A
Abolition--Making slavery illegal
Allied Powers--The countries allied against Germany, Italy, and Japan during World War 2. These countries included the UK, USA, USSR, and France
Amendment--A change to the Constitution which then becomes an official part of the Constitution
Antebellum--Representative of the cultural values and beliefs of the pre-Civil War Southern States
Anti-Federalist--An early American political party during the creation of the United States of America which preferred strong local and state governments rather than a strong federal government
Arms Race--The competition between the U.S. and U.S.S.R. to develop military technology which was superior to the other's
Atomic Bomb--A nuclear weapon which uses the energy from the splitting of an atom to create a large chain-reaction explosion
Axis Powers--Germany, Italy, and Japan during World War 2
B
B-17--American bomber planes invented during World War 2 which were capable of delivering large payloads of bombs
Benghazi--The terrorist attack against the U.S. embassy and CIA complex in Benghazi, Libya which ended with 6 U.S. citizens dead, including the ambassador
Blockade--A naval siege intended to stop trade to and from a port
Bonds--Government or company loans with specific repayment schedules
Boycott --Refusing to purchase goods or participate in events to put pressure on a group, company, or country to change a policy or action
Brown v. Board of Education--US Supreme Court decision that ruled that segregation of public schools was unconstitutional
C
Capital--Property or assets
Capitalism--An economic system in which individuals own property and the means of production with limited intervention from the government
Carpetbaggers--Northerners who relocated to the South in the time period after the end of the Civil War
Checks and Balances--A political concept which deliberately creates competing branches of government to limit each government official from becoming a dictator
Civil Disobedience--Refusing to follow unjust laws as a way of calling attention to the injustice
Colony--A region governed by another sovereign country but outside of it's official or historical borders
Columbian Exchange--The mutual exchange of plants and animals between the Old and New Worlds during the 16th-18th centuries.
Commodity--A good which is commonly valued by a large number of individuals, or is accepted as being useful by a large industry
Communism--An economic system in which the government controls all property for the good of the collective citizens
Compromise--Arriving at a decision in which two or more disagreeing parties both get some things that they wanted, and can agree to
Confederate States of America--The government created by the Southern States that seceeded from the Union before and during the Civil War
Conservative--A citizen who believes that current government policies need to stay the same or revert to previous policies in order to improve society
Constitution--A document outlining specific limitations of a government
Containment--The U.S. foreign policy of preventing the spread of the influence or power of the Soviet Union during the Cold War
Continental Congress--A democratic meeting of colony representatives during the American Revolution which provided cooperative leadership of all thirteen colonies
Cotton Gin--The machine which aided in the seperation of cotton from cotton seeds, and greatly increasing the profitability of cotton plantations and slaves to work on them
Crony Capitalism--The practice of wealthy business owners bribing government officials or using their money to impact government regulation in a way that is beneficial to themselves
D
Deficit Spending--A government policy of spending more money than is raised in tax revenue
Demand--The amount of goods desired to be purchased at a given price
Deterrent--A foreign policy of creating of a military force so powerful that other nations will not oppose or attack
Dred Scott Decision--A Supreme Court decision which ruled that even though slavery was illegal in Northern States, runaway slaves still needed to be returned to their masters if they were found
Dust Bowl—An extended famine in the Mid-West during the 1930's
E
Electoral College--The political institution which elects the President and Vice President of the United States of America
Emancipation--The legislative act of declaring all slaves to be free persons
Embargo--A refusal to accept imports from a country as a means of putting political pressure on that country
Empire --A mother country and all of it's colonies and territories
Executive--The branch of government responsible for enforcing laws
Export--Goods sold to another country
F
FDIC--Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. A government agency which insures that all people who deposit money in a bank get their money back in event of a bank failure
Federalist--An early American political party during the creation of the United States of America which preferred a strong federal (national) government
Futures --An investment in a particular commodity which will not be able to sold or possessed by the investor until a pre-determined date in the future
G
Globalization--The progression toward greater social, economic, and political cooperation and dependence of all countries
Gold standard--The limited production of official currency based on the amount of gold that the country has in reserve
H
Holocaust--The Nazi genocide targeting European Jews, responsible for killing at least 6 million people
Hyper-Inflation--A rapid and dramatic devaluation of money caused by mass production of large amounts of paper currency over a short period of time
I
Immigration--The process of relocation from one country to another country
Impeachment--The legal process of removing an elected official for serious crimes or actions before their term naturally expires
Imperialism--A foreign policy of extending influence into other parts of the world by using military, political, and economic pressure to acquire new colonies and territories
Import--Goods brought into a country from a foreign port
Impressment--The practice by privateers and pirates of capturing ships in international waters and forcing the sailors to work on their ships instead
Inflation--The devaluation of money caused by a steady increase in the supply of money
Innovation--The concept of consistently improving peoples' lives through the inventions of progressively better technology
Integration--The process of undoing the segregation policies by allowing all citizens equal access to public places
Interest --The price of borrowing money; an amount of money paid in order to obtain a loan
Investment--Giving an individual or group money with the goal of being repaid with interest at some point in the future
Isolationism--The policy of avoiding conflicts between foreign countries unless directly impacted by those conflicts
J
Judicial Activism--The practice of court judges using rulings in order to create new policies for governments
Judicial Review--The right of the judicial branch to review laws written by Congress and Executive Actions and to declare them unconstitutional if necessary
Judiciary--The branch of government responsible for interpreting laws
K
Ku Klux Klan--A white-supremicist political group responsible for using terrorist acts as a means of attempting to further their racist ideology and agenda
L
Legislative--The branch of government responsible for creating laws
Lend-Lease Program--The U.S. government program created to supply the Allies with war supplies during World War 2 without directly becoming involved in the war
Liberal--A citizen who believes that current government policies need to continue to change in order to improve society
Loyalists--American colonists who supported the King during the Revolutionary War
Lusitania--A cargo ship sunk by German U-boats prior to the US officially joining World War 1
M
Manhattan Project--The secret U.S. program which created the first atomic weapons during World War 2
Manifest Destiny--The 19th century American belief that God wanted the country to extend from the Atlantic to Pacific Oceans, and therefore the seizure of those lands were fully justified
Marshall Plan--The U.S. foreign policy of providing economic aid to democratic European nations in order prevent the spread of Soviet influence
Middle Passage--The middle stage of the Atlantic Slave Trade, when slaves were crossing the ocean in a slave vessel
Migration--The movement or relocation of people from one region to another
Militia--Non-regular soldiers who are willing to fight to defend a country or deal with serious threats to peace
Monopoly--A company which is large enough to almost totally control the supply of a particular good, and thereby being able to artificially inflate prices
Monroe Doctrine--The interventionist policy adopted by the United States threatening European nations to cease all colonial expansion attempts in North and South America or risk poor relations with the United States
Mutually Assured Destruction--The idea that if either the U.S. or U.S.S.R. were to use a nuclear weapon that nuclear war would ensue which would destroy both countries
N
NAFTA--North America Free Trade Agreement. An agreement between Mexico, U.S.A, and Canada to have no tariffs on imported goods from each country
Nation of Islam --A black nationalist Muslim political group that encourages violence as a way of confronting racial inequality
National Debt--The total amount of money owed by a government to other nations and to its own citizens
Nationalism--The belief that one's own culture and nationality is superior to that of other countries
NATO--North Atlantic Treaty Organization. An international treaty of 28 nations agreeing to oppose the spread of Russian or Soviet influence in the world
Natural Rights--The Enlightenment idea that each person has certain rights given to them by a Creator which are protected by governments, but not given by them
New Deal--The Progressive set of policies put in place by FDR during the Great Depression which led to the creation of many government programs and agencies
Nuclear De-Armament--The reduction in the number of ready-to-deploy nuclear weapons
O
OPEC--Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. An international monopoly of oil producing countries that control supply of oil in order to control international oil prices
P
Patriot Act--The U.S. legislation to counteract terrorism which gave the Federal Government the authority to monitor communications within the United States without obtaining a warrant
Patriots --American colonists who supported the independence of the colonies during the Revolutionary War
Persecution--The deliberate and systematic mistreatment of a group fo people, normally for religious reasons
Philanthropy--The investment of large sums of money in charitable causes by wealthy individuals
Pilgrimage--Migrations that are motivated by religious beliefs
Plantation--A large farm focusing on the large-scale production of cash crops such as tobacco or cotton, normally with slave labor
Political --Relating to the operations of a government
Political Party--A political organization made up of citizens with the same general beliefs or philosophy of governmental rule
Populism--A philosophy of appealing to voters based on their hopes or fears, generally as a reaction to a specific event or policy
Precedence--Basing a court ruling or decision on the logic of a previous decision.
Progressivism--The political philosophy that government should be the primary social institution responsible for the moral improvement of all citizens in a society
Prohibition--The progressive policy of making the production and consumption of alcohol illegal during the 1920's
Puritan--A Christian religious group that believed that they needed to purify the Church of England
Q
Quaker--A Christian religious group that opposed war and slavery and believed in the need to further reform the Church of England
R
Racism--The treatment of people differently solely based on their race and independent of any other factors
Ratify--A state's right to approve or disapprove of each Amendment to the Constitution proposed by the federal government
Recession--A prolonged period of abnormally slow economic growth
Reconstruction--The time period after the Civil War in which the former Confederate States were re-integrated into the United States of America
Red Scare--A period of fear that Soviet agents had infiltrated many important government positions in the U.S. government
Reservation--An area of normally undesirable land set aside to be given to displaced Native American groups
Revolution--A radical shift or change in government control or widespread change of thinking within a specific cultural community
S
Sanction--The use of trade embargos, restrictions, or other political pressure to change a foreign country's policy
Secession--The disassociation of a state or region with a government
Sectionalism--The policy of proposing and voting for laws that are good for one's own part of the country, regardless of the impact to other regions or parts of the country
Segregation--The separation of access to public places based on the race of the citizen
Sit-In--A form of protest used by Civil Rights Activists where activists would sit in sections of businesses marked as off-limits to their race and refuse to leave
Soviet Union--Communist Russia and the nations it had absorbed during the aftermath of WW2
Space Race--The competition between the U.S. and U.S.S.R. to demonstrate superior space technology, ultimately by landing on the surface of the moon
States' Rights--The political belief based on the 10th Amendment which gives all powers not listed in the Constitution to each individual state
Stock Market--A market in which companies offer limited ownership rights (called "shares") to private investors in order to raise capital for corporate expansion
Suffrage--The right to vote
Supply--The amount of goods available to be sold at a given price
Supreme Court--The highest US Federal Court, which ultimately determines if a law is or is not constitutional
T
Tariff--Taxes on imports to raise the price of imported goods in order to favor domestically created products
Territory--A region governed and owned by a government but whose residents do not enjoy full citizenship privileges of that government
Trail of Tears--The forced relocation of the Cherokee Nation from their ancestral lands to reservations in the Mid-West
Transcontinental Railroad--The railroad which connected the Eastern states to California and the West
Trust--The attempt to circumvent anti-monopoly laws by breaking a monopoly up into smaller companies run by the same group or owner
Tyranny--A government which uses its power and authority to control the lives of its citizens
U
Underground Railroad--A secret organization which assisted runaway slaves in reaching parts of the country where they would be free
United Nations--The international policy making organization responsible for increasing global cooperation
Urbanization--The process of people moving rapidly from rural locations to cities
W
Warsaw Pact--An international agreement between the Soviet Union and many Eastern European nations expanding the influence of the Soviet Union during the Cold War
Y
Yalta Conference--The meeting of UK, USA, and USSR country leaders to decide how to divide control of Nazi-controlled lands upon their surrender
Yellow Journalism--A journalistic style which bases news on sensational or poorly informed articles rather than an attempt to present news in a factual manner
Z
Zimmerman Telegram--A secret telegram intended for Mexico, but intercepted by the United States which encouraged them to take action against the United States if they were to join the Allies in WW1.