| Term | Definition |
|---|
| atom bomb | powerful weapon created from the splitting of atoms. It was used by Harrry S. Truman on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki to end WWII |
| concentration camps | prison camps established by Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party for Jews and other political prisoners during the war |
| d-day | invasion of Normandy, France, by the Allies (June 6, 1944) |
| dictator | a person who has complete power and authority over a country |
| Hiroshima | Japanese city on which the first atomic bomb was dropped (August 6, 1945) |
| Holocaust | mass murder of European Jews by Adolf Hitler and the Nazis |
| Home Front | term given to the US mainland during the war |
| Nagasaki | Japenese city on which the second atomic bomb was dropped (August 9, 1945) |
| Patriotic | showing love and suppport for one's own country |
| Pearl Harbor | american base in Hawaii that was bombed by Japnese planes on Decemeber 7, 1941. the bombing of this forced the US to enter the war |
| ration | to allow only certain amounts of food, gasoline, and other goods to each person |
| relocation camps | special camps in the US where Japanese Americans were detained after the bombing of Pearl Harbor |
| Swastika | emblem on the Nazi flag. The swastika was a cross with ends bent at a right angle |
| V-E Day | "Victory in Europe Day" when Germany surrendered (May 8, 1945) |
| V-J Day | "Victory in Japan Day" when Japan surrendered (September 2, 1945) |
| War Bonds | certificates sold by the US government to pay for the war |
| Anti-Semitism | prejudice or hostility towards Jews |
| Aryan | in Nazi terminology, the Master Race |
| Death Camp | a camp existing primarily for the quick killing of prisoners |
| Death Wall | where firing squad executions took place |
| final solution | name given to the German goal of killing all European Jews |
| ghetto | section of city inhabited only by Jews |
| "Juda Verrecke!" | a favorite Nazi slogan that meant Death to Juadaism |
| Judenfrei | slogan meaning "cleasened of Jews", used by Nazis after every Jew was either dead or removed from an area |
| Julag | concentration camp with only Jewish inmates |
| Kristallnacht | Night of the Broken Glass; November 9, 1938, when mobs thoughout Germany destroyed Jewish property and terrorised Jews |
| Mischlenge | those with mixed Jewish and Gentile blood |
| "Moslems" | the "walking dead" of concentration camps who looked and acted like zombies |
| Nuremberg laws | 1935 laws defining the staus of Jews and withdrawing citizenship from persons of non-German blood |
| Shtetl | small Jewish communities in Poland |
| Standing Cells | a punishment cell 35 x 35 inches, occupied by four prisoners. After standing all night, they joined work crews during days |
| Zionism | movement among Jews to establish a Jewish State in Palestine |
| Zyklon-B | Hydrogen cyanide crystals used to gas prisoners |
| Monroe Doctrine | justified American intervention in foreign territory |
| Acquisition of colonies after the Spanish-American War/Controversy | Heavily debated. What should be done with new countries? Should the US be imperialistic or give them self-determination and US values? |
| Social Darwnism | WASP dominate. All others are lesser; Superior should rule. |
| Progressives | Kept pushing things forward. Believed the government was an agent for change and improvement of the lives of the US. Middle Class movement as opposed to the Populust agrarian farmers. |
| Muckraker | One who investigates and exposes issues of corruption |
| Causes of WWII | Alliances; nationalism; militarism; building of arms; |
| The Allied Powers | Great Britain, France, Russia, Italy, (US) |
| The Central Powers | Germany, A-H, the Ottoman Empire |
| Depression/Government | Increase in role of government programs, some of which are still around. |
| Causes of the Great Depression | Stock market crash; consumer debt and spending |
| Impact of WWII on American Society | Newfound optimism; romens role during wartimes helped their push for equality; semi-integrated military promoted civil rights movement; put the brakes on the Great Depression |
| US at end of WWII | Big commie scare. US was most affluent and lest war ravaged |
| Port Huron Statement | Student activist movement who condemned racism, poverty, and cold war. Wanted to restrict power to corporations, military, and politicians |
| US during Vietnam | LDB presided over the US with his Great Society and new government programs which were severly financially undercut. His role in the war was often criticized as he stepped up the US involvement in Vietnam. This disabled him from running for reelection |
| Protests of Vietnam | Draft Resistance, Violence in colleges, student activists |
| Tet Offensive | South Vietnamese went into North Vietnam and took over a US embassy. Turning point of Vietnam. Was seemingly in US control until this point... shook US confidence in military |
| Vietname/Guerilla Warfare | blurred line between military and civilians; made surprise attacks on US frequent; Viet Cong took toll on our military |
| Nixon's policies of invading Cambodia and Vietnamization | Nixon encouraged South Vietnam to take control. This did not eliminate the Viet Cong |
| Domino Theory | If one more country falls to communism, the rest will fall. |
| Containment | Main component of foreign policy during the post WWII era. Keep communism from spreading outside of where is already is |
| Truman Doctrine | It stated that the US would support Greece and Turkey with economic and military aid to prevent theri falling into the Soviet's control; disallow outside influence |
| The Gulf of Tonkin | 1964. Pair of attacks by naval forces of North Vietnam against two US destroyers. Stepped up US involvement. Gave more power to US president |
| War Powers Act | Notify Congress within 48 hours of deploying troops; had to gain congress' approval to stay longer than 90 days; designed to curtail President's power |
| Iran Hostage Situation | 1979. Iran students held 63 diplomats and three citizens hostage for 444 days under presidency of Carter |
| Iron Curtain | Churchill's term for separation between communism and capitalism in Europe |
| Watergate Break-In | 1972. Nixon's team tried to plant bugs in opponent's quarters, Nixon recorder conversation confirming his knowledge of this; then tampered with evidence during trial; ONLY PRESIDENT TO RESEIGN |
| Eisenhower Prosidency | '52-'60 |
| New Frontier/Great Society | FDR influence. Government should address social needs as their duty. Eliminate poverty and racial injustice.Kennedy: New Frontier. Johnson: Great Society |
| Korean War/Vietnam War/ Congress | Both undeclared wars. |
| Warren Court's decisions in the 1960s | More rights for suspects. Full extension of protection through the Bill of Rights |
| Civil Rights Act of 1964 | Outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex or nation origin. Did no address voting. Fuller realization of 14th Amendment |
| Causes of Discomfort among youth during the 60s | Nationalism; what did Johnson address, and where were they mad? |
| Civil Rights during the 60s | Catalyst for activists groups; picketing; sit-ins |
| Counter-Culture of the 60s | Anti-War Movement; Hippies; San Francisco; LOOSENING OF TRADITIONAL VALUES/RULES |
| Pentagon Papers | President tried to prevent the Times from publishing articles about his conduct of the Vietnam War. Congress ruled the President would be in violation of the 1st Amendment |
| Nixon/Soviet Union and China | Attempted to play both sides against one another |
| Nixon's "Vietnamization" | Encouraged South Vietnamese to take more responsibility for war; enabled US to slowly withdraw all troops |
| Watergate Affait/Deception | Concept of democracy; hijack of election; shook US confidence in government |
| Gerald ford's liability in the '76 election | Pardonned Nixon and his approval rating TANKED |
| Carter/Camp David Accords | 1978 Israeli-Egyptian peace agreement. Height of success for US foreign policy. Height of Carter's presidency |
| Major Issues during Carter's presidency | Inflation; Salt Negotiation; Human rights; Iranian hostages |
| Carter/Human Rights | Would restrict financial aid to countries who had human rights he disagreed with. |
| Reagan's political objectives as president | Believed in a balanced budged; increase in military spending; cut aid to impoverished society. Big conservative |
| Conservative momvement by '80 supporters | Wanted to go back to the good old days. Too much government |
| Nomadic | moving from place to place. |
| Olmec | an ancient people of the southern east coast of Mexico who flourished about 1200 to 400 |
| Iroquois | n American Indian confederacy originally of New York consisting of the Cayuga, Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, and Seneca and later including the Tuscarora |
| Kinship | the quality or state of being family |
| Division of labor | the breakdown of labor into its components and their distribution among different persons, groups, or machines to increase productive efficiency |
| Plantation | a large farm on which the labor of slaves or other workers is used ot grow a single crop |
| Songhal | an empire that controlled much of central Africa in the 1500 |
| Savanna | A dry grassland dotted with trees and bushes |
| Lineage | a group of people descended from a common ancestor |
| Hierarchy | organized according to rank |
| Nuclear family | household made up of a mother, father, and children |
| tenement | apartment building found in many cities around the nation |
| suburbs | residential neighborhoods |
| urbanization | the growth of cities |
| immigrants | people from other countries coming to America to look for jobs |
| political machine | well organized political organization that controls election results by awarding jobs and other favors in exchange for votes |
| trust | a legal combonation of companies brought together to gain control of an industry and reduce competition |
| progressives | reformers who dominated the political landscape of the early 1900s |
| settlement houses | institutions that provided educational and social services to poor people |
| muckraker | a writer whose investigative articles or books attacked abuses such as child labor or corruption |
| social gospel movement | a movement emphasizing the application of Christian principles to social problems |
| direct primary | an election open to all votes within the party |
| initiative | allowed all citizens to introduce a bill into the legislative and required members to take a vote on it |
| referendum | established a procedure by which voters cast ballots for or against proposed laws |
| recall | gave citizens a chance to remove an elected official from office before the person's term ended |
| resource management | the rational scientific management of natural resources such as timber or mineral deposits |
| holding company | bought controlling interests in the stock of other companies instead of purchasing them outright |
| arbitration | a settlement imposed by an outside party |
| regulatory commission | a group whose responsibilities it is to see that a company/companies is in compliance with existing laws |
| socialism | an economic theory advocating collective ownership of factories, mines and other businesses |
| capitalism | an economic system based on open competition in a free market, in which individuals and companies own the means of production and operate for profit |
| accommodation | the policy under which certain African Americans accepted the results of white racism in order to achieve economic success |
| melting pot | a society in which various racial, ethnic, and cultural groups were blended together |
| nativism | a policy of favoring native-born individuals over foreign-born ones |
| eugenics | a movement advocating improving the human race by controlling hereditary factors in mating |
| radicals | advocating political and social revolution |
| anarchism | opposition to any form of government; the theory that all governments should be abolished |
| prohibition | a ban on alcohol |
| internationalism | a policy of cooperation and involvement among nations |
| disarmament | the act or policy of reducing or destroying military weapons |
| industrial productivity | the amount of goods produced by one hour of labor |
| capital | accumulated money or other material wealth that is devoted to the production of more wealth; material wealth acquired in business by an individual or company |
| corporations | groups of individuals authorized by law to act as a single entity; a business owned by many investors |
| oligopoly | the control of an entire industry, such as meat packing, by a few major producers |
| welfare capitalism | programs adopted by employers in order to convince workers that they didn't need unions |
| industrialists | people who deal with the commercial production and sale of goods and services |
| scientific management | a management theory using efficiency experts to examine each work operations and find ways to minimize the time needed to complete it |
| white-collar worker | a professional or office worker |
| speculation | a risky business venture involving buying or selling propergy in the hope of making a large, quick profit; making investments in the stock market |
| margin | to "buy on margin" means that the brokerage house lends money to someone to buy securities; paying only a fraction of a stock's dollar value |
| foreclosure | the legal procedure for reclaiming a piece of property when the buyer is unable to keep up the mortgage payments |
| repatriation | return to a person's country of birth or citizenship |
| status symbol | a possession thought to reflect a person's wealth, prestige, or superior position in society |
| mass media | the methods by which information and entertainmetn are transmitted to large numbers of people; includes newspapers, television, and radio |
| inaugaration | the ceremony in which the President officially takes the oath of office |
| precedent | an act or a decision that sets an example for others to follow |
| President's Cabinet | gives the president advice and directs their departments |
| Thomas Jefferson | Secretary of State |
| Alexander Hamilton | Secretary of the Treasury |
| Judiciary Act | set up the federal court system |
| John Jay | 1st Chief Justice (appointed by Washington) |
| national debt | total amount of money that a government owes to others |
| bond | a certificate that promises to repay the money loaned, plus interest, on a certain date |
| speculator | someone who invests in a risky venture in the hope of making a large profit |
| Bank of the United States | the national bank that the government deposited money from taxes into and issued paper money |
| tariff | a tax on foreign goods |
| protective tariff | a tariff meant to protect local industry from foreign competition |
| Whiskey Rebellion | a protest caused by tax on liquor; it tested the will of the government, Washington's quick response showed the government's strength and mercy |
| foreign policy | actions that a nation takes in relation to other nations |
| neutral | not taking sides in a conflict |
| Neutrality Proclamation | the United States would not support either side in the war and Americans could not aid either Britain or France |
| Jay's Treaty | Britain pays for damages for the seized American ships and Americans had to pay debts longowed to Britain merchants |
| Farewell Adress | Washington advised Americans against becoming involved in European affairs |
| satellite nation | countries that are formally independent, but otherwise influenced by another nation |
| containment | the ideals to block the spread of communism |
| cold war | a war with no direct fighting |
| Truman Doctrine | Truman decided that the US would support Turkey and Greece so that they could avoid soviet influence |
| Marshall Plan | The American Plan to aid European Countries to make them support the US over the Su |
| Berlin Airlift | The Us dropped tons of food and supplies to help democratic germany outlast their shutout |
| NATO | NORTH ATLANTIC TRADE ORGANIZATION European alliance |
| Mao Zedong | communist leader in N. Korea |
| 38th Parallel | the line dividing n/s korea post war. |
| Korean War | a war begin by south korea invading north |
| HUAC | Searched out spies and communists, begun before wwII |
| Hollywood Ten | actors, producers who were blacklisted for being communists although most were innocent |
| blacklist | a list of suspected communists and "unfriendly" wittnesses |
| Alger Hiss | a spy for the soviets. found guilty. years later. |
| McCarthyism | techniques following McCarthy's technique of calling out innocent people to save your own ass |
| Joseph McCarthy | accused bunched of innocent people of being communists in the senate |
| H-Bomb | Hydrogen Bomg 67X stronger than the atomic bomb detonated in Hiroshima |
| brinkmanship | always on the brink of war |
| CIA | central intelligence agency |
| warsaw pact | a pact between communist nations in Europe etc |
| Nikita Krushchev | leader of the soviet party |
| Francis Gary Powers | a pilot of a U-2, shot down |
| u-2 incident | an American plane was shot down behind soviet lines |
| John Foster Dulles | U.S. Secretary of State under President Dwight D. Eisenhower from 1953 to 1959 |
| Eisenhower Doctrine | the us would respond with armed forces to ANY type of agression |
| Dwight D. Eisenhower | president, super anti communist |
| ghetto | neighborhood where people of the same race, religion or country live |
| tenement | apartment house with poor safety and sanitation |
| skyscraper | very tall building with many floors, elevators, and a steel frame |
| nativism | a feeling of citizens who are against immigrants |
| exclusion | keeping a person or a group from coming in |
| migration | a movement of people within a country or area |
| racism | feelings against people because of their skin color |
| Robert F. Kennedy - April 4, 1968 after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. | "What we need in the United States is not division; what we need in the United States is not hatred; what we need in the United States is not violence and lawlessness, but it is love and wisdom, and compassion toward one another, and a feeling of justice toward those who still suffer within our country, whether they be white or whether they be black." |
| Richard Nixon's Acceptance of the Republican Party Nomination for President, August 8th, 1968 | "My fellow Americans...we make history tonight not for ourselves but for the ages. The choice we make in 1968 will deternine not only the future of America but the future of peace and freedom in the world for the last third of te 20th century, and the question that we answer tonight: can America meet this great challenge?" |
| President Lyndon Johnson, March 31, 1968, announcing that he would not seek re-election | "Yet, I believe that we must always be mindful of this one thing, whatever the trials and the tests ahead. The ultimate strength of our country and our cause will lie not in powerful weapons or infinite resources or boundless wealth, but will lie in the unity of our people." |
| Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. April 3, 1968, "I've Been to the Mountaintop" speech | "Men, for years now, have been talking about war and peace. But now, no longer can they just talk about it. It is no longer a choice between violence and nonviolence in this world; it's nonviolence or nonexistence. That is where we are today." |
| Jackie Robinson | first African American to play in Major League Baseball |
| African American Migration | many African Americans migrated to large northern cities after the Civil War |
| Plessy v. Ferguson 1896 | ruled that separate but equal facilities are constitutional |
| NAACP (1909) | National Association for the Advancement of Colored People |
| Brown v. Board of Education Topeka 1954 | ruled separate but equal facilties were unconstitutional |
| Thurgood Marshall | first African American Supreme Court Justice |
| Rosa Parks | refused to give up her seat on a bus and was arrested in 1955 |
| Montgomery bus boycott | plan for African Americans to refuse to use the bus system until companies agreed to change segregation policies |
| Martin Luther King Jr | became the spokesperson for the Montgomery bus boycott |
| integration | the bringing together of different races |
| Orval Faubus | governor of Arkansas in 1957 |
| Dwight D. Eisenhower | US President 1953-1961 |
| interracial | both African Americans and whites are involved |
| National Urban League 1911 | helped African Americans moving out of the South find homes and jobs and ensured that they received fair treatment at work |
| Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) 1942 | organization that was dedicated to bringing about change through peaceful confrontation |
| Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) 1957 | was started by Martin Luther King Jr. and advocated the practice of nonviolent protest |
| nonviolent protest | a peaceful way of protesting against restrictive racial policies |
| Student Nonviolent Coordinating Commitee (SNCC) 1960 | student led organization which sought immediate change in the civil right movement |
| Robert Moses | one of SNCC's most influential leaders |
| sit-in | staying seated at a segregated public place when refused service |
| Boynton v. Virginia 1960 | ruled that bus station waiting rooms and restaurants could not be segregated |
| Freedom Rides | designed to test whether southern states would obey Supreme Court rulings for African American rights |
| Robert Kennedy | US Attorney General |
| John F Kennedy | US President 1960-1963 |
| March on Washington 1963 | 200,000 came to Washington D.C. to call for "jobs and freedom" |
| Lee Harvey Oswald | suspected of killing John F Kennedy |
| James Earl Ray | convicted of killing Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968 and sentenced to 99 years in jail |
| Lyndon Baines Johnson | US President 1963-1969 |
| filibuster | tactic which senators prevent a vote on a bill by taking the floor and refusing to stop talking |
| cloture | a 3/5 vote to limit debate and call for a vote in Congress |
| Civil Rights Act of 1964 | outlawed discrimination in employment on the basis of race, sex, or religion |
| 24th amendment | eliminated the poll tax as a voting requirement |
| Voting Rights Act of 1965 | eliminated literacy test as a voting requirement |
| Nation of Islam | preached black separation and self-help |
| black nationalism | a belief in the separate identity and racial unity of the African American community |
| Malcolm X | leading minister of the Nation of Islam until 1964, then he organized the Muslim Mosque, Inc; he fought for black nationalism |
| black power | a call to African Americans to unite, to recognize thier heritage, build a sense of community, define own goals, etc |
| de jure segregation | racial separation created by law |
| de facto segregation | separation caused by social conditions such as poverty |
| Sirhan Sirhan | assassinated Robert Kennedy in 1968 |
| Steel | The Bessemer Steel Process was the new method to produce more than 90% of the nations steel. First Monopoly is steel was made by Andrew Carnegie |
| Railroads | Made of steel. Made local transit reliable and westward expansion possible for business and people. Before the civil war there was only about 30,000 miles of laid track, by 1890 the figure was nearly 6 times that. |
| Assembly Line | A new way of working. Unskilled workers could be hired and paid for less. |
| Christopher Sholes | invented the typewriter |
| Thomas Edison | Perfected the incandescent light bulb |
| Alexander Graham Bell | Invented the telephone |
| George Pullman | Invented the sleeping car |
| Henry Bessemer | Bessemer Process (steel) |
| Laissez faire economics | Non interference with the affairs of others |
| Skyscrapers | New building techniques (city's grew up and out) |
| Mass transit | moved larger amounts of people at a time. Created more job opportunities for suburbs. Used street cars, etc. |
| Sherman Anti-trust act | MAde it illegal to form a trust that interfered with free trade between states or other countries |
| Andrew Carnegie | Carnegie Steel. MONOPOLY. Partnered with Rockefeller. Was a steel tycoon. Used Vertical and Horizontal integration. Also, a great philanthropist. |
| Unions | Low wages and unsafe working conditions cause workers to revolt and group together. (Ex. American Railway Union, Child Labor Movement, Women Labor Movement, Industrial Workers of the World, Social Gospel Movement) |
| Central Powers | Germany, Austria-Hungary, Turkey, and Bulgaria |
| Allied Powers | Great Britain, France, Italy, Russia, and later the US |
| Nationalism | A devotion to the interests and culture of one's nation |
| Great Migration | 200,000 to 550,000 African American's moved northward from 1915-1930. Enjoyed the better standard of living, still there was racial tension and violence. |
| Challenges to Neutrality | British blockade, Germany establishing a war zone around Great Britain, the sinking of the Lusitania, U-boat warfare |
| Liberty Bonds | A special type of war bond to help support the Allied forces |
| Zimmermann Note | a secret document to Mexico that said Germany would help them regain lost territories in Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico if they joined the war on the Central Powers side |
| Trench warfare | fighting in ditches dug in the ground. It was how each side in WW1 fought |
| Spark of WW1 | When the Serbians assassinated the Archduke Franz Ferdinand heir the the Austria-Hungary throne |
| Russian Revolution | Two revolutions of 1917 took Russia out of WW1 |
| League of Nations | Headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. Consisted of a permanent administrative staff,an assembly, and a council. The council was intended to have five members; France, Great Britain, Italy, Japan, and the US. Member nations were to try to resolve disputes peacefully. If negotiations failed, they were to observe a waiting period before they went to war. It was established in 1920 without the US. |
| Treaty of Versailles | Terms: Germany's colonies and Turkey were divided among the Allied Nations, The mandate system which required new colonial leaders to report their administration to the League of Nations, Created new nations of Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia, France reclaimed Alsace-Corraine and Germany lost its colonies |
| Why didn't the US participate in the League of Nations | They agreed with everything except for article 10. Article 10 states that if any member went to war, the others would fight for it also. Wilson thought that it defeated to point of the League of Nations |
| Bull Market | When the stock market is rising or expected to rise |
| Bear Market | When the stock market is falling or expected to fall |
| Shanty towns | Also known as Hoovervilles. Those with no home or work would create small town like areas of trash, boxes, boards, etc. Many were later burned out by the police force. |
| Herbert Hoover | President during the Great Depression. Not well liked. Ignored the depression of the country and the lack of jobs and homes. |
| Farmers | The Dust Bowl destroyed most Western farms. Much of the land was taken over for machine manufactured farming. Many farmers and families moved farther west to California during the 1930's. |
| 4 main causes of the Great Depression | Tariffs and war debt policies, over production of goods, global economic downturn, the availability of easy credit. |
| Rugged Individualism | The belief that all individuals, or nearly all individuals, can succeed on their own and that government help for people should be minimal. Popularly said by Hertbert Hoover. |
| Breadlines | Many men had to stand in breadlines, similar to soup kitchens, in order to provide food to their family. |
| Stock Market Crash | Another leading component to the start of the Great Depression. The stock became very popular in the 1920's, then in 1929 in took a steep downturn and many lost their money and hope they had put in to the stock. |
| The Great Upheaval | A year of many strikes over labor issues |
| Babe Ruth | Famous baseball player for the Yankees |
| Henry Ford | created the 8 hour work day, and raised wages to 5$/day. Made his cars affordable for almost every family at the time |
| Prohibition | the ban of alcohol. In the 1920's however, smuggling was made into a job. Speakeasies arose. (underground clubs) |
| Fundamentalism | An exact translation of the Bible was taken and acted upon. Led religious revivals. Billy Sunday and Aimee Semple McPherson were some popular names at the time |
| Flappers | The stylish women of the 1920's. Shorter cut skirts and hair. Black hair. Took a bigger role is society; the workplace, politics, etc. |
| Ku Klux Klan | Grew to 4.5 million in the early 1920's. a group against African Americans. Burned crosses, killed influential blacks, and whites supporting the blacks. |
| Goals of Progressivism | (1) protect social welfare (2) create economic reform (3) promote moral improvement (4) fostering efficiency |
| NAACP | (1906) North American Association of Colored People; founded by W.E.B. Dubois & Jane Addams |
| Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire | (1911) 146 women killed while locked into the burning building (brought attention to poor working conditions) |
| Gilded Age | 1870s - 1890s; time period looked good on the outside, despite the corrupt politics & growing gap between the rich & poor |
| Teddy Roosevelt | 26th President (1901-1909) Republican, Harvard Grad, youngest to be president (after McKinley died), filed anti-trust suits |
| Yellow Dog Contracts | contracts employees signed, giving them low wages and conditions like not joining unions |
| Blacklists | lists of people not to hire, usually people associated with unions or rebels |
| Prohibition | 1920 - 1933; the ban of alcohol for any purpose other than medical |
| American Federation of Labor (AFL) | 1866 - large labor union headed by Samuel Gompers, used strikes to raise wages |
| Knights of Labor | 1969 - labor union led by Uriah Stephens; open to all laborers, regardless of race, gender, skill... etc; "an injury to one is a concern to all." |
| Philanthropist | someone who donates time, money, or resources |
| Muckrakers | This term applies to newspaper reporters and other writers who pointed out the social problems of the era of big business. The term was first given to them by Theodore Roosevelt. |
| Tenements | multi-family urban dwelling - crowded, unsanitary |
| Settlement Houses | community centers providing help to mostly foreign immigrants in slum neighborhoods |
| Voting | Women gain the right to vote in 1919 |
| Spanish American War | U.S. helped Cuba gain freedom from Spain -> Causes: de Lome letter is intercepted and published, it insults McKinley; U.S.S. Maine explodes in Cuban port, killing 260 |
| Rough Riders | volunteer cavalry led by Wood and Roosevelt |
| Cuba | sold to US in the Treaty of Paris (along with the Philippines) |
| Big Stick Policy | Roosevelt's corollary to Monroe Doctrine. Claimed the US had the right to interfere with other countries in the western hemisphere |
| Ethnocentrism | the belief that your culture is superior or correct above others |
| Dollar Diplomacy | Taft's idea of using economic influence rather than force to protect US |
| Boxer Rebellion | 1900 - Chinese gang rebels against foreigners in China |
| Open Door Policy | China's ports were open to every country at all times |
| Hawaii | >Kalakaua is king in 1886 & tries to minimize US influence >400 Americans organize to overthrow him and force him to sign Bayonet Constitution (giving US the rights to Pearl Harbor) >1891 his sister succeeds him & tries to return power to the people >Annexation of Hawaii |
| Mexican Revolution | >Diaz was president for more than 30 years >Madero wins over Diaz in 1910 election (democrat) >Huerta seizes control in 1913, killing Madero >Wilson refuses to recognize Huerta as a leader |
| Dough Boys | slang for American soldiers (because of their uniforms) |
| Jazz | Originated among African Americans in the south, esp. New Orleans (Big Bands popularized jazz for dancing) |
| Charles Lindbergh | Pilot, First to fly nonstop solo from New York to Paris (had a Ticker-tape parade) |
| Harlem Renaissance | Period of artistic development of african american writers, artists, actors, and musicians in the 1920s |
| Virginia | Southern colony with Jamestown, main crop tobacco |
| Maryland | Founded by Lord Baltimore, safe haven for Catholics, Act of Toleration |
| South Carolina | Supply station for indies, rice plantations |
| North Carolina | Outcasts from SC and VA, hospitable to pirates |
| Georgia | Buffer state with Spanish Florida, "charity colony" with many shady people |
| Massachusetts | Puritans lead by William Bradford, landing site of Pilgrims. Later lead by John Winthrop, "city on a hill" |
| Rhode Island | Established by Roger Williams who was kicked out of MA, religious toleration and "Lord's Debris" |
| Connecticut | Est by Reverend Thomas Hooker, self-governing, creates Fundamental Orders |
| New Hampshire | Fishing and trading overgrowth of MA |
| New York | Originally Dutch settlement, Duke of York threatens his way into the land |
| Pennsylvania | Quaker colony, lead by William |
| New Jersey | Duke of York gives parts to Berkely and Carteret, which goes to Quakers |
| Delaware | Originally by Swedes, taken over by Dutch, then controlled by PA |
| Vespucci | Sails for Spain and Portugal, explores east coast of North and South America |
| Balboa | Sails for Spain, Pacific Ocean |
| Magellan | Sails for Spain, circumnavigates globe |
| Cortez | Sails for Spain, crushes Aztecs and Mexico |
| Ponce de Leon | Sails for Spain, explores Florida for gold |
| Coronado | Sails for Spain, sees Grand Canyon and buffalo |
| Cabot | Sails for England, explores New England coast |
| Verrazano | Sails for France, explores Hudson River and NY |
| Hudson | Sails for Dutch, explores Hudson Bay/River and Manhattan |
| Cartier | Sails for French, explores Canada |
| Hernando de Soto | Sails for Spain, explores Mississippi |
| Pizzaro | Spanish conquistador Peru and Incas |
| LaSalle | French explorer who explored the Great Lakes, Mississippi River, and the Gulf of Mexico |
| Christopher Columbus | Italian navigator who discovered the New World in the service of Spain while looking for a route to China (1451-1506) |
| Theodore Roosevelt | Police commissioner who called for expansion |
| John Hay | Ambassador who called for expansion |
| Henry Cabot Lodge | Massachusetts senator who called for expansion |
| Monroe Doctrine | 1823 - Attitude that told Europeans to stay out of Latin America |
| Manifest Destiny | Idea prevalent from 1840s-1850s associated with Indians, gold and China |
| Josiah Strong | Author of Our Country, on Anglo-Saxon superiority |
| Rudyard Kipling | British author of "White Man's Burden" |
| Pearl Harbor | Purchased in 1887 |
| Nationalism Imperialism Militarism Entangling alliances | Causes of WWI. Order NIME, spaces inbetween |
| Triple-entent | Alliance between UK, Russia and France established 1894, 1904, 1907 |
| Triple alliance | Alliance between Austria-Hungary, Germany and Italy, established 1879 and 1882 |
| Serbia | Site where Archduke Francis Ferdinand is assassinated |
| Gavrilo Princip | Assassinates Ferdinand on June 28th, 1914 |
| Economy Seas Culture Propaganda | Causes of US entrance into WWI. Order ESCP, spaces inbetween, one word each |
| Lusitania | Passenger-liner sunk off Ireland in May 1915 |
| William Jennings Bryan | Resigns due to Lusitania Notes |
| Arabic | Passenger-liner sunk in August 1915 |
| Sussex | Passenger-liner sunk in March 1916 |
| Sussex Pledge | Agreement in which Germany ceases submarine warfare if British stop mining North Sea |
| 1916 | Election year, Wilson v. Charles Hughes |
| Zimmerman note | Proposes Mexico-German relations |
| Council for National Defense | Investigative committee established 1916, pre-war planning that wasn't very effective |
| Money Industry Spirit People | Mobilization needs, order MISP, one word spaced |
| Amendment 16 | Number of the amendment that legalizes income tax in 1913 |
| War Industries Board | Board that organizes industry, reduces waste, rations resources, fairly ineffective (plural) |
| Overman Act | Act that regulates railroads during WWI |
| Lever Act | Sets up Food and Fuel Administration, consolidates industry |
| Herbert Hoover | Leads Food and Fuel Administration |
| George Creel | Propagandist in charge of Committee of Public Information |
| Conscription Act | June 5, 1917: Act that drafts people with two lotteries |
| AFL | Labor group that supports war effort (use initials) |
| War Labor Board | Lead by Taft during WWI |
| John Pershing | Leader of the American Expeditionary Force |
| Battle of Chateau-Thierry | June 4, 1918: first large US battle |
| Battle of Verdun | September 26, 1918: Last US engagement, US fights alone |
| Meuse-Argonne Offensive | Offensive strike by US that gets to St. Mihiel and Verdun, ending WWI |
| Wilson Clemenceau Lloyd George Orlando | Big Four at Versaille, initials WCLGO separated by spaces |
| Reservationist Republicans | Post-WWII group lead by Henry Cabot Lodge opposed to ARticle X |
| Johnson Borah | Leaders of the irreconciliables, order JB |
| Emergency Quota Act | 1921 Act that stipulates only 3% of 1910 immigrants are allowed in |
| Immigration Act | 1924 Act that stipulates only 2% of 1890 immigrants |
| First Red Scare | Period of strong sentiment against Capitalism and Communism |
| Mitchell Palmer | Attorney General who prosecutes many suspected Communists |
| Edgar Hoover | Leader of FBI, begins NARCS during red scare |
| American Legion | Patriotic organization of veterans |
| Sacco and Vanzetti | 1921 case where Italian archanists are executed under circumstantial evidence order SV |
| Seattle General Strike | Strike of entire city to gain back conditions lost at end of war |
| John Keynes | Architect of Mixed Economy model, in which Command and Free Market economies are combined |
| Frederick Taylor | Pioneered scientific management efficiency |
| Adkins v. Children's Hospital | Supreme Court that overturns minimum wage for women |
| Charles Evans Hughes | Secretary of State under Harding |
| Andrew Mellon | Secretary of Treasury under Harding |
| Fordney-McCumber Tariff | 1922 high tariff supported by Mellon |
| Herbert Hoover | Secretary of Commerce, facilitates (not regulates) business |
| Harry Daugherty | Attorney General under Harding who sold illegal liquor licenses and pardons under Harding |
| Albert Fall | Secretary of Interior under Harding responsible for Teapot Dome scandal |
| Charles Forbes | Director of Veteran's Bureau, scandal from stealing money |
| John Davis | Ohian compromise candidate between McAdoo and Smith |
| McNary-Haughen Act | Farmer aid act vetoed twice by Coolidge |
| Sinclair Lewis | Author of Main Street and Babbit, lampoons mid-west and conformity |
| H.L. Mencken | Directs American Mercury magazine ridiculing small-town values (initials for first two words) |
| F. Scott Fitzgerald | Author of the Great Gatsby, ridiculing materialism |
| T.S. Eliot | Author of "The Wasteland" on the horrors of war (first two words initials) |
| Ezra Pound | Poet author of "Hugh Selwyn Mauberley" on postwar crisis |
| Ernest Hemingway | Author of "Old Man and the Sea", "The Sun Also Rises", "A Farewell to Arms" and "For whom the Bell Tolls" |
| Frank Lloyd Wright | Pioneering architect of "form follows function" |
| Edward Hopper | 1926 artist who painted Early Sunday Morning: personal cityscapes |
| Georgia O'Keeffe | Aritst of watercolors, flowers, bleak cityscapes, deserts and bones (20s) |
| Langston Hughes | Poet Laureate of the Weary Blues |
| The Jazz Singer | First film to use sound (leading the) |
| UNIA | Group by Marcus Garvey that seeks immigration back to Africa |
| Hawley-Smoot Tariff | Tariff instated in 1930 that imposes the highest tariff ever |
| October 29, 1929 | Date the stock market crashed, Black Tuesday |
| Muscle Shoals Bill | Bills that would allocate funds to dam the Tennessee River and provide employment, is vetoed by Hoover |
| Herbert Hoover | 31st president from 1929 – 1933 |
| Calvin Coolidge | 30th president from 1923 – 1929 |
| Warren Harding | 29th president from 1921 – 1923 |
| Woodrow Wilson | 28th president from 1912 - 1920 |
| Franklin Delano Roosevelt | 29th president from 1921 - 1945 |
| Hopkins Ickes Wallace Farley | Brain Trust members, order HIWF |
| 100 Days Congress | Litmus test of New Deal, runs March-June 1933 (use digits) |
| Emergency Banking Act | Act that closes banks, and then reopens only good banks |
| Glass-Steagall Act | Act that sets up FDIC, insurance of bank money |
| Beer and Wine Act | Permits production of alcoholic beverages with 3.2% |
| FERA | Acronym: Relief agency lead by Hopkins in New Deal |
| CCC | Acronym: Military-style corp of young men who travel around to do heavy work |
| PWA | Acronym: Administration lead by Ickes about big jobs: tunnels, bridges, big buildings |
| AAA | Acronym: Administration run by President that subsidises farmers, managed by Wallace, levies food processor tax |
| NIRA | Acronym: Act that establishes National Recovery Administration and Public Works Administration |
| NRA | Acronym: Administration that has blue eagles, sets up codes of competition |
| Chiseler | A person who put up an NRA blue eagle without following the codes |
| HOLC | Acronym: Commission that loans money to house owners |
| Farmers Mortgage Act | Act that aids people in mortgage need |
| Truth-in-Securities Act | Reform act that cleans up Wall Street, forerunner to SEC |
| TVA | Acronym: Experimental administration that used government to create jobs and land |
| Second New Deal | Legislation covered from end of 1933 - November 1984 |
| CWA | Acronym: Administration that establishes smaller daily jobs for winter |
| SEC | Acronym: Commission that enforces T-i-S act and Wall Street laws |
| FHA | Acronym: Administration established by NHA that gives money for housing mortgages |
| Indian Reorganization Act | Act that partially repeals Dawes Act, "New Deal" for the Indians |
| 1928 | Election year, Hoover against Smith (democrat), booming economy makes it a handy victory |
| 1932 | Election year, Roosevelt v. Hoover |
| 1936 | Election year, Roosevelt v. Landon |
| WPA | Administration that creates 8M jobs making roads, buildings, bridges and artistic projects |
| NYA | Acronym: CWA for 17-year-olds |
| REA | Acronym: Agency that gives power to the poor |
| Resettlement Administration | Administration that helps move farmers away from Dust Bowl stricken areas |
| National Labor Relations Act | 1935 Act that guarantees the right to Unionize |
| Fair Labor Standards Act | Act that creates minimum wage and maximum hours |
| Social Security Act | 1935 act that establishes pensions and insurance |
| AFDC | Acronym: Act that gives aid to families with dependent children, paid for with a withholding tax |
| PUHCA | Acronym: Administration that regulates public utility monopolies |
| 1940 | Election Year, FDR v. Willkie |
| Revenue Act | 1935 act that shifts tax responsibility to wealthy |
| American Liberty League | League lead by Al Smith (bumped out by FDR) believing that there was too much government intervention |
| Charles Coughlin | Hyper-liberal radio messiah, anti-semitic, wants nationalization of Banking System |
| Frances Townsend | Hyper-liberal who wants large pensions for all retirees |
| Huey Long | Governor of Louisiana, "Share the Wealth" wants to give $5k to all families |
| NRA AAA | Acts overturned by New Deal (order NA, acronyms) |
| Roosevelt Recession | 1937 economic downturn caused by sound fiscal policy due to cut spending and higher taxes |
| September 1, 1939 | Date WWII began with German invasion of Poland |
| Pare Lorentz | American documentary-writer who exposed the New Deal's workings |
| Zoot Suit Riots | Californian riots as farmer migrations displace Hispanics |
| Dust Bowl | Result of 1920s mismanagement of land |
| John Steinbeck | Author of The Grapes of Wrath |
| March on Rome | Event in 1922 that displaces King Victor Emmaneul and establishes Mussolini as leader of Italy |
| Dawes Plan | American plan to restructure German debt |
| Francisco Franco | Spanish dictator who rises into power after Spanish Civil War in 1936 |
| Washington Naval Arms Conference | Conference held 1921-1922, instance of active isolationism |
| Four Power Treaty | Treaty that maintained status quo in Pacific between Japan, US, France and UK |
| Five Power Treaty | Treaty that establishes 5:3:1 battleship ratio between US, Japan and France |
| Nine Power Treaty | Treaty that establishes open door in China (signed by Western Powers) |
| Kellog-Briand Pact | 1928 pact that outlaws war but allows self-defense |
| Good Neighbor policy | Reversal of Roosevelt Corallory by Hoover |
| Stimson doctrine | US response to 1931 Japanese invasion of Manchuria |
| London Economic Conference | Conference in 1933 subverted by FDR's attempts to protect US dollars from deflation |
| Gerald Nye | Senator in charge of committee that determines war merchants caused WWI |
| Neutrality Acts of 35-37 | Three successive acts that outlaw trade, travel and loans with belligerents (need years, omit leading 19) |
| Ludlow Amendment | 1937 act that would make war declaration possible only by popular referendum, narrowly defeated |
| Quarantine Speech | Speech that marks turning point in US policy from isolationism to interventionism |
| Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact | Non-agression treaty between Germany and Russia |
| June 1940 | Month and Year France falls |
| Atlantic Charter | Joint agreement between FDR and Churchill that defines war aims |
| War Powers Act | Act that grants emergency executive powers to president to run war effort |
| James Byrnes | "Domestic President' who heads Office of War Mobilization |
| Joint Chiefs of Staff | Highest ranking officer of navy and army, George Marshall |
| Office of Strategic Services | Office that organizes intelligence agencies, father of the CIA |
| WPB | Acronym: Manages resources, conservation and production during WWII |
| WLB | Acronym: Regulates workers hours, conditions and wages, prevents inflation |
| Office of Price Administration | WWII Office that installs price controls on essential items to prevent inflation |
| Office of War Information | Manages WWII propaganda to censor bad accounts and make war look good |
| Office of Scientific Research and Development | WWII agency contributes $100Ms to scientific projects like Manhattan, radar, sonar, etc |
| London Conference | July 1942 conference, results in second front in Africa |
| George Marshall | Lead general of the American army during WWII |
| Operation Torch | Codename for allied invasion of North Africa from Novermber 1942 to September 1943 |
| Dwight D. Eisenhower | American commander of WWII |
| Bernard Montgomery | British commander of WWII |
| Casablanca Conference | January 1943 conference between FDR and Churchill that produces Unconditional Surrender doctrine |
| Cairo Conference | November 1943 conference between US, UK and Jiang Jieshi about unconditional surrender of Japan |
| Teheran Conference | December 1943 conference that begins to arrange D-Day |
| Operation Overlord | Code name for D-Day |
| June 6, 1944 | Date of D-Day, largest amphibious assault in the history of the war |
| Battle of the Bulge | December 1, 1944 last ditch effort by Germans to get back to the North sea, Allies defend Antwerp |
| Battle of Coral Sea | May 7th, 1942 battle where ships never see each other, halts Japanese advance |
| Battle of Midway | June 3-6, 1942 battle, Nimitz wins due to superior intelligence, turning point |
| Battle of Guadacanal | August 7, 1942 battle with MacArthur, close to Australia |
| Douglas MacArthur | US General on Pacific front who moved from south to north after retreating from the Phillipines |
| Battle of Okinawa | April-June 1945 Pacfic battle, bloody for Japanese, Nimitz and MacArthur meet up |
| Battle of Marianas Islands | August 4, 1944 battle, taking them was essential to getting Guam, from where Allied forces could bomb Japan |
| Battle of Iwo Jima | March 1945, Pacific battle that, along with the Bulge, assure allied victory |
| Yalta Conference | Conference in Crimea, FDR and USSR make agreements for post-war |
| April 25, 1945 | Date United Nations is established, in san Francisco |
| May 8, 1945 | Date of V-E Day |
| September 2, 1945 | Date of V-J Day, when MacArthur accepts Japanese surrender off of the Missouri |
| Harry Truman | 33rd president 1945 – 1953 |
| Potsdam Conference | Conference where Truman, Atlee and Stalin complete post-war agreements. Trinity test is successful during this time |
| Potsdam Declaration | Warning to Japan of "prompt and utter" destruction |
| Hiroshima | Site of first atom bomb drop "Little Boy" by Enola Gay on Japan |
| Nagasaki | Site of second atom bomb "Fat Man" by Bockscar drop on Japan |
| John Lewis | Leader of CIO, helps incite United Mine Workers to strike in 43 |
| Smith-Connally Act | Act in response to UMW strike that authorizes government to seize industries that are vital to National Defense (has an a) |
| fascism racism | Things Double V minority group wanted to combat (order fr) |
| Bracero program | Labor program between US and Mexico importing workers |
| Korematsu v. US | Court case that upholds constitutionality of Japanese internment camps |
| Treaty of Whangia | Treaty that opened Chinese ports up to US shipping |
| Matthew Perry | Commodore of the US Navy who opened up Japan with the Treaty of Kanagawa |
| Alaska | Referred to as Seward's folly |
| Treaty of Washington | British-American treaty addressing grievances from the civil war: the British reimburses the US for damages done by their warship the Alabama |
| Samoa | Site of a tri-protectorate between Britain, Germany and the United States |
| Valparaiso Incident | Foreign incident where two sailors are killed in a fight in Chile, the US demands an indemnity and gets it |
| Liliuokalani | Queen of Hawaii who is overthrown by Dole |
| James Dole | Industrialist who established the pineapple industry in Hawaii and was responsible for overthrowing Queen Liluokalani |
| Venezuela | Site of a boundary dispute with Britain, US steps in and mediates, reinforcing the Monroe Doctrine |
| Spanish-American War | War that resulted in the American acquisition of Puerto Rico, the Philippines and Guam and firmly established American imperialism |
| Yellow journalism | Term given to sensationalist newspaper writing, exemplified by that of Hearst and Pulitzer when they were attempting to garner support for war with Spain |
| USS Maine | Ship that explodes off the coast of Cuba in Havana harbor and helps contribute to the start of the Spanish-American War |
| De Lôme Letter | Secret correspondence sent by French diplomat to Spanish insulting President McKinley, helping galvanize the American public towards war |
| Teller Amendment | Legislation that promised the US would not annex Cuba after winning the Spanish-American war |
| San Juan Hill | Site of the most famous battle of the Spanish-American war, where Theodore Roosevelt successfully leads the Rough Riders in a charge against the Spanish trenches |
| Rough Riders | Nickname of the 1st U.S. Volunteer Cavalry Regiment during the Spanish-American War |
| Manila Bay | Site of famous naval battle where Commodore Dewey decimates the Spanish navy |
| George Dewey | Commodore who won the Battle of Manila bay |
| Emilio Aguinaldo | Filipino who was lead both the Phillipine revolution against Spain and then the United States |
| Platt Amendment | Legislation that severely restricted Cuba's sovereignty and gave the US the right to intervene if Cuba got into trouble |
| Open Door Policy | Idea that all nations should have equal trading rights in China. Is ultimately a failure because no-one followed it |
| John Hay | Secretary of State under McKinley and Roosevelt who pioneered the open-door policy and Panama canal |
| Boxer Rebellion | Chinese rebellion against foreign influence |
| Big Stick Diplomacy | Foreign policy adopted by Roosevelt |
| Mahan | Author of "The Influence of Sea Power" in which he argued a strong navy was essential for the protection of American interests |
| Panama | Site of a canal and a revolution |
| Clayton-Bulwer Treaty | Agreement between US and UK not to colonize any Central American kingdom |
| Hay-Pauncefote Treaty | Agreement between US and UK that permits the US to construct a canal, as long as it was open to all nations |
| Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty | Treaty signed with the new Panamanian government (not Panamanian) that authorized the construction of the Panama canal |
| Great White Fleet | Navy force that circumnavigated the globe to show off US naval prowess |
| Russo-Japanese War | War between to imperialistic powers over Manchuria and Korea. The Japanese whup the Russians. |
| Roosevelt Corallory | Asserts the right of the US to forcible intervene in the affairs of Central American countries to keep Europeans out |
| Gentlemen's Agreement | Informal agreement between the US and Japan, in which Japan would cease issuing passports in exchange for the US accepting Japanese immigrants already in America |
| Root-Takahira Agreement | Agreement between US and Japan officially recognizing the territorial sovereignty of each nation |
| Dollar Diplomacy | Foreign policy adopted by Taft |
| Moral Diplomacy | Name of foreign policy adopted by Wilson |
| Tampico Affair | Results in a breakdown of diplomatic relations between the US and Mexico, caused by misunderstandings between American and Mexican sailors, and the refusal of Mexico to give a 21-gun salute |
| Huerta | Military dictator who usurped throne, and was kicked out by Wilson |
| Carranza | Lead the opposition against Huerta during the Mexican Revolution |
| Pancho Villa | Mexican revolutionary who conducted numerous raids on American soil |
| John Pershing | US General who searched for Pancho Villa |
| 18th Amendment | Enacts the Prohibition |
| Volstead Act | Early bill that implements the prohibition |
| Woman's Christian Temperance Union | Group aimed at combating the influence of alcohol in families |
| The Jungle | Muckraking book by Upton Sinclair that detailed the gross innards of the meatpacking industry |
| Upton Sinclair | Author of The Jungle |
| International Workers of the World | Coal-miners/dangerous-jobs union known as the "wobblies", |
| Keating-Owen Act | Law enacted to protect against child labor by prohibiting the interstate shipping of goods in which someone under 14 worked to make |
| Coal Strike of 1902 | Strike by the United Coal Workers of America, threatening to shut down the winter coal supply. Theodore Roosevelt intervened federally, and resolved the dispute |
| Adamson Act | 1916 law that established 8 hour workday for railroad workers in order to avert a national strike |
| NAACP | Civil rights organization lead by W.E.B. DuBois |
| W.E.B. DuBois | Civil rights activist who helped found NAACP |
| Booker T. Washington | African American educator who believed that education could give blacks civil rights |
| Pure Food and Drug Act | Federal statute that prohibits selling bad food and establishes meat inspection. Leads way for the Food and Drug Administration |
| Meat Inspection Act | Law that authorized the Secretary of Agriculture to order meat inspections and condemn any meat product found unfit for human consumption. |
| How The Other Half Lives | Book written by Jacob Riis documenting poverty (has photographs) |
| Jacob Riis | Author of How The Other Half Lives |
| The Shame of the Cities | Book by Lincoln Steffens which documented political corruption |
| Lincoln Steffens | Author of The Shame of the Cities |
| Northern Securities | A railroad trust that was sued by the Sherman Antitrust Case, one of the first trusts to be busted |
| Ida Tarbell | Author of The History of the Standard Oil Company which muckraked the oil industry |
| Hepburn Act | Gives the ICC the power to set maximum railroad rates, finally giving the agency enforcement power |
| Mann Act | Prohibits interstate trafficking of prostitutes |
| Clayton Antitrust Act | New antitrust legislation constructed to remedy deficiencies of the Sherman Antitrust Act, namely, it's effectiveness against labor unions |
| Payne-Aldrich Tariff | Attempt at tariff reform by lowering tariff that ends up getting so many amendments tacked on that it increases the tariff |
| Underwood Tariff | Imposes an income tax and actually does lower the tariff from 40% to 25% |
| Pinchot-Ballinger Controversy | Controversy in which th Interior (instated be Secretary ofy Taft) attempts to sell off reserved land for industrial development. He is opposed by Chief of the Forest Service, who investigates the issue. Taft decides to drop charges, Pinchot goes public and gets fired. |
| 16th Amendment | Amendment that legalizes the income tax |
| 17th Amendment | Amendment that provides for direct election of senators |
| 19th Amendment | Amendment that provides women's suffrage |
| Federal Trade Commission | Federal institution that promotion of consumer protection and the elimination and prevention of anticompetitive business practices |
| Wisconsin Idea | Package of reform ideas advocated by LaFollette that included Initiative, Recall, Referendum |
| Margaret Sanger | Birth-control activist |
| John Dewey | American educator and reformer who was progressive |
| Muckrakers | Journalists who attempted to find corruption or wrongdoing in industries and expose it to the public |
| William McKinley | 25th president responsible for Spanish-American War, Philippine-American War, and the Annexation of Hawaii, imperialism. Is assassinated by an anarchist |
| Theodore Roosevelt | 26th president, known for: conservationism, trust-busting, Hepburn Act, safe food regulations, "Square Deal," Panama Canal, Great White Fleet, Nobel Peace Prize for negotiation of peace in Russo-Japanese War |
| William Taft | 27th president, known for: Admittance of New Mexico and Arizona, trust-busting, strengthening of Interstate Commerce Commission, belief in world peace. Wanted to be supreme justice, got distant from TR |
| Charles Hughes | Republican nominee for presidential election of 1916, believes he is president due to newspaper misprint |
| Square Deal | Economic policy by Roosevelt that favored fair relationships between companies and workers |
| New Nationalism | Roosevelt's progressive political policy that favored heavy government intervention in order to assure social justice |
| Woodrow Wilson | 28th president of the United States, known for World War I leadership, created Federal Reserve, Federal Trade Commission, Clayton Antitrust Act, progressive income tax, lower tariffs, women's suffrage (reluctantly), Treaty of Versailles, sought 14 points post-war plan, League of Nations (but failed to win U.S. ratification), won Nobel Peace Prize |
| New Freedom | Woodrow Wilson's domestic policy that, promoted antitrust modification, tariff revision, and reform in banking and currency matters. |
| Transcontinental Railroad | Completed in 1869 at Promontory, Utah, it linked the eastern railroad system with California's railroad system, revolutionizing transportation in the west |
| Yellowstone | Signed into a national park in 1871 by Ulysses S. Grant, it is the first ever national park in the world, established in Wyoming, Montana and Idaho |
| Battle of Little Bighorn | Armed conflict against Indians that ends in Indian victory, annihiliating the entire US cavalry. Also referred to as Custer's Last Stand |
| A Century of Dishonor | Written by Helen Hunt Jackson, it detailed the injustices made to Native Americans during US expansion |
| Helen Hunt Jackson | Author of A Century of Dishonor |
| Dawes Severalty Act | Bill that promised Indians tracts of land to farm in order to assimilate them into white culture. The bill was resisted, uneffective, and disastrous to Indian tribes |
| Oklahoma Land Rush | Land run in 1889, after government opens up the territory |
| Ghost Dance | Spiritual revival in 1890 by Indians that would lead to the massacre at Wounded Knee |
| Wounded Knee Massacre | Last armed conflict between Sioux and US, instigated by overzealous Ghost Dance |
| Frederick Turner | Writer of The Significance of the Frontier in American History, arguing that in the frontier the purest form of democracy exists |
| Buffalo | Slaughtered by railroads |
| The Grange | Originally a social organization between farmers, it developed into a political movement for government ownership of railroads |
| Panic of 1873 | Four year economic depression caused by overspeculation on railroads and western lands, and worsened by Grant's poor fiscal response (refusing to coin silver |
| Munn v. Illinois | Court decision that allows states to regulate railroads within their borders, a victory for the Grange |
| Wabash v. Illinois | Court decision that rules states may not directly regulate railroads but leads to establishment of Interstate Commerce Commission |
| Bland-Allison Act | Proposes a 16:1 silver to gold purchase to increase circulation of silver, but in practice is not very successful |
| Sherman Silver Purchase Act | Increased silver purchase quotas previously set by Bland-Allison Act, but leads to gold-running on the US Treasury |
| Panic of 1893 | Economic panic resulting from a series of bank failures and gold-running on the US Treasury |
| Populist Party | Political party that opposed the gold standard and pushed for democratization of economic and financial systems. Largely supported by farmers, and failed to leave any direct impact, although its policies where adopted by other parties (use party in answer) |
| William Jennings Bryan | Politician who ran for president 1896, 1900 and 1908 under Democrats, was a pro-silverite and Populist leader |
| Alexander Graham Bell | Inventor of telephone |
| Thomas Edison | Inventor of lightbulb, phonograph and numerous other innovations |
| Typewriter | Developed in the late 19th century, it revolutionized the transcription of documents but was largely supplanted by the computer |
| Labor Union | Organization of workers for the purpose of increased lobbying power for benefits and wages |
| Knights of Labor | Labor union founded by Uriah S. Stephens in 1869, that grew out of the collapse of the National Labor Union and was replaced by AF of L after a number of botched strikes |
| National Labor Union | The original national labor federation that, after its decline, paved the way for othe runions |
| American Federation of Labor | Federation of craft labor unions lead by Samuel Gompers that arose out of dissatisfaction with the Knights of Labor |
| Haymarket Riot | A planned strike by the Knights of Labor results in police confrontation and a bomb |
| Pullman Strike | 4000 railcar workers strike in response to 28% pay cut, bringing a halt to Chicago traffic. Cleveland deploys the United States Marshalls to break up the strike, and Eugene V. Debs gets sent to jail to become a Socialist |
| Standard Oil | Established in 1870, it was a integrated multinational oil corporation lead by Rockefeller |
| Horizontal integration | Practice where a single entity controls an entire aspect of production, ensuring that everyone must go through you |
| John Rockefeller | Industrialist and philanthropist responsible for creation of Standard Oil |
| U.S. Steel | Established in 1901 by J.P. Morgan and Carnegie, it was a combination of steel operations into a single corporation |
| Vertical integration | Practice where a single entity controls the entire process of a product, from the raw materials to distribution |
| Andrew Carnegie | Industrialist and Philanthropist responsible for U,S, Steel |
| Vanderbilt | Family of railroad moguls |
| J.P. Morgan | Banker and Philanthropist who dominated finance, helping create General Electric and U.S. Steel |
| Interlocking directorate | Practice where a single person is part of the boards of multiple companies |
| Interstate Commerce Commission | Regulatory body created by Grover Cleveland for purpose of regulating railroads |
| Sherman Antitrust Act | First federal action against monopolies, it was signed into law by Harrison and was extensively used by Theodore Roosevelt for trust-busting. However, it was initially misused against labor unions |
| Gospel of Wealth | Philosophy asserted by Carnegie that the rich had to be philanthropic |
| YMCA | Spiritual organization meant to provide healthy activities for young workers in the cities |
| Dumbbell | Shape of an unsanitary, crowded housing complex |
| Otis | Inventor of the elevator and a safety device for the elevator's hoisting cables |
| Morrill Act | Allows for creation of land-grant colleges, colleges built on federally granted land specially appropriated for this purpose. It was signed into law by Lincoln |
| Hatch Act | Prevents civil servants from misappropriating public funds for campaign purposes |
| Samuel Tilden | Democratic nominee for president in 1876, loses narrowly |
| Winfield Scott | Democratic nominee for election of 1880, also loses narrowly, but only by popular vote |
| Rutherford Hayes | 19th president, Republican, succeeding Grant, didn't do much after the contested election against Tilden |
| James Garfield | 20th president, Republican, assassinated by Charles Julius Guiteau after a few months in office due to lack of patronage |
| Charles Guiteau | Disappointed job-seeker who assassinated James Garfield |
| Chester Arthur | 21st president, Republican, taking office after assassination of Garfield, revitalized the US Navy and ironically lead the charge of civil service reform |
| James Blaine | Republican nominee for president in 1884, previously a Secretary of State |
| Grover Cleveland | 22nd and 24th president, Democrat, Honest and hardworking, fought corruption, vetoed hundreds of wasteful bills, achieved the Interstate Commerce Commission and civil service reform, violent suppression of strikes |
| Benjamin Harrison | 23rd President; Republican, poor leader, introduced the McKinley Tariff and increased federal spending to a billion dollars |
| William McKinley | 25th president, Republican, Spanish-American War, Philippine-American War, and the Annexation of Hawaii, imperialism |
| Mugwumps | Republicans who supported the Democratic candidate Grover Cleveland in 1884 because they could not support Blaine |
| Stalwarts | "Traditional" faction of Republican party lead by Conkling who supported patronage and a third term for Grant |
| Half-Breeds | Moderate republicans who favored civil service reform |
| Pendleton Act | Bill signed into law by Arthur that ends patronage and institutes a meritocratic job-seeking system for civil service |
| McKinley Tariff | Raises tariff rates to 48.8% in return for Sherman Silver Purchase Act. Detrimental to farmers, Hawaii gets killed |
| Free silver | Political issue involving the unlimited coinage of silver, supported by farmers and William Jennings Bryan |
| Boss Tweed | Leader of the Democratic Tammany Hall, New York political machine |
| Lincoln's Plan | Also known as 10% plan, it was the most lenient of all reconstruction plans, with the objective of getting the Southern states back in as quickly as possible |
| 13th Amendment | Amendment that abolishes slavery |
| Freedmen's Bureau | Welfare agency set up to help newly freed blacks with aid and education. Viciously attacked by the South |
| Wade-Davis Bill | Radical republican bill that would have made it practically impossible for South to rejoin, was vetoed by Lincoln |
| John Wilkes Booth | Assassin who kills Lincoln in Ford's Theatre |
| Andrew Johnson | President who takes office after assassination of Lincoln |
| Johnson's Plan | Reconstruction plan that was the 10% plan plus pardons for Confederate officers and repudiated debts. It is passed while Congress is out of session |
| Black codes | Southern laws designed to restrict the rights of the newly freed black slaves |
| Share-cropping | New mthod for blacks to find work, involved farming land and then paying back a portion of profits Likened to slavery |
| Crop-lien system | Name of system that utilized share-cropping |
| Radical Republicans | Political party that favored harsh punishment of Southern states after civil war |
| Congressional Reconstruction | The "real" reconstruction plan, it involved the Radical Republican's plans which override Johnson's vetoes |
| 14th Amendment | Amendment that grants full civil rights to Blacks and threatens to reduce voting proportions if right to vote is abridged |
| Military Reconstruction | Involved 5 military districts ruled by generals |
| Civil Rights Bill of 1866 | Bill that turns into the 14th amendment |
| Reconstruction Acts | Acts that instated military reconstruction |
| 15th amendment | Amendment that guarantees right of suffrage to all men |
| Tenure of Office Act | Makes it illegal for president to replace officers who have been confirmed by Congress without Congressional approval |
| Edwin Stanton | Popular Secretary of War who is fired by Johnson and leads to Johnson's impeachment |
| Scalawag | Southerner in favor of reconstruction to garner political support |
| Carpetbagger | Northerner who traveled south to make money off of the Reconstruction |
| Ku Klux Klan | White supremacy organization that intimidated blacks out of their newly found liberties |
| William Seward | Secretary of State of who purchases Alaska |
| Bloody Shirt | Term given to persistent reference to "Party who saved the Union" |
| Promontory Point | Point in Utah where the Transcontinental Railroad was completed |
| Ulysses Grant | President and former general whose presidency was racked by Scandal. |
| Salary grab | Attempt by Senate to double their pay, is met by public outrage |
| Credit-Mobilier | Rail-road company overcharges for rail-laying, bribes Washington to keep quiet |
| Whiskey ring | Treasury officials collaborate with distillers to get around excise tax |
| W.W. Belknap | Secretary of War who sells $24k worth of supplies to Indians and pockets the money |
| Jay Gould | Investor who corners the gold market by convincing Grant to issue bad financial proclamations |
| Panic of 1873 | Financial downturn caused by overspeculation of western lands |
| Compromise of 1877 | Compromise that enables Hayes to take office in return for the end of Reconstruction |
| Jim Crow laws | Laws designed to enforce segregation of blacks from whites |
| Plessy v. Ferguson | Landmark court ruling that legalizes segregation |
| Income Tax | Fundraising measure by north that entailed 3% for anyone making over $100 |
| Greenbacks | Name for Union paper money not backed by gold or silver. Value would fluctuate depending on status of the war (plural) |
| Bond | Represents a loan to government (pays interest). Fundraising technique employed by Union and Confederates |
| National Banking System | Money system for the Union that would last until 1913 |
| Morill Tariff | Fundraising technique for the North involving increased tariffs |
| Bluebacks | Term for confederate paper money |
| Volunteers | Union has a lot of these at the start, and then need draft. South needs draft from start. |
| New York Draft Riots | Anti-conscription violence that protested the unfair $300 draft evasion fee that made poor people have to fight the war |
| Civil War | Armed conflict over the issue of slavery |
| First Battle of Bull Run | First "real" battle of the Civil War, it was expected by Union officials to be short but ended up a Confederate victory |
| Monitor v. Merrimac | Battle between two ironclad ships, lasts five days and has no winner but changes the paradigm of naval warfare |
| Peninsula Campaign | Botched Union attempt to capture the capital Richmond by circumventing the Confederate army by sea. |
| Second Battle of Bull Run | Culmination of offensive campaign by Robert E. Lee, overwhelming victory although Union army weathers it well |
| Battle of Antietam | Union army routes Lee's offensive strike, allows Lincoln to give emancipation proclamation |
| Emancipation Proclamation | Declaration by Lincoln after Antietam declaring all slaves in rebelling states to be free |
| Battle of Fredericksburg | Major union loss under the hands of Burnside |
| Battle of Chancellorsville | Wilderness, Confederate win by Lee uses Stonewall Jackson to friendly fire |
| Battle of Gettysburg | Turning point of war, Union victory ends with Pickett's charge |
| Battle of Vicksburg | Union gains control of Mississippi, Grant takes lead, total war begins |
| Sherman's March to the Sea | 1864--1865 total destruction campaign from Geogia to the coast |
| Appomattox Courthouse | Lee's forces cornered, surrender of Confederacy |
| Copperheads | Democrats who opposed the civil war |
| Valandingham | Ringleader of the copperheads, claimed North did not need south |
| Trent Affair | Foreign event involving Union seizure of British ship with Confederate diplomats. |
| Maximilian | French viceroy who takes over Mexico during Civil War due to fact that America cannot enforce monroe doctrine |
| Alabama | High-tech ship the confederates purchased from Britain |
| Political Culture | A distinctive and patterned way of thinking about how political and economic life ought to be carried out |
| Equality of opportunity | everyone is given the same chance (i.e. job opportunities) |
| Equality of results | everyone receives the same in the end (i.e. salaries) |
| Progressive | People who think that personal freedom is as important as, or more important than, certain traditional moral rules and that those rules must be evaluated in light of the circumstances of modern life. |
| Orthodox | People who believe that morality is as important as, or more important than, self-expression and that moral rules derive from the commands of God or the laws of nature. |
| Isolationism | Elite opinion opposed getting involved in European wars; adopted after WWI |
| Containment | Post WWII built a network of defensive alliances in Europe and Asia during the late 1940s and 50s |
| disengagement | if a war was thought “immoral” we were reluctant to see American military involvement |
| Human Rights | idea that humanaity has certain rights including that of security of person |
| mass public opinion | generally believes in Americans first |
| Isolationism | Elite opinion opposed getting involved in European wars; adopted after WWI |
| Containment | Post WWII built a network of defensive alliances in Europe and Asia during the late 1940s and 50s |
| disengagement | if a war was thought “immoral” we were reluctant to see American military involvement |
| Human Rights | idea that humanaity has certain rights including that of security of person |
| mass public opinion | generally believes in Americans first |
| elite public opinion | more liberal and internationalist outlook |
| majoritarian foreign policy | includes those decisions that are perceived to confer widely distributed benefits and impose widely distributed costs |
| interest group or client polics | Congress plays a much larger role in foreign policy with this group |
| appropriations | funding that must be authorized by Congress for any federal spending |
| red tape | complex rules and procedures that must be followed to get something done |
| conflict | exists because some agencies seem to be working at cross-purposes with other agencies |
| duplication | occurs when two government agencies seem to be doing the same thing |
| imperialism | – the tendency of agencies to grow without regard to the benefits that their programs confer or the costs that they entail |
| waste | spending more then is necessary to buy some product or service |
| Administrative Procedure Act | before adopting a new rule or policy, an agency must give notice, solicit comments, and hold hearings |
| Freedom of Information Act | citizens have the right to inspect all government records except those containing military, intelligence, or trade secrets or revealing private personnel actions |
| National Environmental Policy Act | before undertaking any major action affecting the environment, an agency must issue an environmental impact statement |
| Privacy Act | Government files about individuals, such as Social Security and tax records, must be kept confidential |
| Open Meeting Law | every part of every agency meeting must be open to the public unless certain matters are being discussed |
| Pyramid Structure | used by Eisenhower, Nixon, Reagan, and Bush – assistants report through a hierarchy to a chief of staff, who then deals with the president |
| Circular Structure | used by Carter – cabinet secretaries and assistants report directly to the president |
| Ad Hoc Structure | used by Clinton – task forces, committees, and informal groups of friends and advisers deal directly with the president |
| constraints on program planning | length of time; unexpected crisis; nature of federal government |
| Trustee vs Delegate approach | trustee--do what is best regardless of voter opinion; delegate--do what the voters want |
| veto message | a statement that the president sends to Congress accompanying the bill, within ten days after the bill has been passed |
| pocket veto | if the president does not sign the bill within ten days and Congress has adjourned within that time, then the bill will not become a law |
| line item veto | the chief executive can approve some provisions of a bill and disapprove others |
| impoundment of funds | when Congress takes money from a bill that the president has vetoed and places it into bills he has not vetoed |
| executive privilege | the privilege to have secrecy between them and their advisors |
| Monetarism | An economic philosophy that assumes inflation occurs when there is too much money chasing too few goods. Suggests that the proper thing for government to do is to have a steady, predictably increase in the money supply at a rate about equal to the growth in the economy’s productivity |
| Keynesianism | Assumes that the market will not automatically operate at a full-employment, low-inflation level. Suggests that the government should intervene to create the right level of demand by pumping more money into the economy (when demand is low) and taking it out (when demand is too great). |
| Economic planning | An economic philosophy that assumes that the government should plan, in varying ways, some part of the country’s economic activity. For instance, in times of high inflation, it suggest hat the government regulate the maximum prices that can be charged and wages that can be paid, at least in the larger industries. |
| Industrial policy | Would have the government planning or subsidizing investments in industries that need to recover or in new industries that could replace them. |
| Supply Side economics | An economic philosophy that holds the sharply cutting taxes will increase the incentive people have to work, save, and invest. Greater investments will lead to more jobs, a more productive economy, and more tax revenues for the government. |
| Reaganomics | The federal economic polices of the Reagan administration, elected in 1981. These policies combined a monetarist fiscal policy, supply-side tax cuts, and domestic budget cutting. Their goal was to reduce the size of the federal government and stimulate economic growth. |
| Fiscal Policy | An attempt to use taxes and expenditures to affect the economy. |
| Budget Deficit vs Surplus | A situation in which the government spends more money than it takes in from taxes and fees. vs A situation in which the government takes in more money than it spends. |
| Monetary Policy | An attempt to alter the amount of money in circulation and the price of money (the interest rate) to affect the economy. |
| fiscal Year | The period from Oct. 1 to Sept. 30 for which government appropriations are made and federal books are kept. |
| CEA | It is an impartial group of experts, composed of 3 professional economists plus a small staff (1946), who are responsible for forecasting economic trends, analyzing economic issues and helping prepare the economic report that the president submits to Congress each year. |
| OMB | (1921)Its chief function is to prepare estimates of the amount that will be spent by federal agencies, to negotiate with other departments over the size of their budget, and to make certain (insofar as it can) that the legislative proposals of these other departments are in accord with the president’s program. |
| Entitlements | A claim for government funds that cannot be abridged without violating the rights of the claimant; for example, social security benefits or payments on a contract. |
| Congressional Budget Act of 1974 | After the president submits his budget, two budget committees study his overall package and obtain an analysis of it form the Congressional Budget Office |
| Gramn-Rudman (Balanced Budget Act) | The Gramm-Rudman Act required that each year form 1986-1991 the budget would automatically be cut until the federal deficit had disappeared |
| Progressive Tax | The wealthiest individuals paid at a higher rate than the less affluent. |
| Tax Loopholes | All manner of special interests can get some special benefit from the tax law that the rest of us must pay for but, given the complexity of the law, rarely notice. Loopholes are client politics par excellence. |
| Marginal rate | The tax rate in the highest bracket. This is the percentage of the last dollar that you earn that must be paid out in taxes |
| Tax Reform Act (1986) | Instead of high rates with big deductions, we got low rates with much smaller deductions. The big gainers were individuals; the big losers were businesses. |
| Budget Enforcement Act (1990) | It imposed a cap on discretionary (that is, non-entitlement) spending. As long as the president and Congress stay under that cap, they can change the amount of money they spend |
| Speaker of the House | decides who shall be recognized to speak on the floor of the house; ii. Rules whether a motion is relevant and germane to the business at hand; iii.decides the committees to which new bill shall be assigned; iv. influences what bills are brought up for a vote; v. appoints the members of special and select committees |
| Majority Leader | schedule the business of the senate usually in consultation with the minority leader |
| The Whip | a senator who helps the party leader stay informed about what party leaders are thinking, rounds up members when important votes are to be taken, and attempts to keep a noses count on how the voting on a controversial issue will go |
| Caucus | an association of members of congress created to advocate a political ideology or regional economic interest |
| GAO | General Accounting Office- performs primarily routine financial audits of the money spent by the executive branch departments and investigates agencies and policies and makes recommendations on almost every aspect of government |
| Standing Committee | permanent bodies with specific legislative responsibilities |
| Select Committee | groups appointed for a limited purpose and usually lasting for only a few congresses |
| Joint Committee | those on which both representatives and senators serve. |
| Concurrent Committee | made up of representatives and senators appointed to resolve differences in the senate and house versions of the same piece of legislation before final passage |
| malapportionment | Characterized by an inappropriate or unfair proportional distribution of representatives to a legislative body |
| gerrymandering | To divide (a geographic area) into voting districts so as to give unfair advantage to one party in elections |
| majority-minority districts | those with a majority of residents who are part of an ethnic minority |
| filibuster | a prolong speech or series of speeches made to delay action in a legislative assembly |
| cloture rule and Rule 22 | the closing or limitation of debate in a legislative body especially by calling for a vote; governs cloture, the procedure used to end a filibuster. Cloture takes 60 votes. If it wins, up to 30 hours of debate may still be held, although this is rarely utilized. Instead, debate usually ends shortly after a cloture vote, followed by an immediate vote on final passage |
| Primaries | used to select a party’s candidate for and elective office, though in fact those who vote in a primary election may not consider themselves party members |
| Open primary | you can decide when you enter the voting both which party’s primary you wish to participate in |
| Closed primary | you must declare in advanced (sometime several weeks in advance) that you are a registered member of the political party in whose primary you wish to vote |
| Blanket primaries | in the voting booth you mark a ballot that lists the candidates of all the parties, and thus you can help select the Democratic candidate for one office and the Republican candidate for another |
| coattails | any effort to obtain straight-ticket voting |
| position issue | one in which the rival candidates have opposing views on a question that also divides the voters |
| valance issue | whether a candidate fully supports the public’s view on a matter about which nearly everyone agrees |
| general elections | used to fill an elective office |
| soft money | political parties can solicit unlimited funds from individuals, corporations, and unions, provided that they spend the money on local party activities such as voter registration campaigns and get-out-the-vote drives and not on behalf of specific candidates |
| hard money | must be reported to the FEC |
| Amendment | an alteration or addition to a document. Although over 6,000 constitutional amendments to the US Constitution have been proposed in Congress, only 27 have been adopted, the most recent having been ratified in 1992. According to the Constitution, there are four ways in which it can be amended. An amendment can be proposed to the states either after a two-thirds vote in both houses of Congress, or by a vote in two-thirds of the state legislatures. Once it has been proposed to the states, it can be ratified either by the legislatures of three-fourths of the states or by conventions in three-fourths of the states. All 27 amendments, except the 21st Amendment, were proposed by a two-thirds majority of Congress and ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the states. |
| Amicus curiae | a written brief which is submitted to the Supreme Court by a third party, either an individual or organization. An amicus curiae allows the opinions of the third party, with regards to the case at hand, to be considered by the court. "Amicus curiae" means "friend of the court" in Latin. |
| Anarchy | confused state of society in which there is no government and no laws. |
| Appeal | formal request that a higher court hear a case that has been decided in a lower court. State Supreme Courts are the highest courts which can hear appeals for cases involving state law, while the US Supreme Court is the highest court which can hear appeals for cases involving federal or constitutional law. An court appeal to a state appellate court are generally made on procedural grounds, i.e., on the basis that some aspect of proper legal procedure was not observed in the original trial. Anyone can petition the US Supreme Court to take a case under advisement. However, the Court is only likely to accept a case if it involves issues related to the constitutionality of the lower court's decision, or state versus federal powers. |
| Appellate court | a court which hears cases which have been decided in lower courts. For cases involving state law, most states provide state appellate courts, while federal circuit courts ("courts of appeal") deal with most appeals related to federal law. The State Supreme Court is the highest appellate court, the "court of last resort," for cases involving state law, while the US Supreme Court is the highest appellate court, the "court of last resort," for cases involving federal law. |
| Articles of Confederation | pre-Constitution document, ratified in 1781, creating the first government of the United States. The Confederation, established by the Articles, was a loose union of states with a weak Congress and no executive or judicial branch. |
| Authority | right to influence, control or direct the actions of other people. Authority can be given ion law, by custom, by understood rules of morality or by consent of the person under authority. |
| Balance of trade | the net difference between the value of American exports and imports. If the country has exported more than it has imported, then the United States has a positive or favorable balance of trade. If the country has imported more than it has exported, then it has a negative or unfavorable balance of trade. |
| Bicameral | "two rooms." The term refers to a legislative body, such as the US Congress or the British Parliament, that is divided into two separate houses. |
| Bill of Rights | another name for the first ten amendments to the US Constitution. These ten amendments protect the fundamental freedoms of Americans from any infringement by the government. |
| Bill | a form or draft of a proposed law presented to a legislature. In the federal government, if a bill is passed by both the House of Representatives and the Senate, it is presented to the President. If the president signs it or does nothing for ten days, it becomes a law. If the bill is vetoed, then it cannot become a law unless the Congress overrides the veto. |
| Bill of Attainder | legislative act declaring that a person is guilty of a crime and setting punishment without the benefit of a formal trial. The Constitution forbids the federal government (Article I, Section 9, clause 3) and the state governments (Article I, Section 10, clause 1) from passing bills of attainder. |
| Briefs | documents given to a court by the attorneys trying a case. These documents contain summaries of the issues in the case, the laws relevant to the case, and the arguments which support the position taken by the attorney on behalf of his or her client. |
| Bureaucracy | a large, complex administrative structure. Such structures exist in organizations such as governments and businesses. The executive branch of the federal government has a complex bureaucracy, with a hierarchy of bureaus and agencies. |
| Cabinet | board of advisors to the President, composed of the heads of the executive Cabinet departments and any other officials whom the President chooses. The Constitution does not mention a Cabinet, but Washington created one by meeting with his Secretaries of State, Treasury, and War on a frequent basis. James Madison coined the term "president' cabinet" to describe the meetings. The tradition has been maintained in every subsequent American Presidency. Today, the Cabinet includes: the Secretary of State; the Secretary of the Treasury; the Secretary of Defense; the Attorney General; the Secretary of the Interior; the Secretary of Agriculture; the Secretary of Commerce; the Secretary of Labor; the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development; the Secretary of Transportation; the Secretary of Energy; and the Secretary of Health, and Welfare; the Secretary of Health and Human Services; Secretary of Education, and the Secretary of Veterans Affairs. |
| Campaign | effort to get a person elected to an office, usually a political office. Candidates running for office use commercials and advertisements, as well as personal appearances and speeches to help get themselves elected. Often, candidates will choose a campaign manager to coordinate their campaign. |
| Candidate | person who declares that he or she wants to be elected to a position, such as President, Senator, Governor, or Mayor. Candidates use campaigns to let voters know that they are running for office, and to convince people to vote for them. |
| Caste system | manner of organizing society based on the wealth, privilege, profession or inherited rank of individuals. |
| Caucus | meeting of members of a political party to determine the party's official position on issues, and to choose party leadership. In legislative caucuses, or conferences, members of a party in a chamber of legislature meet to choose the party leadership in that chamber and to agree on a party position on upcoming legislation. In local party caucuses, party members in a ward or town meet to choose party officials and candidates for public office, as well as determine the party platform on local issues. |
| Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) | created by Congress in 1947. The CIA functions under the direction of the National Security Council. It serves to: coordinate information-gathering activities of all federal agencies, especially those in the Departments of State and Defense; analyze and evaluate information collected; and keep the President and National Security Council updated on all the information obtained. The CIA also conducts intelligence operations across the world, in its efforts to obtain information. It is a very secretive organization, and even Congress is largely uninformed of most of its activities, except for a few key members of Congress. |
| Civil Rights Laws | laws designed to protect individuals or groups from having their civil rights violated by other individuals, organizations or groups. |
| Civil Rights Movements | organized efforts to get laws passed and enforced which protect people and groups from having their constitutional rights violated. |
| Civil Service | system of hiring government employees on the basis of merit, rather than political considerations. The term is also used to refer to government employees outside the military. |
| Class system | manner of organizing society so that people are given certain rights and privileges according to their social class, and people in one class are prevented from moving into other classes. |
| Clear and Present Danger | phrase used in the Supreme Court decision, Schenck v. United States (1919). It refers to the idea that the government has the right to punish individuals who engage in speech or actions which can be shown to present a serious and immediate danger to the nation or the interests of the government. Schenck had been convicted for having distributed leaflets urging people not to register for the draft during World War I. Although such "speech" would have been within his rights in peacetime, the Supreme Court ruled that the fact that he engaged in that activity in a time of war made his actions pose a "clear and present danger" to the nation. |
| Common good | the interests of a society as a whole, also called "public good" and "general welfare." |
| Checks and Balances | principle used in the Constitution and developed through precedent that allows the three branches of government to share some responsibilities, and allows each branch some authority over the activities of the other branches. Some examples of checks are: the President's veto power, which is a check on Congress; Congress' power to override a veto; which is a check on the President's power and the Supreme Court's right of judicial review, which is a check on Congress. |
| Circuit Court | part of the federal court system. There are 13 federal circuit courts: one for the District of Columbia, one for patent and trademark cases, and 11 for the rest of the country. Circuit courts, also called "courts of appeal," deal with all appeals of decisions made in district courts, for both civil and criminal cases. In addition, circuits courts may review decisions of independent regulatory agencies and departments, such as the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). |
| Citizen | person who is a member of a political society and, thus, owes allegiance to the society's government and is entitled to the rights and protections available from that government. A person who is born in the United States is automatically an American citizen, and eligible people from other countries can apply to become citizens through a process called naturalization. |
| Citizenship | status that requires the individual to pledge allegiance to the government and entitles that individual to the rights and protections provided by the government. |
| Civil Division | a division of the Department of Justice. The Civil Division deals with most of the civil cases in which the United States is a party, i.e., all civil cases which are not under the jurisdiction of any other division of the Department of Justice. |
| Civil War Amendments | constitutional amendments passed after the Civil War to free African Americans living under slavery, give them citizenship, and guarantee their rights as citizens. The Thirteenth Amendment was passed in 1865; the Fourteenth Amendment was passed in 1868; and the Fifteenth Amendment was passed in 1870. |
| Civil case | a lawsuit brought against one person or group to enforce or protect a private right; prevent a private wrong (tort); or obtain compensation for a private wrong (tort). This is different from a criminal case, which involves the committing of a crime, or public wrong. |
| Civil Disobedience | the refusal to obey certain laws, in order to influence those with power to have them changed. Civil disobedience is characterized by the use of nonviolent techniques, such as boycotting, picketing, and the refusal to pay taxes. The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was one of the most famous American proponents of civil disobedience as a way to make laws more just. |
| Civil Law | set of laws which deal with private rights of individuals. Laws which are not civil laws are criminal laws. |
| Civil Liberties | personal freedoms, most of which are protected by the Bill of Rights from government interference. |
| Civil rights | constitutional rights and privileges enjoyed by individuals and groups, which the government promises to protect from interference by others. |
| Concurrent powers | powers granted to the national government by the Constitution, but not denied to the states. One example is the right to lay and collect taxes. |
| Concurring Opinion | written explanation of the opinion of one or more judges in a court who support the decision of the majority of the court, but do not agree on the basis for the majority decision. |
| Confederate system | system of government in which nations or states agree to join together under a central government, to which the nations or states grant certain powers. The United States had a confederate system of government under the Articles of Confederation, from 1781 to 1789. |
| Confirmation | power given to the Senate to approve or disapprove presidential nominees to executive or judicial positions. The Senate needs a simple majority to confirm or reject a nominee, according to Article II, Section 2, clause 2 of the Constitution. The Senate has refused to confirm only about nine Cabinet nominees, although many more nominees have been withdrawn because they were likely to be rejected by the Senate. |
| Congress | chief legislative body of the United States federal government. The Congress is a bicameral legislature, made up of the House of Representatives and the Senate. It is responsible for making all federal laws. In Article I, Section 8, the US Constitution gives the Congress a number of powers, including collecting taxes, regulating commerce, and providing funding for the military. |
| Consent of the governed | agreement by the people of a nation to subject themselves to the authority to a government. Natural rights philosophers, such as John Locke, believe that any legitimate government must draw its authority from the consent of the governed. |
| Constituency | group of residents represented by a public official or any elected officer. |
| Constitutional Courts | federal courts formed by Congress under the authority of Article III of the Constitution, to exercise "the judicial power of the United States." They include the US Supreme Court, the Courts of Appeals, the District Courts, and the Court of International Trade. |
| Constitutionalism | idea that the structure and powers of government should be based upon a written or unwritten constitution, which should set limits to the power of the government. |
| Council of Economic Advisors | established by the Employment Act of 1946. It analyzes the national economy in order to advise the President on economic policy. The Council consists of three members, appointed by the President and approved by the Senate, one of whom the President designates as Chairperson. |
| Covenant | agreement between two or more individual people or groups, to which all parties are bound. |
| Crime | a public wrong. There are two kinds of crimes: felonies and misdemeanors. A felony is the most serious type of crime (e.g., murder), which is punishable by a large fine, imprisonment, or death. A misdemeanor is a relatively less serious crime (e.g., speeding), which is punishable by a small fine or a short jail term. |
| Criminal Division | a division of the Department of Justice. The Criminal Division handles most of the criminal cases in which the United States is a party, i.e., all criminal cases which are not under the jurisdiction of any other division of the Department of Justice. |
| Criminal case | legal proceedings brought against a person or group accusing that person or group of having committed a public wrong, or crime. A criminal case involves a trial, while, with a civil case, the term "lawsuit" is more generally applied. In a criminal case, the State is always one of the parties - the prosecutor. |
| Criminal law | set of laws which deal with actions which are considered dangerous to the public welfare or morals, or to the interests of the state. Laws which are not criminal laws are civil laws. |
| Delegated powers | also called "enumerated powers." Delegated powers are those which are specifically listed in Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution as being granted to the Congress. |
| Democracy | rule by the people. In the United States, democracy refers to a system of government which derives its power from the consent of the majority and governs according to the will of the majority. |
| Disfranchised | having the right to vote taken away. The term is also used to refer to anyone whose rights and privileges of citizenship, including the right to vote, has been taken away. |
| Dissenting Opinion | written explanation of the opinion of one or more judges in a court who disagree with the decision of the majority of the court. |
| Domestic Policy | decisions, laws, and programs made by the government which are directly related to issues in the United States. Sometimes domestic and foreign policies influence each other. |
| Dual federalism | view of federalism that considers the national and state governments equal, but independent partners, with distinct responsibilities. According to this view, the two levels of government should not interfere with the work of the other. The dual federalism approach emerged after the Civil War and until the turn of the century. |
| Due Process of Law | proper legal procedure. The Constitution guarantees that every American citizen be protected from arbitrary actions by the government buy requiring the government to follow specific procedures, defined by law, in situations like investigating criminal actions and arresting suspects. |
| Election | process by which people choose the candidate they want to become a public official. Many positions in government are elected positions, which means that many voters have to decide on a person to fill each job. Elections are held for positions like City Council person, Mayor, State Representative, Governor, Congressperson, and President of the United States. Some positions are not elected, but appointed. |
| Electoral college | a body of individuals which elect the President and Vice President of the United States. The Constitution created this body, which consists of gatherings of state electors in each state to formally cast their ballots for a candidate for whom they have pledged to vote. Today, the Electoral College is basically a formality. In the past, however, on at least two occasions, a president was elected based on the electoral college, even though he lost the popular vote. |
| Eminent Domain | governmental power to take private property for public use. The Fifth Amendment to the US Constitution requires the government to pay "just compensation" to anyone from whom it takes private property under eminent domain. |
| Entitlements | payments made to a person or government which meets the requirements enumerated in the law. Social Security benefits, military pensions, and Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) are all entitlements |
| Enumerated Powers | powers specifically listed in Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution as being granted to the Congress. |
| Equal Protection Clause | provision in the Fourteenth Amendment to the US Constitution which prohibits states from discriminating against people arbitrarily. All Americans are, thus, guaranteed "equal protection of the laws." This amendment was passed in 1868, mainly to protect African-Americans, many of whom had previously lived under slavery, from discrimination on the basis of race. |
| Equal Protection of the Law | idea that all citizens should be treated equally under the law, and that no state has the right to grant privileges or discriminated against any individual or group. This idea is embodied in the Fourteenth Amendment to the US Constitution. |
| Equality of Opportunity | situation in which every person has an equal chance, especially in areas such as education, employment and political participation |
| Established religion | official religion, sponsored by the government. The First Amendment to the US Constitution forbids the government of the United States from establishing a state-sponsored religion. |
| Ethnic Group | group of people who are part of a common and distinctive culture. An ethnic group can be determined on the basis of a complex set of characteristics, including race, nationality, religion, ancestry, and language. |
| Ethnicity | a set of characteristics which result in a distinctive culture, in which a group of people share. In the United States, ethnicity is a term that is somewhat flexible in meaning, but generally refers to a subset of the national culture in which people share one of more of the following characteristics: race, nationality, religion, ancestry, or language. Ethnicity sometimes refers to the group of people, as well as the culture itself |
| Equal Employment Opportunity Commission | independent federal agency in the executive branch. Created in 1964, this agency works to eliminate employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, gender, disability, age or other criteria unrelated to job performance. It investigates complaints of discrimination; files lawsuits in cases of discrimination and is responsible for enforcing equal opportunity laws in federal departments, offices and agencies. |
| Equal Rights Amendment | proposed amendment which states that "equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex." This amendment was passed by Congress and was proposed to the states in 1972. It failed to be ratified by enough states in time for its 1982 deadline. |
| Ex Post Facto | "after the fact." An ex post facto law is one which makes a particular act illegal, and punishes people who committed that crime before the law was passed, i.e., when the act was legal. "Ex post facto" means "from a thing done afterward" in Latin. |
| Excise taxes | taxes on the manufacture, sale, or consumption of items made within the country which is imposing the tax. |
| Exclusionary Rule | principle that evidence cannot be used against a person if it was obtained illegally. This principle was established by the Supreme Court in the 1967 case, Mapp v. Ohio. In Nix v. Williams (1984), the Supreme Court ruled that evidence that had been illegally obtained could be used against someone in court if the prosecution could prove that the evidence "ultimately or inevitably would have been discovered by lawful means." In the same year, in United States v. Leon, the Court again restricted the exclusionary rule. The Court decided that, "when an officer acting with objective good faith has obtained a search warrant," the evidence obtained should be admissible in court, even if the warrant later proves to be faulty. |
| Executive Office of the President | name for the group of agencies, councils, and staff members which advise the president and help run the federal bureaucracy. The EOP was established by an executive order from President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1939, and the number and type of agencies included is determined by each president. |
| Executive Branch | section of the government which is responsible for executing laws. In the federal government, the executive branch consists of: the President, the Vice President, the Cabinet, all the executive departments, and several administrative agencies. |
| Executive Power | power of the President of the United States, delegated or implied by the Constitution, to implement and enforce laws. |
| Federal Reserve System | independent agency in the federal executive branch. Established under the Federal Reserve Act of 1913, the Federal Reserve System ("Fed") is the central bank of the United States. One of the most powerful agencies in the government, it makes and administers policy for national credit and monetary policies. The Fed supervises and regulates bank functions across the country, thus maintaining a sound and stable banking industry, able to deal with a wide range of domestic and international financial demands |
| Federal Judiciary | consists of the nine justices of the US Supreme Court and hundreds of federal judges, all of whom are appointed by the President and approved by the Senate. Federal judges preside over constitutional courts, which include 94 district courts and 12 courts of appeal; and legislative courts, which consists of special courts like tax and military courts. |
| Federalism | system for national government in which some powers are delegated to either national or state government, and other powers are shared between the two levels. This system presented a compromise at the 1787 Constitutional Convention between delegates fighting for a strong central government and delegates concerned about states' rights. |
| Federalist Papers | a series of essays written by Alexander Hamilton, John Jay and James Madison to convince readers to ratify the Constitution in New York State. The essays were later used to promote the ratification of the Constitution in other states. The Federalist Papers stand as a primary on what the writers of the Constitution had in mind when they were creating the document. |
| Filibuster | a tactic in which a Senator holds the floor for a long time in order to delay or prevent a vote on an issue. Filibusters cannot occur in the House of Representatives, since speaking time is limited. |
| Fiscal policy | government policies which seek to influence the economy through tax and spending policies. |
| Foreign Service | part of the Department of State. The Foreign Service has thousands of ambassadors and staff members, who are trained to represent the United States in embassies, missions, liaison offices, consulates and other agencies in the United States and throughout the world. Ambassadors report to the President via the Secretary of State. They are responsible for implementing US civilian foreign policy within the countries to which they are assigned. |
| Foreign Policy | decisions and programs made by the government which are directly related to issues involving other countries. Sometimes domestic and foreign policies influence each other. |
| Framers | term used to refer to the people who attended the Constitutional Convention in 1787 as delegates, or were involved in the writing of the Bill of Rights. |
| Franchise | the right to vote |
| Franking privilege | power of members of Congress to send out mail free, without paying postal charges. This is one of the benefits or perquisites of being a House Representative or Senator, since members of Congress can use mailings to cultivate a positive popular image among their constituents. |
| Free Exercise Clause | section of the First Amendment to the US Constitution which forbids the government to make any laws to prohibit the free exercise of religion. This is the basis of the Constitution's protection of the freedom of religion. |
| Free trade | buying, selling and other financial transactions which are conducted tariffs or other trade barriers. |
| Freedom of Assembly | the right to gather with other people in public. This right is protected by the First Amendment to the US Constitution. |
| Freedom of expression | right to express oneself and one's views in spoken words, actions, printed materials, assemblies or gatherings and petitions submitted to the government. It refers to the collective rights guaranteed in the First Amendment to the US Constitution: religion, speech, press, assembly and petition. |
| Freedom of petition | the right to present requests to the government without punishment or reprisal. This right is guaranteed in the First Amendment to the US Constitution. |
| Freedom of religion | the right to worship according to one's own beliefs. This freedom is guaranteed in the First Amendment to the US Constitution, although the Supreme Court has ruled that this freedom is not absolute. |
| Freedom of speech | the right to express oneself, with words or actions (verbally or symbolically). This freedom is guaranteed in the First Amendment to the US Constitution; although the Supreme Court has ruled that this freedom is not absolute: it should not be applied when it endangers or harms the lives, liberty or property of others. |
| Freedom of the press | the right to publish or print without interference from the government, guaranteed in the First Amendment to the US Constitution. This extent of this freedom has been debate by the public, in the legislatures, and in the courts, especially as regard to prior restraint, libel, obscenity and national security. |
| Full faith and credit | first words of Article IV, Section 1 of the Constitution, which requires states to respect the "public acts, records, and judicial proceedings" of all the other states. |
| Fundamental Rights | rights and privileges considered essential by the general society. |
| Gerrymandering | drawing the boundaries of an election district so that one party or group has a significant advantage. The strategy generally used is to concentrate opposition votes in a few districts, while spreading out the rest of the opposition over many districts. Gerrymandering is often used to help get candidates of a particular party elected, or to help increase minority representation in government. |
| Government | institutions and officials which enact laws and execute and enforce public programs. Government in the United States is made up of executive, legislative and judicial branches at federal, state, and local levels. |
| Governor | chief executive of a state |
| Grand jury | ranges in size from 6 to 23, depending on the state, and functions to determine whether there is enough evidence available against a person accused of a crime to justify a trial. |
| Grandfather Clause | clause included in the state constitutions of several southern states after the Civil War placing high literacy and property requirements for voters whose ancestors did not vote before 1867. These clauses were designed to interfere with African-American citizens' right to vote. In 1915, the Supreme Court ruled grandfather clauses unconstitutional. |
| Grants-in-aid programs | federal funding given to states and local governments to fund policies and programs. The Morrill Act (1862) was the first grant-in-aid program. |
| Great Compromise | proposal presented by Connecticut delegates at the 1787 Constitutional Convention to compromise between the Virginia Plan and the New Jersey Plan. The Great Compromise suggested that a bicameral Congress be established, with representation in one house being determined by state population, and the other having equal representation from each state. |
| Grounds | rational or factual basis for arguing something. In order to appeal a case, the attorneys must have grounds for appeal. They cannot simply appeal because they are not happy with the decision. |
| Gubernatorial | pertaining to a governor |
| Hatch Act | formally known as the "Act to Prevent Pernicious Political Activities," called the "Hatch Act" after Senator Carl Hatch of New Mexico, who was its major sponsor. The purpose of the law was to calm fears that federal civil service employees might be able to wield extraordinary influence on the election of the President and members of Congress. As a result of the Hatch Act, federal employees may vote, but may not take an active part in partisan politics. |
| Hate Speech | type of speech which is used to deliberately offend an individual; or racial, ethnic, religious or other group. Such speech generally seeks to condemn or dehumanize the individual or group; or express anger, hatred, violence or contempt toward them. |
| Thomas Hobbes | British political theorist who argued that individuals formed governments because of their rational self-interest. One of the major intellectual figures of the Enlightenment, his most famous work is The Leviathan, published in 1651. |
| House majority leader | prominent position in the majority party, second only to the Speaker of the House in party authority. Like the Senate majority leader, the House majority leader helps promote the legislative agenda of the party in the House. |
| House minority leader | the head of the minority party in the House of Representatives. The minority leader represents the interests of the minority party by meeting with the majority leader and, in the case of the House, the House Speaker to schedule bills and rules for floor action. |
| House of Representatives | one of the two houses of the Congress, created in Article I, Section 1 of the US Constitution. The House of Representatives has 435 members, called Representatives, who serve for 2-year terms. The number of Representatives from each state is determined by the state's population, so that states with large populations have more Representatives in Congress than states with small populations. |
| Ideology | set of beliefs and goals of a social or political group that explain or justify the group's decisions and behavior. |
| Impeachment | formal charges of "treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors" brought against the President, the Vice President, a Supreme Court justice, or any executive and judicial official. Members of Congress and military officers are not subject to impeachment. The House Judiciary Committee investigates the situation and makes a recommendation to the rest of the House on whether the official should be impeached. The rest of the House votes on the issue and, if the official is impeached, the Senate tries the case. If the official is convicted, he or she is removed from office. Since the ratification of the Constitution, the House of Representatives has impeached 16 federal officials, including 13 federal judges, of whom 7 were convicted by the Senate. |
| Implied Powers | powers claimed by Congress which are not specifically enumerated in the Constitution, but are implied in its necessary and proper clause (Article I, Section 8). |
| Incumbent | a candidate who holds the office for which he or she is running in an election. It is usually difficult for an incumbent candidate to be defeated in an election, unless he or she has had a very poor term in office. Incumbents have the benefit of having |
| Individual Rights | rights claimed by the individual, as opposed to rights claimed by a group. |
| Interest Groups | organization of people who share political, social or other goals; and agree to try to influence public policy to achieve those goals. |
| International Law | laws that govern the interactions and relations between nations, resulting from officials rules, treaties, agreements and customs. |
| Interstate Commerce | trade that takes places across state lines. This is distinct from intrastate commerce, which takes place within a state, and foreign trade, which takes place between countries. Article I, Section 8, clause 3 of the Constitution gives the Congress the authority to regulate interstate trade, as well as foreign trade. |
| Jim Crow Laws | laws which promoted segregation, or the separation of people based on race. These laws worked primarily to restricted the rights of African Americans to use certain schools and public facilities, usually the good ones; to vote; find decent employment and associate with anyone of their own choosing. These laws did not make life "separate but equal," but only served to exclude African Americans and others from exercising their rights as American citizens. In Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954), the US Supreme Court ruled that Jim Crow laws were unconstitutional. It took many years and much effort, however, before Jim Crow laws would be overturned across the country. |
| Joint Chiefs of Staff | a group of high-ranking military officers who represent the Navy, Army, Air Force and Marines. They assist the civilian leaders of the Department of Defense in integrating policies and programs, and advise the President and National Security Council when asked. The Joint Chiefs of Staff is headed by a Chairman. |
| Judicial Activism | belief that the Supreme Court has the right or obligation to perform judicial review. |
| Judicial Branch | section of the government that interprets the laws and administers justice. In the federal government, the judicial branch consists of: the Supreme Court, the Circuit Courts of Appeal, District Courts, and several special courts. |
| Judicial Restraint | belief that the Supreme Court should not exercise judicial review often. People who support this view feel that justices, who are appointed, should not use much power to overturn the decisions of Congress, which is elected. |
| Judicial review | power of a court to refuse to enforce a law or government regulation which it believes to be unconstitutional. Chief Justice John Marshall articulated this right in the decision of Marbury v. Madison (1803). So far, the Supreme Court has ruled about 1500 congressional acts or parts of acts unconstitutional. |
| Jurisdiction | authority of a court to hear a case. A case cannot be tried in a court which does not have jurisdiction over it. |
| Jury | a group of people chosen according to the law, who listen to a case in court and reach a decision on the case. In Article III, Section 2, clause 3, the Constitution guarantees a person's right to a trial by jury. Thus, people have their cases decided by a group of people, and not just one individual. Impeachment cases, cases brought before the Supreme Court, and very minor cases are not brought before a jury. |
| Lame Duck | person holding office after his or her replacement has been elected to the office, but before the current term has ended. In the American presidency, the period after election day in November and the swearing-in of the new President in January is known as the lame duck period. |
| Legislation | laws |
| Legistlative Branch | section of government that makes laws. In the federal government, the legislative branch consists of: Congress, the Library of Congress, the Congressional Budget Office, and General Accounting Office, and the Government Printing Office. On the state level, the state legislatures make up the legislative branch. |
| Legislative Power | power to make laws. In the federal government of the United States, the Congress holds most of the legislative power. |
| Legislature | a group of elected people who create the laws. The national legislature is the Congress, while states and local governments also have legislatures. |
| Legitimacy | the belief among citizens that their government has the right to pass and enforce laws. |
| Libel | use of print or pictures to harm someone's reputation. Until 1964, a person could prove that they had been libeled simply by showing that the statements in question were incorrect. In 1964, the Supreme Court decided that public officials had to prove that the statements in question were made with "actual malice"-for the purpose of harming the person's reputation. As a result of the Supreme Court case, Time, Inc. v. Firestone (1976); private individuals only have to prove negligence, rather than "actual malice," on the part of the press. |
| Line-Item Veto | power given to the president allowing him or her to veto specific provisions of appropriations and tax bills. Congress passed a limited line-item veto in 1995, but a federal judge struck it down in 1997. The Supreme Court recently refused to rule on the law claiming that those suing( a group of Congressmen) had not been harmed by the law and thus did not have standing to sue. |
| John Locke | British political theorist of the Enlightenment who argued that government should be based on the consent of the governed, and that people had the right to revolt against ineffective or unfair government. His most famous work, Two Treatises on Government, was published in 1690. |
| Logrolling | exchanging political support for political favors, especially by members of Congress and other legislatures |
| Magna Carta | British document, signed by King John, which reaffirmed long-standing rights and responsibilities of the English nobility; limited the powers of the king; and recognized that all people, including the government and monarch, are subject to the law. |
| Majority Leader | in the Senate, this is the first-ranking party position, held by a distinguished senior member of the majority party in the Senate. The Senate majority leader schedules floor actions on bills, and helps guide the majority party's legislative program through the Senate. In the House, the majority leader stands second to the Speaker of the House in party authority. Like the Senate majority leader, the House majority leader helps promote the legislative agenda of the party in the House. |
| Majority Rule | idea that all the people in a group or society should be held to the rules and decisions established by more than half of the people. |
| Marshall Plan | a set of foreign policies adopted by the United States after World War II. Named after Secretary of State George C. Marshall, the policies provided substantial aid to European countries to help them rebuild their countries, economies and democracies, many of which had been destroyed or severely damaged during the war. |
| Matching Grants | funding strategy in which the donor, whether the government or a private agency, requires the recipient to provide a given percent of the money needed to implement to program. |
| Merit system | manner of choosing employees that emphasizes their ability, education, experience, and job performance; rather than their connections or other political factors. In 1883, Congress passed the Pendleton Act, which called for reforms to make sure more federal employees were hired by a merit system and fewer by Presidential appointment. Today, almost 95% of federal civilian employees are hired on a merit basis, through civil service examinations and educational and skill qualifications. |
| Minority Leader | the head of the minority party in either the House or the Senate. The minority leader represents the interests of the minority party by meeting with the majority leader and, in the case of the House, the House Speaker to schedule bills and rules for floor action. |
| Monetary Policy | government policies which try to influence the economy by changing the amount of money circulating in the economy (money supply) and the interest rate (rate at which people, companies, or the government can borrow money). |
| Charles de Montisquieu | French political theorist who analyzed different government constitutions and developed the theory upon which the separation of powers is based. His most famous work was De l'esprit des lois (The Spirit of the Laws), published in 1748. |
| National Security | the condition of the nation, in terms of threats, especially threats from outside. One of the major jobs of the federal government is to ensure the security of the nation. |
| Natural Law | set of principles which govern human interactions, which are built into the structure of the universe, as opposed to being imposed by human beings. |
| Natural Rights | rights, freedoms and privileges which are such a basic part of human nature that they cannot be taken away. These are different from rights which are given to people by the law. According to the Declaration of Independence, these rights include "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." |
| Naturalization | process by which an alien becomes a citizen |
| Necessary and Proper Clause | clause 18 of Article I, Section 8 of the US Constitution. This clause establishes the "implied powers," by which Congress has authority to pass legislation in areas not specifically listed in the Constitution. |
| Nepotism | unfair practice in which people in power give positions in a government or organization to their relatives or friends, rather than to any individual who is well-qualified. This can lead to inefficiency in the functioning of the government or organization, since hiring is based on personal connections, rather than ability or merit. In addition, nepotism can cause conflicting loyalties for the person who receives the job: he or she may be more loyal to the person who hired him or her than to the government or organization. |
| North Atlantic Treaty Ogranization (NATO) | established by a treaty signed in 1949. The treaty tied the security interested of the United States to those of the nations of Western Europe and other areas. NATO arose out of fear of the military and security threat posed by the Communist Soviet Union, although it still exists even after the fall of the U.S.S.R. |
| Ombudsman | person in a government agency to whom people can go to make complaints or explain problems with the programs or policies of the agency |
| Original jurisdiction | authority held by a court to be the first court to hear a particular case. |
| Pardon | legal forgiveness for a crime. Governors can issue pardons for state crimes, and the President can issue pardons for federal crimes. |
| Partisan | partial to a particular party or person, often political in nature. One criticism of federal politics, especially regarding Congress, is that some politicians spend more time and effort trying to promote their party's platform than trying to develop laws and policies which serve the American people. |
| Party Identification | belief that one belongs to a certain party, and the extent to which that belief affects one's political views and actions. |
| Petit Jury | a trial jury, which weighs the evidence against someone accused of a crime, and determines his or her guilt or lack of guilt under the law. Trial or petit juries traditionally have 12 people, although several states have juries with only 6 people. In most states, all the members of the jury must make their decision on the person's guilt or lack of guilt (verdict) unanimously. Some states, however, only require a majority which is greater than a simple majority. If a jury cannot agree on verdict, it is declared a "hung jury," and the matter is either dropped or brought to another trial with a new jury. |
| Platform | set of opinions and ideas for policy, upon which the members of a political party decide. Party members often determine their platforms in caucuses. |
| Political Action Committee (PAC) | an independent organization established by interest groups, political candidates, and people who hold office. PACs serve to raise and contribute money to the political campaigns of individuals whose platforms agree with the aims of the PAC. These organizations were founded because federal laws prohibit most interest groups from contributing money directly to political campaigns. |
| Political Culture | basic beliefs, customs and assumptions about government which are shared by the people in a group or nation. |
| Political participation | becoming involved in activities such as voting, running for political office, signing petitions and other activities which help citizens make an impact on public or political issues. |
| Political Party | organized group of people who want to control or influence government by winning elections, holding public office, and having the government's laws and policies reflect their political beliefs. In the United States, there are two major parties: the Democratic Party and the Republican Party. |
| Politics | an area of activity aimed at influencing or controlling the government in order to formulate or guide public policy. |
| Poll tax | a tax a person is required to pay before he or she is allowed to vote. Poll taxes were used in many southern states after the Reconstruction period to restrict African-American citizens' right to vote. |
| Popular sovereignity | idea that government should reflect the general will of the people, or the interests that all citizens have in common. Political theorist Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-78) described this concept in Du contrat social (The Social Contract), published in 1762. |
| Popular vote | vote of the people of a nation or group. In the United States, this contrasts with an electoral vote, which is done by a small group of electors, rather than the general public. |
| Pork Barrel legislation | laws that directs funds to local projects in an area which a member of Congress represents. |
| Precinct | smallest, most local unit in the typical structure of political parties at the local level. Precincts act as voting districts, and cover an area of several blocks. |
| President | Chief Executive of the United States, Head of State and Commander and Chief of the US Armed Forces. The President of the United States is elected every 4 years, by the Electoral College. |
| Primary | process by which members of a party elect candidates to run for office as the representative of the party. Primaries are held in national presidential elections, as well as more local elections. |
| Prior restraint | blocking a story before it is punished or broadcast |
| Privileges and immunities | refers to Article IV, Section 2 of the Constitution, which guarantees that "citizens of each state shall be entitled to all privileges and immunities of citizens" in any other state in the United States. |
| Proportional representation | system of electing members of the legislature, in which the number of seats given to a particular party is determined by the percentage of the popular vote which goes to that party. This system is used in many countries, including most European nations. |
| Public policy | actions which the government takes to address problems and issues raised in society and introduced through the political system. |
| Public Service | time, effort and energy given to local, state or national communities, generally through opportunities in appointed or elected office. |
| Quorum | minimum number of people needed a meeting for the business at hand to take place. |
| Ratification | process by which people or legislatures express their official approval of a proposed document or plan. Amendments to the US Constitution cannot become part of the Constitution until they have been ratified either by two-thirds of the state legislatures or by conventions in two-thirds of the states. |
| Referendum | a direct vote by the people on an issue of public policy. |
| Representative Democracy | system of government which derives its authority from the people and governs according to the will of the majority, but in which the people elect individuals to represent their will. |
| Republic | form of government based on a constitution, in which decisions are made by elected or appointed officials in a democratic manner. |
| Reserved Powers | powers given to the states that are not enumerated in the US Constitution. According to the Tenth Amendment, "powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people." |
| Rule of Law | doctrine that no individual stands above the law, and that all rulers are answerable to the law. This is one of the major legacies of the constitutional system. The rule of law can also be understood as the belief that there is a universal standard of justice, equality and impartiality, against which all governments and governmental actions may be measured. |
| Rule of Men | doctrine that an individual or government may stand above the law, and rule according to personal whim or choice. The doctrine reflects the belief that standards of justice, equality and impartiality are subjective, not universal. This is the opposite of the rule of law. |
| Search warrant | a court order that allows the person holding the order, generally a law enforcement officer, to search areas specified in the order for items specified in the order. |
| Selective Service System | independent federal agency in the executive branch. Selective Service works to register all males in the United States, between the ages of 18 1/2 to 26,to make sure that the Armed Forces can be adequately supplied with people in case of a crisis in national security. |
| Senate | independent federal agency in the executive branch. Selective Service works to register all males in the United States, between the ages of 18 1/2 to 26,to make sure that the Armed Forces can be adequately supplied with people in case of a crisis in national security. |
| Senate Majority Leader | first-ranking party position, held by a distinguished senior member of the majority party in the Senate. The Senate majority leader schedules floor actions on bills, and helps guide the majority party's legislative program through the Senate. |
| Senate Minority Leader | the head of the minority party in the Senate. The minority leader represents the interests of the minority party senators by meeting with the majority leader to schedule bills and rules for floor action. |
| Separation of Church and State | idea that the government and religion should be separate, and not interfere in each other's affairs. In the United States, this idea is based on the First Amendment to the US Constitution, which states that the government cannot make any laws to establish a state religion or prohibit the free exercise of religion. |
| Separation of Powers | division of governmental authority among the three branches of government: executive, legislative, and judicial branch. The US Constitution uses this principle in setting up the presidency, the Congress, and the courts. |
| Shared Powers | powers granted to the national government by the Constitution, but not denied to the states. One example is the right to lay and collect taxes. |
| Shay's Rebellion | incident in western Massachusetts in 1786-1787. Small-farm owners, led by Daniel Shays, rebelled in reaction to the state's failure to address the widespread farm foreclosures and credit difficulties. Although troops were able to calm the rebellion, the rioting convinced many national leaders that the Articles of Confederation were insufficient for national stability, and that a stronger central government was needed. This helped compel leaders to create what would become the US Constitution. |
| Slander | the use of spoken words to harm someone's reputation. |
| Social Contract | agreement among all the people in a society to give up part of their freedom to a government in exchange for protection of natural rights. John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau were two European political philosophers who wrote about this concept. |
| Sovereignty | supreme and final authority or power in a government. In the United States, sovereignty rests with the people. |
| Speaker of the House | leading member of the house of Representatives. Third in line to the presidency. |
| Special Courts | federal courts which were created by Congress to hear specific types of cases. Sometimes called "legislative courts," they include: the Court of Military Appeals, the Claims Court, the Tax Court, territorial courts, and the courts of the District of Columbia. |
| Suffrage-the right to vote | The Fifteenth Amendment to the US Constitution guarantees suffrage for all Americans, regardless of "race, color, or previous condition of servitude." The Nineteenth Amendment guaranteed suffrage for all Americans, regardless of gender. |
| Supremacy Clause | Article VI, Section 2 of the Constitution, which states that the "Constitution, and the laws of the United States made in pursuance thereof ... shall be the supreme law of the land." Thus, if any state laws come into conflict with the Constitution , then the Constitution must win out. |
| Supreme Court (also High Court) | the highest court in the judicial branch of the United States government, and the only court specifically mentioned in the Constitution. It consists of a Chief Justice and eight other Associate Justices. The Supreme Court is the "court of last resort" for appeals-the final authority on any questions dealing with the Constitution, acts of Congress, and treaties of the United States. The only way to get around a Supreme Court decision is to amend the Constitution or have the Supreme Court itself reverses the decision. If a case is decided by the US Supreme Court, it cannot be appealed anywhere else. |
| Symbolic Speech | action that is meant to convey a message. |
| Tariffs | taxes on goods, often placed on goods being brought into the United States from foreign nations (import tariffs). |
| Taxes | money collected by federal, local or state government from individuals or businesses for use in public spending. |
| Treaty | official agreement between two or more sovereign nations. Many treaties establish terms of peace after a war or conflict, or determine the rules nations must follow in theory relationship with other nations. A treaty creates rights or responsibilities, or restricts existing rights or responsibilities. |
| Treaty Ratification | power given to the Senate to accept or reject treaties made by the President. A two-thirds majority is needed to ratify a treaty, as stated by the Constitution in Article II, Section 2, clause 2. |
| Unalienable rights | fundamental rights belonging to people, which cannot be taken away. The phrase "unalienable rights" was used in the Declaration of Independence (1776). |
| Unenumerated rights | rights not listed in the Constitution or constitutional amendments; but either implied or, for some other reason, recognized and protected by the Supreme Court. |
| Unfunded mandates | actions imposed by the federal or state government on lower levels of government which are not accompanied by the money needed to fund the action required. |
| Unicameral | "one room." The term refers to a legislature that has only one body, such as the Israeli Knesset or the German Bundestag. |
| Unitary government | system of government in which all authority is placed in a central government. Countries with unitary governments, such as Great Britain and France, have regional and local governments which derive their power from the central government. |
| Unitary system | a system of government in which constitutional authority lies in the hands of the national government. In such a system, political subdivisions created by the central government take responsibility for much of the everyday administration of the government. Great Britain is an example of a country with a unitary system of government. |
| United Nations | international organization established in 1945. The U.N. supports cooperation among nations and the peaceful settlement of debates. The United States is one of the U.N.'s 183 member states. |
| Veto | power given the President to refuse to sign a bill that has been passed by Congress, thus blocking its becoming a law. Congress can override a veto with a two-thirds vote in both the House and the Senate. American presidents have vetoed about 2500 acts of Congress, of which Congress has overridden about 100. "Veto" means "I forbid" in Latin. |
| Vote | choose. In order to vote in the United States, a person has to be at least 18 years old and a citizen of the United States. People who are eligible to vote must register. |
| Wall of separation | term for the separation of church and state, coined by Thomas Jefferson. According to Jefferson, the freedom of religion articulated in the First Amendment to the Constitution could best be articulated with the image of a "wall of separation" between the state and the church. This view of the First Amendment has been criticized by some. |
| Warrant | a court order that makes an official action legal, such as a search warrant or an arrest warrant. |
| Writ of certiorari | court order issued by the Supreme Court to order a lower court to send up the record of a case. Supreme Court justices use writs of certiorari to bring cases from lower courts to the Supreme Court for review. "Certiorari" means "to be informed" or "to be made more certain" in Latin. |
| Writ of Habeas Corpus | court order which requires that individuals who have been arrested or detained be physically brought before the court to determine whether they are being held on legal grounds. This helps protect people from being arbitrary arrested and/or held in custody for excessive periods unnecessarily. "Habeas corpus" means "you must have the body." |
| Adversary system | A system of law where the court is seen as a nuetral area where disputants can argue the merits of their cases. |
| Affirmative action | Government-mandated programs that seek to create special employment opportunities for blacks, women and other victims of past discrimination. |
| Bread and Butter issues | Those political issues are specifically directed at the daily concerns of working-class Americans, such as job security, tax rates, wages, and employment benefits. |
| Broad constructionism | Belief that the Constitution should be interpreted loosely concerning the restrictions it places on federal power. |
| Budget deficit | Condition that arise when federal expenditures exceed revenues. |
| Budget resolution | Set of budget guidelines that must pass both houses of Congress in identical form by April 15. |
| Census | A recount of the population every ten years for purposes of reapportionment of the Congress |
| Coalition | A combination of groups of people who work together to acheive a political goal. |
| Conservative | A political ideology that tends to favor defense spending and school prayer and disapprove of social programs, abortion, affirmative actions and a large, active government. |
| Dealignment | the weakening partisan preferences that points to a weakening of the two party system and a rise of independents in politics. |
| Double jeopardy | The act of trying an individual a second time after he has been acquitted on the same charges. |
| Extradition | Process by which governments return fugitives to the jurisdiction from which they have fled. |
| Front-loading | Because early primaries have grown increasingly important in recent years, many states have pushed forward the date of their primary elections. |
| Indictment | Written statement of criminal charges brought against a defendant. |
| Initative | Process through which voters may propose new laws. |
| Iron triangle (subgovernment) | The close working relationship between interest grousp, congressional committees and executive agencies. |
| Killer amendment | Amendment to a bill proposed by its opponenets for the specific purpose of decreasing the bill's chance of passage. |
| Legislative orversight | One of Congress most important tasks--to investigate and evaluate the executive departments and agencies. |
| Mandate | Level of support for an elected official as perceived through election results. |
| Objective good faith | Exception to the exclusionary rule that allows the use of illegally obtained evidence at a t trial if the court determines that the police beelived they were within the limits of the law when they obtained the evidence. |
| Senatorial courtesy | A check placed on the presidency whereby candidates for the federal bureaucracy must first be approved by the Senate. |
| Shield law | Law guaranteeing news reporters the right to protect the annonymity of their sources. States have passed this--not the federal government. |
| Brown v. Board of Education | 1954 case that overturned Separate but Equal standard of discrimination in education. |
| Gideon v. Wainwright | 1963 ruling that a defendant in a felony trial must be provided a lawyer free of charge if the defendant cannot afford one. |
| Griswold v. Connecticut | 1965 decision that the Constitution implicitily guarantees citizens' right to privacy. |
| Marbury v. Madison | 1803 established the principle of judicial review |
| Miranda v. Arizona | 1966 ruling that upon arrest, a suspect has the right to remain silent and the right to consult with a lawyer. |
| Plessy v. Ferguson | 1896 ruling that separate but equal facilities for different races were not unconstitutional. |
| Schenck v. United States | 1919--Case involving limits on free speech. Established the "clear and present danger" principle. |
| Roe v. Wade | 1973 ruling that decriminalized abortion. |
| Carig v. Boren | 1976 ruling that classification of individuals based on gender must be related to an important government objective; replaced minimum rationality standard. |
| Miler v. California | 1973 ruling that determined the obscenity clause to related to works that lack literary, artisitic, political or scientific value. (LAPS test) |
| Lemon v. Kurtzman | 1971 defining government actionsin dealing with religion--must not inhibit or advance religion and does not entangle the goverment with religion. |
| Fletcher v. Peck | The decision stems from the Yazoo land cases, 1803, and upholds the sanctity of contracts. |
| McCulloch v. Maryland | 1819--The Court ruled that states cannot tax the federal government, i.e. the Bank of the United States; the phrase "the power to tax is the power to destroy"; confirmed the constitutionality of the Bank of the United States. |
| Dartmouth College v. Woodward | 1819--New Hampshire had attempted to take over Dartmouth College by revising its colonial charter. The Court ruled that the charter was protected under the contract clause of the U. S. Constitution; upholds the sanctity of contracts. |
| Gibbons v. Ogden | 1824--Clarified the commerce clause and affirmed Congressional power over interstate commerce. |
| Korematsu v. U. S. | T1941--he court upheld the constitutionality of detention camps for Japanese-Americans during World War 2. |
| Escobedo v. Illinois | 1964--Ruled that a defendant must be allowed access to a lawyer before questioning by police. |
| U. S. v. Richard Nixon | 1974--The court rejected Richard Nixon’s claim to an absolutely unqualified privilege against any judicial process. |
| Bakke v. Regents of the University of California | 1978--Ambiguous ruling by a badly divided court that dealt with affirmative action programs that used race as a basis of selecting participants. The court general upheld affirmative action, but with a 4/4/1 split, it was a very weak decision. |
| Brandenburg v. Ohio | 1969--Determined that a law that proscribes advocacy of violence for political reform is constitutional if applied to speech that is not directed toward producing imminent lawlessness and is not likely to produce such action is not constitutional. |
| Duncan v. Louisiana | 1968 guarantees the right to a trial by jury where a sentence of at least two years is involved. |
| Gitlow v. New York (1925) | Anarchist calling for overthrow of the government. Established precedent of federalizing Bill of Rights (applying them to States); States cannot deny freedom of speech – protected through due process clause of Amendment 14 |
| Palko v. Connecticut (1937) | Provided test for determining which parts of Bill of Rights should be federalized – those which are implicitly or explicitly necessary for liberty to exist. |
| Mapp v. Ohio (1961) | Established exclusionary rule; illegally obtained evidence cannot be used in court; Warren Court’s judicial activism. |
| Engel v. Vitale (1962) | Prohibited state-sponsored recitation of prayer in public schools by virtue of 1st Amendment’s establishment clause and the 14th Amendment’s due process clause; Warren Court’s judicial activism. |
| Baker v. Carr (1962) | “One man, one vote.” Ordered state legislative districts to be as near equal as possible in population; Warren Court’s judicial activism. |
| Abbington v. Schempp (1963) | Prohibited devotional Bible reading in public schools by virtue of establishment clause and due process clause. Warren Court’s judicial activism |
| Wesberry v. Sanders (1963) | Ordered House districts to be as near equal in population as possible (extension of Baker v. Carr to Congressional districts). |
| Epperson v. Arkansas (1968) | Prohibited states from banning the teaching of evolution. |
| Tinker v. Des Moines (1969) | Guaranteed a student’s right to protest (wearing armbands). |
| Furman v. Georgia (1972) | State death penalties (as then applied) are arbitrary and violate equal protection of 14th Amendment. |
| Gregg v. Georgia (1976) | Upheld new Georgia death penalty laws requiring dual-phase trial and special circumstances; capital punishment does not constitute cruel & unusual punishment of 8th Amendment. |
| Buckley v. Valeo (1976) | 1st Amendment protects campaign spending; legislatures can limit contributions, but not how much one spends of his own money on campaigns. |
| Webster v. Reproductive Health Services (1987) | More leeway for states in regulation abortion, though no overturning of Roe v. Wade. Upholds MO law prohibiting abortion in public hospitals; shift in composition of court. (Later cases allow 24-hour waiting periods, parental consent for minors, etc.) |
| Texas v. Johnson (1989) | Flag-burning is symbolic speech with a political purpose and is protected by 1st Amendment. |
| Shaw v. Reno (1993) | NO racial gerrymandering; race cannot be the sole or predominant factor in redrawing legislative boundaries; majority-minority districts. |
| U.S. v. Lopez (1995) | Gun Free School Zones Act exceeded Congress’ authority to regulate interstate commerce. |
| Bush v. Gore (2000) | Use of 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause to stop the Florida recount in the election of 2000. |
| Parker v. Gladden | Right to an impartial jury |
| Barron v Baltimore (1833) | The guarantee in the 5th Amendment that private property shall not be taken “for public use, without just compensation” is not applicable to state governments as well as the federal government. |
| Boy Scouts of America v. Dale | The boy scouts were allowed to dismiss a leader after learning that he was gay, holding that freedom of association outweighed the New Jersey anti-discrimination statute. |
| Near v Minnesota (1925) | Case centered on censorship - government cannot censor something (newspapers) because that restricts freedom of the press. Main issue was government officials were being criticized and wanted to censor the criticism. |
| Everson v Board of Education (1942) | A New Jersey law allowing reimbursements of money to parents who sent their children to school (public and private) on buses operated by the public transportation system did not violate the establishment clause or the 1st and 14th Amendments. |
| Palko v Connecticut (1937 | Ruled a harsher sentence as a result of a new trial won on appeal does not violate double jeopardy. |
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