American Revolution
This decentralized system of government was established by America's first constitution primarily because the authors feared a strong central authority.
What are the Articles of Confederation?
This 1823 foreign policy statement warned European powers to refrain from further colonization or interference in the Western Hemisphere.
What is the Monroe Doctrine?
Throughout the American Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln's primary goal was not immediately ending slavery, but maintaining this.
What is preserving the Union?
This derogatory term was used to describe wealthy, powerful 19th-century businessmen like John D. Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie.
Who are Robber Barons?
This 1887 federal law aimed to assimilate Native Americans into American society by dividing tribal lands into individual family allotments.
What is the Dawes Severalty Act (or Dawes Act)?
In his 1796 Farewell Address, George Washington explicitly warned the nation against foreign alliances and this internal division.
What are political parties?
This 1850 legislative compromise contained a stricter Fugitive Slave Act, admitted California as a free state, and abolished the slave trade in Washington, D.C.
What is the Compromise of 1850?
Fought in September 1862, this battle remains the single bloodiest day in American history and gave Lincoln the strategic standing to issue the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation.
What is the Battle of Antietam?
Invented by Henry Bessemer, this industrial technique allowed for the cheap, mass production of steel, transforming urban skylines and railroads.
What is the Bessemer Process?
Delivered at the 1896 Democratic National Convention by William Jennings Bryan, this famous speech advocated for free silver and supported agrarian interests.
What is the "Cross of Gold" speech?
Alexander Hamilton created this financial institution by using the "elastic clause," taking a loose interpretation of the Constitution similar to Thomas Jefferson's purchase of Louisiana.
What is the first National Bank?
The 1854 Kansas-Nebraska Act repealed this 1820 agreement by allowing popular sovereignty to decide the status of slavery north of the 36°30' line.
What is the Missouri Compromise?
During the Civil War, President Lincoln controversial suspended this constitutional protection, which requires a person under arrest to be brought before a court to hear the charges against them.
What is Habeas Corpus (or the writ of habeas corpus)?
Andrew Carnegie argued in this famous 1889 article that the wealthy had a moral obligation to redistribute their surplus wealth for the betterment of society.
What is the Gospel of Wealth?
Founded in 1867 to support farmers, this agrarian organization pushed for state regulation of railroad rates through Granger Laws.
What is the Grange?
Both George Washington's response to the Whiskey Rebellion and Andrew Jackson's response to the Nullification Crisis demonstrated the federal government's willingness to use this to enforce federal law.
What is military force (or federal executive power)?
Introduced in 1846 during the Mexican-American War, this proposed legislation sought to ban slavery in any territory acquired from Mexico, worsening sectional tensions.
What is the Wilmot Proviso?
This 1862 act granted 160 acres of public land in the West to settlers who improved it, demonstrating a massive expansion of federal power to encourage settlement.
What is the Homestead Act?
Passed in 1890, this federal statute was the first legislation enacted by Congress to curb monopolies and anti-competitive business practices.
What is the Sherman Antitrust Act?
Her 1881 book, A Century of Dishonor, exposed the federal government's long history of broken treaties and mistreatment of Native Americans.
Who is Helen Hunt Jackson?
Passed in 1798 under President John Adams, these controversial laws restricted speech critical of the government and targeted non-citizens, directly sparking the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions.
What are the Alien and Sedition Acts?
Supported by the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions and later the South Carolina Ordinance of Nullification, this constitutional principle argued that states have the right to declare federal laws unconstitutional.
What is the Principle/Theory of Nullification (or States' Rights)?
In this landmark 1857 ruling, the Supreme Court declared that African Americans were not citizens and ruled that Congress had no authority to prohibit slavery in federal territories.
What is the Dred Scott v. Sandford decision?
This 1886 Chicago rally organized by labor activists turned violent after a bomb was thrown, severely damaging the reputation of the Knights of Labor union.
What is the Haymarket Square Riot?
Formed in the 1890s by farmers and labor reform groups, this third party's platform demanded government ownership of railroads, a graduated income tax, and the free coinage of silver.
What is the Populist Party (or People's Party)?