U.S. History

Question 1

Which person is the BEST known for the Montgomery bus boycott?

Answer 1

Rosa Parks.

Question 2

Which of the following documents embodies the ideals of individual freedom so commonly associated with the U.S.?

Answer 2

The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.

Question 3

Which of the following did NOT cause conflict among the framers of the Constitution?

Answer 3

Checks and balances.

Question 4

Why did the framers of the Constitution design the system of checks and balances?

Answer 4

To maintain parity of power among branches of government. Preventing one branch from becoming too powerful, and therefore, protecting the people form an oppressive government.

Question 5

Reaganomics is most closely associated with…?

Answer 5

The “trickle-down theory”

Question 6

What was the first major stronghold in North America during the period of colonialism?

Answer 6

The Massachusetts Bay Colony. It was not the first successful settlement in the New World, but it was North America’s first major stronghold.

Question 7

Which of the following is NOT considered one of the devastating effects of colonialism on the native populations of Africa and the Americas?

Answer 7

Mercantilism flourished in the New World; this is a positive.

Question 8

Which religious group came to America feeling persecution, but fined, whipped, banished, and imprisoned anyone who did not conform to their beliefs?

Answer 8

The Puritans!

Question 9

Which of the following group was NOT among the settlers of Jamestown?

Answer 9

Slaves. The slave trade had yet to begin during the settlement of Jamestown.

Question 10

Which of the following did NOT characterize northern urban ares from 1820 to 1860?

Answer 10

Creation of seaport cities. With few exceptions, southern cities were seaports. Between 1820 and 1860 many inland cities created by the north, along with transportation lines and manufacturing establishments. Northern cities did service the tremendous influx of people to the cities by developing elaborate systems of municipal services, but they lacked adequate taxing power to provide services for all.

Question 11

What proposal did Woodrow Wilson make in 1918 that convinced the Germans they would be fairly treated if they surrendered?

Answer 11

The Fourteen Points.

Question 12

Which of the following New Deal programs were designed to reduce unemployment?

Answer 12

The Public Works Administration (PWA) and the Works Projects Administration (WPA) were instituted to reduce unemployment during the Great Depression and were part of the New Deal programs.
The National Industry Recovery Act was enacted in 1933 to allow for collective bargaining ; the Glass-Steagall Act created the FDIC , which today, as in 1933 , insured bank deposits to prevent bank failures; and the Social Security Act was passed in 1935 to provide benefits to the disabled and elderly.

Question 13

All of the following played a role in the Cold War except..?

Answer 13

Mercantilism.

Military coalitions, espionage, and the space race DID play roles.

Question 14

In 1764, the British for the first time impose a series of taxes designed specifically to raise revenue from the colonies. What was the series of taxes called?

Answer 14

The Sugar Act. Also, named the American Revenue Act. One of its major components was raising the tariff on sugar. The act combined with a greater attempt to enforce the existing tariffs.

Question 15

Which of the following does not apply to the Sons of Liberty?

Answer 15

They did not publicly proclaim their membership.
They did resort to coercion to force stamp act agents to resign their posts, they were prominent citizens, and they have chapters throughout the colonies.
Was one of the Americans reactions to the Stamp Act.

Question 16

Which of the following is NOT a correct statement about the Vietnam War?

Answer 16

Answer: The U.S. actually DID have assistance from allies in the Vietnam War, like Australia, Korea, and the Philippines.
Also, more than 58,000 Americans were killed, the war is considered the longest military conflict in U.S. history (1959 to 1975), and more than 3 million Vietnamese were killed.

Question 17

Which of the following groups did not switch their party affiliation to support Roosevelt’s New Deal platform in the 1936 election?

Answer 17

Cuban immigrants did not switch. The 1936 election established a realignment of voting blocs as Roosevelt’s Democratic Party because the nation’s majority party in terms of voter registration and easily voted Roosevelt into a second term. Democrats had not been the majority party since 1856. Attracted by Roosevelt’s New Deal initiatives overwhelming majorities of African Americans, Jews, non-Irish Catholics, urban residents in general, and labor union members joined traditional Democratic voters (southern whites and Irish Catholics) and threw their support behind Roosevelt.

Question 18

The Articles of Confederation was the first governing document, or constitution, of the United States. Which of the following was among its major deficiencies?

Answer 18

The Articles of Confederation created a weak federal government that lacked the authority to tax;it also established a one-state , one-vote policy, which the larger states resented.

Question 19

Which of the following is NOT true of the Federalist Papers?

Answer 19

The Federalists Papers consisted of 85 essays outlining how the new government would operate and why this type of government was the best choice for the U.S. All of the essays were signed “Publius,” and thought the actual authors of some are under dispute, the general consensus is that Alexander Hamilton wrote 52, Madison wrote 28, and John Jay contributed the last 5. None of the authors signed the Declaration of Independence.

Question 20

Manifest Destiny

Answer 20

It was a doctrine used to rationalize U.S. territorial expansion in the 1840s and 1850s. It asserted that expansion of the U.S. throughout the American continents were both justified and inevitable. The phrase was coined by the U.S. journalist John L. O’Sullivan , and was initially used in regard to Mexican and Indian land in TX and the Southwest. The concept was invoked later in dispute with Great Britain over Oregon and in relation to to territory controlled by the U.S. as a result of the Spanish-American War . By the age of Manifest Destiny , Spain was long gone from Florida.

Question 21

The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 did which of the following?

Answer 21

It provided the means by which new states would be created out of the western lands of and then admitted into the Union.

Question 22

Which of the following did NOT characterize Reaganomics?

Answer 22

Elimination of tax cuts for the wealthy. Reaganomics sought to sure the nation’s financial woes by turning away from demand economics, centered on consumers, stimulating businesses to supply more product, and instead focused on supply-side economics. 4 pillars of this platform:
1. reduce gov spending
2. reduce income tax and capital gains
3. reduce gov regulation
4. control the money supply to reduce inflation
Reagan’s “trickle down” economics referred to cutting business taxes so that it would trickle down to those who do not directly benefit from policy changes.

Question 23

Which of the following was NOT a factor during the antebellum period?

Answer 23

Subsistence agriculture did NOT replace commercial agriculture in the North.
Between 1790-1860- the years known as the antebellum period - commercial agriculture in the North, and household production was replaced by factory production. Massive foreign immigration from Ireland and Germany greatly increased the size of cities. In the South, slavery impeded the development of industry and cities and discouraged technological invention.

Question 24

Which of the following was an almost perfect crop for the lower South, because it was easy to grow and well-suited to the region’s climate?

Answer 24

Cotton. There was wheat in the North, Cotton in the South, and corn in the middle.

Question 25

How many lives were lost during the American Civil War?

Answer 25

More then 600,000. More American lives lost in this war than in any other war/ conflicts combined following this period of time.

Question 26

Which of the following state was NOT among the first 7 to secede from the Union, leading to the civil War?

Answer 26

North Carolina. Abraham’s victory in the presidential election of 1860 was the signal for the secession of South Carolina (Dec. 20th, 1860), and that state was followed out of the Union by six other states: Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas.

Question 27

Who was the president of the U.S. when the first states seceded from the Union?

Answer 27

James Buchanan. Out going president, Northern Democrat who was either truckling to the Southern, pro-slavery wing of his party or sincerely attempting to avert war, pursued a vacillating course.

Question 28

Who was the first president of the Confederacy?

Answer 28

Jefferson Davis.

Question 29

Which of the following was NOT considered a strength on the Union side during the Civil War?

Answer 29

No nation ever has an unlimited supply of resources.

Question 30

After the North defeated the South in the Civil War, politicians faced the task of putting the divided country back together. What legislative action made former slaves citizens?

Answer 30

The 14th Amendment.

Question 31

Reconstruction Acts of 1867

Answer 31

Laid out the process for readmitting the southern states into the Union.

Question 32

15th Amendment

Answer 32

Granted black men the right to vote.

Question 33

The policy promoted by Theodore Roosevelt and most explicitly pursued in Central America was the…?

Answer 33

Big Stick Diplomacy. The U.S. press corps termed it, is based on Teddy Roosevelt’s invocation of an African proverb, “speak softly, and carry a big stick, you will go far” to describe his belief that the U.S. had a moral imperative to keep all other interests out of the Western Hemisphere. Many political cartoons of the day depicted Roosevelt carrying a big stick and keeping monopolists and European countries in line.

Question 34

Rudyard Kipling’s “White man’s burden’ referred to…?

Answer 34

The white man’s duty to help the people of Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Idea to civilize inferior, non-whites races, by bring them in order and enlightenment. Poem in 1899 to encourage the U.S. to colonize the Philippines.

Question 35

What event first prompted the emergence of America as a “world power”?

Answer 35

The Spanish-American War and the acquisition of the Philippines in 1899. Away from isolationist polices and emerged with expansionist goals.

Question 36

The War Powers Resolution of 1793 may be invoked by Congress to accomplish which of the following?

Answer 36

Limit the period for which the president may deploy troops abroad in hostile situations.