Glossary

American Passages: A History of the United States, Brief, 1st Edition
Ayers, Gould, Oshinsky, Soderlund

Federalist: Supporters of the Constitution during the ratification process. Antifederalists were opponents of constitutional ratification.

Fenian Brotherhood: An Irish-American secret society that believed an invasion of Canada would help bring independence to Ireland.

Freedmen's Bureau: A federal agency created in 1865 to supervise newly freed people. It oversaw relations between whites and blacks in the South, issued food rations, and supervised labor contracts.

Freedom Summer: Summer of 1964, when about a thousand volunteers went to Mississippi to aid in voter registration.

Fundamentalists: Religious groups that preach the necessity of fidelity to a strict moral code, individual commitment to Christ, and faith in the literal truth of the Bible.

factories: A term used to describe small posts established for the early slave trade along the coast of Africa or on the small offshore islands.

fall line: The geographical region defined by the first waterfall encountered on a river. These waterfalls usually prevented ocean going vessels from traveling further inland and made the fall line a significant early barrier.

fascism: Type of highly centralized government that uses terror and violence to suppress opposition. Its rigid social and economic controls often incorporated strong nationalism and racism. Fascist governments were dominated by strong authority figures or dictators.

favorite son: The candidate for president supported by delegates from his home state.

felony: A major crime.

feudal revival: The reliance on old feudal charters for all of the profits that could be extracted from them. This took place in several colonies in the mid-eighteenth century and caused serious problems for many of the tenants on the land.

fiat money: Paper money backed only by the promise of the government to accept it in payment of taxes. It originated in Massachusetts after a military emergency in 1690.

filibuster: Congressional delaying tactic involving lengthy speeches that prevent legislation from being enacted.

filibustering: A term used to describe several groups that invaded or attempted to invade various Latin American areas to attempt to add them to the slaveholding regions of the United States. The word originated from filibustero, meaning a freebooter or pirate.

fire-eaters: Southerners who were eager, enthusiastic supporters of southern rights and later of secession.

fireside chats: Series of inspirational radio addresses by President Roosevelt. He spoke in a plain and friendly voice to the American people.

flappers: Young, single, middle-class women who wore their hair and dresses short, rolled their stockings down, used cosmetics, and smoked in public. They were signaling their desire for independence and equality, but not through politics. The new female personality was endowed with self-reliance, outspokenness, and a new appreciation for the pleasures of life.

flexible response: Kennedy approach to the cold war. The aim was to provide a wide variety of methods to combat the growth of communist movements.

forty acres and a mule: The dream of many former slaves that they would receive free land from the confiscated property of ex-Confederates. Only a few areas gave them land. Most ex-Confederates got their plantations back through general amnesty programs, or they received a special pardon from President Johnson.

fossil fuels: Fuels such as coal, natural gas, and petroleum that were formed from plant or animal remains from a previous geological period.

franchise: The right to vote. Enfranchise: To give or allow a group the right to vote. Disfranchise: To take away the right to vote.

free householders: A term used to describe small-property owners.

free labor: The belief that all work in a free society is honorable and

free silver: The government would purchase all silver offered for sale and coin it into silver dollars. The preferred ratio between silver and gold was sixteen to one.

free-fire zones: Areas designated in which anything could be shot at in the southern part of Vietnam.

free-soiler: A term used to describe people who opposed the expansion of slavery into the territories. It came from the name of a small political party in the election of 1848.

freedom riders: Members of interracial groups who rode around the South on buses. They were determined that a series of federal court decisions, declaring segregation on buses and in waiting rooms to be unconstitutional, would not be ignored by white officials.

frontier: The term used by 1820 to replace "backcountry." The frontier was considered an area that was on the advancing edge of American civilization.

fueling stations: Bases used to refuel naval and commercial ships, especially coal-burning ships crossing the Pacific.

funded national: The state agreed to pay the interest due to its creditors debt before all other obligations.