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






2. 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.






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






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






5. 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






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






7. 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






8. A policy of empire building in which a nation conquers other nations or territories with the goal of increasing its power and expanding the area it controls. This was a cause of WWI.






9. 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.






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. 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






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






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






14. A tax on imports (goods coming into a country). Tariffs were advocated by Alexander Hamilton in 1792 and favored by the supporters of the American System to pay for internal improvements and protect US industry. Tariffs were often a main issue in Jac






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






16. 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.






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






18. 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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






26. 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.






27. A machine that separates seeds from the cotton. The short-staple cotton that grew inland in the South's Black Belt could be cleaned profitably only with the cotton gin. The invention of the cotton gin allowed cotton cultivation to spread - enabling s






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






29. 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.






30. Teenagers - as an identifiable social group - emerged in the 1950s. Teenagers were seen both as a problematic - rebellious group - as well as a target for new products and cultural offerings.






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






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






33. A court order stopping a specific act - often used against unions to end a strike.






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






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






36. 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.






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






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






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






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






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






42. The political belief that America's obvious future was to "o'er spread the continent -" in the words of John O'Sullivan in 1846. A corollary was that Americans would bring democracy to the "ignorant and inferior" peoples of the West. The Mexican War






43. 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.






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






45. 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






46. A type of colony that was settled by a group of investors and in which the governor of the colony was chosen by the proprietors.






47. 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.






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






49. The characteristic of a federal system of government in which power is distributed between central and local governments. This distribution of power usually is established through some outside source - often a constitution - as is the case in the Uni






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






Can you answer 50 questions in 15 minutes?



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