1890–1945
Period 7 of AP United States History, worth 10–17% of the exam. 15 questions below, each with the working. Every answer was checked by a second pass before it was published.
Imperialism, Progressivism, World War I, the 1920s, the Great Depression and the New Deal, World War II.
How this unit is tested
What you have to know
15 practice questions
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Which factor most directly justified American overseas expansion in the 1890s, according to imperialists like Alfred Thayer Mahan?
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Answer. The need for a strong navy, overseas coaling stations, and new markets for surplus industrial goods
Mahan's 'The Influence of Sea Power upon History' argued that national greatness required a powerful navy and overseas bases, which fed directly into the push for Hawaii, the Philippines, and Caribbean influence. This is a classic causation link between economic and strategic motives and imperial policy. -
How did the Spanish-American War of 1898 mark a turning point in U.S. foreign policy?
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Answer. It transformed the U.S. from a continental power into an overseas colonial power by giving it control of the Philippines, Puerto Rico, and Guam, and a protectorate over Cuba.
Victory over Spain brought territorial acquisitions outside North America for the first time, forcing debates (the 'Anti-Imperialist League' vs. expansionists) over whether the U.S. should govern colonies, a sharp break from prior policy focused on continental expansion. -
What did the Platt Amendment (1901) require of Cuba?
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Answer. Cuba had to allow U.S. naval bases (including Guantánamo Bay), limit its ability to make treaties with other nations, and permit U.S. intervention to preserve order.
The Platt Amendment made Cuba a de facto U.S. protectorate even after nominal independence, illustrating how imperial control could take indirect forms besides outright annexation. -
Which constitutional amendment was a direct product of Progressive-era reform and enabled a major expansion of federal revenue?
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Answer. The 16th Amendment (1913), authorizing a federal income tax
Progressives wanted a revenue source that did not rely on regressive tariffs, which burdened consumers; the income tax gave the federal government a flexible, direct revenue stream used later to fund WWI and New Deal programs. -
Explain one key difference between Progressive reform efforts at the local/state level versus the federal level.
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Answer. Local and state Progressives often focused on political corruption and city services (direct primaries, initiative/referendum, utility regulation), while federal Progressives (especially under Wilson) focused on national economic structures like trusts and banking.
City reformers like those in Wisconsin's 'laboratory of democracy' tackled machine politics directly, while Wilson's New Freedom agenda (Federal Reserve Act, Clayton Antitrust Act) addressed problems too large for any single state to regulate, showing how reform scaled up over the era. -
What two events most directly triggered U.S. entry into World War I in 1917?
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Answer. The resumption of unrestricted German submarine warfare and the revelation of the Zimmermann Telegram
Germany's decision to sink neutral shipping without warning threatened American commerce and lives, while the Zimmermann Telegram (proposing a German-Mexican alliance against the U.S.) convinced even reluctant Americans that neutrality was untenable, pushing Wilson to ask Congress for a declaration of war. -
How did the U.S. government expand its authority over the economy and society during WWI mobilization?
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Answer. Through agencies like the War Industries Board (coordinating industrial production) and laws like the Espionage and Sedition Acts (restricting dissent and antiwar speech)
Wartime mobilization required unprecedented federal coordination of production and public opinion (via the Committee on Public Information), while civil liberties were curtailed to suppress opposition to the war, a preview of later wartime power expansions in WWII. -
Which factor is most often cited by historians as a structural weakness underlying the stock market crash of 1929?
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Answer. Widespread buying stocks on margin, combined with overproduction and uneven distribution of income
Easy credit let investors buy stock with borrowed money, inflating prices beyond real value, while overproduction in agriculture and industry outpaced consumer demand, especially given stagnant wages for many workers — a fragile system that collapsed when confidence broke. -
What best characterizes the central cultural conflict of the 1920s, as illustrated by events like the Scopes Trial?
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Answer. A clash between modernist, urban, secular values and traditionalist, rural, religious values
The Scopes 'Monkey Trial' over teaching evolution symbolized a broader tension between science and fundamentalist religion, paralleled by debates over Prohibition, immigration restriction, and changing gender roles (flappers) — all reflecting a society divided between embracing and resisting modern change. -
How did the Dust Bowl compound the effects of the Great Depression in the 1930s?
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Answer. It destroyed farmland across the Great Plains through drought and poor farming practices, forcing already-struggling farm families to migrate (often to California) in search of work, adding an environmental crisis on top of the economic one.
The combination of economic collapse and ecological disaster devastated agricultural regions especially hard, illustrated in works like Steinbeck's 'The Grapes of Wrath,' and is a classic AP example of overlapping causation (economic + environmental). -
What is the key distinction between FDR's First New Deal and Second New Deal?
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Answer. The First New Deal (1933–34) emphasized immediate relief and economic recovery (FERA, NIRA, AAA), while the Second New Deal (1935–38) emphasized structural reform and long-term worker/social protections (Wagner Act, Social Security Act).
This distinction matters because the Supreme Court struck down key First New Deal programs (NIRA in Schechter v. U.S., AAA in United States v. Butler) for exceeding federal authority, pushing FDR toward the more durable reform-oriented Second New Deal. -
Why did FDR propose the 1937 'court-packing plan,' and what was its political outcome?
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Answer. FDR proposed adding justices to the Supreme Court after it struck down several New Deal laws as unconstitutional; the plan failed in Congress and was widely seen as an overreach, damaging his political standing even though the Court later became more favorable to New Deal legislation.
This shows the limits on even a very popular president's power — Congress and the public balked at what looked like an attack on judicial independence, illustrating checks and balances in action during the New Deal era. -
How did WWII mobilization change the roles of women and African Americans on the home front?
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Answer. Women entered industrial jobs in unprecedented numbers (symbolized by 'Rosie the Riveter'), while African Americans migrated to Northern and Western war-production cities for factory jobs, though they still faced segregation and discrimination (leading to efforts like the Fair Employment Practices Committee).
Wartime labor shortages opened opportunities previously closed to these groups, planting seeds for postwar civil rights and gender-equality movements even though full equality did not follow immediately. -
What was Executive Order 9066, and what tension in American history does it illustrate?
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Answer. It authorized the forced relocation and internment of roughly 120,000 Japanese Americans during WWII, illustrating the recurring tension between national security concerns and civil liberties protections.
The Supreme Court upheld the policy in Korematsu v. United States (1944), a decision widely criticized later, making this a key exam example of civil liberties being curtailed during wartime, paralleling the WWI-era Espionage and Sedition Acts. -
How did World War II change the United States' position in world affairs by 1945 compared to its stance in the 1920s and 1930s?
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Answer. The U.S. shifted from isolationism toward global leadership, emerging as one of two superpowers, a founding member of the United Nations, and an architect of the postwar economic order (Bretton Woods system).
Unlike after WWI, when the U.S. retreated from international commitments (rejecting the League of Nations), after WWII the U.S. embraced institution-building and international leadership, setting the stage for its Cold War role.
What people get wrong
- Treating 'imperialism' and 'Progressivism' as unrelated topics — in fact many Progressives (like Theodore Roosevelt) supported imperialism, so don't assume all reform-minded figures opposed overseas expansion.
- Assuming the U.S. entered WWI immediately after the Lusitania sank in 1915 — it did not; the U.S. stayed neutral for nearly two more years until unrestricted submarine warfare resumed and the Zimmermann Telegram was revealed in 1917. Keep the timeline precise.
- Confusing the First New Deal (1933–34, relief and recovery, e.g. NIRA, AAA) with the Second New Deal (1935–38, reform and worker protections, e.g. Wagner Act, Social Security) — the exam often tests which specific programs belong to which phase.
- Writing that the New Deal 'ended the Great Depression' — most historians and the AP framework treat WWII wartime spending and mobilization as what actually restored full employment, while the New Deal provided relief and reform but not full recovery.
- Forgetting that isolationism in the 1920s–30s was not total withdrawal from the world — the U.S. still pursued economic diplomacy (Dawes Plan, Good Neighbor Policy) even while avoiding political-military alliances.
- Overlooking wartime civil liberties restrictions — students often discuss WWII heroism but forget to mention Japanese American internment (Korematsu v. United States) and WWI-era Espionage and Sedition Acts, which the exam frequently tests as examples of tension between security and civil liberties.
Drill this unit until it sticks
These questions come back on a schedule built from what you get wrong, alongside the rest of AP United States History. Free, and no account needed to start.