Exam tips

1. A strong thesis that specifically answers all parts of the question is the first step to a 9 on your essay. If you hook the reader in the first ten seconds, you have an easier time of it.

2. On the DBQ, A string of direct quotes is deadly.  Graders call it a “laundry list” and it usually results in low scores.

It is better to quote in context and indirectly if possible.  The reader can tell if the student is using the quote in context and correctly quite easily.  We do not have to be hit over the head!

Example.  Assume “The Gettysburg Address” is a document.  Student says “The Gettysburg Address (doc. B) illustrates that Lincoln had long thought about ultimate purpose of the Civil War and was willing to reaffirm his long held views about the sanctity of the Union.”  The reader now knows that the student thoroughly understood the document.

3. Group the documents thematically if you can– don’t just go through them in order.

4. Interpret the documents in light of the time period in which they were written. A misspelled document in the 1700s is not as much a sign of illiteracy as it would be if it was written today.

5. Bring a hoodie or sweatshirt with you to the test so that you don’t get distracted by being uncomfortable.

6. Do NOT bring cellphones, other homework, watches that beep, or mp3 players.

7. Show up early. Don’t stress out those who are trying to administer the test.

8. Latin phrases you might see and their meanings:

quid pro quo— “this for that”

status quo ante bellum or antebellum— “as it was before the war” or “the period before the Civil War (1830-1860)

(sic.)— how it was written in the original document, usually used to explain that a spelling or usage error is not a typo.

ex post facto— after the fact, usually referring to the attempt to apply a law retroactively

de jure— by law, as opposed to…

de facto— by custom or by fact

ad hoc— created for this special purpose, usually used to describe a committee

prima facie— on the face of it, an obvious conclusion

ultimo— of the previous month

casus belli— the case or evidence used to justify going to war

per capita— per person (literally, per head)

ergo— therefore

et al.— abbreviation for et alia or et alii, which means “and other things”

Another review exercise

Political Parties Review

Briefly explain when each party or subparty existed, what it stood for, and who some of its main members were. An asterisk indicates it is a modern fringe party.

1. Whig Party

2. American Party (Know -Nothings)

3. Liberal Republicans

4. People’s Party (Populist Party)

5. Radical Republicans

6. Democratic Republicans

7. Progressive Party (see also Bull Moose Party)

8. Constitutional Union Party

9. Liberty Party

10. Free Soil Party

*9. States’ Rights Party (Dixiecrats)
*10. Socialist Party
*11. Green Party
*12. Reform Party

Extra credit: In America, who were the Tories? Who were they in England?

*==modern political party

MC practice 6

1. The New Deal attempted to revive the farm economy during the 1930s by

a. reducing the amount of land under cultivation
b. opening up more federal land for homesteads
c. making cash payments to encourage more homesteads
d. increasing tariffs to eliminate foreign competition
e. selling surplus farm commodities abroad

2. The growth of suburbia was vastly accelerated by the

a. Sheppard-Towner Act of 1921
b. Social Security Act of 1935
c. Taft-Hartley Act of 1947
d. Federal Highway Act of 1956
e. Economic Opportunity Act of 1964

3. Harvard College and Yale College were established primarily to

a. train lawyers and doctors
b. encourage scientific advances
c. ensure an adequate supply of ministers
d. prepare young men for political leadership
e. preserve the traditions of classical scholarship

4. Which of the following was Great Britain’s justification for its continued occupation of a number of posts on United States soil despite the terms of the 1783 Treaty of Paris?

a. The US lacked the military capability to maintain the posts
b. the US had violated the treaty clauses dealing with the restoration of Loyalist property
c. Great Britain needed a buffer zone between the US and Canada
d. Great Britain’s understanding with both France and Sp[ain permitted the British to stay
e. Great Britain had promised its ally, Tecumseh, that it would establish a state for his people in the region

5. The election of 1800 has been referred to as constituting “another revolution” because

a. the House of Representatives decided the election
b. a Supreme Court decision was required to dislodge the Federalists
c. voter turnout increased dramatically
d. the party in power stepped down after losing the election
e. force was required to get John Adams to leave the White House

6. Which of the following is accurate about the Monroe Doctr5ine?

a. It was announced by the President over the serious objections of Secretary of State John Quincy Adams
b. It was issued simultaneously with a British policy statement on Latin America
c. It was stressed that Europe and the Western Hemisphere had essentially different political systems
d. It was immediately accepted as international law
e. It was promptly challenged militarily by the “Concert of Europe”

7. An important consequence of the “tariff of abominations” (1828) is that it led to the

a. taxation of consumer items
b. reelection of Andrew Jackson
c. enunciation of the doctrine of nullification
d. alliance of Southern planters and Western farmers
e. expansion of the New England textile industry

8. Which of the following was true of the settlement house workers in the late 19th and early 20th centuries?

a. they included large numbers of middle class, college-educated women
b. they devised programs that departed radically from those of English settlement houses
c. they established settlement houses in middle class environments
d. they avoided political involvement
e. they endeavored to suppress immigrant cultures

9. The US Open Door policy in Asia did which of the following?

a. guaranteed military support for China’s territorial integrity
b. opened China to Western trade for the first time
c. bolstered American commercial interests in China
d. rid China of European spheres of influence
e. repudiated Japan’s interests in China

10. On 1932 Franklin Roosevelt and Herbert hoover disagereed strongly about the desirability of

a. a balanced federal budget
b. farm price supports
c. federal aid to corporations
d. a program of public works
e. federal relief to individuals

11. The National Industrial Recovery Act sought to combat the Great Depression

a. ending private ownership of basic industries
b. reducing competition
c. lowering prices
d. weakening organized labor
e. breaking up trusts

12. During the Second World War, the US sought greater cooperation with the nations of Latin America primarily to

a. promote the industrialization of Latin America
b. encourage Latin American social and economic reforms
c. end repressive Latin American military dictatorships
d. develop of hemispheric common front against fascism
e. and the threat of Latin American communist movements

13. In 1787-1789, which of the following groups was most likely to oppose ratification of the Constitution?

a. Farmers in isolated areas
b. export merchants
c. former officers in the Continental Army
d. Southern planters
e. urban artisans

14. Which of the following would most likely have supported the idea of Manifest Destiny?

a. advocated of the foreign policy of Secretary of State William H. Seward
b. voters for James K. Polk
c. supporters of the Treaty of Paris
d. members of the Whig Party in Congress during the Mexican War
e. supporters of the Ostend Manifesto

15.During the last decade of the 19th century, the primary use of the Sherman Antitrust Act was to

a. break up business monopolies
b. regulate interstate railroads
c. protect American industry from foreign competition
d. curb labor unions
e. promote economic expansion