AP (Advanced Placement) · AP United States History

Colonial Era to the Cold War

24 practice questions, each with the answer and an explanation.

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Random questions from this topic, one at a time. You see the answer and the explanation straight after each one.

All 24 questions

  1. Which factor most directly caused the American colonists to unite in protest against British policies after 1763?
  2. The Proclamation of 1763 forbade colonists from doing what?
  3. What was the main argument of Thomas Paine's pamphlet Common Sense in 1776?
  4. What was a major weakness of the Articles of Confederation?
  5. Shays' Rebellion of 1786 to 1787 contributed to the movement for a new Constitution because it showed what?
  6. What was the Great Compromise at the Constitutional Convention?
  7. Why did Anti-Federalists oppose ratification of the Constitution?
  8. What was the main effect of the invention of the cotton gin in 1793?
  9. What was the principal result of the Supreme Court decision in McCulloch v. Maryland (1819)?
  10. Which of these best describes the Second Great Awakening of the early 1800s?
  11. What was Andrew Jackson's position on the Bank of the United States?
  12. The Seneca Falls Convention of 1848 is best known for what?
  13. The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 increased tensions over slavery because it did what?
  14. What was the primary goal of Reconstruction after the Civil War?
  15. What was the effect of Jim Crow laws in the South?
  16. Which of these was a major cause of the rapid industrialization of the United States after 1865?
  17. What did the Populist Party of the 1890s mainly demand?
  18. What was the main purpose of the Progressive movement from 1890 to 1920?
  19. The Spanish-American War of 1898 marked a turning point because it did what?
  20. What was one main effect of World War I on the home front?
  21. The Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s is best described as what?
  22. Which New Deal program insured bank deposits to restore public confidence?
  23. The policy of containment during the Cold War aimed to do what?
  24. Which event is generally considered the start of the modern civil rights movement?

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