AP US History · Exam guide
AP US History Evidence Bank: Specific Examples by Period for the LEQ and DBQ
The evidence points on the DBQ and LEQ reward specific facts used to support a claim, not names dropped in passing. Use this table to build a short bank of dated, concrete examples for each period. For each one, be ready to say what it was, when it happened, and which claim it proves.
How to use the bank
- Learn two or three examples for each period, not all of them.
- For each, practice a one-sentence description: what happened, when, and the effect.
- Match each to an argument. Evidence is only useful in an essay when it supports a claim.
The bank
| Period or unit | Specific evidence you can use | Good for arguments about |
|---|---|---|
| Period 1 and 2 (1491 to 1754) | Columbian Exchange: horses and crops spread west, while smallpox killed large shares of Native populations. Pueblo Revolt of 1680. Bacon's Rebellion in Virginia in 1676. The Great Awakening of the 1730s and 1740s. | Contact, labor systems and the growth of slavery, colonial differences, religion. |
| Period 3 (1754 to 1800) | Proclamation of 1763. Stamp Act of 1765. Common Sense, 1776. Shays's Rebellion, 1786 and 1787. The Constitution, 1787, and the Bill of Rights, 1791. Washington's Farewell Address, 1796. Alien and Sedition Acts, 1798. | Causes of the Revolution, republican ideas, the debate over federal power. |
| Period 4 (1800 to 1848) | Louisiana Purchase, 1803. Marbury v. Madison, 1803. The cotton gin, 1793. The Erie Canal, 1825. Indian Removal Act, 1830. The Seneca Falls Convention, 1848. | Market Revolution, expansion, reform, and the growth of slavery. |
| Period 5 (1844 to 1877) | Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, 1848. Compromise of 1850 and the Fugitive Slave Act. Kansas-Nebraska Act, 1854. Dred Scott v. Sandford, 1857. Emancipation Proclamation, 1863. Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments. Compromise of 1877. | Sectional conflict, the Civil War, Reconstruction, and the limits of change. |
| Period 6 (1865 to 1898) | Transcontinental railroad, 1869. Homestead Act, 1862. Dawes Act, 1887. Chinese Exclusion Act, 1882. Haymarket Square, 1886. Sherman Antitrust Act, 1890. Plessy v. Ferguson, 1896. The Populist Omaha Platform, 1892. | Industrialization, labor, migration, Native American policy, and the origins of Jim Crow. |
| Period 7 (1890 to 1945) | Spanish-American War, 1898. Upton Sinclair's The Jungle, 1906, and the Pure Food and Drug Act. Nineteenth Amendment, 1920. Great Migration. Social Security Act, 1935. Executive Order 9066, 1942, and Korematsu v. United States, 1944. | Progressivism, imperialism, the Great Depression, the New Deal, and wartime civil liberties. |
| Period 8 (1945 to 1980) | Truman Doctrine, 1947. Brown v. Board of Education, 1954. Montgomery bus boycott, 1955 and 1956. Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965. Medicare, 1965. Tet Offensive, 1968. Nixon's resignation, 1974. | Cold War containment, civil rights, the Great Society, and the loss of trust in government. |
| Period 9 (1980 to present) | Reagan tax cuts, 1981. Fall of the Berlin Wall, 1989. NAFTA, 1994. September 11, 2001, and the Patriot Act. Affordable Care Act, 2010. | Conservatism, the end of the Cold War, globalization, and security versus liberty. |
Turning an example into evidence
It names the example but says nothing specific about what it did.
It describes the example, dates it, and ties it to the argument.
Common mistakes
- Naming a law or case with no description of what it did.
- Using the same one or two examples for every prompt.
- Choosing evidence from outside the period named in the prompt.
- Memorizing dates without learning the effect.
Frequently asked questions
How many examples should I memorize for each period?
Two or three that you can describe in a sentence are better than ten you can only name.
Does evidence have to be from the exact years of the prompt?
It should fit the time frame of the prompt, and evidence from just before or after can serve as context.
Can I use the same example in different essays?
Yes, if it supports the claim in each. Evidence is judged by how well it supports your argument.
Is this list complete?
No. It is a starting bank. Build your own from the lessons.
Where can I find the official scoring rules?
Exam formats change a little from year to year, so check the current course and exam description on the College Board site before test day.
Keep practicing
The AP US History course has five practice prompts for the DBQ and LEQ, plus short-answer sets, with a writing space that scores your response against the 7-point and 6-point rubrics. These free lessons also build the skills the free-response section tests:
- Free lesson 1.6: thinking about causation
- Free lesson 1.1: native societies and the context of contact
See the AP US History course Free lessons and lesson list
More AP US History guides (7)
Start here
- AP US History DBQ Rubric Explained: How the 7 Points Are Scored
- AP US History LEQ Rubric Explained: How the 6 Points Are Scored
- AP US History SAQ Explained: How the Short-Answer Questions Are Scored
Free-response and writing
- AP US History Thesis and Contextualization: Two Points You Can Plan Before You Write
- AP US History Sourcing and Complexity: How to Earn the Last Analysis Points
- AP US History Mini-DBQ: Civil War, Reconstruction and the Meaning of Freedom
Multiple choice
AP is a registered trademark of the College Board, which is not affiliated with and does not endorse this site. This guide is our own explanation of the question types and scoring. For the official scoring guidelines, see the College Board.