APWH Unit 3 (1750-1900) Vocabulary 2025

Suffrage Movement

The drive for voting rights for women.

Liberalism

A political ideology that emphasizes rule of law, representative democracy, rights of citizens, and the protection of private property. This ideology, derived from the Enlightenment, was especially popular among the property-owning middle classes.

Industrial Revolution

A period of rapid growth in the use of machines in manufacturing and production that began in the mid-1700s.

Urbanization

An increase in the percentage and in the number of people moving from rural areas into cities.

Factories

A location in which workers and machines are brought together to produce large quantities of goods.

Steam Engine

an engine invented by James Watt that uses the expansion or rapid condensation of steam to generate power.

Second Industrial Revolution

A period of rapid growth in U.S. manufacturing in the late 1800s.

Corporation

A business owned by stockholders who share in its profits but are not personally responsible for its debts.

Stock Markets

A general term used to describe all transactions involving the buying and selling of shares issued by a company.

Capitalism

An economic system that is based on private ownership of capital and the free-market.

Adam Smith

Scottish moral philosopher of political economics. Viewed as the father of Capitalism. Wrote "The Wealth of Nations" .

Laissez-faire

Idea that government should play as small a role as possible in economic affairs. A "hands off policy".

Socialism

A system in which society, usually in the form of the government, owns and controls the means of production.

Karl Marx

A political economist, often recognized as the father of communism. An analysis of history led to his belief that communism would replace capitalism. He believed in a classless society.

Marxism or Communism

Emerged as the most famous socialist belief system during the 19th century. Saw history as the story of a class struggle. A theory or system of social organization based on the holding of all property in common, actual ownership being ascribed to the community as a whole or as was the case in most communist nations today, to the state.

Unions

An association of workers, formed to bargain for better working conditions and higher wages.

Labor Strikes

Work stoppages used by laborers in unions to obtain better working conditions.

Tokugawa Shogunate

A semi-feudal government of Japan in which a shoguns unified the country under family rule. The capital was moved to Edo. This family ruled until the Meiji Restoration.

Meiji Restoration

In 1868, a Japanese state sponsored industrialization and westernization period that involved the elimination of the shogunate. Power was handed over to the Japanese emperor, who had previously existed as mere spiritual/symbolic figure.

Imperialism

A policy of extending a country's power and influence over a less powerful country or territory through diplomacy or military force.

Berlin Conference

A meeting during which representatives of European nations agreed on rules when colonizing the continent of Africa (1884-1885). No African nations were invited to this international event.

Scramble for Africa

Term given for the rapid invasion of Africa by the various European powers during the age of imperialism.

Social Darwinism

The application of ideas about evolution and "survival of the fittest" to human societies - particularly as a justification for their imperialist expansion.

King Leopold II

King of Belgium between 1865-1909. He actively encouraged the exploration of Central Africa and became the infamous ruler exploiting the people and resources of the Congo.

White Man's Burden

The idea that European countries had a "duty" to spread their religion and culture to "less civilized" nations.

Opium Wars

A series of wars between 1839-1842. When China attempted to prohibit the opium trade, Britain declared war and was victorious against the Chinese. The Treaty of Nanjing was a result of these wars, in which China agreed to open 5 ports to British trade and limit tariffs on British goods. It also gave control of Hong Kong to the British.

Nationalism

Loyalty and devotion to a particular nationality or state rather than to a King or Emperor.

Nation-State

A state whose territory corresponds to that occupied by a particular ethnicity that has been transformed into a nationality.

Young Turks

A coalition starting in the late 1870s of various groups favoring modernist liberal reform of the Ottoman Empire. They were against monarchy of the sultan and favored a more liberal constitution and pushed for Turkish nationalism. In 1908 they succeed in establishing a new constitutional era.

Enlightenment

A philosophical movement which started in Europe in the 1700's and later spread to the colonies. It emphasized reason and the scientific method. Writers of this movement tended to focus on government, ethics, and science, rather than on imagination, emotions, or religion.

John Locke

17th century English philosopher who opposed the Divine Right of Kings and who asserted that people have a natural right to life, liberty, and property.

Natural Rights

The idea that all humans are born with rights, which include the right to life, liberty, and property.

Social Contract

A voluntary agreement among individuals to secure their rights and welfare by creating a government and abiding by its rules.

Declaration of Independence

1776 statement, issued by the Second Continental Congress, explaining why the colonies wanted independence from Britain.

American Revolution

This political revolution began with the Declaration of Independence in 1776 where American colonists sought to balance the power between government and the people and protect the rights of citizens in a democracy.

French Revolution

The revolution that began in 1789, overthrew the absolute monarchy of the France and the system of aristocratic privileges. It ended with Napoleon's overthrow of the Directory and seizure of power in 1799.

Thomas Hobbes

English political philosopher who advocated absolute sovereignty as the only kind of government that could resolve problems caused by the selfishness of human beings.

Rosseau

He proclaimed that "man is born free: and everywhere he is in chains". Since society had "corrupted" human nature, he advocated a return to nature in a small, co-op community. Promoted the idea of a social contract.

Voltaire

A French philosopher during the Age of Enlightenment who believed that freedom of speech was the best weapon against bad government. He also spoke out against the corruption of the French government and the intolerance of the Catholic Church.

Taiping Uprising

Massive Chinese rebellion that devastated much of the country between 1850 and 1864; it was based on the millenarian teachings of Hong Xiuquan.

Boxer Rebellion

A rebellion started by a secret society of Chinese who opposed the "foreign devils" in 1899-1901. The rebellion was suppressed by British troops.

Tsarist Russia

Name for a centralized Russian state that originated from Ivan IV's creation of the title of Tsar in 1547 until Peter the Great's creation of the Russian Empire in 1721. Served as a dictatorship.

Self-Strengthening Movement

China's program of internal reform in the 1860s and 1870s, based on vigorous application of Confucian principles and limited borrowing from the West.

Qing Dynasty

Minority Manchu rule over China that incorporated new territories, experienced substantial population growth, and sustained significant economic growth between 1644-1911.

Tanzimat

'Restructuring' reforms by the nineteenth-century Ottoman rulers. Intention was to move civil law away from the control of religious elites and make the military and the government more efficient. Based on a Western European model.

Muhammad Ali

Leader of Egyptian modernization in the early nineteenth century. He ruled Egypt as an Ottoman governor, but had imperial ambitions. His descendants ruled Egypt until overthrown in 1952.

Guillotine

A machine for beheading people; used as a means of execution during the French Revolution.

Napoleon Bonaparte

Overthrew French Directory in 1799 and became emperor of the French in 1804 and sought to create a vast French Empire throughout Europe. Failed to defeat Great Britain and abdicated in 1814. Returned to power briefly in 1815 but was defeated and died in exile.

Toussaint L'Ouverture

Leader of the Haitian Revolution. He freed the slaves and gained independence for Haiti despite military interventions by the British and French.

Maroon Societies

Runaway slaves in the Caribbean who established their own communities to resist slavery and colonial authorities.

British East India Company

A joint stock company that controlled most of India during the Age of Imperialism. This company controlled the political, social, and economic life for more than 200 years in this region.

Raj

The British-controlled portions of India (colonial rule) in the years 1757-1947.

Xhosa Cattle Killing Movement

Pivotal movement that broke the back of the Xhosa and ushered in a new era of colonial expansion and domination of South Africa by the British. The prophecy was that killing all cattle would bring back ancient chiefs and ancestors.

Zulu Kingdom

A monarchy in Southern Africa that extended along the coast of the Indian Ocean from the Tugela River in the south to Pongola River in the North.

Indian Revolt of 1857

Revolt of Indian and Muslim soldiers in India when the British replaced the standard musket with the Enfield rifle, with which soldiers were required to use their teeth to open ammunition cartridges that were greased with animal fat (often which was pig or cattle fat, against the religion of the soldiers). Also called the Sepoy Rebellion or Sepoy Mutiny.

Haitian Revolution

Toussaint l'Ouverture led this uprising, which in 1790 resulted in the successful overthrow of French colonial rule on this Caribbean island. This revolution set up the first black government in the Western Hemisphere and the world's second democratic republic (after the US). The US was reluctant to give full support to this republic led by former slaves. The first successful slave revolt.

Jamaica Letter

In this letter, Simon Bolivar argues that liberty from Spanish control should come to Latin America. But before true freedom can be experienced, there should be a period of transition in which a dictator should rule.

Simon Bolivar

The most important military leader in the struggle for independence in Latin America. Born in Venezuela, he led military forces there and in Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia against the Spanish.

Latin American Independence Movements

A series of movements for independence from Spanish control. The majority of Spanish and Portuguese colonies gained their independence in the early 1800s, taking advantage of Napoleon's invasion of Europe. Notable independence leaders included Miguel Hidalgo, who gathered together the indigenous and mestizo populations of Mexico, and Simon Bolivar, a Creole who fought against Spanish rule in South America. Although most of Latin America had independence by 1825, power continued to be concentrated in the hands of the elite, a combination of Creoles, caudillos, and military leaders, a trend that continued through to the 20th Century .

Reign of Terror

This was the period during the French Revolution where Robespierre ruled and used revolutionary terror to solidify control. Thousands of suspected counter-revolutionaries were beheaded

Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen

French Revolution document that outlined what the National Assembly considered to be the natural rights of all people and the rights that they possessed as citizens.

Louis XVI

King of France at the beginning of the French Revolution

Migration

Form of relocation diffusion involving permanent move to a new location.

Ethnic Enclave

A place with a high concentration of an ethnic group that is distinct from those in the surrounding area.

Indentured Servitude

A worker bound by a voluntary agreement to work for a specified period of years often in return for free passage to an overseas destination. Before 1800 most were Europeans; after 1800 most indentured laborers were Asian.

Chinese Exclusion Act

A law in 1882 that banned Chinese laborers from entering the United States.

Olympe de Gouges

A proponent of democracy, she demanded the same rights for French women that French men were demanding for themselves. In her Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the Female Citizen (1791), she challenged the practice of male authority and the notion of male-female inequality. She lost her life to the guillotine due to her revolutionary ideas.

Vindication of the Rights of Women

Written by Mary Wollstonecraft in 1792. This was one of the earliest expressions of feminist consciousness.

Mary Wollstonecraft

English writer and early feminist who denied male supremacy and advocated equal education for women. She wrote "A Vindication of the Rights of Women."

Seneca Falls Convention (1848)

Site of the first modern women's rights convention and the start of the organized fight for women's rights in US history. At the gathering, Elizabeth Cady Stanton read a Declaration of Sentiments modeled on the Declaration of Independence listing the many injustices against women, and adopted eleven resolutions, one of which called for women's suffrage.

Feminism

A movement based on the belief that women should possess the same political and economic rights as men.

Abolitionist Movements

An international movement that between approximately 1780 and 1890 succeeded in condemning slavery as morally repugnant and abolishing it in much of the world; the movement was especially prominent in Britain and the United States.

Maori Nationalism

A series of armed conflicts that took place in New Zealand from 1845 to 1872 between the colonial government and allied Maori (groups indigenous to New Zealand).

Italian Unification

During 1848, Italy was separated into many states. Cavour worked to unify the North then helped Giuseppe Garibaldi unify the South staring with Sicily. Garibaldi eventually stepped aside and handed over all of Southern Italy to Victor Emmanuel II (King of Sardinia) rule all of the now unified Italy.

Estates System/3rd estate

The social class structure in France in which the third estate comprised of 97% of France's population had very little political and social rights and were oppressed by the first two estates

Robespierre

A French political leader of the eighteenth century. A Jacobin, he was one of the most radical leaders of the French Revolution. He was in charge of the government during the Reign of Terror, when thousands of persons were executed without trial. After a public reaction against his extreme policies, he was executed without trial.

German Unification

In the 19th-century, various independent German-speaking states, led by the chancellor of Prussia Otto von Bismarck, unified to create a Germanic state. The state expanded with von Bismarck's military exploits against Austria, France and Denmark. Unification was complete by 1871 with the Prussian king, Wilhelm, named the first leader of Germany.

Caudillos

By the 1830s, following several hopeful decades of Enlightenment-inspired revolution against European colonizers, Latin America was mostly ruled by these creole military dictators.

Portfirio Diaz

The dictator who ruled Mexico for about 35 years. On the surface economy was growing and peace was ensured, but underneath there was discontent.

Pancho Villa

This military leader dominated Northern Mexico during the Mexican Revolution between 1910 and 1915. His supporters seized hacienda land for distribution to peasants and soldiers. He robbed and commandeered trains. Allied with Zapata. He was eventually defeated though before the revolution ended in 1920.

Emiliano Zapata

Revolutionary and leader of peasants in the Mexican Revolution. He mobilized landless peasants in south-central Mexico in an attempt to seize and divide the lands of the wealthy landowners. Though successful for a time, he was ultimately defeated and assassinated.

Mexican Revolution

Fought over a period of almost 10 years; resulted in ouster of Porfirio Diaz from power; opposition forces led by Pancho Villa and Emiliano Zapata (1910).

Dependent Development

Term used to describe Latin America's economic growth in the nineteenth century, which was largely financed by foreign capital and dependent on European and North American prosperity and decisions.

Wild Rubber

In 1839 vulcanization of this resource made rubber flexible. Industrial innovation depended on it for belts and tires.

Textiles

The first industry to be industrialized in the 18th century.

Scientific Revolution

A major change in European thought, starting in the mid-1500s, in which the study of the natural world began to be characterized by careful observation and the questioning of accepted beliefs.

Galileo

Italian astronomer and mathematician who was the first to use a telescope to study the stars.

Isaac Newton

English mathematician and scientist- invented differential calculus and formulated the theory of universal gravitation, a theory about the nature of light, and three laws of motion.