Deck 6: Securing Independence, Defining Nationhood, 1776-1788

Question 1

Why does General Nathaniel Greene have a reputation for success despite losing three major battles between March and September 1781?

A) His presence on Long Island was enough to convince the British to abandon New York.
B) France's King Louis was impressed with the discipline and style of American troops and decided to aid the rebels in their struggle.
C) He succeeded in harassing so many British merchant vessels that British merchants pressured their government to end the war.
D) He had influential friends in Congress and was able to use them to spread a myth about his military genius.
E) He sapped British strength and forced General Cornwallis to abandon the backcountry and lead his troops into Virginia.

Answer 1

He sapped British strength and forced General Cornwallis to abandon the backcountry and lead his troops into Virginia.

Question 2

Joseph Brant was

A) the Mohawk chief who, as leader of the Iroquois confederation, sided with the British during the Revolution and later became the inspiration behind Indian resistance in the Northwest
B) the most famous African American to fight for the Americans during the Revolution
C) the author who was lynched in Boston because of his pamphlet arguing that Anglo-American compromise and peace would be preferable to transatlantic war and possible independence
D) the leader of the pro-American peace party in the House of Commons
E) the main spokesman for the antifederalists in the battle over ratification of the Constitution

Answer 2

the Mohawk chief who, as leader of the Iroquois confederation, sided with the British during the Revolution and later became the inspiration behind Indian resistance in the Northwest

Question 3

What happened at the Battle of Saratoga?

A) A British drive toward Albany was halted when General Burgoyne surrendered 5,800 troops to General Gates.
B) Cooperation between General Washington's armies and the French fleet trapped General Cornwallis and forced him to surrender.
C) General Washington was forced to retreat to New Jersey to escape defeat.
D) The American forces were saved only with the arrival of 15,000 fresh French troops.
E) Fifty-nine cannons that Colonel Henry Knox brought overland from Fort Ticonderoga helped to save the day for the Americans.

Answer 3

A British drive toward Albany was halted when General Burgoyne surrendered 5,800 troops to General Gates.

Question 4

Why was the Battle of Saratoga so significant to the American Revolution?

A) It convinced France to support the United States publicly.
B) It convinced Spain to support the United States publicly.
C) It convinced the Netherlands to support the United States publicly.
D) It convinced Russia to support the United States publicly.
E) It convinced Sweden to support the United States publicly.

Question 5

How could the American army in the early years of the War for Independence be characterized?

A) It was a well-trained army with a strong tradition of bravery under fire.
B) It was not trained to fight pitched battles against professional armies.
C) It was buoyed by a string of exhilarating victories.
D) It was uncoordinated because of the influence of foreign troops who did not speak English.
E) It was floundering because of a lack of effective or respected leaders.

Question 6

Which of the following statements is not a reason why the Constitution was ratified in 1788?

A) Supporters of the Constitution had much more recognizable leaders.
B) Alexander Hamilton and James Madison made spirited arguments in favor of the Constitution.
C) A Bill of Rights was added in 1787 to persuade opponents of the Constitution to accept it.
D) Supporters of the Constitution were much better organized.
E) Most newspapers favored ratification of the Constitution.

Question 7

Which of the following statements correctly describes the fate of Loyalists after the British defeat in the American Revolution?

A) The Confederation government deported them to Sierra Leone.
B) State tribunals quickly tried them and executed thousands.
C) The wealthy Loyalists fled to Canada while the poor Loyalists remained in the new United States.
D) Only a small number-perhaps 3 percent-left the United States.
E) They bought large estates in northern New York and joined the Federalist party.

Question 8

Which of the following battles forced the British government to commence peace negotiations with the Americans?

A) Yorktown
B) Saratoga
C) Brandywine Creek
D) Camden
E) Long Island

Question 9

While waging the American Revolution and running the government before 1787, how was Congress limited by the Articles of Confederation?

A) The articles prohibited Congress from placing tariffs on imports.
B) The articles did not give Congress the authority to order states to comply with its requests.
C) The articles gave too much power to the executive.
D) The articles required Congress to obtain the unanimous approval of the states to declare war.
E) The articles failed to establish a judiciary.

Question 10

What were the consequences of the outcome of the battles at Trenton and Princeton?

A) They boosted civilian and military morale of the Americans.
B) They strengthened the bargaining position of New Jersey's 5,000 loyalists.
C) They increased the morale and optimism of British troops.
D) They convinced France to recognize the independence of the United States and join the war on the side of the Americans.
E) They enabled the British to double their troop strength in New Jersey and Delaware.

Question 11

Who was Friedrich von Steuben?

A) He was the commander of the Hessian forces employed by the British during the War for Independence.
B) He was the representative of Prussia at the Paris peace conference.
C) He was the man who turned the American army into a formidable fighting force.
D) He was the leader of the Antifederalist forces in Pennsylvania.
E) He was the Dutch merchant who was the first casualty in the American War for Independence.

Question 12

Which of the following was an advantage that the British had over the Americans in the War for Independence?

A) Americans of British ancestry were devoted to their former homeland.
B) Britain had the support of the rest of Europe
C) The British merchant marine was invulnerable.
D) Its population was more than 4 times greater than that of the colonies.
E) Its navy was at peak strength during these years.

Question 13

Which of the following was not one of the terms of the Peace of Paris?

A) Loyalists were to be compensated for their property losses.
B) East and west Florida were transferred from Spain to the United States.
C) The United States received fishing rights off the Grand Banks of Canada.
D) Britain recognized American independence.
E) The British were to return slaves who had been confiscated by their troops.

Question 14

According to the Northwest Ordinance, a territory could be admitted as a new state when

A) it adopted a constitution prohibiting slavery.
B) it could prove that it had eliminated the presence of Indians.
C) its people voted to accept the Constitution.
D) its population reached 60,000.
E) it was able to provide at least $1 million in annual tax revenues.

Question 15

Which of the following was not one of Britain's difficulties during the War for Independence?

A) It had a large but ill-trained army.
B) It had difficulty in supplying the army.
C) Its navy had been weakened by budget cuts.
D) American privateers seriously hampered Britain's merchant marine.
E) It had a rising financial burden that the politically influential landed gentry were increasingly reluctant to shoulder.

Question 16

How were blacks accounted for in the Three-Fifths clause of the Constitution?

A) Free blacks were granted citizenship and given the right to vote.
B) Each state would have two black representatives in the Senate.
C) Slaves were counted as three-fifths of a person for tax and representation purposes.
D) The national government would have the power to abolish the slave trade at any time.
E) Three-fifths of the slave states would have to end slavery by 1824.

Question 17

Which of the following areas was a loyalist stronghold during the Revolution?

A) New England
B) New York
C) The South Carolina seacoast
D) Pennsylvania
E) tidewater Virginia

Question 18

What was the British strategy after 1778?

A) It wanted to subdue New England by severing it from the other colonies, invading it from Quebec, and blockading it from the sea.
B) It wanted to capitalize on their relations with Native Americans in order to stabilize the backcountry and then press eastward toward the seacoast.
C) It wanted to seize key southern ports, enlist the aid of loyalist militiamen, and move northward to pacify one region after another.
D) It wanted to hang on until the Americans were worn down, out of supplies, and bankrupt.
E) It wanted to blockade the Atlantic coastline of America and starve the colonists into submission.

Question 19

Which of the following was one of the ways the American Revolution affected African-Americans?

A) States throughout the nation abolished slavery.
B) The new Constitution of the United States abolished slavery effective 1809.
C) Washington and Jefferson freed their slaves to set an example.
D) Most northern states took steps to weaken the institution of slavery and phase it out, while no state south of Pennsylvania abolished slavery.
E) African Americans were guaranteed the right to vote.

Question 20

What did American Tories believe?

A) They believed separation from Britain was an illegal act that would ignite an unnecessary war.
B) They believed Parliament had the right to tax the colonies.
C) They believed only independence could preserve the colonists' constitutional rights.
D) They believed loyal support for Lord North was the surest way to achieve a military victory.
E) They believed the king, not Parliament, was responsible for the problems facing the colonies.

Question 21

Which of the following statements applies to The Ordinance of 1785?

A) It followed natural topography and physical features to draw the boundaries of townships and private landholdings.
B) It ignored Native Americans' claims that previous treaties ceding the land were invalid.
C) It was the first major piece of legislation passed under the government established by the Constitution
D) It was designed to weaken French settlements in Quebec.
E) It was rejected by the Constitutional Convention but implemented by President Washington as an Executive Order.

Question 22

Which state made the proposal to create a bicameral national legislature, with representation based proportionally on each state's population?

A) New Jersey
B) Connecticut
C) Pennsylvania
D) Virginia
E) North Carolina

Question 23

Which of the following was not one of the conditions leading to Daniel Shays's Rebellion?

A) An economic recession
B) Huge tax increases
C) Farm foreclosures
D) Balance of payments problems
E) A slave uprising in a neighboring state.

Question 24

Where did American forces suffer through the disastrous winter of 1777-1778?

A) Germantown
B) Brandywine Springs
C) Valley Forge
D) Monmouth
E) Cowpens

Question 25

Which of the following conditions was not true of the state constitutions adopted during the Revolution?

A) A minority of voters typically elected a majority of assemblymen.
B) New constitutions could be amended only by the voters.
C) The new constitutions included explicit bills of rights.
D) They abolished property and tax-paying qualifications for voting.
E) In most states, elections became annual and the governor became an elected official.

Question 26

Which statement concerning the delegates to the Constitutional Convention is most accurate?

A) They were dominated by the great farmers from the mid-Atlantic and southern states.
B) They tended to be wealthy lawyers in their thirties and forties.
C) They were predominantly America's "elder statesmen," the generation that had shaped the nation's destiny since the 1750s.
D) They were mainly merchants, shippers, and businessmen with a solidly commercial, international outlook.
E) They represented a cross-section of American society in the 1780s.

Question 27

What did the term "democrat" imply for most leaders of the American Revolution?

A) mob rule and or rule by an uneducated multitude.
B) virtuous leaders elected for their superior talents and commitment to the public good
C) universal suffrage
D) a large, powerful, and intrusive federal government
E) a weak defense policy and frequent military defeat.

Question 28

What country controlled New Orleans after the Peace of Paris?

A) Spain
B) France
C) Mexico
D) Britain
E) The United States

Question 29

What was the name of the proposal to create a single-chamber congress in which each state had an equal vote?

A) New Jersey Plan
B) Connecticut Plan
C) Three-fifths Plan
D) Virginia Plan
E) Unity Plan

Question 30

By 1784, what did all state constitutions include?

A) Provisions for a strong executive
B) Provisions for a strong legislature
C) Provisions for a strong judiciary
D) A bill of rights
E) None of these choices

Question 31

What did the term "republican" imply for most leaders of the American Revolution?

A) mob rule and or rule by an uneducated multitude.
B) virtuous leaders elected for their superior talents and commitment to the public good
C) rule by wealthy corporate attorneys
D) a large federal budget deficit
E) power decentralized primarily among the large states

Question 32

How did Robert Morris propose to solve the nation's financial crisis?

A) He proposed amending the Articles of Confederation to allow the national government to levy taxes without state approval.
B) He proposed levying a national import duty to finance the congressional budget and to guarantee interest payments on the war debt.
C) He proposed encouraging the army to mutiny and seize control of the national government.
D) He proposed cutting taxes and reducing the size of the federal bureaucracy.
E) All of these choices

Question 33

Which of the following was not one of the features or powers of government under the Articles of Confederation?

A) a national congress in which each state had only one vote.
B) the requirement for unanimous approval of the states before Congress could enact any tax measure.
C) the provision that no congressional power to regulate interstate or foreign commerce.
D) a single-chamber Congress, elected by state legislatures, in which each state had one vote.
E) a president elected by the state legislatures.

Question 34

Which of the following was not one of the problems facing the newly-independent United States?

A) State governments refused to compensate loyalists for their property losses
B) State governments and erected barriers against British creditors' attempts to collect prewar debts.
C) The British refused to honor treaty pledges to abandon forts in the Northwest and to return American-owned slaves under their control.
D) British trade prohibitions remained in effect.
E) The booming New England economy tended to cause rampant inflation elsewhere in the country.

Question 35

What was John Sullivan's part in the Revolutionary War?

A) He was the American emissary to Paris who persuaded the French to support the United States.
B) He served as an American spy in New York and kept Washington abreast of British maneuvers.
C) He managed America's finances throughout the Revolution.
D) He taught the soldiers in the Continental Army basic drills and tactics.
E) He commanded the American forces that ultimately devastated the pro-British Iroquois Indians.

Question 36

What piece of legislation created the basic unit of settlement in the territory north of the Ohio River?

A) Articles of Confederation
B) Ordinance of 1785
C) Connecticut Compromise
D) Northwest Ordinance
E) Federal Constitution of 1787

Question 37

Who fought for the rights of black Americans in Massachusetts and the United States in the 1780s?

A) William Lloyd Garrison
B) Agrippa Hull
C) Prince Hall
D) Frederick Douglas
E) Denmark Vesey

Question 38

What system of shared power and dual lawmaking by state and national governments was established by the constitution?

A) Functional separation of powers
B) Bicameralism
C) Virtual representation
D) Federalism
E) Localism

Question 39

What was the key issue at the Constitutional Convention?

A) whether the new national government should be more or less powerful than the Confederation government.
B) whether or not slavery should be abolished.
C) how to balance the conflicting interests of large and small states.
D) how to convince the general population to support a document written by the elite.
E) when the new government could acquire additional territory.

Question 40

Which of the following facts concerning the Northwest Ordinance is not true?

A) It forbade slavery in the Northwest Territory.
B) It permitted the citizens of a territory to elect a legislature and make their own laws.
C) It permitted the citizens of a territory to write a state constitution and apply to Congress for admission as a new state.
D) It outlined the steps for the creation and admission of new states.
E) It removed Native Americans and guaranteed white settlers the right to buy land in the territory.

Question 41

Instructions: Choose the letter on the accompanying map of the Northeast that correctly identifies each of the following:

Berkshire Mountains

Question 42

MAP QUESTIONS
Instructions: Choose the letter on the accompanying map of the Mid-Atlantic States and Old Northwest that correctly identifies each of the following:

Brandywine Creek, Pennsylvania

Question 43

MAP QUESTIONS
Instructions: Choose the letter on the accompanying map of the Mid-Atlantic States and Old Northwest that correctly identifies each of the following:

Monmouth, New Jersey

Question 44

MAP QUESTIONS
Instructions: Choose the letter on the accompanying map of the Mid-Atlantic States and Old Northwest that correctly identifies each of the following:

Trenton, New Jersey

Question 45

MAP QUESTIONS
Instructions: Choose the letter on the accompanying map of the Mid-Atlantic States and Old Northwest that correctly identifies each of the following:

Fort Detroit

Question 46

Instructions: Choose the letter on the accompanying map of the southern United States that correctly identifies each of the following:

Georgia

Question 47

Instructions: Choose the letter on the accompanying map of the southern United States that correctly identifies each of the following:

Appalachian Mountains

Question 48

MAP QUESTIONS
Instructions: Choose the letter on the accompanying map of the Mid-Atlantic States and Old Northwest that correctly identifies each of the following:

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Question 49

Which of the following men was a leader of the Anti-Federalists?

A) Ben Franklin
B) George Mason
C) Thomas Jefferson
D) James Oglethorpe
E) William Penn

Question 50

Instructions: Choose the letter on the accompanying map of the southern United States that correctly identifies each of the following:

Yorktown, Virginia

Question 51

Instructions: Choose the letter on the accompanying map of the Northeast that correctly identifies each of the following:

Ticonderoga

Question 52

Instructions: Choose the letter on the accompanying map of the southern United States that correctly identifies each of the following:

Florida

Question 53

Instructions: Choose the letter on the accompanying map of the southern United States that correctly identifies each of the following:

Camden, South Carolina

Question 54

MAP QUESTIONS
Instructions: Choose the letter on the accompanying map of the Mid-Atlantic States and Old Northwest that correctly identifies each of the following:

Princeton, New Jersey

Question 55

MAP QUESTIONS
Instructions: Choose the letter on the accompanying map of the Mid-Atlantic States and Old Northwest that correctly identifies each of the following:

Vincennes, Indiana

Question 56

Alexander McGillivray prove to be a shrewd leader by carefully strengthening

A) the Creek Indians and gained concessions from Georgia.
B) the Cherokee Indians and gained concessions from North Carolina.
C) the Huron Indians and gained concessions from New York.
D) the Wabash Indians and gained concessions from Ohio.
E) the Powhatan Indians and gained concessions from Virginia.

Question 57

Instructions: Choose the letter on the accompanying map of the southern United States that correctly identifies each of the following:

Tennessee

Question 58

Instructions: Choose the letter on the accompanying map of the southern United States that correctly identifies each of the following:

Charleston, South Carolina

Question 59

Instructions: Choose the letter on the accompanying map of the southern United States that correctly identifies each of the following:

Kentucky

Question 60

MAP QUESTIONS
Instructions: Choose the letter on the accompanying map of the Mid-Atlantic States and Old Northwest that correctly identifies each of the following:

Ohio River valley

Question 61

Instructions: Choose the letter on the accompanying map of the Northeast that correctly identifies each of the following:

Fort Stanwix, New York

Question 62

Instructions: Choose the letter on the accompanying map of the Northeast that correctly identifies each of the following:

Lake Ontario

Question 63

Instructions: Choose the letter on the accompanying map of the Northeast that correctly identifies each of the following:

Albany, New York

Question 64

Instructions: Choose the letter on the accompanying map of the Northeast that correctly identifies each of the following:

Saratoga

Question 65

Instructions: Choose the letter on the accompanying map of the Northeast that correctly identifies each of the following:

Quebec

Question 66

Instructions: Choose the letter on the accompanying map of the Northeast that correctly identifies each of the following:

Long Island

Question 67

Instructions: Choose the letter on the accompanying map of the Northeast that correctly identifies each of the following:

Boston