American Civilization to 1877
Test Preparation
Course Introduction
This course explores the development of American civilization from pre-colonial times through the end of the Reconstruction era in 1877. Emphasizing the political, social, economic, and cultural evolution of what would become the United States, the course examines key themes such as colonization, the American Revolution, nation-building, slavery, westward expansion, and the Civil War. Students will analyze major events, influential figures, and foundational documents to understand how diverse peoples and persistent conflicts shaped American society up to the close of Reconstruction.
Recommended Textbook
The Unfinished Nation A Concise History of the American People Volume I To 1877 5th Edition by
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17 Chapters
2093 Verified Questions
2093 Flashcards
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Chapter 1: The Meeting of Cultures
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102 Verified Questions
102 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) The English concluded from their colonial experiences in Ireland that
A)they should not try to convert indigenous people to English religious beliefs.
B)English colonists should maintain a rigid separation from the indigenous population.
C)military expenditures were fiscally wasteful.
D)indigenous populations were essential as the major colonial labor source.
E)harsh treatment of indigenous populations could lead to rebellion.
Answer: B
Q2) Christopher Columbus called the native people he encountered on his voyages "Indians" because
A)he believed they came from the East Indies in the Pacific.
B)it is what the natives called themselves.
C)he mispronounced their actual name.
D)Norse seamen had first used the term.
E)he wanted to hide his discovery from rival explorers.
Answer: E
Q3) The significant Indian trading center near present-day St.Louis was called
Answer: Cahokia
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Chapter 2: Transplantations and Borderland
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130 Verified Questions
130 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) The philosopher John Locke helped draw up the Fundamental Constitution for Carolina.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
Q2) Bacon's Rebellion was undertaken to do away with slavery in Virginia.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
Q3) Leisler's Rebellion took place in
A)Rhode Island.
B)New Jersey.
C)Massachusetts.
D)New York.
E)Connecticut.
Answer: D
Q4) The last English colony to be established in what is now the United States was
Answer: Georgia
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Chapter 3: Society and Culture in Provincial America
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131 Verified Questions
131 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Eighteenth-century Enlightenment thought
A)emphasized the importance of religious faith.
B)rejected most religious thought.
C)had little influence on American intellectual thought.
D)challenged concepts such as "natural laws."
E)suggested that people had considerable control over their own lives.
Answer: E
Q2) Fewer than five percent of African slaves imported to the Americas arrived first in the English colonies.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
Q3) The case of John Peter Zenger saw the courts rule that criticisms of the government were not libelous if actually true.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
Q4) The practice of passing property to the firstborn son was called
Answer: primogeniture
Page 5
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Chapter 4: The Empire in Transition
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130 Verified Questions
130 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) The dramatic fall of ___________ marked the beginning of the end of the American phase of the Seven Years' War.
Q2) When the Stamp Act was repealed, the colonists were left with no real grievances against British authority.
A)True
B)False
Q3) The Declaratory Act of 1766
A)caused renewed protests throughout the colonies.
B)was a sweeping assertion of Parliament's authority over the colonies.
C)threatened the colonies with military action should future protests develop.
D)was an attempt by outgoing minister George Grenville to save face.
E)All the answers are correct.
Q4) In 1770 Prime Minister Lord North repealed all of the _____________________ except the tax on tea.
Q5) Who among the following took the lead in protesting against the Stamp Act?
A)Patrick Henry
B)Ben Franklin
C)Samuel Adams
D)Thomas Jefferson
E)George Mason
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Chapter 5: The American Revolution
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128 Verified Questions
128 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following was the scene of a substantial British victory in the final phase (1778-81) of the American Revolution?
A)Cowpens
B)Charleston
C)Yorktown
D)Guilford Court House
E)Saratoga
Q2) Considering the events from 1763 to 1781, what could England have done differently to either prevent war, or be more successful in waging war?
Q3) Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the structure of government as defined by the Articles of Confederation.
Q4) The British commander in the Battle of Saratoga was ________________.
Q5) Compare the leading personalities on both sides in an explanation as to why the upstart United States was able to defeat England.
Q6) Women, sometimes by choice, but more often by necessity, flocked to the camps of the Patriot armies during the Revolutionary War.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 6: The Constitution and the New Republic
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121 Verified Questions
121 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) The Constitution was submitted to the states for ratification with the Bill of Rights.
A)True
B)False
Q2) The "XYZ Affair"
A)involved foreign interference in an American presidential election.
B)involved secret foreign treaties with nearby Indian nations.
C)increased tensions between the United States and Great Britain.
D)was prompted by a feud between John Adams and Alexander Hamilton.
E)led to an undeclared war between the United States and France.
Q3) The new Constitution made no reference to political parties.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Thomas Jefferson promoted a vision of a(n) ___________ republic.
Q5) Alexander Hamilton recommended that the federal government raise revenue through
A)an import tax and a personal income tax.
B)a sales tax and a property tax.
C)an excise tax and an import tax.
D)an excise tax and a sales tax.
E)a sales tax and a personal income tax.
Page 8
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Chapter 7: The Jeffersonian ERA
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132 Verified Questions
132 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) The Lewis and Clark expedition
A)was first planned after the Louisiana Purchase was made.
B)was assisted by the guide, Sacagawea.
C)was led by two men who had little experience with Indians.
D)saw both leaders die before the expedition was complete.
E)never made it to the Pacific coast.
Q2) The clash between the Chesapeake and the Leopard resulted in a victory for the British ship.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Describe the main features of American education during the early nineteenth century.
Q4) Under the treaty terms for the Louisiana Purchase,
A)the United States agreed to make annual payments to France for twenty years.
B)the United States would gain exclusive access to the port of New Orleans.
C)residents living in Louisiana were to be made citizens of France.
D)the land boundaries were not clearly defined.
E)the United States had to remain neutral in the war between England and France.
Q5) ____________________ presided over the treason trial of Aaron Burr.
Q6) The first American medical school was ____________________.
Page 9
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Chapter 8: Varieties of American Nationalism
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100 Verified Questions
100 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) In the early nineteenth century, life in the western territories was characterized by
A)frequent mobility of the population.
B)a surplus of labor.
C)the absence of community institutions.
D)generally declining land values.
E)frequent visits to the East for finished goods.
Q2) The representative from New York who proposed an 1819 amendment prohibiting slavery in Missouri was
A)Rufus King.
B)James Tallmadge, Jr.
C)Henry Clay.
D)John C.Calhoun.
E)John Jacob Astor.
Q3) The "tariff of abominations" was most strenuously opposed by the people of New England.
A)True
B)False
Q4) According to the terms of the Adams-Onis Treaty of 1819, the United States surrendered its claims to ____________.
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Chapter 9: Jacksonian America
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131 Verified Questions
131 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) The Supreme Court ruling in Charles River Bridge Company v.Warren Bridge Company (1837)
A)outraged supporters of Andrew Jackson.
B)was a victory for federal authority.
C)continued the constitutional interpretation set forth by John Marshall.
D)affirmed the inviolability of contracts.
E)reflected Jacksonian ideas of democracy and economic opportunity.
Q2) The most successful of the "Five Civilized Tribes" when it came to resisting Jackson's removal policy were _________________.
Q3) As Andrew Jackson's vice president, John
C.Calhoun became a strong Jackson opponent.
A)True
B)False
Q4) John
C.Calhoun championed a states' rights theory called ___________________.
Q5) John Tyler saw every cabinet member but one resign together from his administration.
A)True
B)False
Q6) Radical Jacksonians were known as __________________.
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Chapter 10: Americas Economic Revolution
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121 Verified Questions
121 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) The Morse code used electrical current to create
A)a series of alternating electrical bursts which represented individual letters.
B)a numerical code in which each number represented a word on a list.
C)the first electrical reproduction of the human voice.
D)the first practical electric engine.
E)a series of alternating electrical bursts which represented words on a list.
Q2) In 1860, the percentage of the population in free states living in towns (2,500+ people) was
A)seven percent.
B)thirteen percent.
C)twenty-six percent.
D)thirty-nine percent.
E)forty-two percent.
Q3) Most of the pre-Civil War Irish and German immigrants who came to the United States did so as families, as opposed to single men and women.
A)True
B)False
Q4) The most popular playwright in America in the 1830s was _______________.
Q5) Why did railroads become the key American industry in the nineteenth century?
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Chapter 11: Cotton, Slavery, and the Old South
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98 Verified Questions
98 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following statements about the Southern aristocratic ideal is FALSE?
A)wealthy Southern whites adopted an elaborate code of "chivalry."
B)dueling became a prominent facet of southern planter life.
C)wealthy Southern whites prided themselves on their egalitarianism.
D)wealthy Southern whites pretended to avoid such "coarse" occupations as trade and commerce.
E)wealthy Southern whites often gravitated toward the military.
Q2) Most enslaved blacks lived
A)on small farms.
B)on medium- to large-size plantations.
C)in urban areas.
D)in rigidly controlled circumstances.
E)in Virginia and the Carolinas.
Q3) In general, slaves had more privacy and a social realm of their own
A)on large plantations.
B)on small plantations.
C)as household workers as opposed to field workers.
D)in rural areas as opposed to urban areas.
E)in the western territories.
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Page 13
Chapter 12: Antebellum Culture and Reform
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122 Verified Questions
122 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) The transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau
A)was more conventional in his thinking than Ralph Waldo Emerson.
B)felt every individual should balance society's expectations with one's own instincts.
C)argued that being part of society helped individuals to transcend their egotism.
D)established a college for transcendentalism at Walden Pond.
E)argued Americans had a moral right to disobey the laws of the United States.
Q2) All of the following people helped create a distinct American literature EXCEPT
A)Walt Whitman.
B)Herman Melville.
C)James Fenimore Cooper.
D)Edgar Allan Poe.
E)Sydney Smith.
Q3) William Lloyd Garrison was a harsh critic of the United States government.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Walt Whitman's first book of poems was titled ______________________.
Q5) The term "penitentiary" comes from the word _________________.
Q6) Edgar Allan Poe's most famous poem was titled "________________."
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Chapter 13: The Impending Crisis
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146 Verified Questions
146 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) The Compromise of 1850 was made for the entry of __________________ into the Union.
Q2) In the mid-1850s, the struggle over Kansas saw
A)President Franklin Pierce oppose pro-slavery settlers in the territory.
B)John Brown murder several pro-slavery settlers.
C)the Missouri legislature ban its own citizens from entering Kansas.
D)federal troops take military control of the region.
E)a large antislavery posse sack the proslavery town of Lawrence, Kansas.
Q3) The notion that people should be able to vote on the matter of slavery in the territories was called ________________________.
Q4) The "Young America" movement sought to unite the nation.
A)True
B)False
Q5) Could the Civil War have been avoided?
Q6) Kansas entered the United States
A)after several Southern states had left the Union.
B)as a slave state.
C)well after the Civil War ended.
D)during the administration of Abraham Lincoln.
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E)at the same time the former Confederate states rejoined the Union.
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Chapter 14: The Civil War
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140 Verified Questions
140 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) The National Woman's Loyal League worked simultaneously for the abolition of slavery and for the vote for women.
A)True
B)False
Q2) How did Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis compare as presidents and military commanders?
Q3) President Buchanan did not believe that a state had the legal right to secede from the Union.
A)True
B)False
Q4) What did the Emancipation Proclamation do and how did it alter the Civil War?
Q5) In 1864, General William T.Sherman's "March to the Sea"
A)attempted to avoid the civilian population.
B)saw him face more resistance than Grant faced to his north.
C)never reached the Atlantic Ocean.
D)resulted in mass starvation among Sherman's troops.
E)was designed to demoralize Southerners.
Q6) Why was the South so confident of its "cotton diplomacy"? Why did it fail?
Q7) Which battle-Vicksburg or Gettysburg-was more significant in determining the outcome of the Civil War?
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Chapter 15: Reconstruction and the New South
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126 Verified Questions
126 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) During Reconstruction, most "carpetbaggers" were
A)white Southerners who moved to the North.
B)freedmen who moved out of the South.
C)former confederates who moved to the West.
D)Northern white veterans who moved to the South.
E)Northern politicians who took offices in Southern states.
Q2) During Reconstruction, per capita income for Southerners
A)rose for blacks.
B)rose for whites.
C)declined for whites.
D)rose for blacks and whites.
E)rose for blacks and declined for whites.
Q3) The congressional elections of 1866 resulted in a resounding victory for the Republicans.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Describe "Jim Crow."
Q5) General Oliver O.Howard ran the ________________, an agency which established schools and helped provide basic services for the ex-slaves following the Civil War.
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Chapter 16: The Conquest of the Far West
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Sample Questions
Q1) White hostility to the Chinese immigrant was rooted in the perception that they were lazy.
A)True B)False
Q2) What was Frederick Jackson Turner's "frontier thesis" and what are the criticisms of it?
Q3) The most widespread Indian groups in the West were the __________________.
Q4) The Comstock Lode primarily produced A)copper. B)silver. C)gold. D)lead. E)zinc.
Q5) Late nineteenth-century American farmers increasingly sold their produce in competitive international markets and bought their supplies in a domestic market protected by tariffs.
A)True B)False
Q6) ______________________ headed the most popular Wild West shows in the late nineteenth century.
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Chapter 17: Industrial Supremacy
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123 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) During the 1870s and 1880s, most of the immigrants to the United States came from
A)Italy and the Slavic countries.
B)Great Britain and northern Europe.
C)Poland, Hungary and Russia.
D)Japan and China.
E)Mexico.
Q2) What developments occurred within emerging corporations which resulted in a concentration of wealth and power?
Q3) Who among the following was NOT significantly associated with the steel industry?
A)Henry Bessemer
B)Andrew Carnegie
C)J.Pierpont Morgan
D)Henry Clay Frick
E)James J.Hill
Q4) Russell Conwell became prominent in the late nineteenth century by delivering his "_______________" lecture more than 6,000 times.
Q5) Charles and Frank Duryea built the first _______________ in America in 1903.
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