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






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






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






5. The political idea that the West should be free of slavery. In 1846 - David Wilmot wrote the proviso that there "shall be no slavery or involuntary servitude in any territory acquired from Mexico -" which galvanized the antislavery forces in Congress






6. 1) The political theory that the people hold the fundamental power in a democracy 2) The proposal by Steven Douglas in the 1854 Kansas-Nebraska Act stating that the people of the territory of Kansas and Nebraska could decide though their representati






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






8. Derisive term for Northerners who went to the South during Reconstruction to promote reform or to profit from it.






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






10. A term used to describe an investment with a reward that can be great-if the investment is successful. It contributed to the stock market crash of 1929.






11. 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.






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






13. 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






14. Motion pictures with sound. The Jazz Singer (1927) was the first movie to use sound in a significant way.






15. The economic state in which prices are rising (inflation) and unemployment is high - producing stagnation of growth.






16. Persons who do not represent a state or nation who participate in military conflict and do not adhere to accepted rules of war. According to the Bush administration - unlawful combatants captured on the battlefield and detained off of US soil are not






17. The Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s was called the "Second Reconstruction" because the first Reconstruction in the 1860s and 1870s had not brought equality for blacks.






18. The political position that claimed that we could have won the Vietnam War if we had declared war - put in more troops - had a more unified country - or given our generals free reign to fight. These positions are called revisionist because the consen






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






20. An indictment or formal charge brought by the legislative body against a government official - especially the president - in an attempt to remove him or her from office. If the House of Representatives determines that a president has committed acts t






21. Illegal bars and saloons that operated during Prohibition.






22. An agricultural system in which farm workers supply their own tools - rent land - and have more control over their work than agrarian wage workers.






23. Cattle handlers who drove large herds across the southern Great Plains. The era of the cowboy lasted from 1870 to the late 1880s.






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






25. A policy of empire building in which a nation conquers other nations with an aim toward increasing its power and controlling those nations. This was a cause of WWI.






26. Trade that takes place within the boundaries of a state. Under the US Constitution - the power to regulate intrastate commerce is delegated to the states.






27. The political position advocated by Jerry Falwell - Pat Robertson - and other conservative Republicans emphasizing a life of religious observance along with no drugs - no divorce - no abortions - no homosexuality - no working mothers - and no sex bef






28. A prosecutor chosen by a panel of three judges (appointed by the attorney general) to investigate wrongdoing in the executive branch. Established after the Watergate Scandal - the role was designed to prevent conflict of interest within the executive






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






30. 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.






31. 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.






32. 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






33. A type of colony in which the people of the colony chose the governor of the colony. Rhode Island was a self-governing colony.






34. 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.






35. The process of acquiring new territories






36. Machine-made or standardized parts that could be put together to make a product. Eli Whitney demonstrated to President John Adams in 1801 how a box of guns could be disassembled and reassembled randomly. Each part must be precision-made so that it wi






37. Lincoln's Civil War policy of treating runaway slaves as enemy war property. He accepted the slaves as a way to hurt the Southern cause. They were freed and employed as aides to the Union army until Lincoln started recruiting black troops after the E






38. An organization and discussion method employed by feminists in the late 1960s and early 1970s in which women would exchange experiences of discrimination - read radical analyses of oppression - and develop an understanding that the patriarchal or som






39. 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






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






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






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






43. 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.






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






45. A body of advisers to a head of state. The US president's cabinet consists of the heads of the various departments plus other advisers.






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






47. The building of canals - railroads - and turnpikes at state or federal expense. These were part of the American Plan - which became an important part of the Whig program of the 1830s. Internal improvements were also supported by the National Republic






48. A government controlled behind the scenes by another power. During the Vietnam War - South Vietnam's governments were installed and controlled by the US; Ngo Dinh Diem and General Thieu - leaders of South Vietnam were American puppets.






49. The exodus of white - middle-class families from cities to suburbia following WWII due to the migration of African Americans to urban centers.






50. Laws enacted in many states based on religious bans of personal behavior deemed immoral; for example - law prohibiting the sale of alcohol on Sundays.