PERIOD 4 Review: 1800-1860
Long-Essay Questions
Directions: Write an essay to respond to one of each pair of questions. Cite
relevant historical evidence in support of your generalizations and present
your arguments clearly and logically.
Choose ONE of the following two long-essay questions.
1. For some the American Revolution was primarily an effort to
maintain basic British rights as opposed to establishing a new fonn of
government. Support, modify. or refute thi s contention using specific
evidence.
2. For some the election of Andrew Jackson brought a revolutionary
change in politics for the common man as opposed to it being a
conLilJuaLion of the lrend loward greater voler participation. Support,
modify, or refute this contention using specific evidence.
Choose ONE of the following two long-essay questions.
3. Analyze and evaluate the impact of Alexander Hamilton' s economic
policies, including hi s views on banking during the early years of the
republic.
4. Analyze and evaluate the impact of Andrew Jackson's economic
policies, including hi s views on banking during the mid- 19th century.
Choose ONE of the following two long-essay questions.
5. Compare and contrast the characteristics and influences of the three
major groups of the British Atlantic colonies by the mid-18th century.
6. Compare and contrast the characteristics and influences of the three
major sections of the United States by the mid- 19th century.
224
u.s.
HISTORY: PREPARING FOR THE ADVANCED PLACEMENT EXAM
Choose ONE of the following two long-essay questions.
7. Analyze and evaluate the ways in which ONE of the following areas
influenced United States forei gn policy in the late 18th century.
• French Revolution
• Washington's Farewell Address
'XYZAffair
8. Analyze and evaluate the ways in which ONE of the following areas
influenced United States forei gn policy in the early part of the 19th
century.
• Aorida Purchase
• Monroe Doctrine
• War Hawks
Choose ONE of the following two long-essay questions.
9. Explain and analyze the impact of ONE of the following on the social
and political life during much of the 18th century.
• education
• inunigration
• religion
10. Explain and analyze the impact of ONE of the following on the social
and political life during much of the first half of the 19th century.
• education
• inunigration
• religion
PERIOD 4 REVIEW: 1800-1860
225
SHORT-ANSWER QUESTIONS
Briefly answer the questions in complete sentences. A thesis is not required.
Question 1. Answer a, b, and c.
a) Choose ONE of the choices below, and explain why your choice best
demonstrates how Presidents Jefferson and Madison largely relied on
economic policies to carry out their foreign policies.
• Loui siana Purchase
• Embargo Act
• Macon's Bill No.2
b) Contrast your choice against ONE of the other options, demonstrating
why that option is not as good as your choice.
c) Provide ONE piece of evidence involving one of the choices provided
or another situation during this period of Presidents Jefferson and
Madi son that either supports or contradicts their reliance on economic
policies to carry out their foreign policies.
Question 2. Answer a and b.
a) Briefly explain how ONE of the following either supports or contradicts
this statement: "From the point of view of President Madison, none of
the goals for the War of 1812 had been achieved." Provide at least ONE
piece of evidence to support your explanation.
• foreign relations
• nationali sm
• industry
b) Briefly explain how ONE of the following goals of the United States in
the War of 1812 would continue after the war to playa major role in the
politics and policies of the nation.
• impressment of sailors
• American Indian conflicts
• expansIOn
THE AGE OF JEFFERSON, 1800- 1816
147
Question 3 is based on the following excerpts.
"What, Mr. Speaker, are we now called on to decide? It is, whether we will
resist by force the attempt, made by that Government [Britain], to subject OUf
maritime rights to the arbitrary and capricious rule of her will; for my part I am
not prepared to say that this country shall submit to have her commerce interdicted or regulated, by any foreign nation. Sir, I prefer war to submission ....
''The British Government, for many years past they have been in the practice of impressing our seamen, from merchant vessels; thi s unjust and lawless
invasion of personal liberty, calls loudly for the interposition of thi s Government ...
''This war ... will have its advantages. We shall drive the British from
OUf continent-they will no longer ... [be] intriguing with our Indian neighbors .... I am willing to receive the Canadians as adopted brethren."
-Felix Grundy, Speech in the House of Representatives,
December 181t
"This war of conquest, a war for the acquisition of tenitory and subjects, is to
be a new commentary on the doctrine that republics are destitute of ambition;
that they are addicted to peace ....
"But is war the true remedy? Who will profit by it? Speculators-a few
lucky merchants .... Who must suffer by it? The people. It is their blood, their
taxes that must flow to support it.
"Our people will not submit to be taxed for thi s war of conquest and dominion. The government of the United States was not calculated to wage offensive
war; it was instituted for the common defense and general welfare; and whosoever should embark it in a war of offense would put it to a test which it was by
no means calculated to endure."
-John Randolph, Speech in the House of Representatives,
December 181 t
3. Using the excerpts, answer a, b, and c.
a) Briefly explain the main point of excerpt I.
b) Briefly explain the main point of excerpt 2.
c) Provide ONE piece of evidence from the debate over war during thi s
period that is not included in the excerpts and explain how it supports
the interpretation in either excerpt.
148 u.s. HISTORY: PREPARING FOR THE
ADVANCED PLACEMENT EXAM
Question 4 is based on the following excerpt.
"And if this court is not authorized to issue a writ of mandamus .... It must
be because the law is unconstitutional and therefore absolutely incapable of
conferring the authority....
"Certainly, all those who have framed written constitutions contemplate
them as forming the fundamental and paramount law ... and consequently ...
an act of the legislature repugnant to the constitution is void ....
"If, then, the courts are to regard the Constitution, and the Constitution is
superior to any ordinary act of the legislature, the Constitution, and not such
ordinary act mu st govern the case to which they both apply.
''The judicial power of the United States is extended to all cases arising
under the Constitution ....
''Th us, the particular phraseology of the Constitution ... confirms and
strengthens the principle ... that a law repugnant to the Constitution is void
and that courts, as well as other departments, are bound by that instrument."
-John Marshall, Marbury v. Madison, 1803
4. Using the excerpt, answer a, b, and c.
a) Briefly explain the significance of Marshall' s opinion presented as
Jefferson became the third president of the United States.
b) Briefly explain how TWO of the following people would either
support or question Marshall' s view.
• William Marbury
• John Adams
• Thomas Jefferson
• Alexander Hamilton
THINK AS A HISTORIAN: USES OF HISTORICAL EVIDENCE
A key skill of historians is the ability to use evidence accurately.
Describe the kind of evidence that should be included in essays
responding to each of these questions.
1. If the Supreme Court was asked to decide the constitutionality of
the Louisiana Purchase, how would you expect John Marshall to
have ruled?
2. How important was the War of 1812 to the development of the
United States?
3. Explain whether you think westward expansion was the most
important issue for the new country.
THE AGE OF JEFFERSON, 1800- 1816
149
SHORT-ANSWER QUESTIONS
Briefly answer the questions in complete sentences. A thesis is not required.
Question 1. Answer a, b, and c.
a) Choose ONE of the choices below, and explain how your choice had
an impact on the indu strial growth during this period from prior to the
War of 1812 to the middle of the 19th century."
• factory system
• inventions
• labor unions
b) Contrast your choice against one of the other options, demonstrating
why that option is not as good as your choice.
c) Briefly explain whether there were any variations in industrial growth
in different sections of the country.
Question 2. Answer a, b, and c,
a) Briefly explain ONE of the parts of Henry Clay's proposed American
System, a comprehsive plan to bring about economic improvement.
Provide at least ONE piece of evidence to support your explanation.
• protective tariffs
• National Hank
• internal improvements
b) Briefly explain how ONE of the parts of Henry Clay's proposed
American System would bring about economic improvement. Provide
at least ONE piece of evidence to support your explanation.
c) Identify and briefly explain the role played by ONE individual or
group that was critical of one of the parts or the entire plan for an
American System.
170 u.s. HISTORY: PREPARING
FOR THE ADVANCED PLACEMENT EXAM
Question 3 is based on the following excerpts.
"Congress possesses the power of making the exclusion of slavery a part or
condition of the act of admitting a new state into the Union .... The existence
of slavery impairs the industry and the power of a nation; and it does so in proportion to the multiplication of its slaves....
"If her laborers are slaves, Missouri may be able to pay money taxes, but
will be unable to raise soldiers or to recruit seamen; and experience seems
to have proved that manufacturers do not prosper where the artificers are
slaves....
"If Missouri, and the other states that may be fonned west of the River
Mississippi, are permitted to ... establish slavery, the repose, if not security
of the Union may be endangered ... if slavery be excluded from Missouri ...
not only will the slave markets be broken up, and the principles of freedom be
extended."
-Senator Rufus King, Speech to the U.S. Senate on the
Expansion of Slavery, 1819
"It were charity to hope that the motives which have dictated the late attempt
to introduce restrictions into the constitution of Missouri were as praiseworthy
as they affect to be ....
"Shall we adopt the barbarous principles of affected benevolence in imposing a check on the increase of black population by excluding them from an
emigration to a country more salubrious and fertile than they now inhabit. ...
"It behooves us to contest at the threshold a pretension which violates
the compact of the states; which sets at nought the great principle of selfgovernment; which will prove an apple of di scord among the sisters of thi s
confederacy, and threaten to subvert our free and happy Constitution by a
deadly blow at the rights of a part of the nation, and a destruction of the harmony and tranquility of the whole."
-Anonymous, Th e Richnwnd Inquirer, 1819
3. Using the excerpts, answer a, b, and c.
a) Briefly explain the main point of Excerpt 1.
b) Briefly explain the main point of Excerpt 2.
c) Provide ONE piece of evidence from the early 19th century period
that is not included in the excerpts and explain how it supports the
interpretation in either excerpt.
NATIONALISM AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, 1816- 1848
171
Question 4 is based on the following excerpt.
"The Accounts ... given ... of the depredations committed by bankers will
make you suppose that affairs are much deranged here ....
''The money in circulation is puzzling to traders, and more particularly to
strangers; for besides the multiplicity of banks, and the diversity in supposed
value, fluctuations are so frequent and so great that no man who holds it in hi s
possession can be safe for a day.... "Trade is stagnated, produce cheap, and
merchants find It difficult to lay in assortments of foreign manufactures ....
Agriculture languishes-farmers cannot find profit in hiring laborers ... Laborers and mechanics are in want of employment. ... The operations of bankers
and the recent decline in trade have been effective causes of poverty."
- James Rint, visitor from ScotJand, Flint 's Lettersfrom America,
May 4, 1820
4. Using the excerpt, answer a, b, and c.
a) Briefly explain how ONE of the following was affected by the Panic
described in the excerpt.
• nationali sm
• Era of Good Feelings
• the West
b) Briefly explain how ONE of the following was popularly considered
the primary cause of the Panic described in the excerpt.
• Second Bank
• land speculation
• inflation
c) Briefly explain ONE action recommended in response to the cause of
the Panic you identified in response to the Part B of the question.
THINK AS A HISTORIAN: QUESTIONS ABOUT INTERPRETATION
Which TWO of these questions asks for an essay that emphasizes the
forces shaping how hi storians interpret the past?
1. Explain why two hi storians might di sagree about the federal
government's role in economic changes between 1816 and 1824.
2. Describe two ways historians have viewed the Monroe Doctrine's
purpose.
3. Analyze why the Era of Good Feelings ended so quickly
172 u.s. HISTORY: PREPARING FOR THE
ADVANCED PLACEMENT EXAM
SHORT-ANSWER QUESTIONS
Briefly answer the questions in complete sentences. A thesis is not required.
Question 1 is based on the following excerpts.
"He [Jackson] believed that removal was the lndian's only salvation against certain extinction ...
"Not that the Pres ident was motivated by concerns for the Indians ... Andrew
Jackson was motivated principally by two considerations: first ... military safety
... that lndians mu st not occupy areas that might jeopardize the defense of this
nation ; and second ... the principal that all persons residing within states are
subject to the jurisdiction and laws of those states.
"Would it have been worse bad the Indians remained in the East? Jackson
thought so. He said that they would 'disappear and be forgotten.' One thing does
seem certain: the lndians would have been forced to yield to state laws and white
society. Indian Nations per se would have been obliterated and possibly lndian
civilization with them."
- Robert V. Rentini, historian, Andrew Jackson and
the Course of American Freedom, 1998
"The Georgia legi slature passed a law extending the state's jurisdiction ... over
the Cherokees living within the state ... Georgia's action forced the President's
hand. He must see to it that a removal policy long covertly pursued by the White
House would now be enacted into law by Congress ...
"Jackson as usual spoke publicly in a tone of friendship and concern for
Indian welfare .... He, as President, could be their friend only if they removed
beyond the Miss issippi , where they should have a "land of their own, which they
shall possess as long as Grass grows or water runs ....
"A harsh policy was nevertheless quickly put in place ...
"It is abundantly clear that Jackson and hi s administration were detennined
to permit the extension of state sovereignty because it would result in the harassment of lndians, powerless to resist, by speculators and intruders hungry for
Indian Land."
- Anthony F. C. Wallace, historian, The Long, Bitter Trail:
Andrew Jackson and the Indians, 1993
1. Using the excerpt, answer a, b, and c.
a) Briefly explain the main point of Excerpt I.
b) Briefly explain the main point of Excerpt 2.
c) Provide ONE piece of evidence from the mid-19th century that is not
included in the excerpts and explain how it supports the interpretation in
either excerpt.
204 u.s. HISTORY: PREPARING
FOR THE ADVANCED PLACEMENT EXAM
Question 2 is based on the following cartoon.
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.KING .A1i"DREW THE FIlIST.
Source: "King Andrew the First," 1833.
Libl'"dI)' of Congress
2. Using the cartoon, answer a, b, and c.
a) Explain the point of view reflected in the cartoon above regarding
ONE of the following:
• presidential powers
• American lndians
• economic policy
• states' rights
b) Explain how ONE element of the cartoon expresses the point of view
you identified in Part A.
c) Explain how the point of view you identified in Part A helped to
shape ONE specific United States government action between 1824
and 1844.
THE AGE OF JACKSON, 1824-1844
205
Question 3. Answer a, b, and c.
a) Briefly explain which ONE of the following best supports this
statement: "The duties of all public officers are ... so plain and
simple that more is lost by the long continuance of men in office than
is generally to be gained by their experience."
• political party conventions
• rotation in office
• spoils system
b) Contrast your choice against ONE of the other options demonstrating
why that option is not as good as your choice.
c) Briefly explain how ONE of the following people would either support
or question thi s statement.
• John Quincy Adams
• John C. Calhoun
• Martin van Buren
Question 4. Answer a, b, and c.
a) Choose ONE of the actions li sted below, and explain how thi s best
demonstrates the argument that the Age of Jackson saw a shift of
political power from the ruling elite to the common man.
• popular election of the President
• rotation in office
• universal male suffrage
b) Contrast your choice against ONE of the other options, demonstrating
why that option is not as good as your choice.
c) Briefly explain ONE critical response to the political changes during
this period.
THINK AS A HISTORIAN: STATEMENTS ABOUT CAUSATION
Statements that express causation often use words such as cause,
effect, because. hence. and result. Which TWO of these statements
best express causation?
1. Because of Jackson 's Specie Circular, banknotes lost their value.
2. Jackson's threat to use force and his willingness to compromise
on the tariff persuaded the states' rights advocates to back down.
3. Jackson charged that Adams and Clay made a "corrupt bargain."
4. The Anti-Masonic party viewed the Masons as a secret elite.
206 u.s. HISTORY: PREPAR I NG FOR THE ADVANCED PLACEMENT EXAM
SHORT-ANSWER QUESTIONS
Briefly answer the questions in complete sentences. A thesis is not required.
Question 1. Answer a, b, and c.
a) Choose ONE of the reform s listed below, and explain how it best
demonstrates the influence of economic cbanges during the first half of
the 19th century.
• public education
• temperance
• women's rights
b) Contrast your choice against ONE of the other options, demonstrating
why that option is not as good as your choice.
c) Briefly explain ONE government response to the reform movements of
this period.
Question 2 is based on the following excerpt.
"America is beginning to assert herself to the senses and to the imagination of
her children, and Europe is receding in the same degree ....
"Prudent men have begun to see that every American should be educated
with a view to the values of land ... The land is the appointed remedy for whatever is false ... in our culture. The continent we inhabit is to be physic and food
for our mind, as well as our body....
"Gentlemen, the development of our American internal resources, the extension to the utmost of the conunercia1 system, and the appearance of new mora1
causes which are to modify the state are giving an aspect of greatness to the
future which the imagination fears to open."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson, lecturer and author, "The Young American," 1844
2. Using the excerpt, answer a, b, and c.
a) Briefly explain the point of view by the writer about ONE of the
following.
• nature
• railroads
• refonn movements
b) Briefly explain ONE way in which developments during this period of
the mid- 19th century led to the point of view expressed by the writer.
c) Briefly explain ONE way in which developments in thi s period of the
mid-19th century challenged or supported Emerson's point of view.
SOCIETY, CULTURE, AND REFORM, 1820-1860
221
Question 3 is based on the following cartoon.
~1.Dn:}.u1....
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Y m ... R,
Source: Woman's Holy War. Library of Congress.
3. Using the cartoon, answer a, b, and c.
a) Explain the point of view reflected in the cartoon above regarding
ONE of the following:
• religious revivals
• temperance
• women's rights
b) Explain how ONE element of the cartoon expresses the point of view
you identified in Part A.
c) Explain how the point of view you identified in Part A helped to shape
ONE specific United States government action between 1820 and
1860.
222 u.s. HISTORY: PREPARING FOR THE ADVANCED PLACEMENT EXAM
Question 4. Answer a, b, and c.
a) Briefly explain why ONE of the following best supports the view that
by the mid-19th century, the antislavery movement had gradually
become more radical.
• American Colonization Society
• The Liberator
• Nat Turner
b) Contrast your choice against ONE of the other options demonstrating
why that option is not as good as your choice.
c) Briefly explain ONE critical response to the changes during
this period.
THINK AS A HISTORIAN: STATEMENTS ABOUT CONTINUITY AND
CHANGE OVER TIME
Statements about continuity often include phrases such as "similar
to" or "following in the path." Statements about change often include
phrases such as "unlike" and "unprecedented." Which THREE of the
following statements best express either continuity or change?
1. The Second Great Awakening was one of many reform movements that swept the country in the 1800s.
2. Some hi storians believe that the strong sense of taking care of one
another that existed in frontier settlements in the 1800s can be
traced directly to the values of the Puritans of the 1600s.
3. African American leaders in the first half of the 1800s responded
to slavery in various ways.
4. Henry David Thoreau's legacy was revived by reformers in both
the United States and lndia in the 20th century.
5. Li sting the subjects portrayed in American painting in the 1780s
and in the 1850s demonstrates how significantly the United States
evolved in just seven decades.
SOCIETY, CULTURE, AND REFORM, 1820-1860
223
SHORT-ANSWER QUESTIONS
Briefly answer the questions in complete sentences. A thesis is
not required.
Question 1. Answer a, b, and c.
a) Choose ONE of the groups listed below, and explain how the
treatment of that group best demonstrates the validity of thi s
statement: "Di scrimination was common against people unlike the
white Protestant majority in the United States during the early J9th
century."
• American Indians
• free African Americans
• Iri sh immigrants
b) Contrast your choice against ONE of the other options, demonstrating
why that option is not as good as your choice.
c) Briefly explain whether there were any variations in discrimination in
different sections of the country.
Question 2. Answer a and b.
a) Briefly explain why ONE of the following periods best marks the
beginning of the Western Frontier. Provide ONE example of an event
or development from the same period to support your explanation.
• 1600s-lands not along the Atlantic coast
• 1700s-lands west of the Appalachian Mountains
• rnid-1800s-lands west of the Mi ssissippi River
b) Briefly explain why ONE of the other periods is not as useful to mark
the beginning of the Western Frontier as your choice in Part A.
188 u.s.
HISTORY: PREPARING FOR THE ADVANCED PLACEMENT EXAM
Question 3 is based on the following excerpts.
The blast from Freedom's northern hills, upon its Southern way,
Bears greeting to Virginia from Massachusetts Bay:
No word of haughty challenging, nor battle bugle's peal,
Nor steady tread of marching files, nor clang of horseman' s steel.
What asks the Old Dominion? If now her sons have proved
False to their fathers' memory, false to the faith they love;
If she can scoff at Freedom, and its great charter spurn,
Must we of Massachusetts from truth and duty tum?
All that a sister State should do, all that a free State may,
Heart, hand , and purse we proffer, as in our day;
But that one dark loathsome burden ye must stagger alone,
And reap the bitter harvest which ye yourselves have sown!
But for us and for our children, the vow which we have given
For freedom and humanity, is regi stered in heaven;
No slave-hunt in our borders-no prate on our strand!
No fetters in the Bay State-no slave upon our land !
- John Greenleaf Whittier, poet, "Massachusetts to Virginia," 1843
"It is said slavery is wrong .... With regard to the assertion that slavery is
against the spirit of Christianity, we are ready to admit the general assertion,
but deny most positively, that there is anything in the Old or New Testament [of
the Bible], which would go to show that slavery, when once introduced, ought
at all events to be abrogated, or that the master commits any offense in holding
slaves. The children of Israel themselves were slaveholders, and were not condemned for it. .. When we tum to the New Testament, we find not one single
passage at all calculated to disturb the conscience of an honest slaveholder.
No one can read it without seeing and admiring that the meek and humble
Saviour of the world in no instance meddled with the established institutions
of mankind."
- Thomas R. Dew, professor, College of William and Mary, "Review of
the Debate in the Virginia Legislature of 1831 and 1832," 1832
3. Using the excerpt, answer a, b, and c,
a) Briefly explain the main point of Excerpt l.
b) Briefly explain the main point of Excerpt 2.
c) Provide ONE piece of evidence from the mid-19th century that is not
included in the excerpts and explain how it supports the interpretation
in either excerpt.
SECTIONALlSM,1820- 1860
189
Question 4 is based on the following excerpt.
"That a country should become eminently prosperous in agriculture, without a
high state of perfection in the mechanic arts, is a thing next to impossible ...
that we should follow the footsteps of our forefathers and still further exhaust
our soil by the exclusive cultivation of cotton?
"Unless we betake ourselves to some more profitable employment than the
planting of cotton, what is to prevent our most enterprising planters from moving with their Negro capital, to the Southwest?
"Cotton ... has produced us such an abundant supply of all the luxuries and elegancies of life, with so little exertion on our part, that we have
become ... unfitted for other more laborious pursuits, and unprepared to meet
the state of things which sooner or later must come about."
- William Gregg, Southern manufacturer,
"Essays on Domestic Industry," 1845
4. Using the excerpt, answer a and b.
a) Briefly explain how TWO of the following contributed to the lack of
manufacturing in the South during the first half of the 19th century.
• cotton
• Great Britain
• slavery
• Southern society
b) Briefly explain ONE advantage, if any, the North had over the South
in developing manufacturing during the first half of the 19th century.
THINK AS A HISTORIAN: QUESTIONS ABOUT SYNTHESIS
Synthesis requires combining infonnation from multiple sources to
answer a question or draw a conclusion. Which TWO of the following
questions most clearly asks for an an swer that uses syn thesis?
1. Use information from two different types of sources (print, statis-
tical , visual, etc.) to explain why the West was more closely tied to
the North than to the South by the 18508.
2. Who, if anyone, are the modem equivalents of mountain men?
3. In the mid-1800s, Great Britain had several large cities and no
slavery. Explain why the South was the U.S. region least like Britain but most closely tied to it.
4. Why did Southerners refer to slavery as "that peculiar institution"?
190 u.s.
HISTORY: PREPARING FOR THE ADVANCED PLACEMENT EXAM