Deck 6: Creating a More Perfect Union, 1783-1800

Question 1

The Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798 proved to be the greatest mistake of John Adams' presidency.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

The Articles of Confederation required unanimous approval for amendment.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

The Bill of Rights consisted of the first ten amendments to the Constitution.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

Delegates to the Constitutional Convention sharply debated whether to establish a monarchy or a republic.

Question 5

Federalists favored a decentralized system of national government.

Question 6

The controversy over the concessions favoring Great Britain in Jay's Treaty resulted in the most serious crisis of George Washington's presidency.

Question 7

Which of the following was true of the Articles of Confederation?

A)They were important in supporting the political concept of "republicanism."
B)They were successful in that they had the power to regulate trade between states.
C)They called for a government consisting of two parts: the congress and the executive branch.
D)One of their greatest strengths was that they were easy to amend.
E)They were instrumental in paying off the country's large Revolutionary War debts, though little money was left over.

Question 8

Which of the following was part of the Northwest Territory?

A)Pennsylvania
B)Michigan
C)Connecticut
D)Missouri
E)Washington

Question 9

One successful achievement that can be attributed to Congress under the Articles of Confederation is

A)Jay's Treaty.
B)the Judiciary Act of 1789.
C)the Land Ordinance of 1785.
D)the Louisiana Purchase.
E)the Trade Embargo of 1806.

Question 10

George Washington's attitude was typical of the wealthy elite regarding rebellious activity such as Shays' Rebellion.

Question 11

Due to its strong regulation of trade and its power of taxation, the Confederation was able to reduce the national debt.

Question 12

Alexander Hamilton believed the U.S.economy should remain predominantly agricultural.

Question 13

The Constitution mentioned the word "slave" (or "slavery") eighteen times.

Question 14

Alexander Hamilton presided over the Constitutional Convention.

Question 15

During the Constitutional Convention, Northerners argued that it did not make sense to count slaves for purposes of political representation when slaves were treated as property instead of as people.

Question 16

Although the French Revolution was, in part, inspired by the American Revolution, the U.S.government remained neutral in the conflict.

Question 17

The New Jersey Plan proposed a unicameral legislature with equal representation for each state.

Question 18

George Washington was appointed president without any kind of election process.

Question 19

Thomas Jefferson's supporters were called "Democratic Republicans."

Question 20

Under the Constitution, each slave would count as one person for purposes of representation but as only half a person for taxation.

Question 21

What does the textbook state as the most important political innovation of the Constitution?

A)The creation of the executive branch
B)The idea that all power flows from the people
C)The recognition of God in the document
D)The emphasis on the power of state governments over the national government
E)The placement of limits on the president's term

Question 22

When several states engaged in a trade war with Great Britain after the Revolution, which of the following occurred?

A)Great Britain declared war on the United States.
B)Great Britain simply sent their ships to states with lower tariffs.
C)It was revealed Congress didn't have the power to make them change.
D)Great Britain placed an embargo on American shipping.
E)The United States declared war on Great Britain.

Question 23

Under what policy could a territory apply for statehood once its population reached 60,000?

A)Northwest Ordinance
B)Territory Agreement
C)Treaty of 1783
D)Land Ordinance of 1785
E)Missouri Compromise

Question 24

For several years after the American Revolution, what happened to the economy of the United States?

A)It surged to new heights and expanded to new markets.
B)It was devastated because of the loss of British markets.
C)It slowly returned to the prewar levels.
D)It declined but was soon back to where it was during the war.
E)It was boosted by new French markets.

Question 25

If a chief executive committed treason, bribery, or "other high crimes and misdemeanors," the House of Representatives could

A)remove him from office.
B)declare him unable to run for another term.
C)impeach him.
D)veto his actions to prevent further harm.
E)abolish the office of the presidency.

Question 26

During the debate over ratification of the Constitution, the __________ insisted that the new document would eventually lead to corruption and tyranny.

A)Federalists
B)Whigs
C)Democrat Republicans
D)anti-Federalists
E)American Party

Question 27

The concept of dividing the authority of a government between two sets of powers that was unique to the United States is called

A)unitarianism.
B)totalitarianism.
C)federalism.
D)democracy.
E)republicanism.

Question 28

Which of the following issues that arose during the Constitutional Convention was the most explosive, causing divisiveness between the North and the South?

A)The political rights of women
B)The federal government's role in business
C)The size of the military
D)The future of slavery and its political implications
E)How to add new territories to the union

Question 29

Supporters of the Constitution who defended it in published articles in papers across the nation were known as the

A)Federalists.
B)Whigs.
C)Democrat Republicans.
D)anti-Federalists.
E)American Party.

Question 30

A significant compromise between those wanting Congress to choose presidents and those preferring a popular election was the creation of the

A)House of Commons.
B)Electoral College.
C)Twelfth Amendment.
D)judicial branch.
E)state primary system.

Question 31

In the new Constitution, women were

A)given the right to own slaves.
B)given the right to vote.
C)not included at all.
D)given the same rights as men.
E)well represented in the delegates of the Constitutional Convention.

Question 32

Which of the following was a reason that some called for strengthening the Federal government in the 1780s?

A)It would prevent states from making treaties with other nations.
B)It would allow the states to print their own paper currency.
C)It would introduce the ability of the states to levy taxes on imported goods.
D)It would restrain three southern states that were threatening to secede.
E)It would enable the government to derive sovereignty from the states rather than "the people."

Question 33

Which of the following was a major foreign policy issue that the United States faced after the Revolution?

A)France refused to surrender Quebec.
B)England tried to declare the Treaty of Paris void.
C)Holland demanded payment for use of their fleet.
D)Spain closed the port of New Orleans.
E)Mexico refused to recognize the Mississippi River as a legitimate border.

Question 34

When the Confederation Congress called for a new convention in 1787, they did so with the stated purpose of

A)revising the Articles of Confederation.
B)printing paper money to ease inflation.
C)replacing the Articles with the Constitution.
D)forcing Rhode Island to ratify the Constitution.
E)authorizing the federal government to use force to put down Shays' Rebellion.

Question 35

Which of the following statements correctly describes Mercy Otis Warren?

A)She was the most prominent woman in America to write regular political commentary.
B)She was the most prominent female physician in the 1790s.
C)She was the discoverer and first producer of a smallpox vaccine.
D)She was arrested for protesting the lack of specific rights for women in the Constitution.
E)She was the only woman decorated by the U.S.Army for brave service during the Revolution.

Question 36

Which of the following statements about the three land ordinances is accurate?

A)They focused on the distribution of land in the eastern United States after the Revolutionary War.
B)They specified who would own land in the United States but nothing about the procedures the landowners would follow.
C)They preceded the Treaty of Paris and gave Great Britain control of much of the land in the West.
D)They were policies that outlined processes for orderly western expansion, such as land surveys and the conditions for statehood.
E)They established new colonies in the Caribbean and led to an increase in the number of enslaved Africans.

Question 37

The new Constitution created __________ co-equal branches of government.

A)three
B)four
C)five
D)six
E)seven

Question 38

What was the most divisive issue in politics in 1785 in the United States?

A)The capture of Hessian soldiers
B)New lands surrendered by England after the war
C)New governments in the area east of the Mississippi
D)The printing of paper currency
E)Reform to the Articles of Confederation

Question 39

Which of the following was a compromise regarding the issue of slavery at the Constitutional Convention?

A)Slaves were to count as three-fifths of a person for congressional apportionment.
B)Slavery was to be abolished by 1808.
C)Slavery was abolished in the North and retained in the South.
D)Slaves were to be counted the same as whites for congressional apportionment.
E)Southern slave owners were to be limited to no more than 500 slaves.

Question 40

Which of the following suggested a unicameral legislature be adopted in the United States?

A)Virginia Plan
B)Connecticut Compromise
C)New Jersey Plan
D)Kentucky Resolution
E)Suffolk Resolves

Question 41

The Battle of Fallen Timbers saw the increase of large tracts of land secured from Native Americans in the future state of

A)Pennsylvania.
B)Missouri.
C)Ohio.
D)Texas.
E)Tennessee.

Question 42

__________ wrote An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, which provided the first full description of modern capitalism.

A)Thomas Jefferson
B)Thomas Paine
C)Andrew Carnegie
D)Adam Smith
E)John Maynard Keynes

Question 43

What was the XYZ affair?

A)An attempt to bring the United States into the French Revolution on the side of the British
B)An attempt by the French government to extort a bribe from the United States
C)An attempt by Jefferson to win the 1800 election through bribery
D)The result of the British attempt to break the Treaty of Alliance of 1778
E)The process by which the United States began to secure peace with France

Question 44

The treaty with Spain that provided United States access to New Orleans was negotiated by

A)William Marbury.
B)Thomas Jefferson.
C)Thomas Pinckney.
D)William Henderson.
E)Alexander Hamilton.

Question 45

Alexander Hamilton's "Report on Manufactures" most favored

A)increased shipping.
B)increased industrialization.
C)increased agricultural production.
D)increased economic diversification.
E)a balanced flow of supplies to Europe with a slight increase of demand.

Question 46

The first partisan presidential election in the United States (with candidates aligned with political parties) was in

A)1800.
B)1798.
C)1796.
D)1792.
E)1788.

Question 47

Who was the controversial French ambassador to the United States who openly recruited American volunteers to commit acts of war against England and Spain?

A)Edmond-Charles-Édouard Genet
B)Jean-Luc Picard
C)Charles Boyer
D)Pierre Gustave Toutant-Beauregard
E)Charles De Gaulle

Question 48

In what way was the United States "virtually alone" among other western nations in the late eighteenth century?

A)Its Constitution established a social class system.
B)Its Constitution created a pure democracy.
C)Its Constitution did not establish a national church.
D)Its Constitution formed a tricameral legislature.
E)Its Constitution made its indigenous peoples citizens.

Question 49

Once the Constitution was ratified, leaders such as Thomas Jefferson and James Madison desired that the United States remain mostly a nation of

A)businessmen and industrialists.
B)servants and slaves.
C)elites and middle class.
D)small, independent farmers.
E)educated entrepreneurs.

Question 50

The Whiskey Rebellion was the result of

A)western resistance to a tax on whiskey.
B)Washington's refusal to accept alcohol as a form of trade.
C)Adams's decision to abolish the whiskey tax.
D)Jefferson's refusal to negotiate with Edmund Genet during the French Revolution.
E)Washington's Neutrality Proclamation.

Question 51

Why was James Madison opposed to Alexander Hamilton's plans in his first "Report on Public Credit" regarding the national debt incurred during the Revolutionary War?

A)Madison thought that the war-related debt should not be repaid.
B)Madison was concerned that more of the debt was owed to northerners than southerners.
C)Madison thought that creating a national bank alone would be sufficient for paying the debt.
D)Madison was offended by the compromise offered and wanted the national capital to remain in New York.
E)Madison argued that Great Britain must be held accountable for paying all debts incurred.

Question 52

Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation and assess why American political leadership by 1787 had determined that the Articles needed to be revised and/or replaced.

Question 53

Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson resigned in late 1793 because of the Washington administration's

A)liberal politics.
B)conservative politics.
C)support for the French Revolution.
D)lack of support for the French and support for Hamilton's economic policies.
E)taxation policies and aggressive foreign policy.

Question 54

How many state legislatures were needed to ratify the Constitution before it became the "law of the land"?

A)Seven
B)Nine
C)Ten
D)Eleven
E)All thirteen

Question 55

One of the things Washington warned against in his farewell address was

A)industrialization.
B)love of God and country.
C)foreign entanglements.
D)a large public debt.
E)free health care.

Question 56

How was Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton able to raise federal revenue?

A)Arguing against the idea of "implied powers" in the Constitution
B)Creating the first federal taxes, such as those on imported goods
C)Prohibiting any federal aid from going to the development of manufacturing
D)Eliminating taxes on whiskey and other alcoholic beverages
E)Putting the southern states in charge of initiatives for industrial growth

Question 57

Which of the following did the adoption of the Alien and Sedition Acts cause?

A)It mended the political divide between Federalists and Democratic Republicans.
B)It allowed immigrants to become citizens within a year after moving to the United States.
C)It led to the theory of nullification introduced in the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions.
D)It was the most popular policy of Adams's administration and allowed for his reelection.
E)It overturned the 1800 election between Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr.

Question 58

Why was the creation of a national bank controversial?

A)A national bank would not have any power to regulate the role of state-chartered banks in issuing paper currency.
B)Madison, Jefferson, and their supporters argued that the Constitution did not say anything about creating one.
C)A national bank would not have any power to transfer monies to other nations.
D)A national bank would set the precedent that future lawmakers must follow the original language of the Constitution word for word.
E)Business loans would no longer be possible under a national bank, leading to economic distress.

Question 59

__________ led thousands of American settlers west through the Appalachian Mountains to settle new territory in what would become Kentucky and Tennessee.

A)Davey Crockett
B)Daniel Boone
C)Lewis and Clark
D)Zebulon Pike
E)Johnny Appleseed

Question 60

At the beginning of the French Revolution, __________ supported it, whereas __________ wanted no part of it.

A)Jefferson; Washington
B)Genet; Jefferson
C)Bonaparte; Adams
D)Knox; Randolph
E)Pinckney; Jay

Question 61

In what way were the Federalists (during the Constitution ratification process; not the political party of the 1790s) "nationalists"? Evaluate whether the anti-Federalists were more federalist than the Federalists.

Question 62

Compare and contrast the views of the Federalists and the anti-Federalists during the ratification process of the Constitution.Which groups had the stronger arguments? Why?

Question 63

What major compromises were made at the Constitutional Convention? What issues were settled? What issues remained unsettled?

Question 64

Describe the political concept of "federalism." How did advocates of the Constitution propose to establish and maintain federalism with the new structure of government?