U.S. History: 1877–Present (Grades 10–11) Midterm — Semester 1, Form B

Part 1: Multiple Choice

1. What was the goal of the Dawes Act of 1887?
   1. A. To divide tribal lands into individual plots to push Native Americans to assimilate
   2. B. To return western lands to Native American nations
   3. C. To create large shared reservations for every tribe
   4. D. To grant Native Americans immediate full citizenship
2. What was the main purpose of the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890?
   1. A. To outlaw trusts and combinations that restrained trade
   2. B. To limit immigration from southern Europe
   3. C. To create the first federal income tax
   4. D. To set an eight-hour workday for factory workers
3. What did the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 do?
   1. A. Granted citizenship to Chinese railroad workers
   2. B. Required Chinese immigrants to settle only in California
   3. C. Banned most Chinese laborers from immigrating to the United States
   4. D. Created a trade agreement between the U.S. and China
4. Mark Twain's label "the Gilded Age" suggested that the era
   1. A. was the first period of American history to use gold coins
   2. B. was a time of equal wealth for all Americans
   3. C. was free of political scandals
   4. D. had a shiny surface of wealth that hid poverty and corruption
5. John D. Rockefeller bought out many competing oil refineries to dominate the refining industry. What is this strategy called?
   1. A. Sharecropping
   2. B. Deregulation
   3. C. Vertical integration
   4. D. Horizontal integration
6. Why did many U.S. senators oppose the Treaty of Versailles after World War I?
   1. A. They wanted the U.S. to annex parts of Germany
   2. B. They feared League of Nations membership could pull the U.S. into wars without Congress's approval
   3. C. They believed the treaty was too easy on Germany's allies
   4. D. They objected to the treaty's ban on submarines
7. What change did the Seventeenth Amendment (1913) make?
   1. A. Women gained the right to vote
   2. B. The sale of alcohol was banned
   3. C. Congress gained the power to collect an income tax
   4. D. Voters began directly electing U.S. senators
8. In Schenck v. United States (1919), the Supreme Court ruled that
   1. A. newspapers cannot be sued for false stories
   2. B. speech can be limited when it creates a "clear and present danger"
   3. C. the government may never limit speech in wartime
   4. D. the military draft violated the Thirteenth Amendment
9. Who were the muckrakers of the Progressive Era?
   1. A. Journalists who exposed corruption and social problems
   2. B. Politicians who controlled city machines
   3. C. Farmers who formed cooperatives
   4. D. Factory owners who opposed labor unions
10. What did the Federal Reserve Act of 1913 create?
    1. A. A national park system to protect wilderness
    2. B. A program of pensions for elderly Americans
    3. C. A federal agency to inspect food and drugs
    4. D. A central banking system to manage the nation's money supply
11. Why was the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) created in 1933?
    1. A. To pay farmers to grow fewer crops
    2. B. To regulate the sale of stocks
    3. C. To build public works projects
    4. D. To insure bank deposits and restore confidence in banks
12. What was the Great Migration?
    1. A. The movement of African Americans from the rural South to cities in the North and West
    2. B. The movement of farmers from the Plains to California during the Dust Bowl
    3. C. The movement of Americans from cities to suburbs
    4. D. The arrival of immigrants from southern and eastern Europe
13. During the Great Depression, what were "Hoovervilles"?
    1. A. Shantytowns of homeless people, named to blame President Hoover
    2. B. Government housing projects built by Hoover
    3. C. Factories that Hoover reopened to create jobs
    4. D. Farms that received federal subsidies
14. What caused the Dust Bowl of the 1930s?
    1. A. Flooding of the Mississippi River
    2. B. Severe drought combined with farming practices that stripped the Plains of grass
    3. C. Volcanic eruptions in the western states
    4. D. Overuse of coal in Midwestern factories
15. What did Franklin Roosevelt's 1937 "court-packing" plan propose?
    1. A. Adding up to six new justices to the Supreme Court
    2. B. Electing Supreme Court justices by popular vote
    3. C. Abolishing the Supreme Court
    4. D. Letting Congress overrule Supreme Court decisions

Part 2: Written Response

16. Choose two Progressive Era reforms and explain the problem each tried to solve and how well it worked. Then explain how World War I affected the reform spirit at home.