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History Chapter 1-19
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| artifacts | Tools and other objects made by humans |
| migrate | To move from one location to another |
| culture | A way of life shared by people with similar arts, beliefs, and customs |
| civilization | A complex culture characterized by five advanced systems, including city trade centers and specialized jobs |
| irrigation | The practice of bringing water to crops |
| Mound Builders | Early Native Americans who built large earthen structures |
| technology | The use of tools and knowledge to meet human needs |
| matrilineal | A type of society in which ancestry is traced through the mother |
| Deganawida | Peace-seeking Iroquois man of the late 1500s |
| Iroquois League | A 16th century alliance of five Native American groups who lived in the Eastern Woodlands region |
| Ghana | A West African empire in the 8th-11th centuries that grew wealthy through trade |
| Islam | A religion founded by the prophet Muhammad in the 600s, which teaches that there is one God, known as Allah |
| European Middle Ages | A period characterized by feudalism and the manor system |
| feudalism | A system in which a king lets nobles use his land in return for military service and protection of the people |
| Crusades | A series of wars to capture the Holy Lands launched by Europeans in 1096 |
| Renaissance | A time of increased interest in art and learning |
| printing press | A machine that mechanically prints pages, invented by Johannes Gutenberg about 1455 |
| Reformation | A 16th century religious movement to change the Roman Catholic Church |
| navigator | A person who plans the course of a ship by using instruments to find its position |
| Christopher Columbus | Explorer, financed by Spain to sail across the Atlantic to Asia, but who landed in the Americas |
| missionary | A person sent by the Catholic Church to convert native peoples to Christianity |
| mercantilism | An economic system in which a nation increases its wealth by exporting more than it imports |
| Amerigo Vespucci | An explorer who set out in 1501 for a sea route to Asia, but instead came to a land that was later named for him, America |
| conquistadors | Soldiers who explored the Americas and claimed the land for Spain |
| Hernando Corts | A Spanish soldier who conquered the Aztec Empire in Mexico in 1521 |
| Montezuma | The Aztec emperor who governed much of Mexico when the Spanish arrived looking for wealth |
| Henry Hudson | An Englishman, sailing for the Dutch, who in 1609 arrived at the coast of present-day New York in his search for Asia |
| John Cabot | He charted a northern route across the Atlantic Ocean in 1497 and landed in Canada, claiming it for England |
| Spanish Armada | A fleet of ships sent by the king of Spain in 1588 to invade England and restore Catholicism |
| New France | A Quebec colony that grew out of a fur-trading post established by the French explorer Samuel de Champlain |
| encomienda | A grant of Native American labor to the Spanish colonists in the Americas |
| haciendas | Large estates created by Spanish rulers to provide food for the Spanish colonies in the Americas |
| mission | Settlement built by the Catholic Church in the Spanish colonies to convert Native Americans to Christianity |
| plantation | A large cash-crop farm |
| Columbian Exchange | The movement of plants, animals, and diseases between the Eastern and Western hemispheres |
| slavery | The practice of holding a person in bondage for labor |
| African Diaspora | The forced removal of Africans from their homelands to serve as slave labor in the Americas |
| middle passage | The part of the triangular trade route that brought captured Africans from Africa to the Americas |
| slave codes | Laws passed by the Spanish government to prevent slave rebellion and to regulate the treatment of slaves |
| racism | The belief that some people are inferior because of their race |
| Joint-stock company | A business or project organized by investors who pool their wealth in order to turn a profit |
| charter | A written contract issued by a government giving the holder the right to establish a colony |
| Jamestown | The first permanent English settlement in North America |
| John Smith | An adventurer who took control of the colony of Jamestown, announcing "He that will not work shall not eat." |
| Indentured servant | A person who sold his or her labor in exchange for passage to America |
| House of Burgesses | Created in 1619, the first representative assembly in the American colonies |
| Bacon's Rebellion | A 1676 revolt against colonial authority in Jamestown by a group of landless frontier settlers |
| Pilgrims | A group that rejected the Church of England, sailed to the Americas, and founded the Plymouth colony in 1620 |
| Mayflower Compact | A pact to obey laws, signed by Plymouth's first colonists, that helped establish the idea of self-government |
| Puritans | These Church of England reformists sailed to the Americas to escape ill treatment from James I |
| Great Migration | The 1630-1640 movement of Puritans from England to settle around the world, including in New England |
| Fundamental Orders of Connecticut | Laws written in 1639 by a Puritan colony in Connecticut that expanded the idea of representative government |
| Roger Williams | He set up a colony in Rhode Island that guaranteed religious freedom and the separation of church and state. |
| Anne Hutchinson | She challenged church authority in Massachusetts, was brought to trial, and fled to Rhode Island in 1638. |
| King Philip's War | A 1675-1676 war between the Puritan colonists and the Native Americans over land ownership |
| Peter Stuyvesant | Governor of the Dutch colony of New Netherland, he gave up the city of New Amsterdam to the British in 1664. |
| proprietary colony | A colony with a single owner-for example, New Netherland when the Duke of York drove out the Dutch |
| William Penn | A wealthy Englishman who created a colony for Quakers in America with land given to him by King Charles II |
| Quakers | A religious group with neither ministers nor bibles, who treated Native Americans fairly and welcomed diversity |
| royal colony | A colony ruled by governors appointed by a king |
| Backcountry | The far western region of the New England, Middle, and Southern colonies that ran along the Appalachian Mountains |
| subsistence farm | A farm that produces only enough food for a family to eat and trade |
| triangular trade | Term for trading route between Africa, the West Indies, and New England |
| Navigation Acts | Laws passed by Parliament, beginning in 1651, to ensure that England made money from its American colonies' trade |
| smuggle | To illegally import or export goods |
| cash crop | A crop grown by a farmer to be sold rather than for personal use |
| gristmill | A mill in which grain is ground to produce flour or meal |
| diversity | A variety of people |
| artisan | A craftsperson, such as a weaver or a potter, who makes goods by hand |
| Conestoga wagon | A westward-bound produce vehicle with wide wheels, a curved bed, and a canvas cover |
| indigo | A plant grown in the Southern colonies that yields a deep blue dye |
| Eliza Lucas | Supervisor of her father's South Carolina plantation at age 17, she introduced indigo as a successful crop |
| William Byrd II | A member of the House of Burgesses and Virginia's wealthy planter class who wrote about Southern life |
| overseer | A worker hired by a planter to watch over and direct the work of slaves |
| Stono Rebellion | A 1739 uprising of slaves in South Carolina, which led to the tightening of already harsh slave laws |
| Appalachian Mountains | A mountain range that stretches from eastern Canada south to Alabama |
| fall line | The point at which a waterfall prevents large boats from moving farther upriver |
| piedmont | A broad plateau that leads to the foot of a mountain range |
| clan | A large group of families that claim a common ancestor |
| a buck | A deerskin that was a unit of value, or money, in the Backcountry |
| apprentice | A beginner who learns a trade or a craft from an experienced master |
| Great Awakening | A revival of religious feeling in the American colonies during the 1730s and 1740s |
| Jonathan Edwards | A preacher who stressed inner religious emotions with sermons such as "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" |
| George Whitefield | A minister who inspired colonists to help others and raise funds to build a home for orphans |
| Enlightenment | An 18th-century movement that emphasized the use of reason and the scientific method to obtain knowledge |
| Benjamin Franklin | A businessman, inventor, public servant, and scientist who proved lightning was electricity |
| John Locke | An English philosopher who argued that people have natural rights to life, liberty, and property |
| Magna Carta | "Great Charter;" a document guaranteeing basic political rights in England, approved by King John in 1215 |
| Parliament | England's chief lawmaking body |
| Edmund Andros | A royal governor of the Dominion of New England who angered colonists by ending representative assemblies |
| Glorious Revolution | The overthrow of English King James II in 1688 and his replacement by William and Mary |
| English Bill of Rights | An agreement signed by William and Mary to respect the rights of English citizens and of Parliament |
| salutary neglect | A hands-off policy of England towards its American colonies during the first half of the 1700s |
| John Peter Zenger | He helped establish freedom of the press after being tried and released for criticizing the governor of New York |
| French and Indian War | A 1754-1763 conflict in North America and part of a worldwide struggle between France and Britain |
| Albany Plan of Union | The first formal proposal to unite the American colonies, put forth by Benjamin Franklin |
| Battle of Quebec | Battle that was a turning point in the French and Indian War, the British defeated the French |
| Treaty of Paris | Treaty that gave North America east of the Mississippi River to Britain and ended French power in North America |
| Pontiac's Rebellion | A 1763 revolt by Native Americans against British forts and American settlers who were moving onto their land |
| Proclamation of 1763 | An order in which Britain prohibited its American colonists from settling west of the Appalachian Mountains |
| King George III | British monarch who wanted to keep peace with its Native American allies and enforce the Proclamation of 1763 |
| Quartering Act | A law passed by Parliament in 1765 that required colonists to house and keep British soldiers |
| Stamp Act | A law passed by Parliament that required colonists to pay a tax on documents |
| Patrick Henry | A member of the Virginia House of Burgesses who called for resistance to the British-imposed stamp tax |
| Sons of Liberty | A colonial secret society opposed to British policies |
| writ of assistance | A warrant that let British officers enter colonial homes or businesses to search for smuggled goods |
| Samuel Adams | A colonial leader who led a 1767 boycott of British goods and urged colonists to resist British control |
| Boston Massacre | In 1770, a violent fight between British soldiers and colonists where five colonists were killed |
| committees of correspondence | Groups of people in the colonies who exchanged letters on colonial affairs |
| Boston Tea Party | A 1773 protest of the Tea Act where colonists dumped 342 chests of tea into a harbor |
| militia | A force of armed civilians who pledged to defend their community during the American Revolution |
| Intolerable Acts | A series of laws enacted in 1774 to punish Massachusetts colonists for the Boston Tea Party |
| First Continental Congress | A 1774 meeting of delegates from all colonies except Georgia to uphold colonial rights |
| Lexington and Concord | Massachusetts' locations of the first battles of the American Revolution |
| Loyalist | Term for American colonist who supported the British in the American Revolution |
| Patriot | Term for American colonist who sided with the rebels in the American Revolution |
| artillery | Cannons or large guns |
| Second Continental Congress | May, 1775 assembly that authorized the Continental Army and approved the Declaration of Independence |
| Declaration of Independence | The 1776 document in which the colonies declared independence from Britain |
| Thomas Jefferson | A respected political leader and thinker who was chosen to write the Declaration of Independence |
| George Washington | Commander of the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War and the first president of the United States |
| mercenary | A professional solder hired to fight for a foreign country |
| strategy | An overall plan of action |
| rendezvous | A prearranged meeting, often an assembly point for troops |
| Battles of Saratoga | A series of conflicts that ended in victory for the Continental Army, and a Revolutionary War turning point |
| ally | A country that agrees to help another country achieve a common goal |
| Marquis de Lafayette | A French nobleman who believed in the American cause and served as a commander under Washington |
| bayonet | A long steel knife attached to the end of a gun for hand-to-hand combat |
| Valley Forge | Camp where Washington's army suffered from cold and hunger; became a symbol of the hardships of the War |
| desert | To abandon military duty without intending to return |
| privateer | A privately owned ship that has governmental permission to attack an enemy's merchant ships |
| John Paul Jones | Continental Naval officer who patrolled the English coast and won a battle against the British warship Serapis |
| Lord Cornwallis | British general who fought in the South during the Revolutionary War and who surrendered in1781 |
| guerrillas | Soldiers who weaken the enemy with surprise raids and hit-and-run attacks |
| pacifist | A person morally opposed to war |
| Battle of Yorktown | The last major battle of the Revolutionary War which resulted in the surrender of the British forces in 1781 |
| Treaty of Paris of 1783 | The treaty that ended the Revolutionary War, confirmed the independence of the U.S., and set its boundaries |
| republicanism | The belief in a government in which decisions are made by elected or appointed officials |
| Elizabeth Freeman | In 1781 she helped to end slavery in Massachusetts by suing for her freedom in court and winning |
| Richard Allen | Preacher who helped start the Free African Society; founded the first African Methodist Episcopal Church |
| Wilderness Road | The trail into Kentucky that woodsman Daniel Boone helped to build |
| republic | A government in which people choose representatives to govern for them |
| Articles of Confederation | The first plan for a national government; a 1777 document adopted by the Continental Congress |
| tyranny | Oppressive rule by a country's leader or its government |
| Land Ordinance of 1785 | Legislation that divided the land west of the Appalachian Mountains into six-square-mile plots |
| Northwest Territory | Region northwest of the Ohio River; Congress divided land into sections and sold them to settlers |
| Northwest Ordinance | A law that set conditions for the settlement and government of the Northwest Territory |
| Shays's Rebellion | An uprising of debt-ridden Massachusetts farmers in 1787 |
| Constitutional Convention | A meeting held in 1787 to consider changes to the Articles of Confederation |
| James Madison | "Father of the Constitution," for his contributions to the Constitutional Convention |
| Virginia Plan | A proposed plan for a national government that called for three branches and a two-house legislature |
| New Jersey Plan | A proposed plan of government that called for a one-house legislature, in which each state would have one vote |
| Great Compromise | An agreement to establish a two-house legislature with different forms of representation |
| Three-Fifths Compromise | An agreement to count three-fifths of the slave population for determining representation and taxation |
| federalism | A system of government in which power is shared between the central government and the states |
| Federalists | People in favor of the Constitution; believed in shared power between national and state governments |
| Antifederalists | People who opposed the Constitution; feared powerful national government and loss of states' rights |
| The Federalist papers | Essays that appeared in New York newspapers written in support of the Constitution |
| George Mason | A Virginia delegate who refused to vote for ratification of the Constitution until a bill of rights was added |
| Bill of Rights | The first ten amendments to the Constitution that consist of a formal list of citizens' rights and freedoms |
| inaugurate | To swear in or to induct into office |
| judiciary | A system of courts and judges |
| Federal Judiciary Act | Passed by Congress to create a court system, including a six-member Supreme Court and lower federal courts |
| cabinet | Group of president-appointed heads of departments; created by Congress to help the president |
| tariff | A tax on imported goods |
| national bank | An institution Alexander Hamilton wanted to create to aid the new nation's economy |
| Battle of Fallen Timbers | The 1794 clash over the Northwest Territory in which the federal army defeated the Native Americans |
| Treaty of Greenville | An agreement signed by twelve tribes ceding much of present-day Ohio and Indiana to the U.S. government |
| Whiskey Rebellion | Farmers' protest of the government's tax on whiskey, a product vital to the economy of the backcountry |
| French Revolution | A violent uprising of French citizens demanding liberty and equality, inspired by the American Revolution |
| neutral | A country is this when it does not take sides in other nations' conflicts |
| Jay's Treaty | The agreement with Britain that ended the dispute over American shipping during the French Revolution |
| Pinckney's Treaty | Pact with Spain to reduce tensions along the frontier, setting the 31st parallel as the southern U.S. border |
| foreign policy | Relations with governments of other countries |
| political party | An organization that promotes its ideas, influences government, and elects candidates for office |
| Federalist Party | Group that supported a strong national government, a national bank, and loose construction of the Constitution |
| Democratic-Republican Party | Group that supported a limited national government and strict construction of the Constitution |
| XYZ Affair | A 1797 incident in which French officials demanded a bribe from U.S. diplomats |
| Alien and Sedition Acts | A series of four laws enacted in 1798 to reduce the political power of recent immigrants to the United States |
| states' rights | Theory that claimed that states had rights that the federal government could not violate |
| radical | A person who takes extreme political positions |
| John Marshall | Supreme Court Chief Justice appointed in 1801; upheld federal authority and strengthened federal courts |
| Marbury v. Madison | An 1803 Supreme Court case that established judicial review |
| unconstitutional | A law or practice that contradicts the law of the Constitution |
| judicial review | The principal that the Supreme Court has the final say in interpreting the Constitution |
| Louisiana Purchase | President Jefferson's 1803 purchase of territory from France that doubled the size of the United States |
| Meriwether Lewis | Captain chosen by Jefferson to lead the Corps of Discovery's exploration of the Louisiana Territory |
| William Clark | Corps of Discovery officer who selected the expedition team; a diplomat, map-maker, fort-builder, artist |
| Lewis and Clark expedition | Name for the 1804 exploration of the Louisiana Territory and river routes to the Pacific Ocean |
| Sacagawea | A Shoshone woman whose knowledge and skills were of great help to the Lewis and Clark expedition |
| Zebulon Pike | Explorer of the southern part of the Louisiana Territory, the Rocky Mountains, and the Great Plains |
| impressment | Between 1803 and 1812, British policy of seizing American sailors by force to serve in the military |
| Embargo Act of 1807 | U.S. law declaring foreign ports off-limits to American ships and closing American ports to British ships |
| Tecumseh | Shawnee chief who led Native-American resistance to white rule in the Ohio River Valley |
| War Hawk | Term for a westerner who called for and supported the War of 1812 |
| War of 1812 | U.S.-British conflict over Britain's interference in U.S. affairs in the early 19th century |
| Oliver Hazard Perry | Officer who led the U.S. to its most important naval victory during the War of 1812, on Lake Erie |
| Battle of the Thames | An American victory in the War of 1812 that ended the British threat to the Northwest Territory |
| Francis Scott Key | The writer of the U.S. national anthem, who composed it while watching the all-night battle at Fort McHenry |
| Treaty of Ghent | 1814 treaty that ended the War of 1812, but did not resolve trade disputes or provide for land exchanges |
| Samuel Slater | A 1789 immigrant from England who built the first successful water-powered textile mill in America |
| Industrial Revolution | A time in the late 18th century when factory machines replaced hand tools and large-scale manufacturing replaced farming |
| factory system | A method of production that brought many workers and machines together into one building |
| Lowell Mills | Name of Massachusetts' textile industry which hired women and girls to work 12-hour days |
| interchangeable part | A machine part that is exactly like another part |
| Robert Fulton | Inventor of a steamboat that could move against the current of a strong wind and thus improved traveling time |
| Samuel F. B. Morse | Inventor of the telegraph, a machine that uses electricity along a wire to send messages over long distances |
| steel plow | John Deere's invention that helped farmers plow the rich heavy soil of the Midwest and increase production |
| Eli Whitney | Inventor of a machine for cleaning cotton that changed Southern life |
| cotton gin | A machine invented in 1793 that cleaned cotton much faster and far more efficiently than human workers |
| spiritual | A religious folk song, often created and sung by African Americans |
| Nat Turner | Leader of an 1831 armed revolt against slavery in Virginia |
| nationalism | Feeling of pride, loyalty, and protectiveness toward one's country |
| Henry Clay | He was a Kentucky representative, strong nationalist, and promoter of a plan to strengthen and unify the U.S. |
| American System | A plan introduced in 1815 to make the United States economically self-sufficient |
| Erie Canal | Completed in 1825, this waterway connected New York City and Buffalo, New York, improving U.S. transportation |
| James Monroe | He won the presidential election of 1816 as a Democratic-Republican, helped by the rise in nationalism |
| sectionalism | Loyalty to the interests of one's own region above loyalty to the interests of the nation as a whole |
| Missouri Compromise | A series of laws enacted in 1820 to maintain the balance of power between slave states and free states |
| Monroe Doctrine | A policy of U.S. opposition to any European interference in the Western Hemisphere, announced in 1823 |
| John Quincy Adams | New England's choice for president in the fiercely disputed race of 1824, he became the sixth U.S. president |
| Andrew Jackson | A military hero, candidate in the 1824 presidential election, and winner of the 1828 presidential election |
| Jacksonian Democracy | The idea of spreading political power to all the people, thereby ensuring majority rule |
| spoils system | The practice of giving government jobs to political backers or supporters of elected public officials |
| Sequoya | A Cherokee who invented a writing system, hoping that literacy could help the Cherokee keep their independence |
| Indian Removal Act | An 1830 act that gave the government power to negotiate treaties to force Native Americans to relocate west |
| Indian Territory | Present-day Oklahoma and parts of Kansas and Nebraska to which Native Americans were sent under U.S. treaties |
| Trail of Tears | The 1838-1839 deadly journey of the Cherokee people from their homeland to Indian Territory |
| John C. Calhoun | A leader in Congress and advocate of a strong central government who later became a champion of states' rights |
| Tariff of Abominations | An 1828 law that upset Southerners by raising the tariffs on raw materials and manufactured goods |
| doctrine of nullification | The right of a state to reject a federal law that it considers unconstitutional |
| Webster-Hayne debate | An 1830 debate between a senator from Massachusetts and a senator from North Carolina over nullification |
| Daniel Webster | "Liberty and Union, now and forever, one and inseparable!" said this powerful senator in an 1830 speech on states' rights |
| secession | Term for a state's withdrawal from the Union |
| inflation | When an economy experiences an increase in prices and a decrease in the value of money |
| Martin Van Buren | Vice-president to Andrew Jackson and elected president in 1836, he inherited Jackson's puffed-up prosperity |
| Panic of 1837 | A time when economic fears prompted people to demand that banks exchange their paper money for gold and silver |
| depression | A severe economic slump |
| Whig Party | Political party formed to oppose Jackson's policies and the political power held by the chief executive |
| William Henry Harrison | Whig Party candidate for the 1840 presidential race and military hero who lacked strong political views |
| mountain man | Term for fur trapper or explorer who found trails through the Rocky Mountains and opened up the West |
| land speculator | A person who buys land at low prices hoping to sell it in small sections at high prices |
| Santa Fe Trail | A trail established by William Becknell to create trade between Missouri and the capital of the Mexican province of New Mexico |
| Oregon Trail | A trail settlers used to migrate west-from Missouri to the territory west of the Rockies and north of California |
| Mormon | A member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, founded by Joseph Smith in 1830 |
| Stephen Austin | He established an American colony in Texas, fulfilling his father's dream |
| Tejano | A person of Spanish heritage whose home is Texas |
| Antonio Lpez de Santa Anna | Mexican president and general who governed the Texas colony and fought to keep it under Mexican rule |
| Sam Houston | Appointed commander of the Texas army when American settlers decided to declare Texas an independent republic |
| Battle of the Alamo | An 1836 battle in which 183 Texans and 25 Tejanos lost to a Mexican army of thousands after 12 days of fighting |
| Lone Star Republic | The nickname of the Republic of Texas, given in 1836 when Texans raised their first flag |
| James K. Polk | A Democratic candidate, elected 11th president in 1844, and committed to U.S. expansion to Texas and Oregon |
| manifest destiny | The belief that the U.S. was destined to stretch across the continent, from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean |
| Bear Flag Revolt | The 1846 rebellion by Americans against Mexican rule in California |
| Treaty of Guadalupe de Hidalgo | The 1848 treaty that ended the U.S. war with Mexico and set the Rio Grande as the nation's border |
| Mexican Cession | A vast region given up by Mexico in 1848, including three present-day western states and parts of four more |
| forty-niner | A person who went to California to find gold, starting in 1849 |
| Californio | Settler of Spanish or Mexican descent who lived in California, mostly on huge cattle ranches |
| John Sutter | The man who persuaded the Mexican governor to grant him land on which John Marshall later found gold |
| California gold rush | Event that began in 1849 after gold was discovered at Sutter's Mill |
| immigrant | A person who settles in a new country |
| steerage | The deck on a ship where immigrants found cheap passage and deplorable conditions |
| push-pull factors | Term for the forces that make people emigrate from their native lands and influence them to settle in new places |
| famine | A severe food shortage |
| prejudice | A negative opinion of a group of people, not based on facts |
| nativists | Native-born Americans who joined the 1850s Know-Nothing Party; discriminated against Catholics and the foreign-born |
| romanticism | A European artistic movement that stressed the individual, imagination, creativity, and emotion |
| transcendentalism | A 19th-century philosophy that taught that the spiritual world is more important than the physical world |
| civil disobedience | Peacefully refusing to obey laws one considers unjust |
| revival | A meeting designed to reawaken religious faith |
| Second Great Awakening | The renewal of religious faith in the 1790s and early 1800s that stressed that anyone could choose salvation |
| temperance movement | A campaign to stop the drinking of alcohol |
| labor union | An organization of workers who contracts for better working conditions |
| strike | To stop work; a strategy workers use to force employers to meet their labor demands |
| abolition | The movement to end slavery |
| Frederick Douglass | Public speaker and lecturer for the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society; he published an autobiography of his slave experiences |
| Sojourner Truth | An abolitionist speaker who drew huge crowds and who won a court battle to regain her son from slavery |
| Underground Railroad | A series of escape routes used by slaves heading to the North from the South |
| Seneca Falls Convention | A women's rights convention planned by Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton and held in New York in 1848 |
| suffrage | The right to vote |
| Wilmot Proviso | An 1846 proposal that outlawed slavery in any territory gained from the War with Mexico |
| Free-Soil Party | The political party that was dedicated to stopping the expansion of slavery |
| Stephen A. Douglas | Illinois senator who argued the issue of slavery in a series of political debates with Abraham Lincoln |
| Compromise of 1850 | Henry Clay's plan to resolve the imbalance of power between North and South should California be admitted as a free state |
| Uncle Tom's Cabin | A novel published by Harriet Beecher Stowe in 1852 that portrayed slavery as brutal and immoral |
| Fugitive Slave Act | An 1850 law passed to help slaveholders recapture runaway slaves |
| popular sovereignty | A system in which residents vote to decide an issue |
| Kansas-Nebraska Act | An 1854 law that established the Kansas and Nebraska territories and designated them as open to a vote on slavery |
| John Brown | An extreme abolitionist who avenged the Sack of Lawrence by murdering five proslavery people in Kansas Territory |
| "Bleeding Kansas" | What Kansas Territory came to be called when violence and civil war broke out over the issue of slavery |
| Republican Party | The political party formed in 1854 by the Northern Whigs and other opponents of slavery in the territories |
| John C. Frmont | A national hero and explorer of the West nominated by the Republican party to run for President in 1856 |
| Dred Scott v. Sandford | Supreme Court case that ruled against a slave who sued for his freedom, saying that he was not a U.S. citizen |
| Abraham Lincoln | Elected the 16th U.S. president, he hoped to preserve the Union and stop the spread of slavery |
| Harpers Ferry | Site of a federal arsenal in Virginia that was captured in 1859 during an antislavery revolt led by John Brown |
| platform | A political party's statement of beliefs |
| secede | To withdraw, as a state from the Union |
| Confederate States of America | The alliance formed in 1861 by the Southern states after their secession from the Union |
| Jefferson Davis | Chosen president of the Confederacy |
| Crittenden Plan | A compromise that might have prevented secession, introduced in Congress in 1861 by a Senator from Kentucky |
| Abraham Lincoln | Elected the 16th U.S. president, he hoped to preserve the Union and stop the spread of slavery |
| civil war | Armed conflict between two sides from the same region or country |
| the Union | Term for the states loyal to the United States of America during the Civil War |
| Fort Sumter | South Carolina fort under federal control that was attacked by the South, marking the start of the Civil War |
| Robert E. Lee | Virginia resident, talented military leader, and commanding general of the Army of Northern Virginia |
| border state | Term for Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, Missouri-slave states that bordered free states and did not secede from the Union |
| King Cotton | A term coined to show that Southern cotton was important to the world market and to the Southern economy |
| Anaconda Plan | Economic strategy to bring Southern states back into the Union by cutting off the South's coastline and controlling the Mississippi River |
| blockade | When armed forces prevent the transportation of goods or people into or out of an area |
| First Battle of Bull Run | An 1861 battle of the Civil War in which the South shocked the North with a victory |
| hygiene | Conditions and practices that promote health |
| casualties | Number of people killed or injured |
| rifle | A gun with a grooved barrel that causes a bullet to spin through the air, giving it more distance and accuracy |
| mini ball | A bullet with a hollow base that would cause a rifle to shoot farther and more accurately than a musket |
| ironclad | Warship that replaced wooden ships; this "horrible mechanical monster" had an iron hull and a rotating gun turret |
| Ulysses S. Grant | Victorious Civil War general in the West who became commander of Union armies in 1864 and president in 1869 |
| Battle of Shiloh | An 1862 battle in which the Union forced the South to retreat, but with over 23,000 casualties for both sides |
| cavalry | Soldiers on horseback |
| Seven Days' Battles | An 1862 week-long battle in which the Confederacy saved the Southern capital, Richmond, from Union troops |
| Battle of Antietam | The bloodiest battle of the Civil War, in which neither side advanced, but 25,000 men were killed or wounded |
| Abraham Lincoln | The first American president to be assassinated |
| Frederick Douglass | Powerful public speaker who advised President Lincoln, "Sound policy . . . demands the instant liberation of every slave in the rebel states." |
| Emancipation Proclamation | An executive order issued by Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, freeing all slaves in Confederate territory |
| 54th Massachusetts Regiment | One of the first African-American regiments organized to fight for the Union in the Civil War |
| Jefferson Davis | He was chosen to be president of the Confederacy |
| Copperheads | Abraham Lincoln's main political opponents; Northern Democrats who favored peace with the South |
| conscription | Laws that required men to serve in the military, also known as the draft |
| bounty | A $300 cash payment given to those who volunteered to serve in the Union military |
| income tax | Tax on earnings |
| greenbacks | Paper currency issued by the federal government during the Civil War |
| Clara Barton | She organized a Civil War relief agency and later founded the American Red Cross |
| Battle of Gettysburg | An 1863 Civil War battle in which the Union victory ended Lee's hopes for a Confederate victory in the North |
| Pickett's Charge | A failed, deadly, direct attack on Union troops led by General Pickett during the Battle of Gettysburg |
| Ulysses S. Grant | Union general who won important victories in the West, opening up the Mississippi River for travel deep into the South |
| Robert E. Lee | He lost Richmond, the Confederate capital, to General Grant on April 3, 1865 after a 10-month siege. |
| Siege of Vicksburg | An 1863 Union victory in Mississippi, in a town that was the last Confederate stronghold on the Mississippi River |
| Gettysburg Address | President Lincoln's 1863 speech to dedicate a cemetery; in it he said we are a nation where "all men are created equal" |
| William Tecumseh Sherman | A Union general who waged total war, destroying rail lines and crops on his way to capture Atlanta |
| Appomattox Court House | The Virginia town where Robert E. Lee surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant in 1865, ending the Civil War |
| Thirteenth Amendment | The amendment to the U.S. Constitution, adopted in 1865, banning slavery and involuntary servitude in the U.S. |
| Radical Republicans | Congressmen who supported using federal power to rebuild the South and give African Americans full citizenship |
| Reconstruction | The process the U.S. government used to readmit Confederate states to the Union after the Civil War |
| Freedmen's Bureau | Federal agency set up to help former slaves after the Civil War |
| Andrew Johnson | President after Lincoln's assassination, he vetoed the Civil Rights Act of 1866; Congress voted to override the President's veto |
| black codes | Laws passed by Southern states that limited the freedom of former slaves |
| civil rights | Rights granted to all citizens |
| Fourteenth Amendment | The 1868 constitutional amendment giving all people born in the United States citizenship and "equal protection of the laws" |
| scalawags | Poor white farmers in the South, chosen to draft state constitutions and labeled "scoundrels" for supporting Radical Republicans |
| carpetbaggers | Name for delegates chosen to draft new Southern state constitutions who were newly arrived white Northerners |
| impeachment | The process of accusing a public official of wrongdoing, or improper conduct, while in office |
| freedmen's school | A school set up to educate newly freed African Americans |
| contract system | The wage-earning work system that replaced slave labor on Southern plantations during Reconstruction |
| sharecropping | A system in which landowners gave workers land, seed, and tools in return for part of the crops they raised |
| Ku Klux Klan | A secret group formed in 1866 who used arson and murder to restrict the rights of African Americans |
| lynch | To kill a person as punishment for a supposed crime, without a trial |
| Robert B. Elliott | In 1874, an African-American congressman from South Carolina; later elected the state's attorney general |
| Ulysses S. Grant | 1868-1876 president who passed successful anti-Klan laws but whose corrupt administration caused a split in the Republican Party |
| Fifteenth Amendment | An 1870 amendment that said reasons of race, color, or servitude could not keep voting rights from citizens |
| Panic of 1873 | Financial crisis in which banks closed and the stock market collapsed |
| Compromise of 1877 | The agreement that gave Rutherford B. Hayes the presidency and removed federal troops from the South |
| frontier | Unsettled or sparsely settled area of North America occupied largely by Native Americans |
| boomtown | A town that has a sudden burst of economic or population growth |
| long drive | Taking cattle by foot to a cow town along the railway |
| vaquero | The first cowhand, who came from Mexico with the Spaniards in the 1500s |
| vigilante | A person willing to take the law into his or her own hands |
| reservation | Land set aside by the U.S. government for Native American tribes |
| Sand Creek Massacre | An 1864 attack in which more than 150 Cheyenne men, women, and children were killed by the Colorado militia |
| Battle of the Little Bighorn | An 1876 battle in which Sioux and Cheyenne wiped out an entire force of U.S. troops led by George A. Custer |
| Wounded Knee Massacre | The massacre by U.S. soldiers of 300 unarmed Native Americans at Wounded Knee Creek, South Dakota, in 1890 |
| Dawes Act | A law, enacted in 1887, that distributed reservation land to individual owners |
| homestead | A piece of land and the house on it |
| Mexicano | A person of Spanish descent whose ancestors has come from Mexico and had settled in the Southwest |
| William "Buffalo Bill" Cody | A buffalo hunter turned showman who brought the West to the rest of the world through his Wild West show |
| buffalo soldier | A name given by Native Americans to African Americans serving in the U.S. army in the West |
| Homestead Act | An 1862 law that gave 160 acres of land free to anyone who agreed to live on it and improve it for five years |
| sodbuster | A farmer on the frontier who built a home from the thickly matted top layer of prairie soil |
| Grange | Formed in 1867 by farmers to meet farm families' social needs and led to formation of the economic cooperative |
| Populist Party | Also called the People's Party, formed by farm groups in the 1890s to get policies that would raise crop prices |
| gold standard | A policy under which the government backs every dollar with a certain amount of gold |
| William Jennings Bryan | Congressman who fought for reform and ran for president with the support of the Populists and the Democrats |
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Popular U.S. History sets