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Eli Whitney’s 1793 invention of the cotton gin did all of the following EXCEPT:
Whether intentional or not, Eli Whitney's cotton gin resulted in an increase of slave numbers throughout the American South, as the southern economy became more heavily dependent upon upland short cotton.
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Which of these was not an impact of United States railroad expansion in the nineteenth century?
In the era of America’s Founding Fathers, most prominent thinkers thought that it might take as much as a thousand years to settle the entirety of the continent under one national entity. Due largely to the invention and widespread construction of Railroads this was achieved in a mere few decades. Railroads helped promote trade across the continent and further afield – enabling goods from the Far East to be shipped back to the Eastern seaboard. It encouraged the growth of urban communities which could be much more easily sustained by railroad trade. And, not insignificantly, it provided for the first time a far easier means for tourists from the East to travel to places like Yosemite to witness the wonders of America’s, as of yet not established, National Parks—which in turn lead to much wider support for legislation to protect them. It did not, however, improve American relations with Native American communities—one might suspect that the removal of the massive boundary of space might have resulted in the reduction of the perception of Native Americans as an “other” group to be feared; on the contrary, it allowed Americans to move en masse to territories occupied by Native Americans, and made it much easier to keep supply lines reinforced.
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Why did the Pony Express fail?
The Pony Express was known for it's speed and reliability, but the new telegraph lines, once complete, were much cheaper and more efficient. This development rendered the Pony Express obsolete in a mere 18 months.
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A key cause of widespread Irish immigration to America in the 1840s was __________.
Irish immigrants had come to America since the first Europeans arrived, but the first large migration occurred in the 1840s and 1850s. The biggest reason for this was the Irish Potato Famine that began in 1845. The famine was exacerbated when the British government refused to give any assistance. Estimates are that as many as 1 million Irish died during the famine, while another million emigrated elsewhere, chiefly to the Northern cities of the United States.
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The Alien and Sedition Acts resulted in which of the following?
In the aftermath of the XYZ Affair and straining relations with France, the Federalists passed the Alien and Sedition Acts, which outlawed anti-government activity, lengthened the residency time required for naturalization of foreigners, and allowed the President to imprison or deport aliens who he deemed dangerous to American peace and safety. The laws were unpopular with many Americans due to their authoritative nature, leading to increased support for Thomas Jefferson and the Democratic-Republicans at the expense of John Adams and the Federalists.
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On January 1, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation which did ALL of the following EXCEPT:
The Emancipation Proclaimation did not abolish slavery in the Union; there were 5 slave states (Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri and West Virginia) that fought for the preservation of the United States.
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Who famously tried to incite a slave rebellion at Harper’s Ferry?
John Brown devised a plan to raid an arsenal and arm slaves. His attempt was ill-conceived, and he was arrested by Robert E. Lee, tried for treason, and sentenced to death.
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Sensationalism. This exaggeration tactic was used to make everyday news more interesting and therefore increase readership for their respective newspapers.
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Manifest Destiny. It had become a popular belief in the mid 1800’s that it was the nation’s destiny to expand West in the name of God, progress, and civilization.
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Which technological military innovation did not occur during the American Civil War?
The American Civil War saw a large increase in technological innovations related to warfare. In particular, train travel, ironclad ships, and machine guns were all first used in warfare during the American Civil War. Nerve gas, however, was not even discovered until the 1930s.
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The forced relocation of Native Americans from the southeastern United States as a result of the Indian Removal Act of 1830 has been named the Trail of Tears. Which of the following indigenous nations was NOT forcibly removed from its ancestral homeland to Indian Territory in present-day Oklahoma?
The Inuit are an indigenous people located in the Arctic.
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He said to his friend, "If the British march
By land or sea from the town to-night,
Hang a lantern aloft in the belfry arch
Of the North Church tower as a signal light--
One if by land, and two if by sea--
And I on the opposite shore will be,
Ready to ride and spread the alarm
Through every Middlesex village and farm,
For the country folk to be up and to arm."
American Poet, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, wrote the poem from which this excerpt is taken in 1860. About which famous Revolutionary War patriot was Longfellow writing?
The first stanza of Longfellow's poem "Paul Revere's Ride" famously reads,
"Listen my children and you shall hear
Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere,
On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-five;
Hardly a man is now alive
Who remembers that famous day and year."
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The discovery of gold in Coloma, California, on January 24th, 1848, resulted in roughly 300,000 people rushing to California via sea and over land. What was the name of this massive influx of people to the Golden State?
The 300,000 men and women lured to California by the prospect of gold resulted in the California Gold Rush.
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In the mid-1800s, an African-American slave petitioned a United States Circuit Court to grant him his freedom because he had lived for a time in the free states. The Supreme Court ultimately ruled against him, stating that men and women of African descent were not citizens of the United States. Who was this African-American slave?
Dred Scott was the slave in question, and the resulting Supreme Court decision takes his name.
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This escaped slave became a Conductor on the Underground Railroad and helped hundreds of slaves to freedom in the North.
Born into slavery, Harriet Tubman escaped and then committed her life to helping others escape the horrific institution. She even served as a spy for the Union Army during the Civil War.
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In 1859, this abolitionist captured the federal arsenal at Harper's Ferry, Virginia along with 21 followers in an unsuccessful attempt to start a slave revolt.
The abolitionist was John Brown captured Harper's Ferry and was tried and hanged for his unsuccessful raid.
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From the early-to-mid-nineteenth century, this wagon route from the Missouri River to Oregon permitted hundreds of thousands of immigrants to settle the West. What was its name?
Before the Transcontinental Railroad, the Oregon Trail from the Missouri River to Oregon permitted hundreds of thousands of immigrants to settle the West.
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In 1871, which American city suffered a fire that left at least 90,000 people homeless?
In 1871, from October 8th to the 9th, Chicago suffered a fire that left at least 90,000 people homeless and killed 300.
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What Native American woman helped Lewis and Clark with their expedition in the Louisiana territory?
The Lewis and Clark Expedition was the first attempt by an American government to map and cross the entirety of the unknown West. It was commissioned by President Jefferson shortly after the purchase of the Louisiana territory. Lewis and Clark, along with many others under their command, set out from St. Louis in 1804, crossing thousands of miles of terrain before arriving at the Pacific Ocean, two years later; however, without the aid of a young Native-American woman, named Sacagawea, it likely would not have been possible. She worked as a translator for the expedition and helped broker safe passage through potentially hostile lands; her knowledge of the area they were travelling through—in Wyoming and Idaho in particular—ensured that the expedition did not get lost, and her understanding of the native plants prevented the expedition from starving during the more arduous stretches of the journey. She is now, quite rightly, commemorated on the U.S. Dollar Coin and is the symbol of the National American Women’s Suffrage Movement.
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The gathering at Promontory Summit, Utah, on May 10, 1869, celebrate the completion of __________.
On May 10, 1869, railroad tycoon Leland Stanford drove in a special "Golden Spike" to cermonially complete the first transcontinental railroad in North America. A collaboration of three different companies, the railroad system linked Sacramento, California with the Eastern U.S.'s rail system in Council Bluffs, Iowa. Although it was not a complete coast to coast trip, the railroad finally offered Americans a manageable overland rail trip from the East Coast to the West Coast. Throughout the later ninteenth Century, many new railroads came and provided other transcontinental routes.
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