United States History Regents Content Review

Comprehensive vocabulary review covering major eras of U.S. history from the Colonial period to the 21st century, focusing on key legislation, court cases, and historical concepts.

Jamestown, Virginia

Settled by English businessmen seeking gold; it became a powerful colony centered on plantations and the growth of cash crops like tobacco.

Massachusetts Bay (Plymouth)

Settled by Puritans seeking religious freedom from the King and the Church of England; the population consisted primarily of religious family groups.

New Amsterdam

Originally settled by Dutch traders on Manhattan island for the fur trade, it was later taken over by the British and renamed New York.

New England Colonies

Characterized by rocky soil and small towns, this region relied on small-scale farming, lumber, fish, and shipbuilding.

Middle Colonies

Known as the "breadbasket colonies," this region had fertile soil and grew wheat, barley, rye, corn, and oats.

Southern Colonies

A region with a warm climate and long growing season suitable for cash crops such as tobacco, sugarcane, cotton, indigo, and rice.

Mercantilism

The economic practice where the mother country uses colonies to obtain raw materials and create new markets for its products.

Salutary Neglect

A British policy of leaving the American colonies alone in their day-to-day lives as long as raw materials were shipped to Britain and colonists bought British products.

Triangular Trade

A trade system involving raw materials from the American colonies to Europe, European goods to Africa/colonies, and captured Africans to the colonies.

Mayflower Compact (1620)

An agreement made between Puritan settlers in Massachusetts to follow the principle of self-government.

House of Burgesses

The first elected legislature in the American colonies, located in Virginia, representing a step toward representative government.

No Taxation Without Representation

The slogan used by American colonists to protest British taxes (like the Stamp, Sugar, and Tea Acts) they deemed unfair due to lack of representation in Parliament.

Homespun Movement

A protest by colonial women who made clothing and textile products themselves to boycott British goods.

Declaration of Independence

A document written by Thomas Jefferson in 1776 listing grievances against the King and asserting that all men have unalienable natural rights.

Natural Rights

Enlightenment idea from John Locke that every human is born with unalienable rights, including life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Social Contract

The Enlightenment idea from Rousseau stating that people owe loyalty only to a government that acts in their best interests.

Consent of the Governed

The principle that a government gets its power from the people, who must give permission to be governed.

Articles of Confederation

The first centralized U.S. government, which lacked an executive branch and the power to collect taxes, resulting in a weak federal authority.

Shay’s Rebellion

A 1786 rebellion led by farmers in Massachusetts that demonstrated the weakness of the federal government under the Articles of Confederation.

Northwest Ordinance

A law passed under the Articles of Confederation that outlined the process for adding new states and forbade slavery in the Northwest Territory.

Great Compromise

An agreement at the Constitutional Convention that created a bicameral legislature with a House of Representatives (proportionate) and a Senate (equal representation).

Three-Fifths Compromise

A resolution to the debate over counting enslaved people for representation, stating that $60\%$ of the enslaved population would count.

Federalism

A constitutional system where power is shared between the state governments and the federal government.

Separation of Powers

The division of government into three coequal branches: executive, legislative, and judicial.

Checks and Balances

A system where each branch of government has the power to limit the authority of the other branches.

Isolationism

George Washington's belief that the young U.S. nation should not get involved in European affairs and focus on its own problems.

Strict Constructionist

The belief held by characters like Thomas Jefferson that the words of the Constitution should be followed exactly as written.

Loose Constructionist

The belief held by Alexander Hamilton that the Constitution should be flexible and that the federal government could exercise implied powers.

Judicial Review

The power of the Supreme Court to declare laws unconstitutional, established by Chief Justice John Marshall in Marbury v. Madison.

Manifest Destiny

The 19th-century belief that God gave Americans the right to expand their territory from the East Coast to the Pacific Ocean.

Louisiana Purchase (1803)

A land deal where Thomas Jefferson doubled the size of the United States by purchasing French territory, despite his strict constructionist views.

Trail of Tears

The forced removal of American Indian nations (the 5 Civilized Tribes) west of the Mississippi River, during which many died.

Missouri Compromise

An 1819 agreement admitting Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state, while establishing the $36^{\circ}30'$ line to determine slavery in future states.

Popular Sovereignty

The policy allowing residents of a territory to vote and decide for themselves whether to allow slavery.

Fugitive Slave Act

A strict law passed as part of the Compromise of 1850 that required citizens in all states to assist in the capture of escaped enslaved people.

The Liberator

An anti-slavery newspaper founded by William Lloyd Garrison in 1831 advocating for immediate emancipation.

Uncle Tom’s Cabin

A book by Harriet Beecher Stowe that described the horrors of plantation life and fueled anti-slavery sentiment in the North.

Dred Scott v. Sanford (1857)

Supreme Court ruling that enslaved people were not citizens and that slavery was legal throughout the United States.

Emancipation Proclamation

An executive order issued by Abraham Lincoln in 1863 freeing slaves in the Confederate States.

Gettysburg Address

A speech by Lincoln redefining the Civil War's purpose to preserve the Union and abolish slavery.

14th Amendment

Established birthright citizenship and provided equal protection for everyone under the law.

Jim Crow Laws

Post-Reconstruction segregation laws designed to restrict the rights and movement of formerly enslaved African Americans.

Laissez-Faire Capitalism

The economic philosophy that the government should not regulate or interfere with the economy.

Social Darwinism

The idea of "survival of the fittest" applied to society to justify economic inequality and prejudice.

Muckrakers

Journalists like Upton Sinclair and Jacob Riis who exposed corruption and social problems during the Progressive Era.

Roosevelt Corollary

President Teddy Roosevelt’s addition to the Monroe Doctrine asserting the U.S. right to act as an international policeman in the Western Hemisphere.

Yellow Journalism

Reporting that exaggerates facts to attract readers, used by newspapers to influence public opinion during the Spanish American War.

Schenck v. United States (1919)

Established the "clear and present danger" doctrine, allowing the government to restrict speech that threatens national security.

Harlem Renaissance

A 1920s cultural movement of African American arts, literature, and music centered in Manhattan.

The New Deal

FDR’s platform of relief, recovery, and reform designed to help the United States survive the Great Depression.

Containment

The U.S. Cold War foreign policy aimed at stopping the spread of communism.

Marshall Plan

A program providing over $13$ billion dollars in U.S. aid to help European nations rebuild after WWII to prevent communist spread.

Brown v. Board of Education (1954)

Supreme Court ruling that overturned Plessy v. Ferguson, declaring school segregation illegal and inherently unequal.

Domino Theory

The belief that if one country in Southeast Asia fell to communism, surrounding countries would also fall.

Detente

A policy used by President Nixon to decrease tensions in the Cold War between the U.S. and Soviet Union.

PATRIOT ACT

A law passed after 9/11 that expanded government intelligence operations but was criticized for violating privacy rights.