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AP®

Topics 1-10

This outline is intended as a guide for students preparing to take the AP U.S History Exam. The outline 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.

Note: The AP U.S. History topic outline contains 33 topics; topics 1-10 are outlined below.

  1. Discovery and Settlement of the New World, 1492-1650
  2. America and the British Empire, 1650-1754
  3. Colonial Society in the Mid-Eighteenth Century
  4. Road to Revolution, 1754-1775
  5. The American Revolution, 1775-1783
  6. Constitution and New Republic, 1776-1800
  7. The Age of Jefferson, 1800-1816
  8. Nationalism and Economic Expansion
  9. Sectionalism
  10. Age of Jackson, 1828-1848

1. Discovery and Settlement of the New World, 1492-1650

  1. Europe in the sixteenth century
  2. Spanish, English, and French exploration
  3. First English settlements
    1. Jamestown
    2. Plymouth
  4. Spanish and French settlements and long-term influence
  5. American Indians

2. America and the British Empire, 1650-1754

  1. Chesapeake country
  2. Growth of New England
  3. Restoration colonies
  4. Mercantilism; the Dominion of New England
  5. Origins of slavery

3. Colonial Society in the Mid-Eighteenth Century

  1. Social structure
    1. Family
    2. Farm and town life; the economy
  2. Culture
    1. Great Awakening
    2. The American mind
    3. "Folkways"
  3. New immigrants

4. Road to Revolution, 1754-1775

  1. Anglo-French rivalries and Seven Years' War
  2. Imperial reorganization of 1763
    1. Stamp Act
    2. Declaratory Act
    3. Townshend Acts
    4. Boston Tea Party
  3. Philosophy of the American Revolution

5. The American Revolution, 1775-1783

  1. Continental Congress
  2. Declaration of Independence
  3. The war
    1. French alliance
    2. War and society; Loyalists
    3. War economy
  4. Articles of Confederation
  5. Peace of Paris
  6. Creating state governments
    1. Political organization
    2. Social reform: women, slavery

6. Constitution and New Republic, 1776-1800

  1. Philadelphia Convention: drafting the Constitution
  2. Federalists versus Anti-Federalists
  3. Bill of Rights
  4. Washington's presidency
    1. Hamilton's financial program
    2. Foreign and domestic difficulties
    3. Beginnings of political parties
  5. John Adams' presidency
    1. Alien and Sedition Acts
    2. XYZ affair
    3. Election of 1800

7. The Age of Jefferson, 1800-1816

  1. Jefferson's presidency
    1. Louisiana Purchase
    2. Burr conspiracy
    3. The Supreme Court under John Marshall
    4. Neutral rights, impressment, embargo
  2. Madison
  3. War of 1812
    1. Causes
    2. Invasion of Canada
    3. Hartford Convention
    4. Conduct of the war
    5. Treaty of Ghent
    6. New Orleans

8. Nationalism and Economic Expansion

  1. James Monroe; Era of Good Feelings
  2. Panic of 1819
  3. Settlement of the West
  4. Missouri Compromise
  5. Foreign affairs: Canada, Florida, the Monroe Doctrine
  6. Election of 1824: end of Virginia dynasty
  7. Economic revolution
    1. Early railroads and canals
    2. Expansion of business
      1. Beginnings of factory system
      2. Early labor movement; women
      3. Social mobility; extremes of wealth
    3. The cotton revolution in the South
    4. Commercial agriculture

9. Sectionalism

  1. The South
    1. Cotton Kingdom
    2. Southern trade and industry
    3. Southern society and culture
      1. Gradations of White society
      2. Nature of slavery: "peculiar institution"
      3. The mind of the South
  2. The North
    1. Northeast industry
      1. Labor
      2. Immigration
      3. Urban slums
    2. Northwest agriculture
  3. Westward expansion
    1. Advance of agricultural frontier
    2. Significance of the frontier
    3. Life on the frontier; squatters
    4. Removal of American Indians

10. Age of Jackson, 1828-1848

  1. Democracy and the "common man"
    1. Expansion of suffrage
    2. Rotation in office
  2. Second party system
    1. Democratic Party
    2. Whig Party
  3. Internal improvements and states' rights: the Maysville Road veto
  4. The Nullification Crisis
    1. Tariff issue
    2. The Union: Calhoun and Jackson
  5. The Bank War: Jackson and Biddle
  6. Martin Van Buren
    1. Independent treasury system
    2. Panic of 1837