US History Concepts

This page will serve as a hub for all US History related content. Information displayed here will be a barebones version of what appears in each concept's main article.

Articles of Confederation
The Articles of Confederation were the post-American Revolution form of government. It was later replaced after the Shays Rebellion and due to general discontent with it.

Missouri Compromise
The Missouri Compromise was an agreement between Slavery and Anti-Slavery activists, proposed by Henry Clay which added Missouri as a "slave state" and Maine as a "free state" while also delegating that all further territory north of the 36th parallel, as well as, all unorganized territory, will be barred from practicing slavery. An addendum latter stated that no further slaves may be brought into Missouri.

Popular Sovereignty
Popular Sovereignty is the belief that the people create and sustain their own goverment which must reflect their will.

Problems of the Union: 1861 - 1863
In the early days of the Civil war the Union Stated of America faced a few problems. Problems such as difficulties in creating and maintaining an army, economic disparity, and terrible medical conditions dampened the war effort on the part of the Union.

End of Reconstruction
The election of 1876 marked the end of reconstruction as it represented a compromise between the Democrats and the Republicans in that the Southern Democrats agreed to accept the new president Rutherford B. Hayes, granted that he withdrew the remaining federal troops from the South.

Joseph Pulitzer
Joseph Pulitzer was a Hungarian-American journalism who sparked the Spanish American war, along with his opponent journalist William Randolph Hearst. The two journalists increasingly graphic, and mostly fabricated, accounts of Spanish atrocities led to the American public crying for war against the Spanish.

Hoovervilles
Hoovervilles were slum towns established during the presidency of Herbert Hoover due to economic issues caused by the beginnings of the Great Depression.

Internment Camps
Interment Camps are establishments created for the purpose of housing sects of people deemed dangerous by the federal government. The most notable usage of interment camps in US history was during World War II, during which the US government feared that Japanese-American citizens were sending American secrets to the Japanese and, as a result, Japanese-American citizens were corralled into these camps as a precaution.

Joseph McCarthy
Joseph McCarthy was a U.S. senator whom is credited with the hunting of Communist spies and sympathizers in the U.S. Federal government. He eventually became corrupt and began to declare spies among his political opponents and high ranking officials in the military, leading to the term McCarthyism.

Cuban Missile Crisis
The Cuban Missile Crisis was a confrontation between the Communist forces of Russia and Cuba and the United States of America. The Russian government had been given permission to place nuclear warheads on Cuba by fellow communist government Cuba. These missiles would have been in a position to jeopardize American soil and the American government subsequently blockaded the missiles which were on route to Cuba. The US government, headed by John F. Kennedy held conferences with the leader of the Soviet Union, Nikita Khrushchev during which Kennedy firmly practiced Brinkmanship (the act of taking war talks to the brink in order to force your opponent to back down) which resulted in the withdrawal of the Soviets from Cuba.

Erie Canal
The Erie Canal was the first canal which linked the Atlantic ocean to the Great Lakes, severely reducing shipping costs and taxes to areas further inland.

Black Codes
Black Codes were a set of "laws" employed by anti-segregationalists which barred black people from achieving very much power, or status in post-civil war America. They were, most commonly, employed in the South.

Marshall Plan
The Marshall Plan was a method devised by the United States to solve the economic tumult of Europe after World War II to prevent the spread of Communism.

Function of Colonial Cities
Colonial Cities served England as a source of income, and raw materials which could be obtained at a massively reduced cost.

Virtual Representation
Virtual representation was the belief among British lords in parliement to be able to speak for all British subjects.

Eli Whitney's Inventions
Eli Whiteny is, most notably, credited with the invention of the Cotton Gin, a machine which extracts cotton from cotton flowers and a vastly increased spead to that of manual labor, and Interchangable Parts, the introduction of a concept which allowed for the changing out of parts on a machine instead of having to purchase an entirely new machine.

Causes of the Great Depression
The Great Depression, an economic famine which began with the Stock Market Crash of 1929. The Depression was caused by rampant consumerism in post-WWI lifestyle in the United States, an overcropping epidemic in the argiculture system, reckless investing and selling with borrowed money, and a rapid reduction of production.

Great Awakening
The Great Awakening (The Second Great Awakening, in this case) was a religious revival which began in Antebellum America. It saw a revival of the importance of religion, as well as, an increase in temperance, women's rights, and abolition.

Lowell System
The Lowell system was a system of maintaining and employment in New England textile factories. It focused on employing women while maintaining a safe, and clean work environment.

Ralph Waldo Emerson's Themes
Ralph Waldo Emmerson's main themes were the idea of self-reliance, a concept which dictated that one should be themselves and not look for other people to decide their lives for them, and over-soul, the belief that everything and everyone is linked through the human soul.

Spanish American War Results
The Spanish American war resulted in the introduction of the United States as a respectable military power. The Spanish Empire, finally, saw it's end. Cuba and the Philippines were acquired as United States territories, despite earlier statements made in the Teller Amendment.

Charles Lindbergh
Charles Lindbergh was an American aviator whom engaged in a non-stop flight from Long Island, New York to Paris, France and recieved a Medal of Honor as a result. Charles Lindbergh ,and his father were an adamant opposers to involvement in both World Wars.

1960s Protest Movements
Anti-War: There was a massive opposition to the Vietnam war due to new, rapid coverage of the war effort.