American History Chapter 1-5 Quiz with Answers
Chapter 1: Early American History
Question 1
Match the following historical events with their corresponding dates:
- 1492 CE: Columbus, sailing for Spain, makes his first voyage of discovery.
- By 12,000 BCE: Humans have migrated to the Americas, most of them from Siberia.
- 1503: The first Africans are brought to the Americas.
- 1517-1648: The Protestant Reformation spurs religious conflict between Catholics and Protestants.
- 1497: John Cabot explores Newfoundland.
- 1519: Hernán Cortés begins the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire.
- 1513: Juan Ponce de León explores Florida.
Question 2
Match the following historical events with their corresponding dates:
- 1561: St. Augustine, the first European colony in America, is founded.
- 1680: Pope leads a rebellion in New Mexico.
- 1588: The English defeat the Spanish Armada.
- 1531: Francisco Pizarro subdues the Incas of Peru.
- 1584-1587: Raleigh’s Roanoke Island venture takes place.
- 1541: Jacques Cartier, sailing for France, explores the St. Lawrence River.
Question 3
Archaeological evidence suggests that people first arrived in the New World:
Answer: More than 15,000 years ago.
Question 4
Cahokia was a mighty metropolis in the center of North America built by the Mississippian peoples.
Answer: True
Question 5
Corn and potatoes, both American crops, revolutionized the European diet.
Answer: True
Question 6
English colonization was spurred by:
Answer: The defeat of the Spanish Armada.
Question 7
Florida was first explored by Hernando de Soto in 1497.
Answer: False
Question 8
In 1492, Columbus believed that he had reached Asia.
Answer: True
Question 9
In matriarchal societies, such as that of the Iroquois, women:
Answer: All of these (did most of the agricultural labor, controlled the distribution of food, and helped choose male political leaders)
Question 10
Most of the early Spanish settlements and explorations in North America were made:
Answer: In the Southwest.
Question 11
One of the first English explorers of America was:
Answer: Humphrey Gilbert.
Question 12
Portugal’s only American colony was:
Answer: Brazil.
Question 13
Spanish Catholic priests often established isolated missions to convert the “heathen” Indians to Catholicism in the Spanish colonies.
Answer: True
Question 14
Tenochtitlan was:
Answer: The capital of the Aztec Empire.
Question 15
The “lost colony” of the 1580s was:
Answer: Sponsored by Sir Walter Raleigh.
Question 16
The Adena-Hopewell culture followed the Mississippian culture in pre-contact North America.
Answer: False
Question 17
The Aztecs centered their religious beliefs on the cosmic forces of nature and sacrificed human captives.
Answer: True
Question 18
The Eastern Woodlands people included all of the following except the:
Answer: Hopi.
Question 19
The Europeans brought pigs, cattle, and sheep to the New World.
Answer: True
Question 20
The Portuguese had a monopoly on colonies in the New World throughout the 1500s.
Answer: False
Question 21
The Protestant church played a major role in colonizing the Spanish borderlands.
Answer: False
Question 22
The Pueblo Indians:
Answer: Were led by a charismatic leader named Pope.
Question 23
The Spanish city of Saint Augustine is the oldest European city in North America.
Answer: True
Question 24
The Spanish conquistadores took their pay in the form of plunder, including any slaves they could seize.
Answer: True
Question 25
The Spanish did not need to use black slaves in the West Indies, as they had a plentiful labor supply in the local Indians.
Answer: False
Question 26
The Spanish founded New Orleans early in the seventeenth century.
Answer: False
Question 27
The Treaty of Tordesillas:
Answer: Divided the new territories discovered by the Europeans between Spain and Portugal.
Question 28
The most important part of the Columbian Exchange was the transfer of:
Answer: Infectious diseases to America.
Question 29
The most significant attraction that prompted Europeans to sail toward the New World was the:
Answer: Riches of Asia.
Question 30
Which of the following was not a mighty pre-Columbian empire supported by large-scale agriculture and long-distance trade?
Answer: Seminole
Question 31
With less than a thousand men, Hernán Cortés managed to topple the vast Inca Empire.
Answer: False
Chapter 2: Colonial America
Question 1
Match the following historical events with their corresponding dates:
- 1607: Jamestown, Virginia, the first permanent English colony, is established.
- 1620: The Plymouth colony is founded; the Pilgrims agree to the Mayflower Compact.
- 1630: The Massachusetts Bay Colony is founded.
- 1619: The first Africans arrive in English America.
- 1634: The settlement of Maryland begins.
- 1622: An Indian uprising occurs in Virginia.
Question 2
Match the following historical events with their corresponding dates:
- 1642-1651: The English Civil War occurs.
- 1637: The Pequot War takes place.
- 1675-1676: King Philip’s War occurs.
- 1681: Pennsylvania is established.
- 1680: The Restoration of the English monarchy takes place.
- 1733: Georgia is founded.
- 1676: Bacon’s Rebellion occurs in Virginia.
Question 3
After 1618, the “headright” policy in Virginia determined the distribution of land.
Answer: True
Question 4
Among the British advantages in colonization compared to rival empires were all of the following except:
Answer: Strong centralized control from the mother country.
Question 5
Anne Hutchinson angered Massachusetts leaders by claiming she could tell which members of her community had been saved or damned.
Answer: True
Question 6
Bacon’s Rebellion in Virginia:
Answer: All of these (was led by the young aristocrat Nathaniel Bacon, was caused by resentment over high taxes and frontier policy, and resulted in the burning of Jamestown)
Question 7
Captain John Smith saved the Virginia Company by developing tobacco as a viable cash crop.
Answer: False
Question 8
Captain John Smith’s firm leadership helped establish the colony of:
Answer: Virginia.
Question 9
Chief Powhatan of the Powhatan Confederacy in Virginia:
Answer: Led what may have been one of the most powerful native groups on the Atlantic coast.
Question 10
Colonists in Charleston between 1670 and 1715:
Answer: Exported more Indians than they imported African slaves.
Question 11
Dutch claims to New Netherland came from the voyage of:
Answer: Henry Hudson.
Question 12
Early settlers in South Carolina raised capital most quickly by:
Answer: Trading with the Indians.
Question 13
Georgia was established as a philanthropic venture to aid the poor of Britain.
Answer: True
Question 14
John Winthrop expressed the belief that the Puritans were on a divine mission to establish a model Christian community.
Answer: True
Question 15
King Philip’s War:
Answer: Was led by the chief of the Wampanoags, Metacomet.
Question 16
Many of the early English colonies were organized by:
Answer: Joint-stock companies.
Question 17
Many of the first settlers of South Carolina had previously emigrated to the Bahamas.
Answer: False
Question 18
Many of the first settlers of the Chesapeake region came as indentured servants who worked for a master under a contract.
Answer: True
Question 19
Maryland, the first proprietary colony, was unusual because it:
Answer: Was a refuge for Catholics.
Question 20
Members of the Society of Friends:
Answer: All of these (were also known as Quakers, believed in the equality of all people, and refused to defer to persons of rank)
Question 21
New York was originally settled by French Huguenots.
Answer: False
Question 22
Non-separating Congregationalists settled in:
Answer: Massachusetts Bay.
Question 23
One of the first laws of the colony of Georgia banned the importation of African slaves.
Answer: True
Question 24
Roger Williams:
Answer: All of these (founded Rhode Island, believed in the separation of church and state, and was banished from Massachusetts Bay)
Question 25
The Dutch colony of New Netherlands accepted the first Jewish settlers to North America.
Answer: True
Question 26
The Iroquois League:
Answer: Was so powerful that the Dutch and English had to work closely with it to develop their fur trade.
Question 27
The Mayflower brought non-separating Puritans, who established a colony at Plymouth.
Answer: False
Question 28
The first Englishmen who established a fort at Jamestown expected to find gold and make profits for the Virginia Company through trade; they did not expect to plant crops.
Answer: True
Question 29
The leading produce of the Chesapeake region was beaver pelts.
Answer: False
Question 30
The main Indian confederacy in Virginia at the time of colonization was led by Powhatan.
Answer: True
Question 31
There were few problems with the Indians in New England because of the Puritan missionary impulse.
Answer: False
Question 32
Which colony was established in part to provide a buffer against Spanish Florida?
Answer: Georgia
Chapter 3: Colonial Society in the 18th Century
Question 1
Match the following historical events with their corresponding dates:
- 1730s-1740s: The Great Awakening occurs.
- 1662: The Puritans initiate the “Half-Way Covenant.”
- 1691: The royal charter for Massachusetts is established.
- 1692: The Salem witchcraft trials take place.
- 1741: Jonathan Edwards preaches “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.”
- 1739: George Whitefield preaches his first sermon in America, in Philadelphia; the Stono Uprising occurs.
- 1735: John Peter Zenger is tried for seditious libel.
Question 2
A gentry class, distinguished by its lavish living style, developed in the South by 1700.
Answer: True
Question 3
Benjamin Franklin epitomized the Great Awakening in America.
Answer: False
Question 4
By 1750, about half of the colonists lived in cities.
Answer: False
Question 5
During the Great Awakening of the 1730s and 1740s:
Answer: New religious groups helped undermine state-supported churches.
Question 6
Few British colonists were worried about German immigration into the British colonies.
Answer: False
Question 7
In contrast to New Spain and New France, British America:
Answer: Had more women immigrants.
Question 8
In the American colonies:
Answer: Land was cheap and labor was scarce.
Question 9
Indentured servants:
Answer: Generally had a contract of a determined length of time.
Question 10
Many Enlightenment figures in America, as in Europe, were labelled “Deists” because they used science in an attempt to disprove the miracles of Christ.
Answer: False
Question 11
Many of the first Africans in America:
Answer: Were treated as indentured servants.
Question 12
Most migrants to America were:
Answer: Males under twenty-five years old.
Question 13
Much of the agricultural surplus of the middle colonies was destined for:
Answer: The southern colonies.
Question 14
One part of the “triangular trade” involved shipping rum to England.
Answer: False
Question 15
Rice was the leading crop in North Carolina.
Answer: False
Question 16
The “Half-way Covenant”:
Answer: Allowed baptized children of church members to have their children baptized.
Question 17
The Scots-Irish usually settled in colonial cities.
Answer: False
Question 18
The Scots-Irish were Presbyterians who immigrated directly from Scotland.
Answer: False
Question 19
The birthrate was lower in the colonies than in England.
Answer: False
Question 20
The catalyst of the Great Awakening in America was the English preacher George Whitefield.
Answer: True
Question 21
The enclosure movement in Europe displaced many farmers and encouraged many of them to move to the British colonies.
Answer: True
Question 22
The greatest ethnic diversity existed in:
Answer: The middle colonies.
Question 23
The largest city in British North America was:
Answer: Philadelphia.
Question 24
The majority of African slaves came from a very small region of Africa and thus did not reflect the diversity of African ethnic groups.
Answer: False
Question 25
The one colony in the eighteenth century that had a black majority was:
Answer: South Carolina.
Question 26
The owners of large estates in New York were known as:
Answer: Patroons.
Question 27
The verdict in the John Peter Zenger trial, a landmark case about freedom of the press, was that Zenger had told the truth and was therefore not guilty of fostering an ill opinion of the government.
Answer: True
Question 28
The witchcraft hysteria in the 1690s was probably caused by:
Answer: Social strains in the Massachusetts colony.
Question 29
Two essential elements of the colonial New England economy were:
Answer: Fishing and shipping.
Question 30
Until the eighteenth century, most white Europeans did not consider race-based slavery to be an ethical issue.
Answer: True
Question 31
Women in the English colonies:
Answer: Could gain a divorce in some colonies on the grounds of cruelty.
Chapter 4: The Empire in Transition
Question 1
Match the following historical events with their corresponding dates:
- 1688: The Glorious Revolution occurs.
- 1763: Pontiac’s Rebellion occurs.
- 1754: The Albany Congress adopts the Plan of Union.
- 1670s: The French explore the Mississippi River valley from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico.
- 1685: The Dominion of New England is established.
- 1764: Parliament passes the Revenue (Sugar) Act.
- 1608: Samuel de Champlain founds Quebec.
- 1754-1763: The French and Indian War occurs.
Question 2
Match the following historical events with their corresponding dates:
- 1775: Colonists hold the Second Continental Congress; the Battles of Lexington and Concord occur.
- 1770: The Boston Massacre takes place.
- 1774: Parliament passes the Coercive Acts; colonists hold the First Continental Congress.
- 1773: Colonists stage the Boston Tea Party.
- 1766: Parliament repeals the Stamp Act and passes the Declaratory Act.
- 1776: Thomas Paine’s Common Sense is published; the Declaration of Independence is signed.
- 1767: Parliament passes the Townshend Acts.
Question 3
A major goal of the Navigation Acts was to:
Answer: Keep the shipping trade with the colonies under English control.
Question 4
By 1763 Great Britain had emerged from the four great wars fought in America, Europe, and its colonies as the most powerful empire in the world.
Answer: True
Question 5
George Grenville followed a policy of salutary neglect.
Answer: False
Question 6
George Washington won a key victory in his defense of Fort Necessity.
Answer: False
Question 7
In repealing the Stamp Act, Parliament forfeited all power to make laws affecting the colonies.
Answer: False
Question 8
In the British colonies in the 1700s:
Answer: All of these (the colonial assemblies gained power at the expense of the British imperial authorities, the colonists developed a strong sense of their own identity, and the colonists enjoyed a large measure of self-government)
Question 9
In the aftermath of the French and Indian War, the British:
Answer: Faced problems dealing with the new western lands.
Question 10
John Locke’s theories:
Answer: All of these (were based on the idea of natural rights, argued that government receives its power only with the consent of the governed, and were used to justify the Glorious Revolution)
Question 11
Mercantilism involves all of the following except:
Answer: A mother country developing only products it can produce cheaply and efficiently.
Question 12
One effect of the French and Indian War was that the colonists began to lose faith in rule by the British Empire.
Answer: False
Question 13
One significant effect of the Glorious Revolution in America was to:
Answer: Set a precedent for overthrowing a king.
Question 14
Pontiac’s Rebellion helped eliminate French influence in the Ohio River valley.
Answer: False
Question 15
Quebec was established by the French just a year after Jamestown became the first permanent English settlement in the New World.
Answer: True
Question 16
Relations between the French and the Indians involved:
Answer: Intermarriage and integration.
Question 17
The Declaration of Independence:
Answer: Restated John Locke’s contract theory of government and argued for independence based on the idea that government receives its power only with the consent of the governed.
Question 18
The First Continental Congress meeting in Philadelphia in September 1774:
Answer: Urged the creation of a Continental Association in all colonies to enforce the boycott of British goods.
Question 19
The Navigation Act of 1651 was directed against the Dutch, who had taken over the shipping trade with the English colonies.
Answer: True
Question 20
The Olive Branch Petition of 1775 urged King George III to negotiate for peace with his subjects in America.
Answer: True
Question 21
The Royal Proclamation of 1763:
Answer: Barred settlement by colonists west of the Appalachians.
Question 22
The Sugar Act successfully provided greater revenue for the British government.
Answer: False
Question 23
The Treaty of Paris of 1763 removed the French from Canada and Louisiana and gave the English control over all of North America.
Answer: False
Question 24
The colonial assemblies in America in the eighteenth century gained power at the expense of the British imperial authorities, for example, in controlling the budget.
Answer: True
Question 25
The decisive battle of the French and Indian War was fought at:
Answer: Quebec.
Question 26
The first man to die in the Boston Massacre, and a martyr of colonial resistance, was:
Answer: Crispus Attucks.
Question 27
The first shots of the Revolutionary War occurred at:
Answer: Lexington and Concord.
Question 28
The war for American independence started after the Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence.
Answer: False
Question 29
Thomas Paine’s Common Sense:
Answer: Directly attacked King George III and demanded independence.
Chapter 5: The American Revolution
Question 1
Match the following historical events with their corresponding dates:
- 1781: General Cornwallis surrenders at Yorktown, Virginia; the Articles of Confederation are ratified; the Battles of Cowpens and Guilford Courthouse occur.
- 1777: The Battle of Saratoga takes place; General Burgoyne surrenders.
- 1778: The Americans and the French form an alliance.
- 1777-1778: Washington’s troops winter at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania.
- 1776: General Washington’s troops cross the Delaware River and the Battle of Trenton occurs.
- 1776-1777: Washington’s troops winter at Morristown, New Jersey.
- 1786: Virginia adopts the Statute of Religious Freedom.
- 1783: The Treaty of Paris is signed.
Question 2
“These are the times that try men’s souls,” declared:
Answer: Thomas Paine in The American Crisis.
Question 3
After the battle of Yorktown, Parliament voted against continuing the war.
Answer: True
Question 4
All Native American nations allied themselves with the Patriots in the Revolutionary War.
Answer: False
Question 5
As a result of the Revolution, the Americans instituted universal male suffrage.
Answer: False
Question 6
At the outset of the Revolution, Washington and his army escaped New York because of:
Answer: British General Howe’s caution.
Question 7
Blacks were not permitted to serve in the American armed forces during the Revolution.
Answer: False
Question 8
By 1786, all state support for religion had ended.
Answer: True
Question 9
General “Gentleman Johnny” Burgoyne led American forces at Saratoga.
Answer: False
Question 10
Most American Loyalists left the colonies during the Revolution.
Answer: False
Question 11
New state governments created during the Revolution:
Answer: Created governments based on written constitutions.
Question 12
One result of the Revolution was:
Answer: Increased emancipation of northern slaves.
Question 13
Spain joined the Revolutionary War as an ally of:
Answer: France.
Question 14
The American Revolution led to the following change(s) in religion:
Answer: All of these (the separation of church and state, the decline of established churches, and the rise of religious liberty)
Question 15
The American victory at Saratoga proved to be the turning point of the war because it persuaded the British that continued fighting would only result in their defeat.
Answer: False
Question 16
The Americans suffered their greatest loss of soldiers with the surrender at:
Answer: Charleston.
Question 17
The Articles of Confederation:
Answer: Created a Congress that was a legislative body and the nation’s chief executive.
Question 18
The Articles of Confederation created a strong federal union.
Answer: False
Question 19
The Battle of Saratoga was a turning point in the war because it:
Answer: Encouraged the French to help the colonists.
Question 20
The British successfully offered freedom to slaves who fought against the Americans.
Answer: True
Question 21
The Continental Army had few problems being properly supplied or paid for the duration of the war.
Answer: False
Question 22
The French played a vital role in the colonists’ victory at:
Answer: Yorktown.
Question 23
The Hessians were Europeans who fought with the Americans during the Revolution.
Answer: False
Question 24
The Loyalists were also known as:
Answer: Tories.
Question 25
The Virginia Declaration of Rights gave married women the vote.
Answer: False
Question 26
The most important British surrender occurred at:
Answer: Yorktown, Virginia.
Question 27
The southern colonies were believed by the British to be full of Loyalists.
Answer: True
Question 28
Which of the following lists of events is presented in the correct chronological order?
Answer: Battle of Saratoga, capture of Charleston, Battle of Yorktown
Question 29
Which of the following statements about the Treaty of Paris is false?
Answer: The British agreed to compensate Americans for property destroyed during the war.
Question 30
Women provided many examples of individual heroism during the Revolutionary War, but their overall legal status did not improve greatly with independence.
Answer: True