U.S. History

First Semester Study Guide

Terms and Concepts to Know

Industrialization

Immigration/Emigrant Communism

Urbanization Rural/ Urban

Brown v. Board of Education Capitalism

Corporation Suburbanization

Laissez-Faire Specialization of labor

Monopolies Assembly line

Standard of Living Labor unions

Federal Reserve System Civil Liberties

Populism Socialism

Progressivism Supreme Court

Urban reforms Bill of Rights

Conservation Plessy v. Ferguson

Business regulation Regents of the University of California v. Bakke

Antitrust legislation Nineteenth Amendment

Child labor Twenty-sixth Amendment

Imperialism Wilson’s Fourteen Points

Appeasement Credibility

Isolationism Reliability

International involvement Support/Refute

Pearl Harbor Conscientious Objector

Red Scare New Deal

Women’s suffrage Dust Bowl

African American migrations Nativism

Immigration restrictions Japanese American internment

Roaring Twenties Postwar prosperity (WWII)

Stock market speculation Home Front (WWII)

Stock market crash Mobilization (WWII)

Great Depression

Answer the following questions on a separate piece of paper.

1.  How did the Enlightenment help to create the U.S. government?

2.  How did industrialization affect the United States socially, politically, and economically?

The Industrial Revolution had a dramatic impact. Socially we became a melting pot of various ethnic groups, many people immigrated to America for industrial jobs. Politically we became a more diverse society with dramatically different political viewpoints and opinions due to both immigration and the division in society between the business owners and the factory workers. Economically the industrial revolution will catapult the US to be a financial power house and dominate force in world affairs.

3.  Why did workers form labor unions?

4.  Describe reforms created by the Progressives in the early 20th century to deal with the problems associated with industrialization.

Basically, the progressives wanted to fix all of society’s ills. Anything deemed undesirable, the progressives wanted to improve: stop alcohol, end child labor, anti-trust legislation, preserve nature by creating federal parks, clean up manufacturing by creating laws like “the pure food and drug act”, improve the cities by campaigning for civic minded mayors and more police…I can go on and on with this one

5.  How did President Franklin D. Roosevelt help to solve the problems caused by the Great Depression?

6.  How did the New Deal impact the remainder of the 20th century and even today?

7.  What were the causes of imperialism?

8.  How did the Spanish America war affect the interests of the United States?

9.  What was the impact of imperialism on the people living in the controlled territories?

10.  What were the causes of World War I?

11.  Why did the United States enter World War I?

12.  How did the Treaty of Versailles create problems for Europe?

13.  Why did the efforts to preserve peace through the League of Nations fail?

Not all nations joined, including the US. It had no military might to back up the mandates or warnings it gave nations - nations could simply ignore the demands of the League of Nations w no recourse

14.  What were the causes of World War II?

15.  How did the United States attempt to remain isolationistic in the years prior to its entry into World War II? Why did these attempts fail?

16.  Trace immigration patterns since the late 19th century. What impacts have these groups had on American society in terms of housing patterns, political affiliation, education, language, labor practices, and religion?

17.  How do different economic systems answer the fundamental questions of what goods and services to produce, how to produce them, and who will consume them?

18.  How does the U.S. government promote economic growth and stability?

19.  Analyze the characteristics of traditional, market, command, and mixed economies.

20.  Why was the Federal Reserve System created and what is its importance to the economy?

21.  How did the Great Depression and World War II impact the U.S. economy and create a much larger role for the government in the U.S. economy?

22.  Why is the US Constitution a living document?

23.  Why have there been times throughout history when the rights of individuals have been limited? Include the following:

a.  Conscientious objectors during World War I

b.  Immigrants during the Red Scare after World War I

c.  Intellectuals and artists during the McCarthy era of the 1950s