Deck 18: Cities, Immigrants, and the Nation

Question 1

What inspired the proliferation of foreign-language newspapers between 1880 and 1920?

A) New immigrants were not interested in America's local and national affairs.
B) The literacy rates were high among recent immigrants.
C) Most recent immigrants were unable to read English.
D) Recent immigrants distrusted the English-language press.

Answer 1

Most recent immigrants were unable to read English.

Question 2

Which groups were at the bottom of the racial hierarchies invented by biologists and anthropologists during the early twentieth century?

A) Eastern Europeans
B) Southern Europeans
C) Native Americans and Africans
D) Teutonics and Nordics

Answer 2

Native Americans and Africans

Question 3

People who believed that biological engineering should be used to promote the breeding of "desirable" races and limit the reproduction of the "unfit" were called

A) nativists.
B) assimilationists.
C) eugenicists.
D) elitists.

Answer 3

eugenicists.

Question 4

In the late nineteenth century, those who considered Southern Europeans inferior to Northern Europeans and opposed allowing them to resettle in the United States were proponents of

A) nativism.
B) the "melting pot" theory.
C) anti-Semitism.
D) the Social Gospel.

Question 5

Demographic records from the early twentieth century suggest that American Christians at that time considered Jewishness

A) a religion.
B) a race.
C) an ethnicity.
D) a language.

Question 6

In the late nineteenth century, which of the following groups did the American Protective Association consider the greatest threat to the United States?

A) Political radicals
B) Native Americans
C) Jews
D) Catholics

Question 7

In the early twentieth century, the cigar industry was the chief employer of

A) Chinese and Japanese immigrants in California.
B) Russian Jews in New York.
C) Spaniards and Cubans in Florida.
D) Mexicans in Texas.

Question 8

The role of mutual aid societies in late-nineteenth-century America was to

A) help immigrants find jobs and housing, and offer spaces to socialize.
B) provide firefighting services for neighborhoods in exchange for a fee.
C) offer companies insurance policies for their workers.
D) sell life insurance policies to aspiring immigrant middle-class families.

Question 9

In response to the arrival of large numbers of Catholics from Southern and Eastern Europe around the turn of the century, German American Catholics urged the Church to

A) recognize the patron saints and rituals immigrants brought from their countries of origin.
B) organize American parishes according to ethnicity.
C) give women a greater leadership role in parish activities.
D) turn local parishes into "melting pots" by integrating new immigrants into existing parishes.

Question 10

Around the turn of the twentieth century, immigrants to the United States were least likely to return to their countries of origin if

A) they had been economically successful in America.
B) they had learned to speak English.
C) their children had assimilated to the new culture.
D) they had come to the United States to escape religious or political persecution.

Question 11

The Statue of Liberty was originally meant to be unveiled

A) to President Lincoln during the Civil War in 1864.
B) to President Ulysses S. Grant during his travels to France in 1874.
C) at the Centennial exposition in Philadelphia in 1876.
D) at the opening of the Brooklyn Bridge in 1888.

Question 12

In 1910, what percentage of U.S. residents were either immigrants themselves or had at least one parent who was born abroad?

A) One-quarter
B) One-third
C) One-half
D) Two-thirds

Question 13

Between 1865 and 1900, the number of Catholic churches in the United States

A) decreased.
B) doubled.
C) tripled.
D) quadrupled.

Question 14

The majority of immigrants who entered the United States circa 1907 came from

A) Mexico.
B) Southern and Eastern Europe.
C) Japan and China.
D) Great Britain.

Question 15

Many Jews who came to the United States at the turn of the century were attempting to escape religious persecution in

A) Germany.
B) Hungary.
C) Russia.
D) Belgium.

Question 16

Who wrote the poem inscribed on the base of the Statue of Liberty?

A) Emma Lazarus
B) Francis Bellamy
C) Israel Zangwill
D) W. E. B. Du Bois

Question 17

Dating back to 1790, the rights of U.S. citizenship were limited to people who were considered

A) Christian.
B) capitalists.
C) free.
D) white.

Question 18

Which of the following groups had interests that were at odds with immigration restrictions?

A) Skilled laborers
B) Factory owners
C) The American Protective Association
D) Protestant purists

Question 19

What did immigrant neighborhoods have in common with other communities of largely poor, unskilled populations?

A) They, too, were controlled by ethnic police departments.
B) They, too, lacked churches and other places of worship.
C) They did not practice discrimination and saw few cases of racial prejudice.
D) They bred crime and gangs made up of young men with few prospects.

Question 20

Immigrants to the United States around the turn of the twentieth century differed from those of previous eras in that they were

A) more ethnically diverse.
B) wealthier.
C) largely Protestant.
D) mostly from Europe.

Question 21

The opening of the Brooklyn Bridge was representative of

A) the vertical expansion of cities.
B) the horizontal expansion of cities.
C) rising urban property values.
D) urban dependence on railroads.

Question 22

Who popularized the idea of the United States as a melting pot for immigrants in 1908?

A) Emma Lazarus
B) Henry Cabot Lodge
C) Israel Zangwill
D) Alfred P. Schultz

Question 23

Big-city nightlife in the early twentieth century could not have developed without

A) skyscrapers.
B) sewage systems.
C) public transportation.
D) electricity.

Question 24

Which of the following was an unintended consequence of racial segregation in the South at the turn of the twentieth century?

A) The economic mobility afforded working-class blacks
B) The availability of jobs for janitors, cooks, and domestic servants
C) Higher wages in job sectors dominated by African Americans
D) The degree of success achieved by African American professionals and entrepreneurs

Question 25

American cities became centers of industry as well as commerce at the end of the nineteenth century in response to

A) the mechanization of farming.
B) the expansion of the railroad.
C) the growth of the immigrant population.
D) the availability of electricity.

Question 26

In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, devastating fires in densely populated cities like Chicago, San Francisco, Boston, and Baltimore led to the

A) exodus of middle-class residents from inner cities.
B) establishment of volunteer fire departments.
C) improvement of plumbing in poor communities.
D) use of brick and steel in urban architecture.

Question 27

The Chicago Defender and Pittsburgh Courier were evidence of

A) a strong black middle-class in northern cities.
B) the declining influence of the church in African American communities.
C) a rejection of southern culture by African Americans in the North.
D) the absence of racial discrimination in northern cities.

Question 28

In 1892, schools adopted the daily recitation of the "Pledge of Allegiance" in order to

A) help immigrant children improve their English-language skills.
B) help immigrant children develop loyalty to the U.S. government and American values.
C) introduce immigrant children to American holidays like Thanksgiving and Columbus Day.
D) prevent immigrant children from adopting the radical political views of their parents.

Question 29

The writings of African American sociologist W. E. B. Du Bois spoke to the predicament of first-generation immigrants by

A) supporting the "melting pot" theory of gradual transformation from foreigner to American.
B) implying that they would never be fully accepted by native-born American citizens.
C) suggesting that they would always remain the products of their native cultures.
D) suggesting that they would become Americans but also retain their original ethnic identities.

Question 30

Who of the following could appropriately be referred to as a real-life contemporary version of Theodore Dreiser's character Sister Carrie?

A) The daughter of an Italian immigrant family on the Lower East Side
B) An African American woman who migrated from Atlanta to Chicago
C) A college-educated settlement house worker like Jane Addams
D) A rural Ohioan who moved to Cleveland because there was no work for her on the family farm

Question 31

Which of the following resulted from the introduction of the electric trolley in 1888?

A) The division of cities into residential and commercial districts
B) The segregation of residential districts by class
C) The transformation of tenement apartments into sweatshops
D) The spread of epidemics from poor to affluent communities

Question 32

In the early twentieth century, conflicts over appropriate styles of worship within the black church were evidence of

A) class differences.
B) regional differences.
C) gender differences.
D) doctrinal differences.

Question 33

In the late nineteenth century, small, multiple-family apartment buildings with minimal plumbing and few windows were called

A) barracks.
B) sweatshops.
C) tenements.
D) shanties.

Question 34

A eugenicist would want to encourage marriage between

A) a man and a woman who were both mentally disabled.
B) a man and a woman who were both Anglo-Saxons.
C) a black man and a white woman.
D) a Protestant man and a Jewish woman.

Question 35

Which of the following was to blame for the high number of deaths in the Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire?

A) The building had no windows facing the street.
B) Traffic-clogged narrow streets delayed the arrival of the fire department.
C) An exit door had been locked to prevent workers from stealing.
D) Inadequate plumbing provided an insufficient supply of water.

Question 36

In the late nineteenth century, which of the following was not a factor contributing to the high death rate among young children in cities?

A) Unpaved streets
B) Contaminated drinking water
C) Tenement apartments
D) Outdoor toilets

Question 37

The first subway system in the United States opened in 1897 in

A) New York.
B) Chicago
C) Boston.
D) Philadelphia.

Question 38

Despite residential segregation, the problems of the urban poor at the end of the nineteenth century became the concern of the middle and upper classes because

A) they paid high taxes to support government welfare programs.
B) epidemics that began in slums usually spread to more affluent neighborhoods.
C) slum dwellers received a disproportionate share of city services and infrastructure.
D) they felt responsible for assimilating immigrants into American society.

Question 39

Which of the following characterizes the experiences of African Americans who migrated from the rural South to the urban North at the turn of the twentieth century?

A) They no longer experienced discrimination in employment.
B) They were free to live wherever they wanted.
C) They were able to work fewer hours and earn higher wages.
D) They experienced isolation and lack of community identity.

Question 40

The rise in urban property values in the 1870s and 1880s encouraged

A) the construction of skyscrapers.
B) the construction of bridges.
C) the relocation of poor immigrants to the suburbs.
D) a decrease in population density.

Question 41

Which of the following expresses the philosophy of the typical boss of a big-city political machine at the end of the nineteenth century?

A) Political power should be used to improve quality of life for the poor.
B) Cities would operate more efficiently if they used civil service exams to hire employees.
C) Land use decisions should be made by elected officials rather than private business interests.
D) Political power is primarily a vehicle for accumulating personal wealth.

Question 42

The development of urban political machines was a consequence of

A) weak city governments.
B) lobbying by immigrant constituents.
C) partisan debates over long-term planning.
D) pressure from good government reformers.

Question 43

Which region in the nation had the highest proportion of residents living in cities with more than 10,000 residents?

A) The South
B) The Trans-Mississippi West
C) The Midwest
D) The Gulf region

Question 44

The main purpose of civil service reform was to

A) eliminate racial and ethnic discrimination from government hiring policies.
B) encourage immigrants to enter government service.
C) guarantee that government employees were qualified for their positions.
D) help political machines operate more efficiently.

Question 45

The image "Angel Island Physical Exam" shows a group of Chinese boys waiting to see the doctor while a military official inspects one of them. Viewed in the context of the history of Chinese immigration to the United States in the latter nineteenth century, which of the following conclusions can you draw from this image?

A) Chinese immigrants were treated as individuals.
B) Immigration officials cared for the health and well-being of Chinese immigrants.
C) Immigration officials looked at Chinese as a threat to public health.
D) Chinese immigrants were grateful for getting to see a doctor upon their arrival.

Question 46

Chicago's Hull House, a community center serving poor immigrants, was founded by

A) Jane Addams.
B) Lillian Wald.
C) Russell Conwell.
D) Washington Gladden.

Question 47

What explains the loyalty of poor and immigrant communities to machine politicians at the end of the nineteenth century?

A) They benefited from an informal welfare system that provided food, jobs, and housing.
B) The machines were responsible for a decrease in crime in their neighborhoods.
C) The machines improved sanitation and public health outcomes in their neighborhoods.
D) They were unaffected by the system of graft and influence peddling.

Question 48

In 1883, widespread corruption and cronyism among government employees led to the

A) publication of How the Other Half Lives by Jacob Riis.
B) daily recitation of the "Pledge of Allegiance" in public schools.
C) passage of the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act by Congress.
D) deaths of 140 workers in the Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire.

Question 49

George Washington Plunkett's statement "I seen my opportunities and I took 'em" was a reflection of his

A) individual initiative.
B) political corruption.
C) immigrant striving.
D) business savvy.

Question 50

Which of the following phrases could serve as a campaign slogan for a typical machine politician at the end of the nineteenth century?

A) "May the Best Man Win"
B) "Vote Early and Often"
C) "Vote Your Conscience"
D) "Vote for the Republican"

Question 51

In Document 18.2, A Chinese View of the Statue of Liberty, from 1885, Saum Song Bo remarked that he considered it "an insult to us Chinese to call on us to contribute toward building in this land a pedestal for a Statue of Liberty. That statue represents Liberty holding a torch which lights the passage of those of all nations who come into this country. But are the Chinese allowed to come?" What was he referring to?

A) The Chinese Exclusion Act
B) New York's ban on Chinese businesses
C) The Coolie Trade
D) The discriminatory practices of the Ellis Island immigration station

Question 52

Which of the following characterizes the reform agenda of Jane Addams?

A) Solving the problems of the urban poor requires the support of wealthy philanthropists.
B) Helping the poor requires an army of professional social workers.
C) Wide replication of the settlement house model is the best thing cities can do for poor residents.
D) Poor people's problems will not be solved without the direct involvement of government.