American History Unit Test

Question 1

Define Guided Age

Answer 1

Time between the Civil War and World War I during which the U.S. population and economy grew quickly, there was a lot of political corruption and corporate financial misdealings and many wealthy people lived very fancy lives.

Question 2

Define Robber Barrons

Answer 2

an unscrupulous plutocrat, an American capitalist who will go through ruthless means to acquire fortune in the late 19th century.

Question 3

Define Native Resistance during the Gilded Age

Answer 3

White Americans went into the native lands and forced the natives out. Federal government even began forcing tribes to sign treaties and live on reservations. Tribes such as the Sioux were known for their resistance attacks : sabotaging railroad construction.
These conflicts between Native Americans and the American government and citizens are known collectively as the Indian Wars.

Question 4

Define Voluntarios

Answer 4

Pro-Spanish, Anti-American rioters (protestors)

Question 5

Why did US invade Cuba (Spanish-American War)

Answer 5

lust for expansion and large-scale riots by Pro-Spanish , Anti-Americans

Question 6

Give 3 Examples why Spanish-American war was a turning point in American History

Answer 6

1) showed their ignorance towards other countries and their rights
2) showed their ability to conquer other people’s land and that they were above others
3) boasted American Pride as it supported the idea that they were better than others

Question 7

What did US gain from Spanish-American War

Answer 7

more land, pride, and self-confidence

Question 8

Define Prohibition

Answer 8

the prevention by law of the manufacture and sale of alcohol, especially in the US between 1920 and 1933.

Question 9

Define Temperance Movement

Answer 9

A movement seeking restrictions on the consumption of alcohol that usually criticizes excessive alcohol consumption, promote complete abstinence, or use its political influence to press the government to enact alcohol laws to regulate the availability of alcohol or even its complete elimination.

Question 10

Define the 18th amendment

Answer 10

Established the prohibition of alcoholic beverages in the United States by declaring the production, transport, and sale of alcohol illegal.

Question 11

Define the 21st amendment

Answer 11

an amendment to the U.S. Constitution, ratified in 1933, providing for the repeal of the Eighteenth Amendment (outlawed the manufacture, sale, and transportation of alcoholic beverages)

Question 12

What was Temperance Society

Answer 12

Society established on February 13, 1826 in Boston, MA. They promote the abolition of slavery, expanding women’s rights, temperance, and the improvement of society. Later they pushed for the mandatory prohibition of alcohol rather than for voluntary abstinence.

The American Temperance Society was the first U.S. social movement organization to mobilize massive and national support for a specific reform cause. Their objective was to become the national clearinghouse on the topic of temperance.

Question 13

Define Suffragists and what did they do and contribute?

Answer 13

Women who advocated and fought for their right to vote in political elections. The U.S. Constitution states in the 19th Amendment that women shall not be denied the vote based upon their sex. Suffragists fought hard to bring this constitutional amendment about.

They were led by led by Emmeline and Christabel Pankhurst, who were influenced by Russian methods of protest such as hunger strikes.

Question 14

What was Seneca Falls Convention

Answer 14

The first women’s rights convention. It was organized by a handful of women who were active in the abolition and temperance movements and held July 19–20, 1848, in Seneca Falls, New York.
Was intended to call attention to unfair treatment of women, the convention was attended by about 300 people, including about 40 men. The resolution , calling for women suffrage had passed, after debate in 1848.

Question 15

Define 19th Amendment

Answer 15

It prohibits any United States citizen from being denied the right to vote on the basis of sex.

Question 16

Why did America join WW1?

Answer 16

Because of the Germans’ decision to resume the policy of unrestricted submarine warfare, and the so-called “Zimmerman telegram,” intercepted by the British, in which Germany floated the idea of an alliance with Mexico.
Unrestricted submarine warfare, would lead to the sinking of American merchant ships heading for England, and had been employed by the Germans before. They abandoned it in the face of US pressure earlier in the war. Its resumption was enough to cause Woodrow Wilson to renounce his stated position of neutrality.

Question 17

What was the Zimmerman telegram?

Answer 17

A message from the German foreign secretary, Arthur Zimmermann, to the German ambassador to Mexico proposing a Mexican-German alliance in the case of war between the United States and Germany.

Question 18

What was the ‘new deal’?

and who was Franklin Roosevelt?

Answer 18

Franklin Delano Roosevelt became the 32nd president of the United States during the Great Depression, one of the most difficult times in American history. He gave Americans a promise of his ‘new deal’. A set of federal programs launched by President Franklin D. Roosevelt after taking office in 1933, in response to the calamity of the Great Depression.
During FDR’s First 100 days in office he passed a countless number of bills and constitutions to help combat The Great Depression and unemployment. On his second day in office, Roosevelt even declared a four-day bank holiday to stop the nationwide panic and people withdrawing money from banks.

Question 19

What was the new deal’s critics?

Answer 19

1) The New Deal was extremely expensive, FDR almost doubled the national debt due to it, increasing it from $22,539,000,000 before 1933, to $44,458,000,000 at 1940. This did not safeguard the American economy for the future. This money was both borrowed from banks and came out of rich people’s bank accounts, which angered them greatly.
2) New Deal programs were financed by tripling federal taxes from $1.6 billion in 1933 to $5.3 billion in 1940. Excise taxes, personal income taxes, inheritance taxes, corporate income taxes, holding company taxes and so-called “excess profits” taxes all went up.
3) New Deal taxes were major job destroyers during the 1930s, prolonging unemployment . Higher business taxes meant that employers had less money for growth and jobs. Social Security excise taxes on payrolls made it more expensive for employers to hire people, which discouraged hiring.

Question 20

What was Pearl Harbor?

Answer 20

A United States Naval Base Station which Japan Attacked

Question 21

Women and Minorities in America during WW2

Answer 21

Women
-Many women kept homes and family under hard conditions
-Took over the jobs that the male workers left behind. They also got paid 65% less than men.
-More than 300,000 women served in the military as clerks, typists, and nurses, pilots ferrying planes to military bases, parachute packers, radio operators .
-They organized blood drives, sold war bonds, promoted victory gardens, and served as air raid wardens, ambulance drivers, cryptographers, entertainers and spies. only as as clerks, typists, and nurses, but also as pilots ferrying planes to military bases, parachute packers, radio operators
–The government started making campaigns, and began a woman’s armed service. The campaigns told women that the war would end sooner if more women worked.
Minorities
-African-American men were needed badly as shortage of men and their efforts paid off as President Truman issued Executive Order 9981, establishing equality of treatment and opportunity in the Armed Services.
-The Government taught African-Americans the skills necessary for war.

Question 22

Define Kamikaze

Answer 22

a Japanese aircraft loaded with explosives and making a deliberate suicidal crash on an enemy target.

Question 23

Define consumerism

Answer 23

preoccupation of society with the acquisition of consumer goods.

Question 24

What was the Cuban Missile Crisis

Answer 24

It was when the leaders of the U.S. and the Soviet Union engaged in a tense, 13-day political and military standoff in October 1962 over the installation of nuclear-armed Soviet missiles on Cuba, just 90 miles from U.S. shores.

• Cuba agreed to let Soviet plan missiles in their land. The Soviets quickly and secretly built missiles in Cuba but was later discovered by President JFK.
• Soviet Union and US were competitors and had a tense relationship

Question 25

What caused the Cuban Missile Crisis

Answer 25

• Soviet Union worked quickly to establish missiles all over Cuba
• Cuba was just 150km away from Florida, which cause fear and concern for the US as they did not trust the Soviets and relationships with them were tense to begin with
• America had missiles in Europe (Turkey)

Question 26

Define Naval Blockade

Answer 26

a war measure that isolates some area of importance to the enemy.
-US blocked ships from coming in and out of Cuba

Question 27

Who was JFK

Answer 27

He was an American politician who served as the 35th President of the United States from January 1961 until his assassination in November 1963. He was known for the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty, the Alliance for Progress and his own assassination. He was also an active advocate of civil rights in America.

Question 28

What was the Impact of JFK’s assassination

Answer 28

1) Television Surpassed Newspapers: Kennedy’s assassination was the longest uninterrupted news event in TV history until the 9/11 attacks.
2) Dawn of the Conspiracies Era: Kennedy’s murder was never solved which caused countless conspiracies
3) Kennedy’s death did put an end to third-party efforts to normalize relations with Cuba.
4) America entered the Vietnam War. Historians believe that JKF would have withdrawn American troops from Vietnam.
5) One of the most traumatic social episodes and cultural disasters, as no one had anticipated it to happen.

Question 29

Define Temperance

Answer 29

to refrain from