US History (Exam Canon) — Glossary

The Adams-Onís Treaty of 1819 was a U.S.-Spain agreement ceding Florida to the United States and fixing the western boundary of the Louisiana Purchase.

The Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1933 was a New Deal statute that raised farm prices by paying farmers federal subsidies to reduce crop acreage and livestock production.

The American Federation of Labor was a national federation of craft unions founded in 1886 under Samuel Gompers that pursued practical economic gains for skilled workers.

The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 is a U.S. federal civil-rights statute prohibiting discrimination against individuals with disabilities across employment, public services, accommodations, and telecommunications.

The ABM Treaty was a 1972 US–Soviet arms-control accord limiting each side's deployment of defensive systems against strategic ballistic missiles to preserve mutual deterrence.

The Bill of Rights, the first ten amendments to the United States Constitution, was ratified on December 15, 1791, guaranteeing fundamental individual liberties.

Black Codes were restrictive laws enacted by Southern U.S. states in 1865–66 to control freed African Americans and recreate plantation labor conditions after slavery's abolition.

The Civil Rights Act of 1968 is a U.S. federal statute that banned discrimination in the sale, rental, and financing of housing and extended federal protections to Native Americans.

The Civilian Conservation Corps was a New Deal work-relief agency, operating 1933–1942, that employed unmarried young men in conservation and reforestation projects on public lands.

The Clayton Antitrust Act of 1914 is a United States federal statute that strengthened antitrust law by prohibiting specific anti-competitive practices not clearly reached by the earlier Sherman Act.

The Compromise of 1877 was an informal bargain that resolved the disputed 1876 U.S. presidential election by awarding Rutherford B. Hayes the presidency in exchange for the withdrawal of federal troops from the South, ending Reconstruction.

The Constitution drafted in Philadelphia is the United States Constitution, framed at the Constitutional Convention from May to September 1787.

The Declaration of Independence is the 1776 document by which the Second Continental Congress proclaimed the thirteen American colonies free and independent states severed from British rule.

Détente was the early-1970s easing of US–Soviet Cold War tensions, pursued by Nixon and Kissinger through triangular diplomacy that exploited the Sino-Soviet split to leverage both communist powers.

Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857) was a U.S. Supreme Court decision holding that African Americans were not citizens and that Congress could not prohibit slavery in federal territories.

The Eighteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, ratified in 1919, prohibited the manufacture, sale, and transportation of intoxicating liquors throughout the United States.

The Emancipation Proclamation was President Abraham Lincoln's 1863 executive order declaring freedom for enslaved people in the Confederate states then in rebellion against the Union.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation is an independent U.S. agency created in 1933 that insures bank deposits and supervises financial institutions to maintain public confidence.

The Federal Reserve Act of 1913 is the U.S. statute that created the Federal Reserve System, the nation's central banking authority.

The Fifteenth Amendment denotes two distinct constitutional provisions: the 1870 US amendment barring racial denial of the vote, and Bangladesh's 2011 amendment restoring secularism and abolishing the caretaker government.

The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution was a 1964 U.S. congressional joint resolution authorizing President Lyndon Johnson to use military force in Southeast Asia without a formal declaration of war.

Manifest Destiny was the 19th-century American belief that the United States was divinely ordained to expand its territory and democratic institutions across the North American continent.

The National Security Act of 1947 is the U.S. statute that reorganized the military and intelligence establishment, creating the NSC, CIA, and a unified national military structure.

The Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, ratified in 1920, prohibits the federal government and states from denying the right to vote on the basis of sex.

The Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, ratified in 1920, prohibits the federal government and the states from denying the right to vote on account of sex.

The North Atlantic Treaty, signed in Washington on 4 April 1949, is the founding instrument of NATO, binding member states to collective defence.

NSC-68 was a 1950 classified U.S. National Security Council policy paper that established military containment of the Soviet Union as the cornerstone of American Cold War strategy.

The Open Door Notes were a series of diplomatic memoranda issued by U.S. Secretary of State John Hay in 1899-1900 asserting equal commercial access to China and respect for its territorial integrity.

Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) was the U.S. Supreme Court decision that upheld racial segregation under the "separate but equal" doctrine, validating Jim Crow laws.

The Seventeenth Amendment refers to two distinct constitutional measures: the 1913 US amendment establishing direct popular election of Senators, and Pakistan's 2003 amendment validating General Pervez Musharraf's military-era reforms.

The Sixteenth Amendment denotes two distinct constitutional changes—the 1913 US amendment authorising a federal income tax and Bangladesh's 2014 amendment empowering Parliament to remove Supreme Court judges.

The Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT) were two rounds of US–Soviet negotiations (1969–1979) that produced the first treaties capping strategic nuclear delivery vehicles.

The Thirteenth Amendment is a constitutional amendment, distinct in each polity, most famously the 1865 US provision abolishing slavery and the 1987 Sri Lankan devolution measure creating provincial councils.

The United Nations is an intergovernmental organization founded in 1945 to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, and promote cooperation.

The Voting Rights Act of 1965 is a U.S. federal statute that prohibits racial discrimination in voting and authorized federal oversight of elections in covered jurisdictions.

The War Powers Resolution of 1973 is a U.S. federal law requiring the President to consult Congress before committing armed forces and to withdraw them within 60 days absent congressional authorization.