Untitled Flashcards Set

• Mercantilism: a mother country should work to establish favorable balance of trade meaning exporting more than importing

• Why the Declaration of Independence was signed, who it gives power to, and what it represented

  • It was signed to officially declare independence from Britain

  • It gives power to the people and to the government that resides over them

  • Represents the fundamental ideas America was built upon

• The six basic principles of the Constitution

  • Popular sovereignty: power of the government comes from the people

  • limited government: limits the amount of power the government has, no one is above the law

  • federalism: division of power between the national government and the state government

  • separation of powers: can’t blend with jobs, very distinct job for each branch

  • Judicial review: examine and determine the constitutionality of laws

  • checks and balances: communication system, a check to make sure the limits of power are being met and no one is exceeding the power

• Know and understand ALL of the amendments that we discussed this year

  • 1. Freedom of speech, religion, and assembly

  • 2. Right to bear arms (Battle of Lexington)

  • 3. Soldiers can't live in private homes without permission (Intolerable Acts)

  • 4. Freedom from unreasonable search and seizure (writ of Assistance)

  • 5. Right to due law, law applies to everyone

  • 6. Right to a speedy and public trial

  • 7. Right to a jury court (sugar act)

  • 8. Freedom from cruel and unreasonable punishment

  • 9. Rights not listed are given to the people, individuals

  • 10. Power not given to the national government are given to the states

  • 12. vice president is no longer a runner it now you elect a vice president connected to a president

  • 13. no more slavery

  • 14. anyone born in the us is a citizen

  • 15. Universal male suffrage

  • 16. allowed congress to tax one’s incomes

  • 17. direct election of senators

  • 18. prohibition

  • 19. women can vote

  • 21. no more prohibition

  • 22. president can only serve 2 terms

  • 24. outlaws the collection of poll taxes

• The role of the Supreme Court in the United States

  • interpret laws and decide if they are constitutional

• Landmark Supreme Court cases throughout the course of American history that set important precedents

  • Marbury v Madison established principle of judicial review, power to declare a law unconstitutional if it goes against the constitution, constitution above all things and supreme court must protect it

  • Dred Scott Decision says free black people are not citizens and slavery is a constitutional right of property

  • Schenck vs US, Schenck was arrested for advocating against the draft, he sues the gov for going against his first amendment right, supreme court says freedom of speech can be restricted

  • Plessy vs Ferguson said separate but equal places were constitutional

  • Loving v Virginia struck down a state law that made interracial marriage illegal

  • Worcester v Georgia the supreme court upheld the cherokee nations legal rights to their land

  • Brown vs Board says separate but equal has no place in public education

• Louisiana Purchase

  • bought from french for 15 million, doubled the size of america, controversial because it isn't in the constitution to buy land, Jefferson signs it even though it uses the elastic cause he is against

• Monroe Doctrine---Roosevelt Corollary

  • Monroe doctrine says the US should stay out of foreign affairs and they should stay out of ours

  • Roosevelt Corollary says the US has the right to intervene in Latin America, ad addition to the monroe doctrine

• Sectionalism: choosing your own section over the nation as a whole, choosing the south over the whole nation

• Manifest Destiny: Idea that God chose the white man to colonize all the land, it is their God given land m

• The overall differences between the North and the South pre-Civil War

  • The south was very agricultural with a lot of farms and plantations, very racist, believed in slavery

  • The north was very industrial with a lot of cities and big businesses, more liberal, against slavery

• The role of the cotton gin in revolutionizing the Southern economy

  • The cotton gin made the production of cotton much quicker, it required less manual labor, this required less slaves, this overproduction caused the decrease in prices

• The changes in the role of women in the different time periods throughout American history (Seneca Falls, suffrage, 19^th amendment, etc)

  • Women were not seen as important for a lot of history until about the 1920’s when women were finally allowed to vote. Many women picked up jobs as well to try and help during the GD. This constant right for rights showed many people the power of women. During WW2 the amount of women who got jobs because of the lack of men helped gain women wore rights in the workplace

• The changes in policy toward Native Americans throughout American history

  • It started with migrating them as Americans moved west because of manifest destiny. When Andrew Jackson was president he violated the supreme court and moved the natives. Railroads in the west and the slaughter of the buffalo led to the death of many native tribes. When creating railroads a lot of natives land was taken away, the trail of tears was when they forced natives to move and many of them died. Then Americans fought with the natives over land and put many of the in schools to become American

• Treatment of African Americans in the Reconstruction era—how does this connect to the Civil Rights movement in the 20^th century? 

  • In the reconstruction era AA gained many liberties. The freedmen’s Bureau helped former slaves and the 13th,14th, and 15th amendments were made. There were also black politicians. However there were still black codes, jim crow laws, sharecropping, and the KKK. 

  • In the Civil Rights movement, it can show that even though AA got many liberties there were still laws in place holding them back for being treated as equal. Segregation was still and thing and many were still being denied the ability to vote

• The Gilded Age—urbanization, industrialization at the expense of the lower classes

  • Urbanization was caused by industrial jobs, many new people and many new jobs were created so they had to rapidly urbanize large areas. Industrialization was the modernization of work production, it allowed for things to be done much faster and much cheaper. It provided work for a lot of people who wouldn't normally have these opportunities. However, this caused an extreme wage gap because the people that owned these industries were banking off the middle class making them work for low wages in bad conditions because they knew these people needed the jobs, all the while they are making very high profits

Unit 5: The Gilded Age

• Laissez-faire capitalism: No government interference

• Captains of industry vs. robber barons

  • Captains of industry: People who made a lot of money during the gilded age, controlled industry

  • Robber Barons: people who took control of the laissez faire economics and underpaid workers, horrible work conditions, to get all the money themselves

• Social Darwinism: The idea that people who are rich deserve it because they worked hard for it and people who are poor deserve it because they did not work hard enough and were dumb with their money

• Philanthropy: the act of promoting the welfare of others typically through donations to the community like building schools or libraries

• What were the negative and positive effects of urbanization and industrialization?

  • Positive: Many more jobs were created, more people working

  • Negatives: push natives out of their land, pollution, 

• “New immigrants” and their reasons for coming to the United States: New immigrants from Southern and eastern Europe. They came over for the new job opportunities and freedom that America provided

• Assimilation of Native Americans: The natives lived off of bison and America hunted them all leading Natives to have no resources for food, clothes, tools, or anything. They assimilate them into American culture by moving them into a small reserve or put them into schools making them learn english

• Nativism and the quota system

  • Nativism: Obvious favoritism of native born white americans

  • Quota system: Quota of how many chinese immigrants can come into the US

Unit 6: The Progressive Era and Imperialism

• How did progressive Presidents differ from the Presidents of the Gilded Age in their political philosophies?

  • In the gilded age the presidents believed in laissez faire economics and never intervened in the economy while Progressives believed in interfering in the economy when civil liberties were being affected

• Muckrakers—Jacob Riis, Upton Sinclair, etc

  • Muckrakers: investigative reporters who brought government corruption to light

    • Jabcob Riis: how the other half lives

    • Upton Sinclair: meat industry

    • Ida Tarbell: exposed Rockefeller

    • Ida Wells: racial issues in the south

    • Lincoln Steffens: businessmen with trusts and graft

• The Jungle and the Meat Inspection Act

  • Written by Upton Sinclair exposed the unsanitary conditions of the meat industry. This led Teddy Roosevelt to make the meat inspection act

• Jane Addams and Hull House

  • Sets up her home to the poor, she is a regular citizen not rich, caused other women to do the same, open thor homes and taught them to read, write, cook, hygiene, etc

• The temperance movement

  • restricted or got rid of alcohol consumption, Carry Nation was the leader and would destroy bars and saloons

• Booker T. Washington v. W.E.B. DuBois

  • Booker T. Washington: Moderate, accepted segregation, concentrated on moral and economic development, and avoided politics. Founded Tuskegee Institute which taught African Americans work skills, most powerful AA of his generation, accommodationist

  • W.E.B DuBois: Radical, urged AA to demand first class citizenship, made The Souls of Black Folks saying AA needed more liberal arts education, AA leaders should demand the right to vote, leader in the creation of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), wealthy, very educated, went to harvard

• NAACP

  • National Association for the Advancement of Colored People

• Theodore Roosevelt, the Square Deal, and trust busting

  • Roosevelt (1901-1908)

    • Reform Plan

      • Square Dear “Bully Pulpit”: makes sure the workers and big businesses were receiving fair deal. “Bully Pulpit” makes president more active in legislation

    • Political Party

      • “Progressive” Republican 

      • Makes Bull Moose Party (1912)

      • Is the progressive party, stands for direct election of senators, women’s suffrage, workmen’s compensation, 8-hour workday, and regulation of industry

    • Political Reforms

      • Initiative Referendum Recall (State Level)

    • Economic Reforms

      • Arbitration for workers: invited leader of the union and businessmen to the white house to talk it out, arbitrate

      • Hepburn Act (1906)- ICC: controls and regulates interstate commerce. Regulates railroad companies which progressive farmers always wanted. Progressive because government control

      • Trust Busting, but not all trusts are bad: breaks apart the largest and worst trusts but believes some can benefit the economy

    • Social Reforms

      • Meat Inspection Act (1906)

      • Pure Food and Drug Act (1906)

      • Conservation (Gifford Pinchot) vs Preservation (John Muir): Roosevelt is the first to ever think about the environment. 

      • Conservation (Gifford Pinchot) believed the environment and its resources should be managed in a responsible and sustainable manner

      • Preservation (John Muir) believed that people should have access to the land but only utilize it for beauty and inspiration

      • Pinchot was in Roosevelt's cabinet but Muir was Roosevelt's best friend so we get a combo of both ideas

      • First to open up national reserves, national parks, national monuments, and things to preserve land and make these lands federally protected

    • Race

      • No protective legislation to protect African Americans but invited B.T. Washington

• Roosevelt’s conservationists (John Muir, Gifford Pinchot)

  • Conservation (Gifford Pinchot) believed the environment and its resources should be managed in a responsible and sustainable manner

  • Preservation (John Muir) believed that people should have access to the land but only utilize it for beauty and inspiration

• Causes of imperialism

  • Economic: open up markets to get cheaper raw materials

  • Political: desire to compete with other nations

  • Military: acquire naval bases

  • Ideological: “white man's burden” says we must colonize other lands to spread superior civilization, social darwinism

• How did manifest destiny influence a turn to imperialism?

  • Manifest destiny believes that it is our God given land and we must colonize it so they believe that the world is their God given land and they must colonize everything through imperialism

• Roosevelt Corollary

  • The US has the right to intervene in Latin America, an addition to the monroe doctrine

• Panama Canal

  • Roosevelt supports the movement for Panamanian independence from Colombia, then the US are given the right to build the Canal

Unit 7: World War I

• MANIA

  • Militarism

  • Alliances

  • Nationalism

  • Imperialism

  • Assassination

• How does America eventually get involved in World War I? 

  • The Russian Revolution gets the US involved in the war, Russia looks democratic so we think we can enter the war without violating moral diplomacy

• What was Woodrow Wilson’s stance on neutrality prior to our entrance into WWI?

  • Wilson wanted to stay neutral to preserve progressivism in the US, he supports the monroe doctrine

• What were the overall goals of Wilson’s Fourteen Points and how do they relate to the Treaty of Versailles?

  • his goal was to prevent another war but in the treaty of Versailles we get the league of Nations that Wilson wanted

• The challenges and consequences of the Treaty of Versailles

  • Getting the league of nations approved wa a challenge and a consequence was now germany has to accept the treaty of versailles

• What was America’s foreign policy at the conclusion of WWI?

  • Stay out of foreign affairs, neutrality

Unit 8: The Roaring 20s and the Great Depression

• The Red Scare and the Palmer Raids—fear of communism

  • The red scare and the palmer raids were all in response to the fear of communism. Palmer raids were where the government would raid homes, union halls, etc. This was against the constitution but desperate times call for desperate measures. Caused by the creation of the Soviet Union and a series of labor strikes which people connected to socialism

• Sacco and Vanzetti

  • Two Italian born men who brought anarchy to America. They were charged with murder and even with insufficient evidence they were still both found guilty due to nativism

• Rise of the Ku Klux Klan (again)

  • The KKK rose up again because of the rise of immigrants and because nativism was on the rise again

• What were the 1920s characterized by overall?

  • A roaring economic period where the stock market was great and everyone was buying things on margin to try and look high class but there was no real money circulating causing the stock market to crash leading the great depression

• How did Americans in the 1920s feel about change?

  • Some Americans agreed with the cultural changes but some did not

• What is the significance of the Scopes Trial?

  • Shows both sides of the culture wars that both fundamentalist and modernist is present. A teacher wanting to teach evolution is prosecuted and charged but it brings attention to the fact that old traditional laws are still in motion

• What did President Harding mean by a “Return to Normalcy”?

  • He meant a time before progressivism, going back to Laissez faire economics, high tariffs, minimal government regulation, big businesses, president should take a step back, isolationists

• How did the overall quality of life improve in the 1920s?

  • Many people bought a lot of things, many people moved to big cities, and many people got jobs

• How would women increase their social standing during the “Roaring 20s”

  • Many women would take up jobs, get more sexual freedom, some women become flappers

• Were the 1920s “roaring” for everyone? Why or why not? 

  • No, there were many people in the 1920’s that were not successful. Many families lived below the poverty line and lived in tenement homes with horrible living conditions working for a very low wage under very dangerous conditions

• What were some of the underlying struggles of the 1920s that were disguised by relative economic prosperity?

  • Everything was bought on margin meaning there was no actual money circulating, many people were working for low wages in bad conditions, and many people lived in bad housing environments

• What were the economic and social causes of the Great Depression?

  • Economical: Everything was bought on margin, America was still on the gold standard meaning all the money we have must be backed up in gold, tariffs made other countries put tariffs on American goods so we cant trade with other countries, consumers were buying too much with no money to back it up

  • Societal: Everyone wanted to look rich so they bought things they couldn't afford

• What were the major differences in political theories on how the Depression should be handled? (Hoover’s approach vs. Roosevelt’s approach)

  • Hoover: Rugged individualism and voluntarism, keep sacrificing and everything will work out, the government is there to encourage cooperation between competing groups not control it, Reconstruction Finance Corporation is based on trickle down economics which doesnt work based on the idea that if you give money to the wealthy it will trickle down

  • FD Roosevelt: The Brain Trust is a group of experts in their field that came up with the new deal for roosevelt, made relief for the needy, economic recovery, financial reform, New Deal

• Bonus Army

  • group of WW1 vets who marched at DC to demand payment called a service bonus, Hoover denied it calls Army to remove protesters leading to a violent outburst

• What was the New Deal and what were its major goals?

  • The new deal was relief for the needy, economic recovery, financial reform. Major goals were to help the needy, fix banks and jobs, and identify what caused the gd and fix it

• How did America finally get out of the Depression?

  • When WW2 started America got out of the GD because of the rapid mobilization of America, increase in jobs, and rapid military spending

Unit 9: World War II

• What were the main reasons for the start of WWII in Europe?

  • The rise in communist dictators and fascism. The extreme depression Europe faced led many of them to extreme measures

• What was Franklin Roosevelt’s greatest challenge in foreign policy prior to the US entrance into WWII? What were Roosevelt’s temporary solutions to this challenge?

  • The greatest challenge was staying neutral by banning loans and selling weapons to nations at war. His temporary solutions were the cash and carry provision that allowed the IS to sell military supplies and good to warring nation but under the strict conditions that they had to pay in cash and the countries had to transport the goods themselves. Selective service act made men 18-35 register for the draft

• What specific events cause the entrance and exit of the United States from the war?

  • The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor caused he enter into WW2 and the atomic bomb of Hiroshima and Nagasaki caused the exit

• How did WWII change the home front of the US?

  • Women were now working, African Americans were now fighting for the rights because America was fighting a fascist country, African Americans can work in defense industries without discrimination, Mexicans can now work because of the demand for workers. Native Americans worked in defense work. Japanese Americans were put into internment camps

• What was the role of women and African Americans during the war?

  • Women and African Americans were both able to get jobs without discrimination. This opened up a gap for both groups to start fighting for more equal rights

• How did American foreign policy change after the conclusion of the war?

  • They changed to the ideas of containing communism

• Japanese Internment Camps and Korematsu v. United States

  • Japanese Americans were put into internment camps, which was the most serious violation of civil liberties during wartime in american history. Korematsu v US argued the Executive Order 9066 derived Japanese Americans of life, liberty, and property without due process of law yet the supreme court help up executive order 9066

Unit 10: Postwar Challenges and Prosperity, 1945-1960

• What did Americans start to focus on after WWII was over?

  • Containment, stopping the spread of communism

• What values emerged within American society? What was “the American Dream”?

  • Conformity emerged within America. The American dream was to live in the suburbs with a cookie cutter house called levittowns and the nuclear family of mom, dad, and kids

• How would the baby boom and the GI Bill of Rights work together to impact the economy as a whole?

  • The baby boom and GI Bill of Rights would give more economic prosperity. There would be more money circulating, more children born, more people getting an education, and soldiers getting more adjusted to life after the war

• What were the countercultural movements that pushed back against “the American Dream”?

  • Beatniks

• What was the major fear once WWII ended?

  • the spread of communism

• What does the term “Cold War” refer to?

  • The fact that there was never any physical violence between the US and the SU, but they will supply countries around each other to engage in proxy wars

• Who was President when the Cold War began and what did he believe about how we should handle communism in the world?

  • Harry S. Truman was the president and he believed that the best way to contain communism was to give money to less fortunate countries so that they don't fall to communism

• What was the purpose of the Marshall Plan and the Berlin Airlift?

  • Marshall Plan: applied the truman doctrine to other countries to contain communism

  • Berlin Airlift: A way for the US, British, and France to give goods to Eastern Berlin

• What are the theories of brinkmanship and mutually assured destruction? How would these theories continue to increase tension rather than reduce it?

  • Brinkmanship says the US should spend its money investing in nuclear weapons as a way to intimidate the soviet union into not spreading communism, based on the idea of mutually assured destruction. This would made things tense between the US and SU because one would always be worried the other would attack

• How was the Korean War a testing ground for containment and how did it end?

  • Korea was split in half at the 38th parallel, North was communist and south was democratic. North invades south then south invades north and they end up the same way they started

• How would the conflict in Korea work to influence our entrance into Vietnam?

  • It would give the idea and we would split vietnam in half the same way we did in Korea

• What did the Soviet Union successfully accomplish in 1957 that horrified the US?

  • The SU launches sputnik causing the US to be scared we are falling behind, also they don't know what the satellite they launches is for so they think the SU might be spying on them

Unit 11: Years of Turbulence, 1954-1968

• What is the difference between de jure and de facto segregation and how would these change throughout American history? (from Reconstruction through the 1960s)

  • De jure: segregation enforced by law, like Jim Crow Laws

  • De facto: segregation is chosen, like neighborhoods 

  • De jure segregation would eventually be demolished but de facto segregation would continue on by choice

• Who were the major players in the Civil Rights movement, what ideas/organizations did they support, and what were their successes/failures?

  • The little rock nine helped play a major role in desegregating schools

  • Rosa Parks helped start the Montgomery bus boycott which led to the SU to decide segregation on public transportation to be unconstitutional

  • MLK started the Southern Christian Leadership Conference

  • Malcolm X emphasized black nationalism, self improvement, separatism

• How did JFK and LBJ contribute to the causes of the Civil Rights movement?

  • JFK was slow on the issue of civil rights, sent out troops to allow James Meredith at University of Mississippi

  • LBJ signed in the Voting rights act of 1965 which banned literacy tests, and the civil rights act of 1964 which ended segregation in public places and the civil rights act of 1968 which this Act prohibited discrimination with financing, selling, or renting homes

• What were the court cases and legislation that helped to win Civil Rights for African Americans?

  • Brown v Board: Segregation is unconstitutional “separate but equal” has no place in public education

  • Loving  v Virginia: struck down a state law that made interracial marriage illegal

• Why is the Warren Court considered one of the most liberal courts in American History? What cases are associated with this court?

  • The Warren court is considered one of the most liberal courts in American history because of its end to segregation and reaffirming of civil liberties in the law. Brown v Board, Mapp v Ohio, Gideon v Wainwright, Escobedo v Illinois, and Miranda v Arizona

• What things did JFK do to take on communism in the world?

  • He tried the bay of pigs operation that we tried to train cuban exiles to invade cuba but this failed and only makes Castro closer with the soviets

  • When there were missiles in cuba we worked with the soviets to get them removed and we also removed our missiles from turkey

• What are the connections between Cuba, the USSR, and the US?

  • Cuba was friendly with the USSR, US hates the USSR, USSR hates US, Cuba is close geographically to the US

• Compare the Red Scare of the 1920s to the Red Scare of the 1950s? Which was more grounded in a legitimate concern and why?

  • The red scare of 1950 was more legitimate because we were in a cold war and the soviets were actually working against the US. Also there was an actual spread of communism in the world

• Both JFK and LBJ had the same basic ideas for the country in the New Frontier and the Great Society. Who were they aimed at helping and why?

  • They were both aimed to help the poor and vulnerable

• Compare Kennedy’s entrance into politics to Nixon’s in the election of 1960.

  • Kennedy was fresh, new, and young, He challenged the American view of conformity

  • Nixon showed the American people what they knew conformity

Unit 12: The Vietnam War

• Why was Vietnam considered to be so controversial?

  • Vietnam was so controversial because some considered in an unjust war, many vietnamese citizens were killed by americans, America was constantly losing yet they kept sending more troops, it was a lower class war because you could avoid the draft by going to college so all the upper class people did but the lower class who couldn't afford college were sent to vietnam, the war was very expensive and taxes were very high, and a lot of death that could have been avoided

• How did Kennedy and Johnson increase American participation in the Vietnam War over time?

  • Kennedy send military advisors and Johnson send troops

• What did public protests show about society and political beliefs at the time?

  • They were protesting war and advocating for peace. This shows how people were tired of fighting unnecessary wars and just wanted peace

• As a whole, was the Vietnam War successful? Why or why not?

  • No, many people died for no reason and Vietnam still fell to communism in the end

• What would the end of this war do to America in terms of our overall thoughts on the Cold War policy of containment?

  • The government became more hesitant to send troops into combat. Many Americans agreed with the idea of staying neutral and staying out of foreign affairs