Social Studies

Final Exam Review

• The battle of Bunker Hill in Boston, Massachusetts, during the Revolutionary War was considered a moral victory for the Americans because the untrained militia stood up to the British army.
• George Washington’s troops surprised and overwhelmed British troops on Christmas Day, 1776 at Trenton, New Jersey.
• Washington’s army endured a harsh winter at Valley Forge
• The Battle of Saratoga, New York is important because after the American victory, the French supported the Americans
• After France entered the war in 1778, the British turned their attention to the war in the Southern colonies
• General Charles Cornwallis was surrounded and forced to surrender the English army in 1781 by George Washington at Yorktown, Virginia
• People who supported maintaining ties with Great Britain were called Loyalists
• The first document that was used to form the government of the United States was called the Articles of Confederation
• The document used to justify our rebellion and separation from England was the Declaration of Independence
• The document used to govern the U.S. from 1789 to today is the Constitution
• Because the Constitution is the Supreme Law of the Land, the national government has more power than state governments
• After the Alien and Sedition Acts were signed by John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison wrote the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions saying that states did not have to obey the federal laws.  This rejection of law became known as nullification.
• The War of 1812 was fought between the U.S. and Great Britain
• Because of the War of 1812, the words of the Star Spangled Banner were written, the executive mansion was burned by the British, and Andrew Jackson won the final battle at New Orleans after the treaty of peace was signed.
• Lewis and Clark are best remembered for leading an expedition into the Louisiana Territory
• Conestoga Wagons were especially important to Americans as they journeyed west
• A rapid rise in the prices of goods is called inflation
• In machinery and tools of the industrial revolution, interchangeable parts are the same
• The Missouri Compromise Line of 1820 was set at 36 degrees and 30 minutes
• The Missouri Compromise said new states above the line would be free, allowed Missouri to be slave and Maine to be free, and ended at the boundary of the Louisiana Purchase
• Andrew Jackson came from Tennessee
• The Monroe Doctrine warned European nations to stay out of the Western Hemisphere
• During the 1820s and 1830s, the right to vote was limited to adult white males
• The Native American tribe removed from Georgia by Andrew Jackson in the Trail of Tears was the Cherokee
• Modern day Oklahoma was known as Indian Territory at the time of the Trail of Tears
• During the 1820s, mountain men headed to a summer gathering called the rendezvous
• The Mormons went to Utah to seek religious escape from persecution by states east of the Mississippi River.
• At the time of the battle, the Alamo was located in Mexico
• Abolitionists on the underground railroad helped slaves escape to freedom
• The temperance movement opposed drinking alcohol
•  The abolition movement threatened the Southern way of life
• A revival of religious faith occurred in the 1800s called the Second Great Awakening
• Women’s rights were the topics discussed at the Seneca Falls Convention in New York
• The demand for slaves in the South was increased as a result of the Cotton Gin
• Southern plantation owners considered enslaved persons to be property
• California’s population rose between 1848 and 1849 because of the gold rush
• The Compromise of 1850 was supported and moved through the Senate by Stephen A. Douglas
• The most controversial part of the Compromise of 1850 was the Fugitive Slave Act
• The Fugitive Slave Act made it a crime to help runaway slaves, made Canada the goal for runaways, and increased support for the abolition movement in the north
• The author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin was Harriet Beecher Stowe
• In the Dred Scott Decision, the U.S. Supreme Court said that enslaved persons were property
• In the 1850s, proslavery forces and abolitionists fought bloody battles in Kansas
• In the 1850s, the Republican Party was formed to oppose the extension of slavery
• John Brown plotted a violent slave rebellion and tried to get it started in Harpers Ferry, Virginia (West Virginia, today)
• In 1860, Abraham Lincoln was nominated for President by the Republican Party
• In the 1860 Presidential election, Abraham Lincoln ran against Stephen Douglas
• After Lincoln was elected to become President, the first state to secede was South Carolina
• The first shots of the Civil War were fired at Fort Sumter, South Carolina
• The state formed in 1863 to side with the Union was West Virginia
• Abraham Lincoln’s first and major reason for fighting the Civil War was to preserve the Union
• Jefferson Davis fought the War Between the States in order to preserve states rights
• Abraham Lincoln’s problems at the beginning of the Civil War included finding effective commanders, keeping the border states with the Union, and organizing his government
• The Emancipation Proclamation made the war a struggle over slavery
• Robert E. Lee was offered command of the Union army before he joined the Confederacy
• The Union split the Confederacy on July 4th, 1863 when it gained control of Vicksburg, Mississippi
• Grant’s strategy to surround Vicksburg, and later at Petersburg, Virginia, where he cut off supply lines is known as a siege
• The Battle of Gettysburg became a Union victory with the failed Confederate attack known as Pickett’s Charge
• The Northern Democrats who wanted to end the Civil War were known as Copperheads
• During the Civil War, the Union established the income tax
• At the end of the war, the commander of the Union army was Ulysses S. Grant
• Appomattox Court House, where Lee surrendered, was located in Virginia
• The dates of the Civil War are 1861 to 1865
• Abraham Lincoln’s 10% plan offered a return into the Union for any Confederate state that accepted emancipation of the slaves and pledged an oath of loyalty
• Radical Republicans wanted to punish rebellious Southern states
• The 13th Amendment abolished slavery
• The 14th Amendment guarantees Civil Rights, including the right to due process and equal protection under the law
• The 15th Amendment guarantees suffrage for African-American males over the age of 21
• President Lincoln was assassinated at Ford’s Theater in Washington D.C.
• Andrew Johnson had been a Democrat from Tennessee
• President Ulysses S. Grant used the Civil Rights Act of 1871 to arrest members of the Ku Klux Klan
• Northerners who traveled to the South to help in the economic development and Reconstruction of the area were called carpetbaggers.  Southerners who did the same thing were called scalawags.
• Reconstruction ended with the Presidential election of Rutherford B. Hayes
• People who take risks to start new businesses are called entrepreneurs
• During the late 1800s, government policies favored businesses
• After 1879, many immigrants began to come from southern Europe.  Before that most immigrants came from Northern Europe.
• Some people resented immigrants because they accepted lower wages
• The Populist Party was founded by farmers
• A government takeover of a business is called nationalization
• A tax that requires wealthy people to pay a higher percentage of their income than poorer people is called a graduated income tax

• The 16th Amendment established the graduated income tax
• The 17th Amendment established direct election of senators by the people
• The 18th Amendment outlawed the sale and production of alcohol
• The 19th Amendment granted women the right to vote
• The creator of the settlement house movement and the founder of Hull House in Chicago was Jane Addams
• Some powerful industrialists include:  Cornelius Vanderbilt, Railroads; John D. Rockefeller, Oil; Andrew Carnegie, steel; and Henry Ford, automobiles
• The central government of the U.S. is divided into 3 separate branches
• Nine states were required to vote for ratification of the Constitution
• The Constitution can be changed through the use of Amendments
• The first 10 Amendments guarantee our civil liberties and are called the Bill of Rights
• The Executive Branch is headed by the President
• The Legislative Branch is responsible for creating laws
• The Judicial Branch is responsible for interpreting the laws
• The Legislature has two parts called the Senate and the House of Representatives
• When the President is sent a new law, it can be either approved or vetoed
• Limited resources is the economic concept that and individual has a fixed amount of money and means available to them
• Unlimited wants is the economic concept that there is no end to the amount of things that an individual might desire
• What you must give up in order to get what you want is known as opportunity cost
• When making economic decisions, people take most into consideration the factors of needs and wants
• The Supreme Court case that determined that slaves were the same as property is the Dred Scott Decision
• The Supreme Court case that determined that public facilities and governmental practices in the U.S. could be segregated by race as long as everything was separate but equal is Plessy v. Ferguson
• The Supreme Court case that determined that the Supreme Court had the power of Judicial Review over the Legislature is Marbury v. Madison
• The Supreme Court case that determined that the concept of facilities that are separate but equal are inherently unequal is Brown v. Board of Education
• A country where the government makes all of the basic economic decisions is called a command economy
• A country where the people invest their own money in order to gain a profit is called a free enterprise economy
• A community that barters, maintains primarily an agricultural society and may be considered somewhat “backwards” by modern standards is called a traditional economy

CORE DEMOCRATIC VALUES

Basic Definitions

Fundamental Beliefs of United States Democracy

Life

Your right to life is sacred.

Liberty

You have the right to personal, political, and economic freedom.

The Pursuit of Happiness

You have the right to find happiness in your own way.

Common Good (Public Good)

Individuals must accept our part in improving our society

Justice

All people should be treated fairly and equally.

Equality

Everyone is treated equally in the eyes of the law.

Diversity

Differences among people are good and are welcomed.

Truth

Citizens can demand truth from their government.

Popular Sovereignty

The people have the final say over their government.

Patriotism

Citizens show devotion to our country.

Constitutional Principles

Rule of Law

Everyone must follow the law.

Separation of Powers

All power is never in the hands of only one or just a few.

Representative Government

Citizens elect others to represent their interests.

Checks and Balances

Power is balanced among the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches.  Each keeps an eye on the other.

Individual Rights

We all have fundamental, unalienable rights.

Freedom of Religion

We can choose our own religious beliefs.  The government cannot dictate religion.

Federalism

Power is shared between the national and state governments.

Civilian Control of the Military

The military forces are under the command of a civilian. (The President)