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APUSH Units 1-5 Comprehensive Review

May 8, 2025

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Lecture Notes: APUSH Units 1-5 Review

Introduction

  • Review session for APUSH units 1-5
  • Duration: Approximately 1 hour 45 minutes
  • Announcement of 1 million subscribers on Old Himler's history channel
  • Shoutouts available via super chat, submit before 9:00 p.m. Eastern
  • Exam date: May 9th

Unit 1: 1491-1607

Key Themes:

  • Native American diversity and societies
  • European exploration and contact
  • Columbian Exchange

Big Idea 1

  • Native American societies were diverse, influenced by their environments
  • Examples: Chumash (California), Ute (Great Basin), Cahokia (Mississippi River Valley), Iroquois (Northeast)

Big Idea 2

  • European exploration driven by political unification, luxury goods demand
  • Major players: Portugal, Spain (Columbus)
  • Sea routes to bypass Ottoman-controlled trade routes

Big Idea 3

  • Columbian Exchange: transfer of people, animals, plants, diseases
  • Impact: New crops, animals, and diseases reshaped societies
  • Key examples: Potatoes, maize, smallpox

Big Idea 4

  • Spanish impact on America: Encomienda system, African slavery, casta system

Big Idea 5

  • European and Native American understanding of each other evolved
  • Key figures: Juan GinĂ©s de SepĂșlveda, BartolomĂ© de las Casas

Unit 2: 1607-1754

Key Themes:

  • Colonization goals
  • Regional differences
  • Economic trade systems

Big Idea 1

  • Colonization motivations: Gold, God, Glory
  • Spanish, French, Dutch, English differences in goals

Big Idea 2

  • Regional differences in British colonies: Chesapeake, New England, Southern, Middle
  • Governance: Mayflower Compact, House of Burgesses

Big Idea 3

  • Transatlantic trade and mercantilism
  • Triangular trade and Navigation Acts

Big Idea 4

  • Conflicts and alliances with Native Americans
  • Examples: Metacom’s War, Pueblo Revolt

Big Idea 5

  • Reliance on enslaved African laborers
  • Resistance: Covert (cultural) and overt (Stono Rebellion)

Big Idea 6

  • Colonial society influenced by Enlightenment, First Great Awakening
  • National identity development

Big Idea 7

  • Growing mistrust of British rule
  • Impressment resistance and autonomy

Unit 3: 1754-1800

Key Themes:

  • Revolutionary War
  • New government formation
  • Enlightenment influence

Big Idea 1

  • French and Indian War: Land gains and taxation issues

Big Idea 2

  • Colonial resistance: Taxation without representation
  • Key events: Stamp Act, Boston Massacre, Coercive Acts

Big Idea 3

  • Enlightenment influence: Thomas Paine's Common Sense, Declaration of Independence

Big Idea 4

  • Revolutionary War: Loyalists vs Patriots, French alliance

Big Idea 5

  • Articles of Confederation weaknesses: Shays’ Rebellion

Big Idea 6

  • Constitutional Convention: Federalists vs Anti-Federalists
  • Compromises: Great Compromise, Three-Fifths Compromise

Big Idea 7

  • Constitution: Federalism, separation of powers

Big Idea 8

  • Revolution’s societal impacts: Slavery debates, Republican motherhood

Big Idea 9

  • Washington and Adams' precedents: Political parties, foreign policy

Big Idea 10

  • National identity in art and literature

Unit 4: 1800-1848

Key Themes:

  • Expansion and democracy
  • Market revolution
  • Reform movements

Big Idea 1

  • Jefferson era: Expansion, party debates, Supreme Court role
  • Louisiana Purchase, Marbury v. Madison

Big Idea 2

  • Federal power vs regional interests
  • War of 1812, Clay's American System

Big Idea 3

  • National position on world stage: Monroe Doctrine

Big Idea 4

  • Market revolution technology and societal impact

Big Idea 5

  • Expanding democracy: White male suffrage, political parties

Big Idea 6

  • Andrew Jackson’s federal power use
  • Indian Removal Act, Tariff of Abominations

Big Idea 7

  • American identity: Transcendentalism, Second Great Awakening

Big Idea 8

  • Reform movements: Temperance, abolitionism, women's rights

Big Idea 9

  • Southern society and slavery

Unit 5: 1844-1877

Key Themes:

  • Manifest Destiny
  • Civil War causes and outcomes
  • Reconstruction

Big Idea 1

  • Manifest Destiny: Expansion motivations

Big Idea 2

  • Mexican-American War: Causes and outcomes

Big Idea 3

  • Slavery debate: Compromise of 1850

Big Idea 4

  • Immigrant influence and nativism

Big Idea 5

  • Slavery tensions: Regional differences

Big Idea 6

  • Failed compromises and sectional divisions

Big Idea 7

  • Lincoln’s election and Southern secession

Big Idea 8

  • Civil War: Northern advantages and strategic outcomes

Big Idea 9

  • Reconstruction amendments and societal impact

Big Idea 10

  • Reconstruction failures and Southern resistance
  • End of review for units 1-5
  • Reminder for exam preparation and best wishes for success

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