The Great Depression and the New Deal (1929-1941) — High School U.S. History practice questions

The Civil War (1861-1865) was primarily caused by:

1. States' rights alone
2. Religious differences
3. Foreign invasion
4. Sectional conflict over slavery — its expansion to new territories, fundamental economic and political divisions between North and South
5. Disputed election only

Answer: D — Sectional conflict over slavery — its expansion to new territories, fundamental economic and political divisions between North and South

Slavery was central cause: economic (cotton economy), political (sectional power), moral (abolitionism). States' rights argument used to defend slavery. Lincoln's election triggered secession. Major modern historians' consensus.

FDR's 1937 'court-packing' plan sought to:

1. Abolish the Supreme Court
2. Add up to six new justices to the Supreme Court to overcome opposition to New Deal legislation
3. Impeach conservative justices
4. Move the Court to a new building

Answer: B — Add up to six new justices to the Supreme Court to overcome opposition to New Deal legislation

The plan failed politically but coincided with the 'switch in time' as the Court began upholding New Deal legislation. It damaged FDR politically even as it may have shifted judicial behavior.

The Missouri Compromise (1820) was an attempt to:

1. End slavery immediately
2. Free all slaves
3. Maintain balance between slave and free states; Missouri admitted as slave state, Maine as free state, banned slavery north of 36°30' line in Louisiana Territory
4. Annex Mexico
5. Move capital

Answer: C — Maintain balance between slave and free states; Missouri admitted as slave state, Maine as free state, banned slavery north of 36°30' line in Louisiana Territory

Missouri Compromise (Henry Clay): temporary solution to slavery extension. Set 36°30' line for future territories. Lasted until Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854) repealed it. Major Antebellum sectional crisis.

The Wagner Act (National Labor Relations Act, 1935) is most significant because it:

1. Established the minimum wage
2. Guaranteed workers the right to organize unions, bargain collectively, and strike, and created the National Labor Relations Board
3. Prohibited child labor
4. Established Social Security

Answer: B — Guaranteed workers the right to organize unions, bargain collectively, and strike, and created the National Labor Relations Board

The Wagner Act transformed labor law and helped labor union membership peak by the 1950s. Minimum wage and child-labor prohibition came in the Fair Labor Standards Act (1938).

The Emancipation Proclamation (1863):

1. Ended all slavery
2. Annexed Texas
3. Created Civil War
4. Freed enslaved people in Confederate-held territory; did not apply to border states (full abolition came with 13th Amendment, 1865)
5. Was a Confederate document

Answer: D — Freed enslaved people in Confederate-held territory; did not apply to border states (full abolition came with 13th Amendment, 1865)

Lincoln's executive order freed slaves only in rebellion territories. Strategic: allowed Black men to enlist, redefined war aims, deterred European recognition of Confederacy. 13th Amendment (Dec 1865) abolished slavery nationwide.

The stock market crash that helped trigger the Great Depression occurred in:

1. October 1928
2. October 1929
3. October 1930
4. March 1933

Answer: B — October 1929

'Black Tuesday,' October 29, 1929. March 1933 was FDR's inauguration and the banking crisis peak — students confuse the two 'crisis dates.'

The 'Bonus Army' of 1932 was:

1. A group of WWI veterans marching on Washington seeking early payment of promised bonuses
2. A New Deal jobs program
3. A Communist Party front
4. A group of Depression-era bankers seeking federal loans

Answer: A — A group of WWI veterans marching on Washington seeking early payment of promised bonuses

Hoover ordered General Douglas MacArthur to disperse the Bonus Army encampment, further damaging Hoover's reputation. The march became a symbol of Depression-era desperation.

Which New Deal agency employed young men in conservation projects on public lands?

1. The Works Progress Administration (WPA)
2. The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)
3. The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)
4. The Public Works Administration (PWA)

Answer: B — The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)

CCC = young men, forests and parks. WPA = broader employment (arts and infrastructure). TVA = river development. PWA = large-scale construction. Alphabet-agency confusion is very common — memorize each mission.

President Herbert Hoover's response to the Depression is best characterized as:

1. A large federal-jobs and direct-relief program
2. Signing the Social Security Act
3. Nationalizing the banking system
4. Preferring voluntary business cooperation, limited direct relief, and lending to businesses through the Reconstruction Finance Corporation

Answer: D — Preferring voluntary business cooperation, limited direct relief, and lending to businesses through the Reconstruction Finance Corporation

Hoover believed direct federal relief would create dependence. He created the RFC (1932) to lend to businesses and banks. FDR (not Hoover) signed Social Security in 1935.

Manifest Destiny was the belief that:

1. America should isolate
2. Slavery would end naturally
3. States should secede
4. US should expel immigrants
5. The United States was destined to expand across North America from Atlantic to Pacific (used to justify westward expansion in 19th century)

Answer: E — The United States was destined to expand across North America from Atlantic to Pacific (used to justify westward expansion in 19th century)

Manifest Destiny: ideological justification for westward expansion. Influenced Mexican-American War (1846-48) and US-Mexican Cession (gained CA, NM, AZ, etc.). Often used to dispossess Native Americans.