Social Studies Glossary

Abolitionists are people who wanted to put an end to American slavery.

Absolute location refers to the location of a place which is expressed exactly throughout the use of a grid system.

Accessibility describes the relative ease with which a place can be reached from other places.

Acculturation is the process of adopting the traits of a cultural group.

Aerial photography is a photograph of part of Earth's surface, usually taken from an airplane.

Adams Onis Treaty (1819) was an agreement in which Spain transferred East Florida to the United States for $5 million and the United States promised to drop its claim to Texas.

Affirmative Action refers to a policy or program designed to redress historic injustices committed against racial minorities and other specified groups by making special efforts to provide members of these groups with access to educational and employment opportunities.

African Diaspora describes the forcible resettlement of millions of African people to the Americas from the 1500s through the 1800s.

Agribusiness is the strategy of applying business practices to the operation of specialized commercial farms in order to achieve efficiency of operation and increased profit margins.

Albany Plan of Union (1754) is Benjamin Franklin's plan, aimed at providing mutual defense, to unite the colonies through a loose confederation.

Alien and Sedition Acts (1789) are a series of laws passed by the Federalists to protect the country from foreign influence, to limit Republican powers, and to silence government critics.

Allied Powers are the members who comprise the World War I alliance that included France, Great Britain, Russia, Italy and later the United States.

Alien is anyone who is not a citizen of the country in which he or she lives.

Amendment (constitutional) is a change in, or addition to, a constitution. Specifically in the United States, proposed by a two-thirds vote of both houses of Congress the request of two-thirds of the state legislatures. Ratified by approval of three fourths of the states.

American Federation of Labor (AFL) is an organization of independent skilled craft unions founded in 1886 by Samuel Gompers.

American Indian Movement (AIM) is an organization, founded in 1968 by Minnesota Chippewas, that became the major force in the Red Power movement during the 1970's.

Amnesty is an official pardon for crimes committed against the government.

Anarchists are people who oppose all forms of government.

Anarchy is the absence of formal legal order; also the social context in which legitimate political authority does not exist.

Annex is an action by which one country takes control of another country or territory.

Antifederalists were individuals who feared a powerful national government and opposed ratification of the United States Constitution.

Anti-Semitism is a hatred of Jews.

Apartheid is racial segregation; former racial policy of the nation of South Africa.

Appeasement is a policy of giving in to demands of a country or countries in an effort to avoid major conflicts.

Arbitration is a hearing in which a third party settles a dispute.

Armistice is a cease-fire.

Articles of Confederation was an agreement, enacted in 1781, in which the 13 colonies established a government of states with each state retaining power over its own affairs.

Artifacts are the material manifestations of a culture such as tools, clothing and foods

Assessed curriculum is the knowledge and skills for which evidence of student achievement is collected.

Assessment is the collection and organization of data on student progress in achieving set objectives.

Assimilation is the acceptance, by one culture group or community, of cultural traits normally associated with another.

Atmosphere is the envelope of gases, aerosols, and other materials that surrounds Earth and is held close by gravity.

Attained curriculum is the knowledge and skills students actually acquire as a result of instruction.

Authority is the right conferred by law, morality or custom, to control or direct the actions of others.

Automation is the manufacturing process that used machines to perform repetitive industrial operations faster and more efficiently than human labor could obtain.

Baby boom is the term used to describe America's soaring birth rate between 1946 and 1964.

Balance of trade is the difference in value between trade exports and imports.

Balfour Declaration (1917) is the statement issued by Great Britain declaring its support for a Jewish homeland in Palestine.

Bear market is the downward trend in stock prices.

Benevolent societies were organizations formed in America during the late 1800's and early 1900's to support and aid new immigrants.

Bicameral is the term used to describe a legislature made up of two houses.

Bill of attainder is a law that punishes a person by fine, imprisonment, or seizure of property without a court trial.

Bill of Rights (1791) is the term used to describe the first ten amendments to the United States Constitution; they were ratified in 1791.

Biomass are materials, such as wood or waste products, that can be burned or used to make fuel.

Biomes are very large ecosystems made up of specific plant and animal communities interacting with the physical environment (climate and soil.) They are usually identified with the climate and climax vegetation of large areas of Earth's surface (e.g. the Equatorial and Tropical Rain Forest Biome.)

Biosphere is the realm of Earth which all plant and animal life forms.

Benefit is something that is useful to the recipient.

Blacklists were the lists of union supporters drawn up by employers for the purpose of denying jobs to union workers.

Boundary is the limit or extent within which a system exists or functions, including a social group, a state, or physical feature.

Bonus Army is the name given to World War I veterans who marched on Washington, DC, in 1932 to support a bill granting veterans early payment of pension bonuses.

Bourgeoisie is the term to describe the middle class; originated in the Middle Ages and consisted of merchants and bankers.

Brown v. Board of Education (1954) was the Supreme Court case which declared that "separate but equal" educational facilities are inherently unequal and therefore a violation of equal protection of the law guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment.

Brinkmanship was the policy promoted by Secretary of State Dulles during the 1950's, which called for threatening all out war in order to confront Communist aggression.

Bull market is an upward trend in stock prices.

Business cycle is the upward and downward movement of overall economic activity over a period of years.

Cabinet is the term used to describe the Secretaries, or chief administrators, of the major departments of the federal government. Cabinet secretaries are appointed by the President of the United States with the consent of the Senate.

Capital is a factor of production; productive resources made by past human efforts used to produce other goods and services (e.g., buildings, machinery, vehicles, and tools).

Capitalism is an economic system based on a free market and private ownership of property.

Cardinal directions are the four main points of the compass: north, south, east, and west.

Carrying capacity is the maximum number of animals and/or people a given area can support at a given time under specified levels of consumption.

Cartographer is a person who designs and creates maps and other geographic representations.

Caste System is a set of divisions in society based on differences of wealth, inherited rank, privilege, profession, or occupation.

Causative factor is something that actively brings about a result.

Chauvinism is a fanatical patriotism, blind devotion to and belief in the superiority of one's group.

Checks and balances are the Constitutional mechanisms that authorize each branch of government to share powers with the other branches and thereby check their activities.

Chinese Exclusion Act (1882) was a federal law that denied U.S. citizenship to people born in China and prohibited the immigration of Chinese laborers.

Chlorofluorocarbons (CFC's) are the compounds, containing carbon, chlorine, fluorine, and sometimes hydrogen; they are suspected of damaging the ozone layer.

Choropleth map show differences between areas by using colors or shading to represent distinct categories of qualities such as vegetation type or quantities such as the percentage graduating from high school, population density, or birthrate.

Circumnavigate is to sail around the world.

Citizen is a member of a political society who therefore owes allegiance to and is entitled to the government and is entitled to its protection and to political rights.

Citizenship is the status of being a member of a state, one who owes allegiance to the government and is entitled to its protection and to political rights.

Civil law is the body of law that deals with private rights of individuals, as distinguished from criminal law.

Civil liberties are areas of personal freedom with which governments are constrained from interfering.

Civil Rights are the protections and privileges given to all U.S. citizens by the Constitution and Bill of Rights.

Civil Rights Movement is the continuing efforts to gain the enforcement of the rights guaranteed to all citizens by the Constitutions.

Civil War Amendments are the Thirteenth, Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments, passed following the Civil War which freed slaves, granted them citizenship, and guaranteed them the rights of citizens.

Class system is a system in which members of social classes are prevented from moving into other classes.

Climate is comprised of long-term trends in weather elements and atmospheric conditions.

Climate graph (climograph) is a graph which combines average monthly temperature and precipitation data from a particular place.

Clear and present danger is a standard used to justify limitations on speech that will lead directly to harm to others.

Cold War was the competition between the United States and the Soviet Union for global power and influence.

Colonial charters are the documents granting authority to the original colonies by the British.

Columbian exchange was the transfer, initiated by Columbus’s voyage, of people, ideas, plants, animals and diseases among the Americas, Europe, Asia, and Africa.

Command economy is an economic system within which decisions are made by a governmental authority.

Common law is a body of unwritten law developed in England from judicial decisions based on custom and earlier judicial decision.

Common good is the benefit or interest of a politically organized society as a whole.

Commonwealth is a political unit founded on law in which members are expected to work together for the common good.

Compact/covenant is a binding agreement made by two or more persons or parties.

Comparative advantage is when one of two individuals, regions or nations has a lower opportunity cost for producing the same goods or services.

Competency based education is a program designed to link appropriate instruction, assessment, evaluation, and intervention in assisting students to learn.

Concentric growth refers to the zonal model of urban social or economic growth, which states that a city grows outward from a central area in a series of concentric rings or zones that are occupied by distinctive social groups or land uses.

Concurrent powers are powers that may be exercised by both the federal government and the state governments.

Conscription is the compulsory draft into military service.

Consent of the governed is an agreement by the people to set up and live under a government. According to the natural rights philosophy, all legitimate government must rest on the consent of the governed.

Consumption is the expenditures on or the use of goods and services.

Constitutionalism is an idea that the powers of government should be distributed according to a written or unwritten constitution and that those powers should be effectively restrained by the constitution's provisions.

Constructivism is the idea that learning is an active process rather than a passive reception of knowledge in which students form ideas about their world by relating new information with pre-existing ideas as influenced by the social and cultural environment.

Containment was the Cold War strategy proposed by George Kennan to stop the spread of communism.

Contour map is a representative of some part of Earth's surface using lines along which all points are of equal elevation above or below a fixed datum, usually sea level.

Contraction is one phase of the business cycle characterized by a downturn in overall economic activity accompanied by rising unemployment and declining real gross domestic product.

Cooperative learning is an instructional approach in which students share elements of a task as a team to create a common basis of knowledge for which each member of the team is accountable.

Corporation is a type of business in which the money needed to run the company is obtained by selling shares of stock.

Cost is that which must be given up to obtain something else.

Country is a unit of political space, often referred to as a state.

Criminal law is the branch of law that deals with disputes or actions involving criminal penalties as opposed to civil law, it regulates the conduct of individuals, defines crimes, and provides punishment for criminal acts.

Crop-lien system is an arrangement in which sharecroppers offered crops to merchants in exchange for supplies.

Crude birthrate is the total number of live births in a year for every 1000 people in a population.

Crude death rate is the total number of deaths in a year for every 1000 people in a population.

Culture is the learned behavior of people, which includes their belief systems and languages, their social relationships, their institutions and organizations and their material goods, food, clothing, buildings, tools and machines.

Cultural diffusion is the spread of cultural elements from one culture to another.

Curriculum is a plan of educational expectations pertaining to what students would know and be able to do in a particular discipline that guides instructional activities, use of materials, assessment, etc.

Declaration of Independence (1776) is the document adopted by the Second Continental Congress that justified and outlined reasons for the American separation from Great Britain.

Deforestation is the destruction and removal of forest and its undergrowth by natural or human forces.

Delegated powers are powers granted to the national government under the Constitution, as enumerated in Articles I, II, and III.

Demand is the amount of goods or services that buyers are willing and able to purchase at various prices in a given time period.

Demobilization is the shift from wartime preparations to a peacetime economy.

Democracy is the form of government in which political control is exercised by all the people, either directly or through their elected representatives.

Demographic change is a change in population size, composition, rates of growth, density, fertility and mortality rates, and patterns of migration.

Demography is the study of population statistics, changes, and trends based on various measures of fertility, mortality, and migration.

Density is the population or number of objects per unit area.

Depression is a sharp drop in business activity accompanied by rising unemployment.

Desertification is the spread of desert conditions in arid and semiarid regions resulting from a combination of climatic changes and increasing human pressures, such as overgrazing, removal of vegetation, and cultivation of marginal land.

Détente is the lessening of military and diplomatic tensions between countries.

Developmental level is one of a series of stages in the development of the intellect which proceed from the perception of concrete objects to the formal reasoning involved in the formation and interpretation of concepts.

Developmentally appropriate is a curriculum and instruction designed to reflect the cognitive, motor, social and emotional levels of the students.

Diagnostic is the practice of investigating the cause or nature of a condition or situation.

Diffusion is the spread of people, ides, technology, and products among places.

Direct primary is the nominating election in which voters choose candidates to run in a general election.

Disarmament is the reduction of limitation in the amount of nation's military weapons.

Disposition is a prevailing tendency to act in a certain manner under given circumstances.

Dissenters are people who disagree with opinions expressed by the majority.

Distribution is the arrangement of items over a specified area.

Dividends are portions of a company's profits received by its stockholders.

Divine right is the theory of government that holds that a monarch received the right to rule directly from God and not from the people.

Doctrine of nullification is the theory of the states' rights to refuse to obey any act passed by Congress that they consider unconstitutional.

Domestication is the adaptation and control of plants and animals.

Dred Scott decision (1857) was the Supreme Court case in which Scott, a slave, was declared not to be a citizen and therefore not able to bring a suit for his freedom in U.S. courts.

Due process of law is the right of every citizen to be protected against arbitrary action by government.

Duty is a tax on imports.

Ecology is the study of the interactions of living organisms between themselves, their habitats, and the physical environment.

Ecosystem is a system formed by the interaction of all living organisms with each other and the physical and chemical factors of the environment in which they live.

Elastic clause is the "necessary and proper" clause that allows Congress to expand its powers beyond those limits outlined in the United States Constitution.

Electors are people selected by state legislatures to case electoral votes for president and vice president.

Elevation is a height of a point or place above sea level.

Entrepreneurship is a factor of production; the productive resources supplied by a profit seeking decision maker who decides what economic activities to engage in and how they should be undertaken.

Enumerated powers are powers that are specifically granted to Congress by Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution.

Environment is everything in and on Earth's surface and its atmosphere within which organisms, communities or objects exist.

Equal protection clause is the Fourteenth Amendment provision that prohibits states from denying equal protection of the laws to all people such as discriminating against individuals in an arbitrary manner such as on the basis of race.

Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) was placed before Congress in 1923, the ERA stated that "Equal rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the Untied States or any State on account of sex." ERA passed Congress in 1972 but the required three quarters of the states failed to ratify it.

Equator, latitude 0 degrees, is an imaginary line running east and west around the globe and dividing it into two equal parts known as the Northern and Southern Hemispheres; that place on Earth which always has approximately twelve hours of daylight and twelve hours of darkness.

Era is a time period set off or typified by some prominent figure (s) or characteristic feature.

Escalation is the increase or buildup of military forces or weapons.

Established church or established religion is an official, state-sponsored religion.

Establishment clause is the clause in the First Amendment that states the government may not set up, or establish, an official religion.

Ethnicity is a group of people that can be identified within a larger culture or society on the basis of such factors as religion, ancestry, or language.

Ethnocentrism is the belief the inherent superiority of one's own group and culture; a tendency to view all of the groups or cultures in terms of one's own.

Evaluation is an interpreting assessment data and making judgments about the extent of student achievement in reaching objectives.

Excise taxes are the taxes on the manufacture, sale, or consumption of a manufactured article within a county.

Executive power is the power of the president to implement and enforce laws.

Expansion is one phase of the business cycle in which there is a sustained increase in economic activity ( a peak represents the end of an expansion.)

Factors of production are the resources used to produce goods and services (i.e. land, labor, capital, entrepreneurship).

Fauna is the animal life of an area or region.

Fertility rate is the average number of children a woman will have during her child bearing years (15 to 49 years of age).

Feudalism was the system in the Middle Ages in which nobles pledged military assistance and loyalty to rulers in return for land and protection.

Fiscal policy is the use of government spending and taxing powers to influence macroeconomic goals.

Federal supremacy clause is Article VI of the Constitution provides that the constitution and all federal laws and treaties shall be the "supreme Law of the Land." Therefore, all federal laws take precedence over state and local laws.

Federal system or federalism is the form of political organization in which governmental power is divided between a central government and territorial subdivisions specifically in the United States, among the national, state, and local governments.

Federalists were advocates of a strong national government and supporters of adoption of the U.S. Constitution.

Feudalism was the political and economic system in which a king or queen shared power with the nobility who required services from the common people in return for allowing them to use the noble's land.

Flora is the plant life of an area or region.

Flow map is a map with arrows or lines illustrating the diffusion of peoples, ideas, products, etc.

Founders were the people who played important roles in the development of the national government of the United States.

Formal region is a region defined by the uniformity or homogeneity of certain characteristics, such as precipitation, landforms, subculture, or type of economic production.

Free trade is the policy of having no restrictions over imports or exports.

Framers were the delegates to the Philadelphia Convention held in 1787 and those who wrote and ratified the Bill of Rights.

Franchise is the right to vote.

Free exercise clause is the clause in the First Amendment that states the government shall make no law prohibiting the free practice of religious beliefs.

Freedom to assemble is the freedom of people to gather together in public.

Freedom of conscience is the freedom of belief.

Freedom of expression refers to the freedoms of speech, press, assembly and petition that are protected by the First Amendment.

Freedom of petition is the freedom to present requests to the government without reprisal.

Freedom of the press is the freedom to print or publish without government interference.

Freedom of religion is the freedom to worship as one pleases.

Freedom of speech is the freedom to express oneself, either verbally or non-verbally, that is symbolically.

Functional region is the functional unity of a region is often provided by a strong node or center of human population and activity. Regions that are defined by their ties to a central node are classified as nodal or functional regions.

Fundamental rights are rights considered to be essential.

Genocide is the deliberate annihilation of an entire people.

Geographic Information System (GIS) is a geographic database that contains information about the distribution of physical and human characteristics of places or areas.

General welfare is the good of society as a whole.

Globe is a scale model of Earth that represents area, relative size and shape of physical features, distance between points, and true compass direction.

Glyph is a picture or symbol used in the Olmec and other picture writing systems.

Good is any object that is capable of satisfying a human want.

Government is comprised of institutions and procedures through which a territory and its people are ruled.

Grid is a pattern of lines on a chart or maps, such as those representing latitude and longitude, which helps determine absolute location and assists in the analysis of distribution patterns or an intersecting pattern of lines on a chart.

Gross domestic product (GDP) is the total monetary value of goods and services produced in a country during one year.

Gross national product (GNP) is the Gross Domestic Product adjusted to include the value of goods and services from other countries subsequently used in producing goods and services in the home country.

Guerrilla warfare utilizes military tactics of using hit and run skirmishes while avoiding direct battles.

Habeas corpus is a court order demanding that the individual in custody be brought into court and shown the cause for detention. Habeas corpus is guaranteed by the Constitution and can be suspended only in cases of rebellion or invasion.

Harlem Renaissance was a period of African American artistic development during the 1920's in New York City's Harlem area.

Hemisphere is a half of a sphere.

Holocaust was the systematic slaughter of European Jews with other groups such as homosexuals and political dissenters by the German Nazis during World War II.

Human rights are basic rights and freedoms to which all people are entitled, including freedom from unlawful detention or torture.

Hydrologic cycle is the continuous circulation of water from the oceans, through the air, to the land, and back to the sea. Water evaporates from oceans, lakes, rivers, and the land surfaces and transpires from vegetation. It condenses into clouds in the atmosphere, which may result in precipitation returning water to the land. Water then seeps into the soil or flows out to sea, completing the cycle.

Ideology is the combined doctrines, assertions, and intentions of a social or political group that justify its behavior.

Impeachment is the power of Congress to remove the president, vice president, federal judges, and other federal officers from office.

Imperialism is the practice of extending the power of a nation by direct territorial acquisition of colonial empires.

Impressment is the practice of kidnapping and forcing people into public service.

Income is comprised of payments received by households, businesses, and governments in a given time period that may be spent or saved.

Individual rights are rights possessed by individuals as opposed to those rights claimed by groups.

Indentured servant is a person who agreed to work for a specified time for the person who paid his or her way to America.

Industrialization is the growth of machine production and the factory system. The process of introducing manufacturing into countries or regions where most of the people are engaged in primary economic activities.

Infant mortality rate is the average number of deaths among infants under one year of age for every 1,000 live births.

Inflation is an upward movement in the general level of prices which results in a reduction in the amount of goods and services that can be purchased with a given amount of money.

Initiative is an election reform that gives voters the power to introduce legislation.

Institution is an organization such as Congress, the presidency, and the court system that play a significant role in the making, carrying out, and enforcing laws, and managing conflicts about them.

Instructional objective is an indicator of what students should know and be able to do at a particular level of their educational experience.

Interdependence is the reliance by people, within and between places, upon each other for ideas, goods, services, etc.

Interdisciplinary is a curriculum approach that applies knowledge from more the one discipline to examine a problem or topic.

Interest is the payment for the use of capital or saving.

Intermediate directions are the points of the compass that fall between the four cardinal points (e.g. northeast, southeast.)

Internment is an imprisonment.

Iroquois League was the confederation of Native American tribes formed in the 15^th or 16^th century; also called the Six Nations.

Isolationism is the policy of avoiding international political economic alliances.

Judicial power is the power to manage conflicts about the interpretation and application of the law.

Judicial review is the doctrine that permits the federal courts to declare unconstitutional and thus null and void acts of the Congress, the executive, and the states.

Labor is a factor of production; the talents, training, and skills of people which contribute to the production of goods and services.

Laissez faire is the doctrine opposing governmental interference in economic affairs beyond the minimum necessary for the maintenance of peace and property rights.

Land is a factor of production; productive resources occurring in nature ( e.g., coal, air natural, gas, water.)

Land use is the range of uses of Earth's surface made by humans.

Landform is the shape, form or nature of a specific physical feature of the Earth's surface (e.g., mountains, plains, plateaus).

Latitude, assuming that the Earth is a sphere, is a point on the surface that is the angle measured at the center of the Earth between a ray lying on the plane of the Equator and a line connecting the center with the point on the surface.

Legend is an explanatory description or key to features on a map or chart.

Legislative powers are the power to make laws.

Legitimacy is the acceptance as right and proper.

Life expectancy is the average number of remaining years a person can expect to live under current mortality levels in a society.

Linkage is the contact and flow of ideas, information, people, and products between places.

Location is the position of a point on Earth's surface expressed by means of a grid (absolute) or in relation (relative) of the position of other places.

Longitude is the position of a point on Earth's surface expressed as its angular distance, east or west from the prime meridian to 180 degrees.

Macroeconomic is the study of an economy as a whole.

Magna Carta is the document signed by King John of England in 1215 A.D. that guaranteed certain basic rights.

Manifest Destiny is the phrase coined in 1845 to express the belief that United States was destined to extend its boundaries westward to the Pacific Ocean.

Map is a graphic representation of a portion of Earth that is usually drawn to scale on a flat surface.

Marbury V. Madison (1803) is the case in which the Supreme Court held that it had the power of judicial review over acts of Congress.

Market is the interaction of the buyers and sellers of a particular good or service; this exchange of information about prices and quantities bought and sold need not be located in a particular place.

Marshall Plan is the U.S. foreign policy named after Secretary of State George Marshall that gave substantial aid to Western European countries after World War II from 1948- 1952 to rehabilitate their economies.

Mayflower Compact is the document drawn up by the Pilgrims in 1620 while on the Mayflower before landing at Plymouth Rock which provided for self-government.

Mercantilism is the doctrine that the economic interests of a nation can be strengthened by tariffs, increased foreign trade, monopolies, and by a balance of exports over imports.

Meridian is an imaginary great circle on the surface of the Earth passing through the poles and any given place and used to measure longitude.

Migration is the act or process of people moving from one place to another with the intent of staying at the destination permanently or for a relatively long period of time.

Mixed market economy is an economic system that contains elements of a market economy along with elements of a command and/or traditional economy.

Monarchy is a government in which political power is exercised by a single ruler under the claim of divine or hereditary right.

Mountains are high elevation landform features composed mostly of steep slopes and large amounts of local relief within a specified area.

Multiculturalism is a pluralistic society in which there are a number of subcultures.

Multiple causation is the idea that events have more than one contributing cause.

Multiple tier time line is a time line that utilizes two or more rows of events, each row representing a different subject or perspective occurring during the period under study.

Narrative is a story; description of related events.

Nation is a cultural concept for a group of people bound together by a strong sense of shared values and cultural characteristics including language, religion, and common history.

Nativism is a policy of favoring native born Americans over immigrants.

Natural rights include a belief that individuals are naturally endowed with basic human rights; those rights that are so much a part of human nature that they cannot be taken away or given up as opposed to rights conferred by law.

Nineteenth Amendment is an amendment to the Constitution, ratified in 1920, guaranteeing women the right to vote, and which the state of Tennessee cast the positive deciding vote.

Network use a pattern of links between points along which movement can take place.

Nobility is a group of persons having legally recognized titles, usually of a hereditary nature, who compose the aristocracy in a society.

Nonrenewable resource is a finite resource that cannot be replaced once it is used.

Opportunity cost is the value of the next best alternative when an economic choice is made.

Override is the constitutional power that allows Congress to overrule a presidential veto with a two-thirds vote.

Ozone layer is a thin veil of molecules, located some 10 to 30 miles above the earth's surface that protects the earth from UV rays.

Parallel is an imaginary circle on the surface of the Earth paralleling the equator and used to measure latitude.

Pilgrims were the people who left England because of religious conflict and sailed aboard the Mayflower to North America where they founded Plymouth Colony.

Places are locations having distinctive characteristics that give them meaning and character and distinguish them from other locations.

Plate tectonics include the theory that Earth's surface is composed of rigid slabs or plates. The divergence, convergence, and slipping side by side of the different plates is responsible for present day configurations of continents, oceans basin, and major mountain ranges, and valley systems.

Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) is the Supreme Court case in which the court upheld segregation by ruling that "separate but equal" facilities did not violate the Fourteenth Amendment.

Political culture includes the fundamental beliefs and assumptions of a people about how government and politics should operate.

Political party is any group, however loosely organized, that seeks to elect government officials under a given label.

Political rights are the rights to participate in the political process.

Population density is the number of individuals occupying an area derived from dividing the number of people by the area they occupy.

Portfolio is a purposeful collection of evidence pertaining to student learning.

Population pyramid is a bar graph showing the distribution by gender and age of a country's population.

Preamble is the introduction to a formal document that explains its purpose.

Precedent is an action that may serve as a guide for future, similar actions.

Primary source is an account of an event by someone who was present at the event.

Prime meridian (Greenwich meridian) is 0 degrees; the standard meridian from which longitude is measured. The prime meridian crosses Greenwich in London, England, the site of the Royal Naval Observatory.

Principle is a basic rule that guides or influences thought or action.

Production is the act of combining land, labor, capital, and entrepreneurship to make goods and services.

Prohibition- legal ban on the manufacture, transportation, and sale of alcoholic beverages.

Public policy includes the laws, regulations, and decisions that govern a political entity.

Puritan ethic is the belief in the primacy of religious duty, work, conscience, and self-restraint in the life of the individual.

Recall is an election reform that allows voters to remove an elected official from office by calling for a new election.

Reclamation is the process of making damaged land productive.

Referendum is an election reform that allows voters to place a measure on the ballot.

Region is an area with one or more common characteristics or features, which give it a measure of homogeneity and make it different from surrounding areas.

Relative location is the location of a point relative to another point or points.

Renewable resource is a resource that can be regenerated if used carefully.

Reparations are payments of damages.

Representative democracy is a form of government in which power is held by the people and exercised indirectly through elected representatives who make decisions.

Republican government is the system of government in which power is held by the voters and is exercised by elected representatives responsible for promoting the common welfare.

Resource is an aspect of the physical environment that people value and use to meet a need for fuel, food, industrial product, or something else of value.

Revolution is a complete or drastic change of government and the rules by which government is conducted.

Royalty are kings, queens, and members of their families.

Rule of law is the principle that every member of a society, even a ruler, must follow the law.

Salinization is the process by which high salinity soils are formed in arid areas where evaporation rates are high.

Scale maps the relationship or ratio between a linear measurement on a map and the corresponding distance on Earth's surface.

Secondary source is an account of an event by someone who was not present at the event.

Segregation is a separation of races.

Self-determination is the right of people to govern themselves.

Separation of church and state is the concept that religion and government should be separate; basis for the establishment clause of the First Amendment.

Separation of powers is a division of governmental power among several institutions that must cooperate in decision making.

Service is an economic activity that satisfies a consumer's want.

Settlement pattern is the spatial distribution and arrangement of human habitations, including rural and urban centers.

Site is the specific place where something is located, including its physical setting.

Social contract is an agreement among all the people in a society to give up apart of their freedom to a government in return for protection of their natural rights.

Socialism is a system under which government or worker cooperatives own all means of production and distribution.

Sovereignty is the ultimate, supreme power in a state; in the United States, sovereignty rests with the people.

Stagflation is an economic condition in which inflation is accompanied by unemployment.

Strict construction is the theory set forth by Thomas Jefferson that the federal government possess only those powers that the United States Constitution specifically allows.

Suffrage is the right to vote.

Supply is the amounts of goods and services that firms are willing and able to provide at various prices in a given time period.

Tariff is an official schedule of taxes imposed by a government on imports or exports.

Technology is an application of knowledge to meet the goals, goods and services needed and desired by people.

Tectonic plates are the sections of Earth's rigid crust that move as distinct units on a plastic like mantle on which they rest.

Time zone is a division of Earth, usually of longitude 15 degrees, within which the time at the central meridian of the division represents the whole division.

Thematic map is a map representing a specific spatial distribution, theme or topic (e.g., population distribution, religions of the world, types of climate).

Topographic map is a detailed map on a large scale illustrating selected physical and human features of a place.

Topography is the shape of Earth's surface.

Trade off is the sacrifice of one option for another; the use of a resource, good, or service in a particular way precludes other uses for the same resource, good, or service.

Treason is an offense of openly attempting to overthrow a government to which a person owes an allegiance, or of killing or personally harming the head of that government or his or her family.

Treaty is a formal agreement between sovereign nations to create or restrict rights and responsibilities.

Trust is a group of companies that give control of their stock to a board of directors, which then runs the companies as a single enterprise.

"Unalienable" rights are fundamental rights of the people that may not be taken away.

Unenumerated rights are rights which are not specifically listed in the Constitution or Bill of Rights, but which have been recognized and protected by the courts.

Unilaterialism is a one sided or independent action in foreign affairs.

United Nations is the international organization comprising most of the nations of the world, formed in 1945 to promote peace, security, and economic development.

Veto is a Constitutional power of the president to refuse to sign a bill passed by Congress, thereby preventing it from becoming a law. The president's veto may be overridden by a two-thirds vote of both the Senate and House of Representatives.

Virginia Plan was James Madison's proposal during the Constitutional Convention of shifting power away from the states toward a central government.

Want is a psychological or physical desire that may be fulfilled through the consumption of goods and services.

World court is a court in The Hague, the Netherlands, set up by the United Nations Treaty to which nations may voluntarily submit disputes