Quiz for Sources for America’s History, Chapter 7

Question

1. Alexander Hamilton’s letter to Edward Carrington (Document 7-1) suggests that Hamilton’s chief priority in his actions as the nation’s first secretary of the Treasury was which of the following?

A.
B.
C.
D.
Correct. The answer is c. Alexander Hamilton’s letter made clear his desire to establish an effective federal government, built on republican principles, which would put the nation on firm financial footing and balance the competing interests of the state governments.
Incorrect. The answer is c. Alexander Hamilton’s letter made clear his desire to establish an effective federal government, built on republican principles, which would put the nation on firm financial footing and balance the competing interests of the state governments.

Question

2. In Notes on the State of Virginia (Document 7-2), Thomas Jefferson wrote, “Dependance begets subservience and venality, suffocates the germ of virtue, and prepares fit tools for the designs of ambition. This, the natural progress and consequence of the arts, has sometimes perhaps been retarded by accidental circumstances: but, generally speaking, the proportion which the aggregate of other classes of citizens bears in any state to that of its husbandmen, is the proportion of its unsound to its healthy parts, and is a good-enough barometer whereby to measure its degree of corruption.” With these words, Jefferson is referring to the dangers posed to republicanism by which of the following groups?

A.
B.
C.
D.
Correct. The answer is a. Jefferson’s argument in this document is that independent farmers provided the backbone for republican government and that working men and “manufacturers” were dependent on others for their livelihoods and, therefore, easily corruptible and not fit republican citizens.
Incorrect. The answer is a. Jefferson’s argument in this document is that independent farmers provided the backbone for republican government and that working men and “manufacturers” were dependent on others for their livelihoods and, therefore, easily corruptible and not fit republican citizens.

Question

3. By expressing negative views of the French Revolution in “Foreign Politics” (Document 7-3), Fisher Ames was also issuing a critique of Jefferson’s enthusiasm about

A.
B.
C.
D.
Correct. The answer is b. Fisher Ames’s condemnation of the French Revolution hinged on his idea that democracy—a “government by mere popular impulses . . . that excites, instead of restraining, the passions of the multitude”—was a threat to liberty. As such, in his essay, Ames attacks Jefferson’s promotion of democratic ideals as a danger to American liberty.
Incorrect. The answer is b. Fisher Ames’s condemnation of the French Revolution hinged on his idea that democracy—a “government by mere popular impulses . . . that excites, instead of restraining, the passions of the multitude”—was a threat to liberty. As such, in his essay, Ames attacks Jefferson’s promotion of democratic ideals as a danger to American liberty.

Question

4. Which of the following individuals would have been most likely to support the views expressed by the author of “Retrograde Movement of National Character” (Document 7-4)?

A.
B.
C.
D.
Correct. The answer is c. John Adams, a Federalist, would likely have agreed with many of the views expressed by the author. Although the author’s anxieties about westward settlement rested primarily on migrants’ loss of religious faith, Adams, who shared Federalists’ fears about “the people,” would have been highly concerned about the possibility that migrants were abandoning “the refinements of polished society” for “savage life.”
Incorrect. The answer is c. John Adams, a Federalist, would likely have agreed with many of the views expressed by the author. Although the author’s anxieties about westward settlement rested primarily on migrants’ loss of religious faith, Adams, who shared Federalists’ fears about “the people,” would have been highly concerned about the possibility that migrants were abandoning “the refinements of polished society” for “savage life.”

Question

5. In his efforts to rally the Choctaws and Chickasaws, the Shawnee chief Tecumseh said, “Before the palefaces came among us, we enjoyed the happiness of unbounded freedom, and were acquainted with neither riches, wants, nor oppression. . . . Are we not being stripped day by day of the little that remains of our ancient liberty? Do they not even now kick and strike us as they do their black-faces? How long will it be before they will tie us to a post and whip us, and make us work for them in their corn fields as they do them? Shall we wait for that moment or shall we die fighting before submitting to such ignominy?” The message in Document 7-5 most resembles arguments made by which of the following groups?

A.
B.
C.
D.
Correct. The answer is b. In his efforts to recruit support for and justify his plan to fight with the British against the Americans in the War of 1812, Tecumseh adopted arguments that the American colonists had used to justify their fight against the British during the American Revolution. Like the American colonists, Tecumseh argued that American policies and practices were stripping Native Americans of their “ancient liberty” and threatening to enslave them. He called for unity among Native Americans to protect their freedoms.
Incorrect. The answer is b. In his efforts to recruit support for and justify his plan to fight with the British against the Americans in the War of 1812, Tecumseh adopted arguments that the American colonists had used to justify their fight against the British during the American Revolution. Like the American colonists, Tecumseh argued that American policies and practices were stripping Native Americans of their “ancient liberty” and threatening to enslave them. He called for unity among Native Americans to protect their freedoms.

Question

6. What does the “Report of the Hartford Convention” (Document 7-6) reveal about how the Federalist Party had changed between 1789 and 1815?

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B.
C.
D.
Correct. The answer is d. The “Report of the Hartford Convention” reveals that, by 1815, Federalists who had previously favored a strong federal government had come to question its wisdom. Once they lost national power and found themselves dragged into a war that did not serve their sectional interests, Federalists sought to increase the autonomy and authority of their states and to weaken federal power.
Incorrect. The answer is d. The “Report of the Hartford Convention” reveals that, by 1815, Federalists who had previously favored a strong federal government had come to question its wisdom. Once they lost national power and found themselves dragged into a war that did not serve their sectional interests, Federalists sought to increase the autonomy and authority of their states and to weaken federal power.