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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 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






2. 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






3. Lincoln's contention that the Union pre-existed the Constitution because it began with the Articles of Association in 1774-since the states had signed on to that document - the Union could not be broken. He discussed this theory in his first inaugura






4. Anti-communism crusade of the 1950s led by Republican Senator Joseph McCarthy. It was characterized by irresponsible accusations and smear campaigns.






5. The series of laws designed to create separation between the races. These were by and large Southern state laws made constitutional by the Supreme Court decision Plessy. v Ferguson in 1896.






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






7. Government policy of noninterference in business practices and in individuals economic affairs; literally translated as "to let do."






8. The belief that the United States should not be involved in world affairs.






9. Those who were against the Vietnam War in the 1960s.






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






11. 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






12. President Roosevelt's (FDR) attempt in 1936 to push a judicial reform bill through Congress that would allow him to appoint six new Supreme Court justices sympathetic to his New Deal.






13. The formal or official approval for a constitution or amendment.






14. Coins or gold and silver money - also called "hard money."






15. The difference in the votes of men and women. Often men vote Republican in larger numbers that women - who are more likely to vote Democratic - producing a gender gap.






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






17. The political events of the 1960s divided the country in many ways. There were pro-Vietnam hawks and anti-Vietnam doves - those who supported the counterculture of liberated sex and drugs and those who did not - those who favored American involvement






18. The political and social conviction that only white Protestant Americans deserved civil rights and employment. Nativists tried to prevent the Irish and the new immigrants of the 1880's-1920's from becoming citizens or entering the country. The Know-N






19. The practice of paying for goods at regular intervals - usually with interest added to the balance - associated with consumption in the 1920s.






20. Political party organizations that run cities and are often associated with corruption and undemocratic practices. The most notorious example was New York's Tammary Hall Democratic club of the Gilded age.






21. The political position advocating sending free blacks to Liberia in Africa to reduce the number of them in the country-the more blacks that were freed - the fewer there would be in America. It was seen as a way of alleviating the danger of slave insu






22. Hit and run tactics combined with hiding and ambushing the enemy. The soldier would live off the land and population in an area so that he or she need not carry many supplies. The Americans learned this from the Indians in colonial times and used it






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






24. Powers given to the national/federal government that are specifically stated in the Constitution. They are found in Article I Section 8 of the Constitution and may also be known as expressed or enumerated powers.






25. The traditions - language - and modes of behavior of the field hands who lived together in slave quarters. They practiced many forms of resistance to the wills of their masters - told each other African-derived tales - sand spirituals - and practiced






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






27. Techniques used in industry to produce large quantities of goods using interchangeable parts and moving assembly lines. Elements of mass production were developed in the 19th century; the process was perfected by Henry Ford in the 1910s.






28. The wave of immigration from the 1880s to the 1920s of Eastern and Southern Europeans - contrasted with the "old" immigration of Northern and Western Europeans.






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






30. A slogan used by President Lyndon B. Johnson to describe his goal of ending poverty in the United States.






31. The policy practiced by the European nations prior to WWII wherein they made concessions to aggressive nations-particularly - Hitler's Germany-in hopes of satisfying the demands of that nation and ending further aggression.






32. Umbrella term for biological - chemical - and nuclear weapons designed to kill large numbers of people.






33. The organizations and events in the 20th century that collectively pressured federal - state - and local governments and businesses to grant equal rights to blacks and other minorities.






34. Grangers - Populists - and agrarian activists of the late 19th century who advocated basing money o silver as well as gold. See Free Silverites.






35. The generation of children born between the end of WWII and 1964.






36. 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.






37. A term coined in the 1950s to describe illegal or undesirable behavior by teenagers.






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






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






40. A political system dominated by two parties. Voters reluctance to support third parties reinforces the two-party system. The first two-party system - dating back to the 1970s - included the Federalist and Republican Parties. The current two-party sys






41. A tax placed on imports; its purpose is to make domestic goods cheaper to keep out foreign goods.






42. The principal that the Supreme Court has the power to review laws passed by Congress and actions taken by the president to determine whether or not they are consistent with the Constitution. The Supreme Court can declare a law or presidential action






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






44. Bundles of subprime mortgages that are traded like stocks.






45. A legislature composed of two houses. The US Congress - composed of the Senate and the House of Representatives - is an example.






46. Agricultural labor system in the South following the era of slavery wherein a sharecropper could farm a piece of land in return for giving the landowner a share - usually half - of the crop.






47. Agreements employers forced potential employees to sign in which the employees agreed not to join unions or go on strike.






48. Philosophical movement - with deep roots in the United States - which holds that truth emerges from experimentation and experience rather than from abstract theory. it is associated with William James and John Dewey.






49. Laws made by the British government restricting colonial trade of sugar and tobacco to any country other than England or by any means other than on British ships.






50. Critical term for the owners of the big business of the Gilded Age who accumulated great wealth and power.






Can you answer 50 questions in 15 minutes?



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