Deck 7: Founding a Nation, 1783-1791

Question 1

Which of the following people would have been the most likely supporter of the Articles of Confederation?

A) a merchant desiring access to British markets
B) a Continental army officer from the Revolutionary War
C) an urban artisan
D) a person who owned a bond issued by the Congress
E) an indebted farmer in western Massachusetts

Answer 1

an indebted farmer in western Massachusetts

Question 2

Which of the following was a characteristic of the federal government under the Articles of Confederation?

A) Congress was a two-chambered body, with a House of Delegates and a Council.
B) Congress could not levy taxes or regulate commerce.
C) Congress could amend the Articles by a two-thirds vote.
D) There were two branches of government-judicial and legislative-but no executive.
E) The more populous a state, the more votes it cast in Congress.

Answer 2

Congress could not levy taxes or regulate commerce.

Question 3

What was Congress able to accomplish with its Native American policy under the Articles of Confederation?

A) Nothing; Congress was so powerless under the Articles that nothing happened in this area.
B) It negotiated treaties for the tribes to keep their lands, but Congress was so lacking in power that the treaties proved useless.
C) Congress demanded and received surrenders of large amounts of Indian land north of the Ohio River and in the South.
D) Congress backed away from any involvement when land companies requested that the government step aside and leave the West's economic development in private hands.
E) Congress recruited enough state militias to force the Native Americans off of their land.

Answer 3

Congress demanded and received surrenders of large amounts of Indian land north of the Ohio River and in the South.

Question 4

With regard to slavery, the Northwest Ordinance of 1787:

A) allowed for new territorial governments to ban or permit the institution as they saw fit.
B) allowed the importation of slaves into the Old Northwest for at least another twenty years.
C) banned slavery in the area north of the Ohio River and east of the Mississippi River.
D) made no difference, because the U.S. Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional the following year.
E) gave slaveholders the right to recover slaves who escaped into the area north of the Ohio River.

Question 5

Why did Congress claim that some Indians had for- feited their land rights in the aftermath of independence?

A) Because they did not farm it.
B) Because they had never believed that the Indians owned the land.
C) Because they were racially inferior.
D) Because they had no written title to the land.
E) Because they had aided the British during the war.

Question 6

Shays's Rebellion:

A) drew on the terminology of revolution and liberty.
B) was aimed at the Vermont government, which was especially hard on debtors.
C) ended only because the Confederation government used force to put it down.
D) had the support of George Washington, but not of Thomas Jefferson.
E) arose from the struggle to ratify the Constitution in 1787-1788.

Question 7

James Madison:

A) urged an expansion of public liberty.
B) played no role at the Constitutional Convention.
C) was Thomas Jefferson's ally and disciple.
D) opposed the idea of a strong national government.
E) distinguished himself as the presiding officer at the Constitutional Convention.

Question 8

Under the Articles of Confederation, the states did what with regard to economics?

A) They collected money from the Confederation government.
B) They sold land under various land ordinances.
C) They refused to print money.
D) They signed trade agreements with England.
E) They created a variety of economic policies.

Question 9

Which of the following did states NOT do during the period when the Articles of Confederation governed the United States?

A) They imposed their own tariffs.
B) They printed their own money.
C) They postponed debt collection.
D) They called out militias to stop foreclosures on the homes of debtors.
E) They held legislative elections in which candidates attacked creditors.

Question 10

Which two prominent men were not at the Constitutional Convention?

A) Benjamin Franklin and John Adams
B) Thomas Jefferson and George Washington
C) John Adams and George Mason
D) Thomas Jefferson and John Adams
E) Benjamin Franklin and George Washington

Question 11

Shays's Rebellion was significant because it demonstrated:

A) that land distribution policies were out of date.
B) that controversies over the emancipation of slaves could turn violent.
C) that Congress's attempts to pass pro-debtor laws were unpopular with farmers.
D) the need for a stronger central government.
E) the chaotic nature of Indian policy after the Battle of Fallen Timbers.

Question 12

In the 1780s, settlers in western areas such as Tennessee and Kentucky:

A) were especially attentive to what land belonged to Indians and purchased Indian land legally.
B) found that the soil was poor for growing cash crops such as tobacco or cotton and moved westward.
C) believed they had a right to take possession of western lands and use them as they saw fit.
D) were largely wealthy plantation owners who helped settle thriving trading towns along the rivers.
E) threatened civil war because they considered the Confederation Congress to be too powerful.

Question 13

Which of the following is true of how the leaders of the new nation viewed settlers moving west across the Appalachians in the 1780s?

A) They shared their British predecessors' fears that frontier settlers would fight constantly with Native Americans.
B) They viewed them as the start of a brigade that was going to spread American values and virtues across the continent.
C) They hated them enough to pass laws banning their movement-much like the British Proclamation of 1763-but the settlers ignored them.
D) Benjamin Franklin advocated movement westward, but Thomas Jefferson fought him on it.
E) They expressed no views that historians have been able to find.

Question 14

Under the Articles of Confederation, Congress was able to:

A) establish national control over land to the west of the thirteen states.
B) sign major treaties with France and Spain.
C) create a new tax policy that would better fund the government.
D) eliminate a provision giving judges power to reject congressional acts.
E) block the passage of numerous constitutional amendments.

Question 15

The Northwest Ordinance of 1787:

A) established the policy to admit the area's population as equal members of the political system.
B) regulated western land sales through a policy that was amicable to the Indians.
C) abolished the Articles of Confederation and called for a second Constitutional Convention.
D) was the first step in Alexander Hamilton's plan for economic growth.
E) declared all Indian land to be the possession of the U.S. government.

Question 16

What proposal by Alexander Hamilton found little support in the Constitutional Convention?

A) a democratically elected Congress, president, and judiciary
B) life terms for president and senators
C) a strengthened Congress, but no executive or judiciary
D) granting states the right to create their own tariffs
E) the inclusion of a Bill of Rights

Question 17

Which of the following is true of the Virginia Plan?

A) James Madison opposed it, but the other delegates from Virginia supported it.
B) It proposed a one-house legislature, with population determining representation.
C) It proposed a two-house legislature, with population determining representation in each house.
D) It called for each state to have one vote in Congress.
E) It was strongly opposed by the larger, more populated states.

Question 18

What qualifications did the Constitution, ratified in 1787, impose for voting?

A) None; it left voting rules to the states.
B) It allowed all white males over twenty-one to vote but expressly banned women.
C) It allowed all white males over twenty-one to vote and said nothing about women.
D) It imposed a property requirement.
E) It specifically banned African-Americans from voting.

Question 19

Which of the following does NOT describe those who attended the Constitutional Convention?

A) Most were better educated than the average American of the time.
B) Most were prosperous by the standards of the day.
C) A significant percentage had served in the army during the Revolutionary War.
D) Most had earned their wealth after rising from humble origins.
E) A majority had participated in interstate conventions during the 1760s and 1770s.

Question 20

The New Jersey Plan:

A) was mainly supported by the smaller, less populated states.
B) contained a gradual emancipation requirement that proved quite controversial.
C) was a thinly disguised attempt to resurrect monarchy in America.
D) found its greatest support from the Pennsylvania and Massachusetts delegations.
E) called for a radical departure from the Articles of Confederation in every way.

Question 21

Why did the founding fathers create the electoral college?

A) They did not; it was added to the Constitution after the disputed election of 1796.
B) Small states insisted that they have a chance to play a role in choosing the president, and that wouldn't have been possible with direct elections.
C) Alexander Hamilton wanted a king, James Madison wanted no president, and the result was this compromise so that there could be a president.
D) They did not trust ordinary voters to choose the president and vice president directly.
E) They knew the Constitution would make them unpopular, so they wanted to create a way to avoid letting voters choose the president, thereby giving themselves a chance to be elected.

Question 22

Which of the following is true regarding Congress and the African slave trade in the United States under the Constitution?

A) Congress never prohibited this slave trade.
B) The First Congress under the Constitution prohibited the importation of slaves into the United States.
C) Congress always let individual states make their own decisions with regard to importing slaves.
D) Congress prohibited the African slave trade ten years after ratification of the Constitution.
E) Congress prohibited the African slave trade twenty years after ratification of the Constitution.

Question 23

Why was the original House of Representatives so small, with only 65 members?

A) It was not; it had the 435 members it has now.
B) The founders assumed that only prominent individuals could win elections in large districts, and that is what the founders wanted.
C) The founders thought that only five people per state were enough.
D) Since each state had one vote in the House, the founders thought that this would make debate more cordial.
E) There was a housing shortage in Philadelphia, so there was nowhere for more members to stay.

Question 24

Who wrote the majority of the eighty-five essays in The Federalist?

A) Alexander Hamilton
B) James Madison
C) Benjamin Franklin
D) John Jay
E) John Adams

Question 25

Who wrote the preamble and put the final written touches on the Constitution?

A) Gouverneur Morris
B) James Madison
C) Ben Franklin
D) Alexander Hamilton
E) John Jay

Question 26

All of the following statements are true of the Bill of Rights EXCEPT:

A) English law strongly influenced some of its provisions.
B) It defined, in part, the "unalienable rights" of the Declaration of Independence.
C) James Madison considered it unnecessary, but proposed it anyway.
D) Reflecting a change in American life caused by the Revolution, it protected religious freedom.
E) It explicitly granted states the right of secession.

Question 27

Anti-Federalists included:

A) Patrick Henry and John Adams.
B) George Washington and John Hancock.
C) Samuel Adams and James Madison.
D) Benjamin Franklin and John Jay.
E) Samuel Adams and Patrick Henry.

Question 28

The Somerset case:

A) ended the importation of slaves into the United States.
B) ruled that slavery was unlawful in England.
C) freed slaves from the ship Amistad.
D) used the language of liberty to rule that free blacks could own property.
E) set the precedent that fugitive slaves had to be returned to their masters.

Question 29

In The Federalist, James Madison argued that:

A) the large size of the United States was a source of political stability.
B) to be a republic, a country must be geographically small.
C) church and state must be linked in order to encourage republican virtue.
D) it was essential that slavery be abolished for liberty to flourish.
E) presidential power must be stronger than that of Congress and the courts.

Question 30

The eighty-five essays written in support of ratification of the Constitution are called:

A) Wealth of Nations.
B) the Articles of Confederation.
C) The Federalist.
D) "Agrippa."
E) The History of the American Revolution.

Question 31

Which of the following groups tended to be Anti-Federalist during the ratification debates?

A) wealthier citizens
B) rural residents closely tied to the commercial marketplace
C) merchants engaged in foreign commerce
D) state politicians fearful of a strong central government
E) urban artisans, laborers, and sailors

Question 32

The relationship between the national government and the states is called:

A) the separation of powers.
B) the New Jersey Plan.
C) Federalism.
D) the Virginia Plan.
E) the Constitution.

Question 33

Which of the following is NOT a check against presidential power in the Constitution?

A) Congress can override a president's veto with a two-thirds vote.
B) The House can impeach the president for "high crimes and misdemeanors."
C) The House can remove the president from office after impeaching him.
D) Congress has the authority to accept or reject some presidential appointments.
E) Although the president appoints judges, they serve for life to ensure their independence.

Question 34

How did southern states react to the Constitution's provisions regarding slavery?

A) South Carolina and Georgia immediately began importing increased numbers of Africans, because in twenty years, the international slave trade could be constitutionally prohibited.
B) They refused to ratify the Constitution without assurances that a bill of rights would be added to protect their right to slave property.
C) The personal opposition of Jefferson and Madison to slavery prompted Virginia to oppose ratification at first.
D) They objected to the electoral college on the grounds that it ignored the number of slaves in their states and thereby reduced their power.
E) They were critical of the provision in Article I allowing African-Americans to be armed during wartime.

Question 35

As designed by the Constitution:

A) the president was elected by popular vote.
B) senators were to serve two-year terms.
C) federal judges were appointed by the president, not elected by the people.
D) the congressional representatives were to be appointed by state legislatures.
E) the Supreme Court justices were to serve ten-year terms.

Question 36

During the process of ratifying the Constitution:

A) two states, Rhode Island and North Carolina, voted against ratification.
B) Alexander Hamilton reversed himself and argued against ratification.
C) propertied men and urban dwellers formed the chief support for the Anti-Federalists.
D) northern state conventions unanimously supported ratification while southern ones were deeply divided.
E) Thomas Jefferson sent numerous letters from Paris opposing passage, but he was too far away to be really influential.

Question 37

What was "the first object of government," according to James Madison?

A) Feed the poor.
B) Protect free speech.
C) Guarantee voting rights.
D) Protect property rights.
E) Secure freedom.

Question 38

The Constitution explicitly granted Congress the power to do all of the following EXCEPT:

A) pass tariffs.
B) coin money.
C) regulate interstate commerce.
D) issue patents.
E) emancipate slaves.

Question 39

Which of the following is true of the Constitution of 1787 and slavery?

A) Despite protests from southern delegates, the document permanently freed runaway slaves who made it to the "free air" of the North.
B) The Constitution declared that all territories of the United States would be "free soil" where slavery would not be permitted.
C) The Constitution explicitly protected the security of property in slaves in any state of the Union, so that a slave owner could move permanently with his slaves from South to North.
D) The Constitution provided for half of a state's slave population to be counted in determining its membership in the House of Representatives.
E) Although never using the word "slavery," the document protected several aspects of the institution.

Question 40

The three-fifths clause in the U.S. Constitution:

A) requires that all revenue bills receive a three-fifths affirmative vote in the U.S. House.
B) gave the white South greater power in national affairs than the size of its free population warranted.
C) explicitly declared that slaves were not fully human and were therefore undeserving of legal rights.
D) made it easier to amend the Constitution than it had been to amend the Articles of Confederation.
E) expired in the year 1808 because of a key sectional compromise at the Constitutional Convention.

Question 41

Congress nearly passed a clause in the Ordinance of 1784 that would have prohibited slavery throughout the West.

Question 42

Thomas Jefferson believed that African-Americans :

A) should eventually be able to enjoy their natural rights, but they would have to leave the United States to do so.
B) who were held in slavery should be emancipated immediately and that every former slave family should be given a forty-acre farm in a western territory.
C) should, if legally free, be allowed to marry white persons.
D) like Indians, were naturally as intelligent as whites.
E) should all be held in slavery because, like Indians, they were clearly inferior to persons of European descent.

Question 43

Envisioning the nation as a community open to all those devoted to its political institutions and social values is what?

A) ethnic nationalism
B) federalism
C) separation of powers
D) religious toleration
E) civic nationalism

Question 44

In the immediate aftermath of independence, Congress took the position that by aiding the British, Indians had forfeited the right to their lands.

Question 45

At the time of independence, the nation was largely urban, with most of its population residing in the large seacoast cities.

Question 46

Which of the following is true of American national identity as envisioned by the Constitution of 1787?

A) The document distinguished only between those defined as American citizens, who were entitled to constitutionally protected rights, and aliens, who were not so entitled.
B) The Constitution clearly states that persons of African descent could not be U.S. citizens, but that anyone of European or Asian descent could be.
C) The "people" were free Americans; Native Americans and "other persons," meaning African-American slaves, were not considered part of the political nation.
D) The Constitution expressly stated that only white men were entitled to the rights it delineated.
E) The Constitution made clear that only civic nationalism, not ethnic nationalism, defined American national identity.

Question 47

Which of the following is true of how the U.S. government in the 1790s dealt with Native Americans?

A) Because the Constitution counted all Indians toward representation in Congress, Indians received all rights and privileges that other Americans did.
B) Because the Constitution stated Indian tribes were "domestic dependent nations," the government treated them just as it treated nations like Great Britain and France.
C) Henry Knox, the first secretary of war, pursued policies designed to exterminate Native Americans.
D) The U.S. government made treaties with them mainly to transfer land to itself or to the states.
E) No American leaders believed that Native Americans could assimilate into American society, so the government largely ignored Indians.

Question 48

What was the annuity system involving the U.S. government and certain Indian tribes?

A) a system under which the Indians ceded land to the United States annually
B) a system under which the federal government gave annual monetary grants to Indians
C) a system that placed Indians on reservations
D) a system that allowed a percentage of Indians each year to attend American schools
E) a system where the states paid each local tribe an annual fee for their land

Question 49

Who was defeated at the Battle of Fallen Timbers in 1794?

A) Arthur St. Clair
B) Henry Knox
C) Little Turtle
D) Tecumseh
E) Anthony Wayne

Question 50

During the early years of the republic, African-Americans :

A) were far fewer in number than Native Americans, so ignoring them was easy for the founders and early leaders.
B) enjoyed none of the rights whites enjoyed.
C) made up about 20 percent of the total population.
D) were all held as slaves except for a few free blacks in Massachusetts.
E) found a champion for the cause of emancipation in Hector St. John Crèvecoeur.

Question 51

Under the Treaty of Greenville of 1795:

A) Great Britain agreed to remove its remaining forts from U.S. soil.
B) twelve Indian tribes ceded most of Ohio and Indiana to the federal government.
C) the U.S. government allowed Indians to petition for citizenship.
D) the federal government forbade American settlement west of the Mississippi.
E) the U.S. recognized Great Britain's claim to what is now Ontario.

Question 52

Who wrote Notes on the State of Virginia?

A) James Madison
B) George Mason
C) George Washington
D) St. George Tucker
E) Thomas Jefferson

Question 53

The Anti-Federalist James Winthrop argued that a bill of rights was necessary in the Constitution because:

A) the English had one, so America ought to mirror that example.
B) the right to bear arms for the militia should be guarded by law.
C) using the examples of Wilkes and Zenger, the protection of speech and press was essential.
D) it would secure the minority against the usurpation and tyranny of the majority.
E) ratification of the Constitution was in doubt without the inclusion of the Bill of Rights.

Question 54

Hector St. John Crèvecoeur's Letters from an American Farmer:

A) popularized the idea of the United States as a melting pot of ethnicities.
B) was a thinly disguised allegory explaining the need for the Constitution.
C) made the author so unpopular in the United States that he was forced to return to France.
D) argued that America should reject manufacturing and remain an agrarian nation.
E) made the case that free African Americans were "citizens of color" deserving of full legal rights.

Question 55

By the 1790s, the phrase "we the people" had come to mean what?

A) The lower classes of society would share in the economic growth.
B) The president would be elected directly by the people.
C) Voting rights should increase for both men and women.
D) America should remain a nation of farmers.
E) Rights were increasing for white Americans.

Question 56

In The History of the American Revolution, David Ramsay:

A) argued that the Constitution represented a repudiation of the Revolution.
B) urged southern states to demand greater protection for slavery before ratifying the Constitution.
C) praised American state constitutions for allowing future amendments.
D) took issue with James Madison's vision of "extending the sphere."
E) took the British side when explaining why the Revolution occurred.

Question 57

The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 did not acknowledge that the Indians owned their land.

Question 58

The Naturalization Act of 1790 allowed:

A) all immigrants to become citizens.
B) only Irish, English, and German immigrants to become citizens.
C) everyone except blacks to become citizens.
D) only free white persons to become citizens.
E) only white men to become citizens.

Question 59

Which right was heavily influenced by the American Revolutionary period?

A) free speech
B) freedom from excessive bail
C) free press
D) freedom of religion
E) freedom from cruel and unusual punishment

Question 60

The U.S. Constitution of 1787 was America's first written constitution.

Question 61

Battles over Indian territory continued after ratification of the Constitution.

Question 62

In the U.S. Constitution, the fugitive slave clause kept the condition of bondage for a slave even if he or she escaped to a free state.

Question 63

The New Jersey Plan proposed a single-house legislature, which gave each state one vote.

Question 64

The Constitution is a lengthy, wordy document that outlines the structure of government in great detail.

Question 65

Two of the original thirteen states initially refused to ratify the Constitution, but ultimately they did ratify it.

Question 66

Not until the twentieth century did the Bill of Rights become revered.

Question 67

"Separation of powers" refers to the relationship between the national government and the states.

Question 68

The U.S. Constitution as written in 1787 does not use the words "slave" or "slavery."

Question 69

Shays's Rebellion demonstrated to many leading Americans the need for a more central government to ensure private liberty.

Question 70

Alexander Hamilton proposed in the Constitutional Convention that the president and senators serve life terms.

Question 71

In the 1780s, "We the people" meant a melting pot of all peoples.

Question 72

In the Constitution, Native Americans were granted citizenship.

Question 73

Jefferson was unsure whether African-Americans were fixed permanently in a status of inferiority.

Question 74

Crèvecoeur's Letters from an American Farmer described America as a melting pot of Europeans.

Question 75

The U.S. Constitution of 1787 provided a clear definition of U.S. citizenship that excluded blacks.

Question 76

So adamant was he about separating church and state, James Madison opposed the appointment of chaplains to serve Congress and the military.

Question 77

The U.S. Constitution of 1787 defined who could and could not vote.

Question 78

Anti-Federalists were concerned that the Constitution severely limited liberty.

Question 79

James Madison argued in The Federalist that the large size and diversity of the United States was a source of political stability, not a weakness.

Question 80

The Constitutional delegates who met in Philadelphia represented all of American society, as they were a mix of laborers, farmers, merchants, and politicians.