Why did Republicans focus on Hillary Clinton in their investigation of the assault on
the U.S. embassy in Benghazi?
A) She was the most likely Democratic presidential nominee in 2016.
B) She had organized an elaborate cover-up to prevent the public from learning about
the attack.
C) She had personal ties to Egyptian officials who had organized the attack on the
embassy.
D) She was rumored to have deliberately sent the U.S. ambassador on a suicide
mission.
Which of the following ideas united Americans across the growing sectional divide?
A) the recognition that slavery was the foundation of the nation’s economy
B) Americans’ unrestricted and absolute right to any and all property
C) pride in the uniqueness of the American system of government
D) the belief in universal human rights
The United States Supreme Court decision in the case of Brown v. Board of Education
of Topeka, Kansas was __________.
A) hardly a surprise
B) immaterial as long as state law continued to segregate students
C) received with little enthusiasm because residential segregation was known to be the
bigger issue
D) unanimous under the leadership of Chief Justice and former California Governor
Earl Warren
Why was the conquering of Mexico such a formidable task?
A) Civilian resistance against U.S. troops remained fierce.
B) Mexico was a large and very rugged country.
C) American soldiers were very eager but their last experience was as old as the War of
1812.
D) Native allies to the Mexican government offered stronger resistance than Mexican
regulars.
Part of the “democratizing” of politics during the age of Jackson was the __________.
A) direct election of U.S. senators
B) enfranchisement of women in western states
C) elimination of property qualifications for voting and holding office
D) direct election of the president and vice president
One example of the inadequacies of the Articles of Confederation was the inability of
the United States to __________.
A) prevent English annexation of Florida
B) force England to withdraw its troops from American soil after the Revolutionary War
C) force England to abandon military posts it built beyond the boundaries of the
original thirteen states
D) prohibit French settlers from claiming American land in the Ohio River Valley
Both Leisler’s Rebellion and the “Paxton Boys” uprising __________.
A) successfully overthrew existing colonial governments
B) challenged the traditional authority of masters over their slaves
C) led to more women assuming public authority
D) were challenges by outsiders to those who traditionally had power in colonial
governments
Which of the following was the source of much unrest and turmoil in fifteenth century
Europe?
A) drought
B) a weather pattern known as the small ice age
C) overpopulation and scarcity
D) Christopher Columbus
At war’s end, the human toll of the Civil War stood at __________.
A) more than 600,000, nearly as many as in all other U.S. wars combined
B) 1 million, more than in all other U.S. wars
C) 50,000, about 28 percent of the population
D) 300,000, most of which succumbed to new weapons technology
The essential question involved in the Missouri Compromise was whether or not
Missouri would __________.
A) be allowed to import slaves from abroad
B) include present-day Kansas in its boundaries
C) come into the Union as a free or slave state
D) be forced to pay its share of the cost of the Louisiana Purchase
Who was the president of the Confederacy?
A) Robert E. Lee
B) Alexander Hamilton Stephens
C) Jefferson Davis
D) Howell Cobb
In the debates over the Compromise of 1850, Henry Clay’s most famous argument was
that __________.
A) because God’s “higher law” prohibited any cooperation with the evils of slavery, the
North should refuse to compromise
B) the North should yield completely on every point, ceasing even to discuss slavery
C) fugitive slaves who escaped to the North should be guaranteed their freedom
D) the facts of geography and climate prevented the establishment of slavery in the
Southwest
The United States attempted to establish some control over a future canal across the
isthmus of Central America by negotiating with which country?
A) France
B) Spain
C) Great Britain
D) Germany
Early in 1970, Americans learned of a massacre by U.S. forces of defenseless villagers
in which Vietnamese hamlet?
A) Hue
B) My Lai
C) Quang Tri
D) Pleiku
Which of the following statements about Shays’s Rebellion is true?
A) Citizens of other states were generally indifferent to it.
B) The central government effectively aided Massachusetts in quelling the rebellion.
C) Many leaders, such as Washington, concluded that the central government must be
strengthened.
D) Most of the rebels were unemployed shipyard workers, frustrated by the depression
of the 1780s.
Middle-class families in the 1830s experienced which of the following?
A) a declining birthrate
B) a decreasing divorce rate
C) a stable birthrate
D) an increasing birthrate
In 1916, U.S. troops commanded by General John J. Pershing did which of the
following/
A) had their first combat experience in France
B) landed in Britain to prepare for the invasion of Western Europe
C) launched a surprise assault on the Dominican Republic after it defaulted on its
foreign debt
D) invaded Mexico to capture Francisco “Pancho” Villa
During the 1830s and 1840s American cities featured
A) a growing middle class.
B) new buildings that reached beyond 20 stories
C) fewer and fewer poor workers.
D) highly advanced health and sanitation infrastructures
Robert Henri and George Luks are best described as __________.
A) progressive realists
B) muckrakers
C) Ashcan artists
D) corporate stalwarts.
Which of the following best describes Harry Truman’s sentiments upon becoming
president?
A) He was excited for the opportunities that awaited him.
B) He was reluctant to take on the responsibilities which he knew so well as vice
president.
C) He felt acutely conscious of his own limitations.
D) He was eager to change the cabinet substantially and take the nation on a different
course.
In 1867, the United States purchased __________.
A) the Bering Straits from England
B) the Aleuts from France
C) Alaska from Russia
D) Cuba from Spain
What informed Herman Melville’s most profound novel?
A) his life in the Marquesas in the 1840s
B) his observations on the animal kingdom on the Galapagos Islands
C) his year as an expatriate in Tahiti
D) his time on a whaler in the South Pacific
Which of the following best describes Herbert Hoover’s take on Wilsonian foreign
policy?
A) He thought little of his predecessor’s condescending moralism.
B) As a former member of the Democratic predecessor’s administration, he had much
respect for Wilson’s foreign policy.
C) He chose to follow a good neighbor policy in foreign affairs rather than try to teach
other nations.
D) He considered his predecessor’s foreign policy ruthless and cruel.
Which of the following was one reason why the U.S. Senate failed to ratify the
Versailles Treaty?
A) the refusal of both Woodrow Wilson and Henry Cabot Lodge to compromise
B) the conflict between the treaty and the Monroe Doctrine
C) the uncompromising opposition of the “irreconcilables”
D) the failure of the treaty to include a League of Nations
The Transcontinental Treaty of 1819 __________.
A) gave the United States claim to the entire Texas area
B) settled American boundary disputes with Canada
C) established joint occupation of the Oregon country
D) transferred Florida to the United States for $5 million and settled the boundary of the
Louisiana territory to the Pacific
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are
endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life,
Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.That to secure these rights, Governments are
instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”
The above statement was a part of __________.
A) a Quaker pamphlet denouncing slavery
B) Jefferson’s general statement of the right of revolution
C) an early petition by the South Carolina assembly demanding an end to the slave
trade
D) Thomas Paine’s Common Sense
As a result of the Emancipation Proclamation, __________.
A) Democrats made significant political gains in the Northwest by capitalizing on
voters’ racist fears
B) Republican politicians vigorously defended the cause of racial justice and black
equality
C) the Republican Party refused to renominate Lincoln in 1864
D) Democrats vigorously defended the cause of racial justice and black equality
How did the Agricultural Adjustment Act seek to raise farm income?
A) by restricting commodity production
B) by granting all producers cash payments
C) by increasing commodity production
D) by deregulating prices and production
As president, Thomas Jefferson __________.
A) appointed only Republicans to his Cabinet
B) followed Washington’s example of dignified pomp and ceremony
C) escalated conflicts between himself and his opponents
D) followed Washington’s example of a nonpartisan, balanced Cabinet
In 1984, Democrat presidential nominee Walter Mondale chose ________ as his
running nominee mate because she was expected to appeal to conservative Democrats
and Republican women.
A) Gloria Steinem
B) Diane Feinstein
C) Madeleine Albright
D) Geraldine Ferraro
In July 1974, the Supreme Court ruled that President Nixon had to give the subpoenaed
tapes to the special prosecutor because of which of the following?
A) The doctrine of executive privilege was unconstitutional.
B) Failure to do so was a clear violation of the constitutional mandate of a separation of
powers.
C) No person could withhold evidence that was demonstrably relevant in a criminal
trial.
D) All materials generated by the Office of the President were public property.
When Venezuela refused to honor debts to European nations and Britain and Germany
imposed a naval blockade of that country, the United States __________.
A) joined the military powers to secure its debts as well
B) pressured Europeans to arbitrate the dispute
C) threatened the Europeans with war if they were not to withdraw their navies
D) provided secret assistance and military supplies to its Central American ally
Why did peace overseas lead to conflict and strife at home in the Red Scare? Explain.
How did foreign affairs shape the domestic political divisions during the Adams
presidency? Explain.
Discuss the reasons for the increasing sectional divisions in the United States in the
1820s.
Why did President George W. Bush’s ratings drop so precipitously during his second
term?
Describe how the institution of slavery shaped the lives of black families in the South.
Explain the rise of racial slavery in England’s North American colonies.
Why did the Populist movement rise up in the later 1880s?
Explain the origins of the Louisiana Purchase.
Why did the conflict between the Soviet Union and the United States come to a head in
Berlin in June 1948?
Why did Andrew Jackson oppose the Bank of the United States?
How did Republicans change the legal framework for the nation’s economic
development during the war years?
How did the French and Indian War force a change in British imperial policy toward the
colonies?
How did the Great Depression affect Americans?
Why did many Americans oppose annexation of the Philippines?
Assess the origins and the impact of ethnic and religious diversity on the English
colonies of the Middle Atlantic.