“Creating America”
Grade 8
McDougal Littell
NAME ___________________________________
Unit 4 Chapter Test
Main Ideas.
Choose the letter of the best answer.
1) Why did J. Q. Adams have difficulty accomplishing his
goals as president?
(a) He did not defend himself against attacks by Jackson.
(b) Congress was dominated by Jackson supporters.
(c) Henry Clay, his vice-president, was too eager to
compromise.
(d) Adams died shortly after becoming president.
2) What was the central principle of Jacksonian democracy?
(f) spreading political power to all the people
(g) practicing the spoils system and supporting
industrialization
5) Which reason best explains why the doctrine of
nullification became popular in the South?
(a) Southerners wanted to force the federal government
to provide the same transportation improvements in
the South that had benefited the West.
(b) Southerners believed that Congress was controlled by
an alliance of leaders from the Northeast and the
West.
(c) The 1828 tariff hit the South especially hard
economically.
(d) Southerners wanted to secede from the United States.
6) Why was Sequoya an important figure in the 1800s?
(h) easing voting restrictions to include women
(f) He wrote the constitution of the Seminole people.
(j) using tariffs to increase federal revenues
(g) He invented a writing system for the Cherokee
language.
3) Why would Jackson’s Western background shape his
dislike of the national bank?
(a) Bank supporters were Democrats, but most
Westerners were Whigs.
(b) As a Westerner, Jackson did not understand how
banks worked.
(h) He fought to keep the Seminoles from being removed
from Florida.
(j) He led the Cherokees on the Trail of Tears.
7) The Webster-Hayne debate was part of an ongoing
discussion about what issue?
(c) The national bank was owned by rich investors from
the South.
(a) slavery
(d) Westerners wanted easier credit so they could buy
public land.
(c) political parties
4) Why did Northeasterners oppose Jackson’s easy credit
policies for land sales?
(f) They feared Western crops would compete with
Northeastern crops.
(b) Native American rights
(d) States’ rights
8) After the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Cherokees,
Jackson said, "John Marshall has made his decision. . . .
Now let him enforce it." What did he mean?
(g) They believed that the West and South would unite
against the Northeast.
(f) that the Supreme Court had the power to carry out its
rulings
(h) They feared that their factory workers would move
West to become farmers.
(g) that Jackson did not intend to carry out the Court’s
ruling
(j) They feared the national bank would create an
inflationary situation.
(h) that Jackson was upset that Marshall had made the
Court’s decision
(j) that it was not the president’s job to carry out the
Court’s rulings
Map Skills
Using the exhibit, choose the letter of the best answer.
The Election of 1828
CANADA
ME.
8 1
N.H. 8
VT. 7
OREGON
TERRITORY
M IC
Candidiate
Jackson
Adams
Electoral
Vote
178
83
Popular
Vote
H IG A
N
20
TER R .
UNORGANIZED
TERRITORY
508,064
MO.
3
OHIO
16
IND.
5
Maine
8
1
Maryland
6
5
New York
16
20
MISS.
3
MEXICO
(a) Maine
(b) New York
(c) Maryland
(d) Pennsylvania
ALA.
5
GA.
9
N
E
W
S
250
250
DEL. 3
MD.
S.C.
11
FLA.
TERR.
0
6
N.C. 15
LA.
5
0
9) In which of the states that split its electoral votes between
the two candidates was the vote most evenly divided?
R.I. 4
CONN. 8
N.J. 8
KY. 14
ARK.
TERR.
SPLIT VOTES
5
VA.
24
TENN. 11
Jackson
16
PA. 28
ILL.
3
647,286
Adams
MASS. 15
N.Y.
500 miles
500 kilometers
Main Ideas
Choose the letter of the best answer.
10) What did Stephen Austin and Brigham Young have in
common?
12) Which national issue was the reason some people
opposed the War with Mexico?
(f) Both were religious leaders who traveled west to flee
persecution.
(f) the fear that the United States was growing too large
to govern
(g) Both were military heroes in the Western wars.
(g) the fear that slavery would spread into newly won
territories
(h) Both led settlers and founded new colonies in the
West.
(j) Both were mountain men who traded in furs and
explored the West.
11) People who went to California during the gold rush were
known as
(h) the fear that another war would bankrupt the national
government
(j) the fear that Spain would enter the war as Mexico’s
ally
13) Which best describes an area of common ground between
Tejanos and Americans in Texas?
(a) Californios.
(b) Confederates.
(c) forty-niners.
(d) Panama Jacks.
(a) Tejanos supported the Americans’ attitude toward
Mexican laws.
(b) Americans and Tejanos agreed to make peace with
Native Americans.
(c) They agreed that Texas should be a self-governing
Mexican state.
(d) Tejanos taught Americans Spanish, and Americans
taught them English.
Map Skills
Using the exhibit, choose the letter of the best answer.
Trails West
200 Miles
0
0
PACIFIC
OCEAN
200 Kilometers
Blackfoot
Oregon Trail
California Trail
Santa Fe Trail
Old Spanish Trail
Mormon Trail
Crow
Native Americans
Fort
Ft. Vancouver
NG
E
CA
S
R A CADE
Yakima
Nez Perce
UNORGANIZED
TERRITORY
Crow
OREGON
TERRITORY
Ft. Hall
Sublette
Cutoff
South
Pass
ER
M OUNT
UTAH TERRITORY
SI
Ute
re
A
Cim
Navajo
Los Angeles
at
o
arr
la
n Cu
in
St. Louis
s
Independence
MISSOURI
t off
Cherokee
Creek
Seminole
Choctaw
Chickasaw
Santa Fe
TEXAS
(f) to use water from the Mississippi River
(g) to avoid the hostile Pawnee Indians
(h) to use South Pass through the Rockies
(j) to avoid the Great Plains
Mississippi R.
ILLINOIS
P
NEW MEXICO
TERRITORY
14) What geographic reason explains why the Oregon and
Mormon trails overlapped?
Council Bluffs
Nauvoo
AINS
DA
VA
NE
NI
OR
LIF
CA
RA
San
Francisco
Chimney Rock
G
KY
Salt Lake City
IOWA
Pawnee
R OC
Pomo
Sacramento
Cheyenne
ARKANSAS
LOUISIANA
Using the exhibit, choose the letter of the best answer.
The War with Mexico, 1846–1848
Jan. 1846
President Polk orders U.S. troops
into disputed territory.
June 14, 1846
Americans take control of
California in the Bear Flag revolt.
Feb. 23,1847
General Taylor
wins control of
northern Mexico
at Buena Vista.
May 13, 1846
Congress declares
war on Mexico.
1846
April 25, 1846
Mexican and
U.S. troops
clash near
Rio Grande.
1847
May 18, 1846
General Taylor
leads troops
across the
Rio Grande.
Aug 18, 1846
General Kearny
takes Sante Fe.
15) Judging from the actions listed on this time line, which of
the following best describes the attitude of President Polk?
(a) He was an opponent of manifest destiny.
(b) He was a supporter of manifest destiny.
(c) He did not concern himself with events in the
Southwest.
(d) He sought friendly relations with Mexico at any cost.
Sept.14, 1847
Mexico City
surrenders to Scott.
Mar 9, 1847
General Scott invades
Mexico near Veracruz.
1848
Feb 2, 1848
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ends
the war and gives the Mexican
Cession to the United States.
Main Ideas
Choose the letter of the best answer.
16) Which principle did civil disobedience share with
nullification?
(f) The will of the majority rules.
20) Why did Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott
organize the Seneca Falls Convention?
(g) Government cannot exceed its power.
(f) because male abolitionists were not doing enough to
end slavery
(h) An unjust law can be resisted.
(g) to win for women the same rights that men had
(j) States can secede from the Union.
(h) to form an all-female antislavery organization
17) What were the main reasons for Europeans to come to
the United States?
(a) for economic opportunity and to escape famine and
religious persecution
(b) for free land, cheap labor, and to escape
imprisonment
(c) to escape debt, imprisonment, and political
persecution
(d) for cheap land, plentiful jobs, factory work, and
religious freedom
18) How were educational opportunities limited for African
Americans in the 1800s?
(i) to win women’s support for more public schools
21) Which special contribution did Susan B. Anthony make to
the women’s movement?
(a) She fought for laws allowing women to attend high
school.
(b) She fought for laws giving married women rights to
their own property.
(c) She fought for laws allowing women equal access to
higher education.
(d) She fought for laws granting freedom of speech to
women.
22) For what reason is Harriet Tubman famous?
(f) It was illegal in the South to teach an enslaved person
to read.
(f) She gave a speech at Seneca Falls.
(g) African Americans had to set up their own public
school system secretly.
(h) She was a conductor on the Underground Railroad.
(h) They had to go to special schools also attended by
women.
(i) They could go to school only after they finished their
work in the fields.
19) What movement did many Americans, especially women,
join to defeat alcohol abuse?
(a) abolition
(b) transcendentalism
(c) unions
(d) temperance
(g) She helped people with mental illness.
(j) She wrote and published abolitionist poetry.
Interpreting Graphs
Using the exhibit, choose the letter of the best answer.
Sources of Immigrants in 1840 and 1850
Year
1840
47%
35%
10% 5% 3%
44%
1850
50
100
21%
150
200
17%
250
14%
300
4%
350
400
Thousands of Immigrants
Germany
Great Britain
Ireland
Other Europeans
All Others
Source: Historical Statistics of the United States
23) How would you describe the overall pattern of Irish
immigration?
25) How many more German immigrants arrived in the United
States in 1850 than arrived in 1840?
(a) Both the number and the percentage increased from
1840 to 1850.
(a) approximately 50,000
(b) Both the number and the percentage decreased from
1840 to 1850.
(c) approximately 25,000
(c) The number increased sharply but the percentage
declined more.
(d) The number decreased sharply but the percentage
increased.
24) What conclusion can you draw about non-European
immigration?
(f) It decreased between 1840 and 1850.
(g) It increased between 1840 and 1850.
(h) It was a major portion of immigration in 1850.
(j) It did not occur in 1840.
(b) approximately 90,000
(d) approximately 100,000