Quiz for Visualizing History: The Path of Progress

Quiz for Visualizing History: The Path of Progress

The Path of Progress

Choose the best answer to each question.

Question

1. This painting of a scene in the area of Council Bluffs, Iowa, in the mid-nineteenth century depicts two phenomena that were relatively new to the region: farming by white families and the railroad. Which of the following nineteenth-century concepts does the painting illustrate?

A.
B.
C.
D.

Correct. The answer is A. Both the white family farm and the barreling locomotive suggest the movement of white civilization into the West. The bright light on the train implies that, through their cultural superiority and technological knowhow, Americans were bringing progress and civilization into the previously uncivilized West.
Incorrect. The correct answer is A. Both the white family farm and the barreling locomotive suggest the movement of white civilization into the West. The bright light on the train implies that, through their cultural superiority and technological knowhow, Americans were bringing progress and civilization into the previously uncivilized West.

Question

2. Which of the following elements of the painting might the artist have intended to represent the obstacles facing American efforts to expand geographically and technologically?

A.
B.
C.
D.

Correct. The answer is C. The deer on the train tracks are the artist’s obvious effort to indicate the ways that wildlife and other natural elements complicated the process of incorporating the West into the larger United States.
Incorrect. The correct answer is C. The deer on the train tracks are the artist’s obvious effort to indicate the ways that wildlife and other natural elements complicated the process of incorporating the West into the larger United States.

Question

3. This image could be used to support which one of the following historical arguments?

A.
B.
C.
D.

Correct. The answer is B. This image supports the argument that the western landscape and environment were significantly changed by both American farmers and railroad developers. In this painting, the farmers have cleared their land of trees and built structures where none existed before. Railroad developers have also cleared a swath of land and laid tracks to facilitate the movement of speeding trains through the region.
Incorrect. The correct answer is B. This image supports the argument that the western landscape and environment were significantly changed by both American farmers and railroad developers. In this painting, the farmers have cleared their land of trees and built structures where none existed before. Railroad developers have also cleared a swath of land and laid tracks to facilitate the movement of speeding trains through the region.

Question

4. Which groups of Americans in the mid-nineteenth century would have viewed this image with unbridled excitement and optimism?

A.
B.
C.
D.

Correct. The answer is A. This scene depicts a western homestead settled by a farming family who have built a house and begun to clear the fields. The nearby railroad would have served as reassurance that it was possible to go west without leaving every element of civilized society behind. Americans who were considering moving west and settling on a federally granted homestead would have found this scene very appealing.
Incorrect. The correct answer is A. This scene depicts a western homestead settled by a farming family who have built a house and begun to clear the fields. The nearby railroad would have served as reassurance that it was possible to go west without leaving every element of civilized society behind. Americans who were considering moving west and settling on a federally granted homestead would have found this scene very appealing.

Question

5. Which of the following mid-nineteenth-century reformers might have hailed this painting as an illustration of America’s promising future?

A.
B.
C.
D.

Correct. The answer is B. This painting depicts new western lands that have been settled by independent family farmers and improved by the building of the railroad. For a free-labor advocate like Lincoln, who saw westward expansion as a way for more hardworking free men to acquire the land to sustain them as a prosperous and independent Americans, this scene would represent the American promise.
Incorrect. The correct answer is B. This painting depicts new western lands that have been settled by independent family farmers and improved by the building of the railroad. For a free-labor advocate like Lincoln, who saw westward expansion as a way for more hardworking free men to acquire the land to sustain them as a prosperous and independent Americans, this scene would represent the American promise.