Domestic Policies Unit Vocabulary & Definitions
1. • Nationalism: Throughout history, large groups of people who share a cultural identity (language, customs,
history) have felt the pulling power of nationalistic feeling. The spirit of nationalism also includes the belief that
one's nation is better off as an autonomous state.
2. • Capitalism: This economic system is based on free choice for workers and businesses on how they choose to
invest, spend, and keep their money with limited government involvement.
3. • Industrialization: Social and economic change moving from human labor to machinery. This occurred for a
second time in the late 1800s and coincides with the Gilded Age.
4. • Urbanization: This is the large-scale movement from rural areas to the cities. Movement of much of the
population was largely caused by the Industrial Revolution in the later half of the 1800s.
5. • Populism: Political movement demanding the people have a greater voice in government and advancing the
interests of farmers and laborers that really began in 1867 and included such as the Granger Laws. It lasted
until the turn of the 20th century and one of its most popular successes was the referendum, which allows
citizens to vote on legislative bills directly.
6. • Western Movement: throughout the 19th century, the steady push west and the development of the Western
frontier.
7. • Progressives: The period of US history from 1890-roughly 1913 during which reformers were looking to
return control of the government to the people, restore economic opportunity for all and correct social injustice.
8. • Speculation: the practice of making high-risk investments in hopes of getting a huge return. This was used in
the Stock Market mainly during the 1920s.
9. • Buying on Margin: buyer would put down some of his own money, but the rest he would borrow from a
broker. In the 1920s, the buyer only had to put down 10 to 20 percent of his own money and thus borrowed 80
to 90 percent of the cost of the stock. Buying on margin could be very risky. If the price of stock fell lower than
the loan amount, the broker would likely issue a "margin call," which means that the buyer must come up with
the cash to pay back his loan immediately.
10. • Great Depression: Period lasting from 1929-1940 in which the US economy was in severe decline and millions
of American’s became unemployed.
11. • The New Deal: From 1933-1934 and 1935-19 that changed the US government relationship with the
populace and included programs such as the CCC and Social Security, some of which we still have today;
President Franklin Roosevelt’s played a large role in putting out programs to end the problems caused by the
Great Depression.
12. • Nativism: This feeling of favoritism has occurred throughout US history but was particularly strong during the
Gilded and Progressive Era. It is the favoritism toward American born workers and anti-immigrant sentiments.
13. • Manhattan Project: This was a government research program to development the atomic bomb in Los Alamos
from 1942-1945.
14. • McCarthyism: The extreme anticommunism in American politics and society during the early 1950s. The
term derives from the actions of Senator Joseph McCarthy, who led an intense campaign against alleged
subversives during this period.
15. • HUAC: a committee of the U.S. House of Representatives, investigated allegations of communist activity in the
U.S. during the early years of the Cold War (1945-91) whose controversial tactics contributed to the fear,
distrust and repression that existed during the anticommunist hysteria of the 1950s.
16. • Great Society: This was a social movement under President’s Johnson’s plan to eliminate poverty and move
the country toward civil equality.
17. • New Frontier : This was the platform in the 1960 election and domestic policy of John F. Kennedy challenging
Americans and the government to set new challenges in space and social issues such as Medicare, Social
Security, education, conservation, and civil rights.
18. • Baby Boomer: The population explosion that occurred after soldiers returned from World War II. This
generation are now coming of age for retirement and thus, there is a debate about what will happen with Social
Security.
19. • Civil Rights Movements: In the 1950s and 1960s, civil rights activists in the United States used nonviolent
protest, civil disobedience and legal action to end segregation and pursue equality.
20. • Watergate: This was an event that intrigued the nation, helped to cause mistrust of the government, the
development of investigative journalism and had constitutional significance. It occurred form 1972 to 1974,
when President Nixon was associated with the political scandal, was subsequently impeached and ultimately
resigned.
21. • Conservative Movement: While the conservative tradition has played a major role in American politics and
culture since the American Revolution, the organized conservative movement has played a key role in politics
only since the 1950s, especially among Republicans and Southern Democrats.
22. Monopoly
23. Policy
24. Laissez-faire
25. Trust
26. Labor Union
27. Reform
28. Public opinion
29. Prohibition
30. Production
31. Consumption
32. Credit
33. Advocate
34. Legislation
35. Communism
36. Urbanization
37. Popular Sovereignty
38. Speculation
39. Assimilation
40. Liberal
41. Conservative
42. Partisan politics