*Townshed Acts
This was act that taxed goods such as glass, paper, paint, lead, and tea. taxes were low but colonists still had objections with it.
3/5th Compromise
A compromise that said that slaves would count three fifths of a person for population representation and taxation
Coercive Acts
Intolerable Acts. Several British laws designed to punish colonists for their role in the Boston Tea Party. The most famous of the acts shut down Boston Harbor until the tea was paid for.
Circular Letter
Letter written in Boston and circulated through the colonies in February, 1768, which urged the colonies not to import goods taxed by the Townshend Acts. Boston, New York, and Philadelphia agreed to non-importation. It was followed by the Virginia Circular Letter in May, 1768. Parliament ordered all colonial legislatures which did not rescind the circular letters dissolved.
Constitutional Convention
It was the meeting of delegates in 1787 to revise the Articles of Confederation, which produced the new U.S. Constitution
Olive Branch Petition
This was a final peace offer sent by the Second Continental Congress to King George III
Salutary Neglect
The idea that the colonies benefited by being left alone, without too much British interference
Writs of Assistance
These were search warrants used to enter homes or businesses to search for smuggled goods
*Treaty of Ghent
This was the Treaty that ended the War of 1812 and maintained prewar conditions
Marbury vs. Madison
Case in which the supreme court first asserted th power of Judicial review in finding that the congressional statue expanding the Court's original jurisdiction was unconstitutional
Battle of New Orleans
This was the battle that was fought after the peace treaty of the War of 1812 had been signed
Henry Clay
He was the senator who persuaded Congress to accept the Missouri Compromise, which admitted Maine into the Union as a free state, and Missouri as a slave state
Impressment
This was the British practice of taking American sailors and forcing them into military service
Barbary Pirates
These were Pirates who were blocking our entrance into the Mediterranean sea unless we paid them tribute. (money) U.S. went to war with them and won.
Macons Bill No. 2
This bill allowed trade to open with other countries -With England or France, or whichever one took away trade restrictions
*Panic of 1837
This was a series of financial failures that led to an economic depression
Gibbons vs. Ogden
This gave control of interstate commerce to U.S. Congress
Specie Circular
This required that all public lands be purchased with "hard" money
Hudson River School
Thomas Cole was the founder and it was the, first native school of landscape painting in the U.S.; attracted artists rebelling against the neoclassical tradition, painted many scenes of New York's Hudson River.
Universal Male suffrage
The extension of the right to vote to all males regardless of social standing or race, whose movement had begun in the early-mid 1800's
*Alamo
This was the mission in San Antonio where in 1836 Mexican forces under Santa Anna besieged and massacred American rebels who were fighting to make Texas independent of Mexico
Shermans March
Sherman led a force that destroyed everything on their path, stopped confederates ability to get food and supplies, they lay seige to atlanta, they destroy georgia,
Ostend Manifesto
1854, a declaration (1854) issued from Ostend, Belgium, by the U.S. ministers to England, France, and Spain, stating that the U.S. would be justified in seizing Cuba if Spain did not sell it to the U.S., found out, Pierce repudiated
Morrill Tariff Act
1861 This was an act passed by Congress in 1861 to meet the cost of the war. It raised the taxes on shipping from 5 to 10 percent however later needed to increase to meet the demanding cost of the war.
Free Soil Party
Formed in 1847 - 1848, dedicated to opposing slavery in newly acquired territories such as Oregon and ceded Mexican territory.
Freeport Doctrine
Stated that exclusion of slavery in a territory could be determined by the refusal of the voters to enact any laws that would protect slave property
Draft Riots
A series of violent disturbances in New York City; were the culmination of discontent with new laws passed by Congress to draft men to fight in the Civil War.
*Limited Democracy
A demoncracy in which Government that includes voting but does not allow everyone to vote
Headwright System
This system was a way for virginia to get people to come over to colonize; offered 50 acres to indentured servants or plantation owners
Halfway Covenant
This was devised by Puritan ministers in 1662 to offer partial church membership to people who had not experienced conversion
Proprietary Colonies
Colonies owned by and under the authority of persons who had been given a royal charter to own the land
Zenger Trial
A trial that helped promote the idea that the freedom of the press is a right that should be protected
*Scalawags
They were southern whites who supported republican policy throughout reconstruction
carpetbaggers
Northerners who moved to the South after the Civil War
Crop lien system
It was a System that allowed farmers to get more credit. They used harvested crops to pay back their loans.
Balck Codes
Three discriminatory laws that wer designed to keep freement in condition like slaves
Comstock Lode
Rich deposits of silver found in Nevada in 1859.
Wade Davis Bill
A bill passed by congress and vetoed by president lincoln that would have given congress control of reconstruction
Dawes Severalty Act
This act passed in 1887 divided communal indian tribal land, granting the right to petition for citizenship to those Indians who accepted the individual land allotment of 160 acres
Radical Republicans
Political party that favored harsh punishment of Southern states after civil war
*Munn vs. Illinois
A Supreme Court Case that allowed the state governments to regulate the railroads in favor of farmers or Grangers
Horizontal Integration
This was the idea of combining organizations at the same level of operation under one management
Payne Aldrich Tarriff
Tarriff was an attempt to curb the want for lower tarriffs- a Progressive demand. It was passed under the Taft administration and lowered the tarriffs very insignificantly.
Coxeys Army
This was when unemployed workers marched from ohio to wahsington to draw attention to the plight of workers and to ask for goverment relief
bessemer process
A way to manufacture steel quickly and cheaply by blasting hot air through melted iron to quickly remove impurities.
Underwood Tariff
This reduced the average tariff on imprted goods to about 30 percent of the value of the goods, or about half the tariff rate of the 1890s
Muckrackers
Journalist who wrote about environmental, social, and political problems Americans faced in the early 1900's
Crime of 1873
US stopped coining silver dollars; so much silver was found that the value decreased greatly
*Dollar Diplomacy
This was used to describe the efforts of the US to further its foreign policy through use of economic power by gaurenteeing loans to foreign countries
Schenck vs. US
This was the decison passed in 1919 upheld the conviction of a socialist who had urged young men to resist the draft during WW1. justice holmes declared that gov't can limit speech if the speech provokes a "clear and present danger" of substantive evils.
William Seward
Secretary of State who was responsible for purchasing Alaskan Territory from Russia. By purchasing Alaska, he expanded the territory of the country at a reasonable price.
De Lome Letter
Spanish Ambassador's letter that was illegally removed from the U.S. Mail and published by American newspapers. It criticized President McKinley in insulting terms. Used by war hawks as a pretext for war in 1898.
Emilio Aguinaldo
Leader of the Filipino independence movement against Spain (1895-1898). He proclaimed the independence of the Philippines in 1899, but his movement was crushed and he was captured by the United States Army in 1901.
Roosevelt Corollary
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, first put into effect in Dominican Republic
Treaty of Portsmouth
This was the agreement that ended the russo-japanese war. theodore roosevelt was asked by the japanese to mediate the conflict and reluctantly he invited representatives from japan adn russia to negotiations at portsmouth, new hampshire. later that year an agreement ended the war and won roosevelet the novel peace prize of 1906.
Teller Amendment
This Amendment was drafter by Henry M. Teller which declared that the US had no desire for control in Cuba & pledged the US would leave the island alone.
Platt Amendment
This amendment prevented newly independent Cuba from making treaties with other nations and gave the US control over Guantanamo Bay
Irreconcilables
These were Republicans who wanted no part with the League of Nations. They were a burden to the vote on the League of Nations and had a part in its failure to pass.
*Sacco and vanzetti
They were two italian born american laborers and anarchists who were tired convicted and executed via electrocution on Aug 3 1927 in Ma for the 1920 armed robbery. it is believed they had nothing to do with the crime
Clarence Darrow
A famed criminal defense lawyer for Scopes, who supported evolution. He caused William Jennings Bryan to appear foolish when Darrow questioned Bryan about the Bible.
Scopes Trial
1925 court case in which Clarence Darrow and William Jennings Bryan debated the issue of teaching evolution in public schools
Huey Long
A presidential candidate in the 1936 election known for his Share the Wealth program. He and other demagogues pushed FDR to move the New Deal to help people directly.
National Origins Act
Act which restricted immigration from any one nation to two percent of the number of people already in the U.S. of that national origin in 1890. Severely restricted immigration from Southern and Eastern Europe, and excluded Asians entirely.
Teapot Dome
A government scandal involving a former United States Navy oil reserve in Wyoming that was secretly leased to a private oil company in 1921
Warren G. Harding
He was the president after World War I who promised to return the US to normalism
20th Amendment
This reduced the amount of time between the election of the President and Congress and the beginning of their terms.
*Nye Committee
Senate committee led by South Dakota Senator Gerald Nye to investigate why America became involved in WWI. Theory that big business had conspired to have America enter WWI so that they could make money selling war materials. Called bankers and arms producers "merchants of death."
Quarantine Speech
1937 - In this speech Franklin D. Roosevelt compared Fascist agression to a contagious disease, saying democracies must unite to quarantine agressor nations.
Neatrality Acts
Laws passed by Congress to ban the sale of arms or loans to nations at war.
Tehran Conference
December, 1943, a meeting between FDR, Churchill and Stalin in Iran to discuss coordination of military efforts against Germany, they repeated the pledge made in the earlier Moscow Conference to create the United Nations after the war's conclusion to help ensure international peace
Cash and Carry
World War II policy requiring nations at war to pay cash for all nonmilitary goods and to be responsible for transporting the goods from the United States
Island Hopping
WWII strategy of conquering only certain Pacific islands that were important to the Allied advance toward Japan
Executive Order 9066
A presidential executive order issued during WW2 by FDR that sent Japanese ethnic groups to internment camps.It was issued because of the fear for the country's safety and also Japanese-American's safety.
Lend Lease act -1941
This act allowed the US to give Britain, China and later the Soviet Union military supplies; congress voted to try to spend $50 billion on military supplies from 1941-45, which the US did not expect to be repaid
GI Bill
A law passed in 1944 to help returning veterans buy homes and pay for higher educations.
Dixiecrats
Southern Democrats who opposed Truman's position on civil rights. They caused a split in the Democratic party.
Flexible Response
Flexible response calls for mutual deterrence at strategic, tactical, and conventional levels, giving the United States the capability to respond to aggression across the spectrum of warfare, not limited only to nuclear arms.
Cesar Chavez
Non-violent leader of the United Farm Workers from 1963-1970. Organized laborers in California and in the Southwest to strike against fruit and vegetable growers. Unionized Mexican-American farm workers.
Rachel Carson
She was a United States biologist remembered for her opposition to the use of pesticides that were hazardous to wildlife (1907-1964)
Beatniks
A United States youth subculture of the 1950s that rebelled against the mundane horrors of middle class life.
Roe vs. Wade
Supreme Court declared abortion to be a private decision, Right to Abortion
Stokely Carmichael
Head of the SNCC making a separatist philosophy of black power as the official objective of the organization.
Immigration Act of 1965
This act abolished the national-origins quotas and providing for the admission each year of 170,000 immigrants from the Eastern Hemisphere and 120,000 from the Western Hemisphere
*War Hawks
Western settlers who advocated war with Britain because they hoped to aquire Britain's northwest posts (and also Florida or even Canada) and because they felt the British were aiding the Indians and encouraging them to attack the Americans on the frontier. In Congress, the War Hawks were Henry Clay and John C. Calhoun.
Seneca Falls Convention
This was a meeting of feminists at Seneca Falls where the women mimicked the Declaration to include women and their grievances as well as demanded the vote. The convention started the feminist movement.
Samuel Slater
He was a British mechanic that moved to America and in 1791 invented the first American machine for spinning cotton. He is known as "the Father of the Factory System" and he started the idea of child labor in America's factories.
Monitor and Merrimac
First engagement ever between two iron-clad naval vessels. The two ships battled in a portion of the Cheasepeake Bay known as Hampton Roads for five hours on March 9, 1862, ending in a draw.
Gadsden Purchase
This was an area for which the US paid $10 million, it strengthened the South's bid for a transcontinental railroad