AP US History study guide
AP US History · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
AP United States History is an introductory college-level U.S. history course offered through the College Board's Advanced Placement Program; the source describes its college course equivalent as a two-semester introductory college course in U.S. The AP US History study guide has 9 sections and about 2,744 words.
01Period 1: Contact, Exchange, and Colonization, 1491–1607
Native North America before 1492 was not a single world but many: Pueblo farmers of the Southwest with irrigation and adobe towns; Plains peoples whose bison economy later expanded with horses; Mississippian mound-builders at Cahokia; Eastern Woodland confederacies such as the Iroquois, with matrilineal clan politics. Questions often test the link between environment and social organization, so learn two or three specific examples in detail rather than a generic 'Native American' label.
323 words, about 2 min02Period 2: Colonial Societies and the Atlantic World, 1607–1754
The seventeenth-century English colonies diverged by environment and labor system. Chesapeake colonies (Virginia, Maryland) built tobacco economies on the headright system and indentured servitude; high mortality, dispersed farms, and the House of Burgesses (1619) shaped a plantation society.
313 words, about 2 min03Period 3: Revolution, Confederation, and Constitution, 1754–1800
The French and Indian War (1754–1763) removed France from North America but doubled Britain's debt and its empire. The Proclamation of 1763 restricted settlement west of the Appalachians, angering colonists and speculators.
335 words, about 2 min04Period 4: Expansion, Market Revolution, and Reform, 1800–1848
The election of 1800 was a peaceful transfer of power between parties, though the Twelfth Amendment followed the tie. Madison (1803) established judicial review, not legislative supremacy.
316 words, about 2 min05Period 5: Sectional Crisis, Civil War, and Reconstruction, 1844–1877
The Mexican Cession forced the slavery question into national politics. The Compromise of 1850 admitted California free and strengthened the Fugitive Slave Act, which radicalized northerners.
304 words, about 2 min06Period 6: Industrial Capitalism and the Gilded Age, 1865–1898
The Gilded Age combined explosive industrial growth with political corruption. Railroads created national markets; Carnegie integrated steel, Rockefeller dominated oil through trusts, and vertical and horizontal integration lowered costs and crushed competition.
287 words, about 1 min07Period 7: Progressivism, World Wars, and Depression, 1890–1945
Progressives sought to tame industrial capitalism through regulation and expertise. Muckrakers exposed corruption; municipalities adopted initiative, referendum, and recall; the Sixteenth Amendment authorized the income tax, the Seventeenth provided direct Senate election, the Eighteenth imposed Prohibition, and the Nineteenth granted women suffrage.
307 words, about 2 min08Period 8: Cold War, Civil Rights, and Liberalism, 1945–1980
After 1945 the United States pursued containment of Soviet communism. The Truman Doctrine, Marshall Plan, NATO, and Berlin Airlift formed the architecture; the Korean War ended in stalemate.
290 words, about 1 min09Period 9: Conservatism, Security, and Polarization, 1980–Present
Ronald Reagan's 1980 election marked a turn toward tax cuts, deregulation, and anti-communist assertiveness. Supply-side economics promised growth; deficits grew.
269 words, about 1 min