Civilization

highly organized society that is characterized by trade, government, the arts, science, and
often, a written language
Iroquois
• Northeast Woodland Native Americans
• lived in present day New York and Southern Ontario (Canada)
• lived in large kinship groups, or extended families, headed by the elder women of each clan
Iroquois League or Confederacy
• Iroquois often fought one another
•Five Iroquois groups formed an alliance to maintain peace
Christopher Columbus
• looking for a sea route to China (Asia)
• August 1492 Spain’s King Ferdinand & Queen Isabella agreed to finance the voyage
• October 1492 he landed in the Bahamas
The Columbian Exchange
• series of exchanges that permanently changed the world’s ecosystem
• changed nearly every culture around the world
• both positive and negative
“ God, Gold, and Glory”

Motivation of Spanish conquistadors, or “conquerors” going to the New World (Americas)
–
Some wanted to spread Christianity; missionaries
–
Others wanted to gain wealth from the land and resources
–
Some wanted to become famous and heroes back home
Northwest Passage

northern route through North America to the Pacific Ocean
Quebec
•
1st successful French Colony established in 1608 in Canada
•
Fur trade was very important to the development of French colonies
•
fur traders lived amongst the Native Americans; helped to develop a friendly relationship
Changes in England: in the 1500s led to a renewed interest in colonization
1.) religious changes, like the Protestant Reformation; Puritans wanted to “purify” the
Anglican Church of all Catholic elements
2.) Economic changes; enclosure movement left people unemployed and poor
• both caused people to look towards America
Jamestown
• 1st successful English colony
• 1606 King of England granted the Virginia Company a charter to establish colonies in Virginia
• the Virginia Company was a joint-stock company meaning that it was owned by a group of investors
• 144 men settled there under the leadership of Captain John Smith
House of Burgesses

Virginia Company gave the colony(Jamestown) the right to elect its own general assembly
•
done to attract more settlers
•
1st form of representative government in any of the colonies in America
Headrights System
•
Virginia Company introduced the system
* under this system, new settlers who bought a share in the company or paid for the passage
were granted 50 acres of land in the colony
Maryland
• Lord Baltimore founded a colony so that Catholics could practice their religion without persecution
• Baltimore owned Maryland making it the first proprietary colony
•
The Pilgrims Land at Plymouth
• some Puritans called Separatists, broke away from the Anglican Church to start their own
congregations
• one group of Separatists known as Pilgrims set sail on the Mayflower in 1620
- headed to America to get away from religious persecution in England
Mayflower Compact
- a written agreement between the new Settlers(Pilgrims) arriving at New Plymouth in
November of 1620
- drawn up with fair and equal laws, for the general good of the settlement and with the will
of the majority
- All 41 of the adult male members on the Mayflower signed the Compact.
English Civil War
• a conflict between the English King, Charles I and Parliament
• Parliament was mostly made up of Puritan members
• Parliament’s army captured and defeated the King in 1646
Pennsylvania
•William Penn was given a land grant from King Charles II and founded the colony of Pennsylvania
between Maryland and New York
• founded as a refuge for Quakers
Colony

In politics and in history, a colony is a territory under the immediate political control of a
state
Royal Colony
* a colony that was ruled by a governor appointed by the King or Queen of England
-Example: Virginia, New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, North
Carolina, South Carolina
Proprietary Colony
* colonies that were owned by an individual
examples: Pennsylvania, Maryland , and Delaware
Charter Colonies
* a colony started by an individual trading company which had a Royal Charter with the British crown
- Examples Massachusetts Bay Colony, Rhode Island and Connecticut
Tobacco
* was the South’s 1st successful cash crop (grown to sell for a profit)
- it was the main cash crop of Maryland and Virginia
* Led to the growth of plantations: large commercial estates
- to be profitable large quantities of tobacco had to be grown
- required intensive manual labor
- farmers need a large workforce to cultivate the crop
Slavery in the Colonies
• By 1870 between 10 and 12 million Africans had been forcibly taken from West Africa and
transported across the Atlantic Ocean to America on a journey called the Middle Passage
- 1st Africans arrived in Virginia in 1619
- treated at first as indentured servants
slave code: set of laws that regulated slavery
New England’s Economy
• geography was unsuitable for large plantations and growing of cash crops
• New England farmers were subsistence farmers: grew enough to feed their families
• main crop was corn
• location near the ocean helped to make fishing & whaling important industries
Mercantilism
•
Set of ideas about the world’s economy and how it worked
•
Mercantilists believed that a country’s wealth was measured by the amount of gold and silver
it possessed
•
They believed that having a greater number of exports than imports would result in more gold
and silver flowing into the country
•
believed that a country should establish colonies in order to be self-sufficient in raw materials
John Locke
• political philosopher
• wrote “Two Treatises of Government”
• said all people are born with natural rights, including the right to life, liberty, and property
believed that people created governments to protect their rights and in return the people
agreed to obey the governments laws
Staple crops
– crops that are in large demand and provide the bulk of a region’s income
example: tobacco in the south
Salutary Neglect
- due to the colonies’ great distance from England, the British adopted a policy known as
salutary neglect
- the English government basically let the colonists govern themselves
French and Indian War
•conflict between the French and English
• In 1740 a common interest in the Ohio River valley led to tensions between the French and the
British.
-Both sides began building forts to claim the territory
writs of assistance

search warrants that allowed British authorities to search whatever they wanted for
whatever reason
Proclamation of 1763
* limited western settlement
-Colonists were not allowed to settle in certain areas without the government’s permission
“No taxation without representation”


Colonists argued that they were being taxed without representation in Parliament
Major cause of the American Revolution
Stamp Act
•
To raise more money to pay for the French and Indian War, Parliament passed the Stamp Act
in 1765
•
Stamps were required on most printed materials
•
The stamp tax was the first direct tax Britain had ever placed on the colonists
Quartering Act

passed by Parliament in 1765, forced the colonists to pay more for their own defense by
providing places to stay for British troops in the colonies.
Boston Tea Party
•
To assist the British East India Company with tea sales, Parliament passed the Tea Act of 1773,
which made East India’s tea cheaper than smuggled Dutch tea
•
American merchants feared it was the first step by the British to force them out of business
•
In December 1773, tea ships from the East India Company arrived in Boston Harbor
•
Colonists boarded the ship and dumped the tea into the harbor
Coercive Acts


British response to the Boston Tea Party
four new laws
•
These acts were an attempt to stop colonial challenges of British authority
•
The Coercive Acts violated several English rights, including the right to trial by a jury of one’s
peers and the right not to have troops quartered in one’s home
•
The Coercive Acts became known as the Intolerable Acts
First Continental Congress

met in Philadelphia in 1774.
•
The congress wrote the Declaration of Rights and Grievances, which expressed loyalty to the
king but condemned the Coercive Acts
Loyalists, or Tories

Americans who remained loyal to the king and felt British laws should be upheld
•
The group included government officials, prominent merchants, landowners, and
a few farmers
Patriots, or Whigs

thought the British were tyrants
•
Patriots included artisans, farmers, merchants, planters, lawyers, and urban workers
Second Continental Congress

After the battles at Lexington and Concord, the Second Continental Congress met in
Philadelphia to address the issue of defense
•
The Congress voted to adopt the militia army around Boston and named it the Continental
Army
•
On June 15, 1775, Congress appointed George Washington to head the Continental Army
Declaration of Independence

Written by Thomas Jefferson; has Four parts
1.) Preamble: explains why the Continental Congress drew up the Declaration
2.) Declaration of Natural Rights: states that people have certain basic rights and the
government should protect those rights
3.) List of Grievances: lists the colonist’s complaints against the British government
4.) Resolution of Independence by the United States: declares that the colonies are “Free and
Independent states”
Battle of Saratoga (American Revolution)
•
The American victory was a turning point because it improved American morale and
convinced France to send troops to the American cause
•
In February 1778, Americans signed two treaties with France
•
As a result of the treaties, France became the first country to recognize the United States as an
independent nation, and the United States and France formed an alliance
British Surrender (American Revolution)
•
On September 28, 1781, American and French troops surrounded Yorktown
•
On October 19, 1781, British troops surrendered under General Cornwallis
•
In March 1792, Parliament voted to begin peace negotiations
Republic

a form of government in which power resides with a body of citizens with the right to vote
Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union
•
November 1777, the Continental Congress adopted the Articles of Confederation and
Perpetual Union
- was a plan for a loose union of the states under Congress
- The Articles of Confederation set up a weak central government.
•
It had the power to declare war, raise armies, and sign treaties
•
It did not have the power to impose taxes or regulate trade
Shays’s Rebellion
- broke out in Massachusetts in 1786
- started when the government of Massachusetts decided to raise taxes
to pay off its debt instead of issuing paper money; farmers couldn’t afford the higher
taxes
- event made it clear that a stronger central government was needed
Great Compromise, or the Connecticut Plan
–
Established a legislative branch with two houses
1.) House of Representatives: elected directly by the people with each state granted a
certain number of seats based on the population
2.) Senate: elected by state legislatures with each state having two senators
- Together the two houses were to be called Congress
Three-Fifths Compromise
* plan for counting enslaved people in a state
- Every five enslaved people in a state would count as three free persons for determining both
representation and taxes
popular sovereignty

rule by the people
federalism
- This divided the government between the federal, or national, government and thestate
governments
- it provided for a separation of powers among the three branches of government
Federalists
•
People who supported the Constitution were called Federalists
•
Supporters of the Federalists and the new Constitution included large landowners, merchants
and artisans from large coastal cities, and many farmers who lived near the coast or along
rivers that led to the coast
Antifederalists
•
Opponents to the Constitution were called Antifederalists
- Many opponents believed the new Constitution should include a bill of
rights
- they thought it endangered the independence of the states
•
included some prominent American leaders and western farmers living far from the coast.
Bill of Rights
•
In 1791, 10 amendments to the Constitution went into effect known as
the Bill of Rights
•
The first eight amendments offered safeguards for individual rights against actions of the
federal government
•
The Ninth Amendment states that people have rights other than the
ones listed

Tenth Amendment states that any powers not specifically listed to the federal government
would be reserved for the states
enumerated powers

powers specifically mentioned in the Constitution
implied powers

powers not specifically listed in the Constitution but necessary for the government to do its
job
agrarianism

the belief that owning land enabled people to become independent
•
supported agriculture over trade and commerce
Jay’s Treaty
•
gave Britain the right to seize American cargo headed for French ports
•
In exchange, Britain agreed to give the United States most-favored nation status
- This meant that American merchants would not be discriminated against when they traded
with Britain
Pinkney’s Treaty
•
Thomas Pinckney negotiated with Spain, resulting in Pinckney’s Treaty, signed by the Spanish
in 1795
•
The treaty gave the United States the right to navigate the Mississippi and to deposit goods at
the port of New Orleans
•
Western farmers supported the treaty
Nullification

Theory that states have the right to declare a federal law invalid
Sedition
* Incitement to rebellion
Marbury v. Madison
•
The Supreme Court was a very minor body until the 1803 case of Marbury v. Madison
•
The ruling strengthened the Supreme Court because it asserted the Court’s right of judicial
review–the power to decide whether laws passed by Congress were constitutional and to
strike down laws that were not
•
This established the Court’s authority of judicial review
Judicial Review
•
Judicial review is the Court’s power to declare acts of Congress and/or state
legislatures “unconstitutional”
•
This means that even if Congress passes a law and the president signs it, the federal
courts can still nullify the law by ruling that it violates the Constitution
Louisiana Purchase
•
On April 30, 1803, the United States(Thomas Jefferson) purchased Louisiana from France for
$15 million
- the Louisiana Purchase doubled the size of the United States
The Southern Economy
• The South’s economy was based on several major cash crops
- tobacco, rice, and sugarcane, cotton
•
Invention of the cotton gin increased the production of cotton in the South
- made southern planters rich, but it created a huge demand for slave labor
task system
* used on farms and small plantations
- workers were given specific jobs to finish every day
Gang system
* Large plantations used the gang system
- work gangs that labored from sun up to sun down
Slave codes
- laws regulating slaves
- slaves not allowed to own property
- could not leave their owner’s land without permission
- could not learn to read or write
- could not own guns
- could not testify in court against a white man
Missouri Compromise

called for admitting Maine as a free state and Missouri as a slave state
Manifest Destiny
–the idea that God had given the continent to Americans and wanted them to settle western lands
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
•
February 2, 1848, ended the Mexican-American War
•
In this treaty, Mexico ceded, or gave up, more than 500,000 square miles of land to the U.S.
Compromise of 1850
- California was admitted as a free state
- The rest of the Mexican Cession would have no restrictions on slavery
Uncle Tom’s Cabin
- written by Harriet Beecher Stowe
-
about an enslaved African American and his overseer
-
changed Northern outlooks on African Americans and slavery
Fugitive Slave Act
•
slaves who escaped to the North and were found and/or caught had to be returned to their
owner in the South
•
African Americans accused of being a runaway were arrested
•
sworn statement saying the captive was an escaped slave was all a court needed to send the
person south
Free Soilers
•
Advocated the idea of “free soil” (no slavery) but they were NOT abolitionists
North’s’ Advantages and Disadvantages during Civil War (Union)
• The North’s population was more than twice as large as the South’s population
- gave the North an advantage in raising an army and in supporting the war
•
The North’s industries gave it an economic advantage over the South
- 80 percent of the country’s factories were in the North
- produced 90 percent of the nation’s pig iron, which is used to make weapons and equipment
- Almost all of the country’s firearms and gunpowder were produced in the North
•
the North had several financial advantages over the South
- The North controlled the national treasury and was able to continue collecting money from
tariffs
• Northern banks loaned the federal government money by buying government bonds
•
Congress passed the Legal Tender Act in February 1862
Legal Tender Act 1862
- created a national currency
- allowed the government to issue green-colored paper money known as greenback
South’s’ Advantages and Disadvantages during Civil War (Confederacy)
•
One-third of the South’s population was enslaved
- had fewer people to join the army and to support the war
•
After the war began, the South quickly set up armories and foundries to produce weapons,
gunpowder, and ammunition
•
The South was able to produce large amounts of food
-but only had one railroad line for moving food and troops
- Northern troops easily disrupted the South’s rail system
•
The Confederacy’s financial situation was not good to start
- it continued to worsen
- Southern planters and banks could not buy bonds
Abolitionists
*wanted to end slavery
conscription
- drafting of people for military service
writs of habeas corpus
- a person’s right not to be imprisoned unless charged with a crime and given a tri
Anaconda Plan

Implemented by the Union(North)
–
This strategy, proposed by Winfield Scott, included a blockade of Confederate ports
and sending gunboats down the Mississippi to divide the Confederacy
First Bull Run
–
1st major land battle of the Civil war
–
Fought July 21, 1861 near Manassas, Virginia
–
Union troops retreated to Washington, DC
Second Battle of Bull Run
•
fought August 28–30, 1862
•
Important because the confederates were able to drive the Union out of Virginia
- Confederate troops were just 20 miles from Washington
The Battle of Antietam (MD)
- was the bloodiest one-day battle of the war
- so many Confederate casualties Lee decided to retreat to Virginia
- important victory for the Union
- the South lost its best chance to gain international recognition and support
- convinced Lincoln that it was time to end slavery in the South
The Emancipation Proclamation
•September of 1862, Abraham Lincoln, encouraged by the Union victory at Antietam, announced
that he would issue the Emancipation Proclamation
•
This decree would free all enslaved persons in states still in rebellion after January 1, 1863
•
The Emancipation Proclamation changed the Civil War from a conflict over preserving the
Union to a war to free the slaves
•
did not free slaves in the border states or regions under Union control
Vicksburg Falls
•
Union forces wanted to capture Vicksburg, Mississippi to gain control of the Mississippi River
and cut the South in two
•
Grant and his Union forces put Vicksburg under siege–cut off its food and supplies and
bombarded the city–until the Confederate troops surrendered on July 4, 1863
- Union victory cut the Confederacy in two
Battle of Gettysburg


was the turning point of the war
July 1863, Pennsylvania
•
For the rest of the war, Lee’s forces remained on the defensive
Gettysburg Address


became one of the best-known speeches in American history
Speech given by Pres. Lincoln at the burial of soldiers in Gettysburg
March to the Sea
•
On November 15, 1864, Sherman began his March to the Sea
- His troops cut a path of destruction through Georgia in which they ransacked homes, burned
crops, and killed cattle
- reached the coast and seized Savannah on December 21, 1864
Thirteenth Amendment

to the Constitution, banning slavery in the United States, passed the House of Representatives
on January 31, 1865
The Freedmen’s Bureau
•
Congress established the Freedmen’s Bureau
- to feed and clothe war refugees in the South using army surplus supplies
- helped freedmen find work and negotiated pay and hours worked on plantations (work
contracts)
Civil Rights Act of 1866
- gave citizenship to all persons born in the United States, except Native Americans
- allowed African Americans to own property and be treated equally in court
- people who violated these rights could be sued by the government
Fourteenth Amendment
* granted citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the United States
- no state could deprive any person of life, liberty, or property “without due process of law”
Fifteenth Amendment
- the right to vote could not be denied on account of race, color, or previous servitude
- amendment became part of the Constitution in 1870
Carpetbaggers
•
During Reconstruction, many Northerners moved to the South
- Many were elected or appointed to positions in the state governments
- Southerners called them carpetbaggers
Scalawags
–white Southerners who worked with the Republicans and supported Reconstruction
Southern Resistance
Ku Klux Klan
•
Many Southern whites resented African Americans and the “Black Republican” governments
some organized secret societies such as the Ku Klux Klan
•
Klan’s goal was to drive out the Union troops and carpetbaggers and regain control of the
South for the Democratic Party
- terrorized supporters of the Republican governments
Enforcement Acts 1870
- first act made it a federal crime to interfere with a citizen’s right to vote
Enforcement Acts 1871
- second act put federal elections under the supervision of federal marshals
Ku Klux Klan Act 1871
–made the activities of the Ku Klux Klan illegal
tenant farmers

paid rent for the land they farmed
Sharecroppers
* paid a share of their crops to cover their rent and farming costs
- obtained farm supplies from country stores and merchants
- bought the supplies on credit at high interest rates
Gross National Product (GNP)

total value of goods and services produced by a country
Pacific Railway Act
•
1862 President Abraham Lincoln signed the Pacific Railway Act
-provided for the construction of a transcontinental railroad by 2 railroad
companies
1.)Union Pacific
2.) Central Pacific
* To encourage rapid construction, the government offered each company land along its right of
way
corporation
* an organization owned by many people but treated by law as though it was a single person
Stockholders
* own shares of ownership called stock
- Issuing stock allows a corporation to raise large sums of money
horizontal integration
- combining many firms doing the same type of business into one large corporation
vertical integration
- companies own all the different businesses it depends on for its operation
- saved money
- made companies bigger
Sherman Anti-Trust Act
•
It was the first Federal law to limit monopolies
monopoly

occurs when one company gains control of an entire market
Two types of workers were a part of industrial America
1.) Craft workers: had special skills and were generally paid more
2.) Common laborers: had few skills and as a result received lower wages
Knights of Labor
•
By the late 1870s, the first nationwide industrial union called the Knights of Labor was formed
- demanded:
- 8 hour workday
- government bureau of labor statistics
- equal pay for women
- end to child labor
- worker-owned factories
nativism
- extreme dislike for foreigners by native-born people
- desire to limit immigration
Chinese Exclusion Act 1882
–
barred Chinese immigration for 10 years
–
prevented the Chinese already in America from becoming citizens
political machine
- was an informal political group
- designed to gain and keep power
- provided essentials to city dwellers in exchange for votes
Graft

getting money through dishonest or questionable means
Social Darwinism
•
Herbert Spencer, an English philosopher proposed the idea of Social Darwinism
- took Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution and natural selection and applied it to human
society
* Darwin: a species that cannot adapt to the environment will eventually die out
*Spencer: human society evolved through competition
inflation
- a decline in the value of money
- prices of goods increased
Deflation

an increase in the value of money and a decrease in the general level of prices
Grange

was a national farm organization founded for social and educational purposes
Exodusters
•
Beginning in 1879 there was a mass migration of African Americans the rural South to Kansas
Jim Crow Laws
•
In the South, segregation, or separation of the races, was enforced by laws known as Jim Crow
laws
Plessy v. Ferguson
•
The Supreme Court ruling in Plessy v. Ferguson endorsed “separate but equal” facilities for
African Americans
- established the legal basis for discrimination in the South for over 50 years
- legalized segregation
Booker T. Washington
* an African American educator, urged fellow African Americans to concentrate on achieving
economic goals rather than legal or political ones
* explained his views in a speech known as the Atlanta Compromise
W.E.B. Du Bois
- believed that African Americans had
to demand their rights, especially voting rights, to gain full equality
Imperialism

is the economic and political domination of a strong nation over weaker nations
U.S.S. Maine
•
In February 1898, the U.S.S. Maine, anchored in Havana, Cuba, exploded, killing 266 American
officers and sailors
- no one knows why the ship exploded
- many Americans blamed Spain
- beginnings of the Spanish American War
Treaty of Paris
•
On December 10, 1898, the United States and Spain signed ending Spanish American War
- Cuba became an independent country
- United States acquired Puerto Rico and Guam; paid Spain $20 million for the Philippines
• This treaty made the United States an imperial power
sphere of influence

an area where a foreign nation controlled economic development such as railroad and mining
Open Door policy in China
- believed all countries should be allowed to trade with China
Roosevelt Corollary
•
The 1904 Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine stated that the United States would
intervene in Latin American affairs when necessary to maintain economic and political
stability in the Western Hemisphere
- Latin American nations resented the growing American influence
dollar diplomacy
belief that if American business leaders supported Latin America and Asian development,
everyone would benefit
Triple Aliance
•
Germany formed an alliance with Austria-Hungary and Italy before WWI
Triple Entente
•
An alliance between Russia, France, and Great Britain before WWI
self-determination

a basic idea of nationalism
•
idea that people who belong to a nation should have their own country and government
Allies during World War I
- France, Russia, Great Britain, and later Italy - fought for the Triple Entente
Central Powers during World War I
•
Germany and Austria-Hungary joined with the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria
Red Scare
•
After World War I, Americans associated communism with disloyalty and unpatriotic behavior
- led to a nationwide panic known as the Red Scare
Emergency Quota Act (1921)
- limited immigration to 3 percent of the total number of people in any ethnic group already
living in the United States
- discriminated heavily against southern and eastern Europeans
National Origins Act of 1924
* made immigrant restriction a permanent policy
- lowered the quotas to 2 percent of each national group living in the U.S. in 1890
- exempted immigrants from the Western Hemisphere from the quotas
Scopes Trial
•
John T. Scopes, a biology teacher tested the Butler Act in Tennesseee by teaching evolution in
his class
•
After being arrested and put on trial, Scopes was found guilty, but the case was later
overturned
Butler Act
•
1925 law passed in Tennessee
•
made it illegal to teach anything that denied creationism
Eighteenth Amendment

which prohibited alcohol(Prohibition), would reduce unemployment, domestic violence, and
poverty
speakeasies

Secret places where alcohol could be purchased
Twenty-first Amendment
•
ended Prohibition
Great Migration

occurred when hundreds of thousands of African Americans from the rural South headed to
industrial cities in the North with the hope of a better life
Harlem Renaissance
•
In large northern cities, particularly New York City’s neighborhood of Harlem, African
Americans created environments that stimulated artistic development, racial pride, a sense of
community, and political organization, which led to a massive creative outpouring of African
American arts
stock market

was established as a system for buying and selling shares of companies
Bull Market
•
A long period of rising stock prices
Black Tuesday
•
Stock prices fell drastically on October 29, 1929,
•
resulted in a $10 to $15 billion loss in value
Hundred Days
•
Between March 9 and June 16, 1933, FDR’s first 100 days as president
•
Congress passed 15 major acts to help the economic crisis
- programs made up the First New Deal
Emergency Banking Relief Act
- required federal examiners to survey the nation’s banks and issue Treasury Department licenses
to financially sound banks
Securities Act of 1933
- companies that sold stocks and bonds
had to provide complete and truthful information to investors
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
- created to regulate the stock market and prevent fraud
Glass-Steagall Act
- separated commercial banking from investment banking
- no longer allowed for a depositors’ money to be risked by speculating on the stock
market
- created the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)
- provided government insurance for
bank deposits up to a certain amount
Agricultural Adjustment Act
- paid farmers not to raise certain crops to lower crop production
Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)

gave unemployed men aged 18 to 25 the opportunity to work with the national forestry
service planting trees, fighting forest fires, and building reservoirs
Works Progress Administration (WPA)
- spent $11 billion over several years, creating jobs for workers
- Its most controversial aspect was offering work to artists, musicians, theater people, and
writers
Social Security Act

became law in 1935
–
•
provided security for the elderly, unemployed workers, and other needy people
The bill provided a monthly retirement benefit and unemployment insurance
Fascism




a kind of aggressive nationalism
believed that the nation was more important than the individual
believed a nation became great by expanding its territory and building its military
anti-Communist
Benito Mussolini
* founded Italy’s Fascist Party in 1919
- backed by the militia known as Blackshirts, Mussolini became the premier of Italy and set up
a dictatorship
Nazi Party
* was nationalistic and anti-Communist political party in Germany
- Adolf Hitler was a member of the Nazi Party
- called for the unification of all Germans under one government
- believed certain Germans were part of a “master race” destined to rule the world
Isolationism

a national policy of avoiding involvement in world affairs
Neutrality Act of 1935
- made it illegal for Americans to sell arms to any country at war
Neutrality Act of 1937
- required warring countries to buy nonmilitary supplies from the United States on a “cash
and carry” basis
Neutrality Act of 1939 allowed warring countries to buy weapons from the United States as long as
they paid cash and carried the arms away on their own ships
Lend-Lease Act
- stated that the United States could lend or lease arms to any country considered “vital to the
defense of the United States”
Atlantic Charter
•
In August 1941, President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Winston Churchill agreed to the
Atlantic Charter
- agreement committed the two leaders to a postwar world of democracy, nonaggression, free
trade, economic advancement, and freedom of the seas
Allied Powers: WWII

United States, Great Britain, France, USSR
Axis Powers: WWII

Germany, Italy, Japan
Selective Service Act
•
provided a pool from which young men were selected to serve in the military
Operation Torch
* WWII Invasion of North Africa
- November 8, 1942 invasion under the command of General Dwight D. Eisenhower
D-Day
—June 6, 1944; day of “Operation Overlord” invasion of France
•
Allied forces capture Normandy beaches; liberated Paris by September
Battle of the Bulge
•
began on December 16, 1944, catching American troops off guard
•
One of Germany’s last major offensives
- put up a fierce defense of their homelands
•
German forces attempted to pierce enemy lines and divide Allied forces in half
•
250,000 Allied soldiers under Patton were sent
•
German attack failed
“Island-Hopping”
•
Plans to “island-hop” past strongholds, attack weaker Japanese bases
Manhattan Project

secret program to develop atom bomb
Nuremberg Trials

trials of 22 Nazi leaders for war crimes
Containment

U.S. plan to stop the spread of communism
Truman Doctrine

U.S. supports countries that reject communism
Marshall Plan

U.S. program of assisting Western European countries
Cold War
*struggle of U.S., Soviet Union using means short of war
•
NATO —North Atlantic Treaty Organization

1949 defensive military alliance between U.S., Canada, West European countries
Warsaw Pact
•
In 1955, Soviets, Eastern European nations sign alliance agreement
Brinkmanship

policy of willingness to go to the edge of war
38th parallel

line dividing Korea into North Korea and South Korea
Domino theory

U.S. theory of Communist expansion in Southeast Asia
Vietcong

South Vietnamese Communist guerilla fighters
Détente

policy of reducing Cold War tensions to avoid conflict
realpolitik
•
“realistic politics”—recognizes need to be practical, flexible
SALT

Strategic Arms Limitation Talks—limit nuclear weapons
Nineteenth Amendment

gave women the right to vote
Suffrage

the right to vote