Post-Civil Era Flashcards
Uncle Tom’s Cabin
A book written by Harriet Beecher Stowe in 1852 that portrayed the horrors of slavery.
Truman Doctrine
President Truman promised to help any country fight communism.
Seneca Falls Convention
Held in New York in 1848, this convention is seen as the first organized step in the women’s suffrage movement
Marshall Plan
A plan for how the United States would help Western Europe after World War II.
21st Amendment
Repealed the Eighteenth Amendment in 1933 by ending prohibition (Remember with: you need to be 21 to Drink)
Suffrage / Franchise
The right to vote in political elections.
Labor Unions
fought for better wages, acceptable hours, better working conditions, health benefits, help for workers who were hurt or retired, and the end of child labor.
Declaration of Rights and Sentiments
At the Seneca Falls Convention, a paper discussed how women were treated unfairly and how to fix it, including giving women the vote.
Fugitive Slave Act
Required escaped enslaved people to be returned to their owners
Abolitionists
People who believed slavery was wrong and immoral
Martin Luther King, Jr
Became a national hero for civil rights in the Montgomery Bus Boycott
Lucretia Mott
She supported women’s rights and helped create the Seneca Falls Convention and Declaration of Rights and Sentiments with Elizabeth Cady Stanton.
National Park system
The National Park system was made twice as big by President Theodore Roosevelt. He also passed a law that lets him and future presidents name places and buildings as historical landmarks. The federal government would then own and protect these places.
U-Boats
German submarines which were used in WW I and WW II
Decolonization
When a settlement that has been controlled by a foreign country, usually Europe, fights for its autonomy and freedom from its mother country.
Lyndon B. Johnson (LBJ)
In the 1950s, when he was a Senator in Texas, he was in charge of the NASA Space program in Houston, Texas. After John F. Kennedy was killed in 1963, he went on to become President of the United States. Designed the plans of the Great Society to fight poverty.
Pullman Strike
In 1894, workers for the Pullman company went on a national railroad strike to protest how they were treated.
Women’s Suffrage
The right of women to vote in political elections.
Militarism
Countries get stronger in their military.
D-Day
The invasion of Europe began on June 6, 1944, when the Allied Forces landed on a beach in Normandy.
Bleeding Kansas
Congress split Kansas into two parts and gave each one the choice of whether or not to allow slavery. This led to violent conflicts in Kansas.
Haymarket Square
the location of a violent labor conflict in Chicago
Albert Einstein
A famous scientist who moved to the United States from Germany during World War II and warned world leaders about the risks of nuclear weapons.
Rosa Parks
The Montgomery Bus Boycott began when Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus because she was a fighter for African American rights.
Lowell Female Labor Reform Association
The main goals were to get a ten-hour workday put in place and to get the Massachusetts state government to look into working conditions in factories.
Mao Zedong
In 1949, Mao Zedong became the leader of the People’s Republic of China.
Sarah G. Bagley
Founded the Lowell Female Labor Reform Association in 1844.
Dust Bowl
In the late 1930s, there was a string of very bad droughts and dust storms. Many farmers from Oklahoma and Texas had to move to California to find work.
Little Rock 9
In 1957, the first black children went to a public school after Brown v. Topeka Board of Education made de-segregation the law of the land.
Axis Powers of WWII
Nazi Germany, Japan, Italy
Vietnam War
From 1955 to 1975, the U.S. helped the non-communist government. However, under huge pressure at home, the U.S. finally got out of the war, which made it easy for the North Vietnamese to beat the weak South Vietnamese army.
Abby Kelley Foster
Abolitionist, feminist, and public speaker. She worked with abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison and was a voice for the Anti-Slavery society and the women’s rights movement.
Bay of Pigs
A failed military invasion of Cuba in 1961.
White Flight
When schools and buildings stopped being segregated in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, many wealthy white families moved out of cities. This was called the “white flight.”
Globalism
Planning for economic and foreign affairs on a global scale
Tenement Housing
New York City and other large cities developed low-rise buildings with narrow flats to house immigrants. Most immigrants lived in poor housing, which sometimes lacked basic utilities and space for their large families. Tenement housing was a major issue throughout the Progressive Era, when cities flourished and wealth discrepancies increased. Wealthier, usually female activists advocated for better living conditions for immigrants and others.
Vladimir Lenin
Led the Bolshevik Party in Russia and eventually gained control to form the Soviet Union in 1922
Lucy Stone
Gifted speaker; a spokesperson for the women’s rights movement and the Anti-Slavery society.
John Brown
Most controversial abolitionist; led a group on a raid of a weapons arsenal in Harper’s Ferry, Virginia
Nationalism
A strong devotion to one’s country, a strong sense of patriotism
Progressive Movement
A effort by people from the middle class to fix a system that had been messed up by the wealthy abusing their power.
Ronald Reagan
He was elected in 1981, which gave the right movement a big boost.
Wagner Act
Guaranteed workers’ basic rights to join unions, deal as a group, and go on strike if necessary. This law is also called the National Labor Relations Act of 1935.
The Liberator
A newspaper dedicated to the abolition of slavery
18th Amendment
This law was passed in 1917 and made it illegal to drink booze. (Remember, you can’t drink until you’re 18.) Was taken away in 1933 by the 21st Amendment.
World War II (WWII)
From 1939 to 1945, Germany, Italy, and Japan were part of the Axis, while France, Great Britain, the United States, and the Soviet Union were part of the Allies.
Temperance
A movement that started in the 1840s and tried to get people to drink less or even stop drinking all together.
Central Powers of WWI
Germany, Austria-Hungary, Ottoman Empire, and Bulgaria
Railway Labor Act
In 1926, the government passed a law that said railroads and airlines couldn’t go on strike, but they could deal, go to arbitration, or meet in the middle.
Korean War
1950-1953. Cold War war. North and South Korea fought over peninsula control. The US aided the non-communist South. The North-South Korean border became permanent after a stalemate or armistice.
Taft-Hartley Act
The Labor Management Relations Act of 1947 limited many of the things that labor groups could do and how they could do them.
Chinese Revolution
South China rebelled against the Qing Dynasty in October 1911. The revolution established the Republic of China and ended imperial rule. People shouldn’t confuse Taiwan’s Republic of China with mainland China’s communist People’s Republic of China, formed in 1949.
Urbanization
The process of a society becoming more urban, with more people living in cities and fewer people living in the country.
Underground Railroad
A group of secret houses and routes that helped African-American slaves to escape to free states.
Harper’s Ferry
Location of a U.S. armory in Virginia that John Brown and his followers broke into to get rid of weapons.
Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) / Star Wars
Ronald Reagan tried to build an anti-missile system that could stop space-based weapons.
Holocaust
The Holocaust is the name for the planned killing of all of Europe’s Jews. About six million Jews died in the Holocaust.
Treaty of Versailles
Treaty signed on June 28, 1919, between the Allies and Germany, to end WWI
Progressive Era
The fast growth of the economy during the Second Industrial Revolution made the gap between the rich and the poor bigger. It also led to the growth of oligopolies and monopolies.
Montgomery Bus Boycott
The Montgomery NAACP protested segregation on public buses for two years, from 1955 to 1957, until the Supreme Court ruled that segregation on city buses was against the law.
The Jungle
The Jungle was a book by Upton Sinclair that showed the horrors of the meatpacking business and led to the government regulating food.
Cold War
The time after World War II, when the U.S. and the Soviet Union never really went to war but had political differences, is called the Cold War.
Trench Warfare
During World War I, soldiers stayed in thousands of miles of pits and fought.
Pearl Harbor
The Japanese Navy attacked the port of Pearl Harbor in Hawaii without warning. The US had no choice but to join the war after that.
Concentration Camps
In Nazi Germany under Adolf Hitler, these were places where people who the Nazis thought were “racially undesirable” were locked up. This was done to make a society that was free of racism.
Progressivism
A political movement in the early 1900s that aimed to change society or give the US government more power.
Great Society
A group of projects that President Lyndon B. Johnson (LBJ) started at home.
ex: Medicare and Medicaid
Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR)
President of the United States from 1933 to 1945. He is known for trying to end the Great Depression with his New Deal and for leading the US during World War II. The only person to serve more than 2 terms was the President.
16th Amendment
Allows the government to collect taxes on income
William Lloyd Garrison
Publisher of The Liberator and founder of the American Anti-Slavery Society
19th Amendment
Ratified in 1920, it gave women the right to vote (known as women’s suffrage).
Appeasement
The League of Nations, led by US President Woodrow Wilson, tried to stop nationalist leaders in Europe from getting more aggressive, but it didn’t work. Instead, Germany invaded Poland, which led to the start of World War II.
Baby Boomers
Post-WWII generation. As baby boomers aged, this demographic bubble affected American culture, economy, and politics. Their issues became national priorities.
Second Industrial Revolution
The economy grew at a rate that had never been seen before in the late 1800s. With the increased use of energy, oil, and steel, technology made big leaps forward.
Great Depression
A time when the economy of the whole world was worse than ever before. Started in October 1929 when the stock market in the United States crashed. World War II was a big part of how many countries got out of the Great Depression. It did this by making factories work harder.
Kim Il-Sung
Communist leader of Korea during the Cold War era
Labor Movement
Began because of a need to protect workers.
17th Amendment
Allows the direct election of senators by the citizens of the state
NAACP
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
Hector Garcia
First Mexican-American to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Sherman Anti-Trust Act
Business methods that are monitored.
Labor Day
In 1894, Congress made May 1 a government holiday to honor the labor movement and American workers.
Allied Powers of WWII
Included the United Kingdom, France, Soviet Union, the United States, and Canada
The Scopes Monkey Trial
A 1925 hearing attempted to repeal the Butler Act. It didn’t, but it made public schools teach evolution.
Sojourner Truth
A former slave who argued for abolition of slavery and women’s rights.
Jane Addams
Settlement houses were built in Chicago to help poor urban immigrants.
Imperialism
Practice of one country taking over another
Industrial Revolution
A time when the use of machines for manufacturing and output grew quickly. It began in Great Britain in the middle of the 1700s.
American Federation of Labor
In 1886, a group of skilled workers from different unions got together to talk about pay, hours, and working conditions.
Butler Act
A Tennessee state law that made it a crime to teach evolution in public schools
March On Washington
More than 200,000 people marched with Martin Luther King, Jr. for the passage of the Civil Rights Act.
Selma To Montgomery March
Martin Luther King Jr. led a 54-mile march to support the Civil Rights Act, and President Lyndon B. Johnson spoke out in favor of the march.
Russian Revolution
In Russia, the socialist movement (Mensheviks) and the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party (Bolsheviks) fought over which party would be in charge.
Fascism
A political theory that says democracy is not strong and that multiparty capitalism is too focused on money and not fair to the people.
Ho Chi Minh
Communist leader of Vietnam during the Cold War era
Knights of Labor
First big labor group. Brought together both skilled and unskilled workers. Tried to make a society where workers owned the businesses where they worked.
Theodore Roosevelt / Teddy Roosevelt
26th President of the United States; known for his leadership in the Progressive Movement
Alliances
Partnerships or agreements between countries to work toward a shared goal, usually in the military
Mexican Revolution
Started as a protest against Porfirio Diaz, whose 34-year rule as President of Mexico broke the Mexican Constitution. This led to a new business class and a change in the social and economic system.
Isolationism
Not getting involved in alliances, foreign policies, or economic relationships on a national level. Usually, this means putting the needs of one’s own country ahead of those of other countries.
Communism
A political and economic theory in which all property is owned by the government and everyone works and gets paid based on their skills and wants.
Kansas-Nebraska Act
Passed in 1854; allowed each state to choose whether it would allow slavery or not.
National Labor Union
The goal of this group, which was started in 1866, was to improve working conditions through changes to the law instead of through talks between workers and managers.
Women’s Rights Movement
Focused on the right of women to vote, own property, keep the money they earn, and join labor groups.
Civil Rights Act of 1964
African-Americans were given the right to vote, schools were desegregated, everyone had equal access to public housing, and discrimination in the workplace was made illegal.
World War I (WWI)
Fought from 1914-1919 between the Central Powers (mainly Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Turkey) and the Allied Powers (mainly France, Great Britain, Russia, Italy, Japan, and the United States).
United Nations
A worldwide group that was set up after World War II in 1945. Dedicated to peace and security around the world.
The New Deal
Franklin D. Roosevelt passed a set of laws, public works projects, and banking reforms between 1933 and 1936 to try to get the economy going again.
Jonas Salk
The polio vaccine was made in 1955, and the disease was almost completely wiped out within a decade.
Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act
Tariffs were put on more than 20,000 imported goods in 1930 to protect American jobs, but the effect was less trade between countries.
Trickle-Down Economics
In economic theory, it was thought that focusing on the supply side and making it easier for businesses to create and spend more would help them hire more people and get the economy going again.
Allied Powers of WWI
Great Britain, France, Russia, Italy, Romania, Japan, and the United States
