Glossary

Over 140 terms, from "Abolition" to "Writ of Certiorari", are defined here in this online dictionary for easy reference. Terms are listed alphabetically.

Glossary
Term	Description
Abolition	The legal prohibition and ending of slavery, especially of slavery in the United States.
Activism	The doctrine or practice of vigorous action or involvement as a means of achieving political or other goals, sometimes by demonstrations or protests.
Activist	An especially active, vigorous advocate of a cause, especially a political cause.
Advocate	A person who speaks or writes in support or defense of a person or cause.
Agriculture	The science, art, or occupation concerned with cultivating land, raising crops, and feeding, breeding, and raising livestock; farming.
Amendment	An improvement, a correction, a revision, or a formal statement of such a revision.
Amicus curiae	A person not party to the litigation, who volunteers or is invited by the court to give advice upon some matter pending before it. Also called friend of the court.
Antebellum	From Latin, before (the) war. Belonging to the period prior to the American Civil War.
Appeal	To apply for review of a case or particular issue to a higher tribunal.
Arbitrary	Determined by whim or caprice
Argument	1. A course of reasoning aimed at demonstrating the truth or falsehood of something. 2. A fact or statement offered as proof or evidence.
Assassination	The killing suddenly or secretly, especially of a politically prominent person; premeditated and treacherous murder.
Attorney	One legally appointed or retained to act for another, especially an attorney at law.
Bill of Rights	A formal statement of the fundamental rights of the people of the United States incorporated in the United States Constitution as Amendments 1–10, and in all state constitutions.
Boll Weevil	A small grayish long-snouted beetle of Mexico and the southern United States, with destructive larvae that damage cotton bolls (rounded seed pod).
Boycott	To abstain from using, buying, or dealing with intent to express protest or to coerce.
Brief	The document containing all facts and points of law pertinent to a specific case, filed by an attorney before arguing the case in court.
Case	In a court of law, an action or suit or just grounds for action. The facts or evidence offered in support of a claim.
Civil Disobedience	The refusal to obey certain laws or governmental demands for the purpose of influencing legislation or government policy, characterized by the employment of such nonviolent techniques as boycotting, picketing, or nonpayment of taxes.
Cold War	1. Intense economic, political, military, and ideological rivalry between nations, short of military conflict; sustained hostile political policies and an atmosphere of strain between opposed countries. 2. A rivalry after World War II between the Soviet Union and its satellites and the democratic countries of the Western world under the leadership of the United States.
Colonist	A European inhabitant of one of the European colonies in North America, before the formation of the United States government.
Communism	A system of social organization in which all economic and social activity is controlled by a totalitarian state dominated by a single and self-perpetuating political party.
Complaint	The presentation by the plaintiff in a civil action, setting forth the claim on which relief is sought.
Compliance	1. An act or process of complying with a demand or recommendation 2. Observance of official requirements
Concentration Camp	A guarded compound for the detention or imprisonment of aliens, members of ethnic minorities, or political opponents, especially any of the camps established by the Nazis prior to and during World War II for the confinement and persecution of people for their religion, sexual orientation, or political beliefs.
Court	An official assembly for the administration of justice: a unit of the judicial branch of government
Creed	A statement or system of beliefs, principles, or opinions.
Curriculum	1. All courses of study offered by an educational institution. 2. A regular or particular course of study in a school or college.
Debase	To lower in character, quality, or value.
Defendant	The party against whom a criminal or civil action is brought.
Democracy	1. Government exercised either directly by the people or through elected representatives. 2. The principles of social equality and respect for the individual within a community.
Deny	1. To refuse to recognize or acknowledge. 2. To refuse to grant: withhold.
Despot	One who wields power oppressively.
Disfranchisement	The deprivation of a right of citizenship, especially of the right to vote.
Discrimination	Treatment or consideration of, or making a distinction in favor of or against, a person or thing based on the group, class, or category to which that person or thing belongs rather than on individual merit.
Dissent	1. Difference of opinion, especially: a judge's disagreement with the decision of the majority. 2. To withhold assent or approval.
Doctrine	1. A principle or body of principles presented by a specific field, system, or organization for acceptance or belief. 2. A rule or principle of law, especially when established by precedent. Example: “separate but equal,” the doctrine derived from the Plessy v. Ferguson case.
Dominant	1. Exercising the most control or influence. 2. Most prominent in position or prevalence.
Due Process	1. A course of formal proceedings, such as judicial proceedings, carried out regularly, fairly, and in accordance with established rules and principles (also called procedural due process). 2. A requirement that laws and regulations must be related to a legitimate government interest and may not contain provisions that result in the unfair or arbitrary treatment of an individual (also called substantive due process).
Economy	1. The management of resources of a community or country, etc., especially with a view to its productivity. 2. The prosperity or earnings of a place. 3. Thrifty management; frugality in the expenditure or consumption of money or materials. 4. The management of household affairs.
Emancipate	1. To free from restraint, influence, or the like. 2. To free (a slave) from bondage.
Emancipation Proclamation	The proclamation issued by President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, freeing enslaved people in the territories still in rebellion against the Union.
Emigration	The act of leaving one country or area to settle elsewhere.
Enforce	1. To compel observance of or obedience to. 2. To bring about by force.
Enroll	To enter the name of in a record, register, or roll.
Enslaved	Reduced to slavery
Enslavement	The act of being reduced to slavery.
Entitle	To furnish with a right.
Equalization	1. To make equal. 2. To make uniform. 3. To constitute or induce equality, equilibrium, or balance.
et al.	An abbreviation of the Latin phrase et alia, meaning, “and others.”
Evidence	Something that furnishes or tends to furnish proof, especially something (as testimony, writings, or objects) presented at a judicial or administrative proceeding for the purpose of establishing the truth or falsity of an alleged matter of fact.
Exclude	1. To keep out. 2. To omit from notice or consideration.
Extremist	One who advocates or resorts to extreme measure, especially in politics.
Facility	Something designed, built, or installed to serve a specific function affording a convenience or service: transportation facilities; educational facilities; or a new research facility.
Fascism	A governmental system led by a dictator having complete power, forcibly suppressing opposition and criticism, regimenting all industry or commerce, and emphasizing an aggressive nationalism and often racism.
Freedman / Freedwoman	A man/woman who has been freed from slavery.
Graduate School	A school, usually a division of a university, offering courses leading to degrees more advanced than the bachelor’s degree.
Grandfather Clause	1. A clause in the constitutions of some Southern states after 1890 intended to permit whites to vote while disfranchising blacks: it exempted from new literacy and property qualifications for voting those men entitled to vote before 1867 and their lineal descendants. 2. Any legal provision that exempts a business, or class of persons from a new government regulation that would affect prior rights and privileges.
Grass roots, Grass-roots	1. Of, pertaining to, or involving the common people, especially as contrasted with or separable from an elite. 2. The common or ordinary people, especially as contrasted with the leadership or elite of a political party or social organization; the rank and file.
Indentured Servant	A person who came to America and was placed under contract to work for another over a period of time, usually seven years, especially during the 17th to 19th centuries.
Indict	To charge with a crime by the finding or presentment of a grand jury in due form of law.
Inferior	1. Situated under or beneath. 2. Low or lower in order, degree, or rank.
Inherent	Existing as an essential constituent or characteristic.
Initiate	To begin, set going, or originate.
Insurrection	An act or instance of rising in revolt, rebellion, or resistance against civil authority or an established government.
Integration	The act or process or an instance of integrating: incorporation as equals into society or an organization of individuals of different groups (as races).
Jim Crow	A practice or policy of segregating or discriminating against African Americans, as in public places, public vehicles, or employment.
Lawsuit	An action brought in a court for the purpose of seeking relief from or remedy for an alleged wrong: "suit"
Legislature	A deliberative body of persons, usually elective, who are empowered to make, change, or repeal the laws of a country or state; the branch of government having the power to make laws, as distinguished from the executive and judicial branches of government.
Liberal arts	The academic course of instruction at a college intended to provide general knowledge and comprising the arts, humanities, natural sciences, and social sciences, as opposed to professional or technical subjects.
Liberty	1. The state of being free from control or restriction. 2. The right to act, believe, or express oneself as one chooses. 3. The state of being free from confinement, servitude, or forced labor. 4. Freedom from undue or unjust governmental control. 5. A right to engage in certain actions without interference or control.
Literacy	The ability to read and write.
Lobby	1. A group of persons trying to influence legislators, especially in favor of a special interest. 2. To try to influence legislator in favor of special interest. 3. To try to influence (an official) to take a desired action.
Lynching	To put to death, especially by hanging, by mob action and without legal authority.
Majority	1. The greater part or number; the number larger than half the total. 2. A number of voters or votes, jurors, or others in agreement, constituting more than half of the total number.
Manifesto	A public declaration of intentions or principles, especially of a political nature.
Manumission	The act of releasing from slavery or servitude.
Mentor	A wise and trusted teacher or counselor
Minority	1. The smaller part of a number; a number, part, or amount forming less than half of the whole. 2. A smaller party or group opposed to the majority, as in voting or other action. 3. A group differing, especially, in race, religion, or ethnic background, from the majority of a population.
Missionary	1. A person sent by a church into an area to carry on evangelism or other activities, as educational or hospital work. 2. A person strongly in favor of a program, or set of principles, who attempts to persuade or convert others.
Nazi	A member of the National Socialist German Worker’s Party of Germany, which in 1933, under Adolf Hitler, seized political control of the country, suppressing all opposition and establishing a dictatorship over all cultural, economic, and political activities of the people; and promulgated belief in the supremacy of Hitler as Fuhrer, aggressive anti-Semitism, the natural supremacy of the German people, and the establishment of Germany by superior force as a dominant world power.
Negro	A black person, especially a person of African origin or descent.
Normal School	A school for training teachers, mainly for the elementary grades.
Oppression	The exercise of authority or power in a burdensome, cruel, or unjust manner.
Perpetuity	Endless or indefinitely long duration or existence; eternity.
Per se	In or by itself.
Petition	1. A solemn entreaty or request to a superior authority: supplication. 2. A formal written document requesting a right or a benefit from a person or group in authority. 3. A formal written application requesting a court for a specific judicial action, as an appeal.
Ph.D.	Abbreviation for the Latin name of the academic degree, Doctor of Philosophy.
Philanthropy	Altruistic concern for human welfare and advancement, usually manifested by donations of money, property, or work to needy persons, by endowment of institutions of learning and hospitals, and by generosity to other socially useful purposes.
Plaintiff	The party that institutes a suit in a court.
Plantation	A large estate or farm on which crops are raised, often by resident workers.
Poll Tax	A tax levied on an individual as a condition for exercising the right to vote.
Prejudice	1. An adverse opinion or judgment formed beforehand or without full knowledge or complete examination of the facts. 2. A preconceived idea or preference: bias. 3. Irrational hatred or suspicions of a specific group, race, or religion.
Privilege	A special advantage, immunity, permission, right, or benefit granted to or enjoyed by an individual, class, or caste.
Protest	1. To object to, especially in a formal statement. 2. To express strong objection. 3. A formal declaration of objection or disapproval issued by a concerned party.
Race	1. A group of persons related by common descent or heredity. 2. A arbitrary classification of modern humans, sometimes, especially formerly, based on any or a combination of various physical characteristic, as skin color, facial form, or eye shape, and now frequently based on such genetic markers as blood groups.
Racism	A belief or doctrine that inherent differences among the various human races determine cultural or individual achievement, usually involving the idea that one’s own race is superior and has the right to rule others.
Rebel	1. A person who refuses allegiance to, resists, or rises in arms against the government or ruler of his or her country. 2. To reject, resist, or rise in arms against one’s government or ruler. 3. To resist or rise against some authority, control, or tradition.
Reconstruction	The process by which the states that seceded were reorganized as part of the Union after the Civil War. The period during which this took place, 1865–1877.
Remedy	The means to enforce a right or to prevent or obtain redress for a wrong: the relief (as damages, restitution, specific performance, or an injunction) that may be given or ordered by a court or other tribunal for a wrong.
Repercussion	The state of being driven back by a resisting body.
Repress	1. To keep under control, check, or suppress (desires, feelings, actions, or tears). 2. To keep down or suppress (anything objectionable). 3. To put down or quell (sedition or disorder). 4. To reduce (persons) to subjection.
Reprisal	Retaliation against an enemy, for injuries received, by the infliction of equal or greater injuries.
Resentment	Indignation or ill will felt as a result of a real or imagined offense.
Resistance	The act or power of resisting, opposing, or withstanding. The opposition offered by one thing or force to another.
Retaliation	To return like for like especially to return evil for evil.
Revolution	1. A sudden or radical change in a situation. 2. An abrupt political overthrow or seizure of power brought about from within a given system. 3. Activities directed toward effecting basic changes in the socioeconomic structure as of a cultural or minority segment of the population.
Rigid	1. Not bending, inflexible, not moving, stationary. 2. Difficult, scrupulously strict.
Ruling	An official or authoritative determination, decree, statement, or interpretation (as by a judge on a question of law)
Sanction	1. Authoritative approval or permission making a course of action valid. 2. Support or encouragement as from public opinion or established custom. 3. A consideration, influence, or principle dictating an ethical choice. 4. A law or decree. 5. The penalty for noncompliance specified in a law or decree.
Segregation	The policy or practice of imposing the social separation of races, as in schools, housing, and employment.
Self-esteem	An attitude of acceptance, approval, and respect toward oneself, manifested by personal recognition of one’s abilities and achievements and an acknowledgment and acceptance of one’s limitations.
Sit-in	1. An organized passive protest, especially against racial segregation, in which demonstrators occupy seats prohibited to them, as in restaurants and other public places. 2. Any organized protest in which a group of people peacefully occupy and refuse to leave a premises
Slavery	1. The state of servitude as the property of a slaveholder or household. 2. A mode of production in which enslaved people constitute the principal work force.
Soviet Union (USSR)	Former northern Eurasian empire (1917/22–1991) stretching from the Baltic and Black seas to the Pacific Ocean and, in its final years, consisting of 15 Soviet Socialist Republics including Russia.
Sponsor	1. One who assumes responsibility for a person or group during instruction, apprenticeship, or probation. 2. One who vouches for the suitability of a candidate for admission. 3. A legislator who propose and argues adoption of a bill.
Status quo	The existing condition, state of affairs.
Stereotype	One as a person, group, event, or issue that is thought to typify or conform to an unvarying pattern or manner, lacking any individuality.
Stigma	1. A mark or token of infamy, disgrace, or reproach. 2. A mark burned into the skin of a criminal or slave: brand.
Strategy	A plan, method, or series of maneuvers or stratagems for obtaining a specific goal or result.
Strike	To declare or engage in a suspension of work against (a factory, employer, or industry) until certain demands are met.
Strikebreaker	A person who takes part in breaking up a strike of workers, either by working or by furnishing workers.
Submission	The act of surrendering to the power of another, meek compliance.
Subordinate	1. To put in a lower rank, belonging to a class or rank lower than another. 2. Subject to the control or authority of another.
Subservient	1. Obsequious: servile. 2. Subordinate in function or capacity.
Superior	1. Higher in rank, station, or authority than others. 2. Affecting an attitude of disdain or conceit.
Tactic	An expedient for achieving a goal: maneuver.
Terrorism	The use of violence and threats to intimidate or coerce, especially, for political purposes.
Testimony	Evidence furnished by a witness under oath or affirmation, either orally or in an affidavit or deposition
Trial	A judicial examination of issues of fact or law disputed by parties for the purpose of determining the rights of the parties.
Unconstitutional	Not in accord with the principles set forth in the constitution of a nation.
Unanimous	Characterized by or showing complete agreement.
University	An institution of learning of the highest level, having a college of liberal arts and a program of graduate studies together with several professional schools, such as theology, law, medicine, and engineering, and authorized to confer both undergraduate and graduate degrees.
Urban	1. Of, relating to, or constituting a city. 2. Characteristic of the city or city life.
U.S. Supreme Court	The highest court in the judicial branch of the U.S. government that has original jurisdiction over controversies involving ambassadors or other ministers or consuls, but whose main activity is as the court of last resort exercising appellate jurisdiction over cases involving federal law.
U.S. Federal District Court	The trial courts of the federal court system. There are 94 federal districts.
v.	Versus, against.
Violation	A breach, infringement, or transgression, as of a law, rule, or promise.
Vocational	Relating to, supplying, or undergoing training in a special skill to be followed as a trade.
Walkout	1. A labor strike. 2. The act of leaving or quitting a meeting, company, or organization especially as an indication of protest.
White Supremacy	The belief, theory, or doctrine that the white race is superior to all other races, especially the black race, and should therefore retain control in all relationships.
Witness	1. One who gives evidence regarding matters of fact under inquiry. 2. One who testifies or is legally qualified to testify in a case, or to give evidence before a judicial tribunal or similar inquiry. 3. To see or experience directly.
Writ of certiorari	A document from a superior to an inferior court calling for records of specific proceedings of the inferior court for review by the higher court.