The periods bind and outline the history into nine separate eras of history with distinctive components. Period One makes up 5% of the AP Test, Periods 2-5 make up 45%, Periods 6-8 make up 45%, and Period Nine is the last 5%.
Period One (1491-1607) covers from the re-discovery of the New World to the founding of the Jamestown colony. I would consider the establishing of the Jamestown colony to be the most important event in U.S history of this period because it was the very first permanent British colony in the Americas. The colonists learned what it would take in order to run a long-lasting colony. Jamestown could have been another failed colony if it hadn’t been for the periodic waves of new colonists, John Smith, and the introduction of tobacco into the economy. The colonists had learned to make their own functioning government and created a surviving colony that could support a growing population.
Period Two (1607-1754) covers from the founding of Jamestown to just after the Great Awakening. I would argue that the most important part of this period was the intellectual movements – the Scientific Revolution and the Great Awakening.
Period Three (1754-1800) covers from just before the French and Indian war to the election of Jefferson as the third president of the United States. It is almost indisputable that the most important event of this period was the Revolutionary War.
Period Four (1800-1848) covers from Jefferson’s start of presidency to the end of the Mexican War with the Treat of Guadeloupe Hidalgo. I would consider the Industrial Revolution to the most shaping event in the development of the history of the United States.
Period Five (1844-1877) covers from the Mexican War to the end of the Reconstruction. The event during this period that had the most influence on the rest of U.S history was the Civil War.
Period Six (1865-1898); reconstruction; 13 and 14 amendments
Period Seven (1890-1945); ww1
Period Eight (1945-1980); cold war
Period Nine (1980-present); twin towers.
