American History Final Exam Review

A comprehensive collection of vocabulary-style flashcards covering key events, figures, and legislative acts in American history as presented in the lecture notes.

Plessy v. Ferguson

U.S Supreme Court case that established the "separate but equal" doctrine for public facilities

Second Battle of Bull Run

A Civil War battle where the Confederate army forced most of the Union army out of Virginia

Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna

A Mexican general that was captured at the Battle of San Jacinto

Seventeenth Amendment

A constitutional amendment allowing American voters to directly elect U.S senators

Dollar Diplomacy

Influencing governments through economic, not military, intervention

Sacagawea

A Shoshone Indian who assisted the Lewis and Clark expedition

Stamp Act

A law passed by Parliament that raised tax money by requiring colonists to pay for an official stamp whenever they bought paper items such as newspapers, licenses and legal documents

Wilderness Campaign

A series of battles between Union and Confederate forces in northern and central Virginia that delayed the Union capture of Richmond

Jefferson Davis

A Mississippi native who was elected president of the Confederacy in 1861

Sectionalism

The idea of putting the interest of a region over the interest of the nation

Imperialism

An empire built by founding colonies or conquering other nations

Johannes Gutenberg

Developed the printing press that used movable type

Shay's Rebellion

Uprising of farmers to protest high taxes and heavy debt

Lewis and Clark

Their exploration provided many Americans with their first account of the Southwest

Spirituals

Emotional Christian songs that boosted the hopes of slaves

Compromise of 1850

Proposed by Henry Clay, it settled most of the disputes between slave and Free states over the issue of admitting California to the Union

Fort Sumter

A site where Confederate gunfire in 1861 marked the official beginning of the Civil War

The Alamo

An important battle sight in the Texas Revolution where a small group of Texas rebels held out against Mexican forces from February 23-March 6, 1836

Zebulon Pike

An Army officer who was sent to find the starting point of the Red River

Knights of Labor

The first truly national labor union in the United States

Sherman Antitrust Act

A law that made it illegal to create monopolies or trusts that restrained free trade

Reconstruction Acts of 1867

Laws passed by Congress that divided the South into five military districts controlled by a military commander

Transcontinental railroad

A railroad that connected the Eastern United States to the West

Stockholders

Individuals who own stock in a company and can sell their stock shares at any time

New immigrants

Immigrants who came to the U.S. during the 1880s

Mass transit

A system of public transportation created to move a large number of passengers

Gilded Age Politics

A period of politics that can best be characterized as corrupt

Socialism

An economic system where the government owns the factories and raw materials

Settlement houses

Neighborhood centers staffed by professionals and volunteers for education, recreation and social activities in poor areas

Migration

The movement of people from one region to another

Thirteenth Amendment

A constitutional amendment that outlawed slavery

Sons of Liberty

A secret society formed by the colonists that sometimes used violence to frighten tax collectors

National debt

The amount of money owed by the nation to foreign countries and the nation's citizens

Missouri Compromise

An agreement where an equal balance between free and slave states was maintained

Oregon Trail

A 2,170-mile large-wheeled wagon route that connected the Missouri River to valleys in Oregon and took 6 months to travel

Nullification crisis

A dispute over the states' power to reject federal laws they deemed unconstitutional

Trail of Tears

A forced 800-mile march Cherokee Indians made in their removal from Georgia

Industrial Revolution

A period of rapid growth during which machines became essential to manufacturing

Trade union

An organization of workers who tried to improve pay and working conditions for members

Second Great Awakening

A period of Christian renewal that began in the northeastern United States