EMK US History 1 h

Which of the following is an accurate description of the growth of cities by the mid-1800s?

• The largest centers of population had shifted to the Midwest.

• Cities were ringed by factories.

• Cities were becoming separated into neighborhoods based on socioeconomic levels.

• Sewer systems, regular garbage collection, and public water systems had come into wide use.

• Cities were safer because of street lights at night and traffic lights at intersections.

Answer explanation

The correct answer is Cities were becoming separated into neighborhoods based on socioeconomic levels. In colonial times, socioeconomic classes lived in close proximity to one another. Shopkeepers and artisans usually lived where or close to where they worked.

The Whig Party was replaced as a major party in the two-party system by the

• Democratic Party

• Democratic-Republican Party

• Loyalists

• Republican Party

• Bull Moose Party

Answer explanation

The correct answer is Republican Party.

Democratic Party is the party of Andrew Jackson, which is descended from the Democratic-Republican Party, the party of Jefferson.

Loyalists is incorrect, but might trip you up because it sounds familiar. It's the name given to supporters of Great Britain during the American Revolution.

Bull Moose Party is the splinter party that Theodore Roosevelt founded when he bolted the Republican Party to run for President in 1912.

The majority of pioneers in Oregon and the Puritans in Massachusetts had which of the following motivations in common?

• look for gold

• establish a theocracy (a form of government run by church leaders)

• escape repressive government policies

• better themselves financially

• convert the Native Americans to Christianity

Answer explanation

The correct answer is better themselves financially. One of the basic motivations for emigration and immigration alike was to better one's self financially.

Neither group was interested in finding gold.

Forming a theocracy was a motive only for the Puritans; a theocracy is a government system on the rule of God.

Escaping government policies is illogical since the pioneers in Oregon were going to an area claimed by the United States.

Don't be confused because every history textbook seems to mention the Whitmans and their efforts to Christianize the Native Americans. That wasn't the motive of most emigrants to Oregon.

Which of the following was meant to stop Congress from considering anti-slavery petitions?

• committee system

• censure

• filibuster

• cloture

• gag rule

Answer explanation

The correct answer is gag rule.

Committee system doesn't make sense because that's how Congress conducts business, by the committee system.

Censure is what Southern members of Congress tried to do to Senator John Quincy Adams who fought an eight-year battle to repeal the gag rule.

Filibuster is a tactic used in the Senate to forestall a vote on a bill.

Cloture, is a parliamentary procedure by which debate is ended and a vote taken on a bill.

Most white Southern families

• were plantation owners

• were tenant farmers

• lived on the frontier

• lived at subsistence level

• owned fewer than 20 slaves

Answer explanation

The correct answer is lived at subsistence level. Most white Southern families lived on farms and raised crops for their own use.

All of the following were reasons that Southerners gave to justify slavery EXCEPT

• slavery helped slaves by guaranteeing them life-long employment and care

• the demand for cotton was on the increase

• raising cotton was very labor-intensive, so a cheap source of labor was needed

• the lack of a transportation network in the South meant there was no motivation to become industrialized

• slavery was cost-effective because the warm climate of the South allowed year-round cultivation of cotton

Answer explanation

The correct answer is the lack of a transportation network in the South meant there was no motivation to become industrialized.

Believe it or not, answer "slavery helped slaves by guaranteeing them life-long employment and care" was actually used to justify slavery. Southern plantation owners pointed to the conditions in Northern textile factories and claimed slavery was more beneficent.

Other answers provided reasons for continuing slavery. With an increasing demand for cotton, there was no end in sight to the profitability of slavery, and, therefore, no reason to abolish it.

Which of the following was NOT true about life in the North for free African Americans?

• The basis of African American community life was the black church.

• Although African Americans lived in segregated areas, their children did not attend segregated schools.

• Free African Americans had few civil rights.

• Free African Americans faced discrimination in public facilities such as streetcars and theaters.

• Free African Americans had limited job opportunities.

Answer explanation

The correct answer is although African Americans lived in segregated areas, their children did not attend segregated schools.. This wrong answer should have been easy to spot, because if African Americans lived in segregated housing, their children would have gone to segregated schools.

TIP: For NOT questions, remember to look for what isn't correct or true.

"Can people of a Territory in any lawful way, against the wishes of any citizen of the United States, exclude slavery from their limits prior to the formation of a State constitution? I answer emphatically, . . . that in my opinion the people of a Territory can by lawful means, exclude slavery from their limits prior to the formation of a State constitution." This quote is about

• annexation

• slave codes

• direct representation

• popular sovereignty

• virtual representation

Answer explanation

The correct answer is popular sovereignty. Stephen Douglas spoke these words in a debate with Abraham Lincoln during the Senatorial election campaign in Illinois in 1858. Douglas's answer to a question from Lincoln has become known as the Freeport Doctrine.

Direct representation and virtual representation are two principles that were involved in the American Revolution. Parliament claimed answer virtual representation and the colonists demanded direct representation.

Annexation and slave codes are distracters that are real terms but have nothing to do with the question.

All of the following increased tensions between North and South over slavery EXCEPT

• the Fugitive Slave Act

• Uncle Tom's Cabin

• "Bleeding Kansas"

• the rise of the Know-Nothing Party

• John Brown's raid

Answer explanation

The correct answer is the rise of the Know-Nothing Party. The Know-Nothing Party was founded to restrict immigrants and keep Roman Catholics from holding public office. Don't confuse it with the Free-Soil Party that was founded to stop the expansion of slavery into the territories.

The Fugitive Slave Act was one of the five laws that comprised the Compromise of 1850.

Uncle Tom's Cabin was written by Harriet Beecher Stowe and gave a face to slavery in the person of Uncle Tom.

"Bleeding Kansas" was the term given to the violence that erupted when it came time for Kansans to vote for or against slavery in their territory.

John Brown was an abolitionist who seized the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia, in an effort to start a slave insurrection.

The Ostend Manifesto

• demanded that Spain sell Florida to the United States

• was the formal agreement handing over the Louisiana Territory to the United States

• set the boundary between Canada and the United States

• denounced the annexation of Texas

• threatened a U.S.-supported revolution in Cuba if Spain would not sell the island to the United States

Answer explanation

The correct answer is threatened a U.S.-supported revolution in Cuba if Spain would not sell the island to the United States. The Ostend Manifesto was drawn up by three proslavery members of the Pierce administration to be submitted to Spain. The administration rejected the proposal as too inflammatory. The underlying purpose of the proposal was to gain additional slave states to support the South.