Past Midterm 1 Questions

What was General Sherman's Special Field Order #15?

It distributed southern plantation land to black families.

What was the purpose of the Ku Klux Klan?

It was a secret society intended to prevent Freedmen from gaining full citizenship rights.

What did the Bargain of 1877 lead to?

It led to the official end of Reconstruction.

What did the Civil Rights Bill of 1866 become the basis for?

It became the basis of the Fourteenth Amendment.

What were the Black Codes?

They placed strict restrictions on the Freedmen after emancipation.

What was significant about the Haymarket protests in Chicago?

All of the above are true: they showed the divide between big business and labor, led to the execution of four anarchists, and allowed big business to portray labor organizers as dangerous and un-American.

What did the Reconstruction Act of 1867 do?

It called for the creation of new state governments in the South and gave black men the right to vote.

What was the effect of the crop-lien system?

It caused many land-owning farmers to lose their land to local merchants.

What did "pools" refer to in economic terms?

Industrial leaders secretly agreeing to fix prices.

What is "conspicuous consumption"?

It developed from the lifestyles of America’s wealthiest families.

Who were the Knights of Labor?

They were an inclusive organization that advocated for a vast array of reforms.

What did John D. Rockefeller create?

The Standard Oil Company, which monopolized the nation’s oil industry.

Who was Thomas Edison?

An inventor who revolutionized the electrical industry.

Which U.S. Supreme Court case solidified the “Liberty of Contract” idea?

Lochner v. New York.

What did the Sherman Antitrust Act do?

It banned business practices that stifled competition and restrained free trade.

What is a false statement about the Populist Party?

It was dominated by urban, middle-class reformers.

What did the Populist Party platform of 1892 call for?

Government ownership of American railroads.

Who migrated to Kansas during the Kansas Exodus?

African Americans.

What is a false statement about Ida B. Wells?

She became one of the few female leaders of the Southern Democrats.

What was the Women’s Christian Temperance Union?

An organization founded in 1874 that demanded the prohibition of alcohol and advocated for women’s political activism.

What was Business Unionism?

A strategy of the American Federation of Labor (AFL) to win higher wages and better working conditions.

What does “Change over Time” refer to in history?

The relationship between “continuity” and “change” is important.

What does “Historical Intuition” mean?

Putting yourself in the shoes of historical actors.

What did the Fourteenth Amendment define?

U.S. citizenship according to jus soli guidelines.

When was the Fourteenth Amendment ratified?

1868.

What did the Thirteenth Amendment abolish?

Slavery and involuntary servitude in the U.S.

Who were the Radical Republicans?

They supported the Reconstruction Amendments.

Why did black civil rights suffer during the 1890s?

Southern Democrats disenfranchised black voters, Northern Republicans became less concerned, and the Federal government failed to act against lynching.

What did the presidential election of 1876 show?

How closely contested national politics were at the time.

How did Southern Democrats disenfranchise African Americans?

Through poll taxes, literacy tests, and violence.

Who did the “Five Civilized Tribes” support during the Civil War?

The Confederacy.

What did the Dawes Act do?

It put an end to American Indians’ tribal governments, except in Indian Territory.

Why did some Indians oppose the Dawes Act?

It took away their rights to own private property.

Who became a war hero in the Spanish-American War and later president?

Teddy Roosevelt.

What was the Workingmen’s Party of California’s slogan?

“The Chinese Must Go!”

What did the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 do?

Prohibited Chinese immigration to the U.S. for ten years and was the first legislation to restrict a specific group.

What did the court case U.S. v. Wong Kim Ark uphold?

Birthplace citizenship rights for children born to Chinese parents in America.

What was NOT a cause of the Spanish-American War?

Spain’s declaration of war on Puerto Rico.

Who was Emilio Aguinaldo?

He fought with the U.S. during the Spanish-American War but against the U.S. after McKinley colonized the Philippines.

What characterized the U.S. during and after the Spanish-American War?

During: National unity; After: Increasing political conflict over imperialism.

What did the documentary A Man, A Plan, A Canal: Panama show?

Railroads and railroad engineering were essential to building the canal.

What created barriers to U.S. free trade in China?

European “spheres of influence” and the U.S.’s weak navy in 1900.

What was true about the U.S. by 1900?

It was a global power trying to determine its role in world affairs.

Who was Elizabeth Cady Stanton?

She opposed the Fourteenth Amendment and promoted voting rights for women.

Who was Hiram Revels?

An African American Senator during Reconstruction.

What was Thaddeus Stevens' most important goal in Congress?

To confiscate the land of southern planters and distribute it among freedmen.

What was the ruling in U.S. vs. Cruikshank?

It threw out the convictions of some men found guilty in the Colfax Massacre.

What did the Enforcement Acts of 1870-71 NOT do?

Define crimes depriving citizens of civil rights as violations of state law.

What was significant about the Railroad Strike of 1877?

It was the first major industrial conflict in the post-Civil War era.

What happened at the Battle at Wounded Knee?

It was a U.S. Army massacre of the Sioux.

What did the Supreme Court uphold in Lochner v. New York?

The ideal of liberty of contract.

Which statement about the Knights of Labor is FALSE?

The organization was founded to help protect the Sioux at Wounded Knee.

What did Andrew Carnegie build?

A "vertically integrated" steel company and hundreds of public libraries.

What was the Omaha Platform?

It declared that the power of government should be expanded to eliminate oppression and poverty.

Which was NOT a cause of the Kansas Exodus?

The expansion of industrial jobs in northern cities.

What did Ida B. Wells do?

She publicly denounced lynching in the South.

Where were the "new immigrants" from?

Southern and Eastern Europe.

Which political party won the presidential election of 1896?

The Republican Party.

What was the main idea of "Business Unionism"?

Labor unions should negotiate with employers for better pay and working conditions.

What did the Platt Amendment of 1901 do?

It reserved the U.S. right to intervene in Cuban affairs.

What did Thomas A. Edison revolutionize?

The electrical industry.

What was "muckraking"?

Using journalism to expose the underside of American life.

What does the term "Fordism" describe?

An economic system based on mass production and mass consumption.

What principle was reflected in the 1912 Lawrence, Massachusetts strike?

Solidarity between ethnic communities.

Who was Samuel "Golden Rule" Jones?

A pioneer of urban Progressivism.

What was Jane Addams' belief?

She could help the poor by moving into poor neighborhoods.

Who founded the Sierra Club?

John Muir.

What did the Fifteenth Amendment do?

Eliminated race as a legal basis for disenfranchisement.

What did the Fourteenth Amendment include?

It defined citizenship, made former slaves citizens, and contained the "equal protection" clause.

What was upheld in U.S. v. Wong Kim Ark?

The principle of jus soli.

Which group opposed Chinese immigration to the U.S.?

The Workingmen's Party of California.

What was the first U.S. law to restrict immigration?

The Chinese Exclusion Act.

Why did some American Indians oppose U.S. citizenship?

They wanted to keep their tribal governments.

What did the Industrial Revolution (1865-1900) create in the U.S.?

A truly national economy.

By the 1890s, what was the Republican Party's primary concern?

Creating a pro-business environment in the urban-industrial North.

What was the major industry in the post-Civil War South?

Cotton textiles.

What did Alfred Thayer Mahan promote?

The creation of a modern U.S. Navy.

What was NOT a cause of the Spanish-American War?

Spain's declaration of war against Puerto Rico.

What event gave the U.S. influence in China?

The Boxer Rebellion.

What did the "Open Door" notes urge?

Free trade for all nations within China.

How are Progressives best understood?

As reformers.

Which group did NOT win Progressives' support?

Big Labor.

Why did Teddy Roosevelt run for president in 1912?

He felt Taft was doing a poor job.

What was Teddy Roosevelt's "New Nationalism"?

The belief that Big Business needed Big Government to stay.

How did Wilson win the election of 1912?

Taft and Roosevelt split the Republican vote.

What was the essential issue in the 1912 election?

The problem of Big Business and the U.S. Government’s response.