Excerpt from "Declaration of Conscience"

As the House Committee on Un-American Activities sought to identify, investigate and ruin the careers and lives of people suspected of being Communists, Senator Margaret Chase Smith stood up to remind McCarthy and his supporters how un-American their committee's activities were.

Here are all the word lists to support the reading of Grade 11 Unit 2's texts from SpringBoard's Common Core ELA series: The Crucible, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, The New England Primer, The Trial of Martha Carrier, The Lessons of Salem, The Very Proper Gander, Declaration of Conscience, Why I Wrote The Crucible, Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address, Speech to the Virginia Convention, The Gettysburg Address, FDR's First Inaugural Address , JFK's Inaugural Address
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. frustration
    the feeling of being thwarted in attaining your goals
    It is a national feeling of fear and frustration that could result in national suicide and the end of everything that we Americans hold dear
  2. opportunism
    taking advantage of favorable circumstances selfishly
    I speak as briefly as possible because too much harm has already been done with irresponsible words of bitterness and selfish political opportunism.
  3. debase
    corrupt morally or by intemperance or sensuality
    But recently that deliberative character has too often been debased to the level of a forum of hate and character assassination sheltered by the shield of congressional immunity
  4. conscience
    motivation deriving from ethical or moral principles
    I think that it is high time for the United States Senate and its members to do some soul-searching--for us to weigh our consciences--on the manner in which we are performing our duty to the people of America
  5. amend
    make revisions to
    I think that it is high time that we remembered that the Constitution, as amended, speaks not only of the freedom of speech but also of trial by jury instead of trial by accusation.
  6. distinction
    an identifying difference
    Whether it be a criminal prosecution in court or a character prosecution in the Senate, there is little practical distinction when the life of a person has been ruined.
  7. assassination
    an attack intended to ruin someone's reputation
    Those of us who shout the loudest about Americanism in making character assassinations are all too frequently those who, by our own words and acts, ignore some of the basic principles of Americanism
  8. livelihood
    the financial means whereby one supports oneself
    The exercise of these rights should not cost one single American citizen his reputation or his right to a livelihood nor should he be in danger of losing his reputation or livelihood merely because he happens to know someone who holds unpopular beliefs.
  9. conquer
    put down by force or authority
    As an American, I am shocked at the way Republicans and Democrats alike are playing directly into the Communist design of "confuse, divide, and conquer."
  10. condemn
    express strong disapproval of
    As an American, I condemn a Republican "Fascist" just as much as I condemn a Democrat "Communist."
Created on Tue Nov 11 15:26:31 EST 2014 (updated Wed Nov 12 10:26:39 EST 2014)

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