AP US History Practice Test: Period 4 (1800

Below is our free APUSH unit 4 practice test. This unit delves into the rapid territorial growth of the United States. Events like the Louisiana Purchase, the War of 1812, and the implementation of the Monroe Doctrine showcase the nation’s expanding geopolitical influence. The concept of Manifest Destiny and its implications for Native Americans and Mexicans is also a focal point.

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Question 1

Questions 1–3 refer to the following excerpt:

“But if the reports which we now hear are true, that with England all hope of honorable accommodation is at an end, and that with France our negotiations are in a fowardness encouraging expectations of a favorable result, where is the motive for longer delay? The final step ought to be taken; and that step is WAR. By what course of measures we have reached the present crisis, is not now a question for freemen and patriots to discuss. It exists; and it is by open and manly war only that we can get through it with honor and advantage to the country. Our wrongs have been great; our cause is just; and if we are decided and firm, success is inevitable.”

—Henry Clay, 1812

Which of the following factors led to the War of 1812?

A	A Canadian invasion of New England.
B	Growing American involvement in European commerce and affairs.
C	The destruction of the White House by British ships.
D	A Spanish invasion of California.

Question 1 Explanation:

The correct answer is (B). When the Napoleonic Wars erupted in Europe, America was inevitably drawn into the conflict. American ships crisscrossed the Atlantic Ocean trading with both England and France — the two key belligerents in the Napoleonic Wars.

Question 2

What impact did the War of 1812 have an American nationalism?

A	The war reduced nationalism because it was a decisive defeat for America.
B	Although the war was a decisive defeat, it had no impact on American nationalism.
C	Although the conflict was indecisive, it boosted American nationalism.
D	Although the war was a decisive victory, it had no impact on American nationalism.

Question 2 Explanation:

The correct answer is (C). The War of 1812 helped unite Americans even though there was no clear winner. For example, Francis Scott Key penned “The Star-Spangled Banner” while watching British ships bombard Fort McHenry near Baltimore in 1814.

Question 3

What impact did the War of 1812 have on American politics?

A	It ushered in the Era of Good Feelings.
B	It led to the birth of the Free Soil party.
C	It had no effect on American politics.
D	It caused many Americans to be abstain from voting.

Question 3 Explanation:

The correct answer is (A). The Federalist Party had opposed the War of 1812 and collapsed after the conflict ended. This ushered in the Era of Good Feelings and the Democratic-Republican Party became predominant.

Question 4

Questions 4–6 refer to the following excerpt:

“A wide and apparently an impervious boundary of forests severed the possessions of the hostile provinces of France and England. The hardy colonist, and the trained European who fought at his side, frequently expended months in struggling against the rapids of the streams, or in effecting the rugged passes of the mountains, in quest of an opportunity to exhibit their courage in a more martial conflict. But, emulating the patience and self-denial of the practised native warriors, they learned to overcome every difficulty..."

—James Fennimore Cooper, The Last of the Mohicans, 1826

The above passage highlights which of the following features of Romantic literature from the 19th century?

A	Logic and reason.
B	Emotion and naturalism.
C	Classicalism and realism.
D	Surrealism and post-modernism.

Question 4 Explanation:

The correct answer is (B). Romantic artists, poets and writers, including James Fennimore Cooper, emphasized natural beauty, individualism, and emotion.

Question 5

What did the Romantic movement reveal about American culture?

A	It showed European influence on American culture.
B	It showed American influence on European culture.
C	It demonstrated that American culture never changes.
D	It revealed that Americans had no culture because they refused to participate in the Romantic movement.

Question 5 Explanation:

The correct answer is (A). The Romantic movement began in Europe in the late 18th century but also became very popular in America.

Question 6

The Romantic movement can best be characterized as a reaction against what contemporary 19th century phenomenon?

A	The greed of mercantilism.
B	The homogeneity of political globalization.
C	The mechanization of the Industrial Revolution.
D	The heroism of nationalism.

Question 6 Explanation:

The correct answer is (C). The Romantics emphasized nature and emotion in opposition to the increasing technology, pollution, and urbanization that resulted from the Industrial Revolution.

Question 7

Questions 7–8 refer to the following excerpt:

“In November, of the same year, the Sally and Mary, a boat of sixty or seventy tons, …had passed into the Canal, by the locks at Waterloo and the Seneca River…The vessel was not only received as the precursor of a commerce, which will be unlimited in its extent and importance, but as an interesting evidence of the ingenuity and enterprise of our countrymen. Her timbers grew near where she was built…her cargo was the produce of the fields from whence she sprung…her sails and rigging even, were emphatically domestic manufactures, for they were grown, and made, at the homes of her owners.”

—Cadwallader Colden, 1825

What significant consequences did improvements during the Transportation Revolution, such as the Erie Canal, have on the American economy?

A	Canals stimulated the construction of boats which led to a major economic boom.
B	Canal construction encouraged new inventions which boosted productivity.
C	It had little impact on the economy because canals were quickly surpassed by automobiles and airplanes.
D	Canals helped connect the regional and national economics.

Question 7 Explanation:

The correct answer is (D). Canals, and other transportation improvements such as the national road, facilitated commerce, especially in the former states of the Northwest territories.

Question 8

Did all regions of the country benefit equally from the Transportation Revolution?

A	Yes — extensive canals, roads, and railroads were built throughout the nation.
B	Yes — but only a few miles of canals and roads were built during this period.
C	No — the North and old Northwest benefitted the most.
D	No — the South lagged behind the North and Old Northwest so most of the improvements were constructed to help the South catch up.

Question 8 Explanation:

The correct answer is (C). The South built fewer internal improvements while the North and old Northwest funded more canal and railroad projects. The South had less capital to invest in such projects and they were not a political priority.

Question 9

Questions 9–11 refer to the following excerpt:

“In 1831 Lowell was little more than a factory village. Several corporations were started, and the cotton-mills belonging to them were building. Help was in great demand; and stories were told all over the country of the new factory town, and the high wages that were offered to all classes of work-people, stories that reached the ears of mechanics' and farmers' sons, and gave new life to lonely and dependent women in distant towns and farmhouses.”

—Harriet Robinson, Loom and Spindle, 1898

Did all regions of the country benefit from the industrialization depicted in Robinson’s memoir?

A	Yes — many factories in different industries were built throughout the nation.
B	Yes — but only a few textile factories were built.
C	No — the Southern economy had lagged behind the North and Old Northwest so they built more factories in order to catch up.
D	No — the South had less capital to invest and focused on agricultural economic activity.

Question 9 Explanation:

The correct answer is (D). The Southern economy continued to rely on cash crops, such as tobacco and cotton, for decades. On the other hand, the North and Old Northwest industrialized rapidly during the early nineteenth century, especially in the realm of textile manufacturing.

Question 10

In what ways, if any, did women participate in the Market Revolution?

A	Many women owned businesses and were legally entitled to receive equal pay.
B	Women worked in unskilled or semi-skilled jobs for little pay.
C	Women began to fill large numbers of skilled manufacturing jobs.
D	Women did not participate in the Market Revolution because they felt it was improper to work outside the home.

Question 10 Explanation:

The correct answer is (B). Women, such as those who worked at the Lowell textile mills, received little pay and were limited to unskilled jobs. Men held the better-paying jobs that required more skill.

Question 11

What, if any, political implications did the Market Revolution have in the early 19th century?

A	The consequences of the Market Revolution played a key role in defining the Second Party System.
B	The Democrats supported the Market Revolution because it stimulated industrialization.
C	The Whigs opposed the Market Revolution because it led to greater social inequality.
D	The Market Revolution had no political implications because everyone supported it.

Question 11 Explanation:

The correct answer is (A). The Whigs and Democrats developed sharp partisan differences about various economic issues, including the role of internal improvements, tariffs, and the national bank. Generally, the Whigs supported these economic policies while the Democrats opposed them.

Question 12

Question 12 refers to the following excerpt:

“When the Churches are thus awakened and reformed, the reformation and salvation of sinners will follow. Their hearts will be broken down and changed. Very often the most abandoned profligates are among the subjects. Harlots, and drunkards, and infidels, and all sorts of abandoned characters, are awakened and converted. The worst of human beings are softened and reclaimed, and made to appear as lovely specimens of the beauty of holiness.”

—Charles Finney, 1835

What social consequences did the Second Great Awakening have in the early 19th century?

A	The Second Great Awakening focused on social justice which led to equality for women and African Americans.
B	The Second Great Awakening inspired a variety of dystopian communities.
C	The Second Great Awakening inspired a variety of social reform movements.
D	The Second Great Awakening led to greater ecumenical cooperation between Protestants and Catholics.

Question 12 Explanation:

The correct answer is (C). The Second Great Awakening strove for social perfection and thus urged believers to engage in various social reforms, such as temperance and abolitionism.

Question 13

Questions 13–14 refer to the following excerpt:

“The abolitionism which I advocate is as absolute as the law of God, and as unyielding as his throne. It admits of no compromise. Every slave is a stolen man; every slaveholder is a man stealer. By no precedent, no example, no law, no compact, no purchase, no bequest, no inheritance, no combination of circumstances, is slaveholding right or justifiable.”

—William Lloyd Garrison, 1854

How much support did Garrison’s message find amongst Americans in the 19^th century?

A	Very little — most Americans were indifferent to slavery or supported it.
B	Very little — the lack of effective communications prevented Garrison from spreading his message.
C	A lot — many Americans had long hated slavery and only needed a visionary like Garrison to lead them.
D	A lot — most Americans felt ashamed of the nation’s continued support for slavery.

Question 13 Explanation:

The correct answer is (A). Abolitionists were a zealous and uncompromising minority in antebellum America. Most Southerners supported slavery and many Northerners wished to avoid the subject.

Question 14

What was an important consequence of the Missouri Compromise of 1820?

A	It overturned the Dred Scott decision by banning slavery in all parts of the newly acquired Louisiana territory.
B	It caused the Civil War by permitting slavery in all parts of the Louisiana territory.
C	It temporarily silenced debate but ultimately failed to resolve the controversy over slavery.
D	It permanently resolved the debate over slavery by counting slaves as three-fifths of a person.

Question 14 Explanation:

The correct answer is (C). The Missouri Compromise permitted slavery in some parts of the Louisiana Purchase but banned it in others. The temporary compromise collapsed in the years leading up to the Civil War.

Question 15

Questions 15–16 refer to the following excerpt:

“Resolved, therefore, That, being invested by the Creator with the same capabilities, and the same consciousness of responsibility for their exercise, it is demonstrably the right and duty of woman, equally with man, to promote every righteous cause, by every righteous means…and this being a self-evident truth, growing out of the divinely implanted principles of human nature, any custom or authority adverse to it, whether modern or wearing the hoary sanction of antiquity, is to be regarded as self-evident falsehood, and at war with the interests of mankind.”

—Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions, Seneca Falls Women’s Rights Convention, 1848

How successful was the Seneca Falls convention in advancing women’s rights?

A	It began the process of organizing advocates but change occurred slowly over decades.
B	Because the resolution was so confrontational it actually set back the cause of women’s rights for millennia.
C	It immediately led to equal economic rights for women, but not political suffrage.
D	It immediately led to equal political and economic rights for women.

Question 15 Explanation:

The correct answer is (A). The convention had very little immediate success — women would only earn suffrage in the 20th century. However, it began the important process of gathering leaders and building support for the women’s rights movement.

Question 16

In what way did the Seneca Falls declaration challenge the gendered concept of separate spheres?

A	It urged men to give some of their rights to women.
B	It affirmed the supremacy of modern customs over traditions.
C	It urged women to fight in wars.
D	It challenged the notion that men and women were fundamentally different.

Question 16 Explanation:

The correct answer is (D). The concept of separate spheres for men and women was based on the idea that the genders were fundamentally different biologically. By affirming gender equality, the Seneca Falls declaration asserted that women could participate in public on an equal basis with men.

Question 17

Questions 17–18 refer to the following excerpt:

“But when the laws undertake to add to these natural and just advantages artificial distinctions, to grant titles, gratuities, and exclusive privileges, to make the rich richer and the potent more powerful, the humble members of society the farmers, mechanics, and laborers who have neither the time nor the means of securing like favors to themselves, have a right to complain of the injustice of their Government.”

—Andrew Jackson, 1832

Which of the following early 19th century policies would Jacksonian Democrats have supported?

A	Tariffs because they raised the price of manufactured goods.
B	A national bank because it made loans to humble citizens.
C	The abolition of property requirements for elections and political candidates.
D	The right of Southern states to secede when their complaints were ignored.

Question 17 Explanation:

The correct answer is (C). The early 19th century saw the expansion of suffrage to most white males in America. Jacksonian Democrats positioned themselves as advocates of the common man against the interests of political and economic elites, who benefitted from tariffs and the national bank. However, Jackson supported the Constitution and branded secession as treason.

Question 18

Why did Jacksonian Democrats oppose the Market Revolution and industrialization?

A	The economic changes created inequality and wage-dependency.
B	The economic changes benefitted the South and impoverished the North.
C	The economic changes reinforced support for slavery.
D	Jacksonian Democrats favored socialism over capitalism.

Question 18 Explanation:

The correct answer is (A). Jacksonian Democrats feared that the Market Revolution and industrialization would create a new “aristocracy” that would dominate the working class. These workers were no longer self-reliant and were dependent on their employers.

Question 19

Question 19 refers to the following excerpt:

“By the stipulations of this instrument, we are despoiled of our private possessions, the indefeasible property of individuals. We are stripped of every attribute of freedom and eligibility for legal self-defence. Our property may be plundered before our eyes; violence may be committed on our persons; even our lives may be taken away, and there is none to regard our complaints. We are denationalized; we are disfranchised. We are deprived of membership in the human family! We have neither land nor home, nor resting place that can be called our own. And this is effected by the provisions of a compact which assumes the venerated, the sacred appellation of treaty.”

—A letter to Congress protesting Indian removal written by John Ross, a Cherokee Indian chief, in 1836

Which of the following factors put pressure on Native American territory in the southeastern US in the early 19th century?

A	Rumors of gold and silver deposits on Native American land.
B	A desire to build factories and canals on Native American land.
C	Soil depletion pushed farmers west in search of new land.
D	A desire to punish Native American tribes for supporting Union forces during the Civil War.

Question 19 Explanation:

The correct answer is (C). Intensive farming had depleted the nutrients in the soil and productivity fell. As a result, farmers — especially owners of large cotton plantations — sought more fertile land.

Question 20

Question 20 refers to the following excerpt:

“With the existing colonies or dependencies of any European power we have not interfered and shall not interfere. But with the Governments who have declared their independence and maintained it, and whose independence we have, on great consideration and on just principles, acknowledged, we could not view any interposition for the purpose of oppressing them, or controlling in any other manner their destiny, by any European power in any other light than as the manifestation of an unfriendly disposition toward the United States.”

—The Monroe Doctrine, 1823

Which of the following statements correctly summarizes the Monroe Doctrine?

A	The doctrine was an early example of American isolationist tendencies.
B	The doctrine forced Spain to liberate all her remaining colonies.
C	The doctrine meant little without the support of the British navy.
D	The doctrine resulted in America acquiring many new colonies.

Question 20 Explanation:

The correct answer is (C). The doctrine declared the Western hemisphere came under America’s sphere of influence. However, without a strong navy or army we relied on tactic British support which marks the beginning of the special relationship between the two countries.

Question 21

Questions 21–22 refer to the following excerpt:

“So if a law be in opposition to the constitution; if both the law and the constitution apply to a particular case, so that the court must either decide that case conformably to the law, disregarding the constitution; or conformably to the constitution, disregarding the law; the court must determine which of these conflicting rules governs the case. This is of the very essence of judicial duty.”

—Marbury v. Madison, 1803

Which of the following statements accurately summarizes the concept of judicial review, as established by Marbury v. Madison?

A	The Supreme Court should review laws that conflict with the Constitution but cannot declare a law is unconstitutional.
B	When the law and Constitution conflict, it is impossible to know which takes precedent.
C	When the law and Constitution conflict, the Supreme Court will always rule in favor of the law.
D	The Supreme Court should review laws that conflict with the Constitution and can strike down a law as unconstitutional.

Question 21 Explanation:

The correct answer is (D). Judicial review allows the Supreme Court to interpret the Constitution and declare invalid any laws that conflict with it.

Question 22

The concept of Judicial Review is an example of which of the following?

A	Legislative action.
B	Checks and balances.
C	Executive privilege.
D	Constitutional amendment.

Question 22 Explanation:

The correct answer is (B). Judicial Review was established by the Marbury v. Madison case as a means of checks and balances between the Judicial and Legislative branches. Judicial Review essentially provided the Supreme Court with the right to establish whether or not a law was Constitutional, and by doing so it also provided a major check on legislative power to pass laws that did not honor or abide by the Constitution, a power that the Constitution itself did not specifically provide the Supreme Court in the first place.

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