圣经名词解释

Major Terms

The United States of America

1.

The Mississippi ______ It is the most important and longest reiver in the US. It flows about 6400 km

from its northwestern source in the Rockies to the Gulf of Mexico. The Mississippi and its tributariies

drain one of the richest farm areas in the world.

2.

The melting pot ______ It means that the US is composed of immigrants from different nations all

over the world.

3.

WASPs ______ It stands for White Anglo-Saxon Protestants. They are the mainstream of Americans

who are the descentdents of the early English settlers.

4.

Jamestown ______ The first permanent colony established by the English in 1607.

5.

Declaration of

Independence ______ The United States

Declaration of

Independence

is

a statement

adopted by the Continental Congress

on July 4,

1776, which announced that the thirteen American

colonies should be free and independent states. It was drafted by Thomas Jefferson.

6.

Bill of Rights ______ The Bill of Rights is the collective name for the first ten amendments to the

United States

Constitution. The

Bill

of Rights

is a series of limitations on the power of the United

States federal government, protecting the natural rights of liberty and property including freedom of

religion, freedom of speech, a free press, free assembly, and free association, as well as the right to

keep and bear arms. In federal criminal cases, it requires indictment by a grand jury for any capital or

the state or judicial district in which the crime occurred, and prohibits double jeopardy. In addition,

the Bill of Rights reserves for the people any rights not specifically mentioned in the Constitution and

reserves all powers not specifically granted to the federal government to the people or the States.

7.

The Louisiana Purchase ______ The acquisition by the United States of America of 2,147,000 km

2

France's claim to the territory of Louisiana in 1803. The U.S. paid $$11,250,000 plus cancellation of

debts worth $$3,750,000, for a total sum of 15 million dollars for the Louisiana territory ($$219 million

in 2010 dollars).

8.

Gettysburg

Address

______

A

speech

by

Lincoln

on

Nov.

19,1863

after

the

northern

victory

at

Gettysburg. The speech was considered unimportant at the time, but has come to be viewed by the

Americans as one of the most significant expressions of American democracy.

9.

Emancipation

Proclamation ______

An executive order issued by United States President Abraham

Lincoln on January 1, 1863, during the American Civil War under his war powers. It proclaimed the

1

freedom of 3.1 million of the nation's 4 million slaves, and immediately freed 50,000 of them, with the

rest freed as Union armies advanced.

10.

Ku Klux Klan ______ Ku Klux Klan _______ Racist terrorist organization in the U.S. organized by

veterans

of

the

Confederate

army,

first

as

a

social

club

and

then

as

a

secret

means

of

resisting

Reconstruction and restoring white domination over newly enfranchised blacks.

11.

The Gilded Age ______ A term referring to substantial growth in population in the United States and

extravagant

displays

of

wealth

and

excess

of

America's

upper-class

during

the

post- Civil

War

and

post-Reconstruction

era,

in

the

late

19th

century

(1865-1901).

Modern

America’s

formative

period,

when

an

agrarian

society

of

small

producers

was

transformed

into

an

urban

society

dominated

by

industrial corporations.

12.

Open

door

policy

______

It

is

a

statement

of

U.S.

foreign

policy

toward

China.

Issued

by

U.S.

secretary of state John Hay (1899), the statement reaffirmed the principle that all imperialist powers

should have equal access to any Chinese port open to trade.

13.

Big Stick Policy ______ A form of hegemony and was the slogan describing U.S. President Theodore

Roosevelt’s

corollary

推论

to

the

Monroe

Doctrine.

The

term

originated

from

the

African

proverb

softly

and

carry

a

big

stick;

you

will

go

far.

The

idea

of

negotiating

peacefully,

simultaneously threatening with the

14.

Veto power ______ The power of the US President to unilaterally stop an official action, especially

enactment of a piece of legislation.

15.

Party platform ______ A party platform, also known as a manifesto, is a list of the actions which a

political party supports in order to appeal to the general public for the purpose of having said party's

candidates

voted

into

office.

This

often

takes

the

form

of

a

list

of

support

for,

or

opposition

to,

controversial topics. Individual topics are often called planks of the platform.

16.

Federalism

______

Federalism

means

the

division

of

powers

by

a

constitution

between

the

central

government and state government. It operates only on two levels, the national and the state. Units of

government within a state enjoy no independent existence.

17.

The black death______ It was a disease or plague spread by rat fleas in 14

th

century. It spread through

Europe in the middle of the 14

th

century and reached England in the summer of 1348. Many people

died and the population of England shrank. It caused labor shortage and other social problems.

18.

The Hundred Years

’

War ______ It refers to the war between France and England that lasted for more

than 100 years (1337-1467). The causes were partly territorial and partly economic. After three stages

of

the

war,

the

English

were

driven

out

of

France

with

only

Calais

in

hand.

The

ending

of

war

is

2