Deck 13: The Contested West, 1815-1860

Question 1

Most people traveling overland to California and Oregon followed which of the following routes?

A) The Northwest Passage
B) The Oregon Trail.
C) The Santa Fe Trail
D) The South Pass

Answer 1

The South Pass

Question 2

Because of its railroads, stockyards, and grain elevators, which of the following cities dominated the economy of the Midwest by the middle of the nineteenth century?

A) Chicago
B) Milwaukee
C) Minneapolis
D) St. Louis

Answer 2

Chicago

Question 3

Which of the following is true of the Miami Indians?

A) They were able to prevent the removal of their people to reservations because of their successful assimilation into American culture.
B) Many members of the Miami nation eluded the federal troops sent to forcibly remove them to Indian Country.
C) The Miami Indians were subjected to a brutal massacre at the hands of the United States Army.
D) The Miami nation was wiped out due to a smallpox epidemic.

Answer 3

Many members of the Miami nation eluded the federal troops sent to forcibly remove them to Indian Country.

Question 4

Even though the West was often depicted in popular literature of the early nineteenth century as a violent place, in the minds of many Americans it also symbolized the nation's core value. That value was

A) materialism.
B) idealism.
C) communalism.
D) freedom.

Question 5

In the minds of most Americans of European descent in the early nineteenth century, the West

A) was an uninhabitable wilderness.
B) represented a place where they could own land and achieve economic independence.
C) consisted of a hodge-podge of cultures that could never be assimilated into the nation.
D) was a peaceful and idyllic area.

Question 6

Which of the following was the most significant contribution made by the U.S. Army Corps of Topographical Engineers during the first half of the nineteenth century?

A) The building of levees to protect the city of New Orleans
B) Its survey of the Oregon Trail
C) The surveying of possible routes for a transcontinental railroad
D) The expeditions it sponsored to explore the West

Question 7

In addition to the Bible, which of the following books did migrants to the West often take with them?

A) Timothy Flint's Biographical Memoir of Daniel Boone
B) Ralph Waldo Emerson's compilation of essays and poems
C) John C. Frémont's accounts of his explorations
D) James Fenimore Cooper's The Deerslayer

Question 8

Which of the following was a characteristic of the "frontier"?

A) It was a region in which anarchy reigned.
B) It was a boundary beyond which there was no human habitation.
C) It was the line between civilized society and a completely untamed and savage wilderness.
D) It was a meeting place of different cultures.

Question 9

Army explorer Stephen Long described the region of present-day Oklahoma, Kansas, and Nebraska as

A) the Great American Desert.
B) God's Country.
C) the Dust Bowl.
D) the Bread Basket of America.

Question 10

Which of the following is referred to as "The Pathfinder"?

A) John Jacob Astor
B) Stephen Austin
C) Davy Crockett
D) John C. Frémont

Question 11

Largely as a result of the Leatherstocking Tales by James Fenimore Cooper, Daniel Boone became a symbol of which of the following?

A) Altruism and personal sacrifice
B) Humility and purity of thought
C) Individualism and freedom
D) Selfishness and greed

Question 12

Beginning in the 1820s, why did western migrants find the Midwest more attractive than the Southwest?

A) The United States government would finance a move to the Midwest but not to the Southwest.
B) The transportation routes of the Midwest were better developed than those of the Southwest.
C) The growing season was much longer in the Midwest.
D) They could obtain free land.

Question 13

Which of the following is true of "black laws" passed by many Midwestern states in the 1850s?

A) These laws prohibited gambling of any kind and imposed strict penalties against bookmakers.
B) These laws prohibited African Americans from living within the border of such states.
C) These laws prevented the return of runaway slaves to their southern owners.
D) These laws provided financial incentives to free black laborers willing to become permanent residents.

Question 14

Which of the following caused a significant increase in the demand for western timber?

A) The housing boom in the Old Northwest
B) The decision by Congress to double the number of ships in the United States Navy
C) The California Gold Rush
D) The expansion of the South's slave society into the Old Southwest

Question 15

Which of the following is true of the Black Hawk War?

A) It marked the end of militant Indian resistance uprisings in the Old Northwest.
B) It raised the possibility that Great Britain would honor its defensive treaty with the Sauks by actively intervening on their behalf.
C) It represented the first time that Native Americans successfully resisted removal from their ancestral lands.
D) It represents one of the worst defeats ever experienced by the U.S. Army.

Question 16

Which of the following is true of fur trappers in the Appalachian West?

A) They had little interaction with Indians in the region.
B) They often put inferior pelts on the market, which severely hurt their chances of selling in the international marketplace.
C) They often married Indian women.
D) They suffered severe economic setbacks in the 1820s.

Question 17

Once people made the decision to move west, the decision of where to move was often influenced by which of the following factors?

A) The availability of employment for all family members
B) The availability of quality public education
C) The presence of the amenities associated with urban areas in the Northeast
D) The similarity of climate between their new residence and their old residence

Question 18

Which of the following was true of the Northwest Territory between 1790 and 1860?

A) Migration into the region was slow largely due to the questionable status of slavery in the area.
B) The population of the region grew at a phenomenal rate.
C) The region's climate caused a significantly higher death rate than in the Northeastern states.
D) Although the population grew due to natural increase, more people actually left the region than moved into the region.

Question 19

Which of the following was the moral message in much of George Catlin's work?

A) Destruction of the natural environment is against God's will.
B) Indians are better off if they are removed from the corrupting influence of white Americans.
C) American westward expansion is right and moral and part of God's plan.
D) The superior American culture must inevitably replace all other cultures.

Question 20

Which of the following is true of the "rendezvous"?

A) It was an annual, multi-day gathering of American, Indian, Mexican, and mixed-race fur trappers from throughout the West.
B) It was gathering in which all of the ethnic groups that lived in New Orleans competed for a story-telling prize.
C) It was the geographic point after which wagon trains had to depend on Native American guides to lead them safely to their destination.
D) After barn raisings in Midwestern farm communities, the participants would celebrate with story telling, dancing, and drinking.

Question 21

Which of the following is true of women in California in the 1850s?

A) Because their skills were in demand, they could charge high fees for cooking, laundering, and sewing.
B) They worked on family farms as they had done in the East and Midwest.
C) Many married women built reputations as hostesses by providing food and entertainment for their husbands' bachelor friends.
D) They were usually engaged in mining for gold alongside the male settlers.

Question 22

By the mid-1850s, California's major agricultural crop was

A) barley.
B) corn.
C) soy beans.
D) wheat.

Question 23

As the result of a Mexican law passed in 1833, California missions were used primarily

A) to organize Indian labor.
B) as a refuge for Native Americans fighting against removal to Indian Country by federal authorities.
C) to care for European American migrants who needed shelter until they could build their own homes.
D) to provide a safe haven to residents who had been the victims of anti-Catholic hate crimes.

Question 24

Which of the following was the dominant group in the population of Texas at the time of Mexican independence in 1821?

A) People of mixed race
B) Indians indigenous to the area
C) Immigrant Anglos
D) Hispanics

Question 25

After passage of the Colonization Law of 1824 by the Mexican government, the Mexican state of Coahuila y Texas stipulated that, to be eligible for land grants, foreigners

A) could only use gold to pay for their land and could not buy the land on credit.
B) could not marry Mexican women.
C) had to convert to the Catholic faith.
D) had to be Christians and establish permanent residency.

Question 26

An empresario was

A) an immigration agent who chose families suitable for settlement in Texas and who, in return, received land for every one hundred families he settled.
B) a middleman who negotiated land contracts with the Mexican government on behalf of the United States.
C) a United States resident who owned large tracts of land in Mexico.
D) the owner of a large plantation in Texas.

Question 27

Under the presidency of Mirabeau Lamar, the Texas Rangers

A) were stationed along the border between Lone Star Republic and the United States to prevent any further influx of American migrants.
B) acted as a border patrol to enforce the law against entry of free blacks from the United States into the Lone Star Republic.
C) used terror tactics to drive Indians from Texas.
D) acted to protect the rights of Tejanos.

Question 28

Wheat farming in California depended on

A) massive irrigation projects.
B) skills taught to European American migrants by Native Americans.
C) Indian laborers held in bondage.
D) mechanized agriculture.

Question 29

Which of the following is true of Anglo-Americans who emigrated to Texas during the 1820s?

A) They were usually wealthy speculators who wanted to buy cheap land and sell it for a substantial profit.
B) They were not allowed by the Mexican authorities to bring slaves into Texas.
C) They generally settled in their own separate communities and had little interaction with Tejanos.
D) They were always outnumbered by Tejanos.

Question 30

Why did Narcissa and Marcus Whitman fail in their efforts to convert the Cayuse Indians to Christianity?

A) The Cayuse saw the doctrine of the Trinity as illogical.
B) The Whitmans assumed an air of cultural superiority over the Cayuse.
C) The Cayuse found it impossible to accept the doctrine of transubstantiation.
D) The Whitmans insisted on holding religious services in their home, which conflicted with the religious practices of the Cayuse.

Question 31

The General Land Office, established in 1812,

A) established a credit system for the purchase of western lands that favored small-time farmers.
B) handled the distribution of federal lands in the West.
C) had the power to set the price-per-acre of western lands.
D) was charged with the responsibility of preventing speculators from buying large tracts of federal western lands.

Question 32

The policies of the General Land Office usually favored

A) individual farmers.
B) corporations.
C) Northeastern banks.
D) speculators.

Question 33

Which of the following is true of slavery as practiced by Native Americans in the Southwest?

A) Owning slaves did not give to their captors increased socioeconomic status.
B) Within a tribe, only those convicted of crimes could be enslaved.
C) It was far less violent than the chattel slavery found in the American South.
D) It involved capturing women and children from other communities and assimilating them into their captors' communities.

Question 34

Which of the following are generally recognized as having been the first white migrants along the Oregon Trail?

A) Laura and Almanzo Wilder and Rose and Gillette Lane
B) Narcissa and Marcus Whitman and Eliza and Henry Spalding
C) Bill Cody and Wyatt Earp
D) Elizabeth and Charles Finney

Question 35

After 1852, anger toward the Mormons in the Utah territory increased throughout the United States for which of the following reasons?

A) The Mormons officially sanctioned polygamy.
B) The Mormons prohibited all non-Mormons from entering their state of "Deseret."
C) The Mormons engaged in a rebellion against the government of the United States.
D) The Mormons publicized their belief that Jesus was not divine and not the Son of God.

Question 36

By the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851,

A) Indian tribes in the Northwest Territory agreed to allow American migrants moving West free passage across their tribal lands.
B) all of the Indian tribes of the Great Plains agreed to cede their ancestral lands to the United States but were allowed to live on that land in perpetuity.
C) southwestern Indian tribes agreed to forgo any further allotments from the federal government in return for an expansion of their tribal boundaries.
D) eight northern Plains tribes agreed to respect tribal boundaries established by the United States government and to allow the government to build roads and forts within those boundaries.

Question 37

The Office of Indian Affairs

A) oversaw the "civilizing" of Native Americans by establishing European-style villages and schools for Indian children.
B) cooperated with the military in the removal of Indians from western lands and protected citizens who wanted to settle in the West.
C) was established to help in the assimilation of Native Americans into American society.
D) had the duty and responsibility of protecting the cultures of Native American peoples.

Question 38

Why were Narcissa and Marcus Whitman murdered by the Cayuse Indians?

A) The Cayuse discovered that the Whitmans were supportive of the Cayuse being forcibly removed to Indian Country.
B) The Whitmans kidnapped several Cayuse children and planned to take them back to the Northeast.
C) The Cayuse interpreted a measles epidemic as being a deliberate assault on them by the Whitmans.
D) Needing food, the Whitmans killed animals that, to the Cayuse, were of spiritual significance.

Question 39

Which of the following held spiritual significance to Plains Indians?

A) The American bison
B) The beaver
C) The coyote
D) The horse

Question 40

Which of the following is true of European American migrants trekking West along the Oregon and California trails?

A) Death rates from disease were significantly higher than in society at large.
B) For most adults, trail life was not particularly dangerous.
C) They only killed bison or other animals for food.
D) They were constantly subjected to Indian attacks.

Question 41

Manifest Destiny was the belief that

A) the territorial expansion of the United States was inevitable, divinely ordained, and just.
B) the United States should fulfill its mission as expressed in the Declaration of Independence.
C) the United States should pledge its support to oppressed people everywhere.
D) war with Canada and Mexico was necessary and desirable.

Question 42

One of the main issues in James K. Polk's 1844 presidential campaign was the Democratic party's commitment to

A) increasing the tariff.
B) reducing the sales price of western lands.
C) territorial acquisition and expansion.
D) rechartering the Bank of the United States.

Question 43

Members of the Whig party

A) believed in a weak central government.
B) were suspicious of rapid Western expansion and, instead, supported industrial and commercial expansion within the current boundaries of the United States.
C) favored the expansion of slavery into the Western territories.
D) favored free trade.

Question 44

Which of the following is true of the presidential campaign of 1844?

A) The Liberty Party candidate drew enough votes away from Henry Clay in New York to deny Clay the state and the election.
B) Although James K. Polk lost all of the southern states, he won the election by carrying the Northeast and Northwest.
C) Henry Clay campaigned in favor of the immediate annexation of Texas.
D) James K. Polk appealed to the electorate as a man who would pursue expansion through negotiation rather than force.

Question 45

By the 1850s, San Francisco

A) had lost its pre-eminence to new metropolitan centers in California.
B) was merely a small rural settlement.
C) enjoyed prosperity almost exclusively due to the cotton trade.
D) had become the West Coast gateway to the interior.