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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 political position that claimed that we could have won the Vietnam War if we had declared war - put in more troops - had a more unified country - or given our generals free reign to fight. These positions are called revisionist because the consen






2. 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.






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






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






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






6. The political position that favors abortion on demand.






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






8. Opposition to communism. Extreme anti-communism was manifested in the "Red Scare" of the 1920s and McCarthyism of the 1950s.






9. 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






10. 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






11. A policy of empire building in which a nation conquers other nations with an aim toward increasing its power and controlling those nations. This was a cause of WWI.






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






13. A program providing health insurance and health care for people over the age of 65.






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






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






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






17. Middle-class reform movement of the first decades of the 20th century which sought to widen political participation - eradicate corruption - and apply scientific and technological expertise to social ills.






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






19. 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.






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






21. 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.






22. A program providing health care for the needy (people who lived below the poverty level) who were not covered by Medicare.






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






24. 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.






25. 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






26. A term coined in the 1950s to describe illegal or undesirable behavior by teenagers.






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






28. 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.






29. 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.






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






31. The political position that opposes abortion.






32. 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






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






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






35. 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






36. Also called "applied Christianity -" this reform movement - driven by Christian teachings - sought to relieve the suffering of the poor.






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. 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






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






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 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.






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






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






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






45. 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.






46. 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






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






48. The political advocacy of black-owned businesses and independent black political action. Stokely Carmichael first used the term in a position paper for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee in 1965.






49. Philosophical movement - with deep roots in the United States - which holds that truth emerges from experimentation and experience rather than from abstract theory. it is associated with William James and John Dewey.






50. Popular music genre - with roots in African American rhythm and blues and "doo-wop." It developed in the 1950s and was popularized by Elvis Presley.