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d. They emphasized the need for the nation to have one single interest that superseded all others.
e. They reinforced the belief that westward expansion was essential to freedom.
72. Anti-Federalists included
a. Patrick Henry and John Adams.
b. George Washington and John Hancock.
c. Samuel Adams and James Madison.
d. Benjamin Franklin and John Jay.
e. Samuel Adams and Patrick Henry.
73. Which of the following groups tended to be Anti-Federalist during the ratification debates?
a. wealthier citizens
b. rural residents closely tied to the commercial marketplace
c. merchants engaged in foreign commerce
d. state politicians
e. urban artisans, laborers, and sailors
74. Which was a factor that helped to raise support for ratification of the Constitution?
a. Patrick Henry’s promise to oppose the inclusion of a Bill of Rights.
b. violent conflicts with the Indians in the New England states
c. the hope that a strong federal government would be able to boost the economy
d. Thomas Jefferson’s popular essays on government
e. the promise to Virginians that they would gain more western territory
75. Those who supported and those who opposed ratification of the Constitution typically differed in which quality?
a. military experience
b. first language
c. religion
d. status as slave owners
e. economic status
76. The original Constitution
a. was written in four months and is around 4,000 words long.
b. was written in nine months and is around 7,000 words long.
c. was written in two years and is 3,000 words long.
d. was written in five years and is around 20,000 words long.
e. was written in ten years and is around 100,000 words long.
77. What did Anti-Federalists believe was true of popular self-government?
a. Locally focused government would bring about the destruction of civilized life.
b. It was the perfect form of government for a large nation, where all voices could comingle.
c. Popular self-government could only be effective if it was regulated by a strong central authority.
d. It was an ideal not worth fighting for.
e. It would flourish best in small communities, where rulers and ruled interacted daily.
78. Which of the following is true of the debate surrounding the ratification of the Constitution?
a. Rhode Island and North Carolina ultimately voted against ratification.
b. Alexander Hamilton refused to take a side in the debate.
c. Propertied men and urban dwellers were typically Anti-Federalists.
d. Northern state conventions unanimously supported ratification.
e. Thomas Jefferson’s essays were influential in raising support for ratification.
79. What Anti-Federalist idea is still part of modern political debate?
a. a concern about cultural differences between Protestants and Catholics
b. a concern about a citizen’s right to privacy
c. the fear that a strong central government threatens liberty
d. the fear that local political leaders hold too much power
e. an opposition to unrestricted immigration
80. What was James Madison’s position on including a bill of rights in the Constitution?
a. He believed a bill of rights was essential for protecting individuals from aggressive state governments.
b. He felt the Constitution would fail in its central goals without a bill of rights.
c. He refused to support ratification until a bill of rights was included.
d. He believed a bill of rights redundant, because the Constitution itself would protect liberties.
e. He argued against a bill of rights as a threat to federal power.
81. The Constitution’s most energetic supporters were
a. men of substantial property.
b. Virginians.
c. small farmers.
d. New Yorkers.
e. North Carolinians.
82. Which of the following scenarios can potentially be seen as a violation of the First Amendment?
a. an accused thief spends two years in jail before receiving a trial
b. a corporation fires an employee for voicing his opinion on the presidential election
c. a defendant is forced to testify in his trial
d. a woman is arrested for organizing a peaceful meeting to protest the federal government’s immigration policies
e. police officers enter and search a suspected thief’s home before they obtain a warrant
83. In The History of the American Revolution, David Ramsay
a. argued that the Constitution represented a repudiation of the Revolution.
b. urged southern states to demand greater protection for slavery before ratifying the Constitution.
c. praised American state constitutions for allowing future amendments.
d. took issue with James Madison’s vision of “extending the sphere.”
e. took the British side when explaining why the Revolution occurred.
84. Which of the following descriptions characterizes David Ramsay’s The History of the American Revolution?
a. a warning against the principles of representative government
b. a detailed recounting of major battles by a Patriot soldier
c. a celebration of the American political system and Constitution
d. a religious sermon questioning the hereditary rights of monarchs
e. a formal call for self-governance for all the world’s people
85. What was one of the rights named in the Bill of Rights?
a. the right to vote regardless of gender
b. the right to equal protection under the law
c. the right to trial by jury
d. the right of sovereign immunity
e. the right to sell alcohol
86. What is the significance of the Ninth Amendment?
a. It established the freedom of the press, a key component of American liberty.
b. It affirmed that powers not delegated to the national government or prohibited to the states continued to reside with the states.
c. It established the requirement of religious tests for federal officeholders.
d. It clarified the roles of the president and vice president.
e. It declared that rights not specifically mentioned in the Constitution were “retained by the people.”
87. What did James Winthrop, a Massachusetts public official, fear about the new Constitution?
a. If the Constitution was not ratified, the United States would lose trade to Canada.
b. The new Constitution would not be powerful enough to unite all thirteen states.
c. If the Constitution was not ratified, the United States would be picked on by Spain.
d. Without the Constitution, the United States would not survive as a nation.
e. Under the Constitution, a citizen would lose basic civil liberties.
88. The Anti-Federalist James Winthrop argued that a bill of rights was necessary in the Constitution because
a. the English had one, so America ought to mirror that example.
b. the right to bear arms for the militia should be guarded by law.
c. using the examples of Wilkes and Zenger, the protection of speech and press was essential.
d. it would secure the minority against the usurpation and tyranny of the majority.
e. ratification of the Constitution was in doubt without the inclusion of the Bill of Rights.
89. What about the Bill of Rights was most remarkable in its departure from British precedent and even the Declaration of
Independence?
a. It invoked the blessing of divine providence.
b. It provided constitutional recognition of religious freedom.
c. It was the first document to mention the term “unalienable rights.”
d. It referred to the pursuit of happiness.
e. It granted the right to assemble.
90. What role did the Constitution play in the question of American citizenship?
a. The Constitution officially granted citizenship to any white person born on American soil, formalizing the definition of
citizenship that had long been held by the colonies.
b. The Constitution did not include the word “citizen” whatsoever because the Declaration of Independence already had already
granted citizenship to all property-owning males.
c. The Constitution gave a detailed description of the role of the federal government, rather than the states, in defining and
guaranteeing the rights of all American citizens.
d. The Constitution specified that all white people over the age of eighteen were to be considered citizens and, as children,
needed to prove their loyalty to the nation.
e. The Constitution failed to define the word “citizen,” reflecting the lack of a commonly agreed-upon understanding of the
rights that went with citizenship.
91. Which of the following statements accurately describes the status of free blacks in the United States toward the end of the
eighteenth century?
a. Free blacks who lived in the northern states and owned property enjoyed all the rights of citizenship.
b. Although free blacks had some basic rights in northern states, no African-Americans enjoyed full equality with whites.
c. Although the question of citizenship for whites was highly controversial, the status of free blacks had been solidly established.
d. Free blacks who had served in the armed forces during the Revolution were considered full citizens, even in the South.
e. If they were recent immigrants free blacks could apply for citizenship, but for those born in the United States citizenship was
unattainable.
92. When was the principle of “birthright citizenship” established?
a. with the passage of the Naturalization Act of 1790
b. with the signing of the Treaty of Greenville in 1795
c. during the debate surrounding ratification of the Constitution
d. during the Reconstruction era following the Civil War
e. with the ratification of the Constitution
93. Who in the nineteenth century used the words “We the people” from the Constitution to claim that the southern states could
not secede from the Union?
a. Andrew Jackson
b. Abraham Lincoln
c. George Washington
d. Jefferson Davis
e. Daniel Webster
94. Envisioning the nation as a community open to all those devoted to its political institutions and social values is what?
a. ethnic nationalism
b. federalism
c. separation of powers
d. religious toleration
e. civic nationalism
95. Which of the following is true of American national identity as envisioned by the Constitution of 1787?
a. The document distinguished only between those defined as American citizens, who were entitled to constitutionally protected
rights, and aliens, who were not so entitled.
b. The Constitution clearly states that persons of African descent could not be U.S. citizens, but that anyone of European or
Asian descent could be.
c. The “people” were free Americans; Native Americans and “other persons,” meaning African-American slaves, were not
considered part of the political nation.
d. The Constitution expressly stated that only white men were entitled to the rights it delineated.
e. The Constitution made clear that only civic nationalism, not ethnic nationalism, defined American national identity.
96. Which of the following is true of how the U.S. government in the 1790s dealt with Native Americans?
a. Because the Constitution counted all Indians toward representation in Congress, Indians received all rights and privileges that
other Americans did.
b. Because the Constitution stated that Indian tribes were “domestic dependent nations,” the government treated them just as it
treated nations like Great Britain and France.
c. Henry Knox, the first secretary of war, pursued policies designed to exterminate Native Americans.
d. The U.S. government made treaties with them mainly to transfer land to itself or to the states.
e. No American leaders believed that Native Americans could assimilate into American society, so the government largely
ignored Indians.
97. Who was J. Hector St. John de Crèvecoeur, in addition to being the author of the Letters from an American Farmer?
a. a Frenchman who praised American society in contrast to European society
b. the son of a Revolutionary War general who established a prosperous farm in Virginia
c. a French trader who died after offending a number of aristocratic families in America
d. a former owner of a plantation in the West Indies plantation who relocated to America
e. a free black who owned land in Vermont after serving in the Revolutionary War
98. Which of the following ideas does J. Hector St. John de Crèvecoeur express in Letters from an American Farmer?
a. America as a Christian nation first and foremost
b. America as a nation defined by unsettled, uncultivated land
c. America as a melting pot for various ethnicities
d. America as a place that emphasized nobility, where the “streets are paved with gold”
e. America as a country of Englishmen who all shared the same motives
99. Which of the following sentiments would Hector St. John Crèvecoeur agree with based on the excerpt from his Letters from an
American Farmer?
a. The United States was a land of new opportunities for European immigrants.
b. Without a strong federal Constitution, the American experiment was sure to fail
c. Power corrupts and must be held in check through the separation of powers.
d. An agrarian lifestyle was essential to American virtue.
e. Free African-Americans were “citizens of color” deserving of full legal rights.
100. Which statement is true regarding Native Americans’ status in the new nation?
a. Indian tribes had no representation in the new government.
b. Most white Americans saw Indians as their equals and welcomed them with open arms into the new nation.
c. With the signing of the Declaration of Independence, warfare between Indians and whites immediately ceased.
d. An entire tribe had to vote to accept the terms of a treaty with the United States or it would be invalid.
e. The annuity system gave Indians increased control over their own lives.
101. Under the Treaty of Greenville of 1795,
a. Great Britain agreed to remove its remaining forts from U.S. soil.
b. twelve Indian tribes ceded most of Ohio to the federal government.
c. the U.S. government allowed Indians to petition for citizenship.
d. the federal government forbade American settlement west of the Mississippi.
e. the United States recognized Great Britain’s claim to what is now Ontario.
102. What was the annuity system involving the U.S. government and certain Indian tribes?
a. a system under which the Indians ceded land to the United States annually
b. a system under which the federal government gave annual monetary grants to Indians
c. a system that placed Indians on reservations west of the Mississippi River
d. a system that allowed a percentage of Indians each year to attend American schools
e. a system where the states paid each local tribe an annual fee for their land
103. What was Thomas Jefferson’s stance on Indians?
a. He believed they were savages unworthy and incapable of civilization.
b. He believed they could become full-fledged members of the republic by assimilating.
c. He believed their society was equal to whites’ in every way but was uncomfortable with their cultural practices.
d. He believed they should be driven from the continent entirely, so as to keep the population “pure.”
e. He believed that Indians had perfected harmonious living and aimed to learn from them.
104. The 1790 Naturalization Act established a policy of “open immigration” and naturalization for
a. all people of the world.
b. white Europeans.
c. Asians.
d. Africans.
e. Indians.
105. Approximately how many slaves were living in America by 1790?
a. 700,000
b. 100,000
c. 70,000
d. 20,000
e. 5,000
106. During the early years of the republic, African-Americans
a. were far fewer in number than Native Americans.
b. enjoyed none of the rights whites enjoyed.
c. far exceeded the Indian population within the United States.
d. were all held as slaves except for a few free blacks in Massachusetts.
e. found a champion for the cause of emancipation in George Washington.
107. What did Thomas Jefferson believe regarding individuals’ abilities and achievements?
a. They were completely random and unpredictable.
b. They were predestined by God.
c. They were directly tied to race and were unchangeable.
d. They were shaped by social conditions and thus changeable over time.
e. They were tied entirely to environment but unrelated to race or intelligence.
108. Who was allowed to become a citizen following the Naturalization Act of 1790?
a. children of slaves
b. German immigrants
c. free blacks not born in the United States
d. Japanese immigrants
e. Native Americans
109. Which of the following views of African-Americans did Thomas Jefferson express?
a. They were unfit for economic independence and political self-government.
b. Those held in slavery should be emancipated immediately and every former slave family should be given a forty-acre farm
in a western territory.
c. If legally free, they should be allowed to marry white persons.
d. They were naturally as intelligent as whites but lacked educational opportunities.
e. They were destined to someday hold an equal place in society with whites.
110. Who appears to have fathered one or more children with his slave?
a. John Adams
b. Thomas Jefferson
c. George Washington
d. Ben Franklin
e. Benjamin Rush
111. Which was a development in the late eighteenth century that represented an increase in freedoms and rights for Americans?
a. Women entered the public sphere as teachers and lawyers.
b. Ex-slaves were given the right to vote in southern states.
c. Children were granted explicit legal rights under the Bill of Rights.
d. Indentured servitude and apprenticeship declined.
e. Indians were granted the right to vote in the Northwest Territory.
Matching
TEST 1
___ 1. Alexander Hamilton
___ 2. Daniel Shays
___ 3. Henry Knox
___ 4. John Adams
___ 5. Hector Crèvecoeur
___ 6. George Washington
___ 7. Thomas Jefferson
___ 8. Little Turtle
___ 9. Patrick Henry
___ 10. James Madison
___ 11. Arthur St. Clair
___ 12. James Winthrop
a. was an Anti-Federalist who condemned slavery but feared abolition
b. suffered defeat at the Battle of Fallen Timbers, leading to the Treaty of Greenville
c. wrote Notes on the State of Virginia
d. wrote Letters from an American Farmer
e. led an uprising of Massachusetts farmers
f. wrote an Anti-Federalist essay signed “Agrippa”
g. willed his slaves to be freed upon the death of his wife
h. was defeated by Little Turtle in the Ohio Valley
i. served as a diplomat to England and was unable to attend the Constitutional Convention
j. wrote most of The Federalist essays
k. was the “father of the Constitution” and the lifelong disciple and ally of Thomas Jefferson
l. was secretary of war during Washington’s administration
TEST 2
___ 1. Articles of Confederation
___ 2. Federalism
___ 3. Virginia Plan
___ 4. checks and balances
___ 5. The Federalist
___ 6. New Jersey Plan
___ 7. three-fifths clause
___ 8. Treaty of Greenville
___ 9. Naturalization Act of 1790
___ 10. Bill of Rights
___ 11. importation of slaves
___ 12. Somerset case
a. established the annuity system
b. called for a unicameral system
c. was the first American constitution written
d. was abolished in the United States on January 1, 1808
e. called for two houses based on proportional representation
f. was another name for the separation of powers
g. was a basic political principle sometimes called the division of powers
h. were written by Hamilton, Madison, and Jay to generate support for Constitutional ratification
i. amendments to the Constitution
j. held that citizenship was limited to whites only
k. provided that some of the slave population would be counted in determining each state’s representation
l. ruled slavery unlawful in England
True/False
1. At the time of independence, the nation was largely urban, with most of its population residing in the large seacoast cities.
2. The U.S. Constitution of 1787 was America’s first written constitution.
3. Congress nearly passed a clause in the Ordinance of 1784 that would have prohibited slavery throughout the West.
4. The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 did not acknowledge that the Indians owned their land.
5. States called out militias to stop foreclosures on the homes of debtors.
6. Shays’s Rebellion demonstrated to many leading Americans the need for a more central government to ensure private liberty.
7. Rhode Island’s refusal to send delegates to the Constitutional Convention reflected the fact that the state already had well -
established trade and debt relief policies.
8. The Constitutional delegates who met in Philadelphia represented all of American society, as they were a mix of laborers,
farmers, merchants, and politicians.
9. Alexander Hamilton proposed in the Constitutional Convention that the president and senators serve life terms.
10. The New Jersey Plan proposed a single-house legislature in which each state had one vote.
11. The Articles of Confederation employed the principles of federalism.
12. The Constitution is a lengthy, wordy document that outlines the structure of government in great detail.
13. The U.S. Constitution as written in 1787 does not use the words “slave” or “slavery.”
14. In the U.S. Constitution, the fugitive slave clause kept the condition of bondage for a slave even if he or she escaped to a free
state.
15. James Madison argued in The Federalist that the large size and diversity of the United States was a source of political stability,
not a weakness.
16. Anti-Federalists were concerned that the Constitution severely limited liberty.
17. Two of the original thirteen states initially refused to ratify the Constitution.
18. So adamant was he about separating church and state that James Madison opposed the appointment of chaplains to serve Congress
and the military.
19. The Bill of Rights was celebrated by Americans upon its authoring and soon became a staple of public school education for
decades.
20. Battles over Indian territory continued after ratification of the Constitution.
21. Thomas Jefferson believed Indians could be the equals of whites if they abandoned their communal ideas of land ownership.
22. Indians and whites shared an understanding of freedom that included land ownership and the right to vote in the new American
government.
23. The U.S. Constitution of 1787 provided a clear definition of U.S. citizenship that excluded blacks.
24. Crèvecoeur’s Letters from an American Farmer described America as a melting pot of Europeans.
25. James Madison wrote and published the book Notes on the State of Virginia.
26. Jefferson believed that African-Americans could eventually achieve economic independence and practice effective self-
government.
27. George Washington made a significant statement about slavery when he freed his slaves before taking the presidential office.
Short Answer
Identify and give the historical significance of each of the following terms, events, and people in a paragraph or two.
1. Shays’s Rebellion
13. Constitutional Convention
Essay
1. Compare the Articles of Confederation to the Constitution. Which document did a better job of protecting liberties? Running a
government? Explain your answer with specific examples.
2. How did the framers of the Constitution balance the competing claims of local self-government, sectional interests, and national
authority?
3. Who became full-fledged members of the American political community under the U.S. Constitution? Fully explain what criteria
were used and who was excluded from membership.
4. James Madison declared, “Liberty may be endangered by the abuses of liberty as well as the abuses of power.” This statement
reflected a concern that public liberty might endanger private liberty. Carefully analyze this concern. Why might some Americans
take this view? Which liberty was more valued? How did the final Constitution reflect this concern?
5. Identify the three major ways that the U.S. Constitution addressed the institution of slavery. Would you say the Constitution was a
proslavery or an anti-slavery document? Explain your answer.
6. Explain the arguments of the Anti-Federalists. How did they define liberty and what role did they see government having in pro-
tecting that liberty?
7. What do you see as the chief contributions of the Bill of Rights to American life today?
8. Using Letters from an American Farmer and Notes on the State of Virginia, discuss the reach of American citizenship. What did it
take to be free and to have liberties in the new nation? According to Crèvecoeur and Jefferson, would there ever be a time when
America might be a melting pot of more than just white Europeans?
9. As Benjamin Franklin left the room in which the Constitutional Convention was held, supposedly a woman asked him, “What
have you men given us in there?” He replied, “A republic, if you can keep it.” What do you think Franklin meant by that state-
ment? Certainly think back to the idea of a virtuous citizenry that all the founding fathers believed was essential. Your response
should pull from the writings of The Federalist as well.
10. Under President Washington, Secretary of War Henry Knox had hoped to pursue a more peaceful policy with the Indians. How
did U.S. policy concerning the Indians unfold in the 1790s?
