8th Grade Benchmark #2

History Study Guide 2016

1) Which of the following features of the First Great Awakening best illustrates the concept of equal rights, which later contributed to the American Revolution?

  1. Ministers such as Jonathan Edwards instructed people to seek forgiveness for their sins.
  2. Ordinary church members, regardless of race, class, or gender, were encouraged to play a role in religious services.
  3. People attended large-scale outdoor revivals.
  4. It was believed that inner religious emotion was preferred over outward religious behavior.

2) According to the above passage from the Declaration of Independence, the purpose of government is to ______.

A. ensure that all men are created equal

B. give people the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness

C. protect people’s unalienable rights from being violated

D. exercise power over the people with or without their consent

3) Why is the Magna Carta important to the American system of government?

  1. The Magna Carta established a tradition of limiting the power of government.
  2. The Magna Carta's structure is almost exactly the same as that of the U.S. Constitution.
  3. The Magna Carta was the first charter to set up a British colony in what would become the United States.
  4. The Magna Carta banned the monarchy in Great Britain, setting a precedent for not allowing a monarchy to be formed in the United States.

4) Which of the following rights is not included in the First Amendment?

A. the right of free expression of religion B. the right to petition the government

C. the right to a speedy and public trial D. the right to peaceably assemble

5) Alexander Hamilton and the Federalists favored all the following policies except ______.

A. an emphasis on manufacturing over farming

B. a loose interpretation of the U.S. Constitution

C. a national bank that could issue money and regulate trade

D. strong state governments

6) Which of the following is usually not a function of a political party in the United States?

  1. choosing candidates to run for various political offices
  2. providing voters with information on various issues
  3. keeping citizens informed about how members of the opposition are performing in office
  4. ensuring that its members are paying their taxes to the government

7) Which of the following ideas are both expressed in George Washington’s 1796 Farewell Address and Thomas Jefferson’s 1801 Inaugural Address?

  1. Americans need to put loyalty to their country before loyalty to their political parties.
  2. The United States must enter into alliances with certain countries as a matter of national safety.

C. National debt can be a blessing if the government spends its revenue correctly.

D. It is important that the structure of the federal government be changed only through the constitutional amendment process.

8) Which of the following battles took place during the War of 1812?

A. the Battle of Brooklyn B. the Battle of Saratoga

C. the Battle of Chapultepec D. the Battle of New Orleans

9) Great Britain’s Parliament most closely resembles which part of the government of the United States?

A. the Congress B. the President C. the President’s cabinet D. the federal court system

10) Which of the following governmental characteristics was preserved when the United States switched from being governed under the Articles of Confederation to being governed under the Constitution?

  1. The federal government continued to be composed of three separate branches.
  2. The Congress continued to consist of a House and Senate.
  3. The Bill of Rights was kept intact.
  4. States retained a significant ability to govern themselves.

11) Read the following statement, then answer the question that follows.

“The three-fifths compromise in the U.S. Constitution was a pro-slavery measure stating that any American of African descent was the equivalent of three-fifths of a non-African citizen." The statement above is ______.

  1. true, because African Americans were not at all accepted into American society
  2. false, because the three-fifths compromise was eventually replaced by the 14th Amendment
  3. true, because pro-slavery delegates at the Constitutional Convention did not want their African American slaves counted at all in the census
  4. false, because the three-fifths compromise was an effort to limit congressional representation of slave-holding states

12) Which of the following powers belongs exclusively to the U.S. Congress?

A. the power to declare war

B. the power to negotiate treaties

C. the power to appoint federal judges and ambassadors

D. the power to decide the outcome of federal court cases

13) The “alien” portion of the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798 was opposed by Thomas Jefferson and the Democratic-Republicans because ______.

  1. Jefferson had worked to get the law passed, but then his political party lost the power to enforce it
  2. the Federalist party was in power, and most immigrants at the time supported the Democratic-Republicans
  3. the Democratic-Republicans believed that the law didn’t go far enough toward limiting free speech
  4. the Democratic-Republicans feared that the Federalists would use the laws as an excuse not to go to war with France

14) Which historical event happened as a result of farmers protesting over taxes, farmers seizing weapons from a state warehouse, and the uprising resulting in a new constitution? (THINK REBELLION)

15) Which of the following would be the best example of an interest group participating in the political process?

  1. A voting rights group provides volunteers to work at polling places on election day.
  2. An environmental organization urges its members to write letters to legislators about a law it wants passed.
  3. A group of immigrants take classes in order to pass the U.S. citizenship test.
  4. A group of people agree to act as jurors in a civil trial.

16) Which of the following actions did George Washington urge Americans to take in his 1796 Farewell Speech?

A. Work toward adding a Bill of Rights to the Constitution.

B. Protect the nation by forming alliances with certain European countries.

C. Embrace a certain amount of public debt as a path to prosperity.

D. Avoid separating themselves into political parties.

17) Which of the following was a primary cause of the War of 1812?

A. Britain’s military aid to Native Americans on the American frontier

B. Spain’s loss of Texas to the newly independent country of Mexico

C. threats by Canada to invade the United States

D. anger over the XYZ Affair

18) Water in the form of rain, snow, or hail is

A. precipitation B. hurricane C. pressure D. bad weather

19) How many state are in the United States?

A. 13 B. 38 C. 50 D. 52

20) The imaginary line that runs through Greenwich from North to South at 0 longitude is called

A. South pole B. tropic C. Prime Meridian D. Equator

21) The belief that the United States was meant to spread across the continent represents the idea of

A. the Compromise of 1850 B. sectionalism

C. the Monroe Doctrine D. Manifest Destiny.

22) What was the main purpose of the Lewis and Clark expedition?

A. to determine the best location for building the Transcontinental Railroad

B. to find possible areas to use for Native American relocation

C. to explore the Louisiana Territory

D. to establish trade routes to San Francisco.

23) Which American diplomat was instrumental in convincing France to join the American Revolutionary War?

A. Benjamin FranklinB. Thomas Jefferson

C. George Washington D. John Hancock

24) Checks and balances in the federal government specifies that

A. the Supreme Court can overturn laws passed by Congress

B. the Congress appoints the Supreme Court justices

C. the president can veto decisions by the Supreme Court.

D. the Congress can overturn laws made by the President.

25) Which of the following was an outcome of the compromises made between Northern and Southern states while developing the Constitution?

A. Export taxes were prohibited

B. Two-fifths of the slaves in a state would count towards representation in the house.

C. The slave trade was abolished in five years.

D. One-third of the Senate would be required to ratify treaties.

26) A cause of the American Revolution was

A. to gain western territory. B. poor treatment of the Indians.

C. the issue of slavery. D. taxation without representation.

27) In 1773, colonists in Boston dumped three shiploads of tea into the harbor because

A. the tea had spoiled. B. the were protesting a tax on tea.

C. Parliament had ordered them to. D. the tea had not been paid for,

28)What was the main purpose of the Declaration of Independence?

A. to declare freedom from England. B. To declare war on England

C. to celebrate the colonies freedom D. to design a new government.