Glossary
1600-1791 :: 1791-1877 :: 1877-1945 :: glossary :: bibliography :: test #1 :: test #2
Abolition- the movement for the abolishment of slavery
Admiralty Courts- the court which has jurisdiction of maritime questions and offenses
Alcott, Amos Bronson- founder of American Transcendentalists, has been called “the most transcendental of the Transcendentalists,” father of Louisa May Alcott, founder of Fruitlands Community
Anarchist- one who opposes government in all forms
Anglicans- members of the Church of England
Annexation– the incorporation of a territory, city, or country into another country
Balloon Frame House- a single family home produced with cheap, light timber
Banneker, Benjamin- a free black surveyor and mathematician who rejected Jefferson’s racist statements
Black Codes– laws limiting the rights and freedoms of freed blacks
Blacklists – when the names of pro-union workers were passed around to employers
“Bleeding Kansas”- name given by antislavery activists to the Kansas territory after numerous bloody fights about slavery occurred there
Booker T. Washington – the most celebrated black leader of the late 19th century, regarded by many African Americans as too willing to surrender equal rights
Bootleg- smuggled and illegal, especially referring to alcohol
Bracero- a Mexican immigrant farm worker (comes from the Spanish word for arm)
Browbeat- to intimidate or bully
Camp followers- prostitutes who trail an army during wartime
Col. George Custer- directed the army in the fighting against the Sioux over gold found in Sioux territory
Common School- free education, available and equal for all children. First one established in1839
Coverture- laws that reinforced the notion of the woman and her husband becoming one person legally
Daughters of the Regiment- women who followed their husbands to the front lines during the Civil War
Dawes Act- set a policy of allotting land to Indians and allowing them to become citizens. Also enabled government to seize Indian reservation land
Deep/Lower South- the Carolinas and Georgia, with economies relying on slave-driven plantations
Disenfranchise- to take away someone’s right to vote, in this case because of religion
Dust Bowl- an arid region characterized by drought and dust storms
Edict of Nantes- a statute in France that protected Protestants from persecution. It was revoked in 1685
Edwards, Rev. John- first started Great Awakening in New England
Emancipation- the act of freeing persons from bondage
Equiano, Olaudah- a prominent black abolitionist who published a personal narrative
Exodusters– freedmen who migrated out from the South after the Civil War
Expansion– the act of expanding or spreading out, in this case the expansion of America
Fair Labor Standards Act – established a minimum wage, a maximum work week of forty hours with time and a half for overtime, and child labor restrictions on those under 16
Federalists– an early American Political Party advocating a strong, central government and loose interpretation of the constitution
Feme Sole- an unmarried woman who had legal rights very similar to men
Feme Covert- a married, or literally “hidden,” woman whose rights now belonged to her husband
“Fire-eaters”- a term used by northerners to describe radical pro-slavery southerners, who urged secession (e.g. Edmund Ruffin and Robert B. Rhett)
Five Civilized Tribes– five Indian tribes in the Southeast most effected by Indian removal policies and known for their “civilized” or white style of living (Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Seminole, Creek)
Freedmen’s Bureau (est. 1865)– a federal agency providing services in relief, education, land distribution, and legal assistance for blacks
Fruitlands Community- short-lived utopian society
Fugitive- runaway, escaped
Gallaudet- first college for the deaf
General Winfield Scott– general who led army troops in forcing Cherokees on the “Trail of Tears” and move west
Ghost Dance Movement- an Indian religious movement
Gospel of Wealth – belief that hard work and wealth were signs of God’s favor
Grandfather clauses – said that those whose “grandfathers” could vote before 1866 or 1867 would be exempt from educational, property, or tax requirements for voting. Let poor whites vote while still preventing blacks from voting
Great Depression – the worst depression in U.S. history, following World War I in the 1930s
Huguenot- a French Protestant of the 16th and 17th centuries
Immigrants- people entering a country with the intention to live there who are originally from another country
Indentured servants– poor English people or criminals who got passage to America in exchange for selling themselves into labor for a term of 5-7 years
Indian Removal Act– act stating government could negotiate treaties with Indians to remove them to Indian Territory. $500,000 allotted for government to pay for Indian migration and their food and supplies for one year to aid them in settling in the west
Indian Reorganization Act- improved conditions for Indians
Indian Territory– in modern Oklahoma established for Indians to live in under the Indian Removal Act
Intercolony competition- rivalry between the British colonies in contention for new land
Jim Crow laws – laws made to enforce racial segregation, especially in (but not limited to) the South
John Collier- drafted the IRA
Jurisdiction- the legal power, right, or authority of a certain court to hear and determine causes, to try criminals, or to execute justice in a specific case, especially as specified in the Constitution
Lancasterian monitorial instruction- a system of education in which older, advanced students teach the less advanced students
Lockout – when employers closed the factory to break a movement before it was formed
Lynching– a mob action where someone is killed
Miscegenation laws- laws forbidding marriage between races, specifically between blacks and whites
Midwife- a woman who is not a doctor, but helps local women give birth through knowledge of herbs and natural remedies
Militant Suffrage- the struggle for the vote using public demonstrations to gain support
Monarchy- a government having a hereditary king (monarch)
Monopoly– having exclusive control over an aspect of commerce
Muckraking- form of literature that was designed to induce progressive reforms
NAACP – National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, which emphasizes the use of litigation to end discrimination
National Labor Relations Act – guaranteed workers’ rights to join a union and a union’s right to bargain collectively
Nationalism- loyalty to one’s country or nation as a whole
Native American– a member of the indigenous cultures of the Western Hemisphere
Nativism- a sociopolitical policy, especially in the United States in the 19th and 20th centuries, favoring the interests of established inhabitants over those of immigrants
New Deal- term to define FDR’s willingness to change America’s dire economic state during the depression
New England- Northern region of East Coast including Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island
Niagara Movement – a group of northern blacks demanding legal, economic, and social equality
Non-importation Agreements- boycotts of British goods
Nonviolent Protest- a method of protesting unjust laws by refusing to obey them instead of using violence
Northwest Ordinance of 1787- detailed the process for settlement of Western Lands, and how government would be organized until the population was large enough to qualify for statehood
Opium War- a war fought in China between the Chinese and the British over the shipment of Opium into China. The British won this war, and continued the shipment of the drug
Parliament- the supreme legislative body in Britain
Patriot- American colonists who identified with the struggle for independence
Peace policy- policy of treating the Indians with honesty and fairness
Pennsylvania Dutch- name given to the Protestant Germans that settled in Pennsylvania
Political Machine- political, often corrupt organizations that ran cities in the late 1800’s
Primogeniture- the feudal practice of granting the first born son his parents’ property
Progressivism – a reform movement during from 1900-1920 hoping to improve life in the industrial age
Protestant- one who denies the universal authority of the Pope and accepts the Reformation principles of justification by faith alone
Puritan – any person of certain Protestant sects that left England hoping to escape religious persecution and build a new “purer” religious society in the New World. They were known for their harsh theology (see “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”)
Puritanism- a form of English Protestantism; their goal was to “purify” the Anglican Church of all Catholic Symbols
Quakers (Friends)- members of a Christian sect stressing Inner Light, rejecting sacraments and ordained ministry, and opposing war.
Race Riot- a riot characterized by tension and hatred between different ethnic groups
Radical Republicans– a faction that supported civil rights for all Americans (especially blacks) during Johnson’s presidency
Rappites- another name for the Harmonists
Reconstruction Amendments– the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments passed by Republican majorities, designed to protect the rights of freedmen
Redeemers– Southern conservatives advocating states’ rights and white supremacy
Religious Persecution- extreme discrimination of a certain religion or sect within a country or region
Republic- a government in which power resides in the people, who vote for their governing officers
Safe house- a house of someone sympathetic to the abolitionist cause where fugitive slaves could stay on the Underground Railroad
Sectionalism- loyalty to one’s region, especially if the interests of that region are in opposition to those of another region
Settlement Houses- community centers with services for working class immigrant families set up in the slums
Seven Years’ War- British name for French and Indian War.
Skyscraper- a very tall building, developed in the late 1800’s
Social Darwinism – the belief that the concentration of wealth in the hands of the fittest was vital for the advancement and the future of the human race
Social Security Act – created a federal insurance plan based upon the automatic collection of money from each worker’s pay throughout their career. This money was then used to make payments to retired people of 65. Workers who lost their jobs, disabled people, and dependant children and their mothers also benefited from this act
Speakeasy- a fashionable city club or bar where alcohol was served illegally during Prohibition
Stereotype– a convention, formulaic, or oversimplified conception or opinion, usually inaccurate
Task system- a system in which individual slaves were assigned a specific task to accomplish within a given period. If they finished early, they could use the remaining time for their own needs. The system worked as an incentive for slaves to work hard.
Temperance- a movement intended to limit the intake of alcohol
Tenements- packed apartment buildings which had terrible facilities, often in city centers
Tory- a British-supporting Loyalist
Trail of Tears– the forced migration of Cherokees from their native land in Georgia to modern day Oklahoma
Treaty of New Echota– treaty signed by small unofficial group of Cherokees, ceding their land in the East
Unilateral- emphasizing or recognizing only one side of a matter
Urbanization- the changing of a country or city to become more urban (city-like) than rural (countryside)
W. E. B. du Bois – an influential black leader calling for equal rights. The chief opponent of Booker T. Washington’s compliant views of black-white relations
White Supremacy- prejudicial belief, often fervently held, that whites are racially superior
Whitefield, Rev. George- spread Great Awakening to all the colonies
Willamette Valley– a region of Oregon, often the end of the “Oregon Trail” for many pioneers; this fertile valley was home to thousands of Americans by the end of the 1860’s
Xenophobia- fear, suspicion, or distrust of immigrants and foreigners
Yellow-dog contracts – when workers were told that they must sign a contract to not join a union before they could be hired
1600-1791 :: 1791-1877 :: 1877-1945 :: glossary :: bibliography :: test #1 :: test #2
|