Chapter Study Guide (1-17) Flashcards
What is the Declaration of Independence?
The document written to declare the American colonies free from British rule. July 4, 1776.
What is suffrage?
The right to vote.
What are the Articles of Confederation?
The document that created the first central government for the United States.
What is a confederation?
A type of government in which the states have more power than the central government.
What is the Northwest Ordinance of 1787?
Legislation passed by Congress to establish a political structure for the Northwest Territory and created a system for admission for new states.
What are tariffs?
Taxes on imported goods.
What is the main weakness of the Articles of Confederation?
The states have too much power; the central government doesn’t have enough power.
What was the Great Compromise?
The creation of a bicameral legislature with one house based on population and the other based on equality.
What is the 3/5 Compromise?
An agreement in which only three out of every five slaves would count toward a state’s population and taxes.
What is popular sovereignty?
Majority rule.
What is federalism?
The sharing of power between the central government and its states.
What is the legislative branch?
The branch of government that makes laws.
What is the executive branch?
The branch of government that enforces laws.
What is the judicial branch?
The branch of government that interprets laws.
What is the U.S. Constitution?
The document that created the powers and duties of a strong central U.S. government.
Who are the anti-federalists?
Supporters of strong state governments.
Who are the federalists?
Supporters of a strong central government.
What are the Federalist Papers?
Essays supporting the Constitution that were written anonymously.
What is propaganda?
Material that is biased to help or harm a cause.
What is the Bill of Rights?
The first 10 Amendments to the Constitution.
What is the separation of powers?
A government with multiple parts that each have their own rights, powers, and privileges.
What does veto mean?
To reject or cancel.
What is the 1st Amendment?
Freedom of speech, press, petition, assembly, and religion.
What is the 2nd Amendment?
Right to bear arms.
What is the 3rd Amendment?
No quartering of soldiers.
What is the 4th Amendment?
No illegal searches and seizures.
What is the 5th Amendment?
Rights of the accused.
What is due process?
The law fairly applied to all.
What is the 6th Amendment?
Right to a speedy trial.
What is the 7th Amendment?
Right to a jury trial in civil cases.
What is the 8th Amendment?
Protection against cruel or unusual punishment.
What is the 9th Amendment?
Rights of the people.
What is the 10th Amendment?
States’ Rights.
What are social groups?
Groups that try to change society.
What are civic groups?
Groups that try to change the government.
What is the Electoral College?
A body of electors who represent the peoples’ vote in choosing the President.
What is a precedent?
An action or decision that later serves as an example.
What was the achievement of Washington’s Administration?
Creation of National Bank.
What is loose construction?
The belief that the federal government can take reasonable actions that the Constitution does not specifically forbid.
What is strict construction?
The belief that the federal government should do only what the Constitution specifically says it can do.
What is revenue?
Government income.
What is a loan?
Money borrowed that must be paid back.
What is interest?
An additional charge for borrowing money.
What was the Treaty of Greenville (1795)?
A treaty that gave Native land, in the Northwest Territory, to the U.S.
What was the achievement of Adams’ Administration?
Creation of Navy Department.
What is judicial review?
The Supreme Court’s power to declare acts of the government unconstitutional.
What was the achievement of Jefferson’s Administration?
Louisiana Purchase.
What is the Louisiana Purchase?
The acquisition of French land between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains that doubled the size of the United States.
What are the 3 causes of the War of 1812?
Impressionism of American sailors, interference with American shipping, and British aid to Native Americans.
What are the 3 effects of the War of 1812?
Increased national pride, American manufacturing boosted, and Native American resistance weakened.
What was the achievement of Madison’s Administration?
Winning the War of 1812.
What was the Treaty of 1818 (Webster-Ashburton)?
An agreement between the U.S. and Great Britain that established the northern border of the U.S. as the 49th parallel to the Rocky Mountains.
What was the Adams-Onis Treaty (1819)?
An agreement in which Spain gave Florida to the U.S.
What was the achievement of Monroe’s Administration?
Creation of the Monroe Doctrine.
What is the Monroe Doctrine?
An American policy warning European powers not to interfere with the Americas.
What is nationalism?
Feeling of pride or loyalty toward a nation.
What is the American System?
A series of measures intended to make the U.S. economically self-sufficient.
What is sectionalism?
Favoring the interests of one region over the interests of the entire country.
What is the Missouri Compromise?
Established Missouri as a slave state, Maine as a free state, and made the 36’ 30° parallel the border between free and slave states.
What is the geography of the North?
Colder climate, shorter growing season, and heavily forested.
What is the geography of the South?
Warmer climate, longer growing season, and fertile and flat land.
What is the geography of the West (Great Plains)?
Mild climate, longer growing season, and fertile and flat land.
What is Northern Sectionalism?
Economy based on manufacturing and supported tariffs.
What is Southern Sectionalism?
Economy based on agriculture and opposed tariffs.
What is Western Sectionalism?
Emerging economy and supported internal improvements.
What is the Tariff of Abominations?
What Southerners called high tariffs passed by Congress.
What are states’ rights?
The belief that since the states created the national government, state power should be greater than federal power.
What is the Indian Removal Act (1830)?
Authorized the removal of Native Americans who lived east of the Mississippi River to lands in the West.
What is displacement?
The forcing of native people from their land.
What is Indian Territory?
Present-day Oklahoma.
What is the Trail of Tears?
The Cherokee’s 800-mile forced march to Indian Territory.
What is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints?
A Christian Church founded by Joseph Smith whose members were forced to move west (present-day Utah) to escape religious persecution.
What is Texas Annexation?
The U.S. acquiring Texas resulting in the Mexican-American War.
What is manifest destiny?
Obvious fate to go west and spread democracy.
What is the Oregon Treaty?
Established the 49th parallel as the northern border of the U.S. to the Pacific Ocean.
What was the Mexican-American War?
A conflict between the U.S. and Mexico that resulted in the present-day Rio Grande border.
What was the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo?
Ended the Mexican-American War; U.S. gained the Mexican Cession and established the U.S. southern border at the Rio Grande.
What is the Mexican Cession?
Increased the size of the U.S. by 25% and included several modern states in the present-day southwest.
What is the Gadsden Purchase?
U.S. purchase of land from Mexico that included the southern parts of present-day Arizona and New Mexico.
What is the Gold Rush?
Responsible for the population boom of California that made it eligible for statehood in only 2 years.
What is the Industrial Revolution?
The shift from craft-work to factory work; man and animal power are replaced by machines.
What are some innovations of the Industrial Revolution?
Steam engine, cotton gin, interchangeable parts, and mass production.
What is an entrepreneur?
Someone who takes a financial risk to start a business.
What are trade unions?
Groups that try to improve pay and working conditions.
What is a telegraph?
A device that could send information over wires across great distances using Morse Code.
What is a cotton gin?
A machine invented by Eli Whitney in 1793 to remove seeds from short-staple cotton.
What is the Cotton Belt?
A region stretching from South Carolina to east Texas where most U.S. cotton was produced during the mid-1800s.
What is an immigrant?
A person who moves to another country after leaving their homeland.
What is abolition?
A complete end to slavery.
What is a liberator?
An abolitionist newspaper created by William Lloyd Garrison in 1831.
What is the American Anti-Slavery Society?
Members of this group wanted immediate emancipation and racial equality.
What is the Underground Railroad?
A network of people who arranged transportation and hiding places for escaped slaves.
What was the Seneca Falls Convention?
The first public meeting about women’s rights held in the U.S.
What was the Wilmot Proviso?
A proposal to outlaw slavery in the Mexican Cession (this did not pass).
What was the Compromise of 1850?
Established California as a free state, created a stronger Fugitive Slave Act, and opened the Mexican Cession to popular sovereignty.
What is Uncle Tom’s Cabin?
The abolitionist novel written by Harriet Beecher Stowe in 1852.
What was the Kansas-Nebraska Act?
A plan that would divide the remainder of the Louisiana Territory and allow slavery to be determined by popular sovereignty.
What is secession?
Formally withdrawing from the Union.
What is the Confederate States of America?
A nation formed by the Southern states when they seceded from the U.S.
What is the Civil War?
A country fighting within itself.
What are border states?
Slave states that did not join the Confederacy.
What is emancipation?
The term for freeing slaves.
What is Reconstruction?
The process of readmitting former Southern states back into the Union.
What is the 13th Amendment?
The Amendment that abolished slavery.
What are Black Codes?
Laws that greatly limited the freedom of African Americans.
What is the 14th Amendment?
Due process and citizenship for minorities.
What is Military Reconstruction?
Laws that divided the South into five military districts until the southern states rejoined the Union.
What is the 15th Amendment?
All men can vote.
What is the Ku Klux Klan?
The secret society that opposed civil rights, particularly suffrage, for African Americans.
What was the Alaska Purchase?
Land purchased from Russia in 1867.
