Cold War
According to this theory, if one country fell to communism, neighboring countries would also fall like a row of dominos, justifying U.S. intervention in conflicts such as the Vietnam War.
Domino
This policy, introduced by President William Howard Taft, aimed to use economic influence and investment to promote American interests abroad, particularly in Latin America and East Asia.
Dollar Diplomacy
This system emerged in the South after the Civil War, in which landless farmers, often freed African Americans, worked on land owned by others in exchange for a share of the crops produced, perpetuating a cycle of debt and poverty.
Sharecropping
This 1820 agreement admitted Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state, while also establishing a line across the Louisiana Territory, prohibiting slavery north of the 36°30'
Missouri Compromise
This process, developed in the 1850s, revolutionized steel production by allowing for the mass production of high-quality steel at lower costs, leading to widespread use in construction and manufacturing.
Bessemer Process
This powerful banker and financier, known as the "banker's banker," dominated American finance in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, often bailing out struggling businesses and consolidating industries through mergers and acquisitions.
J.P. Morgan
Coined by diplomat George F. Kennan, this strategy aimed to prevent the spread of communism by containing it within its existing boundaries through diplomatic, economic, and military means.
Containment
Coined by President Theodore Roosevelt, this policy emphasized using military power and a strong navy to achieve American goals, especially in the Western Hemisphere.
Big Stick Diplomacy
These laws, enacted by Southern states after the Civil War, aimed to restrict the rights and freedoms of African Americans, including their ability to own property, work certain jobs, and move freely.
Black Codes
This fervent abolitionist led a raid on the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia (now West Virginia) in 1859, hoping to incite a slave rebellion, but was captured and later executed.
John Brown
Completed in 1869, this massive engineering project connected the eastern and western United States by rail, facilitating trade, migration, and the expansion of the American economy.
Transcontinental Railroad
This Scottish-American industrialist built a vast steel empire, revolutionizing steel production and becoming one of the richest men in the world before devoting his later years to philanthropy, funding libraries, universities, and other charitable endeavors.
Andrew Carnegie
this program provided billions of dollars in aid to Western European countries to help rebuild their economies and prevent the spread of communism after World War II.
Marshall Plan
Advocated by President Woodrow Wilson, this policy sought to promote democratic ideals and support governments that were seen as morally right, rather than simply serving American economic or strategic interests.
Moral Diplomacy
Ratified in 1868, this amendment granted citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the United States, including former slaves, and guaranteed equal protection under the law.
14th Amendment
In this 1857 Supreme Court case, the court ruled that African Americans, whether free or enslaved, were not citizens and therefore could not sue in federal court, further inflaming tensions over slavery.
Dred Scott
These overcrowded and often unsanitary apartment buildings, common in American cities during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, housed large numbers of immigrants and working-class families in cramped conditions.
Tenement
This philosophy, influenced by Charles Darwin's theory of natural selection, applied evolutionary principles to society, arguing that competition and survival of the fittest should govern human affairs, often used to justify laissez-faire capitalism and social inequality.
Social Darwinism
Announced by President Harry S. Truman in 1947, this doctrine pledged U.S. support for countries threatened by communism, laying the foundation for the policy of containment and shaping American foreign policy for decades to come.
Truman Doctrine
his style of sensationalist and often exaggerated reporting, exemplified by newspapers like William Randolph Hearst's New York Journal and Joseph Pulitzer's New York World, helped to fuel public support for the Spanish-American War.
Yellow Journalism
Derogatory term used to describe Northerners who moved to the South during Reconstruction, often seeking economic or political opportunities, but were viewed with suspicion by many Southerners.
Carpetbaggers
This package of laws, passed to address the issue of slavery in the territories acquired from Mexico, included the admission of California as a free state, the organization of the Utah and New Mexico territories with popular sovereignty, and a stricter Fugitive Slave Law.
Compromise of 1850
During the Industrial Revolution, many children were employed in factories, mines, and other industries, performing dangerous and strenuous work for low wages, leading to efforts to reform labor laws and improve working conditions.
Labor History
This movement, rooted in Christian theology, emphasized the importance of social justice, charity, and the application of Christian principles to address the social problems caused by industrialization and urbanization, inspiring reform efforts in areas such as labor rights and poverty alleviation.
Social Gospel
This term refers to the relaxation of tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War, marked by diplomatic efforts and arms control agreements.
Détente
Added to the Cuban constitution in 1901, this amendment gave the United States the right to intervene in Cuban affairs and establish naval bases on the island, reflecting American interests in the Caribbean.
Platt Amendment
This political agreement ended Reconstruction in the United States, leading to the withdrawal of federal troops from the South and effectively handing the presidency to Rutherford B. Hayes in exchange for concessions to Southern Democrats.
Compromise of 1877
Passed in 1854, this act repealed the Missouri Compromise, allowing settlers in the Kansas and Nebraska territories to decide for themselves whether to allow slavery, leading to violent conflict between pro-slavery and anti-slavery forces in Kansas.
Kansas-Nebraska Act
This 1886 labor protest in Chicago turned violent when a bomb was thrown at police, leading to a deadly clash and subsequent trials of labor leaders, highlighting tensions between workers and employers during the Gilded Age.
Haymarket Strike
This French term, meaning "let do" or "leave alone," refers to the economic doctrine advocating minimal government intervention in the economy, allowing free markets to operate without regulation or interference.
Laissez-Faire