Periods One & Two: 1491 thru 1763

The following multiple-choice questions are academically synonymous to those which appeared on the College Board Advanced Placement National Examination in United States History prior to 2015. They have been adapted from past National Exams, various College Board matter offering sample questions, and assorted APUSH review manuals widely available through common retail outlets. No item is an exact copy of any material previously published. The questions address political, social, economic, intellectual, and diplomatic history. While the multiple-choice format currently used by the College Board deviates from the conventional style, the items included here can nevertheless serve as effective learning support. This review set is intended for private use and educational purpose only and may not be sold or marketed in any manner.


DIRECTIONS: Using knowledge and understanding obtained through class lecture, assigned reading, and other learning activities, coupled with logical reasoning, select the best response for each statement.


  1. Harvard and Yale were colleges established primarily to

    1. encourage scientific advances.
    2. prepare young men for political leadership.
    3. ensure an adequate supply of ministers.
    4. train teachers, lawyers, and doctors.


  2. Bacon's Rebellion of 1676 in Virginia resulted in

    1. exposed tensions between backcountry farmers and tidewater gentry.
    2. modified election process for the colony's governor.
    3. suspension of activity within the House of Burgesses for a period of one year.
    4. increased land allotments for indentured servants.


  3. Prior to 1492, many American Indian cultures were strongly influenced by the

    1. spread of corn cultivation.
    2. invention of the spoked wheel.
    3. domestication of horses.
    4. introduction of spices such as cinnamon, nutmeg, and pepper.


  4. In colonial America, a married woman

    1. could be sentenced to debtors' prison for valid financial claims against her husband.
    2. held the same rights as her husband over their children.
    3. generally lost control of her property when she married.
    4. could vote in elections as her husband's proxy.


  5. An outcome of Europe's wars for the empire between 1688 and 1763 was the

    1. military struggles spread to America.
    2. French made themselves the dominant colonial power in the North America.
    3. British taxed their American colonies heavily to finance the wars.
    4. Spanish lost all their territory in North America.


  6. The colonies of Virginia and Massachusetts were most alike in that both

    1. relied on marketing of a single crop.
    2. were royal colonies.
    3. had an established Anglican Church.
    4. were heavily dependent on slave labor.


  7. The 1649 Maryland Toleration Act

    1. removed all restrictions on the practice of religion.
    2. provided for the separation of church and state.
    3. granted religious freedom to all Christians who accepted the Trinity.
    4. led immediately to the persecution of suspected witches.


  8. The system of indentured labor used in the English colonies

    1. provided a convenient method for Britain to deport most criminals.
    2. enabled poor people to seek opportunity in America.
    3. delayed the establishment of slavery in the South until about 1730.
    4. facilitated the cultivation of cotton and tobacco in the South.


  9. As the Indians of Appalachia were defeated, the group(s) that moved in greatest numbers into the region was/were

    1. Spanish settlers from Florida.
    2. slaveholders, indentured servants, and slaves from coastal plantations.
    3. Puritans from New England.
    4. Scotch-Irish, German, and English immigrants.


  10. Colonial cities functioned primarily as

    1. mercantile arenas for collecting agricultural goods and distributing imported manufactured items.
    2. hubs to which wage earners commuted from neighboring settlements.
    3. places where most poor immigrants settled and worked as independent artisans.
    4. headquarters where large scale financial and banking operations were conducted.


  11. The colony that required each community of 50 or more families to provide a teacher of reading and writing was

    1. Pennsylvania.
    2. Massachusetts.
    3. Virginia.
    4. Maryland.



        

  12. The above political cartoon of 1754 was intended as a/an

    1. request to all colonies to send militia to help defend Boston against advancing British troops.
    2. call for settlers to unite against various Indian tribes beyond the Appalachians.
    3. appeal to the colonies to unify against the threat from France.
    4. plea for the colonies to unite in protest of the Stamp Act.


  13. Which of the following was NOT characteristic of the Southern Colonies?

    1. Rural territory with no large urban centers.
    2. Export-oriented agricultural economies in which black slaves figured prominently.
    3. Firm emphasis placed on orthodox religion and formal education.
    4. Widespread use of the headright system to distribute and cultivate land.


  14. The main goal of Great Britain's mercantilist policy was to

    1. increase British prosperity.
    2. protect infant industries of the new English colonies.
    3. discourage other European powers from colonizing North America.
    4. reduce the need for an overseas empire.


  15. The argument between Great Britain and its American colonies during the 1760s and 1770s over "virtual representation" concerned

    1. the increasing use of juryless admiralty courts in the colonies.
    2. Parliament's ability to reflect colonial interests.
    3. the lack of colonial participation in negotiating the Treaty of Paris.
    4. patterns of legislative apportionment in the colonial assemblies.


  16. Prior to successfully colonizing the New World, England defeated a major rival, and before losing many of its New World colonies, England defeated another chief adversary. The nations were

    1. Spain, then France.
    2. Portugal, then France.
    3. Spain, then Holland.
    4. France, then Spain.


  17. The practice of Deism is

    1. the Quaker concept of toleration which considers attempts at religious conversion to be coercion of the soul.
    2. the belief that the course of each person's life is predestined by God and therefore is unchangeable by any human force.
    3. an important principle of the Anglican Church which held that salvation is largely influenced by good works.
    4. the theory that God created the world but allows it to operate through the laws of nature.


  18. The majority of early English migrants to the Chesapeake Bay area were

    1. indentured servants.
    2. merchants and craftsmen.
    3. wealthy gentlemen.
    4. entrepreneurs and businessmen.


  19. Roger Williams defended liberty of conscience by reasoning that

    1. theological truths would emerge from the clash of ideas.
    2. all religions were equal in the eyes of God.
    3. Puritan ideas about sin and salvation were outmoded.
    4. the state was an improper and ineffectual agency in matters of the spirit.


  20. By the end of the seventeenth century, women in New England

    1. had begun to challenge their subordinate role in society.
    2. formed the majority in many church congregations.
    3. voted in most local elections.
    4. frequently divorced their husbands.


  21. Which is the true statement about the northeastern Indian tribes at the time Europeans first began colonization in the New World?

    1. "Their cultures made no clear gender distinction regarding chores and other tribal tasks."
    2. "They were remarkably congenial, rarely engaging in intertribal warfare, slavery, and plunder."
    3. "Their economies were based almost entirely on hunting and gathering."
    4. "Their political and linguistic differences hindered united opposition to European invasion."


  22. The thirteen colonies took advantage of Great Britain's policy of salutary neglect to

    1. negotiate trade agreements to acquire needed products from other countries.
    2. make favorable territorial settlements with the French and Spanish.
    3. establish religious freedom as a fundamental right.
    4. introduce the practice of slavery into the New World.


  23. The Halfway Covenant provided for

    1. baptism of children of baptized but unconverted Puritans.
    2. granting suffrage to non-Church members.
    3. expansion of women's power within the Congregational Church.
    4. bestowing full membership in the Congregational Church to all New Englanders.


  24. The southern portion of England's North American colonies consisted of two seaboard regions, the Chesapeake Bay colonies of Maryland and Virginia, and the Lower South’s Carolinas (and eventually Georgia). The "tidewater" and "low country" regions differed most profoundly in

    1. their dependence on export crops.
    2. use of the headright system.
    3. the existence of towns as a focal point for social life.
    4. their fears of slave revolts.


  25. Diets, clothing, dwelling types, social norms, and customs differed among various Indian groups of North America because

    1. the total number of inhabitants across the continent was very large.
    2. all of these elements were influenced by the environment.
    3. the trade system used by North American Indians was flawed.
    4. many of the tribes were nomadic.


  26. Which is the true statement regarding colonial New England?

    1. "Life was centered in clustered villages surrounded by farmland."
    2. "The dominant religion was the Anglican Church, but it was heavily challenged by the Puritans and Quakers."
    3. "Little emphasis was placed on formal education due to the remoteness of communities."
    4. "The headright system played a prominent role in the region's agrarian-based economy."


  27. Anne Hutchinson was banished from the Puritan community because in addition to questioning religious orthodoxy, she also challenged the belief that

    1. women should remain silent and submissive.
    2. the Church of England needed to be purified.
    3. divorce was an unforgivable sin.
    4. Indians could not be baptized.


  28. The South Carolina Negro Act of 1740

    1. denied slaves freedom of movement and assembly, and forbade them to raise their own food, earn money, and learn to read English.
    2. provided severe punishments, such as whipping and hanging, for runaway slaves who participated in the Stono rebellion of 1739, the like of which was a significant problem among South Carolina plantations in the 1700s.
    3. barred white men from using their power as masters to take sexual advantage of female slaves.
    4. limited slave ownership based on total acreage per plantation because blacks outnumbered whites almost 2-to-1 in South Carolina.


  29. Which of the following was NOT a consequence of the Great Awakening in the American colonies during the mid-1700s?

    1. Growth of institutions of higher learning to fulfill the need for more ministers to spread God's word.
    2. Sudden flourishing of missionary spirit as an outgrowth of more intensive religious devotion and assurance.
    3. Lessening of doctrinal rigor and a concomitant appreciation for the more direct experiences of faith.
    4. Renewed persecution of witches because of the heightened interest in the supernatural.


  30. The Albany Conference of 1754 convened in order to

    1. create an alliance of southern colonies to guard against potential Spanish attacks waged from Florida against Georgia and the Carolinas.
    2. formulate a plan for colonies to repel uprisings, whether by western settlers displeased with policies established by colonial assemblies or frontier Indian tribes which might threaten hostility against some of the more populated eastern precincts.
    3. protest the increasingly harsh Navigation Acts and warn the colonies of New England that British military action against them was a very real possibility.
    4. secure the allegiance of the Iroquois Confederation and promote general colonial unity.



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