AP US History — Periods 1–5 (1491–1877) flashcards
10 of 70 cards free to study here · 5 topics · the whole deck is built into Willys
Seventy cause-and-consequence cards from contact through Reconstruction: the colonies, the road to revolution, the founding, Jackson, reform, the sectional crisis, the Civil War and the amendments and compromises that followed.
Learn deck · part of AP US History · written against: College Board AP US History Course and Exam Description (nine periods). Updated 2026-10-10.
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What was the Columbian Exchange, and which part of it did the most damage to Native American societies?The two-way transfer of crops, animals, people and microbes between the Americas and Afro-Eurasia after 1492. Old World diseases, above all smallpox, did the most damage: with no prior exposure, Native populations fell by well over half within a few generations of contact.Period 1 › Contact and Conquest
Why it matters: depopulation made Spanish conquest easier and pushed colonizers toward enslaved African labor. -
How did the encomienda system work, and why did Spain move away from it?The crown granted a colonist the right to collect tribute and forced labor from the Native people of a district in return for supposedly protecting and Christianizing them. Brutality, population collapse and the protests of Bartolomé de las Casas led to the New Laws of 1542 limiting the grants, and colonists increasingly turned to enslaved Africans instead.Period 1 › Contact and Conquest
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What provoked the Pueblo Revolt of 1680, and what did it achieve?Spanish suppression of Pueblo religion, on top of forced labor and drought, drove the Pueblo communities of New Mexico to rise under Popé; they killed roughly 400 colonists and drove the rest out for about twelve years.Period 2 › Colonial Society
Why it matters: often called the most successful Native uprising in North American history; after the reconquest, Spain tolerated more Pueblo religious practice. -
How did French colonization in North America differ from English colonization?The French came in small numbers, concentrated on the fur trade, and built alliances (and intermarried) with Native nations such as the Huron and Algonquin rather than displacing them. English colonies drew large settler populations seeking farmland, which produced constant conflict over land.Period 2 › Colonial Society
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How did the French and Indian War set the stage for the American Revolution?Britain won Canada and all land east of the Mississippi except New Orleans in the 1763 Treaty of Paris but emerged with a huge war debt and a vast territory to police. Parliament decided the colonies should help pay, ending salutary neglect with new taxes and tighter enforcement, while colonists, freed from the French threat, felt they needed Britain less.Period 3 › Road to Revolution
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What did the Proclamation of 1763 forbid, and why did colonists resent it?It barred settlement west of the Appalachian crest, reserving the land for Native nations after Pontiac's uprising. Colonists who had fought the war expecting western land saw Britain denying them the fruits of victory, and many simply ignored the line.Period 3 › Road to Revolution
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What did Marbury v. Madison (1803) establish, and how did Marshall avoid a confrontation with Jefferson?Chief Justice Marshall ruled that the Court may strike down laws that conflict with the Constitution, establishing judicial review. By holding that the Judiciary Act's grant of power to the Court was itself unconstitutional, he refused to order the commission delivered even though Marbury had a right to it, giving Jefferson nothing to defy while enlarging the Court's authority.Period 4 › Early Republic
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Why did the Louisiana Purchase trouble Jefferson's constitutional principles, and why did he go ahead?Jefferson favored strict construction, and the Constitution says nothing about buying territory. He accepted Napoleon's offer in 1803 anyway because 15 million dollars doubled the nation's size and secured New Orleans and the Mississippi for western farmers; the Senate ratified it as a treaty.Period 4 › Early Republic
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What was Manifest Destiny, and how did it shape 1840s politics?The belief, named by journalist John O'Sullivan in 1845, that Americans were divinely destined to spread across the continent. It justified annexing Texas in 1845, settling Oregon (divided with Britain at the 49th parallel in 1846) and the war with Mexico, while raising the question of whether slavery would spread with the flag.Period 5 › Expansion and Sectional Crisis
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What caused the Mexican–American War, and what did the United States gain?Mexico had never accepted the annexation of Texas, and Polk sent troops into the disputed strip between the Nueces and the Rio Grande, where a clash gave him grounds for war in 1846. The 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo transferred California and the Southwest for 15 million dollars and reopened the fight over slavery in the territories.Period 5 › Expansion and Sectional Crisis
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About these cards
Review status: Second-reader reviewed, with corrections applied.
Checked against:
- Topic outline follows the College Board AP U.S. History Course and Exam Description (effective Fall 2026), Periods 1–5 (outline only; no course or exam text reproduced).
- OpenStax U.S. History, consulted as a reference; no text copied.
- Checked against the National Archives' Milestone Documents collection (public domain); reference only, no text copied.
- Dates and holdings cross-checked with Library of Congress primary-source guides, the Avalon Project (Yale Law School), the State Department's Office of the Historian, the National Park Service, the Federal Judicial Center, the Miller Center (University of Virginia), the Massachusetts Historical Society, the Statutes of the Realm and Acts and Ordinances of the Interregnum (British History Online), the Journals of the Continental Congress, the U.S. Reports, the Founders' Constitution (University of Chicago), Project Gutenberg editions of Paine's Common Sense and Gray's Confessions of Nat Turner, the New Georgia Encyclopedia, Encyclopedia Virginia and Oyez case summaries; reference only.
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