Part 2

Question 1

When did the first humans enter North America across the Bering strait land bridge?

Answer 1

The last ice age, approximately 15,000 to 30,000 years ago

Question 2

What was the path of migration for the first humans in the Americas?

Answer 2

Migrated southward from Alaska and populated North and South America

Question 3

What are some defining characteristics of the native Americana of California?

Answer 3

1. Spoke a great diversity of dialects
2. represented the largest concentration of Indians in North America(150,000-300,000)
3. Were primarily hunter/gather societies
4. Were not generally warlike, and weapons were not sophisticated (in comparison to those of the plains Indians)

Question 4

What shared cultural aspects defined the Native American of California?

Answer 4

1. Traced lineage on the paternal side
2. religions were similar in myths, creation stories, shamanism, and the influence of nature
3. Roles were sex differentiated; the mean hunted and fished, the woman gathered food and materials and killed small game
4. The oral story traditions was used by all California Indians

Question 5

Were Indian tribes tightly or loosely connected?

Answer 5

1. Geographic factors isolated many tribes

2. Desert and mountains barriers restricted contact

Question 6

What material belongings did Indian tribes share in common?

Answer 6

1. Houses (earth, bark, plank, thatch) and ceremonial houses (sweat, dance, menstrual)
2. Musical instruments: drum, rattle, flute, rasp, and bow
3. Money: clam disks and olivella shells

Question 7

What brought the Spanish to Baja peninsula?

Answer 7

1. Cortez’ search for the seven cities of cibola

2. Search for an island inhabited by amazon-like women who used golden weapons

Question 8

What did Cabrillo discover in 1542-43 in California while looking for water passage between the pacific and Atlantic?

Answer 8

1. San Diego bay
2. Santa Barbara bay
3. Point conception
4. Point Reyes

Question 9

What triggered Spanish colonization of California?

Answer 9

1. The English explorer Drake sailed up the California coast in 1579 and claimed the area for England
2. The threat from England compelled Spain to colonize California

Question 10

What initially got the attention of the American government in California?

Answer 10

1. Russian fur interests in Alaska pushed southward

2. Russians established Fort Ross 80 miles north of San Francisco Bay in 1812 as a trading post

Question 11

What as the purpose of the California missions?

Answer 11

A: To convert the Indians to Christianity
A: Establish cultural and agricultural centers
A: Populate Alta California for Spain.

Question 12

What were the positive aspects of the mission system?

Answer 12

A: It spread Christianity.
A: It colonized California.
A: It spread the cultural and technological advances of Spain.

Question 13

What were the negative aspects of the mission system?

Answer 13

A: The dehumanization of the Indians.
A: The high infant mortality and suicide rates among the Indians.
A: The forced labor and virtual slave-like conditions.
A: Indian self-sufficiency never developed.

Question 14

When did the missions pass into non-religious hands?

Answer 14

A: In about 1830, the mission system began a secularization process.
A: By 1836, most mission property was privately owned.

Question 15

What year did Mexico gain its independence from Spain?

Answer 15

1822

Question 16

What fueled the quest for independence in California?

Answer 16

The land-grant system and the ranchos.

Question 17

Did Mexico gain control of California?

Answer 17

A: The Mexican government failed in its attempts to dominate California.
A: By 1845, the Californios (provincial Californians) expelled the last of the Mexican governors.

Question 18

Who opened California for American settlement?

Answer 18

A: American trappers (including Jedediah Smith)
A: Explorers (including Kit Carson and Joseph Walker)
A: A variety of wagon masters.

Question 19

Migrations of American pioneer families in the 1840s produced what changes California?

Answer 19

A: American pioneers settled in the San Joaquin and Sacramento valleys.
A: They increased the demand that California become part of the United States.

Question 20

What brought California into the U.S.?

Answer 20

A: President Polk indirectly supported the annexation of California.
A: John C. Fremont, possibly acting on presidential orders, raised the U.S. flag near Monterey, then retreated from the area.

Question 21

What year was war was declared on Mexico?

Answer 21

A: In 1846 (the Mexican-American War).

Question 22

What were the pivotal battles in the Mexican-American War?

Answer 22

A: The Bear Flag Revolt prematurely captured California (1846).
A: Commander Sloat captured Monterey Bay and claimed the area for the United States.
A: Mexican forces were defeated and the American flag was raised over Los Angeles in 1847.

Question 23

How did California pass to the United States?

Answer 23

The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848) transferred California from Mexican to American control.

Question 24

How did James W. Marshall in 1848 change the political, social, and economic history of the state?

Answer 24

He discovered gold.

Question 25

How did “Gold fever” transform California?

Answer 25

A: California settler population increased tremendously from 15,000 in 1847 to 92,000 in 1850, and 380,000 in 1860.
A: Population growth led to statehood. (California was the thirty-first state.)

Question 26

How did California’s statehood petition get caught up in national politics?

Answer 26

A: California prohibition of slavery upset the balance of free and slave states.
A: The Compromise of 1850 finally allowed for California entry.

Question 27

When did the Central Pacific met the Union Pacific at Promontory, Utah to complete the transcontinental railroad?

Answer 27

1869

Question 28

Who build the transcontinental railroad?

Answer 28

A: Immigrant labor was used: Chinese on the Central Pacific and Irish on the Union Pacific.

Question 29

Who controlled the California railroad industry and its political scene?

Answer 29

A: The Big Four: Hopkins, Crocker, Huntington, and Stanford

Question 30

: How did the depression of the 1870s impact California?

Answer 30

A: It triggered an ongoing cycle of boom and bust.
A: The collapse of the Bank of California in 1875 (and other financial institutions) further weakened the California economy.

Question 31

What explains the open hostility toward the Chinese?

Answer 31

A: They were blamed for most of the economic problems (backlash from the mining and railroad frontier).
A: The Chinese Exclusion Act was passed by Congress in 1882.
A: By 1877, politicians, newspapers, and citizens urged open agitation against the Chinese in California.
A: The Workingmen’s Party was established. It was nativist, anti-Chinese, and anti-big business (1877)

Question 32

From where did California derive its newest inhabitants

Answer 32

Mainly from the Midwest that led to a dramatic population increase.

Question 33

What defined the “yellow peril?”

Answer 33

A: Japanese were imported in large numbers to work in agriculture. They displaced Anglo workers and resentment grew.
A: The San Francisco Board of Education segregated Caucasians and Orientals in 1905.
A: The resentment led to an international “Gentlemen’s Agreement” (1907).

Question 34

What were Populist reforms aiming to accomplish?

Answer 34

To bring government closer to the peopl

Question 35

How did Hiram Johnson as progressive governor change California?

Answer 35

A: Twenty-three amendments were added to the California Constitution (1911).
A: Women were allowed to vote
A: The initiative, referendum, and recall became law

Question 36

What abruptly halted the progress of the labor movement?

Answer 36

An anarchist bombing in Los Angeles (1910).

Question 37

: How did World War I economic impact California?

Answer 37

Wages, production, manufacturing, and commerce expanded rapidly.

Question 38

What transformed the state in the 1920s?

Answer 38

A: An influx of immigrants
A: By 1930, the California population had grown to six million, an increase of 65 percent during one decade.

Question 39

What drove the economic expansion of the 1920s?

Answer 39

A: Movie, oil, and agricultural production.
A: A real-estate boom fueled the housing industry.

Question 40

What characterized California politics during this period?

Answer 40

A power struggle between the north and south and between rural and urban areas

Question 41

How did the Great Depression impact California?

Answer 41

Large-scale unemployment, bank failures, and foreclosures.

Question 42

How did state politics change during the Depression?

Answer 42

A: The economic downturn renewed the call for political reform.
A: Upton Sinclair (a reform candidate) ran unsuccessfully for governor on a platform for political change.
A: The Utopian Society promoted economic and social reform.
A: The Townsend Plan favored pensions for the aged and a graduated income tax.

Question 43

What swelled California’s population during this Depression-era?

Answer 43

Dust Bowl migrants added more than 350,000 to the population.

Question 44

How did U.S. entry into World War II change California?

Answer 44

California became the “defense center” of the nation.

Question 45

Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, what happened to Japanese-Americans in California?

Answer 45

A: Most were relocated from coastal areas to inland detention camps (1942).
A: The Japanese were forced to sell their homes and businesses on short notice at huge losses.

Question 46

What marked the post-war era?

Answer 46

A: Huge defense contracts following the war fueled economic prosperity.
A: Hundreds of thousands of armed-forces personnel migrated to California.
A: Pollution and water became political issues.

Question 47

What changed in education?

Answer 47

The California public education system was greatly expanded in the 1960s, including a low-cost college and university system.

Question 48

How did water define California?

Answer 48

A: Regulating water resources became a fundamental political issue.
A: A series of canals, dams, and reservoirs was established.
A: Northern California water was relocated to burgeoning population centers in the south.

Question 49

When did California become the most populous state in the nation?

Answer 49

1964

Question 50

What new problems emerged in California cities?

Answer 50

A: Minorities were generally left out of the economic prosperity.
A: The Watts Riot (1965) focused national attention on the economic and political status of minorities.

Question 51

How did minorities overcome discrimination in the housing and job markets?

Answer 51

A: Reforms in housing, education, and employment provided new opportunities for minorities.
A: Federal affirmative action programs provided a legal basis for changing discrimination in hiring practices.

Question 52

Why does Cesar Chavez stand out in California?

Answer 52

He organized the first farm workers’ union in 1962 that ultimately succeeded in attaining a historic contract with the grape growers.

Question 53

What is the significance of Proposition 13 (1978)?

Answer 53

A: Restructured local control over property taxes.
A: It led to cutbacks in property taxes and a decrease in the tax base available to fund social programs.

Question 54

What part of the state became synonymous with computers in the 1980s?

Answer 54

Santa Clara County (Silicon Valley)

Question 55

What economic, political, and social problems threatened prosperity in the late 1980s?

Answer 55

A: Immigration (both legal and illegal) from Mexico and Asian countries swelled the population and affected the social service system.
A: Increased crime, gangs, pollution, and other urban problems affected the state.
A: The cost of public higher education escalated dramatically. d. An economic downturn emerged.

Question 56

What distinguished California nationwide in the early 1990s?

Answer 56

Unemployment (at approximately 10 percent) exceeded the national average.

Question 57

How did military cutbacks following the break of the USSR impact the California defense industry?

Answer 57

A: The cutbacks had a ripple effect in the housing, auto, and computer industries, among others.
A: Major industrial plant closings further weakened the economy.
A: The cost of public higher education continued to escalate.

Question 58

What followed the acquittal of police officers in the Rodney King trial in 1992?

Answer 58

A: Triggered one of the worst civil disturbances in U.S. history.
A: Destruction in the Los Angeles area ran into the billions of dollars.
A: Guilty verdicts in the federal Rodney King trial (1993) reduced racial tensions.

Question 59

What are the economic advantages of California?

Answer 59

A: The gross domestic product (GDP) ranks California number one in the nation.
A: The California GDP ranks it among the top 10 countries in the world.
A: Vast natural resources (oil, timber, minerals, and so on) and abundant fertile land allow for future growth.
A: California leads the nation in manufacturing and agricultural production.
A: The higher education system (junior colleges, state colleges, and universities) is among the finest in the nation.

Question 60

Who established the California missions?

Answer 60

A: Franciscan friars established 21 Spanish missions along California coast from San Diego to Sonoma
A: father Serra is credited with the development of the mission system; his lasting contributions are controversial.