Louisiana State University - HIST 2055

Chapter 7 Shaping a Federal Union

TRUE/FALSE

1)By raising taxes in the early 1780s, the Confederation was able to reduce the national debt.

2. General Washington’s personal appeal to his officers ended the Newburgh Conspiracy.

3. Merchants suffered more than farmers by the separation from Great Britain.

4. One important new development in the mid-1780s was the opening of U.S. trade with China.

5. George Washington typified elite disapproval of Shays’s Rebellion.

6. Alexander Hamilton presided over the Constitutional Convention.

7. Delegates to the Constitutional Convention sharply debated whether to establish a monarchy or a re- public.

8. The New Jersey Plan proposed to keep a unicameral legislature with equal representation for each state.

9. Under the Constitution, each slave would count as one person for purposes of representation, but as only half a person for taxation.

10. The Constitution mentioned the word “slave” (or “slavery”) eighteen times.

11. The Constitution immediately outlawed the foreign slave trade.

12. The Constitution established a Supreme Court with nine justices.

13. The Articles of Confederation required unanimous approval for amendment.

14. Federalists favored a decentralized federal system of government.

15. The essays that made up The Federalist were originally published in New York newspapers during the fight for ratification.

MULTIPLE CHOICE

1.The phrase “critical period” refers to:

1. 1. the time of the Revolutionary War
   2. the summer the Constitution was written
   3. America under the Articles of Confederation
   4. George Washington’s presidency
   5. the years of tension over British taxes

2. In the final years of the Revolutionary War,                 emerged as the most influential figure in the government.
   1. Robert Morris
   2. John Adams
   3. Ben Franklin
   4. George Washington
   5. Alexander Hamilton

3. Which one of the following gave the Confederation government the most trouble?
   1. finances
   2. Indian affairs
   3. land policy
   4. postal service
   5. immigration policy

4. The Newburgh Conspiracy involved:
   1. General Washington’s plot to become dictator

1. 2. a military threat to enlarge congressional powers
   3. an attempt to destroy the Bank of North America
   4. secret peace talks with the British
   5. a revolt against Congress by the states

5. Under the Articles of Confederation western lands would be:
   1. divided up among the existing states
   2. free of slavery
   3. recognized as belonging to the Indians
   4. owned by the national government
   5. extended to the Pacific

6. The 640-acre sections created in the Northwest:
   1. would be given to settlers for free
   2. raised enough money to pay the national debt
   3. would be reserved for veterans of the Revolution
   4. would be sold by local banks
   5. would likely be bought by land speculators

7. The United States departed from the colonial policies of Great Britain by:
   1. promising equal statehood to all unsettled western territory
   2. prohibiting national control of trade with other nations
   3. promising citizenship for all western Indians
   4. prohibiting the movement of slaves between states, except for sale
   5. requiring all taxes to be approved by the voters

8. The Northwest Ordinance of 1787:
   1. banned slavery in the Northwest
   2. made Ohio and Indiana states immediately
   3. established colonies in the Ohio Valley
   4. denied self-government to that region
   5. provided for joint occupation of that area with the British

9. Which of the following was NOT part of the Northwest Ordinance?
   1. Slavery was prohibited in the territory above the Ohio River.
   2. Statehood was allowed when a territory had a population of 60,000 people.
   3. Religious freedom was guaranteed in a “bill of rights.”
   4. New states formed from the Northwest Territory had to allow Indians “perpetual repres- entation” in the state governments.
   5. Territorial governors were to be chosen by Congress.

10. The plan presented by Reverend Cather of the Ohio Company was to settle the Northwest with:
    1. foreign immigrants
    2. military veterans
    3. ex-slaves
    4. Loyalists
    5. prisoners

11. In the lands south of the Ohio River:
    1. settlement proceeded more slowly than in the Northwest
    2. there was little or no resistance from the Indians as white settlers encroached on their land
    3. Georgia, North Carolina, and Virginia temporarily kept their titles to the western lands
    4. policy was set in the Land Ordinance of 1787
    5. slavery was permanently banned

12. After the Revolutionary War, American trade with Britain:
    1. was illegal
    2. was limited to the West Indies
    3. resumed
    4. was minimal
    5. was unrestricted

13. An important new development came in the mid-1780s, when the United States opened trade with:
    1. Japan
    2. France
    3. Canada
    4. China
    5. India

14. An ongoing source of American tension toward the British was:
    1. British refusal to recognize America
    2. British blockade of the Atlantic coast
    3. British refusal to pay war damages
    4. Britain’s refusal to release American POWs
    5. British forts along the Canadian border

15. America contended with Spain over:
    1. freedom to navigate the Mississippi
    2. trade with Spain’s colonies

1. 3. ownership of Florida
   4. Spain’s cruel treatment of Indians
   5. discrimination toward Catholics in America

16. One serious economic problem under the Articles of Confederation was:
    1. a scarcity of good farmland
    2. the differing tariff policies of the states
    3. the impossibility of obtaining credit
    4. excessively high income taxes
    5. low wages caused by an oversupply of labor

17. The movement for states to issue paper money in the 1780s was led by:
    1. farmers
    2. creditors
    3. merchants
    4. artisans
    5. ministers

18. Shays’s Rebellion broke out in:
    1. Boston
    2. New York City
    3. western Massachusetts
    4. Rhode Island
    5. Pennsylvania

19. Shays’s Rebellion was led by:
    1. merchants
    2. factory workers
    3. bankers
    4. indebted farmers
    5. ambitious politicians

20. Shays’s Rebellion:
    1. spread to several northern states
    2. was supported by George Washington and other elite figures
    3. was repressed by state militia
    4. resulted in massive bloodshed and property destruction
    5. made Americans more fearful of strong central government

21. In response to Shays’s Rebellion, Thomas Jefferson:
    1. was horrified
    2. wanted to hang its leaders

1. 3. was silent
   4. resigned from the government
   5. said occasional revolts were necessary

22. The Annapolis Convention of 1786:
    1. wrote a new constitution
    2. was organized by Congress
    3. was opposed by Washington and Hamilton
    4. grew out of discussion among the states about commercial cooperation
    5. was attended by delegates from each state

23. How many states were represented at the Annapolis Convention?
    1. 9
    2. 5
    3. 13
    4. 10
    5. 2

24. The Constitutional Convention met in:
    1. New York
    2. Washington, D.C.
    3. Philadelphia
    4. Boston
    5. Albany

25. The convention, which assembled in May 1787, was supposed to:
    1. write a new constitution
    2. address the country’s financial crisis
    3. revise the Articles of Confederation
    4. nominate someone for president
    5. discuss better trade relations with Britain

26. The delegates who met:
    1. included John Adams and Thomas Jefferson
    2. tended to be elderly
    3. wanted a weaker central government
    4. included many participants in the Revolution
    5. arrived knowing what they wanted

27. At the outset of the Constitutional Convention, whom did the delegates unanimously elect as president of the convention?
    1. Alexander Hamilton
    2. James Madison
    3. George Washington
    4. Benjamin Franklin
    5. Thomas Jefferson

28. The convention’s most gifted political philosopher and man who emerged as its central figure was:
    1. Alexander Hamilton
    2. George Washington
    3. Ben Franklin
    4. Patrick Henry
    5. James Madison

29. Madison’s Virginia Plan:
    1. would create a president for life
    2. would create a two-house Congress
    3. was most favored by the small states
    4. would simply amend the Articles of Confederation
    5. would abolish the state governments

30. The Great Compromise:
    1. was negotiated by Ben Franklin
    2. showed the South’s determination to protect slavery
    3. listed the explicit powers of Congress
    4. created a four-year term for president
    5. settled the question of congressional representation

31. The Constitution addressed slavery by:
    1. referring numerous times to “slaves” or “slavery”
    2. stating that the African slave trade could not be banned before 1808
    3. requiring that all slaves count toward a state’s congressional representation
    4. making it legal in every state
    5. requiring that slaves have full legal protections

32. On the question of women’s rights, the proposed Constitution:
    1. denied the vote to females

1. 2. was surprisingly progressive for its time
   3. defined women as the property of their husbands
   4. accepted the advice of prominent women
   5. said nothing

33. In regard to citizenship, the Constitution:
    1. gave citizenship to Indians
    2. gave citizenship to free blacks
    3. limited future numbers of immigrants
    4. gave Congress authority over naturalization
    5. allowed noncitizens to serve in Congress

34. The great majority of the Founding Fathers rejected:
    1. federal taxation
    2. religion
    3. property requirements for voting
    4. division of federal and state authority
    5. rule by the people

35. The Founding Fathers viewed the most “democratic” branch of the government as the:
    1. presidency
    2. Senate
    3. Supreme Court
    4. cabinet
    5. House of Representatives

36. Under the proposed constitution, members of the Senate would:
    1. serve two-year terms
    2. be chosen by state legislatures
    3. be appointed by state governors
    4. be chosen by popular vote
    5. be men of substantial wealth

37. According to the Constitution, the president has the authority to do all the following EXCEPT:
    1. veto acts of Congress
    2. resign and choose his successor
    3. recommend legislation to Congress
    4. act as commander-in-chief of the armed forces
    5. appoint diplomats and judges

38. The president’s powers were limited by all of the following EXCEPT:
    1. he would be chosen by popular vote
    2. he could not declare war
    3. Congress could override his vetoes
    4. he could be impeached
    5. he could be convicted and removed from office

39. Amendments to the Constitution:
    1. would be made by the Supreme Court
    2. would be proposed by a two-thirds vote of Congress
    3. would require approval of every state
    4. could be vetoed by the president
    5. would ultimately be approved by popular vote

40. The Constitution was to be considered ratified as soon as it had been approved by:
    1. the Constitutional Convention
    2. the Continental Congress
    3. all thirteen states
    4. nine of the states
    5. a majority popular vote

41. Charles Beard’s study of the Constitution:
    1. emphasized the political genius of the Founding Fathers
    2. marveled at how democratic a document it is
    3. remains the accepted interpretation today
    4. was biased by patriotism and hero worship
    5. described the selfish economic interests of the men who wrote it

42. Charles Beard’s writings on the Constitution at least caution us against:
    1. hero worship
    2. excessive democracy
    3. intervening in the affairs of other countries
    4. states’ rights
    5. separation of church and state

43. Most of the Federalist essays were written by:
    1. James Madison
    2. John Jay

1. 3. Patrick Henry
   4. Alexander Hamilton
   5. Sam Adams

44. Federalist Number 10 explains how a republic can:
    1. defend itself
    2. become a democracy
    3. create a just society
    4. pays its debts
    5. be successful in a large, diverse society

45. The Federalist argued that:
    1. the size and diversity of the large new country would make it impossible for any one fac- tion to control the government
    2. the Constitution was necessary to prevent one faction from taking control of the nation
    3. a republican form of government could not work in a nation as large as the United States, and therefore the Constitution was necessary
    4. the Constitution would promote control of the government by one faction, which would be good for the nation
    5. if the Constitution failed, the country could always go back to the Articles of Confedera- tion

46. Who among the following was an anti-Federalist?
    1. Alexander Hamilton
    2. John Jay
    3. Patrick Henry
    4. James Madison
    5. George Washington

47. Anti-Federalist leaders:
    1. often were better organized and prepared than their Federalist opponents
    2. tended to be younger than their Federalist counterparts
    3. had been the chief proponents of a stronger central government at the Constitutional Con- vention
    4. wanted a Bill of Rights to protect individuals from the new government
    5. tended to be wealthier than their Federalist opponents

48. The first of these states to ratify the Constitution was:
    1. Delaware
    2. New York

1. 3. Rhode Island
   4. Virginia
   5. Massachusetts

49. The Constitution was ratified:
    1. in a national referendum
    2. without serious opposition
    3. despite a close vote in Massachusetts
    4. despite its rejection in Virginia
    5. due to the support of the anti-Federalists

50. As the new Constitution went into effect, Founding Fathers like Franklin and Washington viewed its future with feelings of:
    1. supreme confidence
    2. fear and loathing
    3. God’s approval
    4. uncertainty
    5. regret, since the Articles of Confederation were clearly better

51 MATCHING

Match each description with the item below.

1. 1. was the oldest member of the Constitutional Convention
   2. proposed Great Compromise at Constitutional Convention
   3. drafted land ordinance of 1784
   4. was the Confederation superintendent of finance
   5. briefly represented New York at the Constitutional Convention
   6. claimed to “smell a rat” at Constitutional Convention
   7. believed Constitution would last no more than twenty years
   8. wrote An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution
   1. was a destitute and disgruntled Massachusetts farmer
   10. is known as the “Father of the Constitution”
1. Charles A. Beard
2. Benjamin Franklin
3. Alexander Hamilton
4. Patrick Henry
5. Thomas Jefferson
6. James Madison