Worksheets8th Social Studies STAAR Released Questions - 2021
Total questions: 43
Worksheet time: 22mins
How did the introduction of barbed-wire fences benefit farmers?
By making irrigation of the land more effective
By helping to break up the soil before plowing
By making the harvesting of cotton more efficient
By protecting crops from damage caused by animals
Which statement explains how the First Amendment has affected these groups?
These groups are allowed to share and promote their beliefs.
These groups are allowed to join together to form a national religion.
These groups are prevented from having worship services in public places.
These groups are prevented from establishing religious schools.
What was one way slow communication with the British government affected the American colonies?
The colonies united for trade and defense.
Self-government developed in the colonies.
Smuggling of goods in the colonies decreased.
The colonies petitioned the government to establish a navy.
Which statement shows how this excerpt is an example of transcendentalism in the early-to-mid 1800s?
Thoreau uses reason to explain natural events that happen in the world.
Thoreau focuses on the role of science in changing the natural world.
Thoreau studies the relationship between nature and historical events.
Thoreau focuses on the relationship between humans and the natural world.
What was an IMMEDIATE effect of this amendment?
Many plantation owners attempted to recapture former slaves.
Many plantation owners were forced to give land to former slaves.
Many former slaves became sharecroppers to earn a living.
Many former slaves were awarded money by former Confederate leaders.
Which era is represented by this photograph?
The early republic
The Age of Jackson
Westward expansion
Civil War
In which court case was the U.S. principle of judicial review established?
McCulloch v. Maryland
Gibbons v. Ogden
Marbury v. Madison
Dred Scott v. Sandford
Which physical characteristic attracted settlers to this area during the late-eighteenth and early-nineteenth centuries?
Large amounts of fertile soil for crops
Accessible mountain passes for mining
Natural harbors for whaling
Grassy plains for cattle ranching
Why did many farmers, artisans, and former Anti-Federalists support the Democratic-Republican Party?
The Democratic-Republicans favored the expansion of a strong national government.
The Democratic-Republicans supported strict restrictions on immigration.
The Democratic-Republicans supported the use of tariffs.
The Democratic-Republicans favored states’ rights and the rights of the common man.
Which statement explains how the work of Dorothea Dix benefited U.S. society?
Mental-health facilities were opened to treat patients.
Doctors were required to get federal licenses to practice medicine.
States passed laws giving harsher sentences to criminals.
The government distributed land to poor people.
Which statement explains one of the motivations behind Manifest Destiny?
“These are the times that try men’s souls: the summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country. . . .”
“I do order and declare that all persons held as slaves within said designated States, and parts of States, are, and henceforward shall be free. . . .”
“And that claim is by the right . . . to overspread and to possess the whole of the continent which Providence has given us. . . .”
“That it is the duty of the women of this country to secure to themselves their sacred right to the elective franchise.”
Which of the following prompted General Washington to write this letter?
A shortage of Continental soldiers to maintain the siege of Yorktown
The high number of casualties suffered during the Battle of Bunker Hill
Low morale after the British army captured New York City
Concern for the Continental troops during the winter at Valley Forge
How did sharecropping affect farmers in the South during Reconstruction?
By introducing new technology for growing food
By expanding the region’s dependence on corn production
By making landowners buy supplies from the government
By keeping renters in debt to landlords
Why did Alexander Hamilton think a national bank would strengthen the central government?
The bank would help provide stability for the U.S. economy.
The bank would create a monopoly that would eliminate state banks.
The bank would encourage foreign competition for manufactured goods.
The bank would have the power to regulate interstate commerce.
Boston, Massachusetts, and San Francisco, California, are geographically similar in that they BOTH —
have a Mediterranean climate
are located near active volcanoes
have a hot desert climate
are located on a coast
What is the significance of the Pilgrims’ arrival in America?
It led to an alliance between the British and the French.
It led to an early attempt at self-government in the English colonies.
It caused Puritans to separate from the Church of England.
It introduced the slave trade to the Atlantic colonies.
How was this grievance addressed by the Founding Fathers?
By making the president the commander in chief of the armed forces
By requiring the president and members of Congress to take the oath of office
By giving the president and Congress the power to make treaties
By giving Congress the power to draft civilians into the armed forces
During the colonial period, what was one difference between slave labor in the North and slave labor in the South?
More slaves in the North worked in gold mines.
More slaves in the North worked in cash-crop production.
More slaves in the North worked in trade-related jobs.
More slaves in the North worked as craftsmen on plantations.
Which reason BEST explains why many Swedish people settled in the American Midwest?
They wanted to work in steel mills.
They wanted to participate in the abolitionist movement.
They wanted to settle in large cities.
They wanted to find fertile farmland.
Why is John Paul Jones remembered as the “Father of the American Navy”?
He won naval victories against the British during the Revolutionary War.
He led the naval assault against the Barbary States.
He commanded the first steam-powered warship in the U.S. Navy.
He served as the first Secretary of the Navy.
Which word correctly replaces the question mark in the title of this timeline?
Suffrage
Abolitionist
Temperance
Transcendentalist
Which statement describes BOTH the Free-Soil Party and the Republican Party in the mid-1800s?
They supported actions to stop escaped slaves from entering the North.
They supported enacting safety regulations to protect factory workers.
They were against the expansion of slavery into the western territories.
They were against the establishment of American Indian reservations.
Which reasons correctly replaced the numbers in this table?
What was one effect of the cotton gin in the United States?
Improved soil fertility
Expansion of mercantilism
Increased efficiency of crop irrigation
Expansion of the plantation system
What was the issue in Worcester v. Georgia?
The taxation of Cherokee lands
The use of subsistence farming by the Cherokee people
The sovereignty of the Cherokee nation
The abandonment of the Cherokee culture by its people
Why did President Thomas Jefferson approve the negotiations that led to the Louisiana Purchase?
He wanted to settle boundary disputes with Great Britain.
He wanted to take control of the Mississippi River.
He wanted to obtain land to limit Russian colonization.
He wanted to take control of the Appalachian Mountains.
How did immigrants MOST contribute to the rapid industrialization of the United States during the early-to-mid 1800s?
By serving as an inexpensive source of labor
By raising the money needed for investment
By introducing skilled craftsmanship in cottage industries
By designing the methods used to mass produce goods
Thomas Hooker’s Fundamental Orders of Connecticut is important in U.S. political history because it was an early colonial document that —
outlawed protected tariffs
extended suffrage to women
provided for the election of representatives
proposed the creation of an independent country
Which statement BEST describes the importance of the Battle of Vicksburg?
The Confederacy lost control of the Mississippi River.
It was the opening engagement of the Civil War in the South.
It was described as the bloodiest fighting of the Civil War.
The Confederacy captured military supplies from the North.
Which description is an example of an unalienable right from the Declaration of Independence?
Equality — People’s education should be equal in every state.
Wealth — People’s salaries should be dependent on their skills.
Happiness — People can do lawful things that they enjoy.
Patriotism — People can choose to join any of the armed forces.
Which group would have made these arguments in 1787?
Free-Soilers
Anti-Federalists
Loyalists
Federalists
The Great Compromise addressed disagreements over federal representation by —
creating a bicameral legislature
enumerating the powers of the central government
giving veto power to the executive
establishing three branches of government
The canals shown on this map caused —
a decline in farming in areas far from the canal routes
increased competition among cotton producers in the South
a decline in international trade going through Atlantic port cities
the rapid growth of urban centers along the canal routes
Which constitutional issue contributed to sectional conflict before the Civil War?
Disagreement over the boundaries of the Oregon Territory
Growing support for limiting female suffrage and immigration
Growing support for limiting female suffrage and immigration
Growing support for limiting female suffrage and immigration
Settlers in Maryland struggled to resolve various disputes in the early days of the colony. The Maryland Assembly resolved many of those disputes in 1649 by passing a law that —
granted farmland to former indentured servants
allowed men without property to vote in elections
allowed all Christians to worship freely
extended citizenship to all American Indians
What was the INITIAL reason many European explorers sailed to the Americas?
To find new trade routes to Asia
To form military alliances
To spread Christianity to Africa
To find new sources of cheap lobor
How did the American colonists IMMEDIATELY respond to the 1774 laws described in these headlines?
he First Continental Congress declared war on Great Britain
The colonists adopted the Articles of Confederation
The First Continental Congress sent a list of grievances to King George III
The colonists adopted the Bill of Rights
Which phrase BEST completes this diagram?
Development of labor unions
Increased enlistment in the military
Construction of roads and railroads
Construction of roads and railroads
How did President Abraham Lincoln react to the idea expressed in Jefferson Davis’s inaugural address?
Lincoln stated that the argument by the South to leave the Union was unjustified.
Lincoln called on the U.S. Supreme Court to make a ruling on the legality of secession
Lincoln believed the reasoning to leave the Union was protected by the Constitution
Lincoln prepared to amend the Constitution in order to appease the Southern states
How did the free enterprise system MOST benefit industrial development in the first half of the 1800s?
by allowing entrepreneurs to raise money and invest in companies
By establishing quotas on immigrants
By providing safe working conditions for factory workers
By encouraging the government to put taxes on businesses
Which of the following expresses a goal of the Reconstruction Acts of 1867?
To restore the Democratic Party to power in the South
To rebuild the plantation economy of the South
To protect the rights of African Americans in the South
To encourage former slaves to leave the South
Which situation violates the Eighth Amendment protections regarding criminal punishment?
A protester is jailed for violent acts at a political rally
A protester is jailed for violent acts at a political rally
A person is sentenced to ten years imprisonment for assault and robbery
A judge orders that an accused person be jailed until bail is paid
Which effect did these innovations have on life in the United States?
Natural fertilizer became more effective
Harvesting season could last longer
Finding water to irrigate crops became easier
Crop production became more efficient
