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NY Regents U.S. History study materials
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NY Regents U.S. History practice questions

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Question 1Colonial Foundations

The Mayflower Compact (1620) is historically significant primarily because it

  1. ended the conflict between the settlers and the Wampanoag people
  2. established a framework of self-government based on the consent of the signers Correct answer.
  3. guaranteed religious freedom for all settlers throughout New England
  4. created the first representative assembly in the English colonies

Explanation

Before landing, the Pilgrims drew up a covenant in which the signers agreed to form a civil body and make just laws for the general good. This agreement set an early precedent for self-government grounded in consent rather than in a royal charter. It did not create a legislature, grant religious liberty generally, or settle relations with Native Americans, which remained tense and violent.

Question 2Colonial Foundations

Which crop became the economic foundation of the Virginia colony after about 1612?

  1. indigo
  2. tobacco Correct answer.
  3. sugar
  4. rice

Explanation

John Rolfe introduced milder strains of tobacco and the crop found a huge market in Europe, giving the Chesapeake a profitable export. Tobacco cultivation rapidly exhausted soil, which drove settlers to demand ever more land and labor, first from indentured servants and later from enslaved Africans.

Question 3Colonial Foundations

British enforcement of trade laws in the colonies was lax for much of the early 1700s. What was a long-term political result of this policy of "salutary neglect"?

  1. Colonial assemblies lost the power to levy their own taxes.
  2. Colonists became used to managing local affairs themselves. Correct answer.
  3. Royal governors dissolved the colonial assemblies.
  4. The colonies were formally granted seats in Parliament.

Explanation

When Parliament rarely enforced the Navigation Acts strictly, colonial assemblies gained real experience in taxation, spending, and lawmaking. When Britain tightened enforcement and imposed new taxes after 1763, colonists argued that this customary self-rule was being taken from them. The result was the constitutional conflict that led toward independence.

Question 4Colonial Foundations

The Middle Passage of the triangular trade refers to

  1. the forced ocean voyage of enslaved Africans to the Americas Correct answer.
  2. the route carrying rum and manufactured goods from New England to Africa
  3. the overland caravan routes that supplied enslaved people to North Africa
  4. the return voyage bringing sugar and molasses to Great Britain

Explanation

The three legs of the Atlantic trade connected European manufactures, African captives, and American staples. The middle leg was the transatlantic crossing that carried enslaved Africans to the Caribbean and mainland colonies under brutal conditions that killed a large share of those aboard. The other legs carried trade goods and plantation products, not captives.

Question 5Colonial Foundations

Which statement best explains how the Great Awakening contributed to the development of colonial society?

  1. It reduced the influence of religion by emphasizing reason over emotion.
  2. It encouraged ordinary colonists to question established authority, including that of some ministers. Correct answer.
  3. It united the colonies behind one official church backed by the assemblies.
  4. It persuaded Parliament to end the slave trade throughout the British Empire.

Explanation

Revival preachers such as Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield stressed emotional conversion and spoke to large mixed audiences outside established congregations. This split churches into rival "New Light" and "Old Light" groups and told ordinary people that they could judge religious truth for themselves. That habit of questioning authority, and the intercolonial networks the revivals created, later fed into political resistance.

Question 6Colonial Foundations

Under mercantilism, what did British officials expect the American colonies to do?

  1. Manufacture goods for export so Britain could reduce imports
  2. Use their own navies to defend British trading posts abroad
  3. Supply raw materials to Britain and purchase British manufactured goods Correct answer.
  4. Buy finished goods from any nation at the lowest price

Explanation

Mercantilist theory held that a nation's power rested on accumulating wealth by exporting more than it imported. Colonies fit this design by providing staple commodities such as tobacco and timber while serving as a captive market for goods made in Britain. The Navigation Acts were the legal machinery meant to enforce this arrangement and to keep colonial trade inside the empire.

Question 7Colonial Foundations

Which colony was founded by William Penn as a haven for Quakers?

  1. Georgia
  2. Pennsylvania Correct answer.
  3. Massachusetts Bay
  4. Maryland

Explanation

Penn received a large land grant from the crown in 1681 and built what he called a "holy experiment" around religious toleration, a representative assembly, and fair dealing with Native Americans. His colony attracted Quakers and many other dissenters, as well as immigrants from across Europe. Its Frame of Government became a model for later colonial charters.

Question 8Colonial Foundations

Roger Williams was banished from Massachusetts Bay because he

  1. refused to serve in the colonial militia during King Philip's War
  2. demanded that the colony adopt the Church of England's prayer book
  3. tried to establish a colony loyal to the king in the Connecticut valley
  4. argued that the state should have no power over religious belief Correct answer.

Explanation

Williams taught that civil magistrates had no authority over conscience and that enforced worship was a form of false religion. He also insisted that colonists should purchase Native American land fairly rather than claim it by charter. Banished in 1635, he founded Providence and helped build Rhode Island around liberty of conscience.

Question 9Colonial Foundations

New England town meetings were significant in colonial politics because they

  1. gave free adult male residents a direct voice in local decisions Correct answer.
  2. were organized and controlled by royal governors from London
  3. settled disputes between colonies over western land claims
  4. elected members to the House of Burgesses in Virginia

Explanation

In many New England towns, qualified male residents met to decide taxes, roads, schools, and the hiring of ministers, making local government unusually participatory. This tradition of direct decision-making gave New Englanders practical political experience that differed sharply from the county-based government of the southern colonies. It also helped sustain the belief that communities could govern themselves.

Question 10Colonial Foundations

Bacon's Rebellion (1676) is often seen as a turning point in Virginia history mainly because it

  1. prompted planters to shift from white indentured servants to enslaved Africans Correct answer.
  2. secured voting rights for all landless white men and former servants in Virginia
  3. ended the colony's dependence on tobacco cultivation
  4. forced the governor to abandon the headright system permanently

Explanation

The rebellion drew together frontier planters, small farmers, and freed indentured servants who resented Governor Berkeley's Indian policy and their own lack of land and political voice. The uprising showed planters how dangerous an armed class of poor whites could be. Planters increasingly turned to enslaved Africans, whose status was defined by race and enforced by law, as a labor force they believed easier to control.

Question 11Colonial Foundations

In 1680 the Pueblo people of New Mexico rose in rebellion against

  1. French fur traders from Quebec
  2. Spanish colonists and missionaries Correct answer.
  3. English settlers from Virginia
  4. Dutch merchants from New Netherland

Explanation

Led by Popé, the Pueblos and their allies attacked Spanish settlements and missions, driven by resentment of forced labor, tribute demands, and efforts to suppress native religion. The revolt killed hundreds of Spaniards and drove the Spanish out of New Mexico for more than a decade. It stands as one of the most successful Native American uprisings against European rule.

Question 12Colonial Foundations

The 1735 trial of John Peter Zenger became a landmark for

  1. the power of governors to censor colonial assemblies
  2. the right to a trial held in a British admiralty court
  3. the legality of writs of assistance in customs searches
  4. the idea that truthful criticism of government is protected Correct answer.

Explanation

Zenger's newspaper had attacked the royal governor of New York, and he was charged with seditious libel. His lawyer, Andrew Hamilton, argued that a statement cannot be libelous if it is true, and the jury acquitted him. The case became a celebrated precedent for freedom of the press long before the First Amendment.

Question 13Colonial Foundations

The Maryland Act of Toleration (1649) was passed mainly to

  1. protect the religious rights of Christians in a colony founded by Catholics Correct answer.
  2. grant voting rights to women and to free African Americans
  3. establish Roman Catholicism as the only officially permitted religion of the Maryland colony
  4. remove Maryland from the governance of the Church of England

Explanation

Maryland was founded as a refuge for English Catholics, but Protestants quickly came to outnumber them. The act protected Trinitarian Christians from being compelled to conform, aiming to keep the peace between the two groups. It did not extend toleration to Jews or to those who denied the Trinity, and it was repealed and later restored.

Question 14Colonial Foundations

Under the headright system used in Virginia, a planter who paid for an immigrant's passage received

  1. a tax exemption for the length of the servant's contract
  2. the right to sell the servant's contract only within England
  3. a seat in the House of Burgesses paid for by the crown
  4. fifty acres of land for each person whose passage was paid Correct answer.

Explanation

The headright system awarded land to anyone who paid to transport a settler to Virginia, including the settler's own passage and that of laborers. Because tobacco demanded abundant labor, planters imported indentured servants, who worked a set term of years before gaining freedom. The system concentrated land in the hands of wealthy planters and left many freed servants landless.

Question 15Colonial Foundations

What was the outcome of the Albany Plan of Union proposed by Benjamin Franklin in 1754?

  1. It was rejected by the colonies and by the British government. Correct answer.
  2. It created a unified colonial army that captured Fort Duquesne.
  3. It was ratified by every colonial assembly but vetoed by the king.
  4. It established a standing intercolonial congress that met for a century.

Explanation

Delegates from seven colonies met at Albany as war with France loomed and approved a plan for a crown-appointed president-general and a grand council chosen by the assemblies. Colonial assemblies feared losing their autonomy, while British officials feared losing control over the colonies, so the plan died. It nonetheless set a precedent for intercolonial cooperation later cited during the Stamp Act crisis and the move toward confederation.

Question 16Colonial Foundations

The Proclamation of 1763 reserved lands west of the Appalachian Mountains for Native Americans. How did many colonial settlers respond?

  1. Many ignored the line and moved into the Ohio Valley anyway. Correct answer.
  2. They offered to fund a standing frontier army to enforce the line.
  3. They accepted the line as a fair settlement with Native American nations.
  4. Most voluntarily gave up western land claims and returned to the coast.

Explanation

The crown drew the line to prevent costly frontier warfare such as Pontiac's Rebellion and to manage trade with Native nations. Settlers, land speculators, and colonial leaders, including George Washington, saw it as a limit on their own claims and ambitions. Enforcement was weak, and resentment of the policy added to the growing friction between Britain and the colonies.

Question 17Colonial Foundations

Why is the Stono Rebellion (1739) significant in the history of colonial South Carolina?

  1. It convinced planters to import only indentured servants from Europe.
  2. It persuaded Parliament to ban the transatlantic slave trade.
  3. It ended the use of enslaved labor on rice plantations for two decades.
  4. It prompted harsher laws limiting the education and assembly of enslaved people. Correct answer.

Explanation

Enslaved Africans near the Stono River seized weapons, killed white colonists, and marched toward Spanish Florida, where freedom had been promised, before a militia stopped them. In response, the colonial assembly passed the Negro Act of 1740, which barred enslaved people from assembling, learning to read, and moving about without permission. The episode shows how resistance produced tighter legal control rather than relaxation of the system.

Question 18Colonial Foundations

Which description best matches the economy of the New England colonies in the 1700s?

  1. Small farms, fishing, shipbuilding, and trade supported most families. Correct answer.
  2. Deep-water harbors in the South exported tobacco and sugar directly.
  3. Large plantations worked by enslaved laborers grew rice and indigo.
  4. Mining and cattle ranching dominated the region's interior.

Explanation

Rocky soil and short growing seasons made large-scale staple agriculture impractical in New England, so families combined subsistence farming with work at sea. Fishing, whaling, shipbuilding, and carrying trade tied the region to Atlantic commerce. This economy rested on family labor and relatively few enslaved people, unlike the plantation systems to the south.

Question 19American Revolution and the New Nation

Which principle was central to colonial protests against the Stamp Act of 1765?

  1. Parliament had no authority to regulate colonial trade at all
  2. Only royal governors could approve new taxes in the colonies
  3. Colonial assemblies should send delegates to Parliament
  4. Taxation required consent of the colonists' own legislatures Correct answer.

Explanation

The Stamp Act was a direct internal tax on legal documents and printed materials, and colonists argued it violated the principle that taxes required the consent of the taxed. Because the colonies elected no members of Parliament, colonial assemblies insisted that only they could levy such internal taxes. The distinction mattered because colonists generally accepted Parliament's authority to regulate trade.

Question 20American Revolution and the New Nation

Parliament passed the Coercive (Intolerable) Acts in 1774 primarily in response to

  1. the Boston Tea Party Correct answer.
  2. the battles at Lexington and Concord
  3. the signing of the Declaration of Independence
  4. the Boston Massacre

Explanation

The Coercive Acts punished Massachusetts for the destruction of tea in Boston Harbor in December 1773. They closed the port of Boston, restricted town meetings, and altered the colony's charter, which provoked wider colonial sympathy for Massachusetts. The other events came before or after this sequence.

Question 21American Revolution and the New Nation

The Declaration of Independence's claim that governments derive their powers from the consent of the governed drew most directly on the ideas of

  1. Thomas Hobbes
  2. John Locke Correct answer.
  3. Adam Smith
  4. Edmund Burke

Explanation

Locke's Second Treatise argued that people possess natural rights and that government rests on a contract with the governed, who may resist when that trust is broken. Jefferson's language about unalienable rights and consent reflects that framework. The other thinkers wrote on different questions of politics and economics.

Question 22American Revolution and the New Nation

The Bill of Rights was added to the Constitution mainly to

  1. protect individual liberties from federal power Correct answer.
  2. increase the power of the president over Congress
  3. establish a national bank and federal courts
  4. end the importation of enslaved people

Explanation

Anti-Federalists demanded explicit guarantees that the new federal government could not infringe on freedoms such as speech, religion, and fair legal procedures. The first ten amendments, ratified in 1791, placed limits on federal authority. They were not designed to restructure the branches or address the slave trade.

Question 23American Revolution and the New Nation

A president returns a bill to Congress unsigned, along with written objections. Which constitutional principle does this action best illustrate?

  1. judicial review
  2. checks and balances Correct answer.
  3. popular sovereignty
  4. federalism

Explanation

The veto is a power given to the executive to check the legislative branch, and Congress can override it with a two-thirds vote. That mutual limitation is the defining feature of checks and balances. Federalism concerns the division of power between nation and states, while judicial review concerns courts.

Question 24American Revolution and the New Nation

Under the Articles of Confederation, the national government could not

  1. establish a postal service
  2. declare war on another country
  3. negotiate treaties with foreign nations
  4. levy taxes directly on individuals Correct answer.

Explanation

The Confederation Congress could only request money from the states, which often ignored its requisitions. This dependence on state compliance left the national government without a reliable revenue source. Treaties, war, and the post office were among the powers Congress did hold.

Question 25American Revolution and the New Nation

Shays' Rebellion alarmed national leaders mainly because it

  1. proved that state militias were well funded
  2. forced the repeal of the Northwest Ordinance
  3. ended American trade with Great Britain
  4. exposed the weakness of the Articles government Correct answer.

Explanation

Massachusetts farmers closed courts to block foreclosures, and the national government had no money or troops to respond; Massachusetts had to raise its own force. The episode convinced many leaders that the Articles needed replacement with a stronger central authority. It did not concern western land policy or foreign trade.

Question 26American Revolution and the New Nation

The Great Compromise at the Constitutional Convention settled a disagreement over

  1. how interstate commerce would be regulated
  2. how enslaved people would be counted for representation
  3. how states would be represented in Congress Correct answer.
  4. how the president would be chosen

Explanation

Large states favored representation by population, while small states wanted equal state representation. The compromise created a bicameral Congress with population-based seats in the House and equal state seats in the Senate. Counting enslaved people and choosing the president were handled by separate compromises.

Question 27American Revolution and the New Nation

The Three-Fifths Compromise provided that, for purposes of representation and taxation,

  1. three-fifths of the states had to approve amendments
  2. three-fifths of western lands would be sold to pay debt
  3. three-fifths of enslaved people would be counted Correct answer.
  4. three-fifths of federal revenue would go to the states

Explanation

Delegates from slaveholding states wanted enslaved people counted fully for representation, while opponents wanted them excluded. The convention agreed to count three-fifths of the enslaved population, tying both House seats and direct taxes to that figure. The clause strengthened slaveholder influence without granting any rights to enslaved people.

Question 28American Revolution and the New Nation

The Federalist Papers were written in 1787–1788 chiefly to

  1. persuade New York to ratify the Constitution Correct answer.
  2. explain the Articles of Confederation to farmers
  3. urge the addition of a bill of rights
  4. argue against ratification of the Constitution

Explanation

Hamilton, Madison, and Jay published the essays under a pseudonym to influence the closely contested ratification convention in New York. The essays defended the proposed framework, especially its checks on power and its capacity to control faction. They were pro-ratification arguments, not indictments of the Constitution.

Question 29American Revolution and the New Nation

Marbury v. Madison (1803) established the Supreme Court's power to

  1. impeach federal judges
  2. appoint federal marshals
  3. declare acts of Congress unconstitutional Correct answer.
  4. regulate interstate commerce

Explanation

Marshall held that the Court could not grant Marbury his commission because the statute granting that jurisdiction exceeded Article III, and a law inconsistent with the Constitution cannot be applied. This established judicial review. Impeachment and appointments belong to other branches or shared processes.

Question 30American Revolution and the New Nation

Hamilton argued that Congress could charter a national bank because the Constitution gave it power to

  1. make laws necessary and proper to its powers Correct answer.
  2. regulate interstate commerce
  3. coin money and punish counterfeiters
  4. borrow money on the credit of the United States

Explanation

Hamilton relied on the necessary and proper clause to justify a bank as a reasonable means of carrying out enumerated fiscal powers such as taxing, borrowing, and regulating currency. Jefferson countered that such a power had to be expressly listed. Washington sided with Hamilton, and the Bank was chartered in 1791.

Question 31American Revolution and the New Nation

When federal troops marched west in 1794 to end the Whiskey Rebellion, the episode demonstrated that

  1. the new federal government could enforce its laws Correct answer.
  2. western farmers had gained control of Congress
  3. states could nullify federal tax laws when they chose
  4. excise taxes had been permanently abolished

Explanation

Washington federalized militia and accompanied the troops, and the resistance collapsed without a battle. The show of force affirmed that the national government under the Constitution could execute its laws against organized opposition. It did not end the tax or settle the constitutional questions raised by the protesters.

Question 32American Revolution and the New Nation

Under the Treaty of Paris of 1783, the United States acquired

  1. Canada and Florida from Britain and Spain
  2. control of the port of New Orleans
  3. fishing rights in the Gulf of Mexico
  4. territory west to the Mississippi River Correct answer.

Explanation

Britain recognized American independence and set the western boundary at the Mississippi River, roughly doubling the territory claimed by the United States. Britain retained Canada, and Spain held Florida and New Orleans. Disputes over British forts and debts strained compliance with the treaty.

Question 33American Revolution and the New Nation

The Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions of 1798 argued that

  1. the federal government could deport dangerous aliens
  2. the Alien and Sedition Acts were valid exercises of federal power
  3. the Supreme Court should review all federal statutes
  4. states could judge the constitutionality of federal laws Correct answer.

Explanation

Written by Madison and Jefferson in secret, the resolutions responded to the Alien and Sedition Acts by claiming the states, as parties to the constitutional compact, could determine when the federal government exceeded its authority. The doctrine was a states'-rights answer to feared federal overreach. It did not embrace the acts or expand federal power.

Question 34American Revolution and the New Nation

Why is the election of 1800 often considered a turning point in American political history?

  1. It was the first election in which women could vote
  2. It abolished the Electoral College
  3. Power passed peacefully from one party to another Correct answer.
  4. It permanently ended the two-party system

Explanation

The Federalists lost the presidency and Congress to the Democratic-Republicans, and John Adams yielded without resistance or military intervention. That peaceful transfer between rival parties showed the constitutional system could survive partisan conflict. A tie in the Electoral College exposed flaws addressed by the Twelfth Amendment.

Question 35American Revolution and the New Nation

In his Farewell Address of 1796, Washington advised Americans to

  1. avoid permanent alliances and party divisions Correct answer.
  2. build a large standing army for defense
  3. abolish the Senate in favor of direct democracy
  4. join France in its war against Britain

Explanation

Washington warned that lasting foreign entanglements could distort national policy and that organized factions could divide the country along sectional lines. He favored temporary alliances for emergencies and unity above party loyalty. He did not call for joining either side in the European war.

Question 36American Revolution and the New Nation

The American victory at Saratoga in 1777 mattered chiefly because it

  1. persuaded Canada to join the patriot cause
  2. convinced France to ally with the Americans Correct answer.
  3. ended the British occupation of New York City
  4. forced Britain to recognize American independence

Explanation

The surrender of Burgoyne's army persuaded France that the Americans could win and led to treaties of alliance and commerce in 1778. French aid in money, troops, and naval power proved decisive at Yorktown. Neither New York City nor Canada changed hands as a result of the battle.

Question 37Expansion, Nationalism, and Sectionalism

Which statement best describes the significance of the Louisiana Purchase of 1803?

  1. It gave the United States its first access to the Pacific Ocean.
  2. It roughly doubled the territory of the United States. Correct answer.
  3. It ended Spanish claims to Florida and the Gulf Coast.
  4. It resolved the boundary dispute with Britain over Oregon.

Explanation

The purchase transferred France's claim to roughly 828,000 square miles west of the Mississippi for $15 million, doubling the size of the nation. It did not reach the Pacific and left the Florida and Oregon questions unsettled.

Question 38Expansion, Nationalism, and Sectionalism

President Monroe's 1823 message to Congress warned European powers that

  1. new European colonization in the Americas was unacceptable Correct answer.
  2. the United States intended to annex newly independent Latin American republics
  3. the United States would aid European revolutions against monarchies
  4. all European trade with the Western Hemisphere would end at once

Explanation

The Monroe Doctrine declared the Western Hemisphere closed to further European colonization and pledged that the United States would not interfere in European affairs. It was a diplomatic statement, not a trade embargo or a plan for annexation.

Question 39Expansion, Nationalism, and Sectionalism

Under the Missouri Compromise of 1820, slavery was

  1. prohibited in the Louisiana Purchase north of 36°30′, except Missouri Correct answer.
  2. banned in Missouri but allowed in the rest of the Louisiana Purchase
  3. banned throughout all territories acquired in the Louisiana Purchase
  4. left to popular sovereignty in every territory west of the Mississippi

Explanation

The compromise paired the admission of Missouri as a slave state with Maine as a free state and drew the 36°30′ line across the Louisiana Purchase. Slavery was barred north of that line, with Missouri as the exception.

Question 40Expansion, Nationalism, and Sectionalism

The Indian Removal Act of 1830 authorized the federal government to

  1. use federal troops to break all Native American resistance on the frontier
  2. grant citizenship to Native Americans who adopted settled farming
  3. negotiate treaties guaranteeing southeastern tribes permanent homelands
  4. swap western land for Native American land in the East Correct answer.

Explanation

The law funded the exchange of lands west of the Mississippi for the homelands of southeastern tribes, producing removals such as the Trail of Tears. It did not offer citizenship or guarantee permanent eastern homelands.

Question 41Expansion, Nationalism, and Sectionalism

Which idea did the phrase "Manifest Destiny" express in the 1840s?

  1. The belief that slavery should be abolished before new territory joined
  2. The belief that the United States should acquire colonies in Asia and Africa
  3. The belief that Americans were destined to expand across the continent Correct answer.
  4. The belief that the federal government should fund internal improvements

Explanation

Manifest Destiny was the widely held belief that American expansion across North America was both inevitable and divinely sanctioned. It justified continental growth but was not a program for overseas empire or domestic reform.

Question 42Expansion, Nationalism, and Sectionalism

In the decades after 1800, the cotton gin most directly contributed to

  1. the spread of slavery into the Lower South and West Correct answer.
  2. the gradual emancipation of enslaved people in border states
  3. the rapid industrialization of the Southern plantation economy
  4. a decline in the value of enslaved laborers in the Upper South

Explanation

By making short-staple cotton profitable, the gin encouraged cotton cultivation to spread across the Lower South and westward, sharply increasing demand for enslaved labor. The South remained chiefly agricultural rather than industrializing.

Question 43Expansion, Nationalism, and Sectionalism

The completion of the Erie Canal in 1825 most affected national development by

  1. cutting freight costs between western farms and eastern cities Correct answer.
  2. linking Southern cotton ports directly to European markets
  3. replacing steamboats as the primary form of river transport
  4. opening the Pacific Northwest to large-scale wagon migration

Explanation

The canal connected the Great Lakes to the Hudson River, lowering shipping costs and tying western agricultural produce to New York City markets. It complemented steamboat traffic rather than replacing it.

Question 44Expansion, Nationalism, and Sectionalism

In the nullification crisis of 1832, South Carolina argued that

  1. the Supreme Court must review all federal tariff laws
  2. the federal government could abolish slavery in any state
  3. a state could void federal law within its borders Correct answer.
  4. western states could nullify treaties signed with Native nations

Explanation

South Carolina, following John C. Calhoun's compact theory, claimed that a state could declare an unconstitutional federal tariff null and void inside its own boundaries. The federal government rejected this states' rights position.

Question 45Expansion, Nationalism, and Sectionalism

The Compromise of 1850 admitted California as a free state and also

  1. repealed the Missouri Compromise line for all western territories
  2. banned slavery in the District of Columbia immediately
  3. enacted a stricter fugitive slave law Correct answer.
  4. organized Kansas and Nebraska under popular sovereignty

Explanation

The Compromise of 1850 balanced California's free-state admission with a tougher Fugitive Slave Act and popular sovereignty in the Utah and New Mexico territories. It ended the slave trade, but not slavery itself, in the District of Columbia.

Question 46Expansion, Nationalism, and Sectionalism

The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 heightened sectional conflict mainly because it

  1. declared that Congress could not regulate slavery in territories
  2. repealed the Missouri Compromise and allowed popular sovereignty Correct answer.
  3. required all new territories to decide slavery by a national referendum
  4. admitted Kansas to the Union as a slave state without a vote

Explanation

The act organized the Kansas and Nebraska territories, expressly repealing the Missouri Compromise's 36°30′ restriction and letting settlers decide on slavery. The result was violent competition in "Bleeding Kansas."

Question 47Expansion, Nationalism, and Sectionalism

In Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857), the Supreme Court ruled that

  1. Congress could prohibit slavery in any federal territory under the Missouri Compromise
  2. popular sovereignty, not Congress or the courts, would settle slavery in every territory
  3. enslaved people were not citizens, and Congress could not bar slavery in territories Correct answer.
  4. enslaved people who lived for a time in free territory automatically became free citizens

Explanation

The Court held that African Americans, enslaved or free, were not citizens and that Congress had no power to exclude slavery from the territories, making the Missouri Compromise unconstitutional. The decision deepened sectional conflict rather than settling it.

Question 48Expansion, Nationalism, and Sectionalism

The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848) ended the Mexican-American War and

  1. established the Rio Grande as the border of an independent Texas
  2. granted the United States a short-lived protectorate over Mexico
  3. required Mexico to pay debts owed to American citizens
  4. ceded California and the Southwest to the United States Correct answer.

Explanation

Mexico recognized the Rio Grande boundary and ceded California and much of the present Southwest in exchange for $15 million and the assumption of claims. Texas had already been annexed and was not left independent.

Question 49Expansion, Nationalism, and Sectionalism

The years after the War of 1812 are often called the "Era of Good Feelings" because

  1. the Federalist Party gained control of the presidency
  2. slavery had been peacefully abolished in the northern states
  3. the United States had won new territory in Canada
  4. national pride rose and party conflict briefly faded Correct answer.

Explanation

The war's end brought a surge of nationalism, the Federalist Party collapsed after the Hartford Convention, and James Monroe won the presidency with little organized opposition. The label describes political harmony, not an end to sectional tension.

Question 50Expansion, Nationalism, and Sectionalism

Henry Clay's American System called for

  1. the sale of western lands to pay off the national debt
  2. a protective tariff, a national bank, and internal improvements Correct answer.
  3. free trade, hard money, and limits on federal spending
  4. the immediate abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia

Explanation

Clay's program combined a protective tariff to foster manufacturing, a national bank to stabilize currency, and federally supported roads and canals to bind the sections together. It was an economic nationalist plan, not an antislavery or free-trade program.