US History Final Exam

Radical Republicans

Congressional Republicans who wanted strict Reconstruction, punishment for the South and strong protections for formerly enslaved people.

Thaddeus Stevens

Radical Republican leader in the House who supported civil rights and federal protection for formerly enslaved people.

Charles Sumner

Radical Republican senator who pushed for Black voting rights and equal rights during Reconstruction.

John Wilkes Booth

The man who assassinated Abraham Lincoln in 1865.

Black Codes

Southern laws passed after the Civil War that restricted the freedom and labor rights of African Americans.

Freedmen's Bureau

Federal agency created to help formerly enslaved people with schools, food, medical care, legal help and labor contracts.

13th Amendment

Abolished slavery in the United States.

14th Amendment

Gave citizenship and equal protection under the law to people born or naturalized in the U.S.

15th Amendment

Protected Black men's right to vote.

Reconstruction Act of 1867

Divided the South into military districts and required Southern states to create new governments and accept the 14th Amendment.

Grant Scandals

Corruption scandals during Ulysses S. Grant's presidency, including Credit Mobilier and the Whiskey Ring.

Credit Mobilier

A railroad corruption scandal involving overcharging and bribing politicians.

Whiskey Ring

A scandal where officials stole tax revenue from whiskey sales.

Redemption

The return of white Democratic control in the South after Reconstruction.

Force Acts

Federal laws passed in 1870-1871 to fight the KKK and protect Black voting rights.

Jim Crow

Laws and customs that enforced racial segregation in the South.

Plessy v. Ferguson

1896 Supreme Court case that upheld segregation under "separate but equal."

American Federation of Labor

A labor union for skilled workers that focused on wages, hours and working conditions.

Samuel Gompers

Leader of the American Federation of Labor.

International Workers of the World

A radical labor union that tried to organize all workers, including immigrants and unskilled workers.

Literacy Test

A requirement that immigrants or voters prove they could read, often used to restrict access.

Immigration Act of 1917

Law that required immigrants to pass a literacy test and restricted immigration from parts of Asia.

Chinese Exclusion Act

1882 law that banned most Chinese immigration to the United States.

Farmer's Alliance

Farmer reform movement that fought against banks, railroads and unfair crop prices.

Populist Party

A political party made up mostly of farmers and workers who wanted economic reforms.

Omaha Platform

The Populist Party's 1892 platform calling for free silver, railroad regulation and political reforms.

Yellow Press

Sensational journalism that exaggerated stories to sell newspapers.

Pulitzer and Hearst

Newspaper publishers who used yellow journalism and helped build support for the Spanish-American War.

Explosion of USS Maine

The 1898 explosion of an American ship in Havana Harbor that helped push the U.S. into war with Spain.

Open Door Policy

U.S. policy supporting equal trading rights for all nations in China.

Platt Amendment

1901 amendment that gave the U.S. the right to intervene in Cuba and keep a naval base there.

Clayton Anti-Trust Act

1914 law that strengthened antitrust laws and protected labor unions.

Zimmerman Telegram

Secret German message asking Mexico to ally with Germany against the U.S. during World War I.

Fourteen Points

Woodrow Wilson's peace plan after World War I, including self-determination and the League of Nations.

Espionage and Sedition Acts

Wartime laws that punished speech seen as disloyal or antiwar during World War I.

Eugene V. Debs

Socialist leader jailed for speaking against World War I.

League of Nations

International organization created after World War I to prevent future wars, but the U.S. never joined.

Palmer Raids

Government raids against suspected radicals during the First Red Scare.

Herbert Hoover

President at the start of the Great Depression who believed in limited government aid.

Andrew Mellon

Secretary of the Treasury in the 1920s who supported tax cuts for businesses and the wealthy.

Kellogg-Briand Pact

Agreement where nations promised not to use war as a tool of foreign policy.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt

President who created the New Deal during the Great Depression.

The New Deal

FDR's programs meant to provide relief, recovery and reform during the Great Depression.

FDIC

Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, which insured bank deposits and restored trust in banks.

John Maynard Keynes

Economist who argued that government spending could help fix economic downturns.

TVA

New Deal program that built dams, created jobs and brought electricity to the Tennessee Valley.

Huey Long

Louisiana politician who criticized FDR and proposed the Share Our Wealth plan.

Share Our Wealth

Huey Long's plan to tax the rich and redistribute wealth to ordinary Americans.

Social Security Act

New Deal law that created old-age pensions, unemployment insurance and public assistance.

Fireside Chats

FDR's radio speeches that explained policies and reassured Americans.

Munich Conference

1938 meeting where Britain and France allowed Hitler to take part of Czechoslovakia.

Appeasement

Policy of giving in to aggression to avoid war, especially used toward Hitler before World War II.

Pearl Harbor

Japanese attack on the U.S. naval base in Hawaii on December 7, 1941.

The Great Migration

Movement of African Americans from the rural South to Northern and Western cities.

Japanese Internment

Forced relocation of Japanese Americans into camps during World War II.

North Africa Campaign

World War II campaign where Allied forces fought Axis forces in North Africa.

Patton

American general known for leading troops in North Africa and Europe during World War II.

Montgomery

British general who fought German forces in North Africa.

Rommel

German general known as the "Desert Fox" during the North Africa Campaign.

Battle of Midway

Major U.S. victory in 1942 that became a turning point in the Pacific War.

Casablanca Conference

Allied meeting where leaders demanded unconditional surrender from the Axis powers.

Unconditional Surrender

Requirement that the enemy surrender completely with no negotiated terms.

Battle of the Bulge

Germany's last major offensive on the Western Front during World War II.

Manhattan Project

Secret U.S. program to build the atomic bomb.

J. Robert Oppenheimer

Scientist who helped lead the Manhattan Project.

Trinity Test

The first successful atomic bomb test in New Mexico in 1945.

Hiroshima and Nagasaki

Japanese cities hit by U.S. atomic bombs in August 1945.

Strategic Air Command

U.S. command created to control long-range nuclear bomber forces during the Cold War.

Containment Theory

U.S. policy of stopping communism from spreading.

George F. Kennan

Diplomat who helped develop the policy of containment.

Truman Doctrine

U.S. policy promising aid to countries resisting communism.

Marshall Plan

U.S. program that gave economic aid to rebuild Western Europe after World War II.

Fair Deal

Truman's domestic program that tried to expand New Deal reforms.

Taft-Hartley Act

Law that limited the power of labor unions after World War II.

McCarthyism

Fear of communism and accusations of communist influence, often without strong evidence.

Election of 1948

Presidential election where Truman won despite divisions in the Democratic Party.

Dixiecrats

Southern Democrats who opposed Truman's civil rights policies in 1948.

Nikita Khrushchev

Soviet leader during major Cold War events like the Cuban Missile Crisis.

National Interstate and Defense Highways Act

1956 law that created the interstate highway system.

Brown v. Board of Education

1954 Supreme Court case that ruled school segregation unconstitutional.

Montgomery Bus Boycott

1955-1956 protest against bus segregation that helped launch the Civil Rights Movement.

Martin Luther King Jr.

Civil rights leader who used nonviolent protest to fight segregation and racism.

Suez Crisis

1956 crisis over Egypt's control of the Suez Canal.

NASA

U.S. space agency created during the Cold War Space Race.

NDEA

National Defense Education Act, which funded education in science, math and languages during the Cold War.

Cuban Revolution

Revolution led by Fidel Castro that created a communist government in Cuba.

Fidel Castro

Leader of Cuba after the Cuban Revolution who allied with the Soviet Union.

Military-Industrial Complex

The close relationship between the military, government and defense industries.

Election of 1960

Election where John F. Kennedy defeated Richard Nixon, helped by television.

TV President

Nickname idea connected to Kennedy because television helped his image in the 1960 election.

Bay of Pigs

Failed U.S.-backed invasion of Cuba in 1961.

Cuban Missile Crisis

1962 nuclear standoff between the U.S. and Soviet Union over missiles in Cuba.

Vietnam Partition

1954 division of Vietnam into communist North Vietnam and anti-communist South Vietnam.

Ho Chi Minh

Communist leader of North Vietnam.

Ngo Dinh Diem

U.S.-backed leader of South Vietnam.

National Liberation Front

Communist guerrilla group in South Vietnam, also called the Viet Cong.

Viet Cong

Communist fighters in South Vietnam who fought the South Vietnamese government and the U.S.

March on Washington

1963 civil rights march where MLK gave his "I Have a Dream" speech.

Civil Rights Act of 1964

Law that banned segregation in public places and employment discrimination.

The Great Society

LBJ's domestic reform program to fight poverty and expand opportunity.