicial review

The idea that the Supreme Court alone had the last word on the question of constitutionality. Essentially, this is the review by the US Supreme Court of the constitutional validity of a legislative act. This idea was promoted by John Marshall in contrary to Jefferson's attempts to allot rights to the individual states.

Republican Motherhood

The ideal of family organization and female behavior after the American Revolution. It stressed the role of women in guiding family members toward republican virtue.

"Kitchen cabinet"

The informal name for Jackson's Cabinet. They were called this because they often held their meetings over dinner.

Annapolis Convention

The issue of control of commerce became so alarming by 1786 that Virginia issued a call for this. Nine states appointed delegates but only five were finally represented. Because very few delegates showed up, they could do no more than talk about the issue.

Geronimo

The leader of the Apaches in Arizona and New Mexico. He fought against the white man, who was trying to force the Apaches off of their land. He had an enormous hatred for the whites and was, however pushed into Mexico where he surrendered.

Henry Clay

The living embodiment of Whiggism who should have been nominated for president, but he made too many speeches and too many enemies. Now at the age of 73, he, "the great compromiser," had come to the Senate from Kentucky to reprise the role he had played before in the Missouri and nullification crises. He urged with all his persuasiveness that the North and South both make concessions and that the North partially yield by enacting a more feasible fugitive slave-law. He had delivered more that seventy speeches, as a powerful sentiment for acceptance gradually crystallized in the North. He and Daniel webster died on the same day during the 1852 campaign.

Battle of Horseshoe Bend

The major battle of the Creek War where Andrew Jackson and his force of Americans and Indian allies defeated the Red Sticks. With the Red Sticks' defeat, the Creek War effectively ended; this war began because the Red Sticks opposed American expansion and sided with the British.

Connecticut Plan/Great Compromise

The measure which reconciled the New Jersey and Virginia plans at the constitutional convention in 1787, giving states proportional representation in the House and equal representation in the Senate. The compromise broke the stalemate at the convention and paved the way for subsequent compromises over slavery and the Electoral College.

Stock Market Crash (1929)

The most devastating stock market crash in the history of the United States. The crash signaled the beginning of the 12-year Great Depression that affected all Western industrialized countries and that did not end in the United States until the onset of American mobilization for World War II at the end of 1941.

Interstate Highway Act

The most expensive program in history, it was a 41,000 mile system. It accelerated suburban growth, heightened dependency of vehicles, hastened decline of nation's rails, pollution, gas consumption, and the decay of central cities.

Sir Francis Drake

The most famous semipiratical "sea dog" that swashbuckled and looted his way around the planet. He returned in 1580 with his ship heavily ballasted with Spanish booty. Queen Elizabeth financially backed him.

Tet Offensive

The name given to a campaign in January 1968 by the Viet Cong to attack 27 Southern Vietnamese cities, including Saigon. It ended in a military defeat for the Viet Cong, but at the the same time, proved that Johnson's "gradual escalation" strategy was not working, shocking an American public that believed the Vietnam conflict was a sure victory

Columbian exchange

The name given to the collision of the Old and New worlds in 1492. Numerous foods, flora, fauna, money, and diseases were exchanged when the Europeans began to discover the new world. The Europeans brought things such as wheat, sugar, rice, coffee, horses, cows, pigs, slaves from Africa, and numerous diseases to the New World. This exchanged also caused the Europeans to bring back numerous foods and items, such as corn, potatoes, tobacco, beans, vanilla, chocolate, pineapples, tomatoes, gold, and silver, and added them to their daily life.

Republic of Hawaii

The name of Hawaii from 1894 to 1898 when it was a republic. Hawaii became a republic after the minority of whites living in Hawaii overthrew the reigning Queen Liliuokalani. It ceased to be a republic after it was annexed in 1898, becoming a U.S. territory.

Manifest Destiny

The nineteenth century doctrine or belief about the expansion of the United States. It said that the expansion of the country throughout the American continents was both justified and inevitable.

Export-Import Bank

The official credit agency of the United States federal government, established in 1934 by an executive order. This made an independent agency in the Executive branch by Congress in 1945, for the purposes of financing and insuring foreign purchases of United States goods for customers unable or unwilling to accept credit risk.

Panic of 1929

The panic that followed the chaos of the stock market crash. This panic was a nationwide panic that brought people into a tremendous debt and depression which left the majority of people living on the streets. This contributed to the cascading Great Depression.

22nd Amedment

The passage of this amendment limited presidents to a maximum of two elected terms, and only one if they succeeded an elected president and served for more than two years of that elected president's term. This was largely a reaction to FDR's unprecedented four elected terms, which broke the age-old tradition set by George Washington. Although Washington set the precedent of serving only two terms, the passage of this amendment made it law.

Treaty of Paris (1783)

The peace treaty signed by Britain and the United States ending the Revolutionary War. The British formally recognized American independence and ceded territory east of the Mississippi. The Americans, in turn, promised to restore Loyalist property and repay debts to British creditors.

Federalist Party

The political party led by Alexander Hamilton that believed in a strong central government, a powerful central bank, loose construction, expanding bureaucracy, restrictions of free speech and press, government to foster business, focus of wealth in capitalistic enterprise, and a strong navy. Many Federalists were wealthy merchants and shippers from the seacoast.

Republicanism

The political theory of representative government, based on the principle of popular sovereignty, with a strong emphasis on liberty and civic virtue. Influential in eighteenth-century American political thought, it stood as an alternative to monarchical rule.

Conservation

The political, environmental and a social movement that seeks to protect natural resources including animal and plant species as well as their habitat for the future. People who supported this sought to regulate human use while preservationists sought to eliminate human impact altogether. As leaders of this movement, Theodore Roosevelt and his close ally George Bird Grinnell were motivated by the wanton waste that was taking place at the hand of market forces, including logging and hunting.

Initiative Petition

The process of petitioning a legislature to introduce a bill. This was part of the Populist Party's platform in 1891, with referendum and recall. They intended to make the people more responsible for their laws and allow them to make political decisions rather than the legislature

Barbados slave trade

The prosperous trade of African slaves from Barbados to South Carolina. The slaves purchased from the Barbados were excellent at cultivating rice, a crop the Europeans considered exotic and was in high-demand.

Sovereignty

The quality or state of having supreme power or authority. All thirteen states hold this quality, especially under the Articles of Confederation, as they independently coined money, raised armies and navies, and erected tariff barriers.

Cornelius Vanderbilt

The railroad owner who built a railway connecting Chicago and New York. He popularized the use of steel rails in his railroad, which made railroads safer and more economical. This man was one of the few railroad owners to be just and not considered a "Robber Baron".

Loyalists/Tories

The remaining group of American colonists that stayed loyal to the king during and after the Revolution. Many left the United States when the British lost.

A. E. Burnside

The replacement of McClellan as commander of the Army of the Potomac, whose ornate side-whiskers came to be known as "burnsides." Protesting his unfitness for this responsibility, he proved it when he launched a rash frontal attack on Lee's strong position at Fredericksburg.

House of Burgesses

The representative parliamentary assembly created to govern Virginia. This established the precedent for future governing in the English colonies.

John Slidell

The representative sent by James K. Polk to Mexico during the time of conflict preceding the war. He was to identify what the boundary with Mexico was, and try and make an offer with Mexico for the sale of the California and New Mexico territories.

John Adams

The second president of the United States. He was a Federalist, and the majority of his supporters were in New England. He was a man of stern principals who worked with stubborn devotion. He was not present at the Constitutional Convention. The envoys he sent to Paris in 1797 were involved in the XYZ Affair. It was a great feat that he was able to avoid full-fledged war with France.

"Taxation without Representation"

The slogan that many Americans cried because of their aggravation with the Stamp Act. Americans denied the right of Parliament to impose taxes on them; only their own elected colonial legislatures could legally tax them. However, the slogan was somewhat ironic since the seaports and tidewater towns that were most wrathful against the Stamp Act had long denied full representation to their own back-country pioneers.

Separatists

The small group of Puritans who sought to break away entirely from the Church of England. A number of them settled in Holland initially, but made their way to Plymouth Bay, Massachusetts in 1620.

Metacom

The son of Massasoit who, by the English, was called King Philip. In 1675 he forged an alliance and mounted a series of coordinated assaults on English villages throughout New England. Not only did his war slow the westward march of English settlement, but also inflicted a lasting defeat on New England's Indians

World Trade Organization

The successor to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. In 1995, Clinton supported this in order to lower tariffs and trade barriers internationally. It officially commenced on January 1, 1995 under the Marrakesh Agreement, signed by 123 nations on 15 April 1994, replacing the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade.

Electoral College

The system by which the president and vice president of the United States are chosen. It was devised by the framers of the United States Constitution to provide a method of election that was feasible, desirable, and consistent with a republican form of government.

Reservation System

The system that allotted land with designated boundaries to Native American tribes in the west, beginning in the 1850s and ending with the Dawes Severalty Act of 1887. Within these reservations, most land was used communally, rather than owned individually. The U.S. government encouraged and sometimes violently coerced Native Americans to stay on the reservations at all times.

Island Hopping/Leapfrogging

The tactic of the US forces in WWII that involved capturing smaller islands to get bases there. The Americans would neutralize Japanese strongholds but leave them on the islands with no communication, contributing to less casualties.

9/11

The terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001, in which 19 militant Islamist men hijacked and crashed four commercial aircraft. Two planes hit the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, causing them to collapse. One plane crashed into the Pentagon in Washington, DC, and the fourth, overtaken by passengers, crashed into a field in rural Pennsylvania. Nearly 3000 people were killed in the worst case of domestic terrorism in American history.

"Virtual Representation"

The theory that Grenville claimed that every member of Parliament represented all British subjects, even those Americans in Boston or Charleston who had never voted for a member of Parliament. Grenville claimed that the power of Parliament was supreme and undivided and that Americans were represented in Parliament.

Social Darwinism

The theory that wealthy people were wealthy because they had more natural abilities than their less fortunate peers. This theory cannot be labeled as entirely accurate as Herbert Spencer and William Graham Sumner, the philosophers credited for creating the theory, failed to consider other factors to wealth such as: financial status at birth, access to education, etc.

Apollo 9

The third manned mission in the American Apollo space program, was the first flight of the Commander/Service Module (CSM) with the Lunar Module (LM). The Apollo 9 launch was the first Saturn V/Apollo Spacecraft in full lunar mission configuration and carried the largest payload ever placed in orbit. The first manned demonstration of lunar module system performance!

Theodore Roosevelt

The twenty-sixth president, who was known for conservationism, trust-busting, Hepburn Act, safe food regulations, "Square Deal," Panama Canal, Great White Fleet, Nobel Peace Prize for negotiation of peace in Russo-Japanese War. He was a cowboy hero os the Cuban campaign who rode his popularity into the governship of New York state and then into the Vice President's office. He became president when McKinley was assassinated in 1901. He won reelection as Republican in 1904.

New York Draft Riots

The uprising, mostly of working-class Irish-Americans, in protest of the draft. These rioters were particularly incensed by the ability of the rich to hire substitutes or purchase exemptions.

'Waving the bloody shirt'

The use of Civil War imagery by political candidates and parties to draw votes to their side of the ticket. By reviving memories of the Civil War, and thus raising enthusiasm for their candidate, the Republican Party campaigned for their presidential nominee, Ulysses S. Grant, and won despite his lack of political experience.

Civic Virtue

The willingness on the part of citizens to sacrifice personal self-interest for the public good. This was deemed by many to be a necessary component of a successful republic.

WACs

The women's branch of the U.S. Army established during World War II to employ women in noncombatant jobs. Women now participated in the armed services in ways that went beyond their traditional roles as nurses.

WAVES

The women's branch of the U.S. Navy established during World War II to employ women in noncombatant jobs. Women now participated in the armed services in ways that went beyond their traditional roles as nurses

Horatio Alger

The writer of dozens of novels for children, he popularized the notion of "rags to riches." This notion was that by hard work and a bit of a luck, even a poor boy could pull himself up into the middle class.

George Creel

The young, outspoken, and tactless journalist who was tapped to head the Committee on Public Information during World War I. Also known as the Creel Committee, this was a propaganda organization created by President Woodrow Wilson.

Robert F. Kennedy

The younger brother of JFK who entered public life as U.S. Attorney General during the Kennedy Administration. Later elected senator from New York, he became an anti-war, pro-civil rights presidential candidate in 1968, launching a popular challenge to incumbent President Johnson. Amid that campaign, he was assassinated in California on June 6, 1968

Blue laws

These are designed to restrict personal behavior in accord with a strict code of morality and are also known as sumptuary laws. They prohibited "ungodly revelers," stage plays, playing cards, dice, games, and excessive hilarity. They were passed across the colonies, particularly in Puritan New England and Quaker Pennsylvania.

Common law

These are laws that originate from court rulings and customs, as opposed to legislative statutes. The United States Constitution grew out of the Anglo-American common law tradition and thus provided only a general organizational framework for the new federal government.

Committees of Correspondence

These committees chief function was to spread the spirit of resistance by exchanging letters, and thus keep alive opposition to British policy. Sometimes referred to as "the foulest, subtlest, and most venomous, serpent ever issued from the egg of sedition". This group was supremely significant in stimulating and disseminating sentiment in favor of united action. They evolved directly into the first American congresses.

Alien Laws

These laws entitled the President to deport or imprison threatening foreigners during times of peace and hostility, but was never enforced. However, they were used as a result of war with France, and against Jeffersonian immigrants.

Mound Builders

These lived at the edge of the plains in the Mississippi Valley and Ohio River valley. These groups of people included the Anasazi, and the Mississippian settlement of Cahokia. They built pyramid-like mounds, built either for religious or burial reasons. From an aerial view, these mounds look as if they are in the shape of snake. Although these mound building societies were some of the largest populations in North America, they vanished before the Europeans arrived.

Kennedy-Nixon TV Debates

These may have tipped the scales during the presidential campaign of 1960, in which Kennedy ultimately reigned victorious. Demonstrated the importance of image in a television age.

Navigation Acts (Laws)

These were a series of laws passed, beginning in 1651, to regulate colonial shipping. They provided that only English ships would be allowed to trade in English and colonial ports, and that all goods destined for the colonies would first pass through England.

Midnight judges

These were federal judges appointed by John Adams during the last days of his presidency. Their life-time positions were revoked when the newly elected Republican Congress repealed the Judiciary Act.

Checks and balances

These were limits imposed on all branches of a government. They gave each branch the right to amend or void those acts of another that fall within its purview.

Department of Homeland Security

They are charged with protecting the nation's borders and identifying potential terrorists. Cabinet-level agency created in 2003 to unify and coordinate public safety and anti-terrorism operations within the federal governments, in result of 9/11.

Mestizos

They were people of mixed Indian and European heritage created when European invaders intermarried with surviving Indians. Most notably, these people lived in Mexico.

Admiralty Courts

They were used to try offenders for violating the various Navigation Acts passed by the crown after the French and Indian War in 1763. Colonists argued that the courts encroached on their rights as Englishmen since they lacked juries and placed the burden of proof on the accused.

Green Party

Third party led by environmentalist Ralph Nader that took votes from Democratic Presidential nominee Albert Gore in 2000 election

Agricultural Marketing Act (1929)

This Act established the Federal Farm Board, a lending Bureau for hard-pressed farmers. The act also aimed to help farmers help themselves through new producers' cooperatives. As the depression worsened in the 1930s, the board tried to bolster falling prices by buying up surpluses, but it was unable to cope with the flood of farm produce in the market

Selective Service Act

This Act required all men between 21-30 years to register for the military. Each received a number, and draftees were chosen like a lottery. In contrast to the Union's civil war conscription, there was no way for men to "opt out" of this draft.

Quebec Act (1774)

This Act was also passed in 1774, but was not a part of the Intolerable Acts. It gave Catholic French Canadians religious freedom and restored the French form of civil law. This law nullified many of the Western claims of the coast colonies by extending the boundaries of the province of Quebec to the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers.

Sedition Act

This Act was written by the Federalist government (ending in 1801), stating that anyone to obstruct policies made by the government would receive a fine or potential imprisonment. It was seen as a conflict against laws of freedom of speech and press in the Constitution.

USS Maine

This American battleship dispatched to keep a "friendly" watch over Cuba in the late 1890's. It mysteriously blew up in Havana harbor on February 15, 1898, which caused the loss of 260 sailors. It was later confirmed that it was an accidental explosion, which was caused by the combustion of one of the ship's internal coal bunkers. Although, many Americans were eager for war and thus decided that it was the fault of the Spanish. This helped to contribute to the beginning of the Spanish-American War.

Boston Port Act

This British law closed the harbor in Boston until damages were paid and order ensured. This law was made under the Intolerable Acts of 1774.

Judiciary Act of 1789

This act organized the young nation's federal legal system. It officially established the Supreme Court, federal district and circuit courts, and the office of the attorney general.

Land Ordinance of 1787

This act provided for the sale of land in the Old Northwest. It also served as a means of repaying national debt, as the funds gained from the sale of this land went towards paying off debts.

Neutrality Act of 1939

This act stipulated that European democracies might buy American munitions, but only if they could pay in cash and transport them in their own ships. The terms were known as "Cash-and-Carry." It represented an effort to avoid war debts and protect American arms-carriers from torpedo attacks.

Right of Deposit

This allowed Americans to transport goods in New Orleans without paying the Spanish government. This was granted by the Spanish in the Pinckney Treaty.

Louisbourg (1758)

This battle in the Seven Years' War that ended the French colonial era in Atlantic Canada which led to the French's loss of Quebec. William Pitt led the British forces in the taking of this French fort, which proved to be a major British victory.

Battle of Yorktown

This battle occurred in October of 1781. George Washington, with the aid of the French Army, besieged Cornwallis here. All the while, the French naval fleet prevented British reinforcements from coming ashore. Cornwallis surrendered, dealing a heavy blow to the British war effort and paving the way for an eventual peace.

Battle of San Jacinto

This battle resulted in the capture of the Mexican general and dictator Santa Anna. This battle is significant because it forced Santa Anna to withdraw his troops from Texas and recognize the Rio Grande as Texas's Southwestern border.

Battle of Tippecanoe

This battle resulted in the defeat of Shawnee chief Tenskwatawa, "the Prophet" at the hands William Henry Harrison in the Indiana wilderness. After the battle, the Prophet's brother, Tecumseh, forged an alliance with the British against the United States.

Massachusetts Bay colony

This colony was established by non-separating Puritans in 1630. It soon grew to become the largest and most influential of the New England colonies.

Panic of 1837

This economic crisis in 1837 was triggered by bank failures, elevated grain prices, and Andrew Jackson's efforts to curb overspeculation on western lands and transportation improvements. In response, President Martin Van Buren proposed the "Divorce Bill," which pulled treasury funds out of the banking system altogether, contracting the credit supply.

Pendleton Act (1883)

This enacted a civil service reforming, saying that the Civil Service Exam must be taken in order to receive most government jobs (highest scores would get these jobs) and banned federal employees from giving campaign money to their party

17th Amendment

This established the popular election of United States Senators by the people of the states, thus replacing the old tradition of which senators were elected by state legislatures. It also alters the procedure for filling vacancies in the Senate, allowing for state legislatures to permit their governors to make temporary appointments until a special election can be held. The amendment was proposed by the 62nd Congress in 1912 and adopted in 1913 upon being ratified by three-fourths (36) of the state legislatures.

Gaspee Incident

This event occurred on July 9th, 1772. ___ was actually a ship owned by the British, docked near Providence, Rhode Island. The purpose of this ship was to patrol the area in hopes of catching smugglers. During this incident, a crowd of locals boarded the ship, kicked out the crew, and then set it aflame.

Zoot Suit Riots

This event occurs after a gang of Mexican youth had allegedly assaulted an American sailor in LA. Sailors and other members of U.S. military, in response, go on a 4-day rampage through Mexican-American neighborhoods in Los Angeles, beating anyone they saw in a Zoot Suit. The only people they arrest during the riot is Mexicans. After the riot ends the Los Angeles government passes a law making the Zoot Suits illegal.

Exxon Valdez oil spill

This giant tanker hit a reef in Prince William Sound off the coast of Alaska, causing the largest oil spill in the history of America. Damage caused by the nearby shoreline and wildlife greatly increased environmental consciousness.

Second Continental Congress

This group met in Philadelphia on May 10, 1775. Representatives from all thirteen colonies, unlike the First Continental Congress (no Georgia) attended. Although they didn't have a defined sentiment for independence, they continued fighting in hopes that the King and Parliament would give in to their cause.

American Temperance Society

This group was founded in Boston Massachusetts, in the year 1826. It was a part of a growing effort of nineteenth-century reformers to limit alcohol consumption.

Mormons

This group, otherwise known as the Church of Latter-Day Saints, was founded by Joseph Smith in 1830. They traced a connection between the Native Americans and the lost tribes of Israel, and moved from New York to Ohio to Missouri, and finally to Illinois.

Harvard College

This institution was established in 1636 in Massachusetts. This is the oldest institution of higher learning in the U.S. and was created in order to train Puritan ministers.

Mexican cession

This is a historical name in the United States for the region of the modern day southwestern United States that Mexico ceded to the U.S. in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848, but had not been part of the areas east of the Rio Grande which had been claimed by the Republic of Texas, though the Texas annexation resolution two years earlier had not specified Texas's southern and western boundary. This was the third largest acquisition of territory in US history.

"Loose Construction"

This is a legal doctrine which holds that the federal government can use powers not specifically granted or prohibited in the Constitution. However, the federal government can only do this if it allows them to carry out its constitutionally mandated responsibilities.

Direct Primary

This is an election that narrows the field of candidates before a general election for office. Primary elections are one means by which a political party or a political alliance nominates candidates for an upcoming general election or by-election. The progressives came to favor this type of election for U.S. senators.

National debt

This is the amount owed by the federal government of the United States. It included domestic debt owed to soldiers and others who had not yet been paid for their Revolutionary War services and foreign debt to other countries, which had helped the U.S. The federal government also assumed all the debts incurred by the states during the war; Hamilton's program paid off these debts.

Transportation Revolution (1830s)

This is the beginning of better transportation ways in America including the steamboat, train, and better roads and canals. The steamboat vastly aided reverse flow of finished goods up the water western arteries and helped bind West and South together.

Civil law

This is the body of written law enacted through legislative statutes or constitutional provision. In countries where this prevails, judges must apply the statutes precisely as written.

General Incorporation Law

This law allowed corporations to be formed without formal charters from the legislature. This law helped in the establishment of capitalism.

Pennsylvania Gradual Emancipation Law

This law established Pennsylvania as the first state to abolish slavery. It declared that any child born after the date the law is passed, would not be a slave.

Volstead Act

This law established a Prohibition Bureau within the Treasury Department. It was under-budgeted and largely ineffective, especially in strongly anti-prohibition states

Farm Mortgage Foreclosure Act

This law, passed in 1934 on June 12, allowed the Farm Credit Administration to make loans so that farmers could regain title to property they had lost by foreclosure. It was an interim measure until the Frazier -Lemke Farm Bankruptcy Act was brought into action.

Governor Thomas Hutchinson

This man was a prominent Loyalist politician and governor of Massachusetts Bay in the years preceding the American Revolution. Despite his initial objections to the laws Parliament passed, he came to be identified as a proponent of the hated British taxes. Lord North blamed him for being a significant contributor to the tensions that led to the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War.

Henry Cabot Lodge

This man was the Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He was a leader in the fight against participation in the League of Nations.

David Lloyd George

This man was the Prime Minister of Great Britain during World War I. Along with Woodrow Wilson, Italy's Vittorio Orlando, and France's George Clemenceau, he formed part of the inner clique at the Paris Peace Conference knows as the "Big Four." Unlike Clemenceau and Orlando, he stood on the side of generosity and moderation, not wanting to utterly destroy the German economy and political system with massive reparations.

Cahokia

This mound-building Mississippian settlement near present-day St. Louis, was at one time home to as many as 25,000 people, however, at it's height, was home to 40,000 people. At the time, this city was larger than London. They had no written language and they vanished before Europeans came to explore the New World.

National Guard

This organization better known as the Grange, was organized in 1867 by Oliver H. Kelley; its objective was to enhance the lives of isolated farmers through social, educational, and fraternal activities; the Grangers gradually raised their goals from individual self-improvement to the farmer's collective plight.

Republican Party (1854)

This party was organized in 1854 by anti slavery Whigs, Democrats, and Free Soilers in response to the passage of the despised Kansas-Nebraska Act. The party nominated John C. Fremont for the presidential election in 1856, and Lincoln in 1860.

"Don't Ask, Don't Tell"

This policy in the US military for homosexuals who served was instituted by the Clinton Administration on February 28, 1994. The policy prohibited military personnel from discriminating against or harassing closeted homosexual or bisexual service members or applicants, while barring openly gay, lesbian, or bisexual persons from military service.

Contract with America

This proposed smaller government, congressional ethics reform, term limits, great emphasis on personal responsibility, and a general repudiation of the Democratic party. It led to the Republican party's takeover of both houses of Congress.

Twelfth Amendment

This provides the procedure for electing the President and Vice President. It replaced the procedure provided in Article II, Section 1, Clause 3, by which the Electoral College originally functioned. It was proposed by the Congress on December 9, 1803, and was ratified by the requisite three-fourths of state legislatures on June 15, 1804.

Industrial Workers of the World (IWW)

This radical union aimed to unite the American working class into one union to promote labor's interests. It worked to organize unskilled and foreign-born laborers, advocated social revolution and led several major strikes. Stressed solidarity.

Unitarianism

This religious doctrine expressed belief in a unitary deity, rejected the divinity of Christ, and emphasized the inherent goodness of mankind. This system of beliefs, inspired in part by Deism, first caught on in New England at the end of the eighteenth century.

J. Robert Oppenheimer

This scientist's research led to the development of the atomic bomb. He was accused of communist involvement, thought, and was no longer allowed to do his scientific research for the government.

Slave Codes

This set laws defining racial slavery beginning in 1662. It established the hereditary nature of slavery, and legally limiting the rights and learning of slaves.

Morrill Tariff Act

This tariff helped raise enough money to support the Civil War. It raised duties back up to 1846 levels.

Tariff of 1842

This tariff was a protective measure passed by the Whigs occupying Congress. This raised tariffs back to pre-Compromise of 1833 rates.

Treaty of Tordesillas (1494)

This treaty divided parts of the New World between Spain and Portugal. This treaty gave Spain most of the territory in the Americas, but Portugal most of the land in Africa and Asia.

Portuguese slave trade

This very profitable Portuguese industry was based on the export of slaves from Africa. Along the African coast, trading posts had been set up by the Portuguese for the purchase of gold and slaves. The Portuguese then used these slaves to work on plantations back in Portugal.

Tuscarora War

This war began with an Indian attack on Newbern, North Carolina in 1711 by the Tuscarora Indians. In retaliation, the North Carolinians destroyed the Indians in this war, selling hundreds of them into slavery, and leaving any survivors to seek protection from the Iroquois. The North Carolinians had help from the south for this battle.

New Deal

This was FDR's plan to help the economy in the Great Depression and to promote social reform. It was planned out by a group of his academic friends known as the Brain Trust. This program was based on his three R's of Relief, Recovery, and Reform. The goal was to provide relief for the Depression, recovery for the farmers, businesses, and the economy, and reform mostly through the Tennessee Valley Authority. This program resulted in a downpour of new bills on Congress even in the first "Hundred Days." The money to fund all of the actions this program would be paying for would come from raising taxes on the rich and the sale of government bonds.

The Alabama

This was a British-built and manned Confederate warship that raided Union shipping during the Civil War. It was one of the many warships built by the British for the Confederacy, despite objections and protests from the Union.

UC Regents v. Bakke

This was a landmark decision by the Supreme Court upheld affirmative action, allowing race to be one of several factors in college admission policy. However, the court ruled that specific racial quotas were impermissible. Chief Justice Warren E. Burger oversaw this decision.

Election of 1932

This was a major change in the political tide. With the Americans unhappy with Hoover's policies and angry about his failures, including the Smoot-Hawley Tariff and the Bonus Army incident, a change was needed. Franklin Delano Roosevelt was that change. He was charismatic and an able speaker. He was voted into office in this election, denouncing Hoover's policies and proclaiming a "new deal" for the "forgotten man." With his easy victory, came a great deal of change. Blacks, usually Republican, voted Democrat, and the New Deal, written by FDR's "Brains Trust," came into American history.

Bonneville Dam

This was a major dam created under F. Roosevelt's New Deal. The project, undertaken by U.S. Corps Engineers, was one of the largest hydroelectric projects in the New Deal. The main purpose of the dam was to produce electricity.

Hartford Convention

This was a meeting consisting of New England Federalists held in Hartford Connecticut during the winter of 1814-15. These Federalists opposed the War of 1812, and held the convention to discuss and seek redress by Washington for their complaints and wrongs that they felt had been done. Many of the complaints were about manifestation of their fears of being empowered by states in the south and west. This convention was an example of the growing issue of Sectionalism and was another event in the approaching end of the Federalist Party.

Lowell System

This was a paternalistic textile factory system of the early 19th century. It mainly hired young women from the ages of fifteen to thirty-five from New England farms to increase efficiency, productivity, and profits in ways different from common methods. These textile mills provided dorms for young women, where they were cared for, fed, and sheltered in return for cheap labor.

Townsend Act

This was a plan proposed to create a 2% federal sales tax to create a special fund from which every retired person over 60 could receive $200 a month. Its popularity convinced FDR to come up with a more moderate plan-the Social Security Act.

Era of Good Feelings

This was a popular name for the period of one-party Republican rule during James Monroe's presidency. Between 1815 and 1824, there was minimal political fighting. In this era, the disappearance of Federalists enabled the Republicans to govern in a spirit of nonpartisan harmony.

Quakers

This was a religious group that arose in England during the mid-1600s. They were known for their tolerance, emphasis on peace, and idealistic Indian policy. They settled heavily in Pennsylvania in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and were officially known as the Religious Society of Friends.

Cult of domesticity

This was a widespread cultural creed that glorified the traditional functions of the homemaker around 1850. Married women commanded immense moral power, and they increasingly made decisions that altered the family. Work opportunities for women increased particularly in teaching.

Independent treasury

This was established as a result of the Divorce Bill during the Panic of 1837. This allowed the government to lock its surplus money in vaults in several of the larger cities. Government funds would thus be safe, but they would also be denied to the banking system as reserves, thereby shriveling available resources.

Farm Mortgage Moratorium Act

This was formerly called the Frazier-Lemke Farm Bankruptcy Act and represented an effort by agrarian reformers to solve the problems of the agricultural depression that began during the 1920s. Sponsored by North Dakota Senator Lynn Frazier and North Dakota Representative William Lemke, it allowed the federal courts to scale down a farmer's debt to a level commensurate with the existing value of his property. If the farmer was able to retire this scaled-down debt, no further demands could be made upon him. The bill was enacted by Congress on 28 June 1934 and authorized the courts, under certain conditions, to grant such farmers a five-year moratorium.

Battle of Chancellorsville

This was fought from April 30 to May 6, 1863 and is widely considered to be Robert E. Lee's greatest victory during the Civil War. Facing an enemy force nearly twice the size of his own, Lee split his troops in two, confronting and surprising Union Gen. Joseph Hooker. Even though Hooker had more men, he did not use this advantage and instead fell back to defensive positions. When Lee once again split his forces and attacked, Hooker was forced to retreat across the Rappahannock River. Also, Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson was mortally wounded by friendly fire during the battle.

Mason-Dixon Line

This was originally drawn by surveyors to resolve the boundaries between Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania and Virginia in the 1760s. It came to symbolize the North-South divide over slavery. It was considered an imaginary line that separated free states from slave territories.

Grand Coulee Dam

This was part of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation's Columbia basin project. It was the largest structure since the Great Wall of China, spanning 4,173 feet long by 550 feet high. It was built with two power plants, and a third was later added. It has the largest power-producing capacity in the US

Judiciary Act of 1801

This was passed by the departing Federalist Congress. It created sixteen new life-time federal Judgeships and other judicial offices ensuring a Federalist hold on the judiciary. It aroused bitter resentment as it was seen as a brazen attempt by the ousted party to entrench itself in one of the three powerful branches of government. The newly elected Republican Congress bestirred itself to repeal it the year after its passage.

Marbury v. Madison

This was the Supreme Court case that established the principle of "judicial review." One of the "midnight judges" named a justice of the peace for the District of Columbia, William Marbury, sued on the grounds that James Madison, who was the secretary of state, was shelving his commission. Chief Justice Marshall dismissed Marbury's suit to avoid a direct political showdown. In his explanation, marshall said that the part of the Judiciary Act of 1789 on which marbury tried to base his appeal was unconstitutional, greatly magnifying the authority of the Court.

McCulloch v. Maryland

This was the Supreme Court case that strengthened federal authority and upheld the constitutionality of the Bank of the United States. It did this by establishing that the State of Maryland did not have power to tax the bank.

Dominion of New England

This was the administrative union created in 1686 by royal authority, incorporating all of New England, New York, and East and West Jersey. It was placed under the rule of Sir Edmund Andros who curbed popular assemblies, taxed residents without their consent, and strictly enforced Navigation Laws. Its collapse in 1689 after the Glorious Revolution in England demonstrated colonial opposition to strict royal control.

"Strict Construction"

This was the belief that all powers not specifically granted to the central government were reserved to the states under the Constitution. This idea was often proposed by Thomas Jefferson.

Spoils system

This was the policy of rewarding political supporters with public office, first widely employed at the federal level by Andrew Jackson. The practice was widely abused by unscrupulous office seekers, but it also helped cement party loyalty in the emerging two-party system. It was accompanied by scandal, however, as men who had bought their posts by campaign contributions were appointed to high offices and incompetent men were given positions of public trust.

English Restoration

This was the restoration of the English monarchy. It began in 1660 when Charles II assumed the throne, taking it away from Oliver Cromwell and ending the 11 years of military rule.

Fair Employment Practices Commission

Threatened with a massive "Negro March on Washington" to demand equal job opportunities in war jobs and in the military, Franklin D. Roosevelt's administration issued an executive order forbidding racial discrimination in all defense plants operating under contract with the federal government. The FEPC was intended to monitor compliance with the Executive Order.

Hermann Göring

Top Nazi official who committed suicide after being convicted in war-crimes trials. After helping Adolf Hitler take power, he became the second-most powerful man in Germany. He founded the Gestapo, or the official secret police of Nazi Germany, and later gave command of it to Heinrich Himmler.

Pentagon Papers

Top-secret documents published by the New York Times in 1971, that displayed the blunders and deceptions that led to the United States into the Vietnam War

James Hoffa

Tough Teamster-union boss whose corrupt actions helped lead to passage of the Landrum-Griffin Act. He served as the President of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) union; he helped secure the first national agreement for teamsters' rates in 1964; under his leadership, the union grew to over 1.5 million members.

Moscow-Berlin Pact (Hitler-Stalin Pact)

Treaty signed on August 23, 1939 in which Germany and the Soviet Union agreed not to fight each other. The fateful agreement paved the way for German aggression against Poland and the Western democracies.

Oklahoma City bombing

Truck-bomb explosion that killed 168 people in a federal office building on April 19, 1995. The attack was perpetrated by anti-government militant Timothy McVeigh.

Fair Deal

Truman's 1949 message to Congress ; program that called for improved housing , full employment, higher minimum wage, better farm price supports, new TVA's, and the extension of social security ; Its only successes: raised the minimum wage, better public housing, extended old-age insurance to more people.

Point Four Program

Truman's bold new program to lend money and technical aid to underdeveloped countries so that they would not succumb to communism

Siege of Vicksburg

Two-and-a-half month siege of a Confederate fort on the Mississippi River in Tennessee. Vicksburg finally fell to Ulysses S. Grant in July of 1863, giving the Union Army control of the Mississippi River and splitting the South in two.

"Buying on the Margin"

Type of buying of stocks typically used by poor and middle class people. They'd buy the stock but only buy part of it and borrow money from the stockbrokers to pay the rest. Then when the sold the stock for a higher price, they'd pay the broker off and keep the rest of the profit. This practice led to the Great Depression, because the banks couldn't get their money back when the stock market crashed

Martin Luther King, Jr.

U.S. Baptist minister and civil rights leader. A noted orator, he opposed discrimination against blacks by organizing nonviolent resistance and peaceful mass demonstrations. He was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee. Nobel Peace Prize (1964)

Un-American Activities Committtee

U.S. House of Representatives created to investigate disloyalty and subversive organizations. Its first chairman, Martin Dies, set the pattern for its anti-Communist investigations.

Federal courts

Under Article III of the Constitution, these were created to administer justice fairly and impartially, within the jurisdiction established by the Constitution and Congress. They are composed of three levels of courts: the district courts, the courts of appeal, and the Supreme Court.

Silver Purchase Act (1934)

Under this act, the federal government purchased large quantities of silver and issued silver certificates, significantly adding to the United States' monetary base.

Sherman's March to the Sea

Union General William Tecumseh Sherman's destructive march through Georgia. An early instance of "total war," purposely targeting infrastructure and civilian property to diminish morale and undercut the Confederate war effort.

Charles Evans Hughes

United States Supreme Court Justice and unsuccessful Republican candidate for president in 1916 against Woodrow Wilson. He almost won, carrying most of the populous Northeast and Midwest, but Wilson won enough working-class and pro-reform votes to squeak through. He was important leader of the progressive movement of the 20th century and was known for being a swing voter when dealing with cases related to the New Deal in the 1930s.

Narrative of the Life of Fredrick Douglas

Vivid autobiography of the escaped slave and renowned abolitionist Frederick Douglass. It depicted his remarkable origins as the son of a black slave women and a white father, his struggle to learn to read and write, and his eventual escape to the North.

V-E Day

Victory in Europe Day, the surrender of Nazi Germany

Sigmund Freud

Viennese physician who argued that sexual repression was responsible for many nervous and emotional illnesses

Ho Chi Minh

Vietnamese revolutionary nationalist leader, he organized Vietnamese opposition to foreign occupation, first against the Japanese and then the French; became leader of North Vietnam. He led the war to unify the country in the face of increased military opposition from the United States

William Berkeley

Virginian governor who disliked wretched bachelors (poor, indebted, discontented, and armed) and was disliked by them because he had friendly relations with Indians. He adopted policies that favored large planters and neglected the needs of recent settlers in the 'backcountry'. His shortcomings led to Bacon's Rebellion.

Rough Riders

Volunteer soldiers led by Theodore Roosevelt during the Spanish American War. It was a cavalry unit that actually fought in the war, unlike others who never saw battle.

King William's War

War fought largely between French trappers, British settlers, and their respective Indian allies from 1689 to 1697. The colonial theater of the larger War of the League of Augsburg in Europe.

Andrew Jackson

War hero, congressman and seventh president of the United States. A Democrat, he ushered in a new era in American politics, advocating white manhood suffrage and cementing party loyalties through the spoils system. As president, he dismantled the Bank of the United States, asserted federal supremacy in the nullification crisis, and oversaw the harsh policy of Indian removal in the South.

Public Works Administration (PWA)

Was part of the New Deal of 1933; a large-scale public works construction agency in the United States headed by Secretary of the Interior Harold L. Ickes. It was created by the National Industrial Recovery Act in June 1933 in response to the Great Depression. It built large-scale public works such as dams, bridges, warships, hospitals and schools.

Washington's Farewell Address

Washington wrote a farewell letter with Alexander Hamilton's assistance in 1796. The letter was published in newspapers to protect Americans from getting involved in European affairs, and warning them to not make permanent alliances or political parties, and to avoid sectionalism.

Liberia

West-African nation founded in 1822 as a haven for freed blacks, fifteen thousand of whom made their way back across the Atlantic by the 1860s. Although the land was intended to be a haven, in reality, the land was fever-stricken and an unsuitable residence for the very much Americanized former African slaves.

G. Gordon Liddy

White House "plumber" who plotted the Watergate break-in, he currently is the host of a right-wing conservative radio talk show

New Freedom

Wilson's policy that favored the small business, entrepreneurship, and the free functioning of unregulated and unmonopolized markets.

Hernando De Soto

With 600 armor-plated men, he undertook a fantastic gold-seeking expedition during 1539-1542. He discovered and crossed the majestic Mississippi River, just north of its junction with the Arkansas river. After brutally mistreating Indians, he died of fever and wounds.

"all of Mexico"

With American success on the battlefield during the Mexican-American War, by the summer of 1847 there were calls for the annexation of this, particularly among Eastern Democrats, who argued that bringing Mexico into the Union was the best way to ensure future peace in the region. The annexation of all Mexico also found controversy in extending U.S. citizenship to millions of Mexicans. This debate brought to the forefront one of the contradictions of manifest destiny, but the controversy was eventually ended by the Mexican Cession.

Battle of Midway

World War II Pacific battle; decisive U.S. victory over powerful Japanese carrier force.

Common Sense

Written by Thomas Paine and published in 1776, this manuscript could be described as one of the most influential pamphlets ever written. This pamphlet described the nature of government at the time and what it should be ideally. The author, like Jefferson and many others, believed in egalitarian principles for the colonies which could only be accomplished with separation from the king and British control.

The Age of Reason

Written in 1794, this was a work by Thomas Paine. It was an anticlerical treatise that accused churches of seeking to acquire "power and profit" and to "enslave mankind".

Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein

Young reporters for The Washington Post who did much of the early news reporting on the infamous Watergate scandal. They uncovered this system of political "dirty tricks" and crimes that eventually led to indictments of forty White House and administration officials, and ultimately to the resignation of President Richard Nixon.

Charles Darwin

a British naturalist, revolutionized biology with his theory of evolution through the process of natural selection. He also made significant contributions to the fields of natural history and geology. The theory of evolution, which held that all living species have evolved from preexisting forms, aroused great controversy and brought about a reevaluation of the position of humans in relation to all other living forms.

Peace Corps

a federal agency created by President Kennedy in 1961 to promote voluntary service by Americans in foreign countries, it provides labor power to help developing countries improve their infrastructure, health care, educational systems, and other aspects of their societies. Part of Kennedy's New Frontier vision, the organization represented an effort by postwar liberals to promote American values and influence through productive exchanges across the world

Woodrow Wilson

a once-mild conservative but now militant progressive who had been the president of Princeton University, governor of New Jersey (where he didn't permit himself to be controlled by the bosses), and had attacked trusts and passed liberal measures.

Whitewater scandal

a real estate deal in which the Clintons invested during the '70s; death of Vince Foster the White House council brought out banking and real estate ventures that included the Clintons

Nicola Sacco

a shoe factory worker, convicted with Bartolomeo Vanzetti for the murder of a Massachusetts paymaster and his guard in 1921, the jury and the judge were prejudiced in some degree against the defendants because they were Italians, atheists, anarchists, and draft dodgers, this shows the anti-redism dan anti-foreignism and "judicial lynching"

Nez Percé

a small and peaceful tribe, they were able to live in Oregon until the 1870's without disturbance, then however the were forced to move to a reservation. On their way there several younger Indians, drunk and angry, killed four white settlers. The leader, Chief Joseph led many of them past American troops, towards Canada, to avoid retribution. Just short of Canada they were stopped and Joseph surrendered the fight.

Flappers

a young woman in the 1920s who wore her hair bobbed, wore makeup, dressed in flashy, skimpy clothes, and lived a life of independence and freedom

Temperance Movement

alcohol was connected with prostitution in the red-light districts (an area of a town or city containing many brothels, strip clubs, and other sex businesses) and no one wanted a drunken voter. Officials like bosses were dominated by booze interests. Anti-liquor campaigns received powerful support from militant groups. Women's christian temperance union.Many counties passed dry laws which controlled/restricted/abolished alcohol consumption. Only the small counties/states passed dry laws, the big cities were normally "wet" because of immigrants

Bessemer Process

allowed for the price of steel to drop dramatically and for its production to be done with relative ease. The process involved blowing cold air on red-hot iron in order to ignite the carbon and eliminate impurities.

George F. Kennan

an American advisor, diplomat, political scientist, and historian, best known as "the father of containment" and as a key figure in the emergence of the Cold War.

J. Pierpont Morgan

an American financier, banker, philanthropist, and art collector who dominated corporate finance and industrial consolidation during his time. In 1892 Morgan arranged the merger of Edison General Electric and Thompson-Houston Electric Company to form General Electric.

Filipino Insurrection

an attempt to gain independence from Spain and was led by Emilio Aguinaldo. Emilio Aguinaldo declared an independent Philippines in 1899, which began this and lasted until 1902. More usually called the Philippine-American War or the Philippine War, this 1899-1902) was America's first conflict of the twentieth century.

Lewinsky scandal

an intern that President Clinton had an affair with; infamous blue dress; lied about the affair during depositions in the Paula Jones lawsuit; included in the indictment of Clinton; Americans didn't want Clinton removed from office as they approved of job performance but not his moral compass; he was not impeached

International Monetary Fund

an international organization that acts as a lender of last resort, providing loans to troubled nations, and also works to promote trade through financial cooperation. Also encourages world trade by regulating currency exchange rates.

Francis E. Townsend

attracted the trusting support of perhaps 5 million "senior citizens" with his fantastic plan of each senior receiving $200 month, provided that all of it would be spent within the month. Also, this was a mathematically silly plan.

Emmett Till

black boy murdered in 1955 for whistling at a white woman by her husband and his friends. They kidnapped him and brutally killed him. his death led to the American Civil Rights movement, with some saying Rosa Parks committed her actions in thought of this boy and his mother.

Barack Obama

born to white American mother and Kenyon father; grew up in Indonesia and Hawaii; graduated from Harvard Law School; worked as a community activist in Chicago; served in US Senate 3 yrs before running for President; first black President; ran on campaign of hope and change; expanded TARP to bail out auto companies; passed comprehensive health care bill without one Republican voting for it;

Strategic Air Command

both a Major Command of the United States Air Force and a "specified command" of the United States Department of Defense. SAC was the operational establishment in charge of America's land-based strategic bomber aircraft and land-based intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) strategic nuclear arsenal from 1946 to 1992. SAC also controlled the infrastructure necessary to support the strategic bomber and ICBM operations, such as aerial refueling tanker aircraft to refuel the bombers in flight, strategic reconnaissance aircraft, command post aircraft, and, until 1957, fighter escorts. Strategic Air Command was created with the stated mission of providing long range bombing capabilities anywhere in the world.

Father Charles Coughlin

catholic priest- "social justice"- anti-deal/anti-semitic and fascist; did radio broadcasts until shut down by government; a Catholic priest in Michigan who at first was with FDR then disliked the New Deal and voiced his opinions on radio.

'New right' movement

conservative movement that began in the 1960s and supported Republican candidates into the twenty-first century; many voters from the South and from the middle class were attracted to its emphasis on patriotism and strict moral values

Earl Warren

controversial Chief Justice of the Supreme Court (1953-1969); he led the Court in far-reaching racial, social, and political rulings, including school desegregation and protecting rights of persons accused of crimes; presided over the Brown v. the Board of Education case

Equal Rights Amendment

declared full constitutional equality for women. Although it passed both houses of Congress in 1972, a concerted grassroots campaign by anti-feminists led by Phyllis Schlafly persuaded enough state legislatures to vote against ratification. The amendment failed to become part of the Constitution.

Red Scare

erupted in the early 1920's. The American public was scared that communism would come into the US. Left-winged supporters were suspected. This fear of communism helped businessman who used it to stop labor strikes

Jingoism

extreme patriotism, especially in the form of aggressive or warlike foreign policy. It also refers to a country's advocacy for the use of threats or actual force, as opposed to peaceful relations, in efforts to safeguard what it perceives as its national interests.

Winslow Homer

famous American landscape painter and printmaker, during the late 1880's to early 1900's. Known for being one of the most distinguished painters in the 19th century as well as his own influence on American art for centuries. Used his creative skills to construct paintings during this time when he was sent to the front lines of the American Civil War, with these paintings were the ideal to depict the true feelings and emotions when at war

Railroad Retirement Act

federal law enacted by Congress in 1937 that provides a special system of annuity pension, and death benefits to railroad workers. Congress first passed the Railroad Retirement Act in 1934 (unconstitutional then revised and approved in 1937) to reward the hard work done by railroad workers, recognize the national benefits conferred by railroad work, and encourage the retirement of older railroad workers. By offering the means for railroad workers "to enjoy the closing days of their lives with peace of mind and physical comfort," Congress intended to provide jobs to younger workers and generally improve the operation of the railroads with stronger, more able bodies. The Railroad Retirement Act was amended several times to make it similar to the benefits scheme of the social security act

Sioux Wars

from 1876-1877. The war was touched off when a group of miners rushed into the Black Hills of South Dakota in 1875. The well-armed warriors at first proved to be a superior force.

Four Freedoms Speech

goals famously articulated by United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the State of the Union Address he delivered to the 77th United States Congress on January 6, 1941. In an address also known as the Four Freedoms speech, Roosevelt proposed four points as fundamental freedoms humans "everywhere in the world" ought to enjoy: speech and expression, religion, want, fear. want and fear were new ideas which excited americans by going beyond the constitutional values

Workingman's Compensation Act

granted assistance of federal civil-service employees during periods of instability but was invalidated by the Supreme Court.

D-Day/Normandy Invasion

invasion led Dwight D. Eisenhower, started in Normandy, on june 6th 1944, was a success, turing point of WWII, first time allied forces successfully set foot in Europe

Battle of Leyete Gulf

largest naval battle of World War II; Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) mobilized nearly all of its remaining major naval vessels in an attempt to defeat the Allied invasion, but failed to achieve its objective, suffered very heavy losses, and never afterwards sailed to battle in comparable force; first battle in which Japanese aircraft carried out organized kamikaze attacks

William Jennings Bryan

leader of the Democrats in the Chicago convention of 1896 who was a supporter of free silver and won his audiences with biblical fervor; jobless workers and bankrupt farmers resulted in Bryan's assault on the gold standard striking fear in many hearts

Marcus Garvey

leader of the UNIA, urged blacks to return to Africa because, he reasoned, blacks would never be treated justly in countries ruled by whites

Operation Desert Storm

military action by the United states and a coalition of Allied nations against Iraq and its leader Saddam Hussein after Iraq had invaded Kuwait; this operation was a resounding success, although the decision was made not to force Saddam Hussein from power

Upton Sinclair

muckraker who shocked the nation when he published The Jungle, a novel that revealed gruesome details about the meat packing industry in Chicago. The book was fiction but based on the things Sinclair had seen.

Jazz

name referring to the 1920s; a time of cultural change; generally refers to the arts such as writing, music, artwork, and architecture, American Jazz music emerges from African American church and community, becomes international, uniquely American, white America and Europe embrace

Emergency Quota Act (1921)

newcomers from Europe were restricted at any year to a quota, which was set at 3% of the people of their nationality who lived in the U.S. in 1910.

Muckrakers

nickname given to young reporters of popular magazines. These magazines spent a lot of money on researching and digging up "muck," hence the name muckrakers. This name was given to them by Pres. Roosevelt- 1906. These investigative journalists were trying to make the public aware of problems that needed fixing

Venezuelan Boundary Dispute

occurred over Venezuela's longstanding dispute with Britain, over a piece of land that Britain claimed as part of British Guiana and Venezuela saw as Venezuelan territory. The British eventually allowed the United States to act as a mediator under the power of the Monroe Doctrine.

Sierra Club

oldest and largest grassroots environmental organization in the United States. It was founded on May 28, 1892 in San Francisco, California by the well-known conservationist and preservationist John Muir, who became its first president. The Sierra Club has hundreds of thousands of members in chapters located throughout the US, and is affiliated with Sierra Club Canada.

Freedom Riders

organized mixed-race groups who rode interstate buses deep into the South to draw attention to and protest racial segregation, beginning in 1961. This effort by northern young people to challenge racism proved a political and public relations success for the Civil Rights Movement

Sherman Anti-Trust Act

penned in 1890 as a response to the mob mentality against monopolization that the common people had adopted (largely due to the economic depression). The Act banned all combination of trade between companies, and all trust systems, both beneficial to the economy and not, were banned. The Act was largely inefficient due to countless legal loopholes and the lack of distinction between between beneficial trust systems and harmful trust systems. This Act also was used to curb labor unions, which proved efficient for large corporations

Albert Einstein

physicist born in Germany who formulated the special theory of relativity and the general theory of relativity

Eisenhower Doctrine

pledges U.S. military and economic aid to Middle Eastern nations who were threatened by communist aggression

Huey P. Long

popular for his "Share the Wealth" program; Proposed "every man a king," each family was to receive $5000, allegedly from the rich. The math of the plan was ludicrous.

Farm Relief and Inflation Act

popularly known as the First Agricultural Adjustment Act. The objective was to raise farm income by cutting the acreages planted or destroying the crops in the field, paying the farmers not to plant anything, and organizing marketing agreements to improve distribution. The program soon covered not only cotton, but also all basic cereal and meat production as well as principal cash crops. The expenses of the program were to be covered by a new "processing tax" levied on an already depressed industry.

George C. Wallace

pro-segregation governor of Alabama who ran for pres. in 1968 on American Independent Party ticket of segregation and law and order, loses to Nixon; runs in 1972 but gets shot and is left paralyzed

Referendum

progressive device that would place laws on the ballot for final approval by the people, especially laws that had been railroaded through a compliant legislature by free-spending agents of the big business

Invasion of North Africa

secret attack, largest waterborne effort, axis powers (germans and italians) surrendered

Ku Klux Klan

secret domestic militant organizations in the United States, originating in the southern states and eventually having national scope, that are best known for advocating white supremacy and acting as terrorists while hidden behind conical hats, masks and white robes. The KKK has a record of terrorism,[2] violence, and lynching to intimidate, murder, and oppress African Americans, Jews and other minorities and to intimidate and oppose Roman Catholics and labor unions

Fundamentalism

set of religious beliefs including traditional Christian ideas about Jesus Christ; the belief that the Bible was inspired by God and is literally true

Nixon Doctrine

stated that the United States would stay true to all of their existing defense commitments but Asian and other countries would not be able to rely on large bodies of American troops for support in the future.

Thomas E. Dewey

the 47th Governor of New York (1943-1954). In 1944 and 1948, he was the Republican candidate for President, but lost both times. He was the Republican candidate in the 1948 presidential election in which, in almost unanimous predictions by pollsters and the press, he was projected as the winner. Newspapers even said he won before it was official. His mistake was his cautious approach in which he ignored his opponent. He led the liberal faction of the Republican Party, in which he fought conservative Ohio Senator Robert A. Taft. Dewey did not run for President in 1952, but he did play a major role in securing the Republican nomination for General Dwight Eisenhower. This election was Taft's last chance for president, and some claim that Dewey was the real power behind Eisenhower. Dewey was an advocate for the professional and business community of the Northeastern United States which accepted the majority of New Deal social-welfare reforms enacted during the administration of President FDR.

Robert McNamara

the business whiz who left the presidency of Ford Motor Company to become Kennedy's secretary of defense. Cabinet officer who promoted "flexible response" but came to doubt the wisdom of the Vietnam War he had presided over.

Helsinki Accords

the final act of the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe held in Helsinki, Finland in 1975. Thirty-five states, including the USA, Canada, and all European states except Albania and Andorra, signed the declaration in an attempt to improve relations between the Communist bloc and the West. The Helsinki Accords are not binding as they do not have treaty status.

Prohibition

the prevention by law of the manufacture and sale of alcohol between 1920 and 1933; wanted to eliminate drunkenness

Recall

the progressive device of enabling voters to remove faithless elected officials, particularly those who had been bribed by bosses or lobbyists

Bible Belt

the region of the American South, extending roughly from North Carolina west to Oklahoma and Texas, where Protestant Fundamentalism and belief in literal interpretation of the Bible have traditionally been strongest.

Undocumented immigrants

undocumented immigrants who came to the country without proper papers such as a passport, a visa, or entry permit

Eleanor Roosevelt

was the First Lady of the United States from 1933 to 1945. She supported the New Deal policies of her husband, distant cousin Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and became an advocate for civil rights. After her husband's death in 1945, Roosevelt continued to be an international author, speaker, politician, and activist for the New Deal coalition. She worked to enhance the status of working women, although she opposed the Equal Rights Amendment because she believed it would adversely affect women

Frances Perkins

was the U.S. Secretary of Labor from 1933 to 1945, and the first woman appointed to the U.S. Cabinet. As a loyal supporter of her friend, Franklin D. Roosevelt, she helped pull the labor movement into the New Deal coalition. She and Interior Secretary Harold Ickes were the only original members of the Roosevelt cabinet to remain in office for his entire presidency.

Sputnik

was the first artificial satellite to be put into Earth's orbit. It was launched into an elliptical low Earth orbit by the Soviet Union on 4 October 1957. The unanticipated announcement of Sputnik 1's success precipitated the Sputnik crisis in the United States and ignited the Space Race, a part of the larger Cold War. The launch ushered in new political, military, technological, and scientific developments. While the Sputnik launch was a single event, it marked the start of the Space Age.

Thorstein Veblen

writer who assailed the new rich in The Theory of the Leisure Class (1899), a savage attack on "predatory wealth" and "conspicuous consumption"; the parasitic leisure class engaged in wasteful "business" (making money for money's sake) rather than productive "industry" (making goods to satisfy real needs; urged that social leadership pass from these titans to truly useful engineers

William Howard Taft

(1908-1912), was endorsed by Roosevelt because he pledged to carry on progressive program, then he didn't appoint any Progressives to the Cabinet, actively pursued anti-trust lawsuits, appoints Richard Ballinger as Secretary of the Interior, Ballinger opposed conservation and favored business interests, Taft fires Gifford Pinchot (head of U.S. forestry), ran for reelection in 1912 but lost to Wilson.

Warren Harding

29th President of the United States (1921-1923). He promised a return to normality after WW1 and used efforts of make no enemies during his presidency. Scandals affected his presidency such as the Ohio Gang that had to do with financial jobs that he offered his friends

Stephen A. Douglas

A 37 year old Senator known as the "Little Giant." In 1854, he delivered a counterstroke to offset the Gadsden thrust for southern expansion westward. He longed to break the North-South deadlock over westward expansion and stretch a line of settlements across the continent. He also invested heavily in Chicago real estate. He proposed the Kansas-Nebraska scheme which contradicted the Missouri compromise. He seemed to have acted impulsively and recklessly.

16th Street Baptist Church

A Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, which was the target of a racially motivated bombing in 1963. This bombing was a result of four members of the KKK planting dynamite, attached to a timing device, beneath the front steps of the church. Described by Martin Luther King Jr. as "one of the most vicious and tragic crimes ever perpetrated against humanity", the explosion at the church killed four girls and injured twenty-two others.

Charles Darwin

A British naturalist whose 1859 book On the Origin of Species outlined a theory of evolution based on natural selection, whereby the strongest individuals of a particular species survived and reproduced while weaker individuals died out. This theory had an enormous impact not just on science but on religion and society too, as people wrestled with the challenge evolutionary theory posed to Biblical notions of divine creation and applied the ideas of natural selection to human society.

Lusitania

A British passenger ship that was sunk by a German U-Boat on May 7, 1915. 128 Americans died. The sinking greatly turned American opinion against the Germans, helping the move towards entering the war.

Jonathan Edwards

A Congressionalist and Protestant pastor and theologian who first ignited the Great Awakening in Northampton, Massachusetts. He believed in salvation through good works and God's grace. "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" is one of his most famous works about the damnation that comes to those who aren't true believers.

Preston Brooks

A Congressmen of South Carolina, Brooks was offended by the speech of Sumner, "The Crime Against Kansas". He walked up to Sumner's desk and beat him unconscious. This violent incident helped touch off the war between the North and the South.

Martin Luther

A German friar that nailed his protests against Catholic doctrines on the door of Wittenberg's cathedral in 1517. He denounced the authority of priests and popes, and he also declared that the Bible alone was the source of God's word. He ignited the religious reform known as the Protestant Reformation that occurred from 1517 to 1648.

W. E. B. Du Bois

A Harvard-educated leader in the fight for racial equality, he believed that liberal arts education would provide the "talented tenth" of African Americans with the ability to lift their race into full participation in society. From New York, where he was a founder of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), he relentlessly brought attention to racism in America and demanded legal and cultural change. During his long life he published many important books of history, sociology, and poetry and provided intellectual leadership to those advocating civil rights. One of his deepest convictions was the necessity of American blacks connecting their freedom struggle with African independence and he died as a resident of the new nation of Ghana.

Eli Whitney

A Massachusetts-born mechanical genius who invented the cotton gin in 1793. By inventing this workable device for separating seeds from cotton fiber, he somewhat relieved the poverty of the South. By perfecting the cotton gin, he gave slavery a renewed lease on life, and perhaps made the Civil War more likely. He also developed the idea of interchangeable parts, specifically for muskets.

Haymarket Square Bombing

A May Day rally that turned violent when someone threw a bomb into the middle of the meeting, killing several dozen people. Eight anarchists were arrested for conspiracy contributing to the disorder, although evidence linking them to the bombing was thin. Four were executed, one committed suicide, and three were pardoned in 1893.

Ferdinand Magellan

A Portuguese sailor who was determined to find how "beyond" China was. He set out from Spain in 1519 with a fleet of 5 ships in hope of discovering a trade route to China. After beating through the storm-lashed strait off the tip of South America that still bears his name, he was slain by the inhabitants of the Philippines. His one remaining vessel creaked home in 1522, completing the first circumnavigation of the world.

Herbert Hoover

A Quaker-humanitarian tapped to head the Food Administration during World War I. During the 1920s, he became the Secretary of Commerce, promoting economic modernization and responsible leadership by business to hold off further expansion of government power. Elected to the presidency in 1928 as a Republican, he soon faced the crisis of the Great Depression, which he tried to combat with the same voluntary efforts and restrained government action that had been his hallmark over the previous decade. He lost the election of 1932 to Democrat Franklin Roosevelt, who advocated a more activist role for the federal government

Tenskwatawa (The Prophet)

A Shawnee indian who, with his brother Tecumseh, welded together a far-flung confederacy of all the tribes east of the Mississippi, inspiring a vibrant movement of Indian unity and cultural renewal. Their followers gave up textile clothing for traditional buckskin garments, their warriors forswore alcohol.

Sacajawea

A Shoshone woman who aided Lewis and Clark in crossing the Rockies and descending the Columbia River to the Pacific coast. She also helped the Lewis and Clark Expedition achieve each of its chartered mission objectives exploring the Louisiana Purchase. The expedition lasted from 1804 to 1806.

Francisco Pizarro

A Spanish conquistador that crushed the Incas of Peru in 1532 and added a huge hoard of booty to Spanish confers. He also founded the city of Lima, Peru.

Vasco Nunez Balboa

A Spanish explorer who is hailed as the discoverer of the Pacific Ocean. He waded into the foaming waves off Panama in 1513 and boldly claimed for his king all the lands washed by that sea.

Bartolome de Las Casas

A Spanish missionary and Dominican friar who was appalled by the encomienda system in Hispaniola, calling it "a moral pestilence invented by Satan". Hey wrote The Destruction of the Indies in 1542 to chronicle the awful fate of the Native Americans and to protest Spanish policies in the New World.

War Refugee Board

A United States agency formed to help rescue Jews from German-occupied territories and to provide relief to inmates of Nazi concentration camps. The agency performed noble work, but it did not begin operations until very late in the war, after millions had already been murdered.

Railway Labor Act

A United States federal law that governs labor relations in the railroad and airline industries. The Act passed in 1926 and amended in 1934 and 1936, seeks to substitute bargaining, arbitration and mediation for strikes as a means of resolving labor disputes. Its provisions were originally enforced under the Board of Mediation, but were later enforced under National Mediation Board. Like its predecessors, it relied on boards of adjustment, established by the parties, to resolve labor disputes, with a government-appointed Board of Mediation to attempt to resolve those disputes that board of adjustment could not. The RLA promoted voluntary arbitration as the best method for resolving those disputes that the Board of Mediation could not settle. Congress strengthened these procedures in the 1934 amendments to the Act, which created a procedure for resolving whether a union had the support of the majority of employees while turning the Board of Mediation into a permanent agency, the National Mediation Board (NMB), with broader powers. Congress extended the RLA to cover airline employees in 1936.

Hatch Act

A United States federal law whose main provision prohibits employees in the executive branch of the federal government from engaging in some forms of political activity.

War Industries Board

A United States government agency established on July 28, 1917, during World War I, to coordinate the purchase of war supplies. The organization encouraged companies to use mass-production techniques to increase efficiency and urged them to eliminate waste by standardizing products.

Paxton Boys

A band of people from western Pennsylvania (living in the backcountry...) who came to Philadelphia in 1763 demanding tax relief and money to help their defenses against the Indians. They had earlier been declared outlaws for launching an illegal attack on the Conestoga Indians.

Battle of Bunker Hill

A battle in which colonists seized a hill on June 1775. Many British died when they launched their attack of 3,000 men. The Americans, who far outnumbered them with 15,000 men, won a fairly easy victory.

Battle of Concord

A battled that initiated the Revolutionary war between American colonists and the British. The British governor at the time, Thomas Gage, sent troops to ___ to stop colonists from loading arms.

Erie Canal

A canal dug out by New Yorkers which connects the Great Lakes with the Hudson River. This effectively lowered shipping costs and helped fuel an economic boom in upstate New York. Farmers in the Old Northwest benefited from an increase in profitability.

Cohens v. Virginia

A case in 1821 that started when the Cohen brothers were tried guilty by the Virginian court for illegally selling lottery tickets. In retaliation, the Cohen brothers appealed to the Supreme Court. Virginia "won" in the sense that the conviction was formally upheld. However this case proved that the Supreme Court could review decisions already made by the state supreme courts in the matters involving powers of the federal government.

Commonwealth v. Hunt

A case in which the supreme court of Massachusetts ruled that labor unions were not an illegal conspiracy as long as they kept "honorable and peaceful" attitudes. This strengthened the labor movement by upholding the legality of unions.

CIA

A civilian foreign intelligence service of the U.S. federal government, tasked with gathering, processing, and analyzing national security information from around the world, primarily through the use of human intelligence. It was founded in September of 1947, and is primarily focused on providing intelligence for the President and Cabinet.

Richard Nixon

A committee member of the House of Representatives, Committee on Un-AMerican Activities (to investigate "subversion"). He tried to catch Alger Hiss who was accused of being a Communist agent in 1930's. This brought Nixon to the public eye and in 1956, he would become Eisenhower's Vice President.

New Harmony

A communal society of around one thousand members established in New Harmony, Indiana, by Robert Owen. The community attracted a hodgepodge of individuals, from scholars to crooks; however, it fell apart due to infighting and confusion after just two years.

VietCong

A communist guerrilla force that with the support of the North Vietnamese Army, fought against South Vietnam (late 1950s-1975) and the United States (early 1960s-1973)

Fordney-McCumber Tariff

A comprehensive bill passed to protect domestic production from foreign competitors. As a direct result, many European nations were spurred to increase their own trade barriers.

Crittenden Compromise

A compromise proposed by Kentucky Senator John Crittenden protecting the institution of slavery through constitutional amendments. The compromise did not pass the house or the senate and was immediately rejected by President Lincoln.

Welfare state

A concept of government in which the state plays a key role in the protection and promotion of the social and economic well-being of its citizens. It is based on the principles of equality of opportunity, equitable distribution of wealth, and public responsibility for those unable to avail themselves of the minimal provisions for a good life. T.H. Marshall described it as a distinctive combination of democracy, welfare, and capitalism.

Samoan Crisis

A confrontation between the United States, Germany and Great Britain from 1887-1889. It was fought over control of the Samoan Islands during the Samoan Civil War.

Ghost Dance

A cult that tried to call the spirits of past warriors to inspire the young braves to fight. It was crushed at the Battle of Wounded Knee after spreading to the Dakota Sioux. The Ghost Dance led to the Dawes Severalty Act of 1887. This act tried to reform Indian tribes and turn them into "white" citizens. It did little good.

Pragmatism

A distinctive American philosophy that emerged in the late nineteenth century around the theory that the true value of an idea lay in its ability to solve problems. These people thus embraced the provisional, uncertain nature of experimental knowledge. Among the most well-known purveyors of this were John Dewey, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., and William James.

"Old Ironsides"

A famous poem written on September 16, 1830 by Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr., an American poet. This poem was a tribute to the American ship, the USS Constitution, which is the oldest commissioned ship in the world still afloat. This poem is partially responsible for the ship's preservation, as it led to an outcry of public support for preserving this famous warship.

George A. Custer

A former Civil War General who set out in 1874 with his Seventh Cavalry to return the Plains Indians to the Sioux reservation. He was defeated by an army that outnumbered his men 10-1.

Thomas Paine

A former apprentice to a corset-maker who had come from Britain just a year earlier, this man went on to become the author of Common Sense. His booklet became a bestseller in the colonies and sold 120,000 copies within the span of a few months.

Tuskegee Airmen

A group of all African-American fighter pilots who fought valiantly in WWII and were trained at Tuskegee University in Alabama. They were the 332nd Fighter Group, and are famous for shooting down over 200 enemy planes. They were the first African-American military aviators in the United States Armed Forces and faced discrimination and segregation both within and outside the army.

Sons of Liberty

A group of ardent spirits who took the law into their own hands. Crying "Liberty, Property, and No Stamps," they enforced the Non-Importation Agreements against violators.

Carrie Chapman Catt

A leader of the revived women's suffrage movement, she served as president of the National American Women's Suffrage Association (NAWSA) from 1900-1904 and again from 1915-1920. She was also active internationally, helping women in other countries gain suffrage and advocating for international peace.

Harold L. Ickes

A leading New Dealer as Secretary of the Interior from 1933 to 1946 and a top liberal advisor to President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Starting off in Chicago, this man campaigned for Theodore Roosevelt's Progressive party in 1912 and for the presidential campaigns of Republican nominee Charles Evans Hughes (1916) and presidential hopeful Hiram Johnson in 1920. He was an important figure in the New Deal, as Secretary of the Interior (1933-46) and administrator of the Public Works Administration (1933-39).

Langston Hughes

A leading poet of the Harlem Renaissance who described the rich culture of african American life using rhythms influenced by jazz music. He wrote of African American hope and defiance in poems such as "The Negro Speaks of Rivers" and "My People"

Fourteen Points

A list of foreign policy goals which Woodrow Wilson hoped to achieve in the aftermath of World War I. It was a proposal to ensure peace, calling for an end to secret treaties, widespread arms reduction, national self-determination, and a new league of nations.

Transcendentalism

A literary and intellectual movement that emphasized individualism and self-reliance. It predicated upon a belief that each person possesses an "inner light" that can point the way to truth and direct contact with God.

Southern Renaissance

A literary outpouring among mid-20th century southern writers, begun by William Faulkner and marked by a new critical appreciation of the region's burdens of history, racism, and conservatism.

Watts Riots

A massive 5-day uprising in 1965; the first large race riot since the end of World War II. In the Watts section of Los Angeles, a riot broke out. It was the result of a white police officer striking a black bystander during a protest. This triggers a week of violence and anger revealing the resentment blacks felt toward treatment toward them.

Mary II

After the Glorious (or Bloodless) Revolution, the people of Old England dethroned the Catholic James II and enthroned this Dutch-born Protestant. She is the daughter of James II.

Jacob Riis

A muckraker who is famous for using photography to document the incredibly poor conditions of many impoverished communities in the early 20th century. Also author of "How the Other Half Lives"

Warsaw Pact

A mutual defense treaty between eight communist states of Eastern Europe in existence during the Cold War. The founding treaty was established under the initiative of the Soviet Union and signed on 14 May 1955, in. It was the military complement to the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance, the regional economic organization for the communist states of Eastern Europe. The Treaty organization was two-fold: the Political Consultative Committee handled political matters, and the Combined Command of Pact Armed Forces controlled the assigned multinational forces, with headquarters in, Poland. Although ostensibly an international collective security alliance, the USSR dominated the Treaty armed forces.

Truman Doctrine

A policy set forth by the U.S. President Harry S Truman in a speech on March 12, 1947 stating that the U.S. would support Greece and Turkey with economic and military aid to prevent their falling into the Soviet sphere. It is often considered as the start of the Cold War. Truman stated the Doctrine would be "the policy of the United States to support free people who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures." Truman reasoned, because these "totalitarian regimes" coerced "free peoples," they represented a threat to international peace and the national security of the United States. It shifted American foreign policy toward the Soviet Union from a relaxation of tension to, a policy of containment of Soviet expansion.

Neoconservatism

A political movement born in the United States during the 1960s among conservative-leaning Democrats who became disenchanted with the party's foreign policy. It refers to those who made the ideological journey from the anti-Stalinist Left to the camp of American conservatism. Followers typically advocate the promotion of democracy and American national interest in international affairs, including by means of military force and are known for espousing disdain for communism and for political radicalism. Many of its adherents became politically famous during the Republican presidential administrations of the 1970s to the 2000s.

Democratic Republican Party

A political party led by Thomas Jefferson. They were supportive of states' rights, being allied with France, and believed in strict interpretation of the Constitution. They also feared centralized government power, and disagreed with Hamilton's financial plan.

Burned Over Districts

A popular name given to Western New York after the events of the Second Great Awakening. It received this name because it was a region particularly swept up in the religious fervor of the Second Great Awakening.

Captain Myles Standish

A prominent passenger on the Mayflower who was not a Separatist. He was a peppy and stocky soldier of fortune, who was dubbed "Captain Shrimp" by a critic. Later, he rendered indispensable service as an Indian fighter and negotiator.

Great Awakening

A religious revival, which occurred during the 1730s and the 1740s, which swept through the colonies. Participating ministers, most notably Jonathan Edwards and George Whitfield, placed an emphasis on direct, emotive spirituality.

Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions

A response to the Alien Laws and Sedition Act, written by Jefferson and Madison 'anonymously', and adopted by the legislature of Virginia in 1798. It was a series of Resolutions, declaring that states were allowed to nullify federal laws they felt were unconstitutional.

Bolshevik Revolution

A revolution in Russia in 1917-1918, also called the October Revolution, that overthrew the czar and brought the Bolsheviks, a Communist party led by Lenin, to power

Yellow Journalism

A scandal-mongering practice of journalism that emerged in New York during the Gilded Age out of the circulation battles between Joseph Pulitzer's New York World and William Randolph Hearst's New York Journal. The expression has remained a pejorative term referring to sensationalist journalism practiced with unethical, unprofessional stand.

"Molly Maguires"

A secret society of Irish miners that formed a union in the Pennsylvania coal districts during the 1860s and 1870s. They campaigned vehemently against the poor working conditions in the mines of Pennsylvania.

Kellog-Briand Pact

A sentimental triumph of the 1920s peace movement, this 1928 pact linked sixty-two nations in the supposed "outlawry of war." It outlawed offensive war but permitted defensive fighting; in theory, this would work, but there were no provisions for enforcement.

Fireside Chats

A series of informal radio addresses given by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the 1930s. In his fireside chats, Roosevelt sought to explain his policies to the American public and to calm fears about the Great Depression.

Bernard Baruch

A stock speculator who was appointed to head the War Industries Board under President Wilson, Baruch went on to participate in the "Brain Trust" under Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal administration. During World War II, he repeated his service as an economic adviser, advocating price controls and rent ceilings. He was the U.S. delegate to the U.N. and he wanted the U.N. to regulate the use of atomic weapons.

Vertical Integration

A system of efficiency whose creation can be credited to Andrew Carnegie. The basic principle of vertical integration is that one organization (company) manages the making, producing, and selling of a certain product all the way down to the mining for the basic necessities needed to make said product (i.e. if a company made cars, they would also manage the mines for metals that they need to make the cars). This system ensured quality, company-approved products, and was able to cut out middleman fees.

Australian Ballott

A system that allows voters privacy in marking their ballot choices. Developed in Australia in the 1850s, it was introduced to the United States during the progressive era to help counteract boss rule, which were attempts to influence the voter by intimidation and potential vote buying.

Calvil Coolidge

A taciturn, pro-business president (1923-1929) who took over after Harding's death, restored honesty to government, and accelerated the tax cutting and anti-regulation policies of his predecessor; his laissez-faire policies brought short-term prosperity from 1923 to 1929.

Brook Farm

A transcendentalist commune founded by a group of intellectuals, who emphasized living plainly while pursuing the life of the mind. The community fell into debt and dissolved when their communal home burned to the ground in 1846.

Jay's Treaty (1794)

A treaty which ended the conflict between Britain and American shipping during the French Revolution. This stated that the Americans would pay for the debts of British merchants owed from before the Revolution, Britain would remove their current troops from the Ohio Valley, and Britain was to pay for the American ships that were seized in 1793.

Regulator Movement

A violent uprising in North Carolina that was an insurrection against eastern domination of colony's affairs. This was spearheaded by Scots-Irish; many who participated in this later joined American revolutionaries (including presidents, ex. Andrew Jackson).

Cairo Conference

A wartime conference held at Cairo, Egypt that was attended by FDR, Churchill, and Chiang Kai-shek. It addressed the Allied position against Japan during WWII and made decisions about postwar Asia.

Casablanca Conference

A wartime conference held at Casablanca, Morocco that was attended by de Gaulle, Churchill, and FDR. The Allies demanded the unconditional surrender of the axis, agreed to aid the Soviets, agreed on the invasion Italy, and the joint leadership of the Free French by De Gaulle and Giraud.

Tehran Conference

A wartime conference held at Tehran, Iran that was attended by FDR, Churchill, and Stalin. It was the first meeting of the "Big Three" and it agreed on an opening of a second front (Overlord), and that the Soviet Union should enter the war against Japan after the end of the war in Europe.

John Winthrop

A wealthy pillar of English society who became the first governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. He was a successful attorney and manor lord in England, so he eagerly accepted the offer believing that he had a 'calling' from God to lead the new religious experiment. He served as governor for 19 years, and his resources and skills helped Massachusetts to prosper. He thought that democracy was the worst form of government.

Virginia Company of London

A well known English joint-stock company which was granted an official charter, issued by King James I of England, for settlement in the New World. This settlement would later be known as Jamestown.

Henry Clay

A well-established senator from Kentucky, he aimed to run for the presidency five times before his eventual death in 1852. He was a devoted supporter of the American system, a War Hawk, Speaker of the House of Representatives. He is commonly referred to as "The Great Compromiser", as he was partially responsible for the Great Compromise; he outlined this document with five main points, but unfortunately died before it was passed.

William Penn

A wellborn and athletic young Englishman, who was attracted to the Quaker faith in 1660 at only 16 years old; his father disapproved. Eager to establish an asylum for his people, he managed to secure from the king an immense grant of fertile land in 1681. He bought land from the Indians and treated them fairly. His new proprietary regime was unusually liberal and included a representative assembly elected by the landowners. Freedom of worship was guaranteed although he was forced to deny Catholics and Jews. He spent about four years in Pennsylvania, but was never fully appreciated by his colonists. He became too friendly with James II, the Catholic king and was thrice arrested for treason.

League of Nations

A world organization of national governments proposed by President Woodrow Wilson and established by the Treaty of Versailles in 1919. It worked to facilitate peaceful international cooperation. Despite emotional appeals by Wilson, isolationists' objections to the League created the major obstacle to American signing of the Treaty of Versailles.

Panic of 1873

A worldwide depression that began in the United States when one of the nation's largest banks abruptly declared bankruptcy, leading to the collapse of thousands of banks and businesses. The crisis intensified debtors' calls for inflationary measures such as the printing of more paper money and the unlimited coinage of silver. Conflicts over monetary policy greatly influenced politics in the last quarter of the nineteenth century.

Securities Exchange Act

Act subsidized by taxes paid by employees and employers equally, created a trust fund to be used as pensions for senior citizens, and others

Homestead Act

Act that allowed a settler to acquire as much as 160 acres of land by living on it for 5 years, improving it, and paying a nominal fee of about $30 - instead of public land being sold primarily for revenue, it was now being given away to encourage a rapid filling of empty spaces and to provide a stimulus to the family farm, turned out to be a cruel hoax because the land given to the settlers usually had terrible soil and the weather included no precipitation, many farms were repo'd or failed until "dry farming" took root on the plains , then wheat, then massive irrigation projects.

Voting Rights Act of 1965

Act that guaranteed the right to vote to all Americans, and allowed the federal government to intervene in order to ensure that minorities could vote Lyndon B. Johnson

Sedition Act

Added to Espionage Act, this act deemed "disloyal, profane, scurrilous, or abusive language" about the American form of government, the Constitution, the flag, or the armed forces as criminal and worthy of prosecution-- the reason why Eugene V. Debs was imprisoned.

Destroyers for Bases Deal

Agreement between the U.S. and the United Kingdom in 1940 that technically violated America's official neutral position. This facilitated the transfer of fifty U.S. Navy destroyers from the British Royal Navy to the U.S. Navy in exchange for land rights on British possessions.

Gibbons v. Ogden

Also known as the "steamboat case", in 1824 this case was fought over whether or not the State of New York had the right to hold a monopoly over waterborne trade between them and New Jersey. The conclusion was that only Congress had this power as stated in Art. I, Sec, VIII, para. 3 in the Constitution.

Elijah P. Lovejoy

An American Presbyterian minister, journalist, and newspaper editor who was murdered by a mob in Alton in 1837, Illinois for his abolitionist views. Lovejoy was against slavery, and attacked the chastity of Catholic women. He became known as the, "martyr abolitionist", and had his printing press destroyed 4 times.

Selective Service System (1948)

Also known as the Elston Act, was enacted June 24, 1948, was a major revision of the Articles of War of the United States and established the current implementation of the. The previous Selective Training and Service Act of 1940 (STSA) was repealed by the Act of March 31, 1947, liquidated, and replaced by a new and distinct established by this Act. All males 18 years and older had to register for Selective Service. All males between the ages of 19 to 26 were eligible to be drafted for a service requirement of 21 months. This was followed by a commitment for either 12 consecutive months of active service or 36 consecutive months of service in the reserves, with a statutory term of military service set at a minimum of five years total. Due to deep post war budget cuts, only 100,000 conscripts were chosen in 1948. In 1950, the number of conscripts was greatly increased to meet the demands of the Korean War.

Bank Holiday (1933)

Also known as the Emergency Banking Relief Act. It was a four-day bank shut down issued by Franklin D. Roosevelt because many banks were failing since they had too little capital, made too many planning errors, and had poor management. This provided for government inspection, which restored public confidence in banks.

Platt Amendment

Although the US honored the Teller Amendment of 1898 and withdrew from Cuba in 1902, it forced the Cubans to write this into their constitution. It limited them severely, forbidding them from making treaties or contracting a debt beyond their resources. It agreed that the US could intervene with troops to restore order and provide mutual protection. It also provided for about 28,000 acres for coaling and naval stations.

Norman Schwarzkopf

American general during the Gulf War, known as "Stormin' Norman". He led Operation Desert Storm, part of his strategy to follow continuous bombing with a ground strike.

Alger Hiss

American government official who was accused of being a Soviet spy in 1948, and thus he was accused of being a Communist. He was convicted of perjury in connection with this charge in 1950; the case was prosecuted by Richard Nixon. Before he was tried and convicted, he was involved in the establishment of the United Nations as both a U.S. State Department official and a U.N. official. Later in life, he worked as a lecturer and author.

Horace Greely

American newspaper editor, and founder of the Liberal Republican Party, a reformer and a politician. His New York Tribune was America's most influential newspaper from the 1840s to the 1870s. Nominated by the Democrats in 1872 to oppose Grant in the presidential election.

Edgar Allen Poe

American poet and author of Gothic horror short stories, including "The Fall of the House of Usher," which reflected a distinctly morbid sensibility for Jacksonian America. His stories aimed to reveal the darker realms of human experience which encompassed the feelings of pain, fear, and grief. In addition, many of his stories explored the supernatural, and the subconscious.

Henry George

American political economist, journalist, and philosopher who is famous for writing the book Progress and Poverty in 1879; this book addressed the association of progress with poverty. His immensely popular writing is credited with sparking several reform movements of the Progressive era, and inspiring the broad economic philosophy known as Georgism, which was based on the belief that people should own the value derived from land. He also proposed a 100% tax on profits due to increased land value.

National American Woman Suffrage Association

American women's rights organization was established by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony in May of 1890. This and other groups led to the nineteenth amendment: women's suffrage.

Plessy v. Ferguson

An 1896 Supreme Court case that upheld the constitutionality of segregation laws, saying that as long as blacks were provided with "separate but equal" facilities, these laws did not violate the Fourteenth Amendment. This decision provided legal justification for the Jim Crow system until the 1950s.

Clarence Thomas

An African American jurist, and strict critic of affirmative action. George H. W. Bush nominated him to be on the Supreme Court in 1991 but was accused of sexual harassment by Anita Hill. Hearings were reopened, and he became the second African American to hold a seat in the Supreme Court.

Southern Christian Leadership Conference

An African-American civil rights organization. It was closely associated with its first president, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. It had a large role in the American Civil Rights Movement. In the afterglow of the Montgomery Bus Boycott victory and consultations with Bayard Rustin, Ella Baker, and others, Dr. King invited some 60 black ministers and leaders to Ebenezer Church in Atlanta. It aimed to mobilize the vast power of the black churches on behalf of black rights. This worked since churches were the most organized institutions in black communities.

Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

An American Baptist minister and civil rights leader. A noted orator, he opposed discrimination against blacks by organizing nonviolent resistance and peaceful mass demonstrations. He was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee and a winner of the Nobel Peace Prize.

Charles Lindbergh

An American aviator who was the first person to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. His son was captured by gangsters

Cyrus Field

An American businessman who laid the telegraph wire across the Atlantic in 1866. This cut down the time it took for a message to be sent from Europe to America, and vice-versa. This was one of the most important innovations in Europe.

Cardinal James Gibbons

An American cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church who served as the Bishop of Richmond from 1872 to 1877, and as the Archbishop of Baltimore from 1877 until his death. He became one of the most recognizable Catholic figures in the United States, defended the rights of laborers, and helped convince the pope to give his consent to labor unions. He was elevated to the cardinalate in 1886, the second American to receive that distinction.

Bill Clinton

An American democratic politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001; he leaned towards "being in the center" and promised to move away from traditional Democratic policies

John J. Pershing

An American general who led troops against Pancho Villa in 1916. He took on the Meuse-Argonne offensive in 1918 which was one of the longest lasting battles-47 days during World War I. He was the commander of the American Expeditionary Forces in Europe during WWI.

Frederick Jackson Turner

An American historian who said that humanity would continue to progress as long as there was new land to move into. The frontier provided a place for the homeless and solved many social problems.

Isaac Singer

An American inventor and manufacturer, he perfected the sewing machine made originally by Elias Howe. The sewing machine became the foundation of the ready-made clothing industry, which took root about during the time of the Civil war. It drove many many a seamstress from the shelter of the private home to the factory where she tended the clattering mechanisms.

Rachel Carson/Silent Spring

An American marine biologist wrote in 1962 about her suspicion that the pesticide DDT, by entering the food chain and eventually concentrating in higher animals, caused reproductive dysfunctions. In 1973, DDT was banned in the U.S. except for use in extreme health emergencies.

Colin Powell

An American military general and leader during the Persian Gulf War. He played a crucial role in planning and attaining America's victory in the Persian Gulf and Panama. He was also the first black four star general and chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff.

Samuel B. Morse

An American painter of portraits and historic scenes, and of a single wire telegraph system. He also co-invented the Alfred vail, and Morse code.

Dr. Benjamin Spock

An American pediatrician whose book, Baby and Child Care, published in 1946, is one of the bestsellers of all time. The book's premise to mothers is that "you know more than you think you do". He was the first pediatrician to study psychoanalysis to try and understand children's needs and family dynamics.

Newt Gingrich

An American republican politician that developed the "Contract with America" and became the Speaker of the House

Whittaker Chambers

An American writer and editor. After being a Communist Party USA member and Soviet spy, he later renounced communism and became an outspoken opponent later testifying in the perjury and espionage trial of Alger Hiss. He was charged with the same things as Hiss, but was never convicted since he was a cooperating government witness.

John Rolfe

An English colonist who married the daughter of the Powhatan chieftain, Pocahontas, in 1614. Their marriage, which was the first interracial union in Virginia, affirmed the peace settlement which ended the First Anglo-Powhatan War.

Lord Charles Cornwallis

An English general in charge of British forces during the American Revolution. Although he led many successful early campaigns, his surrender to George Washington at the Battle of Yorktown ended the war.

George Whitefield

An English, Anglican priest who preached a message of human helplessness and divine omnipotence. He was a gifted orator who moved many to tears with his speeches. His style of preaching was unique and helped inspire people to minister and claim equality.

Henry A. Walker

An Iowan who was the 33rd Vice President of the United States (1941-1945), the Secretary of Agriculture (1933-1940), and the Secretary of Commerce (1945-1946). In the 1948 presidential election, he was the nominee of the Progressive Party.

Edmund Burke

An Irish statesman born in Dublin, as well as an author, orator, political theorist, and philosopher who, after moving to London, served as a member of parliament for many years in the House of Commons with the Whig Party.

John Cabot

An Italian explorer sent by the English King Henry VII to explore North America's northeastern coast. He and his men completed this journey in an impressive eleven weeks the first time. However, the next time he was sent out, he never returned, presumably sinking in the North Atlantic Ocean, which is infamous for bad storms.

Giovanni da Verrazano

An Italian mariner sent by the French king to probe the eastern seaboard in 1524. He was sent because wealth had been found in the New World and many European powers were eager to bite off their share of the promised wealth.

Sir Edmund Andros

An able military man, conscientious but tactless who stood at the head of the Dominion of New England. Establishing headquarters in Puritanical Boston, he generated much hostility by his open affiliation with the despised Church of England. The colonists were outraged by his noisy soldiers. He was prompt to use the mailed fist so he ruthlessly curbed town meetings, laid heavy restrictions on courts, the press, and the schools and revoked all land titles; he taxed people without consent of representatives; strove to enforce unpopular Navigation Laws and suppress smuggling.

Three Mile Island

An accident that was a partial nuclear meltdown that occurred on March 28, 1979 in one of the two Three Mile Island nuclear reactors in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania. It was the worst accident in U.S. commercial nuclear power plant history

Salem Witch Trials

Series of witchcraft trials in Salem, Massachusetts. Teens accused three older women of bewitching them, which set off a mass witch hunt which resulted in the trials; it led to twenty women being lynched (hung) in 1692.

Sharecropping

An agricultural system that emerged after the Civil War in which black and white farmers rented land and residences from a plantation owner in exchange for giving him a certain "share" of each year's crop. Sharecropping was the dominant form of southern agriculture after the Civil War, and landowners manipulated this system to keep tenants in perpetual debt and unable to leave their plantations.

Patrick Henry

An important American revolutionary and champion of states' rights. He became a prominent antifederalist during the ratification debate, opposing what he saw as despotic tendencies in the new national constitution. He is well-known for his iconic words, "give me liberty, or give me death!"

Washington Disarmament Conference

An international military conference called by U.S. President Harding and held in Washington, D.C., from November 1921 to February 1922. This was attended outside the auspice of the League of Nations, and attended by nine different nations. The focus of this conference regarded interests in the Pacific Ocean and East Asia, as well as arms control. Although many small agreements came from this conference, the Four-Power Treaty, Five-Power Treaty, and Nine-Power Treaty were all consequences.

Captain John Smith

An intrepid young adventurer, whose leadership saved Jamestown from collapsing. He officially took over as captain in 1608. Under his leadership strict rules such as "He who shall not work shall not eat", were thoroughly enforced. In December of 1607 he was kidnapped and subject to a mock execution by the Powhatan chieftain. At the last minute the chieftain's daughter, Pocahontas, "saved" Smith by inserting herself between him and and the war club.

Excise taxes

Any tax on goods produced domestically. These taxes, particularly the 1791 tax on whiskey, were a highly controversial component of Alexander Hamilton's financial program.

Tariff

Any tax or duty to be paid on a particular import or export. In early America, these taxes were put usually established to protect infant industries in America and give the government much-needed revenue.

Bataan Death March

April 1942, American soldiers were forced to march 65 miles to prison camps by their Japanese captors. It is called the Bataan Death March because so many of the prisoners died en route.

Gamal Abdel Nasser

Arab leader, set out to modernize Egypt and end western domination, nationalized the Suez canal, led two wars against the Zionist state, remained a symbol of independence and pride, returned to socialism, nationalized banks and businesses, limited economic policies

Al Qaeda

Arabic for "The Base", this was a global militant Sunni Islamist terrorist group founded by Osama bin Laden. They are responsible for the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

Legislative Branch

As one of the three branches of government, the legislature's job is to make laws. The two houses of Congress that make up the legislature are the House of Representatives and the Senate. Here, laws are written, discussed and voted on in Congress.

Executive Branch

As one of the three branches of government, these people enforce laws. This branch is headed by the president, who has the power to veto legislation passed by Congress. The Cabinet and independent federal agencies are responsible for the day-to-day enforcement and administration of federal laws.

Charles II

Assumed the throne after Oliver Cromwell with the restoration of the monarchy in 1660. He sought to establish firm control over the colonies, ending the period of relative independence on the American mainland.

Lend-Least Act

Based on the motto, "Send guns, not sons," this law abandoned former pretenses of neutrality by allowing Americans to sell unlimited supplies of arms to any nation defending itself against the Axis Powers. Patriotically numbered 1776, the bill was praised as a device for keeping the nation out of World War II. Approved by Congress in March 1941; The act allowed America to sell, lend or lease arms or other supplies to nations considered "vital to the defense of the United States."

Aroostook War

Beginning in 1839, this was the series of clashes between American and Canadian lumberjacks, who were from the British colony of New Brunswick, in the disputed territory of northern Maine. It was resolved when a permanent boundary was agreed upon in 1842 by Webster-Ashburton Treaty. Local militia units were called out but never engaged in combat.

Predestination

Calvinist doctrine that God has foreordained some people to be saved and some to be damned. Though their fate was irreversible, Calvinists, particularly those who believed they were destined for salvation, sought to lead sanctified lives in order to demonstrate to others that they were in fact members of the "elect".

National Labor Union

Created by about 600,000 members, all laborers, the goal of the national labor union was for better pay and better hours. In its six-year run, the eight-hour work day was established. However, the exclusion of non-white workers and female workers, along with the sudden depression of 1870, undid most of the work of the national labor union

The Association

Created in 1775, this document was made by the Continental Congress. It called for a boycott of British goods including non-importation, non-exportation, and non-consumption. This was the closest document to a written constitution from the colonies. This document's aim was to bring back the days before Parliamentary taxation. Any violators were tarred and feathered.

Articles of Confederation

Created in 1781, the first American constitution that established the United States as a loose confederation of states under a weak national Congress, which was not granted the power to regulate commerce or collect taxes. These articles were replaced by a more efficient Constitution in 1789.

Edict of Nantes

Decree issued by the French crown granting limited toleration to French Protestants. Ended religious wars in France and inaugurated a period of French preeminence in Europe and across the Atlantic. Its repeal in 1685 prompted a fresh migration of Protestant Huguenots to North America.

Laws of Primogeniture

Decreed that only eldest sons were eligible to inherit landed estates. Landholders' ambitious younger sons were forced to seek fortunes elsewhere, usually the New World.

Salvation Army

This welfare organization came to the US from England in 1880 and sought to provide food, shelter, and employment to the urban poor while preaching temperance and morality.

Republicanism

Defined a just society in which all citizens willingly subordinated their private, selfish interests to the common good. To the elite, it seemed as though it had fed an insatiable appetite for liberty that was fast becoming license. If it was too shaky a ground upon which to construct a new nation, a stronger central government would provide the needed foundation.

Jane Addams

Founded Hull House, America's first settlement house, to help immigrants assimilate through education, counseling, and municipal reform efforts. She also advocated pacifism throughout her life, including during World War I, and won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1931.

Whiskey Ring Fraud

Exposed in 1875, this scandal robbed the U.S. Treasury of millions in excise-tax revenues. Grant declared to "Let no guilty man escape" shortly after the corruption was discovered, until his private secretary was found guilty; he responded with a written statement that helped exonerate the thief.

Alamo

Fortress in Texas where four hundred American volunteers were slain by Santa Anna in 1836. The siege of the fort by the Mexican force, which numbered in the thousands, lasted 13 days, despite the fact the Texans were far outnumbered. This battle became an enduring symbol of the Texans' heroic resistance to oppression and their struggle for independence, which they won later in the year. "Remember the Alamo" became a battle cry in support of Texan independence.

Battle of New Orleans

Fought between January 8 and 18 of 1815, this was the final major battle of the War of 1812. The Americans, led by General Andrew Jackson, prevented an overwhelming British force from seizing New Orleans and the vast territory the United States had acquired with the Louisiana Purchase. Ironically, this important American victory took place after the Treaty of Ghent had been signed, but before news of the treaty had spread to the Americas.

Queen Anne's War

From 1702 to 1713, the second in a series of conflicts between the European powers for control of North America, fought between the English and French colonists in the North, and the English and Spanish in Florida. Under the peace treaty, the French ceded Acadia (Nova Scotia), Newfoundland, and Hudson Bay to Britain.

French and Indian War/Seven Years War

From 1754 to 1763, this was a nine-year war between the British and the French in North America. It resulted in the expulsion of the French from the North American mainland and helped spark the Seven Years' War in Europe.

Trail of Tears

From 1838 to 1839, this was a forced march of 15,000 Cherokee Indians from their Georgia and Alabama homes to Indian Territory, where they were to be "permanently" free of white encroachments. Some four thousand Cherokee died on the arduous journey.

Detente

From the French for "reduced tension," the period of Cold War thawing when the United States and the Soviet Union negotiated reduced armament treaties under Presidents Nixon, Ford, and Carter. As a policy prescription, détente marked a departure from the policies of proportional response, mutually assured destruction, and containment that had defined the earlier years of the Cold War.

Jamestown

Funded by the charter of the Virginia company, this was the earliest permanent English residence. It was founded on the banks of the James river(named after King James I) on May 24, 1607. The settlers admired the site because it was easy to defend, despite it being ridden with mosquitos. All of the initial hundred of English settlers were men.

Zimmerman Note

German foreign secretary Arthur Zimmerman had secretly proposed a German-Mexican alliance against the United States. When the note was intercepted and published in March 1917, it caused an uproar that made some Americans more willing to enter the war.

Arthur Zimmerman

German foreign secretary during World War I. He is the author of the infamous "Zimmerman note," which proposed a German-Mexican alliance against the United States.

Submarine Warfare

German tactic used to sink any ship (neutral or enemy) in the vicinity

Klaus Fuchs

German theoretical physicist and atomic spy; at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, he was in charge of many significant theoretical calculations relating to the first nuclear weapons, and later, early models of the hydrogen bomb. He was convicted of supplying information from the American, British, and Canadian Manhattan Project to the Soviet Union during and shortly after WWII.

Shakers

Given their name for their lively dance worship, they emphasized simple, communal living and were all expected to practice celibacy. First transplanted to America from England by Mother Ann Leet, these counted six thousand members by 1840, though by the 1940s the movement has largely died out.

Anti-Imperialist League

Group that battled against American colonization of the Philippines, which included such influential citizens as Mark Twain and Andrew Carnegie. Idealism, self-interest, racism, constitutionalism, and other reasons motivated them, but they failed to make their case; the Philippines were annexed in 1900.

Eugene v. Debs

He entered politics as a Democratic City Clerk in 1879, and in 1885 he was elected to the Indiana State Assembly with broad support from Terre Haute's workers and businessmen. He organized the American Railway Union, which waged a strike against the Pullman Company of Chicago in 1894. After embracing socialism, he became the party's standard-bearer in five presidential elections. Late in life, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison for his opposition to the United States' involvement in World War I.

John L. Lewis

He founded A federation of labor union for all unskilled workers. It provided a national labor union for unskilled workers unlike the AFL, which limited itself to skilled workers. Split from the AFL (American Federation of Labor) in 1937 to organize workers in all industries (not by craft/skill); represented unskilled laborers, called for greater worker protection. Lewis was a miner known for creating the United Mine Workers. He helped found the CIO and was responsible for the Fair Labor Standards Act.

William Walker

He installed himself as the President of Nicaragua in 1856, and legalized slavery. However, he was overthrown by surrounding Central American countries who formed an alliance, and killed in 1860.

Thomas Alva Edison

He is responsible for inventing the phonograph and by 1900, it was used in over 150,000 homes. His invention made going to the symphony obsolete. He also invented the lightbulb, which changed the way of life for thousands of Americans.

Samuel Gompers

He is responsible for the formation of one of the first labor unions. The American Federation of Labor worked on getting people better hours and better wages. The formation of this triggered the formation of various other labor unions that would be established later on.

Dr. William C Gorgas

He killed yellow fever in Havana. His work also made construction of the canal safe and more sanitary.

Benjamin Franklin

He left school at ten and became a wealthy businessman, journalist, inventor, scientist, legislator, and a statesman-diplomat. He was sent to France in 1776 as the American envoy. He was determined that his very appearance should herald the diplomatic revolution the Americans hoped for; he violated every norm of diplomatic behavior in his clothing and demeanor. He ended up making a treaty of alliance with the French in 1776.

James Madison

He made contributions so notable that he has been dubbed, "the Father of the Constitution." A young Virginian who wrote that "Great as the evil of slavery is, a dismemberment of the union would be worse." He supported a limited government. He was determined to draft the Amendments to the Constitution himself, and then guided them through congress where his intellectual and political skills quickly made him the leading figure.

George W. Norris

He made the 20th Amendment which eliminated the lame-duck session of Congress. He also engineered the bill that created the Tennessee Valley Authority, creating a government run company to produce and judge of cost of electricity, so private companies wouldn't overcharge.

Jack Ruby

He murdered Lee Harvey Oswald in public as he was being prepped to be sent to a penitentiary.

Daniel Webster

He took the Senate spotlight to uphold Clay's compromise measures in his last great speech, a three hour effort. If measured by its immediate effects, his famed Seventh of March speech of 1850 helped turn the tide in the North toward compromise. The clamor for printed copies became so great that he mailed out more than 100,000. His tremendous effort visibly strengthened Union sentiment.

Joseph Pulitzer

He used yellow journalism in competition with Hearst to sell more newspapers. He also achieved the goal of becoming a leading national figure of the Democratic Party. Publisher of "New York World"

Daniel Boone

He was an American pioneer, explorer, woodsman, and frontiersman, whose frontier exploits made him one of the first folk heroes of the United States. Despite some resistance from American Indian tribes such as the Shawnee, in 1775, he blazed his Wilderness Road through the Cumberland Gap in the Appalachian Mountains from North Carolina and Tennessee into Kentucky. There, he founded the village of Boonesborough, Kentucky, one of the first American settlements west of the Appalachians.

Charles Sumner

He was an unpopular senator from Massachusetts, and a leading abolitionist. In 1856, he made an assault in the pro-slavery of South Carolina and the South in his speech, "The Crime Against Kansas". For this speech, he was beaten up by Preston Brooks with a cane, leaving him severely injured.

John Marshall

He was appointed Chief Justice of the Supreme Court by John Adams. He was a cousin of Thomas Jefferson and had served at Valley Forge during the Revolution. His experiences with a feeble central authority made him a lifelong Federalist. He only had six weeks of legal schooling; however he dominated the Supreme Court with his powerful intellect and commanding personality. He served for thirty days under Federalists and thirty-four years under Jefferson and subsequent presidents. Even though the Federalist party died out, he continued to hand down Federalist decisions. His court opinions helped lay the basis for United States constitutional law.

Henry Knox

He was appointed as first secretary of war by George Washington in 1775 to return the British artillery back to Boston which was previously captured at Fort Ticonderoga. He was also the first to be entrusted with the infantry and navy. His rise to power began in 1789.

John C. Breckenridge

He was elected vice-president in 1856, and was nominated for the presidential election of 1850 for the Southern Democrats. After the Democrats split, the Northern Democrats no longer supported him. He favored the extension of slavery, but was not a Disunionist. He also wanted to keep the Union together, but he couldn't get the votes of his own party.

Robert Livingston

He was the American minister to France from 1801 to 1804 who negotiated in Paris for a window on the Gulf of Mexico at New Orleans. While in Paris, a French foreign minister asked him how much he would give for all of Louisiana. He entered upon the negotiations and signed treaties that ceded Louisiana to the U.S. for about $15 million.

Alfred E. Smith

He was the Democratic candidate in the election of 1928. He was a "wet" Catholic governor of New York. A funny, liberal man, he was subject to the prejudices of the day in his race for the presidency. Prohibition and prejudice against Catholics made him unappealing to many. He lost the election to Hoover.

Edmond Genet

He was the French ambassador to the United States during the French Revolution. He asked for assistance during the French Revolution, getting some support. His actions helped lead to the formation of the Democratic-Republican party.

Kaiser Wilhelm II

He was the Kaiser of Germany at the time of the First World War reigning from 1888-1918. He pushed for a more aggressive foreign policy by means of colonies and a strong navy to compete with Britain. His actions added to the growing tensions in pre-1914 Europe.

New Jersey Plan

Known as "the small-state plan." It provided for equal representation in unicameral Congress by states, regardless of size and population, as under the existing Articles of Confederation.

Shah of Iran

He was the ruler of Iran, whose family had held power since the start of the 20th century. He asked Saddam for help after religious leaders tried to overthrow Iran. The Shah continued to fight, but was eventually ousted from power. The government was then taken over by the religious leaders that the Shah opposed.

John F. Kennedy

He was the youngest most glamorous president ever elected. He won the 1960 presidential election against Nixon. He was the first Catholic president. During his presidency, he sent the Green Beret (Marines) to Vietnam. He helped develop the Peace Corps. His foreign policy was Flexible Response. His domestic program was the New Frontier. John F. Kennedy was assassinated on Nov.22,1963.

John F. Kennedy

He was the youngest, most glamorous, and first Catholic president ever elected. He won the 1960 presidential election against Nixon. During his presidency, he sent the Green Beret (Marines) to Vietnam and he helped develop the Peace Corps. His foreign policy was Flexible Response and his domestic program was the New Frontier. He appointed his brother, Robert Kennedy as Attorney General. Robert Kennedy dealt with the Civil Rights issue as well. John F. Kennedy was assassinated on Nov. 22, 1963.

Election of 1928

Herbert Hoover became the Republican candidate for this election. Hoover's campaign was in the spirit of the era; he was a "dry" candidate for individualism, free enterprise, and small government. Hoover was pitted against Albert Smith. Smith was a "wet" candidate, a Catholic, and a city man from New York. Smith was not appealing to the country, especially the South, because prohibition was still in spirit and many Americans were prejudiced against Catholics.

Panay Incident

Here, Japan bombed an American gunboat, the USS Panay that was trying to help Americans overseas; this occurred when the two nations were not at war. This incident greatly strained American-Japanese relations, made public opinion turn against the Japanese, and ultimately pushed the U.S. further away from isolationism, even though Japan apologized and paid an indemnity.

William Henry Harrison

Hero of the Battle of Tippecanoe and ninth president of the United States. He was a Whig, and won the 1840 election on a "Log Cabin and Hard Cider" campaign, which played up his credentials as a backwoods westerner and Indian fighter. Unfortunately, he died of pneumonia four weeks after his inauguration.

William Harrison

Hero of the Battle of Tippecanoe and ninth president of the United States. He was a Whig, and won the 1840 election on a "Log Cabin and Hard Cider" campaign, which played up his credentials as a backwoods westerner and Indian fighter. Unfortunately, he died of pneumonia just four weeks after his inauguration.

Incas

Highly advanced ancient South American civilization centered in Peru. These people were a combination of tribes united under the rule of the manifestation of the sun god. They developed many advanced techniques, including terraced farming, and homes built into the mountainside.

Quartering Act

In 1765, it required colonies to provide food and quarters for British troops. Many colonists resented the act, which they perceived as an encroachment on their rights.

Father Junipero Serra

In 1769, this Spaniard founded a chain of twenty-one missions from San Diego to Sonoma, north of San Francisco Bay. He was devoted to Christianize the three hundred thousand native Californians.

British East India Company

In 1773, this company, overburdened with 17 million pounds of unsold tea, faced bankruptcy. The ministry decided to assist the company by awarding it a complete monopoly of the American tea business. The Americans saw this as the British's shabby attempt to trick them, with the bait of cheap tea, into swallowing the detested tax on tea.

First Continental Congress

In 1774, this group met in Philadelphia to discuss colonial complaints about the Intolerable Acts. All thirteen colonies, except Georgia, each sent fifty-five men to the meeting. It was a consultative body (not legislative) and convention. After seven weeks, they drew up a Declaration of Rights addressed to the king that contained appeals to other British-American colonies.

Battle of Lexington

In 1775, this battle, which was fought outside Boston, was part of the Revolutionary War. The colonial militia successfully defended their turf, forcing the British to retreat to London. Here, the British tried to capture John Hancock and Samuel Adams. The first shots were fired in here, initiating the Revolutionary War.

Three-fifths Compromise

In 1787, this determined that each slave would be counted as three-fifths of a person for the purpose of apportioning taxes and representation. The compromise granted disproportionate political power to Southern slave states.

The Federalist Papers

In 1788, these were a collection of essays written by John Jay, James Madison, and Alexander Hamilton. They were published during the ratification debate in New York to lay out the Federalists' arguments in favor of the new Constitution. Since their publication, these influential essays have served as an important source for constitutional interpretation.

Public Land Act

In 1796, this act was passed allowing for the sale of federal lands. These lands were sold for $2 an acre; the goal was to encourage Americans to move into unsettled areas.

Revolution of 1800

In 1800, this was the electoral victory of Democratic Republicans over the Federalists, who lost their Congressional majority and the presidency. Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr received the same number of electoral votes for presidency; however, this tie was broken by the House of Representatives when a few Federalists decided not to vote, and Jefferson won. This was a peaceful transfer of power between rival parties that solidified faith in America's political system.

Millard Fillmore

In 1850, he was the New York politician who was Vice president under President Taylor. As presiding officer of the Senate, he had been impressed with the arguments for conciliation, and he gladly signed the series of compromise measures that passed Congress after seen months of debate. In 1856, he was nominated president for a second term. The dying Whig party endorsed him and the Know-Nothings threatened to cut into Republican strength.

Chinese Exclusion Act

In 1882, this act halted Chinese immigration to America. It came about when people of the West Coast attributed declining wages and economic trouble to the hated Chinese workers. In order to appease them, Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act.

Underground Railroad

Informal network of volunteers that helped runaway slaves escape from the South and reach free-soil Canada. Seeking to halt the flow of runaway slaves to the North, Southern planters and congressmen pushed for a stronger fugitive slave law.

Reaganomics

Informal term for Ronald Reagan's economic policies, which focused on reducing taxes, social spending, and government regulation, while increasing outlays for defense.These policies are commonly associated with supply-side economics, referred to as trickle-down economics or voodoo economics by political opponents, and free-market economics by political advocates.

Greek style of architecture

Inspired by the contemporary Greek independence movement, American architects used this building style. It was popular between 1820 and 1850, and imitated ancient Greek structural forms in search of a democratic architectural vernacular

Marshall Plan

Introduced by Secretary of State George G. Marshall in 1947, he proposed massive and systematic American economic aid to Europe to revitalize the European economies after WWII and help prevent the spread of Communism.

Equal Rights Amendment

It declared full constitutional equality for women. Although it passed both houses of Congress in 1972, a concerted grassroots campaign by anti-feminists led by Phyllis Schlafly persuaded enough state legislatures to vote against ratification. The amendment failed to become part of the Constitution.

Gag Resolution

It prohibited debate or action on antislavery appeals. Driven and passed through the House by pro-slavery Southerners in 1836, the gag resolution passed every year for 8 years, eventually overturned with the help of John Quincy Adams. It also prohibited all discussion of slavery in the House of Representatives.

Pope's Rebellion

It was an Indian uprising in 1680 caused by the missionaries' efforts to suppress native religious customs. Pueblo rebels destroyed every Catholic church in the province and killed 20 priests and hundreds of Spanish settlers. The Indians drove the Spanish out of New Mexico and rebuilt a kiva, or a ceremonial religious chamber, on the ruins of the Spanish plaza at Santa Fe.

Virginia Plan

Known as "the large-state plan," and was pushed forward as the framework of the Constitution. It's essence was that representation in both houses of a bicameral Congress should be based on population--an arrangement that would naturally give the larger states an advantage.

Wendell Willkie

Known as the "rich man's Roosevelt," he was a novice politician and Republican businessman who lost to Franklin Roosevelt in the 1940 presidential campaign. Although he won more votes than any previous GOP candidate, Roosevelt still beat him by a landslide.

General Dwight D. Eisenhower

Leader of the Allied forces in Europe during WWII and leader of troops in Africa and commander in the D-Day invasion. He was elected president and served as president during integration of Little Rock Central High School.

Emilio Aguinaldo

Leader of the Filipino independence movement against Spain (1895-1898). He proclaimed the independence of the Philippines in 1899 (with the aid of the United States), but his movement was crushed when the US decided to take over the Philippines and he was captured by the United States Army in 1901.

Sitting Bull

Leader of the Sioux tribe. He became a prominent Indian leader during the Sioux Wars (1876-77) and was busy "making medicine" during Custer's Last Stand in 1876. He and other Sioux were forced into Canada with the arrival of more whites at the Battle of Little Big Horn.

Lydia Maria Child

Living from 1802 to 1880, she was a very influential antislavery author who came from an abolitionist family in Massachusetts. She married David Lee Child in 1828; both were avid antislavery activists. They contributed a sizeable portion of their modest income to the antislavery cause.

Dorothea Dix

Living from 1802 to 1887, she was an author, teacher and reformer. Her efforts on behalf of the mentally ill and prisoners helped create dozens of new institutions across the United States and in Europe and changed people's perceptions of these populations. She also established a reputation as an advocate for the work of female nurses.

Aztecs

Living in Central Mexico, this advanced civilization was a warrior society who incorporated the conquered into their civilization. The capital city was Tenochtitlan, and these people became known for their advances in mathematics and writing, and their use of human sacrifices in religious ceremonies.

Cherokees

Living in Southeastern America, this group of natives were Muskogean. One of the most population dense societies in North America like the Creeks and Choctaws, agriculture helped this society grow to it's immense size. This group managed to survive longer after European contact than others in the New World.

Clipper ships

Long, narrow, and majestic ships which glided across the sea under towering masts. They easily outran steamers in breezy weather. These ships gave American traders an advantage in trade.

Auchwitz

Nazi extermination camp in Poland, the largest center of mass murder during the Holocaust. Close to a million Jews, Gypsies, Communists, and others were killed there from 1940-1945, a horrible camp designed by Heinrich Himmler for the "Final Solution of the Jews."

Louisa May Alcott

New England-born author of popular novels for adolescents, most notably Little Women. In addition to being an author Alcott was also known for being a feminist and supporting the abolitionist movement.

Silent Majority

Nixon Administration's term to describe generally content, law-abiding middle-class Americans who supported both the Vietnam War and America's institutions. As a political tool, the concept attempted to make a subtle distinction between believers in "traditional" values and the vocal minority of civil rights agitators, student protesters, counter-culturalists, and other seeming disruptors of the social fabric.

Nathaniel Hawthorne

Novelist and author of The Scarlet Letter, a tale exploring the psychological effects of sin in seventeenth century Puritan Boston. Another novel he wrote The Marble Faun (1860), follows the story of a group of young American artists who are witnesses to a murder which occurred in Rome. The book explores the concepts of the omnipresence of evil and the dead hand of the past weighing upon the present.

Nat Turner's Rebellion

Occurring in 1831 and led by Nat Turner, a semiliterate preacher, this Virginia slave revolt was one of many of this time. Ultimately it resulted in the deaths of sixty whites, many of which were women and children. Although it was put down, this revolt and others like it raised fears among white Southerners of further uprisings.

Black Monday

October 19, 1987. Date of the largest single-day decline in the Dow Jones Industrial Average until September 2001. The downturn indicated instability in the booming business culture of the 1980s but did not lead to a serious economic recession.

Boston Tea Party (1773)

On December 16, 1773, roughly 100 Bostonians, loosely disguised as Indians, boarded the docked ships, smashed open 342 chests of tea, and dumped their contents into the Atlantic Ocean.

Treaty of Ghent

On December 24, 1814, this treaty was signed by British and American representatives, ending the War of 1812 in a virtual draw. It restored pre-war borders, but failed to address any of the grievances that first brought America into the war, such as the rights of neutral U.S. vessels and the impressment of U.S. sailors. However, this treaty opened up the Great Lakes to American expansion, and is often hailed as a diplomatic victory in the United States.

Manzanar

One of ten camps where Japanese-American citizens and resident Japanese aliens were incarcerated during WWII. It was most famous of these camps, and is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada in California.

Oliver North

One of the chief figures in the Iran-Contra scandal was Marine Colonel Oliver North, an aide to the NSC. He admitted to covering up their actions, including shredding documents to destroy evidence. IMP. Although Reagan did approve the sale of arms to Iran he was not aware of the diversion of money to the contras. This still tainted his second term in office.

Weapons of Mass Destruction

One of the pretexts for the attack on Iraq; Saddam Hussein had refused to cooperate with UN weapons inspections, a condition of the Iraq's defeat in the Gulf War. Although UN inspectors were unable to find evidence of their existence, the US and their British allies launched an invasion of Iraq in 2003, leading to the fall of Baghdad and the end of Saddam's rule.

Hiawatha

One of the two leaders who founded the Iroquois Confederacy. This Confederacy bound together five Indian nations in the late sixteenth century: the Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas, and Senecas.

Black Panthers

Organization of armed black militants formed in Oakland, California, in 1966 to protect black rights. The Panthers represented a growing dissatisfaction with the non-violent wing of the civil rights movement, and signaled a new direction to that movement after the legislative victories of 1964 and 1965.

Pancho Villa

Pancho Villa was a combination of a bandit and a Robin Hood. He was a rival of President Carranza of Mexico. He alluded Pershing and was never caught because Pershing was forced to go fight in WWI.

Tariff of 1832

Passed by Congress in 1832, this was a protectionist tariff in the United States enacted under Andrew Jackson's presidency. It reduced the existing tariffs to remedy the conflict created by the tariff of 1828, but it was still deemed unsatisfactory by some in the South, especially in South Carolina. South Carolinian opposition to this tariff and its predecessor, the Tariff of Abominations, caused the Nullification Crisis. As a result of this crisis, this was replaced by the Compromise Tariff of 1833.

Civil Rights Act of 1964

Passed by Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964, this act outlawed public segregation and discrimination; also forbade racial discrimination in the workplace

Panama Canal Treaties

Passed by President Carter, these called for the gradual return of the Panama Canal to the people and government of Panama. They provided for the transfer of canal ownership to Panama in 1999 and guaranteed its neutrality.

War Powers Act

Passed during the Vietnam War, Congress passed this act to restrict Presidential powers dealing with war. It was passed over Nixon's veto, and required the President to report to Congress within 48 hours after committing troops to a foreign conflict or enlarging units in a foreign country

Indentured servants

People who voluntarily mortgaged the sweat of their bodies for about four to seven years to Chesapeake masters. In exchange, they received transatlantic passage and eventual "freedom dues," including an ax and a how, a few barrels of corn, a suit of clothes, and perhaps a small parcel of land.

Andy Warhol

Pioneering "Pop" artist known for his iconic portraits of Cold War America's material objects, including soup cans and soda bottles. His works are known for exploring the relationship between artistic expression, celebrity culture, and advertising that flourished by the 1960s.

Jimmy Carter

President of the United States who was a peanut farmer and former governor of Georgia, he defeated Gerald Ford in 1976. As President, he arranged the Camp David Accords between Egypt and Israel in 1978 but saw his foreign policy legacy tarnished by the Iranian Revolution and hostage crisis in 1979. Domestically, he tried to rally the American spirit in the face of economic decline, but was unable to stop the rapid increase in inflation. After leaving the presidency, he achieved widespread respect as an elder statesman and won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002.

Bracero Program

Program established by agreement with the Mexican government to recruit temporary Mexican agricultural workers to the United States to make up for wartime labor shortages in the Far West. The program persisted until 1964, by when it had sponsored 4.5 million border crossings.

Robert LaFollette

Progressive Wisconsin governor who attacked machine politics and pressured the state legislature to require each party to hold a direct primary. Nicknamed Mr. Progressive

New Nationalism

Progressive policy of Theodore Roosevelt--1912 Progressive party platform--favored a more active government role in economic and social affairs--favored continued consolidation of trusts and labor unions and the growth of powerful regulatory agencies in Washington--favored women's suffrage and social welfare programs (including minimum-wage laws and "socialistic" social insurance).

Rodgers & Hammerstein

Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II were a well-known American songwriting duo, usually referred to as. They created a string of popular Broadway musicals in the 1940s and 1950s during what is considered the golden age of the medium. With Rodgers composing the music and Hammerstein writing the lyrics, five of their shows, Oklahoma!, Carousel, South Pacific, The King and I, and The Sound of Music, were outstanding successes. In all, among the many accolades that their shows (and their film versions) garnered were thirty-four Tony Awards, fifteen Academy Awards, the Pulitzer Prize, and two Grammys. It re-worked the musical theatre genre and were some of the first people to use the formula musical style. This style simplified the audition process, and gave audiences an idea of what to expect vocally.

John Hay

Secretary of state in the McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt administrations; he was the author of the Open Door Notes, which attempted to protect American interests in China in the early 20th century by asking European countries to pledge equal trading rights in China and the protection of its territory from foreign annexation.

James Madison

Secretary of state who, by the spring of 1812, believed war with Britain was inevitable. He turned to war to restore the confidence in the republican experiment. He asked Congress to declare war on June 1, 1812. He vetoed the distribution of $1.5 million to the states for internal improvements.

Richard Ballinger

Secretary of the Interior; caused Republican Party split over conservatism conflict with Pinchot

Henry Hudson

Seeking greater riches, the Dutch East Indies Company employed this English explorer. Disregarding orders to sail northeast, he ventured into Delaware Bay and New York Bay in 1609 and then ascended the Hudson River, hoping that at last he had chanced upon the coveted shortcut through the continent. But as the event proved, he merely filled a Dutch claim to a magnificently wooded and watered area.

Lincoln-Douglas Debates

Series of debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas during the U.S. Senate race in Illinois. Douglas won the election but Lincoln gained national prominence and emerged as the leading candidate for the 1860 Republican nomination.

Granger Laws

Series of laws passed in the western states of the United States after the American Civil War to regulate grain elevator and railroad freight rates and rebates and to address long- and short-haul discrimination and other railroad abuses against farmers.

Coercive Acts

Series of laws relating to Britain's colonies in North America and passed by the British Parliament in 1774. Four of the acts were issued in direct response to the Boston Tea Party of December 1773.

John Quincy Adams

Serving from 1825 to 1829, he is the sixth president and the son of former president John Adams. In this time period, he was known for being the secretary of state to President James Monroe. In his time serving, he negotiated the Treaty of 1818 with Britain as well as the acquisition of Florida in 1819. This position involved tasks such as securing the nation's borders, adding new territories, and setting policies regarding territorial expansion.

Hull House

Settlement house founded by progressive reformer Jane Addams in Chicago in 1889. Settlement home designed as a welfare agency for needy families. It provided social and educational opportunities for working class people in the neighborhood as well as improving some of the conditions caused by poverty.

Queen Likiuokalani

She was the last reigning queen of Hawaii. Her staunch defense of native Hawaiian self-rule led to a revolt by white settlers and to her dethronement.

McKinley Tariff (1890)

Shepherded through Congress by President William McKinley, this tariff raised duties on Hawaiian sugar and set off renewed efforts to secure the annexation of Hawaii to the United States. This made sugar imports from Hawaii less profitable.

William T. Johnson

Sometimes known as "Barber of Natchez", he was a free black man from New Orleans who owned 15 slaves. He treated them harshly, and on occasion whipped them.

Nelson Mandela

South African statesman who was released from prison to become the nation's first democratically elected president in 1994

SCLC

Southern Christian Leadership Conference, founded by MLK, which taught that civil rights could be achieved through nonviolent protests.

De Lome Letter (1898)

Spanish official Dupuy de Lome wrote a letter criticizing the U.S. president, McKinley, calling him a wimp. After the letter was published by newspaper mogul William Randolph Hearst, the American public became understandably upset.

The Amistad

Spanish slave ship dramatically seized off the coast of Cuba by the enslaved Africans aboard. The ship was driven ashore in Long Island and the slaves were put on trial. Former president John Quincy Adams argued their case before the Supreme Court, securing their eventual release.

Nikita Khrushchev

Stalin's successor who wanted peaceful coexistence with the U.S. Eisenhower agreed to a summit conference with Khrushchev, France and Great Britain in Geneva Switzerland in July 1955 to discuss how they'd achieve a peaceful coexistence.

Tripolitan War

Starting in 1801, this was a four-year conflict between the American Navy and the North-African nation of Tripoli over piracy in the Mediterranean. The pasha of Tripoli was dissatisfied with this share of protection money; therefore, he declared war on the U.S. by cutting down the flagstaff of the American consulate. Jefferson, a staunch non interventionist, reluctantly deployed an infant navy to the shores of Tripoli. After four years, he eventually secured a peace treaty with Tripoli in 1805 by paying $60,000--a sum representing ransom payments for captured Americans.

Miranda v. Arizona

Supreme Court held that criminal suspects must be informed of their right to consult with an attorney and of their right against self-incrimination prior to questioning by police.

Farm Mortgage Refinancing Act

The Farm Mortgage Refinancing Act was signed by President Roosevelt on January 31, 1934. This act was written in an effort to assist farmers in the United States who wished to refinance their mortgages. The Farm Mortgage Refinancing Act loaned funds to farmers in danger of losing their properties. The campaign refinanced 20% of farmer's mortgages.

Federal Crop Insurance Corporation

The Federal Crop Insurance Corporation (FCIC) is a wholly owned Government corporation managed by the Risk Management Agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. FCIC manages the Federal crop insurance program which provides U.S. farmers and agricultural entities with crop insurance protection. FCIC was created by the United States Congress in legislation that passed on February 16, 1938. The legislation was created in response to the economic difficulties brought to the U.S. farming industry by the Great Depression and the weather-related catastrophe of the Dust Bowl.

GI Bill

The G. I. Bill of Rights or Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944 provided for college or vocational education for returning World War II veterans (commonly referred to as GIs or G. I.s) as well as one-year of unemployment compensation. It also provided loans for returning veterans to buy homes and start businesses.

Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution was a joint resolution of the U.S. Congress passed on August 7, 1964 in direct response to a minor naval engagement known as the Gulf of Tonkin Incident. It is of historical significance because it gave U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson authorization, without a formal declaration of war by Congress, for the use of military force in Southeast Asia.

HUAC

The House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC) was an investigating committee which investigated what it considered un-American propaganda. This congressional Committee investigated Communist influence inside and outside the US government after WWII.

Iranian Hostage Crisis

The Iranian Hostage Crisis was a diplomatic crisis between Iran and the United States where 52 Americans were held hostage for 444 days from November 4, 1979 to January 20, 1981, after a group of Islamist students and militants took over the American Embassy in Tehran in support of the Iranian Revolution. President Carter called the hostages "victims of terrorism and anarchy," adding that the "United States will not yield to blackmail. It reached a climax when, after failed attempts to negotiate a release, the United States military attempted a rescue operation, on April 24, 1980, which resulted in a failed mission. It ended with the signing of the Algiers Accords in Algeria on January 19, 1981. The hostages were released into United States custody the following day.

Hiram W. Johnson

The Republican Governor of California in 1910 who led states such as Oregon and California to regulate railroads ad trusts. He oversaw progressive reforms like the passage of women's suffrage at the state level and entered the Senate in 1917, where he proved an isolationist in foreign affairs. Famous for declaring "the first casualty when war comes, is truth"

William McKinley

The Republican candidate who defeated William Jennings Bryan during the 1896 election. As a supporter of big business, he pushed for high protective tariffs. Under his leadership, the US became an imperial world power. Assassinated by an anarchist in 1901

George W. Bush

The Republican nominee in the election of 2000. He was the eldest son of George H.W. Bush and many people found him to be reckless and more of a divider rather than a uniter. He challenged research on global warming, didn't support abortions, limited research on embryonic stem cells, and allowed VP Cheney to hammer out his administration's energy policy behind closed doors

Walsh-Healey Act (Public Contract Act)

The Walsh-Healey Act or Walsh-Healey Public Contracts Act was passed in 1936 as part of the New Deal. It is a United States federal law that applies to U.S. government contracts exceeding $10000 for the manufacture or furnishing of goods. Walsh-Healey establishes overtime pay for hours worked by contractor employees in excess of 8 hours per day or 40 hours per week, and sets the minimum wage equal to the prevailing wage as determined by the Secretary of Labor. It also prohibits the employment of youths less than 15 years of age and convicts, except under certain conditions. The Act sets standards for the use of convict labor, and job health and safety standards.

Works Progress Administration (WPA)

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) was a relief measure established in 1935 by executive order as the Works Progress Administration, and was redesigned in 1939 when it was transferred to the Federal Works Agency. Headed by Harry L. Hopkins and supplied with an initial congressional appropriation of $4,880,000,000, it offered work to the unemployed on an unprecedented scale by spending money on a wide variety of programs, including highways and building construction, slum clearance, reforestation, and rural rehabilitation. It stimulated private business during the depression years and inaugurated reforms that states had been unable to subsidize.

Mayflower Compact

The agreement to form a majoritarian government in Plymouth, which was signed aboard the Mayflower. This created a foundation for self-government in the colony.

Valley Forge

The area where Washington's army stayed during the winter of 1777 to 1778. The extreme cold weather led to the death of 2,500 soldiers; also, about one thousand deserted the army.

Shay's Rebellion

The armed uprising of western Massachusetts debtors seeking lower taxes and to end property foreclosures. Though quickly put down, the insurrection inspired fears of "mob rule" among leading revolutionaries.

Roger B. Taney

The attorney general and a close friend and loyal ally of the president, Andrew Jackson. When Marshall died, he became the new Supreme Court chief justice.

Comman man

The average, ordinary American citizen that many politicians, such as Andrew Jackson, would appeal to. The Jacksonian era is often characterized as the rise of this, as U.S. society became more democratic, as more people could participate in the government by voting. Jackson was supported by these normal American men politically, as he was seen to be one of them.

Comte de Rochambeau

The commander of a powerful French army of 6,000 regular troops who arrived in Newport, Rhode Island, during 1780. These French troops were sent to aid the Americans during the Revolutionary War.

Whig Party demise (1852)

The election of 1852 was the beginning of the end for the Whig Party. The party was weakened by the deaths of Henry Clay and Daniel Webster. When the Compromise of 1850 came out, it established the Whigs with pro and anti-slavery lines, with the anti slavery line having enough power to deny the election of 1852 in favor of Fillmore. During the Kansas Nebraska act, southern Whigs mostly supported it while northern Whigs opposed it. Northern Whigs (like Lincoln) joined the new Republican Party, and southern whigs joined the Know Nothing Party.

Farmer's Alliance

The first "national" organization of the farmers, which led to the creation of the Populist party. The ___ sponsored social gatherings, were active in politics, organized cooperatives, and fought against the dominance of the railroads and manufacturers.

Louis D. Brandeis

The first Jewish man to be appointed to the Supreme Court, this man is notable for his earlier influence in the case Muller v. Oregon and for writing "Other People's Money and How the Bankers Use It"

Boris Yeltsin

The first President of the Russian Federation from 1991 to 1999. His era was a traumatic period in Russia's history-a period marked by widespread corruption, economic collapse, and enormous political and social problems. By the time he left office, he was a deeply unpopular figure in Russia, with an approval rating as low as two percent.

Anglo-Powhatan Wars (First and Second)

The first and second Anglo-Powhatan Wars were conflicts between the Jamestown settlers and the Powhatan Indians. The First Anglo-Powhatan War came to an end in 1614 with a peace treaty sealed by the marriage of John Rolfe to Pocahontas. In 1644, the Second Anglo-Powhatan War was the Indian's last effort to dislodge the Virginians, which failed.

Fort Necessity (1754)

The fort George Washington and his men quickly constructed while retreating from British attack. The French troops easily overtook this fort and forced Washington to surrender.

Pottawatomie Creek massacre

The killing of five proslavery men near Pottawatomie Creek, Kansas, by John Brown and a band of abolitionist vigilantes in retaliation for the burning of Free-Soil Lawrence, Kansas. Neither Brown nor any of his men were brought to justice. Instead, border ruffians and other proslavery settlers responded in kind and sparked the "Bleeding Kansas" crisis. Eventually, the entire territory became embroiled in a bloody civil war that foreshadowed the war between the North and South.

Civil Rights Act of 1875

The last piece of federal civil rights legislation until the 1950s, the law promised blacks equal access to public accommodations and banned racism in jury selection, but the Act provided no means of enforcement and was therefore ineffective. In 1883, the Supreme Court declared most of the Act unconstitutional.

King Philip II (Spain)

The self-anointed foe of the Protestant Reformation, used part of his imperial gains to amass the "Invincible Armada" of ships for an invasion of England. This Armada failed.

William Jennings-Bryan

The three-time Democratic candidate under the banner of "free silver coinage" which won him support of the Populist Party.

"Hundred Days"

The title often given to the first congressional session of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's administration, March 9 to June 16, 1933. To address the crisis of the worsening depression, the president convened Congress in special session and launched the New Deal with an avalanche of bills designed to stabilize the economy, create jobs, and bolster flagging local relief efforts.

John C. Calhoun

The vice president under Andrew Jackson who later became a U.S. senator from South Carolina. He was a fierce supporter of states' rights who advocated South Carolina's position during the nullification crisis. Later, in the 1840s and 1850s, he staunchly defended slavery, accusing free-state Northerners of conspiring to free the slaves.

"fire-eaters"

The vivid name given to extreme pro-slavery politicians from the South who advocating breaking away from the Union and creating a separate nation. They were violently opposed to concessions and regarded Douglas as a traitor.

Non-Importation Agreements

The widespread adoption of this against British goods was more effective than Congress. A promising stride toward union, with this common action, they spontaneously united into one American people for the first time. This hit England hard; also, this left many merchants, manufacturers, shippers, and hundreds of laborers out of work.

Abigail Adams

The wife of John Adams who was a prominent Patriot in her own right. She was among the first Americans to see the implications of revolutionary ideas for changing the status of women. She said that "the Ladies" were determined "to foment a rebellion" of their own if they were not given political rights.

Abigail Adams

The wife of Revolutionary War leader and future president John Adams, she was a prominent Patriot in her own right. She was also one of the first Americans to see the implication of revolutionary ideas for changing the status of women.

Edith Carvell

This British nurse is celebrated for saving the lives of soldiers from both sides without discrimination and in helping some 200 Allied soldiers escape from German-occupied Belgium during the First World War, for which she was arrested. She was accused of treason, found guilty by a court-martial and sentenced to death. Despite international pressure for mercy, she was shot by a German firing squad. Her execution received worldwide condemnation and extensive press coverage.

Nathaniel Greene

This Quaker-reared tactician and general distinguished himself through his strategy of delay in the Carolina campaign of 1781. During battle he stood and then retreated repeatedly which effectively exhausted his rivals, who were led by General Charles Cornwallis.

William McKinley

This Republican candidate defeated William Jennings Bryan in the 1896 presidential election. As 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. It was also under him that Hawaii finally became a US territory

Maryland Act of Toleration

This act allowed anyone who acknowledged the divinity of Jesus Christ, protecting Christians in an area which was becoming more Protestant. It also set the death penalty for anyone who was not Christian, like Jews and atheists. This act ensured that Maryland would continue to attract a high proportion of Catholic migrants throughout the colonial period.

Norris-LaGuardia Act

This act banned "yellow-dog," or anti-union, work contracts and forbade federal courts from issuing interjections to quash strikes and boycotts. It was an early piece of labor-friendly federal legislation.

Veterans Administration Act

This act created an eponymous agency that took over roles formerly held by the Veterans' Bureau, the Bureau of Pensions, and the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers. The Veterans Bureau was previously in charge of disability compensation, insurance for veterans and rehabilitation for the disabled. This act, signed by Hoover, consolidated all the agencies for handling benefits for veterans into a single agency.

No Child Left Behind Act

This act was meant to fix a broken public education system. It linked federal money to state action requiring states to have high standards for all students. The evaluation of progress was through standardized testing.

Compromise of 1850

This admitted California as a free state, opened New Mexico and Utah to popular sovereignty, ended the slave trade (but not slavery itself) in Washington, D.C., and introduced a more stringent fugitive slave law. It was widely opposed in both the North and South, and it did little to settle the escalating dispute over slavery.

Commercial Compromise

This allowed Congress to regulate interstate and foreign commerce. Essentially, taxes were only placed on imports and not exports. Also, states prohibited from taxing goods going to or from other states. Northern states wanted tariffs on imports; southern states did not want tariffs and taxes on exports.

Market Revolution

This antebellum era transformed a subsistence economy of scattered farms and tiny workshops into a national network of industry and commerce. It was a drastic change in the manual labor system originating in the South, but soon moved to north, and later spread to the entire world. Traditional commerce became outdated with the transportation and industrial revolution. As a result, the North started to have a more powerful economy that was challenging the economies of some mid-sized European cities at the time.

Church of England

This branch of Christianity was established after Henry VIII of England wanted a divorce from his first wife. It served as the state Church of England, which was mostly Catholic in order and basic doctrine, but also contained many important principles of the Protestant Reformation.

Fletcher v. Peck

This case, which arises in 1810, involved the Georgia legislature. Under the influence of bribery, they handed out 35 million acres in the Mississippian Yazoo River country to private speculators. After facing a negative public reaction, the Georgia legislature tried to revoke this transaction. However, Marshall and the Supreme Court concluded that a legislative grant is a binding contract. Moreover, state laws are forbidden from "impairing" contracts (Art. I, Sec. X, para. 1).

Iroquois Confederacy

This confederation consisted of various native tribes who all spoke Iroquois. The purpose of this organization was to band together military forces to fight the Algonquins. Some of the tribes in this confederacy included the Seneca, Oneida, and Mohawk.

War of 1812

This conflict began on June 18, 1812 when the United States declared war on Britain. Their war declaration, opposed by a sizeable minority in Congress, had been called in response to the economic blockade of France, the impressment of American seamen into the British Royal Navy against their will, and the British support of hostile Indian tribes along the Great Lakes frontier. In the months after President James Madison proclaimed the state of war to be in effect, American forces launched a three-point invasion of Canada, all of which were decisively unsuccessful. During this conflict, the British troops burned the White House, the Capitol, and other buildings in retaliation for the earlier burning of government buildings in Canada by U.S. soldiers.

Columbine high school

This high school was the location of a shooting that occurred. On an April morning in 1999, two students at this school in Colorado, killed twelve fellow students and a teacher. This shooting brought emphasis to gun control as well as school violence.

Missouri Compromise

This was the thirty-four year compromise which opened Missouri to unrestricted slavery. In turn Congress banned slavery in the remaining territories. This compromise was meant to partially satisfy both the North and the South.

Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

This is the health care reform law. It focuses on reform of the private health insurance market, providing better coverage for those with pre-existing conditions, and improving prescription drug coverage in Medicare. Nicknamed Obamacare, this United States federal statute was enacted by the 111th United States Congress and signed into law by President Barack Obama on March 23, 2010.

Federalism

This is the mixed or compound mode of government, combining a central "federal" government with regional governments in a single political system. As shown in the founding example of modern federalism of the United States of America under the Constitution of 1787, its distinctive feature is that it is a form of government in which there is a division of powers between two levels of government of equal status.

Annexation

This is the political transition of land from the control of one entity to another. It is also the incorporation of unclaimed land into a state's sovereignty, which is in most cases legitimate. In international law, it is the forcible transition of one state's territory by another state or the legal process by which a city acquires land.

Peculiar institution

This is the term used to describe slavery in the South by Northerners who abolished slavery. This term reflects the growing divisions between the North and South over slavery during the 19th century.

Worcester v. Georgia

This was a response to Georgia's relentless campaign to remove the Cherokees; they did this by annexing their lands, as well as abolishing their government and laws. In this court case that took place in 1832, the U.S. Supreme court ruled that the Cherokee Indians constituted a nation holding distinct sovereign powers. This became the foundation of the principle of tribal sovereignty that came to light in the twentieth century. However, this did not protect the Cherokees from being removed from their ancestral homeland in the Southeastern United States.

Whiskey Rebellion

This was a small rebellion in 1794 where many federal officers were killed due to farmers in Pennsylvania rebelling against Hamilton's excise tax. The Rebellion was ended by Washington with his extensive army, thus leading to people shaming him for, "using a sledgehammer to crush a gnat". It also displayed that the new government under the Constitution was capable of reacting quickly to situations, unlike the government under the Articles of Confederation dealing with Shay's Rebellion.

Monroe Doctrine (1823)

This was a statement delivered by President James Monroe, warning European powers to refrain from seeking any new territories in the Americas. The United States largely lacked the power to back up the pronouncement, which was actually enforced by the British, who sought unfettered, or free, access to Latin American markets.

Haitian Revolution

This was a successful anti-slavery and anti-colonial insurrection that took place in the former French colony of Saint Domingue that lasted from 1791 until 1804. It impacted the institution of slavery throughout the Americas and resulted in the creation of the first independent black republic in the Americas. It was the only slave uprising that led to the founding of a state free from slavery and ruled by non-whites and former captives.

Salutary neglect

This was the unofficial policy of relaxed royal control over colonial trade and only weak enforcement of Navigation Laws caused by the new monarchs. This lasted from the Glorious Revolution in 1688 to the end of the French and Indian War in 1763.

"Corrupt Bargain"

This was the alleged deal between presidential candidates John Quincy Adams and Henry Clay to throw the election, to be decided by the House of Representatives, in Adam's favor. Though never proven, the accusation became the rallying cry for supporters of Andrew Jackson, who had actually garnered a plurality of the popular vote in 1824.

Patman Bonus Bill

This was the bill that the WWI veterans wanted passed to provide them with money to relieve their suffering the Great Depression. The Senator from Texas whose name the bill bears sponsored its provision of a $2.4 billion dollar payment to the WWI veterans. The bill failed to pass the Congress, and the soldiers marching on the capital were instructed to leave. They refused and Hoover called in the army to evict them.

Industrial Revolution (1830s)

This was the period of time which swept through nineteenth-century Europe, where there was a change from an agricultural to an industrial society, and from home manufacturing to factory production. The factory system gradually spread from Britain, "the world's-workshop", to other lands and took a generation to reach western Europe and then the United States.

Glorious Revolution

This was the the relatively peaceful overthrow of the unpopular Catholic monarch, James II in 1688-1689. He was replaced with Dutch-born William III and Mary, daughter of James II. The Protestant rulers, William and Mary, accepted increased parliamentary oversight and new limits on monarchical authority.

Ronald Reagan

U.S. President from '80-'88. He ran on a campaign based on the common man and "populist" ideas. He served as governor of California from 1966-1974, and he participated in the McCarthy Communist scare. Iran released hostages on his Inauguration Day in 1980. While president, he developed Reaganomics, the trickle down effect of government incentives. He cut out many welfare and public works programs. He used the Strategic Defense Initiative to avoid conflict. His meetings with Gorbachev were the first steps to ending the Cold War. He was also responsible for the Iran-contra Affair which bought hostages with guns.

John Crittenden

U.S. Senator from Kentucky who introduced a compromise in 1860 in an effort to avoid a civil war. He proposed to amend the Constitution, prohibiting slavery in territories north of 36° 30' but expending federal protection to slavery in territories to the south.

Federal Housing Administration

United States government agency created as part of the National Housing Act of 1934. Insured loans made by banks and other private lenders for home building and home buying. The goals of this organization are: to improve housing standards and conditions; to provide an adequate home financing system through insurance of mortgage loans; and to stabilize the mortgage market.

Andrew Jackson

War hero, congressman and seventh president of the United States. He was a Democrat, and ushered in a new era of American politics. During his presidency, he advocated white manhood suffrage and cemented party loyalties through the spoils system. He dismantled the Bank of the United States, asserted federal supremacy in the nullification crisis, and oversaw the harsh policy of Indian removal in the South.

Berlin Airlift

Year-long mission of flying food and supplies to blockaded West Berliners. This was necessary, as the Soviet Union cut them off from access to the West in the first major crisis of the Cold War.

Taft-Hartley Act

a United States federal law that monitors the activities and power of labor unions. The act was sponsored by Senator Robert Taft and Representative Fred A. Hartley, Jr. and became law by overriding U.S. President Harry S. Truman's veto. It was opposed by labor leaders and President Truman. The Taft-Hartley Act amended the National Labor Relations Act, which Congress passed in 1935. The bill could be seen as a response by business to the post-World War II labor upsurge of 1946 and the Cold War. The Taft-Hartley Act was seen as a means of demobilizing the labor movement by imposing limits on labor's ability to strike, by prohibiting: radicals from their leadership, jurisdictional strikes, wildcat strikes, solidarity or political strikes, secondary boycotts, secondary and mass picketing, closed shops, and monetary donations by unions to federal political campaigns.

Bartolomeo Vanzetti

a fish peddler, convicted with Nicola Sacco for the murder of a Massachusetts paymaster and his guard in 1921, the jury and the judge were prejudiced in some degree against the defendants because they were Italians, atheists, anarchists, and draft dodgers, this shows the anti-redism dan anti-foreignism and "judicial lynching"

Unemployment Compensation

a government program that partially protects workers' incomes when they become unemployed

Suez crisis

also referred to as the Tripartite Aggression or Suez War, was a diplomatic and military confrontation in late 1956 between Egypt on one side, and Britain, France and Israel on the other, with the United States, the Soviet Union and the United Nations playing major roles in forcing Britain, France and Israel to withdraw. The attack followed the President of Egypt Gamal Abdel Nasser's decision to nationalize the Suez Canal, after the withdrawal of an offer by Britain and the United States to fund the building of the Aswan Dam, which was in response to Egypt's new ties with the Soviet Union and recognizing the People's Republic of China during the height of tensions between China and Taiwan. The aims of the attack were primarily to regain Western control of the canal and to remove Nasser from power. For the first time in history, a UN police force was sent to maintain order.

Rosa Parks

an African-American civil rights activist, whom the U.S. Congress called "the first lady of civil rights", and "the mother of the freedom movement". On December 1, 1955, in Montgomery, Alabama, Parks refused to obey bus driver's order that she give up her seat to make room for a white passenger. Parks' action was not the first of its kind to impact the civil rights issue. Others had taken similar steps, but Parks' civil disobedience had the effect of sparking the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Parks' act of defiance became an important symbol of the modern Civil Rights Movement and Parks became an international icon of resistance to racial segregation. She organized and collaborated with civil rights leaders, including boycott leader Martin Luther King, Jr., helping to launch him to national prominence in the civil rights movement.

Strom Thurmond

an American politician who served for forty-eight years as a United States Senator. He left office as the only senator to reach the age of 100 while still in office and as the oldest-serving and longest-serving senator in U.S. history. He also ran for the Presidency of the United States in 1948 as the segregationist States Rights Democratic Party candidate, receiving 2.4% of the popular vote and 39 electoral votes. He conducted the longest filibuster ever by a lone senator, in opposition to the Civil Rights Act of 1957, at 24 hours and 18 minutes in length, nonstop. In the 1960s, he continued to fight against civil rights legislation. He always insisted he had never been a racist, but was merely opposed to excessive federal authority. Thurmond was increasingly at odds with the Democratic Party and on September 16, 1964, he switched his party affiliation to Republican.

Harry Blackmun

an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1970 until 1994 during the Nixon administration. He is best known as the author of Roe v. Wade, invalidating a Texas statute making it a felony to administer an abortion in most circumstances.

Thurgood Marshall

an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court, serving from October 1967 until October 1991, and was the first African American Justice. Before becoming a judge, Marshall was a lawyer who was best remembered for his high success rate in arguing before the Supreme Court and for the victory in Brown v. Board of Education. He argued more cases before the United States Supreme Court than anyone else in history, winning 29 out of the 32 cases. His most famous case as a lawyer was Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954). This is the case in which the Supreme Court ruled that "separate but equal" public education, as established by Plessy v. Ferguson, was not applicable to public education because it could never be truly equal.

United Nations

an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace. The UN was founded in 1945 after World War II to replace the League of Nations, to stop wars between countries, and to provide a platform for dialogue. Unlike its predecessor, the UN could enforce its verdicts, making it more successful.

Naturalism

an offshoot of mainstream realism,this late 1900 literary movement purported to apply detached scientific objectivity to the study of human characters shaped by degenerate heredity and extreme or sordid social environments

Henry Cabot Lodge

an outspoken senator from Massachusetts. He came from a distinguished lineage that dated back to the colonial times. He introduced the Literacy Test bill in 1896 to be taken by immigrants, but it was vetoed by Cleveland. The bill however was passed and enacted in 1917. Lodge also led a group of Republicans against the League of Nations. Lodge proposed amendments to the League Covenant but Wilson would not accept. We did not join the League.

Henry Ford

developed the mass-produced Model-T car, which sold at an affordable price. It pioneered the use of the assembly line. Also greatly increased his workers wages and instituted many modern concepts of regular work hours and job benefits.

U2 spy plane

nicknamed "Dragon Lady", is a single-engine, very high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft operated by the United States Air Force and previously flown by the Central Intelligence Agency. It provides day and night, very high-altitude, all-weather intelligence gathering. The 1960 U-2 incident occurred during the Cold War on 1 May 1960, during the presidency of Dwight Eisenhower and during the leadership of Soviet Nikita Khrushchev, when a United States U-2 spy plane was shot down over the airspace of the Soviet Union. The United States government at first denied the plane's purpose and mission, but then was forced to admit its role as a covert surveillance aircraft when the Soviet government produced its intact remains and surviving pilot, as photos of military bases in Russia. Coming roughly two weeks before the scheduled opening of an East-West summit in Paris, the incident was a great embarrassment to the United States and prompted a marked deterioration in its relations with the Soviet Union.

Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee

one of the principal organizations of the American Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s. It emerged from a series of student meetings led by Ella Baker held at Shaw University in Raleigh, North Carolina in April 1960. SNCC grew into a large organization with many supporters in the North who helped raise funds to support SNCC's work in the South. SNCC played a major role in the sit-ins and freedom rides, a leading role in the 1963 March on Washington, Mississippi Freedom Summer, and the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party over the next few years. SNCC's major contribution was in its field work, organizing voter registration drives all over the South, especially in Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi.

Rosenberg Trial

the first execution of civilians for espionage in United States history. Ethel Greenglass Rosenberg and Julius Rosenberg were American communists who were convicted and executed in 1953 for conspiracy to commit espionage during a time of war related to the passing of information about the atomic bomb to the Soviet Union.

George B. McClellan

A U.S. Army officer, railroad president and politician who served as a major general during the Civil War. He organized the Army of the Potomac in 1861 and briefly served as general-in-chief of the Union Army. He was well liked by his men, who referred to hem as "Little Mac," but his reticence to attack the Confederacy with the full force of his army—despite a significant numerical advantage—put him at odds with President Abraham Lincoln. In 1862, his Peninsula Campaign unraveled after the Seven Days Battles, and he also failed to decisively defeat Robert E. Lee's Confederate Army at the Battle of Antietam later that year. Lincoln removed him from command of the Army of the Potomac in late 1862. He would then go on to mount a failed presidential campaign against Lincoln in 1864, and would later serve as the governor of New Jersey.

Salmon Chase

A U.S. senator, governor of Ohio and Supreme Court chief justice who served as the U.S. secretary of the Treasury during the Civil War. A staunch abolitionist, he became known as "the attorney general for fugitive slaves" for his frequent defenses of runaway blacks. He made a failed bid for the Republican presidential nomination in 1860 before serving as Abraham Lincoln's secretary of the Treasury. He was responsible for establishing the national banking system and issuing paper currency. He resigned his position in June 1864 and was appointed chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court later that year.

George G. Meade

A Union general who was aroused from his sleep at 2 am with unwelcome news that he would replace Joseph Hooker. He took his stand atop a low ridge flanging near Gettysburg where his 92,000 men fought Lee's 76,000 men.

Battle of Shiloh

A bloody Civil War battle on the Tennessee-Mississippi border. This battle resulted in the deaths of more than 23,000 soldiers and ended in a marginal Union victory.

Homestead Act

A federal law that gave settlers 160 acres of land for about $30 if they lived on it for five years and improved upon it, for instance, by building a house on it. The act helped make land accessible to hundreds of thousands of westward-moving settlers, but many people also found disappointment when their land was infertile or they saw speculators grabbing up the best land.

Zachary Taylor

A prominent American military general and twelfth U.S. president, he emerged as a popular war hero after defeating Santa Anna's forces at Buena Vista in the war with Mexico. As president, a Louisiana slave owner, he sought to avoid a sectional confrontation over slavery, though he opposed the Compromise of 1850. He won the presidential election of 1848, defeating Lewis Cass and Martin Van Buren. Like many of his predecessors, he was an expansionist.

Stephen W. Kearney

A prominent American officer during the Mexican-American War who lived from 1794-1848. He led a detachment of troops into New Mexico, capturing Santa Fe.

Wilderness Campaign

A series of brutal clashes between Ulysses S. Grant's and Robert E. Lee's armies in Virginia, leading up to Grant's capture of Richmond in April of 1865. Having lost Richmond, Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox Courthouse.

William Henry Harrison (1841)

A unified Whig Party nominated this man over party founder Henry Clay and fellow general Winfield Scott for their presidential candidate. John Tyler of Virginia was selected as his running mate. Together, they defeated Van Buren in the 1840 election. However, he died of pneumonia in April 1841, a month after taking office. He had the shortest tenure of any president in history, and was the first president to die in office. Tyler then assumed all of the powers and duties of the president, setting a major precedent.

Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson

A war hero and one of the South's most successful generals during the American Civil War. He joined the Confederate army where he forged his reputation for fearlessness and tenacity during the Shenandoah Valley Campaign. He served under General Robert E. Lee for much of the Civil War. He was mistakenly shot by his own men.

Elizabeth Blackwell

America's first female physician, she helped organize the U.S. Sanitary Commission during the Civil War. It aided the Union War effort by training nurses, collecting medical supplies and equipping hospitals.

Maximillian

Archduke of Austria, he became emperor of Mexico in 1864, installed by French Emperor of Napoleon III. The well-intentioned by hapless ruler saw his government collapse in 1867 when the French withdrew their support under pressure from the United States.

Nueces River (1846)

From before the end of the Texas Revolution, Mexico recognized that the Nueces River was historically the southwestern border of Texas from the rest of the country. However, the Republic of Texas claimed the Rio Grande as its border with Mexico, citing the Treaty of Velasco signed by Mexican President Santa Anna, who agreed to the Rio Grande border after losing the Battle of San Jacinto.

John Tyler

He was the tenth president of the United States who took office after William Henry Harrison died, as he was Harrison's vice president. A Whig in name only, he opposed central tenets of the Whig platform, including tariffs, internal improvements, and a national bank. He was an expansionist, and thus supported the annexation of Texas. He received little support from the Whig and Democratic parties, as Democrats were upset he ran under the Whig party with Harrison, and he held few ideas in common with the Whigs.

Napoleon III

Nephew of Napoleon I and president of the Second Republic of France, he declared himself emperor of the French in 1852. Hoping to capitalize on America's preoccupation with the Civil War, he sent a French army to occupy Mexico and 1863, installing Austrian archduke Maximilian as emperor of Mexico. Under threat from a newly-unified United States, he withdrew his support for his puppet in 1867.

Force Acts

Passed by Congress following a wave of Ku Klux Klan violence, the acts banned clan membership, prohibited the use of intimidation to prevent blacks from voting, and gave the U.S. military the authority to enforce the acts. The goal of these series of acts passed between May 31, 1870 and March 1, 1875 was to protect constitutional rights guaranteed to blacks by the 14th and 15th amendments.

Wade-Davis Bill

Passed by Congressional Republicans in response to Abraham Lincoln's "10 percent plan," it required that 50 percent of a state's voters pledge allegiance to the Union, and set stronger safeguards for emancipation. Reflected divisions between Congress and the President, and between radical and moderate Republicans, over the treatment of the defeated South.

Reconstruction Act

Passed by the newly elected Republican Congress, it divided the South into five military districts, disenfranchised former confederates, and required that Southern states both ratify the Fourteenth Amendment and write state constitutions guaranteeing freedmen the franchise before gaining readmission to the Union.

Thaddeus Stevens

Pennsylvania congressman who led the Radical Republican faction in the House of Representatives during and after the Civil War, advocating for abolition and later, the extension of civil rights to freed blacks. He also called for land redistribution as a means to break the power of the planter elite and provide African Americans with the economic means to sustain their newfound independence.

John Pope

Robert E. Lee encountered a Federal force under this person who boasted that in the western theatre of war, from which he had recently come, he had seen only the backs of the enemy.

Andrew Johnson

Seventeenth president of the United States, North Carolina-born Johnson assumed the presidency after Lincoln's assassination in 1865. Much to the disgust of Radical Republicans in Congress, Johnson, a Democrat, took a conciliatory approach to the South during Reconstruction, granting sweeping pardons to former Confederates and supporting Southern Black Codes against freedmen. In 1868, Johnson was impeached by the House of Representatives for breaching the Tenure of Office Act. Acquitted by the Senate, he remained in office to serve out his term.

Fort Sumter

South Carolina location where Confederate forces fired the first shots of the Civil War in April of 1861. This attack by the South was a response to the attempt of the North to resupply the fort with provisions.

Redeemers

Southern Democratic politicians who sought to wrest control from Republican regimes in the South after Reconstruction. They sought to overthrow the Radical Republican coalition of Freedmen, carpetbaggers and Scalawags.

James K. Polk

The eleventh president of the United States. A North Carolina Democrat, largely unknown on the national stage, he campaigned on a platform of American expansion, advocating the annexation of Texas and the "reoccupation" of Oregon. As President, he provoked war with Mexico, adding vast tracts of land to the United States but provoking a bitter sectional conflict over the expansion of slavery into newly acquired territories.

Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo

The treaty that ended the War with Mexico over the California area. In this treaty, Mexico agreed to cede territory reaching northwest from Texas to Oregon in exchange for $18.25 million in cash and assumed debts.

The Monitor

This was a tiny Union ironclad built in about one hundred days; she was the first ironclad warship commissioned by the Union Navy. On March 9, 1862, this fought the Merrimack, under the command of Lieutenant John Worden, for four hours to a standstill. The unique design of the ship, distinguished by its revolving turret, was quickly duplicated and established the monitor type of warship.

Liberty Party

This was the antislavery party that ran candidates in the 1840 and 1844 elections before merging with the Free Soil party. Supporters of this sought the eventual abolition of slavery, but in the short term hoped to halt the expansion of slavery into the territories and abolish the domestic slave trade.

The Merrimack

This was the most alarming Confederate threat to the blockade in 1862 when Southerners raised and reconditioned this former wooden U.S. warship and plated its sides with old iron railroad rails. Renamed the Virginia, this powerful monster destroyed two wooden ships of the Union navy in the Virginia waters of the Chesapeake Bay. It also threatened catastrophe to the entire Yankee blockading fleet. It was destroyed a few months after the battle with the Monitor.

Bear Flag Republic

This was the short-lived California republic that was established by local American settlers who revolted against Mexico. Once news of the war with Mexico reached the Americans, they abandoned the Republic in favor of joining the United States. For twenty-five days in 1846, it militarily controlled the area to the north of the San Francisco Bay in the present-day state of California.

William Seward

U.S. Senator and Secretary of State under Abraham Lincoln. An avid opponent of slavery, Seward was a leading candidate for the Republican nomination in both 1856 and 1860. Later, as one of Lincoln's closest advisers, he helped handle the difficult tasks of keeping European nations out of the Civil War. He is best known, however, for negotiating the purchase of Alaska, dubbed "Seward's Folly" by expansion-weary opponents of the deal.

Jefferson Davis

U.S. Senator from Mississippi and president of the Confederate States of America. He was a West Point graduate, staunchly defending slavery and Southern rights throughout his career, but initially opposed secession in 1860. As the president of the Confederacy, he faced the formidable task of overcoming Southern localism in directing his war effort. After the war, Davis was briefly imprisoned, but was pardoned by Andrew Johnson in 1868.