A document written by the Pilgrims establishing themselves as a political society and setting guidelines for self-government

First representative government in the colonies

Economic system where raw materials were sent to the mother company to be manufactured into goods and purchased by the colonies

1776: a pamphlet written by Thomas Paine that claimed the colonies had a right to be an independent nation

1632 to 1704: he believed that people had natural rights to life, liberty and property

1776: a statement issued by the Second Continental Congress, explaining why the colonies wanted independence from Britain

1st Constitution of the U.S. 1781-1788 (weaknesses-no executive, no judicial, no power to tax, no power to regulate trade)

A document written by delegates at the Constitutional Convention that established a national government in the United States

a lawmaking body with 2 houses - the Senate and the House of Representatives

The idea that representation in legislature should be based on population; giving the larger states an advantage

"Small state plan" at the Constitutional Convention that claimed each state should represented equally in the legislature

A compromise that proposed two houses of Congress: one in which representation is based on population (House of Representatives), and another in which all states have an equal number of representatives (Senate)

Each slave would count for 3/5 of a person for taxation and representation purposes

Branch of government that makes the laws

Branch of government that enforces the laws

Branch of government that decides if laws are carried out fairly

A term used to describe supporters of the Constitution during ratification debates in state legislatures

People who opposed the constitution/strong federal government

a statement of fundamental rights and privileges (especially the first ten amendments to the Constitution)

Political practices that are followed, but are not part of the actual Constitution. Examples include political parties, judicial review, and the Presidential Cabinet.

Created a 2-term limit on presidents

Acts passed by federalists giving the government power to imprison or deport foreign citizens and prosecute critics of the government

An American Founding Father who was the principal author of the Declaration of Independence and later served as the third President of the United States from 1801 to 1809

Established concept of judicial review, first time supreme court declared something 'unconstitutional'

A system that allows each branch of government to limit the powers of the other branches in order to prevent abuse of power

Constitutional division of powers among the legislative, executive, and judicial branches, with the legislative branch making law, the executive applying and enforcing the law, and the judiciary interpreting the law

Powers that belong to the state governments

A system in which power is divided between the national and state governments

Article I, Section 8, of the Constitution, which allows Congress to make all laws that are "necessary and proper" to carry out the powers of the Constitution

He advised the nation to stay away from permanent alliances with foreign nations and to stay away from political parties

"Compromise of 1820" over the issue of slavery in Missouri. It was decided that Missouri entered as a slave state and Maine entered as a free state and all states North of the 36th parallel were free states and all South were slave states.

North-South agreement that added California as a free state, NM and Utah based on popular sovereignty

1854 - Created Nebraska and Kansas as states and gave the people in those territories the right to chose to be a free or slave state through popular sovereignty

Notion that the people of a territory should determine if they want to be a slave state or a free state

Loyalty to one's own region of the country, rather than to the nation as a whole such as the North and South before and during the Civil War

Powerful novel written by Harriet Beecher Stowe that made Americans aware of the harsh and inhumane conditions of slavery

the movement concentrated on ending slavery in the United States

Supreme Court case which ruled that slaves are not citizens but are property, affirmed that property cannot be interfered with by Congress, slaves do not become free if they travel to free territories or states

NORTH: more factories that created weapons, tents, uniforms, preserved foods, did not have slavery. SOUTH: agricultural and grew cash crops, few factories, used slaves, had ports for shipping goods

Republicans nominate him, he wins 40% of vote and wins enough electoral votes (none in south). The south becomes so angry that the lower south secedes and creates the Confederate States of America

Act of formally withdrawing from the Union such as when South Carolina seceded after Lincoln's election

Grant commanded the Union Army and Lee commanded the Confederate Army

1863- General Lee led the Confederate troops into Pennsylvania. He surprised the units in Gettysburg and the battle was the most crucial and bloodiest of the war. The victory at Gettysburg belonged to Lincoln and the Union. Turning point; last offensive attack of the South

Order issued by President Lincoln that freed the slaves in areas rebelling against the Union

The period after the Civil War when the southern states were reorganized and reintegrated into the Union

After the Civil War, a group that believed the South should be harshly punished and thought that Lincoln was sometimes too compassionate towards the South

Abolished slavery

Declared that all persons born in the US were citizens, that all citizens were entitled to equal rights, and their rights were protected by due process

Citizens cannot be denied the right to vote because of race, color, or previous condition of servitude

17th President of the United States, A Southerner form Tennessee, as V.P. when Lincoln was killed, he became president. He opposed radical Republicans who passed Reconstruction Acts over his veto. The first U.S. president to be impeached, he survived the Senate removal by only one vote.

Laws denying most legal rights to newly freed slaves; passed by southern states following the Civil War

Laws designed to enforce segregation of blacks from whites

Supreme Court ruling that separate but equal facilities are constitutional

1865 - Agency set up to aid former slaves in adjusting themselves to freedom. It furnished food and clothing to needy blacks and helped them get jobs.

White supremacy organization that intimidated blacks out of their newly found liberties

A system used on southern farms after the Civil War in which farmers worked land owned by someone else in return for a small portion of the crops. The arrangement was not much better than slavery.

A requirement that citizens pay a tax in order to register to vote

A test administered as a prerequisite for voting, often used to prevent African Americans from exercising their right to vote

Law that excused a voter from a literacy test if his father or grandfather had been eligible to vote on January 1, 1867

Ended Reconstruction. Republicans promise 1) Remove military from South, 2) Appoint Democrat to cabinet (David Key postmaster general), 3) Federal money for railroad construction and levees on Mississippi river

A notion held by 19th-century Americans that the United States was destined to rule the continent, from the Atlantic the Pacific.

1787 law that set up a government for the Northwest Territory and a plan for admitting new states to the Union

Territory of Oregon, Washington, and portions of what became British Columbia, Canada; land claimed by both U.S. and Britain and held jointly under the Convention of 1818

1803 purchase of the Louisiana territory from France. Made by Jefferson, this doubled the size of the US.

The seventh President of the United States (1829-1837), who as a general in the War of 1812 defeated the British at New Orleans (1815). As president he increased the presidential powers.

1862: Provided free land in the West to anyone willing to settle there and develop it. Encouraged westward migration.

1830: a congressional act that authorized the removal of Native Americans who lived east of the Mississippi River

A group of corporations that unite in order to reduce competition and control prices in a business or an industry

person whose wealth comes from the ownership of industrial businesses and who favors government policies that support industry

Negative term used to describe large businessmen of the late 1800's because of the fact that they used ruthless practices to destroy competition and took advantage of workers

A name given company owners such as Carnegie and Rockefeller by people who believed they steered the economy into prosperity

Were essential to westward expansion because they made it easier to travel to and live in the west

Captain of industry that created a monopoly in oil refineries

Captain of industry in charge of steel production

Banker that controlled 2/3 of the rail roads and eventually merged into the steel industry. Bought Carnegie's steel company and formed US Steel Company.

The belief that only the fittest survive in human political and economic struggle

Hands off approach to government intervention in business

An organization formed by workers to strive for better wages and working conditions

Workers refuse to work until owners improve conditions

Process by which a union representing a group of workers negotiates with management for a contract

businesses that are owned by many investors who buy shares of stock

A system in which society, usually in the form of the government, owns and controls the means of production

Corporations that gain complete control of the production of a single good or service

Lover of humanity; person active in promoting human welfare

an 1890 law that banned the formation of trusts and monopolies in the United States

came from Northern and Western Europe

came from Southern and Eastern Europe; were viewed as inferior by old immigrants

A policy of favoring native-born individuals over foreign-born ones

An increase in the percentage and number of people living in urban settlements

He was the creator of the American Federation of Labor. He provided a stable and unified union for skilled workers.

26th President of the United States, known for: conservationism, trust-busting, safe food regulations, "Square Deal," Panama Canal, "big stick" policy

agreement signed by British and American leaders that stated the United States of America was a free and independent country

After decades of nationalist resistance against the Spanish (and violent repression of activists) this Pacific Island nation proudly declared independence in 1898. But the Spanish had handed control over to the USA, who had no plans to recognize their independence.

a ship canal 40 miles long across the Isthmus of Panama built by the United States (1904-1914)

an American foreign policy opposing interference in the Western hemisphere from outside powers

Roosevelt's 1904 extension of the Monroe Doctrine, stating that the United States has the right to protect its economic interests in South and Central America by using military force

Allowed the United States to intervene in Cuba and gave the United States control of the naval base at Guantanamo Bay

27th president of the U.S.; he angered progressives by moving cautiously toward reforms and by supporting the Payne-Aldrich Tariff; he lost Roosevelt's support and was defeated for a second term

Foreign policy idea by Taft to make countries dependent on the U.S. by heavily investing in their economies

28th president of the United States, known for World War I leadership, created Federal Reserve, Federal Trade Commission, Clayton Antitrust Act, progressive income tax, lower tariffs, women's suffrage (reluctantly), Treaty of Versailles, sought 14 points post-war plan, League of Nations (but failed to win U.S. ratification), won Nobel Peace Prize

The policy held by Teddy Roosevelt in foreign affairs. The "big stick" symbolizes his power and readiness to use military force if necessary. It is a way of intimidating countries without actually harming them.

A territorial area where a weaker country can only trade with one stronger country; In China, Great Britain and other European countries maintained spheres of influence leading to Boxer Rebellion

A policy of the United States that stated China should be open to all nations that wish to trade with them. This policy did not include the consent of the Chinese, and was another form of imperialism.

A navy commander who, on July 8, 1853, became the first foreigner to break through the barriers that had kept Japan isolated from the rest of the world for 250 years.

1914-1918, also known as the Great War, conflict, chiefly in Europe, among most of the great Western powers. It was the largest war the world had yet seen.

A policy of glorifying military power and keeping a standing army always prepared for war

A formal agreement between two or more nations or powers to cooperate and come to one another's defense

A position of not taking sides in a conflict

Unrestricted submarine warfare, sinking of the Lusitania, Zimmermann Telegram, Russian Revolution

U-boats (undersea boats) Wanted to prevent supplies from reaching Britain. Claimed waters around England as a "War Zone". Any enemy or merchant ship around Britain would be sunk without warning.

(WWI) British passenger boat sunk by a German submarine that claimed 1,000 lives. One of the main reasons U.S. decided to join the war.

Message from Germany proposing an alliance between Germany and Mexico. It was intercepted by the British, who informed the U.S.

Law passed by Congress in 1917 that required all men from ages 21 to 30 to register for the military draft

A form of warfare in which opposing armies fight each other from trenches dug in the battlefield

Upheld the Espionage Act of 1917 and concluded that a defendant did not have a First Amendment right to free speech against the draft during World War I. Schenk lost and was later jailed. He was found dead in his home after his release under suspicious circumstances.

Amendment to the U.S. Constitution (1920) extended the right to vote to women in federal or state elections

Famous case in which two immigrants were accused of murder. There was no hard evidence, yet they were put to death anyway. Showed how much Americans distrusted foreigners.

Young women of the 1920s that behaved and dressed in a radical fashion

In a factory, an arrangement where a product is moved from worker to worker, with each person performing a single task in the making of the product.

An American inventor who developed the cotton gin. Also contributed to the concept of interchangeable parts that were exactly alike and easily assembled or exchanged.

A machine for cleaning the seeds from cotton fibers, invented by Eli Whitney in 1793

1863-1947. American businessman, founder of Ford Motor Company, father of modern assembly lines, and inventor credited with 161 patents

Leading African American jazz musician during the Harlem Renaissance; he was a talented trumpeter whose style influenced many later musicians

John T. Scopes, a biology teacher, was arrested for breaking Tennessee law by teaching evolution in the classroom. After 8 days he was found guilty and fined $100.

A period in the 1920s when African-American achievements in art and music and literature flourished

A law forbidding the sale of alcoholic beverages

A place where alcoholic drinks were sold and consumed illegally during prohibition

Prohibited the manufacture, sale, and distribution of alcoholic beverages

U. S. president who called for a return to normalcy following WWI. His administration was involved in many scandals (including the Tea Pot Dome Scandal).

31st President of the United States, Republican candidate who assumed the presidency in March 1929 promising the American people prosperity and attempted to first deal with the Depression by trying to restore public faith in the community.

a time period during the 1930s when there was a worldwide economic depression and mass unemployment

A system for buying and selling stocks in corporations

A name given to October 29, 1929, when stock prices fell sharply

Ran for president in 1932. He promised a New Deal to get people out of Hoovervilles and back on the road to prosperity.

1933-1937: Government sponsored programs implemented by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to revitalize the economy and alleviate poverty and despair caused by the Depression

Civilian Conservation Corps. It was Relief that provided work for young men 18-25 years old in food control, planting, flood work, etc.

Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation: A federal guarantee of savings bank deposits initially of up to $2500, raised to $5000 in 1934, and frequently thereafter; continues today with a limit of $100,000

A 1935 law passed during the Great Depression that was intended to provide a minimal level of sustenance to older Americans and thus save them from poverty

(FDR) 1933: gave the President power over the banking system and set up a system by which banks would be reorganized or reopened

informal talks given by FDR over the radio while sitting by the White House fireplace; gained the confidence of the people

monitors the stock market and enforces laws regulating the sale of stocks and bonds

(Tennessee Valley Authority Act) Relief, Recover, and Reform. One of the most important acts that built a hydro-electric dam for a needed area.

Like to stick to the traditional ways of government and tend to oppose change

Government aid to the poor

began when Germany invaded Poland in 1934; U.S. became involved in WWII when Pearl Harbor was bombed by Japan in 1941

Act that allowed nations at war to buy goods and arms in the United States if they paid cash and carried the merchandise on their own ships

policy adopted by the United States in 1939 to preserve neutrality while aiding the Allies. Britain and France could buy goods from the United States if they paid in full and transported them.

Agreement between Chamberlain and Hitler that Germany would not conquer any more land, and if did, would declare war

A secret agreement between the Germans and the Russians that said that they would not attack each other

1. Treaty of Versailles - Germany not happy with War guilt cause 2. Axis powers: Germany, Italy, Japan. 1939-Hitler invades Poland, Austria, and Czechoslovakia, (this causes Britain and France to declare war on Germany) December 7, 1941- Pearl Harbor, U.S. pulled into the war when the Japanese bomb the naval fleet. Germany then declares was on U.S. because they are allies with Japan.

Giving in to the demands of an aggressor in order to keep the peace

(1919) treaty ending World War I; required Germany to pay huge war reparations and established the League of Nations.

United States military base on Hawaii that was bombed by Japan, bringing the United States into World War II. Pearl Harbor was attacked on December 7, 1941.

Preparing for war

Countries must decide what products to produce during wartime. When more war products are produced the amount of consumer goods produced decreases.

110,000 Japanese men, women, and children were rounded up and put in camps on the West Coast. Issued by executive order by FDR.

Restricting the amount of food and other goods people may buy during wartime to assure adequate supplies for the military

Supreme Court ruled that citizens of Japanese descent could be interned and deprived of basic constitutional rights due to executive order

Great Britain, Soviet Union, France, US

Germany, Japan, Italy (Italy became and allied power eventually)

WWII strategy of conquering only certain Pacific islands that were important to the Allied advance toward Japan

Became president when FDR died; gave the order to drop the atomic bomb

Code name of the project that developed the atomic bomb

City in Japan, the first to be destroyed by an atomic bomb, on August 6, 1945. The bombing sped up the end of World War II

Japanese city in which the second atomic bomb was dropped (August 9, 1945)

American plane that dropped the first atomic bomb

Austrian born Dictator of Germany, implemented Fascism and caused WWII and Holocoust

Trials of the Nazi leaders, showed that people are responsible for their actions, even in wartime

A conflict that was between the US and the Soviet Union. The nations never directly confronted each other on the battlefield but deadly threats went on for years.

1947: President Truman's policy of providing economic and military aid to any country threatened by communism or totalitarian ideology

A plan that the US came up with to revive war-torn economies of Europe. This plan offered $13 billion in aid to western and Southern Europe.

Joint effort by the US and Britian to fly food and supplies into Berlin after the Soviets blocked off all ground routes into the city

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

treaty signed in 1945 that formed an alliance of the Eastern European countries behind the Iron Curtain; USSR, Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, and Romania

The conflict between Communist North Korea and Non-Communist South Korea. The United Nations (led by the United States) helped South Korea.

one of the most-known American military leaders of WWII

law passed in 1944 to help returning veterans buy homes and pay for higher educations

The term associated with Senator Joseph McCarthy who led the search for communists in America during the early 1950s through his leadership in the House Un-American Activities Committee.

U. S. general who led the attack in North Africa in Nov. of 1942. He was the master organizer of the D-Day invasion in Europe (June 6, 1944). He ran for the Republican ticket in the 1952 and the1956 elections and won. He was very well liked by the public.

A theory that if one nation comes under Communist control, then neighboring nations will also come under Communist control.

Chief Justice on the Supreme Court from 1953 to 1969 who presided over the Brown V. Board of Education case. He used a loose interpretation of the Constitution to expand rights for both African-Americans and those accused of crimes.

(1954) U.S. Supreme Court decision that struck down racial segregation in public education and declared "separate but equal'' unconstitutional.

incident in which nine African-American students were prevented from attending Little Rock Central High in 1957 during the Civil Rights Movement.

First artificial Earth satellite, it was launched by Moscow in 1957 and sparked U.S. fears of Soviet dominance in technology and outer space. It led to the creation of NASA and the space race.

35th President; elected 1960; Democrat; 1st Catholic president; televised debates between Nixon

Kennedy's plan, supports civil rights, pushes for a space program, wans to cut taxes, and increase spending for defense and military

In April 1961, a group of Cuban exiles organized and supported by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency landed on the southern coast of Cuba in an effort to overthrow Fidel Castro. When the invasion ended in disaster, President Kennedy took full responsibility for the failure.

1962 crisis that arose between the United States and the Soviet Union over a Soviet attempt to deploy nuclear missiles in Cuba

(JFK) 1961, a program in which the United States tried to help Latin American countries overcome poverty and other problems, money used to aid big business and the military

President Kennedy was killed while in Dallas by Lee Harvey Oswald. Lyndon Johnson became the president.

1963-1969, Democrat , signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 into law and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. He had a war on poverty in his agenda. In an attempt to win, he set a few goals, including the great society, the economic opportunity act, and other programs that provided food stamps and welfare to needy families. He also created a department of housing and urban development. His most important legislation was probably Medicare and Medicaid.

President Johnson called his version of the Democratic reform program the Great Society. In 1965, Congress passed many Great Society measures, including Medicare, civil rights legislation, and federal aid to education.

A federal program of health insurance for persons 65 years of age and older

A health care payment program sponsored by federal & state governments

(1964) law under Johnson that made segregation illegal in all public facilities, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

A prolonged war (1954-1975) between the communist armies of North Vietnam who were supported by the Chinese and the non-communist armies of South Vietnam who were supported by the United States

A group of Communist guerrillas who, with the help of North Vietnam, fought against the South Vietnamese government in the Vietnam War.

movement in the United States beginning in the 1960s and led primarily by African Americant in an effort to establish the civil rights of individual African American citizens

United States civil rights leader who refused to give up her seat on a bus to a white man in Montgomery, Alabama and triggered the national civil rights movement

Group of civil rights workers who took bus trips through southern states in 1961 to protest illegal bus segregation

In 1955, after Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat on a city bus, Dr. Martin L. King led a boycott of city busses. After 11 months the Supreme Court ruled that segregation of public transportation was illegal.

protests by black college students, 1960-1961, who took seats at "whites only" lunch counters and refused to leave until served; in 1960 over 50,000 participated in sit-ins across the South. Their success prompted the formation of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee.

An African-American Civil Right's Activist who was peaceful. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his cause. He was assassinated in 1968 in Tennessee.

held in 1963 to show support for the Civil Rights Bill in Congress. Martin Luther King gave his famous "I have a dream..." speech. 250,000 people attended the rally.

1957 group founded by Martin Luther King Jr. to fight against segregation using nonviolent means

students whose purpose was coordinate a nonviolent attack on segregation and other forms of racism

Head of NAACP in Mississippi who was shot and killed in front of his home in 1963 by a white supremacist

1952; renamed himself X to signify the loss of his African heritage; converted to Nation of Islam in jail in the 50s, became Black Muslims' most dynamic street orator and recruiter; his beliefs were the basis of a lot of the Black Power movement built on separationist and nationalist impulses to achieve true independence and equality

1967, rioting in major US. cities due to frustration of discrimination. In April 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King was assassinated, riots spread to over 100 cities across the country.

An early leader of the women's suffrage (right to vote) movement, co-founded the National Women's Suffrage Association with Elizabeth Cady Stanton in 1869

American social worker and activist, co-founder of Hull house; first woman to win Nobel Peace prize

Settlement home designed as a welfare agency for needy families. It provided social and educational opportunities for working class people in the neighborhood as well as improving some of the conditions caused by poverty.

This 1906 work by Upton Sinclair pointed out the abuses of the meat packing industry. The book led to the passage of the 1906 Meat Inspection Act.

muckraker who shocked the nation when he published The Jungle, a novel that revealed gruesome details about the meat packing industry in Chicago. The book was fiction but based on the things Sinclair had seen.

Journalists who searched for and exposed corruption in politics and big business

(1866-1936) Muckraker and managing editor of McClure's magazine; he exposed government corruption in his 1904 book, The Shame of the Cities.

A state-level method of direct legislation that gives voters a chance to approve or disapprove proposed legislation or a proposed constitutional amendment.

A procedure for submitting to popular vote the removal of officials from office before the end of their term.

the downfall of President Nixon; a cover up of a burglary of the Democratic headquarters at the Watergate apartments

A policy designed to give special compensation to a previously disadvantaged group