Top 53 APUSH

Encomienda System

In the 16th century, the Spanish government created this to divide up the American Indian labor force and it created a set of classes. This also gave protection to the laborers from other tribes and education in Catholicism

Joint-Stock Companies

Through the dealing of many of these, colonies were founded in North America. These were meant to harvest the natural resources in North America and bring them back to England.

Pueblo Indians

Located in present-day southwest region. In 1598, led by conquistador, Juan De Onate invaded this region to establish a Spanish colony, new mexico and with violent fighting against the natives who resisted led to the Pueblo Revolt in 1680

Asiento System

A Spanish Slavery system that led to the foundation of slavery in the Americas. African slaves were imported to the Americas with a tax being paid to the Spanish crown for each slave. This was a forerunner for the triangular trade.

Roanoke

In 1586, English settlers led by Walter Raleigh went to establish an early colony at Roanoke Island just off the coast of North Carolina. But when the governor of the colony returned from a trip from England the colony was completely deserted, with no traces of insurrection or violence. This represented the difficulties and unknown fears surrounding English colonization of the Americas.

House of Burgesses

Formed in 1964, this was the first form of legislative power in the colonies and it was established by the Virginia Company to manage and administer aid to the need of colonists. Foreshadowed future powers and contracts that would be outlined in the Constitution and showed Americas self-determined spirit.

Mercantilism

Argues that trade generates wealth and is stimulated by the accumulation of profitable balances, which a government should encourage by means of protectionism and came from a nation’s drive to establish colonies quickly and efficiently. Anything the colony produced was to be shipped and sold only in the home country, and the home nation’s exports must be greater than its import.

Cash Crops

Grown for cash instead of subsistence. These crops were harvested through forced labor or coercion systems and had devastating effects on the environment and this helped drive colonial expansion.

Triangular Trade

Refers to the route taken by trade ships from Africa, to the New World, and back to Europe. Slaves were taken from Africa to the New World and the slaves would work on cash crop plantations that would be taken back to Europe.

Order of Colonization of Colonies

Virginia (1607) then New York (1626), Massachusetts (1630), Maryland (1633), Rhode Island (1636), Connecticut (1636), New Hampshire (1638), Delaware (1638), North Carolina (1653), South Carolina (1663), New Jersey (1664), Pennsylvania (1682), and Georgia (1732).

Bill of Rights

(1791) After the Constitution was formed many felt that this gave the federal government too much power so this was proposed by James Madison to help with the fear of an overpowered government by proposing the first ten amendments, which will be used to interpret many cases through the supreme court

Boston Massacre

(1770) This is considered to be the first step to the American Revolution, the event was more of a scuffle between colonist settlers and British soldiers due to the Townshend Act of housing British soldiers, but the propaganda that rose around it whipped the colonies into a frenzy.

Boston Tea Party

The final straw in a series of events led to the American Revolution. Started as a protest of Parliament’s Tea Act of 1773, which gave the East India Company a monopoly in selling tea in the colonies. Men of Boston disguised themselves as Mohawk Indians and boarded the East India Company ships that were held in the harbor and began to toss the tea shipment overboard. 

Checks and Balances

It is a political framework that separates power into a three-way system the legislative, executive, and judicial branches, preventing one portion of government from gaining dominance over the other two. 

The Constitution

Written in 1787 and ratified in 1788, written by Thomas Jefferson. It established the three-branch system that the United States government has come to depend on, and it instituted a Congress comprised of the House of Representatives and the Senate.

The Declaration of Independence

Written by Thomas Jefferson and approved by the Continental Congress in 1776, claimed that all men were created equal and guaranteed the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It also outlined the crimes committed by the British throne and denounced Parliament for its treatment of the colonies. 

Sons of Liberty

A group of colonists who lived in Colonial America that were unhappy with the practices of the British Crown.  Including Samuel Adams, John Hancock, Paul Revere and Patrick Henry

Embargo Act

Put into law by Thomas Jefferson (democratic republican) in 1807, and it marked a low-point in his presidency.  prohibited American ships from trading in all foreign ports. The law intended to protect American ships from the impressment of foreign forces, but ended up simply decimating the economies of port cities and it reminded many Americans of the British Navigation Acts.

War of 1812

(1812-1815) America re-entered war with Britain not long after the revolution due to the British seizure of American ships, impressment of American sailors, and the British’s aid to Native Americans attacking Americans on the frontier. This victory led to a surge in American national pride and self-determination, with many United States citizens calling the War of 1812 a “second war of independence.” 

Hartford Convention

A series of meetings from December 15, 1814 to January 5, 1815. At the meetings, the Federalist Party and the political problems arising from the federal government’s increasing demonstration of power and authority. They even thought of North England secession but many didn’t support it leading to the end of the Federalist party.

Tariff of Abominations

A.K.A. the Tariff of 1828 and was passed by Andrew Jackson to protect the southern American economy from cheap England goods coming in. It ended up protecting the North because it created goods that competed with English manufactures. This made the south trade with the North with more expensive prices, a possible beginning lead to the civil war.

Cult of Domesticity

A social ideology that, above all, characterized women as subservient to men. Woman as child carer, homemaker, essentially. Eventually influenced the ratification of many social customs that restricted women to merely caring for the house

Monroe Doctrine

Best known as U.S. policy toward the Western Hemisphere, enacted by President James Monroe in 1823 and it warned European nations that the United States would not tolerate further colonization or puppet monarchs and the U.S. would not intervene in the internal affairs of European nations.

Marbury V Madison

The first time the U.S. Supreme Court declared an act of Congress unconstitutional. Think of this case as the case that established judicial review, determining if something is constitutional or not. The case came about when President John Adams named William Marbury as one of forty-two justices of the peace. But Secretary of State John Marshall failed to deliver four of the commissions, including Marbury’s, Marbury sued. Marbury lost because it was beyond the power of the Supreme Court to make Madison to deliver the appointments.

Emancipation Proclamation

(1863) Issued by Abraham Lincoln that freed all slaves in the states that were rebelling during the Civil War. The purpose was to make the goal of the war to the abolition of slavery, to keep Europeans away from helping the South. It freed about 30,000 slaves and it established true freedom for all its citizens. 

Fugitive Slave Act

Apart of the Compromise of 1850 and served as a fundamental role in accelerating America toward the Civil War. It meant that runaway slaves had to be returned to their owner even when in free states. The federal government was also responsible for finding, returning, and trying escaped slaves. 

The Missouri Compromise

Passed in 1820, it was meant to preserve the balance of power in Congress between slave and free states, admitting Maine into the US as a free state and Missouri as a slave state. The Missouri Compromise would lead to countless friction between free and slave states, accelerate the issue of state’s rights, and further pit the nation against itself.

Kansas-Nebraska Act

Passed in 1854, this gave popular sovereignty to states. Meaning the settlers of a territory or state were able to decide whether slavery would be allowed within a new state’s borders. This overturned the Missouri Compromise’s use of latitude as the boundary between pro-slavery and anti-slavery settlers. Bringing much conflict between pro-slavery and anti-slavery settler leading to Bleeding Kansas, which played a significant role in leading the country to Civil War.

The Surrender at Appomattox Court House

The last battle of the Civil War, was fought on April 9, 1865.  The Unions win with Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendering to Union General Ulysses S. Grant (President 1869-77). It was a meeting that concluded the Civil War, paving the path of reconstruction with lots of south resistance.

Gilded Age

The period of time between 1870 and 1900 a time of heavy industrial and economic growth. Wages rose explosively as a result of heavy industrialization and modernization thanks to technological advancements and strong economic policies. The wealth and privilege attracted immigrants from all over Europe, leading to a massive boom in immigration. But a deep social unrest began to fester as African Americans, women, and immigrants were systematically disenfranchised and excluded from this era of privilege. 

Laissez-Faire Economics

Emphasized a free market that would produce the best and most efficient solutions to economic and social problems on its own, without much government intervention. Though this policy seemed to have positive impacts on the economy, it also began to sew deep misalignments in wealth and equality. 

JP Morgan, John D. Rockefeller, and Andrew Carnegie

JP Morgan was an influential banker and businessman who bought and reorganized companies, dominating Wall Street and American finance throughout the 19th century.

John D Rockefeller established the Standard Oil Company, the greatest, wisest, and meanest monopoly known in American history. (horizontal integration)

Carnegie was the man who led the expansion of the American steel industry during the late 19th century. (vertical integration)

Horizontal Integration

An act of joining or consolidating with one’s competitors to create a monopoly

Vertical Integration

When a single entity controls the entire process of a product, from the raw materials to distribution.

Sherman Anti-Trust Act of 1890

Enacted in 1890, the first federal action was designed to prevent monopolies. This Act would prove integral to Theodore Roosevelt’s presidency, as he would cite in his sweeping trust-busting reform. 

The New South

An attempt to modernize the South’s economy and to diversify southern agriculture by adding new industries and trading methods. They even encouraged northern investment and greenlighted the construction of new railroads to tie the south into national and international markets. But in the end the south didn’t change that much.

Roosevelt Corollary

This made the outright declaration that if a European power tried to intervene in the affairs of North or South America, then the United States would exercise military forces to keep Europe out. This document played a key role in developing the  aggressive foreign policy America would adopt in the 20th (and really, the 21st) century.

“Speak Softly, and Carry a Big Stick”

Theodore Roosevelt, would calmly approach deliberation and negotiations with a peaceful but unflappable strength.  The phrase was often attributed to the newly formed and mighty United States Navy, a sort of boast of military power. Could be seen when the navy’s Great White Fleet, composed of 16 brand new battleships, sailed around the world to demonstrate the power of the United States.

Transcontinental Railroad

Completed in 1869, the physical manifestation of the American dream of Manifest Destiny. It also played a substantial role in developing the rapid modernization and urbanization of the United States during the early-20th century. The nation has become a lot more united and allowed access to states that once felt too hard to trade with.

Wilson’s 14 Points

President Wilson thought it prudent to outline the exact goals of the United States for entering the WWI, and he also described a variety of peace negotiations to end the war. He wanted a world of free trade between all nations, open navigation of the seas, and the formation of the League of Nations (which the US doesn’t join but it later becomes the UN which the US does join)

Great Depression

(1929-1941) The worst economic crisis of the 1930’s, and one of the worst economic collapses of world history, lasted until WWII.

The four biggest factors:

* Financial instability and credit cycles: A period of stability encouraged more borrowing and lending than prudent, sowing the seeds for future instability.
* Monetary contraction, the gold standard, and bank runs: Monetary policy, driven in large part by the gold standard, tightened credit at the wrong time fueling bank-runs and economic slowdown.
* Debt deflation: Excess private debt created a dangerous condition where no one wanted to spend, causing deflation and economic weakening.
* Maldistribution of wealth: A lopsided consolidation wealth led to a limited middle class.

Manhattan Project

The scientific project undertaken by the United States to create the first atomic weapon. The end result of the project was the creation of two atomic bombs, Little Boy and Fat Man, which were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki respectively leading to the end of the war in Japan and keep the Soviet Union from intervening.

Postdam Conference

(July, 1945) As WWII concluded, the Allied leaders met in Potsdam and determined Germany’s fate. Truman (president after FDR death), Churchill (British Prime Minister), and Stalin (Soviet leader) all met.Although talks primarily centered on postwar Europe, they came to a conclusion regarding Japan, who issued an unconditional surrender. issued a declaration demanding “unconditional surrender” from Japan.

Scopes Monkey Trial

Seen as the first instance of religion versus science in the United States public education system. A substitute teacher in Tennessee taught evolution after the Butler Act had made it illegal to teach any form of evolution in a Tennessee school that received money from the state. It concluded with the defeat of Scopes, who was found guilty and fined $100, but it also pointed toward a long-lasting battle between science and religion in American society.

Bay of Pigs

(1961) During the Cold War, Cuba was at a crossroads in their own development as a nation. Fidel Castro fighting for their independence supported the Soviets and wanted to have further ties with them. The US against Communism; Eisenhower ordered an invasion of the island, but the final stamp of approval was given by President Kennedy. The raid was a fail and the United States faced embarrassment on the international stage, forced to grant Cuba’s new political system legitimacy. 

Cuban Missile Crisis

(1962) This marked the height of tension during the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union. After The US fail at keeping Cuba away from the Soviet Union, Cuba began to aid the Soviet Union. In response, the United States strategically aimed its own nuclear arsenal in Turkey and Italy toward Moscow. The crisis ended with a series of tactful negotiations between Nikita Khrushchev (the new Soviet leader) and John F. Kennedy. The United States agreed never to attempt to subjugate Cuba again and they promised to remove their own nuclear weapons from Turkey and Italy if and only if the Soviet Union removed theirs in Cuba, bringing the world close to a nuclear war.

Red Scare

(1947/2 year after end of WW2 - early 1950s) Period of mass paranoia, the American national consciousness became inundated with fear regarding all things communist. Big name of the red scare was Senator Joseph McCarthy, who used the FBI and CIA to spy on organizations and figures he deemed sympathetic to the communist cause.

The Kent State Massacre

On May 4, 1970, 4 students protesting the Vietnam War at Kent State University were shot and killed by the National Guard. Many younger Americans expressing anger, frustration, and flat-out disapproval of the Vietnam War (because they would be drafted) while older Americans expressed the opposite. The massacre revealed a deep cultural and generational division within American society, a division that began to form during the 1950s and early 1960s 

Detente

The first step of ending the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union. This thawing of relations between the two superpowers was brought about by events such as the Strategic Arms Limitation talks and the signing of the Helsinki Accords. This marked the first instance during the Cold War that both superpowers realized that the continued escalation might lead to a potentially devastating nuclear war and the destruction of both nations.

Domino Theory

(1950’s-1980’s) It centered around the belief that if one country fell to Communism, then surrounding nations would follow suit, leading to a gradual development of communism. It was not totally abandoned until the 1990s.

Fall of the Berlin Wall

(1989) The USSR finally agreed to call it quits, and decided to tear down the Berlin Wall at the urging of United States President Ronald Reagan. The Berlin Wall was to keep Western Berliners from entering East Germany, but it primarily served the objective of separating East Germany (Soviet Union/Communism) from West Germany (United States). 

Attacks on September 11, 2001

19 members of the Islamic extremist group al Qaeda hijacked four airplanes and carried out suicide attacks against the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, and an attempted attack on the White House in the United States. Turning the US focus from Communism to Terrorism which ultimately defined the presidency of George W. Bush. These acts, many of which were controversial, called for heightened security, racial profiling, and more. The Patriot Act of 2001, for instance, granted broad police authority to the federal, state, and local government to interdict, prosecute, and convict suspected terrorists.

Affordable Care Act

Passed in 2010, this Act demanded households with incomes above $250,000 to pay higher taxes as a means to bring about health care reform. Also the idea that hospitals, doctors, and other healthcare providers should be paid on the basis of patient outcome, not services provided. Commonly called “Obamacare,” it was designed to grant healthcare to a wider range of people.