Name __________________________ MY US HISTORY MIDTERM IS ON ________________________________
U.S. History Midterm Review Guide
For each of the bullets listed below, define on a separate piece of paper. In addition to this study guide, review all
learning target packets given at the beginning of each unit, notes, and other handouts received.
UNIT I – INDUSTRIALIZATION OF THE U.S. 1870-1920 (Chapters 7,8,9)
The U.S. settled the west, industry boomed and the U.S. became the land of hope for millions of
immigrants…while our cities suffered as they boomed and the lives of our own citizens did not improve,
namely for African Americans and the rights of women. Some tried to fix society’s problems and argue
that the government should be involved in regulating business and industry for the public good.
 The Homestead Act
 Obstacles to building the transcontinental railroad
 How immigration changed from pre-1890 to post 1890
 Tenements
 Ward Bosses
 Advantages and disadvantages to the public of a trust
 Effects on Native American culture of government schools, Western culture
 Who made up the Populist Party
 Why did so many farmers migrate to the cities in the late 1800s and early 1900s
 The Chinese Exclusion Act
 Ida B.Wells, Florence Kelly, Jane Addams, Upton Sinclair, Ida Tarbell
 Workers compensation
 Commissioner system
 The 17th Amendment
 Initiative, Referendum, Recall
 Rise of Suburbs
 Urbanization
 The Eugenics Movement
 Jim Crow Laws
 Progressive Party
 NAACP
 The Federal Reserve System
 Goals of the socialists during the progressive era
 Booker T. Washington VS W.E.B. DuBois beliefs on how to change society
 Plessey VS. Ferguson
UNIT II – U.S. IMPERIALISM AND WORLD WAR I – 1840s – 1918 – (Chapters 7.4 and 10)
The U.S. followed its “manifest destiny” and spread to the Pacific Ocean and south to the Rio Grande
before turning its eyes overseas, taking and buying new lands and eventually finding itself entangled in
what people then thought would be “the war to end all wars”…
 The purchase of Alaska and how it was viewed at the time
 Yellow Journalism
 Definition of imperialism
 The Monroe Doctrine, Open Door Policy, Dollar Diplomacy, Roosevelt Corollary
 The effect of the Japanese victory over Russia
 The Triple Entente and Central Powers
 The sinking of the Lusitania
 Effects of U.S. investments on Central American economies
 Propaganda
Name __________________________ MY US HISTORY MIDTERM IS ON ________________________________
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The building of the Panama Canal
“Speak softly and carry a big stick”
The League of Nations – why the U.S. did not join and its effect on the League
The view of most Americans towards joining WWI when it started
What the U.S. gained after the Spanish-American War ended
Why the U.S. seized the Midway Islands
The results of the U.S. war with Mexico in the mid-1800s
Why the U.S. eventually joined the Allies in WWI
UNIT THREE- THE U.S. IN THE 1920s (Chapters 11, 12)
The U.S. turned toward isolationism in the 1920s following the devastation of WWI…closing itself off to the
immigrants, fearing radical politics of the day and returning the laissez-faire politics of the times before the
Progressive Era…it was a decade of decadence and denial.
 The Trial of Sacco and Vanzetti
 The laissez-faire politics of the three Republican Presidents of the 1920s
 The impact of the assembly line
 The racial tensions as a result of the Great Migration
 Scientific method
 The Red Scare
 President Coolidge’s approach to trusts
 Why Hoover was called the “wonder boy”
 The Ohio Gang
 How Jazz spread to the north
 The flappers
 Marcus Garvey and the Back to Africa Movement
 Prohibition – why it was passed, and why it was a failure
 Anarchism
 The Palmer Raids
 The strikes of 1919
 President Harding’s call to “return to normalcy”
 The Teapot Dome Scandal
 The Lost Generation
 The Dawes Plan
UNIT FOUR – THE GREAT DEPRESSION (Chapter 13)
The U.S. economy collapsed causing the greatest economic crisis the country had ever seen. President
Hoover, being a strong conservative (laissez-faire) mismanaged the needs of the people causing the crisis to
deepen. FDR will create legislation which will expand the government’s role into almost all aspects of
people’s lives.
 Stock market speculation and margin buying
 Causes of the Great Depression
 Dust Bowl/Oakies, tenant farmers
 Foreclosures/penny auctions
 Movies, radio = escapism, cars & status symbols