period 4 review: 1800-1860 - madison public schools 4 review: 1800-1860 long-essay questions ... to...

PERIOD 4 Review: 1800-1860

Long-Essay Questions Directions: Write an essay to respond to one of each pair of questions. Cite relevant historical evidence in support of your generalizations and present your arguments clearly and logically.

Choose ONE of the following two long-essay questions.

1. For some the American Revolution was primarily an effort to maintain basic British rights as opposed to establishing a new fonn of government. Support, modify. or refute thi s contention using specific evidence.

2. For some the election of Andrew Jackson brought a revolutionary change in politics for the common man as opposed to it being a conLilJuaLion of the lrend loward greater voler participation. Support, modify, or refute this contention using specific evidence.


3. Analyze and evaluate the impact of Alexander Hamilton's economic policies, including hi s views on banking during the early years of the republic.

4. Analyze and evaluate the impact of Andrew Jackson's economic policies, including hi s views on banking during the mid-19th century.


5. Compare and contrast the characteristics and influences of the three major groups of the British Atlantic colonies by the mid-18th century.

6. Compare and contrast the characteristics and influences of the three major sections of the United States by the mid-19th century.

224 u.s. HISTORY: PREPARING FOR THE ADVANCED PLACEMENT EXAM


7. Analyze and evaluate the ways in which ONE of the following areas influenced United States foreign policy in the late 18th century.

• French Revolution

• Washington's Farewell Address

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8. Analyze and evaluate the ways in which ONE of the following areas influenced United States foreign policy in the early part of the 19th century.

• Aorida Purchase

• Monroe Doctrine

• War Hawks


9. Explain and analyze the impact of ONE of the following on the social and political life during much of the 18th century.

• education

• inunigration

• religion

10. Explain and analyze the impact of ONE of the following on the social and political life during much of the first half of the 19th century.

• education

• inunigration

• religion

PERIOD 4 REVIEW: 1800-1860 225

SHORT-ANSWER QUESTIONS

Briefly answer the questions in complete sentences. A thesis is not required.

Question 1. Answer a, b, and c.

a) Choose ONE of the choices below, and explain why your choice best demonstrates how Presidents Jefferson and Madison largely relied on economic policies to carry out their foreign policies. • Louisiana Purchase

• Embargo Act • Macon's Bill No.2

b) Contrast your choice against ONE of the other options, demonstrating why that option is not as good as your choice.

c) Provide ONE piece of evidence involving one of the choices provided or another situation during this period of Presidents Jefferson and Madison that either supports or contradicts their reliance on economic policies to carry out their foreign policies.

Question 2. Answer a and b.

a) Briefly explain how ONE of the following either supports or contradicts this statement: "From the point of view of President Madison, none of the goals for the War of 1812 had been achieved." Provide at least ONE piece of evidence to support your explanation.

• foreign relations

• nationalism

• industry

b) Briefly explain how ONE of the following goals of the United States in the War of 1812 would continue after the war to playa major role in the politics and policies of the nation.

• impressment of sailors • American Indian conflicts

• expansIOn

THE AGE OF JEFFERSON, 1800- 1816 147

Question 3 is based on the following excerpts.

"What, Mr. Speaker, are we now called on to decide? It is, whether we will resist by force the attempt, made by that Government [Britain], to subject OUf

maritime rights to the arbitrary and capricious rule of her will; for my part I am not prepared to say that this country shall submit to have her commerce interdicted or regulated, by any foreign nation. Sir, I prefer war to submission ....

''The British Government, for many years past they have been in the practice of impressing our seamen, from merchant vessels; this unjust and lawless invasion of personal liberty, calls loudly for the interposition of this Government ...

''This war ... will have its advantages. We shall drive the British from OUf continent-they will no longer ... [be] intriguing with our Indian neighbors .... I am willing to receive the Canadians as adopted brethren."

-Felix Grundy, Speech in the House of Representatives, December 181 t

"This war of conquest, a war for the acquisition of tenitory and subjects, is to be a new commentary on the doctrine that republics are destitute of ambition; that they are addicted to peace ....

"But is war the true remedy? Who will profit by it? Speculators-a few lucky merchants .... Who must suffer by it? The people. It is their blood, their taxes that must flow to support it.

"Our people will not submit to be taxed for this war of conquest and dominion. The government of the United States was not calculated to wage offensive war; it was instituted for the common defense and general welfare; and whosoever should embark it in a war of offense would put it to a test which it was by no means calculated to endure."

-John Randolph, Speech in the House of Representatives, December 181 t

3. Using the excerpts, answer a, b, and c.

a) Briefly explain the main point of excerpt I.

b) Briefly explain the main point of excerpt 2.

c) Provide ONE piece of evidence from the debate over war during this period that is not included in the excerpts and explain how it supports the interpretation in either excerpt.


Question 4 is based on the following excerpt.

"And if this court is not authorized to issue a writ of mandamus .... It must be because the law is unconstitutional and therefore absolutely incapable of conferring the authority ....

"Certainly, all those who have framed written constitutions contemplate them as forming the fundamental and paramount law ... and consequently ... an act of the legislature repugnant to the constitution is void ....

"If, then, the courts are to regard the Constitution, and the Constitution is superior to any ordinary act of the legislature, the Constitution, and not such ordinary act must govern the case to which they both apply.

''The judicial power of the United States is extended to all cases arising under the Constitution ....

''Thus, the particular phraseology of the Constitution ... confirms and strengthens the principle ... that a law repugnant to the Constitution is void and that courts, as well as other departments, are bound by that instrument."

-John Marshall, Marbury v. Madison, 1803

4. Using the excerpt, answer a, b, and c.

a) Briefly explain the significance of Marshall' s opinion presented as Jefferson became the third president of the United States.

b) Briefly explain how TWO of the following people would either support or question Marshall' s view.

• William Marbury • John Adams • Thomas Jefferson • Alexander Hamilton

THINK AS A HISTORIAN: USES OF HISTORICAL EVIDENCE

A key skill of historians is the ability to use evidence accurately. Describe the kind of evidence that should be included in essays responding to each of these questions.

1. If the Supreme Court was asked to decide the constitutionality of the Louisiana Purchase, how would you expect John Marshall to have ruled?

2. How important was the War of 1812 to the development of the United States?

3. Explain whether you think westward expansion was the most important issue for the new country.

THE AGE OF JEFFERSON, 1800- 1816 149




a) Choose ONE of the choices below, and explain how your choice had an impact on the industrial growth during this period from prior to the War of 1812 to the middle of the 19th century."

• factory system

• inventions • labor unions

b) Contrast your choice against one of the other options, demonstrating why that option is not as good as your choice.

c) Briefly explain whether there were any variations in industrial growth in different sections of the country.

Question 2. Answer a, b, and c,

a) Briefly explain ONE of the parts of Henry Clay's proposed American System, a comprehsive plan to bring about economic improvement. Provide at least ONE piece of evidence to support your explanation.

• protective tariffs

• National Hank

• internal improvements

b) Briefly explain how ONE of the parts of Henry Clay's proposed American System would bring about economic improvement. Provide at least ONE piece of evidence to support your explanation.

c) Identify and briefly explain the role played by ONE individual or group that was critical of one of the parts or the entire plan for an American System.



"Congress possesses the power of making the exclusion of slavery a part or condition of the act of admitting a new state into the Union .... The existence of slavery impairs the industry and the power of a nation; and it does so in proportion to the multiplication of its slaves ....

"If her laborers are slaves, Missouri may be able to pay money taxes, but will be unable to raise soldiers or to recruit seamen; and experience seems to have proved that manufacturers do not prosper where the artificers are slaves ....

"If Missouri, and the other states that may be fonned west of the River Mississippi, are permitted to ... establish slavery, the repose, if not security of the Union may be endangered ... if slavery be excluded from Missouri ... not only will the slave markets be broken up, and the principles of freedom be extended."

-Senator Rufus King, Speech to the U.S. Senate on the Expansion of Slavery, 1819

"It were charity to hope that the motives which have dictated the late attempt to introduce restrictions into the constitution of Missouri were as praiseworthy as they affect to be ....

"Shall we adopt the barbarous principles of affected benevolence in imposing a check on the increase of black population by excluding them from an emigration to a country more salubrious and fertile than they now inhabit. ...

"It behooves us to contest at the threshold a pretension which violates the compact of the states; which sets at nought the great principle of selfgovernment; which will prove an apple of discord among the sisters of this confederacy, and threaten to subvert our free and happy Constitution by a deadly blow at the rights of a part of the nation, and a destruction of the harmony and tranquility of the whole."

-Anonymous, The Richnwnd Inquirer, 1819

3. Using the excerpts, answer a, b, and c.

a) Briefly explain the main point of Excerpt 1.

b) Briefly explain the main point of Excerpt 2.

c) Provide ONE piece of evidence from the early 19th century period that is not included in the excerpts and explain how it supports the interpretation in either excerpt.

NATIONALISM AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, 1816- 1848 171


"The Accounts ... given ... of the depredations committed by bankers will make you suppose that affairs are much deranged here ....

''The money in circulation is puzzling to traders, and more particularly to strangers; for besides the multiplicity of banks, and the diversity in supposed value, fluctuations are so frequent and so great that no man who holds it in his possession can be safe for a day .... "Trade is stagnated, produce cheap, and merchants find It difficult to lay in assortments of foreign manufactures .... Agriculture languishes-farmers cannot find profit in hiring laborers ... Laborers and mechanics are in want of employment. ... The operations of bankers and the recent decline in trade have been effective causes of poverty."

- James Rint, visitor from ScotJand, Flint 's Lettersfrom America, May 4, 1820


a) Briefly explain how ONE of the following was affected by the Panic described in the excerpt. • nationalism • Era of Good Feelings • the West

b) Briefly explain how ONE of the following was popularly considered the primary cause of the Panic described in the excerpt. • Second Bank • land speculation

• inflation

c) Briefly explain ONE action recommended in response to the cause of the Panic you identified in response to the Part B of the question.

THINK AS A HISTORIAN: QUESTIONS ABOUT INTERPRETATION

Which TWO of these questions asks for an essay that emphasizes the forces shaping how historians interpret the past?

1. Explain why two historians might disagree about the federal government's role in economic changes between 1816 and 1824.

2. Describe two ways historians have viewed the Monroe Doctrine's purpose.

3. Analyze why the Era of Good Feelings ended so quickly





"He [Jackson] believed that removal was the lndian's only salvation against certain extinction ...

"Not that the Pres ident was motivated by concerns for the Indians ... Andrew Jackson was motivated principally by two considerations: first ... military safety ... that lndians must not occupy areas that might jeopardize the defense of this nation; and second ... the principal that all persons residing within states are subject to the jurisdiction and laws of those states.

"Would it have been worse bad the Indians remained in the East? Jackson thought so. He said that they would 'disappear and be forgotten.' One thing does seem certain: the lndians would have been forced to yield to state laws and white society. Indian Nations per se would have been obliterated and possibly lndian civilization with them."

- Robert V. Rentini, historian, Andrew Jackson and the Course of American Freedom, 1998

"The Georgia legislature passed a law extending the state's jurisdiction ... over the Cherokees living within the state ... Georgia's action forced the President's hand. He must see to it that a removal policy long covertly pursued by the White House would now be enacted into law by Congress ...

"Jackson as usual spoke publicly in a tone of friendship and concern for Indian welfare .... He, as President, could be their friend only if they removed beyond the Miss issippi , where they should have a "land of their own, which they shall possess as long as Grass grows or water runs ....

"A harsh policy was nevertheless quickly put in place ... "It is abundantly clear that Jackson and his administration were detennined

to permit the extension of state sovereignty because it would result in the harassment of lndians, powerless to resist, by speculators and intruders hungry for Indian Land."

- Anthony F. C. Wallace, historian, The Long, Bitter Trail: Andrew Jackson and the Indians, 1993


a) Briefly explain the main point of Excerpt I.


c) Provide ONE piece of evidence from the mid-19th century that is not included in the excerpts and explain how it supports the interpretation in either excerpt.


Question 2 is based on the following cartoon.

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BORN TO COM:o.rANO.

.KING .A1i"DREW THE FIlIST.

Source: "King Andrew the First," 1833. Libl'"dI)' of Congress

2. Using the cartoon, answer a, b, and c.

• , e " • , , , c-, • • ~ , ,

a) Explain the point of view reflected in the cartoon above regarding ONE of the following: • presidential powers • American lndians • economic policy • states' rights

b) Explain how ONE element of the cartoon expresses the point of view you identified in Part A.

c) Explain how the point of view you identified in Part A helped to shape ONE specific United States government action between 1824 and 1844.

THE AGE OF JACKSON, 1824-1844 205


a) Briefly explain which ONE of the following best supports this statement: "The duties of all public officers are ... so plain and simple that more is lost by the long continuance of men in office than is generally to be gained by their experience." • political party conventions

• rotation in office

• spoils system

b) Contrast your choice against ONE of the other options demonstrating why that option is not as good as your choice.

c) Briefly explain how ONE of the following people would either support or question thi s statement.

• John Quincy Adams • John C. Calhoun

• Martin van Buren


a) Choose ONE of the actions li sted below, and explain how thi s best demonstrates the argument that the Age of Jackson saw a shift of political power from the ruling elite to the common man. • popular election of the President

• rotation in office • universal male suffrage


c) Briefly explain ONE critical response to the political changes during this period.

THINK AS A HISTORIAN: STATEMENTS ABOUT CAUSATION

Statements that express causation often use words such as cause, effect, because. hence. and result. Which TWO of these statements best express causation?

1. Because of Jackson 's Specie Circular, banknotes lost their value.

2. Jackson's threat to use force and his willingness to compromise on the tariff persuaded the states' rights advocates to back down.

3. Jackson charged that Adams and Clay made a "corrupt bargain."

4. The Anti-Masonic party viewed the Masons as a secret elite.

206 u.s. HISTORY: PREPAR ING FOR THE ADVANCED PLACEMENT EXAM




a) Choose ONE of the reforms listed below, and explain how it best demonstrates the influence of economic cbanges during the first half of the 19th century.

• public education

• temperance

• women's rights


c) Briefly explain ONE government response to the reform movements of this period.


"America is beginning to assert herself to the senses and to the imagination of her children, and Europe is receding in the same degree ....

"Prudent men have begun to see that every American should be educated with a view to the values of land ... The land is the appointed remedy for whatever is false ... in our culture. The continent we inhabit is to be physic and food for our mind, as well as our body ....

"Gentlemen, the development of our American internal resources, the extension to the utmost of the conunercia1 system, and the appearance of new mora1 causes which are to modify the state are giving an aspect of greatness to the future which the imagination fears to open."

- Ralph Waldo Emerson, lecturer and author, "The Young American," 1844


a) Briefly explain the point of view by the writer about ONE of the following.

• nature

• railroads • refonn movements

b) Briefly explain ONE way in which developments during this period of the mid-19th century led to the point of view expressed by the writer.

c) Briefly explain ONE way in which developments in thi s period of the mid-19th century challenged or supported Emerson's point of view.

SOCIETY, CULTURE, AND REFORM, 1820-1860 221

Question 3 is based on the following cartoon.

~1.Dn:}.u1.... :.fJ J Y m ... R,

Source: Woman's Holy War. Library of Congress.

3. Using the cartoon, answer a, b, and c.

a) Explain the point of view reflected in the cartoon above regarding ONE of the following: • religious revivals • temperance • women's rights

b) Explain how ONE element of the cartoon expresses the point of view you identified in Part A.

c) Explain how the point of view you identified in Part A helped to shape ONE specific United States government action between 1820 and 1860.



a) Briefly explain why ONE of the following best supports the view that by the mid-19th century, the antislavery movement had gradually become more radical. • American Colonization Society

• The Liberator

• Nat Turner

b) Contrast your choice against ONE of the other options demonstrating why that option is not as good as your choice.

c) Briefly explain ONE critical response to the changes during this period.

THINK AS A HISTORIAN: STATEMENTS ABOUT CONTINUITY AND CHANGE OVER TIME

Statements about continuity often include phrases such as "similar to" or "following in the path." Statements about change often include phrases such as "unlike" and "unprecedented." Which THREE of the following statements best express either continuity or change?

1. The Second Great Awakening was one of many reform movements that swept the country in the 1800s.

2. Some historians believe that the strong sense of taking care of one another that existed in frontier settlements in the 1800s can be traced directly to the values of the Puritans of the 1600s.

3. African American leaders in the first half of the 1800s responded to slavery in various ways.

4. Henry David Thoreau's legacy was revived by reformers in both the United States and lndia in the 20th century.

5. Listing the subjects portrayed in American painting in the 1780s and in the 1850s demonstrates how significantly the United States evolved in just seven decades.

SOCIETY, CULTURE, AND REFORM, 1820-1860 223




a) Choose ONE of the groups listed below, and explain how the treatment of that group best demonstrates the validity of thi s statement: "Discrimination was common against people unlike the white Protestant majority in the United States during the early J9th century."

• American Indians • free African Americans

• Iri sh immigrants


c) Briefly explain whether there were any variations in discrimination in different sections of the country.

Question 2. Answer a and b.

a) Briefly explain why ONE of the following periods best marks the beginning of the Western Frontier. Provide ONE example of an event or development from the same period to support your explanation.

• 1600s-lands not along the Atlantic coast

• 1700s-lands west of the Appalachian Mountains

• rnid-1800s-lands west of the Mississippi River

b) Briefly explain why ONE of the other periods is not as useful to mark the beginning of the Western Frontier as your choice in Part A.



The blast from Freedom's northern hills, upon its Southern way, Bears greeting to Virginia from Massachusetts Bay: No word of haughty challenging, nor battle bugle 's peal, Nor steady tread of marching files, nor clang of horseman's steel. What asks the Old Dominion? If now her sons have proved False to their fathers' memory, false to the faith they love; If she can scoff at Freedom, and its great charter spurn, Must we of Massachusetts from truth and duty tum?

All that a sister State should do, all that a free State may, Heart, hand, and purse we proffer, as in our day; But that one dark loathsome burden ye must stagger alone, And reap the bitter harvest which ye yourselves have sown!

But for us and for our children, the vow which we have given For freedom and humanity, is registered in heaven; No slave-hunt in our borders-no prate on our strand! No fetters in the Bay State-no slave upon our land!

- John Greenleaf Whittier, poet, "Massachusetts to Virginia," 1843

"It is said slavery is wrong .... With regard to the assertion that slavery is against the spirit of Christianity, we are ready to admit the general assertion, but deny most positively, that there is anything in the Old or New Testament [of the Bible], which would go to show that slavery, when once introduced, ought at all events to be abrogated, or that the master commits any offense in holding slaves. The children of Israel themselves were slaveholders, and were not condemned for it. .. When we tum to the New Testament, we find not one single passage at all calculated to disturb the conscience of an honest slaveholder. No one can read it without seeing and admiring that the meek and humble Saviour of the world in no instance meddled with the established institutions of mankind."

- Thomas R. Dew, professor, College of William and Mary, "Review of the Debate in the Virginia Legislature of 1831 and 1832," 1832

3. Using the excerpt, answer a, b, and c,

a) Briefly explain the main point of Excerpt l.


c) Provide ONE piece of evidence from the mid-19th century that is not included in the excerpts and explain how it supports the interpretation in either excerpt.

SECTIONALlSM,1820- 1860 189


"That a country should become eminently prosperous in agriculture, without a high state of perfection in the mechanic arts, is a thing next to impossible ... that we should follow the footsteps of our forefathers and still further exhaust our soil by the exclusive cultivation of cotton?

"Unless we betake ourselves to some more profitable employment than the planting of cotton, what is to prevent our most enterprising planters from moving with their Negro capital, to the Southwest?

"Cotton ... has produced us such an abundant supply of all the luxuries and elegancies of life, with so little exertion on our part, that we have become ... unfitted for other more laborious pursuits, and unprepared to meet the state of things which sooner or later must come about."

4. Using the excerpt, answer a and b.

- William Gregg, Southern manufacturer, "Essays on Domestic Industry," 1845

a) Briefly explain how TWO of the following contributed to the lack of manufacturing in the South during the first half of the 19th century.

• cotton • Great Britain • slavery • Southern society

b) Briefly explain ONE advantage, if any, the North had over the South in developing manufacturing during the first half of the 19th century.

THINK AS A HISTORIAN: QUESTIONS ABOUT SYNTHESIS

Synthesis requires combining infonnation from multiple sources to answer a question or draw a conclusion. Which TWO of the following questions most clearly asks for an answer that uses synthesis?

1. Use information from two different types of sources (print, statistical , visual, etc.) to explain why the West was more closely tied to the North than to the South by the 18508.

2. Who, if anyone, are the modem equivalents of mountain men?

3. In the mid-1800s, Great Britain had several large cities and no slavery. Explain why the South was the U.S. region least like Britain but most closely tied to it.

4. Why did Southerners refer to slavery as "that peculiar institution"?


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