11. The Expanding Republic, 1815

Chapter Chronology

Quiz for Experiencing the American Promise: Going Ahead or Gone to Smash: An Entrepreneur Struggles in the 1830s

Select the best answer for each question. Click the “submit” button for each question to turn in your work.

Question 11.6

1. Buffalo, New York became a boomtown in the 1830s because of its strategic location in relation to

New York City.

Niagara Falls.

the Erie Canal.

Canada.

Question 11.7

2. Although Benjamin Rathbun was sentenced to five years in prison after being convicted of fraud, how did his business failure also negatively impact the city of Buffalo?

Rathbun had once employed more than 30 percent of all adult men in Buffalo, so his collapse caused the loss of thousands of jobs.

About a dozen prominent Buffalo citizens were also sent to prison for aiding Rathbun’s fraudulent real estate empire in the city.

The federal government seized control of many of Rathbun’s businesses as part of his conviction, and quickly closed them down.

Rathbun was forced to sell the land adjacent to Niagara Falls to his creditors, resulting in the loss of major tourist dollars to Buffalo.

Question 11.8

3. The Mercantile Agency, founded in 1841, assessed a businessman’s creditworthiness by evaluating traits like

his credit score.

how much he drank.

the amount of debt he owed.

whether he came from a rich family.

Question 11.9

4. What did the U.S. Bankruptcy Act of 1841 attempt to do to prevent the kind of massive business failures that characterized the late 1830s?

Restrict the amount of money any individual could borrow

Require lenders to conduct background checks on potential borrowers

Pledge that the federal government would back all loans over $500,000

Print the names of people who declared bankruptcy in the newspaper

Question 11.10

5. Which of the following historical arguments about the American financial world before the 1840s is supported by this essay?

Borrowing money was fairly easy, with big loans granted after just a few signatures, enabling some Americans to get rich (or lose everything) very quickly.

Cities that experienced rapid growth in the 1830s, such as Buffalo and Cleveland, were particularly vulnerable to fraudulent transactions by ambitious businessmen.

Prior to the U.S. Bankruptcy Act of 1841, the federal government had allowed debtors to eliminate their debts only if they had accumulated those debts via railroad construction.