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164 Cards in this Set
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Americanization |
The process by which an Indian was "redeemed" and assimilated into the American way of life by changing his clothing to wester clothing and renouncing his tribal customs in exchange for a parcel of land |
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Battle of Wounded Knee |
An attempt to disarm a group of Lakota Sioux Indians near Wounded Knee, South Dakota, which resulted in members of the Seventh Cavalry of the U.S. Army opening fire and killing over 150 Indians |
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Bonanza Farms |
Large farms owned by speculators who hired laborers to work the land; These large farms allowed their owners to benefit from economies of scale and prosper, but they did nothing to help small family farms, which continued to struggle
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California Gold Rush |
The period between 1848 and 1849 when prospectors found large strikes of gold in California, leading others to rush in and follow suit; this period led to a cycle of boom and bust through the area, as gold was discovered, mined, and sripped
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Comstock Lode |
The first significant silver find in the country, discovered by Henry T. P. Comstock in 1859 in Nevada
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Exodusters |
A term used to describe African Americans who moved to Kansas from the Old South to escape the racism there
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Fence Cutting War |
An armed conflict between cowboys moving cattle along the trail and ranchers who wished to keep the best grazing lands for themselves; Occurred in Clay County, Texas, between 1883 and 1884 |
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Las Gorras Blancas |
The Spanish name for White Caps, the rebel group of Hispanic Americans who fought back against the appropriation of Hispanic land by whites; for a period in 1889-1890, they burned farms, homes, and crops to express their growing anger at the injustice of the situation |
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Manifest Destiny |
The phrase, coined by journalist John O'Sullivan, which came to stand for the idea that white Americans had a calling and a duty to seize and settle the American West with Protestant democratic values
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Sand Creek Massacre |
A milita raid led by Colonel Chivington on an Indian camp in Colorado, flying both the American flag and the white flag of surrender; over one hundred men, women, and children were killed |
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Sod House |
A frontier home constructed of dirt held together by thick-rooted prairie grass that was prevalent in the Midwest; sod, cut into large rectangles, was stacked to make walls of the structure, providing inexpensive, yet damp, house for western settlers |
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City Beautiful |
A movement begun by Daniel Burnham and Fredrick Law Olmsted, who believe that cities should be built with three core tenets in mind: The inclusion of parks within city limits, the creation of wide boulevards, and the expansion of more suburbs |
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Graft |
The financial kickback provided to city bosses in exchange for political favors
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Great Migration |
The name for the large wave of African Americans who left the South after the Civil War, mostly moving to cities in the Northeast and Upper Midwest |
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Instrumentalism |
A theory promoted by John Dewey, who believe that education was key to the search for the truth about ideals and institutions |
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Machine Politics |
The process by which citizens of a city used their local ward alderman to work the "machine" of local politics to meet local needs within a neighborhood |
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Naturalism |
A theory of realism that states that the laws of nature and the natural world were the only relevant laws governing humanity
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Pragmatism |
A doctrine supported by philosopher William James, which held that Americans needed to experiment and find the truth behind underlying institutions, religions, and ideas in American life, rather than accepting them on faith |
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Realism |
A collection of theories and ideas that sought to understand the underlying changes in the United States during the late 19th century |
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Settlement House Movement |
An early progressive reform movement, largely spearheaded by women, which sought to offer services such as childcare and free healthcare to help the working poor |
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Social Gospel |
The belief that the church should be as concerned about the conditions of people in the secular world as it was with their afterlife |
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Social Register |
A de facto directory of the wealthy socialites in each city, first published by Louis Keller in 1886 |
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Tammany Hall |
A political machine in New York, run by machine boss William Tweed with assistance from George Washington Plunkitt |
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Bloody Shirt Campaign |
The strategy of Republican candidates to stress the sacrifices that the nation had to endure in its Civil War against Democratic southern secessionists |
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Civil Service |
The contrast to the spoils system, where political appointments were based on merit, not favoritism |
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Coxey's Army |
An 1894 protest, led by businessman Jacob Coxey, to advocate for public works jobs for the unemployed by marching on Washington, DC |
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Farmers' Alliance |
A national conglomeration of different regional farmers' alliances that joined together in 1890 with the goal of furthering farmers' concerns in politics |
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Gilded Age |
The period in American history during which materialism, a quest for personal gain, and corruption dominated both politics and society |
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Grange |
A farmers' organization, launched in 1867, which grew to over 1.5 million members in less than a decade |
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Half-Breeds |
The group of Republicans led by James G. Blaine, named because they supported some measure of civil service reform and were thus considered to be only "half Republican" |
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Mugwumps |
A portion of the Republican Party that broke away from the Stalwart-versus-Half-Breed debate due to disgust with their candidate's corruption |
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Populist Party |
A political party formed in 1890 that sought to represent the rights of primarily farmers but eventually all workers in regional and federal elections |
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Stalwarts |
The group of Republicans led by Roscoe Conkling who strongly supported the continuation of the patronage system |
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Subtreasury Plan |
A plan that called for storing crops in government warehouses for a brief period of time, during which the federal government would provide loans to farmers worth 80 percent of the current crop prices, release the crops for sale when prices rose |
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Haymarket Affair |
The rally and subsequent riot in which several policemen were killed when a bomb was thrown at a peaceful workers rights rally in Chicago in 1866 |
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Holding Company |
A central corporate entity that controls the operations of multiple companies by holding the majority of stock for each enterprise |
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Horizontal Integration |
Method of growth wherein a company grows through mergers and acquisitions of similar companies |
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Molly Maguires |
A secret organization made up of Pennsylvania coal miners, named for the famous Irish patriot, which worked through a series of scare tactics to bring the plight of the miners to public attention |
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Monopoly |
The ownership or control of all enterprises comprising an entire industry |
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Robber Baron |
A negative term for the big businessmen who made their fortunes in the massive railroad boom of the late nineteenth century |
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Scientific Management |
Mechanical engineer Fredrick Taylor's management style, also called "stopwatch management," which divided manufacturing tasks into short, repetitive segments and encouraged factory owners to seek efficiency and profitability over any benefits of personal interaction
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Social Darwinism |
Herbert Spencer's theory, based upon Charles Darwin's scientific theory, which held that society developed much like plant or animal life through a process of evolution in which the most fit and capable enjoyed the greatest material and social success |
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Trust |
A legal arrangement where a small group of trustees have legal ownership of a business that they operate for the benefit of other investors |
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Vertical Integration |
A method of growth where a company acquires other companies that include all aspects of a product's life cycle from the creation of the raw materials through the production process to the delivery of the final product |
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Atlanta Compromise |
Booker T. Washington's speech, given at the Atlanta Exposition in 1895, where he urged African Americans to work hard and get along with others in their white communities so as to earn the goodwill of the country |
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Direct Primary |
A political reform that allowed for the nomination of candidates through a direct vote by party members, rather than by the choice of delegates at conventions; in the South, this strengthened all white solidarity within the Democratic Party |
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Initiative |
A proposed law, or initiative, placed on the ballot by public petition |
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Muckrakers |
Investigative journalists and authors who wrote about social ills, from child labor to the corrupt business practices of big businesses, and urged the public to take action |
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NAACP |
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, a civil rights organization formed in 1909 by an interracial coalition including W.E.B. Du Boise and Florence Kelley |
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New Freedom |
Woodrow Wilson's campaign platform for the 1912 election that called for a small federal government to protect public interests from the evils associated with bad businesses |
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New Nationalism |
Theodore Roosevelt's 1912 campaign platform, which called for a powerful federal government to protect the American public |
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Niagara Movement |
A campaign led by W.E.B. Du Bois and other prominent African American reformers that departed from Booker T. Washington's model of accommodation and advocated for a "Declaration of Principles" that called for immediate political, social, and economic equality for African Americans |
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Progressive Party |
A political party started by Roosevelt and other Progressive Republicans who were unhappy with Taft and wanted Roosevelt to run for a nonconsecutive third term in 1912 |
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Progressivism |
A broad movement between 1896 and 1916 led by white, middle-class professionals for legal, scientific, managerial, and institutional solutions to the ills of urbanization, industrialization, and corruption |
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Recall |
To remove a public official from office by virtue of a petition and vote process |
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Referendum |
A process that allows voters to counteract legislation by putting an existing law on the ballot for voters to either affirm or reject |
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Silent Sentinels |
Women protestors who picketed the White House for years to protest for women's right to vote; they went on a hunger strike after their arrest, and their force-feeding became a national scandal |
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Square Deal |
Theodore Roosevelt's name for the kind of involved, hands-on government he felt the country needed |
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Taylorism |
A system named for Fredrick Winslow Taylor, aimed at improving factory efficiency rates through the principle of standardization; Taylor's model limited workers to repetitive tasks, reducing human contact and opportunities to think or collaborate |
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Wisconsin Idea |
A political system created by Robert La Follette, governor of Wisconsin, that embodied many progressive ideals; La Follette hired experts to advise him on improving conditions in his state |
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Wobblies |
A nickname for the Industrial Workers of the World, a radical Progressive group that grew out of the earlier labor movement and desired an industrial union model of labor organization |
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Anti-Imperialist League |
A group of diverse and prominent Americans who banded together in 1898 to protest the idea of American empire building |
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Dollar Diplomacy |
Taft's foreign policy, which involved using American economic power to push for favorable foreign policies |
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Frontier Thesis |
An idea proposed by Fredrick Jackson Turner, which stated that the encounter of European traditions and a native wilderness was integral to the development of American democracy, individualism, and innovative character |
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Open Door Notes |
The circular notes sent by Secretary of State Hay claiming that there should be "open doors" in China, allowing all countries equal and total access to all markets, ports, and railroads without any special considerations from the Chinese authorities; while ostensibly leveling the playing field, this strategy greatly benefited the United States |
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Roosevelt Corollary |
A statement by Theodore Roosevelt that the United States would use military force to act as an international police power and correct any chronic wrongdoing by any Latin American nation threatening the stability of the region |
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Rough Riders |
Theodore Roosevelt's cavalry unit, which fought in Cuba during the Spanish American War |
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Seward's Folly |
The pejorative name given by the press to Secretary of State Seward's acquisition of Alaska in 1867 |
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Sphere of Influence |
The goal of foreign countries such as Japan, Russia, France, and Germany to carve out an area of the Chinese marker that they could exploit through tariff and transportation agreements |
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Yellow Journalism |
Sensationalist newspapers who sought to manufacture news stories in order to sell more papers |
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Clear and Present Danger |
The expression used by Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes in the case of Schenck v. United States to characterize public dissent during wartime, akin to shouting "fire!" in a crowded theater |
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Fourteen Points |
Woodrow Wilson's peace plan, which called for openness in all matters of diplomacy, including free trade, freedom of the seas, and an end to secret treaties and negotiations, among others |
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Harlem Hellfighters |
A nickname for the decorated, all-black 369th Infantry, which served on the front lines of France for six months, longer than any other American unit |
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Irreconcilables |
Republicans who opposed the Treaty of Versailles on all grounds |
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League of Nations |
Woodrow Wilson's idea for a group of countries that would promote a new world order and territorial integrity through open discussions, rather than intimidation and war |
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Liberty Bonds |
The name for the war bonds that the U.S. government sold and strongly encouraged Americans to buy, as a way of raising money for the war effort |
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Neutrality |
Woodrow Wilson's policy of maintaining commercial ties with all belligerents and insisting on open markets throughout Europe during World War I |
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Prohibition |
The campaign for a ban on the sale and manufacturing of alcoholic beverages, which came to fruition during the war, bolstered by anti-German sentiment and a call to preserve resources for the war effort |
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Red Scare |
The term used to describe the fear that Americans felt about the possibility of a Bolshevik revolution in the United States; fear over Communist infiltrators led Americans to restrict and discriminate against any forms of radical dissent, whether Communist or not |
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Red Summer |
The summer of 1919, when numerous northern cities experienced bloody race riots that killed over 250 persons, including the Chicago race riot of 1919
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Reservationists |
Republicans who would support the Treaty of Versailles if sufficient amendments were introduced that could eliminate Article X |
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Zimmermann Telegram |
The telegram sent from German foreign minister Arthur Zimmermann to the German ambassador in Mexico, which invited Mexico to fight alongside Germany should the United States enter World War I on the side of the Allies |
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Bootlegging |
A 19th-century term for the illegal transport of alcoholic beverages that became popular during prohibition |
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Expatriate |
Someone who lives outside of their home country |
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Flapper |
A young, modern woman who embraced the new morality and fashions of the Jazz Age |
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Hollywood |
A small town north of Los Angeles, California, whose reliable sunshine and cheaper production costs attracted filmmakers and producers starting in the 1910s; by the 1920s, Hollywood was the center of American movie production with five movie studios dominating the industry |
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Lost Generation |
A group of writers who came of age during World War I and expressed their disillusionment with the era |
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Model T |
The first car produced by the Ford Motor Company that took advantage of the economies of scale provided by assembly-line production and was therefore affordable to a large segment of the population |
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Moving Assembly Line |
A manufacturing process that allowed workers to stay in one place as the work came to them |
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Nativism |
The rejection of outside influences in favor of local or native customs |
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Negro Nationalism |
The notion that African Americans had a distinct and separate national heritage that should inspire pride and a sense of community |
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New Morality |
The more permissive mores adopted by many young people in the 1920s |
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Return to Normalcy |
The campaign promise made by Warren Harding in the presidential election of 1920 |
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Scopes Monkey Trial |
The 1925 trial of John Scopes for teaching evolution in a public school; the trial highlighted the conflict between rural and traditionalists and modern urbanites |
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Second Ku Klux Klan |
Unlike the secret terror group of the Reconstruction Era, the Second Ku Klux Klan was a nationwide movement that expressed racism, nativism, anti-Semitism, and anti-Catholicism |
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Teapot Dome Scandal |
The bribery scandal involving Secretary of the Interior Albert B. Fall in 1923 |
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American Individualism |
The belief, strongly held by Herbert Hoover and others, that hard work and individual effort, absent government interference, comprised the formula for success in the U.S. |
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Bank Run |
The withdrawal by a large number of individuals or investors of money from a bank due to fears of the bank's instability, with the ironic effect of increasing the bank's vulnerability to failure |
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Black Tuesday |
October 29, 1929, when a mass panic caused a crash in the stock market and stockholders divested over sixteen million shares, causing the overall value of the stock market to drop precipitously |
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Bonus Army |
A group of World War I veterans and affiliated groups who marched to Washington in 1932 to demand their war bonuses early, only to be refused and forcibly removed by the U.S. Army |
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Clark Memorandum |
Hoover's repudiation of the Roosevelt Corollary that justified American military intervention in Latin American affairs; this memorandum improved relations with America's neighbors by reasserting that intervention would occur only in the event of European interference in the Western Hemisphere |
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Dust Bowl |
The area in the middle of the country that had been badly overfarmed in the 1920s and suffered from a terrible drought that coincided with the Great Depression; the name came from the "black blizzard" of topsoil and dust that blew through the area |
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Scottsboro Boys |
A reference to the infamous trial in Scottsboro, Alabama in 1931, where nine African American boys were falsely accused of raping two white women and sentenced to death; the extreme injustice of the trial, particularly given the age of the boys and the inadequacy of the testimony against them, garnered national and international attention |
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Smoot-Hawley Tariff |
The tariff approved by Hoover to raise the tax on thousands of imported goods in the hope that it would encourage people to buy American-made products; the unintended result was that other nations raised their tariffs, further hurting American exports and exacerbating the global financial crisis |
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Speculation |
The practice of investing in risky financial opportunities in the hopes of a fast payout due to market fluctuations |
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Brains Trust |
An unofficial advisory cabinet to President Franklin Roosevelt, originally gathered while he was governor of New York, to present possible solutions to the nations' problems; among its prominent members were Rexford Tugwell, Raymond Moley, and Adolph Berle |
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Civilian Conservation Corps |
A public program for unemployed young men from relief families who were put to work on conservation and land management projects around the country |
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Interregnum |
The period between the election and the inauguration of a new president; when economic conditions worsened significantly during the four-month lag between Roosevelt's win and his move into the Oval Office, Congress amended the Constitution to limit this period to two months |
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Social Security |
A series of programs designed to help the population's most vulnerable: the unemployed, those over age 65, unwed mothers, and the disabled through various pension, insurance, and aid programs |
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Supreme Court Packing Plan |
Roosevelt's plan, after being reelected, to pact the Supreme Court with an additional six justices, one for every justice over seventy who refused to step down |
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Tennessee Valley Authority |
A federal agency tasked with the job of planning and developing the area through flood control, reforestation, and hydroelectric power projects |
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Works Progress Administration |
A program run by Harry Hopkins that provided jobs for over eight million Americans from its inception to its closure in 1943 |
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Big Three |
The nickname given to the leaders of the three major Allied nations: Winston Churchill, Franklin Roosevelt, and Joseph Stalin |
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Conscientious Objectors |
Those who, for religious or philosophical reasons, refuse to serve in the armed forces |
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D-Day |
June 6, 1944, the date of the invasion of Normandy, France, by British, Canadian, and American forces, which opened a second front in Europe |
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Double V Campaign |
A campaign by African Americans to win victory over the enemy overseas and victory over racism at home |
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Enola Gay |
The plane that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima |
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Executive Order 9066 |
The order given by President Roosevelt to relocate and detain people of Japanese ancestry, including those who were American citizens |
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Fascism |
A political ideology that places a heightened focus on national unity, through dictatorial rule, and militarism |
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Internment |
The forced collection of the West Coast Japanese and Japanese American population into ten relocation centers for the greater part of World War II |
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Manhattan Project |
The code name given to the research project that developed the atomic bomb |
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Materiel |
Equipment and supplies used by the military |
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Rosie the Riveter |
A symbol of female workers in the defense industries |
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Zoot Suit |
A flamboyant outfit favored by young African American and Mexican American men |
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Baby Boom |
A marked increase in the U.S. birthrate during 1946 to 1964 |
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Blacklist |
A list of people suspected of having Communist sympathies who were denied work as a result |
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Cold War |
The prolonged period of tension between the United States and the Soviet Union, based on ideological conflicts and competition for military, economic, social, and technological superiority, and marked by surveillance and espionage, political assassinations, an arms race, attempts to secure alliances with developing nations, and proxy wars |
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Containment |
The U.S. policy that sought to limit the expansion of Communism abroad |
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Desegregation |
The removal of laws and policies requiring the separation of different racial or ethnic groups |
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Domino Theory |
The theory that if Communism made inroads in one nation, surrounding nations would also succumb one by one, like a chain of dominos toppling one another |
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Fair Deal |
President Harry Truman's program of economic and social reform |
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GI Bill |
A program that gave substantial benefits to those who served in World War II |
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Iron Curtain |
A term coined by Winston Churchill to refer to portions of Eastern Europe that the Soviet Union had incorporated into its sphere of influence and that no longer were free to manage their own affairs |
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Levittowns |
Suburban housing developments consisting of acres of mass-produced homes |
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Little Rock Nine |
The nickname for the nine African American high school students who first integrated Little Rock's Central High School |
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Marshall Plan |
A program giving billions of dollars of U.S. aid to European countries to prevent them from turning to Communism |
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Massive Retaliation |
A defense strategy, sometimes called "mutually assured destruction: or MAD, adopted by Eisenhower that called for launching a large-scale nuclear attack on the Soviet Union in response to a first Soviet strike at the United States |
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Military-industrial Complex |
The matrix of relationships between officials in the Defense Department and executives in the defense industry who all benefited from increases in defense spending |
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Rock and Roll |
A musical form popular among the baby boomers that encompassed styles ranging from country to blues, and embraced themes such as youthful rebellion and love |
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Sputnik |
The first manmade orbital satellite, launched by the Soviet Union in October 1957 |
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States' Rights |
The political belief that states possess authority beyond federal law, which is usually seen as the supreme law of the land, and thus can act in opposition to federal law |
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Carter Doctrine |
Jimmy Carter's declaration that efforts to interfere with American interests in the Middle East would be considered an act of aggression and be met with force if necessary |
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Counterculture |
A culture that develops in opposition to the dominant culture of a society |
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Deep Throat |
The anonymous source, later revealed to be associate director of the FBI Mark Felt, who supplied reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein with information about White House involvement in the Watergate break-in |
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Dixiecrats |
Conservative southern Democrats who opposed integration and the other goals of the African American civil rights movement |
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Détente |
The relaxation of tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union |
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Executive Priviledge |
The right of the U.S. president to refuse subpoenas requiring him to disclose private communications on the grounds that this might interfere with the functioning of the executive branch |
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Identity Politics |
Political movements or actions intended to further the interests of a particular group membership, based on culture, race, ethnicity, religion, sex, gender, or sexual orientation |
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Pentagon Papers |
Government documents leaked to the New York Times that revealed the true nature of the conflict in Vietnam and turned many definitively against the war |
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Plumbers |
Men used by the White House to spy on and sabotage President Nixon's opponents and stop leaks to the press |
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Silent Majority |
A majority whose political will is usually not heard; In this case, norther, white, bluecollar voters |
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Southern Strategy |
A political strategy that called for appealing to southern whites by resisting calls for greater advancements in civil rights |
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Stagflation |
High inflation combined with high unemployment and slow economic growth |
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Vietnamization |
The Nixon administration's policy of turning over responsibility for the defense of South Vietnam to Vietnamese forces |
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Yippies |
The Youth International Party, a political party formed in 1967, which called for the establishment of a New Nation consisting of cooperative institutions that would replace those currently in existence |
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Black Power |
A political ideology encouraging African Americans to create their own institutions and develop their own economic resources independent of whites |
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Black Pride |
A cultural movement among African Americans to encourage pride in their African heritage and to substitute African and African American art forms, behaviors, and cultural products for those of whites |
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Black Separatism |
An ideology that called upon African Americans to reject integration with the white community and, in some cases, to physically separate themselves from whites in order to create and preserve their self-determination
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Counterinsurgency |
A new military strategy under the Kennedy administration to suppress nationalist independence movements and rebel groups in the developing world |
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Flexible Response |
A military strategy that allows for the possibility of responding to threats in a variety of ways, including counterinsurgency, conventional war, and nuclear strikes |
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Great Society |
Lyndon Johnson's plan to eliminate poverty and racial injustice in the United States and to improve the lives of all Americans |
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Naval Quarantine |
Kennedy's use of ships to prevent Soviet access to Cuba during the Cuban Missile Crisis |
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Port Huron Statement |
The political manifesto of Students for a Democratic Society that called for social reform, nonviolent protest, and greater participation in the democratic process by ordinary Americans |
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War on Poverty |
Lyndon Johnson's plan to end poverty in the United States through the extension of federal benefits, job training programs, and funding for community development |
