Maryland Act of Toleration
1649, granted religious freedom to all Christians in Maryland
Coercive (Intolerable) Acts
1. Boston Port Act - closed the port of Boston until the tea was paid for 2. Massachusetts Government Act - gave the governor more power and took power away from the legislature by paying officials from the crown and not the colonial government 3. Administration of Justice Act - try royal officers accused of breaking Massachusetts law in Britain 4. Quartering Act - Britain can house troops anywhere 5. Massachusetts was declared to be officially in a state of rebellion
Jackson State
10 days after the Kent State shooting, a group of African-American student protestors at Jackson State University were fired on by National Guardsmen. 2 were killed and 12 injured. The event did not cause the same national outrage as the Kent State shootings because the victims were black.
Mayflower Compact
1620, a social contract for the governance of Plymouth colony. It was the first document of self-governance in America. It was proposed by William Bradford.
Bill of Rights
10 amendments immediately passed through the first Congress. 1. Free speech, religion, press, assembly, petition 2. Bear arms 3. No quartering/billeting of soldiers in private citizens' homes 4. Unreasonable search and seizure 5. Rights of the accused: indictments, double jeopardy, self-incrimination, due process, just compensation 6. Fair and speedy trial, confrontation by witnesses, and the right to call witnesses on one's own behalf 7. Jury trial 8. Cruel and unusual punishment 9. All rights not enumerated are retained by the people 10. All powers not enumerated are retained by the states
Abraham Lincoln
16th president of the US. He was born in Kentucky but lived in Illinois, where he ran against Stephen Douglas for the senate seat and lost but had very successful debate. He was against the expansion of slavery, but not publicly for abolition, which helped him get the presidential nomination over William Seward.
Sugar Act
1764, Prime Minister Grenville passed this act to raise revenue to pay for the defense of the expanded empire. It differed from previous acts because the goal was to generate revenue. It made colonists angry, but not that angry, because it only really affected the merchants involved in the trade of sugar.
Stamp Act
1765 while Grenville was in power, the first direct tax on the American colonists with the sole purpose of raising revenue. It imposed a tax on all paper. It was met with strong resistance, particularly in Boston, where the Sons of Liberty were founded. In Virginia, Patrick Henry introduced 7 denunciations of the Stamp Act in the House of Burgesses. In October of 1765 delegates from 9 colonies met at the Stamp Act Congress and organized a boycott of British goods. In 1766 the Stamp Act was overturned when Grenville was replaced by Lord Rockinham (not so much to do with the boycotts).
Boston Massacre
1770, friction in Boston between the standing British army and the colonists led to a stand off in which 3 colonists were killed. Tension had been boiling up to this point without major incident. Bostonians surrounded a royal building and pelted the soldiers with snow balls and rocks, so the soldiers really acted in self defense. Nevertheless, Samuel Adams made a big stink about it, spreading fear of the oppressive British government to other colonies (if they are shooting in Boston, what's stopping them from shooting here?).
Quebec Act
1774 extended the boundary of Quebec to the Ohio River, established Roman Catholicism as the official religion, and had no electorate. The Catholicism was an insult to the New England Puritans and the extension was an insult to the expanding southern states. It was a message to the colonists that if they did not stay in line, Parliament would take away all of their liberties.
state constitutions
1776 11 states set up constitutions. Almost all of bicameral legislatures, judiciaries, weak executive branch, no hereditary titles
John Jay
1784 appointed the Secretary of Foreign Affairs. He tried to guide America to a place of respect, but mostly failed because the Articles of Confederation did not give him enough power to do anything.
Shays' Rebellion
1786 economic depression and high taxes intended to pay off the state's war debt led Massachusetts farmers (led by Daniel Shays) to violently shut down courts to prevent foreclosure or condemning people to debtor's prison. It was one of the major events in the Critical Period that provoked the Annapolis Convention.
Annapolis Convention
1786, only 5 states showed up. They decided to call for a convention of all of the states to meet the following summer in Philadelphia to revise the Articles of Confederation.
Constitutional Convention
1787. George Washington was elected to preside over the proceedings, bringing legitimacy to the meeting. A bunch of new plans for the government were presented, and eventually the Constitution was hammered out.
Neutrality Proclamation
1793, announcement by George Washington that America is neutral in the conflict between Great Britain and France, and any citizen aiding one of the countries could face legal action. It was critical because the United States was too young and tired and broke to get dragged into another conflict.
Jay's Treaty
1794 John Jay was sent to England to deal with the rising tensions between Britain and the US, mostly caused by impressment. They came up with Jay's Treaty, which resolved some of the conflicts remaining from the Revolutionary War. Britain agreed to withdraw its soldiers from the forts it was occupying in the Northwest, arbitrate property disputes with former Loyalists and Canada, and improve trade relations. It did not address impressment.
Pinckney's Treaty
1795, a treaty between the US and Spain resolving the conflict over the border of Florida and opening the Mississippi to navigation by US citizens. They agreed to not incite native tribes into war with the other and to not detain the other's citizens for entering their territory.
XYZ Affair
1798, three French officials demanded payment from the US in exchange for peaceful relations. It was taken as a monumental insult against the US and created public demand for war with France. It led to the Quasi-War.
Second Great Awakening
1800-1840, people start to believe that salvation is available to everyone, and the clergy don't have to play a role in this. The idea that if you are a good Christian you will do what you can to change the world in order to prepare for salvation changed the way people looked at things and inspired Jacksonian Age reformers. The movement was largely inspired by the teachings of Charles Grandison Finney.
Louisiana Purchase
1803, Jefferson purchased the Louisiana Territory for $15million, doubling the size of the United States. This was contrary to Jefferson's belief in strict interpretation of the Constitution, but he argued that his treaty making powers included the ability to purchase land. He could not wait for Congress to make the deal because Napoleon might have changed his mind.
Essex Junto
1804, some New Englanders saw Western expansion as a threat to their position in the Union and tried to secede. They chose Burr to run for governor of New York and lead the movement, while Hamilton ran an aggressive opposition to it. When Burr lost, he challenged Hamilton to a fatal duel.
Chesapeake-Leopard Affair
1807, a British ship, the Leopard, attacked an unarmed American ship, the Chesapeake, and impressed its sailors. The difference between this attack and others was that it occurred 10 miles off the coast of Virginia. It was one of the major events leading up to the War of 1812.
Embargo Act
1807, it cut off trade in an effort to protect American ships and keep the country out of the war between Britain and France. It was an utter failure, as it wrecked the economy, allowed lawlessness to grow, and led to an increase in political dissension. Exports fell by around $80 million, crop prices dropped, and a lot of shippers and sailors found themselves unemployed. Jefferson sent an army and navy to enforce the blockade and declared the Lake Champlain region in New York in a state of insurrection.
Fletcher v Peck
1810, In the Yazoo Land Scandal, Georgia officials who voted for the sale of Yazoo lands had been bribed. Opponents of the sale thought that the transfer of land was unconstitutional, and those who received the land titles felt that public misconduct should have nothing to do with their property rights. The Supreme Court decided in favor of the landowners, declaring the transfer of titles to be binding contracts despite the bribery. This was one of the Marshall Court's biggest cases showing its support of property rights and it extended the contract clause to protect young businesses. The case was also a demonstration of the Supreme Court's right to invalidate state laws that conflict with the Constitution.
Tippecanoe
1811, battle between the American Indian Confederation led by Tecumseh and the US army led by William Henry Harrison. The US set out to preemptively strike the confederacy amidst growing rumors about war, but while they were camping by the Tippecanoe and Wabash Rivers near the Shawnee settlement Prophetstown, they were attacked by the native forces. Even though they were surprised, the US won. The confederacy never recovered, and rumors that the British were aiding the natives spread, adding to the tension between the US and GB.
Battle of New Orleans
1815, 10,000 strong British army attacked New Orleans. Jackson assembled a ragtag army that included French pirates, Choctaw Indians, western militia, and freed slaves to defend the city but was still outnumbered. American losses totaled 13, while the British lost 3,326. Andrew Jackson achieved fame and public support, even though the Treaty of Ghent had been signed two weeks earlier (word hadn't reached New Orleans).
Era of Good Feelings
1816-1824. There was only one major political party during Monroe's presidency, and he tried to lead America as if everyone had the same common interests. The era was marked by the Panic of 1819 and the Missouri Compromise, which make one question whether or not the feelings were actually good. At the same time, however, there was an artistic and cultural revival.
Rush-Bagot Agreement
1818 disarmament treaty between Britain and the US that demilitarized the Great Lakes. It was the first disarmament agreement in modern times.
Dartmouth v Woodward
1819, Dartmouth was a private college with a royal charter during the colonial period. In 1816, the board of directors passed amendments to the charter, making the school public which would fundamentally change the nature of the school. The issue then became: is a charter a contract? Does the state have the right to amend charters? The Court ruled in favor of Dartmouth and declared that charters are contracts and thus protected under Article 1 Section 10 of the Constitution. States cannot interfere with charters or contracts. This case affirmed national supremacy over states. Its biggest impact is that it encouraged investment, because investors and entrepreneurs could be assured that while states could regulate business they cannot fundamentally alter them (this decision came during the Early Industrial Revolution).
McCulloch v Maryland
1819, Maryland passed a law taxing any bank within the state that did not have a state charter. The only bank in Maryland at the time to not have one was the Second Bank of the United States, which was very unpopular. A teller at the Baltimore branch of the Second National Bank (McCulloch) refused to pay the tax, raising the issue of whether a state has the right to tax a national institution and whether or not the national bank was constitutional. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of McCulloch, determining that under the elastic clause Congress has the authority to create a national bank to manage the nation's capital. The states have no power by taxation or other means to control the laws enacted by Congress. This greatly expanded the power of Congress and the national government in general. It affirmed that national laws have supremacy over state laws. Had the court not ruled in favor of McCulloch, the national government would have been virtually powerless.
Adams-Onis (Transcontinental) Treaty
1819. The US acquired Spanish-held Florida. Spain was facing revolts in other colonies and didn't want to deal with the now-more-powerful US pushing to expand into its territory.
Cohens v Virginia
1821, The Cohens brothers sold DC lottery tickets in Virginia, where the sale of lottery tickets was illegal. They were arrested, convicted, and appealed to the Supreme Court. Virginia claimed that the Supreme Court did not have the right to review criminal cases settled by state law, even when those state laws interfered with acts of Congress. The Court ruled in favor of Virginia and upheld the conviction of the Cohens brothers. Even though the Supreme Court only upheld the decision of the state court, the fact that it heard the case affirmed the Court's jurisdiction in all appellate cases.
Gibbons v Ogden
1824, Both Gibbons and Ogden wanted to operate steam boats in the New York waters between New York and New Jersey. Gibbons had a license to do so from Congress, while Ogden had been granted a monopoly from the state of New York. Ogdens sued Gibbons in New York, where he won. Gibbons appealed the decision, raising the issue: is navigation commerce? Does the United States have an exclusive power over commerce, or is it shared between Congress and the states? The Supreme Court ruled in favor of Gibbons, broadening the definition of commerce to include all forms of business. This case is a very big deal! Now Congress can use the Commerce Clause to regulate nearly everything. A farmer growing wheat in his backyard for personal use can be regulated because that affects the global wheat supply, affecting commerce between states.
Maysville Road Veto
1830 Congress approved funding for a stretch of turnpike that would be part of the Cumberland Road. The problem was that the whole project took place in Kentucky, and Jackson felt that it was not the business of the national government to involve itself in intrastate affairs.
Peggy Eaton Affair
1830-1831. The widowed Peggy Timberlake married Senator John Henry Eaton without waiting for the appropriate mourning time. She was snubbed by Calhoun's wife and society in general, which made Jackson upset because his wife had been snubbed, leading him to disregard his cabinet and turn to the kitchen cabinet instead.
Cherokee Nation v Georgia
1831 the Cherokee Nation sued Georgia. They had adopted a constitution and asserted sovereignty over their land. Georgia responded by abolishing tribal rule and claiming jurisdiction over the Cherokees. Then, gold was found on their reserve and there was a rush of settlers. The Cherokees sued to keep them off of their land, and the Supreme Court sided with them saying that state governments have no right to ignore federal treaties. Jackson was angry about this and challenged Marshall to enforce his decision.
Force Bill
1833, empowered Jackson to use national troops to enforce the collection of the taxes from the Tariff of 1832
Specie Circular
1836 law requiring public land payments be made in hard currency. Jackson intended for it to protect the common man against the paper pushers who made money off of him, but it really just resulted in the Panic of 1837.
Gag Rule
1836-1844, prevented any discussion of slavery on the floor of the House
Charles River Bridge v Warren Bridge
1837 The Charles River Bridge Company had been granted a charter to build a bridge connecting Boston and Cambridge in 1785, and in 1828 the Commonwealth of Massachusetts contracted another company to build the Warren Bridge connecting the same cities very close in proximity to the Charles River Bridge. The Warren Bridge would be a toll bridge until the cost was met, at which point it would be free and public, wrecking the Charles River Bridge Company's business. The CRBC sued claiming that their contract had been violated. The Court (now under Chief Justice Taney) ruled in favor of Warren Bridge. A state has a right to interfere with a monopoly if it is in the best interests of the public. The decision was a major victory for states' rights and set a precedent for the government's ability to regulate and challenge monopolies when they conflict with the common good.
Aroostook County War
1838-9, conflict over the Canadian-Maine border. There was no declared war or fighting between soldiers, but there was some civilian fighting. It died down with diplomatic intervention and officially ended with the Webster-Ashburton Treaty.
Webster-Ashburton Treaty
1839 awarded the US 7/12 of the disputed territory in Maine and New Brunswick and adjusted the US-Canadian border to be between Lake of the Woods and Lake Superior. The US agreed to station ships of the coast of West Africa to deal with illegal slave trading ships carrying the American flag. Did not resolve the issue of the US-Canadian border in the Pacific Northwest
Brook Farm
1840s, it was founded by George Ripley in Massachusetts and inspired by transcendentalism. Participants received a share of the profits from the farm in exchange for performing an equal share of work and had time for intellectual pursuits.
Creole Affair
1841, slaves on a ship sailing from Virginia to Louisiana revolted and sailed to the Bahamas, where they were free under British law. It caused political tensions between the US and Britain.
Buchanan-Pakenham Treaty
1846 settled disputes between the US and GB over the Oregon Territory, which they had previously jointly owned. Set border at the 49th parallel. Negotiated between US Secretary of State James Buchanan and British envoy Richard Pakenham.
Oneida
1848 religious commune founded by John Humphrey Noyes in Oneida, New York. They believed that Jesus had already returned and it was possible to bring salvation to Earth by being perfect. It dissolved in 1881.
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
1849, ended the Mexican American War. It was negotiated even though Polk had recalled his diplomats (Nicholas Trist) from Mexico. Mexico ceded the land that Polk had originally hoped to buy, but for $15million and the assumption of $3.25million in American citizens' claims against the Mexican government.
Gadsden Purchase
1853 purchase of the territory for railroads that filled in the boundary of the Continental US as we know it today
Dred Scott v Stanford
1857 Dred Scott was the slave of a military officer that lived in a free state for four years without knowing it. When he realized that he legally should have been freed or sold by living in a free state, he sued for his freedom. Taney ruled that Scott had no right to sue in court, that the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional, and that Congress had no right to exclude slavery from the territories. The only citizens were white men. This ruling was intended to settle the slavery issue for once and for all, but instead it intensified sectional disputes, undermined potential areas of compromise, and negated for many the moral authority of the judiciary.
Homestead Act
1862 gave 160 acres of land to anyone who was willing to live on it and improve it for five years
Morrill Act
1862, provided funding for agricultural and mechanical arts colleges in the West. It was one of 3 major acts in 1862 that encouraged Western settlement.
Sand Creek Massacre
1864 massacre in which militia and US soldiers killed hundreds of Cheyenne and Arapaho men, women, and children. It resulted in wide-scale resentment against white society, and in response to that the US government expanded the military in the area. By 1869, the surviving Plains Indians were forced out of the territory or to reservations.
American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA)
1869, founded under leadership of Lucy Stone in response to the division over the 15th amendment. It supported the 15th amendment and had closer ties to the civil rights movement. It supported other women's rights issues such as free love, the right to own property, the right to divorce, etc.
Munn v Illinois
1877 The Illinois government enacted regulations of railroads, warehouses, and public utilities to protect the farmers who were taking a big hit in the Gilded Age. The railroads and grain warehouses fought back, claiming that Granger Laws infringed on Congress' right to regulate interstate commerce, that they interfered with contracts, and that they interfered with the 14th amendment. The Court ruled in favor of the states, saying that the Illinois state legislature had the right to regulate business affected with public interest within its states. This case had significant implications for the power of states to regulate commerce. It was a major check on the runaway power of big business.
Bland-Allison Act
1878, overturned the Coinage Act of 1873 (Crime of '73) and returned to bimetallic money by tying the dollar to silver and gold as opposed to simply gold. It was intended to boost the economy, but it actually disrupted it more because the price of silver was unreliable and dropping rapidly as more was discovered.
Margaret Sanger
1879-1966. She was immersed in the political and intellectual world of Greenwich Village, where she used her knowledge as a nurse to be an activist for women's health and sex education. In 1914 charges were brought against her for breaking obscenity laws in the publication of a pamphlet, Family Limitation. In 1915 as she was facing charges public sentiment in her favor got her released. With the help of her sister, she opened the first birth control clinic in the US. It was shut down 9 days later by police. In the interwar years she toured the world lecturing about birth control. In 1952, she opened Planned Parenthood and served as its president. A few months after Griswold v Connecticut she died.
Pendleton Act
1883, also known as the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act, provided that selection of government employees be made on basis of competitive exams rather than party affiliation. It also made it illegal to fire or demote someone for political reasons. To enforce this, it stipulated the creation of the Civil Service Commission. (While Arthur was president, in response to massive public support of civil service reform).
Wabash v Illinois
1886 Illinois passed a law regulating prices between short and long haul railroad rates. The railroads sued to stop it, claiming that it was an infringement on contracts and the exclusive power of Congress to pass laws affecting interstate commerce. The Court ruled against Illinois, claiming that it had no right to regulate long haul rates. The case narrowed the precedent set by Munn v Illinois, but it resulted in the creation of the Interstate Commerce Commission (by Congress) to address interstate fares.
Haymarket Square
1886 in Chicago. A bomb exploded near policemen who were trying to disperse a labor rally in Haymarket Square. The bomb killed 7 policemen and injured 70 people, and police started firing into the crowd killing and injuring more. It damaged the name of labor unions.
Dawes Act
1887 allotted reservation land to individual Native Americans with the promise of the deed in 25 years (another way to control them)
Interstate Commerce Act
1887. Created the Interstate Commerce Commission to monitor railroads to make sure that they publicized shipping rates and did not discriminate against short haul/long haul fare. But the Act did not empower the government to fix specific rates.
Sherman Silver Purchase Act
1890, raised the amount of silver that the government was required to buy (to an additional 4.5million bullions monthly) in order to boost inflation and allow debtors to repay their debt with cheaper dollars. It was passed in response to the demands of farmers and miners, as well as silver mining companies. It was repealed in 1893 as people exchanged paper dollars backed by both gold and silver for gold dollars, depleting the treasury's gold supply.
Sherman Antitrust Act
1890, tried to curb concentrations of economic power that reduced competition between businesses (aka monopolies and trusts). One provision restricted practices that would hinder trade between states or with other countries, and another outlawed attempts to monopolize.
McKinley Tariff
1890. It raised the tariffs to almost 50%, intending to protect domestic industry from foreign competitions. A lot of people suffered the cost of the increase in the price of goods.
Homestead Strike
1892. The workers of the Carnegie steel manufacturing plant in Homestead, Pennsylvania went on strike. The workers seized the plant, but within days many were dead and in weeks their union was dissolved. It showed the limited ability of organized labor to change their working conditions, and laborers in the steel industry for the next forty years would not be able to organize effectively.
US v E.C. Knight
1895 The Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890 tried to curb the power of businesses that reduced competition between states and other countries. The American Sugar Refining Company tried to monopolize the sugar industry, and it gained control of a competing EC Knight. President Cleveland directed the government to sue the monopoly. The issue arose as to whether Congress had the right to suppress a monopoly involved in manufacturing. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of E.C. Knight. It declared that the national government had no right to regulate the monopolization of a manufacturing industry, because it is a local and not interstate commerce. This limited the power of Congress to regulate manufacturing. It was a precedent, but it was not very strong, because later cases that dealt with individual parts of the manufacturing process decided that the government did have the right to regulate it.
Plessy v Ferguson
1896 Homer Plessy was the main actor in a carefully organized protest of the Separate Car Law in Louisiana. He was 1/8 black, and he was asked to leave the white section of a train and upon refusal was arrested. Plessy argued that the law was in violation of the 13th and 14th amendments. The Court ruled against Plessy, saying that the law had nothing to do with slavery and that segregation was ok as long as it was equal. This case established the precedent of "separate but equal" that was used to justify segregation.
Open Door Policy
1898, when partition of China by European powers and Japan (following Chinese/Japanese conflict over Korea) seemed imminent, US felt its commercial interests in China threatened, Hay sent notes to major powers asking them to declare that they would uphold Chinese territorial and administrative integrity and would not interfere with the free use of the ports within their spheres of influence, policy stated that all European nations and the US could trade with China, in reply, each nation tried to evade Hay's request, taking the position that it could not commit itself until the other nations had complied, however, by July 1900, Hay announced that each of the powers had granted consent in principle
Adam Smith
18th century economist famous for laissez-faire. He wrote The Wealth of Nations in 1776, which explained laissez-faire in marked contrast to the previous idea of mercantilism and strong government involvement in the economy
Hay-Pauncefort Treaty
1901 between US and GB nullifying the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty and giving the US the right to create/control canal connecting Pacific to Atlantic
Platt Amendment
1901 gave the US the right to intervene in Cuba to protect life liberty and property, basically overturning the Teller Amendment. The US also set up a military government and made its withdrawal contingent on the Cubans accepting the Platt Amendment
Downes v Biddell
1901, Downes was a merchant against the import tariff to Cuba, if Cuba is a territory of the US, why must it still be treated as a separate country?, a case in which Supreme Court decided whether US territories were subject to the protections of the Constitution, question is "does the Constitution follow the flag?", resulting decision narrowly held that the Constitution did not necessarily apply to territories, instead, Congress had jurisdiction to create law within territories, particularly dealing with revenue, that would not be allowed for proper states within the union
Anthracite Coal Strike
1902, strike by the United Mine Workers of America in Pennsylvania. They went on strike for higher wages, shorter workdays, and the recognition of their union. The strike threatened to shut down the winter full supply for all major cities. It was the first major strike in which the national government intervened as a neutral arbitrator.
Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty
1903 established Panama Canal Zone (two weeks after Panamanian Revolution)
Bureau of Corporations
1903, agency concerned with publicizing the actions of corporations
Elkins Act
1903, stated that railroads were not allowed to give rebates to favored companies
Roosevelt Corollary
1904; because of the Monroe Doctrine, the US would step in as a police force if there was an instance of wrongdoing or impotence in the Americas
Hepburn Act
1906, gave the ICC the power to set maximum railroad rates and view railroads' financial records. It extended the ICC's authority to include bridges, terminals, ferries, sleeping cars, express companies, and oil pipelines.
Meat Inspection Act
1906, worked to prevent adulterated or misbranded meat and meat products from being sold as food and to ensure that animals were slaughtered and processed under sanitary conditions.
Gentlemen's Agreement
1907 (informal)/1908 (formal) agreement between the US and Japan to halt Japanese immigration into the US. Japan was concerned about losing its good strong men, and the US was concerned about having not white people
Muller v Oregon
1908 Muller was a laundry owner in Portland, and he claimed that an Oregon law setting a ten-hour workday violated his 14th Amendment right to contract. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of Oregon and upheld the law. This was the first time that the Supreme Court deviated from using the letter of the law and precedent in making its decision. It included relevant social facts in its consideration, which set a precedent that gives the Supreme Court much more power.
Payne-Aldrich Tariff
1909, accomplished the amazing feat of frustrating opponents and proponents of high tariffs. It was a mash up of two bills, one lowering tariffs on certain goods and another raising them, and it also provided for the creation of a tariff board to study the problem. The tariff contributed to making Taft really unpopular.
Mann-Elkins Act
1910, extended the authority of the ICC to regulate the telecommunication industry. It strengthened the long-and-short-haul clause of the Interstate Commerce Act and created the United States Commerce Court for the adjudication of railway disputes (court abolished in 1913).
Mann Act
1910, intended to address prostitution, immorality, and human trafficking, but its vague language allowed for selective prosecutions. In was amended in 1978 and 1986 to apply only to the transportation of people for prostitution of illegal sexual acts.
Triangle Shirtwaist Company Fire
1911, fire in which 146 garment workers died because they were locked in the factory by their employers. It was the most destructive event in New York City until 9/11. It created a stronger public demand for better conditions in factories, especially for women and children.
17th Amendment
1913 direct election of senators
16th Amendment
1913 income tax
Underwood Simmons Tariff
1913, reimposed the federal income tax and lowered basic tariff rates from 40% to 25%
Federal Reserve Act
1913, set up the Federal Reserve (new central banking system) and gave it the authority to issue Federal Reserve Notes as legal tender
Assassination of the Archduke
1914 Archduke Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary was assassinated by a Bosnian nationalist working for the Serbian-controlled Black Hand. Austria-Hungary was outraged and tightened its control over Serbia, triggering a system of military alliances to come to fight. Austria-Hungary allied with Germany, and both had intentions of expanding into the Balkans. Russia wanted to expand into the Balkans itself, so it mobilized troops to halt them. France was allied with Russia to defend them in the event of a conflict and so joined the war. When the Schlieffen Plan was enacted and German troops traveled through neutral Belgium, Britain joined to come to Belgium's defense.
Federal Trade Commission
1914, mission is the promotion of consumer protection and elimination/prevention of harmful business practices (i.e. coercive monopoly). The Act establishing it was one of Wilson's biggest acts against trusts, and since its creation it has enforced the Clayton Act and other consumer protection acts
Clayton Anti-Trust Act
1914, specified specific prohibited anti-competition conduct: three-level enforcement scheme, exemptions, and remedial measure. It strengthened the Sherman Anti-Trust Act and exempted unions from being classified as trusts.
Lusitania
1915 British civilian passenger ship with 128 Americans on it was sunk by a German submarine. Germany stopped unrestricted submarine warfare with the knowledge that resumption would mean the entrance of the US on the side of the Allies.
"Birth of a Nation"
1915 silent drama film chronicling the relationship of two families in the Civil War and Reconstruction Era. It portrayed black men as unintelligent rapists and the KKK as heroic. It was used as a recruiting film for the KKK, and President Wilson had it showed it the White House.
Workingmen's Compensation Act
1916 enabled federal employees to get compensated for lost wages due to a work related injury
Sussex Pledge
1916 promise by Germany to the US to change its unrestricted submarine warfare policy by not targeting passenger ships, not sinking unarmed merchant ships, and not sinking armed merchant ships without first removing the passengers and crew to safety. It was made after a French passenger ship, the Sussex, was torpedoed and President Wilson declared that if Germany did not change its policies the US would enter the war.
Federal Farm Loan Act
1916, increased credit available to family farmers by creating a farm loan board, twelve regional farm loan banks, and tens of farm loan associations. Farmers could borrow up to half of the value of their land and 20% of the value of their improvements and were paid off over 5 to 40 years. Borrowers purchased shares of the National Farm Loan Association, meaning it lent money from farmer to farmer.
Keating-Owen Child Labor Act
1916, prohibited the sale in interstate commerce of goods manufactured by children in the United States
Unrestricted Submarine Warfare
1917 Germany announced that it would resume unrestricted submarine warfare, inciting the US to join the Allies. Unrestricted submarine warfare was attack of ships without making sure that they were the enemy and that there were not civilians on board.
18th Amendment
1919 prohibition of alcohol
19th Amendment
1920 women can vote
19th Amendment
1920, extended right to vote to women
Fordney-McCumber Traiff
1922 tariff that was intended to protect factories and farms. Americans wanted to have economic self-sufficiency and to preserve the benefits of increased wartime demand. It raised the tariff to an average of 38.5% for dutiable imports and 14% overall. It also caused US trading partners to raise their own tariffs.
Nine-Power Treaty
1922, affirmed the sovereignty of China as per the Open Door Policy. It lacked any enforcement provisions, so when it was violated by Japan later on no one could do anything about it.
Adkins v Children's Hospital
1923 decision that federal minimum wage legislation for women was an unconstitutional violation of liberty of contract
Dawes Plan
1924 plan to collect war reparations from Germany. The idea was to get capital flowing.
Scopes Trial
1925, John Scopes was accused of violating Tennessee's Butler Act that prohibited the teaching of evolution in public schools. He was convicted but released on a technicality, and the majority of public opinion sided against preventing the teaching of evolution.
Kellogg-Brian Pact
1928 agreement between US, France, Britain, Italy, Japan, Germany, Belgium, Canada, etc. renouncing all war and declaring to avoid using it as an instrument of national policy. The goal was of the US was to avoid entanglement in the post-WWI European alliance system.
Young Plan
1929/30 plan that replaced the Dawes Plan when it became clear that Germany could not meet the annual reparation payments. The payments were reduced to $8billion over a period of 59 years. It was more flexible and included an unconditional portion and a conditional/postponable portion. It also included plans for an international bank of settlements to handle reparations transfers. Between the time of the agreement and formal adoption of the plan came the Crash of 1929, and the US had to recall loans from Europe that made the plan possible. Also, the downfall of US trade crashed the rest of the world.
Stimson Doctrine
1932 declaration to Japan and China that the US would not recognize territorial changes that were executed by force following Japan's seizure of Manchuria
Reciprocal Trade Agreement
1934, as long as other countries agree to do it, the US cuts tariffs in half
Wagner Act/NLRB
1935 law limiting the means with which employers may treat workers in the private sector who create labor unions, engage in collective bargaining, or participate in strikes and other forms of concerted activity in support of their demands. It defined and prohibited unfair labor practices (interfering with rights to freedom of association, to join labor organizations, to collectively bargain; interfering with the labor unions; discriminating against employees to encourage or discourage acts of support for a labor union; discriminating against employees who file charges or testify; refusing to bargain with representatives of employees)
Social Security Act
1935, a social insurance program funded through payroll taxes. It provided benefits to retirees and the unemployed. This was the first time the government really took responsibility for the welfare of the people. It was not effective during the depression because it took several years to collect enough money to fund it.
WPA
1935, the largest and most ambitious New Deal agency. It employed millions of unskilled workers to construct public buildings and roads, redistribute food clothing and housing. It was also unique in that it operated arts, drama, media, and literacy projects. At its peak in 1938, it employed 3million men and some women and youth. Between 1935 and 1943, it provided 8million jobs. Workers could not be paid for more than 30 hours a week.
Quarantine Speech
1937 speech by FDR in which he warned the country of the growing unrest around the globe and the need to contain it. He called the acts of war "an epidemic of world lawlessness" and urged the people to preserve peace and morality. He promised to prevent war.
Munich Conference
1938 conference at which the Munich Agreement was made permitting Nazi annexation of Czechoslovakia's Sudetenland. It was signed by Germany, France, Britain, and Italy, but not Czechoslovakia
Fair Labor Standards Act
1938, established a national minimum wage, guaranteed time and a half for overtime, and prohibited oppressive child labor. It gave protection for unions and forced corporations to recognize the collective bargaining rights of workers, making unions a force to be reckoned with.
Second AAA
1938, replaced the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1933 that had been found unconstitutional. It kept almost all of the same provisions, but made funding come from the federal government instead of a processor's tax.
Smith Act
1940 law that made it illegal for any group or individual to advocate the forcible overthrow of the federal government. The law required noncitizens living in the US to register with the government. It was used to weaken the American Communist Party. The Supreme Court overturned a number of convictions under the law during the 1950s.
Atlantic Charter
1941 agreement between the US and Britain articulating shared goals to end territorial aggression and war. 15 other countries signed on, all opposed to Nazi Germany. The document cleared the way for the later formation of the Allied Powers.
Lend-Lease Act
1941, allowed the US to sell, lend, or give war materials to nations whose defense was important for US security. Roosevelt offered lend-lease to the Soviet Union and Britain.
Internment of Japanese-Americans
1942 began. The US government relocated and 110,000 Japanese Americans and Japanese who lived along the Pacific coast. 62% of those were American citizens. FDR authorized the internment in February of 1942, putting in place "exclusion" areas.
Bataan Death March
1942 march of 76,000 American and Filipino prisoners of war after the Battle of Bataan in the Philippines during WWII. It was characterized by physical abuse and murder inflicted on both prisoners and civilians.
GI Bill
1944 act that provided a range of benefits for WWII veterans including low-cost mortgages, loans to start a business or farm, money for tuition and living expenses to attend college, and one year of unemployment compensation. The returning veterans were not just thrown back into society - they had time to readjust.
"Iron Curtain"
1946 speech given by Churchill in Fulton, Missouri in which Churchill talked about the divide between Eastern and Western Europe (as if an "iron curtain" separated democracy from communism). It showed that the Cold War was on.
National Security Act
1947 act that placed the various branches of the armed forces under one administrative unit, called the National Military Establishment (renamed Department of Defense in 1949) that is overseen by the secretary of defense (replaced secretary of war).
"To Secure These Rights"
1947 civil rights report that identified disparities in racial treatment across the country and called for a series of measures to improve race relations that included police professionalization, federal protection of black voting rights, enforcement of antilynching laws, and an end to segregation in schools, housing, and public accommodations. Truman did not address most of the recommendations, but ordered the desegregation of the armed forces in 1948.
Marshall Plan
1947 large-scale financial aid plan to rebuild Europe. The US gave $12.4 billion in aid to Western European nations, and it was basically to prevent the economy from getting bad enough to inspire communist revolts.
Point Four Program
1949 technical assistance program that shared US knowledge with other countries in various fields to show that democracy and capitalism were good
NSC-68
1950 report recommending military over diplomatic action. It related to Kennan's warning that the Soviet Union understands muscle instead of reason. It was the start of the military industrial complex.
7 Years War
1954 great global war (fought on NA, EUR, and Asia) pitting Britain and Prussia against France, Spain, and Austria. It decided the future of the territory between the Appalachian Mountains and the Mississippi River. It also laid the foundation for the conflict between colonists and the British. Colonial leaders were involved in deciding the strategy against the French and Indians. Fighting between French Canadians and Virginians were the first blows (basically it was started by George Washington). The first two years, GB did horribly. It ended with a complete victory for the British. The war was one of the major things that forced the colonies to work together.
Brown v Board of Education of Topeka
1954 landmark case that overturned the doctrine of separate but equal that had been sanctioned in Plessy. Segregation has no place in public education.
Suez Crisis
1956 Nasser decided to nationalize the Suez Canal after the US and Britain withdrew an offer to fund the building of the Aswan Dam (which was in response to Egypt forming ties with the SU and recognizing the People's Republic of China). Israel invaded Egypt and Britain and France started to bomb it, but SU and US forced the Europeans out and Israel was pressured to withdraw.
Interstate Highway System
1956, Eisenhower authorized interstate highway system (largest public works project in the world). It reduced the travel time from Washington DC to San Francisco from 62 days to 72 hours. There are 46,300 miles of interstate highways and 55,000 bridges to help traffic flow. The price tag was $129 billion
Eisenhower Doctrine
1957 Eisenhower demanded military and financial resources to aid Middle Eastern powers attempting to fend off communism, leading the US to have a high level of involvement in the Middle East.
Sputnik
1957 the first artificial satellite to successfully orbit the Earth. America appeared to be losing the space race.
Landrum-Griffin Act
1959, regulated labor unions. Unions have to hold secret elections, union members are guaranteed freedom of speech, members of the Communist Party and convicted felons cannot hold union office, limit ability of unions to put subordinate bodies in a trusteeship, put in place minimum standards before a union can expel or take other disciplinary actions against members
U-2
1960, the SU shot down an American U-2 reconnaissance plane. The US tried to pass off the mission as a weather flight, but had to admit several weeks later that it was not. A few weeks later Eisenhower and Khrushchev met in Paris for a previously arranged meeting, and Khrushchev left early pissed off.
Freedom Rides
1961 interstate bus rides that confronted the desegregation (or lack of it) in interstate travel. It was organized by CORE and SNCC. The riders went from Washington D.C. to New Orleans. Some riders were arrested in Virginia. As they went farther South, it became more violent. An angry mob firebombed one of the buses in Anniston, Alabama. The second bus was attacked in Birmingham, and most of the riders flew to New Orleans because they felt that they had brought sufficient attention to the issue. SNCC recruited replacement Riders to finish the journey, but they were arrested. A second wave of replacements travelled from Birmingham to New Orleans by executive order from JFK and they were accompanied with National Guard protection. It ended in Jackson, Mississippi, where the Riders were arrested. JFK ordered the ICC to fully adhere to Supreme Court rulings that desegregated interstate travel.
Gideon v Wainwright
1963 landmark case that ruled that all people accused of a crime had the right to an attorney. If a defendant cannot afford an attorney, it is the duty of the state to provide him/her with one.
March on Washington
1963 march on the national mall that was one of the largest protests in US history. From 200-300,000 people participated and 75-80% were black. MLK gave his famous "I have a dream" speech.
Nuclear Test Ban Treaty
1963 treaty between all major powers except France and China agreeing to not test nuclear weapons under water, in space, or in the atmosphere (but not underground)
Gulf on Tonkin Resolution
1964 gave the president the authority to send troops without a formal declaration of war by Congress. President Johnson used the resolution to escalate US involvement in Vietnam.
Escobedo v Illinois
1964, established right to have an attorney present during questioning
Griswold v Connecticut
1965 court case that ruled that the Constitution included a right to privacy and laws outlawing the use of contraceptives violate that right.
Selma to Montgomery March
1965 march from Selma to Montgomery to protest white resistance to black voter registration. On March 7, 1965, 600 marchers were attacked by state and local police on "Bloody Sunday." A second march followed the next Tuesday, this time with 2500 marchers. They were turned around at the Edmund Pettus Bridge. The third march started on March 16, and the marchers were protected by 2000 Army soldiers, 1900 members of the Alabama National Guard, and FBI agents and Federal Marshals. They arrived in Montgomery on March 24. The marches shifted public opinion of the actions of the Deep South: rather than law enforcement trying to maintain the status quo, the South was viewed as the propagator of state-endorsed terrorism against non-whites. LBJ proposed the Voting Rights Act in response to the marches.
Miranda v Arizona
1966 suspects must be told their rights upon arrest
Kerner Commission
1967, named after its chair, Governor Otto Kerner, Jr. of Illinois, was an 11-member commission established by President Johnson to investigate the causes of the 1967 race riots in the US and to provide recommendations for the future, appointed while rioting was still underway in Detroit, Michigan, mounting civil unrest since 1965 had stemmed riots in the black neighborhoods of major US cities, including Los Angeles (Watts Riots of 1965), Chicago (Division Street Riots of 1966), and Newark (1967 Newark Riots)
Tet Offensive
1968, the turning point of the Vietnam War. The Viet Cong and North Vietnamese forces launched a huge counterattack on the US and South Vietnam to try to change the war's momentum. The attacks happened across the country, all at once. The fight was a disaster for the communists and VC. The US had a decisive victory that might have ended the war with a US win had the public and the media doubted the weakness of the communists and the ability of the US to win. Ironically, just when the war might have ended in the US' favor, the US withdrew.
Medicare and Medicaid
1969 Medicare helps retired old people and Medicaid helps poor people
Stonewall
1969 the police raided Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in Greenwich Village. The mayor wanted to boost his popularity before an election by cracking down on homosexuals. But they were met with unexpected resistance and a crowd grew on the street outside the bar and eventually attacked. The bar was set on fire. It became the nation's first large-scale gay media event. Even though it was considered radical, it inspired other gay rights organizations to act. By 1973, 800 openly gay organizations existed.
Roe v Wade
1973 court case that said laws prohibiting abortions are violations of the Due Process Clause of the 14th Amendment. Abortions for any women through the first trimester now cannot be made illegal.
Paris Peace Agreement
1973, US troops would leave Vietnam within 60 days and North and South Vietnam would remain separate countries.
War Powers Act
1973, put limits on power that Congress had given to the President to wage war without congressional approval. The President can send US armed forces abroad by authorization of Congress or in the case of a direct attack on the United States (national emergency). The President has to notify Congress within 48 hours of committing troops to military action and Congress has to approve the action within 60 days (followed by a 30 day withdrawal period if Congress does not approve). It was passed over a veto by Nixon.
Reagan Administration
1980-1988; Reagan helped to rebuild the Republican Party during the Carter Administration because it had been wrecked by scandals. He won the '82 election with the "New Conservative Coalition" made up of traditional conservatives, social conservatives, and economic conservatives. He tried to roll back the liberal social programs that had been started by FDR and put in incentives to help big business. The irony is that he succeeded in neither cutting spending nor balancing the budget, and the deficit grew to unprecedented levels. Foreign-policy-wise he was very successful in building the military and easing tensions with the Soviet Union. He screwed up by arming terrorists in Iran, but that was overshadowed by his successes.
Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces Treaty
1987 treaty that banned nuclear weapons systems that could be sent to or from Europe. It protected the US's allies and was a huge step in lowering tensions. This treaty is often considered the beginning of the end of the Cold War.
Fall of Berlin Wall
1989 the Berlin Wall was torn down and Germany was reunited. Many credit Reagan because he handled Gorbachev's rise to power in the Soviet Union very well. Reagan said "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down that wall."
Cult of Domesticity/Welter Summary
19th century women were expected to conform to specific behaviors such as submissiveness, piety, purity, and tranquility and that was the course to happiness; media tried to convince women they were superior; trap to keep men at the top of the social order
Rough Riders
1st US Volunteer Cavalry, one of three such regiments raised in 1898 for the Spanish-American War and the only one of the three to see action, US army was weakened and left with little manpower after the Civil War roughly thirty years prior, as a result, President McKinley called upon 1,250 volunteers to assist in the war efforts
Toussaint Louverture
A Haitian leader who led an uprising against Napoleon at the turn of the 19th century. He refused to allow the French to reinstigate slavery, leading to Napoleon wanting to wash his hands of France's American possessions and sell Louisiana to the US (without Haiti, the Louisiana Territory was worthless to the French).
border states
states that did not abolish slavery but that chose to remain in the Union
Central Powers vs Allies
AH and Germany vs Britain, Russia, and France
Midnight Judges
Adams appointed 42 justices of the peace on his last day in office to keep Federalists in power in the national government. On of the appointees was Marbury, who would sue later for his right to get his post.
Ida B. Wells
African-American journalist and leader in the civil rights movement, documented lynching in the US (showing how it was often a way to control or punish blacks), also active in women's rights and the suffrage movement
South Carolina Ordinance of Secession
After Lincoln's election, South Carolina seceded on December 20, 1860. It's declaration drew on arguments developed by Calhoun, and stated that states were sovereign and could leave the Union as freely as they joined it.
Tuskegee Institute
Alabama university for African-American students founded by Washington with donations from his network of supporters
Peace of Paris 1783
America got independence and land west to the Mississippi River. Southern boundary went to the top of Florida. Britain made them agree to pay back pre-war debts and compensate Loyalists for damaged property.
Declaration of War
April 6, 1917 the US entered WWI
Radicalism of the American Revolution/Wood Summary
American Revolution was a cultural revolution that created a new understanding of people and ties between individuals; attempts to subjugate the successful colonists to the monarchical order were rejected; corruption was recognized in the 1760s and 1770s as intrinsic in politics dominated by family ties and titles; wealthy and well-placed loyalists fled the colonies and left a vacuum of power to be filled by meritorious patriots and could not recreate the prewar chains of family and patronage; citizens are not dependent and possess sovereignty (vs the subject); land is a claim in the community (Jefferson proposed granting men in Virginia 50 acres of land); Jefferson also supported the "natural aristocracy" which was really radical considering hundreds of years of hereditary aristocracy; manifestation of fear of servitude of any kind spread rejection of subservience to slaves and women because it was incongruous for white males to be pulling themselves up and women and slaves to not; America became a nation of business and personal authority
Hudson River School
American art movement embodied by a group of romantic painters. It was one of the first genuine American art movements. It shows that a culture was developing unique to the United States, and they were no longer following the Europeans.
George Kennan
American diplomat in Moscow at the end of WWII/beginning of the Cold War who was convinced that the Soviet Union wanted world domination and that the US had to prepare to combat it. He famously laid out his ideas in the Long Telegram.
Booker T. Washington
American educator and political leader, dominant figure in the African-American community from 1890 to 1915, spoke on behalf of the large majority of blacks who lived in the south but were denied their right to vote, believed in the industrial education of blacks
W. E.B. Dubois
American sociologist and civil rights activist, first African-American to earn a doctorate from Harvard, one of the co-founders of the NAACP
Morrill Act of 1890
more financial support for schools, more oversight, and more funds for black colleges. It also prohibited the giving of Morrill funds to schools that discriminated against blacks.
San Francisco Conference
April-June 1945 conference attended by 46 countries in San Francisco. It was led by the US, Great Britain, the USSR, and China, who along with France became the dominating countries of the UN because of their seats on the Security Council. All other member nations are included in various councils and the General Assembly.
Palmer Raids
Attorney General Mitchell Palmer initiated the Palmer raids after a 1918 law providing for the deportation of noncitizens who were members of organizations seeking to overthrow the government by force. More than 5000 activists were arrested over 3 months, and in one night in January 1920 more than 2500 arrests were made. Citizens were also arrested and could only be released with proof of citizenship.
Robert Kennedy
Attorney General for his brother, JFK, and then LBJ. He was elected to the Senate after JFK's assassination to represent New York. He was a Democrat strongly committed to civil rights and aiding the poor and very much viewed as his brother's political heir. He decided to run for president in March of 1968 after the primaries had begun. He was assassinated in June shortly after winning the California primary by a Jordanian Arab who didn't like that he was pro-Israel.
Philadelphia Transit Strike
August 1-6, 1944, strike of white transit workers in Philadelphia. It was held in response to the decision of the Philadelphia Transportation Company to allow black employees to hold non-menial jobs. It paralyzed the public transportation system in Philadelphia and hurt its war production. The Transportation Workers Union did not support the strike and favored black workers' rights to any job they were qualified for, but they were unable to stop the strike. FDR authorized the Secretary of War to take control of the PTC and put Major-General Philip Hayes in charge. He threatened to fire anyone who did not return to work and prevent them from getting another job for the war, which ended the strike.
Burning of Washington DC
August 24, 1814 the British burned Washington D.C. after marching through the unprepared and malequipped soldiers protecting it. President Madison and his wife only narrowly escaped, and they carried with them several of the nation's treasures like a portrait of Washington.
Dumbarton Oaks Conference
August-October 1944, conference in which the United Nations was born to replace the League of Nations. The UN would later be organized at the San Francisco Conference.
Sigmund Freud
Austrian who founded psychoanalysis. He developed theories about the unconscious mind and the mechanism of repression. He posited the existence of libido and Oedipus complex and other stuff. He believed that repressed sexual thoughts were bad for the brain. His ideas became popular in the US after WWI.
National Woman Suffrage Association
more radical than the AWSA, it was entirely dedicated to suffrage and wanted to modify the 15th amendment.
Ballinger-Pinchot Controversy
Ballinger, as the Secretary of the Interior, was accused by Glavis and Pinchot of reversing decisions to protect lands and mishandling investigations to benefit private interests. Pinchot supported Glavis' research and rebuked President Taft in an open letter. Pinchot was fired, and Ballinger was investigated by the Senate. Ballinger was cleared, but the dispute split the Republican Party in two as the 1912 election approached (Roosevelt himself had strained relations with Taft, who he had basically hand-picked).
Birmingham and Project C
Birmingham was famous for its violence against blacks and repression of civil liberties. After a disputed election, the Commissioner of Public Safety Bull Connor assumed control of the city. MLK was arrested and wrote his famous "Letter from Birmingham Jail" and in the midst of the confusion Project C (C for confrontation) was launched. In May, 1963, activists recruited children to march. Bull Connor ordered fire hoses turned on them, creating horribly violent images that were shown across the world. 2500 protestors were arrested and 2000 of them were children. After 38 days of confrontation, business leaders agreed to desegregate public facilities and begin an unemployment program. Governor Wallace said the deal was not legitimate, and riots followed the bombing of the hotel MLK had been staying at. The violence and anarchy was so great that civil rights could not be ignored.
Grimke sisters
Born Quakers, they were abolitionists and women's rights advocates. They traveled around the country speaking in salons and platforms and writing open letters. Their writings summarized all of the abolitionist arguments leading up to the Civil War and the arguments that would be used in the feminist movement.
Andrew Oliver
Bostonian who was selected by the crown to be a collector for the Stamp Act. His house was attacked by an angry mob, making Bostonians realize that rioting was an effective tool. Others who were named collectors for the act were tarred and feathered.
impressment
Britain and France began to impress sailors from American ships into service for their navies. A lot of Americans started to call for war, but Washington, Adams, and Jefferson were determined to avoid it.
Lord Cornwallis
British commander. He came out of 1780 having had a really good year, but in 1781 he decided to stop his troops at Yorktown. The problem for him was that at the same time, the French brought their navy over and George Washington found out they were there. So they were sieged and had to surrender.
John Maynard Keynes
British economist; his writings during the Great Depression (A Treatise on Money and General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money) cemented his place as the leading economist of his era. He believed that a pure laissez-faire economy would not provide full employment or pull the economy out of the depression. He believed that demand must be enhanced, both through low interest rates and huge public expenditures.
Herbert Spencer
British philosopher who wrote The Study of Sociology. WG Sumner was inspired by him.
Stock Market Crash
By the summer of 1929, it was clear that the economy was contracting and the stock market went through a series of unsettling price declines. The unstable market fed investor anxiety and events came to a head on October 24 (Black Thursday) and October 29 (Black Tuesday). On Black Tuesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 12.8%. It would lose 89% of its value before bottoming out in July 1932.
Carter Administration
Carter brought the Democratic Party back after the Nixon and Ford Administrations had wrecked the image of the Republicans. He promised the American people that he "would never lie" to them, but he was brutally honest and did not have very good solutions to the economic and foreign policy issues that happened during his administration. For instance, the cost of living had tripled over the past 15 years and unemployment had risen too, but he couldn't figure a way out of the slump. He also armed the Mujahidin and had a series of failed missions to free hostages in the US embassy in Iran.
Camp David Accords
Carter organized and mediated peace talks between the Egyptian president and the Israeli prime minister. They were the first peaceful talks between Israel and a foreign nation and resulted in a peace treaty that was ratified two years later. Both foreign leaders received Nobel peace prizes. It was a huge success for American diplomacy.
Charles Beard's Thesis
Charles Beard was a very influential historian at the turn of the 20th century, and his economic analysis of the motives of the founding fathers had never before been considered
Separatists
Christians who wanted to separate from the Church of England (i.e. the Pilgrims)
14th Amendment
Citizenship Clause provided a broader definition of citizenships that overruled the Dred Scott Decision of the Supreme Court, Due Process Clause prohibited state and local governments from depriving persons of life, liberty, or property without certain being taken to ensure fairness, and the Equal Protection Clause required each state to provide equal protection under the law to all people within its jurisdiction, adopted on July 9, 1868
CCC
Civilian Conservation Corps. Public work relief program from 1933 to 1942 for unemployed men aged 19-23. It provided unskilled manual labor jobs related to conservation and resource development. It was wildly popular, even though it did not make that much of a dent in the problem.
Articles of Confederation
Committee appointed on June 12, 1776, presented to Congress on November 17, 1777Colonial suspicion of central government delayed ratification (feared central power would overshadow state power), weakened central government (no president, just congress, gave states too much independence, had too many differences, made states seemingly separate entities instead of a single nation)BIGGEST ROADBLOCK was issue of western land (territorial claims on the land won in Peace of Paris between the states majorly delayed ratification, states feared those with more land and greater population would have more power than the smaller states, especially with representation in legislature, also feared the immigration of people to new land because of the resources there -> depopulation of pre-existing states, new states could sell land instead of having high taxes for people-> other states would tax even higher to compensate for the depopulation of their states) Created checks for both large and small states (Virginia gave up land claim, Maryland followed suit as well as all other states, made western territories into entirely new states instead of tacking on more land to pre-existing states)
Robert E. Lee
Confederate General in the Civil War. His first experience fighting countrymen was at the Harper's Ferry Raid. He was a much more effective leader than McClellan, but not enough to pull off a victory as the war grew more protracted. He surrendered at Appomattox Courthouse.
Yorktown
Cornwallis' loss at Yorktown was the surrender of the largest group of British soldiers on American soil, so it was a pretty big deal. After that, the war was basically over.
Boston Tea Party
Dec. 16, 1773, colonists boarded the ships carrying tea and dumped it into the harbor. Even though most Americans didn't condone their actions, the British response was so severe that colonists united more.
Apollo 8
December 1968, first human spaceflight to be captured by and escape from the gravitational field of another celestial body; the first manned spaceflight to leave low Earth orbit, see the Earth as a whole planet, and directly see the far side of the moon. It paved the way for Apollo 11. The mission came in December of 1968, a year that saw worldwide turmoil, and estimates claim that nearly a quarter of humanity saw it broadcasted.
Pearl Harbor
December 7, 1941, the Japanese attacked the US naval base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. The USS Arizona was sunk along with 8 other ships, and 3 ships were damaged beyond repair. The attack propelled the US to join WWII.
James Buchanan
Democrat that won the election of 1856 against John Fremont with 174 electoral votes. He was chosen because of his noncommittal stance on slavery, but his term would show that avoiding the issue was no longer possible.
Samuel J. Tilden
Democrat who should have followed Grant as president, but didn't
Massive Retaliation and Brinkmanship
Dulles believed in taking the US and the SU/China to the brink of war to get them to back down whenever they did something the US didn't approve of and threaten massive retaliation (nuclear warfare) if necessary
Rise of the Common Man
During the Era of Good Feelings and the Age of Jackson, opportunities for political power of the common man greatly increased. Politicians began actively campaigning for votes, property requirements were eliminated in most states, and nominating conventions were opened to the public.
prison reform
During the Jacksonian Age, prison started to be more for rehabilitation than simply punishment with the influence of people like Dorothea Dix.
Equal Rights Amendment
ERA, was a proposed amendment originally written by Alice Paul. It was introduced in Congress in 1923. Many women believed that suffrage alone did not protect them from legal discrimination. It was given the name the "Lucretia Mott Amendment" to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Seneca Falls convention. Women were split in support of it because they feared it would set back protections in working conditions of women and children. The AFL strongly opposed it for that reason. It did not pass even though it was continually proposed until 1982 and in 1972 passed Congress.
Citizen Genet
Edmund-Charles Genet was the French ambassador to the United States during the French Revolution. In 1793 he was sent to the US to rally support for the French in their skirmish with Britain, and he landed in South Carolina and began working his way up to Washington, recruiting seamen to come fight for the French. He defied Washington and the federal government behind him when told that the US was neutral and would not help the French, and his privateers were active against the British. In 1794, the Jacobins wanted him to come back to France to kill him, so Washington (at Hamilton's request) decided to grant him asylum.
Dynamic Conservatism
Eisenhower's economic philosophy that favored a continuation of chief New Deal programs combined with moving the federal government out of some areas -> "conservative when it comes to money and liberal when it comes to human beings"
Treaty of Greenville
Ended the Northwest Indian War, after the Battle of Fallen Timbers. In exchange for $20000 worth of goods, the Native Americans ceded the lands in the Ohio River Valley. It established the Greenville Treaty Line dividing white settlements from native lands, but the line was ignored by the settlers.
De Lome Letter
Enrique Duby de Lome called President McKinley weak and a petty politician in a letter that was leaked. Hearst published the letter under the headline "WORST INSULT TO THE UNITED STATES IN ITS HISTORY"
Charles Grandison Finney
Evangelical preacher that was against slavery and the first person to say that salvation should be achieved through individual effort (so you better do something good in this life)
First Hundred Days
FDR immediately got to work to fight the GD and passed 15 important pieces of legislation in his first 100 days
Election of 1932
FDR won in a landslide over Herbert Hoover. He promised to fight the economic depression actively and asked for the confidence of the people, who were willing to trust him.
Samuel Slater
Father of the American Industrial Revolution. He had worked in a British textile mill, then memorized how the technology worked and brought it to America.
Yalta Conference
February 4-11 1945 meeting by the Big 3 for discussing the organization of postwar Europe. It was the last war conference attended by FDR.
Eleanor Roosevelt
First Lady from 1933-1945 and activist. After FDR was paralyzed, she stepped into the spotlight to keep him in it and started working with the Women's Trade Union League working for a 48 hour work week, minimum wage, and abolition of child labor. She was increasingly influential in New York's Democratic Party and increasingly progressive. As first lady she had weekly press conferences and a newspaper column and traveled heavily, frequently to tell laborers that the White House was working to ease their plight. She was vocal in her support of the African-American civil rights movement, despite continued segregated policy.
Ford Administration
Ford became president on August 8, 1974 following the resignation of Nixon. He originally was well-liked, but a month into his presidency he pardoned Nixon for all crimes associated with the Watergate scandal. His approval rating dropped drastically, so for the 2.5 years of his administration he accomplished nothing. He vetoed 39 laws in one year, and Congress overrode every veto.
New France
France's colony in the Americas that included land along the St. Lawrence River, Quebec, and the French Crescent along the Mississippi. France, like Holland, was concerned first with growing a large trading empire. They also tried to convert natives to Catholicism, and they made the Bishopric of Quebec a theocracy. Long lot farmers and French poachers not in Quebec had relatively more freedom.
Alexis de Tocqueville
Frenchman who came to the United States and wrote about it. He noticed that slave states were a lot less vibrant than free states, among many other observations about American Democracy, which he published in Democracy in America in 1835.
Hartford Convention
Frustrated over what looked like a protracted and useless war, Federalists from New England gathered in Hartford, Connecticut, where they recommended constitutional amendments to restrict the power of Congress to wage war, regulate commerce, and admit new states, also supported a one-term president (in order to break the grip of Virginians on the presidency) and abolition of the 3/5s clause in the Constitution. They threatened secession if they did not get their way, but their demands became public after Treaty of Ghent was ratified. The Federalists branded as traitors and died out as a political party
California Gold Rush
In 1849, more than 80,000 people (mostly men, but some women and children. most women were prostitutes) rushed to California when gold was found. Even though very little gold was actually there, the population was so large that it needed a more formal government and well exceeded the minimum required for statehood.
Field Order #15
General Sherman designated 7600 square miles to be set aside for settlement by black farmers, each family getting 40 acres and a mule. It was ordered in January of 1865, but Johnson overturned it as president and restored the land to the former white owners.
Order of British Prime Ministers
Grenville (responsible for the Sugar Act, Currency Act, and Stamp Act)Rockingham (repealed the Stamp Act but passed Declaratary Act)Pitt (but really Townshend, Townshend Acts)Lord North (repealed on Townshend Acts but tea, Tea Act, Intolerable/Coercive Acts)
Whiskey Excise Tax
Hamilton needed a source of income to pay for the defrayment of the war bonds he had pledged to repay, so he decided to tax producers of whiskey. It was the first tax the government ever put on a domestic product, but Hamilton considered it a luxury tax and thought it would be the least objectionable. Instead, it ended up hurting the farmers, which may have been a foreseeable consequence because they were all supporters of Thomas Jefferson.
Report on Manufactures
Hamilton reasoned that to secure American independence, the US needed to have a sound policy of encouraging the growth of manufacturing and secure its future as a permanent feature of the economy. He argued that this could be achieved through subsidies to industry, regulation of trade with moderate tariffs (not intended to discourage imports but to raise the revenue for the subsidies), and other government encouragement.
Bank of the United States
Hamilton wanted a national bank to facilitate the collection of taxes and management of the national budget. His plan caused a lot of angst for Jefferson and his supporters. They feared both the increase in national power that it would indicate and what they feared was an inappropriate interpretation of the Constitution. Hamilton argued that the "necessary and proper" clause gave the Congress the right to pass any laws so long as the ends and means were not prohibited or morally abhorrent, but Jefferson and Madison believed that the only powers Congress had were ones specifically enumerated (or else what was the purpose of the long list of duties and powers given?). Hamilton got his bank, but it was on a 20 year trial charter.
protective tariff
Hamilton wanted to have national tariffs to promote domestic manufacturing and have the proceeds go to subsidies. Protective tariffs would later be put in place that were so high as to discourage imports altogether.
Teapot Dome
Harding's Secretary of the Interior Albert B. Fall leased two government oil deposits (the Teapot Dome in Wyoming and Elk Hills in California) to private interests from which he had received at least $125000 in personal "loans." Fall was convicted of bribery while Coolidge was president.
Herbert Hoover
Harding's secretary of commerce, and then Coolidge's secretary of commerce -> he promoted partnerships between business and government that he called "economic modernization." He won the 1928 election in a landslide over Al Smith, running as the Republican candidate in good and optimistic economic times. The Wall Street Crash of 1929 struck less than 8 months after he took office. He dealt with the crash with volunteer efforts, public works projects (including Hoover Dam), tariffs, and an increase in taxes for corporations and the wealthy. He was a trained engineer and tried to be very efficient.
John Tyler
Harrison's vice president and quick successor. He was only put on the Whig ticket to attract Democratic support, and once in office he rejected Whig policies.
HUAC
House Un-American Activities Committee. It facilitated anti-communist hysteria beginning with attacks on Hollywood and entertainment industries before WWII and a variety of people after. It became a standing committee in 1945 and investigated suspected threats of subversion or propaganda that attacked "the form of government guaranteed by our Constitution." It began to decline after the downfall of Senator McCarthy. President Truman denounced it as the most un-American thing in the country, and as time went on it became more and more destructive until it lost influence in the late '60s and was absolved in 1975.
Stephen Douglas
Illinois Democrat senator that proposed popular sovereignty. His underlying motives were to settle Kansas and Nebraska as quickly as possible to facilitate the construction of a transcontinental railroad and to make Chicago a booming trade city.
Ku Klux Klan
most prominent Redeemer group after the Civil War and is still in existence
Christiana Massacre
In 1851 four slaves escaped from a Maryland plantation and found refuge in the Quaker settlement Christiana in Pennsylvania. The owner of the slaves, Edmund Gorsuch, brought his sons, marshals, and slave catchers to Christiana. They were met by a Quaker, who asked them to leave, and they started shooting. Gorsuch was killed along with two other whites and two free blacks and others were wounded. The four slaves made it to Canada. This was a huge tension-building event.
German U-Boat Warfare
In 1917, Germany launched unrestricted submarine warfare in an attempt to end the stalemate
Fall of Czechoslovakia
In 1948 Czechoslovakia fell to communism via a military coup backed by Soviet money despite its success as a democracy through the '20s but before it could resettle itself after occupation from Germany and Russia during the war. In 1968 under the leadership of Alexander Dubcek, the Czecholovak Communist Party allowed a period of liberalization called the Prague Spring. Five other Eastern Bloc countries invaded in 1968 to maintain the Soviet socialist system. But by 1969 Czecholovokia was divided into a federation of two republics. Democracy was restored in the 1989 Velvet Revolution. The country peacefully split in 1993 into two completely independent countries.
James Meredith and Ole Miss
In 1962 he became the first black student admitted to the University of Mississippi. He was denied admission twice, and in 1961 the NAACP brought a suit against Ole Miss saying that he had been denied because of his race not merit. The Supreme Court ordered that he had a right to enroll, but Ross Barnett (governor of Mississippi) tried to stop him. Attorney General Robert Kennedy consulted with the governor and like a boss convinced him to back down. Bobby then had 500 US Marshalls and the 70th Army Engineer Combat Battalion, 503rd Military Police Battalion, Mississippi National Guard, and US Border Patrol go to campus to put down riots and protect Meredith. When riots ensued the federal government fined Barnett and jailed him for contempt, but charges were overturned on appeal. Meredith graduated in 1963.
Chafe Summary
In the 1960s the student phase of the Civil Rights Movement began; the students had grown up since Brown v Board of Education and the Montgomery Bus Boycott and realized that passive protesting was insufficient to gain them rights; sit-ins and confrontations were much more dangerous than boycotts and thousands of protestors were jailed, beaten, and harassed, but the students proved their point; movement purposefully had little organization; the movement sparked more dissent over postwar contradictions than any other issue and spread to other areas of societal reform and realigned the country's agenda
Iran hostage situation
Iranian rebels seized the US embassy in Teheran to protest the US aiding the leader of Iran that the vast majority of Iranians did not like. They kept 52 hostages, which made the US look bad. Carter tried to send in troops to free them, but failed multiple times because of horrible planning. The crisis lasted a year.
Non-Intercourse Act
It replaced the Embargo Act in 1809. Madison was president when it was signed into law. It reopened trade to all countries but Britain and France.
New Frontier
JFK's domestic plans that sought to address and eradicate poverty and make America the world leader in technology through the space program.
Bank War
Jackson hated the bank, which was big and powerful. In 1832, Clay and Webster promoted a bill to recharter the national bank even though its charter wasn't up until 1836, and Jackson vetoed it. It made the bank a lame duck agency, which wasn't helped by Jackson's diversion of funds from it into pet banks in 1833.
Martin Van Buren
Jackson's successor to the presidency who was stuck with the mess left by Jackson. He replaced the National Bank with the Independent Treasury System.
Emancipation Proclamation
January 1, 1863, it was issued by Lincoln using his war powers. It proclaimed the freedom of 4 million slaves within the Confederate states (nobody was effectively freed by this, also did not apply to border states or occupied districts of Confederacy, war powers only applied to places where war was in progress). It was significant for being a morale booster, making the war a war for emancipation, and encouraging slaves to desert plantations and fight for the Union.
V-J Day
Japan surrendered on August 15, 1945 and signed surrender papers on September 2. The Japanese accepted the terms of the Potsdam Declaration (terms of surrender including disarmament and withdrawing from occupied territories). It was the official end to WWII.
Panay Incident
Japanese attack on the American gunboat Panay while anchored outside Nanking, China, in December of 1937. The Japanese apologized and paid an indemnity, but US public opinion was turned against the Japanese.
Election of 1800
Jefferson beat Adams for the presidency, but tied with his running mate Aaron Burr. The confusion and near collapse of the country that followed led to the 12th Amendment being passed in 1804.
Revolution of 1800
Jefferson's inauguration was the first peaceful handing off of power from rival parties in modern world history
Kansas Constitutional Crisis
Kansas adopted two separate constitutions, one pro-slavery and one antislavery. The LeCompton Constitution reached the national government first and was approved, but the people of Kansas were extremely unhappy because the majority was against slavery and the LeCompton Constitution had only passed because outsiders had used force to stop the people from voting against it. Kansas began to operate under two separate governments: one abiding by the LeCompton Constitution and one abiding by the Topeka Constitution.
Relief, Recovery, Reform
part of FDR's New Deal: relief for the unemployed and poor, recovery of the economy to normal levels, and reform to prevent a repeat depression
Pottawatomie Creek
John Brown and a band of Jay Hawkers crossed over into Missouri and beheaded a white slave-owning family. It started a war in Kansas that left 200 dead.
Harper's Ferry Raid
John Brown's psycho attack on an armory in Virginia in October of 1859. He wanted to incite an insurrection, and, failing that, make the sectional conflict so intense that it could no longer be put off.
Impeachment of Andrew Johnson
Johnson ignored the Tenure of Office Act and fired Stanton anyway, leading Congress to impeach him. He was acquitted in the Senate by one vote, demoralizing him and basically taking away all of his power.
Pentagon Papers
Johnson ordered a report of US involvement in Vietnam in 1968 that was on Nixon's desk in 1970. It detailed how the government had repeatedly misrepresented the war in Vietnam to the American people and mistakes in strategy. Nixon decided to bury it, but the principal author felt that he had a civic duty to publish the papers. He gave them to the New York Times. Nixon warned the newspaper to not print anything about the papers, so the next morning the New York Times printed a front page article discussing both the papers and Nixon's order to hush up.
Presidential Reconstruction
Johnson's reconstruction policies were far more lenient than the vengeful and mourning north, wanted harsh policies and punishment for the south, Johnson instead pardoned many Confederate leaders and former Confederates, also ignored the south's Black Codes, which lowered the status of freedmen in a manner similar to slavery
Brigham Young
Joseph Smith's right hand man and successor as leader of Salt Lake City. Had 55 wives.
Rosenberg Case
Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were convicted of passing atomic secrets to the Soviets in 1951 and sent to the chair in 1953. The case contributed to the anti-Communist hysteria.
NIRA
June 1933, National Institute Recovery Act. It gave the president the authority to regulate industry by creating industrial codes for fair competition, guaranteeing trade union rights, and establishing the Public Works Administration. It was ruled unconstitutional in Schechter v US in 1935.
Berlin Blockade and Airlift
June 1948-May 1949, the Soviet Union blocked railway, road, and canal access to West Berlin with the hopes of forcing the West to allow the East to supply West Berlin with food, fuel, etc. that would give it de facto control of the city. The Western powers simply flew into the city to avoid the blockade. Awkward when 18th century tactics don't work in the 19th century.
Watergate
June 1972, Plumbers were sent to the Democratic National Committee's offices in the Watergate Hotel to go through papers and wiretap phones. They were caught by a security guard, and most people assumed that it was burglars but not a political scandal. One of the people caught in the break-in had an address book in his pocket with the names Gordon Liddy, Howard Hunt, and a direct line to the White House. Liddy was the head of the Committee to Reelect the President, so it was evident that the break-in was tied to the reelection campaign and the five agents, Liddy, and Hunt were convicted. One of the agents, after his conviction, informed the judge that administration officials had pressured him and the others to withhold information during the trial, but the government did not launch an investigation. Two Washington Post reporters began their own investigation and discovered that Nixon had tape recorders set up around the White House. The Senate demanded 8 tapes from Nixon, and he claimed executive privilege and refused to hand them over. The House also requested tapes and were also refused, so they began a lawsuit. The House Judiciary Committee recommended the impeachment of Nixon on July 27, 1974.
Taft-Hartley Act
June 23, 1947 law that monitors the activities and power of labor unions. It was passed over Truman's veto. It amended the National Labor Relations Act of 1935. It was a means of demobilizing the labor movement by imposing limits on labor's ability to strike (prohibited jurisdictional strikes, wildcat strikes, solidarity or political strikes, secondary boycotts, mass picketing, closed shops, and monetary donations by unions to national political campaigns; required union members to sign non-communist affidavits; allowed states to pass right-to-work laws).
Glass-Steagall Act
June, 1933. Established the FDIC and imposed banking reforms to control speculation. It limited commercial bank securities activities and affiliations between commercial and securities banking.
Great Society
LBJ's domestic goals; the two main goals were to eliminate poverty and to eliminate racial inequality. New spending programs addressed education, health care, urban problems, and transportation. It included many stalled programs proposed by JFK in his New Frontier.
Andrew Johnson
Lincoln's VP (took over following his assassination, became 17th president from 1865-1869), presided over the Reconstruction Era following the war (policies failed to promote the rights of freedmen, came under political attack from Republicans, ending in his failed impeachment)
Little Rock School integration
Little Rock Central High was ordered to halt desegregation by Governor Faubus. When they received a court order to integrate, National Guard troops were sent in to block the Little Rock Nine from entering the school. Eisenhower told the governor to take them away, but when the troops were pulled out white protestors took their place and tried to violently prevent the students from entering. Eisenhower sent in the Army to accompany and protect the students. Of 18 selected 9 enrolled, and of the nine that enrolled one graduated.
Marbury v Madison
Marbury was a midnight judge appointed by Adams in the last days of his presidency, and Secretary of State Madison refused to deliver his commission. Marbury sued for a writ of mandamus to get his position. The Marshall Court decided that even though Marbury was entitled to his position, the Supreme Court did not have the authority to issue a writ of mandamus, and it declared the act that gave it that authority unconstitutional. Even though Marshall stepped away from authority in this case, declaring an act of Congress unconstitutional greatly increased the power of the Supreme Court and established the precedent of judicial review.
American Protective Association
March 1887, anti-Catholic society. Unlike the Know-Nothings, it was not a separate political party but wanted to create a movement that had repercussions in existing parties. It's goals included restricting Catholic immigration, making English a prerequisite to citizenship, removing Catholic teachers from public schools and offices. Its members feared that Catholics would be influenced by the pope, a non-American influence. The APA was most popular in the 1890s.
Emergency Banking Relief Act
March 1933, made a national bank holiday and gave the Federal Reserve the authority to reopen approved banks. It helped create confidence in the banking system and encouraged deposits.
Truman Doctrine
March 1947, policy of providing military and economic aid to Turkey and Greece. It became the cornerstone of early Cold War containment (we are willing to help countries who ask and who are threatened by communism with money and might).
Monitor v Merrimack
March 8-9, 1862 near the Chesapeake Bay, it was the most important naval battle of the Civil War (because it was one of the only naval battles of the war). It was part of Confederacy's effort to break the Union blockade, but the result was inconclusive and the blockade remained.
Western Land Problem
Maryland would not join the Confederation unless the western territories were put under the power of the national government
Charles Sumner
Massachusetts senator that gave a two-day speech denouncing the pro-slavery government in Kansas. He denounced a number of Southern senators, including Andrew Butler of South Carolina. Butler's nephew Preston Brooks beat him over the head with a cane at his desk in the Senate chamber, and it took him 3 years to recover enough to reclaim his seat. He became a hero in the North, and his Bleeding Kansas speech was printed and sold a million copies. Tensions were very, very high, and there was ferocious anger at Brooks and his supporters. After the Civil War, Sumner was one of the leaders of Radical Reconstruction and instrumental in the impeachment of Andrew Johnson and the military occupation of the South.
Commodore Dewey
May 1, 1898, entered Manila Bay and destroyed the decrepit Spanish fleet, in December, Spain ceded the Philippines to the US for $20 million
Townshend Duties
May 1676 a series of external taxes on traded goods. Minister Townshend (not a prime minister) took advantage of Franklin's argument against internal taxes to levy external taxes. All of the duties were to be collected in America by American customs services operated by custom officers - 1/3 of seized goods would go to the governor, 1/3 to Parliament, and 1/3 to the officer who seized it, leading to a lot of abuse of the Acts and ill will from the colonists. Townshend also suspended the NY legislature for noncompliance with the Quartering Act.
Pullman Strike
May 1894. Workers at the Pullman Palace Car Company (in the company town of Pullman, Illinois) called a strike in response to cuts during the Panic of 1893. The company slashed wages by 1/4 without making cuts in the cost of rent, fuel, or other aspects of the cost of living, and by the spring of 1894 many of the workers joined the American Railway Union. They tried to negotiate with the company, but the company dismissed several members of the grievance committee. The next day, workers staged a walk-out. The next month, the American Railway Union started a boycott that made the strike famous. In response to the boycott, the Pullman Palace Car Company attached Pullman cars to trains carrying U.S. mail (interference with which would be a federal offence). President Cleveland sent troops to disperse a crowd of strikers, and they killed 30. The boycott was called off in August.
TVA
May 1933, a government-owned corporation in the Tennessee Valley chartered to provide navigation, flood control, electricity generation, and other economic development in the Tennessee Valley. The TV was particularly affected by the Great Depression and was "backwards" - modernizing it would greatly help the economy. It was the first large planning agency of the national government.
Chinese Exclusion Act
May 6, 1882. Banned Chinese immigrants from entering the US, and prohibited current immigrants from being naturalized for 10 years. It reflected the anti-Chinese sentiment of the time, as Chinese had been immigrating to the US in record numbers and increased competition in the labor pool.
V-E Day
May 8, 1945 the day that WWII ended in Europe and the Allied countries accepted the unconditional surrender of Germany and the dissolution of the Third Reich.
Election of 1864
McClellan ran against Lincoln promising an immediate end to the Civil War and repeal of the oppressive acts passed during it. For a long time it looked like he might win, but news of Grant's military victories renewed the Northerner's faith in the cause and in Lincoln, and he won.
Election of 1852
Millard Fillmore didn't want to be president, so the Democrats nominate Franklin Pierce/Whigs Winfield Scott. Neither took a strong stance on slavery. Scott had a reputation for being antislavery, so the favor went to Pierce who had never taken a side.
blacklists
people who went against the big corporations (aka unions) were blacklisted (shunned)
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
Mormonism. It Americanized and whitened Christianity to make it more palatable.
Battle of the Little Bighorn
NAs gathered near Little Bighorn Mountain to await the attack of the US army, and on June 24 1876 Custer attacked. His companies were annihilated by the warriors, leading the US to take greater measures in the war. They were pursued relentlessly by soldiers afterwards, and the majority of Sioux gave up. Sitting Bull and 2000 followers went to Canada, where famine and disease killed most of them, so in 1881 the 187 survivors including Sitting Bull went back to North Dakota peacefully.
Continental System (Berlin and Milan Decrees)
Napoleon fought Britain economically by closing all continental European trade with England and British territories. In the meantime, Britain made it illegal to trade with continental Europe without stopping first in Britain, and declared any ship that refused to do so an enemy. This led to increased impressment of American sailors and seizure of their cargo, and Americans started clamoring for war with the British.
NAACP
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, formed in 1909, mission to ensure the equality of rights of all persons and to eliminate racial discrimination and hatred
Native-American Rights Movement
Native-American youth took advantage of the activism of the 1960s to draw attention to the injustices the US government was doing to the Native Americans. They staged a series of fish-ins in the Pacific Northwest to draw attention to violations of treaty-granted rights to fish and occupied Alcatraz for 18 months. In the 1970s, they demanded sovereignty, and in 1973 had a scuffle at Wounded Knee, had a cross-country protest called the Trail of Broken Treaties, and took over the Bureau of Indian Affairs headquarters. These actions led to intensified scrutiny of activists, but they managed to get legislation promising self-determination.
School laws
New Englanders are responsible for the education of the children so that they can read the Bible and better contribute to the society
New Netherland and New York
New Netherland was the Dutch trade post in present day New York. The Dutch were involved in the fur trade, so didn't focus on establishing roots. When the King of England gave New York to his brother James, Duke of York, the British navy surrounded Manhattan and easily took it. The Dutch settlers living there were already a melting pot and used to living without much government, and their attitude towards it helped to shape later policies.
NATO
North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It provides collective security and a military backbone to economic measures.
Carolinas
North and South Carolina were originally one large colony named Carolina, chartered by King Charles II in 1663 after the Restoration. In 1664 the Carolina proprietors appointed a governor and created a popularly elected assembly. In 1670, Charles Town (later, Charleston) was founded. North Carolina's population was a mix of small farmers and large tobacco planters. South Carolina's population comprised of mostly settlers from Barbados and their slaves.
Iran-Contra Scandal
November 1986 it was revealed that the US had been selling weapons to terrorists in Iran at very cheap prices to deal with a hostage crisis. Reagan had repeatedly stated that he would not negotiate with terrorists, and then he secretly did so and gave them high-grade weapons. It looked very bad.
Teheran Conference
November/December 1943 conference between Stalin, FDR, and Churchill. They committed to opening a second front against Nazi Germany by the Western Allies. They also addressed relations with Middle Eastern countries, including the recognition of Iran's independence.
Cuban Missile Crisis
October 14-28, 1962 confrontation between the Soviet Union and United States when the US discovered that the SU had been setting up missile silos and nuclear weapons in Cuba. The US decided on a blockade, but there was a Soviet ship approaching Cuba. If it was met with a blockade, it might mean war. If the US backed down, it might mean war. Khrushchev blinked first and approached Kennedy to negotiate. The SU agreed to remove nuclear weapons from Cuba and the US agreed to remove nuclear weapons from Turkey. The US also agreed to stay out of Cuba.
Battle of the Bulge
October 1944, Aachen became the first German city to be captured by the Allies, and Hitler realized that a large victory would be needed to turn the tide of the war. He launched a surprise attack on the Allied offensive line in December and drove them back. The Allies rallied to take the offensive again by January 3rd, 1945, and in 10 days the Allies crushed the German offensive. It was a huge loss for Germany.
Fall of China
October 1949, Mao declared the creation of the People's Republic of China. It scared Americans, because China is a huge country and a major player. If the domino theory was correct, all of Asia appeared to be on the verge of falling.
William Penn
Penn's father had been an admiral that the king felt he had to repay. In 1681, Charles II gave Penn a chunk of land in the New World thinking that it would be a win-win situation. With his Pennsylvania colony, Penn hoped to make some money and advertised for it around the world, helping to contribute to the idea of a beneficent America.
Thaddeus Stevens
Pennsylvania House Representative, Republican leader who teamed up with Sumner during the reconstruction period and wanted to punish the South
Pollock Case
Pollock v Farmer's Loan and Trust Company 1894 The Income Tax of 1894 was passed as a provision of the Wilson Gorman Tariff and put a 2% tax of profits and incomes exceeding $4,000. The Farmer's Loan and Trust Company told its shareholders that it would pay the tax and tell the internal revenue service the names of its shareholders (liable to be taxed). Pollock only owned ten shares of stock, but he sued the company to prevent it from paying the tax. The Supreme Court held that an unapportioned income tax qualified as a direct tax and was thus unconstitutional. This struck down a major Populist achievement, but the case was reversed in 1913 when the 16th Amendment made income taxes legal.
Populism: Nostalgic Agrarianism/Hofstadter Summary
Populists viewed their struggles as the result of conflicts between wealthy owners and the laboring masses; their lack of power was the result of a conspiracy by the wealthy, English, and Jews against them; the natural order provided for an agrarian economy and problems came from increasing manufacturing and industry; no middle ground between industrialization and agrarianism; reminiscent of Jacksonian democracy; the money power was stopping the nation from returning to agrarian prosperity; failure to reverse the trend would result in the end of democracy and prosperity and freedom; it was difficult for the common man not to consider the structure of the economy a personal attack when the rich caused the frequent recessions and then benefited from them
Elijah Lovejoy
Presbytarian minister that moved from St. Louis to Alton to be able to spread his abolitionist views (though he wanted gradual emancipation). His newspaper published a lot of antislavery literature, and his press was repeatedly destroyed. He met his death in 1837 trying to protect a new press. His death as a martyr for free speech and the press was a national sensation, and it gave the abolition cause a hero.
Fair Deal
President Truman's domestic policies that were basically an extension of FDR's New Deal policies with larger plans for social welfare programs and an increased emphasis on full civil rights for African Americans.
muckrakers
Progressive Era reporters who exposed problems with the industrial society
Reaganomics
Reagan's economic beliefs: economic problems of the 1970s were caused by too much government interference in the free market, so if government involvement is scaled back the economy will rebound. This was seen in moves such as deregulation of the airline industry that led to ticket prices dropping and air being a more accessible mode of travel. He put in large tax cuts for the wealthy (trickle-down economics) that helped the economy in the short term.
Reagan Doctrine
Reagan's foreign policy doctrine. It reversed Nixon's doctrine of economic intervention and stated that the US would openly support any anticommunist movements. As a result, troops were sent to Afghanistan, Nicaragua, the Caribbean, and several Central American countries.
RFC
Reconstruction Finance Corporation, an independent agency of the US government, established and chartered by the US Congress in 1932, Act of January 22, 1932, during the administration of President Hoover. It was modeled after the War Finance Corporation of WWI. It gave $2 billion in aid to state and local governments and made loans to banks, railroads, mortgage associations and other businesses that were considered essential. Loans were nearly all repaid, continued by the New Deal and played a major role in handling the Great Depression (basically it was the one thing that Hoover did to help stop the Depression, but it only made him more unpopular because a lot of people viewed it as the government supporting wealthy bankers at the expense of the common man.
Henry Cabot Lodge
Republican Senator and historian from Massachusetts, had role (but not title) of Senate Majority Leader, best known for positions on foreign policy, especially his battle with Wilson in 1919 over the Treaty of Versailles, demanded Congressional control of declarations of war; Wilson refused and the Senate never ratified the Treaty nor joined the League of Nations
Rutherford B. Hayes
Republican candidate in the 1876 election and succeeded Grant. He did not win the election, but Congress declared the votes in the military zones to be in dispute. He was chosen to be president in the Compromise of 1877.
Warren G. Harding
Republican president after Wilson who promised to have less government regulation of business. His administration was wracked with corruption and generally regulation of business. He ran on a "return to normalcy" but he wasn't very good. He died from a stroke in 1923 and was replaced by Calvin Coolidge.
Radical (Congressional) Reconstruction
Republicans in Congress took control of reconstruction policies after the election of 1866 (concerned that President Johnson was attempting to overthrow the government and undermine the authority of Congress), Johnson ignored the policy mandate and openly encouraged southern states to deny to ratify the 14th amendment, radical Republicans had to compromise with moderate Republicans (Democrats had almost no power following the war), South's white leaders did not renounce white supremacy, were completely outraged
Pennsylvania
Restoration proprietary colony chartered in 1681. It was a refuge for religious dissenters and extremely orderly. By 1686 it had a population of 12,000 people and was very popular. Because of Penn's friendly relations with natives, settlers did not fear war while he ruled and had access to some of the best land in the world for farming. There was much less of a social hierarchy.
Webster-Hayne Debate
Robert Y. Hayne proposed an alliance of southern and western interests based on a low tariff and cheap land (affirming the principle of nullification, against the strengthening of the federal government); Daniel Webster proclaimed the US was not simply a compact of the states, but a creation of the people, who had invested the Constitution and the national government with ultimate sovereignty (if a state disagreed with an action of the federal government, it had a right to sue or seek to amend the Constitution, but it had no right to nullify a federal law). liberty vs. union
Standard Oil
Rockefeller's main company. It basically controlled the worldwide refinement of oil.
New Nationalism
Roosevelt believed that it was nationalist to want everyone to have equal opportunity. In his plan, he laid out pragmatic solutions to specific problems. He believed that the government should closely regulate big business, but that as long as it is "good" big business it can exist. The government has a role in social justice.
Fireside Chats
Roosevelt wanted to explain his actions directly to the people. He would give speeches over the radio, in which he explained his plans and asked for confidence on the part of the people. Within 8 days people made more deposits than withdrawals from banks.
Dominion of New England
Royal dominion grouping together present-day Maine, New Jersey, New Hampshire, Vermont, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New York decreed by King James. Its governor was Sir Edmund Andros, and he was extremely unpopular. When the colonists found out about the Glorious Revolution, they revolted against the Dominion and returned to self government until charters were reissued by William and Mary.
Jonathan Edwards
SINNERS IN THE HANDS OF AN ANGRY GOD
Alamo
Santa Anna's first goal in the war was to recapture San Antonio (the capture of which had started the war) and Houston ordered his troops to abandon it. But nearly 150 men decided to hole up in the Alamo and defend the city. William Travis and Jim Bowie were the leaders. They lost the battle with only 15 survivors and 183 dead, but they killed 1550 of Santa Anna's men. It was a major psychological victory.
William Seward
Secretary of State under Lincoln, famous for purchasing Alaska. Before the 1860 election he was the leader of the Republican Party and supported emancipation, but that was too radical to get him nominated.
John Hay
Secretary of State under McKinley and Roosevelt. He helped negotiate the Treaty of Paris of 1898 ending the Spanish-American War and was responsible for the Open Door Policy in China. When foreign powers agreed to consider he, he said that they agreed to it, and no one felt like fighting him.
Andrew Mellon
Secretary of Treasury from 1921-1932. He was the third wealthiest person in the US in the 1920s and friends with Henry Frick. He came into office with the goal of reducing the debt from WWI by raising revenue and cutting spending. He cut the top income tax rate from 77% to 24%, cut taxes on low income earners from 4% to .5%, reduced the Federal Estate Tax, and improved efficiency in government. By 1926, 65% of income tax revenue came from incomes $300,000 and higher while in 1921 less than 20% did.
Albert Gallatin
Secretary of Treasury under Jefferson and Madison. His policy was to scale back the size of the government from what it had been under Hamilton by repealing luxury taxes, lowering tariffs (but NOT removing them), and minimizing the military. The small military would be a problem going into the War of 1812.
Battle of Atietam
September 17, 1862, in Maryland, it was the first major battle in Civil War to take place on northern soil and the bloodiest single-day battle in American history (23,000 casualties). Before this, the South was winning and wanted to drive the Union army back north and gain allies in Britain and France. The Confederate's battle plans made their way to the Union camp but McClellan chose not to act on them for 18 hours and so failed to destroy Lee's army. It was a Northern victory, but it could have been a turning point in the war had McClellan acted strongly. It gave Lincoln opportunity to present the EP (did not want to present it when north was losing) and discouraged British and French government from recognizing Confederacy. It also prevented Democrats from making a comeback in the House of Representatives.
McCarran Internal Security Act
September 1950, passed over President Truman's veto. It required members of Communist organizations to register with a Subversive Activities Control Board.
March to the Sea
Sherman led his troops through Georgia to the sea by December of 1864, allowing the North to execute the Anaconda Plan. His troops burned the ground behind them.
Zachary Taylor
Slidell's failure led Polk to order General Zachary Taylor to march 3,000 troops southwest from Corpus Christi, Texas, to "defend the Rio Grande" river, late in March of 1846. On April 25, 1846, a Mexican cavalry force crossed the river and clashed with the American army and forced the Americans to surrender after the loss of several lives. On May 11, after he received word of the border clash, Polk asked Congress to acknowledge that a state of war already existed. Taylor and his army had a lot of success in the interior of Mexico and defeated Santa Ana himself. Taylor became the 12th president of the US after winning the 1848 election as a Whig. No one knew anything about his political policies because he had never said anything about them. He threatened to veto the Compromise of 1850 because he didn't want to upset the balance of power (he didn't care whether or not it was free, and he wanted it admitted, but he didn't like that it increased tensions) or abolish the slave trade in Washington DC, but he mysteriously died in July of 1850.
Tenure of Office Act
act passed by Congress because they knew that Johnson wanted to fire his Secretary of War. It prevented the president from removing any Senate-approved official without the approval of Congress.
Smoot-Hawley Tariff
act signed into law in 1930 that raised tariffs on over 20,000 imported goods to record levels. They were the second-highest in US history, and the ensuing retaliatory tariffs by trading partners reduced American exports and imports by more than half.
Lincoln-Douglas Debates
debates between Lincoln and Douglas for the Illinois Senate seat. It propelled Lincoln onto the national stage. He successfully put Douglas in a corner on the slavery issue, making him be disliked by both sides.
Schecter v US
declared the NIRA unconstitutional
SALT
Strategic Arms Limitation Talks, 1972. The US and SU agreed to freeze the number of nuclear missile sites.
Proclamation of 1763
declared the trans-Appalachian region to be Indian Country
SC Exposition and Protest
anonymously published by Calhoun, it outlined his theory that a federal law which was deemed harmful to the interests of an individual state could be declared null and void in that state by a convention of the people. The idea went back to the Virginia and Kentucky Resolves.
Billion Dollar Congress
There was a large surplus in the treasury, so Congress went crazy spending it or giving it away. This was happening at the same time millions of people were losing everything.
Declaration of Independence
Thomas Paine (Common Sense), John Locke (if the gov does not do what is best for the people they are putting themselves at war with the people and the people have a right and responsibility to no longer follow the rules and set up a new government), and James Harrington (philosopher who thought that whoever owns property should be able to run the government - the colonists own the land in America [property = power and independence]) pushed them towards the Declaration of Independence in 1776. It was written by Thomas Jefferson, who was handpicked by his best friend John Adams, almost a year after fighting had started.
William Grayson
US Representative from South Carolina who defended slavery in his poetry
Battle of Wounded Knee
US cavalrymen massacred Ghost Dance followers, ending Sioux resistance. 1890
temperance
a movement against alcohol that gained momentum with the Second Great Awakening
James B. Weaver
US politician and member of House, representing Iowa as member of Greenback Party, ran for presidency twice on third party ticket, opponent of gold standard and national banks, most famous as presidential nominee of Populist Party in 1892 election
Navigation of the Mississippi
basically impossible to do during the Critical Period because the Spanish owned the Port of New Orleans. It was detrimental to Western settlers who wanted a way to sell their crops or goods in the East.
Vicksburg
battle that gave the Union control over the Mississippi and split the Confederacy, allowing the Union to make future attacks from both sides. They squeezed the Confederacy (Anaconda Plan)
grandfather clause
exempted those whose grandfathers had the right to vote before the Civil War, intended to prevent poor and illiterate blacks from voting, but without denying poor and illiterate whites the right to vote
Who Was Roaring in the Twenties/McElvaine Summary
US rejected responsibilities of its position as the leader of the world economy after WWI and tried to make a favorable balance of trade; failed to address the underconsumption of farmers; Adam Smithian theories did not apply to the concentrated and industrialized economy; rise of credit and speculation; crash was influential in the Depression's timing; maldistribution of wealth and income was the most important cause of the Great Depression
Washington's Farewell Address
Washington's announcement that he would not seek a third term in office. In it, he appealed for unity and called upon his contemporaries to not descend into factionalism
John C. Fremont
first candidate of the anti-slavery Republican party that was also an explorer
Roosevelt Coalition
alignment of interest groups and voting blocs that made the Democratic Party the majority beginning with the election of FDR and lasting through Eisenhower's presidency. It included Democratic state party organizations, city machines, labor unions, blue collar workers, minorities, farmers, white Southerners, the poor, and intellectuals.
The First Great Awakening
a movement challenging the rationalist approach to religion. Many of the sub-movements were revivalist, but some were new. Churches began to be divided into Old Lights and New Lights. In any case, it was one of the things that helped to bring British colonists together. It threw open important parts of life to public discourse, involving all citizens, slaves, etc. in the movement. It challenged the hierarchy, as suddenly lowers were doubting the betterness of their betters.
Free Silver
a movement in favor of an inflationary monetary policy using the "free coinage of silver" as opposed to the deflationary gold standard. Free silver would raise commodity prices, but the question was whether inflation was good or bad. The issue came to a head during 1893-96, when the economy was in severe depression characterized by falling prices (deflation), high unemployment in industrial areas, and severe distress for farmers. The debate lasted until the Federal Reserve Act of 1913
Norris-LaGuardia Anti-Injunction Act
a 1932 federal law that banned yellow-dog contracts, barred federal courts from issuing injunctions against nonviolent labor disputes, and created a positive right of noninterference by employers against workers joining trade unions, common title followed from the names of the sponsors of the legislation: Senator George W. Norris of Nebraska and Representative Fiorello H. LaGuardia of New York, both Republicans
Dr. Francis Townsend
a California doctor who was laid off at 67 with almost no savings, he advocated a national plan to help with America's seniors. He thought that encouraging the elderly to retire would open up more jobs for the struggling youth while making sure the elderly were provided for. He was a critic of FDR.
Emilio Aguinaldo
a Filipino general who proclaimed Philippine independence and established Asia's first republic in 1898. He wanted the Philippines to be a US protectorate, but not annexed. He was captured in March of 1901.
Huey Long
a Louisiana socialist who criticized FDR for not going far enough in the New Deal. Some of his proposals included a 100% tax on those making $1million or more and a redistribution of the wealth. As governor of Louisiana, he commanded a lot of authority, ruling "with an iron fist."
Joseph McCarthy
a Republican Senator who accused a bunch of people of being communist in the government. It fed off of and intensified the Second Red Scare and made people doubt their government's anti-communist-ness. He was condemned in 1954 for conduct unbecoming to his office.
salutary neglect
ignoring mercantilist policies to make even more money with the idea that less regulation will result in more money total even if the government gets a smaller percentage (Robert Walpole)
Election of 1912
a rare four way contest: Taft ran as a Republican; Roosevelt ran as a Bull Moose; Wilson ran as a Democrat; Debs ran as a Socialist. The election really was between Roosevelt and Wilson, but Taft diverted enough votes from Roosevelt to allow Wilson to seal the election. It also helped Wilson that William Jennings Bryan had thrown his support behind him.
Redeemers
Southern whites who wanted to "redeem" the South with violence against blacks. They burned schools and churches and used violence to prevent blacks from voting. They also liked to lynch people. The KKK was a redeemer group.
Social Gospel
a reform movement rooted in the idea that the poor are not at fault for their poverty and that Christians have a duty to help them
Shakers
a religious movement in which people danced to shake out the evil
New Spain
Spain's colony in the Americas that centered around Mexico and that included Texas, New Mexico, Florida, and California. New Spain differed from the British American colonies in that the Spanish crown had a lot more control and tried to dictate every part of life (though it was not necessarily successful, as the encomienda system resulted in wealthy and independent planters and the viceroyalties were too far from Spain to effectively communicate). Spain placed a lot of emphasis on converting the natives, and its Franciscan missionaries set up forts throughout the northern reaches of New Spain.
Confederate States of America
South Carolina was immediately joined by other southern states in seceding, but there was much more resistance. The confederacy was comprised of SC, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas. Sam Houston refused to give his allegiance to the new country, and was forced from office. Virginia and Tennessee secessionist movements were voted down. Its constitution was modeled off of that of the Union, but specifically mentioned and protected slavery (but banned the international slave trade). It also limited the president to one term and gave him a line item veto, prohibited tariffs, and prohibited government funding of internal improvements.
scalawags
Southern Republicans
Uncle Tom's Cabin
THE cultural event of 1852. It shows that the slaves are intelligent beings capable of thinking and the love of God. It shows that slaves were human, where the whole argument for slavery was that they were lesser beings. Written by a woman(!) in response to the Fugitive Slave Law. It made Northerners see the slaveholders as evil, shallow people (where Southerners have been trying to sell slavery as a good thing - it undoes the image the South was trying to get everyone to believe). By 1860, it had sold 3million copies in the US (at time, highest selling book in American history other than the Bible). The South had town burnings of this book. This sparked a lot of what happened in the next 3 years - tensions were really rising. The South got more and more defensive; North got more and more unhappy. In the middle of this is the Election of 1852.
Long Telegram
Telegram from George Kennan in which he discussed how the US could maintain world supremacy in light of a bipolar world and assure the survival of capitalism. The first part warned that the Soviet Union wanted world domination and the destruction of capitalism and the second part pointed out ways to combat it and ways that the US was superior (propaganda, containment, the US had peaceful transfers of power, the Soviet Union does not understand logic, etc.) It was a bit alarmist and characterized/helped start the beginning of the Cold War.
Election of 1848
The Democratic Candidate Lewis Cass supported popular sovereignty for slavery; Martin Van Buren ran for an inconsecutive term with the Free Soilers; Zachary Taylor ran for the Whigs. Taylor won with 47% of the popular vote to Cass' 42%.
Clarence Darrow
lawyer and member of the ACLU who defended John Scopes in the Scopes Monkey Trial against William Jennings Bryan.
Schenck v US
a Supreme Court decision that upheld the Espionage Act of 1917 and concluded that a defendant did not have a First Amendment right to express freedom of speech against the draft during WWI. Ultimately, the case established the "clear and present danger" test. Charles Schenck was the Secretary of the Socialist Party of America and was responsible for printing, distributing, and mailing to prospective military draftees during WWI, including 15,000 leaflets that advocated opposition to the draft, on the grounds that military conscription constituted involuntary servitude, which is prohibited by the Thirteenth Amendment, Schenck was indicted and convicted of violating the EA, appealed to the Supreme Court, arguing that the court decision violated his First Amendment rights
Northern Securities Company
The Northern Securities Company was an important railroad trust formed in 1902 (2 important players were JP Morgan and JD Rockefeller). The trust controlled the Northern Pacific Railway, Great Northern Railway, Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy Railroad, and more. In 1902 it was sued under the Sherman Antitrust Act. The US Supreme Court decided that the Sherman Antitrust Act extended to stock ownership and thus established the act as a powerful tool for the government to restrict monopolies
United States v Nixon
The Supreme Court ruled that Nixon had to turn over the requested tapes to the House Judiciary Committee because executive privilege did not apply in congressional hearings.
Thomas Paine and Common Sense
a catalyst for the people realizing that they did not need a king. It was published in January of 1776 and decried monarchy as contrary to the republican principles the colonists adored.
Nueces River vs Rio Grande
The United States wanted the boundary of Texas to be at the Rio Grande River, which had been the boundary of the Mexican province of Texas. The Mexicans wanted the border at the Nueces River, 120 miles farther north. The United States occupied the region in between, starting the Mexican-American War.
Repeal of Whiskey tax
The Whiskey Excise Tax was repealed under Jefferson's administration. He was opposed to nearly everything Hamilton and sympathized with the whiskey distillers.
Liberty Party
a minor political party in the US in the 1840s that was an early advocate of the abolitionist cause. It broke away from the American Anti-slavery Society (AASS) to advocate the view that the Constitution was an anti-slavery document; William Lloyd Garrison held the contrary view that the Constitution should be condemned as an evil pro-slavery document. The party included abolitionists who were willing to work within electoral politics to try to influence people to support their goals; the radical Garrison opposed voting and working within the system. It took votes away from the Whigs in the 1840 election.
Crime of '73
The government switched to the gold standard and did not accept the former 16:1 silver to gold ratio. It bankrupted millions of farmers overnight, and over the long run hurt many more as there was less money in circulation and higher loans to repay.
King Philip's War
There were several independent tribes (including Pokanokets, Narrangansetts, and the Abnakis) in New England. The population increase of colonists and increased hunger for land created pressure for expansion into Native territory. Metacom, who led the Pokanokets, in 1671 was pressured by the colonial authorities of Plymouth to grant them sovereign authority over his homeland. The humiliation convinced the Natives to break relations and take up armed resistance. In 1675, after Plymouth magistrates executed three Pokanokets for the murder of a Christian native, Metacom applied to the Narragansetts for a defensive alliance. The colonists took this as an act of aggression and responded by attacking and burning several Native villages, starting King Philip's War. By 1676, the Natives were losing. Metacom applied to the Iroquois for support, by instead of helping they attacked him. This war set up the Iroquois Confederation as the intermediary between the British and the Natives, and they signed a Covenant Chain with New York.
54th Massachusetts Regiment
Union infantry regiment in the Civil War. It was one of the first official black units.
Trent Affair
Union intercepted British mail ship Trent that was bound for Britain and removed John Slidell and James Mason, who were diplomats for the Confederacy
John Humphrey Noyes
Utopian socialist who founded the Oneida community, he believed in free love and wanted everyone in the community to be married to each other.
Hubert Humphrey
Vice President for LBJ once LBJ was elected. He entered the 1968 presidential primaries and won (after Robert was killed and Eugene McCarthy failed to get enough support). He almost succeeded in reuniting the Democratic party, but he lost to Nixon by 1% of the popular vote.
Richard Nixon
Vice President under Eisenhower. He won the Republican nomination for president in 1960, but lost to JFk in a narrow race. He ran for the governor of California and lost miserably, after which he wanted to leave politics and went to work for a Wall Street firm. He had a remarkable political comeback in 1968 and narrowly defeated Hubert Humphrey for the presidency. He claimed to represent the "silent majority" and campaigned against welfare, cultural permissiveness, and political radicalism. He gradually withdrew US forces from South Vietnam, but his bombings of Cambodia and Laos resulted in protest. He pulled out finally in 1973 with "peace with honor" which was really a joke. On the other hand, he improved relations with the SU and calmed tensions in the Middle East. He authorized a team of agents to illegally tap phones and burglarize the offices of opponents, leading to the Watergate Scandal. He appointed Gerald Ford to replace his vice president, Spiro Agnew, who was forced to result for income tax evasion, and immediately after the shiteth hitteth the fanneth. He was forced to resign.
Aaron Burr
Vice President under Jefferson, often considered the first career politician. He got caught up in Essex Junto and promised to support the secession of New York if he was elected governor. His career really ended when he killed Alexander Hamilton in a duel, and he fled to Spanish Texas where he tried to encourage insurrection. He was tried for treason but acquitted under the Marshall Court, narrowing the definition of treason.
Proclamation of Neutrality
Wilson declared neutrality when WWI began and demanded that belligerents respect American rights
New Freedom
Wilson was much more vague and ideological. He was against all big business because he felt that the country could only thrive with competition and he wanted less government involvement with social justice issues. As president, he actually ended up doing a lot of New Nationalism policies because he couldn't be against big business without getting involved in regulating them.
Fourteen Points
Wilson's 14 Points for the treaty that would end WWI: self-determination (end of empires/imperialism; embrace nationalism; allow people to choose their own government), avoid future war (live by the rule of law: eliminate secret diplomacy, unfair trade practices, etc.), and establish the League of Nations to resolve future disputes without going to war
Moral Diplomacy
Wodrow Wilson's foreign policy. The US has moral obligations to help people (white man's burden) and should get involved in less developed countries to help raise them up, which should promote peace and prevent future wars.
Cult of Domesticity (True Womanhood)
Women were supposed to be virtuous wives and mothers in charge of taking care of the home and sick sons or husbands. Women were considered superior to men and their sphere was religion and the home, which was contradictory (if women are superior, then why don't they have more power? why shouldn't they try to make society better?)
Watts Riot
a civil disturbance in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles, California from August 11-15, 1965, the five-day riot resulted in 34 deaths, 1,032 injuries, 3,438 arrests and over $40 million in property damage, on the evening of August 11, 1965, Marquette Frye, a 21-year-old African American man, was pulled over by white California Highway Patrol motorcycle officer Lee Minikus on suspicion of driving while intoxicated, Marquette's brother Ronald, a passenger in the car, walked to their house nearby, bringing their mother back with him, backup police officers arrived and attempted to arrest Frye by using physical force to subdue him, as the situation intensified, growing crowds of local residents watching the exchange began yelling and throwing objects at the police officers, Frye's mother and brother fought with the officers and they were eventually arrested along with Marquette
American System
a continuance of the economic ideas thought of by Alexander Hamilton and mercantilists. Its three main parts were tariffs, subsidies for internal improvements, and a national bank. Henry Clay was its biggest proponent. Other key leaders that embraced or pushed the policy were John Quincy Adams and John C. Calhoun. Parts of it were passed, such as the Second Bank of the United States.
1968
a crazy year for the US. In April, Chicago police launched an unprovoked attack on 6,000 antiwar marchers. Martin Luther King Jr was assassinated. Students occupied several buildings at Columbia University. In June, Robert Kennedy was assassinated. Daley (mayor of Chicago) declared that he would not tolerate protestors in Chicago, and protests at the Democratic National Convention turned violent.
Olive Branch Petition
a final petition sent to the king, issued by the Second Continental Congress. They begged for him to use his power to restore their rights and pledged their loyalty to him over Parliament. The king treated it with contempt and declared all of the colonies to be in a state of rebellion.
Tuskeegee Airmen
a group of African-Americans who ran fighter planes. It had one of the best flight records in the war.
Whiskey Ring
a group of officials importing whiskey using their offices so that they could avoid paying taxes on it, which cheated the treasury out of millions of dollars. Or, accepting bribes from distillers. It involved a huge network of bribes, and Grant's personal secretary was involved. His defense of them contributed to the corrupt image of his administration.
John Adams
a key figure during the Revolution. He served as the first vice president of the United States, and then as the president. He was a Federalist, and he could not stay above the partisan fray like Washington had. His presidency was marked by the monumental failure of the Alien and Sedition Acts, but it is important that he avoided war at all costs despite the conflict between Britain and France.
Crittenden Compromise
a last ditch attempt at salvaging the Union. The compromise included an amendment preventing national interference with slavery in states where it already existed and the reestablishment of the Missouri Compromise line.
The Plumbers
a special investigation unit authorized by Nixon to investigate anyone he perceived as a threat, including political opponents. Most of the members were former FBI agents. Five plumbers were caught breaking into the Democratic National Committee's offices in the Watergate scandal.
referendum
a symbolic popular vote on issues that send a message to the government about public preference
flappers
a term for women in the 1920s were wore short skirts, bobbed their hair, listened to jazz, wore makeup, treated sex casually, drove automobiles, smoked, and otherwise mocked social norms
company town
a town where much or all of the real estate is owned by one company
Nez Perce
a very unfortunate Native American tribe that tried to make a break for Canada, were massacred several times along the way, and eventually sent to Indian territory
Lord Baltimore (Calvert family)
a wealthy family in England that was granted territory in the New World as a reward for its loyalty. The Calverts were Catholic, so they used their colony (Maryland) as a haven for persecuted Catholics, leading to influential acts like The Act of Toleration.
judicial review
ability of the Supreme Court to declare congressional acts unconstitutional
Immigration Act of 1965
abolished the quotas from the Immigration Act of 1964 and replaced it with a preference system that focused on skills and family relations with US residents.
Abby Kelley
abolitionist and women's rights activist who worked closely with William Lloyd Garrison in the American Antislavery Society. She was the first female delegate to the Antislavery Society in New York. She mostly contributed to both causes through speaking and fundraising.
The Liberator
abolitionist paper run by William Lloyd Garrison, a prominent abolitionist and women's rights activist
Annexation of Texas
admitted as the 28th state, it upset the sectional balance and increased tensions between the North and the South
William Lloyd Garrison
advocate of immediate and total emancipation. In 1831 he started publication of his paper, The Liberator, which spread his ideas. He founded the New England Antislavery Society in 1832 and the American Antislavery Society in 1833.
Neutrality Act of 1939
after Nazi invaded Czechoslovakia, Roosevelt wanted the cash and carry provision renewed, but it didn't happen, and then war was declared between Britain and France and Germany. The Neutrality Act of 1939 repealed the previous acts, American citizens and ships were barred from entering war zones designated by the President, and the National Munitions Control Board (which had been created by the 1935 Neutrality Act) was charged with issuing licenses for all arms imports and exports.
SEC
agency responsible for enforcing federal securities laws and regulating securities and the stock exchange. Created in 1934 as part of the Securities Exchange Act.
McNary-Haugen Bill
aka McNary-Haugen Farm Relief Bill, it never became law but was highly controversial. The plan was to subsidize agriculture by raising the prices of farm products. The government would buy wheat and either store it or export it at a loss. This would help to maintain pre-war prices by the government taking the losses rather than the farmers. It was vetoed four times by President Coolidge.
Volstead Act
aka National Prohibition Act. It was vetoed by Wilson but Congress overrode the veto. 1919 and 1920. It provided punishment for violating the 18th Amendment.
Newlands Act
aka Reclamation Act. 1902. It funded irrigation projects for the arid lands of 20 states in the West. It led to the eventual damming of nearly every western river.
Strategic Defense Initiative
aka Star Wars. It was a proposed space program that would include a rotating satellite defense system. The satellites would have lasers attached to them that could rotate and blow up missiles. It was completely infeasible but Reagan insisted on investing hundreds of millions of dollars in it.
Washington Conference
aka Washington Naval Conference or Washington Arms Conference, called by President Harding and conducted without affiliation with the League of Nations, it was attended by the US, Japan, China, France, Britain, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Portugal. It resulted in the Four-Power Treaty, Five-Power Treaty, Nine-Power Treaty, and other agreements that preserved peace during the 1920s and enabled Japan to rise as a naval power in the interwar years.
Gospel of Wealth
aka Wealth, published by Andrew Carnegie in 1889. It stated that a man's life should have two periods the accumulation of wealth followed by the dispersal of wealth to good causes.
Panic of 1907
also known as the "rich man's panic" for its greatest effect being on the collapse of high profile banks and businesses. It put more attention on the actions of financiers and bankers, and led to monetary reforms such as the Aldrich-Vreeland Currency Act of 1908 that provided for the issuance of emergency currency, established the National Monetary Commission, and issued recommendations that led to the creation of the Federal Reserve System. (monetary reforms were inspired because the government couldn't match the efforts of a private citizen, JP Morgan, who spent $40million bailing out banks.)
Quakers
also known as the Society of Friends, Quakers were pacifists that did not place much import on the Bible or decrees of religious officials. Their beliefs upset people wherever they went, so William Penn tried to make Pennsylvania a refuge for them. Opposed slavery.
Causes of the Great Depression
although the popular belief is that the Great Depression was caused by the crash of the stock market, specific economic events that took place during the Great Depression have been studied thoroughly: a deflation in asset and commodity prices, dramatic drops in demand and credit, and disruption of trade, ultimately resulting in widespread unemployment and hence poverty, however, historians lack consensus in describing the relationship between various events and the role of government economic policy in causing or ameliorating the Depression
Wilmot Proviso
amendment added to a military appropriations bill after the Mexican American War that barred slavery in territory acquired from Mexico. It was rejected and resubmitted in various forms 4 or 5 times, making the central issue of the Mexican American War slavery.
Teller Amendment
amendment passed along with declaration of war against Spain in the Spanish-American War claiming that the US was not intervening because of imperialist ambitions and would not acquire Cuba
Black Panthers
an African-American revolutionary leftist organization active from 1966 until 1982, achieved national and international notoriety through its involvement in the Black Power movement and US politics of the 1960s and 1970s, group's "provocative rhetoric, militant posture, and cultural and political flourishes permanently altered the contours of American Identity."
Greenback Party
an American political party with an anti-monopoly ideology active between 1874 and 1884. It opposed the shift from paper money back to a coin-based system because it believed that privately owned banks and corporations would then reacquire power to define value of products and labor. During the Gilded Age it also condemned use of militias and private police against union strikes. It believed that government control of the monetary system would allow it to keep more currency in circulation.
William Jennings Bryan
an American politician and dominant force in Democratic Party, standing three times as its candidate for president (1896, 1900 and 1908), a supporter of popular democracy, an enemy of the gold standard as well as banks and railroads, leader of the silverite movement in the 1890s, called "The Great Commoner" for his faith in the common people, defeated by William McKinley in 1896 and 1900 elections but retained control of the Democratic Party, in his three presidential bids, he promoted Free Silver in 1896, anti-imperialism in 1900, and trust-busting in 1908, calling on Democrats to fight the trusts (big corporations) and big banks, and embrace anti-elitist ideals of republicanism
Nat Turner
an American slave who led a slave rebellion in Virginia on August 21, 1831 that resulted in 60 white deaths and at least 100 black deaths (largest number of fatalities to occur in an uprising prior to the Civil War). Southern state legislators passed new laws prohibiting education of slaves and free blacks and restricted rights of assembly and other civil rights for free blacks in addition to smothering all southern anti-slavery organizations and hopes of emancipation
Alice Paul
an American suffragist and activist, helped lead a successful campaign for women's suffrage that resulted in the passage of the 19th Amendment (Progressive Era reformer)
American Antislavery Society
an abolitionist society founded by William Lloyd Garrison and Arthur Tappan. Frederick Douglass was a key leader of this society and often spoke at its meetings
Civil Rights Act of 1964
an act to enforce the constitutional right to vote, to confer jurisdiction on district courts to provide injunctive relief against discrimination in public accommodations, to authorize the Attorney General to institute suits to protect constitutional rights in public facilities and education, to extend the Commission on Civil Rights, to prevent discrimination in federally assisted programs, to establish a Committee on Equal Employment Opportunity, other purposes.
Committee on Public Information
an agency of the US government created to influence public opinion regarding American participation in WWI. From 1917-1921, it used every medium available to make propaganda to create enthusiasm for the war effort and enlist public support against attempts to undercut America's war aims
yellow dog contract
an agreement that a worker would not join a union. They were legal until Norris-la Guardia in 1932
CWA
an emergency relief program to help people get through the winter of 1933-34. It was funded through the PWA and FERA, and in total spent $933million building 400,000 projects at the national, state, and local levels.
Enlightenment
an intellectual movement that emphasized reason and the ability of the individual. It influenced churches to be more rational, and the First Great Awakening was a revivalist movement in response to it.
Zimmerman Telegram
an intercepted telegram from the German Foreign Secretary Arthur Zimmerman to the German ambassador in Mexico saying that if Germany went to war with the US Germany would help Mexico recover the territory it had lost in the 1840s to the US
Bay of Pigs Invasion
an invasion first planned by Eisenhower that was implemented 3 months after JFK took office (April 1961). The CIA trained Cuban exiles that had been staying in the US to invade and try to take over the government of Cuba with hopes that once they arrived the struggling masses of Cubans would rise up and join them (they didn't). The participants were basically massacred, and the survivors were held as prisoners until the US could negotiate their release. JFK tweaked Eisenhower's plan by removing US air support from the invasion to make it look like it wasn't planned by the US, but that doomed the operation and was pointless because everyone knew anyway.
George Creel
an investigative journalist, politician, and most famously the head of the CPI (Committee on Public Information)
Farmers' Alliances
an organized agrarian economic movement amongst US farmers that flourished in the 1880s. Goals included ending adverse effects of crop-lien system on farmers after the Civil War and promoting higher commodity prices through collective action by groups of individual farmers. It was strongest in the South but was widely popular before it was destroyed by the power of commodity brokers. It is regarded as the precursor to the Populist Party.
Benjamin Rush, Patrick Henry
anti-federalist leaders
John Brown
antislavery man who believed he was sent by God to end slavery, but that it could not be accomplished without war. He led the Pottawatomie Creek Massacre and an attack on Harper's Ferry.
Pragmatism
application of Darwinism to psychology and philosophy, with the idea that the truth is determined by the consequences of ideas
Henry David Thoreau
applied Emerson's ideas to social reform and advocated for civil disobedience when laws broke with morals
John Foster Dulles
appointed Secretary of State in 1952 by Eisenhower. He believed in dynamic conservatism and using the threat of massive retaliation rather than traditional warfare to contain communism. He thought that all forms of communism were evil.
National (Cumberland) Road
approved in 1806, construction began in 1811. It is a national road starting in Cumberland, Maryland, and heading West.
Danial Dulany
argued against the idea of virtual representation and said that there was no way the colonists could be actually represented
Missouri Compromise
as a compromise between the proponents and opponents of slavery, slavery was outlawed in the Louisiana Purchase territory above the 36*30' N parallel, except within the borders of Missouri. During the time of its application for admission, the number of slave states and free states were equal. Admitting Missouri as a slave state would have upset the balance, so Maine was admitted as a free state at the same time. Henry Clay is the author of this compromise.
implied powers
as opposed to expressed powers, powers that are not enumerated in the Constitution but that are means to ends that are enumerated and can potentially be justified by the "necessary and proper" clause.
Samuel Chase
associate justice on the Supreme Court, he was impeached during Jefferson's Impeachment Episodes for letting his politics influence his decisions. He was acquitted.
ABC Mediation
at a 1915 conference between delegates from Argentina, Brazil, and Chile, a permanent mediation commission was set up to establish mechanisms for collaboration between the countries and to resist US influence
Betty Friedan
author of The Feminine Mystique and cofounder of the National Organization for Women. She brought women's issues to the front burner and pushed for many important changes, such as paid maternity leave, legalization of abortion, guarantee of the right to return to work after childbirth, and the ERA.
Helen Hunt Jackson
author. Wrote Century of Dishonor in 1881 and Ramona in 1884, which raised awareness of Native American rights and their treatment at the hands of the US government. She was a major activist that had national popularity, but her work did not succeed in stopping the cruelty against them. She tried to make Ramona the Uncle Tom's Cabin of the Native American rights movement, but it didn't work out that way. However, some of her reports (commissioned by the Interior Department), resulted in the Dawes Act of 1887.
Charles Lindbergh
aviator, author, inventor, explorer, and social activist. He earned international fame for flying from Long Island to Paris without stopping in his plane, the Spirit of St. Louis. He used his fame to promote the development of commercial aviation and Air Mail. He was against joining WWII until Pearl Harbor, and he flew combat missions in the Pacific Theater. He was suspected of ring a Nazi sympathizer and was anti-Semitic. In what was dubbed the crime of the century, his infant son was kidnapped and murdered.
Alexander Graham Bell
awarded the first patent for the telephone in 1876 (the first practical one)
My Lai Massacre
bad massacre and cover up during the Vietnam War (1968)
J. P. Morgan
banker and financier. Carnegie handed off US Steel to him upon retiring. He stopped the Panic of 1907 by bailing out banks. He was also involved with the railroads and a trustee of the Northern Securities Company.
General "Butcher" Weyler
became Captain General of Cuba in 1896 in the midst of the Cuban War. He was unable to control the population's support of the rebels, so he decided to "reconcentrate" them in camps, which stopped both the civilians from getting caught in the war and from aiding the rebels. Almost 200,000 civilians died as a result of his policy.
Lexington and Concord
because Massachusetts was considered to be in official rebellion, more troops were sent. General Gage was supposed to provoke an action by the Americans that would allow a British attack if the leaders could not be brought in, so he decided to seize munitions being stockpiled in Concord in April of 1775. A group of about 70 Minutemen awaited them on the Lexington Green as a show of force, but there was confusion on both sides and a skirmish in which several Americans were killed. The British continued on to Concord, where they discovered most of the materiel had been moved, and many more Minutemen awaited them. The Minutemen chased them back to Boston, and the war had begun. Bunker Hill followed in May.
Independent Treasury System
began functioning in 1840, it was system for the retaining of government funds in the United States Treasury and its subtreasuries, independently of the national banking and financial systems
Italian Campaign
began in 1943 and lasted until the end of the war. It was the most costly campaign in Western Europe in terms of lives lost and wounds suffered. There was disagreement between the Allies over how to reach Germany (US wanted to invade France as quickly as possible) but they settled on trying to eliminate Italy from the war and draw troops away from the Soviet Union.
D-Day
began on June 6, 1944. It was a large-scale invasion of Normandy to recapture France for the Allies. It had two parts: and airborne attack that dropped paratroopers shortly after midnight and an amphibious landing starting in the morning. Over 5000 ships were involved and 160,000 troops on the first day. US troops landed on Omaha and Utah Beach.
Radio (KDKA)
began to broadcast in 1920. It was created by Westinghouse Electric Corporation and was the first commercial radio station in the US. It broadcasted the 1920 presidential election returns. It then broadcasted live music, speeches by government officials including Hoover, and professional baseball games.
Modernism
belief that scientific principles such as evolution are compatible with creationist theory
Roger Williams
believed in friendly relations with natives and more mercy for sinners. He was the first to say that the business of government should not be religion and the business of religion should not be government. He was exiled to Rhode Island for his radical views.
Anne Hutchinson
believer in antinomianism, the idea that faith alone is necessary for salvation and not good works. She had church meetings of women, who were barred from participation in a lot of church affairs. She was prosecuted and exiled to Rhode Island.
Board of Customs Commissioners
board created to supervise the collection of the new taxes. It was stationed in Boston, and its officials were sent by Parliament. The officials in general were quite nasty which made the people hate Parliament more.
Florence Kelley
born in 1859 to reformist parents. She organized consumer movements to help bring down child labor and bad conditions for women and children as well as set a minimum wage for women and children. She was a divorcée, very well educated, and a Socialist. In 1893, Illinois passed its first factory law based on her findings, which prohibited factory owners from hiring children and limited how many hours women could work. She was the chief of a unit formed to investigate factories until 1897, and she became a lawyer to know how to work the law more effectively. Then she led the National Consumer's League and used consumer pressure to improve working conditions. Later on, she helped to form the NAACP and protest US entry into WWI.
Pancha Villa
born to sharecropper parents, he was illiterate and saw first hand the abuses of the upper class of the laborers. He spent years as a fugitive, then joined Madero's forces in the rebellion against Díaz in 1910. He escaped to the US when Huerto usurped Modero, where he gathered support and people began to regard him as the potential "George Washington of Mexico." He united with Carranza. He organized his men as a regular army and defeated Huerto in 1914. Huerto's defeat made the rebel alliances fall apart, and he and Carranza squared off in 1915. By October of 1915, the US declared Villa an outlaw. He crossed into New Mexico and killed 17 people, and President Wilson went to get him back, but the mission failed. Carranza couldn't allow the occupation of Mexico by US forces so declared Villa no longer a threat, but the US didn't leave until 1917. In 1920, Villa officially retired in exchange for his men being given land and military pay.
Venustiano Carranza
born to upper middle class parents, he was educated. Modero named him commander-in-chief of the revolution in the North. He replaced Huerto as leader of Mexico, as the US threw its suport behind him. Assassinated in 1920
Black Hawk War
brief conflict in 1832 when a group of Sauk Indians crossed the Mississippi River into Illinois. Blackhawk wanted to peacefully resettle on land that had been ceded to the US in a disputed 1804 treaty. American forces attacked them.
Freedmen's Bureau
bureau in charge of helping the freed slaves negotiate contracts, build churches and schools, learn good business practices, etc. It was started while the war was still on, but Johnson was against it and diverted funding from it.
Caroline Affair
burning of the American ship Caroline by Canadian officials after New Yorkers aided Canadian rebels in an insurrection in 1837
American (Know Nothing) Party
by 1855 replaced the Whigs as the second-largest party. It was formed by people resenting the growing power of immigrants, and when asked about the party members said "I know nothing." By 1855 had 5 senators and 43 representatives. They wanted immigrants to have to wait 21 years before being granted citizenship, restrict office holding to native-born citizens, and prohibition. By 1856, the party was in decline, and it did not achieve any of their policy. Its short run left a big imprint on the politics of the US, eroding loyalty to the parties and making the sectional conflicts less contained.
Republican Party
by 1856 formed in response to the Kansas-Nebraska Act. It was antislavery. "Free labor, free soil, free men."
Bison extermination
by 1890 the buffalo herds were virtually extinct, contributing to the lifestyle changes the Plains Indians were forced to make
Second Continental Congress
by the time of the Second Continental Congress, most New Englanders were ready to declare independence from Britain, but southern and middle colonists didn't want to go that far. They drafted and sent the Olive Branch Petition to the king as a last resort and commissioned the Continental Army under the command of George Washington (which was sent to Boston).
Stamp Act Congress
called by the Massachusetts legislature, delegates from 9 colonies met up and passed resolutions against the Stamp Act which were sent to England. They asserted that the colonies could not be taxed without their consent and that they were not virtually represented. It showed that leaders from various colonies could come together for a common cause.
Freedom Summer
campaign launched in June of 1964 to register as many blacks to vote as possible in Mississippi. It also set up Freedom Schools, Freedom Houses, and community centers in small towns in Mississippi to aid the black population. A lot of people were injured or slain in violent protests, but the deaths that caught national attention were of two white boys from New York and a black activist from Mississippi who were shot and buried by members of the KKK. Robert Kennedy ordered the FBI to investigate the missing persons case and after 7 weeks they located the bodies. They also found the bodies of 8 other black men, including a 14-year-old boy.
Panama Canal
canal connecting the Pacific and Atlantic, eliminating the need for ships to go the extra 8000 miles around Cape Horn to get from ocean to ocean. It is a major conduit of international trade, and it was finished in 1914. The US had control of it, and it ceded that control in 1999. It apologized to Colombia in 1921.
William Crawford
candidate in the 1824 presidential election. He might have had a better chance at winning had he not suffered a stroke during the campaign.
horizontal integration
capitalizes one single component of an industry with the intention of driving competitors out of business. This was used by Rockefeller, who horizontally integrated oil refining. Once the industry is horizontally integrated, prices can be set.
Thomas Nast
cartoonist who attacked Boss Tweed in a series of political cartoons that depicted the boss as above the law, rotund, and driven by money. He sought to expose the corruption in politics.
Panic of 1837
caused by a combination of the Bank War, the Specie Circular, a surplus in cotton, deregulation of banks, raised interest rates in Britain, and decline in investment. The crash happened just after Van Buren took office and did not end until the mid 1840s. It helped to intensify the reform movement.
Oklahoma Land Rush
caused by the 1889 opening of the unassigned lands of Indian Territory in western Oklahoma to white settlement. Sooners squatted illegally and refused to leave. President Harrison opened it under the authority of the Homestead Act of 1862. Between 1891 and 1895, 2million acres of land were opened for settlement, including lands inhabited by the Iowa, Sauk, Fox, Shawnee-Potawatomi, Cheyenne, Arapaho, Cherokee, Tonkawa, Pawnee, and Kickapoo. The last land rush was in 1906 with the opening of the lands of the Comanche, Apache, Kiowa, Wichita, and Caddoan tribes. All land rushes were marked by violence.
Corrupt Bargain
deal in which Henry Clay may have swayed his proponents in the House to give his electoral votes to Adams in exchange for Adams making him the Secretary of State
Georgia
chartered in 1732 by James Oglethorpe. Originally, slavery was to be banned from it to encourage small farmers to come and relieve land disputes in the Carolinas. It also served as a buffer between the British cash crop colonies and the Spanish-held Florida. It eventually became an extension of territory for wealthy South Carolina planters.
John Marshall
chief justice appointed by John Adams. He was a fervent nationalist and his court established the powers of the Supreme Court, including the power to declare congressional acts unconstitutional.
congregations
church groups that influenced social structure; churchgoing men had political power
Hiroshima and Nagasaki
cities in Japan on which atomic bombs were dropped in August (6 and 9) of 1945. Motives for the bombings are still disputed, as well as whether or not the ends justified the means.
Niagara Group
civil rights organization founded in 1905, named for the "mighty current" of Niagara Falls, called for opposition to racial segregation and disenfranchisement, opposed to policies of accommodation and conciliation
Harry Hopkins
close personal friend of FDR, he was one of the president's most important advisors. He led the WPA from 1935-38. He was appointed Secretary of Commerce in 1938, but illness forced him to resign in 1940. He was sent to meet with Churchill in 1940 to discuss US entry into WWII. He was mysterious to the majority of the population, especially as after 1940 he did not have an official position in the government yet was privy to war secrets and influential in policy decisions and even lived in the White House for 3 years.
Henry Frick
closely associated with Carnegie in the Homestead Strike, he was the president of the Carnegie Steel Company. When steel prices dropped in 1890, both of them decided that the best way to deal with the loss of profit would be to take firmer control of the workforce and eliminate the craft union, the AAISW, at the Homestead plant. He hired a military force to put down workers interfering with the production of the plant, and early in 1892 he began stockpiling steel in anticipation of a protest. He also built fortifications around the plant, such as a a 12 foot fence.
Wealth, Authority, and Power/Henretta Summary
colonial authority shifted from the British crown to a wealthy homegrown elite; form of societal control of the elite depended on the region: southern aristocracy had control of South by amplifying racial tensions and demanding subservience from lower classes and boosting general prosperity (percentage of whites with estates worth less than 100 pounds dropped to 55% by 1750) and interlocking directorate; New England religious elite resisted dissenters through ideological subjugation and stable factionalism (such as Newport/Ward family v Providence/Hopkins family in Rhode Island) and local solutions to conflicts; Middle Colonies had stable factionalism (precursors to political parties) but was much more heterogeneous and social mobility was limited but available; it was all basically stable and dominated by the elite
Restoration colonies
colonies established after the restoration of the Stuart monarchy in England. In 1660, Charles II was recrowned and rewarded those nobles who had supported him in exile with land (6 of the 13 colonies), including New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey, and the Carolinas.
Quartering Act
colonists have to house and feed the British soldiers
proprietary colony
colony of which someone appointed by the crown is the sole owner and leader of the government
Pacific Railway Act
commissioned the Union Pacific Railroad Co. and the Central Pacific Railroad Co. to build the transcontinental railroad. They were supposed to meet in the middle, and the companies got paid for every mile of track. On either side, there were 100 yard strips of land and then a checkerboard of square mile pieces of land given to the railroad companies.
New Harmony
communal town founded by German immigrants. Robert Owen tried to make it a utopian community that banned money and certain commodities, but it failed.
joint stock companies
companies in which many people are invested so as to minimize risk
Virginia (London) Company
company that sponsored Virginia in hopes of finding gold. The settler's desperate search for gold retarded development of Virginia for years until they realized they could grow cash crops.
Hoover Dam
concrete arch-gravity dam in the Black Canyon of the Colorado River, on the border between the US states of Arizona and Nevada, constructed between 1931 and 1936 during the Great Depression and was dedicated on September 30, 1935, by President Franklin Roosevelt, construction was the result of a massive effort involving thousands of workers, and cost over one hundred lives, the dam was controversially named in honor of President Hoover
Potsdam Conference
conference from July-August of 1945 attended by Churchill, Clement Attlee, Stalin, and Truman in which they agreed on terms to divide and rebuild postwar Europe.
Erie Canal
construction approved in 1817, it is now a waterway connecting the Hudson River to Lake Erie
FDIC
created by the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933. It provides deposit insurance up to a certain amount of money in the event of a bank failure
Department of Commerce and Labor
created in 1903, split into two departments in 1913. It was designed to control the excesses of big business. The Secretary held a cabinet-level position.
Committee of Correspondence
created in response to a British commission to find the burners of the Gaspee (off the coast of Rhode Island by unidentified colonists dressed as Native Americans). the leaders across the colonies began to communicate with each other regarding threats from the British government. They were beginning to act like they were one country and Britain was the enemy.
William James
created the idea of pragmatism. He was a professor at Harvard
Nathaniel Hawthorne
critiqued the Puritan society of the colonial period in The Scarlet Letter, which was also a comment on the treatment of women. He was a Jackson Age author.
Henry Demarest Lloyd
crusading journalist and one of the early muckrakers, Lloyd was a major influence in reform movements because of his attacks on monopolies and his call for a democratic capitalist system
Rosie the Riveter
cultural icon during WWII representing the American women who worked in factories to support the war
Thomas Whately
defended direct tax by saying that all subjects of the British empire were at least virtually represented
James K. Polk
democratic president who succeeded Tyler. He supported actions that benefited the South and was pro-slavery. He used the White House as an auction site for slaves, angering the North.
lunch counter sit-ins
demonstrations begun in February, 1960, by four black college students at a Woolworth's lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina. Students sat in lunch counters that refused to serve them and refused to leave unless they were served. More than 50,000 people participated in sit-ins in more than 70 cities. They were harassed verbally and physically but did not fight back. The chain desegregated.
Muscle Shoals Veto
designed to dam the Tennessee River and sell government-produced electricity in competition with citizens in private companies, vetoed by President Hoover in 1931, Congress had drafted the bill to harness energy from the Tennessee River, but Hoover refused to lower steep tariffs or support any "socialistic" relief proposals such as the Muscle Shoals Bill
Samuel Gridley Howe
developed a school for the blind
Robert Fulton
developed the first commercially successful steamboat
Military Reconstruction Act
divided the South into 5 military zones, each governed by an appointed military official, until the states ratified the Reconstruction amendments and a certain percentage pledged loyalty to the Union
Laissez-Faire
do not tamper with the invisible hand of the market. The market and society are moved by the self-interest of the people involved, but everyone's self-interest counteracts everyone else's. Therefore no one can be too abusive, and mankind is on a path to greater prosperity for all. Messing with the natural balance/invisible hand is very bad and retards growth.
Freeport Doctrine
during a debate between Lincoln and Douglas, Lincoln trapped Douglas into saying that popular sovereignty could work with the Dred Scott decision by states not passing laws that protect slavery. It angered slaveholders who felt that he would not defend their property and abolitionists who felt that he was making excuses for slavery.
3/5 Compromise
each slave counts for 3/5 of a person for purposes of representation and taxation; prohibited from stopping the slave trade until 1808
New Deal
economic program of the US between 1933 and 1936 in response to the Great Depression. Acts focused on Relief, Recovery, and Reform. It made the Democratic Party the majority (after a long series of Republican presidents) and was so wildly popular that the Republicans just went with it. The New Deal is split into two periods: the First New Deal (1933) and the Second New Deal (1934-36).
Horace Mann
education reformer in Massachusetts
Henry Barnard
education reformer in Rhode Island and Connecticut
John Dewey
educational reformer who applied pragmatism to social reform, which came to be called instrumentalism
Bronson Alcott
educationalist and transcendentalist that tried to form a perfect transcendentalist society, but failed
General Court
elected Massachusetts Assembly that had both legislative and judicial functions.
electoral college
electorate that votes for the president; supposed to reflect what the people want
Hamilton Plan
eliminate state sovereignty and consolidate all of the states into one nation; executive would serve for life; upper house serves for life and elected by electors; lower house elected by the people and serves 3 years
Good Neighbor Policy
emerged during the 1920s as a policy of nonintervention in Latin America. In the 1930s, US funds were redirected from Latin American aid toward domestic programs. It helped garner Latin American support so that most Latin American countries supported the US during World War II.
Foraker Act
enacted April 12, 1900, established civilian (although initially couldn't vote) government on Puerto Rico, which had recently become a possession of the US as a result of the Spanish-American War, also establishes Puerto Rican citizenship later on, also says there will still be tariffs (not going to treat it as a territory of the US in this situation)
Civil Rights Act of 1866
enacted April 9, 1866, intended to protect the civil rights of African Americans, passed by Congress over the veto of President Johnson. Its provisions were later solidified with the fourteenth amendment.
Treaty of Versailles
ended WWI. It was signed on June 28, 1919 (five years after the assassination of the Archduke). It weakened Germany, which felt betrayed because the treaty was more harsh than the 14 Points, and caused division between the Allies. It was not ratified in the US.
Treaty of Ghent
ended the War of 1812, but did not deal with either impressment or interference with trade
Sitting Bull
enemy of white encroachment/assimilation and best known Native American warrior. He was able to unite the Plains Indian tribes, leading to the Sioux War of 1876 and the defeat of Col. Custer at the Battle of the Little Bighorn.
Affirmative Action
equal opportunity employment measures that federal contractors and subcontractors are required to take. The idea is to address the disadvantages associated with historical discrimination and have public institutions be more representative of the populations they serve. They include racial and gender quotas for college admission.
Letter from a Pennsylvania Farmer
especially denied that Americans distinguished between external and internal taxes. Admitted Parliament's rights to duties, but not to revenue raising taxes. It was the first big reaction to the Townshend Duties, but it urged a restrained response from the colonists. Samuel Adams reiterated these letters in the Massachusetts Circular Letters, which really upset England.
Washington Irving
essayist, biographer, historian. He was one of the first American authors to gain prestige in Europe. His most famous works include "Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and "Rip Van Winkle"
Federal Emergency Relief Administration
established because of the Federal Emergency Relief Act. It gave loans of $500million to the states to operate relief programs. It's main goal was to create new unskilled jobs and to that end created the Civil Works Administration. It was replaced in 1935 by the WPA and Social Security Administration.
lynching
execution carried out by a mob, often by hanging in order to intimidate the black community, violence against blacks in the South rose following the Civil War, even more so after the states passed legislation which disenfranchised most blacks and established segregation
Virginia (Randolph) Plan
executive branch and bicameral legislature based on population (ideas came from Madison, but he was too shy to present them to everyone, so his friend Edmund Randolph did it for him)
Lewis and Clark
explorers sent by Jefferson to map Louisiana and look for a water route to the Pacific Ocean. They made very accurate and valuable maps as well as thousands of specimen and detailed scientific observations.
Henry Clay
famous for being a great compromisor, Henry Clay also served as Speaker of the House and then Secretary of State under John Quincy Adams.
Walt Whitman
famous poet, especially for his pieces during the Age of Jackson and the Civil War
Tammany Hall
famous political machine in New York from the 18th-early 20th centuries that controlled New York politics
Gilbert Stuart
famous portraitist during the Age of Jackson
Compromise of 1877
fearing that a Democratic president would undo all of the reforms of the Reconstruction, Congress declared votes to be in dispute. A commission was formed of 5 justices, 5 senators, and 5 representatives with 7 Democrats, 7 Republicans, and 1 independent. The Republicans offered the independent judge a senate position, so he recused himself and was replaced by a Republican who tipped the balance towards Hayes.
Federalism
federalism and republicanism were the first big political types of thought after the constitution was ratified. Literally, federalism is a system of government in which power is shared between a national government and regional (state) governments. Later the federalist party was a party that put more emphasis on a strong central government (Hamilton).
Puritans
felt that the English Reformation had not gone far enough and advocated for religious purity. They were English followers of John Calvin that gained influence near the end of Elizabeth's reign. It placed an emphasis on enterprise, so it appealed to merchants, entrepreneurs, and commercial farmers - those driving the rapid economic and social change in England - and its followers were ironically the biggest critics of the change. They wanted to put churches at the core of every community to monitor the people and such. By the early 17th century, they had enormous influence. James I did not have the tolerance for them that Elizabeth had, and they turned to open political opposition. When Charles I married a Catholic princess, the opposition grew even larger, prompting harsher measures against them. Many migrated to the New World.
North Africa Campaign
fighting in North Africa between Allied and Axis powers that began after Italy entered the war in 1940. The British initially defeated Italy in Operation Compass, but Germany sent backup to prevent an Axis defeat. The US began operations in North Africa in May of 1942. The Allies managed to encircle the Axis powers in Tunisia after Operation Torch. The Axis powers surrendered in May of 1943. 275,000 men were captured as prisoners of war, greatly hurting the Axis' military capacity, and all Italian colonies in Africa were captured.
initiative
first adopted in Oregon, South Dakota, and Utah, initiatives allowed voters to propose legislation
Emergency Quota Act of 1921
first immigration law to institute numerical limits on immigration from Europe and the use of a quota system for establishing those limits. It capped the annual number of immigrants who could be admitted from any country to 3% of the number of people from that country who were already living in the US. It was a response to anti-immigration sentiment that followed the war as the economy was in a slump and more workers were arriving to expand the labor pool. Supposed to be temporary.
National Labor Union
first national labor union in the US, founded in 1866 and dissolved in 1873. It wanted to unite all existing labor unions to push for an 8 hour workday. They had early success with an 8 hour day being passed in 1868, but employers cut rates when they cut hours. Also, many employers found loopholes that allowed them to ignore the rule. They lost a lot of supporters by focusing on electoral politics, and a lot of people switched to the Knights of Labor.
cowboys
first showed up in Texas near end of Civil War. American West was covered with public grass, so from 1860s-90s cattle were raised on the open range. They transported cattle where railroads could not.
Pilgrims
fled from hostile conditions in England because they dissented from the Anglican Church. They went to Holland, and then to New England, where they founded the first successful English New England colony at Plymouth. They wanted to create a perfect religious society, but didn't necessarily want to be a city on a hill. They are most significant for the Mayflower Compact.
Conscription
for the first time in American history, civilians were consigned to fight. This was done on both sides. Congress passed an act requiring states to draft men if they did not meet quotas in 1862. The wealthy were able to get around this by paying $300 or sending a replacement (rich man's exemption).
Pure Food and Drug Act
forbade the manufacture, sale, or transportation of adulterated food products and poisonous patent medicines (1906).
Sit-down Strikes
form of civil disobedience in which an organized group (i.e. of workers employed at a factory) take possession of the workplace by sitting down at their stations and preventing employers from replacing them with strikebreakers. The IWW was the first union in America to use it. The CIO held several successful sit-down strikes occupying General Motors plants, but the National Labor Relations Board ruled that they were illegal.
factionalism
form of politics within party groups
Election of 1892
former President Grover Cleveland ran for re-election against President Benjamin Harrison, who was running for re-election, Cleveland defeated Harrison, became only person in American history to be elected to second, non-consecutive presidential term, won both popular and electoral vote in re-match election, campaign centered mainly on the issue of a sound currency, Populist Party polled more than a million votes (10% of popular vote), but Cleveland won easily
Burr Conspiracy
former VP Burr led a conspiracy to create an independent nation in the Southwest. His explanation was that he wanted to take possession of and farm in Texas Territory leased to him by the Spanish, and then intended to fight with his armed farmers to seize Mexican lands. Jefferson had Burr arrested and indicted for treason, but he was acquitted.
Harriet Tubman
former slave that helped to operate the Underground Railroad
CIO
founded by John Lewis in 1938. It had a bitter rivalry with the AFL for dominance and within a few years overtook it in membership. Unlike the AFL, it did not discriminate against who it let be members.
American Colonization Society
founded in 1816, wanted to "return" free African Americans to Africa, helped to found the colony of Liberia in 1821-22, founders were Henry Clay, John Randolph, and Richard Bland Lee. The movement was associated with Garvey's later Back to Africa movement, which fell through due to expense.
American Federation of Labor
founded in 1886 by craft unions. In 1955 it merged with the CIO and is the longest lasting trade unionSamuel Gompers - president of the AFL until he died in 1924. Before that, he was the president of a cigar makers' union. He promoted "thorough" organization and collective bargaining to secure shorter hours and higher wages, the first essential steps, he believed, to emancipating labor.
James Dobson
founded the Focus on Family group that opposed gay rights, supported prayer in school, opposed abortion...
Jane Addams
founded the Hull House, the first settlement house, in Chicago
Marcus Garvey
founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League. He was a major part of the Back-to-Africa movement. He wanted those of African ancestry to redeem Africa and for European colonial powers to leave it.
Joseph Smith
founder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. He was persecuted and chased around the country with his followers until they arrived in Salt Lake City, Utah, where they formed their own society.
Hiram Revels
from Mississippi, the first black man to serve in Congress
Espionage Act of 1917
gave postal officials the authority to ban newspapers and magazines from the mails and threatened individuals convicted of evading the draft with $10,000 fines and 20 years in jail
Douglas MacArthur
general and field marshal of the Philippine Army; in charge of UN forces in Korea
William Henry Harrison
general at Tippecanoe and later in the War of 1812. He became a Whig and the 9th president of the US, the last one to have been born before the Revolutionary War. His presidency lasted only a month before he succumbed to pneumonia and was replaced by John Tyler.
George Washington
general in the 7 Years War and later the commander of the Continental Army and the first president of the United States. He led campaigns against the French in the Ohio Valley and was forced to surrender a the beginning of the 7 Years War, but later on he was much more successful. He received all of the votes of the electoral college. He disapproved of political parties and tried to keep his office above party squabbling. He believed in a strong executive; he ran the presidency like he did his army.
Alexander Hamilton
general in the Revolutionary War, he became Secretary of Treasury and Washington's right hand man during his presidency. He was born in the West Indies and worked his way up the ladder, making him love America as a whole and have no loyalties to one specific state, like Jefferson. He favored very strong nationalist policies, and his Report on Public Credit caused a stir.
Winfield Scott
general that captured Mexico City
James, Duke of York (James II)
given New York by Charles II. He replaced his brother as king and abandoned his designs of more control of New York. When he produced a Catholic heir, he was chased out of England in the Glorious Revolution of 1688 and replaced by William of Orange and Mary.
trusts
giving control of a corporation to board members (trustees) instead of stock, which can allow a business to get around state regulations, limit competition, and increase revenue for the owners
Five-Power Treaty
goal was to prevent an arms race among the victors of WWI. It limited the construction of battleships, battlecruisers, and aircraft carriers. Other warcrafts could only be built up to 10,000 tons displacement.
Pike's Peak
gold was discovered in Pike's Peak (on the South Platte River where Denver, Colorado is today) in 1858 and a gold rush of Easterners went with the slogan "Pike's Peak or Bust." In 1859 the settlers established the Jefferson Territory without Congressional approval. In 1861, Lincoln enforced national sovereignty over the area by establishing the Colorado Territory. During the war, 4000 volunteers from Colorado went to fight for the Union, and hundreds of militiamen chased off Native Americans.
mercantilism
government regulation of the economy to set policies that get the country the greatest piece of the economic pie possible
Neal Dow
governor of Maine that passed a prohibition law, considered to be a leader in the temperance movement
Thomas Hutchinson
governor of Massachusetts during the tax turmoil. He was extremely unpopular. Franklin published a bunch of letters that Hutchinson had written to the king complaining about the colonists and asking for military support, increasing sentiment against him.
Al Smith
governor of New York and then presidential candidate in 1928 for the Democratic Party. He was the urban leader of the Progressive Movement at the time and famous for reforms in New York. Also, he was the first major Catholic nominee. He lost in a landslide to Herbert Hoover, largely due to the economic prosperity of the 1920s.
Robert LaFollette
governor of Wisconsin that pushed through a reforms at the state level; the most Progressive of the governors
Ulysses S. Grant
graduated West Point 1843. 1861 joined Union army, fighting Confederates in Cairo, Illinois. 1862 fought a series of major battles, including the Battle of Shiloh, in which the Union gained Tennessee and Kentucky. 1863 seized Vicksburg, which gave the Union control over the Mississippi River and split the Confederacy. After the Battle of Chattanooga later that year, Lincoln put him in charge of commanding the entire Union army. From 1864-1864, he and Lee faced off their armies in a series of wars known as the Overland Campaign that eventually ended in a stalemate siege at Petersburg. Captured Richmond in 1865. He remained in the South during Reconstruction. He was elected to the presidency after Johnson, but his terms were marred by rampant corruption.
income tax
graduated income tax was a demand of the Populist movement, especially during the Panic of 1893. The Constitution, however, outlawed direct tax on the people, so in 1909 the 16th amendment was passed making an income tax legal, and in 1913 one was approved.
Headright
grants of plots of land given to those willing to go to the New World. Many indentured servants gave up their grants for transportation, and the land went to wealthy planters instead.
Red Cloud
great military leader and member of the Oglala Sioux nation. He so harassed white troops and settlers that he was able to win a war against the US and dictate the terms of peace. He opposed Americans with harsh resistance, using hit and run tactics, ambushes, and sieges.
The Hollywood Ten
group of Hollywood personalities charged with contempt of Congress for refusing to cooperate with HUAC
Brain trust
group of advisors to FDR who were prized for their expertise in particular fields. It originally consisted of a group of Columbia law professors (Moley, Tugwell, and Berle) who helped to shape the policies of the New Deal. The second brain trust was a group of Harvard law professors (Cohen, Corcoran, and Frankfurter) who helped to shape the Second New Deal.
The Ohio Gang
group of officials appointed by Harding who had been his friends and supporters that were responsible for most of the corruption during his presidency
Sons of Liberty
groups of Americans who were willing to rebel to the utmost extremity against a Parliament in which they were not represented. It was founded in Boston under James Otis and Samuel Adams.
Casablanca Conference
held in Morocco in January of 1943 to plan the Allied strategy in the European theatre. Churchill and FDR were there but Stalin was not due to the conflict at Stalingrad. They decided to seek unconditional surrender of the Axis Powers and to aid the Soviet Union by invading Italy (but decided to put off invading France via English Channel). They also recognized the leadership of Free French forces.
Big Bill Haywood
helped to found the Industrial Workers of the World, and in 1914 became its president. As its president, he improved its management and membership increased. When the US entered WWI, he denounced it as an attack on the working class by capitalists, and he was arrested for sedition and the IWW collapsed.
Preston Brooks
hit Sumner over the head with a cane. He was a Congressman, and he became a hero in the South. He was not expelled from the House, but he was forced to resign (and immediately was reelected).
settlement houses
houses for the urban poor, especially immigrants, that taught cooking, hygiene, and the rights and responsibilities of citizenship. They also built public parks and schools and lobbied for city governments to do the same.
Salem Witchcraft Trials
hysteria of superstition in which the rule of law was gone, at first glance. The accusers came from the wealthy, established parts of town and the accused came from the boundaries. It illustrated the divisions in what the founders had wanted to be a perfect society, and it showed the suspicion of women.
Containment
idea that if communism did not spread across countries than it would eventually die out because of its inferiority to capitalism. This philosophy went hand-in-hand with the domino theory that if one country fell to communism, surrounding countries would fall too. Truman first embraced this philosophy and it was a major part of Cold War policy.
The Uprooted/Handlin Summary
immigrants in the late 19th century were isolated both from their homelands and from America; established Americans had tried to come up with a specific cultural identity and force the different to assimilate; at the same time would not let the different (immigrants) into their circles to assimilate; poverty, slums, disease considered fault of immigrants rather than excesses of the rich and limited opportunity for the poor; racially charged idea of the real America emerged
Army-McCarthy hearings
in 1954, after years of Senator McCarthy attacking the military forces, the Army went on the offensive and charged McCarthy with corruption at the height of his campaign to weed out communists. The charge was based on the fact that McCarthy and his counsel had demanded special treatment for a former associate and threatened to wreck the army if they didn't get it. The Army, in a month of televised hearings, demonstrated how McCarthy had doctored photos and created other false documents to corroborate his earlier charges. It was obvious to the audience that McCarthy had been acting unreasonably, and the Senate censured him in December of 1954.
Lodge Reservations
in response to Treaty of Versailles, Senator Lodge penned fourteen reservations to proposed post-war agreements, reservations essentially gave a lot of power back to US in control over how it interacts with other nations, and how they interact with it, almost all of the Reservations granted the US more authority over its place within the League of Nations, or when the League of Nations was allowed to make decisions involving the US, as a result, the Senate voted down the Treaty of Versailles after momentous debate, denial of this Treaty by the US prevented the US from joining the newly formed League of Nations
Four Freedoms Speech
in the 1941 state of the union, FDR named four freedoms that everyone ought to enjoy: 1) freedom of speech and expression 2) freedom of worship 3) freedom from want 4) freedom from fear
yellow press
increasing literacy rates led to more people wanting cheap newspapers, and so Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst had an intense competition for readers by exaggerating stories about Spanish atrocities in Cuba to get people interested and buy them. This journalism led to the Spanish-American war, as President McKinley and Congress were under intense public pressure to help liberate the Cubans from the Spanish
separation of power
independent branches for executive, legislative, and judicial functions
checks and balances
independent branches would check each other in some way
Father Charles Coughlin
influential critic of FDR. He was a Catholic leader who reached his audience through the radio. He was anti-Semitic.
Tariff of Abominations (1828)
intended to boost northern manufacturing by reducing demand for British imports. It ended up hurting the southern economy by making them pay more for goods coming from the north and by a decrease in demand for southern cotton from the British who were then selling less of their manufactured goods back to the US. In response, southern politicians drafted a bill that would satisfy the protections that would help the West and South while hurting the North, but the tariff passed anyway.
Monroe Doctrine
introduced December 2, 1823. It stated that any further attempts by European powers to colonize the Americas would be viewed as acts of aggression against the United States and require US intervention. At the same time, it stated that the US would not interfere with existing colonies or with the internal affairs of European powers. The doctrine did not make waves at the time it was announced, because the US was still pretty weak, but Great Britain tacitly approved it because it aided their goal of not letting the newly liberated Spanish American colonies (aka new markets for the British) be recolonized by the Spanish or the Holy Alliance.
Kansas-Nebraska Act
introduced by Stephen Douglas in 1854. It created the Kansas and Nebraska territories and declared the Missouri Compromise line inapplicable - leaving the question of slavery up to popular sovereignty. Political and economic pressure for the territory was immense, as farmers wanted more land and industry wanted railroads. Missourians wanted popular sovereignty because they feared being surrounded by free states. It reignited the slavery issue and blew the sectional conflict wide open. 41 of the 55 Northern Democrats who supported the measure were not reelected, and the Republican party was formed.
Square Deal
introduced in 1902, the Square Deal was Roosevelt's major reform program. It called for conservation of natural resources, control of corporations, and consumer protection while at the same time protecting businesses from radical demands from employees. It included legislation dealing with the meatpacking industry, labeling of foodstuffs and drugs, reserving wilderness from commercial exploitation, and trusts. Related legislation includes the Elkins Act, the Hepburn Act, the Antiquities Act, the Pure Food and Drug Act, and the Meat Inspection Act. It also included the creation of the Department of Commerce and Labor.
Eli Whitney
invented machinery with interchangeable parts. He is best known for inventing the cotton gin, which made growing upland cotton profitable and increased the entrenchment of slavery.
Frederick Winslow Taylor
invented the concept of scientific management and was the first efficiency expert. He applied engineering principles to humans to try to get them to produce more with less energy. He tried to use tests to match each person to the right job for them and then paid them better for performing better. He grew notorious as businesses applied his principles to pay workers less for doing more or fired people considered superfluous.
Oliver Evans
invented the steam engine
East India Company
joint stock company that was a British giant. By the 1770s it was going out of business.
Middle Passage
journey Africans took from Africa to the New World as slaves. The conditions were miserable.
George III
king at the time of the American Revolution
Jacob Coxey
known for Coxey's Army, a march of 500 on Washington demanding relief from the depression. Coxey owned a sandstone factory in Ohio and was a member of the Greenback wing of the Democratic Party. When the crash hit, he proposed a gigantic program of road construction financed by the printing of greenbacks. The idea gained national attention, but no action, so Coxey decided to organize a march on Washington in May of 1894. The marchers were stopped by police just short of the Capitol. Coxey and others were arrested for walking on the Capitol building's lawn. Coxey's and other "armies" camped out in the capitol through August, but Congress did nothing to help the unemployed. The march sparked more support for the Populist Party, which got 6 senators and 7 congressmen in 1894. Coxey spent the rest of his life running for various offices and lobbying Congress for his plan.
PWA
large scale public works construction agency created by the National Industrial Recovery Act in June 1933. it build dams, bridges, warships, hospitals, and schools. It paid over $6billion in contracts to private construction firms that did the actual work and did not hire the unemployed directly. It funded the construction of more than 34000 projects.
corporation
large-scale organization that has legal powers, such as the ability to enter into contracts and buy and sell property, separate from its individual owners. They can issue stocks to gain additional resources to finance initiations, expansions, etc.
Jim Crow Laws
laws designed to keep blacks separated from whites in southern communities
Black Codes
laws put in place in the southern states immediately after the war that limited the civil liberties of blacks, controlled the labor, migration, and other activities of newly-freed slaves (reaffirming their inferior position to whites, reflected south's unwillingness to accept blacks as equals)
A. Philip Randolph
leader in the civil rights movement and labor movement. He organized the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, the first predominately black labor union. His March on Washington Movement convinced FDR to desegregate production plants for military supplies during WWII. He led the March on Washington in 1963 where MLK gave his "I Have a Dream" speech.
John Smith
leader of Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement. Originally the colony was planned to have several leaders, but most died or left.
Boss Tweed
leader of Tammany Hall and one of the largest bosses of all time
Terrence Powderly
leader of the Knights of Labor at its height, but the organization was so poorly organized that he had little power. He campaigned for the Chinese Exclusion Act because he believed that Chinese immigrants were taking jobs away, but he campaigned for better conditions for women and blacks.
John Winthrop
leader of the Massachusetts Bay colony, which differed from the Pilgrims at Plymouth because he wanted to make the colony as "a city on a hill" for England to model itself off of.
Tecumseh
leader of the Shawnee Indians and organizer of the Indian Confederation. He sided with the British during the War of 1812, because they had better helped them to protect their lands. He was defeated at the Battle of the Thames, and Native Americans never again managed to come together against the Americans.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
leading transcendentalist thinker
Emiliano Zapata
led revolutionary forces in the South during the Mexican Revolution. He broke from Modero during the war for failure to meet his agrarian goals
House of Burgesses
legislative chamber in Virginia to which citizens could elect representatives, despite the colony being royal. The big purpose was to encourage immigration to the New World.
Cold War - Warm Hearth: Politics and the Family in Postwar America/Tyler May Summary
life in the '50s was very conservative; nuclear family was embraced (included self-reliance and defined gender roles); youth had grown up during the Great Depression and WWII and wanted to make stability for themselves by securing aspects of life under their control; movements that challenged the traditional family such as increased opportunity for women and sexual liberalism did not disturb family because contained within it); politics and home life overlapped in previously unrecognized ways; historical aberration because it defied social trends (1920s social change and 1960s social change on either side)
National Origins Act of 1924
limited the annual number of immigrants who could be admitted from any country to 2% of the number of people from that country that were already living the US in 1890. Asian immigration was banned entirely. Plus, annual cap of 150,000 immigrants total. In place for 40 years.
Suffolk Resolves
made by the leaders of Suffolk County, Massachusetts in 1774 declaring that there was no need to obey the Coercive Acts. They were adopted by the First Continental Congress.
Sedition Act of 1918
made it a federal offense to use "disloyal, profane, scurrilous, or abusive language" towards the Constitution, government, uniform, or flag. Over 2100 people were prosecuted under this and the Espionage Act of 1917.
Basic Land Ordinance
made it a lot easier for the Americans to get land. It divided the territories up into plots and towns of 6 miles square, then further divided those towns into 36 subsections for sale. It was a very methodical and easy way to distribute the new American West.
John Cotton
major New England Puritan minister. He believed in the right of the Congregational minister to dictate to the faithful, and was seen as a strong upholder of theocracy. He was responsible for the exile of Anne Hutchinson and Roger Williams.
Gettysburg
major Union victory in July of 1863. Day 1: both sides established their positions. Day 2: Lee attacked along the flanks and a Union regiment from Maine defended the Little Round Top to the death and when they ran out of ammunition charged at Confederates with bayonets. Day 3: Lee decided to run straight at the Union because they had spent Day 2 reinforcing the edges. He ordered Pickett to charge over Longstreet's objections, and 85% of the charging men were killed. Lee retreated from Pennsylvania and never had another strong attempt at invading the North again.
Tobacco
major cash crop grown in Virginia and later in other Southern colonies
Montgomery Bus Boycott
major event of the civil rights movement. It lasted from December 1955 to December 1956. It was initiated when Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat to a white passenger. It showed that blacks were not going to sit by and wait for the government to fix civil rights for them.
George McClellan
major general in Union Army of the Potomac, overly cautious (adored by his troops because he refused to sacrifice them), ran against Lincoln in the 1864 election, party had an anti-war platform (promised to end war and negotiate with the Confederacy, forced to repudiate this), believed the war should be fought to restore the union, not for emancipation
Gold Standard
many economists blame the gold standard for worsening the Great Depression by limiting the amount of capital in circulation; people panicked about the safety of the dollar and exchanged notes for gold, depleting reserves and making the flow problem worse and leading to recalls on foreign loans. In 1934, Congress passed the Gold Reserve Act nationalizing all gold and ordering banks to turn over their supplies to the US Treasury and deflating the value of gold.
John Rolfe
married Pocahantas which averted war with the Powhatans until after their deaths. He figured out that land in Virginia was perfect for growing tobacco.
town meeting
meetings held by whole communities in New England towns. While not everyone had a say in government, they tried to be close knit.
selectmen
men selected to be in charge of day-to-day operations of New England towns
First Continental Congress
met in Philadelphia in September 1774 to discuss an intercolonial response to the Intolerable Acts. In addition to petitioning Parliament, they adopted the Suffolk Resolves declaring that they did not have to obey the Acts. The delegates felt at that point that they way of 1763 was irretrievable. They also agreed to have a second congress in May of 1775.
Confederation of New England
military alliance of the New England Puritans of Plymouth, Massachusetts, and New Haven against the Native Americans. It was supposed to provide for the return of indentured servants and fugitive criminals and resolve intercolonial disputes, but it kinda failed except for in King Philip's War.
General Victoriano Huerta
military officer and later president of Mexico. He secretly conspired with the US ambassador to Mexico to overthrow Francisco Madero (the usurper of the Díaz regime in the Mexican Revolution). He established a harsh military dictatorship which President Wilson did not approve of. Wilson called on him to step aside and allow democratic elections, but he refused. Wilson sent troops to occupy Veracruz. Huerta resigned in 1914 after several losses at battle.
"City on a hill"
model religious society; leads to strict laws because failure to be perfect means failing God and the Puritan religion
Chicano Movement
movement for equal rights for Mexican-Americans and other Latino groups. They demanded equal opportunity in housing, employment, and education. The movement celebrated historical roots in Aztec culture and cultural wealth (as such, the movement had connections to the Native-American Rights Movement).
counterculture
movement in the 1960s in which a lot of young people embraced lifestyles contrary to the mainstream. They listened to rock 'n roll, protested segregation and war, took drugs, etc.
Fifty-four Forty or Fight
movement that wanted boundary at southern end of Alaska, and people were willing to fight for it. It was an expansionist slogan that helped Polk win the presidency, but in reality he didn't want to add more free states to the union so settled for a forty-ninth parallel boundary.
Lincoln Steffens
muckraker who wrote The Shame of the Cities, an exposition of city machines that said the cities were not run by the people but by people with money
Ida Tarbell
muckraker who wrote an exposition of Rockefeller's Standard Oil Company that encouraged the national government to pursue an antitrust suit against it
Pet Banks
name given by critics to the banks that Jackson moved the national capital to during the Bank War in 1833
Comstock Lode
name given to gold specks in the wet soil of Nevada. Getting the gold out of the soil was too arduous for ambitious miners, who sold their stakes in the land for little money to George Hearst (who was able to make a fortune out of it). It turned out to contain huge veins of silver and gold that could be profitably extracted for 40 years, and it was worth $350million.
Naval Battles at Tripoli
naval action which took place in Tripoli Harbor in 1804. It was part of the First Barbary War, which was one of Jefferson's most significant and strong foreign policy achievements. When Americans lost the protection of the British navy, the Barbary pirates attacked their ships and endangered trade, and this war stopped that.
Compromise of 1850
negotiated by Henry Clay (his last big compromise) it would admit California as a free state, allow the legislatures of Utah and New Mexico to determine the question of slavery for themselves, set up the Fugitive Slave Act for the return of runaway slaves, abolish the slave trade in Washington DC, and give Texas $10million to abandon its claims to territory in New Mexico east of the Rio Grande
Jay-Gardoqui Treaty
negotiations between Secretary of Foreign Affairs John Jay and the Spanish foreign minister Gardoqui that would have granted the US commercial privileges in exchange for US acceptance of the closure of the Mississippi River. When Jay presented it to Congress in 1786, states' rights activist responded negatively and threatened to dissolve the Union, while federalists decided action was necessary to strengthen the national government.
Horace Greeley
newspaper editor and reformer. He founded the Liberal Republican's Party and ran as its presidential candidate in the 1872 election because he was frustrated with the corruption. Even though Democrats and his party supported him, he lost to Grant in a landslide.
Model T
nfluential automobile produced by Henry Ford's Ford Motor Company from 1908 to 1927. it was the first affordable automobile for middle-class Americans, largely because of assembly line production with completely interchangeable parts. By 1918, half of all cars in the US were Model Ts.
Plains Indians
nomadic tribes that lived in the grassland region west of the Mississippi and east of the Rocky Mountains. Reservation laws basically eliminated their lifestyle.
carpetbaggers
northerners who migrated South after the Civil War to take advantage of the economics. Many ran for offices and won the support of the freedmen.
Voice of America
official external broadcast institution of the US federal government. It has an estimated global audience of 123 million people and its function is to be a source of accurate and comprehensive news. It was created in 1976 by President Ford. It has been criticized as a source of American propaganda.
Thirteenth Amendment
officially abolished and continues to prohibit slavery and involuntary servitude, adopted on December 6, 1865, first of the reconstruction amendments
Lincoln's Ten Percent Plan
once 10% of the state's voters swear an oath of faith to the Union and agree to abolish slavery, it can be readmitted
Emma Goldman
one of the biggest rebels in American history, Goldman was an anarchist who championed individual freedom. She joined the anarchist cause after the execution of the bombers in the Haymarket Square protest. She believed in the use of violence to overthrow the government and replace it with a society based on voluntary cooperation and the free association of individuals. In 1906, she began editing a radical journal called Mother Earth until it was suppressed in 1917 and went on lecture tours. She was sent to jail several times and eventually deported.
Fort Sumter
one of the federal forts in Confederate soil that remained in Union hands after secession, in South Carolina. When it needed resupplying, Confederates blocked Union ships and fighting broke out.
Thomas Edison
one of the first inventors to apply the principles of mass production and teamwork to the process of invention (sometimes credited with the invention of the industrial research laboratory). He developed a practical electric light bulb.
Appomattox
one of the last battles of the Civil War. It led to Lee's surrender.
Louis Sullivan
one of the most important modern architects. He was famous for high-rise structures and ornamentation. (aka invented the skyscraper)
William Graham Sumner
one of the most prominent Social Darwinists, he taught sociology at Yale. He believed that there were innate inequalities in people and that poverty and extreme wealth were the natural result of those equalities. He was strongly opposed to government welfare programs for the very poor (which he felt were too weak and inept to survive or be supported), but championed the middle class as necessary for morale.
Samuel Adams
one of the original Sons of Liberty and a major revolutionary. He was John Adam's cousin and known for his role in the Committee of Correspondence and leading of mob violence.
strict construction
one should look only at the text as written and not about what it can imply
The Grange
organization for American farmers that encouraged farm families to band together for common economic and political well-being. It was founded in 1867 after Civil War and is the oldest surviving agricultural organization in America. The grange literally first served as a social center for many farming communities, but in the 1870s people from various farming towns joined together and formed an advocacy group for farmers that fought railroad monopolies and advocated rural mail deliveries. It also canvassed for politicians on local and state levels.
Trail of Tears
ourney that native tribes had to take west to Oklahoma and Arizona. The Choctaws were the first to be forced along it, in 1831, and lost a lot of people to cholera, malnutrition, and exposure. Next went the Creek, who lost 3500 of their population of 15000. Finally the Cherokees had to go.
Voting Rights Act of 1965
outlawed discriminatory voting practices (such as literacy tests) and required states with histories of voting discrimination to obtain the approval of the Department of Justice before making changes affecting voting (states that qualified for this had used a "device" to limit voting and had less than 50% of the population registered to vote in 1964).
Northwest Ordinance
outlines government for the new territories. There is an appointed governor and 3 judges and a secretary. There is a bill of rights and slavery is outlawed. Once there are 5000 adult white males with 50 acres of land, there can be an elected assembly. Once there are 60000 adult white males, it can apply for statehood.
1919 Labor Strikes
over 4million workers (1/5 of workforce) participated in strikes. It began with a general strike in Seattle and a police officer strike in Boston (followed by rioting and crime). The most tumultuous strike was the Steel Strike. The AFL organized 24 different unions in the strike, and the steel industry's leaders thought it was the work of radicals to get 12 hours pay for 8 hours work. Many feared that the steel strike was the first step toward overturning the industrial system. The corporations won through espionage, blacklists, the denial of freedom of speech and assembly, and refusal to acknowledge the right of the workers to collectively bargain. Labor's defeat here kicked off a decade of rolling back gains made during the Progressive Era and during the war, including the overturn of child labor laws and minimum wage laws for women.
Bolshevik Revolution
overthrew the Russian Provisional Government and gave the power to the Bolsheviks in Petrograd. It was a violent overthrow followed by years of fighting and the creation of Soviet Russia.
Charles Wilson Peal
painter who painted romantic paintings of Revolutionary figures
greenbacks
paper currency
Funding and Assumption
part of Hamilton's financial plan was for the national government to assume state debt, so that instead of having 13 or 14 different tabs to pay off, they could only have one and pay it back at a better rate and make it more desirable for investment. The problem with his initial proposal was that it ignored the fact that the states owed very different amounts of money, and the ones that owed less typically had already had sharp taxes to do so. Before it could be passed, the obligation on each state had to be recalculated (Madison and Hamilton made this deal at Jefferson's dinner in exchange for putting the capitol on the Potomac River). Madison strongly opposed it because he felt that it would consolidate too much power in the national government and hurt farmers.
Fugitive Slave Law
part of the Compromise of 1850, it increased incentive to turn in runaways and punishment for not doing so
Battle of Horseshoe Bend
part of the Creek War. The Creek Indians had divided into the Red Sticks and the Lower Creek, with the Red Sticks fighting against the US and the Lower Creeks fighting with them. After frequent raids on the western settlements by the Red Sticks, westerners appealed to the government for help and they sent General Andrew Jackson. Fighting under him were the West Tennessee militia, 39th United States Infantry, and 600 Cherokee, Choctaw, and Lower Creek Native Americans. After 5 hours, the United States and allies were victorious, and Andrew Jackson forced the Red Sticks to sign the Treaty of Fort Jackson.
Railroad Strike of 1877
partly in response to the Panic of 1873, Pennsylvania and B&O Railroads cut wages by 10% twice in early 1877, increased the workload, and cut hours drastically. There was a third planned 10% cut in wages, and in response railroad workers in West Virginia in July went on strike and blocked freight trains from moving until the pay cuts were reversed. Militia troops were called in but did not intimidate the workers back to work, so they fired into the crowd. The strike turned into a violent struggle, killing 10. By the time national troops arrived the violence had ended but more than 14,000 people had destroyed more than 2000 railroad cars and burned several buildings. The protest had spread by this point to Maryland and Pennsylvania. In Pittsburgh the mob destroyed tons of stuff, but the militia refused to fire against the protesters and many joined the strike. At the end 40 were dead and $4million in property was destroyed. Interstate commerce was paralyzed, as well as many other industries. The workers only made small advances, but the general labor strikes that came out of it were huge for the labor movement.
interchangeable parts
parts that are essentially identical, allowing for easy assembly of new devices and easy repair of existing devices. This was a major breakthrough and helped America rise industrially.
Bull Moose Party
party formed by Roosevelt when he lost the Republican nomination
Whigs
party that formed in opposition to Andrew Jackson's policies. It supported the power of Congress over the presidency and liked modernization and economic protectionism.
Navigation Acts
passed between 1651 and 1696, in response to complaints from English manufacturers that the British trading monopolies were carrying too many foreign products to the colonies. They enumerated certain goods to be sold only to England, forbade merchants from other nations to do business in English colonies, and required colonial commodities to be transported in English vessels. These were also a move against the Dutch and helped lead the to Anglo-Dutch Wars. However, these were mostly ignored with salutary neglect.
Alien and Sedition Acts
passed in a vain and extremely misguided attempt to keep the nation together during a time of extreme party tension. Fearing French immigrants, the Federalists included in the Acts measures against immigrants, extending naturalization time from 5 years to 14 years and authorizing the president to deport any immigrant considered dangerous to the peace or from a country that is at war with the US. The Sedition Act made it illegal to do, print, or say anything libelous, slanderous, or malicious about the government and its officials
Neutrality Acts (1935, 1936, 1937)
passed in response to the growing turmoil in Europe and Asia to try to keep America out of WWII. The Neutrality Act of 1935 imposed a general embargo on trading, and after six months an embargo on trading war materiel with all parties in a war and that all citizens traveling on warring ships traveled at their own risk. The Neutrality Act of 1936 renewed the NA of '35 and forbade all loans or credits to belligerents (did not apply to civil wars [cough Spain] or materials like trucks and oil). The NAs of 1937 outlawed the arms trade with Spain and extended the provisions of the earlier acts. It forbid US ships from transporting any passengers or articles to belligerents and US citizens were prohibited from travelling on ships of belligerent nations. This one included a "cash and carry" provision allowing the sale of materials/supplies to belligerents in Europe so long as the recipients arranged the transport and paid upfront.
Declaratory Act
passed with the repeal of the Stamp Act and asserted Parliament's domination of the colonies. It was vague about whether they could tax or legislate or both or neither.
Jefferson Day Dinner
passive aggressive confrontation between Calhoun and Jackson that demonstrated their major political differences
Quitrent
payment for rights to resources or other uses of land that might not be included in owning the land
Popular Sovereignty
people living in the territory should decide whether or not they want to enter as a slave or free state. This idea was championed by Stephen Douglas, who was at the forefront of national politics and positioning himself for a presidential bid.
loyalists
people who did not want independence from Britain
Federalists
people who supported the Constitution
Starving Times
period of forced starvation in Jamestown where the Powhatans tried to get the colonists to leave. At the end, there were only 60 colonists left.
Dust Bowl
period of severe dust storms from 1930 to 1936. it was caused by severe drought coupled with poor farming techniques with no defense against erosion. It affected 100,000,000 acres around Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Colorado, and Kansas. Hundreds of thousands of people were forced to leave their homes to head to California and other states, where conditions due to the Great Depression sucked just as bad. Many became migrant workers.
Halfway Covenant
permitted children of baptized people to join the church if they were of upright character and agreed to promote the welfare of the church. The colonies were running out of visible saints to be church leaders and members of the congregation, so this was a way for the church to keep control with a less pure society. It was also a sign of a change of focus in New England towns from religion to money.
Jacob Riis
photographer/journalist for the New York Tribune and later the New York Evening Sun who wrote exposés of the terrible working conditions in factories. He inspired the muckrakers.
Barbary Pirates
pirates in the colonial age. The empires of the world paid them off to protect their ships, but the US couldn't afford to do that, nor could they raise a military to protect it, so merchants were losing capital very quickly.
Albany Plan of Union
plan laid out by Benjamin Franklin in 1854 during the 7 Years War. It provided for a Grand Council in the British American colonies with representatives from each colony in charge of managing land and purchasing new land from natives. The plan was rejected by the colonies who wanted autonomy and by England which was afraid of the colonists joining together and having too much power.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
poet who romanticized Paul Revere's ride, making Paul Revere famous
Edgar Allen Poe
poet whose masterpieces include "The Raven" and who during his lifetime was more popular in Europe than America. His work was very dark.
Langston Hughes
poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist. He criticized Du Bois and other leaders as overly accommodating and the divisions within the black community based on shades of color. He promoted the theme of "black is beautiful" and made poems that were accessible to everyone.
spoils system
political party gives jobs to the people who supported the campaign
Horatio Alger
popular late 19th century writer whose stories featured boys that rose from rags to riches, inspiring the hope of future prosperity in readers (even though his writing was not necessarily sophisticated.)
Bonus Army
popular name of an assemblage of some 43,000 marchers—17,000 WWI veterans, their families, and affiliated groups—who gathered in Washington, D.C., in the spring and summer of 1932 to demand immediate cash-payment redemption of their service certificates, its organizers called it the Bonus Expeditionary Force to echo the name of WWI's American Expeditionary Force, while the media called it the Bonus March, led by Walter M. Waters, a former Army sergeant, many of the war veterans had been out of work since the beginning of the Great Depression, the World War Adjusted Compensation Act of 1924 had awarded them bonuses in the form of certificates they could not redeem until 1945, each service certificate, issued to a qualified veteran soldier, bore a face value equal to the soldier's promised payment plus compound interest, principal demand of the Bonus Army was the immediate cash payment of their certificates
John Dickinson
popular spokesmen for colonists. Wrote Letters from a Farmer that reiterated Dulaney's view and the propositions that the Stamp Act Congress had demanded.
George Whitfield
preacher who went from town to town lecturing. He helped to facilitate the spread of common ideas and beliefs, which was important in the colonies coming together later on. He made the Great Awakening an intercolonial movement.
Eugene Victor Debs
president of the American Railway Union. He was a presidential candidate for the Socialist Party in five elections, and unmatched by other Socialists in American history in stature and respectability. He fought for radical social change. As president of the ARU, he successfully aided many workers. He was imprisoned after the Pullman Strike for 6 months, during which he became a socialist. He ran for the presidency three times.
Nicholas Biddle
president of the Bank of the United States from 1823-1836. He was conservative, which made every bank in the country be conservative. His response to Jackson's removal of the federal deposits from the bank was to recall loans and tighten credit in an effort to force the government to restore the bank, but Jackson held firm and the result was a recession.
Jefferson Davis
president of the Confederate States of America. He had been a US senator and Secretary of War.
Black Nationalism/Black Power
principles of all African nationalist ideologies are unity, and self-determination or independence from European society, a political slogan used during the late 1960s and early 1970s, emphasizing racial pride and the creation of black political and cultural institutions to nurture and promote black collective interests and advance black values, expresses a range of political goals, from defense against racial oppression, to the establishment of social institutions and a self-sufficient economy
Dorothea Dix
prison reformer and activist for the rights of the mentally disabled. She began investigating prison conditions (the mentally disabled were kept in jail) in 1841 and reported it to the Massachusetts legislature, which agreed to reform and then the Rhode Island legislature in 1843. In 1848 she became the first woman to address Congress in her petition to set aside 5million acres of land to take care of the mentally ill. The measure was approved in Congress but vetoed by President Pierce in 1954.
Organized Crime
production, importation, and distribution of alcohol was taken over by organized gangs after the passage of the Volstead Act. They fought each other for control of the market, including using mass murder to take the others out of the competition and police. Organized crime had political power, especially in Chicago and Detroit.
LeCompton Constitution
prohibited abolition in Kansas. It was approved by James Buchanan, which was a popular decision for most Southern Democrats. Stephen Douglas broke with the party to come out against it, because popular sovereignty dictated that the people should be able to choose their own government. This caused a split in the Democratic Party that helped Lincoln with the 1860 election.
James Fenimore Cooper
prolific writer during the Era of Good Feelings who is best known for The Leatherstocking Tales and The Last of the Mohicans.
Henry Ford
prominent American industrialist, he was the founder of the Ford Motor Company. He was one of the richest and best-known people in the world. He envisioned a world with consumerism as the key to peace, but he was anti-Semitic.
US Steel
steel trust that made Andrew Carnegie very rich
Knights of Labor
promoted the social and cultural uplift of the workingman, rejected Socialism and radicalism, demanded the eight-hour day, and promoted the producers ethic of republicanism. In some cases it acted as a labor union, negotiating with employers, but it was never well organized, and after a rapid expansion in the mid-1880s, it suddenly lost its new members and became a small operation again
Dollar Diplomacy
promotion of American foreign policy through investments
New Jersey (Patterson) Plan
proposed by William Patterson, called for unicameral legislature with equal representation for each state, but with sharply increased national power
Wade-Davis Bill
proposed by two Republicans, Senator Benjamin Wade of Ohio and Representative Henry Winter Davis of Maryland, stricter than Lincoln's 10% Plan, called for the majority of citizens in former Confederate states to take the oath of loyalty to the Union (in which they also had to swear that they had never supported the Confederacy) before a state could be readmitted, passed both houses of Congress on July 2, 1864, but was vetoed by Lincoln, Republicans were outraged
Maryland
proprietary colony chartered in 1632 and run by the Calvert family. A Maryland House of Delegates was created in 1635 to govern, which was dominated by wealthy planters. The economy was supported by headright labor and tobacco.
Andrew Carnegie
proprietor of US Steel. He was the second richest man in American history, and made his fortune by vertically integrating the steel industry. He was the rags to riches man of the Gilded Age, and believed that money should be concentrated in the hands of the few that know how to best spend it for the common good.
Tariff of 1816 (Dallas Tariff)
protective tariff in place from 1816-1824. It was proposed by the Secretary of Treasury Alexander Dallas and supported by Henry Clay. It was considered necessary because British products were undercutting American products and driving domestic manufacturers out of business.
Great (Connecticut) Compromise
provided for a presidency, a senate with equal representation for the states, and a house of representatives with representation proportional to population
Civil RIghts Act of 1968
provided for equal housing opportunities regardless of race, creed, or national origin, signed into law by President Johnson, who had previously signed the landmark Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act into law
Thomas R. Dew
published An Essay in Favor of Slavery in which he argued that slavery was common, natural, and justified by the Bible
Sam Houston
put in charge of whatever military forces in Texas he could find to resist Santa Ana. He lived with the Cherokees in Tennessee for three years, fought in the Creek War under Andrew Jackson, was elected a Representative at age 30, governor at 34, and then had a scandal with a brief suspicious marriage. He went back to the Cherokees, and while with them tried to get Jackson to uphold his duties towards them, which he did not. Then he was sent by Jackson to Texas. When Texas was accepted into the Union, he was elected its first governor.
pooling
putting money or other assets into a common fund
cotton gin
quickly separates cotton fibers from seeds. Invented in 1793. It strengthened slavery in the South.
12th Amendment
ratified in 1804, it dictates that electors will cast separate ballots for the president and vice president, and that in the event of a tie the House will select the president and the Senate the vice president
Whiskey Rebellion
rebellion against the whiskey excise tax. Many farmers on the western frontier refused to pay the tax, and in July of 1794 more than 500 armed men attacked the home of tax collector John Neville. Washington was sick of people using violence to get their point across, so he personally led about 13000 soldiers to Pennsylvania to put down the rebellion. There was no violent clash, but the message got across that mob rule would no longer be an acceptable way to present grievances to the national government.
Panamanian Rebellion
rebellion engineered by Varilla and Nelson to separate Panama from Colombia in the expectation that the new Panamanian government would agree to give the US the right to build a canal across the isthmus of Panama
Fundamentalism
rejection of science in favor of strict interpretation of the Bible
Judiciary Act of 1801
relieved Supreme Court Justices from the duty of sitting on circuit courts so they could focus only on Supreme Court cases.
Ghost Dance
religion among the Sioux. It involved much dancing and ranting, and the Indian Agency considered it hostile. The US gov decided it would be safer for them if he were removed from the reservation, but he died in a struggle between his supporters and Apache police.
Indian Removal Act
removed all Indian tribes to west of the Mississippi River enforceable by the military. The result was the Trail of Tears.
Naturalization Act of 1802
repealed the Naturalization Act of 1798 (part of the Alien and Sedition Acts) and mandated that all immigrants be recorded
General William Howe
replaced General Gage in the summer of 1776 and took command of the British forces. He made poor strategical moves, wanting to move slowly to avoid casualties and at the same time terrify the colonists into submission.
Calvin Coolidge
replaced Harding as president in 1924. he wanted to foster old-time morality, big business, and isolationism. His main policy was to do nothing. He made few recommendations to Congress and the few he did were usually ignored. His laissez-faire attitude extended to the farmers, who were suffering from too low prices, and he did nothing to help the slump. However, on the whole the economy was prosperous under him and people liked him.
Macon's Bill No. 2
replaced Non-Intercourse Act in 1810. It reopened trade with Britain and France, but stated that if either agreed to respect America's neutrality, it would stop trade with the other. In 1811, Napoleon repealed all formal restrictions on trade, and Madison promptly ended trade with the British.
Lord North
replaced Pitt as Prime Minister (meaning he really replaced Townshend) and quickly repealed the Townshend Duties, except for the tax on tea.
Free Soil Party
replaced the Liberty Party in 1848. It downplayed the moral questions of slavery and focused on its bad economic impact. It fielded Martin Van Buren in 1848 and John Hale of New Hampshire in the 1852 election, but did very poorly, leading its members to be absorbed into the Republican Party along with the Conscience Whigs.
Matthew Lyon
representative to Congress for Vermont and Kentucky. In 1798 he was the first person to be put on trial for criticizing Adams, and then became the first person to be elected to Congress while in prison
Convention/Treaty of 1818
resolved boundary issues between Britain and the US, and most importantly included an agreement for a joint occupation of the Oregon Country.
Bacon's Rebellion
result of sociopolitical tensions between wealthy planters and indentured servants in Virginia. In 1676, the servants (who were angry that Governor Berkeley had friendly policies towards the natives that prevented them from getting their own land) attacked natives, chased the governor out of the colony, and torched Jamestown. This was a huge turning point in the Southern social hierarchy and the treatment of slaves, leading to the decline of indentured servitude and the rise of more slavery and harsher conditions.
John D. Rockefeller
richest man in American history. He horizontally integrated the oil refining business with his company Standard Oil, which used cutthroat techniques to drive competitors out of business.
Oregon Trail
road from Missouri to Oregon that many people took to the West
Thomas Hancock
role model for what a Puritan should be. His father was a minister, but he was the third son, so he was in the middle of the social hierarchy. He had drive and ambition and expanded a bookselling business to be very profitable. Also he had a good marriage.
Chisholm Trail
route connecting San Antonio, Texas, and Abilene Kansas. Cowboys herded cattle along it.
Hammer v Dagenhart (1918)
ruled the Keating-Owen Child Labor Act unconstitutional.
Writs of Assistance
search warrants issued to help royal officials prevent evasion of mercantilist trade restrictions. In 1761, James Otis argued before the Massachusetts court that they infringed on the rights of the colonists, and other colonies joined in protest.
secret ballot
secret ballots protected voters from political bosses or other intimidation
Treaty of San Ildefonso (1800)
secret treaty between Spain and France, in which Spain returned the Louisiana Territory to France. Napoleon pressured Spain into giving it back, but the terms dictating that were a little sketchy, which led to territory disputes between the US and Spain later on. Once France had the territory, it didn't take them long to sell it in the Louisiana Purchase; that money went to the funding of the war between France and Britain.
John Quincy Adams
secretary of state for Monroe, he succeeded him even though Andrew Jackson had more electoral votes
General Anthony Wayne
selected by George Washington to lead the Legion of the United States. He led a force in the Northwest Indian War and was the leader at the Battle of Fallen Timbers. He then negotiated the Treaty of Greenville.
John Slidell
sent to Mexico by President Polk to negotiate an agreement whereby the Rio Grande would be the southern border of Texas. He was instructed to offer a maximum of $25 million for California (feared British conquest of territory) and $5 million for New Mexico. He hinted to Polk that the Mexican reluctance to negotiate might require military force by the US, and the Mexican government rejected Slidell's offer because they refused to see him, as they had broken off diplomatic relations with the annexation of Texas.
The Alabama Claims
series of claims for damages by the US government against Britain for the assistance given to the Confederate cause, many nations endorsed American position in 1872, Britain paid $15.5 million for damages done by several warships sold to the Confederacy
indentured servants
servants that paid for their passage across the Atlantic by doing labor for masters when they arrived. They were usually in debt to the shippers as they crossed and the masters bought their debt. At the end of the term of service, the servants were given freedom dues to help them get established independently. They contributed to the social structure and provided the early necessary workforce (until it became more economic to own slaves). 40% died in service.
James Monroe
served as president 1817-1825. He was the last founding father president, but he was an anti-federalist representative at the Virginia ratifying convention. He served in the senate starting in 1790, then became governor of Virginia. He served as a diplomat in France during the Louisiana Purchase. He served as both Secretary of State and Secretary of War under James Madison during the War of 1812. His presidency overlapped with the Era of Good Feelings, and so his policies faced little opposition.
John Lewis
served as president of the United Mine Workers of America from 1920 to 1960. He founded the CIO in 1938 and served as its first president until 1942.
William Tecumseh Sherman
served under Grant during the campaigns that led to the seizure of Vicksburg and Tennessee. He succeeded Grant when Grant was promoted, and was put in charge of the western theater. He captured Atlanta, and then marched through Georgia and the Carolinas.
Insular Cases
several Supreme Court cases concerning status of territories acquired by US in the Spanish-American War, name "insular" derives from fact that these territories are islands and were administered by the War Department's Bureau of Insular Affairs, essentially, Court said that full constitutional rights did not automatically extend to all areas under American control, inhabitants of unincorporated territories such as Puerto Rico, "even if they are U.S. citizens", may have no constitutional rights, such as to remain part of the US if the US chooses to engage in de-annexation
Carrie Nation
she felt divinely ordained to promote temperance. Between 1900 and 1910 she was arrested 30 times after leading her followers in the destruction of bars yelling "Smash, ladies, smash!" She was formidable and well known for carrying a hatchet.
Virginia and Kentucky Resolves
since there was no established way to declare acts of Congress unconstitutional before Marbury v Madison, Jefferson and Madison decided that it was up to the states to determine the constitutionality of laws. They published the Virginia and Kentucky Resolves against the Alien and Sedition Acts and laid out the groundwork for states' rights and strict constructionism that followed the country through the Civil War
Kent State
site of the May 4 Massacre in 1970. The Ohio National Guard shot at unarmed student protestors, killing 4 and wounding 9. The protestors were protesting against the bombings of Cambodia, but some of those shot and or killed were just students passing by the demonstrations. Hundreds of universities, colleges, and high schools were shut down due to a student strike of 4 million students. It led to further confrontations between the National Guard and student protestors as well as riots in New York. 100,000 people protested in Washington D.C. and riots became so violent and the government response so violent that it seemed to be civil war. Nixon's handling of the crisis did not go well for him, but a Gallup poll immediately after the shooting showed that a majority of Americans blamed the protestors for the shootings.
Frederick Douglass
slave who escaped to the North and lived as a fugitive, where he showed people that blacks were equally intelligent. He was a fantastic orator and traveled around the country advocating the end of slavery. He also published the North Star.
The Silence/Ellis Summary
slavery was an ineradicable anomaly to the ideal American character; economic and cultural foundations of the South were the slave trade and direct ending of it would remove the primary source of its wealth and power and it wasn't even the Southerners' fault but the fault of the British; abolitionists and slavery proponents could both find things they liked about the Constitution, but provisions regarding slavery were sources of contention; it would be financially impossible to fund purchase and relocation of slaves and upset the social structure; the legendary figures of the day stayed noticeably silent or vague about the issue; Washington wanted to put the issue to rest and Madison made secret deals to make sure that abolition would be difficult but Benjamin Franklin in 1790 proposed abolition (that Madison convinced Massachusetts to table and swing Congress); the leadership talent of the revolutionary generation failed to overcome historical and societal realities
Election of 1856
slavery was the big issue; the North entirely voted for Republicans, and the South entirely voted for Democrats, making it the first election in which one could draw a line across the United States and see completely different ideas and cultures. The Republicans lost, but they had the largest percentage of votes ever go to a candidate fielded in a party's first presidential election, which showed that they were on the scene and a major power.
A Troublesome Property/Stampp Summary
slaves hated being slaves and acted on discontent through acting foolish, feigning illness, working slowly, and breaking tools; white owners admitted discontentment of slavery through countermeasures, complaints, and fear of insurrection; slavery lasted as long as it did not because of contentment of slaves but because they couldn't overthrow the system; showed the world that everyone possesses the spirit of liberty
Wilson Gorman Tariff
slightly reduced the tariff rates from the rates set in the McKinley tariff and imposed a 2% income tax. However, protectionists in the Senate were able to work behind the scenes and add more than 600 amendments that effectively nullified the reforms. The income tax provision was struck down in the Pollock case in 1895.
"He kept us out of the war!"
slogan for Wilson's 1916 campaign which he won by 4000 votes. He claimed that joining the war would end the era of Progressive reforms.
15th Amendment
the last of the Reconstruction Amendments, it prohibited states from disenfranchising voters based on race
John Locke
social contract theory: the power of the government is derived from the people, and if it abuses its power then the people have the right to revolt and make their own government
Veracruz
some of Pancha Villa's men murdered an Englishman and an American, in response to which the US sent 2,000 Marines to occupy Veracruz. The US was also motivated by Huerto's refusal to allow fair elections
Harlem Renaissance
spanned from about 1919 to the early 1930s. It was the flowering of black culture that centered around Harlem, New York, but that also affected other metropolitan areas with a large black population after the Great Migration. Jazz music, literature, poetry, art, and theater emerged in a significant movement. It became a sign of symbolic and real progress of the black community that was not simply leftover European culture. A lot of the products of the Renaissance faced criticism from the white community, but it was eventually absorbed into mainstream culture.
division of labor
specialization of cooperative labor in specific roles and tasks. It helped to generate a growth of total output and trade and complex industry.
Students for a Democratic Society
starting in 1964, SDS became a central group in the antiwar movement. At the height of the movement, a faction of the SDS called "Weathermen" protested violently, including participating in Chicago riots.
Alger Hiss case
state department official was accused of passing classified documents to the Soviet Union in 1948. Hiss was indicted for perjury and sentenced to 5 years in prison in 1950. The case scared mainstream America into thinking Communists were pervasive,
scabs
strikebreakers
Andrew Jackson
strong military leader and champion of the common man, he was the 7th president of the United States. He supported the common farmer at the expense of the American economy.
Susan B. Anthony
suffragist who formed the National Woman's Suffrage Association with Elizabeth Cady Stanton
Oliver Hazard Perry
supervised the building of the fleet at Lake Erie. His leadership was key in the Americans sweeping the British in all of the Lake Erie battles. Later, he served in the Mediterranean during the Second Barbary War
Dwight Eisenhower
supreme commander of the Allied Forces in WWII, commander of NATO forces from 1950 to 1952, and president of the US from 1953-61. He directed the invasions of North Africa, Italy, France, and Germany. He directed D-Day and led the military to Nazi Germany.
sharecropping
system of agriculture that replaced the plantations in the South during Reconstruction. Freedmen were rented a section of a plantation in exchange for a percentage of the yield. They also had to pay for seeds, tools, and other things that they needed from the land owner. The longer they stayed, the more trapped in debt they became.
Republicanism
system of government in which power is delegated to a small number of people by the whole. Later, the republican party was a party that put more emphasis on state power (Jefferson).
Holocaust
systematic internment, enslavement, and murder of 11million Europeans including 6million Jews
dumbbell tenements
tenement houses built in New York after the Tenement House Act of 1879 and before the New York State Tenement House Act of 1901. The law required that every inhabitable room have a window opening to open air, so air shafts were built in the middle. Mostly immigrants lived in these.
Talented Tenth
term that designated a leadership class of African-Americans, publicized in an essay published in September 1903 by Dubois, described the likelihood of one in ten black men becoming leaders of their race in the world through continuing their classical education
Robber Baron
term used to attack any businessman who used questionable practices to become wealthy
Détente
thaw in the Cold War during Nixon's presidency. The US and SU reopened some trade.
William McKinley
the 25th President of the US (1897-1901), best known for winning fiercely fought elections, while supporting the gold standard and high tariffs; he succeeded in forging a Republican coalition that for the most part dominated national politics until the 1930s, also led the nation to victory in 100 days in the Spanish-American war
Franklin Roosevelt
the 32nd president of the US, and the only one elected to more than two terms. He defeated incumbent Herbert Hoover in 1932 in a landslide, coming into office at the worst of the Great Depression. He ran on a New Deal, a twist of his relative's Square Deal, in his first campaign. His first 100 days in office were highly effective and he pushed through 15 major New Deal laws. He waffled in his second term and was distracted with his court packing plan.
Midway Island Hopping
the Allies targeted islands in the Pacific theatre that were ideal for airstrips, and each island was won by vicious battle
Red Scare
the Bolshevik Revolution sparked a red scare in the US where people were terrified of political radicalism. It lasted for several years, and immigrants and labor unions were targeted for having dangerous ideas that potentially threatened national security
British forts in the NW
the British had agreed to vacate their forts in the Treaty of Paris of 1783, but they did not
Judiciary Act of 1789
the Constitution provided for a Supreme Court with lower courts to be set up at Congress' discretion, so the Judiciary Act of 1789 fleshed out the judicial system. It assigned 6 justices to the Court: 1 chief justice and 5 other justices. The Act set the number of Supreme Court justices at six: one Chief Justice and five Associate Justices. The Supreme Court was given exclusive original jurisdiction over all civil actions between states, or between a state and the United States, as well as over all suits and proceedings brought against ambassadors and other diplomatic personnel; and original, but not exclusive, jurisdiction over all other cases in which a state was a party and any cases brought by an ambassador. The Court was given appellate jurisdiction over decisions of the federal circuit courts as well as decisions by state courts holding invalid any statute or treaty of the United States; or holding valid any state law or practice that was challenged as being inconsistent with the federal constitution, treaties, or laws; or rejecting any claim made by a party under a provision of the federal constitution, treaties, or laws.
French Alliance
the French had been waiting to support the colonists in order to undermine the British (they were pretty bitter about the whole 7 Years War thing). After Saratoga, they made an alliance giving the Americans supplies, troops, money, and a navy (June 1778).
Lowell Mill Girls
the Lowell Mill had a workforce that was predominately made of females that were working to support their families or raise dowries. They held the first strikes of the Industrial Revolution. They challenged the idea that women should stay in the home, which helped give rise to the Cult of Domesticity.
Philippines debate
the Philippine-American War was 1899-1902 and claimed hundreds of thousands of lives and gave the US control of the Philippines. The war started a debate about America's role in the world and whether it should be imperialist. Many rejected imperialism for democratic or racist reasons, but others supported the "white man's burden" philosophy. The white man's burden was particularly ironic in the Philippines because it was predominately Catholic. Atrocities such as vicious torture, murder, and imprisonment of civilians, and burning of villages were committed by Americans in the Philippines, and 200,000 civilians died.
People's Party
the Populist Party, officially founded in 1891
Indian Attack of 1622
the Powhatans rebelled against the Jamestown settlers because of land infringement and the death of Pocahantas and John Rolfe. In the initial attack, 1/3 of the settlers were killed. It turned into a war of attrition that lasted for 10 years. In 1632, the Powhatans sued for peace. The war bankrupted the Virginia Company.
work ethic
the Puritans placed a lot of emphasis on work ethic, feeling that idleness was devilish. They tried to spend every moment being productive.
Thomas Jefferson
the Secretary of State under George Washington and the third president. He was the leader of the Democratic-Republicans, and thus basically tried to undermine the administration from within. He and Alexander Hamilton fought bitterly over economics. He feared that Hamilton was taking the country in the wrong direction and hurting the farmers, and he wanted the country to be a strong agrarian power, not strong for "moving paper around." He sympathized much more with the French, probably because he had been an ambassador there, and strongly distrusted any plan that would bring the US into closer ties with Britain. Eventually he deserted the administration and went home. He was a bad friend to John Adams.
Court Packing Plan
the Supreme Court ruled several components of Roosevelt's New Deal unconstitutional, so Roosevelt wanted to appoint additional justices to the court who would support his policies. He proposed a plan in Congress so that he would appoint one new justice for every justice over the age of 71 who did not retire (and proposed a generous retirement plan to encourage it). It was a flop, because even though people supported the New Deal, they liked the balance of powers more. It was the biggest mistake in popular opinion that Roosevelt made, but the Court backed down.
Tokyo firebombing
the US Air Forces dropped incendiary bombs on Tokyo from the Mariana Islands from November of 1944 until August of 1945, the day of Japan's surrender. The Operation Meetinghouse air raid of March 1945 was the most destructive bombing raid in history.
War of 1812
the US was really unprepared for war. The strategy was a three-pronged attack on Canada and harassment of British shipping. At Detroit, 2000 American troops surrendered to a much smaller British and Indian force. An attack across the Niagara River, near Buffalo, resulted in 900 American prisoners of war. Along Lake Champlain, a third army retreated into American territory after failing to cut undefended British supply lines. The tide turned with a naval victory led by Oliver Hazard Perry on Lake Erie on September 10, 1813. The victory caused the British to abandon Detroit and retreat toward Niagara. On October 5th, William Henry Harrison overtook them at the Thames River and crushed them. Tecumseh was killed. In spring 1814, the British defeated Napoleon, which freed up 18,000 soldiers that they planned to send to upstate New York, the Chesapeake, and New Orleans. The British forces at Niagara were halted, but the 4000 soldiers that headed to Washington D.C. were not. After D.C., the British headed for Baltimore, but they were repulsed by Fort McHenry. From there they headed to New Orleans, where Andrew Jackson and a ragtag group of fighters crushed them. The Treaty of Ghent officially ended the war. Significant results include that Native Americans lost any hope of defending territory east of the Mississippi, and ceded most land to the US. Spain realized that the US was not something they wanted to play with, and agreed to give up Florida and acknowledge the western boundary of the US the Pacific Ocean. The Federalists released the proposals of the Hartford Convention at the same time the American victory/draw became known, and they never recovered from the political stigma.
Nixon Doctrine
the US would aid nations who needed it, but it would be monetary. The US would not be the world's police anymore.
Maine explosion
the USS Maine exploded in the Havana harbor in 1898, increasing public support for war against Spain
Credit Mobilier
the Union Pacific Railroad created the fake Credit Mobilier to pocket government money during the production of the transcontinental railroad
Winfield Scott
the Whig party candidate in the 1852 presidential election and the general who captured Mexico City during the Mexican American War
power of the purse
the ability of one group to control another by withholding funding. This was first used by the House of Burgesses to have control over the governor, but was later incorporated into the Constitution as a check of the legislative branch over the executive branch.
Social Darwinism
the application of the theories of natural selection and evolution to society. People who are evolved to be superior, who are more capable, are destined and entitled to rise to the top, while the unfit should be at the bottom, impoverished.
Second Bank of the United States
the bank was chartered in 1816 for another 20 years. The war made people realize that having a national bank was actually a really good idea. After the war there was rapid inflation. It was recreated to be stronger, which made a lot of people wary of it. At the same time, there was an artificial bubble created by the overloaning of money to people, particularly expansionists, that popped in the Panic of 1819.
Federalist Papers
the beautiful coordinated series of publications advocating the ratification of the Constitution. Alexander Hamilton wrote 55 of them, Madison 29, and John Jay 5. Hamilton wrote the first in response to anti-federalist publications in New York. The papers were circulated in newspapers.
Antinomianism
the belief that faith alone is necessary for salvation. This was really scary for the Puritans, who believed that hard and good work was necessary.
trustbusting
the breaking up of a large trust and monopoly to encourage competition and eliminate unfair business practices
Washington DC
the capitol. It's location was causing some major backup in Congress, but after the Dinner it was agreed to be placed on the Potomac between Virginia and Maryland in an area of land that was basically swampland
Elizabeth Cady Stanton
the chief organizer of Seneca Falls and one of the most important women in the women's rights movement. After the Civil War she formed the National Woman's Suffrage Association with Susan B. Anthony
Battle of Fallen Timbers
the final battle in the Northwest Indian War. The war was started because in the Treaty of Paris, Britain ceded a lot of Northwestern territory to the US without consulting the natives. They refused to vacate the land, but they could not put up much of a fight.
Roanoke
the first English colony in the New World, founded near present-day Virginia in 1585. It mysteriously disappeared when Raleigh was in England getting supplies, and the next English colony in the Americas wasn't planned for 20 years.
Gifford Pinchot
the first chief of the United States Forest Service and the 28th governor of Pennsylvania. He was a Progressive Republican, and is known for reforming the management and development of forests and for advocating conservation through planned use and renewal.
Election of 1860
the first election in which the Democrats were split internally. Northern Democrats fielded Stephen Douglas, and Southern Democrats fielded John Beckinridge; the Southern Democrats broke off because the nominating convention refused to include endorsement of a federal code guaranteeing the rights of slaveholders in the platform. The Constitutional Union Party nominated John Bell from Tennessee. The Republicans nominated Abraham Lincoln. There were actually two different sectional campaigns: Bell vs Beckenridge in the South and Douglas vs Lincoln in the North. Douglas was the only one that truly tried to win national support; Lincoln's name didn't even appear on the ballot in 10 Southern states. He won 39% of the popular vote, but 180 electoral college votes, making him the next president. He was not well-received in the South, where people believed that a Republican president would end life as they knew it by appointing antislavery officials and supporting antislavery policies, and all hell broke loose.
Panic of 1819
the first large financial panic in American history. The National Bank had loaned more money than it had, and when it realized it printed more money. By 1819, there were 10 times more notes in circulation than there was gold or silver to back them up. In 1816, Monroe realized that the inflation would lead to disaster so he tried to get the bank to get the money back, but the rapid recall of loans caused a panic.
Election of 1796
the first time the election for the presidency was really a contest. It was clear that Adams or Jefferson would succeed Washington, but which one was not. Adams won by 3 electoral votes, and Jefferson became his vice president. The dysfunction of political opposites sharing the White House contributed to 12th amendment (less directly than the Jefferson-Burr affair)
Cabinet
the heads of executive departments that advise the president. Washington appointed Hamilton to the Treasury and Jefferson to the Department of State.
loose construction
the idea that the Constitution is vague enough for interpretation to change to fit the needs of the time
Saratoga
the key battle that proved the colonists had a chance to win the war. Afterwards, France gave its support to the colonists and Spain sideways did. 1777
New York City Draft Riot
the largest civil insurrection in American history other than the Civil War itself, the draft riots happened in 1863. People were furious that the government was sacrificing the poor workers, and they took it out on property, immigrants, and free blacks. 300 people died.
Franklin Pierce
the last choice of the Democrats (compromise candidate when the Democrats couldn't agree on anyone else). He won the election of 1852. By 1852 many of the free soilers were shifting back to the Democratic party because they knew their party couldn't field a major candidate.
General John Burgoyne
the leader of the British forces that came down from Canada and were supposed to meet up with forces coming north from New York. When he got to Saratoga, he found himself overpowered by the colonists. He had to surrender in October of 1777, a huge defeat for the British.
Election of 1844
the major issue during the election was the question of whether or not Texas should be admitted to the union (as a slave state). The victory went to Polk and the Democrats who supported annexation, prompting president Tyler to submit a resolution for annexation. He beat out Henry Clay, who opposed annexation, very narrowly.
AAA (Agriculture Adjustment Act 1933)
the most controversial of the programs in the First New Deal. It addressed the problem of overproduction of agriculture by paying farmers subsidies not to plant part of their land. It put in place price supports to help farmers. People did not like it, because even though the theory sounds good it is not popular to burn food when people are starving to death.
War on Poverty
the national poverty rate was at 19% when Johnson took office and he was determined to address it. Congress passed the Economic Opportunity Act to administer federal funds targeted against poverty. It waned after the 1960s with growing criticism of the "welfare state" and an ideological shift against aiding impoverished people.
Powhatan
the native tribe with territory in Virginia. While threatened at first by the militant and invasive settlers, they had good relations until around 1622.
bossism
the organization of a political machine to have a strong hierarchy centering around the boss, who controls everything
direct primary
the people directly vote for who they want to run for their party instead of the party leaders choosing
Bleeding Kansas
the period after the 1855 vote on whether to become a free or slave territory when bands of armed men roamed the country shooting at each other and random innocent people
Critical Period
the period under the Articles of Confederation after the Revolutionary War. The national government was extremely weak because the states were too strong and it had no authority to enforce anything it did. Spain and England were waiting to pounce on the territories.
mass production
the production of large amounts of standardized products, especially on assembly lines.
Natty Bumppo
the protagonist of The Leatherstocking Tales. He was born to white parents but raised by Native Americans. He uses his knowledge of nature to save the day, showing America's look Westward and towards the frontier.
Tea Act
the relative peace after the end of the Townshend Duties ended in 1773 with the Tea Act. The East India company was running out of money, so the British wanted to help them by opening the colonies as a direct market. The East India company would be able to undersell the tea merchants, even those with smuggled tea, putting them out of business. Merchants got really pissed off and considered it a monopoly. This is where tar and feathering became a pass-time. In most ports, Americans did not allow the cheap tea to land, but Governor Hutchinson in Boston ordered the Royal Navy to prevent tea ships from leaving the harbor with their cargo. Thus the Boston Tea Party.
Vietnamization
the replacement of American troops with South Vietnamese troops to transfer military responsibility to South Vietnam
recall
the right for the people to recall their elected officials before the end of their terms enabled the public to have greater control over the government
slavery
the subjugation of humans to other humans, so that slaves have no personal rights and are considered the property of their masters
Democratic-Republicans
the supporters of Jefferson and Madison. Jefferson was the first Democratic-Republican president. They tended to support France over Britain and desired the growth of the agrarian sector of the economy over the growth of commerce and manufacturing
Depression of 1893
the worst financial depression until the Great Depression. In May of 1893, the National Cordage Company failed, sparking a market crash (in a market that was already weakened because of lack of flow of foreign capital into the American economy). During 1893 more than 4,000 banks and 14,000 businesses failed, leading to a huge rise in unemployment.
Tallmadge Amendment
there was a crisis over slavery with the pending admission of Missouri into the union. Missouri did not fit into the territories for which there were clear rules, and sectional disagreements erupted over it. The Tallmadge Amendment would have eliminated slavery in Missouri after a generation by prohibiting new slaves from being introduced into the state and granting natural-born slaves freedom at the age of 25. The amendment was not passed.
pluralism
there were diverse and competing centers of power and ideas in Pennsylvania, making its culture very diverse and more accepting than most
Frontier Thesis
thesis by Frederick Jackson Turner that the American character was shaped by the westward movement and that the frontier was closing and starting a crisis
Thomas Jefferson
third president of the United States and the author of the Declaration of Independence. He was a wealthy Virginia planter who did not actually fight in the Revolutionary War. He was Secretary of State under Washington.
1968 Democratic National Convention
thousands of Vietnam War protestors converged on the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in August of 1968. The city began to riot. The National Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam planned to protest along with the Yippies, who wanted to stage a free rock concert at the convention. Daley put all 12,000 police on 21-hour shifts, the national government sent 5,000 national guardsmen, the FBI sent 1,000 agents, the Army sent 6,000 troops to the suburbs. Police tried to break up the rock concert, and when the crowd refused to disperse they charged and hit people with clubs. 2,000 demonstrators fought back, and the police fought with indiscriminate violence (including against reporters, US government officials, ministers, etc.). The next day protestors tried to march peacefully to the convention building, but police attacked them. The turmoil revealed America to be divided and chaotic.
Seminole War
three conflicts between the Seminole people and the US Army starting in 1814. The Second Seminole War started in 1835 when the Seminoles resisted relocation. The Seminoles struck throughout the state at isolated farms, forts, and officials. In 1837, some Seminole chiefs arranged a truce, but others refused to surrender and led the surrendered ones away. It hurt their ability to negotiate. Colonel Zachary Taylor achieved fame in this war. At the end, only 95 men and 200 women and children were left on the Florida reservation. The war costed as much as $40,000,000 and was very deadly.
War Hawks
young republicans elected in the 1810 election that were eager to prove themselves through war
Sir Walter Raleigh
took part in the suppression of rebellions in Ireland, which reinforced his ideas of English superiority. He sponsored the colony of Roanoke.
Sacco-Vanzetti Trial
took place in the hysteria of the First Red Scare. Sacco and Vanzetti were Italian immigrants and anarchists who were convicted of murdering two men during a 1920 armed robbery. The evidence was very unclear and the trial was biased, and after a series of controversial appeals they were executed in 1927. In 1977 the governor of Massachusetts issued a proclamation about the trial stating that they had been unfairly tried.
Treaty of Portsmouth
treaty negotiated with the help of Theodore Roosevelt in 1905 ending the Russo-Japanese War
Peace of Paris 1763
treaty that ended the 7 Years War. France lost all of its possessions on the North American mainland and ceded its territories east of the Mississippi River except New Orleans to the British. The Spanish ceded Florida in return for the Caribbean colonies they lost. This marked the end of the age of empirical rivalry, with Britain at the top.
Benjamin Franklin
ultimate boss. If that needs more explaining, he proposed the Albany Plan of Union in 1754, was a scientist, diplomat, and agent of public service.
Mexican American War
underlying cause of the Mexican War was the movement of American pioneers into lands claimed by Mexico, immediate reason for the conflict was the annexation of Texas in 1845, supporters of the war blamed Mexico for the hostilities because it had severed relations with the US, threatened war, and refused to receive an American emissary or to pay the damage claims of American citizens, Mexico had also "invaded our territory and shed American blood on American soil", opponents denounced the war as an immoral land grab by an expansionist power against a weak neighbor that had been independent barely two decades, Whigs feared they would have the same fate as the Federalist party if they tried to be against the war, caused division within the party, more people died from disease than in battle, war increased the nation's size by a third (southern states very happy), but most significant result was to reignite the question of slavery (heightened tension between slave and non-slave states)
Kitchen cabinet
unofficial advisers to the president
Report on Public Credit
unveiled by Hamilton with the aim of improving the credit of the United States in order to encourage investment and capital flow, thereby improving the economy. There were three parts to his plan: pay back Revolutionary debts (war bonds, promissary notes, etc) at face value, assume state debt, and create a national bank. Every step was controversial.
automobiles
vehicles that emerged in the beginning of the 20th century and became an increasingly competitive form of transportation in the US
John B. Gough
very popular temperance speaker who gave nearly 10,000 speeches against alcohol
John C. Calhoun
vice president under Jackson, he became the first vp to resign in 1832. He and Jackson were on opposite sides of the states' rights debate, and they had personal issues. He believed in the states before the Union, and was central in the Nullification Crisis.
Harvard College
voted into existence in 1636 by the General Court of Massachusetts. It was originally intended to train ministers, and it was the first college in the British American colonies.
Literacy test
voting qualification law, discriminated against blacks educated in separate and unequal schools, whites who administered these tests often made sure that semi-literate whites passed, but college-educated blacks did not
poll tax
voting qualification law, discriminated against poor people who could not afford the tax, if you couldn't pay you couldn't vote, many blacks were poor
Federalists
wanted a strong central government, and tended to support trade and flow of capital and to side more with Britain than France
Spanish-American War
war started largely because of the press war exaggerating Spanish atrocities against rebelling Cubans in 1898. It was also spurred on by an insult to President McKinley in the De Lome Letter and the explosion of the USS Maine. The US won and gained Cuba, the Philippines, Puerto Rico, and Guam.
vertical integration
way to corner a particular market by controlling all aspects from production to distribution. This was used by Andrew Carnegie to make hundreds of millions of dollars.
John Hancock
wealthy merchant. His ship "Liberty" was seized without probable cause, which was a huge symbol of the corruption of the British rule. Mob violence was threatened, and the customs officers asked the British military for help.
lockout
when workers walked out on strike, the companies would lock the gates to prevent workers from returning to their jobs
Lucretia Mott
women's rights activist and prominent female abolitionist who helped to organize the Seneca Falls Convention and fought for suffrage and and civil rights for blacks and women
Alice Paul
women's rights activist and suffragist, she favored militant tactics to secure her ends. She led the congressional committee of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, but she broke with the organization and formed the Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage. She organized march of 5,000 women on Washington D.C. during Wilson's inauguration (1912). Both the CUWS and the NAWSA started to focus on getting a constitutional amendment for women's suffrage. After the 19th Amendment was passed in 1920, she tried to get an Equal Rights Amendment passed, but many women opposed it for fear of it overturning legislation protecting women and children from harsh working conditions
Star Spangled Banner
written by Francis Scott Key, a lawyer detained on a British ship during the bombardment of Fort McHenry, at which was fired between 1500 and 1800 cannonballs throughout the night but managed to stay intact with relatively little damage.
Harriet Beecher Stowe
wrote Uncle Tom's Cabin
Henry George
wrote in the 1870s about how California had gone wrong, leading to extreme wealth and extreme want. He blamed it on land greed, noting that 516 Californians owned 8.5 million acres of land that were worked as plantations by Chinese and other immigrants while wealthy owners lived in mansions in the cities. Land was the reason for the great divide in wealth. He published this in Progress and Poverty.
Edward Bellamy
wrote the best selling novel Looking Backward, which described what he thought life would be like in the year 2000. The government would run everything, employ everyone from the ages 21-45, and everyone would share equally in its benefits. People would also benefit from handy new gadgets like televisions and radios. He called his utopian system Nationalism, and reform movements were sparked in its wake. Bellamy personally supported the Populist movement because of its platform of nationalizing railroads and such.
Upton Sinclair
wrote the jungle, an exposé of the meat packing industry that inspired reforms