Download Practice Test

US History Practice Test
1. Which important power did the national government lack under the Articles of Confederation?
a. levy taxes
b. sign treaties
c. issue money
d. all of the above are true
2. The founding fathers wanted to make sure that our country had a strong national government that worked with
state governments. This principle is known as
a. Popular sovereignty
b. Limited government
c. Federalism
d. Separation of powers
3. Which battle was considered a turning point in the Civil War?
a. Gettysburg
b. Antietam
c. Cold Harbor
d. Andersonville
4. Which statement most closely reflects William Lloyd Garrison’s view of slavery?
a. The only solution to the slavery question is a federal slave code
b. Slavery must immediately be abolished in all areas of the United States
c. There should be no extension of slavery to the territories in the West
d. The question of slavery should be settled by popular sovereignty
5. What was the name of the land bridge between Asia and the Americas?
a. Bering Strait
b. Beringea
c. La Venta
d. Alaska Strait
6. What was a European goal during the Age of Exploration?
a. the expansion of empires and power
b. the increase of wealth and a balance of trade
c. the desire to spread Christianity beyond European borders
d. all of the above
7. Which of the following did NOT happen after the French and Indian War?
a. Britain claimed all of North America
b. The Treaty of Paris ended French power in North America
c. Clashes between settlers in the west and Native Americans led to the Proclamation of 1763
d. The fur trade ended in North America
8. In what ways did the Great Awakening change colonial culture in North America?
a. Congregations argued over religious practices and often split apart
b. People left their old churches and joined new protestant groups
c. Some churches welcomed women, blacks, and Native Americans
d. All of the above are true
9. What was the purpose behind the Mayflower Compact and the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut?
a. to put in writing a set of laws to govern the colonies
b. to establish the Christian heritage of the colonies
c. to show the colonists acted as one unit (majority rule)
d. all of the above
10. What role did the Sons of Liberty play in the fight for liberty in the colonies?
a. they staged both peaceful and violent protests against Parliament’s views
b. they aided the British in enforcing Parliament’s laws over the colonies
c. they were trained to act at a minutes warning to protect the colonies
d. they voted to ban all trade with Britain until the Intolerable Acts were repealed
11. Why did Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott organize the Seneca Falls Convention?
a. Because male abolitionists were not doing enough to end slavery
b. To win for women the same rights as men
c. To form an all-female antislavery organization
d. To win women’s support for more public schools
12. Which of the following was NOT a reason European colonists chose to enslave Africans for labor?
a. Africans were immune to most European diseases
b. Africans had no allies in the Americas to aid in escape or rebellion
c. Africans already had experience as farmers
d. Africans were willing to work in the Americas in exchange for food and shelter on haciendas
13. The First Continental Congress met in Philadelphia in 1774 to
a. Draft a new constitution for a government for the colonies
b. Discuss a possibility for peace with England repair their differences
c. Call upon colonies to begin training troops and ban trade with England until the Intolerable Acts were
repealed
d. Draft a Declaration of Independence
14. What key development of the Hohokam and Anasazi allowed them to alter their environment?
a. Mound building
b. hunting and gathering
c. Irrigation
d. migration
15. Which was NOT a difficulty faced by General Washington during the American Revolution?
a. turning his volunteer fighters into a well-trained army
b. preventing his troops from deserting during hard times
c. hiring enough Hessians for a large army
d. keeping his troops supplied with food and clothing
16. Benjamin Franklin published this cartoon in 1754. It urged the colonies to unite. This illustration relates to the
first formal plan to unite the colonies.
What was the first formal plan to unite the colonies?
a. The Glorious Revolution
b. Salutary Neglect
c. Declaratory Act
d. Albany Plan of Union
17. What document guarantees certain individual rights to a citizen?
a. Magna Carta
b. the Constitution
c. Bill of Rights
d. the Articles of Confederation
18. Who did the Emancipation Proclamation free?
a. slaves in all states
b. slaves in the rebelling states
c. slaves in the border states
d. slaves in the western territories
19. Thomas Paine published a pamphlet called Common Sense in order to do what?
a. To recognize all the people who played a role in the fight for independence
b. To list the atrocities that parliament had inflicted on the colonies
c. To convince Americans that a complete break with Britain was necessary
d. To convince the British Parliament that the Revolutionary War was useless
20. Andrew Jackson’s quote “John Marshall has made his decision… now let him enforce it” is referring to
a. The election of 1824
b. The Second National Bank of the US
c. The Cherokee Nation
d. The Panic of 1837
21. What similarity can you find between Shay’s Rebellion and the American Revolution?
a. Tax issues played a major role in both revolts
b. Perceptions of injustice played a major role in both revolts
c. They both were illegal uprisings against an established government
d. All of the above are true
22. Which of the following was a reason for Spanish conquistadors defeat of the Aztecs and Incas of the Americas?
a. The Spanish were excellent soldiers and sailors.
b. The Aztecs and Incas had failing empires
c. The Spanish were aided by Aztec and Incan gods.
d. The Aztec and Inca were betrayed by their own people.
23. Abraham Lincoln’s quote, “A house divided against itself cannot stand” is referring to
a. The splintering nation as a result of slavery expanding to the west
b. The imbalance of power between the three branches of government
c. The lack of support for the Compromise of 1850
d. The growing economic gap between the wealthy elite and the poor labor classes
24. The Proclamation of 1763
a. Allowed officers to search colonists’ homes and businesses for smuggled goods.
b. Forbade English colonists from settling on lands west of the Appalachian Mountains.
c. Placed import taxes on goods like glass, paper, paint, lead, and tea.
d. Removed the tax on tea.
25. Which was NOT a reason why the Cherokees were forced to move west?
a. They refused to accept white customs and ways
b. Gold was discovered on their land
c. President Jackson ignored a Supreme Court ruling in their favor
d. Congress passed the Indian Removal Act
26. What caused the Kansas Territory to be called “Bleeding Kansas”?
a. Slavery in Kansas was to be decided by popular sovereignty
b. One senator in Kansas physically attacked another senator
c. John Brown led the Sack of Lawrence
d. The Supreme Court’s decision in the Dred Scott case caused riots in Kansas
27. What was the Columbian Exchange?
a. the trade between Europeans and West African kings for slaves
b. the movement of Christianity from Europe to the Americas
c. The movement of plants, animals, and diseases between hemispheres
d. the migration of settlers from Europe to the Americas
28. What lawsuit to gain freedom was denied in a landmark Supreme Court case?
a. Marbury V. Madison
b. Plessy V. Ferguson
c. Worcester V. Georgia
d. Dred Scott V. Sandford
29. The belief that the United States was supposed to stretch from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean, a clear and
obvious event that is sure to happen, was known as
a. Manifest Destiny
b. Assimilation
c. From sea to shining sea
d. Annexation
30. Which motive best describes why the earliest settlers moved west into the Oregon Territory?
a. They were escaping trouble in the east
b. They already had relatives in the west
c. They wanted to improve their economic situation
d. They wanted religious freedom
31. Which of the Following was NOT a result of the War of 1812?
a. It increased American patriotism
b. It encouraged widespread British settlement in the Northwest
c. It weakened the Native American resistance
d. It increased U.S. manufacturing
32. What problem troubled Thomas Jefferson about the Louisiana Purchase?
a. All the new land might cause factory workers to move west
b. The Constitution did not empower the president to buy land
c. The Native Americans in the area refused to sign U.S. treaties
d. France was selling the land for much less than it was worth
33. Where were most of the nations early factories built?
a. the Northwest Territory
b. New England
c. the South
d. the Midwest
34. The United States gained territory in the west that is now Arizona, California, Nevada, Utah, parts of Wyoming,
Colorado, and New Mexico through the
a. The Louisiana Purchase
b. Texas Annexation
c. Adams-Onis Treaty
d. Mexican Cession
35. Why did Thomas Jefferson change the inalienable rights from “Life, Liberty, and Property” to “Life, Liberty, and
the Pursuit of Happiness”?
a. because white males were the only Americans that could own property
b. because he disagreed with John Locke that people had natural rights
c. he thought it sounded better when read in the Declaration of Independence
d. There is no right to property in a republic government
36. What gave African Americans full citizenship?
a. Twelfth Amendment
b. Fourteenth Amendment
c. Compromise of 1877
d. Thirteenth Amendment
37. A major Confederate blunder which led to the Union victory at Gettysburg was
a. “Stonewall” Jackson’s injury on the Pennsylvania battlefield
b. hostage starvation at Andersonville
c. Pickett’s Charge
d. Belle Boyd’s mix-up of information
38. Appomattox Courthouse is important because it was
a. The site of the bloodiest battle of the Civil War
b. The site where Robert E. Lee surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant
c. The confederate capital after Richmond was captured in 1865
d. The location of the Supreme Court of the Confederacy
39. Who was Patrick Henry?
a. The British prime minister responsible for the Sugar Act.
b. The organizer of the Boston Tea Party.
c. A British leader who called for the repeal of the Stamp Act.
d. A member of the Virginia House of Burgesses who called for resistance to the Stamp Act.
40. What is meant by the statement that William Tecumseh Sherman waged a total war?
a. He fought against every regiment of the Confederate Army
b. He made war against everything that could support the enemy army
c. He fought in every major battle of the Civil War
d. He killed as many civilians as soldiers
41. What do the states Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, South Carolina, Texas, Tennessee and Louisiana have
in common?
a. They were part of the thirteen original colonies
b. They all ratified the US Constitution
c. They were territories acquired through the Louisiana Purchase
d. They were members of the Confederacy during the Civil War
42. What was the effect of the Thirteenth Amendment?
a. It ended slavery in the United States
b. It was necessary because of the Emancipation Proclamation
c. It caused the south to fight the Civil War
d. All of the above are true
43. What issue does the Three-Fifths Compromise address?
a. The number of branches in the government
b. The disagreement over the New Jersey Plan and the Virginia Plan
c. how to promote trade between the States
d. how slaves should be counted for taxes and representation
44. Why did Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation free slaves only in the south?
a. Lincoln wanted slavery in the border states to continue because farming in those states helped the
Northern economy
b. Lincoln believed that the Northern slaves were treated better than the Southern slaves, so they did not
need to be free
c. Lincoln believed he had the authority to free slaves in rebelling states as a military tactic
d. Lincoln did not want to offend his wife’s relatives in Kentucky
45. What was one long-term effect of slavery?
a. A free and limitless labor force
b. An increased population in Africa
c. Several wealthy and powerful East African kingdoms
d. The belief that some people are inferior because of their race
46. What did the women’s rights movement and the abolitionist movements have in common?
a. Women made up the largest number of supporters in both movements
b. Both movements tried to help a group that was denied rights by law
c. Temperance workers supported both movements
d. All of the above are true
47. Why did so many explorers look for the Northwest Passage?
a. It would shorten the return trip from the Americas to Europe.
b. They hoped it was the route leading to the golden cities in North America.
c. They thought it was a water route to Asia through North America.
d. It was a major trade route that stretched from Lima to Mexico City.
48. The idea of spreading political power to all people and ensuring majority rule became known as
a. The spoils system
b. The corrupt bargain
c. Jacksonian democracy
d. Jeffersonian democracy
49. What made the middle colonies diverse?
a. They only had one cultural and racial group
b. They had a variety of racial groups and were tolerant people
c. They had an overpopulation of Scottish people
d. They had many free African Americans
50. For what reason is John Brown famous?
a. He is regarded as an extreme abolitionist for his views against slavery
b. He led the Stono Rebellion
c. He spoke out against slavery in his abolitionist newspaper The Liberator
d. He was a famous conductor of the Underground Railroad