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Which of the following is not a reason why Europeans had developed an interest in exploring and colonizing new lands?
A) Merchants were interested in increasing their profits from trade by cutting out Middle Eastern intermediaries in the trade with Asia.
B) Better designed ships and more advanced sailing instruments made it safer to venture farther from land.
C) The monarchies of the new nation states were interested in increasing their wealth and power through territorial acquisitions.
D) Europeans were looking for new markets for the slave trade.
E) Religious dissenters thought that they would be able to escape persecution by emigrating to a colony.
D
While slavery was not unknown to Europeans, the impetus to enlarge the slave trade came after Europeans had explored parts of the Americas and established settlements. The slave trade was not a motive for exploration and colonization.
Cortés was aided in his conquest of the Aztec empire by:
A) the superior ships and sailing technology of the Spanish
B) help from Aztec tribute states that wanted to rid themselves of Aztec rule
C) European diseases against which the Aztecs had no immunities
D) the threat of the introduction of Africans to work the Aztecs' silver mines
E) the civil war that raged in the empire
B
Choice A doesn't make sense since the Aztecs lived inland. Choice C would be a good guess—if you had been asked about why Aztecs died off after they became part of the Spanish empire, not when they were being conquered. Choice D is a distracter—sounds good but has no basis in fact. Choice E would be a good answer—if the question asked about the Spanish conquest of the Inca.
A major difference between Massachusetts Bay and the Virginia Colony was that:
A) Virginia Colony was a commercial enterprise, whereas Massachusetts Bay was a religious enterprise
B) early colonists in Massachusetts Bay were freemen and families and in Virginia they were single men and indentured servants
C) there were more women in Virginia colony than in Massachusetts Bay in the early years
D) Massachusetts Bay had a higher mortality rate in the early years than did Virginia
E) there were already Europeans living in the area of Massachusetts Bay, but none in the Virginia colony
B
Answer A is incorrect; both were meant to turn a profit for their joint-stock companies. It is true that many of the colonists in Massachusetts Bay had a religious motivation, but the colony was also a commercial enterprise. Answer C is untrue; most of the 900 colonists who emigrated to Virginia between 1607 and 1609 were men, as answer B suggests. Answer D is also untrue. At the end of 1609, only 60 of those first Virginians survived. Of the 9,000 who emigrated between 1610 and 1622, only 2,000 survived. The first years were known as the "starving time." Answer E is untrue for both colonies. Don't confuse them with Pennsylvania, New York, and New Jersey where other Europeans were living when the English decided to establish colonies.
"Be it therefore . . . enacted . . . that no person or persons whatsoever within this province . . . thereunto [believing] in Jesus Christ shall henceforth be any ways troubled, molested, or discountenanced for or in respect of his or her religion nor in the free exercise thereof within this province. . . ."
A) Massachussetts
B) Maryland
C) Virginia
D) New Jersey
E) Georgia
B
Maryland passed the Act of Religious Toleration in 1649, which provided freedom of religion to Catholics and Protestants alike. Catholics at this time were severely persecuted in England. You can rule out answer A, Massachusetts, immediately, because leaders there allowed for no dissent from Puritanism.
Which of the following is an accurate statement about slavery in the American colonies?
A) Slavery began with the first shipment of Africans to Jamestown Colony in 1619.
B) The first enslavement laws were passed in Maryland.
C) By 1700 slavery was a part of the economy of all five southern colonies.
D) The first Africans taken to the southern colonies were indentured servants.
E) Slavery did not take hold in the Middle Colonies because of religious concerns.
D
The first 20 Africans who were landed in Jamestown Colony in 1619 were taken as indentured servants, so answer D is correct and answer A is incorrect. Answer B is incorrect because Virginia passed the first slave law in 1660 when it declared that African slaves were slaves for life. Maryland did not pass its first slave law until 1663 when it, too, made slavery lifelong. Answer C is incorrect, because the Carolinas were still one colony until 1729 and Georgia was not founded until 1732. Answer E is incorrect. While Quakers in Pennsylvania protested the use of slaves, the climate was the real reason that slavery never took hold in the Middle Colonies—except for Delaware, which had a climate similar to Maryland. The climate in the Middle Colonies prevented year-round farming, so colonists were unwilling to spend resources on slaves during the non-growing seasons.
The rights of women changed
A) as a result of the American Revolution
B) when women married
C) when women took jobs as teachers
D) when women moved to frontier areas
E) when women inherited property
B
Single women and widows had greater rights. They could conduct business, own property, and enter into contracts. Once they married, they lost these rights in favor of their husbands. While Abigail Adams may have cautioned her husband to "remember the ladies," nothing changed for women after the Revolution. Answers C and D are distracters. Answer E is illogical. If they had no rights, they would not have the right to own property.
Which of the following statements is NOT true about the economic life of New England in the late 1600s?
A) Farms were becoming too small to support a family, because they had been divided over the years for sons and sons of sons.
B) For a variety of reasons, people left older farms to seek new land on the frontier.
C) A short growing season added to the problems of making a living as a New England farmer.
D) The majority of New England farmers raised cash crops.
E) Because of continual farming of the same land, the land was no longer so fertile.
D
Common sense tells that you if even two of answers A, B, C, and E are correct, then answer D has to be wrong—but is the right answer for this reverse question. TIP: For a NOT or EXCEPT question, remember to focus on finding the answer doesn't fit.
Which of the following is an accurate list of the economic activity of the southern colonies in the mid-1700s?
A) Cotton and tobacco agriculture and trade
B) Shipbuilding, fishing, and trade
C) Cotton, rice, and tobacco agriculture
D) Tobacco, rice, and indigo agriculture
E) Shipbuilding, and rice and tobacco agriculture
D
Did you jump at answer A because it includes cotton? Cotton didn't become important to the south until Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin in 1793—after independence. Answer B would be correct, if the question asks about New England, but it doesn't, so answer B is incorrect. Answer C is incorrect for the same reason answer A is. Answer E is incorrect because it includes shipping and omits indigo.
Which of the following individuals was a well-known preacher of the First Great Awakening?
A) Anne Bradstreet
B) Anne Hutchinson
C) John Rolfe
D) George Whitefield
E) Roger Williams
D
George Whitefield, was the central figure in the First Great Awakening. A spellbinding preacher, he brought evangelicalism to the colonies. Answer A, Anne Bradstreet, was the first published poet in the colonies. Answer B, Anne Hutchinson, was banished from Massachusetts Bay for preaching as a woman and for what she was preaching, which did not conform to Puritan beliefs. Answer E, Roger Williams, also was ordered out of Massachusetts Bay; he founded Rhode Island colony and Hutchinson and her followers took refuge there. Both Hutchinson and Williams belong to the 1600s and the First Great Awakening occurred in the 1700s. Answer C, John Rolfe, introduced tobacco as a cash crop into Jamestown and married Pocahontas.
Which of the following colonies was least likely to allow plays to be staged?
A) Virginia
B) Rhode Island
C) New York
D) South Carolina
E) Massachusetts
E
With its strong Puritan influences, Massachusetts was able to keep theaters from being built and actors from performing. Answer B, Rhode Island, was the only New England colony that allowed theater performances. The first theater in the colonies was built in answer A, Virginia. There were no particular restrictions on theater in answers C, New York, and D, South Carolina. With Virginia, they were more worldly colonies.
All of the following statements about the population of the North American colonies by 1776 are true EXCEPT:
A) More immigrants settled in the Southern colonies than in New England.
B) Africans were the largest number of new arrivals.
C) Many of the new European immigrants moved into the backcountry pushing the frontier of the colonies west.
D) Most of the new European colonists came from the upper and middle classes.
E) Virginia was the most populous colony.
D
English immigrants in the 1600s were more likely to be from the upper and middle classes. By the 1700s, most European immigrants were from the poorer class.
Under the theory of mercantilism, North American colonies existed:
A) as a place to transport criminals from English jails.
B) as a way to draw off excess population from England.
C) to increase the home country's wealth.
D) as a place to transport paupers from English poorhouses
E) as a market for English-made goods.
Answers A, B, D, and E, all spurred interest in colonizing North America, but none of them explain the theory of mercantilism. TIP: Always focus on what the question is asking. Don't forget between answer A and answer E what you're looking for.
The underlying disagreement between Parliament and the American colonists revolved around:
a) nationalism versus colonialism
b) virtual versus direct representation
c) colonialism versus capitalism
d) taxation versus representation
e) capitalism versus socialism
B
The correct answer is B. The colonists were used to direct representation in their colonial legislatures and resented Parliament's claim that it represented all people within the British empire, whether the people were able to vote for them or not, which the colonists were not. The other answers all have terms that sound familiar to distract you, but are incorrect.
A colonial scientist whose work was well known in Europe was:
a) Benjamin Banneker
b) Charles Wilson Peale
c) William Bradford
d) Benjamin Franklin
e) Increase Mather
D
The correct answer is D. Benjamin Franklin was well known in the colonies and across Europe for his work with electricity. His work was the subject of discussion and praise by both the British Royal Society of Science and the French Academy of Science. Answer A, Benjamin Banneker, was an African-American mathematician and astronomer who helped survey Washington, DC. Answer B, Charles Wilson Peale, was a well-known portrait painter of the colonial and early national periods. Answer C, William Bradford, helped establish Plymouth Colony and governed it for 30 years. Answer E, Increase Mather, was a well-known Congregationalist preacher in Massachusetts Bay Colony.
Educated colonists were familiar with:
a) transcendentalism
b) deism
c) sentimentalism
d) nativism
e) romanticism
B
The correct answer is B. Deism is belief in a Supreme Being who is the source of natural law. Answer A, transcendentalism, was a literary and philosophical movement of the mid-1800s. Answer C, sentimentalism, was a type of literature that gained favor with middle-class women readers of the mid-1800s. Answer D, nativism, underlay the anti-immigrant attitude of the mid-nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It is belief that favors the native-born over foreigners. Answer E, romanticism, was a literary and artistic movement of the mid- to late nineteenth century.
Paintings that were created by untrained and itinerant artists in the colonial and early national periods are known as:
a) Folk art
b) romantic
c) nationalist
d) realistic
e) impressionistic
A
Folk art, that is, art by untrained and itinerant artists was a popular art form in the colonial and early national periods. Often, the heads were large and the bodies small and somewhat stylized. The body and background were often the same from painting to painting. The artist would paint in the face and perhaps some favorite object of the subject. Answers B, romantic; D, realistic; and E, Impressionistic, are all nineteenth century European art movements that influenced Americans artists as well. Answer C, nationalist, is a devotion to one's own nation and a glorification. While not a movement in the arts, it may influence the subject matter of art and did so in the United States in the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
By 1776, the people of English descent made up about what percentage of colonists?
a) Slightly less than 50%
b) 75%
c) 20%
d) Slightly more than 30%
e) 60%
The correct answer is A. The colonies that rebelled against Great Britain had an English population of slightly less than 50 percent. Answer C is the percentage of African and African-American slaves. Answer D is the percentage of people of other European nationalities.
All of the following are true about the effect of the fur trade on Native Americans in the colonial period EXCEPT:
a)
contact between Native Americans and traders spread European diseases among the Native Americans
b)
Native Americans converted in large numbers to Christianity
c)
made Native Americans dependent on Europeans and European Americans for trade goods
d)
created and worsened existing rivalries among Native Americans
e)
killed off large numbers of animals, thus depriving Native Americans of food and a continuing source of trade
B
The correct answer is B. Even if you weren't sure about the answer, you could figure it out. Considering the effect in general of whites on Native Americans, you should look for negative consequences. Answers A, C, D and E are all negative answers. They are also all plausible negative consequences on Native Americans. Answer B on the other hand is less plausible—and the right answer.
In the 1700s, socioeconomic class probably meant the least to:
a)
plantation owner in South Carolina
b)
merchant in Philadelphia
c)
printer in New York
d)
ship owner in Boston
e)
Scot Irish farmer in backcountry North Carolina
E
The 1700s saw enormous population and economic growth in the colonies, and along with this a widening of class differences. The only place where class mattered little was on the frontier, also known as the backcountry.
Which of the following is an accurate characterization of American colonists by the mid-1700s?
a)
Colonists still identified closely with a particular religion.
b)
Colonists thought of themselves as British subjects first and American colonists second.
c)
Family and religion remained the central concerns of people's lives.
d)
Colonists came to believe that through hard work and ambition, anything was possible.
e)
Life was so difficult that the only consolation that colonists found was in religion.
D
As generations were further removed from the initial colonizers, religion became less of an issue, especially for descendants of Puritans and Pilgrims. It was this lack of religiosity that spurred the First Great Awakening, but that movement did not result in people thinking of themselves and others first and foremost as Congregationalists or Methodists. Answer B is untrue, because not quite half of the population were English or of English descent. Answer C is not true. Answer E is the opposite of the American colonial view.
Which of the following did NOT contribute to the population explosion in the colonies in the 1700s?
a)
immigration
b)
natural increase
c)
high marriage rate
d)
low mortality rate
e)
upward social mobility
E
If anything, answer E, upward social mobility, would result in a lower rate of population increase. Upper-class women have fewer children than women in other classes. TIP: For reverse questions that ask you NOT and EXCEPT questions, remember to keep looking for what is not true.
One of the casualties of the French and Indian War was:
a)
French Catholics' ability to practice their religion in Canada
b)
Americans' sense of the superiority of the British military
c)
the British claim to Florida
d)
Native American rights to the land in the Ohio River Valley
e)
the fur trade
B
The British army was made up of professional soldiers, but they were no match for the tactics of the French and their Native American allies. The colonial militias lost respect for the commanders of the army. Answer A is untrue, especially if you test it against passage of the Quebec Act passed 1774 that ensured the right of French Catholics to practice their religion. Answer C is incorrect; Great Britain gained Florida as a result of the war. Answer D is incorrect. The British government issued the Proclamation of 1763 forbidding settlers west of the Allegheny Mountains. Answer E is incorrect. Whether it was French trappers and traders or American colonial frontiersmen, the fur trade continued.
The Stamp Act added fuel to the argument of "no taxation without representation" because:
a)
it would drain gold and silver from the colonies
b)
it required colonial postmasters to sell British stamps
c)
the stamps were printed in Great Britain taking work away from colonial printers
d)
it was another example of Parliament's exerting control over the colonies
e)
it was the first tax on goods made and sold within the colonies themselves
E
Until the Stamp Act, any revenue bill had been seen as a part of Great Britain's mercantilist policy because it involved goods passing between the colonies and either Great Britain or another nation. This tax was on colonial goods and services changing hands only within the colonies. Answer A is one of the consequences of the act, but that was not the main political reason that angered colonists. Answer D is also true, but is not directly related to the statement "no taxation without representation." Answers B and C are distracters.
At the same time the Stamp Act was repealed, Parliament passed the:
a)
Declaratory Act
b)
Townshend Acts
c)
Olive Branch Petition
d)
Nonimportation agreement
e)
Intolerable Acts
A
Whereas the repeal of the Stamp Act was meant to satisfy British merchants and decrease unemployment at home, Parliament passed the Declaratory Act to reaffirm its power to tax the colonies. Answer B, Townshend Acts, was the next set of laws passed by Parliament to tax the colonists. Answer C, Olive Branch Petition, was the name the Second Continental Congress gave a declaration of loyalty it sent to George III in 1775 and which he refused to accept. Answer D, non-importation agreements, were documents that planters and merchants signed after the Stamp Act, vowing not to import British-made goods. Answer E, Intolerable Acts, was the name colonists gave to four acts Parliament passed to punish Boston and Massachusetts for the Boston Tea Party.
The colonists protested the Tea Act for all of the following reasons EXCEPT:
a)
colonists feared it was the first of a series of similar actions that could threaten all colonial businesses
b)
it threatened to put colonial tea merchants out of business
c)
it was a tax that the colonists had not approved
d)
by using the revenue to pay royal governors, the act robbed the colonists of a weapon against the governors
e)
it gave a monopoly to the British East India Company
D
Answer D was the plan for the use of revenue gained from the Townshend Acts, which was passed in 1767. These acts placed taxes on goods imported into the colonies rather than goods or services sold within the colonies, the colonists' problem with the Stamp Act.
All of the following were provisions of the Intolerable Acts EXCEPT:
a)
closed the port of Boston
b)
all taxes had to be paid in gold or silver coin rather than currency
c)
required colonists to provide housing for British soldiers
d)
revoked the charter of Massachusetts
e)
allowed a British soldier or official to be tried outside the colony if the governor thought it impossible to get a fair trial within the colony
B
Answer B is a provision of the Currency Act of 1764. Colonial merchants protested this act, because it threatened to drain the colonies of gold and silver. It was, however, in keeping with the mercantilist policy of the home country's stockpiling wealth from its colonies.
The First Continental Congress:
a)
tried to find a way to heal the differences with Great Britain
b)
was preparing for war with Great Britain
c)
issued the Declaration of Independence
d)
authorized the militias to fight at Lexington and Concord
e)
attempted to justify independence to Loyalists
A
In 1774 when the Congress first met, there was no clear consensus in the colonies for independence. Many colonists still thought that a way could be found to retain their rights and remain in the British empire. That was the purpose of the "Declaration of Rights and Grievances" that the Congress sent to George III. Answer B would be correct if the question asked about the Second Continental Congress. The same is true for answers C and E. Answer D is incorrect; the fighting at Lexington and Concord came in response to British actions that were unknown to the Congress.
Whose idea were the committees of correspondence?
a)
John Adams
b)
Samuel Adams
c)
Paul Revere
d)
John Dickinson
e)
Alexis de Tocqueville
B
Answer D, John Dickinson, is a good distracter, because he wrote Letters From a Pennsylvania Farmer, in which he explained that Parliament had a right to regulate trade, but not to levy taxes within the colonies. Answer A, John Adams, is known for the letters he wrote to his wife Abigail during the sessions of the Continental Congress. Answer C, Paul Revere, was a fellow Bostonian and Patriot leader. Answer E, Alexis de Tocqueville, wrote a famous book, Democracy in America, about the American political system after a visit here from France in 1831 and 1832.
During the war, one of George Washington's biggest problems was:
a)
British guerrilla forces
b)
lack of adequate funding for the army by Congress
c)
superior military tactics of the British
d)
long supplies
e)
failure of the French to send its navy as support
B
Washington faced constant shortages of supplies and pay for the Continental Army. You should have been able to eliminate answer A immediately. Remember the colonists picking off the Redcoats as they marched back to Boston after Lexington and Concord. The Redcoats didn't learn anything about American-style warfare from that. Answer C is incorrect; tactics are superior only if the army wins. The British lost a great number of important battles. Answer D was a British problem. Answer E is incorrect. Although it took a long time for the French fleet to appear, it showed up when it was most needed—at Yorktown.
In writing the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson drew on the social contract theory of which Enlightenment thinker?
A) Voltaire
B) John Locke
C) Montesquieu
D) Thomas Paine
E) William Pitt
B
Voltaire was also an Enlightenment philosopher as was answer C, Montesquieu. Answer D, Thomas Paine, wrote Common Sense and The Crisis in support of independence. Answer E, William Pitt, was prime minister for part of the period leading up to the American Revolution and a supporter of the rights of the colonies in Parliament.
Native Americans sided with the British in the American Revolution, because:
A) the British threatened to burn Native American villages if they didn't fight
B) they wanted retaliation for American massacres of Native Americans in the French and Indian War
C) they were promised a reinstatement of the Proclaimation of 1763
D) they were promised large amounts of guns and trade goods in return for their service
E) they feared that if the Americans won, they would push further into their land
E
Answer C refers to the refers to the British order of 1763 that forbade colonists from moving into the area west of the Allegheny Mountains. Settlers ignored the order and conflict continued between Native Americans and colonists over the latter's continued encroachment on Native American lands.
In addition to France, which of the following nations aided the Americans in the Revolutionary War?
a) Russia
b) Spain
c) Prussia
d) Portugal
e) Italy
B
Spain (and the Netherlands) lent the new United States money to fund the war, but Spain also declared war on Great Britain in 1779. A Spanish force defeated the British in Louisiana and West Florida. Answer E can't be correct, because Italy wasn't a nation until the late 1800s.
In writing their new state constitutions, states:
a) Limited the power of the state government
b) Opened office-holding to all free white males
c) allowed all free white males to vote
d) denied the states the power to tax
e) made most state legislatures appointive rather than elective
A
Their experience as colonists under royal governors influenced the men who drafted the new state constitutions. As a result, they limited the power of the state government. Answers B and C are related; the Age of Democracy when voting, and, therefore, office holding were opened to more men had to wait until the 1820s and 1830s. Answer D is a good distractor, because the new nation was wary of giving taxing power to the government, but the answer is untrue. Answer E is also untrue. As colonists, they were used to electing members of their legislatures, so it doesn't make sense that they would suddenly appoint rather than elect legislators.
All of the following were weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation EXCEPT:
a) lack of judiciary
b) lack of executive
c) lack of the ability to tax
d) lack of authority to regulate interstate commerce
e) lack of authority to deal with Native American nations
E
Perhaps taking a page from Benjamin Franklin's Albany Plan of Union, the writers of the Articles of Confederation gave Congress the power to regulate affairs with Native Americans. Just about every other power that affected the states was kept with the states.
"Your President may easily become king. Your Senate is so imperfectly constructed that your dearest rights may be sacrificed by what may be a small minority. . . ."
a) George Washington
b) Benjamin Franklin
c) Alexander Hamilton
d) Patrick Henry
e) James Madison
D
Think speech; think Patrick Henry impassioned "give me liberty or death" speech. Answers A, George Washington, and B, Benjamin Franklin, are unlikely to be true since both men were members of the Constitutional Convention. The speech is clearly anti-Federalist and both answers C and E were strong Federalists. They along with John Jay wrote the Federalist Papers.
Under the system devised by the delegates to the Constitutional Convention, all of the following are true EXCEPT:
a) certain powers are reserved to the states under the 10th Amendment
b) certain powers are listed in the Constitution belonging to the federal government
c) An elastic clause gives Congress the power to make all laws "necessary and proper" to carry out the functioning of the government
d) A system of checks and balances prevents any one branch of the federal government from gaining too much power
e) The term separation of powers describes the division of powers between the federal government and the states
E
Separation of powers is the term given to the division of the federal government into three branches, namely, executive, legislative, and judicial. Federal is the term for the type of government structure that shares power among a national government and state governments.
Which of the following was NOT one of Alexander Hamilton's proposals to establish a sound financial footing for the United States?
a) Establishment of a national bank
b) Adoption of a protective tariff
c) Levying of an excise tax on whiskey
d) Repayment in their entirety of all war debts owed by the federal government and the states
e) Funding for a system of roads and canals
E
Canals belong to a later period in the United States--the 1820s and the 1840s. Answer E was a part of Henry Clay's American System.
As opposed to Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton considered the role of the federal government was to:
a) promote the well-being of the citizen farmer
b) encourage economic activity
c) redistribute wealth
d) ensure liberty
e) counteract speculators
B
Jefferson believed that the future of the nation was an agrarian society, whereas Hamilton saw it as an industrial society. Answer C would probably have shocked them both. Answer D and E are distractors.
The policy of the United States government toward Native Americans in the early republican period was to:
a) assimilate Native Americans into white society
b) divide Native Americans lands into small farms
c) negotiate for Native American land
d) force Native Americans onto reservations
e) teach Native Americans to farm
C
Regardless of the number of skirmishes between settlers and Natives, the official government policy was to negotiate for land, sign peace treaties, and pay little for the land. Answers A, B, D, and E were parts of federal policies in the last half of the 19th century.
In the war between France and other European nations in the 1790s, Federalists:
a) claimed that going to war to aid France would help the US economy
b) and Democratic-Republicans agreed that the French Revolution should be stopped
c) believed that the US should use the opportunity to show the world how strong it had become
d) claimed that the US had no obligation to aid France because of the alliance of 1778 had been with the French monarchy
e) protested Washington's issuing of the Neutrality Proclamation
D
Answers A and C are illogical. The US was not two decades old yet, its economy was weak and Washington knew that future economic growth depended on trade with Great Britain which was one of the half dozen or so nations that the US would be fighting. The issue was not whether the French Revolution should succeed, answer B, but whether the US should join the war. However, Democratic-Republicans in general supported the Revolution. Answer E is incorrect; Washington was a Federalist. Congress turned his proclamation into the Neutrality Act of 1793.
Jay's Treaty was reviled by Democratic-Republicans because it:
a) ceded to the Spanish the right to New Orleans
b) ended the US's trading rights with British possessions in the Caribbean
c) continued indefinitely British occupation of forts along the Western frontier
d) was not demanding enough in asserting the US's rights against Great Britain
e) limited France's ability to wage war against Great Britain
D
Answers A and E are incorrect because the treaty was between the US and Great Britain. Answers B and C are the opposite of what occurred. The treaty gave the US limited trading rights with British possessions and a set time, 1776, for British abandonment of the frontier forts.
″Millions for defense, but not one cent for tribute″ would have been an appropriate slogan for Americans during which of the events listed?
a) Passage of the Naturalization Act
b) Establishment of the Second National Bank
c) Proposed protective tariff
d) XYZ Affair
e) The Embarge of 1807
D
This slogan was the response of Americans to the demands of Agents XYZ that before France would negotiate, the US would have to lend it $10MM and give Talleyrand, the French minister, $250k personally. Answer A is illogical; it didn't have anything to do with money. Answer B was all about money, but it didn't have anything to do with tribute. Answers C and E are distracters.
The underlying purpose for passage of the Alien and Sedition Acts was to:
a) ensure freedom of assembly
b) weaken the Democratic-Republican Party
c) silence critics of states' rights
d) protect the nation from a rush of immigration
e) increase support for a war with Great Britain
B
The four acts, collectively known as the Alien and Sedition Acts, were aimed at decreasing the strength of the Democratic-Republican Party. The only people arrested were Democratic-Republican newspaper editors. The other answers are good distracters, because there is a hint of truth about each one. The Sedition Act did have to do with freedom of the assembly, answer A, but it authorized the arrest of anyone aiding an "unlawful assembly." The acts were intended to silence critics, answer C, but not of states' rights. Three of the acts were aimed at immigrants, but to deport them, not to limit immigration. The acts were passed during a period of conflict, but not open war, with Great Britain and France. The Federalist who passed the laws wanted to avoid war.
The election of 1800 is significant because:
a) the 12th Amendment was used for the first time
b) Federalists failed to win a substantial number of votes in New England
c) the Naturalization, Alien, and Sedition Acts were defeated
d) foreign policy was not an issue for the first time
e) the political party changed without violence
E
Thomas Jefferson called the election of 1800 "the revolution of 1800" for this reason, answer E. Answer A was drafted as a result of the ballot problems of 1796 and 1800, but was not ratified by the requisite number of states until 1804. Answer B is incorrect; the major area of strength for the Federalists was New England. Answer C doesn't make sense; laws were not put on the ballot to be voted on. Answer D is incorrect, because conflicts with Great Britain and France were very much part of the political campaign.
Which of the following was a reason for France's offer to sell all of Louisiana to the United States?
a) France found Louisiana too much of a drain on its treasury.
b) Napoleon was concerned that American interest in westward expansion would draw France into a long-distance, costly war.
c) Napoleon was more concerned with fighting Great Britain for return of Canada.
d) French explorers had already decided that there was no Northwest Passage.
e) The successful slave uprising in Haiti undercut Napoleon's plan for an empire in the Americas.
E
Answer B is actually Jefferson's fear. He was afraid that Napoleon would draw the United States into war, especially over the right to use the port of New Orleans. Answers C and D are illogical. Napoleon was concerned with building an empire in Europe. Lewis and Clark proved that there was no Northwest Passage.
The central issue in McCulloch v. Maryland was:
a) the extent of Congressional authority
b) the principle of judicial review
c) interstate commerce
d) slavery
e) equal protection under the law
A
The McCulloch v. Maryland broadened the powers of Congress to include implied powers, all those "necessary and proper" to enable government to function. The case itself dealt with the constitutionality of the Second Bank and the state of Maryland's attempt to tax its bank notes. The right match to answer B is Marbury v. Madison; to answer C is Gibbons v. Ogden; to answer D is Dred Scott decision, properly Scott v. Sandford; to answer E is Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas.
Jefferson's worst foreign policy blunder was:
a) encouraging trade with Europe
b) the Embargo Act of 1807
c) undermining the Alien and Sedition Acts
d) waging war against the Barbary pirates
e) opposing the War Hawks
B
The embargo was meant to hurt the British and French economies and instead severely damaged the Northeast. Opposition to Jefferson and the Democratic-Republicans was so great that the Federalists had a brief revival of support in the election of 1808. Answer A was a plus in Jefferson's foreign policy. Answer C was true of Jefferson's tactics, but these laws were not part of foreign policy and are a plus, not a negative. Answer D is also a positive aspect of Jefferson's foreign policy. Answer E is not true, because the War Hawks were not elected to the House until 1810, two years after Jefferson left office as President.
Which of the following individuals fought with the British in the War of 1812 as a result of the Battle of Tippecanoe?
a) Chief Joseph
b) Geronimo
c) Joseph Brant
d) Tecumseh
e) John Ross
D
Tecumseh and his brother Tenskwatawa, known as the Prophet, were organizing Native Americans from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico to resist selling their land to white Americans. When the Prophet attacked General William Henry Harrison's militia, the Native American encampment near the Tippecanoe River was destroyed. Answer A, Chief Joseph, and a band of the Nez Perce led the U.S. cavalry on a chase into Canada, but were stopped 50 miles from the border. Answer B, Geronimo, and Apache, fought the U.S. army in the 1870s and 1880s in Arizona. Answer C, Joseph Brant, or Thayendanega, was an Iroquois who led raids against the colonists in the American Revolution. Answer E, John Ross, was leader of the Cherokees who fought in court to block white Americans' efforts to take Cherokee land.
The major reason that the Federalists collapsed as a political party was because:
a) the Democratic-Republicans adopted the Federalists' economic program
b) the Federalists opposed a protective tariff
c) the Democratic-Republicans used a new style of political campaign
d) abolitionists deserted the Federalists when the party would not condemn slavery
e) Lincoln was elected President and the Civil War began
A
Answer B can't be right, because an area of strength for the Federalists was New England, which was very much in favor of a protective tariff. Answer C belongs to the election of 1840 when Whigs changed the nature of political campaigns. Answer D and C are just wrong and there to confuse you about dates. The Federalists was a political party of the early years of the republic, whereas abolition belongs to the first half of the 1800s and Lincoln's election to 1860.
All of the following revolved around the issue of states' rights EXCEPT:
a) Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions
b) Suffolk Resolves
c) Tariff of Abominations
d) Ordinance of Nullification
e) Webster-Hayne Debate
B
Adopted by towns in Massachusetts' colony, answer B were a protest against the Intolerable Acts. Answer A was the first protest by Southerners, in this case, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, against actions of the federal government—passage of the Alien and Sedition Acts. The resolutions claimed that the states had the right to judge the constitutionality of a law passed by Congress. Answer D continued this theme in response to the passage of answer C, which was actually the Tariff of 1832. Answer E was a debate between Daniel Webster of Massachusetts and Robert Hayne of South Carolina.
Which of the following ensured the future of slavery in the South?
a) Invention of the cotton gin
b) The racism that underlay Southern life
c) The fertile land, year-round growing season of the South
d) Transportation revolution
e) British textile industry
A
One argument used to keep the Constitutional Convention from outlawing slavery was that slavery would die out eventually because it was neither efficient nor cost effective. Some historians concur. The invention of the cotton gin, however, ended this possibility. The price of raw cotton went up dramatically as demand increased for cotton cloth. Many planters put all their resources into producing bigger crops, which required more cheap labor and, thus, the continuation of slavery.
"Any man's son may become the equal of any other man's son" describes what characteristic of American society?
a) Spoils system
b) Common man
c) Frontier spirit
d) Free enterprise
e) Social mobility
E
The ability to move from one social class to another has been a defining characteristic of American society since colonial days. Social class is less rigid in this country, because it is based on money rather than ancestry. Answer A, spoils system, was the name given to the way Andrew Jackson handed out government jobs ("To the victor, belongs the spoils.") Answer B, common man, is a term used to describe ordinary people, the bulwark of Jackson's support. Answer C, frontier spirit, could also be termed rugged individualism, the desire to go it alone. Answer D, free enterprise, refers to a market economy in which there is little government regulation.
All of the following changed the nature of hand work in the nineteenth century EXCEPT:
a) division of labor
b) putting-out system
c) use of interchangeable parts
d) mass production
e) apprentice system
E
Answer E was a leftover from the guild system of the Middle Ages. Answers A and B are similar. Dividing the steps of a job into tasks to be done by different people made it possible for small-scale manufacturers to place (put out) the work with a number of workers. This was the first step toward ultimately pulling all the jobs into a factory and making goods by machine on a large-scale. Answer C made possible assembling the exact same object over and over, which led to answer D.
Jefferson's Democratic-Republicans and Jackson's Democrats held which of the following beliefs in common?
a) Importance of a national bank
b) High protective tariffs
c) Importance of a governing elite
d) Freedom from government interference
e) Need to fund internal improvements on the national level
D
Answer A should have been easy to eliminate, because of Jackson's bank war over rechartering the Second Bank. Answer B should have been easy to eliminate, because Jefferson had opposed this policy when Hamilton had first proposed it. Answer C is antithetical to both men. Answer E was supported by Federalists, so eliminate this as a policy that Jefferson would have supported. Funding state improvements with federal money caused James Madison, another strong Democratic-Republican, to consider the need for a constitutional amendment. Jackson issued his Maysville veto over federal funding of internal improvements. TIP: When you have a question that asks you about two people like this one does, take the first person, go through the answers and see if they match with the first person's ideas. When you find one that does, try out the second person. Don't waste your time by checking both people against every answer.
The Compromise of 1820 was a failure because:
a) Missouri entered the Union a free state
b) it failed to settle the question of slavery once and for all
c) it convinced Southerners they had no reason to fear a Northern attack on the continuation of slavery
d) it established the unconstitutional principle of popular sovereignty
e) it set up a formula of free and slave states that could not be achieved
B
Answer A is incorrect; Missouri was a slave state. Answer C is incorrect; the law had the opposite effect on Southerners. Answer D is incorrect; the Compromise of 1850 established popular sovereignty. Answer E is a distracter; the balance already existed.
Which of the following was not a feature of urban life in the antebellum North?
a) Horse-drawn streetcars
b) Sewers and garbage collection
c) Separate neighborhoods for different social classes
d) Newspapers
e) Theaters
B
Sanitation was not a big concern of urban-dwellers or anyone really, because the link between sewage and disease was just beginning to be understood.
The election of 1828 was significant because:
a) Andrew Jackson gained revenge against John Quincy Adams for his loss in 1824
b) the election is considered the first of the new style of political campaign
c) power shifted from the Eastern seaboard to the western states
d) it was the first time the Twelfth Amendment was tested
e) Andrew Jackson won by entering into a so-called "corrupt bargain" with Henry Clay
C
Jackson was the first President who was elected from a state that was not one of the original thirteen. Answer A may have been true as far as Jackson and his supporters were concerned, but that is not the significance of the election. The honor of launching a new style of political campaign belongs to the election of 1840. Answer D is incorrect; the disputed election of 1824 between Jackson and Quincy Adams was settled under the provisions of the Twelfth Amendment. Answer E is the charge that Jackson leveled against Quincy Adams after the latter won the 1824 election with Clay's support and then named Clay his secretary of state.
All of the following were changes that resulted from the era of Jacksonian democracy EXCEPT:
a) more people became interested in politics and political organizations grew at the local level
b) candidates were chosen by nominating convention rather than by caucus
c) more public offices were filled by election rather than by appointment
d) voting requirements were eased so that more white men were eligible to vote
e) partisanship became less important as the vote spread to more men
E
Partisanship was very apparent in the early national period when voting was limited. Common sense says that if more people become involved in politics, partisanship will grow. That's human nature.
Which of the following is NOT a problem that workers faced in organizing early labor unions?
a) Native-born white workers did not admit free African Americans, immigrants, and women, thus cutting out large areas of support.
b) Political parties ignored workers' demands and sided with business.
c) Courts found unions guilty of conspiracy.
d) Workers needed their wages, so strikes tended to be short and ineffective.
e) Union workers lost their jobs when economic downturns caused owners to cut costs.
B
If you didn't know the answer, you could figure out enough to discard some answers. Discrimination against African Americans in the North was prevalent, so you would be safe in deciding that early unions did not include them and thus, lost potential members. Answers D and E seem to true on the basis of common sense. Workers were poor and needed wages; factory owners would cut workers in an economic depression and the most likely to be fired would be union members, potential troublemakers. If you think about Jackson and the Democrats as the party of the common man, then it stands to reason that they would be interested in the complaints of workers, so answer B is probably not true and, therefore, the right answer to this reverse question. In truth, the Democrats made every effort to win workers to Jackson's candidacy—and successfully.
The Trail of Tears demonstrated the:
a) physical weakness of Native Americans
b) resignation of Native Americans in the face of superior weapons
c) inability of Native Americans to file suit in a law court
d) use of propaganda by reformers to discredit the federal government
e) uselessness of assimilation if Native Americans stood in the way of white Americans intent on gaining land
E
Answer A is incorrect; the forced removal to Oklahoma took place in late fall when the weather was turning cold and snowy. The Cherokee also had rifles, so answer B is incorrect. Answer C is incorrect; the Cherokee took their case to the Supreme Court and won, but Jackson and the state of Georgia ignored the Justices' ruling in behalf of the Cherokee. Answer D is incorrect; reformers' interest in Native Americans was not very high until the late 1800s.
The Boston Associates began the Lowell mills with the idea that:
a) workers would be encouraged to establish labor unions
b) once the mills were up and running, immigrants would replace young farm women
c) factories could be run without the abuses of the English factory system
d) young farm women were an ideal labor supply because they would follow orders unquestioningly
e) the mills would enable them to end U.S. dependence on British textile mills
C
Answer A is incorrect. Although the women tried to strike for a reinstitution of their wages rates when the Boston Associates cut wages in the 1830s and 1840s, nothing came of the "turn outs" as they were called. Answer B happened, but it was not a strategy the mill owners developed. It occurred as profits dropped, wages were cut, and women workers protested and quit. Irish immigrants were cheaper to hire. Answer D is incorrect; young farmwomen were recruited because the owners thought they would work relatively cheaply. Answer E is illogical. One small town of mills couldn't compete with an entire British textile business that had several decades' head start.
The Panic of 1837 resulted from:
a) stock market crash.
b) Jackson's use of the spoils system.
c) Van Buren's independent treasury system.
d) overspeculation in Western lands.
e) the compromise tariff of 1833.
D
Answers A, B, and E are distracters. They sound familiar, but they have nothing to do with the issue. Answer C was a policy that Van Buren undertook to ease the crisis.
Maria Mitchell is noteworthy because:
a) she was the first female doctor in the United States
b) she was a well-known abolitionist and suffragist
c) of her contributions to astronomy
d) of her paintings of women and children
e) of her contributions to American literature
C
Maria Mitchell was an astronomer and discovered the comet that is named after her. She taught at Vassar Female College and was the first woman to be named to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Answer A describes Elizabeth Blackwell. Answer B could describe many women such as Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and Lucretia Mott. Answer D could describe the painter Mary Cassatt. Answer E could describe any number of nineteenth-century women such as Willa Cather and Margaret Fuller.
Which of the following is an example of transcendentalist literature?
a) The Scarlet Letter
b) Moby Dick
c) Walden
d) Little Women
e) The House of Seven Gables
C
Answers A and B are examples of the use of American themes in literature. Answer B is an allegory of good and evil that draws on American themes. Answer D is a novel written in the second half of the nineteenth century and considered a woman's book.
The middle-class sentimental novel of the mid-1800s was chiefly concerned with:
a) life lived in nature
b) individualism
c) mythology
d) social reform
e) social codes and social behavior
E
If you didn't know, the phrase middle-class should have been a clue. The rising middle-class was looking for its own clues as to what was proper social attitude and behavior and these novels set out a system of "genteel behavior."
A European literary and artistic tradition that greatly affected early and mid-nineteenth-century Americans artists and writers was:
a) naturalism
b) romanticism
c) modernism
d) Post-Impressionism
e) realism
B
Transcendentalism was influenced by the romantics' interest in nature and in personal feeling. Answers A, C, D, and E were later artistic and literary movements.
Which of the following poets is considered the quintessential American "common man"?
a) James Fenimore Cooper
b) Herman Melville
c) Edgar Allan Poe
d) Emily Dickinson
e) Walt Whitman
D
For this period when you read quintessential American character and "common man," think Leaves of Grass, "Song of Myself" and Walt Whitman. Answer A, James Fenimore Cooper, was the first American novelist to use American themes, but the question asks about a poet. Answer B, Herman Melville, was a novelist, also. Answer C, Edgar Alan Poe, wrote about romantic themes in a dark and brooding way, so he wouldn't fit the characterization of the ordinary person. Answer D, Emily Dickinson, was a poet and even considering the use of man in the generic sense, she can't be the right answer. Her poetry was too personal to reflect the oversized American character.
The most popular architectural style in the early and mid-1800s was:
a) Georgian
b) Gothic revival
c) balloon-frame
d) Romanesque
e) Prairie
B
Answer A, Georgian, was the style in the 1700s and one that the new nation moved away from. Answer C, balloon-frame, refers to a building method that became popular in the 1840s and is still used. Answer D, Romanesque, developed in Europe after 950 and was popular until the 1200s when Gothic replaced it. Answer E, Prairie Style, was developed by Frank Lloyd Wright in the twentieth century.
Which of the following individuals crusaded for asylums for the mentally ill?
a) Horace Mann
b) William Lloyd Garrison
c) Dorothea Dix
d) Sojourner Truth
e) Catherine Beecher
C
Answer A, Horace Mann, campaigned for public schools. Answer B, William Lloyd Garrison, was a radical abolitionist. Answer D, Sojourner Truth, was a former slave and abolitionist speaker. Answer E, Catherine Beecher, wrote Treatise on Domestic Economy, which was an influential book in guiding the new middle-class woman on her domestic role.
Which of the following institutions served the role of "the great equalizer" in American society?
a) Religion
b) Industrialization
c) Cities
d) Entertainment
e) Public schools
E
Answer A is incorrect, because it kept people separated by religious denomination. Answers B, C, and D are incorrect, because they separated people by socioeconomic class. Only public schools, answer E, brought together on a similar level people, in this case, children, of different socioeconomic and ethnic backgrounds and in so doing, imparted lessons in citizenship and American values. The phrase by the way is from Horace Mann, the greater booster for public education.
The mid-1800s saw a:
a) rise in the number of colleges for free African Americans
b) rise in the number of practical courses, such as science and engineering, taught in colleges
c) rise in the number of courses in the classics taught in colleges
d) decline in the number of colleges accepting women
e) decline in the number of middle-class men enrolling in college
B
Answer A would be correct only if you consider going from none to one a rise. Lincoln University, the first college dedicated to the education of African Americans, was founded in 1854. Answer C is incorrect; classics courses were a casualty of Americans' interest in industrial progress. Answer D is the opposite of what occurred. Answer E is the opposite of what occurred as the solidly middle class saw the value of an education and sent their sons off to college.
"I heartily accept the motto, 'That government is best which governs least'; and I should like to see it acted up to more rapidly and systematically. Carried out, it finally amounts to this, which also I believe: 'That government is best which governs not at all'; . . . The objections that have been brought against a standing army, and they are many and weighty, . . . may also at last be brought against a standing government."
a) Elizabeth Cady Stanton.
b) Thomas Jefferson.
c) Frederick Douglass.
d) Henry David Thoreau.
e) Jefferson Davis.
D
This quotation is from Thoreau's work Civil Disobedience, which he wrote in 1849 in protest of the policies of the federal government. Answer A, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, is not a good choice, because she wanted the government to change, not the end of government. Answer B, Thomas Jefferson, wanted small government, but some government or he wouldn't have participated in founding and presiding over a new government. Answer C, Frederick Douglass, again wanted a change in government policy, but did not advocate an end to government. Answer E, Jefferson Davis, is a distracter. At a quick glance, one might think he wanted the downfall of the United States, but he must have wanted some government since he allowed himself to be elected president of the confederacy.
Which of the following was a well-known group of landscape painters in the first half of the nineteenth century?
a) Hudson River School
b) Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts
c) Brook Farm
d) Greek Revival
e) Federal
A
The painter of the Hudson River School, or art movement, took as their subject the great American frontier, which at the time was upstate New York. Answer B, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, is a distracter, both because it was (and still is) a physical building—not an art movement—and founded in 1804, the oldest arts institution in the nation. Answer C, Brook Farm, is another distracter because of the word farm, but was a utopian community. Answers D, Greek Revival, and E, Federal, are architectural styles. The Federal and Greek Revival styles were popular in the early national period and 1800s up to mid-century.
The social reform movements of the 1800s relied heavily on:
a) Western members
b) the moral outrage of the working class
c) the work and talents of women
d) the leadership of ministers
e) the teachings of the Catholic Church
C
Relegating middle-class women to the house with labor saving products like bar soap and oil lamps and servants left them with time on their hands. Coupled with the social message that women were morally superior to men, they set out to reform the ills of society. You can figure out that answers A, and E are wrong. Answer A, Westerners, was too busy trying to make a living. This was an era of intense anti-immigrant and, therefore, anti-Catholic feeling, so reformers would hardly be looking to Catholicism for support.
Utopian communities in general were based on:
a) a vision from God
b) the ideal of cooperation and communal ownership of property
c) personal religious experience
d) the principles of capitalism
e) separation of the sexes
B
Answer A is incorrect; even if some might have involved a vision, the questions asks about utopian communities in general. Answers C and E are also incorrect for the same reason. Answer D is incorrect. You might not have noticed, but answer D is the opposite of answer B, and both can't be right.
An unintended outcome of the Second Great Awakening was:
a) the ordination of women as ministers
b) a decline in support for education
c) general decline in church participation by congregants
d) increasing interest in social reform
e) tightening of ministers' control over their congregations
D
Answer A can't be true, because women were just beginning to fight for their rights in the first half of the 1800s. Answers B, C, and E are the opposite of the effects of the Second Great Awakening.
The British invented industrialization...
a) and Americans replicated the British processes exactly in the United States
b) but Americans rejected British processes and developed their own
c) whereas Americans lacked the resources needed to industrialize quickly
d) and Americans built on British ideas and took them to a higher level of efficiency
e) but Americans were much later in adopting industrialization
D
American inventors are credited with developing the American system of manufacturing, which relied on interchangeable, or standardized, parts to mass-produce a variety of goods. Europeans then imported this system for their own factories. Answer A is illogical, given the penchant of Americans to invent things. Answer B is incorrect; Samuel Slater, for example, is credited with bringing the idea of mechanized textile manufacture to the United States from Great Britain. Answer C is illogical, given the natural resources and investment capital available in the country. Answer E is untrue; industrialization began in England in the late 1700s and was established in the United States by the early 1800s. That was the argument between the Jeffersonians and the Hamiltonians—agrarian nation versus industrial nation.
All of the following were tensions within the abolition movement EXCEPT:
a) colonization versus compensation for slaveholders
b) patronizing and racist attitude of some white abolitionists toward African American abolitionists
c) gradual emancipation versus immediate abolition
d) nonviolent action versus violence
e) moral persuasion versus political action
A
Answer A confuses two arguments. Some early abolitionists believed that slaves should be freed and returned to Africa. They supported the founding of Liberia as a colony for former American slaves. The other argument was whether slaveholders should be compensated when their slaves were freed. Even Abraham Lincoln believed that they should be; they were not once the Civil War ended slavery.
American settlers moved to Texas in the 1820s and 1830s, because:
a) slavery was allowed
b) land was wearing out in Alabama and Georgia
c) it was far away from the Underground Railroad
d) land was plentiful and cheap for raising cotton
e) the Mexican government allowed Americans to set up their own extraterritorial government rather than be governed from Mexico City
D
Answer A is the opposite of the truth, but Americans ignored the law. Answer B is incorrect. Land would become increasingly infertile in the Upper South. Answer C is true, but the Underground Railroad was little threat to slave owners in this early period. Answer E is incorrect; the tightening of Mexican rule was one reason for the rebellion of Americanos and Tejanos against the Mexican government.
"Manifest destiny" was used by Americans in the mid-1800s to justify:
a) the Monroe Doctrine
b) expansion of the nation across the continent
c) abolition
d) construction of the transcontinental railroad
e) slavery
B
In 1845, a journalist used the phrase to justify the annexation of Texas, "manifest destiny to overspread the continent allotted by Providence for the free development of our yearly multiplying millions."
The slogan "Fifty-Four Forty or Fight" referred to American claims to which of the following?
a) Missouri
b) Florida
c) Ohio Valley
d) Texas
e) Oregon
E
President James K. Polk originally sought this line as the boundary line for the Oregon Territory, but agreed to the 49th parallel in order to avoid war with Great Britain and Mexico at the same time. Answer D, Texas, is a good distracter, because the boundary line for Texas was the cause of the Mexican War. Missouri, answer A, also has a boundary line in its history. In the Missouri Compromise, or Compromise of 1820, Congress had settled on the 36º30' as the boundary between slave and free state.
Which of the following had to pay a tax to mine for gold in California?
a) Chinese immigrant
b) Any nonnative Californian
c) Native-born Californian of Mexican descent
d) Free African American
e) Any woman
A
Any foreigner who wanted to mine for gold had to pay a special tax. This was meant to discourage foreigners and eliminate their competition for the scarce natural resource. Racial discrimination was a characteristic of mining camps.
"Slave power" referred to the:
a) power of slaves to send the South into chaos if they ever rebelled
b) ability of slaves to create wealth in the form of raw materials
c) ability of slaves to move the machinery in factories
d) ability of slaves to work hard
e) power wealthy Southerners wielded over the economy and politics in the South
E
This phrase was coined as a shorthand for the growing power of wealthy Southern aristocrats to wield power in the South and to try to influence national politics as well. Their dogged persistence in balancing slave and free states is one example on the national level. If you didn't know this, you could eliminate at least answers C and D as too simplistic.
Most white Southerners owned:
a) no slaves
b) from 1 to 5 slaves
c) 6 to 25 slaves
d) 26 to 50 slaves
e) 51 slaves or more
A
Only 2.5 percent of white Southerners owned slaves and were wealthy plantation owners. Sixty-four percent of white Southerners owned no slaves, yet supported slavery.
Between 1800 and 1860, the majority of American workers:
a) had shifted from agriculture to factory work
b) remained in agriculture
c) worked in trade, transportation, and manufacturing
d) was concentrated in the South
e) had joined unions
B
The industrialization of the United States workforce did not occur to any great degree until after the Civil War and even in 1900, only slightly less than half the nation's labor force worked in agriculture. If you weren't sure, you could still eliminate answers D and E. Answer D was far less populated than the North, so this answer is illogical. Answer E is also illogical, because unions were still having trouble attracting members.
Which of the following statements is NOT true about the role of middle-class women in the first half of the 1800s?
a) Mothers forfeited to the new public schools their roles as moral guides for their children.
b) Women were seen as the moral and cultural arbiters of society.
c) Women were no longer important as a source of income for the family.
d) The new concept of domesticity clearly marked women's role as "in the home" and men's role as "in the world."
e) Women were seen as being of a higher moral quality than men.
A
Because women were seen as keepers of the virtues, such as honesty, piety, and selflessness, they were the first and foremost moral guides to their children.
Which of the following restrictions on women made it difficult for them to fight for reforms in the mid-1800s?
a) Married women were not allowed to own property.
b) Women were not allowed to vote.
c) Society frowned on respectable women speaking in public.
d) Women could not attend college and become educated in the issues.
e) Women were not allowed control over their children.
C
Answer A is a true fact, but owning property and fighting for reforms aren't related. Answer B is also a true fact, but one can work for reform without voting. Answer D is incorrect; women could attend college and the 1830s and 1840s saw the first colleges founded for women. In addition, some men's colleges accepted women. More to the point, one can fight against injustice without going to college. Answer E is correct, but like answers A and B have nothing to do with what the question asks. TIP: Be sure you understand what the question is asking so you answer THAT question.
Which of the following was a new job that opened to single women in the first half of the 1800s?
a) Shop clerk
b) Shop owner
c) Servant
d) Schoolteacher
e) Secretary
D
Did you miss the key words in this question? Single and first half of the 1800s? The wives, daughters, and widows of artisans had worked as shop clerks since the beginning of the colonies, so answer A is incorrect. Daughters and widows could also be the owners of shops, so answer B is incorrect. Going service (being a servant) was also a job for women, so answer C is incorrect. That leaves answer D, schoolteacher, which was the new career open to women in the first half of the nineteenth century—as long as they were single women. Once a woman married, she could no longer teach. Answer E, secretary, doesn't fit the time frame. Secretaries weren't needed until the nation became one of offices and office machinery in the last half of the 1800s and then the jobs were reserved for men.
All of the following were important issues for workers in the mid-nineteenth century EXCEPT:
a) 10-hour workday
b) end to debtors' prisons
c) cheap public land
d) establishment of public schools
e) low tariff
E
Answer A is obvious, but even if you didn't know that answers B, C, and D were issues that workers supported, you could figure it out. Answer E, low tariff, would mean that goods brought into the country would be cheap; these cheap goods would compete with American-made goods. It's common sense to figure out that workers would not welcome competition and, therefore, would be anti-low tariffs.
Which of the following statements is true about immigrants in the 1840s and 1850s?
a) Most Irish immigrants had been farmers, whereas most German immigrants were skilled workers.
b) Irish immigrants tended to move West, whereas German immigrants tended to stay in cities.
c) Irish immigrants made poor politicians, whereas German immigrants quickly took over politics.
d) Irish and German immigrants were mainly Protestants.
e) The Irish tended to come as single men, whereas the Germans came in families.
A
Answer B is incorrect, because most Irish immigrants tended to stay in cities in the Northeast. Answer C is incorrect, because the Irish tended to become political bosses. Answer D is incorrect, because Irish immigrants were predominantly Roman Catholic. Answer E is incorrect, because the Irish tended to come as families. TIP: When you have two parts to an answer, go through the first part of each answer. If the first part is incorrect, then you don't have to read the second part. Only read the second part of an answer if the first part is correct. You'll save yourself some time.
If you were listening to Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott, you were most likely at a:
a) temperance meeting
b) prayer service
c) women's rights meeting
d) political rally
e) state school board meeting
C
Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott called the first women's rights convention at Seneca Falls, New York, in 1848. The Declaration of Sentiments, modeled after the Declaration of Independence, listed twelve resolutions calling for equal rights for women including the vote.
Which of the following became independent as the "Bear Flag Republic"?
a) Texas
b) California
c) Florida
d) Oregon
e) New Mexico
B
Older American settlers in California had adopted Spanish culture, but newer emigrants were not interested in assimilating. With little resistance and a claim of tyranny, Americans in California rebelled in 1846 and declared their independence. They raised a flag with a bear on it as their new standard. Answer A, Texas, had a single star on its flag as an independent nation and was known as the Lone Star Republic.
The significance of the Free Soil Party in the election of 1848 was that it:
a) splintered the two-party political system
b) was the first party to campaign on a promise of an end to slavery
c) introduced the issue of free farmland into a presidential election
d) introduced the issue of free land for a right of way for a transcontinental railroad
e) weakened the Democratic-Republican Party
A
Answer B is incorrect; the Free Soil Party campaigned on a platform to establish western lands free of slavery—and even free blacks—where white workers would not have their wages depressed by competing with slave labor. Answers C and D are distracters; the "free" soil in the party's title was land free of slavery. Answer E is incorrect, because the Republican Party did not exist in 1848. The Free Soil did take votes from the Democratic presidential candidate, and the Whig candidate, General Winfield Taylor, won.
The chief obstacle emigrants met on the overland trails to the Far West was:
a) Native Americans
b) boredom
c) isolation
d) natural features of the land
e) breakdown of familiar division of labor among family members
D
Did you jump at answer A and not read the rest of the answers? Native Americans accounted for few deaths on the trails West, perhaps 400 between 1840 and 1860, most of them in the 1850s. Consider that some 380,000 settlers had moved to California by 1860. As one person has written, a settler was more likely to be kicked by a horse than shot by an Indian. What settlers did have to contend with were the mountains and rivers. Answer B is wrong, because there was never a dull day on the wagon train. Answer C is incorrect, because most emigrants went in wagon trains of a number of families. Answer E is incorrect, because the division of labor in which men did the heavy work, women took care of the family's needs, and children had chores to help out continued on the trail.
Which of the following was LEAST likely to become a member of the American Party in 1854?
a) Urban dockworker
b) Small-town blacksmith
c) Middle-class store clerk
d) Midwestern farmer
e) Upper-middle-class store owner
E
The American Party, or Know-Nothings, drew its membership from those who were concerned about economic competition from immigrants and the potential disturbance of the social order these people and their "foreign ways" could cause.
The decision in Scott v. Sandford did all of the following EXCEPT:
a) declare that slaves were the property of their owners
b) find that slaves were not and never could be citizens
c) find that slaves as noncitizens could not file lawsuits in court
d) declare the Missouri Compromise unconstitutional in its banning of slavery in territories
e) declare that states did not have the right to ban slavery
E
The justices in the Dred Scott decision found that only states had the right to ban slavery. They based their decision on the Fifth Amendment's due process clause in regard to taking property.
Southern slaves were able to build communities that provided all of the following EXCEPT:
a) a sense of kinship for African Americans
b) access to education
c) a social structure based on the concept of extended family
d) a continuation of African culture and traditions
e) their own religion
B
It was against the law to teach enslaved African Americans to read and write. Answers A, C, D, and E are all true of slave communities—that is, slave quarters—on plantations. Because families could be sold apart, the overall community provided a sense of belonging, and the concept of the extended family turned everyone into a brother, grandmother, child, and so on. African Americans adapted white Christianity to their own needs and turned it into a religion of hope and freedom of the spirit.
The struggle between proslavery and antislavery forces to have Kansas admitted to the Union in the late 1850s resulted in:
a) the admission of Kansas as a slave state
b) an open split between Northern and Southern Democrats
c) the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act
d) the Lincoln-Douglas debates
e) the establishment of the Free-Soil Party
B
Kansas was not admitted to the Union until 1861, so answer A is incorrect. Proslavery forces wrote what became known as the Lecompton Constitution in 1857, and the overwhelmingly antislavery Kansas populace rejected it. However, President Buchanan and the Southern Democrats supported admission of Kansas as a slave state, whereas Northern Democrats opposed it. Passage of the bill admitting Kansas as a slave state failed, and the state was admitted as a free state once the Civil War began. Answer C is incorrect, because the Fugitive Slave Act was part of the Compromise of 1850. The Lincoln-Douglas debates, answer D, resulted from the Illinois Senate campaign, although the Kansas-Nebraska Act was the subject of the debates. Answer E is incorrect, because the Free-Soil Party had run its first candidates in 1848.
While members of Congress debated slavery, the United States was also pursuing the:
a) purchase of Alaska
b) annexation of Puerto Rico
c) annexation of Hawaii
d) opening of trade relations with Japan
e) Open-Door Policy in China
D
Matthew Perry sailed his steam-powered warship into Tokyo Bay in 1853 and returned the following year with seven warships to negotiate a trade agreement with Japan. Answer A is incorrect. The first inclination of Russia's interest in selling Alaska did not come until 1867 and the United States immediately bought it. Answer B occurred as a result of the Spanish American War. Answer C did not occur until 1898. Answer E belongs to United States foreign policy in 1899.
All of the following individuals worked to end slavery in one way or another EXCEPT:
a) John Brown
b) Harriet Beecher Stowe
c) Harriet Tubman
d) David Wilmot
e) Stephen A Douglas
E
Abraham Lincoln's opponent in the Illinois Senate race in 1858 and the author of the policy of popular sovereignty in the Compromise of 1850, Douglas never argued for the end of slavery or the end of its extension into new territories. Answer A, John Brown, was a fiery abolitionist, who led the raid on Harpers Ferry in an effort to launch a slave rebellion and was hanged for his trouble. Answer B, Harriet Beecher Stowe, wrote the abolitionist polemic Uncle Tom's Cabin. Answer C, Harriet Tubman, was a conductor on the Underground Railroad and a forceful speaker against slavery. Answer D, David Wilmot, a Pennsylvania member of the House, introduced a bill to outlaw slavery in land acquired from Mexico for $10 million.
Note 
Flashcard (59)