APUSH - Full Review

'Revolution of 1800'

Jefferson's peaceful electoral defeat of Adams; notable as the first transfer of power between opposing parties in American history.

Second Great Awakening

c. 1790-1820s. A Protestant religious revival emphasizing personal salvation and moral reform; fueled abolitionism, temperance, and other reform movements.

Marbury v. Madison

1803. Supreme Court case establishing the principle of judicial review - the Court's power to strike down laws as unconstitutional.

Louisiana Purchase & Lewis and Clark Expedition

1803. The US purchased approximately 828,000 square miles from France, doubling its size. Lewis and Clark were sent to explore the territory.

Embargo Act

1807. Jefferson's policy banning US trade with Europe to avoid entanglement in the Napoleonic Wars; it badly hurt the American economy instead.

Manifest Destiny

Term coined in 1845 by John O'Sullivan. The belief that American expansion across the continent was inevitable and divinely ordained.

Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass

1845. A landmark slave narrative and abolitionist text written by the formerly enslaved Douglass.

Polk Presidency

1845-1849. James K. Polk aggressively pursued westward expansion, acquiring Texas, Oregon, and the Southwest.

US Acquired Oregon Territory

1846. The US and Britain settled on the 49th parallel as the border, giving the US the Pacific Northwest.

Spot Resolutions

1847. Congressman Lincoln's challenge to Polk to identify the exact 'spot' where American blood was shed to justify the Mexican-American War.

Mexican-American War

1846-1848. War following Texas annexation; the US gained vast southwestern territories via the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.

Thoreau, Civil Disobedience

Essay arguing individuals must resist unjust laws through nonviolent noncompliance; influenced MLK and Gandhi.

Wilmot Proviso

Proposed (but never passed) legislation to ban slavery in territory gained from Mexico; intensified sectional conflict.

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

1848. Ended the Mexican-American War; Mexico ceded California and the Southwest to the US.

Free Soil Party

Est. 1848. Political party opposed to the expansion of slavery into new territories; precursor to the Republican Party.

Seneca Falls Convention

1848. First women's rights convention; produced the Declaration of Sentiments demanding equal rights including suffrage.

'Know-Nothing' Party

Founded 1849. Nativist, anti-immigrant, anti-Catholic political party; reflected tensions over immigration.

Compromise of 1850 & 7th of March Speech

Henry Clay's package of bills temporarily easing sectional tensions over slavery; Webster's '7th of March' speech controversially supported it.

Uncle Tom's Cabin

1851. Harriet Beecher Stowe's anti-slavery novel; enormously influential in turning Northern public opinion against slavery.

Kansas-Nebraska Act

1854. Repealed the Missouri Compromise; allowed settlers in Kansas and Nebraska to decide slavery by popular sovereignty, leading to violent conflict.

Bleeding Kansas / Pottawatomie Massacre

1854-1861. Series of violent confrontations in Kansas between pro- and anti-slavery settlers. The Pottawatomie Massacre (1856) was John Brown's killing of pro-slavery settlers.

Dred Scott v. Sandford

1857. Supreme Court ruled enslaved people were property, not citizens, and Congress could not ban slavery in territories; inflamed sectional tensions enormously.

Lincoln-Douglas Debates / Freeport Doctrine

1858. Senate debates in Illinois; Douglas's 'Freeport Doctrine' argued territories could exclude slavery in practice, costing him Southern support.

Harpers Ferry Raid

1859. John Brown's failed raid on a federal arsenal to spark a slave uprising; he was executed but became a martyr to abolitionists.

Election of 1860 & South Carolina Secedes

Lincoln won without a single Southern electoral vote; South Carolina immediately seceded, triggering the Civil War.

Battle of Fort Sumter

1861. Confederate forces fired on a federal fort in South Carolina - the opening shots of the Civil War.

First Battle of Bull Run

1861. First major land battle of the Civil War; Confederate victory shocked the North into realizing the war would not be short.

Outbreak of War - Strengths & Weaknesses

1861. The Union had more industry, population, and railroads; the Confederacy had better military leadership and home-field advantage.

Emancipation Proclamation

1863. Lincoln's executive order declaring enslaved people in rebel states free; transformed the war into a fight over slavery.

Gettysburg Address

1863. Lincoln's famous speech redefining the Civil War as a fight for equality and democratic government.

Boss Tweed's Corruption Exposed

1871. William 'Boss' Tweed of Tammany Hall in NYC was exposed for massive political corruption; symbolized Gilded Age graft.

Women's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU)

1874. Organization founded to combat alcohol abuse; one of the largest women's organizations of the era, also advocated for suffrage.

Battle of Little Bighorn

1876. Native American forces (Sioux, Cheyenne) led by Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse defeated Lt. Col. Custer's forces; a major but temporary Native victory.

Railroad Strikes

1877. First major national labor strike in US history; workers protested wage cuts; federal troops intervened.

Strengths & Shortcomings of Reconstruction

Ended 1877. Reconstruction gave Black Americans rights (13th-15th Amendments) but was undermined by violence and ended by the Compromise of 1877, which withdrew federal troops from the South. Key figures: Thaddeus Stevens and the Radical Republicans.

Social Darwinism

1880s. The misapplication of Darwin's evolutionary ideas to society, arguing the wealthy were naturally superior; used to justify inequality and oppose social reform.

Booker T. Washington / Tuskegee Institute

1881. Washington became head of Tuskegee Institute, promoting vocational education for Black Americans and accommodation with segregation, in contrast to Du Bois's more confrontational approach.

Chinese Exclusion Act

1882. The first law to ban a specific ethnic group from immigrating to the US; a response to anti-Chinese racism in the West.

American Federation of Labor (AFL)

Founded 1886. Samuel Gompers's craft union federation; focused on practical gains (wages, hours) rather than radical political change.

American Protective Association

1887. Anti-Catholic, nativist organization that saw Catholic immigrants as a threat to American culture.

Dawes Severalty Act

1887. Broke up communal Native American tribal lands into individual allotments; devastated tribal cultures and led to massive land loss.

Hull House

Est. 1889 in Chicago. Settlement house founded by Jane Addams; provided social services to immigrants and became a center of Progressive reform.

Carnegie's 'Gospel of Wealth'

1889. Andrew Carnegie's essay arguing the wealthy had an obligation to use their fortunes for the public good through philanthropy.

National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA)

Founded 1890. The leading organization fighting for women's right to vote.

New Immigrants

1890s. Wave of immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe (Italians, Poles, Jews, etc.); faced discrimination and nativist backlash.

Sherman Antitrust Act

1890. First federal law to regulate monopolies; initially used weakly but later employed against trusts and labor unions.

McKinley Tariff

1890. Raised tariffs to very high levels to protect American industry; controversial and contributed to Democratic gains.

Homestead Steel Strike

1892. Violent labor dispute at Carnegie's steel plant; Pinkerton agents battled strikers; a major setback for labor unions.

Populist Party

Formed 1892. Political party representing farmers; demanded graduated income tax, direct election of senators, and government ownership of railroads.

Pullman Strike

1894. Nationwide railroad strike led by Eugene Debs; broken up when Cleveland sent federal troops; Debs was jailed.

Plessy v. Ferguson

1896. Supreme Court upheld racial segregation under the 'separate but equal' doctrine; legalized Jim Crow for decades.

Election of 1896

William McKinley (Republican) defeated William Jennings Bryan (Populist/Democrat); ended the Populist Party as a major force.

Emilio Aguinaldo

1896. Filipino revolutionary who first led a rebellion against Spain, then fought against the Americans after the US took the Philippines in 1898.

Yellow Journalism

1890s. Sensationalist, exaggerated newspaper reporting (Hearst, Pulitzer) that inflamed public opinion and pushed the US toward war with Spain.

Teller Amendment

1898. Pledged the US would not annex Cuba after the Spanish-American War; later undermined by the Platt Amendment.

Spanish-American War

1898. Brief war in which the US defeated Spain; gained Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines; marked America's emergence as an imperial power.

Big Stick Diplomacy

1901. Roosevelt's foreign policy: 'speak softly and carry a big stick' - using the threat of military force to achieve US goals in Latin America and abroad.

W.E.B. Du Bois, Talented Tenth

1903. Du Bois argued the top 10% of Black Americans should receive a classical higher education and lead the community toward full equality, contrasting with Washington's vocational approach.

Platt Amendment

1903. Gave the US the right to intervene in Cuban affairs and lease Guantanamo Bay; made Cuba effectively a US protectorate.

Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty / Panama Canal

1903. The US helped Panama gain independence from Colombia, then secured rights to build and control the Panama Canal.

Roosevelt Corollary

1904. Extension of the Monroe Doctrine; asserted the US right to intervene in Latin American countries to stabilize their affairs.

Neutrality Acts

1935. Series of laws designed to keep the US out of foreign wars by banning arms sales and loans to belligerents.

FDR's Quarantine Speech

1937. FDR called for 'quarantining' aggressor nations; signaled a shift away from strict isolationism.

Court Packing Controversy

1937. FDR's failed plan to add justices to the Supreme Court to get favorable rulings on New Deal legislation.

Lend-Lease Program

1941. Allowed the US to supply Britain and other allies with war materials without direct involvement; effectively ended neutrality.

Atlantic Charter

1941. Joint declaration by FDR and Churchill outlining war aims: self-determination, free trade, disarmament, and a new international security system.

Pearl Harbor

1941. Surprise Japanese attack on the US naval base in Hawaii; brought the US into World War II.

Fair Employment Practices Commission (FEPC)

Est. 1941. Executive order by FDR banning discrimination in defense industries; a significant civil rights milestone.

War Production Board

1942. Federal agency that directed conversion of US industry to wartime production.

Executive Order 9066

1942. Authorized the forced relocation and internment of Japanese Americans during WWII.

Battle of Midway

1942. Decisive US naval victory over Japan in the Pacific; turned the tide of the war.

D-Day Invasion

1944. Allied amphibious invasion of Normandy, France; opened the Western Front and led to Germany's defeat.

Atomic Bombing

1945. US dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki; Japan surrendered, ending WWII; sparked ongoing debate over the decision's justification.

United Nations (UN) Created

1945. International organization founded to maintain peace; unlike the League of Nations, the US joined.

Levittown & Suburbanization

1947. Mass-produced suburban communities symbolized postwar prosperity; women were increasingly expected to remain in domestic roles.

National Security Act

1947. Created the CIA, the National Security Council, and reorganized the military under the Department of Defense.

Truman Doctrine & Marshall Plan

1947-1948. Truman Doctrine pledged US support for nations resisting communism; the Marshall Plan provided economic aid to rebuild Western Europe.

Truman's Fair Deal

1948. Truman's domestic agenda expanding New Deal programs; largely blocked by Congress.

Berlin Blockade & Airlift

1948. Soviets blockaded West Berlin; the US and allies supplied the city by air for nearly a year in a major Cold War confrontation.

HUAC & Red Scare / McCarthyism

1940s-1950s. The House Un-American Activities Committee investigated suspected communists; Joseph McCarthy led a wave of accusations. The Hollywood Ten refused to cooperate and were blacklisted; the Rosenbergs were executed as spies.

Korean War

1950-1953. Conflict between North Korea (backed by China/USSR) and South Korea (backed by the US/UN); ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty.

CIA-Sponsored Coup in Iran

1953. US helped overthrow Iran's democratically elected Prime Minister Mosaddegh and restored the Shah; bred long-term resentment.

Brown v. Board of Education

1954. Supreme Court unanimously struck down school segregation, overturning Plessy v. Ferguson; a landmark civil rights victory.

Murder of Emmett Till

1955. Black 14-year-old lynched in Mississippi; his open-casket funeral galvanized the civil rights movement.

Montgomery Bus Boycott

1955. Year-long boycott of segregated buses sparked by Rosa Parks' arrest; led by MLK; ended with desegregation of buses.

Federal Highway Act

1956. Created the Interstate Highway System; transformed American transportation, commerce, and suburbanization.

NASA Established

1957. Created in response to the Soviet Sputnik launch; launched the Space Race.

Little Rock Nine

1957. Nine Black students integrated Central High School in Little Rock, AR; Eisenhower sent federal troops to enforce the ruling.

Election of 1960 / JFK's New Frontier

Kennedy narrowly defeated Nixon in 1960; his domestic agenda (the 'New Frontier') promoted science, space, and civil rights.

'Flexible Response'

1960s. McNamara's military strategy emphasizing a range of options (conventional and nuclear) rather than massive retaliation.

Bay of Pigs

1961. Failed CIA-backed invasion of Cuba by Cuban exiles trying to overthrow Castro; a major embarrassment for JFK.

Cuban Missile Crisis

1962. 13-day standoff after the US discovered Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba; the closest the world came to nuclear war.

Betty Friedan, The Feminine Mystique

1963. Bestselling book challenging the idea that women were fulfilled solely by domestic roles; sparked the second-wave feminist movement.

March on Washington

1963. Massive civil rights march where MLK delivered his 'I Have a Dream' speech.

Civil Rights Acts

1964, 1965, and 1968. Landmark legislation banning discrimination in public life (1964), protecting voting rights (1965), and banning housing discrimination (1968).

Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

1964. Gave LBJ broad authority to escalate US involvement in Vietnam; later revealed to be based on a dubious incident.

Protests Against Vietnam War

1960s. Widespread anti-war movement on college campuses and in cities; helped turn public opinion against the war.

Johnson's Great Society

1965. Ambitious domestic program creating Medicare, Medicaid, federal education funding, and advancing civil rights.

Radicalization of Civil Rights Movement / Malcolm X & Black Panthers

1960s. As MLK's nonviolent approach seemed too slow, more militant voices (Malcolm X, Black Panther Party) rose advocating Black Power and self-defense.

Tet Offensive

1968. Surprise North Vietnamese/Viet Cong attacks during the Vietnamese New Year; shattered American confidence that the US was winning.