U.S. History: Reconstruction to World War II

These vocabulary flashcards cover major historical events, laws, and movements in the United States from Reconstruction through the end of World War II.

Lincoln’s Ten-Percent Plan

A lenient Reconstruction policy that wanted to re-admit Southern states to the Union if only $10$ percent of registered voters swore an oath of allegiance.

Freedman’s Bureau

An organization created by Congress to assist free blacks and poor whites in the aftermath of the Civil War.

Civil Rights Act of 1866

A law that gave African Americans citizenship and forbade states from passing discriminatory laws.

14th Amendment

Drafted by Republicans to state that "all citizens born or naturalized in the United States" are full citizens.

Reconstruction Act of 1867

An act that divided the South into $5$ military districts controlled by the Union Army.

Tenure of Office Act

A law that forbade the President from removing a Cabinet member without Congress’s approval, leading to the impeachment trial of Andrew Johnson.

15th Amendment

An amendment passed by Congress that gives African Americans the right to vote.

Compromise of 1877

A political deal that allowed Rutherford B. Hayes to become President in exchange for removing federal troops from Southern states, ending Reconstruction.

Plessy vs. Ferguson

An $1896$ Supreme Court case where the policy of segregation was enforced legally in the United States through legalizing "separate but equal" facilities.

Literacy Test

An open-ended examination, often involving translating the state constitution, used in the South to restrict African Americans from voting.

Poll Tax

An annual tax required by Southern states, sometimes as high as $1$, that people had to pay in order to be eligible to vote.

Grandfather Clause

A rule stating that if your grandfather voted before $1867$, you were eligible to vote, designed to restrict freed slaves whose rights were not recognized until $1870$.

Carpetbaggers

A name given to Northerners who moved to the South for political or economic gain after the Civil War.

Scalawags

A term for Southerners who ran for political office as Republicans.

Sand Creek Massacre

An $1864$ attack where U.S. Soldiers killed over $150$ Cheyenne natives, including women and children, at Sand Creek.

Treaty of Fort Laramie

An agreement where the Sioux Tribe agreed to live on a reservation along the Missouri River.

Sitting Bull

A Sioux leader who did not sign the Treaty of Fort Laramie and became a symbol of resistance against the U.S. Government.

Assimilation

A process in which Native Americans were expected to give up their beliefs and way of life to become part of white culture.

The Dawes Act

An $1887$ act to "Americanize" Native Americans by breaking registration land into $160$ acre plots for heads of households.

The Battle of Wounded Knee

The final conflict of the Native American Wars in $1890$ where the Seventh Cavalry killed over $300$ Sioux.

Homestead Act

An act that offered settlers $160$ acres of free land to the head of a household or intended citizen.

Exodusters

African Americans who moved from the post-Reconstruction South to Kansas.

Soddies

Homes made out of stacking sod or turf, used by settlers on the plains who lacked lumber.

Bonanza Farms

Enormous single-crop farms, often reaching $\text{10,000-15,000}$ acres, that frequently put farmers into debt.

Greenbacks

Paper money that could not be exchanged for gold or silver, which was discontinued following the Civil War.

The Grange

An organization started by Oliver Hudson Kelly to provide a social outlet and education center for isolated farm families.

Bimetallism

A monetary system in which the government would give citizens either gold or silver in exchange for paper currency or checks.

Edwin L. Drake

The individual who first used a steam engine to successfully drill for oil in Titusville, PA, in $1859$.

Bessemer Steel Process

A manufacturing method involving blowing air onto molten iron to remove carbon and create stronger, rust-free steel.

Vertical Integration

A process where a business owner buys out suppliers in order to control the raw materials and transportation of goods.

Horizontal Integration

The practice of buying out all similar competition in the market to be the only provider of a good or service.

Social Darwinism

A theory that applied evolution to the workforce, suggesting that the poor were lazy and that productivity was tied to social class.

Robber Barons

A term used to describe powerful business owners like Rockefeller who wiped out competition and then dramatically raised prices.

Sherman Anti-Trust Act

An act aimed at preventing the formation of trusts that interfered with free trade between states or other countries.

Credit Mobilier

A phony construction company used to build the Union Pacific Railroad that used fraudulent bonds and stocks to bribe government officials.

Interstate Commerce Act

An act that established a five-member commission to regulate railroad operations and shipping prices.

Nativism

The favoritism of people born in the United States over immigrants for jobs, housing, and political positions.

Chinese Exclusion Act

A law that banned entry of all Chinese immigrants except for students, merchants, tourists, or government officials.

Americanization Movement

A movement designed to assimilate people of different cultures into the dominant American culture through citizenship and literacy classes.

Tenements

Multi-family urban dwellings that were often overcrowded, old, and unsanitary.

Settlement Houses

Community centers in slum neighborhoods, often run by college-educated women, providing assistance to the poor and immigrants.

Political Machine

An organized group that controlled the activities of a political party in a city by offering services to voters in exchange for support.

Graft

The illegal use of political influence for personal gain, such as taking kickbacks on city projects.

Progressive Movement

A period aimed at returning control of the government to the people, restoring economic opportunities, and correcting injustices.

Muckrakers

Reporters who exposed the corrupt nature of big business and political life during the Progressive Era.

17th Amendment

An amendment that established the direct election of Senators by the people rather than state legislatures.

Imperialism

The policy in which stronger nations extend their economic, political, or military control over weaker countries.

Yellow Journalism

A sensational style of writing that exaggerates the news to lure and enrage readers, used extensively before the Spanish-American War.

Platt Amendment

Provisions that the United States forced Cuba to add to its Constitution, allowing U.S. intervention and the purchase of land for naval stations.

Roosevelt Corollary

An addition to the Monroe Doctrine stating the U.S. would use force to protect its interests in Latin America as an "international police power."

Selective Service Act

Passed in $1917$, this required men to register with the government to be randomly selected for military service.

Red Scare

A time period beginning in $1919$ characterized by panic and fear over the spread of communism in the United States.

Palmer Raids

Operations led by A. Mitchell Palmer to hunt down communists, anarchists, and socialists, often ignoring civil rights and warrants.

Installment Plan

A system that allows purchasers to buy goods over an extended period without having to put much money down at the time of purchase.

Prohibition

The period from $1920$ to $1933$ when the manufacture, sale, and consumption of alcohol was banned by the 18th Amendment.

Speakeasies

Underground nightclubs that served illegal alcohol and required a card or password for entry during Prohibition.

Fundamentalism

A religious group rooted in non-symbolic interpretation of the Bible that rejected certain scientific knowledge.

Buying on the Margin

The practice of paying a fraction of a stock’s price and borrowing the rest of the cost from a broker.

Black Tuesday

October $29$, $1929$, the day the stock market crashed as $16.4\text{ million}$ shares were dumped, leading to the Great Depression.

The New Deal

FDR’s policy for the U.S. focused on relief for the needy, economic recovery, and financial reform.

Fireside Chats

Weekly radio talks given by FDR to inform the American people of his plans and restore confidence in the government.

FDIC

Established by the Glass-Steagall Act of $1933$ to insure bank deposits and restore public trust in the banking system.

Harlem Renaissance

The emergence of New York City’s Harlem neighborhood as a hub for Black culture, including significant movements in music, art, and literature.

Facism

A political system practiced by Mussolini in Italy that stressed nationalism and the state over the individual.

Nazism

The German brand of fascism based on extreme nationalism and racism, practiced by Adolf Hitler.

Executive Order 9066

FDR’s order that forced people of Japanese ancestry to be removed from their homes on the West Coast and placed in Internment Camps.

The Manhattan Project

The top-secret U.S. research project, led by J. Robert Oppenheimer, created to develop an atomic bomb.