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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 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






2. 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.






3. Technique of the labor movement in the 1930s that entailed stopping work but not leaving the factory floor - as owners were not able to hire replacement workers so long as the workers occupied the shop floor.






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






5. Populists and "Silver Democrats" who in the 1890s argued in favor of an immense increase in silver coinage as a way of stimulating a faltering economy. See Bimetallists.






6. Sensationalist - lurid - and often falsified accounts of events printed by newspapers and magazines to attract readers.






7. 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






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






9. The process of acquiring new territories






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






11. Reading tests required in some Southern states before people were allowed to register to vote. They were mainly intended to prevent African Americans from voting.






12. The idea that the Constitution was created by the states and so the states could dissolve it. This was advocated first by Madison and Jefferson in 1798 in the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions and later by Robert Y Hayne in his debate with Daniel Web






13. 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.






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






15. Progressive political reform in the early 1900s that enabled voters to introduce legislation.






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






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






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






19. 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






20. 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






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






22. 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.






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






24. A grouping of nations where each one pledges mutual support to the others. This support is usually defensive in nature. The formation of alliances was a nunderlying cause of WWI.






25. Illegal bars and saloons that operated during Prohibition.






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






27. 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.






28. The theory that the path to economic growth is through tax cuts for the rich - who will then invest in new businesses and expand old ones - employing new workers as a result.






29. The joining together of companies to control all aspects of the production process of an item - from the mining or growing of materials through production and distribution of the final product.






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






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






32. 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.






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






34. A policy developed by the Spanish in the 1500s in which the Spanish settlers in the New World were permitted to use Native American labor if the settlers promised to attempt to Christianize them. It led to the exploitation of the Native Americans






35. The study of the environment.






36. 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






37. 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






38. A form of nonviolent protest used by antiwar and antisegregation activists. Protesters would take over buildings - camp out in front of administration offices - or sit at lunch counters and demand to be served on an integrated basis. The first sit-in






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






40. 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.






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






42. 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






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






44. 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.






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






46. 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






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






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






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






50. 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






Can you answer 50 questions in 15 minutes?



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