2018 AP US History Free-Response Questions - United States History

Sep 22, 2026

Uploaded by Violet

2018 AP United States History free-response questions for Section I (Part B) and Section II (Document-Based Question). Section I includes four options: Question 1 compares interpretations of the American Revolution using provided excerpts; Question 2 uses a Progressive Era image of Theodore Roosevelt to address government’s societal role; Question 3 contrasts religion in Spanish colonization and New England within 1500–1750; and Question 4 compares internal migration patterns across 1910–1940 and 1941–1980. Section II provides DBQ instructions requiring a thesis, contextualization, and support using at least six edited documents plus additional evidence.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryExam

FormatPDF

Pages12

Reading Time30 min

AccessFree to download

Section I, Part B

Question 1

Question 2

Question 3

Question 4

Section II

Question 1 (Document-Based Question)

2018 AP United States History Free-Response Questions © 2018 The College Board. College Board, Advanced Placement Program, AP, AP Central, and the acorn logo are registered trademarks of the College Board. Visit [the College Board on the Web: www.collegeboard.org](the College Board on the Web: www.collegeboard.org). [AP Central is the official online home for the AP Program: apcentral.collegeboard.org](AP Central is the official online home for the AP Program: apcentral.collegeboard.org). 2018 AP® US HISTORY FREE-RESPONSE QUESTIONS UNITED STATES HISTORY SECTION I, Part B Time—40 minutes Directions: Answer Question 1 and Question 2. Answer either Question 3 or Question 4. Write your responses in the Section I, Part B: Short-Answer Response booklet. You must write your response to each question on the lined page designated for that response. Each response is expected to fit within the space provided. In your responses, be sure to address all parts of the questions you answer. Use complete sentences; an outline or bulleted list alone is not acceptable. You may plan your answers in this exam booklet, but no credit will be given for notes written in this booklet. “Although eighteenth-century America was predominantly a rural, agricultural society, its seaboard commercial cities were the cutting edge of economic, social, and political change. . . . In America, it was in the colonial cities that the transition first occurred from a barter economy to a commercial one. . . . The cities predicted the future. . . . Urban people, at a certain point in the preindustrial era, upset the equilibrium of an older system of social relations and turned the seaport towns into crucibles of revolutionary agitation.” Gary B. Nash, historian, The Urban Crucible, 1986 “The colonist’s attitudes toward civil uprising were part of a broader Anglo-American political tradition. In the course of the eighteenth century, colonists became increasingly interested in the ideas of seventeenth-century English revolutionaries . . . and the later writers who carried on and developed this tradition. . . . By the 1760s . . . this . . . tradition provided a strong unifying element between colonists North and South. It offered, too, a corpus of ideas about public authority and popular political responsibilities that shaped the American revolutionary movement. Spokesmen for this English revolutionary tradition were distinguished in the eighteenth century above all by their outspoken defense of the people’s right to rise up against their rulers.” Pauline Maier, historian, From Resistance to Revolution, 1991 1. Using the excerpts above, answer (a),(b), and (c) . a) Briefly describe ONE major difference between Nash’s and Maier’s historical interpretations of the origins of the American Revolution. b) Briefly explain how ONE specific historical event or development from the period 1754 to 1800 that is not explicitly mentioned in the excerpts could be used to support Nash’s argument. c) Briefly explain how ONE specific historical event or development from the period 1754 to 1800 that is not explicitly mentioned in the excerpts could be used to support Maier’s argument. GO ON TO THE NEXT PAGE. -2- 2018 AP® US HISTORY FREE-RESPONSE QUESTIONS 􀀂A Nauseating Job, But It Must Be Done􀀂 Saturday Globe © Bettmann/Corbis 2. The Progressive Era image above depicts President Theodore Roosevelt. Using the image, answer (a), (b), and (c) . a) Briefly describe ONE perspective expressed by the artist about the role of government in society. b) Briefly explain how ONE event or development led to the historical situation depicted in the image. c) Briefly explain ONE specific outcome of Progressive Era debates about the role of government in society. GO ON TO THE NEXT PAGE. -3- 2018 AP® US HISTORY FREE-RESPONSE QUESTIONS Question 3 or 4 . Directions: Answer either Question 3 or Question 4. 3. Answer (a),(b), and (c). Confin

FAQs

What are the key requirements for the DBQ in Section II?

Students should present a historically defensible thesis and claim, describe relevant broader historical context, support the argument using at least six documents, and use at least one additional piece of specific historical evidence beyond the documents.

Sep 22, 2026

Uploaded by Violet

2018 AP US History Free-Response Questions - United States History_Page 1

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