Democracy in America

Why did many of the nation’s founders distrust true democracy?

a. They believed that common people would not make smart decisions

b. They feared that democracy would lead to racial equality

c. The founders embraced democracy

d. They worried that they would not win popular elections

 

2. What did the Tallmadge Amendment propose?

a. Voting for all white men regardless of property

b. The gradual abolition of slavery as a condition of Missouri statehood

c. That Missouri enter the union as a slave state

d. The use of popular voting as a solution to solve the question of whether Missouri

should allow slavery

 

3. As a condition of the Missouri Compromise, Missouri entered as a slave state and ________

entered as a free state.

a. Ohio

b. Indiana

c. Maine

d. Michigan

 

4. Andrew Jackson’s background differed from previous American presidents for which of the

following reasons?

a. His childhood taught him the importance of racial equality

b. He never served in the military

c. He briefly fought for the British during the Revolutionary War

d. He grew up very poor

 

5. All of the following statements regarding Andrew Jackson’s incursion into Florida are true

EXCEPT

a. Jackson had two Britons executed

b. Most officials in President Monroe’s administration called for Jackson’s censure

c. The event helped to persuade Spain to accept the Adams-Onís Treaty of 1819, which

gave Florida to the United States

d. Jackson was operating under specific orders to subdue the Seminole Indians

 

6. Who ultimately decided the fate of the 1824 election?

a. James Monroe

b. John Adams

c. Henry Clay

d. William Crawford

 

7. Why did critics mock the marriage of Andrew and Rachel Jackson?

a. Rachel’s divorce to her previous husband was not yet complete

b. Rachel Jackson previously owned a boardinghouse where she was seen with several men

c. Andrew Jackson was physically disfigured while Rachel was beautiful

d. Andrew Jackson was decades older than Rachel

 

8. The Nullification Crisis occurred over political disagreements about which issue?

a. Property taxes

b. Tariffs

c. Internal improvements

d. Antislavery laws

 

9. Which of the following groups was most likely to support export tariffs?

a. Southern planters

b. Western homesteaders

c. Northeastern manufacturers

d. Female teachers

 

10. What issue led to the dissolution of Andrew Jackson’s cabinet?

a. The Nullification Crisis

b. The Eaton Affair

c. The Bank War

d. The Tariff of Abominations

 

11. What happened to the funds that were in the Second Bank of the United States?

a. They were seized by the federal government and used to offset cuts in tariffs

b. They were returned to the private investors who initially backed the bank

c. They were disbursed to selected state banks

d. The funds represented non-physical specie, so they simply dissolved

 

12. All of the following contributed to the Panic of 1837 EXCEPT

a. High interest rates in Great Britain led British investors to cease investing in American banks

b. Banks lent more money than they had backed in hard currency

c. The Specie Circular of 1836 led land buyers to drain eastern banks of gold and silver

d. Panicked customers scrambled to exchange banknotes for hard currency

 

13. Why did the Whig Party choose William Henry Harrison over Henry Clay for the election in 1840?

a. Clay lacked political experience at this stage in his career

b. Harrison, like Andrew Jackson, had gained fame as a war hero

c. Harrison had stronger antislavery credentials

d. Clay’s reputation as a compromiser did not appeal to the strong partisans in the Whig Party

 

14. The Whig Party benefitted from a popular conspiracy theory in the 1830s. This conspiracy

theory blamed what group for the problems in American society?

a. Black Americans

b. The Illuminati

c. The Masonic Order

d. The Society of Jesus

 

15. Over the first fifty years of American history, which of the following statements best

describes the ability of African Americans to vote in elections?

a. African Americans could never vote in American elections prior to the Civil War

b. Voting rights among African Americans increased during antebellum America

c. Voting rights among African Americans decreased during antebellum America

d. African American women had the right to vote

 

 

How did American democracy change in the 1820s?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Is Andrew Jackson’s presidency best understood as tragedy, triumph, or irony?