The columbia encyclopedia seventh edition

Ashcroft, Bill. Accessed 19 Jun. Imperialism- Imperialism is a form of relationship characterized by conquest, expansion, domination and subjugation. It is a term which represents the interests. Totalitarianism- a modern autocratic government in which the state involves itself in all facets of society, including the daily life of its citizens. A totalitarian government seeks to control not only all economic and political matters but the attitudes, values, and beliefs of its population, erasing the distinction between state and society.

The citizen's duty to the state becomes the primary concern of the community, and the goal of the state is the replacement of existing society with a perfect society. French Revolution- The French Revolution has made an impact on global history. The revolution of was one of the most prominent elements in historical master. Search this Group Search. Find Primary Sources Online.

Modern European History "A survey of western civilization covers the period from the middle of the seventeenth century to the twenty-first century. Essential Terms for HIS A biography is a type of writing that tells the real history of the life of a man or woman, one who made a significant contribution to the world. If that person is the author as well as the subject of the writing, it is known as an autobiography.

Separation of church and state became virtually complete. Jackson to the Mexican War. An era of political vigor was begun with the election of Andrew Jackson to the presidency. If Jackson was not, as sometimes represented, the incarnation of frontier democracy, he nonetheless symbolized the advent of the common man to political power.

He provided powerful executive leadership, attuned to popular support, committing himself to a strong foreign policy and to internal improvements for the West.

His stand for economic individualism and his attacks on such bastions of the moneyed interests as the Bank of the United States won the approval of the growing middle class.

Jackson acted firmly for the Union in the nullification controversy. But the South became increasingly dissident, and John C. In these territories were rounded out by the Gadsden Purchase. In California the discovery of gold in brought the rush of forty-niners, swelling population and making statehood for California a pressing question.

The westward movement was also stimulated by many other factors. The great profits from open-range cattle ranching brought a stream of ranchers to the area this influx was to reach fever pitch after the Civil War.

The American farmer, with his abundant land, was often profligate in its cultivation, and as the soil depleted he continued to move farther west, settling the virgin territory.

Soil exhaustion was particularly rapid in the South, where a one-crop economy prevailed, but because cotton profits were frequently high the plantation system quickly spread as far west as Texas. Occupation of the West was also sped by European immigrants hungry for land. Slavery, Civil War, and Reconstruction. By the midth cent. The Wilmot Proviso illustrated Northern antislavery demands, while Southerners, too, became increasingly intransigent.

Only with great effort was the Compromise of achieved, and it was to be the last great compromise between the sections. The new Western states, linked in outlook to the North, had long since caused the South to lose hold of the House of Representatives, and Southern parity in the Senate was threatened by the prospective addition of more free states than slaveholding ones.

The South demanded stronger enforcement of fugitive slave laws and, dependent on sympathetic Presidents, obtained it from Millard Fillmore and especially from Franklin Pierce and James Buchanan. Although there was sentiment for moderation and compromise in both North and South, it became increasingly difficult to take a middle stand on the slavery issue, and extremists came to the fore on both sides.

Southerners, unable to accept the end of slavery, upon which their entire system of life was based, and fearful of slave insurrection especially after the revolt led by Nat Turner in , felt threatened by the abolitionists, who regarded themselves as leaders in a moral crusade. Southerners attempted to uphold slavery as universally beneficial and biblically sanctioned, while Northerners were increasingly unable to countenance the institution.

Vigorous antislavery groups like the Free-Soil party had already arisen, and as the conflict became more embittered it rent the older parties. The Whig party was shattered, and its Northern wing was largely absorbed in the new antislavery Republican party. The Democrats were also torn, and the compromise policies of Stephen A.

Douglas were of dwindling satisfaction to a divided nation. The climax came in when the Republican Abraham Lincoln defeated three opponents to win the presidency. Southern leaders, feeling there was no possibility of fair treatment under a Republican administration, resorted to secession from the Union and formed the Confederacy. The attempts of the seceding states to take over federal property within their borders notably Fort Sumter in Charleston, S. The ensuing problems of Reconstruction in the South were complicated by bitter struggles, including the impeachment of President Andrew Johnson in Military rule in parts of the South continued through the administrations of Ulysses S.

Grant, which were also notable for their outrageous corruption. A result of the disputed election of , in which the decision was given to Rutherford B.

Hayes over Samuel J. Tilden, was the end of Reconstruction and the reentry of the South into national politics. The Late Nineteenth Century. The remainder of the 19th cent.