US History Honors

1.1: Many Cultures Meet

1  When did the first humans arrive in the Americas?

2  How were Indian cultures similar?

3  How did agriculture benefit Native Americans?

4  How did the Renaissance encourage European exploration?

5  What factor led to the expansion of the slave trade?

6  What advantages did the conquistadores have over the Native Americans?

1.2: The American Revolution

1.  What countries had colonies in the Americas?

2.  How was the colony of Virginia governed?

3.  How was the government of the New England colonies similar to that of Virginia?

4.  How were the Southern colonies different from other English colonies in the Americas?

5.  Which document seemed to guarantee colonists the right to reject laws that they had not approved?

6.  How did the Great Awakening affect the colonists?

7.  Describe the connection between the Enlightenment and the Great Awakening.

8.  Why did the British Parliament raise taxes and tighten trade regulations for the American colonies?

9.  How did many American colonists show their dissatisfaction with the new taxes?

10.  Why do you think some of the colonists remained loyal to Parliament and the king?

11.  What was the First Continental Congress?

12.  How did the American colonies establish themselves as a separate nation?

13.  What assured the independence of the colonies?

1.3 The Constitution

1.  How did the new government obtain revenue?

2.  What laws did Congress pass to manage the Northwest Territory?

3.  What did Shay’s Rebellion reveal about the governments under the Articles of Confederation?

4.  Why do you think most Americans did not want a strong central government?

5.  What did the New Jersey Plan propose?

6.  How did the Great Compromise protect small states?

7.  Why did the southern states oppose the Congressional dominance of northern states?

8.  What was the main point of the Federalists Papers?

9.  Why did the founders use flexible wording for the Constitution?

The Constitution

1.  What is the main purpose of Article I of the Constitution?

2.  How did the Constitution affect the balance of power between the federal government and the states?

3.  What is the main job of Congress?

4.  Which branches are involved in presidential impeachment?

5.  What is the role of Congress and the President in making laws?

6.  Which powers of Congress relate to taking in and spending money?

7.  Who may become President?

8.  How is the president elected?

9.  Do you think the Electoral College system is a good way to elect a President? Why or why not?

10.  Is it against the law for you to wear a black arm-band in school to protest some action by your government? What Supreme Court case is this question referring to?

11.  How long is the term of a federal judge?

12.  If a person committed a federal crime, would a federal judge determine that person’s guilt or innocence?

13.  How does the Constitution define treason?

14.  If a state law conflicts with a federal law, which law is followed?

15.  What had to happen before the Constitution would go into effect?

16.  Is it legal to attend a meeting to discuss strategies for staging an antigovernment demonstration? Why or why not?

17.  Whose powers are the Bill of Rights intended to limit?

18.  What are the 13-15th Amendments referred to as? Describe each one.

19.  From where does the government obtain revenue?

20.  What did the 19th, 20th and 21st Amendments accomplish?

21.  Describe the 24th and 26th Amendments.

2.1 Government and Party Politics

1.  What were precedents George Washington set?

2.  What were two main economic problems facing the country in 1789?

3.  How did Hamilton’s Federalist views affect his role as Secretary of Treasury?

4.  Why do you think Anti-Federalists might be against a National Bank?

5.  Why did Washington support Hamilton’s response to the Whiskey Rebellion?

6.  What were the first American political parties? How do they differ?

7.  How did the Whiskey Rebellion influence the creation of these parties?

2.2: The Struggle Over Foreign Policy

  1. How did the British encourage conflict in the Northwest Territory?
  2. Why did the British want tot limit US settlement in the area?
  3. How did the two political parties differ in their views of the French Revolution?
  4. On what did the two parties agree?
  5. How did their views on the French Revolution reflect the philosophies of the parties?
  6. Why was it important for the US to sign a treaty with Spain?
  7. How did Adams compare with Washington?
  8. How did US policy toward France change under Adam’s administration?
  9. Were the Alien and Sedition Acts justified under the circumstances? Explain.

2.3 The Age of Jefferson

  1. What changes did Jefferson make in the federal government?
  2. What economic developments helped Jefferson achieve some of his goals?
  3. Who was Marbury, and why was he suing Madison?
  4. Why did the Supreme Court rule against Marbury?
  5. Why did Marshall have such a lasting effect on the judicial system?
  6. How did the Marshall Court reflect Federalists ideas?
  7. Was Marshall a strict or loose constructionist?
  8. Why did Americans want to expand US territory?
  9. Why did Jefferson want to buy Louisiana?
  10. Why might Jefferson have been willing to abandon strict constructionist principles in order to buy the Louisiana Territory?
  11. What was the cause of the Barbary Wars and how did Jefferson handle the conflict?
  12. How did the US benefit from war in Europe?
  13. What was the cause of the conflict with Britain, and what was Jefferson’s solution to it?

2.4 The War of 1812

1.  What was the result of Macon’s Bill No. 2?

2.  Why do you think that the War Hawks were primarily from the southern and western states?

3.  Why did the US declare war on Great Britain?

4.  Why was the American invasion of Canada a failure?

5.  What US forces performed well in the War of 1812?

6.  Why were the British shocked by this good performance?

7.  What as the significance of the British attack on Baltimore?

8.  How did Americans view the Battle of New Orleans?

9.  What was the end result of the Hartford Convention?

10.  How did the War of 1812 affect the Natives?

11.  Although the US did not win the War of 1812, how did it signal a new stage in the nation’s development?

3.1 Industry and Transportation

1.  Why did railroad construction end canal building?

2.  How did turnpikes, canals, and railroads affect the way that people in different states interacted?

3.  What was Eli Whitney’s main contribution to manufacturing?

4.  How might interchangeable parts affect artisans who made products by hand?

3.2 Sectional Differences

  1. What factors contributed to industrialization in the Northeast?
  2. Why did workers organize labor unions during the 1820s?
  3. How did the increase in immigration affect industrialization and workers’ rights?
  4. Why did the cotton boom spread slavery in the South?
  5. What were the economic consequences of the cotton boom?

3.3 Era of Nationalism

  1. What economic policies did Clay advocate in his American System program?
  2. Why did the Monroe Doctrine mean little in 1823?
  3. What were the terms of the Missouri Compromise?
  4. In what ways was the compromise a success and failure?

Pg. 113 Hudson River School

  1. How can a landscape painting depict an artist’s pride in his or her homeland?
  2. Why would landscape paintings in the 1800s have been an important method of portraying the US to people in other places?

3.4 Democracy and the Age of Jackson

  1. How did Adams win the election?
  2. Why did critics denounce Adams’s programs?
  3. Why did many states rewrite their constitutions to expand voting rights?
  4. Why was Jackson such an appealing candidate?
  5. In what ways did Jackson’s Democratic Party change the party structure?
  6. Why did Jackson appeal to many southern voters?
  7. What does the Worcester v. Georgia case reveal about white Americans’ attitudes toward Natives?

3.5 Constitutional Disputes and Crises

  1. Why would an act of nullification have weakened the Union?
  2. What were the main political views of the Whigs?
  3. What did Jackson do to oppose the bank?
  4. In what way might the Bank of the US have helped the “common people”?
  5. What was the result of Jackson’s banking policies?
  6. What was Jackson’s policy on federal land purchases, and how did it affect the economy?
  7. In what way did Van Buren suffer from Jackson’s politics?

4.1 A Religious Awakening

  1. What caused the Second Great Awakening?
  2. How did the Second Great Awakening affect reforms during this period?
  3. Why might southern slave owners oppose churches for enslaved African Americans?
  4. Why did many Americans discriminate against and persecute Mormons?
  5. Why was Catholicism thought to be un-American?
  6. What did the discrimination against Mormons, Catholics, and Jews have in common?
  7. Why were some people attracted to life in utopian communities?
  8. Why were the Transcendentalists considered reformers?

4.2 A Reforming Society

  1. Why did reformers think public school was important?
  2. Why was it important to have the government fund public schools?
  3. What do the efforts of Dorthea Dix suggest?
  4. How did prison reformers want to change the prison system?

4.3 The Antislavery Movement

  1. Why do you think Douglass’s autobiography was such an effective antislavery tool?
  2. How did enslaved people survive this harsh life?
  3. Why did the growing population of free African Americans concern slaveholders?
  4. Why did the American Colonization Society establish Liberia?
  5. How did the African Americans react to the establishment of Liberia?
  6. What was the main tactic that abolitionists used to persuade others that slavery was wrong?
  7. How did people in the South justify slavery?
  8. Why did northern workers fear the abolition of slavery?
  9. Why did northern factory owners oppose abolition?

4.4 The Women’s Movement

  1. Why did women entering the workforce fail to expand their power?
  2. Why did female abolitionists compare themselves to slaves?
  3. What was ironic about the fact that Mott and Stanton were excluded from some meetings at an abolitionist convention?
  4. What did the Seneca Falls Convention accomplish, and why was it significant?
  5. What was the main goal of Susan B. Anthony?
  6. How did lawmakers in NY help advance the cause of women’s rights in 1848?

5.1 Migrating to the West

  1. What innovations brought by the Spanish enabled Native Americans to hunt and wage war more effectively?
  2. How did the Spanish slow the constant warfare, in New Mexico?
  3. Why was the California colony successful for the Spanish when Texas was not?
  4. What was Manifest Destiny, and how did it encourage people to settle in the West?
  5. How could trade with the US and American migrants threaten Mexico’s security?
  6. How did the Mountain Men contribute to westward expansion?
  7. Why did emigrants travel in wagon trains?
  8. What hardships did emigrants face on the journey?
  9. Why did Brigham Young lead the Mormons west to found New Zion?

5.2 Texas and the Mexican-American War

  1. Why did Mexico invite Americans to settle in Texas?
  2. What did the settlers have to promise in exchange for land?
  3. Why did the Mexican government refuse to honor Santa Anna’s agreement with the Texans?
  4. Why was annexation so controversial?
  5. Why did Polk compromise with the British?
  6. How does the reaction to Polk’s compromise foreshadow division in the nation?
  7. Why did Polk send US troops to Texas?
  8. Why did antiwar Whigs not oppose the war publicly?
  9. What was the outcome of the Mexican-American War?
  10. What factors contributed to the US victory?

5.3 Effects of Territorial Expansion

  1. Why was Polk disappointed with the outcome of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo?
  2. What made the Wilmot Proviso so divisive?
  3. What was early gold mining like?
  4. What were conditions like for miners?
  5. How did mining change over time?
  6. How did white miners exclude Chinese and Mexican people from the gold fields?
  7. How were Native Americans in California treated?

Pg 175: Should the US Annex Texas?

  1. Why did Polk think annexation would promote peace?
  2. Why did Clay think annexation would lead to war?
  3. What decision would you have made? Why?

6.1 Slavery, States’ Rights, and Western Expansion

  1. What was the Wilmot Proviso?
  2. Why was the Wilmot Proviso denounced by the South and supported by the North?
  3. Why did the issue of slavery intensify after the Mexican War?
  4. What was the main goal of the free soil party?
  5. How did the Free Soil Party influence the election of 1848?
  6. What did Calhoun threaten?
  7. Why would Henry Clay want to settle the differences in Congress peacefully?

6.2 A Rising Tide of Protest and Violence

  1. How did Uncle Tom’s Cabin raise tensions between the North and South?
  2. How did Douglas reintroduce slavery in the US?
  3. Why did opponents of slavery view the Kansas-Nebraska Act as a threat?
  4. How did the creation of two governments in the Kansas Territory lead to violence?

6.3 Political Realignment Deepens the Crisis

  1. What trend in American politics grew in the 1840’s?
  2. Why did northerners and southerners stop supporting the Whig Party?
  3. What as the driving force behind the creation of the Republican Party?
  4. Why did the Supreme Court deny Scott his freedom?
  5. Why did Douglas support popular sovereignty?
  6. In what way was Lincoln’s loss of the 1858 election considered a victory?
  7. Why did John Brown attack an arsenal?
  8. What did Frederick Douglass fear would result from Brown’s raid?

6.4 Lincoln, Session, and War

  1. What caused the Democratic Party to split?
  2. What was the goal of the Constitutional Union Party?
  3. Why did the Republican Party remain intact?
  4. How did the division of the Democratic Party influence the outcome of the election?
  5. How did the southern states justify secession?
  6. What did Lincoln promise the South in his inaugural address?
  7. Why was Lincoln’s decision to send supplies to Fort Sumter difficult to make?

7.1

  1. What made the South vulnerable to a naval blockade?
  2. What made the North better prepared to wage war than the South?
  3. Which states were border states
  4. What was Lincoln’s strategy for keeping the border states in the Union?
  5. Why did the Battle of Bull Run, or Manassas, convince the Union that it would not win a quick victory in the war?
  6. What setbacks did the Union suffer in pursuing its Anaconda Plan?
  7. Why was the battle between the Monitor and the Virginia important?

7.4