Historical Vocabulary

Colony
Revolution
Expansion
Civil War
Abolition
Industrialization
Depression
Communism
Cold War
Containment

With the exception of one word listed above, all of these words not only pertain to United States history, but also Modern World History. Knowing the definition of each of these words can help guide students to a better understanding of the cause and effect of history. About half of the words above are causes and half are effects (I did not notice that until just now). For example, the Cold War led to a policy of containment, and colonies often time lead to colonial revolutions. For U.S. history, these words are the main ideas or main issue of an era in the U.S. Without understanding what these words mean, students would not be able to understand anything in that era. For example not knowing what a colony is would make understanding the American Revolution virtually impossible. It was difficult to only choose ten words, but I feel these are the most important because they can be applied to all kinds of history, not just American.