ap study content
teacher tools
free diagnostic
upgrade
All Key Terms
AP US History
🇺🇸
AP US History
Key Terms
7525 essential vocabulary terms and definitions to know for your AP US History exam
Study AP US History →
Practice Vocabulary
Export All Terms
🇺🇸
AP US History
Key Terms by Unit
Unit 1 – Interactions North America, 1491–1607
1.1 Context
1.2 Native American Societies Before European Contact
1.3 European Exploration in the Americas
1.4 Columbian Exchange, Spanish Exploration, and Conquest
1.5 Labor, Slavery, and Caste in the Spanish Colonial System
1.6 Cultural Interactions Between Europeans, Native Americans, and Africans
1.7 Causation in Period 1
Unit 2 – Colonial Society, 1607–1754
2.1 Unit 2 Overview
2.2 European Colonization
2.3 The Regions of the British Colonies
2.4 Transatlantic Trade
2.5 Interactions between Native Americans and Europeans
2.6 Slavery in the British Colonies
2.7 Colonial Society and Culture
2.8 Comparison in Period 2
Unit 3 – Conflict and American Independence, 1754–1800
3.10 Shaping a New Republic
3.1 Context
3.11 Developing an American Identity
3.12 Movement in the Early Republic
3.13 Continuity and Change in Period 3 (1754-1800)
3.2 The Seven Years’ War (The French and Indian War)
3.3 Taxation without Representation
3.4 Philosophical Foundations of the American Revolution
3.5 The American Revolution
3.6 The Influence of Revolutionary Ideals
3.7 The Articles of Confederation
3.8 The Constitutional Convention and Debates over Ratification
3.9 The Constitution
Unit 4 – American Expansion, 1800–1848
4.10 The Second Great Awakening
4.1 Context
4.11 An Age of Reform
4.12 African Americans in the Early Republic
4.13 The Society of the South in the Early Republic
4.14 Causation in Period 4, 1800-1848
4.2 The Rise of Political Parties and the Era of Jefferson
4.3 Politics and Regional Interests
4.4 America on the World Stage
4.5 Market Revolution
4.6 Market Revolution
4.7 Expanding Democracy
4.8 Jackson and Federal Power
4.9 The Development of an American Culture
Unit 5 – Civil War and Reconstruction, 1848–1877
5.10 Reconstruction
5.1 Context
5.11 Failure of Reconstruction
5.12 Comparison in Period 5, 1844-1877
5.2 Manifest Destiny
5.3 The Mexican–American War
5.4 The Compromise of 1850
5.5 Sectional Conflict
5.6 Failure of Compromise
5.7 Election of 1860 and Secession
5.8 Military Conflict in the Civil War
5.9 Government Policies during the Civil War
Unit 6 – Industrialization and the Gilded Age, 1865–1898
6.1 Context of Industrialization and the Gilded Age
6.10 Development of the Middle Class
6.11 Reform in the Gilded Age
6.12 Controversies over the Role of Government
6.13 Politics in the Gilded Age
6.14 Continuity and Change in Period 6
6.2 Westward Expansion
6.3 Westward Expansion Social and Cultural Development
6.4 The "New South"
6.5 Technological Innovation
6.6 The Rise of Industrial Capitalism
6.7 Labor in the Gilded Age
6.8 Immigration and Migration
6.9 Responses to Immigration
Unit 7 – Conflict in the Early 20th Century, 1890–1945
7.10 The New Deal
7.1 Context
7.11 Interwar Foreign Policy
7.12 World War II
7.13 World War II
7.14 Postwar Diplomacy
7.15 MC Answers and Review
7.2 Imperialism
7.3 The Spanish-American War
7.4 The Progressives
7.5 World War I
7.6 World War I
7.7 1920s
7.8 1920s
7.9 The Great Depression
Unit 8 – The Postwar Period and Cold War, 1945–1980
8.1 Context
8.10 The African American Civil Rights Movement (1960s)
8.11 The Expansion of the Civil Rights Movement
8.12 Youth Culture of the 1960s
8.13 The Environment and Natural Resources
8.14 Society in Transition
8.15 Multiple Choice Questions
8.2 The Cold War from 1945 to 1980
8.3 The Red Scare
8.4 Economy after 1945
8.5 Culture after 1945
8.6 Early Steps in the Civil Rights Movement (1940s and 1950s)
8.7 America as a World Power
8.8 The Vietnam War
8.9 The Great Society
Unit 9 – Entering Into the 21st Century, 1980–Present
9.1 Context
9.2 Reagan and Conservatism
9.3 The End of the Cold War
9.4 A Changing Economy
9.5 Migration and Immigration
9.6 Challenges of the 21st Century
9.7 Causation in Period 9
Browse All A-Z
Browse All A-Z
ALL
#
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z
#
"54° 40' or fight!"
"Custer's Last Stand"
"Easy" Money
"How the Other Half Lives"
"I Have a Dream" speech
"No Taxation Without Representation"
"Old Immigrants"
"On the Road"
"Open Door" Trade
"Remember the Ladies" letter
"Return to Normalcy"
"Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God"
"Speak softly and carry a big stick" policy
"tear down this wall"
"The Jungle"
"Uncle Tom's Cabin"
'60s
'63
'70s
10% Plan
13 British colonies
13 Colonies
13th Amendment
1491
1492
14th Amendment
14th and 15th Amendments
1500-1750 period
15th Amendment
15th and 16th Centuries
15th Century
160 Acres
1600s
1607
1619 arrival of Africans
1619 Slave Trade
1620
1630s
1632
1661
16th Amendment
16th and 17th centuries
1730s and 1740s
1730s-1740s
1765
1775 Dunmore's Proclamation
1776
1787
1787 Constitutional Convention
1790
1791
1798
17th Amendment
17th century
1800s
1820
1820s and 1830s
1824 presidential election
1828
1830s and 1840s
1831
1840s
1846
1848
1859
1860
1860 election
1860 presidential election
1862
1867
1872
1882
1887
1890
1890 to 1945
1
2
3
4
5
…
101