American History First Trimester Vocabulary
Terms
undefined, object
copy deck
- Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty
- Treaty that led to the recognition of Panama and US control of the canal zone. The US would pay Colombia $10 million and later $250,000 a year.
- Sherwood Anderson
- Author that wrote Winesburg, Ohio and The Triumph of the Egg
- Cordell Hull
- Secretary of State, Panama Conference, "no state has the right to intervene in the internal or external affairs of another."
- Upton Sinclair
- Wrote "The Jungle" which showed the mysteries of workers in the stockyards and described the rotten meat packed for sale.
- Dr. William Gorgas
- Sent to the Panama Canal to take care of the Yellow Fever.
- D-Day
- June 5th, a mighty force of 600 warships and 4000 supporting craft carried men toward Normandy
- Francisco "Pancho" Villa
- Mexican rebel who attempted to provoke a war with the US.
- The Maine
- A battleship sent to Havana harbor to protect American lives and property. It was destroyed on Feb. 15, 1898 but no one really knows the cause.
- Birth of a Nation
- A silent film released in 1915, is one of the most influential and controversial of American motion pictures. Depicted the KKK as good people trying the
- Lost Generation
- The group of US authors who rejected American values and lived in Paris in the 1920's
- Jazz
- Popular music that originated among black people in New Orleans in the late 19th century and is characterized by syncopated rhythms and improvisation.
- Adolf Hitler
- German dictator that was determined to exterminate the Jews. Promised to lead Germany to power.
- Battle of Midway
- Midway was the key to the whole perimeter scheme, the US sunk 4 Japanese carriers and some of the best air groups.
- Australian Ballot
- Reformers felt that if voting was made truly secret, elections would be mroe honest, and better representatives would be elected.
- Maximilian
- The young Austrian Archduke that sat on the Mexican throne.
- Bootleggers
- Refers to making, transporting and/or selling illegal alcoholic liquor or copyrighted material.
- H.L. Mencken
- A baltimore journalist that used his acid pen to ridicule American follies in phrases that would not be forgotten. Wrote Booboisie.
- Richard Ballinger
- Taft's secretary of the interior. He was accused of favoritism.
- Dorie Miller
- An untrained messman that grabbed a machine gun and shot down four Japanese planes. He received the Navy Cross.
- Blue chip stock
- The nickname for a stock that is meant to be safe, in excellent financial shape and firmly entrenched as a leader in its field.
- Battle of the Coral Sea
- May 7-8, 1942. Showed how modern science changed war. The US won.
- Foraker Act
- Organized Puerto Rico as a compromise between a colony and a territory. The President would appoint a governor and a council of 11.
- General Courtney Hodge
- His army moved onto the sacred soil of Hitlers unbeatable thousand year reich on September 12, 1944.
- Liquid
- Easily converted into cash.
- Rosie the Riveter
- US propaganda to inspire women to work
- General Hideki Tojo
- Leader of the warlike government in Japan
- Scopes Monkey Trial
- An American legal case that tested the Butler Act which made it unlawful in any state funded educational establishment in Tennessee, to teach any theory that denies the story of Divine Creation. Creationism vs. Darwinism
- General James B. Doolittle
- led B-52s launcehd from a carrier to attack Tokyo on April 18, 1942.
- Benito Mussolini
- The fascist leader of Italy. Il Duce
- Bataan Death March
- A march with wide ranged physical abuse and murder. Took place in the Phillippines.
- Destroyer-Naval Base Deal
- The US loaned Great Britain some old destroyers four stackers and in return the US leased bases on British lands
- Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti
- Two Italian born immigrants that became unwilling martyrs in the struggle for equal justice for all.
- Mein Kampf
- 800 page book by Hitler. (My struggle) Became the Bible of the Nazis. Germans were the master race. Christianity was a fraud.
- Red Scare
- Bombs were being sent to important politicians and any anarchists and soviets were arrested and deported to the Soviet Union.
- Alfred Thayer Mahan
- A US Navy flag officer whose ideas on the importance of sea power influenced navies around the world. Wrote THE INFLUENCE OF SEA POWER UPON HISTORY
- Charles R. Forbes
- Head of the Veterans Bureau. Part of the Ohio Gang. He stole $250 million and left the country.
- Alabama Claims
- A series of claims for damages by the government of the US against the government of the United Kingdom for the perceived covert assistance given to the Confederate cause during the American Civil War
- Rape of Nanking
- An infamous war crime committed by the Japanese military in Nanking Japanese army committed numeros atrocities.
- Kellogg-Briand Pact
- Signed in Paris in August 1928. Outlawed war as an instrument of peace.
- Robert LaFollete
- Battling Bob. He brought the state legislature under his control and enacted a wide range of progressive measures.
- Langston Hughes
- An American poet that wrote The Negro Speaks of Rivers
- Government bodns
- A bond issued by a national government denominated in the country's own currency. Guaranteed payoff.
- National Origins Act of 1924
- A quota that sought to restrict the number of immigrants arriving in the US to 150,000. Barred all Chinese, Japanese, and other Asians.
- Battle for Guadalcanal
- the stepping stone the allies needed for returning to the Philippines and finally for invading Japan. Shoestring. The beaten Japanese left the island on Feb. 9, 1943.
- Nickelodeon
- an early 20th century movie theater that charged five cents for admission.
- Jacob Riis
- A bold Danish photographer that published shocking pictures of starving children in garbage-ridden slums
- A.B.C. Powers
- The large republics of South America-Argentina, Brazil and Chile-offered to mediate between the United States and Mexico
- 17th Amendment
- Ratified in 1913, Direct election of senators. Took the election of senators away from the state legislatures and gave it to the voters.
- Moral Diplomacy
- Wilsons foreign policy, stated that the US would negotiate and not use force in Latin America
- Payne-Aldrich Tariff
- A tariff that hardly lowered duties below the level of the Dingley Tariff. It was a betrayal of party pledges but Taft signed it without protest.
- George W. Goethals
- A US army officer and civil engineer. He was best known for his supervision of construction and the opening of the Panama Canal.
- Teapot Dome Scandal
- Albert Fall had leased two of the three oil reserves that the government set aside for the nations future.
- Walter Reed
- Doctor in the Army Medical Corps. He proved that yellow fever was carried by a mosquito which bred in stagnant waters. He helped to stamp out the disease so Cuba could prosper.
- Roosevelt Corollary
- Established the US as the "international police" of the Western Hemisphere.
- General George S. Patton
- Led the Third Army on July 25 at the Battle for France
- W.E.B. DuBois
- Intellectual voice of the black community.
- Albert Einstein
- The greatest physicist of the age. Because he was a Jew, the Nazis had taken his German citizenship and seied his property.
- Enrico Fermi
- Proposed the atomic bomb.
- Ohio Gang
- A group of politicians and industry leaders who came to be associated with Warren G. Harding. They were responsible for acts of corruption and scandals.
- Wolf Packs
- Mass-attack tactics against convoys used by German U-boats
- Partnership
- A company set up by two or more people who put money into the business and share the financial risks and profits.
- Emilio Aquinaldo
- Filipino general that played an instrumental role in Philippine independence during Philippine revolution against Spain and the Philippine-American War.
- Teller Amendment
- Pledged that the US would not exercise sovereignty over Cuba. It was created on April 20th, 1898.
- Queen Liliuokalani
- The last monarch and only queen of the of the kingdom of Hawaii
- Susan B. Anthony
- A prominent American civil rights leader who played a pivotal role in the 19th century womens rights movement to introduce womens suffrage.
- Venustiano Carranza
- Huertas chief rival that united with the Mexicans against the US
- A. Mitchell Palmer
- Attorney General that believed that the country was infested by Bolsheviks and anarchists. He brewed trouble for Americans through his illegal arrests.
- Panay Incident
- On December 12, 1937, the US gunboat Panay was sunk by Japanese bombs on the Yangtze River in China.
- Federal Home Loan Act
- Hoovers request to help people with mortgages from losing their homes.
- Black Tuesday
- October 29th 1929, the day of the New York stock market crash that led to the great depression.
- Leon Czolgosz
- An assassin that called himself an anarchist. He unintentionally put the US government under a strong and inspiring leader.
- Robert Oppenheimer
- Created the Atomic bomb
- Immigration Restriction League
- League that opposed the avalanche of undesirable immigrants. They were able to make a law which stated that every immigrant must be able to read to be admitted to the US.
- Bessie Smith
- Empress of the Blues
- Battle of the Bulge
- German attack that was almost successful until General McAuliffe held off the Germans
- Philander Knox
- Secretary of State under President Taft who advocated Dollar Diplomacy.
- Louis B. Armstrong
- An American jazz trumpeter and singer, known as the Great Satchmo.
- Ku Klux Klan
- Led by a collection of roughnecks and humandregs, with some respectable followers, who made a career of harassing blacks.
- General Anthony McAuliffe
- 101st Airborne division, disrupted the German timetable, held out until relieved by the Third Army. Battle of the Bulge.
- Rudolph Valentino
- Known as the Latin lover. He was a sex symbol.
- Mann-Elkins Act
- Extended the ICC's powers to cover telephone, telegraph, cable, and wireless companies.
- Commodore George Dewey
- Commanded the US fleet in Asian waters. Following Roosevelts orders he attacked the Spanish warships in Manila Bay, Philippines and finished them off in seven hours.
- Speculation
- The practice of engaging in financial transactions that are risky, but potentially profitable
- George "Babe" Ruth
- First sports superstar, a baseball player
- Miracle at Dunkirk
- More than 300,000 troops were rescued from the harbor beaches by people in privately owned boats.
- Speakesies
- Place where alcoholic beverages are sold and consumed illegally, especially during prohibition in the US
- General Valeriano Weyler
- Was called the Butcher for his concentration of the Cuban people
- T.S. Elliot
- An American born poet that moved to England that described the postwar world as the wasteland. He wrote the Waste Land and The Hollow Men.
- V-J Day
- Surrender of Japan. August 15th, 1945.
- Pearl Harbor
- The Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. It was a surprise attack.
- General Dwight D. Eisenhower
- Successfully directed the invasion of Europe. Decided to save American lives.
- General Erwin Rommel
- Desert Fox, one of the most shrewd, daring, and resourceful commanders of the century.
- Amelia Earhardt
- American pilot htat flew solo across the Atlantic Ocean. She disappeared over the Pacific Ocean.
- Meat Inspection Act
- Gave Federal officials the right to inspect all meat shipped in interstate commerce to see whether it came from healthy animals and was packed under sanitary conditions.
- Treaty of Wanghia
- A diplomatic agreement between the Qing Empire and the United States, signed on July 3, 1844 in the Kun Lam Temple
- Bonds
- A certificate issued by a government or company promising to pay back borrowed money at a fixed rate of interest on a specified date.
- Initiative
- The procedure by which a certain percentage of the voters can initiate or propose a law by petition and have it voted on by the people.
- Caleb Cushing
- US ambassador to China in 1840. US congressman from Massachusetts.
- F. Scott Fitzgerald
- Chronicled American youth. He wrote This Side of Paradise and the Great Gatsby.
- William Randolph Hearst
- Owned the "New York Journal" and hired Richard Outcault from Pulitzer to create the "Yellow Kid"
- Bear Market
- A situation in a stock or commodity market in which stockholders are selling in anticipation of falling prices.
- Harry Daugherty
- Attorney general of the US. He had groomed Harding for the Presidency and managed his campaign. He was accused of rigging sale of public land.
- Immigration Act of 1921
- Established a 3% quota, based on the number already in the US, on immigrants coming into America.
- "Watchful Waiting"
- Stated by Wilson, it was a refusal to use military force to overthrow General Huerta in Mexico.
- Neville Chamberlain
- Prime minister of England that went to Munich to appease Hitler.
- Black Thursday
- The start of the Wall Street Crash of 1929 on October 24th, 1929.
- Holding Company
- A company that has a controlling interest in one or more other companies through ownership of their stocks or bonds.
- Ragtime
- A style of US popular music of the late 19th and early 20th century's characterized by distinctive syncopated right-hand rhythms against a regularly accented left-hand beat
- Joseph Pulitzer
- An adventurous Hungarian immigrant that built circulation by championing the interests of his American aristocracy. He invented the comic strip for his "New York World."
- Bonus Army March
- Thousands of unemployed veterans that demanded the full cash value of their insurance policies in Washington D.C.
- Harlem Renaissance
- Harlem became a gathering place for black poets, writers, scholars, painters, and musicians.
- Ray Stannard Baker
- Told the story of racial discrimination in Following the Color Line.
- Recall
- By petition, voters could force an official to stand for reelection at any time.
- Munich Crisis
- Prime Minister Chamberlain and Premier Daladier of France met Hitler in Munich to appease him. September 28, 1938. "Peace in our time." Dismembered Czechoslovakia.
- Reconstruction Finance Corporation
- To provide jobs by saving companies and to help "start the country forward all along the line." Enacted early in 1932. Lent $2 Billion to needy banks, railroads, insurance companies and farm credit associations.
- Open Door Policy
- Certain countries could not interfere with the rights of any of the 22 ports in China, nor to disturb the regular collection of the Chinese duties, not to increase railroad rates or harbor dues or in any way to close their own spheres of influences. Each country was to have equal commercial treatment throughout China.
- Referendum
- A direct popular vote on a proposed new law or change in an existing law
- Jack Dempsey
- Boxing Champion.
- Blues
- An accessible form of self-expression in African American communities of the US from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative bands.
- Newland Reclamation Act
- Money from the sale of public lands in sixteen western states and territories was to be used to build large dams and canal systems to conserve water for irrigation.
- Lincoln Steffens
- One of the most fearless journalists of modern times that wrote "tweed days in St. Louis." He was the pioneer investigating reporter. Wrote the book "The Shame of the Cities."
- Joseph G. Cannon
- The "stand pat" speaker of the house. He appointed the rules committee where he was chairman. He became dictator of the house.
- Victoriano Huerta
- A cruel general that overthrew the liberal government in Mexico. Mexicos President De Facto.
- Yalta Conference
- Discussed terms for German surrender. As well as Russian surrender.
- Manhattan Project
- A secret project that met to build the atomic bomb.
- Diversification
- To expand into new areas of business.
- General Leonard Wood
- A military governor that was in Cuba repairing damages caused by the revolution.
- Ernest Hemingway
- Wrote about redemption from the modern plight and about the rugged individualism of his heroes. He wrote The Sun Also Rises and A Farewell to Arms.
- Margin
- To place something such as collateral with a broker as a deposit.
- Winston Churchill
- The prime minister of England, he replaced Neville Chamberlain
- Admiral Yamamoto
- Hoped to bring on a major sea battle with the allied pacific fleet in 1942.
- Nazi-Soviet Pact
- Germany and the Soviet Union promised to remain neutral if either country became involved in a war.
- Public Company
- A company whose shares can be bought and sold on the stock market
- Executive Order 8802
- Outlawed any discrimination on the basis of race, creed, color, or national origin in the federal government or in defense factories.
- Prohibition
- A policy that forbids by law the manufacture, sale, and transport of alcoholic beverages.
- Panamanian Revolution
- Broke out after the Hay-Bunau-Varilla treaty. Panama didnt want Colombian rule.
- Fall of France
- The collapse of France, just six weeks after Hitlers initial assault, ripped up balance of power in Europe.
- Neutrality Act of 1939
- It helped the forces of democracy by repealing the arms embargo.
- Hawley-Smoof Tariff Act
- Boosted duties on a thousand items. Within seventeen months after President Hoover signed the law, US imports and exports were almost cut in half. A protective tariff.
- Selective Service Act
- All men between the ages of 21 and 31 had to register for military service.
- General Bernard Montgomery
- British general that led the British Eighth Army attack in Egypt on October 23.
- Charles Drew
- Developed the blood bank for collecting and storing the blood plasma which injured fighting men so badly needed.
- Blitzkrieg
- A sudden invasion or lightning war.
- Holocaust
- The genocide of approximately six million Jews as part of a program of deliberate extermination planned and executed by Germany.
- Four Freedoms
- President Roosevelts speech in January 1941. "a worldd founded upon four freedoms"-freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom from fear and freedom from want
- ICC
- Interstate Commerce Commission
- Thomas E. Dewey
- The racket busting young district attorney of New York. Candidate in the 1940 US election
- Direct Primary
- Gave the voters the right to choose the candidates for public office.
- Battle of Britain
- Britain figured out how to read Germany's secreat messages (Ultra). Hitler sent hundreds of bombers to rain devastation and death upon London.
- General John J. Pershing
- Led the 8th Brigade on the failed 1916-1917 Punitive Expedition into Mexico in search of the outlaw Pancho Villa.
- Ida Tarbell
- Published her angry attack on the Standard Oil Company. Her father believed that Rockefeller had ruined him and had driven his partner to suicide.
- Treaty of Washington
- The Alabama claims would be submitted to an arbitration court at Geneva, Switzerland, where they found that during the Civil war, Great Britain violated the international laws of neutrality and $15.5 million was awarded to the US (BASICALLY it settled the Alabama Claims)
- Saturation Bombing
- The process of putting a very large number of bombs on one target
- John Hay
- Secretary of State who established the Open Door Policy. Called the Spanish-American War "a splendid little war."
- The Final Solution
- Nazi Germany's plan and execution of its systematic genocide against European jews during World War II.
- Chiangkai-Shek
- The Chinese Generalissimo. The Japanese demanded that the US cut off aid to him.
- Corporation
- A company recognized by law as a single body with its own powers and liabilties, seperate from those of the individual members.
- Albert B. Fall
- Secretary of the Interior that was opposed to conservation. He was involved in the Tea Pot Dome scandal. He leased oil reserves to private companies for loans and gifts.
- Booker T. Washington
- A leader of the African American community. He led the Tuskegee Institute (A teachers college for blacks)
- Charles Lindbergh
- pilot known as lucky lindy that made the first solo nonstop flight from New York to Paris.
- Treaty of Paris
- Ended the Spanish-American War. Signed on December 10, 1898.
- Root-Takahira Agreement
- Ended the Russo-Japanese War, it was agreed that Japan would be allowed to annex Korea but to pursue its own interests in Manchuria and Japan assured the United States that otherwise things would remain the same in the Pacific.
- Common Stocks
- Stock that entitles the holder to a dividend in line iwth the company's profits, as distinct from preferred stock that gives the holder priority when dividends are paid.
- Atlantic Charter
- An up to date version of Woodrow Wilsons fourteen points.
- Eugene V. Debs
- The self-educated socialist candidate. He organized railroad workers into unions. He called for public ownership of natural resources and the major industries.
- Flappers
- A young woman in the 1920's who disdained conventions of decorum and established fashion.
- Yellow Press
- Joseph Pulitzers and William Randolph Hearsts' newspapers had had Richard Outcault make the yellow kid comic strip and eventually were both called the Yellow Press
- Will Rodgers
- Humorist, satirized politics and life in the 20's
- Hepburn Act
- Gave the ICC power over pipelines, express and sleeping car companies, bridges, ferries, and terminals. Railroad debates and free passes were forbidden.
- Fall of Tunisia
- Tunisia was trapped. Hitler confessed that Africa was lost. On May 7th, 1943 Von Arnim (German General) surrendered.
- Admiral Chester A. Nimitz
- The leader of the American Fleet. Admiral Yamamoto intended to force a showdown at Midway.
- Pure Food and Drug Act
- The manufacture and sale of impure foods, drugs, and liquors was forbidden. Labels on patent medicines had to list the contents.
- General Douglas MacArthur
- Took his troops and advanced through the islands of the western Pacific from New Guinea to Mindanao in the Philippines.
- Platt Amendment
- Stated the Cuba was not permitted to sign any treaty that threatened its independence.
- Bolsheviks
- A communist or somebody who shares the ideals of communism. Socialist radicals.
- Battle for Italy
- July 10, 1943. 250,000 American troops landed on the coast. They evacuated to the mainland. One of the deadliest campaigns. Weakened the Nazis.
- Clara Bow
- The "It" girl, Hollywood actress.
- Incendiary Bomb
- Bombs designed to start fires or destroy sensitive equipment.
- Boxer Rebellion
- A group of Chinese people called the "righteous fists of harmony" or "boxers" that rose up against the "foreign devils" in May 1900 hoping to drive them out of China
- Marcus Garvey
- National hero of Jamaica. Founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League.
- Alfred E. Smith
- Colorful city politician that was educated on the streets. He was opposed to prohibition and he was a devout Roman Catholic. Between him and McAdoo the convention deadlocked. 1914 Election. Lost the Presidential election of 1928.
- Commodore Matthew Perry
- A bold naval officer that secured the treaty of Kanagawa, opening two ports to ships from the US with Japan
- Lend-Lease Act
- A program in which the US supplied the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, China, France and the allied nations with vast amounts of war material.
- Battle of the Atlantic
- Pitted U-boats and other warships of the German navy against Allied convoys.
- Square Deal
- President Theodore Roosevelts domestic program primarily aimed at helping middle class citizens. The policies involved attacking the plutocracy and trusts while at the same time protecting business from the extreme demands of unorganized labor.
- Treaty of Kangawa
- A treaty between Commodore Matthew Perry of the US Navy and the Empire of Japan. It opened the Japanese of Shimoda and Hakodate to US trade, guaranteed the safety of shipwrecked US sailors and established a permanent counsel
- Olney Interpretation of the Monroe Doctrine
- Olney claimed that the Monroe Doctrine gave the US authority to mediate border disputes in the Western Hemisphere
- Wendell C. Willkie
- President of Commonwealth and southern. He fought against TVA.
- Battle of Leyte Gulf
- October 23-25 1944, The Japanese were so badly defeated that their navy was knocked out of the war.
- Gifford Pinchot
- Theodore Roosevelt's enthusiastic supporter. Conservation meant scientific land management. He planned reforesting to go along with the cutting of trees.
- Maginot Line
- Border between France and Germany
- Gertrude Ederle
- First woman to cross the English Channel
- Sinclair Lewis
- An American novelist that wrote Main Street and Babbit.
- Secretary William Seward
- A governor of New York, US Senator and the US Secretary of State under Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson. Purchase of Alaska
- Capital
- Material wealth in the form of money or property, money that can be used to produce further wealth
- Muckrakers
- A journalist, author, or filmmaker who investigates and exposes and/or social corruption.
- Investment
- The outlaying of money with the object of making a profit.
- Bull Market
- A stock market in which prices are rising and are expected to continue rising
- General Francisco Franco
- The fascist leader of Spain. Spain became the worlds battlefield in a bloody civil war.
- V-E Day
- May 8th, 1945. Germanies unconditional surrender.
- Dollar Diplomacy
- The nickname for Tafts foreign policies, promised full military and diplomatic support for business in foreign countries.
- Vichy French
- French people who were conquered by the Germans.
- Civil Service
- Restrictions were put on lobbying. Laws were passed for conservation, for supervision of state banks, and for higher taxes on corporations.
- Nativism
- A policy of favoring the interests of the indigenous inhabitants of a country over those of the immigrants. Blamed the problems of American society on foreigners and sought to limit immigration.
- Claude McKay
- Jamaican writer that wrote White Shadows