Quiz April 27Th

The Eighteenth Amendment (ratified 29 January 1919) needed enforcement, and in October 1919 Congress passed the National Prohibition Act, introduced by Representative Andrew J. Volstead of Minnesota. President Woodrow Wilson vetoed the measure on 27 October, but Congress overrode the veto the next day. The act fixed penalties for liquor sales; provided for injunctions against establishments found selling liquor; contained a search and seizure clause; and, oddly, continued the taxation of alcoholic beverages. It permitted the retention of private stocks of liquor bought before the act went into effect, and allowed beer manufacturing, on condition that brewers reduce the alcoholic content to 0.5 percent before sale.

Labour legislation passed by the U.S. Congress. Sponsored by Sen. Robert F. Wagner, the act protected workers' rights to form unions and to bargain collectively. A three-member National Labor Relations Board was established to protect against unfair labour practices; it could order elections to allow workers to choose which union they wanted to represent them. The act also prohibited employers from engaging in unfair labour practices such as setting up a company union and firing or otherwise discriminating against workers who organized or joined unions. The act, considered the most important piece of labour legislation in the 20th century, helped ensure union support for Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt in the 1936 election.

U.S.-British conflict arising from U.S. grievances over oppressive British maritime practices in the Napoleonic Wars. To enforce its blockade of French ports, the British boarded U.S. and other neutral ships to check cargo they suspected was being sent to France and to impress seamen alleged to be British navy deserters. The U.S. reacted by passing legislation such as the Embargo Act (1807); Congress's War Hawks called for expulsion of the British from Canada to ensure frontier security. When the U.S. demanded an end to the interference, Britain refused, and the U.S. declared war on June 18, 1812. Despite early U.S. naval victories, notably the duel between the Constitution and the Guerrière, Britain maintained its blockade of eastern U.S. ports. A British force burned public buildings in Washington, D.C., including the White House, in retaliation for similar U.S. acts in York (Toronto), Can. The war became increasingly unpopular, especially in New England, where a separatist movement originated at the Hart

A series of scandals occurring during the Nixon administration in which members of the executive branch organized illegal political espionage against their perceived opponents and were charged with violation of the public trust, bribery, contempt of Congress, and attempted obstruction of justice.

U.S. politician. An advocate of the Greenback movement, he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from Iowa (1879 – 81, 1885 – 89). He helped form the People's Party (see Populist movement) and was its candidate for president in 1892, receiving more than 1 million popular votes and 22 electoral votes. After helping effect the party's merger with the Democratic Party, he retired to Iowa.

U.S. lawyer and politician. He served in the U.S. House of Representatives (1813 – 17). After moving to Boston (1816), he built a prosperous law practice and represented Massachusetts in the House (1823 – 27). He argued several precedent-setting cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, including the Dartmouth College case, McCulloch v. Maryland, and Gibbons v. Ogden. Elected to the U.S. Senate (1827 – 41, 1845 – 50), he became famous as an orator for his speeches supporting the Union and opposing the nullification movement and its advocates, John C. Calhoun and Robert Y. Hayne. As U.S. secretary of state (1841 – 43, 1850 – 52) he negotiated the Webster-Ashburton Treaty to settle the Canada-Maine border dispute.

Treaty between the U.S. and Britain establishing the northeastern boundary of the U.S. Negotiated by U.S. secretary of state Daniel Webster and Britain's ambassador Lord Ashburton, it also provided for Anglo-U.S. cooperation in the suppression of the slave trade. It fixed the present boundary between Maine and New Brunswick, granted the U.S. navigation rights on the St. John River, provided for extradition in nonpolitical criminal cases, and established a joint naval system for suppressing the slave trade off the African coast.

Member of a political faction in England, particularly in the 18th century. Originally a term for Scottish Presbyterians, the name came to imply nonconformity and rebellion and was applied in 1679 to those who wanted to exclude James, the Catholic duke of York (later James II), from succession to the throne of England. The Whigs were opposed by the Tory faction in that struggle but later represented the aristocratic, landowning families and financial interests of the wealthy middle classes. They maintained power through patronage and connections in Parliament, but there was no distinct party until 1784, when Charles James Fox represented the interests of religious dissenters, industrialists, and others who sought parliamentary reform. After 1815 and following various party realignments, the political group became the Liberal Party.

American uprising to protest a federal liquor tax. Farmers in western Pennsylvania rebelled against paying a tax on their locally distilled whiskey and attacked federal revenue collectors. After 500 armed men burned the home of the regional tax inspector, Pres. George Washington ordered 13,000 federal troops to the area. The rebellion quickly dissolved without further violence. The event established the authority of federal law within the states and strengthened support for the Federalists' advocacy of a strong central government.

U.S. journalist. White purchased the Emporia Daily and Weekly Gazette in 1895. His editorial writing was a mixture of tolerance, optimism, liberal Republicanism, and provincialism. His widely circulated 1896 editorial "What's the Matter with Kansas?" was credited with helping elect William McKinley president. He also wrote fiction, biographies, and an autobiography. His son and successor, William Lindsay White (1900 – 73), wrote one of the best-selling books on World War II, They Were Expendable (1942).

U.S. inventor, engineer, and manufacturer. He is best remembered as the inventor of the cotton gin (1793), which led to greatly increased production of the short-staple cotton grown in much of the South, making the region prosperous. The most important innovation credited to Whitney may be the concept of mass production of interchangeable parts. His idea of manufacturing quantities of identical parts for assembly into muskets, after undertaking in 1797 to supply the U.S. government with 10,000 muskets in two years, helped inaugurate the vastly important American System of manufacture.

English clergyman, colonist, and founder of Rhode Island. He arrived in Boston in 1631 and became pastor of the separatist Plymouth colony (1632 – 33). Banned from the Massachusetts Bay Colony for his beliefs, including his support for religious toleration and the rights of Indians and his opposition to civil authority, he founded the colony of Rhode Island and the town of Providence (1636) on land purchased from the Narragansett Indians. The colony established a democratic government and instituted separation of church and state, and it became a haven for Quakers and others seeking religious liberty. He obtained a charter for the colony (1643) and served as its first president, maintaining friendly relations with the Indians and acting as peacemaker for nearby colonies.

twenty-eighth president of the United States, led the country into World War I and was a primary architect of the League of Nations.

American colonial political leader, first governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. In 1629 he joined the Massachusetts Bay Co., and he was elected governor of the colony that was to be established by the company in New England. An ardent Puritan, he envisioned a colony based on his religious beliefs. He guided the colonists on his arrival in North America in 1630 and was elected governor 12 times during the period from 1631 to 1648. Though widely respected, he was criticized for opposing the formation of a representative assembly (1634), and the colony's limitations on religious freedom were decried by Roger Williams and Anne Hutchinson. His son, John Winthrop (1606 – 76), was an influential governor of Connecticut (1659 – 76).

The settling of North America by white persons involved the displacement of Native Americans, who lived in tribal societies throughout the continent. During the colonial period, many wars took place between settlers and Native Americans. The colonists ultimately prevailed in these conflicts and negotiated treaties that required the tribes to give up much of their territory. After the formation of the United States, state and federal government leaders agreed that the nation needed to establish a national policy toward Native Americans. By the 1820s the solution to the "Indian problem" had become their removal and resettlement in the "Great American Desert" to the west. In 1830 Congress passed the Indian Removal Act (4 Stat. 411) and appropriated $500,000 for that purpose.

The American architect Frank Lloyd Wright (1869-1959) designed dramatically innovative buildings during a career of almost 70 years. His work established the imagery for much of the contemporary architectural environment.

General search warrant used by the British in the American colonies. The warrants authorized customhouse officers, with the assistance of a sheriff, to search any house or ship for smuggled goods, without requiring them to specify the place or the goods. The legality of the writs was challenged by the colonists in the 1760s, and they became a major grievance in the years leading up to the American Revolution.

Diplomatic incident between the U.S. and France. Pres. John Adams sent special envoys Elbridge Gerry and John Marshall to France to help Charles C. Pinckney negotiate an agreement to protect U.S. shipping from French privateers. Before the three could meet with Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand, they were approached by three of his agents — called X, Y, and Z in diplomatic correspondence to Adams — who suggested a bribe of $250,000 to Talleyrand and a loan of $10 million to France as preconditions for negotiations. Adams rejected the French demands and reported the mission had failed. When he was forced to reveal the correspondence, public outrage was followed by calls for war with France. The Alien and Sedition Acts were passed to restrict potential French sympathizers. The Convention of 1800 ended a period of undeclared naval warfare between the U.S. and France.

Conference of Allied leaders at Yalta to plan Germany's defeat in World War II. Franklin Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and Joseph Stalin discussed the postwar occupation of Germany, postwar assistance to the German people, German disarmament, war-crimes trials, the fate of the defeated or liberated states of eastern Europe, voting in the future United Nations Security Council, and German reparations. Stalin agreed to enter the war against Japan after the German surrender. Roosevelt died two months later, and Stalin broke his promise to allow democratic elections in eastern Europe.

American colonizer and second president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, led the Mormons to Utah, colonized it, and served as official and unofficial governor of Oregon Territory.

German-born U.S. printer and journalist. He immigrated to New York at age 13 and was indentured to a printer before starting his own printing business (1726). In 1733 he began publishing the New York Weekly Journal. Arrested for libel in 1734 for his attacks on the policies of the colonial governor, he was acquitted on the grounds that his charges were based on fact (a key consideration in libel cases since that time). It was the first important victory for freedom of the press in Britain's North American colonies.

A coded message written by German foreign secretary Arthur Zimmerman and sent to Mexican president Venustiano Carranza on January 16, 1917 during World War I. It proposed a German-Mexican alliance and suggested Mexico reclaim its former territory by starting a war with the United States, thereby distracting the United States from the overseas war. It was published by President Woodrow Wilson on March 1, 1917, and the U.S. entered the war five weeks later.