HIST 11 - Compilation of Quiz Questions

According to the 14th amendment of the U.S. Constitution, if a person is born under the jurisdiction of the United States, that makes them which of the following?

A U.S. citizen

President Wilson's foreign policy was based on which of the following?

A belief in national self-determination

What was the vision that was laid out by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s famous 'I Have a Dream' speech?

A harmonious and racially integrated society

When people migrated through Ellis Island in the late 1800's and early 1900's, what may have caused the U.S. government to return them to their country of origin?

A medical condition or a criminal record

What did the 1917 Selective Service Act create in the United States?

A military draft for young men to fight for the American armed forces

If citizens called for a vote to repeal a particular law, and the repeal was enacted if there was a simple majority of voters, what was that called?

A referendum

Why were American banks so susceptible to the Great Depression?

American banks had loaned money to the victorious Allies during World War I, and those countries could not make payment on those loans.

The United States went to war with Spain in 1898 because of:

American interests in Cuba.

Which was an effect of inexpensive housing in the suburbs after World War II?

An increased reliance on the automobile.

In 1918 and 1919 what caused the death of over 500,000 Americans in less than a year?

An influenza epidemic

Why would increased production of agricultural goods cause farmers to go into debt in the late 1800's?

As production increased, prices for the produced commodities lowered, thus requiring farmers to indebt themselves.

Why did president Eisenhower send federal troops into Arkansas to protect the Little Rock Nine?

As the African American students attended high school, they were threatened with mob violence.

If a person is elected to office in the United States, why can they take the oath of office without a Bible, with a Koran, with a Torah or with the Book of Mormon?

Because there is no religious test that can be put in place to prevent a person from holding office. A person elected to any office may believe in any religion they choose.

Why did Americans send money and aid to Europe, Greece and Turkey after World War II through programs like the Marshall Plan and the Truman Doctrine?

Because they feared that poverty and unstable political conditions could lead to the spread of communism and totalitarian states.

Union leader Eugene Debs served six months in jail for his part in the Pullman strike and came out of jail

Believing that unions must work to elect representatives at all levels of government.

The Stock Market Crash of 1929 was both a cause and a symbol of the Great Depression. How could one buy stock 'on margin' in the stock market?

By paying a small amount of the total price for the stock with borrowed money.

Why was the G.I. Bill such a benefit to the U.S. economy?

By providing education and loans for homes, it helped returning soldiers to educate themselves and establish a strong middle class.

How did the photographs of Jacob Riis change the lives of all American children?

Child labor laws were passed thanks to increased public awareness of the suffering of working children.

Why were American business interests so eager to trade with China in the late 1800's and early 1900's?

China had a high demand for manufactured goods, but few means to produce them.

The 18th amendment prohibited all of the following EXCEPT...

Consumption of alcohol

The Scottsboro Boys trial was an example of what kind of prevalent attitudes in Alabama and the Deep South?

Continued persecution of African-Americans and an unjust court system.

Why was the launch of Sputnik a turning point for the American education and military establishment?

Engineers and rockets were suddenly in very high demand.

African Americans that migrated westward after the Civil War were sometimes called...

Exodusters

During the Gilded Age in America, which sector of U.S. society composed the largest percentage of the U.S. population?

Farmers

Which of the following territories was NOT acquired by the United States as a result of the Spanish American War?

Hawaii

Why were sales of Henry Ford's Model T cars so robust in the 1920's?

His mass production techniques lowered the cost of the cars so that working people could purchase them.

Why did President Hoover say 'Democracy is a harsh employer' when he was running for re-election in 1932?

His policies and leadership in response to the Depression were inadequate, and made him very unpopular.

In which of the following situations would I be justified in invoking my 5th amendment rights?

If I were being tried for a crime and I refused to take the stand to testify publicly against myself.

Why was the availability of the birth control pill in 1960 historically significant?

It allowed women to delay marriage and childbearing as well as allowing them to attend college if they chose to do so.

In 1938 President Roosevelt signed the Fair Labor Standards Act. How was this legislation different from president Hoover's reaction to the Great Depression?

It instituted a federal minimum pay wage and a 40 hour work week as a national standard to protect workers.

When a person is born in the United States, they are given a Social Security number and an account. How does Social Security NOT help Americans?

It provides for a comfortable retirement for all working people.

President Johnson signed legislation in the 1960's creating Medicare. What did Medicare do for Americans?

It provides government funded health care for Americans over the age of 65

The 24th Amendment prohibited the use of poll taxes. Why would states or election boards use poll taxes?

It was a way to disenfranchise African-American voters.

What was the music that fueled the Harlem Renaissance?

Jazz

Why did Democratic leaders worry that Americans wouldn't vote for John Kennedy for the presidency?

Kennedy was Catholic, and most of the citizens were protestants

Why did mining become so capital intensive after the 1860's and 1870's?

Machinery was required to dig deeper shafts

Which of the following would have been an example of the Works Progress Administration?

Murals painted in public buildings such as post offices.

In response to the joblessness, hunger and poverty of the Great Depression, President Hoover believed that the government's role was...

Not to provide assistance. He believed in a limited government.

This photograph was taken on December 7th, 1941 at Pearl Harbor in Hawai'i. Which of the following was an effect of the events that took place on that date?

President Roosevelt and Congress declared war on Japan on December 8th, 1941.

Harding, Coolidge and Hoover all had what kind of attitude towards business.

Pro-business

The Zoot Suit Riots, Order 9066 and riots in Harlem, Detroit and Beaumont, Texas were all examples of what aspect of American society during World War II?

Racial discrimination and segregation.

The Southern Pacific, Northern Pacific and the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe were all which of the following?

Railroads

Which of the following was NOT a way in which civilians supported the total war effort of World War II?

Selling rationed goods on the black market.

This legislation changed the U.S. Constitution so that Senators were no longer elected by their state legislators.

The 17th Amendment

By which part of the U.S. Constitution do I have the legal right to keep firearms in my home?

The 2nd Amendment

When I am called for jury duty as an American citizen, it can be an inconvenience, however, by serving my country and society in jury duty, I also support which part of the Constitution?

The 6th amendment

How did the North Korean invasion of South Korea lead to the Korean War, where the United States and other countries fought against North Korea and China?

The Containment Policy obligated America to fight any expansion of communism from one country to another.

Why did the Japanese invasion of China in 1937 cause such outrage in the United States and throughout the world?

The Japanese Army systematically raped thousands of Chinese women and killed hundreds of thousands of Chinese civilians.

How was the rise of the Ku Klux Klan in the 1920's different from the Ku Klux Klan of the post-Civil War era?

The Klan in the 1920's attacked immigrants, Catholics and Jews as well as African-Americans

Why were unarmed Sioux gunned down at Wounded Knee Creek, South Dakota in the late 1800's?

The U.S. military reacted violently to an errant gunshot in a tense situation.

This was one of the elements of the Emergency Banking Act of 1933.

The United States was taken off the gold standard and citizens were required to sell their gold to the U.S. government.

The 26th Amendment was ratified in 1971, and changed the voting age from 21 years of age to 18 years of age. Which of the following reasons helped that amendment pass?

The Vietnam War, where 18 year old men were drafted to fight, but were unable to vote.

Why did Americans use the slogan 'Remember the Maine!' before the Spanish American War?

The battleship Maine exploded and sunk in Havana harbor, with loss of life.

Which of the following was a tangible positive effect for American labor unions after they shifted their resources and support to the Democratic party in the battle for the passage of the Wagner Act?

The establishment of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB)

When Alice Paul protested continuously in front of the White House for female suffrage, what was the response of the U.S. government?

The government jailed her, and force fed her after she went on a hunger strike.

Manifest Destiny is a term that describes a belief that Americans were destined to rule over the greater part of North America. What was the authority that gave such a destiny, according to John Sullivan, the author of the term?

The protestant Christian God

The Pentagon Papers were released to the public through the New York Times newspaper after the Supreme Court ruled that the information could be made public. Why did this action help to end the war in Vietnam?

The public learned that president Johnson was lying to the public about the war effort, and it turned public opinion against the war.

American business interests in Hawai'i were mostly interested in this industry in the 1890's when they pushed for annexation of the Hawaiian islands.

The sugar industry

Why were Sacco and Vanzetti convicted of murder and executed, even though the evidence pointed to their innocence?

Their anarchist political views and their status as immigrants.

Why were the Wobblies considered such a threat by the United States government?

Their more aggressive use of strikes and calls for higher wages threatened capitalism as a whole.

In 1939 how did Josef Stalin and the Soviets manage to keep a tenuous peace with the Germans?

They agreed to split the country of Poland between themselves and the Germans.

After World War I in Italy, the king and many Italians chose to support Benito Mussolini and the fascists, even though it meant squelching opposition political parties and creating a totalitarian state. What might have been a motivating factor in their decision to do so?

They believed that it would stem the tide of rising communist and socialist influence in Italy.

How did WASPS contribute to the war effort during World War II

They flew airplanes from factories to combat zones or air bases.

On farms and in agricultural enterprises, what was one way that the Roosevelt administration attempt to regulate production to create better economic conditions?

They paid farmers not to grow food.

What did conscientious objectors do in the face of a draft for military service during World War II?

They refused to fight in the war, and would not join the armed forces in combat roles.

Why did Jane Addams open settlement houses in cities in the late 1800's?

To address the needs of the poor in search of housing and healthy living conditions

Why did Secretary of State William Seward want the United States to acquire territory in the Pacific Ocean region?

To better access Asian markets.

Why did John Steinbeck write about the Okies in The Grapes of Wrath?

To explain the plight of farmers driven off the land in the plains by environmental and economic conditions.

Why was the FDIC created?

To give Americans more confidence in private banks.

Why did President Wilson send over 10,000 American troops into Mexico during his presidency?

To pursue Pancho Villa and punish him for his attack on Columbus, New Mexico.

What was an immediate benefit of the transcontinental railroad completion in 1867?

Travel time between east and west was reduced from one month to one week.

What is one of the two ways in which the U.S. Constitution may be amended.

Two thirds of both houses of Congress can vote to amend the Constitution, and three fourths of the state legislatures must approve the amendments.

When a company handles all aspects of a product's lifecycle, from the creation of raw materials through the production process to the delivery of the final product, this is a business practice known as...

Vertical integration

How does graft work in city politics?

Voters deliver votes in blocs as well as payments to politicians in return for city services.

In the 1920's, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, William Faulkner and Sinclair Lewis worked as which of the following?

Writers

The Counterculture of the 1960s can best be described as

a rejection of many mainstream values, including materialism and sexual control

Truman responded to the Berlin blockade by

airlifting tons of supplies to the city

In the early 1960s Malcolm X

argued for black nationalism and economic self-help.

An industrial owner who practiced horizontal integration:

bought out or forced out competitors in the same industry.

"Scientific management", also known as "Taylorization",

called for increasing worker efficiency through imposed work routines, speedups, and mechanization.

In the fight for equal rights, black leader Booker T. Washington adopted a strategy that emphasized

economic advancement while accepting social segregation in the short-term

The cattle ranching industry of the late 19th century

employed a large number of Hispanic and African-American cowboys.

The Haymarket Square incident in 1886

gravely weakened the Knights of Labor.

The 1906 Hepburn Act

helped strengthen the Interstate Commerce Commission.

One way in which cities began to change in the late 19th century was

improved transportation systems allowed the creation of residential suburbs.

The 1968 Tet Offensive was significant because

it helped turn the American public against the war

On the mining frontier of the west

labor conditions were often tense and violent.

During the Eisenhower administration, the official U.S. policy for a Soviet attack upon Western Europe called for

massive nuclear retaliation against the Soviet Union.

Alice Paul and Carrie Chapman Catt were instrumental in

passage of the Nineteenth Amendment

General Douglas MacArthur was fired by Truman because MacArthur

publicly disagreed with Truman's efforts to keep the Korean war from expanding into a larger conflict

The Watts Riots of 1965

resulted in part from the ongoing lack of economic opportunity for racial minorities in urban America.

During the late 19th century there were efforts to force the assimilation and Americanization of native peoples by

sending their children to boarding schools to be taught new skills and values.

J.P. Morgan acquired the core of what would be the largest corporation in the world when he purchased

steel interests formerly controlled by Andrew Carnegie

The Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine suggested that

the U.S. had the right and responsibility to intervene in Latin America affairs to protect American and European interests

The Pullman strike (1894) was significant because

the federal troops were used to break the strike, indicating that the government favored capital over labor

The event that triggered U.S. military action in Korea in 1950 was

the invasion of South Korea by troops from Communist North Korea

One of the factors that tended to "push" immigrants out of parts of Europe during the late 19th century and early 20th century was

the relative lack of industrial development in Southern and Eastern Europe.

The Knights of Labor was different from the American Federation of Labor in that it

welcomed women and African-Americans.

As middle and upper-class urbanites moved to new areas of their cities, poor city dwellers

were forced into slums and the neighborhoods around factories where they worked.