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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 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.






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






3. 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






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






5. The promotion of products in various media. Modern advertising - employing psychology - expert testimony - and other innovations developed in the 1920s.






6. The movement to form labor organizations that represent every worker in a single industry - regardless of his or her level of skill.






7. 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.






8. The British policy of the 17th century in which the British were lax in the enforcement of laws in the colonies - thereby allowing the colonies to develop without much interference from the British government. After the French and Indian War - this p






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






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






11. People who illegally manufactured - sold - or transported alcoholic beverages during the Prohibition period.






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






13. 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






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






15. 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






16. 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.






17. 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.






18. The policy of supplying government support for corporations when they are in severe financial trouble. The Chrysler Corporation - for example - got a $1.5 billion bailout in 1980 - and the savings and loan banks received at least $159 billion during






19. Large plantation-type farm established by the Dutch along the Hudson River in the 1600s.






20. Cotton that grew inland in the Black Belt of the South - an area characterized by its dark soil. Short-staple cotton could not be grown profitably until the cotton gin was invented.






21. 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.






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






23. 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.






24. 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.






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






26. 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






27. A tax that is added onto the price of goods produced - sold - or distributed within a country; for example - sales tax.






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






29. An invention of the 1870's - barbed wire enabled farmers to enclose land and prevent the long cattle drives that cowboys conducted.






30. 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.






31. The post-WWII US policy that sought to prevent the spread of communism.






32. 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






33. The study of the environment.






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






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






36. 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






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






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






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






40. 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.






41. Large corporations created by the consolidation of competing companies to form a monopoly or near monopoly.






42. 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.






43. A term used to describe a person who believes that the Consitution must be interpreted word by word. Thomas Jefferson believed in strict construction of the Constitution.






44. The practice of buying stock on credit. People pay a small percentage of the price of the stock - hoping that it will go up in value and that they can use money from the sale to pay the balance they owe. This practice contributed to the stock market






45. Residential communities near large urban centers. Although suburbs existed in the 19th century - they became a widespread social phenomenon in the 1950s.






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






47. The exodus of white - middle-class families from cities to suburbia following WWII - partially caused by the migration of African Americans to urban centers.






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






49. 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






50. Journalists of the Progressive era who exposed urban poverty - unsafe working conditions - political corruption - and other social ills.