apush period 7 essay prompts

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Period 7: 1890-1945 (AP US History)

Period 7: 1890-1945.

An increasingly pluralistic United States faced profound domestic and global challenges, debated the proper degree of government activism, and sought to define its international role. Topics may include

Debates over Imperialism

The progressive movement, world war i, innovations in communications and technology in the 1920s, the great depression and the new deal, world war ii, postwar diplomacy.

Image Source : Destitute pea pickers in California. Mother of seven children. Age thirty-two. Nipomo, California , a photograph by Dorothea Lange taken in 1936 when she was working for the Resettlement Administration. (Library of Congress)

10-17% Exam Weighting

Resources by Period:

• Period 1: 1491–1607
• Period 2: 1607–1754
• Period 3: 1754–1800
• Period 4: 1800–1848
• Period 5: 1844–1877
• Period 6: 1865–1898
• Period 7: 1890–1945
• Period 8: 1945–1980
• Period 9: 1980–Present

Key Concepts

7.1 : Growth expanded opportunity, while economic instability led to new efforts to reform U.S. society and its economic system.

7.2 : Innovations in communications and technology contributed to the growth of mass culture, while significant changes occurred in internal and international migration patterns.

7.3 : Participation in a series of global conflicts propelled the United States into a position of international power while renewing domestic debates over the nation’s proper role in the world.

Empire Builders

By robert w. cherny.

Learn about the reactions to the growth of an American overseas empire.

Our Victorious Fleet in Cuban Waters

Print depicting American naval forces off Cuba during the Spanish-American War

• Primary Source

The War against Spain in the Philippines in 1898

By richard meixel.

Learn about US naval actions in Southeast Asia during the Spanish-American War.

The US in China

By warren cohen.

Learn about the US support of the Open Door Policy and reaction to the Boxer Rebellion.

The Open Door Policy and the Boxer War

Learn about how the Open Door Policy served US economic, cultural, and strategic interests in China.

The Politics of Reform

By julie des jardins.

Learn about the politics of reform during the Progressive era.

Women in American Politics in the Twentieth Century

By sara evans.

Learn about women who advocated full participation in American public and political life during the suffrage movement.

The Square Deal

By kirsten swinth.

Learn about themes of Progressive reform and Teddy Roosevelt's Square Deal.

The Progressive Era to the New Era, 1900-1929

By daniel rodgers.

The Progressive Era to the New Era (1900-1929) Timeline and essay explaining the domestic and global challenges facing the US.

Disfranchisement of African American voters

Negro Business League response to legal bars to voting in Virginia

Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire

Sheet music in Yiddish lamenting the deaths in Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire

Women and the Progressive Movement

By miriam cohen.

Learn about the women who sought to address a variety of social problems associated with industrialization

The Supreme Court upholds national prohibition

The Supreme Court upholds Prohibition and the Volstead Act

Modern Women Persuading Modern Men

By jonathan soffer .

Learn about the women's struggle for suffrage.

Lynching in America

NAACP broadside presenting the shocking statistics regarding lynching in America

The Quest for Equality: European Immigration

By matthew jacobson.

Learn about the arrival of immigrants from Europe in the context of the Progressive era.

World War I poems: “In Flanders Fields” & “The Answer"

Nurse's diary containing McCrae’s poem reflecting upon the horrors of WWI

by Jennifer D. Keene

Learn about America's role in WWI.

Recruiting posters for African American soldiers

Military recruitment of Black troops during World War I

Theodore Roosevelt on the sinking of the Lusitania

Former president urges US involvement in WWI

America's role in the world

By michael neiberg.

Read about American foreign policy between the world wars.

Treaty of Versailles and President Wilson

1919 and 1921.

Former Cabinet secretary's statement that "Woodrow Wilson did not fail"

Deportation: Its Meaning and Menace

Pamphlet criticizing the US government for its use of the Espionage and Sedition Acts

The Dillingham Commission

By robert zeidel.

Learn about the background to the 1917 Literacy Test Act and the 1921 Quota Act.

The Rise of Consumerism in the 1920s

By michael flamm.

Listen to a discussion about purchasing power, occupation, and identity

Motor City: The Story of Detroit

By thomas sugrue.

Read about the origins of Henry Ford's factory system in Detroit and its legacy.

The Roaring Twenties

By joshua zeitz.

Examine why the 1920s heralded a dramatic break in American social, economic, and political policies.

Birth of a Nation

"Advice Sheet" for theaters restricting access to Birth of a Nation for African Americans

The Great Depression

By david kennedy.

Learn about some of the causes and consequences of the Great Depression.

The New Deal

By thomas kessner.

Learn about FDR's New Deal.

Jim Crow and the Great Migration

By jonathan scott holloway.

Learn about the reasons behind the Great Migration.

The Hundred Days and Beyond

By anthony j. badger.

Understand how the New Deal functioned as  a "laboratory for economic learning."

Civilian Conservation Corps poster

Enlistment poster for the CCC, which put young men to work improving parks and creating infrastructure

Why the New Deal Matters

By eric rauchway .

Watch a discussion of FDR's New Deal.

Photograph of an abandoned farm in the Dust Bowl

Dorothea Lange photograph depicting the devastation caused by the Dust Bowl

The US Banking System

By richard sylla.

Read about the emergence of the banking industry in the United States.

by Kenneth T. Jackson

Learn about US involvement in WWII.

Civilian defense on the home front

Excerpt from The US Citizens Defense Corp handbook explaining the duties and responsibilities of home-front volunteers

The World War II Home Front

By allan m. winkler.

Learn how activities on the home front supported US efforts during WWII.

Japan declares war

Japan's Declaration of War coinciding with the attach on Pearl Harbor

From Citizen to Enemy

Learn about the internment of Japanese Americans during WWII.

Japanese internment

Broadside instructing the Japanese "to assemble for transport to detention camps"

An Introduction to the History of the Zoot Suit Riots

By elizabeth escobedo.

Learn about the intersection of World War II, Pachuco/a youth culture, fashion, and music in the City of Angels.

Physicists predict a nuclear arms race

"Preliminary Statement of the Association of Manhattan District Scientists" emphasizing the need to control atomic weaponry

Truman and His Doctrine

By elizabeth edwards spalding.

Read about how and why Truman devised a strategy of containment

Harry S. Truman responds to McCarthy

Truman response to McCarthy, characterizing him as "the best asset that the Kremlin can have"

The Origins of the Cold War

By john lewis gaddis.

Learn about U.S.-Soviet relations from the nineteenth century through the end of World War II.

American History Timeline: 1890-1945

Image citations.

Listed in order of appearance in the sections above

• Keppler, Udo J. "His 128th birthday. 'Gee, But This Is an Awful Stretch!'" Puck, June 29, 1904. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.
• Currier & Ives. Our Victorious Fleets in Cuban Waters. New York, 1898. Chromolithograph. The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, GLC03534.
• Ehrhart, Samuel D. "If They'll Only Be Good." Puck, January 31, 1900. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.
• Ricalton, James. West from Ha-ta-men Gate along Huge Ancient Wall between Tartar and Chinese Peking, Scene of a Desperate Charge during Siege - China. New York: Underwood & Underwood, 1901. Photograph. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.
• Keppler, Udo J. "The Tug of War in the Far East." Puck, September 14, 1898. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.
• Riis, Jacob A. Street Arabs in "sleeping quarters." New York, ca. 1888. Photograph. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.
• Woman Suffrage Procession, Washington, DC. Official Program. March 3, 1913. Library of Congress Rare Book and Special Collections Division.
• Underwood & Underwood. "Good Government Is Practically Applying the Principles Which Make a Man a Good Citizen" - President [Theodore] Roosevelt, Waterville, Maine. 1902. Stereoview. The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, GLC06449.22.
• Harris & Ewing. Woman Suffrage Pickets at White House. Washington, DC, 1917. Photograph. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.
• Jackson, Giles B. Letter to R. C. Burrow, June 22, 1901. The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, GLC08907.
• Rumshisky, Joseph, and Anshel Schorr. "'Mamenu' or The Triangle Victims" (in Yiddish). New York: Hebrew Publishing Co., 1911. The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, GLC06225.
• National Association of Colored Women’s Club. "Lifting As We Climb." Banner, ca. 1924. silk (fiber), wood, paint.
• Currier & Ives. Woman's Holy War :Grand Charge on the Enemy's Works. New York, 1874. Lithograph. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. 
• N. Y. State Woman Suffrage Party. How to Vote for Woman Suffrage Amendment, Election Day, November 6th, 1917. Albany, NY, 1917. The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, GLC08961.
• National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. For the Good of America. New York, ca. 1926. The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, GLC06197.
• Keppler, J. "Welcome to All," Puck, April 28, 1880. Color lithograph. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. 
• Chandler, Howard John. The Spirit of America -- Join. American Red Cross, 1919. Color lithograph. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.
• Come Out! [Volume 1, No. 2 (January 10, 1970)] Newspaper, GLC09872.02
• Renesch, Edward George. Colored Man Is No Slacker. Chicago, 1918. The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, GLC06134.
• Roosevelt, Theodore. Letter to Oscar King Davis, June 23, 1915. The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, GLC08003.
• Berryman, Clifford Kennedy. 15 Nations Sign Anti-war Treaty. August 27, 1928. Berryman Political Cartoon Collection, 1896-1949; Records of the U.S. Senate, Record Group 46. National Archives.
• McAdoo, William G. Statement given out by Ex-Secreatry of the Treasury on Woodrow Wilson, March 4, 1921. The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, GLC03967.
• Berkman, Alexander, and Emma Goldman. Deportation, Its Meaning and Menace. New York, 1918. The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, GLC06222.
• Evans, Raymond Oscar. “The Americanese Wall, as Congressman Burnett Would Build It .” Puck, March 25, 1916. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.
• Unknown photographer. The First Model T Ford. New York, 1908. Photograph. New York Public Library Digital Collections. 
• Ford Touring Car advertisement. Alma (Mich.) Record, October 1, 1908, p. 4. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Library of Congress.
• "Big Business Banishes the Flapper." Morning Tulsa Daily World, July 16, 1922. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Library of Congress.
• Edwards, Jack. "Advice Sheet. D. W. Griffith's 'The Birth of a Nation.'" ca. 1915. The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, GLC05091.
• Hoover, Herbert. Letter to Louis L. Emmerson, July 10, 1931. The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, GLC03146.
• Harris & Ewing. President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Washington DC, ca. 1941. Photograph. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.
• Underwood & Underwood. Silent Protest Parade in New York City against the East St. Louis Riots. New York, 1917. Photograph. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.
• Roosevelt, Franklin D. Letter to Henry T. Rainey, June 10, 1933. The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, GLC07468.
• Arizona Civilian Conservation Corps. "Great Oaks from Little Acorns." 1938. Recruitment poster. The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, GLC06196.262.
• Unknown photographer. Photograph of Works Progress Administration Worker Receiving Paycheck. January 1939. Photograph. Record Group 594956. WPA Information Division Photographic Index. National Archives.
• Lange, Dorothea. Dust Bowl Farmers of West Texas in Town. Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information, June 1937. Photograph. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.
• Pennsylvania. Two shilling and Six-pence note, No. 4665. April 3, 1772. Printed by Hall and Sellers. Signed by Cadwalader Morris, Joseph Swift, and Samuel Hudson. The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, GLC01450.226.01.
• United States. War Division. 7th war loan/now all together. Poster. 1945. The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, GLC09520.34.
• US Office of Civilian Defense. Special Civilian Defense Insignia. 1942. Poster. The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, GLC09520.36.
• Treidler, Adolph, and US Army. Soldiers Without Guns. Washington DC: US Government Printing Office, 1944. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.
• Hirohito, Emperor of Japan. Declaration of War against the United States and Britain [in Japanese]. December 8, 1941. The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, GLC01415.
• Albers, Clem. Los Angeles, Calif. Apr. 1942. A store for rent in “Little Tokyo” after residents of Japanese ancestry were assigned to War Relocation Authority centers for the duration. Washington DC: War Relocation Authority, April 11, 1942. Photograph. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.
• DeWitt, J. L. US Army. Instructions to All Persons of Japanese Ancestry.  May 3, 1942. Broadside. The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, GLC06360.
• Acme Newspictures. Zoot suiters lined up outside Los Angeles jail en route to court after feud with sailors. Los Angeles, CA, June 9, 1943. Photograph. New York World-Telegram and the Sun Newspaper Photograph Collection. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.
• Kaplan, Irving. "Preliminary Statement of the Association of Manhattan District Scientists." ca. August 1945. The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, GLC03152.02.
• United States. Army. Signal Corps. Winston Churchill, Harry Truman, and Joseph Stalin at Potsdam. ca. July-August 1945. Photograph. The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, GLC04457.
• Truman, Harry S. Letter to Dean Acheson, March 31, 1950. The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, GLC00782.22.
• Clement Attlee, Harry Truman, and Joseph Stalin, seated outdoors at Berlin conference. Germany Potsdam, 1945. Aug. 1. Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/96522042/ .

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AP US History Practice Test: Period 7 (1890–1945)

Our free APUSH unit 7 practice test covers the years 1890–1945. This period spans several transformative decades, from the Progressive Era’s reforms to the global upheavals of two world wars. The U.S.’s evolving role in global affairs, especially its involvement in World War I and II and the subsequent geopolitical shifts, is a central theme.

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Questions 1–2 refer to the following excerpt:

What impact did the automobile have on american society in the early 20th century, what impact did automobiles have on jim crow laws in the early 20th century, questions 3–4 refer to the following excerpt:, what attitude did the progressives take towards the conditions described by sinclair, how did the progressives feel about women’s suffrage and prohibition, questions 5–7 refer to the following excerpt:, what consequences, if any, did world war i have for african-americans, what impact did world war i have on free speech in america, which of the following statements best describes american participation in world war i, questions 8–10 refer to the following excerpt:, what was the main strategy president roosevelt used in the new deal to try and end the great depression, what impact did president roosevelt’s new deal have on the us economy, what impact, if any, did the new deal have on us politics, questions 11–13 refer to the following excerpt:, what long-term factors led to world war ii, which of the following advantages helped the united states achieve victory in world war ii, what consequences did world war ii have on status of the united states, question 14 refers to the following excerpt:, which of the following sentences best describes the significance of the scopes trial, questions 15–18 refer to the following excerpt:, the zimmermann telegram was significant because it:, germany's intention to resume "unrestricted submarine warfare" was a direct threat to:, the territories mentioned in the telegram (texas, new mexico, and arizona) were previously:, the interception and publication of the zimmermann telegram by british intelligence:, questions 19–22 refer to the following excerpt:, the primary motivation for the great migration of african americans from the south was to:, the great migration had a significant impact on:, according to the excerpt, the great migration played a role in:, the "unmet promises made after the civil war" mentioned in the excerpt refer to:, questions 23–24 refer to the following excerpt:, how, if at all, did the status of women change in the early 20th century, based on the provided passage, which of the following best describes the societal attitudes towards women's roles during the early 20th century, questions 25–26 refer to the following excerpt:, what position did john muir take on the exploitation of natural resources within the national park system, considering the context of american history and the westward expansion era, which of the following best describes the underlying sentiment expressed in the provided passage, questions 27–28 refer to the following excerpt:, what impact did the spanish-american war have on the military and political status of the united states, the public reaction to the sinking of the uss maine was greatly impacted by which of the following.

Next Practice Test: Period 8 (1945–1980) >> AP US History Main Menu >>

AP® US History

Period 1: 1491 to 1607, short answer questions, columbian exchange and disease.

• Causation 2.v,
• Claims and Evidence in Sources 3.A,
• KC-1.2.II.A,
• Unit 1: Learning Objective D,
• Unit 1: Learning Objective E,

Pre-Columbian Native Life & Columbian Exchange

• Comparison 1.i,
• Comparison 1.ii,
• KC-1.1.I.A,
• KC-1.1.I.D,
• Unit 1: Learning Objective B

Spanish-Portuguese West African Slave Trade

• Claims and Evidence in Sources 3.B,
• Claims and Evidence in Sources 3.C,
• KC-1.2.II.C,
• Unit 1: Learning Objective E

Long Essay Questions

Spanish and native american relationships in pre-columbian life.

• Causation 2.i,
• Causation 2.ii,
• KC-1.2.II.B,

Tensions Between Spanish and Native Peoples

• Continuity and Change 3.i,
• KC-1.2.III.B,
• Unit 1: Learning Objective F,

Period 2: 1607 to 1754

Native alliances.

• KC-2.1.III.C,
• KC-2.1.III.E,

Chesapeake and Middle Colonies: Historical Comparisons

• KC-2.1.II.A,
• KC-2.1.II.C,
• Unit 1: Learning Objective C

Powhatan War

• Causation 2.iv,

British Control

• Continuity and Change 3.ii,
• Continuity and Change 3.iii,
• KC-2.1.III.D,
• KC-2.2.I.C,
• KC-2.2.I.D,
• Unit 2: Learning Objective I,

English Colonization and the Environment

• KC-2.1.II.B,
• Unit 2: Learning Objective C

The Development of Slavery

• Causation 2.iii,
• KC-2.2.II.A,

Period 3: 1754 to 1800

British economic measures before the revolution.

• KC-3.1.II.A,
• KC-3.2.I.C,
• Unit 3: Learning Objective C,
• Unit 3: Learning Objective F,

New Democratic and Republican Ideals

• KC-3.2.III.A,
• KC-3.2.III.B,
• Unit 3: Learning Objective L

Stamp Act Perspectives

The articles of confederation.

• KC-3.2.II.A,
• KC-3.2.II.B,
• KC-3.2.II.C.i,
• KC-3.3.I.C,
• Unit 3: Learning Objective H

Effects of French and Indian War

• KC-3.1.I.B,
• KC-3.1.I.C,
• Unit 3: Learning Objective B,

Foreign Policy Debates Between the Two Major Parties

• Unit 3: Learning Objective L,

Document-Based Questions (Standard)

Labor systems.

• KC-3.2.III.C,
• Unit 3: Learning Objective O,

Contrasting Political Visions

• Comparison 1.iii,
• KC-3.2.III.i,

Development of Political Parties

• KC-3.3.II.C,

Period 4: 1800 to 1848

Effects of the great awakening.

• KC-4.1.II.A.i,
• Unit 4: Learning Objective J

King Andrew

• KC-4.1.I.C,
• Sourcing and Situation 2.A,
• Sourcing and Situation 2.B,
• Unit 4: Learning Objective H

Party Politics, 1828-1848

Women in the antebellum era.

• KC-4.1.III.C,
• KC-4.2.II.A,
• KC-4.2.II.C,
• Unit 4: Learning Objective F

Jackson's Presidency

The war of 1812 and nationalism.

• KC-4.2.III.D,
• Unit 4: Learning Objective D,
• Unit 4: Learning Objective E,

The Second Great Awakening

• KC-4.1.III.A,
• KC-4.3.II.B.i,
• Unit 4: Learning Objective J,
• Unit 4: Learning Objective K

Period 5: 1844 to 1877

Civil war factors.

• Argumentation 6.A,
• Developments and Processes 1.A,
• Developments and Processes 1.B,
• KC-5.2.II.B.ii,
• KC-5.2.II.D,
• Unit 5: Learning Objective G,
• Unit 5: Learning Objective H

Manifest Destiny

• KC-5.1.I.A,
• KC-5.1.II.B,
• Unit 5: Learning Objective B

Thomas Nast and Reconstruction

• KC-6.3.II.C,
• Unit 6: Learning Objective C

Evaluating Reconstruction

• Argumentation 6.B,
• Argumentation 6.C,
• Argumentation 6.D,
• Contextualization 4.B,
• KC-5.3.II.A,
• KC-5.3.II.C,
• KC-5.3.II.D,
• KC-5.3.II.E,
• KC-5.3.II.ii,
• Unit 5: Learning Objective K,
• Unit 5: Learning Objective L

The Significance of the 13th Amendment

• Unit 5: Learning Objective K

Approaches to Abolition

• KC-4.1.III.B.i,
• KC-5.2.I.B,
• Sourcing and Situation 2.C,
• Unit 4: Learning Objective K,
• Unit 5: Learning Objective F

Causes of the Civil War

• KC-5.1.I.C,
• KC-5.2.I.A,
• KC-5.2.I.C,
• KC-5.2.II.A,
• KC-5.2.II.C,
• Unit 5: Learning Objective C,
• Unit 5: Learning Objective D,
• Unit 5: Learning Objective E,
• Unit 5: Learning Objective F,

Period 6: 1865 to 1898

Labor unrest.

• KC-6.1.II.C,
• Unit 6: Learning Objective E,

The Bosses of the Senate

• KC-6.1.I.D,

The Second Industrial Revolution

• KC-6.1.I.B.i,
• Unit 6: Learning Objective D,

Industrial Growth

• KC-6.1.I.B.ii,
• KC-6.1.I.C,
• KC-6.1.II.B.ii,
• KC-6.2.I.A,
• KC-6.2.I.B,
• KC-6.2.I.D,
• Unit 6: Learning Objective F,
• Unit 6: Learning Objective K,

The Response of Workers to a Changing Economy

• KC-6.1.III.A,
• KC-6.1.III.B,
• Unit 6: Learning Objective B,

Nast and National Tolerance

• KC-6.3.I.C,
• Unit 6: Learning Objective I,
• Unit 6: Learning Objective K

Period 7: 1890 to 1945

Comparing wwi and wwii.

• KC-7.3.II.E,
• Making Connections 5.A,
• Unit 7: Learning Objective A,

New Immigration

• KC-6.2.I.C,
• Unit 6: Learning Objective G

Suffragettes

• KC-7.1.II.B,
• KC-7.2.I.D,
• Sourcing and Situation 2.A

African American Migration

• Contextualization 4.A,
• KC-7.2.I.B,
• KC-7.2.II.C,
• Unit 7: Learning Objective G,
• Unit 7: Learning Objective I

The Role of the Federal Government

• KC-7.1.III,
• KC-7.1.III.A,
• Unit 7: Learning Objective J,
• Unit 7: Learning Objective K

Government Regulations

Organized labor, populists, and progressives.

• KC-6.1.III.C,

Period 8: 1945 to 1980

Civil rights and citizenship.

• KC-8.2.I.A,
• KC-8.2.I.B.ii,
• Unit 8: Learning Objective L,
• Unit 8: Learning Objective M
• KC-8.2.III.E,
• Unit 8: Learning Objective J

War on Poverty

• KC-8.2.II.C,
• KC-8.2.III.B.i,

Civil Rights and the Anti-Vietnam War Movements

• KC-8.1.II.B,
• KC-8.2.1.C,
• KC-8.2.I.B.i,
• KC-8.2.III.B.ii,
• KC-8.2.III.D,
• Unit 8: Learning Objective G,
• Unit 8: Learning Objective M,
• Unit 8: Learning Objective N

Comparing Social Movements

• KC-8.2.II.A,
• KC-8.2.II.B,

The Menace of Communism

• KC-8.1.I.B.i,
• KC-8.1.I.B.ii,
• KC-8.1.I.E,
• Unit 8: Learning Objective A,
• Unit 8: Learning Objective B,
• Unit 8: Learning Objective H,
• Unit 8: Learning Objective I,

Tracing the Historical Origins of the Civil Rights Movement

• Unit 8: Learning Objective J,

Civil Rights Movement

• Making Connections 5.B,

Period 9: 1980 - Present

Terrorism in the 1990s.

• KC-9.3.II.A,
• Unit 9: Learning Objective F,

U.S. Aid to the Contras

• KC-9.3.I.A,
• Unit 9: Learning Objective C,

Foreign Policy of George W. Bush and Barack Obama

• KC-9.3.I.C,
• KC-9.3.II.B,

Ronald Reagan and the New Deal

• KC-9.1.I.A,
• KC-9.1.I.B,
• Unit 9: Learning Objective B,
• Unit 9: Learning Objective G

AP U.S. History Notes: Period 7

April 12, 2024.

AP U.S. History Period 7 covers a critical period in U.S. History, including World War I, the Great Depression, and World War II. Maximize your AP test prep with APUSH Period 7 study notes and get an overview of what happened in Period 7 of APUSH, along with key exam topics and essential vocabulary. Looking for more APUSH test prep resources? Check out Barron’s AP U.S. History Premium Test Prep Book and our AP U.S. History Podcast.

AP U.S. History Notes: Period 7 Timeline

This graphic gives a brief timeline of key events that took place during AP U.S. History Period 7.

AP U.S. History Notes: Period 7 Overview

The seventh period covered on the AP U.S. history exam took place between the years 1890-1945 and is referred to as “The Challenges of the Era of Industrialization.” The United States faced a series of profound domestic and international challenges during the period 1890 to 1945. As the country became increasingly pluralistic, Americans debated how best to meet these challenges. Debate centered on the role of the government in the economic and social life of the country and on the role of the United States on the global stage.

13 Things to Know About AP U.S. History Period 7

1. In the late 1800s, the United States entered the overseas imperialism scramble after the major European powers began carving up Africa and Asia. As America became increasingly involved in world affairs, debates ensued in the United States about the country’s proper role. Many Americans resisted the idea of the United States embarking on overseas expansion.

2. A variety of motivations factored into the United States decision to wage war against Spain in 1898. The subsequent American victory in the Spanish-American War proved to be a turning point in United States history, making it one of the world’s imperialist powers.

3. The Progressive movement developed in the late 1890s and continued through the first decades of the twentieth century. Reformers and journalists addressed a host of issues associated with the growth of an industrial society.

4. As World War I (1914–1918) began in Europe, Americans began to debate the proper role of the United States in the world. The aftermath of the war led to debates about how the United States could best pursue international interests.

5. World War I opened opportunities for employment in war-related industries, leading to significant internal migrations to urban centers. At the same time, the years during and immediately following World War I saw a backlash against the experimentation of the Progressive era and a rise in patriotism and xenophobia.

6. In many ways, the 1920s witnessed the beginnings of many elements of the modern age. Large corporations came to dominate the American economy. Improvements in technology and new manufacturing techniques led to increased production of consumer goods, greater mobility, and improved standards of living. Finally, new forms of media paved the way for a mass-media culture, while also introducing Americans to a variety of regional cultural products.

7. The 1920s witnessed a startling array of cultural and political controversies. Conflicts around national identity, immigration reform, control of the workplace, and morality pitted Americans against one another.

8. The United States economy became increasingly volatile, with major downturns following the Panic of 1893 and the Panic of 1907. The most severe downturn was the Great Depression (1929–1939). These economic downturns led to calls for greater federal regulation of the economy.

9. During the depths of the 1930s Great Depression, President Franklin D. Roosevelt pushed for a series of reforms to address both the causes and effects of the economic crisis. These reforms, known as the “New Deal,” set a precedent for the federal government to play a more active role in the economic and social affairs of the nation.

10. The United States largely maintained a position of neutrality in the interwar years. It did, however, play an increasingly large role in international treaties and investment. International events in the 1930s increasingly drew the United States into world affairs.

11. In many ways, World War II required the participation of the entire American public, not simply members of the military. These efforts created a sense of unity and common cause in the country.

12. The United States, seeing participation in World War II as part of a global struggle against militarism and fascism, played an important role in the Allied victory over the Axis powers in World War II. At the same time, American participation in the war effort led to a reevaluation of ideas around race and gender.

13. With Europe and Asia ravaged from World War II, the United States emerged as the dominant power in the world. U.S. engagement in world affairs after the war was in marked contrast to its withdrawal from the international community following World War I.

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Ap u.s. history notes: key topics in period 7, imperialism: debates.

• World’s Columbian Exposition: The notion of racial hierarchy accepted by most white Americans was starkly displayed at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893, as a sideshow of the “exotic” peoples of the world was presented to fairgoers. These displays of “natives” were contrasted with the industry and progress of the advanced civilizations. The obvious implication was that the advances of civilization must be made available to the rest of the world.
• Missionaries: Christian missionary work went hand in hand with American expansion. Missionaries were eager to spread the gospel and introduce new populations to Christianity. Many of these missionaries targeted China’s large population.
• Hawaii: American missionaries arrived in Hawaii as early as the 1820s. Later in the century, American businessmen established massive sugar plantations, undermining the local economy. Discord between the businessmen and Queen Liliuokalani, ruler of the island, emerged after 1891.

The Spanish-American War and Its Aftermath

• The Spanish-American War: The roots of the Spanish-American War can be traced to an ongoing struggle in Cuba for independence from Spain. Three wars for independence occurred in the final decades of the 19th century (1868–1878, 1879–1880, and 1895–1898).
• The Treaty of Paris: The United States and Spain negotiated the Treaty of Paris, signed in 1898, following the war. In the treaty, Spain agreed to cede the Philippines, Puerto Rico, and Guam to the United States; the United States agreed to pay Spain $20 million for these possessions.
• Open Door Policy: The United States asserted that all of China should be open to trade with all nations. U.S. secretary of state John Hay, enunciated this goal in a note to the major powers, asserting an “open door” policy for China. The United States claimed to be concerned for the territorial integrity of China, but actually was more interested in gaining a foothold in trade with China. The “open door” policy was begrudgingly accepted by the major powers.
• The Boxer Rebellion: The Boxers led a rebellion that resulted in the death of more than 30,000 Chinese converts as well as 250 foreign nuns and approximately 200 Western missionaries. The United States participated in a multinational force to rescue Westerners held hostage by the Boxers (1900).
• The Panama Canal: With the acquisition of overseas Pacific territories and with increased interest in trade with China, American policymakers wanted a shortcut to Asia. Merchant ships and naval vessels had to travel around the southern tip of South America to reach the Pacific Ocean. The building of a canal through Panama, therefore, became a major goal for Roosevelt.
• Mexican Revolution: President Woodrow Wilson became enmeshed in the twists and turns of the Mexican Revolution, which lasted through the 1910s. The revolution began with the ousting of an autocratic leader in 1910. The revolution soon degenerated into a civil war that left nearly a million Mexicans dead.

The Progressives

• The Progressive Movement: The Progressive movement was essentially a middle-class response to the excesses of rapid industrialization, political corruption, and unplanned urbanization. Not only were middle-class college graduates the primary activists in the movement, but the tone and tenor of the movement was decidedly middle class.
• Nineteenth Amendment: Perhaps the most important reform to come out of the Progressive era was the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution (1920), which gave women the right to vote. The push for women’s suffrage dates back to at least the 1848 Seneca Falls Convention.
• Laissez-faire economics: Industrialists and their allies championed laissez-faire economics—the idea that the government should stay out of economic activities. By the early twentieth century, many Americans came to believe that unregulated industry could be harmful to individuals, communities, and even to the health of industrial capitalism itself.
• “Bad trusts:” President Roosevelt saw the concentration of economic power in a few hands as potentially dangerous to the economy as a whole. Although the Sherman Antitrust Act (1890) was passed to limit monopolistic practices, the act was not enforced with a great deal of enthusiasm. Roosevelt made a point of using the act to pursue “bad trusts”—ones that interfered with commerce—not necessarily the biggest trusts.
• Federal Reserve Act: Many economists and reformers grew apprehensive that the viability of the nation’s financial system was in the hands of a private banker. To address these concerns Wilson pushed for passage of the Federal Reserve Act, which created the Federal Reserve System in 1913. The Federal Reserve System, which is composed of twelve regional Federal Reserve Banks, is a partly privately controlled and partly publicly controlled central banking system.
• The Prohibition Movement: The movement equated the prohibition of alcohol with the quest to bring democracy to the world. The United States would purify the world of undemocratic forces and purify its citizens of corrupting alcohol. Furthermore, the anti-German sentiment that developed during World War I also played a role because many American breweries had German names. All these factors led to the ratification of the Eighteenth Amendment, which banned the production, sale, and transportation of alcohol as of January 1, 1920.

World War I: Military and Diplomacy

• World War I: Historians cite several developments that created an unstable, even dangerous, situation in Europe in the years before World War I. History teachers often graphically represent these factors as sticks of dynamite; the sticks, in such a drawing, are labeled “nationalism,” “imperialism,” “militarism,” and “the alliance system.”
• Franz Ferdinand: If the long-term causes of World War I are presented as sticks of dynamite, then the spark that ignited them was the assassination of the heir to the throne of the Austro-Hungarian empire.
• Zimmerman Note: Many Americans moved toward a pro-war position after the secret “Zimmerman Note” became public in March 1917. The intercepted telegram from German foreign secretary Arthur Zimmerman indicated that Germany would help Mexico regain territory it had lost to the United States if Mexico joined the war on Germany’s side. Americans took this as a threat to their territory.
• American Expeditionary Force: The United States entered World War I late in the conflict. It did provide the Allies—Great Britain and France—with much needed reinforcement. France and Great Britain had been at war for nearly three years when the United States joined the conflict. The two million soldiers of the American Expeditionary Force proved to be crucial in Allied offensives that led to victory.
• Armistice: An armistice was signed on November 11, 1918, bringing World War I to a close. American troops suffered over 300,000 casualties, including over 50,000 battlefield deaths and over 60,000 non-combat deaths (many from the deadly “Spanish flu” epidemic that soon raged around the world).
• Fourteen Points: President Wilson put forth a document, known as the Fourteen Points (1918), which emphasized international cooperation. He envisioned a world order based on freedom of the seas, removal of barriers to trade, self-determination for European peoples, and an international organization to resolve conflicts. These ideas were rejected by the victorious European powers, with the exception of the creation of the League of Nations.

World War I: Home Front

• Espionage and Sedition Act: The Espionage and Sedition Acts were passed during World War I to put limits on public expressions of antiwar sentiment. The Espionage Act (1917) made it a crime to interfere with the draft or with the sale of war bonds, or to say anything “disloyal” about the war effort. The Sedition Act (1918) extended the reach of the Espionage Act.
• “Red Scare:” The “Red Scare,” a campaign against Communists, anarchists, and other radicals, also targeted labor leaders, attempting to portray the labor movement as a front for radical organizing. The Red Scare was a grassroots response of ordinary Americans as well as a government-orchestrated campaign.
• Nativism: Nativism, or opposition to immigration, rose sharply during World War I. Government propaganda designed to prod Americans to support the war effort frequently vilified Germans, labeling them “Huns” and portraying them as ruthless killers
• The Great Migration: The needs of industry for labor during World War I led to the Great Migration of African Americans out of the South, which lasted until the onset of the Great Depression (a second wave of the migration occurred during and after World War II).

1920s: Innovation in Communications and Technology

• Henry Ford: The most important figure in the development of new production techniques was automaker Henry Ford. In 1913 he opened a plant with a continuous conveyor belt. The belt moved the chassis of the car from worker to worker so that each did a small task in the process of assembling the final product. Although this mass-production technique reduced the price of his Model T car and made it affordable to the middle class, the assembly line dealt a blow to the skilled mechanics who had previously built automobiles.
• Advertising: The advertising industry also changed a great deal in the 1920s. Advertising and public relations men tapped into the ideas of Freudian psychology and emerging ideas around crowd psychology. Many ads in this period attempted to reach the public on a subconscious level, rather than just presenting products and services in a straightforward manner.
• The Jazz Singer: Movie attendance achieved staggering levels in the 1920s. By the end of the decade, three-fourths of the American people (roughly 90 million) were going to the movies every week. The first “talkie,” The Jazz Singer, came out in 1927.

1920’s: Cultural and Political Controversies

• “Flappers:” The new image of women during the 1920s was symbolized by the popularity of the “flappers” and their style of dress. Flappers were independent-minded young women of the 1920s who openly defied Victorian moral codes about “proper” lady-like behavior.
• The Nativist Movement: A large wave of immigrants from southern and eastern Europe had arrived in the United States between 1880 and 1920. Many Americans came to resent this wave of immigrants, fueling a popular nativist movement. There are several reasons nativists resented this new wave of immigration. Some nativists focused on the fact that most of the new immigrants were not Protestant.
• Harlem Renaissance: The Great Migration of African Americans from the rural South to the urban North contributed to the Harlem Renaissance, a literary, artistic, and intellectual movement centered in the primarily Black neighborhood of Harlem, in New York City.
• “Lost Generation:” The “Lost Generation” literary movement of the 1920s expressed a general disillusionment with society, commenting on everything from the narrowness of small-town life to the rampant materialism of American society. Several writers were troubled by the destruction and seeming meaninglessness of World War I.
• The Ku Klux Klan: The original Ku Klux Klan, a violent, racist group with its roots in the immediate aftermath of the Civil War, had died out in the 1880s. In the 1920s, however, the organization was a genuine mass movement. By 1925, it had grown to three million members, according to its own estimate. The Klan was devoted to white supremacy and “100 percent Americanism.” The white supremacist ideology of the Ku Klux Klan was evident in a number of race riots in the United States in the late 1910s and 1920s

The Great Depression

• Panic of 1893: The Panic of 1893 signaled the beginning of the worst economic depression in American history before the Great Depression of the 1930s. The crisis began when the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad went bankrupt; two months later the National Cordage Company also failed. These bankruptcies led to a major decline in stock prices. Because many leading banks had invested their assets in the stock market, a wave of bank failures soon followed.
• Panic of 1907: The economy took a serious downturn following the Panic of 1907. This panic involved a major fall in stock prices, which was caused by a lack of confidence in major New York banks. Several banks had invested in a scheme to gain control of the United Copper Company. When the scheme unraveled, there were runs on several of the banks that had invested large sums of money.
• “Black Thursday:” By the late 1920s, serious investors began to see that stock prices were reaching new heights as the actual earnings of major corporations were declining. This discrepancy between the price per share and the actual earnings of corporations led investors to begin selling stocks, which stimulated panic selling. Starting on October 24, 1929, “Black Thursday,” and continuing the following week, the stock market crashed, destroying many individuals’ investments.
• “Rugged Individualism:” Rather than expand federal intervention into the economy to address the dislocations of the Great Depression, President Hoover (1929–1933) invoked the idea of “rugged individualism”—the belief that the problems of the nation could best be solved by the determination and resolve of the American people.

The New Deal

• The New Deal: The Roosevelt administration developed a series of programs known collectively as the New Deal. Previously, people received assistance in times of need from churches, settlement houses, and other private charities. However, the levels of poverty and unemployment during the Great Depression were unprecedented. Roosevelt believed that the government needed to take action. The New Deal provided relief to individuals through a variety of agencies.
• Glass-Steagall Act: The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, created by the Glass-Steagall Act in 1933, insures deposits so that if a bank does fold, people do not lose their savings.
• Securities and Exchange Commission: Many individuals had lost confidence in the stock market after the 1929 crash, which was partly caused by unsound fiscal practices. The Securities and Exchange Commission was created to oversee stock market operations by monitoring transactions, licensing brokers, limiting buying on margin, and prohibiting insider trading.
• Communist Party: Although the Communist Party never attracted a large following in the United States, it did gain new members and exerted influence beyond its numbers in the 1930s. Some Americans came to believe that the Great Depression was evidence that the capitalist system was simply not working. Others were impressed with the reported achievements of the Soviet Union.
• Second New Deal: With mounting pressure from a variety of populist and leftwing forces, and with a presidential election looming in 1936, Roosevelt introduced a second set of programs known as the Second New Deal. This second phase of the New Deal was less about shaping the different sectors of the economy and more about providing assistance and support to the working class.
• “Roosevelt Recession:” President Roosevelt’s move to cut spending on New Deal programs contributed in 1938 to a further downturn in economic activity, known as the “Roosevelt Recession.”
• “Dust Bowl:” From 1934 to 1937, parts of Texas, Oklahoma, and surrounding areas of the Great Plains suffered from a major drought. The area was so dry that it became known as the “Dust Bowl.” The Dust Bowl was caused by unsustainable over-farming coupled with a devastating drought. The natural grass cover of the region had been removed in the years leading up to the Dust Bowl, as wheat farmers increased the number of acres under cultivation. With this natural root system gone, the fertile topsoil simply blew away when drought struck from 1934 to 1937.

Interwar Foreign Policy

• Kellogg-Briand Pact: The United States was one of sixty-three nations to sign the Kellogg-Briand Pact, renouncing war in principle. Because the pact was negotiated outside of the League of Nations, it was unenforceable.
• Good Neighbor Policy: Upon taking office in 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt began to pursue a more conciliatory policy in Latin America. FDR’s Good Neighbor policy was, he said, designed to create “more order in this hemisphere and less dislike.” In 1933, Secretary of State Cordell Hull signed a formal declaration, at the Inter-American Conference in Uruguay, that no nation had the right to interfere in the internal affairs of another nation.
• Isolationists: As events degenerated into armed conflicts in Europe and Asia 1930s, a debate occurred in the United States about America’s role. Isolationists argued strongly that the United States should stay out of world affairs. Many isolationists looked back to World War I as a lesson in the futility of getting involved in European affairs. The United States had lost over 100,000 men in World War I for no apparent reason, they argued. World War I had not made the world safe for democracy.
• Interventionists: Interventionists believed that the United States could no longer stand apart. Airplanes and submarines could bring the war to the United States very quickly. If Britain were defeated, there would be nothing standing between Hitler and America. Interventionists believed the Atlantic Ocean would be a means for Hitler to bring his war machine to the United States. Also, many interventionists believed the war in Europe was different from earlier European quarrels over territory or national pride. They believed that if Hitler was successful, civilization itself would be threatened. They were convinced that the Axis Powers were determined to defeat democratic forces all over the world.
• World War II: The question of the role of the United States in affairs of the world grew more intense in 1939 as World War II formally began. The war started after German dictator Adolf Hitler ordered an attack on Poland. Britain and France quickly declared war on Germany.
• Pearl Harbor: Debates about intervention ended abruptly on December 7, 1941, when Japanese warplanes attacked Pearl Harbor, the U.S. naval base in Hawaii. Almost immediately, the United States entered World War II. With American involvement in the war, the isolationist position was largely silenced.

World War II: Mobilization

• Office of Price Administration: During the war, there were shortages of items because of the needs of the military. Starting in 1942, the Office of Price Administration began rationing key commodities to civilians, such as gasoline and tires.
• “Rosie the Riveter:” Many recruiting posters were produced by the government, usually through the Office of War Information, showing women in industrial settings. The fictional “Rosie the Riveter” character was often featured in this public relations campaign. Female workers were presented in a positive light—helping the nation as well as supporting the men in combat abroad. Such a campaign was needed because prewar societal mores discouraged women from doing industrial work.
• Executive Order 9066: In 1942, President Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066 authorizing the government to remove more than 100,000 Japanese Americans from West Coast states and relocate them to distant camps in more than a dozen western states. The order applied to both Issei (Japanese Americans who had emigrated from Japan) and Nisei (native-born Japanese Americans). Most of their property was confiscated by the government. In Korematsu v. United States (1944), the Supreme Court ruled that the relocation was acceptable on the grounds of national security.

World War II: Military

• The Holocaust: The Holocaust was the systematic murder of six million European Jews and millions of other “undesirables” by the Nazis. The roots of the Holocaust pre-date World War II, with Nazi persecution of the Jews in Germany and in territories it took over in the 1930s. In 1939, Adolf Hitler and other leading Nazis developed plans for a “final solution of the Jewish question,” with the object of eliminating Europe’s Jewish populations.
• Nanjing Massacre: Europe. In 1937, Japan widened its military campaign against China, overrunning most of China’s port cities. In the city of Nanjing, Japanese troops killed thousands of civilians. While the exact number of people killed is in dispute, the Nanjing Massacre, also referred to as the Rape of Nanjing, resulted in at least 80,000 deaths and perhaps as many as 300,000.
• Battle of Midway: In June of 1942, the United States achieved a victory over the Japanese fleet in the Battle of Midway. After Midway, the United States steadily began to push Japanese forces back toward the Japanese home islands.
• D-Day: In June 1944, the Allies stormed the beaches of Normandy, France, and began pushing Hitler’s forces back toward Germany. On “D-Day” itself, June 6, nearly 200,000 Allied troops landed.
• V-E Day: By April 1945, the Soviets were on the outskirts of Hitler’s capital, Berlin, which was under devastating bombardment. On April 30, Hitler committed suicide; on May 7, Germany surrendered: “Victory in Europe Day.”
• Manhattan Project: In July 1945, just as preparations were under way for a final offensive against Japan, President Truman learned that the United States (in collaboration with Britain and Canada) had successfully tested an atomic bomb and that more bombs were ready for use. Since 1942, scientists in the top-secret Manhattan Project had been working on this terrifying and deadly weapon. The project involved several research labs at different sites. The facility at Los Alamos, New Mexico, headed by physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, was charged with construction of the bomb.
• Hiroshima & Nagasaki: The United States used this new weapon twice on Japan. On August 6, 1945, the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima; on August 9, a second bomb was dropped on Nagasaki. As many as 226,000 people died. Soon after, on September 2, Japan officially surrendered, ending World War II.

Postwar Diplomacy

• Yalta Conference: The Yalta Conference, held in February 1945, was the most significant, and last, meeting of Churchill, Stalin, and Roosevelt. At Yalta, a coastal city in Crimea, the “big three” agreed to divide Germany into four military zones of occupation (the fourth zone would be occupied by France).
• Nuremberg trials: The victorious nations set up this international tribunal to try leading Nazis for waging aggressive war and for crimes against humanity. At these trials, about thirty American judges participated. Associate Supreme Court Justice Robert H. Jackson was the chief prosecutor at the Nuremberg trials. Many of the Nazis defended themselves by claiming that they were merely following orders.

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AP®︎/College US History

Course: ap®︎/college us history   >   unit 10, ap us history periods and themes.

• AP US History multiple choice example 1
• AP US History multiple choice example 2
• AP US History short answer example 1
• AP US History short answer example 2
• AP US History DBQ example 1
• AP US History DBQ example 2
• AP US History DBQ example 3
• AP US History DBQ example 4
• AP US History long essay example 1
• AP US History long essay example 2
• AP US History long essay example 3
• Preparing for the AP US History Exam (5/4/2016)
• AP US History Exam Prep Session (5/1/2017)

AP US history periods and themes

Example ap us history problems, key terms, documents, and court cases to know, primary documents:.

John Winthrop, “City on a Hill” / “A Model of Christian Charity”

Jonathan Edwards, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”

Thomas Jefferson, “Declaration of Independence”

James Madison, “Constitution of the United States”

Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, “Declaration of Sentiments”

Frederick Douglass, “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?”

Harriet Beecher Stowe, “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” (main ideas)

Abraham Lincoln, “House Divided” speech, Second Inaugural Address

Sojourner Truth, “Ain’t I a Woman?”

Andrew Carnegie, “The Gospel of Wealth” (main ideas)

Josiah Strong, “Our Country” (main ideas)

Upton Sinclair “The Jungle” (main ideas)

Franklin Delano Roosevelt, First Inaugural Address, December 8 1941 address

George Kennan, “Long Telegram”

Martin Luther King Jr. “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, “I Have a Dream” speech

Betty Friedan “The Feminine Mystique” (main ideas)

Ronald Reagan “Evil Empire” speech

Supreme Court cases:

Marbury v. Madison

Dred Scott v. Sanford

Plessy v. Ferguson

Brown v. Board of Education

Roe v. Wade

Bush v. Gore

Foreign policy doctrines:

Monroe Doctrine

Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine

Truman Doctrine

Nixon Doctrine

Bush Doctrine

virgin soil epidemic

salutary neglect / benign neglect

mercantilism

Anti-Federalist

isolationism

judicial review

Democratic-Republican

Jacksonian Democracy

nullification

popular sovereignty

Emancipation

Jim Crow segregation

sharecropping

mass production

labor union

imperialism

self-determination

prohibition

laissez-faire economics

liberalism (economics/politics)

Soviet Union

containment

Domino Theory

non-violent protest (Civil Rights)

Vietnamization

conservatism

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Unit 7 DBQ (International Expansion)

4 min read • november 17, 2021

Exam simulation mode

Prep for the AP exam with questions that mimic the test!

AP US History Document-Based Question for International Expansion

👋 Welcome to the AP US History Unit 7 DBQ (International Expansion) . These are longer questions, so grab some paper and a pencil, or open up a blank page on your computer. After you finish, you can see how you did with the Unit 7 DBQ (International Expansion) Answers .

⏱ The AP US History exam has a mixture of free-response questions and allotted times. For these types of questions, there will be 1 DBQ, and you will be given 60 minutes to complete it. It is suggested that you spend 15 minutes to read the documents and spend 45 minutes to draft your response .

🤔 Need a quick refresher of the unit as a whole? Check out the Unit 7 Overview .

😩 Getting stumped halfway through answering? Look through all of the available Unit 7 Resources .

In your response you should do the following:

Respond to the prompt with a historically defensible thesis or claim that establishes a line of reasoning.

Describe a broader historical context relevant to the prompt.

Support an argument in response to the prompt using at least six documents.

Use at least one additional piece of specific historical evidence (beyond that found in the documents) relevant to an argument about the prompt.

For at least three documents, explain how or why the document’s point of view, purpose, historical situation, and/or audience is relevant to an argument.

Use evidence to corroborate, qualify, or modify an argument that addresses the prompt.

Adapted from College Board DBQ Instructions

Evaluate the extent to which international expansion fostered changes in the United States from 1890 to 1914.

Document 1 (Thayer Mahan)

Source : The Influence of Sea Power upon History, 1660-1783. Alfred Thayer Mahan.

“The history of sea power is largely, though by no means solely, a narrative of contests between nations, of mutual rivalries, of violence frequently culminating in war. The profound influence of sea commerce upon the wealth and strength of countries was clearly seen long before the true principles which governed its growth and prosperity were detected. To secure to one's own people a disproportionate share of such benefits, every effort was made to exclude others, either by the peaceful legislative methods of monopoly or prohibitory regulations, or, when these failed, by direct violence. The clash of interests, the angry feelings roused by conflicting attempts thus to appropriate the larger share, if not the whole, of the advantages of commerce, and of distant unsettled commercial regions, led to wars….

Document 2 (Schurz)

Source : The Policy of Imperialism: Address by Hon. Carl Schurz at the Anti-Imperialist Conference in Chicago. Oct 17, 1899.

We earnestly condemned the policy of the present national administration in the Philippines. It seeks to extinguish the spirit of 1776 in those islands. We deplore the sacrifice of our soldiers and sailors, whose bravery deserves admiration even in an unjust war. We denounce the slaughter of the Filipinos as a needless horror. We protest against the extension of American sovereignty by Spanish methods...We demand the immediate cessation of the war against liberty, begun by Spain and continued by us.

Document 3 (Library of Congress, Illustration )

Source : Library of Congress, 1905.

Image courtesy of the Library of Congress

Document 4 (Hay to White)

Source : John Hay to Andrew D. White, First Open Door Note, September 6, 1899.

The present moment seems a particularly opportune one for informing Her Britannic Majesty’s Government of the desire of the United States to see it make a formal declaration and to lend its support in obtaining similar declarations from the various powers claiming “spheres of influence” in China, to the effect that each in its respective spheres of interest or influence — First. Will in no way interfere with any treaty port or any vested interest within any so-called “sphere of interest” or leased territory it may have in China. Second. That the Chinese treaty tariff of the time being shall apply to all merchandise landed or shipped to all such ports as are within said “sphere of interest” (unless they be “free ports”), no matter to what nationality it may belong, and that duties so leviable shall be collected by the Chinese Government.

Document 5 (Queen Liliuokalani)

Source : Letter from Liliuokalani, Queen of Hawaii to U.S. House of Representatives, December 19, 1898.

The House of Representatives of the United States: I, Liliuokalani of Hawaii, named heir apparent on the 10th day of April, 1877, and proclaimed Queen of the Hawaiian islands on the 28th day of January, 1891, do hereby and earnestly and respectfully protest against the assertion of the ownership by the United States of America of the so-called Hawaiian Crown Islands amounting to about one million acres and which are my property, and I especially protest against such assertion of ownership as a taking of property without due process of law and without just or other compensation….

Document 6 (Harper's Weekly)

Source : Harper's Weekly, Nov 21, 1903.

Image courtesy of Wikipedia

Document 7 (Platt Amendment)

Source : Transcript of Platt Amendment, 1903.

That the government of Cuba shall never enter into any treaty or other compact with any foreign power or powers which will impair or tend to impair the independence of Cuba, nor in any manner authorize or permit any foreign power or powers to obtain by colonization or for military or naval purposes or otherwise, lodgment in or control over any portion of said island."

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