hist 225 exam 3

interstate commerce act (1887)

__Def__: A United States federal law passed in February of 1887 designed to regulate the railroad industry.

__Importance__: Addressed the problem of railroad monopolies by setting guidelines for how the railroads could do business

Sherman Antitrust Act (1890)

__Def__: An 1890 federal law prohibiting any contact, trust, or conspiracy in restraint of interstate or foreign trade.

__Importance__: The first antitrust legislation to be passed by the US Congress and protected consumers from unfair prices.

Farmer’s Alliance

__Def__: movement to form local organizations to advance farmers’ collective interests that gained wide popularity in the 1880s.

__Importance__: Gave birth to the People’s Party and set up cooperatives which gave producers more influence in buying their supplies and marketing their products.

Populist Party

__**Def**__: short-lived political party in the US established in 1891 during the Populist movement.

__Importance__: Advocated for increased currency issues, free coinage of gold and silver, public ownership of railroads, and a graduated federal income tax

Coxey’s Army

__Def__: a group of the unemployed who marched to Washington DC in the depression year of 1894.

__Importance__: illustrates the harsh financial situation gripping the US during the Panic of 1893.

Progressive era, progressivism

__Def__: the period 1896-1917 of widespread social activism and political reform across the US focused on defeating corruption, monopoly, waste and inefficiency

__Importance__: Worked to make American society a better and safer place to live

social darwinism

__Def__: the idea that certain people become powerful in society because they are innately better

__Importance__: provided a vocabulary and set of concepts that facilitated the emergence of the social sciences and their application to such pressing problems

social gospel movement

__Def__: social movement (1870-1920) within Protestantism that aims to apply Christian ethics to social problems

__Importance__: first major religious group to try to tackle issues of social and economic justice in American history

muckrakers

__Def__: journalists and novelists of the Progressive Era who sought to expose corruption in big business and government

__Importance__: their work influenced the passage of key legislation that strengthened protections for workers and consumers

‘scientific management’

__Def__: Theory that was popular in the 1880s that analyzes workflows to improve economic efficiency

__Importance__: It helps organizes allocate their resources properly and allows for quality management

socialism

__Def__: around 1877 doctrine that calls for public rather than private ownership or control of property and natural resources

__Importance__: presented an alternative, aimed at improving the lot of the working class

settlement houses

__Def__: organizations that started around 1885 and provided support services to the urban poor and European immigrants

__Importance__: served as gathering places for fostering relationships that would serve as the foundation for stronger, healthier communities

nativism, immigration restriction league

__Def__: group founded in 1894 that argued that the American way of life was threatened by immigration from these regions

__Importance__: lobbied Washington to pass anti-immigration legislation

Prohibition

__Def__: a nationwide ban on the sale and import of alcoholic beverages that lasted from 1920-1933

__Importance__: led directly to the rise of organized crime, an increase in smuggling, and a decline in tax revenue

woman suffrage

__Def__: decades-long fight to win the right of women to vote in elections started in 1849 and lasted until 1920

__Importance__: one of the most significant and wide-ranging moments of political mobilization in all of American history

imperialism

__Def:__ the period from the 16th to the early 19th century of expansion of American political, economic, cultural, media, and military influence beyond the boundaries of the US

__Importance__: the world’s economy grew significantly and became much more interconnected in the decades before WWI

expansionism

__Def__: the policies and practices of invading foreign lands to expand territory, political influence, or ideology

__Importance__: helps the US have greater freedom in dealing with foreign powers on the North American continent and to consolidate the power of the young republic

mahanism (alfred mahan)

__Def__: argued for the paramount importance of sea power in national historical supremacy around the end of the 1800s

__Importance__: studied the rise and fall of naval powers

spanish-american war

__Def__: on April 25, 1898 the US declared war on Spain following the sinking of the Battleship Maine in Havana harbor

__Importance__: ended Spain’s colonial empire in the Western Hemisphere and secured the position of the US as a Pacific power

Filipino-American War

__Def__: war between the US and Filipino revolutionaries from 1899-1902

__Importance__: helped establish the US as a power in the Pacific

Open Door Policy

__Def__: statement of principles initiated by the US in 1899 and 1900 that called for the protection of equal privileges for all countries trading with China

__Importance__: allowed the US to expand its markets for industrialized goods

Panama Canal

__Def__: a 1914 constructed waterway that connects the Atlantic and Pacific across the Isthmus of Panama

__Importance__: connected the Atlantic and Pacific oceans and is the most crucial piece of infrastructure supporting the free flow of international trade and goods in the Western hemisphere.

Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine

__Def__: asserted that the US might intervene in the affairs of an American republic threatened with seizure or intervention by a European country

__Importance__: it sent a message to European and Latin American nations

neutrality vs. involvement

* neutrality: the legal status arising from the abstention of a state from all participation in a war between other states
* involvement: the act or an instance of involving someone or something

sinking of the Lusitania

__Def__: On May 7, 1915, the German U-boat torpedoed and sank the Lusitania, a swift-moving British cruise liner.

__Importance__: the disaster set off a chain of events that led to the US entering World War I

military preparedness and ‘armed neutrality’

__Def__: Prepared movement was a campaign that began prior to US entry into World War I (April 1917) to increase US military capabilities

__Importance__: 40,000 college alumni became physically fit, learned to march and shoot, and ultimately provided the cadre of a wartime officer corps

government regulatory agencies

__Def__: independent governmental body established by a legislative act in order to set standards in a specific field of activity, or operations

__Importance__: helped protect citizens

espionage act, sedition act

__Def__: created in 1917 and made it a crime to convey information intended to interfere with the war effort

__Importance__: provided for further and expanded limitations on speech

selective service act

__Def__: passed on May 18, 1917 and authorized the Federal Government to temporarily expand the military through conscription

__Importance__: provided our Nation with a structure and a system of guidelines that will provide the most prompt, efficient, and equitable draft possible

wilson’s fourteen points

__Def__: designed to undermine the Central Powers’ will to continue, and to inspire the Allies to victory

__Importance__: prescribed a program of transparency and adjustment of colonial claims that gave equal weight to the peoples of the colonized countries

treaty of versailles

__Def__: signed by Germany and the Allied Nations on June 28, 1919 formally ending WWI

__Importance__: outlined the conditions of peace between Germany and the victorious Allies, ended WWI

league of nations

1920-1946, international organization created after WWI to provide a forum for resolving international disputes

postwar backlash

occurring or existing after world war ii

red scare

__Def__: the rounding up and deportation of several hundred immigrants of radical political views by the federal government in 1919 and 1920

__Importance__: the perceived threat posed b Communists in the US

oligopolies

__Def__: markets where profits maximizing competitors set their strategies by paying close attention to how their rivals are likely to react

__Importance__: are able to raise their barriers to entry and protect themselves from new potential entrants into the market

corporate consolidation

__Def__: the joining of two or more companies on relatively equal terms to form a new composite company

__Importance__: improves customer service, grows market shares and reduces overall operating costs

welfare capitalism

__Def__: capitalism that includes social welfare policies and/or the practice of businesses providing welfare services to their employees

__Importance__: encouraged worker loyalty, productivity, and dedication

growing urbanization

__Def__: the concentration of human populations into discrete areas

__Importance__: cities where new factories got built, and where the effects of industrialization were most visible

‘new morality’

__Def__: the idea that all individuals are entitled to freedom and equality

__Importance__: Affected gender, race, and sexuality during the 1920s

‘culture wars’ of the 1920s

__Def__: when urban and rural American values came into closer conflict

__Importance__: American culture was now being exported to the rest of the world

prohibition

__Def__: a nationwide ban on the sale and import of alcoholic beverages that lasted from 1920-1933

__Importance__: led directly to the rise of organized crime

scopes trial

__Def__: the trial of John Scopes for teaching the theory of evolution in violation of state law

__Importance__: increased American awareness and interest in the issue of teaching theology and/or modern science in public schools

stock market crash of 1929

__Def__: occurred on October 29, 1929, when Wall Street investors traded some 16 million shares on the New York Stock Exchange in a single day

__Importance__: was the start of the biggest bear market in Wall Street’s history and signified the beginning of the Great Depression

Great Depression

__Def__: worldwide economic downturn that began in 1929 and lasted until about 1939

__Importance__: the longest and most severe depression, sparking fundamental changes in economic institutions, macroeconomic policy, and economic theory

‘hoovervilles’

__Def__: term for shacktowns and homeless encampments during the Great Depression

__Importance__: each testified to the housing crisis that accompanied the employment crisis of the early 1930s

FDR’s new deal

__Def__: domestic program of the administration of US President Franklin D. Roosevelt between 1933 and 1939

__Importance__: responsible for some powerful and important accomplishments. it put people back to work. it saves capitalism. revived a sense of hope in the American people

the ‘hundred days’

__Def__: the early period of FDR’s presidency (March - June 1933) during which a major portion of New Deal legislation was enacted

__Importance__: the beginning of the New Deal

‘second new deal’

__Def__: series of federal programs passed by Congress between 1935 and 1938 to counteract the Great Depression

__Importance__: included programs to redistribute wealth, income, and power in favor of the poor, the old, farmers, and labor unions

‘dust bowl’

__Def__: name given to the drought-stricken southern plains region of the US, which suffered severe dust storms during a drought in the 1930s

__Importance__: intensified the crushing economic impacts of the Great Depression

tennessee valley authority (tva)

__Def__: created May 18, 1933, and tackled important problems facing the valley

__Importance__: largest public power company in the US

adolf hitler

__Def__: Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Germany from 1933 until his suicide in 1945

__Importance__: the central figure in the story of the Holocaust

benito mussolini

__Def__: an Italian political leader who became the fascist dictator of Italy from 1925 to 1945

__Importance__: His takeover of Italy was an inspiration and example for Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party in Germany

axis powers

__Def__: the coalition led by Germany, Italy, and Japan during World War II

__Importance__: Initiated World War II and fought against the Allies

‘blitzkreig’

__Def__: a German word meaning “lightning war” and Germany’s strategy to avoid a long war in the first phase of World War II in Europe

__Importance__: Showed the effectiveness of creative thinking and integration of new technology in military strategy

battle of britain

__Def__: the successful defense of Great Britain against the air raids conducted by the German airforce in 1940 after the fall of France during World War II

__Importance__: Demonstrated the courage and resilience of the country’s military and its people and allowed them to remain free from Nazi occupation

neutrality act of 1939

__Def__: tried to keep the US out of war, by making it illegal for Americans to sell or transport arms, or other war materials to belligerent nations

__Importance__: marked the beginning of a congressional shift away from isolationism

lend-lease program

__Def__: Passed on March 11, 1941; a system by which the US aided its World War II allies with war materials

__Importance__: met Great Britain’s deep need for supplies and allowed the US to prepare for war while remaining officially neutral

atlantic charter of 1941

__Def__: August 14, 1941, agreement between the US and Great Britain that established the vision of FDR and Churchill for a post-World War II world

__Importance__: Considered one of the first key steps toward the establishment of the UN

japanese attack on pearl harbor

__Def__: December 7, 1941; a surprise attack on the US naval base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii by Japan

__Importance__: brought the US into WWII

european and pacific theatres

European theatre saw heavy fighting and spanned the European continent

Pacific threatre was largely between the Allies and Japan

manhattan project

__Def__: the code name for the American-led effort to develop a functional atomic weapon during World War II

__Importance__: the legacy is immense, helped bring an end to WWII

d-day, operation overlord

__Def__: June 6, 1944, delivered five naval assault divisions to the beaches of Normandy, France

__Importance__: brought together the land, air, and sea forces of the allied armies in what became known as the largest invasion force in human history

yalta conference, potsdam declaration

__Def__: FDR and Churchill discussed with Stalin the conditions under which the Soviet Union would enter the war against Japan

__Importance__: their aim was to thrash out how to bring World War II to an end and plan the post-war reorganization of Europe - in particular Germany

GI Bill

__Def__: signed into law by FDR on June 22, 1944; provided World War II veterans with funds for college education, unemployment insurance, and housing

__Importance__: it put higher education within the reach of millions of veterans of WWII and later military conflicts

Levittown

__Def__: the name of 7 suburban developments created in the US by William Levitt

__Importance__: first truly mass-produced suburb and is widely regarded as the archetype for postwar suburbs throughout the country

“iron curtain”

__Def__: 1989; barrier erected by the Soviet Union after World War II to seal off itself and its dependent eastern and central European allies from open contact with the West and other noncommunist areas

__Importance__: metaphor for the extreme political and ideological division that separated Western Europe from the Soviet Union and its satellite states in the east

containment

__Def__: strategic foreign policy pursued by the US beginning in the late 1940s to check the expansionist policy of the Soviet Union

__Importance__: remained the basic strategy of the US throughout the cold war

truman doctrine

__Def__: 1947; the US would provide political, military, and economic assistance to all democratic nations under threat from external or internal authoritarian forces

__Importance__: reoriented US foreign policy

marshall plan

Def: April 3, 1948; the US provide economic assistance to restore the economic infrastructure of postwar Europe

Importance:

berlin airlift

__Def__: 1940s military operation that supplied West Berlin with food and other vital goods by air after the Soviet Union blockaded the city

__Importance__: tremendous Cold War victory for the US

central intelligence agency

__Def__: an independent, civilian intelligence agency within the executive branch

__Importance__: important for arms control negotiations with the Soviet Union throughout the Cold War and for determining US strategy during the 1962 Cuban missile crisis

national security council

__Def__: July 26, 1947; coordinate foreign policy and defense policy, reconcile diplomatic and military commitments and requirements

__Importance__: advise and assist the President on national security and foreign policies

north atlantic treaty organization

__Def__: an alliance of countries from Europe and North America

__Importance__: the principal security instrument of the transatlantic community and expression of its common democratic values

warsaw pact

__Def__: collective defense treaty established by the Soviet Union and 7 other Soviet satellite states in Central and Eastern Europe

__Importance__: provided for a unified military command and the systematic ability to strengthen the Soviet hold over the other participating countries

atomic energy commission

August 1, 1946; control the development and production of nuclear weapons and to direct the research and development of peaceful uses of nuclear energy

arms race

__Def__: started when the Soviet Union exploded an atomic bomb in 1949

__Importance__: the most alarming feature of the Cold War competition between the US and the Soviet Union

nsc-68

__Def__: a proposal of Truman’s National Security Council, called for massive US defense expenditures to counter the worldwide Soviet threat

__Importance__: created an immense military-industrial segment of the economy

korean war

__Def__: June 25, 1950; first military action of the Cold War

__Importance__: the war that never really ended

second red scare

__Def__: occurred immediately after World War II; the perception that national or foreign communists were infiltrating or subverting American society and the federal government

__Importance__: many feared recent immigrants and dissidents, particularly those who embraced a communist, socialist, or anarchist ideology

mccarthyism

__Def__: 150-1954; the persecution of innocent persons on the charge of being communists

__Importance__: people felt pressure to conform to avoid suspicion

brown vs. board of education

__Def__: May 17, 1954; court case deciding the segregation of public schools was a violation of the 14th amendment and therefore unconstitutional

__Importance__: signaled the end of legalized racial segregation in the schools in the US

civil rights act of 1964

__Def__: July 2, 1964; prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin

__Importance__: the nation’s benchmark civil rights legislation and continues to resonate in America

voting rights act of 1965

__Def__: August 6, 1965; outlawed the discriminatory voting practices adopted in many southern states

__Importance__: strengthened the enforcement of voting rights

de facto segregation

__Def__: term used during the 1960s racial integration efforts in schools to describe a situation in which legislation did not overtly segregate students by race, but nevertheless school segregation continued

montgomery bus boycott

__Def__: started on December 1, 1955; civil rights protest during which African Americans refused to ride city buses in Alabama

__Importance__: helped eliminate early barriers to transportation access

freedom rides

__Def__: series of political protests against segregation by blacks and whites who rode buses together through the American South in 1961

__Importance__: inspired African Americans all around the country; put pressure on the federal government to get involved

nonviolent resistance

__Def__: peaceful resistance to a government by fasting or refusing to cooperate

__Importance__: they were the driving forces in the success of movements

freedom summer/mississippi summer project

__Def__: 1964 voter registration drive aimed at increasing the number of registered Black voters in Mississippi

__Importance__: resulted in a collective rise in awareness of voting rights and disenfranchisement experienced by african americans in mississippi

great society

__Def__: January 1965; a domestic program in the administration of President Lyndon B. Johnson that instituted federally sponsored social welfare programs

__Importance__: demanded an end to poverty, racial injustice, and an opportunity for every child

war on poverty

__Def__: expansion social welfare legislation introduced in the 1960s by the administration of President Johnson and intended to help end poverty in the US

__Importance__: laid the foundation for our modern-day safety net

gulf of tonkin resolution

__Def__: August 7, 1964; authorized President Johnson to take any measures he believed were necessary to retaliate and to promote the maintenance of international peace and security in southeast asia

__Importance__: turning point of the vietnam war; gave the president the ability to send troops without congressional approval

domino theory

__Def__: theory that a political event in one country will cause similar events in neighboring countries

__Importance__: because of it, the US entered into the war on the side of South Vietnam to help them overcome the communist forces of North Vietnam

vietnamization

__Def__: strategy to reduce American involvement in the vietnam war by transferring all military responsibilities to south vietnam

__Importance__: reduced the amount of American tropps in vietnam and provided military training to the south vietnamese to expand their military and defnumberense

kent state shootings

__Def__: May 4, 1970; the killing of four unarmed college students by the ohio national guard on the kent state university campus during a peace rally

__Importance__: brought the anti-vietnma protests global attention

space race

__Def__: cold war competition between the US and the Soviet Union to develop aerospace capabilities

__Importance__: fueled cold war rivalry and paranoia and yielded considerable benefits for human society

SALT (strategic arms limitation treaty)

__Def__: series of bilateral conferences and international treaties signed between the US and the Soviet Union

__Importance__: froze the number of strategic ballistic missile launchers

detente

__Def__: period of the easing of Cold War tensions between the US and the Soviet Union from 1967-1979

__Importance__: led to formal agreements on arms control and the security of Europe

fall of Saigon

__Def__: April 30, 1975; the south vietnamese capital of saigon fell to the north vietnamese army, ending the vietnam war

__Importance__: ended the vietnam war and led to the reunification of the country

camp david agreement between Egypt and Israel

__Def__: September 1978; established a framework for a historic peace treaty concluded between Israel and Egypt

__Importance__: established a framework for peace

iran hostage crisis

__Def__: international crisis that began in Nov 1979 when militants seized 66 US citizens in Tehran and held 52 of them hostage for more than a year

__Importance__: contributed greatly to Jimmy Carter’s loss of the presidency in the 1980 election