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This act encouraged westward settlement by allowing heads of families to buy 160 acres of land for a small fee. Settlers were required to develop and remain on the land for five years. Over 400,000 families got land through this law.

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Homestead Act

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An attempt to civilize ("Americanize") Indians and make them more little settlers by giving them land to farm; ended up harming Native American culture.

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Dawes Act

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An 1896 Supreme Court decision which legalized state ordered segregation so long as the facilities for blacks and whites were equal; "Separate but Equal".

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Plessy v. Ferguson

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Idea that government should play a small role in economic affairs

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laissez faire

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1890 law banning any trust that restrained interstate trade or commerce

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Sherman Anti-Trust Act

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Union war plan by Winfield Scott, called for blockade of southern coast, capture of Richmond, capture Mississippi River, and to take an army through heart of south during the Civil War.

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Anaconda Plan

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A notion held by a nineteenth-century Americans that the United States was destined to rule the continent, from the Atlantic the Pacific.

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Manifest Destiny

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This divided the South into five military districts that were commanded by Union generals. It ripped the power away from the president to be commander in chief and set up a system of Martial Law.

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Military Reconstruction Act

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A document proclaiming the 13 colonies as the United States of America. Officially declared the colonies independent from England.

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Declaration of Independence

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Territory in western United States purchased from France in 1803 for $15 million; made by Thomas Jefferson and doubled the size of the US.

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Louisiana Purchase