G6 Glossary
prosperity of the British empire. Mercantilists advocated possession
of colonies as places where the mother country could acquire raw
materials not available at home.
Mexican War (p. 305) Fought between the United States and
Mexico from May 1846 to February 1848, the Mexican War
greatly added to the national domain of the United States; see also
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.
military-industrial complex (p. 761) A term, popularized by
President Dwight D. Eisenhower in his 1961 farewell address, for
the concert of interests among the U.S. military and its chief cor-
porate contractors.
Missouri Compromise (p. 218) A legislative deal, brokered in
1820, that preserved the balance of slave and free states in the
Union by admitting Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free
state; it also banned slavery from that part of the Louisiana
Territory north of 36°30'.
Monroe Doctrine (p. 206) A foreign policy edict, propounded
by President James Monroe in 1823, declaring that the American
continents were no longer open to European colonization or
exploitation and that the United States would not interfere in the
internal affairs of European nations.
Moral Majority (p. 806) A term associated with the organization
by that name, founded in 1979 by the Reverend Jerry Falwell to
combat “amoral liberals,” drug abuse, “coddling” of criminals,
homosexuality, communism, and abortion.
muckraker (p. 558) A term for progressive investigative journal-
ists who exposed the seamy side of American life at the turn of the
twentieth century by “raking up the muck.”
mugwumps (p. 356) A group of eastern Republicans, disgusted
with corruption in the party, who campaigned for the Democrats
in the 1884 elections. These anticorruption reformers were conser-
vative on the money question and government regulation.
National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA)
(p. 567) An organization, founded in 1890, that united the
National Woman Suffrage Association, headed by Elizabeth Cady
Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, and the American Woman
Suffrage Association, headed by Lucy Stone. After ratification of
the Nineteenth Amendment granting women the vote in 1920,
the NAWSA became the League of Women Voters.
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
(NAACP) (p. 580) A national interracial organization, founded in
1909, that promoted the rights of African Americans. Initially it
fought against lynching, but from 1955 through 1977, under the
leadership of Roy Wilkins, it launched the campaign that overturned
legalized segregation and it backed civil rights legislation. The
NAACP remains the nation’s largest African American organization.
National Grange of the Patrons of Husbandry (p. 475) A farm-
ers’ organization, founded in 1867 by Oliver H. Kelley, that initially
provided social and cultural benefits but then supported legislation,
known as the Granger laws, providing for railroad regulation.
National Organization for Women (NOW) (p. 827) An orga-
nization, founded in 1966 by Betty Friedan and other feminists, to
promote equal rights for women, changes in divorce laws, and
legalization of abortion.
National Origins Act (p. 640) A federal law, passed in 1929 that
curtailed immigration, especially from southern and eastern
Europe and Asia.Lend-Lease Act (p. 707) A military aid measure, proposed by
President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1941 and adopted by
Congress, empowering the president to sell, lend, lease, or transfer
$7 billion of war material to any country whose defense he
declared as vital to that of the United States.
Lewis and Clark expedition (p. 182) An exploration of the
Louisiana Territory and the region stretching to the Pacific, com-
missioned by President Jefferson. Commanded by Meriwether
Lewis and William Clark, the enterprise (1804–1806) brought
back a wealth of information about the region.
Louisiana Purchase (p. 177) An 1803 agreement whereby the
United States purchased France’s North American Empire, the
vast region drained by the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers, for
$15 million; it doubled the size of the nation.
Loyalists (p. 119) Sometimes called Tories, the term for
American colonists who refused to take up arms against England
in the 1770s.
lyceums (p. 291) Locally sponsored public lectures, often featur-
ing writers, that were popular in the nineteenth century.
Manhattan Project (p. 705) The code name for the extensive
United States military project, established in 1942, to produce fis-
sionable uranium and plutonium, and to design and build an
atomic bomb. Costing nearly $2 billion, the effort culminated in
the destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945.
manifest destiny (p. 300) Originating in the 1840s, a term
that referred to support of the expansion of the United States
through the acquisition of Texas, Oregon, and parts of Mexico.
The term was also used in the 1890s in reference to the con-
quest of foreign lands not meant to be incorporated into the
United States.
Marbury v. Madison(p. 176) An 1803 Supreme Court ruling
that declared the Judiciary Act of 1789 unconstitutional and estab-
lished the precedent for judicial review of federal laws.
Marshall Plan (p. 741) A proposal, propounded in 1947 by
Secretary of State George Marshall, to use American aid to rebuild
the war-torn economies of European nations. Adopted by
Congress in 1948 as the European Recovery Program, it pumped
some $13 billion into Europe during the next five years.
massive retaliation (p. 750) The “New Look” military policy of
the Dwight D. Eisenhower and Secretary of State John Foster
Dulles relying on nuclear weapons to inhibit communist aggres-
sion during the 1950s.
Mayflower Compact (p. 35) An agreement, signed aboard the
Mayfloweramong the Pilgrims en route to Plymouth Plantation
(1620), to establish a body politic and to obey the rules of the
governors they chose.
McCulloch v. Maryland(p. 242) An 1819 Supreme Court ruling
that state governments could not tax a federal agency—in this case
the second Bank of the United States—for “the power to tax
involves the power to destroy.” The decision affirmed the doctrine
of the implied powers of the federal government.
Medicare (p. 776) A social welfare measure, enacted in 1965,
providing hospitalization insurance for people over sixty-five
and a voluntary plan to cover doctor bills paid in part by the fed-
eral government.
mercantilism (p. 83) A loose system of economic organization
designed, through a favorable balance of trade, to guarantee the