AP U.S. History Practice Questions (2026) — Free Sample Questions with Answers

Answer: A

Many Plains peoples adopted mobile, horse-mounted ways of life centered on buffalo hunting.: Correct. Horses introduced by the Spanish spread north after the 1600s, and many Plains peoples, such as the Lakota and Comanche, became mounted, more mobile buffalo hunters, a major effect of the Columbian Exchange (Topic 1.4).

Iroquois nations formed a confederacy to coordinate their diplomacy and their defense against rivals.: Unrelated to the exchange: the Iroquois Confederacy was a political alliance, not a result of new animals or crops.

Chesapeake planters made tobacco their colony’s main export crop.: Wrong direction: tobacco was an American plant, not one of the European introductions the author names.

Ranchers drove cattle herds from Texas to railroad towns in Kansas.: Wrong period: the long cattle drives took place after the Civil War, in the 1860s–1880s.

Check every option against the time frame in the stem; a real development from the wrong century is the most common distractor.

Answer: D

Thousands of Puritan families migrated to Massachusetts Bay in the 1630s.: Supports the claim: the Puritan "Great Migration" was family-based.

Metacom’s War grew out of New England settlers’ expansion onto Native land.: Supports Source 1’s argument about English land hunger.

The population of New France remained small and centered on the fur trade with Native allies.: Supports Source 1’s contrast between England and France.

Most early Chesapeake settlers were young, single male indentured servants.: Correct. Unlike New England’s family migration, the early Chesapeake drew mostly young unmarried men who came as indentured servants to grow tobacco, so Source 1’s generalization fits New England far better than Virginia and Maryland (Topic 2.3).

To challenge a generalization, look for a region or group it does not fit, here the regional differences among British colonies.

Answer: A

set a precedent for Congress to restrict slavery in federal territories: Correct. By banning slavery north of the Ohio River, the ordinance set an early line between free and slave regions and a precedent that later free-soil advocates cited in debates over the Missouri Compromise and the Wilmot Proviso (Topic 3.13).

ended the importation of enslaved Africans into the United States: Different law: Congress banned the slave trade in 1807, effective 1808.

guaranteed voting rights to free Black men in the new western states: Inaccurate: several states formed from the territory later restricted Black rights.

abolished slavery in the states and territories south of the Ohio River: Inaccurate: the ban applied only to the Northwest Territory.

For long-term significance, connect the provision to later debates that used it as a precedent.

Answer: C

Slavery had to be abolished in all the states before a stronger union could be formed.: Not an Anti-Federalist position: opponents of ratification focused on centralized power and rights.

The national government needed the power to levy taxes directly on citizens to survive.: Federalist position: this supported, not challenged, a stronger national government.

Republics could survive only in small territories with closely shared interests.: Correct. Anti-Federalists, drawing on Montesquieu, argued that republics must be small and homogeneous; Madison’s "extend the sphere" argument reversed that claim by saying a large republic better controls faction (Topic 3.8).

Representation in Congress should rest on each state’s population, not equal state votes.: A Convention dispute: this was the large states’ Virginia Plan position, not a reply to Madison’s faction argument.

A challenge must contradict the specific claim; check that the option comes from the opposing side of the debate.

Answer: B

had promised to end all European trade in firearms and alcohol: Inaccurate: French traders supplied guns and alcohol; trade in them helped build alliances.

had built fur-trade ties and alliances while sending relatively few settlers: Correct. New France’s small settler population depended on the fur trade, gift exchange and intermarriage, so it threatened Native land less than the fast-growing British colonies (X); many Native nations therefore sided with France (Topic 3.2).

had guaranteed Native lands west of the mountains in the Proclamation of 1763: Wrong empire and period: Britain issued the Proclamation of 1763 after the war.

had converted most Native peoples of the region to Protestant Christianity: Inaccurate: French missionaries were Catholic Jesuits, and most Native peoples kept their own beliefs.

Explain alliances by comparing what each empire wanted from Native peoples: trade partners (France) or land (Britain).

Answer: D

The collapse of the Democratic Party in the 1830s: Reversed: the Democrats won the elections of 1832 and 1836; the party grew stronger, not weaker.

The emergence of the Republican Party in the 1850s: Different cause: the Republican Party formed in 1854 in opposition to the expansion of slavery after the Kansas-Nebraska Act, not over banking.

The creation of the Federal Reserve System: Wrong period: Congress created the Federal Reserve in 1913 (Period 7).

The formation of the Whig Party in the 1830s: Correct. Clay, Webster, and other Bank supporters denounced the veto and Jackson’s later removal of federal deposits as executive tyranny (“King Andrew”) and organized as the Whigs by 1834, creating the Second Party System (Topic 4.8).

“Most directly contributed to” points to the nearest political consequence of the source’s position; here the anti-Jackson coalition became the Whig Party.

Answer: C

Southern demands for a federally funded transcontinental railroad: Wrong period: transcontinental railroad debates came in the 1850s.

Southern support for a federal ban on the interstate trade in enslaved people: Reversed: the cotton boom increased Southern demand for the interstate slave trade.

Southern opposition to high protective tariffs on manufactured imports: Correct. Cotton planters sold their crop abroad and bought manufactured goods, so tariffs that protected Northern industry raised their costs; Southern opposition peaked over the 1828 "Tariff of Abominations" (Topic 4.3).

Western farmers’ campaigns for the free and unlimited coinage of silver: Wrong period: the free-silver movement belongs to the 1890s.

Connect an economic trend to the regional interest it created, then to the policy debate that interest shaped.

Answer: C

caused Kentucky and Maryland to leave the Union: Inaccurate: the border states stayed in the Union and were exempt from the proclamation.

ended Confederate resistance in the Mississippi Valley: Different cause: the Union gained control of the Mississippi through military campaigns, especially the fall of Vicksburg in July 1863.

made European recognition of the Confederacy less likely: Correct. With the war now also a war against slavery, British and French leaders, facing antislavery public opinion, were less willing to recognize or aid the Confederacy (Topic 5.8).

united Northern Democrats behind Lincoln’s war policies: Reversed: many Democrats, especially “Copperheads,” denounced emancipation, and Republicans lost seats in the 1862 elections.

Causation questions can cross domestic and foreign affairs: redefining the war’s purpose changed how European powers viewed it.

Answer: C

Source 1 opposes acquiring land from Mexico, while Source 2 opposes the war itself.: Reversed: Polk sought Mexican territory, and Wilmot, a Democrat who supported the war, attached his proviso to Polk’s request for funds to negotiate a settlement with Mexico.

Source 1 seeks to spread slavery into Mexico, while Source 2 seeks to end slavery in the South.: Overstated for both: Polk’s message does not mention slavery, and the proviso applies only to land acquired from Mexico.

Source 1 justifies the war as defense, while Source 2 addresses slavery in any land gained.: Correct. Polk frames the war as a response to Mexican aggression, while Wilmot’s amendment turns to the question the war raised: whether slavery would expand into a Mexican Cession (Topics 5.3 and 5.4).

Source 1 appeals to popular sovereignty, while Source 2 appeals to the Missouri Compromise line.: Not supported: neither source mentions popular sovereignty or the 36°30′ line; the proviso would bar slavery from all of the new land.

Comparison items (skill 3.C): state each source’s main claim in a few words, then pick the option that is accurate for both halves.

Answer: B

Stephen Douglas and others who favored popular sovereignty in the territories: Neighboring concept: popular sovereignty let territorial settlers decide, possibly to exclude slavery; the ruling’s logic undercut that, as the 1858 Freeport debate showed.

Southern Democrats who said slavery could legally extend to every territory: Correct. Taney treated enslaved people as property protected by the Constitution in all territories, the position John C. Calhoun and other Southern Democrats had pressed in the debates over the Compromise of 1850 (Topic 5.4).

Whigs who defended the Missouri Compromise line as a permanent boundary: Opposite: the ruling declared the Missouri Compromise’s ban on slavery north of 36°30′ void.

Free-Soilers who wanted Congress to bar slavery from all western territories: Opposite: the ruling declared that Congress could not ban slavery in the territories.

Know the four positions on slavery in the territories: congressional exclusion (Free-Soil/Republican), the 36°30′ line, popular sovereignty, and slaveholders’ right to take slaves anywhere (Calhoun). Match the source to one.

Answer: A

high protective tariffs that shielded manufacturers from foreign competition: Correct. Cleveland, a Democrat, made tariff reduction his central cause; the 1888 election turned on the tariff, and after his defeat Republicans raised rates further in the McKinley Tariff of 1890 (Topic 6.13).

federal income taxes that fell mainly on the wages of industrial workers: Inaccurate: there was no federal income tax in 1888; the Civil War income tax had expired in 1872.

the Treasury’s silver purchases under the Sherman Silver Purchase Act: Reversed chronology: the Sherman Silver Purchase Act was passed in 1890, after this message.

federal loans to farmers’ cooperatives organized by the Farmers’ Alliance: Inaccurate: the federal government made no such loans; the Alliance’s subtreasury plan for federal farm credit was never adopted.

In Gilded Age politics, “government favor” to manufacturers usually means the protective tariff, the main issue dividing Democrats and Republicans in the 1880s.

Answer: C

William Graham Sumner, who opposed government aid to the poor: Similar, not contrasting: Sumner was a leading Social Darwinist who defended competition and opposed redistribution.

Horatio Alger, whose novels celebrated rags-to-riches success: Similar, not contrasting: Alger’s stories celebrated individual success through effort, consistent with Carnegie’s view.

Henry George, who proposed a single tax on land values: Correct. In Progress and Poverty (1879), George argued that poverty grew from private monopoly of land and called for a single tax to fix the system, rejecting Carnegie’s reliance on competition and private charity (Topic 6.11).

Russell Conwell, who preached that seeking wealth was a duty: Similar, not contrasting: Conwell’s “Acres of Diamonds” sermon praised getting rich as a moral good.

For contrast questions, sort figures into defenders of the Gilded Age order (Sumner, Alger, Conwell) and critics who proposed alternatives (George, Bellamy, Social Gospel, Populists).

Answer: C

1. Read the trend: unemployment fell from about 25 percent (1933) to about 14 percent (1937), then rose to about 19 percent in 1938.
2. Ask what changed in 1937: federal policy turned toward balancing the budget.

the end of the gold standard for domestic currency in 1933: Wrong timing: leaving gold in 1933 helped the recovery that the graph shows in 1933–1937.

the Supreme Court's 1937 decision upholding the Wagner Act: Real (NLRB v. Jones & Laughlin, 1937), but upholding union rights did not cause the 1937–1938 downturn.

Roosevelt's cuts in federal spending in an effort to balance the budget: Correct. Believing recovery was under way, Roosevelt cut relief and public-works spending in 1937 while the Federal Reserve tightened credit. The "Roosevelt Recession" of 1937–1938 sent unemployment back up and pushed the administration to resume deficit spending (Topic 7.10).

the shift of workers into defense industries after Pearl Harbor: Wrong period and direction: defense hiring after 1941 lowered unemployment.

A break in a trend (here a reversal in 1937–1938) usually points to a policy change in that year; check which option happened then.

Answer: B

The Supreme Court's 1954 decision declaring segregated public schools unconstitutional: Opposite direction: Brown v. Board expanded constitutional rights and was not a wartime security ruling.

The Supreme Court's 1944 decision upholding the wartime removal of Japanese Americans: Correct. In Korematsu v. United States (1944), the Court again deferred to the government's claims of wartime necessity and upheld a sweeping restriction on civil liberties, the forced removal of Japanese Americans from the West Coast (Topic 7.12).

The Supreme Court's 1857 decision denying citizenship to African Americans: Dred Scott restricted rights, but it was not a wartime ruling balancing security against liberty, and it came before the excerpt.

The Supreme Court's 1935 decision striking down the National Industrial Recovery Act: Schechter Poultry limited federal economic power; it was not about restricting individual rights in wartime.

For "most similar" questions, identify the source's core feature (courts accepting limits on rights because of war) and find the later case that shares it.

Answer: D

the United States should go to war with Spain to secure Cuban independence: Not their dispute: both sources were written after the 1898 war began; they argue over ruling the territories acquired from it.

American farms and factories were producing more than domestic markets could absorb: Only Source 1 makes this claim; Source 2 neither accepts nor disputes it, so it is not the point on which they differ.

the federal government should restrict immigration from Asia to protect American workers: True of the era (Chinese exclusion), but neither excerpt discusses immigration.

the principle of consent should govern U.S. rule over peoples overseas: Correct. Beveridge argued that consent "applies only to those who are capable of self-government," while the Anti-Imperialist League insisted that governing Filipinos without consent betrayed the Declaration of Independence. The clash over consent and race was central to the debate over acquiring colonies after 1898 (Topic 7.2).

For a paired comparison (skill 3.C), find the one claim both sources address and take opposite positions on; a point only one source raises is not their disagreement.

Answer: A

Growing support for tax-limitation measures such as California's Proposition 13 in 1978: Correct. The second paragraph argues that suburban and Sun Belt voters came to see government as intrusive. Proposition 13, a homeowner-led revolt against property taxes, became a model for the antitax conservatism that helped elect Reagan in 1980 (Topic 8.14).

The founding of the National Organization for Women in 1966: Supports the first paragraph (rights movements borrowing civil rights methods), not the backlash argument.

The passage of the Clean Air Act in 1970 with support from both parties: Supports the first paragraph's point about environmentalism, not the conservative reaction.

The occupation of Alcatraz Island by American Indian activists in 1969: Supports the first paragraph's list of movements, not the argument about backlash.

In a two-part passage, locate the paragraph the stem names; evidence for the other paragraph is a common trap.

Answer: C

Deep cuts in military spending to balance the federal budget: Opposite: after NSC-68 (1950) and the Korean War, defense spending rose sharply.

Repeal of national-origin immigration quotas to welcome refugees from communism: Wrong period: quotas were kept by the 1952 McCarran-Walter Act and not ended until 1965.

Investigations into the loyalty of federal employees and others suspected of communism: Correct. Days after this address, Truman created a federal employee loyalty program. Fear of Communist subversion at home, fed by the global struggle the address describes, grew into HUAC hearings, the Smith Act trials and McCarthyism (Topic 8.3).

A youth counterculture that rejected Cold War values and military service: Wrong period: the counterculture belongs to the mid- to late 1960s.

Foreign-policy fears often had domestic effects; link the Cold War framing of the late 1940s to the Red Scare of the same years.

Answer: A

1. Read the trend: Mexico rose from about 1.0 million in the 1980s to about 2.8 million in the 1990s, then fell to about 1.7 million in the 2000s.
2. Use the note: the counts include people already living in the United States who adjusted their status.
3. Link it: IRCA (1986) offered legal status to millions of long-resident undocumented immigrants, many of whom became permanent residents around 1989–1991.

a 1986 law that offered legal status to many undocumented immigrants already living in the country: Correct. The Immigration Reform and Control Act (1986) combined penalties on employers with legalization for about 2.7 million undocumented immigrants, most of them Mexican. Many received permanent residence around 1989–1991, inflating the 1990s count, even as migration from Mexico continued to grow (Topic 9.5).

a 1994 trade agreement that removed all limits on migration among the United States, Mexico, and Canada: Overstated: NAFTA lowered trade barriers but did not open the border to migration.

the end in 1964 of the bracero program that had brought Mexican farm workers on temporary contracts: Wrong timing: the program ended decades earlier and does not explain a spike in the 1990s.

the exemption of Western Hemisphere nations from the quotas set by the Immigration Act of 1924: Wrong period: that exemption shaped migration in the 1920s–1960s, not a 1990s spike.

Read the table note: how a statistic is defined (here, status changes, not only arrivals) can explain a spike better than a new wave of migration.