Glossary

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

UHF independents: Ultrahigh-frequency channels between 14 and 81 on the standard TV dial.

UNESCO: Acronym for United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization.

Ulster: The northern province of Ireland that provided 70 percent of the Irish immigrants in the colonial period. Nearly all of them were Presbyterians whose forebears had moved to Ireland from Scotland in the previous century. They sometimes are called Scots-Irish today.

Unicameral legislature: A legislature with one chamber or house.

Unionists: Southerners who remained loyal to the Union during the Civil War.

Unterseeboot: Better known as the U-boat; first militarily effective submarine.

under-consumptionism: Theory that underconsumption, or a chronic weakness in consumer demand, had caused the Depression. The path to recovery lay not in restricting the output of goods but in boosting consumer expenditures through a variety of government policies, including vast public-works programs.

underground: A small group that helped slaves escape bondage in the railroad South. It took on legendary status and its role was much exaggerated.

unincorporated territory: The designation given Puerto Rico when it was annexed. It meant that Congress would decide on the type of government for the island and would specify the rights of its inhabitants.

union leagues: Organizations that informed African-American voters of, and mobilized them to, support the Republican Party.

universal conscription: Drafting of all men of a certain age, irrespective of their family wealth, ethnic background, or social standing. Wilson was firmly committed to this as a way of raising an American military.

universal male suffrage: A system that allows all adult males to vote without regard to property, religious, or race qualifications or limitations.

urban corridors: Metropolitan strips of population running between older cities.