All SAT II US History Resources
Example Questions
Example Question #3 : Summary Of U.S. Political History From 1790 To 1898
The North imposed a series of blockades on Southern port cities during the Civil War, what was the name of this plan?
Shock and Awe
Operation Stonewall
Anaconda Plan
The "Perfect Union" Plan
Operation Barbarossa
Anaconda Plan
The Anaconda Plan was the name colloquially given to Winfield Scott’s strategy of choking the Confederacy during the Civil War. It called for the blockading of Southern ports to ruin the Confederacy’s ability to sustain itself economically, as well as an advance down the Mississippi river to divide the Confederacy in two. Historians generally agree that the fighting in the Mississippi theatre was crucial to the Union victory.
Example Question #4 : Summary Of U.S. Political History From 1790 To 1898
What were the Monitor and the Merrimack?
Sites of two bloody Civil War battles
Ironclad Civil War ships
Muckraking books written in the late nineteenth century
None of the other answers
“Yellow journalism” newspapers
Ironclad Civil War ships
The Monitor and the Merrimack were two ironclad Civil War ships. A naval battle between the two ships marked the first time in history that two ironclad ships had fought. The Monitor was a Union ship, the Merrimack a former Union ship operated by the Confederacy (for a time called the CSS Virginia). The battle began when the Merrimack obliterated the Union wooden ship forces, culminating the next day with the arrival of the Monitor.
Example Question #3 : Summary Of U.S. Political History From 1790 To 1898
Which of these mid-nineteenth-century politicians is incorrectly associated with a region?
Henry Clay: North
John Quincy Adams: North
John C. Calhoun: South
Daniel Webster: North
Andrew Jackson: West
Henry Clay: North
Henry Clay was closely associated with the West. Clay was a Representative and Senator from Kentucky, who served as Speaker of the House on numerous occasions and Secretary of State to John Quincy Adams. The politics of mid-nineteenth-century America were heavily based upon regional identity—with the North and South most vigorously opposed on the majority of issues.
Example Question #1 : Summary Of U.S. Political History From 1790 To 1898
"I beg your pardon, gentlemen; I am very glad to have in my Cabinet such able statesmen as you have proved yourselves to be—and I shall be pleased to avail myself of your counsel and advice—but I can never consent to being dictated to as to what I shall or shall not do. I, as President, shall be responsible for my administration. I hope to have your hearty co-operation in carrying out its measures. So long as you see fit to do this, I shall be glad to have you with me. When you think otherwise, your resignations will be accepted.”
Which former Vice-President and President most likely said these words?
James Buchanan
Abraham Lincoln
William Henry Harrison
John Tyler
Thomas Jefferson
John Tyler
John Tyler served as Vice-President to President William Henry Harrison. Harrison was the first President to die in office. His death created significant controversy in American politics over who should succeed him. The United States Constitution stated that in the event of the death of the President the office and its powers shall “devolve on the Vice-President”. Many politicians, particularly Tyler’s opponents believed that this called for a sort of regency position whereby Tyler would act as President in name until a new election could be called. Tyler, convinced he was in the right, arrived in Washington and immediately took the oath of office and called together Harrison’s existing cabinet. When informed by Daniel Webster that Harrison usually made decisions based on the majority vote of his cabinet Tyler roundly informed Webster of his aforementioned stance – namely that he was President now and they ought to accept his decisions or find a new line of work. Eventually both houses of Congress accepted Tyler’s candidacy for Presidency and inaugurated him officially as the Tenth President of the United States. Later, the Tyler Precedent, would be codified into law under the Twenty-fifth Amendment.
Example Question #541 : Sat Subject Test In United States History
Which politician killed Alexander Hamilton in a duel in 1804?
Aaron Burr
James Madison
John Adams
John Jay
James Monroe
Aaron Burr
Alexander Hamilton was killed in a duel with Aaron Burr in 1804. It represented a bloody culmination to an extensive political feud between the two men. Burr had long blamed Hamilton for costing him the Presidential election of 1800, when Hamilton has used his influence to encourage votes for Jefferson. The matter came to a head when Hamilton released a newspaper account disparaging the integrity of Burr during Burr’s 1804 campaign for governorship of New York. Burr shot and killed Alexander Hamilton on July 11th 1804. It would spell the almost immediate end to his political career and contributed to the death of the Federalist Party.
Example Question #542 : Sat Subject Test In United States History
Which United States Presidential administration was marred by scandals that included the Credit Mobilier and Congress voting itself a fifty-percent pay raise?
John Quincy Adams'
Calvin Coolidge's
James Buchanan's
Ulysses S. Grant's
Theodore Roosevelt's
Ulysses S. Grant's
The Presidency of Ulysses S. Grant was marred by scandals almost too numerous to list. Nepotism—the practice of awarding jobs based on personal association and favor—was rampant. The Credit Mobilier scandal is perhaps unfairly attributed to Grant as it began during the Johnson administration and did not involve Grant specifically. To make a very lengthy story simple—the scandal involved the misallocation of government funds by a group of railroad construction companies and individuals in order that they should achieve individual profit. The so-called Salary Grab is perhaps a better indicator of the corruption during Grant’s administration. A bill was proposed to double the President’s salary and to increase the salaries of Congressmen by fifty-percent. The Federal Government’s power to raise its own salary is protected by the Constitution, but allegedly Grant encouraged the Senators to pass the bill in secrecy. He was later exposed by several different journalistic publications and public opinion was not kind.
Example Question #543 : Sat Subject Test In United States History
Who was the first Secretary of the Treasury in the United States?
Thomas Jefferson
Alexander Hamilton
Benjamin Franklin
John Jay
John Adams
Alexander Hamilton
Alexander Hamilton served as the first Secretary of the Treasury under President Washington. During his tenure Hamilton led the creation of the National Bank and the establishment of a United States Minting Office. Hamilton’s ideas on manufacturing and trade were also central to the direction of the infant United States.
Example Question #544 : Sat Subject Test In United States History
Which two political parties existed during the “First Party System?”
Federalist and Whig
American and Whig
Democratic and Republican
Federalist and American
Federalist and Democratic-Republican
Federalist and Democratic-Republican
The Federalist Party and the Democratic-Republican Party were the first two political parties to exist in the United States. They formed the first of America’s few two-party systems. The Federalist Party eventually declined in popularity after the War of 1812, soon after to the point of non-existence. The Democratic-Republican Party survived for several electoral campaigns before splitting during the ascendency of President Andrew Jackson.
Example Question #545 : Sat Subject Test In United States History
The disparaging term “Virginia System” referred to __________.
the tendency for Virginians to be elected President in the early years of the Republic
the greater political power afforded to the most populous states in the Union
the economic system of plantations and slave ownership
the subjugation of the South to the economic power of the North and Mid-Atlantic States
the idea that states could nullify Federal law
the tendency for Virginians to be elected President in the early years of the Republic
The term “Virginia System” was used by many politicians in the early years of the United States to refer to the dominance of the Presidential office by Virginians. Four of the first five Presidents were born residents of Virginia—George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and James Monroe. Many of their opponents deplored this state of affairs, some proclaimed conspiracy. After this initial wave of Virginians, however, there has been only one other President from Virginia—John Tyler.
Example Question #211 : U.S. Political History From 1790 To 1898
The Judiciary Act of 1801 was designed to __________.
impeach the standing President Thomas Jefferson
alter the terms of Supreme Court Justices
limit the power of the Judicial Branch
expand the Federal district court system
change the election process for a Chief Justice
expand the Federal district court system
The Judiciary Act of 1801 was designed primarily to expand the Federal court system; specifically it was designed to increase the number of judges in the lower levels of the court. It also led to the famous “Midnight Appointments,” where President Adams, realizing he was about to be replaced by a President with a different ideology, sought to fill as many of the vacancies with Federalist minded Judges as quickly as possible.
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