GLOSSARY ★ A-61residents of “insular” territories acquired
by the United States in the Spanish-
American War, such as Puerto Rico and
the Philippines.
Interstate Commerce Commission
Organization established by Congress, in
reaction to the U.S. Supreme Court’s rul-
ing in Wabash Railroad v. Illinois (1886), in
order to curb abuses in the railroad indus-
try by regulating rates.
interstate highway system National
network of interstate superhighways; its
construction began in the late 1950s for
the purpose of commerce and defense.
The interstate highways would enable
the rapid movement of military convoys
and the evacuation of cities after a nuclear
attack.
Intolerable Acts Four parliamentary
measures in reaction to the Boston Tea
Party that forced payment for the tea, dis-
allowed colonial trials of British soldiers,
forced their quartering in private homes,
and reduced the number of elected offi-
cials in Massachusetts.
Iran- Contra Affair Scandal of the second
Reagan administration involving sales
of arms to Iran in partial exchange for
release of hostages in Lebanon and use of
the arms money to aid the Contras in Nic-
aragua, which had been expressly forbid-
den by Congress.
Iraq War Military campaign in 2003 in
which the United States, unable to gain
approval by the United Nations, unilater-
ally occupied Iraq and removed dictator
Saddam Hussein from power.
iron curtain Term coined by Winston
Churchill to describe the Cold War divide
between western Europe and the Soviet
Union’s eastern European satellites.
ISIS An insurgency that emerged from
the sectarian civil wars that destabilized
Syria and post– Saddam Hussein Iraq.
Beginning in 2014, ISIS forces attacked
towns and cities in Iraq, Syria, and Lybia,British and colonial ports who were then
forced to serve in the British navy.
“In God We Trust” Phrase placed on all
new U.S. currency as of 1954.
indentured servants Settlers who signed
on for a temporary period of servitude to
a master in exchange for passage to the
New World; Virginia and Pennsylvania
were largely peopled in the seventeenth
and eighteenth centuries by English and
German indentured servants.
Indian New Deal Phrase that refers
to the reforms implemented for Native
Americans during the New Deal era. John
Collier, the commissioner of the Bureau of
Indian Affairs (BIA), increased the access
Native Americans had to relief programs
and employed more Native Americans
at the BIA. He worked to pass the Indian
Reorganization Act. However, the ver-
sion of the act passed by Congress was a
much diluted version of Collier’s original
proposal and did not greatly improve the
lives of Native Americans.
Indian Removal Act 1830 law signed by
President Andrew Jackson that permitted
the negotiation of treaties to obtain the
Indians’ lands in exchange for their relo-
cation to what would become Oklahoma.
individualism Term that entered the lan-
guage in the 1820s to describe the increas-
ing emphasis on the pursuit of personal
advancement and private fulfillment free
of outside interference.
Industrial Workers of the World Rad-
ical union organized in Chicago in 1905
and nicknamed the Wobblies; its opposi-
tion to World War I led to its destruction
by the federal government under the Espi-
onage Act.
inflation An economic condition in
which prices rise continuously.
Insular Cases Series of cases between
1901 and 1904 in which the Supreme
Court ruled that constitutional protection
of individual rights did not fully apply to