SAT II US History : Facts and Details in U.S. Social History from 1790 to 1898

Study concepts, example questions & explanations for SAT II US History

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Example Questions

Example Question #5 : U.S. Social History From 1790 To 1898

On January 1, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation which did ALL of the following EXCEPT:

Possible Answers:

Free the slaves in the five Union states

Tie the slavery issue directly with the Civil War

Allow black soldiers to fight for the Union

Maintain the institution of slavery in the Union

Declare free only those slaves in Confederate states

Correct answer:

Free the slaves in the five Union states

Explanation:

The Emancipation Proclaimation did not abolish slavery in the Union; there were 5 slave states (Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri and West Virginia) that fought for the preservation of the United States.

Example Question #7 : U.S. Social History

1.       Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst used this style of writing to increase newspaper readership which increased public sentiment to start a war with Spain.

Possible Answers:

Tabloid Journalism

Objective Journalism

Sensationalism

Investigative Journalism

Nationalism

Correct answer:

Sensationalism

Explanation:

Sensationalism. This exaggeration tactic was used to make everyday news more interesting and therefore increase readership for their respective newspapers.

Example Question #8 : U.S. Social History

1.       The belief that it was divinely intended that Americans should control the whole of the continental U.S. is known as?

Possible Answers:

The Second Great Awakening

Nationalism

Sectionalism

Manifest Destiny

Westward Expansion

Correct answer:

Manifest Destiny

Explanation:

Manifest Destiny. It had become a popular belief in the mid 1800’s that it was the nation’s destiny to expand West in the name of God, progress, and civilization.

Example Question #2 : U.S. Social History

Which technological military innovation did not occur during the American Civil War?

Possible Answers:
Ironclad Battleships
None of the other answers
Deployment of troops by train
Machine Guns
Nerve Gas
Correct answer: Nerve Gas
Explanation:

The American Civil War saw a large increase in technological innovations related to warfare.  In particular, train travel, ironclad ships, and machine guns were all first used in warfare during the American Civil War.  Nerve gas, however, was not even discovered until the 1930s.

Example Question #1 : Facts And Details In U.S. Social History From 1790 To 1898

The forced relocation of Native Americans from the southeastern United States as a result of the Indian Removal Act of 1830 has been named the Trail of Tears.  Which of the following indigenous nations was NOT forcibly removed from its ancestral homeland to Indian Territory in present-day Oklahoma?

Possible Answers:

The Cherokee

The Inuit

The Choctaw

The Seminole

The Chickasaw

Correct answer:

The Inuit

Explanation:

The Inuit are an indigenous people located in the Arctic.

Example Question #1 : Facts And Details In U.S. Social History From 1790 To 1898

He said to his friend, "If the British march
By land or sea from the town to-night,
Hang a lantern aloft in the belfry arch
Of the North Church tower as a signal light--
One if by land, and two if by sea--
And I on the opposite shore will be,
Ready to ride and spread the alarm
Through every Middlesex village and farm,
For the country folk to be up and to arm."

American Poet, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, wrote the poem from which this excerpt is taken in 1860.  About which famous Revolutionary War patriot was Longfellow writing?

Possible Answers:

Patrick Henry

George Washington

Paul Revere

John Adams

Alexander Hamilton

Correct answer:

Paul Revere

Explanation:

The first stanza of Longfellow's poem "Paul Revere's Ride" famously reads,

"Listen my children and you shall hear
Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere,
On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-five;
Hardly a man is now alive
Who remembers that famous day and year."

Example Question #2 : Facts And Details In U.S. Social History From 1790 To 1898

The discovery of gold in Coloma, California, on January 24th, 1848, resulted in roughly 300,000 people rushing to California via sea and over land.  What was the name of this massive influx of people to the Golden State?

Possible Answers:

The California Gold Rush

The Gold Migration

The Call of the Wild

The Coloma Calling

The Forty-Niners Rush

Correct answer:

The California Gold Rush

Explanation:

The 300,000 men and women lured to California by the prospect of gold resulted in the California Gold Rush.

Example Question #3 : Facts And Details In U.S. Social History From 1790 To 1898

This escaped slave became a Conductor on the Underground Railroad and helped hundreds of slaves to freedom in the North.

Possible Answers:

Harriet Tubman

George Washington Carver

Frederick Douglass

Uncle Tom

Harriet Beecher Stowe

Correct answer:

Harriet Tubman

Explanation:

Born into slavery, Harriet Tubman escaped and then committed her life to helping others escape the horrific institution.  She even served as a spy for the Union Army during the Civil War.

Example Question #4 : Facts And Details In U.S. Social History From 1790 To 1898

In 1859, this abolitionist captured the federal arsenal at Harper's Ferry, Virginia along with 21 followers in an unsuccessful attempt to start a slave revolt.

Possible Answers:

Frederick Douglass

John Brown

William Lloyd Garrison

Thomas Clarkson

Nat Turner

Correct answer:

John Brown

Explanation:

The abolitionist was John Brown captured Harper's Ferry and was tried and hanged for his unsuccessful raid.

Example Question #5 : Facts And Details In U.S. Social History From 1790 To 1898

From the early-to-mid-nineteenth century, this wagon route from the Missouri River to Oregon permitted hundreds of thousands of immigrants to settle the West. What was its name?

Possible Answers:

The Oregon Trail

The Western Route

The Appalachian Trail

The Oregon Valley

The Northwest Passage

Correct answer:

The Oregon Trail

Explanation:

Before the Transcontinental Railroad, the Oregon Trail from the Missouri River to Oregon permitted hundreds of thousands of immigrants to settle the West.

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