| A | B |
|---|
| Abolition | Movement that favored the elimination of slavery through the passage of laws. |
| Abolitionists | People who favored the elimination of slavery by legal means. |
| Albany Plan of Union | Plan put forth by colonial leaders meeting at Albany, New York that sought to join the English Colonies together under a president appointed by the king. The king rejected the plan. |
| Antifederalists | People who argued against the ratification of the Constitution. They supported the Articles of Confederation. |
| Anti-trust | Laws that place limitations on businesses designed to prevent the formation of monopolies (businesses that seek to eliminate competition). (Part of Progressive Movement) |
| Appeasement | Policy followed by Great Britain and other European nations before the outbreak of WWII allowing Adolf Hitler to take land without opposition. |
| Archaeologist | A person who studies the past through relics. |
| Articles of Confederation | The charter of the first national goverment of the United States. Its features included state governments that were more powerful than the central government and no elected president. |
| Aztecs | One of the first great empires of ancient America occupying central and southern Mexico between 1200 AD and 1400 AD. |
| Berllin Airlift | The US response to the Soviet Union's attempt to drive the US and its allies out of West Berlin by blockading the city during the Cold War. It involved a massive airlift of food and other materials by the US lasting over 3 months (1949). |
| Berlin Wall | Built by the East German goverment with the support of the Soviet Union in 1961 to prevent East German citizens from fleeing to the West |
| Bicameral Legislature | A legislative body made up of two houses (Senate and House of Representatives) |
| Bill of Rights | The first ten amendments to the Constitution; it guarantees basic rights to US citizens and limits the government's ability to reduce basic liberties such as freedom of speech, the press, and religion, and the rights of the accussed. |
| Blitzkrieg | Military tactic developed by the Nazis during WWII involving a quick and decisive strike by armed forces. |
| Boycott | Tactic used to pressure a buisness into negotiations by urging consumers to stop dealing with or buying products from that business. |
| Brown v. Board of Education | (1954) Landmark decision by Supreme Court outlawing school segregation and reversing the Plessy v. Ferguson doctrine of "separate but equal." |
| Camp David Accords | Agreements made between Egypt and Israel in which Egypt recognized Israel's independence; it was negotiated by President Jimmy Carter at the president's retreat home at Camp David. |
| Captains of Industry | Term given to the heads of big monopolies during the "Gilded Age" (Examples: John D. Rockefeller, Cornelius Vanderbilt, Andrew Carnegie) |
| Checks and Balances | Principle of government that separates federal powers among three branches and prevents a single branch from becoming too powerful. |
| Clay's Compromise | Agreement arranged by Henry Clay that led to the Missouri Compromise, which determined the boundary between free and slave states. |
| Cold War | Period following WWII and lasting until the downfall of the Soviet Union in 1991, characterized by competition between democratic and communist countries. |
| Compromise of 1850 | Law that established the boundary between free and slave territories and revised the Missouri Compromise. |
| Congress | The legislative or lawmaking body of the US government made up of the Senate and the House of Representatives. |
| Consent of the governed | Philosophy calling for the direct election of governmental representatives by the people. Once elected these lawmakers would respond to the policies favored by those who elected them. |
| Constitution | Document that outlines the powers and limitations of the US government. |
| Containment | Policy pursued by the US during the Cold War to stop the spread of communism. |
| Corporation | A business that sells stock in order to raise money. |
| Court Packing Plan | Attempt by President Franklin Roosevelt to increase the size of the Supreme Court in order to appoint members sympathetic to his policies; the proposal was rejected by Congress. |
| Creditor Nation Status | Economic consequence resulting from a nation's ability to export more goods than it imports. |
| Cuban missile crisis | Military showdown between the US and the Soviet Union resulting from the US discovery of Soviet missiles on Cuba. The military blockade of Cuba ordered by President Kennedy eventually led to the removal of the missiles. |
| Culture | The beliefs, values, and customs of a particular group or race of people. |
| Declaration of Independence | Document written by Thomas Jefferson declaring the US as an independent nation, and stating that all men have the basic rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. |
| Deficit spending | Economic consequence that occurs when a government spends more money than it collects from taxes and other revenues. (New Deal - FDR) |
| Detente | Policy favored by President Nixon, and later President Reagan, resulting in a lessening of hostilities between the Soviet Union and the US. |
| Direct election of senators | Result of the Seventeenth Amendment, adopted in 1913, giving people the right to vote for their senators. |
| Domino Theory | Cold War belief that as one nation fell to the communists, neighboring nations would follow. For example, if South Vietnam were taken over by North Vietnam, the communists would also conquer other nations in the Southeast Asia. |
| Dred Scott v. Sanford (1857) | Case in which the Supreme Court decided that slaves were property; the decision was a catalyst for the Civil War. |
| Elastic Clause | Section of the Constitution enabling the government to make any laws "necessary and proper" to carry out its specific powers. |
| Electoral College | Established by the Founding Fathers, it is a method of indirectly electing the president and vice president by a delegation of electors from each state. The number of electors a state has is equal to the number of Senators and House members the state has in Congress. |
| Emancipation Proclamation (1863) | President Lincoln's order freeing the slaves in the Southern states that seceded from the Union during the Civil War |
| Embargo | Order blocking goods of a particular country from entering into another country. |
| Erie Canal | Canal connecting NYC with Buffalo along Lake Erie, completed in 1825. The canal opened new markets from NYC to Albany, and Albany to Buffalo. |
| Federalism | Form of government that divides power between a central government and state governments. |
| Federalists | People who favored ratification of the Constitution and a powerful central government. (Ex - Alexander Hamilton and James Madison) |
| Federalist Papers | Outlined reasons for approving the Constitution. |
| First Continental Congress (1774) | Meeting of representatives of all colonies, except Georgia, in Philadelphia, in response to the Intolerable Acts imposed on the colonists by Great Britain. |
| Fourteen Points | Woodrow Wilson's plan for world peace after WWI, which included creation of the League of Nations. The League of Nations was adopted as part of the terms of the Treaty of Versailles. |
| Fugitive Slave Law (1850) | Act of Congress requiring Northern states to return escaped slaves to their Southern owners; rewards were often given for their return. |
| Gilded Age | Phrase used by Mark Twain to describe the extravagant and often corrupt life styles of wealthy US business tycoons in the late 1800's. (Life in the US looked good on the surface only.) |
| Great Compromise | Agreement made a the Constitutional Convention of 1787 creating the two houses of Congress; one house based on population and the other house based on equal representation. |
| Great Depression | Name given to the period between the stock market crash of 1929 and the start of WWII to describe the worst economic downturn in US history; marked by reduced industrial production, business failures, and at it's height, an unemployment rate of 25%. |
| Harlem Renaissance | Movement of black writers, artists, and musicians to Harlem, New York, marking a rebirth of black culture during the 1920's. |
| Holocaust | Mass murder of millions of European Jews and other minorities by the Nazis during WWII. |
| Homestead Act (1862) | Act of Congress giving free land to Western settlers if they maintained and improved the land for five years. |
| House of Burgesses | Legislative body of the Virginia colony; it was the first elected representative legislature in the English colonies. |
| House of Representatives | One of the two houses of Congress; its members are elected every two years and allotted among the states according to population (based on population of the state) |
| Imperialism | Practice pursued by a country seeking an empire through possession of foreign territories or colonies. |
| Industrial Revolution | Period of rapid economic development, beginning in the late eighteenth century, marked by mass-production factory goods, and a reduced agrarian labor force. |
| Initiative | Process for direct voter involvement in the making of laws through petition, ,referendum, and so on. (Progressive Movement Reform) |
| Intolerable Acts | Series of harsh laws imposed by the British on the American colonies to assert control and raise revenues. (One of many things that angered colonists and led them to revolt in 1776.) |
| Iroquois | One of the most powerful Native Amerian nations in the eastern woodlands of New York State. |
| Iroquois Confederacy | League of tribes of the Iroquois nation located in New York State. They sided with the British and helped defeat the French in the French and Indian War. |
| Jim Crow laws | Laws passed by Southern states after the Civil War enforcing segregation of the races. |
| Judicial Review | Principle established in Marbury v. Madison; the power of the Supreme Court to declare laws unconstitutional. |
| Ku Klux Klan | White supremacist organization founded after the Civil War, in response to Reconstruction, to intimidate freed slaves. It now opposes Jews and other minorities. Also known as the "KKK". |
| Laissez-faire | Literally means "hands off"; business principle advocating an economy free of governmental business regulations. |
| League of Nations | International organization formed after WWI as part of the Treaty of Versailles to promote world peace. The Senate refused to allow the US to join. |
| Louisiana Purchase (1803) | Agreement made by Thomas Jefferson to purchase the territory between the Mississippi River and teh Rocky Mountains from France. The purchase more than doubled the size of the US (helped achieve manifest destiny). |
| Loyalists | Colonists who remained loyal to England during the Revolutionary War. |
| Manifest Destiny | Belief held by many Americans during the nineteenth century that it was God's will for the US to expand its borders from the East Coast to the West Coast. |
| Marbury v. Madison (1803) | Supreme Court decision written by Chief Justice John Marshall declaring a congressional act unconstitutional; the decision established the principle of judicial review. |
| March on Washington (1963) | Gathering of over 500,000 people in front of the Lincoln Memorial urging Congress to pass civil rights legislation and where Reverend Martin Luther King, JR. delivered his famous "I Have a Dream" speech. |
| Marshall Plan | Program of massive US financial aid designed to strengthen teh economic, political, and social structures of European countries after WWII; developed by Secretary of State George Marshall. The goal of the plan was to prevent the spread of communism. |
| Mayflower Compact | Agreement among the Pilgrims to create a representative form of government in their new colony. |
| McCarthyism | Term used to describe the search fr communists and communist sympathizers withn the US during the 1950's; named after Senator Joseph McCarthy, who held hearings in an attempt to identify accused communists and sympathizers. This Senator alleged that there were communists inside the government. Many of the people who testified before the committee refused to answer questions by using their 5th Amendment right against self-incrimination. Some were later blacklisted, preventing further employment. |
| Mercantilism | Economic principle favoring the acquisition of colonies as a source of raw materials for and a market for finished goods of the mother country. (mother country gets rich off her colonies) |
| Mexican War (1846-1848) | Armed conflict between Mexico and the US resulting in the US acquisition of territory in Texas and the purchase of California and New Mexico for $15million. |
| Missouri Compromise (1820) | Agreement between advocates and opponents of slavery admitting Missouri as a slave state, Maine as a free state, and establishing a boundary between free territory and slave territory. |
| Monroe Doctrine (1823) | Policy announced by President James Monroe declaring the Western Hemisphere off limits to European colonial powers. |
| Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955) | Year-long refusal of black citizens of Montgomery, Alabama to ride the public bus system as a result of the arrest of Rosa Parks, a black woman who did not give up her seat to a white man. |
| Muckrackers | American journalists who wrote investigative reports during the Progressive Era, exposing the ills of society and calling government reform of political, social, and economic institutions. |
| Nativism | Policy opposing immigration to the US; they favored quotas. |
| New Deal | Legislation developed by President Franklin Roosevelt using the power of the federal government to create relief, recovery, and reform programs to combat the Great Depression. |
| New England | Geographic region of the United States bounded by Maine in the north and Rhode Island in the south. |
| New France | Early French colonial settlement in North America; it eventually led to further colonization in America in the seventeenth century. |
| New Spain | Spanish colonial settlements in America founded by Christopher Columbus in 1492, it included settlements in North, Central, and South America. |
| New Netherlands | Dutch colonial settlement in New York founded by Peter Minuit in 1625. |
| Nineteenth Amendment (1920) | Constitutional amendment giving women the right to vote. |
| North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) | Military alliance between the US and democratic nations of Western Europe formed in 1949 in response to the Soviet Union's influence over Eastern Europe. Its aim was the collective security of member nations, declaring that an attack on one nation would be considered to be an attack on all the nations in NATO. |
| Open Door policy | Foreign policy doctrine announced in 1899 in an attempt to preserve US trade with China by requesting European powers to respect China's sovereignty and permitting free access to Asian ports. |
| Peace Corps (1961) | Federal program designed to aid developing countries by sending US volunteers to teach and provide assistance; founded by President John F. Kennedy. |
| Pearl Harbor | Hawaiian naval station attcked, without warning, by the Japanese on December 7, 1941. The attack resulted in a US declaration of war against Japan, Germany, and Italy. |
| Persian Gulf War (1991) | Armed conflict between Iraq and coalition of UN troops, led by the US after Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's invasion of neighboring Kuwait; Iraq was quickly defeated. |
| Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) | Supreme Court decision establishing the "separate but equal" doctrine, making segregation legal. |
| Populism | Political movement of the late 1800's favoring greater government regulation of business, a graduated income tax, and greater political involvement by the people. |
| Primary Source Document | First hand account of an historical event; eyewitness accounts are one example. |
| Progressive Era (1900-1920) | Period characterized by political, economic, and social reform movements. |
| Progressive Tax | Method of taxation by which the amount of tax increases as the amount a person earns increases; made legal by the Sixteenth Amendment. |
| Prohibition (1919-1933) | Period of time from enactment of the Eighteenth Amendment, making the sale, production, and transportation of alcohol illegal, throught its repeal by the Twenty-first Amendment. |
| Protective Tariff (1828) | Tax on imported goods designed to protect domestic industries by increasing prices of imports. In the South, protective tariffs were disliked as European countries placed retaliatory tariffs on Southern goods like cotton. |
| Pure Food and Drug Act (1906) | Progressive Era law regulating the sale of meat and prescription drugs, the legislation was instigated by the writings of muckrakers. |
| The Jungle | Book written by Upton Sinclair |
| Puritans | Group of early English settlers who came to America to escape religious persecution. |
| Quakers | Group of early English settlers who established a colony in Pennsylvania. They oppose war on religious grounds. |
| Quebec Act (1774) | Act of British government extending the boundaries of the Canadian Province of Quebec. This act angered English colonists by threatening the territorial claims of the colonies. |
| Quota Act of 1924 | Series of laws limiting the number of immigrants allowed to enter the United States. |
| Ratification | Approval of a document or treaty. |
| Recall Election | Progressive Era reform allowing voters to remove an officeholder from office before the end of his term. |
| Reconstruction | Period from 1865 through 1876, when former Confederate states were occupied by federal troops and controlled by the national government prior to their re-admission to the Union. |
| Red Scare | Refers to period marked by fear of communist invasion in the US during the 1920's and the 1950's. |
| Referendum | Progressive Era reform giving people the right to vote directly for laws before they go into effect. |
| "Remember the Maine" | Headline from William Randolph Hearst's newspaper reporting the sinking of the USS Maine in Havana Harbor and suggesting that it was a result of a Spanish mine. It became the rallying cry of those who wanted war with Spain. |
| Return to normalcy | Theme of President Warren G. Harding's administration; referring to a return to US isolationism and increased economic explansion after WWI. |
| Roaring Twenties | Term used to describe the 1920's, characterized by an emerging middle class, increased factory production, rising prosperity, and changing social values. |
| Robber Barons | Term given to the great industrialists of the nineteenth century who used their money and power for their own purposes. |
| Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine | Foreign policy initiated by President Theodore Roosevelt asserting the right of the US to act as "policemen" of the Western Hemisphere and to interfere in Latin American affairs. |
| "Rosie the Riveter" | Character from a WWII propaganda poster used to illustrate the increased need for women as factory workers. |
| Secession | Withdrawal of Southern states from the Union in 1860. |
| Secondary Source Document | Historical account reported by somebody who was not an eyewitness to the event. |
| Sectionalism | Development of rivalries and alliances within the same country based on geographic or economic differences. This created conflicts between the North and South and ultimately led to the Civil War. |
| Senate | The upper house of Congress; based on equal representation of two members from each state. |
| Seneca Falls Convention | Convention held for the purpose of furthering the rights of women; organized by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mort. The convention issued the "Declaration of Sentiments," urging passage of legislation granting women more rights. |
| Separate but equal | Doctrine established by the Supreme Court in Plessy v. Ferguson that allowed states to create separate facilities for blacks and whites. |
| Separation of Powers | Principle of government established by the Constitution dividing governmental powers among three branches of government and assuring liberty through a system of checks and balances. |
| Seventeenth Amendment (1918) | Constitutional amendment providing for the direct election of senators by the people. The amendment ended the previous method of appointment by state legislatures. |
