MTTC Social Studies (084) key terms

The study of how history has been written and interpreted over time, including the assumptions, methods, and sources historians use and how interpretations change with new evidence or perspectives.

An original document, artifact, recording, or eyewitness account created during the period under study, used as direct evidence rather than someone's later interpretation of events.

A work that interprets or synthesizes primary evidence, such as a textbook, scholarly monograph, or documentary, produced after the events by someone who usually was not present.

A systematic slant in how evidence is selected, interpreted, or presented, reflecting an author's interests, culture, or purpose; historians evaluate it rather than assume neutrality.

The practice of comparing multiple independent sources to check whether they agree on a fact or interpretation, strengthening or weakening a claim before it is accepted.

Placing a source or event in its political, social, economic, and cultural setting so it can be understood on its own terms rather than judged by present-day assumptions.

The widespread transfer of plants, animals, people, and diseases between the Americas and Afro-Eurasia after 1492, which transformed diets, populations, and economies on both sides.

An 18th-century European intellectual movement that used reason and empirical inquiry to criticize arbitrary authority and to argue for natural rights, toleration, and constitutional government.

The transition from hand production to machine manufacturing and factory systems that began in Britain in the late 1700s and reshaped labor, cities, class relations, and global trade.

An ideology holding that a people sharing language, culture, history, or territory should form a self-governing political community, a force behind both state-building and conflict.

The extension of a state's power over other territories and peoples through conquest, settlement, or economic and political control, often justified by racial or civilizing ideologies.

The postwar process by which colonies in Asia, Africa, and the Caribbean achieved independence, often through nationalist movements, negotiated transfers, or armed struggle, creating many new states.

The prolonged geopolitical rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union and their allies after 1945, waged through arms races, alliances, proxy wars, propaganda, and economic competition.

The first U.S. national constitution, in force from 1781 to 1789, creating a weak confederation with a single-chamber Congress, no federal taxation or executive power, and state sovereignty.

A series of 85 essays by Hamilton, Madison, and Jay arguing for ratification of the Constitution, explaining separation of powers, factions, and federal authority.

A system dividing power between a national government and constituent states or provinces, each with constitutionally protected authority, producing ongoing disputes over jurisdiction.

The division of government authority among legislative, executive, and judicial branches, each with distinct functions, designed to prevent concentration of power.

Constitutional mechanisms allowing each branch to limit the others, such as vetoes, impeachment, Senate confirmation, and judicial review, producing negotiated rather than unilateral action.

The authority of courts to invalidate laws or actions that conflict with the Constitution, established in U.S. practice by Marbury v. Madison in 1803.

The 19th-century belief that U.S. expansion across North America was inevitable and justified, used to support territorial acquisition and often accompanied by racial and cultural assumptions.

The Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments, which abolished slavery, guaranteed citizenship and equal protection, and protected voting rights on the basis of race.

The 1930s programs and reforms of the Roosevelt administration that expanded federal responsibility for relief, recovery, and regulation in response to the Great Depression.

A model describing shifts from high birth and death rates to low ones as societies industrialize, with population growth peaking in the middle stages.

Conditions that drive people away from a place (push) or attract them to another (pull), such as conflict, employment, persecution, or family ties, explaining migration patterns.

The growing share of a population living in cities, driven by rural-to-urban migration and natural increase, which reshapes land use, housing, infrastructure, and politics.

A method for representing the curved surface of the Earth on a flat map, necessarily distorting shape, area, distance, or direction, so the choice depends on purpose.

The spread of ideas, customs, technologies, or languages between societies through migration, trade, conquest, or media, often blending with local practices.

The idea that legitimate government rests on the consent of the governed, who give up some freedom in exchange for protection and order; associated with Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau.

The U.S. body of electors chosen by states that formally selects the president, allocating votes by congressional representation and generally using winner-take-all state rules.

An organized association that seeks to influence public policy on behalf of shared concerns through lobbying, campaign activity, litigation, and public messaging.

The permanent administrative agencies that implement laws and deliver services, characterized by hierarchy, written rules, specialization, and discretion that can shape policy outcomes.

The value of the next-best alternative given up when a choice is made, a core concept for explaining trade-offs in individual and public decisions.

A model showing that, other things equal, quantity supplied rises and quantity demanded falls as price rises, with equilibrium at the intersection and shifts caused by non-price factors.

The market value of final goods and services produced within a country in a given period, used to gauge output and growth but not distribution or unpaid work.

A sustained rise in the general price level that reduces purchasing power, measured by indices such as the consumer price index and influenced by demand, supply shocks, and money growth.

Government use of taxation and spending to influence aggregate demand, employment, and growth, implemented by legislatures and often debated for timing and stabilization effects.

Ongoing checks of student understanding used during instruction to adjust teaching and give feedback, as distinct from summative grading of final learning.

An instructional planning approach that starts with desired learning outcomes and acceptable evidence, then designs activities, aligning assessment with standards before teaching begins.

An approach in which students investigate questions, gather and evaluate evidence, and construct explanations, as in the C3 Framework's inquiry arc for social studies.

An assessment task asking students to analyze a set of provided sources and write an evidence-based argument, scored for use of documents, sourcing, and outside knowledge.