AP® United States History

Flashcards

345 cards with the terms and ideas you need to know cold. The ones you find hard come back sooner.

Multiple choice practice

241 exam-style questions, timed like the real exam, with every answer explained.

Period 1: 1491–1607

7 topics · 38 videos

• Native societies adapted to and changed very different environments across North America
• Europeans crossed the Atlantic for wealth, power over their rivals and Christian converts
• The Columbian Exchange moved crops, animals and diseases both ways, with devastating results for Native peoples
• Spain built its empire on forced Native and African labor and a ranked caste system
• Europeans, Native Americans and Africans changed one another through trade, conflict and resistance

Period 2: 1607–1754

8 topics · 44 videos

• Each European empire colonized in its own way, shaped by its goals and its relations with Native peoples
• Climate and geography helped make New England, the Middle Colonies, the Chesapeake and the southern colonies very different places
• Atlantic trade tied the colonies to Britain, Africa and the Caribbean and made slavery central to the colonial economy
• Native peoples used trade, alliances and war to protect their land and independence
• Colonists grew more British and more self-governing at the same time

Period 3: 1754–1800

13 topics · 68 videos

• Britain's costly win in the French and Indian War led to the taxes and limits that pushed colonists toward revolution
• Enlightenment ideas about natural rights and self-government shaped the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution
• The Revolution raised questions about freedom for women, enslaved people and Native Americans that it left unanswered
• Americans argued from the start about how strong the national government should be, which led to the first political parties
• Westward movement brought new conflict with Native nations and with Britain and Spain

Period 4: 1800–1848

14 topics · 66 videos

• More white men could vote, and mass political parties grew around them
• The market revolution tied farms, factories and cities into one national economy
• Religious revival and reform movements tried to perfect American society
• Cotton and the expansion of slavery made the North and South more different
• Westward expansion came at the cost of American Indian land and lives

Period 5: 1844–1877

12 topics · 59 videos

• Manifest Destiny pushed the nation west, at the expense of Mexico and American Indians
• Every new territory reopened the fight over slavery until compromise broke down
• The Civil War began as a war to save the Union and became a war to end slavery
• The 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments redefined citizenship and federal power
• Reconstruction's gains for Black Americans were rolled back after federal troops left the South

Period 6: 1865–1898

14 topics · 68 videos

• New technology and big business turned the U.S. into an industrial power
• Workers and farmers organized to fight back against low pay, debt and powerful corporations
• Railroads and settlers transformed the West and took most remaining American Indian land
• Millions of new immigrants changed American cities and sparked debates over who belonged
• Americans argued over whether government should stay out of the economy or rein it in

Period 7: 1890–1945

15 topics · 82 videos

• Progressives and New Dealers used government to fix problems created by industrial capitalism
• Every war and crisis reopened the debate over America's role in the world
• Cars, radio and movies created a shared national mass culture
• Migration from abroad and from the South reshaped cities and sparked a nativist backlash
• Fighting World War II ended the Depression and made the U.S. a superpower

Period 8: 1945–1980

15 topics · 80 videos

• Containing communism guided U.S. foreign policy and sometimes led to war
• Fear of communism at home raised hard questions about civil liberties
• Postwar prosperity built suburbs and a consumer middle class, but not everyone shared in it
• The Black freedom struggle inspired women, Latinos, Native Americans and gay rights activists
• Liberal reforms of the 1960s sparked a conservative backlash by the 1970s

Period 9: 1980–Present

7 topics · 36 videos

• Conservatives won big victories calling for lower taxes, less regulation and traditional values, but the federal government stayed large
• The end of the Cold War forced America to rethink its role in the world
• Digital technology and globalization shifted jobs from factories to services
• Immigration and moves to the South and West changed American politics and culture
• After 9/11, Americans debated how to balance security with civil liberties