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Progressive Era

Total questions: 20

Worksheet time: 14mins

Name
Class
Date
1.

In the second half of the 1800s, which development led to the other three?

a)

expansion of political machines

b)

growth of American cities

c)

development of tenement housing

d)

increase in crime

2.

Many of the business trusts created in the late 1800s were eventually declared illegal primarily

because they

a)

eliminated competition by forming monopolies

b)

combined companies that manufactured different products

c)

donated large sums of money to political candidates

d)

allowed children to work under unsafe conditions

3.

During the late 1800s, many United States farmers believed their economic problems would be solved if the federal government would

a)

raise interest rates

b)

outlaw strikes by labor unions

c)

put more money into circulation

d)

regulate the amount of grain that was produced

4.

Following Reconstruction, the passage of Jim Crow laws in the South limited the effectiveness of

a)

the 14th and 15th amendments

b)

the Freedmen’s Bureau

c)

Black Codes

d)

tenant farming and sharecropping

5.

The term muckraker was used during the Progressive Era to describe

a)

dissatisfied workers who went on strike

b)

Northerners who went South following the Civil War

c)

investigative journalists who exposed societal problems

d)

women who supported the Prohibition movement

6.

Congress passed the Interstate Commerce Act (1887) and the Sherman Antitrust Act (1890) in response to

a)

foreign influences on the United States economy

b)

public demand for better roads

c)

monopolistic practices that were harmful to small businesses

d)

the failure of federal banks to provide loans to individuals

7.

During the late 1800s, an open immigration policy was most strongly supported by

a)

abolitionists

b)

conservationists

c)

yellow journalists

d)

industrialists

8.

In the late 1800s, the term robber baron was used to describe some owners of big businesses primarily because they

a)

favored free trade

b)

eliminated competition using ruthless methods

c)

opposed the formation of corporations

d)

provided workers with high wages

9.

Which Progressive Era muckraker’s book led to the passage of the Meat Inspection Act?

a)

Jacob Riis’s How the Other Half Lives

b)

Lincoln Steffens’s The Shame of the Cities

c)

Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle

d)

Frank Norris’s The Octopus

10.

In 1906, the Pure Food and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act were passed in an attempt to

a)

ensure the safety of American consumers

b)

establish price controls on the cattle industry

c)

limit the power of Congress

d)

give big business greater control over the economy

11.

Which statement best describes an attitude shared by John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, and J. P. Morgan?

a)

Economic competition is inefficient and wasteful.

b)

Strong labor unions are essential to the health of the economy.

c)

Natural resources belong to all citizens and should not be used for private gain.

d)

Concentrating economic power in the hands of a few individuals is a threat to the country

12.

A major cause of antagonism toward the “new immigrants” who came to the United States after 1880 was the belief that they

a)

were better educated than native-born Americans

b)

had a higher standard of living than most Americans

c)

adapted easily to American culture

d)

competed with Americans for jobs as unskilled laborers

13.

“…We therefore formulate, and for ourselves adopt the following pledge, asking our sisters and brothers of a common danger and a common hope, to make common cause with us, in working its reasonable and helpful precepts [principles] into the practice of everyday life. I hereby solemnly promise, God helping me, to abstain from all distilled, fermented and malt liquors, including wine, beer and cider, and to employ all proper means to discourage the use of and traffic in the same.…” — National Woman’s Christian Temperance Union, 1908 (adapted)


According to this passage, those who adopted this pledge believed that

a)

religion had no place in national politics

b)

Congress should repeal Prohibition

c)

alcohol consumption was damaging to society

d)

only the government can solve social problems

14.

One major goal of the Progressive movement was to

a)

balance the federal budget by decreasing spending

b)

provide unemployment insurance to workers

c)

limit direct citizen control over government

d)

pass laws to help solve economic and social problems

15.

In the latter half of the 1800s, a large labor supply, an abundance of natural resources, and the construction of new railroads contributed most directly to the

a)

growth of American industry

b)

dependence on imported goods

c)

demand for limits on immigration

d)

rejection of high tariffs by the United States

16.

What was the purpose of states adopting initiative, referendum, and recall during the Progressive Era?

a)

supporting new political parties

b)

increasing the power of voters over the political process

c)

reestablishing property qualifications for voting

d)

extending voting rights to immigrants

17.

In the early 1900s, Progressives succeeded in strengthening federal control over the money supply by...

a)

passing the Clayton Antitrust Act

b)

creating the Federal Reserve System

c)

enacting the Underwood Tariff bill

d)

establishing the gold standard

18.

The Granger movement and the formation of the Populist Party were similar in that each was an

effort to

a)

end the practice of sharecropping

b)

improve conditions for farmers

c)

provide housing for urban dwellers

d)

increase profits for railroad companies

19.

In passing the Sherman Antitrust Act (1890),Congress intended to

a)

prevent large corporations from eliminating their competition

b)

distinguish good trusts from bad trusts

c)

regulate rates charged by railroads

d)

force large trusts to bargain with labor unions

20.

The Federal Reserve System was created in 1913 to

a)

authorize Congress to set interest rates

b)

regulate the nation’s money supply

c)

allow the government to own the nation’s banks

d)

take over the responsibility of printing money