Free AP US History Key Terms: 300 APUSH Flashcards
In APUSH, knowing the label is the easy part; explaining the change is the work.
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| Front | Back |
|---|---|
| Columbian Exchange — what is it? | The Columbian Exchange was the Atlantic transfer of crops, animals, diseases, and people after European contact. It reshaped population, labor, diet, and ecology in both hemispheres. |
| Stamp Act — what is it? | The Stamp Act imposed a direct tax on printed paper in the colonies. It sparked organized protest and the cry against taxation without representation. |
| Articles of Confederation — what is it? | The Articles of Confederation created the first U.S. national government with weak central powers. Its limits convinced many leaders that a stronger federal system was needed. |
| Pueblo Revolt — what is it? | A 1680 uprising by Pueblo peoples that drove the Spanish out of New Mexico for about twelve years. It proved Native resistance could disrupt colonization and pushed Spain to rule the region less harshly after returning. |
| Iroquois Confederacy — what is it? | An alliance of Native nations in the Northeast that used diplomacy and war to defend its interests. It shaped the balance of power among Britain, France, and Native peoples in the interior. |
| Townshend Acts — what is it? | Parliamentary duties on imported goods such as glass, lead, paint, paper, and tea. They revived resistance and encouraged nonimportation and wider colonial cooperation. |
| Constitutional Convention — what is it? | The Philadelphia meeting that drafted a new national framework instead of revising the Articles. It produced the Constitution and increased the power of the national government. |
| Marbury v. Madison — what is it? | A Supreme Court case that established judicial review, the power to strike down unconstitutional federal laws. It made the Court a coequal branch able to shape national policy. |
| Marshall Court — what is it? | The Marshall Court was the Supreme Court under Chief Justice John Marshall, noted for broad readings of federal power. It strengthened national authority and supported a stable legal climate for commerce and contracts. |
| Panic of 1819 — what is it? | The first major U.S. financial depression, caused by tight credit, falling crop prices, and a collapse in land speculation. It increased distrust of banks and elites and sharpened arguments over how active the national government should be in the economy. |
| Positive good theory — what is it? | Proslavery claim that slavery benefited southern society and supposedly protected and civilized enslaved people. It turned slavery from a tolerated evil into a cause to defend and expand, making sectional compromise harder. |
| Fugitive Slave Act — what is it? | Federal law that forced officials and citizens to aid in capturing runaways and denied accused fugitives jury trials. It nationalized slave catching and pushed many northerners from indifference toward resistance. |
| Secession — what is it? | A state's declared withdrawal from the Union and rejection of federal authority. It destroyed the existing political union and led southern states to form the Confederacy. |
| Paternalism — what is it? | A proslavery belief that masters acted as protectors over enslaved people, who were cast as dependent and childlike. It defended slavery as humane and natural, helping slaveholders answer abolitionist criticism. |
| Border states — what is it? | Slave states that stayed in the Union during the Civil War. Keeping them denied the Confederacy key resources and shaped Lincoln's early caution on slavery. |
| Copperheads — what is it? | Northern Democrats who opposed Lincoln's war policies and favored a negotiated peace with the Confederacy. They show that the Union faced strong internal dissent during the war, not just military resistance from the South. |
| Vertical integration — what is it? | A business strategy in which one company controls several stages of production and distribution. It helped giant firms lower costs and dominate markets, fueling concern over concentrated corporate power. |
| New Immigrants — what is it? | Immigrants mainly from southern and eastern Europe who arrived in large numbers after 1880. They reshaped urban America and fueled nativism and demands for immigration restriction. |
| Dawes Act — what is it? | A law that divided tribal land into individual allotments and opened the rest to white settlement. It aimed at assimilation and caused Native communities to lose large amounts of land. |
| Bessemer process — what is it? | The Bessemer process was a steelmaking method that blew air through molten iron to remove impurities quickly. It made cheap mass steel possible, fueling railroads, skyscrapers, and factory expansion. |
| Haymarket affair — what is it? | The Haymarket affair was a Chicago labor rally that turned deadly after a bomb exploded and police fired. It made many Americans link labor radicalism with violence and weakened support for unions. |
| Wounded Knee — what is it? | Wounded Knee was the massacre of Lakota people by U.S. troops after tensions around the Ghost Dance. It symbolized the violent end of armed Native resistance on the Great Plains. |
| Platt Amendment — what is it? | The Platt Amendment set conditions on Cuban independence and gave the United States the right to intervene there. It showed that U.S. victory over Spain created informal empire, not full Cuban sovereignty. |
| Dust Bowl — what is it? | A series of severe dust storms on the Great Plains caused by drought and overfarming. It devastated farm families and intensified migration during the Depression. |
| containment — what is it? | A foreign policy aimed at stopping the spread of communism rather than overturning it everywhere by force. It guided US actions across Europe, Asia, and later the developing world. |
| Bonus Army — what is it? | The Bonus Army was a group of World War I veterans who demanded early payment of promised bonuses during the Depression. Their treatment hurt Hoover politically and deepened public anger at federal inaction. |
| Berlin Airlift — what is it? | The Berlin Airlift was the American and British effort to supply West Berlin by air after a Soviet blockade. It showed U.S. resolve to resist Soviet pressure without direct war. |
| détente — what is it? | A period of eased tensions and negotiation between the United States and the Soviet Union. It showed Cold War rivalry could be managed through arms control and diplomacy. |
| My Lai Massacre — what is it? | The My Lai Massacre was the 1968 killing of Vietnamese civilians by U.S. soldiers in a South Vietnamese village. It deepened public distrust of the war and strengthened claims that U.S. tactics had become immoral and brutal. |
| INF Treaty — what is it? | The INF Treaty was a 1987 U.S.-Soviet agreement that eliminated intermediate-range nuclear missiles. It marked a major easing of Cold War tensions and showed that Reagan and Gorbachev could reach real arms limits. |
About this deck
APUSH terms pile up fast, then start to blur together. You may recognize Columbian Exchange, Carpetbaggers, or Bush v. Gore on sight, then freeze when you have to explain what changed, why it mattered, and how to use the term in a short answer or essay. This deck gives you 300 cards split into colonial-and-revolution (55), early-republic-and-expansion (60), civil-war-and-reconstruction (45), gilded-age-and-progressive (55), depression-war-and-cold-war (50), and modern-america (35). Each card covers a single term, and every back uses the same fields: Meaning, Why it matters, and Example. The cuts follow the course's chronological flow, so you can study by period without losing the links between politics, labor, empire, reform, war, and federal power. On a spaced-repetition schedule, the terms you can explain cleanly stop showing up, while the ones you still mix up keep coming back until you can say more than a label. This deck leaves out long source excerpts and full event summaries on purpose. The point is to make significance and usable evidence automatic, because APUSH rewards being able to say what a term changed, not just when it happened.
Frequently asked
- How is this deck split across the course?
- It is divided into colonial-and-revolution (55), early-republic-and-expansion (60), civil-war-and-reconstruction (45), gilded-age-and-progressive (55), depression-war-and-cold-war (50), and modern-america (35).
- What do the backs of these APUSH cards look like?
- Every card uses the same back fields: Meaning, Why it matters, and Example. That format trains you to define the term, explain its significance, and attach it to something concrete you can use in writing.
- Why does the deck include terms as far apart as Columbian Exchange, Carpetbaggers, and Bush v. Gore?
- Because APUSH is easiest to remember when you study change across the full course instead of treating each period as sealed off. Keeping the same card format from colonization through modern America makes comparison much easier.
- Can I import the whole deck on the free plan?
- Yes. Importing a saved deck runs no new AI generation and does not use your AI allowance, so the free plan imports all 300 cards. You can study, edit and delete them afterwards.
- Will importing it twice create duplicates?
- No. Cards you already have are skipped and only cards added in a revision come through. Including re-imports after deleting it, one official deck can be imported three times per account.
- Can I use it on the web and in the mobile app?
- Yes. The deck is added to your account rather than to a device, so the same cards and the same progress are there on the web, on iOS and on Android.
- Can I edit the cards after importing?
- Yes. Imported cards are yours: you can edit both sides, delete cards you do not need, change tags, and move cards to another deck.
No official exam questions are reproduced. Every card was written for this deck.Advanced Placement is a trademark of College Board. This deck is not produced, endorsed or approved by College Board.Editorial reference date 2026-08-30.