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History and Social SciencesUnited States History

AP United States History

Investigate United States history from 1491 to the present by contextualizing developments, evaluating sources, tracing causation and change, and building evidence-based arguments.

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Unit 1Period 1: 1491–16077 topics

Compare Native American societies before contact and explain how European exploration, conquest, exchange, labor systems, and cultural interaction reshaped the Americas.

  1. 1.1Contextualizing Period 1
  2. 1.2Native American Societies Before European Contact
  3. 1.3European Exploration in the Americas
  4. 1.4Columbian Exchange, Spanish Exploration, and Conquest
  5. 1.5Labor, Slavery, and Caste in the Spanish Colonial System
  6. 1.6Cultural Interactions Between Europeans, Native Americans, and Africans
  7. 1.7Causation in Period 1

Unit 2Period 2: 1607–17548 topics

Explain how European empires and distinct British colonial regions developed through trade, slavery, migration, cultural exchange, and conflict with Native peoples.

  1. 2.1Contextualizing Period 2
  2. 2.2European Colonization
  3. 2.3The Regions of British Colonies
  4. 2.4Transatlantic Trade
  5. 2.5Interactions Between American Indians and Europeans
  6. 2.6Slavery in the British Colonies
  7. 2.7Colonial Society and Culture
  8. 2.8Comparison in Period 2

Unit 3Period 3: 1754–180013 topics

Trace revolution, republican government, constitutional debate, national identity, and movement across the early republic while evaluating whose ideals and interests prevailed.

  1. 3.1Contextualizing Period 3
  2. 3.2The Seven Years’ War (The French and Indian War)
  3. 3.3Taxation Without Representation
  4. 3.4Philosophical Foundations of the American Revolution
  5. 3.5The American Revolution
  6. 3.6The Influence of Revolutionary Ideals
  7. 3.7Articles of Confederation
  8. 3.8The Constitutional Convention and Debates over Ratification
  9. 3.9The Constitution
  10. 3.10Shaping a New Republic
  11. 3.11Developing an American Identity
  12. 3.12Movement in the Early Republic
  13. 3.13Continuity and Change in Period 3

Unit 4Period 4: 1800–184814 topics

Connect party conflict, federal power, economic transformation, expanding democracy, culture, religion, reform, and regional societies in the early 19th century.

  1. 4.1Contextualizing Period 4
  2. 4.2The Rise of Political Parties in the Era of Jefferson
  3. 4.3Politics and Regional Interests
  4. 4.4America on the World Stage
  5. 4.5Market Revolution: Industrialization
  6. 4.6Market Revolution: Society and Culture
  7. 4.7Expanding Democracy
  8. 4.8Jackson and Federal Power
  9. 4.9The Development of an American Culture
  10. 4.10The Second Great Awakening
  11. 4.11An Age of Reform
  12. 4.12African Americans in the Early Republic
  13. 4.13The Society of the South in the Early Republic
  14. 4.14Causation in Period 4

Unit 5Period 5: 1844–187712 topics

Explain how expansion and sectional conflict led to secession and civil war, then evaluate wartime policy, emancipation, Reconstruction, and its defeat.

  1. 5.1Contextualizing Period 5
  2. 5.2Manifest Destiny
  3. 5.3The Mexican–American War
  4. 5.4The Compromise of 1850
  5. 5.5Sectional Conflict: Regional Differences
  6. 5.6Failure of Compromise
  7. 5.7Election of 1860 and Secession
  8. 5.8Military Conflict in the Civil War
  9. 5.9Government Policies During the Civil War
  10. 5.10Reconstruction
  11. 5.11Failure of Reconstruction
  12. 5.12Comparison in Period 5

Unit 6Period 6: 1865–189814 topics

Analyze western expansion, the New South, industrial capitalism, labor, immigration, class, reform, and disputes over government during the Gilded Age.

  1. 6.1Contextualizing Period 6
  2. 6.2Westward Expansion: Economic Development
  3. 6.3Westward Expansion: Social and Cultural Development
  4. 6.4The “New South”
  5. 6.5Technological Innovation
  6. 6.6The Rise of Industrial Capitalism
  7. 6.7Labor in the Gilded Age
  8. 6.8Immigration and Migration in the Gilded Age
  9. 6.9Responses to Immigration in the Gilded Age
  10. 6.10Development of the Middle Class
  11. 6.11Reform in the Gilded Age
  12. 6.12Controversies over the Role of Government in the Gilded Age
  13. 6.13Politics in the Gilded Age
  14. 6.14Continuity and Change Period 6

Unit 7Period 7: 1890–194515 topics

Connect imperial debate, Progressive reform, two world wars, mass culture, economic crisis, the New Deal, and changing diplomacy across the first half of the 20th century.

  1. 7.1Contextualizing Period 7
  2. 7.2Imperialism: Debates
  3. 7.3The Spanish–American War
  4. 7.4The Progressives
  5. 7.5World War I: Military and Diplomacy
  6. 7.6World War I: Home Front
  7. 7.71920s: Innovations in Communication and Technology
  8. 7.81920s: Cultural and Political Controversies
  9. 7.9Great Depression
  10. 7.10New Deal
  11. 7.11Interwar Foreign Policy
  12. 7.12World War II: Mobilization
  13. 7.13World War II: Military
  14. 7.14Postwar Diplomacy
  15. 7.15Comparison in Period 7

Unit 8Period 8: 1945–198015 topics

Study Cold War power, postwar prosperity and culture, civil rights movements, Vietnam, the Great Society, environmentalism, and social transformation.

  1. 8.1Contextualizing Period 8
  2. 8.2The Cold War from 1945 to 1980
  3. 8.3The Red Scare
  4. 8.4Economy After 1945
  5. 8.5Culture after 1945
  6. 8.6Early Steps in the Civil Rights Movement (1940s and 1950s)
  7. 8.7America as a World Power
  8. 8.8Vietnam War
  9. 8.9Great Society
  10. 8.10The African American Civil Rights Movement (1960s)
  11. 8.11The Civil Rights Movement Expands
  12. 8.12Youth Culture of the 1960s
  13. 8.13The Environment and Natural Resources from 1968 to 1980
  14. 8.14Society in Transition
  15. 8.15Continuity and Change in Period 8

Unit 9Period 9: 1980–Present7 topics

Explain the rise of modern conservatism, the Cold War’s end, economic restructuring, migration, immigration, and major domestic and global challenges since 1980.

  1. 9.1Contextualizing Period 9
  2. 9.2Reagan and Conservatism
  3. 9.3The End of the Cold War
  4. 9.4A Changing Economy
  5. 9.5Migration and Immigration in the 1990s and 2000s
  6. 9.6Challenges of the 21st Century
  7. 9.7Causation in Period 9