AP U.S.

History
Unit I Test
Multiple Choice
1. Prior to the arrival of Columbus, the peoples of the present United States had
A) all of the answers below
B) less elaborate political systems than the peoples in Central and South America had
C) larger empires than the peoples in Central and South America had
D) a larger population than the peoples of Central and South America had
E) a larger reliance on written language than the peoples of Central America and South America had
2. Before the coming of Europeans, civilizations in Central and South America had developed all of the following
cultural achievements except
A) organized religion
B) a written language
C) an accurate calendar
D) wheeled vehicles
E) advanced agriculture
3. Before 1492, the many different Native American societies that existed in what is now the United States filled
their food needs by
A) all of the answers below
B) gathering foods
C) fishing
D) farming
E) hunting
4. Before the coming of Europeans, the peoples who lived in what is now the United States had not developed
A) large, permanent settlements
B) a common language
C) division of labor
D) complex agricultural systems
E) elaborate religious practices
5. Before the arrival of Columbus, all Native American tribes assigned women the tasks of
A) all of the answers below
B) performing farming chores
C) tending to the fields
D) caring for children
E) controlling the social organization of the tribe
6. By 1500, the incentives for Europeans to engage in overseas exploration included all of the following except
A) a belief in fulfilling a divine mission
B) a significant growth in their population
C) more powerful and united governments
D) an increased prosperity and desire for commerce
E) the return of the bubonic plague
7. The first European country to launch long ocean voyages of exploration was
A) Portugal
B) Spain
C) Holland
D) England
E) Italy
8. When Christopher Columbus made his famous voyages to the New World, he
A) obtained his financing from the Portuguese queen
B) refused to search for gold
C) explored much of the North American coastline
D) acted out of strictly religious motives
E) believed that he had reached the Far East
 9. By 1550, Spanish explorers had achieved all of the following objectives except
A) exploring much of the Caribbean
B) crossing the Isthmus of Panama
C) devoting great resources for voyages
D) sailing around the world
E) discovering Brazil
10. Between 1500 and 1550, exploration of the New World was dominated by the
A) Dutch
B) English
C) French
D) Spanish
E) Portuguese
11. The Spanish conquest of the Aztecs was, in part, due to
A) all of the answers below
B) an overwhelming superiority in numbers
C) the diseases the Spaniards had given the Indians
D) the pacifism of the Aztecs
E) the Spaniards’ humane treatment of the natives
12. Between 1500 and 1600, the reasons that the Spanish traveled to the Americas included all of the following
motives except
A) getting rich by finding gold and silver
B) replacing Portugal as the leading seafaring nation
C) spreading the Christian religion
D) destroying large English colonies in South America
E) creating a profitable agricultural economy
13. One result of the contact between the Spanish and the Pueblos from 1550 to 1650 was
A) the empowerment of Pueblo warlords
B) a loss of Spanish power in Mexico
C) a vast decline in the Pueblo population
D) the pope’s decision to stop sending missionaries
E) a treaty of cooperation between England and Spain
14. Spanish colonial enterprises exhibited all of the following characteristics except
A) by the end of the 1500s, Spanish colonies were tightly controlled by the Spanish monarchy
B) the wide use of native labor
C) relatively few immigrants left Spain for the New World
D) the successful search for gold and silver ultimately retarded Spain’s economic development
E) missionaries were among the least successful Spanish colonial adventurers
15. The European nation that, unlike other colonizers, did not “people” its colonies but instead imposed over them a
European ruling class was
A) England
B) Spain
C) France
D) Holland
E) Italy

16. When the Europeans arrived in the Americas, they brought with them all of the following things except
A) diseases to which that the Native Americans had little immunity
B) the practice of human sacrifice for religious practices that the natives had not known before
C) a strong yearning for silver and gold
D) new crops that the natives had not seen before
E) new domestic livestock that the natives had never seen
17. In an effort to subjugate the Native Americans, the Spanish engaged in all of the following practices except
A) prohibiting marriage between Spanish men and Indian women
B) installing Spaniards in positions of political power
C) destroying records and documents of the native political systems
D) killing Indian leaders, including warriors and priests
E) forcing natives to work for Spaniards for little or no pay
18. Before the arrival of the Europeans, the political system of southern and western Africa was composed of
A) a single African-led empire
B) a number of small- and medium-sized regional kingdoms
C) a state of barbaric anarchy
D) a series of national republics
E) a collection of nomadic tribes
19. Before Europeans settled in the New World, western and southern Africans
A) did not tolerate the institution of slavery in their society
B) were unable to use natural resources wisely
C) had no widespread religions, just local ones based on nature worship or ancestor worship
D) did not have the extreme degree of sexual inequality found in most European countries
E) had no trade with the outside world and relied on hunting and fishing for their livelihood
20. Interest in colonization grew in England because of
A) all of the answers below
B) a desire to compete with Spain
C) almost constant religious strife
D) the growth of merchant capitalism
E) an increasing population and decreasing food supply
21. According to the principles of mercantilism,
A) the individual is the key to economic progress
B) the world’s supply of wealth is almost unlimited
C) free trade is good for a country because it maximizes both imports and exports
D) a successful nation should export its own goods in exchange for gold and silver
E) wealth should be shared by all social classes

22. The English believed that colonies would

A) all of the answers below
B) provide a place to send excess population
C) be a place where human settlement could start anew
D) relieve England of dependence on a foreign supply of natural resources
E) offer new markets for the wool industry
23. The religious dissatisfactions that ultimately propelled English “Separatists” into the New World can be traced to
the 1517 protests of the German priest
A) Martin Luther
B) John Calvin
C) John Wesley
D) James Stuart
E) Richard Hakluyt
24. Henry VIII started the English Reformation because he
A) converted to Protestant ideals
B) needed absolute control of the Church
C) wanted to change English Christianity
D) required a divorce in order to remarry
E) believed Catholicism was a pagan faith
25. The majority of English Puritans were religious dissenters who
A) wanted to leave the Church of England
B) wished to purify Anglican forms of worship
C) desired an end to the English civil war
D) were content with the reformed Church of England
E) hoped to return the English Church to the Roman Catholic Church
26. Because of their experiences in Ireland, most English colonists came to believe that they should
A) try to rule the native population
B) civilize the native population
C) establish an English society separate from the native population
D) brutally conquer the eastern half of North America
E) attempt to convert the native population to Christianity
27. All of the following statements are true of the French colonists in North America except
A) their numbers grew rapidly because of their success in building industries
B) they included Jesuit missionaries who established contacts far into the wilderness
C) they depended on fur traders who dealt with the Indians of the interior
D) they developed seignuries along the St. Lawrence River
E) they made enemies of one of the most powerful of the Indian tribes
28. The Dutch established their claims in North America through the efforts of the explorer
A) Samuel de Champlain
B) Sir Walter Raleigh
C) Henry Hudson
D) Francis Drake
E) Humphrey Gilbert
29. The most important single event influencing England’s decision to begin New World colonization was the
A) overthrow of Charles I
B) destruction of the English Reformation
C) failure of the Sea Dog’s raiding expeditions
D) defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588
E) death of King James 1
30. The first permanent English settlement in the New World was established at
A) New York
B) Plymouth
C) St. Augustine
D) Roanoke
E) Jamestown
31. The first few British expeditions to North America resulted in
A) finding rich stores of gold and silver
B) an end of Spanish explorations in the Western Hemisphere
C) the overthrow of James I
D) the failure to establish successful permanent settlements
E) Britain’s decision to stop exploring the coastal region of Virginia
32. The first American-born child of an English settler was
A) Virginia Dare
B) Humphrey Gilbert
C) Elizabeth Tudor
D) Walter Raleigh
E) John White
 33. The cryptic message “CROATOAN” is related to
A) Spain’s war with the Aztecs
B) the French policy of establishing fur-trading industries
C) a failed attempt to settle in Roanoke
D) the death of Pocahontas
E) Spain’s creation of encomiendas
34. Disagreements between historians have included the topics of
A) all of the answers below
B) the size of the American population before European settlement
C) whether objectivity can truly be achieved as a method of research
D) “sticking to the facts” vs. historical revision
E) whether truth is actually an achievable goal in the study of history
35. Over the past century, when historians have estimated the population of Indians in North America before
Columbus, they
A) often have neglected to study Indian populations in the North
B) have come to realize that Tenochtitlan was not so large
C) regularly have estimated the population at just under 1 million
D) have generally increased the estimates of the native population
E) have relied on written records left by the Aztecs
36. The anthropologist Henry Dobyns believed that
A) there were just over 1 million Indians in America before the arrival of Columbus
B) the Aztecs were defeated by the Spaniards because they lacked skills as warriors
C) British ethnocentrism resulted in the downfall of the Mayan culture
D) there were 10 to 12 million natives living in North America before the arrival of Columbus
E) it is impossible to use quantitative methods to estimate native populations before 1492
Fill in the Blank Questions

37. The settlers at Jamestown faced powerful local Indians led by their imperial chief _____.

38. In the fall of 1608, _____ took control of Jamestown and imposed work and order on the community.
39. _____ developed Jamestown’s first marketable crop and married the daughter of the local Indian chief.
40. To encourage settlement, some English colonies established the _____ system, which gave fifty-acre grants of
land to each new settler.

41. In 1632, the charter for Maryland was given to Caecilius Calvert the second _____.

42. Bacon’s Rebellion was in some ways a personal contest between Nathaniel Bacon and Governor _____.

43. The agreement drawn up by the Pilgrims prior to stepping ashore at Plymouth was known as the _____.
44. _____ served as the first governor of the Massachusetts Bay colony.

45. The founders of Massachusetts believed they were founding a holy commonwealth, or a _____ a, model for the
corrupt to see and emulate.

46. Colonial Massachusetts was, in effect, a _____, a society in which the Church was almost indistinguishable from
the government.
47. For a time in the mid 1600s, the only colony in which people of all faiths (including Judaism) could worship
without interference was _____.
48. Some of Anne Hutchinson’s followers went north from Massachusetts to found _____, which became a formal
colony in 1679.
49. Expanding colonial land needs were due to their _____ economy.
 50. When the forces of Parliament won the English Civil War, _____ replaced the king and assumed the position of
“protector” of the English government.

51. Between 1660 and 1688, all new English colonies in North America were of the _____ type, which means that
one man or a few men, none of whom were the king, had a tremendous amount of control over the affairs of the
colony.
52. James used military force to capture the colony of _____ and rename it New York.

53. William Penn established his colony as a religious refuge for _____.

54. In 1703, three counties withdrew from Pennsylvania to become the separate colony of _____.
55. In the Caribbean, Spain and England began to rely on an enslaved African work force on _____ plantations.
56. When Spain realized that English merchants and French and Russian trappers were present in the West, it began
to colonize the territory of _____.
57. General _____ led the group of trustees that founded the colony of Georgia.
58. The Parliamentary Acts drawn up in 1660, 1663, and 1673, which formed the basis of England’s mercantile
system in America, were known collectively as the _____.
59. In an attempt to consolidate all of the colonies from New Hampshire to New Jersey into one “supercolony,”
James II created the _____.
60. The Glorious Revolution deposed James II and brought _____ to the throne of Great Britain.

TRUE/ FALSE

61. Most indentured servants came to America involuntarily

62. Many in the colonial population moved about frequently

63. The expected life span was longer in New England than in the South

64. Until the eighteenth century, more immigrants came from Europe than from Africa.

65. The “middle passage” describes the middle colonies as people moved between New England and the South

66. “Coffles” were long lines of Blacks tied together to be sold into slavery

67. North America was the most important market for slaves in the Western Hemisphere.

68. Color was the sole factor in determining whether a person was subject to ‘slave codes’

69. The Pennsylvania Dutch were actually German

70. The most numerous of the immigrants to America were the Huguenots

71. The staple crop of South Carolina was rice

72. Conditions for farming were less favorable in the North than the South

73. Almost all farmers and rural folk owned guns

74. The well-defined English class system was reproduced in North America

75. The most frequent form of slave resistance was running away.
76. The English practice of primogeniture was not copied in New England.

77. During the Salem Witchcraft crisis, only marginal women were accused of being witches.

78. “Jeremiads” were sermons of despair

79. Enlightenment figures who attacked religion thought reason would undermine Christianity.

80. The earliest American college was created to train ministers.