history final 2025

Atlantic Ocean

Ocean on the East Coast of the US.

Pacific Ocean

Ocean on the West Coast of the US.

Puerto Rico

One US territory.

Constitution

The supreme law of the land.

We the People

The first three words of the Constitution indicating self-government.

Congress

The body that makes federal laws.

Federal system of government

Power shared by the central/federal government and states.

House of Representatives representation

Determined by population.

Senate representation

2 representatives per state.

Electoral College

The system by which the President is elected.

Legislative branch

Makes laws.

Executive branch

Enforces laws.

Judicial branch

Interprets laws and determines if the law is constitutional.

Judicial review

The power of courts to strike down laws; established by Marbury v. Madison.

Popular sovereignty

Power from the people.

Republicanism

Government in which people elect representatives.

Separation of powers

Divides power to prevent abuse.

Rule of Law

Everyone must follow the law; no one is above the law.

Marbury v. Madison

Court case that established the principle of judicial review.

18th Amendment

Prohibition; the only amendment to be repealed.

21st Amendment

Repealed the 18th Amendment.

Rights of everyone living in the US

Freedom of speech and religion; non-citizens cannot vote in federal elections.

13th Amendment

Ends slavery.

14th Amendment

Grants citizenship to all born in the U.S.

15th Amendment

All male citizens can vote regardless of race.

19th Amendment

Women can vote.

Andrew Jackson's Presidency

Associated with the rise of the common people by expanding voting rights.

Trail of Tears

Forced removal of the Cherokee, resulting in many deaths.

Indian Removal Act of 1830

Moved Native Americans west of the Mississippi River.

Spoils System

Gave government jobs to political supporters.

Manifest Destiny

Belief that God gave the right to expand across the U.S. coast to coast.

Mexican-American War

War that gave the United States land in California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico.

Abolitionist

Someone who wanted to end slavery.

Missouri Compromise

Missouri = slave, Maine = free; established a line at 36°30′ for future states.

Compromise of 1850

California = free; stricter Fugitive Slave Law.

Kansas-Nebraska Act

Let states vote on slavery (popular sovereignty); overturns Missouri Compromise.

Dred Scott v. Sanford

Supreme Court case stating slaves are property, not citizens.

South Carolina

First state to secede after Lincoln's election.

Fort Sumter

Location of the first conflict in the Civil War.

Virginia

State that seceded after the Battle at Fort Sumter.

West Virginia

State created when Virginia was split in two over Civil War differences.

Virginia split

West Virginia created

Capital of the Confederacy

Richmond, Virginia

President of the U.S. during the Civil War

Abraham Lincoln

Bloodiest single-day battle in the Civil War

Battle of Antietam

Emancipation Proclamation

Freed slaves in rebelling states

Battle after which the Emancipation Proclamation was issued

Antietam

State where the Gettysburg Address was given

Pennsylvania, preserve the Union and democracy

Event at Appomattox Court House

Lee surrendered to Grant (the war ended)

Bennett Place

The biggest surrender was Bennet Place in Durham

Official abolition of slavery

13th Amendment

Andrew Johnson

Lincoln's vice president, therefore, became the Successor became President after the assassination

Freedman's Bureau

Helped freed slaves with education and jobs

Northerners who came South after the Civil War

Carpetbaggers

Radical Reconstruction's effect on African American participation in government

More African Americans were elected; about 2000 elected

Compromise of 1877

Ended Reconstruction; troops left the South: Rutherford B Hayes

Black Codes

Laws to limit the rights of freed slaves

Jim Crow Era's effect on African Americans in the South

Legal segregation and discrimination

Plessy v. Ferguson

"Separate but equal" is legal; segregation is not constitutional.

Gilded Age

Having a pleasing or showing appearance that covers something of little value; coined by Mark Twain

Inventions that helped cities build vertically

Elevators, Bessemer steel process

Terms related to the rise of big business

Monopoly, trust, stock, and corporation are all related to the rise of big business

Robber Baron

Use explicit practices in squash competition, create monopolies; Good ones; Captains of industry

Difference between vertical and horizontal integration

Vertical integration is when you buy stages of production, but horizontal integration is when you buy the whole company itself.

Type of integration used by Rockefeller

Horizontal

Type of integration used by Carnegie

Vertical

Laissez-faire

Hands off government; a belief that government should have a little involvement as possible in private life

Invention that helped unite the US during the Gilded Age

The transcontinental railroad

Societal problems during the Gilded Age

Economic inequality, political corruption, unbridled capitalism, racism, dirty cities, tenements

Nativism

A political stance or policy that prioritizes the interest of native-born or long-established residents of a country over those of immigrants, often advocating for immigration restrictions.

Melting Pot

In society where different people blend as one.

Type of economy the US transitioned to in the Gilded Age

Industrial economy

Muckrakers

Journalists who exposed corruption and problems in society during the Progressive Era.

Yellow Journalism

Sensationalized and exaggerated news is used to attract readers and influence public opinion.

The Jungle

Written by Upton Sinclair, it was about the meatpacking industry.

The Jungle

Upton Sinclair exposed unsanitary conditions in the meatpacking industry.

How the Other Half Lives

Jacob Riis; pictures showing the poor living conditions in tenement housing in New York City.

Ida B. Wells

She was a journalist and civil rights activist who fought against lynching and for African American rights, a founder of the NAACP.

Booker T. Washington

Believed in vocational education and gradual equality; Tuskegee.

W.E.B. DuBois

Wanted immediate civil rights and higher education for African Americans, NAACP.

Urbanization

The growth of cities is due to people moving from rural areas to urban areas for jobs.

Spanish-American War

William McKinley; we gained Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines.

Annexation of Hawaii

To gain economic and military advantages (like sugar plantations and a naval base).

Square Deal

Consumer protection, control of corporations (Trust Busting), and conservation of natural resources.

Panama Canal

Under Theodore Roosevelt's presidency, the canal was built.

MAIN causes of WWI

Militarism, Alliances, Imperialism, Nationalism.

Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand

What lit the fuse for WWI.

New military technologies in WWI

Machine guns, tanks, poison gas, airplanes, submarines (U-boats).

U.S. President during WWI

Woodrow Wilson.

Zimmerman Telegram

A German message to Mexico promising land if they attacked the U.S. helped push the U.S. into war.

Propaganda efforts in WWI

Used posters, films, and speeches to gain support for the war and encourage enlistment and rationing.

Changes on the U.S. Homefront during WWI

Urging people to join the military, Liberty Bonds; Women worked in factories, Victory Gardens grew food, Liberty Bonds funded the war, and people rationed supplies.

Harlem Hellfighters

An African American infantry unit known for bravery in combat during WWI (served under the French army because of racism).

Treaty of Versailles

The peace treaty that ended WWI blamed Germany and made it pay reparations.

Reparations

Payments made by a defeated country to pay for war damages.

Fourteen Points

Woodrow Wilson's plan for world peace included the League of Nations.

Calvin Coolidge

Who said that the 'business of America is business'?

Return to Normalcy

By avoiding foreign alliances and focusing on isolationism after WWI.

Roaring '20s

A time of economic boom, jazz, flappers, and social change.

Installment buying

Buying on credit and paying later led to debt and economic collapse.