Historical Periods to Memorize

Historical Periods to Memorize

Pre-colonial Period (Before 1492)

  • Indians
  • Renaissance
  • Protestant Reformation

Colonial Period

  • 1607-1776
  • 16th Century:
    • Geography
    • Politics
    • Economics
    • Society (including religion)
  • 17th Century:
    • Geography
    • Politics
    • Economics
    • Society (including religion)
  • Salutary Neglect: 1713-1763
  • French and Indian War: 1756-1763

Revolutionary War Era

  • 1763-1783
  • Revolutionary War: 1775-1783

Critical Period

  • Articles of Confederation: 1783-1789

Federalist Era

  • 1789-1801
  • Presidents: Washington and Adams

Jeffersonian Democracy

  • 1800-1824
  • Presidents: Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe
  • War of 1812: 1812-1815 (Madison)

Era of Good Feelings

  • 1816-1824
  • Monroe

Jacksonian Democracy

  • 1828-1848
  • Presidents: Jackson, Van Buren, (Tyler?), and Polk
  • Manifest Destiny (1840s): Presidents Tyler & Polk
  • (Jackson & Indian removal in 1830s)
  • Mexican War: 1846-1848

American Society

  • 1790-1860

Early Industrial Revolution

  • Textiles, Railroads, Iron, Coal (TRIC)

Transportation Revolution

  • Turnpikes
  • Steamboats
  • Canals
  • Railroads

Second Great Awakening

  • 1820-1860
  • Abolitionism
  • Temperance
  • Women's Rights, etc.

Road to Civil War

  • 1848-1860
  • Wilmot Proviso through election of 1860

Civil War

  • 1861-1865

Reconstruction

  • 1865-1877

Gilded Age

  • 1865-1900
  • Politics: Scandal, money issue (1870s & 90s), tariff (1880s), Panics of 1873 & 1893
  • Second Industrial Revolution: ROSE (Railroads, Oil, Steel, Electricity); Unionization
  • Urbanization:
    • "New Immigrants" (1880-1924)
    • Social Gospel
    • Political Machines
    • Nativists
  • The Great West: Three frontiers
    • 1) Farming
    • 2) Mining
    • 3) Cattle
  • Populism, election of 1896

Imperialism

  • 1889-1914
  • Hawaii
  • Spanish-American War
  • Open Door Policy
  • "Big Stick" diplomacy
  • "Dollar Diplomacy"
  • "Moral Diplomacy"

Progressive Era

  • 1901-1920
  • Presidents: T. Roosevelt, Taft, and Wilson

World War I

  • 1914-1918
  • President Wilson
  • Treaty of Versailles (1919)

1920s

  • Presidents: Harding, Coolidge & Hoover
  • Conservative domestic policy
  • Isolationist foreign policy (including 1930s)
  • "Americanism"
  • "Roaring 20s" and "Jazz Age" (+ "Lost Generation")

The Great Depression

  • 1929-1939
  • Hoover and FDR

New Deal

  • 1933-1938

World War II

  • 1939-1945 (U.S. 1941-1945)

Cold War

  • 1946-1991

Truman's Presidency

  • 1945-1953
  • Cold War domestic policy
  • "Fair Deal"
  • "Red Scare" (second one): 1947-1954?
  • "Affluent Society": 1950-1970

1950s

  • President Eisenhower (1953-1961)
  • Foreign and domestic policy
  • Civil Rights era (1954-1965)
  • Consumerism
  • Conformity

1960s

  • JFK & LBJ
  • Cold War (including Vietnam)
  • "New Frontier"
  • "Great Society" (including Civil Rights)
  • Women's rights

Vietnam War

  • 1964-1973

1970s

  • President Nixon (1969-1974), Ford, Carter
  • Cold War (end of Vietnam) and détente
  • Domestic issues (including Watergate)
  • "New Federalism"
  • Oil crisis
  • "Stagflation"
  • "Imperial Presidency": WWII-1974

1980s

  • Reagan and Bush
  • Conservative revolution: "Reaganomics"
  • Cold War and other foreign policy issues