Deck 10: Democracy in America, 1815-1840

Question 1

Andrew Jackson's inauguration was:

A) small and dignified.
B) much like the previous presidential inaugurations.
C) limited to only the upper crust of society.
D) a large, rowdy event.
E) a disastrous affair, since Jackson's opponents protested outside the White House.

Answer 1

a large, rowdy event.

Question 2

A primary reason that both women and blacks were largely excluded from the expansion of democracy was:

A) the argument that, since they did not have the vote in England, they ought not to have the vote in America.
B) that they were not citizens, so they could not vote.
C) that both groups were viewed as being naturally incapable and thus unfit for suffrage.
D) that members of neither group had asked to be included in politics.
E) that both groups were largely illiterate, and literacy was a necessary skill for political participation.

Answer 2

that both groups were viewed as being naturally incapable and thus unfit for suffrage.

Question 3

The Dorr War:

A) stemmed from a disagreement between John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson over internal improvements.
B) refers to fighting that broke out between whites and Cherokees in Georgia.
C) demonstrated the contentiousness of the national bank debate.
D) divided Rhode Islanders over the issue of expanding voting rights for white men.
E) resulted from the nullification crisis.

Answer 3

divided Rhode Islanders over the issue of expanding voting rights for white men.

Question 4

By 1860, free black men could vote on the same basis as whites only in :

A) Virginia and Maryland.
B) New York and Pennsylvania.
C) the Upper Northwest (Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota).
D) four states in the Lower South.
E) five New England states.

Question 5

In response to the demand for internal improvements, President James Madison:

A) spoke out vigorously against what Henry Clay called the "American System."
B) approved a law that created the interstate highway system that we have today.
C) called for a constitutional amendment to empower the federal government to build roads and canals.
D) signed into law John Calhoun's bill for federally financed internal improvements.
E) created a government-funded steamboat company that revolutionized river transportation.

Question 6

In its decision in McCulloch v. Maryland, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that:

A) the Indians were not allowed to sue the federal government.
B) the Second Bank of the United States was constitutional.
C) Catholics could not be barred from political office.
D) the American System was unconstitutional.
E) states could nullify federal laws with congressional permission.

Question 7

Under the Missouri Compromise of 1820:

A) the remaining Louisiana Purchase territory was divided into slave and free zones.
B) Congress banned slavery in any new territory that might ever be added to the United States.
C) Missouri agreed to gradual emancipation of slavery in exchange for admission to the Union.
D) Ohio became a free state to balance the admission of Missouri as a slave state.
E) slave states gained a two-seat advantage in the U.S. Senate.

Question 8

By 1840, approximately __________ percent of adult white men were eligible to vote.

A) 40
B) 55
C) 65
D) 75
E) 90

Question 9

By the 1830s, the term "citizen" in America had become synonymous with the right to:

A) accumulate wealth.
B) vote.
C) own property.
D) own slaves.
E) publicly criticize the government.

Question 10

The term "Era of Good Feelings" refers to the period of American history when:

A) the Federalist Party was at its strongest.
B) there seemed to be political harmony during the Monroe administration.
C) Americans united across party lines to declare war on Great Britain in the War of 1812.
D) slavery was gradually abolished in all the states.
E) Democrats and Whigs cooperated to solve the nation's financial crisis.

Question 11

Both Thomas Jefferson and John Quincy Adams suggested that the Missouri controversy of 1820-1821:

A) demonstrated the wisdom of the founding fathers in adopting the three-fifths clause.
B) should have been solved by adoption of the Tallmadge Amendment.
C) was not as dangerous as President Monroe made it out to be.
D) resulted from overly ambitious proslavery politicians seeking to score political points.
E) revealed a sectional divide that potentially threatened the Union.

Question 12

In the early to mid-nineteenth century, property qualifications for voting:

A) continued in Virginia because large slaveholders dominated the state's politics.
B) survived in all of the slave states, but in none of the free states.
C) died out entirely, allowing all whites to vote in every state.
D) were more popular in newer states than in the original thirteen.
E) disappeared because of the Voting Rights Act championed by President Andrew Jackson.

Question 13

The Panic of 1819:

A) resulted partly from an upsurge in European demand for American farm products that the United States was unprepared to meet.
B) led to impossibly high prices for western lands.
C) enhanced trust in banks because they did such a good job of weathering the economic storm.
D) prompted some states to suspend debt collections, which helped debtors but hurt creditors.
E) inspired John Marshall's decision against the banking power in Gibbons v. Ogden.

Question 14

Why was a second Missouri Compromise necessary?

A) Maine's state constitution allowed slavery to continue until 1840.
B) Missouri's state constitution barred free blacks from entering the state.
C) Henry Clay refused to vote for the first Missouri Compromise.
D) Texas wished to enter the Union as a slave state at the same time.
E) Missouri's state constitution prohibited wage labor.

Question 15

The Second Bank of the United States was created:

A) by Congress in 1816, with the support of President Madison.
B) to counterbalance the power of the First Bank of the United States.
C) by President Monroe's executive order in 1820.
D) by a group of New York bankers after the First Bank of the United States failed.
E) by Congress in 1832, with the support of President Jackson.

Question 16

Women writers benefited from:

A) men accepting the idea that they had the right to express their political views, just not vote on them.
B) the increasing popularity of fiction about women workers, based on the Lowell girls.
C) the Lydia Maria Child Publishing House, which emphasized women's literature.
D) the growth of the reading public, part of the democratization of American life.
E) the need for books to explain how women could play a role in the political sphere.

Question 17

In the first half of the nineteenth century, paper money:

A) could be issued only by the Second Bank of the United States.
B) was illegal.
C) promised to pay the bearer on demand a specific amount of gold or silver.
D) never changed its value because of U.S. government guarantees.
E) never exceeded the amount of money that the bank printing it held in its vault.

Question 18

The independence movements in Latin America between 1810 and 1822:

A) led Spain to crack down and succeed in consolidating its power in the Americas.
B) gained very little sympathy in the United States because of atrocities committed by revolutionaries.
C) created seventeen different nations, each headed by a person of Indian ancestry.
D) paralleled in some ways the independence movement that created the United States.
E) created new nations that economically developed at a very fast rate.

Question 19

In the wake of the War of 1812, younger Republicans like Henry Clay and John Calhoun:

A) continued to support agrarianism, but believed that the nation's economic independence required a manufacturing sector.
B) demanded that the United States scale back its international involvement and depend exclusively on agriculture for its prosperity.
C) believed in the need for national economic development, but thought that the federal government should stay out of it and let the states do it.
D) decided that Jeffersonianism was hopelessly out of date when President James Madison opposed their efforts, and they decided to form their own political party.
E) threw their support to Andrew Jackson because they realized that their plans were too grandiose to win popular support without a hero as their standard-bearer.

Question 20

The key insight of Alexis de Tocqueville's Tocqueville on Democracy was that:

A) the most important thing about American democracy was that the majority of men could vote.
B) American democracy was really a sham.
C) American democracy really represented an important cultural shift.
D) the ideology of the Whig Party was actually more democratic than that of the Democratic Party.
E) American democracy could not exist without strong presidential leadership.

Question 21

Who wrote Exposition and Protest and emerged by the early 1830s as the most prominent spokesman for the right of nullification?

A) John C. Calhoun
B) Henry Clay
C) Andrew Jackson
D) John Quincy Adams
E) Daniel Webster

Question 22

Which of the following did NOT happen during the election of 1828?

A) Andrew Jackson challenged Henry Clay to a duel for having engineered his defeat in the "corrupt bargain" of 1824.
B) John Quincy Adams's supporters accused Andrew Jackson of murder.
C) Adams's supporters questioned the morality of Andrew Jackson's wife because she married Jackson while she was still married to another man.
D) Jackson's supporters claimed that Adams had engaged in objectionable sexual practices while serving as a diplomat abroad.
E) Adams kept in office federal employees who openly campaigned for his opponent.

Question 23

Many of the members of Jackson's Kitchen Cabinet, as his group of close advisers was known, were:

A) bankers.
B) newspaper editors.
C) women, including Peggy Eaton and Floride Calhoun.
D) military officers.
E) Protestant ministers.

Question 24

In the presidential election of 1824, who received the most votes but failed to win a majority of either the popular or electoral votes (requiring the House of Representatives to select a president)?

A) Andrew Jackson
B) Henry Clay
C) John Quincy Adams
D) James Monroe
E) Nicholas Biddle

Question 25

By the time of Jackson's presidency, politics:

A) remained very much the province of the elite.
B) was centered on the congressional elections held every other year.
C) focused on organization, with the public refusing to tolerate showmanship or flowery oratory.
D) often emphasized individual politicians with mass followings and popular nicknames.
E) was completely under the control of Martin Van Buren.

Question 26

Who argued in a famous debate with South Carolina's Robert Hayne that the people, not the states, created the Constitution?

A) John C. Calhoun
B) John Quincy Adams
C) Henry Clay
D) Daniel Webster
E) Martin Van Buren

Question 27

During Jackson's presidency, most Democrats did all of the following EXCEPT:

A) support reducing federal expenditures.
B) call for lowering the tariff.
C) oppose the Second Bank of the United States.
D) approve of the Indian Removal Act.
E) speak out against presidential use of the veto.

Question 28

The nullification crisis:

A) involved the fears of some slaveholders that the federal government might take action against slavery.
B) was based on southern concerns that tariffs were preventing the South from industrializing as fast as the North.
C) largely concerned the opposition of Southwestern planters to federally financed internal improvements.
D) brought Andrew Jackson and John C. Calhoun closer together politically.
E) attracted support from Whigs like Daniel Webster, who saw it as an opportunity to embarrass and annoy Jackson.

Question 29

As president, John Quincy Adams proposed a comprehensive plan for an activist state, which called for all of the following EXCEPT:

A) free homesteads for settlers on western public lands.
B) the establishment of a national university.
C) creating a naval academy.
D) building a national astronomical observatory.
E) legislation promoting agriculture, commerce, and manufacturing.

Question 30

Whigs wanted the government involved in all of the following EXCEPT:

A) restricting alcohol production.
B) legislating morality.
C) prohibiting entertainment on Sundays.
D) restricting corporations.
E) banning prostitution.

Question 31

The practice of giving a political office to someone based on party loyalty is called:

A) a meritocracy.
B) the spoils system.
C) paternalism.
D) the party system.
E) nepotism.

Question 32

Which is NOT true about the Whigs?

A) They argued that the role of government was to promote the welfare of the people.
B) They supported government promotion of the economy.
C) The Whigs believed that a strong federal government was necessary to promote liberty.
D) The Whigs united behind the American System.
E) Their strongest support came from the lower Northwest and the southern backcountry.

Question 33

The national political parties of the second American party system were:

A) Democrats and Whigs.
B) Republicans and Democrats.
C) Whigs and Know-Nothings.
D) Republicans and Whigs.
E) Democrats and Federalists.

Question 34

Democrats in the 1830s generally believed that:

A) the federal government should be more powerful than state governments.
B) new corporate enterprises were suspicious.
C) only government could protect against social inequality.
D) government should exercise its power to try to improve private morality.
E) restraining individual competition was a good thing.

Question 35

Which of the following statements about Martin Van Buren is FALSE?

A) By 1828, he had established the political apparatus of the Democratic Party.
B) Son of a tavern keeper, his principal talent was as a party manager.
C) A graduate of Harvard, he was known for his sterling intellectual accomplishments.
D) He believed party discipline could help overcome sectional feelings.
E) The forcible removal of the Cherokee tribe, known as the Trail of Tears, occurred during his presidency.

Question 36

Which of the following is NOT true of John Quincy Adams?

A) He enjoyed one of the most distinguished diplomatic careers in American history.
B) He had a far more expansive view of national power than many of his contemporaries.
C) He was a firm believer in strict construction of the Constitution.
D) He was the only member of Monroe's cabinet to oppose reprimanding Andrew Jackson for invading Spanish Florida.
E) Although a Federalist senator at the time, he had supported Jefferson's embargo policy.

Question 37

The controversy over Peggy Eaton:

A) led to her divorce from her husband, the secretary of war.
B) ended when Floride Calhoun came to Eaton's defense.
C) helped to enhance Martin Van Buren's influence during the Jackson administration.
D) began when Andrew Jackson accused her of improper sexual advances.
E) aided Andrew Jackson in winning the presidency in 1828.

Question 38

John Quincy Adams's vision included all of the following EXCEPT:

A) territorial expansion.
B) states' rights.
C) nationalism.
D) a national bank.
E) an expanding market economy.

Question 39

The Monroe Doctrine:

A) was the idea that all white men should have voting rights.
B) secured Florida from Spain.
C) declared the Americas off-limits for further European colonization.
D) stated that the United States would be neutral in all international conflicts.
E) settled the nullification crisis favorably for South Carolina.

Question 40

Henry Clay was charged with orchestrating a "corrupt bargain" during the 1824 election so that he could become:

A) president.
B) vice president.
C) secretary of state.
D) ambassador to England.
E) chief justice.

Question 41

Which Indian nation fought a war with the U.S. army from 1835 to 1842 to resist removal to the West?

A) Cherokee
B) Chickasaw
C) Creek
D) Seminole
E) Choctaw

Question 42

The Force Act of 1833:

A) created a standing federal army to deal with threats to national security.
B) provided for a police force for the District of Columbia.
C) gave the president authority to use military personnel to collect tariffs.
D) became law at the insistence of nullification supporters.
E) was declared unconstitutional by Chief Justice Roger Taney in 1838.

Question 43

The French writer Alexis de Tocqueville identified democracy as an essential attribute of American freedom.

Question 44

Women enjoyed an expansion of democracy for themselves during the 1830s and 1840s, as they were welcomed into the public sphere.

Question 45

By the early nineteenth century, the term "citizen" had become synonymous with the right to vote.

Question 46

Since President Madison believed that a constitutional amendment was necessary for the government to build roads and canals, the Twelfth Amendment was passed by Congress and ratified in 1816.

Question 47

In the presidential election of 1840:

A) the Whigs employed political tactics pioneered by Democrats.
B) voter turnout dropped dramatically because no popular candidate like Jackson ran.
C) the Democrats nominated three regional candidates, hoping to throw the election into the House of Representatives.
D) the Democrats and Whigs both produced platforms that clearly laid out the parties' positions on major public issues.
E) the Whigs again nominated Henry Clay.

Question 48

"Hard money" in the 1830s referred to:

A) gold and silver, also called "specie."
B) wages paid to manual laborers.
C) money backed by government guarantees.
D) any money issued by a bank.
E) highly inflated currency after the Panic of 1837.

Question 49

The nullification crisis ended:

A) in the so-called Dorr War.
B) with North Carolina's threat to secede in 1832.
C) with the Supreme Court's opinion in Hamilton v. Jackson.
D) with a compromise tariff.
E) with Daniel Webster's powerful pro-nullification speech to the Senate.

Question 50

What was President Martin Van Buren's new solution to the problem of what to do about the federal government's relationship to banking?

A) He called for federal money to be deposited in state-chartered banks known as "pets."
B) He proposed the creation of the Federal Reserve Bank, with branches in key cities.
C) He created the Third Bank of the United States, but this time headed by a reliable Democrat.
D) He set up a program of federal insurance on individual bank accounts to protect them in times of panic.
E) He proposed that federal funds be controlled by government officials rather than by bankers.

Question 51

In the 1830s, Andrew Jackson believed all of the following about the Second Bank of the United States EXCEPT that:

A) the Bank did not allow for the issuance of enough paper money to meet national demand.
B) bankers in general were "nonproducers" who merely profited from the labor of others.
C) the Bank received exclusive privileges that widened the gap between the wealthy and the humble.
D) the Bank was a "monster" that illegitimately combined political and economic power.
E) the Bank was engaging in a form of political blackmail against Jackson.

Question 52

The U.S. Supreme Court's 1832 Worcester v. Georgia decision:

A) supported the right of the Cherokee people to maintain a separate political identity.
B) approved Georgia's plans to confiscate Cherokee land and move the people to reservations.
C) struck down Georgia's anti-tariff Nullification Ordinance.
D) was fully supported by President Andrew Jackson.
E) was strongly opposed by Whigs.

Question 53

Steam power helped the proliferation of the penny press.

Question 54

Since the Bank of the United States handled the Panic of 1819 so efficiently, public support for the banking system increased dramatically.

Question 55

Who was the president of the Second Bank of the United States in 1832?

A) Langdon Cheves
B) Paul Volcker
C) Henry Clay
D) Nicholas Biddle
E) Charles Winchester

Question 56

As president, John Tyler:

A) worked hard to enact the Whig economic program.
B) proved so popular that he easily won the 1844 presidential election.
C) vetoed a bill to create a new national bank, thus angering Whigs.
D) engaged in a public feud with his vice president that led to the latter's resignation.
E) appointed Roger Taney to the office of chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.

Question 57

In his Cherokee Nation v. Georgia opinion, Chief Justice John Marshall stated that:

A) Georgia had to respect Indian title to their lands.
B) Indians were wards of the federal government.
C) the Cherokee had to move to the Indian Territory.
D) President Jackson had full authority over Indian affairs.
E) Indians were U.S. citizens, with all attendant rights and responsibilities.

Question 58

How does the Bank War demonstrate that Andrew Jackson enhanced the power of the presidency?

A) He became the first president ever to veto a bill passed by Congress.
B) By removing federal funds from the Bank even after Congress overrode his veto, he showed strong leadership.
C) He identified himself as the symbolic representative of all the people with his veto message that appealed directly to the public.
D) Because Jackson forced the Bank to issue more paper money to end a depression, Americans increasingly looked to the White House for economic leadership.
E) Because Jackson's actions led to an economic decline, he did not enhance the power of the presidency.

Question 59

The Panic of 1837:

A) inspired a more vigorous labor movement in the decade that followed.
B) led to a relatively mild economic downturn that resolved itself by 1839.
C) can only be blamed on Andrew Jackson's veto of the bill to recharter the Second Bank of the United States.
D) was caused, in part, by a decline in British demand for American cotton.
E) helped farmers, because the cost of transporting goods to markets fell.

Question 60

Whose 1840 presidential campaign portrayed him as a common man who was born in a log cabin and liked to drink hard cider?

A) Andrew Jackson
B) William Henry Harrison
C) Martin Van Buren
D) John Quincy Adams
E) Henry Clay

Question 61

The election of 1828 witnessed a campaign that compared John Quincy Adams's education to Andrew Jackson's military career.

Question 62

By 1828, Andrew Jackson had established the political apparatus of the Democratic Party.

Question 63

John C. Calhoun's "corrupt bargain" gave John Quincy Adams the White House in 1824.

Question 64

John Tyler's presidency proved very popular with Whigs.

Question 65

The Trail of Tears refers specifically to the removal of the Seminole Indians from Florida to present-day Oklahoma.

Question 66

Andrew Jackson's vision of democracy excluded blacks, but included Indians.

Question 67

Andrew Jackson was born into a wealthy and prominent family, but was able to portray himself to the American people as a common man.

Question 68

Andrew Jackson was the only candidate in the 1824 election to have national appeal.

Question 69

Supporters of nullification claimed that the federal government was overstepping its rights and infringing on states' rights.

Question 70

Whigs believed that the federal government was responsible for promoting the welfare of the people and securing liberty.

Question 71

Martin Van Buren believed that party politics was an important component in ensuring liberty for the American people.

Question 72

The party battles of the Jacksonian era reflected the clash between public and private definitions of American freedom and their relationship to government power.

Question 73

Daniel Webster insisted that the national government had been created by an agreement between sovereign states, each of which retained the right to prevent the enforcement within its borders of acts of Congress that exceeded the powers specifically spelled out in the document.

Question 74

The Monroe Doctrine was a forceful statement that declared that westward expansion for the United States could not be prevented on any account since its destiny was divinely appointed.

Question 75

Andrew Jackson's policies resulted in a higher national debt.

Question 76

James Monroe's two terms as president were characterized by the absence of two-party competition.

Question 77

The Missouri Compromise debate illustrated that northern Republicans did not want slavery to expand for primarily moral reasons.

Question 78

The Kitchen Cabinet was an informal group of advisers who helped to write speeches for Andrew Jackson.

Question 79

The Independent Treasury completely separated the federal government from the nation's banking system.