History 2112: Exam Samples, Rickman
Sample Section I Multiple Choice Questions
(29 questions, each worth 2 points, for a total of 58 points)
_____A_______ 1. During the last half of the 1800s, the rapid rise of industrialism in the United States was caused by all of the following factors except
A. imposition of rigid workplace safety standards.
B. an abundance of raw materials.
C. an ambitious group of entrepreneurs.
D. a large labor force.
_____C_______ 2. Which of the following major industrial strikes of the 1890s took place in one of Andrew Carnegie's steel mills:
A. Pullman.
B. Haymarket.
C. Homestead.
D. Coxey's.
_____A_______ 3. All of the following are examples of negative developments caused by the Industrial & Urban Revolutions of the late 1800s except
A. a massive decline in U.S. military power.
B. a dramatic increase in the gap between rich and poor in America.
C. major problems of a dangerous workplace in the factories of the late 1800s.
D. major problems of a dangerous urban environment caused by rapid growth of cities.
_____C______ 4. The Pendleton Civil Service Act of 1883
A. established the first racial quotas for government jobs.
B. insured that appointments to government jobs were approved by Congress.
C. filled some U.S. Government jobs on the basis of competitive examinations.
D. declared illegal the system of city political machines and "boss" rule.
_____D______ 5. Americans in the late 1800s did not oppose the problems of political corruption more effectively for all of the following reasons except
A. Most Americans were not well represented in Washington, D.C.
B. The popularity of the concept of laissez faire.
C. Most Americans did not expect much from government, especially the U.S. Government, during the 1800s.
D. Most Americans approved of the corruption because the Philosophy of the Self-Made Man argued that the way to get rich was to be immoral.
______D_____ 6. All of the following are domestic conditions that have been necessary for the formation of major reform movements in the 1900s except
A. increased public awareness of various internal problems through an active, investigative media.
B. articulate reform leaders who can make coherent arguments on the need for reform.
C. a sense of optimism by the reform leaders and participants in the reform movement that their desired reforms have a good chance of success.
D. the creation of an extensive willingness by a number of big businesses that these businesses would enjoy being regulated.
______A_____ 7. All of the following are examples of the "Cult of Domesticity" that dominated American gender attitudes by 1900 except
A. it was socially acceptable for women to engage in a wide variety of pre-marital and extra-marital sexual activities.
B. legally, husbands were granted a wide latitude to physically "discipline" their wives.
C. women faced restricted legal rights to hold and manage property.
D. popular culture, such as magazines, encouraged women to concentrate on their "biological destiny" of being wives and mothers.
______D______ 8. The progressive reformers failed to achieve their two goals between 1900 and 1920 for all of the following reasons except
A. the resurgence of the Self-Help Philosophy or the Philosophy of the Self-Made Man.
B. the progressives were internally divided because the movement was so diverse.
C. the progressives faced a number of strong opponents, including the Supreme Court.
D. the start of the American war with Spain.
_____B_______ 9. Which of the following Supreme Court decisions ruled that segregation was constitutional under the 14th Amendment:
A. Marbury v. Madison
B. Plessy v. Ferguson
C. Dred Scott v. Sanford
D. Brown v. Board of Education
_____C______ 10. The Mississippi Plan of 1890 included all of the following parts to disenfranchise African-American male voters except
A. a residence requirement that voters had to live in their voting district for 1 year and in the state of Miss. for 2 years.
B. a $2.00 poll tax.
C. an explicit statement that any male of the black race was not allowed to vote.
D. a subjective literacy test that entailed interpreting the state constitution.
Sample Essays for Section III
Sample Document Essay
The sample below represents an answer worth all 14 points that incorporates material from the document itself, the class discussions, and the textbook. You must demonstrate in your essay that you have read and understood the document.
Write on essay on "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" (1741).
Essay Answer: This sermon was given by the New England preacher Jonathan Edwards, and it was an important part of the Great Awakening (1730s to 1750s). The Great Awakening was the first mass movement in what became the United States, and it was an intense religious revival movement. Edwards warned his listeners that God was angry with them and that if they did not repent of their sins and be "born again," they would face eternal damnation. The Great Awakening arose out of the social tensions that were especially strong in New England because of the growth of maritime commerce -- an early example of these social tensions had been the Salem Witch Trials of 1691-1692. The Great Awakening eventually weakened the power of the established Puritan clergy as many people formed their own churches. This revival movement thus weakened the system of deference (whereby some colonists willingly followed established authority) and thereby contributed to the coming of the American Revolution because the colonists became more willing to challenge authority. This document also reflects the strong religious nature of life in colonial New England -- religion was critical to the establishment of the English colonies in New England and to the development of society there.
Sample Essay Answer to a Specific Question
Describe the reasons for the shift from using white indentured servants to African slaves in the colony of Virginia from 1640 to 1670.
Answer (further elaboration in expected in the parentheses)
When the supply of white indentured servants (define who they were & why come to Va.) coming from England declined during 1640-1660 because of the English Civil War, Virginia tobacco planters shifted to importing captured Africans who were part of the brutal Portuguese/Spanish Slave Trade to meet the intense labor needs in Virginia (explain how the need for labor in Va. developed).
Because of their racism (define), Virginia planters gradually started to treat these African workers much worse than white indentured servants (give examples that contrast the treatment of the two groups especially on punishment).
By the 1660s, the Va. planters decided to keep using Africans for their labor needs and to hold these people in bondage for life because then these workers never became competitors for land/profit -- the drive for wealth or profit is central to explaining the development of slavery in Virginia. Problems with former white indentured servants in the colony (e.g., Bacon's Rebellion of the 1670s) also encouraged the wealthy planters to move toward a system of labor in which the field workers never became free.