emerged as a leading Democrat in 1850 and

deregulation To reduce or remove government

led efforts to enact the Compromise of 1850.

rules or policies; Reagan’s deregulation agenda

downsizing Process of cutting back in labor

focused on the financial system.

pools and management staffs by businesses

deskilling Process in which the employment

usually due to declining profits.

market produces jobs requiring fewer skills

doves Opponents of military action, especially

(and offering less income) than in the past.

those who wanted to end quickly U.S.

détente An easing of tensions, particularly

involvement in the Vietnam War.

between the United States and the Soviet

dower rights The right of a widow to a portion

Union.

of her deceased husband’s estate (usually one-

Dewey, John Philosopher who believed that

third of the value of the estate). It was passed

American technological and industrial power

to their children upon her death.

Glossary

G-9

dowry The cash or goods a woman received

embargo Government order prohibiting the

from her father when she married.

movement of merchant ships or goods in or out

drawbacks Form of rebate offered to special

of its ports.

customers by the railroads.

Employment Act of 1946 Called for maximum

Dred Scott Missouri slave who sued for

employment and declared private enterprises

freedom on grounds of prolonged residence

responsible for economic decision making.

in a free state and free territory; in 1857,

encomienda A system of labor introduced into

the Supreme Court found against his case,

the Western Hemisphere by the Spanish. It

declaring the Missouri Compromise

permitted the holder, or encomendero, to claim

unconstitutional.

labor from Indians in a district for a stated

Du Bois, W. E. B. Leader of the NAACP, the

period of time.

editor of its newspaper, The Crisis, and an

energy crisis OPEC raised the price of crude

outspoken critic of Booker T. Washington and

oil and precipitated acute worldwide shortages

his accomodationist approach to race relations.

in 1978; gasoline became expensive and scarce.

Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) Assisted

enfranchise To grant the right to vote.

lower and moderate income households with

Enlightenment The new learning in science

children.

and philosophy that took hold, at least in

East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere Proposition

England, between 1660 and the American

from Japan to China that would liberate Asian

Revolution. Nearly all of its spokesmen were

nations from Western colonialism and create a

religious moderates who were more interested

self-sufficient economic zone under Japanese

in science than religious doctrine and who

leadership.

favored broad religious toleration.

economy of scale Term used in both industry

entail A legal device that required a landowner

and agriculture to describe the economic

to keep his estate intact and pass it on to his

advantages of concentrating capital, units of

heir.

production, and output.

enumerated commodities A group of colonial

Edison, Thomas Alva Inventor of the 1800s

products that had to be shipped from the

who developed an array of devices including

colony of origin to England or another English

the phonograph, incandescent light bulb, and

colony. The most important commodities were

movie camera.

sugar and tobacco.

Eisenhower Doctrine Policy that stated that

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

the United States would use armed force to

Organization established in 1970 that brought

respond to imminent or actual communist

under a single institutional umbrella the

aggression in the Middle East.

enforcement of laws intended to protect

environmental quality.

Eisenhower, Dwight D. Supreme Commander

of the Allied Forces in Europe, orchestrator of

environmentalism Movement with roots in

the Normandy Invasion, and president of the

earlier conservation, preservation, and public

United States (1953

health movements that grew in power after

–1961).

1970, when concern mounted over the

elect Those selected by God for salvation.

disruption of ecological balances and critical

Electoral College The group that elects the

habitats.

president. Each state receives as many electors

Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) Proposed

as it has congressmen and senators combined

amendment to the Constitution providing that

and can decide how to choose its electors.

equal rights could not be abridged on account

Every elector votes for two candidates, one

of sex. It won congressional approval in 1972

of whom has to be from another state.

but failed to gain ratification by the states.

emancipation Refers to release from slavery

Erie Canal Canal linking the Hudson River

or bondage. Gradual emancipation was

at Albany with the Great Lakes at Buffalo that

introduced in Pennsylvania and provided for

helped commercialize the farms of the Great

the eventual freeing of slaves born after a

Lakes watershed and channel that commerce

certain date when they reached age 28.

into New York City.

G-10

Glossary

Espionage, Sabotage, and Sedition Acts Laws

fascism Type of highly centralized government

passed in 1917 and 1918 that gave the federal

that used terror and violence to suppress

government sweeping powers to silence and

opposition. Its rigid social and economic

even imprison dissenters.

controls often incorporated strong nationalism

ESPN Cable network devoted entirely to sports.

and racism. Fascist governments were dominated

by strong authority figures or dictators.

established church The church in a European

state or colony that was sustained by the

favorite son Candidate for president supported

government and supported by public taxes.

by delegates from his home state.

evangelical A style of Christian ministry that

Federal Reserve Act Act that brought private

includes much zeal and enthusiasm.

banks and public authority together to regulate

Evangelical ministers emphasized personal

and strengthen the nation’s financial system.

conversion and faith rather than religious

Federalists Supporters of the Constitution

ritual.

during the ratification process. Anti-Federalists

resisted ratification.

evangelicals Religious groups that generally

placed an emphasis on conversion of non-

feminism Desire for complete equality between

Christians.

men and women.

excise tax Internal tax on goods or services.

feudal revival The reliance on old feudal

charters for all of the profits that could be

Exodusters Name given to the 20,000 African

extracted from them. It took hold in several

Americans who moved to Kansas believing

colonies in the mid-18th century and caused

rumors of free land for settlers and supplies

serious problems between many landowners

from the government in 1879.

and tenants.

external taxes Taxes based on oceanic trade,

fiat money Paper money backed only by

such as port duties. Some colonists thought of

the promise of the government to accept

them more as a means of regulating trade than

it in payment of taxes. It originated in

as taxes for revenue.

Massachusetts after a military emergency

exurbs Housing developments that expanded

in 1690.

further away from larger cities into farmlands

filibuster Congressional delaying tactic

and small towns.

involving lengthy speeches that prevent

factories A term used to describe small posts

legislation from being enacted.

established for the early slave trade along the

filibustering A term used to describe several

coast of Africa or on small offshore islands.

groups that invaded or attempted to invade

Fair Deal Proposed in 1949 by President

various Latin American areas to attempt to add

Truman to extend New Deal programs, enact

them to the slaveholding regions of the United

legislation dealing with civil rights, national

States. The word originated from filibustero,

health care, and federal aid for education,

meaning a freebooter or pirate.

provide funds for public housing, and support

fire-eaters Southerners who were eager,

farm prices.

enthusiastic supporters of southern rights and

fall line A geographical landmark defined by

later of secession.

the first waterfalls encountered when going

First Continental Congress This intercolonial

upriver from the sea. These waterfalls

body met in Philadelphia in September and

prevented oceangoing ships from sailing

October 1774 to organize resistance against

further inland and thus made the fall line a

the Coercive Acts by defining American rights,

significant early barrier. Land between the falls

petitioning the king, and appealing to the

and the ocean was called the tidewater. Land

British and American people. It created the

above the falls but below the mountains was

Association, local committees in each

called the piedmont.

community to enforce nonimportation.

Family Assistance Plan (FAP) Proposed by

Five-Power Treaty 1922 treaty in which the

Nixon in 1969 to replace the existing welfare

United States, Britain, Japan, France, and Italy

policy; it called to provide every low-income

agreed to scrap more than 2 million tons of

family an annual income of $1,600.

their warships.

Glossary

G-11

flappers Rebellious middle-class young women

French and Indian War Popular name for the

who signaled their desire for independence and

struggle between Britain and France for the

equality through style and personality rather

control of North America, 1754 to 1763, in

than through politics.

which the British conquered New France.

flexible response Kennedy

It merged into Europe

’s approach to the

’s Seven Years’ War

Cold War that aimed to provide a wide variety

(1756–1763) that pitted Britain and Prussia

of military and nonmilitary methods to

against France, Austria, and Russia.

confront communist movements.

Friedan, Betty Author of The Feminine

Ford, Gerald A GOP member of the House of

Mystique (1963) and founder of the National

Representatives, Gerald Ford became the first

Organization for Women (1966).

person to be appointed vice president of the

frontier An area on the advancing edge of

United States. When Richard Nixon resigned

American civilization.

in 1974, Ford became president.

fugitive slaves Runaway slaves who escaped to

Fort Sumter Fort in Charleston’s harbor

a free state.

occupied by United States troops after the

Fulton, Robert Builder of the Clermont, the

secession of South Carolina.

first practical steam-driven boat.

Fourteen Points Plan laid out by Woodrow

fundamentalists Religious groups that

Wilson in January 1918 to give concrete form

preached the necessity of fidelity to a strict

to his dream of a “peace without victory” and

moral code, individual commitment to Christ,

a new world order.

and faith in the literal truth of the Bible.

Freemasons A religion of manliness, complete

funded national debt The state agreed to pay

with mysterious rituals that extolled sobriety,

the interest due to its creditors before all other

industry, brotherhood, benevolence, and

obligations.

citizenship.

Gabriel’s rebellion Carefully planned but

free silver Idea that the government would

unsuccessful rebellion of slaves in Richmond,

purchase all silver offered for sale and coin it

Virginia, and the surrounding area in 1800.

into silver dollars at the preferred ratio

gag rule Procedure in which Congress voted

between silver and gold of 16 to 1.

at each session from 1836 to 1844 to table

Freedmen’s Bureau Federal agency created

antislavery petitions without reading them in

in 1865 to supervise newly freed people. It

order to avoid any debate.

oversaw relations between whites and blacks in

Gaither Report Report that encouraged

the South, issued food rations, and supervised

President Eisenhower to increase national

labor contracts.

security and government spending in 1957.

freedom riders Members of interracial groups

gang labor A system where planters organized

who traveled the South on buses to test a series

their field slaves into gangs, supervised them

of federal court decisions declaring segregation

closely, and kept them working in the fields all

on buses and in waiting rooms to be

day. This type of labor was used on tobacco

unconstitutional.

plantations.

Freedom Summer Summer of 1964 when

Garrison, William Lloyd Abolitionist and

nearly a thousand white volunteers went to

publisher of the first issue of the Liberator.

Mississippi to aid in voter registration and

Garvey, Marcus Jamaican-born black

other civil rights projects.

nationalist who attracted millions of African

free-labor ideology Belief that all work in a

Americans in the early 1920s to a movement

free society is honorable and that manual labor

calling for black separatism and self-sufficiency.

is degraded when it is equated with slavery or

gas and water socialists Term used to describe

bondage.

evolutionary socialists who focused their

Free-Soilers A term used to describe people

reform efforts on regulating municipal utilities

who opposed the expansion of slavery into the

in the public interest.

territories. It came from the name of a small

Gates, Henry Lewis, Jr. Activist for the

political party in the election of 1848.

academics of African Americans in the 1990s.

G-12

Glossary

General William Westmoreland Recom-

Gompers, Samuel F. America’s most famous

mended the “search and destroy” method in

trade unionist while serving as president of the

North Vietnam to incapacitate NLF and North

AFL (1896–1924). He achieved his greatest

Vietnamese forces and to allow Saigon

success in organizing skilled workers.

government time to develop.

Good Neighbor Policy Roosevelt’s foreign

Geneva Peace Accords of 1954 Divided French

policy initiative that formally renounced the

Indochina into three new nations: Laos,

right of the United States to intervene in Latin

Cambodia, and Vietnam; Vietnam was also

American affairs, leading to improved relations

split into two jurisdiction at the 17th parallel

between the United States and Latin American

until an election could unify the country.

countries.

gentleman Term used to describe a person of

Gorbachev, Mikhail Became general secretary

means who performed no manual labor.

of the Communist Party in 1985; he agreed

gentlemen’s agreement (1907) Agreement by

to Reagan’s proposal to ban nuclear weapons

which the Japanese government promised

and eliminated the policy that prohibited

to halt the immigration of its adult male

nations under Soviet influence from rejecting

laborers to the United States in return for

Communism, which brought an end to the

President Theodore Roosevelt’s pledge to end

Cold War.

the discriminatory treatment of Japanese

governor-general The French official

immigrant children in California’s public

responsible for military and diplomatic affairs

schools.

and for appointment of all militia officers in a

Ghost Dance Indian ritual involving days of

colony.

worship expressed in part through dance.

graduated income tax Tax based on income

GI Bill Officially called the Serviceman’s

with rates that gradually rise as the level of

Readjustment Act of 1944. It provided

income rises.

veterans with college and job-training

Grangers Members of the Patrons of

assistance, preferential treatment in hiring, and

Husbandry (a farmers’ organization) and a

subsidized home loans, and was later extended

contemptuous name for farmers used by

to Korean War veterans in 1952.

ranchers in the West.

girdled trees Trees with a line cut around them

Grant, Ulysses S. General-in-chief of Union

so sap would not rise in the spring.

armies who led those armies to victory in the

glasnost Russian term describing increased

Civil War.

openness in Russian society under Mikhail

Great American Desert The treeless area in the

Gorbachev.

plains that most Americans considered

globalization Spread of businesses throughout

unsuitable for settlement. It generally was

world.

passed over by settlers going to the Pacific

Glorious Revolution The overthrow of King

Coast areas.

James II by Whigs and Tories, who invited

Great Awakening An immense religious

William of Orange to England. William landed

revival that swept across the Protestant world

in November 1688, the army defected to him,

in the 1730s and 1740s.

James fled to France, and in early 1689,

Parliament offered the throne to William

Great Depression Economic downturn

and his wife Mary, a daughter of James.

triggered by the stock market crash in October

Contemporaries called the event

1929 and lasting until 1941.

“glorious”

because almost no blood was shed in England.

Great Railroad Strike of 1877 Strike that

gold bugs “Sound money” advocates who

occurred during a time of depression that

wanted to keep the United States on the

caused employers to cut wages and lay off

international gold standard and believed the

workers.

expanded coinage of silver was foolhardy.

Great Society Series of domestic initiatives

Goldwater, Barry Republican candidate

announced in 1964 by President Lyndon

defeated by Lyndon B. Johnson in the 1964

Johnson to “end poverty and racial injustice.”

presidential election.

They included the Voting Rights Act of 1965;

Glossary

G-13

the establishment of the Department of

haciendas Large, landed estates established by

Housing and Urban Development, Head Start,

the Spanish.

and job-training programs; Medicare and

Hale, Sarah Josepha Editor of Godey’s Ladies

Medicaid expansion; and various community

Book and an important arbiter of domesticity

action programs.

and taste for middle-class housewives.

Great White Fleet Naval ships sent on a

Half-Way Covenant The Puritan practice

45,000-mile world tour by President Roosevelt

whereby parents who had been baptized but

(1907–1909) to showcase American military

had not yet experienced conversion could bring

power.

their children before the church and have them

Greeley, Horace Editor of the New York

baptized.

Tribune, one of the most influential newspapers

Hamilton, Alexander Secretary of the

in the country.

treasury under Washington who organized the

greenbacks Paper money issued by the federal

finances of the new government and led the

government during the Civil War to help pay

partisan fight against the Democratic

war expenses. They were called greenbacks

Republicans.

because of their color.

Hard Money Democrats Democrats who, in

Greene, Nathanael A general from Rhode

the 1830s and 1840s, wanted to eliminate

Island whose superb strategy of irregular war

paper money and regarded banks as centers of

reclaimed the Lower South for the American

trickery and privilege.

cause in 1780–1781.

Harlem Renaissance 1920s African-American

Greenwich Village Community of radical

literary and artistic awakening that sought to

artists and writers in lower Manhattan that

create works rooted in black culture instead of

provided a supportive environment for various

imitating white styles.

kinds of radical ideals.

Harpers Ferry Site of John Brown’s 1859

Grenville, George As head of the British

raid on a U.S. armory and arsenal for the

government from 1763 to 1765, Grenville

manufacture and storage of military rifles.

passed the Sugar Act, Quartering Act, Currency

Act, and the Stamp Act, provoking the imperial

hawks Supporters of intensified military

crisis of 1765

efforts in the Vietnam War.

–1766.

Grimke, Sarah Along with her sister Angelina,

Haymarket Bombing at an Anarchist protest

this elite South Carolina woman moved

meeting at Haymarket Square in Chicago

north and campaigned against slavery and for

on May 4 resulting in 10 deaths, 6 of them

temperance and women

policemen.

’s rights.

gross national product (GNP) Total value

Haywood, William Labor organizer known as

of all goods and services produced during a

“Big Bill,” who led the radical union Industrial

specific period.

Workers of the World.

Gulf of Tonkin Resolution Measure passed

headright A colonist received 50 acres of land

by Congress in August 1964 that provided

for every person whose passage to America

authorization for an air war against North

he financed, including himself. This system was

Vietnam after U.S. destroyers were allegedly

introduced in Virginia.

attacked by North Vietnamese torpedoes.

heathen A term used sometimes by Christians

Johnson invoked it as authority for expanding

to refer to anyone who was not a Christian

the Vietnam War.

or a Jew.

Gullah A language spoken by newly imported

herrenvolk democracy Concept that

African slaves. Originally, it was a simple

emphasized the equality of all who belonged

second language for everyone who spoke it, but

to the master race—not all mankind.

it gradually evolved into modern black English.

Hessians A term used by Americans to

habeas corpus Right of an individual to obtain

describe the 17,000 mercenary troops hired by

a legal document as protection against illegal

Britain from various German states, especially

imprisonment.

Hesse.

G-14

Glossary

hidalgos The minor nobility of Spain. Many

household deficit Difference between what

possessed little wealth and were interested in

U.S. households earned and what they spent.

improving their position through the overseas

household industry Work such as converting

empire.

raw materials into finished products done by

High Federalists A term used to describe

women and children to provide additional

Alexander Hamilton and some of his less-

household income.

moderate supporters. They wanted the naval

housing “bubble” Refers to people who

war with France to continue and also wanted to

became home owners but lacked the incomes

severely limit the rights of an opposition party.

to handle a conventional mortgage.

Highway Act of 1956 Act that appropriated

Howe, William (General) Howe commanded

$25 billion for the construction of more than

the British army in North America from 1776

40,000 miles of interstate highways over a

to 1778. He won major victories in New York

10-year period.

and northern New Jersey in 1776, but

hippies People who identified with the 1960s

Washington regained control of New Jersey

counterculture. They were often depicted as

after his Trenton-Princeton campaign. Howe

embracing mind-altering drugs, communal

took Philadelphia in September 1777 but was

living arrangements, and new forms of music.

recalled in disgrace after Britain’s northern

army surrendered at Saratoga.

Hiroshima Japanese city destroyed by an

atomic bomb on August 6, 1945.

Huguenots French Protestants who followed

the beliefs of John Calvin.

Hiss, Alger High-level State Department

employee who was accused, in a controversial

Hull House First American settlement house

case, of being a communist and Soviet spy.

established in Chicago in 1889 by Jane

Addams and Ellen Gates Starr.

Hitler, Adolph German fascist dictator whose

aggressive policies touched off the Second

Human Genome Project Program launched in

World War.

1985 to map all genetic material in the 24

human chromosomes. It sparked ongoing

HIV-AIDS Acquired immune deficiency

debate over the potential consequences of

syndrome (AIDS) resulting from infection with

genetic research and manipulation.

the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). It

progressively impedes the body

human rights Rights and freedoms that all

’s ability to

protect itself from disease.

people deserve; this was a major emphasis of

Carter’s foreign policy.

Hmong Ethnically distinct people who

Hutchinson, Anne A religious radical who

inhabited lands extending across the borders of

attracted a large following in Massachusetts,

the Indochinese countries of Vietnam,

especially in Boston. She warned that nearly

Cambodia, and Laos.

all of the ministers were preaching a covenant

Homestead (Strike) Carnegie Steel Company

of works instead of the covenant of grace.

closed its Homestead plant planning to reopen

Convicted of the Antinomian heresy after

with nonunion workers; the union went on

claiming that she received direct messages from

strike refusing to leave the building, which led

God, she and her most loyal followers were

to a gun battle and several deaths.

banished to Rhode Island in 1638.

Homestead Act Legislation that took effect on

hydraulic mining Use of high-pressure streams

January 1, 1863, to provide free land for

of water to wash gold or other minerals from

western settlers.

soil.

House of Burgesses The assembly of early

Immigration Act of 1924 (Johnson-Reed Act)

Virginia that settlers were allowed to elect.

Limited immigration to the United States to

Members met with the governor and his council

165,000 per year, shrank immigration from

and enacted local laws. It first met in 1619.

southern and eastern Europe to insignificance,

House Un-American Activities Committee

and banned immigration from East and

(HUAC) Congressional committee (1938–

South Asia.

1975) that zealously investigated suspected

Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 Law

Nazi and Communist sympathizers.

eliminating the national-origins quota system

Glossary

G-15

for immigration and substituting preferences

government subsidized the commercial

for people with certain skills or with relatives

production of it in South Carolina.

in the United States.

information revolution Acceleration of the

Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986

speed and availability of information resulting

(Simpson-Mazzoli Act) Created stricter

from use of computer and satellite systems.

penalties for employing undocumented

initiative Reform that gave voters the right to

workers and provided residency for people that

propose and pass a law independently of their

had lived in the U.S. since 1982.

state legislature.

Immigration Restriction Act of 1917 Measure

Inns of Court England’s law schools.

that denied any adult immigrant who failed a

intendant The officer who administered the

reading test entry into the United States, and

system of justice in New France.

banned immigration from the “Asiatic Barred

Zone.”

interchangeable parts Industrial technique

using machine tools to cut and shape a large

impeach To charge government officeholders

number of similar parts that can be fitted

with misconduct in office.

together with other parts to make an entire

impeachment Act of charging a public official

item such as a gun.

with misconduct in office.

internal improvements 19th-century term for

imperialists Those who wanted to expand

transportation facilities such as roads, canals,

their nation’s world power through military

and railroads.

prowess, economic strength, and control of

internal taxes Taxes that were imposed on

foreign territory (often organized into

land, people, retail items (such as excises), or

colonies).

legal documents and newspapers (such as the

impressment Removal of sailors from

Stamp Act). Most colonists thought that only

American ships by British naval officers.

their elective assemblies had the constitutional

Inca The last and most extensive pre-

power to impose internal taxes.

Columbian empire in the Andes and along

Iran-contra affair Reagan administration

the Pacific coast of South America.

scandal in which the U.S. secretly sold arms to

indentured servants People who had their

Iran, a country implicated in holding American

passage to America paid by a master or ship

hostages, and diverted the money to finance

captain. They agreed to work for their master

the attempt by the contras to overthrow the

for a term of years in exchange for cost of

Sandinista government of Nicaragua. Both

passage, bed and board, and small freedom

transactions violated acts of Congress, which

dues when their terms were up. The number of

had prohibited funding the contra and selling

years served depended on the terms of the

weapons to Iran.

contract. Most early settlers in the English

Iranian revolution of January 1979 Islamic

colonies outside of New England arrived as

fundamentalists overthrew Iranian dictator

indentured servants.

Shah Reza Pahlavi; the rebellion led to 66

Independent Treasury Bill 1840 bill that

Americans taken hostage when Carter allowed

permitted the federal government to hold and

the shah into the U.S. for medical assistance.

dispense money without depositing it in banks

Iroquois League A confederation of five Indian

and required that customs and land purchases

nations centered around the Mohawk Valley

be paid in gold and silver coins or notes from

who were very active in the fur trade. They first

specie-paying banks.

worked with the Dutch and then the English.

Indian Removal Act (1830) Legislation that

They were especially successful in using

offered the native peoples of the lower South

adoption as a means of remaining strong.

the option of removal to federal lands west of

irreconcilables Group of 14 midwestern and

the Mississippi. Those who did not take the

western senators who opposed the Treaty of

offer were removed by force in 1838.

Versailles.

indigo A blue dye obtained from plants that

irregular war A type of war using men who

was used by the textile industry. The British

were not part of a permanent or professional

G-16

Glossary

regular military force. It also can apply to

journeyman Wage-earning craftsman.

guerilla-type warfare, usually against the

judicial review Supreme Court’s power to rule

civilian population.

on the constitutionality of congressional acts.

isolationists Name given to people who were

Kansas-Nebraska Act Law enacted in 1854 to

not in favor of war during World War II.

organize the new territories of Kansas and

itinerant preachers Ministers who lacked their

Nebraska that effectively repealed the provision

own parishes and who traveled from place to

of the 1820 Missouri Compromise by leaving

place.

the question of slavery to the territories’

Jackson State (incident) Killing of two students

settlers.

on May 13, 1970, after an escalation in

Kennan, George (Mr. X) American diplomat

tensions between students at Jackson State

and historian who recommended the policy

University, a historically black institution,

of containment toward Soviet aggression in

and National Guard troops in Mississippi.

a famous article published under the

Jackson, Andrew President of the United

pseudonym “X.”

States (1829–1837) who founded the

Kennedy, John F. President from 1961 to

Democratic Party, signed the Indian Removal

1963, noted for his youthful charm and

Act, vetoed the Second Bank, and signed the

vigor and his “New Frontier” vision for

Force Bill.

America.

Jackson, Thomas J. (“Stonewall”) A native of

Kent State (incident) Killing of four students

Virginia, he emerged as one of the Confederacy’s

on May 4, 1970, by the National Guard at a

best generals in 1861–1862.

Kent State University protest against the U.S.

Jamestown Founded in 1607, Jamestown

incursion into neutral Cambodia.

became England’s first permanent settlement

King George’s War Popular term in North

in North America. It served as the capital of

America for the third of the four Anglo-French

Virginia for most of the 17th century.

wars before the American Revolution (1744–

Japanese internment Removal of first- and

1748). It is sometimes also applied to the War

second-generation Japanese Americans into

of Jenkins’s Ear between Spain and Britain

secured camps, a 1942 action then justified as a

(1739–1748).

security measure but since deemed unjustified

King, Martin Luther, Jr. African American

by evidence.

clergyman who advocated nonviolent social

Jim Crow laws Laws passed by southern states

change and shaped the civil rights movement of

mandating racial segregation in public

the 1950s and 1960s.

facilities.

Knights of Labor Secret fraternal organization

Johnson, Lyndon B. President (1963

founded in 1869 in Philadelphia.

–1969)

who undertook an ambitious Great Society

Know-Nothings Adherents of nativist

program and a major military effort in

organizations and of the American party

Vietnam.

who wanted to restrict the political rights of

joint resolution An act passed by both

immigrants.

houses of Congress with a simple majority

Korean War Conflict lasting from 1950 to

rather than the two-thirds majority in the

1953 between communist North Korea, aided

Senate.

by China, and South Korea, aided by United

joint-stock company A form of business

Nations forces consisting primarily of U.S.

organization that resembled a modern

troops.

corporation. Individuals invested in the

Ku Klux Klan White terrorist organization in

company through the purchase of shares. One

the South originally founded as a fraternal

major difference between then and today was

society in 1866. Reborn in 1915, it achieved

that each stockholder had one vote regardless

popularity in the 1920s through its calls for

of how many shares he owned. The first

Anglo-Saxon purity, Protestant supremacy,

permanent English colonies in North America

and the subordination of blacks, Catholics, and

were established by joint-stock companies.

Jews.

Glossary

G-17

La Raza Unida Mexican American–based

Stephen Douglas in their contest for election to

movement that scored some political successes

the U.S. Senate in 1858.

in the Southwest in the late 1960s and early

Lindbergh, Charles A. First individual to fly

1970s.

solo across the Atlantic (1927) and the greatest

lame duck Elected official who is about to

celebrity of the 1920s.

reach the end of service and/or whose successor

lintheads Term used by wealthier whites to

is already elected.

describe poor whites who labored in southern

lame-duck administration Period of time

cotton mills.

between an incumbent party’s or officeholder’s

living room war Phrase suggesting that

loss of an election and the succession to office

television coverage had brought the Vietnam

of the winning party or candidate.

War into the living rooms of Americans and

League of Women Voters Successor to

may have led many to question the war.

the National American Woman Suffrage

lockout Act of closing down a business by the

Association, it promoted women’s role in

owners during a labor dispute.

politics and dedicated itself to educating voters.

Lodge, Henry Cabot Republican senator from

Lee, Robert E. U.S. army officer until his

Massachusetts who led the campaign to reject

resignation to join the Confederacy as general-

the Treaty of Versailles.

in-chief.

legal tender Any type of money that the

logistics Military activity relating to such

government requires everyone to accept at

things as the transporting, supplying, and

face value.

quartering of troops and their equipment.

Lend-Lease Act A 1941 act by which the

long knives The term Indians used to describe

United States

Virginians.

“loaned” munitions to the Allies,

hoping to avoid war by becoming an “arsenal”

Long, Huey Democratic senator and former

for the Allied cause.

governor of Louisiana who used the radio to

levee Earthen dike or mound, usually along

attack the New Deal as too conservative. FDR

the banks of rivers, used to prevent flooding.

regarded him as a major rival.

Lewis and Clark Explorers commissioned in

longhorn Breed of cattle introduced into the

1804 by President Jefferson to survey the

Southwest by the Spanish that became the

Louisiana Purchase.

main breed of livestock on the cattle frontier.

liberal Protestants Those who believed that

Lost Generation Term used by Gertrude

religion had to be adapted to science and that

Stein to describe U.S. writers and artists who

the Bible was to be mined for its ethical values

fled to Paris in the 1920s after becoming

rather than for its literal meaning.

disillusioned with America.

Liberty bonds Thirty-year government bonds

Louisiana Purchase Land purchased from

with an annual interest rate of 3.5 percent sold

France in 1803 that doubled the size of the

to fund the war effort.

United States.

liberty tree A term for the gallows on which

Lowell, Francis Cabot Wealthy Bostonian

enemies of the people deserved to be hanged.

who, with the help of the Boston Associates,

The best known was in Boston.

built and operated integrated textile mills in

limited liability Liability that protected

eastern Massachusetts.

directors and stockholders of corporations from

loyalists People in the 13 colonies who

corporate debts by separating those debts

remained loyal to Britain during the

from personal liabilities.

Revolution.

Lincoln, Abraham Illinois Whig who became

Ludlow massacre Murder of 66 men, women,

the Republican Party’s first successful

and children in April 1914 when company

presidential candidate in 1860 and who led

police of the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company

the Union during the Civil War.

fired randomly on striking United Mine

Lincoln-Douglas debates Series of seven

Workers.

debates between Abraham Lincoln and

Luftwaffe German air force.

G-18

Glossary

Lusitania British passenger ship sunk by a

Marshall Plan Plan of U.S. aid to Europe that

German U-boat on May 7, 1915, killing more

aimed to contain communism by fostering

than 1,000 men, women, and children.

postwar economic recovery. Proposed by

MacArthur, Douglas Supreme commander of

Secretary of State George C. Marshall in

Allied forces in the southwest Pacific during the

1947, it was known formally as the European

Second World War; leader of the occupation

Recovery Program.

forces in the reconstruction of Japan; and

Marshall, John Chief Justice of the United

head of United Nations forces during the

States Supreme Court from 1801 to 1835.

Korean War.

Appointed by Federalist President John Adams,

magistrate An official who enforced the law.

Marshall’s decisions tended to favor the federal

In colonial America, this person was usually

government over the states and to clear legal

a justice of the peace or a judge in a higher

blocks to private business.

court.

martial law Government by military force

Mahan, Alfred Thayer Influential imperialist

rather than by citizens.

who advocated construction of a large navy

mass culture critique Fear that the cultural

as crucial to the successful pursuit of world

traditions of the 1950s would be drastically

power.

altered due to the influences of art, music,

Malcolm X Charismatic African American

and TV.

leader who criticized integration and urged the

mass production High-speed and high-volume

creation of separate black economic and

production.

cultural institutions. He became a hero to

Massachusetts Bay Company A joint-stock

members of the Black Power movement.

company chartered by Charles I in 1629. It was

mandamus A legal writ ordering a person,

controlled by Non-Separatists, who took the

usually a public official, to carry out a specific

charter with them to New England and, in

act. In Massachusetts in 1774, the new royal

effect, converted it into a written constitution

councilors were appointed by a writ of

for the colony.

mandamus.

massive retaliation Assertion by the

Manhattan Project Major secret military

Eisenhower administration that the threat of

operation that involved the development of the

U.S. atomic weaponry would hold Communist

first atomic weapon.

powers in check.

manifest destiny The belief that the United

matrilineal A society that determines

States was destined to grow from the Atlantic

inheritance and roles in life based on the female

to the Pacific and from the Arctic to the

or maternal line.

tropics. Providence supposedly intended for

Maya A literate, highly urbanized

Americans to have this area for a great

Mesoamerican civilization that flourished for

experiment in liberty.

more than a thousand years before its sudden

manumission of slaves The act of freeing a

collapse in the ninth century A.D.

slave, done at the will of the owner.

McCarran-Walter Act Authorized the denial

Marbury v. Madison 1803 case involving the

of immigrant status to anyone who might

disputed appointment of a federal justice of the

compromise national security by bringing

peace in which Chief Justice John Marshall

dangerous ideas into the country; it also

expanded the Supreme Court’s authority to

allowed the deportation of immigrants who

review legislation.

belonged to organizations on the attorney

March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom

general’s list.

On August 28, 1960, 200,000 people marched

McCarthy, Joseph 1946 U.S. senator who

through Washington, D.C., to the Lincoln

unfairly accused numerous people of being

Memorial for the rights of African Americans;

Communists.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his famous

McCarthy, Senator Eugene Senator of

“I Have a Dream” speech on this day.

Minnesota who challenged Lyndon B. Johnson

maritime Of, or relating to, the sea.

for the presidency in 1968; McCarthy shut

Glossary

G-19

down his campaign upon realizing Johnson’s

into single, giant corporations able to eliminate

vice president, Hubert Humphrey, was the

competition, achieve economic order, and

favored Democrat candidate.

boost profits.

McCarthyism Public accusations of disloyalty

Mesoamerica An area embracing Central

made with little or no regard to actual

America and southern and central Mexico.

evidence. Named after Senator Joseph

Metacom’s War (King Philip’s War) A war

McCarthy, these accusations and the scandal

that devastated much of southern New

and harm they caused came to symbolize the

England in 1675–1676. It began as a conflict

most virulent form of anticommunism.

between Metacom’s Wampanoags and

McClellan, George B. One of the most

Plymouth Colony but soon engulfed all of the

promising young officers in the U.S. Army, he

New England colonies and most of the region’s

became the principal commander of Union

Indian nations.

armies in 1861–1862.

Mexican repatriation Secretary of Labor

McCulloch v. Maryland Supreme Court case

William Doak’s plan to deport illegal Mexican

in which the Bank of the United States

aliens to Mexico. By 1935, more than 500,000

Baltimore branch challenged the Maryland

Mexicans had left the United States.

legislature’s attempt to tax the bank; led by

microchips Technological improvement that

John Marshall, the Court decided in favor of

boosted the capability and reduced the size and

the bank and denied Maryland’s right to tax

cost of computer hardware.

the bank or any other federal agency.

middle class Social group that developed in

McKinley, William A seven-term Republican

the early 19th century comprised of urban

congressman from Ohio whose signature issue

and country merchants, master craftsmen

was the protective tariff. He was the last Civil

who had turned themselves into manufacturers,

War veteran to be elected president.

and market-oriented farmers—small-scale

melting pot Term first used in the early 1900s

entrepreneurs who rose within market society.

that referred to the fusing of immigrants’

Middle Ground The area of French and Indian

culture with American culture as a continuous

cooperation west of Niagara and south of the

rebirth of the nation.

Great Lakes. No one exercised sovereign

Menéndez, Francisco An escaped South

power over this area, but the French used

Carolina slave who fought with the Yamasee

Indian rituals to negotiate treaties with their

Indians against the colony, fled to Florida,

Algonquian trading partners, first against the

was reenslaved by the Spanish, became a

Iroquois and later against the British.

militia captain, was freed again, and was put

midnight judges Federal judicial officials

in charge of the free-black town of Mose

appointed under the Judiciary Act of 1801,

near St. Augustine in the late 1730s, the first

in the last days of John Adams’s presidency.

community of its kind in what is now the

Midway Plaisance A section of the Columbia

United States.

Exposition of 1893 that included concessions,

Pedro Menendez de Aviles The Spanish

games, the Ferris Wheel, traveling museums,

Admiral charged with Havana’s protection after

and freak shows.

it was sacked by the Huguenots. Forces under

military-industrial complex Refers to the

Aviles’ command expanded Spanish influence in

relationship between military, political, and

the region, attacking and conquering settlements

economic elites committed to expanding

on Florida’s Atlantic coast in 1565.

national security capabilities.

Mercantilism An economic theory that stresses

militia A community’s armed force, made up

a direct relationship between a nation’s wealth

primarily of ordinary male citizens rather than

and its power. Mercantilist nations in the 17th

professional soldiers.

century sought to increase their wealth and

Millennium The period at the end of history

power through aggressive trade expansion

when Christ is expected to return and rule with

within their colonies.

his saints for a thousand years.

merger movement Late-19th and early 20th-

minstrel show Popular form of theater among

century effort to integrate different enterprises

working men of the northern cities in which

G-20

Glossary

white men in blackface portrayed African

My Lai Incident U.S. troops murdered more

Americans in song and dance.

than 200 civilians, most of them women and

missions Outposts established by the Spanish

children, in the small South Vietnamese village

along the northern frontier to aid in

of My Lai in 1968.

Christianizing the native peoples. They also

napalm Incendiary and toxic chemical

were used to exploit these peoples’ labor.

contained in bombs used by the United States

Missouri Compromise Compromise that

in Vietnam.

maintained sectional balance in Congress by

narrowcasting Tactic used by TV programmers

admitting Missouri as a slave state and Maine

to target specific audiences with corresponding

as a free state and by drawing a line west from

shows.

the 36°300 parallel separating future slave and

National American Women Suffrage Associa-

free states.

tion (NAWSA) Organization established in

modernists Those who believed in science

1890 to promote woman suffrage; stressed that

rather than religion and in moving toward

women’s special virtue made them indispensable

equality for men and women and for whites

to politics.

and nonwhites.

National Association for the Advancement of

Monroe Doctrine Foreign policy doctrine

Colored People (NAACP) Organization

proposed by Secretary of State John Quincy

launched in 1910 to fight racial discrimination

Adams in 1823 that denied the right of

and prejudice and to promote civil rights for

European powers to establish new colonies in

blacks.

the Americas while maintaining the United

National Recovery Administration

States’ right to annex new territory.

(NRA) 1933 attempt to promote economic

Montgomery bus boycott Political protest

recovery by persuading private groups of

campaign mounted in 1955 to oppose the

industrialists to decrease production, limit

city’s policy of racial segregation on its

hours of work per employee, and standardize

public transit system. The Supreme Court

minimum wages.

soon declared segregation on public transit

National Review Magazine started in 1955

unconstitutional.

by William F. Buckley Jr. that represents

morale The general feeling of the people

conservative opinions and commentary about

toward such events as a war. Good morale

current events and politics.

greatly enhances an ability to fight or sacrifice

National Road A road that attempted to

for a cause.

link west and east through the Chesapeake

Morgan, J. P. Most celebrated and powerful

by connecting the Potomac River with

banker of the late 19th century.

the Ohio River at Wheeling, Virginia, in

Mormons Members of the Church of Jesus

1818.

Christ of Latter-Day Saints, founded by Joseph

National Security Act (1947) Reorganized the

Smith in 1830; the Book of Mormon is their

U.S. military forces within a new Department

Bible.

of Defense, and established the National

Mourning War An Indian war often initiated

Security Council and the Central Intelligence

by a widow or bereaved relative who insisted

Agency.

that her male relatives provide captives to

National Security Strategy of 2002 Denounced

repair the loss.

terrorist networks and proclaimed that the U.S.

MTV aesthetic Created a relationship between

had the right to wage war against any force

music and visual imagery.

that endangered Americans.

muckrakers Investigative journalists who

National War Labor Board U.S. government

propelled Progressivism by exposing

agency that brought together representatives of

corruption, economic monopolies, and moral

labor, industry, and the public to resolve labor

decay in American society.

disputes.

Munich Conference French and British leaders

nativism Hostility of native-born Americans

met with Adolf Hitler in 1938 to avoid war.

toward immigrants.

Glossary

G-21

naturalization Process by which people born

New Lights Term used to describe pro-revival

in a foreign country are granted full citizenship

Congregationalists.

with all of its rights.

New Look President Eisenhower’s attempt to

Navajo Signal Corp Navajo Indians who

minimize the military budget by focusing on

conveyed military intelligence in their native

nuclear weaponry and air power.

language to preserve its secrecy.

New Nationalism Roosevelt’s reform program

naval stores Items such as pitch, resin, and

between 1910 and 1912, which called for

turpentine that were used to manufacture

establishing a strong federal government to

ships. Most of them were obtained from pine

regulate corporations, stabilize the economy,

trees.

protect the weak, and restore social harmony.

neoconservatives Group of intellectuals, many

New Right A diverse coalition of conservatives

of whom had been anticommunist Democrats

that focused on social issues and national

during the 1950s and 1960s, who came to

sovereignty; they supported the Republican

emphasize hard-line foreign policies and

party under the leadership of Ronald Reagan.

conservative social stances.

New Sides Term used to describe evangelical

neo-Federalists Nationalist Republicans who

Presbyterians.

favored many Federalist economic programs,

“New Woman” 1890s depiction of women in

such as protective tariffs and a national bank.

cartoons, paintings, and short stories as a

Neolithic The period known also as the late

public figure who was athletic, self-confident,

Stone Age. Agriculture developed, and stone,

young, and independent.

rather than metal, tools were used.

New York’s 369th Regiment Black army unit

neutrality U.S. policy toward World War I

recruited in Harlem that served under French

from 1914 to 1917 that called for staying out

command and was decorated with the Croix de

of war but maintaining normal economic

Guerre for its valor.

relations with both sides.

New York Magdalen Society Female-

Neutrality Acts of 1935 and 1936 Legislation

established society whose mission was to

that restricted loans, trade, and travel with

separate prostitutes from male power, pray

belligerent nations in an attempt to avoid the

with them, and convert them to middle-class

entanglements that had brought the United

morality.

States into the First World War.

nickelodeons Converted storefronts in

“New Democrat” Refers to Clinton and his

working-class neighborhoods that showed

series of political decisions that clashed with

early, short, silent films usually lasting 15

the classic democratic viewpoint.

minutes, requiring little comprehension of

English, and costing only a nickel to view.

New Freedom Wilson’s reform program of

1912 that called for temporarily concentrating

Nixon Doctrine Pledged that the U.S. would

government power so as to dismantle the trusts

extend military assistance to anticommunist

and return America to 19th-century conditions

governments in Asia but would require them to

of competitive capitalism.

supply their own combat forces.

New Frontier Term used by John F. Kennedy

Nixon, Richard President of the United States

in his 1960 campaign as a reference to what lay

(1969–1974) during the final years of the

ahead for the country. Kennedy spoke of new

Vietnam War. He resigned the presidency

social programs to rebuild rural communities,

when he faced impeachment for the Watergate

increase educational opportunities, and

scandals.

improve urban conditions; he also promoted

nonimportation agreements Agreements not to

economic growth and more aggressive foreign

import goods from Great Britain. They were

policy.

designed to put pressure on the British

New Left 1960s movement that sought to

economy and force the repeal of unpopular

re-orient politics; people were urged to

parliamentary acts.

expand their minds and seek alternative ways

Non-Separatists English Puritans who insisted

of living.

that they were faithful members of the Church

G-22

Glossary

of England while demanding that it purge itself

Olmec The oldest pre-Columbian high culture

of its surviving Catholic rituals and vestments.

to appear in what is now Mexico.

normal schools State colleges established to

Olmsted, Frederick Law Principal designer of

train teachers.

Central Park in New York City.

North American Free Trade Agreement

Onontio An Algonquian word that means

(NAFTA) 1994 agreement that aimed to lower

“great mountain” and that was used by

or eliminate barriers restricting the trade of

Indians of the Middle Ground to designate the

goods and services among the United States,

governor of New France.

Canada, and Mexico.

Open Door notes (1899–1900) Foreign policy

North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)

tactic in which the United States asked

Established by treaty in 1949 to provide for the

European powers to respect China’s

collective defense of noncommunist European

independence and to open their spheres of

and North American nations against possible

influence to merchants from other nations.

aggression from the Soviet Union and to

Open Skies Eisenhower’s proposal that U.S.

encourage political, economic, and social

and Soviet disarmament be verified by

cooperation.

reconnaissance flights over each other’s

Northwest Ordinance Established the

territory.

Northwest Territory between the Ohio River

open-field agriculture A medieval system of

and the Great Lakes. Adopted by the

land distribution used only in the New England

Confederation Congress in 1787, it abolished

colonies. Farmers owned scattered strips of

slavery in the territory and provided that it be

land within a common field, and the town as a

divided into three to five states that would

whole decided what crops to plant.

eventually be admitted to the Union as full

equals of the original thirteen.

OVERLORD Massive invasion of Germany

that began on June 6, 1944, known as D-Day;

NSC-68 National Security Council Document

this event was the beginning of the end to the

number 68 (1950) that provided the rationale

war in Europe.

and comprehensive strategic vision for U.S.

policy during the Cold War.

pacifist A person opposed to war or violence.

The religious group most committed to

nullification Beginning in the late 1820s,

pacifism is the Quakers.

John C. Calhoun and others argued that the

Union was a voluntary compact between

Panama Canal An engineering marvel

sovereign states, that states were the ultimate

completed in 1914 across the new Central

judges of the constitutionality of federal law,

American nation of Panama. Connecting the

that states could nullify federal laws within

Atlantic and Pacific oceans, it shortened ship

their borders, and that they had the right to

travel between New York and San Francisco

secede from the Union.

by 8,000 miles.

Obama, Barack 44th president of the United

parish A term used to describe an area served

States and the first president of African

by one tax-supported church. The term was

descent; voted into office in 2008 with a

used primarily in regions settled by members of

campaign for “hope” and “change.”

the Church of England.

Office of War Information (OWI) Created in

Parks, Rosa African American seamstress in

1942 by President Roosevelt to coordinate

Montgomery, Alabama, who, after refusing to

propaganda and censorship.

give up her bus seat to a white man, was arrested

Old Lights Antirevival Congregationalists.

and fined. Her protest sparked a subsequent

bus boycott that attracted national sympathy for

Old Northwest The region west of

the civil rights cause and put Martin Luther

Pennsylvania, north of the Ohio River, and

King, Jr., in the national spotlight.

east of the Mississippi River.

parochial schools Schools associated with a

Old Sides Antirevival Presbyterians.

church, usually Roman Catholic. The funding

oligarchy A society dominated by a few

of these schools became a major political issue

persons or families.

in the 1850s.

Glossary

G-23

passive civil disobedience Nonviolent refusal

Persian Gulf War Conflict that lasted six

to obey a law in an attempt to call attention

weeks in 1991 between the U.S. and Iraq; Bush

to government policies considered unfair.

ordered aid to Kuwait when Saddam Hussein

patronage The act of appointing people

and his armies invaded their land.

to government jobs or awarding them

personal liberty laws Laws enacted by nine

government contracts, often based on political

northern states to prohibit the use of state

favoritism rather than on abilities.

law facilities such as jails or law officers in the

patronships Vast estates along the Hudson

recapture of fugitive slaves.

River that were established by the Dutch. They

Petraeus, General David Expert on

had difficulty attracting peasant labor, and

counterinsurgency warfare, recommended

most were not successful.

into command by Robert Gates.

Peace of Paris The 1763 treaty that ended the

piedmont A term referring to the land above

war between Britain on the one side and France

the fall line but below the Appalachian

and Spain on the other side. France

Mountains.

surrendered New France to Britain. Spain

Pilgrims A pious, sentimental term used by

ceded Florida to Britain, and France

later generations to describe the settlers who

compensated its ally by ceding all of Louisiana

sailed on the Mayflower in 1620 and founded

to Spain.

Plymouth Colony.

peace without victory Woodrow Wilson’s

Pitt, William One of the most popular public

1917 pledge to work for a peace settlement

officials in 18th-century Britain, he was best

that did not favor one side over the other but

known as the minister who organized Britain’s

ensured an equality among combatants.

successful war effort against France in the

Pearl Harbor Japan’s December 7, 1941,

French and Indian War.

attack on a U.S. base in Hawaii that brought

Placemen Appointed officeholders who sat in

the United States into the Second World War.

the British Parliament. The Country party in

Penn, William A convert to the Society of

18th-century England lobbied to ban placemen,

Friends in the 1660s, Penn used his friendship

whom they saw as a threat to the natural

with Charles II and James, Duke of York, to

balance of the British system of government.

acquire a charter for Pennsylvania in 1681, and

placer mining Mining where minerals,

he then launched a major migration of Friends

especially gold, were found in glacial or

to the Delaware Valley.

alluvial deposits.

Pentagon Completed in January of 1943, this

Platt Amendment Clause that the U.S. forced

five-story, five-sided building houses the United

Cuba to insert into its constitution giving the

States’ War Department.

U.S. broad control over Cuba’s foreign and

people’s capitalism An egalitarian capitalism

domestic policies.

in which all Americans could participate and

Plessy v. Ferguson 1896 Supreme Court case

enjoy the consumer goods that U.S. industry

that sanctioned Jim Crow laws as long as the

had made available.

separate facilities for black and whites were

per capita Term used to measure the wealth of

equal.

a nation by dividing total income by population.

plumbers Nixon’s secret intelligence unit

perestroika Russian term describing the

designed to stop information leaks to the

economic liberalization that began in the late

media.

1980s.

Plymouth Founded by Separatists in 1620,

Perkins, Frances Secretary of Labor under

Plymouth was England’s first permanent

Roosevelt and the first female Cabinet

colony in New England.

member.

political machines Organizations that

Pershing, John J. Commander of the American

controlled local political parties and municipal

Expeditionary Force that began landing in

governments through bribery, election fraud,

Europe in 1917 and that entered battle in the

and support of urban vice while providing

spring and summer of 1918.

some municipal services to the urban poor.

G-24

Glossary

politics of harmony A system in which the

predestination A theory that states that God

governor and the colonial assembly worked

has decreed, even before he created the world,

together through persuasion rather than

who will be saved and who will be damned.

through patronage or bullying.

premillennialism A view assumed by Baptists,

politique A man who believed that the survival

Methodists, and Disciples of Christ that the

of the state took precedence over religious

millennium would arrive with world-destroying

differences.

violence, followed by 1,000 years of Christ’s

poll tax A tax based on people or population

rule on Earth.

rather than property. It was usually a fixed

Presbytery An intermediate level of

amount per adult.

organization in the Presbyterian church, above

polygamy The act of having more than one

individual congregations but below the synod.

wife.

One of its primary responsibilities was the

ordination and placement of ministers.

Pontiac An Ottawa chief whose name has been

attached to the great Indian uprising against

presidios Military posts constructed by the

the British in 1763

Spanish to protect the settlers from hostile

–1764.

Indians. They also were used to keep non-

Pontiac’s War A large group of Indians,

Spanish settlers from the area.

including Seneca, Mingo, Delaware,

Shawnee, Wyandot, Miami, Ottawa, and

Presley, Elvis Known as “the King” of Rock

other warriors, joined forces in 1763,

and Roll, he was the biggest pop star of the

attacking 13 British posts in the West in hopes

1950s.

to drive British settlers back to the Eastern

Primogeniture The right, by law or custom, of

seaboard.

the first-born to inherit the entire estate, to the

pools Technique used by railroads to divide up

exclusion of younger siblings.

traffic and fix rates, thereby avoiding ruinous

private fields Farms of up to five acres on

competition.

which slaves working under the task system

popular sovereignty The concept that settlers

were permitted to produce items for their

of each territory would decide for themselves

own use and sale in a nearby market.

whether to allow slavery.

privateers A privately owned ship that was

postal campaign Abolitionist tactic to force

authorized by a government to attack enemy

the nation to confront the slavery question by

ships during times of war. The owner of the

flooding the mails, both North and South,

ship got to claim a portion of whatever was

with antislavery literature. Their hope was to

captured. This practice damaged any enemy

raise controversy within an area that was the

country that could not dramatically increase

province of the federal government.

naval protection for its merchant ships.

postmillennialism Belief (held mostly by

Proclamation of 1763 Issued by the Privy

middle-class evangelists) that Christ

Council, it tried to prevent the colonists from

’s Second

Coming would occur when missionary

encroaching upon Indian lands by prohibiting

conversion of the world brought about a

settlement west of the Appalachian watershed

thousand years of social perfection.

unless the government first purchased those

lands by treaty.

postmillennialists Middle-class evangelicals

that believed that Christ

Progressive Party Political party formed by

’s Second Coming

would occur at the end of 1,000 years of social

Theodore Roosevelt in 1912 when the

perfection brought about by the missionary

Republicans refused to nominate him for

conversion of the world.

president. The party adopted a sweeping

reform program.

powwow Originally, a word used to identify

tribal prophets or medicine men. Later it was

Prohibition Constitutional ban on the

used also to describe the ceremonies held by

manufacture and sale of alcohol in the United

them.

States (1920–1933).

praying Indians The Christian Indians of New

proprietary colony A colony owned by an

England.

individual(s) who had vast discretionary

Glossary

G-25

powers over the colony. Maryland was the first

quasi-slavery Position that resembled slavery,

proprietary colony, but others were founded

such as that created by the Black Codes.

later.

quitrent A relic of feudalism, a quitrent was

protective tariff Tariff that increases the

a small required annual fee attached to a piece

price of imported goods that compete with

of land. It differed from other rents in that

American products and thus protects American

nonpayment did not lead to ejection from the

manufacturers from foreign competition.

land but to a suit for debt.

Protestant Reformation A religious movement

R&D Research and development.

begun by Martin Luther in 1517 that led to the

racial profiling Law enforcement practice of

repudiation of the Roman Catholic Church in

using racial appearance to screen for potential

large parts of northern and central Europe.

wrongdoing.

provincial congress A type of convention

railhead End of a railroad line, or the farthest

elected by the colonists to organize resistance.

point on the track.

They tended to be larger than the legal

assemblies they displaced, and they played a

railroad gauge Distance between the rails on

major role in politicizing the countryside.

which wheels of railroad cars fit.

public Friends The men and women who

“rainfall follows the plow” Erroneous belief

spoke most frequently and effectively for the

that settlement and cultivation somehow

Society of Friends. They were as close as

changed the weather. It evolved due to heavier-

the Quakers came to having a clergy. They

than-normal precipitation during the 1870s

occupied special elevated seats in some

and 1880s.

meetinghouses.

RAND Think tank developed by the U.S.

public virtue Meant, to the revolutionary

military to conduct scientific research and

generation, patriotism and the willingness of

development.

a free and independent people to subordinate

Reagan, Ronald Republican president

their interests to the common good and even to

(1981–1989) who steered domestic politics in

die for their country.

a conservative direction and sponsored a huge

Pueblo Revolt In the most successful Indian

military buildup.

uprising in American history, the Pueblo

real wages Relationship between wages and

people rose against the Spanish in 1680, killed

the consumer price index.

most Spanish missionaries, devastated Spanish

realism Form of thinking, writing, and art that

buildings, and forced the surviving Spaniards

prized detachment, objectivity, and skepticism.

to retreat down the Rio Grande. The Pueblos

maintained their autonomy for about a decade,

rebates Practice by the railroads of giving

but Spain reasserted control in the early 1690s.

certain big businesses reductions in freight

rates or refunds.

Pullman Strike 1894 labor strike that became

the first nationwide workers’ strike against the

recall Reform that gave voters the right to

railroad.

remove from office a public servant who had

Puritans An English religious group that

betrayed their trust.

followed the teachings of John Calvin. They

Red Scare Widespread fear in 1919–1920

wanted a fuller reformation of the Church of

that radicals had coalesced to establish a

England and hoped to replace The Book of

communist government on American soil. In

Common Prayer with sermons. They wanted to

response, U.S. government and private citizens

purify the Church of England of its surviving

undertook a campaign to identify, silence, and,

Catholic ceremonies and vestments.

in some cases, imprison radicals.

Quakers A term of abuse used by opponents

redemptioners Servants with an indentured

to describe members of the Society of Friends,

contract that allowed them to find masters

who believed that God, in the form of the Inner

after they arrived in the colonies. Many

Light, was present in all humans. Friends were

German immigrant families were redemptioners

pacifists who rejected oaths, sacraments, and

and thus were able to stay together while they

all set forms of religious worship.

served their terms.

G-26

Glossary

redlining Refusal by banks and loan

significant philanthropic contributions to the

associations to grant loans for home buying

public.

and business expansion in neighborhoods that

“Roberts Court” Refers to the Supreme

contained aging buildings, dense populations,

Court after John Roberts became Chief Justice

and growing numbers of nonwhites.

in 2005.

referendum Procedure that allows the electorate

Robinson, Jackie African American whose

to decide an issue through a direct vote.

addition to the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947

Refugee Act of 1980 Law allowing refugees

began the lengthy process of integrating Major

fleeing political persecution entry into the

League Baseball.

United States.

rock ‘n’ roll Form of popular music that arose

Rehnquist, William Appointed to Chief Justice

in the 1950s from a variety of musical styles,

of the Supreme Court by Reagan in 1986.

including rhythm and blues, country, and

religious bigotry Intolerance based on religious

gospel. Its heavily accented beat attracted

beliefs or practices.

a large following among devotees of the

religious right Christians who wedded their

emerging youth culture.

religious beliefs to a conservative political

Rockefeller, John D. Founder of the Standard

agenda and gained growing influence in

Oil Company, whose aggressive practices

Republican party politics after the late 1960s.

drove many competitors out of business and

Republic of Texas Independent nation

made him one of the richest men in America.

founded in 1836 when a revolution by

Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision in 1973

residents in the Mexican province of Texas

that ruled that a blanket prohibition against

won their independence.

abortion violated a woman’s right to privacy

republics Independent Indian villages that

and prompted decades of political controversy.

were willing to trade with the British and

rolling stock Locomotives, freight cars, and

remained outside the French system of Indian

other types of wheeled equipment owned by

alliances.

railroads.

Restoration era The period that began in 1660

Roosevelt corollary 1904 corollary to the

when the Stuart dynasty under Charles II was

Monroe Doctrine, stating that the United

restored to the throne of England. It ended

States had the right to intervene in domestic

with the overthrow of James II in 1688–1689.

affairs of hemispheric nations to quell disorder

restorationism Belief that all theological and

and forestall European intervention.

institutional changes since the end of biblical

Roosevelt liberalism New reform movement

times were manmade mistakes and that

that sought to regulate capitalism but not the

religious organizations must restore themselves

morals or behavior of private citizens. This

to the purity and simplicity of the apostolic

reform liberalism overcame divisions between

church.

southern agrarians and northeastern ethnics.

restraint of trade Activity that prevented

Roosevelt, Eleanor A politically engaged and

competition in the marketplace or free trade.

effective First Lady, and an architect of

revival A series of emotional religious

American liberalism.

meetings that led to numerous public

Roosevelt, Franklin D. President from 1933 to

conversions.

1945 and the creator of the New Deal.

revolving gun turret A low structure, often

Rough Riders Much-decorated volunteer

round, on a ship that moved horizontally and

cavalry unit organized by Theodore Roosevelt

contained mounted guns.

and Leonard Wood to fight in Cuba in 1898.

rifling Process of cutting spiral grooves in a

royal colony A colony controlled directly by

gun’s barrel to impart a spin to the bullet.

the English monarch. The governor and

Perfected in the 1850s, it produced greater

council were appointed by the Crown.

accuracy and longer range.

Russo-Japanese War Territorial conflict

“robber barons” Industrial leaders who began

between imperial Japan and Russia mediated

to restrain their displays of wealth and make

by Theodore Roosevelt at Portsmouth, New

Glossary

G-27

Hampshire. The peace agreement gave Korea

shelter, educational opportunities, and health

and other territories to Japan, ensured Russia’s

care.

continuing control over Siberia, and protected

Second Continental Congress The

China’s territorial integrity.

intercolonial body that met in Philadelphia

Sacco and Vanzetti Case (1920) Controversial

in May 1775 a few weeks after the Battles

conviction of two Italian-born anarchists

of Lexington and Concord. It organized

accused of armed robbery and murder.

the Continental Army, appointed George

sachem An Algonquian word that means

Washington commander-in-chief, and

simultaneously pursued policies of military

“chief.”

resistance and conciliation. When conciliation

Safety-Fund Law New York state law that

failed, it chose independence in July 1776

required banks to pool a fraction of their

and in 1777 drafted the Articles of

resources to protect both bankers and small

Confederation, which finally went into

stockholders in case of bank failures.

force in March 1781.

Salem witch trials About 150 people were

sedentary Societies that are rooted locally or

accused of witchcraft in Massachusetts

are nonmigratory. Semisedentary societies are

between March and September 1692. During

migratory for part of the year.

the summer trials, 19 people were hanged and

one was pressed to death after he refused to

seditious libel The common-law crime of

stand trial. All of those executed insisted they

openly criticizing a public official.

were innocent. Of the 50 who confessed, none

seigneurs The landed gentry who claimed

was executed.

most of the land between Quebec and

Sand Creek massacre Attack led by Colonel

Montreal. They were never as powerful as

John Chivington that killed 200 Cheyenne

aristocrats in France.

Indians that returned in peace to their

Seneca Falls Convention (1848) First national

Colorado reservation.

convention of women’s rights activists.

Saratoga A major turning point in the

separation of powers The theory that a free

Revolutionary War. American forces prevented

government, especially in a republic, should

John Burgoyne’s army from reaching Albany,

have three independent branches capable of

cut off its retreat, and forced it to surrender in

checking or balancing one another: the

October 1777. This victory helped bring

executive, the legislative (usually bicameral),

France into the war.

and the judicial.

saturation bombing Intensive bombing

Separatists One of the most extreme English

designed to destroy everything in a target area.

Protestant groups that were followers of

scabs Strikebreakers who were willing to act

John Calvin. They began to separate from

as replacements for striking workers, thus

the Church of England and form their own

undermining the effect of strikes as leverage

congregations.

against company owners.

September 11, 2001 Day on which U.S.

scalawags Term used by southern Democrats

airliners, hijacked by Al Qaeda operatives,

to describe southern whites who worked with

were crashed into the World Trade Center and

the Republicans.

the Pentagon, killing around 3,000 people.

scientific management Attempt to break down

serfdom Early medieval Europe’s predominant

each factory job into its smallest components

labor system, which tied peasants to their lords

to increase efficiency, eliminate waste, and

and the land. They were not slaves because

promote worker satisfaction.

they could not be sold from the land.

secession The act of a state withdrawing from

Seward, William H. Secretary of state under

the Union. South Carolina was the first state to

Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Jackson. He

attempt to do this in 1860.

was best known for his purchase of Alaska

from Russia.

“Second Bill of Rights” President Roosevelt’s

ambition to ensure that Americans could enjoy

share wages Payment of workers’ wages with

regular employment, adequate food and

a share of the crop rather than with cash.

G-28

Glossary

sharecropping Working land in return for a

the first Catholic ever nominated for the

share of the crops produced instead of paying

presidency by a major party.

cash rent.

Smith, John (Captain) A member of the

Shays’s Rebellion An uprising of farmers

Virginia Council; his strong leadership from

in western Massachusetts in the winter of

1607 to 1609 probably saved the colony from

1786–1787. They objected to high taxes and

collapse.

foreclosures for unpaid debts. Militia from

Smith, Joseph Poor New York farm boy

eastern Massachusetts suppressed the rebels.

whose visions led him to translate the Book of

Sheppard-Towner Act Major social welfare

Mormon in late 1820s. He became the founder

program providing federal funds for prenatal

and the prophet of the Church of Jesus Christ

and child health care, 1921–1929.

of Latter-day Saints (Mormons).

Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890 Intended to

Social Darwinism Set of beliefs explaining

declare any form of trade restraint illegal, but

human history as an ongoing evolutionary

proved to be useless in prosecution of

struggle between different groups of people for

corporations.

survival and supremacy that was used to justify

sickle cell A crescent- or sickle-shaped red

inequalities between races, classes, and nations.

blood cell sometimes found in African

social networking sites Internet-based sites

Americans. It helped protect them from

that unite communities of people based on

malaria but exposed some children to the

similar interests.

dangerous and painful condition of sickle cell

Social Security Act Centerpiece of the welfare

anemia.

state (1935) that instituted the first federal

Sir Walter Raleigh An Elizabethan courtier

pension system and set up funds to take care of

who, in the 1580s, tried but failed to establish

groups (such as the disabled and unmarried

an English colony on Roanoke Island in what

mothers with children) that were unable to

is now North Carolina.

support themselves.

sit-down strike Labor strike strategy in which

socialism Political movement that called for

workers occupied their factory but refused to

the transfer of industry from private to public

do any work until the employer agreed to

control, and the transfer of political power

recognize the workers’ union. This strategy

from elites to the laboring masses.

succeeded against General Motors in 1937.

sodbuster Small farmer in parts of the West

sit-in movement Activity that challenged legal

who adapted to the treeless plains and prairies,

segregation by demanding that blacks have the

such as the construction of homes out of sod.

same access to public facilities as whites. These

soddies Houses built by Great Plains settlers

nonviolent demonstrations were staged at

made from prairie sod that was cut into blocks

restaurants, bus and train stations, and other

and stacked to form walls.

public places.

southern yeoman Farmer who owned

Sitting Bull Hunkapapa Lakota (Sioux) chief

relatively little land and few or no slaves.

and holy man who led warriors against the

U.S. Army in Montana Territory in 1876,

sovereign power A term used to describe

culminating in the Battle of Little Big Horn.

supreme or final power.

slash and burn A system of agriculture in

space shuttle Manned rocket that served as a

which trees were cut down, girdled, or in some

space laboratory and could be flown back to

way destroyed. The underbrush then was

the earth for reuse.

burned, and a crop was planted. Men created

Spanish Civil War Conflict between Spain’s

the farms, and women did the farming. The

republican government and nationalist rebels

system eventually depleted the fertility of the

led by General Francisco Franco.

soil, and the entire tribe would move to a new

specie Also called “hard money” as against

area after 10 or 20 years.

paper money. In colonial times, it usually

Smith, Alfred E. Irish American, Democratic

meant silver, but it could also include gold

governor of New York who became in 1928

coins.

Glossary

G-29

Specie Circular Provision added to the Deposit

Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) Popularly

Act in 1836 that required speculators to pay in

termed “Star Wars,” a proposal to develop

silver and gold coins when buying large parcels

technology for creation of a space-based

of public land.

defensive missile shield around the United

spirituals Term later devised to describe the

States.

religious songs of slaves.

Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee

Spock, Dr. Benjamin Pediatrician who wrote

(SNCC) Interracial civil rights organization

Baby and Child Care (1946), the most widely

formed by young people involved in the sit-in

used child-rearing book during the baby boom

movement that later adopted a direct-action

generation.

approach to fighting segregation.

spoils system System by which the victorious

“sub-prime mortgages” Mortgages that

political party rewarded its supporters with

carried a high risk of defaulting.

government jobs.

subtreasuries Plan to help farmers escape the

Sputnik First Soviet satellite sent into orbit

ruinous interest rates of the crop lien system by

around the earth in 1957.

storing their crops in federal warehouses until

Sputnik Crisis Following Russia

market prices were more favorable. Farmers

’s second

successful satellite launch, the possibility of

could draw low-interest loans against the value

nuclear weapons development forced President

of these crops.

Eisenhower to expand military arsenal,

subversive Systematic, deliberate attempt to

educational resources, and research capabilities.

overthrow or undermine a government or

stagflation Condition of simultaneous

society by people working secretly within the

economic stagnation and price inflation.

country.

Stalin, Joseph Soviet communist dictator who

Sun Belt Southern rim of the United States

worked with Allied leaders during Second

running from Florida to California.

World War.

Sunday schools Schools that first appeared in

Stamp Act Passed by the administration of

the 1790s to teach working-class children to

George Grenville in 1765, the Stamp Act

read and write but that by the 1820s and

imposed duties on most legal documents in the

1830s were becoming moral training grounds.

colonies and on newspapers and other

supply-side economics Economic theory that

publications. Massive colonial resistance to the

tax reductions targeted toward investors and

act created a major imperial crisis.

businesses would stimulate production and

Stanton, Elizabeth Cady Feminist abolitionist

eventually create jobs.

who organized the Seneca Falls Convention.

sweated Describes a type of worker, mostly

staple crop A crop grown for commercial sale.

women, who worked in her home producing

It usually was produced in a colonial area and

items for subcontractors, usually in the

was sold in Europe. The first staple crops were

clothing industry.

sugar and tobacco.

synod The governing body of the Presbyterian

Starr, Kenneth Republican lawyer appointed

church. A synod was a meeting of Presbyterian

as independent counsel to investigate possible

ministers and prominent laymen to set policies

wrongdoing by President Clinton.

for the whole church.

States General The legislative assembly of the

table a petition or bill Act of removing a

Netherlands.

petition or bill from consideration without

stay laws A law that delays or postpones

debate by placing it at the end of the legislative

something. During the 1780s, many states

agenda.

passed stay laws to delay the due date on debts

Taft-Hartley Act Limited a union’s power

because of the serious economic problems of

to conduct boycotts, force employers to hire

the times.

only union members, and to continue a strike

steel cargo containers Made shipping goods

harmful to national security; it also required

and raw materials long distances easier and less

union officials to sign affidavits stating that

expensive.

they did not belong to the Communist Party.

G-30

Glossary

Taft, William Howard Roosevelt’s successor

power to promote economic development

as president (1909–1913), who tried but failed

throughout the Tennessee Valley.

to mediate between reformers and

Tenochtitla-n The huge Aztec capital city

conservatives in the Republican Party.

destroyed by Cortés.

Tallmadge Amendments Two amendments

Tenskwatawa Brother of Tecumseh, whose

proposed by James Tallmadge Jr. to be added

religious vision of 1805 called for the

to the Missouri statehood bill before

unification of Indians west of the Appalachians

Missouri’s admission to the union; the first

and foretold the defeat and disappearance of

barred slaves from being brought into Missouri

the whites.

and the second emancipated Missouri slaves

born after admission once they reached their

termination and relocation Policies designed

25th birthday.

to assimilate American Indians by terminating

tribal status and relocating individuals off

tariff A tax on imports.

reservations.

“Tariff of Abominations” Refers to the

Tet offensive Surprise National Liberation

protective tariffs passed by the Democratic

Front (NLF) attack during the lunar new year

Congress in 1828 that hurt the South by

holiday in early 1968 that brought high

diminishing exports of cotton and raised prices

casualties to the NLF but fueled pessimism

of manufactured goods.

about the war’s outcome in the United States.

task system A system of slave labor under

The Medicare Prescription Drug Improvement

which slaves had to complete specific

and Modernization Act 2003 act that created

assignments each day. After these assignments

Medicare Part D, a new program that would

were finished, their time was their own. It was

provide prescription drug benefits for

used primarily on rice plantations. Slaves often

Medicare recipients. The law was controversial

preferred this system over gang labor because it

because of its enormous cost and because the

gave them more autonomy and free time.

federal government was prohibited from

Taylor, Frederick Winslow Chief engineer at

negotiating discounts with drug companies.

Philadelphia’s Midvale Steel Company whose

The Man That Nobody Knows Bruce Barton’s

goal was to make human labor mimic the

best-selling, 1925 book depicting Jesus as a

efficiency of a piece of machinery.

business executive.

Teapot Dome scandal Political scandal by

“the strenuous life” A time in the 1890s when

which Secretary of Interior Albert Fall allowed

middle-class and wealthy Americans took great

oil tycoons access to government oil reserves in

interest in competitive sports, physical fitness,

exchange for $400,000 in bribes.

and outdoor recreation.

Tecumseh Shawnee leader who assumed

“the surge” Strategy developed by Robert

political and military leadership of the pan-

Gates, temporarily increased U.S. troops in

Indian religious movement began by his

Iraq and placed General David Petraeus in

brother Tenskwatawa.

command; reduced the level of civil violence

tejanos Spanish-speaking settlers of Texas.

and decreased political tension.

The term comes from the Spanish word Tejas

think tank Group or agency organized to

for Texas.

conduct intensive research or engage in problem

temperance Movement that supported

solving, especially in developing new technology,

abstaining from alcoholic beverages.

military strategy, or social planning.

Temporary Assistance to Needy Families

Third Reich New empire that Adolf Hitler

(TANF) Program that allowed each state to

promised the German people would bring

design its own welfare-to-work programs

glory and unity to the nation.

under general federal guidelines.

Third World Less economically developed

tenancy System under which farmers worked

areas of the world, primarily the Middle East,

land that they did not own.

Asia, Latin America, and Africa.

Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) Ambitious

Three Mile Island Housed a nuclear power

and successful use of government resources and

plant in Pennsylvania that experienced a major

Glossary

G-31

reactor malfunction in 1979; the industry

146 workers who were unable to find their

stopped development following this event.

way to safety.

Tierra del Fuego The region at the southern

Triple Alliance One set of combatants in

tip of South America.

World War I, consisting of Germany, Austria-

tithe A portion of one’s income that is owed to

Hungary, and Italy. When Italy left the alliance,

the church. In most places, it was one-tenth.

this side became known as the Central Powers.

Title IX or Patsy Mink Equal Opportunity in

Triple Entente One set of combatants in

Education Act Required colleges and

World War I, consisting of Britain, France, and

universities to improve the financing and

Russia. As the war went on, this side came to

promotion of women’s sports in 1972.

be known as the Allies or Allied Powers.

toll roads Roads for which travelers were

Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP) Sec-

charged a fee for each use.

tion of the Emergency Economic Stabilization

tories A term for Irish Catholic peasants who

Act of 2008 that authorized the Treasury

murdered Protestant landlords. It was used to

Department to spread $700 billion throughout

describe the followers of Charles II and became

the financial system.

one of the names of the two major political

Truman Doctrine Policy established by

parties in England.

President Truman in 1947 to aid Greece and

total war New kind of war requiring every

Turkey in order to prevent Soviet

combatant to devote virtually all his or her

expansionism and the spread of communism.

economic and political resources to the fight.

Truman, Harry S. Franklin Roosevelt’s vice

totalitarian movement Movement in which the

president who became president when

individual is subordinated to the state and all

Roosevelt died on April 13, 1945.

areas of life are subjected to centralized, total

trust Large corporations that controlled a

control—usually by force.

substantial share of any given market.

Townshend Revenue Act Passed by

Turner, Nat Baptist lay preacher whose

Parliament in 1767, this act imposed import

religious visions encouraged him to lead a slave

duties on tea, paper, glass, red and white

revolt in southern Virginia in 1831 in which 55

lead, and painter’s colors. It provoked the

whites were killed—more than any other

imperial crisis of 1767–1770. In 1770,

American slave revolt.

Parliament repealed all of the duties except

Turner’s frontier thesis Theory developed by

the one on tea.

historian Frederick Jackson Turner, who

traditionalists Those who believed that God’s

argued that the frontier had been central to the

word transcended science and that America

shaping of American character and the success

should continue to be guided by older

of the U.S. economy and democracy.

hierarchies (men over women, whites over

Twenty Negro Law Confederate conscription

nonwhites, native-born over immigrants).

law that exempted from the draft one white

transcontinental railroad Railroad line that

man on every plantation owning 20 or more

connected with other lines to provide

slaves. The law’s purpose was to exempt

continuous rail transportation from coast to

overseers or owners who would ensure

coast.

discipline over the slaves and keep up

treasury notes Paper money used by the Union

production but was regarded as discrimination

to help finance the Civil War. One type of

by nonslaveholding families.

treasury note was known as a greenback

U-2 spy plane Aircraft specializing in high-

because of its color.

altitude reconnaissance.

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo Treaty that

Ulster The northern province of Ireland that

authorized the purchase of California, New

provided 70 percent of the Irish immigrants

Mexico, and a Texas border on the Rio

in the colonial period. Nearly all of them were

Grande from Mexico for 15 million dollars.

Presbyterians whose forebears had moved to

Triangle Shirtwaist Company New York City

Ireland from Scotland in the previous century.

site of a tragic 1911 industrial fire that killed

They sometimes are called Scots-Irish today.

G-32

Glossary

Uncle Tom’s Cabin Published by Harriet

maritime disputes between, for example, a

Beecher Stowe in 1852, this sentimental novel

ship’s crew and its owner, and occasionally

told the story of the Christian slave Uncle Tom

tried to decide cases involving parliamentary

and became a best seller and the most powerful

regulation of colonial commerce. This last

antislavery tract of the antebellum years.

category was the most controversial. These

underconsumptionism Theory that

courts did not use juries.

underconsumption, or a chronic weakness in

Victorianism Moral code of conduct that

consumer demand, had caused the depression.

advocated modesty, sexual restraint, and

This theory guided the Second New Deal,

separate spheres of activity and influence for

leading to the passage of laws designed to

men and women.

stimulate consumer demand.

Vietnam War Conflict lasting from 1946 to

underground railroad A small group who

1975, with direct U.S. military involvement

helped slaves escape bondage in the South.

from 1964 to 1973. Highly controversial, the

It took on legendary status, and its role was

war devastated the Vietnam countryside,

much exaggerated.

spilled into all of Indochina, and ended in a

UNESCO (United Nations Educational,

victory for communist North Vietnam, which

Scientific, and Cultural Organization) UN

then united the country under its rule.

organization intended to create peace and

Vietnamization Policy whereby the South

security through collaboration among member

Vietnamese were to assume more of the

nations.

military burdens of the war and allow the

unicameral legislature A legislature with only

United States to withdraw combat troops.

one chamber or house.

Villa, Francisco (“Pancho”) Favored by

Union Leagues Organizations that informed

Woodrow Wilson to be elected Mexico’s leader

African American voters of, and mobilized

in 1913.

them to, support the Republican Party.

virtual representation The English concept

Unionists Southerners who remained loyal to

that members of Parliament represented the

the Union during the Civil War.

entire empire, not just a local constituency and

its voters. According to this theory, settlers

United Nations (UN) An international

were represented in Parliament in the same

organization of Allied powers formed in 1945

way that nonvoting subjects in Britain were

to promote peaceful political change and to

represented. The colonists accepted virtual

deter aggressive nations.

representation for nonvoting settlers within

Universal Declaration of Human Rights Doc-

their colonies but denied that the term could

ument adopted by the United Nations in 1948

describe their relationship with Parliament.

that established human rights and freedoms as

VJ Day August 15, 1945, day on which the

cornerstones of international law.

war in the Pacific was won by the Allies.

universal male suffrage System that allowed all

Voting Rights Act of 1965 Law that provided

adult males to vote without regard to property,

new federal mechanisms to help guarantee

religious, or race qualifications or limitations.

African Americans the right to vote.

urban corridors Metropolitan strips of

Wagner Act (NLRA) Named after its sponsor

population running between older cities.

Senator Robert Wagner (D-NY), this 1935 act

vaqueros Mexican cowboys who rounded up