U.S. History Since 1877 Midterm Review

Period

John Marshall

a Virginia statesman who served as a Chief Justice of the Supreme Court for 35 years, leaving a lasting influence on the role of the Court

judicial review

the power the courts to decide the constitutionality of law

Louisiana Purchase

the acquisition of the Louisiana Territory, which extended from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains, from France for $15 million

Monroe Doctrine

a declaration in which the United States asserted that the monarchies of Europe had no business meddling with American republics, including those in Latin America

Andrew Jackson

was a Tennessee officer and statesman who became famous during the War of 1812 and later served as the seventh President

nullification

the idea that states could nullify, or void, any federal law they deemed unconstitutional

Indian Removal Act

act passed by Congress in 1830 that allowed the federal government to negotiate land trades with the Native Americans in the Southeast

Trail of Tears

forced march of the Cherokee Indians to move west of the Mississippi in the 1830s

Panic of 1837

the start of a prolonged downturn in the American economy touched off by changes in government policy

Alexis de Tocqueville

a French aristocrat whose travels in the United States in the 1830s resulted in the publication of Democracy in America, an influential analysis of American politics

Industrial Revolution

a period in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries when output grew significantly through the use of machines and new methods of production

underground railroad

a system that existed before the Civil War in which African American and white abolitionists helped people trying to escape enslavement travel to safe areas in the North and in Canada

abolitionists

reformers who advocated a complete end to slavery

Frederick Douglass

a formerly enslaved African American who had been taught to read and write before he escaped to the North; he went on to become one of the most important voices in the abolitionist movement

Second Great Awakening

a Protestant movement in the early 1800s that increased membership in evangelical movements

Lucretia Mott

a Quaker social reformer who worked for the abolition of slavery and the expansion of women's rights

Elizabeth Cady Stanton

a leading figure in the American women's rights movement

Declaration of Sentiments

a document created at the Seneca Fall Convention in 1848 that demanded equal rights for women

Susan B. Anthony

a women's rights activist who worked toward gaining the right to vote for women

Manifest Destiny

the idea that the United States was destined by God to occupy territory spanning from the Atlantic to Pacific Oceans

Sam Houston

a Texas military leader and the first president of the Republic of Texas

James K. Polk

a Tennessee statesman who served as the eleventh President

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

the treaty that ended the Mexican-American War; the United States acquired territory in the future states of Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, and Wyoming

Wilmot Proviso

a call for a ban on slavery in any territory that the United States gained from Mexico as a result of the Mexican-American War

Free-Soil Party

a political party formed in 1848 dedicated to preventing the spread of slavery into the western territories

Compromise of 1850

several acts of Congress that included California's admission to the Union as a free state, passage of the Fugitive Slave Act, and a law allowing territories acquired from Mexico to decide the issue of slavery themselves as they entered the Union

popular sovereignty

people control all political power

Fugitive Slave Act

a law requiring any state, whatever its laws on slavery, to assist in the return of people trying to escape enslavement to their owners

Kansas-Nebraska Act

an act of Congress allowing Kansas and Nebraska to decide the issue of slavery themselves as they entered the Union

John Brown

an abolitionist who led a raid on the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry hoping to spark a rebellion of enslaved people

Dred Scott case

an 1857 Supreme Court ruling that declared that enslaved African Americans had to constitutional rights and that Congress could not decide the issue of slavery for new states

Roger Taney

was Chief Justice of the Supreme Court from the 1830s through the 1860s; he wrote the Court's Dred Scott ruling

Abraham Lincoln

an Illinois statesman who served as the 16th President of the United States; his term of office included the Civil War period

John C. Breckinridge

a Kentucky statesman who served as Vice President under President James Buchanan; he won the presidential nomination of the Southern Democratic Party in 1860

Confederate States of America

a government set up in 1861 by seven states that seceded from the United States; four other states later joined them

Jefferson Davis

a Mississippi statesman who served as the first and only president of the Confederate States of America

Crittenden Compromise

a proposed constitutional amendment introduced in 1860 that would have allowed slavery in western territories south of the Missouri Compromise line

Fort Sumter

a Union-held fort in South Carolina that was the site of the first battle of the Civil War

Robert E. Lee

a Virginia military leader who commanded the Confederate army during the Civil War

Anaconda Plan

the Union military strategy for winning the war

Emancipation Proclamation

a presidential order that freed enslaved African American in Union-held territory in states that had seceded from the Union

draft law

an act of Congress giving the government authority to enlist men in the army without those men's consent

habeas corpus

a constitutional guarantee that no one can be held in prison without specific charges filed against them

inflation

rising prices; general increase in prices; a general rise in the price of goods and services

Ulysses S. Grant

a military leader and statesman who served as the final commander of the Union army during the Civil War and later as the 18th President

Battle of Gettysburg

a Civil War battle that took place in Southern Pennsylvania; a Union victory, it marked the last major Confederate attempt to invade the North

Gettysburg Address

a speech given by President Lincoln at the site of the Battle of Gettysburg in which he reaffirmed the ideals for which the Union was fighting

William T. Sherman

a general in the Union army whose "March to Sea" left a wide path of destruction through the South

total war

channeling of a nation's entire resources into a war effort

13th amendment

a constitutional amendment, ratified in December 1865, that abolished slavery in the United States

Reconstruction

the period during which the federal government controlled the states that had seceded from the Union during the Civil War

Radical Republicans

a group of Republican political leaders dedicated to imposing harsh conditions on the states that had seceded from the Union during the Civil War

Wade-Davis Bill

a law that required a majority of prewar voters in Confederate states to swear loyalty to the Union before restoration could begin

Freedmen's Bureau

a federal agency created to provide aid for enslaved people who were emancipated

Andrew Johnson

a Tennessee statesman who became the 17th president after the assassination of Abraham Lincoln

Black Codes

laws that restricted African Americans' rights and opportunities

Civil Rights Act of 1866

a law that established federal guarantees of civil rights for all citizens

14th amendment

the constitutional amendment, ratified in July 1868, which guaranteed full citizenship status and rights to every person born in the United States, protected due process, and guaranteed equal protection of the law

15th amendment

the constitutional amendment, ratified in February 1870, which guaranteed voting rights to all males regardless of race

scalawag

a negative term for a southern white who supported the Republican Party after the Civil War

carpetbagger

a negative term for Northerners who moved to the South after the Civil War

sharecropping

a system in which a farmer tends to a portion of a planter's land in return for a share of the crop

share-tenancy

a system in which the famer chooses what crop to plant and buys the supplies

tenant farming

a system in which a farmer paid rent to a landowner for use of the land

Ku Klux Klan

a secret society forced in the south with the intention of promoting white supremacy and denying African Americans the exercise of their new rights

Enforcement Acts

1870 and 1871 laws, also known as the Ku Klux Klan Acts, that made it a federal offense to interfere with a citizen's right to vote

Civil Rights Act of 1875

a law that banned discrimination in public facilities and transportation

redeemer

a term for white southern Democrats who returned to power after 1870

Rutherford B. Hayes

19th president of the US; oversaw the withdrawal of the remaining federal troops from the South, signaling the end of Reconstruction

Compromise of 1877

an agreement by which Rutherford B. Hayes won the 1876 presidential election and in exchange agreed to remove all remaining federal troops from the South

Jim Crow Laws

state laws passed throughout the South to enforce racial segregation of public facilities

poll tax

a tax charged on voters

literacy test

a reading and writing test formerly used in some southern states to prevent African Americans from voting

grandfather clause

a law to disqualify African American voters by allowing the vote only to men whose fathers and grandfathers had voted before 1866 or 1867

Booker T. Washington

born into slavery and grew up in poverty following emancipation; in 1881, he was chosen to head the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institution, where he promoted vocational education for African American students; he encouraged African America citizens to accept segregation and to instead focus on improving themselves through education and economic opportunities

WEB Du Bois

an American educator, reformer, and champion of civil rights; he advocates for full civil rights for African Americas; he went on to help found the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)

Ida B. Wells

an African American journalist who worked throughout her life to end the practice of lynching in the South; contributed to several newspapers

entrepreneurs

people who build and manage businesses or enterprises in order to make a profit, often risking their own money or livelihoods

free enterprise

freedom of private business to organize and operate for profit in a competitive system without interference by government beyond regulation necessary to protect public interest and keep the national economy in balance

laissez-faire

the absence of government control over personal and economic life

protective tariffs

the taxes on imported goods designed to protect domestic industry

patent

official rights given by the government to an inventor for the exclusive right to develop, use, and sell an invention for a set period of time

Thomas Edison

an American inventor; he held over 1000 patents for inventions, including the light bulb, an early movie camera, and an alkaline battery

Bessemer process

method developed in the mid-19th century for making steel more efficiently

suspension bridges

bridges that have a roadway suspended by cables

time zones

divisions of the globe along meridians that establish local time, one for each hour of the day, created in 1884 by delegates from 27 countries

mass production

production of goods in large numbers through the use of machinery and assembly lines

corporation

company recognized as a legal unit that has rights and liabilities separate from each of its members

monopoly

exclusive control by one company over an entire industry

cartel

association of producers of a good or service that prices and controls stocks in order to monopolize the market

John D. Rockefeller

an American industrialist and philanthropist; he began the Standard Oil Company and dominated the oil industry with innovative, aggressive business practices; he also contributed money to different causes through the Rockefeller Foundation

horizontal integration

system of consolidating many firms in the same business

trust

group of separate companies that are placed under the control of a single managing board in order to form a monopoly

Andrew Carnegie

an American industrialist and philanthropist who began Carnegie Steel, a corporation that dominated the American steel industry; he created charitable trust foundations and provided money for cultural and educational institutions

vertical integration

system of consolidating firms involved in all steps of a product's manufacture

Social Darwinism

the belief held by some in the late 19th century that certain nations and races were superior to others and therefore destined to rule over them

Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC)

first federal agency monitoring business operations, created in 1887 to oversee interstate railroad procedures

Sherman Antitrust Act

1890 law banning any trust that restrained interstate trade or commerce

sweatshops

small factories where employees have to work long hours under poor conditions for little pay

company towns

communities in which residents rely upon one company for jobs, housing, and buying goods