AP U.S. History Things You Must Know

Virgin soil epidemic

Introduction of a disease to a population with no previous exposure and therefore no natural immunities.

Salutary neglect / Benign neglect

The unwritten, unofficial stance of benign neglect by England toward the American colonies. Colonists were relatively autonomous and allowed to government themselves with minimal interference.

Mercantilism (Commercialism)

Belief in the benefits of profitable trading. Supported high tariffs on imported goods, monopolies, and preventing foreign trading.

Federalist

Supporters of the constitution, checks and balances, protection of property, and a strong federal government. Benjamin Franklin, James Madison, John Jay, and Alexander Hamilton.

Anti-Federalist

Opposed the constitution. Supported strong state governments (feared strong national government), strong executive, bill of rights. Patrick Henry, Samuel Adams, John Hancock, Richard Henry Lee, and George Mason.

Isolationism

A policy of remaining apart from the affairs or interests of other groups (countries). U.S. non-involvement in European and Asian conflicts. Included progressives, conservatives, and peace activists. Herbert Hoover.

Judicial review

The ability of the Court to declare a Legislative or Executive act in violation of the Constitution.

Embargo

Prohibition of American ships from trading with foreign ports. Intended to punish Britain and France for interfering with American trade during the war.

Democratic-Republican

Advocated for a weaker national government and minimize government interference in the economy. Westward expansion, personal liberty, states’ rights. Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, Andrew Jackson, John Quincy Adams, William Crawford, and Henry Clay.

Whig

British reforming and constitutional party. Sought the supremacy of Parliament and the lesser power of the monarch.. Supported the American Revolution. Antimonarchist. Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, Rufus Choate, William Seward, John J. Crittenden, and John Quincy Adams.

Jacksonian Democracy

A movement for more democracy in American government in the 1830s. Greater rights for the common man and opposed to any signs of aristocracy in the nation. Andrew Jackson, Martin Van Buren, James K. Polk, Thomas Hart Benton, and Stephen A. Douglas.

Nullification

States can invalidate federal laws or judicial decisions they deem unconstitutional. Thomas Jefferson and James Madison.

Popular sovereignty

The authority of a state and its government are created and sustained by the consent of its people, who are the source of all political power. People power.

Emancipation

Freed slaves in the rebellious and border states. Created African American units in the Army and Navy. Abraham Lincoln.

Jim Crow segregation

Any state or local laws that enforced or legalized racial segregation. Lasted 100 years from the post-Civil War era until around 1968.

Sharecropping

A system where the landlord/planter allows a tenant to use the land in exchange for a share of the crop. Promoted bigger harvests.

Nativism

The policy of protecting the interests of native-born or established inhabitants against those of immigrants. U.S. culture should be preserved from foreign influence.

Mass production

The manufacturing of many identical products by the division of labor into many small repetitive tasks. Allowed goods to be made and transported more quickly.

Monopoly

When a business owns all of their competition and their business because they were able to buy out the competitors. Allowed for price-fixing and complete control over the market. Outlawed in 1900s.

Labor union

Associations of workers formed to protect workers’ rights and advance their interests. Improve working conditions.

Frontier

A shifting or moving area where pioneers settled. Began when Jamestown, Virginia was settled by the English in 1607. Shaped American culture.

Imperialism

Ruled by an emperor. A policy extending a country’s power and influence through diplomacy or military force. U.S. expansion across its borders.

Self-determination

The process by which a country determines its own statehood and forms its own allegiances and government. Determine their own future.

Prohibition

The prevention by law of the manufacture and sale of alcohol between 1920 and 1933. Elimination of drunkenness. Progressives.

Laissez-faire economics

Free-market capitalism that opposes government intervention. Advocates that economic success is inhibited when governments are involved in business and markets. Increased gap between rich and poor.

Liberalism (economics/politics)

Pollical philosophy based on the rights of the individual, liberty, and consent of the governed, political equality and equality before the law. Moderate government regulation of the economy, progressive taxation, and increased exercise of federal government power in relation to the states.

Soviet Union

A Communist nation, consisting of Russia and 14 other states from 1922 to 1991. Keep Germany weak and keep Eastern Europe under its control.

Containment

United States tried to stop the spread of communism by creating alliances and helping weak countries to resist Soviet advances. Harry Truman in the 1940s.

Domino Theory

The theory that a political event in one country will cause similar events in neighboring countries. Society, communists, and socialists everywhere were unqualifiedly evil. Fall of French Indochina to the communists would created a domino effect. Dwight D. Eisenhower.

Communism

A political theory derived from Karl Marx, advocating class war and leading to a society in which all property is publicly owned and each person works and is paid according to their abilities and needs. Collectivism, socialism, and sovietism.

Non-violent protest (Civil Rights)

A major factor in the success of the civil rights movement. Martin Luther King. Sit-ins, Freedom Ridges, and Montgomery Bus Boycott.

Vietnamization

Allowed the U.S. to gradually withdraw its troops from Vietnam. Shift the responsibility of the war from the U.S. to South Vietnam.

Conservatism

Anti-regulation, anti-union, limited government, individualism, traditionalism, republicanism, and limited federal government power in relation to the U.S. states.

Terrorism

The unlawful use of force or violence against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government or its citizens to further certain political or social objectives. 9/11, KKK, Pearl Harbor, and Islamist extremism.