Who caused a major problem for the new government of the Articles of Confederation
when it closed the lower Mississippi River to American commerce?
A) Spain
B) France
C) Great Britain
D) England
Which of the following describes President Obama’s health care legislation?
A) It had complete and total support by Democrats.
B) It socialized the U.S. health care system.
C) It was the first major health care reform since 1965.
D) It was passed with the assistance of a few Republicans who broke party lines.
In the late nineteenth century, wealth, power, and influence were __________.
A) available to anyone who worked hard and was honest
B) increasingly concentrated among the largest financiers
C) more evenly distributed than at any other previous time in American history
D) increasing among farmers in the Great Plains
Who was the inventor of barbed wire?
A) Joseph F. Glidden
B) Joseph G. McCoy
C) Walter Prescott Webb
D) S. D. Butcher
What was President Wilson’s plan for a lasting peace after the Great War known as?
A) the Fourteen Points
B) the Versailles Plan
C) the League of Nations
D) the Peace Without Victory Plan
During the Peninsular campaign General McClellan __________.
A) captured Richmond, but just briefly
B) attacked and ravaged Atlanta
C) captured Vicksburg on the Mississippi
D) seized Yorktown in Virginia but stopped short from capturing Richmond
Which of the following accurately assesses the larger significance of the Monroe
Doctrine?
A) It provided Latin American nations with the signal of support they needed for
independence.
B) It further cemented the nation’s lack of interest in international commerce.
C) It was received with much amusement in Europe and had virtually no impact on
international affairs.
D) It marked another high point in the nation’s independence from European political
traditions and entanglements.
The XYZ Affair resulted in __________.
A) the creation of a Navy department and military appropriations to pursue the
Federalist demands for war with France
B) France unilaterally ending the alliance of 1778 with America
C) France securing an alliance by bribing the American negotiators
D) the creation of a permanent standing army with military appropriations to pursue the
Republican demands for war with England
According to the surgeon general in 2010, to what is millennials’ lack of exercise and
resulting obesity, in part, a result of?
A) the decline in gym memberships
B) the increase in online education
C) the skyrocketing use of electronic media
D) the increase in team sports at the expense of individualized exercise routines
The conclusion of the border dispute between Great Britain and Venezuela __________.
A) led to the dangerous illusion that Americans could achieve their foreign policy with
threat and bluster
B) first raised the issue of American oil dependency and marked the beginning of
hostile relations between the United States and Venezuela
C) deteriorated an already fragile friendship between the United States and Great
Britain which did not rekindle until World War I
D) posed a dangerous challenge to the Monroe Doctrine and ultimately forced President
Roosevelt to demonstrate military might with a tour of the nation’s “White Fleet”
What was a result of the streetcar in America?
A) Cities were able to preserve their unique character as “walking cities.”
B) Cities were able to postpone the development of suburbs until the late 1940s.
C) Cities expanded their geographical area enormously as the upper and middle classes
fled city centers.
D) Cities experienced a renaissance of their downtown commercial districts.
Open-range ranching in the late nineteenth century required which of the following?
A) miles of fences
B) large land holdings
C) control of a stable water supply
D) special permits issued by state legislatures
What city was a pioneer in regulating city house construction and sanitation?
A) New York
B) Chicago
C) Philadelphia
D) San Francisco
The episode that immediately prompted the Embargo Act was the __________.
A) naval conflict between the Constitution and the Guerriere
B) French blockade of major American ports
C) British refusal to pay American tariffs
D) attack on the Chesapeake by the Leopard
What happened to southern interest in the abolition of slavery after Nat Turner’s revolt
in 1831?
A) It grew gradually due to the influence of abolitionism.
B) Southern ministers became more militant in their sermons denouncing the evils of
slavery.
C) Southern states made it increasingly difficult for masters to free their slaves.
D) Because new slaves continued to be imported from Africa, it did not matter if some
were freed who were already in America.
Which statement regarding the American navy’s seven modern frigates?
A) They could not pretend to challenge British command of the seas.
B) They were an insurmountable obstacle to the overtaxed British navy.
C) They were poorly built and failed miserably in combat.
D) They were marvels of engineering but suffered under incompetent crews.
Which of the following disasters inspired legislation protecting workers against
on-the-job accidents?
A) Iroquois Theater fire
B) Hormel Packinghouse collapse
C) Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire
D) San Francisco earthquake and fire
Northern objections to admitting Missouri as a slave state were based on which of the
following?
A) the immorality of slavery and the natural rights of African American citizens
B) the overrepresentation slave states would have in the House
C) the loss of federal revenue when plantations rather than homesteads were established
D) their fears that this would lead to resumption of the international slave trade
Despite considerable effort, President Clinton failed to accomplish which of the
following?
A) eliminate the federal deficit
B) reduce unemployment
C) negotiate peace between Israel and the Palestinians
D) avoid impeachment by the Senate
Spain’s American empire is best described as __________.
A) treating the Indians as equals by establishing joint ventures with them
B) seeing the Americas as lands of opportunity and freedom, yet fearing other countries
might introduce slavery
C) failing totally to transplant Spanish culture in the Americas
D) trying to implant Spanish civilization and introduce Christianity, but also
committing unprovoked aggression
What was President Ford’s biggest advantage upon assuming the presidency?
A) his strong ties to Democrats in Congress
B) his political finesse and genius
C) a clean record untarnished by scandal
D) his original plans for addressing the economic crisis
President Eisenhower’s program included which of the following?
A) deficit spending to stimulate the economy
B) expanding the role of national government in the areas of health and human services
C) increased taxes to balance the budget
D) running his administration on sound business principles
The sadistic “Davy Crockett” tales of the 1830s, the scatological humor of Mad
Magazine in the 1950s, and defiant lyrics in rap of the 1990s can all be seen as
examples of which of the following?
A) the rise of secular humanism
B) the growth of individualism and freedom
C) the consequences of a super-masculine ideal in America
D) the violation of social norms by adolescents
Why was the South particularly backward in railroad construction?
A) It had a scattered population.
B) It used slave labor.
C) It had too many large cities.
D) It did not have seasonal fluctuations in its freight traffic.
What was the purpose of the British army’s march on Concord, Massachusetts, in April
1775?
A) to train their troops for what appeared to be inevitable war
B) to force Massachusetts leaders to pay for the tea destroyed in the Boston Tea Party
C) to track down the persons responsible for burning the Gaspee
D) to seize the war supplies stored there
What had triggered a new interest in manufacturing in the decades leading up to the
Report on Manufactures?
A)nonimportation agreements and wartime shortages
B) high unemployment rates and lack of land
C) excess capital and a large skilled labor pool
D) constantly rising demand and inferior imported goods
How did Southern whites feel about free blacks?
A) They considered them useful and responsible citizens.
B) They saw them as potential allies in maintaining slavery.
C) They wanted rid of them, but tried only half-heartedly to expel them.
D) They strictly enforced laws that required free blacks to emigrate.
Why did James Madison expect a large republic to be more stable than a small one?
A) A large majority would prevent any single faction from getting the upper hand.
B) A large republic would have greater fiscal power and be able to drive economic
growth.
C) A large republic was less likely to become the target of military coups.
D) The history of the world was filled with failing small republics.
In The Impending Crisis of the South, Hinton R. Helper __________.
A) alarmed Southerners when he argued that the South would face a severe labor
shortage without international slave imports
B) treated John Brown as a saint and pioneer for universal human rights
C) supported the Crittenden amendment to the Constitution
D) alarmed Southerners with his claim that slavery was ruining Southern economy and
society
On the eve of the Civil War, railroads in the South __________.
A) were still scarce
B) had made Mississippi River boats redundant
C) led to the rapid industrialization of the Atlantic seaboard
D) were used predominantly for the transportation of slaves
Which of the following happened in the election of 1860?
A) Lincoln campaigned actively, stressing his opposition to slavery in the territories.
B) Southern Democrats swallowed their personal dislike of Douglas and supported him
as the last chance to save the Union.
C) John Bell demanded that the future extension of slavery be guaranteed.
D) Douglas realized he would lose, rose above ambition, and appealed to voters, both
North and South, to stand by the Union.
During the impeachment of President Clinton, __________.
A) the vote to impeach him in the House was overwhelmingly bipartisan
B) Chief Justice William Rehnquist threw out most of the charges against him
C) Democratic senators argued that his sexual indiscretions were not “high crimes and
misdemeanors”
D) Republican senators were not able to unite to convict him and remove him from
office, even though they had enough votes to do so
In his first term as president, Woodrow Wilson __________.
A) used his power imaginatively and aggressively
B) courageously fought against racial segregation
C) failed to achieve most of his goals because of congressional opposition
D) was an inept and uninspiring leader