US Studies Final Exam Practice - Greene

Between 1492 and 1608, the Native American population had been reduced by as much as 90%. This decrease in population was mainly a result of

• crop failures brought on by poor weather conditions.

• emigration of Native Americans to Europe and Africa. 

• wars between various native groups.

• diseases introduced to North America by European settlers.

The Columbian Exchange can best be described as 

• the naval battle off the coast of England in which cannonballs were exchanged between two European navies.

• a cultural collision that transformed the natural environment and human cultures in the New World.

• the arrival of Christopher Columbus in the New World.

• the exploration of the North American continent by French fur traders and Spanish conquistadors.

Progressive reformers believed that 

• human nature could be improved through enlightenment and that the power of the federal government could be used to improve the individual and transform society.

• Americans who lived in cities were destined to live lives of pain and poverty and that nothing could be done about that.

• it was a “dog eat dog” world and that only the strong were meant to survive.

• the 16th, 18th, and 19th Amendments were unnecessary and ought to be repealed.

On June 29, 1892, Henry Clay Frick

• agreed to end discrimination in the steel manufacturing industry.

• locked the members of the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers (AA) out of the Homestead Steelworks plant. 

• agreed to raise the wages for all of the  members of the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers.

• admitted that he “blew up the chicken man in Philly last night.”

The purpose of the Civil Service Act was

• to end discrimination by railroads against small businesses.

• to outlaw business monopolies.

• to curb government corruption by requiring applicants for certain governmental jobs to take a competitive examination.

• to improve tenement housing in New York City.

The term urbanization refers to

• the movement of populations from urban to rural areas.

• the movement of populations from rural to urban areas.

• the electrification of large portions of a city or town.

• the growing reliance of the American public on the automobile.

John D. Rockefeller

• patented the telephone and worked with financiers and businessmen to create a national telephone company.

• created the Standard Oil Company which eventually controlled 95% of the oil refining industry.

• originally invested in the oil fields but quickly focused on steel production and eventually bought the Homestead Steel Works.

• invented the practical incandescent light bulb and created a company that supplied electrical current to customers in New York City.

During and after the Civil War, the United States  

• shifted from a primarily rural, agricultural economy to a primarily urban, industrialized economy.

• reached an agreement with the British to allow for the occupation of Charleston, South Carolina by British troops.

• shifted from a primarily urban, industrialized economy to a primarily rural, agricultural economy.

• returned ownership of the land included in the Louisiana Purchase to France.

The 13th Amendment

• abolished slavery in the United States.

• restricted the civic participation of recently freed African Americans.

• gave Black men the right to vote.

• guaranteed citizenship for formerly enslaved African Americans.

Historians agree that the primary cause of the Civil War was

• states’ rights.

• slavery.

• Northern industrialization.

• Southern agrarianism (farming).