Black Codes
laws passed at different periods in the southern United States to enforce racial segregation and curtail the power of Black voters
Wilmot Proviso
provision that slavery be excluded from the Mexican Cession became known as the Wilmot Proviso
14th Amendment
citizenship to all persons "born or naturalized in the United States," including formerly enslaved people, and provided all citizens with “equal protection under the laws”
US relations with Cuba
Under the Treaty of Paris, Cuba became a U.S. protectorate from 1898 to 1902; the U.S. gained a position of economic and political dominance over the island, which persisted after Cuba became formally independent in 1902. Following the Cuban Revolution of 1959, bilateral relations deteriorated substantially
Booker T. Washington
African-American educator, author, orator, and advisor to presidents of the United States; leader in African-American community
Compromise of 1850
five laws passed in September of 1850 that dealt with the issue of slavery and territorial expansion
Reconstruction Act of 1867
outlined the terms for readmission to representation of rebel states; the bill divided the former Confederate states, except for Tennessee, into five military districts
Manifest Destiny
the nineteenth-century doctrine or belief that the expansion of the U.S. throughout the American continents was both justified and inevitable
Andrew Carnegie
Scottish-American industrialist and philanthropist. Carnegie led the expansion of the American steel industry in the late 19th century and became one of the richest Americans in history
Frederick Jackson Turner
American historian during the early 20th century, based at the University of Wisconsin-Madison until 1910, and then Harvard University; primarily for his frontier thesis
Compromise of 1877
an informal, unwritten deal that settled the disputed 1876 U.S. Presidential election; through it Republican Rutherford B. Hayes was awarded the White House on the understanding that he would remove the federal troops from South Carolina, Florida and Louisiana
Missouri Compromise
An Act to authorize the people of the Missouri territory to form a constitution and state government, and for the admission of such state into the Union on an equal footing with the original states, and to prohibit slavery in certain territories.
Mexican American War
the first U.S. armed conflict chiefly fought on foreign soil. It pitted a politically divided and militarily unprepared Mexico against the expansionist-minded administration of U.S. President James K
-US won
Plessy v. Ferguson
-upheld a Louisiana state law that allowed for "equal but separate accommodations for the white and colored races;
-Plessy filed a petition against the presiding judge, Hon. John H. Ferguson, claiming that the law violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment
Pueblo Revolt
a revolution against Spanish religious, economic, and political institutions imposed upon the Pueblos; aimed to reclaim Pueblo religious practices
Freedmen’s Bureau
Congress passed “An Act to establish a Bureau for the Relief of Freedmen and Refugees” to provide food, shelter, clothing, medical services, and land to displaced Southerners, including newly freed African Americans
Reconstruction Era
the historic period in which the United States grappled with the question of how to integrate millions of newly freed African Americans into social, political, and labor systems
Radical Reconstruction
newly enfranchised Black people gained a voice in government for the first time in American history, winning election to southern state legislatures and even to the U.S. Congress
Dawes Act
the law authorized the President to break up reservation land, which was held in common by the members of a tribe, into small allotments to be parceled out to individuals.
Settlement House
organizations that provided support services to the urban poor and European immigrants, often including education, healthcare, childcare, and employment resources
Dred Scott Case
United States Supreme Court upheld slavery in United States territories, denied the legality of black citizenship in America, and declared the Missouri Compromise to be unconstitutional
15th Amendment
granted African American men the right to vote
Know-Nothing Party
started in 1849 as a secret organization with an anti-immigrant agenda. Reacting against the large tide of immigrants arriving in the 1840s, they actively promoted "natives," which they defined as American-born Protestants
W.E.B. Du Bois
-first Black American to earn a PhD from Harvard University
-became director of publicity and research for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)
Social Gospel
a social movement within Protestantism that aims to apply Christian ethics to social problems, especially issues of social justice such as economic inequality, poverty, alcoholism, crime, racial tensions, slums, unclean environment, child labor, lack of unionization, poor schools