APUSH 2025 Midterm Exam Study Guide

A collection of vocabulary flashcards based on key historical concepts, events, and terms relevant to the APUSH Midterm Exam.

Indentured servitude

A labor system where individuals worked for a certain number of years in exchange for passage to America and the promise of land or money.

Bacon's Rebellion

A 1676 uprising in Virginia, led by Nathaniel Bacon, protesting against the governor's refusal to address the colonists' grievances regarding Native American attacks and the growing elite class.

Columbian Exchange

The transfer of plants, animals, diseases, and people between the Old World and the New World after 1492, significantly impacting both ecosystems and populations.

Plymouth Colony

Founded by Puritans in 1620, it served as a model for the New England Colonies, highlighting themes of religious freedom and community.

Half-Way Covenant

A 1662 religious solution allowing partial church membership for the children of church members, reflecting a decline in religious piety among New England Puritans.

Puritanism

A religious reform movement within the Church of England characterized by strict religious discipline and opposition to the rituals of the Anglican church.

Popular sovereignty

The principle that the authority of the government is created and sustained by the consent of its people, particularly relating to the choice of whether to allow slavery in new territories.

Manifest Destiny

The 19th-century doctrine that justified American expansion across the continent, asserting it was the nation's inevitable fate to expand westward.

The Great Awakening

A series of religious revivals in the 18th and 19th centuries in America that emphasized individual piety and a personal relationship with God.

The 'Black Legend'

The idea that Spanish colonial practices were uniquely cruel, popularized by Bartolomé de las Casas, used to justify other nations' colonization.

The American System

An economic plan proposed by Henry Clay in the early 19th century aimed at promoting American industry through a national bank, protective tariffs, and internal improvements.

Freedmen

Former enslaved individuals who were granted freedom and sought to navigate their new status in the post-Civil War United States.

Jamestown

The first permanent English settlement in North America, founded in Virginia in 1607.

Mercantilism

An economic theory prevalent in the 17th and 18th centuries, holding that a nation's wealth and power were best served by increasing exports and limiting imports, often through colonial exploitation.

Salutary Neglect

An unofficial British policy in the 17th and 18th centuries of avoiding strict enforcement of parliamentary laws in the American colonies to ensure colonial loyalty and economic prosperity.

Stamp Act

A 1765 British law that imposed a direct tax on all paper documents in the colonies, including newspapers, legal documents, and playing cards, leading to widespread protest.

Articles of Confederation

The first written constitution of the United States, adopted in 1781, creating a weak central government and strong state governments.

Monroe Doctrine

A U.S. foreign policy doctrine announced in 1823, stating that any intervention by European powers in the Americas would be viewed as an act of aggression.

Missouri Compromise

An 1820 agreement that admitted Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state, maintaining the balance of power, and prohibiting slavery in the Louisiana Purchase territory north of 36°30' parallel.

Kansas-Nebraska Act

An 1854 law that allowed voters in Kansas and Nebraska territories to decide whether to permit slavery through popular sovereignty, effectively repealing the Missouri Compromise.

Emancipation Proclamation

An executive order issued by President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, during the Civil War, declaring slaves in Confederate states to be free.

Reconstruction Amendments (13th, 14th, 15th)

Constitutional amendments passed after the Civil War: the 13th abolished slavery, the 14th granted citizenship and equal protection, and the 15th granted African American men the right to vote.

Encomienda System

A Spanish labor system that rewarded conquerors with the labor of particular groups of conquered non-Christian people.

Pueblo Revolt (Pope's Rebellion)

A 1680 uprising of most of the indigenous Pueblo people against the Spanish colonizers in the province of Santa Fe de Nuevo México.

House of Burgesses

The first legislative assembly of elected representatives in North America, established in the Colony of Virginia in 1619.

Mayflower Compact

The first governing document of Plymouth Colony, signed by the male passengers of the Mayflower in 1620, establishing a self-governing colony based on majority rule.

City Upon a Hill

John Winthrop's vision for the Massachusetts Bay Colony as a Puritan ideal community, a model for others to look up to.

King Philip's War (Metacom's War)

A brutal conflict (1675-1676) between New England colonists and Native American tribes led by Metacom (King Philip), resulting in significant casualties on both sides and weakening Native American resistance in the region.

Quakers (Society of Friends)

A religious group known for their pacifism, belief in an 'inner light' (spiritual equality), and advocacy for religious freedom, notably in Pennsylvania.

Stono Rebellion

A 1739 slave uprising in South Carolina, the largest slave revolt in the British mainland colonies, leading to stricter slave codes.

French and Indian War (Seven Years' War)

A global conflict (1754-1763) between Great Britain and France, primarily over control of North American territory, resulting in British victory and increased colonial taxation.

Proclamation of 1763

A British decree that forbade colonial settlement west of the Appalachian Mountains, aiming to prevent conflicts with Native Americans but angering colonists.

Loyalists

American colonists who remained loyal to the British Crown during the American Revolutionary War.

Patriots

American colonists who rejected British rule and supported American independence during the American Revolutionary War.

Common Sense

A pamphlet written by Thomas Paine in 1776, advocating for immediate independence from Great Britain and arguing for a republican government.

Declaration of Independence

The statement adopted by the Second Continental Congress in 1776, announcing the thirteen American colonies' separation from Great Britain.

Battle of Saratoga

A decisive American victory in 1777 during the Revolutionary War, convincing France to openly ally with the United States.

Treaty of Paris (1783)

The agreement that formally ended the American Revolutionary War, recognizing American independence and ceding territory to the new nation.

Shays' Rebellion

An armed uprising by Massachusetts farmers in 1786-1787, protesting high taxes and debt, which highlighted the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation.

Federalists

Supporters of the U.S. Constitution and a strong central government, led by figures like Alexander Hamilton and James Madison.

Anti-Federalists

Opponents of the U.S. Constitution, fearing a strong central government would threaten individual liberties and state powers, demanding a Bill of Rights.

Bill of Rights

The first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution, ratified in 1791, guaranteeing fundamental rights and liberties to citizens.

Hamilton's Financial Plan

Alexander Hamilton's program to stabilize the U.S. economy, including assumption of state debts, creation of a national bank, and protective tariffs.

Whiskey Rebellion

A 1794 uprising by farmers in western Pennsylvania protesting a federal tax on whiskey, quickly suppressed by President Washington, demonstrating the strength of the new federal government.

XYZ Affair

A 1797 diplomatic incident between French and United States envoys, resulting in a quasi-war and anti-French sentiment in the U.S.

Alien and Sedition Acts

A series of four laws passed in 1798 by the Federalist-controlled Congress (and signed by President John Adams) that restricted the rights of immigrants and suppressed criticism of the government.

Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions

Political statements drafted in 1798 and 1799 in which the Kentucky and Virginia legislatures took the position that the federal Alien and Sedition Acts were unconstitutional.

Louisiana Purchase

The 1803 acquisition by the United States of approximately 828,000 square miles of France's claim to the territory of Louisiana, doubling the size of the nation.

War of 1812

A conflict (1812-1815) between the United States and Great Britain, fought over issues such as impressment, trade restrictions, and Native American conflicts, ending in a stalemate and boosting American nationalism.

Era of Good Feelings

A period in American history (1815-1825) after the War of 1812, marked by a sense of national purpose and unity, and one-party rule by the Democratic-Republicans.

Indian Removal Act

A 1830 law signed by President Andrew Jackson authorizing the President to negotiate with Native American tribes for their removal from their ancestral lands in the southeastern United States to federal territory west of the Mississippi River.

Trail of Tears

The forced relocation of approximately 100,000 Native Americans from their ancestral lands in the southeastern United States to Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma) during the 1830s, resulting in thousands of deaths.

Nullification Crisis

A sectional crisis in the early 1830s during the presidency of Andrew Jackson, triggered by South Carolina's attempt to nullify a federal tariff law, asserting states' rights to reject federal laws deemed unconstitutional.

Second Great Awakening

A Protestant religious revival movement during the early 19th century in the United States, leading to increased church membership and inspiring various social reform movements.

Transcendentalism

An American philosophical and literary movement of the 19th century that emphasized individualism, self-reliance, and a belief in the inherent goodness of people and nature, with key figures like Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau.

Seneca Falls Convention

The first women's rights convention in U.S. history, held in 1848, which issued the 'Declaration of Sentiments' calling for women's suffrage and equal rights.

Abolitionism

The movement to end slavery, gaining significant momentum in the antebellum period with prominent figures like William Lloyd Garrison, Frederick Douglass, and Harriet Tubman.

Mexican-American War

A conflict (1846-1848) between the United States and Mexico, resulting in a U.S. victory and the acquisition of vast territories in the Southwest, including California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, and parts of New Mexico, Colorado, and Wyoming.

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

The 1848 treaty that ended the Mexican-American War, in which Mexico ceded vast territories to the United States and recognized the Rio Grande as the southern border of Texas.

Compromise of 1850

A package of five separate bills passed by Congress, addressing the issue of slavery in newly acquired territories, including admitting California as a free state, strengthening the Fugitive Slave Act, and allowing popular sovereignty in Utah and New Mexico territories.

Fugitive Slave Act of 1850

A component of the Compromise of 1850 that required all citizens, regardless of their views on slavery, to assist in the capture and return of escaped slaves, sparking widespread northern outrage and resistance.

Dred Scott v. Sandford

A landmark 1857 Supreme Court case that ruled African Americans, whether enslaved or free, were not citizens and had no standing to sue in federal court, and that Congress could not prohibit slavery in federal territories, intensifying sectional tensions.

John Brown's Raid on Harper's Ferry

An 1859 attempt by abolitionist John Brown to initiate an armed slave revolt by taking over a U.S. arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia, quickly suppressed but further polarizing the nation over slavery.

Anaconda Plan

The Union's strategic plan during the Civil War to blockade Confederate ports and control the Mississippi River, thereby cutting off Southern trade and resources.

Battle of Gettysburg

A major turning point in the Civil War (July 1-3, 1863), where the Union Army repelled a Confederate invasion of the North, leading to significant Confederate losses and marking the beginning of the end for the Confederacy.

Sherman's March to the Sea

A military campaign by Union General William Tecumseh Sherman through Georgia (1864), employing 'total war' tactics to destroy Confederate infrastructure and civilian morale.

Appomattox Court House

The site in Virginia where Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Union General Ulysses S. Grant on April 9, 1865, effectively ending the Civil War.

Freedmen's Bureau

A U.S. federal agency established in 1865 to aid freed slaves in the South during the Reconstruction era, providing food, housing, medical aid, education, and legal assistance.