Swiech US History Regents Review-June

Mayflower Compact

1620 - Plymouth Colony - A document written by the Pilgrims establishing themselves as a political society; STEP TOWARDS SELF-GOVERNMENT

Virginia House of Burgesses

1619 - First representative government in the colonies; STEP TOWARDS SELF-GOVERNMENT

Mercantilism

ECONOMIC SYSTEM WHERE RAW MATERIALS WERE SENT TO THE MOTHER COUNTRY AND THEN THE COLONISTS HAD TO BUY PRODUCTS FROM THE MOTHER COUNTRY; Benefits the mother country by restricting trade for the colonies

Common Sense

1776: a pamphlet written by Thomas Paine that claimed the colonies had a right to be an independent nation

John Locke

1632 to 1704:believed that people had natural rights to liberty, life and property (Liberalism) (Naturalism) (Social Contract)

Declaration of Independence

1776 statement written by Thomas Jefferson, explaining why the colonies wanted independence from Britain. Three parts: enlightenment ideas, list of grievances, and declared independence.

Articles of Confederation

1st constitution of the U.S. 1781-1788 (weaknesses-no executive, no judicial, no power to tax, no power to regulate trade). Power in the hands of the states, feared a king and desired a weak central government.

U.S. Constitution

A document reflecting Enlightenment ideas of separation of powers, checks and balances, and a stronger central government. Allowed for a process to change the constitution-amendment process.

Bicameral Legislature

A lawmaking body called Congress with 2 houses - the Senate and the House of Representatives

Great Compromise

A compromise that proposed two houses of Congress; one where the population would determine how many representatives a state has (House of Representative), and another to ensure that all states are represented equally (Senate). Created the House and Senate while resolving the dispute between the large and small states. - AKA Connecticut Plan

3/5 Compromise

Each slave would count for 3/5 of a person for taxation and representation purposes. Increased representation for southern states.

Legislative branch

Branch of government that makes the laws

Executive Branch

Branch of government that enforces the laws

Judicial Branch

Branch of government that interprets the law

Federalists

Supporters of the Constitution during ratification debates in state legislatures; favored a stronger central government

Anti-Federalists

People who opposed ratification of the constitution; wanted states to have more power and demanded a Bill of Rights before ratification.

Bill of Rights

a statement of fundamental rights and privileges (first ten amendments to the United States Constitution)

Unwritten Constitution

Political practices that are followed, but are not part of the actual Constitution.

Examples include political parties, judicial review, and the Presidential Cabinet.

22nd Amendment

Amendment that created a 2 term limit on presidents; this had been a tradition since Washington, but after FDR it became law.

Strict vs. Loose interpretation

Strict interpretation is when you go exactly by what the constitution says- Thomas Jefferson; loose is where you have more liberal views-Alexander Hamilton

Alexander Hamilton's Economic Plan

Idea to pay off all foreign and domestic debts; have a National Bank; have a protective tariff; have an excise tax. Example of a loose interpretation of the constitution using the "necessary and proper clause"

Alien and Sedition Acts

Acts passed by John Adams and the Federalists giving the government power to imprison or deport foreign citizens and prosecute critics of the government.

Marbury V. Madison

Established concept of judicial review (determine the constitutionality of a law); first time SCOTUS declared something 'unconstitutional'

Checks and Balances

A system that allows each branch of government to limit the powers of the other branches in order to prevent abuse of power

Separation of Powers

Constitutional division of powers among the legislative, executive, and judicial branches, with the legislative branch making law, the executive applying and enforcing the law, and the judiciary interpreting the law

Reserved Powers

Powers not specifically granted to the federal government or denied to the states belong to the states and the people.

Federalism

A system in which power is divided between the national and state governments

Elastic Clause

Article I, Section 8, of the Constitution, which allows Congress to make all laws that are "necessary and proper" to carry out the powers of the Constitution.

George Washington's Farewell Address

Advised the nation: 1. to stay away from permanent alliances with foreign nations 2. stay away from political parties

Missouri Compromise

"Compromise of 1820" over the issue of slavery in Missouri. It was decided Missouri entered as a slave state and Maine entered as a free state and all states North of the 36th parallel were free states and all south were slave states.

Compromise of 1850

North-South agreement that added California as a free state, NM and Utah based on popular sovereignty, new strict fugitive slave law to appease the South

Kansas-Nebraska Act

1854 - Created Nebraska and Kansas as states and gave the people in those territories the right to chose to be a free or slave state through popular sovereignty; led to "Bleeding Kansas"

Popular Sovereignty

Notion that the people of a territory should determine if they want to be a slave state or a free state.

Sectionalism

Loyalty to one's own region of the country, rather than to the nation as a whole such as the North and South before and during the Civil War.

Uncle Tom's Cabin

(Harriet Beecher Stowe) Powerful novel that made Americans aware of the harsh and inhumane conditions of slavery.

John Brown and Harper's Ferry

He wanted to start a slave rebellion that swept through the South. In 1859 Brown, 13 whites and 5 blacks took over the arsenal at Harper's Ferry, Virginia. Brown was caught and hanged. The North thought of him ad Jesus-like. The South thought of him as the devil. This further separated the North and the South.

Abolitionist Movement

The reform movement that concentrated on ending slavery in the United States

Dred Scott Case

Supreme Court case which ruled that slaves are not citizens but are property, affirmed that property cannot be interfered with by Congress, slaves do not become free if they travel to free territories or states, fueled abolitionist movement, hailed as victory for the South. Overturned Missouri Compromise.

Differences between North and South

Economical differences:

NORTH: more factories that created weapons, tents, uniforms, preserved foods, did not have slavery.

SOUTH: agricultural and grew cash crops. few factories, used slaves, had ports for shipping goods.

Lincoln's Election

Republicans nominate him, he wins 40% of vote and wins enough electoral votes (none in south).

South so angry lower south secedes, create Confederate States of America

secession

Act of formally withdrawing from the Union such as when South Carolina seceded from the union.

Total War

An all-out war that affects civilians at home as well as soldiers in combat.

Sherman's March

General Sherman led some 60,000 troops on a march south across Georgia; burned cities and destroyed everything in his path; killed civilians, destroyed crops.

Sherman believed in total war to force the South into submission.

Battle of Gettysburg

Turning point of the Civil War; last offensive attack of the South.

Emancipation Proclamation

Order issued by President Abraham Lincoln freeing the slaves in areas rebelling against the Union, took effect January 1, 1863.

Changed the Civil War from a political war to a moral war.

Reconstruction

The period after the Civil War in the United States when the southern states were reorganized and reintegrated into the Union; Military Occupation of the South

Radical Republicans

After the Civil War, a group that believed the South should be harshly punished and thought that Lincoln was sometimes too compassionate towards the South.

13th amendment

Abolished Slavery

14th amendment

Declared that all persons born in the US were citizenship, that all citizens were entitled to equal rights and their rights were protected by due process. African American citizenship.

15th Amendment

Citizens cannot be denied the right to vote because of race, color , or previous condition of servitude

Andrew Johnson

17th President of the United States after Lincoln's assassination. He opposed radical Republicans who passed Reconstruction Acts over his veto.

The first U.S. president to be impeached, he survived the Senate removal by only one vote.

Black Codes

Laws denying most legal rights to newly freed slaves; passed by southern states following the Civil War

Jim Crow Laws

Laws designed to enforce segregation of blacks and whites; made constitutional by Plessy v Ferguson.

Plessy V. Ferguson

SCOTUS case that legally upheld segregation declaring the standard was "separate but equal"

Freedmen's Bureau

1865 - Agency set up to aid former slaves in adjusting themselves to freedom. It furnished food and clothing to needy blacks and helped them get jobs.

Ku Klux Klan

White supremacy organization that intimidated blacks out of their newly found liberties

Sharecropping

A system used on southern farms after the Civil War in which farmers worked land owned by someone else in return for a small portion of the crops; became the dominant labor source in the south which maintained the plantation system and created a cycle of debt.

Poll Tax

A requirement that citizens pay a tax in order to register to vote; restricted voting rights

Literacy Test

A test administered as a precondition for voting, often used to prevent African Americans from exercising their right to vote.

Grandfather Clause

Law that excused a voter from a literacy test if his father or grandfather had been eligible to vote on January 1, 1867; declared unconstitutional in 1915.

Compromise of 1877

Compromise that made Hayes president in return for the end of Reconstruction. Republicans promise to remove military from South. Hayes-Tilden Election

Manifest Destiny

A belief held by a nineteenth-century Americans that the United States was destined to rule the continent, from the Atlantic the Pacific. Westward Expansion.

Northwest Ordinance

1787 law that set up a government for the Northwest Territory and a plan for admitting new states to the Union; a success of the Articles of Confederation.

Louisiana Purchase

1803 purchase of the Louisiana territory from France. Made by Jefferson, this doubled the size of the US. Jefferson violated his strict interpretation of the Constitution philosophy by using the president's power to "negotiate treaties"

Mexican Cession

1848. Awarded as part of the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo after the Mexican American War. U.S. paid $15 million for an area as big as the Louisana Purchase; helped achieve "manifest destiny"

Dawes Act

1887 law that divided tribal lands into land for individual native americans; attempted to assimilate native americans into mainstream society and destroy native culture.

Andrew Jackson

The seventh President of the United States (1829-1837), who as a general in the War of 1812 defeated the British at New Orleans (1815). As president he opposed the Bank of America, objected to the right of individual states to nullify disagreeable federal laws, and increased the presidential powers. Actions led to the "Trail of Tears"

Homestead Act

1862 - Provided free land in the West to anyone willing to settle there and develop it. Encouraged westward migration.

Wounded knee

1890 confrontation between U.S. cavalry and Sioux that marked the end of Indian resistance

Indian Removal Act

(1830) a congressional act that authorized the removal of Native Americans who lived east of the Mississippi River

Monopoly

Complete control of a product or business by one person or group

Trust

A group of corporations that unite in order to reduce competition and control prices in a business or an industry.

Industrialists

person whose wealth comes from the ownership of industrial businesses and who favors government policies that support industry

Robber Barons

Negative term used to describe large businessmen of the late 1800's because of the fact that they used ruthless practices to destroy competition and took advantage of workers.

Captains of Industry

A name given company owners such as Carnegie and Rockefeller by people who believed they steered the economy into prosperity.

Railroads

Were essential to westward expansion because they made it easier to travel to and live in the west

Rockefeller

Captain of Industry that created a monopoly in oil refineries

Carnegie

Captain of Industry or Robber Baron; in charge of steel production

Social Darwinism

The belief that only the fittest survive in human political and economic struggle.

Laissez-Faire

Hands off. No government intervention in business.

Labor Unions

An organization formed by workers to strive for better wages and working conditions

AFL-Samuel Gompers

A union of skilled workers from one or more trades which focused on collective bargaining (negotiation between labor and management) to receive better wages, hours and working conditions ("bread and butter" issues)

Used strikes as a major tactic to win higher wages and shorter work weeks.

Political Machines

Corrupt organized groups that controlled political parties in the cities. A boss leads the machine and attempts to grab more votes for his party.

Tammany Hall

A political organization within the Democratic Party in New York city (late 1800's and early 1900's) seeking political control by corruption and bossism

Strikes

times when workers refuse to work until owners improve conditions

Collective bargaining

Process by which a union representing a group of workers negotiates with management for a contract

Civil Service Act

hiring and promotion would be based on merit rather than patronage; tests for government jobs.

Patronage (Spoils System)

Granting favors or giving contracts or making appointments to office in return for political support; usually associated with Andrew Jackson

Big Business

Term used to describe the corporations and monopolies since the industrial revolution of the late 1800s. (A.K.A. Trusts)

Carnegie

Captain of industry or Robber Baron; monopoly in steel production. Associated with the Gospel of Wealth.

Vanderbilt

Captain of Industry or Robber Baron. Monopoly: railroad and steamship lines

Monopoly

Corporations that gain complete control of the production of a single good or service.

Philanthropist

Person active in promoting human welfare, ususally through gifts to charities. Captains of Industries donated millions of dollars.

Trusts

Big Business; A combination of firms or corporation formed by legal agreement, especially to reduce competition.

Sherman Anti-Trust Act (1890)

An 1890 law that banned the formation of trusts and monopolies in the United States. Anti-Big Business

1st Wave of Immigration-Old Immigrants

The immigration of western and northern Europeans: German and Irish

Nativism

A policy of favoring native-born individuals over foreign-born ones. Examples: "Know-Nothings"; Ku Klux Klan

Urbanization

An increase in the percentage and in the number of people living in cities.

Chinese Exclusion Act

(1882) Denied any additional Chinese laborers to enter the country. Nativist Law.

Boss Tweed

Leader of the Democratic Tammany Hall, New York political machine. Vilified by political cartoonist Thomas Nast.