Practice Quiz on Imperialism

 

 

      1.   The expansion of the United States in the late 1800s differed from that of earlier decades in that it involved

            A)   all of the answers below

            B)   islands, rather than areas adjacent to existing U.S. territory

            C)   densely populated areas not suitable for massive new settlement

            D)   possessions that few Americans expected to become states

            E)   an increasing importance on foreign trade

 

Answer: A   Page: 553–556   Difficulty: Hard  

 

      2.   In arguing for their policies, the new American expansionists of the late 1800s offered all of the following economic and social reasons except

            A)   the United States would soon need to find new sources for the natural resources that it was rapidly using up

            B)   the United States needed to acquire new overseas markets for its products

            C)   the United States needed to find new sources of immigrants who would work in its factories for low wages

            D)   the United States needed an aggressive foreign policy to take people’s minds off internal problems and frustrations

            E)   the United States needed to expand due to the “closing of the frontier.”

 

Answer: C   Page: 554–556   Difficulty: Hard  

 

      3.   To justify their policies, the new American expansionists of the late 1800s offered all of the following reasons except

            A)   strong nations were destined by natural law to dominate weak ones

            B)   the United States had a duty to spread its superior institutions to less civilized people

            C)   the United States should try to create a community of nations to guarantee world peace

            D)   a strong navy was the key to becoming a great nation, and colonies would serve as bases for such a navy

            E)   selling goods in foreign nations would bolster the economy

 

Answer: C   Page: 555–557   Difficulty: Hard  

 

      4.   The ablest and most effective apostle of imperialism was

            A)   William Jennings Bryan

            B)   Charles Darwin

            C)   Alfred Thayer Mahan

            D)   Frederick Jackson Turner

            E)   Andrew Carnegie

 

Answer: C   Page: 557   Difficulty: Easy  

 

      5.   In 1900, the nation that had the third largest naval force was

            A)   Great Britain

            B)   France

            C)   Italy

            D)   Germany

            E)   the United States

 

Answer: E   Page: 557   Difficulty: Easy  

 

      6.   The Pan-American Congress of 1889 resulted in the

            A)   all of the answers below

            B)   creation of an inter-American customs union

            C)   establishment of arbitration procedures to resolve hemispheric disputes

            D)   creation of an agency that distributed information to member American nations

            E)   peaceful resolution of imperial claims in Cuba

 

Answer: D   Page: 558   Difficulty: Medium  

 

      7.   In the mid-1890s, U.S. involvement in a boundary dispute between British Guiana and Venezuela led to the

            A)   United States protesting British actions in the area, but refusing to take any other actions

            B)   president threatening war before Britain agreed to arbitrate the dispute

            C)   United States providing financial aid to Venezuela during a short border war with Britain

            D)   president sending marines to help Venezuela force Britain out of the disputed territory

            E)   United States expressing full support for Britain’s policy in Venezuela

 

Answer: B   Page: 558   Difficulty: Easy  

 

      8.   The United States acquired the Hawaiian islands as a result of all the following factors except

            A)   American citizens developed a sugar industry in the islands

            B)   the U.S. government built a naval station there

            C)   Americans staged a revolution to depose the native rulers

            D)   President Cleveland sent marines to ensure that nothing stopped annexation from taking place

            E)   the domination of the Hawaiian economy by American settlers

 

Answer: D   Page: 558–559   Difficulty: Hard  

 

      9.   The United States took control of part of the Samoan islands after a long dispute with

            A)   Great Britain and Germany

            B)   Germany and France

            C)   France and Spain

            D)   Spain and Great Britain

            E)   Germany and Spain

 

Answer: A   Page: 559   Difficulty: Easy  

 

     10.   In the 1890s, Spain and the United States gradually moved toward war over Cuba for all of the following reasons except

            A)   a change in U.S. tariff policy hurt the Cuban economy and made the Cuban people ready for revolt

            B)   when the Cuban revolt broke out, the American press printed sensational, one-sided stories about it

            C)   during the Cuban revolt, the Spanish committed numerous atrocities, whereas the Cubans usually behaved humanely

            D)   Cubans living in the United States popularized their side of the revolt with the American people

            E)   sensationalized press coverage stirred a fervor for war

 

Answer: C   Page: 559–563   Difficulty: Medium  

     11.   The United States was finally pushed into war with Spain by all of the following developments except

            A)   the American press printed a private letter of the Spanish ambassador that insulted the U.S. president

            B)   an American battleship blew up in the harbor of Havana, Cuba

            C)   Spain refused to negotiate with the Cuban rebels

            D)   Cubans living in America stirred up support for a war

            E)   Spain ignored U.S. diplomatic requests in regard to Cuba

 

Answer: E   Page: 561–563   Difficulty: Medium  

 

     12.   The U.S. president who asked for a declaration of war against Spain in 1898 was

            A)   William McKinley

            B)   Grover Cleveland

            C)   Benjamin Harrison

            D)   Theodore Roosevelt

            E)   William Howard Taft

 

Answer: A   Page: 563   Difficulty: Easy  

 

     13.   The U.S. war effort in Cuba suffered from all of the following problems except

            A)   a shortage of modern rifles and ammunition

            B)   heavy, cold-weather uniforms in a hot climate

            C)   inadequate medicine and food

            D)   lack of popular support

            E)   poor racial relations in the U.S. Army

 

Answer: D   Page: 563   Difficulty: Medium  

 

     14.   During the fighting of the Spanish-American War,

            A)   American troops had experienced commanders

            B)   more American fighting men died of disease than were killed in action

            C)   regular army units did more of the fighting than did National Guard units

            D)   the U.S. Army conducted a competent and efficient mobilization

            E)   Spain won many battles to prolong the war

 

Answer: B   Page: 563   Difficulty: Hard  

 

     15.   The black soldiers who fought in the Spanish-American War faced all of the following problems except

            A)   the U.S. Army kept them in segregated units

            B)   the people of the South treated them poorly while the troops were training there

            C)   they experienced difficulties in combat because most of them had never been under fire before

            D)   the fully integrated Cuban rebel forces that they fought beside reinforced their sense of racial injustice

            E)   strict segregation of facilities when the soldiers trained in the South

 

Answer: C   Page: 563–564   Difficulty: Hard  

 

     16.   Theodore Roosevelt as assistant secretary of the navy, ordered an attack on the Philippines for all of the following reasons except

            A)   he was an ardent imperialist

            B)   he did not regard the military chain of command of any great importance

            C)   he was an active proponent of war

            D)   he wanted Filipino independence

            E)   he wanted to strike against the Spanish Empire

 

Answer: D   Page: 564   Difficulty: Medium  

 

     17.   The first major victory for the United States in the Spanish-American War occurred

            A)   in Havana Harbor, Cuba

            B)   in Manila Bay, the Philippines

            C)   near Santiago, Cuba

            D)   near San Juan, Puerto Rico

            E)   at Guantanomo Bay

 

Answer: B   Page: 564   Difficulty: Easy  

 

     18.   Americans won the struggle for Cuba during the Spanish-American War because

            A)   the Spanish forces quit after putting up a stiff but brief fight

            B)   the American forces used incredible brutality and terror tactics to overwhelm the Spanish

            C)   the American forces displayed both high efficiency and great military genius during the campaign

            D)   the Spanish forces had already surrendered to Cuban revolutionaries before the Americans arrived

            E)   the Spanish suffered from having neither a navy nor a trained army

 

Answer: A   Page: 565   Difficulty: Easy  

 

     19.   The Rough Riders were

            A)   all of the answers below

            B)   commanded by Arthur MacArthur

            C)   involved in bold, reckless charges during the fighting in Cuba

            D)   a cavalry regiment in the regular army

            E)   Cuban-Americans who supported a free Cuba

 

Answer: C   Page: 565   Difficulty: Medium  

 

     20.   After the Spanish-American War, Puerto Rico experienced all of the following developments except

            A)   Puerto Ricans became more dependent on imported food

            B)   the island became an American colony

            C)   the island’s sugar industry grew rapidly

            D)   Americans acquired control of much of the island’s economy

            E)   the island’s inhabitants generally accepted the American presence without protest

 

Answer: E   Page: 567   Difficulty: Medium  

 

     21.   On the question of annexing the Philippines, President McKinley thought that

            A)   all of the answers below

            B)   returning the Philippines to Spain would be “cowardly”

            C)   the United States could not turn the islands over to another imperialist power

            D)   the Filipinos were not ready for independence

            E)   the United States needed to educate and uplift Filipino culture

 

Answer: A   Page: 567   Difficulty: Medium  

 

     22.   The anti-imperialists of the 1890s opposed U.S. acquisition of an empire for all of the following reasons except

            A)   the vast majority of Americans opposed such empire building

            B)   acquiring Pacific territories would bring “inferior” Asian races into the nation as potential citizens

            C)   an empire would require a large standing army and entangling foreign alliances

            D)   imperialism was simply immoral, a repudiation of America’s commitment to human freedom

            E)   imperialism contradicted the republican foundations of the nation

 

Answer: A   Page: 567   Difficulty: Hard  

 

     23.   William Jennings Bryan wanted the U.S. Senate to ratify the peace treaty with Spain because

            A)   the United States would be able to build naval bases in the new territories

            B)   he hoped to become governor of one of the territories

            C)   the war would be over, and the Democrats could make Republican imperialism a campaign issue

            D)   he believed that the inhabitants of the territories would be better off under U.S. protection

            E)   the acquisition of sugar plantations would bolster the U.S. economy

 

Answer: C   Page: 568   Difficulty: Medium  

 

     24.   In the decade following its victory in the Spanish-American War, the United States gave partial independence to

            A)   Cuba

            B)   Puerto Rico

            C)   Guam

            D)   the Philippines

            E)   Haiti

 

Answer: A   Page: 568   Difficulty: Easy  

 

     25.   In the territories with large land areas that the United States acquired in the late 1800s, the federal government

            A)   quickly gave the inhabitants full U.S. citizenship and complete control over their local affairs

            B)   slowly gave the inhabitants most of the rights of citizenship and partial local control

            C)   eventually gave the inhabitants partial citizenship and a small amount of local control

            D)   never gave the inhabitants any rights as citizens and no local control

            E)   put citizens under strict military rule

 

Answer: B   Page: 568   Difficulty: Hard  

 

     26.   The Platt Amendment, incorporated into the Cuban constitution, gave Cuba

            A)   full independence

            B)   economic independence

            C)   nominal political independence

            D)   an American colonial government

            E)   an equal partnership with American interests

 

Answer: C   Page: 568   Difficulty: Easy  

 

     27.   In the Philippine War of 1898 to 1902, the United States

            A)   easily put down the insurrection of a small minority of Filipino people

            B)   with great difficulty suppressed a full-scale revolt that the majority of the Filipino people supported

            C)   defended the islands against the attempt of the former Spanish rulers to retake them

            D)   protected the inhabitants from the efforts of the Japanese to take over the islands

            E)   emerged as freedom fighters in the minds of most Filipinos

 

Answer: B   Page: 568–570   Difficulty: Medium  

 

     28.   The Philippine War of 1898 to 1902 saw the United States

            A)   all of the answers below

            B)   use only humane and moderate methods in response to the guerrilla tactics of the enemy

            C)   create a military government that ruled the country for many years after the war was over

            D)   achieve victory after capturing the enemy leader

            E)   have the ability to organize bloodless overthrows of governments

 

Answer: D   Page: 568–570   Difficulty: Hard  

 

     29.   Most of the territory that the United States acquired in the 1890s was in the

            A)   Atlantic Ocean

            B)   Pacific Ocean

            C)   Caribbean Sea

            D)   Gulf of Mexico

            E)   Mediterranean Sea

 

Answer: B   Page: 570–571   Difficulty: Easy  

 

     30.   The United States suggested the Open Door policy for China to

            A)   all of the answers below

            B)   keep the great powers from completely destroying China by dividing it among themselves

            C)   allow U.S. merchants to trade in China without the interference of foreign governments

            D)   achieve a foreign policy victory without using military force

            E)   promote the economic ideal of free markets

 

Answer: A   Page: 570–571   Difficulty: Hard  

 

     31.   The Boxer Rebellion of 1900 came to an end when

            A)   the Chinese Army suppressed all secret societies, including the Boxers

            B)   all foreign powers agreed to stop interfering in internal Chinese affairs

            C)   a multinational armed force rescued the foreign diplomats trapped in Peking by the Boxers

            D)   the Japanese Army attacked China, and the Boxers joined other Chinese in defending their country

            E)   the United States expressed support for the Boxers

 

Answer: C   Page: 571   Difficulty: Medium  

 

     32.   After the end of the Spanish-American War, the United States changed its military system by

            A)   all of the answers below

            B)   creating a general staff to act as advisors to the secretary of war

            C)   decreasing the size of the regular army

            D)   reducing federal control over the National Guard

            E)   placing less emphasis on foreign military actions

 

Answer: B   Page: 571   Difficulty: Hard  

 

Fill in the Blank Questions

 

     33.   The belief that the United States will inevitably expand into new lands has acquired the formal name of _____.

 

Answer: Manifest Destiny    Page: 554   Difficulty: Hard  

 

     34.   Expansionists found philosophic justification for their ideas in the biological theories of _____

 

Answer: Charles Darwin    Page: 556   Difficulty: Medium  

 

     35.   Alfred T. Mahan believed that _____ was the source of the power of great nations.

 

Answer: Sea power    Page: 557   Difficulty: Hard  

 

     36.   The U.S. Navy wanted Hawaii so that it could establish a base for its ships at _____.

 

Answer: Pearl Harbor    Page: 558   Difficulty: Hard  

 

     37.   The main export of Hawaii in the 1890s was _____.

 

Answer: Sugar    Page: 558   Difficulty: Easy  

 

     38.   The newspapers owned by W. Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer used sensationalized stories to sell newspapers, a technique known as _____.

 

Answer: Yellow journalism    Page: 560–563   Difficulty: Medium  

 

     39.   In 1898, the battleship _____ blew up in Havana Harbor.

 

Answer: Maine    Page: 563   Difficulty: Easy  

 

     40.   Commodore _____ led the American naval forces that attacked the Spanish fleet in Manila Bay during May of 1898.

 

Answer: George Dewey    Page: 564   Difficulty: Easy  

 

     41.   As a result of the Spanish-American War, the United States acquired the island of _____ in the Caribbean.

 

Answer: Puerto Rico    Page: 565–567   Difficulty: Hard  

 

     42.   Ironically, one of the best-known foes of annexation, _____, supported the treaty that ended the Spanish-American War and annexed the Philippines.

 

Answer: William Jennings Bryan    Page: 568   Difficulty: Easy  

 

     43.   The leader of the Filipino forces during the Philippine War was _____.

 

Answer: Emilio Aguinaldo    Page: 569   Difficulty: Hard  

 

     44.   _____ became the first civilian governor of the Philippines.

 

Answer: William Howard Taft    Page: 569–570   Difficulty: Easy  

 

     45.   The policy of allowing all nations to trade in China was known as the _____ policy.

 

Answer: Open Door    Page: 571–572   Difficulty: Medium  

 

     46.   As American secretary of state, _____ expressed great concern about the impact of foreign concessions in China.

 

Answer: John Hay    Page: 571–572   Difficulty: Easy  

 

     47.   The revolt against foreigners in China during the early 1900s was called the _____.

 

Answer: Boxer Rebellion    Page: 571   Difficulty: Medium  

 

     48.   Between 1900 and 1903, secretary of war _____ supervised a major overhaul of the United States military.

 

Answer: Elihu Root    Page: 571   Difficulty: Medium  

 

     49.   William Randolph Hearst sent one of his reporters to Cuba with the advice “You furnish the pictures, and _____.”

 

Answer: “I’ll furnish the war”    Page: 562   Difficulty: Medium  

 

     50.   _____ are the modern incarnations of the “yellow journalism” of Hearst and Pulitzer.

 

Answer: Tabloids    Page: 556–557   Difficulty: Medium