AP U.S. History practice questions

Q: Are these real AP U.S. History exam questions?

No. They are original practice questions written to match the topics and style of the AP U.S. History course. For released exam questions, see AP Central from the College Board.

Q: Is it free?

Yes. The practice questions and flashcards on this page are free, with no sign-up.

Q: Can I get more practice questions?

Yes. Paste your own notes or upload a textbook chapter into the quiz maker and it writes a new practice quiz from that material, with explanations for every answer.

Question 1

Which was a major effect of the Columbian Exchange on the Americas?

Accepted Answer

Diseases such as smallpox sharply reduced Native American populations

Answer

European crops completely replaced maize as the main food source

Answer

Horses and cattle died out because of the climate

Answer

Native Americans quickly developed immunity to European diseases

Question 2

The Spanish encomienda system

Accepted Answer

gave colonists the right to the labor and tribute of Native Americans in an area

Answer

granted land to Protestant settlers who converted Native Americans

Answer

was a treaty that ended wars between Spain and the Pueblo

Answer

taxed trade between Spanish colonies and England

Question 3

The economy of the early Chesapeake colonies was based mainly on

Accepted Answer

tobacco grown by indentured servants and, increasingly, enslaved Africans

Answer

fishing and shipbuilding along the coast

Answer

the fur trade with Native Americans

Answer

small family farms growing wheat for local markets

Question 4

Bacon's Rebellion (1676) was led mainly by

Accepted Answer

frontier settlers and former indentured servants angry at the colonial government

Answer

enslaved Africans seeking freedom

Answer

Puritan ministers opposed to royal control

Answer

Native Americans defending their land

Question 5

The First Great Awakening of the 1730s and 1740s

Accepted Answer

spread emotional revivals that challenged the authority of established churches

Answer

ended religious diversity in the colonies

Answer

was a movement to separate the colonies from Britain

Answer

led to the founding of the Church of England

Question 6

The Proclamation of 1763

Accepted Answer

banned colonial settlement west of the Appalachian Mountains

Answer

placed a tax on paper goods in the colonies

Answer

ended the French and Indian War

Answer

closed the port of Boston

Question 7

Under the Articles of Confederation, the national Congress could NOT

Accepted Answer

levy taxes

Answer

declare war

Answer

make treaties

Answer

borrow money

Question 8

During the debate over ratifying the Constitution, Anti-Federalists insisted on

Accepted Answer

adding a bill of rights to protect individual liberties

Answer

creating a national bank

Answer

keeping the Articles of Confederation unchanged

Answer

giving the president power to veto state laws

Question 9

Thomas Jefferson hesitated over the Louisiana Purchase (1803) mainly because he

Accepted Answer

doubted the Constitution allowed the federal government to buy territory

Answer

thought the price was far too high

Answer

did not want to anger Spain

Answer

opposed westward expansion

Question 10

Which president signed the Indian Removal Act of 1830?

Accepted Answer

Andrew Jackson

Answer

John Quincy Adams

Answer

Martin Van Buren

Answer

James Monroe

Question 11

The Erie Canal, completed in 1825, mattered because it

Accepted Answer

linked the Great Lakes to New York City and cut shipping costs

Answer

connected the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans

Answer

carried cotton from the Deep South to New England mills

Answer

was the first railroad in the United States

Question 12

Which was part of the Compromise of 1850?

Accepted Answer

A stricter Fugitive Slave Act

Answer

Missouri's admission as a slave state

Answer

Popular sovereignty in Kansas and Nebraska

Answer

An end to slavery in Washington, D.C.

Question 13

In Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857), the Supreme Court ruled that

Accepted Answer

Congress could not ban slavery in the territories

Answer

slavery was unconstitutional

Answer

states could secede from the Union

Answer

the Missouri Compromise had to be extended to the Pacific

Question 14

The Fourteenth Amendment (1868)

Accepted Answer

granted citizenship to everyone born in the U.S. and guaranteed equal protection of the laws

Answer

abolished slavery

Answer

gave Black men the right to vote

Answer

ended Reconstruction

Question 15

The Dawes Act of 1887

Accepted Answer

divided reservation land into individual plots to push Native Americans to assimilate

Answer

created the first national parks

Answer

banned Chinese immigration

Answer

regulated railroad rates

Question 16

The Populist (People's) Party platform of 1892 called for

Accepted Answer

free coinage of silver and government ownership of railroads

Answer

high protective tariffs

Answer

an end to all immigration

Answer

returning to the gold standard

Question 17

In Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), the Supreme Court

Accepted Answer

upheld racial segregation under the doctrine of 'separate but equal'

Answer

struck down poll taxes

Answer

ruled that segregated schools were unconstitutional

Answer

guaranteed voting rights for Black Americans

Question 18

The Seventeenth Amendment (1913), a Progressive Era reform,

Accepted Answer

provided for the direct election of U.S. senators by voters

Answer

gave women the right to vote

Answer

created the federal income tax

Answer

banned the sale of alcohol

Question 19

The Social Security Act of 1935 created

Accepted Answer

old-age pensions and unemployment insurance

Answer

the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation

Answer

the Civilian Conservation Corps

Answer

a national minimum wage

Question 20

The United States entered World War I in 1917 shortly after

Accepted Answer

Germany resumed unrestricted submarine warfare

Answer

Japan attacked Pearl Harbor

Answer

Germany invaded Poland

Answer

the sinking of the Maine

Question 21

The Truman Doctrine (1947)

Accepted Answer

pledged U.S. support to Greece and Turkey against communist pressure

Answer

created NATO

Answer

rebuilt Western Europe's economy

Answer

ended the Korean War

Question 22

Brown v. Board of Education (1954)

Accepted Answer

ruled that segregation in public schools was unconstitutional

Answer

upheld 'separate but equal'

Answer

guaranteed the right to an attorney

Answer

banned discrimination in hiring

Question 23

The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution (1964)

Accepted Answer

gave President Johnson broad authority to use military force in Vietnam

Answer

ended the draft

Answer

required congressional approval for every troop deployment

Answer

withdrew U.S. troops from Vietnam

Question 24

President Ronald Reagan's economic policies in the 1980s emphasized

Accepted Answer

tax cuts, deregulation and increased defense spending

Answer

expanding Great Society welfare programs

Answer

wage and price controls

Answer

nationalizing major industries

Question 25

After the September 11, 2001 attacks, the USA PATRIOT Act

Accepted Answer

expanded the government's surveillance and investigative powers

Answer

created the Peace Corps

Answer

ended the war in Afghanistan

Answer

reduced the size of the military

Columbian Exchange	Transfer of plants, animals, people and diseases between the Americas and Afro-Eurasia after 1492.
Mercantilism	Economic theory that colonies exist to enrich the mother country through trade controls and a favorable balance of trade.
Salutary neglect	Britain's loose enforcement of trade laws in the colonies before 1763.
Federalist Papers	Essays by Hamilton, Madison and Jay arguing for ratification of the Constitution.
Marbury v. Madison (1803)	Established judicial review: the Supreme Court can strike down laws that conflict with the Constitution.
Monroe Doctrine (1823)	Warned European powers against new colonization or intervention in the Western Hemisphere.
Manifest Destiny	Belief that the U.S. was destined to expand across North America.
Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854)	Let settlers decide on slavery by popular sovereignty, repealing the Missouri Compromise line and leading to violence in Kansas.
Reconstruction Amendments	13th abolished slavery, 14th defined citizenship and equal protection, 15th barred racial voting discrimination.
Gilded Age	Late 1800s era of rapid industrial growth, big business, political corruption and wide inequality.
Progressivism	Early 1900s reform movement against corruption, monopolies and unsafe working conditions.
New Deal	FDR's programs for relief, recovery and reform during the Great Depression.
Containment	Cold War policy of stopping the spread of communism.
Civil Rights Act of 1964	Banned discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin in public places and employment.
Watergate	Scandal over the 1972 break-in and cover-up that led to Nixon's resignation in 1974.

AP U.S. History practice test

AP U.S. History key terms

About the AP U.S. History exam

Questions

Study your own notes