AP U.S. History: Key Terms

Columbian Exchange

(1492+) The transfer of plants, animals, people, and diseases between the Americas, Europe, and Africa after Columbus.

Mercantilism

(1600s-1700s) An economic policy in which colonies existed to enrich the mother country through controlled trade.

Mayflower Compact

(1620) An early self-government agreement signed by the Pilgrims at Plymouth.

Great Awakening

(1730s-40s) A wave of religious revival that spread emotional, personal faith across the colonies.

Salutary Neglect

(early 1700s) Britain's loose enforcement of trade laws that allowed the colonies to self-govern.

Stamp Act

(1765) A British tax on printed materials that sparked 'no taxation without representation' protests.

Declaration of Independence

(1776) The document, drafted by Jefferson, announcing the colonies' break from Britain.

Articles of Confederation

(1781) The first U.S. government framework; its weak central power led to its replacement.

Constitutional Convention

(1787) The Philadelphia meeting that wrote the U.S. Constitution.

Federalism

A system that divides power between the national and state governments.

Bill of Rights

(1791) The first ten amendments to the Constitution, protecting individual liberties.

Louisiana Purchase

(1803) Jefferson's purchase of territory from France that doubled the size of the U.S.

Marbury v. Madison

(1803) The Supreme Court case that established judicial review.

Missouri Compromise

(1820) An agreement admitting Missouri as a slave state and Maine as free, banning slavery north of 36 30'.

Monroe Doctrine

(1823) A U.S. policy warning Europe against further colonization in the Americas.

Manifest Destiny

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

Seneca Falls Convention

(1848) The first women's rights convention in the United States.

Compromise of 1850

(1850) A set of laws, including a strict Fugitive Slave Act, that eased sectional tension over slavery.

Dred Scott v. Sandford

(1857) A ruling that enslaved people were not citizens and Congress could not ban slavery in territories.

Emancipation Proclamation

(1863) Lincoln's order freeing enslaved people in the Confederate states.

Reconstruction

(1865-1877) The era of rebuilding the South and integrating freed people after the Civil War.

13th Amendment

(1865) Abolished slavery in the United States.

14th Amendment

(1868) Granted citizenship and equal protection to all persons born in the U.S.

15th Amendment

(1870) Prohibited denying the right to vote based on race.

Transcontinental Railroad

(1869) A rail line linking the East and West coasts, spurring westward growth.

Gilded Age

(1870s-1900) An era of rapid industrial growth that masked corruption and inequality.

Populist Party

(1890s) A farmer-based political movement that sought economic reforms.

Progressive Era

(1900s-1910s) A reform movement targeting corruption, monopolies, and social problems.

Muckrakers

(early 1900s) Investigative journalists who exposed corruption and abuses.

Spanish-American War

(1898) A war that made the U.S. a colonial power, gaining the Philippines and Puerto Rico.

Federal Reserve Act

(1913) Created the central banking system of the United States.

Treaty of Versailles

(1919) The WWI peace treaty; the U.S. Senate rejected it and the League of Nations.

Harlem Renaissance

(1920s) A flourishing of African American art, music, and literature.

Red Scare

(1919-20; 1950s) Periods of intense public fear of communism in the U.S.

Great Depression

(1929-1939) The severe economic downturn following the 1929 stock market crash.

New Deal

(1933-1939) FDR's programs to provide relief, recovery, and reform during the Depression.

Pearl Harbor

(1941) The Japanese attack that brought the U.S. into World War II.

Manhattan Project

(1942-45) The secret program that developed the atomic bomb.

Cold War

(1947-1991) The ideological standoff between the U.S. and the Soviet Union.

Marshall Plan

(1948) A U.S. program to rebuild Western Europe and contain communism.

Brown v. Board of Education

(1954) Ruled that segregated public schools were unconstitutional.

Civil Rights Act of 1964

(1964) Outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.

Vietnam War

(1955-1975) A Cold War conflict that deeply divided American society.

Watergate

(1972-74) A scandal that led to President Nixon's resignation.

Containment

(Cold War) The U.S. strategy of stopping the spread of communism.