APUSH Exam Study Guide

Why was Cahokia significant?

It demonstrated the development and scale of Native American society in North America

Major types of Native American communities

Eastern Woodlands, Southwestern, Northwestern, Southeastern, Central American, and Southern American

What was special about Eastern Woodland cultures?

Trade, matrilineal, first to be colonized by English

What was special about Southwest cultures?

Homes carved into mountains

What was special about Northwest cultures?

Wood and fish trade

What was special about Southeastern cultures?

Cahokia and other large communities along Mississippi

What were the largest tribes in Central America?

Mayans and Aztecs

What was the special commodity of South America?

Iron and gold

What enabled the growth of Native American society.

The spread of the “three sisters” (corn, beans, and squash)

How was race divided in Spanish colonies in the Americas?

Sistema de Castas

Describe the Columbian exchange.

Native Americans: Get manufactured goods, disease, and lost land. / Africans: Get manufactured goods, lose P.O.Ws. / Europeans: Get new crops, land, slaves, gold, and wealth.

What crucial new technology enabled expansion?

Caravel and printing press

What treaty divided colonization between Spain and Portugal?

The Treaty of Tordesillas

Who were the leading Conquistadores?

Cortes (Aztecs), de Soto(SE), Coronado(SW)

What was the Encomienda system most similar to?

Feudalism (enslaved Native Americans/Africans, obtained wealth for Conquistadores)

How did Bartoleme de las Casas and Juan de Sepulveda differ as far as it relates to indigenous treatment?

De las Casas used scripture to promote Indigenous rights, while Sepulveda used religion in order to promote “guidance”

Why were Native Americans often referred to as “Noble Savages”?

They were admirable in their friendly nature, but savage in barbarian action

Whose writings eventually became the basis of the black legend?

De las Casas

Why was French colonization not widespread?

Climate

What was a major effect of the Protestant Reformation?

Nationalism

What were Joint Stock Companies?

Ancestors to modern corporations that wealthy landowners invested in. Were private entity in colonization

What crop did John Rolfe find that revived British colonization?

Tobacco

What was the Headright system most similar to?

Temporary feudalism

Why was the Headright system corrupt?

Most indentured servants never lived to receive their land dues, which gave landowners immense sums of land

What was a major characteristic of the New England colonies?

Social and religious harmony

Where was New Amsterdam?

New York City

What was the connection between the Carolinas and Barbados?

Slavery plantation-based economy

What were the main goals of French colonization?

Fur trade and Catholic ministry

What was unique about the Pennsylvania colony?

Established by Quakers, tolerant, and diverse

Describe the middle passage.

Forced migration of 10 million African slaves into America

Why was the Stono Rebellion important?

It demonstrated resistance by enslaved people against their “owners”

What was mercantalism?

An economic system in which a country attempts to export more manufactured goods, and import fewer raw goods

How did mercantilism influence the colonies?

Wealth, consumerism, and economics regulation

What caused salutary neglect?

Lack of enforcement of the Navigation Acts

What were the Effects of Pontiac’s War and the French and Indian War?

Britain receives Canada, unified colonial identity, end of salutary neglect, Proclamation Line of 1763

What was the effect of Bacon’s Rebellion?

Dissolving of the Headright System and expansion of the African slave trade

What does the “Middle Ground demonstrate”?

The forced westward migration of indigenous people

Why was Pope’s Rebellion significant?

It demonstrated the resistance to Spanish rule in the SW

Which Enlightenment thinker had the most influence on the American Revolution?

John Locke

What was the effect of the first Great Awakening?

Protestant unity, religious revival, and support for rebellion/reform

What was the first plan that called for the unification of the colonies?

The Albany Plan

What was the cause and effect of the Proclamation Line of 1763?

It was created in order to protect indigenous land and therefore avoid wars for Britain. It led to discontent among colonists who saw that Britain’s interests did not align.

What did King Phillip’s War demonstrate?

Hostile relationship between Native Americans and Colonists

What was the difference between Old Whigs and Patriot Whigs

Old Whigs and Tories supported taxation while Patriot Whigs supported economic growth as a means to alleviate debt

Why was virtual representation heavily opposed?

Because they weren’t actually represented in parliament by Americans

Why was the Stamp Act Congress important?

First national response to taxation that promoted right to trial by jury and fair taxation

Why was the public’s perception of the Boston Massacre important?

It portrayed the British has oppressive and tyrannical

What groups united American colonies?

Committees of Correspondence

What did the First Continental Congress do?

Wrote the Declaration of Rights and Grievances and the Continental Association (denied virtual rep/promoted right to trial by jury)

What did the Second Continental Congress do?

Officialized the war through the “Declaration of the Causes and of Necessity of Taking Up Arms”, Declaration of Independence, Continental Army

Who were typically landowners?

Southern plantation owners and wealthy urban merchants

Why were Locke’s ideas on Natural Rights important?

Root of American Revolutionary principles

Who were significant advocates for women’s rights in this era?

Abigail Adams and Mercy Otis Warrn

Northwest Ordinance of 1785/1787 Significance

Legalized slavery in new western territories/organized land distribution

Shay’s Rebellion Significance

Demonstrated ineffectiveness of Articles of Confederation

What were the negotiations in the Constitution?

Bill of Rights and Checks/Balances

Why did Hamilton promote a National Bank?

High state debts

What was the significance of the Whiskey Rebellion?

Federal government’s power to quell internal disputes

Why were the Alien and Sedition Acts significant?

They were viewed as attempts to violate Constitutional powers.

What did the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions introduce?

Nullification

What was significant about the Election of 1800?

It was a tie between Thomas Jefferson and Richard Burr

What battle was the turning point of the War?

Saratoga (globalized)

What battle ended the War?

Yorktown

What did President Thomas Jefferson do?

Cut federal debts, tariffs, Louisiana Purchase

Why was the Louisiana Purchase significant?

Doubled size of nation, led to internal improvements, slavery issue

What did Marbury vs. Madison establish?

Judicial Review

What did the Embargo Act result in?

New debates over war with Britain, resurgence of Federalist Party

Who were Congress’s two leading War Hawks.

Henry Clay and John C. Calhoun

Why was the War of 1812 significant?

Crushed Tecumseh’s indigenous resistance, forced Britain out of America (Monroe Doctrine), nationalism

What controversial idea was suggested at the Hartford Convention?

Secession

How did the Era of Good Feelings aid in preventing further debates over slavery?

Political unity and nationalism

What was the American System?

Federalist policies that increased tariffs, created a national bank, internal improvements

What did Monroe Doctrine establish?

European nations could not interfere in American affairs

Were the Grimke sisters only feminists?

No, they were also abolitionists

What was the term that embodied “Jacksonian Democracy”?

“Common man’s” democracy (no property requirments)

Why was the Tariff of Abominations so unpopular?

Increased prices of foreign manufactured goods,

What did the Tariff of Abominations bring about?

Nullification Crisis (SC)

Effects of the Nullification Crisis

Clay’s Compromise Tariff of 1833

Why was the Cotton Gin significant?

Led to growth of Textiles in New England and growth of slavery in the South

Who was arguably the most prevalent abolitionist in this era.

Frederick Douglass

What was the “Cult of Domesticity”

Movement among upper and middle class families that asserted the role of women in the home

What began the Feminist movement?

Seneca Falls Convention

Uncle Tom’s Cabin significance

Brought about awareness of slavery

Cherokee vs. Georgia

Native American sovereignty

Market Revolution

American system, industrialism, new agriculture methods, income, and 2nd Great Awakening

2nd Great Awakening

New culture, democratizing religion, social reforms

What was the effect of the Texas Revolution?

Texas becomes a sovereign nation

What was Manifest Destiny and why was it important?

Belief that God ordained Americans with the task of expanding west. It resulted in rapid westward expansion

What were other causes of expansion?

Religious (Mormons), economic, racism

What debate did the Mexican-American War reintroduce?

Slavery (Mexican Cession)

What was the significance of the Market Revolution?

Growth of slavery (need for more raw goods), factory system, mass production, new economic roles for immigrants, children, and young women

Popular Sovereignty

Rule of the people

What were the aspects of the Compromise of 1850?

CA admitted as free state, no slave trade in DC, fugitive slave law, NM has popular sovereignty

What was the issue with the fugitive slave law?

It had the opposite effect, because most Northerners did not want to have to take responsibility for this

What was the Kansas Nebraska Act?

Establishes popular sovereignty in both territories, nullifies MISSOURI COMPROMISE, “Bleeding Kansas”

Who caused Bleeding Kansas?

Border Ruffians from Missouri

Lecompton Constitution

Pro-slavery Kansas constitution opposed by voters

Significance of Dred Scott case?

Federal government subsidizes slavery

Uncle Tom’s Cabin Significance

Best-selling abolitionist novel based on moral grounds

Wilmot Proviso Significance

Plan from Senator David Wilmot to delegalize slavery in new lands from Mexican Cession. Fails, but creates fear among slave-owners about the future of slavery