Question 1

Chinese immigrants made up what proportion of the workforce that built America's first transcontinental railroad?

Accepted Answer

A)  20 percent 
B)  50 percent 
C)  90 percent 
D)  100 percent

Question 2

What was the Comstock Lode?

Accepted Answer

A)  A vein of gold discovered by prospector Henry Comstock 
B)  The richest vein of silver ore found on the North American continent 
C)  A complicated piece of machinery designed to extract silver from mines 
D)  The largest mining company ever formed in the American West

Question 3

Which of the following terms best characterizes Virginia City,Nevada,and other mining centers in the late nineteenth century?

Accepted Answer

A)  Lawless outposts 
B)  Homogeneous small towns 
C)  Sprawling industrialized communities 
D)  Short-lived settlements

Question 4

Which of the following describes how life in the agrarian West compared to life in the mining West?

Accepted Answer

A)  Slow paced 
B)  Free of hardship 
C)  Equally exploitative 
D)  Free of economic competition

Question 5

How did the invention of barbed wire revolutionize the cattle industry?

Accepted Answer

A)  It helped ranchers separate their herds from one another. 
B)  It expanded safe grazing areas. 
C)  It allowed ranchers to fence in their cattle. 
D)  It prevented disputes over ownership of cattle.

Question 6

Which of the following describes the changes experienced by the Californios between 1850 and 1880?

Accepted Answer

A)  Their numbers increased from 19 percent to 82 percent of the state's total population. 
B)  They solidified their claim to historic land. 
C)  Their percentage of the state's population fell by more than 60 percent. 
D)  They began their steady assimilation into American life.

Question 7

The portraits of Indian students in "The Assimilation of Sioux Students at Carlisle Indian School" illustrate what goal of Indian schools?

Accepted Answer

A)  To help Indian students maintain ties to their heritage 
B)  To erase signs of students' Indian heritage 
C)  To educate Indian students as well as their white counterparts 
D)  To encourage patriotism to the United States among Indian students

Question 8

Which statement describes life on the Indian reservations?

Accepted Answer

A)  The government allowed Indians to maintain their cultural practices. 
B)  Poverty and starvation stalked Indian reservations. 
C)  The government assaulted Indian culture but did give Indians sufficient rations. 
D)  Indians were able to establish their own independent governments.

Question 9

What occurred under the "outing system" of the 1880s?

Accepted Answer

A)  Young children from rural areas were sent to live with families in cities. 
B)  Indian children were forced to live with white families over summer vacation. 
C)  Indian children who did not succeed at school were returned to their tribes. 
D)  White men who had taken Indian wives were asked to leave the reservation.

Question 10

By the late nineteenth century,farmers were no longer the self-sufficient yeomen anchoring the republic as originally described by which of the following men?

Accepted Answer

A)  Thomas Jefferson 
B)  George Washington 
C)  Andrew Jackson 
D)  James Madison

Exam 2: The Contested West, 1865-1900