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Declaration of Independence
A document that was approved by the Continental Congress, announced the separation of 13 North American British colonies from Great Britain. -
“E Pluribus Unum”
Was the motto proposed for the first Great Seal of the United States by John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson in 1776. A latin phrase meaning "One from many," the phrase offered a strong statement of the American determination to form a single nation from a collection of states. -
U.S Constitution
Supreme law of the United States, it superseded the Articles of Confederation. Established America's national government and fundamental laws, and guaranteed certain basic rights for its citizens -
Nativism
The political policy of promoting or protecting the interests of native or indigenous inhabitants over those of immigrants, including the support of immigration-restriction measures. -
Bill of Rights
The Bill of Rights is the first 10 Amendments to the Constitution. It spells out Americans’ rights in relation to their government. It guarantees civil rights and liberties to the individual like freedom of speech, press, and religion. -
Social darwinism
Human groups and races are subject to the same laws of natural selection as Charles Darwin perceived in plants and animals in nature. -
Political Machines
A party organization, headed by a single boss or small autocratic group, that commands enough votes to maintain political and administrative control of a city, county, or state". -
Alexis de Tocqueville and his Five Principles : Liberty, Egalitarianism, Individualism, Populism, and Laissez-faire.
Liberty: The quality or state of being free.
Egalitarianism: A belief in human equality, especially with respect to social, political, and economic affairs.
Individualism: A doctrine that the interests of the individual are or ought to be ethically paramount.
Populism: A belief in the rights, wisdom, or virtues of the common people.
Laissex-faire: The practice of limited government interference in economic affairs beyond the minimum necessary for the maintenance of peace and property rights. -
Homestead act
A law that let U.S. citizens, or people wanting to become citizens, file for 160 acres of free land in the west. Allows any American, including freed slaves, to put in a claim for up to 160 free acres of federal land. -
Eugenics
The scientifically erroneous and immoral theory of “racial improvement” and “planned breeding. Believed that they could perfect human beings and eliminate so-called social ills through genetics and heredity. -
Tin pan alley
The physical location of the New York City-centered music publishers and songwriters who dominated the popular music of the United States in the late 19th century and early 20th century -
Settlement House Movement
A group of enterprising settlement house movement leaders sought to achieve change by bridging the gaps between social classes. The middle class leaders joined underserved urban neighborhoods and opened their homes to the local children, parents, families, and older adults. -
Klondike gold rush
Was a mass exodus of prospecting migrants from their hometowns to Canadian Yukon Territory and Alaska after gold was discovered there in 1896. -
Spanish American War
A conflict between the United States and Spain that effectively ended Spain's role as a colonial power in the New World -
Tenement
New York State Progressive Era law which outlawed the construction of the dumbbell-shaped style tenement housing and set minimum size requirements for tenement housing. It also mandated the installation of lighting, better ventilation, and indoor bathrooms. -
Muckraker
Was any of a group of American writers identified with pre-World War I reform and exposé writing. The muckrakers provided detailed, accurate journalistic accounts of the political and economic corruption and social hardships caused by the power of big business in a rapidly industrializing United States. -
Big stick policy
The policy held by Teddy Roosevelt in foreign affairs. The "big stick" symbolizes his power and readiness to use military force if necessary. It is a way of intimidating countries without actually harming them. -
Panama Canal
A constructed waterway that connects the Atlantic and Pacific oceans across the Isthmus of Panama. -
16th Amendment
Allows Congress to levy a tax on income from any source without apportioning it among the states and without regard to the census. -
17th Amendment
Allow voters to cast direct votes for U.S. senators.
Established the direct election of United States senators in each state. -
Establishment of the National Park system
Protect prehistoric Native American ruins and artifacts. Conserving unimpaired the natural and cultural resources and values of the National Park System for the enjoyment, education, and inspiration of this and future generations. -
Reasons for U.S. entry into WWI
President Woodrow Wilson went before a joint session of Congress to request a declaration of war against Germany. Wilson cited Germany’s violation of its pledge to suspend unrestricted submarine warfare in the North Atlantic and the Mediterranean, as well as its attempts to entice Mexico into an alliance against the United States, as his reasons for declaring war. -
Harlem renaissance
A period of U.S. history marked by a burst of creativity within the African American community in the areas of art, music and literature -
18th Amendment
Prohibited “the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquours” but not the consumption, private possession, or production for one's own consumption. -
19th Amendment
Granted women the right to vote. The 19th amendment legally guarantees American women the right to vote. Achieving this milestone required a lengthy and difficult struggle victory took decades of agitation and protest. -
Teapot dome scandal
Surrounding the secret leasing of federal oil reserves by the secretary of the interior, Albert Bacon Fall. -
Immigration act of 1924
Limited the number of immigrants allowed entry into the United States through a national origins quota. -
American indian citizenship act of 1924
Congress enacted the Indian Citizenship Act, which granted citizenship to all Native Americans born in the U.S. The right to vote, however, was governed by state law; until 1957, some states barred Native Americans from voting -
Deportation of people of Mexican heritage during great depression
Up to 1.8 million people of Mexican descent most of them American born were rounded up in informal raids and deported in an effort to reserve jobs for white people. -
Flying tigers
The nickname of U.S. fighter pilots, the American Volunteer Group (AVG), who fought against the Japanese in China during World War II. -
Executive order 9066
An order that authorized the evacuation of all persons deemed a threat to national security from the West Coast to relocation centers further inland. -
Bataan Death March
when the Japanese forced 76,000 captured Allied soldiers to march about 80 miles across the Bataan Peninsula. -
Bracero program
An agreement between the United States and Mexico that allowed nearly 4.6 million Mexican citizens to enter the U.S. temporarily to work on farms, railroads, and in factories between 1942 and 1964. -
Manhattan project
The code name for the American-led effort to develop a functional atomic weapon during World War II. -
Korematsu v. U.S.
A case in which the Court held that compulsory exclusion of citizens during times of war is justified in order to reduce the risk of espionage. -
Nuremberg trials
Series of trials held in Nürnberg Germany, in which former Nazi leaders were indicted and tried as war criminals by the International Military Tribunal. -
In god we trust
The official motto of the United States and of the U.S. state of Florida. It was adopted by the U.S. Congress in 1956, replacing E pluribus unum, which had been the de facto motto since the initial 1776 design of the Great Seal of the United States.