GLOSSARY

 

 

Adams, John As the nation's second president, Adams had to deal with deteriorating relations be­tween the United States and France. Conflicts be­tween the two countries were evident in the XYZ Affair and the "Quasi‑War" of 1798 to 1800.

 

Alien and Sedition Acts Four acts passed in 1798 de­signed to curb criticism of the federal government. Adopted during a period of conflict with France, the acts lengthened the period before an immigrant could obtain citizenship, gave the president power to deport dangerous aliens, and provided for the prosecution of those who wrote "false, scandalous and malicious" writings against the U.S. govern­ment.

 

Allies In World War I, the United States, Great Britain, France, and Russia, the alliance that op­posed and defeated the Central Powers of Germany and Austria‑Hungary and their allies; in World War II, primarily the United States, Great Britain, (free) France, and the Soviet Union that opposed and defeated the Axis powers of Germany, Italy, and Japan.

 

American Exceptionalism Notion that America houses biologically superior people and can spread democracy to the rest of the world. An intellectual foundation of expansion and racism in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

 

American Federation of Labor A confederation of la­bor unions founded in 1886, it was composed mainly of skilled craft unions and was the first na­tional labor organization to survive and experience a degree of success, largely because of its conserva­tive leadership that accepted industrial capitalism.

 

American System (of Henry Clay) Henry Clay's pro­gram for the national economy, which included a protective tariff to stimulate industry, a national bank to provide credit, and federally funded inter­nal improvements to expand the market for farm products.

 

American System of Production The high cost of la­bor led to the establishment of a system of mass production through the manufacture of inter­changeable parts.

 

Anaconda Plan General Winfield Scott designed this strategic plan in the early days of the Civil War. to give direction to the Union war effort against the South. The plan advocated a full naval blockade of the South's coastline, a military campaign to gain control of the Mississippi River, and the placement of armies at key points in the South to squeeze-- like the Anaconda snake--the life out of the Con­federacy. In various‑ways, this plan helped inform overall Union strategy in militarily defeating the South.

 

Antifederalists These were opponents of the Con­stitution of 1787 who sought to continue the confederation of sovereign states and to keep power as close as possible to the people. In actual­ity, the Antifederalists were true federalists in seek­ing to balance powers among the states and the national government. Their confused identity may have cost them support in attempting to prevent ratification of the Constitution. See Federalists.

 

Antinomian Literally meaning against the laws of hu­man governance. Antinomians believed that once they had earned saving grace, God would offer them direct revelation by which to order the steps of their lives. As such, human institutions, such as churches and government, were no longer neces­sary. Mainline Puritans believed Antinomianism would produce only social chaos and destroy the Bay Colony's mission, so they repudiated and even exiled prominent persons like Anne Hutchinson, who advocated such doctrines.

 

Axis Powers In World War II, the alliance of German and Italy, and later Japan.

 

Bank of the United States A central bank, chartered by the federal government in 1791. Proposed by Alexander Hamilton, the bank collected taxes, held government funds, and regulated state banks. The bank's charter expired in 1811. A second Bank of the United States was created in 1816. See Second Bank of the United States.

 

Bay of Pigs Fiasco A plan to assassinate Cuban leader Fidel Castro and liberate Cuba with a trained mili­tary force of political exiles. The limited 1~61 inva­sion was an unmitigated military failure and actu­ally strengthened Castro's position in Cuba.

 

Beat Generation A cultural style and artistic move­ment of the 1950s that rejected traditional Ameri­can family life and material values and celebrated African‑American culture. They tapped an under­ground dissatisfaction with mainstream American culture.

 

Big Stick Diplomacy The proclaimed foreign policy of Theodore Roosevelt, it was based on the proverb, "Speak softly and carry a big stick," and advocated the threat of force to achieve the United States' goals, especially in the Western Hemisphere.

 

Bill of Rights The first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution, which protect the rights of individu­als from the powers of the national government. Congress and the states adopted the ten amend­ments in 1791.

 

Billy Yank This appellation was used to refer to com­mon soldiers serving in Union armies during the Civil War. See Johnny Reb.

 

Birds of Passage Immigrants who never intended to make the United States their home. Unable to make a living in their native countries, they came to America, worked and saved, and returned home. About 20 to 30 percent of immigrants returned home.

 

Black Codes Laws passed by Southern state legisla­tures during Reconstruction, while Congress was out of session. These laws limited the rights of for­mer slaves and led Congress to ratify the Four­teenth Amendment.

 

Black Power A rallying cry for more militant blacks advocated by younger leaders like Stokely Carmichael and H. Rap Brown, beginning in the mid‑1960s. It called for African Americans to form their own economic, political, and cultural institu­tions.

 

Black Tuesday October 29,1929, the day of the stock market crash that initiated the Great Depression.

 

Bonus Army Group of unemployed World War I vet­erans who marched on Washington, D.C., in June 1932 to ask‑for immediate payment of their war pensions.

 

Brain Trust Close advisors .to~resident Franklin De­lano Roosevelt during the early days of his first term whose policy suggestions influenced much New Deal legislation.

Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka Supreme Court decision of 1954 that overtumed the "sepa­rate but equal doctrine" that justified Jim Crow laws. Chief Justice Earl Warren argued that "sepa­rate educational facilities are inherently unequal."

 

Burr, Aaron Thomas Jefferson's first vice president, who killed Alexander Hamilton in a duel in 1804.

 

Cabinet This term refers to the heads of the executive departments.

 

Calhoun, John C. As vice president, Calhoun anony­mously expounded the doctrine of nullification, which held that states could prevent the enforce­ment of a federal law within their boundaries.

 

Calvinism Broadly influential Protestant theology emanating from the French theologian John Calvin, who fled to Switzerland, where he reordered life in the community of Geneva according to his concep­tion of the Bible. Calvinism emphasized the power and omnipotence of God and the importance of seeking to earn saving grace and salvation, even though God had already determined (the concept of predestination) who would be eternally saved or damned.

 

Camp David Accords An historic 1979 peace agree­ment negotiated between Egypt and Israel at the U.S. presidential retreat at Camp David, Maryland. Under the pact, Israel agreed to return captured territory to Egypt and to negotiate Palestinian autonomy in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

 

Capital Punishment During the early nineteenth cen­tury, a movement arose to end the death penalty.

 

Carpetbaggers People who moved to the South dur­ing or following the Civil War and became active in politics, they helped to bring Republican control of southern state governments during Reconstruction and were bitterly resented by most white Southern­ers.

 

Carter, Jimmy Georgia governor in 1970, and presi­dent in 1976. His progressive racial views reflected an emergent South less concerned with racial dis­tinctions and more concerned with economic devel­opment and political power.

 

Cautious Revolutionaries Sometimes called reluctant revolutionaries, these leaders lacked a strong trust in the people to rise above their own self‑interest and provide for enlightened legislative policies (see public virtue). At the time of the American Revolu­tion, they argued in favor of forms of government that could easily check the popular will. To assure political stability, they believed that political deci­sion making should be in the hands of society's proven social and economic elite. John Dickinson, John Adams (very much an eager revolutionary), and Robert Morris might be described as cautious revolutionaries. See radical revolutiorlaries.

 

Central Powers In World War I, Germany and Aus­tria‑Hungary and their allies.

 

Channing, William Ellery America's leading expo­nent of religious liberalism, Channing was one of the founders of American Unitarianism.

 

The China Lobby An informal group of media lead­ers and political pundits who criticized the commu­nist takeover of China, claiming the United States could have prevented it.

 

City upon a Hill Phrase from John Winthrop's ser­mon, "A Model of Christian Charity," in which he challenged his fellow Puritans to build a model, ideal community in America that would serve as an example of how the rest of the world should order its existence. Here was the beginning of the idea of America as a special, indeed exceptional society, therefore worthy of emulation by others. The con­cept of American exceptionalism has dominated American history and culture down to the present.

 

Civil Rights Act of 1964 Landmark legislation that prohibited discrimination on the basis of race, sex, religion, or national origin in employment and public facilities such as hotels, restaurants, and playgrounds. It established the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

 

Clay, Henry As Speaker of the House of Representa­tives, Senator, and unsuccessful candidate for the presidency, he was an advocate of the "American System," which called for a protective tariff, a na­tional bank, and federally funded internal improve­ments. See American system (of Henry Clay).

 

Colonization The effort to encourage masters to vol­untarily emancipate their slaves and to resettle free blacks in Africa.

 

Columbian Exchange The process of transferring plants, animals, foods, diseases, wealth, and culture between Europe and the Americas, beginning at the time of Christopher Columbus and continuing throughout the era of exploration and expansion. The exchange often resulted in the devastation of Native American peoples and cultures, so much so that the process is sometimes referred to as the "Columbian collision."

 

Committee on Public Information (CPI) U.S. propa­ganda agency of World War I.

 

Committees of Correspondence As American leaders became increasingly anxious about a perceived British imperial conspiracy to deprive them of their liberties, they set up networks of communication among the colonies. Beginning in 1773 colonial as­semblies began to appoint committees of corre­spondence to warn each other about possible abuses. In some colonies, such as Massachusetts, lo­cal communities also organized such committees, all with the intention of being vigilant against arbi­trary acts from British officials.

 

Common Sense This best‑selling pamphlet by Thomas Paine, first published in 1776, denounced the British monarchy, called for American indepen­dence, and encouraged the adoption of republican forms of government. Paine's bold words thus helped crack the power of reconciliationist leaders in the Second Continental Congress who did not believe the colonies could stand up to British arms and survive as an independent nation.

 

Compromise of 1877 A bargain made between south­ern Democrats and Republican candidate Ruther­ford B. Hayes after the disputed presidential elec­tion of 1876. The southern Democrats pledged to let Hayes take office in return for his promise to with­draw the remaining federal troops from the south­ern states. The removal of the last troops in 1877 marked the end of Reconstruction.

 

Coney Island Popular site of New York amusement parks opening in 1890s, attracting working class Americans with rides and games celebrating aban­don and instant gratification.

 

Copperheads Not every person living in the North during the Civil War favored making war against the Confederacy. Such persons came to be identi­fied as Copperheads. Often affiliated with the De­mocratic party and residing in the Midwest, Cop­perheads favored a negotiated peace settlement that would allow the South to leave the Union. Some of them were arbitrarily thrown into jail without proper habeas corpus proceedings after pub­licly advocating their views.

 

Court Packing President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's controversial plan to appoint Supreme Court jus­tices who were sympathetic to his views, by offer­ing retirement benefits to the sitting justices.

 

Coverture Coverture is closely connected with patri­archy because this concept contends that the legal identity of women is subordinated first in their fa­thers and, then, in their husbands, as the sanctioned heads of households. See patriarchal.

 

Coxey's Arrny A movement founded by Jacob S. Coxey to help the unemployed during the depres­sion of the 1890s, it brought out‑of‑work people to Washington, D.C., to demand that the federal government provide jobs and inflate the currency.

 

Crandall, Prudence A Quaker schoolteacher, Cran­dall sparked controversy when she opened a school for the education of free blacks.

 

Cuban Missile Crisis The conflict in 1962 prompted by Soviet installation of missiles on Cuba and Pres­ident Kennedy's announcement to the American Public. After days of genuine fe~ar on both sides, the two sides negotiated a whereby the Soviet Union removed the missiles and the United States pledged not to invade Cuba.

 

Cuffe, Paul An African‑American sea captain, Cuffe led the first experiment in colonization when he transported 38 free blacks to Sierra Leone in 1815.

 

Dartmouth v. Woodward A landmark 1819 Supreme Court decision protecting contracts. In the case, Chief Justice John Marshall ruled that the charters of business corporations are contracts and thus pro­tected under the U.S. Constitution.

 

Dawes Severalty Act Legislation passed in 1887 to au­thorize the president to divide tribal land and dis­tribute it to individual Native Americans, it gave 160 acres to each head of the household in an at­tempt to assimilate Indians into citizenship.

 

D‑Day June 6, 1944, the day Allied forces landed on the beaches of Normandy, in France, leading to the defeat of Germany.

 

Declension A term associated with the Massachusetts Bay Colony, referring to the declining zeal of later generations or movement away from the utopian ideals of those Puritan leaders, such as John Winthrop, who founded the colony. As an example of declension, see half‑way covenant.

 

Deregulation An economic policy, begun during the administration of Jimmy Carter, which freed air and surface transportation, the savings and loan in­dustry, natural gas, and other industries from many government economic controls.

 

Detente A relaxation of tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union that was begun by President Richard M. Nixon.

 

Diem, Ngo Dinh Although a Catholic in a Buddhist nation and a leader with no popular charm, the American government manufactured Diem's 1956 election because of his anticommunist views. The American government gradually realized Diem's lack of popular support and stood by when he was assassinated in 1963.

 

Dien Bien Phu Vietminh siege of 13,000 French sol­diers in 1954 at a remote military outpost. The French surrender led to the 1956 elections designed to reunify Vietnam.

 

Divine Right Rule Long‑held belief that monarchs were God's political stewards on earth. Because their authority to rule supposedly came directly from God, the decision making of monarchs was held to be infallible and thus could not be ques­tioned. Some of England's Stuart kings in the sev­enteenth century viewed themselves as ruling by divine right, a position that numerous subjects re­jected, even to the point of ~ civil war in the 1640s and the beheading of Charles I in 1649.

 

Dix, Dorothea The leader of efforts to reform the treatment of the mentally ill.

 

Douglass, Frederick The nation's most famous fugitive slave and African‑American abolitionist, Douglass supported political action against slavery.

 

Dumbbell tenement Apartment buildings built to minimal codes and designed to cram the largest number of people into the smallest amount of space. The dumbbell indentation in the middle of the building, although unsightly, conformed to the

 

Tenement Reform Law of 1879 required all rooms to have access to light and air.

 

Dunmore's Ethiopian Regiment In November 1775 John Murray, Lord Dunmore (Virginia's last royal governor), issued an emancipation proclamation that freed all slaves and indentured servants living in Virginia who were willing to bear arms against their rebellious masters. As many as 2000 slaves fled to the British banner, and some became mem­bers of Dunmore's Ethiopian regiment. With little training in arms, this regiment fared poorly in a battle with Virginia militia in December 1775. An outbreak of smallpox later killed many of the ex­-slaves who responded to Dunmore's proclamation.

 

Electric Trolley Public transportation for urban neighborhoods, using electric current from over­head wires. Between 1888 and 1902, 97 percent of urban transit mileage had been electrified.

 

Emancipation Proclamation President Abraham Lin­coln issued a preliminary proclamation in Septem­ber 1862 that all slaves would be declared free in those states that were still in rebellion against the Union at the beginning of 1863. Receiving no offi­cial response from the Confederacy, Lincoln an­nounced the Emancipation Proclamation on Janu­ary 1, 1863. All slaves in the rebellious Confederate states were to be forever free. However, slavery could continue to exist in border states that were not at war against the Union. Lincoln's Emancipa­tion Proclamation represented the beginning of the end of chattel slavery in the United States.

 

Embargo of 1807 An attempt to stop British and French interference with American shipping by prohibiting foreign trade.

 

Emerson, Ralph Waldo A poet and essayist, Emerson espoused a philosophy called transcendentalism, which emphasized self‑reliance and intuition.

 

Enclosure Movement As the demand for wool height­ened in England during the sixteenth century be­cause of the emerging textile industry, Parliament passed laws that allowed profit‑seeking landowners to fence in their open fields to raise more sheep. Thousands of peasants who, as renters, had been farming these lands for generations were evicted and thrown into poverty. Many moved to the cities, where as "sturdy beggas" they too often found little work. In time, some migrated to English colonies in America, where work opportunities were far more abundant.

 

Encomienda System The government in Spain gave away large tracts of conquered land in Spanish America, including whole villages of indigenous peoples, to court favorites, including many conquis­tadores. These new landlords, or encomenderos, were supposed to educate the natives and teach them the Roman Catholic faith. The system was rife with abuse, however. Landlords rarely offered much ed­ucation, preferring instead to exploit the labor of the local inhabitants, whom they treated like slaves.

 

Enlightenment A broadly influential philosophical and intellectual movement that began in Europe during the eighteenth century. The Enlightenment unleashed a tidal wave of new learning, especially in the sciences and mathematics, that helped pro­mote the notion that human beings, through the use of their reason, could solve society's problems. The Enlightenment era, as such, has also been called the "Age of Reason." Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson were leading proponents of Enlightenment thinking in America.

 

Enumerated Goods Products grown or extracted from England's North American colonies that could be shipped only to England or other colonies within the empire. Goods on the first enumeration list included tobacco, indigo, and sugar. Later furs, molasses, and rice would be added to a growing list of products that the English colonies could not sell directly to foreign nations.

 

Equal Rights Amendment Proposed Constitutional amendment that would prohibit discrimination on the basis of gender.

 

Era of Good Feelings Phrase used to describe the years following the War of 1812, when one party, the Jeffersonian Republicans, dominated politics, and a spirit of nationalism characterized public policy.

 

Evangelical Revivalism (Revivals) A current of Protes­tant Christianity emphasizing personal conversion, repentance of sin, and the authority of Scripture.

 

The Fair Deal Failed 1948 legislative package pro­posed by President Truman. It included an expan­sion of Social Security, federal aid to education, a higher minimum wage, a national plan for medical insurance, and civil rights legislation for minorities.

 

Farewell Address In this 1796 statement, in which he expresses his intention not to run for a third term as president, George Washington warns of the dan­gers of party divisions, sectionalism, and perma­nent alliances with foreign nations.

 

Federal Reserve System The central banking system of the United States, established with passage of the Federal Reserve Act of 1913, charged with the re­sponsibility of managing the country's money sup­ply through such means as lowering or raising inter­est rates. A presidentially appointed board of seven members (the Federal Reserve Board) oversees the twelve regional banks of the Federal Reserve System.

 

Federalist Papers These 85 newspaper essays, written in support of ratification of the Constitution of 1787 in New York by James Madison, Alexander Hamil­ton, and John Jay, described the proposed plan of national government as a sure foundation for long­term political stability and enlightened legislation. Although having little effect on the ratification de­bate in New York, the papers soon became classics of political philosophy about the Constitution as the framework of federal government for the American republic.

 

Federalists In the campaign to ratify the Constitution of 1787, nationalists started referring to themselves as federalists, which conveyed the meaning that they were in favor of splitting authority between their proposed strong national government and the states. The confusion in terminology may have helped win some support among citizens worried about a powerful--and potentially tyrannical--na­tional government. Some leading nationalists of the 1780s became Federalists in the 1790s. See Antifeder­alists. The term also refers to a political party founded by Alexander Hamilton in the 1790s to support his economic program.

 

Finney, Charles Grandison The "father of modern~re­vivalism," Finney devised many techniques adopted by later revival preachers. He encouraged many women to participate actively in revival.

 

Fire‑eaters Radical leaders in the South during the years leading up to the Civil War, the fire‑eaters were persons who took an extreme pro‑slavery po­sition. They repeatedly expressed their desire to see slavery spread throughout the United States, and they used states' rights arguments to support their uncompromising position.

 

Fireside Chats Weekly radio addresses by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in which he explained his actions directly to the American people.

 

First 100 Days President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's first 100 days in of fice, when he proposed and Con­gress passed fifteen major bills that reshaped the U.S. economy.

 

First Continental Congress This body was the most important expression of intercolonial protest activ­ity up to 1774. Called in response to Parliament's Coercive Acts, the delegates met in Philadelphia for nearly two months. More radical delegates domi­nated the deliberations. Before dissolving itself, the Congress called for ongoing resistance, even mili­tary preparations to defend American communi­ties, and a second congress, should King and Par­liament not redress American grievances.

 

Flapper Term for a liberated woman who bucked conventional ideas of propriety in dress and man­ners during the 1920s.

 

Fourteen Points President Woodrow Wilson's for­mula for peace after World War I.

 

Free Soil Party An antislavery political party founded in 1848.

 

Freedmen's Bureau (Bureau of Refugees~ Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands) An organization estab­lished by Congress on March 3, 1865 to deal with the dislocations of the Civil War. It provided relief, helped settle disputes, and founded schools and hospitals.

 

Freedom of Information Act This law allows the public and press to request declassification of gov­ernment documents.

 

Freedom Riders Civil rights activists who in 1961 demonstrated that despite a federal ban on segre­gated travel on interstate buses, segregation pre­vailed in parts of the South.

 

Friedan, Betty Author of The Feminine Mystique, the. 1963 book that articulated the discontent among white middle‑class housewives in the "Baby Boom" era. She founded the National Organization for Women (NOW) in 1966.

 

Fugitive Slave Law The most controversial element of the Compromise of 1850, the Fugitive Slave Law provided for the return of runaway slaves to their masters.

 

Gabriel A Virginia slave and blacksmith who orga­nized an attempted assault against Richmond in 1800.

 

Gallaudet, Thomas Hopkins Founder of the nation's first school to teach deaf mutes to read and write and communicate through hand signals.

 

Garrison, William Lloyd The leader of radical aboli­tionism, Garrison sought immediate freedom for slaves without compensation to their owners.

 

Goldwater, Barry Republican residential candidate in 1964, Goldwater spearheaded an emergent conservative drive out of the South and West. Unhappy with the nation's path toward~ liberalism, Goldwater called for more limited taxes, a reduction in legislation aiding farmers and organized labor, and a reduc­tion of federal spending.

 

Good Neighbor Policy During the administration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, the U.S. policy of not interfering in the internal affairs of hemispheric neighbors.

 

Gorbachev, Mikhail The last leader of the Soviet Union, Gorbachev adopted policies of glastnost (po­litical liberalization) and7~zstroika (economic re­form).

 

Gospel of Wealth The belief that God ordains certain people to amass money and use it to further God's purposes, it justified the concentration of wealth as long as the rich used their money responsibly.

 

Grand Alliance In World War II, the alliance between the United States, Great Britain, and France.

 

Great Awakening Spilling over into the colonies from a wave of revivals in Europe, the Awakening placed renewed emphasis on vital religious faith, partially in reaction to more secular, rationalist thinking characterizing the Enlightenment. Begin­ning as scattered revivals in the 1720s, the Awaken­ing grew into a fully developed outpouring of reju­venated faith by the 1740s. Key figures included Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield. The Awakening's legacy included more emphasis on personal choice, as opposed to state mandates about worship, in matters of religious faith.

 

Great Migration The mass movement of African Americans from the South to the North during World War I.

 

Great Society The liberal reform program of President Lyndon Johnson. The program included civil rights legislation, increased public spending to help the poor, Medicare and Medicaid programs, educational legislation, and liberalized immigration policies.

 

Greenback Party A political party founded in 1874 to promote the issuance of legal tender paper currency not backed by precious metals in order to inflate the money supply and relieve the suffering of people hurt by the era's deflation, most of its members merged with the Populist party.

 

Greenbacks To help fund the military forces used against the Confederacy during the Civil War, the federal Congress issued a paper currency known as greenbacks. Even though greenbacks had no back­ing in specie (hard currency), this currency held its value fairly well because of mounting confidence the Union would prevail in the war. See also specie.

 

Grimke, Angelina, and Sarah Born to a wealthy South Carolina slaveholding family, these sisters became leaders in the abolitionist and women's rights movements.

 

Gulf of Tonkin Resolution Following two reported attacks on the U.S.S. Maddox in 1964, American president Lyndon B. Johnson asked for and received this authorization from Congress to "take all necessary measures" to repel attacks, prevent aggression, and protect American security. It allowed Johnson to act without Congressional authorization on military matters in Vietnam.

 

Half‑Way Covenant Realizing that many children of the Massachusetts Bay Colony's first generation were not actively seeking God's saving grace and full church membership, the question was how to keep the next generation of children active in church affairs. The solution, agreed to in 1662, was to permit the baptism of children and grandchil­dren of professing saints, thereby according them half‑way membership. Full church membership still would come only after individuals testified to a conversion experience. This compromise on stan­dards of membership was seen as a sign of declen­sion. See declension.

 

Hamilton, Alexander The first secretary of the treasury and a leader of the Federalist party. As secretary of the treasury, he devised a plan for repaying the nation's debts and promoting economic growth. This plan included funding and assumption of the national and state debts at face value, establishment of the Bank of the United States, and tariffs on imported goods. Hamilton died following a duel with Aaron Burr in 1804.

 

Harlem Renaissance Self‑conscious African American cultural, literary, and artistic movement centered in Harlem in New York City during the 1920s.

 

Hartford Convention Convention held in late 1814 and early 1815 by New Englanders opposed to the War of 1812, which recommended Constitutional amendments to weaken the power of the South and to restrict Congress's power to impose embargoes or declare war.

 

Haymarket Square riot A violent encounter between police and protestors in 1886 in Chicago, which led to the execution of four protest leaders, it scared the public with the specter of labor violence and demonstrated governments' support of industrial­ists over workers.

 

Headright As an economic incentive to encourage English to settle in Virginia and other English colonies during the seventeenth century, sponsor­ing parties would offer 50 acres of land per person to those who migrated or who paid for the passage of others willing to migrate to America. Because of Virginia's high death rate and difficult living condi­tions, headrights functioned as an inducement to help bolster the colony's low settlement rate.

 

Helper, Hinton Rowan The North Carolina‑born au­thor of The Impending Crisis of the South, a book that argued that slavery was incompatible with eco­nomic progress.

 

Hessians Six German principalities provided 30,000 soldiers to Great Britain to fight against the Ameri­can rebels during the War for Independence. More than half of these troops‑for‑hire came from Hesse­Cassel. Hessian thus would serve as the generic term for all German mercenaries fighting in the war, whether or not they came from Hesse‑Cassel.

 

Holy Experiment Tolerance of religious diversity was at the core of William Penn's vision for a colony in America. As such, the colony of Pennsylvania rep­resented a "holy experiment" for Penn. He encour­aged people of all faiths to live together in harmony and to maintain harmonious relations with Native Americans in the region. The residents of early Pennsylvania never fully embraced Penn's vision, but the colony was open to religious dissenters and became a model for the diversity that later charac­terized America.

 

Hooverizing Herbert Hoover's program as director of the Food Administration to conserve food during World War I.

 

Hoovervilles Shanty‑towns of the Great Depression, named after President Herbert Hoover.

 

House Un‑American Activities Committee (HUAC) investigated subversive right‑ and left‑wing move­ments. During the Cold War, it was best known for its two investigations of the American film indus­try.

 

Howe, Samuel Gridley Founder of the nation's first school for the blind.

 

Hudson Highlands Strategy The British tried to exe­cute this strategy early in the War for American In­dependence but never successfully implemented it. The idea was to gain control of the Hudson River-­Lake Champlain corridor running north from New York City and south from Montreal, Canada. Had they done so, the effect would have been to cut off New England, the initial center of rebellion, from the rest of the colonies. New England could then have been reconquered in detail. The failure to co­ordinate the movements of British forces in 1776 and 1777 resulted in the capture of John Burgoyne's army at Saratoga, New York, in October 1m, which ended any attempt to snuff out the rebellion by retaking New England.

 

Hydraulic Society Defined by historian Donald Worster as "a social order based on the intensive manipulation of water and its products in an arid setting," it characterized the irrigated societies of the modern West, allowing for agricultural produc­tivity and a massive demographic shift westward.

 

Implied Powers The view that the national govem­ment's powers are not limited to those stated ex­plicitly in the U.S. Constitution.

 

Impressment The British practice of seizing seamen from American merchant ships and forcing them to serve in the British navy. Impressment was one of the causes of the War of 1812.

 

Imprisonment for Debt During the early nineteenth century, reformers succeeded in restricting impris­onment of debtors.

 

Indentured Servitude In an effort to entice English subjects to the colonies, parties would offer legal bonded contracts that would exchange the cost of passage across the Atlantic for up to seven years of labor in America. Indenture contracts also required masters to provide food, clothing, farm tools, and sometimes land when the term of bonded service had expired, thus allowing former servants the op­portunity to gain full economic independence in America.

 

Indulgences Redemption certificates pardoning per­sons from punishment in the afterlife that were be­ing sold by the Roman Catholic church. Martin Luther particularly condemned this practice in his Ninety‑five Theses, in bringing on the Protestant Reformation.

 

The Influence of Sea Power Upon History 1890 book by Alfred Thayer Mahan that argued nations ex­pand their world power through foreign commerce and a strong navy. Strongly influenced American politicians who advocated expansion.

 

Initiative and Referendum A procedure that allows citizens to propose legislation through petitions, it was passed by numerous states at the turn of the century but rarely used until the 1970s.

 

Insanity Defense The legal principle that a criminal act should only be punished if the offender was fully capable of distinguishing right from wrong.

 

Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) The first federal regulatory agency, established by passage of the Interstate Commerce Act in 1887 to regulate the railroads. The ICC's powers were expanded to oversee other forms of transportation and commu­nication.

 

Iranian Hostage Crisis In November 1979, Iranian stu­dents seized the U.S. embassy compound in Tehran and held 52 Americans inside hostage for 444 days.

 

Jackson, Andrew As major general during the War of 1812, he defeated the Creek Indians at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend and a British army at the Battle of New Orleans. In 1818, he led an American incur­sion into Spanish‑held Florida. He served as seventh president of the United States from 1829 to 1837.

 

Jazz Musical style based on improvisation within a band format, combining African traditions of repe­tition, call and response, and strong beat with Eu­ropean structure.

 

Jefferson, Thomas The primary author of the Decla­ration of Independence, the first secretary of state, and the third president of the United States. As president, he was responsible for the Louisiana Purchase and the Embargo of 1807, which sought to end British and French interference with American shipping.

 

Johnny Reb This appellation‑was used to refer to common soldiers servin~{:onfederate armies during the Civil War. See Billy Yank.

 

Joint Stock Trading Companies These companies were given the right to develop trade between Eng­land and certain geographic regions, such as Russia or India. Investors would pool their capital, in return for shares of stock, to underwrite trading ventures. One such company, the Virginia Company, failed to secure profits for its investors but laid the basis for the first major English colony in the Americas.

 

Judicial Review The power of the courts to determine the constitutionality of acts of other branches of government and to declare unconstitutional acts null and void.

 

Judiciary Act of 1801 Passed by the Federalists after they had lost control of Congress in the election of 1800, the act reduced the size of the Supreme Court, created a new set of circuit courts, and increased the number of district court judges. The Jefferson­ian Republicans repealed the act in 1801.

 

Kaiser, Henry J. Industrialist who epitomized the close relationship between government and indus­try in the West. His shipyards, financed by govern­ment loans and bolstered by cost‑plus government contracts, employed close to 300,000 Californians.

 

Kansas‑Nebraska Act Controversial 1854 legislation that opened Kansas and Nebraska to white settlement, repealed the Compromise of 1820, and led oppo­nents to form the Republican party.

 

Kennedy, Robert After an early public life as a com­mitted Cold Warrior, Kennedy ran for the Democ­ratic nomination in 1968 as a peace candidate rep­resentative of young liberals. His assassination while on the campaign trail helped create the dis­enchantment of many young Americans with the political process.

 

 

Khrushchev, Nikita Personable Soviet premier dur­ing Eisenhower's presidential term. Khrushchev condemned Stalin's purges and welcomed a melt­ing of the Cold War, although he crushed a 1956 democratic uprising in Hungary.

 

Kissinger, Henry The national security advisor to President Nixon, the Harvard‑educated German Jewish immigrant was a staunch anti‑Communist. He was Nixon's closest associate on matters of foreign policy.

 

Knights of Labor A labor organization founded in 1869, it called for the unity of all workers, rejected industrial capitalism, and favored cooperatively owned businesses but was discredited by such la­bor violence as the Haymarket Square riot and did not survive the depression of the 1890s.

 

Know Nothing Party An anti‑foreign, anti‑Catholic political party that arose following massive Irish and Catholic immigration during the late 1840s. The Know Nothing party replaced the Whigs as the second largest party in New England and some other states between 1853 and 1856.

 

Ku Klux Klan A secret organization founded in the southern states during Reconstruction to terrorize and intimidate former slaves and prevent them from voting or holding public office. Officially dis­banded in 1869, a second anti‑black, anti‑Catholic, and anti‑Semitic Klan emerged in 1915 that aimed to preserve "Americanism."

 

Laissez‑faire An economic theory based upon the ideas of Adam Smith, it contended that in a free economy self‑interest would lead individuals to act in ways that benefited society as a whole and therefore government should not intervene.

 

Large Policy Bold foreign policy put forth by Henry Cabot Lodge and others, advocating a canal through the Central American isthmus and a strong American naval presence in the Caribbean and Pa­cific.

 

League of Nations Point Fourteen of Wilson's Fourteen Points, the proposal to establish an inter­national organization to guarantee the territorial integrity of independent nations.

Lend‑Lease Act The program by which the United States provided arms and supplies to the Allies in World War II before joining the fighting.

 

Liberty Party An antislavery political party founded in 1839.

 

Liluokalani, Queen Rising to power in Hawaii in 1891, she initiated a strong anti‑American policy. Her overthrow in 1893 by white islanders paved the way for ultimate American annexation in 1897.

 

Little Rock Crisis  Conflict in 1957 when governor Or­val Faubus sent the Arkansas National Guard to prevent the racial integration of Little Rock's Cen­tral High School. After a crucial delay, President Eisenhower federalized the National Guard troops and sent in 1000 paratroopers to foster the school's integration.

 

Loose Interpretation The view that the national gov­ernment has the power to create agencies or enact statutes to fulfill the powers granted by the U.S. Constitution.

 

Louverture, Toussaint The leader of the Haitian Rev­olution.

 

Loyal Nine This informal group of pro‑colonial rights leaders in Boston helped organize resistance against unwanted British policies, such as the Stamp Act. Working with more visible popular leaders like Samuel Adams and street leaders like Ebenezer Mackintosh, the Loyal Nine both planned and gave overall direction to controlled violent protests in defying the imperial will and protecting the community's interests in Boston during the 1760s.

 

Lusitania British ship carrying American passengers sunk by a German submarine on May 15, 1915.

 

MacArthur, General Douglas Bold, arrogant Ameri­can general celebrated for his successful amphibi­ous invasion at Inchon, on North Korean forces' rear. MacArthur's subsequent invasion into North Korea stalled, and President Truman removed him from command after his inflammatory, egomania­cal criticisms of America's containment policy.

 

Macon's Bill No. 2 An attempt to stop British and French interference with American trade.

 

Madison, James The Father of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights and a co‑founder of the Jefferson­ian Republican party, Madison served as president during the War of 1812.

 

Malcolm X Spokesman for the Nation of Islam, a black religious and political organization that ad­vocated black‑owned businesses and castigated "white devils." He achieved notoriety as a public speaker and recruiter of boxer Muhammad Ali to the organization. He left the Nation of Islam in 1964 to form the Organization of Afro‑American Unity in 1964, and was assassinated in 1965.

 

Manhattan Project The secret government program to develop an atomic bomb during World War II.

 

Mann, Horace The early nineteenth century's leading educational reformer, Mann led the fight for gov­ernment support for public schools in Massachu­setts.

 

Manumission The freeing or emancipation of chattel slaves by their owners, which became more com­mon in the upper South in the wake of so much talk during the American Revolution about human lib­erty. George Washington was among those planters who provided for the manumission of his slaves after the death of his wife Martha.

 

Marbury v. Madison This landmark 1803 Supreme Court decision, which established the principle of judicial review, marked the first time that the Court declared an act of Congress unconstitutional.

 

Maroons Escaped slaves who formed communities of runaways.

 

Marquis of Queensberry Rules Standardized boxing rules of the late nineteenth century, creating struc­tured three minute rounds with one minute rest pe­riods, outlawing wrestling throws and holds, and specifying the number of rounds.

 

Marshall Plan A massive foreign aid program to Western Europe of $17 billion over four years, beginning in 1948. Named after Secretary of State George Marshall, the program restored economic prosperity to the region and stabilized its system of democracy and capitalism.

 

Marshall, John Appointed Chief Justice in 1801, Mar­shall expanded the Supreme Court's power and prestige and established its power to determine the constitutionality of the acts of other branches of government and to declare unconstitutional acts null and void. He defended the supremacy of the federal government over state governments and held that the Constitution should be.construed broadly and flexibly.

 

Matrilineal Unlike European nations that were male­based, or patrilineal, in organization, many Native American societies structured tribal and family power and authority through women. Quite often use rights to land and personal property passed from mother to daughter, and the eldest women chose male chiefs. Matrilineal societies thus placed great importance on the capacities of women to provide for the long‑term welfare of their tribes.

 

McCullough v. Maryland A landmark 1819 Supreme Court decision establishing Congress's power to charter a national bank and declaring unconstitu­tional a tax imposed by Maryland on the bank's Baltimore branch.

 

Mercantilism An economic system built on the as­sumption that the world's supply of wealth is fixed and that nations must export more goods than they import to assure a steady supply of gold and silver into national coffers. Mercantile thinkers saw the inflow of such wealth as the key to maintaining and enhancing national power and self‑sufficiency. Within this context, the accumulation and devel­opment of colonies was of great importance, since colonies could supply scarce raw materials to par­ent nations and serve as markets for finished goods.

 

Meredith, James Black student who courageously sought admission into all‑white University of Mis­sissippi in 1962. His enrollment sparked a riot insti­gated by a white mob that attacked federal mar­shals and national guard troops, leaving 2 dead and 375 injured. Meredith attended the university and eventually graduated.

 

Military Reconstruction Act A law passed after the South's refusal to accept the Fourteenth Amend­ment in 1867, it nullified existing state governments and divided the South into five military districts ‑ headed by military governors.

 

Modern Republicanism Also called "dynamic conser­vatism," President Eisenhower's domestic agenda advocated conservative spending approaches with­out drastically cutting back New Deal social pro­grams.

 

Monroe Doctrine In this 1823 statement of American foreign policy, President James Monroe declared that the United States would not allow European powers to create new colonies in the Western Hemisphere or to expand the boundaries of exist­ing colonies.

 

Monroe, James The president of the United States during the Era of Good Feelings.

 

Muckrakers Investigative journalists during the Pro­gressive Era, they wrote sensational exposes of so­cial and political problems that helped spark the re­form movements of their day.

 

Mugwumps A reform faction of the Republican party in the 1870s and 1880s, they crusaded for honest and effective government and some sup­ported Democratic reform candidates.

 

National Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) An organization formed in 1890 from two factions of the suffrage movement, it sought a constitutional amendment to grant women the right to vote throughout the nation, eventually leading to the Nineteenth Amendment.

 

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Organization established in 1909 to fight for African‑American civil rights through legal action.

 

National Origins Act of 1924 Law that restricted immigration to 2 percent for any given nationality, based on the total amounts from the 1890 census. Use of the 1890 census effectively restricted immigrants from eastern and southern Europe.

 

National Recovery Administration (NRA) The fed­eral government's plan to revive industry during the Great Depression through rational planning.

 

National System of Interstate and Defense Highways Act 1956 legislation creating national highway system of 41,000 miles, costing $26 billion and taking 13 years to construct. It solidified the central role of the automobile in American culture.

 

Nationalists These revolutionary leaders favored a stronger national government than the one pro­vided for in the Articles of Confederation. They be­lieved that only a powerful national government, rather than self‑serving states, could deal effec­tively with the many vexing problems besetting the new nation. George Washington, Alexander Hamil­ton, and James Madison were prominent national­ists.                    ~

 

Nativism A backlash against immigration by white native‑born Protestants. Nativism could be based on racial prejudice (professors and scientists sometimes classified Eastern Europeans as innately inferior), religion (Protestants distrusted Catholics and Jews), politics (immigrants were often associated with radical political philoso­phies), and economics (labor leaders resented competition).

 

Naturalism Literary style of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, where the individual was seen as a helpless victim in a world in which bio­logical, social, and psychological forces determined his or her fate.

 

Navigation System To effect mercantilist goals, King and Parliament legislated a series of Navigation Acts (1651, 1660,1663, 1673, 1696) that established England as the central hub of trade in its emerging empire. Various rules of trade, as embodied in the Navigation Acts, made it clear that England's colonies in the Americas existed first and foremost to serve the parent nation's economic interests, re­gardless of what was best for the colonists.

 

Neutrality U.S. policy of impartiality during World Wars I and II.

 

New Deal President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's pro­gram designed to bring about economic recovery and reform during the Great Depression.

 

New Lights As the Great Awakening spread during the 1730s and 1740s, various religious groups frac­tured into two camps, sometimes known as the New Lights and Old Lights. The New Lights placed emphasis on a "new birth" conversion experi­ence--gaining God's saving grace. They also de­manded ministers who had clearly experienced conversions themselves. See Old Lights.

 

The New Look President Eisenhower's adjustment to ­the doctrine of containment. He advocated saving money by emphasizing nuclear over conventional weapons, on the premise that the next major world conflict would be nuclear.

 

New South The ideology following Reconstruction that the South could be restored to its previous glory through a diversified economy, it was used to rally Southerners and convince outside investors to underwrite regional industrialization by extolling the resources, labor supply, and racial harmony of the South.

 

Nineteenth Amendment Passed in 1920, the Consti­tutional guarantee of women's right to vote.

 

Nixon Doctrine President Nixon argued for "Viet­namization," the notion that the South Vietnamese would carry more of the war's combat burden. This plan never reached full realization because of the South Vietnamese inability to carry on the war ef­fort without American troops.

 

Non‑Intercourse Act An 1809 statute which replaced the Embargo of 1807. It forbade trade with 8ritain, France, and their possessions, but reopened trade with other countries.

 

Nonseparatists Religious dissenters from England who wanted to purify, rather than separate from, what they viewed as the corrupted, state‑sup­ported Anglican church, or Church of England. By and large, the Puritans were nonseparatists,and some of them banded together to form a utopian community of believers in America. The Massachusetts Bay Colony was to be a model society that would show how godly societies and churches were to be properly organized. See separatists.

 

Northwest Passage During the Age of Exploration, adventurers from England, France, and the Nether­lands kept seeking an all‑water route across North America. The goal was to gain access to Oriental material goods and riches while avoiding contact with the developing Spanish empire farther to the south in Central and South America.

 

NSC‑68 Influential National Security Council docu­ment arguing communism was a monolithic world movement directed from the Kremlin and advocat­ing a massive military buildup to counteract the en­croachment of communism.

 

Nullification The doctrine, devised by John C. Cal­houn, that a state has the power to nullify a federal legislation within its borders.

 

Oil Crisis Oil supply disruptions and soaring oil prices that the United States experienced in 1973 and 1979. In 1973, Middle Eastern nations imposed an embargo on oil shipments to punish the West for supporting Israel in that year's Arab‑Israeli war. A second oil shock occurred when the Iranian Revolution disrupted oil shipments to the western nations.

 

Old Lights As the Great Awakening spread during the 1730s and 1740s, various religious groups frac­tured into two camps, sometimes known as the Old Lights and the New Lights. The Old Lights were not very enthusiastic about the Awakening, particularly in terms of what they viewed as popular excesses in seeking after God's grace. Old Light ministers emphasized formal schooling in theology as a source of their religious authority, and they emphasized good order in their churches. See New Lights.

 

O'Malley, Walter Penny‑pinching owner of baseball's Dodgers who oversaw their 1958 move from Brooklyn to Los Angeles. Unhappy with the deteri­oration of Brooklyn's neighborhoods and lured by the economic promise of California, the Dodgers' move west illustrated the profound westward ‑ demographic shift in modern America.

 

Open Door Note Policy set forth in 1899 by Secretary of State John Hay preventing further partitioning of China by European powers, and protecting the principle of free trade.

 

Operation Just Cause An American military interven­tion in Panama in December 1989, which was launched after Panama's leader, Manuel Noriega, who was indicted on drug‑related charges, invali­dated civilian elections and declared a state of war with the United States.

 

Panic of 1837 A financial depression that lasted until the early 1840s.

 

Parks, Rosa African‑American seamstress and active NAACP member arrested for refusing to give up her seat to a white patron in Montgomery, Al­abama, prompting a huge bus boycott led by Martin Luther King, Jr.

 

Patriarchal Patriarchal social and political systems are denoted by power and authority residing in males, such as in the father of the family. Such authority then passes from father to son through the genera­tions, and males, in general, control decision mak­ing. See coverture.

 

Patrons of Husbandry An organization founded in 1867 to aid farmers through its local granges, it was responsible for state laws regulating railroads, es­tablished cooperatives to help with marketing prob­lems, and provided a social outlet for rural areas.

 

Pearl Harbor The main base of the U.S. Pacific fleet, which Japan attacked on December 7, 1941, forcing the United States to enter World War II.

 

Pendleton Act A law passed in 1883 to eliminate po­litical corruption in the federal goverment, it out­lawed political contributions by appointed office­holders and established the Civil Service Commission to administer competitive examina­tions for covered government jobs.

 

Permanent Immigrants Immigrants coming to Amer­ica to settle permanently, often due to ethnic and religious persecution at home.

 

Perpetual servitude Indentured servitude repre­sented temporary service for a specified period, usually from four to seven years, to a legally desig­nated owner. Perpetual servitude meant being owned by some other person for life--and ultimately, even through the generations. In the early days of Virginia, both English subjects and African Americans were indentured servants, but over time blacks would be subjected to perpetual servitude as chattels, defined as the movable prop­erty of their all‑powerful masters and without legal rights of any kind.

 

Ping‑Pong Diplomacy Communist China's chairman Mao Tse‑tung sent a table tennis team to the world championships in Nagoya, Japan, and then invited an American team to compete in Japan in 1971. This small gesture paved the way for President Nixon's visit to China in February I972.

 

Plantation Legend A stereotype created by popular pre‑Civil War writers, that depicted the South as a region of aristocratic planters, beautiful Southern belles, poor white trash, and faithful household slaves.

 

Platt Amendment 1901 amendment to the Army Ap­propriation Bill, limiting Cuban independence by giving the United States two naval bases on Cuba and the right to intervene in Cuban affairs if the American government felt Cuban independence was threatened.

 

Plessy v. Ferguson A Supreme Court decision in 1896 that ruled "separate but equal" facilities for African Americans were constitutional under the Four­teenth Amendment, it had the effect of legalizing segregation and led to the passage of much dis­criminatory legislation known as Jim Crow laws.

 

Political Slavery During the 1760s and 1770s many colonial leaders believed that if they did not keep resisting unwanted British policies, they would fall into a state of political slavery in which they had no liberties. As such, they would be akin to chattel slaves in their midst. Comprehending how poten­tially tyrannical chattel slavery was spurred on many colonists to defend American liberties, even to the point of open rebellion.

 

Polk, James K. As president of the United States dur­ing the Mexican War, Polk increased American ter­ritory by a third.

 

Popular Sovereignty The principle, incorporated into the Compromise of 1850 and the Kansas‑Nebraska Act, that the people living in the western territories should decide whether or not to permit slavery.

 

Populist (People's) Party A political party established in 1892 primarily by remnants of the Farrners' Al­liance and Greenback party, it sought to inflate the currency with silver dollars and to establish an in­come tax but some of its platform was adopted by the Democrats in 1896 and it died out after the de­feat of joint candidate William Jennings Bryan.

 

Pragmatism A distinctly American philosophy pro­posed by William James, it contends that any con­cept should be tested and its validity determined by its outcome and that the truth of an idea is found in the conduct it dictates or inspires.

 

Price revolution The large influx of gold and silver into Europe from Spanish America during the sixteenth century, along with increased demand for limited supplies of goods, set off a three‑fold rise in prices (the "great inflation") that caused profound economic turmoil, social disruption, and political instability among European peoples and nations.

 

Progressive (Bull Moose) Party A political party es­tablished in 1912 by supporters of Theodore Roo­sevelt after William H. Taft won the Republican presidential nomination. The party proposed a broad program of reform but Bull Moose candidate Roosevelt and Republican nominee lost to the Democratic candidate, Woodrow Wilson.

 

Prohibition The ban of the production, sale, and con­sumption of alcoholic beverages. The Eighteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, adopted in 1919, established prohibition. The amendment was repealed in 1933, with adoption of the Twenty‑first Amendment.

 

Protestant Reformation A religious reform move­ment formally begun in 1517 when the German friar Martin Luther openly attacked abuses of Ro­man Catholic doctrine. Luther contended that the people could read scripture for themselves in seek­ing God's grace and that the Bible, not church doc­trine, was the ultimate authority in human relation­ships. Luther's complaints helped foster a variety of dissenting religious groups, some of which would settle in America to get away from various forms of oppression in Europe.

 

Public Virtue A cornerstone of good citizenship in re­publican states, public virtue involved the subordi­nation of individual self‑interest to serving the greater good of the whole community. Revolution­ary leaders believed that public virtue was essential for a republic to survive and thrive. If absent, gov­ernments would be torn apart by competing pri­vate interests and succumb to anarchy, at which point tyrants would emerge to offer political stabil­ity but with the loss of dearly won political liber­ties.

 

Radical Republicans A faction of the Republican party during Reconstruction, they favored forcing the South to make fundamental changes before readmission to the Union. Eventually they won control because of Southerners' refusal to accept more lenient plans for Reconstruction.

Radical Revolutionaries At the time of the American Revolution, they argued in favor of establishing more democratic forms of government. Radical revolutionaries had a strong trust in the people, viewed them as inherently virtuous (see public virtue), and believed that citizens could govern themselves. Samuel Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and Thomas Paine might be described as radical revolu­tionaries. See cautious revolutionaries.

 

Rage Militaire Meaning a passion for arms, the rage militaire characterized the attitudes of American colonists as the war with Great britain began in 1775. When the ravages and deprivations of war­fare became more self‑evident, however, this early enthusiasm gave out. In 1776 Thomas Paine criti­cized the "summer soldiers and sunshine patriots" among the colonists who seemed so eager to fight at the beginning of the War for Independence but who so quickly dropped out as the dangers of en­gaging in warfare increased.

 

Rationalism A main tenet of the Enlightenment era, meaning a firm trust in the ability of the human mind to solve earthly problems, thereby lessening the role of--and reliance on~od as an active force in the ordering of human affairs.

 

Reagan Doctrine President Ronald Reagan's 1985 pledge of American aid to insurgent movements attempting to overthrow Soviet‑back regimes in the Third World.

 

Redemptioners The redemptioner labor system was similar to that of indentured servitude in providing a way for persons without financial means to get to America. Normally, the family had to locate some­one to pay for its passage in return for a set number of years of labor. If no buyer could be found, then ships captains could sell the family's labor, most likely on less desirable terms for the family, to recoup the costs of passage. Thousands of Germans migrated to America as redemptioners in the eight­eenth century.

 

Referendum See Initiative and Referendum

 

Reform Darwinists Sociologists who rejected the de­terminism of the Social Darwinists, they accepted evolutionary theory but held that people could shape their environment rather than only be shaped by it and accepted human intervention in society.

 

Religious Liberalism A religious viewpoint that re­jected the Calvinist doctrines of original sin and predestination and stressed the basic goodness of human nature.

 

Remember the Maine! A national catch phrase fol­lowing the mysterious 1898 explosion of the U.S. battleship Maine in Havana harbor, inflamed public opinion, leading to the Spanish‑American War.

 

Removal (Indian Removal Policy) A policy of reset­tling eastern Indian tribes on lands west of the Mis­sissippi River.

 

Renaissance Beginning in the 1400s, the European Re­naissance represented an intellectual and cultural flowering in the arts, literature, philosophy, and the sciences. One of the most important tenets of the Renaissance was the belief in human progress, or the betterment of society.

 

Republican Motherhood This definition of mother­hood, emanating from the American Revolution, assigned mothers the task of raising dutiful children, especially sons, who would be prepared to serve the nation in disinterested fashion (see public virtue). Mothers thus acquired the special charge of assuring that future generations could uphold the tenets of republicanism. This expanded role for mothers meant that women, not men, would be responsible for the domestic sphere of life.

 

Republicanism At the time of the American Revolu­tion, republicanism referred to the concept that sovereignty, or ultimate political authority, is vested in the people--the citizens of the nation. As such, republican governments not only derive their authority from the consent of the governed but also predicate themselves on the principles of rule by law and legislation by elected representatives.                                                                      

 

Republicans A political party founded by James Madison and Thomas Jefferson to combat Alexan­der Hamilton's fiscal policies.

 

Rock and Roll Musical style new to the 1950s, com­bining black rhythm and blues with white country music. Listened to mostly by young Americans and embodied by Elvis Presley, the music softly chal­lenged notions of sexual propriety and racial divi­sion.

 

Roderigue Hortalez & Cie. Prior to its formal in­volvement in the War for Independence, the French government supplied the American rebels with critically needed war goods through a bogus pri­vate trading firm known as Roderigue Hortalez & Cie. French officials did so because they hoped to see the power of Great Britain reduced but without becoming directly engaged in the war itself. Once the Franco‑American alliance came into being in 1778, the French could abandon such ruses in favor of open support of their rebel allies.

 

Rosenberg, Julius and Ethel American radicals ac­cused of passing atomic secrets to the Soviets dur­ing World War II. Although the death penalty was not mandatory for their crime, their 1953 execution reflected the national anti‑communist hysteria.

 

Sagebrush Rebellion Failed movement led by conser­vative Western politicians to cede federal control of western land to individual states, promoting pri­vate ownership and commercial development.

 

Salisbury, Lord Imperious British prime minister who rejected American intervention in an 1895 border dispute between Venezuela and British Guiana, prompting an American threat of military involvement. Salisbury ultimately reversed his position and allowed a commission to arbitrate the dispute.

 

Salutary Neglect This term signifies England's rela­tively benign neglect of its American colonies from about 1690 to 1760. During these years King and Par­liament rarely legislated constraints of any kind and allowed the colonists much autonomy in provincial and local matters. In turn, the colonists supported the parent nation's economic political objectives. This harmonious period came to an end after the Seven Year's War when King and Parliament began asserting more control over the American colonists through taxes and trade regulations.

 

Santa Anna, General Antonio Lopez de The Mexican general and president whose defeat at the Battle of San Jacinto in 1836 permitted Texas to gain its inde­pendence.

 

Scalawags Southern white Republicans during Reconstruction, they came from every class and had a variety~motives but were pictured by their opponents as ignorant and degraded.

 

Scopes trial The 1925 trial of John Scopes for teaching Charles Darwin's theory of evolution in a Ten­nessee public school; also called the "Monkey Trial."

 

Scott, Dred A Missouri slave, Scott sued for his freedom on the grounds that his master had taken him onto free soil. The Supreme Court ruled in 1857 that Scott was not a citizen and that Congress had no power to exclude slavery from the federal territories.

 

Second Bank of the United States A national bank chartered in 1816 to hold government funds, ease the transfer of money across state lines, and regu­late private banks. Its federal charter expired in 1836.

 

Second Continental Congress This body gathered in Philadelphia during May 1775 after the shooting war with Great Britain had started. The second Congress functioned as a coordinating government for the colonies and states in providing overall di­rection for the patriot war effort. It continued as a central legislative body under the Articles of Con­federation until 1789 when a new national legisla­ture, the federal Congress as established under the Constitution of 1787, first convened.

 

Second Great Awakening A wave of religious fervor and revivalism that swept the United States from the early nineteenth century through the Civil War.

 

Second New Deal The second stage of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's economic recovery and reform program, launched January 4, 1935.

 

Separatists Religious dissenters from England who believed that the state‑supported Anglican church, or Church of England, was too corrupt to be reformed. Thus, like the Pilgrims, they often migrated elsewhere to form their own religious communities. See nonseparatists.

 

Settlement House Movement A reform movement growing out of Jane Addams' Hull House in the late nineteenth century, it led to the formation of community centers in which mainly middle‑class women sought to meet the needs of recent immi­grants to urban centers.

 

Seward, William Henry Secretary of State for Abra­ham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson, and advocate of a vigorous expansionism. He is perhaps best known for the purchase of Alaska from Russia in 1867 for $7.2 million, an act labeled "Seward's Folly."

 

Sharecropping A system of labor to replace slavery that allowed landless farmers to work the land of others for a share of the crops they produced. It was favored by freedpeople over gang labor but often resulted in virtual peonage.

 

Shays Rebellion Beset by a hard‑hitting economic depres­sion after the War of American Independence, these farmers from western Massachusetts finally rose up in rebellion against their state government in 1786 because they had failed to obtain tax relief. One leader of the uprising was Daniel Shays, from whom the Shaysites derived their name.

 

Sherman Antitrust Act A law passed in 1890 to break up trusts and monopolies, it was rarely enforced except against labor unions and most of its power was stripped away by the Supreme Court, but it be­gan federal attempts to prevent unfair, anticompet­itive business practices.

 

Sit‑in A form of nonviolent protest in which civil rights activists occupy seats in a segregated estab­lishment.

 

Slave Codes Legal codes that defined the slavehold­ers' power and the slaves' status as property.

 

Smith, Joseph, Jr. The founder of the Mormon Church, Smith was murdered in Illinois in 1844.

 

Smog The chemical‑laden fog caused by automobile engines, a serious problem in southern California. Like nuclear waste and the shrinking water supply, it reflects the problems associated with the rapid demographic shift to the West in modem times.

 

Social Darwinism An ideology based upon the evolutionary theories of Charles Darwin, it justified the concentration of wealth and lack of governmental protection of the weak through the ideas of natural selection and survival of the fittest.

 

Social Gospel A movement among Christian theolo­gians, it applied Christian doctrines to social prob­lems and advocated creating living conditions con­ducive to saving souls by tackling the problems of the poor.

 

Southern Strategy Once France formally entered the War for Independence in 1778 on the American side, the British had to concern themselves with protecting such vital holdings as their sugar islands in the Caribbean region. Needing to disperse their troop strength, the idea of the Southern strategy was to tap into a perceived reservoir of loyalist numbers in the southern colonies. Reduced British forces could employ these loyalists as troops in subduing the rebels and as civil officials in reestab­lishing royal governments. The plan failed for many reasons, including a shortfall of loyalist sup­port and an inability to hold ground once con­quered in places like South Carolina.

 

Specie A term for hard coin, such as gold or silver, that can also back and give a fixed point of valua­tion to paper currencies.

 

Spirituals Religious songs composed by enslaved African Americans.

 

Spoils system The policy of awarding political or fi­nancial help with a government job. Abuses of thespoils system led to the passage in 1883 of the Pendleton Act, which created the Civil Service Commission to award govemment jobs on the basis of merit.

 

Sputnik Russian satellite that successfully orbited the earth in 1957, prompting Americans to question their own values and educational system. The hys­teria over Soviet technological superiority led to the 1958 National Defense Education Act.

 

Stagflation The economic conditions of slow eco­nomic growth, rising inflation, and flagging productivity that characterized the American econ­omy during the 1970s.

 

Stalin, Joseph Soviet premier in the 1930s and 1940s, known for his violent purges of intemal political enemies and his suspicion of Westem leaders, an ideology guided by two major German invasions into Russia.

 

Stamp Act Congress This intercolonial body of politi­cal leaders from nine colonies met for a few days in October 1765 to consider ways to protest the Stamp Act. The delegates drafted a petition declaring that Parliament should not tax Americans, since they were not represented in that legislative body. The Congress showed that the colonies, when aggrieved, could act in unity, an important precedent for fur­ther intercolonial resistance efforts in years to come.

 

Stanton, Elizabeth Cady Organizer of the first women's rights convention in Seneca Falls, New York, in 1848, Stanton led the struggle for woman suffrage.

 

Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty of 1972 (SALT I) Arms control treaty signed by President Nixon and Soviet premier Leonid Brezhnev. Although it only froze the deployment of relatively inconsequential intercontinental ballistic missiles, this first treaty would lead to more comprehensive arms reduction treaties in the future.

 

Strict Construction The view that the powers of the national government are limited to those described in the U.S. Constitution.

 

Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) Founded in Port Huron, Michigan in 1962, the radical organiza­tion aimed to rid American society of poverty, racism, and violence through an individually ori­ented approach called participatory democracy. By 1968, the organization had over 100,000 followers and was responsible for demonstrations at nearly 1000 colleges.

 

Taft‑Hartley Act Legislation in 1947 that reflected the conservative post‑war mood. It outlawed the closed shop, gave presidential power to delay strikes with a "cooling‑off” period, and curtailed the political and economic power of organized labor.

 

Tariff of Abominations An 1828 protective tariff op­posed by many Southerners.

 

Temperance The pre‑Civil War reform movement which sought to curb the drinking of hard liquor.

 

Tet Offensive As American military and political leaders suggested victory in Vietnam was in sight, North Vietnam launched an offensive in January 1968 against every major South Vietnamese target. Although the United States repelled the Tet Offen­sive, it prompted waves of criticism from those who felt the government had been misleading the American people.

 

Thoreau, Henry David A pencilmaker, poet, and author of the influential essay "Civil Disobedience," Thoreau sought to realize transcendentalist ideals in his personal life.

 

Tory In England during the eighteenth century the Tory Party was closely identified with the king's in­terests and monarchism, or in the minds of many American patriots, with tyrannical government. As the Revolution dawned, Tory became a term of de­rision applied to those colonists who sought to maintain their allegiance to the British crown. They preferred to think of themselves as loyalists, since they were not rebelling against but were still sup­porting British imperial authority in America.

 

Total War As opposed to limited war, total war usu­ally denotes a military conflict in which warfare ultimately affects the entire population, civilian as well as military. The American Civil War, at least in its latter stages, might serve as an example of total war because of the destruction of both military and civilian resources in the South by Union armies op­erating under General Grant and especially General Sherman during 1864 and 1865.

 

Transcendentalists A group of New England intellec­tuals who glorified nature and believed that each person contains god‑like potentialities.

 

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo The peace treaty ending the Mexican War gave the United States California, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and parts of Arizona, Colorado, Kansas, and Wyoming in exchange for $15 million and assumption of $3.25 million in debts owed to Americans by Mexico.

 

Treaty of Versailles The treaty that ended World War I.

 

Truman Doctrine A speech by President Truman in March 1947 that set the course of U.S. foreign policy for the next generation, painting international af­fairs as a struggle between free democratic govern­ments and tyrannical communist governments, and advocating American intervention to protect demo­cratic governments.

 

Trust A form of business organization that created a single board to trustees to oversee competing firms, the term came to apply when any single entity had the power to control competition within a given in­dustry, such as oil production.

 

Truth, Sojoumer A leading orator in the abolitionist and women's rights movements, Sojourner Truth was born into slavery in New York's Hudson River Valley and escaped in 1826.

 

Turner, Nat A black Baptist preacher who led a revolt against slavery in Southampton County in south­ern Virginia in 1831.

 

Twenty‑Fourth Amendment This amendment, adopt­ed in 1964, barred a poll tax in federal elections.

 

Vertical Integration The practice of controlling every phase of production by owning the sources of raw materials and often the transportation facilities needed to distribute the product, it was a means of gaining a competitive edge over rival companies.

 

Vesey, Denmark A former West Indian slave who or­ganized an attempted rebellion against slavery in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1822.

 

Vice‑Admiralty Courts The English government etablished these courts in its North American colonies to deal with issues of maritime law, including smuggling. If judges condemned vessels for smuggling, they would share in profits from the sale of such craft and their cargoes. Judges made all rulings without juries and thus could clearly bene­fit from their own decisions, which caused many colonists to view these courts as centers of despotic imperial power. The Stamp Act of 1765 stated that colonists who did not pay stamp duties could be tried in vice‑admiralty courts, which became an­other colonial grievance about the prospect of be­ing convicted and sent to jail without a jury trial, a violation of fundamental English liberties.

 

Virtual Representation King George III's chief minis­ter, George Grenville, employed this concept in 1765 in relation to the Stamp Act. He insisted that all colonists were represented in Parliament by vir­tue of being English subjects, regardless of where they lived. Grenville was attempting to counter the colonists' position that King and Parliament had no authority to tax them, since the Americans had no duly elected representatives serving in Parlia­ment.

 

Voting Rights Act of 1965 This law prohibited liter­acy tests and sent federal examiners to the South to register voters.

 

Walker, David The free black author of An Appeal to the Colored Citizens of the World, which threatened violence if slavery was not abolished.

 

Wallace, George Alabama governor who ran for pres­ident in 1968 as a third‑party candidate on the American Independent ticket. His message reject­ing forced racial integration, the activities of radical college students, and the perceived national drift toward the left appealed to many working class Americans, and he received 13.5 percent of that election's vote.

 

War of 1812 War between Britain and the United States. Causes included British interference with American shipping, impressment of seamen, a de­sire to end British aid to Indians, and an American desire for expansion.

 

War Powes Act This 1973 law required presidents to win specific authorization from Congress to engage U.S. forces in foreign combat for more than 90 days.

 

War Production Board The board established in Janu­ary 1942 to help mobilize the U.S. economy for war production.

 

Washington, George As the nation's first president, Washington helped define the powers of the presi­dency, demonstrated in the Whiskey Rebellion that the national government would enforce federal law, cleared the Ohio country of Indians, and at­tempted to preserve American neutrality during the war between Britain and France.

 

Watergate Break‑In During the 1972 presidential campaign, burglars, tied to the Nixon White House, were caught installing eavesdropping devices in Democratic Party headquarters in the Watergate Complex in Washington, D.C. Revelations of White House efforts to obstruct the investigation of the break‑in, of financial irregularities, and the use of government agencies for partisan purposes led President Nixon to resign in 1974.

 

Webster, Daniel A noted orator, Webster opposed the War of 1812 and the protectionist tariff of 1816 after his election to the House of Representatives. He later became a staunch nationalist and defender of tariff protection.

 

Whig Party During the eighteenth century in England the Whig Party was a loosely organized coalition of political leaders that opposed any hint of arbitrary authority that might emanate from the monarchy and royally appointed officials in govemment. Like the radical Whig pamphleteers, they also viewed themselves as defenders of liberty, which is one reason why many American leaders, even though not organized as a political party, called themselves whigs. During the 1830s and 1840s in the United States, there was a Whig party that op­posed the policies of Andrew Jackson, Martin Van Buren, and other members of the Democratic Party.

 

Whitney, Eli The inventor of the cotton gin, Whitney pioneered a system of mass production of inter­changeable parts. Whitney's cotton gin, which sep­arated cotton from its seeds, met the growing de­mand for cotton from the textile industry and breathed new life into the institution of slavery.

 

Wilmot Proviso An amendment to an 1846 appropri­ations bill that would have forbade slavery from any territory acquired from Mexico. The amend­ment passed the House twice but was defeated in the Senate.

 

Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCT~ An organization led by Frances Willard to stop the abuse of alcohol, it joined forces with other groups in the movement for the prohibition of alcohol to reduce such problems as wife abuse.

 

Women's Army Corps (WAC) The auxiliary women's unit to the U.S. army.

 

Workmen's Compensation Laws Legislation estab­lishing mandatory insurance to be carried by em­ployers to cover on‑thejob injuries to their work­ers, it was a reform that provided protection to workers while also lowering the risk to employers.

 

Writs of Assistance Blanket search warrants used by English customs collectors in the colonies to try to catch suspected smugglers. These writs did not re­quire any form of prior evidence to justify searches, which the colonies viewed as yet another imperial violation of fundamental English liberties.

 

Yalta Conference The meeting between President Franklin Roosevelt, British prime minister Winston Churchill, and Soviet premier Joseph Stalin at Yalta in the Russian Crimea in February 1945 to deter­mine the post‑World War II world order.

 

Yellow Journalism Sensationalistic press accounts of the volatile Cuban situation in the 1890s, led by William Randolph Hearst's New York Journal and Joseph Pulitzer's Ne~o York World. Helped mobilize pro‑interventionist public opinion prior to the Spanish‑American war.

 

Young, Brigham The leader of the Mormon church following Joseph Smith's murder, Young led the Mormon exodus from Illinois to the Great Salt Lake.

 

Zimmermann Telegram Telegram from German For­eign Minister Arnold Zimmermann to the German ambassador to Mexico pledging a Mexican‑German alliance against the United States, which brought the United States into World War I.