1st Semester Benchmark Study Guide

1. The declaration of independence, the stamp act, and tea act.

2. Natural law is basically sciences that changed the peoples way of
thinking about god and divine rights. the enlightenment was influenced
by natural law because people then started questioning beliefs about
god.
3. Thomas jefferson took the ideas that people have the right to life,
liberty, and the pursuit of happiness and that the people had the right to
rebel against the govt if it was unfair.
4. The flaws of the articles of confederation was the fact that the
state had no power because they couldnt tax the federal govt and
couldnt draft people into the military.
5. The separation of powers applies to our govt because it includes
The legislative branch, executive branch, and judicial branch which is
congress (who makes the laws), the president (who enforces the laws),
and the federal courts (who interprets the laws).
6. Federalist papers were made to convince people that the
constitution was a good idea.
7. federalists were for the constitution (for the creation of a national
govt, each state shouldnt have the right to decide its own laws). Antifederalists were against the constitution (opposed the creation of a
national govt that would have power over the states, each state had the
right to decide its own laws, and they thought the constitution gave the
president and congress too much power.
8. Hamilton and jefferson argued over the idea of a national bank
because jefferson was against the idea due to the fact that it was against
the constitution.
9. The great compromise was in 1787 and it was an when congress
split into 2 parts; each state was granted 2 senators and each states
amount of house of representatives was according to their population.
10.They added the bill of rights to make anti-federalists happier.
11.The reconstruction was after the civil war.
Positives Outcomes of the
Reconstruction
African Americans

Negatives Outcomes of the

Reconstruction
KKK

were able to vote

public education for
freed slaves
union army will
protect freed slaves

Jim Crow Laws

Segregation/ Black
Codes/ poverty

12.The cause of people migration from rural to urban areas was the
opening of jobs.
13.The U.S. declared war on Spain after the explosion of the
battleship Maine in Havana Harbor.
14.The events that led to the annexation of hawaii by the u.s. was
because the u.s. didnt want to pay the taxes or tariffs that it costed to
take things from hawaii.
15.The push and pull method was when immigrants left their
homeland because religious persecution, poverty, and forced, military
labor. they came to america because they wanted religious freedom, job
availability, and no drafting into the war.
16.The nativist attitude toward immigration was harsh because they
believed that the citizens born in the u.s. had the right to claim
ownership and that immigrants didnt belong and were second best.
17.Americanization was when immigrants/foreigners learned english
and the american ways.
18.The progressive movement was about fixing the problems in
society such as women not having the right to vote, the meat not being
healthy, and the working conditions. The four major goals were to
protect major welfare (social gospel and settlement home), to expose the
economic wrongs (journalists exposing unfair business practices, child
labor, and minimum wage probs.), to expose economic efficiency (Long
working hours not enough pay), and to promote moral improvement
(helping immigrants, the poor, the prohibition).
19.Women suffrage is the womens right to vote. NAWSA held
suffrage parades and had annual major conventions to keep their
members energized.
20.T. Roosevelt used the troops in panama because he needed their
support to fight against the colombians to build the panama canal.
panama would then get freedom from colombia if they helped u.s. fight
to get the panama canal built.

21.Populists were rural and farmers who were angry about the
decline of agriculture and the corruption of govt. and believed that the
govt should contain people from below with ordinary people like
themselves, to run the govt. progressives believed in the same things as
populists but they were urban middle (and upper) class workers who
believed the govt should be runned by sophisticated, professional
experts. the populists wanted to destroy the corporations and
fundamentally change the govt, while the progressives wanted a
moderate change.
22.In The Jungle by Upton Sinclair, the unsanitary processing of
meat in the meat industries were exposed.
23.A trust was an arrangement by which stockholders in several
companies transferred their shares to a single set of trustees. In
exchange, the stockholders received a certificate entitling them to a
specified share of the consolidated earnings of the jointly managed
companies. The trusts came to dominate a number of major industries,
and were, in effect, monopolies.
24.The U.S. entered WWI because the Germans sunk the Lusitania
(a US ship with citizens on it) and also because of the Zimmerman Note
where the German requested the help from Mexico to go against the US
with them so that they may get back Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico in
exchange for fighting.
25.The League of Nations was an international organization that
came together to prevent another war from happening. This was for
several reasons, firstly America had suffered casualties in the war, and
many people in the USA wanted to keep America out of European
affairs. This policy was called isolationism. Joining the league meant
that this might involve having to do things that might set back the
economy or damage America otherwise. America had had enough of
wars and dealing with other countries problems. They also had little or
no support for British or French policies or the Treaty of Versailles,
which they refused to accept. So although when the League was actually
being formed Woodrow Wilson still backed America joining it, by this
time and, despite Wilson, America never joined the League.

26.For the short term effect the US economy grew in the buildup to
the war and during its prosecution. From 1915 the US made tons of
loans to the UK to help them in their war effort. It is not a stretch to say
that WWI was the major factor in contributing to the "Roaring 20s"
when the US economy boomed. After the peace the economy dropped
temporarily and this is most likely attributable to the stopping of war
material production. However, at that point in the timeline the US was
the only country that had not been completely devastated by the effects
of the war. US companies were able to expand their reach around the
world, and domestic consumption in the US increased, hence the name
"The Roaring 20s." So the short term effect (I am defining short term
effect as within one decade) was that the US economy grew a large
amount due to their involvement in WWI. The long term effect was that
US involvement in the war lead directly to the Great Depression and
WWII. The Treaty of Versailles led to a system where the US was
cashing in its wartime loans to the UK, which in turn was using the
wartime reparations it received from Germany to pay off the US. This
system collapsed when the Germany economy succumbed to
hyperinflation and died. That paired with Black Tuesday, which was
driven by rampant stock speculation from tons of US citizens flush with
cash led to the Great Depression. Since the world was still reeling from
the effects of WWI when Germany fell, everything else fell apart. This
event was directly attributable to WWI. So in short there was a huge
effect on the US economy in the short term which lead to the Roaring
20s, but the growth was short lived as it was built upon the same
conditions that brought about the Great Depression.
27.US agriculture had expanded during the First World War to sell
food to Europe, but afterwards countries returned to growing their own
a grain. The expansion had led to over-production and now there was
too much food on the market. Farmers found it more and more difficult
to sell their produce. Despite agricultural overproduction and successive
attempts in Congress to provide relief, the agricultural economy of the

1920s experienced an ongoing depression. Large surpluses were

accompanied by falling prices at a time when American farmers were
burdened by heavy debt. Between 1920 and 1932, one in four farms was
sold to meet financial obligations and many farmers migrated to urban
areas. With one-fifth of the American population making their living on
the land, rural poverty was widespread. So, not everybody was able to
participate fully in the emergent consumer economy in American. Apart
from white farmers, African American and immigrants found this
decade tough. The situation was made worse by the policy of the US
government. The Fordney-McCumber tariffs meant foreign exports to
the USA were very expensive. If Americans did not buy foreign goods,
foreigners would earn less and therefore have less money to spend on
US foodstuffs. The result was a severe agricultural depression. During
the 1920s more than 600,000 farmers went bankrupt.
28.Organized crime and Prohibition had a relationship because
drinking alcohol was a crime and the speak easys were organized
crimes.
29.On this day in 1913, Henry Ford installs the first moving assembly
line for the mass production of an entire automobile. His innovation
reduced the time it took to build a car from more than 12 hours to two
hours and 30 minutes. In February 1914, he added a mechanized belt
that chugged along at a speed of six feet per minute. As the pace
accelerated, Ford produced more and more cars, and on June 4, 1924,
the 10-millionth Model T rolled off the Highland Park assembly line.
Though the Model T did not last much longerby the middle of the
1920s, customers wanted a car that was inexpensive and had all the bells
and whistles that the Model T scornedit had ushered in the era of the
automobile for everyone.
30.The Scopes Trial, formally known as The State of Tennessee v.
John Thomas Scopes and commonly referred to as the Scopes Monkey
Trial, was an American legal case in 1925 in which a substitute high
school teacher, John Scopes, was accused of violating Tennessee's Butler
Act, which made it unlawful to teach human evolution in any state-

funded school. The trial was deliberately staged to attract publicity to

the small town of Dayton, Tennessee, where it was held.
31.The literature from the Harlem Renaissance reflected African
American life.
32.The rise of the KKK=the whites didnt like the coming in
immigrants taking their jobs when they came back from the war. Red
Scare= the fear that communism was spreading around the U.S.. The
Palmer raids= when the U.S. went on raids to catch radicals (a person
who advocates thorough or complete political or social reform; a
member of a political party or part of a party pursuing such aims).
Sacco-Vanzetti trial is about the two Italian immigrants who were tried
because of discrimination(they werent even guilty).
33.Teapot Dome Scandal- Cabinet member released oil reserves to a
private company when it was meant for the U.S. Navy (President
Warren G Harding was involved).
34.Credit and stock
35.In the 1920s, there was a rapid growth in bank credit and loans.
Encouraged by the strength of the economy people felt the stock market
was a one way bet. Some consumers borrowed to buy shares. Firms took
out more loans for expansion. Because people became highly indebted, it
meant they became more susceptible to a change in confidence. When
that change of confidence came in 1929, those who had borrowed were
particularly exposed and joined the rush to sell shares and try and
redeem their debts.
36.Buying stocks on the margin was profitable because it let them
buy for a low price and sell for a higher price.
37.Black Tuesday is when the stock market crashed.
38.Depositors withdrawing ALL of the money out of their accounts
had a negative effect on banks.

39.Hoover took a cautious approach solving the depression because

he believed it would fix his own.
40.The Dust Bowl harmful to the farmers health, the farming
crops/fields, and the environment.
41.People seeked for new leadership in 1932 because Hoover wasnt
helping anyone.
42.Roosevelts first action to solve the economic probs. was the New
Deal.
43.Roosevelt tried to help retirees, after he was elected, by giving
them money monthly.
44.The SEC was the Security & Exchange Commission; it gave the
govt control over the stock markets.
45.The goals of the New Deal was Roosevelts plan to fix the GD by
helping others get back on their feet.
46.They didnt feel that The New Deal did enough to help the citizens
and fix the GD.
47.conservatives dont like how the government was getting too big
and powerful
48.The CNA extended job opportunities like public work jobs,
artists, writers, etc..
49.the new deal made the role of the government more powerful
50.The four freedoms were freedom of speech and expression,
freedom of every person to worship God in their own way, freedom
from want, and freedom from fear.
51.The act authorized Roosevelt to sell, transfer title to, exchange,
lease, lend, or otherwise dispose of, to any such govt any defense
article and by 1945, the US had sent more than $40 billion of Lend
Lease aid to the Allies, including the Soviet Union. It led to an economic
declaration of war against Germany and the Axis Powers.
52.Jane Addams-opened Hull House in Chicago, was a feminist, and
inspired others

53.Florence Kelly- social and political reformer

54.Upton Sinclair- helped work conditions, nutrition/meat
inspections, and wrote The Jungle
55.Ida Tarbell-attacked by Rockefellers monopoly The History of
Standard Oil
56.Margret Sanger-started the American Birth Control League
57.William Randolph Hearst-American Newspaper publisher
58.William Howard Taft-27th president
59.Big Stick diplomacy-use of strong military by President
Roosevelt
60.Moral Diplomacy-a system in which support is given only to
countries whose moral-beliefs are analogous to that nation
61.Reparations-the making of amends, when a wrong is done, by
paying money
62.collective bargaining-a process of negotiation between employers
and employees aimed at reaching agreements
63.pump priming-the stimulation between economic activity by
investment
64.John Steinbeck-Author who wrote about farmers lives during the
DUST BOWL