AP® United States History Speed Review

This set of flashcards covers key vocabulary terms and concepts from U.S. history, spanning from pre-contact Native American cultures to contemporary issues.

Treaty of Tordesillas

A treaty between Spain and Portugal that divided newly discovered lands between them.

Columbian Exchange

The exchange of plants, animals, diseases, and technology between the Americas and the rest of the world following Columbus's voyages.

Encomienda System

A labor system in which Spanish colonists were granted the rights to compel indigenous peoples to work in exchange for protection and religious guidance.

Valladolid Debate

A debate in Spain concerning the treatment of indigenous peoples, featuring Bartolomé de Las Casas and Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda.

Bacon’s Rebellion

A 1676 revolt led by Nathaniel Bacon against the Governor of Virginia, which highlighted tensions between frontier settlers and the colonial government.

Manifest Destiny

The 19th-century doctrine that the expansion of the US throughout the American continents was both justified and inevitable.

Jim Crow Laws

State and local laws enforcing racial segregation in the Southern United States.

New Deal

A series of programs and policies designed to promote economic recovery and social reform during the Great Depression under President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Civil Rights Act

A landmark piece of federal legislation in the United States that outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.

The Great Society

A set of domestic programs in the United States launched by President Lyndon B. Johnson aimed at eliminating poverty and racial injustice.

The Gilded Age

A period in American history in the late 19th century characterized by rapid economic growth and stark social inequality.

Prohibition

Period from 1920 to 1933 during which the sale and manufacture of alcohol were illegal in the United States.

Brown v. Board of Education

The 1954 Supreme Court case that declared state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students to be unconstitutional.

Silent Spring

A book by Rachel Carson that brought attention to the dangers of pesticides and environmental pollution.

Detente

A policy aimed at easing Cold War tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union.

Bimetallism

The economic policy of allowing the use of two metals, usually gold and silver, as a basis for currency.

Double V Campaign

A World War II-era campaign that sought victory against fascism abroad and racial discrimination at home.

USS Maine

An American naval ship whose sinking in Havana Harbor in 1898 contributed to the outbreak of the Spanish-American War.

Nativism

The policy of protecting the interests of native-born or established inhabitants against those of immigrants.

SALT

Strategic Arms Limitation Talks, negotiations between the U.S. and Soviet Union aimed at curbing the arms race during the Cold War.