Quiz 7: Forging a National Republic, 1776-1789

Which of these statements is most consistent with the concept of republicanism advanced by Thomas Paine? A) The people of a nation are best served by a system of government that balances monarchy, aristocracy, and democracy. B) As individuals pursue their self-interest, they will improve not only themselves but the entire republic as well. C) A republic should be governed by men who have risen to positions of power because of talent and ability. D) The upper classes cannot speak for the ordinary people in society; therefore, the ordinary people should be allowed to participate in the political process.

In what way were classical, economic, and democratic republicanism alike? A) All stressed the importance of including minority groups in the political process. B) All accepted the notion that society is divided into two groups, those who are born to govern and those who are born to be governed. C) All agreed that "virtue" was at the heart of a successful republic. D) All held that rank and privilege have no place in a republican society.

It was widely believed that a republic could be successful only if its people had which of the following qualities? A) Virtue B) Steadfastness C) Devotion D) Intelligence

Which of the following is true of Life of Washington, published in 1800? A) It was published only after the author agreed to delete revelations about Washington's affair with Sally Fairfax. B) In his portrayal of Washington, the author intended to provide the young people of America with a virtuous role model. C) It was written only after painstaking research by the author. D) Its author was widely ridiculed because he portrayed Washington in a realistic manner.

Painters Gilbert Stuart, Charles Willson Peale, and John Trumbull are famous for their A) dramatic landscapes of the American frontier in the immediate aftermath of the Revolution. B) portraits of Abigail Adams, Benjamin Banneker, and Little Turtle. C) artistic celebrations of upstanding citizens and of significant events associated with the American Revolution. D) cityscapes of Boston, Philadelphia, and Charleston in the years immediately after the Revolution.

The primary purpose of the paintings of artists such as John Trumbull was to A) inspire patriotism in the viewer. B) experiment with new artistic techniques. C) display the beauty of the American landscape. D) record accurately the American historical experience.

American architects in the early republic A) rejected the architecture of Greece and Rome as decadent. B) introduced innovative architectural styles in the design of public buildings. C) tried to express the complexities of building a stable society by imitating the Gothic style. D) tried to portray the ideals of the republic by favoring a simplicity of line and harmonious proportions.

Why were some people concerned about the founding of the Society of the Cincinnati in 1783? A) Because it was a club for veterans of the American Revolution and their first born sons, some were afraid that it signaled the creation of a native-born aristocracy. B) Because it was a gambling club, some were afraid it was a harbinger of moral corruption in the new American republic. C) Because it was a social club for young people, some were afraid that it would become a den of depravity and sin. D) Because it was an artists' club, some feared that its members would encourage the spread of European decadence.

In the new American republic, which of the following was true of the state of Massachusetts? A) Schools were required to be racially integrated. B) Town elementary schools were to be open to girls as well as boys. C) American history was a required subject in all schools. D) The school day had to begin with a prayer.

Which of the following is true of the letter written by Abigail Adams to her husband concerning the "new Code of Laws" for the new republic? A) She demanded that the right to vote be extended to married women and women owning property. B) She used ideas originally developed to combat Parliamentary supremacy to call for more legal rights for women. C) She called for legislation that would allow joint ownership of property by married couples. D) She used Jefferson's phrase "all men are created equal" to demand that slavery be abolished in all the states.

The New Jersey state legislature disfranchised women and blacks in 1807 on the grounds that A) members of these two groups had not received a formal education. B) members of these two groups were innately emotional and irrational. C) they had engaged in vote fraud. D) these two groups threatened social order because they favored mass democracy.

Which of the following statements is most consistent with the concept of the ideal republican woman? A) Women should pursue their own interests, for such a pursuit will bring happiness to the individual woman and to her family. B) Women should concern themselves with the welfare of the community, always putting the well-being of others ahead of their own. C) Women should actively involve themselves in the formation of public policy. D) Women should prepare themselves to be as skilled in "outdoor affairs" as in "indoor affairs."

Which of the following statements is most consistent with the concept of the ideal republican man? A) Men should be free to pursue their own economic self-interest, for such a pursuit will bring advancement to the man and to his family. B) Men should prepare themselves to be as skilled in the running of the household as they are in the running of a business. C) Men should prepare themselves to care for, train, and nurture their children, for such preparation will produce children of strong moral character. D) Men should concern themselves with the welfare of the community, putting the well-being of others ahead of their own.

The contradiction between the concept that "all men are created equal" and the existence of slavery caused which of the following? A) Some slaves in the North petitioned their state governments for freedom. B) Slaves in several northern states rose in rebellion against the institution of slavery. C) Northerners accepted the idea of the equality of the races. D) All northern states abolished slavery by 1800.

Which of the following is true of most states in which the legislature abolished slavery in the early years of the nation? A) They allowed individual slaveowners to determine the timetable by which their slaves would be freed. B) They provided compensation to the former masters of freed slaves. C) They favored gradual emancipation. D) They proclaimed slavery to be morally wrong.

The founding of the African Methodist Episcopal church supports which of the following ideas? A) Free blacks often developed their own separate institutions during the early years of the American republic. B) Blacks were more religious than whites in the early republic. C) Whites imposed their religious ideas on blacks. D) Whites and blacks worked together in the early republic to further the ideal of racial equality.

White southerners redefined the notion that "all men are created equal" and made it inapplicable to blacks. Which of the following statements is most consistent with their redefinition? A) The notion applies only to those men who have received a formal education. B) The notion applies only to those men who own property. C) The notion applies only to those men who have never been held in bondage. D) The notion applies only to those men who are fully human.

The extension of the right to vote to poor white men could have posed a threat to the power of the dominant elite. How did the elite reduce that threat? A) They threatened to raise taxes if poor whites voted against them. B) They made free land, or homesteads, available to poor whites in most states. C) They attempted to create solidarity among whites by emphasizing racial divisions between blacks and whites. D) They supported public education in the belief that an educated electorate would keep the "better sort" in power.

The primary concern of those who wrote the state constitutions was A) how to put the concept of democracy into practice. B) how to create efficient government. C) how best to distribute and limit governmental power. D) how the documents would be ratified.

Once Americans realized that legislative supremacy did not guarantee good government, they turned to the theory of A) popular sovereignty. B) executive power. C) mass democracy. D) checks and balances.

Which of the following was a feature of the Articles of Confederation government? A) Each state was proportionately represented in the Confederation Congress. B) Domestic commercial policy was placed under the control of the national government. C) The national government did not have the power to settle disputes between the states. D) The national government did not have the power to raise revenue effectively.

Ratification of the Articles of Confederation was delayed for several years by a dispute over A) the disposition of lands west of the Appalachian Mountains. B) the provisions of treaties with the Northwestern Indians. C) navigation rights on rivers that served as boundary lines between states. D) the commercial rights of landlocked states.

Why, after a period of relative stability, was the American economy plagued by inflation from late 1776 into the 1780s? A) As people's faith in the government declined, their faith in the worth of the nation's currency also declined. B) As the amount of currency in circulation declined, unsold goods piled up in warehouses. C) As the economy grew and Americans' incomes increased, the production of goods lagged behind demand. D) As high taxes cut into the profits of producers, they cut back production and caused a shortage of goods.

The fear that the Articles of Confederation government would become too powerful led to which of the following? A) New York and New Jersey threatened to withdraw from the Confederation Congress. B) Delegates to the Confederation Congress refused to approve the creation of a department of finance. C) Rhode Island and New York refused to ratify an amendment allowing the Confederation Congress to impose a duty on imports. D) The legislatures from several New England states demanded that the Articles government be revised to reduce Congress's power.

How did the Confederation Congress respond to the flooding of the American market with British goods? A) It imposed a high protective tariff on British imports in an effort to save American producers. B) It could do nothing because it lacked the power to establish a national commercial policy. C) It established quotas, stipulating that only a certain number of certain goods could be imported. D) It imposed an embargo on all British products.

Why did Spain close the Mississippi River to American navigation in 1784? A) The United States had not agreed to honor its wartime debt to Spain. B) Spain was determined to prevent the expansion of the United States. C) Spain was attempting to pressure the United States into accepting boundary concessions in the area between the United States and Spanish Florida. D) The United States had attempted to wrest Florida from Spain.

Article Five of the Treaty of Paris (1783) A) promised the repayment of prewar debts owed by Americans to British subjects. B) recommended that the states allow loyalists to recover their confiscated property. C) called for just compensation for seized loyalist property. D) provided for the permanent exile of the loyalists.

Which of the following was a consequence of the inability of the Confederation Congress to enforce repayment of prewar debts to the British? A) Parliament encouraged British privateers to harass American commercial ships. B) Great Britain rescinded colonial fishing rights in the North Atlantic. C) It gave the British an excuse to maintain military posts on the Great Lakes. D) British merchants refused to sell manufactured goods to Americans.

The government's first independent source of revenue under the Articles of Confederation was A) land sales provided for in the Northwest Ordinances. B) the sale of British and Spanish ships captured during the Revolution. C) an import duty recommended by Robert Morris and approved by the Confederation Congress over the states' objections to avert collapse of the nation's monetary system. D) reparations from Great Britain provided for in the Treaty of Paris.

After the Iroquois confederacy repudiated the 1784 Treaty of Fort Stanwix, A) Congress formally recognized the Iroquois Confederacy as sovereign in the Northwest Territory. B) Congress allowed the Creeks to retain their ancestral lands if they would ally with the United States against the Iroquois Confederacy. C) New York State began to purchase large tracts of land from individual Iroquois nations, thus reducing the Confederacy by 1790 to a few scattered reservations. D) Congress declared war on the Confederacy and confiscated all its lands.

The Land Ordinance of 1785 dealing with the Northwest Territory indicates that the Confederation Congress A) was determined to make land available to small farmers. B) believed that new states should gradually earn the rights and privileges afforded the original states. C) believed that federal aid should be given to support public schools. D) was determined to resolve all the claims of the Indian tribes before allowing white settlers into the region.

Which of the following policies was established by the Northwest Ordinance of 1787? A) Congress would establish and oversee the development of territorial governments in the West. B) The validity of Indian land claims would be reviewed by an independent commission. C) Residents of the western territories would have the same rights as citizens of the original states. D) Homesteaders would be given free title to land they had settled and improved.

What led to the calling of the Annapolis Conference? A) The inability of the Confederation Congress to establish and implement a national trade policy B) Problems with the Northwest Native Americans C) Conflicting land claims among the states D) The need to suppress popular uprisings in several states

The leaders of Shays's Rebellion used which of the following arguments to justify their actions? A) Strong central government is a necessity given the turbulence and unruliness of the uneducated masses. B) In a republic, all adults twenty-one years of age and older should have the right to vote. C) Landowners should share their profits with farm laborers because it is the laborers who make such profits possible. D) If government becomes destructive of the rights of the people, the people have the right to overthrow that government.

Which of the following was a characteristic of the delegates to the Constitutional Convention? A) They were, for the most part, members of the economic elite. B) They were, with only a few exceptions, advocates of state rather than national sovereignty. C) Most had been delegates to the First Continental Congress. D) Most were under the age of forty.

Which of the following statements is most consistent with the ideas expressed by James Madison in "Vices of the Political System of the United States"? A) It is essential for the central government to have a permanent standing army at its disposal so that it will be able to maintain order and defend the nation. B) In order to overcome the flaws of the Confederation government, it is necessary to create a chief executive who is directly elected by the people. C) The primary weakness of the Confederation government lies in the fact that the Congress is denied the power to tax. D) The national government must be structured so as to prevent a single interest group from controlling it.

Did James Madison consider the large size of the American republic to be an advantage? Why or why not? A) No, because its size would prevent the people from having a direct voice in the decision-making process. B) No, because so many diverse factions would emerge that civil war would be inevitable. C) Yes, because there would be so many competing interest groups that no one group would be able to control the government. D) Yes, because its size would make it practically impossible for the government to subjugate the people by armed force.

Which of the following was a feature of the Virginia Plan? A) Acts passed by Congress would also have to be approved by three-fourths of the state legislatures before becoming the law of the land. B) The state legislatures would become advisory bodies to a national Congress, thereby losing their power to enact laws. C) Proportional representation would be provided in both houses of a two-house legislature. D) An independent chief executive would be elected by direct vote of the people.

Which of the following was a feature of the New Jersey Plan? A) Congress would have veto power over state laws. B) A one-house congress would be retained, but it would be given new powers to tax and to regulate trade. C) A chief executive officer having the power to conduct foreign policy and negotiate treaties would be elected by Congress. D) A national judiciary having the power to determine the constitutionality of acts of Congress would be created.

Of the questions raised at the Constitutional Convention about the establishment of a national legislature, which was the most difficult to resolve? A) Should a limit be placed on the number of terms that members of the Senate may serve? B) Should the states have proportional representation or equal representation in the Senate? C) Should the government have a bicameral legislature? D) Should a branch of the legislature be elected directly by the people?

On the question of whether to count slaves as part of a state's population in determining its representation in the House of Representatives, the delegates to the Constitutional Convention made which of the following decisions? A) The slaves would not be counted at all. B) One-fifth of the slaves would be counted in the population totals. C) Two-fifths of the slaves would be counted in the population totals. D) Three-fifths of the slaves would be counted in the population totals.

Under the Constitution of the United States, who has primary responsibility for the conduct of foreign affairs? A) The president of the United States B) The Senate of the United States C) The secretary of state D) The Speaker of the House of Representatives

Those who opposed ratification of the Constitution were known as A) Antifederalists. B) Whigs. C) Republicans. D) Federalists.

Which of the following is true of Letters of a Federal Farmer? A) This Antifederalist pamphlet called on the American people to rebel if the Constitution were ratified. B) This Antifederalist pamphlet included a list of rights that should be guaranteed to the people. C) This Federalist pamphlet explained the limitations placed on the powers of Congress. D) This Federalist pamphlet argued in favor of a centralized government.

Jefferson supported ratification of the Constitution, but he disliked which of the following about the document? A) The two-term limitation on the president B) The inclusion of the separation-of-powers concept C) The system of checks and balances D) The omission of a bill of rights