Jump to page content

AP®

Home > College Board Tests > AP: Subjects > U.S. History > Topic Outline

Topic Outline

The AP U.S. History topic outline is based on the tables of contents of a representative sample of textbooks used in AP U.S. History courses. Click on the links below to access the topic outline. The topic outline is intended as a guide for students preparing to take the AP U.S History Exam. It is not intended in any way to be prescriptive of what AP students must study. It is illustrative only of topics that might appear in any one edition of the exam.

Topics 1-9
  1. Pre-Columbian Societies
  2. Transatlantic Encounters and Colonial Beginnings, 1492-1690
  3. Colonial North America, 1690-1754
  4. The American Revolutionary Era, 1754-1789
  5. The Early Republic, 1789-1815
  6. Transformation of the Economy and Society in Antebellum America
  7. The Transformation of Politics in Antebellum America
  8. Religion, Reform, and Renaissance in Antebellum America
  9. Territorial Expansion and Manifest Destiny

Topics 10-18
  1. The Crisis of the Union
  2. Civil War
  3. Reconstruction
  4. The Origins of the New South
  5. Development of the West in the Late Nineteenth Century
  6. Industrial America in the Late Nineteenth Century
  7. Urban Society in the Late Nineteenth Century
  8. Populism and Progressivism
  9. The Emergence of America as a World Power

Topics 19-28
  1. The New Era: 1920s
  2. The Great Depression and the New Deal
  3. The Second World War
  4. The Home Front During the War
  5. The United States and the Early Cold War
  6. The 1950s
  7. The Turbulent 1960s
  8. Politics and Economics at the End of the Twentieth Century
  9. Society and Culture at the End of the Twentieth Century
  10. The United States in the Post-Cold War World

In addition to exposing students to the historical content listed above, an AP course should also train students to analyze and interpret primary sources, including documentary materials, maps, statistical tables, and pictorial and graphic evidence of historical events. Students should learn to take notes from both printed materials and lectures or discussions, write essay examinations, and write analytical and research papers. They should be able to express themselves with clarity and precision and know how to cite sources and credit the phrases and ideas of others.