Your FREE AP US History Flashcards 2026 – 200+ Cards

The transfer of crops, animals, people, and diseases between the Americas, Europe, and Africa after 1492; Old World diseases devastated Native populations.

An agreement that divided newly encountered lands outside Europe between Spain and Portugal along a north-south line.

A Spanish labor system granting colonists the right to demand tribute and forced labor from Native peoples in exchange for protection and Christian instruction.

The racial hierarchy in Spanish America that ranked people by ancestry, with Spanish-born peninsulares at the top.

Corn — a staple American crop whose cultivation supported complex, settled Native societies in Mesoamerica and the present-day U.S.

Southwestern Native societies who built permanent adobe settlements and farmed using irrigation in arid environments.

Spanish soldiers and explorers, such as Cortés and Pizarro, who conquered Native empires in search of gold and glory.

A Spanish friar who condemned the brutal treatment of Native peoples under the encomienda system.

A business that pooled investors' money to fund colonization, spreading risk; used to found Jamestown.

The Spanish conquistador who conquered the Aztec Empire in Mexico by 1521.

A person of mixed European and Native American ancestry in colonial Spanish America.

The Catholic Church justified and accompanied Spanish colonization, aiming to convert Native peoples.

The Native practice of planting maize, beans, and squash together so the crops support one another.

Native societies before 1492 were highly varied, adapting their cultures and economies to local environments.

The first permanent English settlement, founded in Virginia; nearly failed before tobacco made it profitable.

A grant of about 50 acres of land to anyone paying passage for a settler to the Chesapeake, fueling indentured servitude.

A contract of several years' unpaid labor in exchange for passage to the colonies, often ending with 'freedom dues.'

An agreement by Plymouth settlers to govern themselves by majority rule — an early model of self-government.

English Calvinists who founded the Massachusetts Bay Colony to build a model religious community, a 'city upon a hill.'

An uprising of frontier settlers against Virginia's government; it hastened the shift from indentured to enslaved labor.

British laws requiring colonial trade to pass through England, embodying mercantilism.

An economic theory in which colonies exist to enrich the mother country by supplying raw materials and buying its goods.

Britain's informal policy of loosely enforcing trade laws, allowing colonial self-government to develop.

The Atlantic trade network exchanging enslaved Africans, raw materials, and manufactured goods among Africa, the Americas, and Europe.

The brutal sea voyage that carried enslaved Africans across the Atlantic in horrific conditions.

An 18th-century wave of emotional religious revivals that challenged established churches and spread across the colonies.

A preacher of the First Great Awakening known for the sermon 'Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.'

A slave uprising in South Carolina that led to harsher slave codes.

The first elected representative assembly in the English colonies, in Virginia.

Town-centered colonies based on small farms, fishing, and trade, organized around Puritan congregations.

Religiously tolerant, ethnically diverse colonies (e.g., Pennsylvania) known as the 'breadbasket' for grain.

Plantation colonies growing cash crops like tobacco and rice with indentured then enslaved labor.

A dissenter who founded Rhode Island on principles of religious freedom and separation of church and state.

A Massachusetts woman banished for challenging Puritan authorities over religious doctrine.

The Quaker founder of Pennsylvania, known for tolerance and fair dealings with Native peoples.

The North American theater of the Seven Years' War (1754–1763); Britain won but ran up debt that led it to tax the colonies.

A British order barring colonial settlement west of the Appalachians, angering colonists.

A direct tax on printed materials that sparked colonial protest over 'taxation without representation.'

British duties on imported goods like glass and tea that revived colonial boycotts.

A clash in which British soldiers killed five colonists, used as anti-British propaganda.

A protest in which colonists dumped British tea into Boston Harbor over the Tea Act.

Punitive British laws responding to the Tea Party; they unified colonial opposition.

Thomas Paine's 1776 pamphlet that argued for independence in plain language and swayed public opinion.

The document, drafted by Jefferson, declaring the colonies' independence and asserting natural rights.

The belief that government rests on the consent of the people and that citizens must serve the public good.

The first U.S. national government (1781–1789); too weak to tax or regulate commerce.

An uprising of indebted Massachusetts farmers that exposed the Articles' weakness and spurred reform.

The Philadelphia meeting that drafted the U.S. Constitution to replace the Articles.

The agreement creating a bicameral Congress: a House by population and a Senate with equal state representation.

An agreement counting three-fifths of the enslaved population for representation and taxation.

Supporters of the Constitution and a strong central government; authors of the Federalist Papers.

Opponents of the Constitution who feared central power and demanded a Bill of Rights.

The first ten amendments, protecting individual liberties, added to win ratification.

The division of power between a national government and the states under the Constitution.

Treasury Secretary Hamilton's program to assume debts, create a national bank, and promote manufacturing.

A tax protest that Washington suppressed, showing the new federal government's strength.

Washington's 1796 warning against political parties and permanent foreign alliances.

The split between Hamilton's Federalists and Jefferson's Democratic-Republicans.

A law organizing western territories, banning slavery in them, and outlining a path to statehood.

Federalist laws restricting immigrants and criticism of the government, opposed as unconstitutional.

Jefferson's acquisition of a vast territory from France, doubling the size of the United States.

The Supreme Court case that established judicial review — the power to strike down unconstitutional laws.

A war with Britain over trade and impressment that fostered American nationalism.

The early-1800s shift from local economies to a national market economy driven by transportation and factories.

A canal linking the Great Lakes to the Hudson River, boosting trade and western settlement.

An agreement admitting Missouri as a slave state and Maine as free, barring slavery north of 36°30'.

A policy warning European powers against further colonization in the Americas.

The seventh president, whose era expanded white-male democracy and fought the national bank.

The expansion of suffrage to most white men and the rise of mass political parties in the 1820s–30s.

Jackson's practice of rewarding political supporters with government jobs.

A law authorizing the forced relocation of southeastern Native nations west of the Mississippi.

The deadly forced march of the Cherokee and others to Indian Territory after removal.

South Carolina's claim that a state could void federal law, over the 'Tariff of Abominations.'

Jackson's successful campaign to destroy the Second Bank of the United States.

An early-1800s religious revival that inspired reform movements like abolition and temperance.

The movement to end slavery, led by figures such as Frederick Douglass and William Lloyd Garrison.

A radical abolitionist who published the anti-slavery newspaper The Liberator.

A formerly enslaved abolitionist, orator, and writer who became a leading voice against slavery.

The first women's rights convention, which issued the Declaration of Sentiments.

A reform campaign to reduce or ban alcohol consumption.

The 19th-century ideal that a woman's proper sphere was the home and moral guardianship.

An intellectual movement (Emerson, Thoreau) emphasizing individualism, nature, and self-reliance.

Henry Clay's plan for a national bank, protective tariffs, and internal improvements.

The 1840s belief that the U.S. was destined to expand across the continent to the Pacific.

Early New England textile factories that employed young women, symbolizing the new factory system.

A failed proposal to ban slavery in any territory gained from the Mexican-American War.

An 1846–48 war that gained the U.S. vast southwestern territory, reopening the slavery debate.

A package admitting California as free, applying popular sovereignty, and passing a strict Fugitive Slave Act.

The idea that settlers of a territory should vote on whether to allow slavery.

A law requiring the return of escaped enslaved people, even from free states, angering Northerners.

Harriet Beecher Stowe's 1852 anti-slavery novel that intensified Northern opposition to slavery.

A law applying popular sovereignty to those territories, leading to 'Bleeding Kansas.'

A ruling that enslaved people were not citizens and Congress could not bar slavery in territories.

An abolitionist's failed attempt to spark a slave uprising at Harpers Ferry.

Lincoln's victory, which prompted Southern states to begin seceding from the Union.

The withdrawal of Southern states from the Union to protect slavery, forming the Confederacy.

The South Carolina fort whose bombardment began the Civil War.

Lincoln's order freeing enslaved people in Confederate territory, reframing the war's purpose.

A decisive Union victory and turning point of the Civil War.

Lincoln's 1863 speech redefining the war as a struggle for a nation 'conceived in liberty.'

The constitutional amendment that abolished slavery.

The amendment granting citizenship and equal protection of the laws to all born in the U.S.

The amendment barring denial of the vote based on race, color, or prior servitude.

The 1865–1877 effort to rebuild the South and integrate freed people into national life.

A federal agency that aided formerly enslaved people with food, schools, and labor contracts.

Southern laws after the war that restricted the rights and labor of freed Black people.

A farming system in which laborers worked land for a share of the crop, often trapping them in debt.

A deal that resolved the disputed 1876 election and ended Reconstruction by withdrawing federal troops.

Congressional members who pushed for harsher Reconstruction and stronger rights for freed people.

The president impeached (but not removed) for clashing with Radical Republicans over Reconstruction.

The late-1800s era of rapid industrialization and great wealth alongside deep inequality and corruption.

The rail line linking the East and West coasts, accelerating settlement and commerce.

A steel magnate who used vertical integration and later championed the 'Gospel of Wealth.'

An oil magnate who built the Standard Oil monopoly through horizontal integration.

A critical term for industrialists accused of exploiting workers and crushing competition.

Controlling every step of production, from raw materials to distribution.

Buying out competitors to dominate a single stage of an industry, forming monopolies.

The application of 'survival of the fittest' to society to justify laissez-faire capitalism.

Carnegie's idea that the rich have a duty to use their fortunes for the public good.

The economic doctrine that government should not interfere in business.

An early labor union open to most workers that sought broad reforms.

A union of skilled workers led by Samuel Gompers focused on wages and hours.

A Chicago labor rally that turned deadly, hurting the labor movement's image.

A violent steelworkers' strike against Carnegie's company that the union lost.

A nationwide railroad strike broken by federal troops and an injunction.

A law granting 160 acres of western land to settlers who farmed it for five years.

A law that broke up tribal lands into individual plots to assimilate Native Americans.

A law barring Chinese laborers from immigrating, the first major federal immigration restriction.

The late-1800s wave of immigrants from southern and eastern Europe and Asia.

An 1890s farmers' and laborers' party seeking free silver, an income tax, and railroad regulation.

The Populist demand to coin silver to expand the money supply and ease farmers' debts.

A ruling that upheld 'separate but equal,' legalizing racial segregation.

State and local laws enforcing racial segregation in the South after Reconstruction.

A New York City political machine known for corruption and patronage in the Gilded Age.

The first federal law regulating railroad rates and business practices.

An early-1900s reform movement that used government to curb the abuses of industrial capitalism.

Investigative journalists, like Upton Sinclair and Ida Tarbell, who exposed corruption and abuses.

Upton Sinclair's 1906 novel exposing the meatpacking industry, spurring food-safety laws.

A Progressive president known for trust-busting, conservation, and the Square Deal.

Theodore Roosevelt's program for consumer protection, business regulation, and conservation.

The amendment authorizing a federal income tax.

The amendment establishing the direct popular election of U.S. senators.

The amendment establishing Prohibition, banning the manufacture and sale of alcohol.

The amendment guaranteeing women the right to vote.

A war that ended Spanish rule in Cuba and gave the U.S. an overseas empire.

The policy of extending U.S. power overseas through territory and influence.

A U.S. policy seeking equal trading rights for all nations in China.

A U.S.-built canal (opened 1914) linking the Atlantic and Pacific, boosting naval and commercial power.

The 1914–1918 war the U.S. entered in 1917, emerging as a world power.

Wilson's plan for peace after WWI, including a League of Nations.

Wilson's proposed international body for peace, which the U.S. Senate refused to join.

A 1920s flowering of African American art, music, and literature centered in Harlem.

The movement of millions of Black Americans from the rural South to Northern cities.

A decade of consumer prosperity, cultural change, and new mass entertainment.

The severe economic downturn that began with the 1929 stock market crash.

FDR's 1930s programs of relief, recovery, and reform to fight the Great Depression.

A New Deal law creating old-age pensions and unemployment insurance.

A New Deal jobs program that employed young men in conservation work.

The Japanese attack on the U.S. naval base in Hawaii that brought America into WWII.

The 1939–1945 global war; U.S. involvement ended the Depression and made it a superpower.

The secret U.S. program that developed the atomic bomb during WWII.

The post-1945 rivalry between the U.S. and the Soviet Union, fought through proxies and an arms race.

The U.S. strategy of stopping the spread of communism rather than attacking the USSR directly.

A pledge to aid nations resisting communism, beginning with Greece and Turkey.

A U.S. program of economic aid to rebuild Western Europe and resist communism.

A military alliance of Western nations formed to counter Soviet power.

A conflict in which the U.S. fought to contain communism on the Korean Peninsula.

Senator Joseph McCarthy's anti-communist campaign of accusations and fear in the early 1950s.

A ruling that struck down 'separate but equal,' declaring school segregation unconstitutional.

A protest sparked by Rosa Parks that launched the modern civil rights movement.

A civil rights leader who championed nonviolent protest against segregation.

A landmark law banning discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.

A law banning racial discrimination in voting and authorizing federal oversight of elections.

A 13-day standoff over Soviet missiles in Cuba that brought the U.S. and USSR near nuclear war.

A long, divisive Cold War conflict in which the U.S. fought to contain communism in Southeast Asia.

Lyndon Johnson's programs to fight poverty and expand civil rights, including Medicare and Medicaid.

Great Society programs providing health coverage for the elderly and the poor.

U.S.-Soviet competition in spaceflight, culminating in the 1969 Apollo Moon landing.

A 1960s–70s movement for women's equality in work, law, and society, led by figures like Betty Friedan.

The 1960s youth movement that rejected mainstream values and protested the Vietnam War.

A 1970s scandal of abuse of power that forced President Nixon to resign in 1974.

A 1970s easing of Cold War tensions between the U.S. and the Soviet Union.

The 1970s combination of high inflation and high unemployment that hurt the economy.

A Supreme Court ruling that recognized a constitutional right to abortion (later overturned in 2022).

The 1980s supply-side program of tax cuts, deregulation, and reduced domestic spending.

The president whose 1980 election launched a conservative era and a Cold War military buildup.

The rise of conservatism around 1980 emphasizing smaller government and traditional values.

The collapse of Soviet communism around 1989–1991, leaving the U.S. the sole superpower.

A symbolic end of the Cold War division of Europe.

The growing economic and cultural integration of nations through trade, technology, and migration.

A trade agreement reducing barriers among the U.S., Canada, and Mexico.

The late-20th-century rise of computers and the internet that transformed the economy.

Terrorist attacks on the U.S. that reshaped foreign policy and security debates.

The U.S. campaign after 9/11, including wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

A U.S.-led coalition war that drove Iraq out of Kuwait.

Ongoing political conflicts over social issues such as abortion, religion, and identity.

Late-20th- and 21st-century immigration that increased the nation's diversity and shaped politics.

A major health-care law expanding insurance coverage.

Contemporary debates over the widening gap between rich and poor.

The 1990s Democratic president associated with welfare reform and economic growth.