US History Lecture Review: Reconstruction to the Modern Era

A comprehensive set of vocabulary flashcards covering key terms, amendments, Supreme Court cases, and historical events from the Reconstruction era through modern US foreign policy and modern healthcare.

$13^{th}$ Amendment

Abolished slavery.

$14^{th}$ Amendment

Provided birthright citizenship and equal protection.

$15^{th}$ Amendment

Granted voting rights regardless of race, color, or previous condition of slavery.

Reconstruction

The period from $1865$ to $1877$ right after the Civil War involving the rebuilding of the South.

Transcontinental Railroad

A railroad that went from the east coast to the west coast, contributing to the rapid settlement of the West.

Dawes Act

A policy aimed at the assimilation of Native Americans in order to make them look more American.

Carlisle School

Boarding schools used for the forced assimilation of Native Americans.

Andrew Carnegie

A big business man associated with the steel industry and monopolies.

Cornelius Vanderbilt

A big business man associated with the railroad industry and monopolies.

John D. Rockefeller

A big business man associated with the oil industry and monopolies.

JP Morgan

A big business man associated with banking and monopolies.

Labor Unions

Groups of workers who use collective bargaining to gain better working conditions.

Samuel Gompers

An early organizer of labor unions.

Progressive Party Platform

The belief that the government should regulate business.

Nativists

People who were against immigration, feeling that immigrants were worse than native-born Americans.

Muckrakers

Journalists who exposed problems in society, such as those in the meat packing industry.

Upton Sinclair

Author of "The Jungle," which exposed disgusting conditions in the meat packing industry.

Pure Food and Drug Act

Legislation passed by Teddy Roosevelt as a result of the exposure of the meat packing industry in "The Jungle."

Laissez-faire

The policy that the government should keep its hands off business.

Imperialism

A powerful country taking control over another nation or colony.

Spanish American War ($1898$)

A conflict through which the U.S. gained Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines.

Liberty/Victory Bonds

Used in WWI and WWII to finance the war effort and build national support.

Henry Ford

Revolutionized factory production through the assembly line and mass production.

Mass Production

Producing large quantities of goods more quickly and cheaply, though often of lower quality.

Schenck vs. US ($1917$)

Supreme Court decision stating that words cannot create a "clear and present danger."

Korematsu vs. US ($1944$)

Supreme Court decision stating that $14^{th}$ amendment rights can be limited during times of national crisis.

Harlem Renaissance

A movement following the Great Migration focused on expressing black American culture, art, music, and poetry.

Langston Hughes

A poet and writer during the Harlem Renaissance who wrote about the black experience and Jim Crow.

Louis Armstrong

A famous jazz musician known for the expression of black music.

Rugged Individualism

Herbert Hoover's response to the Great Depression.

Relief, Recovery, and Reform

Franklin D. Roosevelt's approach to the Great Depression, involving direct support to the people.

Appeasement

Giving into demands in order to get someone to stop doing something; it failed with Hitler.

Nuremberg Trials

Trials for Nazi war crimes which established the precedent that government and military leaders are held accountable for their actions.

Containment

The US policy during the Cold War aimed at stopping the spread of communism.

Sputnik

The first Russian satellite in space, which triggered the space race.

Brown vs. Board of Education ($1954$)

Supreme Court decision ruling that segregation in public schools is unconstitutional, overturning Plessy vs. Ferguson.

Plessy vs. Ferguson ($1896$)

Supreme Court decision that established the "separate but equal" doctrine.

McCarthyism

The fear of communism from the $1920s$ to the $1950s$ that led to people being blacklisted.

The Cuban Missile Crisis

A Cold War event involving Kennedy and Khrushchev that was the closest the U.S. and U.S.S.R. came to war.

Berlin Airlift

An operation where Truman air-dropped supplies into Berlin after Stalin blockaded West Berlin.

Civil Rights Act $1964$

Legislation that made discrimination and segregation based on race illegal.

Square Deal, New Deal, and Great Society

Platforms that expanded the federal government and presidency's role in social and economic reform.

Watergate Scandal

An example of checks and balances where the Supreme Court ruled President Nixon was not above the law.

Camp David Accords

The first peace settlement between Israel and an Arab nation (Egypt).

Reaganomics

An economic plan involve lowering taxes on corporations and the wealthy (trickle-down economics).

Persian Gulf War

Also known as Operation Desert Storm, where the U.S. and a coalition liberated Kuwait from Iraq.

Patriot Act

Signed after $9/11$ by George W. Bush to allow for government surveillance of citizens.

Affordable Care Act

Also known as Obama care, with the goal of giving every American access to affordable healthcare.