Key APUSH Laws and Acts Essential for Exam Preparation

Pendleton Civil Service Act (1883)

act that created a federal civil service so that hiring and promotion would be based on merit rather than the patronage system during the Gilded Age of politics; passed after Garfield's assassination by Pres. Arthur--a Stalwart; an example of the "politics of avoidance" concept

Interstate Commerce Act (1887)

Established the ICC (Interstate Commerce Commission) - monitors the business operation of carriers transporting goods and people between states - created to regulate railroad prices; another example of the "politics of avoidance" because it was run by railroad executives and saw little enforcement

Sherman Antitrust Act (1890)

first federal action against monopolies, it was signed into law by Harrison and was extensively used by Theodore Roosevelt for trust-busting. However, it was initially misused against labor unions; another exampe of the "politics of avoidance"

Clayton Antitrust Act (1914)

1914 law that strengthened the Sherman Antitrust Act; passed during the Progressive Era as part of Wilson's agenda

Civil Rigts Act of 1964

federal law that banned racial discrimination in public facilities and strengthened the federal governments's power to fight segregation in schools; passed after the March on Washington, Kennedy's assassination, and with LBJ's strong support for the bill

Voting Rights Act of 1965

a law designed to help end formal and informal barriers to African-American voting and voting registration; passed following protests in Selma by the CRM and with LBJ's strong support

Alien and Sedition Acts (1798)

acts passed by Federalists giving the government power to imprison or deport foreign citizens and prosecute critics of the government; led to criticism of the Federalist Party; created limits on freedom of speech and of the press; major issue in the Election of 1800

Northwest Ordinance (1787)

Enacted in 1787, it is considered one of the most significant achievements of the Articles of Confederation. It established a system for setting up governments in the western territories so they could eventually join the Union on an equal footing with the original 13 states; forbade slavery in the Northwest Territory

Missouri Compromise of 1820

Allowed Missouri to enter the union as a slave state, Maine to enter the union as a free state, prohibited slavery north of latitude 36˚ 30' within the Louisiana Territory (1820)

Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854)

a law that allowed voters in Kansas and Nebraska to choose whether to allow slavery through popular sovereignty; proposed by Stephen Douglas to get a northern transcontinental railroad built as a compromise bill between Northern and Southern Democrats; led to "border ruffians", contested elections, and "Bleeding Kansas"

Compromise of 1850

(1) California admitted as free state, (2) territorial status and popular sovereignty for Utah and New Mexico, (3) resolution of Texas-New Mexico boundaries, (4) slave trade abolished in DC, and (5) new fugitive slave law; advocated by Henry Clay and Stephen A. Douglas

Wilmot Proviso (1846)

1846 proposal that outlawed slavery in any territory gained from the War with Mexico

Tallmadge Amendment (1819)

proposal to create gradual free state status for Missouri by banning the import of more slaves to Missouri and requiring that the children of current slaves be emancipated by the age of 25; rejected by Southern states who feared that it would set a precedent of emancipation elsewhere

Fugitive Slave Act of 1850

A law that made it a crime to help runaway slaves and required law enforcement in Northern states to assist slave catchers; allowed for the arrest of suspected escaped slaves with only a verbal assertion from witnesses that a suspect was indeed a slave; Northern states responded with Personal Liberty laws

Homestead Act of 1862

1862 act of the Republican Congress which provided 160 acres of free land in the West to anyone willing to settle there and develop it. Encouraged westward migration; opened millions of acres to settlers including women and freed slaves after the Civil War

Hepburn Act (1906)

This 1906 law used the Interstate Commerce Commission to regulate the maximum charge that railroads to place on shipping goods.

Dawes Act of 1887

law that distributed reservation land to individual Native American owners and promised citizenship to those who permanently settled there; passed after reaction to Helen Hunt Jackson's A Century of Dishonor

Wagner Act (1935)

passed in 1935 as part of the New Deal; also known National Labor Relations Act; granted rights to unions to be recognized; allowed collective bargaining

Espionage and Sedition Acts (1917-18)

two laws that imposed harsh penalties on anyone interfering with or speaking against U.S. participation in WWI; upheld by SCOTUS in Schenck vs US on the "clear and present danger" doctrine

Pure Food and Drug Act/Meat Inspection Act (1906)

two laws passed as part of President Teddy Roosevelt's agenda to improve consumer rights; followed his reading of The Jungle and an investigation into the meat-packing industry

Title IX (1972)

law enacted in 1972 that states: "No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance." required equal accommodations for women in sports and education

Embargo Act of 1807

law, signed by Jefferson, that forbade American ships from sailing to foreign ports and closed American ports to British ships in response to violations by the French and British of US neutral trading rights; had the effect of ruining the US economy

Pacific Railway Act (1862)

Authorized the building of a transcontinental railroad over a northern route in order to link the economies of California and the western territories to the Eastern states; hired two companies to build towards one another and was completed in 1869

Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882

law that suspended Chinese immigration into America in response to west coast pressure to protect American jobs; the ban was supposed to last 10 years, but it was expanded several times and was essentially in effect until WWII; was the first significant law that restricted immigration into the United States of a single ethnic group

National Origins Act of 1924

law that severely restricted immigration by establishing a system of national quotas of 2% based on the 1890 census; blatantly discriminated against immigrants from southern and eastern Europe and virtually excluded Asians. The policy stayed in effect until the 1960s.

Emergency Quota Act of 1921

law that restricted immigration to 3% of each nationality that was in the United States in 1910; was a reaction to the renewal of immigration after WWI and was replaced by the more restrictive National Origins Act three years later

Lend-Lease Act (1941)

law under which the US supplied the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, China, France and other Allied nations with vast amounts of war material between 1941 and 1945; allied nations would "borrow" the war materials and pay for them after WWII was over

Neutrality Acts of 1935, 1936, and 1937

series of laws that forbade Americans from sending war materials of belligerent countries, loans to belligerent countries, supporting either side in the Spanish Civil War, or travelling on the ships of belligerent nations; these laws reflected the isolationist views of many Americans in the 1930's

War Powers Act of 1973

law which required that soldiers sent into military action overseas by the President be brought back within sixty days unless Congress approves the action; effort by Congress to correct the mistake of the Tonkin Gulf Resolution; vetoed by Nixon but overridden by Congress

Tonkin Gulf Resolution (1964)

a resolution, adopted by Congress in 1964, giving President Johnson broad powers to wage war in Vietnam following a supposed attack by the North Vietnamese in the Tonkin Gulf; the "blank check" for Johnson's escalation of the conflict

Stamp Act of 1765

This act required colonists to pay for an official stamp, or seal, when they bought paper items; designed to raise revenue in the colonies to pay Britain's war debts, it was resisted formally and informally by several colonies and was eventually repealed

Coercive Acts/Intolerable Acts (1774)

series of laws intended to make Massachusetts pay for its resistance and the Boston Tea Party; closed Boston Harbor until the Massachusetts colonists paid for the ruined tea. Also forced Bostonians to shelter soldiers in their own homes, and suspended the Massachusetts assembly

Proclamation of 1763

A proclamation from the British government which forbade British colonists from settling west of the Appalachian Mountains and which required any settlers already living west of the mountains to move back east.

Trade and Navigation Acts, colonial era

acts which placed limitations on colonial trade in the 1600's and 1700's as a way to ensure that the colonies were properly contributing to the British mercantilist system; sometimes these laws were poorly enforced (salutary neglect) while Britain often reasserted them as with the Dominion of New England; colonists often engaged in smuggling to avoid these restrictions

Tariff of 1828

known as the "tariff of abominations" it touched off the Nullification Crisis b/w South Carolina and the federal government; Henry Clay proposed a compromise tariff which replaced it in 1833

Indian Removal Act of 1830

Passed by Congress under the Jackson administration, this act removed all Indians east of the Mississippi to an "Indian Territory" where they would be "permanently" housed; justified as a means to protect the tribes and white settlers, it led to the Trail of Tears

Volstead Act (1919)

law which provided for the enforcement of the 18th amendment (Prohibition); it proved difficult to enforce

G.I. Bill (1944)

Provided for college, home purchase, or small business loans for returning WWII veterans as a means to help them integrate into the economy after WWII, an attempt to maintain the post-WWII economic boom

National Highway Act (1956)

1956 act created the nation's interstate highway system as a national defense measure and to promote post-WWII economic growth; inspired by the German autobahn system

Americans with Disabilities Act (1990)

Passed by Congress in 1991, this act banned discrimination against the disabled in employment and mandated easy access to all public and commercial buildings.

USA Patriot Act (2001)

Legislation passed shortly after the terrorist attacks of September 11 that granted broad surveillance and detention authority to the government; some deemed this law an unnecessary invasion of privacy

McCarran Internal Security Act (1950)

Law that required Communists to register with the U.S. government and made it a crime to

conspire to establish a totalitarian government in the United States. The law also allowed for the

detention of dangerous, disloyal, or subversive persons; vetoed by Truman but overridden by Congress; part of the Second Red Scare

Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965

law which abolished the national-origins quotas and providing for the admission each year of 170,000 immigrants from the Eastern Hemisphere and 120,000 from the Western Hemisphere; passed as part of Johson's Great Society, it created the third wave of immigration that was characterized by large numbers of immigrants from Latin America and Asia

Emancipation Proclamation (1863)

executive order by Lincoln, freeing all slaves in areas still at war with the Union; though it freed no slaves immediately, it did change the reasons for the Civil War and allowed black soldiers to join the Union army

Executive Order 9066

FDR's executive order to allow local military authorities to create exclusion zones for the internment of Japanese-Americans during WWII