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CMS - 8th History
Key Terms in American History
Question | Answer |
---|---|
Abolitionist | movement to end slavery. |
Amend | the process of changing the Constitution. |
American System | 1815 plan to make U.S. economically self-sufficient. |
Anti-Federalist | people who opposed ratification of the Constitution. |
Appomattox Courthouse | where the South finally surrendered during the Civil War. |
Assimilation | the process of blending into society. |
Bacon’s Rebellion | (1676) revolt against colonial authority. |
Balance of power | the distribution of power between the 3 branches of government. |
Bank War | (1829-1830) attack by President Jackson on national bank. |
Battle of the Alamo | (1836) battle between Texans and Mexican army. |
Battle of Fallen Timbers | (1794) conflict between Indian and colonist over control of the Northwest Territory. |
Battle of Gettysburg | (1863) ended the South’s hopes of winning a battle in the North. |
Battles of Lexington and Concord | (1775) first battles of the American Revoulution. |
Battle of Yorktown | (1781) last major campaign of the American Revolution. |
Battles of Saratoga | (1777) turning point of the American Revolution. |
Bleeding Kansas | conflict between pro-slavery and anti-slavery people in Kansas, 1854-1859 |
Blockade | when goods are prevented from going into or out of an area |
Boston Masssacre | (1770) conflict between British and colonist |
Boston Tea Part | (1773) protest by colonist in which they dumped tea into Boston Harbor |
Boycott | a refusal to buy certain goods |
California Gold Rush | (1849) migration of people to the area after gold was discovered |
Cash Crop | a crop grown to be sold rather than used by the farmer |
Charter | a contract given to someone to establish a colony. |
Checks and Balances | each of three branches of government limits the power of the others |
Columbian Exchange | the movement of plants, goods, and diseases between the New World and Europe |
Compromise of 1877 | ended Reconstruction |
Confederacy | the southern states who seceded |
Confederation Congress | first U.S. government |
Constituents | the people who vote for a member of government |
Constitutional Convention | (1787) the meeting of people that agreed on the constitution |
Continental Army | military of the colonists |
Continental Congress | the group of leaders that governed the colonies during the Am. Rev. |
Cotton Gin | (1795) invention by Eli Whitney that made processing cotton much easier |
Crittenden Plan | (1861) plan that might have prevented secession |
Cumberland Gap | was the principal route through the Appalachian Mts. |
Democratic-Republicans | political party formed by Jefferson and Madison. |
Doctrine of nullification | ideas that states had the right to reject any law passed Congress. |
Due process of law | everyone is entitled to be treated equally by law. |
Electoral college | a group of voters chosen be each state to elect the President and Vic-Pres. |
Embargo | prevents ships from entering or leaving ports. |
Erie Canal | (1825) waterway connected Great Lakes to New York City. |
Executive branch | that President and his cabinet. |
Factory system | method of building goods that included many workers and machines working in one place. |
Federalism | a system of sharing power between tha states and the national government. |
Foreign policy | relations with governments of other countries. |
Fort Sumter | beginning of the Civil War. |
Freedman’s Bureau | federal agency set up to help former slaves in the south. |
Free enterprise system | an economic system that has few government restrictions. |
Free-Soil Party | political party formed in 1846 to stop the spread of slavery. |
French and Indian War | (1754-1763) world-wide war between France and England. |
Fundamental Orders of Connecticut | Puritan plan of government in Connecticut in 1639. |
Great Awakening | religious revival, 1730-1740. |
Great Compromise | agreement reached during the constitutional convention that created the American system of government. |
Habeas Corpus | no one can held by the government without cause. |
Harpers Ferry | (1859) slave revolt. |
Impeachment | the process of accusing a government official of wrongdoing. |
6indentured servant | someone who agreed to work for an employer in exchanger for passage to the New World. |
Individual Rights | a personal liberty guaranteed by the Bill of Rights. |
Industrialization | an economy begins to be based on factories instead of farming |
Jacksonian Democracy | the idea that as many people as possible should be able to vote. |
Jamestown | first permanent English settlement in the New World in 1607. |
Judicial branch | the supreme court. |
Judicial Review | the idea that the Supreme Court has the right to review all laws made by Congress. |
King Philip’s War | war between Puritans and Indians,1675-1676 |
Legislative Branch | the House of Representatives and the Senate: the branch that makes the laws. |
Lewis and Clark expedition | group that explored the lands of the Louisiana purchase. |
Limited Government | everyone, even elected officials, must obey the laws. |
Louisiana Purchase | treaty with France in 1803 that allowed the U.S. to acquire vast extent of land. |
Lowell Mills | textile mills founded in 1826. |
Loyalist | someone loyal to England during the American Revolution. |
Manifest Destiny | idea that Americans had a right to all of the land between the east and west coasts. |
Mayflower Compact | (1620) agreement between Pilgrims to establish a government in the New World. |
Melting Pot | idea American culture is a blend of many different cultures. |
Mercantilism | economic system in which England controlled the trade of the countries. |
Mexican session | land in the Southwest given up by Mexico in 1848 after the Mexican War. |
Mexican War | war between U.S. and Mexico 1846-1848. |
Middle passage | journey of captured Africans to the New World to be sold as saleves. |
Militia | armed civilians who are supposed to defend their communities. |
Mormons | group of people who moved west to avoid religious persecution. |
Neutral | to not become allies with any country. |
New Jersey Plan | of government that the constitution convention considered. |
Northwest Territory | land that formed the states of Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, and Illinois |
Oregon Trail | trail from Missouri to Oregon. |
Patriot | someone who supported the American Revolution. |
Pilgrims | founded the Plymouth colony. |
Plantation | large farm that raises cash crops |
Political Party | group of people that supports a candidate running for a government position |
Popular Sovereignty | government in which the people have the power |
Puritans | settled the Massachusetts Bay Colony |
Radical Republicans | wanted to use the federal government to impose a new order on the South and wanted to grant citizenship rights to former slaves |
Ratification | the process of approving the Constitution |
Reconstruction | process of re-admitting southern states into the Union |
Representative Government | system if government in which officials are elected in order to represent the interests of the voters |
Republicanism | the idea that government should be based on the consent of the governed |
Republican Party | political party formed in 1854 |
Royal Colony | a colony ruled by governors appointed by the king |
Salutary Neglect | english policy of not interfering in the colonies |
Santa Fe Trail | a trail from Missouri to New Mexico |
Secession | withdrawal of southern states from the Union |
Second Great Awakening | religious revival, 1790-1800 |
Sectionalism | tension between North and South as each region placed their own interests above those of the country as a whole. |
Seneca Falls Convention | (1848) women’s rights meeting |
Separation of Powers | the division of government into three branches |
Shays’ Rebellion | (1787) uprising of farmers |
Slave codes | laws that regulated how slaves could be treated |
Slavery | a person was owned by another person in order to control their labor |
Sons of Liberty | secret society who opposed British polices |
States’ Rights | idea that the power of the states should not be trampled on by the national government |
Stono Rebellion | (1787) uprising of slaves |
Suffrage | the right to vote |
Tariff/Tax | fees charged on an economic activity |
Tariff of Abominations | (1828) tariff that made the Southerners angry |
Temperance Movement | people who thought that drinking alcohol was wrong |
Texas Revolution | (1836) Texas declared its dependence from Mexico |
Three-Fifths Compromise | agreement at the constitutional convention that allowed slaves to count a 3/5th of a white person |
Total War | Union strategy to attack not just enemy troops, but anything that helped the enemy: buildings, crops and rail lines |
Trail of Tears | enforced journey by Cherokee Indians in 1838-1839 from their lands in the east to the west |
Transcendentalism | philosophy that believed in the goodness of humans and which valued experience and intuition above reason and logic |
Triangle Trade | system of trade in which goods were exchanged between Europe, Africa, and the New World colonies |
Unalienable Right | right that the government cannot take away |
Unconstitutional | law that is forbidden by the Constitution |
Underground Railroad | series of escape routes for run away slaves |
Urbanization | growth of cities |
Virginia House of Burgesses | (1619) first representative government in the colonies |
Virginia Plan | plan of government that the constitutional convention considered |
Wart of 1812 | (18012-1815) conflict between England and U.S. |
Whig Party | political party formed in 1834 |
Whiskey Rebellion | (1794) protest by farmers |
Wilmot Proviso | (1846) proposal that would have banned slavery in any territory acquired from Mexico |
Women’s Right’s Movement | people who taught that the women should have the same rights as men |
XYZ Affair | (1797) incident in which French officials demanded a bribe from U.S. diplomats |