Deck 8: Building a Republic 1775-1789

Question 1

Writers of the new state constitutions believed that voting requirements should

A) prevent women from demanding the vote.
B) open up the political process to a wider group.
C) allow all literate whites to vote.
D) produce widespread political debate.

Answer 1

A

Question 2

What was a shared feature of all the state constitutions drawn up during the American Revolution?

A) A governor with strong powers
B) A commitment to republicanism
C) A call for a strong centralized government
D) Two houses: upper and lower

Answer 2

B

Question 3

Why were some states reluctant to include "equality language" in their bills of rights and constitutions?

A) They were afraid the words could be construed to apply to slaves.
B) Such language could spark slave rebellions in the North.
C) Women might believe they were equal to men.
D) Children as young as twelve might believe they could vote.

Answer 3

A

Question 4

Which state passed gradual emancipation laws in 1780?

A) Delaware
B) Maryland
C) Pennsylvania
D) Virginia

Question 5

Why did politicians prefer to work in state government instead of the national government under the Articles of Confederation?

A) Robert Morris was a poor superintendent of finance.
B) The states resented their lack of power in Congress.
C) State government was still seen as more relevant.
D) The Federalists and the Antifederalists couldn't get along.

Question 6

Which state allowed free blacks and women to vote in the early years of the republic?

A) New York
B) Rhode Island
C) New Jersey
D) Massachusetts

Question 7

How did General George Washington disarm the soldiers responsible for plotting the Newburgh Conspiracy?

A) He delivered an emotional speech convincing the soldiers to have faith in Congress.
B) He secured full back pay for the officers,making military action unnecessary.
C) He told the soldiers that he would lead government forces to put down their revolt.
D) He refused to sign the initial petition to Congress,making the revolt unlikely to succeed.

Question 8

Why did Massachusetts African Americans Paul and John Cuffe refuse to pay taxes in 1779?

A) They remained loyal to the British crown.
B) They had recently lost their jobs as mariners.
C) They were slaves.
D) They were protesting the fact that they could not vote.

Question 9

Who was responsible for passing tax bills under the Articles of Confederation?

A) The federal government
B) The Continental Congress
C) State governments
D) Local governments

Question 10

What did the national government lack under the Articles of Confederation?

A) An executive and a judicial branch
B) The ability to raise money to finance the war
C) A way to amend the articles
D) The ability to conduct foreign relations

Question 11

How did the Articles of Confederation incorporate the power of the states?

A) All thirteen states had to approve routine decisions.
B) Five states had to approve war-making decisions.
C) Nine states had to vote to amend the articles.
D) Each state had a single vote in Congress.

Question 12

In devising their new constitutions,most states

A) abolished the lower house.
B) augmented the powers of the upper house.
C) reduced the powers of the governor.
D) gave veto power to the governor.

Question 13

Robert Morris proposed increasing the revenue of the confederation government by

A) establishing a new income tax.
B) taxing all goods that flowed between states.
C) passing a 5 percent import tax.
D) expanding the economic base of the confederation.

Question 14

What led to the largest emancipation of blacks in the deep South immediately after the Revolution?

A) The spread of revolutionary ideals
B) Slaves' association with the British
C) Gradual emancipation laws
D) The decreasing importance of slave labor

Question 15

How did the Massachusetts slave Elizabeth Freeman (Mum Bett)gain her freedom in 1781?

A) She fled to Canada.
B) Massachusetts outlawed slavery.
C) She won her freedom in court.
D) She passed as a white woman.

Question 16

What was the effect of property qualifications on voters and candidates in the new states?

A) They silenced political opposition to the new government.
B) Laws disfranchised 25 percent to 50 percent of all adult white males.
C) They ensured that free blacks in the North would be able to vote.
D) Qualifications were so liberal that all white men could vote.

Question 17

Virginia's constitution was the first to

A) include longer terms for the governor.
B) eliminate the office of governor.
C) abolish the upper house.
D) include a bill of rights.

Question 18

In 1776,members of the Continental Congress agreed that a federal government should have the power to

A) raise taxes.
B) overrule state law.
C) punish criminals.
D) run a postal service.

Question 19

The Articles of Confederation were finally approved in 1781,when all the states agreed to surrender their

A) power to regulate trade.
B) power to declare war.
C) claims to western lands.
D) right to levy their own taxes.

Question 20

What financial problem did the confederation government face after the war?

A) The lack of power to issue currency
B) The fact that each state had its own currency
C) Wage fixation that had occurred early in the war
D) Huge war debts it could not afford to pay

Question 21

In a new distinction between democracy and republicanism,the delegates to the Constitutional Convention

A) believed that America should move closer to a pure democracy.
B) gave a direct voice to the people only in the House.
C) gave a direct voice to the people in both the House and the Senate.
D) believed that only common people should govern.

Question 22

What was the legacy of Shays's Rebellion?

A) Farmers in other states staged a series of similar revolts.
B) State legislatures took action to curb the powers of Congress.
C) Political leaders realized the Articles were inadequate.
D) Americans celebrated the triumph of civil disobedience.

Question 23

What did the congressional land ordinances of 1784 and 1785 accomplish?

A) They set out a rectangular grid system for surveying land.
B) They prohibited slavery in the Northwest Territory.
C) They specified that land would be sold first to people who owned no property.
D) They established the Southwest Territory south of the Ohio River.

Question 24

Two-thirds of the Constitutional Convention's delegates came from which segment of the population?

A) Farmers
B) Lawyers
C) Artisans
D) Merchants

Question 25

How did the delegates to the Constitutional Convention create a presidency out of the reach of direct democracy?

A) They devised the Electoral College.
B) They allowed state legislatures to choose the president.
C) They provided for a popular vote to elect the president.
D) They said that the Senate and House would vote for a president.

Question 26

Which issue dominated debate at the Constitutional Convention?

A) How the government should regulate trade
B) Whether or not slavery should be abolished
C) How to balance the interests of large and small states
D) Whether or not presidential powers should be increased

Question 27

At the Constitutional Convention,the proposal to create a two-chamber legislature-with representation in both houses based on each state's population-was known as the

A) New Jersey Plan.
B) Connecticut Plan.
C) Three-Fifths Plan.
D) Virginia Plan.

Question 28

What led to Shays's Rebellion of 1786?

A) Pennsylvania farmers could not pay their debt.
B) Massachusetts farmers resented increasing taxes.
C) Businesses could not meet creditors' terms.
D) Samuel Adams incited a riot in Boston.

Question 29

How did delegates decide to count slaves when determining the apportionment of representatives?

A) Slaves were counted under the three-fifths clause.
B) Slaves were not to be counted as persons.
C) Slaves would count the same as Indians.
D) Slaves were counted the same as whites.

Question 30

As a part of the Great Compromise,delegates at the Philadelphia convention agreed

A) that voters would directly elect the members of the upper house,the Senate.
B) on the Supreme Court and a system of lower national courts.
C) that the lower house would be apportioned by population of the states.
D) on a procedure for direct election of a chief executive.

Question 31

Who,along with Alexander Hamilton,was instrumental in calling for the Philadelphia meeting in May 1787 to discuss the Articles of Confederation?

A) Patrick Henry
B) James Madison
C) Benjamin Franklin
D) Thomas Jefferson

Question 32

What was the consensus among delegates to the Constitutional Convention about the Articles of Confederation?

A) Most had already concluded that there were weaknesses in the Articles.
B) They believed the convention had overstepped its bounds.
C) They thought the federal government's powers should be restricted.
D) They were disturbed that Massachusetts had put down Shays's Rebellion.

Question 33

According to the Constitution,who would settle disputes between states and citizens of different states?

A) The president
B) Congress
C) A national judiciary
D) State governors

Question 34

What threatened to prevent American settlement in the Northwest Territory?

A) Heavy tree growth that inhibited easy farming
B) Taxation imposed by the government on industrial development
C) The lack of government policy on slavery in the area
D) Clashes with the Indian tribes occupying the land

Question 35

How did Massachusetts respond to Shays's Rebellion?

A) The governor dispatched a private army.
B) It declared a moratorium on private debt.
C) It issued paper money.
D) The governor called for a reduction of taxes.

Question 36

What was the smaller states' major objection to the Virginia Plan at the Constitutional Convention?

A) Representation based on population in both houses
B) The direct election of the president
C) The creation of a single national judiciary
D) The complicated requirements to review legislation

Question 37

"There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in the said territory,otherwise than in the punishment of crimes whereof the party shall have been duly convicted: Provided,always,That any person escaping into the same,from whom labor or service is lawfully claimed in any one of the original States,such fugitive may be lawfully reclaimed and conveyed to the person claiming his or her labor or service as aforesaid." How did the authors of the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 intend states in the new territory to deal with fugitive slaves from other states?

A) They would return the slaves to their lawful owners.
B) The slaves would be allowed to live as free people in the territory.
C) The slaves could become the property of landholding people in the territory.
D) The slaves would be jailed for life in the new territory.

Question 38

When the Constitution was drafted,slavery was

A) not named but recognized and guaranteed.
B) criticized as contradictory to democracy.
C) euphemistically outlawed in the North.
D) explicitly named as being a landowner's liberty.

Question 39

The Northwest Ordinance of 1787

A) prohibited slavery in the Northwest Territory.
B) funded an exploratory party to locate the Northwest Passage.
C) provided for the creation of eight to ten new states.
D) required compulsory elementary education in each new township.

Question 40

Congress summoned the Iroquois to Fort Stanwix in 1784 to

A) obtain their land.
B) establish the individual states' authority to negotiate.
C) reward them for their help during the war.
D) return Iroquois prisoners of war.

Question 41

The fight over ratification in Virginia proved to be very close,owing to Antifederalist arguments from

A) Alexander Hamilton and James Madison.
B) Thomas Jefferson and George Washington.
C) George Mason and Patrick Henry.
D) George Clinton and Richard Henry Lee.

Question 42

According to Map 8.3: Ratification of the Constitution,1788-1790,Antifederalist strength was generally concentrated in

A) coastal areas.
B) noncoastal areas.
C) urban areas.
D) northern states.

Question 43

Discuss the delegates to the Constitutional Convention and their commonalities,positions in society,wealth levels,and backgrounds.

Question 44

What were the major components of the final version of the Articles of Confederation,and what were the Articles' shortcomings?

Question 45

During the process of ratifying the Constitution,what was true of the three most populous states,Virginia,Massachusetts,and New York?

A) They were among the first to ratify the Constitution.
B) Majorities in all three states favored a powerful new national government.
C) Substantial majorities opposed the Constitution in all three states.
D) All three states refused to call ratifying conventions.

Question 46

How did the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 deal with the problem of slavery in the Northwest Territory?

Question 47

The core of Antifederalists' opposition to the Constitution centered on what fear?

A) The Constitution gave too much power to the common man.
B) The doctrine of separation of powers would not work in practice.
C) The Constitution did too little to protect the institution of slavery.
D) Distant power might infringe on people's individual liberties.

Question 48

In the first decade of independence,the states were sovereign and all-powerful.As a result,each state defined who would vote and who would be free.Discuss how states decided issues such as who were "the people" and how far democratic ideals should extend.

Question 49

Who had to ratify the Constitution before it could go into effect?

A) The state legislatures of twelve states
B) A simple majority of the state legislatures
C) All thirteen states in ratifying conventions
D) Nine states in ratifying conventions

Question 50

In the debate over the Articles of Confederation,how did five small states clash with the eight states with western land claims?

Question 51

How did the Federalists win Massachusetts?

A) They exposed antifederalists as corrupt politicians.
B) They promised federal tax relief for poor famers and laborers.
C) They promised to take up proposed amendments in the first Congress.
D) Antifederalist leaders came out in support of the Constitution.

Question 52

Compare the Federalist and Antifederalist positions on the ratification of the Constitution.

Question 53

What was the reason for the strong Antifederalist sentiment in New York?

A) A feud with Virginia over the new national capital
B) Opposition to the proposed bicameral legislature
C) The state's power in relation to the new government
D) The fear that federalism would hurt commercial interests

Question 54

According to Map 8.3: Ratification of the Constitution,1788-1790,which of the following states was completely in favor of ratification?

A) Pennsylvania
B) New York
C) New Jersey
D) Massachusetts

Question 55

The Continental Congress gave the job of organizing the Northwest Territory to Thomas Jefferson.Discuss the terms of the three bills that subsequently evolved and passed Congress.

Question 56

In essay 10 of The Federalist,James Madison maintained that the constitutional government would

A) eliminate the need for political parties.
B) protect the rights of individual states against incursions by the central government.
C) prevent any one faction from subverting the freedom of other groups.
D) bring focus and order to American foreign policy.

Question 57

What did pro-Constitution forces call themselves?

A) Republicans
B) Pro-Constitutionalists
C) Federalists
D) The Constitutional party

Question 58

Discuss the provisions of the various state constitutions written after May 1776.Did they all retain a two-chamber assembly? If not,what did they choose?

Question 59

Discuss the country's financial predicament following the American Revolution and how these problems led to the Newburgh Conspiracy.

Question 60

Describe the basic structural features of the U.S.Constitution as set forth in the Great Compromise.

Question 61

Ratification of the Constitution was not an easy thing to accomplish.Discuss the positions of the various states and their reasons for or against ratification.

Question 62

Discuss the events that led to Shays's Rebellion,the revolt itself,and the outcome.

Question 63

Why did Virginia and New York hold out on ratifying the Constitution? What compromise prompted these states to finally ratify it?