APUSH Period 1 and 2 Test Study Guide
Overview — This is a complete, high‑yield, organized study guide covering EVERYTHING you need (concepts, events, people, documents, timelines, strategies, practice prompts, and a rapid study plan) for APUSH Period 1 (1491–1607) and Period 2 (1607–1754).
Quick orientation and time frame
Period 1: 1491–1607 — Native American societies before European contact, initial European exploration/colonization, and the immediate consequences (Columbian Exchange).
Period 2: 1607–1754 — English colonization expands; colonial societies develop regionally (New England, Chesapeake, Middle, Lower South/Carolinas); changing labor systems; increasing Atlantic commerce and imperial regulation.
Sources to trust while studying: College Board AP® U.S. History Course and Exam Description (AP Central), Britannica entries on Columbian Exchange and colonization, and primary source collections at the Library of Congress and Gilder‑Lehrman Institute.
Big themes you must master (these appear repeatedly on MCQs and stimulus questions)
Contact, conquest, and cultural exchange (Columbian Exchange).
Patterns of colonization (Spanish, French, English, Dutch) and how motives/approaches produced different colonial societies.
Regional development within English North America: economies, labor, family structure, religion, and politics.
Transition in labor systems: indentured servitude to race‑based chattel slavery.
Native American responses: accommodation, trade alliances, and violent resistance.
Imperial policy, trade (mercantilism/Navigation Acts), and colonial self‑government (salutary neglect).
Period 1 (1491–1607): What to know step‑by‑step
1) Native North American societies before 1492: diversity and adaptations
No single “Native American” culture — many regional civilizations with different economies and political structures:
Northwest & California: complex hunter‑gatherer / fishing societies with permanent villages.
Great Plains: mobile hunter/horse cultures (after horse reintroduction but that’s later).
Northeast/Woodlands: mixed agriculture (corn/beans/squash), villages, matrilineal elements.
Southwest (Ancestral Puebloans): irrigation, adobe villages, cliff dwellings.
Political organization ranged from small bands to confederacies (e.g., Iroquois Confederacy — Haudenosaunee).
2) European motives & technology for exploration
Motives: “God, Glory, Gold” — desire for trade routes to Asia, wealth (precious metals), conversion to Christianity.
Technology: improvements in navigation (compass, astrolabe), shipbuilding (caravel), and cartography made long voyages possible.
3) The Columbian Exchange — core effects
Biological: Old World diseases (smallpox, measles, influenza) devastated Indigenous populations — catastrophic demographic collapse (estimates vary; many regions lost 50–90% of population).
Crops: New World staples (maize, potatoes, cassava) diffused to Europe/Asia and increased global population over centuries.
Animals/ideas: Horses transformed some Indigenous societies; Old World livestock and weeds reshaped landscapes.
Economic/demographic consequence: labor shortages in the Americas contributed to systems like encomienda, and later accelerated importation of African slaves.
4) Spanish colonization model (most important features)
Conquistadors (Cortés, Pizarro) overthrew large indigenous empires (Aztec, Inca) by early 1500s.
Political structure: viceroyalties (New Spain, Peru), centralized Spanish administration.
Systems of labor: encomienda (grants of Native labor to colonists), repartimiento, and later haciendas.
Religion/mission system: Catholic missions and conversion (Jesuits, Franciscans).
Social hierarchy (racial caste system): peninsulares (Spain-born), creoles (American-born whites), mestizos (mixed Spanish-Native), Native populations, and enslaved Africans.
Notable critic: Bartolomé de las Casas — documented abuses and argued for better treatment of Natives (primary-source voice you should recognize).
5) French, Dutch, Portuguese colonization
French: focused on fur trade, smaller settler presence, alliances with Native tribes (e.g., Huron), and Catholic missions (Jesuits).
Dutch: New Netherland (New Amsterdam) focused on trade and religious/ethnic pluralism; later taken by England (becomes New York).
Portuguese: major role in Brazil and Atlantic slave trade (important in the wider Atlantic context).
6) Immediate results of contact
Demographic collapse of Native populations altered power balances and enabled rapid European expansion.
New transatlantic trade networks developed — early Atlantic World forms.
Period 2 (1607–1754): Step‑by‑step deep dive
1) The English colonial project — motives and early patterns
After 1607 (Jamestown), English colonization differs from Spanish/French: emphasis on permanent settler communities, private investment (joint-stock companies), and land acquisition for farming.
Important founding dates: Jamestown 1607; Mayflower/Plymouth 1620; Massachusetts Bay 1630; Maryland 1632 (Lord Baltimore); Rhode Island 1636; Pennsylvania 1681; Georgia 1733.
2) Regional colonies — how they differ and why (you must be able to compare and connect causes to effects)
Chesapeake (Virginia, Maryland):
Economy: tobacco cash crop monoculture; soil exhaustion; expansion pressure westward.
Society: initially male‑dominated, high mortality, reliance on indentured servants, then increasing African slavery.
Politics: House of Burgesses (1619), county governments, elite planter dominance.
New England (Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire):
Economy: mixed farming, shipbuilding, fishing, trade.
Society: family‑centered, Puritan social/religious order (except Rhode Island—religious dissenters accepted).
Politics: town meetings, emphasis on communal covenant and moral order.
Middle Colonies (NY, NJ, PA, DE):
Economy: “breadbasket” — wheat, mixed agriculture, commerce and ports.
Society: ethnically and religiously diverse (Quakers in PA, Dutch in NY), more tolerant.
Lower South/Carolinas & Caribbean connections:
Economy: rice and indigo plantations with heavy reliance on enslaved African labor.
Society: plantation aristocracy, strong ties to Atlantic trade and Caribbean slave systems.
3) Colonies’ legal & administrative forms
Corporate (charter) colonies: self-governing companies (e.g., early Jamestown, Massachusetts Bay).
Proprietary colonies: land granted to proprietors (e.g., Pennsylvania, Maryland).
Royal colonies: under direct crown control (many became royal as the 17th century progressed).
4) Labor systems & the shift to race‑based slavery (stepwise explanation)
Early labor: many colonies relied on indentured servants (European) who gained land after servitude.
Factors that tipped the shift toward African slavery:
Economic: plantation profitability, economies of scale, and decreasing supply of willing indentured servants.
Legal/institutional: development of slave codes that defined slavery as hereditary and racially based.
Social/political: events like Bacon’s Rebellion (1676) showed elite fears of alliances between landless whites and blacks; elites used race to divide and control labor forces.
The Middle Passage and the Atlantic slave trade funneled millions of Africans into the Americas (understand human cost and demographic consequences).
5) Colonial politics and self‑government
Key institutions & events: House of Burgesses (1619), Mayflower Compact (1620), Fundamental Orders of Connecticut (1639).
Salutary neglect: British tendency (late 17th–mid 18th century) to lightly enforce trade laws, which permitted colonial assemblies to gain power and create local political culture.
Imperial regulation: Navigation Acts (beginning 1651) sought to control colonial trade within mercantilist framework.
6) Relations with Native Americans in Period 2
Conflict and accommodation: Pequot War (1637) in New England; King Philip’s War (1675–76) — Devastating for New England Native power.
Southern and Chesapeake: Powhatan relations (early Jamestown tensions), Anglo‑Powhatan Wars (early 1600s).
Spanish Southwest: Pueblo Revolt (1680) — successful temporary expulsion of Spanish and reassertion of Native autonomy.
Strategies: alliances for trade and warfare; epidemics and land pressure often drove conflicts.
7) Culture, religion, and intellectual life
Puritan theology and its social effects (e.g., emphasis on community and literacy — reading the Bible).
Religious dissenters: Roger Williams (separation and RI), Anne Hutchinson (antinomian controversy).
Early Enlightenment influence: print culture grows; rationalism and natural rights ideas reach some elites.
Early Great Awakening seeds: revivalist religion gains traction in the 1730s–1740s (this starts late in Period 2 and helps shape religious/political thought).
8) Economy and the Atlantic: triangular trade and mercantilism
Triangular trade: New England rum → Africa (slaves) → Caribbean (sugar) → New England (molasses → rum) — interlocking Atlantic economies.
Mercantilism: colonies existed to serve mother country — supply raw materials and buy manufactured goods; Navigation Acts enforced this.
Primary sources, documents, and people you must recognize (with what they show)
John Winthrop, “A Model of Christian Charity” (1630) — Puritan mission ideology (“city upon a hill”), community/covenant.
Mayflower Compact (1620) — compact for self‑government among Pilgrims.
John Smith accounts — early Jamestown survival and colonial leadership.
Virginia Company charters — early private corporate colonization model.
Bartolomé de las Casas — critique of Spanish brutality in Americas (moral/ethical views).
Navigation Acts (statutes) — imperial regulation of colonial commerce.
Bacon’s Rebellion (1676) narratives — class tensions & frontier unrest.
Pueblo Revolt (1680) accounts — Native resistance to Spanish rule.
Stono Rebellion (1739) — an example of enslaved resistance in South Carolina (you should know the date and outcome: harsher slave codes afterwards).
Key people to ID quickly (name → significance):
Christopher Columbus — initial European contact (1492).
Hernán Cortés / Francisco Pizarro — conquest of Aztec and Inca.
Bartolomé de las Casas — defender of Native rights/critic of encomienda.
John Smith / John Rolfe / Pocahontas — Jamestown survival and tobacco economy.
William Bradford / Pilgrims — Plymouth colony, self-government.
John Winthrop — Puritan Massachusetts Bay leader.
Roger Williams & Anne Hutchinson — religious dissent & Rhode Island.
William Penn — Pennsylvania, Quaker pluralism.
Nathaniel Bacon — Bacon’s Rebellion leader.
Key dates timeline (memorize these and one short phrase for each)
1492 — Columbus’s voyage (initial contact).
1500s–1600s — Spanish conquest and colonization in Americas.
1607 — Jamestown founded (tobacco, House of Burgesses).
1619 — House of Burgesses established; first Africans arrive in English North America.
1620 — Mayflower Compact (Plymouth).
1630 — Massachusetts Bay Colony (Great Migration).
1636 — Roger Williams founds Rhode Island; Harvard founded (1636).
1637 — Pequot War.
1651 — Beginning of Navigation Acts.
1675–1676 — King Philip’s War (New England).
1676 — Bacon’s Rebellion (Virginia).
1680 — Pueblo Revolt (New Mexico).
1686–1689 — Dominion of New England & Glorious Revolution effects.
1739 — Stono Rebellion (South Carolina).
1754 — Period 2 ends at the start of the French & Indian War (Seven Years' War begins in North America).
High‑value vocabulary & one‑line definitions (you must be able to define and use these)
Columbian Exchange — transatlantic transfer of plants, animals, people, disease, and ideas.
Encomienda — Spanish labor system granting colonists permission to extract labor/tribute from Natives.
Mercantilism — economic theory that colonies exist to enrich the mother country; regulation of trade.
Headright system — land grant policy in Virginia to attract settlers (50 acres per head).
Indentured servitude — temporary unfree labor in return for passage to America/land.
Chattel slavery — people treated as property, lifelong and hereditary.
Joint‑stock company — business model used to fund colonization (e.g., Virginia Company).
Salutary neglect — British policy of loose enforcement of colonial trade laws.
Navigation Acts — series of laws to enforce mercantilist trade rules.
House of Burgesses — first representative assembly in English America (Virginia).
Mayflower Compact — early agreement to self‑govern among Plymouth colonists.
Pueblo Revolt — 1680 uprising of Pueblo peoples against Spanish rule in New Mexico.
Bacon’s Rebellion — 1676 Virginia uprising revealing class tensions.
Triangular trade — Atlantic trade pattern connecting Europe, Africa, and the Americas.
Middle Passage — brutal transatlantic voyage of enslaved Africans.
Stono Rebellion — 1739 slave revolt in South Carolina.
How to handle stimulus multiple‑choice questions (precise steps)
1) Read the question stem first to know what it asks (author’s purpose, point of view, effect, or supporting evidence).
2) Read the stimulus closely and annotate with SOAPStone in 10–20 seconds:
Speaker (who wrote it?)
Occasion (when/where written?)
Audience
Purpose (why written?)
Subject
Tone
3) Place the stimulus in context: which trend/period does it reflect? (Columbian Exchange, mercantilism, Puritan community, etc.)
4) Predict an answer mentally before reading options.
5) Use process of elimination — discard choices that are chronologically impossible, factually wrong, or true but irrelevant.
6) If stuck, pick the best-supported answer (don’t leave blanks; educated guesses are essential).
Example (fast practice):
Stimulus: Excerpt from John Winthrop’s “A Model of Christian Charity” describing “a city upon a hill.”
Question: Which development does this best explain?
SOAPStone: Speaker = Winthrop, 1630s, Puritan leader; Purpose = urge moral unity and example to world.
Best answer: Explains Puritan belief in covenant community shaping New England social/political institutions.
Sample practice stimulus MCQs (6 quick items with explanations)
Note: These are short practice prompts you should time yourself on (30–60 seconds each). I’ll give the core stimulus + correct answer and quick rationale.
1) Stimulus: Excerpt describing a colonist using tobacco as cash crop and expanding plantations in Virginia (early 1600s).
Likely question: What labor system developments does this passage support?
Correct answer: Shift from indentured servitude toward increased use of African slave labor due to plantation expansion and labor demands.
Rationale: Tobacco plantations required a large, stable labor force; initial reliance on indentured servants later gave way to chattel slavery.
2) Stimulus: Royal decree enforcing that colonial ships must pass through English ports and be crewed largely by English sailors.
Likely question: Which policy is described?
Correct answer: Navigation Acts / mercantilism.
Rationale: Direct enforcement of trade to favor mother country.
3) Stimulus: Quote from Bartolomé de las Casas describing abuses of Native labor.
Likely question: What broader phenomenon does this primary source document illustrate?
Correct answer: Spanish encomienda and abuses of Native populations in early Spanish colonies.
Rationale: Las Casas documented violent exploitation and called for reform.
4) Stimulus: Colonial assembly resolves supporting local militias and complaining about royal interference (mid‑1700s).
Likely question: Which long‑term trend does this reflect?
Correct answer: Growth of colonial self‑government during salutary neglect.
Rationale: Colonial assemblies exercising authority and resisting imperial control.
5) Stimulus: Narrative from an enslaved African describing transport across the Atlantic and conditions aboard ship.
Likely question: This passage best supports which conclusion?
Correct answer: The Middle Passage was brutal and dehumanizing—part of the Atlantic slave trade.
Rationale: Primary evidence of human cost.
6) Stimulus: A New England town record describing townspeople voting at a town meeting on a public matter.
Likely question: What practice is this an example of?
Correct answer: Local self‑government / town meeting democracy in New England.
Rationale: Town meetings were core to New England political culture.
(If you want, I can convert these into timed multiple‑choice formatted questions with answer choices.)
Timing strategy for a 55‑minute, 40‑question MCQ test (math + practical plan)
Exact per‑question average: \frac{55\text{ minutes}}{40\text{ questions}} = 1.375\text{ minutes/question} \approx 1\text{ minute }22\text{ seconds}.
Practical two‑pass plan (recommended):Pass 1 (fast): 30–35 minutes — answer all questions you can in ~1:10 each; immediately mark hard ones and skip.
Pass 2 (focused): 18–23 minutes — return to marked questions; spend up to 2 minutes on each, use SOAPStone quickly for stimuli, and eliminate bad answers.
Final sweep: 1–2 minutes — fill any blanks with best guesses.
Test‑day tips: answer every question (no penalty for guessing), watch the clock every 10 questions, and don’t spend more than ~80 seconds on any single item on first pass.
Short, prioritized study plan for tonight (time‑boxed; you can follow this exactly)
Total time: 2 hours (intense and targeted):
0:00–0:20 — Rapid timeline & terms drill (write a one‑line definition for every high‑value term above).
0:20–0:50 — Read short summaries of Period 1 & 2 (use AP Central quick review or Crash Course videos for speed).
0:50–1:30 — Do 30–40 practice MCQs under timed conditions (focus on stimulus questions). Mark and review wrong answers carefully.
1:30–1:50 — Quick review of trouble spots: slavery transition, Bacon’s Rebellion, Puritan society, Navigation Acts.
1:50–2:00 — Final 10‑minute light review and rest (don’t cram last 10 minutes).
Morning before the test (30–40 minutes):
Quick 15‑minute flashcard review of key dates/terms.
15–25 minutes doing 10 timed stimulus questions to warm up.
Common traps & how to avoid them
Trap: Chronology mismatch — verify dates in answer choices.
Trap: “True but irrelevant” choices — check whether the answer actually responds to the question.
Trap: Extreme wording (always/never) — usually wrong.
Trap: Confusing colonial regions — anchor each option to economy + labor + religion to decide.
Pros, cons, and caveats for your approach
Pros: Focusing on big themes, primary sources, and stimulus‑analysis skills will give maximum point return for limited study time.
Cons: “Everything” is impossible to memorize in one night; prioritize themes, documents, and practice questions.
Caveat: Your teacher’s emphasis may differ slightly — cross‑check class notes for any teacher‑emphasized cases.
Sources and further reading (quick list):
College Board, AP U.S. History Course and Exam Description (apcentral.collegeboard.org).
“Columbian Exchange” — Britannica (britannica.com).
Gilder‑Lehrman Institute — primary source collections and timelines (gilderlehrman.org).
Library of Congress — primary documents and maps (loc.gov).
Where to go from here? Tell me how you want to focus next:
I can generate a timed 40‑question practice set (55‑minute or 40‑minute simulation).
I can produce 20 targeted stimulus MCQs with full explanations and timing.
I can create a one‑page printable cheat sheet of absolute must‑know facts/dates/phrases for a last‑minute review.
Next moves: tell me which of the three options above you want now (practice test, 20 stimulus questions with explanations, or a one‑page printable sheet) and I’ll make it immediately.
6) Relations with Native Americans in Period 2 were characterized by both conflict and accommodation. In New England, significant conflicts included the Pequot War in 1637 and King Philip’s War from 1675 to 1676, which proved devastating to New England Native power. In the Southern and Chesapeake regions, early Jamestown tensions with the Powhatan led to various Anglo‑Powhatan Wars in the early 1600s. Meanwhile, in the Spanish Southwest, the Pueblo Revolt of 1680 showcased a successful temporary expulsion of the Spanish and a reassertion of Native autonomy. Underlying these interactions were strategies involving alliances for trade and warfare, though epidemics and land pressure often fueled the conflicts.
7) Colonial culture, religion, and intellectual life in Period 2 were shaped by:
Puritan theology (New England): Emphasized community and literacy for Bible reading.
Religious dissenters: Roger Williams (separation of church/state, founded Rhode Island) and Anne Hutchinson (antinomian controversy).
Early Enlightenment influence: Growth of print culture, ideas of rationalism and natural rights among elites.
Early Great Awakening (1730s-1740s): Revivalist religion gaining traction, shaping religious/political thought.
8) The economy and Atlantic trade were defined by:
Triangular trade: Interlocking Atlantic economies (e.g., New England rum "to" Africa (slaves)
"to" Caribbean (sugar)
"to" New England (molasses/rum)).Mercantilism: Economic theory that colonies existed to enrich the mother country (supply raw materials, buy manufactured goods), enforced by Navigation Acts (beginning 1651).
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