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guns, germs, and steel hypothesis
definition: native Americans weren't able to fight off Europeans during settlement cause Europeans brought with them diseases. Diseases decimated 90% of the Native American population
significance: Native Americans were unable to fght off settlers leading to them taking over their land and establishing their superiority
Slave Trade Clause of the Constitution
Definition: The Slave Trade Clause allowed the importation of enslaved Africans to continue. It was a compromise between Southern states, which wanted to protect the slave trade, and Northern states, which pushed to end it sooner.
Significance: This clause protected slavery in the early years and showed how deeply the Constitution was shaped by the needs of Southern slaveholders.
Moral Suasion
Definition: Tactic that abolitionists used to persuade people by appealing their morality to end slavery. Once people knew the horrors of slavery, they want to end it.
Significance: The moral suasion helped abolitionists strengthened the movement to ending slavery in the US by revealing the truth.
The 1965 Voting Rights Act
Definition: Banned discriminatory voting practices that had kept Black Americans from voting. It was passed after the violence of “Bloody Sunday,” which moved public opinion.
Significance: The law empowered the federal government to protect voting rights, leading to a massive increase in Black voter registration and political participation across the South.
The Burlingame Treaty
Definition: An agreement between the United States and China that encouraged Chinese immigration to the U.S. and promised mutual protection for citizens of both countries. It was originally meant to promote friendship and labor exchange during America’s westward expansion.
Significance: The treaty opened the door for large-scale Chinese immigration, but rising racism and economic tension later led to backlash and the Chinese Exclusion Act
Iroquois Influence Theory
Definition: the united states adopted the idea of federalism coming fro the Iroquois nations like the spheres of influence
significance: the united states adopted the idea of federalism coming from the Iroquois nation like the spheres of influence. the Iroquois influenced the US political structure heavily
The Significance of Cotton for Race Relations in Early America
Definition: Cotton became the main crop in the South, creating huge profits that made slavery even more essential to the economy. The demand for cotton led to the expansion of plantations and the forced labor of many enslaved Africans.
Significance: Cotton strengthened the South’s dependence on slavery and deepened racial inequality across the United States.
The Fugitive Slave Act
Definition: Escaped enslaved people found in free states be returned to their enslavers in the South. It also allowed ordinary citizens to be deputized to capture runaways, and even free Black people could be kidnapped and sold into slavery. Made importations of slaves less likely to happens.
Significance: Co-defining racial discrimination into the Constitution as the law outraged Northerner and deepened the growing divide between the North and South.
1790 Naturalization Act
Definition: The first U.S. law to define who could become a citizen, limiting naturalization to basically just white men. It excluded nonwhite immigrants and tied women’s citizenship to their fathers or husbands.
Significance: This act established race as a legal basis for citizenship, embedding white supremacy into early American immigration and citizenship policy.
Chinese Exclusion Act
Definition: The first U.S. law to ban immigration based on race or nationality, prohibiting Chinese laborers from entering the country. It also denied citizenship to Chinese immigrants already living in the U.S. and allowed only a few exceptions.
Significance: The act institutionalized racial discrimination in U.S. immigration policy and set a precedent for future restrictions against other Asian groups.
John Punch
Definition: One of the first black indentured servants to get punished for a license of servitude. Although he escaped with two indentured servants, he got a lifetime of service whereas they only got two more years.
Significance: This meant that slavery can be passed down throughout generations creating the standard of slavery in the US.
The American Colonization Society
Definition: Many Americans believed that black people didn’t deserve to live in the US so they settled a separate part of land (Liberia) for them to go back to. Some went but some believed they shouldn’t have to move because they’re also citizens here.
Significance: The society reflected the deep racism, showing that even many who opposed slavery did not believe Black and white Americans could live as equals.
SNCC
Definition: A civil rights organization that worked on the freedom rights formed by young activists to challenge racial segregation through non-violent protests. Organized major actions like the freedom where they risked their safety to demand for change.
Significance: SNCC played a large role in passing the civil rights act toward the reformation of Blacks in politics.
Alien and Sedition Act of 1798
Definition: Laws that were passed to make it harder for immigrants to become citizens and allowed the government to jail/deport noncitizens deemed “dangerous.” The Elongated Naturalization Period was due to their wish to retain culture.
Significance: These acts reflected fears of foreign influence, limiting free speech, and exposing tensions over immigration and civil liberties in the U.S.
National Quota Act (1924 Johnson-Reed Act)
Definition: Limited immigration by giving preference to Northern and Western Europeans based on the census. It made it more difficult for the other Europeans and Non-European immigration.
Significance: It affected American politics by setting rules that favored some groups over others
Scientific Racism and Slavery
Definition: A lot of the founders used science to justify using Black people for slavery. Claimed that Black people are the best for manual labor.
Significance: Impacting the societal structure of the US where black people are “made for slavery.
Uncle Tom’s Cabin
Definition: The story of an enslaved man whose faith and suffering exposed the cruelty of slavery. The novel emphasized heavily on Family Separation and Public Opinion portraying Uncle Tom as a Christ-like figure.
Significance: The book powerfully shifted public opinion in the North, fueling the abolitionist movement and increasing tensions between the North and South.
SCLC
Definition: Founded during the Montgomery Bus Boycott, led by MLK Jr. It united local civil rights groups to coordinate nonviolent protests against segregation across the South.
Significance: The SCLC framed the civil rights struggle in moral and religious terms, emphasizing nonviolence to win national sympathy and highlight the injustice of segregation.
First Great Wave of Immigration
Definition: Brought large numbers of Irish and German immigrants to the United States. Many fled religious or political persecution and economic hardship like Ireland’s potato famine.
Significance: The wave sparked cultural and religious tensions, leading to anti-immigrant movements that sought to limit immigration and naturalization.
Bracero Program
Definition: A U.S. agreement with Mexico that allowed Mexican laborers to work temporarily in American farms and railroads. It was created to fill labor shortages during World War II.
Significance: It shaped American politics by highlighting the reliance on immigrant labor and influencing debates about immigration, workers’ rights, and labor policy.
Three Fifths Compromise
Definition: The Three-Fifths Compromise said that each enslaved person would count as three-fifths of a free person for representation. It was a deal between Northern states, which opposed counting enslaved people, and Southern states, which wanted to count them fully.
Significance: It gave the South more power in Congress and deepened the divide over slavery in American politics.
Nat Turner’s Rebellion
Definition: A Virginia enslaved preacher who believed he was chosen by God to end slavery. Turner and his followers killed around 60 white people before the revolt was suppressed.
Significance: The rebellion terrified Southern slaveholders, leading to harsher slave laws and restrictions on Black education, movement, and religious gatherings
The 1964 Civil Rights Act
Definition: Outlawed segregation in public places and banned discrimination based on race, color, origin, etc. It passed after intense national debate, fueled by televised images of Southern violence that shifted public opinion.
Significance: The act marked a major victory for the Civil Rights Movement, giving the federal government power to enforce desegregation and protect equal rights.
Dahl’s Model of Assimilation
Definition: Immigrants come to the US and move into the US because they want to be surrounded by their community. In the 2nd generation, leave the ethnic enclave because of co-optation. In the 3rd generation, ethnicity disappears because everyone is leaving.
Significance: There is a linear step across multiple generations towards assimilation in the US.
Gang of Eight
Definition: Four Democrats and four Republicans coming together to write an immigration bill that was supposed to satisfy both sides of the political aisle. They were successful in the Senate in getting the bill passed, but unsuccessful in the House with a bill that never even came along.
Significance: Speaks to the difficulties of addressing immigration in our current polarized society.