Advanced Placement United States History
Exam Study Guide

The “Big 75”

The 75 items below in bold print are subjects that frequently appear in the multiple-choice section of the College Board exam.  The remaining items have also appeared on many occasions.

•	colonial slavery	•	Transcendentalism	•	New Deal/AAA/social security	
•	First Great Awakening	•	Garrison/uncompensated emancip.	•	1920s foreign policy/isolation	
•	mercantilism	•	American Colonization Society	•	1920s pro-business policies	
•	Puritanism	•	nativism/Know-Nothings	•	Japanese internment	
•	Anne Hutchinson	•	Manifest Destiny/Texas annexation	•	“Lost Generation” of writers	
•	Bacon’s Rebellion	•	popular sovereignty	•	cause of Great Depression	
•	indentured servitude	•	utopian communities	•	Harlem Renaissance	
•	Jamestown	•	Wilmot Proviso	•	Hoover’s policies/Hoovervilles	
•	Constitutional Convention	•	Reconstruction/sharecropping	•	Red Scare/immigration restrictions	
•	Articles of Confederation	•	Radical Reconstruction	•	World War II home front	
•	French Alliance	•	Black Codes	•	1920s agriculture	
•	Hamilton’s program	•	Emancipation Proc./Lincoln’s views 	•	1930s migrations	
•	Northwest Ordinance	•	Cotton Diplomacy	•	Bonus Army	
•	Stamp Act	•	Dawes Act/assimilation	•	Good Neighbor policy	
•	causes of the Revolution	•	late 19c farmer discontent	•	Great Migration (African American)	
•	Deism	•	New Immigration	•	Palmer Raids	
•	Shays’ Rebellion	•	Populism	•	Scopes trial	
•	Washington’s Farewell	•	Social Darwinism	•	war bonds (World Wars I and II)	
•	Kentucky & Virginia Resolutions	•	urbanization	•	Brown v. Board of Education	
•	Proclamation of 1763	•	American Federation of Labor	•	suburbia	
•	republican motherhood	•	Election of 1896	•	containment policy/George Kennan	
•	republicanism	•	political machines	•	Cuban Missile Crisis	
•	Treaty of Paris (1783)	•	railroads	•	Eisenhower’s economic policies	
•	Monroe Doctrine	•	settlements houses	•	Election of 1968	
•	Louisiana Purchase	•	Turner’s thesis	•	1950s conformity/non-conformist lit.	
•	Marbury v. Madison	•	Progressivism	•	baby boom	
•	Missouri Compromise	•	Open Door policy	•	Betty Friedan/Feminine Mystique	
•	“Rev’n” of 1800/TJ’s republicanism	•	muckrakers	•	Black Power	
•	American System	•	The Jungle/Pure Food and Drug Act	•	causes of the Korean War	
•	Jackson’s policies	•	League of Nations	•	Fair Deal	
•	canals	•	Plessy v. Ferguson	•	Great Society	
•	Lowell factories/factory girls	•	imperialism/jingoism	•	McCarthyism	
•	Nullification crisis	•	Riis’ How the Other Half Lives	•	rock-n-roll	
•	Hartford Convention	•	Sherman Antitrust Act	•	sit-ins	
•	Trail of Tears/Indian removal	•	TR’s Square Deal	•	causes of Vietnam War	
•	Antebellum South/slavery	•	WEB DuBois	•	1970s economy/stagflation	
•	Dred Scott case	•	World War I mobilization/war boards	•	Gulf of Tonkin incident/resolution	
•	Old Immigration	•	causes of Spanish-American War	•	Carter’s policies	
•	Antebellum education reforms	•	causes of World War I	•	“graying”/aging of American population	
•	Comp. of 1850/Fugitive Slave Law	•	Philippine annexation/war	•	Nixon’s policies	
•	Republican Party/free-soilers	•	Roosevelt Corollary	•	Reaganomics	
•	Seneca Falls Convention	•	women’s suffrage movement	•	Tet Offensive	

The Colonial Period (1607—1754)

•	C&C Spanish, French, English settlements in America
•	C&C colonial regions (New England, Middle, Chesapeake, South): economic, political, social, geographic
•	indentured servitude/slavery in colonies
•	religion: Puritans, Salem Witch Trials, Halfway Covenant, Holy Experiment, Toleration Act, Great Awakening
•	mercantilism, Triangular Trade, Navigation Acts
•	Enlightenment, social contract theory
•	Salem Witch Trials
•	colonial government: Mayflower Compact, Fundamental Orders of Connecticut, House of Burgesses, Zenger trial
•	salutary neglect

Revolutionary Period (1754—1783)

•	French and Indian War, Albany Plan of Union, Treaty of Paris (1763), effect of war on British-colonial relations
•	Pontiac’s Rebellion, Proclamation of 1763
•	Stamp Act, Sons of Liberty, Boston Massacre, Coercive Acts
•	First Continental Congress, Second Continental Congress
•	Common Sense, Declaration of Independence
•	Revolutionary War battles: Lexington & Concord, Saratoga, Yorktown
•	Treaty of Paris (1783)
•	Articles of Confederation: weaknesses and accomplishments, Northwest & Land Ordinance, Shays’ Rebellion

Constitution and Federalist Era (1783—1800)

•	Constitution: Great Compromise, 3/5 Compromise, slave trade, commerce
•	Federalists vs. Anti-Federalists, The Federalist, Federalist #10, Bill of Rights
•	Hamilton’s program (FAT Bank)
•	Washington: Whiskey Rebellion, Neutrality Proclamation, Jay’s and Pinckney’s Treaties, Farewell Address
•	Adams: Quasi-war, XYZ affair, Alien and Sedition Acts
•	development of political parties (Federalists and Republicans)
•	Republican motherhood

Jeffersonian Period, the Era of Good Feelings, Age of Jackson (1800—1845)

•	 “Revolution of 1800”
•	Jefferson: Louisiana Purchase, Lewis and Clark, Barbary pirates, Embargo Act, Non-intercourse Act
•	Marbury v. Madison
•	War of 1812: War Hawks, Battle of New Orleans, Hartford Convention, Treaty of Ghent
•	nationalism vs. sectionalism
•	Henry Clay, American System, Second Bank of the United States, canals and turnpike roads
•	Era of Good Feelings, Panic of 1819
•	Missouri Compromise
•	Marshall Court: McCulloch v. Maryland, Gibbons v. Ogden, Fletcher v. Peck, Dartmouth College v. Woodward
•	Monroe Doctrine
•	Jackson: “corrupt bargain,” spoils system, Kitchen Cabinet, veto, Indian removal
•	Jacksonian Democracy
•	Nullification Crisis: Tariff of Abominations, doctrine of nullification, John Calhoun
•	Bank War: Jackson’s veto, “pet banks,” Specie Circular, Panic of 1837
•	Whigs: leaders, principles; second-party system

Social Reforms, Manifest Destiny, 1850s (1830—1860)

•	Old Immigrants: Irish, Germans, nativism
•	Industrial Revolution/Market Revolution: Eli Whitney, Lowell factory girls
•	Cult of Domesticity (Cult of True Womanhood)
•	religion: Second Great Awakening, Charles Finney; Mormons
•	utopian communities: Shakers, Oneida, New Harmony, Brook Farm
•	Antebellum reforms: temperance, mentally ill (Dorothea Dix) and prison reform, education (Horace Mann)
•	women’s rights: Seneca Falls, Declaration of Sentiments; Mott, Stanton, Anthony
•	abolition: slave rebellions, American Colonization Society; Garrison, Douglass, Truth, Tubman
•	Transcendentalism: Emerson, Thoreau, Whitman
•	Manifest Destiny: Polk, Texas, Mexican War, Oregon, Gadsden Purchase
•	hierarchy of southern society: planters, yeomen farmers, poor whites, slaves; “King Cotton”
•	slavery debate: Wilmot Proviso, popular sovereignty, Compromise of 1850, fugitive slave law
•	Kansas-Nebraska Act, Republican party, “Bleeding Kansas,” John Brown, Dred Scott case, Lincoln-Douglas debates

Civil War and Reconstruction (1860—1877)

•	Election of 1860
•	secession, Confederate States of America, Fort Sumter
•	C&C Union and Confederate advantages, goals, strategies, foreign diplomacy
•	suspension of habeas corpus, conscription, greenbacks
•	Civil War: Bull Run, Monitor & Merrimac, Antietam, Gettysburg, Vicksburg
•	Emancipation Proclamation, role of African Americans in war
•	end of war: surrender at Appomattox, assassination of Lincoln
•	Reconstruction: Freedmen’s Bureau, Civil War amendments, Radical Republicans, Civil Rights Act
•	C&C Lincoln’s, Johnson’s, Congress’ plans
•	scalawags, carpetbaggers, sharecropping
•	Grant: scandals, Ku Klux Klan, Panic of 1873
•	Compromise of 1877
•	Black Codes, Jim Crow laws, Redeemers, Plessy v. Ferguson

Gilded Age and Populism (1865—1900)

•	railroads: transcontinental railroad, federal government subsidies, Munn and Wabash cases
•	West: mining, ranching, farming, Homestead Act, Turner’s thesis
•	Indian policies and wars: Plains Indians, buffalo, Dawes Act, assimilation, Wounded Knee
•	big business and industrialization: captains of industry vs. robber barons, Rockefeller, Carnegie, Morgan, vertical and horizontal integration, monopolies, trusts
•	Social Darwinism, “Gospel of Wealth”
•	labor: work conditions, labor unions (Knights of Labor, AFL), strikes (Haymarket, Homestead, Pullman)
•	Gilded Age politics: laissez-faire, Pendleton Civil Service Act, tariffs, Billion-Dollar Congress
•	political machines, bosses; Boss Tweed, Thomas Nast
•	New Immigrants, Chinese Exclusion Act, Social Gospel, settlement houses
•	Populism: Grangers, Alliance, Populist party platform, Panic of 1893, Election of 1896, silver vs. gold

Imperialism, Progressivism, and World War I (1890—1920)

•	imperialists vs. anti-imperialists: arguments, proponents
•	Roosevelt’s “Big Stick” diplomacy: Panama Canal, Roosevelt Corollary, Great White Fleet
•	Taft’s “Dollar Diplomacy” and Wilson’s “Moral Diplomacy”
•	Spanish-American War: causes, results, Treaty of Paris (1898), Cuba, Philippines
•	Progressive reforms: local, state, national
•	muckrakers: Sinclair/The Jungle, Tarbell, Riis, others
•	Roosevelt: Square Deal, coal strike, “trustbuster,” conservation, consumer protection
•	Progressive presidents and accomplishments: Roosevelt, Taft, Wilson
•	African Americans: Washington, DuBois, NAACP, Great Migration
•	women’s rights: Alice Paul, 19th Amendment
•	World War I: challenges to neutrality, decision to enter war, war at home
•	Treaty of Versailles, Fourteen Points, League of Nations, irreconcilables and reservationists

Twenties, Great Depression, and New Deal (1920—1941)

•	Republican pro-business policies: tariffs, tax cuts, budget cuts
•	Harding scandals: Teapot Dome
•	Roaring Twenties: consumerism, movies, radio, celebrities, automobile, flappers, Harlem Renaissance, Jazz Age
•	cultural conflicts: fundamentalism, Scopes Trial, Prohibition, nativism, Ku Klux Klan, Sacco and Vanzetti
•	causes and effects of the Great Depression
•	Hoover’s policies: Hawley-Smoot Tariff, debt moratorium, RFC, Bonus Army
•	New Deal: FDIC, FERA, PWA, CCC, TVA, NRA, AAA
•	Second New Deal: WPA, Wagner Act, Social Security
•	FDR’s critics: Long, Coughlin, Townsend, Supreme Court
•	Washington Disarmament Conference, Kellogg-Briand Pact, Dawes Plan, Good Neighbor Policy 
•	Neutrality Acts, “cash and carry,” Lend-Lease, Atlantic Charter

World War II and the Cold War (1941—1975)

•	Allied conferences: Casablanca, Teheran, Yalta, Potsdam; creation of United Nations
•	World War II: Pearl Harbor, Japanese internment, Midway, D-Day, Battle of the Bulge, Okinawa, atomic bombs
•	postwar economy: demobilization, inflation, GI Bill, Taft-Hartley Act
•	start of Cold War, Iron Curtain, Truman Doctrine/Marshall Plan, NATO
•	successes and failures of containment: China, Korea, Cuba, Vietnam
•	Second Red Scare: HUAC, McCarran Act, McCarthyism, the Rosenbergs, Alger Hiss
•	1950s America: baby boom, suburbs, rock-n-roll
•	Eisenhower: Sputnik, Interstate Highway Act, “military-industrial complex”
•	election of 1960 and debates, Kennedy, New Frontier, Camelot, Kennedy assassination
•	Kennedy: Berlin Wall, “flexible response,” Diem overthrow, Bay of Pigs, Cuban Missile Crisis
•	Civil Rights movement: MLK, Brown v. Board of Education, March on Washington, Civil Rights Act of 1964, Voting Rights Act of 1965, King assassination, Black Power
•	Johnson: Great Society, War on Poverty, Tonkin Gulf Resolution, escalation in Vietnam, Tet Offensive
•	election of 1968, counterculture, sexual revolution

Modern America (1968—present)

•	Vietnam: My Lai massacre, Kent State, Vietnamization, Pentagon Papers, War Powers Act, “peace with honor”
•	New Federalism, détente, China visit, Watergate and resignation, Ford’s pardon of Nixon
•	women’s liberation, Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique, NOW, Equal Rights Amendment, Roe v. Wade
•	Carter: Washington outsider, human rights, Camp David Accords, energy crisis, Iranian hostages, Afghanistan
•	Reagan Revolution, New Right, Moral Majority, Reaganomics, deregulation, deficits
•	Nicaragua, Grenada, Lebanon, “Star Wars,” Iran-Contra affair, glasnost/perestroika
•	Bush: end of Cold War, Panama, Persian Gulf War, “no new taxes,” Americans with Disabilities Act
•	Clinton: NAFTA, failure of health care proposal, balanced budget, scandals and impeachment, Bosnia
•	election of 2000, Bush v. Gore, tax cuts, No Child Left Behind, corporate scandals
•	September 11th, War on Terror, Patriot Act, Afghanistan, Iraq War
•	immigration, aging of the population, decline of the nuclear family, disparity in wealth