(Evidence) APUSH Unit 7

American exceptionalism

the idea that the United States has a unique destiny to foster democracy and civilization on the world stage

Our Country

(1885) a popular book that justified American imperialism on the basis of evangelizing “heathen races”

Social Darwinism

(late 1800s, early 1900s) applied the idea of ‘survival of the fittest’ to human society, argued that the ‘most fit’ became rich and the ‘least fit’ lived in poverty

Plessy v. Ferguson

(1896) a crucial Supreme Court case in which the Supreme Court made segregation legal and gave the states the power to impose segregation laws

Teller Amendment

(1898) a declaration by the U.S. disclaiming any American intention to occupy Cuba

Treaty of Paris of 1898

Spain gave up control of Cuba, gave Guam and Puerto Rico to the US, and agreed to sell the Philippines to the US for 20 million dollars

Spanish-American War or War of 1898

(1898) a short war in which the United States supported Cuba’s fight for independence in order to gain territories from Spain

Philippine-American War

(1899-1902) a Filipino insurrection following the Philippine purchase by the US, a long and bloody war in which Filipino rebels proved difficult to defeat

Insular Cases

(1901) a set of Supreme Court cases that ruled that the United States wasn’t obligated to give citizenship to its new territories

Jones-Shafroth Act

(1917) under Wilson, granted Puerto Ricans US citizenship so that America could more easily take power

Platt Amendment

(1902) stipulated that Cuba could make treaties with no country but the United States

Jones Act of 1916

committed the US to giving independence to the Philippines, but set no date for the giving of said independence

“open door” policy

(1899) a claim by US Secretary of State John Hay saying that all nations seeking to do business in China should have equal trade access

Root-Takahira Agreement

(1908) an agreement between the US and Japan confirming the idea of free trade across the oceans and recognizing Japan’s authority over Manchuria (a resource-dense area of modern-day China)

Hay-Paunceforth Treaty

(1901) Britain ceded Central American canal building rights to the US

Panama Canal

(opened 1914) a canal across the narrowest strip of Panama that gave the US a powerful position in the Western hemisphere

Roosevelt Corollary

(1904) Theodore Roosevelt’s assertion that the United States had the right to police  and intervene in the affairs of nations it deemed guilty of wrongdoing or impotence

Mexican Revolution

(1910-1920) started off with the overthrow of dictator Porfirio Diaz, and, with American intervention (that created major distrust in the years to come), the Mexican government was placed under the control of Venustiano Carranza

Sussex Pledge

(1916) after torpedoing British luxury liner Luistiana, Germany agreed not to target passenger liners or ships unless it was sure the ship carried munitions ( Germany broke this pledge the following year)

Zimmerman telegram

(1917) a telegram sent to Mexico from Germany during WWI in which Germany promised to help Mexico regain lost territory if it attacked the United States; this telegram convinced the US to join WWI

“Over There”

(1917) a famous song written in 1917 to encourage American patriotism and enlistment to the Army during WWI

War Industries Board (WIB)

(established 1917) a federal board created to direct military production, like resource allocation, price setting, and factory conversion to military purposes

National War Labor Board

(established 1918) federal agency that set an eight-hour workday for war workers, endorsed equal pay for women, and supported workers’ right to organize

Espionage Act of 1917

decreed that the post office could ban or throw out mail it deemed to be treasonable

Sedition Act of 1918

prohibited words or behavior that encouraged resistance of the United States or encouraged its enemies

Schneck v. United States

(1919) a socialist American was convicted for handing out anti-draft pamphlets

Abrams v. United States

(1919) outlawed speech considered by the government to pose a clear and present danger to the country’s safety

National Women’s Party (NWP)

(founded 1916) a political party that fought for women’s suffrage and, after achieving its goals, advocated for an Equal Rights Amendment to the US Constitution

Nineteenth Amendment

(ratified 1920) gave women the right to vote

Fourteen Points Speech

(1919) an idealistic speech by Wilson promoting peace, open diplomacy, freedom of seas, national self-determination, and the creation of a League of Nations

Treaty of Versailles

(1919) the treaty that ended WWI, redrawing the world map, saddling Germany with all of the war debt, and creating future conditions for WWII

Prohibition

(1920-1933) the period of time in America where the government banned the sale of alcohol

18th Amendment

(1919) the amendment that banned the sale of alcohol in the United States, starting Prohibition

speakeasies

(1920-1933) hidden bars that illegally sold alcohol during the Prohibition era

bootleggers

(1920-1933) people who illegally sold alcohol during the Prohibition era

Scopes Trial

(1925) Tennessee high school teacher John Scopes was put on trial for teaching evolution, this trial showcased the culture war of the time between fundamentalism and modernism

21st Amendment

(1933) repealed the 18th Amendment, ending Prohibition

American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)

(founded 1920) a non-profit organization dedicated to defending constitutionally given rights, it defended John Scopes in the Scopes trial

Red Scare

(1919-1920) a growing fear of communism and socialism, coupled with an incident where bombs were nearly mailed to politicians, caused Americans to panic and inspired both the Palmer Raids and a wave of anti-immigrant sentiment

Palmer Raids

(1919-1920) a series of raids triggered by the Red Scare that were meant to weed out radical leftists, resulted in the deportation and arrests of thousands of people, often without sufficient evidence

flappers

(1920s) a new, modern style of woman in the twenties, characterized by bobs, short dresses, and a liberated/modern attitude

Jazz Singer

(1927) the first movie to have sound

Steamboat Willie

(1928) the first animated motion picture to have sound

Lost Generation

(1920s) the American authors that came out of the 1920s and World War I disillusioned about the world, and who wrote their cynicism and resentment into their works – includes authors like F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, and Gertrude Stein

Harlem Renaissance

(1920s) the cultural rebirth, especially in Harlem, of  African American art, literature, and music as a result of the Great Migration

The Great Gatsby

(1925) a work from Lost Generation writer F. Scott Fitzgerald that reflects the disillusionment and cynicism of the writers of his era

Solid South

(1870s-1960s) the group of Democratic states in the South that consistently voted blue in order to push a Native, Protestant, white supremacist agenda

Tulsa Race Massacre

(1921) whites in Tulsa, Oklahoma attacked the prosperous African-American community in the Greenwood neighbhorhood, burning down the street and killing dozens of African Americans

Teapot Dome Scandal

(1921-1924) a corruption scandal under President Harding in which it was discovered that the Secretary of the Interior, Albert B. Fall, was giving rights to U.S. Navy oil to businessmen for his own profit – ultimately, this would lead to other branches of government cracking down on government corruption

imperialism

extending power and control over a foreign territory, especially by direct territorial acquisition or by gaining political and economic control of another area, usually by force

Nativism

the belief that American-born people, especially those of Anglo-Saxon descent, are superior to immigrants

Newlands Resolution

(1898) the formal annexation of the territory of Hawaii

Hay-Herrán Treaty

(1903) gave the United States rights to the land surrounding what would be the Panama Canal

Armistice Day

(1918) the day the truce to end World War I was signed

Versailles Treaty

(1919) the treaty that officially ended World War I, and that placed an extremely heavy penalty on Germany, establishing the conditions that would eventually cause World War II

influenza pandemic

(1918-1920) the disastrous international flu epidemic that affected a quarter of the U.S. and killed millions worldwide

National Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA)

(1890-1920) a woman’s suffrage group founded by Elizabeth Cady Stanton that was instrumental in passing the 19th Amendment

Smoot-Hawley Tariff

(1930) a high tariff on imports that was intended to stimulate the American economy during the Great Depression, but it only caused retaliatory tariffs to be enacted that hurt the American economy

Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC)

(1932-1957) a government-sponsored institution created by Hoover designed to combat the Great Depression by providing emergency loans to banks, railroads, agriculture, and financial institutions – it was not nearly aggressive/effective enough in the Depression

Hoovervilles

(1930s) towns of makeshift homes and shacks that were derisively named after President Hoover in the Great Depression due to his ineffectiveness and inaction

Farmers’ Holiday Association

(1930s) a Great Depression Midwestern protest group of farmers that combated the economic hardships of the time

Bonus Army

(1932) a group of fifteen to twenty thousand unemployed World War I veterans who camped outside the Capitol to demand immediate payment of their 1945 pension, and who had their encampment burned to the ground by the U.S. Army

Twentieth Amendment

(1933) set all presidential inaugurations for January 20th

fireside chats

(1933-1944) Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s series of informal radio addresses in which he directly told the American people about his New Deal and wartime policies

Hundred Days

(1933) the incredible first one hundred days of FDR’s presidency, in which FDR and Congress enacted fifteen major bills to fight the Great Depression on four fronts: unemployment, banking failure, cultural overproduction, manufacturing slump

Emergency Banking Act

(1933) right after FDR’s inauguration, Congress passed this Act, which enacted a bank holiday and did not let banks reopen unless it was deemed that they had sufficient funds

Glass-Steagall Act

(1933) passed by FDR, created the FDIC, which insured deposits up to 2,500 during the Great Depression and prohibited banks from making risky investments with people’s money

Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA)

(1933) New Deal legislation that cut agricultural overproduction by offering subsidies to farmers who agreed to stop producing specific crops/products

National Industrial Recovery Act

(1933) created the NRA to establish voluntary but customary codes of fair competition and wages in the industrial sector

Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA)

(established 1933) provided relief for the millions of unemployed Americans in the Great Depression

Public Works Administration (PWA)

(established 1933) a New Deal construction program that created things like the Hoover and Grand Coulee Dams in order to give people jobs

Civilian Conservation Corps

(established 1933) federal relief program that gave jobs to unemployed men as people who laid bricks, built roads/trails/bridges, and created state park structures

Federal Housing Act of 1934

established the FHA, which refinanced mortgages for mortgage holders facing possible foreclosure

Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)

(established 1934) a federal commission that determined how bonds and stocks were sold to the public and to prevent insider trading in order to prevent the reckless speculation and buying that had triggered Black Tuesday

American Liberty League

(1930s) a group of Republican businessmen and conservative Democrats that banded together to fight what they felt was the reckless Socialist spending of the New Deal

National Association of Manufacturers (NAM)

(1930s) more lasting than the American Liberty League, this association put out propaganda and campaigns against what they felt was the antibusiness policies of FDR’s New Deal

Schechter v. United States

(1935) the Supreme Court struck down the National Industrial Recovery Act, citing that it was unconstitutional

Townsend Plan

(1933) a popular plan proposed by Francis Townsend that would give $200 ($4000 today) a month to the elderly

Share Our Wealth Society

(1934) established by Huey Long, a threat to the New Deal, it proposed taking down wealth inequality by enacting a 100% tax on income over 1 million

welfare state

the term for industrial democracies that have government-guaranteed social-welfare programs

Wagner Act

(1935) established the right of industrial workers to unionize

Social Security Act

(1935) an act that established a pension for the elderly, compensation for the unemployed, and assistance for widows

Keynesian economics

(developed 1930s) the theory that deficit spending and interest rate adjustment by government could prevent depressions and limit inflation

Fair Labor Standards Act

(1938) outlawed child labor, stabilized forty-hour work week, mandated overtime pay, and established federal minimum wage

Indian Reorganization Act

(1934) overturned the Dawes Act, giving Native Americans more religious freedom and giving tribal governments status as semi-sovereign dependent nations

dust bowl

an area including the semiarid states of Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, Arkansas, and Kansas that experienced a severe drought and large dust storms from 1930-1939

The Grapes of Wrath

(1939) John Steinbeck’s famous novel about the struggles of the farmers caught in the Dust Bowl

Rural Electrification Administration (REA)

(established 1935) an agency that offered loans to farmers to install power lines

Great Depression

(1929-1940) a period in the U.S. where the economy was in severe decline and millions of Americans were unemployed

deflation

when prices get so low that farmers and business aren’t getting enough profit on their products

Black Tuesday

(October 29, 1929) the U.S. stock market completely crashed, marking the start of the Great Depression

bank runs

in a panic, many people take their money out of the bank at the same time, depleting the banks

Okies

(1931-1940) the nickname for the farmers who migrate west as a result of the Dust Bowl

Tydings-McDuffie Act

(1934) granted the Philippines independence as an American territory, allowing the government to declare Filipinos illegal aliens – Congress did this because they tend to restrict immigration in times of struggle, like the Great Depression during this time

laissez faire

an economic philosophy advocating for minimal government intervention — more popular before industrialization and the Great Depression

New Deal liberalism

a type of liberalism that advocated for the government to maintain the freedom of having a baseline standard of living

New Deal coalition

(1933-1945) the voting group of the Democratic Party — FDR’s New Deal attracted the working class, and this party realignment led to the party switch

fascism

a type of political ideology that is far-right, extremely nationalist, authoritarian, and pushes traditionalism to an extreme

National Socialist (Nazi) Party

(1920-1945) German political party led by Adolf Hitler, its rise to power was fueled by economic struggle, fear of communism, labor unrest, and rising unemployment

Mein Kampf

(1925) a book by Adolf HItler that outlined his plan to invalidate the Versailles treaty, unite Germans throughout Europe into a large empire, and be rid of what he deemed “inferior races”