US History CLEP Practice Questions

CLEP United States History Practice Questions

Multiple Choice

(1454-1512)
Italian explorer who was the first person to realize that the Americas were separate from Asia, stating that the Americas were not the East Indies.

• Amerigo Vespucci

• Christoopher Columbus

• Jacques Cartier

• John Smith

Multiple Choice

These are the mountains on the eastern part of the United States.

• Rocky Mountains

• Sierra Nevada Mountains

• Cascade Mountains

• Appalachian Mountains

Multiple Choice

Type of colony led by joint-stock companies.

These were run as a business with the backing of wealthy investors.

The more money the colony made, the wealthier they became.

The investors voted on officials and eluted the leaders in this type of colony.

• Corporate Colony

• Royal Colony

• Proprietary Colony

Multiple Choice

Type of colony owned by a single person or family. These colonies were run more like a dictatorship, with the family appointing officials as they pleased.

• Corporate Colony

• Royal Colony

• Proprietary Colony

Multiple Choice

Which is NOT one of the original 13 colonies?

• Georgia

• Maryland

• Florida

• Virginia

Multiple Choice

Type of colony under direct control of the king or ueen. Royal governors were appointed to rule over these colonies and were under direct orders from the king or queen. English investors often financed the building of a colony for profit; therefore, when profits were slow to return or did not return at all, investors often pulled out of the venture.

• Corporate Colony

• Royal Colony

• Proprietary Colony

Multiple Choice

What plan did Ben Franklin create in an effort to unite the 13 colonies against the French?

• Albany Plan of Trade

• Albany Plan of Union

• Albany Plan of War

• Albany Plan of Council

Multiple Choice

Under the Articles of Confederation, which of these was true about the national government?

• It had the power to conduct foreign affairs.

• It had the power to regulate commerce.

• It had a bicameral legislature.

• It had an independent executive branch.

• It included a federal judiciary.

Multiple Choice

What document was the first official attempt at unifying the colonies, but ultimately failed?

• Albany Plan of Union

• Declaration of Independence

• Articles of Confederation

• Constitution

Multiple Select

Why did Ben Franklin's Albany Plan of Union NOT get approved? **Pick TWO answers

• Nobody liked or trusted Ben Franklin

• The 13 colonies were fearful of giving up local control to a united gov't

• London officials were nervous about giving colonies too much power

• George Washington did not like the plan

Multiple Choice

Which of these was an outcome of the French and Indian War? 

• British territory was reduced.
  
• France defeated Great Britain.
  
• The British went deeply into debt. 
• Relations between the colonists and Great Britain improved. 

Multiple Choice

Which part of the British government passed acts? 

•  Parliament 
  
• the royal family
  
• the British Congress 
• the House of Burgesses 

Multiple Choice

The Townshend Acts taxed several goods that the colonies imported, or

• tried to sell in other countries
• manufactured for use at home
• raised on farms and plantations
• brought into the colonies for sale

Multiple Choice

What did the colonists call the laws that were passed to punish them after the Boston Tea Party? 

• Boston Massacre
• Intolerable Acts
• Quartering Act
• Stamp Act

Multiple Choice

Author of the Declaration of Independence

• Benjamin Franklin
• James Madison
• Thomas Jefferson
• James Monroe

Multiple Choice

Colonial general that became a traitor to the colonial cause. He sold the secrets to West point to the British.He had been the colonial hero of the battle of Ticonderoga.

• General Gage
• Benedict Arnold
• General Howe
• Nathan Hale

Multiple Choice

Who were the Son's of Liberty?

• A group that trained troops to respond to British tyranny
• A group that organized peaceful and violent protests against Parliament's laws
• A group that helped enforce the Stamp Act
• A group that disliked patriots.

Multiple Choice

What happened in Boston on March 5, 1770?

• The Boston Tea Party
• The Boston Massacre
• The Battle of Lexington and Concord
• The Battle of Breed's Hill

Multiple Choice

Most colonists didn't like the Proclamation of 1763 because it prevented settlers from...

• settling the Ohio Valley
• Smuggling sugar
• Drinking foreign tea
• taxing their own goods

Multiple Choice

He was the leader of the Boston Son's of Liberty.

• Samuel Adams

• John Adams

• King George

• John Dickinson

Multiple Choice

Which document completes the following chart?

• Magna Carta

• English Bill of Rights

• Declaration of Independence

• Mayflower Compact

Multiple Choice

Which phrase became popular after passage of the Stamp Act?

• “The rights of Englishmen”
• “Give me liberty or give me death”
• “Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”
• “No taxation without representation“

Multiple Choice

What happened in the Boston Massacre?

• Colonists killed King George.
• Colonists were killed by British soldiers.
• Colonists threw British tea into the Boston Harbor
• Boston Harbor was shutdown.

Multiple Choice

One of John Locke's main ideas were people's natural and inalienable rights.  These rights were -

• The right to choose your own religion
• The right to own slaves
• The right to life, liberty, and property
• The right to life and religion

Multiple Choice

One of the main purposes of the Declaration of Independence was to -

• detail the many grievances the colonists had against the king
• create a new colonial government
• explain why the colonists ignored the Proclamation of 1763
• outline the future of the country

Multiple Choice

The Battle of Yorktown, VA effectively ended the war because:

• The British were able to drive the Americans out of the area but suffered heavy causalties

• The French and American militaries joined forces to surround and achieve victory over Lord Cornwallis

• The American troops were able to force the surrender of Major General John Burgoyne

• The American troops achieved victories in the first battle of the Revolution.

Multiple Choice

The Treaty of Paris ended the Revolutionary War and this provision extended the size of the United States -

• The British were required to leave posts in the United States
• Americans paid all debts owed to the British
• The French regain land lost in the French and Indian Wars
• Americans gained lands from the Great Lakes to Florida

Multiple Choice

Arguably the first "battle" of the Revolutionary War occurred when the Massachusetts Minutemen fired on British troops at -

• Boston
• Philidelphia
• Saratoga
• Lexington and Concord

Multiple Choice

Which choice would be appropriate for the statements below?
*Salutary Neglect
*Taxation without Representation
*Mercantilism

• reasons colonists sought an alliance with France
• taxes imposed on the colonists
• causes for the American Revolution
• political influences for the American Revolution

Multiple Choice

Which items did the Townshend Acts tax?

• wood, glass, lead, tea
• glass, lead, tea
• crops, glass, lead, tea
• fabric, glass, lead, tea

Multiple Choice

Which statement best evaluates the contributions of the Marquis de Lafayette?

• Lafayette was sent to the clones to create peace negotiations with the British
• Lafayette was an important member of the 2nd Continental Congress
• Lafayette helped train the colonists to become a professional army 

Multiple Choice

How did the Navigation  Acts reinforce (help) Mercantilism?

• the Navigation Acts required colonists to pay additional taxes to trade with Britain
• the Navigations Acts enforced limits on the goods (items) that the colonies could manufacture (make)
• the Navigation Acts charged a fee for using foreign ships for trade

Multiple Choice

___________ allowed officers to inspect ship's cargo without giving a specific reason.

• Petitions

• Boycotts

• Writs of Assistance

• Townshend Acts

Multiple Choice

Cause:  Communication moved slowly in colonial times.

• Effect:  Colonists were angered and began repeating--”no taxation without representation!”
• Effect: The Committees of Correspondence were formed to spread information more quickly and protest British policies.
• Effect: Colonists boycotted British goods, and sales of British goods went down.
• Effect: The Boston Massacre resulted in the deaths of 5 colonists.

Multiple Choice

Cause:  British soldiers go on a mission to find weapons and arrest two colonial leaders (John Hancock and Samuel Adams).

• Effect: Colonists took part in the Boston Tea Party.
• Effect:  Parliament passed the Coercive Acts to punish the colonists. These acts were also known as the Intolerable Acts.
• Effect:  Congress sent a signed petition to remind the kind of their basic rights as British citizens:  life, liberty, right to assemble, and trial by jury.
• Effect:  Fighting breaks out at Lexington and Concord. 

Multiple Choice

Cause:  The Second Continental Congress resolves to declare the 13 colonies independent of British rule.

• Effect: Congress formed the Continental Army and chose George Washington as commander in chief.
• Effect: Colonists retreated from Breed’s Hill.
• Effect: King George III promises to crush the colonial rebellion.
• Effect: Thomas Jefferson writes the Declaration of Independence.

Multiple Choice

What was the main weakness of the Articles of Confederation?

• the federal government was too weak

• It had no legislative branch

• The judicial was too powerful

• The executive was too powerful

Multiple Choice

A weakness of the Articles of Confederation is that it had __________ . 

• only an executive branch
• only a legislative branch
• only a judicial branch
• an executive and legislative branch

Multiple Choice

One major problem with the Articles of Confederation is that Congress could not ______ the citizens to raise money.

• tax
• ask
• demand
• force

Multiple Choice

Americans were afraid that a __?__ would lead to tyranny, or oppressive rule.

• strong state government

• weak government

• strong federal/national/central government

• legslature

Multiple Choice

Use the table to answer the question.

Weaknesses in the Articles of Confederation

Weakness

No power to enforce laws

No executive branch

No judicial branch

How did these weaknesses impact the writing of the Constitution?

• The Founding Fathers gave Congress the power to legislate.

• The Founding Fathers created a government with three branches.

• The Founding Fathers gave the states the power to interpret national laws?

• The Founding Fathers created the office of president to settle disputes.

Multiple Choice

What would be the best title for this graph?

• Federal System of Government

• Weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation

• Weaknesses of the Declaration of Independence

• Weaknesses of the U.S. Constitution

Multiple Choice

Which phrase completes the diagram?

• Congress can raise an army.

• The national government has the power to collect taxes.

• The national government controls state tax collection.

• The Supreme Court has the power of judicial review.

Multiple Choice

Under the system devised by the delegates to the Constitutional Convention, all of the following are true EXCEPT

• certain powers are reserved to the states under the Tenth Amendment

• certain powers are listed in the Constitution as belonging to the federal government

• an elastic clause gives Congress the power to make all laws "necessary and proper" to carry out the functioning of the government

• the term separation of powers describes the division of powers between the federal government and the states

Multiple Choice

Period in American history between the Revolutionary War through the inauguration of President George Washington. It is called this because this was the era the country was in crucial development.

• The States Era

  (1787-1797)

• Revolutionary Period

  (1776-1787)

• Critical Period

  (1781-1789)

• Washington Period

  (1783-1800)

Bill of Rights

The first ten amendments of the U.S. Constitution, containing a list of individual rights and liberties, such as freedom of speech, religion, and the press. These amendments were added right after ratification of the Constitution because the anti-Federalists refused to support the new government until a promise was made to add it.

Multiple Choice

Which amendment guarantees citizens to no unreasonable search or seizure by the government?

• 6th

• 8th

• 4th

• 10th

Multiple Select

The first amendment gave citizens freedom of what? Choose all that apply.

• Speech

• Religion

• Assembly

• Speedy trial

Multiple Choice

This amendment prohibits the government from quartering soldiers.

• First
• Fifth
• Second
• Third

Multiple Choice

With the ___ Amendment, people accused of a crime have a right to a trial by jury, the right to an attorney, and the trial must be speedy, public, and  with an impartial jury.

• Eighth
• Sixth
• Fifth
• Seventh

Multiple Choice

The ___ Amendment guarantees the right to a jury trial if the amount of money involved is more than $20.00.

• Eighth
• Sixth
• Fifth
• Seventh

Multiple Choice

The ___ Amendment makes clear that the rights spelled out in the Constitution are not the only rights of the American people.

• Tenth
• Seventh
• Ninth
• Eighth

Multiple Choice

The ___ Amendment state that powers not specifically assigned to the national government belong to the states or to the people.

• Tenth
• Seventh
• Ninth
• Eighth

Multiple Choice

Alexander Hamilton held which public office?

• President
• Secretary of the Interior
• Secretary of State
• Secretary of the Treasury

Multiple Choice

Which of the amendments gives people the right to bear arms?

• First
• Fifth
• Second
• Third

Multiple Choice

Why was Thomas Jefferson against Alexander Hamilton's National Bank plan 

• He did not like the increase in taxes the National Bank would bring
• He thought the National bank would give the states too much power
• He believed it was unconstitutional
• He had his own idea for a National Bank and wanted his own plan to work

Multiple Choice

Alexander Hamilton helped found the _________ Party.

• Green
• Democratic-Republican
• XYZ
• Federalist

Multiple Choice

_________ wanted to promote manufacturing, business, and industrialization. 

• Washington
• Burr
• Hamilton
• Jefferson

Multiple Choice

Hamilton believed that using bonds to repay Revolutionary war would _________.

• Help the national economy
• Be too risky for the US
• Increase the national debt
• Lead to a civil war 

Multiple Choice

Sedition is

• characterized by malice; intending or intended to do harm.

• conduct or speech inciting people to rebel against the authority of a state

• the action or crime of making a false spoken statement damaging to a person's reputation

• always a crime

Multiple Choice

The U.S. passed the Alien and Sedition Acts because . . . 

• The states were divided over military spending

• The economy was suffering

• A fear of French enemy spies living inside the U.S.

• Washington wanted to gain public support for his third term

Multiple Choice

Which of these BEST describes the purpose of the Alien and Sedition Acts?

• They prevented people from becoming citizens of the United States.

• They provided a means to safely protect the country from French invasion.

• They were meant to punish the Federalists who supported the National Bank.

• They were aimed at people who were criticizing President Adams' foreign policy.

Multiple Choice

Why were the Alien and Sedition Acts controversial?

• They were passed over President Adams' veto.

• Many thought they violated the Constitution.

• They failed to arrest any people they targeted.

• They were the first laws made under the new Constitution.

Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations

Adam Smith was an Scottish economist. He wrote a book called The Wealth of Nations, which was published in 1776. The ideas he sets out in the book have caused him to be called the father of capitalism. It argues for the establishment of free markets to allow maximum economic growth, which led to the economic philosophy of lassiez faire.

Multiple Choice

What book, written by Smith, is considered by many to be the cornerstone of capitalism and was Smith's most famous work?

• The Wealth of Nations

• Capitalism and its Implications

• Economics and Political Systems

Multiple Choice

Review this quote: "...he intends only his own security; and by directing that industry in such a manner as its produce may be of the greatest value, he intends only his own gain, and he is in this, as in many other cases, led by an invisible hand to promote an end which was no part of his intention. Nor is it always the worse for the society that it was no part of it. By pursuing his own interest he frequently promotes that of the society more effectually than when he really intends to promote it.  What is meant by the invisible hand?

• An actual invisible hand guides economic outcomes, and freedom is created. 
• The invisible hand is a metaphor or a symbol of "market forces" in the free-market system.  These market forces lead to good outcomes without any central planning. 

Multiple Choice

The economic system of the Age of Exploration that favored heavy government regulation, little freedom for individual people, and the use of colonies to benefit European nations is known as ...

• Capitalism

• Laissez-Faire

• Mercantilism

• Socialism

Multiple Choice

What was the territory named that Thomas Jefferson wanted Lewis & Clark to explore?

• Oregon Territory

• Texas Territory

• Louisiana Territory

• Alaskan Territory

Multiple Choice

Pinckney's Treaty allowed the United States to use ports and rivers near which state?

• Virginia

• Florida

• Texas

• California

Multiple Choice

Which treaty allowed the US to have Florida?

• Jay's Treaty

• Pinckney's Treaty

• Adams-Onis Treaty

• Proclamation of Neutrality

Multiple Choice

An American pioneer, explorer, trapper, mountain man, and soldier who founded the first U.S. settlement west of the Appalachian Mountains. He also explored the Kentucky wilderness.

• Daniel Boone

• Davey Crockett

• David Bowie

• Jedediah Smith

Multiple Choice

An American mountain man, hunter, and fur trapper who was the first person to travel from New York to California through the Rocky Mountains and the Mohave Desert.

• Kit Carson

• Jedediah Smith

• William Clark

• Meriwether Lewis

Multiple Choice

Andrew Jackson saw himself a champion of the ______ ____

• Rich business owner

• Native Americans

• Abolitionist Movement

• Common People

Multiple Choice

What was Andrew Jackson's most famous victory?

• Battle of Waterloo

• Battle of New Orleans

• Battle of Brooklyn and Queens

• Battle of Minnesota

Multiple Select

Jackson disliked the bank for which two reasons?

• Banks had foreclosed his homes

• He was very poor and didn't own any property

• He felt they didn't help the common people

• He was annoyed by the power of the National Bank

Multiple Choice

Why did Jackson create the Indian Removal Act?

• To get their profitable land within states' borders

• Out of sheer spite towards Native Americans

• Because Native Americans were revolting against other unfair anti-Native policies

• As a way to gain popularity by giving them free land in the west

Multiple Choice

In 1832 the Supreme Court ruled that Georgia did not have legal authority over the Cherokees living in the state. President Andrew Jackson responded to this decision by?

• filing another petition against the Cherokee Nation.
• ignoring the ruling and allowing Georgia to evict the Cherokee Nation.
• ordering state officials in Georgia to negotiate with the Cherokee Nation.
• asking Congress to pay reparations to the Cherokee Nation.

Multiple Choice

What did Jackson sign that allowed the U.S. government to take land from Native Americans?

• The Westward Expansion Act

• The Indian Removal Act

• The Native American Treaty Act

• The Manifest Destiny Act

Multiple Choice

Andrew Jackson fired people from the government and replaced them with people who supported him. This was called ______.

• Draining the swamp

• Staff Rotation

• The Spoils System

• Out with the old, in with the new

Multiple Choice

Jackson destroyed the 2nd National Bank because _____.

• It wasn't making any money

• It was causing the U.S. debt

• It had become corrupt and too powerful

• Poor people were in charge

Multiple Choice

What is Jacksonian Democracy?

• the idea that the common people should control their government

• the political party that supported Jackson in the election of 1828

• the notion that the rich and upper class should have the most power

• the nickname Andrew Jackson earned in the War of 1812

Multiple Choice

The nullification crisis occurred when

• the Supreme Court declared the tariff laws null and void.

• Congress refused Jackson's request to repeal the tariff laws.

• South Carolina threatened to secede if the tariff laws were enforced.

• Jackson threatened to make South Carolina leave the Union by force.

Multiple Choice

How did Andrew Jackson respond to the Supreme Court Worcester ruling?

• ordered the state officials to negotiate with the Cherokee

• filed another petition

• ignored the court's ruling and evicted the Cherokee Nation

Multiple Choice

Which bank was Andrew Jackson having a conflict with?

• First Bank of the United States

• Second Bank of the United States

• Pet Banks

• State Banks

Multiple Choice

Why were many more people allowed to vote during Andrew Jackson's presidency?

• A man didn't have to own property anymore to vote
• tariffs were lowered
• women gained the right to vote
• African Americans were allowed to vote

Multiple Choice

Vice President who declared that the states had the right to nullify any federal law with which they disagreed was who? This guy said people in South Carolina didn't have to pay the tariffs.

• John Marshall

• Martin Van Buren

• John Douglas

• John C. Calhoun

Multiple Choice

What year did Lincoln become president?

• 2017
• 1861
• 1700
• 1455

Multiple Choice

His Gettysburg Address became a historic clarion call for

• nationalism, republicanism, equal rights, liberty, and democracy

• abolishing slavery, bolstering the federal government, and modernizing the U.S. economy.

• Thirteenth Amendment

• re-election campaign

Multiple Choice

1. Who is reported to have told Harriet Beecher Stowe,

2. “So you are the little woman who wrote the book that started this great war?”

• 1. Francis Scott Key

• 1. John Jay

• 1. Abraham Lincoln

• Walt Whitman

Multiple Choice

Lincoln was assasinated by

• John Wikes Booth

• Mary

• Ford's theatre officials

• Stephen Douglas

Multiple Choice

The day Abraham Lincoln died was

• April 14,1865

• October 10,1865

• January 30,1865

• April 4,1865

Multiple Choice

The adding of a region to the territory to a country.

The United States accomplished this in several parts of the country:

Louisiana Purchase (1803), East Florida (1819), Texas (1845), Hawaii (1900), etc.

• Cesession

• Annexation

• Adoption

• Certification

Multiple Choice

Which of the following is an accurate statement about the advantages and disadvantages of the North and South at the beginning of the Civil War?

• The South had to establish a functioning central government to oversee the war and the governance of the states, whereas the North had an existing federal government

• The South and the North were about even in the amount of railroad track and railroads that each had

• The South had better military leaders than the North and a superior naval force

• The South had more farms and grew more of its own food than the North did

Multiple Choice

Which of the following created a crisis between the United States and Great Britain at the beginning of the Civil War?

• Ostend Manifesto

• Trent Affair

• Union blockade of Southern ports

• use of African Americans as laborers but not soldiers

Multiple Choice

All of the following were border states EXCEPT

• Maryland

• Kentucky

• Delaware

• West Virginia

Multiple Choice

"That any person drafted and notified to appear . . . may, on or before the day fixed for his appearance, furnish an acceptable substitute to take his place in the draft; or he may pay . . . such sum, not exceeding three hundred dollars . . . for the [procurement] of such substitute. . ."

• use of African Americans as laborers for the Union Army

• the rise of the Know-Nothing Party in protest

• draft riots in New York City

• establishment of African American units in the Union Army

Multiple Choice

Which of the following was not passed by Congress while the Civil War was being fought?

• Pacific Railroad Act

• Wade-Davis Bill

• National Banking Acts

• Homestead Act

Multiple Choice

All of the following were steps on the way to the Civil War EXCEPT

• issue of nullification

• Compromise of 1820

• Dred Scott decision

• American System

Multiple Choice

The decision in Scott v. Sandford did all of the following EXCEPT

• declare that slaves were the property of their owners

• find that slaves as noncitizens could not file lawsuits in court

• declare that states did not have the right to ban slavery

• declare the Missouri Compromise unconstitutional in its banning of slavery in territories

Black Codes

Laws denying most legal rights to newly freed slaves passed by southern states during the Reconstruction period right after the Civil War. Later, the same type of laws became known as Jim Crows.

Multiple Choice

All of the following are true about Reconstruction EXCEPT

• very few white Southerners were punished for taking part in secession

• a pattern of discrimination against African Americans developed across the South

• land was confiscated and redistributed to freedmen

• the Fourteenth Amendment was ratified by all Southern states as a condition for readmission

Multiple Choice

One group outside the South that was interested in seeing an end to Reconstruction was

• Northern businessmen

• Western ranchers

• labor unions

• Midwestern meatpackers