7th Grade NY SS Diagnostic Test

The earliest known civilization in North America is the following:

• Aztec.

• Inca.

• Maya.

• Olmec.

What does Renaissance mean?

• awakening

• enlightenment

• knowledge

• rebirth

Finding a sea route to Asia was significant because it

• gave Europeans the opportunity to hold political positions in foreign lands.

• allowed Europeans to bypass merchants who monopolized trade.

• introduced Europeans to new investors who would support exploration.

• showed Europeans that interactions with Asians were nothing new.

Searches for a Northwest Passage were significant because they

• caused France and Italy to claim land in North America.

• raised European interest in North America.

• led French and Italian sailors to sail for other nations.

• resulted in the peaceful division of North America among European powers.

What was the Great Awakening?

• a movement of thinkers who believed in the idea that reason and logic could improve social and political life

• the migration of thousands of English people to the New England colonies and the Caribbean islands

• the series of witchcraft trials in which groups of young girls accused church ministers of casting spells

• a religious movement that swept through the colonies and changed colonial religion, society, and politics

The Boston Tea Party was significant because it showed how

• unhappy colonists were with new British laws.

• important tea was to colonists in relation to other imports.

• easily colonists could tell cheap tea from expensive tea.

• angry colonists were even before the Boston Massacre.

Why was the phrase “taxation without representation” so important to the revolutionary cause?

• Colonists did not wish to support a government in which they had no voice.

• Great Britain would have ended taxation if colonists had kept the peace.

• Colonists believed that Great Britain should only tax certain items.

• Great Britain only taxed the colonists to force them into war.

According to the Constitution, what is the role of the judicial branch?

• giving legal advice

• interpreting the law

• writing new laws

• setting legal precedents

The framers of the Constitution created a system of checks and balances to

• outline the powers held by each branch of government.

• keep any one branch of government from becoming too powerful.

• give the people an opportunity to control the government.

• strengthen the powers held by each branch of government.

The Bill of Rights was added to the Constitution to

• protect citizens’ rights.

• limit the powers of state governments.

• outline the rights of the federal government.

• state the ways in which citizens can participate in government.