AP US History : AP US History
Study concepts, example questions & explanations for AP US History
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Example Questions
Example Question #1 : Domestic Politics 1849–1900
A PROCLAMATION
Whereas, it has become necessary to call into service not only volunteers but also portions of the militia of the States by draft in order to suppress the insurrection existing in the United States, and disloyal persons are not adequately restrained by the ordinary processes of law from hindering this measure and from giving aid and comfort in various ways to the insurrection;
Now, therefore, be it ordered, first, that during the existing insurrection and as a necessary measure for suppressing the same, all Rebels and Insurgents, their aiders and abettors within the United States, and all persons discouraging volunteer enlistments, resisting militia drafts, or guilty of any disloyal practice, affording aid and comfort to Rebels against the authority of United States, shall be subject to martial law and liable to trial and punishment by Courts Martial or Military Commission:
Second. That the Writ of Habeas Corpus is suspended in respect to all persons arrested, or who are now, or hereafter during the rebellion shall be, imprisoned in any fort, camp, arsenal, military prisons, or other place of confinement by any military authority of by the sentence of any Court Martial or Military Commission.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.
Done at the City of Washington this twenty fourth day of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, and of the Independence of the United States the 87th.
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln's suspension of the Writ of Habeus Corpus during the Civil War was Constitutionally significant because __________.
it was the instigation behind Congress' threat to impeach Abraham Lincoln
it denied citizen's First Amendment rights
None of these answers accurately reflect the constitutional significance of Lincoln's actions
it showed the US government's desperation to draft new soldiers
it allowed the US government to indefinitely imprison any person it chose by imposing martial law
it allowed the US government to indefinitely imprison any person it chose by imposing martial law
Article I, Section 9, Clause 2 of the US Constitution states, "The Privilege of the Write of Habeus Corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require it." The Writ of Habeus Corpus ensures prisoners a speedy trial and the right to be told what crimes they are charged with. It is considered a basic building block of a democratic legal system. Due to the nature of the Civil War, spies were prevalent. Lincoln rightly believed that many US soldier's lives were lost due to the passing of important information to the Confederacy. His suspension of the Writ of Habeus Corpus, and proclaiming his ability to declare martial law wherever he felt the need, was a military necessity, but it's Constitutional legality is still debated.
(Passage adapted from Abraham Lincoln's Presidential Proclamation #94 (1862))
Example Question #1 : Domestic Politics 1849–1900
What political viewpoint is this cartoon trying to convey?
The Emancipation Proclamation is the least likely to end the war against the South
Jefferson Davis is as strong as a mythical, scary dog
It will take as many people as possible to defeat the South
The most effective means of defeating the Southern rebellion is the Emancipation Proclamation
Abraham Lincoln is the least important figure in the war against the South
The most effective means of defeating the Southern rebellion is the Emancipation Proclamation
"J. Davis" (Jefferson Davis, the leader of the southern "rebellion") is advertised as having the strongest backbone in the world, setting up the challenge for northerners to "break" his backbone, defeat the rebellion, and end the war. Gyascutis is an imaginary beast, but that fact does not matter to the outcome of this cartoon. Various figures in Northern uniforms are shown swinging mallets labeled "skill" and "strategy," which are facets of the Northern approach to the war. Last in line are Abraham Lincoln and another political figure debating whether the draft or the Emancipation Proclamation will be the best way to win the war. We can infer that the artist thinks the Emancipation Proclamation is more likely to be successful because Lincoln is shown wielding an axe, the implement that seems most likely of the bunch to be successful in defeating the big dog.
Example Question #81 : Ap Us History
"Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction."
-- An amendment to the U.S. Constitution
When was this amendment ratified?
1861
1866
1863
1865
1865
The amendment was ratified in December 1865. The Emancipation Proclamation, which was issued in 1863, had freed slaves in the Confederate states, but did not address the issue on a constitutional level. The amendment was part of the Reconstruction amendments adopted after the Civil War, which also included the 14th and 15th amendments.
Example Question #82 : Ap Us History
"Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction."
-- An amendment to the U.S. Constitution
Which amendment is quoted above?
13th Amendment
14th Amendment
15th Amendment
21st Amendment
13th Amendment
This is the 13th Amendment to the Constitution. It was the first of the Reconstruction Amendments, which includes the 14th and the 15th amendments. It outlawed slavery within the United States. It was ratified in 1865. It followed the Emancipation Proclamation, which freed the slaves in the Confederate states in 1863.
Example Question #1 : Domestic Politics 1849–1900
I have heard it asserted by some that, as America has flourished under her former connection with Great Britain, the same connection is necessary towards her future happiness, and will always have the same effect. Nothing can be more fallacious than this kind of argument. We may as well assert that, because a child had thrived upon milk, it is never to have meat, or that the first twenty years of our lives is to become a precedent for the next twenty. But even this is admitting more than is true. For I answer roundly that America would have flourished as much, and probably much more, had no European power taken any notice of her…
Thomas Paine, Common Sense (1776)
Which of the following historical figures would have been least likely to agree with the ideas expressed by Thomas Paine in the passage above?
Patrick Henry
John Paul Jones
John Adams
Thomas Hutchinson
Nathanael Greene
Thomas Hutchinson
Thomas Hutchinson was a leading Boston merchant from an old American family, who served as governor of Massachusetts. Viewed as pro-British by some citizens of Boston, Hutchinson's house was burned in 1765 by an angry crowd protesting the Crown's policies. In 1774, Hutchinson left America for London where he died in 1780.
John Paul Jones was a Patriot naval hero. Nathanael Greene served as a general of the colonial forces. Patrick Henry was a noted orator and, alongside Thomas Paine, helped bolster popular support for independence. John Adams assisted Thomas Jefferson in drafting the Declaration of Independence.
Example Question #1 : Domestic Politics 1849–1900
"The great common people of this country are slaves, and monopoly is the master. The West and South are bound and prostrate before the manufacturing East..The [political] parties lie to us and the political speakers mislead us. We were told two years ago to go to work and raise a big crop, that was all we needed...and what came of it? Eight-cent corn, ten-cent oats, two-cent beef and no price at all for butter and eggs...We want money, land and transportation. We want the abolition of the National Banks, and we want the power to make loans direct from the government. We want the foreclosure system wiped out..."
- Mary E. Lease, lawyer, in an 1890 speech
Which of the following groups formed in response to the problems described by Lease in this passage?
The Temperance League
The Populist party
The progressive movement
Suffragists
Social Darwinists
The Populist party
Developing from economic cooperatives like the Farmers' Alliance, the Populist party represented the interests of the agricultural workers and sought (fairly unsuccessfully) political influence on the state and national level.
Example Question #2 : Domestic Politics 1849–1900
"One eighth of the whole population were colored slaves, not distributed generally over the Union, but localized in the Southern part of it. These slaves constituted a peculiar and powerful interest. All knew that this interest was, somehow, the cause of the war. To strengthen, perpetuate, and extend this interest was the object for which the insurgents would rend the Union, even by war; while the government claimed no right to do more than to restrict the territorial enlargement of it. Neither party expected for the war, the magnitude, or the duration, which it has already attained. ... With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation’s wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan — to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and a lasting peace, among ourselves, and with all nations."
Passage adapted from :Second Inaugural Address" by Abraham Lincoln (March 4, 1865)
Which belief of Abraham Lincoln's does this passage reflect?
Slavery was an illegal institution and should be dismantled.
Slavery was unjust and immoral.
Charities should be set up to help the south recover.
The country should focus on reconciliation with the Southern states rather than punishment.
The country should focus on reconciliation with the Southern states rather than punishment.
Lincoln almost legitimizes the Southerners reasons for going to war in political and economic terms (slaves are concentrated in the south and there is a powerful interest in that area in keeping the institution alive). He also notes that neither side could have anticipated the magnitude of the war, and does not blame the southerners for perpetuating it. We can also find a clue in his suggestion that the country move forward "with malice toward none" and "with charity toward all." Lincoln certainly believed that slavery was unjust, but this excerpt does not mention this belief, instead framing the causes of the Civil War in political and economic terms. Slavery was not illegal in the United States until the ratification of the 13th Amendment at the end of 1865. He notes that one of the causes of the Civil War was the union government's desire to stop the territorial expansion of slavery, not to make it illegal. He also mentions that the soldiers who fought, without qualification for which side they fought on, as well as their wives and children should be cared for.
Example Question #84 : Ap Us History
A PROCLAMATION
Whereas, it has become necessary to call into service not only volunteers but also portions of the militia of the States by draft in order to suppress the insurrection existing in the United States, and disloyal persons are not adequately restrained by the ordinary processes of law from hindering this measure and from giving aid and comfort in various ways to the insurrection;
Now, therefore, be it ordered, first, that during the existing insurrection and as a necessary measure for suppressing the same, all Rebels and Insurgents, their aiders and abettors within the United States, and all persons discouraging volunteer enlistments, resisting militia drafts, or guilty of any disloyal practice, affording aid and comfort to Rebels against the authority of United States, shall be subject to martial law and liable to trial and punishment by Courts Martial or Military Commission:
Second. That the Writ of Habeas Corpus is suspended in respect to all persons arrested, or who are now, or hereafter during the rebellion shall be, imprisoned in any fort, camp, arsenal, military prisons, or other place of confinement by any military authority of by the sentence of any Court Martial or Military Commission.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.
Done at the City of Washington this twenty fourth day of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, and of the Independence of the United States the 87th.
Abraham Lincoln
Passage adapted from Abraham Lincoln's Presidential Proclamation #94 (1862)
Which of the following statements is not included in Lincoln's proclamation?
All males of fighting age are required to sign up for the draft.
All provisions of Lincoln's proclamation are valid only during the "insurrection."
Martial law was enacted in order to help suppress the insurrection.
Any person deemed "disloyal" to the U.S. government could be arrested.
All persons arrested by a military authority, or confined in a military establishment, during the insurrection lose their Constitutional right to a speedy trial.
All males of fighting age are required to sign up for the draft.
Although the proclamation discusses the draft and its necessity for suppressing the insurrection, Lincoln does not request troops in this proclamation.
Example Question #1 : Identity, Ideas, Beliefs, And Culture 1901–1945
“The history of mankind is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations on the part of man toward woman, having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over her. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has never permitted her to exercise her inalienable right to the elective franchise.
He has compelled her to submit to laws, in the formation of which she had no voice...
He has taken from her all right in property, even to the wages she earns.”
- Seneca Falls Convention, Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions, 1848
In the latter half of the nineteenth century, the Women's Rights movement experienced a divide due to differing opinions on which of the following issues?
Social Darwinism
the Temperance Movement
the Spanish American War
Isolationism
the Fifteenth Amendment
the Fifteenth Amendment
By the 1870s, different figures active in the Women's Rights movement were divided over the issue of the Fifteenth Amendment, which ensured suffrage for African American males but did not extend that right to women.
Example Question #2 : Identity, Ideas, Beliefs, And Culture 1901–1945
The Age of the Automobile can be viewed from the following perspectives. The first perspective is Henry Ford, his invention of the Model T, and the creation of the Ford Motor Company. Henry Ford recognized the demand for the automobile would increase, and used his idea of the assembly line to make automobiles rapidly accessible to the public. Ford hired mechanics who liked to tinker with automobiles to create reliable, low cost, easy to operate, and easy to fix automobiles for the public. The second perspective is the view of the automobile as part of the economic transformation of the 1920s. Ford’s mass production techniques increased worker productivity. His company was able to make more cars available at a reasonable cost. The manufacturing of the automobile led to the demand for products such as steel, rubber, glass, oil, and gasoline to build and operate the automobiles. The automobile also developed a new cultural outlook in America. This perspective became known as the “work to live” philosophy. Individuals who worked long hours, looked forward to the new lifestyle and freedom the automobile gave them. They became more mobile and many Americans moved to the suburbs because the automobile enabled them to commute to work in the cities. Americans began taking extended vacations. This led to the growth of roadside restaurants, service stations and motels. New businesses were developing to support the freedom the automobile gave Americans.
How did the proliferation of automobile ownership effect American society?
Workers defined their lives by the goods they consumed not the jobs they held.
Automobile owners had to pay hidden taxes on gasoline and user fees to pay for road improvements.
Automotive crime and accidents became the norm requiring new laws to protect the public.
all of these
Personal and immediate gratification led to rising debt and the loss of local community.
all of these
The Age of the Automobile coincided with the Roaring Twenties. This was a time of new freedoms brought about by the modern and liberating technology such as the automobile. Americans could now have the freedom to move about and experience new adventures. Workers for the Ford Motor Company worked long hours at repetitive tasks to mass produce the Model T. In recognition of this, Henry Ford lowered the work shifts from 12 to 8 hour days and paid higher hourly wages to his employees. This made the Ford Motor Company the symbol of the modern integrated industrial economy and gave his employees more free time and more money to spend on the new technology of the day. There was a cost to this freedom for society as well. Wild spending on consumer products for the sake of immediate gratification led to large debt. Constant travel and vacations combined with the move to the suburbs resulted in the loss of a sense of community spirit in the cities and the suburbs. Taxes were placed on items used by automobile users, some hidden in the cost of the items, to help pay for the road improvements and as accidents became more frequent, automobile insurance became mandatory and expensive.
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