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Period 5 of 9
Civil War & Reconstruction
1844–1877
Compromise gave way to crisis as slavery's expansion split the nation. War, emancipation, and a brutal struggle to rebuild the Union tested whether America could survive — and what freedom would mean afterward.
5Chapters
10–17%Of the exam
Chapters in this period
Each chapter opens on its summary; the study bar at the top of every chapter switches between its vocabulary, timeline, ordering game and quizzes.
Chapter 18
Renewing the Sectional Struggle
Vocabulary Timeline Ordering Quiz Extra quiz Chapter 19Drifting Toward Disunion
Vocabulary Timeline Ordering Quiz Extra quiz Chapter 20Girding for War: The North and the South
Vocabulary Timeline Ordering Quiz Extra quiz Chapter 21The Furnace of Civil War
Vocabulary Timeline Ordering Quiz Extra quiz Chapter 22The Ordeal of Reconstruction
Vocabulary Timeline Ordering Quiz Extra quizWhere this sits in the course
- P1 · 4–6% New World Beginnings 1491–1607 3 chapters
- P2 · 6–8% Colonial Society Takes Shape 1607–1754 2 chapters
- P3 · 10–17% Revolution & a New Republic 1754–1800 5 chapters
- P4 · 10–17% The Young Republic Expands 1800–1848 7 chapters
- P5 · 10–17% Civil War & Reconstruction 1844–1877 5 chapters
- P6 · 13–17% The Gilded Age 1865–1898 4 chapters
- P7 · 13–17% Boom, Bust, and Global War 1890–1945 9 chapters
- P8 · 13–17% Postwar America and the Cold War 1945–1980 4 chapters
- P9 · 4–6% The Contemporary Era 1980–present 3 chapters
Segment width = that period's share of the AP exam, using the College Board's published weightings.