Question 1

How did Britain treat the United States following the Revolutionary War?

Accepted Answer

Britain considered the United States an enemy nation and closed its profitable Caribbean colonies to American commerce. Britain was angry about losing the colonies and did not maintain a strong economic relationship with the newly formed United States. The monarchy also refused to accept the allegiance of Americans who had been born in England. While there were some in Britain who sympathized with the American Revolution, overall the relationship between the two nations was strained for many years following the war.

Question 2

Which of the following was a principle of the Land Ordinance of 1785?

Accepted Answer

The Land Ordinance of 1785 established a system for surveying and selling off land in the Northwest Territory, which included modern-day Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin. It organized the territory into townships that were six miles square, with each township containing 36 sections of land, each one mile square. One section was set aside in each township for public education, and the rest were sold to settlers for a minimum of $1 per acre. This system made it easier for individual pioneers to purchase land and move westward, but it did not provide free land or grant plots to specific religious groups. Additionally, the Land Ordinance did not address Native American land rights and instead assumed that their lands were available for sale and settlement.

Question 3

Which of the following was a promise of the Northwest Ordinance of 1787?

Accepted Answer

The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 promised that slavery would be banned north of the Ohio River in the territories created by the ordinance. This was a significant step towards the eventual abolition of slavery in the United States.

Question 4

According to the Constitution, the president has the authority to

Accepted Answer

The Constitution grants the president the power to veto acts of Congress, meaning the president can reject legislation passed by Congress and prevent it from becoming law. This is a key check and balance in the relationship between the executive and legislative branches of government. The president does not have the authority to resign and choose a successor, declare war without the approval of Congress, appoint state governors or abolish the Senate and appoint new senators.

Question 5

Which of the following is true of Madison's Virginia Plan?

Accepted Answer

Madison's Virginia Plan proposed a two-house Congress, consisting of a lower house elected by the people and an upper house elected by the lower house, with both houses serving proportional to the state's population.

Question 6

The convention, which assembled in May 1787, was supposed to

Accepted Answer

The convention was called to revise the Articles of Confederation.

Question 7

The term the "Critical Period," coined by John Quincy Adams, refers to America under the Articles of Confederation. Why was the period from 1784-1787 so critical?

Accepted Answer

During this time, American leaders developed major differences on how to address issues such as taxation, trade, representation, and foreign policy. These differences led to political unrest and economic instability, which eventually led to the Constitutional Convention and the drafting of the U.S. Constitution.

Question 8

The Constitution addressed slavery by

Accepted Answer

The Constitution counted slaves as three-fifths of a person for the purposes of apportionment, meaning they were not considered fully human and only counted as a fraction of a person for determining a state's representation in Congress. This compromise allowed Southern states with large slave populations to have greater power in Congress, despite the fact that slaves could not vote or participate in the political process. The Constitution did not explicitly mention slavery, but it did include provisions that protected the institution, such as the Fugitive Slave Clause which required the return of escaped slaves to their owners.

Question 9

Shays's Rebellion was led by

Accepted Answer

The rebellion was led by indebted farmers who were angry about the high taxes and lack of economic relief from the government. Shays himself was a veteran of the American Revolution who had been unable to pay his debts and was facing foreclosure on his farm.

Question 10

Which of the following is true of the so-called Great Compromise?

Accepted Answer

The Great Compromise, also known as the Connecticut Compromise, settled the question of congressional representation by creating a bicameral legislature, with one house (the Senate) having equal representation for each state and the other house (the House of Representatives) having representation based on population.

Question 11

Why were finances the greatest weakness of the Confederation government?

Accepted Answer

The states were asked to contribute to Congress's budget, but they rarely did or sent very little money. This left the Confederation government struggling financially and unable to effectively govern.

Question 12

Which of the following statements accurately describes the delegates who met at the Constitutional Convention?

Accepted Answer

The delegates who met at the Constitutional Convention included many participants from the Revolution who engaged in active debate with one another.

Question 13

A major cause of Shays's Rebellion was that

Accepted Answer

Shays's Rebellion was caused by the frustration and anger of farmers in Massachusetts who were being heavily taxed but had limited political power. The new state constitution of 1780 raised the property qualifications to both vote and hold office, which made it more difficult for farmers to have a say in their government. This led to unrest and eventually to the rebellion led by Daniel Shays.

Question 14

Which of the following statements about the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 is accurate?

Accepted Answer

The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 included provisions that were supposed to protect Native American lands by stating that their lands would not be taken without consent. However, in practice, this promise was not effectively upheld as westward expansion and settlement often disregarded these protections.

Question 15

The convention's most gifted political philosopher and the man who emerged as its central figure was

Accepted Answer

James Madison is known as the "Father of the Constitution" and is considered the most gifted political philosopher of the convention. He played a central role in the drafting and ratification of the Constitution, and is credited with writing much of the document.

Question 16

The partisan divisions of the 1790s helped establish the right of "common" men to play a more active role in governing the new nation, such as the elimination of the requirement that citizens must own property to vote.

Accepted Answer

The partisan divisions in the 1790s led to the emergence of political parties and a more participatory system of government, which included the elimination of property qualifications for voting in some states.

Question 17

The founding fathers viewed the most democratic entity of the government as the

Accepted Answer

The House of Representatives is the branch of the government that is most representative of the people, as its members are directly elected by the citizens every two years. The Senate, on the other hand, was designed to be a more elite body, with each state having equal representation regardless of population. The presidency, Supreme Court, and cabinet are all branches of the government that were designed to provide checks and balances to each other, but not necessarily to be the most democratic.

Question 18

One serious economic problem under the Articles of Confederation was

Accepted Answer

The shortage of "hard money" (gold and silver) was a significant economic problem under the Articles of Confederation, as there was no national currency and state-issued paper money lost its value quickly. This made it difficult for trade and resulted in inflation, hampering economic growth.

Question 19

Shays's Rebellion broke out in

Accepted Answer

Shays's Rebellion broke out in Massachusetts.

Question 20

Which of the following occurred in part as a result of Shays's Rebellion?

Accepted Answer

Shays's Rebellion was a series of violent protests by farmers and debtors in Massachusetts in 1786-87. The rebellion highlighted the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation, under which the central government had no power to enforce its laws or regulate trade. As a result, there were numerous calls for a stronger central government, which led to the drafting of the United States Constitution in 1787.

Quiz 6: Strengthening the New Nation