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U.S. History Concept List

Period 1: The New World and Early Contact (c. 1491–1607)

  1. Pre-Columbian Civilizations
  2. Indigenous North American Cultures
  3. Aztec Empire
  4. Inca Empire
  5. Mississippian Culture
  6. Iroquois Confederacy
  7. European Exploration Motives
  8. Christopher Columbus
  9. Spanish Conquistadors
  10. Columbian Exchange
  11. Disease and Indigenous Depopulation
  12. French Exploration
  13. Dutch Exploration
  14. English Exploration
  15. Treaty of Tordesillas
  16. Encomienda System
  17. Atlantic Slave Trade Origins
  18. Jamestown Settlement
  19. John Smith
  20. Powhatan Confederacy

Period 2: Colonial America (1607–1754)

  1. New England Colonies
  2. Middle Colonies
  3. Southern Colonies
  4. Puritan Migration
  5. Massachusetts Bay Colony
  6. Roger Williams and Rhode Island
  7. Anne Hutchinson
  8. Headright System
  9. Indentured Servitude
  10. Slavery in the Colonies
  11. Triangular Trade
  12. Mercantilism
  13. Navigation Acts
  14. Bacon's Rebellion
  15. Salem Witch Trials
  16. Colonial Governance
  17. Town Meetings
  18. House of Burgesses
  19. Great Awakening
  20. Jonathan Edwards
  21. Colonial Social Structure
  22. Plantation Economy
  23. Middle Passage
  24. Colonial Education
  25. Albany Plan of Union

Period 3: Revolution and the Early Republic (1754–1800)

  1. French and Indian War
  2. Proclamation of 1763
  3. Stamp Act
  4. Townshend Acts
  5. Boston Massacre
  6. Boston Tea Party
  7. Intolerable Acts
  8. First Continental Congress
  9. Lexington and Concord
  10. Second Continental Congress
  11. Common Sense (Paine)
  12. Declaration of Independence
  13. Thomas Jefferson
  14. Revolutionary War Major Battles
  15. Valley Forge
  16. Marquis de Lafayette
  17. Treaty of Paris 1783
  18. Articles of Confederation
  19. Shays' Rebellion
  20. Constitutional Convention
  21. Great Compromise
  22. Three-Fifths Compromise
  23. Federalism
  24. Anti-Federalism
  25. Federalist Papers
  26. Bill of Rights
  27. George Washington as President
  28. Alexander Hamilton
  29. Thomas Jefferson as Secretary of State
  30. National Bank Debate
  31. Washington's Farewell Address
  32. John Adams Presidency
  33. XYZ Affair
  34. Alien and Sedition Acts
  35. Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions

Period 4: Expansion and Reform (1800–1848)

  1. Election of 1800
  2. Jeffersonian Democracy
  3. Louisiana Purchase
  4. Lewis and Clark Expedition
  5. Marbury v. Madison
  6. Judicial Review
  7. War of 1812
  8. Era of Good Feelings
  9. Monroe Doctrine
  10. Missouri Compromise
  11. Jacksonian Democracy
  12. Andrew Jackson
  13. Spoils System
  14. Nullification Crisis
  15. Indian Removal Act
  16. Trail of Tears
  17. Second Bank of the United States
  18. Manifest Destiny
  19. Texas Revolution
  20. Mexican-American War
  21. Seneca Falls Convention
  22. Abolitionism
  23. Frederick Douglass
  24. William Lloyd Garrison
  25. Underground Railroad
  26. Temperance Movement
  27. Women's Rights Movement
  28. Transcendentalism
  29. Industrial Revolution in America
  30. Market Revolution
  31. Transportation Revolution
  32. Erie Canal

Period 5: Sectionalism, Civil War, and Reconstruction (1844–1877)

  1. Sectionalism
  2. Compromise of 1850
  3. Fugitive Slave Act
  4. Uncle Tom's Cabin
  5. Kansas-Nebraska Act
  6. Bleeding Kansas
  7. Republican Party Formation
  8. Dred Scott Decision
  9. Lincoln-Douglas Debates
  10. John Brown's Raid
  11. Election of 1860
  12. Southern Secession
  13. Confederate States of America
  14. Abraham Lincoln
  15. Civil War Causes
  16. Fort Sumter
  17. Anaconda Plan
  18. Battle of Antietam
  19. Emancipation Proclamation
  20. Battle of Gettysburg
  21. Total War Strategy
  22. Thirteenth Amendment
  23. Fourteenth Amendment
  24. Fifteenth Amendment
  25. Reconstruction Plans
  26. Radical Reconstruction
  27. Freedmen's Bureau
  28. Carpetbaggers and Scalawags
  29. Black Codes
  30. Ku Klux Klan Origins
  31. Compromise of 1877
  32. Redeemer South
  33. Sharecropping System

Period 6: Industrialization, Immigration, and the Gilded Age (1865–1898)

  1. Transcontinental Railroad
  2. Railroad Expansion
  3. Rise of Big Business
  4. Robber Barons
  5. Andrew Carnegie
  6. John D. Rockefeller
  7. J.P. Morgan
  8. Social Darwinism
  9. Horizontal Integration
  10. Vertical Integration
  11. Trusts and Monopolies
  12. Sherman Antitrust Act
  13. Labor Movement Origins
  14. Knights of Labor
  15. American Federation of Labor
  16. Samuel Gompers
  17. Homestead Strike
  18. Pullman Strike
  19. New Immigration Wave
  20. Ellis Island
  21. Urbanization
  22. Tenement Housing
  23. Political Machines
  24. Tammany Hall
  25. Populist Movement
  26. William Jennings Bryan
  27. Farmers' Alliance
  28. Gold Standard Debate
  29. Gilded Age Politics
  30. Civil Service Reform
  31. Pendleton Act
  32. Native American Wars
  33. Battle of Little Bighorn
  34. Dawes Act
  35. Ghost Dance Movement
  36. Closing of the Frontier

Period 7: Progressivism, Imperialism, and World War I (1890–1920)

  1. Progressive Era
  2. Muckrakers
  3. Upton Sinclair and The Jungle
  4. Ida Tarbell
  5. Jacob Riis
  6. Theodore Roosevelt
  7. Square Deal
  8. Trust-Busting
  9. Pure Food and Drug Act
  10. Sixteenth Amendment (Income Tax)
  11. Seventeenth Amendment (Direct Election)
  12. Eighteenth Amendment (Prohibition)
  13. Nineteenth Amendment (Women's Suffrage)
  14. Susan B. Anthony
  15. Women's Suffrage Movement
  16. NAACP Formation
  17. Booker T. Washington
  18. W.E.B. Du Bois
  19. Spanish-American War
  20. USS Maine Incident
  21. Treaty of Paris 1898
  22. Philippines Acquisition
  23. Anti-Imperialist League
  24. Panama Canal
  25. Roosevelt Corollary
  26. Dollar Diplomacy
  27. Woodrow Wilson
  28. World War I Causes
  29. Zimmermann Telegram
  30. U.S. Entry into WWI
  31. Selective Service Act
  32. Home Front Mobilization (WWI)
  33. Committee on Public Information
  34. Espionage and Sedition Acts
  35. Fourteen Points
  36. Treaty of Versailles
  37. Senate Rejection of League of Nations
  38. Red Scare (First)
  39. Palmer Raids

Period 8: Roaring Twenties and Great Depression (1920–1941)

  1. Consumer Culture of 1920s
  2. Automobile Culture
  3. Mass Media and Radio
  4. Harlem Renaissance
  5. Langston Hughes
  6. Jazz Age
  7. Prohibition Era
  8. Bootlegging and Organized Crime
  9. Scopes Trial
  10. Nativism and Anti-Immigration
  11. Emergency Quota Act
  12. National Origins Act
  13. Ku Klux Klan 1920s Revival
  14. 1929 Stock Market Crash
  15. Causes of the Great Depression
  16. Bank Failures
  17. Herbert Hoover's Response
  18. Hoovervilles
  19. Bonus Army
  20. Franklin D. Roosevelt
  21. New Deal Programs
  22. Civilian Conservation Corps
  23. Social Security Act
  24. Tennessee Valley Authority
  25. Wagner Act
  26. Court-Packing Plan
  27. Dust Bowl
  28. Okies Migration
  29. Rise of Fascism in Europe
  30. Hitler and Nazi Germany
  31. U.S. Isolationism Pre-WWII
  32. Neutrality Acts

Period 9: World War II and Early Cold War (1939–1960)

  1. German Blitzkrieg
  2. Lend-Lease Act
  3. Attack on Pearl Harbor
  4. U.S. Entry into WWII
  5. Home Front War Production
  6. Women in the Workforce (WWII)
  7. Rosie the Riveter
  8. Japanese American Internment
  9. Korematsu v. United States
  10. D-Day (Normandy Invasion)
  11. Island Hopping Strategy
  12. Manhattan Project
  13. Atomic Bombs on Japan
  14. Holocaust and U.S. Response
  15. Yalta Conference
  16. United Nations Formation
  17. Origins of the Cold War
  18. Containment Policy
  19. Truman Doctrine
  20. Marshall Plan
  21. Berlin Blockade
  22. NATO Formation
  23. Korean War
  24. McCarthyism
  25. House Un-American Activities Committee
  26. Arms Race
  27. Space Race
  28. Eisenhower and Military-Industrial Complex
  29. Interstate Highway System
  30. Baby Boom

Period 10: Civil Rights, Great Society, and Vietnam (1954–1975)

  1. Brown v. Board of Education
  2. Montgomery Bus Boycott
  3. Rosa Parks
  4. Martin Luther King Jr.
  5. Southern Christian Leadership Conference
  6. Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee
  7. Sit-In Movement
  8. Freedom Riders
  9. Birmingham Campaign
  10. March on Washington
  11. Civil Rights Act of 1964
  12. Voting Rights Act of 1965
  13. Malcolm X
  14. Black Power Movement
  15. Fair Housing Act of 1968
  16. Great Society Programs
  17. Medicare and Medicaid
  18. Lyndon B. Johnson
  19. Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
  20. Vietnam War Escalation
  21. Tet Offensive
  22. Anti-War Movement
  23. Kent State Shooting
  24. Pentagon Papers
  25. Nixon and Détente
  26. Watergate Scandal
  27. Twenty-Fourth Amendment
  28. Immigration and Nationality Act 1965
  29. Counterculture Movement
  30. Second-Wave Feminism
  31. Roe v. Wade
  32. American Indian Movement
  33. César Chávez and Farmworkers

Period 11: Reagan Era to Modern Day (1975–Present)

  1. Ford and Carter Administrations
  2. Oil Crisis and Stagflation
  3. Iranian Hostage Crisis
  4. Reagan Revolution
  5. Supply-Side Economics (Reaganomics)
  6. Tax Reform Act 1986
  7. Cold War End
  8. Gorbachev and Glasnost
  9. Fall of Berlin Wall
  10. Dissolution of Soviet Union
  11. Gulf War 1991
  12. Clinton Era and Globalization
  13. NAFTA
  14. Welfare Reform Act 1996
  15. 9/11 Attacks
  16. War on Terror
  17. USA PATRIOT Act
  18. Iraq War 2003
  19. Hurricane Katrina Response
  20. 2008 Financial Crisis
  21. Obama Presidency
  22. Affordable Care Act
  23. Digital Revolution
  24. Social Media and Political Polarization
  25. Tea Party Movement
  26. Black Lives Matter
  27. Trump Presidency
  28. COVID-19 Pandemic Response
  29. Political Polarization
  30. Immigration Debates

Period 12: Age of AI (2010–Present)

  1. History of Artificial Intelligence
  2. Machine Learning Fundamentals
  3. Deep Learning Revolution
  4. Semiconductor Industry
  5. Geopolitics of Semiconductors
  6. TSMC and Taiwan
  7. NVIDIA and GPU Computing
  8. ASML and EUV Lithography
  9. U.S.-China Chip Wars
  10. U.S. Export Controls on AI Chips
  11. China Domestic Chip Development
  12. AI and National Security
  13. Large Language Models
  14. Disinformation and AI
  15. Election Interference and AI
  16. State-Sponsored Cyber Warfare
  17. Stuxnet Cyberattack
  18. SolarWinds Attack
  19. Volt Typhoon Operation
  20. Military-Industrial Complex Transformation
  21. Drone Warfare
  22. Russia-Ukraine War as AI Laboratory
  23. FPV Drone Swarms
  24. Electronic Warfare
  25. Starlink as Military Utility
  26. Autonomous Weapons Systems
  27. Human-in-the-Loop Requirements
  28. AI Safety Definitions
  29. Historical Technology Power Shifts

Cross-Cutting Themes: Historical Thinking Skills

  1. Historical Causation
  2. Continuity and Change Over Time
  3. Historical Comparison
  4. Historical Contextualization
  5. Sourcing Primary Documents
  6. Corroboration of Evidence
  7. Close Reading Skills
  8. Argumentation in History
  9. Revisionist vs. Traditional History

Cross-Cutting Themes: Systems Thinking

  1. Systems Thinking Fundamentals
  2. Causal Loop Diagrams
  3. Feedback Loops in History
  4. Reinforcing Feedback Loops
  5. Balancing Feedback Loops
  6. Unintended Consequences
  7. Supply Chain Fragility
  8. Arms Race Dynamics
  9. Second-Order Effects

Cross-Cutting Themes: Cognitive Bias

  1. Cognitive Bias Overview
  2. Confirmation Bias
  3. Hindsight Bias
  4. Availability Heuristic
  5. In-Group Favoritism
  6. Presentism in History
  7. Bias in Historical Sources

Cross-Cutting Themes: Misinformation

  1. Misinformation Detection
  2. Lost Cause Narrative
  3. Propaganda Analysis
  4. Lateral Reading
  5. Source Triangulation
  6. Fact-Checking Strategies
  7. Historical Myths

AP Themes

  1. American and National Identity
  2. Work Exchange and Technology
  3. Geography and the Environment
  4. Migration and Settlement
  5. Politics and Power
  6. America in the World
  7. America and Culture

Supplementary Concepts

  1. Federalism vs States Rights
  2. Separation of Powers
  3. Checks and Balances
  4. First Amendment Freedoms
  5. Fourth Amendment Rights
  6. Due Process
  7. Equal Protection Clause
  8. Constitutional Amendments Overview
  9. Supreme Court Role
  10. Judicial Precedent
  11. Habeas Corpus
  12. Executive Power Expansion
  13. Congressional War Powers
  14. Filibuster and Senate Rules
  15. Electoral College
  16. Political Party Evolution
  17. Third Party Movements
  18. Lobbying and Interest Groups
  19. Media and Public Opinion
  20. Muckraking Journalism Legacy
  21. Investigative Journalism
  22. Freedom of the Press
  23. Propaganda Techniques
  24. Public Lands Policy
  25. Environmental Conservation History
  26. National Parks System
  27. Climate Change Policy History
  28. Labor Rights Evolution
  29. Minimum Wage History
  30. Social Safety Net Development
  31. Income Inequality History
  32. Wealth and Power Concentration
  33. Immigration Policy History
  34. Nativism and Xenophobia
  35. Racial Categories in Law
  36. Jim Crow Laws
  37. Desegregation History