Question 1 of 10
The cotton gin was invented by:
AThomas Edison
BEli Whitney
CAlexander Graham Bell
DBenjamin Franklin
Explanation
📌 Eli Whitney (1793). Made cotton profitable → increased demand for slavery in the South.
Question 2 of 10
The Louisiana Purchase (1803) doubled the size of the US. It was purchased from:
AFrance
BBritain
CSpain
DMexico
Explanation
📌 Napoleon's France sold it for $15 million. Doubled US territory. Lewis & Clark explored it.
Question 3 of 10
The Battle of Gettysburg (1863) was important because:
Ait was the last battle of the entire Civil War
Bit was the turning point of the Civil War
Cit was the war's first major battle
Dit fully ended slavery across the entire South
Explanation
📌 Turning point of the Civil War. Union victory. Ended Lee's invasion of the North. Bloodiest battle.
Question 4 of 10
Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation in:
A1860
B1870
C1865
D1863
Explanation
📌 1863. Freed enslaved people in Confederate states. Did NOT free slaves in border states.
Question 5 of 10
The Bill of Rights consists of the first ___ amendments.
A5
B10
C20
D13
Explanation
📌 First 10 amendments = Bill of Rights. Ratified 1791. Protects individual liberties.
Question 6 of 10
The 13th Amendment:
Agave women the right to vote
Bcreated the income tax
Cestablished Prohibition
Dabolished slavery
Explanation
📌 Abolished slavery (1865). 14th = citizenship/equal protection. 15th = voting rights regardless of race.
Question 7 of 10
The first permanent English settlement in America was:
APlymouth
BRoanoke
CJamestown
DSt. Augustine
Explanation
📌 Jamestown, Virginia (1607). Founded by the Virginia Company for economic reasons (gold, trade).
Question 8 of 10
The Great Plains are primarily used for:
Afishing
Bmining
Cagriculture
Dsteel factories
Explanation
📌 Agriculture (wheat, corn, cattle ranching). Called 'America's breadbasket.'
Question 9 of 10
The Declaration of Independence was primarily written by:
AGeorge Washington
BBenjamin Franklin
CThomas Jefferson
DJohn Adams
Explanation
📌 Thomas Jefferson drafted the Declaration of Independence in 1776.
Adopted July 4, 1776 by the Continental Congress.
Adopted July 4, 1776 by the Continental Congress.
Question 10 of 10
The map below shades each state by how its population changed between the 1930 and 1940 censuses. The country as a whole grew by 7.3 per cent over that decade. Five of the six states shaded as losing population form one block on the Great Plains. What best accounts for that pattern?
AThe federal government relocated residents away from the plains by statute
BDrought and dust storms drove farm families out
CWartime factories in those states closed and were never afterwards reopened
DImmigration restrictions passed in the 1920s applied only to the plains states
Explanation
Kansas, Oklahoma, Nebraska and the Dakotas lost people as drought, erosion and falling crop prices pushed tenant farmers and owners off the land, many toward California. Vermont, the sixth state, lost population for an unrelated reason — the long drift away from marginal New England hill farms.