U.S. History Practice Test

Question 1

Which of the following events led most directly to the U.S. involvement in World War 2?

Accepted Answer

Answer

German invasion of Czechoslovakia

Answer

Cuban Missile Crisis

Answer

Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor

Answer

The assassination of Archduke Ferdinand

Question 2

Which of the following actions of Thomas Jefferson represented a vast departure from his philosophy of strict construction?

Accepted Answer

Answer

He wrote the Virginia Statute on Religious Freedom

Answer

Opposition to the First Bank of the United States

Answer

Support for states’ rights under the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions

Answer

The Louisiana Purchase

Question 3

Which of the following legislative acts did the most to increase voting among African Americans?

Accepted Answer

Answer

14th Amendment

Answer

15th Amendment

Answer

Civil Rights Act of 1964

Answer

Voting Rights Act of 1965

Question 4

The famous colonial patriot who authored the convincing pro-independence pamphlet, Common Sense was:

Accepted Answer

Answer

Patrick Henry

Answer

Samuel Adams

Answer

Thomas Paine

Answer

John Jay

Question 5

The Principle of popular sovereignty was enacted by which of these legislative agreements?

Accepted Answer

Answer

The Missouri Compromise

Answer

The annexation of Texas

Answer

The Kansas-Nebraska Act

Answer

The Kansas-Nebraska Act

Question 6

"Give me liberty, or give me death!" was stated by:

Accepted Answer

Answer

Patrick Henry

Answer

Samuel Adams

Answer

Thomas Paine

Answer

John Jay

Question 7

"Throughout the 19th and 20th century, immigrants came to the U.S. for one primary reason. From the Irish immigrants who poured into the industrial north in the mid-19th century to the eastern Europeans of the early 20th century and the Mexican and Latin American immigrants of the late 20th century, the American Dream has been the primary motivation." This passage explains the primary motivation for immigration as:

Accepted Answer

Answer

The California Gold Rush

Answer

Economic opportunity

Answer

Free education

Answer

Freedom of speech

Question 8

What geographic feature would have prevented the early English colonizers from moving further west, to the interior of North America?

Accepted Answer

Answer

Mississippi River

Answer

Appalachian Mountains

Answer

Rocky Mountains

Answer

Great Plains

Question 9

The sweeping legislative agenda that Franklin Roosevelt proposed to aid Americans during the Depression was called:

Accepted Answer

Answer

The Fair Deal

Answer

The New Deal

Answer

The Great Society

Question 10

Which of the following Constitutional Amendments illustrated the success of the suffrage campaign?

Accepted Answer

Answer

4th Amendment; protection from unreasonable searches

Answer

17th Amendment; the direct election of Senators

Answer

19th Amendment; enfranchising women

Answer

21st Amendment; repeal of prohibition