MTLE Social Studies (5-12) flashcards

32 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.

Primary source

A document, artifact, or account created by a participant or witness at the time under study, offering direct evidence but reflecting that person's perspective and purpose.

Sourcing a document

Before relying on a source, identify its author, date, audience, purpose, and intended message; these details shape what the source can reliably show.

Corroboration

Comparing multiple independent sources to check agreement; consistent details across sources strengthen a claim, while disagreements require explanation rather than dismissal.

Contextualization

Placing a source or event in its historical setting-time, place, political climate, and culture-so its meaning is not judged by present-day assumptions.

Continuity and change over time

A historical reasoning skill that traces what stayed the same and what shifted across a period, identifying turning points and explaining causes of change.

Marbury v. Madison (1803)

Established judicial review, the power of federal courts to strike down laws that violate the Constitution; Chief Justice John Marshall wrote the opinion.

Reconstruction Amendments

The Thirteenth (1865) abolished slavery, the Fourteenth (1868) guaranteed citizenship and equal protection, and the Fifteenth (1870) protected voting rights by race.

Bill of Rights (1791)

The first ten amendments to the Constitution, listing individual liberties such as speech, religion, due process, and protections for the accused against federal power.

New Deal (1933–1939)

Franklin Roosevelt's response to the Great Depression: bank reform, public works, Social Security, and labor protections that expanded federal responsibility for the economy.

Civil Rights Act of 1964

Federal law banning discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin in public accommodations and employment, and enabling desegregation enforcement.

McCulloch v. Maryland (1819)

Upheld the Second Bank and implied federal powers through the necessary and proper clause; also held that states cannot tax federal instrumentalities.

Neolithic Revolution

The shift from foraging to settled agriculture beginning around 10,000 BCE, producing surplus food, permanent villages, specialization, and eventually states.

Columbian Exchange

The transatlantic transfer of plants, animals, people, and diseases after 1492, transforming diets and populations and spreading epidemics in the Americas.

Silk Roads

Overland trade networks linking China, Central Asia, India, and the Mediterranean; goods traveled alongside religions, technologies, and disease.

Industrial Revolution

Beginning in late eighteenth-century Britain, mechanization of textile and other production moved work into factories, accelerating urbanization and global economic change.

Decolonization

The post-1945 dismantling of European empires in Asia and Africa, driven by nationalist movements, weakened colonial powers, and Cold War pressures.

Protestant Reformation

Martin Luther's 1517 challenge to indulgences sparked reform movements that split Western Christianity and reshaped European politics and literacy.

Five themes of geography

Location, place, human–environment interaction, movement, and region: a framework for organizing geographic inquiry into where things are and why.

Mercator projection

A map projection preserving direction and shape, useful for navigation, but exaggerating the size of high-latitude landmasses such as Greenland.

Push and pull factors

Conditions that drive people from a place (push), such as conflict or unemployment, versus those attracting them (pull), such as jobs or safety.

Demographic transition model

A model tracing population change through stages from high birth and death rates to low ones, with rapid growth in the middle stages.

Latitude and longitude

Coordinate lines measuring distance north or south of the equator (latitude) and east or west of the prime meridian (longitude) to locate places precisely.

Checks and balances

Constitutional powers letting each branch limit the others-veto, impeachment, judicial review-preventing any single branch from dominating the federal government.

Federalism

Division of power between national and state governments, with enumerated federal powers, reserved state powers, and concurrent powers shared by both levels.

Electoral College

The body of electors that formally chooses the president; a candidate needs 270 of 538 electoral votes, allocated to states largely by population.

Judicial review

The courts' power to declare legislative or executive actions unconstitutional, established by Marbury v. Madison and central to constitutional government.

Amendment process

Article V requires two-thirds of Congress or a convention to propose amendments, and three-fourths of state legislatures or conventions to ratify them.

Opportunity cost

The value of the next-best alternative given up when choosing an option; it is the real cost of any decision involving scarce resources.

Law of demand

All else equal, quantity demanded falls as price rises and rises as price falls, producing a downward-sloping demand curve.

Open market operations

The Fed's buying and selling of government securities to change bank reserves and influence the federal funds rate and the money supply.

Gross domestic product

The market value of all final goods and services produced within a country's borders in a given period, used to measure economic output.

Comparative advantage

A country gains from trade by specializing in goods for which its opportunity cost is lower than trading partners', even if it is less productive overall.