APUSH
Free Response Question Essay Topics
(FRQ)
CHAPTER 1
A. Analyze and evaluate the effects of the “collision of worlds” on the people of Europe,
Africa, and Latin-America between 1450 and 1600.
B. From 1492 to 1650, several European nations vied for supremacy and control in the
new world of the western hemisphere. Discuss the countries that competed, the
methods and manners they used to gain control, and to explain how and why there
came to be a convergence of the “red, black, and white” races in the western
hemisphere.
CHAPTER 2
A. Compare and contrast the colonization of Latin-America by the Spanish with England’s
colonization of its southern colonies in North America.
B.
CHAPTER 3
A. In what ways did each of the three sections of England’s North American colonies
advance the development of each of the following ideas by 1700?
a. Religious Liberty
b. Inter-colonial Unity
c. Economic Diversity
d. Relations with Native-Americans
B. Early encounters between American Indians and European colonists led to a variety of
relationships among the different cultures.
Analyze how the actions taken by BOTH American Indians and European colonists
shaped those relationships in TWO of the following regions. Confine your answers to
the 1600s.
New England
Chesapeake
Spanish Southwest
New York and New France
C. “Geography was the primary factor in shaping the development of the British colonies
in North America.” Assess the validity of this statement for the 1600s.
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CHAPTER 4
A. Although New England and the Southern region were both settled largely by people of
English origin, by 1700 the regions had evolved into two distinct societies. Why did this
difference in development occur?
B. Compare and contrast the ways in which economic development affected politics in
Massachusetts and Virginia in the period 1607 to 1750.
C. Compare the ways in which TWO of the following reflected tensions in colonial society.
Bacon’s Rebellion (1676)
Pueblo Revolt (1680)
Salem Witchcraft Trials (1692)
Stono Rebellion (1739)
D. Compare the ways in which religion shaped the development of colonial society (to
1740) in TWO of the following regions:
New England
Chesapeake
Middle Atlantic
CHAPTER 5
A. Assess the relative importance of THREE of the following factors in the development of a
unique nation among the people in England’s thirteen colonies during the eighteenth
century.
a. Population Growth
b. National Origins
c. Political Developments
d. Economic Factors
e. Religious Developments
f. Geographical Factors
B.
CHAPTER 6
A. Evaluate the influence of the French presence in North America on developments in the
relationship between Britain and the thirteen colonies before 1764.
B.
CHAPTER 7
A. Assess the relative importance of THREE of the following as causes of the American
Revolution:
a. Religious traditions
b. Economic conditions
c. Population growth
d. Foreign relations
e. Political traditions
B.
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CHAPTER 8
A. Analyze the reasons for the thirteen colonies’ success in their War for Independence
from Britain between 1775 and 1783.
B.
CHAPTER 9
A. Assess the validity of the arguments advanced by both the Anti-Federalists and
Federalists regarding the ratification of the Constitution.
B.
CHAPTER 10
A. To what extent were the Hamiltonian Federalists and Jeffersonian Republicans
successful in their political battles against each other over economic policy and foreign
policy between 1789 and 1800?
B.
CHAPTER 11
A. In what ways did the Jeffersonian Republicans continue to follow their original
philosophy of strict construction and in what ways did they adopt the Hamiltonian
philosophy during the administration of Thomas Jefferson?
B.
CHAPTER 12
A. In what ways and to what extent was the Era of Good Feelings both, a period of
nationalism and a period of sectional interest?
B.
CHAPTER 13
A. The Jacksonian Democrats regarded themselves as the guardians of the Constitution
and individual liberty. To what extent was this self-characterization true during the
period between 1824 and 1840?
B.
CHAPTER 14
A. Assess the relative importance of THREE of the following as factors in the development
of the American economy between 1790 and 1860:
a. Westward Movement
b. Immigration
c. Industrialization and Technological Inventions
d. Transportation Developments
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CHAPTER 15
A. Analyze the relationship between the growth of democracy during the first half of the
nineteenth century and each of the following:
a. Religious developments
b. Reform movements
c. Artistic and literary expression
B.
CHAPTER 16
A. Assess the validity of the following categories of arguments advanced by southerners in
defense of the institution of slavery during the ante-bellum period.
a. Moral
b. Legal
c. Economic
B.
CHAPTER 17
A. Describe the effect of territorial expansion and westward movement on national unity
during the first half of the nineteenth century.
B.
CHAPTER 18
A. Despite its apparent popularity in the South and in much of the North, the idea of
“popular sovereignty” failed to resolve the issue of slavery in the territories by the end
of 1854. What factors account for this failure?
B.
CHAPTER 19
A. The Civil War has been referred to as “the irrepressible conflict.” To what extent is this
characterization true? Confine your use of factual support to the period 1848 to 1861.
B.
CHAPTER 20
A. Assess the relative importance of the following as factors in the Northern victory over
the South during the Civil War:
Economic Differences
Political Differences
Diplomatic developments
B.
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CHAPTER 21
A. What was the relative importance of the following as factors in the Northern victory
over the South during the Civil War?
Emancipation Proclamation
Eastern battle campaigns
Western battle campaigns
B.
CHAPTER 22
A. To what extent did economic, political, and social developments between 1860 and
1877 amount to a revolution?
B.
CHAPTER 23
A. In what ways did the political conflicts of the Gilded Age still reflect the aftermath of
the Civil War and Reconstruction? Address relevant issues of race and sectional conflict
in your response.
B.
CHAPTER 24
A. During the late nineteenth century, farmers, workers, and consumers lobbied
government for effective regulation of businesses. What factors account for the level of
success achieved by these groups in that effort?
B.
CHAPTER 25
A. In what ways and to what extent was the late nineteenth century both, a “New
Industrial Age” and a “Gilded Age” in urban America?
B.
CHAPTER 26
A. What was the relative importance of each of the following as factors in the successful
settlement of the American West between 1860 and 1900?
Government Policies
Climate and Geography
Technology and Inventions
B.
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CHAPTER 27
A. Assess the relative importance of each of the following in creating an American foreign
policy of Imperialism in the late nineteenth century?
Missionary Spirit
Economic Interests
National Security Interests
B. To what extent was U.S. foreign policy between 1899 and 1909 a legitimate effort to
promote the national interests of the United States and to what extent was the policy
an illegitimate attempt to disregard the sovereign rights of other nations?
CHAPTER 28
A. In what ways and to what extent were the actions of the Progressives between 1901
and 1912 an effort to create fundamental reforms for the benefit of the majority of the
American people and in what ways and to what extent were their actions intended to
preserve the status and privileges of the middle and upper classes.
B.
CHAPTER 29
A. In what ways and to what extent were the domestic and foreign policies of Woodrow
Wilson between 1913 and 1916 successful?
B.
CHAPTER 30
A. In what ways and to what extent was American involvement in World War I and its
immediate aftermath a reflection of the idealism of the Progressive Era and to what
extent was American involvement a reflection of U.S. Nativism?
B.
CHAPTER 31
A. In what ways did the American society and culture change during the decade of the
1920s and what were the causes of the change?
B.
CHAPTER 32
A. Identify the factors that led to the economic boom of the 1920s and assess the
relationship between those factors and the economic catastrophe that began at the end
of that same decade.
B. What factors account for the change in U.S. foreign policy from that of interventionism
to isolationism between 1920 and 1933?
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CHAPTER 33
A. Analyze the responses of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s administration to the problems of the
Great Depression. How effective were these responses? How did they change the role
of the federal government?
B.
CHAPTER 34
A. United States’ foreign policy moved from isolationism and neutrality on a path toward
collective security during the administration of Franklin Roosevelt.
Assess the validity of this statement with specific reference to U.S. responses to global
events between 1933 and 1941.
B.
CHAPTER 35
A. To what extent did the experience of World War II affect each of the following in the
United States:
Race relations
Government regulation of business
U.S. foreign policy commitments
B.
CHAPTER 36
A. Analyze and assess the domestic and global factors involved in the continuation of an
enlarged role for the federal government during the Truman administration.
B.
CHAPTER 37
A. Compare and contrast the Eisenhower administration’s domestic and foreign policies
with the Franklin Roosevelt/Harry Truman domestic and foreign policy agenda.
B.
CHAPTER 38
A. What was the relative effectiveness of the Kennedy and Johnson administrations in
each of the following areas?
Civil Rights
War on Poverty
Foreign Affairs
B.
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CHAPTER 39
A. Richard Nixon was both a brilliant and a divisive leader. Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter
were decent men who were unable to effectively deal with the problems of the 1970s.
Assess the validity of these statements with specific reference to Nixon’s actions in
foreign and domestic affairs and the responses of Carter and Ford to the crises of the
1970s.
B.
CHAPTER 40
A. The restoration of conservatism as the dominant political force in America during the
Reagan-Bush-Clinton administrations was more beneficial for the nation as a whole than
was the liberalism that dominated national policies since the New Deal.
Assess the validity of this statement with specific reference to the policy changes of the
1980s and 1990s.
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