Practice Test: History/Social Science (73)

Which of the following developments in the history of China was accomplished during the Qin dynasty?

1. founding mercantile colonies in Central Asia
2. unifying China by subduing warring factions
3. establishing protectorates over Korea and Manchuria
4. constructing canal systems linking the North to tropical southern China

During the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, the Mongols promoted cultural exchange between Europe and Asia by:

1. encouraging their subjects to convert to Christianity.
2. allowing merchants to travel freely across their domains.
3. breaking Arab and Persian control over international trade routes.
4. adopting a common written script throughout the territories they ruled.

Which of the following early American societies were agriculturalists living in the islands of the southern Caribbean Sea and were historical rivals of the Carib people?

1. Arawak
2. Huetar
3. Miskito
4. Nazca

Read the excerpt below from a decree of the Persian emperor Cyrus the Great (529 BCE); then answer the question that follows.

From ... to Ashur and Susa, Agade, Eshnunak, Zamban, Meturnu, Deri, to the border of Gutium, the cities beyond the Tigris, whose sites had been founded of old — the gods who dwelt in them I returned to their places, and caused them to settle in their eternal shrines. All their people I assembled and returned them to their dwellings. And the gods of Sumer and Akkad, whom Nabuna'id*, to the anger of the lord of the gods, had brought into Babylon, at the command of Marduk, the great lord, I caused in peace to dwell in their abodes, the dwellings in which their hearts delighted. May all the gods, whom I have returned to their cities, pray before Marduk and Nabu for the prolonging of my days.

_________________________ blank line 

*Nabuna'id: last king of the Neo-Babylonian Empire

The excerpt would best support which of the following statements regarding the nature of imperial power within the Persian Empire?

1. Persian rulers developed an extensive centralized state bureaucracy.
2. The power of local elites was offset by the creation of a Persian state religion.
3. The need to rule culturally and religiously diverse territories influenced Persian imperial policy.
4. Persian culture was significantly shaped by the cultures of their subject peoples.

Which of the following statements best describes the largest source of enslaved people in ancient Mediterranean societies?

1. Merchants purchased children from poor families and sold them in regional markets.
2. Courts sentenced people convicted of serious crimes to extended periods of enslavement.
3. Abandoned children became enslaved by people who agreed to feed and clothe them.
4. Soldiers and civilians captured during military conflicts were enslaved.

As a result of the Neolithic agricultural revolution, human groups experienced:

1. a decrease in the average size of family units.
2. an increase in geographic mobility.
3. a decrease in social hierarchies and social differentiation.
4. an increase in the exchange of goods and services.

Hinduism most influenced the development of early Indian society by:

1. shaping perceptions of the physical environment.
2. providing religious sanction for social distinctions.
3. establishing guidelines for economic transactions.
4. furnishing an ethical code for the conduct of rulers.

Which of the following best describes one way in which ancient Rome added to the cultural legacy of ancient Greece?

1. Roman philosophers addressed contemporary social questions.
2. Roman physicians adopted a scientific approach to the treatment of disease.
3. Roman historians began basing works on factual evidence.
4. Roman engineers developed more advanced techniques required to build massive structures.

A historian could best begin to explore how the so-called "Columbian Exchange" affected European society by examining changes in the:

1. soil conservation methods of European farmers.
2. clothing styles of Europeans.
3. animal husbandry practices of European farmers.
4. nutritional intake of Europeans.

The flourishing of arts and learning in the Ottoman, Safavid, and Mughal empires during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries is best understood as a result of the:

1. patronage by Islamic rulers to enhance their prestige.
2. state support of Sufi missionary activity.
3. revival of overland trade along the Silk Road.
4. influence of European secularism on Islamic thought.

Read the following excerpt from The Social Contract (1763), by Jean-Jacques Rousseau; then answer the question that follows.

There is this essential difference, however, between the government and the state, that the latter exists of itself, and the former only by means of the sovereign. Thus as the ruling will of the prince is, or ought to be, only the general will, or the law, the power of the prince is only that of the public centered in him; so that whenever he would derive from himself any absolute and independent act, the combination of the whole is effected. And if, at length, the prince should have a particular will of his own, more active than that of the sovereign, and should make use of the public power in his hands to enforce obedience to such particular will, forming, as it were, two sovereigns, the one of right and the other of fact, the social union immediately vanishes, and the body politic is dissolved.

The excerpt reflects which of the following underlying causes of both the American and French Revolutions?

1. complaints over the excessive financial demands of the state
2. rejection of state-supported social hierarchies
3. questions regarding the legitimacy of state authority
4. demand for the expansion of suffrage regardless of property

Which of the following goals best describes a shared intention of the leaders of the English Civil War of the 1640s 16 forties  and the Glorious Revolution of 1688?

1. setting limits on the exercise of monarchical power
2. promoting popular participation in the political process
3. establishing an Anglican religious commonwealth
4. reducing the wealth and influence of the merchant class

Nicolaus Copernicus had a significant influence on the Scientific Revolution through his work on:

1. observing the motions of planets, moons, and stars.
2. popularizing and communicating the work of Isaac Newton.
3. developing a system for naming and classifying plants and animals.
4. discovering the connection between magnetism and electricity.

In which of the following ways did the expansion of Islam from Arabia to the Eastern Mediterranean basin between the seventh and fifteenth centuries most influence the course of the European Renaissance?

1. Military pressure from Islamic civilizations created incentives for the city-states of Italy to advance schooling and technological innovations.
2. Islamic scholars translated and preserved Classical Greek scholarly and literary works that had been mostly lost to Western scholars.
3. Printing technology transmitted across the Islamic world was eventually adopted in Southern Europe and later in Western Europe.
4. Competition between Islamic and Christian missionaries for religious converts stimulated artistic and cultural renewal among Europeans.

Read the excerpt below from a 1519 letter of Hernan Cortés to Holy Roman Emperor Charles V describing the Aztec city of Tenochtitlan; then answer the question that follows.

This city has many public squares, in which are situated the markets and other places for buying and selling. There is one square twice as large as that of the city of Salamanca, surrounded by porticoes, where are daily assembled more than sixty thousand souls, engaged in buying and selling; and where are found all kinds of merchandise that the world affords, embracing the necessaries of life, as for instance articles of food, as well as jewels of gold and silver, lead, brass, copper, tin, precious stones, bones, shells, snails, and feathers. There are also exposed for sale wrought and unwrought stone, bricks burnt and unburnt, timber hewn and unhewn, of different sorts. There is a street for game, where every variety of birds in the country are sold, as fowls, partridges, quails, wild ducks, fly-catchers, widgeons, turtledoves, pigeons, reed-birds, parrots, sparrows, eagles, hawks, owls, and kestrels; they sell likewise the skins of some birds of prey, with their feathers, head, beak, and claws. There are also sold rabbits, hares, deer, and little dogs, which are raised for eating. There is also an herb street, where may be obtained all sorts of roots and medicinal herbs that the country affords. There are apothecaries' shops, where prepared medicines, liquids, ointments, and plasters are sold; barbers' shops, where they wash and shave the head; and restauranteurs, that furnish food and drink at a certain price.

Evidence from the excerpt best supports which of the following conclusions regarding economic characteristics of the Aztec empire?

1. Merchants enjoyed high status and political influence in the Aztec state.
2. Revenue derived from trade was the principal source of Aztec economic power.
3. High agricultural productivity sustained a complex urbanized Aztec economy.
4. Economic activity allowed for considerable social mobility in Aztec society.

Read the excerpt below from a historical discourse prepared by the New York Library Association, 1855, describing the conditions as of 1793 in the French colony of St. Domingo, also known as Haiti, and in France; then answer the question that follows.

The rich planters were for the King; the Petits Blancs were for the Directory; the mulattoes, under Rigaud, ravaged the west; the revolted negroes under Jean François, Biassou, and others, hung upon the north. France herself, that ancient kingdom, was now fermenting; struggling (yet with hope) to realize in the State her unformed faith in Democracy—with the energy of despair, to beat back the waves of bayonets which bristled on her borders. The dynasties of Europe were against her, for, on the 21st of January, 1793, the people of France, determined no more to be taxed, shot, and despotised by a dynasty, had, as Danton said, "flung at their feet, as wager of battle, the head of a king!" Thus matters stood in France—thus in St. Domingo. The slaves in both countries had risen, and rushed to arms. Their remedy was desperate; so was their disease.

The excerpt best supports which of the following explanations as a common cause of both the French Revolution of 1789– to 1799 and the Haitian Revolution of 1791– to 1804?

1. the legal institution of race-based slavery
2. the combination of hunger and excess taxation
3. the threat of invasion from other countries
4. the oppressive and stratified social structure

When examining the Holocaust, a researcher can best explore the roots of Christian anti-Semitism by using which of the following historical sources?

1. the first-century teachings of Jesus according to the Gospel of Matthew
2. the eighth- to tenth-century interactions of different faiths in Spain
3. the eleventh-century papal bulls of Pope Urban II
4. the fifteenth-century expulsions by Ferdinand and Isabella

Which of the following statements best describes a shared feature of Italian Fascism and German National Socialism?

1. Both drew their greatest support from large industrial corporations.
2. Both made denunciation of the Treaty of Versailles a central part of their political appeal.
3. Both represented an expression of extreme nationalism.
4. Both embraced a racist ideology that called for the elimination of specific groups.

Which of the following goals best describes a major purpose of the Marshall Plan?

1. to establish the economic resources that would enable European governments to repay wartime loans from the United States
2. to promote cooperation in restoring the postwar economy of Western Europe
3. to force Germany to make reparation payments to countries Hitler had invaded during World War II
4. to enable Great Britain to become the dominant economic and political power in postwar Europe

Which of the following cause-and-effect relationships best describes a major consequence of the agricultural revolution in eighteenth-century England?

1. Opening new lands to cultivation contributed to a major increase in England's rural population.
2. Increased productivity provided the food surpluses needed for the development of an industrial society.
3. Rising grain prices benefited rural producers but led to greater poverty among urban residents.
4. Large landowners replaced urban merchants as the dominant figures in English political and economic life.

Changes that have taken place in the Chinese economy since 1960 best illustrate which of the following economic transformations?

1. how a pure market economy became a command economy
2. how a command economy became a mixed economy
3. how a traditional economy became a command economy
4. how a mixed economy became a pure market economy

In arguing that the Versailles Treaty at the end of World War I represented an insult to German honor, German nationalists of the interwar period most often pointed to which of the following treaty provisions?

1. "Germany acknowledges and will respect strictly the independence of Austria, within the frontiers which may be fixed in a Treaty between that State and the principal Allied and Associated Powers."
2. "The Allied and Associated Governments affirm and Germany accepts the responsibility of Germany and her allies for causing all the loss and damage to which the Allied and Associated Governments and their nationals have been subjected as a consequence of the war imposed upon them by the aggression of Germany and her allies."
3. "Germany renounces in favor of the principal Allied and Associated Powers all her rights and titles over her oversea possessions."
4. "Within six months after the coming into force of the present Treaty, the German government must restore to the French government the trophies, archives, historical souvenirs, or works of art carted away from France by the German authorities in the course of the war of 1870– to 1871 and during this last war."

Which of the following statements best describes a distinguishing characteristic of Native Peoples in one major North American region during the seventeenth century?

1. Bison hunting served as a major source of food and raw materials to make clothing and shelter for Native Peoples of the Great Plains.
2. Native Peoples of the Southwest developed more advanced forms of political organization than could be found in other regions of North America.
3. Cultural homogeneity was greater among Native Peoples in California than was the case in other regions of North America.
4. Eastern Woodland Native Peoples were accomplished potters who derived nearly all of their food from the cultivation of beans and squash.

The Boston Tea Party most influenced the events that resulted in the American Revolution by:

1. focusing colonial attention on British trade policies.
2. compelling Great Britain to station troops in North America.
3. ending colonial allegiance to the British Crown.
4. prompting Great Britain to pass the Intolerable Acts.

Which of the following descriptions of cultural life of Native Peoples of the Americas before 1492 is true?

1. The Maya lived in homes carved into cliffs.
2. The Pueblo practiced large-scale animal husbandry.
3. The Aztec lived in villages with ceremonial pyramids.
4. The Mississippians built large mounds at the center of large cities.

The growth of the transatlantic slave trade during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries had which of the following effects?

1. the increase of economic, social, and political instability of West Africa
2. the abandonment of plantation agriculture in Brazil
3. the decline of Native populations in the Americas
4. the establishment of new colonies in continental North America

Which of the following factors explains why the population of the southern coastal colonies of Georgia and South Carolina included a higher percentage of enslaved people than were found in the Chesapeake colonies of Maryland and Virginia?

1. Maryland and Virginia had greater populations of Native Peoples and indentured labor.
2. There were more families of American-born slaves in South Carolina and Georgia.
3. Crops such as rice and indigo were grown on plantations in South Carolina and Georgia.
4. The economies of Maryland and Virginia were increasingly based on manufacturing.

Which of the following statements best describes the effect of the Battle of Bunker Hill on the American Revolution?

1. The battle provided colonists with an effective propaganda tool that they needed to convince other colonies to join the rebellion.
2. The seizure of the hill by the British forced many colonists to flee Boston and caused New Englanders to become reluctant to join the rebellion.
3. The battle represented the first major victory for the colonists and gave them time to mobilize other militias while the British regrouped in Boston.
4. The high number of British casualties fueled confidence in the war effort and convinced the colonists they could successfully confront their enemy.

Use the table below to answer the question that follows.

Which line on the table accurately describes the two North American British colonies that experienced the least religious diversity and the most religious diversity among colonists in the period before 1750?

1. Line 1
2. Line 2
3. Line 3
4. Line 4

Differences concerning which of the following issues caused the greatest dissension between British authorities and American patriots in the decade preceding the outbreak of the American Revolution?

1. the crown's insistence on the king's right to appoint colonial governors
2. colonial demands for reform of the provincial legal system
3. Parliament's insistence on its claims to sovereignty in legislative matters
4. colonial demands for increased popular participation in elections

Read the excerpt below from the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857); then answer the question that follows.

The right of property in a slave is distinctly and expressly affirmed in the Constitution. … â€¦  And no word can be found in the Constitution which gives Congress a greater power over slave property or which entitles property of that kind to less protection than property of any other description.

The principle stated in the excerpt most influenced sectional differences concerning which of the following issues?

1. the Southern effort to reopen the transatlantic slave trade of enslaved Africans
2. the right of slave owners to bring enslaved people into free states and territories
3. the effect of the internal slave trade on the family lives of enslaved people
4. the legality of boycotts on goods produced by the labor of enslaved people

Which of the following developments best describes the results of the Indian Removal Act of 1830?

1. Native Peoples were declared citizens of sovereign nations in order to render them legally capable of ceding their lands.
2. Native Peoples who lived in the Ohio Valley and the region of Kentucky were displaced by settlers from eastern states.
3. Native Peoples were forced to leave their homes in the southeastern states and resettle in territories west of the Mississippi River.
4. Native Peoples along the western frontier were required to leave their homes as children to attend boarding schools run by the federal government.

The 1793 invention of the cotton gin increased cotton production, which led to:

1. the development of a dense transportation network to move cotton from inland regions to Gulf and Atlantic ports.
2. the growth of a nascent textile manufacturing industry in Massachusetts and Rhode Island based on cotton from the Deep South.
3. the imposition of high tariffs to protect American cotton producers from cheaper, imported Indian cotton.
4. the large-scale forced migration of the enslaved population from Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi to the mid-Atlantic states.

Which of the following statements best explains why Nat Turner's 1831 rebellion increased Southern solidarity in defense of slavery?

1. Many Southerners believed the rebellion reflected an alliance between African Americans and working-class whites.
2. The rebellion occurred during a time of growing dependence on enslaved labor in the Chesapeake region.
3. Many Southerners believed the rebellion was related to the rise of abolitionist activism in the North.
4. The rebellion coincided with increased intersectional tension over the spread of slavery in the West.

Read the excerpts below from the 1892 platform of the People's Party, also known as the Populist Party; then answer the question that follows.

1. Resolved, That we demand a free ballot and a fair count at all elections, and … â€¦  the adoption by the States of the unperverted Australian or secret ballot system.

7. Resolved, That we commend to the favorable consideration of the people and to the reform press the legislative system known as the initiative and referendum.

8. Resolved, That we favor a constitutional provision limiting the office of President and Vice-President to one term, and providing for the election of Senators of the United States by a direct vote of the people.

The demands stated in the excerpts best illustrate Populist determination to:

1. reform the political system in the direction of a more direct democracy.
2. limit federal interference in the economic and political affairs of the states.
3. reduce the effects of corruption in the workings of the political system.
4. establish an effective system of checks and balances in government.

Which of the following statements best describes a major consequence of the withdrawal of federal troops from the South in 1877?

1. It enabled Southern landowners to restore the plantation system of the antebellum period.
2. It initiated a prolonged struggle for power between the Democratic and Republican parties across the South.
3. It undermined Northern-financed initiatives to restore the Southern economy.
4. It largely nullified efforts to enforce the civil and political rights of free blacks and emancipated slaves in the South.

Which of the following aspects of U.S. society changed most as a consequence of large-scale immigration from eastern and southern Europe during the late nineteenth century?

1. the religious composition of major urban centers
2. the work process in manufacturing industries
3. the diversity of crops grown in farm areas
4. the electoral base of the Republican Party

Which of the following excerpts from Woodrow Wilson's "Fourteen Points" addresses the main reason for the U.S. decision to intervene in World War I?

1. "The removal, so far as possible, of all economic barriers and the establishment of an equality of trade conditions among all the nations consenting to the peace and associating themselves for its maintenance."
2. "Adequate guarantees given and taken that national armaments will be reduced to the lowest point consistent with domestic safety."
3. "Absolute freedom of navigation upon the seas, outside territorial waters, alike in peace and in war, except as the seas may be closed in whole or in part by international action for the enforcement of international covenants."
4. "Belgium, the whole world will agree, must be evacuated and restored, without any attempt to limit the sovereignty which she enjoys in common with all other free nations."

Which of the following goals best describes a major aim of the economic policies of conservative U.S. presidential administrations beginning in the 1980s 19 eighties ?

1. redirecting the distribution of wealth toward rural and Western areas by reforming the tax code
2. enhancing the employability of U.S. workers by establishing training programs in high-tech fields
3. increasing corporate profits by expanding the use of tariffs to limit competition from foreign producers
4. removing restraints on the operation of businesses by reducing federal regulatory authority

Read the excerpt below from President Harding's address to Marie Curie (1921); then answer the question that follows.

The world to-day is appealing to its statesmen, its sociologists, its humanitarians, and its religious leaders for solution of appalling problems. I want to hope that the power and universality of that appeal will inspire strong, devout, consecrated men and women to seek out the solution, and, in the light of their wisdom, to carry it to all mankind. I have faith to believe that precisely that will happen; and in your own career of fine achievement I find heartening justification for my faith.

In testimony of the affection of the American people, of their confidence in your scientific work, and of their earnest wish that your genius and energy may receive all encouragement to carry forward your efforts for the advance of science and conquest of disease, I have been commissioned to present to you this little phial of radium. To you we owe our knowledge and possession of it, and so to you we give it, confident that in your possession it will be the means further to unveil the fascinating secrets of nature, to widen the field of useful knowledge, to alleviate suffering among the children of man.

The excerpt best reflects which of the following characteristics of scientific development in the twentieth century?

1. the trust in scientists to improve the quality of life
2. the reconciliation between science and religion
3. the prominent role played by female scientists
4. the connection between science and politics

Which of the following statements best describes a major cause of the Great Depression in the United States?

1. High tax rates imposed on corporations discouraged investment in new capital goods.
2. Increasing worker productivity led many corporations to increase the size of their labor force.
3. Rising commodity prices resulted in a major decrease in consumer purchasing power.
4. The widespread availability of consumer credit led to a banking crisis.

The 1973 occupation of Wounded Knee, South Dakota, by followers of the American Indian Movement (AIM A I M ) succeeded in achieving which of the following goals?

1. establishing a permanent independent sovereign community for Native Peoples
2. raising public awareness of historic abuses by the U.S. government against Native Peoples
3. securing the release of Native Peoples who protested and were arrested during the occupation of Alcatraz
4. renegotiating treaties with the U.S. government to obtain more financial support for Native Peoples

Which of the following considerations most influenced President Harry Truman's decision to use the atomic bomb against Japan in World War II?

1. the fate of U.S. and other Allied troops being held in Japanese prisoner-of-war camps
2. the belief that the Soviet Union would occupy Japan if the United States did not end the war soon
3. the fear of a Communist revolution in China if the war continued for another year
4. the large number of casualties expected in a U.S. invasion of the Japanese home islands

Which of the following events of the civil rights movement of the 1950s 19 fifties  and 1960s 19 sixties  provided the impetus for widespread student participation in the movement?

1. the Montgomery, Alabama, bus boycott from 1955 to 1956
2. the Little Rock, Arkansas, public school crisis in 1957
3. the Greensboro, North Carolina, lunch counter sit-ins in 1960
4. the march from Selma, Alabama, to the state capital in 1965

Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal programs and Lyndon Johnson's Great Society programs were similar in their impact on the development of government in the United States primarily because both:

1. expanded the role of the federal government in improving social conditions and assisting those living in poverty.
2. sought to end racial injustice and expand civil rights by using Constitutional principles to develop solutions to existing problems of inequality.
3. promoted educational reform as a necessary precondition for the economic reforms required to remedy society's ills.
4. emphasized an agenda in which the primary role of the state is to maximize political freedom, autonomy, and the protection of individual rights.

During the final quarter of the twentieth century, the increasing globalization of the U.S. economy most adversely affected the interests of wage earners in which of the following economic sectors?

1. transportation
2. mining
3. manufacturing
4. agriculture

Use the map below to answer the question that follows.

A map of the Pacific Ocean showing parts of eastern Asia, Australia, North America and South America. A shaded region of the map covers the following areas on the map: islands off the east coast of Australia, islands in the Asian Pacific, the Philippines, Japan, the Aleutian Islands, the west coast of North American, Central American, the Caribbean islands, and the west coast of South America.

People who live in the area shaded on the map are primarily affected by which of the following geographic hazards?

1. increasing soil erosion
2. frequent seismic activity
3. extensive coastal flooding
4. depletion of mineral deposits

The Deccan Plateau and the Khyber Pass are found in which region?

1. Australia
2. eastern Africa
3. Indian subcontinent
4. Siberia

Because of its location, beginning in the thirteenth century the city of Timbuktu in West Africa developed into a center of:

1. political and military administration for the empire of Ghana.
2. trade in gold and ivory along the trans-Saharan and Niger River networks.
3. cultivation of cotton and indigo as cash crops for export.
4. production of iron weapons and tools made from nearby iron deposits.

The presence of mineral resources most strongly influenced the nineteenth-century migration and settlement patterns of European Americans in which of the following places?

1. northern California
2. southern Florida
3. western New York
4. eastern Tennessee

Saudi Arabia, China, and Australia all contain large areas of low population primarily because these countries share which of the following physical characteristics?

1. extensive mountain ranges
2. convergent boundaries subject to frequent tectonic activity
3. extensive desert regions
4. low-lying areas subject to frequent flooding

The growth of the networks of canals and railroads in the northeastern United States by c. 1860 contributed primarily to the:

1. firm connection of rural agricultural producers to urban consumers.
2. increased organizing of construction and transportation workers into labor unions.
3. widespread diffusion of urban populations throughout rural areas.
4. rapid growth of political resistance to the power of transportation monopolies.

Which of the following factors was a regional characteristic of the Arabian Peninsula that most influenced the historical beginnings of Islam?

1. physical geography that blocked cultural influences from Africa and the mainland of Asia
2. the creation of road and canal infrastructure to support an increase in mobility
3. improvements in health and sanitary conditions that led to rapid population growth
4. the presence of Christian and Jewish minorities among the population

Which of the following geographic factors best explains the locations of major urban centers in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and St. Louis, Missouri?

1. proximity of coal and iron deposits
2. junction of multiple railroad lines
3. abundance of fertile agricultural land
4. confluence of major river systems

The prevalence of Christianity in Ethiopia and in southeastern Europe and some other parts of the eastern Mediterranean region is the result primarily of which of the following developments?

1. the conquests of Alexander the Great
2. the destruction of the second temple in Jerusalem
3. the choice of major empires to officially adopt the religion
4. the missionary activities of Jesuit and Franciscan monks

Which of the following statements best explains why the earliest complex societies in the Eastern Hemisphere initially developed in river valleys?

1. Annual flooding of rivers sustained productive agriculture, which allowed for steady population growth.
2. Rivers facilitated trade and commerce, thereby contributing to social and economic sophistication.
3. Grinding mills in growing cities used rivers as a power source, which made grain more affordable.
4. Rivers provided means of communication and defense, thereby enabling states to centralize authority.

Which of the following statements best explains the interactions between trade, economic conditions, and conflict that contributed to Japanese involvement in World War II?

1. The failure of the League of Nations to include Japan in international trading organizations after World War I led to famine and a militant Japanese foreign policy.
2. The collapse of stock markets worldwide led to a reduction of access to foreign markets for the exports on which the Japanese economy depended.
3. The territorial expansion of China into northeastern Asia blocked Japanese trade routes with Russia and the West, which led to economic desperation.
4. The fast growth of the Japanese economy led to a desire to gain control of natural resources that were becoming unavailable due to trade restrictions by other powers.

Read the passage below; then answer the question that follows.

The practice of smoking tobacco originated among Native Americans. When Sir Walter Raleigh returned to England from the Americas in the 1580s 15 eighties , he introduced the habit to upper-class acquaintances, from whom it spread to the general public. Smoking reached Holland not long afterward by way of English students who had traveled to the Netherlands to attend Dutch medical schools. From there, adoption of the practice spread northward to Scandinavia and eastward to Germany and Russia, ultimately reaching Siberia and crossing the Bering Strait to reenter North America through Alaska.

Information presented in the passage can best be used to illustrate the meaning of which of the following geographic concepts?

1. adaptation
2. diffusion
3. acculturation
4. connectivity

The fundamental difference between a market economic system and a command economic system is best seen in:

1. the relative emphasis placed on price stability and full employment.
2. the presence or absence of an organized system of banking.
3. the forms taken by items that serve as money.
4. the functions performed by the government.

Which of the following steps could the Federal Reserve Board take to best address the problem of high unemployment?

1. increasing funding for job training and human capital programs
2. decreasing short-term interest rates paid by commercial banks
3. increasing tax revenues collected by federal and state governments
4. decreasing the amount of money circulating in the economy

Use the table below to answer the question that follows.

Which of the following statements is consistent with the information in the table?

1. The output of final goods and services increased in Year 1 from the prior year.
2. The average price level of goods and services fell between Year 1 and Year 2.
3. More jobs were lost in the economy during Year 3 than were lost during Year 2.
4. Business cycle conditions became recessionary between Year 2 and Year 3.

Banks and similar financial institutions play which of the following fundamental roles in a market economy?

1. transmitting the intended outcomes of governmental policy to producers in the private sector
2. ensuring secure property rights to protect the financial assets of households and firms
3. adjusting the flow of currency around different sectors and regions within the economy
4. redirecting financial capital from savers toward people and companies with a need for borrowing

Use the chart below to answer the question that follows.

A graph showing supply and demand curves for the market for newly constructed homes. Axes are price on the vertical axis and quantity on the horizontal axis. Supply curve S one slopes upward, intersecting downward-sloping Demand curve D one and parallel Demand curve D two. D one is to the right of D two, with an arrow pointing from D one to D two.

Which of the following developments would most likely cause the demand curve to shift from D₁ D 1  to D₂ D 2 ?

1. an increase in consumers' expectations of the availability of housing in the coming years
2. a decrease in the price of a complementary good such as the mortgage interest rate
3. an increase in the price of a substitute good such as housing rental prices
4. a decrease in the costs of labor and materials for housing construction

Which of the following economic consequences is the most likely result of imposing tariffs on imported goods?

1. The prices of domestic goods would decrease.
2. The cost of producing foreign goods would increase.
3. The price of foreign goods would increase.
4. The cost of producing domestic goods would decrease.

How would the Federal Reserve Board most likely use its monetary power during a period of inflation?

1. increasing the interest rate on money borrowed from the Federal Reserve
2. raising the reserve requirements of member banks
3. increasing the purchase of government bonds in open market operations
4. raising the margin requirements for the purchase of securities

In which of the following respects do market economies differ most from command economies?

1. the types of economic incentives employed to maximize production
2. the use of money as a medium of exchange
3. the scale of production in manufacturing and agricultural industries
4. the types of labor-saving devices used to increase productivity

Read the excerpt below from the Declaration of Independence; then answer the question that follows.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are … â€¦  endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.—That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,—That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it.

The excerpt best illustrates the influence of which of the following Enlightenment thinkers on the leaders of the movement for American independence?

1. Thomas Hobbes
2. Diderot
3. John Locke
4. Voltaire

Which of the following provisions of the U.S. Constitution was most responsible for making the new form of government acceptable to smaller states?

1. "The citizens of each state shall be entitled to all privileges and immunities of citizens in the several states."
2. "The times, places, and manner of holding elections for Senators and Representatives shall be prescribed in each state by the legislature thereof."
3. "The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each state, chosen by the legislature thereof, for six years."
4. "The United States shall guarantee to every state in the Union a republican form of government, and shall protect each of them against invasion."

The Democratic-Republican followers of Thomas Jefferson were more likely than the Federalist followers of Alexander Hamilton to support initiatives designed to:

1. improve diplomatic relations with Great Britain.
2. strengthen the authority of state and federal courts.
3. protect the rights of indigenous peoples.
4. limit the powers of the federal government.

Social contract theory provides the foundation for which of the following political beliefs?

1. Political parties are an essential component of all political systems.
2. Each branch of government should be able to check the powers of the other branches.
3. Rulers derive their authority from the consent of the governed.
4. The most effective governments find ways to adapt to changing social conditions.

Which of the following excerpts from the U.S. Constitution best reflects how the ideas of Voltaire influenced the development of government in the early republic?

1. "The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex."
2. "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press. … â€¦ "
3. "Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted."
4. "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated. … â€¦ "

Read the excerpts below from the English Bill of Rights; then answer the question that follows.

2. That the pretended power of dispensing with laws, or the execution of laws, by regal authority, as it has been assumed and exercised of late, is illegal.

4. That levying money for or to the use of the crown, by pretense of prerogative, without grant of Parliament, for longer time, or in other manner than the same is or shall be granted, is illegal.

6. That the raising or keeping of a standing army within the kingdom in time of peace, unless it be with consent of Parliament, is against law.

13. And that for redress of all grievances, and for the amending, strengthening, and preserving of the laws, Parliaments ought to be held frequently

The excerpts above best reflect the central role played by the English Bill of Rights in the development of which of the following principles of democratic government?

1. freedom of assembly
2. judicial review
3. checks and balances
4. due process of law

Which of the following provisions of the Articles of Confederation did proponents of the government established by the U.S. Constitution find most objectionable?

1. "Each state retains its sovereignty, freedom and independence, and every Power, Jurisdiction and right, which is not by this confederation expressly delegated to the United States, in Congress assembled."
2. "No two or more states shall enter into any treaty, confederation or alliance between them, without the consent of the united states in congress assembled, specifying accurately the purposes for which the same is to be entered into, and how long it shall continue."
3. "Full faith and credit shall be given in each of the states to the records, acts and judicial proceedings of the courts and magistrates of every other state."
4. "The united states in congress assembled shall be the last resort on appeal in all disputes and differences now subsisting or that hereafter may arise between two or more states concerning boundary, jurisdiction or any other cause whatever."

Use the excerpt below from the Mayflower Compact to answer the question that follows.

We, whose names are underwritten, … â€¦  solemnly and mutually in the Presence of God and one another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil Body Politick, for our better Ordering and Preservation, and Furtherance of the Ends aforesaid; and by Virtue hereof do enact, constitute, and frame, such just and equal Laws, Ordinances, Acts, Constitutions, and Offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general Good of the Colony; unto which we promise all due Submission and Obedience.

The excerpt best illustrates the Pilgrims':

1. commitment to the protection of individual rights.
2. ability to devise effective means of establishing government priorities.
3. commitment to the principle of the rule of law.
4. ability to adapt government institutions to changed circumstances.

Which of the following examples best illustrates the system of checks and balances?

1. The Supreme Court rules that the state of Florida's recount of votes in the 2000 presidential election should be stopped.
2. President Bush establishes the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument under the authority of the Antiquities Act.
3. The Supreme Court invalidates an executive order by President Truman to put steel mills under federal control during a workers' strike in 1952.
4. Congress proposes adding the Balanced Budget Amendment to the U.S. Constitution to require Congress and the president to balance the federal budget.

Use the table below to answer the question that follows.

Which line on the table accurately matches the three branches of the U.S. government with a constitutional power of each branch of government?

1. Line 1
2. Line 2
3. Line 3
4. Line 4

Which of the following best describes a reserved power of state governments in the United States?

1. establishing and maintaining courts
2. controlling the organization of local governments
3. protecting the environment
4. taxing and spending for the general welfare

In the congressional process of lawmaking, the role of conference committees can be best described as:

1. determining whether bills should be considered by the full House or Senate.
2. reconciling differences between House and Senate versions of bills.
3. enabling individual members of the House and Senate to promote shared legislative interests.
4. conducting joint House-Senate investigations of complex legislative issues.

Which of the following excerpts from the Massachusetts Constitution best illustrates the operation of the principle of separation of powers in state government?

1. "Whenever the governor transmits to the president of the senate and the speaker of the house his written declaration that he is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the office of governor shall be deemed to be vacant within the meaning of this Constitution."
2. "The governor, and in his absence the lieutenant governor, shall be president of the council, but shall have no vote in council: and the lieutenant governor shall always be a member of the council except when the chair of the governor shall be vacant."
3. "The resolutions and advice of the council shall be recorded in a register, and signed by the members present; and this record may be called for at any time by either house of the legislature; any member of the council may insert his opinion, contrary to the resolution of the majority."
4. "The governor, within ten days after any bill or resolve shall be laid before him, shall have the right to return it to the branch of the general court in which it originated with a recommendation that any amendment or amendments specified by him be made therein."

In a town in Massachusetts with a town meeting form of government, the role of the town manager typically includes:

1. defining the town's strategic directions and priorities.
2. carrying out policies adopted by the town's elected body.
3. presiding over the proceedings at annual town meetings.
4. supervising the work of the town's board of selectmen.

Which of the following activities most clearly represents a major role of the Department of State in U.S. relations with other nations?

1. advising the president on arms control and monitoring other countries' compliance with international arms agreements
2. providing logistical support for U.S. military personnel operating in foreign countries
3. coordinating relations between the executive and legislative branches of government in the foreign policymaking process
4. forging partnerships with other countries to devise means of addressing shared international problems

Which of the following statements about the presidency of George Washington is an opinion?

1. Some of the precedents set by Washington are still followed by modern presidents.
2. The Democratic-Republican Party did not support Washington's foreign policy.
3. Washington served two four-year terms as president before retiring.
4. Washington's leadership style should serve as a model for all presidents.

Which of the following excerpts from the Bill of Rights best illustrates the concept of due process?

1. "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated."
2. "In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed."
3. "Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted."
4. "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."

Protesters engage in nonviolent direct action primarily for which of the following purposes?

1. increasing membership
2. securing additional funding
3. raising awareness of an issue
4. investigating potential wrongdoing

Special interest groups are most likely to exert the greatest influence on the lawmaking process at the stage when legislators are:

1. gathering information on the issues addressed by a bill.
2. selecting the standing committee to which a bill is sent for consideration.
3. determining when a bill should be scheduled for floor debate.
4. seeking to craft a compromise version of a bill.

Use the table below to answer the question that follows.

Which line on the table accurately identifies both a legal obligation and a civic responsibility of U.S. citizenship?

1. Line 1
2. Line 2
3. Line 3
4. Line 4

Use the excerpt below from the Seventeenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution to answer the question that follows.

The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two senators from each state, elected by the people thereof, for six years; and each senator shall have one vote. The electors in each state shall have qualification requisite for the most numerous branch of the state legislatures.

According to the excerpt, the main effect of the seventeenth amendment was to:

1. broaden citizen access to the democratic process.
2. reduce the influence of political parties in senatorial elections.
3. extend voting rights to disfranchised citizens.
4. enlarge the role of state legislatures in the election process.

While researching the Cultural Revolution in China, a political scientist would prioritize asking which of the following questions?

1. How did the factions within government institutions respond to the Cultural Revolution?
2. What were the effects of the Cultural Revolution on commerce?
3. How were different regions of China affected by the Cultural Revolution?
4. What role did social dynamics play in the enforcement of the Cultural Revolution?

Use the image¹ below to answer the question that follows.

An illustration of a young woman wearing a United States Navy uniform and the words "Gee!! I wish I were a man. I'd join the navy." Below the illustration are the words "Be a man and do it. United States Navy recruiting station."

The image, a poster published by the U.S. Navy during World War I, would be most effective in promoting informed academic discussion of which of the following topics?

1. an analysis of wartime propaganda methods over time
2. the ways in which war can accelerate societal change
3. increased recruitment of women for jobs previously occupied by men
4. the role that recruitment played in reinforcing gender stereotypes

Use the information provided in the exhibits to complete the assignment that follows.

Using your knowledge of world history, write a response of approximately 150– to 300 words in which you:

• provide an analysis of the sources with respect to, for example, central idea, purpose, point of view, and credibility; and
• use valid reasoning and evidence from the sources to construct a precise, knowledgeable claim in response to the discipline-specific inquiry question.

Be sure to cite specific evidence from the sources in your response.

Exhibit: Discipline-Specific Inquiry Question

What were the goals of the Great Leap Forward in twentieth-century China?

Exhibit: Source #1

Chi Yun, "How China Proceeds with the Task of Industrialization," People's Daily, May 23, 1953²

Context: The People's Daily was the official newspaper of the Chinese Communist Party.

We are now in the midst of a period of important changes, in that period of transition, as described by Lenin, of changing "from the stallion of the peasant, the farm hand and poverty, to the stallion of mechanized industry, electrification."

We must look upon this period of transition to the industrialization of the state as one equal in importance and significance to that period of transition of the revolution toward the fight for political power.… â€¦ 

It was through the implementation of the policies of the industrialization of the state and the collectivization of agriculture that the Soviet Union succeeded in building up, from an economic structure complicated with five component economies, a unified socialist economy; in turning a backward agricultural nation into a first-class industrial power of the world; in defeating German fascist aggression in World War II; and in constituting itself the strong bastion of world peace today.

We are looking upon the Soviet Union as our example in the building of our own country. Soviet experiences in the realization of industrialization are of great value to us.… â€¦ 

The foundation of socialism is large industrial development. Lenin said, "There is only one real foundation for a socialist society, and it is large industry. If we do not possess factories of great size, if we do not possess a large industrial structure with the most advanced equipment, then we shall generally not be able to talk of socialism, much less in the case of an agricultural country."

Accordingly, in order to enable your state to progress victoriously toward socialism, we must construct large industries. … â€¦ Numerous facts have proved that it is futile to attempt the enforcement of socialism on the foundations of small agriculture or small handicrafts. Industry must first be developed to provide possibilities for the collectivization and mechanization of agriculture, for the socialist reform of agriculture.

At the same time, only with the industrialization of the state may we guarantee our economic independence and nonreliance on imperialism.

Exhibit: Source #2

Chinese poster from a state-sponsored publishing house at the time of the "Great Leap Forward," 1960³

Context: The man on the left is holding a steel bar, the woman is holding grain. The text reads "Strongly support the movement to increase production and practice conservation of steel and foodstuffs!"

An illustrated poster showing a crowd of Chinese people in the 1960's dressed in different clothing and holding different objects in front of several large flags with text that reads "Strongly support the movement to increase production and practice conservation of steel and foodstuffs!" In the foreground from left to right are the following people: an older man holding steel bar on his shoulder, a young woman holding grain, a muscular man with his sleeves rolled up holding a wrench and a book, a soldier holding a rifle and a book , a young man holding a book, a woman holding a bundle of wood, and a woman holding a textile.

Use the information provided in the exhibits to complete the assignment that follows.

Using your knowledge of U.S. history, write a response of approximately 150– to 300 words in which you:

• provide an analysis of the sources with respect to, for example, central idea, purpose, point of view, and credibility; and
• use valid reasoning and evidence from the sources to construct a precise, knowledgeable claim in response to the discipline-specific inquiry question.

Be sure to cite specific evidence from the sources in your response.

Exhibit: Discipline-Specific Inquiry Question

To what extent did the Supreme Court opinions of the early twentieth century affect women's rights in the workplace?

Exhibit: Source #1

United States Supreme Court decision in Muller v. Oregon, 1908

Context: In this 1908 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously upheld the constitutionality of an Oregon statute limiting the working hours of women.

On February 19, 1903, the legislature of the state of Oregon passed an act (Session Laws 1903, p. 148) the first section of which is in these words:

"Sec. 1. That no female (shall) be employed in any mechanical establishment, or factory, or laundry in this State more than ten hours during any one day."

[H]istory History  discloses the fact that woman has always been dependent upon man. He established his control at the outset by superior physical strength, and this control in various forms, with diminishing intensity, has continued to the present. As minors, though not to the same extent, she has been looked upon in the courts as needing especial care that her rights may be preserved. Education was long denied her, and while now the doors of the schoolroom are opened and her opportunities for acquiring knowledge are great, yet, even with that and the consequent increase of capacity for business affairs, it is still true that, in the struggle for subsistence, she is not an equal competitor with her brother. Though limitations upon personal and contractual rights may be removed by legislation, there is that in her disposition and habits of life which will operate against a full assertion of those rights. She will still be where some legislation to protect her seems necessary to secure a real equality of right. Doubtless there are individual exceptions, and there are many respects in which she has an advantage over him; but, looking at it from the viewpoint of the effort to maintain an independent position in life, she is not upon an equality. Differentiated by these matters from the other sex, she is properly placed in a class by herself, and legislation designed for her protection may be sustained, even when like legislation is not necessary for men, and could not be sustained.

Exhibit: Source #2

United States Supreme Court decision in Adkins v. Children's Hospital, 1923

Context: In this 1923 decision, a majority of the Court contradicted the Muller decision by ruling that a federal minimum wage law applying to women was unconstitutional.

The question presented for determination by these appeals is the constitutionality of the Act of September 19, 1918, providing for the fixing of minimum wages for women and children in the District of Columbia.

...

[T]he ancient inequality of the sexes, otherwise than physical, as suggested in the Muller case has continued "with diminishing intensity." In view of the great—not to say revolutionary—changes which have taken place since that utterance, in the contractual, political and civil status of women, culminating in the Nineteenth Amendment, it is not unreasonable to say that these differences have now come almost, if not quite, to the vanishing point. In this aspect of the matter, while the physical differences must be recognized in appropriate cases, and legislation fixing hours or conditions of work may properly take them into account, we cannot accept the doctrine that women of mature age, sui juris, require or may be subjected to restrictions upon their liberty of contract which could not lawfully be imposed in the case of men under similar circumstances. To do so would be to ignore all the implications to be drawn from the present day trend of legislation, as well as that of common thought and usage, by which woman is accorded emancipation from the old doctrine that she must be given special protection or be subjected to special restraint in her contractual and civil relationships.