APUSH Vocabulary-The Rise of Imperialism and The Progressive Age

The Great Depression

A long and severe recession in the U.S. economy. It was caused by uneven distribution of income, stock market speculation, excessive use of credit, overproduction of consumer goods, and a weak farm economy. Was eventually resolved by World War II.

Upton Sinclair

A famous novelist and social crusader from California, who pioneered the kind of journalism known as "muckraking." His best-known novel was "The Jungle" which was an expose of the appalling and unsanitary conditions in the meat-packing industry.

Progessivism

A political movement that wanted to limit the power of big business, improve democracy, and thought that the government, whether at the local, state, or federal level, was the proper agency to make these changes. The movement was made up of a diverse group of people including Protestant church leaders, African Americans, union leaders, and feminists.

John Muir

A Scottish-born American naturalist, author, and early advocate of preservation of wilderness in the United States. His letters, essays, and books telling of his adventures in nature, especially in the Sierra Nevada mountains of California, have been read by millions. He was also known as "John of the Mountains" and "Father of the National Parks".

Theodore Roosevelt

The 26th president of the U.S. He served as the governor of New York before serving as William McKinley’s vice president and became president after William McKinley was stabbed by an anarchist. He had a very aggressive foreign policy by intervening in Latin American and Asian conflicts.

Japanese internment

Carried out through Executive Order 9066, which took many Japanese families away from their homes and into internment camps for the duration of World War II.

Prohibition

Strictly prohibited the manufacture and sale of alcoholic beverages. However, people in cities defied the law by going to clubs or bars called speakeasies where liquor was smuggled.

Scopes Trial

A much-publicized trial in Tennessee focused the debate between religious fundamentalists in the rural South and modernists in northern cities. Tennessee had outlawed the teaching of Darwin’s theory of evolution but the American Civil Liberties Union persuaded a Tennessee high school teacher named John Scopes to teach the theory of evolution to his high school class. For doing so, high school teacher named John Scopes was arrested and tried in 1925.

The New Deal

Was a set of government programs intended to fix the Great Depression and prevent future depressions in the early years of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s presidency. The programs were to serve three R’s: relief for people out of work, recovery for business and the economy, and reform of American economic institutions.

The Spanish-American War

A conflict fought between Spain and the United States in 1898. The war was sparked by the sinking of the USS Maine in Havana Harbor and the desire of the U.S. to expand its influence in the Caribbean and Pacific.

Franklin D. Roosevelt

The 32nd president. He came up with the New Deal programs which included relief for people out of work, recovery for business and the economy, and reform of American economic institutions (AKA The Three R’s). Additionally, he led the U.S. through most of WW2.

The First Red Scare

A period during the early 20th century during which Americans grew afraid of a Communist takeover, caused by the Russian Revolution. Radicals and foreigners were targeted as communist and discriminated against.

Radio

A form of mass media and sound communication by radio waves, usually through the transmission of music, news, and other types of programs from single broadcast stations to multitudes of individual listeners equipped with radio receivers. Was a key lifeline of information for the masses in the years of World War II.

The Harlem Renaissance

Outburst of creative activity among African-Americans in all fields of art in the 1920s; began as discussions in Manhattan and turned into movement of African-American expression.

The Great Migration (of the 1900s)

The migration of African Americans from the rural South to the industrial North, which held promises of jobs, during and after World War I. Blacks relocated to cities such as New York, Chicago, Detroit, and Pittsburgh.

The League of Nations

Was a peacekeeping organization proposed after the war that called on each member nation to stand ready to protect the independence and territorial integrity of other nations and Woodrow Wilson wanted the U.S to be apart of it. However, motivated by Republican concerns that it would commit the United States to an expensive organization that would reduce the United States' ability to defend its own interests.

D-Day

An Allied effort to liberate France on June 6, 1944 which was the largest invasion by sea in history. British, Canadian, and U.S. forces under the command of General Eisenhower secured several beachheads on the Normandy coast. The attack was very bloody but a success for the Allies.

The Manhattan Project

A research and development project that produced the first atomic bombs during World War II. It combined the minds of some of Europe’s and America’s best physicists and mathematicians. The first successful test of an atomic bomb occurred on 7/16/1945.

The Fourteen Points

Woodrow Wilson's proposal to ensure peace after World War I, calling for an end to secret treaties, widespread arms reduction, national self-determination, and a new league of nations.

The Open Door Policy

Refers to the proposition to keep trade in China open equally to trade with all countries, preventing any one nation from controlling trade in the region. The policy also called for powers to respect Chinese territorial integrity.

The Espionage Act of 1917 & The Sedition Act of 1918

The 1917 Espionage Act made it a crime to obstruct military recruitment, to encourage mutiny, or to aid the enemy by spreading lies. The 1918 Sedition Act prohibited uttering, writing, or publishing “any abusive or disloyal language” concerning the flag, Constitution, government, or armed forces.

Eugene Debs

A former railway union leader and became a socialist while in jail for supporting the Pullman strike. He was the Socialist Party candidate for president in five elections from 1900 to 1920 and gained up to a million votes during those campaigns. Eventually, some ideas by he and the Socialists were accepted: public ownership of utilities, worker’s compensation insurance, minimum wage laws, the eight-hour work day, and pensions for employees.

Henry Ford

American businessman, founder of Ford Motor Company, and an inventor credited with 161 patents. He perfected a system for manufacturing automobiles by means of an assembly line. Instead of losing time moving around a factory as in the past, his workers remained in one place all day and performed the same simple operation over and over again at rapid speed. In the 1920s, most major industries adopted the assembly line and realized major gains in worker productivity.

Immigration Act of 1924

Passed by Congress in 1924 and set quotas of 2% of the number of foreign-born persons from a given nation based on the Census of 1890. It was the second act that placed a quota on the number of immigrants allowed into the country as the first quota act was in 1921 and the original amount of immigrants from a given nation allowed into the U.S was 3% based on the 1910 Census.

The “new” Ku Klux Klan (1920s)

Was founded in 1915 and was popular in the Midwest and the South. It attracted new members because of the popular silent film, Birth of a Nation which portrayed it as the heroes during Reconstruction. It used modern day techniques to grow to 5 million members in 1925. It drew most of its support from lower-middle-class White protestants in small cities. It used various methods to terrorize people that they classified as “non-Americans”

Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)

Dammed the Tennessee Valley which prevented flooding and provided cheap hydroelectricity to people in the region. It also helped improve travel along the Tennessee River and helped develop the region’s business and farming.

Social Security

Created a social insurance program designed to pay retired workers age 65 or older a continued income after retirement.

The Neutrality Acts of 1935-1940

To ensure that U.S. policy would be strictly neutral if war broke out in Europe, Congress adopted a series of neutrality acts. Each law applied to belligerent nations, ones that the president proclaimed to be at war.

• 1935: authorized the president to prohibit all arms shipments and to forbid U.S. citizens from travel on the ships of belligerents

• 1936: forbade the expansion of loans and credits to belligerents

• 1937: forbade the shipment of arms to the opposing sides in the civil war in Spain

The Atlantic Charter

A document that affirmed that the general principles for a sound peace after the war would include self-determination for all people, no territorial expansion, and free trade. It was drawn up during a meeting between Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill aboard a ship off the coast of Newfoundland.

“Rosie the Riveter”

Was an allegorical icon in the United States used to encourage women to take defense jobs during WW2.