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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 name used by the administration of John F. Kennedy to describe its proposed programs for the nation.






2. A person who believes in the broad interpretation of the US Constitution; that is - that the Constitution does not have to be interpreted word by word. Alexander Hamilton supported this idea.






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






4. 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.






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






6. 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.






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






8. 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.






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






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






11. A strong feeling of pride in and devotion to one's nation. For people under the control of a foreign power - nationalism is expressed as a desire that one's nation should become a free and independent country. For people who already live in an indepe






12. Settlers who were granted plots in the West - usually of 160 acres - under the Homestead Act of 1862.






13. Organizations - such as the underground press - Students for a Democratic Society and its offshoots - and women's groups (like the Red Stockings) - that were interested in social change but uninterested in the debates over whether to support Russia a






14. A legislature composed of only one house or chamber.






15. 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






16. Found in the 10th Amendment - it provides that any powers not specifically given to the central government or specifically denied to the state governments by the Constitution are powers that the states are granted. For example - the power to develop






17. Illegal bars and saloons that operated during Prohibition.






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






19. The result of a general shift in society in the 1920s characterized by a greater emphasis on purchasing goods.






20. The movement to form labor organizations made up of skilled wokrers within a particular field.






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






22. 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 separation of powers.






23. 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






24. A skilled worker who had learned a trade from a master as an apprentice. Shoemakers - bakers - blacksmiths. and carpenters were artisans.






25. The name used by the administration of President Lyndon B. Johnson to describe its domestic programs.






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






27. 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.






28. 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.






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






30. A belief in the ability of people to achieve success in difficult times by calling on their own abilities and resources without the interference of the government. Herbert Hoover subscribed to this notion; it affected the development of governmental






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






32. Trade that takes place between states. Under the US Constitution - the power to regulate interstate commerce is delegated to the Congress.






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






34. The development of large military forces - not only for defense of the nation but for possible aggression into other nations. It was one of the causes of WWI.






35. 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






36. The practice of granting the firstborn son the right to all the inheritance of the parent's estate - rather than subdividing it and giving portions to all offspring.






37. Perfected by Samuel F. B. Morse in 1844 - the telegraph allowed for communications over long distances by tapping out coded messages to be carried over wires.






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






39. The practice of victorious candidates distributing government jobs to friends and supporters rather than to the most qualified people. Andre Jackson gave his supporters the spoils of victory - whereas John Quincy Adams by and large did not.






40. The first wave was in the 1830s through the early 20th century when the radicals Elizabeth Cady Stanton - Susan B. Anthony - and Lucretia Mott advocated equality - employment - education - and suffrage. The second wave - which advocated these same id






41. 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.






42. An economic system in which the production and distribution of goods is determined by individual consumer preference. It is characterized by the free-enterprise system - competition - profit motive - and pricing based on the laws of supply and demand






43. A practice used in colonial America in which a person entered into a contract for a specified period of time with another in exchange for the payment of his or her passage to the New World. The indentured servant was sometimes promised some land afte






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






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






46. 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.






47. Early 20th-century election reform that allowed citizens - rather than political machines - to choose candidates for public office.






48. Those who were pro-Vietnam war in the 1960s.






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






50. 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