Standard AP US History Essay Template
Here is the template we will be using to explain how to write a very good APUSH essay.
Introductory Paragraph (4 sentences)
1. General Statement that relates to the question.
2. Establish basis for analysis.
3. Roadmap sentence (3 subtopics)
4. Clear thesis statement
Body Paragraph (5 sentences)
1. Topic Sentence (subtopic 1 from Intro)
2. Evidence 1 with significance/explanation
3. Analysis (relate to thesis)
4. Evidence 2 with significance/explanation
5. Analysis (relate to thesis)
Body Paragraph (5 sentences)
1. Topic Sentence (subtopic 2 from Intro)
2. Evidence 1 with significance/explanation
3. Analysis (relate to thesis)
4. Evidence 2 with significance/explanation
5. Expand (relate to thesis)
Body Paragraph (5 sentences)
1. Topic Sentence (subtopic 3 from Intro)
2. Evidence 1 with significance/explanation
3. Expand (relate to thesis)
4. Evidence 2 with significance/explanation
5. Expand (relate to thesis)
Conclusion Paragraph (4 sentences)
1. Remind how thesis was proven.
2. Round Off
The Thesis Statement – What is it?
The Thesis Formula: X. However, because of A, B, and C, Y.
‘X’ represents the strongest point against your argument.
‘A, B, and C’ represent the three strongest points for your argument.
‘Y’ represents the position you will be taking – in other words, your stand on the prompt.
U.S. History Essay Writing Information
The AP U.S. History Exam is three hours and five minutes long. In Section I, students are given 55
minutes to answer 80 multiple-choice questions. In Section II, students are given a 45-minute exercise
in the use of historical evidence (the document-based question or DBQ), which includes a 15-minute
reading period; then students select 2 other essays to write on (one essay will be from the first half of
the course, the other will be from the second half of the course).
% of Grade
Number of Questions
Time Allotted
Reading Period
Section I
50%
80
55 minutes
Section II
50%
3 Essay Questions
Part A
25%
1 DBQ Essay
45 minutes
15 minutes
Part B
12½%
1 FRQ Essay
30 minutes
5 minutes
Part C
12½%
1 FRQ Essay
30 minutes
5 minutes
Writing prompts
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Define history, then analyze the relationship of the historian to history and determine problems faced by
the historian.
Review the social, political, economic and technological factors that contributed to the European
explorations of the 15th and 16th centuries.
Analyze European explorations, colonization, and rivalries.
Assess the impact of exploration and colonization of the New World from the perspectives of Europeans
and Native Americans.
Compare and contrast the geographic characteristics of the New England, Middle, Chesapeake and
Southern colonies.
Compare and contrast the economic characteristics of the New England, Middle, Chesapeake, and
Southern colonies.
Compare and contrast the experiences of the settlers of Jamestown and another colony.
Analyze the impact of religion on the lives of the settlers in Puritan New England.
Determine the impacts of English social and political heritage in the American colonies.
Assess the degrees of religious toleration in colonial America.
Analyze social structure, social mobility, and the evolution of democratic practices in the American
colonies.
Evaluate mercantilism from the perspectives of England and the American colonies.
Determine the impact of European rivalry and Native American cultures on the American colonies.
Analyze conflicts between colonial America and Great Britain between 1763-1776.
Determine the impact of British and American political theories and writings on revolutionary activities.
Analyze diversity of colonial and British opinion regarding the status of the colonies.
Analyze the Declaration of Independence.
Assess the relative importance of political, economic, and social causes attributed to the American
Revolution.
Evaluate historical interpretations of the causes of the American Revolution.
Determine the advantages and disadvantages of the British and colonists during the American Revolution.
Describe the significance of major political, military, economic, and diplomatic events of the American
Revolution.
Assess the effects of varying degrees of colonial opinion on the war.
Assess the impacts of the Treaty of Paris of 1783.
Determine the impact of the American Revolution on American society and government
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Formulate a hypothesis regarding the utility of the Articles of Confederation.
Evaluate domestic and foreign policies under the Articles of Confederation.
Determine the role of Shay’s Rebellion in prompting revision of the Articles of Confederation.
Analyze the key compromises of the Constitutional Convention.
Determine the basic principles of American government embodied in the Constitution.
Evaluate arguments for and against ratification of the Constitution.
Compare and contrast the principles, programs, and constituencies of the Federalist and
Democratic-Republican parties.
Determine the role of Alexander Hamilton’s financial program in strengthening the power of the
federal government.
Analyze the impact of politics on domestic policy from 1789 to 1800.
Determine the relationship of politics and foreign relations during the Washington and Adams’
administrations.
Evaluate neutrality as an effective foreign policy.
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1. Analyze the impact of politics on domestic policy from 1789 to 1825.
2. Analyze Chief Justice Marshall’s role in expanding the power of the federal government and the
federal judiciary.
3. Determine the relationship of politics and foreign relations during the Jefferson administration.
4. Evaluate neutrality as an effective foreign policy during the Jefferson and Madison
administrations.
5. Evaluate causes of, opposition to, and results of the War of 1812.
6. Determine the reasons for, the basic principles of, and the importance of the Monroe Doctrine.
7. Evaluate the role of Henry Clay’s American System in encouraging economic growth and
fostering nationalism.
8. Analyze the economic consequences of major transportation systems that developed from 1790
to 1860.
9. Describe the movement and growth of America’s population during the 1st half of the 19th
century.
10. Evaluate the impact of new technology on American business and agriculture.
11. Analyze the early American factory system.
12. Compare and contrast the north, south, and west politically, socially and economically.
13. Predict responses to key sectional issues during the period of 1820-1850.
14. Evaluate the impact of Jacksonian dmocracy on American political democracy.
15. Evaluate the impact of Jacksonian democracy on equality of economic opportunity.
16. Evaluate the impact of Jacksonian democracy on individual liberty.
17. Compare and contrast the democratic ideas of Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson.
18. Describe the major reform movements of the Age of Jackson.
19. Determine the extent to which reforms improved American society.
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Analyze American works of art and architecture from the Colonial Period to 1860.
Determine the major emphases of schools of American Literature from the Colonial Period to 1860.
Examine the beliefs within Manifest Destiny.
Evaluate Polk’s victory in the election of 1844 as a mandate for Manifest Destiny.
Analyze American foreign policy in the 1840s.
Analyze the causes of the Mexican War from Mexican and American perspectives
Determine the impact of territorial expansion on national unity.
Evaluate the impacts of legislative and judicial decisions in the 1850s.
Describe the consequences of chattel slavery.
Determine the impacts of the abolitionist movement.
Analyze the election of 1860.
Assess the strengths and weaknesses of the Union and Confederacy.
Determine the significance of major political, military, economic, and diplomatic events of the Civil War.
Compare and contrast Lincoln and Davis’s political leadership during the war.
Determine the significance of the Emancipation Proclamation.
Analyze issues related to the curtailment of civil liberties.
Evaluate the role played by African Americans in both North and South during the Civil War.
Analyze the social, economic, and political problems facing the nation at the end of the Civil War.
Determine the goals of Presidential and Congressional Reconstruction.
Analyze Reconstruction as a struggle for legislative supremacy.
Describe the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments
Evaluate the success of congressional legislation and social experiments in empowering African
Americans.
23. Analyze efforts to curtail rights of African Americans during Reconstruction.
24. Determine the significance of the election of 1876.
25. Evaluate the effectiveness of Reconstruction.
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Examine patterns of African American migration following Reconstruction.
Describe the sharecropping and the crop-lien system in the post-Reconstruction South.
Analyze discriminatory policies enacted by the Southern states.
Determine the effect of United States Supreme Court decisions on equality for African
Americans.
Compare and contrast the Tuskegee Machine and the Niagara Movement.
Determine the factors that led to the Industrial Revolution.
Assess the impact of the railroad industry on the nation’s economic and political structure
Analyze the cattle and mining frontiers (analyze motivations for westward movement).
Evaluate the significance of the frontier in American history.
Analyze the policies of the national government toward Native Americans.
Describe the changes in farming on the Great Plains.
Investigate agrarian discontent.
Evaluate the effectiveness of agrarian social and political movements.
Compare and contrast business organizations.
Evaluate methods of business organization and policies of industrial leaders.
Analyze the social and economic changes brought by industrialization.
Determine the implications of the Gospel of Wealth.
Investigate factory and living conditions of workers in the late nineteenth century.
Describe the efforts of labor to organize.
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Compare and contrast the major labor organizations in regard to goals, strategies, and support.
Evaluate the effectiveness of strikes in realizing union goals.
Describe push and pull factors affecting immigration to America.
Analyze patterns of immigration.
Evaluate attitudes toward the "New Immigration."
Describe efforts to restrict immigration.
Analyze the influence of Social Darwinism on American thought.
Determine the impact of writers such as Horatio Alger on the concept of the self made man
Evaluate the challenges to Social Darwinism and laissez-faire economics.
Analyze causes of urbanization and sources of urban growth.
Investigate problems of cities in the late nineteenth century.
Assess the extent to which available technology aided cities in solving their problems
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Determine the origins and nature of the Progressive Movement.
Categorize the major goals of the Progressive Movement.
Analyze leadership within the Progressive Movement.
Evaluate the role of women in the Progressive Movement.
Analyze the impact of the Progressive Movement on African Americans.
Evaluate the accomplishments of the Progressives on the local, state and national level.
Compare and contrast the Populist Movement and the Progressive Movement.
Analyze developments in education.
Evaluate the development of the social sciences.
Distinguish among literary and artistic schools during the Progressive Era.
Describe the application of Manifest Destiny during the late nineteenth and early twentieth
centuries.
Determine the causes of American imperialism.
Evaluate arguments for and against imperialism.
Analyze the Open Door Policy in China.
Describe the expansions of the Monroe Doctrine.
Determine consequences of American imperialism during the Teddy Roosevelt, Taft, and Wilson
administrations.
Review the causes of World War in Europe.
Evaluate the impacts of the Great Migration of southern African Americans to northern cities
Determine the causes of American entry into World War I.
Evaluate the effectiveness of America’s mobilization efforts.
Determine changes in the status of women and minorities brought about by their efforts in
World War I.
Analyze the wartime curtailment of civil liberties and opposition to the war.
Evaluate the impact of the Red Scare on American society.
Analyze the Fourteen Points.
Evaluate the role played by partisan politics in the Senate’s failure to ratify the Treaty of
Versailles.
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Analyze the major cultural conflicts that existed in the 1920s.
Analyze the underlying issues of the Scopes Trial.
Evaluate the impact of Black Nationalism on American society.
Determine the impacts of intolerance.
Determine the impacts of the increasing availability of consumer goods.
Investigate the relationships between production, distribution, and consumption.
Evaluate the impacts of tariff barriers after World War I.
Analyze the Teapot Dome scandal.
Investigate the economic policies of the Harding and Coolidge administrations.
Examine representative African American artists.
Analyze literary judgments regarding prevailing values and perceptions in the United States.
Analyze causes of the Great Depression.
Describe effects of the Great Depression.
Assess degrees of extremism within reactions to the Great Depression.
Evaluate Hoover’s fiscal policy.
Compare Hoover’s and Roosevelt’s proposals for addressing the Great Depression.
Analyze the First and Second New Deal.
Form generalizations regarding the Roosevelt Coalition.
Assess the impact of the New Deal on labor organizations.
Describe support and opposition to the New Deal.
Evaluate Roosevelt’s attempt to pact the Supreme Court.
Evaluate the effectiveness of the New Deal.
Analyze attempts at disarmament.
Analyze the Good Neighbor Policy.
Analyze United States commitments to neutrality.
Evaluate United States policies related to escalating involvement.
Analyze deteriorating relationships between Japan and the United States.
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Analyze the economic impact of World War II.
Assess ways in which American citizens contributed to the war effort.
Examine the effects of World War II on African Americans.
Analyze the effects of the changing role of women on American society.
Evaluate the internment of Japanese Americans.
Describe the evolution of American-Soviet relations from 1917 to 1945.
Evaluate the Allied peacetime goals established at wartime conferences.
Evaluate the decision to use the atomic bomb.
Analyze economic decisions regarding change from a wartime to peacetime to economy.
Describe the development of suburbs.
Evaluate the impact of McCarthyism on American society.
Analyze American responses to Soviet aggressions during the Truman administration.
Analyze the objectives of United States’ involvement in Asia as an example of the containment
policy.
14. Examine American response to Cold War crises during the Eisenhower and Kennedy
administrations.
15. Analyze civil rights legislation and policies from the Truman administration through the Johnson
administration.
16. Analyze leadership, tactics, and goals within the civil rights movement.
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1. Investigate decisions of the Warren Court regarding individual rights.
2. Analyze policies of the Great Society.
3. Analyze the objectives of United States’ involvement in Vietnam as an example of the
containment policy.
4. Evaluate the role of public opinion on the Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon administrations’ policies
toward Vietnam.
5. Determine the extent to which Vietnam shaped politics in the late 1960s and early 1970s
6. Analyze literature and art as a means of artistic expression.
7. Determine the effects of popular music on American society.
8. Evaluate the extent to which the counterculture affected the status quo.
9. Evaluate the conflicting economic, political, and social roles of women following World War II.
10. Analyze the rebirth of feminism brought about by The Feminine Mystique.
11. Describe the impact of the Watergate Scandal.
12. Assess the restoration of confidence under the Carter administration.
13. Determine shifts of power between levels and branches of government.
14. Analyze Reaganomics.
15. Assess the civil rights movement during the Reagan administration.
16. Determine impacts of increasing fundamentalism.
17. Assess the impacts of the Reagan Revolution.
18. Analyze the role of the Nixon and Carter administrations in changing relationships with the
Soviet Union and China.
19. Evaluate the effect of the collapse of communism on American foreign policy.
20. Determine the role of the United States in a post-communist world order.
21. Identify issues related to the post-war baby boom.
22. Assess the significance of changing family patterns.
23. Analyze movement to the Sunbelt.
24. Analyze issues related to immigration.
Content Objectives
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Students will analyze political, social, religious, and economic developments from 1607 to 1763 in order to
compare and contrast values, behaviors, and institutions within the American colonies
Students will analyze the interactions of colonists and British leaders in order to evaluate reactions to
British imperial policies
Students will analyze wartime government, economics, and society in order to determine regional,
national, and international in the American Revolution
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Students will analyze the "Critical Period 1781 to 1787" in order to determine the effectiveness
of the Articles of Confederation
Students will analyze arguments for and against ratification of the Constitution in order to
determine their impact on the document and subsequent political developments
Students will compare and contrast the Federalist and Democratic Republican parties in order to
evaluate their impact on domestic and foreign policies fro 1789 to 1800
Students will analyze United States involvement in international crises during the Early National
Period in order to evaluate foreign policy decisions of the Washington and Adams’
administrations.
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Students will analyze domestic policy and precedent setting Supreme Court decisions in order to
evaluate the role of government during the early national period.
Students will analyze the United States involvement in international crisis during the Early
National Period in order to evaluate foreign policy decisions of various presidential
administrations.
Students will investigate data on the economy of the United States in order to determine causes
for American economic growth.
Students will investigate the political, social, and economic conditions of the north, south, and
west in order to form generalizations regarding their positions on key issues of the time.
Students will analyze Jacksonian democracy in order to determine the extent to which it
fostered political democracy, individual liberty, and equality of economic opportunity.
Students will analyze American social reforms movements from 1820-1850 in order to
determine degrees of success or failure of these movements.
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Students will analyze art and literature in order to determine the extent to which American
cultural and intellectual communities contributed to the development of a distinctive American
character.
Students will examine Manifest Destiny from multiple perspectives in order to evaluate its
impact on domestic and foreign affairs.
Students will examine constitutional issues in order to determine the extent to which the
Constitution promoted sectional discord and/or national unity.
Students will compare and contrast political activity, resources, economics, diplomacy, and
military strategies of the United States and Confederate States of America in order to predict
the outcome of the war.
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Students will analyze government policies during the Civil War in order to evaluate the extent to
which Constitutional principles and democratic practices were challenged.
Students will compare and contrast reconstruction programs in order to evaluate the
effectiveness of each in resolving problems created by the Civil War.
Students will analyze constitutional and social developments between 1860 and 1877 in order to
determine the degree to which they changed the United States
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Students will investigate conditions for African Americans following Reconstruction in order to
evaluate governmental and societal commitments to the issue of equality.
Students will analyze the effects of industrialization in the West in order to determine its role in
a national economy.
Students will analyze the problems faced by farmers in the late nineteenth century in order to
evaluate the validity of their complaints.
Students will analyze the industrialization of the United States in order to evaluate its effects on
the economy and society.
Students will analyze the American labor movement from 1870 to 1915 in order to evaluate the
extent to which it counterbalanced corporate power.
Students will investigate conditions for immigrants in order to determine the degree to which
they could participate in opportunities presented by industrialization.
Students will compare and contrast the ideas of writers and reformers of the industrial era in
order to evaluate their proposals for dealing with the growing gap between wealth and poverty
in the United States.
Students will analyze urbanization in order to evaluate its impact on society.
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Students will analyze the Progressive Movement in order to determine its impact on society.
Students will analyze intellectual developments during the late nineteenth and early twentieth
centuries in order to evaluate their impacts on American society.
Students will analyze late nineteenth and early twentieth century expansionism in order to
determine the extent to which it was a continuation of past United States expansionism.
Students will investigate the impacts of World War I in order to evaluate their economic, social,
and political change.
Students will analyze Woodrow Wilson’s peace efforts following World War I in order to
determine reasons for the United States rejection of the Treaty of Versailles
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Students will analyze the tension in the 1920s between continuity and change in order to
determine casual relationships.
Students will examine the status of minorities and levels of tolerance between the world wars in
order to determine prevailing attitudes within a diverse society.
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Students will analyze economic data of the 1920s in order to determine the extent to which
economic decision-making affected prosperity.
Students will examine the works of writers and artists in the 1920s and 1930s in order to
determine their status in American literary tradition.
Students will analyze the Great Depression in order to evaluate the subsequent re-definition of
government.
Students will analyze foreign relations during the 1920s and 1930s in order to evaluate United
States foreign policy decisions.
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Students will investigate the impacts of World War II in order to evaluate its economic, social,
and political change.
Students will analyze United States and Soviet interactions in orders to determine the origins of
the Cold War.
Students will analyze post-war domestic developments in order to determine the lasting impacts
of World War II.
Students will analyze the Cold War in order to determine its impacts on domestic and foreign
policy.
Students will analyze the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s in order to form
generalizations regarding support of African American civil rights.
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Students will analyze the 1960s and early 1970s in order to evaluate the relative importance of
domestic and foreign affairs in shaping American politics.
Students will examine artistic expression is order to evaluate the extent to which it reflects
social change and increasing ethnic diversity.
Students will analyze the changing status of women since World War II in order to determine
their impact on contemporary economic, social, and political issues.
Students will analyze political events in order to form generalizations regarding shifts in powers
and responsibilities.
Students will analyze the Reagan presidency in order to determine to what degree it
represented a conservative shift.
Students will analyze recent foreign policy decisions in order to determine an appropriate role
for the United States in the world.
Students will analyze changing demographic patterns in order to determine their relationships
to contemporary, social, economic, and political issues.