APUSH U1-U8

1491–1607 | Native Societies & Early European Contact

Key Events

• Pre-1491 Native American societies

  • Highly diverse (Ancestral Pueblo, Mississippian, Iroquois Confederacy)

  • Adapted to environments through agriculture, trade, and governance

  • Iroquois Confederacy influenced later democratic ideas

• 1492: Christopher Columbus

  • Begins sustained contact between Europe and the Americas

  • Leads to European colonization and exploitation

• Columbian Exchange

  • Exchange of crops (corn, potatoes), animals (horses), people, and diseases

  • Smallpox devastates Native populations (up to 90% decline)

  • Fuels European population growth and global trade

• Spanish Conquest

  • Cortés conquers Aztecs (1519–1521)

  • Pizarro conquers Incas (1530s)

  • Use of military technology, disease, and alliances

• Encomienda System

  • Spanish labor system forcing Native labor

  • Brutal conditions → criticism by Bartolomé de las Casas

• English Failures

  • 1587: Roanoke Colony mysteriously disappears

• 1607: Jamestown

  • First permanent English settlement

  • Nearly fails due to disease, starvation, and conflict with Powhatan

1607–1754 | British Colonies Develop

Key Events

• Jamestown Survival

  • John Smith’s leadership

  • 1612: Tobacco cultivation (John Rolfe) makes colony profitable

• 1619: First Africans in Virginia

  • Marks beginning of African slavery (initially similar to indentured servitude)

• 1620: Plymouth Colony

  • Pilgrims seeking religious freedom

  • Mayflower Compact establishes self-government

• Puritan Massachusetts Bay

  • “City upon a Hill”

  • Strong religious conformity (Anne Hutchinson banished)

• Growth of Slavery

  • Especially in Southern colonies

  • 1676: Bacon’s Rebellion

    • Poor farmers revolt against Virginia elite

    • Leads to increased reliance on African slavery over indentured servants

• Colonial Economies

  • New England: trade, shipbuilding

  • Middle: grain (“bread colonies”)

  • South: plantations (tobacco, rice)

• Salutary Neglect

  • Britain loosely enforces laws

  • Colonies develop self-rule

• Great Awakening (1730s–1740s)

  • Emotional religious revival

  • Challenges traditional authority

  • Encourages individualism and equality

1754–1800 | Revolution & Founding the Nation

Key Events

• 1754–1763: French and Indian War

  • Britain defeats France

  • Britain gains land but massive debt → new taxes

• British Taxes

  • Stamp Act (1765) → protests

  • Townshend Acts

  • Tea Act → 1773 Boston Tea Party

• Coercive (Intolerable) Acts

  • Punish Massachusetts

  • Colonies unite against Britain

• 1775–1783: American Revolution

  • Battles of Lexington & Concord

  • Alliance with France after Saratoga (1777)

• 1776: Declaration of Independence

  • Enlightenment ideas (natural rights, consent of the governed)

• 1781: Articles of Confederation

  • Weak central government

  • Shays’ Rebellion (1786) exposes weaknesses

• 1787: Constitutional Convention

  • Stronger federal government

  • Compromises over representation and slavery

• 1791: Bill of Rights

  • Protects individual liberties

• Washington’s Presidency

  • Neutrality Proclamation

  • Farewell Address warns against political parties

1800–1848 | Nationalism, Expansion & Reform

Key Events

• 1803: Louisiana Purchase

  • Doubles U.S. size

  • Strengthens Jefferson’s vision of agrarian republic

• War of 1812

  • U.S. vs Britain

  • Leads to nationalism and decline of Federalist Party

• Era of Good Feelings

  • One-party rule (Democratic-Republicans)

  • McCulloch v. Maryland strengthens federal power

• Market Revolution

  • Canals (Erie Canal)

  • Railroads

  • Factory system grows

• Jacksonian Democracy

  • Expands voting to white men

  • Spoils system

  • Indian Removal Act (1830) → Trail of Tears

• Second Great Awakening

  • Sparks reform movements

  • Abolitionism, temperance, education

• Women’s Rights

  • 1848: Seneca Falls Convention

  • Declaration of Sentiments

• Mexican-American War

  • Adds Southwest territory

  • Increases sectional conflict over slavery

1844–1877 | Civil War & Reconstruction

Key Events

• Manifest Destiny

  • Expansion justified by belief in divine mission

• Sectional Crisis

  • Compromise of 1850

  • Kansas-Nebraska Act

  • Dred Scott decision

• 1860: Lincoln Elected

  • Southern states secede

• 1861–1865: Civil War

  • Union vs Confederacy

  • 1863: Emancipation Proclamation

    • War becomes about ending slavery

• Reconstruction (1865–1877)

  • 13th Amendment: ends slavery

  • 14th Amendment: citizenship

  • 15th Amendment: voting rights

  • Freedmen’s Bureau helps formerly enslaved people

• Resistance

  • Black Codes

  • Ku Klux Klan

  • Violence suppresses Black rights

• 1877: Compromise of 1877

  • Ends Reconstruction

  • Federal troops leave the South

1865–1898 | Gilded Age & Imperialism

Key Events

• Industrialization

  • Railroads, steel, oil

  • Carnegie (steel), Rockefeller (oil)

• Labor Conflict

  • Haymarket Riot

  • Pullman Strike

  • Workers demand better conditions

• Urbanization & Immigration

  • Ellis Island

  • Tenements and overcrowding

• Political Corruption

  • Political machines (Tammany Hall)

• Jim Crow Laws

  • Legal segregation

  • Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)

• 1890: Wounded Knee

  • Symbolizes end of Native resistance

• 1898: Spanish-American War

  • U.S. gains Philippines, Puerto Rico, Guam

  • U.S. becomes imperial power

1890–1918 | Progressives & World War I

Key Events

• Progressive Era

  • Government regulates business

  • Trust-busting

  • Child labor laws

• Theodore Roosevelt

  • Square Deal

  • Conservation

  • Panama Canal

• Wilson’s Reforms

  • Federal Reserve Act

  • Income tax (16th Amendment)

• World War I

  • 1917: U.S. enters war

  • Espionage & Sedition Acts limit speech

  • Women work in factories

• 1918: War Ends

  • U.S. emerges as world power

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