U.S. History
What the exam expects
U.S. history items run from the colonial period through the modern era, emphasizing founding documents, sectional conflict, reform movements, and the expansion of rights. Expect questions that ask you to interpret a primary source's point of view or identify the significance of a turning point.
Core concepts to master
- Founding: colonial grievances, the Declaration of Independence (natural rights), the Articles of Confederation's weaknesses, and the Constitutional Convention's compromises-Great Compromise (bicameral legislature), Three-Fifths Compromise, and the Bill of Rights.
- Sectionalism and Civil War: economic divergence between North and South, the Missouri Compromise, the Compromise of 1850, Dred Scott, and the Emancipation Proclamation (which reframed the war as a fight against slavery).
- Reconstruction: the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments abolished slavery, guaranteed equal protection, and protected voting rights; Reconstruction ended with the Compromise of 1877.
- Reform and rights: Progressive Era, New Deal, Civil Rights Movement (Brown v. Board, Montgomery Bus Boycott, Civil Rights Act of 1964, Voting Rights Act of 1965).
Traps to watch for
Questions conflate the Emancipation Proclamation (limited to Confederate states) with the Thirteenth Amendment (abolished slavery nationally). Another trap: mixing up which amendment does what-Fourteenth is equal protection, Fifteenth is voting rights regardless of race.
Rule of thumb
When a question asks about a document's significance, tie it to the specific change it produced, not just its date.
Worked example: The Fourteenth Amendment's equal protection clause became the basis for Brown v. Board of Education, which overturned Plessy v. Ferguson's "separate but equal" doctrine.