APUSH Midterm Study Guide
European Exploration—Articles of Confederation
1. Pre-Columbian Period
a. Major aspects of American natives prior to the Columbian Exchange
2. European exploration
a. Motives for exploration, especially economic and religious
b. Major countries involved
c. Major explorers
d. Interaction between explorers and natives
2. The Colonies
a. Differentiate the colonial regions in terms of:
i. Reason for settlement
ii. Religion
iii. Social structure
iv. Education
v. Government structure
vi. Economy and exports
vii. Interaction with natives
viii. etc
b. Major events within the colonies
3. Colonial relationship with England
a. Impact of English wars on the colonies
b. Economic relationship developments
c. English laws/actions and colonial reactions
d. Events that led to tension/Declaration of Independence War
4. Revolutionary War
a. Major battles
b. Characteristics of English and American armies
c. Foreign policy developments
5. Articles of Confederation
a. Competing interests of delegates who created Articles
b. Impact of colonial history on the formulation of Articles
c. Strengths and weaknesses of the Articles
Constitution—War of 1812
1. The Constitution
a. Major components of the Constitution
b. People who influenced the creation and ratification of the Constitution
c. Competing social, ideological, economic, and political interests present in the creation
and ratification of the Constitution
2. Washington’s Presidency
a. Washington’s impact on the presidency
b. Domestic issues and events
c. Foreign policy issues and events
d. Role of Hamilton and Jefferson in Washington’s presidency
3. Adam’s Presidency
a. Election of 1796 and 1800
b. Domestic issues and events
c. Foreign policy issues and events
4. Jefferson’s Presidency
a. Domestic issues and events
b. Foreign policy issues and events
c. Jefferson’s ideology vs. actions as president
5. Madison’s Presidency
a. Social, political, and economic causes of the War of 1812
b. Major events and military strategies used by both sides during the War of 1812
c. Social, political, and economic effects of the War of 1812
Era of Good Feelings—Antebellum Era
1. Era of Good Feelings
a. Cultural Nationalism
i.
Literature
ii.
Art
iii.
Education
b. Economic Nationalism
i.
Henry Clay
ii.
Industrialization
iii.
Transportation
iv.
Inventions
c. Political Nationalism
i.
Democratic-Republican Party
ii.
James Monroe
iii.
Expansion and the Role of Slavery
d. Supreme Court Nationalism
i.
John Marshall
ii.
Federal vs. State governments
2. Jacksonian Democracy
a. Social characteristics
i.
Alexis de Tocqueville
b. Political characteristics
i.
Suffrage
ii.
Political parties
c. John Quincy Adams
d. Andrew Jackson
i.
Elections of 1824 and 1828
ii.
Common man president?
iii.
Nullification
iv.
Indian removal
v.
Economic policies
vi.
Politicial opposition
3. Antebellum Economics
a. Northern Economy
i.
Eli Whitney
ii.
Samuel Slater
1. Rise of Factories
2. Factory conditions
3. Role of women/immigrants
4. Unions
b. Southern Economy
i.
Eli Whitney
ii.
Cotton Kingdom
iii.
Slavery
c. Western Economy
i.
Technological Impact
ii.
Internal improvements and expansion
iii.
Life on the frontier
d. Market Revolution
i.
National economic system
1. Interdependence between North, South, and West
e. Sectionalism
i.
North vs. South vs. West
4. Antebellum Society and Culture
a. Immigration
i.
German and Irish
ii.
Nativism
b. Movement of people
i.
Urbanization
ii.
The West
c. Religion
i.
Deism
1. Thomas Paine
2. Unitarianism
ii.
Second Great Awakening
1. Camp meetings
2. Charles Finney
3. “Common man” religion
4. Women and reform
5. Mormonism
d. Culture
i.
Transcendentalists
ii.
Utopian societies
iii.
Art and Literature
1. Hudson River School
2. Major writers
5. Antebellum Reform
a. Major Reformers
b. Prisons and Asylums
c. Education
d. Temperance
e. Women’s Rights
f.
i.
ii.
iii.
Slavery
i.
ii.
iii.
Expanding role of women
Major activists
Seneca Falls Convention
Abolitionism
1. Wiliam Lloyd Garrison
2. Frederick Douglass
Colonization
Slave resistance
Sectionalism—Civil War—Reconstruction
1. Antebellum Sectionalism
a. Southern life
i.Social structure
ii.Economic structure
iii.Conditions for slaves
iv.Slave resistance
b. Antislavery movements
i.Abolitionists
ii.Abolitionist organizations
iii.Black abolitionists
iv.Southern defense of slavery
2. Expansion
a. Expansion politics
i.James K. Polk
ii.Manifest Destiny
b. Land acquisition
i.Maine
ii.Oregon
iii.Texas
iv.California
c. Mexican War
i.Causes
ii.Major events during war
iii.Political opposition to the war
iv.Consequences
1. Land acquired
2. Issue of slavery
3. Road to the Civil War
a. Expansion and slavery
i.Compromise of 1850
1. Causes
2. Terms of agreement
3. Impact of terms
ii.Gadsden Purchase
iii.Kansas-Nebraska Act
1. Causes
2. Terms of agreement
3. Impact of terms
iv.Attempts to expand slavery in Latin America
b. Antislavery movement
i.Literature
ii.Underground Railroad
iii.John Brown
c. Political events
i.Free Soil party
ii.Know-Nothing party
iii.Republican party
iv.Abraham Lincoln
1. Lincoln-Douglas debates
2. Election of 1860
v.Compromise of 1850
1. Fugitive Slave Law
vi.Kansas-Nebraska Act
1. Popular sovereignty
2. Bleeding Kansas
3. Sumner-Brooks incident
4. Lecompton Constitution
d. Supreme Court
i.Dred Scott v. Sandford
ii.Sectional Reaction
iii.Freeport Doctrine
e. Southern response to Panic of 1857
4. The Civil War
a. Election of 1860
b. Secession of southern states
c. Fort Sumter
d. Border states
e. North vs. South
i.Military, economic, political, advantages and disadvantages
ii.Role of foreign countries
iii.Military strategies
iv.Leaders
f. Major turning points
i.Military
ii.Political
iii.Emancipation Proclamation
1. Freedmen in the war
g. Social Impact of Civil War
i.Civil liberties
ii.Question of nullification
iii.Free blacks
iv.Women
h. Economic Impact of Civil War
i.Financing the war
ii.Modernizing industrial economies
iii.Loss of slavery
iv.Inflation
v.Republican-backed laws passed during war
5. Reconstruction
a. Freedmen’s Bureau
b. Presidential Reconstruction plans
c. Congressional Reconstruction plans
d. Andrew Johnson vs. Congress
i.Readmittance of southern governments
ii.Overriding Johnson’s vetoes
iii.Impeachment of Johnson
e. Civil War Amendments (13, 14, 15) and other civil rights legislation
f. Grant’s administrations
i.Corruption/scandals
ii.Panic of 1873
g. Corruption of Northern political machines
h. Reconstruction in the South
i.Scalawags and Carpetbaggers
ii.Blacks in government
iii.Ku Klux Klan
iv.Sharecropping/tenant farming
v.Black communities and Exodusters
vi.Segregation
vii.Plessy v. Ferguson
i. Compromise of 1877
i.Causes
ii.Terms
iii.Impact of terms
One of the following five essay prompts will be on your midterm. Make sure that
you follow the prompt EXACTLY.
1. Compare and contrast the culture and economy of the southern colonies with that of
the New England colonies.
2. Evaluate the extent to which the Seven Years’ War (French and Indian War, 1754—
1763) marked a turning point in American relations with Great Britain, analyzing what
changed and what stayed the same from the period before the war to the period after it.
3. Evaluate the extent to which political parties contributed to the development of
national unity in the United States, analyzing what changed and what stayed the same
from the time period 1790-1840.
4. Analyze the impact of the market revolution (1815-1860) on the economies of TWO of
the following regions:
The Northeast
The Midwest
The South
5. Evaluate the extent to which the Mexican-American War (1846-1848) marked a
turning point in the debate over slavery in the United States, analyzing what changed and
what stayed the same from the period before the war to the period after it.