American
History Final Study Guide
The majority of the American History final will be
on modules 6-10. Most everything you
need will be highlighted below.
Keep in mind that this study is just a guide and
does not have all the answers in it. It’s a guide to point you in the correct
direction on Brainhoney.
This will be a paper and pencil exam with no notes
allowed. It will have 56 multiple choice
questions, and three short answer questions.
The exam may include, but will not
be restricted to, the topics listed below.
Module Six: The West
- What was the lure of the West?
- What is the concept of Manifest Destiny?
- What is the Homestead Act?
- What was the Indian Removal Act?
- What is imperialism?
- Explain American Imperialism in the following places: Japan, Alaska, Midway Islands and Islands of Samoa, Venezuela and British Guiana, Hawaii, China.
- Why did the United States want to take over Hawaii?
- What was the Monroe Doctrine?
- Who was William Seward and what was his folly?
- What was the Boxer Rebellion
- What does annex mean?
- Was the United States justified in their imperialistic policies of the late 1800’s and early 1900s? (Honors Only)
- What was the Gold Rush? What were the men on the hunt for gold called?
- Where was gold first found during the California Gold Rush?
- What was the life of a miner like?
- Where there plenty of supplies during the Gold Rush? Were the supplies affordable?
- How were Native Americans treated during the Gold Rush?
- Who was Levi Strauss?
- What does Entrepreneur mean?
- Explain Modern Get Rich Quick Schemes.
- Spheres of Influence (dividing China)
Module Seven: The Industrial
Revolution
- When was the Industrial Revolution? What was the Industrial Revolution?
- What is the Industrial Revolution?
- What effect did the Industrial Revolution have on occupations in the U.S.?
- What items were created during the Industrial Revolution including but not limited to typewriter, telephone, phonograph, small camera and vacuum cleaner?
- How was travel make quicker during the Industrial Revolution?
- What region increased due to the expansion of the railroad?
- Be able to discuss people from the Industrial Revolution including but not limited to Robert Fulton, Henry Ford, Samuel Morse and Alexander Graham Bell.
- Be able to discuss immigration from 1880 to 1930.
- What obstacles/problems did immigrants face when they came to America? What group of people was nationally restricted by the U.S. Immigration law?
- How does the high supply of labor due to immigration and the migration of workers from the rural areas affect job opportunities?
- How did Henry Ford treat his employees compared to George Pullman? (Honors Only)
- How was Henry Ford's approach to production unique? (Honors Only)
- Be able to discuss Robber Barons and Captains of Industry including: Ford, Rockefeller, Pullman and Carnegie. (Honors Only)
- What is the populist movement?
- Who were key people, key events and key issues during the populist movement?
- What is a trust?
- What are monopolies? What actions would they take to maintain their hold on the market?
- What is the Sherman Antitrust Act?
- What was the Standard Oil monopoly? And how did Rockefeller and Standard Oil affect business?
- Who was Ida Tarbell?
- What corporations have been involved in antitrust cases?
- What techniques are used by corporations to achieve market dominance?
Module Eight: The 1920s
- What was the Great Migration?
- What are some push/pull factors that affected the Great Migration?
- What was the Harlem Renaissance?
- What were some important movements during the Harlem Renaissance?
- Who were some important individuals during the Harlem Renaissance?
- Explain some events from the 1920s.
- Name the main characteristics of Modernism.
- What did the 19th Amendment do?
- Explain consumerism during the 1920s.
- What was a flapper?
- What does disillusion mean?
- What was Prohibition?
- What is a suffragist?
- What did the 18th Amendment do? Which organizations helped to get this amendment passed?
- Describe the Prohibition vocabulary?
- What is the 21st Amendment?
- Where the first women’s rights convention was and what did they establish at the first meeting?
- Who is Susan B. Anthony? William Jennings Bryant? Margaret Sanger?
- What was the “red scare”?
- What is communism?
- What is totalitarianism?
- What is an anarchist?
- Why was the Sacco and Vanzetti trial controversial?
- Why was the Scopes trial controversial?
- Who were the key players in the Scopes Monkey Trial?
- Identify the following people and why they are significant to American History. Jane Addams, Al Capone, John Dewey, Amelia Earhart, Albert Einstein, Frances Perkins, Babe Ruth, Margaret Sanger, Billy Sunday, Rudolph Valentino. (Honors Only)
Module Nine: World Alliance vs.
World Chaos: American Foreign Policy in the Twentieth Century
- What territories were taken over at the time of the Spanish-American War?
- Who were the Rough Riders?
- Who was the president during the Spanish-American War?
- What sparked the Spanish-American War?
- Describe the significance of the Panama Canal.
- Describe the significance of the Treaty of Versailles.
- What is the significance of Black Tuesday?
- Describe life in American during the Great Depression.
- Describe the circumstances farmers in the Great Plains faced during the Great Depression.
- Describe the New Deal and how it impacted America.
- What was United Nations 69 & 88?
- Why is the attack on Pearl Harbor significant in American History?
- Describe the role yellow journalism played on foreign policy.
- Describe the significance of the Marshal Plan.
- Describe the US involvement in Vietnam? How is the domino theory and containment important?
- Describe the style of fighting used in Vietnam.
- Define armistice
- What were Wilson’s 14 Points?
- What countries made up the Allied Powers during World War I?
- What countries made up the Central Powers during World War I?
- What event triggered the outbreak of World War I in Europe?
- What event triggered the United States to enter World War I?
- Why didn't the U.S. ratify the Versailles Treaty?
- What was the Holocaust?
- Describe the events that ended World War II.
- How did President Truman react when the Soviets closed all railways and roads leading to Berlin?
- Describe life in America during the 1950s.
- Why is Ray Kroc important to American History?
- What was the Berlin Blockade?
- What was the Cold War?
- Describe the Cuban Missile Crisis.
- Who were Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, Truman, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Teddy Roosevelt, Joseph McCarthy, and Dwight D. Eisenhower?
- What was D-Day?
- What was the purpose of the 22nd Amendment?
- Describe the events of the Korean War.
- What is isolationism?
- Describe America’s home front during WWII including but not limited to the following: GI Bill of Rights, Wartime rationing, War Production Board, scrap drives, Office of Price Administration and War Bonds. (Honors Only)
Module Ten: The Recent Past
- Describe each of the following and the role it played in America’s recent past.
- NAFTA
- OPEC
- ADA
- Watergate
- Energy Crisis
- Title IX
- Hostages in Iran
- End of the Cold War
- AIDS
- Sustainable Development
- Operation Desert Storm
- Operation Enduring Freedom
- communism
- "Hawks"
- "Doves"
- Space Shuttles Challenger and Columbia
- Exxon Valdez
- Waco
- Columbine
- Oklahoma City Bombing
- Y2K
- 9/11
- Hurricane Katrina
- Presidential Election of 2000
- Describe each of the following people and the role they played in America’s recent past.
- Richard Nixon
- Gerald Ford
- Jimmy Carter
- Ronald Reagan
- George H. Bush
- Bill Clinton
- George W. Bush
- Sandra Day O'Connor
- Rodney King
- Saddam Hussein
- Ryan White
