Periods 1-9 Anchor Terms: The Minimum You Must Master_APUSH

These flashcards encompass essential APUSH terms and their definitions along with associated dates and periods.

Bering Strait Land Bridge

Ice Age land bridge from Siberia to Alaska that enabled the first human migration into the Americas. Date/Range: approx. 126,000–11,000 years ago. APUSH Period: Period 1.

Cahokia

Mississippian mound city near present-day St. Louis showing complex pre-contact urban life and trade. Date/Range: c. 1050–1350 CE. APUSH Period: Period 1.

Three-Sister Crops/Farming

Indigenous system of growing corn, beans, and squash together to improve nutrition and support population growth. Date/Range: Originated c. 3000 BCE. APUSH Period: Period 1.

Iroquois Confederacy

Powerful Northeast alliance with a council system that influenced diplomacy and later ideas of federalism. Date/Range: c. 1350–1600 (expanded 1722). APUSH Period: Period 1.

Columbian Exchange

Post-1492 transfer of plants, animals, people, and diseases that reshaped the Atlantic world. Date/Range: Late 15th century onward. APUSH Period: Period 1.

Treaty of Tordesillas

1494 agreement dividing non-European lands between Spain and Portugal. Date/Range: 1494. APUSH Period: Period 1.

Conquistadores

Spanish conquerors who overthrew Native empires and established colonial rule in the Americas. Date/Range: 15th–17th centuries. APUSH Period: Period 1.

Encomienda System

Spanish labor system that exploited Native workers under the guise of protection and conversion. Date/Range: 1503–18th century. APUSH Period: Period 1.

Bartolome de las Casas

Spanish friar who condemned Native enslavement and pushed for limited reforms. Date/Range: 1484–1566. APUSH Period: Period 1.

Popé’s Rebellion/Pueblo Revolt

Successful Pueblo uprising that expelled the Spanish from New Mexico for over a decade. Date/Range: 1680. APUSH Period: Period 1.

Black Legend

Anti-Spanish narrative emphasizing brutality, used by rivals to justify their own colonization. Date/Range: 16th–17th centuries. APUSH Period: Period 1.

Capitalism

Profit-driven economic system based on private ownership that helped fuel European expansion. Date/Range: 16th century onward. APUSH Period: Period 1.

Joint-Stock Company

Investor corporation that pooled money and risk to fund colonies like Jamestown. Date/Range: Early 17th century. APUSH Period: Period 2.

Jamestown

First permanent English settlement in North America; survived through tobacco and labor systems. Date/Range: 1607. APUSH Period: Period 2.

Virginia House of Burgesses

First elected assembly in English America, giving colonists practice in self-government. Date/Range: 1619. APUSH Period: Period 2.

Puritans

English Protestants who founded Massachusetts Bay and built strict, religiously centered communities. Date/Range: late 16th–17th c. APUSH Period: Period 2.

Pilgrims (Separatists)

Radical Protestants who founded Plymouth Colony seeking religious separation from the Church of England. Date/Range: 1620. APUSH Period: Period 2.

Mayflower Compact

Agreement creating a self-governing civil body politic under majority rule. Date/Range: 1620. APUSH Period: Period 2.

John Winthrop

Massachusetts Bay leader who promoted the colony as a city upon a hill. Date/Range: 1588–1649. APUSH Period: Period 2.

Anne Hutchinson

Religious dissenter whose banishment showed the limits of Puritan tolerance. Date/Range: 1591–1643. APUSH Period: Period 2.

Roger Williams

Founder of Rhode Island who supported religious liberty and separation of church and state. Date/Range: 1603–1683. APUSH Period: Period 2.

Fundamental Orders of Connecticut

Early written constitution establishing representative self-government. Date/Range: 1639. APUSH Period: Period 2.

King Philip’s War

Conflict that broke Native power in New England and expanded English settlement. Date/Range: 1675–1676. APUSH Period: Period 2.

Navigation Laws

British trade laws enforcing mercantilism by limiting colonial commerce. Date/Range: 1651–1660s. APUSH Period: Period 2.

Salutary Neglect

Era of weak British enforcement that allowed colonial self-rule to grow. Date/Range: early–mid 18th c. APUSH Period: Period 2.

Middle Passage

Forced Atlantic voyage that brought millions of Africans into slavery in the Americas. Date/Range: 16th–19th c. APUSH Period: Period 2.

Atlantic Slave Trade

Triangular trade system exchanging enslaved Africans, raw materials, and manufactured goods. Date/Range: 1501–1867. APUSH Period: Period 2.

Bacon’s Rebellion

Virginia uprising that exposed class tensions and accelerated the shift to racial slavery. Date/Range: 1676. APUSH Period: Period 2.

First Great Awakening

Religious revival that challenged authority and helped create shared colonial identity. Date/Range: 1730s–1740s. APUSH Period: Period 2.

The Enlightenment

Intellectual movement stressing reason and natural rights that shaped revolutionary thought. Date/Range: 18th c. APUSH Period: Period 2.

French & Indian War

Imperial war that removed France from North America but left Britain in debt. Date/Range: 1754–1763. APUSH Period: Period 3.

Proclamation of 1763

British ban on settlement west of the Appalachians after the French and Indian War. Date/Range: 1763. APUSH Period: Period 3.

Stamp Act

Direct tax on printed materials that sparked resistance over taxation without representation. Date/Range: 1765. APUSH Period: Period 3.

Townshend Acts

Import duties that renewed colonial protest and boycotts. Date/Range: 1767. APUSH Period: Period 3.

Boston Massacre

Deadly clash used by Patriots as propaganda against British rule. Date/Range: 1770. APUSH Period: Period 3.

Tea Act

Law giving the East India Company a tea monopoly, provoking colonial protest. Date/Range: 1773. APUSH Period: Period 3.

Boston Tea Party

Protest in which colonists dumped British tea into Boston Harbor. Date/Range: 1773. APUSH Period: Period 3.

Intolerable/Coercive Acts

Punitive British laws that united the colonies in resistance. Date/Range: 1774. APUSH Period: Period 3.

First Continental Congress

Meeting of colonial delegates to coordinate resistance to Britain. Date/Range: 1774. APUSH Period: Period 3.

Lexington & Concord

First battles of the American Revolution. Date/Range: April 1775. APUSH Period: Period 3.

Common Sense

Thomas Paine pamphlet that powerfully argued for independence. Date/Range: Jan 1776. APUSH Period: Period 3.

Declaration of Independence

Document that formally broke from Britain using natural-rights ideas. Date/Range: July 4, 1776. APUSH Period: Period 3.

Battle of Saratoga

American victory that convinced France to ally with the United States. Date/Range: Oct 1777. APUSH Period: Period 3.

Battle of Yorktown

Final major Revolutionary battle that secured American independence. Date/Range: Oct 1781. APUSH Period: Period 3.

Articles of Confederation

First U.S. government framework, weakened by lack of taxing and enforcement power. Date/Range: 1781–1789. APUSH Period: Period 3.

Northwest Ordinance of 1787

Law creating territorial government and a path to statehood in the Northwest. Date/Range: 1787. APUSH Period: Period 3.

Shays’ Rebellion

Farm uprising that exposed the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation. Date/Range: 1786–1787. APUSH Period: Period 3.

Great Compromise

Convention agreement creating a House by population and a Senate with equal representation. Date/Range: 1787. APUSH Period: Period 3.

Three-Fifths Compromise

Formula counting enslaved people for representation and taxation, showing slavery’s political power. Date/Range: 1787. APUSH Period: Period 3.

Bill of Rights

First ten amendments protecting civil liberties and easing fears of federal power. Date/Range: 1791. APUSH Period: Period 3.

Washington’s Farewell Address

Warning against parties and permanent foreign alliances. Date/Range: 1796. APUSH Period: Period 3.

Alien & Sedition Acts

Federalist laws restricting immigrants and critics of the government. Date/Range: 1798. APUSH Period: Period 3.

Virginia & Kentucky Resolutions

Statements claiming states could judge unconstitutional federal laws. Date/Range: 1798–1799. APUSH Period: Period 3.

Louisiana Purchase

Jefferson’s purchase that doubled U.S. territory and boosted westward expansion. Date/Range: 1803. APUSH Period: Period 4.

Market Revolution

Economic transformation driven by transportation, factories, and communication improvements. Date/Range: early 19th century. APUSH Period: Period 4.

Second Great Awakening

Religious revival that encouraged reform movements and democratized religion. Date/Range: early 19th century. APUSH Period: Period 4.

Monroe Doctrine

U.S. warning against new European colonization in the Western Hemisphere. Date/Range: 1823. APUSH Period: Period 4.

Indian Removal Act

Law authorizing removal of Native peoples from the Southeast. Date/Range: 1830. APUSH Period: Period 4.

Trail of Tears

Forced removal of the Cherokee that caused immense suffering and death. Date/Range: 1838–1839. APUSH Period: Period 4.

Jacksonian Democracy

Political movement expanding white male participation while celebrating the common man. Date/Range: 1820s–1840s. APUSH Period: Period 4.

Nullification Crisis

Conflict over tariffs and states’ rights that tested federal authority. Date/Range: 1832–1833. APUSH Period: Period 4.

Seneca Falls Convention

First major women’s rights convention in the United States. Date/Range: 1848. APUSH Period: Period 4.

Manifest Destiny

Belief that the U.S. was destined to expand across North America. Date/Range: 1840s. APUSH Period: Period 4.

Mexican-American War

War that gave the U.S. vast western lands and intensified slavery debates. Date/Range: 1846–1848. APUSH Period: Period 5.

Wilmot Proviso

Failed proposal to ban slavery in territory gained from Mexico. Date/Range: 1846. APUSH Period: Period 5.

Compromise of 1850

Package of laws balancing sectional interests but heightening slavery conflict. Date/Range: 1850. APUSH Period: Period 5.

Fugitive Slave Law

Law requiring the return of escaped enslaved people, angering many Northerners. Date/Range: 1850. APUSH Period: Period 5.

Kansas-Nebraska Act

Law repealing the Missouri Compromise and expanding popular sovereignty. Date/Range: 1854. APUSH Period: Period 5.

Bleeding Kansas

Violent struggle in Kansas over whether slavery would expand westward. Date/Range: 1854–1856. APUSH Period: Period 5.

Dred Scott v. Sandford

Supreme Court ruling denying Black citizenship and limiting Congress’s power over slavery. Date/Range: 1857. APUSH Period: Period 5.

Lincoln-Douglas Debates

Debates over slavery expansion that raised Lincoln’s national profile. Date/Range: 1858. APUSH Period: Period 5.

Election of 1860

Lincoln’s victory triggered Southern secession. Date/Range: 1860. APUSH Period: Period 5.

Fort Sumter

Confederate attack that began the Civil War. Date/Range: 1861. APUSH Period: Period 5.

Emancipation Proclamation

Lincoln order freeing enslaved people in rebelling states and redefining war aims. Date/Range: 1863. APUSH Period: Period 5.

Gettysburg

Turning-point Union victory in the Civil War. Date/Range: 1863. APUSH Period: Period 5.

Gettysburg Address

Lincoln speech redefining the war around equality and democracy. Date/Range: 1863. APUSH Period: Period 5.

13th Amendment

Amendment abolishing slavery throughout the United States. Date/Range: 1865. APUSH Period: Period 5.

14th Amendment

Amendment defining citizenship and guaranteeing equal protection. Date/Range: 1868. APUSH Period: Period 5.

15th Amendment

Amendment prohibiting denial of voting rights based on race. Date/Range: 1870. APUSH Period: Period 5.

Sharecropping

Postwar labor system that kept many freedpeople trapped in debt and dependency. Date/Range: 1865–1900. APUSH Period: Period 6.

Black Codes

Southern laws restricting the freedom and rights of African Americans after the Civil War. Date/Range: 1865–1867. APUSH Period: Period 6.

Jim Crow laws

Segregation and disfranchisement laws that created a racial caste system in the South. Date/Range: 1870s–1960s. APUSH Period: Period 6.

Homestead Act

Law granting western land to settlers willing to improve it. Date/Range: 1862–1976. APUSH Period: Period 6.

Transcontinental Railroad

Rail link that connected national markets and accelerated western settlement. Date/Range: 1863–1869. APUSH Period: Period 6.

Gilded Age

Era of rapid industrial growth, inequality, and political corruption. Date/Range: c. 1870–1900. APUSH Period: Period 6.

Great Railroad Strike of 1877

First major national labor strike, crushed with federal troops. Date/Range: 1877. APUSH Period: Period 6.

Horizontal integration

Strategy of buying competitors to dominate one stage of an industry. Date/Range: 1870s–1900. APUSH Period: Period 6.

Vertical integration

Strategy of controlling all stages of production within one industry. Date/Range: 1870s–1900. APUSH Period: Period 6.

Social Darwinism

Use of survival-of-the-fittest ideas to justify inequality and laissez-faire capitalism. Date/Range: 1870s–1910s. APUSH Period: Period 6.

Sherman Antitrust Act

First federal law aimed at limiting monopolies and restraints on trade. Date/Range: 1890–present. APUSH Period: Period 6.

Dawes Severalty Act

Law dividing tribal lands to promote assimilation while dispossessing Native peoples. Date/Range: 1887–1934. APUSH Period: Period 6.

Chinese Exclusion Act

Federal law banning most Chinese immigration and making immigration policy explicitly race-based. Date/Range: 1882–1943. APUSH Period: Period 6.

Populist (People’s) Party

Farmer-labor party calling for silver coinage, regulation, and political reform. Date/Range: 1892–1896. APUSH Period: Period 6.

Plessy v. Ferguson

Supreme Court decision upholding separate but equal segregation. Date/Range: 1896–1954. APUSH Period: Period 6.

Progressivism

Reform movement using government action to address industrial and urban problems. Date/Range: 1890s–1920s. APUSH Period: Period 7.

Muckrakers

Investigative journalists who exposed corruption, poverty, and corporate abuse. Date/Range: 1890s–1910s. APUSH Period: Period 7.

Theodore Roosevelt

Progressive president who expanded regulation, conservation, and executive power. Date/Range: 1901–1909. APUSH Period: Period 7.

Square Deal

Roosevelt program promising fair treatment for labor, business, and consumers. Date/Range: 1901–1909. APUSH Period: Period 7.

Meat Inspection Act

Law requiring federal inspection and sanitary standards in meatpacking plants. Date/Range: 1906–present. APUSH Period: Period 7.

Pure Food and Drug Act

Law banning adulterated and mislabeled food and medicines. Date/Range: 1906–1930s. APUSH Period: Period 7.