APUSH – Final Exam Review
• Periods 6 (1865-1898) & 5 (1844-1877)
• Key Events:
1) Period 6 – Final “settlement” of the West, 2nd
Industrial Revolution, Gilded Age,
Urbanization, Populism, Jim Crow
2) Period 5 – Continued Western Expansion,
Mexican-American War, Immediate build-up
to the Civil War, Civil War, Reconstruction
Two Great Online Study Resources:
• Gilder-Lehrman.org (excellent thematic
breakdown videos, documents, etc.)
• Crash Course US History (10-15 min. YouTube
videos on important content/thematic info
from all 9 time periods)
Period 6:
• Final Native American “Settlement”
1) RRs are being built through NA land on Great
Plains; buffalo are being slaughtered (US Army
directive)
2) Constant fighting for diminishing land/hunting
grounds among Plains tribes disrupting, RR
construction travel and white settlement
3) Solution: reservation system and final
assimilation (Dawes Severalty Act – 1887)
Period 6:
• 2nd Industrial Revolution
1) Begins in East with Vanderbilt’s RR empire
pre-post Civil War
2) Continues as TC RR is completed in 1869
3) Leads to extensive speculation, corruption,
protection of business by fed. gov’t (Wabash
v. Illinois – corporations are equally protected
as “individuals” by 14th amendment)
Period 6
• 2nd Industrial Rev (cont’d)
3) Focus on heavy manufacturing (oil, steel,
machinery) and agribusiness
4) Consolidation of smaller industries into
“empires” by Carnegie, Rockefeller, etc.
5) Sherman Anti-Trust Act (1890) fails to provide
any real “regulation” of large-scale
companies
Period 6:
• Impact of 2nd Industrial Rev on US Society
1) 90% wealth held by 10% of population
2) Social Darwinist beliefs become popular
(“explains” success and failure)
3) Growth of middle class (factory managers,
execs) and working class (former farmers,
immigrants, etc.)
4) Rise of organized labor (with minimal success)
and NO federal support
5) “Boom and Bust” economic cycles
Period 6:
• Impact of 2nd Industrial Rev. on US Cities
1) Continued dominance of “political machines”
(i.e. Tammany Hall/ “Boss” Tweed in NYC)
2) Arrival of southern/eastern European and Asian
immigrants; opening of Ellis Island processing
depot; Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882
3) New buildings for business and residence
(skyscrapers, “tenements”, “row-homes” in
ethnic neighborhoods)
Period 6:
• Impact of 2nd Industrial Rev. on the South
1) Tobacco makes a comeback/industry and RR
arrives/cheap labor
2) Large war debt from Civil War; Northerners
owns great deal of industry located South
3) Overproduction/competition in cotton leads to
“crop lien” (buy goods now, pay back next
harvest)
4) Culturally: Jim Crow laws/segregation dominate
South – should African Americans “assimilate”
or “fight back” for their civil rights?
Period 6:
• Impact of 2nd Industrial Revolution on
Agriculture
1) RRs are given “first cut” of land; any land
near RR stops is “valuable”
2) RR and other private companies buy land
from fed. gov’t and can sell it to private
buyers/investors for resale
3) Leads to “agribusiness”; small farmers cannot
compete
Period 6:
• Backlash Against Industry and Agribiz: the
Populists
1) Born from Farmers’ Alliances/Grangers in
West/Mid-West in 1892
2) Platform: unlimited coinage of silver, graduated
income tax, public ownership of RRs, gov’t
subsidies for farmers, 8-hour workday, direct
election of US Senators
3) Action: Coxey’s Army marches on DC in 1894
4) Champion: William J. Bryan (1896 election –
loses to McKinley)
Sample MC Questions –
1st Stimulus:
• “Be it enacted by Congress…that in all cases
where any tribe or band of Indians has been
located upon any reservation created by
Congress…Congress may allot the lands:
– To each head of a family, one quarter of a section
– To each single person over 18 years of age, oneeight of a section
– Every Indian who has adopted the habits of a
civilized live is declared a citizen of the US
-Dawes Act (1887)
1st Stimulus - Question 1:
• Which of the following situations most directly
resulted from the passage of this act?
A) An increase in Native American tribal lands
west of the Mississippi River
B) A decrease in federal control over Native
American affairs
C) An increase in immigration from southern
and eastern Europe after 1890
D) A reduction in tribal autonomy
Answer:
D) A reduction in tribal autonomy
• Why? Purpose of the Dawes Act was to break
Native Americans of tribal bonds on
reservations and force them to finally
“assimilate” through individual land plots and
promises of citizenship
1st Stimulus - Question 2
• The process described in the Dawes Act most
directly reflects which of the following
continuities in US history?
A) Debates about expansion of voting rights
B) Debates about the role of assimilation in
national identity
C) Debates about the growth of executive
power
D) Debates about economic globalization
Answer:
B) Debates about the role of assimilation in
national identity
• Why? Throughout US history we have seen
questions and concerns raised about what makes
someone an “American”. Is “American” someone
who follows European-Christian values/beliefs?
Are those who do not fit this mold expected to
“conform” to this identity or does their unique
culture/tradition also fit the identity of
“American”?
Sample MC Questions –
2nd Stimulus
-Source: The Bosses of the Senate, Joseph Keppler, Puck Magazine, 1889
2nd Stimulus – Question 1
• The main point of this political cartoon most
directly reflects which of the following ideas?
A) The Social Gospel, a Protestant intellectual
movement to help the plight of the poor in the
late 19th century
B) Progressivism, from 1900-1924
C) Populism, a pro-agricultural political movement,
from 1890-1896
D) Social Darwinism, a belief that only the fittest
would survive in business, from 1870s-1880s
Answer:
D) Social Darwinism
• Why? During the 2nd Industrial Rev., it
commonly believed that business tycoons who
controlled the industries were the strongest of
society.
2nd Stimulus – Question 2
• The ideas expressed by the artist illustrates which
of the following issues of the Industrial
Revolution?
A) Labor unions had too much influence in
government
B) The US Senate was able to pass legislation to
promote fair business practices
C) The belief that monopolies controlled the
Senate
D) The economy was producing an equitable
society
Answer:
C) The belief that monopolies controlled the US
Senate
• Why? Most labor unions were attacked by the
US gov’t in the 1880s, US society was FAR
from equitable, and the gov’t often passed
legislation that helped business owners grow
their industries at the expense of their
workers
Period 5 (1848-1877):
• Westward Expansion Continues:
1) Mexico opens up Tejas Province for US
settlement; US-settlers lead independence
movement in 1820s
2) “Oregon Fever” at its height (as industry
begins in N. and cotton-based plantation
farming continues to proliferate in S.)
3) Leads to increased tension with Britain (over
Oregon) and Mexico (over Texas)
Period 5 (1848-1877):
• Conflict and Capitulation Under Polk
1) Polk settles border dispute over Oregon Terr.
with Britain (49th parallel)
2) Goads Mexico into a fight over Texas (now an
independent Republic); Mexican-American war
fought between 1846-1848
3) Wilmot’s Proviso attempts to make land ceded
by Mexico “off limits” to expansion of slavery;
result is wildly increased sectional tension
4) Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo cedes California,
Texas, and most of SW America US
Period 5 (1848-1877):
• Onset of War (1848-1850s)
1) Free Soil Party formed in 1848 (opposed
expansion of slavery into territories, not practice
itself)
2) Popular Sovereignty is another method for
deciding slavery’s expansion (“Bleeding Kansas”)
3) Gold Rush of 1848-1849 makes CA eligible for
statehood by 1850; its admission as a free state
would throw off “sectional balance” in Senate
Period 5 (1858-1877)
• Onset of War (cont’d)
4) Compromises of 1850: CA is admitted free, harsher
Fugitive Slave Law is imposed
5) Harriet Beecher Stowe writes Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852)
6) Kansas-Nebraska Act (1852) introduced by Stephen
Douglas does away with Missouri Compromise; former
Whigs and Free Soilers from Republican Party in
opposition
7) Dred Scott decision (1857) declares slaves “property”, not
and never were citizens, and could be brought by masters
ANYWHERE in US
8) John Brown’s raid/execution  beginning of southern
militias
Period 5 (1848-1877):
• Onset of War (cont’d)
9) Lincoln wins election of 1860 (promises to
halt slavery’s expansion); South secedes
10) Fort Sumter fired upon in April 1861 by
Confederate Army
Period 5 (1848-1877):
• Northern Advantages/Challenges During War:
1) Advantages: Larger population/larger
industrial base/larger transportation network
2) Challenges: keeping “border states” loyal;
keeping Europe from recognizing/allying with
Confederacy
Period 5 (1848-1877):
• Southern Advantages/Challenges
1) “Cause” (defense of home/way of life)
2) Cotton (belief that Europe depended on it)
3) Little/no industry or RRs
4) Little/no tax base or ability to tax
5) Hyperinflation, food shortages,
demoralization after 1863
Period 5 (1848-1877):
• End of Slavery:
1) Emancipation Proclamation – done to give
North their own “cause” to fight; done to
keep Europe “out”
2) 13th Amendment: eliminates chattel slavery
forever (1865)
Period 5 (1848-1877):
• Presidential vs. Radical Reconstruction
1) Questions: What to do with 4 million “freedmen”?
What to do with defeated Confederacy?
2) Lincoln: 10% population swears oath of loyalty to US
 state may re-establish its own government (cannot
include slavery); pardons would be issued to
Confederates who swore loyalty and renounced
slavery
3) Freedman’s Bureau established in 1865 to assist
former slaves in education, jobs, tracking down family,
legal issues, etc. (folds in 1872)
Period 5 (1848-1877):
• Presidential vs. Radical Reconstruction (cont’d)
1) Johnson: keeps Lincoln’s 10% plan and pardon
plan (freely uses both)
2) Result: old Confederates leaders/wealthy
plantation owners are back in power by 1866
3) Result: black codes/sharecropping begins in
South
4) Result: Republicans attack Johnson’s leniency
(“waving the bloody shirt”); win majorities in
mid-term elections
Period 5 (1848-1877):
• Presidential vs. Radical Reconstruction
5) Radicals’ Plans: Civil Rights Bill (1866) – invalidates black
codes; Johnson vetoes and Congress overrides
6) Radicals’ Plans: 14th Amendment (grants citizenship to
freedmen; grants equal protection of law)
7) Radicals’ Plans: Military Reconstruction Act divides South
into 5 districts governed by US military; begins martial law
in districts; requires states to adopt 14th Amendment and
voting rights as conditions for readmission
8) Radicals’ Plans: 15th Amendment (right to vote cannot be
denied based on race)
9) Radicals’ Plans: Civil Rights Act (1875) forbade racial
discrimination (would seldom be enforced)
Period 5 (1848-1877):
• Results of Reconstruction
1) Black voters overwhelmingly side with Republicans; win
seats in state legislatures
2) Southern whites side with Democrats; KKK is formed to
intimidate black voters and their white supporters
(suppressed by Force Acts of 1870, 1871)
3) “Redemption” of South begins as Radicals are voted
out/die out and more “moderate”, business-minded
Republicans take office
4) Redemption is complete in 1877 when Military
Reconstruction/martial law ends in South in exchange for
election of Hayes (Republican)
5) Jim Crow era begins as US military evacuates South
Sample MC Questions –
Stimulus 1
• “With malice toward none, with charity for all,
with firmness in the right as God gives us to see
the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are
in, to bind up the nation’s wounds, to care for
him who shall have borne the battle and for his
widow and his orphan, to do all which may
achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace
among ourselves and with all nations.”
-Source: Abraham Lincoln, 2nd Inaugural, 3/4/1865
1st Stimulus – Question 1
• The ideas expressed in the passage most directly
led to the political controversies of the 1860s and
1870s over the
A) Role of the federal gov’t in the settlement of the
West
B) Process of reconstructing the United States in
the aftermath of the Civil War
C) Authority of the states to promote economic
development
D) Extension of American democratic values abroad
Answer:
B) Process of reconstructing the United States in
the aftermath of the Civil War
• Why? The United States was presented with
several ideas on how to “reconstruct” itself
after the war, most notably Presidential vs.
“Radical” Reconstruction
1st Stimulus – Question 2
• The previous beliefs most clearly reflect which of
the following continuities in US history?
A) Tensions between the executive and judicial
branches
B) Changing relationships between state and local
governments
C) Social change more difficult to achieve than
political change
D) American military actions’ impact on the world
Answer:
C) Social change more difficult to achieve than
political change
• Why? Despite Lincoln’s plea for moderation,
the aftermath of the war led to increased
controversy. The political and constitutional
changes of the Civil War/Reconstruction Era
failed to alter many of the social beliefs and
attitudes of the 19th century
Sample MC –
Stimulus 2
• “In one view the slaveholders have a decided advantage
over all opposition…the advantage of complete
organization. They are organized; and yet were not at the
pains of creating their organizations. The state
governments, where slavery exists, are complete slavery
organizations. The church organizations in those states are
equally at the service of slavery; while the Federal
government with its army and navy…to the Supreme
Court…is pledged to support, defend, and propagate the
crying curse of human bondage. The pen, the purse, and
the sword, are united against the simple truth, preached by
humble men in obscure places.”
Source: Frederick Douglass, 1857
Stimulus 2 – Question 1
• In his opinion in the case Dred Scott v. Sandford, Chief
Justice Taney upheld the sentiment above by stating
that
A) “separate but equal” facilities for people of different
races was constitutional
B) Corporations were entitled to the same protections
guaranteed to individuals under the 14th Amendment
C) School prayer violated the principle of “separation of
Church and State”
D) Congress had no right to regulate slavery in the US
Answer:
D) Congress had no right to regulate slavery in
the US
Why? Taney used to occasion of the Scott trial
to state once and for all that slaves were
property, not people, and could be brought to
any part of the US by their owners just as
property could.
Stimulus 2 – Question 2
• In what way did the actions of Lincoln in 1860
contradict Douglass’s sentiments in the quote above?
A) Lincoln promoted the freedom of settlers within
territories to determine the slave status of their new
state
B) Lincoln passed the Homestead Act to give free land to
all western settlers
C) Lincoln favored the exclusion of slavery from any of
the new territories
D) Lincoln enacted the policy of giving newly freed slaves
“forty acres and a mule.”
Answer:
C) Lincoln favored the exclusion of slavery from
any of the new territories
• Why? As a Republican, Lincoln supported the
Free-Soil belief that the territories should be
off-limits to the spread of slavery thereby
allowing small farmers a fair chance to
compete for economic success