American History Vocab by Kate Jordan

Civilization

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state of human society, in which a high level of culture, science, and government has been reached.

Encomienda System

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The government in Spain gave away large tracts of conquered land in Spanish America, including whole villages of indigenous peoples, to court favorites, including many conquistadores. These new landlords were supposed to educate the natives and teach them the Roman Catholic faith. The system was rife with abuse, however. Landlords rarely offered much education, preferring instead to exploit the labor of the local inhabitants, whom they treated like slaves.

Columbian Exchange

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The process of transferring plants, animals, foods, diseases, wealth, and culture between Europe and the Americas, beginning at the time of Christopher Columbus and continuing throughout the era of exploration and expansion.

Indentured Servant

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In an effort to entice English subjects to the colonies, parties would offer legal bonded contracts that would exchange the cost of passage across the Atlantic for up to seven years of labor in America.

Middle Colonies

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Colonies with a large agricultural base. Because of location they were key distribution centers in the English Mercantile System

Southern Colonies

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Colonies focused on cash crops.

New England Colonies

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Colonies founded by the Puritans for religious purposes. Goal was to create a society as God intended.

Triangular Trade

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Economic exchange amongst three markets and geographies

Puritans

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Religious reform movement in the 16th and 17th centuries that sought to “purify” the church of England.

Mercantilism

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An economic system built on the assumption that the world's supply of wealth is fixed and that nations must export more goods than they import to assure a steady supply of gold and silver into national coffers. Mercantile thinkers saw the inflow of such wealth as the key to maintaining and enhancing national power and self-sufficiency. Within this context, the accumulation and development of colonies was of great importance, since colonies could supply scarce raw materials to parent nations and serve as markets for finished goods.

Chattel Slavery

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Total ownership of one person over another.

Anti-Federalists

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Supporters of the Articles of Confederation, not the Constitution. They fear a tyrannical national government with too much power and strongly advocate for the Bill of Rights.

Proclamation Line of 1763

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

Federalists

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Supporters of the new Constitution and a strong federal government. They fear a weak government. Generally very wealthy.

Tory

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A colonist who supported British rule

Salutary Neglect

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A period from the early 1600s to the mid 1700s where British Parliamentary Laws were not enforced on the colonists

Articles Of Confederation

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Before the American constitution, this established the United States as a loose confederation of states under a weak national Congress, which was not granted the power to regulate commerce or collect taxes

Enlightenment

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An eighteenth-century philosophical movement that began in Western Europe with roots in the Scientific Revolution

Albany Plan of Union

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Plan proposed by Benjamin Franklin in 1754 that aimed to unite the 13 colonies for trade, military, and other purposes; the plan was turned down by the colonies and the (British) Crown

Northwest Ordinance

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One of the biggest accomplishments of the Articles of Confederation. This established a system for setting up governments in the western territories so they could eventually join the Union

Newburgh Conspiracy

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Near the end of the Revolutionary War, the Continental Army had not received pay for many years and threatened to abandon the fight, if they were not compensated

Great Compromise

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The decision to have a bicameral legislature, one house based on population, and one house with an equal number of representatives for every state.

Three-Fifths Compromise

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Determined that each slave would be counted as three fifths of a person for the purpose of apportioning taxes and representation.

Patriot

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A colonist who rebelled against British rule

Steam Engine

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A machine that turns the energy released by burning fuel into motion

Political Party

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Group of persons organized to acquire and exercise political power

Factory System

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Manufacturing businesses first created in the late eighteenth century that concentrated all aspects of production under one roof, reorganized production and divided work. The key aspect was that it was under one roof and had specialized tasks. Made the production faster and more efficient.

Impressment

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The British forcibly enlisted thousands of American men into the Royal Navy from passing ships, and refused to recognize that Americans had renounced their British citizenship

Marbury vs. Madison

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Landmark 1803 Supreme Court case in which Chief Justice John Marshall established the principle of Judicial Review, which grants the Supreme Court the power to declare laws unconstitutional

Canals

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Human-made waterways connecting natural bodies of water, very important for early travel

Temperance Movement

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Movement dedicated to promoting moderation and, more often, complete abstinence in the use of alcohol

Monroe Doctrine

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Warned European powers not to interfere in the affairs of the Western Hemisphere

Abolition Movement

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Campaign to end slavery

Telegraph

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The machine invented by Samuel Morse that used a system of dots and dashes to send messages across long distances electronically through a wire. It connected the different hemispheres of the world, allowing for more communication between people.

Women's Rights Movement

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The fight for the suffrage (voting) for half of the population

Cotton Gin

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Eli Whitney’s 1793 invention that dramatically improved the speed for processing cotton, changing the trajectory of cotton production in the United States

Whigs

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Opposed Jackson's strong-armed leadership style and policies, but promoted protective tariffs, federal funding for internal improvements, and other measures that strengthened the central government

Democratic Party

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Pro Slavery, favored secession from Union, States' rights, agrarian-oriented, opposed gold standard, supported lowering tariff, and opposed imperialism in 1890s

Interchangeable Parts

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Uniform pieces that can be made in large quantities to replace other identical pieces

Popular Sovereignty

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People of a territory should themselves decide the issue of slavery

13th Amendment

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Freed all slaves and abolished slavery and involuntary servitude in the United States

Kansas-Nebraska Act

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Passed by the U.S. Congress on May 30, 1854. It allowed people in the territories of Kansas and Nebraska to decide for themselves whether or not to allow slavery within their borders. The Act served to repeal the Missouri Compromise of 1820 which prohibited slavery north of latitude 36°30´

Secession

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When a state attempts to secede from, or leave, the nation it was once a part of

Union

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Northern half of the country, a group of states that were generally anti-slavery

Manifest Destiny

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19th century belief that Americans had the God given right to spread across the whole continent

Fifteenth Amendment

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Granted African American men voting rights

14th Amendment

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Granted African Americans citizenship and equal protection under the law

Fugitive Slave Act

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Required that slaves be returned to their owners, even if they were in a free state

Confederacy

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Southern half of the country, a group of states trying to separate over the issue of slavery

Sectionalism

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Loyalty or support of a particular region or section of the nation, rather than the United States as a whole

Compromise of 1850

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Henry Clay introduced a series of resolutions in an attempt to seek a compromise and avert a crisis between North and South, this included that the Fugitive Slave Act was amended, the slave trade in Washington, D.C. was abolished, California entered the Union as a free state, a territorial government was created in Utah, and an act was passed settling a boundary dispute between Texas and New Mexico that also established a territorial government in New Mexico

Muckraking

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When writers sought to expose corruption in big business and government

Capitalism

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A system of economic production based on the private ownership of property and the contractual exchange for profit of goods, labor, and money

Cornelius Vanderbilt

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The railroad owner who built a railway connecting Chicago and New York. He popularized the use of steel rails in his railroad, which made railroads safer and more economical

Migration

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Patterns of movement across the country, including waves of new immigrants and formerly enslaved people moving toward urban centers

Andrew Carnegie

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Known as the steel king; he integrated every phase of his steel-making operation.He pioneered "Vertical Integration" to improve efficiency by controlling the quality of the product at all stages of production and eliminating the middleman

Social Darwinism

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The idea that the wealthy and powerful were naturally superior and deserved their success

John D. Rockefeller

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A man who started from meager beginnings and eventually created an oil empire. In Ohio in 1870 he organized the Standard Oil Company. By 1877 he controlled 95% of all of the refineries in the United States

Gilded Age

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The age between the Civil War and WWI when the American economy grew rapidly and individuals were able to use monopolies to amass great wealth

JP Morgan

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A banker who financed the reorganization of railroads, insurance companies, and banks. He bought out Carnegie and in 1901 he started the United States Steel Corporation

Unions

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An organized group of workers that use collective bargaining to improve working conditions

Titans of Industry

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Positive name for wealthy business owners during the Gilded Age, implying that they helped the United States become strong through their business pursuits

Gospel of Wealth

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The idea that extremely wealthy Americans had a responsibility to spend their money in order to benefit the greater good.

Robber Barons

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Negative term for wealthy business owners during the Gilded Age who made fortunes by monopolizing huge industries through unethical business practices

Isolationism

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The traditional belief that the United States should refrain from involvement in overseas politics, alliances, or wars, and confine its national security interest to its own borders

Militarism

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The political orientation of a people or a government to maintain a strong military force and to be prepared to use it aggressively to defend or promote national interests.

Great Migration

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The movement of African Americans from the South to the industrial centers of the Northeast and the Midwest.

Women’s Suffrage

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The campaign to allow female voters

Nationalism

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Political ideology that stresses people's membership in a nation

Treaty of Versailles

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The resolution to WWI that squarely blamed Germany by demanding billions in reparations and destroying German military infrastructure

Prohibition

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The prevention by law of the manufacture and sale of alcohol between 1920 and 1933

Island Hopping

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American military strategy in WWII to slowly claim territory across the Pacific, leading to the eventual defeat of Japan

Alfred Thayer Mahan

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A captain and admiral in the Navy who was a prominent supporter of Imperialism

Zimmerman Telegram

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A message from Germany to Mexico—decoded and shared by the British—that urged Mexico to invade the US to keep the US occupied in exchange for German support for Mexico taking back parts of the Mexican Cession

3 Rs

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A popular way to describe the New Deal, referring to relief, recovery, and reform

Open Door Policy

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The principle that all countries should have equal access to any of the ports open to trade in China

League of Nations

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International organization founded in 1919 to promote world peace and cooperation but greatly weakened by the refusal of the United States to join. Sometimes considered a precursor to the modern UN.

Imperialism

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A policy in which a strong nation seeks to dominate other countries politically, socially, and economically

Tariffs

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Tax on imports

Stocks on margin

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The practice of allowing investors to purchase a stock for only a fraction of its price and borrow the rest at high interest rates

Nuclear Weapons

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Vastly more powerful than atomic bombs. Capable of destroying entire cities and permanently irradiating countries.

Atomic Bomb

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Significantly more powerful than past weapons. First used in Hiroshima.

Domino Theory

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Belief that if one country becomes Communist its neighbors would also become communist.

Warsaw Pact

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Military alliance between countries in Eastern Europe and the USSR.

United Nations

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Successor to the League of Nations. Exists to solve the world’s political problems.

Bretton Woods System

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Created the World Bank and IMF to solve the world’s economic problems.

Brown v. Board

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Supreme Court Case that ended the segregation of schools.

Mutually Assured Destruction

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Theory that if one country uses nuclear weapons other countries will use them as well effectively ending the world as we know it.

Iron Curtain

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Named by Winston Churchill. This is the metaphorical demarcation between communism and democracy in Europe

International Organizations

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Globally centered groups that try to solve world problems.

Holocaust

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The death and destruction of six million jews and five million other people by the Nazis during WWII.

NATO

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Military alliance primarily between the USA and Western Europe.

Great Society

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Created by President LBJ to improve the social welfare safety net in the USA.

Containment

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Theory that communism must be prevented from spreading to other countries and that the USA must use military force to stop it if necessary.

Moral Majority

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a political movement in the 1980s, led by religious conservatives, advocating for socially conservative policies and seeking to influence American politics based on moral and religious principles.

Inflation

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The general increase in the prices of goods and services over time, reducing the purchasing power of currency.

Monetary Policy

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actions by a central bank to control the money supply and interest rates, influencing economic activity by managing inflation, employment, and overall economic stability

Fiscal Policy

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government actions related to taxation and spending to influence the economy, aiming to achieve economic goals such as full employment and stable prices.

Reaganomics

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refers to the economic policies of President Ronald Reagan in the 1980s, emphasizing tax cuts, reduced government regulation, and a belief that stimulating economic growth among the wealthy would benefit the entire economy.

Deregulation

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reducing or eliminating government restrictions and regulations on industries, with the goal of fostering competition and economic efficiency.

GDP (Gross Domestic Product)

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the total value of all goods and services produced within a country's borders in a specific time period, serving as a key indicator of economic performance.

Globalization

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the process of increased interconnectedness and interdependence among countries, economies, and cultures through international trade, communication, and cultural exchange

Terrorism

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the use of violence or threats to intimidate and create fear for political, religious, or ideological purposes

Laissez-Faire

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an economic philosophy advocating minimal government interference in the marketplace, allowing natural market forces to determine prices, production, and distribution.

Trickle down economics

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an economic theory asserting that benefits provided to the wealthy and businesses will eventually "trickle down" to the rest of the population through job creation and economic growth

Liberal

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individuals or policies advocating for social and economic equality, government intervention in the economy, and progressive social values.

Conservative

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individuals or policies favoring limited government intervention, traditional values, and a free-market approach to economic issues.