U.S. History and Government Regents Exam

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U.S. History and Government Regents Exam

• Friday June 20, 2008
• 915 AM

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The exam has three parts.

• Part 1-50 Multiple Choice Questions
• Part 2-Thematic Essay
• Part 3-Document-Based Question with Scaffolding

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There are seven required units that all questions
will be derived from.

• 1-Geography
• 2-Constitutional Foundations for the United
  States Democratic Republic
• 3-Industrialization of the United States
• 4-The Progressive Movement Responses to the
  Challenges Brought About by Industrialization and
  Urbanization

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• 5- At Home and Abroad Prosperity and Depression,
  1917-1929
• 6- The United States in an Age of Global Crisis
  Responsibility and Cooperation
• 7- World in Uncertain Times 1950-Present

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Specifications Grid Number of multiple-choice
items by unit

• 1/ 0-2
• 2/ 10-14
• 3/ 4-8
• 4/ 4-8
• 5/ 4-8
• 6/ 4-8
• 7/ 4-8 (2-6 questions from 1980-present)

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The 2 required essays are chosen from themes in
U.S. History

• At least one essay must have a government theme.
  Some possible topics are
• 1. Laws and social change
• 2. Roles of the Supreme Court
• 3. Checks and Balances
• 4. Citizenship
• 5. Equal Rights

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6. Presidential Decisions

• Throughout United States history, presidents have
  made decisions which have had significant impacts
  on American society.
• Choose 3 of these decisions and
• 1. Describe the problem which led him to the
  decision.
• 2. Discuss an impact of the decision on American
  society.

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Other themes to consider as possible essay
topics.

• 1. Geographic Factors
• 2. Intellectual Life and Reform
• 3. Technology
• 4. Twentieth Century Problems
• 5. Tradition Versus Change
• 6. Economic Policies and Systems
• 7. Environmental Issues

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Other themes to consider as possible essay
topics.

• 8. Factors of Production and Growth
• 9. Foreign Policies
• 10. Human Rights
• 11. Migration and Immigration
• 12. Individuals and Groups
• 13. Minorities
• 14. Diversity and Intolerance
• 15. Territorial Expansion

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Sample Document Multiple Choice Questions

• Judicial review, as practiced by the federal
  courts, resulted directly from
• 1. the decisions of colonial governors
• 2. the Articles of Confederation
• 3. the Bill of Rights
• 4. a Supreme Court decision

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Sample Document Multiple Choice Questions

• During the Constitutional Convention of 1787, the
  Great Compromise resolved a conflict over
• 1. presidential power
• 2. the issue of nullification
• 3. representation in Congress
• 4. taxes on imports

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Sample Document Multiple Choice Questions

• John Lockes theory of natural rights, as
  reflected in the Declaration of Independence,
  states that
• 1. government is the source of all individual
  rights
• 2. power should be concentrated in the monarchy
• 3. power to govern belongs to the people
• 4. individual liberties are best protected by a
  strong government

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Geography-Unit One Topics

• A. The Physical / Cultural Setting in the
  Americas
• B. Role/ Influence of Geography on Historical/
  Cultural Development
• C. Geographic Issues Today
• D. Demographics

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Geography Multiple Choice Questions

• Prior to 1850, what was the main reason the North
  developed an economy increasingly based on
  manufacturing while the South continued to rely
  on an economy based on agriculture?
• 1. Protective tariffs applied only to northern
  seaports.
• 2. Geographic conditions supported different
  types of economic activity.
• 3. Slavery in the North promoted rapid economic
  growth.
• 4. Manufacturers failed to make a profit in the
  South.

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Geography Multiple Choice Questions

• Acquiring New Orleans as part of the Louisiana
  Purchase was considered important to the
  development of the Mississippi and Ohio River
  valleys because the city
• 1. provided protection from attacks by the
  Spanish
• 2. provided migrant workers for river valley
  farms
• 3. served as a port for American agricultural
  goods
• 4. served as the cultural center for the nation

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Geography Multiple Choice Questions

• Which geographic factor had the greatest
  influence on early patterns of industrialization
  in the United States?
• 1. scarcity of flat land on which to build
  factories
• 2. shortages of timber and coal
• 3. desire of workers to live in mild climates
• 4. availability of waterpower to operate machines

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Industrialization-Unit Three Topics

• A. The Reconstructed Nation
• B. The Rise of American Business, Industry, and
  Labor
• C. Adjusting Society to Industrialism American
  People and Places

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Industrialization Multiple Choice Questions

• The growth of big business in the late 1800s
  resulted in
• 1. a reduction in child labor
• 2. the elimination of the middle class
• 3. the widening of the economic gap between rich
  and poor
• 4. a shift in transportation investment from
  railroads to canals

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Industrialization Multiple Choice Questions

• Constitutional amendments adopted during
  Reconstruction were intended to
• 1. provide legal and political rights for African
  Americans
• 2. end property and religious qualifications for
  voting
• 3. correct problems with the electoral college
  system
• 4. limit the number of terms of the president

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Industrialization Multiple Choice Questions

• After 1880, a major new source of labor for
  American factories was
• 1. western farmers who moved back to eastern
  cities
• 2. young women who worked until they married
• 3. formerly enslaved persons fleeing from the
  South
• 4. immigrants from southern and eastern Europe

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Reform-Unit 4 Topics

• A. Reform in America
• B. America Reaching Out

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Reform Multiple Choice Questions

• The photographs of Jacob Riis are most closely
  associated with the
• 1. battlefields of the Civil War
• 2. living conditions of the urban poor
• 3. plight of sharecroppers in the South
• 4. victims of the Dust Bowl on the Great Plains

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Reform Multiple Choice Questions

• Progressive Era reforms such as the initiative,
  referendum, and recall attempted to
• 1. increase the power of citizens in state and
  local government
• 2. reestablish the system of checks and balances
• 3. provide low-interest loans to farmers
• 4. expand voting rights to Native Americans

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Reform Multiple Choice Questions

• The Federal Reserve System helps to regulate
• 1. the annual federal budget
• 2. state sales tax rates
• 3. Social Security payments
• 4. the nations money supply

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1917-1940 Unit 5 Topics

• A. War and Prosperity 1917-1929
• B. The Great Depression

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1917-1940 Multiple Choice Questions

• The march of the Bonus Army and referring to
  shantytowns as Hoovervilles in the early 1930s
  illustrate
• 1. growing discontent with Republican efforts to
  deal with the Great Depression
• 2. state projects that created jobs for the
  unemployed
• 3. federal attempts to restore confidence in the
  American economy
• 4. the presidents success in solving social
  problems

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1917-1940 Multiple Choice Questions

• The changing image of women during the 1920s was
  symbolized by the
• 1. passage of an equal pay act
• 2. drafting of women into the army
• 3. popularity of the flappers and their style of
  dress
• 4. appointment of several women to President
  Calvin Coolidges cabinet

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1917-1940 Multiple Choice Questions

• In the years before the U.S. entered World War 1,
  President Woodrow Wilson violated his position of
  strict neutrality by
• 1. secretly sending troops to fight for the
  democratic nations
• 2. openly encouraging Mexico to send troops to
  support the Allies
• 3. supporting economic policies that favored the
  Allied nations
• 4. using U.S. warships to attack German submarines

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1917-1940 Multiple Choice Questions

• The Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s can best be
  described as
• 1. an organization created to help promote
  African-American businesses
• 2. a movement that sought to draw people back to
  the inner cities
• 3. a relief program to provide jobs for minority
  workers
• 4. a period of great achievement by
  African-American writers, artists, and performers

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Global Crisis Unit 6 Topics

• A. Peace in Peril 1933-1950
• B. Peace With Problems 1945-1960

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Unit 6 Multiple Choice Questions

• A main purpose of government-ordered rationing
  during World War 2 was to
• 1. increase foreign trade
• 2. limit the growth of industry
• 3. conserve raw materials for the war effort
• 4. encourage women to enter the workforce

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Unit 6 Multiple Choice Questions

• The U.S. began a trade embargo against Cuba in
  the 1960s to
• 1. encourage political change in Cuba
• 2. promote domestic industries in Cuba
• 3. motivate Cubans to immigrate to the U.S.
• 4. end the domination of the banana industry by
  Cuba

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Unit 6 Multiple Choice Questions

• A goal of the Marshall Plan (1948) was to
• 1. rebuild Japan after World War 2
• 2. provide military aid to the Warsaw Pact
• 3. establish a Pan-American military alliance
  system
• 4. provide economic aid to European nations
  threatened by communism

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1950 Present Unit 7 Topics

• A. Toward a Postindustrial World Living in a
  Global Age
• B. Containment and Consensus 1945-1960
• C. Decade of Change 1960s
• D. The Limits of Power Turmoil at Home and
  Abroad, 1965-1972
• E. The Trend Toward Conservatism, 1972-1985
• F. Approaching the Next Century 1986-

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Unit 7 Multiple Choice Questions

• A major goal of President Lyndon Johnsons Great
  Society program was to
• 1. control economic inflation
• 2. end poverty in the U.S.
• 3. repeal several New Deal social programs
• 4. return the responsibility for welfare programs
  to the states

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Unit 7 Multiple Choice Questions

• In Gideon v. Wainwright (1963) and Miranda v.
  Arizona (1966), the Supreme Court ruled that
  persons convicted of crimes had been
• 1. denied due process of law
• 2. denied a speedy and public trial
• 3. victimized by illegal search and seizure
• 4. sentenced to cruel and unusual punishment

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Unit 7 Multiple Choice Questions

• The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed in an
  effort to correct
• racial and gender discrimination
• 2. limitations on freedom of speech
• 3. unfair immigration quotas
• 4. segregation in the armed forces

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Unit 7 Multiple Choice Questions

• Population increases that resulted from the baby
  boom of the 1950s and 1960s contributed to a
• 1. housing surplus
• 2. drop in immigration
• 3. reduction in government services
• 4. rise in the demand for consumer goods