APUSH Key terms and concepts

all periods

Encomienda System

Spanish labor system that forced Native Americans to work for Spanish landowners.

Joint-Stock Companies

Businesses where investors shared profits and risks.

Pueblo Indians

Native American groups in the Southwest who lived in adobe villages.

Asiento System

Spain's agreement allowing other countries to sell enslaved Africans in Spanish colonies.

Roanoke

First English colony in North America that mysteriously disappeared.

House of Burgesses

First representative assembly in the English colonies.

Mercantilism

Economic system where colonies existed to benefit the mother country.

Cash Crops

Crops grown to sell for profit, like tobacco and rice.

Triangular Trade

Trade network between Europe, Africa, and the Americas.

Order of Colonization of Colonies

New England colonies were founded first, then Middle, then Southern colonies.

Bill of Rights

First 10 amendments to the Constitution.

Boston Massacre

1770 event where British soldiers killed 5 colonists.

Boston Tea Party

Colonists dumped British tea into Boston Harbor in 1773.

Checks and Balances

System where each branch of government limits the powers of the others.

The Constitution

Framework of the U.S. government written in 1787.

Declaration of Independence

Written mainly by Thomas Jefferson in 1776.

Sons of Liberty

Colonial protest group against British taxes.

Embargo Act

Law passed by Thomas Jefferson stopping U.S. trade with foreign nations.

War of 1812

War between the U.S. and Britain caused by impressment and trade issues.

Hartford Convention

Meeting of Federalists during the War of 1812.

Tariff of Abominations

High tariff in 1828 that hurt the South and helped Northern industry.

Cult of Domesticity

Idea that women should focus on home and family.

Monroe Doctrine

Policy warning European nations not to colonize in the Americas.

Marbury v. Madison

Supreme Court case establishing judicial review.

Emancipation Proclamation

Issued by Abraham Lincoln in 1863.

Fugitive Slave Act

Law requiring escaped enslaved people to be returned to owners.

Missouri Compromise

Kept balance between free and slave states.

Kansas-Nebraska Act

Allowed settlers to vote on slavery through popular sovereignty.

The Surrender at Appomattox Court House

Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant in 1865.

Gilded Age

Time of rapid industrial growth and political corruption.

Laissez-Faire Economics

Government should interfere very little in business.

JP Morgan, John D. Rockefeller, and Andrew Carnegie

Major industrialists/business leaders of the Gilded Age.

Horizontal Integration

Buying out competing companies in the same industry.

Vertical Integration

Controlling every step of production and distribution.

Sherman Anti-Trust Act of 1890

First federal law against monopolies.

The New South

Southern effort to industrialize after the Civil War.

Roosevelt Corollary

Addition to the Monroe Doctrine by Theodore Roosevelt.

"Speak Softly, and Carry a Big Stick"

Roosevelt's foreign policy idea.

Transcontinental Railroad

Railroad connecting East and West coasts.

Wilson's 14 Points

Plan by Woodrow Wilson for peace after WWI.

Great Depression

Severe economic crisis beginning in 1929.

Manhattan Project

Secret U.S. project to develop the atomic bomb during WWII.

Scopes Monkey Trial

Trial over teaching evolution in schools.

Bay of Pigs

Failed U.S.-backed invasion of Cuba in 1961.

Cuban Missile Crisis

1962 conflict between U.S. and Soviet Union over missiles in Cuba.

Red Scare

Fear of communism in the U.S.

Kent State Massacre

National Guard killed 4 student protesters in 1970.

Détente

Relaxation of tensions between the U.S. and Soviet Union during the Cold War.

Domino Theory

Idea that if one country became communist, nearby countries would too.

Fall of the Berlin Wall

1989 event symbolizing the end of the Cold War and division in Germany.

Attacks of September 11, 2001

Terrorist attacks by al-Qaeda on the U.S.

Affordable Care Act

Healthcare law passed under Barack Obama in 2010.