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CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
The Age of the City
x = possible test question
Multiple Choice Questions
x1. The 1920 census of the United States revealed that
A. the western frontier had ended.
B. a majority of Americans lived in “urban” areas.
C. for the first time since 1790, American women outnumbered men.
D. the majority of the nation’s population had arrived as immigrants since 1880.
Answer: B Page: 483 Difficulty: Medium
2.
In the late nineteenth century, the population increase in urban areas of the United States
A. increased 700 percent in the fifty years after the Civil War.
B. experienced massive growth even where there was little immigration.
C. rose as the number of children born into urban families doubled between 1870 and 1900.
D. soared as the rates of infant mortality and disease significantly declined.
Answer: A Page: 483 Difficulty: Hard
x3. The largest number of immigrants to the United States in the late nineteenth century came from
A. southern and eastern Europe.
B. Mexico and central America.
C. Great Britain and Germany.
D. Asia.
Answer: A Page: 484 Difficulty: Easy
4.
In the late nineteenth century, immigrants to urban areas in the United States
A. were generally better educated then immigrants who arrived a generation before.
B. took up semi-skilled craft jobs.
C. avoided ports like Ellis Island for fear they would be denied entry.
D. generally lacked the capital to buy land.
Answer: D Page: 484 Difficulty: Hard
x5. By 1890, the percentage of the populations of Chicago, New York, and Detroit that were made up of
immigrants was approximately
A. 20 percent.
B. 50 percent.
C. 60 percent.
D. 80 percent.
Answer: D Page: 484 Difficulty: Easy
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6.
In the late nineteenth century, most immigrants to the United States
A. were already experienced as urban-dwelling, industrial workers.
B. found the transition to their new country to be fairly easy.
C. formed close-knit ethnic communities within the cities.
D. totally cut their links to their native countries.
Answer: C Pages: 484–485 Difficulty: Easy
x7. In the late nineteenth century, compared to other immigrant ethnic groups, Jews
A. advanced rapidly economically.
B. placed a high value on education.
C. both A and B
D. neither A nor B
Answer: C Page: 485 Difficulty: Medium
x8. Compared with the first generation, second generation immigrants were more likely to
A. hold on to their old ethnic habits.
B. lose faith in the United States due to the hardships they experienced.
C. break from their traditional culture.
D. resist external social pressures to assimilate.
Answer: C Page: 487 Difficulty: Medium
x9. In the late nineteenth century, the assimilation of immigrants was encouraged by
A. the sale of American products.
B. public education.
C. church leaders.
D. all of the above
Answer: D Page: 487 Difficulty: Easy
10. The primary goal of the American Protective Association was to
A. require immigrants to sign loyalty oaths to the United States government.
B. limit immigration to those who already had relatives living in the United States.
C. give “native” Americans preference over immigrants in employment opportunities.
D. stop immigrants from entering the United States.
Answer: D Page: 487 Difficulty: Hard
x11. In 1894, the Immigration Restriction League
A. sought a ban on all immigration to the United States for fifteen years.
B. proposed screening immigrants to allow only the “desirable” ones to enter.
C. sought a ban on immigrants from Asia, but not Europe.
D. called for the establishment of a tax on all immigrants.
Answer: B Page: 487 Difficulty: Hard
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x12. In 1882, the first group of immigrants to be excluded from the United States on the basis of their nationality
were
A. Chinese.
B. Japanese.
C. Hispanics.
D. Slavics.
Answer: A Page: 487 Difficulty: Easy
13. One significant innovation of urban America in the late nineteenth century were
A. city fire fighting companies.
B. public parks.
C. paved roads.
D. public hospitals.
Answer: B Page: 489 Difficulty: Medium
x14. The principle force behind the creation of great public buildings in the late nineteenth century was/were
A. wealthy residents.
B. community service organizations.
C. state government.
D. federal government.
Answer: A Page: 490 Difficulty: Medium
15. The “city beautiful” movement in the United States was inspired, in part, by
A. the economic depression of 1893.
B. the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago.
C. both A and B
D. neither A nor B
Answer: B Page: 490 Difficulty: Medium
x16. In the late nineteenth century, suburbs on the edges of American cities were largely populated by
A. poor people.
B. the working class.
C. the moderately well-to-do people.
D. people from all income backgrounds.
Answer: C Page: 491 Difficulty: Easy
x17. In 1894, the population density of Manhattan in New York was
A. far greater than the most crowded European cities.
B. equal to the density of Paris.
C. significantly less than most major European cities.
D. greater than in all major American cities except Boston.
Answer: A Page: 492 Difficulty: Medium
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18. Tenement buildings in urban America were
A. first constructed in Chicago in the 1880s.
B. intended to be occupied as single-family dwellings.
C. initially praised as an improvement in housing for the poor.
D. subsidized by city governments.
Answer: C Page: 492 Difficulty: Medium
19. In the 1890s, Jacob Riis
A. favored stopping immigration as a way to improve urban American cities.
B. crusaded to expose political corruption in major American cities.
C. documented the stories of wealthy Americans who came from humble origins.
D. reported on the living conditions of the urban poor to encourage improvements.
Answer: D Page: 492 Difficulty: Hard
x20. By 1900, modes of mass transportation in American cities included
A. elevated railroads.
B. subways.
C. electric trolley cars.
D. all of the above
Answer: D Page: 492 Difficulty: Easy
21. In 1884, the first “modern” skyscraper built in the United States
A. had no elevators.
B. was located in Boston.
C. was constructed with steel girders.
D. was built entirely of brick.
Answer: C Pages: 492–493 Difficulty: Hard
x22. In the late nineteenth century, the leading cause of death in large American cities resulted from
A. fire.
B. food poisoning.
C. crime.
D. disease.
Answer: D Page: 493 Difficulty: Medium
x23. In the early twentieth century, efforts to improve environmental problems in American cities
A. were nonexistent.
B. focused on the wealthy and ignored the urban poor.
C. included a new federal environmental regulatory agency.
D. led many cities to ban horses from their streets.
Answer: C Page: 494 Difficulty: Hard
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24. In the late nineteenth century, efforts to reduce poverty in America
A. saw the Salvation Army focus on establishing shelters for the homeless.
B. saw charitable organizations try to limit aid to those deemed “deserving poor.”
C. included federally-funded studies attempting to identify the causes of poverty.
D. generally were led by reformers who had grown up in impoverished communities.
Answer: B Page: 494 Difficulty: Hard
x25. In the late nineteenth century, crime in large American urban centers
A. led many city governments to create professional public police departments.
B. included murder rates that were higher than would occur in the 1980s and 1990s.
C. both A and B
D. neither A nor B
Answer: C Page: 495 Difficulty: Medium
26. Theodore Dreiser’s 1900 novel, Sister Carrie dealt with the urban troubles of
A. immigrant families.
B. single women.
C. American families.
D. reformers.
Answer: B Page: 495 Difficulty: Easy
x27. In the late nineteenth century, political “machines” in cities owed their existence to
A. the rapid growth of urban America.
B. the influx of millions of immigrants.
C. both A and B
D. neither A nor B
Answer: C Page: 496 Difficulty: Easy
x28. In the late nineteenth century, urban political bosses did all of the following EXCEPT
A. giving out patronage.
B. win votes for his political organization.
C. providing material assistance to the poor.
D. reducing the costs of city services.
Answer: D Page: 496 Difficulty: Medium
29. In the late-nineteenth century, New York’s Tammany Hall political machine
A. saw its most famous boss, William M. Tweed, sent to prison.
B. was one of the few machines that did not engage in graft and corruption.
C. both A and B
D. neither A nor B
Answer: A Page: 496 Difficulty: Medium
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30. In the last decades of the nineteenth century, incomes in the United States
A. rose for almost all Americans.
B. declined for most unskilled workers.
C. remained the same for most Americans.
D. increased at roughly the same rate for all ethnic groups.
Answer: A Pages: 496–497 Difficulty: Medium
31. During the late nineteenth century, all of the following innovations occurred in consumer goods EXCEPT
A. the emergence of ready-made clothing.
B. the creation of credit card companies.
C. the ability to artificially refrigerate foods.
D. the opening of large department stores.
Answer: B Page: 497 Difficulty: Hard
x32. In the 1870s, the largest mail-order catalog in the United States was offered by
A. Richard Sears.
B. Montgomery Ward.
C. James Penny.
D. Joseph Speigel.
Answer: A Page: 497 Difficulty: Easy
33. In the 1890s, Florence Kelley and the National Consumers League sought to
A. encourage immigrants to become greater consumers.
B. improve the safety and quality of consumer products.
C. protect family businesses from the competition of corporate retailers.
D. improve wages and working conditions of manufacturers and retailers.
Answer: D Page: 499 Difficulty: Hard
34. At the end of the nineteenth century, most Americans viewed leisure time
A. as being desirable.
B. on a par with laziness.
C. as something not attainable for the average person.
D. as reserved for the wealthy.
Answer: A Pages: 499–500 Difficulty: Medium
x35. In the late nineteenth century, leisure activities tended to be divided by
A. gender.
B. class.
C. race.
D. all of the above
Answer: D Page: 500 Difficulty: Easy
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x36. The nineteenth century game of “rounders” became the modern sport of
A. basketball.
B. baseball.
C. golf.
D. football.
Answer: B Page: 500 Difficulty: Easy
x37. In 1869, Princeton and Rutgers played the first intercollegiate game in America of
A. baseball.
B. boxing.
C. football.
D. basketball.
Answer: C Page: 500 Difficulty: Easy
38. In the nineteenth century, vaudeville theater
A. consisted of a variety of stage acts.
B. only employed white performers.
C. had been created in the United States.
D. all of the above
Answer: A Page: 501 Difficulty: Medium
x39. At the turn of the twentieth century, motion pictures
A. had been invented by D. W. Griffith.
B. were the first true mass entertainment medium.
C. operated under strict morality codes.
D. all of the above
Answer: B Pages: 501–502 Difficulty: Hard
40. Which of the following statements regarding Coney Island is FALSE?
A. The park stood as an example of the democratic principles of the nation.
B. Many visitors relaxed their conventions of Victorian social behavior.
C. The park developed a reputation for wholesome, family attractions.
D. The park experienced phenomenal popularity until after World War I.
Answer: C Page: 503–504 Difficulty: Medium
41. During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the growth of newspapers
A. resulted in most large cities being serviced by one dominant paper.
B. led to a significant decline in the telegraph industry.
C. was largely due to national population growth.
D. saw newspaper circulation increase much more rapidly than the general population.
Answer: D Page: 504 Difficulty: Medium
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42. Which statement regarding telephone service during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries is
FALSE?
A. The invention of signal “repeaters” increased the range of telephone service.
B. In its first years, telephone operators were all men.
C. Early telephones had to be directly wired to each other.
D. Early telephone service was almost entirely commercial.
Answer: B Page: 504–505 Difficulty: Hard
43. Which American writer would be LEAST associated with the trend toward social realism in literature in the
late nineteenth century?
A. Mark Twain
B. Upton Sinclair
C. Frank Norris
D. Stephen Crane
Answer: A Page: 506 Difficulty: Medium
44. The American artistic movement known as the “Ashcan School”
A. portrayed an idealized image of rural life.
B. was strongly influenced by Old World masters.
C. included the painter Edward Hopper.
D. was most identified with the work of John Singer Sargent.
Answer: B Page: 506 Difficulty: Hard
45. Charles Darwin’s theories of evolution met initial resistance from
A. theologians.
B. scientists.
C. educators.
D. all of the above
Answer: D Page: 507 Difficulty: Easy
x46. According to the philosophy of pragmatism, society should be guided by
A. scientific inquiry.
B. inherited ideals.
C. democratic tradition.
D. moral principles.
Answer: A Page: 508 Difficulty: Medium
47. Which American thinker is LEAST associated with study using scientific methods?
A. Henry James
B. William Graham Sumner
C. Charles Darwin
D. John Dewey
Answer: A Page: 508 Difficulty: Medium
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48. Which statement about education in the late nineteenth century is FALSE?
A. It was a period of rapid expansion for public schools.
B. By 1900, most states required compulsory school attendance.
C. Funding for public education was highest in rural areas.
D. Southern blacks had far less access to education than southern whites.
Answer: C Page: 508 Difficulty: Medium
49. In the late nineteenth century, American universities
A. significantly grew in number due to the Morrill Land Grant.
B. had a strong commitment to practical knowledge.
C. both A and B.
D. neither A nor B
Answer: C Page: 509 Difficulty: Medium
x50. By 1900, all of the following statements regarding American medicine were true EXCEPT
A. vaccines for typhoid and dysentery had been introduced.
B. synthetic medicines such as aspirin were being produced.
C. the germ theory of disease was now widely accepted.
D. American physicians and surgeons were generally regarded as being among the world’s best.
Answer: A Pages: 509-510 Difficulty: Hard
x51. During the late nineteenth century, college education for American women
A. did not exist.
B. had expanded significantly.
C. offered no coeducational opportunities.
D. allowed women to be schooled only by male faculty.
Answer: B Pages: 510–511 Difficulty: Medium
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