US History Questions

1
US History Questions

• 2009-2010

2
Which of the following would have altered the
history of the US by allowing states the power to
declare null and void any act of congress.

• A. XYZ Affair
• B. Whiskey Rebellion
• C. Alien and Sedition Act
• D. Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions

3
When John Marshall was chief justice, the supreme
courts interpretations of the constitution gave
power to which of these.

• A. President to veto bills
• B. Congress to override a presidential veto
• C. House of Representatives to impeach the
  president.
• D. Supreme court to declare acts of congress and
  state laws unconstitutional.

4
What was one notable legacy of the Kentucky and
Virginia Resolutions?

• A. Embargo Act
• B. Specie Circular
• C. Doctrine of Nullification
• D. Second Bank of the US

5
Which best explains the lasting constitutional
principle established in Marbury V Madison?

• A. Attempted to place the judiciary outside the
  impeachment power of the House.
• B. Demonstrated the supremacy clause of the
  National Government over the states.
• C. Declared the Alien and Sedition Acts to be
  Legitimate laws.
• D. Established the principle of Judicial Review

6
During the late 18th and early 19th centuries
what did Tecumseh and his brother The Prophet
most Seek?

• A. Uniting the Native Americans
• B. Indian Removal Act
• C. Money for lost land
• D. Dawes Act

7
Which Group was allowed to vote in the early
republic?

• A. Native Americans
• B. Black Americans
• C. White male landowners
• D. White Female landowners

8
In George Washingtons Farewell Address what was
his belief in foreign affairs?

• A. He Advocated a foreign policy of Imperialism
• B. He was a firm believer in the economic system
  of mercantilism
• C. He believed strongly in maintaining
  neutrality and isolationism
• D. He suggested that US should accept the role
  as master diplomat.

9
Which conflict was ended with the Treaty of Ghent

• A. Mexican American War
• B. Spanish American War
• C. American Revolution
• D. War of 1812

10
What did the Adams-Onis Treaty Accomplish

• A. It Ended the war of 1812
• B. The United States acquired Florida from
  Spain.
• C. US acquired Alaska from Russia
• D. US Agreed to stay out of European Affairs.

11
How did the XYZ Affair affect public sentiment
toward the French?

• A. Americans welcomed French immigrants to the
  US.
• B. Public Opinion against France increased as a
  result of its deceptive form of diplomacy.
• C. American became sympathetic toward the
  defeated French crown and desired to return to
  the monarchy.
• D. Believing strongly in Washingtons
  suggestion to neutrality and isolationism
  Americans were indifferent about US
  Negotiations with France

12
Which of the following Reasons is the best
explanation for the War of 1812?

• A. British invasion of New Orleans
• B. British impressments of American Sailors
• C. British trade sanctions on American goods.
• D. Americans support of the French in their
  war against Britain.

13
Worcester vs. Georgia the US Supreme court made
which of the following decisions?

• A. The Cherokee were a domestic dependent
  nation entitled to federal protection.
• B. Native Americans were subject to taxation
  and the draft even though they were not
  citizens
• C. The Cherokee were subject to the laws of
  Georgia and could be removed.
• D. Native Americans were citizens and were
  subject to the laws of the state.

14
Who was known as the Great Compromiser?

• A. Henry Clay
• B. James Monroe
• C. Samuel Morse
• D. John Quincy Adams

15
What is the most important reason Californias
population increased through the late 1840s and
1850s?

• A. Gold Rush
• B. Political Freedom
• C. Fertile plans for farming
• D. Increased economic opportunity.

16
Which author wrote stories of ghost and terror
during the antebellum period?

• A. Edgar Allen Poe
• B. Herman Melville
• C. Nathaniel Hawthorne
• D. James Fenimore Cooper

17
Which of the following correctly describes the
paintings of Hudson River School?

• A. Scenes of revolutionary war locales
• B. Scenes displaying the awe of the American
  Frontier
• C. Scenes of gunfights and cowboys in the
  American West.
• D. Scenes displaying the gruesome and vicious
  nature of the civil war.

18
Which invention allowed farmers to harvest at a
significantly faster rate?

• A. John Deeres Steel Plow
• B. McCormicks mechanical reaper
• C. Jerome Cases thrashing machine
• D. Charles Goodyears vulcanization process.

19
Erie canal was important because it opened up
which of the following geographic areas to trade,
transportation, and settlement?

• A. Hudson River to the Great Lakes
• B. St Lawrence River to the Great Lakes
• C. Great Lakes to New Orleans
• D. St Lawrence River to the Hudson River.

20
What factor was most responsible for the four
fold increase in slaves in the first half of the
19th century?

• A. Expansion of the union
• B. Increase in Immigration
• C. Increase in sectionalism
• D. Increase in the cotton industry

21
Which one of the following principles did Gibbons
V Ogden Establish?

• A. Judicial Review.
• B. Separate but equal rights.
• C. Right to impeach the president
• D. Regulation of interstate commerce.

22
What is the meaning of nullification?

• A. Right of a person to disobey a law
• B. Right of a state to disobey a federal law.
• C. Right of the Supreme Court to nullify a law.
• D. Right of congress to ignore a veto by the
  president.

23
Which important improvement was one of Dorthea
Dix working toward?

• A. Women's right to vote
• B. Ending the sale of alcohol
• C. Reform for the mentally ill
• D. Higher Education for women

24
Which religious sect did Joseph Smith found?

• A. Baptist
• B. Mormonism
• C. Christian Science
• D. Seventh Day Adventism

25
Which provision of the Compromise of 1850 favored
southern states?

• A. California was admitted as a free state
• B. Slave trade was abolished in Washington DC
• C. A stronger fugitive slave law was enforced.
• D. Slavery was not permitted north of the
  3630 Line.

26
Before the Civil War, the principle of Popular
Sovereignty was proposed as a means of doing what?

• A. Allowing states to secede from the union
• B. Permitting voters to nullify federal laws
• C. Deciding the legislation of slavery in a new
  state
• D. Overturning unpopular decisions of the
  Supreme Court.

27
Which of the following men was the president of
the confederate states of America?

• A. Jefferson Davis
• B. Abraham Lincoln
• C. Ulysses Grant
• D. Robert Lee

28
Lincoln was elected president without a single
southern vote. What does this indicate?

• A. He had sectional rather than national
  support.
• B. His anti-south attitude cost him southern
  votes.
• C. His strong desire to end slavery immediately
  cost him southern votes.
• D. His attitude against an agricultural economy
  cost him southern votes.

29
How can total war be described?

• A. The extreme number of casualties in the Civil
  War on both sides.
• B. General Winfield Scotts original plan to
  destroy the Confederacy.
• C. Shermans policy of destroying everything in
  order to show civilians the impact of war.
• D. The development of the civil war from the
  eastern front in Northern Virginia to the
  Western fronts in Tennessee and Louisiana and
  skirmishes in the far west.

30
Which of these describes a Confederate advantage
at the beginning of the civil war?

• A. More miles of railroad.
• B. More help from France.
• C. More Factories and people
• D. More Experience Generals.

31
Which of the following justifies why the battle
of Gettysburg is considered a turning point of
the civil war?

• A. The confederacy received the help of the
  British.
• B. Union troops demonstrated superior weaponry
• C. The battle gave the confederacy new
  confidence.
• D. The confederate troops would never recover
  from this attempt to invade the North.

32
What did both president and congressional plans
of reconstruction have in common?

• A. The agenda to abolish slavery
• B. Distribution of land to freed slaves.
• C. Military occupation of the former
  Confederate states.
• D. Prevention of slaves from voting.

33
Which of the following was officially the first
battle of the civil war fought between the armies
of the North and the South?

1. Fort Sumter
2. Bull Run
3. Antietam
4. Vicksburg

34
Which statement most accurately describes
President Abraham Lincolns plan for
Reconstruction after the civil war?

1. Southerners should be made to pay for their
   rebellion.
2. The union should be restored as quickly as
   possible.
3. African Americans should be given free land.
4. War damages should be collected through military
   occupation.

35
The solid south refers to the political situation
in the post reconstruction south where what
situation developed?

1. Most eligible voters supported the Prohibition
   Party.
2. Civil rights issues were strongly supported
3. The democratic party was dominant
4. Freedom held most government post

36
Which scandal in which millions of dollars were
being skimmed off government subsidies to the
union pacific railroad during the presidency of
Ulysses S Grant?

1. Whiskey Ring
2. Black Friday Scandal
3. Credit Mobilier Scandal
4. Sandborn Contract Scandal

37
What did congress create in order to ease the
adjustment for freed slaves?

1. NAACP
2. 10 percent plan
3. Freedmans Bureau
4. Office of Black Affairs

38
Which of the following led to the end of the
Reconstruction era?

1. Election of 1872
2. Panic of 1873
3. Civil Rights Act of 1875
4. Compromise of 1877

39
Although important strides were made
reconstruction failed to provide lasting
guarantees of the civil rights of the freedmen,
Which evident best supports this statement?

1. Passage of Jim Crow laws in the latter part of
   the 19th century.
2. Ratification of the 13th, 14th, and 15th
   amendments
3. Refusal of southern states to allow
   sharecropping.
4. Passage of the civil rights act of 1866.

40
The election of which president is associated
with the ending of Reconstruction?

1. Rutherford B Hayes
2. Ulysses S Grant
3. Andrew Johnson
4. Andrew Jackson

41
After the Civil War, the poll tax, literacy test,
and grandfather clause were used to ensure that
what happened?

1. All citizens exercised the right to vote
2. Poor people were given equal voting rights.
3. The voting rights of most former slaves were
   denied .
4. The elderly in the south could vote in federal
   elections.

42
Which of the following was one of the reasons for
the westward migration of the Mormons?

1. To try to find work on the building sites of the
   Transcontinental Railroad project
2. To take advantage of the many western job
   opportunities.
3. To benefit from the homestead act passed by
   congress
4. To escape the religious intolerance they
   encountered in the eastern region of the US.

43
What was the purpose of the Morrill Land Grant
Act?

1. To provide land for private colleges
2. To begin courses to train civil service employees
3. To begin colleges operated by the federal
   government
4. To provide land for agricultural and mechanical
   colleges.

44
Which act passed by congress in 1862 provided 160
acres of free land to pay citizen that would move
west and settle permanently?

1. Homestead Act
2. Dawes Severalty Act
3. Tenure of Office Act
4. Morrill Land Grant Act

45
The nickname Buffalo Soldiers was given to which
of the following groups by the Native American
Indians?

1. Easterners who went west to hunt buffalo for
   sport and trophies.
2. Easterners who settled west and worked on the
   railroad
3. Mexican Americans
4. African Americans

46
Dawes severalty act of 1887 granted farmland to
Native American Indians as part of a plan to do
which of the following?

1. Preserve tribal cultural traditions
2. Assimilate them into American Society
3. Promote peace between warring tribes
4. Give them enough space to raise buffalo

47
Which two groups of immigrants were most
responsible for the construction of the railroads?

1. Irish and Chinese
2. Italians and Mexicans
3. Japanese and Germans
4. African Americans and Chinese

48
What was the purpose of William Jennings Bryans
famous Cross of Gold Speech?

1. It Strongly favored the free coinage of silver.
2. It emphasized the need to incorporate religion
   into everyday life.
3. It was an attempt by Bryan to capture the
   Republican nomination for president
4. It agreed with the populist view that the
   government should protect individuals and the
   democratic process against monopolistic
   corporations

49
The populist movement of the 1890s can best be
described as which of the following?

1. A trade union movement located in major eastern
   cities.
2. A reform movement seeking to eliminate urban
   poverty and slums
3. A political interest group desiring a war with
   Spain to protect US interest in Cuba
4. A political coalition of farming interest
   directed against banking and railroad interest.

50
Which of these political parties first proposed
these reforms in its platform, Free coinage of
silver, government control of railroads, and
income tax?

1. Republican Party in 1876
2. Populist Party in 1892
3. Bull Moose Party in 1912
4. Democratic Party in 1932

51
During the 1800s farmers supported free and
unlimited coinage of silver mainly because they
believed that it would lead to which economic
situation?

1. Higher prices for farm products
2. Lower prices for consumer goods
3. Lowering of rates charged by railroads
4. The establishment of government farm price
   supports

52
Which statement about immigration to the US
during the 20th century is the most valid?

1. Industrial growth led to a demand for cheap
   immigrant labor.
2. Most immigrants to the US were illegal aliens
3. Organized labor supported unlimited immigration
4. Few immigrants came from western Europe.

53
Which statement best describes American
immigration patterns from 1880 to 1920?

1. Increasing proportions of Immigrants came from
   western and northern Europe.
2. Relatively poor, rural Europeans immigrated to
   industrial cities of the US.
3. American Industries recruited skilled immigrants
   from industrialized European cities
4. Decreasing European immigration caused the US to
   relax restrictions on immigrants.

54
What was the purpose of Jacob Riis 1890 work,
How the other half lives?

1. To provide an investigation of slum life in New
   York City.
2. To document the starvation and poverty of
   Midwestern farmers.
3. To reveal the unsanitary conditions on the meat
   packing plants in Chicago.
4. To provide an in depth look at the lives of
   wealthy American industrialist.

55
Mark Twain labeled the late 1800s the Gilded Age
which describes which situation?

1. End of the practice of slavery
2. Extremes of wealth and poverty
3. Absence of international conflicts
4. Achievements of the labor movement

56
Robber Baron describes many industrialist of the
19th century because they did what?

1. They made large charitable donations to worthy
   causes.
2. They opposed the entry of poor and uneducated
   immigrants into the US
3. They sought to maximize their profits by
   eliminating competition and exploiting workers
4. They attempted to stimulate the economy by
   keeping the prices of their products as low as
   possible.

57
What did Andrew Carnegie advocate in the Gospel
of Wealth?

1. He believed that men needed to get rich to
   validate their existence.
2. He believed that men had the right to take as
   much money as they could obtain.
3. He believed that men should get rich and give
   their money to their families and heirs
4. He thought that men had the right to get rich,
   but that right came the responsibility to give
   back money.

58
What is a monopoly?

1. When the government controls a company.
2. A holding company for another company
3. When several companies control the market
4. When a company controls the market for a single
   period.

59
How are Samuel Gompers, Terence Powderly, an
Eugene Debs connected?

1. They are journalist who exposed the injustices of
   the big business leaders.
2. They were politicians who worked to repeal the
   Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882
3. They were labor union leaders who worked to
   improved the rights of workers
4. They were famous agricultural scientists who
   discovered new ways to improve farming output.

60
How did the labor unions affect the working
environment of workers associated with the unions?

1. The union only affected the workers while they
   were on the job.
2. The unions improved the working conditions of the
   workers.
3. The union did not affect working conditions
4. The unions made the working conditions worse.

61
Which of the following labor unions accepted
workers of all skill levels and genders in the
19th century?

1. Knights of labor
2. United mine workers
3. Industrial Workers of the World
4. Congress of Industrial Organizations

62
What is the purpose of Initiative, referendum,
recall, and direct primary?

1. Reduce the influence of the media on elections.
2. Make the president more responsible to the wishes
   of congress.
3. Increase participation in government by citizens
4. Give political parties more control of the
   electoral process.

63
Businesses formed trust, pools, and holding
companies to achieve what goal?

1. To offer a wide range of goods and services to
   consumers.
2. To increase profits by eliminating competition
3. To provide employment opportunities for
   minorities.
4. To protect the interest of workers.

64
According to the theory of Laissez-Faire, the
economy functions best when?

1. There are handouts to businesses to help with
   worldwide competition
2. Business is regulated for the good of the
   majority.
3. Government does not interfere in business.
4. Government owns major industries.