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54th Massachusetts Regiment
One of the first African American units in the Union Army during the Civil War, celebrated for its bravery in the 1863 assault on Fort Wagner, which challenged racist doubts about Black soldiers’ courage and capability.
Abolitionism
The political and moral movement dedicated to ending the slave trade and the institution of slavery itself.
Act of Chapultepec (1945)
The Act of Chapultepec was a declaration signed on March 8, 1945, at the Inter-American Conference on Problems of War and Peace in Mexico City. It was an agreement among American nations to undertake joint action to protect the territorial integrity, sovereignty, and independence of any American state from aggression, whether from within or outside the continent
Act of Toleration (1649)
A law passed in the Maryland colony guaranteeing freedom of worship to all Trinitarian Christians (those who believed in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit). It was one of the first legal steps toward religious tolerance in British America, though it excluded non-Christians and was later repealed when Protestants took power.
Activism
Direct and sustained action aimed at promoting or resisting social or political change.
Affirmative Action
Policies designed to increase representation of marginalized groups in education and employment.
Alliance Diplomacy:
Strategic partnerships between Indigenous groups and European powers for trade, protection, or military support.
Amnesty
A government pardon that allows undocumented immigrants to remain legally in the country under certain conditions.
Anaconda Plan
The Union’s military strategy during the Civil War to blockade Southern ports and control the Mississippi River, cutting off Confederate supplies and trade to slowly “squeeze” the South into surrender.
Annexation
The formal addition of a territory into an empire.
Anti-imperialism
Anti-imperialism is a political stance opposing imperialism, which is the policy of extending a country's power and influence through colonization, military force, or economic domination.
Armistice
A formal agreement between warring parties to stop fighting, often to create a temporary truce while a peace treaty is negotiated.
Article 3 (1917)
Constitutional article mandating free, secular, and compulsory education as a foundation of post-revolutionary nation-building.
Asiento System
A royal contract granted by Spain that allowed foreign merchants, especially from Portugal and Britain, to supply enslaved Africans to Spanish colonies in return for taxes and fees.
Assimilation
Policy expecting migrants or minorities to adopt majority culture.
Assimilation
the process of absorbing a minority group into the dominant culture, often by erasing its language and traditions.
Authoritarianism
Authoritarianism is a political system characterized by the consolidation of power in a single leader or small group, limited political pluralism, repression of dissent, and little to no accountability to the public.
Autonomy
Ability of regions or communities to manage their own affairs.
Barter economy
System of trade without money, based on direct exchange.
Big Stick Diplomacy
President Theodore Roosevelt’s foreign policy approach advocating peaceful negotiation backed by the threat of military strength—summed up by the phrase “speak softly and carry a big stick.”
Bipartisanship
Cooperation and agreement between opposing political parties to achieve policy goals.
Black Codes
Laws passed by Southern states after the Civil War to restrict the freedom and labor rights of African Americans, especially their labour choices, movement, and legal rights.
Black nationalism
a movement advocating pride, self-determination, and independence for African Americans.
Bleeding Kansas (1854–1856)
A period of violent conflict between pro-slavery and anti-slavery settlers in the Kansas Territory following the Kansas–Nebraska Act, symbolizing the growing sectional crisis before the Civil War.