fascism An authoritarian system of government characterized by dictatorial rule, disdain for international stability, and a conviction that warfare is the only means by which a nation can attain greatness. Nazi Germany and Mussolini’s Italy are the prime examples of fascism. (p. 790)

federal budget deficit The situation resulting when the government spends more money than it takes in. (pp. 1020, 1022)

feminism The belief that men and women have the inherent right to equal social, political, and economic opportunities. The suffrage movement and second-wave feminism of the 1960s and 1970s were the most visible and successful manifestations of feminism, but feminist ideas were expressed in a variety of statements and movements as early as the late eighteenth century and continue to be expressed in the twentyfirst. (pp. 932, 955, 956, 957, 958, 959, 960)

finance capitalism Refers to investment sponsored by banks and bankers and the profits garnered from the sale of financial assets such as stocks and bonds. The decades at the end of the twentieth century are known as a period of finance capitalism because banks and financiers increasingly took on the role of stabilizing markets and reorganizing industries. (p. 581)

franchise The right to vote. The franchise was gradually widened in the United States to include groups such as women and African Americans, who had no vote when the Constitution was ratified. (pp. 310, 516, 652) See also suffrage.

free labor Work conducted free from constraint and in accordance with the laborer’s personal inclinations and will. Prior to the Civil War, free labor became an ideal championed by Republicans (who were primarily Northerners) to articulate individuals’ right to work how and where they wished and to accumulate property in their own name. The ideal of free labor lay at the heart of the North’s argument that slavery should not be extended into the western territories. (pp. 364, 365, 388, 397, 398)

free silver The late-nineteenth-century call by silver barons and poor American farmers for the widespread coinage of silver and for silver to be used as a base upon which to expand the paper money supply. The coinage of silver created a more inflationary monetary system that benefited debtors. (pp. 596, 643) See also gold standard.

free soil The idea advanced in the 1840s that Congress should prohibit slavery within the western territories. “Free soil, free speech, free labor, and free men” became the rallying cry of the short-lived Free-Soil Party. (pp. 430, 432)

frontier A borderland area. In U.S. history, this refers to the borderland between the areas primarily inhabited by Europeans or their descendants and the areas solely inhabited by Native Americans. (pp. 132, 147, 156, 164, 165)

fundamentalism Strict adherence to core, often religious beliefs. The term has varying meanings for different religious groups. Protestant fundamentalists adhere to a literal interpretation of the Bible and thus deny the possibility of evolution. Muslim fundamentalists believe that traditional Islamic law should govern nations and that Western influences should be banned. (pp. 770, 771, 1006)