CHAPTER 28 A Divided Nation
TEST BANK
Learning Objectives
1. Explain what events eroded support for President Bush’s policies during his second term.
2. Describe the economic practices that contributed to the crisis of 2008.
3. Understand the changes voters hoped for when they elected Barack Obama.
4. Identify the major challenges of Obama’s first term.
5. Explain why Donald Trump’s campaign and early presidency was divisive.
6. Analyze the prevailing ideas of American freedom at the beginning of the twenty-first century.
Multiple Choice
1. What in twentieth–century American history had the biggest impact on Barack Obama’s presidential victory in
2008?
a. World War II
b. the civil rights movement of the 1960s
c. the Cold War
d. the Great Depression
e. the Great Society
2. What made Barack Obama’s presidential campaign “the first political campaign of the twenty–first century”?
a. its widespread use of the Internet to raise money and communicate directly with voters
b. its use of televised debates
c. its use of television advertisements
d. its use of direct calling
e. its use of direct mailings
3. As a U.S. senator, what did Barack Obama oppose?
a. the invasion of Afghanistan
b. universal health care
c. governmental involvement in reducing global warming
d. the Iraq War
e. gun control
4. During his first year in office, George W. Bush
a. raised tax rates for wealthy Americans.
b. sponsored legislation to protect the environment.
c. supported the accelerated reduction of nuclear weapons.
d. had the full support of Congress, which had a commanding Republican majority.
e. persuaded Congress to enact the largest tax cut in American history.
5. Which of the following is true about the 2004 presidential election?
a. John Kerry won by using his amicable personality.
b. George W. Bush won in a landslide.
c. Fewer people voted in this election than the 2000 election.
d. Bush generated more enthusiasm among supporters than Kerry.
e. John Kerry won Iowa and New Mexico.
6. Which of the following statements about John Kerry and the 2004 presidential campaign is true?
a. He was a Vietnam War veteran.
b. He was very in touch with the people and embraced by the common man.
c. He was from California.
d. He had bipartisan support from Republican John McCain.
e. He voted against the Iraq War in the Senate.
7. What did President George W. Bush’s frequent references to freedom and liberty in his second inaugural
address indicate?
a. He was more determined than ever to impose American democracy on the Middle East.
b. He was willing to expand his foreign policy focus from Iraq to North Korea.
c. He had decided to push for the repeal of the USA Patriot Act.
d. He wanted to restore support for the Iraq War with a focus on liberation, not terror.
e. He was the nation’s staunchest defender of civil liberties for gays and lesbians.
8. The borderlands of the Southwest
a. had only rarely been a source of tension for Americans since the passage of the Hart-Celler Act.
b. emerged as an area of renewed anxiety for some Americans in the wake of the September 11 attacks.
c. only infrequently enjoyed close cultural and community connections to Mexico.
d. seemed less of a national security threat than the borderlands of the Pacific Northwest.
e. were not largely affected by the September 11 attacks because of their location.
9. What was the response to the 2006 House of Representatives bill that criminalized the offering of assistance to
illegal immigrants?
a. silence from the mainstream media
b. mass protests staged by legal and illegal immigrants nationwide
c. “self-deportation” en masse
d. mass arrests of people distributing water to immigrants in Texas
e. many Americans assisted in deporting thousands of illegal immigrants
10. Which of the following did Barack Obama and Donald Trump’s presidential campaigns have in common?
a. Both appealed to the voters’ feeling that the country was moving in the wrong direction.
b. Both failed to use social media.
c. Both used a past political figure to represent them.
d. Both used their heritage to appeal to voters.
e. Both campaigned for the Republican Party.
11. Why is the characterization of the war on terror as a “clash of civilizations”—the West versus Islam—
unhistorical?
a. It denies the militancy of Christian sects.
b. It ignores the militant tendencies of Buddhism.
c. It denies a long past of cultural exchanges between the two.
d. It exaggerates the diversity of Islamic countries.
e. It undermines the liberation struggle of the Arab Spring.
12. In a Supreme Court decision in 2003, the right to use affirmative action in college admissions was
a. found unconstitutional.
b. reaffirmed.
c. supported by President Bush.
d. declared unnecessary in the twenty-first century.
e. left intentionally vague.
13. Conservative Supreme Court justice Anthony Kennedy, writing for the majority in the Lawrence v. Texas and
Obergefell v. Hodges rulings,
a. described the Constitution as a document bound by the “original intent” of the nation’s founding fathers.
b. suggested constitutional interpretation must normally rest on a narrow reading of the text.
c. reaffirmed the liberal view of the Constitution as a “living document” whose protections expand as society
changes.
d. offered no explanation for the Court’s upholding of state laws banning same-sex marriages.
e. upheld the conservative view of reading the “original intent” of the founders and amendment authors.
14. During Hurricane Katrina the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) was not prepared to respond
efficiently. Why was this so damaging for the George W. Bush administration?
a. because it was supposed to be specially competent in dealing with disaster
b. because he had wanted to eliminate FEMA in the past
c. because it confirmed climate change was a real problem that needed to be addressed
d. because he had tripled FEMA’s budget to avoid catastrophes
e. because people felt the military was fighting somebody else’s war instead of helping U.S. citizens in need
15. The Hurricane Katrina disaster highlighted which of the following to Americans in 2005?
a. That poverty continued to be an unresolved issue.
b. That natural disasters would not hit them again for centuries.
c. That the national government was ready to respond quickly in case of disaster.
d. That racial segregation was an issue of the past.
e. That people could not rely on the benevolence of their neighbors.
16. Which of the following is true of the Bush and Obama administrations’ efforts to police the southwest border?
a. They publicly supported protests against illegal immigration.
b. They paid private militias through the Department of Homeland Security to provide extra enforcement at
border crossings.
c. They increased the number of U.S. Border Patrol agents.
d. They denied the importance of illegal immigration.
e. They prohibited the use of regional unofficial militias to patrol the border.
17. How did the mortgage crisis affect minorities during the Great Recession?
a. They were not given loans.
b. They were pushed into subprime mortgages.
c. They made great gains in homeownership.
d. The Great Recession had little effect on them.
e. Banks, such as Wells Fargo, charged lower fees to blacks and Hispanics.
18. Why did more American women hold paying jobs in mid-2009 than men?
a. A significant proportion of American men were serving with the armed forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.
b. The boom in the service and retail sectors of the economy at the time had significantly pushed employment
among women.
c. The much larger proportion of women among immigrants tipped the balance.
d. Men were more likely to lose their jobs during the great recession.
e. Employers were increasingly discriminating against white men.
19. Undocumented immigrants
a. are no longer a problematic issue.
b. lowered wages at the bottom of the economic ladder.
c. chose to live in California.
d. mostly arrived from eastern Europe.
e. failed to participate in the U.S. economy by spending money and paying taxes.
20. Why did Goldman Sachs have to pay a fine of half a billion dollars in 2010?
a. It had underwritten most of the subprime mortgages during the real estate boom.
b. It had failed to document its business structure to the Securities and Exchange Commission.
c. It had knowingly sold toxic mortgage-based securities and then bet on their failure.
d. It had illegally financed the presidential campaign of Barack Obama.
e. It had failed to reform its management and business practice in the wake of the mortgage crisis.
21. How did Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi scheme serve as a metaphor for the American economy?
a. The American economy’s growth was based on borrowing from others and spending money people did not
have.
b. Hard work and wise investments were key to the growth of the American economy.
c. The American economy did not grow because there was a lack of investors from the United States and
overseas.
d. The American economy could withstand significant changes to products in the market, as long as the
companies themselves remained solvent.
e. Open and honest communication between investors and companies was a key factor in stimulating
economic growth in America.
22. What was the result of Lawrence v. Texas?
a. The Supreme Court overturned the law on a procedural technicality, making sexual acts between persons of
the same sex legal.
b. The Supreme Court declared the criminalization of homosexual acts unconstitutional.
c. The Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of state “religious liberty” laws.
d. The Supreme Court declared homosexual acts were unconstitutional.
e. The Supreme Court decided same-sex marriages were constitutional.
23. In 2008, testifying before Congress, Alan Greenspan, the former head of the Federal Reserve Bank.
a. argued that regulation would damage banks, Wall Street, and the mortgage market.
b. admitted that his conviction that free markets would produce the best results was flawed.
c. argued that the federal government should allow unregulated economic competition.
d. argued that banks and investment firms should regulate themselves.
e. called for deregulation and artificially low interest rates.
24. In 2008, what bank did the Bush administration allow to fail?
a. AIG
b. Citigroup
c. Bank of America
d. Fannie Mae
e. Lehman Brothers
25. Why did the number of Americans receiving food stamps rise after 2008?
a. President Obama had eased eligibility requirements.
b. The Midwestern farm lobby had pushed for an expansion of the program.
c. The number of needy Americans skyrocketed with the recession.
d. Americans had become increasingly comfortable with handouts.
e. Illegal immigrants became eligible for food stamps in 2009.
26. Which of the following contributed to the banking crisis of 2008?
a. The Federal Reserve Bank had kept interest rates at unprecedentedly high levels.
b. Banks and other lending institutions eliminated “subprime” mortgages.
c. Wall Street bankers withdrew themselves from the mortgage market.
d. The Federal Reserve Bank and other regulatory agencies slowed the speculative frenzy.
e. Public and private policies favored economic speculation and get-rich-quick schemes.
27. In the 2008 election, when Barack Obama “redrew the nation’s political map,” he
a. only won in Democratic strongholds.
b. did extremely well in cities in the American South and Southwest, but not in suburbs.
c. only won in the North and West.
d. won in reliably Republican states as well as in Democratic strongholds.
e. won 53 percent of the popular vote and a large majority in the electoral college.
28. Which of the following statements about President Obama’s inaugural address are true?
a. He promised a foreign policy based on unilateral force.
b. His address harked back to the Progressive-era ideal of reform and regulation through experts.
c. He blamed a culture of “dependency and victimhood” for helping to bring on the economic crisis.
d. He spoke about freedom repeatedly.
e. He spoke of the need to combat income inequality and lack of access to health care.
29. How did Obama appeal to the young population during his presidential campaign?
a. by opposing the war in Iraq
b. by joining the sexual revolution movement
c. by promising change
d. by promising more unionization to workers
e. by promising to be tough on illegal immigrants
30. The outcome of the presidential election of 2008 would have been less decisive if
a. the Democratic candidate, Barack Obama, wasn’t African-American.
b. the Republican candidate, John McCain, had not been so old.
c. Sarah Palin had been selected as vice president on John McCain’s ticket.
d. voter turnout had not been so low.
e. President Bush’s popularity had not suffered from the recession and the war on terror.
31. In addition to deregulation, what contributed to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill in 2010?
a. a hurricane
b. global warming
c. globalization
d. a strike by oil rig workers
e. marine life
32. What did congressional Republicans denounce as a “government takeover” in March 2010?
a. a financial reform bill that required the breakup of big banks
b. Western state officials assuming control of national parks within their borders
c. a sweeping health care bill that required all Americans to purchase health insurance
d. an executive order that mandated an expansion of Medicare and Medicaid in twenty-three states
e. a labor bill requiring unions to appoint government officials to executive positions
33. What important piece of legislation tried to target the origins of the great recession in 2010?
a. “Obamacare”
b. TARP—the Troubled Asset Relief Program
c. the bailout of the nation’s automakers
d. the bank regulation reform law
e. the No Child Left Behind Act
34. According to Justice Kennedy in the Obergefell v. Hodges decision, where can new ideas about freedom arise?
a. slave narratives
b. along the U.S. border with Mexico.
c. the Constitution
d. the Declaration of Independence
e. pleas of protest
35. The problem of inequality in America after 2010
a. finally lost momentum with the economic recovery.
b. declined as union power rose.
c. grew due to rising unemployment and stagnant home sales.
d. resulted from corporations paying wages at or below minimum wage.
e. declined as market regulations opened new opportunities for small businesses.
36. In his eulogy for the shooting victims at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, to what larger trend
did Barack Obama connect the tragic events?
a. a growing hostility toward immigrants
b. a renewed hatred of organized religion
c. a history of random acts of violence against no one in particular
d. a long history of violence aimed at churches as a means of oppression
e. a newfound movement rooted in ideas of racial inequality
37. Sonia Sotomayor
a. was not supported by Obama in her candidacy to the Supreme Court.
b. was a candidate to become Supreme Court justice, but did not win the position.
c. was the first Hispanic to be appointed to the Supreme Court.
d. was the first woman to be appointed to the Supreme Court.
e. was appointed by Bush to the Supreme Court.
38. How did the 2013 Supreme Court ruling invalidate the heart of the Voting Rights Act of 1965?
a. The entire act was declared unconstitutional, since evidence of racial bias in southern election law no longer
met the Court’s burden of proof standard.
b. The southern states cited in the original law no longer needed approval from the Justice Department before
changing their election laws.
c. The Court threw out the law’s original provision providing federal protection for African-American voters
at the polls in four southern states.
d. Limitations were removed from the range of acceptable voter identification required for same-day
registration at the polls.
e. The Court declared that literacy tests were no longer necessary.
39. President Barack Obama surprised both his supporters and his opponents with
a. his conduct in the war on terror from Guantanamo Bay to Libya.
b. his nominations to the Supreme Court.
c. his lack of special legislation to address the plight of African-Americans.
d. “Obamacare.”
e. revelations about his affair with a White House intern.
40. Into which of the following did British Petroleum spill oil in 2010?
a. Hawaiian coast
b. Balkans
c. Gulf of Mexico
d. Mediterranean Sea
e. Pacific Ocean
41. The Affordable Care Act, also known as “Obamacare,”
a. allowed for most businesses to stop providing health insurance to employees.
b. was supported by Democrats and Republicans.
c. allowed health care companies to deny insurance to applicants with existing illnesses.
d. treated every citizen under the same provisions.
e. required all Americans to purchase health insurance.
42. How did Obama use “human rights” as a political weapon?
a. He threatened to withdraw aid from Israel if it did not end its occupation of the West Bank.
b. He temporarily moved the American Fifth Fleet out of its base in Bahrain until the government there agreed
to stop jailing peaceful political dissenters.
c. He condemned China, but said virtually nothing about human rights abuses in Saudi Arabia and other
nations that were U.S. allies in the war on terror.
d. He accused congressional Republicans of aiding the rise of ISIS with their refusal to fund additional ground
troops in Iraq.
e. He threatened to send more ground troops to Iraq unless the government passed legislation to protect
“human rights.”
43. What statement best describes ISIS?
a. It was an American military group that promoted peace in the Middle East.
b. It was a national oil drilling company seeking to expand into foreign markets.
c. It was a multiethnic coalition with the goal of promoting freedom of religion.
d. It was a self-proclaimed Islamic State that conducted campaigns of exceptional brutality.
e. It was a group of Christian activists looking to gain territory in Europe.
44. Which of the following statements describes the Occupy movement?
a. It remained small and local.
b. It eventually died out and failed to inspire any other similar movements.
c. It failed to manage the use of new technologies.
d. It began as a grassroots protest against “Obamacare.”
e. It tapped into a widespread feeling of alienation, especially among the young.
45. What statement regarding President Obama and immigration is true?
a. More illegal immigrants than ever entered the United States while Obama was president.
b. Obama’s outspoken disdain for illegal immigrants gained him Republican supporters.
c. Obama refused to deport any illegal immigrants during his time in office.
d. The recession during Obama’s term in office created excellent opportunities for Mexican immigrants to take
low-paying jobs.
e. Obama’s administration deported far more illegal immigrants than George W. Bush’s.
46. How were the two candidates on the Republican Party ticket in 2012 different from those who ran in years
past?
a. Neither was wealthy.
b. Neither actively campaigned.
c. Both fully supported same-sex marriage.
d. Neither was a traditional Protestant.
e. Both criticized the National Rifle Association.
47. Which of the following was a liability for President Obama as he entered his reelection campaign of 2012?
a. He had authorized a constitutionally questionable raid that killed Osama bin Laden.
b. The U.S. Supreme Court had struck down most of the Affordable Care Act.
c. He had failed to provide an authentic Hawaiian birth certificate to prove the legitimacy of his presidency.
d. Unemployment remained high even though the recession was officially over.
e. Americans disapproved of the troop withdrawal from Iraq late in 2011.
48. What is one key factor that explains the unprecedented amount of money that was spent on the presidential and
congressional elections of 2012?
a. In 2010, the Supreme Court removed restrictions on corporate political donations.
b. Door-to-door donations increased through grassroots campaigns.
c. Social media made it easier for supporters to donate.
d. Celebrity endorsements and donations became a popular new trend.
e. Political action committees were abolished.
49. Which of the following was a job category for which the Bureau of Labor Statistics predicted strong growth in
2012?
a. childcare
b. financial services
c. technology