American History 1 Pre-Assessment

The great rule of conduct for us in regard to foreign nations is in extending our commercial relations, to have with them as little political connection as possible. So far as we have already formed engagements, let them be fulfilled with perfect good faith. Here let us stop. Europe has a set of primary interests which to us have none; or a very remote relation. Hence she must be engaged in frequent controversies, the causes of which are essentially foreign to our concerns. Hence, therefore, it must be unwise in us to implicate ourselves by artificial ties in the ordinary vicissitudes of her politics, or the ordinary combinations and collisions of her friendships or enmities. Why forego the advantages of so peculiar a situation? Why quit our own to stand upon foreign ground? Why, by interweaving our destiny with that of any part of Europe, entangle our peace and prosperity in the toils of European ambition, rivalship, interest, humor, or caprice.
George Washington, Farewell Address, 1796 Courtesy of The Avalon Project at Yale Law School
 In his farewell address, how did George Washington attempt to influence the foreign policy of the United States?

• He advised the nation to favor those countries with commercial ties to the United States.
• He encouraged politicians to promote a foreign policy of imperialism.
• He recommended a policy of neutrality with other nations. 
• He advocated for an alliance with European nations.

Americans must rule America; and to this end native-born citizens should be elected for all State, Federal and municipal offices of government employment, in preference to all others.
Persons born of American parents residing temporarily abroad, should be entitled to all the rights of native-born citizens.
 No person should be selected for political station (whether of native or foreign birth), who recognizes any allegiance or obligation of any description to any foreign prince, potentate, or power, or who refuses to recognize the Federal and State Constitutions (each within its sphere) as paramount to all other laws, as rules of political action.
The unequaled recognition and maintenance of the reserved rights of the several States, and the cultivation of harmony and fraternal good-will between the citizens of the several States, and to this end, non-interference by Congress with questions appertaining solely to the individual States, and non-intervention by each State with the affairs of any other State.
How did the American Party respond to the immigration of Germans in the Midwest and Irish in the East?

• It built low-cost government housing projects to accommodate the influx of European immigrants
• It called for the exclusion of people born outside of the United States from voting or holding office.
• It created education and job-training programs to help immigrants integrate into American society.
• It proposed an amendment to make English the national language and ban the speaking of foreign languages. 

In a response letter to John Holmes in April 1820 concerning the Missouri question, Thomas Jefferson wrote:
This momentous question, like a fire bell in the night, awakened and filled me with terror. I considered it at once as the [death] knell of the Union . . . but this is a reprieve only, not a final sentence. A geographical line, coinciding with a marked principle, moral and political, once conceived and held up to the angry passions of men, will never be obliterated; and every new irritation will mark it deeper and deeper . . . the cession of that kind of property, . . . would not cost me in a second thought, if . . . a general emancipation . . . could be effected . . . but, as it is, we have the wolf by the ear, and we can neither hold him, nor safely let him go. Justice is in one scale, and self-preservation in the other.
Why did Jefferson believe that the passage of the Missouri Compromise would deepen sectional conflict? 

• Each enactment by Congress that took power away from the states would have built more resentment. 
• While some wanted slavery to end immediately, others wanted it to end gradually. 
• Americans would have argued forever over the line, once it was created. 
• Adding new states would have recreated the competition. 

I appeal to you, my friends, as mothers: are you willing to enslave your children? You start back with horror and indignation at such a question. But why, if slavery is no wrong to those upon whom it is imposed?
Angelina Grimké, An Appeal to the Christian Women of the South, 1836
How did Angelina Grimké′s religious beliefs affect her participation in the abolitionist movement? 

• Mrs. Grimké focused on urging slave owners in the South to free their slaves in order to avoid punishment from God
• Mrs. Grimké worked to convince women, as Christians and mothers, that slavery was immoral and should be abolished. 
• Mrs. Grimké led political protests and petitioned the federal government to end slavery immediately. 
• Mrs. Grimké used the Bible to defend her roles as both slave owner and advocate for the spread of slavery

Fellow Citizens, I am not wanting in respect for the fathers of this republic. The signers of the Declaration of Independence were brave men. . . . The point from which I am compelled to view them is not, certainly, the most favorable; and yet I cannot contemplate their great deeds with less than admiration. They were statesmen, patriots and heroes, and for the good they did, and the principles they contended for, I will unite with you to honor their memory. . . .

What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? I answer; a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciation of tyrants, brass fronted impudence; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your religious parade and solemnity, are, to Him, mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy— a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages. There is not a nation on the earth guilty of practices more shocking and bloody than are the people of the United States, at this very hour.

Frederick Douglass, July 5, 1852

What understanding did Frederick Douglass wish to convey in his speech, What to a Slave is the Fourth of July?

• the extent to which slavery and citizenship share common characteristics

• the degree to which slaves were denied the civil rights they were granted in the U.S. Constitution

• the connection between the right to vote and the realization of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”

• the contrast between the ideals expressed in the Declaration of Independence and the realities of slavery

How did the outcome of the Mexican-American War, which added new lands to America, increase sectional tensions throughout the 1850s? 

• Southern farmers resented the wealth gained from California gold. 
• Texas and California did not desire statehood, which angered New England politicians. 
• Territorial expansion led to intense debates about the extension of slavery into the new areas. 
• Agriculture became the dominant economic activity in the new areas, which threatened manufacturing interests. 

What is one reason people wanted change to the Articles of Confederation?

• They opposed the Land Ordinance of 1785.
• They didn't want the government to have only 1 branch. 
• Central government was weak and ineffective.
• State government was weak and ineffective.

From 1800 to 1860, what had the greatest economic impact on the South?

• Tobacco
• Cotton
• Rice
• Slavery

What was the primary justification for the Mexican War (and other US territorial expansion)?

• gold
• Manifest Destiny
• Great Awakening
• Religious Freedom

What was the immediate cause of South Carolina's secession?

• election of Andrew Johnson
• election of Andrew Jackson
• election of Abraham Lincoln
• election of George Washington