Name__________________________________________Date___________________________Period___
SEMESTER ONE FINAL EXAM – STUDY GUIDE
Chapters 2-19 (1492-1861)
The Semester 1 Final will cover all the following information
1. All Key People and Terms from Chapters 2-19
2. All primary documents distributed in class (see table)
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Richard Frethorne on Indentured Servitude
Mayflower Compact
A Model of Christian Charity
Albany Plan of Union
Common Sense
The Declaration of Independence
Federalist No. 51
Observations on the New Constitution
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Marbury v. Madison
McCullough v. Maryland
Washington’s Farewell Address
Dred Scott v. Stanford
Lincoln’s House Divided
Indian Removal Act
Seneca Falls
The Liberator
3. The essay questions presented below
4. Study all of your quizzes and Unit Tests to help you remember concepts and
ideas.
How to prepare:
□ Use reading journals to quiz yourself to make sure you understand the
connections between key terms and people as you go forward in time.
□ If the term is an event/document, ask yourself: Who was involved? How were
they involved? What led to this event? What came afterwards?
□ If the term is a person, ask yourself: What did they do? Who else did it? Who
opposed them and why? What events were they involved in? What results did
their actions produce?
□ Study your quizzes!
□ Prepare a thesis and basic outline – including details (names of people and events)
for each of the two essay questions below. Remember the seven steps of
successful essay writing.
□ I have compiled a list of all of the essays we have reviewed so this quarter. Any
one of them could appear on the final even the ones we have already used.
Additionally, your essay on the final will be a document based question. Even a
previously FRQ could be made into a DBQ.
NOTE: Use your notes to prepare for these possible questions! Don’t forget to
provide details like names, and events from your key terms list to back up any thesis
statements or topic sentences!
Possible Essay Questions
1. Between 1607 and 1763, Americans gained control of their social, political and economic
institutions. To what extent and in what ways do you agree or disagree with this statement?
2. What role did unfree (slave and indentured servant) labor play in colonial American society?
3. Although many Northerners and Southerners came later to think of themselves as having
separate civilizations, the Northern and Southern colonies in the seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries were in fact more similar than different. Assess the validity of this statement.
4. During the Colonial and Revolutionary periods of American History, British colonists in
America charged Great Britain with violating the ideals of self government and equality of
rights. Yet the colonists themselves violated these ideals in their treatment of blacks, Native
Americans, and even poorer classes of white settlers. Assess the validity of this view.
5. The American Revolution should really be called the “British Revolution” because British
policies & decisions were more responsible for final political division between America &
Britain than were American actions. Assess the validity of this statement for the period 1763
– 1776.
6. Between 1763 and 1789, the use and control of the frontier regions presented problems to
both the British and the Americans. Describe the problems involved in the use and control of
the frontier and explain how both the British and the Americans attempted to solve them.
7. Describe the strengths and weaknesses of the United States as it existed under the Articles of
Confederation. Did the new Constitution successfully correct the Articles’ flaws or simply
create new ones?
8. The achievements of generals are, in the long run more decisive than the achievements of
politicians and diplomats. Assess the validity of this generalization for the U.S. in the period
1791-1824.
9. With respect to the Federal Constitution, the Jeffersonian Republicans are usually
characterized as strict constructionists who were opposed to the broad constructionism of the
Federalists. To what extent was this characterization of the two parties accurate during the
presidencies of Jefferson and Madison?
10. Each of the following individuals expressed strong opinions concerning the policies of the
new nation. What opinions were expressed by the three following early American leaders and
of the three, whose opinions had the greatest impact on the new nation?
-Alexander Hamilton -Thomas Jefferson -John Marshall
11. Explain the major debates between the following groups and who, in your opinion, came out
on top of those debates: Anti-Federalists v. Federalists, Federalists v. Jeffersonian
Republicans, Jacksonian Democrats v. Whigs
12. Jacksonian Democrats viewed themselves as the guardians of the United States’
constitutional democracy, individual liberty, and equality of economic opportunity. Assess
the validity of the Jacksonians’ view of themselves for the period of the 1820s and 1830s.
13. Explain how the policies and actions of the following political parties contributed to the
coming of the Civil War from 1840 to 1861. -The Liberty/Free Soil Party -The Democratic
Party -The Republican Party
14. Assess the moral arguments and political actions of people on both sides of the following
issues regarding the spread of slavery in the lead up to the Civil War.
-Mexican/American War -Compromise of 1850 -Dred Scott v. Stanford Case
Tip: You must use members of your class and a study group to help you prepare for this exam.
Do not attempt to work alone… Please use your most valuable resource, trusted group members,
for essay outlines and other study help whenever possible.