Important Questions
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Important Questions Page
1. How do we know what life was like before 1500?
2. Why did the Aztecs sacrifice prisoners and slaves to their gods?
3. How are the Mayans and astronomy related?
4. How are the Mayans and astronomy related?
5. What were Europeans searching for during the Age of Exploration? What was the
name of the route? What items/goods were they searching for?
6. If Christopher Columbus was Italian, why did he sail for Spain?
7. How did the conquistadors defeat the Aztecs so easily?
8. Describe the Columbian Exchange. What five goods/items are credited for
drastically changing the way we live today?
11. List the colonies by region (New England, Middle, Southern)
12. What type of economy did each region of the 13 Colonies have?
13. Describe the Triangular Trade system.
14. Describe the theory of mercantilism.
15. How was religious toleration and the formation of the Middle Colonies similar?
16. How did the climate/weather affect the growing seasons? What goods was each
region known for? (hint: how did they make their money)
17. What is an indentured servant? What did they need to do to earn their freedom?
18. What were the Navigation Acts?
19. Who made up the two sides fighting the French and Indian War?
(hint: HAF/ICE)
20. What four reasons did France and Britain want the Ohio River Valley? Secondly,
who had been living there for hundreds of years?
21. Why did the Hurons/Algonquins side with the French? Why did the Iroquois side
with the British?
22. Who created the Albany Plan of Union, and what was its purpose?
23. Who created the Albany Plan of Union, and what was its purpose?
24. What taxes did the colonists resist? Why were they angry?
25. Who was Thomas Paine, and how did he fuel the fire for the revolution?
26. Describe the events of the Boston Massacre.
27. What events took place at the Boston Tea Party. British reactions? Forms of
colonial protest?
28. Describe the events of the Battle of Trenton.
29. Why was the Battle of Saratoga so significant?
30. What were the American advantages and disadvantages during the war?
31. Describe guerilla warfare.
32. What ended the American Revolution?
33. Why were the Articles of Confederation unsuccessful?
34. Describe the events of the Constitutional Convention.
35. What was the result of the Virginia Plan and New Jersey Plan?
36. What are the Bill of Rights? Why were they added to the Constitution?
37. What does JEL/REM stand for?
38. What is the electoral college?
39. What is the purpose of the amendment process?
40. What is a precedent?
41. What was the Whiskey Rebellion? Why was this event significant?
42. How did the Alien and Sedition Act affect politics?
43. What was the significance of the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions?
44. What was the outcome of Marbury vs Madison?
45. Describe the details of the Louisiana Purchase.
46. What was the immediate cause of the War of 1812?
47. Who were the Warhawks and why did they want to go to war with Britain?
48. How did the Embargo Act of 1807 hurt foreign countries?
49. What was the outcome of the War of 1812?
50. What changes took place during the Industrial Revolution?
51. Where were most factories originally located? What kind of conditions did
workers experience there?
52. Describe how the cotton gin revolutionized the south.
53. Describe the Era of Good Feelings. Who was president?
54. What was the Monroe Doctrine?
55. What major inventions came out of the Industrial Revolution and what did they
do?
56. What was the "Corrupt Bargain"?
57. Describe Jackson's background.
58. How did Andrew Jackson feel about Native Americans? Provide evidence.
59. What parts of Jackson's presidency involved questionable politics?
60. Describe the events of the Bank War.
61. Describe the events of the Nullification Crisis.
62. What was the Trail of Tears?
63. Define Manifest Destiny.
64. Why did Americans move west? What hardships did they experience along the
way?
65. List the three rules that General Santa Anna enforced with the Americans who
settled in Texas. What was the outcome of the conflict in the Texas Republic?
66. Describe the details of the Treaty Guadalupe-Hidalgo.
67. Describe the California gold rush and how it led to the Compromise of 1850.
68. Describe the cause and effects of the Mexican-American War.
70. Define the following: suffrage, abolition, temperance.
71. Describe what a push and pull factors are. List two of each.
72. Place the following people with their area of reform: Harriet Beecher Stowe,
Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, Dorthea Dix, Horace Mann, Susan B.
Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott.
73. How did Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott help in the
women's rights movement?
74. What was the purpose of the Seneca Falls Convention? How did lobbying help?
75. How did the North and South develop differently?
76. What was the purpose of slave codes? List the top three that you think were the
most restrictive, and explain why?
77. How did the Compromise of 1850 impact the slavery debate?
78. Describe the Dred Scott vs Sanford court case and its impact on the slavery
debate.
79. Describe the events of John Brown's Raid on Harpers Ferry, VA and its impact.
80. Who were the candidates during the Election of 1860, and what was their
stance on slavery? What was the outcome?
81. What was Lincoln's objective (purpose/plan) or goal to fight at the beginning of
the Civil War?
82. List two advantages and disadvantages of both the Union and the Confederacy
during the Civil War.
83. What was a border state? List the five border states.
84. List 3-4 reasons why so many soldiers died during the Civil War.
85. What happened to the morale of the South as the war continued?
86. What was the new goal of the Civil War when the Emancipation Proclamation
was given? Also, where did it free slaves? Were they immediately freed?
87. What was the purpose of the Gettysburg Address? What was Lincoln's message
for the country?
88. What impact did Sherman's March to Sea have on the South?
89. Why were Lincoln and Grant's conditions of surrender so generous for the
Confederates?
