US History · AP

AP US History Terms II

Key AP US History terms and events, Reconstruction through the present.

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What was the primary purpose of the Reconstruction Act of 1867?
To divide the South into military districts and require Southern states to ratify the Fourteenth Amendment before readmission to the Union.
Define 'Radical Republicans.'
Congressional Republicans who wanted a strict Reconstruction with protections for newly freed slaves and punishment for the South.
What was the Freedmen's Bureau?
A federal agency created in 1865 to provide education, food, and medical care to freed slaves and poor whites in the South.
What did the Fifteenth Amendment guarantee?
That voting rights could not be denied on the basis of race or previous condition of servitude.
Define 'Carpetbagger.'
A Northerner who moved to the South during Reconstruction, often to pursue political or economic opportunities.
What was the primary effect of the Compromise of 1877?
It ended Reconstruction and effectively returned political control of the South to white Democrats, ending federal protection for Black citizens.
Define 'Jim Crow laws.'
State and local laws that enforced racial segregation in the South after Reconstruction ended.
What were 'robber barons'?
Wealthy businessmen of the Gilded Age, such as Rockefeller and Carnegie, who built industrial empires and dominated their industries.
What was the Sherman Antitrust Act?
An 1890 federal law that prohibited monopolistic business practices and cartels that restrained trade.
Define 'Populism' in the context of 1890s American politics.
A political movement that appealed to farmers and working-class Americans, demanding free silver, regulation of railroads, and progressive taxation.
What was the main goal of Progressive Era reforms?
To address social, political, and economic problems caused by industrialization and urbanization through government regulation and intervention.
What did the Sixteenth Amendment allow Congress to do?
Collect a federal income tax without apportioning it among the states.
Define 'Imperialism' as applied to U.S. foreign policy in the 1890s.
The U.S. policy of extending political, military, or economic influence over other territories and nations.
What was the Open Door Policy?
A U.S. policy asserting that all nations should have equal trading rights in China rather than one power dominating the market.
What was the primary significance of the Panama Canal?
It provided a strategic shortcut between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, enhancing U.S. naval power and global trade.

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