American Pageant Chapter 10

Why did the Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton want the federal government to assume state debts accumulated during the American Revolution?  

• He wanted to put new republic on more solid financial ground.
• He hoped to end the practice of speculating.
• He wanted to prove the federal treasury was solid enough to handle the debt. 
• He hoped to shift wealthy creditors’ obligations and allegiances from the states to the federal government.  

Leaders chose a site along the Potomac River for the nation’s capital city (ultimately, Washington D.C) in 1790 because   

• It was centrally located between northern and southern states.  
• It was close to the homes of several leaders, including President George Washington and Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson
• It would ensure that Virginia would vote in favor of Hamilton’s plan for federal assumption of state war debts.  
• Its strategic location would ensure the collection of customs and duties needed to pay down the national debts.

Which of the following was NOT part of Hamilton’s economic program for the new nation?  

• Protecting well-to-do manufacturing interests  
• Establishing a national bank  
• Setting an excise tax  
• Limiting the power of the central government

The “loose construction” interpretation of the Constitution refers to the notion that

• In carrying out its duties, the central government can take any measures not specifically prohibited by the Constitution
• All powers not expressly given to the central government belong to the states.
• Congress may pass only those laws and take only those actions deemed necessary to conduct the business of the United States.
• The central government can only act as defined by the Constitution

Which were the first two political parties in America?

• Federalist and Anti-federalists
• National Republicans and Democratic Republicans
• Democratic-Republicans and Federalists
• Whigs and Tories

Alexander Hamilton urged Congress to pass a protective tariff to encourage the growth of

• labor unions
• manufacturing
• agriculture
• slavery

The United States became involved in an undeclared war with France in 1797 because of

• fierce American opposition to the concessions of Jay's Treaty
• American anger at attempted French bribery of America diplomats in the XYZ Affair
• French interference with American shipping and freedom of the seas
• France's refusal to sell New Orleans and Louisiana

Thomas Jefferson and the Republican Party essentially believed that the whole future of American society rested on an essential foundation of

• wealthy planters and merchants
• international trade and westward expansion
• free, white, educated, small landowning farmers
• a political coalition of whites and African Americans

The Federalists essentially believed that

• most governmental power should be retained by the states or by the people themselves
• the federal government should provide no special aid to private business
• the common people could, if educate,d participate in governmental affairs
• the United States should have a powerful central government controlled by the wealthy and well educated

The deep disagreement between Hamilton and Jefferson over the proposed Bank of the United States was over whether

• the Constitution granted the federal government the power to establish such a bank
• it would be economically wise to create a bank-guaranteed national currency
• the bank should be under the control of the federal government or the states
• such a Bank violated the Bill of Rights