OAE Integrated Social Studies (025) key terms

An 1803 Supreme Court ruling that first declared a federal law unconstitutional, establishing the power of judicial review. It made the judiciary a coequal branch able to check Congress and the president.

The authority of courts to examine laws and government actions and invalidate those that conflict with the Constitution. It is the main tool courts use to limit the other branches.

A constitutional design in which each branch can limit the powers of the others, such as a presidential veto or Senate confirmation of judges. It prevents any single branch from dominating.

The division of national authority among legislative, executive, and judicial branches, each with distinct functions. The framers used it to guard against tyranny and concentrated control.

A system dividing power between a national government and state governments, each with its own authority. The U.S. Constitution assigns some powers exclusively, some concurrently, and reserves the rest to states.

Article VI provision stating that the Constitution, federal laws, and treaties are the supreme law of the land. It settles conflicts between federal and state law in favor of federal authority.

Powers not delegated to the federal government and not prohibited to states, retained by states or the people under the Tenth Amendment. They include policing, education, and local governance.

The first ten amendments to the Constitution, ratified in 1791, protecting freedoms such as speech, religion, and fair trial. They were added to address Anti-Federalist concerns about federal overreach.

The process by which the Supreme Court has applied most Bill of Rights protections to state governments through the Fourteenth Amendment's due process clause, case by case over the twentieth century.

A Reconstruction amendment granting citizenship, guaranteeing due process and equal protection, and protecting voting rights. Courts have used it to apply federal rights against states.

An 1896 Supreme Court decision upholding racial segregation under the doctrine of separate but equal. It legitimized Jim Crow laws until the Court reversed the doctrine in Brown v. Board of Education.

State and local statutes in the South that mandated racial segregation in schools, transportation, and public spaces from the late nineteenth century into the 1960s, disenfranchising Black citizens.

A mid-twentieth-century campaign using litigation, boycotts, sit-ins, and marches to end racial segregation and secure voting rights. It produced the Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act.

A nineteenth-century belief that Americans were destined to expand across the continent, spreading democracy and institutions. It justified westward settlement and wars with Mexico and Native nations.

The 1803 acquisition of a vast territory from France for about fifteen million dollars, doubling U.S. land area. It opened westward expansion and raised constitutional questions about presidential power.

An 1862 law granting 160 acres of public land to settlers who improved and farmed it for five years. It encouraged western migration and shaped agricultural settlement patterns.

A rail line completed in 1869 linking the eastern network to California, cutting travel time and costs. It accelerated western settlement, commerce, and federal involvement in infrastructure.

The shift from handcraft and farm production to factory manufacturing powered by machinery and new energy sources. In the late nineteenth-century U.S. it brought rapid growth alongside labor conflict and urban crowding.

A period around 1890 to 1920 when reformers sought to curb political corruption, regulate business, and improve social conditions through amendments, legislation, and muckraking journalism.

A set of federal programs and reforms launched in the 1930s under Franklin Roosevelt to relieve, recover from, and reform the Great Depression, expanding the federal government's economic role.

A decades-long geopolitical rivalry after World War II between the United States and the Soviet Union, fought through alliances, arms races, proxy wars, and ideological competition rather than direct combat.

A U.S. Cold War strategy of limiting the spread of communism through economic aid, alliances, and military commitments rather than rollback. It shaped policy in Europe and Asia for decades.

A U.S. program from 1948 that provided economic aid to rebuild Western European economies after World War II, aiming to stabilize them against communist influence.

A 1215 English charter limiting royal power and affirming that rulers are subject to law. It became a foundational reference for due process and constitutional government.

An eighteenth-century intellectual movement emphasizing reason, individual rights, and limits on arbitrary authority. Thinkers such as Locke and Montesquieu influenced American constitutional design.

The idea that legitimate government rests on an agreement among people to surrender some freedom in exchange for protection of rights. It underlies declarations of popular sovereignty.

The transition beginning in eighteenth-century Britain from agrarian and craft economies to machine-powered manufacturing. It reshaped labor, cities, class structures, and global trade.

The extension of a nation's power through territorial acquisition or economic and political domination of other peoples. Late nineteenth-century European and American expansion reshaped Africa and Asia.

An ideology identifying a people by shared culture, language, or history and claiming self-rule or superiority. It fueled nineteenth-century unification, independence movements, and major conflicts.

A global conflict from 1914 to 1918 pitting the Allies against the Central Powers, triggered by an assassination and entangled alliances. Its settlement reshaped borders and sowed later conflict.

The 1919 agreement ending World War I, imposing territorial losses, disarmament, and reparations on Germany. Harsh terms and the League of Nations debate shaped the interwar period.

Conditions that drive people away from a place, such as conflict or poverty, and conditions that attract them elsewhere, such as jobs or safety. They explain migration patterns.

The growing share of a population living in cities, driven by rural-to-urban migration and economic change. It creates opportunities alongside housing, sanitation, and infrastructure challenges.

A model describing shifts in birth and death rates as societies industrialize, moving from high to low fertility and mortality. It helps explain population growth and aging.

The spread of ideas, customs, technologies, or languages between societies through trade, migration, or communication. It often produces blended practices rather than simple replacement.

The growing interconnection of economies, cultures, and societies through trade, investment, technology, and migration. It increases exchange and interdependence while creating uneven benefits and tensions.

The principle that a country gains from specializing in goods it produces at lower opportunity cost than trading partners, then trading. It explains mutual benefit even when one country is more efficient at everything.

The interaction of how much sellers offer and how much buyers want at each price. Their intersection sets market price and quantity, and shifts in either curve change both.

The price and quantity at which the amount buyers want equals the amount sellers offer. At this point there is no shortage or surplus and the market tends to rest.

A measure of how much quantity demanded or supplied responds to a change in price or income. Goods with many substitutes tend to have more elastic demand.

Government use of taxation and spending to influence the economy, such as stimulus spending during downturns. It is set by legislatures and executives rather than central banks.

Central bank actions managing money supply and interest rates to pursue price stability and full employment. It is typically controlled by an independent authority such as the Federal Reserve.

A sustained rise in the general price level that reduces the purchasing power of money. Central banks often respond by raising interest rates to cool demand.

The value of the next best alternative given up when making a choice. It underlies trade-offs, specialization, and the principle that all decisions carry a cost.

The condition in which resources are limited relative to unlimited wants. It forces choices and underlies the study of economics and the concept of trade-offs.

An original record created during the period under study, such as a letter, photograph, artifact, or law. It offers direct evidence but reflects the perspective of its creator.

A work that interprets and analyzes primary evidence, such as a textbook, biography, or scholarly article. It synthesizes others' findings and reflects the author's argument.

The political, social, economic, and cultural circumstances surrounding an event or document. Understanding it helps explain why people acted as they did and prevents present-minded judgment.

The perspective, interests, and position from which a source's creator speaks. Identifying it helps readers assess bias, purpose, and reliability.

A slant or preference that shapes how information is selected, framed, or presented. Historians do not simply discard biased sources but analyze how bias affects their claims.

The study of how history has been written, including changing interpretations, methods, and schools of thought. It shows that historical accounts are revised as evidence and questions change.

The practice of comparing multiple sources to check whether details agree and to build a more reliable account. Discrepancies become evidence about perspective and reliability.

A concise claim that states an essay's central argument and previews how it will be supported. In social studies writing it should be arguable, specific, and answer the prompt.

An argumentative structure pairing a debatable assertion with relevant quotations, data, or examples. Effective responses explain how the evidence supports the claim rather than dropping it unexplained.

Analyzing a document by examining its author, date, audience, purpose, and context before using it as evidence. It is a core historical thinking skill for judging reliability.

The principle that laws, not individual officials, govern society and apply equally to all, including rulers. It underpins constitutional government and due process protections.

The idea that political authority comes from the consent of the people. It appears in the Declaration of Independence and in debates over whether territories could decide slavery's status.

Individual protections against government interference, such as freedom of speech and religion. They are distinct from civil rights, which concern equal treatment across groups.