Unit 4 Essential Vocabulary

A document declaring the US to be independent of the British Crown, signed by the congressional representatives of the Thirteen Colonies, including Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and John Adams, and ratified on July 4, 1776.

• Declaration of Independence
• Constitution of Independence
• Emancipation Proclamation
• Bill of Rights

The principle of government under which separate branches are empowered to prevent others from becoming too powerful or to minimize error.

• absolutism

• checks and balances
• division of labor
• centralization of power

The division of a state's government into "branches", each with separate, independent powers and responsibilities.

• separation of powers
• unitary system
• federalism
• checks and balances

An economic system in which private individuals or businesses own capital goods. The production of goods and services is based on supply and demand in the general market rather than through central planning.

• feudalism
• communism
• socialism
• capitalism

A political theory derived from Karl Marx, advocating class war and leading to a society in which all property is publicly owned and each person works and is paid according to their abilities and needs.

• Fascism
• Communism

• Capitalism
• Socialism

The state of one who lacks a usual or socially acceptable amount of money or material possessions.

• poverty
• prosperity
• wealth
• affluence

The presence in or introduction into the environment of a substance or thing that has harmful or poisonous effects.

• hazard
• pollution
• contamination
• toxicity

The process by which large numbers of people become permanently concentrated in relatively small areas.

• migration
• suburbanization
• dispersion
• urbanization

A social and economic change that transforms a human group from an agrarian society into an industrial society.

• Industrialization

• Digital Revolution
• Technological Revolution
• Agricultural Revolution

The rapid development of industry that occurred in the late 18th and 19th centuries, brought about by the introduction of machinery. It was characterized by the use of steam power, the growth of factories, and the mass production of manufactured goods.

• Digital Revolution
• Agricultural Revolution
• Industrial Revolution
• Technological Revolution