AIR TEST REVIEW history

Declaration of Independence

Declared independence from Great Britain, Influenced by the Enlightenment through unalienable rights and the social contract, Included a list of grievances (complaints) against the king.

Unalienable Rights (Natural Rights)

Rights that can't be taken away, Life, liberty, pursuit of happiness.

Social Contract

Agreement between the people and their government signifying their consent to be governed. Citizens surrender freedoms to the government and in return, the government agrees to protect its citizens. Right of the people to overthrow their government if the government has become abusive.

Articles of Confederation

First government of the United States. Failed because it gave power to the states over a very weak national government. 13 states acted as 13 different countries.

Land Ordinance of 1785

Divided and sold land in the Northwest Territory.

Northwest Ordinance of 1787

• Created a government for the Northwest Territory

• Set many precedents in the U.S.

• established the method for territories to become states

• new states were admitted on equal footing with other states

• governments must be republican

• basic rights of citizenship (precursor to the Bill of Rights)

• slavery was prohibited

Constitution

Government of the United States, "the supreme law of the land"

Republic

-Representative democracy

Supreme power is held by the citizens

-Elections are held to elect representatives of the people

Limited Government

-Government is limited in power

-National government has no powers other than what's specifically granted in the U.S. Constitution

Popular Sovereignty

-"Will of the people"

-Authority of the government is created by and for the people

Separation of Powers

-Divided powers among the executive, legislative, and judicial branches

-All branches have equal power

Checks and Balances

System created for the branches of government to check on each other to keep one branch from becoming too powerful

Federalism

-Power is divided between the national and state governments

-Any power not mentioned in the Constitution belongs to the states

Federalists

-Strong supporters of the Constitution

-Believed in a strong central government

-Well educated and propertied class, most lived in settled areas along the seaboard

Anti-Federalists

-Against a strong national government

-Fought for the Bill of Rights

-States' rights advocates, poor farmers, the ill-educated and illiterate, debtors, and paper money advocates (the poorer classes of society)

Bill of Rights

First 10 amendments to the Constitution

Manifest Destiny

Belief that it is the divine right of the U.S. to expand from coast to coast

Homestead Act

-Gave 160 acres of land to settlers in the west

-Could own land if they took care of it for 5 years

-Created conflict with Native Americans

Battle of Little Bighorn

-Conflict between Native Americans and U.S. military

-Overwhelming victory for Native Americans (Lakota Sioux)

-Also known as "Custer's Last Stand"

Wounded Knee Massacre

Massacre of Native Americans, mostly women and children, by U.S. military

Ghost Dance

-Resistance to white expansion and assimilation

-Time goes backwards, whites disappear, Indian people restored to former prominence, and buffalo come back

Reservation System

-Created to keep Native Americans off land Americans wanted

-Allowed Indian tribes to govern themselves and maintain their cultural and traditions

Dawes Act

-Created to separate tribes and assimilate Native Americans into mainstream U.S. society by annihilating their cultural and social traditions

-Destroyed the reservation system by subdividing tribal lands into individual plots of land, any land left over was given to whites

Assimilation

-Conforming to the dominant culture

-Ex: Native Americans conforming to white society

Hair, clothing, education

Americanization

Assimilation in America

Indian Residential Schools

-Native American boarding schools with the purpose of assimilating Native American children into white American culture while providing a basic education

Gilded Age

-Term used to describe the age of industrialization

-Social problems covered in a thin layer of gold (ie. new technology)

Industrialization

-Development of machinery and new technology

-People moved from farms to the cities

Transcontinental Railroad

Connected the east and west

Laissez-faire

Government does not interfere in the economy

A "hands off" government

Robber Baron

Term used to describe ruthless, greedy, and selfish businessmen who used unscrupulous methods to get rich

Captain of Industry

-Term used to describe wealthy businessmen who made a positive impact on society through contributions and philanthropy

-Carnegie, Rockefeller

Gospel of Wealth

Carnegie's belief that the wealthy should engage in philanthropy (giving back to the community)

Social Darwinism

Belief used to justify the actions of ruthless businessmen, applying the idea that the strong will survive in society

Capitalism

Economic and political system in which a country's trade and industry are controlled by private owners for profit, rather than by the state.

Entrepreneur

Person who organizes and operates a business or businesses, taking on greater than normal financial risks in order to do so

Monopoly

One person or company has complete control of an industry

Trust

Stockholders of several competing corporations turn in their stock to trustees in exchange for a trust certificate entitling them to a dividend. Trustees ran the companies as if they were one.

Merger

Combination of multiple companies (merge into one)

Collective Bargaining

Negotiations between workers and management about wages and conditions

Labor Union

Workers organizing to fight for better conditions and rights

Immigration

Moving TO/INTO a country (example: immigrating to the United States)

Emigration

Leaving a country (example: emigrating from Germany)

Push Factors

Reasons to leave a country

Political persecution, religious persecution, war, famine, no job

Pull Factors

Reasons to enter a country/what attracts you to the country

Religious freedom, jobs, land, democracy

Ellis Island

Immigration processing center on the east coast, all immigrants from Europe went through Ellis Island

Angel Island

Immigration processing center on the west coast, all immigrants from Asia went through Angel Island

Nativist

Favor native born people, anti-immigrant

Chinese Exclusion Act

Banned immigration from China

Gentlemen's Agreement

Agreement between Japan and the United States to limit the number of immigrants to the United States

U.S. agreed to place no restrictions on Japanese immigration/end segregation on west coast

National Origins Act of 1924

Restricted immigration to the United States by setting quotas

Naturalization

Process of becoming a United States citizen

Urbanization

-Growth of cities

-Rural population to urban population

Tenement

Belief and movement to give power to ordinary people and go against the wealthy elite

Populism

Belief and movement to give power to ordinary people and go against the wealthy elite

Progressivism

Effort to address the problems in American society created by industrialization

Muckrakers

Investigative journalists who exposed problems in society

Pure Food and Drug Act

Prevented sale of contaminated food

Meat Inspection Act

Strict cleanliness requirements for meatpackers

Settlement Houses

Provided assistance to residents (immigrants) in slum neighborhoods

Clayton Antitrust Act

Prevented anti-competitive practices to protect the consumer

Initiative, Referendum, Recall

-Political reforms to make government more democratic and responsive to its citizens

-Initiative: enables citizens to create a new law

-Referendum: vote of the people (either on legislation passed by government or an initiative)

-Recall: allows citizens to remove an elected official from office

16th Amendment

Allows Congress to collect income tax (legacy of the Populists)

17th Amendment

-Direct election of Senators (the citizen population votes directly for Senators)

-Forces Senators to listen to its citizens

18th Amendment

-Banned the manufacture and sale of alcohol

-Created by temperance movements to improve society

-Divided the nation on secular/fundamentalist lines

19th Amendment

Women's suffrage (right to vote)

13th Amendment

Abolished slavery

14th Amendment

Declares that all persons born in the U.S. are citizens and are guaranteed equal protection of the law

15th Amendment

Right to vote for all males

Institutionalized Racism

-Racism is accepted in society (reflected through laws and disparities in income, employment, housing, etc.)

-Jim Crow Laws allowed racism to become institutionalized

Debt Peonage

-Owners brought in workers to pay off a debt (another name for slavery post-Civil War)

-Convict leasing was similar in terms of forced labor

Sharecropping

Former slaves live and work on the land and share their crop with the owner

Segregation

Separation of races

Jim Crow Laws

Enforced segregation (especially in the south)

Plessy v. Ferguson

-"Separate but equal"

-Supreme Court said Jim Crow was legal as long as the separate facilities were equal

Poll Tax

Must pay a tax in order to vote

Literacy Test

-Must pass a literacy test to vote

-Practically impossible for African Americans to pass due to the segregated education system present in the United States at this time

Grandfather Clause

-If your grandfather could vote, you are exempt from the poll tax and literacy test

-Only whites could vote before 1867

NAACP

-National Association for the Advancement of Colored People

-Fought for racial equality and an end to segregation

Great Migration

Mass migration of African Americans to the North

Red Summer

Race riots against African Americans in big cities in the North

Imperialism

-Stronger nation taking over a weaker nation politically, socially, and economically

Reasons for American Imperialism:

-Power and Prestige

-Raw Materials and New Markets

-Cultural Superiority

White Man's Burden

-Whites responsibility to "civilize the uncivilized"

-Take care of native people in their own country

-Used to describe imperialism

Yellow Journalism

-Exaggerated headlines and stories to sell more newspapers, using little or no evidence

-Today's fake news

Open Door Policy

-U.S. policy created in China to keep China open for trade to all countries

-Created to keep the U.S. from being locked out of China

Panama Canal

-Connected the Pacific and Atlantic

-Faster transportation, opened trade routes, strengthened military

Good Neighbor Policy

-U.S. policy to be a "good neighbor" to Latin America

Non-intervene and non-interfere

-Would open up better trade agreements between U.S. and Latin America

Roosevelt Corollary

-Message to Europe to stay out of the western hemisphere

Extension of the Monroe Doctrine

-U.S. wanted all resources in the western hemisphere in the U.S.

Big Stick Diplomacy

-Teddy Roosevelt Foreign Policy

-"Speak softly and carry a big stick"

-Seeks peace but willing to use military power if necessary

How the U.S. became a world empire

Spanish American War = Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam, Philippines (military base)

Annexation of Hawaii (Pearl Harbor)

Panama Canal

Zimmermann Note (Zimmermann Telegram)

-Intercepted message from Germany to Mexico that said Germany would help Mexico gain back land from the U.S. if they joined an alliance

-One of the main reasons for U.S. entry into World War I

Selective Service Act

Military draft

Committee on Public Information

Propaganda created by the government to sell the war to the American public

War Industries Board

-Government agency to coordinate the war effort

-Told companies what to produce for the war

-Example: Car companies make tanks, toy companies make guns

Espionage and Sedition

-Limited free speech during the war

-Speaking out against the government or the war effort was against the law

Schenck v. United States

-Schenck was arrested on espionage and sedition for distributing anti-draft pamphlets

-Supreme Court sided with the U.S. and said speech can be limited during war

Fourteen Points

-President Wilson's plan for postwar peace

-Attempted to resolve the MAIN causes of WWI and created a League of Nations

-Rejected by France and Britain at the Treaty of Versailles

Self-determination

Allow countries to choose their own form of government

League of Nations

-Agreement between nations to solve disputes diplomatically rather than war Weak! U.S. doesn't join and the League has no means of enforcement

Consumerism

New inventions and products created period of mass spending