Important Documents
Whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.
Declaration of Independence
Which document established the form of government that in the United States have today?
U.S. Constitution
This 19th-century belief held that the United States was destined to expand across the North American continent, spreading democracy and American culture from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
Manifest Destiny
During the late 1800s, many business leaders supported this economic philosophy that called for minimal government interference in the economy and free competition in the marketplace.
Laissez-faire
The U.S. entered this war after the "Gulf of Tonkin" incident.
Vietnam War
- Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise there of
- No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.
- The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated
Bill of Rights
This unofficial British policy in the 1700s allowed the American colonies to govern themselves with minimal interference, helping colonists grow accustomed to self-rule before the American Revolution.
Salutary Neglect
Which war led to the acquisition of lands in modern day Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California?
Mexican-American War
This president dramatically expanded the role of the federal government through a series of relief, recovery, and reform programs collectively known as the New Deal.
Franklin D. Roosevelt?
Zimmerman Telegram
by virtue of the power in me vested as Commander-in-Chief, of the Army and Navy of the United States in time of actual armed rebellion against the authority and government of the United States, and as a fit and necessary war measure for suppressing said rebellion, do, on this first day...
declare that all persons held as slaves within said designated States, and parts of States, are, and henceforward shall be free; and that the Executive government of the United States, including the military and naval authorities thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of said persons.
Emancipation Proclamation
Through the policy of ________________European countries viewed colonies as tools to increase the mother country's wealth by the colonies supplying cheap raw materials and buying finished goods, while prohibiting them from trading with other nations.
Mercantilism
Passed in 1854, this act created two new territories and allowed settlers to decide through popular sovereignty whether slavery would be permitted there, leading to violent conflict.
Kansas-Nebraska Act
Passed in 1890, this federal law was designed to limit monopolies and restore competition by prohibiting trusts and other business practices that restrained trade.
Sherman Anti-Trust Act
After _________________ (war) the United States never returned to isolationism and has continued to engage in internationalism.
WWII
Article 1: All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.
Article 2: The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America.
Article 3: The judicial Power of the United States, shall be vested in one supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish.
U.S. Constitution
After the Boston Tea Party, Britain passed this series of punitive laws in 1774 to punish Massachusetts and tighten control over the colonies; it involved actions such as quartering and a naval blockade.
Coercive/Intolerable Acts
Which Amendment to the Constitution said
"All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens" &
"No State shall make or enforce any law which shall ... deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."
Fourteenth Amendment
In the 1960s, President Lyndon B. Johnson aimed to eliminate poverty and racial injustice through expanded social programs like Medicare and Medicaid.
The Great Society
- yellow journalism
- De Lome Letter
- Sinking of the U.S.S. Maine
contributed to the U.S. entering which war?
Spanish-American War
“Without the Bill of Rights, the people surrender nothing; and as they retain everything they have no need of particular rights outlined. “WE, THE PEOPLE of the United States, to secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ORDAIN and ESTABLISH this Constitution for the United States of America.” . . . I go further, and affirm that bills of rights, are not only unnecessary in the proposed Constitution, but would even be dangerous. . . if some powers are outlined and protected, what can happen to those that aren’t?”
Federalist Papers
This religious revival movement of the 1730s and 1740s emphasized emotional preaching, personal faith, and encouraged American colonists to challenge traditional church authority.
First Great Awakening
President Lincoln’s decision to suspend the writ of ____________ during the Civil War represented a dangerous threat to civil liberties during a time of crisis.
Writ of Habeus Corpus
Signed into law in 2010 under President Barack Obama, this healthcare reform law expanded insurance coverage.
Affordable Care Act
Which two wars did the U.S. enter into after the attacks on 9/11?
Afghanistan (2001) & Iraq (2003)
Both part of the "War on Terror"