AP® United States History Comprehensive Notes

Native American Societies and Early Contact ($1491$ - $1607$)

• Early Migration: Inhabitants migrated from Asia across a land bridge between Siberia and Alaska approximately $10,000$ to $40,000$ years ago, adapting into diverse tribes such as the Mayas ($300$-$800$ AD), Aztecs (capital Tenochtitlán), and Incas.

• Regional Cultures: Diverse North American societies included the Southwest (Hohokam, Anasazi, Pueblos), Northwest (permanent longhouses and totem poles), Mississippi River Valley (Cahokia), and the Iroquois Confederation in the Northeast.

• Spanish Exploration: Driven by "God, Glory, and Gold," Spanish monarchy (Isabella and Ferdinand) sponsored Christopher Columbus in $1492$. The Treaty of Tordesillas ($1494$) divided new lands between Spain and Portugal.

• Columbian Exchange: Global transfer of plants (corn, potatoes), animals (horses, pigs), and diseases (smallpox) that decimated Native populations by nearly $90\%$ in some areas.

• Labor Systems: Spain implemented the Encomienda System for Native labor and the Asiento System for enslaved Africans, regulated by a rigid ethnic Caste System.

Colonial America and Trade ($1607$ - $1754$)

• Settlement Patterns: Spanish (St. Augustine, $1565$), French (Quebec, $1608$, fur trade), and British (Jamestown, $1607$) established distinct colonies.

• British Regions:   - New England: Puritans and Pilgrims; established Massachusetts Bay and Plymouth; economies based on fishing/lumber.   - Middle: Pennsylvania (Quaker ideals) and New York; focus on trade and cereal crops.   - Southern: Virginia (tobacco) and Maryland; transitioned from indentured servitude to racialized slavery following events like Bacon's Rebellion ($1676$).

• Mercantilism: The Navigation Acts regulated colonial trade to benefit Britain, though "salutary neglect" allowed for early self-governance via the House of Burgesses and Mayflower Compact.

• Social Shifts: The First Great Awakening ($1730s$-$1740s$) and the Enlightenment (John Locke's natural rights) reshaped colonial thought; the Zenger Case ($1735$) advanced press freedom.

The American Revolution and Early Governance ($1754$ - $1800$)

• Seven Years’ War: Britain won ($1763$) but faced massive debt, ending salutary neglect and issuing the Proclamation of $1763$.

• Revolutionary Tensions: Colonial resistance grew against the Stamp Act, Townshend Acts, and Intolerable Acts, culminating in the Boston Tea Party ($1773$) and "Taxation without Representation" protests.

• Independence: The Declaration of Independence ($1776$) and Thomas Paine's Common Sense signaled a break from Britain. Key victories at Saratoga ($1777$) secured a French alliance, leading to the Treaty of Paris ($1783$).

• Structure of Government: The weak Articles of Confederation were replaced by the Constitution ($1787$) following Shays’s Rebellion. Compromises included the Great Compromise (bicameral legislature) and the Three-Fifths Compromise.

• Federalist Era: Alexander Hamilton's financial plan established a national bank. Washington’s Farewell Address warned against permanent alliances and political parties (Federalists vs. Democratic-Republicans).

The New Republic and Market Revolution ($1800$ - $1848$)

• Jeffersonian Democracy: The Louisiana Purchase ($1803$) doubled size of the country; Marbury v. Madison ($1803$) established judicial review.

• War of $1812$: Conflict with Britain over trade/impressment ended in a stalemate (Treaty of Ghent) but boosted nationalism and led to the demise of the Federalist Party (Hartford Convention).

• Era of Good Feelings: Marked by the Monroe Doctrine ($1823$) and the Missouri Compromise ($1820$), maintaining balance between free/slave states at latitude $36^{\circ} 30' \text{N}$.

• Jacksonian Era: Andrew Jackson expanded democracy for White males but enforced the Indian Removal Act ($1830$) and opposed the Second Bank of the United States.

• Market Revolution: Introduction of the cotton gin, telegraph, and railroads; Second Great Awakening fueled reform movements in temperance, abolition, and women’s rights (Seneca Falls, $1848$).

Expansion, Civil War, and Reconstruction ($1844$ - $1877$)

• Manifest Destiny: Fueled by the belief in a divine mission to expand, leading to the Texas Annexation and the Mexican-American War ($1846$-$1848$).

• Sectional Crisis: Conflict over slavery in new territories (Wilmot Proviso, Compromise of $1850$, Kansas-Nebraska Act). The Dred Scott ($1857$) decision fueled Northern outrage.

• Civil War ($1861$-$1865$): Sparked by the election of Abraham Lincoln and the attack on Fort Sumter. Turning points included Antietam (leading to the Emancipation Proclamation) and Gettysburg.

• Reconstruction: Post-war readmission of the South marked by the $13th$ (abolition), $14th$ (citizenship), and $15th$ (voting) Amendments. Ended with the Compromise of $1877$ and the rise of Jim Crow laws.

Industrialization and the Gilded Age ($1865$ - $1898$)

• Western Frontiers: Supported by Transcontinental Railroads and the Homestead Act ($1862$); end of Native resistance at Wounded Knee ($1890$).

• Industrial Giants: Rise of monopolies/trusts led by Andrew Carnegie (steel) and John D. Rockefeller (oil); characterized by horizontal and vertical integration.

• Labor and Immigration: Formation of the AFL and Knights of Labor; growth of "New Immigrants" from southern/eastern Europe; rise of urban political machines like Tammany Hall.

• Populism: Farmers organized via the Ocala Platform to fight falling prices and high railroad rates, advocating for the unlimited coinage of silver.

Global Conflict and the Progressive Era ($1890$ - $1945$)

• Imperialism: Acquisition of Alaska, Hawaii, and territories from the Spanish-American War ($1898$); Theodore Roosevelt’s "Big Stick" policy and Panama Canal building.

• Progressivism: Reforms targeting trusts, food safety (Upton Sinclair), and morality; passage of the $17th$, $18th$, and $19th$ Amendments.

• World War I: The U.S. entered in $1917$; Wilson’s Fourteen Points and the League of Nations were rejected by a Senate isolationist majority.

• Depression and New Deal: The $1929$ stock market crash led to FDR's New Deal, creating the Social Security Act and FDIC to provide relief, recovery, and reform.

• World War II: Pearl Harbor ($1941$) drew U.S. into war; home front shifts included Japanese Internment and the Great Migration; ended with atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki ($1945$).

The Cold War Era ($1945$ - $1980$)

• Containment: Policies like the Truman Doctrine, Marshall Plan, and NATO aimed to stop Soviet expansion. Conflicts included the Korean War and Vietnam War.

• Post-War Society: Suburbanization (Levittown) and the Baby Boom; intense anti-communism led by Joseph McCarthy.

• Civil Rights: Brown v. Board of Education ($1954$) overturned segregation; Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. led nonviolent protests resulting in the Civil Rights Act of $1964$ and Voting Rights Act of $1965$.

• Social and Political Change: LBJ's Great Society (Medicare/Medicaid); Nixon’s détente and the Watergate Scandal leading to his resignation ($1974$).

The Global Role and Modern Era ($1980$ - Present)

• Reagan Revolution: Shift toward conservatism, deregulation, and "Reaganomics" (supply-side); tripling of the national debt.

• Collapse of USSR: Gorbachev's reforms (Glasnost, Perestroika) led to the end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in $1991$.

• Modern Challenges: The Clinton era economic boom and impeachment ($1999$); $9/11$ attacks initiating the War on Terrorism and Department of Homeland Security.

• Recent History: Historical election of Barack Obama ($2008$); Affordable Care Act; the rise of political polarization; and the global impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.