AP US History Unit 4 MCQs

Question 1

The “new immigrants” who arrived in the United States after the Civil War were different from the “old immigrants” in that they

Answer 1

D. Spoke different languages and had different customs than most Americans and thus were not easily assimilated

• Prior to the Civil War, immigrants predominately came from Northwestern Europe
• Mostly Protestant and spoke English easily fitting into the American society
• By 1880, “new immigrants” were from Southeastern Europe whom were mainly Catholics
  and Jewish (culture was different than America’s)
• Immigrants typically settled in ethnic neighborhoods of large cities like New York and Chicago
• Caused competition in the demand of unskilled factory labor
• Many new immigrants were discriminated against by their employers
• Irish began to discriminate the new ethnic groups because they were now considered “American” since they were not the new immigrants

Question 2

Which of the following is true of the American rail system in the nineteenth century?

Answer 2

A. Government subsidies and land grants played a major role in its expansion

• Wanted to create infrastructure within the United States
• Passed Pacific Railroad Acts in 1862 giving federal land to railway corporations who agreed to
  build railway systems connecting the east and west
• Given large sums of cash grants to aid construction and to create connectivity between people so more economic intercourse can occur
• Idea was that if the government stimulated commerce by giving private corporations incentives to build railways, and if farmers, merchants, and travelers used the rail systems, America could
  produce more goods, transport them more easily, make more money, and the federal government could tax it all
• Beginning of government intervention into the American economy in a large way

Question 3

“The price which society pays for the law of competition…is great; but the advantages of this law are greater…. Whether the law be benign or not, we must say of it: It is here; we cannot evade it;…it is the best for the race, because it ensures the survival of the fittest in every department.”

Answer 3

B. Social Darwinism

• Based on Darwin’s theory of evolution (fittest to survive, survive and thrive)
• Steel tycoon Andrew Carnegie promoted it
• Competition in an unregulated free market would produce the “fittest” products, companies,
  businessmen and succeed
• Rich and power men would provide jobs for the lower members of society and use their wealth to
  build libraries, public parks, and other social institutions
• Lead to a stronger economy

Question 4

In the late nineteenth century, political machines such as Tammany Hall were successful primarily because

Answer 4

E. Machine politicians provided needed jobs and services to naturalized citizens in return for their votes

• City necessities such as sanitation, sewers, garbage collection, public schools, running water piped in homes were needed since millions of people flooded into the cities
• Political machines provided the services to the people but they were extremely corrupt and used illegal methods
• Political bosses were trying to become rich and influential resulting in a high political, social, and financial cost of the services
• Boss Tweed was the third largest landowner of New York who controlled many industries
• Controlled people by creating public work leading to the creation of jobs
• Demanded political support to those whom they had controlled over and sometimes used violence
• Also stole public money and gave building contracts to friends for bribe
• Expected votes in return so he could stay in power of the cities

Question 5

The Free Silver campaign of 1896 received its greatest popular support from

Answer 5

E. Farmers, who hoped that a more generous money supply would ease their debt burdens

• Farming was a less profitable business due to the Industrial Revolution with farming machines,
  cheap labor, and a large number of farmers in the west
• Farmers were put largely in debt because crop prices dropped
• William Jennings Bryan believed it was unnecessary for the government to hold reserve amount of gold equal to the value of paper circulation
• Wanted to used silver to back the dollar at a value that would inflate the prices farmers received
  from their crops
• The more money there is available, the less it is worth
• Farmers would have to pay less money for their debts
• Businessmen and creditors favored the gold standard

Question 6

Jacob A. Riis was a famous “muckraker” who wrote about

Answer 6

C. The misery of tenement life

• Reform journalist who searches and exposes the misconduct in public life
• Photojournalist during the industrial age
• Published his novel “How the Other Half Lives” in 1890
• Exposed things in society that needed to be fixed
• Argued for better housing, sanitation, construction of city parks and playgrounds
• Encouraged the middle-class and upper-class citizens to take an active role in shaping their
  communities

Question 7

What best accounts for the sharp increase of immigrants during the period 1880-1910?

Answer 7

A. Many southern and eastern Europeans turned to America for financial gain and political freedom

• Largest wave of immigration to the US occurred during this period
• Was a result of political and economic upheaval in Europe
• This so-called “new immigration” brought immigrants from southern and eastern Europe as well as Asia
• Between 1880 and 1910, approximately 12 million people came to the United States
• Many came to escape poverty persecution
• Led to the formation of ethnic neighborhoods with many becoming industrial workers

Question 8

Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle influenced the country and ultimately led to the passage of

Answer 8

D. The Pure Food and Drug Act

• Attacked the meatpacking industry
• Teddy Roosevelt was sickened by the ideas written in the “The Jungle”
• There was no sanitation or regulations made through the meat industry as expressed through the publication of the book
• Led to the creation of the act to improve the overall image and standards of these food industry
• Act forbade the manufacture or sale of mislabeled or adulterated foods or drugs
• Gave the government broad powers to ensure the safety and efficiency of food and drugs

Question 9

Which of the following was NOT a result of Reconstruction?

Answer 9

E. Government grants of 40 acres and a mule to each freedman

• Part of Sherman’s March to the Sea
• Tens of thousands of freed men followed General Sherman for protection across Georgia
• Sherman offered the freed men 40 acres and a mule on the islands and coastal regions of Georgia
  that used to belonged to Southern plantations owners
• Many freedmen saw the policy as a passage for them to finally own land after years of servitude
• President Johnson ordered all land in the South to be returned to its previous land owners as one
  of his first acts during Reconstruction

Question 10

Which of the following acts was the most beneficial to labor?

Answer 10

A. The Clayton Antitrust Act

• Gave the government power to break up monopolies
• Continuation of the Sherman Antitrust Act
• Strengthened the Sherman Antitrust Act by being more specific and not as loose
• Outlawed certain specific practices
• Tried to protect the rights of the average worker
• Goals: To restrict businesses from becoming too large and controlling prices and to promote healthy competition amongst businesses
• Helped the labor movement by making strikes, picketing, boycotts, and other labor activities legal

Question 11

Which of the following was NOT a result of the Compromise of 1877?

Answer 11

D. The Democrats took back the House and the Senate

• Also known as the Second Corrupt Bargain
• Democrats allowed Hayes, the Republican candidate, to assume presidency in return for the
  end of Reconstruction
• Union military withdrew from the South
• Democratic Party was the party of the South
• Did not have much influence in the House or Senate until the 20th century since the Northern Republicans were in control

Question 12

Which of the following is most closely associated with the Populist Movement?

Answer 12

C. Free coinage of silver

• Also known as the Grassroot Movement appealing to the interests of the ordinary people
• William Jennings Bryan advocated for Free Silver (minting of silver coins to gold)
• Movement advocated for the incorporation of silver into the American economy to back paper
  money
• More money would be available if silver was incorporated into the economy making it worth less
• Would allow farmers to be able to repay their fixed loans to the bank
• Farmers wanted to devalue currency in America to relieve their financial burden to banks

Question 13

Which of the following statements regarding the American Federation of labor is NOT true?

Answer 13

D. Its greatest appeal was to new immigrants, many of whom were unskilled

• Led by Samuel Gompers
• Was a alliance of skilled workers in craft unions
• Federations together had more power in the face of industry
• Focused on higher wages, shorter hours, and better working conditions
• Provided skilled laborers with a union that was unified, large, and strong
• Fought for worker rights in a non-violent way
• Excluded unskilled workers, women, African Americans, Latinos, and other minorities

Question 14

Which of the following is true of the Dawes Severalty Act of 1887?

Answer 14

B. It was an attempt to assimilate the Indians into American society through individual land grants

• US government ended the system that treated Native Americans as they were nations since the American Revolution
• Indian tribes lost legal standing
• In exchange for renouncing their tribal holdings, Indians would become American citizens and would receive individual land grants
• Caused Indian rights associations to spring up across the country
• Consensus grew that Indians must be helped to become full members of American society
• Lands that were originally allotted to tribes were given to individual families

Question 15

All of the following contributed to the rise of big business EXCEPT

Answer 15

E. The Northern Securities decision of 1904

• It was a holding company that controlled many American railroads, Standard Oil, and the American Tobacco Company
• Went against the Sherman Antitrust Act
• Roosevelt broke up the corporation
• Believed corporations who abused their power should be punished
• Earned Roosevelt the title “trustbuster”

Question 16

The “Ghost Dance” movement among the Western Native Americans stressed all of the following except

Answer 16

D. Nonviolence

• Called for a return to the traditional ways of life and challenged white dominance in society
• Manifestation of the Indians’ anger, fear, and hope regarding white invaders, US army brutalization, and oppression of indigenous nations
• Believed engaging in religious rituals would make the white men disappeared and buffalos would return
• Indians practicing the Ghost Dance were describe as “wild and crazy” making it seem violent to the white men
• Government believed the dance was a precursor to renew Native American militancy and violent rebellion

Question 17

Frederick Jackson Turner’s “frontier hypothesis” focused on the importance of

Answer 17

E. The existence of cheap unsettled land

• American historian who said that humanity would continue to progress as long as there was new land to move into
• The American frontier was the region of most rapid “americanization” and the place where democracy flourished
• Argued that the frontier was significant in; (1) shaping the American character; (2) defining the American spirit; (3) fostering democracy, and (4) providing a safety valve for economic distress in urban, industrial centers
• Represented the opportunity to start over by venturing out to unoccupied lands to strike rich

Question 18

During the closing decades of the nineteenth century, farmers complained about all of the following EXCEPT

Answer 18

A. Rising commodity (goods) prices

• Based on the scale of economy
• Occurred because of overproduction
• More a product is produced, the cheaper the product is
• Farmers were part of the Populist Movement
• Purchasing products is not as expensive so it relieves their debts and burdens to the banks
• Help maintain their fixed loans rather than adding to it

Question 19

The American Federation of Labor under the leadership of Samuel Gompers organized

Answer 19

A. Skilled workers in craft unions in order to achieve economic gains

• Was a alliance of skilled workers in craft unions
• Loose federation that unified the agency of the American labor movement
• Focused on the bread and butter issues (higher wages and shorter work days)
• Realized the AFL would have more power if they did not have unskilled work labor
• Excluded black Americans, women, Latinos, and other minorities

Question 20

In the period 1890–1915, all of the following were generally true about African Americans EXCEPT

Answer 20

B. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) endorsed the Back-to-Africa movement

• Purpose was to further the fight of blacks for political and civil equality in the United States
• Did not intend to send African Americans back to America
• Occurred at the end of Reconstruction when the Southern blacks faced violence such as by the Ku Klux Klan and during times of lynching
• Cofounder Bois moved back to Africa because he gave up the struggle to help the NAACP gain racial justice

Question 21

Which of the following constitutes a significant change in the treatment of American Indians during the last half of the nineteenth century?

Answer 21

E. The division of the tribal lands among individual members

• Broke up the Indian reservations
• US government ended the system that treated Native Americans as they were nations since the American Revolution
• Indian tribes lost legal standing
• Tribal lands were divided among the individual members
• In exchange for renouncing their tribal holdings, Indians would become American citizens and would receive individual land grants
• Caused Indian rights associations to spring up across the country
• Consensus grew that Indians must be helped to become full members of American society
• Lands that were originally allotted to tribes were given to individual families

Question 22

“This, then, is held to be the duty of the man of wealth: to consider all surplus revenues which come to him simply as trust funds, which he is called upon to administer and strictly bound as a matter of duty to administer in the manner which, in his judgment, is best calculated to produce the most beneficial results for the community—the man of wealth thus becoming the mere agent and trustee for his poorer brethren.’’

Answer 22

C. The Gospel of Wealth

• Believed that the rich had social responsibilities
• Usage of the rich’s money to create a good society
• Believed the rich should be generous to the lower class
• Believed that wealth ought to have been shared among people
• Could be spent on public projects
• Carnegie felt that the rich had only made their money because of other people and in the end ought to reimburse them
• Wealth or property of one would become the wealth of many, and the sharing of this money would better society

Question 23

A prominent leader in promoting the settlement house movement was

Answer 23

B. Jane Addams

• Cofounded the NAACP
• Created the Hull House in Chicago
• Felt that it was her duty to work with poor
• Educated immigrant children
• Incorporated orphanage and day care
• Helped lower-income families cope with urban life
• Settlement unions become community centers, childcare, cultural activities
• Classes in child care, health education, and adult literacy
• Provided for the weakest and most desperate members of society

Question 24

Which of the following best describes the main idea of Andrew Carnegie’s Gospel of Wealth?

Answer 24

B. Wealthy individuals should use their wealth for social betterment

• Believed the rich should be generous to the lower class
• Believed that the rich have social responsibilities
• Usage of the rich’s money to create a good society
• Believed that wealth ought to have been shared among people
• Could be spent on public projects
• Carnegie felt that the rich had only made their money because of other people and in the end ought to reimburse them
• Wealth or property of one would become the wealth of many, and the sharing of this money would better society

Question 25

Which of the following black rights leaders advocated for immediate rights and equality for black Americans instead of a more gradual approach at the turn of the Twentieth Century?

Answer 25

E. W.E.B. Du Bois - Part of the NAACP - Advocated for an immediate approach towards gaining civil rights - Opposed to Booker Washington's accommodation ("Atlanta's Compromise") - Criticized Washington for not demanding equal rights of African Americans immediately - Relates to the 14th amendment - Spokesperson for full and equal rights in every realm of a person's life - Formed the Niagara Movement to support his ideas

Question 26

Which of the following pairs of immigrant groups were most prominent in the construction of the first transcontinental railroad?

Answer 26

A. Chinese and Irish - Played a large role in the settlement of the West - Chinese took the harder and more dangerous jobs - Thousands died during construction of railroads - Irish also took part in the industrial factories - Chinese and Irish were both faced with prejudice and increasing limitations in opportunities - Took up a bulk of the workforce

Question 27

Which of the following contributed most significantly to a surge in western settlement during the 1860s and 1870s?

Answer 27

C. The expansion of railroads made the Great Plains more accessible - Allowed agricultural production to travel from the east to the west - Provided transportation and brought waves of supplies and people - Quickly turned small towns into thriving cities by connecting them to civilization - Stimulated interior commerce

Question 28

The Ghost Dance was an American Indian religious movement associated with

Answer 28

E. Distress over loss of tribal autonomy - Called for a return to traditional ways of life and challenged white dominance in society - Manifestation of the Indians' anger, fear, and hope regarding white invaders, US army brutalization, and oppression of indigenous nations - Believed engaging in religious rituals would make the white men disappeared and buffalos would return - Indians practicing the Ghost Dance were describe as "wild and crazy" making it seem violent to the white men - Government believed the dance was a precursor to renew Native American militancy and violent rebellion

Question 29

The major goal of the Social Gospel movement in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries was to

Answer 29

B. Draw the attention of Protestant churches to the plight of the urban poor - Main goal was to set up charitable organizations to help the less fortunate - Social Gospel is based on Christianity's Dogma that Jesus helped the poor in a hands on way - Believed that wealth ought to have been shared among people - Could be spent on public projects - Carnegie felt that the rich had only made their money because of other people and in the end ought to reimburse them - Wealth or property of one would become the wealth of many, and the sharing of this money would better society

Question 30

The People’s Party (Populist) advocated which of the following?

Answer 30

A. An increase in the money supply - Also known as the Grassroot Movement appealing to the interests of the ordinary people - William Jennings Bryan advocated for Free Silver (minting silver coins to gold ones) - Movement advocated for the incorporation of silver into the American economy to back paper money - More money would be available if silver was incorporated into the economy making it worth less - Would allow farmers to be able to repay their fixed loans to the bank - Farmers wanted to devalue currency in America to relieve their financial burden to banks

Question 31

At the end of the Nineteenth Century, the desire of American business to control supplies of raw materials led to

Answer 31

C. Vertical integration - Pioneered by steel tycoon Andrew Carnegie - Legal business - Firms bought up all parts of the production process including raw materials, production, transportation, and distribution - Controlled production of raw materials from start to finish - Makes supplies more reliable and efficient - Controls the quality of production at all stages

Question 32

Which of the following was a result of the Dawes Severalty Act of 1887?

Answer 32

C. American Indians lost control of millions of acres of land - US government ended the system that treated Native Americans as they were nations since the American Revolution - Indian tribes lost legal standing - Tribal lands were divided among the individual members - In exchange for renouncing their tribal holdings, Indians would become American citizens and would receive individual land grants - Caused Indian rights associations to spring up across the country - Consensus grew that Indians must be helped to become full members of American society - Lands that were originally allotted to tribes were given to individual families

Question 33

Late-nineteenth-century federal policies were detrimental to unskilled workers in all of the following ways EXCEPT

Answer 33

E. The federal income tax took a considerable portion of workers’ income - First federal income tax was prompted in 1861 as a requirement of the result of the Civil War though it was repealed in 1872 - Idea still stuck around - Part of the platform of the Populist Party - Demanded from the wealthiest Americans to help improve the conditions of ordinary people and farmers - Idea was to finance a more active federal government and to achieve a more equitable distribution of wealth

Question 34

37. African Americans who fled the violence of the Reconstruction South in 1879 and 1880 to start anew in Kansas were known as

Answer 34

A. Exodusters - Left the South because the area lacked finances, farming abilities, and racial difficulties - Fear of the rumors of the reinstitution of slavery - Left the oppressive south to claim land under the Homestead Act - Kansas was associated with freedom because of the events during the Bleeding Kansas era

Question 35

In the last half of the nineteenth century, the New South advocates supported

Answer 35

B. Expansion of southern industry - Industrialization was in full force in the United States - Textile production began to rise - Number of cotton mills in the south increased from 161 to 400 after the Civil War - Led cotton consumption to increase

Question 36

President Theodore Roosevelt addressed all of the following issues during his presidency EXCEPT

Answer 36

D. Insider trading on the stock market - Roosevelt passed the Pure Drug and Food Act and Square Deal - Usage of information not readily available to the general public to trade on stocks - Occurred during the 1980s - Manipulated the stocks

Question 37

City bosses and urban political machines in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries did which of the following?

Answer 37

B. They provided some welfare for poor immigrants in exchange for political support - Tammany Hall of New York City was an example of a political machine - Saw the lower class as power to their advantage - City necessities such as sanitation, sewers, garbage collection, public schools, running water piped in homes were needed since millions of people flooded into the cities - Political machines provided the services to the people but they were extremely corrupt and used illegal methods - Political bosses were trying to become rich and influential resulting in a high political, social, and financial cost of the services - Demanded political support to those whom they had controlled over and sometimes used violence - Also stole public money and gave building contracts to friends for bribe - Expected votes in return to stay in power so they could stay in power of the cities

Question 38

The United States devised the Open Door policy in 1899 in order to

Answer 38

C. Protect United States economic interests in China - Secretary of State John Hay issued the Open Door notes - Open Door Policy Statement of U.S. foreign policy toward China - Allowed multiple imperial powers access to China with none of them in control of the country - All nations had equal opportunities to trade with China

Question 39

Platform: First-That the union of the labor forces of the United States this day consummated shall be permanent and perpetual Second- Wealth belongs to him who creates it...The interest of rural and civil labor are the same; their enemies are identical 1. We demand free and unlimited coinage of silver and gold at the present legal ratio of 16 to 1 3. We demand a graduated income tax.... Resolved, That we demand a free ballot and a fair count in all elections...through the Australian or secret ballot system.

Answer 39

C. Populist Party - Also known as the People's Party and Grass movement Party - Poor farmers harbored resentments toward railroads and trusts - Gained much support from farmers who turned to them to fight political unfairness - Advocated for the Free Silver Campaign - Demanded income tax - Believed that the government should not intervene with the money of the country

Question 40

“Money is power, and you ought to be reasonably ambitious to have it. You ought because you can do more good with it than you could without it. Money printed your Bible, money builds your churches. . . . The man who gets the largest salary can do the most good with the power that is furnished to him. Of course he can if his spirit be right to use it for what it is given to him. I say, then, you ought to have money.”

Answer 40

C. The Gospel of Wealth - Believed that wealth ought to have been shared among people - Could be spent on public projects - Carnegie felt that the rich had only made their money because of other people and in the end ought to reimburse them - Wealth or property of one would become the wealth of many, and the sharing of this money would better society

Question 41

Jacob Riis's principal involvement in the reform movements of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries was his effort to

Answer 41

C. Publicize poor housing and sanitation in urban tenements - Police reporter in New York whom documented the living and working conditions of the poor - Argued for better housing, adequate lighting and sanitation, and construction of city parks and playgrounds - Encouraged the upper and middle class to take an active role in defining and shaping their community - Wrote "How the Other Half Lives" believing that people would help the poor if they saw themselves how the other half lived

Question 42

In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, which of the following was the principal public opponent of lynching in the South?

Answer 42

D. Ida B. Wells - Proposed journalistic attacks on Southern injustices - Three of her friends were lynched by angry white men who believed they could eliminate competition of their grocery company - Drove her to investigate in the "reasons" for lynching - Urged African Americans to protest by refusing to ride streetcards or shop in white owned stores - Put her life at risk while she was gathering information on other lynching incidents

Question 43

Which of the following was true of the 1873 Slaughterhouse Cases and the 1883 Civil Rights cases?

Answer 43

A. They weakened the protections given to African Americans under the Fourteenth Amendment - 14th amendment forbids states from denying any person "life, liberty or property, without due process of law" or to "deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws" - Cases ruled that a citizen's "rights and immunities" are limited to those written out in the Constitution - Claimed that states can deny Constitutional rights - States a difference between dual citizenship--state and national - Court's first interpretation of the 14th amendment

Question 44

Settlement house workers of the late nineteenth century would most likely have engaged in all of the following EXCEPT

Answer 44

E. Organizing women workers into labor unions - Part of urban reform - Helped lower-income families cope with urban life - Settlement unions become community centers, childcare, cultural activities - Classes in child care, health education, and adult literacy - Provided for the weakest and most desperate members of society - Women were not accepted in labor unions - AFL is an example because it did not allow women to be a part of the union since it was only for skilled laborers

Question 45

Which of the following was true of the Dawes Severalty Act of 1887?

Answer 45

C. It eliminated most tribal land ownership in favor of ownership by individuals - US government ended the system that treated Native Americans as they were nations since the American Revolution - Indian tribes lost legal standing - Tribal lands were divided among the individual members - In exchange for renouncing their tribal holdings, Indians would become American citizens and would receive individual land grants - Caused Indian rights associations to spring up across the country - Consensus grew that Indians must be helped to become full members of American society - Lands that were originally allotted to tribes were given to individual families

Question 46

After the Civil War, women reformers and former abolitionists were divided over

Answer 46

B. Legislation that ensured the voting rights of African American males - 14th and 15th amendment granted former slave men citizenship and the right to vote - Women were in the same boat as African Americans in regards to voting - Women's Suffrage wasn't granted until the 19th amendment was passed - Suffrage gained its central place in the battle for women’s rights - Many abolitionists initially advocated universal suffrage, for both African Americans and women - Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony campaigned against any amendment that would deny voting rights to women

Question 47

“Every contract, combination in form of trust or otherwise, or conspiracy, in restraint of trade or commerce in any territory of the United States. . . is hereby declared illegal.”

Answer 47

C. Limiting the power of labor unions - Workers had to form unions to get corporations to reduce hours and raise their pay - When negotiations failed, workers would refuse to work and go on strike - Government remained silent during the strikes until it began to hurt the economy - Federal government has the power to regulate interstate commerce in the Constitution