| Term | Definition |
| Reasons why colonists settled where they did (1607) | - either left to escape religious prosecution, or increase wealth and power outside Europe
- Jamestown was easy to defend from Spanish attacks from the sea
- new raw materials and crops, opening up window in trade market |
| Foundations of American Democracy | - Jamestown grew--1619, Virginia Assembly
two citizen representatives (burgesses) from each division. By 1640, known as Virginia House of Burgesses--first elected legislative body in US.
-individual worth, equality, majority rule-minority rights, free |
| Why did the Anti-Federalists oppose the ratification of the Constitution in 1787? | - concerned national government would become too powerful at the expense of state rights
- risk of oppresion |
| Thomas Paine and Common Sense (1776) | 2 major points:
1) independence from England
2) creation of a democratic republic |
| Declaration of Independence (1776) | - statement from Continental Congress, admitting freedom and urging dissolution of political ties with Europe |
| Shay’s Rebellion (1786-1787) | - armed rebellion in Massachusetts
- Daniel Shay led 4000 rebels in protest against economic and civil rights injustices
- one event that inspired the Articles of Confederation (later to become the US Constitution) |
| Louisiana Purchase (1803) | - land deal between US and France, where US acquired ~827,000 square miles west of the Mississippi
- $15 mil, 68 million francs.
- access to port city New Orleans |
| Missouri Compromise of 1820 | - proposed in 1819 by Missouri to become a slave state
- designated an imaginary line that separated the Union from the South
- admitted Missouri as a slave state, and Maine as free |
| Compromise of 1850 | - proposed by Sen Henry Clay, Jan 29, 1850
- Fugitive Slave Act amended
- slave trade (not slavery) in D.C. abolished
- left the decision of free/slave state up to popular sovereignty |
| Manifest Destiny | - 19th century concept
- belief that the US and its settlers were destined to expand across North America |
| Economic differences of the North and South prior to the Civil War | - North had a more diversified economy, based on free labor
- South, agrarian economy, mainly dependent on cotton sales and slave labor |
| Lincoln’s goal in the Civil War | - while Lincoln had slavery in mind he intended to preserve the Union |
| Seneca Falls Convention | - first women´s rights convention
- discussed social, civil, and religious conditions and rights
- Seneca Falls, NY, July 19-20, 1848 |
| Reconstruction Period | - period after Civil War intended to rebuild the nation´s alliances
- Ten-Percent Plan specified 10% of southern voters swore an oath to allegiance to the Union |
| President Andrew Johnson and the Reconstruction Period (1865) | - gave white South free hand in regulating their transition from slavery to free state
- offered no assistance to blacks in the South |
| Result of the Civil War | - amendments XIII, XIV, XV added to Constitution
- slavery abolished
- US now a single nation, economy and way of life now changed |
| Black Codes | - passed by Southern states after Civil War restricting African Americans to low wage work labor
- intended to restrict African American freedom |
| Native Americans | - welcome to serve in the Union but were not recognized as US citizens
- excluded from 14th Amendment giving African Americans the right to vote
- pressured to become ´civilized´ |
| Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 | - signed by Pres Chester A. Arthur, May 6, 1882
- prohibited all immigration of Chinese laborers |
| Indian Wars between 1860-1890 | - battles on the Western plains
- Natives never fought in organized European war, no formal weaponry or uniform
- thousands of Natives lost in the lower hand of battle |
| Homestead Act of 1862 | - several laws stating an applicant could acquire ownership of government or public land, typically called a "homestead"
- 160 acres in exchange for small filing free and five years residence before receiving ownership |
| Transcontinental Railroad | - 1,912 mile continuous railroad constructed between 1863-1869 connecting the east and west
- operated by Central Pacific and Union Pacific |
| Development of the Great Plains | - railroads built after the Civil War brought settlers into the Great American Desert
- settlement followed by emigration in times of drought |
| Three-fifths Compromise | - compromise reached in 1787
- count slaves as 3/5 of a person, meaning every five slaves counted as three |
| Reconstruction goals after the Civil War | - African Americans elected into political positions
- 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendment
- state/local legislation
- new state constitutions |
| Economic impact of the Civil War | - South had taken a devastating toll with 620,000 deaths (nation wide), destruction of the southern states
- war was extremely expensive |
| Tenements | - packed living areas in big cities, stacking up stories high
- poor living conditions |
| Women's’ Suffrage Movement | - fight to win the right to vote for women, and from their gain power to introduce reforms
- took over 100 years
- Susan B. Anthony |
| Battleship Maine | USS Maine
- American naval ship that sank in Havana Harbor
- blamed Spain for exploding and sinking the ship, killing 260 Americans |
| Why was the North worried about Great Britain during the Civil War? | - although they remained neutral throughout the war, the Union feared their support of the Confederacy's legitimacy. |
| Impressments | - the taking of men into military/naval status by force and without notice
- British Impressments of American sailors became major cause of War of 1812 |
| Trail of Tears | - series of forced relocations of Natives to the west of the Mississippi River under Indian Removal Act 1830
- 4000 of 16000 Natives died trudging over 1200 miles of land from disease, famine, and warfare |
| Why did the South secede from the Union? | - South Carolina succeeded on Dec. 24, 1860 to fight for ´state rights´ as Union cracked down on slavery reforms |
| Emancipation Proclamation | - proclamation and executive order by Pres Lincoln Jan 1, 1863
- declared slaves shall be set free inside rebellious states |
| Why could Lincoln not carry out his plan of Reconstruction? | - many believed his Reconstruction plan was too soft and lenient |
| Muckrakers | - used in the Progressive Era to characterize reform-minded American journalists who attacked established institutions and leaders as corrupt |
| Who had great job opportunities during WWI when they did not before the war? | - women stepped into the role of working class labor that were left vacant as many men left for the war |
| Treaty of Versailles | - 28 June 1919
- The Treaty ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers |
| Rapid Growth of Cities | - tenements
- immigration labor
- heavy industrialization and factory building |
| Why did US enter WWI? | - US broke diplomatic relations with Germany in favor of the Allies
- hours later American liner Housatonic was sunk by a German U-boat |
| League of Nations | - headquartered Geneva, Switzerland after WWI to provide a forum for resolving international disputes |
| Progressivism | - the support for or advocacy of improvement of society by reform
- based on the idea of progress |
| Americans reaction to WWI | - emerged from war as leader in military in industry
- fascinated to be involved in a war with Europe |
| Lusitania sinking | - sinking of the Cunard ocean liner RMS Lusitania occurred on Friday, 7 May 1915 during the First World War
- torpedoed by the German U-boat U-20 and sank in 18 minutes |
| Zimmermann Telegram | - was a secret diplomatic communication issued from the German Foreign Office in January 1917 that proposed a military alliance between Germany and Mexico
- leading cause involving US in World War, to put a halt to Germany´s prospects |
