US History & Government Regents Review Sheet
American history is a debate between competing ideas: liberty vs order, states vs feds, tradition vs change.
Big ideas
- The Constitution IS the framework. Almost every event tests or reinterprets it.
- Federalism = power split between federal and state governments. Constant tension across all eras.
- Rights weren't granted all at once. They've been fought for and expanded in waves (abolition, suffrage, civil rights, etc.).
Founding & Constitution
The Framers designed a system where power checks itself.
1776. Jefferson. Natural rights, government by consent, right to revolt. Enlightenment ideas front and center.
First government, 1781–1789. Too WEAK: no power to tax, no executive, no national army. Failed under Shays' Rebellion.
Great Compromise (bicameral: Senate = 2/state, House = by population). 3/5 Compromise on slavery. Electoral College for president.
First 10 amendments. Ratified 1791. Protects free speech, religion, gun rights, due process, and more.
Legislative (make laws), Executive (enforce), Judicial (interpret). Each checks the others.
Trap: 'Checks and balances' ≠ 'separation of powers.' Separation = distinct branches. Checks = each branch has ways to limit the others.
Tip: Landmark cases: Marbury v Madison (judicial review), McCulloch v Maryland (implied powers, federal supremacy).
Sectionalism, Civil War, Reconstruction
Slavery divided the nation until war forced the issue. Reconstruction tried — imperfectly — to remake the South.
Missouri Compromise 1820 (line at 36°30'), Compromise of 1850 (Fugitive Slave Act), Kansas-Nebraska 1854 (popular sovereignty).
Slavery (moral & economic), states' rights, sectional differences (industry vs plantation), Dred Scott, John Brown, Lincoln election.
13th (abolish slavery), 14th (citizenship + equal protection), 15th (vote regardless of race).
1865–1877. Attempts to integrate former slaves as citizens. Ended in compromise; Jim Crow laws + KKK filled the vacuum.
Trap: The Emancipation Proclamation only freed slaves in Confederate states — not in border states. The 13th Amendment made it universal.
Tip: 'Sectionalism' means loyalty to your region over the nation. It's the through-line for antebellum America.
Industrial Age & Progressive Era
Robber barons + labor + immigrants + muckrakers → Progressive reforms.
Railroads, steel, oil. Monopolies (Standard Oil, Carnegie Steel). Robber barons vs captains of industry — same people, different framing.
New wave from Southern/Eastern Europe (1880s–1920s). Ellis Island. Tenements. Nativism grew. Chinese Exclusion Act 1882.
1890s–1920s. Muckrakers exposed problems. Reforms: trust-busting, food/drug safety (Sinclair's The Jungle), women's suffrage (19th, 1920).
16 (income tax), 17 (direct election of senators), 18 (Prohibition), 19 (women vote).
Trap: Prohibition (18th) was later REPEALED by the 21st. Only amendment ever repealed.
Tip: The Progressive Era = government stepping in to regulate business and expand democracy. Basically the origin of modern federal power.
World Wars, Great Depression, New Deal
US moves from isolation to global power; economic collapse redefines the federal government's role.
US entered late. Reasons: unrestricted submarine warfare, Zimmermann telegram. Wilson's 14 Points → League of Nations (US never joined).
Roaring 20s: consumer boom, jazz, women's suffrage, Harlem Renaissance. BUT: nativism, Red Scare, Prohibition, farm depression.
1929 stock crash → 25% unemployment. FDR's New Deal (Relief, Recovery, Reform). Social Security 1935. Federal role massively expands.
US enters after Pearl Harbor 1941. Two fronts: Europe (D-Day) and Pacific (island-hopping, atomic bombs). Japanese internment domestically.
Trap: The New Deal didn't END the Depression — WWII did. But it changed government's role permanently.
Tip: Executive Order 9066 → Japanese internment. Later ruled a violation of civil liberties (Korematsu overturned).
Cold War & Civil Rights
Containment abroad. Freedom Movements at home.
Containment (Kennan, Truman Doctrine). Marshall Plan (rebuild Europe). NATO. Korea, Vietnam.
1950s. Senator McCarthy accused thousands of communism (mostly baseless). HUAC hearings. Chilling effect on speech.
1954 Brown v Board (school segregation unconstitutional). MLK, nonviolent resistance. Civil Rights Act 1964, Voting Rights Act 1965.
Rights expanded: women (Roe v Wade), disabled, LGBTQ+, environmental (EPA 1970). Warren Court expanded criminal rights (Miranda).
Trap: 'Separate but equal' from Plessy v Ferguson (1896) was overturned by Brown v Board (1954), not the Civil Rights Act.
Tip: For any civil-rights question, name the SPECIFIC amendment or case. Regents rewards precision.
Modern America + Civic skills
Post-1970s: economic shifts, tech, culture wars. Plus how the government actually operates.
Bill introduced → committee → floor vote (both chambers) → president signs OR vetoes. Congress can override with 2/3.
Established Marbury v Madison 1803. Supreme Court can declare laws unconstitutional.
Some powers federal (foreign policy, currency), some state (education, marriage), some shared (taxation).
22 (2-term president), 24 (poll taxes banned), 25 (presidential succession), 26 (18-year-old vote), 27 (Congress pay).
Trap: State powers ≠ federal powers. Marriage laws, education, drivers licenses = mostly state.
Tip: For the Civic Literacy Essay: pick a constitutional issue, show how it played out, connect to today. Use SPECIFIC evidence.
Frequently asked questions
How should I study for the US History & Government Regents?
Work real past-exam questions by topic, review this one-page summary of the must-know concepts, and read the worked solution every time you miss one. The exam reuses the same ideas year after year.