Vocab
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Centralized
Government:
organized
government of a
country or territory
where power is
consolidated into one
body, group, or city.
Impeachment: the
process of accusing a
public official of
wrongdoing
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Reconstruction: the
period of rebuilding
that followed the Civil
War, during which
the defeated
Confederate states
were readmitted to
the Union
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Amendment:
changing or correcting
13th Amendment: an
amendment to the US
Constitution that has
abolished slavery and
involuntary servitude
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14th Amendment: an
amendment to the US
Constitution that makes
all persons born or
naturalized in the United
States, including former
slaves, citizens of the
country and guarantees
equal protection under the
law
15th Amendment: an
amendment to the US
Constitution that prohibits
the denial of voting rights
to people because of their
race or color or because
they have previously been
slaves
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Due Process: a course
of formal proceedings
carried out regularly
and in accordance
with established rules
and principals
Sharecropping: a
system in which
landowners give farm
workers land, seed,
and tools in return for
part of the crops they
raise
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Poll Tax: an annual
tax that formerly had
to be paid in some
Southern states by
anyone wishing to
vote
Literacy Test: tests
that potential voters
were required to pass
in some Southern
states
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Grandfather Clause:
Clause used formerly
in some Southern
states that exempted
whites from the strict
voting requirements
used to keep African
Americans from the
polls
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Separate but Equal:
Agreement that came
from Plessy v.
Ferguson case that
allowed Southern
states to have separate
facilities for African
Americans as long as
the facilities were
equal in quality
Segregation:
Separation of the races
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Manifest Destiny:
19th century belief that
the United States
would inevitably
expand westward to
the Pacific Ocean and
into Mexican Territory
Annex: to incorporate
(a country or other
territory) within the
domain of the state
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Land Grant: land
given to railroad
companies by the
federal government to
motivate settlers to
move west
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Sovereign: one
possessing or held to
possess supreme
political power
(country or territory)
Reservation: a piece
of public land set
aside by the federal
government for
Native American
tribes
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Assimilation: a
minority group’s
adoption of the beliefs
and way of life of the
dominant culture