Vocabulary

The explain of all words come from http://www.ldoceonline.com/:

The American Revolution

1.engraving:[countable]a picture made by cutting a design into metal, putting ink on the metal, and then printing it

Sentence  from the text:Several documents and engravings held by the National Archives help to illustrate these important factors that led to the founding of the United States.

2.hostilities:[plural] formalPM fighting in a war

Sentence  from the text:Before hostilities began

3.dislodge:to make someone leave a place or lose a position of power

Sentence  from the text:American rebels seized a point of high ground in Boston and forced the British to attempt to dislodge them.

4.Continental:relating to a large mass of land:

Sentence  from the text:the Second Continental Congress debated what steps to take against Britain.

5.delegates:[countable]  someone who has been elected or chosen to speak, vote, or take decisions for a group [↪ representative]:

Sentence  from the text:the delegates at Philadelphia drafted the Declaration of Independence in mid-1776.

6.militiamen: a member of a militia( a group of people trained as soldiers, who are not part of the permanent army)

Sentence  from the text:The American militiamen were not well organized.

7.Confederation :[countable]  a group of people, political parties, or organizations that have united for political purposes or trade

Sentence  from the text:It helped that the Articles of Confederation established by the Second Continental Congress showed that the Americans had plans for their future.

8.quagmire:a difficult or complicated situation

Sentence  from the text:A 1779 British invasion through Georgia towards the Carolinas eventually proved to be a major quagmire for the British commanders.

9.Sporadic:happening fairly often, but not regularly [= intermittent]

Sentence  from the text:Sporadic fighting continued after Cornwallis surrendered in 1781.

10.assemble: [transitive] to put all the parts of something together

Sentence  from the text:Colonial negotiators began to assemble in Paris.

11.coexistence: [uncountable] when two different things or groups of people exist together at the same time or in the same place

 Sentence  from the text:The new treaty recognized the colonies as being independent from British rule and established a normalization of relations that would lead eventually to a strong relationship of trust and coexistence.

 The Lewis and Clark Expedition

1. Expedition: [countable] a long and carefully organized journey, especially to a dangerous or unfamiliar place, or the people that make this journey

Sentence from the text: The Lewis and Clark Expedition

2. splendid:  beautiful and impressive [= magnificent]

Sentence from the text: In 1803 President Thomas Jefferson guided a splendid piece of foreign diplomacy through the U.S.

3. diplomacy :[uncountable]PG the job or activity of managing the relationships between countries:

Sentence from the text: In 1803 President Thomas Jefferson guided a splendid piece of foreign diplomacy through the U.S.

4. Treaty: [countable] a formal written agreement between two or more countries or governments

Sentence from the text: After the Louisiana Purchase Treaty was made

5. initiate: formal to arrange for something important to start, such as an official process or a new plan

Sentence from the text: Jefferson initiated an exploration of the newly purchased land and the territory beyond the “great rock mountains” in the West

6. literate: able to read and write

Sentence from the text: an intelligent and literate man who also possessed skills as a frontiersman.

7. solicit: [intransitive and transitive] formal to ask someone for money, help, or information

Sentence from the text: Lewis in turn solicited the help of William Clark, whose abilities as draftsman and frontiersman were even stronger.

8. tributary: [countable] a stream or river that flows into a larger river

Sentence from the text: the Ohio River and its minor tributaries

9. penetrate:[intransitive and transitive] to enter something and pass or spread through it, especially when this is difficult

Sentence from the text: American and European explorers had only penetrated what would become

10. paddle: [countable] a short pole that is wide and flat at the end, used for moving a small boat in water

Sentence from the text: The Lewis and Clark Expedition paddled its way down the Ohio

11. swiftly: happening or done quickly and immediately

Sentence from the text: transported them swiftly downriver to the mouth of the Columbia

12. journal:AL a written record that you make of the things that happen to you each day[= diary]

Sentence from the text: With journals in hand

13. diplomatic: diplomatic relations/tiesthe arrangement between two countries that each should keep representatives at an embassy in the other’s country

Sentence from the text: set up diplomatic relations with the Indians

14. portion: [countable] a part of something larger, especially a part that is different from the other parts

Sentence from the text: further probe the western portion of the continent.

Letters, Telegrams, and Photographs Illustrating Factors that Affected the Civil War

1.outcome :[countable]the final result of a meeting, discussion, war etc – used especially when no one knows what it will be until it actually happens [= result]

Sentence from the text: Documents held by the National Archives can aid in the understanding of the factors that influenced the eventual outcome of the War Between the States.

2. secession: when a country or state officially stops being part of another country and becomes independent

Sentence from the text: Southerners decided that secession was a better choice than to give up their economic system and their way of life.

3. Withdrawal: [uncountable and countable] the act of moving an army, weapons etc away from the area where they were fighting

Sentence from the text: President Lincoln and the North opposed the South’s withdrawal;

4. resolve: to find a satisfactory way of dealing with a problem or difficulty [= solve; ↪ settle]

Sentence from the text: the two regions fought a war that exploited the advantages and opportunities that each held over the other before their differences could be resolved.

5. manpower: all the workers available for a particular kind of work:

Sentence from the text: a potential source for military enlistees and civilian manpower.

6. Diplomat: someone who officially represents their government in a foreign country [↪ ambassador]

Sentence from the text: allowing U.S. diplomats to obtain loans and other trade concessions.

7. concession: [countable] something that you allow someone to have in order to end an argument or a disagreement [↪ concede]

Sentence from the text: allowing U.S. diplomats to obtain loans and other trade concessions.

8. unimpeded: happening or moving without being stopped or having difficulty

Sentence from the text: the North had to achieve several goals. First, control of the Mississippi River had to be secured to allow unimpeded movement of needed Western goods.

9. incapacitate: to make you too ill or weak to live and work normally

Sentence from the text: the Confederate army had to be incapacitated to prevent further northward attacks such as that at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and to ease the battle losses of the North.

10. Curtail: to reduce or limit something

Sentence from the text: Fourth, the South’s ability to produce needed goods and war materials had to be curtailed.

The Homestead Act of 1862

1. scheduled: a Union Army scout, was scheduled to leave Gage County
2. Overtones: this piece of legislation would continue to have regional and political overtones.
3. Allocate: Early methods for allocating unsettled land outside the original 13 colonies were arbitrary and chaotic.
4. Arbitrary: Early methods for allocating unsettled land outside the original 13 colonies were arbitrary and chaotic.
5. Chaotic: Early methods for allocating unsettled land outside the original 13 colonies were arbitrary and chaotic.
6. Overlapping: As a result, overlapping claims and border disputes were common.
7. implemente: The Land Ordinance of 1785 finally implemented a standardized system of Federal land surveys that eased boundary conflicts.
8. Insurmountable: The investment needed to purchase these large plots and the massive amount of physical labor required to clear the land for agriculture were often insurmountable obstacles.
9. evolving: Before and after the Mexican-American war in the mid 1800s, popular pressure to change policy arose from the evolving economy, new demographics, and shifting social climate of early 19th-century America.

10. Stymie: Preemption became national policy in spite of these sectional concerns, but supporting legislation was stymied.

Sioux Treaty of 1868

1. Reservation: The United States government set out to establish a series of Indian treaties that would force the Indians to give up their lands and move further west onto reservations.
2. Detachment: In 1876, Custer, leading an army detachment, encountered the encampment of Sioux and Cheyenne at the Little Bighorn River.
3. Encampment: In 1876, Custer, leading an army detachment, encountered the encampment of Sioux and Cheyenne at the Little Bighorn River.
4. Detachment: Custer’s detachment was annihilated, but the United States would continue its battle against the Sioux in the Black Hills until the government confiscated the land in 1877.
5. Annihilate: Custer’s detachment was annihilated, but the United States would continue its battle against the Sioux in the Black Hills until the government confiscated the land in 1877.
6. Concession: The report and journal of proceedings of the commission appointed to obtain certain concessions from the Sioux Indians, December 26, 1876.
7. sovereignty: In the 19th century the American drive for expansion clashed violently with the Native American resolve to preserve their lands, sovereignty, and ways of life.
8. Confiscate: Custer’s detachment was annihilated, but the United States would continue its battle against the Sioux in the Black Hills until the government confiscated the land in 1877.
9. Skirmish: From the 1860s through the 1870s the American frontier was filled with Indian wars and skirmishes.

10. sacred: The Black Hills of Dakota are sacred to the Sioux Indians.

Teaching With Documents:Photographs and Pamphlet About Nuclear Fallout

1.Pamphlet:a very thin book with paper covers, that gives information about something.

Sentence:Photographs and Pamphlet About Nuclear Fallout.

2.Fallout:the dangerous radioactive dust which is left in the air after a nuclear explosion and which slowly falls to earth.

Sentence:Photographs and Pamphlet About Nuclear Fallout.

3.unleash: to suddenly let a strong force, feeling etc have its full effect.

Sentence:In August 1945 the United States unleashed a new weapon of mass destruction against the Japanese at Hiroshima and Nagasaki and brought an end to World War II.

4.conventional: conventional weapons and wars do not use nuclear explosives or weapons.

Sentence:Unlike conventional bombs, these new atomic bombs killed in two ways.

5.sheer: used to emphasize that something is very heavy, large etc.

Sentence:They killed by sheer magnitude of the blast and the resulting firestorm, and they killed by means of nuclear fallout.

6.magnitude: the great size or importance of something.

Sentence:They killed by sheer magnitude of the blast and the resulting firestorm, and they killed by means of nuclear fallout.

7.monopoly: if a company or government has a monopoly of a business or political activity, it has complete control of it so that other organizations cannot compete with it.

Sentence: In 1945 the United States possessed a monopoly on this new dreadful weapon.

8.exclusiveness: exclusive:available or belonging only to particular people, and not shared.

Sentence:The exclusiveness was short-lived, however.

9.atomic: relating to the energy produced by splitting atoms or the weapons that use this energy.

Sentence:In 1949 the Soviet Union exploded its first atomic bomb.

10.ideology:a set of beliefs on which a political or economic system is based, or which strongly influence the way people behave .

Sentence:Although the United States and the Soviet Union had been wartime allies, by this time they had become peacetime enemies with conflicting ideologies and competing global interests.

11.embark:  to go onto a ship or a plane, or to put or take something onto a ship or plane.

Sentence:In an attempt to get or maintain an advantage in the power and numbers of nuclear weapons, both nations embarked on an arms race while at the same time preparing their citizens in the event that nuclear weapons were deployed.

12. deploy:to organize or move soldiers, military equipment etc so that they are in the right place and ready to be used.

Sentence:In an attempt to get or maintain an advantage in the power and numbers of nuclear weapons, both nations embarked on an arms race while at the same time preparing their citizens in the event that nuclear weapons were deployed.

13.drill:a.to teach students, sports players etc by making them repeat the same lesson, exercise etc many times.

b.to train soldiers to march or perform other military actions.

Sentence rilling for nuclear war became a part of life’s routine in the 1950s and like fire drills today in the schools was taken very seriously.