AP US History (APUSH) Review Lecture Notes

Introduction

• Overview of major periods in American history
• Key events, concepts, and figures discussed by periods

Period 1: 1491-1607

Pre-European Contact

• Native American Cultures
  • Climate and geography influenced diverse cultures
  • Central/South America: Aztecs and Mayas (maize cultivation, trade networks)
  • North America: Nomadic tribes, varied lifestyles (buffalo hunting, agriculture)

European Arrival

• Columbian Exchange

  • Exchange of plants, animals, ideas, people, diseases
  • Impact: Europe gained wealth, population boom; Native Americans devastated by diseases (smallpox)

• Spanish Colonization

  • Conquistadors (e.g., Hernán Cortés and Aztecs)
  • Encomienda system and forced conversions
  • Casta system: Racial hierarchy

• Valladolid Debates

  • Debates on treatment of Natives between Las Casas (opposed brutality) and Sepúlveda (supported enslavement)

Period 2: 1607-1754

Colonization and Settlement

• French and Dutch Colonies

  • French: Quebec, New Orleans, fur trade, Catholic conversion
  • Dutch: New Amsterdam (trade)

• English Colonies

  • Jamestown (1607): Economic motives, tobacco economy
  • Maryland: Refuge for Catholics
  • Southern Colonies: Cash crops (rice, indigo, sugar), heavy use of slave labor (Stono Rebellion)

• New England and Middle Colonies

  • New England: Puritan religious motives, fishing, lumber, trade (Boston)
  • Middle Colonies: Ethnic diversity, Quakers in Pennsylvania, known as Bread Basket

Colonial Tensions

• Conflicts with Native Americans

  • King Philip's War

• Colonial Governance and Economy

  • Mercantilism and Navigation Acts
  • Salutary neglect

Religious and Social Changes

• First Great Awakening
  • Religious revival (Jonathan Edwards, George Whitefield), questioning authority

Period 3: 1754-1800

Pre-Revolution and Revolution

• French and Indian War (1754-1763)

  • British expansion, Treaty of Paris 1763
  • Proclamation of 1763 (settlement restrictions)

• American Revolution

  • Tensions over taxes (Stamp Act), Boston Massacre and Tea Party, Intolerable Acts
  • Declaration of Independence (1776)
  • Revolutionary War: Continental Army, French support, Treaty of Paris 1783

Post-Revolution Challenges

• Articles of Confederation

  • Weak federal government, Shay's Rebellion

• Constitutional Convention (1787)

  • Great Compromise, 3/5 Compromise, ratification debates
  • Federalists vs. Anti-Federalists, Federalist Papers

• Early Federal Government

  • George Washington's precedents, Whiskey Rebellion
  • Development of political parties: Federalists (Hamilton) vs. Democratic-Republicans (Jefferson)

Period 4: 1800-1848

Early Republic

• Thomas Jefferson's Presidency

  • Louisiana Purchase, Embargo Act

• James Madison and War of 1812

  • British impressment, Treaty of Ghent, Hartford Convention

Era of Good Feelings

• James Monroe

  • Monroe Doctrine, Missouri Compromise

• Jacksonian Democracy

  • Expansion of democracy, Nullification Crisis, Indian Removal Act

Market Revolution

• Technological Advances
  • Cotton gin, interchangeable parts, railroads, telegraphs

Reform Movements

• Second Great Awakening
  • Social reforms: Abolition, women’s rights (Seneca Falls), education, temperance

Period 5: 1844-1877

Manifest Destiny and Expansion

• James K. Polk and Mexican-American War
  • Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, California Gold Rush

Sectional Conflicts

• Compromise of 1850, Kansas-Nebraska Act, Bleeding Kansas
• Dred Scott Decision, John Brown’s Raid

Civil War and Reconstruction

• Civil War (1861-1865)

  • Emancipation Proclamation, Union advantages

• Reconstruction Era

  • Radical Reconstruction, Reconstruction Amendments (13th, 14th, 15th)
  • Failures: Sharecropping, Jim Crow laws

Period 6: 1865-1898

Gilded Age

• Industrialization and Urbanization

  • Rise of corporations, labor unions, strikes

• Philosophies and Reforms

  • Social Darwinism, Gospel of Wealth, Social Gospel

• Westward Expansion

  • Homestead Act, Transcontinental Railroad, Plains Wars

Period 7: 1890-1945

Imperialism and Progressivism

• Spanish-American War and Imperialism

  • Treaty of Paris, debates over imperialism

• Progressive Presidents

  • Trust-busting, conservation, economic reforms

World War I and Roaring Twenties

• US Involvement in WWI

  • Entry into war, Treaty of Versailles, League of Nations

• 1920s Culture and Economy

  • Flappers, Harlem Renaissance, Prohibition

Great Depression and New Deal

• Economic Crisis
  • Stock market crash, FDR's New Deal

World War II

• US Involvement
  • Pearl Harbor, internment of Japanese Americans, atomic bomb

Period 8: 1945-1980

Postwar America

• Cold War Tensions

  • Containment policy, Korean War, Vietnam War

• Civil Rights Movement

  • Major legislation, Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X

Social Changes and Movements

• Great Society Programs
  • Addressing poverty, healthcare, education

Period 9: 1980-Present

End of the Cold War and Globalization

• Ronald Reagan's Presidency

  • Reaganomics, end of Cold War

• Globalization and Technological Advances

  • Internet, social media, trade agreements

• 21st Century Challenges

  • Political polarization, terrorism (9/11), economic crises

These notes cover the key themes and events from each major period of American history as outlined in the lecture.