History of the Americas Questions

Who was the author of Uncle Tom's Cabin ? (A) Louisa May Alcott (B) Herman Melville (C) Harriet Beecher Stowe (D) Richard Henry Dana (E) Kate Chopin

The establishment of Brook Farm and the Oneida Community in the antebellum United States reflected (A) the influence of Social Darwinism on American thinkers (B) the continued impact of Calvinist ideas on American thought (C) a belief in perfectionism (D) attempts to foster racial integration (E) the implementation of all-female utopian communities

The presidential election of 1840 was an influential election because (A) the slavery issue was first raised in this campaign (B) it was the first election in which women voted (C) voting patterns were similar to those later established in the 1890s (D) for the first time, both parties widely campaigned among all eligible voters (E) a second Era of Good Feelings had just come to a close, marking a new departure in politics

Which of the following groups was most likely to adopt the free-soil ideology? (A) Free African Americans (B) Northern capitalists (C) Western frontier settlers (D) Southern yeoman farmers (E) Southern plantation owners

The "putting-out system" that emerged in the antebellum United States refers to the (A) organizing of enslaved labor into efficient planting teams (B) production of finished goods in individual households (C) sending of poor children to live on farms in the Midwest (D) shipping of raw materials to European factories (E) forced migration of Native Americans from valuable lands

The state constitutions drafted during the Revolutionary era were influential because they (A) were based on the principle of virtual representation (B) included clauses that immediately emancipated enslaved people (C) provided for the confiscation and redistribution of the property of wealthy Loyalists (D) were the first efforts to establish a government by and of the people (E) introduced the concept of checks and balances

An outcome of the Louisiana Purchase was to (A) eliminate Spain from the North American continent (B) give the United States control of the Mississippi River (C) ease tensions between western settlers and Native Americans (D) force the British to evacuate their posts in the Northwest (E) reduce sectional conflict over the expansion of slavery

Thomas Jefferson opposed some of Alexander Hamilton's programs because Jefferson believed that Hamilton's programs would (A) unify the different states through the common bond of a substantial national debt (B) strengthen an alliance with France that threatened to spread the violence of the French Revolution to the United States (C) reduce the ability of the federal government to encourage manufacturing and industry (D) weaken the military strength of the nation in the face of Native American confederacies (E) favor manufacturing and commercial interests at the expense of rural Americans

The Embargo Act of 1807 had which of the following effects on the United States? (A) It severely damaged American manufacturing. (B) It enriched many cotton plantation owners. (C) It severely damaged American shipping. (D) It was ruinous to subsistence farmers. (E) It provided funding for internal improvements.

The essays Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania were written to (A) record the soil, climate, and profitable crops in the Pennsylvania colony (B) chronicle the history of William Penn's colonization efforts (C) argue against the power of Parliament to tax the colonists without representation (D) petition King George III for colonial representation in Parliament (E) encourage colonization of the western frontier

Jacksonian economic policies did which of the following? (A) Removed banking issues from national politics (B) Stalled westward expansion (C) Ended foreign investment in the United States (D) Abolished state banks (E) Encouraged the expansion of credit and speculation

Which of the following was a major focus of antebellum reform? (A) Income tax law (B) Universal suffrage (C) Prison reform (D) Creation of national parks (E) Machine politics

Henry Clay's American System was a plan to (A) compromise on the issue of extending slavery to new United States territories (B) foster the economic integration of the North, the West, and the South (C) export United States political and economic values to oppressed peoples (D) maintain United States noninvolvement in the internal affairs of Europe (E) assert the right of states to nullify decisions of the national government

Which of the following describes the politics of John C. Calhoun? (A) He advocated a strong federal government and helped to establish the Bank of the United States. (B) He supported the doctrine of nullification, which declared the right of states to rule on the constitutionality of federal law. (C) He became a strong opponent of southern nationalism and sought federal legislation to link the West and the South. (D) As vice president of the United States, he helped formulate the beginnings of a new Republican Party. (E) He led a successful movement to amend the Constitution of the United States to allow for universal White male suffrage.

Deists of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries believed that (A) natural laws, designed by the Creator, governed the operation of the universe (B) prayer had the power to make significant changes in a person's life (C) the idea of God was merely the creation of people's minds (D) the universe was created by a natural, spontaneous combining of elements (E) intuition rather than reason led people to an awareness of the divine

Northern Democrats who opposed the Civil War and wanted a negotiated peace.

Encouraged states to use the sale of federal land grants to found and maintain agricultural and technical colleges, which became centers of research and innovation.

Large parcels of land gifted by the national government to states or businesses either as payment or in order to promote certain activities such as funding higher education.

Which of the following describes the use of enslaved labor in colonial Virginia?(A) It was forced on reluctant White Virginians by profit-minded English merchants and the mercantilist officials of the Crown. (B) It was the first time Europeans enslaved African people. (C) It fulfilled the original plans of the Virginia Company. (D) It first occurred after the invention of Eli Whitney's cotton gin, which greatly stimulated the demand for low-cost labor. (E) It spread rapidly in the late-seventeenth century, as enslaved Africans replaced European indentured servants in tobacco fields.

The Seven Years' War led Great Britain to(A) encourage manufacturing in its North American colonies (B) impose revenue taxes on its North American colonies (C) restrict emigration to North America (D) ignore its North American colonies (E) grant increased self-government to its North American colonies