APUSH Terms

Period 1 (1491–1607)

Christopher Columbus

• Italian navigator who, funded by Spain, sailed west in 1492 seeking a route to Asia and instead encountered the Americas, initiating European exploration and colonization.

Columbian Exchange

• The transatlantic exchange of crops, animals, diseases, ideas, and peoples between the Old World (Europe, Africa, Asia) and the New World (Americas) following Columbus’s voyages, dramatically altering diets and populations on both sides.

Conquistadores

• Spanish conquerors of the Americas (such as Hernán Cortés and Francisco Pizarro) who subdued indigenous civilizations (like the Aztecs and Incas) in the 16th century and claimed vast territories for Spain, often seeking gold and glory.

Encomienda System

• A Spanish labor system in which colonists received the right to extract labor and tribute from Native Americans in designated areas; in practice it was a form of coerced labor and slavery justified by a supposed obligation to Christianize the natives.

Bartolomé de Las Casas

• 16th-century Spanish priest and former encomendero who became an advocate for better treatment of Native Americans; his writings condemned Spanish abuses and helped lead to reforms like the New Laws of 1542.

Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda

• 16th-century Spanish scholar who argued that Native Americans were inferior and born to serve the Spaniards; in the 1550–1551 Valladolid Debate he opposed Las Casas, justifying Spanish conquest and the encomienda system.

Valladolid Debate

• The first moral debate (1550–1551 in Spain) about Spanish colonization, where Las Casas argued for Native Americans’ humanity and rights, while Sepúlveda argued they were natural slaves; it reflected conflict over the ethics of conquest, though neither side clearly “won.”

Mestizo

• A person in the Spanish colonies of mixed European (Spanish) and Native American ancestry; mestizos became a significant part of colonial society, reflecting the Spanish empire’s strict racial caste system.

Mulatto

• A person of mixed European (typically Spanish or Portuguese) and African ancestry in the colonial social hierarchy; mulattoes and other mixed-heritage groups were part of the caste system in Spain’s New World colonies.

Zambo

• A term used in Spanish and Portuguese colonies for individuals of mixed African and Native American ancestry; they occupied a low tier in the racial caste system of colonial Latin America.

Spanish Caste System

• Racial hierarchy in Spain’s colonies that ranked people by heritage: peninsulares (Spain-born) at top, followed by creoles (American-born Europeans), then mestizos, mulattoes, Native Americans, Africans, etc. This system dictated one’s social status, legal rights, and jobs.

Cahokia

• A major Native American city (c. 700–1400 AD) near the Mississippi River (in present-day Illinois) built by the Mississippian mound-building culture; at its height it had perhaps 20,000 people and large earthen mounds, indicating a complex, agriculture-based society before European contact.

Maize Cultivation

• The farming of corn (maize), first developed in Mexico, which spread to the American Southwest and beyond. It supported population growth and the development of settled Native American societies (e.g. the Pueblo) by providing a stable food supply.

Great Basin and Great Plains (Native Societies)

• Indigenous peoples in the Great Basin (between the Rockies and Sierra Nevada) and Great Plains regions faced arid or grassland environments. Many were nomadic or semi-nomadic hunter-gatherers (e.g. hunting bison on the Plains), with the introduction of the horse (after European contact) greatly increasing the mobility and hunting efficiency of Plains tribes like the Sioux.

Eastern Woodlands (Northeast/Atlantic Seaboard Societies)

• Native American groups in the Northeast and along the Atlantic coast (e.g. Iroquois, Algonquians) who practiced a mixed economy of agriculture (corn, beans, squash) and hunting/gathering. This supported permanent villages, and some, like the Iroquois Confederacy, developed complex political alliances.

Northwest and California (Native Societies)

• Tribes in the Pacific Northwest (e.g. Chinook) lived in resource-rich environments, relying on fishing (notably salmon) and gathering, and established permanent plank-house villages with complex social hierarchies. In present-day California, a great diversity of tribes lived off abundant acorns, fishing, and game, sustaining some of the highest population densities in North America through hunting and gathering.

Joint-Stock Company

• A business arrangement in which investors pool resources for a common purpose and share the profits (and risks) proportionally. In the 1600s, joint-stock companies (like the Virginia Company) funded English colonization by financing voyages and settlements in hopes of profit from New World resources.

Mercantilism

• Economic theory that a nation’s power is based on its wealth (especially gold and silver reserves) and that the global wealth is finite. Mercantilist policy led European powers to establish colonies for raw materials, seek a favorable balance of trade (export more than import), and accumulate wealth to strengthen the mother country.

Christopher Columbus

• Italian explorer sponsored by Spain (King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella) who in 1492 crossed the Atlantic and reached the Caribbean, mistakenly believing he’d found a new route to Asia. His voyages opened the Americas to European exploration and colonization, with profound consequences for native peoples.

Treaty of Tordesillas (1494)

• Agreement between Spain and Portugal brokered by the Pope dividing the non-European world between them. An imaginary line in the Atlantic gave Spain rights to lands west of the line (most of the Americas) and Portugal rights to lands east (including Brazil, Africa, and Asia’s routes), influencing patterns of colonization.

Spanish Mission System

• The network of religious and military outposts established by Spanish Catholics (particularly in the Southwest and California) to convert Native Americans to Christianity and integrate them into Spanish colonial society. Missions, led by priests (like Junípero Serra in California), aimed to spread Catholicism but often disrupted indigenous cultures and involved forced labor.

“Black Legend”

• A term indicating the belief that the Spanish conquerors only brought misery—disease, death, and cruelty—to the New World, with nothing positive. This propaganda (often spread by rival European powers like England) exaggerated Spanish atrocities against natives, portraying Spain as uniquely brutal in colonization.

Asiento System

• A license issued by the Spanish crown granting the holder exclusive rights to import enslaved Africans to Spanish American colonies. After Native populations declined, Spain used the asiento to bring in African slaves (paying a tax per slave to the crown), increasing the African diaspora in the Americas.

Period 2 (1607–1754)

Jamestown (1607)

• The first permanent English settlement in North America, founded in Virginia by the Virginia Company. Despite early struggles with starvation and disease, it survived through tobacco cultivation, which became Virginia’s profitable cash crop.

John Smith

• English adventurer and leader in Jamestown who, in 1608–1609, imposed strict discipline (“He who will not work shall not eat”) that helped the colony survive its first years. According to legend, he was saved from execution by Pocahontas, which helped establish tentative peace with local Powhatan Indians.

John Rolfe

• Early English settler at Jamestown who introduced West Indian tobacco to the colony and developed it as a cash crop around 1612. His tobacco exports ensured Jamestown’s economic success. He also married Pocahontas, which helped ease English-Powhatan relations for a time.

Pocahontas

• Daughter of Powhatan (chief of an Algonquian Native American confederacy in Virginia). According to Smith’s account, she intervened to save John Smith’s life in 1607. She later married John Rolfe (1614), converted to Christianity (taking the name Rebecca), and traveled to England, symbolizing a brief era of peace between English colonists and natives.

Mayflower Compact (1620)

• An agreement signed aboard the Mayflower by Pilgrim settlers before establishing Plymouth Colony. It created a basic form of self-government and majority rule, pledging that settlers would form a “civil body politic” and obey laws for the good of the colony — a step toward colonial self-government.

Puritans

• English Protestants who sought to “purify” the Church of England of Catholic influences. Many Puritans migrated to New England (especially Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1630 under John Winthrop) to establish a godly community (“city upon a hill”), shaping the region with their religious values, town meetings, and work ethic.

Separatists (Pilgrims)

• A sect of Puritans who concluded that the Church of England was beyond reform and chose to separate from it entirely. One group of Separatists sailed on the Mayflower and founded Plymouth Colony in 1620, seeking religious freedom. They celebrated the first Thanksgiving with the Wampanoag after surviving their first harsh winter with native help.

Massachusetts Bay Colony

• A major Puritan colony established in 1630 by about a thousand settlers led by Governor John Winthrop. Centered in Boston, it grew rapidly and was characterized by a theocratic government, town hall meetings, a focus on family and education, and the idea of being a “city upon a hill” as an example of righteous living.

John Winthrop

• Puritan leader and first governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony (served 1630–1649). In his famous “City upon a Hill” sermon, he envisioned the colony as a model Christian society. Under his guidance, the colony emphasized Puritan religious practices and community responsibility.

Roger Williams

• Puritan minister who was banished from Massachusetts Bay for advocating separation of church and state and religious freedom. He founded Rhode Island in 1636, establishing Providence with principles of religious toleration (for Christians, Jews, etc.) and fair dealings with Native Americans in purchasing land.

Anne Hutchinson

• Puritan woman in Massachusetts Bay who challenged church authorities by holding meetings to discuss sermons and asserting antinomianism (the idea that faith alone, not deeds, is necessary for salvation). She claimed direct revelations from God, which led to her trial and banishment in 1637. She relocated to Rhode Island, symbolizing the push for greater religious freedom and the role of women in religious debate.

Headright System

• A land grant program used in the Virginia colony (and others) to attract settlers and labor. It awarded typically 50 acres of land to anyone who paid for their own passage or someone else’s passage to Virginia. This incentivized wealthy individuals to sponsor indentured servants and led to the growth of plantations.

Indentured Servants

• Individuals (often poor English men and women) who agreed to work for a master for a fixed term (usually 4–7 years) in exchange for paid passage to the American colonies, room and board. Indentured servitude was a primary labor source in the Chesapeake in the 1600s before being largely supplanted by African slavery by the late 17th century.

Chesapeake Colonies

• Term for the English colonies of Virginia and Maryland, both on the Chesapeake Bay. They developed economies based on tobacco farming using indentured servant then slave labor, had relatively dispersed plantation settlements, and often unstable early relations with Native Americans. Maryland, founded by Lord Baltimore in 1634, was notable for the Act of Toleration (1649) granting religious freedom to Christians (particularly to protect Catholics).

Maryland Act of Toleration (1649)

• A law passed in the Maryland colony granting religious freedom to all Christians (specifically intended to protect Catholic minority rights from Protestant majorities). It made Maryland one of the first colonies to mandate tolerance for differing Christian sects, though it prescribed death for non-Christians who denied the divinity of Jesus.

New England Colonies

• The colonies of Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire. These were characterized by small towns, family farms, a mixed economy (farming, fishing, timber, commerce), greater religious homogeneity (largely Puritan except Rhode Island), and more democratic institutions (e.g. town meetings).

Middle Colonies

• The colonies of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware. Known for their diversity (ethnically and religiously) and fertile soil, they produced grains (“breadbasket” colonies) and had mixed economies of farming and commerce. Pennsylvania, founded by William Penn as a haven for Quakers, was notable for religious tolerance and good relations with Native Americans (at least initially).

William Penn

• English Quaker who founded Pennsylvania in 1681 after receiving a land grant from the king. He established the colony as a “Holy Experiment” of religious tolerance, representative government, and fair treatment of Indians. Under Penn’s leadership, Pennsylvania attracted diverse settlers and became known for its freedom of worship and prosperous economy.

Quakers (Society of Friends)

• A Protestant sect founded in England, Quakers believed in an “Inner Light” and that all people are equal in the eyes of God. Known for pacifism, simplicity, and refusal to defer to rank, many Quakers settled in Pennsylvania under William Penn. They practiced religious toleration, fair dealings with Native Americans, and were early opponents of slavery.

Southern Colonies

• The colonies of Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. These developed plantation economies (tobacco, rice, indigo) requiring extensive labor (initially indentured servants, increasingly enslaved Africans). Settlements were spread out, leading to weaker institutions of local government and less emphasis on education than in New England.

Atlantic Slave Trade (Middle Passage)

• The segment of the triangular trade in which Africans, mostly from West Africa, were densely packed onto ships and transported across the Atlantic to the Americas under horrific conditions. The “Middle Passage” voyage could take weeks, and a high percentage of captives died; those who survived were sold into slavery in the New World.

Triangular Trade

• A three-legged trade network of the 17th–18th centuries. For example: New England merchants traded rum to Africa for slaves; slaves were transported via the Middle Passage to the West Indies and traded for sugar or molasses; and those goods were shipped to New England to be distilled into rum. This system connected the economies of Africa, the Americas, and Europe.

Pueblo Revolt (1680)

• An uprising of the Pueblo Indians in Spanish New Mexico, led by a Native religious leader named Popé. The Pueblo people successfully expelled Spanish colonists and missionaries for about 12 years, destroying missions and killing settlers, as a reaction to Spanish oppression and suppression of native religion. Spain reconquered the area in 1692 but adopted a more accommodating approach to Pueblo culture afterward.

Bacon’s Rebellion (1676)

• An uprising of Virginia backcountry farmers and indentured servants led by Nathaniel Bacon. Frustrated by Governor William Berkeley’s failure to protect frontier settlers from Native attacks and angered by the colony’s elite, the rebels attacked Indians and burned Jamestown. The rebellion was suppressed after Bacon’s death, but it highlighted tensions between poor settlers and the wealthy planters, contributing to the shift away from indentured servitude toward African slavery for labor.

King Philip’s War (1675–1676)

• A conflict between New England colonists and Native American tribes led by Metacom (called “King Philip” by the English), chief of the Wampanoag. It was one of the bloodiest per capita wars in North America. Native forces attacked many New England towns but were ultimately defeated, resulting in the destruction of several tribes’ power in the region and paving the way for expanded English settlement.

Mercantilism (in Colonies)

• The British economic policy toward the American colonies where the colonies were expected to supply raw materials to the mother country and purchase manufactured goods in return. Colonies existed for the benefit of the mother country’s wealth; laws like the Navigation Acts were designed to enforce mercantilism by controlling colonial trade in England’s favor.

Navigation Acts

• A series of English laws first passed in 1651 (and expanded later) to regulate colonial trade and ensure it benefitted England. They mandated that trade to and from the colonies be carried on English or colonial ships and that certain valuable goods (like tobacco, sugar) be exported only to England or its colonies. These acts aimed to enforce mercantilism; while often ignored under salutary neglect, they fostered resentment when strictly enforced.

Salutary Neglect

• British colonial policy during much of the early 1700s where trade regulations and internal colonial affairs were laxly enforced as long as the colonies remained economically loyal to Britain. This unofficial policy allowed the American colonies considerable freedom to pursue their economic and political interests — a freedom that, when later reduced (after 1763), contributed to colonial resistance.

First Great Awakening (1730s–1740s)

• A widespread evangelical religious revival movement that swept through the American colonies. Preachers like Jonathan Edwards (“Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”) and George Whitefield emphasized emotional repentance, individual faith, and spiritual equality. The revival led to the growth of new denominations, challenged established churches, and had democratizing effects by encouraging people to question authority and think independently in religious practice.

Enlightenment (Age of Reason)

• An 18th-century intellectual movement emphasizing reason, science, and individual rights over tradition and religion. Enlightenment ideas influenced colonial elites: thinkers like John Locke (social contract, natural rights of life, liberty, property) shaped colonial political thought. In America, Enlightenment principles encouraged beliefs in self-government, education, and eventually contributed to revolutionary ideas.

Benjamin Franklin

• An Enlightenment-era American polymath (printer, writer, scientist, inventor, diplomat) from Philadelphia. Franklin published Poor Richard’s Almanack, conducted experiments with electricity (kite experiment), and helped found institutions (like the University of Pennsylvania). He exemplified the Enlightenment spirit in the colonies and later played a key role in the American Revolution and the founding of the United States.

Colonial Legislatures

• Elected assemblies in the American colonies (e.g. the Virginia House of Burgesses, established 1619, or Massachusetts’ General Court). These legislatures made local laws and exerted control over taxes and expenditures. Over time, they became a powerful force for self-government, as colonial representatives grew used to making decisions independently of Parliament.

John Peter Zenger Trial (1735)

• A New York case in which newspaper editor John Peter Zenger was put on trial for libel after printing criticism of the royal governor. Zenger’s lawyer argued that truth is a defense against libel. The jury acquitted Zenger, establishing an early precedent for freedom of the press in the colonies by upholding that newspapers could print truthful criticisms of those in power.

Period 3 (1754–1800)

French and Indian War (Seven Years’ War)

• Conflict from 1754 to 1763 between Britain (with colonial militia) and France (with allied Native Americans) for control of North America, especially the Ohio River Valley. Britain’s victory expelled France from mainland North America (Treaty of Paris 1763) but left Britain with large debts, leading to increased taxation of the colonies and the end of salutary neglect, factors which set the stage for colonial discontent.

Albany Plan of Union (1754)

• A proposal by Benjamin Franklin to create a unified government for the Thirteen Colonies for mutual defense, presented at the Albany Congress during the French and Indian War. It featured the famous “Join, or Die” snake cartoon. The plan was rejected by both colonial assemblies and the British, but it was an early attempt at colonial unity.

Pontiac’s Rebellion (1763)

• A coordinated uprising of Native American tribes, led by Ottawa chief Pontiac, against British forts and settlements in the Great Lakes region following the British victory in the French and Indian War. Angered by British policies and encroachment, natives captured several forts. The rebellion prompted the British to issue the Proclamation of 1763 to stabilize the frontier by halting colonists’ westward expansion.

Proclamation of 1763

• A declaration by the British Crown forbidding colonists from settling west of the Appalachian Mountains, in order to prevent conflict with Native Americans after Pontiac’s Rebellion. Colonists widely resented and ignored the Proclamation Line, viewing it as British interference in their right to occupy western lands they had fought alongside Britain to secure.

“No Taxation Without Representation”

• A slogan originating in the 1760s that summarized colonial grievance against British taxation. Colonists argued that since they had no elected representatives in the British Parliament, Parliament had no right to tax them (as with the Stamp Act). This principle fueled protests and helped unite colonists in opposition to British policies.

Stamp Act (1765)

• A direct tax imposed by Britain on the colonies requiring an official stamp (showing payment) on all legal documents, newspapers, playing cards, and printed materials. It was the first internal tax that affected a broad range of colonists, provoking widespread protest, formation of the Stamp Act Congress, boycotts of British goods, and the slogan “no taxation without representation.” The act was repealed in 1766 due to colonial resistance.

Stamp Act Congress (1765)

• A meeting of delegates from nine colonies in New York City to organize a unified protest against the Stamp Act. They drafted a declaration of rights and grievances, asserting that only colonial assemblies had the authority to tax the colonists. It was an early example of inter-colonial cooperation and helped advance the idea of a united American opposition to British policy.

Sons of Liberty

• A secret organization of colonial patriots formed initially to oppose the Stamp Act. Founded by Samuel Adams and others in Boston, the Sons of Liberty used both peaceful and violent means (such as protests, boycotts, and sometimes intimidation and destruction of property like tar-and-feathering tax collectors) to resist British taxes and laws in the 1760s and 1770s.

Townshend Acts (1767)

• British laws that placed indirect taxes on imports to the colonies (items like glass, tea, paper, and paint) and strengthened customs enforcement. Colonists, led by figures like John Dickinson (“Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania”), protested these duties as taxation without representation and organized nonimportation agreements (boycotts). Tensions escalated, contributing to incidents like the Boston Massacre; most of the duties were eventually repealed except the tax on tea.

Boston Massacre (1770)

• A confrontation in which British soldiers, taunted by a Boston crowd throwing snowballs and debris, fired into the crowd, killing five colonists. The incident was propagandized by patriots (Paul Revere’s engraving, for example) as a symbol of British brutality. It inflamed anti-British sentiment even though the soldiers were later mostly acquitted.

Boston Tea Party (1773)

• A protest by the Sons of Liberty in Boston against the Tea Act. Disguised as Mohawk Indians, colonists boarded British East India Company ships and dumped 342 chests of tea into Boston Harbor. This act of defiance over taxation (the Tea Act maintained a tax on tea and undercut local merchants) led to harsh British retaliation with the Intolerable Acts.

Intolerable Acts (Coercive Acts) (1774)

• A series of punitive laws passed by Britain in response to the Boston Tea Party. They closed Boston Harbor until the tea was paid for, altered the Massachusetts charter to reduce self-government, allowed royal officials accused of crimes to be tried in Britain, and expanded the Quartering Act to lodge soldiers in private homes. Colonists viewed these acts as a threat to their liberties, prompting the First Continental Congress and greater unity against Britain.

Committees of Correspondence

• Colonial networks of letter writers and communicators, initiated by Samuel Adams in Massachusetts in 1772, to spread news and coordinate resistance to British policies. These committees exchanged letters about suspicious or threatening British activities and helped unify the colonies, setting the stage for organized resistance like the Continental Congress.

First Continental Congress (1774)

• A meeting in Philadelphia of delegates from 12 of the 13 colonies (all except Georgia) to respond to the Intolerable Acts. The Congress petitioned King George III for redress of grievances, endorsed a boycott of British goods (the Continental Association), and agreed to reconvene if demands weren’t met. It marked a major step toward unity and coordinated action among the colonies.

Lexington and Concord (1775)

• The first battles of the American Revolutionary War, fought in Massachusetts on April 19, 1775. British troops marched to seize colonial arms, but were met by colonial militia (“Minutemen”). At Lexington, a skirmish left several colonists dead (“the shot heard ’round the world”), and at Concord, militiamen forced a British retreat. These clashes sparked open armed conflict between Britain and the colonies.

Common Sense (1776)

• An influential pamphlet written by Thomas Paine that argued passionately for American independence from Britain. Using clear and forceful language, Paine criticized monarchy and hereditary rule and advocated the creation of a republic. Common Sense sold widely and swayed public opinion in favor of separation, paving the way for the Declaration of Independence.

Declaration of Independence (1776)

• Document adopted on July 4, 1776, by the Second Continental Congress, principally authored by Thomas Jefferson. It announced that the thirteen colonies were now independent states, no longer under British rule. The Declaration listed grievances against King George III and justified independence by asserting Enlightenment principles of natural rights (“all men are created equal” with rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness) and the idea that government derives power from the consent of the governed.

Patriot vs. Loyalist

• During the American Revolution, Patriots were colonists who supported independence from Britain, while Loyalists (Tories) remained loyal to the British Crown. Patriots were roughly one-third of the population and included figures like George Washington and Samuel Adams; they fought in the Continental Army and militias. Loyalists, perhaps 15-20% of colonists, included governors, wealthy merchants, and recent immigrants; many fled or had property confiscated during/after the war.

Battle of Saratoga (1777)

• A turning-point battle of the Revolutionary War in upstate New York. American forces defeated and captured British General Burgoyne’s army. Saratoga’s victory was crucial because it convinced France to enter the war openly on the American side, providing military aid and alliances that were vital to the ultimate American victory.

Articles of Confederation

• The first constitution of the United States, ratified in 1781. It created a loose confederation of sovereign states with a weak central government: Congress could conduct war, handle foreign affairs, and issue currency, but it had no power to tax, no executive, and no judiciary. The Articles’ weaknesses (illustrated by issues like Shays’ Rebellion) led to calls for a stronger federal government and the Constitutional Convention of 1787.

Northwest Ordinance of 1787

• A law under the Articles of Confederation that established a system for governing the Northwest Territory (area north of the Ohio River and east of the Mississippi) and a process for admitting new states to the Union. It banned slavery in the Northwest Territory and guaranteed basic rights (like trial by jury, religious freedom), setting an important precedent for the orderly expansion of the United States.

Shays’ Rebellion (1786–1787)

• An armed uprising of indebted farmers in western Massachusetts led by Revolutionary War veteran Daniel Shays. Frustrated by high taxes, economic hardship, and the threat of farm foreclosures, they attempted to shut down courts. The rebellion was put down, but it highlighted the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation (as the federal government lacked troops or funds to assist), spurring calls for a stronger national government and influencing the Constitutional Convention.

Constitutional Convention (1787)

• A meeting in Philadelphia where 55 delegates from 12 states (Rhode Island absent) convened to revise the Articles of Confederation but instead drafted a new Constitution. The resulting U.S. Constitution created a stronger federal government with separate legislative, executive, and judicial branches, a system of checks and balances, and the ability to tax and regulate commerce, while still balancing power between large and small states and free and slave states through compromises.

Great Compromise (Connecticut Compromise)

• The agreement during the Constitutional Convention that resolved the dispute between large states (which wanted representation based on population) and small states (which wanted equal representation). It established a bicameral Congress: the House of Representatives (representation by population) and the Senate (equal representation, two per state). This compromise was crucial to the Constitution’s acceptance.

Three-Fifths Compromise

• A compromise between Northern and Southern delegates at the Constitutional Convention on how to count enslaved people for representation and taxation. It determined that each enslaved person would count as three-fifths of a person when apportioning seats in the House of Representatives and direct taxes to states. This agreement gave slaveholding states more political power than if slaves were not counted, but less than if they were counted fully.

Federalists (at ratification)

• Supporters of the new U.S. Constitution in the ratification debate of 1787–1788. Federalists (like Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay) argued that a stronger central government was necessary to maintain order and preserve the Union. They wrote the Federalist Papers to persuade Americans of the Constitution’s merits, assuring that checks and balances would prevent tyranny.

Anti-Federalists

• Opponents of the 1787 Constitution’s ratification, who feared that a strong central government would encroach on the rights of states and individuals. Prominent Anti-Federalists included Patrick Henry and George Mason. They criticized the lack of a bill of rights in the original document. Their resistance led to the promise of adding the Bill of Rights to secure personal liberties after ratification.

The Federalist Papers

• A series of 85 essays written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay under the pseudonym “Publius” to support ratification of the U.S. Constitution. Published in 1787–1788, these essays (notably Federalist No. 10 and No. 51) argued for the effectiveness of the proposed system of government, explaining how the Constitution’s structure (federalism, separation of powers) would check tyranny and factionalism.

U.S. Constitution

• The supreme law of the United States, drafted in 1787 and ratified in 1788, which established the framework of the federal government (with legislative, executive, and judicial branches) and its powers. It replaced the Articles of Confederation, strengthening national authority while preserving state rights. It is a living document, amended 27 times (the first ten amendments being the Bill of Rights, added in 1791 to protect individual liberties).

Bill of Rights

• The first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution, added in 1791 to fulfill promises made during ratification. The Bill of Rights guarantees fundamental rights and freedoms, such as freedom of speech, press, religion; the right to bear arms; protection against unreasonable searches and seizures; rights of the accused (like trial by jury and due process); and powers reserved to the states/people. These amendments limit the power of the federal government over individuals.

George Washington

• Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War and the presiding officer at the Constitutional Convention. He became the first President of the United States (1789–1797), setting many precedents for the office. Washington’s leadership (from the Farewell Address warning against political parties and entangling alliances, to his enforcement of federal law during the Whiskey Rebellion) helped establish the authority of the new national government.

Alexander Hamilton

• A Founding Father, first Secretary of the Treasury under Washington, and leader of the Federalist Party. Hamilton advocated a strong central government and created an ambitious financial plan for the U.S., including federal assumption of state debts, creation of a national bank, and support for manufacturing. He authored many of the Federalist Papers and was a key figure in early republic debates, often clashing with Thomas Jefferson.

Federalist Party

• Political party led by Alexander Hamilton and John Adams in the 1790s. Federalists supported a strong central government, a loose interpretation of the Constitution, and policies favoring commerce and industry. They were pro-British in foreign policy and favored the wealthy, Northeastern interests. The party dominated the government in the 1790s but began to wane after 1800.

Democratic-Republican Party

• Political party led by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison (also known simply as Republicans or Jeffersonians) that emerged in opposition to Hamilton’s Federalists. They advocated states’ rights, a limited federal government, strict interpretation of the Constitution, and an agricultural economy. Pro-French in foreign affairs, the Democratic-Republicans championed the interests of farmers and the common people, rising to power with Jefferson’s election in 1800.

Whiskey Rebellion (1794)

• An uprising of farmers and distillers in western Pennsylvania protesting the federal excise tax on whiskey. President George Washington responded by sending a militia force of several thousand to suppress the rebellion, demonstrating the strength and resolve of the new national government under the Constitution (in contrast to Shays’ Rebellion under the Articles). The rebels dispersed without a major battle.

Jay’s Treaty (1794)

• A treaty negotiated by Chief Justice John Jay with Britain to resolve lingering conflicts. Britain agreed to evacuate forts in the Northwest Territory and ease some trade restrictions, but the treaty did not address impressment or British interference with American shipping. Though it averted war with Britain, the treaty was unpopular with Democratic-Republicans who saw it as too conciliatory, and it sharpened domestic political divisions.

XYZ Affair (1797)

• A diplomatic incident during John Adams’s presidency in which American envoys to France were asked to pay a hefty bribe to meet with French officials (referred to as X, Y, and Z). News of this insult outraged Americans and led to the undeclared Quasi-War with France (1798–1800). It also boosted support for Federalists and led to anti-French sentiment and the strengthening of the U.S. Navy.

Alien and Sedition Acts (1798)

• Four laws passed by the Federalist-controlled Congress during the quasi-war with France. The Alien Acts made it harder to become a citizen (extended residency requirement) and allowed the president to deport “dangerous” non-citizens. The Sedition Act criminalized making false or critical statements about the federal government. Aimed at silencing Democratic-Republican opposition, these acts sparked a backlash as unconstitutional and led to the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions.

Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions (1798–1799)

• Political statements drafted by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison in response to the Alien and Sedition Acts. Passed by the legislatures of Kentucky and Virginia, the resolutions argued that states have the right to “nullify” (void) federal laws they deem unconstitutional. While no other states joined in, this set forth the doctrine of states’ rights and foreshadowed later conflicts over states’ power versus federal authority.

Revolution of 1800

• Term used to describe the presidential election of 1800 in which Thomas Jefferson (Democratic-Republican) defeated incumbent John Adams (Federalist). It was called a “revolution” because it marked the first peaceful transfer of power between political parties in U.S. history, confirming the stability of the new constitutional system. Jefferson’s victory signaled the ascendance of Democratic-Republican ideals and the decline of the Federalists.

Period 4 (1800–1848)

Thomas Jefferson

• Leading Democratic-Republican, principal author of the Declaration of Independence, and the third U.S. President (1801–1809). As president, Jefferson oversaw the Louisiana Purchase (1803) and the Lewis and Clark Expedition, promoted an agrarian vision of America, and tried to maintain neutrality in the Napoleonic Wars (though his Embargo Act of 1807 hurt the U.S. economy). His election marked a shift in power from the Federalists to the “common man.”

Louisiana Purchase (1803)

• The U.S. acquisition of the vast Louisiana Territory from France for $15 million. Authorized by President Jefferson (despite questions of constitutional authority), the purchase doubled the size of the United States, gave the U.S. full control of the Mississippi River and New Orleans, and opened the way for westward expansion.

Lewis and Clark Expedition (1804–1806)

• An exploratory mission commissioned by Jefferson after the Louisiana Purchase. Meriwether Lewis and William Clark led a team (“Corps of Discovery”) from St. Louis to the Pacific Ocean and back, mapping the region, establishing relations with Native American tribes, and gathering scientific and geographic information. Guided partway by Sacagawea, their journey provided valuable knowledge of the West.

John Marshall

• Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1801 to 1835. A Federalist, Marshall’s decisions greatly strengthened the power of the federal government and the judiciary. In cases like Marbury v. Madison, McCulloch v. Maryland, and Gibbons v. Ogden, he established principles such as judicial review, upheld federal supremacy over states, and promoted a broad interpretation of the Constitution.

Marbury v. Madison (1803)

• Landmark Supreme Court case in which Chief Justice John Marshall ruled that parts of the Judiciary Act of 1789 were unconstitutional, thereby establishing the principle of judicial review (the Supreme Court’s authority to declare acts of Congress unconstitutional). This decision strengthened the judiciary’s role as a coequal branch of government.

Embargo Act (1807)

• Law passed under President Jefferson that forbade all export of goods from the United States in an effort to pressure Britain and France to respect American neutrality during the Napoleonic Wars. The embargo backfired, severely hurting the U.S. economy (especially merchants and shipbuilders in New England) while having limited effect on Europe. Widespread smuggling ensued, and the act was repealed in 1809, just before Jefferson left office.

War of 1812 (1812–1815)

• War between the United States and Great Britain caused by American grievances such as British impressment of sailors, interference with American shipping, and British support of Native American resistance on the frontier. Key events included the burning of Washington D.C., the defense of Fort McHenry (inspiring “The Star-Spangled Banner”), and General Andrew Jackson’s victory at New Orleans (January 1815) – won after a peace treaty was signed. The war ended with the Treaty of Ghent (1814) restoring the status quo ante, but it boosted American nationalism and ended significant Native resistance in the Northwest Territory.

Hartford Convention (1814–1815)

• A meeting of New England Federalists in Hartford, Connecticut, during the late stages of the War of 1812. Frustrated by the war’s impact on trade, they discussed grievances and even potential constitutional amendments to limit Southern and Republican influence. Some extremists hinted at secession. The convention’s timing proved fatal to the Federalists: the war ended triumphantly soon after, and the Federalists were branded as disloyal, contributing to the party’s collapse.

Era of Good Feelings (1817–1825)

• A term for President James Monroe’s two terms in office marked by a sense of national unity and political cooperation following the War of 1812. With the Federalist Party’s collapse, there was essentially a one-party system (Democratic-Republicans). However, beneath the surface, debates over tariffs, the national bank, internal improvements, and slavery were growing, and sectionalism was rising despite the outward tranquility.

American System

• An economic program proposed by Henry Clay around 1816 to promote national growth. It consisted of three parts: a protective tariff to support American manufacturing, a national bank to foster commerce and provide a stable currency, and federal funding for internal improvements (roads, canals) to unite the country’s regions. Congress adopted the tariff and chartered the Second Bank of the U.S., but Presidents Madison and Monroe vetoed federal spending on many internal improvements, leaving much of that to states.

Second Bank of the United States

• A national bank chartered in 1816 (after the First Bank’s charter lapsed) to stabilize the currency and economy. It became a depository for federal funds and creditor to state banks. The bank was later heavily criticized by Andrew Jackson and became central to the “Bank War”; its charter was not renewed in 1836.

Panic of 1819

• The first major financial crisis in the United States, occurring after the post-War of 1812 economic expansion. Caused by a collapse in cotton prices and a contraction of credit by the Second Bank of the U.S., it led to bank failures, foreclosures, and widespread unemployment. The panic hit Western farmers particularly hard and fostered distrust of banks and calls for financial reform, sowing some division during the Era of Good Feelings.

Missouri Compromise (1820)

• An agreement crafted by Henry Clay to resolve the first major national conflict over slavery’s expansion. It admitted Missouri to the Union as a slave state and Maine as a free state to maintain balance in the Senate, and prohibited slavery north of latitude 36°30′ in the remaining Louisiana Territory (except Missouri). The compromise temporarily eased sectional tensions between North and South over slavery.

Monroe Doctrine (1823)

• A foreign policy statement made by President James Monroe (largely authored by John Quincy Adams) declaring that the Western Hemisphere was closed to further European colonization and warning European powers against interference in the Americas. In return, the U.S. would stay out of European affairs. Though the U.S. lacked power to enforce it at the time, the British Navy informally upheld it, and it became a cornerstone of U.S. policy in the Western Hemisphere.

“Corrupt Bargain” (1824)

• The term used by Andrew Jackson’s supporters for the alleged deal in the 1824 presidential election. In that election, no candidate won an electoral majority, so the House of Representatives decided the outcome. Speaker of the House Henry Clay threw his support to John Quincy Adams, who won and then named Clay as Secretary of State. Jacksonians claimed a secret deal had cheated Jackson (the popular vote leader) out of the presidency, fueling anger that helped Jackson win in 1828.

Democratic Party

• Political party that emerged from the Democratic-Republican split, coalescing behind Andrew Jackson after 1824. The Democrats, appealing to the “common man,” favored states’ rights and limited federal government (except when promoting westward expansion). They opposed monopolistic institutions like the national bank. Jackson’s presidency (1829–1837) solidified Democratic ideology around populism, spoils system politics, and expansion of white male suffrage.

Jacksonian Democracy

• The political movement during the Second Party System toward greater democracy for the common man symbolized by Andrew Jackson. It was marked by expanded suffrage (most states dropped property requirements for white male voters), the rise of popular campaigning, and an increase in the power of the presidency relative to Congress. It championed the “common man” and majority rule while sometimes curtailing minority rights (e.g., Native Americans).

Spoils System

• The practice of awarding public jobs to political supporters after an election victory, famously associated with Andrew Jackson’s presidency. Jackson defended it as a democratic reform (rotation in office), claiming that it opened government to ordinary citizens. However, critics argued it promoted corruption and incompetence by prioritizing loyalty over merit.

Nullification Crisis (1832–1833)

• A sectional crisis during Jackson’s presidency, triggered by South Carolina’s opposition to the “Tariff of Abominations” (1828) and the Tariff of 1832. Led by John C. Calhoun, South Carolina adopted an ordinance of nullification declaring those tariffs null and void within the state. President Jackson responded firmly, obtaining a Force Bill to use military action if necessary. The crisis was resolved when Henry Clay proposed a compromise tariff in 1833 that gradually lowered duties. The episode underscored tensions between states’ rights and federal authority.

John C. Calhoun

• A South Carolina politician who served as vice president under John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson (initially) and later became a leading advocate for states’ rights, nullification, and slavery as a “positive good.” He anonymously wrote the South Carolina Exposition and Protest (1828) against the Tariff of Abominations, arguing a state could nullify federal laws. Calhoun eventually resigned the vice presidency and became a Senator, voicing Southern interests through the pre-Civil War era.

Whig Party

• A political party formed in the 1830s in opposition to President Andrew Jackson and the Democrats. Led by figures like Henry Clay and Daniel Webster, Whigs supported the American System (protective tariffs, national bank, internal improvements), a strong role for Congress, and reforms such as temperance and public schools. They drew support from merchants, the wealthy, and those favoring a market economy. The Whigs elected two presidents (William Henry Harrison and Zachary Taylor) but fell apart in the 1850s over sectional differences regarding slavery.

Second Great Awakening (c. 1790s–1840s)

• A Protestant religious revival that began around 1800 and surged in the 1820s–1830s. Traveling preachers like Charles Grandison Finney emphasized personal salvation, emotional conversion experiences, and the possibility of achieving moral perfection. Itinerant camp meetings swept frontier regions and the Burned-Over District of New York. The movement led to growth in Methodist and Baptist denominations and inspired social reform movements (abolition, temperance, women’s rights) through its message of improving society.

Transcendentalism

• An intellectual and literary movement of the mid-19th century centered in New England. Transcendentalists like Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau believed in transcending the limits of reason and the senses to reach deeper truths through intuition. They emphasized individualism, self-reliance, the beauty of nature, and civil disobedience to unjust laws. Transcendentalism produced works such as Emerson’s essays and Thoreau’s Walden, influencing American thought and reforms.

Utopian Communities

• Experimental settlements formed in the 19th century aimed at creating a perfect society. Examples include New Harmony (a socialist commune in Indiana), Brook Farm (a transcendentalist cooperative in Massachusetts), and Oneida Community (in New York, practicing communal property and complex marriage). These communities often embraced innovative social, economic, or religious ideas (like equality of the sexes or shared labor) and, though most were short-lived, they reflected the era’s reformist spirit.

American Temperance Society

• Founded in 1826, this was one of the earliest and largest organizations aiming to curb alcohol consumption. It implored people to take pledges of abstinence (“teetotalism”) and spread awareness of alcohol’s negative effects on society and family. Through lectures, pamphlets, and rallies, the temperance movement succeeded in reducing per capita alcohol use and laid groundwork for later prohibition efforts.

Abolitionist Movement

• The campaign to end slavery in the United States, which gained momentum in the early to mid-19th century. Abolitionists ranged from gradualists to radical immediatists. Leaders included William Lloyd Garrison (who published The Liberator and demanded immediate emancipation), Frederick Douglass (an escaped slave and eloquent speaker/newspaper editor), the Grimké sisters, Sojourner Truth, and many others. Abolitionism provoked strong opposition in the South and contributed to growing sectional tension.

American Colonization Society (est. 1816)

• An organization that advocated sending freed African Americans to Africa as an alternative to emancipation in the U.S. It established Liberia on the West African coast for this purpose. Though it had support from some whites who opposed slavery (and some who just wanted to remove blacks from America), colonization only relocated a small number of people and was opposed by many black abolitionists who saw America as their home.

Nat Turner’s Rebellion (1831)

• A slave revolt in Southampton County, Virginia, led by Nat Turner, an enslaved preacher. Turner and his followers killed around 60 white people in a violent uprising. The rebellion was suppressed, and Turner was caught and executed. In response, Southern states enacted even harsher slave laws and Black Codes, curtailed slave literacy and gatherings, and the event deepened Southern fears of slave insurrections.

Industrial Revolution (in America)

• The transition to new manufacturing processes in the U.S. during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. It began with the textile industry in New England (Samuel Slater’s mill in 1793) and was spurred by inventions like Eli Whitney’s cotton gin (1793) and later the development of interchangeable parts. The rise of factories, especially after 1815, led to urbanization, the growth of wage labor, and changes in social structures, including the “Lowell Mill girls” (young women working in Massachusetts textile mills).

Market Revolution

• The economic transformation in the United States in the early 19th century marked by a shift from local and regional markets to national markets. Catalyzed by innovations in transportation (canals like the Erie Canal, steamboats, early railroads) and communication (telegraph), as well as industrialization and commercialization of agriculture, the Market Revolution linked the country’s regions: the Northeast industrialized, the Midwest grew food, and the South produced cotton. It altered daily lives, created a wage labor class, and contributed to boom-and-bust cycles (panics of 1819, 1837).

Erie Canal (completed 1825)

• A 363-mile canal connecting the Great Lakes (starting at Lake Erie) with the Hudson River and thus New York City. Engineered largely by New York Governor DeWitt Clinton, the canal dramatically reduced transportation costs, spurred the growth of cities like Buffalo and Rochester, and made New York City the nation’s premier port. Its success led to a canal-building boom and was a key part of the Market Revolution, linking western farms to eastern markets.

“King Cotton”

• A phrase denoting the economic and cultural importance of cotton to the Southern U.S. by the mid-19th century. The cotton gin’s invention and high demand from Northern and British textile mills made cotton the South’s dominant crop, fueling the expansion of slavery into the Deep South (“Cotton Kingdom”). Planters believed cotton (and the threat of cutting off supply) gave them economic power and political leverage, a notion tested in the Civil War era.

Cotton Gin (1793)

• A machine invented by Eli Whitney that quickly separated cotton fibers from their seeds. The cotton gin made processing short-staple cotton efficient and profitable, leading to a boom in cotton production in the American South. This, in turn, greatly increased the demand for enslaved labor and expanded slavery westward, as cotton became the backbone of the Southern economy.

Lowell System (Lowell Mills)

• A labor and production model pioneered in the textile mills of Lowell, Massachusetts, during the early 19th century. The Lowell mills recruited young unmarried women from New England farms to work in factories and live in company-supervised boarding houses. The system featured strict schedules, moral oversight, and relatively good wages (at first). It was an early example of industrialization in America and eventually gave way to immigrant labor and worse conditions as competition increased.

Trail of Tears (1838–1839)

• The forced removal and march of the Cherokee Indians from their ancestral lands in the Southeast (Georgia, etc.) to designated Indian Territory in present-day Oklahoma, following the Indian Removal Act of 1830. Approximately 15,000 Cherokee were driven westward by U.S. troops; roughly 4,000 died due to cold, hunger, and disease. Other tribes (Creek, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Seminole) faced similar removals. The Trail of Tears represents a tragic outcome of U.S. expansionist policy and disregard for Native American rights despite Supreme Court rulings like Worcester v. Georgia (1832) that had recognized tribal sovereignty.

Bank War (1832–1836)

• The political struggle initiated by Andrew Jackson to destroy the Second Bank of the United States. Jackson viewed the Bank as an undemocratic tool of Eastern elites. After vetoing the recharter bill in 1832 (a veto with an influential message against economic privilege), Jackson, upon reelection, removed federal deposits and placed them in state “pet banks,” effectively killing the national bank. The Bank War led to financial instability, contributed to the Panic of 1837, and deepened the split between Jackson’s Democrats and the Whigs.

Panic of 1837

• A severe economic depression that began shortly after Martin Van Buren took office, but largely attributed to the policies of the Jackson administration (notably the Bank War and the Specie Circular, which required land purchases be made in gold/silver). Dozens of banks collapsed, businesses failed, and unemployment rose. The depression lasted for several years and hurt Van Buren’s presidency, allowing Whigs to ascend with William Henry Harrison’s election in 1840.

Horace Mann

• An education reformer from Massachusetts who championed public schooling in the early-mid 19th century. As the first secretary of the Massachusetts Board of Education, Mann advocated for free, universal public education, better training and pay for teachers, and an expanded curriculum. His reforms in Massachusetts became models for public school systems throughout the nation, earning him the title “Father of the Common School Movement.”

Cult of Domesticity (Cult of True Womanhood)

• An idealized set of societal standards for women in the early to mid-19th century, particularly among middle and upper classes. It held that women’s proper role was in the home, as pious, pure, submissive wives and mothers devoted to family and moral upbringing of children. This cultural creed placed high value on domestic duties and reinforced a separate spheres ideology (public sphere for men, private sphere for women), even as some women began to agitate for greater rights.

Seneca Falls Convention (1848)

• The first women’s rights convention in the United States, held in Seneca Falls, New York, organized by Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. The convention issued the “Declaration of Sentiments,” modeled on the Declaration of Independence, declaring that “all men and women are created equal” and listing grievances against women’s legal and social status. It called for a range of women’s rights, including the controversial demand for women’s suffrage. This convention marked the formal beginning of the women’s rights movement in America.

Period 5 (1844–1877)

Manifest Destiny

• The 19th-century belief that Americans had a divine mission to expand westward across the continent, spreading democracy and Protestant culture. Coined by journalist John L. O’Sullivan in 1845, Manifest Destiny was used to justify territorial acquisitions like Texas annexation, the Oregon Treaty, and the Mexican–American War, often at the expense of Native American and Mexican lands.

Texas Annexation (1845)

• The addition of the Republic of Texas into the United States as the 28th state. Texas had won independence from Mexico in 1836 and sought U.S. statehood. Annexation was delayed due to the slavery issue (Texas allowed slavery) and fears of war with Mexico. It finally occurred in 1845 under President John Tyler (concluded by Polk), and Mexico’s anger over U.S. annexation of Texas led directly to the Mexican–American War.

Mexican–American War (1846–1848)

• War between the United States and Mexico triggered by a border dispute after the U.S. annexation of Texas. U.S. forces under President James K. Polk invaded Mexican territory and captured Mexico City. The war ended with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848), in which Mexico ceded about half its territory to the U.S., including present-day California, Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, and parts of Colorado and Wyoming (the Mexican Cession), in exchange for $15 million. This huge land gain revived debates over extending slavery into the new territories.

Wilmot Proviso (1846)

• A proposed amendment by Congressman David Wilmot of Pennsylvania that sought to ban slavery in any territory acquired from Mexico in the Mexican–American War. Though it passed in the House, it failed in the Senate. The Wilmot Proviso never became law, but it inflamed sectional tensions by bringing the issue of slavery’s expansion to the forefront of political debate in the late 1840s.

Compromise of 1850

• A series of laws crafted by Henry Clay (and guided to passage by Stephen Douglas) to settle disputes arising from the Mexican Cession and California’s bid for statehood. Key measures: California was admitted as a free state; the territories of Utah and New Mexico were organized with popular sovereignty to decide slavery; the slave trade (but not slavery) was abolished in Washington D.C.; Texas relinquished some western land claims in exchange for debt relief; and a stricter Fugitive Slave Act was enacted, requiring citizens to assist in recapturing runaway slaves. The compromise delayed secession and civil war for a decade but satisfied neither side completely.

Popular Sovereignty

• The principle that settlers of a given territory have the right to decide (by voting) whether slavery will be permitted there. First proposed by Senator Lewis Cass and later championed by Stephen Douglas, it was applied in the Compromise of 1850 (for Utah and New Mexico Territories) and the Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854). It led to conflict in Kansas (“Bleeding Kansas”) as pro- and anti-slavery forces rushed in to influence the vote.

Fugitive Slave Act (1850)

• Part of the Compromise of 1850, this law required that escaped slaves found in free states be captured and returned to their enslavers in the South. It imposed heavy penalties on anyone who aided runaways or obstructed their capture, and it denied alleged fugitives the right to a jury trial. The strict enforcement of the act outraged many Northerners, led to increased activity on the Underground Railroad, and brought the realities of slavery home to the North, bolstering the abolitionist movement.

Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852)

• An influential anti-slavery novel by Harriet Beecher Stowe. It depicted the harsh realities of slavery and humanized enslaved people like the character Uncle Tom. The book became a bestseller in the North and deepened anti-slavery sentiment, while enraging Southerners who accused it of misrepresenting slavery. Often cited as a catalyst for galvanizing Northern public opinion against the Fugitive Slave Act and slavery, Abraham Lincoln (possibly apocryphally) called Stowe “the little lady who made this big war [the Civil War].”

Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854)

• Law sponsored by Senator Stephen Douglas that created two new territories, Kansas and Nebraska, and allowed settlers there to decide the slavery issue by popular sovereignty, effectively repealing the Missouri Compromise line (36°30′). The act aimed to facilitate a transcontinental railroad and settle territories, but it led to violent conflict in Kansas between pro-slavery and anti-slavery settlers (“Bleeding Kansas”) and spurred the formation of the Republican Party in opposition.

Republican Party (founded 1854)

• A political party formed by anti-slavery Whigs, Democrats, and Free-Soilers in response to the Kansas-Nebraska Act. The Republican Party’s core platform was opposition to the expansion of slavery into the territories (though not necessarily immediate abolition in the South). It also supported tariffs, internal improvements, and free homesteads in the West. By 1860, the party had grown strong enough to elect Abraham Lincoln as president, leading Southern states to secede.

Know-Nothing Party (American Party)

• A nativist political party in the 1850s that grew out of secret societies (members often answered “I know nothing” when asked about them). The party was anti-immigrant and anti-Catholic, reacting to the large influx of Irish and German immigrants. They sought to restrict immigration and naturalization. The Know-Nothings enjoyed some electoral success around 1854–1856 but declined as slavery became the dominant political issue and many members joined the Republican Party.

Bleeding Kansas (1855–1859)

• A term for the violent civil strife in Kansas Territory as pro-slavery and anti-slavery settlers clashed over the slavery issue following the Kansas-Nebraska Act. Rival governments (free-state vs. pro-slavery) were established. Notable events include the sack of Lawrence by pro-slavery forces, the Pottawatomie Massacre by John Brown and his followers, and guerrilla warfare that left roughly 200 dead. “Bleeding Kansas” demonstrated the failure of popular sovereignty and foreshadowed the coming Civil War.

Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857)

• Supreme Court decision in which Chief Justice Roger B. Taney ruled that enslaved African American Dred Scott, who sued for freedom after living in free territory, had no right to sue because African Americans were not citizens. The Court went further to declare that Congress had no authority to prohibit slavery in the territories (striking down the Missouri Compromise as unconstitutional) and that slaves were property protected by the Fifth Amendment. The Dred Scott decision delighted the South, infuriated the North, and was a key step toward the Civil War.

Abraham Lincoln

• 16th President of the United States (1861–1865) and the first Republican president, whose election prompted Southern secession. Originally a lawyer and Illinois politician, Lincoln gained national prominence in debates against Stephen Douglas (1858) where he opposed expanding slavery. As president, he led the Union through the Civil War, issued the Emancipation Proclamation (1863) freeing slaves in rebel states, and delivered the Gettysburg Address. He sought to preserve the Union above all. Lincoln was assassinated in April 1865, shortly after the Confederacy’s surrender.

House Divided Speech (1858)

• A speech by Abraham Lincoln upon receiving the Illinois Republican nomination for Senate. He famously stated, “A house divided against itself cannot stand,” predicting that the country could not endure permanently half slave and half free – it would eventually become all one or the other. The speech highlighted the sectional crisis over slavery. Though Lincoln lost that Senate race to Stephen Douglas, the speech elevated his national profile.

John Brown’s Raid on Harper’s Ferry (1859)

• An attempted insurrection led by radical abolitionist John Brown, who, with a small band of followers, seized the federal arsenal at Harper’s Ferry, Virginia. Brown intended to start a slave uprising by arming enslaved people. The raid was quickly suppressed by forces under Robert E. Lee; Brown was captured and executed for treason. His actions and dignified comportment at trial made him a martyr to many in the North, while Southerners were horrified and saw the raid as proof of Northern hostility and the potential for further violence over slavery.

Election of 1860

• A critical presidential election in which the Democratic Party split regionally (Northern Democrats for Stephen Douglas, Southern Democrats for John C. Breckinridge), a new Constitutional Union Party ran John Bell, and the Republican Party nominated Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln won the presidency by carrying the North (despite getting no support in most Southern states). His victory, without a single Southern electoral vote, convinced many Southern leaders that they must secede, directly leading to the secession of South Carolina and six other Deep South states even before Lincoln took office.

Secession

• The withdrawal of 11 Southern states from the Union in 1860–1861, starting with South Carolina after Lincoln’s election. Seceding states formed the Confederate States of America, arguing that the Constitution was a contract between sovereign states that could be abandoned if the federal government violated their rights (particularly regarding slavery). Secession led directly to the Civil War as the Union refused to accept the breakup of the country.

Jefferson Davis

• A Mississippi politician and former U.S. Senator who became the President of the Confederate States of America (1861–1865). Davis struggled to unite the South’s war effort due to the Confederacy’s emphasis on states’ rights. Despite his military and administrative experience, Davis’s leadership was often criticized, and the Confederacy ultimately succumbed to the Union’s greater resources. He was captured in 1865 and imprisoned for two years after the war (though never tried for treason).

Civil War (1861–1865)

• The conflict between the Northern states (Union) and the Southern seceded states (Confederacy) primarily over the issues of slavery and states’ rights. Key events included the Battle of Fort Sumter (the war’s start), major battles like Antietam, Gettysburg, and Vicksburg, and the Union’s adoption of “total war” strategies (Sherman’s March). The war resulted in approximately 620,000 soldier deaths, the destruction of much of the South’s infrastructure, and ultimately the preservation of the Union and the abolition of slavery (via the 13th Amendment).

Border States

• Slaveholding states (Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, Missouri, and later West Virginia) that did not secede during the Civil War. Keeping these states in the Union was a strategic priority for Lincoln, as they provided vital resources, population, and a buffer against Confederate territory. Lincoln tailored his policies (e.g., stating the war’s initial aim was Union, not abolition) to avoid pushing the Border States into the Confederacy.

Emancipation Proclamation (1863)

• An executive order issued by President Lincoln, effective January 1, 1863, declaring all enslaved people in Confederate-held territory to be forever free. While it did not immediately free all slaves (Union-controlled areas and border states were exempt), it shifted the Union’s war goal to include abolition, allowed for the enlistment of Black soldiers, and won greater support for the Union cause abroad. It paved the way for the 13th Amendment to abolish slavery entirely.

Gettysburg Address (1863)

• A brief but famous speech by President Lincoln at the dedication of the Soldiers’ National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, after the pivotal battle there. In about two minutes, Lincoln reaffirmed the principles of human equality espoused by the Declaration of Independence and redefined the Civil War as a struggle not only for the Union, but also for “a new birth of freedom” that would bring true equality to all of its citizens and ensure that “government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

Homestead Act (1862)

• A federal law that provided 160 acres of public land in the West free to any adult citizen or intended citizen who settled on it and improved it (built a dwelling and cultivated the land) for at least five years. Enacted during the Civil War, when Southern opposition was absent, the Homestead Act encouraged westward expansion and settlement, particularly by small farmers and immigrants, although challenges like difficult farming conditions and speculators limited its effectiveness for some.

Morrill Land-Grant Act (1862)

• Legislation that granted federal lands to states to finance the establishment of colleges specializing in “agriculture and the mechanic arts” (engineering). States could sell the land and use the proceeds to fund public universities. This act led to the creation of many land-grant institutions (such as Cornell, MIT, and numerous state universities), expanding access to higher education and advancing agricultural and technical knowledge.

New York City Draft Riots (1863)

• A violent disturbance in New York City in July 1863, sparked by anger over the Union draft (conscription) during the Civil War, which allowed wealthier draftees to hire substitutes or pay a commutation fee to avoid service. Largely led by working-class Irish immigrants, the riots turned into a rampage against African Americans (who were blamed for the war) and wealthy citizens. Over several days, rioters lynched Black people and destroyed property (including a Black orphanage), before federal troops (diverted from Gettysburg) restored order. The riots underscored racial and class tensions in the North.

13th Amendment (1865)

• Constitutional amendment that abolished slavery and involuntary servitude in the United States, except as punishment for a crime. Passed by Congress in January 1865 and ratified in December 1865, it formally freed all enslaved people in the nation and completed the work of emancipation begun by the Emancipation Proclamation.

14th Amendment (1868)

• Constitutional amendment that granted citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the United States (including formerly enslaved people) and guaranteed all citizens “equal protection of the laws” and “due process” under state and federal law. It was a cornerstone of Reconstruction, aiming to secure rights for the freedmen and prevent former Confederates from regaining power (it also barred many ex-Confederate officials from office). The 14th Amendment has since become a basis for many civil rights decisions.

15th Amendment (1870)

• Constitutional amendment that forbade any state from denying a citizen the right to vote based on “race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” Ratified in 1870, it effectively granted African American men the right to vote (on paper). Despite the amendment, Southern states later implemented poll taxes, literacy tests, and other measures (plus intimidation and violence) to disenfranchise Black voters until the civil rights movement addressed these injustices.

Freedmen’s Bureau (1865–1872)

• The Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, a federal agency established to aid formerly enslaved people (freedmen) and war refugees in the South after the Civil War. It provided food, housing, medical aid, legal assistance, and established schools. The Freedmen’s Bureau made significant contributions in education (founding many Black schools and colleges) and helped some freedmen acquire labor contracts and land, but it was underfunded, short-lived, and often opposed by white Southerners.

Radical Republicans

• A faction of the Republican Party during Reconstruction led by Thaddeus Stevens and Charles Sumner. They advocated for the full citizenship and rights of African Americans, harsh penalties for former Confederates, and a thorough transformation of Southern society. Radicals pushed measures like the Reconstruction Acts (military districts in the South), the impeachment of President Andrew Johnson, and the 14th and 15th Amendments. Their influence waned in the 1870s as Northern commitment to Reconstruction faded.

Reconstruction (1865–1877)

• The period after the Civil War when the seceded Southern states were reorganized and reintegrated into the Union. It involved rebuilding the South’s economy and society and establishing rights for freed slaves. Presidential Reconstruction under Lincoln and Johnson was lenient, quickly restoring Southern governments. Radical (Congressional) Reconstruction imposed military rule in the South (Reconstruction Acts of 1867) and required states to ratify the 14th Amendment and extend voting rights to Black men. Reconstruction saw significant if short-lived gains for African Americans (e.g., Black men voting and holding office), but it ended with the Compromise of 1877, and the South soon enacted Jim Crow laws reversing many advances.

Black Codes

• Laws passed by Southern states in 1865–1866, during Presidential Reconstruction, to restrict the freedom of African Americans and force them into labor arrangements similar to slavery. Black Codes varied by state but often included provisions preventing Black people from owning or renting land, vagrancy laws to arrest unemployed Black men and force them into labor contracts, and restrictions on testifying in court or serving on juries. Outrage over Black Codes in the North helped galvanize support for Radical Reconstruction to secure rights for the freedmen.

Carpetbaggers and Scalawags

• Derogatory terms used by Southern whites during Reconstruction. Carpetbaggers referred to Northerners who moved South after the war, often depicted as opportunists seeking profit or power (many did come to invest or participate in Republican state governments, and some were genuinely motivated to help rebuild and reform the South). Scalawags were Southern whites who cooperated with or joined the Republican Party during Reconstruction. They were seen as traitors to the Southern cause; many were yeoman farmers who had been Unionists or who saw advantage in the new order.

Ku Klux Klan

• A white supremacist terrorist organization founded in 1866 in Tennessee by former Confederates. The KKK sought to undermine Reconstruction and restore white dominance through intimidation and violence against Black people and white Republicans. They attacked and murdered freedmen who tried to vote, hold office, or otherwise assert their rights, as well as teachers, Republican politicians, and carpetbaggers. Federal enforcement acts in 1870–71 (the Ku Klux Klan Acts) suppressed much of the Klan’s activity, but it achieved its aim of weakening Reconstruction.

Sharecropping

• A labor system that emerged in the Reconstruction-era South, where freedmen (and many poor whites) rented plots of land from a landowner in exchange for a share (often half) of the year’s crop. Lacking capital and cash, sharecroppers obtained seed, tools, and supplies on credit from landowners or merchants, then paid back with harvested crops. The system often led to cycles of debt and poverty for sharecroppers, binding them to the land in a state not unlike serfdom, as exploitative contracts and crop liens kept them economically subordinated to landowners and merchants.

Compromise of 1877

• The informal, unwritten deal that resolved the disputed 1876 presidential election between Republican Rutherford B. Hayes and Democrat Samuel J. Tilden. Democrats conceded the presidency to Hayes in exchange for the removal of remaining federal troops from South Carolina and Louisiana, effectively ending Reconstruction. The compromise also promised federal support for Southern internal improvements and the appointment of a Southern Democrat to Hayes’s cabinet. With the end of military enforcement, Reconstruction governments collapsed and “Redeemer” Democrats took control, leading to the rollback of many rights for African Americans.

Period 6 (1865–1898)

Gilded Age

• The period from the end of Reconstruction in the 1870s through the late 1890s, marked by rapid industrialization, urbanization, and the accumulation of great wealth by industrialists (captains of industry or “robber barons”). The term “Gilded Age,” coined by Mark Twain, implies a thin layer of gold over a base metal – suggesting that the era glittered with wealth but was riddled with corruption, poverty, and inequality (in government, business, and society).

Transcontinental Railroad

• A train route across the United States, completed in 1869 when the Union Pacific (building westward from Omaha) and Central Pacific (building eastward from Sacramento) met at Promontory Point, Utah. Built largely by immigrant labor (Irish on the Union Pacific, Chinese on the Central Pacific), the railroad linked the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, facilitating trade, settlement of the West, and the national market. It also had significant impacts on Native Americans, accelerating loss of lands and buffalo.

Industrial Capitalism

• The economic system during the Gilded Age characterized by large-scale industrial production, corporate business structures, and the concentration of capital. Innovations in technology (like the Bessemer steel process) and business practices (like vertical and horizontal integration) allowed entrepreneurs such as Andrew Carnegie (steel) and John D. Rockefeller (oil) to build vast corporate empires. While this led to unprecedented economic growth and the U.S. becoming the world’s leading industrial power, it also created stark wealth disparities and labor exploitation.

Vertical and Horizontal Integration

• Business strategies used by industrial magnates to consolidate control. Vertical integration involves controlling every aspect of production, from raw materials to distribution (e.g., Andrew Carnegie’s steel company owned mines, railroads, mills, and shipping). Horizontal integration involves merging with or acquiring competitors in the same industry to monopolize a market (e.g., John D. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil Trust systematically bought out or undercut rival oil refineries to control about 90% of U.S. oil refining). These practices often led to monopolies/trusts.

Trusts and Monopolies

• Large business combinations that dominated industries by eliminating competition. A trust was originally a legal arrangement where multiple companies hand control to a single board of trustees (as Standard Oil did), effectively operating as one giant company. A monopoly is when a single company or trust controls nearly all of the market for a product or service. During the Gilded Age, trusts in oil, steel, railroads, sugar, etc., amassed great power, leading to public outcry and eventually antitrust legislation like the Sherman Antitrust Act (1890).

Andrew Carnegie

• A Scottish-American industrialist who led the enormous expansion of the steel industry in the late 19th century. Through Carnegie Steel Company, he mastered vertical integration to cut costs and undersell competitors, becoming one of the richest men in the world. Carnegie is also known for his later philanthropy (funding libraries, education, etc.) and for his 1889 essay “The Gospel of Wealth,” which argued that the wealthy have a duty to use their surplus riches for the benefit of society.

John D. Rockefeller

• An American industrialist and philanthropist, founder of Standard Oil Company in 1870. Rockefeller used ruthless tactics and horizontal integration to gain a near-monopoly in the oil refining industry, becoming the wealthiest man of his era. Standard Oil was organized as a trust in 1882 to manage his many properties. Public hostility toward Standard Oil’s practices contributed to the Sherman Antitrust Act and, eventually, a 1911 Supreme Court decision breaking up Standard Oil. Rockefeller later donated hundreds of millions to foundations, universities, and medical research.

Social Darwinism

• A theory applied to society in the late 19th century, adapted from Charles Darwin’s natural selection, which held that human society and institutions evolve through competition and “survival of the fittest.” Promoted by thinkers like Herbert Spencer and William Graham Sumner, Social Darwinism argued that wealthy and successful individuals were naturally superior, and that aiding the poor or regulating business would interfere with natural social progress. It was often used to justify laissez-faire capitalism, imperialism, and anti-reform attitudes.

Laissez-Faire Capitalism

• An economic philosophy of free-market capitalism that opposes government intervention in the economy. During the Gilded Age, this ideology was dominant: the government largely took a hands-off approach to business, allowing industrialists to operate with few regulations. Proponents believed that natural market forces should govern the economy. While fostering growth and innovation, laissez-faire also contributed to labor abuses, monopolies, and cycles of boom and bust (panics like 1873 and 1893).

Labor Unions

• Organizations formed by workers to advocate for better wages, hours, and working conditions during the industrial era. Significant Gilded Age unions included the Knights of Labor (led by Terence Powderly, inclusive of all workers, peaking in 1880s) and the American Federation of Labor (AFL) led by Samuel Gompers (founded 1886, a federation of craft unions for skilled workers focusing on bread-and-butter issues). Unions often faced hostility from employers and government; major strikes (Great Railroad Strike of 1877, Haymarket affair 1886, Homestead Strike 1892, Pullman Strike 1894) sometimes turned violent and were suppressed, slowing union growth.

Knights of Labor

• An influential labor union founded in 1869 that grew in the 1880s under Terence Powderly. The Knights welcomed all workers, regardless of skill, race (inclusive of Blacks), or gender (inclusive of women), advocating broad social reforms such as an 8-hour workday, the end of child labor, and cooperative ownership of industries. Their influence peaked around 1886 but declined rapidly after the Haymarket Square bombing that year (with which they were unfairly associated in the public mind) and due to competition from the AFL.

American Federation of Labor (AFL)

• A craft union federation founded in 1886 and led by Samuel Gompers. Unlike the Knights of Labor, the AFL organized skilled workers into national unions by trade (e.g., carpenters, cigar makers) and focused on practical goals: higher wages, shorter hours, and safer working conditions (“bread and butter” unionism). The AFL generally avoided broad political crusades, was exclusive (skilled workers only, mostly white men), and became the most enduring and powerful labor organization in the early 20th century.

Haymarket Affair (1886)

• A violent incident at a labor rally in Chicago’s Haymarket Square on May 4, 1886. During a protest for an 8-hour workday (following earlier strikes at McCormick Reaper works), someone threw a bomb at police, who responded with gunfire. The blast and ensuing chaos killed several police officers and civilians. In the aftermath, eight anarchists were tried (with scant evidence); four were executed. The Haymarket Affair turned public opinion against the labor movement (especially the Knights of Labor) and linked labor activism with radicalism in many minds.

Homestead Strike (1892)

• A major labor strike at the Carnegie Steel plant in Homestead, Pennsylvania. When negotiations between the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers (a powerful craft union) and plant manager Henry Clay Frick failed, Frick locked out the workers and hired Pinkerton detectives to secure the plant. A violent battle ensued between armed strikers and Pinkertons, resulting in deaths on both sides. The Pennsylvania governor eventually sent state militia to restore order. The strike was broken, the union at Homestead was crushed, and it marked a setback for organized labor in the steel industry.

Pullman Strike (1894)

• A nationwide railroad strike that began at the Pullman Palace Car Company near Chicago and spread under leadership of the American Railway Union led by Eugene V. Debs. Pullman workers struck to protest wage cuts and high rents in the company town. When rail workers nationally boycotted trains with Pullman cars, rail traffic ground to a halt. President Grover Cleveland intervened by sending federal troops, ostensibly to protect mail delivery. Violence broke out; the strike was crushed and Debs was jailed. The Pullman Strike highlighted the federal government’s siding with industry over labor and led to Labor Day becoming a federal holiday (to conciliate workers afterward).

New South

• A term coined after the Civil War to describe a vision for the Southern United States with a more diversified economy and modernized society. Advocates like Henry Grady called for industrial growth, railroad expansion, and reduced dependence on cotton and slave-era plantation agriculture. In practice, the New South saw some industrialization (textile mills, iron and steel in cities like Birmingham) and urban growth, but the rural economy remained largely tied to cotton and sharecropping. Politically and socially, Redeemer governments and later Jim Crow laws ensured white supremacy and limited opportunities for African Americans, contradicting the egalitarian potential of a “New” South.

Sharecropping (in the New South)

• The dominant agricultural system in the post-Civil War South, where tenant farmers (often African Americans or poor whites) farmed land owned by someone else in return for a share of the crop, typically half. Lacking capital, sharecroppers bought supplies on credit (crop lien system). Low crop prices, high interest rates, and weather/pests often trapped sharecroppers in cycles of debt and poverty. This system replaced slavery economically and kept freedmen in a state of dependency and poverty well into the 20th century.

Jim Crow Laws

• State and local laws enforcing racial segregation in the South from the late 19th century into the 20th century. Named after a minstrel show character, Jim Crow laws mandated separate facilities for blacks and whites (schools, transportation, restrooms, etc.) and aimed to maintain white supremacy after Reconstruction. These laws, along with voting restrictions (poll taxes, literacy tests, grandfather clauses) and racial violence, disenfranchised Black citizens and institutionalized second-class status until the civil rights movement overturned them (Brown v. Board in 1954, Civil Rights Act 1964, Voting Rights Act 1965).

Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)

• A landmark Supreme Court case that upheld the constitutionality of racial segregation under the “separate but equal” doctrine. The case stemmed from Homer Plessy, a mixed-race man, being arrested for sitting in a “whites only” railroad car in Louisiana. The Court ruled 7-1 that segregation was legal if facilities for blacks and whites were equal. This decision provided legal justification for Jim Crow laws, leading to widespread segregation until it was overturned by Brown v. Board of Education in 1954.

Booker T. Washington

• An influential African American educator, orator, and leader in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Born into slavery, Washington founded the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama (1881) to provide vocational training for Black students. In his famous 1895 Atlanta Compromise speech, he urged Black Americans to focus on economic self-improvement and accept social segregation for the time being, asking whites to provide opportunities for black progress in agriculture and trades. He was sometimes criticized (by leaders like W.E.B. Du Bois) for being too accommodating to segregation, but he worked behind the scenes to support black advancement and civil rights.

W.E.B. Du Bois

• A prominent African American intellectual and civil rights activist, co-founder of the NAACP in 1909. Du Bois was the first Black Harvard Ph.D. and author of The Souls of Black Folk (1903). He opposed Booker T. Washington’s gradualism, instead demanding immediate equal rights and higher education for the “Talented Tenth” of African Americans who would lead their people. Du Bois advocated actively confronting racism and segregation, and he was a leading figure in the Niagara Movement (for full civil liberties). He lived to see the civil rights movement, eventually moving to Ghana in frustration at American racism.

Ida B. Wells

• An African American journalist and activist who led an anti-lynching crusade in the 1890s. Born into slavery in Mississippi, Wells became a teacher and newspaper editor. After friends of hers were lynched, she investigated and published detailed statistics and accounts of lynching in pamphlets like Southern Horrors (1892). Wells exposed lynching as a barbaric practice often used to punish blacks who competed with whites or defied the racial order (rather than as punishment for crimes, as was claimed). She advocated for federal anti-lynching laws and co-founded groups advancing African American justice and women’s suffrage.

Civil Service Reform

• The effort to end the patronage (spoils) system in government hiring and replace it with merit-based appointments. It gained momentum after the assassination of President James Garfield in 1881 by a disgruntled office-seeker. The Pendleton Civil Service Act of 1883 created a Civil Service Commission and mandated that certain federal jobs be filled by competitive exams, making it illegal to fire or demote government employees for political reasons. This reform professionalized government service, starting at the federal level and later influencing state/local governments, diminishing the power of political machines.

Political Machines

• Organized groups led by a “boss” that controlled political parties in cities during the Gilded Age. They mobilized voters (often immigrants) to win elections and then used patronage and graft to maintain power. In exchange for votes, machines provided services and favors (like jobs, food, or help with naturalization). The most famous example was Tammany Hall in New York City, led by Boss William Tweed in the 1860s–1870s. While machines helped integrate immigrants into city life, they were notorious for corruption, such as kickbacks on public contracts and embezzlement of city funds.

Boss Tweed

• William M. “Boss” Tweed, the notorious leader of New York City’s Tammany Hall political machine in the late 1860s and early 1870s. Tweed and his cronies, the Tweed Ring, controlled city government and plundered the city treasury through corrupt means (like padded contracts and falsified leases), defrauding New York out of an estimated $30–200 million. Tweed’s corruption was exposed by journalists (notably Thomas Nast’s political cartoons and The New York Times). He was eventually prosecuted, convicted, and died in jail in 1878.

Panic of 1873

• A severe economic depression that began in 1873 and lasted for several years, marking the start of a long global downturn. In the U.S., it was triggered by over-expansion of railroads and industries and the failure of Jay Cooke & Co., a major investment bank. The panic led to a wave of bank failures, a stock market crash, and high unemployment. It fueled debates over currency (hard money gold standard vs. soft money greenbacks or silver) and contributed to the rise of movements like the Greenback Party. The depression also sapped Northern resolve for Reconstruction, as economic issues took precedence.

Greenbacks and the Currency Debate

• After the Civil War, there was heated debate over the nation’s money supply. Greenbacks were paper money issued by the Union during the war not backed by gold; inflation made them worth less than gold-backed dollars. Debtors and farmers (facing falling prices) wanted to keep greenbacks or increase the money supply (inflate currency) to ease debts, while creditors and bankers wanted “sound” money (gold standard) to maintain value. The Greenback Party formed in the 1870s to push for more paper money. The debate later shifted to Free Silver (coining silver) vs. gold standard, becoming a major issue by the 1890s.

Sherman Antitrust Act (1890)

• The first federal law passed to prohibit monopolistic business practices. It outlawed “every contract, combination… or conspiracy in restraint of trade” and any monopolization or attempt to monopolize any part of interstate commerce. Initially, the law was not vigorously enforced and had limited impact (and was even used against labor unions, which were deemed to restrain trade). Not until the early 20th century (under Theodore Roosevelt and beyond) was it more effectively used to break up trusts like Standard Oil.

Interstate Commerce Act (1887)

• A federal law aimed at regulating the railroad industry, particularly its monopolistic practices. It established the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC), the first federal regulatory agency, to oversee railroad rates and practices, ensuring they were “reasonable and just.” The act prohibited unfair practices such as rate discrimination against small markets, pooling agreements, and rebates to favored shippers. Initially, the ICC’s authority was limited and court decisions weakened its power, but it marked an important step toward federal regulation of big business.

Great Plains (settlement and challenges)

• The vast grassland region of central North America that experienced rapid settlement after the Civil War, aided by the Homestead Act and railroads. Settlers (including many immigrants) moved to the Plains to ranch and farm, but faced challenges: scarce water, few trees (leading to sod houses), tough prairie sod (requiring steel plows), extreme weather, grasshopper plagues, and conflict with Native American tribes. Technological innovations (windmills, barbed wire) and new farming techniques helped some succeed, but life on the Plains was difficult, and many homesteaders failed or fell into debt.

Native American Wars (1860s–1880s)

• A series of conflicts between the U.S. military and various Native American tribes as white settlers encroached on tribal lands in the West. Key events include the Sand Creek Massacre (1864) of Cheyenne, Red Cloud’s War and the Fetterman Massacre (1866) with the Sioux, the defeat of Custer at the Battle of Little Bighorn (1876) by Sioux and Cheyenne led by Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull, and the Nez Perce flight (1877) under Chief Joseph. By the late 1880s, most tribes had been forced onto reservations; the final significant clash was the Wounded Knee Massacre (1890), which marked the end of armed Native resistance.

Reservation Policy

• The U.S. government’s approach from the mid-19th century to confine Native American tribes to designated areas (reservations) to open land for white settlement and to “civilize” Native peoples. Often established through treaties that were later broken, reservations were usually on marginal lands. Life on reservations was harsh: inadequate supplies, corruption by Indian agents, and suppression of traditional culture. This policy replaced earlier removal and preceded allotment (Dawes Act); it aimed to isolate and manage Native Americans, often through federal agencies like the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Dawes Act (1887)

• Also known as the General Allotment Act, it aimed to assimilate Native Americans by dissolving communal tribal landholdings. The act divided reservation land into individual 160-acre plots for Native American families (smaller for single adults). “Surplus” reservation lands not allotted were opened to white settlers. Those who accepted allotments and lived separately from the tribe would be granted U.S. citizenship. The Dawes Act resulted in a huge loss of tribal land (Native Americans lost millions of acres) and undermined tribal culture, as communal life was disrupted.

Ghost Dance Movement

• A spiritual revival movement among Western Native American tribes in the late 1880s led by a Paiute prophet, Wovoka. The Ghost Dance ceremony promised that if performed properly, it would bring the return of the ancestors, the disappearance of white settlers, and the restoration of the buffalo and Native lands. It spread to the Lakota Sioux and others, alarming U.S. authorities who feared it would incite rebellion. This tension contributed to the U.S. Army’s massacre of Sioux at Wounded Knee in 1890, effectively crushing the movement and marking the end of large-scale Native resistance.

Chinese Exclusion Act (1882)

• A federal law that was the first significant restriction on immigration to the U.S. based on ethnicity. It barred the immigration of Chinese laborers for ten years (and was extended multiple times, becoming permanent until 1943). Existing Chinese in the U.S. were also prevented from naturalizing as citizens. The act came after decades of anti-Chinese sentiment in the West, where Chinese workers were scapegoated for low wages and scarce jobs. It dramatically decreased the Chinese population in America and set a precedent for further immigration restrictions.

New Immigrants

• Refers to the wave of immigrants who arrived in the United States roughly from the 1880s to the 1920s, mainly coming from Southern and Eastern Europe (Italians, Poles, Russians, Jews, Greeks, etc.), as well as increasing numbers from Asia and Mexico. These newcomers often differed from earlier “Old Immigrants” (Northern Europeans) in religion (many were Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, or Jewish) and culture. They settled in urban areas, providing labor for factories, and tended to form ethnic neighborhoods. Their arrival sparked nativist sentiments and calls for immigration restriction due to cultural differences and job competition.

Ethnic Enclaves (Urban Neighborhoods)

• Sections of cities where immigrants from a particular country or region would settle together, creating communities that preserved their language, religion, and customs. Examples include Little Italy, Chinatown, Polish Downtown, etc., in cities like New York, Chicago, and San Francisco. These enclaves provided support networks (shops, churches, mutual aid societies) for new arrivals to adapt, while also sometimes slowing assimilation. They were often crowded, with poor housing (tenements) and sanitation, contributing to urban challenges in the Gilded Age.

Tenements

• Overcrowded and often unsanitary multi-family apartment buildings in cities, particularly in immigrant neighborhoods during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Tenements like those on New York’s Lower East Side were notorious for cramped conditions: small, poorly lit rooms with little ventilation and shared facilities. Disease spread easily in such environments. Reformers like Jacob Riis, in How the Other Half Lives (1890), exposed tenement conditions, leading to housing reforms (e.g., New York’s Tenement House Act of 1901 which set minimum standards for light and air).

Political Machines (Urban)

• (See Period 6 above) In the context of immigration, urban political machines often integrated immigrants by helping them with naturalization, jobs, and relief in exchange for votes. While corrupt, machines like Tammany Hall provided a kind of social service network when government welfare was minimal. Many Irish immigrants, for example, became part of machine politics (as both constituents and politicians, like Boston’s Mayor “Honey Fitz” Fitzgerald).

Settlement Houses

• Community centers established in poor urban neighborhoods by middle-class reformers (often women) in the late 19th century to provide social services to immigrants and the working class. The most famous was Hull House in Chicago, co-founded by Jane Addams in 1889. Settlement houses offered things like daycare, education (English classes, vocational training), health care, and recreational activities. They aimed to alleviate poverty and help immigrants assimilate by sharing culture and knowledge. Settlement workers also advocated for broader social reforms like child labor laws and better housing.

Social Gospel

• A Protestant Christian intellectual movement in the late 19th and early 20th centuries applying Christian ethics to social problems. Proponents like Walter Rauschenbusch argued that churches should actively work to improve economic, moral, and social conditions for the urban poor, rather than focus solely on individual salvation. The Social Gospel encouraged efforts in charity and justice: supporting labor reforms, abolition of child labor, temperance, and the establishment of settlement houses. It inspired many reformers and laid groundwork for the Progressive Era’s social improvements.

Populist Party (People’s Party)

• A political party formed in 1892 that grew out of the Farmers’ Alliances, representing the interests of farmers and laborers against the economic elite. The Populists advocated for policies like the unlimited coinage of silver (to inflate currency and ease debts), a progressive income tax, government ownership of railroads and telegraphs, direct election of U.S. senators, the secret ballot, and an 8-hour workday. Their 1892 Omaha Platform was comprehensive. Populists had significant support in the West and South; they peaked with William Jennings Bryan (embraced by Democrats) in 1896. While the party faded, several Populist ideas were later adopted in Progressive reforms.

Coxey’s Army (1894)

• A protest march by unemployed workers led by businessman Jacob Coxey. In the midst of the Panic of 1893 depression, Coxey’s Army marched to Washington, D.C., in 1894 to demand the federal government create jobs through public works (especially road building) and issue paper money to stimulate inflation. Though relatively peaceful, the marchers were dispersed by police and Coxey was arrested for trespassing on the Capitol grass. The march demonstrated the growing frustration of the unemployed and was an early example of a national protest for economic relief.

William Jennings Bryan

• A three-time Democratic presidential candidate (1896, 1900, 1908) and dominant force in the populist wing of the Democratic Party. Bryan became famous for his “Cross of Gold” speech at the 1896 Democratic convention advocating bimetallism (free silver) to help farmers and working people, declaring, “You shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold.” He won the Democratic and Populist nomination in 1896 but lost to William McKinley. Bryan also later served as Woodrow Wilson’s Secretary of State and was a notable figure in the 1925 Scopes Trial (arguing against the teaching of evolution).

Election of 1896

• A watershed presidential election between Republican William McKinley and Democrat/Populist William Jennings Bryan. McKinley, backed by industrialist Mark Hanna’s fundraising, advocated the gold standard and high tariffs, appealing to business, urban workers, and prosperous farmers. Bryan championed “free silver” to inflate currency, rallying farmers and debtors; he toured the nation giving fervent speeches. McKinley’s victory marked the triumph of urban-industrial America over rural-agrarian America, the collapse of the Populist Party, and the start of an era of Republican dominance and economic prosperity (the Progressive Era followed).

Cross of Gold Speech (1896)

• A famous speech delivered by William Jennings Bryan at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. Bryan passionately argued against the gold standard and for the coinage of silver at a ratio of 16:1, asserting that the gold standard was oppressing the working masses. He concluded, “you shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold,” which electrified the convention and secured him the Democratic nomination for president at just 36 years old. The speech became a symbol of the free silver movement and the broader struggle between agrarian interests and industrial capitalism.

Period 7 (1890–1945)

Imperialism

• The late 19th-century/early 20th-century policy by which stronger nations extend control over weaker territories. For the United States, this era included acquiring overseas colonies and territories (such as Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines after the Spanish–American War in 1898) and exerting influence in Latin America and the Pacific. Motivations included economic markets, naval strategy (Alfred Thayer Mahan’s influence), competition with European empires, and a sense of cultural/racial “civilizing” mission. The imperialist vs. anti-imperialist debate became significant in U.S. politics around 1898–1900.

Spanish–American War (1898)

• A short war between the United States and Spain, sparked by the Cuban struggle for independence and the explosion of the USS Maine in Havana harbor. Fueled by yellow journalism, the U.S. intervened, fighting Spain in both the Caribbean and the Pacific. The U.S. won decisively in a matter of months. The Treaty of Paris (1898) ended the war: Cuba gained nominal independence (with U.S. oversight via the Platt Amendment), and the U.S. acquired Spain’s former territories of Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines, marking America’s emergence as an overseas imperial power.

Yellow Journalism

• Sensationalist news reporting, particularly by William Randolph Hearst’s New York Journal and Joseph Pulitzer’s New York World in the 1890s, that exaggerated or fabricated stories to attract readers and influence public opinion. In the lead-up to the Spanish–American War, yellow journalism fanned pro-war sentiment with lurid accounts of Spanish atrocities in Cuba and outrage over the USS Maine. The term “yellow” comes from the “Yellow Kid” comic. This style highlighted the power of the press in shaping foreign policy, albeit often at the expense of accuracy.

Open Door Policy (1899)

• U.S. policy proposed by Secretary of State John Hay, calling for equal trading rights for all nations in China and the protection of China’s territorial integrity. As European powers and Japan carved China into spheres of influence, Hay’s Open Door notes urged them to keep all ports open to all nations and not grant special privileges to their own citizens. While not formally accepted by powers, the U.S. declared it as international policy. It aimed to ensure the U.S. could trade freely in China and was tested during events like the Boxer Rebellion (1900).

Roosevelt Corollary (1904)

• An addition by President Theodore Roosevelt to the Monroe Doctrine. Announced in 1904 after European powers intervened in Venezuela over debt, Roosevelt’s corollary stated that the U.S. would act as an “international police power” in the Western Hemisphere to prevent European intervention. If Latin American nations had chronic wrongdoing or financial trouble, the U.S. claimed the right to intervene preemptively to maintain stability. This justified numerous U.S. interventions in Latin America (e.g., in Dominican Republic, Cuba, Nicaragua), reflecting an assertive role in the region.

Panama Canal

• A man-made waterway across the Isthmus of Panama, built by the United States between 1904 and 1914. President Theodore Roosevelt supported a Panamanian rebellion against Colombia to secure rights to build the canal. Once Panama became independent, the U.S. obtained the Canal Zone and constructed the canal, an engineering feat that connected the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. The canal greatly shortened sea voyages, bolstering global trade and U.S. naval mobility. It also symbolized U.S. technological prowess and interventionist policy in Latin America.

Dollar Diplomacy

• President William Howard Taft’s foreign policy strategy (1909–1913) of promoting U.S. financial and business interests abroad, particularly in Latin America and East Asia, to achieve American diplomatic goals. The idea was to replace bullets with dollars: encourage Wall Street investment in strategic areas to increase U.S. influence and stability (and profits). In practice, the U.S. intervened (politically or militarily) in places like Nicaragua to protect American investments. Dollar Diplomacy had mixed success and sometimes fostered resentment, as local populations saw it as economic imperialism.

Progressive Era (1890s–1920s)

• A reform movement aiming to address the social, political, and economic injustices that arose in the Gilded Age. Progressives were middle-class citizens, journalists (muckrakers), and politicians who pushed for changes such as regulating big business (antitrust actions), improving labor conditions, ending child labor, expanding democracy (17th Amendment for direct Senate elections, women’s suffrage with the 19th Amendment), and addressing urban issues (sanitation, slums). Notable Progressive presidents included Theodore Roosevelt, William H. Taft, and Woodrow Wilson, who enacted reforms like the Pure Food and Drug Act, Federal Reserve Act, and Federal Trade Commission.

Muckrakers

• Progressive Era journalists and writers who investigated and exposed societal problems like corruption, poverty, health hazards, and monopolies. President Roosevelt coined the term (not entirely kindly) from a character who rakes muck in Pilgrim’s Progress. Notable muckrakers: Upton Sinclair (whose 1906 novel The Jungle exposed unsanitary conditions in the meatpacking industry, leading to food safety laws), Ida Tarbell (who wrote about Standard Oil’s abuses), Lincoln Steffens (urban political corruption in The Shame of the Cities), and Jacob Riis (tenement life in How the Other Half Lives). Their work raised public awareness and fueled demand for reform.

Jane Addams

• A leading Progressive social reformer and activist. In 1889, Addams co-founded Hull House in Chicago, one of the first settlement houses in America, which provided services for immigrants and the poor (education, childcare, health care). She advocated for issues such as women’s suffrage, labor reform, and peace (opposing World War I). Addams became the first American woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize (1931) for her dedication to pacifism and social work. Her efforts epitomized the Progressive belief in addressing social problems through community action.

Square Deal

• President Theodore Roosevelt’s domestic program, which aimed at helping middle-class citizens and involved attacking plutocracy and bad trusts while protecting business from extreme demands of organized labor. Roosevelt’s Square Deal focused on the “Three C’s”: conservation of natural resources (creating national parks, forest service), control of corporations (distinguishing between “good” trusts and “bad” trusts and using antitrust laws to break up the latter, e.g., Northern Securities Company), and consumer protection (backing the Pure Food and Drug Act and Meat Inspection Act in 1906). The Square Deal sought a fair balance between business and the public interest.

Northern Securities Case (1904)

• A Supreme Court case in which the Roosevelt administration used the Sherman Antitrust Act to break up the Northern Securities Company, a large railroad trust formed by J.P. Morgan and James J. Hill. In 1904, the Court ruled that Northern Securities violated antitrust law, and it was dissolved. This victory established Roosevelt’s reputation as a “trust-buster” and reasserted the government’s authority to regulate big business, encouraging further antitrust actions during the Progressive Era.

Pure Food and Drug Act (1906)

• A Progressive-era law that forbade the manufacture, sale, or transportation of adulterated or mislabeled foods and drugs in interstate commerce. It also led to the creation of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to inspect products and enforce the law. Along with the Meat Inspection Act (passed the same day), this act was largely a response to public outrage after the publication of Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle and other exposes revealing unsanitary conditions in food industries and dangerous ingredients in medicines. It was a landmark in consumer protection.

Federal Reserve Act (1913)

• A law signed by President Woodrow Wilson that created the Federal Reserve System, the central banking system of the U.S. It established 12 regional Federal Reserve Banks under a Federal Reserve Board to provide a stable, flexible currency and to oversee monetary policy. The Fed can adjust the money supply and credit by setting interest rates and reserve requirements. This act aimed to prevent financial panics by providing a lender of last resort and to balance the interests of private banks and public control. It was a major Progressive reform of the banking industry.

Clayton Antitrust Act (1914)

• A law that strengthened antitrust regulation by enumerating specific illegal business practices not clearly addressed by the Sherman Act. It outlawed price discrimination, exclusive dealing contracts, tying agreements, and mergers that substantially lessen competition. Importantly, it also exempted labor unions and agricultural organizations from antitrust prosecution (stating that labor is not a commodity), and it legalized peaceful strikes and picketing. Enacted under Wilson, the Clayton Act, along with the creation of the Federal Trade Commission in 1914, helped curb unfair business behavior while protecting labor’s right to organize.

18th Amendment (1919)

• Constitutional amendment that established Prohibition, banning the manufacture, sale, and transportation of intoxicating liquors in the United States. Ratified in 1919 and taking effect in January 1920, it was the culmination of decades of temperance movement advocacy. Prohibition led to illegal bootlegging, speakeasies, and organized crime related to the liquor trade. It proved difficult to enforce and was eventually repealed by the 21st Amendment in 1933.

19th Amendment (1920)

• Constitutional amendment that granted women’s suffrage, i.e., the right of citizens to vote shall not be denied on account of sex. Ratified in 1920, it was the result of a long struggle by the women’s suffrage movement, including figures like Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and later Carrie Chapman Catt and Alice Paul. The amendment enfranchised women nationwide, a major Progressive reform expanding democracy.

Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)

• (See Period 6) The “separate but equal” decision that validated Jim Crow segregation. It remained the law of the land through the Progressive Era and beyond, until overturned by Brown v. Board of Education in 1954.

NAACP (founded 1909)

• The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, an interracial organization formed in 1909 by W.E.B. Du Bois, Ida B. Wells, and other activists (including white progressives like Mary White Ovington). The NAACP aimed to fight for African Americans’ civil rights through legal action, education, and lobbying. In the early 20th century, it focused on anti-lynching campaigns and lawsuits against segregation and disenfranchisement. Its legal efforts later led to victories like the Brown v. Board of Education case.

World War I (1914–1918)

• A global conflict originating in Europe after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. The Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Ottoman Empire) fought the Allied Powers (Britain, France, Russia, later joined by Italy and the U.S., among others). Trench warfare and new weapons (machine guns, poison gas, tanks) caused massive casualties. The U.S. joined in 1917 due to factors like unrestricted submarine warfare (sinking of Lusitania) and the Zimmermann Telegram. The war ended with an Allied victory and the Treaty of Versailles, which imposed harsh terms on Germany. WWI reshaped world maps, contributed to the Russian Revolution, and had profound social impacts, including the first mass U.S. mobilization and the 1918 influenza pandemic.

Zimmermann Telegram (1917)

• A secret diplomatic message sent by German Foreign Minister Arthur Zimmermann to Mexico, intercepted by British intelligence. It proposed that if the U.S. entered WWI against Germany, Mexico should ally with Germany and in return would receive support to recover territories lost to the U.S. (Texas, New Mexico, Arizona). The British shared the decoded telegram with the U.S., and its publication outraged American public opinion. Alongside continued German U-boat attacks on ships, the Zimmermann Telegram helped push the United States to declare war on Germany in April 1917.

Unrestricted Submarine Warfare

• A German naval policy in WWI of using U-boats (submarines) to sink any ship (military or civilian) in the war zone around Britain without warning. Germany first adopted this in 1915, leading to events like the sinking of the Lusitania (a British passenger liner with Americans aboard). Germany halted then resumed unrestricted submarine warfare in early 1917 to strangle Britain before the U.S. could intervene. This decision was a key factor in the U.S. entering WWI, as American ships were sunk and the U.S. saw it as a violation of neutral rights and human rights.

Selective Service Act (1917)

• The law passed by the U.S. Congress after entering WWI that authorized a national draft. All men aged 21–30 (later expanded to 18–45) were required to register for military service. Unlike the Civil War draft, there was no hiring of substitutes; however, deferments were possible for some. The draft brought nearly 3 million men into military service during WWI. The act ensured the U.S. could rapidly raise the large army needed for the war, and it was generally accepted by the public as a patriotic duty.

War Industries Board (1917)

• A U.S. government agency established during WWI, headed by Bernard Baruch, to coordinate the production of war materials and the purchase of war supplies. The WIB had authority to direct industries on what to produce, allocate raw materials, standardize products, and fix prices with presidential approval. It aimed to ensure efficient production and avoid bottlenecks or competition between companies. While initially struggling, the WIB helped increase industrial output, and its efforts were a key part of the broader mobilization of the economy for war (alongside agencies for food, fuel, and labor).

Committee on Public Information (1917)

• Also known as the CPI or Creel Committee (after its chairman George Creel), this U.S. government agency was created to influence public opinion and promote support for American participation in WWI. It used propaganda through posters, films, speeches (like “Four-Minute Men”), pamphlets, and news releases. The CPI’s efforts ranged from stirring patriotic fervor and demonizing the enemy to encouraging war bond purchases and conservation of resources. It contributed to a climate of nationalism but also fed anti-German sentiment and suppression of dissent.

Espionage Act (1917) and Sedition Act (1918)

• Laws passed during WWI to stifle opposition to the war and suppress subversion. The Espionage Act made it a crime to interfere with military recruitment, support U.S. enemies, or leak information that could harm the war effort. The Sedition Act amended the Espionage Act in 1918, further criminalizing “disloyal, profane, scurrilous, or abusive” language about the U.S. government, flag, or military. These laws were used to prosecute anti-war activists, socialists (like Eugene V. Debs), and labor leaders. They raised major civil liberties concerns and were partly rolled back after the war, but parts remain law today.

Fourteen Points (1918)

• President Woodrow Wilson’s blueprint for peace presented in January 1918 to Congress as WWI was winding down. Key points included: open diplomacy (no secret treaties), freedom of the seas, free trade, disarmament, self-determination for oppressed nationalities (adjusting colonial claims and European boundaries), and the creation of a League of Nations to ensure collective security and resolve conflicts. The Fourteen Points were idealistic and intended to address the causes of war. Although many points were compromised or ignored in the Treaty of Versailles, the League of Nations was established (though the U.S. never joined it, as the Senate rejected the Treaty).

Treaty of Versailles (1919)

• The peace treaty that ended WWI, signed at Versailles, France. It imposed punitive terms on Germany: accepting war guilt (Article 231), paying large reparations, limits on its military, and loss of territory (Alsace-Lorraine to France, Polish Corridor, colonies as League mandates). The treaty also redrew maps, creating new nations (like Poland, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia) from defeated empires. It included the Covenant of the League of Nations. The harsh treatment of Germany and unresolved issues set the stage for future conflict, and the U.S. Senate refused to ratify the treaty largely over objections to the League of Nations.

League of Nations

• An international organization established after WWI, as proposed in Wilson’s Fourteen Points, with the goal of maintaining world peace through collective security and arbitration of disputes. Founded in 1920 and headquartered in Geneva, the League had some success in the 1920s resolving minor conflicts but failed to stop aggression by Axis powers in the 1930s (Japan in Manchuria, Italy in Ethiopia, Germany’s expansion). Critically, the U.S. never joined, weakening its authority. The League dissolved after failing to prevent WWII and was replaced by the United Nations in 1945.

Red Scare (First, 1919–1920)

• A period of intense fear of communism and radicalism in the U.S. following WWI and the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution in Russia. It was marked by labor unrest (numerous strikes in 1919), anarchist bombings, and a xenophobic backlash against immigrants. The government’s response included the Palmer Raids (Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer’s roundup of thousands of suspected radicals, many of whom were immigrants deported without due process) and increased nativism. The Red Scare abated by 1920, but it led to the suppression of civil liberties and influenced the passage of stricter immigration quotas in the 1920s.

Great Migration

• The movement of over 6 million African Americans from the rural South to the urban North and West between roughly 1916 and 1970. The first wave (1916–1930) saw hundreds of thousands move during WWI and the 1920s, seeking industrial jobs and escape from Jim Crow segregation, lynching, and sharecropping poverty. Cities like Chicago, Detroit, New York, and Philadelphia saw significant growth in Black populations, leading to cultural flourishing (e.g., the Harlem Renaissance) but also racial tensions and riots, as competition for jobs and housing sometimes sparked violence (e.g., Chicago Race Riot of 1919).

Harlem Renaissance (1920s)

• A cultural, social, and artistic movement centered in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City, where a concentration of African American musicians, writers, artists, and thinkers celebrated Black heritage and creativity. Key figures included Langston Hughes and Claude McKay (poets), Zora Neale Hurston (novelist), Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong (jazz musicians), and Aaron Douglas (visual artist). The movement explored racial pride (“New Negro” identity), the Black experience, and pushed back against stereotypes. It coincided with Jazz Age exuberance and had a lasting impact on American culture and civil rights consciousness.

Jazz Age (1920s)

• A term popularized by F. Scott Fitzgerald to describe the 1920s, highlighting the decade’s new music (jazz) and the cultural liberation it represented. Jazz, with roots in African American communities in New Orleans and elsewhere, became the era’s soundtrack as it spread through clubs and radio. The age was characterized by flappers (young women flouting social norms), speakeasies (due to Prohibition), and a general spirit of rebellion against Victorian norms. Technological changes (radio, movies, cars) and economic prosperity fueled an exuberant, modern lifestyle — until the Great Depression ended the party.

Lost Generation

• A term coined by Gertrude Stein and popularized by Ernest Hemingway to describe the group of American writers in the 1920s who were disillusioned by WWI and critical of 1920s consumerism and conformity. Many lived as expatriates in Europe. Notable “Lost Generation” writers include Hemingway (The Sun Also Rises, A Farewell to Arms), F. Scott Fitzgerald (The Great Gatsby), and T.S. Eliot (poem The Waste Land). Their works often depicted themes of moral loss, cynicism, and the search for meaning in a postwar world.

Fundamentalism vs. Modernism

• A key cultural conflict of the 1920s. Fundamentalism was a conservative Protestant movement insisting on the literal truth of the Bible and rejecting modern scientific theory (notably evolution) and secularism. Modernism embraced new ideas, science, and secular values, including the theory of evolution and a more critical approach to the Bible. This clash was famously highlighted in the Scopes “Monkey” Trial (1925) in Tennessee, where teacher John T. Scopes was tried for teaching evolution. William Jennings Bryan represented the Fundamentalists and Clarence Darrow the Modernists. Scopes was convicted (later overturned), but the trial publicly underscored the divide between religious traditionalists and those advocating intellectual modernity.

Prohibition (1920–1933)

• The period during which the 18th Amendment and Volstead Act outlawed the manufacture, sale, and transport of alcoholic beverages nationwide. Initially hailed by temperance and religious groups, Prohibition led to unintended consequences: the rise of speakeasies (illegal bars), moonshining, and bootlegging; the growth of organized crime (gangsters like Al Capone supplying illegal liquor); and widespread disrespect for the law. Enforcement was difficult and underfunded. By the early 1930s, the policy was widely seen as a failure, and it was repealed by the 21st Amendment in 1933 during the Great Depression (partly to create jobs and tax revenue).

Immigration Quotas (1920s)

• Laws that sharply limited immigration, reflecting post-WWI nativism and the Red Scare. The Emergency Quota Act of 1921 capped immigration at 3% of each nationality as per the 1910 census. The Immigration Act of 1924 (National Origins Act) tightened this to 2% of each nationality from the 1890 census (which heavily favored Northern/Western Europeans) and completely barred immigration from Asia (except the Philippines). These quotas drastically reduced immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe and established a system that lasted until 1965. The acts did not limit immigration from the Western Hemisphere, leading to increased migration from Mexico and Canada in this period.

Stock Market Crash of 1929

• A sudden, severe downturn in stock prices in late October 1929, marking the end of the Roaring Twenties and the beginning of the Great Depression. Key dates included Black Thursday (Oct 24) and Black Tuesday (Oct 29) when panicked investors sold millions of shares and values plummeted. Causes included speculative buying on margin, an overinflated market, and economic weaknesses. The crash wiped out billions in wealth, shaken public confidence in the economy, and although not the sole cause of the Depression, it triggered a chain reaction of bank failures and business closures contributing to a decade-long economic downturn.

Great Depression (1929–1939)

• The worst economic crisis in U.S. history, characterized by massive unemployment (25% at its peak), bank failures, business bankruptcies, and severe deflation. It was triggered by the 1929 stock market crash and exacerbated by weaknesses in the economy (overproduction, underconsumption, unequal wealth, agricultural slump), poor policy decisions (like high tariffs and the gold standard), and a lack of government intervention early on. The Depression led to widespread poverty, shantytowns (“Hoovervilles”), dust bowl migrations, and a transformation in the role of government with Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal programs aiming to provide relief, recovery, and reform.

Hoovervilles

• Derisive name for the makeshift shantytowns of shacks and tents that sprang up on the outskirts of cities during the Great Depression where homeless and unemployed people lived. They were named after President Herbert Hoover, whom many blamed for the economic crisis due to his perceived inaction and insistence on limited government intervention. The term reflected the frustration of Americans suffering during the early 1930s. Hoovervilles persisted until the economy improved and New Deal relief programs provided jobs and housing assistance.

Dust Bowl (1930s)

• A term for the region of the Great Plains (especially parts of Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas, Colorado, New Mexico) that suffered severe drought and dust storms in the 1930s. Over-farming and poor soil conservation practices had stripped the soil of its protective cover, and drought turned topsoil into dust that winds blew away in “black blizzards.” Many farms failed, and “Okies” (farm families, notably from Oklahoma) migrated west to California in search of work, as depicted in John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath. The Dust Bowl spurred federal efforts to promote soil conservation and was one of the dramatic environmental disasters of the Depression era.

Franklin D. Roosevelt

• 32nd President of the United States (1933–1945), the only president elected to four terms. Roosevelt took office during the Great Depression and implemented the New Deal, a series of programs and reforms to provide economic relief, recovery, and reform (such as Social Security, SEC, FDIC, WPA, CCC, TVA). FDR’s leadership and “fireside chats” helped restore public confidence. He also led the U.S. during most of WWII after Pearl Harbor, working closely with Churchill and Stalin as part of the Allied leadership. His presidency greatly expanded the role of the federal government and left a lasting impact on American society.

New Deal (1933–1939)

• A broad series of federal programs and reforms launched by FDR to combat the Great Depression. It focused on the “Three Rs”: Relief for the unemployed and poor (e.g., WPA, CCC, FERA), Recovery of the economy (e.g., NRA, AAA), and Reform of the financial system to prevent a future depression (e.g., FDIC for banking security, SEC for stock market regulation, Social Security for old-age pensions). While the New Deal didn’t end the Depression (full employment returned with WWII), it alleviated suffering, instituted lasting changes (like labor rights and social safety nets), and realigned American politics with many previously Republican working-class and minority voters becoming Democratic supporters (the New Deal Coalition).

Fireside Chats

• A series of informal radio addresses given by FDR directly to the American people during his presidency. Starting in 1933, Roosevelt used these chats to explain his New Deal policies, calm fears during bank crises, and later to update on WWII. Speaking in a warm, accessible tone, he fostered a sense of intimacy and trust, making citizens feel he was conversing with them personally by their firesides. The fireside chats were highly effective in building public support and confidence in government action during challenging times.

Works Progress Administration (WPA)

• A massive New Deal work relief program established in 1935 (renamed the Works Projects Administration in 1939) that employed millions of job-seekers to carry out public works projects. Under Harry Hopkins’s direction, the WPA built roads, bridges, schools, parks, and airports across the country. It also included arts programs (Federal Art Project, Federal Writers’ Project, Federal Theatre Project) that paid artists, writers, and actors to produce cultural works. By providing jobs rather than handouts, the WPA helped reduce unemployment and improve infrastructure, leaving a lasting legacy of public buildings and art.

Social Security Act (1935)

• Landmark New Deal law that established the Social Security system. It created a federal insurance program funded by payroll taxes on workers and employers. Key provisions included old-age pensions for retirees, unemployment insurance for workers who lost jobs, and aid to certain groups in need (dependent children, the disabled, blind). Social Security provided a safety net for the elderly and vulnerable, addressing a major gap in the American economy. Though initially excluding some workers (like agricultural and domestic workers, which affected many minorities), it has since become a cornerstone of the U.S. welfare state and significantly reduced poverty among seniors.

Wagner Act (1935)

• Officially the National Labor Relations Act, a foundational statute of U.S. labor law championed by Senator Robert Wagner. It guaranteed workers the right to form unions, bargain collectively, and engage in concerted activities (like strikes). It also established the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to investigate unfair labor practices and enforce workers’ rights. The Wagner Act led to a surge in union membership (especially benefiting the rise of the CIO’s industrial unions) and is considered the “Magna Carta” of American labor, as it for the first time put the federal government’s support behind unions and collective bargaining.

Court-Packing Plan (1937)

• FDR’s controversial proposal to add more justices to the U.S. Supreme Court. Frustrated that the Court had struck down several New Deal measures (e.g., NRA, AAA as unconstitutional), Roosevelt in 1937 asked Congress for authority to appoint an additional justice for each sitting justice over age 70, up to six new justices. Ostensibly to ease the Court’s workload, it was widely seen as a blatant attempt to “pack” the Court with New Deal-friendly judges. The plan faced bipartisan opposition and ultimately failed, but soon after, the Court’s stance shifted (the “switch in time that saved nine”) and began upholding New Deal laws, defusing the crisis.

Neutrality Acts (1935–1937)

• A series of laws passed by Congress in the mid-1930s to prevent U.S. involvement in overseas wars, reflecting strong isolationist sentiment. Key provisions: an embargo on arms sales to belligerents, a ban on loans/credits to nations at war, and a “cash-and-carry” requirement that non-military goods sold to warring countries be paid for in cash and transported on their own ships. The goal was to avoid the entanglements that drew the U.S. into WWI. However, as aggression by Axis powers grew, these acts were gradually amended or repealed in the late 1930s and 1940—transitioning to more aid for Allies via Lend-Lease by 1941.

Lend-Lease Act (1941)

• A program that allowed the U.S. to supply Allied nations (primarily Britain, later the Soviet Union, China, etc.) with war materials and other support during WWII, despite officially being neutral at the time of its passage (March 1941). It authorized the president to “lend, lease, or otherwise dispose of” arms and equipment to countries whose defense was deemed vital to U.S. security. In effect, it ended U.S. neutrality and turned America into the “Arsenal of Democracy” by providing over $50 billion in aid. Lend-Lease significantly bolstered the Allies and prepared the U.S. economy for wartime production even before the U.S. formally entered WWII after Pearl Harbor.

Pearl Harbor (Dec 7, 1941)

• A surprise military attack by the Japanese on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Japanese aircraft sank or damaged much of the Pacific Fleet (including battleships like the USS Arizona) and killed over 2,400 Americans. The next day, President FDR declared it “a date which will live in infamy” and the United States declared war on Japan, entering WWII. Germany and Italy then declared war on the U.S. The attack united American public opinion in favor of war and marked the end of isolationism.

World War II (1941–1945 for U.S.)

• The global war between the Allied Powers (including the U.S., Britain, Soviet Union, China, and others) and the Axis Powers (led by Germany, Italy, Japan). The U.S. entered after Pearl Harbor in 1941. Key events involving the U.S. included fighting in the Pacific (Midway, island hopping campaigns like Guadalcanal, Iwo Jima), the North African and Italian campaigns, and the D-Day invasion of Normandy (June 6, 1944) leading to the liberation of Western Europe. The war ended in Europe with Germany’s surrender (May 1945) and in the Pacific after the U.S. dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki (August 1945), leading to Japan’s surrender (September 1945). WWII ended the Depression, massively expanded federal power, and left the U.S. a leading superpower.

Internment of Japanese Americans

• The forced relocation and incarceration of about 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry (two-thirds U.S. citizens) from the West Coast to camps in the interior, during WWII. Initiated by Executive Order 9066 in February 1942 over fears of espionage or sabotage after Pearl Harbor, families lost homes and businesses and were held in remote camps under armed guard until 1945. In Korematsu v. United States (1944), the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the internment as a wartime necessity, though this decision is now widely seen as a grave injustice. In 1988, the U.S. government formally apologized and granted reparations to surviving internees.

D-Day (June 6, 1944)

• The Allied invasion of Normandy, France, during WWII – the largest amphibious assault in history. Codenamed Operation Overlord, it involved landing over 150,000 Allied troops (primarily American, British, Canadian) on five beachheads (Omaha, Utah, Gold, Juno, Sword) to establish a foothold in Nazi-occupied Western Europe. Despite heavy casualties, especially at Omaha Beach, the invasion was successful and led to the liberation of France and the advance toward Germany from the west. D-Day marked a turning point on the Western Front and contributed significantly to the defeat of Nazi Germany.

Holocaust

• The genocide perpetrated by Nazi Germany during WWII, in which approximately six million Jews were systematically murdered, along with millions of others (including Roma, Poles, Soviet POWs, disabled individuals, political dissidents, and homosexuals). The Nazis implemented the “Final Solution” – using concentration camps, ghettos, firing squads, and extermination camps (like Auschwitz, Treblinka) – to carry out mass murder. The full extent of the Holocaust was revealed as Allied forces liberated camps in 1945. The Holocaust had profound effects on global conscience, leading to demands for human rights protections and the creation of Israel as a Jewish homeland in 1948.

Manhattan Project

• The top-secret U.S. government research project during WWII tasked with developing the atomic bomb. Begun in 1942 and led by General Leslie Groves and scientific director J. Robert Oppenheimer, it brought together scientists in labs across the U.S. (notably Los Alamos, New Mexico) to harness nuclear fission for a weapon. The project successfully tested the first atomic bomb (Trinity test in July 1945) and produced the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945. The Manhattan Project ushered in the atomic age, raising postwar ethical and security issues and starting the nuclear arms race of the Cold War.

Hiroshima and Nagasaki (Aug 1945)

• Two Japanese cities on which the United States dropped atomic bombs in August 1945. Hiroshima was bombed on August 6, 1945, by the B-29 Enola Gay with an uranium bomb (“Little Boy”), killing an estimated 80,000 people instantly (with tens of thousands more from radiation later). Nagasaki was bombed on August 9 with a plutonium bomb (“Fat Man”), killing around 40,000 instantly. The unprecedented destruction and shock of these bombings led Japan to announce its surrender on August 15, 1945, effectively ending WWII. The bombings remain controversial for their massive civilian toll and for beginning the era of nuclear weapons.

Yalta Conference (Feb 1945)

• A wartime meeting of the “Big Three” Allied leaders: U.S. President FDR, British PM Winston Churchill, and Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin, held in Yalta in the Crimea. They discussed plans for postwar Europe: agreeing to demand Germany’s unconditional surrender and to divide Germany (and Berlin) into occupation zones, to allow free elections in liberated Eastern European countries (a promise Stalin later broke, leading to Soviet domination of Eastern Europe), and to plan for the formation of the United Nations. Stalin also agreed to enter the war against Japan after Germany’s defeat. Yalta shaped the postwar order but also sowed seeds of Cold War tensions over Eastern Europe.

United Nations (established 1945)

• An international organization founded in 1945 to promote peace, security, and cooperation among nations, succeeding the failed League of Nations. The UN Charter was drafted at a conference in San Francisco and ratified by the required nations (including the U.S.). The UN’s main bodies include the General Assembly (all member states), the Security Council (15 members, 5 permanent with veto power: U.S., USSR (now Russia), Britain, France, China), the International Court of Justice, and others. Early actions included mediating conflicts and creating institutions like UNICEF. The UN provides a forum for diplomacy and has engaged in peacekeeping missions, although its effectiveness often depends on great-power consensus.

Period 8 (1945–1980)

Cold War (1945–1991)

• The prolonged geopolitical, ideological, and economic struggle between the United States (and its democratic/capitalist allies) and the Soviet Union (and its communist allies) after WWII. It was “cold” in that it stopped short of direct armed conflict between the superpowers, but it involved proxy wars (Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan), nuclear arms and space races, espionage, and competition for influence in the Third World. Key features included the Truman Doctrine and containment policy, formation of NATO vs. Warsaw Pact, crises like the Berlin Blockade, Cuban Missile Crisis, and détente in the 1970s. The Cold War shaped global alliances and domestic politics until the Soviet collapse in 1991.

Containment

• The U.S. foreign policy strategy during the Cold War, aimed at preventing the spread of communism beyond where it already existed. First articulated by diplomat George F. Kennan (the “Long Telegram”/X Article) in 1946–47 and embraced by the Truman administration, containment led to various measures: economic aid (Marshall Plan), military alliances (NATO), and interventions in conflicts (Korean War, Vietnam War) to resist Soviet or communist expansion. It became the guiding principle of U.S. Cold War policy, influencing actions in Europe, Asia, Latin America, and elsewhere.

Truman Doctrine (1947)

• President Harry S. Truman’s policy declaring that the U.S. would support free peoples resisting armed subjugation or outside pressures, specifically referring to crises in Greece and Turkey. Announced in a speech to Congress in March 1947, Truman requested aid to help those countries fight communist insurgencies or influence. The doctrine effectively committed the U.S. to a global role in containing communism, marking a departure from isolationism. It set the stage for the Marshall Plan, NATO, and U.S. involvement in later conflicts like Korea and Vietnam under the banner of defending freedom.

Marshall Plan (1948)

• Officially the European Recovery Program, an American initiative to aid Western Europe’s economic recovery after WWII. Proposed by Secretary of State George Marshall, it provided over $12 billion (around $100 billion in today’s dollars) from 1948 to 1952 in grants and loans to rebuild war-torn economies, modernize industry, and prevent the spread of communism by alleviating poverty and instability. The USSR and Eastern Bloc were invited but refused participation. The plan was highly successful in reviving Western European economies, fostering goodwill toward the U.S., and deepening the division of Europe (as Stalin solidified control in the East).

Berlin Airlift (1948–1949)

• A major crisis of the Cold War where the Soviet Union blocked all ground routes to West Berlin (which was surrounded by Soviet-occupied East Germany) in an attempt to force the Allies out of the city. In response, the U.S. and Britain organized a massive airlift to supply the two million residents of West Berlin with food, fuel, and other essentials for almost a year (June 1948 to May 1949). Cargo planes landed every few minutes around the clock. The airlift’s success forced the Soviets to lift the blockade. It was a major victory for the West, symbolizing resolve to contain communism and leading soon after to the formation of NATO.

NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization, 1949)

• A military alliance formed in 1949 linking the United States, Canada, and several Western European nations (initially 12 members) in a mutual defense pact. The treaty stated that an armed attack against one would be considered an attack against all, committing to collective defense. NATO was primarily aimed at deterring Soviet aggression in Europe and was the first peacetime military alliance for the U.S. The Soviet Union responded with the Warsaw Pact in 1955. NATO grew over the years and played a key role during the Cold War and beyond in ensuring security in Europe.

Chinese Civil War (and Communist Victory, 1949)

• The conflict in China between the Nationalist government (Kuomintang) led by Chiang Kai-shek and the Chinese Communist Party led by Mao Zedong, which resumed full-scale after WWII. Despite significant U.S. aid to the Nationalists, the Communists, with support from peasants and a disciplined guerrilla army, won control of mainland China in 1949. Chiang’s government retreated to Taiwan. Mao proclaimed the People’s Republic of China (October 1949), marking a major expansion of communism and a shock to the U.S. (the “loss of China”). It influenced U.S. Cold War policy in Asia, including more support for Japan and involvement in Korea and Vietnam.

Korean War (1950–1953)

• A Cold War conflict on the Korean Peninsula. Communist North Korea, supported by the USSR and later China, invaded South Korea in June 1950. The United Nations (with the U.S. as principal force) intervened to defend South Korea. After initial North Korean success, UN forces pushed deep into the North, prompting massive Chinese intervention that drove the UN back. The war settled into a bloody stalemate around the 38th parallel. An armistice in July 1953 ended active fighting, restoring the pre-war division of Korea. The war solidified the Cold War division of Korea, boosted U.S. defense spending, and set a precedent for limited war and U.S. containment policy in Asia.

McCarthyism (Red Scare of 1950s)

• The practice of making accusations of subversion or treason without proper evidence, named after Senator Joseph McCarthy. In the early 1950s, McCarthy capitalized on fears of communist influence in the U.S. by claiming to have lists of communists in the government. Hearings by McCarthy and the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) investigated and blacklisted many in government, Hollywood, and other industries. Lives and careers were destroyed based on often flimsy evidence or guilt by association. The hysteria began to wane after McCarthy’s own televised Army-McCarthy hearings in 1954 revealed his bullying tactics, leading to his censure by the Senate. McCarthyism symbolizes the excesses of the Second Red Scare.

Eisenhower Doctrine (1957)

• A U.S. foreign policy announced by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, stating that the United States would use economic and military aid, and if necessary armed force, to help any Middle Eastern country fend off communism. It was a response to increasing Soviet influence in the Middle East (e.g., in Egypt after the Suez Crisis). Under this doctrine, the U.S. intervened in Lebanon in 1958 at the request of its president to stabilize a perceived threat. The Eisenhower Doctrine was an extension of containment to a new region, reflecting Cold War competition in the Third World.

Space Race

• The Cold War competition between the United States and the Soviet Union for dominance in space exploration. It began with the Soviet launch of Sputnik (the first artificial satellite) in 1957, which shocked the U.S. and spurred increased funding for science and education (e.g., NASA’s creation in 1958, the National Defense Education Act). Notable events: Yuri Gagarin (USSR) became first human in space (1961), the U.S. had early setbacks but caught up with Project Mercury, and ultimately the U.S. “won” by landing Apollo 11 on the Moon in July 1969 (Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin). The Space Race fostered technological advances and national pride, and had military implications (missile technology).

Cuban Missile Crisis (1962)

• A 13-day confrontation in October 1962, widely considered the closest the Cold War came to escalating into nuclear war. After the U.S. discovered Soviet nuclear missiles being installed in Cuba (90 miles from Florida), President John F. Kennedy ordered a naval “quarantine” (blockade) of Cuba. Tense negotiations ensued. In the end, Soviet Premier Khrushchev agreed to remove the missiles in exchange for a U.S. pledge not to invade Cuba and a secret agreement to remove U.S. Jupiter missiles from Turkey. The crisis led to a direct Moscow-Washington hotline and spurred moves toward détente and arms control (e.g., 1963 Nuclear Test Ban Treaty).

Détente

• A period of relaxed tensions and improved relations between the U.S. and the Soviet Union (and China) during the Cold War, roughly from the late 1960s through the 1970s. Under Presidents Nixon and Ford (and Soviet leader Brezhnev), détente saw arms control agreements (SALT I in 1972, which limited strategic missiles), expanded trade and cultural exchanges, and the Helsinki Accords (1975, recognizing European borders and human rights commitments). Nixon’s 1972 visit to China also opened relations (the “China card”). Détente eased the threat of nuclear war for a time, though it cooled by the end of the 1970s with conflicts like the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan (1979) and was largely ended by 1980.

Vietnam War (U.S. involvement 1964–1973)

• A prolonged conflict in Vietnam between the communist North (and Viet Cong guerrillas in the South), supported by the Soviet Union and China, and the non-communist South, supported by the United States. The U.S. escalated from advisory role to major combat forces after the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution (1964). The war saw heavy fighting (Tet Offensive 1968 was a turning point) and extensive bombing campaigns (Operation Rolling Thunder). It sparked a massive anti-war movement in the U.S. Amidst high American casualties and doubts about winning, the U.S. gradually withdrew under Nixon (Vietnamization policy), signing the Paris Peace Accords in 1973. Saigon fell to the North Vietnamese in 1975, unifying Vietnam under communism. The war deeply affected U.S. politics, society, and foreign policy (leading to War Powers Act of 1973 to check presidential power).

Gulf of Tonkin Resolution (1964)

• A joint resolution passed by the U.S. Congress in August 1964, giving President Lyndon B. Johnson broad authority to use military force in Vietnam without a formal declaration of war. It was prompted by alleged North Vietnamese attacks on U.S. naval vessels (the USS Maddox and possibly another) in the Gulf of Tonkin. Johnson cited these incidents to obtain near-unanimous support for the resolution. It effectively allowed the president to escalate the Vietnam War, leading to deployment of ground troops and open-ended commitment. The accuracy of the incident reports was later questioned, contributing to wariness of government assertions (credibility gap) and the resolution was repealed in 1971.

Tet Offensive (1968)

• A massive surprise attack launched by Viet Cong guerrillas and North Vietnamese forces during the Vietnamese lunar New Year (Tet) holiday in January 1968. They struck over 100 cities and bases across South Vietnam, including a bold attack on the U.S. Embassy in Saigon. Militarily, U.S. and South Vietnamese forces eventually repelled the offensive and inflicted heavy casualties on the communists. However, the intensity and scope of the attacks shocked the American public and contradicted optimistic claims that the war was nearing victory. Tet is often seen as the turning point that eroded U.S. public support for the war and increased pressure to find a way out.

Anti-Vietnam War Movement

• A widespread social and political movement in the 1960s and early 1970s opposing U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. It included college students (draft resistance, campus protests like at UC Berkeley and Columbia), prominent figures (Dr. Benjamin Spock, Muhammad Ali, etc.), veterans (Vietnam Veterans Against the War), and everyday Americans disillusioned by the war’s costs and ethics. Key moments were the 1967 March on the Pentagon, demonstrations at the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago, and the national moratorium protests of 1969. The movement, fueled by heavy casualties, the draft, TV coverage of war’s brutality, and revelations like the My Lai Massacre and Pentagon Papers, helped turn public opinion and push political leaders toward ending the war.

Civil Rights Movement (1950s–1960s)

• A broad struggle by African Americans to achieve full legal equality and end racial segregation and discrimination in the United States. Key events include the Brown v. Board of Education (1954) decision ending school segregation, the Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955–56) led by Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr., sit-ins at lunch counters (1960), Freedom Rides (1961) challenging interstate travel segregation, Birmingham campaign and March on Washington (1963), Freedom Summer and Civil Rights Act (1964), Selma marches and Voting Rights Act (1965). Tactics ranged from legal challenges (NAACP), nonviolent protest (King, SCLC, SNCC), to later Black Power advocacy (Malcolm X, Black Panther Party). The movement dismantled Jim Crow laws and secured federal legislation that protected voting rights and equal access, reshaping American society.

Brown v. Board of Education (1954)

• A landmark Supreme Court case in which the Court unanimously ruled that racial segregation in public schools is unconstitutional. The case, brought by the NAACP and arguing that “separate educational facilities are inherently unequal,” overturned the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson precedent. Chief Justice Earl Warren’s opinion declared that segregation violated the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause. Brown v. Board was a catalyst for the civil rights movement, leading to desegregation (though initial resistance was strong, e.g., Little Rock Central High 1957) and inspiring challenges to segregation in all areas of society.

Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955–1956)

• A civil rights protest in Montgomery, Alabama, where African Americans refused to ride city buses to challenge segregated seating. It began after Rosa Parks was arrested on December 1, 1955, for refusing to give up her seat to a white passenger. Led by a young Martin Luther King Jr. and the Montgomery Improvement Association, the boycott lasted 381 days. Participants walked or arranged carpools despite harassment. The campaign ended with a Supreme Court ruling that segregation on public buses is unconstitutional. The boycott’s success propelled King to national prominence and demonstrated the power of nonviolent mass protest and economic pressure in the civil rights movement.

Martin Luther King Jr.

• A Baptist minister and the most famous leader of the civil rights movement. Advocating nonviolent civil disobedience inspired by Christian teachings and Gandhi, King led numerous campaigns: the Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955–56), Birmingham protests (1963), the March on Washington (1963) where he delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech, and the Selma to Montgomery marches (1965) for voting rights. He was instrumental in the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965. Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964, King was assassinated in April 1968 in Memphis, sparking riots in many cities. He is remembered for his unwavering commitment to racial justice and equality through peaceful means.

Civil Rights Act of 1964

• A landmark federal law that outlawed major forms of discrimination against racial, ethnic, national and religious minorities, and women. It banned segregation in public accommodations (like restaurants, hotels, theaters) and in federally funded programs, and it prohibited employment discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin (Title VII). It also strengthened the federal government’s ability to enforce school desegregation and established the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). Passed after a long filibuster and in the wake of Kennedy’s assassination, it was signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson, becoming one of the most significant legislative achievements of the civil rights movement.

Voting Rights Act (1965)

• A key piece of federal legislation that banned racial discrimination in voting practices. Spurred by the Selma to Montgomery marches and violence against protesters, it was signed by President Johnson in August 1965. The act outlawed literacy tests and other tactics used to disenfranchise African Americans. It provided for federal examiners and observers in areas with a history of voting discrimination and required jurisdictions with a history of discrimination to get federal “preclearance” before changing voting laws (Section 5). The Voting Rights Act led to a dramatic increase in black voter registration and office-holding in the South. (Note: key parts were invalidated by the Supreme Court in 2013’s Shelby County v. Holder).

Black Power Movement

• A movement in the late 1960s that emphasized racial pride, economic empowerment, and the creation of political and cultural institutions for Black people in America. It marked a shift from the nonviolent, integrationist approach of earlier civil rights activism to a more militant stance. Stokely Carmichael popularized the phrase “Black Power” in 1966, advocating self-defense and black autonomy. Organizations like the Black Panther Party (founded 1966 by Huey Newton and Bobby Seale in Oakland) exemplified this movement, calling for community control, armed self-defense against police brutality, and social programs (free breakfast for children, health clinics). The movement also encouraged Afrocentric fashion and names, and influenced black art, music, and identity.

Malcolm X

• An African American Muslim minister and a prominent figure in the Black Power movement. As a spokesman for the Nation of Islam in the early 1960s, Malcolm X advocated for black self-reliance, separatism (rather than integration), and self-defense “by any means necessary.” He was critical of the civil rights movement’s emphasis on nonviolence. After breaking with the Nation of Islam in 1964 and making a pilgrimage to Mecca, Malcolm’s views moderated somewhat toward the potential for interracial unity. He founded the Organization of Afro-American Unity to press for human rights. Malcolm X was assassinated in February 1965 by members of the Nation of Islam. His legacy lies in inspiring a more assertive fight for black dignity and rights.

Women’s Liberation Movement (1960s–1970s)

• A movement aiming to achieve gender equality and to challenge traditional gender roles. Building on earlier suffrage and labor movements, the “second wave” feminism of the 1960s was catalyzed by Betty Friedan’s book The Feminine Mystique (1963), which critiqued the limited role of women as housewives. Organizations like the National Organization for Women (NOW, founded 1966 by Friedan and others) pushed for equal pay, anti-discrimination, reproductive rights (including birth control and abortion access), and passage of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA). Protests like the 1968 Miss America pageant demonstration and the slogan “the personal is political” embodied the movement. It led to legal gains such as Title IX (1972, banning sex discrimination in education) and Roe v. Wade (1973, legalizing abortion), and broader cultural shifts in attitudes towards women’s roles.

Betty Friedan

• An American feminist writer and activist, best known for authoring The Feminine Mystique (1963), a groundbreaking book that explored the dissatisfaction of many suburban housewives and is credited with sparking the second wave of feminism in the U.S. Friedan co-founded and became the first president of the National Organization for Women (NOW) in 1966, advocating for women’s equality in the workplace, politics, and society. She also helped organize the Women’s Strike for Equality in 1970 and was a key supporter of the Equal Rights Amendment. Friedan’s work helped break the taboo about women’s discontent and push for significant changes in women’s rights.

Roe v. Wade (1973)

• A landmark Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion nationwide. In a 7-2 decision, the Court ruled that a woman’s right to an abortion fell under the right to privacy protected by the 14th Amendment. It set up a trimester framework: in the first trimester, the government could not interfere; in the second, regulations were allowed to protect the mother’s health; and in the third, after fetal viability, abortions could be restricted except to save the life or health of the mother. The Roe decision was a major victory for the women’s liberation movement and remains one of the most controversial legal rulings in the U.S., galvanizing both pro-choice and pro-life movements for decades (and it was overturned in 2022 by Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization).

Chicano Movement

• A civil rights and empowerment movement of Mexican Americans in the 1960s and 1970s. The term “Chicano” was embraced as a symbol of ethnic pride. Key issues included farm workers’ rights (led by Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta of the United Farm Workers, who organized grape boycotts and strikes), educational and political equality (e.g., the 1968 East L.A. school walkouts protesting discrimination), and land grant rights in New Mexico (Reies Tijerina). Chicanos also celebrated cultural nationalism (El Plan Espiritual de Aztlán) and created political organizations like La Raza Unida Party. The movement led to improvements in labor conditions, increased Latino representation, and the establishment of Chicano Studies programs.

American Indian Movement (AIM)

• A militant Native American civil rights organization founded in 1968 to address issues like poverty, police harassment, treaty rights, and cultural pride. AIM leaders Dennis Banks and Russell Means were involved in high-profile protests: the occupation of Alcatraz Island (1969–71) by Indian activists, the Trail of Broken Treaties march and occupation of the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Washington (1972), and the standoff at Wounded Knee on the Pine Ridge Reservation (1973) where AIM members occupied the site for 71 days to protest corruption and demand treaty negotiations (met with FBI siege). AIM helped spur a broader Red Power movement that achieved some successes: increased awareness of Native issues, some restoration of tribal lands, and greater autonomy through legislation like the Indian Self-Determination Act (1975).

Silent Spring (1962)

• A book by marine biologist Rachel Carson that exposed the environmental hazards of pesticides, particularly DDT. Silent Spring detailed how chemicals entered the food chain, harmed wildlife (like birds, leading to “silent” springs without birdsong), and potentially threatened human health. The book was hugely influential: it raised public awareness about the environment, faced fierce backlash from chemical companies, but ultimately spurred changes such as the banning of DDT in the U.S. and the rise of the modern environmental movement. It helped lead to the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency (1970) and other environmental laws in the 1970s.

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

• A federal agency established in 1970 under President Nixon to coordinate programs aimed at reducing pollution and protecting the environment. The EPA consolidated various environmental responsibilities from other agencies. It is responsible for enforcing environmental laws such as the Clean Air Act (1970) and Clean Water Act (1972), regulating pollutants, overseeing the cleanup of contaminated sites (Superfund program), and conducting environmental research. The creation of the EPA reflected growing public concern over environmental issues during the late 1960s and early 1970s (sparked by events like the Santa Barbara oil spill and the first Earth Day in 1970).

Watergate Scandal (1972–1974)

• A political scandal that led to President Richard Nixon’s resignation. It began with a break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate complex in June 1972 by burglars tied to Nixon’s re-election committee. Subsequent investigations revealed widespread abuses of power by the Nixon administration, including illegal wiretapping, political spying, and the attempt to cover up involvement in the break-in. Key moments: the Senate Watergate hearings (1973), revelation of Nixon’s secret Oval Office tapes, the “Saturday Night Massacre” (Nixon’s firing of the special prosecutor Archibald Cox in 1973), and the Supreme Court’s order to release the tapes, which contained the “smoking gun” proving Nixon’s obstruction of justice. Facing almost certain impeachment, Nixon resigned in August 1974. Watergate led to greater skepticism toward government and reforms like campaign finance laws and ethics laws.

Stagflation (1970s)

• An economic condition in the 1970s characterized by the unusual combination of stagnant economic growth, high unemployment, and high inflation. Traditional Keynesian economics had difficulty explaining stagflation because inflation isn’t supposed to happen during a recession. Causes included supply shocks (notably the 1973 OPEC oil embargo which quadrupled oil prices, and another price spike in 1979), as well as the end of the Bretton Woods fixed exchange rates and heavy government spending on Vietnam and social programs. The U.S. and other nations struggled with stagflation until central banks, led by Federal Reserve Chair Paul Volcker in the late 1970s-early 1980s, raised interest rates dramatically to tame inflation, albeit at the cost of a steep recession.

OPEC Oil Embargo (1973)

• A crisis that began in October 1973 when the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), primarily Arab nations, proclaimed an oil embargo against nations that supported Israel in the Yom Kippur War (notably the U.S. and Western Europe). The result was severe oil shortages and skyrocketing prices (oil price per barrel nearly quadrupled by 1974). In the U.S., the embargo led to gasoline shortages, long lines at gas stations, and rationing. It caused a global economic downturn (stoking stagflation), prompted energy conservation efforts, a national speed limit of 55 mph, and initiatives to develop domestic energy (like the strategic petroleum reserve, Alaskan pipeline, and interest in alternative energy). The embargo ended by March 1974, but it marked the end of the era of cheap oil and changed energy policy for decades.

Iranian Hostage Crisis (1979–1981)

• A diplomatic crisis in which 52 American diplomats and citizens were held hostage at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, Iran, for 444 days (from November 1979 to January 1981). It began after Iran’s Islamic Revolution, when militants stormed the embassy demanding the U.S. return the deposed Shah of Iran (in the U.S. for medical treatment) to stand trial. The crisis paralyzed Jimmy Carter’s presidency: a rescue mission in April 1980 failed disastrously. It contributed to Carter’s defeat in the 1980 election. The hostages were finally released on January 20, 1981, the same day Ronald Reagan was inaugurated, after negotiations that included unfreezing Iranian assets. The crisis led to a break in U.S.-Iran relations and had a lasting impact on American views of the Middle East.

Rise of Conservatism (1970s–1980s)

• A political shift in the late 20th century U.S. where conservative values gained prominence, culminating in Ronald Reagan’s election in 1980. Factors included backlash against the perceived failures of liberal policies (high crime, welfare dependency), economic woes (stagflation), and social changes of the 1960s (sexual revolution, abortion rights). The New Right coalition fused economic conservatives (free market, low taxes, deregulation), neoconservatives (strong anti-Communist foreign policy), and social/religious conservatives (opposition to abortion, feminism, gay rights; promotion of school prayer and “family values”). Key figures and groups: Barry Goldwater’s 1964 campaign, Phyllis Schlafly (STOP ERA), the Religious Right/ Moral Majority (Jerry Falwell), and think tanks (Heritage Foundation). This trend led to conservative policies in the 1980s like tax cuts, deregulation, and a more assertive foreign policy against the USSR.

Moral Majority

• A political organization founded in 1979 by evangelical pastor Jerry Falwell, representing the Christian Right. It mobilized conservative Christians as a political force, promoting “pro-family” and “pro-American” agendas, which included opposition to abortion, homosexuality, and what it saw as the moral decay of society (e.g., pornography, school prayer bans). The Moral Majority allied with the Republican Party, helping to elect Ronald Reagan in 1980 by bringing millions of new religious voters into politics. Its rise signaled the increasing influence of religious conservatism in public life. The group disbanded in the late 1980s, but it paved the way for future religious right organizations and ongoing debates over religion in politics.

Reaganomics (1980s)

• The economic policies of President Ronald Reagan, also known as supply-side economics or “trickle-down” economics. Key components: significant tax cuts (especially the Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981, which slashed income taxes and reduced top marginal rates), deregulation of industries, and cuts in social spending (though military spending increased sharply). The theory was that lowering taxes would stimulate investment, boost economic growth, and ultimately increase tax revenues. In practice, the U.S. saw a period of economic expansion in the 1980s with lower inflation and unemployment after the early 80s recession, but also rising income inequality and a massive increase in the federal deficit and national debt due to lower revenue and high defense spending.

Iran-Contra Affair (1985–1987)

• A political scandal during the Reagan administration. It was revealed that officials secretly facilitated the sale of arms to Iran (despite an embargo), hoping to secure the release of American hostages held by Hezbollah in Lebanon. Profits from these sales were then illegally diverted to support the Contras, anti-communist rebels fighting the Sandinista government in Nicaragua, which Congress had forbidden by law (Boland Amendment). The scheme became public in late 1986. Several administration figures were convicted, but later pardoned by President George H.W. Bush. Reagan claimed not to know about the diversion of funds, and an investigative commission cited a failure of oversight. The affair raised serious questions about executive power and accountability.

END of Period 9 (1980–Present)