Vocab words - LCCC US History

Provided by Abigail

Quaker

Member of the Society of Friends, radical

religious group that arose in 1650’s. Rejected

formal theology & educated ministry, more

focusing on importance of ‘inner light’, or Holy

Spirit inside. Important in founding of

Pennsylvania

Puritans

individuals who believed that Queen Elizabeth’s

reforms of the church had not gone far enough

in improving the church, particularly in ensuring

that members of the church were among the

ones saved. Led the settlement of the

Massachusetts Bay colony

Separatists

Members of an offshoot branch of Puritanism.

Separatists believed that the C o E was too

corrupt to reform and had to ‘separate’ to save

their souls. Helped found the Plymouth Colony

Pilgrims

Settlers of Plymouth Colony, who viewed

themselves as spiritual wanderers

Anglican

Of or belonging to the Church of England, a Protestant denomination

King Philip’s War

Conflict in New England (1675-1676) between 

Wampanoags, Narragansetts, and other Indian 

peoples against English settlers; sparked by 

English encroachments on native lands

Beaver Wars

Series of bloody conflicts, occurring between the

1640’s and 1680’s, during which the Iroquois

fought the Hurons and French for control of the

fur trade in the east and the Great Lakes region

Bacon’s Rebellion

Violent conflicts in Virginia (1675-1676),

beginning with settlers attacks on Indians but

culminating in a rebellion against

Virginia’s government, led by Nathaniel Bacon

Pueblo Revolt

Rebellion in 1680 of Pueblo Indians in New

Mexico against their Spanish overlords, sparked

by religious conflict and excessive Spanish

demands for tribute

Stono Rebellion

Uprising in 1739 of South Carolina slaves

against whites; inspired in part by Spanish

officials’ promise of freedom for American

slaves who escaped to Florida

Virtual Representation

The notion that parliamentary members 

represented the interests of the nation as 

a whole, not those of the particular district 

that elected them

Actual Representation

The practice whereby elected representatives normally reside in their districts and are directly responsive to local interests

Mercantilism

Economic system whereby the government intervenes in the economy for the purposes of increasing national wealth

Glorious Revolution

Bloodless revolt that occurred in England in

1688 when parliamentary leaders invited William

of Orange, a Protestant, to assume the throne of

England

Great Awakening

Huge religious revival in colonial America first striking the middle colonies and New England in the 1740s, then spreading to southern colonies

Olive Branch Petition

A last effort for peace that avowed America’s loyalty to George III and requested that he protect them from further aggression

Second Continental Congress

convened in Philadelphia on May 10, 1775, the

Second Continental Congress called for the

patchwork of local forces to be organized into

the Continental Army, authorized the formation

of a navy, established a post office, and printed

paper continental dollars to meet its expenses

Contact theory of government

the belief that the government is established by

human beings to protect certain rights-such as

life, liberty, and property-that are theirs by nature,

divinely sanctioned law and that when

government protects these rights, people are

obligated to obey it

Republican

used to describe a theory derived from the

political ideas of classical antiquity,

Renaissance Europe, and early modern England.

Republicanism held that self-government by the

citizens of the country, or their representatives,

provides a more reliable foundation of the good

society and the individual freedom than rule by

kings. The characters of republican government

depended on the virtue of the people, but the

nature of republican virtue and the conditions

favorable to it became sources of debate that

influenced the writing of the state and federal

constitutions as well as the development of

political parties.

Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms

declaration of the Second Continental Congress that Americans were ready to fight for freedom and liberty

Judicial Review

A power implied in the Constitution that gives 

federal courts the right to review and determine 

the constitutionality of acts passed by Congress 

and state legislatures

Shay’s Rebellion

An armed movement of debt-ridden farmers in 

western Massachusetts in the winter of 1786-1787. 

The rebellion shut down courts and created a crisis 

atmosphere, strengthening the case of nationalists 

that a stronger central government was needed to 

maintain civil order in the states

Nationalists

Group of leaders in the 1780s who spearheaded the drive to replace the Articles of Confederation with a strong central government

Natural rights

political philosophy that maintains that

individuals have an inherent right, found in

nature and preceding any government or written

law, to life and liberty

Bill of Rights

A written summary of inalienable rights and liberties

Northwest Ordinance of 1787

Legislation passed by Congress under the

Articles of Confederation that prohibited slavery

in the Northwest territories and provided the

model of the incorporation of future territories

into the union as equal states

Southwest Ordinance of 1790

Legislation passed by Congress that set up a government with no prohibition on slavery in US territory south of the Ohio River

Alien and Sedition Acts

Collective name given to 4 acts passed by Congress in 1798 that curtailed freedom of speech and the liberty of foreigners resident in the United States

Whiskey Rebellion

Armed uprising in 1794 by farmers in Western Penn who attempted to prevent the collection of the excise tax on whiskey

XYZ Affairs

diplomatic incident in 1798 in which Americans

were outraged by the demand of the French of a

bribe as a condition for negotiating with

American diplomats

States’ rights

favoring the rights of individual states over rights claimed by the national government

Nullification

A constitutional doctrine holding that s state has a legal right to declare a national law null and void without borders

Marbury v. Madison

Supreme Court decision of 1803 that created the precedent of judicial review by ruling as unconstitutional part of the Judiciary Act of 1789

Missouri Compromise

Sectional compromise in Congress in 1820 that 

admitted Missouri to the Union as a slave state 

and Maine as a free state and prohibited slavery 

in the northern Louisiana Purchase territory

Embargo Act of 1807

Act passed by Congress in 1807 prohibiting American ships from leaving any foreign part

Era of Good Feelings

The period from 1817 to 1823 in which the

disappearance of the Federalists enabled the

Republicans to govern in a spirit of seemingly

nonpartisan harmony.

Fletcher v. Peck

Supreme Court decision of 1810 that overturned a state law by ruling that it violated a legal contract

Monroe Doctrine

In Dec. 1823, Monroe declared to Congress that

the Americans “are henceforth not to be

considered as subjects for future colonization by

any European power”

Spoils System

the awarding of government jobs to party loyalists

Abolitionist Movement

A radical anti-slavery crusade committed to the immediate end of slavery that emerged in the three decades before the Civil War

Gag rule

Procedural rule passed in the House of Representative that prevented discussion of antislavery petitions from 1836 to 1844

Democratic Party

Political party formed in the 1820s under the

leadership of Andrew Jackson; favored states’

rights and a limited role for the federal

government, especially in economics affairs

spoils system the awarding government jobs to party loyalists

Nullification crisis

sectional crisis in the early 1830s in which a states’ rights party in South Carolina attempted to nullify the law

Whig Party

Political party, formed in the mid-1830s in

opposition to the Jacksonian Democrats, that

favored a strong role for the national

government in promoting economic growth

spoils system the awarding government jobs to party loyalists

Turner’s Rebellion

Uprising of slaves led by Nat Turner in Southampton County, Virginia, in the summer of 1831 that resulted in the death of up to 60 white people

Underground railroad

Support system set up by antislavery groups in the Upper South and the North to assist fugitive slaves in escaping the South

Gang system

the organization and supervision of slave field hands into working teams on southern plantations

Gabriel Prosser’s Rebellion

slave revolt that failed when Gabriel Prosser, a

slave preacher and blacksmith, organized a

thousand slaves for an attack on Richmond,

Virginia, in 1800

Black codes

laws passed by states and municipalities denying many rights of citizenship to free black people before the Civil War

Slave code

a series of laws passed mainly in the southern

colonies in the late seventeenth and early

eighteenth century to defend the status of slaves

and codify the denial of basic civil rights to them

Nativist

favoring the interest and culture of native-born inhabitants over those of immigrants

Temperance

reform movement originating in the 1820s that sought to eliminate the consumption of alcohol

Cult of domesticity

the belief that women, by virtue of their sex, should stay home as the moral guardians of family life

Communism

a social structure based on the common ownership of property

Socialism

a social order based on government ownership of industry and work control over corporations as a way to prevent worker exploitation

transcendentalism

a philosophical and literature movement centered in the idealistic belief in the divinity of individuals and nature

Manifest Destiny

doctrine first expressed in 1845 that the expansion of white Americans across the continents was inevitable and ordained by God

Claim clubs

claim clubs groups of local settlers on the nineteenth-century

frontier who banded together to prevent the price

of their land claims from being bid up by

outsiders at public land auctions

Oregon Trail

Overland trail of more than 2,000 miles that carried American settlers from the Midwest to new settlements in Oregon, California, and Utah

Santa Fe Trail

The 900 miles trail opened by American merchants for trading purposes following Mexico’s liberalization of the formerly restrictive trading policies of Spain

Alamo

Francician mission in San Antonio, Texas that

was the site in 1836 of a siege and massacre of

Texans by Mexican troop

Mexican cession of 1848

the addition of half a million square miles to the US as a result of victory in the 1846 was between the US and Mexico

Popular Sovereignty

A solution to the slavery crisis suggested by MI senator Lewis Cass by which territorial residents, not Congress, would decide slavery’s fate

Fugitive Slave Act

Law, part of the Compromise of 1850, that required authorities in the North to assist southern slave catchers and return runaway slaves to their owners

“Bleeding Kansas”

Violence between pro and antislavery forces in Kansas Territory after the passage of the Kansa-Nebraska Act of 1854

Kansas-Nebraska Act

Law passed in 1854 creating the Kansas and Nebraska Territories but leaving the question of slavery open to residents, thereby repealing the Missouri Comprmise

Compromise of 1850

the 4-step compromise that admitted Cali. as a

free state, allowed residents of the New Mexico

and UT territories to decide the slavery issue for

themselves, ended the slave trade in DC, and

passes a new fugitive slave law to enforce the

constitutional provision stating that a slave

escaping into a fee state shall be delivered back

to the owner

Wilmot Proviso

the amendment offered by Penn. Democrat

David Wilmot in 1846 which stipulated that “as

an express and fundamental condition to the

acquisition of any territory from the Republic of

Mexico...neither slavery nor involuntary servitude

shall ever exist in any part of said territory.”

Copperheads

A term Republicans applied to northern war dissenters and those suspected of aiding the Confederate cause during the Civil War

Radical Republicans

A shifting group of Republican congressmen, usually a substantial minority, who favored the abolition of slavery from the beginning of the Civil War and later advocated harsh treatment of the defeated South

Emancipation Proclamation

Decree announced by President Abraham Lincoln in September 1862 and formally issued on Jan. 1, 1863, freeing all slaves in all Confederate states still in rebellion

Second Confiscation Act

Law passed by Congress in July 1862 giving Union commanders the right to seize slave property as their armies marched through Confederate territory

First Confiscation Act

Law passed by Congress in August 1861, it

liberated only those slaves who had directly

assisted the Confederate war effort or whose

masters were openly disloyal to the Union

Thirteenth Amendment

Constitution amendment ratified in 1865 that freed all slaves throughout the United States

Lost Cause

The phrase many whiter southerners applied to their Civil War defeat. They viewed the war as a noble cause and their defeat as only a temporary setback in the South’s ultimate vindication

Carpetbaggers

Pejorative term to describe northern transplants to the South, many of whom were Union soldiers who stayed in the South after the war

Ku Klux Klan

Perhaps the most prominent of the vigilante groups that terrorized black people in the South during the Reconstruction Era, founded by Confederate veterans in 1866

Redeemers

Southern Democrats who wrested control of governments in the former Confederacy from Republicans, often through electoral fraud and violence, beginning in 1870

Freedmen’s Bureau

Agency established by Congress in March 1865 to provide social, educational, and economic services, advice, and protection to former slaves and destitute whites; lasted 7 years

Sharecropping

Labor system that evolved during and after Reconstruction whereby landowners furnished laborers with a house, farm animals, and tools and advanced credit in exchange for a share of the laborers’ crop

Black codes

Laws passed by states and municipalities denying many rights of citizenship to free blacks before the Civil War. Also, during the Reconstruction era, laws passed by newly elected southern state legislatures to control black labor, mobility, and employment

Scalawags

southern whites, mainly small landowning

farmers and well-off merchants and planters,

who supported the southern Republican Party

during Reconstruction for diverse reasons; a

disparaging term.

Compromise of 1877

the congressional settling of the 1876 election

that installed Republican Rutherford B. Hayes in

the White House and gave Democrats control of

all state governments in the South

Field Order No. 15

General William T. Sherman in January

1865 to set aside abandoned land along the

southern Atlantic coast for 40-acre grants to the

Civil War. Also, during the Reconstruction era,

laws passed by newly elected southern state

legislatures to control black labor, mobility, and

employment.

Fifteenth Amendment

passed by Congress in 1869, guaranteed the

right of American men to vote, regardless of

race.

Fourteenth Amendment

constitutional amendment passed by Congress

in April 1866 incorporating some of the features

of the Civil Rights Act of 1866. It prohibited

States from violating the civil rights of their

citizens and offered states the choice of

allowing black people to vote or losing

representation in Congress