Midterm Examination Review Sheet

Colonial Era

  • What was the Great Awakening and its significance?
  • What was the Halfway Covenant and its significance?
  • What was the effect of indentured labor used in the colonial period?
  • Why were Harvard and Yale founded?
  • Describe the status of women in the colonial era.
  • Describe some of the characteristics of North American Indian tribes when the Europeans first arrived.
  • Describe the status of slavery in the American colonies.
  • What did settlers in Virginia and Massachusetts have in common in the 17th century?
  • What was the Puritan idea of the covenant? God/Church and Government/Governed?
  • Why did religious toleration develop in the American colonies?
  • Describe political theory in the colonies and what did it have to do with the concept of “deference” and aristocracy, democracy and monarchy?

Revolution/New Nation Era

  • What were the results of the French and Indian War?
  • What was the major purpose of England’s mercantilist policy towards the colonies?
  • Define virtual representation and “not taxation without representation”.
  • Why did the Americans seek foreign help during the War for Independence?
  • Describe the violence used in the Boston Tea Party, Shay’s Rebellion and the Whiskey Rebellion?
  • Why was the Stamp Act crisis so important? What was the primary purpose of the Stamp Act?
  • What single factor contributed the most to American victory in the War for Independence?
  • Where did the founding generation locate sovereignty? How did they divide it when they wrote the U.S. Constitution?
  • What was the salutary neglect and what was its impact in the colonies?
  • What was the principal reason for drafting the Bill of Rights?
  • What was the attitude of the Founding Fathers toward political parties?
  • What were the Kentucky and Virginia resolutions and what was their significance?
  • List some of the acts of the First U.S. Congress.
  • Why did Jefferson want to purchase Louisiana from France?
  • Why did the British continue to hold forts in the U.S. after 1783?
  • Why was the election of 1800 “another revolution”?
  • What did Jefferson mean when he said “We are all Republicans, we are all Federalists” in his first inaugural address?
  • What was George Washington’s neutrality proclamation, when was it issued, and why was it issued?
  • What were some of the more important provisions of the U.S. Constitution?
  • What was the significance of Marbury v. Madison and Gibbons v. Ogden? McCulloch v. Maryland? DartmouthCollege v. Woodward?
  • Describe Alexander Hamilton’s financial program and the opposition it engendered.
  • What was the greatest achievement of the Articles of Confederation?
  • Explain the rise and development of political parties in the new nation.
  • Define loose v. strict interpretation of the Constitution.

Era of Nationalism/Age of Jackson

  • How did the election of James Monroe reflect nationalist sentiment/felling in America?
  • Who was Nathaniel Hawthorne and what themes did he address in his work?
  • Most immigrants to the U.S. came from where? When did the largest immigration occur?
  • Who was Ralph Waldo Emerson and what themes did he address in his work?
  • What led to the War of 1812? What was the principal issue of disagreement between the U.S. and Great Britain that led to the war? What was the Hartford Convention and why was it significant?
  • Why was the Erie Canal important?
  • What were Eli Whitney’s two major contributions to American technology?
  • Describe the “Lowell System”.
  • Describe Cherokee efforts to retain their tribal lands. Who supported them? Who opposed them?
  • What was Henry Clay’s “American System”?
  • Describe the relationship of Andrew Jackson and banks.
  • What major issues/ideas did Andrew Jackson support while president of the U.S.?
  • List the major provisions or facets of the Monroe Doctrine. Why was it significant?
  • What was the “Tariff of Abominations” and what did it lead to?
  • What were the major concerns of the educational reformers like Horace Mann?
  • Who was Samuel Slater and why was he significant?

Pre-Civil/Civil War and Reconstruction Era

  • How did the South pay for the Civil War?
  • Why did the North go to war in 1861?
  • Define popular sovereignty.
  • What was the biggest threat to the Union in 1861-1863?
  • Why did the Reconstruction era end in 1877?
  • Describe the social networks of slaves and slavery in the South.
  • How was the South different than the North in the 1850’s?
  • What were the Black Codes? Who designed them and why?
  • What were the Reconstruction amendments?
  • Why did the slave labor force in the south increase between 1810 and 1860 when the slave trade had been abolished in 1808?
  • Who called for “immediate and uncompensated emancipation of the slaves”?
  • Define/describe the Dred Scott decision.
  • What was the impact of the Civil War on the economy of the United States?
  • Describe relations between Texas and Mexico before 1850.
  • What was the primary objective of the Know-Nothing party?
  • Who or what groups would have opposed Manifest Destiny?
  • What was the effect of the Emancipation Proclamation?
  • What was the status of free blacks in the South?
  • List the provisions of the Compromise of 1850? What was the most controversial provision?
  • Why and when did the American Anti-Slavery society split?
  • Frederick Douglass and the Fourth of July. What did he think of it?
  • Railroads/subsidies
  • What did the elections of 1848, 1852, and 1856 have in common?
  • Describe the attitude of abolitionists toward the political process.
  • What most influenced the development of antebellum southern culture and economy?
  • Who was Nat Turner and why was he significant?
  • Who was exempted from conscription during the Civil War?
  • In what ways was the Civil War a new and second American Revolution?
  • What was distinctive about Lincoln’s plan for Reconstruction?
  • List the accomplishments of Radical Reconstruction.
  • Describe the presidency of Ulysses S. Grant.

Miscellaneous Questions/Topics

  • What territories did the U.S. between 1783-1853 acquire?
  • What characterized relations between whites and Native Americans? Familiarize yourself with the major military conflicts between these two groups (e.g. the Pequot War, King Philip’s War, French/Indian War).
  • Who were King Philip, Joseph Brant and Tecumseh? Do they have anything in common?
  • Which wars in the U.S. cost the most in terms of casualties? The least?
  • Which presidents served full two terms in office?
  • Name prominent American politicians for whom the word “union” would have been a primary concern? For which Americans would it not have been that important?
  • Liberty, Union, Constitution, Equality. What did Americans think of these words prior to the Civil War?
  • What were some of the major reformmovements in America in the nineteenth century? What were some of the major issues of political debate prior to the Civil War?
  • Chronology:Missouri compromise, Compromise of 1850, Uncle tom’s Cabin, Kansas-Nebraska Act
  • Chronology:Florida, Louisiana, Oregon, California
  • Chronology: Northwest Ordinance, Constitutional Convention, Jay Treaty, Louisiana Purchase
  • Chronology:Missouri Compromise, Fugitive Slave Law, Gadsden Purchase, Morrill-Land Grant Act
  • Chronology:Battle of Long Island, Battle of Fallen Timbers, Battle of Tippecanoe, Battle of Antietam
  • Chronology:Cotton Gin, Erie Canal, California Gold Rush, Transcontinental Railroad
  • Chronology: Federalists, Democrats, Whigs, Know-Nothings
  • Who were Jonathan Edwards, George Whitefield and Joseph Smith? What did they have in common?
  • Who were Thomas Paine, William Lloyd Garrison and Harriet Beecher Stowe? What did they have in common?
  • What did Alexander Hamilton, Henry Clay and Nicholas Biddle have in common?
  • What did Winfield Scott, David Farragut and Henry Knox have in common?
  • Who was Francis Scott Key and why was he significant?
  • When did the three major economic panics prior to the Civil War occur?
  • What did Sojourner Truth, Frederick Douglass, Nat Turner and Denmark Vesey have in common?
  • What did the Ordinance of 1785, the Northwest Ordinance and the Homestead Act have in common?
  • What did Thomas Jefferson, John Quincy Adams and Henry Clay have in common?
  • What did John Tyler, Millard Fillmore and Andrew Johnson have in common?
  • Name the treaties the U.S. signed before 1850, which resulted in territorial gains for America?
  • Which president exercised the most power while in office? The least?