Since before last Christmas, I have been helping a boy study his math. One of his buddies, a really hunky athlete (dreamy eyes, shoulders, nice butt) wants me the help him with his American History final. History has never been my strong suit, but I told him I would try. He has a four page study guide, which appears to be a list of words he must know. The words come in eleven categories, democratic ideas, exploration, Enlightenment, French Revolution, industrialization, imperialism, The Great War, Nationalism, years of crisis, World War II, and postwar world.

Edit: Turns out my potential two-tee has the wrong study guide.

Edit again: My two-tee has changed his mind about needing help, but I did get his study guide, so I might post some of it.

Index

is this a true or false question?

Fourth Word: Aristocracy
Category: Democracy

Short Answer - - Government by a wealthy ruling class who are minority of a population. Government officials elected from a minority ruling class.

Ming's Answer

Aristocracy is a form of government in which a group of wealthy people govern or control the government. The word itself is one of six words that Aristotle used to describe the various forms of government. The word predates Aristotle. Herodotus, in The History, calls it one of the three forms of government. Aristotle divides group control into two classes, Aristocracy and Oligarchy, the difference being that Aristocrats have better manners, education, and the like.

Some people might describe the United States as an Aristocracy because they think wealthy people, like Ted Kennedy and John Kerry, have undue influence.

Second Word: Judaism
Category: Democracy

So vats a Jew? My grandfather delights in telling a story about how two white boys come into a Chinese restaurant. They ask the waiter, “Are there any Chinese Jews?” The waiter says, “We got orange juice and apple juice, but no Chinese juice.”

Metaphorically, that suggests the idea that Jews are all over the world, even China, just like every city has a Chinese restaurant. People that read about World War Two may read about the Jews of Nanking.

Americans study about Judaism because initially Americans were mostly Christians, and a group of Jews were the first Christians. The Jewish holy book is a part of The Bible, the Christian holy book. The idea of a written law comes from the Jewish holy book. The idea of written law predates the Bible, but the American founders probably didn’t know that, a point to maybe study further.

Equality before the law and even the king must follow the law are two ideas, which are central to American law, and they may have a biblical origin.

Umm what?

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Twenty-Fourth Word: American Revolution
Category: Foundation

Short Answer -- A war that separated 13 British colonies from the British Empire to form the United States.

Ming's Answer

In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Britain had maybe two dozen colonies in North America. A military conflict, the American Revolution (1775-1781), separated thirteen, (or fourteen or fifteen depending on who's counting) colonies from the British Empire. The colonists and the British government disagreed about things like taxes and trade barriers. The Enlightenment debate, which had continued for almost one hundred years, contributed to the colonists discontent. Other countries in Europe (France, Spain, Prussia, Netherlands) and in North Africa (Morocco) supported the colonists efforts with money and technology.

???? Word: oops again
Category:

Ooookay.

Sixth Word: Oliver Cromwell
Category: Democracy

Oliver Cromwell was a leader in the British Parliament, but more probably the dictator of Britain during the seventeenth century. It was a transition period between the absolute monarchs and the later constitutional monarchs. The excesses of his time may have led to a document known as the Bill of Rights, which is an idea that the American founders barrowed to form the American government.

Seventh Word: Government
Category: Democracy

I don’t know the textbook definition of government, but I know that Aristotle defined it by dividing humans into three groups, philosophers, peddlers, and politicians. The politicians organize activities that we do for ourselves. They regulate human affairs with argument and violence. We call the politicians’ actions, government.

Crap, glad i'm not in high school anymore...those would actually take research to come up with answers

Eighth Word: Renaissance
Category: Democracy

I think that Renaissance is a word that Europeans coined to describe the times in which they lived. They became aware that books and learning had become more available. They felt that learning had been available during Roman times, and they felt like it had begun to be reborn, which is the root meaning of the word, Renaissance. The demand for learning may have led to the invention of the printing press, probably one of the three most important inventions in history.

Some people say that the American founders were Renaissance men because they valued education. Almost all of them had attended various kinds of schools, and they had libraries. One of the first acts of the central government in the new American Republic was the appropriation of land to be sold to build colleges.

Ninth Word: John Locke
Category: Democracy (or Enlightenment)

John Locke was an Enlightenment philosopher. He coined the phrase life, liberty, and property, a variation of which, life, liberty, and pursuit of happines, is a famous line in the Declaration of Independence.