American History Quiz

The authors of the Declaration of Independence used the phrase “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” to identify

• Natural rights

• States rights

• Legal rights

• Economic Rights

The French and Indian War was the continuation of a struggle for power by which two world powers?

• France and Spain

• France and Portugal

• France and India

• France and Great Britain

In this passage, the authors are stating that:

• both men and women should have equal voting rights

• state governments created the United States government

• power belongs to the people of the nation

• people obtain their rights from their monarch

After the Revolution, Southern leaders did not want to end slavery because

• they believed that indentured servitude would eventually replace slavery.

• they feared that freed Africans would eventually win control of government.

• enslaved Africans from the South had fought with the British in the Revolution.

• the South relied on enslaved labor to sustain its agricultural economy.

The nation’s first two political parties were the Federalists and the

• Independents

• Antifederalists

• Jeffersonians

• Democratic-Republicans

The Great Compromise reached at the Constitutional Convention resulted in the

• formation of the Supreme Court

• creation of a bicameral legislature

• development of a two-party system

• ban on the importation of enslaved Africans

Federalism is best defined as a principle of government that

• divides power between the central government and state governments

• includes a system of checks and balances

• allows the states to nullify national laws

• places the most power in the hands of the legislative branch

Shays' Rebellion (1786) became a concern for many national leaders because it

• indicated there would be future conflicts over the spread of slavery

• exposed fundamental weaknesses in government under the Articles of Confederation

• pointed to the need for federal government regulation of interstate commerce

• showed that frontier settlements were vulnerable to raids by Native American Indians

Supporters of the idea of Manifest Destiny believed that

• white men were meant to civilize the Native Americans.

• the United States was meant to become the greatest nation in the world.

• the nation was meant to spread all the way to the Pacific.

• Christianity was meant to spread across the country and around the world.

The Louisiana Purchase (1803) was a foreign policy success for the United States primarily because it

• secured full control of Florida from Spain

• ended French control of the Mississippi River

• ended British occupation of forts on American soil

• eliminated Russian influence in North America