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AP US History Unit Test

The 1920s and Great Depression

Questions 1-4 relate to the passage below

In our efforts for recovery we have avoided, on the one hand, the theory that business should and must be taken over into an all-embracing Government. We have avoided, on the other hand, the equally untenable theory that it is an interference with liberty to offer reasonable help when private enterprise is in need of help. The course we have followed fits the American practice of Government, a practice of taking action step by step, of regulating only to meet concrete needs, a practice of courageous recognition of change.

Franklin D. Roosevelt, Greater Security for the Average Man, 1934

Franklin D. Roosevelt, "On Moving Forward to Greater Freedom and Greater Security," Fireside Chats

1. The approach Franklin Roosevelt outlines in the speech above is most consistent with the previous efforts of

a. Radical Republicans during Reconstruction.

b. Populist farmer organizations during the late 19th century.

c. the womens rights movement in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

d. the Progressives in the early 20th century

2. At the time of this speech in 1934, which of the following groups most opposed Roosevelts New Deal reforms?

a. The Supreme Courtb. Labor unionsc. African Americansd. Populist movements

3. The principles championed by President Roosevelt in the speech above directly challenged the

a. view that the United States should remain a nation based largely on agriculture.

b. laissez-faire economic policies of the Gilded Age.

c. the efforts by Progressives to institute social reforms at all levels of society.

d. idea that large corporations had come to dominate the American economy.

4. Which new innovation allowed FDR to more effectively communicate his ideas to the American people.

a. The creation of the transatlantic cableb. Early television

c. Syndicated newspapersd. The advent of radio

Questions 5 and 6 Relate to the Photograph below

5. Which of the following factors was most responsible for creating the conditions depicted in the photograph?

a. The transition from a rural society to an urban one

b. Episodes of credit and market instability

c. Political corruption

d. The failure of Progressive reforms

6. In response to the conditions depicted in the photograph above, many American families

a. advocated for overseas expansion.

b. disrupted society with racial strife.

c. migrated within the United States.

d. resented President Roosevelts unwillingness to use government power to provide them with relief.

Questions 7 - 9 Relate to the Passage Below

[Franklin] Roosevelt locked one group out of his honeymoon suite. The bankers and financiers, the rhetorical devils of his presidential campaign, were now resented or hated by millions of Americans. Even Hoover placed much of the blame for the stock market crash on speculation and poor banking ethics.The Emergency Banking Actprovided for the inspection of banks and certification of soundness before reopening. It may have saved the private banking system. The subsequent Glass-Steagall Act of 1933 provided for Federal Reserve regulation of bank investmentsand created a Federal Depositors Insurance Corporation to insure small depositors, all of which strengthened banks and gave protection to the most innocent depositors.

Paul K. Conkin, The New Deal, 1992Paul K. Conkin, The New Deal (Arlington Heights, Illinois: Harlan Davidson, Inc., 1992), 4647.

7. The reforms described in the excerpt above were most directly a response to

a. the decline of Americas rural, agricultural society.

b. internal U.S. migration during first two decades of the 20th century.

c. episodes of market and credit instability.

d. the decline of large corporations during the 1920s.

8. The primary goal of the legislation described in the excerpt above was to

a. foster a long-term political realignment.b. make society and individuals more secure.

c. provide relief to the poor.d. limit the scope of the New Deal.

9. The policies illustrated in excerpt above were most clearly contrary to

a. laissez-faire capitalism. b. Progressive reforms to regulate abuses of the economy.

c. transforming the U.S. into a limited welfare state.d. the goals of the Populist movement.

Questions 10 and 11 Relate to the Image Below

10. The 1936 mural to the left by Arthur Covey was most likely commissioned by which New Deal agency

a. Social Security Administration

b. The Works Progress Administration

c. The Federal Emergency Relief Administration

d. Civilian Conservation Corps

11. Aid to the workers in the painting would most likely have been provided by

a. National Recovery Administration

b. The Agricultural Adjustment Administration

c. The National Youth Administration

d. Civilian Conservation Corps

Questions 12-14 relate to the passage below

"The government should assume the function of economic regulation only as a last resort, to be tried only when private initiative, inspired by high responsibility, with such assistance and balance as government can give, has finally failed. As yet there has been no final failure, because there has been no attempt, and I decline to assume that this nation is unable to meet the situation."

FDR Speech to the San Francisco Commonwealth Club September 1932

12. The above excerpt refers to Roosevelt's apparent unwillingness to commit to which of the following economic ideas?

a. Supply-side theoryb. Keynesian Economicsc. Laissez-faire d. Trickle-Down theory

13. By 1933 in his "first Hundred Days FDR had committed himself to which of the following:

a. Supply-side theoryb. Keynesian Economicsc. Laissez-faire d. Trickle-Down theory

14. Which of the following agencies was created during the Great Depression to regulate the banking industry?

a. The Securities and Exchange Commission b. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation

c. The Federal Reserve Systemd. The Bank of the United States

15. Which of the following New Deal programs had the most impact long term on U.S. life?

a. The Agricultural Adjustment Agencyb. The Works Progress Administration

c. The Social Security Administrationd. The Civilian Conservation Corps

16. Who promoted the Share Our Wealth concept and was considered a threat to President Franklin Roosevelts reelection until he was assassinated in 1935?

a. Huey Longb. Father Charles Coughlinc. Dr. Francis Townsendd. Harry Hopkins

17. The Tennessee Valley Authority led to an expansion of

a. African American voting rights.b. wheat production during World War II.

c. the recall movement in the South.d. electrical power in rural areas.

Questions 18-21 relate to the photo below

18. The image to the left most accurately depicts

a. a massive fire in New York City

b. The environmental effects of strip mining

c. The environmental effects of the Dust Bowl

d. The environmental impact of heavy industry

19. Which region saw an influx of internal migrants due to both the Dust Bowl during the Great Depression and industrial development during World War II?

a. The Northeast

b. The South

c. The Midwest

d. The West

20. In John Steinbeck's famous Depression Era work The Grapes of Wrath, the Joad family left Oklahoma for what destination?

a. Chicago Illinoisb. Californiac. Las Vegasd. Washington State

21. Large numbers of Mexican migrants faced deportation during

a. World War I.b. the Red Scare.c. the Great Depression.d. World War II.

Questions 22 - 23 Relate to the Passage Below

"The Constitution established a national government with powers deemed to be adequate, as they have proved to be both in war and peace, but these powers of the national government are limited by the constitutional grants. Those who act under these grants are not at liberty to transcend the imposed limits because they believe that more or different power is necessary. Such assertions of extra-constitutional authority were anticipated and precluded by the explicit terms of the Tenth-Amendment,The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

United States Reports. Vol. 295. Cases adjudged in The Supreme Court in October Term 1934. From April 1 (concluded) to and including June 3, 1935. Ernest Knaebel Reporter. (Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office, 1935

22. Which of the following cases related to the above statement?

a. Wisconsin v Yoderb. Schechter v U.S.

c. Schenk v. U.S. d. Northern Securities v. U.S.

23. The case above partially dismantled which New Deal program as it was ruled unconstitutional?

a. The Securities and Exchange Commission b. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation

c. The Civilian Conservation Corpsd. The National Recovery Act

Questions 24 -25 Relate to the passage below

We younger Negro artists who create now intend to express our dark-skinned selves without fear or shame. If white people are pleased, we are glad. If they are not, it doesnt matter. We know we are beautiful. And ugly too. The tom-tom cries and the tom-tom laughs. If colored people are pleased we are glad. If they are not, their displeasure doesn't matter either. We build our temples for tomorrow, strong as we know how, and we stand on top of the mountain, free within ourselves.

Langston Hughes, The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain, The Nation, June 23, 1926.

24. The sentiments expressed in the quotation above are best understood in the context of the

a. existence of segregation laws in the South. b. Harlem Renaissance movement.

c. restrictions on free speech coming out of World War I. d. rise of cinema in the 1920s.

25. The Great Migration out of the South by many African Americans during World War I was most immediately the result of

a. the first Red Scare.

b. their economic displacement due to the rising number of migrants from Mexico moving into the South.

c. the influence of the mass media.

d. economic opportunities created by the demands of World War I.

Questions 26 - 28 Relate to the Passage Below

"A widely held view of the Republicans of the 1920s is that they represented a return to the old order that existed before Teddy Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson. Harding and Coolidge especially are seen as latter-day McKinelys, political mediocrities who peopled cabinets with routine, conservative party hacks of the kind almost uiniversal in D.C. from the end of the Civil War until the early 20th century. In this view, the 1920s politically were an effort to set back the clock."

David A. Shannon, Between the Wars: American 1919-1941, 1965

26. Which of the following most directly supports the argument found in the above excerpt?

a. Appointment to Charles Evans Hughes as Secretary of State

b. Appointment of Harry Daugherty as Attorney General

c. Appointment of Herbert Hoover as Commerce Secretary

d. Selection of Calvin Coolidge as Vice President

27. Which of the following cites an event that most clearly challenges the interpretation expressed in the above excerpt:

a. The Washington Naval Conferenceb. The Fordney McCumber Tariff

c. The Tea Pot Dome leasesd. The veto of the McNary-Hagen Bill

28. The administration of which of the following Presidents most clearly resembles the corruption of the Harding years?

a. Andrew Johnsonb. Ulysses S. Grantc. James Garfieldd. William McKinley

Questions 29- 30 relate to the image below

29. Which of the following trends of the 1920s is most clearly portrayed in this advertisement

a. The expansion auto dealers through the nation

b. The use of extended payment plans to purchase consumer goods

c. The emergence of General Motors corporation

d. The growth of middle class incomes

30. Which of the following groups faced the most difficult conditions in the 1920s?

a. Non-unionized workers in older industries

b. Assembly line workers in the car industry

c. Farmers and many rural areas

d. Businesses that did not accept credit cards

1920s and the Great Depression Short Answer Section

Question #31 is based upon the passages below

The liberal reforms of the New Deal did not transform the American system; they conserved and protected American corporate capitalism, occasionally by absorbing parts of threatening programs. There was no significant redistribution of power in American society, only limited recognition of other organized groups.The New Deal failed to solve the problem of depression, it failed to raise the impoverished, it failed to redistribute income, it failed to extend equality and generally countenanced racial discrimination and segregation.

Barton J. Bernstein, Towards a New Past, 1968

Barton J. Bernstein, "The New Deal: The Conservative Achievements of Liberal Reform," in Barton J. Bernstein, ed., Towards a New Past: Dissenting Essays in American History

But it is not the variety of change which stamps the New Deal as the creator of a new America; its significance lies in the expansion and permanence of its programs. There is another measure of the New Deals significance in American social and political history. No Republican administration since then has repudiated the New Deals essentials.The New Deal Revolution has become so much a part of the American Way that no political party that aspires to office even dreams of repudiating it. The conclusion seems inescapable that, traditional as the words may have been in which the New Deal expressed itself, in actuality it was truly a revolution in ideas, institutions and practices, when one compares it with the political and social world that preceded it.

Carl N. Degler, Out of Our Past, 1984

Based on the two interpretations above relating to the legacy of the New Deal, complete the following three tasks:

a. Briefly explain the main point made in Passage 1.

b. Briefly explain the main point made in Passage 2.

c. Provide ONE piece of evidence from the era of the New Deal that is not included in the passages and explain how it supports the interpretation in either passage.

Question 32 Relates to the passages below

"When the New Deal was over, capitalism remained intact. The rich still controlled all of the nation's wealth, as well as its laws, courts, police, newspapers, churches and colleges. Enough help had been given to enough people to make FDR a hero to millions, but the same system that had brought the Depression and crisis, the same system of want and inequality, of concern for profit over human need remained."

Howard Zinn, A People's History of the United States, 1999

Most of FDR's solutions did little. The public hoopla of "jobs programs" barely dented unemployment which stood at 12.5% in 1939, or ten times what it had been under CoolidgeDid FDR do anything right? Yes. By removing the nation from the gold standard, he saved what was left of banking. But as they say, even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while."

Larry Scheweikart, 48 Liberal Lies about American History, 2008

a. Briefly explain ONE development during the New Deal that supports Howard Zinn's point of view.

b. Briefly explain ONE development during the New Deal that supports Larry Schweikart's point of view

c. Briefly explain ONE additional development that supports the position that the New Deal was a limited welfare state.

Question 33 Relates to the question below

Choose THREE of the following causes of the Depression and associate a New Deal program with those causes. Be sure to explain both the causes and the strategy used by FDR to attack the problem.

The crash of stock market

The collapse of banking

The problem of unemployment

The problem in the housing market

overproduction in the industrial sector

overproduction in agriculture