United States History Midterm Preparation Part One

Reconstruction

The period after the Civil War during which the southern states were reorganized and reintegrated into the Union.

13th Amendment

Abolished slavery in the United States, except as punishment for a crime, sharecropping

14th Amendment

Granted citizenship and required states to provide due process and equal protection under the law. There were lots of tests that made it hard for immigrants to receive citizenship.

15th Amendment

Granted African American men the right to vote, if they could pass a literacy test.

Jim Crow Laws

State and local laws that enforced racial segregation in the Southern United States.

Sharecropping

A system in which tenants farmed land owned by someone else in exchange for a share of the crops. Also known as another form of slavery due to the difficulty to escape this cycle.

Radical Republicans

A faction of the Republican Party that believed in granting civil rights to former slaves and pushing for the Fourteenth Amendment.

Manifest Destiny

The 19th-century doctrine that the expansion of the US throughout the American continents was both justified and inevitable.

Dawes Act

Legislation that aimed to assimilate Native Americans by allotting them individual plots of land. Separated families and tore their background apart.

Assimilation

The process by which a person or group adopts the culture of another group, often losing their original identity.

Wounded Knee

The site of a massacre in 1890 where hundreds of Sioux were killed, marking the end of Native American resistance.

Chinese Exclusion Act

1882 law that prohibited the immigration of Chinese laborers to the United States in order to keep it white.

Gilded Age

A thin layer of wealth covering the underside of poverty

Laissez-Faire

Business doing what they want without the government intervening. Hands-Free Policy

Monopoly

One person dominating and has power to change the market towards their wants.

Horizontal Integration

Control all of one step of production, for example all independent steel mills

Vertical Integration

Controlling from mines, shipping facilities, and steel mill to integrated steel company

Captains of Industry

Business leaders whose means of accumulating wealth contribute positively to the country in some way.

Robber Barons

A derogatory term for businessmen who engaged in unethical or exploitative practices to amass wealth.

Philanthropy

The act of donating money, goods, or services to help others, particularly for social welfare.

Bessemer Process

A method for producing steel more efficiently and cheaply, enabling mass production.

Social Darwinism

Survival of the fittest

Nativism

A policy of favoring native-born citizens over immigrants.

Tenements

Overcrowded and poorly maintained apartment buildings in urban areas. Crappy conditions

Panama Canal

A man-made waterway that connects the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, significantly improving trade. Increased the economy and helping the country to new levels. Showed to the other countries what they couldn’t do.

Spanish-American War

America's support the ongoing struggle by Cubans and Filipinos against Spanish rule, and the mysterious explosion of the battleship U.S.S.

They both aimed to fight and take over the Philippines. The United States won but the Philippines remained in Spanish control. Both America and Spain were heavily underprepared for the war.

Open Door Policy

It called for protection of equal privileges for all countries trading with China and for the support of Chinese territorial and administrative integrity.

Progressivism

A political movement advocating for social reforms to address problems caused by industrialization. An uproar of civil rights and equal rights. Reform!

Muckrakers

Investigative journalists who exposed corruption and social injustices in the early 1900.

Temperance Movement

A social movement aimed at banning alcohol due to its negative impacts on society especially wives.

Fireside Chats

Informal talks given by Franklin D. Roosevelt over the radio to reassure Americans during the Great Depression.

New Deal

A series of programs and policies implemented by Franklin D. Roosevelt to combat the Great Depression.

Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)

which insured personal bank deposits up to $2,500.”

Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA)

1933-1935 was a Farm program designed to raise prices by curtailing production

Social Security Act (SSA)

1935-Today aimed to aid to retirees, disabled, and unemployed

Works Progress Administration (WPA)

1935-1943 was a bunch of job program (including artists and youth)

Dust Bowl

A severe drought in the 1930s that devastated the American Midwest, leading to widespread agricultural failure.

The Bonus Army

A group of World War I veterans who marched on Washington to demand early payment of bonuses.

Roaring Twenties

A decade of economic prosperity and cultural change in the 1920s in the United States.

Great Migration

The movement of six million African Americans from the rural South to urban areas in the North.

Sacco and Vanzetti Case

A controversial trial that resulted in the execution of two Italian immigrants amid widespread criticism. Nativism

Harlem Renaissance

After World War I, African Americans were still being treated unfairly. Many ended up moving to cities, like Harlem. There, they shared ideas and began to feel proud of their culture. They wrote literature, poetry, music, and plays that showed their point of view. They even began political movements to fight for their rights.

Scopes Trial

“Scopes isn’t on trial, civilization is on trial. No man’s belief will be safe if they win,” The result was that those who approved of the teaching of evolution saw Bryan as foolish, whereas many rural Americans considered the cross-examination an attack on the Bible and their faith.

Flappers

Young women in the 1920s who challenged traditional norms of behavior.

Zimmerman Note

A secret telegram sent by Germany proposing a military alliance with Mexico against the U.S to weaken them and cause the win for Germany.

Schenck vs. US

A Supreme Court case that upheld the Espionage Act, ruling that free speech can be limited during wartime. - Destroyed 1st Ammendment

Trench Warfare

A type of combat where opposing troops fight from trenches facing each other during WWI. Useless and most deaths fighting methods.

Fourteen Points

was the president's idea about trade equality, ending of secret treaties, and alliances, freedom of the seas,

Treaty of Versailles

The treaty that ended World War I and imposed heavy reparations on Germany.

League of Nations

An international organization established after WWI to promote peace and cooperation among countries and democracy

Liberty Loans

Bonds sold by the U.S. government to finance military operations during World War I.

Red Scare

A period of intense fear of communism and radical leftism in the United States after WWI. Targeted immigrants.

Prohibition

A nationwide ban on the manufacture, sale, and transportation of alcohol in the U.S. Increase in crime and deaths, homicides.

Consumer Society

A society characterized by an emphasis on the purchase of goods and services. Based on credit and loans for the American dream.

Bank Runs

When a large number of customers withdraw their deposits simultaneously due to concerns about the bank's solvency.

Multiplier Effect

A chain of how money is flowing

Liquidity

The availability of liquid assets, physical

Federal Reserve

The central bank of the United States, responsible for regulating monetary policy.

Dust Bowl Causes

Over-farming and drought, which led to the failure of crops and severe dust storms. Years of misuse.

Women in the Great Depression

Women increasingly joined the workforce, often facing discrimination and lower wages. Women became more rebellious and wanted to enjoy what they got and overall emphasized their rights, and went against traditional norms.

Farmers during the Great Depression

Farmers suffered greatly due to falling prices, drought conditions, and debt. Pre-Depression.

Unintended Consequences

Unintended Consequence because the Fed did not expect that their actions of printing less money would cause a panic in the people. This panic led to the bank run where everyone wanted to withdraw all their money, however, since the banks did not have sufficient money reserves to give back to everyone, the people lost their trust, eventually causing the Great Depression.

Arguments for success of New Deal

The New Deal helped establish minimum standards for wages and working conditions. Re-lifted the country

Arguments for failure of New Deal

Many believed the New Deal did not go far enough in aiding those in need and led to an increase in government power.

Fireside Chats

Radio addresses by FDR to communicate directly with the American public.

Civilian Conservation Corps

1933-1942 had Employed young men to work in rural areas

Federal Housing Administration

insured banks, mortgage companies, and other lenders, thereby encouraging the construction of new homes and the repair of existing structures.

National Industrial Recovery Act

programs that helped farmers “It was designed to boost prices to a level that would alleviate rural poverty and restore profitability to American agriculture. These price increases would be achieved by encouraging farmers to limit production in order to increase demand while receiving cash payments in return.”