US History: Beginner (50 Cards)

Cards in this deck

#1

Q:Who were the first English settlers at Jamestown (1607)?

A:The Virginia Company settlers; Jamestown was England’s first permanent colony in North America.

#2

Q:What was the Mayflower Compact?

A:A 1620 agreement by Pilgrims to self-govern; early example of majority-rule covenant.

#3

Q:What was the Great Awakening (1730s–1740s)?

A:Religious revivals that emphasized personal faith and helped spread ideas of equality and debate.

#4

Q:Name one cause of the American Revolution.

A:Examples: “taxation without representation,” British limits on westward expansion, or Enlightenment ideas.

#5

Q:What did the Declaration of Independence (1776) argue?

A:That people have natural rights and governments need the consent of the governed to rule.

#6

Q:What was the main weakness of the Articles of Confederation?

A:A weak national government: no power to tax or regulate interstate trade effectively.

#7

Q:Why was the Constitution written in 1787?

A:To create a stronger federal government while balancing power among states and citizens.

#8

Q:What is federalism?

A:Sharing power between national and state governments. Mnemonic: “Fed + States = Federalism.”

#9

Q:What is the Bill of Rights?

A:The first 10 amendments (1791) protecting individual liberties like speech, religion, and due process.

#10

Q:What are the three branches of U.S. government?

A:Legislative (makes laws), Executive (enforces), Judicial (interprets).

#11

Q:What is checks and balances?

A:Each branch can limit the others to prevent tyranny.

#12

Q:Who was George Washington in U.S. history?

A:Revolutionary War leader and the first U.S. president; set precedents like the two-term tradition.

#13

Q:What was the Louisiana Purchase (1803)?

A:The U.S. bought land from France, doubling its size; helped fuel westward expansion.

#14

Q:What does “Manifest Destiny” mean?

A:Belief that the U.S. should expand across the continent (a powerful 1800s idea, often used to justify conquest).

#15

Q:What was the Trail of Tears?

A:Forced removal of many Cherokee and other Native peoples to Indian Territory in the 1830s; many died.

#16

Q:What was the Monroe Doctrine (1823)?

A:U.S. warned European powers against new colonization in the Americas.

#17

Q:What was the abolitionist movement?

A:A movement to end slavery; activists used speeches, writings, and politics to push emancipation.

#18

Q:What was the Underground Railroad?

A:A network that helped enslaved people escape to free states/Canada (not a real railroad).

#19

Q:What triggered the Civil War (1861–1865)?

A:Secession over slavery and states’ rights; Lincoln’s election accelerated southern secession.

#20

Q:What did the Emancipation Proclamation do?

A:Declared freedom for enslaved people in rebellious Confederate states (a war measure, 1863).

#21

Q:What did the 13th Amendment do?

A:Abolished slavery in the United States (1865).

#22

Q:What did the 14th Amendment do?

A:Defined citizenship and required equal protection under the law (1868).

#23

Q:What did the 15th Amendment do?

A:Prohibited denying voting rights based on race (1870).

#24

Q:What was Reconstruction?

A:The post–Civil War effort to rebuild the South and define freedom and citizenship.

#25

Q:What were Jim Crow laws?

A:State/local laws enforcing segregation and racial discrimination after Reconstruction.

#26

Q:What was the Gilded Age?

A:Late 1800s era of rapid industrial growth and huge inequality; “gilded” means shiny outside, rough inside.

#27

Q:What is an “immigrant push/pull” factor?

A:Push = reasons to leave home; Pull = reasons to come (jobs, safety, land).

#28

Q:What was Ellis Island?

A:Major immigration processing station in New York Harbor (1892–1954).

#29

Q:What was the Progressive Era?

A:Reforms (1890s–1920s) addressing industrial problems: corruption, labor conditions, monopolies.

#30

Q:What was the 19th Amendment?

A:Granted women the right to vote nationally (1920).

#31

Q:What was Prohibition?

A:The 18th Amendment era banning alcohol (1920–1933); repealed by the 21st.

#32

Q:What was the Great Depression?

A:Severe economic collapse starting in 1929: mass unemployment, bank failures, and hardship.

#33

Q:What was the New Deal?

A:FDR’s programs to provide relief, recovery, and reform during the Great Depression.

#34

Q:What was Pearl Harbor?

A:A 1941 Japanese attack that led the U.S. to enter World War II.

#35

Q:What was the Holocaust?

A:Nazi genocide that murdered six million Jews and millions of others during World War II.

#36

Q:What was the Cold War?

A:Rivalry between the U.S. and Soviet Union (c. 1947–1991) without direct superpower war.

#37

Q:What is “containment”?

A:Cold War policy to limit the spread of communism.

#38

Q:What was the Marshall Plan?

A:U.S. aid to rebuild Western Europe after WWII; also aimed to block communism.

#39

Q:What was Brown v. Board of Education (1954)?

A:Supreme Court case declaring school segregation unconstitutional.

#40

Q:What was the Montgomery Bus Boycott?

A:1955–56 protest against bus segregation; helped launch Martin Luther King Jr. nationally.

#41

Q:What did the Civil Rights Act of 1964 do?

A:Banned segregation in public places and job discrimination based on race, sex, religion, etc.

#42

Q:What did the Voting Rights Act of 1965 do?

A:Protected voting access by banning literacy tests and enabling federal oversight.

#43

Q:What was the Vietnam War issue that divided Americans?

A:Debates over containment, the draft, casualties, and credibility (a major protest era).

#44

Q:What was Watergate?

A:A political scandal leading to President Nixon’s resignation in 1974.

#45

Q:What is the “Sun Belt” in U.S. history?

A:Growing southern and western states; population and political power shifted there after WWII.

#46

Q:What does “judicial review” mean?

A:Courts can strike down laws that violate the Constitution (established in Marbury v. Madison).

#47

Q:What is the “melting pot” idea?

A:A metaphor for blending cultures into one national identity (often debated; not everyone “melts”).

#48

Q:What is the purpose of the Constitution’s preamble phrase “We the People”?

A:It signals that government power comes from the people, not a king or a single state.

#49

Q:What did the Treaty of Paris (1783) do?

A:Ended the American Revolution and recognized U.S. independence; set borders to the Mississippi River.

#50

Q:Why was the Interstate Highway System built (1950s)?

A:To connect the nation for defense and commerce; it reshaped suburbs, cities, and travel.