AmErIcAn HiStOrY!?!?!?!!? Flashcards
Plurality
the largest share
Majority
more than half
Bureaucracy
a rule-governed, hierarchical system in which non-elected officials carry out laws
Spoils System
the practice of incoming presidents replacing current government employees with their supporters
Nominating Convention
a meeting in which delegates choose a party’s candidate
Tariff
a tax on imported goods
Charter
a government permit or license
Depression
a severe economic downturn
mountain men
an individual who lived independently in the wild
Reservation
area of land set apart for a tribe or tribes
migrate
to move from one place to another
missionary
person who travels to promote his or her religion
emigrant
person who leaves his/her country to live elsewhere
Prairie schooner
covered wagon
Manifest destiny
the idea that the United States was destined to span the continent from the Atlantic to the Pacific
tejano
a Texan of Latin American, often Mexican, descent
decree
an official command
annex
to take possession of
trigger
to cause to start, set off
justify
to prove or show to be right
Forty-niner
a person who arrived in California in 1849 to search for gold
Boomtown
a town that grows very quickly
Vigilante
a private citizen who tries to enforce the law or punish suspected lawbreakers
Prospect
to look for mineral deposits
persecution
hostility, harassment, and other ill-treatment
