“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?
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?
O horizon
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.