Q&A Hero

Q: When the 1786 Annapolis Convention on trade and commerce was about to fail, __________ proposed a convention in Philadelphia to deal with constitutional reform. A) James Madison B) Alexander Hamilton C) George Washington D) Thomas Jefferson

Q: Amendments to the Articles of Confederation had to be approved by __________. A) unanimous consent of members of Congress B) legislatures in three-fourths of the states C) special electoral colleges in nine of the thirteen states D) unanimous consent of the states

Q: Why did farmers in Western Massachusetts band together in a violent protest known as "Shays's Rebellion"? A) Massachusetts was trying to pay off war debts with taxes farmers could not afford in hard economic times. B) The farmers protested in support of bonus payments to veterans from the Revolutionary War, which included many of them. C) The Massachusetts state legislature had failed to follow the very same constitutional principles they had fought for in the Revolution. D) The state legislature was trying to impose a new tax on whiskey.

Q: Which of the following statements about Shays's Rebellion is true? A) Citizens of other states were generally indifferent to it. B) The central government effectively aided Massachusetts in quelling the rebellion. C) Many leaders, such as Washington, concluded that the central government must be strengthened. D) Most of the rebels were unemployed shipyard workers, frustrated by the depression of the 1780s.

Q: How did the land ordinances under the Articles of Confederation shape the nation's future?

Q: What opportunities did the Revolution create for women and African Americans?

Q: How did the United States win the support of France in the Revolutionary War?

Q: Was the Revolutionary War a civil war or a war against another nation? Explain.

Q: Explain the significance of early hostilities for bringing about the declaration of independence.

Q: The national motto "e pluribus unum" __________. A) describes the process of the revolution very well B) summarizes the colonial experience for many Americans C) describes a process that only began after Yorktown D) describes the way in which patriots made their peace with loyalists in their midst

Q: Most American citizens in the 1780s gave their first loyalty to __________. A) their own states B) their employer C) the country from which their ancestors originally came D) their bars and taverns

Q: The outstanding painter of the great events of the Revolution, best known for works such as The Battle of Bunker's Hill and The Declaration of Independence, was __________. A) Charles Willson Peale B) Gilbert Stuart C) John Singleton Copley D) John Trumbull

Q: "We ought not to consider ourselves as inhabitants of a particular state only, but as Americans." This statement typified the ideas of __________. A) John M'Culloch B) John Trumbull C) Patrick Henry D) Noah Webster

Q: George Washington's greatest strength as a national hero was his __________. A) warm, outgoing personality B) brilliant strategic and tactical abilities as a military commander C) powerful oratorical and literary abilities D) personal sacrifices and his obvious disinclination toward becoming a dictator

Q: As a general, George Washington __________. A) was a marvelous tactician, like Caesar B) failed miserably C) understood how to lead and command respect D) was a brilliant strategist, like Napoleon

Q: Which of the following comparisons between former British land policies and the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 is accurate? A) Similar to its British predecessors, the Northwest Ordinance secured a permanent form of government for the territories. B) Both laws rejected completely the possibility of a territory transitioning to statehood. C) In contrast to British law, the Northwest Ordinance was adopted for the intermediate stage of territorial development, which would give way to statehood in the third stage. D) Unlike the Northwest Ordinance, British land laws only established the initial stage of territorial development.

Q: What measure established governments for the western territories? A) Land Ordinance of 1785 B) Treaty of Paris, 1783 C) Proclamation of 1763 D) Northwest Ordinance of 1787

Q: What was the law which divided the western territories into six-mile-square townships? A) Northwest Ordinance of 1787 B) Homestead Law of 1793 C) Land Ordinance of 1785 D) Township Act of 1784

Q: A major source of the new feeling of nationalism after the Revolutionary War was the __________. A) common sacrifice by soldiers and civilians during the war B) inspiration from the patriotic novels of James Fenimore Cooper C) strong central government created by the Articles of Confederation D) common dedication to freedom embodied in the attacks on slavery

Q: What gave rise to the feeling of nationalism among Americans during the revolution? A) the movement toward American independence B) the fight alongside Native Americans and freed slaves C) the necessity to unite in order to win the war D) cultural trends in the colonies going back to the middle of the seventeenth century

Q: How did the Revolution affect attitudes toward the education of women? A) The British tried to undermine the patriots by encouraging female education. B) Women were told their place was in the home, not in schools. C) The idea of female education began to be accepted as important in a republic. D) Because most states granted women the right to vote, they also encouraged their education.

Q: What made it seemingly impossible for Americans to maintain the institution of slavery after their declaration of independence? A) Americans could not keep up slavery if Britain had abolished it. B) The Continental Army had relied so heavily on slaves that it owed them freedom at the end of the war. C) So many slaves had escaped during the Revolutionary War that the institution was unsustainable. D) Virtually all European thinkers of the Enlightenment had condemned slavery for moral and economic reasons.

Q: What was the immediate effect of the American Revolution upon slavery? A) Slavery was abolished throughout America as inconsistent with the Declaration of Independence. B) Northern states moved toward emancipation of their slaves, and all states restricted the importation of slaves. C) Slavery came to be justified as a "positive good" by its defenders in the North and South. D) Because slavery was still too economically important in both the northern and the southern states, the movement to abolish it failed everywhere.

Q: Measures towards the separation of church and state tended to be most pronounced in places where __________. A) slavery had been abolished during the revolution B) citizens were by and large Catholic or not religious at all C) the Anglican Church had dominated religious life D) religious diversity ranged beyond Christianity and included Judaism and Islam

Q: The movement to separate church and state during the writing of the new state constitutions was most successful in __________. A) Massachusetts B) South Carolina C) New Hampshire D) Virginia

Q: As part of the social reforms accompanying the Revolution, all states which still had them abolished __________. A) primogeniture and entail B) property qualifications for voters C) public taxes to support religion D) slavery and apprenticeship

Q: What happened to social reform when many states wrote constitutions during the Revolution? A) It was neglected because of wartime necessities. B) Many states seized the occasion to introduce important political and social reforms. C) It focused on limiting the ability of the powerful to exploit the powerless. D) It became identified with Loyalism.

Q: What principle drove Americans to weaken executive offices and strengthen representative institutions like the assembly? A) All men have the potential to become tyrants. B) The British constitution stood in conflict with human rights. C) Women were equal citizens in every respect except for suffrage. D) Without public support, the press could not serve its role as the fourth branch of government.

Q: What was the most significant change in the new state governments? A) elimination of the office of governor in most states B) general rejection of the British system as a model C) elimination of property qualifications for voting and office holding D) removal of outside control, making them more responsive to public opinion

Q: In the new state governments created during the Revolution, power was concentrated in the __________. A) governors B) courts C) executive councils D) legislatures

Q: Who was the wartime superintendent of finance who restored order and credit to the government's treasury? A) James Wilson B) Silas Deane C) James Madison D) Robert Morris

Q: How did the American government finance the Revolutionary War? A) by borrowing from Great Britain B) by taxing American citizens directly C) by borrowing from Canada D) by selling bonds overseas

Q: Which of the following best assesses the state of the union under the Articles of the Confederation? A) The United States was a centralized system in which the national government held the most power, but the states had control over purely local matters. B) The nation's federal system was almost exactly like the later union under the Constitution. C) Americans formed a league of friendship, in which the states were sovereign and the national government had only weak delegated powers. D) The Articles established a centralized system with power vested solely in the national government.

Q: Which state claimed that its territory reached beyond the Appalachian mountain range? A) North Carolina B) Pennsylvania C) Florida D) Tennessee

Q: The United States received very favorable terms in the Peace of Paris (1783) because the __________. A) American commissioners skillfully played rival European powers against each other B) French insisted that the United States must be a powerful nation C) rioting and looting in Great Britain by irate citizens convinced Great Britain that it must end the war immediately D) Spanish and French threatened to attack British shipping if they did not agree to American terms.

Q: The American negotiators at the Paris Peace Conference violated their instructions from Congress by __________. A) rejecting any attempt to restore Tory property seized during the Revolution B) agreeing to continued British control of Canada C) refusing to rely on the Comte de Vergennes and negotiating a separate treaty with Great Britain D) surrendering American rights to fish on the Grand Banks off Newfoundland

Q: The British defeat at Yorktown resulted largely from the __________. A) inability of the British to persuade Tories to join them B) French fleet winning control of Chesapeake Bay and preventing Cornwallis from escaping from the peninsula by sea C) ability of Washington to outmaneuver Cornwallis' much larger army and force him to retreat to the peninsula D) failure of Cornwallis to receive General Clinton's orders to withdraw

Q: What made the Continental Army's defeat in Charleston in 1780 so particularly painful? A) The capture of General Greene deprived southern patriots of important leadership. B) The complete destruction of the city demoralized the otherwise staunchly patriotic population of South Carolina. C) The capture of 3,000 patriot soldiers deprived patriots of important manpower. D) The British had captured the city with an all-black force of American runaway slaves.

Q: In 1778, fighting in the northern states practically ceased; thereafter, most of the engagements were in the __________. A) Ohio River Valley B) Canadian frontier C) Mississippi River Valley D) South

Q: During the winter of 1778, Washington's army endured severe shortages of food and clothing while camped at __________. A) Valley Forge B) Germantown C) Trenton D) Princeton

Q: Why did France decide to aid the United States in its war for independence? A) It never got over its defeat at the hands of the British in the Seven Years' War. B) The French were ardent supporters of democratic movements ever since the French Revolution. C) A significant number of French citizens lived in England's North American colonies. D) The United States offered France its most valuable Caribbean sugar colonies in return.

Q: Which two countries made a mutual agreement that the signatories would aid each other in the war or the event of war with Great Britain? A) the United States and Germany B) Spain and the United States C) the United States and Holland D) France and the United States

Q: Why did the British suffer a defeat in Saratoga in 1777? A) American militiamen were ferocious fighters that broke all rules of conventional warfare. B) The British military campaign was extremely badly coordinated. C) French naval forces gave Washington's army important artillery support. D) Local militia and the Continentals simply outnumbered British troops.

Q: Why were the battles of Trenton and Princeton in December 1776 important? A) The British were forced to open peace negotiations. B) The American army's morale was boosted after a series of defeats. C) American victories caused the British to shift the center of military operations to the southern states. D) France decided to become an open ally of the United States.

Q: Battles in and around __________ in August and September of 1776 were ignominious defeats for Washington's forces and seemed to presage an easy British triumph in the war. A) Boston B) Philadelphia C) Baltimore D) New York City

Q: As a group, the Tories in America __________. A) came from every social and economic class and geographic area B) were tightly organized through a central committee of loyalists C) refused to fight for England D) were treated fairly and tolerantly by patriots

Q: The best estimate of the proportion of patriots and Tories during the war for independence is that __________. A) patriots were more numerous than Tories, but large numbers of Americans were indifferent B) Tories constituted less than one percent of the American population C) the population was about evenly divided between the two groups D) Tories were more numerous than patriots, but large numbers of Americans were indifferent

Q: A major British advantage in 1776 was their __________. A) control of both Boston and New York City B) ability to rely on loyal Americans for supplies and troops C) far larger population than that of the colonies D) strong public support for a full-scale attack on the colonies

Q: Which of the following was an American advantage in the war for independence? A) an incompetent and unprofessional British army B) a strong centralized government capable of organizing the war effort C) British reluctance to engage in full-scale war against the colonies D) the undivided loyalty of Americans to the patriotic cause

Q: How did the world respond to Jefferson's words in the Declaration of Independence? A) People overseas generally took little notice. B) People in overseas colonies rallied enthusiastically for the American cause. C) Whereas European aristocracy recoiled in horror, European peasants clandestinely began to build their own plans for revolution based on Jefferson's words. D) Jefferson's language about natural rights horrified most people overseas.

Q: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed." The above statement was a part of __________. A) a Quaker pamphlet denouncing slavery B) Jefferson's general statement of the right of revolution C) an early petition by the South Carolina assembly demanding an end to the slave trade D) Thomas Paine's Common Sense

Q: Which of the following explains the significance of the publication of Common Sense? A) It delivered original arguments no one had made before. B) It tempered the zealotry of patriots with measured and diplomatic language. C) It assured colonists that their step into independence bore little risk. D) It applied a simple but effective zealot rhetoric to the state of affairs.

Q: Who was the author of the tract Common Sense, which boldly called for complete independence and attacked not only King George III but also the idea of monarchy itself? A) John Adams B) Thomas Jefferson C) George Washington D) Thomas Paine

Q: In January 1776, the British pushed the colonists toward independence by hiring __________ mercenaries. A) Hessian B) Swiss C) Prussian D) Bavarian

Q: Why did the British under General Thomas Gage fight so hard to seize Bunker and Breed's Hill? A) Those Boston neighborhoods held much of the armaments of the state of Massachusetts. B) The Massachusetts assembly and governor's mansion were located there. C) Control of these positions would have allowed the militia to attack British troops in Boston. D) These hills were the first step towards reclaiming the city of Boston from the patriot militiamen.

Q: The first major battle of the Revolutionary War was the Battle of __________, A) Concord B) Valley Forge C) Lexington D) Bunker Hill

Q: In May 1775 shortly after it convened, the Second Continental Congress __________. A) declared independence from Great Britain because of the battles at Lexington and Concord B) formed the Continental Army under the leadership of George Washington C) organized the Continental Association to force England to repeal the Intolerable Acts D) refused to take any action that might be seen as disloyal to England

Q: What was the purpose of the British army's march on Concord, Massachusetts, in April 1775? A) to train their troops for what appeared to be inevitable war B) to force Massachusetts leaders to pay for the tea destroyed in the Boston Tea Party C) to track down the persons responsible for burning the Gaspee D) to seize the war supplies stored there

Q: Who was the British commander who sent his troops to capture patriot supplies in Concord in April 1775? A) Thomas Gage B) William Howe C) Thomas Hutchinson D) John Burgoyne

Q: Why did the political conflict between Parliament and colonists escalate into violence?

Q: Explain why the struggle over taxes between colonists and Parliament revealed deeper political differences.

Q: How did the French and Indian War force a change in British imperial policy toward the colonies?

Q: How did the Enlightenment help prepare colonists for national independence?

Q: Compare the costs and benefits American colonists derived from England's mercantile economic policy.

Q: According to your text, the most significant outcome of the First Continental Congress in the fall of 1774 was the __________. A) demand for colonial representation in Parliament B) colonies' hopes for a peaceful re-establishment of relations with England on the same basis as before the Stamp Act crisis C) formation of a Continental Army with George Washington as commander-in-chief D) realization that drastic changes must be made in America's relationship with England

Q: What was the most conservative proposal before the First Continental Congress in 1774? A) The Boston Manifesto, which denounced the crimes committed by the British government since 1763. B) The Continental Association, which called for boycotting British goods and cutting off exports to Great Britain. C) The plan from Joseph Galloway, which called for creating a general government for America capable of blocking Parliament's proposals. D) The Albany Plan from Benjamin Franklin, which called for voluntary union among the colonies.

Q: What was the most significant aspect of the Coercive Acts? A) They indicated Great Britain's desire to decrease its control of the colonies. B) They had little impact on the colonies. C) They indicated a change in British policy, from persuasion to punishment. D) They did the greatest economic harm to those who could least afford it.

Q: In response to the Boston Tea Party, the British passed a series of laws which, among other things, closed the port of Boston and strengthened the power of the governor of Massachusetts. In the colonies, these acts were known as the __________ Acts. A) Intolerable B) Suffolk C) Royal Brute D) Supremacy

Q: Why did John Adams defend the British soldiers charged in the shooting during the "Boston Massacre"? A) He detested the Sons of Liberty. B) He was a loyalist before he became a founding father. C) He had witnessed the Boston Massacre and knew the soldiers were innocent. D) He believed in the importance of a fair trial.

Q: The most important American objection to the Tea Act of 1773 was that it __________. A) made tea prohibitively expensive for American consumers B) was coupled with the arrival of British regiments in Boston to enforce the trade laws C) seemed to be a trick to trap Americans into paying the Townshend duty on tea D) closed colonial ports which refused to import English tea

Q: What was Parliament's main goal in the Tea Act of 1773? A) to repeal the Townshend tea tax B) to aid the British East India Tea Company C) to force a new tax upon the colonies D) to prohibit the production of tea in the colonies

Q: What was the 1768 document that criticized the Townshend Acts as infringements on the natural and constitutional rights of the colonists? A) Declaration of Rights and Grievances B) Virginia "Resolves" C) Massachusetts "Circular Letter" D) Olive Branch Petition

Q: The American colonists' view of imperial concerns can best be described as __________. A) narrow B) broad C) conservative D) liberal

Q: Which of the following most accurately describes the English government's position on the meaning of sovereignty? A) Parliament was sovereign over the external affairs of the colonies; the crown was sovereign over Parliament and the colonies' internal affairs. B) Sovereignty was indivisible and rested ultimately with Parliament. C) Parliament was sovereign over the colonies' external affairs; the colonial legislatures were sovereign over their internal affairs. D) Sovereignty was indivisible and rested exclusively with the king.

Q: The British understanding of the word "constitution" emphasized the __________. A) totality of laws, customs, and institutions developed over time B) specific written document spelling out and limiting the powers of government C) constitutionality of all laws passed by legislative bodies D) guarantee of certain fundamental liberties, such as the right of all adults to vote

Q: Why did Parliament pass the Declaratory Act? A) It sought to curtail free speech in the colonies. B) It wanted to stifle the publication of newspapers in the colonies. C) It was trying to reinstate the Stamp Act through a political backdoor. D) It wanted to make sure that its repeal of the Stamp Act would not establish a precedent.

Q: The Stamp Act was repealed in 1766 primarily because of the __________. A) pressure from British merchants who had been hurt by the American boycott B) recognition by Parliament that it had acted unconstitutionally C) petition sent from the Stamp Act Congress D) riots and disturbances in the colonies protesting the act

Q: Why were American protests against the Stamp Act so vehement? A) The law introduced a new form of taxation, having no precedent in England. B) The measure greatly increased the cost of all articles imported into America. C) The tax affected influential and articulate groups such as lawyers and newspaper editors. D) The act prohibited the hiring of colonists responsible for printing and distributing the stamps.

Q: Illegal, often violent, resistance by the Sons of Liberty to __________ may be seen as marking the start of the revolution. A) the Proclamation of 1763 B) colonial assemblies C) the Boston Massacre D) the Stamp Act

Q: The British reasoned that either Parliament was sovereign in the colonies or not and therefore any distinction between tax legislation and any other form of legislation was __________. A) virtual B) absolute C) artificial D) reasonable