Unit #2: Changes in the Americas

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering the key terms, concepts, legal milestones, and historical figures from Unit #2: Changes in the Americas.

Sectionalism

The development of separate regional identities and intense loyalty toward one's specific region over the nation as a whole, largely driven by economic differences and conflicts over slavery.

Confederate States of America

A nation established in 1861 by southern states that seceded from the Union following the election of Abraham Lincoln.

Reconstruction Era

The period from 1865 to 1877 following the Civil War, focused on rebuilding the Confederate states and integrating formerly enslaved people into the United States.

13th Amendment

A Reconstruction amendment to the United States Constitution that abolished slavery throughout the nation.

14th Amendment

A Reconstruction amendment that guarantees birthright citizenship and equal protection under the law to all citizens.

15th Amendment

A Reconstruction amendment that prohibits denying citizens the right to vote based on race, color, or previous condition of servitude.

Ku Klux Klan (KKK)

A white supremacist terrorist organization formed in the South that used terror, intimidation, whippings, and murder against Black citizens and Republican officials to dismantle Reconstruction governments.

Upper Canada

A British province created in 1791 characterized by an English-speaking population and English law.

Lower Canada

A British province created in 1791 characterized by a French-speaking majority, French law, and Roman Catholicism.

Métis

People in North America of mixed European and Indigenous ancestry who organized to defend their land rights and distinctive culture.

Dominion of Canada

A self-governing political entity formed in 1867 through the confederation of Canadian colonies that remained part of the British Empire.

Globalization

The process of making economic, cultural, or manufacturing operations global or worldwide in scope.

Gilded Age

The late 19th-century era characterized by rapid industrialization, vast fortunes for business owners and stockholders, and extreme corporate greed and corruption beneath a surface of prosperity.

Tenements

Crowded, multi-family urban apartment buildings constructed for arriving immigrant populations, often marked by poor ventilation, unsanitary living conditions, and the rapid spread of disease.

Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882

Federal legislation during the Exclusionary Era that banned Chinese laborers from immigrating to and working in the United States.

Labor Union

An organized association of workers formed to protect and advocate for their rights, utilizing negotiations and collective action to improve wages and conditions.

Strike

A collective work stoppage organized by employees as a bargaining tactic to force employers to meet their workplace demands.

Great Railroad Strike of 1877

A widespread labor protest involving approximately 100,000 railroad workers where violent clashes erupted, resulting in roughly 100 deaths and successful worker negotiations.

Haymarket Riot

An 1886 labor rally in Chicago that erupted into violence when a bomb killed police officers and protestors, leading to the arrest of eight anarchists and the execution of four.

Robber Baron

A derogatory term used in the late 19th century to describe a wealthy industrialist or business magnate who accumulated fortune through ruthless, exploitative practices.

Captain of Industry

A term for a 19th-century business leader whose personal fortune, enterprise, and leadership contributed positively to national industrial growth and philanthropy.

Yucatán Rebellion

A Maya revolt (also known as the Caste War) that began in 1847 when regional authorities confiscated Maya farms for sugar plantations, leading to decades of armed conflict against Mexican and local forces.

Indian Removal Act of 1830

Federal legislation signed by President Andrew Jackson authorizing the forced relocation of Native American tribes from the southeastern states to lands west of the Mississippi River.

Trail of Tears

The forced westward march of southeastern Native American tribes to Indian Territory during the late 1830s under devastating and deadly conditions.

Battle of Little Bighorn

An 1876 military confrontation in which Lakota and allied Native American forces killed Colonel George Custer and nearly all 200 U.S. troops sent to force them out of the Black Hills.

Sitting Bull

The prominent Lakota leader who resisted displacement from the Black Hills, defeated Custer at the Little Bighorn, and was killed in 1890 during an arrest attempt over the Ghost Dance.

Ghost Dance

A spiritual ceremony practiced by Native Americans who believed it would banish evil from the land, restore the bison herds, and return their people to peace and prosperity.

Wounded Knee Massacre

An 1890 military assault at Wounded Knee Creek where the U.S. Army confronted Lakota Ghost Dancers and killed more than 300 Native Americans while attempting to disarm them.

Indian Act of 1876

A Canadian law designed to assimilate First Nations people by forcing them onto reservations and into boarding schools, requiring Western clothes and European languages, and outlawing indigenous religious ceremonies.

Louis Riel

The Métis leader who formed a provisional government to protect Indigenous land rights and led the North-West Rebellion before being executed for treason by the Canadian government.

Geronimo

An Apache leader who waged an extended armed campaign against Mexican and United States military forces resisting the removal of his people from their lands.

Plessy v. Ferguson

An 1896 landmark Supreme Court decision upholding racial segregation in public accommodations under the legal doctrine of 'separate but equal.'

Jim Crow Laws

State and local statutes enacted across the post-Reconstruction South that enforced racial segregation and systematically stripped African Americans of voting rights and civil protections.

American Federation of Labor (AFL)

A national confederation of craft unions founded in 1886 by Samuel Gompers that utilized collective bargaining to secure improved wages, working hours, and workplace safety.

Collective Bargaining

A process of negotiation between an organized body of workers and an employer to determine salaries, working hours, and labor conditions.

Muckrakers

Journalists and writers who investigated and exposed corporate monopolies, government corruption, and dangerous labor conditions to the public.

Monopoly

The complete control of an industry or commodity by a single corporation, ruled illegal by the Supreme Court in 1911.

The Jungle

A 1906 muckraking novel written by Upton Sinclair detailing the brutal exploitation of laborers and unsanitary processing practices in the Chicago meatpacking industry.

Progressives

Reformers who sought to eliminate the abuses of industrialization and corporate capitalism through legislative reform and government regulation.

Socialists

Political thinkers and activists who viewed capitalism as inherently corrupt and irreparable, advocating instead for the public ownership of natural resources and major industries.

Seneca Falls Convention

The first women's rights convention held in the United States in 1848, where organizers Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott demanded legal equality and women's suffrage.

19th Amendment

The constitutional amendment ratified in 1920 that granted women the right to vote in the United States.