U.S. History Flashcards
1797 scandal under John Adams
Three French agents demanded a “loan” (bribe) from U.S. diplomats Pinckney, Gerry, & Marshall to meet Talleyrand
“Millions for defense, but not one cent for tribute”
X.Y.Z. AFFAIR
1944 New Hampshire summit
Attended by J. M. Keynes
Created World Bank & IMF
BRETTON WOODS CONFERENCE
Starting in 1961, they rode buses to challenge enforcement of new anti-segregation laws
Supported by the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE)
FREEDOM RIDERS
1584-1656
English military leader
Mayflower passenger to Plymouth, Mass.
Subject of a Longfellow poem
MYLES STANDISH
2009, NYC
Pilot who landed the emergency “Miracle on the Hudson” with no deaths after Canada geese struck an Airbus, US Airways Flight 1549 from LaGuardia
Portrayed by Tom Hanks in 2016 film
CHESLEY “SULLY” SULLENBERGER
(Film: SULLY)
1892, Fall River, Massachusetts
Tried and acquitted of ax murder of her father & stepmother
Subject of Agnes de Mille’s ballet “Fall River Legend”
LIZZIE BORDEN
____ took an axe
and gave her mother forty whacks.
When she saw what she had done,
she gave her father forty-one.
-Old rhyme
LIZZIE BORDEN
1982
Convicted of attempted murder of wife Sunny
Acquitted
Subject of “Reversal of Fortune”, a 1985 book by Alan Dershowitz & a 1990 film with Jeremy Irons & Glenn Close
CLAUS VON BULOW
Remained in a coma from 1980 to her death in 2008
In 1982 her husband was convicted & acquitted of her murder
Portrayed by Glenn Close in 1990 film “Reversal of Fortune”
SUNNY VON BULOW
Esek Hopkins led the Continental Navy’s 1st victory in these islands
BAHAMAS
American commodore
Burned the captured USS Philadelphia in the Barbary Pirates War
“Our country […] successful, right or wrong,”
STEPHEN DECATUR
“Father of the American Navy”
Commanded the “Bonhomme Richard” against the British “Serapis”
“I have not yet begun to fight.”
Also commanded the “Ranger”
Later an admiral for Russia
Buried at USNA
JOHN PAUL JONES
Vermont “patriot”
Represents Vermont in Statuary Hall
Led the Green Mountain Boys
Namesake Amtrak rail runs NYC to Rutland, VT
Namesake of a furniture company
Brother of Ira
ETHAN ALLEN
Vermont militia, later absorbed into Continental Army
Members Seth Werner, and brothers Ethan & Ira Allen
Captured Fort Ticonderoga in 1775
Took part in Battle of Bennington, 1777
GREEN MOUNTAIN BOYS
South Carolina’s “Swamp Fox” of the Revolutionary War
FRANCIS MARION
Wife of James
First lady 1881 until his assassination
LUCRETIA “CRETE” GARFIELD
Maryland-born former slave & abolitionist
“Moses”
John Brown called her “General”
Union scout & spy
Played by Cynthia Erivo in 2019 film
HARRIET TUBMAN
Wealthy Chicago family
U. of Chicago school of medicine named for them
Founders of a 1979 architecture prize
PRITZKER
Alaskan sled dog
Part of heroic 1925 diphtheria serum run to Nome
Subject of a Central Park statue
Voiced by Kevin Bacon in 1995
BALTO
Founded in 1624 by the Dutch
Capital of New Netherland
Eventually became New York
NEW AMSTERDAM
Name for the process of drawing districts to benefit your reelection
Comes from a political cartoon of Massachusetts governor Elbridge’s “draconic” district with an odd shape
GERRYMANDERING
(Gerry + salamander)
Railroad named for a city & river
Opened 1830 in Maryland
Invest in & directed by Johns Hopkins
One of 4 railroads in Monopoly
B&O
BALTIMORE & OHIO RAILROAD
Investor & director in B&O Railroad
Upon 1873 death, donated money to found namesake university in Baltimore (~$7 million)
JOHNS HOPKINS
Cleopatra the horse was the favourite of this president
JOHN ADAMS
A gunfight between the Earps & the Clantons on 26 Oct. 1881 that lasted for about 30 seconds is named for this Tombstone, AZ establishment
THE O.K. CORRAL
Lawman of Deadwood, SD, Dodge City, KS, & Tombstone, AZ
Partook in the OK Corral Gunfight with brothers Virgil & Morgan
Died age 80 in LA
WYATT EARP
Brothers of Wyatt
Respectively, a city marshal & a special policeman of Tombstone, AZ
VIRGIL EARP & MORGAN EARP
Gambler & dentist who lived in Tombstone, AZ
Died of TB in 1887
JOHN HENRY “DOC” HOLLIDAY
NAACP field secretary for Mississippi
Killed outside his home in 1963 by Byron de la Beckwith
Namesake of Jackson International Airport
WWII vet buried at Arlington
MEDGAR EVERS
First woman chairperson of NAACP in 1995
Widow of Medgar
MYRLIE EVERS-WILLIAMS
Gunfighter & sheriff of Dodge City, Kansas
Killed Jack Warner in 1878 to avenge his brother Ed
Friend of Wyatt Earp
BARTHOLOMEW “BAT” MASTERSON
Pre-colombian native Americans
Term comes from their constructed hills
MOUND BUILDERS
Explorer
Led 1806 expedition up Mississippi River
Found a peak in Colorado now named for him
Died in War of 1812
ZEBULON PIKE
American journalist
Left U.S. to cover Russian Revolution in 1917
“10 Days That Shook the World”
Died in Moscow in 1920
Played by Warren Beatty in 1980 biopic “Reds”
JOHN REED
Group on trial for “intent to riot” at the 1968 Democratic National Convention as anti-Vietnam protestors
Included yippies Jerry Rubin & Abbie Hoffman
CHICAGO 7
(CHICAGO 8)
What “YIP” stood for in “yippies” like Abbie Hoffman & Jerry Rubin
YOUTH INTERNATIONAL PARTY
c. 1758 - 1819
“Great” king who conquered and united Hawai’i
“Napoleon of the Pacific”
State holiday on June 11 honours him
Represents Hawai’i in National Statuary Hall
KAMEHAMEHA I “THE GREAT”
Type of musical message first delivered by Western Union in 1933
SINGING TELEGRAM
Rail magnate & one of America’s richest men
“The Commodore”
From Staten Island (where he is buried)
Owned Staten Island Ferry
Built Grand Central Depot/Terminal
Estates of his family include The Breakers (Rhode Island) & Biltmore (North Carolina)
In 1873 left $1 million to fund namesake university in Tennessee
CORNELIUS VANDERBILT
American heiress & celebrity (1924-2019)
“Poor little rich girl”
Subject of a much publicized custody battle
Mother of Anderson Cooper
GLORIA VANDERBILT
French-born
Member of America’s Corps of Engineers during the Revolution
Designed Washington D.C. in 1791
Buried at Arlington
PIERRE L’ENFANT
Island in Dare County, North Carolina’s Outer Banks
Site of a founded by Sir Walter Raleigh in 1580s
Visited by Francis Drake
Home of Virginia Dare, 1st European child born in America
Became a “Lost Colony” in 1590 following disappearance of 100 colonists
Word “CROATOAN” was carved in the palisade
Basis of American Horror Story’s 6th season
ROANOAKE
Path established by Black Beaver & eponymous Jesse (1867-71)
Led cattle from San Antonio, Texas to Abilene, Kansas
Subject of cowboy song “The Old ____” - “Oh come along boys, and listen to my tale, I’ll tell you all my troubles on the old…”
CHISHOLM TRAIL
“Teflon Don”
Gambino boss since 1986
Acquitted 3 times before final 1992 conviction for murder of Paul Castellano
Prosecuted by Mary Jo White
Testimony by Sammy “The Bull” Gravano
Received a life sentence
Died in 2002
JOHN GOTTI
Also called “National Road”
Begun in 1811
From same-named city in Maryland to Vidalia, Illinois
1st federal highway
Now part of Rte. 40
CUMBERLAND ROAD
Steamship with metal armor
Used in Civil War
“Metallic” name
IRONCLAD
Couple from Texas
Committed 12-13 murders
Died in Louisiana, May of 1934 in a police shootout with their V8 Ford
Portrayed in a 1967 film by Dunaway & Beatty
BONNIE PARKER
CLYDE BARROW
