US History Vocabulary

(Declaration of Independence)

(1776 document declaring the 13 colonies independent from Britain; established foundational American ideals of natural rights and self

(Articles of Confederation)

(The first US constitution; created a weak central government that could not tax or raise an army, highlighting the need for a stronger federal system.)

(Shays' Rebellion)

(An armed uprising by Massachusetts farmers; demonstrated the weakness of the Articles of Confederation and spurred the creation of the Constitution.)

(3/5th Compromise)

(Constitutional agreement to count three

(Constitution)

(The supreme law of the US establishing the national government's structure; provides the enduring framework and rules for American democracy.)(3 branches of government)

(checks and balances)

(A system allowing each branch to amend or veto acts of another; prevents the abuse of power by any one branch.)

(federalism)

(The division of power between the national and state governments; balances centralized authority with local governance.)

(electoral college)

(The mechanism for electing the US president based on state representatives; illustrates the founders' compromise between a popular vote and congressional selection.)

(amendment)

(A formal change or addition to the Constitution; allows the foundational document to adapt to societal changes over time.)

(Bill of Rights)

(The first 10 amendments to the Constitution; crucial for securing Anti

([Federalists vs. Anti

Federalists])

(cabinet)

(The president's appointed advisory council; established a precedent by George Washington for executive branch leadership.)

(tariffs)

(Taxes on imported goods; protected Northern manufacturing but angered the South, fueling early sectional tensions.)

(impact of the cotton gin)

(Invention that mechanized cotton processing; drastically increased the profitability of cotton and expanded the reliance on enslaved labor.)

([boom and bust cycle])

(Economic fluctuations of rapid growth followed by severe decline; demonstrated the volatility of the emerging capitalist economy.)

(Lowell Mill girls)

(Young female workers in early textile mills; represented the shift toward industrial factory labor and early labor organizing.)

(abolitionists)

(Reformers who demanded the immediate end of slavery; polarized the nation and laid the moral groundwork for the Civil War.)

(Indian Removal Act/Trail of Tears)

(Forced relocation of Native American tribes to lands west of the Mississippi; resulted in mass death and the tragic loss of Native lands.)

(Nat Turner)

(Enslaved man who led a violent 1831 rebellion; deeply terrified Southern enslavers and led to harsher, more restrictive slave codes.)

(William Lloyd Garrison)

(Radical abolitionist and publisher of The Liberator; instrumental in making anti

(Sojourner Truth)

(Formerly enslaved abolitionist and women's rights activist; powerfully connected the fights for racial and gender equality.)

(Frederick Douglass)

(Formerly enslaved man who became a brilliant orator and writer; provided undeniable firsthand proof of the intellectual equality of Black Americans and the horrors of slavery.)

([Elizabeth Cady Stanton/Lucretia Mott])

(Pioneering figures in the early women's rights movement; crucial organizers who helped draft the Declaration of Sentiments.)

(Seneca Falls Convention)

(The first national women's rights convention in 1848; launched the organized women's suffrage movement in the US.)

(manifest destiny)

(The 19th

(Mexican

American War)

(Compromise of 1850/Fugitive Slave Law)

(Package of bills attempting to settle slavery in new territories, including a harsh law forcing Northerners to return escaped slaves; further radicalized the North against the South.)

(underground railroad/Harriet Tubman)

(A secret network helping enslaved people escape to the North/Canada, famously led by Tubman; undermined the institution of slavery and enraged the South.)

([Uncle Tom's Cabin])

(Bestselling anti

(Kansas

Nebraska Act/Bleeding Kansas)

([Republican Party])

(Political party formed in the 1850s to stop the expansion of slavery; its rise represented the complete political fracturing of the US along sectional lines.)

(Dred Scott decision)

(Infamous Supreme Court ruling that Black Americans were not citizens and Congress could not ban slavery in territories; eliminated legal pathways to end slavery and pushed the nation closer to war.)

(John Brown/Harpers Ferry)

(Radical abolitionist who led an armed raid on a federal armory to start a slave revolt; became a martyr in the North and confirmed Southern fears of Northern aggression.)

(Abraham Lincoln and 1860 election)

(Lincoln's presidential victory without a single Southern electoral vote; served as the immediate catalyst for Southern secession.)

(Confederate States of America)

(The unrecognized republic formed by Southern states that seceded; fought the Union to preserve the institution of slavery.)

(Robert E. Lee)

(Commanding general of the Confederate army; his military tactical skill prolonged the war despite the South's lack of resources.)

(border states)

(Slave states that did not secede from the Union; crucial to Lincoln's strategy, as losing them would have severely endangered the Union cause.)

(Emancipation Proclamation)

(Lincoln's 1863 executive order freeing slaves in Confederate

(54th Massachusetts)

(One of the first official Black units in the US armed forces; their bravery proved the military capabilities of Black soldiers and helped secure equal pay.)

(conscription/NY draft riots)

(The military draft and the subsequent violent backlash; highlighted class and racial tensions in the North during the war.)

(Ulysses S. Grant/total war)

(Union general who utilized strategies of destroying both military and civilian resources; effectively broke the Confederacy's will and ability to fight.)

([Sherman's March to the Sea])

(Devastating Union military campaign through Georgia; famously exemplified the "total war" strategy.)

(13th Amendment)

(Constitutional amendment that permanently abolished slavery nationwide; represented the culmination of the abolitionist movement.)

([Ten Percent Plan])

(Lincoln's lenient Reconstruction plan requiring only 10% of Southern voters to swear loyalty; showed early executive desire for rapid, forgiving reconciliation.)

(Radical Republicans)

(Congressional faction demanding harsh punishment for the South and full civil rights for freedmen; drove the aggressive legislative policies of Reconstruction.) (black codes)

([Military Reconstruction Act])

(Law dividing the South into military districts to enforce Reconstruction policies; represented the peak of federal intervention to protect freedmen.)

(15th Amendment)

(Prohibited denying the right to vote based on race; officially gave Black men political power, though it was later undermined by discriminatory state laws.)

(Ku Klux Klan)

(White supremacist terrorist organization; used violence and intimidation to suppress Black voting and overthrow Reconstruction governments.)

(Jim Crow/segregation)

(System of laws enforcing racial segregation; effectively relegated Black Americans to second

([Compromise of 1877])

(Political deal that settled the disputed 1876 election by removing federal troops from the South; marked the official, tragic end of Reconstruction.)

(reservations)

(Specific plots of land where Native Americans were forced to live; systematically stripped tribes of their traditional territories and nomadic lifestyles.)

(Chief Joseph)

(Nez Perce leader who attempted to lead his people to freedom in Canada; symbolized the tragic, violent end of Native American resistance to western expansion.)

([Ghost Dance])

(A Native American religious movement promising the return of traditional ways; sparked fear among white settlers and led to the Wounded Knee Massacre.)

(Indian Boarding School Movement)

(Federal policy forcing Native children into schools to strip them of their culture; caused profound generational trauma and cultural loss.)

(assimilation/Dawes General Allotment Act)

(Policy aimed at absorbing Native Americans into white society by dividing reservation lands into private family farms; severely undermined tribal structures and resulted in massive land loss.)

(Homestead Act)

(1862 law offering 160 acres of free land to western settlers; drastically accelerated the settlement of the western frontier.)

(transcontinental railroad)

(Railway connecting the East and West coasts built largely by immigrant labor; revolutionized national commerce, communication, and western migration.)

([corporation])

(A business owned by stockholders; allowed companies to raise massive capital and dominate industries during the Gilded Age.)

(laissez

faire economics)

(John D. Rockefeller/horizontal integration)

(Oil tycoon who bought out competitors to create a monopoly; revolutionized business scale but sparked anti

(Andrew Carnegie/vertical integration)

(Steel magnate who controlled all phases of production; exemplified the immense wealth and efficiency of Gilded Age industrialists.)

(captains of industry/robber barons)

(Dueling perspectives on Gilded Age business leaders as either economic innovators or ruthless exploiters; highlights the massive wealth inequality of the era.)

(Social Darwinism)

(Application of "survival of the fittest" to society; used by the wealthy to justify harsh business practices and stark economic inequality.)

(Sherman Anti

Trust Act)

(work conditions/sweatshops/company towns)

(Dangerous, low

(labor union/collective bargaining)

(Workers organizing together to negotiate for better pay and conditions; represented the primary tool of the working class against corporate power.)

(immigration and nativism/anti

Semitism)

(Chinese Exclusion Act)

(1882 law banning Chinese immigration; marked the first significant federal law restricting immigration based on nationality/race.)

(urbanization/rural to urban migrants)

(Mass movement of people to cities for industrial jobs; transformed America from an agrarian society to an urban, industrial powerhouse.)

([mass transit/streetcar suburbs])

(Public transportation innovations; allowed cities to expand outward and led to the spatial segregation of classes.)

(tenements)

(Overcrowded, unsanitary apartment buildings for the urban poor; highlighted the severe social costs of rapid industrial urbanization.)

(poll taxes/literacy tests)

(Tools used in the South to bypass the 15th Amendment; successfully disenfranchised the vast majority of Black voters.)

(Plessey v. Ferguson)

(1896 Supreme Court ruling establishing "separate but equal"; provided the legal justification for Jim Crow segregation for decades.)

(Ida B. Wells)

(Investigative journalist who documented lynchings; courageously exposed white mob violence as a tool of racial control.)

(Booker T. Washington)

(Black leader who advocated for vocational education and economic self

(W.E.B. DuBois)

(Black leader who demanded immediate political and social equality; co

([Populist Party])

(Late 19th

(Social Gospel)

(Protestant movement applying Christian ethics to social problems; provided a moral foundation for Progressive Era reforms.)

(muckrakers)

(Investigative journalists who exposed societal corruption; their writings directly spurred significant government reforms like the Pure Food and Drug Act.)

(initiative/referendum/recall)

(Reforms allowing citizens to directly propose, vote on, or remove laws/politicians; vastly increased direct democracy at the state level.)

(regulation)

(Government rules placed on businesses; marked a major shift away from pure laissez

([Margaret Sanger])

(Pioneer of the birth control movement; fundamentally shifted women's reproductive rights and autonomy.)

(Alice Paul)

(Radical suffragist who utilized protests and hunger strikes; pushed the suffrage movement to demand a constitutional amendment.)

(19th Amendment/suffrage)

(1920 amendment granting women the right to vote; represented the largest expansion of the electorate in US history.)

(Teddy Roosevelt)

(Progressive president known for the "Square Deal"; expanded executive power and championed conservation and consumer protection.) (trustbusting)

(Food and Drug Administration)

(Agency created to regulate consumer safety; established the government's role in protecting public health from corporate negligence.)

(Federal Trade Commission)

(Agency created to enforce antitrust laws and protect consumers; stabilized the market by preventing unfair business practices.)

([Federal Reserve Act])

(Law establishing the modern central banking system; gave the government vital tools to manage currency and economic stability.)

(eugenics)

(Pseudoscientific belief in improving the human race through selective breeding; resulted in dark policies like forced sterilizations and restrictive immigration quotas.)

([Causes of US imperialism])

(Desire for new economic markets, military dominance, and cultural superiority; drove the US to acquire overseas territories.)

(Queen Liliuokalani)

(Last monarch of Hawaii, overthrown by US business interests; her removal exemplified aggressive American economic imperialism.)

(national interest)

(A country's primary goals and ambitions; used as the fundamental justification for international expansion and entering global conflicts.)

(Spanish

American War)

(Results of US imperialism)

(Increased global influence but also anti

(Selective Service Act)

(Authorized the federal government to draft a national army for WWI; rapidly mobilized massive military manpower.)

([War Industries Board])

(Agency that coordinated military purchasing; demonstrated unprecedented federal control over the economy during wartime.)

(Committee on Public Information)

(Government agency that produced pro

(Espionage and Sedition Acts)

(Laws making it a crime to criticize the war effort or government; represented a severe restriction of First Amendment rights in the name of national security.)

(Great Migration)

(Mass movement of Black Americans from the rural South to the urban North; fundamentally changed the demographic and cultural landscape of American cities.)

(New opportunities for women/African Americans/Mexican Americans)

(Wartime labor shortages led to these groups entering industrial jobs; advanced their social standing and fueled postwar civil rights demands.)