Deck 21: The Progressive Era, 1895-1920

Question 1

Reform-minded business executives like Alexander Cassatt generally

A) supported cooperative factories that were managed but not owned by rank-and-file factory workers.
B) supported some government regulation in order to protect their own interests from more radical political elements.
C) had begun seriously to question the capitalist system.
D) supported a more equitable distribution of wealth and capital in the United States.

Answer 1

supported some government regulation in order to protect their own interests from more radical political elements.

Question 2

The journalists who exposed the wrongs of American society during the Progressive era were known as

A) abolitionists.
B) know-nothings.
C) stand-patters.
D) muckrakers.

Answer 2

muckrakers.

Question 3

The Mann Act reflected the growing sentiment that

A) prostitution could be ended by arresting and punishing the prostitutes.
B) prostitution is a victimless crime and should be legalized.
C) the government could improve human behavior by passing legislation restricting it.
D) the government could never eradicate immorality because sin is deeply embedded in the human condition.

Answer 3

the government could improve human behavior by passing legislation restricting it.

Question 4

Senator Robert La Follette wanted to do which of the following?

A) Nationalize the railroad industry
B) Return America to its agrarian and rural past
C) Drive corporations out of politics
D) Break all large corporations into small, competitive units

Question 5

Members of the Social Gospel movement believed that

A) helping others is the path to individual salvation and to creating God's kingdom on earth.
B) God's kingdom could be built on Earth simply by the passage of legislation outlawing immoral acts.
C) prospective candidates for public office should profess to believe in God before being allowed to file for election.
D) an active, interventionist government was all that was needed to create a more morally pure society.

Question 6

Which of the following is true of women in higher education during the Progressive era?

A) Most women chose to take science and mathematics courses.
B) Most women attended private women's colleges rather than coeducational institutions.
C) Harvard and Yale began recruiting women into their medical schools.
D) Women were usually encouraged to take home economics courses.

Question 7

Working-class reformers in the Progressive era strongly supported

A) enactment of a progressive income tax.
B) shorter working hours and safer working conditions.
C) restrictions on the sale and consumption of liquor.
D) ridding the cities of political bosses.

Question 8

Which of the following was a problem with reforms such as the initiative, referendum, and recall?

A) They often failed because special-interest groups could use large sums of money to influence the voting.
B) More often than not, the courts struck them down.
C) Only the poor and ethnic minorities supported them.
D) Groups such as the National Civic Federation steadfastly refused to endorse them.

Question 9

Organizations such as the American Bar Association, the National American Woman Suffrage Association, and the National Consumers League had the effect of

A) introducing charismatic personalities to political campaigns.
B) making politics more fragmented and issue-focused than in previous eras.
C) stifling debate on major urban issues.
D) increasing the loyalty of the electorate to political parties.

Question 10

Which of the following is true of the Supreme Court's decision in Muller v. Oregon?

A) The Court supported the use of state police powers to protect the morals of the community.
B) The Court severely restricted the federal government's power to interfere in matters reserved for state supervision.
C) In reaching its decision, the Court considered scientific evidence showing the harmful effects of long working hours.
D) In reaching its decision, the Court refused to accept the argument that coal mining was hazardous.

Question 11

Ratification of the Seventeenth Amendment is considered a progressive victory because

A) by providing for the income tax, it had the effect of redistributing wealth in the United States.
B) by providing for the direct election of United States senators, it took their election out of the hands of state legislatures.
C) by establishing a regulatory commission for all industry, it furthered the concept of a planned economy.
D) by making the manufacture and sale of alcoholic beverages illegal, it furthered the progressive goal of moral purity.

Question 12

Which of the following is true of the Supreme Court's decision in Lochner v. New York?

A) The ruling clearly shows the influence of Louis Brandeis on the Court.
B) The Court ruled that the Fourteenth Amendment protects an individual's right to make contracts without government interference.
C) The decision clearly demonstrates the impact that scientific evidence could have on Court rulings.
D) The Court accepted the argument that the federal government has sole and exclusive power over working conditions.

Question 13

The progressive attempt to remove corruption from government began at the

A) city level.
B) federal level.
C) regional level.
D) state level.

Question 14

Although Hoke Smith and Hiram Johnson established records as reform-minded progressive governors, they

A) had secretly come to terms with political bosses in their respective states.
B) did not concern themselves with the issue of industrial working conditions.
C) frequently accepted payoffs from large corporate interests.
D) supported discrimination against racial minorities.

Question 15

Most progressive reformers

A) viewed socialism as a desirable but unachievable goal.
B) wanted to destroy the capitalist system.
C) had little at stake in the capitalist system and did not care whether it survived or not.
D) did not support radical challenges to capitalism.

Question 16

Progressive educator John Dewey emphasized which of the following ideas?

A) Secondary schools should concentrate on preparing students for college.
B) Public schools should be funded by the national government.
C) Learning should involve real-life problems through which children learn to use their intelligence and ingenuity to control their environment.
D) The main task of education is to teach moral principles.

Question 17

Which of the following statements is true of the Progressive movement?

A) Members of the movement were essentially rural people, much like the old Populists.
B) Progressives used advancements in communications such as the telephone and the telegraph to exchange information and coordinate their efforts.
C) Progressives held no issues in common with the Populist movement.
D) Progressives continued the urban reforms of the Populist movement.

Question 18

Through such devices as the initiative, the referendum, and the recall, progressive reformers hoped to

A) reduce the power of government.
B) use the common-sense ideas of ordinary working people to solve the problems of urban America.
C) create a government whose response to the will of the people was completely spontaneous.
D) replace the favoritism of the boss system with rational, accountable management chosen by responsible voters.

Question 19

Which of the following was in part responsible for the growth in the number of colleges in the late nineteenth century?

A) The abandonment of the elective system
B) The adoption of a core curriculum
C) The use of federal funds from the Morrill Acts of 1862 and 1890
D) The reduction of curricula offerings

Question 20

Which of the following formed the vanguard of progressive reform?

A) The new middle class
B) American industrialists
C) The working class
D) Ethnic minorities

Question 21

As a result of the Hepburn Act,

A) the government gained sufficient power to stop all railroad abuses.
B) the government gained the power to regulate working hours in the railroad industry.
C) workers in the railroad industry received higher wages and the promise of automatic cost-of-living increases.
D) the ICC gained more authority to fix railroad rates, but the courts could still overturn rate decisions.

Question 22

Which of the following is true of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People at the time of its founding?

A) It was the only organization that spoke for lower-class African Americans and sharecroppers.
B) It believed that African Americans should seek legal redress through the courts to end racial discrimination and to gain voting rights.
C) It refused to permit white membership.
D) It was bitterly opposed by white liberals as being too militant.

Question 23

Which of the following best expresses the beliefs of Booker T. Washington?

A) African Americans should demand political and social equality in American society.
B) African Americans should passively accept their inferior position in a white-dominated society.
C) African Americans should prove themselves worthy of respect by working hard and acquiring property.
D) African Americans should challenge discriminatory legislation in the courts.

Question 24

Women's clubs of the late nineteenth century would most likely support which of the following?

A) Factory inspection laws
B) Trustbusting laws
C) The direct primary
D) The recall

Question 25

Margaret Sanger's work aroused opposition among men and women who

A) believed that birth control threatened the family and morality.
B) were frightened by her radical feminist message.
C) were angry because she placed all responsibility for contraception on women.
D) were offended by her call for legalized abortion.

Question 26

Which of the following arguments was used by women such as Jane Addams to defend female suffrage?

A) All distinctions between the sexes violate the Constitution.
B) Women should be rewarded for their contributions to the nation during the First World War.
C) Women of all classes have common grievances that will be dealt with only if women have the vote.
D) Because of their unique qualities, women will have a humanizing impact on all aspects of society.

Question 27

The National Consumers League was founded by

A) Susan B. Anthony.
B) Carrie Chapman Catt.
C) Florence Kelley.
D) Alice Paul.

Question 28

Which of the following is true of W. E. B. Du Bois?

A) He believed that the "Talented Tenth" within the African American community should lead in the pursuit of racial equality.
B) He agreed with the ideas expressed by Booker T. Washington in Washington's speech to the Atlanta Exposition.
C) He advanced the idea that African Americans should arm themselves so that they could adequately defend themselves in a racist society.
D) He believed that the problems experienced by African Americans could best be solved by the founding of vocational schools throughout the nation.

Question 29

Which of the following did Theodore Roosevelt believe to be an efficient means of achieving material progress?

A) Business consolidation
B) Government ownership
C) Tax incentives
D) Trustbusting

Question 30

Progressive historian Charles Beard advanced the idea that the American Constitution

A) was never intended to serve a special-interest group, but was written for all Americans regardless of race, sex, or creed.
B) was written by ordinary farmers to protect them from the greed and selfishness of the wealthy and the powerful.
C) is a sacred document that must be interpreted and applied in accordance with the original intent of the founders.
D) is a flexible document, subject to growth and change.

Question 31

Which of the following ideas was expressed in The Passing of the Great Race by Madison Grant?

A) Lynching of African Americans in the southern states is so prevalent that it is akin to genocide.
B) White Americans of Anglo-Saxon descent are rapidly becoming a minority in the United States.
C) The loss of power and prestige by the nations of Europe means that the United States must assume the responsibility for preserving the traditions of Western culture.
D) Immigrants from southern and eastern Europe are mentally and morally inferior and are a threat to the strength of American society.

Question 32

Which of the following is true of the National Association of Colored Women?

A) This organization agitated for women's suffrage.
B) This organization compiled and published statistics on lynchings in the southern states.
C) This organization worked to establish nurseries, kindergartens, and retirement homes.
D) This organization lobbied Congress for the enactment of welfare legislation to help impoverished African Americans.

Question 33

The new economic theory of the early twentieth century held that

A) economic laws, like natural laws, were unchangeable.
B) as social conditions change, so should economic theory.
C) economic theory could not change just because society was changing.
D) statistics meant little in the field of economics.

Question 34

Which of the following was a belief held by eugenicists?

A) Scientific research has proved that peoples from all racial and ethnic groups are equal in every respect.
B) Society has an obligation to prevent the reproduction of people deemed to be mentally defective and of those who are criminally inclined.
C) Aside from reproductive differences necessary for continuation of the species, differences between males and females are caused by culture and society.
D) The cure for all human diseases may be found in the plant world.

Question 35

Which of the following is true of Theodore Roosevelt's beliefs while serving as President?

A) He rejected the idea that business could regulate itself.
B) He believed that big business was the major obstacle to increased production.
C) He wanted to return the nation to free, old-time, uncontrolled economic competition.
D) He approved of big business as long as it did not unfairly manipulate the marketplace.

Question 36

The most decisive factor in winning the vote for women was the

A) participation of women as laborers and volunteers on the home front during the First World War.
B) active picketing and marching of the National Woman's Party.
C) propaganda campaigns of the National American Women Suffrage Association.
D) commitment of the Democratic party leadership in the 1916 election to women's suffrage.

Question 37

Which of the following was in large part a consequence of Upton Sinclair's 1906 book The Jungle?

A) Drug manufacturers agreed to stop selling impure merchandise.
B) President Roosevelt supported passage of the Meat Inspection Act.
C) Railroad rate-making was taken out of the hands of the railroad industry and put into the hands of the ICC.
D) President Roosevelt supported legislation to guarantee the right of workers to bargain collectively.

Question 38

Which of the following is true of the settlement achieved in the 1902 United Mine Workers' strike?

A) The wages of the mine workers were increased.
B) The number of hours in the mine workers' workday remained the same.
C) The mine owners were required to recognize the mine workers' union.
D) The mine owners were required to establish an employee pension plan.

Question 39

Feminists differed from members of the woman movement in which of the following ways?

A) Feminists rejected the idea of women uniting as a gender group; members of the woman movement encouraged gender-group unity.
B) Feminists argued that there were no differences between women and men; members of the woman movement stressed the differences between the sexes.
C) Feminists spoke of rights and self-development as the path to independence; members of the woman movement spoke of duties and moral purity.
D) Feminists believed that in many instances women should be treated differently than men; members of the woman movement called for an end to all gender-based distinctions.

Question 40

Through its interpretation of the Fourteenth and Tenth Amendments, the Supreme Court

A) consistently demonstrated its acceptance of the progressive legal concepts advanced by Oliver Wendell Holmes.
B) increased the regulatory powers of the federal government in cases involving individual rights.
C) demonstrated its rejection of laissez-faire concepts.
D) often acted as an impediment to reform.

Question 41

The Federal Trade Commission could

A) issue cease-and-desist orders against unfair trade practices.
B) remove unsafe consumer products from the market.
C) reduce excessive railroad rates.
D) levy fines against factories for excessive pollution.

Question 42

In 1916, Wilson supported stronger reform measures in part because he

A) had a Democratic majority in both houses of Congress.
B) was preparing to run for reelection.
C) realized that such measures were necessary to end the economic recession.
D) had been won over to the cause of civil rights for women and African Americans.

Question 43

Which of the following convinced many Progressives that President William Howard Taft had abandoned Roosevelt's progressive agenda?

A) Taft drastically slowed the rate of antitrust prosecutions.
B) Taft announced his opposition to the direct election of United States senators.
C) Taft reduced the regulatory powers of the Interstate Commerce Commission.
D) Taft signed legislation that maintained what many Progressives believed to be excessively high tariff rates.

Question 44

The central banking system established by the Federal Reserve Act of 1913

A) made direct loans to businesspersons for plant expansions and investment spending.
B) insured private bank accounts against loss.
C) could control the amount of money in circulation by adjusting the discount rate.
D) tied the money supply to the supply of gold in the United States Treasury.

Question 45

Which of the following statements is most consistent with Woodrow Wilson's New Freedom philosophy?

A) All government controls of the economy must be removed so that natural economic laws can operate effectively.
B) Government and business must enter into a cooperative arrangement in order to plan and manage the nation's economic future.
C) Public works programs should be created to provide jobs and income for the poor in America.
D) Monopolies must be broken up in order to revive competition and recreate an open marketplace.

Question 46

In the area of conservation, Theodore Roosevelt

A) oversaw enactment of a national plan for resource management.
B) believed that the government should manage and control lands in the public domain.
C) substantially restricted the wasteful practices of timber and mining companies.
D) persuaded Congress to impose a special conservation tax on timber, oil, and mining companies.

Question 47

Which of the following statements is most consistent with Theodore Roosevelt's New Nationalism philosophy?

A) The government must actively promote mergers and trusts in order to ensure economic efficiency.
B) Business monopolies and concentrations of economic power must be destroyed.
C) Reduction of taxes and government spending will rejuvenate the economy and lead to economic expansion.
D) Regulatory commissions should be established to ensure the wise use of economic power by large corporations.

Question 48

Which of the following is true of the Underwood Tariff?

A) By allowing an independent commission to determine tariff rates, it removed the tariff issue from politics.
B) By raising tariff rates to record levels, it prevented American industry from being destroyed by inexpensive foreign imports.
C) By reducing or eliminating tariff rates, it encouraged imports and promoted free competition.
D) By eliminating all tariffs, it indicated that America would join with the other industrialized nations in accepting the principle of free trade.