APUSH EXAM REVIEW GUIDE
KEY FEDERAL LEGISLATION AND AMENDMENTS (ORGANIZED THEMATICALLY)
The Amendments - those in italics are most likely to appear on the AP Exam (any could)
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1st Amendment (1791): freedom of speech, religion, and press, the right to peaceably
assembly, and the right to petition the government for a redress of grievances
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2nd Amendment (1791): the right to keep and bare arms and maintain a milita
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3rd Amendment (1791): no quartering of soldiers in private homes during times of peace
or war
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4th Amendment (1791): no unreasonable search and seizures; search warrant
requirement
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5th Amendment (1791): freedom from self incrimination; due process; double jeopardy;
Eminent Domain laws
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6th Amendment (1791): fair and speedy public trials; notice of accusation and the right
to confront one’s accuser
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7th Amendment (1791): right to trial by jury in civil cases
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8th Amendment (1791): no excessive bail or fines and no cruel and unusual punishment
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9th Amendment (1791): people retain rights not specifically legislated for in the
Constitution
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10th Amendment (1791): powers not specifically enumerated for the federal government
or denied to the states are considered reserved to the states or people (federalism)
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11th Amendment (1795): states are immune from suits from out-of-state citizens and
foreigners not living within state borders
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12th Amendment (1804): revision of presidential election procedures (electors vote for
one presidential candidate and one vice presidential candidate rather than two presidential
candidates) as a result of the Election of 1800 (Jefferson vs Adams)\
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13th Amendment (1865): abolishes slavery except as punishment for a crime
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14th Amendment (1868): citizenship and equal protection to all native born males
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15th Amendment (1870): voting rights to all citizens except Native Americans
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16th Amendment (1913): federal income tax
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17th Amendment (1913): direct election of Senators
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18th Amendment (1919): prohibition of alcohol
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19th Amendment (1920): woman’s suffrage
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20th Amendment (1933): changes the beginning and end of term dates for the President,
Vice President, and Congress; also deals with scenarios in which there is no Presidentelect
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21st Amendment (1933): repeal of prohibition
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22nd Amendment (1951): limits the president to two terms and a maximum of ten years
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23rd Amendment (1961): representation of Washington, D.C. in the Electoral College
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24th Amendment (1964): bans the poll taxes
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25th Amendment (1967): presidential succession clarified
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26th Amendment (1971): suffrage for 18 year olds
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27th Amendment (1992): restricts Congress from establishing salary changes which will
take place during the current Congressional term
Important Legislation – not all were passed, and there are others which might occur, but these
are the most likely to appear on the exam either directly or thematically
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Navigation Acts (1660)*
Proclamation of 1763*
Taxing Acts of Parliament*
Coercive (Intolerable) Acts*
Articles of Confederation (1777)**
Land Ordinance of 1785**
Northwest Ordinance (1787)**
The Constitution (1791)
First National Bank Charter (1791)
Whiskey Tax (1791)
Alien and Sedition Acts (1798)
Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions (1798)
Non-Importation/Embargo Act (1806)
External Slave Trade Outlawed (per Constitution) 1808
Macon’s Bill No. 2 (1810)
Second National Bank Charter (1816)
Resolutions of the Hartford Convention (1814)
Protective Tariff (1816)
Compromise of 1820 (Missouri Compromise)
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“Tariff of Abominations” (1828)
Ordinance of Nullification (1832)
Compromise Tariff (1833)
Currency Act/Specie Circular (1836)
Wilmot Proviso (1846)
Compromise of 1850
“Strict” Fugitive Slave Law (1850)
Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854)
South Carolina’s Declaration of Secession (1860)***
Confederate Constitution***
Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation (1862)
Homestead Act (1862)
Pacific Railway Act (1862)
Morrill Land Grant Act (1862)
Emancipation Proclamation (1863)
Lincoln’s Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction (1863)
Wade-Davis Bill (1864)
Black Codes (1866)
Civil Rights Act of 1866
Reconstruction Acts (1867)
Tenure of Office Act (1867)
Ft. Laramie Treaty (1868)
Enforcement Act (1870)
Force Acts (1870)
Ku Klux Klan Act (1871)
Specie Resumption Act (1875)
Jim Crow Laws (1876)
Chinese Exclusion Act (1882)
Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act (1883)
Dawes Severalty Act (1887)
Interstate Commerce Act (1887)
Sherman Anti-Trust Act (1890)
Sherman Silver Purchase Act (1890)
McKinley Tariff (1890)
Teller Amendment (1898)
Platt Amendment (1902)
Meat Inspection Act (1906)
Pure Food And Drug Act (1906)
Federal Reserve Act (1913)
Clayton Anti-Trust Act (1914)
Espionage and Sedition Acts (1917)
Selective Service Act (1917)
War Revenue Act of 1917
Food Administration (1917)
Committee on Public Information (CPI or Creel Committee) (1917)
War Industries Board (1917)
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National War Labor Board (1918)
Budget and Accounting Act (1921)
Federal Highway Act (1923)
Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) (1923)
National Origins Act of 1924
McNary-Haugen Farm Relief Bill (1924-28)
Agricultural Marketing Act (1929)
Hawley-Smoot Tariff (1930)
Reconstruction Finance Corporation (1932)
New Deal Agencies (1933-39)
Neutrality Acts (1935-1939)
Judiciary Reorganization Bill (1937)
Selective Service Act (1940)
Lend-Lease Act (1941)
Executive Order 9066 (1942)
Office of Price Administration (1941)
War Productions Board (1942)
Office of War Information (1942)
New National War Labor Board (1942)
GI Bill of Rights (1946)
Long Telegram/X-Article (1947)
Taft-Hartley Act (1947)
Marshall Plan (1947-51)
National Security Act (1947)
Executive Order 9981 (1948)
NSC-68 (1950)
McCarran (or Internal Security) Act (1950)
Interstate Highway Act (1956)
National Aeronautics and Space Act (1958)
Executive Order 10924 (1961)
Economic Opportunity Act (1964)
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution (1964)
Civil Rights Act of 1964
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution (1964)
Immigration Act of 1965
Voting Rights Act (1965)
Environmental Protection Agency
Voting Rights Act of 1965
War Powers Act (1974)
USA PATRIOT Act (2001)
No Child Left Behind (NCLB) 2002
* indicate legislation passed before independence
** indicate legislation passed under the Articles of Confederation
*** indicate legislation associated with or passed by the Confederate States of America