US History Semester Review
Slavery and Western Expansion
•popular sovereignty - government subject to the will
of the people; before the Civil War, the idea that people
living in a territory had the right to decide by voting
whether slavery would be allowed there
•Sectionalism - an exaggerated devotion to the
interests of a region (loyalty to a region instead of a
country)
Slavery
• Fugitive Slave Act – Laws requiring the return of
runaway slaves and punishment for anyone who
helped them
− The law actually hurt the Southern cause by creating
active hostility toward slavery among many
Northerners.
C & E Trans
C & E Trans
Amendments
• 13th – Abolish slavery
• 14th – Rights of citizenship regardless of
race
• 15th – Male right to vote regardless of race
Civil War and Reconstruction
• Emancipation Proclamation – issued by
President Lincoln in 1863 to free the
slaves only in Confederate States
• Jim Crow laws
–statutes or laws created to enforce
segregation
Settling the West
Manifest Destiny
Belief that the US was destined to
spread across North America
assimilate
to absorb a group into the culture of a
larger population
homestead act
method of acquiring a piece of U.S.
public land by living on and
cultivating it
Causes of Industrialization
• Abundant natural resources
• Cheap immigrant labor force
• High tariffs reduce the import
of foreign goods
• National transportation and
communication networks
Causes of the Growth of Big Business
• Little or no government
intervention (see below)
• Development of pools, trusts,
holding companies, and
monopolies
• Practices of some big businesses sometimes limited
competition
laissez-faire
policy that government should interfere as little as
possible in the nation’s economy
Effects on the Workplace
• Rural migration and immigration
created large, concentrated
workforce
• Low wages, long hours, and
dangerous working conditions
were common in large-scale
industries
• First large unions formed but
had little bargaining power
against larger companies
Assembly Line – mass production of products (introduced by
Henry Ford)
Social Darwinism
- states that humans have developed through competition
and natural selection with only the strongest surviving
Gospel of Wealth
- Theory that it is the duty of the wealthy to fund and create
opportunities (libraries, universities, museums) to improve
the lower classes
Goals of the Progressive Movement
• Improve society.
• Protect consumers.
• Improve the work place.
• Stop political and corporate corruption.
muckraker
a journalist who uncovers abuses and corruption in a society
Child Labor
• Many children under 14 work to provide income for
families.
• The work is often dangerous and unhealthy
• Child labor laws are passed,
regulating time and conditions
for minors to work.
Effects on Politics
• Seventeenth Amendment is ratified, requiring direct
election of senators.
• Nineteenth Amendment is ratified, guaranteeing
women the right to vote.
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socialism
Theory that promotes ownership of factories and farms
by the people (collectively) rather than capitalists or
landowners
imperialism
the actions used by one nation to exercise political or
economic control over a smaller or weaker nation
Panama Canal
Canal built the US to connect the Atlantic and Pacific
oceans to reduce the travel time of cargo and military
ships
Foreign policy
set of guidelines and practices that a nation follows in its
relations with other nations
Monroe Doctrine
Declaration by the US warning Europe to not interfere
with any countries in the Western Hemisphere
Isolationism
policy of opposition to political or economic ties with
other nations
Open Door policy
a policy that allowed each foreign nation in China to
trade freely in the other nations’ spheres of influence
Causes of World War I
NATIONALISM
ALLIANCE
SYSTEM
IMPERIALISM
WORLD
WAR I
MILITARISM
U.S. Involvement in WWI
Causes:
1. Allied repayment of debt
2. German U-Boats
3. Zimmerman note – Germany promises
support for Mexico to recover lost
territories if U.S. enters War
Effects:
1. Selective Service Act – (DRAFT) to raise
an army
Opportunities for
African-Americans and Women
in WW1
“Great Migration.”
A-A move North for war work.
1916 – 1919
Women involved in war industries
work.
Civil Liberties in WWI
1. Espionage Act – 1917
- forbade actions that
obstructed recruitment or
efforts to promote
insubordination in the military.
2. Sedition Act – 1918
- it was a crime to speak against the
purchase of war bonds or anything disloyal
against about the US Government, the US
Constitution, or the US armed forces.
Civil Liberties in WWI
3. Schenck v. US – 1919
- RESULT:
If an act of speech posed a clear and
present danger, then Congress had
the power to restrain such speech.
Treaty of Versailles
• Britain and France wanted harsh conditions to
insure Germany would not be a threat again
• Conditions:
– Germany accepts blame for the War
– Germany has to pay reparations (cost of war)
– Nine new nations created
Weaknesses of the Treaty
1. Humiliates Germany
2. Ignores Russia
3. Reassigns colonies – not selfdetermination or freedom
•
•
U.S. Senate rejects Treaty and League
of Nations
League of Nations is weak and
ineffective
The Prohibition Experiment
1920-1933
• Causes
– Various religious groups
thought alcohol was sinful
– Need to protect the public’s
health
– Alcohol leads to crime,
domestic abuse, and job
issues
– Nativism – against foreign
born brewers and
immigrants that used
alcohol
• Effects
– Widespread disregard for
the law
– Increased smuggling and
bootlegging
– Birth of organized crime
Prohibition Legislation: 18th Amendment bans alcohol
21st Amendment reinstates alcohol
1920’s
A Changing Society
Cultural Changes
• Young people and women
gain more independence.
• The working class enjoys
more leisure time.
• New mass media in radio, movies, and sports
develops.
A Changing Society
Changes for African Americans
• Harlem Renaissance begins.
• Great Migration during the war.
• NAACP battles segregation and discrimination.
A Changing Society
Opposition to Change
• Nativists and a new Ku Klux
Klan target immigrants,
Catholics, Jews, and African
Americans.
• Government imposes new
quotas on immigration.
• Fundamentalists push for traditional values.
• Prohibition is implemented.
Impacts in Rural Areas
• Huge numbers of farm foreclosures (over
400,000 between 1929-1932)
• Environment issues
– Overproduction destroys soil
– *Extreme drought creates ‘Dust Bowl’
• Migrant families
– Farmers move West for work
Dust Bowl
• Creates massive
relocation of Plains
farmers to West
Coast
• Migrant farmers
Franklin Delano Roosevelt
• Elected President 1932 (Democrat) – landslide
victory
• Promised “A New Deal for the American People”
• Three goals:
– Relief for the needy
– Economic recovery
– Financial reform
• Used radio broadcasts to explain goals to the
people – “Fireside chats”
First Hundred Days
• FDR rushed through legislation to help the
American people
– 1st action – close the banks, send in bank
examiners and new $
• RESTORE CONFIDENCE
Financial Reform
• Glass-Steagall Banking Act of 1933 –
provide federal insurance for individual
accounts (FDIC)
• Federal Securities Act requires companies
to:
– Provide complete factual financial information
about the company
– Created rules for ‘insider’ information
Economic Reform
• Agricultural Adjustment Act – raise prices
by lowering production
• National Industrial Recovery Act – promote
fair business practices
• National Labor Relations Act (Wagner Act)
– protects workers from unfair labor
practices
Relief for the Needy
• Jobs
– Civilian Conservation Corp (CCC) provided
jobs for young men building roads, parks, and
planting trees
– Works Progress Administration (WPA) –
created jobs for 8 million people in everything
from construction to music
More Relief for the Needy
• Federal Housing Administration –
government loans for home mortgages
• Social Security Act provides:
– Retirement insurance – supplemental
insurance for retirees 65 or older
– Unemployment compensation
– Aid to families with children and the disabled
Impacts of the New Deal
1. Deficit spending – spending more money
on programs than the government
receives in revenue
2. Expanding government’s role in the
economy
3. Protection of workers’ rights
4. Banking and Finance Reform
5. Social Security
6. Environmental protection
Sample Test
Questions
from the Final Exam
“A house divided against itself cannot stand…I do not
expect the Union to be dissolved; I do not expect the
house to fall; but I do expect it will cease to be
divided. It will become all one thing or all the
other…”
Abraham Lincoln, 1858
1. The “divided house” referred to in this speech was
caused primarily by
A. expansionism
B. war with Mexico
C. slavery
D. the suffrage movement
2. The data shown in the graphs best support the conclusion that the North
A. was better prepared economically to fight the Civil War.
B. lagged behind the South in bank deposits.
C. produced more agricultural products than the South.
D. lacked several important resources to fight the war.
“(Buffalo hunter) have done more in the last two years, and will do
more the next year, to settle the…Indian question than the
entire regular army has done in the last thirty years…For the
sake of peace let them kill, skin, and sell until the buffalo are
destroyed.”
-General Philip Sheridan
3. What was the result of the process described in this quotation?
1. Native American Indians were granted farmland under the Homestead Act
2. The disappearance of their economic base helped drive Native American
Indians onto reservations.
3. Many Native Americans moved to Eastern cities to work in factories.
4. Most Native Americans migrated to Canada to find new ways to earn a
living.
4. What is the best title for this series of maps?
A. Industrialization of the United States.
B. Sectional Conflicts in the United States.
C. Transportation Revolution in the United States.
D. Moving Frontier of the United States.
5. In the late 19th century, the major argument used by labor union leaders
against immigrants was that immigrants
A. took jobs from United States citizens.
B. contributed little to enrich American life.
C. placed financial drains on social services.
D. refused to assimilate into American culture
6. Supporters of literacy tests to restrict immigration would most likely favor
the views of Speakers
1. A and C
2. B and C
3. B and D
4. A and B
7. The immigrants referred to by Speaker D were mainly from
1. Canada and Mexico
2. South America
3. Western Europe
4. Southern and Eastern Europe
8. The growth of big business in the late 1800’s resulted in
A. a reduction in child labor.
B. the elimination of the lower class.
C. the widening of the economic gap between rich and poor.
D. a shift in transportation investment from railroads to
canals.
9. During WWI, what was the safest way to deliver men and
materials to Europe?
A. Men and materials were only delivered
into Europe at night
B. Men and materials were delivered into Europe by
merchant ships that traveled in a convoy system
across the ocean.
C. Men and materials were delivered into Europe
by plane.
D. Men and materials were delivered into Europe daily by
a big destroyer boat.
“Public Ignores Prohibition Restrictions”
“Evolution and Creation Debated in Scopes Trial”
“Women Bring Change to the Industrial Workforce”
10. What do headlines such as these from the 1920s illustrate?
A. Conflict between traditional and modern values
B. Trend toward mass consumption of consumer goods
C. Hostility of certain groups toward ethnic minorities
D. Debate over the role of government in the economy
11. Which conclusion is best supported by the information on the graph?
A. The level of automobile production remained constant.
B. The average American family found the automobile too expensive
to purchase.
C. By 1929 most of the automobiles in the world were produced in
the United States.
D. Changes in economic conditions led to changes in automobile
production.
12. Which factor contributed most to the situation
shown in the cartoon?
A. low tariff rates
B. shortages of consumer goods
C. nonregulation of banks
D. creation of a national bank
13. Which region of the United States
suffered most directly from the Dust
Bowl?
A. Southwest
B. Pacific Northwest
C. Rocky Mountains
D. Great Plains
14. The photograph above shows a breadline in New York
City during the Great Depression. Such breadlines were
common during this period because
A. many people had little money to buy food
B. dust bowls in the West caused a shortage of wheat
C. most food went to feed soldiers fighting in the Second
World War
D. most farmers left their farms for jobs in the cities