Commonly Appearing Terms

1607-1763

Indentured ServantsPeople who came to America and was placed under contract to work for another over a period of time, especially during the 17th and 19th centuries (ex. redemptioners, victims of religious or political persecution, people kidnapped, convicts and paupers)

Proprietary, Royal, Charter ColoniesProprietary colony: any of certain colonies, as Maryland and Pennsylvania, that were granted to an individual group by the British crown and that were granted full rights of self-governmentRoyal colony: a colony, as New York, administered by a royal governor and council appointed by the British crown, and having a representative assembly elected by the peopleCharter colony: a colony, as Virginia, Massachusetts, Connecticut, or Rhode Island, chartered to an individual, trading company, etc., by the British crown

Pilgrims/SeparatistsPilgrims: a person who journeys, esp. a long distance, to some sacred place as an act of religious devotionSeparatists: a person who separates, withdraws, or secedes, as from an established church

Trade and Navigation ActsA series of laws which restricted the use of foreign shipping for trade between England and its colonies, started in 1651

Peter Zenger trialHe printed a document that criticized William Cosby, the Governor of New York; shortly afterwards, Cosby had Zenger arrested on a charge of seditious libel; later found innocent of the seditious libel

House of BurgessesThe elected lower house in the legislative assembly in the New Worldestablished in the Colony of Virginia in 1619

Mayflower CompactThe first governing document of Plymouth Colony, written by the colonists

King Phillip's WarAn armed conflict between Native American inhabitants of present-day southern New England and English colonists and their Native American allies from 1675–1676.

Anne HutchinsonA pioneer settler in Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New Netherlands and the unauthorized minister of a dissident church discussion groupHeld Bible meetings for women that soon had great appeal to men as well; eventually, she went beyond Bible study to proclaim her own theological interpretations of sermons, some of which offended the colony leadership; major controversy ensued, and after a trial before a jury of officials and clergy, she was banished from her colony

Roger Williams

An English theologian, a notable proponent of religious toleration and the separation of church and state and an advocate for fair dealings with Native Americans. In 1644, he received a charter creating the colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, named for the principal island in Narragansett Bay and the Providence settlement which provided a refuge for religious minorities. Credited for originating either the first or second Baptist church established in America, which he is known to have left soon afterwards, exclaiming, "God is too large to be housed under one roof."

George WhitefieldAn Anglican itinerant minister who helped spread the Great Awakening in Great Britain and, especially, in the British North American colonies. His ministry had tremendous impact on American ideology

William BradfordPlymouth Governor; a pilgrim that lived in a north colony called Plymouth Rock in 1620. He was chosen governor 30 times. He also conducted experiments of living in the wilderness and wrote about them; well known for "Of Plymouth Plantation"

Great Puritan MigrationWhen any Puritans immigrated to North America in the 1620-1640s because they believed that the Church of England was beyond reform

Great Awakening 1730s-1740sStarted by John Edwards to bring people back to the church; revitalized American religion, first spontaneous mass movement of Americans, encouraged missionary work among Indians and blacks, founding of "new light" learning centers

French and Indian War (Seven Year's War or War of the Conquest) 1754-1763The fourth such colonial war between the nations of France and Great Britain, resulting in the British conquest of Canada and French Louisiana from France and Florida from Spain France's colonial presence north of the Caribbean was reduced to the tiny islands of Saint Pierre and Miquelon, confirming Britain's position as the dominant colonial power in North America

New England ConfederationPolitical and military alliance of the British colonies of Massachusetts, Plymouth, Connecticut, and New Havenestablished May 19, 1643, its primary purpose was to unite the Puritan colonies against theNative Americans

Thomas HobbesAn English philosopher, remembered today for his work on political philosophy. His 1651 book Leviathan established the foundation for most of Western political philosophy from the perspective of social contract theory

John LockeAn English physician and philosopher regarded as one of the most influential of Enlightenment thinkers Locke's theory of mind is often cited as the origin of modern conceptions of identity and the selfLocke was the first to define the self through a continuity of consciousness. He postulated that the mind was a blank slate or tabula rasa

Freedom of ConscienceThe freedom of an individual to hold or consider a fact, viewpoint, or thought, independent of others' viewpoints

MercantilismWhere nations seek to increase their wealth and power by obtaining large amounts of gold and silver and by establishing a favorable balance of trade (exporting more than you import)

Iroquois ConfederacyThe Iroquois, also known as the Haudenosaunee or the "People of the Longhouse", are an indigenous people of North America. In the 16th century or earlier, the Iroquois came together in an association known as the Iroquois League

Jonathan EdwardsHellfire and brimstone method of preaching, preached complete dependence on God's grace

Bacon's RebellionIn 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

Headright SystemWay to attract immigrants; gave 50 acres of land to anyone who paid their way and/or any plantation owner that paid an immigrants way; mainly a system in the southern colonies

Halfway CovenantA Puritan church documentIn 1662, the Halfway Covenant allowed partial membership rights to persons not yet converted into the Puritan church; it lessened the difference between the "elect" members of the church from the regular members; women soon made up a larger portion of Puritan congregations

Harvard College1636 - College at Cambridge, the intellectual center of New England, mainly to make better Christians

Salutary NeglectAn undocumented, though long standing British policy of avoiding strict enforcement of parliamentary laws, meant to keep the American colonies obedient to Great Britain

Salem Witch TrialsA series of hearings before local magistrates followed by county court trials to prosecute people accused of witchcraft in Essex, Suffolk, and Middlesex counties of colonial Massachusetts, between February 1692 and May 1693

Middle PassageMiddle segment of the forced journey that slaves made from Africa to America throughout the 1600's; it consisted of the dangerous trip across the Atlantic Ocean; many slaves died on this segment of the journey

Albany PlanProposed by Benjamin Franklin at the Albany Congress in 1754 in Albany, New YorkIt was an early attempt at forming a union of the colonies "under one government as far as might be necessary for defense and other general important purposes" during the French and Indian WarFranklin's plan of union was one of several put forth by various delegates of the Albany Congress

City on the HillA phrase derived from the metaphor of Salt and Light in the Sermon on the Mount of Jesus given in the Gospel of Matthewthis phrase entered the American lexicon early in its history, with John Winthrop's sermon "A Modell of Christian Charity" (sic), given in 1630. Winthrop warned the Puritan colonists of New England who were to found the Massachusetts Bay Colony that their new community would be a "city upon a hill," watched by the world

Phyllis WheatlyPoet; slave girl brought to Boston at age 8 and then England at age 12, no formal education and published book of poetry

James OglethorpeFounded Georgia in 1733 as a haven for people in debt because of his interest for reform and almost single-handedly kept Georgia afloat

William PennAn English founder and "Absolute Proprietor" of the Province of Pennsylvania, the English North American colony and the future U.S. State of Pennsylvania. He was known as an early champion of democracy and religious freedom and famous for his good relations and his treaties with the Lenape Indians. Under his direction, Philadelphia was planned and developed

1763-1775 

Proclamation of 1763Issued October 7, 1763, by King George III following Great Britain's acquisition of French territory in North America after the end of the French and Indian War. The purpose of the proclamation was to organize Great Britain's new North American empire and to stabilize relations with Native North Americans through regulation of trade, settlement, and land purchases on the western frontier

Thomas Paine/Common Sense/Crisis PapersThomas Paine published the pamphlet Common Sense in 1776 where he urged America to stop fighting a war of inconsistency. In it he also stated that nowhere in the universe did a smaller body control a larger one. It pointed to all the advantages America would gain if it were independent such as it would allow free trade and foreign aid and it could give equal social and economic opportunities to all. Almost 500,000 copies were sold and this pamphlet helped sway AmericaCrisis Papers were pamphlets written by Thomas Paine that encouraged Americans not to be summer soldiers but sunshine patriots

Stamp Act CongressA meeting in the building that would become Federal Hall in New York City on October 19, 1765 consisting of delegates from 9 of the 13 colonies that discussed and acted upon the recently passed Stamp Act. The colonies that did not send delegates were Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia, and New Hampshire, and those from New York were delegates of particular counties within the colony, not the colony itself

Olive Branch PetitionJuly 1775, the Second Continental Congress adopts and sends to Britain. Professed America's loyalty to the crown and asked George III for compromise and an end to fighting. King George III refused to accept the petition

Pontiac's RebellionA war launched in 1763 by a loose confederation of elements of Native American tribes primarily from the Great Lakes region, the Illinois Country, and Ohio Country who were dissatisfied with British policies in the Great Lakes region after the British victory in the French and Indian War

Quartering ActCreated in 1765, it required certain colonies to provide food and quarters for British troops

Townshend ActsA series of acts passed beginning in 1767 by the Parliament of Great Britain relating to the British colonies in North AmericaFive laws are frequently mentioned: the Revenue Act of 1767, the Indemnity Act, the Commissioners of Customs Act, the Vice Admiralty Court Act, and the New York Restraining Act

Boston Tea PartyA direct action by colonists in Boston, Massachusetts, against the British governmentDecember 16, 1773, after officials in Boston refused to return three shiploads of taxed tea to Britain, a group of colonists boarded the ships and destroyed the tea by throwing it into Boston Harbor

Coercive/Intolerable ActsA series of four laws passed by the British Parliament in 1774 relating to Britain's colonies in North AmericaFour of the acts were issued in direct response to the Boston Tea Party of December 1773

Loyalists/ToriesAmerican colonists who remained loyal to the Kingdom of Great Britain (and the British monarchy) during and after the American Revolutionary War

Sons of LibertySecret committees formed to protest the Stamp ActUsed petitions, public meetings and violence to protestSamuel Adams was a leader in BostonDaughters of Liberty was also created

First/Second Continental CongressFirst Continental Congress was a convention of delegates from twelve of the thirteen North American colonies (except Georgia) that met on September 5, 1774, at Carpenters' Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, early in the American Revolution. Called in response to the passage of the Coercive Acts (also known as Intolerable Acts by the Colonial Americans) by the British Parliament, the Congress was attended by 56 members appointed by the legislatures of twelve colonies presentSecond Continental Congress was a convention of delegates from the Thirteen Colonies that met beginning on May 10, 1775, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, soon after warfare in the American Revolutionary War had begun. The second Congress managed the colonial war effort, and moved slowly towards independence, adopting the United States Declaration of Independence on July 2, 1776. By raising armies, directing strategy, appointing diplomats, and making formal treaties, the Congress acted as the de facto national government of what became the United States. With the ratification of the Articles of Confederation in 1781, the Congress became known as the Congress of the Confederation

Boston MassacreA clash in Boston between Americans and British Soldiers and became a symbol of British tyranny in America and used for

propaganda. Five Americans were killed, Crispus Attucks, an African American, was the first to die. Paxton Boys

A vigilante group that murdered at least twenty Native Americans in events sometimes called the Conestoga Massacre. Backcountry Presbyterian Scots-Irish frontiersmen from central Pennsylvania, near Paxton Church, Paxtang, Pennsylvania, now Dauphin County, formed a vigilante group in response to the American Indian uprising known as Pontiac's Rebellion. The Paxton Boys felt that the government of colonial Pennsylvania was negligent in providing them protection

Tea ActAn Act of the Parliament of Great Britain to expand the British East India Company's monopoly on the tea trade to all British Colonies, selling excess tea at a reduced price; passed on May 10, 1773

Battle of SaratogaA turning point in the American RevolutionThe battles were fought eighteen days apart on the same ground, nine miles south of Saratoga, New York. Burgoyne, whose campaign to divide New England from the southern colonies had started well but slowed due to logistical problems, won a small tactical victory over General Horatio Gates and the Continental Army in the September 19 Battle of Freeman's Farm at the cost of significant casualties. His gains were erased when he again attacked the Americans in the October 7 Battle of Bemis Heights and the Americans captured a portion of the British defenses. Burgoyne was therefore compelled to retreat, and his army was surrounded by the much larger American force at Saratoga, forcing him to surrender on October 17. News of Burgoyne's surrender was instrumental in formally bringing France officially into the war as an American ally

"No taxation without representation"A slogan in the period 1763–1776 that summarized a primary grievance of the British colonists in the Thirteen Colonies

Stamp ActA law enacted by government that requires a tax to be paid on the transfer of certain documents

Non-importation AgreementsA series of commercial restrictions, against British goods, adopted by American colonists to protest British revenue policies prior to the American Revolution; was a stride toward a Union. It spontaneously united the American people for the first time in common action.

Virtual RepresentationVirtual representation means that a representative is not elected by his constituents, but he resembles them in his political beliefs and goals. Actual representation means that a representative is elected by his constituents. The colonies only had virtual representation in the British government.

Gaspee AffairThe Gaspee was a British customs ship that succeeded in catching a number of smugglers. It was then ran aground off the shore of Rhode Island. Colonists disguised as Native Americans ordered the crew ashore and set fire to the ship. Britain ordered a commission to investigate and brig guilty individuals to Britian for trial.

Sugar Act 1764Replaced the ineffective Molasses Act of 1733Reduced the duties on imported sugar, which made smuggling less profitable

1775-1825

Monroe DoctrineA United States policy that was introduced on December 2, 1823, which said that further efforts by European governments to colonize land or interfere with states in the Americas would be viewed by the United States of America as acts of aggression requiring US intervention

Asserted that the Western Hemisphere was not to be further colonized by European countries, and that the United States would not interfere with existing European colonies nor in the internal concerns of European countries

Embargo Act of 1807A bill that banned trade between the United States of America and other nationsThe bill also prevented any ships from leaving American ports thus hindering exploration efforts. It was created at the request of President Thomas Jefferson in an attempt to prevent American involvement in the Napoleonic Wars. The bill proved unpopular and unenforceable and was repealed in 1808

Louisiana PurchaseThe acquisition by the United States of America of 828,800 square miles of the French territory Louisiana in 1803The U.S. paid a total cost of 15 million dollars for the Louisiana territory

TecumsehNative American leader of the Shawnee and a large tribal confederacy that opposed the United States and allied with the British during Tecumseh's War and the War of 1812. Died in the Battle of Thames

Jay TreatyTreaty between the United States and Great Britain which averted war, solved many issues left over from the American Revolution, and opened ten years of largely peaceful trade in the midst of the French Revolutionary Wars. It was hotly contested by Jeffersonians but was ratified by Congress and became a central issue in the formation of the First Party System. The treaty was signed in November 1794, but was not proclaimed to be in effect until February 29, 1796

Whiskey RebellionPopular uprising that had its beginnings in 1791 and culminated in an insurrection in 1794 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in the Monongahela Valley. During George Washington's presidency, the government decided to tax whiskey in order to pay off the national debt. This infuriated the citizenry and led to the rebellion

Gabriel Prosser's RebellionA slave that planned a revolt to make Virginia a state for BlacksHe organized about 1,000 slaves who met outside Richmond the night of August 30, 1800. They had planned to attack the city, but the roads leading to it were flooded. The attack was delayed and a slave owner found out about it. Twenty-five men were hanged, including Gabriel.

Annapolis ConventionA precursor to the Constitutional Convention of 1787A dozen commissioners form New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Virginia met to discuss reform of interstate commerce regulations, to design a U.S. currency standard, and to find a way to repay the federal government's debts to Revolutionary War veterans. Little was accomplished, except for the delegates to recommend that a further convention be held to discuss changes to the form of the federal government

Orders in CouncilBritish laws which led to the War of 1812 Orders-in-council passed in 1807 permitted the impressments of sailors and forbade neutral ships from visiting ports from which Britain was excluded unless they first went to Britain and traded for British goods.

Hartford ConventionDecember 1814 - A convention of New England merchants who opposed the Embargo and other trade restriction, and the War of 1812They proposed some Amendments to the Constitution and advocated the right of states to nullify federal laws. They also discussed the idea of seceding from the U.S. if their desires were ignored. The Hartford Convention turned public sentiment against the Federalists and led to the demise of the party.

American Colonization SocietyFormed in 1817, it purchased a tract of land in Liberia and returned free Blacks to Africa

Republicanism/DemocracyConservative about federal spending, liberal about personal freedoms; believed in a balanced budget and lower taxes, but not in getting rid of existing social and economic legislation

Interchangeable parts1799-1800 - Eli Whitney developed a manufacturing system which uses standardized parts which are all identical and thus, interchangeable. Before this, each part of a given device had been designed only for that one device; if a single piece of the device broke, it was difficult or impossible to replace. With standardized parts, it was easy to get a replacement part from the manufacturer. Whitney first put used standardized parts to make muskets for the U.S. government.

Henry ClayHelped heal the North/South rift by aiding passage of the Compromise of 1850, which served to delay the Civil War

Washington's Farewell AddressWarned against the dangers of political parties and foreign alliances

Connecticut/Great Compromise

An agreement between large and small states reached during the Philadelphia Convention of 1787 that in part defined the legislative structure and representation that each state would have under the United States Constitution. It proposed a bicameral legislature, resulting in the current United States Senate and House of Representatives

Barbary PiratesGroup of fighters who attacked American ships along the Barbary Coast of northern Africa at in the first few years of the 19th Century

Undeclared Naval War

Treaty of Alliance 1778Defensive alliance between France and the United States of America, formed in the midst of the American Revolutionary War, which promised military support in case of attack by British forces indefinitely into the future

Treaty of Paris 1783Formally ended the American Revolution War between Britain and the United States

Acknowledging the 13 colonies to be free, sovereign and independent States, and that the British Crown and all heirs and successors relinquish claims to the Government, propriety, and territorial rights of the same, and every part thereofEstablishing the boundaries between the United States and British North AmericaGranting fishing rights to United States fishermen in the Grand Banks, off the coast of Newfoundland and in the Gulf of Saint LawrenceRecognizing the lawful contracted debts to be paid to creditors on either sideThe Congress of the Confederation will "earnestly recommend" to state legislatures to recognize the rightful owners of all confiscated lands "provide for the restitution of all estates, rights, and properties, which have been confiscated belonging to real British subjects [Loyalists]"United States will prevent future confiscations of the property of LoyalistsPrisoners of war on both sides are to be released and all property left by the British army in the United States unmolested (including slaves)Great Britain and the United States were each to be given perpetual access to the Mississippi RiverTerritories captured by Americans subsequent to treaty will be returned without compensation

Ratification of the treaty was to occur within six months from the signing by the contracting partiesCorrupt bargain

In the election of 1824, no candidate was able to secure the required number of the electoral votes, thereby putting the outcome in the hands of the House of Representatives. To the surprise of many, the House elected John Quincy Adams over rival Andrew Jackson. Henry Clay, the Speaker of the House at the time, convinced Congress to elect Adams, who then made Clay his Secretary of State. Supporters of Jackson (who won a plurality of the popular as well as the greatest number of electoral votes) denounced this as a "corrupt bargain"

Loose/Strict ConstructionismLoose (Hamilton) – Unless the constitution says not to do it, it is legalStrict (Jefferson and Madison) – Unless the constitution says it, it is illegal

Lewis and Clark1804–1806, was the first overland expedition undertaken by the United States to the Pacific coast and back. The expedition team was headed by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark and assisted by Sacajawea and Toussaint Charbonneau. The expedition's goal was to gain an accurate sense of the resources being exchanged in the Louisiana Purchase. The expedition laid much of the groundwork for the westward expansion of the United States

Gibbons v OgdenA case in which the Supreme Court of the United States held that the power to regulate interstate commerce was granted to Congress by the Commerce Clause of the Constitution

Treaty of GhentPeace treaty that ended the War of 1812 between the United States and Britain and IrelandThe treaty largely restored relations between the two countries to status quo ante bellum. Due to the slow speed of communication, it took weeks for news of the peace treaty to reach America, well after the Battle of New Orleans had begun

Land Ordinance of 1785Under the Articles of Confederation, Congress did not have the power to raise revenue by direct taxation of the inhabitants of the United States. Therefore, the immediate goal of the ordinance was to raise money through the sale of land in the largely unmapped territory west of the original colonies acquired from Britain at the end of the Revolutionary War

Critical PeriodThe period of time following the end of the Revolutionary War in 1783 to the inauguration of George Washington in 1789During this time, the newly independent former colonies were beset with a wide array of foreign and domestic problems

XYZ Affair

March of 1797 to 1800, three French agents, publicly referred to as X, Y, and Z, demanded major concessions from the United States as a condition for continuing bilateral peace negotiations. The concessions demanded by the French included 50,000 pounds sterling, a $12 million loan from the United States, a $250,000 personal bribe to French foreign minister Charles Maurice de Talleyrand, and a formal apology for comments made by U.S. President John Adams

War HawksTerm originally used to describe members of the House of Representatives of the Twelfth Congress of the United States who advocated waging war against Great Britain in the War of 1812

Cotton gin/Eli WhitneyEli Whitney was an American inventor best known as the inventor of the cotton gin. A cotton gin is a machine that quickly and easily separates the cotton fibers from the seeds, a job previously done by hand

Articles of ConfederationThe first constitution of the United States of America and legally established the union of the states. The Second Continental Congress appointed a committee to draft the Articles in June 1776 and sent the draft to the states for ratification in November 1777. The ratification process was completed in March 1781; legally federating the sovereign and independent states, already cooperating through the Continental Congress, into a new federation styled the "United States of America". Under the Articles the states retained sovereignty over all governmental functions not specifically relinquished to the central government

Three-fifths CompromiseCompromise between Southern and Northern states in which three-fifths of the population of slaves would be counted

regarding both the distribution of taxes and the apportionment of the members of the United States House of Representatives Deism

A religious and philosophical belief that a supreme being created the universe, and that this (and religious truth in general) can be determined using reason and observation of the natural world alone, without a need for either faith or organized religion

Revolution of 1800 AKA United States Presidential Election of 1800Vice President Thomas Jefferson defeated incumbent president John AdamsElection was a realigning election that ushered in a generation of Democratic-Republican Party rule and the eventual demise of the Federalist Party in the First Party System

Full Funding/Assumption

Virginia/New Jersey PlansVirginia Plan was a proposal by Virginia delegates, drafted by James Madison. Notable for its role in setting the overall agenda for debate in the convention and, in particular, for setting forth the idea of population-weighted representation in the proposed National LegislatureNew Jersey Plan was proposed by William Paterson on June 15, 1787. The plan was created in response to the Virginia Plan's call for two houses of Congress, both elected with proportional representation according to population or direct taxes paid. The less populous states were adamantly opposed to giving most of the control of the national government to the larger states, and so proposed an alternate plan that would have given one vote per state for equal representation under one legislative body 

Samuel Slater"Father of the American Industrial Revolution" or "Father of the American Factory System" Was apprenticed as an engineer and in 1789 violated a British emigration law that prohibited the spread of British manufacturing technology to other nations. When he left for New York, he had memorized the plans for the mill and offered to sell his knowledge to American industrialists

Federalist/First American Party System1792 -1824, it featured two national parties competing for control of the presidency, Congress, and the states: the Federalist Party (Alexander Hamilton) and the Democratic-Republican Party (Thomas Jefferson and James Madison)

Benjamin BannekerA free African American astronomer, mathematician, surveyor, almanac author and farmer

Marbury v MadisonCase resulted from a petition to the Supreme Court by William Marbury, who had been appointed by President John Adams as Justice of the Peace in the District of Columbia but whose commission was not subsequently delivered. Marbury petitioned the Supreme Court to force Secretary of State James Madison to deliver the documents, but the court, with John Marshall as Chief Justice, denied Marbury's petition, holding that the part of the statute upon which he based his claim, the Judiciary Act of 1789, was unconstitutional. Marbury v. Madison was the first time the Supreme Court declared something "unconstitutional," and established the concept of judicial review in the U.S.

Bank of the United States

Yeomen farmersThose middling white United States Southerners of the 19th century who owned their own land but few or no slaves

Virginia-Kentucky ResolutionsWritten anonymously by Jefferson and Madison in response to the Alien and Sedition Acts, they declared that states could nullify federal laws that the states considered unconstitutional.

Shay's RebellionOccurred in the winter of 1786-1787Poor, indebted landowners in Massachusetts blocked access to courts and prevented the government from arresting or repossessing the property of those in debt. The federal government was too weak to help Boston remove the rebels, a sign that the Articles of Confederation wasn't working effectively.

Northwest OrdinanceSet up the framework of a government for the Northwest TerritoryThe Ordinance provided that the territory would be divided into 3 to 5 states, outlawed slavery in the Territory, and set 60,000 as the minimum population for statehood.

Lowell/Walthan System/Lowell girlsFrancis Cabot Lowell established a factory in 1814 at Waltham, Massachusetts. It was the first factory in the world to manufacture cotton cloth by power machinery in a building

Erie Canal1825 - The Erie Canal was opened as a toll waterway connecting New York to the Great Lakes. The canal was approved in 1817 with the support of New York's Governor, Dewitt ClintonAlong with the Cumberland Road, it helped connect the North and the West.

ImpressmentsThe act of compelling men to serve in a navy by force and without notice

Declaration of IndependenceSigned by the Second Continental Congress on July 4 and it dissolved the colonies' ties with Britain, listed grievances against King George III, and declared the colonies to be an independent nation.

Missouri CompromiseAgreement passed in 1820 between the slavery and anti-slavery factions in the United States Congress, involving primarily the regulation of slavery in the western territories. It prohibited slavery in the former Territory north of the parallel 36°30' north except within the boundaries of the proposed state of Missouri

Adams-Onis TreatySpain gave up Florida to the U.S. and the U.S./Mexico border was set so that Texas and the American Southwest would be part of Mexico

American SystemProposed after the War of 1812, it included using federal money for internal improvements (roads, bridges, industrial improvements, etc.), enacting a protective tariff to foster the growth of American industries, and strengthening the national bank

Bill of RightsFirst ten amendments to the Constitution, which guarantee basic individual rights

Judicial ReviewDoctrine in democratic theory under which legislative and executive action is subject to invalidation by the judiciarySpecific courts with judicial review power may annul the acts of the state when it finds them incompatible with a higher authority, such as the terms of a written constitution. Judicial review is an example of the functioning of separation of powers in a modern governmental system

Era of Good FeelingsPeriod in United States political history in which partisan bitterness abated

Citizen GenetFrench ambassador to the United States during the French RevolutionCitizen Genêt affair began in 1793 when he was dispatched to the United States to promote American support for France's wars with Spain and Britain. Genêt organized American volunteers to fight Britain's Spanish allies in Florida. After raising a militia, Genêt set sail toward Philadelphia, stopping along the way to marshal support for the French cause and arriving on May 18. He encouraged Democratic-Republican Societies, but President Washington denounced them and they quickly withered away. His actions endangered American neutrality in the war between France and Britain, which Washington had pointedly declared in his Neutrality Proclamation of April 22. When Genêt met with Washington, he asked for what amounted to a suspension of American neutrality. When turned down by Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson and informed that his actions were unacceptable, Genêt protested. Meanwhile, Genêt's privateers were capturing British ships, and his militia was preparing to move against the Spanish. Genêt continued to defy the wishes of the United States government, capturing British ships and rearming them as privateers. Washington sent Genêt an 8,000-word letter of complaint on Jefferson's and Hamilton's advice – one of the few situations in which the Federalist Alexander Hamilton and the Democratic-Republican Jefferson agreed. Genêt replied obstinately. The Jacobins, having taken power in France by January 1794, sent an arrest notice which asked Genêt to come back to France. Genêt, knowing that he would likely be sent

to the guillotine, asked Washington for asylum. It was Hamilton – Genêt's fiercest opponent in the cabinet – who convinced Washington to grant him safe haven in the United States

Alien and Sedition ActsFour bills passed in 1798 by the Federalists in the 5th United States Congress, who were waging an undeclared naval war with France, later known as the Quasi-War. Proponents claimed the acts were designed to protect the United States from alien citizens of enemy powers and to stop seditious attacks from weakening the government. The Democratic-Republicans attacked them as being both unconstitutional and designed to stifle criticism of the administration, and as infringing on the right of the states to act in these areas

Pinckney TreatyEstablished intentions of friendship between the United States and SpainIt also defined the boundaries of the United States with the Spanish colonies and guaranteed the United States navigation rights on the Mississippi River. It also gave U.S. citizens the right to trade with New Orleans

1825-1865

Seneca Falls ConventionJuly, 1848 - Site of the first modern women's right conventionAt the gathering, Elizabeth Cady Staton read a Declaration of Sentiment listing the many discriminations against women, and adopted eleven resolutions, one of which called for women's suffrage

Dorothea DixA reformer and pioneer in the movement to treat the insane as mentally ill, beginning in the 1820's, she was responsible for improving conditions in jails, poorhouses and insane asylums throughout the U.S. and Canada. She succeeded in persuading many states to assume responsibility for the care of the mentally ill. She served as the Superintendant of Nurses for the Union Army during the Civil War.

John C. CalhounFormerly Jackson's vice-president, later a South Carolina senator. He said the North should grant the South's demands and keep quiet about slavery to keep the peace. He was a spokesman for the South and states' rights.

Oregon TerritoryThe territory comprised what are now the states of Oregon and Washington, and portions of what became British Columbia, Canada. This land was claimed by both the U.S. and Britain and was held jointly under the Convention of 1818.

Stephen DouglasA moderate, who introduced the Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854 and popularized the idea of popular sovereignty.

Wilmot ProvisoWhen President Polk submitted his Appropriations Bill of 1846 requesting Congress' approval of the $2 million indemnity to be paid to Mexico under the Treaty of Guadelupe Hidalgo, Pennsylvania Representative David Wilmot attached a rider which would have barred slavery from the territory acquired. The South hated the Wilmot Proviso and a new Appropriations Bill was introduced in 1847 without the Proviso. It provoked one of the first debates on slavery at the federal level, and the principles of the Proviso became the core of the Free Soil, and later the Republican, Party.

John DeereAmerican blacksmith and manufacturer who founded Deere & Company— the largest agricultural and construction equipment manufacturers in the worldInvented the first commercially successful steel plow in 1837

Maine LawsPassed in 1851 in Maine, was one of the first statutory implementations of the developing temperance movement in the United States

Mexican American WarCauses: annexation of Texas, diplomatic ineptness of U.S./Mexican relations in the 1840's and particularly the provocation of U.S. troops on the Rio Grande. The first half of the war was fought in northern Mexico near the Texas border, with the U.S. Army led by Zachary Taylor. The second half of the war was fought in central Mexico after U.S. troops seized the port of Veracruz, with the Army being led by Winfield Scott. Results: U.S. captured Mexico City, Zachary Taylor was elected president, Santa Ana abdicated, and Mexico ceded large parts of the West, including New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, Arizona, Nevada and California, to the U.S

AbolitionistsA person who advocated or supported the abolition of slavery in the U.S

Bleeding Kansas AKA Kansas Border WarFollowing the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, pro-slavery forces from Missouri, known as the Border Ruffians, crossed the border into Kansas and terrorized and murdered antislavery settlers. Antislavery sympathizers from Kansas carried out

reprisal attacks, the most notorious of which was John Brown's 1856 attack on the settlement at Pottawatomie Creek. The war continued for four years before the antislavery forces won. The violence it generated helped precipitate the Civil War.

Horace MannAmerican education reformer, and a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 1827-1833He served in the Massachusetts Senate from 1834-1837. In 1848, after serving as Secretary of the Massachusetts State Board of Education since its creation, he was elected to the House of Representatives. Mann was a brother-in-law to author Nathaniel Hawthorne

Commonwealth v HuntEstablished that trade unions were not necessarily criminal or conspiring organizations if they did not advocate violence or illegal activities in their attempts to gain recognition through striking. This legalized the existence of trade organizations, though trade unions would continue to be harassed legally through anti-trust suits and injunctions.

TranscendentalismA philosophy pioneered by Ralph Waldo Emerson in the 1830's and 1840's, in which each person has direct communication with God and Nature, and there is no need for organized churches. It incorporated the ideas that mind goes beyond matter, intuition is valuable, that each soul is part of the Great Spirit, and each person is part of a reality where only the invisible is truly real. Promoted individualism, self-reliance, and freedom from social constraints, and emphasized emotions.

Webster-Ashburton Treaty1842 - Established Maine's northern border and the boundaries of the Great Lake states.

Lincoln-Douglas debatesA series of debatesThe two argued the important issues of the day like popular sovereignty, the Lecompton Constitution and the Dred Scott decision. Douglas won these debates, but Lincoln's position in these debates helped him beat Douglas in the 1860 presidential election.

Freeport DoctrineDuring the Lincoln-Douglas debates, Douglas said in his Freeport Doctrine that Congress couldn't force a territory to become a slave state against its will.

James K. Polk11th President of the United States and known for promoting Manifest Destiny

Apologist's View of Slavery

Force ActPassed by the Congress of the United States shortly after the American Civil War helped protect the voting rights of African-AmericansMainly aimed at limiting the activities of the Ku Klux Klan

Homestead Act1862 - Provided free land in the West to anyone willing to settle there and develop it. Encouraged westward migration.

Lucretia MottAn early feminist, she worked constantly with her husband in liberal causes, particularly slavery abolition and women's suffrage. Her home was a station on the underground railroad. With Elizabeth Cady Stanton, she helped organize the first women's rights convention, held in Seneca Falls, New York in 1848.

Independent TreasurySystem for the retaining of government funds in the United States Treasury and its sub-treasuries, independently of the national banking and financial systems. In one form or another, it existed from 1846 to 1921.

Nashville ConventionMeeting twice in 1850, its purpose was to protect the slave property in the South.

Morrill Land Grant Act 1862 - Set aside public land in each state to be used for building colleges.

Compact theoryStates should be the final judges of whether the national government had overstepped the boundaries of the "compact".

Trail of TearsA minority of the Cherokee tribe, despite the protest of the majority, had surrendered their Georgia land in the 1835 Treaty of New Echota. During the winter of 1838 - 1839, troops under General Winfield Scott evicted them from their homes in Georgia and moved them to Oklahoma Indian country. Many died on the trail; the journey became known as the "Trail of Tears".

Emancipation Proclamation

September 22, 1862 - Lincoln freed all slaves in the states that had seceded, after the Northern victory at the Battle of Antietam. Lincoln had no power to enforce the law.

Hinton Helper/Impending-CrisisHinton Helper of North Carolina spoke for poor, non-slave-owning Whites in his 1857 book, which as a violent attack on slavery. It wasn't written with sympathy for Blacks, who Helper despised, but with a belief that the economic system of the South was bringing ruin on the small farmer.

Dred Scott v SanfordA Missouri slave sued for his freedom, claiming that his four year stay in the northern portion of the Louisiana Territory made free land by the Missouri Compromise had made him a free manThe U.S, Supreme Court decided he couldn't sue in federal court because he was property, not a citizen.

Bank WarControversy over the Second Bank of the United States and the attempts to destroy it by then-president Andrew Jackson

Mexican CessionSome of Mexico's territory was added to the U.S. after the Mexican War: Arizona, New Mexico, California, Utah, Nevada & Colorado

Cyrus McCormickBuilt the reaping machine in 1831, and it make farming more efficient. Part of the industrial revolution, it allowed farmers to substantially increase the acreage that could be worked by a single family, and also made corporate farming possible

Treaty of Guadalupe-HidalgoThis treaty required Mexico to cede the American Southwest, including New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, Arizona, Nevada and California, to the U.S. U.S. gave Mexico $15 million in exchange, so that it would not look like conquest

John SlidellWent to Mexico to pay for disputed Texas and California land but the Mexican government was still angry about the annexation of Texas and refused to talk to him

Free Soldiers

Second Great AwakeningA series of religious revivals starting in 1801, based on Methodism and BaptismStressed a religious philosophy of salvation through good deeds and tolerance for all Protestant sectsThe revivals attracted women, Blacks, and Native Americans

Worcester v Georgia1832 - Expanded tribal authority by declaring tribes sovereign entities, like states, with exclusive authority within their own boundaries. President Jackson and the state of Georgia ignored the ruling

Charles River Bridge case1837 - The Charles River Bridge Decision, delivered by Roger B. Taney, modified C.J. Marshall's ruling in the Darmouth College Case of 1819, which said that a state could not make laws infringing on the charters of private organizations. Taney ruled that a charter granted by a state to a company cannot work to the disadvantage of the public. The Charles River Bridge Company protested when the Warren Bridge Company was authorized in 1828 to build a free bridge where it had been chartered to operate a toll bridge in 1785. The court ruled that the Charles River Company was not granted a monopoly right in their charter, and the Warren Company could build its bridge. Began the legal concept that private companies cannot injure the public welfare

Cult of domesticity/true womanhoodWhile many women were in favor of the women's movement, some were not. Some of these believed in preserving the values of "true womanhood": piety, domesticity, purity and submissiveness. These opponents of the women's movement referred to their ideas as the "Cult of True Womanhood."

Republican Party/3rd American Party System1860 platform: free soil principles, a protective tariff. Supporters: anti-slavers, business, agriculture. Leaders: William M. Seward, Carl Shulz

Whigs/2nd American Party SystemWhigs were conservatives and popular with pro-Bank people and plantation owners. They mainly came from the National Republican Party, which were once largely Federalists. They took their name from the British political party that had opposed King George during the American Revolution. Among the Whigs were Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, and, for a while, Calhoun. Their policies included support of industry, protective tariffs, and Clay's American System. They were generally upper class in origin

Detocqueville/Democracy in America

William Seward

1867 - An eager expansionist, he was the energetic supporter of the Alaskan purchase and negotiator of the deal often called "Seward's Folly" because Alaska was not fit for settlement or farming

Fugitive Slave LawLaws passed by the United States Congress in 1793 and 1850 to provide for the return of slaves who escaped from one state into another or into a public territory

Removal of Deposits

Harriet Beecher StoweShe wrote the abolitionist book, Uncle Tom's Cabin

Brighan Young1847 - Brigham Young let the Mormons to the Great Salt Lake Valley in Utah, where they founded the Mormon republic of DeseretBelieved in polygamy and strong social order(Others feared that the Mormons would act as a block, politically and economically)

Specie Circular1863 - The Specie Circular, issued by President Jackson July 11, 1836, was meant to stop land speculation caused by states printing paper money without proper specie (gold or silver) backing it. The Circular required that the purchase of public lands be paid for in specie. It stopped the land speculation and the sale of public lands went down sharply

Crittenden CompromiseA desperate measure to prevent the Civil War, introduced by John Crittenden, Senator from Kentucky, in December 1860The bill offered a Constitutional amendment recognizing slavery in the territories south of the 36º30' line, noninterference by Congress with existing slavery, and compensation to the owners of fugitive slaves. Republicans, on the advice of Lincoln, defeated it

Lecompton ConstitutionThe pro-slavery constitution suggested for Kansas' admission to the union. It was rejected

Perpetual UnionA feature of the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union, which established the United States of America as a national entityUnder American constitutional law, this concept means that states are not permitted to withdraw from the Union

Compromise of 1850Called for the admission of California as a free state, organizing Utah and New Mexico without restrictions on slavery, adjustment of the Texas/New Mexico border, abolition of slave trade in District of Columbia, and tougher fugitive slave lawsIts passage was hailed as a solution to the threat of national division

NullificationThe failure or refusal of a U.S. state to aid in enforcement of federal laws within its limits, esp. on Constitutional grounds

William Lloyd Garrison/LiberatorA militant abolitionist, he became editor of the Boston publication, The Liberator, in 1831. Under his leadership, The Liberator gained national fame and notoriety due to his quotable and inflammatory language, attacking everything from slave holders to moderate abolitionists, and advocating northern secession.

Spoils System/Rotation in Office"To the victor go the spoils" - the winner of the election may do whatever they want with the staff

Popular SovereigntyThe doctrine that stated that the people of a territory had the right to decide their own laws by voting

Gadsden Purchase1853 - After the Treaty of Guadelupe Hidalgowas signed, the U.S. realized that it had accidentally left portions of the southwestern stagecoach routes to California as part of Mexico. James Gadsen, the U.S. Minister to Mexico, was instructed by President Pierce to draw up a treaty that would provide for the purchase of the territory through which the stage lines ran, along which the U.S. hoped to also eventually build a southern continental railroad. This territory makes up the southern parts of Arizona and New Mexico

American Anti-slavery SocietyFormed in 1833, a major abolitionist movement in the North

Irish ImmigrationArriving in immense waves in the 1800's, they were extremely poor peasants who later became the manpower for canal and railroad construction

Trent Affair AKA Mason and Slidell AffairAn international diplomatic incident that occurred during the American Civil WarOn November 8, 1861, the USS San Jacinto, commanded by Union Captain Charles Wilkes, intercepted the British mail packet Trent and removed two Confederate diplomats, James Mason and John Slidell. The envoys were bound for the United Kingdom (then the most powerful nation in the world) and France to press the Confederacy’s case for diplomatic recognition by Europe

Know Nothing/American Party

Opposed immigration and Catholic influenceThey answered questions from outsiders about the party by saying "I know nothing"

MormonsTerm used to describe the adherents, practitioners, followers or constituents of certain denominations within the Latter Day Saint movement

Prigg v Pennsylvania 1842 - A slave had escaped from Maryland to Pennsylvania, where a federal agent captured him and returned him to his owner. Pennsylvania indicted the agent for kidnapping under the fugitive slave laws. The Supreme Court ruled it was unconstitutional for bounty hunters or anyone but the owner of an escaped slave to apprehend that slave, thus weakening the fugitive slave laws

Kansas-Nebraska Act1854 - This act repealed the Missouri Compromise and established a doctrine of congressional nonintervention in the territoriesPopular sovereignty (vote of the people) would determine whether Kansas and Nebraska would be slave or free states.

Manifest DestinyPhrase commonly used in the 1840s-1850s. It expressed the inevitableness of continued expansion of the U.S. to the Pacific.

Clayton-Bulwer Treaty1850 - Treaty between U.S. and Great Britain agreeing that neither country would try to obtain exclusive rights to a canal across the Isthmus of PanamaAbrogated by the U.S. in 1881

Gag Rule

Tariff of Abominations AKA Tariff of 1828Raised the tariff on imported manufactured goodsThe tariff protected the North but harmed the South; South said that the tariff was economically discriminatory and unconstitutional because it violated state's rights. It passed because New England favored high tariffs

Ostend ManifestoThe recommendation that the U.S. offer Spain $20 million for CubaIt was not carried through in part because the North feared Cuba would become another slave state

Antebellum PeriodTime period in America from after the birth of the United States to the start of the American Civil War

Battle of AntietamBattle sites of the Civil War. Gettysburg - 90,000 soldiers under Meade vs. 76,000 under Lee, lasted three days and the North won. Vicksburg - besieged by Grant and surrendered after six months. Antietam - turning point of the war and a much-needed victory for Lincoln. Appomattox - Lee surrendered to Grant

Uncle Tom's CabinIt helped to crystallize the rift between the North and South. It has been called the greatest American propaganda novel ever written, and helped to bring about the Civil War

Neal DowIn 1838, Dow founded the Maine Temperance Union. As mayor of Portland, Maine, Dow secured in 1851 the state's passage the Maine Law, which forbade the sale or manufacture of liquor

Sumner-Brooks Affair1856 - Charles Sumner gave a two day speech on the Senate floor. He denounced the South for crimes against Kansas and singled out Senator Andrew Brooks of South Carolina for extra abuse. Brooks beat Sumner over the head with his cane, severely crippling him. Sumner was the first Republican martyr

Underground RailroadA secret, shifting network which aided slaves escaping to the North and Canada, mainly after 1840

National Banking ActUnited States federal law that established a system of national charters for banks, encouraged development of a national currency based on bank holdings of U.S. Treasury securities, the so-called National Bank Notes, established the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) as part of the Department of the Treasury. This was to establish a national security holding body for the existence of the monetary policy of the state. The Act, together with Abraham Lincoln's issuance of "greenbacks," raised money for the federal government in the American Civil War by enticing banks to buy federal bonds and taxing state bank issued currency out of existence. The law proved defective and was replaced by the National Bank Act of 1864. The money was used to fund the Union army in the fight against the Confederacy. This authorized the OCC to examine and regulate nationally-chartered banks

Nature of the Union

1865-1900

New immigrantsThe second major wave of immigration to the U.S. between 1865-1910, 25 million new immigrants arrivedMostly from Southern and Eastern Europe, fleeing persecution and povertyLanguage barriers and cultural differences produced mistrust by Americans

Black codesLaws passed on the state and local level in the United States to limit the civil rights and civil liberties of African Americans

Populist (People's) partyA short-lived political party in the United States established in 1887The party did not remain a lasting feature most probably because it had been so closely identified with the free silver movement which was not meaningful for urban voters

Molly McGuiresMembers of a secret Irish organizationMany historians believe the "Mollies" were present in the anthracite coal fields of Pennsylvania in the United States from approximately the time of the American Civil War until a series of sensational arrests and trials in the years 1876−1878Evidence that the Molly Maguires were responsible for coalfield crimes and kidnapping in the U.S. rests largely upon allegations of one powerful industrialist, and the testimony of one Pinkerton detective. Fellow prisoners also testified against the alleged Molly Maguires, but some believe these witnesses may have been coerced or bribed

American Federation of LaborOne of the first federations of labor unions in the United States

SharecroppingA system of agriculture in which a landowner allows a tenant to use the land in return for a share of the crop produced on the land

Booker T. WashingtonThe dominant figure in the African American community in the United States from 1890 to 1915Representing the last generation of black leaders born in slavery, and speaking for those blacks who had remained in the New South in an uneasy modus vivendi with the white Southerners, Washington was able throughout the final 25 years of his life to maintain his standing as the black leader because of the sponsorship of powerful whites, substantial support within the black community, his ability to raise educational funds from both groups and his skillful accommodation to the social realities of the age of segregation

Dawes ActProvided for the division of tribally held lands into individually-owned parcels and opening "surplus" lands to settlement by non-Indians and development by railroads

Sherman Anti-Trust ActRequires the United States Federal government to investigate and pursue trusts, companies and organizations suspected of violating the Act

Settlement House Movement

William Jennings BryanThe Democratic Party nominee for President of the United States in 1896, 1900 and 1908A supporter of popular democracy, a critic of banks and railroads, a leader of the silverite movement in the 1890s, a leading figure in the Democratic Party, a peace advocate, a prohibitionist, an opponent of Darwinism, and one of the most prominent leaders of populism in the late 19th and early 20th century. Because of his faith in the goodness and rightness of the common people, he was called "The Great Commoner"

Battle of Jennings Bryan

Turner/Frontier ThesisThe argument advanced by historian Frederick Jackson Turner in 1893 that the origin of the distinctive aggressive, violent, innovative and democratic features of the American character has been the American frontier

Pragmatism (William James)The truth of an idea needed to be tested to prove its validity

Tenure of Office ActDenied the President of the United States the power to remove from office anyone who had been appointed by a past President without the advice and consent of the United States Senate, unless the Senate approved the removal during the next full session of Congress

William Randolph HearstAn American newspaper magnate and leading newspaper publisherYellow journalism — sensationalized stories of dubious veracity

Granger LawsA series of laws passed in 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

John DeweyAn American philosopher, psychologist, and educational reformer whose ideas have been influential in education and social reform

Thomas Nast

 A German-born American caricaturist and editorial cartoonist who is considered to be the "Father of the American Cartoon"

Sherman Silver Purchase ActIncreased the amount of silver the government was required to purchase every monthPassed in response to the growing complaints of farmers and mining interests, farmers had immense debts that could not be paid off due to deflation caused by overproduction, and they urged the government to pass the Sherman Silver Purchase Act in order to boost the economy and cause inflation, allowing them to pay their debts with cheaper dollarsMining companies, meanwhile, had extracted vast quantities of silver from western mines; the resulting oversupply drove down the price of their product, often to below the point where it was profitable to mine it. They hoped to enlist the government to artificially increase demand for, and thus the price of, silver

Pendleton (Civil Service) ActPlaced most federal government employees on the merit system and marked the end of the so-called spoils system The act provided for some government jobs to be filled on the basis of competitive exams

Salvation ArmyEstablished by “General” William Booth, uniformed volunteers provided food, shelter, and employment to families, attracted poor with lively preaching and marching bands in order to instill middle-class virtues

Munn v IllinoisPrivate property subject to government regulation when property is devoted to public interest; against railroads

Interstate Commerce ActA federal law designed to regulate the monopolistic railroad industryRequired that railroads publicize shipping rates and charge no more for short hauling than for long haulingRailroads were also prevented from practicing price discrimination against smaller markets

Louis SullivanKnown as the father of the skyscraper because he designed the first steel-skeleton skyscraperMentor of Frank Lloyd Wright

Long Drives

John Peter AltgeldA leading figure of the Progressive movement, Altgeld improved workplace safety and child labor laws, pardoned three of the men convicted of the Haymarket Affair, and rejected calls in 1894 to break up the Pullman strike with force

J.P. MorganAn American financier, banker and art collector who dominated corporate finance and industrial consolidation during his time

Chief JosephThe chief of the Wal-lam-wat-kain (Wallowa) band of Nez Perce during General Oliver O. Howard's attempt to forcibly remove his band and the other "non-treaty" Nez Perce to a reservation in IdahoFor his principled resistance to the removal, he became renowned as a humanitarian and peacemaker

Henry George (Progress and Poverty)An American writer, politician and political economist, who was the most influential proponent of the land value tax, also known as the "single tax" on landHis most famous work is Progress and Poverty written during 1879; it is a treatise on inequality, the cyclic nature of industrial economies and possible remedies

Old ImmigrantsSomeone who came to the United States from Northern or Western Europe (i.e. Britain, France, Germany or Scandinavia) during the first wave of immigration following American independence

13th, 14th, 15th amendments13 th : abolished and continues to prohibit slavery and involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime14 th : provides a broad definition of citizenship; recognize substantive due process rights, such as parental and marriage rights, and procedural due process rights; requires states to provide equal protection under the law to all people within their jurisdictions15 th : prohibits each government in the United States from denying a citizen the right to vote based on that citizen's "race, color, or previous condition of servitude"

Bread and Butter Unionism

Higher wages, shorter hours, better conditionsSpanish-American War

1898 – McKinley reluctant; armed intervention to free Cuba from Spain; Roosevelt’s “Rough Riders” made attack on Spanish at Cuba

National Labor UnionFounded by William Sylvis in 1866Supported 8-hour workday, convict labor, federal department of labor, banking reform, immigration restrictions to increase wages, womenExcluded blacks

Helen Hunt JacksonAn American writer who became an activist to improve United States government treatment of Native Americans1882 – She published A Century of Dishonor, about the adverse effects of government actions, and sent a copy to each member of the US CongressGained the widest public with her novel Ramona, dramatizing the ill treatment by the United States (US) government of Native Americans in Southern California

Social GospelA Protestant Christian intellectual movement that was most prominent in the late 19th century and early 20th centuryThe movement applied Christian ethics to social problems

Jingoism"Extreme patriotism in the form of aggressive foreign policy"Refers to the avocation of the use of threats or actual force against other countries in order to safeguard what they perceive as their country's national interests, and colloquially to excessive bias in judging one's own country as superior to others – an extreme type of nationalism

Alfred Thayer MahanA United States Navy flag officer, geostrategic, and educator, who has been called "The most important American strategist of the nineteenth century”

Horizontal IntegrationConsolidating with competitors to monopolize a market (highly detrimental)

Freedmen's BureauMain focus was to provide food and medical care, to help the freedmen to resettle, to ensure justice for the freedmen, to manage abandoned or confiscated property, to regulate labor, and to establish schools

Sioux WarsA series of conflicts between the United States and various subgroups of the Sioux people that occurred in the latter half of the 19th century

Gilded AgeThe era of rapid economic and population growth in the United States during the post-Civil War and post-Reconstruction eras of the late 19th centuryCoined by Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner in their 1873 book, The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today

Haymarket IncidentBomb thrown at protest rally, police shot protestors, caused great animosity in employers for workers’ unions

ScalawagsA nickname for southern whites who supported Reconstruction following the Civil War

Compromise of 1877An informal, unwritten deal that settled the disputed 1876 U.S. Presidential election and ended Congressional ReconstructionRepublican Rutherford B. Hayes was awarded the White House over Democrat Samuel J. Tilden on the understanding that Hayes would remove the federal troops that were propping up Republican state governments in South Carolina, Florida and Louisiana

Atlanta CompromiseSpeech made by Booker T. Washington to ease whites’ fears of integration, assuring them that separate but equal was acceptable, ideas challenged by DuBois

"Waving the Bloody Shirt"Refers to the demagogic practice of politicians referencing the blood of martyrs or heroes to inspire support or avoid criticism

Seward's Folly AKA Alaska PurchaseThe purchase of Alaska by the United States from the Russian Empire in 1867

Edward Bellamy (Looking Backward)State-run economy to provide conflict-free society

Boss TweedAn American politician most famous for his leadership of Tammany Hall, the Democratic Party political machine that played a major role in the politics of 19th century New York

At the height of his influence, Tweed was the third-largest landowner in New York City, a director of the Erie Railway, the Tenth National Bank, and the New-York Printing Company, as well as proprietor of the Metropolitan HotelConvicted for stealing between $40 million and $200 million from New York City taxpayers through political corruptionDied in the Ludlow Street Jail

Chautaugua MovementAn adult education movement in the United States, highly popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuriesBrought entertainment and culture for the whole community, with speakers, teachers, musicians, entertainers, preachers and specialists of the day

"Forty Acres and a Mule"A practice in 1865 of providing arable land to Black former slaves who became free as Union armies occupied areas of the Confederacy

Coxey's ArmyCoxey and unemployed followers marched on Washington for support in unemployment relief by inflationary public works program

Chinese Exclusion ActA United States federal law signed into law by Chester A. Arthur on May 8, 1882, following revisions made in 1880 to the Burlingame Treaty of 1868Allowed the U.S. to suspend immigration, and Congress subsequently acted quickly to implement the suspension of Chinese immigration, a ban that was intended to last 10 years

Andrew CarnegieAchieved an abnormal rise in class system (steel industry), pioneered vertical integration, opposed monopolies

Crédit Mobilier Scandal1872 – Involved the Union Pacific Railroad and the Crédit Mobilier of America construction companyThe distribution of Crédit Mobilier stocks by Congressman Oakes Ames along with cash bribes to congressmen took place during the Andrew Johnson presidency in 1868The revelation of the congressmen who received cash bribes or stocks in Crédit Mobilier took place during the Ulysses S. Grant administration in 1872

Teller AmendmentAn amendment to a joint resolution of the United States Congress, enacted on April 19, 1898, in reply to President William McKinley's War MessagePlaced a condition of the United States military in CubaAccording to the clause, the U.S. could not annex Cuba but only leave "control of the island to its people"

Wounded Knee MassacreThe last armed conflict between the Great Sioux Nation and the United States of America and of the Indian Wars

Radical Reconstruction

Plessy v FergusonSupreme Court legalized the “separate but equal” philosophy

Joseph PulitzerA Hungarian-American publisher best known for posthumously establishing the Pulitzer Prizes and for originating yellow journalism along with William Randolph Hearst

Knights of LaborFounded by Uriah Stephens in 1869Excluded corrupt and well-offEqual female pay, end to child/convict labor, employer-employee relations, proportional income tax

Crop Lien SystemA credit system that became widely used by farmers in the United States in the South from the 1860s to the 1920s

A Century of Dishonor – 1881 By Helen Hunt JacksonChronicles the experiences of Native Americans in the United States, focusing on examples of injustices

Gospel of WealthAn essay written by Andrew Carnegie in 1889 that described the responsibility of philanthropy by the new upper class of self-made richThe central thesis of Carnegie's essay was the peril of allowing large sums of money to be passed into the hands of persons or organizations ill-equipped mentally or emotionally to cope with themAs a result, the wealthy entrepreneur must assume the responsibility of distributing his fortune in a way that it will be put to good use, and not wasted on frivolous expenditure

Yellow JournalismA type of journalism that presents little or no legitimate well-researched news and instead uses eye-catching headlines and sensationalized stories to sell more newspapers

Social DarwinismApplied Darwin's theory of natural selection and "survival of the fittest" to human society -- the poor are poor because they are not as fit to survive. Used as an argument against social reforms to help the poor.

Vertical IntegrationControlling every aspect of production; control quality, eliminate middlemen (Rockefeller)

Cult of DomesticityVictorian standards confined women to the home to create an artistic environment as a statement of cultural aspirations

Boxer RebellionTook place in China between 1898 and 1901Took place in response to imperialist expansion, growth of cosmopolitan influences and missionary evangelism

Samuel GompersAn American labor union leader and a key figure in American labor historyFounded the American Federation of Labor (AF of L), and served as that organization's president from 1886 to 1894 and from 1895 until his death in 1924

Civil Rights Act of 1866A federal law in the United States that made everyone born in the U.S. full citizens

Farmers’ AlliancesAn organized agrarian economic movement amongst U.S. farmers that flourished in the 1880sOne of its goals was to end the adverse effects of the crop-lien system on farmers after the Civil War

Jim Crow LawsState and local laws in the United States enacted between 1876 and 1965They mandated racial segregation in all public facilities, with a supposedly "separate but equal" status for Blacks but in reality, this led to treatment and accommodations that were usually inferior to those provided for Whites, systematizing a number of economic, educational and social disadvantages

Redemption (Redeemers)A political coalition in the Southern United States during the Reconstruction era, who sought to oust the Republican coalition of freedmen, carpetbaggers and scalawagsThe southern wing of the Bourbon Democrats, who were the conservative, pro-business wing of the Democratic Party

Bland-Allison ActAn 1878 act of Congress requiring the U.S. Treasury to buy a certain amount of silver and put it into circulation as silver dollarsVetoed by President Rutherford B. Hayes, the Congress overrode Hayes' veto on February 28, 1878 to enact the law

Edwin StantonAn American lawyer and politician who served as Secretary of War under the Lincoln Administration during the American Civil War from 1862-1865Stanton's effective management helped organize the massive military resources of the North and guide the Union to victory

The Grange AKA The National Grange of the Order of Patrons of HusbandryFounded in 1867 after the Civil War, it is the oldest surviving agricultural organization in AmericaA fraternal organization for American farmers that encourages farm families to band together for their common economic and political well-being

Young Men's Christian Association AKA YMCAProvided housing and recreation to city youth, imposing Protestant morals, unable to reach out to all youth

Open Range

Pullman StrikeNationwide conflict between labor unions and railroads that occurred in the United States in 1894

Frederick OlmsteadAn American journalist, landscape designer and father of American landscape architectureFamous for designing many well-known urban parks, including Central Park and Prospect Park in New York City

InjunctionAn equitable remedy in the form of a court order, whereby a party is required to do, or to refrain from doing, certain actsThe party that fails to adhere to the injunction faces civil or criminal penalties and may have to pay damages or accept sanctions for failing to follow the court's order

"Crime of '73" AKA Coinage Act of 1873Enacted by the United States Congress in 1873 and embraced the gold standard and de-monetized silver

Horatio Alger

A prolific 19th-century American author, most famous for his novels following the adventures of bootblacks, newsboys, peddlers, buskers, and other impoverished children in their rise from humble backgrounds to lives of respectable middle-class security and comfort

Platt AmendmentU.S. would ensure that Cuba would be protected from European powers and maintain a place in Cuban affairs; provided coal and naval stations

John D. RockefellerStandard Oil Company, ruthless business tactics (survival of the fittest)

 

1900-1918 Treaty of Versailles

One of the peace treaties at the end of World War I; it ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied PowersRequired Germany to accept sole responsibility for causing the warDisarmMake substantial territorial concessionsPay reparations

Prove to be a factor leading to later conflicts, notably and directly the World War IILeague of Nations

An inter-governmental organization founded as a result of the Treaty of Versailles in 1919–1920, and the precursor to the United Nations

Committee on Public Information AKA CPI AKA Creel CommitteeAn independent agency of the government of the United States created to influence U.S. public opinion regarding American participation in World War I

MuckrakersUncovered the “dirt” on corruption and harsh quality of city/working lifeHeavily criticized by Theodore Roosevelt

Russo-Japanese WarA conflict that grew out of the rival imperial ambitions of the Russian Empire and Japanese Empire over Manchuria and Korea

Henry Cabot LodgeAn American statesman, a Republican politician, and a noted historianConsidered to be the first Senate majority leader

Open Door PolicySought to eliminate spheres of influence and avoid European monopolies in China; unaccepted by the powers in mind

Fourteen PointsA speech delivered by President Woodrow Wilson to a joint session of Congress on January 8, 1918The address was intended to assure the country that the Great War was being fought for a moral cause and for postwar peace in Europe

Panama CanalNeeded to protect new Pacific acquisitions, U.S. took over the project from the French after overcoming Clayton-Bulwer Treaty (prohibited control of canal) with the Hay-Pauncefote Treaty

Federal Trade CommissionAn independent agency of the United States government, established in 1914 by the Federal Trade Commission ActIts principal mission is the promotion of "consumer protection" and the elimination and prevention of what regulators perceive to be harmfully "anti-competitive" business practices, such as coercive monopoly

Creel CommitteeCommittee on Public InformationAimed to sell America and the world on Wilson’s war goalsPropaganda, censorship, “four minute men” speeches, “Liberty Leagues” (spy on community)

International Workers of the WorldSupported Socialists, militant unionists and socialists, advocated strikes and sabotaging politics, aimed for an umbrella union similar to Knights of Labor, ideas too radical for socialist cause

Federal Reserve System

The central banking system of the United StatesThe Federal Reserve is the only entity with the US government's permission to introduce US paper currency into circulation

Irreconcilables

Dollar DiplomacyThe term used to describe the "good chiss effort" of the United States — particularly under President William Howard Taft — to further its aims in Latin America and East Asia through use of its economic power by guaranteeing loans made to foreign countries

W.E.B. DuBois (Niagara movement)Opposed Booker T. Washington’s accommodation policies, called for immediate equality, formed Niagara Movement to support his ideas

Hay-Bunau-Varilla TreatyNegotiated the terms of sale for the building of a Panama Canal and for a Panama Canal Zone surrounding the canal

Woodrow WilsonDemocratic candidate 1912, stood for antitrust, monetary change, and tariff reductionFar less active than Roosevelt, Clayton Anti-trust Act (to enforce Sherman), Child Labor Act

Progressive MovementA political attitude favoring or advocating changes or reform

Wobblies AKA Industrial Workers of the World AKA IWWAn international unionContends that all workers should be united as a class and that the wage system should be abolished

Article X

Reservationalists

Spheres of InfluenceAn area or region over which a state or organization has significant cultural, economic, military or political influence

Ballinger-Pinchot Affair AKA Ballinger AffairA dispute between U.S. Forest Service Chief Gifford Pinchot and U.S. Secretary of the Interior Richard Achilles Ballinger that 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

16th, 17th amendments16 th : Allows the Congress to levy an income tax without apportioning it among the states or basing it on Census results17 th : Established direct election of United States Senators by popular vote

Upton Sinclair (The Jungle)Revealed unsanitary nature of meat-packing industry, inspired Meat Inspection Act and Pure Food and Drug Act (1906)

Volstead ActReinforced the prohibition of alcohol in the United States

Mann-Elkins ActExtended the authority of the Interstate Commerce Commission to include communications

Sussex/Arabic PledgesPromise made in 1916 during World War I by Germany to the United States prior to the latter's entry into the warArabic:

Germany would warn non-military ships 30 minutes before they sank them to make sure the passengers and crew got out safelyGermany broke this pledge on March 24, 1916, when a U-boat torpedoed the French ship Sussex

Sussex: Passenger ship would not be targetedMerchant ships would not be sunk until the presence of weapons had been established, if necessary by search of the shipMerchant ships would not be sunk without provision for the safety of passengers and crew

Charles and Mary Beard

Anthracite Coal StrikeThreatened to shut down the winter fuel supply to all major citiesRoosevelt became involved and set up a fact-finding commission that suspended the strikeStrike never resumed, as the miners received more pay for fewer hours; the owners got a higher price for coal, and did not recognize the trade union as a bargaining agentThe first labor episode in which the federal government intervened as a neutral arbitrator

Zimmerman NoteIntercepted by BritainGermany proposed alliance with Mexico, using bribe of return of Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona; Japan included in alliance

Eugene V. DebsLed railroad workers in Pullman Strike, arrested; Supreme Court legalized use of injunction (court order) against unions and strikes

Samuel “Golden Rule” JonesDifferent than the other businessmen of the time, he paid decent wages that people could support their families on and in return he just asked his workers to work hard, be honest, and follow the golden ruleAs mayor of Toledo, strove to improve conditions for the working class of his community, opened free kindergartens, built parks, instituted an eight-hour day for city workers, and reformed the city governmentNot well liked by other businessmen, the average citizen supported him

Underwood-Simmons TariffRe-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

Bull Moose PartyParty formed from Republican split by Roosevelt, more progressive values, leaving “Republican Old Guard” to control Republican party

Theodore RooseveltFirst “modern” president, moderate who supported progressivism (at times conservative), bypassed congressional opposition, significant role in world affairs

Gentlemen’s Agreement1908 – In response to Japanese discrimination in San Francisco schools; Japanese to stop laborers into U.S.; Californians forbidden to ban Japanese from public schools

Birth of a Nation/DW GriffithDW Griffith is best known as the director of the controversial and groundbreaking 1915 film The Birth of a Nation and the subsequent film IntoleranceThe Birth of a Nation made pioneering use of advanced camera and narrative techniques, and its immense popularity set the stage for the dominance of the feature-length film

Good and Bad Trust

Emilio AguinaldoA Filipino general, politician, and independence leaderPlayed an instrumental role during the Philippines' revolution against Spain, and the subsequent Philippine-American War that resisted American occupationBecame the Philippines' first President

Black Jack John PershingA general officer in the United States ArmyOnly person to be promoted in his own lifetime to the highest rank ever held in the United States Army—General of the ArmiesLed the American Expeditionary Forces in World War I and was regarded as a mentor by the generation of American generals who led the United States Army in Europe during World War II, including George C. Marshall, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Omar N. Bradley, and George S. Patton

Jacob RiisA Danish American social reformer, muckraking journalist and social documentary photographerKnown for his dedication to using his photographic and journalistic talents to help the impoverished in New York City, which was the subject of most of his prolific writings and photographyHelped with the implementation of "model tenements" in New York with the help of humanitarian Lawrence VeillerAs one of the most prominent exponents of the newly practicable flash, he is considered a pioneer in photography

LusitaniaBritish passenger liner secretly carrying ammunition sunk by German u-boat, including American passengersThe sinking of this ship and also the Zimmerman note let to the U.S. entering World War I

Muller v. OregonA landmark decision in United States Supreme Court history, as it justifies both sex discrimination and usage of labor laws during the time periodUpheld Oregon state restrictions on the working hours of women as justified by the special state interest in protecting women's health

Triple Wall of Privilege

Insurgent’s Revolt

Robert La FolletteCreated the Wisconsin IdeaRegulated railroad, direct-primary system, increased corporate taxes, reference library for lawmakers

Big Stick PolicyA form of hegemony and was the slogan describing U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt’s corollary to the Monroe Doctrine"Speak softly and carry a big stick"

Roosevelt CorollaryU.S. felt it was its duty to “watch out” for the interests of other countries in the Western hemisphere; provided justification for invasions of Latin America

Keating-Owen Child Labor ActSought to address the perceived evils of child labor by prohibiting the sale in interstate commerce of goods manufactured by children, thus giving an expanded importance to the constitutional clause giving Congress the task of regulating interstate commerce

Food AdministrationRelied on voluntary compliance (no formal laws), propaganda; high prices set on commodities to encourage production, Prohibition

Insular CasesSeveral U.S. Supreme Court cases decided early in the 20th centuryWere in essence the court's response to a major issue of the United States presidential election, 1900 and the American Anti-Imperialist League, summarized by the phrase "Does the Constitution follow the flag?" 

New NationalismTheodore Roosevelt's Progressive political philosophy during the 1912 electionCentral issue he argued was human welfare versus property rightsInsisted that only a powerful federal government could regulate the economy and guarantee social justiceThe concentration in industry was not necessarily bad, if the industry behaved responsibly

Pure Food and Drug ActProvided federal inspection of meat products and forbade the manufacture, sale, or transportation of adulterated food products and poisonous patent medicinesArose due to public education and exposés from Muckrakers such as Upton Sinclair and Samuel Hopkins Adams, social activist Florence Kelley, researcher Harvey W. Wiley, and President Theodore Roosevelt

Northern Securities CaseNorthern Securities Company (JP Morgan and James G. Hill- railroads) seen by Roosevelt as “bad” trust, Supreme Court upheld his first trust-bust

Lochner v. New YorkHeld a "liberty of contract" was implicit in the due process clause of the Fourteenth AmendmentInvolved a New York law that limited the number of hours that a baker could work each day to ten, and limited the number of hours that a baker could work each week to 60

Clayton Anti-trust ActEnacted to add further substance to the U.S. antitrust law regime by seeking to prevent anticompetitive practices in their incipiency

New FreedomThe policy of U.S. President Woodrow Wilson which promoted antitrust modification, tariff revision, and reform in banking and currency matters

Great White FleetThe popular nickname for the United States Navy battle fleet that completed a circumnavigation of the globe from 16 December 1907 to 22 February 1909 by order of U.S. President Theodore RooseveltConsisted of 16 battleships divided into four squadrons, along with various escortsSought to demonstrate growing American military power and blue-water navy capability

1918-1941

Harlem RenaissanceAuthors – Langston Hughes, McKay, Zora Neale Hurston, Countee CulletPraise expression of black culture of the time

National Origins Act1924 – Reduced quota, reduced numbers from Eastern and Southern Europe, Asians banned, Canadians and Latin Americans exempt

Cultural Isolation

18th, 19th, 20th, 21st Amendments18 th : Established Prohibition in the United States; only amendment to the Constitution that has been repealed

19 th : Prohibits each state and the federal government from denying any citizen the right to vote because of that citizen's sex20 th : Establishes the beginning and ending of the terms of the elected federal offices21 st : Repealed the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which mandated nationwide Prohibition

Andrew MellonSecretary of the treasuryIntroduced the “trickle-down” economics theory in order to promote business and increase money available for speculation

Neutrality ActsLaws that were passed by the United States Congress in the 1930s, in response to the growing turmoil in Europe and Asia that eventually led to World War IIWere spurred by the growth in isolationism and non-interventionism in the US following its costly involvement in World War I, and sought to ensure that the US would not become entangled again in foreign conflicts

Albert FallA United States Senator from New Mexico and the Secretary of the Interior under President Warren G. Harding, infamous for his involvement in the Teapot Dome scandal

John L. LewisAn American leader of organized labor who served as president of the United Mine Workers of America from 1920 to 1960

HoovervillesThe popular name for shanty towns built by homeless people during the Great DepressionNamed after President Herbert Hoover because he allegedly let the nation slide into depression

Back to Africa Movement AKA Colonization MovementOriginated in the United States in the nineteenth century, and encouraged those of African descent to return to the African homelands of their ancestors

Spirit of St. LouisThe custom-built single engine, single seat monoplane that was flown solo by Charles Lindbergh on May 20–21, 1927, on the first non-stop flight from New York to Paris for which Lindbergh won the $25,000 Orteig Prize

Palmer RaidsCongressional support to raid houses of radicals believed to have connections to communism

“Lost Generation”New generation of writers outside of Protestantism, resentment of ideals betrayed by societyFitzgerald (despised materialism, The Great Gatsby), Lewis (against upper class- Babbit and Mainstreet), Faulkner (stream of consciousness), T.S. Eliot

Keynesian Economics AKA Keynesianism AKA Keynesian TheoryA macroeconomic theory based on the ideas of 20th century British economist John Maynard KeynesArgues that private sector decisions sometimes lead to inefficient macroeconomic outcomes and therefore, advocates active policy responses by the public sector, including monetary policy actions by the central bank and fiscal policy actions by the government to stabilize output over the business cycle

Warren G. HardingThe 29th President of the United States, serving from 1921 until his death from a heart attack in 1923His conservative stance on issues such as taxes, affable manner, and campaign manager Harry Daugherty's 'make no enemies' strategy enabled Harding to become the compromise choice at the 1920 Republican National Convention

F. Scott FitzgeraldAn American author of novels and short stories, whose works are the paradigm writings of the Jazz AgeA member of the "Lost Generation" of the 1920s and is widely regarded as one of the 20th century's greatest writersHis most celebrated classic is The Great Gatsby

National Labor Relations BoardAn independent agency of the United States government charged with conducting elections for labor union representation and with investigating and remedying unfair labor practices

National Industrial Recovery ActAn American statute which authorized 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

Huey Long AKA The KingfishNoted for his radical populist policiesCreated the Share Our Wealth program in 1934Advocated federal spending on works, public, old age pensions and other social programs

Georgia O’KeeffeA major figure in American art from the 1920sReceived widespread recognition for her technical contributions, as well as for challenging the boundaries of modern American artistic style

John Steinbeck Grapes of WrathAn American writerThe Grapes of Wrath was written in 1939 and won the Pulitzer Prize in 1940. The book is set in the Great Depression and describes a family of sharecroppers, the Joads, who were driven from their land due to the dust storms of the Dust Bowl

1962 – Received the Nobel Prize for LiteratureLend-Lease Act

The name of the program under which the United States of America supplied the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, China, France and other Allied nations with vast amounts of war material between 1941 and 1945 in return for, in the case of Britain, military bases in Newfoundland, Bermuda, and the British West Indies

Court Packing SchemeA legislative initiative to add more justices to the Supreme Court proposed by U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt shortly after his victory in the 1936 presidential election

Indian Reorganization ActA U.S. federal legislation which secured certain rights to Native Americans, including Alaska Natives

Works Progress Administration (WPA)The largest New Deal agency, employing millions to carry out public works projects, including the construction of public buildings and roads, and operated large arts, drama, media, and literacy projects

Langston HughesAn American poet, novelist, playwright, short writer, and columnistOne of the earliest innovators of the new literary art form jazz poetryBest-known for his work during the Harlem RenaissanceWrote about the Harlem Renaissance saying that "Harlem was in vogue"

Quota System

NAACP AKA National Association for the Advancement of Colored PeopleFormed by white progressives, adopted goals of Niagara Movement, in response to Springfield Race Riots

Bonus MarchAn assemblage of some 43,000 marchers—17,000 World War I veterans, their families, and affiliated groups, who protested in Washington, D.C., in spring and summer of 1932Demand for immediate cash-payment redemption of their service certificates

Schenck v. U.S.Upheld constitutionality of Espionage Act; Congress right to limit free speech during times of war

Phony WarA phase in early World War II that was marked by a lack of major military operations in Continental EuropeVarious European powers had declared war on one another but neither side had committed to launching a significant attack, and there was relatively little fighting on the ground

Sacco and VanzettiPrejudiced jury sentenced them to death, caused riots around the world, new trial denied

TVA (Tennessee Valley Authority)A federally owned corporation in the United States created by congressional charter in May 1933 to provide navigation, flood control, electricity generation, fertilizer manufacturing, and economic development in the Tennessee Valley, a region particularly affected by the Great Depression

Henry FordThe American founder of the Ford Motor Company and father of modern assembly lines used in mass production

Universal Negro Improvement AssociationAn international self-help organization founded by Marcus Garvey

America First CommitteeThe foremost non-interventionist pressure group against the American entry into World War II

Kellogg-Briand PactA multinational treaty that prohibited the use of war as "an instrument of national policy" except in matters of self-defense

Hundred Days"The First Hundred Days", the start of U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt's 1933 administration, resulting in the New Deal

New DealA series of economic programs passed by Congress during the first term of Franklin Delano Roosevelt from 1933 to his reelection in 1937The programs were responses to the Great Depression, and focused on what historians call the 3 Rs: relief, recovery and reform

Calvin CoolidgeThe 30th President of the United StatesRestored public confidence in the White House after the scandals of his predecessor's administration, and left office with considerable popularity

Social Security Act

Drafted during Roosevelt's first term by the President's Committee on Economic Security, under Frances Perkins, and passed by Congress as part of the New Deal

Fair Labor Standards ActA United States federal lawApplies to employees engaged in interstate commerce or employed by an enterprise engaged in commerce or in the production of goods for commerce, unless the employer can claim an exemption from coverageFLSA established a national minimum wage, guaranteed 'time-and-a-half' for overtime in certain jobs, and prohibited most employment of minors in "oppressive child labor," a term defined in the statute

Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)A United States government corporation created by the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933Provides deposit insurance, which guarantees the safety of deposits in member banks, currently up to $250,000 per depositor per bank

“Share Our Wealth”A movement begun during the Great Depression by Huey Long, a governor and later United States Senator from Louisiana

Thomas Hart BentonAn American artist, best known for his political posters

H.L. MenkenAn American journalist, essayist, magazine editor, satirist, acerbic critic of American life and culture, and a student of American EnglishKnown as the "Sage of Baltimore"Regarded as one of the most influential American writers and prose stylists of the first half of the 20th century

Normalcy“A return to normalcy” was United States presidential candidate Warren Harding’s campaign promise in the election of 1920

Cash and CarryAllowed the sale of material to belligerents, as long as the recipients arranged for the transport using their own ships and paid immediately in cashPurpose was to hold neutrality between the United States and European countries, while still giving material aid to Britain (without the need to extend the same such aid to Germany on account of the fact that the Germans had no funds and that British control of the Atlantic sea lanes also prevented them collecting any material)

Congress of Industrial OrganizationFormed to encourage the AFL to organize workers in mass production industries along industrial union lines

Securities and Exchange CommissionAn independent agency which holds primary responsibility for enforcing the federal securities laws and regulating the securities industry, the nation's stock and options exchanges, and other electronic securities markets in the United States

Washington Naval Conference AKA Washington Arms ConferenceA military conference called by the administration of President Warren G. Harding in Washington, D.C. from 12 November 1921 to 6 February 1922Conducted outside the auspices of the League of Nations, it was attended by nine nations having interests in the Pacific Ocean and East AsiaSoviet Russia was not invited to the conferenceFirst international conference held in the United States and the first disarmament conference in history, and is studied by political scientists as a model for a successful disarmament movement

Ku Klux KlanSpread quicklyOpposed everything that was not White Anglo-Saxon Protestant (WASP) and conservative, Stephenson’s faults and jail sentence led to demise

Scottsboro BoysNine black defendants in a 1931 Scottsboro, Alabama rape case, which was heard by the United States Supreme Court twice in Powell v. Alabama and Norris v. AlabamaThese decisions established the principles that criminal defendants are entitled to effective assistance of counsel and that people may not be de facto excluded from juries because of their race

Scopes TrialDarwinian against Fundamentalist; John Scopes convicted for teaching Darwinism; Scopes found guilty

Schechter v. U.S. (Sick Chicken)Unconstitutionalized the NRA due to delegation of legislative authority from Congress to executive

Margaret SangerAn American birth control activist, advocate of eugenics, and the founder of the American Birth Control League

Herbert HooverThe 31st President of the United StatesTried to combat the ensuing Great Depression with volunteer efforts, none of which produced economic recovery during his term

Dole

Marcus GarveyUnited Negro Improvement Association (UNIA)“Back to Africa” movement for racial pride and separatism; inspired self-confidence in blacks

Charles LindbergConsidered a hero for his solo crossing of the Atlantic by plane

Elijah Mohammad (Black Muslims)An African American Muslim activist, religious leader and leader of the Nation of Islam organization from 1934 until his deathA mentor to Malcolm X, Louis Farrakhan, and boxer Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr., whom he renamed Muhammad Ali

Stimson DoctrineA policy of the United States federal government, enunciated in a note of January 10, 1933, to Japan and China, of non-recognition of international territorial changes that were executed by force

Brain TrustA term for a group of close advisors to a political candidate or incumbent, prized for their expertise in particular fields

Franklin D. RooseveltThe 32nd President of the United States A central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war

Sinclair LewisAn American novelist, short-story writer, and playwrightThe first American to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature

Wagner ActA 1935 United States federal law that limits the means with which employers may react to workers in the private sector that create labor unions, engage in collective bargaining, and take part in strikes and other forms of concerted activity in support of their demands

Sit-Down StrikeA form of civil disobedience in which an organized group of workers, usually employed at a factory or other centralized location, take possession of the workplace by "sitting down" at their stations, effectively preventing their employers from replacing them with strikebreakers or, in some cases, moving production to other locations

Frank Lloyd WrightAn American architect, interior, writer and educatorDesigned more than 1,000 projects and more than 500 completed works

Teapot Dome/Elk Hills ScandalsTeapot Dome Scandal –Albert Fall accused of accepting bribes for access to government oil in Teapot Dome, Wyoming; Elk Hills Scandal-

Edward HopperA prominent American realist painter and printmakerHis urban and rural scenes, his spare and finely calculated renderings reflected his personal vision of modern American life

Ernest HemmingwayAn American writer and journalistHis first novel, The Sun Also Rises, was written in 1924His distinctive writing style—known as the iceberg theory—characterized by economy and understatement, had an enormous influence on 20th-century fiction, as did his apparent life of adventure and the public image he cultivated

Destroyer Deal

Bank Holiday

National Recovery AdministrationA New Deal agency in the United StatesCreated under the National Industrial Recovery Act in 1933, it was one of the first major pieces of the New Deal program of President Franklin D. Roosevelt

1941-1960

Japanese InternmentThe forced relocation and internment by the United States government in 1942 of approximately 110,000 Japanese Americans and Japanese residing along the Pacific coast of the United States to camps called "War Relocation Camps," in the wake of Imperial Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor

Greensboro Sit-ins

An instrumental action in the African-American Civil Rights Movement, leading to increased national sentiment at a crucial period in American history

Julius and Ethel Rosenberg

U-2 IncidentAn American U-2 spy plane was shot down over the Soviet UnionThe U.S. 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 remains (largely intact) and surviving pilot, Francis Gary Powers. Coming just over two weeks before the scheduled opening of an East–West summit in ParisA great embarrassment to the United StatesPrompted a marked deterioration in its relations with the Soviet Union

Marshall PlanThe primary program, 1947–51, of the United States for rebuilding and creating a stronger economic foundation for the countries of Western Europe

Casablanca ConferenceHeld at the Anfa Hotel in Casablanca, Morocco, then a French protectorate, from January 14 to 24, 1943To plan the European strategy of the Allies during World War II

Dumbarton Oaks ConferenceAn international conference at which the United Nations was formulated and negotiated

Alger HissAn American lawyer, civil servant, businessman, author and lecturerInvolved in the establishment of the United Nations both as a U.S. State Department and UN officialAccused of being a Soviet spy in 1948 and convicted of perjury in connection with this charge in 1950

“Long Hot Summers”

Henry WallaceThe 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, Wallace was the nominee of the Progressive Party

Baby BoomersA term that portrays the cohorts born during the middle part of the 20th Century

Jack Kerouac On the RoadAn American novelist and poetConsidered a pioneer of the Beat Generation, and a literary iconoclastOn the Road is often considered a defining work of the postwar Beat Generation that was inspired by jazz, poetry, and drug experiences

Little Rock School CrisisA group of African-American students who were enrolled in Little Rock Central High School in 1957The students were initially prevented from entering the racially segregated school by Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus, and then attended after the intervention of President EisenhowerConsidered to be one of the most important events in the African-American Civil Rights Movement

GI Bill of RightsAn omnibus bill that provided college or vocational education for returning World War II veterans (commonly referred to as G.I.s) as well as one year of unemployment compensation

Jackie RobinsonThe first African American Major League Baseball (MLB) player of the modern era

Korematsu v. U.S.A landmark United States Supreme Court case concerning the constitutionality of Executive Order 9066, which ordered Japanese Americans into internment camps during World War II

Montgomery Bus BoycottA political and social protest campaign started in 1955 in Montgomery, AlabamaIntended to oppose the city's policy of racial segregation on its public transit system

McCarthyismThe political action of making accusations of disloyalty, subversion, or treason without proper regard for evidence

Harry TrumanThe 33rd President of the United States

Truman DoctrineThe common name for the Cold War strategy of containment versus the Soviet Union and the expansion of communism

Teheran ConferenceThe first World War II conference amongst the Big Three (the Soviet Union, the United States, and the United Kingdom) in which Stalin was present

The central aim of the conference was to plan the final strategy for the war against Nazi Germany and its allies, and the chief discussion was centered on the opening of a second front in Western Europe

San Francisco Conference AKA United Nations Conference on International OrganizationA convention of delegates from 50 Allied nations that took place from 25 April 1945 to 26 June 1945 in San Francisco, United StatesResulted in the creation of the United Nations Charter

NSC 68a 58-page formerly-classified report issued by the United States National Security Council on April 14, 1950, during the presidency of Harry S. TrumanWritten during the formative stage of the Cold War, it has become one of the most significant historical documents of the Cold WarThe strategy outlined in NSC-68 achieved ultimate victory, according to this view, with the collapse of the Soviet power and the emergence of a "new world order" centered on American liberal-capitalist values

Youngstown Sheet and Tube v. Sawyer AKA The Steel Seizure CaseA United States Supreme Court decision that limited the power of the President of the United States to seize private property in the absence of either specifically enumerated authority under Article Two of the United States Constitution or statutory authority conferred on him by CongressA "stinging rebuff" to President Harry Truman

Douglas MacArthurAn American general and field marshal of the Philippine ArmyReceived the Medal of Honor for his service in the Philippines Campaign

SputnikA series of robotic spacecraft missions launched by the Soviet Union

Beat GenerationA term used to describe a group of American writers who came to prominence in the 1950s, and the cultural phenomena that they wrote about and inspired

Eisenhower DoctrineA country could request American economic assistance and/or aid from U.S. military forces if it was being threatened by armed aggression from another state

Servicemen’s Readjustment Act AKA G.I. BillAn omnibus bill that provided college or vocational education for returning World War II veterans (commonly referred to as G.I.s) as well as one year of unemployment compensationProvided many different types of loans for returning veterans to buy homes and start businessesThe term has come to include other veteran benefit programs created to assist veterans of subsequent wars as well as peacetime service

New FrontierUsed by John F. Kennedy in his acceptance speech in the 1960 United States presidential election to the Democratic National Convention at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum as the Democratic slogan to inspire America to support him

Federal Highway Act AKA National Interstate and Defense Highways ActAppropriating $25 billion for the construction of 41,000 miles (66,000 km) of Interstate Highways over a 20-year periodThe largest public works project in American history to that point

Employment Act of 1946A United States federal lawMain purpose was to lay the responsibility of economic stability onto the federal government

Brown v. Board of EducationA landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court that declared state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students and denying black children equal educational opportunities unconstitutionalOverturned earlier rulings going back to Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896

Fair DealA series of proposed actions in the fields of economic development and social welfare

ContainmentA United States policy using military, economic, and diplomatic strategies to temper the spread of communism, enhance America’s security and influence abroad, and prevent a "domino effect"

Yalta ConferenceWartime meeting of the heads of government of the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union—President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and General Secretary Joseph Stalin, respectively—for the purpose of discussing Europe's postwar reorganizationIntended to discuss the re-establishment of the nations of war-torn Europe

United NationsAn international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and the achieving of world peace

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

Berlin AirliftCarry supplies to the people in West BerlinGreat Britain's Royal Air Force and the recently formed United States Air Force, flew over 200,000 flights over the time span of one year that provided 13,000 tons of daily necessities such as fuel and food to the people of Berlin

George KennanAn 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

Korean WarA military conflict between the Republic of Korea, supported by the United Nations, and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China and the Soviet Union

NATO AKA North Atlantic Treaty OrganizationConstitutes a system of collective defense whereby its member states agree to mutual defence in response to an attack by any external party

Taft-Hartley ActA United States federal law that monitors the activities and power of labor unions

National Defense Education ActProvided funding to United States education institutions at all levels

Ralph Bunche An American political scientist and diplomat who received the 1950 Nobel Peace Prize for his late 1940s mediation in Palestine

Dynamic Conservatism

1960-present

Miranda v. ArizonaA landmark 5-4 decision of the United States Supreme CourtHeld that both inculpatory and exculpatory statements made in response to interrogation by a defendant in police custody will be admissible at trial only if the prosecution can show that the defendant was informed of the right to consult with an attorney before and during questioning and of the right against self-incrimination prior to questioning by police, and that the defendant not only understood these rights, but voluntarily waived them

Huey Newton (Black Panthers)Co-founder and leader of the Black Panther Party for Self Defense, an African-American organization established to promote Black Power, civil rights and self-defense

Jimmy CarterThe 39th President of the United StatesPanama Canal Treaty, diplomacy with China, end of recognition of TaiwanLittle accomplished domestically due to conservative opposition, foreigh policy more successful Washington outsider

Washington Outsiders

Bay of PigsCIA attempt to institute Cuba support to overthrow CastroCover0up uncovered and became representation of Cuban resistance to American aggression

Economic Opportunity ActImplemented by the since disbanded Office of Economic Opportunity, the Act included several social programs to promote the health, education, and general welfare of the poor

Malcolm XAn African-American Muslim minister, public speaker, and human rights activistOne of the greatest and most influential African Americans in history

SALT I Treaty AKA Strategic Arms Limitation TalksNixon agreed with USSR to achieve nuclear equality rather than the superiority that threatened the destruction of the worldFurther reduced tensions between the two countries

Mayaguez IncidentMarked the last official battle of the U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War

Gerald FordThe 40th Vice President of the United States

Helsinki Accords AKA The Final Act of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in EuropeAttempt to improve relations between the Communist bloc and the West

ReagonomicsCapitalism would become productive when uninhibited by taxes and regulations

Voting Rights Act 1965Prohibiting use of any devices (such as literacy tests) to deny the right to vote and enforced black suffrage rights

Rachel Carson Silent SpringEffects of pesticides on environment – DDTChanged the way Americans viewed their impact on nature

War Powers ActA United States Congress joint resolution providing that the President can send U.S. armed forces into action abroad only by authorization of Congress or if the United States is already under attack or serious threat

Cuban Missile CrisisStorage of Soviet missiles in Cuba – threat of nuclear warKrushchev demanded that U.S. never invade Cuba and remove from TurkeyMutual compliance with each other’s demands

Stokely Carmichael (Black Power)A Trinidadian-American black activist active in the 1960s American Civil Rights MovementRose to prominence first as a leader of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC, pronounced "Snick") and later as the "Honorary Prime Minister" of the Black Panther Party

Vietnamization (Guam/Nixon Doctrine)Part of Nixon’s tri-faceted plan to honorably remove troops from VietnamWean the South Vietnamese off of American support, gradually reducing number of American troops present

George WallaceAppealed to many conservatives, especially Southerners who opposed massive protests and integration

Roe v. WadeUnconstitutionalized all state laws prohibiting women’s right to have an abortion performed during the first trimester of pregnancy

War on PovertyThe name for legislation first introduced by United States President Lyndon B. Johnson during his State of the Union address on January 8, 1964

Warren Commission AKA The Commission on the Assassination of President KennedyEstablished to investigate the assassination of United States President John F. Kennedy on November 22Its 888-page final report was presented to President Johnson on September 24, 1964, and made public three days laterConcluded that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone in the killing of Kennedy and the wounding of Texas Governor John ConnallyFindings have since proven controversial and been both challenged and supported by later studies

HippiesOriginally a youth movement that arose in the United States during the mid-1960s, swiftly spreading to other countries around the world

Bakke v. Board of Regents

Supply Side EconomicsTax cuts to increase population spending – help economyDrastic cutting back on government programs due to lack of funds

Michael Harrington (The Other America)An American democratic socialist, writer, political activist, professor of political science, radio commentator and founder of the Democratic Socialists of America

StagflationFord’s and Carter’s presidencies experienced a recession and inflation simultaneouslySolved by Keynesian economics

Barry Goldwatera five-term United States Senator from Arizona and the Republican Party's nominee for President in the 1964 electionCredited for sparking the resurgence of the American conservative political movement in the 1960s

Ralph Nader Unsafe At Any SpeedA book detailing resistance by car manufacturers to the introduction of safety features, like seat belts, and their general reluctance to spend money on improving safetyA pioneering work of attack journalism, openly polemical but containing substantial references and material from industry insiders

Equal Rights AmendmentA proposed amendment to the United States Constitution which was intended to guarantee that equal rights under any federal, state, or local law could not be denied on account of sex

John F. Kennedy

Second youngest presidentEntered presidency as tensions of Cold War increasedUnable to get major initiatives through Congress due to conservative bloc Tax cuts (economic stimulation)Reluctantly gets involved in civil rightsEmphasizes Space Race

Gulf of Tonkin ResolutionCongress authorized President Johnson to repel and prevent aggression against U.S. troops in VietnamUsed as a blank check and caused protests

Ronald ReaganThe 40th President of the United StatesOffered a New Deal of smaller government, reduced taxes and free enterpriseWashington outsider

Martin Luther King Jr.An American clergyman, activist and prominent leader in the African American civil rights movement

Gideon v. WainwrightUnanimously ruled that state courts are required under the Sixth Amendment of the Constitution to provide counsel in criminal cases for defendants who are unable to afford their own attorneys

Great SocietyPresident Johnson’s flood of proposals to Congress for the beautification and amelioration of American Society

Lee Harvey OswaldAccording to three government investigations, the assassin of U.S. President John F. Kennedy

Camp David AccordsPeace between Egypt and IsraelFollowed years of tension, Israel would leave newly acquired lands from war, Egypt would respect Israel’s other land claimsAccords not completely followed, Sadat (Egypt) assassinated

Affirmative ActionSets of programs geared toward minorities and often-discriminated populations

Peace Corps – 1961An example of liberal anticommunism in third world countries“Reform-minded missionaries of democracy”

Civil Rights Act 1964Outlawed unequal application of voter registration requirements and racial segregation in schools, at the workplace and by facilities that served the general public ("public accommodations")

Lyndon JohnsonPresident that dealt with the Vietnam WarGreat Society program for improvement of American society, antipoverty and anti-discrimination programs

Kent StateKent State University students protesting against invasion of CambodiaNot allowed to demonstrate violence (ex. murder)

Betty Friedan The Feminine MystiqueDenounced the “house trap” which caused educated women to hold even themselves inferior to men