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

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

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Example Questions

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Example Question #1 : U.S. Intellectual And Cultural History

Which of the following is NOT true about Joseph Smith?

Possible Answers:

Smith practiced and preached polygamy.

Smith claimed to have found tablets written by a lost tribe of Israel.

Smith published the Book of Mormon from the tablets he found, and hoped it would replace the Bible.

Smith was killed in the Illinois Mormon War after being jailed.

Smith started Mormonism in New York.

Correct answer:

Smith published the Book of Mormon from the tablets he found, and hoped it would replace the Bible.

Explanation:

Smith said he had found tablets from a lost tribe of Israel. He wrote the tablets into a book called the Book of Mormon, which he believed should not replace the Bible.  All other answer choices are true.  After finding trouble in New York, Smith moved his followers to Ohio, Missouri, and then Illinois.  After Smith was killed in Illinois, Brigham Young moved the Mormons to Utah. 

Example Question #2 : U.S. Intellectual And Cultural History

The principle of separate but equal was established by              .

Possible Answers:

Wesbery v. Sanders

Freemen v. United States Government

Brown v. Board of Education

Plessy v. Ferguson

Gibbons v. Ogden

Correct answer:

Plessy v. Ferguson

Explanation:

Plessy v. Ferguson was a case that appeared before the Supreme Court in 1896. It established the legality and constitutionality of state laws, mostly in the South, that had required segregation of public facilities under the guise of “separate but equal.” It remained protected by law until 1954, when the Brown v. Board of Education decision reversed it. 

Example Question #1 : U.S. Intellectual And Cultural History

The American inventor, Samuel Finley Breese Morse (April 27, 1791 – April 2, 1872) is credited with the invention of what?

Possible Answers:

The combustible engine

The assembly line

The Breese-Morse interchangeable part

The pulley block

Morse Code

Correct answer:

Morse Code

Explanation:

Samuel Finley Breese Morse is credited as co-inventor of Morse Code: a way of sending text as a series of on-off tones, clicks, or lights that can be deciphered by a trained listener.

Example Question #2 : U.S. Intellectual And Cultural History

Who authored The Age of Reason?

Possible Answers:

Benjamin Franklin

Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Paine

Samuel Adams

James Madison

Correct answer:

Thomas Paine

Explanation:

The Age of Reason was written by Thomas Paine and published at the beginning of the eighteenth century. Paine was an American revolutionary who lived in France throughout the French Revolution and the rise of Napoleon. In The Age of Reason Paine attacks organized religion and paints the Catholic Church as corrupt and morally bankrupt. It is a classic example of Enlightenment and deist literature. It was also a bestseller in the United States and led to a massive revival of Deism amongst the American middle and upper classes. 

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

A person who wanted to end slavery in the United States was known as what?

Possible Answers:

A prohibitionist

An advocate

A teetotaler

A sectionalist

An abolitionist

Correct answer:

An abolitionist

Explanation:

A person who wanted to abolish slavery in the United States (and elsewhere) was known as an abolitionist.

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

What did Francis Scott Key write as he watched the British attack Fort McHenry in Baltimore in 1814?

Possible Answers:

America the Beautiful

My Country, 'Tis of Thee

The Star-Spangled Banner

The Pledge of Allegiance

Hail, Columbia

Correct answer:

The Star-Spangled Banner

Explanation:

Held captive during the attack on Fort McHenry, Francis Scott Key wrote his poem "Defence of Fort McHenry" from which the lyrics for the Star-Spangled Banner were taken.

Example Question #6 : U.S. Intellectual And Cultural History

What historical term is used to describe the period of United States history prior to the Civil War?

Possible Answers:

The Reconstruction Era

The Era of Manifest Destiny

The Antebellum Era 

The Era of Good Feelings

The Gilded Age

Correct answer:

The Antebellum Era 

Explanation:

The term used to describe the historical period between the American Revolution and the Civil War is the Antebellum Era. The term "antebellum" directly means before the war. In the context of the United States it is generally used to refer to the Southern United States prior to the Civil War. 

Example Question #7 : U.S. Intellectual And Cultural History

In 1831, William Lloyd Garrison began publishing his weekly newspaper, The Liberator, which advocated what?

Possible Answers:

The end of the British presence in Canada

The dissolution of the American Republic for a more direct democracy

The abolition of slavery

The secession of the South from the Union

The end of taxes

Correct answer:

The abolition of slavery

Explanation:

In 1831, William Lloyd Garrison began publishing his weekly newspaper, The Liberator, which advocated the abolition of slavery. Garrison, a white man from Massachusetts, was one of the abolition movement's most prominent figures.

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

Who invented the telephone?

Possible Answers:

Samuel Morse

Eli Whitney

Cyrus McCormick 

Thomas Edison 

Alexander Graham Bell

Correct answer:

Alexander Graham Bell

Explanation:

The invention of the telephone was an ongoing and convoluted process throughout the mid-nineteenth century; however, popular history and patent law credits Alexander Graham Bell and his assistant Thomas Watson with the invention of the telephone, in 1875. 

Example Question #11 : U.S. Intellectual And Cultural History

Noah Webster supported __________.

Possible Answers:

the education of students towards strong national identity 

a greater focus on public health 

the rights of East-Asian immigrants in New York City 

an outbreak of war with France during the administration of President John Adam

the rights of slave owners in the Kansas territory

Correct answer:

the education of students towards strong national identity 

Explanation:

Noah Webster was an early American lexicographer and educational reformer. Webster wrote extensive textbooks teaching generations of young Americans how to read, write, and spell. He is credited with helping secularize and nationalize the American education process. 

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