APUSH Review

Jamestown (1607)

First English settlement in North America

House of Burgesses (1619)

First elected representative legislature in North America

Mayflower Compact (1620)

First document to establish self-government in the New World

Puritans found Massachusetts Bay Colony (1629)

First English, chartered colony whose board of governors did not reside in England

Bacon’s Rebellion (1675)

Uprising of western farmers against the government of Virginia that eventually united elite and poor whites and pushed the state towards a harsher, more rigid system of slavery

King Phillips (Metacom’s) War (1675-1676)

Native Americans' last-ditch effort to avoid recognizing

English authority and stop English settlement on their

native lands.

Glorious Revolution (1688-1689)

Religious and political conflicts between Parliament and the monarch of England that  resulted in increased powers for Parliament and more independence in the American colonies

George Whitefield sparks the Great Awakening (1739)

Religious revival that impacted the English colonies in America by encouraging the notions of nationalism and individual rights.

Treaty of Paris ends French & Indian (Seven Years) War (1763)

France gave up all its territories in mainland North America, effectively ending any foreign military threat to the British colonies there, but also motivated greater taxation of the American colonies.  

Stamp Act (1765) Boston Massacre (1770) Boston Tea Party (1773) Intolerable (Coercive) Acts (1774) Thomas Paine’s Common Sense (1776)

Series of events that escalated tensions between the American colonies and Great Britain, leading to the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War.

Declaration of Independence (1776)

Formal statement by the American people asserting their right to choose their own government and their independence from Great Britain

Articles of Confederation (1777)

Agreement among the 13 original states of the United States of America establishing a loose confederation of states, with a weak central government and serving as its first constitution

Federalist Papers (1787-1788)

Series of 85 essays written by Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison published to urge New Yorkers to ratify the proposed U.S. Constitution. 

US Constitution ratified (1789)

Became the supreme law of the land for the US, establishing a stronger federal government with separation of powers and protected rights for the people through the addition of the Bill of Rights

Eli Whitney/Cotton Gin (1793)

Machine that revolutionized the production of cotton by greatly speeding up the process of removing seeds from cotton fiber and offered Southern planters a justification to maintain and expand slavery

Whiskey Rebellion (1794)

Uprising of farmers and distillers in western Pennsylvania in protest of a whiskey tax enacted by the federal government.

Alien and Sedition Acts (1798)

Series of four laws passed by the U.S. Congress in 1798 amid widespread fear that war with France was imminent that restricted the activities of foreign residents in the country and limited freedom of speech and of the press.

“Revolution of 1800”

Election of 1800, the Federalist incumbent John Adams vs. Republican Thomas Jefferson.

Jefferson and his vice-presidential running mate Aaron Burr both received the identical number of electoral votes, and the House of Representatives voted to break the tie (Hamilton got involved).

Important turning point in US History because the Federalists controlled the army, presidency and Congress and Adams could have refused to step down, but had a peaceful transition of power to Jefferson.

Marbury v. Madison (1803)

The court established its role as the arbiter of the constitutionality of federal laws, the principle is known as judicial review

Louisiana Purchase (1803)

Jefferson adjusted his strict interpretation of the Constitution in acquiring the land from France and the US increased by a total of 828,000 sq mi.

War of 1812

Sometimes called the “second war for independence”, the US suffered many costly defeats at the hands of British, Canadian and Native American troops, including the capture and burning of the nation’s capital, Washington, D.C.,but were able to repulse British invasions in New York, Baltimore and New Orleans, boosting national confidence and fostering a new spirit of patriotism.

McColluch v. Maryland (1819)

The court ruled that states cannot tax the federal government (i.e.; the Bank of the United States) and confirmed the constitutionality of the Bank of the United States

Missouri Compromise (1820)

Admitted Missouri as a slave state, Maine as a free state, and established the 36’30” N. latitude line for future state admissions (free above, slave below)

Waltham-Lowell System (early 1800s)

Labor and production model employed during the rise of the textile industry focused on recruiting young women from rural areas to work in urban mills and live in city boarding houses.  Strict rules, but also a sense of culture and independence.

Monroe Doctrine (1823)

Warned European nations that the US would not tolerate further colonization or puppet monarchs in the Western Hemisphere.

South Carolina Ordinance of Nullification (1832)

Anonymous claim by VP John C. Calhoun that states had formed the federal government so they could nullify unjust laws.  Used to declare the Tariffs of 1828 and 1832 null and void within the state borders of South Carolina.  Began the Nullification Crisis. 

Trail of Tears (1838)

Forced displacement of approximately 125,000 Native Americans from tribal lands in the East and South to new Indian Territory in the trans-Mississippi West.

Transcendentalism (mid 1800s)

Philosophical movement that advocated the idea of a personal knowledge of God, believing that no intermediary was needed for spiritual insight, embraced idealism, focused on nature and opposed materialism.

US declares war on Mexico (1846)

Mexican-American (or simply Mexican) War, ultimately won by the US, gaining all or parts of modern day CA, NV, UT, CO, AZ, NM, WY, OK, and KS, and recognized the border with TX as the Rio Grande River. 

Seneca Falls Convention (1848)

First women's rights convention in the US, held in Seneca Falls, NY, that launched the women's suffrage movement.

Gold discovered in CA (1848)

Sutter’s Mill, motivated significant migration and immigration to the new territory of CA, quickly allowing it to apply for statehood.

Compromise of 1850

Allowed CA in as a free state, strengthened fugitive slave laws, allowed for popular sovereignty in NM and UT territories.

Fugitive Slave Act (1850)

Forcibly compelled citizens to assist in the capture of runaway slaves, even in free states, denied enslaved people the right to a jury trial and increased the penalty for interfering with the rendition process to $1,000 and six months in jail.

Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852)

Anti-slavery novel by Harriet Beecher Stowe that had a profound effect on attitudes toward African Americans and slavery in the U.S. and is said to have "helped lay the groundwork for the Civil War.”

Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854)

Created two new territories, and allowed for popular sovereignty there, leading to the violent uprising known as “Bleeding Kansas” when proslavery and antislavery activists flooded into the territories to sway the vote.

Dred Scott v. Sanford (1857)

Court ruled that Dred Scott was not a citizen and had no standing in court, and that Congress had no power to prohibit slavery in a territory, thus voiding the Missouri Compromise of 1820

Lincoln/Douglas Debates (1858)

Seven debates between Stephen A. Douglas and Abraham Lincoln during the 1858 Illinois state election campaign. Douglas won the election, but Lincoln gained respect and status in the Republican Party.

John Brown’s raid at Harpers Ferry (1859)

Abolitionist John Brown led a small group on a raid against a federal armory in an attempt to start an armed revolt of enslaved people and end slavery

Election of 1860

Won by Abraham Lincoln without carrying a single Southern state (he was not even on the ballot in several) the election demonstrated the sectional and ideological divisions within the US before the Civil War

Homestead Act (1862)

Provided that any adult citizen, or intended citizen, who had never borne arms against the U.S. government could claim 160 acres of t land (required to stay for 5 years and make improvements)

Bessemer Process brought to the US (1863)

Process of converting iron to steel; allowed steel to become the dominant material for large construction (skyscrapers, bridges, etc.), and made it much more cost effective.

Appomattox Court House (1865)

Site of the formal surrender by Robert E. Lee and the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia to Ulysses S. Grant, that signaled the end of the Civil War

Ku Klux Klan first formed (1865)

Secret society and hate group formed by Confederate veterans of the Civil War, Nathan Bedford Forrest becomes first leader, though he tried to disband it after he grew critical of the Klan’s excessive violence.

Carpetbaggers and Scalawags (mid 1800s)

Person from the northern states who went to the South after the Civil War to profit from Reconstruction

White Southerner who collaborated with northern Republicans during Reconstruction, often for personal profit.

Grangers/The Grange formed (1867)

Original intent was to bring farmers together to discuss agricultural styles, in an attempt to correct widespread costly and inefficient methods, but grew into a social/political movement focusing on effecting change in the railroad and banking industries

Transcontinental Railroad completed (1869)

Ceremonial last spike at Promontory, UT, made transcontinental railroad travel possible and eliminated long and dangerous wagon train travel to the West.

Knights of Labor founded (1869)

Major labor union, notable in its ambition to organize across lines of gender and race and in the inclusion of both skilled and unskilled labor

Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton form NWSA (1869)

Organization formed to work for women's suffrage in the US after the passage of the 15th Amendment giving the right to vote to African-Americans. 

Boss Tweed & Tammany Hall (mid 1800s)

Originally formed in 1789, Democratic political machine in New York reached its apex under William “Boss” Tweed when it became directly associated with bribery, kickbacks, corruption, and blackmail in the city. 

Credit Mobilier scandal (1872-1873)

Company formed by several stockholders of the Union Pacific Railroad that in turn gave shares to influential congressmen as bribes.  The resulting scandal also showed how corruption tainted Gilded Age politics, and the lengths railroads and other economic interests would go to assure and increase profits.

WCTU founded (1874)

Originally focused on the temperance movement, it became one of the largest and most influential women's groups of the 19th century by expanding its platform to campaign for labor laws, prison reform and suffrage.

Exodusters (1879)

African Americans who migrated from states along the Mississippi River to Kansas in the late nineteenth century, and was the first general migration of black people following the Civil War (related to Exodus from Bible, Kansas = Promised land)

Chinese Exclusion Act (1882)

Passed to slow the immigration of Chinese who were competing for jobs in the West, banned all Chinese from entering the country except:

• Students

• Teachers

• Merchants

• Tourists

• Diplomats

Pendleton Act (1883)

Passed after the widespread use of the “Spoils System” in part led to the assassination of President Garfield, the act set up the Civil Service system for government jobs. 

Samuel Gompers founds the AFL (1886)

Major organization of craft unions, beginning with cigar makers, became the largest union grouping in the United States for the first half of the 20th century.

Haymarket Square Riot (1886)

Labor protest rally near Chicago's Haymarket Square turned into a riot after someone threw a bomb at police. At least eight people died in the subsequent violence.

Jane Addams & Hull House (1889)

Modeled after British settlement houses toured by Addams, became the first settlement house in the US (Chicago) and led to a greater movement around the country focusing on supporting the downtrodden in US cities. 

Jacob Riis’ How the Other Half Lives (1890)

Early publication of photojournalism documenting squalid living conditions in New York City slums in the 1880s and stimulated the first significant New York legislation to curb poor conditions in tenement housing.

Homestead Strike (1892)

Violent labour dispute between the Carnegie Steel Company and many of its workers that occurred at the Homestead Plant in Pennsylvania.  Pinkertons were brought in to break up the strike leading to violence and eventual involvement by the PA National Guard. 

Eugene V. Debs organizes Pullman Strike (1894)

Widespread railroad strike and boycott against lowered wages and poor conditions at the Pullman town, that severely disrupted rail traffic in the Midwest

Booker T. Washington’s Atlanta Compromise (1895)

Agreement struck between Booker T. Washington, other African-American leaders, and Southern white leaders that Southern blacks would work and submit to white political rule, while Southern whites guaranteed that blacks would receive basic and due process in law (opposed by W.E.B. DuBois and other African-American leaders).

Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)

Legalized segregation in publicly owned facilities on the basis of “separate but equal.”

de Lome Letter (1898)

USS Maine (1898)

Note written by Señor Don Enrigue Dupuy de Lôme, (Spanish Ambassador to the US) to the Foreign Minister of Spain, disrespecting President McKinely and partialling motivating US entrance into the Spanish American War.

US Navy ship that sank in Havana Harbor, blamed on a Spanish mine and contributing to the outbreak of the Spanish American War

War of 1898/Spanish American War

U.S. victory in the war produced a peace treaty that compelled the Spanish to relinquish claims on Cuba, and to cede sovereignty over Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines to the US, who also annexed the independent state of Hawaii during the conflict.

Open Door Policy (1899)

Enunciated in US Secretary of State John Hay's Open Door Note that proposed to keep China open to trade with all countries on an equal basis and to keep any power from totally controlling the country

Boxer Rebellion (1899-1901)

Uprising against foreigners that occurred in China about by a Chinese secret society known as the Boxers during which several countries sent troops to halt the attacks

Platt Amendment (1901)

Stipulated conditions for the withdrawal of US troops in Cuba after the Spanish American War, including that they make no treaties with other countries and must add the amendment to their constitution. 

Roosevelt Corollary (1904)

...to the Monroe Doctrine, by Theodore Roosevelt, stated that the U.S. would intervene in Latin American countries where European powers sought to collect debts or whose governments were thought to be unstable

Niagara Movement (1905-1910)

Organization of black intellectuals that was led by W.E.B. Du Bois and calling for full political, civil, and social rights for African Americans, and was the precursor to the NAACP

Was a notable contrast to the accommodation philosophy proposed by Booker T. Washington in the Atlanta Compromise

Muckrakers (1890s-1920s)

Reform-minded journalists in the Progressive Era in the US who exposed corrupt institutions and leaders, and typically had large audiences in popular magazines

Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle (1906)

Novel that portrays the harsh conditions and exploited lives of immigrants in the US cities, notably the meatpacking industry in Chicago

Pure Food & Drug Act & Meat Inspection Act (1906)

Significant consumer protection laws which were enacted by Congress in the 20th century (in part due to confirmation about details from The Jungle) and led to the creation of the Food and Drug Administration.

W.E.B. DuBois co-founded NAACP (1909)

Civil Rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to “promote equality of rights and eradicate caste or race prejudice among citizens of the United States and advance the interest of colored citizens…”

Triangle Shirtwaist Fire (1911)

Deadliest industrial disaster in the history of NY (prior to 9/11) in which workers were locked in the factory’s upper floors and got caught in a fire that could not be put out and they could not escape from (146 died, mostly poor immigrant women).  Motivated a wide range of workplace safety laws. 

Panama Canal completed (1914)

Precipitated by US recognition of Panama’s sovereignty from Colombia, the canal linked shipping lanes between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, with exclusive rights to the US until 1977 and joint rights until 1999

Marcus Garvey founded UNIA (1914)

Organization founded to work for the advancement of people of African ancestry around the world, with focus of returning to Africa (Black Star Line), but lost prestige and influence after Garvey’s deportation in 1927

Lusitania sunk (1915)

British ocean liner that was sunk by a German U-boat, killing 1198, including 128 American citizens, helping motivate the US to enter WWI

Zimmerman Telegram intercepted (1917)

Secret diplomatic communication issued from the German Foreign Office proposing a military alliance between Germany and Mexico if the United States entered WWI against Germany.  Interception of the telegram helped motivate the US to enter WWI

Selective Service Act (1917)

Required all men in the U.S. between the ages of 21 and 30 to register for military service. Within a few months, some 10 million men across the country had registered in response to the military draft.

Espionage and Sedition Acts (1917-1918)

Allowed a citizen to be fined or imprisoned for speaking out against the government or the war effort. 

Prohibited many forms of speech, including "any disloyal, profane, scurrilous, or abusive language about the form of government of the United States...”

Fourteen Points (1918)

Proposal made by President Wilson in a speech before Congress, outlining his vision for ending World War I in a way that would help prevent another world war. 

Treaty of Versailles (1919)

Treaty signed after WWI, placed severe restrictions and reparations on Germany, was never signed by the US, and helped lead to the rise of Hitler.

Prohibition begins (1919)

18th Amendment outlawed the “sale, manufacture and transportation of intoxicating liquors”, and led to increased crime (bootlegging, speakeasies) and was eventually repealed by the 21st Amendment.

Lost Generation (1920s)

Group of American writers who came of age during World War I that were critical of the materialism of the 1920s and disenchanted with American society overall (Gertrude Stein, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, T. S. Eliot)

Harlem Renaissance (1920s)

Intellectual and cultural revival of African American music, dance, art, fashion, literature, theater and politics centered in Harlem, NY after the (First) Great Migration. 

Sacco and Vanzetti trial begins (1920)

Italian immigrant anarchists who were controversially convicted of murdering a paymaster for a shoe company in Massachusetts being shot and his guard.  Despite worldwide demonstrations in support of their innocence, Sacco and Vanzetti were executed.

National Origins Act (1924)

A law that severely restricted immigration by establishing a system of national quotas that blatantly discriminated against immigrants from southern and eastern Europe and virtually excluded Asians

Scopes “Monkey” Trial (1925)

Prosecution of science teacher John Scopes for teaching evolution in a Tennessee public school, which was illegal in the state

Black Tuesday (1929)

Continuation and complete collapse of drop in stock prices which is considered to be the beginning of the Great Depression

New Deal (1930s)

Series of programs, public work projects, financial reforms, and regulations enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the US to lift the country out of the Great Depression

“Hundred Days” (1933)

First 100 days of FDRs presidency in which he and the federal government focused on fixing the banking industry and the stock market

CCC formed (1933)

Civilian Conservation Corps: Work relief program that gave millions of young men employment on environmental projects during the Great Depression

TVA formed (1933)

Tennessee Valley Authority: One of President Roosevelt’s New Deal programs, providing jobs and electricity to the rural Tennessee River Valley

FDIC formed (1933)

Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation: Federally insured deposits in case of bank failures to motivate the public to begin putting their money back into banks.

SEC formed (1934)

Securities and Exchange Commission: independent federal regulatory agency tasked with protecting investors and capital, overseeing the stock market and proposing and enforcing federal securities laws

Social Security Act passed (1935)

Originally established a system of old-age benefits for workers, benefits for victims of industrial accidents, unemployment insurance, aid for dependent mothers and children, the blind, and the physically handicapped

Cash and Carry System (1939)

Prior to US entrance into WWII, policy requested by FDR to sell supplies (and eventually arms) to nations that could pay cash and carry the items on their own ships

Lend-Lease System (1941)

The U.S. government could lend or lease (rather than sell) war supplies to any nation deemed “vital to the defense of the United States.”

Pearl Harbor (1941)

U.S. naval base near Honolulu, Hawaii, that was the scene of a surprise attack by Japanese forces on December 7, 1941 that crippled the US Pacific Fleet and motivated American entrance into WWII

Executive Order 9066 (1942)

Authorized the evacuation of all persons deemed a threat to national security and initiated Japanese relocation in the US