APUSH Notes_Pages 1-22

Exam Format

AP Exam Small Talk

  • The AP exam is perceived to be easier than Unit Tests.
  • Writing skills are crucial for earning easy points.
  • Mrs. Marshall suggests aiming for 75% on multiple choice questions and performing well on writing sections to achieve a score of 5.
  • Strong writing can compensate for difficulties in the multiple-choice section.

SAQs (Short Answer Questions)

  • Likely to include free response questions.
  • May involve contrasting quotes.
  • Could require document analysis or picture interpretation.

DBQs (Document-Based Questions)

  • Considered relatively easy to score high on.
  • Requires stating the content of the provided documents.

LEQs (Long Essay Questions)

  • Seen as challenging but offer choice among different themes.
  • Themes span different historical eras (e.g., women’s rights in Colonial times, Mid 1800s, 1940s-1960s).
  • The recommendation is to choose the most recent era for potentially easier content.

General Concepts

  • Understanding general concepts, historical context, and outcomes is more important than memorizing minute details.
  • For example, focus on the broader implications of the 7 Year’s War rather than every specific detail.

Specificity

  • Being specific in writing is crucial.
  • Incorporate relevant terms and explain them thoroughly.

Exam Format and Grading Scale

  • The exam has consistent question types, weighting, and scoring guidelines each year.
  • The overall format, weighting, timing, and number of questions remain consistent.
Section 1A: Multiple Choice
  • 55 Questions | 55 Minutes | 40% of Exam Score
  • Questions appear in sets of 3–4.
  • Analysis of historical texts, interpretations, and evidence is required.
  • Includes primary and secondary sources, images, graphs, and maps.
Section 1B: Short Answer
  • 3 Questions | 40 Minutes | 20% of Exam Score
  • Analysis of historians’ interpretations, historical sources, and propositions about history.
  • Demonstrate knowledge effectively.
  • Some questions include texts, images, graphs, or maps.
  • Choice between 2 options for the final required short-answer question (different time periods):
    • Question 1: Required, 1–2 secondary sources, focuses on 1754–1980.
    • Question 2: Required, 1 primary source, focuses on 1754–1980.
    • Choice between Question 3 (1491–1877) and Question 4 (1865–2001); no sources are included.
Section 2A: Document-Based Question
  • 1 Question | 1 Hour (includes 15-minute reading period) | 25% of Exam Score
  • Presented with 7 documents offering various perspectives.
  • Assessment of written, quantitative, or visual materials as historical evidence.
  • Development of an argument supported by historical evidence analysis.
  • Focuses on topics from 1754–1980.
Section 2B: Long Essay
  • 1 Question | 40 Minutes | 15% of Exam Score
  • Explanation and analysis of significant issues in U.S. history.
  • Development of an argument supported by historical evidence analysis.
  • Choice from 3 options, each focusing on different time periods:
    • Option 1: 1491–1800
    • Option 2: 1800–1898
    • Option 3: 1890–2001

Unit 1 (1491-1607)

Chapter 1 (The Beginning)

Americas Before Whites
  • Asians migrated via a land bridge in Russia approximately 10,000 years before Columbus.
  • Natives: Mayas, Aztecs, and Incas thrived in locations like Tenochtitlan and Machu Picchu.
  • US Natives: Consisted of nomadic people living in small hunting tribes, as well as sedentary farmers cultivating maize (corn), beans, and squash, such as the Lakota Sioux.
Europeans
  • Vikings are disregarded in this historical context.

Reasons for Leaving Europe

  • Nautical Revolution & Technological Improvements: Trade between Europe, the Middle East, and Asia increased during the European Renaissance, leading to inventions like the compass and improved ship-making techniques, facilitated by the printing press.

  • Spread of Religion: Catholicism returned to Spain, leading to the expulsion of Jews and Muslims. Northern Europeans adopted Protestantism, leading to religious conflicts until England embraced Protestantism. Spain and Portugal remained Catholic.

  • Encomienda System: Spanish settlers were granted land by the King in the southwestern US and used Native labor for farming.

  • Asiento System: Due to disease-related Native deaths, the Spanish began importing West Africans for labor, paying a tax to the King for each slave.

  • England and Holland (Protestants) aimed to spread Christianity to Africa and Asia and sought new trade routes.

  • With the Ottoman Empire blocking the Silk Road, Europeans aimed to reach India and China by sea. Portugal was the first to attempt this, profiting from early slave trade.

Columbus

  • Legacy: Columbus "discovered" America, causing Native population decline through disease and violence, leading to the Columbian Exchange.

    • Columbian Exchange: Natives received livestock, plants (sugar cane and bluegrasses), steel, guns, the wheel, and diseases. Europeans received food and plants (tobacco, potatoes, corn, beans), and disease (syphilis).

Colonies

  • Spanish & Portuguese: Portugal claimed Brazil, while Spain claimed the rest of the Americas.

  • Bartolome de Las Casas: Advocated against Native enslavement, viewing them as equals, but his reports of cruelty to the King had limited effect.

  • Extensive efforts to Christianize Natives led to the Pueblo Revolt, where Natives expelled some Spanish settlers.

  • English: John Cabot surveyed the East Coast, but domestic issues delayed English settlement. After defeating the Spanish, the English settled in America as families. Initial peaceful relations with Natives deteriorated into violence as the English viewed Natives as "savages."

  • French: Claimed Canada, developed slowly, and maintained generally positive relations with Natives through fur and meat trade.

  • French colonization remained limited and posed little threat to natives.

  • Dutch: Claimed the Northeastern US (New York area) and delegated control to the Dutch India Company for economic development.

  • Great Migration: After Massachusetts Bay became a royal charter, Puritans migrated under John Winthrop to create a "city on a hill," a religious paradise for Protestants.

Unit 2 (1607-1754)

Chapter 2- (13 Colonies)

English Colonies

  • Established in Jamestown in 1607.

    • Royal Colony: Under the rule of the King’s Governor (e.g. Virginia after 1624).
    • Corporate Colony: Under joint-stock company (e.g. Jamestown).
    • Proprietary Colony: Under individual w/ a charter granted by the King (MD & Penn).
Jamestown

  • After defeating the Spanish Armada, England gained naval power. The population grew excessively, resulting in sending people over for wealth via stock companies (Virginia Company).

    • Early Life: Miserable conditions; disease; swampy area. Later, they started farming tobacco as a cash crop. As the Virginia Company went into debt, the King made it a royal colony in 1624.
Plymouth & Mass Bay
  • Fueled by Protestant escape from religious persecution from the Anglican Church.
    • Pilgrims wanted to separate from the Church; separatists.
Mayflower Compact
  • New England; will of majority; early democracy
Bacon’s Rebellion
  • After VA Governor William Berkeley antagonized poor farmers and didn’t allow them to fight back from Native attacks and expand westward, Nathaniel Bacon destroyed Native villages and Jamestown against wealthy farmers.
    • Resistance to royalty
    • Major wealth difference between rich and poor
Early Politics

  • Showed development and interest in self-rule since beginning.

    • House of Burgesses: 1st Representative Assembly in colonies; VA; guaranteed the same law-making representation & rights as Englishmen in England.

    • Mass Bay: All members of Puritan Church, only males, could vote.

    • Voting rights only extended to White male property owners

Chesapeake Colonies

  • MD: King George split VA under Lord Baltimore; first proprietary colony; Catholics came to escape religious persecution; Protestant competition in colonies created:

    • Act of Tolerationreligious freedom to all Christians.

    • Protestant Revolt: Protestants took over and repealed the Act of Toleration for more power; took voting rights away from Catholics

Labor

  • Farmers in VA & MD couldn’t get enough from Whites b/c everyone was dying and couldn’t use Natives b/c conflicts

    • Indentured Servitude: Young servants under 4-7 year contracts; complete authority of master; once done they could do whatever but most continued to work for wages.

    • Headright System: Gave any paying immigrant 50 acres of land and 50 acres of land for every indentured servant brought in; allows the rich to get more power with more lad; encouraged Englishmen to immigrate.

    • Slavery: 1619 first West African slave arrived in America by Dutchmen. Early slaves were not held to bondage for life b/c English law didn’t say zip about slavery; House of Burgesses then said nah they’re slaves; they became slaves (1660s)

Economic Problems
  • First tariffs introduced when House of Burgesses tried to increase failing tobacco prices; English set tariff on exported goods
New England

  • Began with formation of Connecticut and Rhode Island by dissidents banished by Puritan Church in Mass Bay

    • Roger Williams: Puritan minister kicked out for believing the individual should interpret the Bible instead of Church. Ended up creating Rhode Island; recognized Natives & paid for the land and religious freedom

    • Metacom/King Philip's War- Colonist & Natives dispute; led to New England confederation fighting them off b/c England was busy w/ civil war; showed how different colonies could join together and fight for a common idea

    • Anne Hutchison- Banished for believing in antinomianism- believing faith was enough for salvation; fled to Portsmouth; eventually went to Rhode Island and got killed in Native uprising

    • Connecticut & New Hampshire- Both royal colonies with limited representative government

    • Halfway Covenant- As newer generations became less interested and Church membership fell; Churches began allowing more people to become members with less regulations to get in; weakened Church’s power and influence

Carolinas
  • Royal charters; NC had tobacco and didn’t rely much on slavery, SC had rice and relied heavily on slavery from West Indies New Jersey & NY were royal charters; nothing much else
Pennsylvania
  • Created by William Penn as a refuge for Quakers- Christians who believed in male and female equality, that religious authority was in the soul of the individual, not the Bible- with a representative government, religious freedom, and unrestricted immigration
Georgia
  • Last colony; made as a defense to SC plantations from Spanish Florida and as a way to free up prisons of debtors in England
Mercantilism
  • Economic system where European monarchies would use colonies to ship raw materials back to their homeland to enrich their country. Colonies made very little things; most products came from England; higher prices
  • Set trade restrictions on colonies after England was done with political turmoil from 1650 to 1673; made all trade basically only happen w/ England. Good; caused NE ship-making industry to boom, provided Chesapeake tobacco a monopoly in England, & provided colonies with English protection from Spanish. Bad; limited development of colonial manufacturing, forced farmers to only trade w/ England & accept lower prices, & caused colonists to pay high prices from manufactured goods b/c of mercantilism. Ultimately, the Navigation Acts showed the colonies England could be authoritative, worsened England & colonies relations, incentivized smuggling; upset many colonists
Dominion of New England
  • King, James II, decided to take more power over colonies and revoked charters for NE colonies and made it all one b/c it was an area notorious for smuggling, giving the rights to Sir Edmund Andros. Andros levied taxes, limited town meetings, and revoking land titles. James II got overthrown in (English) Glorious Revolution and New England Dominion was no more
Slavery
Growth of Population

  • British & some Irish, Welsh, and Central European protestant families moved over (mostly in accepting states; middle and chesapeake states b/c NE was all Puritan) due to an abundance of American land opening, therefore having more children; expanding population; caused colonists to create their own culture

    • Increasing Demand- Reduced migration from England for labor, plantations got bigger and they couldn’t rely on small farmers or indentured servants after Bacon’s Rebellion, needed cheap labor b/c prices fell.
    • Slave Laws: Colonies started to create laws holding slaves to permanent bondage; began real American slavery.
    • Triangular Trade & Middle Passage: Three part trading system; raw materials from colonies-> gets traded for slaves in Africa -(Middle Passage)-> goes back to West Indies where slaves are bought-> ship goes back to colonies.

Chapter 3- (Colonial Society in 18th Century)

Characteristics- show root of American ideals

  • Self-Gov: Though forms differed, every colony generally had a voting system, often heavily limited, to elect an assembly; governors were usually placed in by British Monarchy.

    • Religious Freedom: Some states allowed very little religious freedom (Mass) while other states allowed for non-Christians and Catholics (Penn & Rhode Isl.).
Colonial Nationalism

John Locke: Second Treatise of Government; argued the state (gov) is supreme yet it follows natural laws, people just being people. Argued sovereignty was in the citizens and for their rights, also arguing citizens could revolt against the gov, “Consent of the governed”. Increased colonial nationalism and ideas went into the Constitution by prompting people to think for themselves.

Family

More families lived on farms and gave birth to many more kids than in Europe. Men had wealth and land owning was generally reserved for men, while women worked as mothers and did chores around the house, with limited political and social rights.

Economy

Relied heavily on trade w/ England

New England

Not great for farming so it relied on early industry through ship-building, rum making, fishing, and timber; barely any slaves b/c production was familial

Middle Colonies

Soil was rich for wheat and corn; used some slaves and indentured servants to help familial farms. Some early manufacturing like iron-making making Philadelphia and New York relatively large cities

Southern Colonies

Majority of farmers didn’t have slaves; wealthy plantation owners did. Self-sufficient farming. Tobacco in Chesapeake & NC; rice & indigo in SC & GA

The Enlightenment

Inspired by European Enlightenment; higher-thinking, literature, science, etc.

Great Awakening

Public expression and preaching of religious feeling done mostly by Protestants; 1730s-1740s

Jonathan Edwards

Argued that people who believed in God could be saved from damnation but ones who didn’t couldn’t; New England Congregationalist (New Puritans)

George Whitefield

Big time gospel preacher; said that those who didn’t follow the teachings of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and God were kinda just screwed

Impact- Introduced emotionalism into Protestant culture, therefore American culture, & caused division in Church:
  • Response to Enlightenment as Preachers urged for people to stay religious by scaring them into thinking they would suffer damnation if they didn’t; moved people back to religious thinking w/ some Enlightenment ideas
    • New Lights: Modern thinkers of Great Awakening; emotionalism and preaching
    • Old Lights: Older members of Church; more Orthodox; though GA was unnecessary
Impact of Art and Literature:

Just know it started some nationalism and unification

EducationImpact of Enlightenment

  • Prompted further education and better ones a that.

    • First big American colleges were created (Princeton, Rutgers, Brown, Dartmouth, Columbia)

    • People started to get more education and getting better jobs; doctors, lawyers, etc.

Albany Plan of Union
  • Made by Ben Franklin to unite colonies under one system for taxation, troops, and other war efforts; didn’t catch along b/c each colony wanted to have the taxing power; set precedent for later revolutionary Congresses

British View

Low opinion of Colonies; unorganized troops, unwillingness to send troops or pay for war efforts, wouldn’t defend new frontiers well

Colonial View

Very proud; confident they could defend themselves; unimpressed w/ British troops and how they fought b/c it didn’t fit w/ American woodlands

End of Salutary Neglect

After war, Britain enforced the Navigation Acts and began to assert much more power on the colonies; wanted to expand British troops on frontier; wanted colonists to pay for war

Pontiac’s Rebellion

Chief Pontiac was angered by colonial expansion; began uprising in 1763; England didn’t rely on colonial troops; sent their own troops; first major test of England's new policy

Proclamation of 1763

To end conflicts between colonists and natives while also stabilizing the western frontier, England prohibited westward expansion past the Appalachians; angered colonists but they still expanded out

Unit 3 (1754-1800)

Chapter 4 (Imperial Wars & Colonial Protests)

Seven Years’ War (French & Indian War)
  • Final of 4 wars fought in between European nations; this one solidified the importance of Europe’s colonies
Beginning
  • France began to place forts along the Ohio River to stop British colonies from expanding westward; Governor of VA sent troops led by George Washington and later Braddock; war started; English vs French & Natives; French stopped British invasion of Canada under William Pitt btw
Effects of War
Treaty of Paris
  • Britain won; got territories north and south of colonies; certified British supremacy of NA immediate Effects: Established Britain as naval superpower; stopped any threat of French or Spanish colonial invasions; changed views between Britain & colonists shift in British Policy
British Taxes

  • British thought it was justified; Americans believed it was an infringement of liberty & “taxation w/o representation

    • Sugar Act: (Revenue Act); 1764; taxed sugar; stricter enforcement against smuggling

    • Quartering Act 1765: required colonists to house and feed British troops

    -Stamp Act: Tax on legal documents, newspapers, etc. First direct tax on colonists (import taxes were paid by merchants not ordinary citizens); infuriated colonists

    • Stamp Act Congress: 9 colonies met under peaceful committee; decided taxation needed to be done by representative; taxation w/ representation.

    • Sons & Daughters of Liberty: Violent group that protested against Stamp Act; harrased tax collectors

    • John Dickinson: Letters from a Farmer- Argued against taxation w/o representation; caught colonists’ attention repealment: Protests pressured British Parliament to repeal Stamp Act in 1766; showed protests could work.
      -Declaratory Act: Said parliament could tax and make laws for colonies “in all cases whatsoever”; infuriated Colonists

2nd Phase of British Taxes- 1767-1773; uh oh

  • Went crazy and taxed everything; tea, glass, paper, etc

    • Required raised revenues to go to crowned officials so the officials were separate from the independent representative assemblies; weakened power of representative assemblies

    • Allowed for search of private homes where smuggling was suspected response: Colonists weren’t super angry at first b/c the taxes were indirect (only affected merchants)

Circular Letter

James Otis & Samuel Adams passed message to legislatures to petition for the repealment of Townshend; Parliament tried to stop it by enforcing troops in Boston; colonial boycotts on British goods increased. New British Prime Minister argued it was bad for trade; still taxed tea but smaller tax, seemed to alleviate issues

Boston Massacre

Small fight between British troops & colonists; renewed conflicts after brief alleviation; increased Anti-British sentiments

Boston Tea Party

Boycott of British Tea; dumped it all in the sea; some colonists thought it was justified while others thought it was too radical

Intolerable Acts- Response to Boston Tea Party (Coercive Acts)
  • Coercive Acts: Series of Acts; closed Boston port, reduced power of Mass. legislature while increasing power of royal governor, allowed for royal officials charged w/ crimes to be tried in England (allowed for corruption and bias), expanded Quartering Act to all colonies
Influence of Enlightenment Ideas

John Locke grew popular as did future American leaders, shaping their minds to be more focused on the science of man and individual rights which would translate into the ideas behind America’s Constitution

First Continental Congress
  • Intolerable acts drove colonies to send out delegates to Philadelphia expect Georgia; focused on Colonial resistance to Intolerable Acts using free speech and open debate

Chapter 5 (American Revolution)

Intolerable Acts Impact
  • Made some colonists believe the only way left was to sever ties w/ Britain and become independent. Most colonists, however, only wanted to go back to how things w/ Britain were before the 7 Years War

Actions- Proposed repeal of Intolerable Acts (Suffolk Resolves, passed the Declaration & Resolves urging the King to fix colonial problems while still letting Parliament control commerce, created Continental Association to enforce the economic sanctions of the Suffolk Resolves, and promised that if these were not resolved, Delegates would meet again

Proposed repeal of Intolerable Acts

Actions Proposed repeal of Intolerable Acts (Suffolk Resolves, passed the Declaration & Resolves urging the King to fix colonial problems while still letting Parliament control commerce, created Continental Association to enforce the economic sanctions of the Suffolk Resolves, and promised that if these were not resolved, Delegates would meet again

• Suffolk Resolves (Proposed repeal of Intolerable Acts) passed the Declaration & Resolves urging the King to fix colonial problems while still letting Parliament control commerce, created Continental Association to enforce the economic sanctions of the Suffolk Resolves, and promised that if these were not resolved, Delegates would meet again

Olive Branch Petition

Actions Colonists pledged loyalty to Britain and asked for Parliamentary protection of colonies; King George didn’t read it and Parliament declared colonies in rebellion; led many Americans to now want independence

Thomas Paine’s Common Sense

Pamphlet, argued for independence, appealed to a lot of colonists b/c of its simple language, statistics, and emotional aspects. Led many Americans to now want independence.

Battle of Saratoga: Major American victory; persuaded France to help Patriots; wanted to weaken Britain.Yorktown: Ended Revolutionary War w/ American victory

Battles
  • Lexington & Concord: Lexington was first battle; British Thomas Gage, Colonial Minutemen (Revere and William Dawes); Concord; first time fought, “the shot heard round the world.