Unit 1 Key Terms

Post date: Jan 16, 2012 7:45:44 PM

For this project you must define the terms listed below and explain each term's significance to the unit/era being studied. Your definition should be 2-3 sentences long and may be copied and pasted from a source like Wikipedia, but the significance of the term must be in your own words and based on your own understanding. To fill out a term's significance, ask yourself, "Why is this item included in my study of this unit? Why is this term in a history book?" The answer to this question is your term's significance. 

Unit 1 Key Terms:

Homestead Act of 1862

Pendleton Act                                

Roosevelt Corollary                                

Newlands Reclamation Act

Freedmen's Bureau             

Carpetbaggers                                

Pacific Railroad Act of 1862                    

Morrill Land Grants

13th Amendment                

Indian Removal Act of 1830            

Interstate Commerce Act of 1887          

Spanish-American War

Immigration Act of 1882      

Sherman Antitrust Act                    

Sherman Silver Purchase Act                  

Hay Bunau Varilla Treaty

14th Amendment                

Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882       

Election of 1896                                     

Dawes Act

Below is an example of a key term done with the proper format:

William the Conqueror: William I (c. 1028[2] – 9 September 1087), also known as William the Conqueror (Guillaume le Conquérant), was the first Norman King of England from Christmas 1066 until his death. He was also Duke of Normandy from 3 July 1035 until his death, under the name William II. Before his conquest of England, he was known as William the Bastard because of the illegitimacy of his birth.To press his claim to the English crown, William invaded England in 1066, leading an army of Normans, Bretons, Flemings, and Frenchmen (from Paris andÎle-de-France) to victory over the English forces of King Harold Godwinson at the Battle of Hastings, and suppressed subsequent English revolts in what has become known as the Norman Conquest.[3] (I copied and pasted this definition from Wikipedia)

Significance: William the Conqueror is significant because his conquest of England created the first nation state in Europe. His rearrangement of English feudal territories to give himself dramatically more power than the the barons and nobles around him caused him to be the most powerful monarch in Europe and eventually led to the rise of other nation states over the next few centuries. (These are my words based on my knowledge of English and European history.)