Compare the cultures that could be found in the New World prior to the arrival of
Europeans. Why did such a great diversity exist among native groups?
Describe the Spanish conquest of Central and South America. How did this conquest
transform Native American cultures?
Compare and contrast the factors that attracted the Spanish, the French, and the English
to the New World, and how these “pull” factors affected the development of each
nation’s New World colonies.
What problems did early settlers in Virginia have to overcome? What factors attracted
settlers to that area?
How did affairs in England impact changes in the colonies in the 1600s?
Analyze the dynamic between religious and economic motivations in the establishment
and development of the English colonies in the seventeenth century.
What was the cultural and economic role of the family in colonial New England?
What economic factors shaped the emerging social structures of colonial America?
Describe the origins of slavery in the mainland English colonies. How did Africans
adjust to life as slaves? What factors influenced the enactment of slave codes by
colonial assemblies?
How did mercantilism shape the economic and political relationship between England
and its colonies?
What difficulties did Native Americans encounter in their struggle to maintain cultural
independence? What was the function of the “middle ground”?
Analyze the dynamic between the Enlightenment and the Great Awakening in shaping
eighteenth-century American culture.
Why did colonists believe that their governments replicated the English political
system? What factors made these governments uniquely American? How may this have
paved the way for eventual political union?
Why were parliamentary sovereignty and the meaning of representation the main points
of conflict in the years leading up to the Revolution? Why would the writings of the
Commonwealthmen have appealed to Americans influenced by the Great Awakening?
What was the impact of the approach to revolution on Native Americans?
What factors led to British defeat in the American Revolution?
Why did some Americans oppose independence? How did their overall political beliefs
compare with those of Americans who supported independence?
How did political reality cause Americans to modify their theories about republicanism
during the 1780s? Why was balancing liberty and order so difficult?
How did republican idealism challenge the traditional treatment of women and blacks?
How did the struggle between large and small states and between northern and southern
states influence the character of the government established by the 1787 Constitution?
Analyze the Antifederalist critique of the Constitution. Have any of their warnings
proven to be true?
How did the conflicting views of Hamilton and Jefferson give rise to our first political
parties?
What was the role of foreign policy issues in the bitter political polarization of the late
1790s?
What threat did the Alien and Sedition Acts pose to individual liberties? What threat did
the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions pose to the integrity of the Union? How do these
issues relate to the balance between liberty and order?
What factors encouraged the emergence of distinct regional identities in the early
nineteenth century?
How did practical politics cause Jefferson to modify his initial political beliefs during
his presidency?
What was the long-term significance of the Supreme Court’s decision in the case of
Marbury v. Madison?
Why is the War of 1812 sometimes called the ‘second war of independence”?
How did the transportation revolution contribute to the development of a national
market economy in the United States between 1810 and 1840?
How did Native Americans of the trans-Appalachian West respond to encroachment by
Anglo Americans?
What evidence is there that public policies between the War of 1812 and the Age of
Jackson reflected nationalism? Include examples from all three branches of
government.
Did changes in agriculture and industry in the decades following the War of 1812
constitute a real revolution, or just expansion of existing practices?
How did American culture in the 1820s and 1830s reflect the democratic impulse of the
period?
How did the democratization of the political system affect the practice of politics? What
factors limited political participation during this era?
How did the tumultuous political struggles of the Jacksonian era influence the rise of a
second two-party system? What relationship did the Whigs and Democrats have with
earlier party divisions?
What factors account for the development of community among slaves? What factors
could make the development of community more difficult?
How did slavery define the structure of white southern society? How did it both divide
and unite southerners?
In terms of the southern economy as a whole, analyze both the advantages and the
drawbacks of cotton production and slave labor.
How did the American social reform movement evolve out of the Second Great
Awakening?
How did the social reform movement of the early nineteenth century affect women,
children, and the family?
What were the major goals of the expanded and improved public education system of
the 1830s and 1840s? How did these goals reflect the influence of the Second Great
Awakening?
As early nineteenth-century American reformers struggled with the issue of slavery,
what different approaches did they take in dealing with it? How did the rise of the “new
perfectionism” affect the antislavery movement?
What were the main ideas behind Manifest Destiny? How was this notion related to the
Young America movement and the Puritan tradition?
How did the annexation of Texas differ from previous territorial acquisitions? How did
the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo stimulate sectional controversies in the United States?
How did technological advances open the way for the creation of a national market?
Discuss the major elements of the Compromise of 1850 and how they were an attempt
to balance the requirements of pro- and antislavery factions in the United States. Why
did the compromise ultimately fail?
How did national political parties help to hold the Union together during the 1840s and
early 1850s? What role did the failure of the two-party system play in the breakup of
the Union?
How did the people of each section increasingly view each other during the 1850s?
What events intensified their fears and resentments? How did this lead to the breakup of
the Union?
What arguments did secessionists develop to justify leaving the Union? What problems
did secession create for both Lincoln’s administrations?
Compare the adjustments the North and South made to meet the demands of total war.
What factors gave the North the advantage?
Compare Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis as wartime leaders. To what extent
were these differences due to differing conditions in the Union and the Confederacy?
Evaluate the overall impact of emancipation on the outcome of the war.
Analyze the political struggle between the presidency and Congress over how to
reconstruct the Union. What was at stake in this contest?
Why did the South have such a difficult time restoring its economy? How did
sharecropping reduce many African Americans to permanent tenant-farmer status?
What groups comprised the southern Republican party during Reconstruction? What
motivated each to support the Republicans? Why did the southern Republican party
fail?
What was the role of the North in the failure of Reconstruction?
How did the environment of the Great Plains differ from that of the eastern United
States? What problems did this pose for farmers?
What factors contributed to the defeat of the Plains Indians?
What government policies facilitated the settlement and development of the West?
Contrast life on the western frontier for the miner, the cattleman, and the farmer. What
social and economic factors contributed to the lifestyle developed by each group?
What was the role of government in fostering economic growth in the late nineteenth
century? What growth-related problems did businesses encounter? How did businesses
cope with these problems?
What was the role of technology in economic growth in the late nineteenth century?
What was the cultural impact of advances in marketing?
How did industrialization affect the working class? How did workers attempt to
improve their lot? To what extent did they succeed?
How did technology affect patterns of urban life in late nineteenth-century America?
Under what conditions did the urban poor live? Why did technology fail to help these
people?
Compare the role of the political machines and the social reformers in dealing with the
new urban environment of the late nineteenth century. Which group seems to have been
more successful?
How did economic change and urbanization affect family life?
How did education change in the late nineteenth century? Explain the controversy over
education for blacks. Why did new educational opportunities open up for women? What
was the main goal of primary education? Why?
What factors accounted for political party loyalty in the late nineteenth century? How
was the sectional political balance related to high voter turnout in presidential
elections?
What issues led to the Populist movement? Why did the Populist Party fail to achieve
major status as a political party?
What were the political consequences of the depression of the mid-1890s?
What were the social consequences of the depression of the mid-1890s?
What factors encouraged some Americans to favor imperialism in the late nineteenth
century? How did these goals contradict the American tradition of isolationism?
How did the Spanish-American War become a war of imperialism?
What were the major objections to colonizing the Philippines after the
Spanish-American War? Have any of the predictions of the treaty’s opponents come
true?
What postwar events in the Philippines and China revealed to America the realities of
imperialism?
How did industrialization change after 1900? How did it affect industrial workers?
Trace the rise of labor unions. Identify their successes and failures.
Analyze the new urban culture that emerged after 1900 and how it changed the lives of
urban Americans?
Identify the characteristics common to progressives, and give examples of each.
How did progressive action at the city, state, and federal levels pave the way for the
activist government of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries?
How did the progressivism of Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson alter
traditional concepts of presidential power?
To what extent did the progressive movement succeed? To what extent did it fail?
What actions marked America’s emergence as the major power in the Western
Hemisphere by 1920?
What concerns divided Americans in their attitudes towards neutrality and participation
in World War I?
How were civil liberties curtailed in the interest of national security during World War
I? How do these actions compare with similar ones taken during the administrations of
John Adams and Abraham Lincoln?
Summarize Wilson’s plan for ensuring world peace after World War I. In reality, to what
extent would his plan have worked had it been fully implemented?
How did mass production, marketing, and popular culture begin to homogenize regional
and local subcultures during the 1920s?
What factors account for the “rural counterattack” of the 1920s? What forms did it take?
What was its most significant success?
What events marked the interaction between political and cultural developments related
in the 1920s?
Analyze the causes of the Great Depression. What role did the stock market crash play?
What made Franklin Roosevelt better equipped than Herbert Hoover to handle the crisis
of the Great Depression?
How did the Roosevelt administration deal with crises in banking, manufacturing, and
agriculture? In which area did it have the most success? In which did it have the least
success? Why?
How did the New Deal affect organized labor throughout the decade of the 1930s?
What factors account for the rise of American isolationism between the wars? How did
neutrality legislation work to the advantage of aggressive dictators?
How did events in the early years of the war affect American public opinion? What
were the most important factors in changing opinion?
Describe the Allies’ overall strategy in World War II, in either the European theater or
the Pacific theater, and include one or two key battles.
In terms of the economy, labor force, and internal migrations, how did World War II
transform America?
How did the origins of the Cold War reflect different American and Soviet traditions, as
well as their different needs and interests in Europe after World War II?
What was the policy of “containment”? Who were its leading proponents, and how did
they implement this policy between 1947 and 1950?
How did the Cold War bring about reforms in the United States military and
intelligence establishments in the 1940s and 1950s?
Why did Americans become concerned about the loyalty of government officials in the
late 1940s? Why was Senator Joseph McCarthy so popular with the public? What
brought about his downfall?
Analyze and describe the development of the U.S. economy between 1945 and 1960.
Describe American culture in the 1950s. Evaluate the extent to which 1950s society was
influenced by the experiences of the 1930s and 1940s.
Compare and contrast the Truman and Eisenhower presidencies and examine their
different approaches to reform.
Describe the beginnings of the civil rights movement, including the influence of the
NAACP and African American activists, such as Martin Luther King, Jr.
Analyze President Kennedy’s approach to the Cold War. How and why did he intensify
it?
What successes did the civil rights movement achieve during the Johnson
administration? How do they relate to the radicalism of the civil rights movement in the
late 1960s?
Analyze President Johnson’s strategy in the Vietnam War. Why did it lead to American
defeat?
How was Nixon’s Cold War strategy different from that of Kennedy and Johnson?
How did economic factors complicate the presidencies of Gerald Ford and Jimmy
Carter?
How did the status of women and gays change during the 1970s and 1980s?
How was Reagan’s foreign policy different from Nixon’s? Whose was more successful?
Explain how changing immigration patterns during the 1970s and 1980s are affecting
the United States.
Describe the various aspects of the war on terror and how they have been controversial?
Why?
Discuss the factors that affected America’s attitude about the future in the first decade of
the twenty-first century.
The eighteenth-century population of the lowlands of South Carolina was ________
percent black.
A) 5
B) 10
C) 40
D) 60
E) 80
In the early 1900s, why did the middle class have a powerful effect on production?
A) Most immigrants were working in factories and made many consumer goods.
B) The growing middle-class had influence as consumers of mass-produced goods.
C) The working class and reformers were pushing for better conditions in factories.
D) The poor and rich classes were increasing their demand for mass produced goods.
E) The growing middle class needed jobs, so production increased to end
unemployment.
Seventeenth-century Quakers were known for their ________.
A) aggressive and overbearing personalities
B) belief in humility and pacifism
C) concept of predestination
D) unwillingness to seek the conversion of others
E) belief in the necessity of an educated clergy
As president, William McKinley ________.
A) was an activist
B) did not get along with Congress
C) was perceived as a reactionary
D) decreased federal power while in office
E) maintained an isolated administration
How did the election of 1896 affect the Populists?
A) The party gained a congressional majority.
B) The party switched names to the Democratic party.
C) The party disappeared.
D) The party lost the election but remained a third party for decades.
E) The party remained powerful, due to the fact that it had won a majority of the
popular vote.
The most profitable commodity bought and sold in the upper tier of the southern states
was ________.
A) tobacco
B) cotton
C) slaves
D) wheat
E) corn
The Chesapeake Affair of 1807 ________.
A) violated American sovereignty
B) forced the French to rescind the Berlin Decree
C) damaged the British navy
D) had little effect on Anglo-American relations
E) influenced the Americans to support the French
Southern proslavery arguments did NOT include the belief that slavery was ________.
A) the natural status for blacks
B) sanctioned by the Bible
C) supported by the United States Constitution
D) consistent with the humanitarian spirit
E) more humane than the employer-employee relationship
Approximately 50 percent of cowboys driving the great herds from Texas to city
markets in the 1870s were ________.
A) Asian Americans
B) African Americans and Mexicans
C) Europeans
D) Native Americans
E) women
How did the Missouri Compromise impact slavery?
A) It put a final time limit on the institution in the South.
B) It demonstrated that the federal government didn’t care about slavery.
C) It ensured that slavery would remain indefinitely.
D) It put a final end to the slave trade if not the institution of slavery in the U.S.
E) It reduced the number of states where slavery was legal.
Before his attacks on the Aztecs, Hernn Corts was ________.
A) an accomplished ship captain
B) a civil servant in Cuba
C) a wealthy aristocrat
D) a seasoned diplomat
E) unconcerned about his public image
By 1880, about how many Native Americans lived in California?
A) 20,000
B) 30,000
C) 40,000
D) 50,000
E) 60,000
How did the emergence of urban culture affect the lives of women?
A) The emergence of urban culture led to a spike in the numbers of working women.
B) Women found their leisure time greatly increased.
C) Salaries of female workers began to climb during this period.
D) Women grew more assertive and concentrated on individual self-expression.
E) More women than men were able to attain academic degrees.
How had life changed for Americans by 1920?
A) Their quality of life had improved.
B) One-quarter had lost their jobs due to a depression.
C) Only the rich saw their quality of life improve.
D) They could not afford mass-produced goods.
E) Life remained no different than their parents’ life.
The character of the first English settlements in the New World ________.
A) remained remarkably similar throughout the seventeenth century
B) differed from colony to colony because of government rules
C) differed substantially from colony to colony from the very beginning of colonization
D) was determined primarily by the religious preference of each colony
E) was not significantly influenced by geography
How did the foundation of the Democratic party differ from that of the Whig Party?
A) The Democratic party was composed of white evangelical Protestants, whereas the
Whig party was founded as a more universal group.
B) The Democratic party was founded to infuse politics with morality, whereas the
Whig party was established to champion individual freedom.
C) The Democratic party was founded by Andrew Jackson in his second term as
president, whereas the Whig party was founded by Adams in his first term.
D) The Democratic party was founded to support Jackson’s presidency, whereas the
Whig party was founded to counter Jackson’s attack on the Bank.
E) The Whig party was founded to elect Jackson whereas the Democratic party was
founded to counter Jackson’s attack on the Bank.
Colonial involvement in imperial wars began with ________.
A) the French and Indian War
B) King William’s War
C) King Philip’s War
D) the Thirty Years’ War
E) Queen Anne’s War
Abolitionism served as a catalyst for the ________ movement.
A) temperance
B) women’s rights
C) utopian socialist
D) transcendentalist
E) prison reform
Which country came under Soviet control after World War II?
A) France
B) Norway
C) Hungary
D) the Philippines
E) Switzerland
What was the main source of tension between black and white abolitionists?
A) Black abolitionists thought that white abolitionists were too radical.
B) White abolitionists thought that black abolitionists were too radical.
C) White abolitionists protested that they did not have a fair share of influence and
leadership positions in the movement.
D) Black abolitionists protested that they did not have a fair share of influence and
leadership positions in the movement.
E) White abolitionists did not want to end slavery immediately, whereas black
abolitionists did.
Which of these was the result of Jim Crow laws?
A) legal distinctions between black and white civil rights
B) racial segregation across the South
C) the repeal of the Fifteenth Amendment
D) expanded higher education for blacks
E) the closing
The Truman Doctrine stated that American policy would be to _______.
A) remain isolated from European and Asian affairs
B) take a more active part in rebuilding the war-ravaged Soviet economy
C) use military force to defend China against Soviet aggression
D) support any nation resisting armed minorities or aggression from a foreign power
E) help create democratic governments in the emerging nations of Africa
In what sense did the Ashcan School reflect the work of muckrakers?
A) in the media they used
B) in their methods
C) in their subjects
D) in their interest in the West
E) in being predominantly women
Which identifies an advantage to slaves living on large plantations with stable slave
populations?
A) Families stayed intact and the mother typically raised the children alone.
B) Families stayed intact and the father typically raised the children alone.
C) Families stayed intact and both parents typically shared in the child-rearing duties.
D) Children were usually raised by distant family members, allowing a large social
network to develop.
E) Children usually began working as soon as they could walk, cutting down on
behavioral problems.
What seems to have hindered the development of towns in the Chesapeake region?
A) hostility between different ethnic groups
B) the absence of navigable rivers
C) the absence of a vibrant middle class
D) an economy based on one crop destined for export
E) the dependence on a one-crop economy for use in the colonies
The Society of the Cincinnati was formed by ________.
A) George Washington and fellow revolutionary officers
B) Samuel Adams and political contemporaries
C) John Adams and James Madison
D) Thomas Jefferson and George Washington
E) James Madison and John Jay
In the South, how was James Buchanan’s winning of the 1856 presidential election
viewed?
A) with a temporary sense of relief
B) as a long-term victory for the southern cause
C) as a victory for Free-Soil supporters
D) with a strong sense of dismay
E) as evidence of the strength of the North’s threat
The operatives who staged the break-in at a Washington office complex in 1972 were
known as the ________.
A) “officers”
B) “robbers”
C) “plumbers”
D) “clean-up crew”
E) “bunglers”
In the most extreme form of Manifest Destiny, what land would the United States
ultimately occupy?
A) the area from the east coast to the Rocky Mountains
B) the area from the east coast to the west coast
C) the land that is occupied today by the United States, Mexico, and Canada
D) North America and Central America
E) the entire North American continent plus the Caribbean islands
In what ways was Jefferson a powerful president?
A) He successfully reformed and controlled the judicial system.
B) He skillfully used diplomacy to steer the United States away from conflict with
Europe.
C) He created financial systems and solutions that most of the nation agreed with and
championed.
D) He developed close ties with Congress, working closely with legislators to reach
many of his political goals.
E) He successfully destroyed the Federalist Party, his political competition.
In what way did the outcome of the Spanish-American War fulfill Theodore Roosevelt’s
hopes for the United States?
A) It gave the United States influence and eventually dominance in Latin America and
Western Europe.
B) It made the United States a world power, on equal footing to European imperialist
countries.
C) It gave the United States more foreign markets for their surplus of farm and factory
products.
D) It gave the United States influence in the Caribbean, helped further the annexation of
Hawaii, and was the impetus to create a powerful navy.
E) It freed Cuba, gave Americans something to consider other than material gain, and
provided practice for the army and navy.
Which of the following best describes the Watergate Scandal?
A) President Nixon’s 1972 affair with a young intern from the Republican National
Committee
B) President Nixon’s involvement in ordering an attack on unarmed civilians in Vietnam
C) President Nixon’s attempts to cover up sources of campaign funding in the 1972
election
D) President Nixon’s attempts to hide his involvement in a break-in at the Democrats’
headquarters
E) President Nixon’s attempts to bribe the North Vietnamese to agree to end the
Vietnam War
How did Roosevelt go about winning the Democratic nomination in 1932?
A) He set the populists and urban reformers in opposition to each other.
B) He called for an end to traditional beliefs and conservative policies.
C) He backed the platform of the segregationists against the reformers.
D) He appealed to both the traditionalists and the new urban elements within the party.
E) He relied heavily on minority voters.
Creation of the Bank of the United States was based on the doctrine of ________.
A) strict construction
B) states’ rights
C) implied powers
D) judicial review
E) checks and balances