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Abolitionists – people who worked to do away with or abolish slavery.
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Alien and Sedition Acts - France had been an ally of the Americans in their Revolution – a relationship that is commemorated by the Statue of Liberty.
France
had its own revolution in 1789, which took it in an increasingly radical direction through the 1790s and engulfed
Europe
in war. Against this background, the Federalist Party under John Adams passed four different laws that became known as the "Alien and Sedition Acts" :
- An "Alien Enemies Act" giving the president the power to detain or deport any alien (non citizen) from a nation with whom the
US
was at war.
- An "Alien Friends Act" giving the president the power to deport any non citizen he thought might be dangerous, even in times of peace.
- A "Naturalization Act" which raised from 5 to 14 years the period of time an alien had to live in the
United States
before becoming a citizen.
- A "Sedition Act" making it a crime to publish "false, scandalous or malicious" statements against the government or one of its officials.
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American Civil Liberties
Union
- the ACLU was founded in 1920 by Roger Baldwin with the help of prominent figures such as Helen Keller and Jane Addams. Its mission is to defend the Bill of Rights and to make real Bill of Rights protections for everyone in the country. The ACLU has participated directly or indirectly in almost every major civil liberties case contested in American courts over the last 85 years. It has been in the forefront of the struggle for civil rights, women's rights, the rights of gays and lesbians, and the rights of students. In addition to taking cases to court, it educates the public about individual freedoms and works against the passage of laws that undermine rights. Today, the ACLU is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, 500,000-member strong organization with national offices in
New York City
and
Washington
DC
, and affiliates in every state. >> Visit its national website and ACLU of Massachusetts' website
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Anarchism - The doctrine that all forms of government are oppressive and undesirable and should be abolished.
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Anarchists – people who resist authority, and want to overthrow organized government.
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Articles of Confederation - after the Declaration of Independence threw off British rule, the thirteen colonies had no government binding them together. The Second Continental Congress then elected a 12-man committee to draft one. This committee wrote the Articles of Confederation which were presented to the Continental Congress in 1777 and ratified in the following year by the states (with the exception of
Maryland
which did not ratify them until 1781). The government created by the Articles enabled the states to work together, but it did not create a single nation. There was no executive branch, and the states could simply ignore whatever laws were passed by the Congress which they did not like. Congress (which was the Second Continental Congress until 1781 and the Confederation Congress after that) could only ask – not force – the states to send troops and funds to fight the Revolutionary War. >> Read the Articles of Confederation and see how they compare to the US Constitution.
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Black Codes - passed by various Southern states when Andrew Johnson was president were an indication that freedom would not be easy to achieve. The Mississippi Black Code of 1865 was entitled "An Act to Confer Civil Rights on Freedmen" – but the rights of people who were at least one-eighth African American were limited to certain restricted property rights, the right to sue and be sued, and the right to enter into contracts. Intermarriage with a white person was a felony. The law controlled how freedmen spent their time and ensured that they could be made to work as agricultural laborers. "Vagrants," who could not afford to pay a $50 fine, would be made to work for whoever paid the fine for him or her. Other Southern states passed similar legislation. The Codes were suspended in 1866 by federal officials who were pushing for a real Reconstruction in the South. But they would make a comeback as Jim Crow segregation took hold around the region. >> Learn more
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Blacklisted – being put on a list of people and organizations that are under suspicion and are to be penalized in some way.
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Black Panther Party - the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee tried to use the new Voting Rights Act to bring democracy and Black political power to
Lowndes County
,
Alabama
, through which the Selma-Montgomery march had passed. They set up an independent party, the Lowndes County Freedom Organization, using a Black Panther as its symbol. The Black Panther symbol was soon adopted by the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense in
Oakland
,
California
. It was officially launched in October, 1966 by Huey Newton and Bobby Seale. Grounded in the principles of Black Nationalism, its Ten-Point Program demanded "Land, Bread, Housing, Education, Clothing, Justice and Peace." It also called for African Americans to be exempt from military service so they would not be forced to kill other people of color in
America
's wars. The Black Panther Party was subjected to intense government repression and disintegrated in the early 1970s. >> Learn more
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Blighted – harmed, failure to thrive or progress.
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Censorship of the Press - in the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries, Europeans could face torture or even execution for publishing something in a book or newspaper. They put themselves in grave danger when they criticized the king, the government or the church. The charge of "seditious libel" for speaking or writing negative things about the government was considered treason and carried a death sentence. In the 18th century, the writer could still be punished, but not so severely. In addition to instilling fear in writers and publishers, the government used various other methods to prevent expression it didn't like. Government licenses were required to have a printing press or sell books. There were also laws requiring material be approved before it was published – this is known as "prior review." Over time, prior review was abandoned, but publishers and writers still faced the danger of being punished for things they had printed or written. >> Learn more
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Checks and Balances and Separation of Powers - the Framers of the US Constitution had learned from their colonial experience that the best way to prevent power from becoming centralized in a few hands, was to devise a system under which the same officials would not be able to make laws, carry them out, and judge their meaning. The
US
constitutional system is based on the notion that the three different branches of government each do different things and have different responsibilities, although their powers also overlap. The legislative branch (Congress) has the power to make laws. The executive branch has the power to administer and enforce those laws. With the development of the notion of "judicial review" by the Supreme Court under Chief Justice John Marshal, the courts got the power to interpret the Constitution and decide whether or not a particular law or executive action was "constitutional."
The branches of government "check" each other so no one branch has so much power that it can totally dominate the others. The president "checks" the legislature by vetoing a law it passes. The Supreme Court checks the other two branches by declaring actions to be invalid. There are also "checks" within a single branch. In the legislature, for instance, the House of Representatives and Senate in Congress can check each other when they think differently about a particular piece of legislation. The whole system is supposed to be "balanced" through the distribution of power and way the branches work together. >> Learn more and more
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Chinese Exclusion Act - Congress reacted to the rising tide of anti-Chinese racism by passing the first law to significantly restrict immigration in 1882. The Chinese Exclusion Act barred the entry of Chinese immigrants for ten years on the grounds that "the coming of Chinese laborers to this country endangers the good order of certain localities." In 1892 the Act was extended for another ten years and made permanent by the Extension Act of 1904. In 1943, with
China
an ally of the
U.S.
during World War II, Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Repeal Act. It permitted a small number of Chinese immigrants to enter the country each year. >> Learn more
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Church Committee – in 1975 the "US Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities" was set up under the leadership of Senator Frank Church to investigate what intelligence agencies were doing. It published 14 reports documenting spying on Americans by the FBI, the CIA, the Army, and the National Security Agency and the "dirty tricks" practiced abroad, including assassination of foreign leaders. >> View the Church Committee report on how Americans were spied on.
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Civil disobedience – a form of protest in which protestors deliberately violate laws they believe to be unjust in order to bring about social change in a non-violent way.
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COINTELPRO – the FBI's secret Counter Intelligence Program which lasted from 1956-1971, and was designed to suppress political dissent in the
United States
. Under the leadership of FBI head J. Edgar Hoover, COINTELPRO encouraged FBI agents to "expose, disrupt, misdirect, discredit, or otherwise neutralize" the activities of these dissident movements and their leaders. >> Learn more
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Cold War - a state of political tension and military rivalry between the United States and the former Soviet Union and their allies, that stopped short of full-scale war. It lasted from 1946 to 1989. >> Learn more
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Color blind – not taking race or "color" into account when making decisions about individuals or groups.
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Communist – advocating a system in which property is held in common.
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Communism - a social and economic order in which property and the means of production are owned in common and each member of society works according to his capacity and is paid according to his needs. This kind of Communism was never achieved in practice. Instead, in systems that called themselves “Communist,” the state planned and controlled the economy and (in theory) worked to achieve a higher social order in which all goods were owned and equally shared by the people. >> Learn more
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Concentration camps – large detention centers within which specific groups of people are forced to live, often during wartime. The term was first used to describe the camps set up by the British in
South Africa
during the second Boer War at the end of the 19th century. The Nazi concentration camps of World War II were centers of mistreatment, slave labor and extermination. >> Learn more
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Congress of Racial Equality - CORE was formed by an interracial group of
Chicago
students who were influenced by the teachings of Henry David Thoreau and Mahatma Gandhi. They wanted to fight segregation with forms of nonviolent direct action. In 1947 they organized an interracial "Journey of Reconciliation" through four Southern states to test whether a Supreme Court ruling striking down segregation in interstate travel was being observed. They faced arrests and violence. In 1961 they joined with SNCC to organize the Freedom Rides through the South, which they saw as a test of President Kennedy's commitment to civil rights. Again, they were met with extreme violence, including the bombing of one of their buses. CORE also established Freedom Schools in
Mississippi
towns to teach Black history and empowerment and took part in major civil rights marches and demonstrations. >> Learn more
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Constraints – the condition of being restricted, confined or limited in some way.
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Data Mining – using powerful computers to search through massive volumes of data in order to detect patterns or other relevant information. Commercial companies pioneered these techniques which are now being used by the government as part of the "war on terror," causing widespread privacy concerns. >> Learn more
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Democracy – a form of government in which sovereign power resides with the people, who exercise it either directly or through their elected representatives.
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Detainees – people who are being held in custody or confinement, and who have not been sentenced in court to terms of imprisonment.
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Dictatorship - absolute rule by a leader, who is unrestricted by law, constitutions, or other social and political factors within the state.
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Discrimination - the act of treating individuals or one particular group less favorably than others, often through laws and social policies which apply only to them.
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Disenfranchised – being deprived of rights of membership or citizenship, such as the vote (franchise).
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Due Process of Law - we can trace the concept of due process of law back to the Magna Carta in 1215. In 1354, the term was first used by the English Parliament, when it barred the government from imprisoning anyone "without being brought in answer by due process of law." In the US Constitution, there are two "due process" clauses – one in the Fifth Amendment, that applies to the actions of the federal government; and one in the Fourteenth Amendment, that applies to the states. There are also two kinds of "due process." Procedural due process concerns the processes or procedures that will be used to ensure fair treatment, such as the right to a fair trial, with an impartial jury, etc. Substantive due process defines what are the basic or substantive rights that everyone must have. Beginning in the 1960s, the US Supreme Court used the Fourteenth Amendment's due process clause to "incorporate" substantive rights – fundamental parts of the Bill of Rights that were seen to be essential for everyone – and apply them to the states. >> Learn more
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Enclaves – parts of a country or area lying within a larger unit or broader geographical boundaries.
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Enfranchised - endowed with the rights of membership of a particular group or citizenship of a state, especially the right to vote.
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The Enlightenment – was an eighteenth century intellectual movement associated with the belief that through the use of reason human beings can build a better world. Enlightenment philosophers and writers questioned old ways of thinking about authority, attacked superstition, and criticized aspects of religion. They stressed common sense and rationality.
France
– the home of Voltaire and Rousseau - was the center of the Enlightenment in Europe. The French "philosophes" challenged the old order with their radical ideas about society, and helped bring about the French Revolution of 1789.
England
had its own Enlightenment thinkers who were very influential in the American colonies. Foremost among them was John Locke, who maintained that society was a contract which individuals entered into, and that government only gains legitimacy through the consent of the governed. In his view, the purpose of laws was not to restrain people, but to enlarge their freedom. His ideas guided the Founders as they created the American Republican and drafted the Constitution. >> Learn more
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Evacuation – removal; sending away or vacating.
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Exclusionary rule – the rule which draws upon the Fourth Amendment to ensure that evidence that is presented in court has been lawfully obtained. If it has been obtained unlawfully, it may be excluded from court.
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Executive Order - a decree issued by a member of the executive branch of a government.
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Extravagant – unreasonably high or abundant, beyond reasonable limits.
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Federal Bureau of Investigation – the FBI is the criminal and intelligence investigative arm of the US Department of Justice. It began its life in 1908 as the Bureau of Investigation. The name was changed in 1935. J. Edgar Hoover, its first director, remained in that position for 48 years. Under his tenure the FBI hunted down major criminal figures in the 1930s and then turned its attention to domestic surveillance and the suppression of political dissent. As part of its COINTELPRO operation, the FBI even kept Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. under surveillance, made tapes of his hotel stays, and suggested he commit suicide to avoid disgrace. >> Learn more
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Federalists and Anti-Federalists - the Federalists were the supporters of a strong national government who wanted to ratify the Constitution without the addition of a Bill of Rights. Their arguments were put forward in a series of articles written in 1787-8 by James Madison (who later changed some of his views and drafted the Bill of Rights), Alexander Hamilton and John Jay. Anti-Federalists feared a strong national government that did not explicitly protect the rights of the people. In the 1790s Anti-Federalists became part of Thomas Jefferson's Democratic-Republican Party. >> Learn more
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The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) of 1978 - passed by Congress after the Church and Pike Commissions revealed the extent of spying on Americans by the FBI, the CIA, the Army and NSA during the 1950's, 60's and early 70's. It states that the government cannot spy on Americans or legal permanent residents in the
United States
without obtaining a warrant from the secret FISA court composed of 11 federal judges. From the time the FISA court was set up in 1979, it had reportedly rejected only four of 19,000 or more requests for warrants to carry out electronic surveillance and physical searches. Its proceedings were shrouded in secrecy, but critics accused it of being a rubber stamp for the government .The Act permits warrantless domestic electronic surveillance in wartime only for the first fifteen days of the war. It allows the executive branch to install domestic wiretaps without first approaching the court, but it must get a court order within 72 hours. It makes it a crime to carry out electronic surveillance not authorized by the statute. Conviction for violating this federal law is punishable by a fine of up to $10,000, or imprisonment for not more than 5 years, or both. >> Learn more
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Free Soil Party - the issue of slavery split apart the Democratic Party in the 1840s. In 1848, those who opposed the extension of slavery into the territory acquired from
Mexico
formed the Free Soil Party. It argued that a system of "free men" working on "free soil" was superior to the slave system. The Free Soil Party pushed for a homestead system, which would make land available to farmers. Although it was one of the most successful third parties in
US
history, it did not get its candidates elected, and was absorbed into the Republican Party in 1856. >> Learn more
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Fugitive Slave Law - the Act was part of the Compromise of 1850, in which Congress tried to balance the interests of pro and anti-slavery forces. The opponents of slavery got the admission of
California
to the
United States
as a
free state
, and the banning of the slave trade in the nation's capital,
Washington
DC
. At the time,
Washington
had the largest slave market in the
US
. The supporters of slavery got a new Fugitive Slave law, which made it the duty of all citizens to apprehend any suspected runaway slaves. People were fined up to $1,000 – a huge sum at the time – for aiding a suspected runaway, and could also face six months in jail. Any federal marshal who failed to arrest an alleged runaway could be fined $1,000, while those who did carry out arrests could get bounties. Suspected runaways could not have a jury trial in court. Instead, special commissioners would decide whether they really were the property of a claimant. The commissioners would get larger fees if the claim was successful.
The Fugitive Slave law meant that Black freemen could be taken into slavery at any time. Up to 20,000 immediately moved to
Canada
.
Canada
also became the favorite destination for the "Underground Railroad" – the network of committed individuals and safe houses sheltering runaways and helping them reach safety. There is little sign that people were intimidated by the penalties they would face if caught helping runaway slaves. Instead, the Railroad reached its peak in the decade after the law's passage. >> Learn more
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House Un-American Activities Committee – a committee of the US House of Representatives which during the years 1938-1975 held hearings into the loyalty of individuals and organizations. Rep. Richard Nixon, who later became president of the
United States
, was one of its members. The committee led the investigation into
Hollywood
screenwriters who were blacklisted as the "Hollywood Ten." >> Learn more
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Immunities – special rights or exemptions from penalties held by individuals because of their status (for example, as citizens of a nation).
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Incommunicado – prevented from communicating with other people.
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Incorporation – the process of merging one thing with something else to make one united whole. The US Supreme Court used the word to explain the process by which it used the 14th Amendment to extend the protections of the Bill of Rights to the states.
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Indecent – offensive to good taste or prevailing moral values.
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Indentured servant - a person who is contracted to work for another person or corporation for a specified time, often in exchange for food, lodging, learning a trade or transport to a new country. During the time of servitude (4-7 years in the case of
North America
), servants in many places were considered the property of their masters.
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Inherent authority – powers over and beyond those explicitly granted in the Constitution.
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Internal Security Act of 1950 - also known as the McCarran Act, it was vetoed by President Truman on the grounds that it would "make a mockery of our Bill of Rights" and "actually weaken our internal security measures." But Congress overrode his veto by a stunning 89 percent majority. The Act ordered all members of the Communist Party and "Communist front" organizations to register as such. Since the Act also stated that Communists had repudiated their allegiance to the
United States
, registration made them legally traitors. Members of registered groups could not become citizens and members who were naturalized citizens could be stripped of their citizenship. After the Supreme Court struck down registration in its 1965 ruling in Albertson v. Subversive Activities Control Board, Congress began to repeal portions of the Act. >> Learn more
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Internment - being confined, especially in wartime.
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Interrelated – joined together or related in some way.
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Intrusive – violating another's privacy, or forcing something upon another person in an unwelcome way.
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Jim Crow segregation - a “white supremacy” system of separation of the races in the US South through laws and rules requiring Black and white people to use separate facilities, public accommodations, public schools, and transportation, and which reserved certain jobs for whites only while disenfranchising Black people. The term “Jim Crow” originated around 1830 in a minstrel show dance that ridiculed African Americans. >> Learn more
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Judicial Review - the power of a court to review a law or an official act of a government agent for constitutionality or for the violation of basic principles of justice.
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Know-Nothing Party - emerged in 1854 out of a group called the Order of the Star-Spangled Banner. Its official name was the American Party. It wanted to exclude Roman Catholics and foreigners from public office, and make foreigners wait 21 years (instead of 5) to become naturalized citizens. As well as capturing the political establishment in
Massachusetts
, the Know-Nothings had strong support in
Pennsylvania
,
Delaware
,
New Hampshire
,
Connecticut
and
New York
for its call to limit immigration and foreign influences in the county. It broke apart over the issue of slavery. In
Massachusetts
, the Know-Nothings were strongly opposed to slavery, but in the South they supported it. By the late 1850s Northern Know-Nothings helped form the Republican Party, which became the party of Abraham Lincoln. >> Learn more
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Ku Klux Klan - formed in
Pulaski
,
Tennessee
in 1866 and spread rapidly after that. It held its first national meeting in
Nashville
in April 1867. Its first "Grand Wizard" was the Confederate general Nathan Bedford Forrest. The chief targets of the Klan in this period were Black people who were seeking to exercise their right of assembly, or to educate and be educated. Schools were burned and teachers beaten around the South. The Klan also targeted those freedmen trying to get access to land of their own and a measure of economic independence, and their white supporters. The Klan was hurt when President Ulysses Grant used the newly passed Civil Rights Act of 1871 (also called the Ku Klux Klan Act) to take action against it. But it made a resounding comeback in 1915, thanks to the film by D.W. Griffith, Birth of a Nation. In this period the Klan aimed to further the cause of "white supremacy, pure Americanism, pure womanhood, the Constitution, destroying foreign agitation, and limiting immigration." It also was hostile to Jews, Roman Catholics, communists and socialists. It made yet another comeback during the years of the Civil Rights Movement, when it was responsible for the killing of several civil rights leaders. In 1981, Klansmen lynched 19-year-old Michael Donald. His mother, Beulah Mae Donald, with the help of the Southern Poverty Law Center, brought a civil suit against the organization and won a $7 million settlement from an all-white jury. As a result, the Klan lost its assets, including its national headquarters. The current incarnation of the Klan, the "Imperial Klans of America," describes itself as "a Fraternal, Patriotic, Nationalist and Racialist Organization that seeks not only survival, but the propagation of our race" and claims to be "in a race war" against "the inferior races" and "illegal immigrants." >> Learn more
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Laissez-faire - a French phrase meaning to “leave alone.” It is generally refers to a doctrine opposing economic intervention by the state beyond what is necessary to keep peace.
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Lewd – preoccupied with sex.
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Lynch law – a system of vigilante justice where people were punished without due process of law. The term took its name from Captain William Lynch, who in late 18th century
Virginia
organized to punish suspected criminals without taking them to court.
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Manifest Destiny - on December 27, 1845 John O'Sullivan, a journalist and strong supporter of President Andrew Jackson, wrote in the New York Morning News that it was "the fulfillment of our manifest destiny to overspread the continent allotted by Providence for the free development of our yearly multiplying millions." His article was very influential. It fed the notion that Americans were a special people, whose God-given destiny was to carry civilization, democracy and freedom from sea to sea, even if that meant pushing other people off their land. >> Learn more
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Manipulated – handled, influenced or falsified in order to obtain a particular end.
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Missouri
Compromise - in 1818, the population living in the
Missouri
Territory
was large enough to qualify it to become a state. But would it enter as a slave or a
free state
? Congress was bitterly divided on the matter until a Compromise was passed in 1820 that permitted
Missouri
to enter as a slave state, while
Maine
(previously the northern part of
Massachusetts
) entered as a
free state
. Therefore, the balance between slave and
free states
remained at 12-12. The Compromise drew a line at 36 degrees, 30 minutes north latitude across the territory of the
Louisiana Purchase
. Any states created north of that line would be free; south of that line slavery would be permitted. The Compromise also included a fugitive slave provision, requiring runaway slaves who succeeded in reaching free territory to be captured and returned to their masters. The Missouri Compromise was ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in the 1857 Dred Scott decision. The court said that Congress did not have the power to block slavery from any territory in the country. >> Learn more
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National Association for the Advancement of Colored People - the NAACP was formed in 1909 by a group of African-American and white social activists, including Ida Wells-Barnett and W.E.B. DuBois. Its goal is to make real for all people the rights and protections of the Thirteenth, Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments. It has pushed for an end to segregation, and its Legal Defense and Educational Fund has won significant court victories in the struggle for civil rights. With its headquarters in
Baltimore
, it has branches around the country and 500,000 members. >> Visit the website
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National Lawyers Guild - formed in 1937 as the nation's first racially-integrated bar association. Its mission was to serve people, not property interests, and to work for social and economic justice. During the second Red Scare, Guild lawyers represented many victims of the anti-communist hysteria, including members of the Hollywood Ten. The Justice Department later admitted that charges that it was a "subversive organization" were baseless. Today, the National Lawyers Guild has a national office in
New York
and many local chapters. >> Visit the website
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National Security Agency - created in 1952 as part of the Department of Defense, the top secret NSA is the government's largest intelligence agency which carries out eavesdropping around the world. Through its ECHELON system, it monitors the world's telephone, fax and data traffic. Its ability to carry out warrantless spying on Americans within the
US
was curbed by the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. However, after the attacks of September 11, 2001 President Bush permitted such surveillance to take place, in violation of the Act's provisions. A
Hollywood
version of the NSA is featured in the film "Enemy of the State." >> Learn more
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National Security Letters – NSLs are documents issued by the FBI without any court oversight, that are used to obtain financial, Internet and other records as part of a "national security" investigation. The recipient of a National Security Letter faces prosecution if he or she tells anyone about getting such a letter. The use of NSLs was broadened by Section 505 of the USA PATRIOT Act. According to an article in the November 6, 2005 Washington Post, about 30,000 of these documents have been issued every year since 2001. The information obtained through the NSLs has been stored in huge government databases where it can be used for data mining purposes. >> Learn more
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National Urban League - in the early years of the 20th century, there was a massive migration of African Americans from the South to the North. The National Urban League was formed to help African Americans fight the discrimination they encountered in Northern cities, and also to struggle for equal education, housing and employment. >> Visit the website
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Nazis - members of the National Socialist German Workers' Party, founded in
Germany
in 1919 and brought to power in 1933 under Adolf Hitler. Nazism as an ideology was racist, anti-Semitic, anti-communist, homophobic, militaristic and nationalistic. It was a type of fascism, which subordinated the individual to the all-powerful State. >> Learn more
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Offensive – causing anger or resentment.
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Oppression – the act of being kept down by unjust use of power or authority.
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Pedagogical – relating to teaching, or school.
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Persistent – holding firmly to a particular purpose.
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Pervasive – to permeate or penetrate thoroughly.
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Pledge of Allegiance – written by Francis Bellamy, a Baptist minister and Socialist. It was first published in the Boston-based publication, The Youth's Companion, in September 1892 to mark the 400th anniversary of
Columbus
' arrival in the
New World
. It originally read: "I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all." Changes were made over the years, with the words "under God" being added on Flag Day, June 14, 1954. >> Learn more
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Privacy – the condition of being free from outside intrusion or outside the view or others. The Constitution does not mention a right to privacy, but over the years Supreme Court decisions have said that this right is a basic human right, which is inherent in several of the amendments (9th, 3rd, 4th, 5th).
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Privileges – special advantages or benefits enjoyed by individuals because of their status (for example, as citizens of a nation).
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Red-baiting – accusing or attacking a person as a radical or communist sympathizer.
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Sabotage – the destruction of property, or action to disrupt normal operations, often by enemy agents in a time of war.
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Secret Service – founded in 1865 and lodged in the US Department of the Treasury where its task was to track down counterfeit currency. After the assassination of President William McKinley in 1901, it became the leading government agency providing protection for the president and other high-ranking government officials and their families. Its powers were expanded under the reauthorized USA PATRIOT Act. >> Learn more
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Segregation – separation or setting apart; racial segregation separates along supposed racial lines.
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Separation of Powers and Checks and Balances - the Framers of the US Constitution had learned from their colonial experience that the best way to prevent power from becoming centralized in a few hands, was to devise a system under which the same officials would not be able to make laws, carry them out, and judge their meaning. The
US
constitutional system is based on the notion that the three different branches of government each do different things and have different responsibilities, although their powers also overlap. The legislative branch (Congress) has the power to make laws. The executive branch has the power to administer and enforce those laws. With the development of the notion of "judicial review" by the Supreme Court under Chief Justice John Marshal, the courts got the power to interpret the Constitution and decide whether or not a particular law or executive action was "constitutional."
The branches of government "check" each other so no one branch has so much power that it can totally dominate the others. The president "checks" the legislature by vetoing a law it passes. The Supreme Court checks the other two branches by declaring actions to be invalid. There are also "checks" within a single branch. In the legislature, for instance, the House of Representatives and Senate in Congress can check each other when they think differently about a particular piece of legislation. The whole system is supposed to be "balanced" through the distribution of power and way the branches work together. >> Learn more and more
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Smith Act - the official name of the Smith Act was the Alien Registration Act of 1940. As well as punishing what was in effect "thought crime," it required adult residents of the
US
who were not citizens to register with the government. After 11 leading Communist Party leaders were convicted under the Smith Act of conspiring to organize the Communist Party and to teach the principles of Marxism-Leninism, similar charges were brought against more than 150 other radicals, trade union organizers and Communist Party leaders. In 1957, the Supreme Court put the brake on these prosecutions when, in the case of Yates v. United States, it drew a distinction between teaching ideas as abstract concepts (which was protected by the First Amendment) and for the purposes of inciting the overthrow of the government (which was not). Simple advocacy of unpopular ideas was no longer a criminal act. >> Learn more
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Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) – founded in 1957 by a group of people including Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Ella Baker, Joseph Lowery and Bayard Rustin. Dr. King became its head and led it until his assassination in 1968. It focused on using non-violent civil disobedience to end Jim Crow segregation and win African Americans their civil rights. Among its other prominent members were Ralph Abernathy, Fred Shuttlesworth, Jesse Jackson and Andrew Young. >> Visit the website
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Sovereignty - supreme authority, especially in the case of a state. A state is generally considered sovereign if it is politically independent and self-governing, and free from outside interference.
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Stereotype - an oversimplified assumption or perception held by a person or group about another person or group that is based on societal or cultural generalization.
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Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) - in April 1960, after the student-powered sit-in movement was underway, a group of students met on the campus of Shaw University in Raleigh, North Carolina to discuss how to sustain its momentum. Veteran organizer Ella Baker, a member of Dr. King's SCLC (Southern Christian Leadership Conference) organization, suggested they form their own group, instead of taking the lead from the SCLC. SNCC was created as a student-run body. It took part in the major Movement activities of the 1960s – sit-ins, the Freedom Rides, voter registration, Mississippi Freedom Summer. It also helped create the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party as an alternative to the white-controlled state Democratic Party. In 1966, there was a split in SNCC ranks, with some members, such as Stokely Carmichael (later known as Kwame Ture) advocating "Black Power," and others wanting it to remain an integrated organization. >> Learn more
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Subversive - intended to overthrow or undermine an established government or other institution.
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Suffragettes – advocates of women getting the right to vote.
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Symbolic expression – a manner of making a point which does not involve words. An example is the wearing of a black armband to express a certain point of view.
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Terrorism – the unlawful or threatened use of force against people or property with the intention of coercing or intimidating societies or governments, often for political reasons. Caution: the definition of terrorism is very controversial, and no single definition has been accepted by the United Nations. Some countries insist on definitions that recognize the possibility of the legitimate use of force in cases where a country is occupied by a foreign invader or ruled by a tyrant. The
US
government uses several different definitions. According to the USA PATRIOT Act, terrorism consists of "activities that (A) involve acts dangerous to human life that are a violation of the criminal laws of the U.S. or of any state, that (B) appear to be intended (i) to intimidate or coerce a civilian population, (ii) to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion, or (iii) to affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination, or kidnapping, and (C) occur primarily within the territorial jurisdiction of the U.S." >> Learn more
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Torture - the deliberate infliction of severe pain – either physical or psychological – to punish someone, extract information or a confession, or to break the will of a person or dehumanize a group. It has been used throughout history, often in the name of religion. Five hundred years ago, it was not uncommon for people to be boiled to death for a crime, or torn to pieces, or to suffer a slow death by being suspended in a cage in a public place. Water punishments, such as being dunked repeatedly while tied to a stool, were often reserved for women, especially those accused of adultery or suspected of witchcraft. Torture would be used to force people to incriminate themselves by admitting to their guilt (whether they were really guilty or not). By the 17th century, societies began to turn against the use of torture and arbitrary methods of punishment.
Prussia
abolished torture in 1740;
Italy
in 1786;
France
in 1789 and
Russia
in 1801. The Fifth, Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments to the US Constitution were intended to ensure the kind of due process that barred "self-incrimination" and "cruel and unusual punishment."
After the horrors of Second World War, the international community through the United Stations resolved to abolish torture. It is forbidden by Article 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) and Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions (1949). In 1987 the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment became part of international law. And in 1994, the US Congress passed a federal Anti-Torture Statute. These attempts to create a legal framework that would move the world beyond torture received a major setback after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. >> Learn more
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Totalitarian - a form of government in which the political authority exercises absolute and centralized control over all aspects of life, the individual is subordinate to the state, and opposing political and cultural expression is suppressed.
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Treason - violation of loyalty and allegiance to one’s country
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Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo - signed on February 2, 1848, this "Treaty of Peace, Friendship, Limits, and Settlement between the
United States of America
and the
United
Mexican
States
" put an end to the Mexican War, that started in May 1846. In exchange for $15 million, the treaty ceded to the
United States
the lands that are currently known as
California
,
Colorado
,
Arizona
,
New Mexico
,
Wyoming
,
Nevada
and
Utah
. It stipulated that the 100,000 or so Mexicans within the land that is now the
United States
"shall be free to continue where they now reside, or to remove at any time to the
Mexican
Republic
." They could decide whether to keep their Mexican citizenship or become
U.S.
citizens. When it ratified the treaty, the U.S. Senate made changes to the article about citizenship and eliminated another altogether in which the U.S. promised to "honor and guarantee" all land grants that had previously been made in the territories. >> Learn more
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Tyranny - a government which has absolute and complete power and acts in an arbitrary way.
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Unalienable - intrinsic; not able to be transferred by a legal process.
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Unconstitutional – violating the principles and laws set forth by a constitution, such as the Constitution of the
United States
or the various states.
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Unwitting – being unaware; not knowing.
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USA
PATRIOT ACT – an acronym for "Uniting and Strengthening
America
by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism," it was signed into law on October 26, 2001 without being read in its entirety and debated by Members of Congress. Many of its provisions had long been sought by law enforcement agencies, but withheld on constitutional grounds. Sixteen of the provisions had 5-year sunset provisions attached to them. On March 9, 2006 – a day before the sunset provisions were due to expire, President Bush signed into law the "USA PATRIOT Improvement and Reauthorization Act." The revised Act contained mainly cosmetic changes, which did little to restore checks and balances. One positive change – the requirement that the Justice Department would report to Congress on how PATRIOT powers were being used – was rejected by President Bush in the "signing statement" he added to the legislation when he signed it into law. >> Learn more
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Vulgar – crude and indecent.
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Warrant - a document conveying authority, such as written authorization to make an arrest or a search.
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Watergate – this term refers to the scandal that engulfed the presidency of Richard Nixon between the years 1972 and 1974. It began with a burglary into the National Committee offices of the Democratic Party in the Watergate Hotel in
Washington
DC
. The Senate held hearings that revealed the existence of secret White House tape recordings, and more and more information became public revealing the extent of illegal activity engaged in by the Nixon Administration. In August 1974, after the House of Representatives authorized impeachment proceedings and the Supreme Court ordered more tapes to be made public, President Nixon resigned. >> Learn more
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Witch hunt – an investigation that is used to round up or harass people with different or unpopular views.
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