AP US History Ultimate Study Guide (copy)

Christopher Columbus

An explorer who arrived in the New World in 1492, marking the beginning of sustained European contact with the Americas.

Bering Land Bridge

A land connection between Eurasia and North America, believed to be how the first Native Americans migrated to the Americas.

Columbian Exchange

A period of rapid exchange of plants, animals, foods, and diseases between the Old World (Europe, Asia, Africa) and the New World (the Americas).

Encomienda System

A Spanish colonial system where settlers were granted land and the labor of local indigenous people in return for protection and conversion to Christianity.

Mercantilism

An economic theory that suggests that a nation's power is directly related to its wealth, emphasizing a favorable balance of trade.

Salutary Neglect

A British policy of allowing the colonies considerable freedom in economic and political matters, leading to a high degree of autonomy.

Indentured Servants

Individuals who agreed to work for a set number of years in exchange for passage to the colonies and the promise of land or money.

Bacon's Rebellion

A 1676 uprising in Virginia led by Nathaniel Bacon against the colonial government, highlighting class tensions and resistance to Native American encroachment.

Stono Uprising

A slave rebellion that took place in 1739 in South Carolina, marking one of the largest acts of resistance by enslaved people.

The Great Awakening

A series of religious revivals in the 1730s and 1740s that emphasized individual piety and a personal relationship with God, influencing American culture.

Articles of Confederation

The first national constitution of the United States, which created a weak central government and was replaced by the Constitution in 1789.

Three-Fifths Compromise

An agreement during the Constitutional Convention that counted enslaved individuals as three-fifths of a person for representation purposes in Congress.

Emancipation Proclamation

An order issued by President Abraham Lincoln in 1863 declaring the freedom of all enslaved people in Confederate-held territory.

Kansas-Nebraska Act

A 1854 law that created the territories of Kansas and Nebraska, allowing settlers to determine if slavery would be allowed, leading to violent conflict known as Bleeding Kansas.

Plessy v. Ferguson

An 1896 Supreme Court decision that upheld segregation under the doctrine of 'separate but equal'.

New Deal

A series of programs and policies implemented by Franklin D. Roosevelt in the 1930s aimed at economic recovery during the Great Depression.

Cold War

A period of geopolitical tension between the Soviet Union and the United States from the end of World War II until the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991.

Civil Rights Movement

A movement in the 1950s and 1960s aimed at ending racial segregation and discrimination against African Americans in the United States.

Watergate Scandal

A political scandal during the early 1970s involving a break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters and the subsequent cover-up by the Nixon administration.

Globalization

The increasing interconnectedness of economies, cultures, and populations around the world, particularly in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.

Affordable Care Act

A comprehensive healthcare reform law enacted in 2010 that aimed to expand healthcare coverage, control healthcare costs, and improve the healthcare delivery system.