Elementary Academic Words


Grade 8: Word List - Social
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abolitionism  Read Word
the doctrine that calls for the abolition of slavery
advantage  Read Word
benefit resulting from some event or action
checks and balances  Read Word
chronological  Read Word
arranged in order of time of occurrence
Civil War  Read Word
a war between factions in the same country
consent of the governed  Read Word
a phrase from the United States Declaration of Independence
continental congresses  Read Word
cotton gin  Read Word
a machine that separates the seeds from raw cotton fibers
depression  Read Word
recession; economic slump; concavity in a surface produced by pressing ; sadness; low spirits
disadvantage  Read Word
drawback; defect; hinder; unfavorable condition or circumstance
due process  Read Word
economic plan  Read Word
an economic position favoring interventions in the market in the public interest on behalf of government
federal government  Read Word
federalism  Read Word
the idea of a federal organization of more or less self-governing units
finance  Read Word
management of money and credit and banking and investments; subsidizing; fund
founding fathers  Read Word
people who founds or establishes something; member of the convention that drafted the U.S. Constitution in 1787
frontier  Read Word
part of a country which fronts or faces another country or an unsettled region; border, confine, or extreme part of a country
Gettysburg Address  Read Word
Indian removal  Read Word
a 19th-century policy of ethnic cleansing by the government of the United States to relocate Native American tribes living east of the Mississippi River to lands west of the river
inflation  Read Word
general increase in the prices of goods and services in a country
Jacksonian Democracy  Read Word
the political movement toward greater democracy for the common man symbolized by American politician Andrew Jackson and his supporters
Monroe Doctrine  Read Word
an American foreign policy opposing interference in the western hemisphere from outside powers
Northern states  Read Word
The U.S. states that remained in the existing Union during the American Civil War
nullification  Read Word
plantation system  Read Word
political parties  Read Word
organization to gain political power
popular sovereignty  Read Word
the principle that the authority of the government is created and sustained by the consent of its people, or elected representatives, who are the source of all political power
Presidential election  Read Word
the election of any head of state whose official title is President
propaganda  Read Word
protective tariff  Read Word
a tariff imposed to protect domestic firms from import competition
Reconstruction  Read Word
reform movements  Read Word
social movement that aims to make gradual change, or change in certain aspects of society, rather than rapid or fundamental changes
Second Great Awakening  Read Word
separation of powers  Read Word
an act of vesting the legislative, executive, and judicial powers of government in separate bodies
social classes  Read Word
people having the same social, economic, or educational status
Southern states  Read Word
the states of the southeastern US, especially the states that fought against the North in the US Civil War
Supreme Court  Read Word
the highest court in most states of the United States; the highest federal court in the United States; has final appellate jurisdiction and has jurisdiction over all other courts in the nation
territorial acquisition  Read Word
the addition of land to countries
three branches of government  Read Word
the separation of powers, often imprecisely used interchangeably with the trias political principle, is a model for the governance of a state
trial by jury  Read Word
a legal proceeding in which a jury either makes a decision or makes findings of fact, which are then applied by a judge.
union  Read Word
an organization of employees formed to bargain with the employer; a political unit formed from previously independent people or organizations
utopian community  Read Word
society possessing highly desirable or perfect qualities