Apush Key Terms

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Columbian Exchange

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Refers to the exchange of plants and animals between the New World and Europe following the discovery of American in 1492.

New World crops such as corn, tomatoes, and potatoes had a dramatic effect on the European diet. At the same time, Old World domesticated animals such as horses, cows, and pigs had a dramatic effect on life in the New World.

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Mercantilism

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The economic philosophy of Great Britain in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Like other mercantile powers, Great Britain sought to increase its wealth and power by obtaining large amounts of gold and silver and by establishing a favorable balance of trade with its colonies.

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Half-Way Covenant

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Established by the Puritans to ease requirements for church membership. It allowed the baptism of the children of baptized but unconverted Puritans.

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Enlightenement

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An eighteenth-century philosophy stressing that reason could be used to improve the human condition.

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Deism

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The belief that God created the universe but allowed it to operate through the laws of nature. A belief held by both Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin: they believed that natural laws could be discovered by the use of human reason.

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The First Great Awakening

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Refers to a wave of religious revivals that spread across the American colonies during the 1730s and 1740s.

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Republican Government/Republicanism

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Refers to the belief that government should be based on the consent of the people. Inspired the American revolutionaries of the eighteenth century.

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Separation of Powers

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Refers to the division of power among the legislative, judicial, and executive branches of government.

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Checks and Balances

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Refers to a system in which each branch of government can check the power of the other branches. For example, the president can veto a bill passed by Congress, but Congress can override the president's veto.

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Judicial Review

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The Supreme Court can strike down an act of Congress by declaring it unconstitutional. This principle was established in the case of Marbury v. Madison.

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Internal Improvements/American System

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A term referring to the development of a national transportation system.

Refers to a set of proposals designed to unify the nation and strengthen its economy by means of protective tariffs, a national bank, and internal improvement such as canals and new roads. Henry Clay was the chief proponent of this system.

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Cult of Domesticity/Republican Motherhood

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This idea refers to the idealization of women in their roles as wives and mothers.

This concept suggested that women would be responsible for raising their children to be virtuous citizens of the new American republic.

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Transcendentalism

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A philosophical and literary movement of the 1800s that emphasized living a simple life and celebrating the truth found in nature and in personal emotion and imagination. Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau were the foremost of these writers.

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Perfectionism

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The belief that humans can use conscious acts of will to create communities based upon cooperation and mutual respect.

Utopian communities such as Brook Farm, New Harmony, and Oneida reflected the blossoming of these aspirations.

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The Second Great Awakening

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Refers to a wave of religious enthusiasm that spread across American between 1800 and 1830. Middle-class women played an especially important role in this by making Americans aware of the moral issues posed by slavery.

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Jacksonian Democracy

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Refers to a set of political beliefs associated with Andrew Jackson and his followers. Included respect for the common sense and abilities of the common man, expansion of White male suffrage, appointment of political supporters to government positions, and opposition to privileged Eastern elites.

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Nullification

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A legal theory that a state in the United States has the right to nullify (invalidate) any federal law that the state deems unconstitutional.

John C. Calhoun was the foremost proponent of this doctrine. Inspired by his leadership, a convention in South Carolina declared the tariffs of both 1828 and 1832 unenforceable in that state.

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Manifest Destiny

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Refers to the nineteenth-century belief that the United States would inevitably expand westward to the Pacific Ocean.

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Popular Sovereignty

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The principle that the settlers of a given territory have the sole right to decide whether or not slavery will be permitted there.

Led to a divisive debate over the expansion of slavery into the territories. The first great test of this occurred in Kansas.

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Jim Crow Laws

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These were post-Civil War laws and customs designed to discriminate against African Americans.

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Social Gospel

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Refers to a nineteenth-century reform movement based on the belief that Christians have a responsibility to actively confront social problems such as poverty. Led by Christian ministers, advocates argued that real social change would result from dedication to both religious practice and social reform.

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Gospel of Wealth

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This was the belief that the rich were the guardians of society's wealth and, as such, had a duty to serve society in humane ways. The foremost advocate was Andrew Carnegie.

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Social Darwinism

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The term refers to the belief that there is a natural evolutionary process by which the fittest will survive. Wealthy business and industrial leaders such as John D. Rockefeller used this concept to justify their success.

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Frontier Thesis

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This term refers to the argument by historian Frederick Jackson Turner that the frontier experience helped make American society more democratic. Turner especially emphasized the importance of cheap, unsettled land and the absence of a landed aristocracy.

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New Immigrants

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Refers to the massive wave of immigrants who came to American between 1880 and 1924.

Old Immigrants came primarily from England, Germany, and Scandinavia. However, these immigrants came primarily from small farms and villages in Southern and Eastern Europe.

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Nativism

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Favored the interests of native-born people over the interests of immigrants.

The Know-Nothings were the first nativist political party. They directed their hostility against Irish and German Catholic immigrants.

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Muckrakers

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These were early twentieth-century journalists who exposed illegal business practices, social injustices, and corrupt urban political bosses.

Leaders included Upton Sinclair, Jacob Riis, and Ida Tarbell.

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Taylorism

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This was a system of scientific management developed by Frederick W. Taylor. It Sought to develop a disciplined labor force by eliminating wasted motion.

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Vertical Integration

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Occurs when a company controls both the production and distribution of its product. For example, Andrew Carnegie used vertical integration to gain control over the U.S. steel industry.

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Horizontal Integration

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Occurs when one company gains control over other companies that produce the same product.

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Hoovervilles

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These were slums or shantytowns inhabited by unemployed and homeless people during the Great Depression.

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Laissez-Faire Economics

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This is an economic philosophy stating that economic activities should be largely free of governmental interference, regulations, and restraint. It is interesting to note that this economic policy was supported by leaders who, ironically, also supported protective tariffs.

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Isolationism

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A U.S. foreign policy calling for Americans to avoid entangling political alliances. During the 1930s, proponents of this foreign policy drew support from the ideas expressed in Washington's Farewell Address. The Neutrality Acts of the 1930s were expressions of a commitment to this foreign policy.

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Containment

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Name for a U.S. Cold War foreign policy designed to contain or block the spread of Soviet influence.

George F. Kennan was an American diplomat and specialist on the Soviet Union who wrote and influential article advocating that the United States focus its foreign policy on contain the spread of Soviet influence.

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McCarthyism

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Refers to the making of public accusations of disloyalty without sufficient evidence.

Senator McCarthy played on the fears of Americans by claiming that Communists had infiltrated the U.S. State Department and other federal agencies. Senator McCarthy's accusations helped create a climate of paranoia, as Americans became preoccupied with the perceived threat posed by alleged Communist subversives working in the United States.

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Domino Theory

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This theory refers to the belief that if one country falls to Communism, its neighbors will also be infected and fall to Communism. For example, the fall of South Vietnam would lead to the loss of all of Southeast Asia.

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Massive Retaliation

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This was a military doctrine associated with President Eisenhower's secretary of state, John Foster Dulles. In the event of an attack by the Soviet Union or any other hostile power, the United States would retaliate with massive force, including nuclear weapons.

The threat of massive retaliation was designed to deter an enemy from launching an initial attack.

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Black Power

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Movement of the 1960s advocating that African Americans establish control of their political and economic life. Key advocates included Malcom X, Stokely Carmichael, and Huey Newton.

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Hawks and Doves

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Hawks supported U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War and believed American should increase military force to win the war. Doves opposed the Vietnam War and believed the United States should withdraw its forces from Vietnam.

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Detente

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The term refers to the relaxation of tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union; it was introduced by Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and President Richard Nixon. Example of this include the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (Salt), expanded trade with the Soviet Union, and President Nixon's trips to China and Russia.

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Reaganomics

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Refers to the economic policies of President Ronald Reagan; it is also called supply-side economics. President Reagan hoped to promote growth and investment by deregulating business, reducing corporate tax rates, and lowering federal tax rates for upper- and middle-income Americans.