7th Grade American History
Exam Study Guide Answer Key
Chapter 5
1) Why did the British pass the acts in the flowchart?
They needed to raise money so they decided to tax the colonists.
2) Which act was passed first?
The Sugar Act 1764
3) What was the final result of the British trying to raise taxes?
The Boston Massacre, The Boston Tea Party, and The American Revolution Begins
4) What act was passed last?
The Townshend Act 1767
5) How many years elapsed from the Sugar Act to the American Revolution?
11 years
6) Why were the colonists so angry over these taxes?
They think the taxes are unfair
They did not have representation in parliament but had to pay the taxes anyway
7) The Louisiana territory belonged to which country in 1763?
Spain
8) What measures did the British take to end the troubles with Native Americans?
They drew the Proclamation Line of 1763 to prevent colonists from expanding westward on to Native American territory.
9) What decisions were made by the first continental congress?
They drafted a statement of grievances against the acts that parliament passed claiming that they violated the colonists
rights.
They voted to boycott all British goods and trade.
They started forming militias or groups of citizen soldiers
10) What was the significance of the Boston Tea Party?
It was a dramatic act of defiance against Britain. King George realized that Britain was losing control of the colonies and
passed the Coercive Acts. American Colonists called them the intolerable acts. They said that any colonist caught trying to rebel,
would have harsh punishments. It banned any town meetings in Massachusetts. It also closed Boston harbor until the colonist paid
for all ruined tea. This prevented the arrival of food and supplies from reaching the colonists in Boston.
11) How did the second continental congress govern the colonies?
It authorized printing of money and setup a post office with Ben Franklin in charge.
It established committee to communicate with Native Americans.
It created the continental army and chose George Washington as the leader.
Congress offered the Olive Branch petition to King George III. He refused to accept.
12) Why did the stamp act cause more resistance among ordinary people in the colonies than did the Sugar Act?
It taxed the colonists directly without their consent and effected more people because all printed materials were being
taxed. The sugar act only effected those who were smuggling
13) Which group of people had more reason to resist the Tea Act of 1773, colonial tea merchants or colonial tea drinkers?
Why?
Colonial Tea Merchants
This act gave Britain the right to ship tea to the colonists without paying most of the taxes usually placed on tea. This
made Britain Tea, The East India Company, cheaper than colonial tea. The tea act gave the Company an unfair advantage over
colonial merchants.
Chapter 6
1) What did the British promise to enslaved Africans who fought on the Loyalist side? Freedom
2) Where did the patriots score a victory at on Christmas night 1776? Trenton, NJ
3) Who disguised himself as a Dutch school teacher to spy on the British? Nathan Hale
4) Where did the Patriots suffer their worst defeat in the war? Charles Town, South Carolina
5) The Hessian’s main goal for winning the war was getting paid.
6) On October 17, 1777, General John Burgoyne surrendered to the Americans at Saratoga
7) William Howe Planned to capture the American capital, Philadelphia
8) Which foreign troops helped defeat Charles Cornwallis? France
9) After the battle of Yorktown King George agreed to give the colonists their freedom.
10) The hit-and-run technique of fighting the colonists used in the South to catch the British of-guard is called guerrilla
warfare
11) What patriot victory convinced the British the war was too costly to continue fighting? Yorktown
12) In the Treaty of Paris the British promised to remove all troops from the American Territory
13) Valley Forge , PA is where Washington and his men endured a winter of terrible suffering
14) This nation signed a trade agreement and a treaty of alliance with the revolutionary United States in 1778. France
15) Because of inflation the continental congress stopped issuing paper money.
16) Which foreign national became one of Washington’s trusted aids during the war? Marquis de Laffayette
17) Because of the blockade supplies and reinforcements could not reach the Continental Army
18) Francis Marion was known as the “Swamp Fox” because of his imaginative war tactics.
19) In the Treaty of Paris, Great Britain recognized the United States as an independent nation.
20) After the Patriot victory in the Battle of Saratoga the French announced their support of the Americans in the war effort.
21) Bernardo de Galvez was the Spanish Governor of Louisiana who provided aid to the colonists
22) Compare and contrast the makeup of the American and British armies
American armies were poor farmers and merchants with little to no fighting experience
Britain’s army was full of well-trained fighting soldiers with plenty of fighting experience.
23) What advantages did the American militias have over the British?
They were fighting on their own land, so they knew the layout better than the British
They had help from other nations
They had George Washington as their leader
They were fighting for something they believed in and had more motive to win
Chapter 7
1. Which branch of the federal government has the power to reject the appointment of judges?
The Legislative Branch (senate)
2. What were the differences between the North and the South over slavery?
The North did not depend on slavery to keep the economy going, so they opposed having slaves count for population when
it came to representation in congress. The South was dependent on slaves to keep the economy going.
3. What are the three braches of government? Describe each branch’s responsibilities.
Executive – enforce the laws
Judicial – interpret the laws
Legislative (Congress) – make the laws
4. What caused the financial crisis after the Revolutionary War?
After the war, the economy went through a depression. Southern plantations were damages during the war. Trade also
fell when Britain closed the West Indies which was a market for American merchants. The new nation was in debt and and no
money to pay back foreign nations that sent aid during the war.
5. What was the Three-Fifths Compromise?
Slaves would count for 3/5 of the population when counting for representation in congress
6. Describe the New Jersey Plan.
Smaller States favored this plan. It said that all states should have equal representation in Congress regardless of the
population. It also setup an executive and judicial branch of government to enforce and interpret the laws.
7. Describe the Virginia Plan.
Larger states favored this plan. It stated that states should be represented in congress based on the population. It also
setup an executive and judicial branch of government to enforce and interpret the laws.
8. How did the Great Compromise combine elements of the New Jersey Plan and the Virginia Plan?
It setup a two house legislature (congress) in which one side would be the senate where each state had equal
representation and the other side would be the house of representatives which each state had representation based on population.
9. How did the states limit the power of the central government under the Articles of Confederation?
They created a system of checks and balances so no branch could overpower the others
10. Under the Confederation, many states avoided a concentration of government power by establishing a
bicameral (two house) legislature.
11. The central government authority under the Articles of Confederation was the Congress
12. The Articles of Confederation governed the United States from 1781 through 1787
13. The Ordinance of 1785 divided lands in the West north of the Ohio River into townships six miles
long and six miles wide.
14. The government of the Confederation could not pay its debts because it lacked the power to tax the
states or American citizens.
15. Control and use of the Mississippi River was a major issue between the United States and
Spain in the 1780s.
16. Farmers in western Massachusetts led Shays’s Rebellion in 1787.
17. The Constitutional Convention agreed that Congress would not interfere with the issue of slavery
until 1808.
18. When the United States Constitution was complete, three delegates refused to sign it because it did not have a
Bill of Rights
19. Two important British documents, the Magna Carta and the English Bill of Rights, influenced the Framers of the United
States Constitution.
20. Under the United States Constitution, the president and vice president are elected indirectly by a special group
called the Electoral College
21. The United States Constitution’s system of checks and balances ensures that no one branch of the
federal government can become too powerful.