If you were sitting in a high school gymnasium in May 2017, chances are you remember the collective "uh-oh" that rippled through the room when students flipped over the Document Based Question. The 2017 AP United States History DBQ didn't ask about the American Revolution or the Civil War. It didn't even touch the Great Depression. Instead, it zoomed in on a period that many history teachers barely reach before the exam: 1945 to 1980. Specifically, it asked students to evaluate the causes of the rise of a new conservatism.
It was a curveball. For years, students prepped for the "big" eras. Then, College Board decided to test the nuance of the late 20th century.
Honestly, the 2017 prompt is a masterclass in how the AP exam has shifted away from simple memorization. You couldn't just list facts about Ronald Reagan and call it a day. The prompt forced you to look at the messy, overlapping reasons why the American political landscape shifted from the liberal consensus of the New Deal to the "Reagan Revolution." It’s about more than just voting patterns; it’s about a cultural identity crisis.
What the 2017 AP United States History DBQ Was Actually Asking
The prompt was straightforward but deceptive: "Evaluate the causes of the rise of a new conservatism in the period 1945 to 1980."
To get a high score, you had to juggle seven documents that ranged from Barry Goldwater’s speeches to Milton Friedman’s economic theories. You also had to deal with the social side—the "Moral Majority" and the backlash against the counterculture of the 1960s. It wasn't enough to say "people liked low taxes." You had to explain why a suburban dad in 1974 felt like the world he knew was disappearing.
Most students struggle with the timeline. 1945 is the end of WWII. 1980 is Reagan's election. That's thirty-five years of massive change. You've got the Cold War, the Civil Rights Movement, Vietnam, and the energy crisis all colliding. The 2017 AP United States History DBQ demanded that you connect these dots. If you didn't mention the "Great Society" or the perceived failures of Jimmy Carter, your argument probably felt a bit thin.
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The Documents: A Mixed Bag of Ideas
The documents provided in 2017 were pretty diverse. You had Document 1, which was a 1960 statement from the Young Americans for Freedom (the Sharon Statement). It basically argued that the market should be free and the government should be small. Then you had Document 4, an image of a "Stop ERA" rally. This is where the complexity kicks in. The "New Right" wasn't just about money; it was about traditional gender roles and religious values.
If you ignored the social stuff, you missed half the prompt.
Think about Document 5. It was a 1970s evangelical newsletter. It talked about the breakdown of the family. For a student in 2017, or even today, looking back at that can be weird. We see the 70s as the era of disco and bell-bottoms. But for the people living through it, it often felt like chaos. Crime rates were up. Divorce rates were climbing. The DBQ wanted you to see that fear as a political engine.
Why This Specific Prompt Was So Difficult
History isn't a straight line. The 2017 AP United States History DBQ proved that.
The hardest part for most kids was the "Outside Evidence" requirement. You need one piece of specific historical information not found in the documents. Many went for the "Sunbelt." People were moving from the rusty, cold North to the South and West. This shifted the Electoral College. It also moved the political center of gravity. If you mentioned the Sunbelt, you were golden. If you mentioned "stagflation"—that nasty mix of high inflation and no growth—you were also on the right track.
But here is the kicker: you had to use the documents to support a thesis, not just summarize them.
A lot of people just wrote: "Document A says this. Document B says that." That's a death sentence for your score. The readers at College Board want to see you "contextualize." They want to know what was happening in the background. For the 2017 AP United States History DBQ, that meant understanding the "Liberal Consensus." This was the idea that, after WWII, both parties generally agreed that the government should have a safety net and that the Cold War was necessary. The "New Right" broke that consensus.
Cracking the Code of the Documents
Let's talk about the "HIPP" analysis (Historical Situation, Intended Audience, Purpose, Point of View). In 2017, the point of view was everything.
Take Barry Goldwater’s 1964 campaign. He lost in a landslide. Like, a total disaster. But the 2017 DBQ showed that his loss was actually the beginning of the conservative rise. His "Point of View" was that the Republican Party needed to stop being "me-too" liberals and start being actual conservatives. Even though he lost, he built the mailing lists and the grassroots infrastructure that Reagan eventually used to win.
If you caught that nuance, you were probably in the 5-6 point range (out of 7).
Misconceptions About the "New Right"
A common mistake students make when studying the 2017 AP United States History DBQ is thinking conservatism just "happened" because people didn't like the 60s. It was much more organized than that.
- It was intellectual: Think tanks like the Heritage Foundation started popping up.
- It was economic: High taxes and regulation were blamed for the 70s slump.
- It was religious: The Roe v. Wade decision in 1973 galvanized a group of voters who hadn't been very political before.
- It was geopolitical: The Iran Hostage Crisis made the U.S. look weak on the world stage.
Basically, it was a "perfect storm." You've got to treat these factors like ingredients in a recipe. If you leave one out, the whole thing tastes off.
The Legacy of the 2017 Exam
Looking back, the 2017 exam was a turning point for how APUSH is taught. It signaled that the "recent" past (post-1945) is just as fair game as the colonial era. It also emphasized "Complexity." To get that elusive complexity point, you had to acknowledge that while conservatism was rising, liberalism didn't just disappear.
Environmentalism grew in the 70s (think Earth Day and the EPA). Women’s rights made huge strides. So, the "rise" of one thing was happening alongside the "persistence" of another. That kind of "yes, but" thinking is what separates a mediocre essay from a great one.
The 2017 AP United States History DBQ remains one of the most cited examples for practice because it is so well-balanced. It has clear economic documents, clear social documents, and clear political documents. It’s the perfect "training wheels" for learning how to bucket your evidence.
How to Master This Content Now
If you're looking at this DBQ to study for a future exam, don't just read the documents. Analyze the rubric. The way College Board grades has changed slightly since 2017, but the core skills remain identical. You need to be able to look at a primary source and see the person behind it.
Actionable Steps for Mastery:
- Map the "Backlash": Create a timeline of the 1960s (Great Society, Vietnam, Hippies) and directly map conservative reactions to each event (Tax revolts, Silent Majority, Religious Right).
- Practice "Synthesis": Try to connect the rise of 1970s conservatism to a different period, like the 1920s (Return to Normalcy). This helps you see patterns in American history.
- Focus on the 70s: Most classes rush through the Nixon, Ford, and Carter years. Spend extra time here. Understand "Stagflation" and the "Energy Crisis"—they are the "why" behind the economic shift.
- Write a "Complex" Thesis: Instead of saying "Conservatism rose because of X and Y," try "Although the 1960s were defined by liberal expansion, the resulting economic instability and social upheaval paved the way for a conservative resurgence that redefined the American role of government."
The 2017 prompt wasn't just a test of what you knew. It was a test of how you think. If you can handle the messy contradictions of the 1970s, you can handle pretty much anything the AP exam throws at you. Success in APUSH isn't about knowing every date; it's about understanding the "why" behind the "what."