| A | B |
|---|
| Abolitionists | Those who supported the end of slavery |
| Alien and Sedition Acts | Restricted naturalization of immigrants and could not publish material critical of the government |
| American Revolution | Colonists fought the British in an attempt to gain independence |
| Anti-Federalists | Those who opposed ratification to the Constitution |
| Armstrong, Neil | The first man to walk on the moon |
| Articles of Confederation | First document to outline the government of the U.S. |
| Assembly Line | Manufacturing technique invented by Henry Ford |
| Atomic Bomb | Weapon of mass destruction created by splitting atoms |
| Bacon’s Rebellion | 1675 uprising in Virginia caused by government unwillingness to provide protection on the Western frontier from Native Americans |
| Balance of Powers | Different powers are delegated between the three branches of government |
| Battle of New Orleans | The last battle fought during the War of 1812 that vaulted Andrew Jackson to national fame |
| Bay of Pigs | Ill-fated secret mission to overthrow the communist Cuban government of Castro, authorized by Kennedy |
| Bell, Alexander Graham | Invented the telephone in 1876 |
| Berlin Airlift | American and British joint effort to supply a free city in the middle of E. Germany |
| Berlin Wall | Constructed by the Soviet Union in 1961 to keep East Germans from leaving, and destroyed in 1989 |
| Bill of Rights | First ten amendments to the Constitution |
| Black Power | Militant movement in the 1960s by those who were frustrated with the slow progress of nonviolent civil rights measures |
| “Bleeding Kansas” | Widespread violence preceded a vote on slavery in Kansas, including the massacre of slave owners by John Brown |
| Boston Massacre | 1770 confrontation between colonists and British troops stationed in Boston |
| Boston Tea Party | Group of colonists dressed as Mohawk Indians boarded British ships and dumped tea into the harbor. |
| “Black Tuesday” | The day of the stock market crash and the beginning of the Great Depression |
| Brinkmanship | Conflicts with the Soviet Union were allowed to build to the verge of war without any negotiation |
| Brown, John | Radical abolitionist leader who was part of the "Bleeding Kansas" massacre and led an 1859 raid on the Harpers Ferry arsenal |
| Brown v. Board of Education | 1954 decision outlawing Jim Crow laws by mandating segregation in public schools |
| Bryan, William Jennings | Ran unsuccessfully as a Populist, pushing for the free coinage of silver, and later was the Scopes Monkey Trial prosecutor |
| Bull Moose Party | Progressive coalition led by Theodore Roosevelt following the nomination of Taft by the Republican party |
| Bush, George | President from 1988-1992 who involved the U.S. in the Persian Gulf War |
| Bush, George W. | Current President of the U.S. 2001-? |
| California Gold Rush | Took place following a gold discovery in 1849. Those who hurried west were called forty-niners. |
| Carpetbaggers | Derogatory term for Northerners who moved south during Reconstruction to make a profit |
| Civil Rights Movement | ORganized campaign for African American rights from the 1950s through the 1960s |
| Civil War | The War Between the Southern and Northern States |
| Civil War Amendments | 13th (no slavery), 14th (due process and equal protection), and 15th (voting rights for African Americans) |
| Cold War | Extended tensions between the US. and NATo and the USSR and the Warsaw Pact following WWII |
| Columbus, Christopher | First Europea (other than the Vikings) to land in the New World (1492) |
| “Common Sense” | Politcal pamphlet published by Thomas Paine in January 1776 |
| Compromise of 1850 | Admitted California as a free state and passed the Fugitive Slave Act |
| Confederate States of America | Formal name of the southern states that seceded from the Union during the Civil War |
| Conquistadors | Spanish explorers who flocked to the Americas in the sixteenth century |
| Conservation | Notion that government should withhold certain land from development, championed by Theodore Roosevelt |
| Constitution | Document that povides the supreme law for the United States |
| Constitutional Convention | Meeting to discuss the inherent problems of the Articles of the Confederation and to draft a new Constitution |
| Containment | Cold War policy intended to stop the spread of communism anywhere that it sought to expand |
| “Corrupt Bargain” | Name for the "back room" agreement allowing John Quincy Adams to win the 1824 presidential election over Andrew Jackson |
| Counterculture | Youth movement of the 1960s that opposed the mainstream culture |
| “Court Packing” Plan | FDR attempt to place New Deal friendly justices on the Court |
| Cuban Missile Crisis | 1962 Cold War naval blockade (quarantine) of Cuba follwing the discovery of nuclear missles on the island |
| Davis, Jefferson | President of the Confederate States of America during the Civil War |
| D Day | Allied invasion of France in Normandy |
| Declaration of Independence | Document written by Jefferson in 1776 declaring American independence |
