APUSH Practice Exam #2

16 min readMar 14, 2022

Thirty-five MCQs pertaining to the time period 1491 to 1945

The APUSH practice exam appearing below consists of thirty-five multiple-choice questions.

All thirty-five questions pertain to the time period 1491 to 1945 (aka P1-P7), with questions 1–13 found in the 2020 CED and questions 14–35 found in the 2017 CED.

My students will take this practice exam in mid-March. They will have thirty-five minutes to complete.

Those who correctly answer 26 (75%) of the thirty-five questions within thirty-five minutes will earn at least a 4 on the May Exam, I’m predicting.

The Practice Exam

Questions 1–4 refer to the map below

Q1.
The map most directly depicts the

A. inland expansion of the colonial population
B. effects of industrialization
C. pattern of American Indian resistance
D. decline of tobacco production

Q2.
The pattern of colonial settlement up to 1700 resulted most directly from which of the following factors?

A. The large size of British colonial populations relative to American Indian populations
B. British recognition of Native American sovereignty
C. The orientation of the British colonies toward producing commodities for export to Europe
D. British government attempts to impose greater control over the colonies in the late 1600s

Q3.
The change in settlement patterns from 1700 to 1775 had which of the following effects?

A. A decrease in the coastal population
B. An increase in conflicts between British settlers and American Indians
C. A decrease in the economic importance of slavery and other forms of coerced labor
D. An increase in trade with French Canada

Q4.
The change in settlement patterns from 1700 to 1775 best explains the

A. development of economic differences between the northern and southern colonies
B. colonists’ difficulties in effectively resisting the British military during the American Revolution
C. significant proportion of colonists who remained loyal to Great Britain during the American Revolution
D. growth of social tensions between backcountry settlers and coastal elites

Questions 5–7 refer to the excerpt below.

“[T]he condition of the African race throughout all the States where the ancient relation between the two [races] has been retained enjoys a degree of health and comfort which may well compare with that of the laboring population of any country in Christendom; and, it may be added that in no other condition, or in any other age or country, has the Negro race ever attained so high an elevation in morals, intelligence, or civilization.”
* John C. Calhoun, political leader, 1844

Q5.
Which of the following groups would have been most likely to support Calhoun’s views expressed in the excerpt?

A. Members of nativist political parties
B. Members of the Whig Party
C. Southern landowners
D. Northern industrialists

Q6.
Which of the following most directly undermines Calhoun’s assertions?

A. Many slaves adopted elements of Christianity.
B. Many slaves engaged in forms of resistance to slavery.
C. Abolitionist societies encountered difficulty organizing in Southern states.
D. A majority of White Southerners were not slaveholders.

Q7.
In the 1840s and 1850s, the views expressed by Calhoun most directly contributed to

A. the United States acquisition of new territory in the West
B. increased sectional divisions between the North and the South
C. the development of sharecropping and tenant farming in the South
D. the rise of voluntary organizations to promote religious reform

Questions 8–10 refer to the excerpt below.

“My purpose is not to persuade children from their parents; men from their wives; nor servants from their masters: only, such as with free consent may be spared: But that each [English] parish, or village, in city or country, that will but apparel their fatherless children, of thirteen or fourteen years of age, or young married people, that have small wealth to live on; here by their labor may live exceeding well: provided always that first there be sufficient power to command them, . . . and sufficient masters (as carpenters, masons, fishers, fowlers, gardeners, husbandmen, sawyers, smiths, spinsters, tailors, weavers, and such like) to take ten, twelve, or twenty, or as is their occasion, for apprentices. The masters by this may quickly grow rich; these [apprentices] may learn their trades themselves, to do the like; to a general and an incredible benefit for king, and country, master, and servant.”
* John Smith, English adventurer, A Description of New England, 1616

Q8.
The excerpt suggests that promoters such as Smith most typically presented migration as a means for

A. workers to achieve social mobility and economic opportunity
B . people to earn wages to send home to their families
C. countries to acquire new sources of mineral wealth
D. joint-stock companies to generate profits

Q9.
The excerpt would be most useful to historians as a source of information about which of the following?

A. The interaction of English colonial settlers with native populations in the early seventeenth century
B. The harsh realities of life in the early seventeenth-century American colonies, including illness, high mortality rates, and starvation
C. The role that appeals and advertising played in encouraging men and women to participate in colonization efforts
D. The nature of master and apprentice relationships in England in the early seventeenth century

Q10.
Which of the following was a major contrast between the New England colonies and the colonies of France?

A. The New England colonies were based on more diverse agriculture and commerce.
B. The French settled more often in cities and towns.
C. The French had more conflicts with American Indians.
D. New England developed a less rigid racial hierarchy.

Questions 11–13 refer to the excerpt below.

“There is, at present, no danger of another insurrection against the authority of the United States on a large scale, and the people are willing to reconstruct their State governments, and to send their senators and representatives to Congress. But as to the moral value of these results, we must not indulge in any delusions. . . . [T]here is, as yet, among the southern people an utter absence of national feeling. . . . “Aside from the assumption that the Negro will not work without physical compulsion, there appears to be another popular notion . . . that the Negro exists for the special object of raising cotton, rice and sugar for the whites, and that it is illegitimate for him to indulge, like other people, in the pursuit of his own happiness in his own way.”
* Carl Schurz, Report on the Condition of the South, 1865

Q11.
Schurz’s analysis most directly illustrated the debates about which of the following issues in the South?

A. The industrialization of the South
B. The issuing of the Emancipation Proclamation
C. The process of readmitting Confederate states
D. The extent of federal legislative power

Q12.
The attitudes of White Southerners described by Schurz contributed to which of the following developments in the last quarter of the nineteenth century?

A. The sale of most plantations to African Americans to keep them in the South
B. The establishment of sharecropping throughout the South
C. The Nullification Crisis caused by Southern resistance to federal policy
D. The rise of the Whig Party in the South

Q13.
Efforts by Republicans such as Schurz to establish a base for their party in the South after the Civil War ultimately failed because

A. Republicans feared the South would secede again if the party became too successful
B. Republican opposition to African American rights alienated many White Southerners
C. Republicans grew weary of pressing their Reconstruction agenda in a hostile environment
D. Republicans believed it better to withdraw from the South than to become corrupted by Southern politics

Questions 14–16 refer to the excerpt below.

“The peace-loving nations must make a concerted effort in opposition to those violations of treaties and those ignorings of humane instincts which today are creating a state of international anarchy and instability from which there is no escape through mere isolation or neutrality. “Those who cherish their freedom and recognize and respect the equal right of their neighbors to be free and live in peace, must work together for the triumph of law and moral principles in order that peace, justice and confidence may prevail in the world. There must be a return to a belief in the pledged word, in the value of a signed treaty. There must be recognition of the fact that national morality is as vital as private morality.”
President Franklin Roosevelt, Quarantine Speech, 1937

Q14.
The ideas expressed in the excerpt differed from the prevailing United States approach to foreign policy issues primarily in that Roosevelt was

A. arguing to expand the role of the United States in the world
B. encouraging the United States to avoid political entanglements in Europe
C. seeking to promote United States' influence throughout Latin America
D. encouraging new laws that would give the United States international police power

Q15.
The excerpt best reflects an effort by Roosevelt to

A. encourage the ratification of the Treaty of Versailles
B. promote the acquisition of new territories abroad
C. contain the spread of Soviet-dominated communism
D. overcome opposition to participation in the impending Second World War

Q16.
Which of the following best represents continuity in the years after 1945 with the ideas that Roosevelt expressed in the excerpt?

A. The conviction and execution of suspected Soviet spies in the United States
B. United States membership in an international collective security organization
C. United States military commitment to countries battling communist insurgencies
D. The rise of peace organizations opposed to the buildup and use of nuclear weapons

Questions 17–18 refer to the poster below

Courtesy of Library of Congress, LC-USZ62–117090

Q17.
The poster most directly reflects the

A. wartime mobilization of United States society
B. emergence of the United States as a leading world power
C. expanded access to consumer goods during wartime
D. wartime repression of civil liberties

Q18.
The poster was intended to

A. persuade women to enlist in the military
B. promote the ideals of republican motherhood
C. advocate for the elimination of sex discrimination in employment
D. convince women that they had an essential role in the war effort

Questions 19–22 refer to the excerpt below.

“Shortly after this, my mother’s widowed sister, . . . who kept a factory boarding house in Lowell [Massachusetts], advised her to come to that city. . . . “My mother, feeling obliged to have help in her work besides what I could give, and also needing the money which I could earn, allowed me . . . to go to work in the mill. . . . “The working hours of all the girls extended from five o’clock in the morning until seven in the evening, with one half hour for breakfast and dinner. . . . “I cannot tell you how it happened that some of us knew about the English factory children, who as it was said, were treated so badly. . . . “In contrast to this sad picture, we thought of ourselves as well off . . . enjoying ourselves in our own good way, with our good mothers and our warm suppers awaiting us.”
Harriet Hanson Robinson, Loom and Spindle, or Life Among Early Mill Girls, describing events in the 1830s, published in 1898

Q19.
Which of the following most directly contributed to the developments described in the excerpt?

A. The concept of republican motherhood after the American Revolution
B. Large-scale immigration from southern and eastern Europe
C. The expansion and increased organization of industrial production
D. The wartime need for women to fill jobs previously held by men

Q20.
The developments described in the excerpt most directly reflect which of the following changes in the first half of the 1800s?

A. The sharp increase in the number of workers making goods for distant markets
B. Women’s acquisition of new legal rights independent of their fathers and husbands
C. The emergence of a larger and more distinct middle class
D. Many women’s embrace of the idea of a separate sphere

Q21.
Which of the following was a major difference in economic development between the Northeast and the South in the first half of the 1800s?

A. Southern exports had a far lower value than exports from the Northeast.
B. Banking and shipping grew more rapidly in the South than in other regions.
C. The South relied much less on wage labor than the Northeast.
D. The South had few commercial connections with other regions of the United States.

Q22.
Robinson’s assertion that she and the other workers were “well off ” would be challenged during the second half of the nineteenth century by which of the following?

A. The growing corporate need for clerical workers that brought many women into office jobs
B. Declining household incomes of working families as a result of businesses’ unwillingness to employ children
C. The expanded access to company-sponsored pensions and healthcare for most employees
D. Confrontations between unions and factory management over wages and working conditions

Questions 23–24 refer to the excerpt below.

“In the name of God, Amen. We . . . the loyal Subjects of our dread sovereign Lord King James . . . Having undertaken for the glory of God, and advancement of the Christian Faith, and honor of our King and Country, a Voyage to plant the first Colony in the Northern parts of Virginia; do by these presents 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 . . . do enact . . . 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 Mayflower Compact, 1620

Q23.
What was the most likely motivation to create the Mayflower Compact?

A. Wishing to exploit the material riches of the “new world”, the leaders of the Mayflower expedition wished to cement their power over the other colonists in this agreement.
B. The leaders wished to increase unity among “the pilgrims.”
C. The leaders wished to declare independence from England.
D. The leaders wished to establish a theocracy (religious government).

Q24.
Which best explains why the Plymouth settlement was so important in American history?

A. It proved that a self-governing society consisting mostly of farm families could flourish in New England.
B. It first demonstrated that European settlers could not avoid devastating clashes with Native Americans.
C. It proved that the land in this region was ill-equipped to support settlers in such great numbers, forcing subsequent colonists to settle elsewhere.
D. It set the gold standard for race-based slavery as the basis of labor, as opposed to indentured servitude or Native American labor.

Questions 25–27 refer to the excerpt below.

“For we must consider that we shall be as a city upon a hill. The eyes of all people are upon us. So that if we shall deal falsely with our God in this work we have undertaken, and so cause Him to withdraw His present help from us, we shall be made a story and a by-word through the world. We shall open the mouths of enemies to speak evil of the ways of God, and all professors for God’s sake. We shall shame the faces of many of God’s worthy servants, and cause their prayers to be turned into curses upon us till we be consumed out of the good land whither we are going.”
* John Winthrop sermon, “A Model of Christian Charity,” 1630

Q25.
Winthrop’s sermon was directed at what specific group of people?

A. Puritans who were immigrating to North America
B. American Indians located in present-day New York
C. Chesapeake Bay colonists
D. The English Parliament

Q26.
The idea presented in the passage is that those on the voyage were there to

A. take land from the Native Americans to cultivate.
B. spread Christianity to others by example.
C. build a colony based solely on profit.
D. develop a farming economy based on favorable climate and deep water ports

Q27.
This speech led, in part, to which of the following?

A. An amicable [friendly] relationship with native groups in North America.
B. Increased tensions between Britain and France.
C. Increased tensions between New England and the Chesapeake Bay.
D. Increased tensions between the New England colonists and the native population.

Questions 28–29 refer to the excerpt below

Q28.
The pattern depicted on the graph from 1450–1800 best serves as evidence of which of the following

A. The replacement of indigenous labor and indentured servitude by enslaved Africans in New World colonies
B. The development of varied systems of racial categorization in the European colonies
C. The effectiveness of the abolitionist movement in Europe and the Americas
D. The susceptibility of enslaved populations to New World diseases

Q29.
Which of the following contributed most directly to the change in the number of Africans transported to the New World after 1800

A. The emergence of a more industrialized economy in Great Britain and the United States
B. The outlawing of the International slave trade by Great Britain and the United States
C. The increased resistance to slavery within African nations
D. The influence of major slave rebellions in Haiti and elsewhere

Questions 30–32 refer to the excerpt below.

“And now you have an extraordinary Opportunity, a Day wherein Christ has flung the Door of Mercy wide open, and stands in the Door calling and crying with a loud Voice to poor Sinners; a Day wherein many are flocking to him, and pressing into the Kingdom of God; many are daily coming from the East, West, North and South; many that were very lately in the same miserable Condition that you are in, are in now an happy State, with their Hearts filled with Love to Him that has loved them and washed them for their Sins in his own Blood, and rejoicing in Hope of the Glory of God.”
Jonathan Edwards “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”

Q30.
One of the themes of the time period depicted in the quote is the belief that

A. people could be saved if they confessed their sins and accepted Christ as their savior
B. all people were sinners.
C. all people were subject to the rule of the dominant religion in their area.
D. all people must follow the directives of the religious leader in their church.

Q31.
A major change occurring in religion during this time period is

A. people flocked to the legally established churches.
B. the authority of Old Light ministers was challenged.
C. women participated very little in religion.
D. religious sermons became very unemotional.

Q32.
This period of religious revivals had which effect on education?

A. Public education was introduced and became universal.
B. An area was set aside in every Southern town for a school.
C. Girls were allowed to attend college.
D. New colleges were founded to educate young men for the ministry

Questions 33–35 refer to the image below.

**A nineteenth century painting from John Gast**

Q33.
The image most directly reflects the

A. The destruction of Native culture.
B. The supremacy of the civilized East.
C. Protestant influences in art.
D. The desire to modernize the new west.

Q34.
Which of the following was a significant cause of the mid-19th century trend shown in the image above?

A. A sense of American racial and cultural superiority
B. The eradication of all Native American populations
C. The Missouri Compromise
D. The Gadsden Purchase

Q35.
Which of the following was a significant cause of the mid-19th century trend

A. Controversy over the preservation of land and natural resource
B. Debates over the population requirements for state entrance into the Union
C. Controversy over allowing or forbidding slavery in newly acquired territories
D. Immigration debates over which nationalities should be allowed into the United States

The Answer Key

Sidenote #1

Click here to view another thirty-five multiple-choice question practice exam, with all questions also pertaining to the time period 1491 to 1945 (aka P1-P7), and with questions 1–13 found in the 2020 CED and questions 14–35 found in the 2017 CED.

Sidenote #2

In the past three years, my students most often missed the following: