| Term | Definition |
|---|
| anticipate | to look forward to |
| assume | to take on a special quality or responsibility |
| cooperate | to work with other to get a task done |
| diminish | to be reduced in size or importance |
| environment | the combination of the soil, climate and living things that influence the survival of a plant, animal, or human being |
| function | to work or serve towards a particular goal |
| intervene | to come between |
| involve | to contain or include |
| monitor | to observe for a special purpose |
| amendment | an addition to a formal document such as the Constitution |
| appropriate | to set something aside for a particular purpose, especially funds |
| citizen | a person who owes loyalty to and is entitled to the protection of a state or nation |
| concurrent powers | powers shared by the states and the federal government |
| constituents | people that members of Congress represent |
| due process of law | the idea that the government must follow procedures established by law and guaranteed by the Constitution |
| enumerated powers | powers belonging only to the federal government |
| federalism | the sharing of power between federal and state governments |
| impeach | to formally charge a public official with misconduct in office |
| implied powers | powers not specifically mentioned in the Constitution |
| judicial review | the right of the Supreme Court to determine if a law violates the Constitution |
| naturalization | to grant full citizenship to a foreigner |
| popular sovereignty | a political theory that government is subject to the will of the people |
| preamble | the introduction to a formal document, especially the Constitution |
| republicanism | favoring a republic, or representative democracy, as the best form of government |
| reserved powers | powers retained by the states |
| accompany | to attend as a companion |
| assign | to be given a specific role or responsibility. |
| confirm | to support or agree to |
| contrast | showing the difference between two things when they are compared |
| distinct | clearly different from one another |
| maintain | to keep up |
| revenue | incoming money |
| structure | an arrangement of parts |
| transport | carrying from one place to another |
| ultimate | the final or extreme result |
| alien | an immigrant living in a country in which he or she is not a citizen |
| bond | a note issued by the government, which promises to pay off a loan with interest |
| cabinet | a group of advisers to the president |
| caucus | a meeting held by a political party to choose their party's candidate for president or decide policy |
| national debt | the amount of money a national government owes to other governments or its people |
| neutrality | a position of not taking sides in a conflict |
| nullify | to cancel or make ineffective |
| partisan | favoring one side of an issue |
| precedent | a tradition |
| sedition | activities aimed at weakening established government |
| speculator | a person who risks money in order to make a large profit |
| states' rights | the rights and powers independent of the federal government that are reserved for the states by the Constitution; the belief that states' rights supersede federal rights and law |
| tariff | a tax on imports or exports |
| unconstitutional | not agreeing or consistent with the Constitution |
| Alexander Hamilton | President George Washington chose him to serve as the first Secretary of Treasury |
| Anthony Wayne | a former Revolutionary war general who defeated a Shawnee chief named Blue Jacket at the Battle of Fallen Timbers |
| Charles de Talleyrand | French foreign minister; involved in the infamous XYZ affair |
| Edmond Genêt | French diplomat sent to the United States to recruit American volunteers to attack British ships |
| Edmund Randolph | President George Washington chose him to serve as the first Attorney General |
| Fallen Timbers | a defeat here crushed the Native Americans' hopes of keeping their land; involved Anthony Wayne, a former Revolutionary war general, against a Shawnee chief named Blue Jacket ; near present-day Toledo, Ohio |
| Henry Knox | President George Washington chose him to serve as the first Secretary of War |
| John Jay | Washington nominated him to lead the Supreme Court as chief justice |
| John Jay | Chief Justice of the Supreme Court under George Washington; sent to negotiate a treaty with the British |
| New Orleans | Pinckney's Treaty gave the Americans free navigation of the Mississippi River and the right to trade here |
| Phillip Freneau | publisher of the National Gazette |
| Thomas Jefferson | President George Washington chose him to serve as the first Secretary of State |
| Thomas Pinckney | President Washington sent this individual to Spain; the treaty he negotiated gave the Americans free navigation of the Mississippi |
| Washington, D.C. | a special district laid out between Virginia and Maryland along the banks of the Potomac River |
| concentrate | giving most attention to one central idea |
| equip | to supply with necessary tools to work properly |
| expand | to open up or spread out in terms of size, number or amount |
| focus | to concentrate on a central point |
| founded | basing a foundation for thoughts and ideas |
| goal | an aim or purpose |
| manual | done by hand |
| percent | one unit of 100 |
| publish | preparing printed material for public display or sale |
| shift | to change from one place or position to another |
| canal | an artificial waterway |
| capital | money for investment |
| capitalism | an economic system based on private property and free enterprise |
| census | the official count of a population |
| coeducation | the teaching of male and female students together |
| cotton gin | a machine that removed the seeds from cotton fiber |
| discrimination | the unfair treatment of a group; unequal treatment because of a person's race, religion, ethnic background, or place of birth |
| factory system | a system bringing manufacturing steps together in one place to increase efficiency |
| famine | an extreme shortage of food |
| free enterprise | the freedom of private businesses to operate competitively for profit with minimal government regulation |
| Industrial Revolution | the change from an agrarian society to one based on industry which began in Great Britain and spread to the United States around 1800 |
| interchangeable parts | uniform pieces that can be made in large quantities to replace other identical pieces |
| lock | an enclosure with gates at each end used in raising or lowering boats as they pass from level to level |
| ministry | the office, duties, or work of a minister |
| nativist | a person who favors those born in his country and is opposed to immigrants |
| normal school | a two-year school for training high school graduates as teachers |
| patent | a document that gives an inventor the sole legal right to an invention for a period of time |
| prejudice | an unfair opinion not based on facts |
| revival | a series of meetings conducted by a preacher to arouse religious emotions |
| strike | a stopping of work by workers to force an employer to meet demands |
| suffrage | the right to vote |
| temperance | the use of little or no alcoholic drink |
| trade union | an organization of workers with the same trade or skill |
| transcendentalist | stresses the relationship between human beings and nature, spiritual things over material things, and the importance of the individual conscience |
| turnpike | a road that one must pay to use; the money is used to pay for the road |
| undertake | to take on as a duty |
| utopia | a community based on a vision of a perfect society sought by reformers |
| Dorothea Dix | schoolteacher who made it her life's work to educate the public about the poor conditions for both the mentally ill and for prisoners |
| Eli Whitney | inventor of the cotton gin |
| Elizabeth Blackwell | accepted by Geneva Medical College in New York; graduated at the head of her class; well known female physician |
| Elizabeth Cady Stanton | a female abolitionist who joined forces with Lucretia Mott to work for women's rights; helped organize the first women's rights convention in Seneca Falls, New York |
| Emily Dickinson | the best-remembered woman poet of the era; wrote simple, personal, deeply emotional poetry |
| Francis Cabot Lowell | opened a textile plant in Waltham, Massachusetts; his mill launched the factory system |
| Horace Mann | leader of educational reform; a lawyer who became the head of the Massachusetts Board of Education |
| Hudson River | the Clermont steamed up this river from New York City on its way to Albany, New York |
| Henry David Thoreau | American author who refused to pay a one-dollar tax to vote; spent the night in jail |
| John B. Russwurm | African American who co-founded Freedom's Journal, the first African American newspaper, in New York City |
| Erie Canal | this artificial waterway measured 363-miles long; it took thousands of people two years to complete |
| Lucretia Mott | reformer who gave lectures in Philadelphia calling for temperance, peace, workers' rights, and abolition; helped fugitive slaves and organized the Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society; helped organize the first women's rights convention in Seneca Falls, New York |
| Albany | the Clermont steamed up the Hudson River from New York City to this city |
| Mary Lyon | established Mount Holyoke Female Seminary in Massachusetts |
| Dr. Samuel Gridley Howe | advanced the cause of the visually impaired; developed books with large raised letters that people with sight impairments could "read" with their fingers |
| Ralph Waldo Emerson | American author; friend of Henry David Thoreau's |
| Robert Fulton | Robert Livingston hired him to develop a steamboat with a powerful engine; built the Clermont |
| Henry Boyd | African American who owned a furniture manufacturing company in Cincinnati, Ohio |
| Samuel Cornish | African American who co-founded Freedom's Journal, the first African American newspaper, in New York City |
| Samuel Slater | British inventor who came to the United States |
| Sarah G. Bagley | founded the Massachusetts-based Lowell Female Labor Reform Organization |
| Susan B. Anthony | daughter of a Quaker abolitionist in rural New York; worked for women's rights and temperance; became friends with Elizabeth Cady Stanton and led the women's movement; worked with other women to win the right to vote |
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