USH Finals Semester 1 list of terms (definitions)

95 terms

equality

People are treated and valued the same, they are equal in front of the law and can do the same things.

Rights

Power or privilege granted to people by an agreement among themselves or by law

Liberty

political, civil, moral, and religious; make choices about who we are, with no restrictions on how we speak, think, or act.

Opportunity

Chance for people to pursue their hopes and dreams

Democracy

A system of government founded on the simple principle that power to rule comes from the consent of the governed.

Enlightenment

encouraged people to study, work, and think for themselves.

Natural rights

life, liberty, pursuit of happiness; guaranteed to every person.

John Locke

Enlightenment thinker; came up with the idea of natural rights; was guided by morals, reason, and judgment; also proposed a social contract.

Social Contract

People give up some of their rights in exchange for protection; government must protect these rights, or it is the duty of the people to overthrow it.

Declaration of Independence

Document adopted by the 13 colonies that severed political connections with Great Britain.

Thomas Jefferson

Drafted the Declaration of Independence; a strong believer in natural rights, a founding father, and the 3rd President of the United States.

Frederick Douglas

Former slave, advocates for injustices and cruelty that African Americans endure and moves for change. Pushed to educate slaves to equate freedoms, a big orator of the abolition movement.

The US Constitution

The document that defines the fundamental laws of the US’s federal government; many amendments, laws and bills were added to perfect it.

Inalienable Rights

Undeniable (natural) rights, stated in the constitution; Life, Liberty, Pursuit of Happiness.

Checks and Balances

Each of the 3 branches of government can “check” and limit the power of the other two.

Separation of Powers

Basic powers distributed/separated in 3 branches (executive, legislative, judicial).

Limited Government

The government may only do what the people have given it the power to do; power is divided between a national, (state and local) government.

Popular Sovereignty

The power to rule comes from he consent of the governed.

Bill of Rights

Collective name for the first 10 amendments to the US constitution.

Sectionalism

Occurred between the Northern and Southern states regarding slavery, congress did put it off.

13th Amendment

Abolition of slavery in any state or territory under the US government.

14th Amendment

Declares that all people born in the US are citizens and are guaranteed protection under the law.

15th Amendment

Prohibited voting restrictions based on race, color, or previous condition of servitude (slavery).

Gilded Age

Describes the era's patina of splendor—gilded, after all, is not gold—and the shaky foundations undergirding industrialists' vast accumulation of wealth.

Social Darwinism

Based on Charles Darwin's theory of evolution, this held that the best-run businesses led by the most capable people would survive and prosper.

Trusts

A set of companies managed by a small group known as trustees who can prevent companies in the trust from competing with each other.

Captains of Industry

Their supporters stated that business giants helped usher in our modern economy, they prospered through positive rationale, hard work, taking advantage of new technology, and using new ways to finance to raise living standards.

Robber Barons

Critics stated that they prospered for overwhelmingly negative reasons, they ruthlessly drove rivals out of business robbed the nation’s natural resources, bribed officials to ensure success, paid low wages, and had poor working conditions for their workers.

Progressive Movement

Aimed to 1) protect social welfare, 2) promote moral improvement, 3) create economic reform, 4) foster efficiency.

Muckrakers

A journalist who wrote about social, environmental, and political problems Americans faced.

Upton Sinclair's “The Jungle”

Wrote about the poor and disgusting conditions that workers in the meat packing industry underwent.

Meat Inspection Act

Required the Department of Agriculture to inspect packaged meat, to make sure no wrong ingredients were put with the consumable food.

Pure Food and Drug Act

Established the Food and Drug Administration to test and approve drugs before they went to market.

Theodore Roosevelt as a Progressive President

Believed that businesses, workers, and consumers should all receive a “Square Deal,” program that focused on regulating big business, protecting workers and consumers as well as preserving the environment.

Trust Busting & Sherman Anti-Trust Act

Breaking down the power of the trusts by making illegal” every contact/combination in the form of trusts, or conspiracy, in restraint of trade and commerce”

Labor Unions

Protected by the Clayton Act from anti-trust regulation

Political Machines

Ran in response to immigration; machines run by political bosses helped immigrants and expected they would vote for the boss and candidates in local elections.

Social Gospel Movement

A religious movement of the 1800s based on the belief that social reform and Christianity go hand in hand, believed that society. must take responsibility for the less fortunate.

Settlement Houses

a community center that provided a variety of services to the poor, especially immigrants.

Tenement Act of 1901

required that all tenements have a courtyard and a bathroom in each apartment.

Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire

Factory caught on fire due to unsafe space; 146 women died because doors were purposefully locked, and no safety measures were present in the building

NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Black People)

1909, fought the court to end segregation and ensure that African American men could exercise voting rights under the 15th Amendment; WEB DuBois protested anti-lynching laws; Ida B. Wells Barnett

Nativism

Policy of favoring the interests of native-born Americans over those of immigrants, actively sought to lower immigration

Taft as a Progressive President

Although he campaigned on a low-tariff platform, he signed the Payne-Aldrich Bill, which raised tariffs and tarnished his record as a progressive.

Wilson as a Progressive President

Set out to implement a national reform program; New Freedom: focused on transferring power from trusts to small businesses and average citizens, restricting corporate influence, and transferring and reducing corruption in the federal government.

NAWSA (National American Women Suffrage Association)

Organized women’s suffrage movement, Carrie Cat wanted to gain votes for women in individual states

NWP (National Women’s Party)

Goal of passing an amendment that would allow all citizens to vote, regardless of sex (Alice Paul, Lucy Burns).

Silent Sentinels

Group of 2000 women that protested and petitioned in front of the White House from NWP

16th, 17th and 18th Amendment

16th: income tax

17th: election of Senators by popular vote

18th: Prohibition

Manifest Destiny

Americans’ notion that it was their innate right to expand across the continent from the Atlantic to the Pacific, by God to spread democracy and capitalism.

Motives for Imperialism

1) Manifest Destiny

2) Economic: raw materials and new markets

3) Political/Military power, including a strong navy

4) Ideological: Anglo-Saxon “superiority”, “white man’s burden”, Social Darwinism

5) Religious: spread Christian faith

Open Door Policy

Policy issued in 1898, stating that foreign nations must allow free trade in China, intended to prevent foreign colonization of China in order to maintain the US’s access to the Chinese market.

Annexation of Hawaii

Colonizers forced King Kamehameha to sign a constitution that weakened his power, and living restrictions on exporting sugar to the US (fewer taxes); Queen Lilioukalani gave up her right to tule later by violating this new constitution, John Stevens sent troops and the Queen surrendered, furiously. Americans then ruled under Stanford Dole without the Queen’s consent.

Bayonet Constitution

King K signed it, took away Hawiian’s rights, and gave votes to foreign landowners.

Spanish American War

Cuban desire for independence, Spanish concentration camps, protection of sugar investments, the explosion of USS Maine, DeLome Letter (criticism of President McKinley offended American public), Yellow Journalism, Hearst & Pulitzer drive thirst for war.

Yellow Journalism

style of newspaper reporting that was exaggerated, sparked a rivalry between Hearst and Pulitzer and helped inflame public support for war with Spain.

Annexation fo the Philippines

Emilio Aguinaldo leads Filipino rebels, annexation was narrowly approved in 1899, the US wanted to use islands as a stepping stone to access China’s economy.

Big Stick Diplomacy

“Speak softly and carry a big stick,” negotiate, speak kindly, be strong, made America more aggressive be strong; made America more aggressive in foreign affairs, and competing world power.

Roosevelt Corolary

Made the US the policeman of the world, used in the Panamanian Revolution to build the Canal and to terminate the Russo-Japanese War

Dollar Diplomacy

focuses on economic means, protecting American assets to reach diplomatic objectives, and encouraging foreign investments. Nicaraguan revolution US backs pro-US side and suffers the consequences. This policy uses more military force than the Big Stick.

Moral Diplomacy

uses negotiation and arbitration to make constitutions and establish democracies in Haiti, and Mexico and fails, Using even more military force than the last 2. Proclaimed self-determination.

Isolationist

a government policy of not taking part in economic and political alliances or relations with other countries, rejection of the Treaty of Versailles.

Committee of Public Information

propaganda agency that promoted the -war effort to the American public, CPI lead hired many different professionals to create a massive propaganda campaign.

Espionage Act

made it illegal to spy, interfere with government foreign policy and resist draft

Sedition Act

made it illegal to say anything disloyal, profane, or abusive about the government in war effort.

Schenk Vs. USA

declared that Charles Schenk’s propaganda efforts against the military draft were illegal under the Espionage Act, and were not protected by his 1st amendment right to freedom of speech

Return to Normalcy

The government had no plans for demobilization after the war, a crisis ensued after factories closed, crop prices fell and by 1920, 5 million Americans were unemployed.

Warren G. Harding

President puts the needs of America first Treaty of Versailles rejection, created business-´friendly policies, reduced the federal budget, lowered taxes, and increased tariffs.

1st Red Scare

post-war fear of radicalism, a campaign launched by J. Edgar Hoover to arrest communists and other radicals who promoted the overthrow of the government.

Immigrant Act of 1921

Government responds to anti-immigrant pressure, caps the number of immigrants to the US (164,000 a year), and creates a quota system to limit the number of people that can enter from each country.

Sacco And Vanzetti

Convicted of robbing and murdering 2 men and sentenced to death, many think they were prosecuted because they were anarchists, not necessarily because they were guilty.

Scopes Trial

traditionalists (religion) vs. modernists (science); Scopes was found guilty of teaching Darwin’s theory of Evolution.

Fundamentalism

religious texts must be taken literally

Palmer Raids

resulted in the arrest of 6000 radicals, raids on people’s homes (who were thought to be subversives, disregarded civil liberties, or basic human rights guaranteed by law).

Ku Klux Klan

Defendor of American values; only accepted native-born white protestants.

Calvin Coolidge

2nd president of Post War America, “Keep it cool with Coolidge,” focused on limiting the power of the federal government, business friendly policies, lowered taxes, reduced budget, and promised a bonus to WW1 veterans

\*Credit!

18th Amendment

1. Prohibited the manufacture and sale of alcoholic beverages, Speaksies were established, laws enforced selectively, and more people drank while it was enforced due to rebellion.

21st Amendment

repealed the 18th amendment due to its wide unpopularity

Bootlegger

people who produced, transported, and sold illegal alcohol, became a multimillion-dollar business in the 1920s.

Organized Crime

Gangsters moved a lot of illegal alcohol and made tons of money without getting caught.

Great Migration

beginning during WW1, mass movement of African Americans from the rural South to cities in the North and Midwest in order to take jobs in the industries.

Harlem Renaissance

The era of heightened creativity among African American writers, artists, and musicians who gathered in Harlem.

Roaring 20’s

consumer culture, installment buying, credit, mass media, Hollywood, 19th amendment, traditionalist vs. modernist.

Women and Flappers

dating, trendy fads, and flappers were young women dress and broke with traditionalist expectations of how women should dress and behave.

Radio

ass medium that could reach large audiences, a revolution in mass media, people were connected.

Henry Ford

During the 1920’s more than half of the registered cars. were Model T’s sold by Henry Ford, this mass production was a kick in the butt later when the economy crashed.

Causes of the Great Depression

Overproduction, credit, foreclosure, wealth gap, underconsumption, glut cycle.

Installment buying

Arrangement in which a buyer makes a down payment on a product to be purchased and the seller loans the remainder of the purchase price to the buyer; the purchase must be paid back in loans over time in monthly installments, or the seller can reclaim the product.

Market Speculation

People borrowed money to invest because the market was doing well, but they didn’t consider other economic factors and invested huge amounts in the stock market.

President Hoover

Opposed direct government intervention and direct relief to the people preached rugged individualism, and voluntary cooperation between businesses and the government in giving aid. Created the Hoover Dam, was defeated in the 1932 election for failure to address the Depression.

Bonus March Army

Hoover ordered the army to drive out veterans protesting in front of the White House for their promised bonus.

Rugged Individualism

“We like to do it ourselves," people’s sense of responsibility and power.

Reconstruction Finance Corporation

Hoover’s plan, gave $2 billion in governmental loans to banks, insurance companies, and homes, but it was too little and too late.

Smooth-Hawley Tariff

Hoover raised tariffs on imported goods to push consumers to buy American goods, but rates were HIGH and European nations raised their tariffs on American goods.

Dust Bowls

severe dust storms and severe droughts affected. 100 million acres of farmland in TX, OK, NM, CO, KS; the great plains underwent desertification; several factors contributed to this.

FDR

“The only thing to fear is fear itself,” made people feel hope about the recovery of the economic depression.

Fireside Chats

30 nighttime radio addresses with mar, intimate, informal tone; FDR cares for Americans; built confidence in his policies and let listeners know about the banking holiday.

New Deal

Series of programs, public works projects, financial reforms and regulation enacted by FDR.

Relief, Recovery and Reform

Relief - for the unemployed (CCC; WPA)

Recovery - measures to stimulate the economy (AAA; TVA; NIRA; NRA)

Reform - laws to lessen the threat of another economic disaster (FDIC; SEC; NLRB; SSA)