APUSH Vocabulary Units 1-9

Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)

provided jobs on conservation projects to young men whose families needed help

Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)

Built dams & power plants. Provided cheap electricity to 7 southern states

Emergency Banking Relief Act

Closed the country's banks

Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA)

Paid farmers to grow less and kill excess livestock

Civil Works Administration (CWA)

Provided jobs for unemployed by building roads & airports

Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)

Insured savings accounts in government approved banks

Works Progress Administration (WPA)

Provided public works on a wide range of projects for many of those needing relief, like in construction, research, and arts.

Social Security Act

Established pensions for retirees, unemployment insurance, and aid for certain groups of low-income or disabled people

Security and Exchange Commission (SEC)

Provided increased government regulation of trading on stock exchanges

Wagner Act

Guaranteed workers collective bargaining

Federal Housing Administration (FHA)

Encouraged loans for renovating or building homes

Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)

Established minimum wages and maximum hours for many workers

1850

Compromise of 1850 passed

1861-1865

Duration of the Civil War

1914-1919

Duration of World War I

1939-1945

Duration of World War II

1941

America becomes involved in WWII (Pearl Harbor)

1954

Brown v. Board of Education

1963

Assassination of JFK

1979

Hostages were taken in Iran

Anti-Federalist v. Federalist Debate

heated discussion occurred over the details of a new Constitution for the U.S. Those one one side wanted a strong federal government, wanted the wealthy and educated to lead and was led by Alexander Hamilton. The opposing group believed the states should hold more power all people should be represented in the government, and was led by Thomas Jefferson.

Articles of Confederation

first constitution of the United States created in reaction to the abuses of the British crown. Had many weaknesses like a weak federal government, states could print their own money and only one branch of government--the legislative branch.

3/5 Compromise

One part of the new Constitution (1787) which addressed concerns about representation in Congress. It said slaves would be counted as three-fifths a free person when apportioning Representatives, as well as Presidential electors and taxes in a given state.

Great Compromise

One part of the new Constitution (1787) which addressed concerns about representation in Congress. It reconciled the Virginia Plan (a House of Representatives based on state population) and New Jersey Plan (a Senate based on equality of each state) to create a bicameral legislature.

New Jersey Plan

A proposal led by small states during the Constitutional Convention. It proposed creating a single house Congress based on the equal representation for each state (a Senate).

Virginia Plan

A proposal led by large states during the Constitutional Convention. It proposed creating a single house Congress based on the population of each state (House of Representatives).

Coercive/Intolerable Acts

a series of punitive laws passed by the British Parliament in 1774 after the Boston Tea Party. They were meant to punish the Massachusetts colonists for their defiance of throwing a large tea shipment into Boston Harbor in reaction to being taxed by the British.

Proclamation of 1763

was issued by King George and forbade all British colonial settlement past a line drawn along the Appalachian Mountains in favor of reserving the western land for American Indians.

Stamp Act (1765)

an act of Parliament that imposed a direct tax on the colonies of British America and required that many printed materials in the colonies be produced on stamped paper produced in London, carrying an embossed revenue stamp. Enacted to raise money for the crown.

Sugar Act (1764)

a law enacted and aimed at ending the smuggling trade in sugar and molasses from the French and Dutch West Indies to the British colonies and at providing increased revenues to pay back the crown for fighting the French and Indian War.

Tea Act (1773)

law enacted to reduce the massive amount of tea held by the financially troubled British East India Company in its London warehouses and to help the struggling company survive. A related objective was to undercut the price of illegal tea, smuggled into Britain's North American colonies.

Townsend Acts (1767)

series of laws enacted to tax certain goods such as: glass, lead, paints, paper, and tea. In response to the sometimes violent colonial protests, Great Britain sent more troops to the colonies.

Common Sense (1776)

a pamphlet written by Thomas Paine in 1776 advocating colonial independence from Great Britain. Published when many colonists did not want independence from Britain, it made a clear and persuasive argument using Enlightenment thought to encourage colonists to fight for egalitarian government.

The American Crisis

a pamphlet series by 18th century Enlightenment philosopher and author Thomas Paine, originally published from 1776 to 1783 during the American Revolution. One of the pamphlets is famous for starting with the line, "These are the times that try men's souls..."

First Continental Congress (1774)

was a meeting of colonial delegates in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was called in response to passage of the Coercive Acts (also known as Intolerable Acts by the Colonial Americans) by the British Parliament. The Intolerable Acts had punished Massachusetts for the Boston Tea Party.

Non-Importation Agreement

were a series of commercial restrictions adopted by American colonists (boycott) to protest British revenue policies prior to the American Revolution.

Olive Branch Petition (1775)

a letter to King George III, from members of the Continental Congress, which represents the last attempt by the colonists to resolve the tension with Britain peacefully. The King rejected the letter and threatened to hang the Congressmen.

Abigail Adams

the closest adviser and wife of John Adams, as well as the mother of John Quincy Adams. She is considered to have been a Founder of the United States due to her influence over her husband.
She had some radical beliefs such as she wanted women and blacks involved in politics.

Alexander Hamilton

Founding Father and leader of the Federalist party. He was the architect of the American economic system. Was killed in a dual with the Aaron Burr.

Crispus Attucks

runaway slave living in Boston. He was the first person killed in the Boston Massacre and considered by some to be the first casualty of the American Revolution.

James Madison

was an American statesman and Founding Father from Virginia who served as the fourth President of the United States from 1809 to 1817. Prior to the presidency, he wrote large parts of the Constitution.

John Adams

was a leader of the American Revolution, and served as the second U.S. president from 1797 to 1801. Continental Congress leader from Massachusetts.

King George III

King of Great Britain during the American Revolution.

Lord Cornwallis

Led the British Southern army during the American Revolution. His army was finally defeated at Yorktown by George Washington Daniel Morgan and Nathaniel Greene.

Loyalist/Tories

were American colonists who remained loyal to the British Crown during the American Revolutionary War.

Sons of Liberty

secret society was formed to fight taxation and other forms oppression by the British government. A group of men from the "lower sort" but was organized by the wealthy patriots Samuel Adams and John Hancock.

Thomas Paine

English-American writer and political pamphleteer whose Common Sense and "American Crisis" papers espoused Enlightenment ideas and were important influences on the American Revolution.

Battle of Saratoga

A major battle of the Revolutionary War, fought in 1777 in northern New York state. Benedict Arnold, who had not yet turned traitor, was a leader of the American offensive, which forced the surrender of British troops under General John Burgoyne.

Boston Massacre

was an incident on March 5, 1770, in which British Army soldiers shot and killed a group of colonials while under attack by a colonial mob.

Boston Tea Party

incident in which 342 chests of tea belonging to the British East India Company were thrown from ships into Boston Harbor by American patriots disguised as Mohawk Indians.

French Revolution

a period of far-reaching social and political upheaval in France that lasted from 1789 until 1799.
It was inspired by Enlightenment thought and the American Revolution.

Haitian Revolution

a successful anti-slavery and anti-colonial insurrection that took place in the former French colony of Haiti that lasted from 1791 until 1804. It was inspired by the French and American Revolutions.

Pontiac's Rebellion

was launched in 1763 by a loose confederation of elements of Native American tribes, primarily from the Great Lakes region, the Illinois Country, and Ohio Country who were dissatisfied with British postwar policies after the British victory in the French and Indian War.

Shays' Rebellion

an armed uprising in Massachusetts during 1786 and 1787. Revolutionary War veteran Daniel Shays led four thousand rebels in an uprising against perceived economic and civil rights injustices. It exposed the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation.

Erie Canal

waterway in New York that is part of the east-west, cross-state route of the New York State Canal System. Originally, it ran about 363 miles from Albany, on the Hudson River, to Buffalo, at Lake Erie. Helped increase trade moving from the east coast into the Midwest.

Interchangeable parts

components that are, for practical purposes, identical. They are made to specifications that ensure that they will fit into any assembly of the same type. These components help industry make finished goods more efficiently.

Lowell Mill Girls

were female workers who came to work in textile mills in Lowell, Massachusetts during the early Industrial Revolution in the United States.

Market Revolution

the expansion of the marketplace that occurred in early nineteenth-century America, prompted mainly by the construction of new roads and canals to connect distant communities together for the first time (early Industrial Revolution).

Adams-Onis Treaty

was a treaty between the United States and Spain in 1819 that ceded Florida to the U.S. and defined the boundary between the U.S. and New Spain.

Louisiana Purchase

was a land deal between the United States and France (Napoleon), in which the U.S. acquired approximately 827,000 square miles of land west of the Mississippi River for $15 million. The deal doubled the size of the U.S. at the time.

Missouri Compromise

law allowed Maine to be admitted as a free state to balance Missouri's admittance as a slave state. Slavery would be disallowed north of the 36.30 latitude line, post-compromise.

Northwest Ordinance

a law passed in 1787 to regulate the settlement of the Northwest Territory, which eventually was divided into several states of the Middle West. The law disallowed slavery in the region and set up town's on a grid system.

Alien and Sedition Acts

a series of laws, passed during the presidency of John Adams, that sought to restrict the public activities of political radicals who sympathized with the French Revolution and criticized Adams's Federalist policies. Law restricted free speech and made Adams unpopular with the public.

Barbary Pirates

privateers and pirates who operated from North Africa and seized American ships during Thomas Jefferson's administration.

Corrupt Bargain

alleged deal between presidential candidates John Q. Adams and Henry Clay to throw the Election of 1824, to be decided by the house of representatives, in Adam's favor. Though never proven, the accusation became the rallying cry for Jackson supporters, who had been majority of the popular vote.

Embargo Act 1807

was a general embargo enacted by the Congress against Great Britain and France during the Napoleonic Wars. The act was imposed in response to violations of U.S. neutrality, in which American merchantmen and their cargo were seized as contraband of war by European ship men.

Hartford Convention

a series of meetings from 1814-1815, in Hartford, Connecticut in which the New England Federalist Party met to discuss their grievances concerning the ongoing War of 1812 and even discussed secession. Once the meeting was made public, the ensuing controversy ended the Federalist party.

Indian Removal Act

was signed into law by President Andrew Jackson in 1830, authorizing the president to grant unsettled lands west of the Mississippi in exchange for Indian lands within existing state borders.

Judicial Review

a process under which executive and legislative actions are subject to review by the judiciary. A court with judicial review power may invalidate laws and decisions that are incompatible with the written constitution.

Marbury v. Madison

a landmark Supreme Court case in which the Court formed the basis for the exercise of judicial review in the United States under Article III of the Constitution. John Marshall was the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court who presided over the decision.

Monroe Doctrine

a United States policy of opposing European colonialism in The Americas beginning in 1823.

Treaty of Ghent

the peace treaty that ended the War of 1812 between the United States of America and the United Kingdom.

XYZ Affair

President Adams sent diplomats to negotiate with France to try to stop Frankish attacks on American ships. Three French officials (publicly known as X, Y & Z) demanded a bribe but the Americans stood up to them and refused. However, the U.S. continued having issues with the French until tensions eased in the early 1800s.

American Colonization Society

founded in 1816 to assist free black people (and newly freed slaves) in emigrating to Liberia, Africa.

Democratic Party

anti privilege/social distinction
anti national bank & economic regulation
anti federal funding for internal improvements
anti protective tariffs
pro expansion
pro universal male suffrage for whites
divided on terms of slavery but mostly favored slavery

Democratic-Republican Party

formed by Thomas Jefferson and others who believed in an agrarian-based, decentralized, democratic government. The party was established to oppose the Federalists who had supported and pushed through the ratification of the Constitution.

King Louis XVI

was the last King of France before the French Revolution. He and his family will be killed during the war.

National Republican Party

also known as the Anti-Jacksonian Party, was a political party in the United States. During the administration of John Quincy Adams (1825-1829), the president's supporters were referred to as Adams Men or Anti-Jackson.

Republicanism

an political theory that advocates for a state should be a republic, under which the people hold popular sovereignty and ultimate power.

Tecumseh

a leader of the Shawnee Native Americans. He led a large tribal confederacy against the United States during Tecumseh's War, which precipitated his alliance with Britain in the War of 1812.

War Hawks

those eager for war. Most notably the new Speaker of the House, Henry Clay of Kentucky, called for war against England and eyed Canada as a possible target of expansion in 1812.

Whig Party

during era of jacksonian democracy
opposed jackson
pro bank of u.s. (national bank)
pro high tariffs
pro federal funding for internal improvements
pro political action for social reform
divided on terms of slavery to conscience, but mostly against it

Cult of Domesticity

belief that women should: be more religious than men, stay at home, submit to husbands and be pure in mind.

"Era of Good Feelings"

After the War of 1812, more citizens viewed themselves as united Americans. Loyalty to the country, not to the state or political party. Also, after the death of the Federalist Party, there was a temporary one party system.

Republican Motherhood

the idea that a responsible mother educates and raises her sons to become productive and responsible citizens and good political leaders.

Romanticism

an ideology which emphasized emotion, faith, feelings, intuition, imagination, spontaneity, and individualism

Second Great Awakening

was a Protestant religious revival movement during the early 19th century. As a result, church membership rose rapidly among Baptist and Methodist congregations whose preachers led the movement. Movement began in Kentucky with the Cane Ridge Revivals.

Powhatan Indians

inhabited the Atlantic seaboard in coastal Virginia. Encountered colonists, like John Smith, when Jamestown was created. Pocahontas was part of this tribe. Hunted and fished for food.

Paiute Indians

inhabited the Great Basin desert (modern Utah area). Ate birds, reptiles and insects.

Sioux Indians

inhabited the Great Plains (Minnesota, Nebraska & Dakotas). Lived off the buffalo and lived in tee-pees.

Iroquois Confederacy

American Indian alliance which started pre-Colombian contact in order to stop wars between their tribes. Most powerful Indian group on the east coast during the colonial period.

Mexica Indians

inhabited central Mexico. Lived in adobe houses and farmed. Had one of the most powerful Indian empires at European contact. Destroyed by Cortes and his men.

Wampanoag Indians

inhabited the Atlantic seaboard in the Northeast (Massachusetts) and encountered the Pilgrims when they arrived. Led by Massasoit at the time of contact. Hunted and fished for food.

Chinook Indians

inhabited the Pacific Northwest (Oregon & Washington) in long houses with ceremonial totem poles. Ate salmon and hunted.

Pueblos Indians

inhabited the American Southwest (four corners of Utah, Colorado, New Mexico & Arizona). Lived in adobe houses and cliff dwellings. Hunted small animals and subsistence farming.

Christopher Columbus

voyager whose four transatlantic voyages (1492-93, 1493-96, 1498-1500, and 1502-04) opened the way for European exploration, exploitation, and colonization of the Americas. Columbus made his transatlantic voyages under the sponsorship of Ferdinand II and Isabella I in Spain

Francisco Pizarro

a Spanish conquistador who led an expedition that conquered the Inca Empire. He captured and killed Incan emperor Atahualpa and claimed the lands for Spain.

Hernando Cortes

a Spanish Conquistador who led an expedition that caused the fall of the Mexica Empire and brought large portions of mainland Mexico under the rule of Spain.

Jacques Cartier

French mariner, whose explorations of the Canadian coast and the St. Lawrence River (1534, 1535, 1541-42) laid the basis for later French claims to North America (see New France).

Enlightenment

the period in the history of western thought and culture characterized by dramatic revolutions in science, philosophy, society and politics; these revolutions swept away the medieval world-view and ushered in our modern western world.