JUNE 2009REGENTS EXAM NOTES

1. Mississippi River = gave farmers and merchants access to the Gulf of Mexico 2. New England’s geography = port cities, excellent harbors, and many forests

promoted growth of trade and manufacturing 3. Mercantilism = buying raw materials from American colonies and selling

them as finished products 4. Proclamation Line of 1763 = prevented conflicts between colonists and

Indians 5. Declaration of Independence = justifies revolting (rebelling, overthrowing)

unjust governments6. Articles of Confederation = came up with a good process of creating new

states 7. Virginia and New Jersey Plans -> Great Compromise -> Senate and House of

Representatives (Congress)8. Electoral College = special group of electors who vote for the president

9. Constitution’s Preamble (Introduction) = states that it will provide for the common defense of every states = U.S. Armed Forces

10. Antifederalists = worried that the Constitution changed the balance between state and national governments -> Bill of Rights was added

11. Unwritten Constitution = president’s cabinet, electoral college, political parties

12. Washington’s Foreign Policy = wanted us to stay neutral so we could build up our economic and military strength

13. John Marshall = Supreme Court Justice who strengthened the federal (national) government

14. Manifest Destiny = Americans believed it was their right to expand westward to the Pacific

15. Bleeding Kansas = showed the tension between pro and anti-slavery groups 16. Fugitive Slave Act = many slaves fled to Canada

17. Plains Indians = Homestead Act, mass killing of buffalo and railroad building had negative effects on these Indians

18. Jim Crow Laws = laws that limited freedoms of free blacks and were a response to Radical Reconstruction

19. Mechanization of Agriculture = increased production (Industrial Revolution)20. Yellow Journalism = newspapers exaggerated events in Cuba to build

support for the Spanish-American War 21. Open Door Policy = equal trade opportunities in China for the U.S.22. Jacob Riis and Upton Sinclair = Progressive authors who exposed negative

social conditions (tenement housing and meat packing)23. 16th Amendment = federal income tax (1913)24. Woodrow Wilson = believed Progressivism would work better if WWI

wasn’t going on 25. Schenck v. U.S. = federal government could restrict first amendment rights

if they presented a clear and present danger to the U.S.

26. Treaty of Versailles = U.S. did not sign because we did not want to be involved in foreign affairs after WWI (isolationism)

27. Prohibition = 18th Amendment banned the manufacture and sale of alcoholic beverages

28. Immigration in the 1920s = Congress limited immigration from southern and eastern it due to Red Scare (fear of communism)

29. Great Depression = resulted from overproduction and underconsumption (making too many goods and not enough people are able to purchase them)

30. Herbert Hoover’s Response to the Great Depression = criticized because it did not provide direct relief for the neediest people

31. Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) = New Deal program that improved economy in a poor rural region

32. Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) = Congress looked to his leadership during his second term

33. Lend-Lease Act = FDR and Congress gave military supplies, weapons, and money to our Allies during WWII

34. WWII Political Cartoons and Ads = encouraged Americans to aid the war effort by conserving natural resources

35. GI Bill (1944) = provided federal funds for veterans to attend college 36. Truman Doctrine = President Harry Truman supported Greece in fighting

against communism 37. McCarthyism = Senator Joseph McCarthy accused many people of supporting

communism in the U.S. 38. African American Migration = many blacks moved from the south to the north

between 1940 and 1970 39. Soviet Union Launches First Satellite Into Space (Sputnik) in 1957 = resulted

in the U.S. government increasing funding for science and math education, JFK’s goal of a moon landing mission and a joint American-Soviet space mission

40. Domino Theory = U.S. wanted to prevent the spread of communism in Asia -> led to wars in Korea and Vietnam to contain communism

41. 1975 Political Cartoon = government was hiding too many scandals and information from the public

42. Détente = President Richard Nixon’s policy that eased tensions between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. (Soviet Union)

43. Presidents Jackson, Lincoln, and Wilson = all expanded presidential powers 44. Nuremberg Trials = Nazi and Japanese officials were tried and convicted of war

crimes and crimes against humanity after WWII45. Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) and Korematsu vs. U.S. (1944) = Supreme Court cases

that dealt with specific groups of people (blacks and Japanese Americans) being targeted based on race or ethnicity

46. House of Representatives = house in Congress whose membership is determined by a state’s population

47. Cold War (1945 to 1991) = conflict between U.S. and U.S.S.R. (superpowers) involved conflicts in other nations (Lebanon, Cuba, Korea, Vietnam)

48. Wars in Chronological Order = WWII (1939-1945) -> Korean War (1951-1953) -> Vietnam War (1965-1975) -> War on Terrorism (2001-Present)

49. Current Life Expectancy = exceeds age 80 for both men and women50. Increase in Life Expectancy = due to medical advances between 1940 and 200