APUSH Exam Review

Columbus "discovers" America

1492

Jamestown founded

1607

Pilgrims land in Plymouth

1620

French & Indian War

1754-1763

Declaration of Independence

1776

Louisiana Purchase

1803

War of 1812

1812-1815

Texas gains independence

1836

Mexican-American War

1846-1848

Civil War

1861-1865

Lincoln Assassination

1865

Spanish-American War

1898

World War I

1914-1918

Stock Market Crash

1929

World War II

1939-1945

Pearl Harbor attacked

1941

JFK assassination

1963

Martin Luther King Jr. assassination

1968

Man on the Moon

1969

Berlin Wall falls

1991

Voyage across the Atlantic Ocean taken by slave ships to the Americas. Over 20% of enslaved people would die before landing.

Middle Passage

1739 enslaved rebellion in South Carolina where over 75 enslaved people killed whites and marched through the countryside. Once it was put down, it was used as justification to impose stricter laws on the enslaved.

Stono Rebellion

1773 decision that outlawed slavery in Great Britain, but not in the colonies.

Somerset Decision

1787 compromise in the debate over the Constitution's ratification in which the enslaved were counted as 3/5 of a person, for representation purposes in the new Congress. The South wanted the enslaved to count as one person, but not vote. The North didn't want the enslaved to count as a person so they wouldn't increase Southern representation in Congress.

Three-Fifths Compromise

1820 compromise to maintain the balance of slave vs free states. Allowed Maine into the Union as a free state, Missouri as a slave state, and any part of the Louisiana Purchase north 36'30 would be free territory.

Missouri Compromise

Abolitionist newspaper begun by William Lloyd Garrison in 1831.

The Liberator

1831 rebellion led by Nat Turner to overthrow and kill planter families. Unsuccessful, but fear over slave revolts led to more strict laws on enslaved.

Nat Turner

Rule passed in the House of Representatives that prohibited discussion of antislavery petitions, 1836-1844.

Gag Rule

Proposed by Rep. David Wilmot in 1846, the Wilmot Proviso would ban slavery in all territories acquired from the Mexican-American War. Caused an uproar.

Wilmot Proviso

Part of the Compromise of 1850 as a concession to the South. If an enslaved person escaped to a northern state, they could be captured and returned to their owner.

Fugitive Slave Act

Dedicated to the abolition of slavery. Mostly in the North in the years leading up to the Civil War, consisted of both black and white members.

Abolitionist Movement

1857 Supreme Court case that ruled slaves were not people, but property. Also stated that the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional.

Dred Scott v. Sanford

Edict by Lincoln that went into effect on January 1, 1863, abolishing slavery in the Confederate states. Didn't affect the four slave states still apart of the Union. Didn't actually free the enslaved.

Emancipation Proclamation

1865 Amendment abolishing slavery in the United States and all of its territories.

13th Amendment

Agency established in March 1865 to provide social, educational, and economic services to former slaves.

Freeman's Bureau

Organization existing only to terrorize African-Americans who had new freedoms. saw resurgences in the 1890s and 1920s.

Ku Klux Klan

1868 Amendment stated that "all persons born or naturalized in the United States" were citizens. All former Confederate supporters were also prohibited from holding office in the U.S. government.

14th Amendment

1870 Amendment that a person cannot be denied the right to vote based on reace or prior condition condition of slavery.

15th Amendment

Laws adopted by the Southern states during Reconstruction that limited the freedom of Southern blacks.

Black Codes

Struck down the Black Codes and defined the rights of all citizens, blacks included. Vetoed by President Johnson, veto was overridden in Congress.

Civil Rights Act of 1866

1896 Supreme Court decision that established legal segregation of society, as long as facilities were "Separate but equal."

Plessy v. Ferguson

African-American group organized in 1905 to promote racial integration, civil and political rights, and equal economic opportunities. Later helped organize the NAACP.

Niagara Movement

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, founded in 1909 by W.E.B. DuBois to fight for equal rights for African-Americans. Influential in Brown v. The Board of Education.

NAACP

United Negro Improvement Association was a black organization founded by Marcus Garvey, who said that African-Americans should dissociate themselves from the "evils" of white society. Created the "Back to Africa" movement, in which Garvey encouraged African-Americans to voluntarily return to America.

UNIA

Cultural explosion of artistry in music, literature, and art that both celebrated and lamented the African-American experience in American society. Led to the popularity of Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Thurston.

Harlem Renaissance

Nine young black men who were accused of raping two white women in Scottsboro, Arizona in 1931. The quick trials, suppressed evidence, and inadequate legal assistance made them symbols of discrimination against African-Americans.

Scottsboro Boys

World War II "Policy" supported by African-Americans that blacks in America should work for victory over the Axis Powers, but also for victory over oppression in the United States.

Double-V Compaign

1954 Supreme Court decision that reversed Plessy v. Ferguson and desegregation public schools.

Brown v. Board of Education

Led by Martin Luther King in 1955 in response to the arrest of Rosa Parks, the Montgomery Bus Boycott was a refusal by African-Americans to ride city buses. Supreme Court would rule that segregation on public transportation was unconstitutional.

Montgomery Bus Boycott

Southern Christian Leadership Conference- a clergy-led voice of the nonviolent Civil Rights Movement, founded by Martin Luther King Jr.

SCLC

Student Nonviolence Coordinating Committee, founded in 1960 and drew younger activists and college students to the Civil Rights Movement.

SNCC

Whites and blacks rode together on Southern buses to see if Southern states were abiding by a 1960 Supreme Court ruling banning segregation on interstate buses. Met with violence from pro-South/segregationists.

Freedom Rides

Civil Rights Movement-era tactic of nonviolent protest in which civil rights workers would sit at a segregated lunch counter and refuse to leave, disrupting normal business. First sit-in was at the Woolworth's in Greensboro, North Carolina on February 1, 1960.

Sit-Ins

Made discrimination on the basis of race, sex, religion, or national origin illegal; segregation in public restrooms, bus stations, and other public facilities ruled illegal.

Civil Rights Act of 1964

Originally founded in Oakland to protect blacks from police harassment

Black Panthers

Promoted militant to black power.

Malcolm X

Established in 1967 to study the reason for urban riots. Found that white institutions had created and condoned ghettos in America and addressed the impact of poverty and racism on the lives of urban African-Americans.

Kerner Commission

1970s policies designed to make up for past discrimination and give minorities and women advantages in applying for jobs and admission to colleges.

Affirmative Action

17th century pledge to grant 50 acres of land to any colonist who brought indentured servants to America.

Headright System

Enactment by Congress that gave 160 acres of land to a farmer who lived on the land and farmed it two years. Inspired hundreds of thousands Americans to move west in the years after the Civil War.

Homestead Act of 1862

Formed in 1867, The Grange was an association of farmers that provided social activities and information about new farming techniques and practices. Grew into a political organization.

The Grange

After The Grange failed, Farmers' Alliances became the primary mode of organization for farmers and their families. Experimented with cooperative buying and selling of crops. Led to the Populist party of the 1800s.

Farmers Alliances

Platform of the Farmers Alliances at a convention in Ocala, Florida in 1890. Called for a graduated income tax, unlimited coinage of silver, government control of railroads, and direct election of U.S. senators. Politicians who supported these tenants called themselves Populists.

Ocala Platform

Organized by Cesar Chavez in 1961, the UFW represented Mexican-Americans in the lowest levels of agricultural work. Won a promise of benefits and a minimum wage for the workers.

United Farm Workers

Philosophical movement created by Ralph Waldo Emerson in the 1830s-1840s that emphasized personal connection with God and nature, and minimized the need for churches. Henry David Thoreau was a proponent.

Transcendentalism

Mid-19th century artistic movement hat focused on landscapes and people coexisting with nature-first truly American art style, popularized by artists like Thomas Cole and Fredric Church.

Hudson River School

Name given to a collection of songwriters and music publishers in the late 19th/early 20th century.

Tin Pan Alley

Term used to refer to the liberated, urbanized 1920s in which the flapper became the dominant symbol.

Jazz Age

1920s baseball player who hit 60 home runs for the New York Yankees in 1927. One of the most famous Americans in the early 20th century.

Babe Ruth

Term used to describe a cultural explosion led by African-American writers, musicians, and artists centered in Harlem in the 1920s. Among the most popular were Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Langston Hughes, and Zora Neale Thurston.

Harlem Renaissance

1927 film starring Al Jolson - first movie with sound.

"The Jazz Singer"

Lillian Gish and Rudolph Valentino highlighted the first wave of movie stars.

Golden Age of Movies

1950s literary movement that criticized the conformity of American society. Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsburg, and William Burroughs were key figures.

Beat Generation

"Hippies." A revolt against cultural norms of the 1960s, marked by men growing their hair.

Counter-Culture Movement

1754 meeting of representatives from seven colonies to coordinate their efforts against French & Native American threats.

Albany Plan of Union

First official government of the United States, ratified in 1781. Allowed more power to reside with the states. Replaced by the Constitution in 1788.

Articles of Confederation

Period from 1816-1823 that featured little domestic confrontation because of the collapse of the Federalist Party, as well as optimism to the future due to the War of 1812.

Era of Good Feelings

Proposed by Henry Clay, promoted protective tariffs to encourage Americans to buy American goods.

American System

Idea introduced by Stephen Douglas in the Lincoln-Douglas Debates that, despite the Dred Scott decision, a territory could still prevent slavery by electing officials that are opposed to slavery.

Freeport Doctrine

Campaign platform of Teddy Roosevelt - every man gets a "square deal, no more, no less."

Square Deal

Post-WW1 fear of radicals, "political subversives" and "undesirable" immigrants in response to Russia's fall to communism. Nearly 6,500 people were arrested and sent to jail in the United States.

Red Scare

Series of policies by FDR and his advisors from 1933-1941 to restore the economy and increase trust in the government. Massively overhauled the government, growing its size and its role in people's everyday lives. Didn't end the Great Depression.

New Deal

1939-1941; isolationist group wanting to stay out of WW2.

America First Committee

Truman's domestic program that included the Fair Employment Practices Act, government construction of public housing, extending, Social Security, and a proposal to guarantee employment for all Americans.

Fair Deal

Named after Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy, this movement sought to root out Communist influence in the government, military, and entertainment industry. It's a period marked by intolerance and paranoia.

McCarthyism

JFK's programs to revitalize America at home and reenergize society for continued battles against the Soviet Union. Established the Peace Corps. "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country."

New Frontier

Program announced by President Lyndon B. Johnson to address social inequality in America. Included a War on Poverty, Medicare and Medicaid, wider protection for Civil Rights and education funding. Funding couldn't continue because of the Vietnam War.

Great Society

1994 pledge by Republican candidates to balance the budget, support term limits, and shrink the size of the federal government. Republicans won both the House and Senate for the first time since the 1950s.

Contract with America

Created during Teddy Roosevelt's presidency (Roosevelt was the first conservationist president), the Forest Service protected the number of national forests and encouraged efficient use of natural resources.

U.S. Forest Service

Series of measures passed in 1660 by Charles II that were designed to increase the colonies' dependence on England for trade. Any goods produced in the colonies had to come through England first.

Navigation Acts

British policy announced at the beginning of the 1700s that, as long as the colonies remained politically loyal and continued their trade with Great Britain, the British government would relax enforcement of 17th century laws designed to rein in the colonies.

Salutary Neglect

First proposed by Alexander Hamilton, this was the financial arm of the federal government. Opposed by Anti-Federalists, it passed in 1791 under a 20-year charter which was allowed to expire just prior to the War of 1812. Re-chartered in 1816, it abuses and corruption were partially responsible for the Panic of 1819 and given as a reason by Andrew Jackson to destroy the Bank of the United States, which he did in his second term as president.

Bank of the United States

1807 declaration by Jefferson that prohibited all the trade with Europe so as not to get drawn into the Napoleonic Wars. Absolute disaster.

Embargo Act

1809 response to the Embargo Act that authorized trade with Europe, except for France and Great Britain, who were at war. Wanted to be respected by France and Great Britain, who ignored it.

Non-Intercourse Act

Economic downturn due to the collapse of the cotton market and reduced European need for American food. The Bank of the United States called in its loans, furthur deepening the depression.

Panic of 1819

1828 protective tariff signed into law by President John Quincy Adams. Negatively impacted the South while benefitting the North. Led to South Carolina threatening secession by John C. Calhoun.

Tariff of Abominations

War between Andrew Jackson and Henry Clay over the constitutionality of the Bank of the United States. It became the central issue of the Election of 1832, which Jackson won handily. He took this as a sign to cripple the Bank of the United States, and removed federal deposits from it, disturbing-irresponsibly-the deposits to several "pet banks," that were supporters of Jackson.

Bank War

1836 edict by President Jackson that called for all government land speculation and reduce the amount of paper money in circulation. Partially responsible for the Panic of 1837.

Specie Circular

Great Britain reduced the amount of credit it offered to the United States. This, combined with Jackson's financial policies, led to a serious economic downtown.

Panic of 1837

Gold was discovered in California in 1848, led to a gold rush increasing population west.

Gold Rush