| A | B |
|---|
| Abolition | The official end to the practice of slavery |
| Amendment | A written change or addition to a bill or constitution |
| American Revolution | The rebellion of British colonists on the North American eastern seaboard against the British monarchy (1775-1783) |
| Assimilation | The absorption of people into the dominant culture; also called Americanization |
| Bill of Rights (U.S.) | The first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution |
| Boycott | A peaceful protest in which people refuse to buy or use certain goods |
| Civil Liberty | A basic right guaranteed to individual citizens by law to protect citizens from the government |
| Civil Right | A right that is guaranteed to all citizens of a country |
| Civil War (American) | A major war between the Northern and Southern states in the U.S. ending in victory for the North and the end of slavery (1861-1865) |
| Congress | The legislature of the United States government |
| Conservative | A person favoring traditional views and values; tending to oppose change |
| Constitution | A written document of a plan of government; the plan of government of the United States drafted 1787 |
| Consumer Culture | A culture that views the consumption of large quantities of goods as beneficial to the economy and a source of personal happiness |
| Corporation | A company recognized by law to exist independently from its owners, with the ability to own property, borrow money, sue, or be sued |
| Diplomacy | The art of conducting negotiations with other nations |
| Doctrine | A belief (or system of beliefs) accepted as authoritative by some group |
| Domestic policy | Decisions, laws, and programs made by the government which are directly related to issues in the U.S. |
| Election | A vote to select the winner of a position or political office |
| Environmentalism | A movement that works to protect the environment from harmful human activities |
| Escalate | Increase, as in to increase military involvement |
| Ethnicity | A personÕs ethnic identity, which may be shaped by such criteria as language, religion, and history |
| Executive Branch | The branch of the United States government that is responsible for carrying out laws or vetoing laws (includes the role of President) |
| Federal Government | The central government based in Washington D.C. that oversees the state governments |
| Feminism | The movement for womenÕs equality |
| Foreign policy | The set of guidelines and practices that a nation follows in its relations with other nations |
| Frontier | The area where colonist-settled lands bordered on lands of Native Americans |
| Immigration | To enter and settle in a country or region to which a person is not native |
| Indigenous | The people who originally inhabit an area; natives |
| Inner City | The older, central part of a city, characterized by crowded neighborhoods in which low-income, often minority groups predominate |
| Internment camp | A center for confining people who have been relocated for reasons of national security |
| Judicial Branch | The court systems of local, state, and federal governments, responsible for interpreting laws, including the Supreme Court |
| Legislative Branch | The branch of the federal and state government empowered to make the laws, including the Congress |
| Liberal | Someone committed to the expansion of liberty |
| Manifest Destiny | The belief, held by many Americans in the 1840s, that the United States was destined to spread across the North American continent and beyond |
| Mass Media | Newspapers, magazines, and other methods of communicating to a mass audience |
| Mass Production | The manufacturing of goods on a large scale in factories |
| McCarthyism | The practice of publicly accusing people of subversive activities without evidence to back up the charges; named for Senator Joseph McCarthy (1950s) |
| Migration | The movement of people from one country or region to another |
| Minorities | Groups of people that are disadvantaged with respect to a dominant group in terms power in society |
| Monopoly | A company that completely dominates a particular industry |
| Nativism | The policy of favoring the interest of native-born Americans over those of immigrants |
| Neutrality | The policy of not taking sides in wars between other nations |
| Nuclear Weapon | A bomb whose explosive power comes from a nuclear reaction |
| Popular Culture | The culture of ordinary people, including music, art, literature, and entertainment, that is shaped by the mass media |
| Progressive | A member of a social and political movement of the early 1900s committed to improving conditions in American life |
| Prohibition | A ban on the production and sale of alcohol |
| Quota System | A system limiting immigration to the United States |
| Race | A socially defined population based on visible, genetically transmitted physical characteristics |
| Republican Party | One of the two major U.S. political parties; founded in 1854 by antislavery opponents of the Kansas-Nebraska Act |
| Segregation | The forced separation of races in public places |
| Service Sector | The segment of the economy that does not produce goods |
| Speculator | A person who takes the risk of buying something in the hope of reselling it for a higher price |
| Strike | A labor action in which workers refuse to go to work |
| Suburbia | The nation's suburbs, collectively, and the people who live there |
| Suffrage | The right to vote |
| Supreme Court | The highest court in the U.S., includes 9 justices (judges) |
| Tariff | A tax on imported goods |
| Trust | A set of companies managed by a small group known as trustees, who can prevent companies in the trust from competing with each other |
| Unemployment | The condition of being out of work; the number of unemployed persons relative to the potential labor force |
| Unilateralism | A policy of not seeking military or political alliances with foreign powersÊ |
| Welfare State | A social system in which the government takes responsibility for the economic well being of its citizens by providing programs and direct assistance |
| Detente | The Relaxation Of Cold War Tensions between the US and the Soviet Union, as well as China that began under Nixon |
| coalition | A temporary alliance made for a specific action or purpose |
| unemployment | the condition of being out of work |
