US History Final Review

Unit One- Geography & basic US Ideals

1. Only know the map.
2. Primary source: A document or record of the past created by people who were
present during that time ex- a soldier's diary
Secondary source: A piece of work done by someone who was not present at the
certain event or time period ex- video made after the event
3. Historical Interpretation: process of finding the meaning or significance of historical
events


Unit Two-Establishing an American Republic
4. Declaration of independence: A document which announced the American colonies'
freedom from British rule. Its purpose was to highlight the foundation for American
ideals (Life, Liberty, Pursuit of happiness, Men are created equal, unalienable rights)
The preamble: The first part of the constitution. Its purpose is to describe and
announce the goals of the American gov't

5. Three Branches of Gov't and their powers:
Executive *enforces the law*
-President, vice, and cabinet
-commander of military
-oversees foreign relations
-nominates federal judges and ambassadors
-approves/vetos bills

Legislative *makes the law*
-congress
-economic responsibilities (prints money, approves budget, collects taxes, regulate
foreign trade)
-ratify treaties
-declare war
-override presidential veto with 2/3 vote
-propose constitutional amendments with 2/3 vote

Judicial *interpret laws*
-supreme Court
-interpret and decide if laws follow principles of the constitution






Unit Three-The progressive Era
6. Initiative- reform which enables citizens to pass a law directly without involving the state
legislative.
7. Trusts- Large businesses which have full control of industries to avoid competition.
"Monopolies of power"
8. Tammany Hall- A political machine which cheated the city out of $200 million.
9. Political machine- organizations which consisted of full time politicians whose main goal
was to get and keep political power, money and the influence that came with it.
10. recall- The process by which voters can remove an elected official before his term
expires.
11. Prohibition- A ban on the production and sale of alcoholic beverages (18
th
amendment).
12. Triangle Shirtwaist Factory-
- On MARCH 25
TH
, 1911 (Saturday)
-Where: Asch building, lower Manhattan, Half a block east of Washington Sq. Park
-How: fire started at the 8
th
floor from a wastebasket in the cutter's area.
-Couldn't escape because: exit door was locked, elevator held down by 19 dead bodies,
ladders only reached the 6
th
floor, rear air shaft ended a floor above the basement skylight.
-Safety Problems: no water in the hose, no sprinklers, no fire drills ever held in the factory.
-Political effect: State legislation required fire sprinklers, fire drills and unlocked and
outward-swinging doors, Bill limiting work to 54hrs, 33 laws were passed regarding the labor
code.


13. The united states by 1900-
Environmental Problems
-Natural resources: extracting oil and coal was scarring the land and killing workers.
- The Landscape: Forests are destroyed as trees are cut down for agricultural purposes.
- Pollution: air was toxic because of factories, animal waste caused a disposal problem,
heavily polluted water so they changed the flow of the Chicago River and created separate
drinking water from waste water.
Poor living and working conditions
-The work place: Factory work was dangerous, injured workers went into poverty, workers
always had to work harder to receive the same amount of payment.
-Unsafe products: Gov't didnt regulate product quality and consumers were left unaware,
processed foods were contaminated with toxic chemicals, medicine was unregulated
(people became drug addicts) and small companies failed as monopolies seized the
opportunity.
-Slum life: Gov't failed to provide adequate infrastructure and services, crowded tenements
and no protection against fires, diseases spread because of poor sanitation.
Political Problems
-Corruption in local and state politics:
*Corrupt politicians and powerful industries worked together
*machines used fraud to win elections
*unqualified people got hired
*bribery between companies and political machines
-National politics
*corporations bribed state legislatures to elect certain candidates
*big businesses gave contributions to politicians in return for passing favorable laws
*Patronage- giving jobs to friends even when they were unqualified (the Pendleton Act set
guidelines for civil service jobs)
-Political Machines and Bosses
*machines were associated with a political party
*Political machines has control at all levels of city gov't
*they did "charity" in order to receive votes
Social Problems and tensions
-Social Classes: huge gap between the extremely rich and poor.
-Child labor: left their education to work in factories and mines
-Women: performed unskilled labor, no women suffrage at national level
-African American: Not allowed to vote, they were abused and treated with violence,
segregation, immigrated north
14. Solutions:
*Tenement House Act 1901
*Workers' compensation laws
*Sherman Antitrust Act (not effective)---- *Clayton Antitrust act
*Hepburn Act
*Pure food and drug act
*The meat inspection act
*16
th
amendment gov't imposed income tax
*banned child labor
*National Park service
*Federal Reserve act
* 17- 18- 19 amendments (direct election of senators by popular vote- prohibition- women
suffrage)
15. Booker T. Washington- believed that AF-AM lives will improve through hard work and a
better economic condition. Encouraged common labor education, industrial training,
disregarded segregation and equality will come naturally.
W.E.B DuBois- Believed AF-AMs should demand civil rights through political action.
Equality will only be achieved by protesting unfair treatment.





16. Effects of The Jungle
Unit Four-World War I
17. Why the war started?
*System of alliances linked European countries to each other
*Nationalism leads European powers to seek national interest regardless of the
consequences for other countries
*Militarism resulted in full scale military buildup and competition between European
countries
*imperialism and the competition for trade and colonies
18. Trench warfare: a new way of combat where soldiers dig large ditches. They are
separated into a compartment for storing supplies, a place for soldiers to rest and the
frontline where all the action happens. This system offers protection but at the same time
was very crowded, diseases spread and was almost unbearable to live like this.
19. Machine guns: the first truly automatic gun, caused heavy casualties, soldiers had to
change their tactics against the machine gun.
20. Wilson's fourteen points: A guideline designed to protect peaceful nations and people
from 'force and selfish aggression'
21. Effects of the Treaty of Versailles on Europe: countries gained the right for self-
determination, Germany takes responsibility for the war (war-guilt clause) and the League of
Nations is established.
22. League of Nations: an international organization to ensure world peace











Unit Five- The Roaring 20s

23. Causes and effects of consumer culture:
*taking loans is no longer shameful
*Buying on credit and installment buying
*styles changed frequently, people were encouraged to stay up to date so that they buy
more goods
*Helps the economy and personal happiness
*promised to make life better
*Ads were all over the radio as well as printed ads

24. Rural traditionalists: lived in quiet communities, viewed the city life with suspicion, saw it
was materialistic and immoral, and wanted to keep their long held traditional and religious
values. Were viewed as being behind the times.
Urban Modernists: were attracted to the excitement of the city life, rejected long-
accepted American values and began to consider new ideas, music and social values.

25. Support to prohibition: It enriched the economy, readjusted the country from war,
accomplished social/economic/industrial reforms, fallen death and crime rates, people use
the money they save to buy new products like cars, alcohol broke up families and caused
violence, wanted to remove foreign influence.
Opposition to prohibition: isn't effectively enforced, more arrests, now there's greater
variety in alcoholic drinks, corrupted prohibition supporters in the gov't, the illegal
production of alcohol demands a lot of money, public official neglect their important duties
to suppress the evils of alcohol, prosperity is in fact due to installment buying not
prohibition.
26. Harlem renaissance: was the outpouring of creativity among African American writers,
artists and musicians. They shared work and encouraged each other. Ex- Langston Hughes,
James Weldon, Zora Neale Hurston.
27. American Farmers in the 1920s: Demand for US crops and prices dropped after the war
= their income shrinking = cannot pay loans = lost farms
28. Lost generation: A group of white writers who moved to Europe because they were
sickened by the slaughter of war; gathered at the apartment of writer, Gertrude Stein.
Among them were E.E Cummings, Ernest Hemingway, and F. Scott Fitzgerald.
Unit Six- The great depression
29. Causes of the great depression:
*Rising stock prices (speculative bubbles)
*overproduction/underconsumption
*The Federal Reserve raised the discount rate
*Hawley-Smoot Tariff Act: A law passed by Congress with the aim of protecting American
businesses from foreign competition by raising tariffs even higher

30. Problems during the great depression:
*Unemployment and farmers lost their farms
*psychological stress, family broke apart.
*People were evicted out of their homes
*starvation and malnutrition
*Natural disasters: black blizzards, drought and desertification, depopulation, the flood of
1936
*public assistance was not enough to help everyone
31. Bank runs: a situation where panicked depositors line up to withdraw their money from
the banks at the same time (might not get their money) leaving the bank to fail.
32. Bull market: a steady rise in stock prices over a long period of time
Bear market: a steady decrease in stock prices
33. Speculative bubbles: an unrealistic rise in economic values
34. Buying on margin: brokers lend money to stock buyers
35. Hoover's actions to improve the economy:
*Encouraged voluntary cooperation
*created Reconstruction Finance Corporation
*signed a bill to authorize the RFC to finance public works projects and loan money to states
36. First Hundred Days: A session of Congress to enact a record of bills to resolve the
country's desperate state
37. Okies: Newcomers from Oklahoma to California
38. Political Ideologies:
Radicals wanted to get rid of capitalism and replace it with communism
Conservatives believe that the economy will naturally heal itself without anybody's
interference
Liberals believed that the gov't should be responsible to provide jobs and raise money for
the social welfare
40. Dust bowl: A prolonged drought which affected 100 million acres of farmland. Black
blizzards, blowing thick dust storms were very common.

GOOD LUCK!