Study Guide- Semester 1 Midterm
APUSH- Bagwell
Thematic considerations:
1. Early attempts at unity/ disunity: New England Confederation/Dominion of New England,
Albany Plan of
Union, Confederation, Annapolis Convention
2. Tension between security and liberty
3. Problem of labor in American history (for example: indentured servitude- how it worked,
weaknesses, transition to slavery in South), headright system
4. Slavery—intro, spread, crops, in Constitution, failure to end, cotton gin impact, middle
passage, impact on territorial expansion, rebellions and uprisings
5. Impact of territorial expansion and Manifest Destiny (NW Ordinance, Land Act, Proclamation
of 1763, La. Purchase, displacement of indigenous peoples, invasions of Canada, Lumberjack
War, Mexican Cession, Compromises: Missouri and 1850, etc.
6. Class structure
7. Early foreign affairs: Our part in early world wars, smuggling, Barbary pirates, development
of navy, merchant marine, Britain, France, Monroe Doctrine
Wars (King Philip, Queen Anne, King William, Seven Years’ etc.) and impact on America
8. Early Rebellions: Bacon’s, Regulator Movement, Shays’, Whiskey
9. Religion and its impact on society (Pilgrims, Rhode Island, Anne Hutchinson, Quakers,
established churches, Deism, Unitarianism, 1st and 2nd Great Awakenings, Burned Over
District, Millenarianism, etc.)
10. Life of women in early America (ability to inherit, legal status, femme covert, republican
motherhood, cult of domesticity, separate spheres, feminization of churches, education,
reformers, Seneca Falls and Declaration of Sentiments, early abolitionism)
11. states rights/ federalism and its significance
12. Loose construction/strict construction and its significance
13. Impact of immigration on industry and workers
14. Articles of Confederation compared to US Constitution
Achievements under Articles: land policy and education
Features of Constitution: prerogatives of House and Senate, checks and balances, necessary and
proper clause (elastic clause), habeas corpus, Electoral College
Controversy of states’ rights vs. federalism, interpretation
15. Development of democracy in 19th century
16. Main elements of the reform movement in the antebellum period
17. Sectionalism versus nationalism
Documents:
Declaration of Independence
Articles of Confederation
Constitution
Federalist Papers 51
George Washington’s Farewell Address
Committee of Correspondence Letter- Samuel Adams
Maryland Act of Toleration
Patrick Henry’s “Give Me Liberty…”
Declaration of Sentiments
Fitzhugh’s Apology
Emerson and Thoreau quotes
Garrison’s Liberator
Colonization:
1. Treaty of Tordesillas
2. Chesapeake/New England comparison
3. Purposes for English colonization
4. Differences in settlement patterns and goals among French, Spanish, and English (fur trade,
encomienda, Virginia Company, etc.)
4. Early French, Spanish, and English settlement (Quebec, Montreal, St. Louis, St. Augustine,
Santa Fe, Roanoke)
6. Founding of early colonies: Jamestown, Chesapeake/New England, early colonies and towns,
spread from Massachusetts, spread into Georgia, Deep South
7. Impact of Mercantilism/ beginnings of capitalism
8. Columbian exchange, Black Legend, treatment of Taino Indians by Spanish, encomienda
9. Comparison Pilgrims/Puritans, “the elect”
10. Early civil liberties: rights of Englishmen, common law, femme covert, Zenger trial
11. Bacon’s Rebellion and impact on need for labor
12. Early Indian policy among French, Spanish, and English
13. Early government: Mayflower Compact, Fundamental Orders of Connecticut, town meetings,
House of Burgesses, types of colonies (proprietary, royal, etc.)
14. Impact of disease
15. Unique features of certain colonies, “Charity Colony”, Rhode Island, New York,
Pennsylvania
16. cultivation of tobacco/ cotton/ indigo/ rice
17. Halfway Covenant
18. Iroquois Confederacy
19. Salem trials
20. status of women in North and South
21. New Lights/ Old Lights, founding of colleges, separation of church and state, established
churches
Revolutionary/ Constitutional period:
1. Intolerable Acts/ Quebec Acts & colonial reaction, Quartering Act
2. Stamp Act/ Reactions
3. Proclamation of 1763
4. Native Americans in the French and Indian War and Revolution
5. Committees of correspondence/ Sam Adams
6. Sons and Daughters of Liberty
7. Acadians/Cajuns
8. 1st/ 2nd Continental Congresses: purposes, actions
9. Important Battles- French and Indian War
10. Important Battles- Revolution
11. Albany Congress
12. Great Compromise
13. Washington’s election and administration and traditions established
14. James Madison
15. Key treaties
16. Antidemocratic features of Constitution
17. Early parties and what they stood for: Federalists, Republicans, Democratic party, Whig
party
18. Hamilton/ Jefferson dispute
Hamiltonian Federalism
Jeffersonian ideal
19. loose construction/strict construction
20. Purpose of Bill of Rights
21. King Philip (Metacom), Handsome Lake, Tecumseh, Black Hawk
Early republic & Antebellum period:
1. Revolution of 1800
2. Embargo Act
3. Jeffersonian ideal –Empire for Liberty
4. major court cases
5. judicial review/ John Marshall’s impact
6. Alien and Sedition Act, VA and KY resolutions
7. impressments
8. War of 1812: Andrew Jackson, Bladensburg Races, Ft. McHenry, Star Spangled Banner,
Battle of New Orleans, Treaty of Ghent, status quo ante bellum
9. Aaron Burr and all his nutsiness
10. John Calhoun, SC Exposition, tariff of abominations, Force Bill
11. Henry Clay, Daniel Webster
12. War with Mexico
13. Territorial expansion
14. MO Compromise
15. dividing lines between North and South; butternut regions in Old Northwest
16. Changing status of women: mill girls, cult of domesticity, etc.
17. Declaration of Sentiments and S. Anthony, L. Mott, E. Stanton, etc.
18. positive good argument, underground railroad, economic involvement in slavery- both North
and South
Organizations: New England Confederation; Dominion of New England; committees of
correspondence; The Association; 1/2 Continental Congress; House of Burgesses; House of
Representatives; Senate; Albany Congress; Stamp Act Congress; Whig party; Federalists/Blue
Light; Democratic/Republican parties; third parties/dark horse/favorite sons; Old Guard/Young
Guard; New England Emigrant Aid Society
Battles/Events: XYZ Affair; Citizen genet Affair; Shays’ Rebellion; French and Indian War;
Whiskey Rebellion; Bacon’s Rebellion; Battles of Saratoga/Yorktown; slave rebellions;
Undeclared War w/France; Indian wars/massacres; Lewis and Clark; mosquito fleet/pirates of
Tripoli; Ostend Manifesto; Mexican War; filibusters; Battle of Horseshoe Bend; War of 1812;
Battle of New Orleans; Kansas-Nebraska Act; Dred Scott decision
Education/Culture/Religion: 1/2 Great Awakening; New Light Colleges; predestination;
reform movements; Columbian Exchange; assimilation; “the elect”/”visible saints”; City on a
Hill; Halfway Covenant; importance of labor; Log College/Princeton; Harvard College; Salem
Witch Trials
Important Ideas/concepts/trends: Calvinism; Mercantilism; Protestant Work Ethic;
Enlightenment; republicanism; democracy; Jacksonian Democracy; market revolution; states’
rights/federalism; Federalism/Antifederalism; loose/strict construction; manufacturing farming;
Jeffersonain ideal- Empire for Liberty; Manifest Destiny; “city on a hill”– exceptionalism;
sectionalism/nationalism; territorial expansion/slavery; Founding of jamestown, Plymouth,
Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania; Hamilton’s financial plans; weakness/strngth of
Articles of Confederation; Constitutional Convention; development of parties/factions; effects of
3/5 Compromise (long and short-term); encomienda/Black Legend; slavery/indentured servitude/
rights of man; Hamilton/Jefferson struggle; Jeffersonian Democracy/Jacksonian Democracy;
tensions in antebellum period; compromises 1820/1850/Crittenden; compact theory/contract
theory; Oregon/Texas expansion; relations with Britan; Monroe Doctrine
APUSH Mid-Term Study Guide
DBQ:
Be prepared to discuss the history of American women from the Revolution to the
Civil War with particular emphasis on the concepts of the “cult of domesticity” and
Republican Motherhood.