Deck 8: Land and the Early Westward Movements

Question 1

Under the Graduation Act (1854), land prices for the public domain

A) were subject to a schedule that reflected reduced prices for land that remained unsettled over time.
B) were subject to a schedule that reflected reduced prices for native-born Americans and higher prices for immigrants.
C) were increased to $1.25 per acre in cash .
D) were increased to reflect inflation.

Answer 1

were subject to a schedule that reflected reduced prices for land that remained unsettled over time.

Question 2

A liberal philosophy of land distribution would support which of the following rules about paying for western land?

A) High minimum acreage rules for people buying land.
B) High minimum prices for land.
C) Credit payments for the land.

Answer 2

Credit payments for the land.

Question 3

Which statement best describes the trend in land allocation laws from the Land Ordinance of 1785 to the Homestead Act of 1862?

A) The changes were more favorable to those who held a conservative belief about land allocation.
B) The changes were more favorable to those who held a liberal belief about land allocation.
C) There was no consistent trend in the changes; some changes favored the conservatives and others favored the liberals.

Answer 3

The changes were more favorable to those who held a liberal belief about land allocation.

Question 4

The Land Ordinances of 1785 and 1787 included provisions for all of the following except :

A) surveys prior to sale of Western land.
B) the number of states that could be created from the Northwest Territory.
C) guidelines for the eventual creation of Western states.
D) sale of the land in plots of one square mile.
E) All of the above were provisions of the ordinances.

Question 5

Thomas Jefferson's main goals for land policy included all of the following except :

A) To assure secure property rights to the land owned by individuals.
B) To establish a system for collecting property taxes on land owned by individuals.
C) To provide revenues to the federal government through land sales.
D) To encourage the spread of democratic institutions.

Question 6

Land "conservatives" in the 19th century

A) believed that the sale of the public domain should provide substantial government revenue.
B) believed that the U.S. should subsidize the production of certain agricultural products, including corn and wheat.
C) supported the sale of the public domain in small plots.
D) supported the rights of "squatters."
E) All of the above.

Question 7

Land "liberals" in the 19^th century

A) believed that the sale of the public domain should provide substantial government revenue.
B) voted against the Homestead Act of 1862.
C) supported the sale of the public domain in small plots.
D) were against the extension of credit to land buyers.

Question 8

conservative philosophy of land distribution would not support which of the following?

A) High minimum acreage rules for people buying land.
B) High minimum prices for land.
C) Credit payments for the land.

Question 9

U.S. citizens migrating to Illinois in the first half of the 19^th century would most likely have come from:

A) Massachusetts and New Jersey.
B) California and Oregon.
C) North and South Carolina.
D) Up the Mississippi River from Louisiana and Mississippi.

Question 10

The 19^th century frontier, as technically defined in census reports, was any area

A) west of the Appalachian Mountains.
B) containing more than two and less than six people per square mile.
C) without a sheriff and recognized local government.
D) that had not been surveyed according to provisions of the Land Ordinance of 1785.

Question 11

The Land Ordinance of 1787 provided that a state would be admitted to the Union when it's population reached

A) 5,000.
B) 30,000.
C) 60,000.
D) 100,000.

Question 12

The Northwest Land Ordinance of 1785 provided for western lands to be divided into townships, each of which covered

A) 100 acres.
B) all of the land between any two identifiable natural objects, such as streams, trees or rocks.
C) enough land to support 10 families.
D) 36 square miles.

Question 13

For a decade after the Land Ordinance of 1785, pioneering in parts of the Northwest Territory was restricted by all of the following except

A) Indian troubles.
B) French interference.
C) English interference.
D) high prices of land.

Question 14

Between 1800 and 1840, land laws became increasingly ___________ , primarily due to _____________.

A) conservative; increases in the price per acre of available land.
B) conservative; legal limits on the sale of land to farmers.
C) liberal; the extension of long-term credit by the federal government to land buyers.
D) liberal; decreases in the minimum acreage required for purchase.

Question 15

Which of the following statements accurately characterizes the Homestead Act of 1862?

A) Southern plantation owners were strongly opposed to the passage of this legislation.
B) This legislation outlined the legal means by which a territory could become a state.
C) Only farmers with families could purchase land made available by this legislation.
D) This legislation made available some of the most fertile farming land in the U.S., yielding great benefits for small farmers.

Question 16

The congressional committee headed by Thomas Jefferson proposed a method for disposing of the public domain that was based on

A) the New England township system.
B) the Southern tract system.
C) the Virginia plan.
D) English common law.

Question 17

Which was not one of the main U.S. land acquisitions?

A) The Oregon Country.
B) The Texas Annexation.
C) The Florida Acquisition.
D) The Gadsden Purchase.
E) All of the above are U.S. land acquisitions.

Question 18

Which was not one of the main U.S. land acquisitions?

A) Mexican Cession.
B) Western Purchase.
C) Gadsden Purchase .
D) The Oregon Country.

Question 19

Under the system of "township planning"

A) no one could own land that had not been previously surveyed.
B) settlers chose their own plots of land, under the supervision of a county surveyor.
C) legal descriptions of property made reference to permanent natural objects.
D) gaps between unsettled and settled land were encouraged.

Question 20

According to Walton and Rockoff, all of the following were among Jefferson's main goals for land policy except :

A) To assure clear property rights to the land owned by individuals.
B) To drive Indians off the land and secure it for American settlers.
C) To provide revenues to the federal government through sales.
D) To spread democratic institutions.

Question 21

Which of the following was the most important factor determining the volume of land sales in the Midwest and South during the antebellum period?

A) Immigration.
B) Indian resistance to settlement.
C) Agricultural prices.
D) Governmental road building.

Question 22

Which of the following statements about the impact of the California Gold Rush is accurate?

A) A growing inflow of gold seekers caused property rights to break down.
B) "Miners' meetings" were raucous gatherings in which prospectors tended to spend much of their earnings..
C) An example for a gold miner who strove to success even though he found no gold at all was Leland Stanford.
D) For immigrants from Germany, France, Ireland, and China, the gold rush was an opportunity to break out of their restricted social station.

Question 23

During the antebellum period, the "Old Northwest" became the leading producer of

A) corn.
B) wheat.
C) hogs.
D) All of the above.

Question 24

In the antebellum period, the "Old Northwest" became the leading producer of

A) fresh fruits and vegetables.
B) cotton.
C) pork.
D) dairy products.

Question 25

Eli Whitney is most noted for

A) inventing the steam engine.
B) inventing the cotton gin.
C) inventing the technology for the first railroad engine.
D) developing the Erie Canal.

Question 26

The immigrants most likely to go directly to the lands in the West, rather than be absorbed into the eastern city populations, were from

A) England and Scotland.
B) Germany
C) Ireland .
D) France .

Question 27

Large increases in agricultural productivity were not the primary reasons for migrating to which area of the nation during the antebellum period?

A) Illinois and Wisconsin
B) Indiana and Ohio
C) The far west
D) Texas and Mississippi

Question 28

U.S. cotton production

A) remained concentrated in Georgia and South Carolina until after 1860.
B) was unable to compete with wool production in the antebellum textile industry.
C) accounted for more than half of the dollar value of US exports between 1800 and 1850.
D) faced declining world demand for most of the antebellum period.

Question 29

How did James W. Marshall discover gold at California's American River?

A) John Sutter had sent him there for that purpose.
B) Marshall was in search of silver, which he had previously mined in Nevada.
C) Marshall caught  nugget accidentally, while fishing.
D) Marshall was building a sawmill at the river on behalf of John Sutter.

Question 30

What best describes westward movement of population between 1800-1860?

A) The Gold Rush migration was of comparatively minor economic importance.
B) The large increase in and sales in this period was based on speculation.
C) Migrants moved to the west because they were "pushed" out of the east, where conditions were getting worse.
D) Corn prices were relatively low in the decades when migration to the west was largest.

Question 31

In the antebellum period, U.S. cotton production

A) moved inland and westward following the invention of the cotton gin.
B) was unable to meet the demand of the growing U.S. textile industry.
C) was concentrated on small farms of less than 100 acres.
D) faced declining world demand for most of the antebellum period.

Question 32

What industry was the main economic impetus behind antebellum migration to the West Coast?

A) Fishing.
B) Cattle.
C) Fruit.
D) Mining.

Question 33

One interesting aspect of the California Gold Rush was

A) the initial absence of property rights to land.
B) the use of indentured servants as a labor force in mines.
C) the absence of violence in the gold fields.
D) the formation of unions that negotiated wages and hours on behalf of miners.
E) Both a and c are correct.

Question 34

What best describes Thomas Jefferson's view of how American Indians should be treated?

A) Tribes should be forced to leave their native lands in the east and move west.
B) Indians should have full property rights that should be respected by whites.
C) Indians could continue to live on their reservations but the federal government should have access to all mining and natural resources on their land.

Question 35

What best describes the impact of the cotton gin?

A) A decrease in the price and an increase in the quantity of cotton.
B) An increase in the price and a decrease in the quantity of cotton.
C) Decreases in both the price and quantity of cotton.
D) Increases in both the price and quantity of cotton.

Question 36

Northeastern farmers responded to increasing western competition in the 1800s by

A) reducing grain cultivation.
B) increasing production of dairy products.
C) growing hay to feed city horses.
D) moving to the city or the West.
E) All of the above.

Question 37

What would be the impact of a virus that infected the Midwestern corn crop?

A) Price of corn increases and the price of wheat decreases.
B) Price of corn decreases and the quantity of wheat increases.
C) Quantities of corn and wheat increase.
D) Quantity of corn decreases and the price of wheat increases.

Question 38

What would best characterize the relationship between corn prices, wheat prices and the public sale of western land (OH, IL, IN, MI, IA, WI, MO) between 1815-1860?

A) All three were very positively correlated.
B) Land sales increased first, which drew people to move and produce more crops, which increased the crop prices.
C) As land sales increased, corn prices increased and wheat prices decreased as farmers substituted from wheat to corn.
D) Land sales were negatively related to both the wheat and corn prices.

Question 39

The majority of immigrants coming to the U.S. in the 1840s and 1850s were from

A) England and Scotland.
B) Italy .
C) Germany and Ireland.
D) France .

Question 40

The pace of settlement of the Old Northwest (Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, ...) was determined primarily by the prices of

A) soybeans, sorghum, and potatoes.
B) gold and silver.
C) corn, hogs, and wheat.
D) cattle, leather, and cheese.