AP U.S. History For Dummies

AP U.S. History For Dummies
About the Author
Dedication
Author’s Acknowledgments
Contents at a Glance
Table of Contents
Introduction
About This Book
Conventions Used in This Book
What You’re Not to Read
Foolish Assumptions
How This Book Is Organized
Icons Used in This Book
Where to Go from Here
Part I: College Credit, Here I Come!
Chapter 1: Acing the Test for a College Credit Payday
School Learning versus Test Prep
The Power of the College Board: What It Is and What It Does
Counting the Currency of College Credit
Putting Together Your AP Game Plan
The Political, Economic, and Social ( PES) Answer Secret
How the Exam Is Graded
Score! What Does Your Grade Mean?
How Much Time Do You Have to Prepare?
Chapter 2: Wringing the Highest Score out of What You Know
Grading the Way the AP Grades You
Scoping Out What’s Going to Be on the Test
Getting Ready for the Big Day
Chapter 3: Psyching Yourself Up for the Big Test
Taking Advantage of the Way You Learn Best
Taking Advantage of School Resources
Streamlining Your Learning Outside Class
Cramming the Night Before May Not Help
Cooling Out Pretest Anxiety
Keeping Calm and Cool on the Big Day
Part II: Answering the Questions: Three Kinds, Three Strategies
Chapter 4: Going with Good Odds on Multiple-Choice Questions
Scoping Out the Multiple-Choice Question Troll
Beating the Clock for a Good Score
Chapter 5: Scoring Big on Document-Based Questions (DBQs)
Using Documents Like a Historian
Knowing the Criteria for Scoring Big on the DBQ
Practicing the DBQ
Chapter 6: Creating Essays Teachers Love
Nailing Down Your Timing
Meeting and Beating the Questions
Knowing the Criteria for Scoring Big on the Essay Questions
Converting Questions to PAT Answers
Part III: Early U.S. History: From Dinosaurs to the Civil War
Chapter 7: Living on the Land: American Indians from 35,000 BCE to 1491 CE
Encountering the First Americans
The Original Empires Were American Indian
Nothing Corny about Civilization Advancements
Charting American Indians in North America
Carrying Death in a Handshake
Uneven Gift Exchange
Chapter 8: Sailing to a New Home: 1492–1690
Europeans Settle into the New World
Establishing the Future States: The American Colonies
Early Challenges to the New Colonies
Chapter 9: Growing Up and Getting Revolutionary: 1691–1775
Stirring the Melting Pot: Population Expansion
Daily Life in the Colonies
Having a Chance at Success and Education
Establishing American Arts
Changing Attitudes toward Religion
Early Politics
Making Money in Colonial America
Fighting All Over North America
The Colonies Become Fighting Mad
Working Early Colonial History into Essay Subjects
Chapter 10: You Say You Want a Revolution? Freedom and Change, 1776–1815
Power of the Pen: Common Sense and the Declaration of Independence
Britain versus the Patriots: The Fighting Escalates
Winning the American Revolution, in a Nutshell
Designing a New Country
Setting Down the Legal Foundation of a Nation
Moving Along with the Young Republic
Thomas Jefferson: Moving into the 1800s
Caught between Britain and France
Hopeful in the Era of Good Feelings
Chapter 11: Rough and Tumble: The United States Grows Up, 1816–1845
Manifestin’ Destiny
Kick-Starting Political Action
Nobody’s Happy: Missouri Compromise of 1820
Keep Your Hands Off Our Hemisphere: The Monroe Doctrine
Ethnic Cleansing, American-Style: The Trail of Tears
Andy Jackson: Bringing Tough-Guy Democracy to Washington
Embracing Modern Conveniences
Slavery Grows with Cotton
Early Emo: Feeling in Art, Education, and Belief
Chapter 12: From Sea to Shining Sea: 1846–1854
Changing Lives with New Inventions
Making Strides in Transportation
Dealing with Social Change
Earning Expanded Roles for Women
Watching the Arts Bloom
Understanding Early Ethnic Group Issues
Acquiring More Land for America
Sliding Closer to Civil War
Chapter 13: Fighting to the Death over Slavery: 1855–1865
How Reading Led to Fighting
Turning Words to Bullets in Bleeding Kansas
The Dred Scott Decision
An Election and a Division
Fighting the Civil War
Emancipation and the Loss of Lincoln
Part IV: U.S. History from After the Civil War to the Days of the Internet
Chapter 14: Reconstructing and Moving Westward, 1866– 1880
Reconstruction: Rebuilding the USA in a Brand-New Way
Civil War General Turns President: Ulysses S. Grant
Living in the Gilded Age
Workin’ on the Railroad
Moving Out West
The American Indians Get Crowded Out
Chapter 15: The U. S. Goes Big Time: 1881– 1899
Social Change in the Gilded Age Scramble
Arts and Entertainment, Late-19th-Century-Style
A Presidential Do-Si-Do
Getting Down to Business
Hard Times and Labor Unions
Settling the West: The End of Wide-Open Spaces?
Backing Paper Money with Precious Metals
Being the Nicest Imperialist
Chapter 16: Into the World, Ready or Not: 1900– 1919
More Substitute Teacher than Cop: The U. S. in Asia
Rough Riding with the Teddy Bear
Building the Panama Canal
The Roosevelt Corollary
Nativism and the Great White Fleet
Exposing the Shortcomings of Society
Preserving the American Wilderness
Roosevelt Gives Way to Taft and then Wilson
Progressing Internationally
World War I Begins
Chapter 17: Roaring, Soaring, and Fighting Depression: 1921– 1939
U. S. versus Communism: The Early Years
The Return of the Klan
Immigration Act of 1924
Bathtub Gin and a Little Sin: The Jazz Age
Major Money Shift: Signs of Trouble Ahead
Politics Lead to Depression
The Stock Market Crash of 1929
Franklin D. Roosevelt: Helping the Country to a New Deal
Toughing It Out in the Dust Bowl
Depression-era Demagoguery
Chapter 18: Fighting for Good in World War II: 1940– 1945
Backpedaling from the Brink of War
Watching the Flames of War Grow Higher
Fighting to Win on the Home Front
Following the Fight in the Pacific
Hunting Hitler in Europe
Chapter 19: Cold War Wind at the Victory Dance: 1946– 1960
Doing Well but Feeling Nervous
Truman, the Unexpected President
Stepping into Icy Waters: Beginning the Cold War
Fighting in Korea
Liking Ike in the Prosperous 1950s
Working for Civil Rights
Firing Up the Space Race with Sputnik
Castro: Communism Comes Closer to Home
Ushering in the 1960s with Kennedy
Chapter 20: Rockin’ with the ’ 60s, Rollin’ with the ’ 70s: 1961– 1979
Kennedy: Progressing Under Cold War Clouds
First Steps Toward a European Union
The United States’ Role as World Cop
The Supreme Court: Expanding Freedom and Responsibility
The Assassination of JFK
The Civil Rights Movement Hits a Crescendo
From Reform to Quagmire with LBJ
Vietnam Explodes into Full-Scale War
Nixon, the Experienced One
Gerald Ford Steps In
Too-Good President Carter
Chapter 21: Leading in the Modern World: 1980– Now
Ronald Reagan and Reaganomics
Checkmating Communism
One Term of George H. W. Bush
Modern Democracy with Bill Clinton
George W. Bush, Terrorism, and War
Adjusting to the 21st Century
Part V: Practice Makes Perfect: Two Tests Plus the Answers
Answer Sheet for Multiple Choice
Answer Sheet for Essays
Chapter 22: Practice Test 1: Acing the Early Names and Dates
Section I: Multiple Choice
Section II: Free-Response Questions
Chapter 23: The Answers to Practice Test 1
Section I: Multiple-Choice
Section II: Free-Response Questions
Answer Sheet for Multiple Choice
Answer Sheet for Essays
Chapter 24: Practice Test 2: Cruising the Big AP toward Modern Times
Section I: Multiple Choice
Section II: Free-Response Questions
Chapter 25: The Answers to Practice Test 2
Section I: Multiple-Choice
Section II: Free-Response Questions
Part VI: The Part of Tens
Chapter 26: Ten Monster Events the AP Wants You to Know
Next Stop, America: Setting Up the Colonies
Colonizing for Fun and Profit
Getting Ready for a Revolution
U.S. Lite: The Confederation Leads to a Keeper Constitution
Andy Jackson, Democracy, and Manifest Destiny
My Rules or I’m Leaving: The Long Prequel to the Civil War
America Fighting Itself: Civil War Basics
The United States Becomes a Big Dog
The Reluctant Dragon: U.S. as World Power
U.S. Government as Guardian of the People
Chapter 27: Ten Important Social and Economic Issues in U.S. History
Establishing U.S. Diversity
Defining the American Identity
Creating American Culture
Demographics
Economics
Women’s Rights
Racial Equality
Reform
U.S. Relations with the World
Spirituality
Chapter 28: The Supreme Court: Ten Greatest Hits
Marbury versus Madison (1803)
McCulloch versus Maryland (1819)
Gibbons versus Ogden (1824)
West Coast Hotel Co. versus Parrish (1937)
Brown versus Board of Education (1954)
Gideon versus Wainwright (1963)
Griswold versus Connecticut (1965)
Miranda versus Arizona (1966)
Roe versus Wade (1973)
United States versus Nixon (1974)
Index