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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 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.






2. 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






3. A slave owner in early Virginia or Maryland; later - according to the census - a man who owned 20 or more slaves.






4. 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






5. Political party organizations that run cities and are often associated with corruption and undemocratic practices. The most notorious example was New York's Tammary Hall Democratic club of the Gilded age.






6. 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






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






8. 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






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






10. The political events of the 1960s divided the country in many ways. There were pro-Vietnam hawks and anti-Vietnam doves - those who supported the counterculture of liberated sex and drugs and those who did not - those who favored American involvement






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






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






13. 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.






14. 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.






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






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






17. 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






18. Laws passed in the Southern states immediately after the Civil War to restrict the movements and limit the rights of African Americans.






19. Blacks who had been freed from slavery or were not born slaves. They lived in the cities and countryside in both the North and the South. In 1860 - there were about 500 -000 free blacks evenly distributed between the North and the South.






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






21. 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.






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






23. A high tax placed on imports. Its purpose is to make domestic goods cheaper than foreign goods - thus "protecting" domestic industry.






24. 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.






25. Derogatory term used by the labor movement to describe workers who cross picket lines






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






27. 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.






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






29. The study of the environment.






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






31. President Roosevelt's (FDR) attempt in 1936 to push a judicial reform bill through Congress that would allow him to appoint six new Supreme Court justices sympathetic to his New Deal.






32. The power of the president to reject legislation. The US Congress can override a veto by the US president if it can pass the legislation by a two-thirds majority.






33. A type of economic system in which the state controls the production and distribution of certain products that it deems necessary for the good of the people.






34. An element of President Truman's 1947 Federal Employees Loyalty and Security Program - which was designed to weed out communists and other "subversives" from government employment.






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






36. A system of government in which the power to rule comes from the people.






37. Tax paid by those wishing to vote in several Southern states after Reconstruction. It was designed to limit political participation by African Americans.






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






39. 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






40. 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.






41. 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






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






43. 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.






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






45. 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.






46. A defiant act of the colonies against the British government and its tea trade agreement with East India - which was causing colonial tea merchants to go bankrupt. Protesters dumped an entire shipment of tea into the Boston Harbor.






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






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






49. 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.






50. A form of educational protest at universities. The practice began in 1965 at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor - when professors and students analyzed US foreign policy and debated with each other and-only in the earlier days of the war-with go