History Midterm Flashcards
Purpose of Checks and Balances
One branch does not dominate the other
Three-Fifths Compromise
Slaves are 3/5ths of a person in terms of the number of representatives in the house
15th Amendment
- Gave protection of the right to vote for everyone regardless of race, color, or previous condition of servitude
- Didn’t mention women, so they got angry
Role of the Supreme Court (Article 3)
Their contitutional power to act on decision appealed from lower courts
Republicanism
- Supreme power rests with the citizens and is exercised by their elected representatives
- People are expected to be educated enough so as to make informed choices when electing representatives
- People are expected to have an understanding as to the scope of their sovereignty and how it impacts others
Laissez-faire
It means “Let them be” in French. It is the attitude the government maintained towards big business (they did not get involved)
“A seat at the table of the nation” - who gets a say in the new nation?
- Despite fighting in the war, not everyone gets a say in the nation (Reconstruction)
- I.e. immigrants, indians, women, blacks, former confederates, northern republicans
Anti Federalists
- Founders against a strong federal government
- Greatest contribution was the Bill of Rights
Judiciary Act of 1789
- Created the Federal Court System
- A written law that created federal laws; including the senate, house of representatives, and the president
Patronage and the “Spoils System”
Office holders reward their supporters with federal jobs
Wealth distribution in the GIlded Age
- Wealth was concentrated in the hands of a few industrialists
- The relationship between the government and people lead to wealth distribution
Capitalism vs. Socialism
Captialism: The means of production are privately owned by individuals through vertical or horizontal integration
Socialism: The means of production (land, labor, and capital) are owned by the people as a whole (take all the work and divide it equally between the owners)
Social Darwinism
- the application fo “survival of the fittest” to human affairs
- the theory that individuals, groups, and peoples are subject to the same Darwinian laws of natural selection as plants and animals; law of competition
- the belief that wealth comes from hard work, and that the poor are lazy
US as a federal system
Both national and state governments exist within the nation
Andrew Johnson vs. Republicans
- Political disagreement between Johnson and government
- Led to first impeachment trial of a president
Attitude of the American government towards the Indians by 1900
They wanted to get rid of Indian culture and “Americanize” them
13th Amendment
Abolished slavery
Hull House
- part of larger, national movement
- provided day care
- provided education to women
Presidential Powers (Article 2)
Has specific executive, legislative, and military powers
Charles Guiteau
He assasinated President Garfield in hopes that Chester A. Arthur would give him a job (spoils system)
James Garfield vs. Roscoe Conkling
- They were politcal opponents in the Republican party
- The government should be for all poeple not just the rich
- Rapid generation of wealth limited oppurtunities for everyone
Separation of Powers and Checks and Balances
- Separation of powers separated the powers whereas checks and balances gives each branch the ability to check the power of the other branches
- Example: in the Mexican War of 1848 is because the President asked Congress for a declaration of war
Importance of Railroads
Type of infrastructure that rapidly transported people and goods across the continent
First Women’s Movement
- Susan B. Anthony and Julia Ward Howe advocated for national participation
- Mothers Day became part of American tradition because of it
- It led to the passage and ratification of the 19th amendment
- Not all women agreed upon the goals of the suffrage movement
Implied Powers
- The Constitution implies branches of government to have powers not stated
Popular Sovereignty in US History to 1865
- Undermined the role of Congress in the new territories
- Led to violencce in Kansas (“Bleeding Kansas”)
- Significantly escalated tension between the states over the issue of slavery
Effects of the Industrial Revolution
Child labor, strikes, socialism, and labor unions
Industrialized Mass Production
- The large scale production of goods
- Benefits: Faster production, larger quantity of goods produced, cheaper products
- Disadvantages: lower quality, less variety of designs and colors
End of Reconstruction
- Foner sets the date at 1876
- Reconstruction is not over and modern historians are arguing that America is still reconstructing to this day
Domestic System
- The production of work at home
- Benefits: more variety of designs and colors, better quality
- Disadvantages: Less production efficiency, less items produced
Major themes in US History to 1865
- The clash between “old world”(the US and Europe) and “new world”(indians)
- The tension between liberty (freedom) and slavery
- What was the Role of the federal government?
The Declaration of Independence
- “Declared life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” to be universal and inalienable rights
- Created tension in American society because it promised unalienable rihts in a nation with an institution of slavery
- The unalienable rights are the rallying cry of Americans whose rights continue to be denied, by presidents right up into the present
Urbanization
- rapid immigration and huge increases in city populations
- population shifts from rural to urban areas
- it is the ways in which society adapts to these changes
Populist Party
Appealed to Western Farmers
Progressives
- Movement of the “people” against the special interests; social justice
- They fought to expand the “we” in “We the people” and to reform America
Role of the federal government
- Used its power to protect those it went to war to defend
- Distributed public lands from coast to coast
- Provided a national currency
Theodore Roosevelt and the end of the Gilded Age
Roosevelt’s first term as president signaled the end of the Gilded Age
14th Amendment
Articulated citizenship and equal protection under the law
