This document provides definitions and short explanations for various terms related to social studies. It covers topics starting from A to Z, including the Articles of Confederation, Bill of Rights, culture, democracy, economics, Federal Reserve System, Great Depression, House of Burgesses, Incas, Juan de Onate, John F. Kennedy, Laurentian Highlands, Manifest Destiny, New Deal, oligarchy, Pueblo Indians, Quakers, regions of the US, Six Flags over Texas, Trail of Tears, urbanization, Treaty of Versailles, women's rights, Axis Powers, Yalta Conference, and Zapotecs. For each term, there is a brief 1-2 sentence description of its

1. ABC Book:
Social Studies
Tammy Norton
ELED 412 Summer I
2018
Social Studies is an umbrella term encompassing the disciplines of
history, geography, civics and government, economics, and psychology.

2. Ais for Articles of Confederation
• Defined a new form of government after Revolutionary War
• 13 independent states with limited power
• Each state printed it’s own money
• Provided common citizenship
• Organized postal services

3. Bis for Bill of Rights
• The first 10 amendments to the U.S. constitution

4. C is for Culture
• Culture is “ the sum total of knowledge, attitudes, and habitual
behavior atterns shared and transmitted by the members of society”
• Culture is reflected in what its people write, create, and wear as well
as their government, decisions, customs and ceremonies, way of life
dwellings

5. D is for Democracy
Democracy is a form of government
in which the majority rules.
• The government’s’ power is limited
• People elect candidates to represent them in government

6. E is for Economics
• Economics is a social science that analyes the principles that regulate
the production, distribution, and consumption of resources in society.
• 5 Major Categories:
• Primary: Natural resources
• Secondary: Primary goods and change
• Tertiary: Service
• Quaternary: technical skills (finance, insurance etc)
• Quinary: scientific research, high-level management

7. F is for Federal Reserve System
• Established in 1913 under the presidency of Woodrow Wilson.
• The main purpose is to keep the banking industry strong to ensure a
supply of currency.

8. G is for Great Depression
• On October 29, 1929, the stock market crashed, marking the
beginning of the Great Depression. Millions of people lost their
capital and their jobs.

9. H is for House of Burgesses
• In 1619, the colony of Virginia established
the first European-style form of
Government in North America.

10. I is for Incas
• Children of the sun.
• Coved modern countries of Ecuador, Peru, and Central Chile.
• Well developed political system
• Build monumental road system

11. J is for Juan de Onate
• In 1595, received permission from
King Philip II of Spain to colonize
New Mexico.
• In 1598, he founded the first European settlement west of the
Mississippi in New Mexico

12. K is for John F. Kennedy
• President Kennedy proposed new civil rights laws as well as programs
to help the millions of American living in poverty.
• After his assassination in Dallas in 1963, The Civil Rights Act passed in
1964 (in honor of Kennedy) that prohibited segregation in all public
facilities and discrimination in education and employment.

13. L is for Laurentian Highlands
A region of the continental United States
Laurentian Highlands are part of the Canadian Shield that extends into
the northern United States and the Great Lakes area.
This area has hard winters, and agriculture is limited.

14. M is for Manifest Destiny
• In 1844, President James K. Polk declared to the world that the
United States would eventualy become a world power and expand to
its natural boarders.

15. N is for New Deal
• Between 1933 and 1937, President Franklin D. Roosevelt
implemented a series of government-sponsored programs, called the
New Deal, designed to revitalize the economy and alleviate the
poverty and despair caused by the Depression.

16. O is for Oligarchy
• A small group of powerful and wealthy people rule the nation with
the support of the military.
• In this system, a group of influential
people controls the government.
Traditionally, they appoint one of
their own to function as the
supreme leader of the
government.

17. P is for Pueblo Indians
• The Pueblos produced drought-resistant corn and squash, which
became the foundation of their diet.
• The Pueblo Indians survived the Spanish conquest and colonization.

18. Q is for Quakers
• A religion persecuted in England. William Penn was granted a large
territory in 1681, which included Pennsylvania, that he made a safe
haven for Quakers.

19. R is for Regions of the U.S.
• The continental US can be divided into eight physical geographic
divisions:
• Laurentian Highlands
• Atlantic-Gulf Coastal Plains
• Appalachian Highlands
• Interior Plains and the Great Plains
• Interior Highlands
• Rocky Mountain System
• Intermontane Plateau
• Pacific Mountain System

20. S is for Six Flags over Texas
• The different countries that have exerted control in Texas since 1519
• Spain (1519-1821)
• France (1685-1690)
• Mexico (1821-1836)
• Republic of Texas (1836-1845)
• United States (1845-1861)
• Texas in the Confederacy (1861-1865)
• Back to the American union (1870-present)

21. T is for Trail of Tears
• This Indian removal process, forced Native Americans to vacate their
homes in the southeastern part of the United States to lands in the
west, mainly in what is now Oklahoma.

22. U is for urbanization
• Migration to urban areas caused the cities to grow exponentially in
size and population as well as population density
• In the late 19th and 20th centuries
• Caused issues with housing, transportation, sanitation, and
employment.

23. V is for Treaty of Versailles
• Officially ended World War I
• Central Powers were punished and forced to pay for the war
• Austria-Hungary Empire was dismembered, new countries were
created

24. W is for Women’s Rights
• 19th Amendment guaranteed women the right to vote in 1920
• The Equal pay Act of 1963 and the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibited
discrimination based on gender
• The Equal Rights Amendment of 1972 guarantees women’s equal
rights

25. X is for aXis Powers
• Military alliances that led to World War II including Germany, Italy,
and Japan

26. Y is for Yalta Conference
• The Allies met in Yalta, Russia, to discuss the terms of the treaty to
end WWII. The allied leaders: Winston Churchill, Joseph Stalin, and
Franklin D. Roosevelt agreed that Germany was to be divided into
four sections, each controlled by an Allied country-Britain, France,
Russia, and the United States.

27. Z is for Zapotecs
• Followed the Olmecs, who flourished around 1200 BCE
• Developed sophisticated civilizations, used a ceremonial calendar and
built stone pyramids to perform religious observances