SAT II US History : Cause and Effect in U.S. Economic History from 1790 to 1898
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Example Questions
Example Question #1 : U.S. Economic History
What was the most significant consequence of the invention of the cotton gin?
Before the invention of the cotton gin, cotton was notoriously difficult to profitably produce. Cotton is encased in a hard shell - extracting it and removing excess material was a time consuming and costly process. The cotton gin, by mechanizing the process, dramatically increased the amount of cotton that a plantation owner could produce and made the cash crop extremely profitable again. However, in order to process the cotton it first needed to be picked - which called for an influx of a massive number of forced laborers (slaves). More than one of the answers presented here are true, however the key component is "most significant". The massive importation of slaves to harvest cotton probably prolonged the death of slavery by several years in the South and has ramifications for the economic, social and political make-up of America to this day.
Example Question #1 : U.S. Economic History
The Pony Express, a mail delivery service reliant upon horseback mail-carriers, served the west of the United States from Missouri to California for roughly a year-and-a-half, from 1860 to 1861. It was the quickest means of communication in the West until the establishment of what?
The Transcontinental Railroad
The telephone
The automobile
The telegraph
The interstate highway system
The telegraph
It was the establishment of the telegraph that rendered the Pony Express obsolete.
Example Question #2 : U.S. Economic History
The California Gold Rush of 1849 was enabled by which of the following?
New, quicker methods of overland transportation
New markets for gold in Europe and the large eastern cities of America
The opening of the Panama Canal
The removal of the gold standard
The annexation of California by the United States by the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
The annexation of California by the United States by the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
Gold was found at Sutter’s Mill in Northern California in January of 1848, weeks before the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo made California an American territory. The ever present desire for gold led people to endure brutal travel either overland in stagecoaches or wagon trains, or by sailing to Panama and crossing the Isthmus by foot.
Example Question #1 : U.S. Economic History From 1790 To 1898
Which inventor and industrialist first mass-produced the revolver, the weapon credited with helping to tame the Wild West?
Rollin White
Horace Smith
Samuel Colt
Daniel B. Wesson
Oliver Winchester
Samuel Colt
Samuel Colt, of Colt 45 fame, is the inventor credited with mass-producing the revolver for the first time.
Example Question #1 : U.S. Economic History
What was one of the significant causes of the Panic of 1873?
The failure of President Ulysses S. Grant to cut business taxes
Decoupling of the monetary supply from the gold standard
Bank failures due to rampant speculation over railroads
An inability of former Confederate states to pay back debts from the Civil War
The failure of international trade with European powers
Bank failures due to rampant speculation over railroads
The Panic of 1873 was one of the worst world wide economic depressions until the Great Depression occurred in 1929. The Panic began after widespread railroad speculation in the post Civil War era overstretched financial resources throughout the country. After the failure of a handful of railroads, banks themselves failed causing widespread unemployment, inflation, and bank runs. The depression would last until 1879, covering all of Ulysses S. Grant's second term in office.
Example Question #6 : Cause And Effect In U.S. Economic History From 1790 To 1898
The cotton gin allowed the plantation system in the South to __________.
expand greatly due to increased productivity
turn from an industrial economy to an agricultural economy
turn from an agricultural economy to an industrial economy
collapse under its own weight
change away from a slave dominated economy
expand greatly due to increased productivity
The cotton gin (short for engine) was invented by the Connecticut born Eli Whitney in 1793, and quickly the model spread throughout Southern plantations. The cotton gin was able to separate the cotton fibers from the seeds extremely quickly and efficiently, and allowed the production of cotton to increase exponentially. This meant that Southern plantation owners also increased their importation and trade of slaves, leading to a boom in the Southern slave population.
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