wayground logo

Free Printable Worksheets

NEW

Font size

S
M
L
XL
Worksheets

US History SDC Practice

Total questions: 50

Worksheet time: 36mins

Name
Class
Date
1.

By 1900, the richest ten percent controlled perhaps _____ percent of the nation’s wealth.

a)

5%

b)

66%

c)

75%

d)

90%

2.

Which of the following most accurately describes the arguments of Social Darwinism?

a)

State welfare and private charity would lead to degeneration by perpetuating the survival

of the weak.

b)

Religion was a force of weakness that modern society will inevitably eradicate.

c)

Scientific ideas the only source of true knowledge, therefore theories are just as valuable

as facts.

d)

Inequalities in wealth would lead to social unrest and eventual revolution.

3.

What did the Populists propose in the Omaha Platform?

a)

nationalizing the country’s railroad and telegraph systems to ensure that essential

services would be run in the best interests of the people

b)

establishment of a network of federally-managed warehouses, called subtreasuries,

which would extend government loans to farmers

c)

promoted an inflationary monetary policy by monetizing silver

d)

All of these

4.

What economic opportunity drew the most migrants to the West?

a)

railroad work

b)

gold mining

c)

military work as Indian fighters

d)

access to land for agriculture

5.

Most practices and objects associated with American cowboys were modified from ______

ranchers.

a)

Mexican

b)

Native American

c)

African

d)

British-Canadian

6.

The Paiute prophet Wovoka promised that which of the following would occur if Indians obeyed

his instructions and participated in the ceremony that came to be called the Ghost Dance

a)

Dead relatives would return to Earth.

b)

Drought would end and the buffalo would return.

c)

Anglo settlers would disappear in an apocalyptic disaster.

d)

All of these

7.

How did railroads transform the American economy?

a)

created a new white color middle class of managers

b)

inspired the development of organized labor to meet the needs of a permanent working

class

c)

increased the role of government in the economy

d)

All of these

8.

By 1890, in most large northern cities, immigrants and their children amounted to what percent

of the population?

a)

20 %

b)

33%

c)

50%

d)

60%

9.

_______ wrote an influential book, Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All Its Phases and helped

inspire the anti-lynching movement.

a)

Ida Tarbell

b)

Ida B. Wells

c)

Lincoln Steffens

d)

Booker T Washington

10.

What was the Lost Cause?

a)

A belief that the South could never have won the war because northern soldiers exerted

greater virtue and courage.

b)

A glorification of the memory of the Confederacy and a romanticization of the Old South

as a pastoral land with benevolent masters and happy slaves.

c)

The belief among northerners that southerners would never accept racial equality.

d)

All of these

11.

Which of the following definition best describes the work of muckrakers?

a)

investigative journalists

b)

organized crime hitmen

c)

social workers

d)

legislators who defended lynching

12.

What legal principle was enshrined by the Supreme Court case Plessy v. Ferguson?

a)

Habeas corpus

b)

Separate but equal

c)

No taxation without representation

d)

lynch law

13.

Why did so many die in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire?

a)

unsafe working conditions

b)

racial violence

c)

corrupt law enforcement

d)

union protests

14.

W.E.B. Du Bois, founder the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, broke

with his former mentor Booker T. Washington because, Du Bois believed that Washington

a)

was not bold enough

b)

was too radical

c)

was corrupt and immoral

d)

lacked the skills to organize a large movement

15.

Which of the following writers most effectively used photography in their work?

a)

Upton Sinclair

b)

Jacob Riis

c)

Edward Bellamy

d)

Ida B. Wells

16.

What was the particular spark that ignited World War I?

a)

the sinking of the Lusitania

b)

Germany’s adoption of the Schlieffen Plan

c)

assassination of Archduke Ferdinand and Grand Duchess Sophie

d)

formation of the Triple Entente

17.

What was the Zimmerman Telegram?

a)

A German offer to help Mexico recover land lost in the Mexican-American War if Mexico

would side with Germany in WWI.

b)

The means by which European nations learned of the Russian Revolution and the

collapse of Czar Nicholas II.

c)

The misinterpreted message from the Ottoman Empire that resulted in the Ottomans

siding with the Triple Entente.

d)

The means by which the American people learned of the sinking of the Lusitania.

18.

Why did the League of Nations fail?

a)

refusal of the Germans to cooperate

b)

opposition from Britain, who was more interested in extending its empire

c)

French demands for war reparations

d)

American refusals to join

19.

What was the Red Summer of 1919?

a)

communist revolts in Eastern Europe

b)

a failed communist revolution in Mexico

c)

racial violence in twenty-five American cities

d)

All of these

20.

What was the primary purpose of the failed Equal Rights Amendment?

a)

require the enforcement of the Fifteenth Amendment

b)

give women the right to vote

c)

prosecute lynchings

d)

eliminate all legal distinctions based on sex

21.

How did increased availability of consumer credit in the 1920s influence American expenditures?

a)

expenditures decreased

b)

expenditures increased

c)

There was no significant change in expenditures.

d)

Consumer credit became less available in the 1920s.

22.

Two events are widely credited with inspiring the rebirth of the Ku Klux Klan. One is the release

of the film The Birth of the Nation. What was the second?

a)

death of Colonel William Joseph Simmons

b)

lynching of Leo Frank

c)

end of World War

d)

creation of a Women’s Auxiliary in Indianapolis, Indiana

23.

What was the Bonus Army?

a)

Bankers who were criticized in the press after receiving massive bonuses during the

Great Depression.

b)

The men under the command of General Douglas MacArthur who forcibly cleared the

Hooverville that had formed in Washington D.C.

c)

Hoover’s team of financial advisers who designed the Reconstruction Finance

Corporation.

d)

A group of World War I veterans who petitioned the government to make an early

payment on bonuses scheduled to be released in 1945.

24.

The environmental catastrophe of the Great Depression was partly the result of agricultural

mismanagement. Which of the following was the most consequential example of this

mismanagement?

a)

Farmers plowed up natural ground cover to grow more crops, cover that had taken ages

to form in the relatively dry states of the Plains.

b)

creating excessive windbreaks which ironically enhanced windstorms

c)

insufficient irrigation

d)

excessive fertilization that poisoned groundwater

25.

What did the Works Progress Administration do?

a)

gave grants to private corporations to build new manufacturing plants, thereby creating

new manufacturing jobs

b)

put unemployed men and women to work on projects designed and proposed by local

governments

c)

coordinated employment through a new bureaucracy in attempt to discourage racial

discrimination in hiring

d)

dismantled the first public housing program in favor of privatizing low income housing

26.

What was the most dramatic result of the 1938 Fair Labor Standards Act?

a)

the suspension of a minimum wage in attempt to encourage hiring

b)

created a vast physical infrastructure of roads, highways, and rail lines to fuel economic

development in the South

c)

suspended collective bargaining rights for unions in industries deemed essential for

national security

d)

the creation of a national minimum wage

27.

Britain and France declared war on Germany after which of the following occurred?

a)

the annexation of Austria

b)

the seizure of the Sudetenland

c)

the seizure of the remaining territory in Czechoslovakia

d)

the invasion of Poland

28.

Approximately how many civilians were killed by the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and

Nagasaki?

a)

80,000

b)

180,000

c)

500,000

d)

nearly one million

29.

Of the over 110,000 Japanese-descended Americans who were detained in internment camps,

approximately how many were American citizens?

a)

zero

b)

25,000

c)

50,000

d)

70,000

30.

Greece and Turkey were early flashpoints in the Cold War. How did the United States respond to

unrest in Greece and Turkey in 1947?

a)

The United States established long range missiles in these nations, capable of reaching

Moscow.

b)

The United States sent military advisers to train anti-communist forces in both countries.

c)

The United States actively intervened in Greece but not in Turkey.

d)

The United States sent $400 million to both nations to be used in resisting communism.

31.

How did President Eisenhower attempt to prevent a Soviet Attack on the United States?

a)

by creating a satellite-based missile shield

b)

issuing a policy of détente to increase diplomatic cooperation

c)

by promising “massive retaliation” and appealing to the logic of “mutually-assured

destruction”

d)

All of these

32.

All of the following events related to the Korean War are true EXCEPT

a)

Communist forces took Seoul.

b)

The United Nations established the 38th Parallel as the boundary between North and

South Korea.

c)

China sent nearly one million soldiers to repulse the UN-backed attack.

d)

An armistice was never officially signed.

33.

Why was Emmett Till murdered?

a)

allegedly whistling at a white woman

b)

refusing to give up a bus seat to a white woman

c)

sneaking into a movie theater with a white girlfriend

d)

protesting segregation in Mississippi public schools

34.

The churches most common in suburban America in the post WWII era most frequently

celebrated which of the following cultural values?

a)

social justice

b)

economic individualism

c)

nonviolence and peacemaking

d)

communal unity

35.

How did the first freedom ride end?

a)

Angry mobs composed of KKK members attacked the riders in Birmingham, Alabama,

burned one of the buses and beat the activists who escaped.

b)

The riders were arrested in Montgomery, Alabama.

c)

The ride was peaceful and ignored by both southerners and northern media.

d)

The ride drew protests and media attention, but there was no violence.

36.

President Johnson proposed the Voting Rights Act of 1965 partially in response to what event in

Selma, Alabama?

a)

bombing of an African American church

b)

“Bloody Sunday” the beating of peaceful marchers by police officers

c)

the jailing of Martin Luther King, Jr.

d)

the assassination of Malcolm X

37.

The National Indian Youth Council (NIYC) differed from the National Congress of American

Indians (NCAI) because the NIYC

a)

emphasized the legal importance of treaty rights

b)

employed direct action tactics and more combative rhetoric

c)

were more interested in cultural preservation than legal strategies of resistance

d)

showed less interest in issues of sovereignty and self-determination

38.

Betty Friedan’s Feminine Mystique focused on what primary issue?

a)

employment discrimination based on gender

b)

rising incidents of rape and sexual violence

c)

the problems facing women in poverty

d)

feelings of dissatisfaction with life as a housewife

39.

What was the subject of Rachel Carson’s book Silent Spring?

a)

environmental dangers of pesticides

b)

threats of nuclear war

c)

persistence of sexism in the 1960s

d)

the role of religion in the Civil Rights movement

40.

All of the following are true about the Gulf of Tonkin incident and the ensuing resolution

EXCEPT

a)

served as justification for the assassination of Ngo Diem.

b)

It resulted from a minor naval conflict.

c)

The Johnson administration distorted the incident to provide a pretext for escalating

American involvement in Vietnam.

d)

The resolution authorized the president to send bombs and troops into Vietnam.

41.

All of the following led to the economic development of the Sun Belt EXCEPT

a)

Cheap, nonunionized labor, low wages, and lax regulations stole northern industries

away from the Rust Belt.

b)

resurgence in southern agriculture

c)

Massive federal subsidies, including military spending, created new jobs.

d)

The development of modern air conditioning made the climate more tolerable.

42.

How did racism influence the growth of the modern Republican Party?

a)

Republicans defended white supremacy in their official party platforms.

b)

Democrats took the lead in passing civil rights legislation, pushing many white

Americans toward the Republican Party.

c)

Members of the Ku Klux Klan were embraced by the Democratic Party, pushing

moderates toward the Republicans.

d)

Richard Nixon’s administration actively recruited black political appointees, creating a

backlash against the Republican Party.

43.

Which of the Reconstruction Amendments created a federal definition of citizenship for the first

time in American history?

a)

the 13th Amendment

b)

the 14th Amendment

c)

the 15th Amendment

d)

the 16th Amendment

44.

During Reconstruction, southern African Americans’ definitions of freedom included

a)

the ability to move to new places or to new jobs

b)

the ability to receive an education for adults and children

c)

the ability to reunite their families

d)

All of these

45.

How was sharecropping a compromise between former white enslavers and African American

workers after the Civil War?

a)

African Americans gained control over their labor and whites largely retained ownership

of the land.

b)

African Americans received forty acres and a mule and whites received nothing.

c)

The federal government compensated former enslavers for their lost property and

African Americans received small parcels of land.

d)

African Americans negotiated labor deals with white landowners that paid the former

enslaved people more than immigrant workers in northern factories.

46.

The Lost Cause myth asserted that

a)

the Civil War was not about slavery

b)

the Confederacy lost the Civil War because of a lack of support by its citizens

c)

the Confederacy lost the Civil War despite a massive advantage in manpower

d)

the United States promised the formerly enslaved people 40 acres of land

47.

What law broke Native American reservations into individual family farms?

a)

Dawes General Allotment Act

b)

the Enforcement Acts

c)

the Southern Homestead Act

d)

the Comstock Act

48.

How did Americans participate in the consumer economy during the 1920s?

a)

Advertisements encouraged Americans to believe that purchasing ready-made clothing,

cars, and appliances could improve and even transform their lives.

b)

Most Americans were too poor to shop at large department stores or through mail-order

catalogs.

c)

The invention of the television in the 1920s caused Americans to lose interest in listening

to the radio and attending movies at the “picture palaces.”

d)

Americans had few consumer choices during the 1920s because technological innovation

declined after WWI.

49.

Which of the following pairs describes a contradiction that characterized the lives of white

American women during the 1920s?

a)

the invention of labor-saving appliances and higher standards for homemaking

b)

the widespread availability of contraception and the resurgence of Victorian attitudes

about sexuality

c)

increasing employment opportunities and restricted access to higher education

d)

women’s new right to the franchise and their limited interest in political issues

50.

Which of the following describes the significance of the Harlem Renaissance?

a)

The Harlem Renaissance inspired and supported more militant demands for black

equality by celebrating and popularizing the work of African American intellectuals,

artists, authors, musicians, and actors.

b)

Speakeasies and nightclubs in African American urban districts created egalitarian spaces

for African Americans by prohibiting white patrons.

c)

The Harlem Renaissance gave voice to the experiences and interests of black men, but

unfortunately, it largely excluded black women working in the arts and education.

d)

The Harlem Renaissance popularized jazz and created musical opportunities for black

musicians, but otherwise, its influence was relatively limited.