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1.  As American businesses grew in the period after the Civil War, many developed a pattern of business organization called a trust.  What were trusts?

A. businesses that sought the trust of the average consumer as a way to grow even larger
B. businesses that joined together to form monopolies or near monopolies
C. businesses that broke into smaller companies to make it easier compete
D. businesses that sold goods through mail order at low prices

2.  What cities were at the beginning and at the end of America’s first transcontinental railroad?

A. San Antonio and Abiline 
B. St. Louis and San Francisco 
C. Salt Lake City and Chicago
D. Omaha and Sacramento

3.  Which city is at the end of the old cowboy and cattle trail known as the Chisholm Trail?

A. San Francisco, California
B. Salt Lake City, Utah
C. Abilene, Kansas
D. New Orleans, Louisiana

4.  In the decades after the Civil War, Indians in the West were confined to reservations.  Congress hoped to help them with a law called the Dawes Act.  What did it try to do?

A. It tried to restore the rights of Indians to their land.
B. It tried to pay Indians for the land they had lost.
C. It tried to force Indians of different tribes to join together.
D. It tried to "Americanize" the Indians and turn them into settled farmers.

5.  If you were to study articles in old newspapers by Jacob Riis about tenements, what would you most likely learn about?

A. the construction of the transcontinental railroad
B. the living conditions of the working class in big cities
C. the life of Plains Indians before 1880
D. the growth of the American Federation of Labor

6.  What was Andrew Carnegie famous for?

A. He built up the steel industry, then gave away millions of dollars to good purposes.
B. He started a scheme to get control of most of the oil industry in the U.S.
C. He was a “boss” of politics in Chicago. 
D. He fought for workers’ rights as president of the American Federation of Labor.

7.  Which of the statements below best captures the attitude of Social Darwinism that was widespread during the Gilded Age?

A. "Christianity must be practiced in business as well as in church."
B. "All for one, and one for all - that will bring happiness to one and all."
C. "The rich have won the competition of life, so they deserve their riches."
D. "Immigration is good business for American business.”

8.  Where did Boss Tweed and other big city bosses find their main source of votes that kept them in power during the Gilded Age?

A. the upper classes who were moving to the outskirts of the cities 
B. the middle classes who hoped to move up socially and economically
C. immigrants and other working class people in poorer neighborhoods
D. leaders in the Congress

9.  What was Susan B. Anthony best known for?

A. She started the settlement house movement.
B. She was an early leader in the temperance movement.
C. She fought for the rights of Indians on reservations.
D. She was a leader in the effort to win women the right to vote.

10.  What did the Homestead Act do?

A. It gave 160 acres of free land in the West to anyone who would settle on it.
B. It required buildings in New York City to meet certain minimum standards.
C. It allowed cowboys to cross public land with their cattle herds.
D. It brought Alaska into the U.S.

11.  What was “Promontory Point”?

A. the place where the Tammany Hall organization met in New York City
B. the place where the Union Pacific Railroad joined the Central Pacific Railroad
C. the start of the Chisholm Trail in Texas
D. the place where digging on the Panama Canal started

12.  What was the goal of Jane Addams and others in the settlement house movement?

A. to improve conditions on cattle trails and in “cow towns” for cowboys
B. to expose the problems created by trusts
C. to assist people moving onto the Great Plains as farmers
D. to help improve life for people living in poor city neighborhoods

13.  What is Ellis Island famous for in American history?

A. the extravagant summer home of Andrew Carnegie
B. the location of an Indian reservation
C. the "first stop" of many immigrants arriving in New York
D. the place where Thomas Edison built his first laboratory

14.  If a headline reads “Graft Found At City Hall,” what is being said?

A. Financial records of the city government are confusing or out of order.
B. City election records are not complete.
C. There is not enough money to pay the money the city government owes.
D. Crooked things are happening in the city government involving money.

15.  How did the United States gain Alaska?

A. The U.S. bought it from Russia.
B. The U.S. won it as a part of the Spanish American War.
C. The U.S. took it from the British
D. Native Eskimos there asked to join the U.S.

16.  If we take steel as an example of growing industrial production in the Gilded Age, which statement below best describes the overall result of this growth?

A. Production rose dramatically, and the price of steel went up sharply.
B. Production rose dramatically, and the price of steel went down sharply.
C. Production rose slightly, and the price of steel went up only slightly.
D. Production rose slightly, and the price of steel fell only slightly.

17.  What was the basic cause of the Spanish-American War?

A. The U.S. wanted the Philippines because the islands are close to China.
B. The U.S. wanted Guam as a naval base.
C. The U.S. wanted land in Panama to build a canal.
D. The U.S. wanted to help Cuba break free from Spanish control.

18.  Which of these best summarizes the views of Andrew Carnegie that are sometimes called “The Gospel of Wealth”?

A. Big industries need to act responsibly or Congress should regulate them. 
B. The growth of big industries and rich business owners is good for everyone. 
C. Large scale businesses should not organize as trusts.
D. The income gap between the rich and the poor should be reduced through taxation.

19.  Which of these best summarizes Ida Tarbell’s writings about the Standard Oil Company?

A. Standard Oil became a near-monopoly using methods that are, or should be, illegal.
B. The growth of the Standard Oil Company was good for the oil industry.
C. John D. Rockefeller should be admired for promoting more competition in business.
D. It is impossible for any business, even Standard Oil, to effectively control prices.

20.  Which of these best summarizes the views of Samuel Gompers, a key figure in the early years of the American Federation of Labor?

A. Capitalism should be replaced by socialism.
B. Workers will not get a fair share of America’s wealth unless they organize into unions.
C. Labor will someday disappear as machines become more and more efficient.
D. Small businesses are better for America than large businesses.

Use the map below to answer questions 21 to 25.

21.  What letter shows the location of Alaska?

22.  What letter shows the location of the Philippines?

23.  What letter shows the location of Cuba?

24.  What letter shows the location of Hawaii?

25.  What letter shows where the Panama Canal was built?
 

Copyright 2001, 2016 by David Burns
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