APUSH Ultimate Study Guide 2025

APUSH Exam Review Flashcards

Pueblo

Native American society in the Southwest known for complex irrigation systems and adobe architecture.

Iroquois

Native American society in the Northeast known for their confederacy and longhouses.

Chinook

Native American society in the Northwest known for their fishing skills and plank houses.

Columbian Exchange

The transfer of plants, animals, and diseases between the Old World (Europe, Africa, Asia) and the New World (Americas).

Encomienda System

Spanish labor system that granted land to settlers with the right to demand forced labor from the local Native American population.

Casta System

A hierarchical social system in Spanish colonies that determined a person's social status based on their racial ancestry.

Pueblo Revolt (1680)

A successful Native American uprising against Spanish colonizers in present-day New Mexico.

Jamestown (1607)

The first permanent English settlement in North America.

Headright System

A system of land grants used to attract settlers to the colonies.

Puritans

English Protestants who sought to purify the Church of England and establish a 'city upon a hill' in the New World.

Mayflower Compact

The first agreement for self-government in America, signed by the Pilgrims in 1620.

Town Meetings

A form of direct democracy practiced in New England colonies.

Bacon’s Rebellion (1676)

An uprising of poor whites and enslaved people against the colonial government in Virginia.

First Great Awakening (1730s–1740s)

A series of religious revivals in the British colonies.

Salutary Neglect

British policy of avoiding strict enforcement of parliamentary laws meant to keep the American colonies obedient to England.

French and Indian War (1754-1763)

A conflict between Britain and France for control of North America.

Proclamation of 1763

British declaration that forbade colonists from settling west of the Appalachian Mountains.

Stamp Act

British law that required colonists to pay a tax on printed materials.

Articles of Confederation

The first government of the United States which had a weak central government.

Constitution

The fundamental law of the U.S. federal government.

Bill of Rights

The first ten amendments to the Constitution, protecting individual liberties.

Louisiana Purchase

Acquisition of the Louisiana territory from France in 1803, doubling the size of the United States.

Market Revolution

Economic transformation in the early 19th century, characterized by industrialization, transportation improvements, and regional specialization.

Second Great Awakening

A wave of religious revivals in the 19th century that inspired social reforms.

Seneca Falls Convention

The first women's rights convention in the United States, held in 1848.

Indian Removal Act

Law passed in 1830 that authorized the forced removal of Native American tribes to lands west of the Mississippi River.

Missouri Compromise

Agreement in 1820 that admitted Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state, maintaining the balance of power in the Senate.

Manifest Destiny

The belief that the U.S. was destined to expand across the North American continent.

Mexican-American War

War between the United States and Mexico from 1846 to 1848, resulting in the U.S. acquisition of vast territories.

Dred Scott Decision

Supreme Court ruling that African Americans were not citizens and that Congress could not prohibit slavery in the territories.

Emancipation Proclamation

Executive order issued by Abraham Lincoln in 1863, declaring the freedom of slaves in Confederate territories.

Reconstruction Amendments

The 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments to the Constitution, which abolished slavery, granted citizenship and equal protection.

Robber Barons

A term used to describe wealthy industrialists of the Gilded Age who amassed fortunes through unscrupulous practices.

AFL (American Federation of Labor)

A labor union founded in 1886 that championed higher wages, shorter hours, and better working conditions.

Chinese Exclusion Act

A law passed in 1882 that prohibited Chinese laborers from entering the United States.

Jim Crow Laws

State and local laws in the South that enforced racial segregation and discrimination.

Dawes Act

A federal law passed in 1887 that aimed to assimilate Native Americans into American culture by dissolving tribal ownership of land.

Populist Party

A political party that advocated for reforms to help farmers and workers.

Progressivism

A reform movement that sought to address social and political problems caused by industrialization and urbanization.

Spanish-American War

A conflict between the United States and Spain in 1898.

Fourteen Points

A statement of principles for peace that was to be used for peace negotiations after World War I.

New Deal

A group of U.S. government programs and policies made during the presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Pearl Harbor

A surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy upon the United States against the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii, just before 08:00, on Sunday, December 7, 1941.

Atomic Bomb

A bomb which derives its destructive power from the rapid release of nuclear energy by fission of heavy atomic nuclei.

Containment

A United States policy to prevent the spread of communism abroad.

Korean War

A war between North and South Korea in which a United Nations force led by the United States of America fought for the South, and China fought for the North, which was supported by the Soviet Union.

Civil Rights Act

A landmark civil rights and labor law in the United States, that outlaws discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.

Vietnam War

A proxy war fought in Vietnam that lasted from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975.

Counterculture Movement

A cultural phenomenon that developed in the 1960s in the United States and United Kingdom and spread throughout much of the Western world between the early 1960s and the early 1970s.

Reagonomics

The economic policies promoted by U.S. President Ronald Reagan during the 1980s. These policies are commonly associated with supply-side economics.

Fall of Berlin Wall

Occurred on 9 November 1989, was a pivotal event in world history which marked the start of the fall of communism in Eastern and Central Europe.

NAFTA

North American Free Trade Agreement: a treaty entered into by the United States, Canada, and Mexico; it went into effect on January 1, 1994.

9/11 Attacks

A series of four coordinated terrorist attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States on the morning of September 11, 2001.

War on Terror

An international military campaign launched by the United States government after the September 11 attacks.

Obergefell v. Hodges

A landmark civil rights case in which the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that the fundamental right to marry is guaranteed to same-sex couples by both the Due Process Clause and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.