Periods 1–2: Colonization & Empire
Prompt: Evaluate the impact of European colonization on Native societies from 1491–1607.
Columbian Exchange, Disease (smallpox), Encomienda system, Spanish mission system, Pueblo Revolt (1680)
Prompt: Evaluate the impact of the French and Indian War on British-colonial relations (1754–1776).
Proclamation of 1763, Stamp Act / Townshend Acts, "No taxation without representation", Committees of Correspondence, Boston Tea Party
Prompt: Evaluate the extent to which American politics became more democratic between 1800 and 1848.
Expansion of white male suffrage, Spoils system, Popular campaigning, Party conventions, Jacksonian Democracy
Prompt: Evaluate the causes of sectional tension between North and South from 1844 to 1861.
Mexican Cession, Wilmot Proviso, Compromise of 1850, Kansas-Nebraska Act, Dred Scott decision
Prompt: Evaluate the causes of U.S. expansion overseas in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Alfred Thayer Mahan, Yellow journalism, Spanish-American War, Open Door Policy, Annexation of Hawaii
Prompt: Evaluate the causes of European colonization efforts in North America from 1491–1607.
“God, Gold, Glory”, Treaty of Tordesillas, Protestant Reformation, Spanish Armada defeat (1588), Search for NW Passage
Prompt: Evaluate the extent to which Enlightenment ideas influenced American independence.
John Locke (natural rights, consent), Thomas Paine’s Common Sense, Declaration of Independence, Social Contract Theory, Montesquieu (separation of powers)
Prompt: Evaluate the impact of the Market Revolution on the lives of Americans (1800–1848).
Erie Canal / National Road, Factory system (Lowell), Shift from home to wage labor, Telegraph, Urban growth
Prompt: Evaluate the effectiveness of political compromises in reducing sectional conflict in the 1850s.
Fugitive Slave Law, Bleeding Kansas, Brooks-Sumner incident, Lincoln-Douglas debates, Failure of Crittenden Compromise
Prompt: Evaluate the impact of the New Deal on American society.
CCC, WPA, TVA, Wagner Act, Social Security Act, Court-packing plan, Impact on women & minorities
Prompt: Evaluate the extent to which regional differences shaped the development of the British colonies from 1607–1754.
New England town meetings, Southern plantation system, Middle Colonies’ diversity, Religious motives (Puritans vs. Anglicans), Navigation Acts
Prompt: Evaluate the political and social effects of the American Revolution from 1775 to 1800.
Articles of Confederation, Republican motherhood, Gradual emancipation (North), Loyalist exodus, Rise of Federalists/Anti-Federalists
Prompt: Evaluate the extent to which reform movements from 1820–1848 sought to expand democratic ideals.
Temperance Movement, Seneca Falls Convention, Horace Mann & public education, Abolitionism (Garrison, Douglass), Dorothea Dix
Prompt: Evaluate the impact of the Civil War on the role of the federal government.
Suspension of habeas corpus, Draft and conscription, Emancipation Proclamation, Homestead Act / Pacific Railway Act, National Bank Act
Prompt: Evaluate the reasons for American involvement in WWII.
Pearl Harbor, Lend-Lease Act, Four Freedoms, Axis expansionism, Atlantic Charter
Prompt: Evaluate the relative importance of different factors that influenced the development of slavery in the colonies (1607–1754).
Bacon’s Rebellion, Headright system, Sugar and tobacco demand, Middle Passage, Racialized slave codes
Prompt: Evaluate the arguments for and against the ratification of the Constitution in 1787–1788.
Federalist Papers, Anti-Federalist concerns over central power, Lack of Bill of Rights, Compromise to add amendments, Electoral College and separation of powers
Prompt: Evaluate the impact of the Second Great Awakening on American society.
Charles Grandison Finney, Religious revivals, Utopian communities (Oneida, Shakers), Influence on abolition and temperance, Burned-Over District
Prompt: Evaluate the extent to which Reconstruction transformed the South politically and socially.
Military Reconstruction Acts, African American voting and office-holding, Freedmen’s Bureau, Resistance: KKK, Redemption governments, Sharecropping system
Prompt: Evaluate the impact of the Cold War on domestic life in the United States.
McCarthyism, HUAC, Arms race culture, Federal Highway Act, Education reform (NASA/space race)
Prompt: Evaluate the extent to which transatlantic trade affected the economy and society of the colonies (1607–1754).
Mercantilism, Triangle Trade, Molasses Act, Colonial port cities (Charleston, Boston), Growth of consumer goods
Prompt: Evaluate the extent to which the Constitution resolved the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation.
Shays’ Rebellion (1786–87), Creation of federal judiciary, Power to tax, regulate commerce, Executive branch and military power, Elastic clause
Prompt: Evaluate the extent to which the role of women changed during the early 19th century.
Cult of Domesticity vs. Republican Motherhood, Grimké sisters, Seneca Falls Declaration, Industrial workforce (Lowell girls), Push for education and legal reform
Prompt: Evaluate the extent to which Reconstruction protected the rights of African Americans.
13th–15th Amendments, Civil Rights Act of 1875, Enforcement Acts, Compromise of 1877, Rise of Jim Crow (later continuity)
Prompt: Evaluate the effectiveness of the Civil Rights Movement in bringing about social and legal change.
Brown v. Board of Education, Civil Rights Act of 1964, Voting Rights Act of 1965, Montgomery Bus Boycott, March on Washington