APUSH - Study Faster
How can these notes even help me?
● WHAP vs APUSH Mindsets
○ The AP Histories have three types of FRQ structures:
■ Comparison
■ Change and Continuities over Time (CCOT)
■ Causation
○ APUSH tends to use CCOT and Causation more because of us focusing on ONE
region.
■ YOU should understand US history as specific instances of CAUSE and
EFFECT → which helps with CCOT
● Ok, how will these notes help?
○ I organized these notes as chronological BECAUSE X, EFFECT Y, to understand
how events create what history is now.
○ People, Wars, Battles, and Treaties highlight contexts to set the stage.
○ Specific Vocab will be seen on tests and should be used in your FRQs
● How would I even use these?
○ NEVER ONLY READ ANY NOTES
■ Everything will go over your head and nothing will be synthesized
■ To understand APUSH, you need to trace the dots of Causations and CCOT
○ 1) Use these in tandem with Heimler’s History (or equivalent)
○ 2) Active Recall is your best friend!
■ APUSH needs you to recall specifics fast! What are some examples of
nomadic American Indians? Why did Columbus explore the New World,
and what was the EFFECT?
■ Active Recall will increase speed and accuracy (in all classes!) Here is
how I did it under a time crunch:
, 2
● 1) Read each page of my notes before the summary section
● 2)Summarize the important bits and connect the cause and
effects
● 3) Check if it is similar and repeat
○ 3) When watching Heimler Topic Videos or Chapter Reviews with more time:
■ 1) Split the videos into ~2-minute parts
■ 2) Watch, take notes, and summarize each section in your head
■ 3) Take a 15-minute break after a couple of videos
■ 4) BLURT!
● Get a separate sheet of paper and write down everything you
remember from the notes WITHOUT LOOKING for about 3-7
minutes. You can structure your Blurt sheet like your notes, a
Mind Map, or a paragraph (FRQ style)
● Compare your Blurt sheet to original notes, and fill in knowledge
gaps
, 3
APUSH - Period 1(1491-1607)
What was society like in the Americas before Europeans arrived, and how did it change?
● Natives Before Europeans
○ Pueblo - Utah and Arizona:
■ Maize for Trade and Food
■ Advanced Irrigation systems
■ Urban centers and Cliff dwellings
○ Great Plains:
■ Nomadic Hunters and Gatherers
■ Kinship bands: Ute People
○ Southwest Coast:
■ Fishing and Plant life
■ Chumash People (CA)
● Regional Trade Networks
● Cities
○ Plateau - Chinook:
■ Plank houses
○ Northeast - Iroquois:
■ Longhouses - Timber
■ Farmers
○ Mississippi River Valley:
■ Rivers
● Trade networks
● Rich Farming
■ Towns - Cahokia
● Central Government
SUMMARY:
The American Indians, before Europeans arrived, adapted to their surroundings. Coastal
areas fished; Great Basin people (Pueblo) grew maize, used irrigation systems, and lived
in cliff dwellings. Great Plains people hunted buffalo in nomadic kinship groups.
Northeast Iroquois had long houses and farmed timber. The Mississippi River Valley
, 4
(Cahokia) used the waterways for transportation, trade, and farming. All had vast trade
networks.
● Early European Encounters
○ BECAUSE European powers became more centralized
■ EFFECT: More high class and royalty who wanted more luxury goods
■ BECAUSE Europeans could not trade on their terms on the Silk Road
● EFFECT: Went to explore the NewWorldss
○ Portugal
■ BECAUSE: Use of new maritime tech: Astrolabe, Faster Ships
● EFFECT: First to explore, stayed mainly in Africa
● Trading Posts called Trading-Post Empire
○ Spain
■ BECAUSE: Reconquest of the Iberian Peninsula
■ EFFECT: Wanted to spread Catholicism and economic opportunities
in the East
● Gold, God, Glory
● Christopher Columbus - 1492 Caribbean:
○ Columbian Exchange
■ Americas→Europe: potatoes, tomatoes, maize, gold, silver
■ Europe→Americas: Smallpox, Enslaved Africans, Pigs, horses
■ In Europe: Feudalism →Capitalism because of Joint-Stock
Companies
○ Encomienda System (Enslaved Natives Farmed and mined in the Americas)
■ BECAUSE: Natives escaped and died of disease
■ EFFECT: Introduced African Slave labor
■ Casta System: Pure Spanish, Spanish born in America, Mixed
Spanish, Africans, and American Indians.
● Treaty of Tordesillas: Divided World: Spain gets Americas, Portugal got Africa/Asia
● Justification
○ Sepulveda - Natives were inferior and they benefitted from slavery
○ Las Casas - Saw humanity, ended slavery of Natives for a bit
SUMMARY:
In Europe, increased centralized powers caused the powerful to want luxury and expand.
Portugal was first and claimed Africa. Spain/Columbus wanted to spread catholicism +
economic opportunities and landed in the Caribbean—Colombian exchange of goods,
cattle, disease, and the encomienda system. This led to the caste system (Single Spanish
How can these notes even help me?
● WHAP vs APUSH Mindsets
○ The AP Histories have three types of FRQ structures:
■ Comparison
■ Change and Continuities over Time (CCOT)
■ Causation
○ APUSH tends to use CCOT and Causation more because of us focusing on ONE
region.
■ YOU should understand US history as specific instances of CAUSE and
EFFECT → which helps with CCOT
● Ok, how will these notes help?
○ I organized these notes as chronological BECAUSE X, EFFECT Y, to understand
how events create what history is now.
○ People, Wars, Battles, and Treaties highlight contexts to set the stage.
○ Specific Vocab will be seen on tests and should be used in your FRQs
● How would I even use these?
○ NEVER ONLY READ ANY NOTES
■ Everything will go over your head and nothing will be synthesized
■ To understand APUSH, you need to trace the dots of Causations and CCOT
○ 1) Use these in tandem with Heimler’s History (or equivalent)
○ 2) Active Recall is your best friend!
■ APUSH needs you to recall specifics fast! What are some examples of
nomadic American Indians? Why did Columbus explore the New World,
and what was the EFFECT?
■ Active Recall will increase speed and accuracy (in all classes!) Here is
how I did it under a time crunch:
, 2
● 1) Read each page of my notes before the summary section
● 2)Summarize the important bits and connect the cause and
effects
● 3) Check if it is similar and repeat
○ 3) When watching Heimler Topic Videos or Chapter Reviews with more time:
■ 1) Split the videos into ~2-minute parts
■ 2) Watch, take notes, and summarize each section in your head
■ 3) Take a 15-minute break after a couple of videos
■ 4) BLURT!
● Get a separate sheet of paper and write down everything you
remember from the notes WITHOUT LOOKING for about 3-7
minutes. You can structure your Blurt sheet like your notes, a
Mind Map, or a paragraph (FRQ style)
● Compare your Blurt sheet to original notes, and fill in knowledge
gaps
, 3
APUSH - Period 1(1491-1607)
What was society like in the Americas before Europeans arrived, and how did it change?
● Natives Before Europeans
○ Pueblo - Utah and Arizona:
■ Maize for Trade and Food
■ Advanced Irrigation systems
■ Urban centers and Cliff dwellings
○ Great Plains:
■ Nomadic Hunters and Gatherers
■ Kinship bands: Ute People
○ Southwest Coast:
■ Fishing and Plant life
■ Chumash People (CA)
● Regional Trade Networks
● Cities
○ Plateau - Chinook:
■ Plank houses
○ Northeast - Iroquois:
■ Longhouses - Timber
■ Farmers
○ Mississippi River Valley:
■ Rivers
● Trade networks
● Rich Farming
■ Towns - Cahokia
● Central Government
SUMMARY:
The American Indians, before Europeans arrived, adapted to their surroundings. Coastal
areas fished; Great Basin people (Pueblo) grew maize, used irrigation systems, and lived
in cliff dwellings. Great Plains people hunted buffalo in nomadic kinship groups.
Northeast Iroquois had long houses and farmed timber. The Mississippi River Valley
, 4
(Cahokia) used the waterways for transportation, trade, and farming. All had vast trade
networks.
● Early European Encounters
○ BECAUSE European powers became more centralized
■ EFFECT: More high class and royalty who wanted more luxury goods
■ BECAUSE Europeans could not trade on their terms on the Silk Road
● EFFECT: Went to explore the NewWorldss
○ Portugal
■ BECAUSE: Use of new maritime tech: Astrolabe, Faster Ships
● EFFECT: First to explore, stayed mainly in Africa
● Trading Posts called Trading-Post Empire
○ Spain
■ BECAUSE: Reconquest of the Iberian Peninsula
■ EFFECT: Wanted to spread Catholicism and economic opportunities
in the East
● Gold, God, Glory
● Christopher Columbus - 1492 Caribbean:
○ Columbian Exchange
■ Americas→Europe: potatoes, tomatoes, maize, gold, silver
■ Europe→Americas: Smallpox, Enslaved Africans, Pigs, horses
■ In Europe: Feudalism →Capitalism because of Joint-Stock
Companies
○ Encomienda System (Enslaved Natives Farmed and mined in the Americas)
■ BECAUSE: Natives escaped and died of disease
■ EFFECT: Introduced African Slave labor
■ Casta System: Pure Spanish, Spanish born in America, Mixed
Spanish, Africans, and American Indians.
● Treaty of Tordesillas: Divided World: Spain gets Americas, Portugal got Africa/Asia
● Justification
○ Sepulveda - Natives were inferior and they benefitted from slavery
○ Las Casas - Saw humanity, ended slavery of Natives for a bit
SUMMARY:
In Europe, increased centralized powers caused the powerful to want luxury and expand.
Portugal was first and claimed Africa. Spain/Columbus wanted to spread catholicism +
economic opportunities and landed in the Caribbean—Colombian exchange of goods,
cattle, disease, and the encomienda system. This led to the caste system (Single Spanish
