AP United States History - Comprehensive Review Flashcards

Native American Societies Before European Contact (10,000 - 40,000 years ago)

The initial inhabitants of the Americas migrated from Asia across a land bridge connecting Siberia and Alaska between $10,000$ and $40,000$ years ago. These migrants spread from the Arctic Circle to the southern tip of South America, adapting to various environments and evolving into hundreds of tribes with unique languages. Central and South American civilizations included the Mayas ($300 - 800 ext{ AD}$) in the Yucatán Peninsula (Guatemala, Belize, southern Mexico), the Aztecs in central Mexico with their capital Tenochtitlán (population $200,000$), and the Incas in Peru. These societies featured highly organized structures, trade networks, advanced calendars, and stable food supplies, specifically corn for Mayas/Aztecs and potatoes for Incas. By the $1490 ext{s}$, the population north of Mexico ranged from under $1 ext{ million}$ to over $10 ext{ million}$. North American societies were generally less populous and complex due to the slower spread of corn cultivation.

Regional Variations of North American Tribes (Pre-Columbian Era)

Southwest settlements, including the Hohokam, Anasazi, and Pueblos, lived in caves or multistoried buildings and utilized irrigation for maize cultivation, though they faced challenges like extreme drought. Northwest settlements (Alaska to northern California) lived in permanent longhouses, maintained a diet rich in hunting and fishing, and carved totem poles to record heritage. On the Great Plains and Great Basin, nomadic tribes hunted buffalo and used teepees, while some semi-permanent tribes lived in earthen lodges. The Mississippi River Valley featured Woodland American Indians and the large settlement of Cahokia (population $30,000$) near present-day East St. Louis, famous for large earthen mounds. Northeast settlements included the Adena-Hopewell descendants and the powerful Iroquois Confederation (Seneca, Cayuga, Onondaga, Oneida, Mohawk, and Tuscaroras). Atlantic Seaboard tribes, such as the Cherokee and Lumbee, built timber lodgings along rivers.

European Exploration and the Columbian Exchange (late 1400s)

Until the late $1400 ext{s}$, there was no sustained interaction between the Americas and the Old World, as Viking visits around the year $1000$ had no lasting impact. Exploration was driven by the Renaissance (scientific curiosity), technological advances (gunpowder from China, the sailing compass from Arab merchants, and the printing press invented in the $1450 ext{s}$), and religious conflicts like the Spanish Reconquista ($1492$) and the Protestant Reformation. Economic motives focused on trade routes to Asia as the Ottoman Turks blocked overland routes in $1453$. The Portuguese, under Prince Henry the Navigator and Vasco da Gama ($1498$), opened sea routes around Africa. Christopher Columbus, supported by Isabella and Ferdinand, landed in the Bahamas on $ext{October } 12, 1492$. The Columbian Exchange involved the transfer of plants, animals, and diseases. Europe received crops like beans, corn, potatoes, and tobacco, while the Americas received sugar cane, horses, pigs, iron tools, and guns. European diseases (smallpox and measles) decimated native populations; Mexico’s population fell from $22 ext{ million}$ in $1492$ to $4 ext{ million}$ by the mid-$16 ext{th}$ century. Economic shifts included the decline of feudalism and the rise of capitalism and joint-stock companies.

The Spanish Colonial System and Labor (1493 - 1800s)

Spain claimed vast territories through the Papal Line of Demarcation ($1493$) and the Treaty of Tordesillas ($1494$). Key conquistadores included Balboa (Panama), Magellan (circumnavigation), Cortés (Aztecs), and Pizarro (Incas). Labor systems included the Encomienda system (Spanish crown granting native labor to colonists) and the Asiento system (taxing the import of enslaved Africans). Between $10 ext{ million}$ and $15 ext{ million}$ Africans were forcibly brought to the Americas. The Spanish Caste System ranked individuals by heritage: pure-blooded Spaniards at the top, mixed heritage in the middle, and pure Native or African heritage at the bottom. The Valladolid Debate featured Bartolomé de Las Casas advocating for native rights against Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda, who argued they were inferior.

European Colonization and the British Regions (1600s - 1700s)

Spanish efforts included St. Augustine ($1565$), Santa Fe ($1610$), and Father Junípero Serra’s California missions ($1769$). French colonization focused on the fur trade in Quebec ($1608$) and New Orleans ($1718$). The Dutch established New Amsterdam as a trading hub. British colonies were defined by charter types: Corporate (Jamestown), Royal (Virginia post-$1624$), and Proprietary (Maryland, Pennsylvania). New England: Plymouth ($1620$) was founded by Separatist Pilgrims; Massachusetts Bay ($1630$) was founded by Puritans under John Winthrop. Rhode Island ($1636$) focused on religious tolerance (Williams/Hutchinson). Middle Colonies: Pennsylvania ($1681$) was a "Holy Experiment" for Quakers under William Penn. Southern Colonies: Jamestown, Virginia ($1607$) prospered through tobacco developed by John Rolfe and Pocahontas. The Headright system offered $50 ext{ acres}$ for each immigrant transported. Maryland ($1634$) was a Catholic haven. Georgia ($1732$) served as a buffer against Spanish Florida.

Political Evolution and Transatlantic Trade (1600s - 1700s)

Early institutions included Virginia’s House of Burgesses ($1619$) and the Mayflower Compact ($1620$), a form of majority rule. Triangular Trade involved New England rum to West Africa, enslaved Africans to the West Indies, and West Indian sugar to New England. Mercantilist policies like the Navigation Acts restricted colonial trade to benefit Britain, leading to smuggling. Conflict occurred between settlers and natives, such as Metacom’s War ($1675 - 1676$) and the Pueblo Revolt ($1680$). Bacon’s Rebellion ($1676$) highlighted class tensions and prompted a shift from indentured servitude to slavery. The Great Awakening (Edwards, Whitefield) and the Enlightenment (Locke) reshaped colonial thought.

The Road to Revolution and the Revolutionary War (1754 - 1783)

The Seven Years’ War ($1754 - 1763$) ended salutary neglect, as Britain sought to recover war debts. The Proclamation of $1763$ forbade settlement west of the Appalachians. Restrictive taxes followed, including the Stamp Act ($1765$) and the Townshend Acts ($1767$), leading to the Boston Massacre ($1770$) and the Boston Tea Party ($1773$). Britain responded with the Intolerable Acts ($1774$). The First Continental Congress met in $1774$, and hostilities began at Lexington and Concord in $ext{April } 1775$. Thomas Paine’s "Common Sense" ($1776$) and the Declaration of Independence ($ext{July } 4, 1776$) formalized the break from Britain. The Battle of Saratoga ($1777$) secured a French alliance. The war ended after the Siege of Yorktown ($1781$) and the Treaty of Paris ($1783$).

The New Republic and the Constitution (1781 - 1820)

The Articles of Confederation established a weak central government that managed the Northwest Ordinance ($1787$) but failed during Shays’s Rebellion ($1786 - 1787$). The Constitutional Convention ($1787$) led to the Great Compromise (bicameral legislature), the Three-Fifths Compromise, and the Electoral College. Federalists (Madison, Hamilton) debated Anti-Federalists over the need for a Bill of Rights ($1791$). Washington’s presidency established the cabinet and the Proclamation of Neutrality ($1793$). Adams’s presidency was marked by the XYZ Affair and the Alien and Sedition Acts. Jefferson’s "Revolution of $1800$" saw the Louisiana Purchase ($1803$) for $15 ext{ million}. Chief Justice John Marshall established judicial review in Marbury v. Madison ($1803$). The War of $1812$ resulted from maritime grievances and ended with the Treaty of Ghent ($1814$). The Monroe Doctrine ($1823$) warned Europe against New World intervention.

Market Revolution and Jacksonian Democracy (1820s - 1840s)

The Market Revolution introduced steamboats (Fulton), the Erie Canal ($1825$), railroads, and the telegraph (Morse). Eli Whitney’s cotton gin ($1793$) institutionalized slavery in the South. Jacksonian Democracy expanded suffrage to all white males. Andrew Jackson’s presidency saw the Indian Removal Act (Trail of Tears), the Nullification Crisis with South Carolina, and the Bank War (vetoing the recharter of the Second Bank of the U.S.). The Second Great Awakening spurred reforms in temperance, education (Mann), mental health (Dix), and women’s rights (Seneca Falls, $1848$). Abolitionism grew through William Lloyd Garrison and Frederick Douglass.

Manifest Destiny and the Civil War (1840s - 1865)

Manifest Destiny drove expansion into Texas, Oregon, and the Mexican Cession after the Mexican-American War ($1846 - 1848$). Sectional tensions rose over slavery, leading to the Compromise of $1850$, the Kansas-Nebraska Act ($1854$), and the Dred Scott decision ($1857$). Abraham Lincoln’s election in $1860$ triggered secession. The Civil War ($1861 - 1865$) featured major events like the Emancipation Proclamation ($1863$), the Battle of Gettysburg, and the surrender at Appomattox. Reconstruction aimed to reintegrate the South, granting rights through the $13 ext{th}$, $14 ext{th}$, and $15 ext{th}$ Amendments, but ended with the Compromise of $1877$, leading to Jim Crow laws and segregation (Plessy v. Ferguson, $1896$).

The Gilded Age and Industrialization (1865 - 1900)

Transcontinental railroads and government land grants ($170 ext{ million acres}$) facilitated western development. The Homestead Act ($1862$) offered $160 ext{ acres}$ to settlers. Industry was dominated by titans like Andrew Carnegie (steel, vertical integration) and John D. Rockefeller (oil, horizontal integration). Social Darwinism and the Gospel of Wealth influenced social thought. Labor unions like the AFL (Gompers) and the Knights of Labor fought for rights amid strikes like Pullman ($1894$). Mass immigration from southern and eastern Europe led to nativism and the Chinese Exclusion Act ($1882$).

Imperialism, World Wars, and the Depression (1898 - 1945)

The U.S. became a world power after the Spanish-American War ($1898$), acquiring the Philippines, Guam, and Puerto Rico. Theodore Roosevelt implemented the "Big Stick" policy and the Panama Canal. The Progressive Era saw reforms in labor, food safety, and suffrage ($19 ext{th}$ Amendment, $1920$). The U.S. entered World War I ($1917$) due to submarine warfare and the Zimmermann Telegram. Wilson’s Fourteen Points and the League of Nations were debated post-war. The $1920 ext{s}$ featured a consumer boom, jazz, and the Harlem Renaissance, followed by the Great Depression beginning in $1929$ with unemployment reaching 25 ext{%}. FDR’s New Deal provided relief, recovery, and reform (Social Security, FDIC). World War II mobilization ($1941 - 1945$) ended the Depression. Major events included the attack on Pearl Harbor, Japanese internment (Korematsu v. U.S.), D-Day, and the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in $ext{August } 1945$.

The Cold War and Modern America (1945 - present)

The Cold War rivaled the U.S. and USSR through containment (Truman Doctrine, Marshall Plan, NATO). Conflicts occurred in Korea ($1950 - 1953$) and Vietnam. The Civil Rights movement saw Brown v. Board ($1954$) and the leadership of MLK Jr. (March on Washington, $1963$). LBJ’s Great Society expanded the welfare state. Nixon’s presidency included détente but ended with the Watergate scandal ($1974$). The Reagan Revolution ($1980$) focused on tax cuts (Reaganomics) and a military buildup. The Cold War ended with the collapse of the Soviet Union in $1991$. Recent history includes the technological boom of the $1990 ext{s}$, the $ext{September } 11, 2001$ attacks, the War on Terror, the Affordable Care Act ($2010$), and the COVID-$19$ pandemic starting in $2020$.