terms and proper names - USA history

Roanoke

the first English settlement in North America on Roanoke Island, founded by Sir Walter Raleigh

Jamestown

first permanent English settlement under Captain John Smith (Virginia)

Pocahontas

daughter of Chief Powhatan, the mythical mother of Virginians who saved John Smith from execution, converts to Protestantism, marries John Rolfe, and travels to England where she dies in London of smallpox

John Smith

captain, soldier, member of the Virginia Company of London, established Jamestown

House of Burgesses

established as the first representative body in the colonies in 1619, Virginia

Samuel de Champlain

founder of New France (Quebec)

Robert Cavalier de la Salle

explored the Great Lakes region of the United States and Canada, and the Mississippi River

Pilgrim Fathers

a group of English Separatist Puritans who sailed to North America aboard the Mayflower in 1620 and established the Plymouth Colony

Mayflower Compact

FIRST document on self-government in America (signed aboard The Mayflower) stipulating civil body politic and just and equal laws

Roger Williams

founder of Rhode Island, a separatist exiled from Puritan Massachusetts, expert in Indian languages and the author of the first dictionary of an Indian language

George Calvert, Lord Baltimore

founders of Maryland, a colony for Roman Catholics fleeing persecution

Pequot War

fought in 1636-1637, a conflict between the Pequot tribe and English colonists, primarily from the Massachusetts Bay and Plymouth

Nathaniel Bacon

leader of the first popular rising in the british colonies, against governor of virginia

Iroquois Confederacy

a powerful alliance of Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands. It was originally composed of five nations: the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca

William Penn

founder of Pennsylvania

Salem Witchcraft Trials

mass hysteria, women blamed for evil in the colony, witch hunts and hangings

Proclamation Line

prohibition of all settlements in the “Indian Reserve” (Indian Country) west of the Appalachian Mountains, i.e. former French territory.

Sons of Liberty

organizations formed in the colonies boycotting British goods, protesting and rioting in cities (brewers of American nationalism) and developing a network of propaganda and organized resistance.

Paul Revere

bostonian patriot that publicises the Boston Massacre of 1770 (with Samuel Adams)

Benedict Arnold

an American-born British military officer who served during the American Revolutionary War. He fought with distinction for the American Continental Army and rose to the rank of major general before defecting to the British in 1780

Thomas Paine

publishes The Common Sense and The Crisis - two pamphlets with a huge impact on the American Revolution

Articles of Confederation

The first frame of government or “constitution” for the Thirteen States adopted by the Continental Congress

Northwest Ordinance

established a framework for governing the Northwest Territory and set a precedent for admitting new states to the Union

Mason-Dixon Line

a line that historically separated the northern and southern United States, and more specifically, the states of Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, and West Virginia

James Madison

Founding Father who served as the fourth President of the United States from 1809 to 1817. He is widely regarded as the "Father of the Constitution"

Federalists and Antifederalists

federalists and anti-federalists were the two opposing groups during the ratification of the US Constitution in 1787-1788. Federalists supported the Constitution and a strong national government, while Anti-Federalists opposed it, fearing centralized power and advocating for states' rights.

Benjamin Franklin

one of the Founding Fathers of the United States; a drafter and signer of the Declaration of Independence

Alexander Hamilton

produced the U.S. Constitution and the American form of government, one of the Founding Fathers

The Federalist Papers

85 essays written anonymously in support of the Constitution by J. Jay, J. Madison, A. Hamilton under pseudonym “Publius” in 1788

nullification

a controversial constitutional theory asserting that states have the power to invalidate federal laws they deem unconstitutional

Tecumseh

a Shawnee chief and warrior who promoted resistance to the expansion of the United States onto Native American lands

Francis Scott Key

writer of a popular poem “Defence of Fort M'Henry.” In 1931 the song The Star Spangled Banner with the lyrics of the poem becomes the US national anthem

Monroe’s Doctrine

the US foreign policy doctrine in the 19th century and early 20th century: foreign intervention into American politics is seen as hostile, no more land is to be colonized by europe, america will not mess with existing european colonies or any european politics, wars

Samuel F. B. Morse

invented telegraph and Morse code

Samuel Colt

invented the revolver

Webster-Ashburton Treaty

resolved several disputes between the United States and Great Britain, primarily concerning the northeastern border between the U.S. and British North America (now Canada)

Manifest Destiny

a popular 19th century idea that Americans are DESTINED to expand all over the North American continent to reach the Pacific – first articulated by John O'Sullivan in 1845.

Oregon Trail

east–west, large-wheeled wagon route and emigrant trail in North America that connected the Missouri River to valleys in Oregon Territory

Forty-Niners

the prospectors who traveled to California in 1849 during the California Gold Rush, hoping to strike it rich by finding gold

Frederick Douglass

an American social reformer, abolitionist. He was the most important leader of the movement for African-American civil rights in the 19th century

William Lloyd Garrison

founder of The Liberator (anti-slavery newspaper) - harsh stories, often invented - radical literature all over the North

Harriet Tubman

american abolitionist, social activist

Stephen Douglas

pro slavery, promoted the Kansas-Nebraska act

Harriet Beecher Stowe

american author and abolitionist, wrote “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”, which depicted the reality of harsh conditions of enslaved African Americans

Know-Nothing Party

a prominent nativist political movement in the United States during the 1840s and 1850s. They were known for their strong anti-immigrant and anti-Catholic sentiments

Gen. Ulysses S. Grant

president of the United States, serving from 1869 to 1877

Robert E. Lee

a Confederate military general, his greatest contribution to the United States was his effort to reunite the country following the American Civil War (during The Reconstruction)

Gen. William T. Sherman

a prominent Union military leader during the American Civil War, renowned for his leadership in the Atlanta Campaign and his devastating "March to the Sea" through Georgia. He is also recognized for his controversial use of "total warfare" tactics

carpetbaggers

a largely historical pejorative used by Southerners to describe allegedly opportunistic or disruptive Northerners who came to the Southern states after the American Civil War and were perceived to be exploiting the local populace for their own financial, political, or social gain.

Sitting Bull

political and spiritual leader of the Sioux warriors who destroyed General George Armstrong Custer's force in the famous battle of Little Big Horn

Crazy Horse

a prominent Lakota leader and warrior who played a crucial role in the Battle of the Little Bighorn. He is credited with leading the charge that routed Major Reno's forces and contributed to the defeat of Custer's troops

Geronimo

a prominent leader and medicine man of the Bedonkohe Apache, known for his fierce resistance against the United States and Mexican governments during the Apache Wars

Jim Crow laws

state and local statutes in the United States, primarily in the South, that enforced racial segregation from the late 19th century into the mid-20th century

Chinese Exclusion Act

ban on Asian immigrants until 1924

Cornelius Vanderbilt

an American business magnate who built his wealth in railroads and shipping

John D. Rockefeller

oil magnate, founder of the Standard Oil Company – the wealthiest American of all time

J.P. Morgan

an American financier and investment banker who dominated corporate finance on Wall Street throughout the Gilded Age and Progressive Era (America’s Greatest Banker)

Thomas A. Edison

inventor of the light bulb, dynamo, phonograph, motion picture camera

Wilbur and Orville Wright

American inventors and aviation pioneers who are credited with inventing, building, and flying the world's first successful airplane

Joseph Pulitzer

an American newspaper editor and publisher who helped to establish the pattern of the modern newspaper

William Randolph Hearst

widely credited with creating the comic strip syndication business

spoils system

the practice of rewarding political supporters with government jobs, contracts, and other benefits after a political party wins an election

William Jennings Bryan

a dominant force in the Democratic Party, running three times as the party's nominee for President of the United States in the 1896, 1900, and 1908 elections

Open Door Policy

a principle of international relations, specifically regarding trade with China, proposed by the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The policy aimed to ensure that all nations had equal trading opportunities in China, preventing any single power from dominating trade in the region

jingoism

nationalism in the form of aggressive and proactive foreign policy, such as a country's advocacy for the use of threats or actual force, as opposed to peaceful relations, in efforts to safeguard what it perceives as its national interests

Rough Riders

the name given to the First U.S. Volunteer Cavalry under the leadership of Theodore Roosevelt

Fourteen Points

a statement of principles for peace that was to be used for peace negotiations in order to end World War I by Woodrow Wilson

Red Scare

refers to periods in US history characterized by intense fear and suspicion of communism and socialism, often leading to political persecution and social unrest (1st - 1919-1920, 2nd 1947-1957)

John Edgar Hoover

an American attorney and law enforcement administrator who served as the fifth and final director of the Bureau of Investigation and the first director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation

Henry Ford

an American industrialist and business magnate. As the founder of the Ford Motor Company, he is credited as a pioneer in making automobiles affordable for middle-class Americans through the system that came to be known as Fordism

Roaring Twenties

refers to the 1920s, characterized by a vibrant and exuberant popular culture, economic prosperity, and significant social and cultural change

Great Crash

the Wall Street Crash – the USA plunges into the greatest economic crisis to date (panics and crises had occurred a few times in the 19th century).

New Deal

The New Deal was a series of programs, public work projects, financial reforms, and regulations aimed to remedy the Great Depression. The implementation of New Deal led to the establishment of a liberal welfare state based on government intervention and taxation.

Dust Bowl

(Dirty Thirties) - enormous dust storms and droughts in the Midwest (Oklahoma, in particular) leading to mass migration to California

Lend-Lease Act

a Congressional act allowing the US President to "sell, transfer title to, exchange, lease, lend, or otherwise dispose of, to any such government [whose defense the President deems vital to the defense of the United States] any defense article."

Atlantic Charter

signed by FDR and Winston Churchill off the coast of Newfoundland, outlining the US and British “common principles in the national policies of their respective countries on which they base their hopes for a better future for the world”