Practice Test
US History
Unit Three
Instructions for Use:
Click the mouse and a question will appear, some
with answers to choose from, some without.
Click on the answer you think is correct or if there
are not answers to choose from try to answer it
in your head and then click the mouse button.
The correct answer will then be highlighted or will
appear on the screen.
Click the mouse button again and the next question
will appear.
If you cannot finish the Practice test in one
sitting, use the scroll bar on the right to
remember where you left off.
The vast grassland extending through the
west-central portion of the United States.
a. Great Plains
b. Ghost Dance
c. Chisholm Trail
d. George A. Custer
This was supposed to "Americanize" Native Americans by
encouraging in them the desire to own property
and to farm reservation land distributed to Native American
families.
a. Dawes Act
b. Assimilation
c. Great Plains
d. Ghost Dance
This colonel's bad judgment in attacking Native
American warriors at the Little Bighorn River resulted in
his death and that of all his troops.
a. Ghost Dance
b. Chisholm Trail
c. George A. Custer
d. Grange
This was the major cattle route from San
Antonio, Texas, through Oklahoma to Kansas.
a. Great Plains
b. Ghost Dance
c. Chisholm Trail
d. George A. Custer
This ritual was supposed to restore the
Native American way of life.
a. Assimilation
b. Great Plains
c. Ghost Dance
d. Chisholm Trail
A minority group's adoption of the beliefs
and way of life of the dominant culture.
a. Assimilation
b. Great Plains
c. Ghost Dance
d. Chisholm Trail
The government began taking these out
of circulation after the Civil War.
a. Greenbacks
b. Bimetallism
c. Populist Party
d. Republican Party
This was a monetary system in which the
government would give people silver or gold in
exchange for paper currency.
a. Grange
b. Greenbacks
c. Bimetallism
d. Populist Party
Members of this party were mainly business
owners and bankers from industrialized areas.
a. Populist Party
b. Republican Party
c. Soddy
d. Exodusters
This organization started out as a social outlet
and educational forum for isolated farm families.
It soon became a political voice for farmers.
a. Grange
b. Greenbacks
c. Bimetallism
d. Populist Party
This political party proposed an increase in the
money supply, a graduated income tax, and a
federal loan program.
a. Populist Party
b. Republican Party
c. Soddy
d. Exodusters
Home made of bricks of dirt that provided warmth
but no protection from snakes and insects.
a. Soddy
b. Exodusters
c. Homestead Act
d. Dugout
Offered 160 acres of land free to any
head of household
a. Homestead Act
b. Morril Act
c. Dugout
d. Bonanza Farms
Gave federal land to the states to help
finance agricultural colleges
a. Homestead Act
b. Morril Act
c. Dugout
d. Bonanza Farms
An enormous farm on which a single crop
is grown
a. Homestead Act
b. Morril Act
c. Dugout
d. Bonanza Farms
Underground home that provided warmth in the
winter but no protection from snakes and insects.
a. Soddy
b. Exodusters
c. Homestead Act
d. Dugout
An African American who migrated from the South
to Kansas in the Post-Reconstruction years.
a. Republican Party
b. Soddy
c. Exodusters
d. Homestead Act
Which of the following marked the end of the
wars between the federal government and the
Plains Indians?
a. the Treaty of Fort Laramie
b. the death of Sitting Bull
c. the Sand Creek Massacre
d. the massacre at Wounded Knee
Why did the policy of treating the Great
Plains as a huge reservation change?
a.
White settlers began wanting the land on the
Plains.
b.
Native Americans refused to remain on the Plains.
c.
Native American populations decreased and
needed less land.
d.
The Plains failed to meet the needs of Native
American peoples.
Which of the following was not central to the life
and culture of the Plains Indians in the 1800s?
a. the horse
b. the buffalo
c. the extended family
d. Individual land ownership
Which of the following was not responsible for
bringing an end to the era of the wide-open
western frontier?
a. the railroad
b. barbed wire
c. sheep ranching
d. severe weather
The Mexican vaquero influenced the American
cowboy in all of the following areas except
a. politics
b. language
c. clothing
d. food
Demand for beef in the East contributed to
a. the invention of the cowboy's way of
life.
b. the end of the long drives.
c. the development of the Chisholm Trail.
d. the decline of the railroads.
Most American cowboys
a. worked only eight hours a day.
b. spent all their time fighting Outlaws.
c. owned their own cattle.
d. used guns to protect their herds.
The Grange did all of the following except
a. support the banks.
b. support political candidates.
c. oppose the railroads.
d. oppose the banks.
Bimetallism would allow for the exchange
of paper currency for
a. silver only.
b. gold only.
c. neither gold nor silver.
d. either gold or silver.
Which of the following did the Dawes Act
wish to encourage among Indians?
a. tribal living
b. nomadic living
c. buffalo hunting
d. individual farming
Which of the following was considered an
Indian Victory?
a. Wounded Knee
b. the Dawes Act
c. Custer's Last Stand
d. the Chivington massacre
Which of these descriptions of the American
Cowboy is based on myths perpetuated by the
entertainment industry?
a. They worked long hours
b. They went on long cattle drives.
c. Their work was very dangerous
d. They fought outlaws and protected the
law
Invented the typewriter
a. Edwin L. Drake
b. Henry Bessemer
c. Christopher Sholes
d. Thomas Alva Edison
Invented the telephone
a. Henry Bessemer
b. Christopher Sholes
c. Thomas Alva Edison
d. Alexander Graham Bell
Developed an efficient technique for
transforming iron into steel
a. Edwin L. Drake
b. Henry Bessemer
c. Christopher Sholes
d. Thomas Alva Edison
Introduced an efficient means of retrieving oil
from beneath the earth's surface
a. Edwin L. Drake
b. Henry Bessemer
c. Christopher Sholes
d. Thomas Alva Edison
Perfected the incandescent light bulb at his
research laboratory in Menlo Park, New Jersey
a. Henry Bessemer
b. Christopher Sholes
c. Thomas Alva Edison
d. Alexander Graham Bell
Process by which a company buys out all
of its suppliers
a. Trust
b. Monopoly
c. Vertical Integration
d. Horizontal Integration
Made it illegal for corporations to interfere
with free interstate or international trade
a. Monopoly
b. Vertical Integration
c. Horizontal Integration
d. Sherman Antitrust Act
Theory that justified the efforts of millionaires and
discouraged government interference in big business
a. Sherman Antitrust Act
b. Social Darwinism
c. John Rockefeller
d. "Mother" Jones
A corporation made up of many companies that
receives certificates entitling them to dividends
on profits earned
a. Trust
b. Monopoly
c. Vertical Integration
d. Horizontal Integration
A market in which one company has complete
control over an industry's production, quality,
wages paid, and prices charged
a. Trust
b. Monopoly
c. Vertical Integration
d. Horizontal Integration
Process by which a company buys out all
it's competitors.
a. Trust
b. Monopoly
c. Vertical Integration
d. Horizontal Integration
Scottish immigrant who made a fortune in
steel and donated most of his profits
a. John Rockefeller
b. "Mother" Jones
c. Pullman
d. Andrew Carnegie
Organized coal miners, their wives, and their
children as well as mill children to fight for better
working conditions
a. John Rockefeller
b. "Mother" Jones
c. Pullman
d. Andrew Carnegie
Created trusts and was criticized as a robber
baron while serving as head of the Standard
Oil Company
a. John Rockefeller
b. "Mother" Jones
c. Pullman
d. Andrew Carnegie
Railroad-car mogul who built a town to
house his employees
a. John Rockefeller
b. "Mother" Jones
c. Pullman
d. Andrew Carnegie
Which of the following most allowed manufacturers
to build their factories away from rivers?
a. Electricity
b. Steel beams
c. Railroads
d. The telephone
Why was Pullman, Illinois, an unusual
town?
a. It had one main industry.
b. It specialized in a regional product.
c. It owed its prosperity to the railroads.
d. It was built by a company to house its
workers.
Which of the following did Social
Darwinism discourage?
a. hard work
b. Industrialization
c. government regulation
d. the accumulation of wealth
In which of the following places did 146
female workers die in a fire?
a. Haymarket Square
b. the Pullman factory
c. the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory
d. Carnegie Steel's Homestead Plant
Why were scabs unpopular with striking
workers during the late 1800s?
a. They were socialists.
b. They were federal troops.
c. They were part of management.
d. They were workers used to break
strikes.
What made it possible to construct
skyscrapers in the 1800s?
a. Cheap electric power
b. Fire safety standards
c. The invention of the elevator
d. New methods of making steel
What did industrial consolidation and
trusts reduce during the late 1800s?
a. Corruption
b. Monopolies
c. Competition
d. interstate commerce
What was the goal of the Interstate
Commerce Act?
a. to build new railroads
b. to destroy the railroad industry
c. to lower excessive railroad rates
d. to increase the power of railroads
The main purpose of the company known
as Crédit Mobilier was to
a.
build the transcontinental railroad.
b.
steal railroad money for its shareholders.
c.
obtain a monopoly of the railroad industry.
d.
obtain political positions for its
shareholders.
All of the following factors contributed to the
immense industrial boom of the early 1900s except
a. a wealth of natural resources.
b. government support for business.
c. a growing urban population.
d. the emergence of the middle class.
Andrew Carnegie gained control of a large
percentage of the steel industry by doing all of
the following except
a. buying out his suppliers.
b. cutting the quality of his products.
c. buying out his competitors.
d. underselling his competitors.
The Sherman Antitrust Act
a.
outlawed the formation of trusts that
interfered with free trade.
b.
was supported by millionaire industrialists.
c.
was used by labor unions to fight for
workers' rights.
d.
encouraged the establishment of largescale businesses.
The Great Strike of 1877 took place in the
a. steel industry.
b. textile industry.
c. railroad industry.
d. coal mining industry.
In the late 1800s, collective bargaining
was a technique used to
a. expand industry.
b. win workers' rights.
c. restrict labor unions.
d. organize labor unions.
The use of standardized time and time
zones was introduced in order to benefit
a.
telephone and telegraph operators.
b.
railroad companies and train travelers.
c.
manufacturers who dealt in interstate trade.
d.
factory owners whose workers had set
schedules.
The Interstate Commerce Act gave the
right to supervise railroad activities to
a. the federal government.
b. railroad company officials.
c. farmers' groups, such as the Grange.
d. a select committee of wealthy
industrialists.
Which of the following is not true of the
Transcontinental Railroad?
a.
It joined the Atlantic and Pacific coasts.
b.
It joined the Union Pacific and Central
Pacific Railroads.
c.
It was built mainly by American-born
laborers.
d.
A golden spike was driven to mark its
completion.
Which of the following is true of the
Grangers?
a.
They were Social Darwinists
b.
They supported the right of railroad companies to
set their own rates.
c.
They tried to promote the idea that railroads were
responsible primarily to their stockholders.
d.
They were farmers who had joined together fight the
railroads and to learn about scientific methods of
farming
Which of the following resources was least
important to the birth of the new industrial age?
a. Oil
b. Wood
c. Iron
d. Coal
Which of the following groups of groups economically
benefited most from the inventions of the telephone and
the typewriter.
a. Married Men
b. Former Slaves
c. Recent Immigrants
d. White Women
Which of the following was not true of the natural
resources needed for the new industrial age?
a.
Coal was available in ample supplies
b.
Coal was needed for use in the railroad
industry.
c.
Iron was used in the production of steel.
d.
Oil was used primarily for powering internalcombustion engines.
Most of the members of the Populist Party
were
a. Farmers
b. Industrial leaders
c. Labor leaders and feminists
d. Middle-class white-collar workers
Which term refers to the mixture of diverse cultures whose
people blended together by adapting their native language
and customs to the existing language and customs?
a. mixed salad
b. Chinese Exclusion Act
c. Gentlemen's Agreement
d. Graft
Which term is the name of a restriction on
immigration passed by Congress?
a. Chinese Exclusion Act
b. Gentlemen's Agreement
c. Graft
d. Political Machines
Through which place did immigrants arriving on
the East Coast pass before gaining entry into
the United States?
a. Ellis Island
b. mixed salad
c. Chinese Exclusion Act
d. Gentlemen's Agreement
Which term is the name of a restriction on
emigration worked out between the United
States and Japan?
a. Chinese Exclusion Act
b. Gentlemen's Agreement
c. Graft
d. Political Machines
This was any type of unethical or illegal
use of political influence for personal gain.
a. Graft
b. Political Machines
c. Nativism
d. Pendleton Act
These were organized groups that controlled
the activities of a political party in a city.
a. Graft
b. Political Machines
c. Nativism
d. Pendleton Act
This authorized an independent civil service
commission to make government appointments
based on the merit system.
a. Graft
b. Political Machines
c. Nativism
d. Pendleton Act
Favoring American-born people over
foreign-born people
a. Graft
b. Political Machines
c. Nativism
d. Pendleton Act
The main immigration processing station
in San Francisco was called
a. Ellis Island
b. Tammany Hall
c. Angel Island
d. Hull House
The main goal of the Chinese Exclusion
Act was to
a.
decrease Chinese immigration.
b.
create segregated classrooms.
c.
settle a disagreement between China and
the United States.
d.
stop Chinese Americans from attending
school in the United States.
The main goal of the Americanization
movement was to
a.
limit the number of immigrants entering the
country.
b.
assimilate people of various cultures into the
dominant culture.
c.
improve the living conditions in America's
largest cities.
d.
encourage people to move from the country to
the city.
The row house was a new type of housing
that conserved space by
a.
rising ten or more stories high.
b.
combining air vents with trash disposal
areas.
c.
sharing side walls with other buildings.
d.
enclosing a park shared by several
buildings.
Settlement houses were founded in the
late 1800s by
a. new immigrants.
b. social reformers.
c. political machines.
d. industrial workers.
Tammany Hall was the name of
a. a famous settlement house.
b. a New York Customs House.
c. a New York City political machine.
d. the federal courthouse in New York
City.
An example of patronage would be
a. bribing a government official.
b. assassinating a public official.
c. saying one thing and doing another.
d. appointing a friend to a political
position.
The Stalwarts were strong supporters of
a. low tariffs.
b. high tariffs.
c. the spoils system.
d. civil service reform.
The Pendleton Civil Service Act required
a.
applicants for government jobs to pass
examinations.
b.
native-born Americans to treat immigrants with
courtesy.
c.
government workers to renounce all party
loyalties.
d.
cities to provide services such as clean water
to their residents.
Which of the following was the main
interest of the Social Gospel movement?
a. religious reform
b. political reform
c. social reform
d. economic reform
Which of the following does not describe a
typical supporter of a political machine?
a. Poor
b. Urban
c. factory worker
d. opposed to immigration
Which of the following is an example of
graft?
a.
using a cartoon to illustrate political fraud
b.
saying a project cost more than it did and
keeping the difference for yourself
c.
choosing your friends for political offices
d.
using the threat of force to get people to
vote for a particular candidate
Who used the power of the presidency to clean up the
New York Customs House but was unable to get
support from Congress for civil service reform?
a. Grover Cleveland
b. Chester A. Arthur
c. Benjamin Harrison
d. Rutherford B. Hayes
Which of the following issues prompted the
assassination of President Garfield?
a. Tariffs
b. Kickbacks
c. Immigration
d. civil service reform
Which of the following was an important
urban problem of the late 1800s?
a. Poverty
b. drug use
c. race riots
d. labor union corruption
Who was the boss of New York's corrupt
political machine of the 1870's?
a. Thomas Nast
b. George Plunkitt
c. Jean de Crevecoeur
d. William Tweed
New immigrants, in the late 1800s, were
least likely to come from
a. Asia
b. Eastern Europe
c. Western Europe
d. Southern Europe
The main purpose of the 1879 New York City
law calling for the building of dumbbell
tenements was to
a. alleviate, or improve, slum conditions
b.
integrate lower-class black neighborhoods
c.
supply inexpensive single-family housing to
the urban poor
d.
lessen the power of political machines in
lower-class neighborhoods
The great majority of the members of the
Immigration Restriction League were
a. Jews
b. Catholics
c. naturalized citizens
d. of Anglo-Saxon descent
Which of the following was an old
immigrant group?
a. Germans
b. Poles
c. Italians
d. Chinese
These pioneer aviators helped make
airmail possible.
a. Orville and Wilbur Wright
b. Poll Tax
c. Segregation
d. Jim Crow Laws
Elevators and steel supports helped make this
land-saver possible.
a. Skyscraper
b. Central Park
c. Brooklyn Bridge
d. Orville and Wilbur Wright
Completed in 1883, this "eighth wonder of the
world" that connected Brooklyn to Manhattan
took 14 years to build.
a. Skyscraper
b. Central Park
c. Brooklyn Bridge
d. Orville and Wilbur Wright
This was intended to soothe the inhabitants of New
York City and let them enjoy a "natural setting."
a. Skyscraper
b. Central Park
c. Brooklyn Bridge
d. Orville and Wilbur Wright
This term is used to refer to any system of
separating people on the basis of race
a. Poll Tax
b. Segregation
c. Jim Crow Laws
d. Grandfather Clause
These laws were passed in the South to
prevent white and black people from intermixing
and to prevent blacks from achieving equality
a. Poll Tax
b. Segregation
c. Jim Crow Laws
d. Grandfather Clause
This had to be paid to gain access to the
voting booth in many Southern States
a. Poll Tax
b. Segregation
c. Jim Crow Laws
d. Grandfather Clause
This was added to the constitutions of several Southern
states to enable white people to vote who may have
been kept from doing so by other restrictions
a. Poll Tax
b. Segregation
c. Jim Crow Laws
d. Grandfather Clause
The factor that prevented the greatest number of
children from attending public high schools was
a. racism.
b. poverty.
c. language differences.
d. transportation problems.
Southern states sometimes used a
grandfather clause to allow them to
a.
keep uneducated whites from exercising their
right to vote.
b.
distinguish between recent immigrants and
longtime citizens.
c.
keep African Americans from voting while
allowing whites to do so.
d.
deny voting rights to African Americans who
passed the literacy test.
Cities in the late 19th century expanded with the
development of all of the following except
a. subways.
b. skyscrapers.
c. airplanes.
d. suspension bridges.
Daniel Burnham's plan for the city of
Chicago emphasized
a. blocks of skyscrapers.
b. a lakefront park system.
c. a network of bicycle paths.
d. hidden electric lines.
Skyscrapers were made possible by the
invention of
a. safer fire escapes.
b. larger bricks and stronger cement.
c. the elevator and a steel framework.
d. the airplane and the bicycle.
In the Southwest, many Mexicans earned
a living as
a. railroad workers and agricultural
laborers.
b. small business owners.
c. dockworkers and canal diggers.
d. household servants and mail carriers.
All of the following became popular around the
turn of the 20th century except
a. European literature.
b. professional baseball.
c. vaudeville theater.
d. amusement parks.
All of the following were trends in
education around 1900 except
a.
more students attending both elementary
and high school.
b.
immigrants becoming "Americanized" by
attending public schools.
c.
growth of kindergartens.
d.
most African Americans attending high
school.
In the case of Plessy v. Ferguson, the Supreme
Court ruled that
a.
lynching was a federal crime.
b.
school segregation was unconstitutional.
c.
voting rights could not be tied to any form of
tax.
d.
racial segregation in public facilities was
legal.
Which development lowered the price of
newspapers to a penny a copy?
a.
a printing press that simultaneously printed
both sides of the paper
b.
a lower price for American timber used by
paper mills
c.
a drop in the wages of newspaper delivery
boys
d.
a new lightweight engine developed for use in
aircraft
Who expressed the belief that racism would end
as blacks acquired practical work skills and
proved their economic value to society?
a. W. E. B. Du Bois
b. Ida B. Wells
c. Booker T.Washington
d. William Torrey Harris
Which of the following did not keep African
Americans in the South from voting?
a. poll taxes
b. grandfather clauses
c. the separate-but-equal doctrine
d. literacy tests
The popularity of bicycling and amusement
parks reflected which trend of the 1900s?
a. wider public access to the fine arts
b. an interest in leisure activities
c. a rising literacy rate
d. new ways of shopping and advertising
Which effect can be traced directly to the
Supreme Court's ruling in Plessy v. Ferguson?
a.
Southern blacks lost their voting rights for 60
years.
b.
Lynching of African Americans continued into
the 1920s.
c.
Racial segregation was permitted for nearly 60
years.
d.
Race riots broke out in New York and other
large cities.
How did George Eastman contribute to an
explosion in the popularity of photography?
a.
by taking photographs of the Wright brothers'
first flight at Kitty Hawk
b.
by inventing a camera that was larger and
heavier than most
c.
by inventing a camera that could develop
pictures on the spot
d.
by inventing a camera that used roll film
instead of heavy glass plates
How did the introduction of the bicycle
affect women's lives?
a.
It led to numerous injuries among women
riders.
b.
It made many women feel more
independent.
c.
It gave women more time to spend with
their children.
d.
It started a fitness craze among women.
Which type of fiction was very popular
around the turn of the 20th century?
a. realistic portrayals of American life
b. Western adventure tales
c. novels about the grand life of the
upper class
d. stories about sports heroes