Unit 1
Chapter Two
We, the Many People
| custom | a usual way of life |
| immigrant | a person who comes to live in a country from some other place |
| ancestor | an early family member |
| isthmus | a narrow piece of land that connects two larger land areas |
|
wealth |
riches |
| religion | beliefs about God or gods |
| slavery |
making one person the property of
another person |
| poverty |
means
being very poor |
| ethnic group |
a
group made up of people from the same country, people of the same race, or
people with a common way of life |
| culture |
way of life |
| consequences | what happens because of an action |
| refugee | a person who travels to another country to escape danger |
| tuberculosis | a lung disease |
| independence | freedom |
|
democracy |
a form of government in which people rule |
| representative democracy |
a
system of government in which citizens elect representatives, or leaders, to
make decisions about laws for all the people |
|
majority rule |
a
way of deciding something; whoever or whatever gets the most votes wins |
right
|
a
freedom that belongs to a person |
|
responsibility |
something that a person should do |
|
heritage |
a way of life, a custom, or a belief that has come
from the past and continues today |
| monument |
something that is built to remind people of the past |
| federal | national |
| tax | money that government collects from its citizens |
| revolution |
a large, sudden change in
government or in people’s lives |
| Declaration of Independence |
a
statement, written by Thomas Jefferson in 1776, explaining why the |
| constitution |
the plan for the federal government
that describes the right that people in the |
| legislative branch |
the
lawmaking branch of the federal government; also called Congress |
| congress |
the legislative branch of the federal
government; makes laws for the whole nation |
| executive branch |
a
branch of the federal government; its main job is to see that the laws passed
by Congress are carried out |
| judicial branch | a branch of the federal government; its main job is to see that laws are carried out fairly |
| Supreme Court | the highest court in the country |
| fuel | a natural resource used to make heat or energy |
| human resources | workers and the ideas and skills that they bring to their jobs |
| manufacturing | the making of goods |
| service | an activity that people do for others for pay |
| economy | the way people in a state, region, or a country use resources to meet their needs |
| land use | how most of the land in a place is used |
| adapt | change |
| conservation | protecting our natural resources and using them wisely |
| scarce |
limited |
| pollution | anything that makes a natural resource dirty or unsafe to use |
| recycle |
to use again |