Every Class APUSH
🌎 Colonial America & Revolution (1607–1783)
Gentry / Colonial Elites – Wealthy landowners, planters, merchants (e.g., Virginia planters, Boston merchants).
Yeoman Farmers – Small, independent landowners, especially in the South.
Artisans – Skilled workers in urban areas.
Indentured Servants – Poor Europeans working to pay off passage.
Enslaved People – Forced laborers forming a distinct social and political underclass.
Native American Tribes – Sovereign groups, often treated as political entities.
Patriots – Pro-independence colonists.
Loyalists / Tories – Supported British rule.
Continental Congress Delegates – Political representatives of the colonies.
🏛 Early Republic (1783–1820s)
Federalists – Elite-oriented, pro-strong central government.
Democratic-Republicans – Agrarian-focused, states’ rights advocates.
Backcountry Farmers – Often opposed elite coastal interests (e.g., Whiskey Rebellion).
Enslaved People – Denied political participation but heavily impacted policy.
Women (Republican Motherhood) – Limited rights, but seen as vital to civic virtue.
Free Black Communities – Small but politically active in the North.
🌾 Jacksonian & Antebellum America (1820s–1860)
Jacksonian Democrats – "Common man" supporters; anti-elitist.
Whigs – Pro-bank, pro-internal improvements; often elite-based.
Southern Planter Aristocracy – Wealthy slaveholders dominating politics.
Northern Industrialists – Grew political power with economic expansion.
Free Soil Party – Opposed expansion of slavery for political and economic reasons.
Know-Nothings (American Party) – Nativist, anti-immigrant.
Abolitionists – Diverse class background, politically active.
Women’s Rights Activists – Pushed for suffrage and equality.
⚔ Civil War & Reconstruction (1860–1877)
Confederate Planter Class – Political leaders of secession.
Union Republicans – Pro-war, anti-slavery.
Radical Republicans – Wanted strong Reconstruction reforms.
Carpetbaggers – Northern Republicans in the South post-war.
Scalawags – Southern whites cooperating with Reconstruction.
Freedmen – Former slaves asserting new political rights.
🛠 Gilded Age (1877–1900)
Robber Barons / Captains of Industry – Railroad tycoons, industrial magnates.
Political Machines (e.g., Tammany Hall) – Urban political bosses appealing to immigrants.
Populists / Farmers’ Alliances – Agrarian protest movement.
Labor Unions (Knights of Labor, AFL) – Working-class political force.
Immigrant Working Class – Politically influential in cities.
🏙 Progressive Era (1900–1920)
Progressives – Middle-class reformers.
Muckrakers – Journalists pushing political reform.
Women Reformers – Pushed for suffrage (e.g., NAWSA, later NWP).
Socialists – Working-class leftist movement (e.g., Eugene V. Debs).
Black Activists – W.E.B. Du Bois, Booker T. Washington-led movements.
⚔ 1920s–1945 (WWII)
Harlem Renaissance Intellectuals – Political and cultural voices.
New Deal Coalition – Included labor unions, Black voters, Southern whites.
Isolationists / Interventionists – Debated foreign policy before WWII.
Fascist Sympathizers / Anti-Communists – Political extremes emerged.
❄ Cold War America (1945–1980)
Liberals – Supported government intervention (Great Society, Civil Rights).
Conservatives – Favored limited government and traditional values.
Civil Rights Activists – Black Americans, SNCC, NAACP, etc.
Chicano / Native American / Asian American Activists – Demanded political equity.
Counterculture / Hippies – Protested political and social systems.
Feminists (Second Wave) – Pushed for equality and political rights.
Anti-Communists / McCarthyists – Pushed political purging of leftists.
Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) – Radical youth politics.
🧱 1980s–2000s
Neoconservatives – Aggressive foreign policy, market-based reforms.
Religious Right / Evangelicals – Became major conservative political base.
LGBTQ+ Activists – Pushed for political rights during and after AIDS crisis.
New Democrats – Centrist political class (e.g., Clinton-era).
Third-Party Movements – Ross Perot, Green Party, Libertarians.
🌐 2000s–Present
Tea Party Republicans – Small-government, anti-tax populists.
Progressive Democrats – Left-leaning faction (e.g., Bernie Sanders, AOC).
MAGA Movement – Populist-nationalist Trump supporters.
Black Lives Matter / Modern Civil Rights Groups – Push for racial equity.
Online Activists / Influencers – New political class via social media.
Gig Workers / Tech Class – Emerging political force over labor issues.