Debating U.S. History – Regents Review Packet (Vocabulary Flashcards)

Vocabulary flashcards covering key terms, people, laws, and concepts from the Regents U.S. History packet.

Shays' Rebellion

Rebellion of Massachusetts farmers (1786-87) highlighting weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation and prompting calls for a stronger central government.

Articles of Confederation

The first U.S. Constitution; created a weak central government with limited powers and most authority retained by the states.

Constitutional Convention

1787 meeting where delegates drafted a new framework for the U.S. government; resulted in the U.S. Constitution.

Great Compromise

Agreement that created a bicameral Congress: House of Representatives based on population and Senate with equal representation.

Bicameral Legislature

A two-house legislature consisting of the House of Representatives and the Senate.

Three-Fifths Compromise

Gave slave populations partial representation by counting enslaved people as three-fifths of a person for representation and taxation.

Federalists

Supporters of a stronger national government and the ratification of the U.S. Constitution.

Anti-Federalists

Opponents of a strong central government who demanded the addition of a Bill of Rights to protect individual liberties.

Federalist Papers

A collection of essays promoting the ratification of the Constitution and explaining the new framework of government.

Bill of Rights

The first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution, guaranteeing individual liberties and limiting government power.

Elastic Clause

Also known as the Necessary and Proper Clause; gives Congress flexibility to pass laws needed to carry out its powers.

Separation of Powers

Dividing government powers among the legislative, executive, and judicial branches.

Checks and Balances

A system where each branch can limit the powers of the other branches to prevent tyranny.

Limited Government

The principle that the government’s powers are restricted by the Constitution.

Federalism

Division of power between national (federal) and state governments.

Veto

Executive power to reject a bill passed by Congress.

Electoral College

System for electing the president; each state’s electoral votes equal its number of representatives plus senators.

Unwritten Constitution

Customs and practices not in the written text, such as a two-term presidency and the use of a presidential cabinet.

Judicial Review

Power of courts to declare laws or actions unconstitutional; established by Marbury v. Madison.

Marbury v. Madison

1803 Supreme Court case establishing the principle of judicial review.

John Marshall

Chief Justice who strengthened federal power and established judicial review.

Lobbying

Efforts by individuals or groups to influence public policy and legislative decisions.

Monroe Doctrine

Early 19th-century policy declaring the Western Hemisphere off-limits to European colonization.

Roosevelt Corollary

Expansion of the Monroe Doctrine asserting the U.S. right to intervene in Latin America to stabilize the region.

Manifest Destiny

19th-century belief that the United States was destined to expand across North America to the Pacific.

Louisiana Purchase

1803 purchase from France that doubled the size of the United States and included New Orleans and control of the Mississippi River.

Erie Canal

Canal connecting the Hudson River with the Great Lakes, boosting trade and westward expansion.

Indian Removal Act

1830 law that forced many Native American tribes to relocate west of the Mississippi River.

Trail of Tears

Forced relocation and suffering of Native American nations, notably the Cherokee, during Indian removal.

Missouri Compromise

1820 political agreement maintaining the balance of free and slave states; established the 36°30' line.

Compromise of 1850

Package of laws addressing slavery in new territories, including California as a free state and the Fugitive Slave Act.

Kansas-Nebraska Act of…

1854 allowed residents of Kansas and Nebraska to decide for themselves whether to allow slavery in their territories

Dred Scott v. Sanford

1857 Supreme Court decision ruling that enslaved people were not citizens and that Congress could not ban slavery in new territories.

Emancipation Proclamation

1863 order by Lincoln declaring enslaved people in Confederate states to be free.

13th Amendment

A constitutional amendment abolishing slavery in the United States (1865).

14th Amendment

Constitutional amendment granting citizenship and equal protection under the law (1868).

15th Amendment

Constitutional amendment prohibiting the denial of voting rights based on race (1870).

17th Amendment

Constitutional amendment providing for the direct election of U.S. Senators (1913).

18th Amendment

Constitutional amendment establishing Prohibition (1919).

19th Amendment

Constitutional amendment granting women the right to vote (1920).

20th Amendment

Constitutional amendment setting terms for the beginning of presidential and congressional terms.

24th Amendment

Constitutional amendment prohibiting poll taxes in federal elections (1964).

26th Amendment

Constitutional amendment granting 18-year-olds the right to vote (1971).

Plessy v. Ferguson

1896 Supreme Court decision upholding 'separate but equal' facilities for Blacks and whites.

Brown v. Board of Education

1954 Supreme Court ruling that racial segregation in public schools is unconstitutional, overturning Plessy.

Civil Rights Act of 1964

Legislation banning segregation and employment discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.

Voting Rights Act of 1965

Law aimed at overcoming legal barriers preventing African Americans from voting.

Harlem Renaissance

Cultural, artistic, and literary flourishing of African American life in the 1920s centered in Harlem.

Great Migration

Mass movement of African Americans from the rural South to industrial cities in the North and West during the early 20th century.

Scopes Trial

1925 trial about the legality of teaching human evolution in public schools; symbolized clash between science and religion.

Sacco and Vanzetti

Two Italian immigrant anarchists whose trial reflected anti-immigrant and anti-radical sentiment in the 1920s.

Chinese Exclusion Act

1882 law banning Chinese immigration to the United States.

Immigration Acts of 1921 and 1924

Laws establishing national origin quotas that restricted immigration from certain regions.

Harlem Renaissance figures

Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Duke Ellington; key artists and writers in the movement.

Muckraker

Progressive Era journalists who exposed corruption and social problems in business and government.

The Jungle

Upton Sinclair novel that exposed unsanitary conditions in the meatpacking industry, leading to reforms.

Jacob Riis

Muckraking photographer and writer who highlighted urban poverty in How the Other Half Lives.

Jane Addams

Social reformer who established settlement houses to aid urban poor and immigrants.

Meat Inspection Act

Progressive-era law ensuring sanitary conditions in meatpacking plants.

Pure Food and Drug Act

1938 law regulating food and pharmaceuticals to protect consumers.

New Deal

FDR's program of relief, recovery, and reforms to counter the Great Depression.

FDIC

Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation that insures bank deposits.

Social Security

New Deal program providing unemployment insurance, pensions, and welfare benefits.

Dust Bowl

1930s ecological disaster in the Great Plains caused by drought and poor farming practices.

Korean War

Early Cold War conflict illustrating containment; ends with armistice in 1953.

Manhattan Project

Top-secret World War II program to develop the first atomic bombs.

Rosie the Riveter

Icon representing women who worked in factories during World War II.

Korematsu v. United States

1944 Supreme Court case upholding internment of Japanese Americans during WWII (overturned later).

GI Bill

Legislation providing education and housing benefits to returning veterans after WWII.

Marshall Plan

U.S. economic aid program to rebuild Western European economies after WWII.

NATO

North Atlantic Treaty Organization, a military alliance formed in 1949 for collective security.

Containment

Cold War policy to prevent the spread of communism beyond its existing borders.

Vietnam War

Conflict in Southeast Asia intended to prevent communism's spread; controversial in the U.S.

Sputnik

First artificial Earth satellite, launched by the Soviet Union in 1957, spurring the space race.

Civil Rights Act of 1964

Legislation prohibiting discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.

Voting Rights Act of 1965

Civil rights law banning literacy tests and other barriers to voting.

Roe v. Wade

1973 Supreme Court decision recognizing women's right to abortion under certain conditions.

Constitution = stronger government we still use.

first (weak) government

Constitution

Stronger Government we still use

Bill of RIghts

First 10 Amendments

Preliminary Emancipation

Lincoln’s warning to the South to come back

Proclamation Emancipation

freed slaves in rebel states

Civil Rights Acts

protected equal rights (first after slavery, later during the 1960s movement).

Laissez-faire capitalism

the government shouldn’t make a lot of rules for business to follow

Social Darwinism

idea that rich people were rich because they deserved to be rich, while the poor were blamed for being poor. Justified large economic inequalities.

Andrew Carnegie

Andrew Carnegie was a powerful steel industry leader who became extremely wealthy by building a steel empire, and although he later gave away much of his fortune to help society, he is often called a "robber baron" because he treated workers poorly and crushed competition to grow his business.

John D. Rockfeller

One of the wealthiest individuals in American history, he co-founded the Standard Oil Company. He is a robber barron.

'“Robber Barrons”

A term used to describe powerful 19th-century industrialists who were accused of using exploitative practices to amass their fortunes, often at the expense of workers and society.

Labor Unions

organization of workers who united in order to have more power to fight the bosses

Gilded Age

a period in American history from the late 1870s to the late 1890s, characterized by rapid economic growth, industrialization, and significant social and political changes.

Railroad Strike of 1877

Widespread railroad workers' strike protesting wage cuts, leading to significant violence and federal intervention.

Haymarket Riot

1886 bombing during a labor demonstration in Chicago's Haymarket Square, leading to a trial and executions that fueled anti-labor sentiment.

Pullman Strike

A nationwide railroad strike in the United States in 1894, protesting wage cuts and high rents in company towns. It was crushed by federal troops and a court injunction, signifying a major defeat for labor unions.

Homestead Strike

Violent 1892 steelworkers' strike at Carnegie Steel in Homestead, Pennsylvania, protesting wage cuts and brutal working conditions. It resulted in a major defeat for the union and a setback for the labor movement.

J.P. Morgan

Prominent American financier and banker who arranged the mergers that created U.S. Steel Corporation and General Electric, dominating corporate finance during the Gilded Age. -capital of industry

Interstate Commerce Act

regulate the railroad industry and prevent monopolistic practices.

Sherman Anttitrust Act

1890 federal law prohibiting monopolies and unfair business practices to promote competition and regulate big business.

Imperialism

the policy of extending a country's power and influence through colonization, military force, or economic control over other territories.

Monroe Doctrine

(Pres. Monroe, 1823) US telling Europe to stay out of the Western Hemisphere; Roosevelt Corollary (speak softly and carry big stick” added on to this saying the US gave itself the right to INTERFERE in the affairs of LAtin American and Caribbean Countries.

Spanish-American War

(1898) Spain was quickly defeated and US gained the territories of Puerto RIco, Guam, and the Phillipines and control over Cuba.