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AP US History Cheatsheets

Download the text-based cheatsheet we write and review every year, or make a visual cheatsheet for any topic in the format you study best with.

AP US History, unit by unit

What each unit's one-page cheatsheet covers. Open a unit to read the start of its sheet.

  1. Unit 1: Native Societies & Early Encounters, 1491-1607

    Native Societies: Environment & Economy · Cultural Collision: Worldviews & Misunderstandings · European Exploration: Motives & Methods · Spanish Colonial Labor & Caste System · Columbian Exchange: Causes & Consequences · Native Resistance & European Justifications

  2. Unit 2: Colonial Development, 1607-1754

    European Colonization Goals & Methods · Self-Government & Political Development · Transatlantic Culture & Intellectual Exchange · The Four British Colonial Regions · Enslaved African Resistance & Culture · Growing Colonial Resistance to Imperial Control · Atlantic Trade Networks & Mercantilism · Slavery: Regional Variation & Racial System · American Indian Resistance & Accommodation

  3. Unit 3: Independence and Nation-Building, 1754-1800

    Seven Years' War: Causes & Consequences · Taxation & Representation Crisis · Philosophical Foundations · Revolutionary Victory & Its Causes · Revolutionary Social Impact · Articles of Confederation & Northwest Ordinance · Constitutional Convention: Compromise & Structure · Ratification Debate & Bill of Rights · Early Republic: Parties, Expansion & American Indians

  4. Unit 4: American Expansion, 1800-1848

    Suffrage Expansion & Political Parties · Second Great Awakening & Reform Movements · Regional Interests & Political Compromise · Louisiana Purchase & Western Expansion · Abolition & African American Experience · National Culture & Intellectual Movements · Market Revolution: Technology & Transport · Market Revolution: Social & Gender Change · Southern Economy & Slavery Expansion

  5. Unit 5: Civil War and Reconstruction, 1848-1877

    Expansion → Sectional Crisis · Groups + Goals: Use the Precise Claim · Why Compromise Failed · Period 5 Timeline · Civil War: Victory + Transformation · Reconstruction: Gains + Retreat · Writing the Unit

  6. Unit 6: Industrialization and the Gilded Age, 1865-1898

    Industrial Capitalism: Production & Consolidation · Labor Conflict & Organization · Economic Perspectives & Debates · Westward Expansion: Economic & Social · Agricultural Consolidation & Farmer Response · Urban Growth & Immigration Patterns · Middle Class Growth & Consumer Culture · The 'New South' & Racial Segregation · Reform Movements & Women's Activism · Foreign Policy & Expansion

  7. Unit 7: Progressivism to WWII, 1890-1945

    Imperialism & Spanish-American War · World War I: Entry & Home Front · Key Concepts & Test-Taking Moves · Progressive Era Reform (1900s–1920s) · s: Technology, Culture & Controversy · Economic Transformation: Rural to Urban Industrial · Great Depression & New Deal · World War II: Mobilization & Victory · Interwar Foreign Policy & Isolationism

  8. Unit 8: Cold War and Social Change, 1945-1980

    Cold War Strategy & Containment · Red Scare & Civil Liberties Debate · Postwar Economic Boom & Migration · Civil Rights: Legal Victories & Slow Progress · Expanding Movements: Identity & Justice (1960s–1970s) · Great Society & Liberal Peak · Vietnam War & Anti-War Movement · Youth Counterculture & Cultural Rebellion · Conservative Backlash & 1970s Decline

  9. Unit 9: Globalization and Contemporary America, 1980-Present

    Reagan's Conservative Revolution: Policy & Ideology · Cold War Ending: Reagan's Role & Consequences · Technology & Economic Transformation · Demographic Shifts: Migration & Immigration · 9/11 & War on Terrorism: Foreign Policy Shift · st-Century Challenges: Environment & Energy · Test-Taking Strategies: Causation & Comparison