“Louisiana as ceded by France is made part of the United States. Congress may make part of the United States other adjacent territories which shall be justly acquired.
“Congress may sever from the United States territory not heretofore within the United States, with consent of a majority of the free males above 21 years, inhabiting such territory.”
James Madison, secretary of state, proposed constitutional amendment [not passed], 1803
Which of the following best describes the historical situation in which the amendment was proposed?
The federal government sought to acquire more western land in North America.
“Louisiana as ceded by France is made part of the United States. Congress may make part of the United States other adjacent territories which shall be justly acquired.
“Congress may sever from the United States territory not heretofore within the United States, with consent of a majority of the free males above 21 years, inhabiting such territory.”
James Madison, secretary of state, proposed constitutional amendment [not passed], 1803
Which of the following best describes a major purpose of the proposed amendment?
To give Congress additional constitutional powers
“Louisiana as ceded by France is made part of the United States. Congress may make part of the United States other adjacent territories which shall be justly acquired.
“Congress may sever from the United States territory not heretofore within the United States, with consent of a majority of the free males above 21 years, inhabiting such territory.”
James Madison, secretary of state, proposed constitutional amendment [not passed], 1803
Which of the following groups would mostly likely have supported this proposed amendment?
Advocates of limiting federal powers to those specifically written into the Constitution
“The creation of a home market is not only necessary to procure for our agriculture a just reward of its labors, but it is indispensable to obtain a supply of our necessary wants. . . . Suppose no actual abandonment of farming, but, what is most likely, a gradual and imperceptible employment of population in the business of manufacturing, instead of being compelled to resort to agriculture. . . . Is any part of our common country likely to be injured by a transfer of the theatre of [manufacturing] for our own consumption from Europe to America?
“. . . Suppose it were even true that Great Britain had abolished all restrictions upon trade, and allowed the freest introduction of the [products] of foreign labor, would that prove it unwise for us to adopt the protecting system? The object of protection is the establishment and perfection of the [manufacturing] arts. In England it, has accomplished its purpose, fulfilled its end. . . . The adoption of the restrictive system, on the part of the United States, by excluding the [products] of foreign labor, would extend the [purchasing] of American [products], unable, in the infancy and unprotected state of the arts, to sustain a competition with foreign fabrics. Let our arts breathe under the shade of protection; let them be perfected as they are in England, and [then] we shall be ready . . . to put aside protection, and enter upon the freest exchanges.”
Henry Clay, speaker of the House of Representatives, speech in Congress, 1824
The excerpt could best be used by historians studying which of the following in the early 1800s?
The political debates over economic development
“The creation of a home market is not only necessary to procure for our agriculture a just reward of its labors, but it is indispensable to obtain a supply of our necessary wants. . . . Suppose no actual abandonment of farming, but, what is most likely, a gradual and imperceptible employment of population in the business of manufacturing, instead of being compelled to resort to agriculture. . . . Is any part of our common country likely to be injured by a transfer of the theatre of [manufacturing] for our own consumption from Europe to America?
“. . . Suppose it were even true that Great Britain had abolished all restrictions upon trade, and allowed the freest introduction of the [products] of foreign labor, would that prove it unwise for us to adopt the protecting system? The object of protection is the establishment and perfection of the [manufacturing] arts. In England it, has accomplished its purpose, fulfilled its end. . . . The adoption of the restrictive system, on the part of the United States, by excluding the [products] of foreign labor, would extend the [purchasing] of American [products], unable, in the infancy and unprotected state of the arts, to sustain a competition with foreign fabrics. Let our arts breathe under the shade of protection; let them be perfected as they are in England, and [then] we shall be ready . . . to put aside protection, and enter upon the freest exchanges.”
Henry Clay, speaker of the House of Representatives, speech in Congress, 1824
Which of the following was an interpretation of the speech by opponents of the goals Clay expressed in the excerpt?
Clay’s manufacturing plan would benefit one section of the country more than others.
“The creation of a home market is not only necessary to procure for our agriculture a just reward of its labors, but it is indispensable to obtain a supply of our necessary wants. . . . Suppose no actual abandonment of farming, but, what is most likely, a gradual and imperceptible employment of population in the business of manufacturing, instead of being compelled to resort to agriculture. . . . Is any part of our common country likely to be injured by a transfer of the theatre of [manufacturing] for our own consumption from Europe to America?
“. . . Suppose it were even true that Great Britain had abolished all restrictions upon trade, and allowed the freest introduction of the [products] of foreign labor, would that prove it unwise for us to adopt the protecting system? The object of protection is the establishment and perfection of the [manufacturing] arts. In England it, has accomplished its purpose, fulfilled its end. . . . The adoption of the restrictive system, on the part of the United States, by excluding the [products] of foreign labor, would extend the [purchasing] of American [products], unable, in the infancy and unprotected state of the arts, to sustain a competition with foreign fabrics. Let our arts breathe under the shade of protection; let them be perfected as they are in England, and [then] we shall be ready . . . to put aside protection, and enter upon the freest exchanges.”
Henry Clay, speaker of the House of Representatives, speech in Congress, 1824
Which of the following describes an interpretation of Clay’s economic principles at the time as expressed in the excerpt?
The United States should increase domestic manufacturing to promote prosperity.
“To the Commanders of armed vessels belonging to the United States:
“WHEREAS it is declared by the act entitled ‘An act for the protection of the commerce and seamen of the United States, against the Tripolitan cruisers,’ That it shall be lawful fully to equip, officer, man, and employ such of the armed vessels of the United States, as may be judged requisite by the President of the United States, for protecting effectually the commerce and seamen thereof, on the Atlantic ocean, the Mediterranean and adjoining seas: and also, that it shall be lawful for the President of the United States to instruct the commanders of the respective public vessels, to subdue, seize, and make prize, of all vessels, goods, and effects, belonging to the Bey [Sultan] of Tripoli [in North Africa], or to his subjects.
“THEREFORE, And in pursuance of the said statute, you are hereby authorized and directed to subdue, seize, and make prize, of all vessels, goods, and effects, belonging to the Bey of Tripoli, or to his subjects, and to bring or send the same into port, to be proceeded against and distributed according to law.
“By command of the President of the United States of America.”
Thomas Jefferson, 1802
The rhetorical purpose expressed in the excerpt would most likely have been interpreted as promoting which of the following?
Using international commerce to expand United States influence
“To the Commanders of armed vessels belonging to the United States:
“WHEREAS it is declared by the act entitled ‘An act for the protection of the commerce and seamen of the United States, against the Tripolitan cruisers,’ That it shall be lawful fully to equip, officer, man, and employ such of the armed vessels of the United States, as may be judged requisite by the President of the United States, for protecting effectually the commerce and seamen thereof, on the Atlantic ocean, the Mediterranean and adjoining seas: and also, that it shall be lawful for the President of the United States to instruct the commanders of the respective public vessels, to subdue, seize, and make prize, of all vessels, goods, and effects, belonging to the Bey [Sultan] of Tripoli [in North Africa], or to his subjects.
“THEREFORE, And in pursuance of the said statute, you are hereby authorized and directed to subdue, seize, and make prize, of all vessels, goods, and effects, belonging to the Bey of Tripoli, or to his subjects, and to bring or send the same into port, to be proceeded against and distributed according to law.
“By command of the President of the United States of America.”
Thomas Jefferson, 1802
The excerpt could best be used by historians studying which of the following?
The creation of the Monroe Doctrine
“To the Commanders of armed vessels belonging to the United States:
“WHEREAS it is declared by the act entitled ‘An act for the protection of the commerce and seamen of the United States, against the Tripolitan cruisers,’ That it shall be lawful fully to equip, officer, man, and employ such of the armed vessels of the United States, as may be judged requisite by the President of the United States, for protecting effectually the commerce and seamen thereof, on the Atlantic ocean, the Mediterranean and adjoining seas: and also, that it shall be lawful for the President of the United States to instruct the commanders of the respective public vessels, to subdue, seize, and make prize, of all vessels, goods, and effects, belonging to the Bey [Sultan] of Tripoli [in North Africa], or to his subjects.
“THEREFORE, And in pursuance of the said statute, you are hereby authorized and directed to subdue, seize, and make prize, of all vessels, goods, and effects, belonging to the Bey of Tripoli, or to his subjects, and to bring or send the same into port, to be proceeded against and distributed according to law.
“By command of the President of the United States of America.”
Thomas Jefferson, 1802
President Jefferson sought the protections described in the excerpt most likely for the purpose of
establishing trade routes
The rise in manufacturing beginning in the early 1800s eventually resulted in which of the following by 1848?
The emergence of a larger middle class in the North
Which of the following best explains a change in migration in United States society during the early 1800s?
The rise in manufacturing in the North coincided with an increase of immigration from abroad to these urban areas.
Which of the following explains how the growth of a market-based economy in the United States in the early 1800s most directly influenced changes in gender roles?
As home and the workplace became separated, women were increasingly expected to be responsible for housework and childcare while men took jobs outside the home.
Which of the following factors best explains the increase in White male suffrage in the early nineteenth century?
Changes to property ownership requirements
Which of the following best explains the cause of the emergence of new political parties in the early nineteenth century?
Continued debates over the proper role of the federal government
Which of the following best explains the expansion of participatory democracy in the early nineteenth century?
The extension of suffrage rights to most adult White men
“A bank of the United States is in many respects convenient for the Government and useful to the people. Entertaining this opinion, and deeply impressed with the belief that some of the powers and privileges possessed by the existing bank are unauthorized by the Constitution, subversive of the rights of the States, and dangerous to the liberties of the people, I felt it my duty at an early period of my Administration to call the attention of Congress to the practicability of organizing an institution combining all its advantages and obviating [removing] these objections. I sincerely regret that in the act before me I can perceive none of those modifications of the bank charter which are necessary, in my opinion, to make it compatible with justice, with sound policy, or with the Constitution of our country. . . .
“Experience should teach us wisdom. Most of the difficulties our Government now encounters and most of the dangers which impend over our Union have sprung from an abandonment of the legitimate objects of Government by our national legislation. . . . Many of our rich men have not been content with equal protection and equal benefits, but have besought us to make them richer by act of Congress. By attempting to gratify their desires we have in the results of our legislation arrayed section against section, interest against interest, and man against man, in a fearful commotion which threatens to shake the foundations of our Union.”
President Andrew Jackson, Veto Message Regarding the Bank of the United States, 1832
People who shared the views expressed in the excerpt most likely opposed which of the following?
The use of federal government funding for internal improvements
“A bank of the United States is in many respects convenient for the Government and useful to the people. Entertaining this opinion, and deeply impressed with the belief that some of the powers and privileges possessed by the existing bank are unauthorized by the Constitution, subversive of the rights of the States, and dangerous to the liberties of the people, I felt it my duty at an early period of my Administration to call the attention of Congress to the practicability of organizing an institution combining all its advantages and obviating [removing] these objections. I sincerely regret that in the act before me I can perceive none of those modifications of the bank charter which are necessary, in my opinion, to make it compatible with justice, with sound policy, or with the Constitution of our country. . . .
“Experience should teach us wisdom. Most of the difficulties our Government now encounters and most of the dangers which impend over our Union have sprung from an abandonment of the legitimate objects of Government by our national legislation. . . . Many of our rich men have not been content with equal protection and equal benefits, but have besought us to make them richer by act of Congress. By attempting to gratify their desires we have in the results of our legislation arrayed section against section, interest against interest, and man against man, in a fearful commotion which threatens to shake the foundations of our Union.”
President Andrew Jackson, Veto Message Regarding the Bank of the United States, 1832
Which of the following factors best supports the argument in the excerpt?
The debates over the federal government’s proper role had intensified during the early nineteenth century.
“A bank of the United States is in many respects convenient for the Government and useful to the people. Entertaining this opinion, and deeply impressed with the belief that some of the powers and privileges possessed by the existing bank are unauthorized by the Constitution, subversive of the rights of the States, and dangerous to the liberties of the people, I felt it my duty at an early period of my Administration to call the attention of Congress to the practicability of organizing an institution combining all its advantages and obviating [removing] these objections. I sincerely regret that in the act before me I can perceive none of those modifications of the bank charter which are necessary, in my opinion, to make it compatible with justice, with sound policy, or with the Constitution of our country. . . .
“Experience should teach us wisdom. Most of the difficulties our Government now encounters and most of the dangers which impend over our Union have sprung from an abandonment of the legitimate objects of Government by our national legislation. . . . Many of our rich men have not been content with equal protection and equal benefits, but have besought us to make them richer by act of Congress. By attempting to gratify their desires we have in the results of our legislation arrayed section against section, interest against interest, and man against man, in a fearful commotion which threatens to shake the foundations of our Union.”
President Andrew Jackson, Veto Message Regarding the Bank of the United States, 1832
Which of the following of Jackson’s policies undermined his position as described in the excerpt?
Using federal power to forcibly relocate American Indian groups
Which of the following most likely contributed to the emergence of the Second Great Awakening?
The cultural responses to the Enlightenment
Which of the following political changes most likely influenced the Second Great Awakening?
A participatory democracy expanded belief in the importance of the individual.
The development of the Second Great Awakening can best be linked to which of the following historical situations?
Increased geographical mobility aided travel to new regions and the sharing of ideas.
“It is not only important, but, in a degree necessary, that the people of this country, should have an American Dictionary of the English language; for, although the body of the language is the same as in England, . . . yet some differences must exist. Language is the expression of ideas; and if the people of one country cannot preserve an identity of ideas, they cannot retain an identity of language. . . . But the principal differences between the people of this country and of all others, arise from different forms of government, different laws, institutions and customs. Thus the . . . feudal system of England originated terms which formed . . . a necessary part of the language of that country; but, in the United States, many of these terms are no part of our present language,—and they cannot be, for the things which they express do not exist in this country. . . . The institutions in this country which are new and peculiar, give rise to new terms or to new applications of old terms, unknown to the people of England; which cannot be explained by them and which will not be inserted in their dictionaries, unless copied from ours. . . . No person in this country will be satisfied with the English definitions of the words congress, senate, and assembly, court, [etc.] for although these are words used in England, yet they are applied in this country to express ideas which they do not express in that country.”
Noah Webster, “Preface,” An American Dictionary of the English Language, 1828
The national identity described in the excerpt most strongly reflects the influence of which of the following?
European precedents along with an American national culture
“It is not only important, but, in a degree necessary, that the people of this country, should have an American Dictionary of the English language; for, although the body of the language is the same as in England, . . . yet some differences must exist. Language is the expression of ideas; and if the people of one country cannot preserve an identity of ideas, they cannot retain an identity of language. . . . But the principal differences between the people of this country and of all others, arise from different forms of government, different laws, institutions and customs. Thus the . . . feudal system of England originated terms which formed . . . a necessary part of the language of that country; but, in the United States, many of these terms are no part of our present language,—and they cannot be, for the things which they express do not exist in this country. . . . The institutions in this country which are new and peculiar, give rise to new terms or to new applications of old terms, unknown to the people of England; which cannot be explained by them and which will not be inserted in their dictionaries, unless copied from ours. . . . No person in this country will be satisfied with the English definitions of the words congress, senate, and assembly, court, [etc.] for although these are words used in England, yet they are applied in this country to express ideas which they do not express in that country.”
Noah Webster, “Preface,” An American Dictionary of the English Language, 1828
The historical concept of the American identity, as characterized in the excerpt, was most clearly distinguished from the identities of other nations by the
importance of liberal ideas about natural rights and liberties
“It is not only important, but, in a degree necessary, that the people of this country, should have an American Dictionary of the English language; for, although the body of the language is the same as in England, . . . yet some differences must exist. Language is the expression of ideas; and if the people of one country cannot preserve an identity of ideas, they cannot retain an identity of language. . . . But the principal differences between the people of this country and of all others, arise from different forms of government, different laws, institutions and customs. Thus the . . . feudal system of England originated terms which formed . . . a necessary part of the language of that country; but, in the United States, many of these terms are no part of our present language,—and they cannot be, for the things which they express do not exist in this country. . . . The institutions in this country which are new and peculiar, give rise to new terms or to new applications of old terms, unknown to the people of England; which cannot be explained by them and which will not be inserted in their dictionaries, unless copied from ours. . . . No person in this country will be satisfied with the English definitions of the words congress, senate, and assembly, court, [etc.] for although these are words used in England, yet they are applied in this country to express ideas which they do not express in that country.”
Noah Webster, “Preface,” An American Dictionary of the English Language, 1828
The excerpt best reflects which of the following historical situations in the early 1800s?
The emergence of a new and distinctive American culture
“The great increase of drunkenness, within the last half century, among the people of the United States, led a number of philanthropic individuals . . . to consult together, upon the duty of making more united, systematic, and extended efforts for the prevention of this evil. Its cause was at once seen to be, the use of intoxicating liquor; and its appropriate remedy, abstinence. It was also known, that the use of such liquor, as a beverage, is not only needless, but injurious to the health, the virtue, and the happiness of men. It was believed, that the facts which had been . . . collected would prove this . . . ; and that if the knowledge of them were universally disseminated it would, with the divine blessing, do much toward changing the habits of the nation. . . . [The American Temperance Society’s] object is . . . the exertion of kind moral influence . . . to effect such a change of sentiment and practice, that drunkenness and all its evils will cease.”
Introduction to a book of reports from the American Temperance Society, 1835
Which of the following evidence was used by the American Temperance Society in the excerpt to explain why people would join the temperance movement?
The use of specific studies would convince people to believe the movement’s goals.
Which of the following evidence did the American Temperance Society in the excerpt use to support its argument about the need for the temperance movement?
Alcohol consumption damaged people’s physical and emotional well-being.
“The great increase of drunkenness, within the last half century, among the people of the United States, led a number of philanthropic individuals . . . to consult together, upon the duty of making more united, systematic, and extended efforts for the prevention of this evil. Its cause was at once seen to be, the use of intoxicating liquor; and its appropriate remedy, abstinence. It was also known, that the use of such liquor, as a beverage, is not only needless, but injurious to the health, the virtue, and the happiness of men. It was believed, that the facts which had been . . . collected would prove this . . . ; and that if the knowledge of them were universally disseminated it would, with the divine blessing, do much toward changing the habits of the nation. . . . [The American Temperance Society’s] object is . . . the exertion of kind moral influence . . . to effect such a change of sentiment and practice, that drunkenness and all its evils will cease.”
Introduction to a book of reports from the American Temperance Society, 1835
The American Temperance Society used which of the following evidence in the excerpt to explain why it believed the temperance movement would be successful?
Its supporters held the moral and religious high ground.
“I do not belong, said Mr. [Calhoun], to the school which holds that aggression is to be met by concession. . . . If we concede an inch, concession would follow concession—compromise would follow compromise, until our ranks would be so broken that effectual resistance would be impossible. . . .
“. . . A large portion of the Northern States believed slavery to be a sin, and would believe it to be an obligation of conscience to abolish it if they should feel themselves in any degree responsible for its continuance. . . .
“. . . Abolition and the Union cannot coexist. As the friend of the Union, I openly proclaim it—and the sooner it is known the better. The former may now be controlled, but in a short time it will be beyond the power of man to arrest the course of events. We of the South will not, cannot, surrender our institutions. To maintain the existing relations between the two races, inhabiting that section of the Union, is indispensable to the peace and happiness of both. . . . But let me not be understood as admitting, even by implication, that the existing relations between the two races in the slaveholding States is an evil—far otherwise; I hold it to be a good, as it has thus far proved itself to be to both, and will continue to prove so if not disturbed by the fell spirit of abolition.”
Source: South Carolina senator John C. Calhoun, speech in the United States Senate, 1837.
Which of the following resulted from arguments made by Southern politicians, such as the one in the excerpt, in the years prior to the Civil War?
Slaveholders became more insistent that maintaining the slave system was essential to protecting the South and its way of life.
The ideas expressed by John C. Calhoun and others who shared his views on slavery had which of the following effects on emerging abolitionist movements in the years leading up to the Civil War?
Responses
As many people came to see slavery as part of the Southern way of life, attitudes on both sides of the slavery argument hardened so that political compromise became difficult.
Which of the following most contributed to slaveholders such as Calhoun arguing in the 1830s and 1840s that slavery should be viewed as part of the Southern way of life?
Slave rebellions in Haiti, South Carolina, and Virginia had made many leaders in the South fear that enslaved African Americans could harm them.
“Your Memorialist . . . represents to your honorable body, that he has devoted much time and attention to the subject of a railroad from Lake Michigan through the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Ocean, and that he finds such a route practicable, the results from which would be incalculable—far beyond the imagination of man to estimate. . . .
“It would enable us, in the short space of eight days (and perhaps less) to concentrate all the forces of our vast country at any point from Maine to Oregon. . . . Such easy and rapid communication with such facilities for exchanging the different products of the different parts would bring all our immensely wide spread population together. . . .
“[W]ith a railroad to the Pacific, and thence to China by steamers, can be performed in thirty days, being now a distance of nearly seventeen thousand miles. . . Then the drills and sheetings of Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts, and other manufactures of the United States, may be transported to China in thirty days; and the teas and rich silks of China, in exchange, come back to New Orleans, to Charleston, to Washington, to Baltimore, to Philadelphia, New York, and to Boston, in thirty days more.”
Asa Whitney, merchant, “National Railroad, Connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean,” memorial to the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States, 1845
Sentiments of business leaders and politicians like that expressed in the excerpt most likely contributed to which of the following?
The creation of diplomatic ties with foreign nations
“Your Memorialist . . . represents to your honorable body, that he has devoted much time and attention to the subject of a railroad from Lake Michigan through the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Ocean, and that he finds such a route practicable, the results from which would be incalculable—far beyond the imagination of man to estimate. . . .
“It would enable us, in the short space of eight days (and perhaps less) to concentrate all the forces of our vast country at any point from Maine to Oregon. . . . Such easy and rapid communication with such facilities for exchanging the different products of the different parts would bring all our immensely wide spread population together. . . .
“[W]ith a railroad to the Pacific, and thence to China by steamers, can be performed in thirty days, being now a distance of nearly seventeen thousand miles. . . Then the drills and sheetings of Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts, and other manufactures of the United States, may be transported to China in thirty days; and the teas and rich silks of China, in exchange, come back to New Orleans, to Charleston, to Washington, to Baltimore, to Philadelphia, New York, and to Boston, in thirty days more.”
Asa Whitney, merchant, “National Railroad, Connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean,” memorial to the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States, 1845
The excerpt best reflects which of the following developments?
Popular support for the idea of Manifest Destiny
“Your Memorialist . . . represents to your honorable body, that he has devoted much time and attention to the subject of a railroad from Lake Michigan through the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Ocean, and that he finds such a route practicable, the results from which would be incalculable—far beyond the imagination of man to estimate. . . .
“It would enable us, in the short space of eight days (and perhaps less) to concentrate all the forces of our vast country at any point from Maine to Oregon. . . . Such easy and rapid communication with such facilities for exchanging the different products of the different parts would bring all our immensely wide spread population together. . . .
“[W]ith a railroad to the Pacific, and thence to China by steamers, can be performed in thirty days, being now a distance of nearly seventeen thousand miles. . . Then the drills and sheetings of Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts, and other manufactures of the United States, may be transported to China in thirty days; and the teas and rich silks of China, in exchange, come back to New Orleans, to Charleston, to Washington, to Baltimore, to Philadelphia, New York, and to Boston, in thirty days more.”
Asa Whitney, merchant, “National Railroad, Connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean,” memorial to the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States, 1845
Which of the following most directly contributed to the request expressed in the excerpt?
The desire for international trade and access to global markets
Which of the following comparisons best describes Whitman’s and Giddings’ arguments about the Mexican-American War?
Whitman argued that the war was intended to deter bad behavior, while Giddings argued that the war represented aggression by the United States.
Based on their arguments in the excerpts, Giddings would likely agree with and Whitman would likely disagree with which of the following claims about the causes of the Mexican-American War?
The United States desired to expand slavery to Mexican territory.
Which of the following is a similarity between how Whitman and Giddings made their arguments?
Both sought to justify their positions to international observers.
“With regard to the northwestern States, to which the ordinance of 1787 was applied—Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan—no one now believes that any one of those States, if they thought proper to do it, has not just as much a right to introduce slavery within her borders as Virginia has a right to maintain the existence of slavery within hers.
“Then, if in this struggle of power and empire between the two classes of states a decision of California has taken place adverse to the wishes of the southern States, it is a decision not made by the General [federal] Government; it is a decision respecting which they cannot complain to the General Government. It is a decision made by California herself, and which California had incontestably a right to make under the Constitution of the United States. . . . The question of slavery, either of its introduction or interdiction, is silent as respects the action of this [federal] Government; and if it has been decided, it has been by a different body—by a different power—by California herself, who had a right to make that decision.”
Senator Henry Clay, speech in the United States Senate, 1850
The excerpt best reflects which of the following historical situations?
Congressional leaders sought political compromise to resolve discord between the North and the South.
The position expressed by Clay in the excerpt best serves as evidence of which of the following?
The acquisition of new territories created disputes over the expansion of slavery.
“With regard to the northwestern States, to which the ordinance of 1787 was applied—Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan—no one now believes that any one of those States, if they thought proper to do it, has not just as much a right to introduce slavery within her borders as Virginia has a right to maintain the existence of slavery within hers.
“Then, if in this struggle of power and empire between the two classes of states a decision of California has taken place adverse to the wishes of the southern States, it is a decision not made by the General [federal] Government; it is a decision respecting which they cannot complain to the General Government. It is a decision made by California herself, and which California had incontestably a right to make under the Constitution of the United States. . . . The question of slavery, either of its introduction or interdiction, is silent as respects the action of this [federal] Government; and if it has been decided, it has been by a different body—by a different power—by California herself, who had a right to make that decision.”
Senator Henry Clay, speech in the United States Senate, 1850
Evidence in the excerpt best corroborates which of the following broader historical contexts?
Southern states sought more proslavery seats in the United States Congress.
“The American Republicans of the city and county of Philadelphia, who are determined to support the NATIVE [White, Protestant] AMERICANS in their Constitutional Rights of peaceably assembling to express their opinions on any question of Public Policy, and to SUSTAIN THEM AGAINST THE ASSAULTS OF ALIENS AND FOREIGNERS are requested to assemble on MONDAY AFTERNOON, May 6th, 1844 at 4 o'clock, at the corner of Master and Second street, Kensington [a section of Philadelphia], to express their indignation [anger] at the outrage on Friday evening last, which was perpetrated by the Irish Catholics.”
Text from a poster announcing a meeting of the American Republican Party, later renamed the American Party, Philadelphia, 1844
Historians could best use the excerpt as an example of which of the following?
Political responses to changing demographics in the United States
“The American Republicans of the city and county of Philadelphia, who are determined to support the NATIVE [White, Protestant] AMERICANS in their Constitutional Rights of peaceably assembling to express their opinions on any question of Public Policy, and to SUSTAIN THEM AGAINST THE ASSAULTS OF ALIENS AND FOREIGNERS are requested to assemble on MONDAY AFTERNOON, May 6th, 1844 at 4 o'clock, at the corner of Master and Second street, Kensington [a section of Philadelphia], to express their indignation [anger] at the outrage on Friday evening last, which was perpetrated by the Irish Catholics.”
Text from a poster announcing a meeting of the American Republican Party, later renamed the American Party, Philadelphia, 1844
Which of the following historical situations can best be used to explain how the excerpt would have been interpreted at the time?
The rise in immigration to the United States
“The American Republicans of the city and county of Philadelphia, who are determined to support the NATIVE [White, Protestant] AMERICANS in their Constitutional Rights of peaceably assembling to express their opinions on any question of Public Policy, and to SUSTAIN THEM AGAINST THE ASSAULTS OF ALIENS AND FOREIGNERS are requested to assemble on MONDAY AFTERNOON, May 6th, 1844 at 4 o'clock, at the corner of Master and Second street, Kensington [a section of Philadelphia], to express their indignation [anger] at the outrage on Friday evening last, which was perpetrated by the Irish Catholics.”
Text from a poster announcing a meeting of the American Republican Party, later renamed the American Party, Philadelphia, 1844
The language in the excerpt was most likely interpreted as promoting which of the following?
Nativist sentiment
Anti-immigrant nativism of the 1840s and 1850s had the most in common with which of the following earlier developments?
The passage of the Alien and Sedition Acts (1798), which limited rights for foreign-born residents
The United States Supreme Court’s decision in Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857) represented a departure from earlier practices in which of the following ways?
It held that the federal government had no power to regulate slavery in federal territories acquired after the creation of the United States.
The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 was most similar in intent to which of the following earlier legislative initiatives?
The Missouri Compromise in 1820
“I am filled with deep emotion at finding myself standing here in the place . . . from which sprang the institutions under which we live. . . . I have never had a feeling politically that did not spring from the sentiments embodied in the Declaration of Independence. . . . It was not the mere matter of the separation of the colonies from the mother land; but something in that Declaration giving liberty, not alone to the people of this country, but hope to the world for all future time. It was that which gave promise that in due time the weights should be lifted from the shoulders of all men. . . .
“Now, my friends, can this country be saved upon that basis? If it can, I will consider myself one of the happiest men in the world if I can help to save it. If it can’t be saved upon that principle, it will be truly awful.
“Now, in my view of the present aspect of affairs, there need be no bloodshed and war. . . . And I may say in advance, there will be no blood shed unless it be forced upon the Government. . . .
“My friends, this is a wholly unprepared speech. I did not expect to be called upon to say a word when I came here. . . . I may, therefore, have said something indiscreet, but I have said nothing but what I am willing to live by, and, in the pleasure of Almighty God, die by.”
President-elect Abraham Lincoln, speaking at Independence Hall in Philadelphia, February 22, 1861
The excerpt best serves as evidence for which of the following developments?
Lincoln sought to avoid violence over the issues that divided the country.
“I am filled with deep emotion at finding myself standing here in the place . . . from which sprang the institutions under which we live. . . . I have never had a feeling politically that did not spring from the sentiments embodied in the Declaration of Independence. . . . It was not the mere matter of the separation of the colonies from the mother land; but something in that Declaration giving liberty, not alone to the people of this country, but hope to the world for all future time. It was that which gave promise that in due time the weights should be lifted from the shoulders of all men. . . .
“Now, my friends, can this country be saved upon that basis? If it can, I will consider myself one of the happiest men in the world if I can help to save it. If it can’t be saved upon that principle, it will be truly awful.
“Now, in my view of the present aspect of affairs, there need be no bloodshed and war. . . . And I may say in advance, there will be no blood shed unless it be forced upon the Government. . . .
“My friends, this is a wholly unprepared speech. I did not expect to be called upon to say a word when I came here. . . . I may, therefore, have said something indiscreet, but I have said nothing but what I am willing to live by, and, in the pleasure of Almighty God, die by.”
President-elect Abraham Lincoln, speaking at Independence Hall in Philadelphia, February 22, 1861
The excerpt most likely reflects which of the following historical situations?
States in the South had begun seceding after the presidential election.
“I am filled with deep emotion at finding myself standing here in the place . . . from which sprang the institutions under which we live. . . . I have never had a feeling politically that did not spring from the sentiments embodied in the Declaration of Independence. . . . It was not the mere matter of the separation of the colonies from the mother land; but something in that Declaration giving liberty, not alone to the people of this country, but hope to the world for all future time. It was that which gave promise that in due time the weights should be lifted from the shoulders of all men. . . .
“Now, my friends, can this country be saved upon that basis? If it can, I will consider myself one of the happiest men in the world if I can help to save it. If it can’t be saved upon that principle, it will be truly awful.
“Now, in my view of the present aspect of affairs, there need be no bloodshed and war. . . . And I may say in advance, there will be no blood shed unless it be forced upon the Government. . . .
“My friends, this is a wholly unprepared speech. I did not expect to be called upon to say a word when I came here. . . . I may, therefore, have said something indiscreet, but I have said nothing but what I am willing to live by, and, in the pleasure of Almighty God, die by.”
President-elect Abraham Lincoln, speaking at Independence Hall in Philadelphia, February 22, 1861
Evidence in the excerpt best corroborates which of the following?
Southern politicians would not abandon slavery, and they believed Lincoln was a threat to that system.
Source: Adapted from James M. McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era (1988).
The data in the tables indicate which of the following?
Confederate armies lost a greater proportion of its soldiers than did the Union.
Source: Adapted from James M. McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era (1988).
The data in the first table most directly indicate which of the following about the professions of soldiers in the Civil War?
The Confederacy relied more heavily on agricultural workers to fill its armies than did the Union.
Source: Adapted from James M. McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era (1988).
The data in the tables most likely indicate which of the following?
Responses
The Union had a larger and more diverse population of workers to enlist from than did the Confederacy.
Ideas expressed by Douglass in the excerpt were most likely interpreted as supporting which of the following arguments?
The war was no longer just about preserving the union of the states.
“Whether you are or are not, entitled to all the rights of citizenship in this country has long been a matter of dispute to your prejudice. By enlisting in the service of your country at this trial hour, and upholding the National Flag, you stop the mouths of [cynics] and win applause even from the iron lips of ingratitude. Enlist and you make this your country in common with all other men born in the country or out of it. . . .
He who fights the battles of America may claim America as his country—and have that claim respected. Thus in defending your country now against rebels and traitors you are defending your own liberty, honor, manhood and self-respect. . . .
. . . [H]istory shall record the names of heroes and martyrs who bravely answered the call of patriotism and Liberty—against traitors, thieves and assassins—let it not be said that in the long list of glory, composed of men of all nations—there appears the name of no colored man.”
Frederick Douglass, excerpt from an editorial, April 1863
Which of the following best explains Douglass’ point of view in the excerpt?
Shared sacrifice would help advance African American men’s claims to United States citizenship.
Douglass’ rhetoric in the excerpt was most likely interpreted as promoting which of the following?
His advocacy for African American equal rights
Which of the lettered choices in the soil profile above represents the region with the greatest concentration of organic material?
More immigrants in the 1840s and 1850s arrived with cultural practices similar to those of Americans than did the immigrants who arrived between 1865 and 1895.
More immigrants in the 1840s and 1850s arrived with cultural practices similar to those of Americans than did the immigrants who arrived between 1865 and 1895.
...
“Let us, then, with courage and confidence, pursue our own Federal and [Democratic-] Republican principles, our attachment to union and representative government. Kindly separated by nature and a wide ocean from the exterminating havoc of one quarter of the globe; too high-minded to endure the degradations of the others; possessing a chosen country, with room enough for our descendants . . . ; entertaining a due sense of our equal right to the use of our own faculties, to the acquisitions of our own industry, to honor and confidence from our fellow citizens, resulting not from birth, but from our actions and their sense of them; enlightened by a benign religion . . . —with all these blessings, what more is necessary to make us a happy and a prosperous people? Still one thing more, fellow citizens—a wise and frugal Government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government; and this is necessary to close the circle of our felicities.”
President Thomas Jefferson, first inaugural address, 1801
Which of the following best describes Jefferson’s point of view in the excerpt?
As the newly elected president, Jefferson believes government should limit interference in the lives of its citizens.
“Let us, then, with courage and confidence, pursue our own Federal and [Democratic-] Republican principles, our attachment to union and representative government. Kindly separated by nature and a wide ocean from the exterminating havoc of one quarter of the globe; too high-minded to endure the degradations of the others; possessing a chosen country, with room enough for our descendants . . . ; entertaining a due sense of our equal right to the use of our own faculties, to the acquisitions of our own industry, to honor and confidence from our fellow citizens, resulting not from birth, but from our actions and their sense of them; enlightened by a benign religion . . . —with all these blessings, what more is necessary to make us a happy and a prosperous people? Still one thing more, fellow citizens—a wise and frugal Government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government; and this is necessary to close the circle of our felicities.”
President Thomas Jefferson, first inaugural address, 1801
Which of the following was most likely a main purpose of Jefferson’s inaugural address?
To summarize his beliefs about the ideal political system
“Let us, then, with courage and confidence, pursue our own Federal and [Democratic-] Republican principles, our attachment to union and representative government. Kindly separated by nature and a wide ocean from the exterminating havoc of one quarter of the globe; too high-minded to endure the degradations of the others; possessing a chosen country, with room enough for our descendants . . . ; entertaining a due sense of our equal right to the use of our own faculties, to the acquisitions of our own industry, to honor and confidence from our fellow citizens, resulting not from birth, but from our actions and their sense of them; enlightened by a benign religion . . . —with all these blessings, what more is necessary to make us a happy and a prosperous people? Still one thing more, fellow citizens—a wise and frugal Government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government; and this is necessary to close the circle of our felicities.”
President Thomas Jefferson, first inaugural address, 1801
Which of the following best describes the political situation in which Jefferson gave the address in the excerpt?
The Democratic-Republican Party had won the presidency for the first time.
“Let us, then, with courage and confidence, pursue our own Federal and [Democratic-] Republican principles, our attachment to union and representative government. Kindly separated by nature and a wide ocean from the exterminating havoc of one quarter of the globe; too high-minded to endure the degradations of the others; possessing a chosen country, with room enough for our descendants . . . ; entertaining a due sense of our equal right to the use of our own faculties, to the acquisitions of our own industry, to honor and confidence from our fellow citizens, resulting not from birth, but from our actions and their sense of them; enlightened by a benign religion . . . —with all these blessings, what more is necessary to make us a happy and a prosperous people? Still one thing more, fellow citizens—a wise and frugal Government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government; and this is necessary to close the circle of our felicities.”
President Thomas Jefferson, first inaugural address, 1801
Which of the following best describes the context from which the ideas expressed in the excerpt emerged?
Political leaders sought to encourage domestic economic development.
“The committee of the president and directors of the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal Company [in Delaware] . . . beg leave respectfully to offer to the members of the Senate and House of Representatives, the following facts and observations relative to the said canal. . . .
“. . . The island of Great Britain furnishes proof of the advantages of canals, beyond any other country. That nation has now become the maritime rival, and almost controller of every commercial people; her superiority has arisen from her unbounded commerce, and the vast wealth it has introduced, the basis of which wealth is her immense manufactures . . . : the foundation of these manufactures has again been formed by her internal improvements. . . .
“The United States, both from their present political and natural situation, demand from their government every aid it can furnish. . . . Her rapid increase in prosperity, has already drawn upon her the envy, the jealousy, and the hostility of other nations, which alone can be counteracted by improving her internal strength, supplying her wants as far as possible by her own [products] and manufactures, and extending her agriculture so as to gain from its surplus the wealth of other nations.”
The Chesapeake and Delaware Canal Company, petition to the United States Congress, 1809
At the time the petition was produced, Congress most likely interpreted the petition's purpose as
requesting federal funding for transportation construction projects
“The committee of the president and directors of the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal Company [in Delaware] . . . beg leave respectfully to offer to the members of the Senate and House of Representatives, the following facts and observations relative to the said canal. . . .
“. . . The island of Great Britain furnishes proof of the advantages of canals, beyond any other country. That nation has now become the maritime rival, and almost controller of every commercial people; her superiority has arisen from her unbounded commerce, and the vast wealth it has introduced, the basis of which wealth is her immense manufactures . . . : the foundation of these manufactures has again been formed by her internal improvements. . . .
“The United States, both from their present political and natural situation, demand from their government every aid it can furnish. . . . Her rapid increase in prosperity, has already drawn upon her the envy, the jealousy, and the hostility of other nations, which alone can be counteracted by improving her internal strength, supplying her wants as far as possible by her own [products] and manufactures, and extending her agriculture so as to gain from its surplus the wealth of other nations.”
The Chesapeake and Delaware Canal Company, petition to the United States Congress, 1809
The claims in the excerpt were most likely interpreted as opposing which of the following existing federal government policies at the time?
Promoting economic development through foreign trade
“The committee of the president and directors of the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal Company [in Delaware] . . . beg leave respectfully to offer to the members of the Senate and House of Representatives, the following facts and observations relative to the said canal. . . .
“. . . The island of Great Britain furnishes proof of the advantages of canals, beyond any other country. That nation has now become the maritime rival, and almost controller of every commercial people; her superiority has arisen from her unbounded commerce, and the vast wealth it has introduced, the basis of which wealth is her immense manufactures . . . : the foundation of these manufactures has again been formed by her internal improvements. . . .
“The United States, both from their present political and natural situation, demand from their government every aid it can furnish. . . . Her rapid increase in prosperity, has already drawn upon her the envy, the jealousy, and the hostility of other nations, which alone can be counteracted by improving her internal strength, supplying her wants as far as possible by her own [products] and manufactures, and extending her agriculture so as to gain from its surplus the wealth of other nations.”
The Chesapeake and Delaware Canal Company, petition to the United States Congress, 1809
Which of the following best describes a historian’s likely interpretation of the situation in which the excerpt was produced in the early 1800s?
Some Americans promoted international strength through a unified national economy.
“The committee of the president and directors of the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal Company [in Delaware] . . . beg leave respectfully to offer to the members of the Senate and House of Representatives, the following facts and observations relative to the said canal. . . .
“. . . The island of Great Britain furnishes proof of the advantages of canals, beyond any other country. That nation has now become the maritime rival, and almost controller of every commercial people; her superiority has arisen from her unbounded commerce, and the vast wealth it has introduced, the basis of which wealth is her immense manufactures . . . : the foundation of these manufactures has again been formed by her internal improvements. . . .
“The United States, both from their present political and natural situation, demand from their government every aid it can furnish. . . . Her rapid increase in prosperity, has already drawn upon her the envy, the jealousy, and the hostility of other nations, which alone can be counteracted by improving her internal strength, supplying her wants as far as possible by her own [products] and manufactures, and extending her agriculture so as to gain from its surplus the wealth of other nations.”
The Chesapeake and Delaware Canal Company, petition to the United States Congress, 1809
The petition could best be used as evidence by historians studying which of the following?
The ideas that led some Americans to advocate for improved transportation
“Brother, listen to what we say. There was a time when our forefathers owned this great [land]. . . . Your forefathers crossed the great water and landed upon this [land]. Their numbers were small. They found friends, not enemies. They told us they had fled from their own country for fear of wicked men, and had come here to enjoy their religion. They asked for a small seat. We took pity on them, we granted their request, and they sat down amongst us. We gave them corn and meat; they gave us poison in return.
“. . . Our seats were once large and yours were small. You have now become a great people, and we have scarcely a place left to spread our blankets. You have got our country, but are not satisfied; you want to force your religion upon us. . . .
“. . . The Great Spirit has made us all, but he has made a great difference between his white and red children. . . . Since he has made so great a difference between us in other things, why may we not conclude that he has given us a different religion according to our understanding? The Great Spirit does right. He knows what is best for his children; we are satisfied.”
Red Jacket, Iroquois American Indian chief in New York, speech to a missionary from Massachusetts and a United States diplomat, 1805
Which of the following best explains how the purpose of the speech in the excerpt was interpreted by federal officials?
Responses
Red Jacket sought to protect Iroquois independence from the United States.
“Brother, listen to what we say. There was a time when our forefathers owned this great [land]. . . . Your forefathers crossed the great water and landed upon this [land]. Their numbers were small. They found friends, not enemies. They told us they had fled from their own country for fear of wicked men, and had come here to enjoy their religion. They asked for a small seat. We took pity on them, we granted their request, and they sat down amongst us. We gave them corn and meat; they gave us poison in return.
“. . . Our seats were once large and yours were small. You have now become a great people, and we have scarcely a place left to spread our blankets. You have got our country, but are not satisfied; you want to force your religion upon us. . . .
“. . . The Great Spirit has made us all, but he has made a great difference between his white and red children. . . . Since he has made so great a difference between us in other things, why may we not conclude that he has given us a different religion according to our understanding? The Great Spirit does right. He knows what is best for his children; we are satisfied.”
Red Jacket, Iroquois American Indian chief in New York, speech to a missionary from Massachusetts and a United States diplomat, 1805
The excerpt could best be used by historians studying the
resistance against the expansion of United States influence
“Jackson truly believed that, compared to his predecessors’ combination of high-minded rhetoric, treachery, and abandonment, his Indian policy was ‘just and humane.’ . . .
“. . . Jackson’s paternalism was predicated on his assumption, then widely but not universally shared by white Americans, that all Indians . . . were [irrational] and inferior to all whites. His promises about voluntary and compensated relocation . . . were constantly undermined by delays and by sharp dealing by War Department negotiators—actions Jackson condoned. . . . Jackson tried to head off outright fraud, but the removal bill’s allotment scheme invited an influx of outside speculators, who wound up buying between 80 and 90 percent of the land owned by Indians who wished to stay at a fraction of its actual worth. At no point did Jackson consider allowing even a small number of Georgia Cherokees who preferred to stay to do so in select enclaves, an option permitted to small numbers of Iroquois in upstate New York and Cherokees in western North Carolina. . . . Bereft of long-term planning and a full-scale federal commitment, the realities of Indian removal belied Jackson’s rhetoric. Although the worst suffering was inflicted after he left office, Jackson cannot escape responsibility for setting in motion an insidious policy that uprooted tens of thousands of Choctaws and Creeks [from the Southeast] during his presidency.”
Sean Wilentz, historian, The Rise of American Democracy: Jefferson to Lincoln, published in 2005
Which of the following describes a context that most influenced the implementation of the government policy discussed in the excerpt?
Many Americans desired the United States to expand its western land claims.
“Jackson truly believed that, compared to his predecessors’ combination of high-minded rhetoric, treachery, and abandonment, his Indian policy was ‘just and humane.’ . . .
“. . . Jackson’s paternalism was predicated on his assumption, then widely but not universally shared by white Americans, that all Indians . . . were [irrational] and inferior to all whites. His promises about voluntary and compensated relocation . . . were constantly undermined by delays and by sharp dealing by War Department negotiators—actions Jackson condoned. . . . Jackson tried to head off outright fraud, but the removal bill’s allotment scheme invited an influx of outside speculators, who wound up buying between 80 and 90 percent of the land owned by Indians who wished to stay at a fraction of its actual worth. At no point did Jackson consider allowing even a small number of Georgia Cherokees who preferred to stay to do so in select enclaves, an option permitted to small numbers of Iroquois in upstate New York and Cherokees in western North Carolina. . . . Bereft of long-term planning and a full-scale federal commitment, the realities of Indian removal belied Jackson’s rhetoric. Although the worst suffering was inflicted after he left office, Jackson cannot escape responsibility for setting in motion an insidious policy that uprooted tens of thousands of Choctaws and Creeks [from the Southeast] during his presidency.”
Sean Wilentz, historian, The Rise of American Democracy: Jefferson to Lincoln, published in 2005
Which of the following claims is supported by the author’s main argument in the excerpt?
Andrew Jackson can be blamed for the unintended effects of Indian removal.
“Jackson truly believed that, compared to his predecessors’ combination of high-minded rhetoric, treachery, and abandonment, his Indian policy was ‘just and humane.’ . . .
“. . . Jackson’s paternalism was predicated on his assumption, then widely but not universally shared by white Americans, that all Indians . . . were [irrational] and inferior to all whites. His promises about voluntary and compensated relocation . . . were constantly undermined by delays and by sharp dealing by War Department negotiators—actions Jackson condoned. . . . Jackson tried to head off outright fraud, but the removal bill’s allotment scheme invited an influx of outside speculators, who wound up buying between 80 and 90 percent of the land owned by Indians who wished to stay at a fraction of its actual worth. At no point did Jackson consider allowing even a small number of Georgia Cherokees who preferred to stay to do so in select enclaves, an option permitted to small numbers of Iroquois in upstate New York and Cherokees in western North Carolina. . . . Bereft of long-term planning and a full-scale federal commitment, the realities of Indian removal belied Jackson’s rhetoric. Although the worst suffering was inflicted after he left office, Jackson cannot escape responsibility for setting in motion an insidious policy that uprooted tens of thousands of Choctaws and Creeks [from the Southeast] during his presidency.”
Sean Wilentz, historian, The Rise of American Democracy: Jefferson to Lincoln, published in 2005
Which of the following pieces of evidence would best refute Jackson’s claim about his predecessors’ policies toward American Indians, as described in the first paragraph of the excerpt?
President George Washington enforced treaties guaranteeing American Indians in New York rights to their land.
“Jackson truly believed that, compared to his predecessors’ combination of high-minded rhetoric, treachery, and abandonment, his Indian policy was ‘just and humane.’ . . .
“. . . Jackson’s paternalism was predicated on his assumption, then widely but not universally shared by white Americans, that all Indians . . . were [irrational] and inferior to all whites. His promises about voluntary and compensated relocation . . . were constantly undermined by delays and by sharp dealing by War Department negotiators—actions Jackson condoned. . . . Jackson tried to head off outright fraud, but the removal bill’s allotment scheme invited an influx of outside speculators, who wound up buying between 80 and 90 percent of the land owned by Indians who wished to stay at a fraction of its actual worth. At no point did Jackson consider allowing even a small number of Georgia Cherokees who preferred to stay to do so in select enclaves, an option permitted to small numbers of Iroquois in upstate New York and Cherokees in western North Carolina. . . . Bereft of long-term planning and a full-scale federal commitment, the realities of Indian removal belied Jackson’s rhetoric. Although the worst suffering was inflicted after he left office, Jackson cannot escape responsibility for setting in motion an insidious policy that uprooted tens of thousands of Choctaws and Creeks [from the Southeast] during his presidency.”
Sean Wilentz, historian, The Rise of American Democracy: Jefferson to Lincoln, published in 2005
Which of the following pieces of evidence would help modify an argument in the excerpt about President Jackson’s intentions toward American Indians?
Responses
Jackson had led United States armies that conquered American Indian peoples in the Southeast and forced land cessions.
“National gratitude—national pride—every high and generous feeling that attaches us to the land of our birth, or that [elevates] our characters as individuals, ask[s] of us that we should foster the . . . literature of our country. . . . On the other hand, it is not necessary for these purposes—it is even detrimental to bestow on mediocrity the praise due to excellence, and still more so is the attempt to persuade ourselves and others into an admiration of the faults of [our writers]. . . .
“It must however be allowed, that the poetry of the United States, though it has not reached that perfection to which some other countries have carried theirs, is yet even better than it could have been expected to produce, considering that our nation has scarcely seen two centuries since its founders erected their cabins on its soil. . . .
“The fondness for literature is fast increasing in our country—and if this were not the case, the patrons of literature have multiplied, of course, and will continue to multiply with the mere growth of our population. The popular English works of the day are often reprinted in our country—they are dispersed all over the union. . . . What should hinder our native works, if equal in merit, from meeting an equally favorable reception?”
William Cullen Bryant, book review in the North American Review, 1818
The excerpt best serves as evidence of which of the following developments?
The creation of a unique American culture
“National gratitude—national pride—every high and generous feeling that attaches us to the land of our birth, or that [elevates] our characters as individuals, ask[s] of us that we should foster the . . . literature of our country. . . . On the other hand, it is not necessary for these purposes—it is even detrimental to bestow on mediocrity the praise due to excellence, and still more so is the attempt to persuade ourselves and others into an admiration of the faults of [our writers]. . . .
“It must however be allowed, that the poetry of the United States, though it has not reached that perfection to which some other countries have carried theirs, is yet even better than it could have been expected to produce, considering that our nation has scarcely seen two centuries since its founders erected their cabins on its soil. . . .
“The fondness for literature is fast increasing in our country—and if this were not the case, the patrons of literature have multiplied, of course, and will continue to multiply with the mere growth of our population. The popular English works of the day are often reprinted in our country—they are dispersed all over the union. . . . What should hinder our native works, if equal in merit, from meeting an equally favorable reception?”
William Cullen Bryant, book review in the North American Review, 1818
Which of the following can be concluded about the relationship between the United States and Europe based on the situation described in the excerpt?
European styles continued to influence American society.
“National gratitude—national pride—every high and generous feeling that attaches us to the land of our birth, or that [elevates] our characters as individuals, ask[s] of us that we should foster the . . . literature of our country. . . . On the other hand, it is not necessary for these purposes—it is even detrimental to bestow on mediocrity the praise due to excellence, and still more so is the attempt to persuade ourselves and others into an admiration of the faults of [our writers]. . . .
“It must however be allowed, that the poetry of the United States, though it has not reached that perfection to which some other countries have carried theirs, is yet even better than it could have been expected to produce, considering that our nation has scarcely seen two centuries since its founders erected their cabins on its soil. . . .
“The fondness for literature is fast increasing in our country—and if this were not the case, the patrons of literature have multiplied, of course, and will continue to multiply with the mere growth of our population. The popular English works of the day are often reprinted in our country—they are dispersed all over the union. . . . What should hinder our native works, if equal in merit, from meeting an equally favorable reception?”
William Cullen Bryant, book review in the North American Review, 1818
Which of the following can be concluded about the United States based on the author’s descriptions in the excerpt?
A common national culture was developing.
“The laity [church members] . . . saw to it that the Second Great Awakening exerted much of its influence through purposeful voluntary associations, typically headed by boards of directors on which laypersons appeared prominently. . . .
“Contemporaries called the interlocking, interdenominational directorates of these organizations “the Evangelical United Front” or “the Benevolent Empire.” . . .
“The social reforms embraced by the Evangelical United Front characteristically involved creating some form of personal discipline serving a goal or redemption. Prison reform serves as an example: No longer would the prison be intended only as a place to hold persons awaiting trial, coerce debt payment, or inflict retributive justice. Reformers reconceived the prison as corrective function, as a ‘penitentiary’ or ‘reformatory,’ in the vocabulary they invented. Besides prisoners, other people who did not function as free moral agents might become objects of the reformers’ concern: alcoholics, children, slaves, the insane. The goal of the reformers in each case was to substitute for external constraints the inner discipline of morality. Some historians have interpreted the religious reformers as motivated simply by an impulse to impose ‘social control,’ but it seems more accurate to describe their concern as redemptive, and more specifically the creation of responsible personal autonomy. Liberation and control represented two sides of the redemptive process as they conceived it. Christians who had achieved self-liberation and self-control through conversion not surprisingly often turned to a concern with the liberation and discipline of others. . . .
“The religious awakenings of the early nineteenth century marshaled powerful energies in an age when few other social agencies in the United States had the capacity to do so. [The] Evangelical United Front organized its voluntary associations on a national, indeed international, level, at a time when little else in American society was organized, when there existed no nationwide business corporation save the Second Bank of the United States and no nationwide government bureaucracy save the Post Office. Indeed, the four major evangelical denominations together employed twice as many people, occupied twice as many premises, and raised at least three times as much money as the Post Office.”
Daniel Walker Howe, historian, What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815–1848, published in 2007
A piece of evidence used by Howe in the second paragraph of the excerpt to support his argument about the goals of prison reform was that prison reformers
intended to use prisons to rehabilitate criminals
“The laity [church members] . . . saw to it that the Second Great Awakening exerted much of its influence through purposeful voluntary associations, typically headed by boards of directors on which laypersons appeared prominently. . . .
“Contemporaries called the interlocking, interdenominational directorates of these organizations “the Evangelical United Front” or “the Benevolent Empire.” . . .
“The social reforms embraced by the Evangelical United Front characteristically involved creating some form of personal discipline serving a goal or redemption. Prison reform serves as an example: No longer would the prison be intended only as a place to hold persons awaiting trial, coerce debt payment, or inflict retributive justice. Reformers reconceived the prison as corrective function, as a ‘penitentiary’ or ‘reformatory,’ in the vocabulary they invented. Besides prisoners, other people who did not function as free moral agents might become objects of the reformers’ concern: alcoholics, children, slaves, the insane. The goal of the reformers in each case was to substitute for external constraints the inner discipline of morality. Some historians have interpreted the religious reformers as motivated simply by an impulse to impose ‘social control,’ but it seems more accurate to describe their concern as redemptive, and more specifically the creation of responsible personal autonomy. Liberation and control represented two sides of the redemptive process as they conceived it. Christians who had achieved self-liberation and self-control through conversion not surprisingly often turned to a concern with the liberation and discipline of others. . . .
“The religious awakenings of the early nineteenth century marshaled powerful energies in an age when few other social agencies in the United States had the capacity to do so. [The] Evangelical United Front organized its voluntary associations on a national, indeed international, level, at a time when little else in American society was organized, when there existed no nationwide business corporation save the Second Bank of the United States and no nationwide government bureaucracy save the Post Office. Indeed, the four major evangelical denominations together employed twice as many people, occupied twice as many premises, and raised at least three times as much money as the Post Office.”
Daniel Walker Howe, historian, What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815–1848, published in 2007
Which of the following is a piece of evidence used by Howe to support his claim in the third paragraph of the excerpt about religious organizations in the early nineteenth century?
Members of the Evangelical United Front employed more people than the Post Office did.
“The laity [church members] . . . saw to it that the Second Great Awakening exerted much of its influence through purposeful voluntary associations, typically headed by boards of directors on which laypersons appeared prominently. . . .
“Contemporaries called the interlocking, interdenominational directorates of these organizations “the Evangelical United Front” or “the Benevolent Empire.” . . .
“The social reforms embraced by the Evangelical United Front characteristically involved creating some form of personal discipline serving a goal or redemption. Prison reform serves as an example: No longer would the prison be intended only as a place to hold persons awaiting trial, coerce debt payment, or inflict retributive justice. Reformers reconceived the prison as corrective function, as a ‘penitentiary’ or ‘reformatory,’ in the vocabulary they invented. Besides prisoners, other people who did not function as free moral agents might become objects of the reformers’ concern: alcoholics, children, slaves, the insane. The goal of the reformers in each case was to substitute for external constraints the inner discipline of morality. Some historians have interpreted the religious reformers as motivated simply by an impulse to impose ‘social control,’ but it seems more accurate to describe their concern as redemptive, and more specifically the creation of responsible personal autonomy. Liberation and control represented two sides of the redemptive process as they conceived it. Christians who had achieved self-liberation and self-control through conversion not surprisingly often turned to a concern with the liberation and discipline of others. . . .
“The religious awakenings of the early nineteenth century marshaled powerful energies in an age when few other social agencies in the United States had the capacity to do so. [The] Evangelical United Front organized its voluntary associations on a national, indeed international, level, at a time when little else in American society was organized, when there existed no nationwide business corporation save the Second Bank of the United States and no nationwide government bureaucracy save the Post Office. Indeed, the four major evangelical denominations together employed twice as many people, occupied twice as many premises, and raised at least three times as much money as the Post Office.”
Daniel Walker Howe, historian, What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815–1848, published in 2007
Which of the following describes a piece of evidence used by Howe to support his overall argument about the motivations of religious reformers?
Responses
They desired to teach people personal autonomy.
“Antebellum planters . . . were very interested in the control of black movement. They were also keen to master their slaves’ senses of pleasure. Seeking to contain [African Americans] even further than laws, curfews, bells, horns, and patrols already did, some planters used plantation [parties] as a paternalist mechanism of social control. Plantation parties, which carefully doled out joy on Saturday nights and holidays, were intended to seem benevolent and to inspire respect, gratitude, deference, and importantly, obedience. . . . The most important component of paternalistic plantation parties was the legitimating presence of the master.
“. . . [Yet] again and again, slaves sought out illicit, secular gatherings of their own creation. They disregarded curfews and pass laws to escape to secret parties where . . . pleasures such as drinking, eating, dancing, and dressing up were the main amusements. . . .
“. . . In the context of enslavement, such exhilarating pleasure . . . must be understood as important and meaningful enjoyment, as personal expression, and as oppositional.”
Stephanie M. H. Camp, historian, Closer to Freedom: Enslaved Women and Everyday Resistance in the Plantation South, 2004
Which of the following does the author use as evidence to support her argument that slaveholders were “keen to master their slaves’ senses of pleasure”?
Slaveholders held parties to encourage the loyalty of the enslaved.
“Antebellum planters . . . were very interested in the control of black movement. They were also keen to master their slaves’ senses of pleasure. Seeking to contain [African Americans] even further than laws, curfews, bells, horns, and patrols already did, some planters used plantation [parties] as a paternalist mechanism of social control. Plantation parties, which carefully doled out joy on Saturday nights and holidays, were intended to seem benevolent and to inspire respect, gratitude, deference, and importantly, obedience. . . . The most important component of paternalistic plantation parties was the legitimating presence of the master.
“. . . [Yet] again and again, slaves sought out illicit, secular gatherings of their own creation. They disregarded curfews and pass laws to escape to secret parties where . . . pleasures such as drinking, eating, dancing, and dressing up were the main amusements. . . .
“. . . In the context of enslavement, such exhilarating pleasure . . . must be understood as important and meaningful enjoyment, as personal expression, and as oppositional.”
Stephanie M. H. Camp, historian, Closer to Freedom: Enslaved Women and Everyday Resistance in the Plantation South, 2004
Which of the following could best be used as evidence to support the argument in the third paragraph of the excerpt that enslaved people engaged in oppositional activities?
Enslaved African Americans routinely caused tools to break or worked more slowly as means of resistance.
“Antebellum planters . . . were very interested in the control of black movement. They were also keen to master their slaves’ senses of pleasure. Seeking to contain [African Americans] even further than laws, curfews, bells, horns, and patrols already did, some planters used plantation [parties] as a paternalist mechanism of social control. Plantation parties, which carefully doled out joy on Saturday nights and holidays, were intended to seem benevolent and to inspire respect, gratitude, deference, and importantly, obedience. . . . The most important component of paternalistic plantation parties was the legitimating presence of the master.
“. . . [Yet] again and again, slaves sought out illicit, secular gatherings of their own creation. They disregarded curfews and pass laws to escape to secret parties where . . . pleasures such as drinking, eating, dancing, and dressing up were the main amusements. . . .
“. . . In the context of enslavement, such exhilarating pleasure . . . must be understood as important and meaningful enjoyment, as personal expression, and as oppositional.”
Stephanie M. H. Camp, historian, Closer to Freedom: Enslaved Women and Everyday Resistance in the Plantation South, 2004
Which of the following pieces of evidence could best be used to modify the argument in the excerpt that many enslaved people engaged in oppositional activities?
Large-scale rebellions by enslaved African Americans in the first half of the 1800s were largely unsuccessful.
“Antebellum planters . . . were very interested in the control of black movement. They were also keen to master their slaves’ senses of pleasure. Seeking to contain [African Americans] even further than laws, curfews, bells, horns, and patrols already did, some planters used plantation [parties] as a paternalist mechanism of social control. Plantation parties, which carefully doled out joy on Saturday nights and holidays, were intended to seem benevolent and to inspire respect, gratitude, deference, and importantly, obedience. . . . The most important component of paternalistic plantation parties was the legitimating presence of the master.
“. . . [Yet] again and again, slaves sought out illicit, secular gatherings of their own creation. They disregarded curfews and pass laws to escape to secret parties where . . . pleasures such as drinking, eating, dancing, and dressing up were the main amusements. . . .
“. . . In the context of enslavement, such exhilarating pleasure . . . must be understood as important and meaningful enjoyment, as personal expression, and as oppositional.”
Stephanie M. H. Camp, historian, Closer to Freedom: Enslaved Women and Everyday Resistance in the Plantation South, 2004
Which of the following best describes a context in the first half of the 1800s that influenced the development of slavery as described in the excerpt?
Southern planters used enslaved people to produce cotton for international markets.
“Mississippi planter and agricultural reformer M. W. Phillips, a regular contributor to the American Cotton Planter, wrote about soil exhaustion and crop rotation, and extolled the virtues of manuring and self-provisioning. In one of his most widely reproduced articles, Phillips condemned planters before whom ‘everything has to bend [and] give way to large crops of cotton.’ . . .
“Phillips imagined the cotton economy in terms of flows of energy, nutrients, and fertility, all of which he was convinced were being expended at an unsustainable rate. He used images of human, animal, and mineral depletion to represent an onrushing ecological catastrophe. But he did so within the incised [limited] terms allowed him by his culture—the culture of cotton. Phillips was arguing that the slaveholding South needed to slow the rate at which it was converting human beings into cotton plants.”
Walter Johnson, historian, River of Dark Dreams: Slavery and Empire in the Cotton Kingdom, 2013
In the first half of the 1800s, which of the following resulted from the debates about the cotton economy described in the excerpt?
A distinct Southern economic and cultural identity emerged.
“Mississippi planter and agricultural reformer M. W. Phillips, a regular contributor to the American Cotton Planter, wrote about soil exhaustion and crop rotation, and extolled the virtues of manuring and self-provisioning. In one of his most widely reproduced articles, Phillips condemned planters before whom ‘everything has to bend [and] give way to large crops of cotton.’ . . .
“Phillips imagined the cotton economy in terms of flows of energy, nutrients, and fertility, all of which he was convinced were being expended at an unsustainable rate. He used images of human, animal, and mineral depletion to represent an onrushing ecological catastrophe. But he did so within the incised [limited] terms allowed him by his culture—the culture of cotton. Phillips was arguing that the slaveholding South needed to slow the rate at which it was converting human beings into cotton plants.”
Walter Johnson, historian, River of Dark Dreams: Slavery and Empire in the Cotton Kingdom, 2013
Which of the following most directly contributed to the development described in the excerpt?
A belief by southern businessmen that the southern economy should focus on the export of select agricultural products
“Mississippi planter and agricultural reformer M. W. Phillips, a regular contributor to the American Cotton Planter, wrote about soil exhaustion and crop rotation, and extolled the virtues of manuring and self-provisioning. In one of his most widely reproduced articles, Phillips condemned planters before whom ‘everything has to bend [and] give way to large crops of cotton.’ . . .
“Phillips imagined the cotton economy in terms of flows of energy, nutrients, and fertility, all of which he was convinced were being expended at an unsustainable rate. He used images of human, animal, and mineral depletion to represent an onrushing ecological catastrophe. But he did so within the incised [limited] terms allowed him by his culture—the culture of cotton. Phillips was arguing that the slaveholding South needed to slow the rate at which it was converting human beings into cotton plants.”
Walter Johnson, historian, River of Dark Dreams: Slavery and Empire in the Cotton Kingdom, 2013
Which of the following resulted from the mass production of cotton described in the excerpt?
Some southerners relocated their plantations to the west of the Appalachian Mountains.
Innovations in shipping and the growth of commercial networks were most directly related to which of the following other developments of the first half of the nineteenth century?
An increase in the number of Americans moving west of the Appalachian Mountains
Changes in ideas about men’s and women’s gender roles in the family, resulting from the market revolution, most directly contributed to which of the following shifts in American social practices during the same period?
A new emphasis on the separation between the public and private spheres
The growth of manufacturing in the United States from 1800 to 1850 was most directly connected to which of the following broader historical processes?
Large numbers of international migrants moving to northern cities
The expansion of suffrage to most adult White men in the early nineteenth century most directly resulted in which of the following?
The growth of new political parties
Which of the following most directly led to the expansion of participatory democracy in the first half of the nineteenth century?
Reduction of property ownership requirements for voting
The expansion of suffrage to most adult White men by the 1820s and 1830s most directly contributed to the
emergence of political rallies and events to encourage people to vote for particular parties
Which of the following best explains a major reason for the emergence of the Second Great Awakening in the United States?
The rise of individualistic and evangelical spiritual beliefs inspired religious conversion.
The Second Great Awakening was most directly related to which of the following other historical developments of the early nineteenth century?
Challenges to Enlightenment views of rationalism
The expansion of participatory democracy in the Jacksonian era most likely influenced the Second Great Awakening by
giving rise to individualistic beliefs
“No roads marked the way to the traveler in California then: but, guided by the sun and well-known mountain peaks, we proceeded on our journey. . . . Some forty or fifty men were at work with the cradle machines, and were averaging about eight ounces [of gold] per day to the man. But a few moments passed before I was knee deep in water, with my wash-basin full of dirt, plunging it about endeavoring to separate the dirt from the gold. After washing some fifty pans of dirt, I found I had realized about four bits’ worth of gold. Reader, do you know how [one] feels when the gold fever heat has suddenly fallen to about zero? I do. . . . The Indians who were working for Capts. Sutter and Weber gave them leading information, so that they were enabled to know the direction in which new discoveries were to be made. . . .
“The morals of the miners of ’48 should here be noticed. No person worked on Sunday at digging for gold. . . . We had ministers of the gospel amongst us, but they never preached. Religion had been forgotten, even by its ministers, and instead of their pointing out the narrow way which leads to eternal happiness . . . they might have been seen, with pick-axe and pan, traveling untrodden [untraveled] ways in search of . . . treasure . . . or drinking good health and prosperity with friends.”
James H. Carson, describing life in the early California gold fields, 1848
Which of the following developments most directly led to the activities described in the excerpt?
Responses
The acquisition of significant territory following the Mexican-American War
“No roads marked the way to the traveler in California then: but, guided by the sun and well-known mountain peaks, we proceeded on our journey. . . . Some forty or fifty men were at work with the cradle machines, and were averaging about eight ounces [of gold] per day to the man. But a few moments passed before I was knee deep in water, with my wash-basin full of dirt, plunging it about endeavoring to separate the dirt from the gold. After washing some fifty pans of dirt, I found I had realized about four bits’ worth of gold. Reader, do you know how [one] feels when the gold fever heat has suddenly fallen to about zero? I do. . . . The Indians who were working for Capts. Sutter and Weber gave them leading information, so that they were enabled to know the direction in which new discoveries were to be made. . . .
“The morals of the miners of ’48 should here be noticed. No person worked on Sunday at digging for gold. . . . We had ministers of the gospel amongst us, but they never preached. Religion had been forgotten, even by its ministers, and instead of their pointing out the narrow way which leads to eternal happiness . . . they might have been seen, with pick-axe and pan, traveling untrodden [untraveled] ways in search of . . . treasure . . . or drinking good health and prosperity with friends.”
James H. Carson, describing life in the early California gold fields, 1848
Which of the following developments resulted most directly from the gold rush described in the excerpt?
People from America, Europe, and Asia migrated to the region.
“No roads marked the way to the traveler in California then: but, guided by the sun and well-known mountain peaks, we proceeded on our journey. . . . Some forty or fifty men were at work with the cradle machines, and were averaging about eight ounces [of gold] per day to the man. But a few moments passed before I was knee deep in water, with my wash-basin full of dirt, plunging it about endeavoring to separate the dirt from the gold. After washing some fifty pans of dirt, I found I had realized about four bits’ worth of gold. Reader, do you know how [one] feels when the gold fever heat has suddenly fallen to about zero? I do. . . . The Indians who were working for Capts. Sutter and Weber gave them leading information, so that they were enabled to know the direction in which new discoveries were to be made. . . .
“The morals of the miners of ’48 should here be noticed. No person worked on Sunday at digging for gold. . . . We had ministers of the gospel amongst us, but they never preached. Religion had been forgotten, even by its ministers, and instead of their pointing out the narrow way which leads to eternal happiness . . . they might have been seen, with pick-axe and pan, traveling untrodden [untraveled] ways in search of . . . treasure . . . or drinking good health and prosperity with friends.”
James H. Carson, describing life in the early California gold fields, 1848
The excerpt best reflects the development of which of the following?
The widely held belief that the United States had a right to expand westward
“It was not automatically apparent how any of the filibustering targets of the post-1848 period could ‘fit’ into an American republic, or even into an American empire. . . . While it seemed only logical to some to simply take all of Mexico as booty [spoils] of the war, cut Mexico up, and turn it into new territories and states, most Americans rejected this idea. They did so because central Mexico was densely populated. . . . Many Americans feared the result of the integration of Mexico’s people into the United States. Critics also doubted whether Americans could be happy in the alien landscape of central and southern Mexico.”
Amy Greenberg, historian, Manifest Manhood and the Antebellum American Empire, 2005
“American settlers had eclipsed the Mexicans in Texas and, with ample aid from southern Whites, had rebelled and won their independence. . . . A small band of Americans, many of them merchants, lived in Mexican California when war broke out in 1846. This dispersion of hardy migrants inspired observers to insist that pioneers and not politicians won the West. . . .
“Pioneers played a role in expansion, but the historical record points to politicians and propagandists as the primary agents of empire. Racial, economic, social, and political factors coalesced [combined] to make territorial and commercial expansion enticing to American leaders. . . .
“Denying any parallels between earlier empires and their own, expansionists insisted that democracy and dominion were complementary, not contradictory. Since leaders intended to transform [territorial] cessions into states and their inhabitants (at least Whites) into citizens, they scoffed at misgivings about governing a vast domain.”
Thomas Hietala, historian, Manifest Design: American Exceptionalism and Empire, 2003
Which of the following arguments about the Mexican-American War do the excerpts best support?
Responses
It generated debates over citizenship.
“It was not automatically apparent how any of the filibustering targets of the post-1848 period could ‘fit’ into an American republic, or even into an American empire. . . . While it seemed only logical to some to simply take all of Mexico as booty [spoils] of the war, cut Mexico up, and turn it into new territories and states, most Americans rejected this idea. They did so because central Mexico was densely populated. . . . Many Americans feared the result of the integration of Mexico’s people into the United States. Critics also doubted whether Americans could be happy in the alien landscape of central and southern Mexico.”
Amy Greenberg, historian, Manifest Manhood and the Antebellum American Empire, 2005
“American settlers had eclipsed the Mexicans in Texas and, with ample aid from southern Whites, had rebelled and won their independence. . . . A small band of Americans, many of them merchants, lived in Mexican California when war broke out in 1846. This dispersion of hardy migrants inspired observers to insist that pioneers and not politicians won the West. . . .
“Pioneers played a role in expansion, but the historical record points to politicians and propagandists as the primary agents of empire. Racial, economic, social, and political factors coalesced [combined] to make territorial and commercial expansion enticing to American leaders. . . .
“Denying any parallels between earlier empires and their own, expansionists insisted that democracy and dominion were complementary, not contradictory. Since leaders intended to transform [territorial] cessions into states and their inhabitants (at least Whites) into citizens, they scoffed at misgivings about governing a vast domain.”
Thomas Hietala, historian, Manifest Design: American Exceptionalism and Empire, 2003
Greenberg’s argument most differs from Hietala’s in that Greenberg claims that
most Americans believed that Mexicans in the new territories could not assimilate
“It was not automatically apparent how any of the filibustering targets of the post-1848 period could ‘fit’ into an American republic, or even into an American empire. . . . While it seemed only logical to some to simply take all of Mexico as booty [spoils] of the war, cut Mexico up, and turn it into new territories and states, most Americans rejected this idea. They did so because central Mexico was densely populated. . . . Many Americans feared the result of the integration of Mexico’s people into the United States. Critics also doubted whether Americans could be happy in the alien landscape of central and southern Mexico.”
Amy Greenberg, historian, Manifest Manhood and the Antebellum American Empire, 2005
“American settlers had eclipsed the Mexicans in Texas and, with ample aid from southern Whites, had rebelled and won their independence. . . . A small band of Americans, many of them merchants, lived in Mexican California when war broke out in 1846. This dispersion of hardy migrants inspired observers to insist that pioneers and not politicians won the West. . . .
“Pioneers played a role in expansion, but the historical record points to politicians and propagandists as the primary agents of empire. Racial, economic, social, and political factors coalesced [combined] to make territorial and commercial expansion enticing to American leaders. . . .
“Denying any parallels between earlier empires and their own, expansionists insisted that democracy and dominion were complementary, not contradictory. Since leaders intended to transform [territorial] cessions into states and their inhabitants (at least Whites) into citizens, they scoffed at misgivings about governing a vast domain.”
Thomas Hietala, historian, Manifest Design: American Exceptionalism and Empire, 2003
Both authors would most likely suggest that the historical situation described in the excerpts contributed to which of the following?
Responses
The continued alteration of Native American culture and society
“Mr. President, it was solemnly asserted on this floor, some time ago, that all parties in the non-slaveholding States had come to a fixed and solemn determination upon two propositions. One was that there should be no further admission of any States into this Union which permitted, by their constitutions, the existence of slavery; and the other was that slavery shall not hereafter exist in any of the territories of the United States, the effect of which would be to give to the non-slaveholding States the monopoly of the public domain. . . . The subject has been agitated in the other House [of Congress], and they have sent up a bill ‘prohibiting the extension of slavery . . . to any territory which may be acquired by the United States hereafter.’ At the same time, two resolutions which have been moved to extend the compromise line from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific, during the present session, have been rejected by a decided majority.
“Sir, there is no mistaking the signs of the times; and it is high time that the Southern States—the slaveholding States—should inquire what is now their relative strength in this Union, and what it will be if this determination is carried into effect hereafter.”
John C. Calhoun, senator, speech in the United States Senate, 1847
The excerpt best provides evidence about which of the following historical situations in the late 1840s?
Responses
Growing sectional tensions caused by the Mexican-American War
“Mr. President, it was solemnly asserted on this floor, some time ago, that all parties in the non-slaveholding States had come to a fixed and solemn determination upon two propositions. One was that there should be no further admission of any States into this Union which permitted, by their constitutions, the existence of slavery; and the other was that slavery shall not hereafter exist in any of the territories of the United States, the effect of which would be to give to the non-slaveholding States the monopoly of the public domain. . . . The subject has been agitated in the other House [of Congress], and they have sent up a bill ‘prohibiting the extension of slavery . . . to any territory which may be acquired by the United States hereafter.’ At the same time, two resolutions which have been moved to extend the compromise line from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific, during the present session, have been rejected by a decided majority.
“Sir, there is no mistaking the signs of the times; and it is high time that the Southern States—the slaveholding States—should inquire what is now their relative strength in this Union, and what it will be if this determination is carried into effect hereafter.”
John C. Calhoun, senator, speech in the United States Senate, 1847
The speech given by Calhoun relates to which of the following?
The effect of regional attitudes on federal policy making
“Mr. President, it was solemnly asserted on this floor, some time ago, that all parties in the non-slaveholding States had come to a fixed and solemn determination upon two propositions. One was that there should be no further admission of any States into this Union which permitted, by their constitutions, the existence of slavery; and the other was that slavery shall not hereafter exist in any of the territories of the United States, the effect of which would be to give to the non-slaveholding States the monopoly of the public domain. . . . The subject has been agitated in the other House [of Congress], and they have sent up a bill ‘prohibiting the extension of slavery . . . to any territory which may be acquired by the United States hereafter.’ At the same time, two resolutions which have been moved to extend the compromise line from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific, during the present session, have been rejected by a decided majority.
“Sir, there is no mistaking the signs of the times; and it is high time that the Southern States—the slaveholding States—should inquire what is now their relative strength in this Union, and what it will be if this determination is carried into effect hereafter.”
John C. Calhoun, senator, speech in the United States Senate, 1847
Which of the following can be concluded based on the situation in which Calhoun gave this speech?
Americans debated how to integrate conquered territories into the United States.
“I know not how to thank you for the deep and lively interest you have been pleased to take in the cause of . . . the emancipation of a people, who, for two long centuries, have endured, with the utmost patience, a bondage, one hour of which . . . is worse than ages of that which your fathers rose in rebellion to oppose.
“It is such indications on the part of the press—which, happily, are multiplying throughout all the land—that kindle up within me an ardent hope that the curse of slavery will not much longer be permitted to make its iron foot-prints in the lacerated [deeply cut] hearts of my . . . brethren. . . . I am called, by way of reproach, a runaway slave. As if it were a crime—an unpardonable crime—for a man to take his inalienable rights!
“But why [you,] a New-York editor, born and reared in the State of Maine, far removed from the contaminated . . . atmosphere of slavery, should pursue such a course [supporting abolition], is not so apparent. I will not, however, stop here to ascertain the cause, but deal with fact. . . .
“The object . . . is simply to give such an exposition of the degrading influence of slavery upon the master and his [supporters] as well as upon the slave—to excite such an intelligent interest on the subject of American slavery—as may react upon that country, and tend to shame her out of her adhesion to a system which all must confess to disagree with justice. . . .
“I am earnestly and anxiously laboring to wipe off this foul blot from the . . . American people, that they may accomplish in behalf of human freedom that which their exalted position among the nations of the earth amply fits them to do.”
Frederick Douglass to New York Tribune editor Horace Greeley, 1846
The excerpt could best be used by historians studying which of the following?
The growth of the abolition movement in the United States
“I know not how to thank you for the deep and lively interest you have been pleased to take in the cause of . . . the emancipation of a people, who, for two long centuries, have endured, with the utmost patience, a bondage, one hour of which . . . is worse than ages of that which your fathers rose in rebellion to oppose.
“It is such indications on the part of the press—which, happily, are multiplying throughout all the land—that kindle up within me an ardent hope that the curse of slavery will not much longer be permitted to make its iron foot-prints in the lacerated [deeply cut] hearts of my . . . brethren. . . . I am called, by way of reproach, a runaway slave. As if it were a crime—an unpardonable crime—for a man to take his inalienable rights!
“But why [you,] a New-York editor, born and reared in the State of Maine, far removed from the contaminated . . . atmosphere of slavery, should pursue such a course [supporting abolition], is not so apparent. I will not, however, stop here to ascertain the cause, but deal with fact. . . .
“The object . . . is simply to give such an exposition of the degrading influence of slavery upon the master and his [supporters] as well as upon the slave—to excite such an intelligent interest on the subject of American slavery—as may react upon that country, and tend to shame her out of her adhesion to a system which all must confess to disagree with justice. . . .
“I am earnestly and anxiously laboring to wipe off this foul blot from the . . . American people, that they may accomplish in behalf of human freedom that which their exalted position among the nations of the earth amply fits them to do.”
Frederick Douglass to New York Tribune editor Horace Greeley, 1846
Rhetoric in the excerpt would most likely have been interpreted as promoting which of the following?
The immediate end to the practice of slavery through legal reform
“I know not how to thank you for the deep and lively interest you have been pleased to take in the cause of . . . the emancipation of a people, who, for two long centuries, have endured, with the utmost patience, a bondage, one hour of which . . . is worse than ages of that which your fathers rose in rebellion to oppose.
“It is such indications on the part of the press—which, happily, are multiplying throughout all the land—that kindle up within me an ardent hope that the curse of slavery will not much longer be permitted to make its iron foot-prints in the lacerated [deeply cut] hearts of my . . . brethren. . . . I am called, by way of reproach, a runaway slave. As if it were a crime—an unpardonable crime—for a man to take his inalienable rights!
“But why [you,] a New-York editor, born and reared in the State of Maine, far removed from the contaminated . . . atmosphere of slavery, should pursue such a course [supporting abolition], is not so apparent. I will not, however, stop here to ascertain the cause, but deal with fact. . . .
“The object . . . is simply to give such an exposition of the degrading influence of slavery upon the master and his [supporters] as well as upon the slave—to excite such an intelligent interest on the subject of American slavery—as may react upon that country, and tend to shame her out of her adhesion to a system which all must confess to disagree with justice. . . .
“I am earnestly and anxiously laboring to wipe off this foul blot from the . . . American people, that they may accomplish in behalf of human freedom that which their exalted position among the nations of the earth amply fits them to do.”
Frederick Douglass to New York Tribune editor Horace Greeley, 1846
Ideas in the excerpt would most likely have influenced which of the following?
Efforts at assisting enslaved people in escaping from the South
“What fault has there been on the part of the General Government of the United States? Why break up this Union? Will any gentleman be so kind as to particularize a single instance worthy of debate, in which the Federal Government has been derelict [negligent] in the discharge of its duty, or has failed to accomplish the purposes of its organization? . . .
“I am not here . . . to defend the election of Abraham Lincoln. I believe that his election was virtually a fraud upon the people of the United States . . . nominated, as he was, by a sectional party, and upon a sectional platform, with no representation in the body which nominated him from the South; but he was nominated and elected according to the forms of law. . . .
“Let us look . . . at the evils that must result from secession. The first, in my opinion, would be that our country would not only be divided into a Northern Confederacy and into Southern Confederacy, but, soon or later it would be divided into sundry [several] petty Confederacies. We would have a Central Confederacy, a Confederacy of the States of the Mississippi Valley, a Pacific Confederacy, a Western Confederacy, an Eastern Confederacy, a Northern and a Southern Confederacy.
“. . . It is easy perhaps to break down this Government; but, sir, when we break it down it will not be so easy a matter to build it up. . . . Gentlemen cry out against the tyranny of their own government, and yet denounce [those opposed to secession] because we hesitate to allow ourselves to be thrust into the embraces of such a military dictatorship.”
Waitman T. Willey, addressing the Virginia State Secession Convention, March 4, 1861
The excerpt best serves as evidence that, in 1861,
citizens in the Southern states were deeply divided over secession
“What fault has there been on the part of the General Government of the United States? Why break up this Union? Will any gentleman be so kind as to particularize a single instance worthy of debate, in which the Federal Government has been derelict [negligent] in the discharge of its duty, or has failed to accomplish the purposes of its organization? . . .
“I am not here . . . to defend the election of Abraham Lincoln. I believe that his election was virtually a fraud upon the people of the United States . . . nominated, as he was, by a sectional party, and upon a sectional platform, with no representation in the body which nominated him from the South; but he was nominated and elected according to the forms of law. . . .
“Let us look . . . at the evils that must result from secession. The first, in my opinion, would be that our country would not only be divided into a Northern Confederacy and into Southern Confederacy, but, soon or later it would be divided into sundry [several] petty Confederacies. We would have a Central Confederacy, a Confederacy of the States of the Mississippi Valley, a Pacific Confederacy, a Western Confederacy, an Eastern Confederacy, a Northern and a Southern Confederacy.
“. . . It is easy perhaps to break down this Government; but, sir, when we break it down it will not be so easy a matter to build it up. . . . Gentlemen cry out against the tyranny of their own government, and yet denounce [those opposed to secession] because we hesitate to allow ourselves to be thrust into the embraces of such a military dictatorship.”
Waitman T. Willey, addressing the Virginia State Secession Convention, March 4, 1861
Which of the following conclusions can best be reached based on the sentiments expressed in the excerpt?
Responses
Sectional tensions erupted because most Southerners did not support Abraham Lincoln.
“What fault has there been on the part of the General Government of the United States? Why break up this Union? Will any gentleman be so kind as to particularize a single instance worthy of debate, in which the Federal Government has been derelict [negligent] in the discharge of its duty, or has failed to accomplish the purposes of its organization? . . .
“I am not here . . . to defend the election of Abraham Lincoln. I believe that his election was virtually a fraud upon the people of the United States . . . nominated, as he was, by a sectional party, and upon a sectional platform, with no representation in the body which nominated him from the South; but he was nominated and elected according to the forms of law. . . .
“Let us look . . . at the evils that must result from secession. The first, in my opinion, would be that our country would not only be divided into a Northern Confederacy and into Southern Confederacy, but, soon or later it would be divided into sundry [several] petty Confederacies. We would have a Central Confederacy, a Confederacy of the States of the Mississippi Valley, a Pacific Confederacy, a Western Confederacy, an Eastern Confederacy, a Northern and a Southern Confederacy.
“. . . It is easy perhaps to break down this Government; but, sir, when we break it down it will not be so easy a matter to build it up. . . . Gentlemen cry out against the tyranny of their own government, and yet denounce [those opposed to secession] because we hesitate to allow ourselves to be thrust into the embraces of such a military dictatorship.”
Waitman T. Willey, addressing the Virginia State Secession Convention, March 4, 1861
Evidence in the excerpt most strongly suggests which of the following?
Southern voters viewed the presidential election with contempt.
Which of the following differences between the North and the South during the Civil War is depicted in the graph?
The South relied more on plantation agriculture than the North.
Which of the following describes a trend in sectional development by 1860 reflected in the data in the graph?
The North was becoming more diverse in its economic activities than the South.
Which of the following developments in labor systems in the United States before the Civil War is reflected by the data in the graph?
An internal trade in enslaved people spread throughout the South.
“There are those who are dissatisfied with me. To such I would say: You desire peace; and you blame me that we do not have it. But how can we attain it? . . .
“But to be plain, you are dissatisfied with me about the Negro. . . . You dislike the emancipation proclamation; and, perhaps, would have it retracted. You say it is unconstitutional—I think differently. I think the Constitution invests its commander-in-chief, with the law of war, in time of war. The most that can be said, if so much, is, that slaves are property. Is there—has there ever been—any question that by the law of war, property, both of enemies and friends, may be taken when needed? And is it not needed whenever taking it, helps us, or hurts the enemy? . . .
“You say you will not fight to free Negroes. Some of them seem willing to fight for you. . . . I issued the proclamation on purpose to aid you in saving the Union. . . . Why should they do anything for us, if we will do nothing for them? If they stake their lives for us, they must be prompted by the strongest motive—even the promise of freedom. And the promise being made, must be kept.”
President Abraham Lincoln, letter to James Conkling explaining why he issued the Emancipation Proclamation, 1863
The phrase in the excerpt “Some of them seem willing to fight for you” could most likely be interpreted as having which of the following purposes?
Highlighting the enlistment of formerly enslaved people into the Union army
“There are those who are dissatisfied with me. To such I would say: You desire peace; and you blame me that we do not have it. But how can we attain it? . . .
“But to be plain, you are dissatisfied with me about the Negro. . . . You dislike the emancipation proclamation; and, perhaps, would have it retracted. You say it is unconstitutional—I think differently. I think the Constitution invests its commander-in-chief, with the law of war, in time of war. The most that can be said, if so much, is, that slaves are property. Is there—has there ever been—any question that by the law of war, property, both of enemies and friends, may be taken when needed? And is it not needed whenever taking it, helps us, or hurts the enemy? . . .
“You say you will not fight to free Negroes. Some of them seem willing to fight for you. . . . I issued the proclamation on purpose to aid you in saving the Union. . . . Why should they do anything for us, if we will do nothing for them? If they stake their lives for us, they must be prompted by the strongest motive—even the promise of freedom. And the promise being made, must be kept.”
President Abraham Lincoln, letter to James Conkling explaining why he issued the Emancipation Proclamation, 1863
Lincoln’s rhetoric in the excerpt would most likely have been interpreted as promoting which of the following arguments?
Changing the purpose of the war would strengthen the Union cause.
“There are those who are dissatisfied with me. To such I would say: You desire peace; and you blame me that we do not have it. But how can we attain it? . . .
“But to be plain, you are dissatisfied with me about the Negro. . . . You dislike the emancipation proclamation; and, perhaps, would have it retracted. You say it is unconstitutional—I think differently. I think the Constitution invests its commander-in-chief, with the law of war, in time of war. The most that can be said, if so much, is, that slaves are property. Is there—has there ever been—any question that by the law of war, property, both of enemies and friends, may be taken when needed? And is it not needed whenever taking it, helps us, or hurts the enemy? . . .
“You say you will not fight to free Negroes. Some of them seem willing to fight for you. . . . I issued the proclamation on purpose to aid you in saving the Union. . . . Why should they do anything for us, if we will do nothing for them? If they stake their lives for us, they must be prompted by the strongest motive—even the promise of freedom. And the promise being made, must be kept.”
President Abraham Lincoln, letter to James Conkling explaining why he issued the Emancipation Proclamation, 1863
The excerpt could best be used by historians studying which of the following?
Responses
How Lincoln used executive powers to initiate wartime policy
Thomas Nast, “Uncle Sam’s Thanksgiving Dinner,” 1869, drawn in support of the Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
Courtesy of the Library of Congress
Which of the following developments could best refute the argument expressed in the image?
The conclusion of the Civil War stirred debates over citizenship.
Thomas Nast, “Uncle Sam’s Thanksgiving Dinner,” 1869, drawn in support of the Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
Courtesy of the Library of Congress
People who shared the views expressed in the image most likely supported which of the following?
The extension of political opportunities to formerly enslaved people
Thomas Nast, “Uncle Sam’s Thanksgiving Dinner,” 1869, drawn in support of the Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
Courtesy of the Library of CongressThe change in society claimed by the artist in the image was most challenged by
the ending of Reconstruction.
“Forces committed to restoring White supremacy launched a ruthless, bloody campaign of terror and intimidation against freedpeople and their White allies in the South. As young southern units of the Republican Party broke under those blows and the Republicans of the North retreated and grew more conservative, Reconstruction collapsed. With it went many . . . gains. A resurgent southern elite once again set about imposing White supremacy and tyrannical labor discipline while stripping freedpeople of many of their civic and political rights.”
Bruce Levine, historian, The Fall of the House of Dixie, 2013
“For many poor Whites throughout the South, Jim Crow laws alone could not ease their most persistent fear. In regions like northern Louisiana, with little but pine trees rising from its barren soil, White men found themselves competing with [formerly enslaved people], and during the dozen years of Reconstruction they had not known which race would prevail.
“Such men had dropped away from the Ku Klux Klan after President Grant’s crackdown, but their simmering resentments had grown. With control of the South passing again to the Democrats, powerless Whites were joining plantation owners to ensure that Black workers remained without their basic rights.”
A. J. Langguth, historian, After Lincoln, 2014
Which of the following claims is supported by the arguments made by both Levine and Langguth?
Local political tactics served to deny African Americans their rights.
“Forces committed to restoring White supremacy launched a ruthless, bloody campaign of terror and intimidation against freedpeople and their White allies in the South. As young southern units of the Republican Party broke under those blows and the Republicans of the North retreated and grew more conservative, Reconstruction collapsed. With it went many . . . gains. A resurgent southern elite once again set about imposing White supremacy and tyrannical labor discipline while stripping freedpeople of many of their civic and political rights.”
Bruce Levine, historian, The Fall of the House of Dixie, 2013
“For many poor Whites throughout the South, Jim Crow laws alone could not ease their most persistent fear. In regions like northern Louisiana, with little but pine trees rising from its barren soil, White men found themselves competing with [formerly enslaved people], and during the dozen years of Reconstruction they had not known which race would prevail.
“Such men had dropped away from the Ku Klux Klan after President Grant’s crackdown, but their simmering resentments had grown. With control of the South passing again to the Democrats, powerless Whites were joining plantation owners to ensure that Black workers remained without their basic rights.”
A. J. Langguth, historian, After Lincoln, 2014
Levine’s argument about Reconstruction in the excerpt differs from that of Langguth in that Levine argues
Northern Republicans gradually withdrew their support for Reconstruction policies
“Forces committed to restoring White supremacy launched a ruthless, bloody campaign of terror and intimidation against freedpeople and their White allies in the South. As young southern units of the Republican Party broke under those blows and the Republicans of the North retreated and grew more conservative, Reconstruction collapsed. With it went many . . . gains. A resurgent southern elite once again set about imposing White supremacy and tyrannical labor discipline while stripping freedpeople of many of their civic and political rights.”
Bruce Levine, historian, The Fall of the House of Dixie, 2013
“For many poor Whites throughout the South, Jim Crow laws alone could not ease their most persistent fear. In regions like northern Louisiana, with little but pine trees rising from its barren soil, White men found themselves competing with [formerly enslaved people], and during the dozen years of Reconstruction they had not known which race would prevail.
“Such men had dropped away from the Ku Klux Klan after President Grant’s crackdown, but their simmering resentments had grown. With control of the South passing again to the Democrats, powerless Whites were joining plantation owners to ensure that Black workers remained without their basic rights.”
A. J. Langguth, historian, After Lincoln, 2014
Which of the following arguments about Reconstruction policies would both authors most likely disagree with?
With Republicans in retreat, Southern Democrats grew more supportive of Reconstruction policies.
The industrial resources of the North during the Civil War most likely accounted for which of the following?
The disadvantage of the Confederacy in access to arms, munitions, and other supplies
Which of the following groups would most likely have supported secession from the United States after the 1860 presidential election?
Southern Democrats
The Fourteenth Amendment emerged from which of the following contexts?
Republican concerns that African Americans would be denied citizenship rights
Which of the following developments most directly related to the increased sectional strife immediately prior to the election of 1860?
The legal ruling that denied African Americans rights of citizenship
The passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act was intended to resolve debates about which of the following issues in the 1850s?
The expansion of slavery
Which of the following developments was most directly connected to the collapse of the Whig Party in United States politics during the 1850s?
The escalation of tensions between proslavery and antislavery factions
Which of the following was a difference between the immigration from 1865 to 1895 depicted in the graph and immigration in the 1840s and 1850s?
More immigrants in the 1840s and 1850s arrived with cultural practices similar to those of Americans than did the immigrants who arrived between 1865 and 1895.
“Economically speaking, aggregated [accumulated] capital will be more and more essential to the performance of our social tasks. Furthermore, it seems to me certain that all aggregated capital will fall more and more under personal control. Each great company will be known as controlled by one master mind. The reason for this lies in the great superiority of personal management over management by boards and committees. This tendency is in the public interest, for it is in the direction of more satisfactory responsibility. The great hindrance to the development of this continent has lain in the lack of capital. The capital which we have had has been wasted by division and dissipation, and by injudicious applications. The waste of capital, in proportion to the total capital, in this country between 1800 and 1850, in the attempts which were made to establish means of communication and transportation, was enormous. The waste was chiefly due to ignorance and bad management, especially to State control of public works. We are to see the development of the country pushed forward at an unprecedented rate by an aggregation of capital, and a systematic application of it under the direction of competent men. This development will be for the benefit of all, and it will enable each one of us, in his measure and way, to increase his wealth. We may each of us go ahead to do so, and we have every reason to rejoice in each other’s prosperity. . . . Capital inherited by a spendthrift [person who spends money freely] will be squandered and re-accumulated in the hands of men who are fit and competent to hold it. So it should be, and under such a state of things there is no reason to desire to limit the property which any man may acquire.”
William Graham Sumner, university professor, What Social Classes Owe to Each Other, 1883
The practices of big-business leaders in the late 1800s best reflect which of the following actions illustrated by the excerpt?
Big-business leaders used their influence to facilitate rapid economic growth.