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AP US History Period 7 (1890-1945) Flashcards

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6712086686The Great DepressionThe deepest and longest-lasting economic downturn in the history of the Western industrialized world. In the United States, the Great Depression began soon after the stock market crash of October 1929, which sent Wall Street into a panic and wiped out millions of investors.0
6712086687Progressive EraA period of widespread social activism and political reform across the United States, from the 1890s to 1920s.1
6712086688ProhibitionA nationwide constitutional ban on the production, importation, transportation and sale of alcoholic beverages that remained in place from 1920 to 1933.2
6712086689Women's suffrageThe women's right to vote, granted by the 19th amendment to the U.S. Constitution (1920).3
6712086690preservationistsThose who attempt to maintain in their present condition areas of the Earth that are so far untouched by humans.4
6712086691conservationistsThose who advocate for the sustainable use and management of natural resources including wildlife, water, air, and earth deposits, both -- renewable and non-renewable.5
6712086692Welfare StateA system whereby the government undertakes to protect the health and well-being of its citizens, especially those in financial or social need, by means of grants, pensions, and other benefits. The foundations for the modern welfare state in the US were laid by the New Deal programs of President Franklin D. Roosevelt.6
6712086693LiberalismA viewpoint or ideology associated with free political institutions and religious toleration, as well as support for a strong role of government in regulating capitalism and constructing the welfare state.7
6712086694mass mediaDiversified mediatechnologies that are intended to reach a large audience by mass communication.8
6712086695The Great MigrationThe movement of 6 million African-Americans out of the rural Southern United States to the urban Northeast, Midwest, and West that occurred between 1910 and 1970.9
6712086696imperialistA policy of extending a country's power and influence through diplomacy or military force.10
6712086697isolationismA category of foreign policies institutionalized by leaders who asserted that their nations' best interests were best served by keeping the affairs of other countries at a distance.11
6712086698Spanish-American WarA conflict fought between Spain and the United States in 1898. Hostilities began in the aftermath of sinking of the USS Maine in Havana harbor leading to American intervention in the Cuban War of Independence.12
6712086699Treaty of VersaillesOne of the peace treaties at the end of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. Signed on 28 June 1919, exactly five years after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand.13
6712086700League of NationsAn intergovernmental organization founded on 10 January 1920 as a result of the Paris Peace Conference that ended the First World War. It lacked an armed force to enforce policy and was not joined by the United States.14
6712086701fascismAn authoritarian and nationalistic right-wing system of government and social organization.15
6712086702totalitarianismA political system where the state recognizes no limits to its authority and strives to regulate every aspect of public and private life wherever feasible.16
6712086703Axis PowersGermany, Italy, and Japan, which were allied before and during World War II.17
6712086704Allied PowersU.S., Britain, France, which were allied before and during World War II.18
6712086705Nazi Concentration CampA guarded compound for the detention or imprisonment of aliens, members of ethnic minorities, political opponents. Primarily Jewish Europeans during WWII.19
6712086706HolocaustA genocide in which Adolf Hitler's Nazi Germany and its collaborators killed about six million Jews and members from other fringe social groups during World War II.20
6712086707Internment of Japanese AmericansForced relocation and incarceration in camps in the interior of the U.S. of between 110,000 and 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry who had lived on the Pacific coast.21
6712086708Pacific "Island Hopping"A military strategy employed by the Allies in the Pacific War against Japan and the Axis powers during World War II. The idea was to bypass heavily fortified Japanese positions and instead concentrate the limited Allied resources on strategically important islands that were not well defended but capable of supporting the drive to the main islands of Japan.22
6712086709D-DayThe landing operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II.23
6712086710atomic bombA "fission" bomb dropped on Nagasaki and Hiroshima at the end of World War II.24
6712086711americanizationThe process of assimilating American character, manner, ideals, culture, and so on.25
6712086712sphere of influenceThe territory of weaker states where a powerful state exercises the dominant control.26
6712086713partitionIn politics, the act of dividing a weaker territory or government among several more powerful states.27
6712086714bellicoseDisposed to fight or go to war.28
6712086715banana republicA disparaging term for the small nations of Central America, with particular reference to their political instability and poor, single-crop economies.29
6712086716progressiveIn politics, one who believes in continuing progress, improvement, or reform.30
6712086717exposéA disclosure or revelation considered embarrassing to those involved.31
6712086718direct primaryIn politics, the nomination of a party's candidates for office through a special election of that party's voters.32
6712086719initiativeIn politics, the procedure whereby voters can, through petition, present proposed legislation directly to the electorate.33
6712086720referendumThe submission of a law, proposed or already in effect, to a direct vote of the electorate.34
6712086721recallIn politics, a procedure for removing an official from office through popular election or other means.35
6712086722insubordinationDeliberate disobedience to proper authority.36
6712086723entrepreneurshipThe process whereby an individual initiates a business at some risk in order to expand it and thereby earn a profit.37
6712086724self-determinationIn politics, the right of a people (usually based on ethnicity) to shape its own national identity and form a government, without outside coercion of influence.38
6712086725graduated income taxA tax on income in which the taxation rates are progressively higher for those whit higher income.39
6712086726levyA forcible tax or other imposition.40
6712086727enclaveA small territory surrounded by foreign or hostile territory. Enclaves were common among newly-arrived immigrant groups (e.g. "Chinatown" in San Francisco).41
6712086728censorAn official who examines publications, mail, literature, and so forth in order to remove or prohibit the distribution of material deemed dangerous or offensive.42
6712086729Northern Securities Co. v. U. S. (1904)Re-established the authority of the federal government to fight monopolies under the Sherman Anti-Trust Act.43
6712086730Muller v. Oregon (1908)First case to use the "Brandeis brief"; recognized a 10-hour work day for women laundry workers on the grounds of health and community concerns.44
6712086731Schenck v. U. S. (1919)Unanimously upheld the Espionage Act of 1917 which declared that people who interfered with the war effort were subject to imprisonment; declared that the 1st Amendment right to freedom of speech was not absolute; free speech could be limited if its exercise presented a "clear and present danger."45
6712086732Korematsu v. U. S. (1941)The court upheld the constitutionality of detention camps for Japanese-Americans during World War 2.46
6712086733belligerent(adj.) given to fighting, warlike; combative, aggressive; (n.) one at war, one engaged in war47
6712086734Open Door PolicyThe policy that China should be open to trade with all of the major powers, and that all, including the United States, should have equal right to trade there. This was the official American position toward China as announced by Secretary of State John Hay in 1899.48
6712086735socialismAn economic and governmental system based on public ownership of the means of production and exchange.49
6712086736Eugene DebsProminent socialist leader (and five time presidential candidate) who founded the American Railroad Union and led the 1894 Pullman Strike50
6712086737Roosevelt CorollaryRoosevelt's 1904 extension of the Monroe Doctrine, stating that the United States has the right to protect its economic interests in South And Central America by using military force.51
6712086738Industrial Workers of the World (IWW)Founded in 1905, this radical union, also known as the Wobblies aimed to unite the American working class into one union to promote labor's interests. It worked to organize unskilled and foreign-born laborers, advocated social revolution, and led several major strikes. Stressed solidarity.52
6712086739Pure Food and Drug ActForbade the manufacture or sale of mislabeled or adulterated food or drugs, it gave the government broad powers to ensure the safety and efficacy of drugs in order to abolish the "patent" drug trade. Still in existence as the FDA.53
6712086740Teddy RooseveltTwenty-sixth president of the United States; he focused his efforts on trust busting, environment conservation, and strong foreign policy.54
6712086741William Taft27th president of the U.S.; he angered progressives by moving cautiously toward reforms and by supporting the Payne-Aldrich Tariff; he lost Roosevelt's support and was defeated for a second term.55
6712086742Triangle Shirtwaist FireMarch 1911 fire in New York factory that trapped young women workers inside locked exit doors; nearly 50 ended up jumping to their death; while 100 died inside the factory; led to the establishment of many factory reforms, including increasing safety precautions for workers56
6712086743segregationSeparation of people based on racial, ethnic, or other differences. Common in the South after the Civil War through the 1960s.57
6712086744Harlem RenaissanceBlack literary and artistic movement centered in Harlem that lasted from the 1920s into the early 1930s that both celebrated and lamented black life in America; Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston were two famous writers of this movement.58
6712086745Fourteen PointsThe war aims outlined by President Wilson in 1918, which he believed would promote lasting peace; called for self-determination, freedom of the seas, free trade, end to secret agreements, reduction of arms and a league of nations.59
6712086746Red ScareA social/political movement designed to prevent a socialist/communist/radical movement in this country by finding "radicals," incarcerating them, deporting them, and subverting their activities. Periods of Red Scare occurred after both World Wars in the United States.60
6712086747Sedition ActA law passed by Congress in 1918 (during World War I) to make it illegal to say anything disloyal, profane, or abusive about the government or the war effort in WWI. Seen as a military necessity by some for effectively fighting in WWI.61
6712086748Emergency Quota ActA government legislation that limited the number of immigrants from Europe which was set at 3% of the nationality currently in the U.S. It greatly limited the number of immigrants who could move to the U.S. And it reflected the isolationist and anti-foreign feeling in America as well as the departure from traditional American ideals.62
6712086749Scopes TrialAlso known as the Scopes Monkey Trial; 1925 court case argued by Clarence Darrow and William Jennings Bryan in which the issue of teaching evolution in public schools was debated. Highlighted the growing divide between rural (more conservative) and urban (more liberal) interests in the United States.63
6712086750Sacco and Vanzetti TrialNicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were Italian immigrants charged with murdering a guard and robbing a shoe factory in Braintree, Massachusetts. The trial lasted from 1920-1927. Convicted on circumstantial evidence; many believed they had been framed for the crime because of their anarchist and pro-union activities.64
6712086751Kellog-Briand PactIdealistic agreement signed in 1928 in which nations agreed not to pose the threat of war against one another.65
6712086752Herbert HooverRepublican president at the outset of the Great Depression. As a Republican, he believed that the federal government should not interfere in economic problems; the severity of the Great Depression forced his hand to provide some federal assistance to those in need, but he mostly left these efforts to the states.66
6712086753Smoot-Hawley TariffOne of Herbert Hoover's earliest efforts to protect the nation's farmers following the onset of the Great Depression. Tariff raised rates to an all-time high.67
6712086754Platt AmendmentThis amendment to the new Cuban constitution authorized U.S. intervention in Cuba to protect its interests. Cuba pledged not to make treates with other countries that might compromise its independence, and it granted naval bases to the United States, most notable being Guantanamo Bay.68
6712086755Indian Reorganization ActGovernment legislation that allowed the Indians a form of self-government and thus willingly shrank the authority of the U.S. government. It provided the Indians direct ownership of their land, credit, a constitution, and a charter in which Indians could manage their own affairs.69
6712086756Zoot Suit RiotsA series of riots in 1944 during World War II that broke out in Los Angeles, California, between Anglo American sailors and Marines stationed in the city, and Latino youths, who were recognizable by the zoot suits they favored.70
6712086757Yalta ConferenceFDR, Churchill and Stalin met at Yalta. Russia agreed to declare war on Japan after the surrender of Germany and in return FDR and Churchill promised the USSR concession in Manchuria and the territories that it had lost in the Russo-Japanese War.71
6712086758William Jennings BryanUnited States lawyer and politician who advocated free silver and prosecuted John Scopes (1925) for teaching evolution in a Tennessee high school (1860-1925).72
6712086759Woodrow Wilson(1856-1924) President of the United States (1913-1921) and the leading figure at the Paris Peace Conference of 1919. He was unable to persuade the U.S. Congress to ratify the Treaty of Versailles or join the League of Nations.73
6712086760United NationsAn international organization formed after WWII to promote international peace, security, and cooperation.74
6712086761communismA political theory derived from Karl Marx, advocating class war and leading to a society in which all property is publicly owned and each person works and is paid according to their abilities and needs.75
6712086762Bolshevik RevolutionThe overthrow of Russia's Provisional Government in the fall of 1917 by Lenin and his Bolshevik forces, made possible by the government's continuing defeat in the war, its failure to bring political reform, and a further decline in the conditions of everyday life.76

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