US History Regents Review

US History Flashcards for Regents Review

Mayflower Compact

Agreement made by colonists upon arriving in the New World as an early example of self-government.

Virginia House of Burgesses

Early representative voting body in the colonies and another early form of self-government.

Salutary Neglect

Period when the king left the colonies alone.

French and Indian War

Turning point between the Colonies and England, leading to increased taxation and restrictions.

Tea Act, Stamp Act, Sugar Act, Townshend/Intolerable Acts

Laws restricting and/or taxing colonies from England.

Boston Tea Party, Boston Massacre

Events leading up to the Revolution.

Declaration of Independence

Written by T. Jefferson, based on John Locke. Stated that people have natural rights, breaking the US from England.

Articles of Confederation

America's first try at government. Did not work because it was too weak.

Shays' Rebellion

A rebellion that showed that the articles of confederation were too weak.

Constitution

Original laws of the US; outlines our government and how it works.

Federalists

Early group of Americans who wanted a strong government.

Anti-federalists

Wanted a weaker government to protect individual rights.

Bill of Rights

First 10 amendments to the constitution that guarantees freedoms and rights.

Alexander Hamilton

First Secretary of the treasury, wanted to establish a national bank.

Elastic Clause

Allows Congress to make all laws that are "necessary and proper". Allows flexibility.

Amendment

Any change in the Constitution (first 10 are bill of rights).

Unwritten Constitution

Political practices that are followed but are not part of the actual Constitution.

Separation of Powers

The division of power among the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of government.

Checks and Balances

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

Veto

When the President can refuse to sign a bill into law.

Judicial Review

The power of the courts to declare laws unconstitutional.

Marshall Court

Supreme court under Chief Justice John Marshall; established the power of the federal government over the states.

Marbury vs Madison

Case in which the supreme court/Marshall Court first established the power of Judicial review.

Gibbons vs Ogden

Supreme court decision that ruled that the constitution gave control of interstate commerce to the U.S. Congress.

McCulloch vs Maryland

1819 Supreme Court decision that established the supremacy of the national government over state governments.

Washington's Farewell

Warned Americans to avoid involvement in European affairs, permanent alliances, and political parties.

Strict Constructionist

Someone who believes that the ONLY things the government can do are things that the constitution says it can do.

Loose Constructionist

Someone who believes that the government can do anything that the constitution doesn't specifically say it cannot do.

Whiskey Rebellion

Farmers rebelled against the Whiskey tax, Washington put down the rebellion showing the strength of the federal government.

Manifest Destiny

1800s belief that Americans had the right to spread West across the continent.

Mexican American War (1846-1848)

The war between the United States and Mexico in which the United States acquired one half of the Mexican territory.

Andrew Jackson

President in the 1820s who removed property requirement for white men to vote and was responsible for the policy of "Indian Removal".

"Indian Removal"

A US Policy that required the removal of Native Americans from their land to land west in Oklahoma.

Trail of Tears

Forced march of Cherokee Indians from their lands where many died.

Annexation

Adding land by just taking it.

Forced Assimilation

When a minority group is forced to become more like a majority group.

"Indian Schools"

Schools set up by the US Government to force Native American children to be more like white children.

Indian Wars

The US Government fought wars against Native American tribes.

The Monroe Doctrine

1823 policy by James Monroe that told European Countries they could not colonize land in the Western Hemisphere.

Roosevelt Corollary

Addition to the Monroe Doctrine that said America had a right to intervene as a police power in Latin American affairs.

Imperialism

When a stronger country takes over a weaker country.

Sinking of the Maine

Event in 1898 where the US battleship exploded in Havana Harbor in Cuba, leading to war with Spain.

Yellow Journalism

Sensational headlines that usually aren't true or are exaggerated.

Spanish American War

Ten week war between the US and Spain in 1898. Fought over Cuba.

US and Hawaii

The US was interested because it was a port on the way to China and India which led to annexation.

US in the Philippines

Fought a revolution/war against the US for independence.

US in Puerto Rico

The US acquired after the Spanish American War; Puerto Ricans were granted citizenship with the Jones Act in 1917.

Reasons for Imperialism

New Markets, raw materials, and military bases.

WWI

A war fought from 1914 to 1918 between the Allies and the Central Powers, the US joined in 1917.

Causes of WWI

Militarism, Alliances, Imperialism, Nationalism.

Why the US Entered WWI

The US initiall wanted to remain Neutral but was trading with Great Britain, the US entered the war in 1917 after Germany sunk US ships.

Unrestricted Submarine Warfare

A policy that the Germans announced on January 1917 which stated that their submarines would sink any ship in the British waters.

The Draft/Conscription/Selective Service

The process the government has to recruit and require men to go to war for the US. Used in WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam.

14 Points

President Woodrow Wilson's plan for organizing post World War I Europe and for avoiding future wars.

League of Nations

An international organization formed in 1920 to promote cooperation and peace among nations. The US did NOT join.

Treaty of Versailles

Treaty that ended WW I. It blamed Germany and resulted in harsh punishment. The US debated ratifying the treaty but ultimately did not.

WWII

Great Britain, the Soviet Union, and the U.S. joined other nations to fight Italy, Germany, and Japan.

Lend Lease Act/Cash and Carry Policy

Allowed the US to supply Great Britain the allies with supplies as long as they paid and transported them.

Pearl Harbor

Brought the US into WWII.

Japanese Internment

Required all Japanese Americans to relocate to internment (prison) camps for the war.

Manhattan Project

Top-secret government project to develop the atomic bomb during WWII.

Atomic Bomb

Brought the Japanese to surrender and end the war.

Marshall Plan

A United States program of economic aid for the reconstruction of Europe that was intended to Contain Communism.

Truman Doctrine

President Truman's policy of providing economic and military aid to any country threatened by communism.

Containment

American policy of preventing the expansion of communism around the world.

Cold War

A conflict that was between the US and the Soviet Union and tension went on for years

Iron Curtain

A political barrier that isolated the peoples of Eastern Europe.

Berlin Airlift

Supplied food and fuel to citizens of west Berlin when the Russians closed off land access to Berlin.

Division of Germany

The allies decided that Germany and Berlin should be divided into 4 sections each ruled by a separate power.

United Nations

An international organization formed after WWII to promote international peace, security, and cooperation.

NATO

An alliance made to defend one another if they were attacked by any other country.

McCarthy/McCarthyism

Claimed to know of 100s of communists working in the U.S. government.

HUAC

Investigated what it considered un-American propaganda/looked for communists in society.

Proxy Wars

Local or regional wars in which the US and the USSR armed, trained, and financed sides.

Korean War

The proxy war between Communist North Korea and Non-Communist South Korea. Helped by the United Nations (led by the US).

Outcome of the Korean War

Korea was divided in the 38th parallel, same place the war started.

Vietnam War

A prolonged proxy war between the communist armies of North Vietnam and the non-communist armies of South Vietnam.

Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

1964 Congressional resolution authorizing President Johnson to take military action in Vietnam.

War Powers Act

Stated the President can only send troops into action abroad by authorization of Congress.

Anti-war protests

Americans opposed because of the draft and things like My Lai

Cuban Missile Crisis

The 1962 confrontation between US and the Soviet Union over Soviet missiles in Cuba (VERY close to the US).

Bay of Pigs Invasion

Failed invasion of Cuba in 1961 when a force of 1,200 Cuban exiles, backed by the United States, landed at the Bay of Pigs.

Mutually Assured Destruction

If either US or the USSR was hit with a nuclear weapons they would respond with the same.

Space Race

Ended with US Moon Landing in 1969.

Arms Race

Cold war competition between the U.S. and Soviet Union to build up their respective armed forces and weapons.

Detente

A policy of reducing Cold War tensions.

Fall of Berlin Wall

Symbolized the end of the Cold War.

Geography and Economy of Early Colonies

Northern Colonies had rocky soil and cold climates where Southern colonies had fertile soil and warm growing seasons.

Plantations

Huge farms that required a large labor force to grow crops.

Cash Crops

Crops, such as tobacco, sugar, and cotton, raised in large quantities in order to be sold for profit.

Triangle Trade

The trading system between the Americas, England and Africa; enslaved people and rum would be sent from Africa to the Americas.

Middle Passage

A voyage that brought enslaved Africans across the Atlantic Ocean to North America and the West Indies. A BRUTAL journey.

Sectionalism

Major disagreements between North and South, especially over the issue of slavery.

Expansion of Slavery

Both sides argued if slavery should be expanded to new territory in the West. It became a major issue.

Missouri Compromise (1820)

Allowed Missouri to enter the union as a slave state, Maine to enter the union as a free state, prohibited slavery north of latitude 36˚ 30'.

Kansas-Nebraska Act

Created Nebraska and Kansas as states and gave the people in those territories the right to chose to be a free or slave state.

Compromise of 1850

Agreement designed to ease tensions caused by the expansion of slavery into western territories.

Fugitive Slave Act

A law that made it a crime to help runaway slaves; allowed for the arrest of escaped slaves in areas where slavery was illegal.

Abolitionists

Anti-slavery activists who demanded the immediate end of slavery.

Dred Scott v Sandford

Stated that black Americans were not citizens.