AP US History Key Terms & Vocabulary

165 essential AP US History terms, defined — aligned to the College Board CED.

A
Albany Plan of Union: Benjamin Franklin's 1754 proposal to unite the colonies under a single council. Rejected by both colonies (too much central power) and Britain (too much colonial power). Planted the seed for future colonial cooperation.
American System: Henry Clay's economic plan (1824): protective tariffs, national bank, federally funded infrastructure. United some regions but divided others — tariffs helped the North, hurt the South.
Anti-Federalists: Opposed ratification of the Constitution. Feared a strong central government would become tyrannical. Demanded a Bill of Rights. Led by Patrick Henry, George Mason.
Articles of Confederation: First US constitution (1777-1789). Created a weak federal government with no president, no courts, no taxing power. Replaced after Shays' Rebellion exposed fatal weaknesses.
B
Battle of Fallen Timbers: 1794 US victory over Indigenous alliance in Ohio. Led to Treaty of Greenville — Indigenous nations surrendered vast lands. Opened Ohio for American settlement.
Battle of Saratoga: 1777 turning point of the American Revolution. Decisive Patriot victory that convinced France to ally with America — sending troops, ships, and supplies that tipped the war.
Berlin Airlift: 1948-49. US/British planes flew supplies into Soviet-blockaded West Berlin for nearly a year. Demonstrated Western resolve without escalating to war.
Bill of Rights: First 10 amendments to the Constitution (ratified 1791). Guaranteed individual liberties (speech, religion, press, arms, fair trial). Added to secure Anti-Federalist support for ratification.
Black Codes: Laws passed by Southern states after the Civil War restricting Black freedom — prohibiting land ownership, testifying against whites, moving freely. Recreated slave-like conditions without the legal label.
Bleeding Kansas: 1854-1859. Violent conflict in Kansas Territory after popular sovereignty was applied to slavery. Pro-slavery 'border ruffians' vs. free-state settlers. 50+ killed. Preview of the Civil War.
Brown v. Board of Education: 1954 Supreme Court ruling that school segregation was unconstitutional, overturning Plessy v. Ferguson. 'All deliberate speed' clause allowed Southern states to delay integration.
Bush Doctrine: Post-9/11 policy of preemptive war — attacking potential threats before they materialize. Used to justify the 2003 Iraq War.
C
Checks and balances: System where each branch of government can limit the others. President vetoes laws, Congress overrides vetoes, courts declare laws unconstitutional.
Chinese Exclusion Act: 1882. First US law banning immigration based on race/nationality. Banned Chinese immigration entirely. Set the precedent for future race-based immigration restrictions.
Civil Rights Act of 1964: Banned discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, and national origin. Ended legal segregation. Most significant civil rights legislation since Reconstruction.
Cold War: 1945-1991 ideological struggle between US (democratic capitalism) and USSR (authoritarian communism). Fought through proxy wars, arms races, and global competition — never direct military confrontation.
Columbian Exchange: Transfer of plants, animals, diseases, and people between the Americas and Europe/Africa after 1492. Devastating to Indigenous populations (disease killed up to 90%).
Common Sense: Thomas Paine's 1776 pamphlet arguing for independence from Britain. Used plain language and biblical arguments. Sold 500,000 copies and convinced many colonists that independence was necessary.
Compromise of 1850: California = free state; Utah/New Mexico = popular sovereignty; stricter Fugitive Slave Act; slave trade abolished in DC. Temporarily preserved the Union but satisfied nobody.
Compromise of 1877: Ended Reconstruction. Hayes became president in exchange for removing all federal troops from the South. Abandoned Black Americans to white supremacist 'Redeemer' governments.
Containment: US Cold War strategy: don't destroy communism where it exists, but prevent it from spreading. Implemented through Truman Doctrine, NATO, Marshall Plan, and proxy wars.
Cotton gin: Eli Whitney's 1793 invention that processed cotton efficiently. Paradoxically INCREASED demand for enslaved labor (more fields to plant/pick). Made slavery more profitable and entrenched.
Cuban Missile Crisis: October 1962. Soviet nuclear missiles discovered in Cuba. 13 days of tension — closest the world came to nuclear war. Resolved diplomatically; both sides stepped back from the brink.
Cult of domesticity: 19th-century ideology defining women's role as domestic — raising children, maintaining the home. A middle-class phenomenon; working-class women couldn't afford it.
D
D-Day: June 6, 1944 (Operation Overlord). Largest amphibious invasion in history. 200,000+ Allied troops stormed Normandy beaches. Beginning of the end for Nazi Germany.
Dawes Act: 1887. Divided Indigenous reservations into individual 160-acre plots. Offered citizenship IF Indigenous people abandoned their culture for 25 years. Designed to destroy tribal sovereignty through forced assimilation.
Declaration of Independence: 1776. Written by Thomas Jefferson. Declared independence using Enlightenment ideas — natural rights, social contract, consent of the governed. Drew from Locke, Virginia Declaration of Rights.
Declaration of Sentiments: 1848 Seneca Falls Convention. Written by Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Demanded women's equality in employment, education, property, and voting. Modeled on the Declaration of Independence.
Domino Theory: If one country falls to communism, neighboring countries will follow like dominoes. Used to justify US intervention in Vietnam and other Cold War conflicts.
Double V Campaign: WWII-era Black American campaign: victory over fascism abroad + victory over racism at home. Linked military service to the demand for civil rights.
Dred Scott v. Sandford: 1857. Supreme Court ruled enslaved people were not citizens, couldn't sue, and Congress couldn't ban slavery in territories. Effectively legalized slavery everywhere. Worst Supreme Court decision in history.
Dust Bowl: 1930s ecological disaster on the Great Plains. Over-farming + drought → massive dust storms. Thousands of 'Okies' migrated west seeking work.
Détente: 1970s relaxation of Cold War tensions. Nixon visited China and USSR. SALT treaty limited nuclear weapons. Strategic reduction of hostilities, not ideological agreement.
E
Electoral College: System for electing the president. Each state gets electors equal to its congressional representation. Can produce presidents who lose the popular vote (2000, 2016).
Emancipation Proclamation: January 1, 1863. Freed enslaved people in Confederate states only (not border states). Strategically transformed the war from preserving the Union to ending slavery.
Encomienda: Spanish colonial labor system forcing Indigenous people to work for Spanish colonists. System of forced labor and tribute extraction.
Enlightenment: 18th-century intellectual movement emphasizing reason, natural rights, and the social contract. Ideas from Locke, Rousseau, and Montesquieu inspired the American Revolution.
Era of Good Feelings: Post-War of 1812 period of nationalism and one-party rule (Democratic-Republicans). Misleading name — deep regional tensions over tariffs and slavery simmered beneath the surface.
Exodusters: ~40,000 Black Americans who migrated from the South to Kansas in the 1880s, fleeing KKK violence, Jim Crow, and sharecropping. Named after the biblical Exodus.
F
Federalism: System where power is shared between federal and state governments. Some powers are federal (declare war), some state (run elections), some shared (taxation).
Federalist Papers: 85 essays by Hamilton, Madison, and Jay arguing for ratification of the Constitution. Federalist No. 10 argued a large republic prevents tyranny through competing factions.
Federalists: Supported ratification of the Constitution and a strong federal government. Led by Hamilton, Madison, Jay. Later became a political party opposing Democratic-Republicans.
Fourteenth Amendment: 1868. Birthright citizenship, equal protection, due process. Applied civil rights protections against STATE governments. Basis for nearly every civil rights case since.
French and Indian War: 1754-1763. Britain vs. France (with Indigenous allies) over Ohio Valley territory. British victory doubled their debt → taxed colonists → revolution.
Frontier Thesis: Frederick Jackson Turner (1893). Argued the frontier shaped American democracy and character. With the frontier closed, America might need to look overseas for new frontiers.
Fugitive Slave Act: Part of Compromise of 1850. Required ALL Americans to help capture runaway enslaved people. No jury trial. Commissioners paid more for ruling 'slave' than 'free.' Radicalized Northern opposition.
G
Gettysburg Address: Lincoln's 1863 speech reframing the Civil War as a fight for democracy and equality — 'a new birth of freedom.' Connected the Declaration of Independence's promises to soldiers' sacrifices.
Ghost Dance: 1880s-1890 spiritual movement among Plains Indians. Promised return of ancestral ways. US government treated it as a military threat → Wounded Knee Massacre.
Gilded Age: Mark Twain's term for the late 1800s. 'Gilded' = gold on the surface, corruption underneath. Era of industrial growth, extreme inequality, political corruption.
Gospel of Wealth: Andrew Carnegie's philosophy: the rich have a moral DUTY to invest in society through philanthropy (libraries, universities) — not direct charity to individuals.
Great Awakening (First): 1730s-1740s. Religious revival emphasizing individual spiritual experience. Challenged traditional church authority. Helped create a shared colonial identity.
Great Awakening (Second): 1820s-1830s. Religious revival emphasizing societal reform, not just individual salvation. Directly fueled abolition, temperance, and women's rights movements.
Great Compromise: Constitutional Convention solution: House of Representatives (population-based) + Senate (equal, 2 per state). Created the bicameral legislature.
Great Depression: 1929-1941. Worst economic crisis in US history. Caused by overproduction, speculative buying on margin, bank failures. Unemployment hit 25%.
Great Migration: Millions of Black Americans moving from the South to Northern/Western cities (1910s-1970s). Fleeing Jim Crow, lynching, sharecropping. Seeking factory jobs and relative freedom.
Great Society: LBJ's domestic agenda (1964-1968). Civil Rights Act, Voting Rights Act, Medicare, Medicaid, War on Poverty. The most ambitious domestic program since the New Deal.
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution: 1964. Gave LBJ unlimited military authority in Vietnam based on questionable evidence of North Vietnamese attacks. Led to massive escalation without a formal declaration of war.
H
Harlem Renaissance: 1920s-1930s. Flowering of Black art, literature, and music in NYC. Langston Hughes, Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday. Cultural dividend of the Great Migration.
Homestead Act: 1862. Offered 160 acres of western land free to anyone who farmed it for 5 years. Passed after Southern secession removed opposition. Most homesteaders went bankrupt.
Horizontal integration: Business strategy of buying out COMPETITORS at the same level of production to create a monopoly. Rockefeller (Standard Oil) owned 4/5 of America's oil.
I
Impressment: British practice of seizing American merchant ships and forcing sailors into the Royal Navy. Major cause of the War of 1812.
Indian Removal Act: 1830 (Jackson). Forced Indigenous nations to relocate west of the Mississippi. Cherokee's Trail of Tears killed thousands. Jackson ignored the Supreme Court ruling against removal.
Interstate Commerce Act: 1887. Created the ICC to regulate railroad prices. Farmer victory in principle, but the Supreme Court sided with railroads 15 of 16 times — largely toothless.
Iran-Contra Affair: Reagan administration illegally sold weapons to Iran and funneled profits to Nicaraguan Contras, violating the Boland Amendment. Executive overreach justified by Cold War zeal.
J
Japanese Internment: 1942. Executive Order 9066 forced 120,000 Japanese Americans (2/3 US citizens) into camps. Korematsu v. US upheld it. Government apologized and paid reparations in 1988.
Jay's Treaty: 1794. Britain withdrew from western forts and made trade concessions. Failed to resolve impressment. Deeply unpopular — issues left unresolved led to War of 1812.
Jim Crow: System of racial segregation in the Southern US (1890s-1960s). Enforced through laws (poll taxes, literacy tests), violence (lynching, KKK), and Supreme Court rulings (Plessy v. Ferguson).
Judicial review: Power of the Supreme Court to declare laws unconstitutional. Established by Marbury v. Madison (1803). Not explicitly written in the Constitution — Marshall claimed it through interpretation.
K
Kansas-Nebraska Act: 1854. Overturned the Missouri Compromise by allowing popular sovereignty in territories above 36°30'. Caused Bleeding Kansas, destroyed the Whig Party, created the Republican Party.
Keynesian economics: Government spending stimulates demand and lifts the economy during downturns. Deficit spending is acceptable. Foundation of New Deal and Great Society programs.
Korean War: 1950-1953. North Korea (Soviet-backed) invaded South Korea. US/UN forces intervened. Ended in stalemate at the 38th parallel. Expanded presidential war power.
Korematsu v. United States: 1944. Supreme Court upheld Japanese internment as 'wartime necessity.' One of the worst civil liberties decisions in US history. Effectively repudiated in 2018.
Ku Klux Klan: White supremacist terror organization. Founded during Reconstruction to suppress Black political participation. Resurged in 1920s (anti-Catholic, anti-immigrant, nationwide).
L
Laissez-faire: French for 'leave alone.' Government non-intervention in the economy. In practice, Gilded Age government helped business (tariffs, land grants) while refusing to regulate it.
Lewis and Clark: 1804-1806 expedition mapping the Louisiana Purchase territory. Cataloged resources, contacted Indigenous nations, asserted US sovereignty.
Louisiana Purchase: 1803. Jefferson bought 828,000 square miles from Napoleon for $15 million, doubling US territory. Jefferson violated his strict constructionist principles — the Constitution didn't authorize land purchases.
Loyalists: 15-20% of colonists who opposed the Revolution and wanted to remain British subjects. Included wealthy elites and common people who resented Patriot leaders.
M
Manifest Destiny: Belief that American expansion across the continent was divinely ordained. Justified taking land from Mexico and Indigenous nations. Led to the Mexican-American War.
Marbury v. Madison: 1803. Marshall Court established judicial review — the power to declare laws unconstitutional. Transformed the Supreme Court into a co-equal branch of government.
Market Revolution: Early 1800s transformation from subsistence farming to commercial/industrial economy. Driven by factories, transportation (canals, railroads), and new technologies.
Marshall Plan: US program providing $13 billion to rebuild Western Europe after WWII. Prevented communist revolutions in desperate nations AND created American economic allies.
McCarthyism: Senator Joseph McCarthy's campaign of unfounded accusations of communist infiltration (1950-1954). No evidence produced. Ruined careers through fear. Senate censured McCarthy in 1954.
McCulloch v. Maryland: 1819. Marshall Court ruled states cannot tax federal institutions (national bank). Established federal supremacy and broad interpretation of the Necessary and Proper Clause.
Mercantilism: Economic system where colonies exist to enrich the mother country through controlled trade. Britain's Navigation Acts restricted colonial trade to British ships/ports.
Mexican-American War: 1846-1848. Caused by Texas annexation and disputed border. Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo gave US the Mexican Cession (CA, NM, AZ, etc.). Reignited slavery debate.
Missouri Compromise: 1820. Missouri = slave state, Maine = free state. 36°30' line divided remaining Louisiana Territory — slavery banned above it. Temporary fix — overturned by Kansas-Nebraska Act.
Monroe Doctrine: 1823. Declared Western Hemisphere off-limits to European colonization. US wouldn't meddle in Europe. More aspiration than reality — US lacked military power to enforce it initially.
Muckrakers: Progressive Era investigative journalists. Sinclair (meatpacking), Tarbell (Standard Oil), Riis (tenements). Used evidence to expose corruption and create public pressure for reform.
Mutually Assured Destruction: MAD — if either superpower launches nuclear weapons, both will be destroyed. Made nuclear war suicidal for both sides. Paradoxically, weapons too dangerous to use kept the peace.
N
NAFTA: North American Free Trade Agreement (1994). Lowered trade barriers between US, Canada, Mexico. Increased trade but cost US manufacturing jobs. Symbol of globalization's uneven benefits.
National bank: Hamilton's proposal (1791) for a federal bank to manage government finances. Opposed by Jefferson (unconstitutional). Debate established loose vs. strict Constitutional interpretation.
Nativism: Hostility toward immigrants. Recurrent pattern in US history: Know-Nothings (1850s), Chinese Exclusion (1882), quota acts (1920s). Economic anxiety + cultural difference = anti-immigrant backlash.
NATO: North Atlantic Treaty Organization (1949). 12 Western democracies. Attack on one = attack on all. Soviet counter: Warsaw Pact. Military backbone of Western Cold War alliance.
Natural rights: John Locke: humans are born with rights to life, liberty, and property — given by God, not government. Foundation of the Declaration of Independence.
Navigation Acts: British laws restricting colonial trade to British ships and ports. Loosely enforced during salutary neglect. Strict enforcement after French and Indian War fueled colonial resentment.
New Deal: FDR's response to the Great Depression. Relief (CCC), Recovery (NIRA), Reform (FDIC, SEC, Social Security). Didn't end the Depression — WWII did. But created lasting institutions.
New Deal coalition: Political alliance supporting Democrats: ethnic minorities, working class, unions, Southern whites, Black Americans. Held from 1930s-1960s; fractured over civil rights.
Nineteenth Amendment: 1920. Women's right to vote. Culmination of 72-year fight that started at Seneca Falls (1848).
Nonviolent civil disobedience: Strategy of peaceful protest to provoke violent responses, creating moral pressure for change. Influenced by Gandhi and Thoreau. Used by MLK and civil rights movement.
Northwest Ordinance: 1787. Organized western territory, banned slavery there, required public schools, created path to statehood. Best achievement of the Articles of Confederation government.
Nullification: Theory that states can declare federal laws unconstitutional and unenforceable. Virginia/Kentucky Resolutions (1798), Nullification Crisis (1832). Precursor to secession arguments.
O
OPEC oil embargo: 1973. Arab oil-producing nations cut off exports to US for supporting Israel. Oil prices spiked → stagflation. Exposed US dependence on foreign oil.
Open Door Policy: US demand for equal trading access in China (1899). Commercial empire without formal colonies. Template for American economic imperialism.
P
PATRIOT Act: 2001. Expanded government surveillance of phones, emails, personal records after 9/11. Security vs. liberty debate. Snowden leak (2013) exposed scope of NSA surveillance.
Pearl Harbor: December 7, 1941. Japanese surprise attack killed 2,400+ Americans. Unified the nation for total war. Strategic miscalculation by Japan — awakened American industrial power.
Pendleton Act: 1883. Replaced patronage/spoils system with competitive examination for federal jobs. Passed after Garfield's assassination by a rejected job-seeker.
Philippine-American War: 1899-1902. Filipinos fought for independence after US annexed Philippines. US used brutal force — 200,000+ Filipino deaths. Exposed American imperial hypocrisy.
Plessy v. Ferguson: 1896. Supreme Court ruled 'separate but equal' was constitutional. Upheld Jim Crow segregation for 58 years until overturned by Brown v. Board (1954).
Pontiac's Rebellion: 1763. Indigenous alliance led by Pontiac attacked British settlements after French and Indian War. Led to Proclamation of 1763 banning westward colonial migration.
Popular sovereignty: Let settlers in each territory vote on slavery. Stephen Douglas's solution. Failed catastrophically in Kansas (Bleeding Kansas) — people brought guns instead of ballots.
Populist Party: People's Party (1892). Farmers' political movement demanding silver coinage, railroad regulation, income tax, direct election of senators. Lost electorally but many reforms later enacted.
Proclamation of 1763: British law banning colonial migration west of Appalachian Mountains after Pontiac's Rebellion. Infuriated colonists who fought in the French and Indian War to gain that land.
Progressive Era: 1890s-1920s. Reform movement arguing government should regulate business, protect workers, and address social problems. Opposite of Gilded Age laissez-faire.
Prohibition: 18th Amendment (1919). Banned manufacture, sale, and transport of alcohol. Created bootlegging and organized crime. Repealed by 21st Amendment (1933). Only amendment to restrict liberty.
R
Reaganomics: Supply-side economics: cut taxes on wealthy → they invest → wealth 'trickles down.' Tax cuts boosted GDP but tripled the deficit and widened inequality.
Reconstruction: 1865-1877. Rebuilding the South and defining the status of freed Black Americans. Three competing plans (Lincoln, Johnson, Radical Republican). Ended by Compromise of 1877.
Redlining: Banks refusing loans in minority neighborhoods. FHA refused to back loans for Black families in suburbs. Built racial segregation into housing patterns that persist today.
Republican motherhood: Post-Revolution idea that women's civic role was raising virtuous sons. Expanded women's access to education but kept them out of politics and public life.
Roosevelt Corollary: 1904. Extended Monroe Doctrine: US claimed right to INTERVENE in Latin American countries to maintain stability. Justified military interventions across the Western Hemisphere.
S
Salutary neglect: Britain's lax enforcement of colonial trade laws. Ended after French and Indian War when Britain needed tax revenue. Colonists had gotten used to self-governance.
Schenck v. United States: 1919. Supreme Court created 'clear and present danger' standard — speech posing immediate threat can be restricted even under First Amendment. Upheld WWI-era speech restrictions.
Second Party System: Democrats (Jackson) vs. Whigs (Clay). Democrats = less government, agrarian. Whigs = more government, national bank, infrastructure. Replaced by sectional parties in 1850s.
Separation of powers: Government divided into three branches: legislative (Congress makes laws), executive (President enforces), judicial (Supreme Court interprets). Prevents concentration of power.
Sharecropping: Post-Civil War labor system. Freed Black farmers worked land for white owners, sharing harvest. Permanent debt cycle — 'slavery by another name.' Persisted into 20th century.
Shays' Rebellion: 1786. Unpaid veterans attacked courthouses in Massachusetts. Federal government powerless to respond (no army under Articles). Convinced leaders that a new constitution was needed.
Sherman's March to the Sea: 1864. Total war strategy — Sherman burned Atlanta, destroyed railroads, farms, and infrastructure from Georgia to Savannah. Broke the South's ability to sustain the war.
Silent Spring: Rachel Carson's 1962 book exposing DDT pesticide harm to ecosystems. Led to DDT ban (1972) and creation of the EPA (1970). Launched the modern environmental movement.
Social contract: Rousseau/Locke: people create governments to protect their rights. If government violates the contract, people can overthrow it. Foundation of the Declaration of Independence.
Social Darwinism: Herbert Spencer's misapplication of Darwin to society: the rich are 'fit,' the poor deserve their poverty. Justified laissez-faire and extreme inequality during the Gilded Age.
Social Gospel: Christian movement applying biblical principles to social problems. Poverty = systemic inequality, not personal failing. Opposed Social Darwinism. Influenced Progressive reforms.
Social Security Act: 1935. Created retirement income for Americans 65+. First time the federal government accepted permanent responsibility for citizens' economic well-being. Still exists today.
Southern Strategy: Nixon's use of coded racial appeals to win white Southern voters from Democrats (1968+). Realigned the South from solidly Democratic to solidly Republican.
Spanish-American War: 1898. Caused by yellow journalism, USS Maine explosion, Cuban rebellion. US gained Cuba (protectorate), Philippines, Guam. Marked America's emergence as a global imperial power.
Spoils system: Presidents filling federal jobs with political supporters. Led to corruption and incompetence. Garfield's assassination by a rejected job-seeker led to Pendleton Act reform.
Stagflation: 1970s combination of stagnant economy + high inflation. Shouldn't happen according to standard economics. Caused by OPEC oil embargo. Shattered faith in Keynesian economics.
Stamp Act: 1765. First DIRECT tax on colonists — taxing paper goods. Provoked 'no taxation without representation.' Repealed after boycotts, but Declaratory Act asserted Parliament's unlimited authority.
Stonewall Uprising: 1969. LGBTQ+ patrons at Stonewall Inn (NYC) fought back against police raid. Birth of the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement. Led to Gay Liberation Front and annual Pride marches.
Supply-side economics: Cut taxes (especially on wealthy) → increased investment → economic growth → wealth 'trickles down.' Reagan's economic philosophy. Critics: benefits concentrated at top, deficits grow.
T
Tet Offensive: 1968. Massive surprise Vietcong attack during ceasefire. Militarily repelled, but shattered government claims of winning the war. Turned American public opinion against Vietnam.
Thirteenth Amendment: 1865. Abolished slavery. First of three Reconstruction Amendments. Necessary but not sufficient — without economic independence (land) and political power (vote), freedom remained hollow.
Three-Fifths Compromise: Constitutional Convention: 3/5 of enslaved population counted for congressional representation. Not about personhood — about POWER. Gave the South disproportionate political influence.
Trail of Tears: Forced relocation of Cherokee and other nations west of the Mississippi (1830s). Thousands died on the 1,000+ mile march. Jackson ignored Supreme Court ruling against removal.
Transcendentalism: 1830s-1840s. Emerson, Thoreau. Truth 'transcends' the senses — found through intuition, nature, spiritual communion. Rejected Enlightenment rationalism.
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo: 1848. Ended Mexican-American War. Mexico ceded California, New Mexico, and Southwest (Mexican Cession) for $15 million. Every acre became a battleground over slavery.
Treaty of Paris (1763): Ended the French and Indian War. Britain gained everything east of the Mississippi. France lost North American territory. Spain ceded Florida to Britain.
Treaty of Paris (1783): Ended the American Revolution. Recognized American independence. Doubled US territory — everything south of Canada, north of Florida, east to the Mississippi.
Treaty of Versailles: 1919. Ended WWI. Punitive terms on Germany: reparations, military dismantlement, war guilt clause. Created resentment that fueled Hitler's rise. US Senate rejected it — never joined League of Nations.
Truman Doctrine: 1947. US would provide military/economic aid to any democracy threatened by communism. Put containment into practice. Applied to Greece, Turkey, and later worldwide.
Tuskegee Airmen: All-Black WWII air combat unit. Flew 1,600 missions with distinction despite segregation. Their service undermined racist arguments and contributed to military desegregation (1948).
U
Underground Railroad: Network of safe houses helping enslaved people escape to freedom in the North or Canada. Harriet Tubman made 19 trips, freeing ~70 people.
V
Vertical integration: Business strategy of controlling every STEP of production. Carnegie (steel): owned mines, transport, processing, and selling. Cuts costs by eliminating middlemen.
Vietnam War: 1955-1975. US fought to contain communism in South Vietnam. Gulf of Tonkin escalation, Tet Offensive turned public opinion, Pentagon Papers proved presidents lied. Ended in stalemate/withdrawal.
Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions: 1798. Jefferson/Madison argued states could declare federal laws (Alien and Sedition Acts) unconstitutional. Introduced NULLIFICATION — states voiding federal law. Precedent for secession arguments.
Voting Rights Act of 1965: Banned discriminatory voting practices (literacy tests, poll taxes). Federal oversight of Southern elections. Most effective civil rights legislation ever passed.
W
War of 1812: 1812-1815. Causes: impressment, trade restrictions, British support for Indigenous resistance. Treaty of Ghent = stalemate. But perceived as victory → nationalism → Era of Good Feelings.
War Powers Resolution: 1973. Required president to consult Congress within 48 hours of deploying troops. 60-day limit without declaration of war. Direct response to Vietnam-era executive overreach.
Warren Court: Supreme Court under Chief Justice Earl Warren (1953-1969). Expanded individual rights: Brown v. Board, Gideon v. Wainwright, Griswold v. Connecticut, Engel v. Vitale.
Watergate: 1972-1974. Nixon's reelection committee broke into Watergate Hotel. Nixon covered it up and resigned rather than face impeachment. Destroyed public trust in government.
Whiskey Rebellion: 1794. Western farmers rebelled against Hamilton's whiskey tax. Washington crushed it with 13,000 troops — proving the Constitution's government could maintain order (unlike the Articles during Shays').
Wilmot Proviso: 1846. Proposed banning slavery in all territory from Mexican-American War. Passed House, failed in Senate. Never became law but drew a sharp North-South line over slavery expansion.
Wong Kim Ark: 1898. Supreme Court ruled 14th Amendment guarantees birthright citizenship to anyone born on US soil. Upheld Constitutional promise even during peak anti-Chinese hostility.
Wounded Knee Massacre: 1890. US Army killed ~250 Lakota Sioux (many women/children). Final major armed Indigenous resistance on the Plains. Ghost Dance movement treated as military threat.
X
XYZ Affair: 1797. French agents demanded bribes from American diplomats. Outrage led to undeclared naval war with France. Fueled Federalist support for Alien and Sedition Acts.
Y
Yellow journalism: Sensational, exaggerated newspaper reporting. Hearst and Pulitzer used it to push the US into the Spanish-American War. 'Remember the Maine!' blamed Spain before any investigation.
Yorktown: 1781. Final battle of the Revolution. Washington + French forces trapped British at Yorktown, Virginia. French navy blocked escape by sea. British surrendered. Led to Treaty of Paris (1783).

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