U.S. History: Pre-Columbus to the Modern Era Review

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering the major events, laws, and figures of United States history from early colonization through the late 20th century.

Three G’s of exploration

The primary motivations for European exploration: God, Glory, and Gold.

Columbian exchange

The flow of goods, people, and disease back and forth between the eastern and western hemisphere.

Encomienda system

A state sponsored space based system that failed because disease wiped out natives and was replaced with the African slave trade.

Salutary neglect

The period where the British neglected the colonies, allowing them to get used to living without British intervention.

Proclamation of $1763$

A marker boundary acquired after the French and Indian war where colonists were not allowed to go on Native land.

Common Sense

A pamphlet written by Thomas Paine that urged people to stand up for their liberty and was a major reason colonists began rebelling.

Republican Motherhood

The idea from the American Revolution that it was the job of women to raise their sons to be able to vote.

Articles of Confederation

The first attempt at a constitution; it was weak because it could not raise money, impose taxes, or raise an army.

The Great Compromise

An agreement that created the House of Representatives to represent states by population and the Senate to provide equality for all states.

$3/5$ compromise

A rule stating that $3/5$ of the enslaved population could be counted as part of a state's total population.

Federalism

The system of sharing power between the national government and state governments.

Assumption

Alexander Hamilton's policy of collecting the debt of each state from the American Revolution into a single national debt.

Impressment

The British practice of forcing people to serve in their navy.

Nullification

The idea that states have the power to void federal laws if they are deemed unconstitutional.

Judicial Review

The power given to the judicial branch to deem actions or laws unconstitutional, established in Marbury V Madison.

McCulloch v Maryland

A Supreme Court case declaring that a state cannot tax a federal bank and that national law trumps state law.

Monroe doctrine ($1823$)

A U.S. statement declaring that the western hemisphere is closed to further European expansion.

Panic of $1819$

The first major financial crisis in the U.S. that led to widespread unemployment and economic depression.

Market Revolution

The linking of northern industries with southern and western farms to advance agriculture, industry, and transportation.

Cult of Domesticity

The idea that women should handle housework and children while men performed jobs outside the home.

The American system

Henry Clay's plan to protect American industry through a national bank, internal improvements, and roads and canals.

Eli Whitney

The inventor of the cotton gin, which revolutionized cotton collection and increased the need for slaves.

Corrupt Bargaining

The name given to the outcome of the Election of $1824$ when John Quincy Adams became president and Henry Clay became Secretary of Treasury.

Spoil system

The practice of rewarding political supporters with government jobs to maintain political loyalty.

Tariff of Abomination

A $1828$ tariff that imposed high taxes on imports, contributing to the Nullification Crisis.

Trail of Tears

The forced march during the Indian Removal Act where natives faced hunger and disease, resulting in $6000$ deaths.

Paternalism

The ideology that masters took care of slaves because slaves were supposedly unable to take care of themselves.

The Liberator

An anti-slavery newspaper written by William Lloyd Garrison that advocated for immediate emancipation.

Free Soil Movement

A political party that opposed the expansion of slavery to ensure white farmers had no competition from enslaved labor.

Dred Scott V Sanford

A court case deciding that slaves were not considered citizens and could not be protected under the Constitution.

Seneca Falls

The first women's rights convention in the U.S. which produced the Declaration of Sentiments.

Temperance

The movement advocating for the elimination of alcoholic beverages.

Transcendentalism

A philosophy influenced by romanticism suggesting people could access deeper truths through spiritual insight.

Manifest destiny

The belief, coined by John L. O’Sullivan, that the U.S. was entitled to expand across the entire North American continent.

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

The treaty that ended the Mexican American war and expanded American territory while deepening slavery tensions.

Popular sovereignty

The belief that people living in a territory should decide for themselves if their state is a slave state or a free state.

Emancipation proclamation ($1863$)

An executive order by Lincoln declaring all enslaved people in Confederate states were free.

Reconstruction

The period after the Civil War (from $1865$ to $1877$) aimed at rebuilding the U.S. and reintegrating the southern states.

$14^{th}$ Amendment

An amendment stating that anyone born in the United States is granted natural rights.

Freedmen's Bureau

A government program made to assist former slaves by providing food, clothing, education, and legal aid.

Jim Crow laws

State and local laws that enforced racial segregation under the principle of "separate but equal."

Turner thesis

Frederick Jackson Turner's argument that the American frontier was a key factor in shaping U.S. institutions and democracy.

Dawes act

A plan to assimilate natives by annihilating their culture and social traditions.

Bessemer Process

A process utilized by Carnegie for making cheaper, higher quality steel.

Gospel of wealth

An essay by Carnegie advocating that the rich have a moral obligation to use their wealth to benefit society.

Urbanization

The transformation of rural areas into urban areas due to population growth and industrialization.

Tammany Hall

A powerful political organization in New York City known for patronage and corruption under Boss Tweed.

Muckrakers

Journalists who exposed corruption, social injustice, and business abuses during the Progressive Era.

Square deal

Theodore Roosevelt's policy focused on regulating corporations, consumer safety, and resource conservation.

Big stick policy

A policy emphasizing diplomacy backed by the threat of military force to achieve U.S. goals.

Seward’s Folly

The belief that the purchase of Alaska in $1867$ was a waste of money on a frozen wasteland.

Yellow journalism

Sensational propaganda and exaggerated stories used to influence American intervention in Cuba.

Roosevelt Corollary

An extension of the Monroe doctrine stating the U.S. had the right to intervene in Latin American countries to maintain order.

Fourteen points

Woodrow Wilson's principles for peace after World War I, including the creation of the League of Nations.

Great Migration

The movement of African-Americans from the Jim Crow south to north eastern cities for factory work.

Harlem Renaissance

A cultural movement flourishing in the $1920s$ that highlighted African-American literature, music, and art.

New Deal

FDR’s series of programs designed to combat the Great Depression through relief, recovery, and reform.

Containment

The U.S. strategy during the Cold War to prevent the spread of communism.

McCarthyism

The practice of investigating and accusing people of being communist without real evidence, named after Joseph McCarthy.

NATO

A military alliance between the U.S. and western nations to combat the influence of the USSR.

Bay of Pigs invasion ($1961$)

A failed secret CIA mission to overthrow Fidel Castro’s communist government in Cuba.

Great society

Lyndon B. Johnson's programs that focused on civil rights, education, and social welfare, including Medicare and Medicaid.

Detente

A policy pursued by the U.S. and USSR to ease tensions and reduce the nuclear arms race.

Watergate scandal

A political scandal involving illegal wiretapping and money laundering that led to Richard Nixon's resignation.

Reaganomics

An economic policy focusing on cutting taxes for the rich to stimulate growth through the trickle down effect.