Untitled Document PDF: American History

Government: the formal vehicle through which policies are made and affairs of state are conducted. Mayflower: The ship carrying Pilgrim settlers from England whose arrival in Massachusetts in 1620 is considered a founding moment for the nation. Roger Williams: Seventeenth century religious...

Government: the formal vehicle through which policies are made and affairs of state are conducted. Mayflower: The ship carrying Pilgrim settlers from England whose arrival in Massachusetts in 1620 is considered a founding moment for the nation. Roger Williams: Seventeenth century religious and political leader who was expelled by Puritans in Massachusetts and then established the colony of Providence Plantations that later became Rhode Island. Anne Hutchinson: Seventeenth century political leader and thinker who supported religious liberty. Thomas Hooker: Colonial Era politician who supported expanded voting rights. William Penn: Quaker leader and supporter of religious tolerance who founded Pennsylvania. Democracy: A system of government that gives power to the people, whether directly or through elected representatives. Republic: A government rooted in the consent of the governed; a representative or indirect democracy. Enlightenment: A philosophical movement in eighteenth century Europe; its adherents advocated liberty and tolerance of individual differences, decried religious and political abuses, and rejected the notion of an absolute monarch. Politics: The study of who gets what, when, and how—or how policy decisions are made. American Dream: An American ideal of a happy, successful life, which often assumes wealth, a house, and a better life for one’s children. Donald J. Trump: The forty-fifth president, a Republican, elected in 2016; first president elected without prior political or military experience; an experienced businessman. New World: The Western Hemisphere of Earth, also called The Americas, which was unknown to Europeans before 1492. Benjamin Franklin: A brilliant inventor and senior statesman at the Constitutional Convention who urged colonial unity as early as 1754, twenty-two years before the Declaration of Independence. French and Indian War: The American phase of what was called the Seven Years War, fought from 1754 to 1763 between Britain and France with Indian allies. Mercantilism: An economic theory designed to increase a nation’s wealth through the development of commercial industry and a favorable balance of trade. Samuel Adams: Cousin of President John Adams and an early leader against the British and loyalist oppressors; he played a key role in developing the Committees of Correspondence and was active in Massachusetts and colonial politics. Stamp Act Congress: A gathering of nine colonial representatives in 1765 in New York City where a detailed list of Crown violations was drafted; first official meeting of the colonies and the first official step toward creating a unified nation. Sons and Daughters of Liberty: Loosely organized groups of patriotic American colonists who were early revolutionaries. Crispus Attucks: An African American and first American to die in what became known as the Boston Massacre in 1770. First Continental Congress: Meeting held in Philadelphia from September 5 to October 26, 1774, in which fifty-six delegates (from every colony except Georgia) adopted a resolution in opposition to the Coercive Acts. Lexington and Concord: The first sites of armed conflict between revolutionaries and British soldiers, remembered for the “shot heard round the world” in 1775. Second Continental Congress: Meeting that convened in Philadelphia on May 10, 1775, at which it was decided that an army should be raised and George Washington of Virginia was named commander in chief. Thomas Paine: The influential writer of Common Sense, a pamphlet that advocated for independence from Great Britain. Common Sense: A pamphlet written by Thomas Paine that challenged the authority of the British government to govern the colonies. Declaration of Independence: Document drafted largely by Thomas Jefferson in 1776 that proclaimed the right of the American colonies to separate from Great Britain. Thomas Jefferson: Principle drafter of the Declaration of Independence; second vice president of the United States; third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. Co-founder of the Democratic-Republican Party created to oppose Federalists. Social contract theory: The belief that governments exist based on the consent of the governed. Political culture: Commonly shared attitudes, behaviors, and core values about how government should operate.  Articles of Confederation: The compact between the thirteen original colonies that created a loose league of friendship, with the national government drawing its powers from the states. Critical Period: The chaotic period from 1781 to 1789 after the American Revolution during which the former colonies were governed under the Articles of Confederation. Shays’s Rebellion: A rebellion in which an army of 1,500 disgruntled and angry farmers led by Daniel Shays marched to Springfield, Massachusetts, and forcibly restrained the state court from foreclosing mortgages on their farms. Constitutional Convention: The meeting in Philadelphia in 1787 that was first intended to revise the Articles of Confederation but produced an entirely new document, the U.S. Constitution. George Washington: Widely considered the “Father of the Nation,” he was the commander of the revolutionary armies; served as the presiding officer of the Constitutional Convention; and as the United States’ first president from 1789 to 1797. Constitution: A document establishing the structure, functions, and limitations of a government. Virginia Plan: A proposed framework for the Constitution favoring large states. It called for a bicameral legislature, which would appoint executive and judicial officers. New Jersey Plan: A framework for the Constitution proposed by a group of small states; it called for a one-house legislature with one vote for each state, a Congress with the ability to raise revenue, and a Supreme Court appointed for life. Great Compromise: The final decision of the Constitutional Convention to create a two-house legislature, with the lower house elected by the people and powers divided between the two houses; also made national law supreme. Three-Fifths Compromise: Agreement reached at the Constitutional Convention stipulating that three-fifths of the total slave population of each state was to be for purposes of determining population for representation in the U.S. House of Representatives. Electoral College: The system established by the Constitution through which the president is chosen by electors from each state, which has as many electoral votes as it has members of Congress. Alexander Hamilton: A key Framer who envisioned a powerful central government, co-authored The Federalist Papers, and served as the first Secretary of the Treasury. Montesquieu: The French baron and political theorist who first articulated the concept of separation of powers with checks and balances. Federalism: The distribution of constitutional authority between state governments and the national government, with different powers and functions exercised by both. Separation of Powers: A way of dividing the power of government among the legislative, executive, and judicial branches, each staffed separately, with equality and independence of each branch ensured by the Constitution. Checks and Balances: A constitutionally mandated structure that gives each of the three branches of government some degree of oversight and control over the actions of the others. Article I: Vests all legislative powers in the Congress and establishes a bicameral legislature, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives; it also sets out the qualifications for holding office in each house, the terms of office, the methods of selection of representatives and senators, and the system of apportionment among the states to determine membership in the House of Representatives. Enumerated powers: The powers of the national government specifically granted to Congress in Article I, section 8 of the Constitution. Necessary and proper clause: The final paragraph of Article I, section 8, of the Constitution, which gives Congress the authority to pass all laws “necessary and proper” to carry out the enumerated powers specified in the Constitution; also called the elastic clause. Implied powers: The powers of the national government derived from the enumerated powers and the necessary and proper clause. Article II: Vests the executive power, that is, the authority to execute the laws of the nation, in a president of the United States; section 1 sets the president’s term of office at four years and explains the Electoral College and states the qualifications for office and describes a mechanism to replace the president in case of death, disability, or removal from office. Inherent powers: Powers that belong to the president because they can be inferred from the Constitution. Article III: Establishes a Supreme Court and defines its jurisdiction. Article IV: Mandates that states honor the laws and judicial proceedings of other states. Article IV also includes the mechanisms for admitting new states to the union. See also “full faith and credit clause”.  Full faith and credit clause: Section of Article IV of the Constitution that ensures judicial decrees and contracts made in one state will be binding and enforceable in any other state. Article V: Specifies how amendments can be added to the Constitution. Article VI: Contains the supremacy clause, which asserts the basic primacy of the Constitution and national law over state laws and constitutions. See also “supremacy clause.” Supremacy clause: Portion of Article VI of the Constitution mandating that national law is supreme over (that is, supersedes) all other laws passed by the states or by any other subdivision of government. Federalists: Those who favored a stronger national government and supported the proposed U.S. Constitution; later became the first U.S. political party. Anti-Federalists: Those who favored strong state governments and a weak national government; opposed ratification of the U.S. Constitution. James Madison: A key Framer often called the “Father of the Constitution” for his role in conceptualizing the federal government. Coauthored The Federalist Papers; served as secretary of state; served as the fourth U.S. president from 1809 to 1817. John Jay: A member of the Founding generation who was the first Chief Justice of the United States. A diplomat and co-author of the Federalist Papers. The Federalist Papers: A series of eighty-five political essays written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay in support of ratification of the U.S. Constitution. Bill of Rights: The first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution, which largely guarantee specific rights and liberties. Confederation: Type of government in which the national government derives its powers from the states; a league of independent states. Iroquois Confederacy: A political alliance of American Indian tribes established in the seventeenth century that featured aspects of the federal system of government adapted by the Framers. Monarchy: A form of government in which power is vested in hereditary kings and queens who govern the entire society. Totalitarianism: A form of government in which power resides in leaders who rule by force in their own self-interest and without regard to rights and liberties. Oligarchy: A form of government in which the right to participate depends on the possession of wealth, social status, military position, or achievement. Democracy: A system of government that gives power to the people, whether directly or through elected representatives. Federal system: System of government in which the national government and state governments share power and derive all authority from the people. Unitary system: System of government in which the local and regional governments derive all authority from a strong national government. Enumerated powers: The powers of the national government specifically granted to Congress in Article I, section 8 of the Constitution. Implied powers: The powers of the national government derived from the enumerated powers and the necessary and proper clause. Reserved powers: Powers reserved to the states by the Tenth Amendment that lie at the foundation of a state’s right to legislate for the public health and welfare of its citizens. Tenth Amendment: The final part of the Bill of Rights that defines the basic principle of American federalism in stating that the powers not delegated to the national government are reserved to the states or to the people. Concurrent powers: Powers shared by the national and state governments. Bill of attainder: A law declaring an act illegal without a judicial trial. Ex post facto law: Law that makes an act punishable as a crime, even if the action was legal at the time it was committed. Full faith and credit clause: Section of Article IV of the Constitution that ensures judicial decrees and contracts made in one state will be binding and enforceable in any other state. Privileges and immunities clause: Part of Article IV of the Constitution guaranteeing that the citizens of each state are afforded the same rights as citizens of all other states. Extradition clause: Part of Article IV of the Constitution that requires states to extradite, or return, criminals to states where they have been convicted or are to stand trial.  Interstate compacts: Contracts between states that carry the force of law; generally now used as a tool to address multistate policy concerns. Dillon’s Rule: A premise articulated by Judge John F. Dillon in 1868 which states that local governments do not have any inherent sovereignty and instead must be authorized by state governments that can create or abolish them. Charter: A document that, like a constitution, specifies the basic policies, procedures, and institutions of local government. Charters for local governments must be approved by state legislatures. Counties: The basic administrative units of local government. Municipalities: City governments created in response to the emergence of relatively densely populated areas. Special district: A local government that is restricted to a particular function. John Marshall: The longest-serving Supreme Court Chief Justice, Marshall served from 1801 to 1835. Marshall’s decision in Marbury v. Madison (1803) established the principle of judicial review in the United States. Mcculloch v. Maryland (1819): The Supreme Court upheld the power of the national government and denied the right of a state to tax the federal bank, using the Constitution’s supremacy clause. The Court’s broad interpretation of the necessary and proper clause paved the way for later rulings upholding expansive federal powers. Gibbons v. Ogden (1824): The Supreme Court upheld broad congressional power to regulate interstate commerce. The Court’s broad interpretation of the Constitution’s commerce clause paved the way for later rulings upholding expansive federal powers. Barron v. Baltimore (1833): Supreme Court ruling that, before the Civil War, limited the applicability of the Bill of Rights to the federal government and not to the states. Roger B. Taney: Supreme Court Chief Justice who served from 1835-1864. Taney supported slavery and states’ rights in the pre-Civil War era. Dual federalism: The belief that having separate and equally powerful levels of government is the best arrangement, often referred to as layer-cake federalism. Nullification: The belief in the right of a state to declare void a federal law. John C. Calhoun: A politician and political theorist from South Carolina who supported slavery and states’ rights in the pre-Civil War era and served as vice president from 1825 to 1832. Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857): A Supreme Court decision that ruled the Missouri Compromise unconstitutional and denied citizenship rights to enslaved African Americans. Dred Scott heightened tensions between the pro-slavery South and the abolitionist North in the run up to the Civil War. Civil war: The military conflict from 1861 to 1865 in the United States between the Northern forces of the Union and the Southern forces of the Confederacy. Over 600,000 Americans lost their lives during this war Abraham Lincoln: Sixteenth president of the United States, the first elected Republican president, who served from 1861-1865. Lincoln, who led the Union during the Civil War, was assassinated in 1865 by a Confederate sympathizer, John Wilkes Booth. Secession: A unilateral assertion of independence by a geographic region within a country. The eleven Southern states making up the Confederacy during the Civil War seceded from the United States. Confederate states of America: The political system created by the eleven states that seceded from the Union during the Civil War, which ceased to exist upon the Union victory. Reconstruction: The period from 1865–1877 after the Civil War, in which the U.S. militarily occupied and dominated the eleven former states of the Confederacy. Andrew Johnson: Seventeenth president of the United States, a Republican, who served from 1865 to 1869. Johnson had served as Abraham Lincoln’s vice president and became president after Lincoln’s assassination. Sixteenth Amendment: Amendment to the U.S. Constitution that authorized Congress to enact a national income tax. Seventeenth Amendment: Amendment to the U.S. Constitution that made senators directly elected by the people, removing their selection by state legislatures. Calvin Coolidge: Thirtieth president of the United States, a Republican, who served from 1923 to 1929. Herbert Hoover: Thirty-first president of the United States, a Republican, who served from 1929 to 1933 during the start of the Great Depression. Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR): Thirty-second president, a Democrat, who served from 1933 to 1945. FDR’s leadership took the United States through the Great Depression and World War II. New Deal: The name given to the program of “Relief, Recovery, Reform” begun by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933 to bring the United States out of the Great Depression. Cooperative federalism: The intertwined relationship between national, state, and local governments that began with the New Deal; often referred to as marble-cake federalism.  Progressive federalism: A pragmatic approach to federalism that views relations between national and state governments as both coercive and cooperative. Barack Obama: The first African American president of the United States, a Democrat, who served as forty-fourth president from 2009 to 2017. Senator from Illinois from 2005 to 2008; member of the Illinois Senate from 1997 to 2004. Categorical grants: Grants that appropriate federal funds to states for a specific purpose. Lyndon B. Johnson (lBJ): Thirty-sixth president of the United States, a Democrat, who served from 1964 to 1969. LBJ led the nation during the Civil Rights era and the Vietnam War. Great society: Reform program begun in 1964 by President Lyndon B. Johnson that was a broad attempt to combat poverty and discrimination through urban renewal, education reform, and unemployment relief. Ronald Reagan: Fortieth president of the United States, a Republican, who served from 1981 to 1989. Reagan led the nation through the end of the Cold War and his leadership led to a national shift toward political conservatism. New federalism: Federal–state relationship proposed by the Reagan administration during the 1980s; hallmark is returning administrative powers to the state governments. Block grant: A large grant given to a state by the federal government with only general spending guidelines. Programmatic requests: Federal funds designated for special projects within a state or congressional district; also called earmarks.