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Puritans

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A religious group that settled the New England colonies.

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Middle Colonies

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New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware

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New England Colonies

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Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire

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Southern Colonies

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Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia

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Jamestown

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First permanent English settlement in North America

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Virginia House of Burgesses

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First elected legislative assembly in the New World established in the Colony of Virginia.

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Quakers

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religious group who settled Pennsylvania - very tolerant and nonviolent

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Great Awakening

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Religious revival in the American colonies where new Protestant churches were established, mainly Baptists and Methodists.

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Middle Passage

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the middle portion of the triangular trade that brought African slaves to the Americas

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Mayflower Compact

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Early agreement between colonists (separatists) to form a government.

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indentured servants

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Group of people wh were required to work in order to pay off their trip to the new world.

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George Washington

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Commander of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. Became the first President.

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French and Indian War

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War fought by the British against the French and Native Americans.

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Proclamation of 1763

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an order in which Britain prohibited its American colonists from settling west of the Appalachian Mountains

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Stamp Act

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Law passed by Great Britain forcing colonists to pay a tax on all paper goods.

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Sugar Act

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Law passed by Great Britain forcing colonists to pay a tax on all sugar products.

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Boston Massacre

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An incident in which British Soldiers fired into a crowd of colonists, killing five people

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Boston Tea Party

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Protest against increased tea prices in which colonists dumped British tea into Boston Harbor

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Second Continental Congress

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The meeting of colonial delegates that approved the Declaration of Independence

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Common Sense

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Pamphlet written by Thomas Paine that claimed the colonies had a right to be an independent nation

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Declaration of Independence

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1776 document stating that the 13 English colonies were a free and independent nation. Written by Thomas Jefferson.

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Patriots

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American colonists who fought for independence from Great Britain during the Revolutionary War

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Loyalists

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American colonists who remained loyal to Britain and opposed the war for independence

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Battle of Yorktown

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Last major battle of the Revolutionary War.

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Treaty of Paris 1783

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Treaty Between England and the Colonies , formally ended the American Revolutionary War,

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John Locke

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Believed all people have a right to life, liberty, and property. Greatly influenced Thomas Jefferson.

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Articles of Confederation

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Document that created the first central government for the United States; it was replaced by the Constitution in 1789

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James Madison

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Called the "Father of the Constitution", wrote the Virginia Plan.

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Virginia Plan

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Plan that established the three branches of government.

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Virginia Declaration of Rights

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Served as a model for the Bill of Rights to the Constitution of the United States of America. Written by George Mason.

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Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom

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Written in 1776 by Jefferson and Madison. First document to create freedom of religion.

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Federalist

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supporters of the constitution during the debate over its ratification; favored a strong national government

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Anti-Federalists

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They opposed the ratification of the Constitution because it gave more power to the federal government and less to the states. Also wanted a Bill of Rights.

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Patrick Henry

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Patriot famous for saying "Give me liberty or give me death" speech. Anti-Federalist.

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Marbury v. Madison

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Supreme Court case that established judicial review.

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McCulloch v. Maryland

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Supreme Court case which validated the constitutionality of the Bank of the United States, denying states' rights to tax it

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Gibbons v. Ogden

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Supreme Court case that decided that regulating interstate commerce is a power reserved to the federal government.

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Jay Treaty

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Agreement that ended the dispute with Britain over American shipping during the French Revolution.

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Presidential Election of 1800

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First peaceful transfer of power in United States history.

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Democratic-Republicans

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Political party led by Thomas Jefferson, believed in strong state governments.

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Louisiana Purchase

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1803 purchase of the Louisiana territory from France. Made by Jefferson, this doubled the size of the US.

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Monroe Doctrine

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American foreign policy opposing interference in the Western hemisphere from outside powers

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Eli Whitney

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American inventor who developed the cotton gin.

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Manifest Destiny

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Belief that the United States was destined to stretch across the continent from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean

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Andrew Jackson

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7th president of the US, expanded the power of the presidency, opposed national bank.

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Whigs

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Political party that opposed Jackson's strong-armed leadership style and policies.

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Missouri Compromise

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1820 compromise dealing with the admission of new states. Admitted Missouri as a slave state, and Maine as a free state

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Compromise of 1850

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Agreement over slavery by which California joined the Union as a free state and a strict fugitive slave law was passed

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Kansas-Nebraska Act

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This act repealed the Missouri Compromise line and allowed the vote of the people to determine whether Kansas and Nebraska would be slave or free states.

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Nullification Crisis

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Dispute led by South Carolina that said that states could ignore federal laws if they believed those laws violated the Constitution

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Nat Turner

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Slave in Southampton County, Virginia who started a slave rebellion in 1831.

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Gabriel Prosser

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In 1800 this slave planned a slave uprising near Richmond, Virginia. He was betrayed by other slaves and his uprising was put down.

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William Lloyd Garrison

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Abolitionist - Early 1800s - published The Liberator

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Seneca Falls Declaration

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1848 document calling for equal rights for women

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Elizabeth Cady Stanton

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A prominent advocate of women's rights, Stanton organized the 1848 Seneca Falls Convention.

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Susan B. Anthony

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Key leader of woman suffrage movement

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Frederick Douglass

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United States abolitionist who escaped from slavery and became an influential writer and lecturer in the North

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Harriett Beecher Stowe

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Author of Uncle Tom's Cabin

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Republican Party

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New political party that emerged out of the conflict in Kansas over slavery.

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Dred Scott v. Sandford

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In this case, the Supreme Court ruled that slaves were not citizens.

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Abraham Lincoln

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Elected in 1860. His election led to the secession of South Carolina.

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Confederacy

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The government of the southern states

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Jefferson Davis

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President of the Confederate States of America

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Fort Sumter

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Location of the opening shots of the Civil War

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Ulysses S. Grant

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Leader of Union forces. He accepted the surrender from Lee at Appomattox

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Robert E. Lee

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Leader of Confederate forces. He surrendered to Grant at Appomattox.

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Emancipation Proclamation

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Declared that slaves in rebelling states were to be set free.

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Battle of Antietam

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Bloodiest battle of the Civil War. Lincoln used it to give the Emancipation Proclamation.

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Battle of Gettysburg

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Turning point of the Civil War. Lee was in retreat from this point.

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Appomattox Court House

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Location of Robert E. Lee's surrender

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13th Amendment

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Amendment that ended slavery

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Andrew Johnson

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Lincoln's vice president. He was impeached by radical republicans in Congress.

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14th Amendment

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Amendment that gives citizenship and equal protection of the law to all men regardless of race.

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15th Amendment

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Amendment that gave all men the right to vote.

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Ku Klux Klan

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This organization turned to terrorizing African Americans to keep them away from the polls.

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Compromise of 1877

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Deal between Republicans and Democrats that allowed Rutherford Hayes to become president in exchange for the end of Reconstruction.

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Reconstruction

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Reorganization and rebuilding of the former Confederate states after the Civil War

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Homestead Act

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Gave 160 acres of public land to any settler who would farm the land for five years.

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Bessemer process

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Helped manufacturers mass produce high quality steel.

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Thomas Edison

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Perfected the light bulb. Later invented an entire system for producing and distributing electrical power.

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Alexander Graham Bell

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Invented the telephone

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Transcontinental Railroad

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First railroad to span the nation.

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Andrew Carnegie

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Scottish immigrant who used the Bessemer process to mass produce steel in United States. Owner of US Steel Company.

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John D. Rockefeller

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Owner of Standard Oil Company. He joined with competing companies in trust agreements. He used trusts to gain control of the oil industry.

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Sherman Anti-Trust Act

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Made it illegal to form a trust that interfered with free trade between states or other countries.

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Samuel Gompers

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President of the American Federation of Labor (AFL). Worked to improve conditions for laborers.

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Ellis Island

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Entry point for immigrants coming from Europe.

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Chinese Exclusion Act

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Banned entry to all Chinese except students, teachers, merchants, tourists, and government officials.

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Immigration Restriction Act of 1921

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Restricted the flow immigrants moving in to the US amid fears of immigrants taking too many jobs

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Booker T. Washington

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Believed that African-Americans should accept segregation and the best way to overcome it was to improve farming and vocational skills

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W.E.B. Du Bois

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Believed that African-Americans should strive for full rights immediately; founded the NAACP

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Jim Crow Laws

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Racial segregation in schools, hospitals, parks, and transportation systems.

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Plessy v. Ferguson

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Supreme Court ruling that said separate but equal facilities did not violate the 14th Amendment.

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Progressive Movement

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Aimed to return control of the government to the people: restore economic opportunities & correct injustices

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Open Door Policy

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Proposed by the United States in 1899, under which all nations would have equal opportunities to trade in China

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Dollar Diplomacy

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President Taft's policy of building strong economic ties to Latin America

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Spanish American War

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1898 conflict, after which the US annexed Puerto Rico and asserted her right to intervene in Cuban affairs

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Panama Canal

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Ship canal 40 miles long across the Isthmus of Panama built by the United States

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Hawaii

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Group of islands which were annexed by the US after deposing the Queen.

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Philippines

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Group of islands which were annexed by the US after the Spanish American War

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Allies (WWI)

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Britain, France, Russia, Italy, and the United States

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Central Powers (WWI)

answer

Germany, Austria Hungary, and Ottoman Empire

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Woodrow Wilson

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President of the US, wanted to "make the world safe for democracy," wrote the 14 Points Plan

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14 Points Plan

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Woodrow Wilson's plan for post-war Peace.

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League of Nations

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An organization of nations formed after World War I to promote cooperation and peace.

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Treaty of Versailles

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Treaty that ended WWI. It blamed Germany for WWI and handed down harsh punishment.

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Flappers

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A young woman in the 1920s who defied convention.

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19th Amendment

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Gave women the right to vote.

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Prohibition

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Created by the 18th Amendment it outlawed alcohol in the US.

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Overspeculation

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A cause of the stock market crash in 1929; buying stocks with borrowed money.

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Federal Reserve

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Controls America's money supply, by controlling the interest rates of banks.

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Tariff

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A tax on imported goods, such as Hawley-Smoot.

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New Deal

answer

President Franklin Roosevelt's plan for the country during the Great Depression.

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Franklin Delano Roosevelt

answer

Democratic president from 1933-1945 during the Great Depression and WWII.

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Social Security

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Offered an old age pension and safeguards for workers.

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Lend-Lease Act

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Gave the president authority to sell or lend equipment to countries to defend themselves against the Axis powers.

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Adolf Hitler

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Leader of Nazi Germany.

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Manchuria

answer

Japan invaded this northern region of China in 1931.

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Pearl Harbor

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Site of the Japanese surprise attack on December 7, 1941.

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Axis Powers

answer

Germany, Italy, and Japan

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Island Hopping

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Military strategy of seizing islands closer and closer to Japan and using them as bases for air attacks.

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El Alamein

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This defeat in Egypt prevented Hitler from gaining access to Middle Eastern oil supplies.

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Stalingrad

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This battle prevented Hitler from seizing Soviet oil fields and is considered the turning point in the European theater.

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D-Day

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Normandy landings on June 6, 1944 which began the liberation of western Europe.

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Midway

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This "miracle" ended the Japanese threat to Hawaii and is considered the turning point in the Pacific theater.

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Atomic Bomb

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New weapon that was dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

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Tuskegee Airmen

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African American pilots that served in Europe with distinction.

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Geneva Convention

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It attempted to ensure the humane treatment of prisoners of war.

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Final Solution

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Germany's decision to exterminate all Jews.

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Allied Powers (WWII)

answer

Great Britain, France, Soviet Union, and the US

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United Nations

answer

International organization founded in 1945 to promote world peace and cooperation. It replaced the League of Nations.

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Marshall Plan

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Provided economic aid to Western Europe to help rebuild after World War II.

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Cold War

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The ideological struggle between communism (Soviet Union) and capitalism (United States) for world influence.

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Truman Doctrine

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President Truman's policy of helping any country stop the spread of communism.

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NATO

answer

Defensive alliance between U.S., Canada, and Western Europe to prevent the spread of Communism.

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Korean War

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Conflict that tested containment and resulted in a stalemate with the North remaining communist.

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Vietnam War

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Conflict that tested containment and resulted in the county becoming unified under communism.

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Ho Chi Minh

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Communist leader of North Vietnam

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Watergate

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Scandal that forced Richard Nixon to resign as President.

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Fidel Castro

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Cuban revolutionary leader who overthrew the Cuban government and established a Communist dictatorship.

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Cuban Missile Crisis

answer

The 1962 confrontation between US and the Soviet Union over Soviet missiles in Cuba

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Warsaw Pact

answer

Defensive military alliance of the USSR and its satellite states. Reaction to NATO.

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Containment

answer

The official US foreign policy towards the spread of communism.

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Ronald Reagan

answer

US President during the 1980s who re-escalated the Cold War with his rhetoric and emphasis on military spending.

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Mikhail Gorbachev

answer

USSR premiere elected in 1985 who instituted the reforms of glasnost and perestroika.

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Thurgood Marshall

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The first African American to serve on the Supreme Court of the United States. Helped argue Brown v. BOE for the NAACP

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Brown v. Board of Education

answer

Supreme Court case that declared segregation in schools unconstitutional.

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Martin Luther King, Jr.

answer

His nonviolent protests gained national attention and resulted in government protection of African-American civil rights.

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Civil Rights Act of 1964

answer

Legislation that banned segregation in public settings.

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Voting Rights Act of 1965

answer

Law designed to help end formal and informal barriers to African American suffrage.

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Lyndon B. Johnson

answer

U.S. President who escalated the Vietnam War and signed Civil Rights legislation.

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Neil Armstrong

answer

1st person to walk on the moon.

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John Glenn

answer

First American to orbit the Earth.

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Sally Ride

answer

First American female astronaut.

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Reagan Revolution

answer

Policies of the first Reagan administration, which increased defense spending and downsized the scope of the federal government.

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Sandra Day O'Connor

answer

First woman to be appointed to the Supreme Court.

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Bill Clinton

answer

Centrist Democrat elected to the Presidency in 1992.

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George W. Bush

answer

Republican President elected in 2000 and led the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

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Patriot Act

answer

Act created to expand the powers of intelligence agencies after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

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communism

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Political system where economic production is owned by the government.

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massive retaliation

answer

Policy advocating the full use of American nuclear weapons to counteract Soviet military aggression.

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Vietnamization

answer

Policy where U.S. soldiers would be removed from Vietnam and the fighting would be left for the South Vietnamese.

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Joseph McCarthy

answer

U.S. senator who accused many Americans, including actors, of being Communists.

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McCarthyism

answer

Policy in the Early Cold War in which people were accused of being communists.

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Persian Gulf War

answer

1991 war in which the United States and its UN allies drove invading Iraqi forces out of neighboring Kuwait

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North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)

answer

Agreement by Canada, Mexico, and the United States to eliminate the barriers to trade between the three countries.

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Apartheid

answer

the former policy of racial segregation and oppression in the Republic of South Africa

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Sandra Day O'Connor

answer

First women appointed to the Supreme Court.

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Ruth Bader Ginsburg

answer

Second woman to serve on the Supreme Court. She was nominated by Pres. Clinton.

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Clarence Thomas

answer

Second African American to be appointed to the Supreme Court.

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Jonas Salk

answer

Invented the polio vaccine.

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War of 1812

answer

War fought between U.S. and England primarily over trade restrictions by England on the U.S with France.

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Age of the Common Man

answer

Andrew Jackson's presidency. All white men could now vote.

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World War I

answer

War fought from 1914 to 1919. Fought between the Allied and Central Powers. Ended with the Treaty of Versailles.

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World War II

answer

War fought from 1939 to 1945 between the Allies and the Axis, involving most countries in the world. Ended with the defeat of Nazi Germany and the atomic bombings of Japan.

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The Alamo

answer

A mission and fort in San Antonio, Texas, where Mexicans forces massacred rebellious Texans in 1836.

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Mexican War

answer

War between the United States and Mexico in which the United States acquired one half of Mexican territory.

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Glasnost

answer

Policy of the Soviet government allowing freer discussion of social problems

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Perestroika

answer

Economic reforms created in the Soviet Union.

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1963 March on Washington

answer

A massive rally for civil rights highlighted by Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech

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NAACP

answer

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, founded in 1909 to work for racial equality

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Oliver Hill

answer

Lawyer and civil rights leader who helped in Brown V. Board of Education case for Virginia

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Massive Resistance

answer

Southern movement resisting school integration.

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George H.W. Bush

answer

President after Reagan, President when Cold War ended and sent troops to Iraq which started the Persian Gulf War.

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Women in WWII

answer

Took on traditional male roles in the workplace.

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Holocaust

answer

Nazi program of exterminating Jews under Hitler

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Nuremberg Trials

answer

Trials of the Nazi leaders, showed that people are responsible for their actions, even in wartime.

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Genocide

answer

Systematic killing of a racial or cultural group

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Bataan Death March

answer

Brutal march of American and Filipino prisoners by Japanese soldiers in 1942

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Nisei Regiments

answer

Segregated combats units of WWII made up of Japanese-Americans.

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Works Progress Administration (WPA)

answer

New Deal program that gave the unemployed work in building construction and arts programs

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Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA)

answer

New Deal program that attempted to raise farm prices by paying farmers to lower farm output

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Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)

answer

New Deal program that insures accounts in national banks and other qualified institutions

question

Scopes Trial

answer

Court case where the issue of teaching evolution in public schools was debated.

question

Labor Unions

answer

Organization formed by workers to strive for better wages and working conditions

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Great Migration

answer

Movement of over 300,000 African American from the rural south into Northern cities between 1914 and 1920

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Ida B. Wells

answer

African-American journalist who led the fight against lynchings.

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Corporation

answer

A business owned by stockholders who share in its profits.

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Labor strikes

answer

Where a group of employees refuse to work in order to force employers to pay higher wages

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Trail of Tears

answer

Forced removal of Native Americans from the Southeast U.S. and their journey to Oklahoma

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Gettysburg Address

answer

Speech given by Abraham Lincoln where he expressed ideas about liberty, equality, and union.

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American Revolution

answer

War between Great Britain and its thirteen American colonies that led to the founding of the United States of America.

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American Civil War

answer

War between the northern states (Union) and the southern states (Confederacy).

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