Colonial Foundations
This 1620 agreement, signed by pilgrims aboard a ship, was the first governing documnet of Plymouth Colony and established a framework for self-government.
The Mayflower Compact
This early U.S. government framework gave too much power to the states and could not collect taxes
Articles of Confederation
This foreign policy, created by President Monroe in 1823, warned European powers against interfering in the Western Hemisphere, signaling the U.S. as a dominant power in the Americas.
The Monroe Doctrine
This amendment, ratified in 1865, officially abolished slavery in the United States
The 13th Amendment
This new power source replaced steam in many industries and allowed for longer work hours and greater productivity.
Electricity
Established in 1619, this was the first elected legislative assembly in the American colonies, paving the way for later representative governments.
Virginia House of Burgesses
This compromise counted a portion of enslaved people toward a state’s population for representation and taxation
The Three-Fifths Compromise
This famous 1863 speech by Abraham Lincoln redefined the Civil War as a struggle for liberty and equality, emphasizing the importance of a “new birth of freedom”
The Gettysburg Address
This 1882 law was the first significant federal law to ban immigration based on nationality or race.
The Chinese Exclusion Act
This term describes the movement of people from rural areas to cities, especially due to industrial job opportunities.
Urbanization
This term describes the exchange of goods, idea, diseases, and people between the Old World and New World after 1492.
The Columbian Exchange
Passed after the Boston Tea Party, these harsh British laws were meant to punish Massachusetts
The Coercive Acts (or Intolerable Acts)
This 1850 law, part of the Compromise of 1850 required citizens to assist in the capture of runaway slaves, increasing tensions between the North and South
The Fugitive Slave Act
This 1896 Supreme Court decision legalized racial segregation under the doctrine of “separate but equal”
Plessy v. Ferguson
The creation of this government program in 1913 was designed to ensure workers had a social safety net in case of unemployment, disability, or old age.
Social Security
This 1215 English document limited the power of the king and influenced colonial ideas about rights and government
The Magna Carta
The Anti-Federalists opposed the Constitution unless it included this set of individual protections
The Bill of Rights
This 1857 Supreme Court decision ruled that African Americans, whether free or enslaved, could not be citizens and upheld the institution of slavery in the territories
The Dred Scott Decision
This political compromise ended Reconstruction and led to the withdrawal of federal troops from the South.
The Compromise of 1877
This journalist and photographer’s work, particularly his book How the Other Half Lives, highlighted the plight of the urban poor, leading to calls for housing reforms.
Jacob Riis
The acquittal of John Peter Zenger in 1735 marked a major turning point for this freedom, which would later be protected under the Constitution
Freedom of the Press
This Supreme Court Case established judicial review, strengthening the power of the judiciary
Marbury v. Madison
This 1848 document, authored by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, marked the beginning of the organized women’s rights movement in the U.S.
The Declaration of Sentiments
This group of lawmakers wanted to punish the South after the Civil War and strongly supported civil rights for freedmen.
The Radical Republicans
This educational institution, founded by Booker T. Washington in 1881, provided vocational and industrial training to African Americans in the South, aiming to improve their economic opportunities.
The Tuskegee Institute