Test your basic knowledge |

SAT Subject Test: U.S. History Vocab

Subjects : sat, history
Instructions:
  • Answer 50 questions in 15 minutes.
  • If you are not ready to take this test, you can study here.
  • Match each statement with the correct term.
  • Don't refresh. All questions and answers are randomly picked and ordered every time you load a test.

This is a study tool. The 3 wrong answers for each question are randomly chosen from answers to other questions. So, you might find at times the answers obvious, but you will see it re-enforces your understanding as you take the test each time.
1. The political act of leaving the Union. The Southern states formed their own country during 1860-1861 after they seceded from the United States.






2. Worker organization formed to press for workplace demands - such as better wages and safer working conditions.






3. The railroad route connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans that was completed in 1869.






4. A type of coal - noted for being hard and clean burning.






5. A list of persons - often secretly circulated - who are disapproved of and are to be denied employment or other benefits.






6. Tax paid by those wishing to vote in several Southern states after Reconstruction. It was designed to limit political participation by African Americans.






7. George W. Bush's belief in the propriety of using unilateral preemptive military strikes-essentially a preventive war- to fight terrorism.






8. A type of government characterized by a loose alliance of states leading to a weak central government and strong state governments. This was the type of government that existed under the Articles of Confederation.






9. The Eisenhower-era theory that one communist country would infiltrate or influence its neighbors - supporting insurrection there and causing them to become communist too. They would fall like a series of dominoes standing close together. Kennedy - Jo






10. The study of the environment.






11. A list - circulated among potential employers - of alleged "troublemakers" not to be hired.






12. The condition when all adults in a democracy are granted the right to vote.






13. A conference attended by leaders of two or more nations.






14. The term denoting the ongoing military battle of the US and its allies against terrorism - first used by George W. Bush when addressing a joint session of Congress following the terrorist attacks on September 11 - 2001.






15. The idea that machinery eliminates the need for human employment-that the development of new machine-based methods of work can lead to workers' losing their jobs.






16. A policy in which one people or a group within a nation attempts to destroy people whose ethnic background differs from theirs.






17. The policy used by the British before the War of 1812 wherein the British stopped US vessels and removed sailors from them to be used on British naval vessels. it was also used to a limited extent by the French during this same period. It was one of






18. A type of colony controlled by the king. The crown chose the governor to run the colony.






19. The movement to end slavery. There were many points of view on the subject. Immediate abolitionism advocated ending slavery everywhere and refusing to cooperate with the political process (William Lloyd Garrison). Political abolitionism advocated an






20. This clause - found in the last paragraph of Article I Section 8 of the US Constitution - allows Congress to make laws not specifically delegated to it by the Constitution but that may be "necessary and proper" to carry out its delegated powers. (Als






21. A treaty in which the parties agree not to attack each other unless attacked first.






22. Derisive term for white Southerners who cooperated with the Reconstruction governments.






23. Progressive political reform in the early 1900s that enabled voters to introduce legislation.






24. A country whose affairs are partly controlled by a stronger country. The US established several protectorates - such as Cuba - in the 20th century.






25. Provisions in the voting laws in Southern states following Reconstruction designed to allow whites who could not pass literacy tests to vote. The grandfather clause gave the right to vote to people whose grandfathers had been eligible to vote-a provi






26. The joining together of companies to control all aspects of the production process of an item - from the mining or growing of materials through production and distribution of the final product.






27. Labor in which the worker can leave whenever he or she wishes (as opposed to slave labor). Wage labor or work for pay is free labor.






28. Art and literature that seek to depict the commonplace in a plausible and direct manner.






29. An increase in number - volume - scope. In reference to the Vietnam War - it refers to the increase in the number of troops and the intensity of involvement by the United States.






30. A land policy developed in the 1600s in Virginia and Maryland designed to encourage settlement in the New World. It promised 50 acres to any person who paid his own passage to the New World. It also promised an additional 50 acres to any person who p






31. The idea that each member of the British Parliament represented all British subjects - regardless of location.






32. The killing of African Americans - usually by hanging - carried out by white mobs primarily in the Southern states.






33. Also called "applied Christianity -" this reform movement - driven by Christian teachings - sought to relieve the suffering of the poor.






34. A political philosophy that promotes solving social issues through cooperation with private agencies rather than through direct government programs. It also stresses the personal responsibility and accountability as keys to success.






35. The reaction of some whites to the Civil Rights Movement and the urban riots of the 1960s. The formerly solidly Democratic South started voting Republican following the gains of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s - and many whites sent their kids






36. The political advocacy of black-owned businesses and independent black political action. Stokely Carmichael first used the term in a position paper for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee in 1965.






37. A program providing health insurance and health care for people over the age of 65.






38. An economic system in which the state controls the production and distribution of certain products deemed necessary for the good of the people






39. A system of government in which the religious leaders rule. A church-state - where the church is the government - is an example.






40. Laws passed in the Southern states immediately after the Civil War to restrict the movements and limit the rights of African Americans.






41. The system built into the US Constitution in which the three branches of government (legislative - executive - and judicial) have separate and equal powers that are limited and dependent upon each other. It is also called checks and balances.






42. A type of adjustable-rate mortgage - often requiring no down payment - offered to customers with risky credit ratings. The lending institution makes money by steadily increasing interest payments.






43. Derogatory term used by the labor movement to describe workers who cross picket lines






44. The joining together of companies engaged in similar business practices to create a virtual monopoly.






45. The conflict between the Soviet Union and the United States from the end of WWII until the collapse of the Soviet Union (1991). It was characterized by harsh rhetoric - technological rivalry - an arms buildup - and proxy wars in developing countries.






46. A global pact initiated in 1997 and put into force in 2005 designed to reduce greenhouse emissions to levels that would avoid climate change. The United States is not one of the 187 nations who have ratified the pact.






47. A type of democracy in which the people vote on the actions of the government - rather than electing representatives.






48. A form of educational protest at universities. The practice began in 1965 at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor - when professors and students analyzed US foreign policy and debated with each other and-only in the earlier days of the war-with go






49. The belief the the US should not be involved in world affairs.






50. A method of mass production whereby the products are moved from worker to worker - with each person performing a small - repetitive task on the product and sending it to the next for a different task until the finished item is assembled. In the 18th