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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. 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.






2. 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.






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






4. 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






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






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






7. 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






8. A person who believes in the broad interpretation of the US Constitution; that is - that the Constitution does not have to be interpreted word by word. Alexander Hamilton supported this idea.






9. 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






10. 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.






11. A treaty in which the parties agree not to attack each other unless attacked first.






12. 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






13. 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.






14. 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






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






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






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






18. 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






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






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






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






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






23. 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






24. A type of coal - noted for being hard and clean burning.






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






26. Illegal bars and saloons that operated during Prohibition.






27. The process of acquiring new territories






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






29. 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.






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






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






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






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






34. 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.






35. 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






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






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






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






39. The 19th and early 20th century movement to limit or outlaw the drinking of alcoholic beverages. The movement achieved its ultimate success with the passage of the 18th Amendment-or Prohibition- which went into effect in 1920.






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






41. 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.






42. 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






43. 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






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






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 legislature composed of only one house or chamber.






47. 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.






48. The belief the the US should not be involved in world affairs.






49. 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.






50. Agricultural labor system in the South following the era of slavery wherein a sharecropper could farm a piece of land in return for giving the landowner a share - usually half - of the crop.