Study Strategies for U.S. History Notes

VOCABULARY flashcards covering key terms, historical figures, laws, and events from the United States History lecture notes, spanning from Colonial America to modern international relations.

Jamestown, Virginia

Colony settled by English businessmen who grew tobacco on plantations using the labor of enslaved Africans.

Massachusetts Bay (Plymouth)

Colony settled by Puritans seeking religious freedom from the King and the Church of England, characterized by towns with small farms.

Mercantilism

An economic practice where the mother country uses colonies to obtain raw materials and create new markets for its products.

Salutary Neglect

A British policy of leaving the American colonies alone in their day-to-day lives as long as raw materials were shipped and British products were purchased.

Triangular Trade

A system where raw materials went from the American colonies to Europe, European goods went to Africa and the colonies, and captured Africans were sold in the colonies as slaves.

Mayflower Compact ($1620$)

An agreement made by Puritan settlers in Massachusetts to follow the principle of self-government.

House of Burgesses

The first elected legislature in the American colonies, located in Virginia, serving as a step toward representative government.

Natural Rights

Unalienable rights humans are born with, including life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, based on the ideas of John Locke.

Articles of Confederation

The first centralized government of the U.S. which was weak because it lacked an executive branch and the power to collect taxes.

Shay’s Rebellion

A $1786$ uprising by farmers in Massachusetts that demonstrated the federal government under the Articles of Confederation was too weak.

Northwest Ordinance

A law that outlined the process for adding new states and forbade slavery in the Northwest Territory.

Great Compromise

An agreement at the Constitutional Convention that created a bicameral legislature with a House of Representatives and a Senate.

Three-Fifths Compromise

A resolution where $600/0$ of the enslaved population counted toward a state's population for determining representation in the House of Representatives.

Federalism

A system where power is shared between state governments and the federal government.

Elastic Clause

A constitutional provision giving Congress the power to pass any laws it sees as necessary, providing flexibility to the government.

Isolationism

A policy used by George Washington stating the U.S. should avoid involving itself in European affairs and focus on its own problems.

Strict Constructionist

The belief, held by Thomas Jefferson, that the words of the Constitution should be followed very closely.

Loose Constructionist

The belief, held by Alexander Hamilton, that the Constitution should be flexible to allow for a stronger federal government.

Judicial Review

The power of the Supreme Court to declare laws unconstitutional, established by Chief Justice John Marshall in Marbury v. Madison.

Manifest Destiny

The idea that God gave Americans the right to expand their territory from the East Coast to the Pacific Ocean.

Louisiana Purchase ($1803$)

A land deal with France that doubled the size of the United States and improved the transportation of goods.

Indian Removal Act

A law enforced by President Andrew Jackson that led to the Trail of Tears, the forced removal of the $5$ Civilized Tribes.

Homestead Act ($1862$)

A law that gave settlers $160$ acres of land west of the Mississippi River if they lived on and improved it for $5$ years.

Missouri Compromise

An $1819$ agreement that admitted Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state, while setting a boundary for slavery at the $36^{\circ}30'$ line.

Popular Sovereignty

The idea that the white residents of new territories should vote to decide whether to allow slavery in their states.

14th Amendment

A constitutional amendment establishing birthright citizenship and providing equal protection under the law for everyone.

15th Amendment

A constitutional amendment protecting the right to vote for African American men.

Jim Crow Laws

Laws passed in Southern states to segregate public facilities and prevent African Americans from voting through literacy tests and poll taxes.

Plessy v. Ferguson ($1896$)

A Supreme Court case that upheld segregation under the 'separate but equal' doctrine.

Laissez-Faire Capitalism

The economic theory that the government should not interfere with the economy or regulate businesses.

Social Darwinism

The 'survival of the fittest' ideology used to justify economic inequality and prejudice during industrialization.

Chinese Exclusion Act ($1883$)

A nativist law passed by Congress to restrict Chinese immigration.

Monroe Doctrine ($1823$)

A foreign policy statement telling Europe to stay out of the Western Hemisphere.

Roosevelt Corollary

An addition to the Monroe Doctrine stating the U.S. had the right to act as the 'policeman' of the Western Hemisphere.

Yellow Journalists

Reporters who exaggerated Spanish injustices to increase public support for the Spanish American War.

Containment

A Cold War foreign policy aimed at stopping the spread of communism.

Marshall Plan

A U.S. foreign aid program that provided $13$ billion to $16$ European nations to rebuild after WWII and prevent the spread of communism.

Brown v. Board of Education ($1954$)

A Supreme Court ruling that overturned Plessy v. Ferguson and made school segregation illegal.

Great Society

President Johnson’s series of programs, such as Medicaid and Medicare, aimed at conducting a 'War on Poverty.'

Detente

A period during the Cold War in which tensions between the U.S. and the Soviet Union decreased.