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TEST BANK
Learning Objectives
1. Identify the achievements and problems of the Confederation government.
2. Explain how the major disagreements and compromises molded the final content of the Constitution.
3. Explain how the Anti-Federalist concerns raised during the ratification process led to the creation of the Bill of Rights.
4. Explain how the definition of citizenship in the new republic excluded Native Americans and African-Americans.
Multiple Choice
1. In the aftermath of the Revolution, a common national identity and consciousness
a. cemented immediately.
b. never really developed. roots
c. took time to sink deep.
d. was required by law.
e. existed only among poor people.
2. How did Americans tend to describe their nation during the era of the Revolution?
a. as an “empire governed by force” in the spirit of the most powerful European empires that had preceded it
b. as a “perpetual union” that, although currently much smaller in size than Great Britain, Spain, and France, was united by ideas
c. as a “city upon a hill,” with the American population consisting almost entirely of English Puritans
d. as a “rising empire,” destined to populate and control the entire North American continent
e. as a “site of nationalism above all,” defined by a national patriotism that no longer had any room for local loyalties
3. Which of the following was an advantage possessed by the United States in the decades following the Revolution?
a. an extensive system of roads and canals that almost entirely blurred regional differences in the new nation
b. physical isolation from Europe that helped prevent American involvement in European wars during the period
c. a relatively homogenous population that quickly created a strong, united sense of American identity
d. a strong economy that dominated those of existing empires and almost immediately made the United States an imperial power
e. a predominantly older population that had a mature perspective about the gradual changes that would make the new nation
prosperous
4. Which of the following was a challenge that America faced in the era of the Revolution?
a. a predominantly urban population
b. a drawn-out, ongoing war with the Indians in the Mid-Atlantic
c. the fact that literacy rates and property ownership among white citizens were low
d. the strength of local, as opposed to national, loyalties
e. a series of fierce and bloody slave uprisings
5. Which of the following was a characteristic of the federal government under the Articles of Confederation?
a. Congress was a two-chambered body, with a House of Delegates and a Council.
b. Congress could not levy taxes or regulate commerce.
c. Congress could amend the Articles by a two-thirds vote.
d. There were two branches of government—judicial and legislative—but no executive.
e. The more populous a state, the more votes it cast in Congress.
6. Under the Articles of Confederation, Congress was able to
a. establish national control over land to the west of the thirteen states.
b. select a president to enforce the laws of the national government.
c. create a new tax policy that would better fund the government.
d. eliminate a provision giving judges power to reject congressional acts.
e. block the passage of numerous constitutional amendments.
7. How did the Articles of Confederation compare to the Constitution in regard to sovereignty?
a. Under the Articles, states had more autonomy, while the Constitution gave no powers to the states.
b. Under the Articles, states had more autonomy, while the Constitution gave some powers to the states.
c. Under the Articles, states had no power to run the country, while the Constitution gave more powers to the states.
d. Under the Articles, states had some power to run the country, while the Constitution gave more powers to the states.
e. Under both the Articles and the Constitution, the states and national government had equal power to run the country.
8. How did the Articles of Confederation compare to the Constitution with regard to the economy?
a. Under the Articles, states made more decisions about the economy than the national government.
b. Under the Articles, states did not take an interest in their respective economies.
c. Under the new Constitution, land distribution would benefit the poor.
d. Under the new Constitution, current property holders were losing rights.
e. Under both the Articles and the Constitution, the national government played a prominent role in economic decisions.
9. What was Congress able to accomplish with its Native American policy under the Articles of Confederation?
a. Nothing; Congress was so powerless under the Articles that nothing happened in this area.
b. It negotiated treaties for the tribes to keep their lands, but Congress was so lacking in power that the treaties proved useless.
c. Congress demanded and received surrenders of large amounts of Indian land north of the Ohio River and in the South.
d. Congress backed away from any involvement when land companies requested that the government step aside and leave the
West’s economic development in private hands.
e. Congress recruited enough state militias to force the Native Americans off their land.
10. Why did Congress claim that some Indians had forfeited their land rights in the aftermath of independence?
a. because they did not farm it
b. because the Indians never believed that they owned the land
c. because they were racially inferior
d. because they had no written title to the land
e. because they had aided the British during the war
11. In the 1780s, settlers in western areas such as Tennessee and Kentucky
a. were especially attentive to what land belonged to Indians and purchased Indian land legally.
b. found that the soil was poor for growing cash crops such as tobacco or cotton and moved westward.
c. believed they had a right to take possession of western lands and use them as they saw fit.
d. were largely wealthy plantation owners who helped settle thriving trading towns along the rivers.
e. threatened civil war because they considered the Confederation Congress to be too powerful.
12. Which statement is true about the area stretching from the western boundaries of the existing states to the Mississippi River in
the 1780s?
a. More than 100,000 Indians inhabited the region.
b. The Portuguese controlled the region.
c. Land companies pushed for more governmental regulation of the land.
d. Congress was careful to protect the land rights of Indians who had fought on the American side during the war.
e. Many felt that unregulated settlement was the only way to produce peace with the Indians.
13. Which of the following is true of how the leaders of the new nation viewed settlers moving west across the Appalachians in the
1780s?
a. They shared their British predecessors’ fears that frontier settlers would fight constantly with Native Americans.
b. They viewed them as the start of a brigade that was going to spread American values and virtues across the continent.
c. They hated them enough to pass laws banning their movement—much like the British Proclamation of 1763—but the settlers
ignored them.
d. Benjamin Franklin advocated movement westward, but Thomas Jefferson fought him on it.
e. Federalists opposed all westward expansion, while Anti-Federalists championed westward migration.
14. Which of the following groups of people did Benjamin Franklin describe as “our debtors, loose English people, our German
servants, and slaves”?
a. anti-Federalists
b. frontier settlers
c. Loyalists now living in Canada
d. residents of the coastal cities
e. Catholics
15. Which of the following was accomplished by the federal government under the Articles of Confederation?
a. The Treaty of Greenville was signed.
b. Ordinances were passed for establishing settlement of western territory.
c. Trade agreements were signed with Spain and France.
d. A moratorium on the importation of slaves was put into place.
e. National currency was printed to control inflation of state currencies.
16. What was one of the terms of the Ordinance of 1785?
a. It established guidelines for surveying, apportioning, and selling land.
b. It prohibited the expansion of slavery throughout the West.
c. It established stages of self-government for territories seeking to become states.
d. It offered free land to anyone willing to establish a homestead in the West.
e. It relocated Native American tribes to tracts west of the Mississippi.
17. Which of the following was a geographic boundary of the area known as the Northwest Territory?
a. Atlantic Ocean
b. Appalachian Mountains
c. St. Lawrence River
d. Adirondack Mountains
e. Great Lakes
18. The Northwest Ordinance of 1787
a. established the policy to admit the area’s population as equal members of the political system.
b. regulated western land sales through a policy that was amicable to the Indians.
c. abolished the Articles of Confederation and called for a second Constitutional Convention.
d. was the first step in Alexander Hamilton’s plan for economic growth.
e. declared all Indian land to be the possession of the U.S. government.
19. The national land policy established in the 1780s had the greatest benefit for
a. individual settlers.
b. private land companies.
c. British officials.
d. Native Americans.
e. immigrants.
20. What was a feature of the U.S. economy in the 1780s?
a. New markets in Asia more than made up for the loss of markets in the British West Indies.
b. Imported goods flooded the American market, undercutting craftsmen and driving down wages.
c. Congress abolished all state tariffs on imported goods.
d. Farmers largely benefited from the economy, while craftsmen suffered.
e. Many states stopped printing paper money in order to make it easier for individuals to pay their debts.
21. The Northwest Ordinance of 1787
a. called on new territorial governments to forcibly remove the Indians living there.
b. allowed the importation of slaves into the Old Northwest for at least another twenty years.
c. had far-reaching consequences because it banned slavery in the Old Northwest.
d. was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court the following year.
e. created a situation in which the Old Northwest was governed as a colony by the federal government.
22. What was the significance of the Empress of China?
a. Its sinking by pirates escalated tensions with the British in the 1790s.
b. It was the last ship to bring slaves from Africa to America.
c. It was the fastest wind-powered ship in the world in 1800.
d. Its successful journey demonstrated that America could trade directly with Asia.
e. It was financed by West Indies plantation owners, reopening trade between America and that region.
23. Which of the following statements encapsulates Thomas Jefferson’s idea of an “empire of liberty”?
a. Those living in the western territories were to be treated as political equals.
b. All Native Americans were to be granted the rights to vote and own property.
c. Slaves living in America were to be freed and relocated to American colonies in Africa.
d. The West was to be ruled as a colony until debts to Revolutionary War soldiers could be repaid.
e. America was to provide military support to Canada in its own bid for independence from France.
24. What did the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 pledge in regard to Indian tribes in the Old Northwest?
a. They were to be considered at war with America until they relocated farther west.
b. They were granted only a tenth of the available land to govern as they saw fit.
c. They were granted annual payments from the federal government.
d. They were to be forcibly removed immediately and put to work as slaves.
e. They were to be treated fairly and their land not taken without consent.
25. Participants in Shays’s Rebellion sought to model their strategy on that of
a. the Puritans.
b. tax collectors.
c. the American Patriots.
d. the Iroquois League.
e. the Quakers.
26. Which of the following statements accurately describes the economic practices of the states under the Articles of Confederation?
a. Many states enacted laws protecting the property of creditors.
b. States were authorized to sell land under various land ordinances.
c. States were not given the authority to print money.
d. The coastal states signed trade agreements with England.
e. Several states imposed tariff duties on imported goods.
27. Why was Thomas Jefferson not among those alarmed by Shays’s Rebellion?
a. He had organized it.
b. He believed that occasional rebellion refreshed the spirit of liberty.
c. He knew Congress could order federal troops to crush it.
d. Daniel Shays was a friend of his.
e. He planned to buy up the farmers’ land and turn it into a plantation.
28. How did Thomas Jefferson react to Shays’s Rebellion?
a. He urged that troops be raised by the national government.
b. He wanted the state of Massachusetts to quickly put down the revolt.
c. He did not know about the rebellion because he was in France.
d. He urged George Washington to lead the rebels.
e. He was not alarmed, seeing it as a positive for the United States.
29. Shays’s Rebellion was significant because it demonstrated
a. that land distribution policies were out of date.
b. that controversies over the emancipation of slaves could turn violent.
c. that Congress’s attempts to pass pro-debtor laws were unpopular with farmers.
d. the need for a stronger central government.
e. the chaotic nature of Indian policy after the Battle of Fallen Timbers.
30. James Madison
a. urged an expansion of public liberty.
b. played no role at the Constitutional Convention.
c. was Thomas Jefferson’s ally and disciple.
d. opposed the idea of a strong national government.
e. distinguished himself as the presiding officer at the Constitutional Convention.
31. Who said, “Liberty may be endangered by the abuses of liberty as well as the abuses of power”?
a. James Madison
b. George Washington
c. Thomas Jefferson
d. George Mason
e. Benjamin Franklin
32. In the 1780s, what group supported a stronger national government due to their desire for tariff protection from foreign imports?
a. indebted farmers
b. Indians
c. women
d. urban artisans
e. wage-earners
33. Which of the following people would have been the most likely supporter of the Articles of Confederation?
a. a merchant desiring access to British markets
b. a Continental army officer from the Revolutionary War
c. an urban artisan
d. a person who owned a bond issued by the Congress
e. an indebted farmer in western Massachusetts
34. How would one describe the men who attended the Constitutional Convention?
a. They all were slave owners.
b. Most had more wealth than the average American.
c. Most came from nobility in Europe.
d. Very few had served in the military during the Revolutionary War.
e. Most had no formal education.
35. Who took detailed notes of the Constitutional Convention, which were published more than fifty years after the proceedings?
a. Ben Franklin
b. John Jay
c. George Washington
d. Alexander Hamilton
e. James Madison
36. Which of the following statements accurately describes the background of the delegates to the Constitutional Convention?
a. The vast majority had risen from humble origins, much as Alexander Hamilton had.
b. Very few had attended college, even though college education was on the rise in America.
c. Nearly half owned slaves, and most had come from wealth or been born into propertied families.
d. Very few had engaged in politics prior to the Revolution, and most were skeptical of national authority.
e. Most had risen to prominence through their rejection of slavery and insistence on equality for all.
37. Which statement is true about the fifty-five delegates to the Constitutional Convention?
a. Thomas Jefferson and John Adams were two key participants.
b. Less than a quarter of the delegates had college educations.
c. Most were “self-made men” who had worked their way up from the lower classes.
d. They shared a belief in the need to curb the “excesses of democracy.”
e. All but five had served in the Continental army during the Revolution.
38. Which of the following is true of the Virginia Plan?
a. James Madison opposed it, but the other delegates from Virginia supported it.
b. It proposed a one-house legislature, with population determining representation.
c. It proposed a two-house legislature, with population determining representation in each house.
d. It called for each state to have one vote in Congress.
e. It was strongly opposed by the larger, more populated states.
39. The New Jersey Plan
a. was mainly supported by the smaller, less populated states.
b. contained a gradual emancipation requirement that proved quite controversial.
c. was a thinly disguised attempt to resurrect monarchy in America.
d. found its greatest support from the Pennsylvania and Massachusetts delegations.
e. called for a radical departure from the Articles of Confederation in every way.
40. Alexander Hamilton
a. believed that wealthy men from elite families should rule the country.
b. was an Anti-Federalist.
c. was born in New York.
d. believed that the president should hold office for only three years.
e. wrote the Bill of Rights.
41. What did the delegates of the Constitutional Convention agree that the Constitution should create?
a. a three-house Congress where states would be represented according to the size of their population
b. a hands-off government where states could make nearly all the important decisions
c. a House of Representatives where representatives would be elected every seven years
d. a Senate that would serve life terms, like the House of Lords of England
e. a legislature, an executive, and a national judiciary
42. What qualifications did the Constitution, ratified in 1787, impose for voting?
a. None; it left voting rules to the states.
b. It allowed all white males over twenty-one to vote but expressly banned women.
c. It allowed all white males over twenty-one to vote and said nothing about women.
d. It imposed a property requirement.
e. It specifically banned African-Americans from voting.
43. Under the original Constitution, who did the people directly elect?
a. the senators
b. the president
c. the vice president
d. the House of Representatives
e. the Supreme Court
44. Which of the following statements accurately describes the original House of Representatives?
a. It contained 150 members.
b. It was the only sector of the constitutional government that was directly elected.
c. It was given the power to nominate federal judges.
d. Its decisions could be vetoed by the Senate.
e. Representatives were up for reelection every year.
45. Which is true of the electoral college?
a. It was created through an amendment to the Constitution in response to the disputed election of 1796.
b. Members were originally to be chosen by popular election in presidential election years.
c. From the start, it was attacked by charges of bribery and corruption.
d. It prevented ordinary voters from choosing the president and vice president directly.
e. It tasked electors with casting one vote for president and another for vice president.
46. The relationship between the national government and the states is called
a. the separation of powers.
b. the New Jersey Plan.
c. Federalism.
d. the Virginia Plan.
e. the Constitution.
47. Which of these established a government with a clear-cut separation of powers?
a. Articles of Confederation
b. United States Constitution
c. Treaty of Greenville
d. Continental Congress
e. Magna Carta
48. As designed by the Constitution,
a. the president was elected by popular vote.
b. senators were to serve two-year terms.
c. federal judges were appointed by the president, not elected by the people.
d. the congressional representatives were to be appointed by state legislatures.
e. the Supreme Court justices were to serve ten-year terms.
49. Which of the following is a check against presidential power in the Constitution?
a. Only the Senate can override a president’s veto.
b. The Supreme Court can impeach the president for “high crimes and misdemeanors.”
c. The Senate can remove the president from office after he or she is impeached by the House.
d. Congress can reject all presidential appointments.
e. Although the president appoints federal judges, they serve for ten years to ensure their independence.
50. What does the omission of the word “slave” or “slavery” in the text of the original Constitution suggest about the founders?
a. They wanted to end slavery as quickly as possible.
b. They felt a reference to slavery tainted American ideals of liberty and equality.
c. The institution of slavery was strictly an economic venture for them.
d. They did not want the Constitution to allow slavery.
e. They did not want slaves to see any references to themselves.
51. What did James Madison propose allowing Congress to do, but was ultimately shot down?
a. deal with foreign nations
b. levy taxes
c. regulate commerce
d. veto state laws
e. declare war
52. Which statement is true about the system of presidential election under the original Constitution?
a. If no candidate received a majority of the electoral ballots, the winner would be chosen by the Senate.
b. The president was chosen by debate in the House of Representatives, where discussion would continue until the
representatives were unanimous in their choice of president.
c. The president’s length of term was directly related to the proportion of votes he received.
d. The president was chosen by direct vote of the people.
e. Each elector cast votes for two candidates for president, and the second-place finisher would become vice president.
53. Which of the following were states empowered to do under the Constitution?
a. to veto national legislation
b. to issue currency
c. to levy import and export duties
d. to create laws regarding education and law enforcement
e. to begin impeachment proceedings against the president
54. Which of the following is true regarding Congress and the African slave trade in the United States under the Constitution?
a. Congress never prohibited this slave trade.
b. The First Congress under the Constitution prohibited the importation of slaves into the United States.
c. Congress always let individual states make their own decisions with regard to importing slaves.
d. Congress prohibited the African slave trade ten years after ratification of the Constitution.
e. Congress prohibited the African slave trade twenty years after ratification of the Constitution.
55. Which of the following is true of the Constitution of 1787 and slavery?
a. Despite protests from southern delegates, the document permanently freed runaway slaves who made it to the “free air” of the
North.
b. The Constitution declared that all territories of the United States would be “free soil” where slavery would not be permitted.
c. The Constitution explicitly protected the security of property in slaves in any state of the Union so that a slaveowner could
move permanently with his slaves from the South to the North.
d. The Constitution provided for half of a state’s slave population to be counted in determining its membership in the House of
Representatives.
e. Although never using the word “slavery,” the document protected several aspects of the institution.
| 4. Explain how the definition of citizenship in the new republic excluded Native Americans and African-Americans.
56. In regard to slavery, what did the Constitution do?
a. It allowed slavery but also contained a potential method to end slavery.
b. It fully defined who was a slave.
c. It made slavery mandatory in the South.
d. It ended the external slave trade immediately.
e. It established a twenty-year limit on the buying and selling of slaves within the United States.
57. By banning the importation of slaves by 1808 with the Constitution, what did critics of slavery hope to accomplish?
a. They wanted accelerate the start of a civil war.
b. They wanted to weaken the shipbuilding industry in the United States.
c. They hoped cutting off the supply would eventually end slavery in the United States.
d. They hoped the national government would focus on developing manufacturing.
e. Their goal was to weaken the Quakers, who were critical of slavery.
58. How did southern states react to the Constitution’s provisions regarding slavery?
a. South Carolina and Georgia immediately began importing increased numbers of Africans, because in twenty years the
international slave trade could be constitutionally prohibited.
b. They refused to ratify the Constitution without assurances that a bill of rights would be added to protect their right to slave
property.
c. The personal opposition of Jefferson and Madison to slavery prompted Virginia to oppose ratification at first.
d. They objected to the electoral college on the grounds that it ignored the number of slaves in their states and thereby reduced
their power.
e. They were critical of the provision in Article I allowing African-Americans to be armed during wartime.
59. The three-fifths clause in the U.S. Constitution
a. required that all revenue bills receive a three-fifths affirmative vote in the U.S. House.
b. gave the white South greater power in national affairs than the size of its free population warranted.
c. explicitly declared that slaves were not fully human and were therefore undeserving of legal rights.
d. made it easier to amend the Constitution than it had been to amend the Articles of Confederation.
e. expired in the year 1808 because of a key sectional compromise at the Constitutional Convention.
60. The Somerset case
a. ended the importation of slaves into the United States.
b. established the idea that any slaves who set foot on British soil would become free.
c. freed slaves from the ship Amistad.
d. used the language of liberty to rule that free blacks could own property.
e. set the precedent that fugitive slaves had to be returned to their masters.
61. In which of the following ways did the Constitution help enable future anti-slavery efforts?
a. The Constitution made it impossible for the condition of bondage to remain attached to a person after escaping to a state
where slavery had been abolished.
b. The Constitution included a slave trade clause that officially ended the importation of slaves immediately upon the
signing of the Constitution.
c. By treating slavery as solely an economic issue, the Constitution provided the federal government the right to regulate
it as “interstate commerce.”
d. By allowing slavery to remain a state-based institution, the Constitution permitted the national government to limit its
spread into the western territories.
e. The Constitution granted the federal government the right to tax slaves as property, thus making them less profitable to their
owners.
62. What does it mean that the fugitive slave clause accorded slave laws “extraterritoriality”?
a. If a slave owner moved with his slaves to a state where slavery was abolished, he could still hold slaves.
b. If a fugitive managed to cross state lines, he or she would no longer be considered a slave, but rather a free person with all the
rights of someone who was born free.
c. The Supreme Court would follow a standard procedure in returning slaves that had escaped across state lines to their owners.
d. It was the responsibility of masters to apprehend their runaway slaves.
e. The condition of bondage remained attached to the person even if he or she escaped to a state where slavery had been
abolished.
63. Who revised the preamble and put other final written touches on the Constitution?
a. Gouverneur Morris
b. James Madison
c. Ben Franklin
d. Alexander Hamilton
e. John Jay
64. Which of the following occurred at the final meeting of the Constitutional Convention in 1787?
a. James Madison argued that the Constitution should be entirely rewritten.
b. Ben Franklin proposed that a representative from the Iroquois Confederacy be invited to sign the document.
c. The delegates drafted and accepted the Bill of Rights.
d. Ben Franklin urged the delegates to put their differences aside.
e. Every delegate signed the Constitution in order for it to go to the states for ratification.
65. What was the significance of the part of the Constitution that granted Congress power over economic decisions such as tariffs,
interstate commerce, patents, bankruptcy rules, and weights and measures?
a. It forced several states into bankruptcy by 1800 and greatly endangered the longevity of the new nation.
b. It created the conditions necessary for a national economic market and contributed to a framework for American
development.
c. It angered slaveholders, who feared Congress would use these powers to limit slavery since the Constitution explicitly
recognized slaves as property.
d. It created an imbalance of power, which would be challenged and ultimately remedied by the creation of the Supreme Court
in the nineteenth century.
e. It angered George Washington and nearly led him to turn down the role of president and reject the new nation.
66. What was the significance of the essays in The Federalist?
a. They emphasized the government’s role to preserve and protect its citizens’ freedom and are now considered one of
America’s most important contributions to political thought.
b. They cautioned against continuous westward expansion and stressed the importance of the Atlantic seaboard as a politically
manageable and agriculturally rich land.
c. They provided moral arguments against slavery that were adopted by abolitionists in the nineteenth century and emphasized a
virtuous citizenry devoted to the common good.
d. They raised concerns about the viability of a democratic government in such a large and varied nation as America and
advocated waiting several years to ratify the Constitution.
e. They provided arguments in favor of giving political power to the poor and erasing economic inequality—ideas repeated by
labor organizers a hundred years later.
67. The eighty-five essays written in support of ratification of the Constitution are called
a. The Wealth of Nations.
b. the Articles of Confederation.
c. The Federalist.
d. “Agrippa.”
e. The History of the American Revolution.
68. What was “the first object of government,” according to James Madison?
a. Feed the poor.
b. Protect free speech.
c. Guarantee voting rights.
d. Protect property rights.
e. Secure freedom.
69. Why did James Madison believe that the problem of balancing democracy and respect for property would only grow in the years
ahead?
a. Economic development would increase the number of poor people.
b. The expansion of slavery would concentrate power in the hands of slave owners.
c. The Constitution provided for direct elections by the people of the Senate and president.
d. The Constitution provided for the abolition of slavery in 1808.
e. The Constitution made all Native Americans citizens.
70. Which of the following statements characterizes James Madison’s position regarding the new Constitution?
a. He was critical of it because he thought it was too similar to England’s constitution.
b. He feared it would create a “tyranny of the majority” without a bill of rights.
c. He predicted that it would only allow for an effective government in a small, homogenous nation.
d. He believed the nation’s size and diversity would help to secure the rights of individuals under the new form of government.
e. He viewed it as a document that was inherently anti-slavery and that would guarantee emancipation.
71. How did the writings of James Madison shape America’s understanding of its new political institutions?
a. They argued that religion had a key role to play in ethical governance.
b. They created resistance among the elite toward craft guilds and other labor organizations.
c. They refocused attention on the “virtuous citizen” as the foundation of good government.
