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AP United States History Full-length practice exam 2 — Free with Answer Explanations | Test Practice Hub

AP United States History Full-length practice exam 2

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Full-length practice exam 2

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Question 1

A labor organizer speaking in Chicago in 1886 declared: 'Eight hours for work, eight hours for rest, eight hours for what we will!' This slogan addressed which fundamental tension of industrial capitalism?

A.Whether workers should receive wages in gold or silver currency during the monetary debates of the 1890sB.The conflict between employers' maximization of labor output and workers' claims to time for self-development, family, and civic life outside workC.The question of whether immigrant workers should receive equal wages to native-born workersD.The debate over whether the government should own and operate industrial enterprises on behalf of workers

Question 2

The 1920s is characterized by historians as a decade of cultural tension primarily because:

A.It was a decade of universal prosperity that left no Americans behind economically or sociallyB.Rapid modernization — urbanization, mass culture, immigration, changing gender roles — collided with traditionalist responses including the Klan, Prohibition, and fundamentalismC.The decade was dominated by progressive reform activity that extended the Wilson era's achievementsD.Economic collapse produced social unrest throughout the decade

Question 3

The rise of personal computing and the internet from the 1980s through the 2000s transformed American society most significantly by:

A.Primarily reducing income inequality by making information accessible to all Americans regardless of classB.Creating a new information economy, transforming how Americans communicated, consumed, worked, and accessed information — while also concentrating wealth in technology sectors and creating new forms of social divisionC.Ending the dominance of corporations in the American economy by empowering individual entrepreneursD.Primarily affecting entertainment and leisure with minimal impact on employment, commerce, or political participation

Question 4

How did the construction of the Erie Canal (completed 1825) transform the regional economy of the United States?

A.It linked the South's cotton economy directly to European markets, bypassing Northern middlemenB.It connected the Great Lakes region to New York City's port, making New York the commercial hub of the nation and opening western farming to eastern marketsC.It created a water route from the Atlantic to the Pacific, enabling direct trade with AsiaD.It was economically irrelevant because railroads were already replacing canal transport by 1825

Question 5

The Mexican-American War (1846–1848) is most accurately described as which of the following in terms of its causes?

A.A defensive war to protect Texas from Mexican military aggression following an unprovoked invasion of U.S. soilB.A war of deliberate American provocation in disputed territory, driven by desire for Mexican land and territorial expansionC.A war declared by Mexico against the U.S. to reclaim Texas after the 1845 annexationD.A war fought primarily to protect American commercial interests in California from British seizure

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Question 6

Which of the following best describes the agricultural systems of Mississippian mound-builder societies before European contact?

A.Nomadic hunting and gathering with no permanent settlementsB.Intensive maize agriculture supporting large, hierarchical urban centersC.Exclusively maritime economies based on fishing and tradeD.Pastoralism centered on domesticated cattle and sheep

Question 7

In what way did the development of the Atlantic slave trade in the sixteenth century reflect broader patterns of the Columbian Exchange?

A.It was an unintended consequence with no economic motivation for European powersB.It arose partly to replace indigenous labor lost to epidemic disease, connecting African labor to American land and European capitalC.It was identical in structure to pre-existing indigenous American slavery practicesD.It was initially confined to the English colonies and only later spread to Spanish America

Question 8

The Second Great Awakening of the early nineteenth century is most significant in American social history because it:

A.Reunified all Protestant denominations under a single national church hierarchyB.Energized a wave of reform movements including abolitionism, temperance, and women's rightsC.Convinced most Americans to reject democracy in favor of theocratic governanceD.Was largely confined to New England and had little impact on the South or West

Question 9

A Spanish colonial administrator writing in the 1540s described the encomienda system as 'a grant of Indian labor owed to those who served the Crown.' Which criticism most directly challenged this system?

A.That it violated mercantilist trade policies restricting colonial exportsB.That Spanish colonists were not generating sufficient revenue for the CrownC.That it reduced indigenous people to a condition functionally equivalent to slavery, violating their rights as human beingsD.That it undermined Spanish military power by distracting soldiers from conquest

Question 10

A pamphlet published in Philadelphia in 1776 declared: 'The cause of America is in great measure the cause of all mankind. Government is at best a necessary evil.' This language is most characteristic of which document or author?

A.John Adams's 'Thoughts on Government,' arguing for balanced republican institutionsB.Thomas Paine's 'Common Sense,' which attacked monarchy and called for immediate American independenceC.The Federalist Papers, arguing for a strong central governmentD.The Declaration of Independence, listing colonial grievances against the king

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Question 11

Anti-Federalists opposed ratification of the Constitution primarily because they feared that:

A.The Constitution gave states too much power at the expense of national unityB.The Constitution concentrated too much power in a distant central government, threatening the liberty of ordinary citizens and state autonomyC.The Constitution would lead to monarchy because the president was too weak to prevent congressional tyrannyD.The three-branch system would result in constant deadlock with no effective government

Question 12

The New Deal's most lasting domestic legacy is best described as:

A.Ending the Great Depression by restoring full employment through government programsB.Establishing the principle of federal responsibility for economic security and creating durable regulatory institutions like the SEC, FDIC, and Social SecurityC.Nationalizing American industry and banking under direct federal ownership and controlD.Extending full economic and civil rights to African Americans through federal civil rights legislation

Question 13

Lyndon Johnson's Great Society programs represented which expansion of the federal role in American society?

A.A return to the limited government philosophy of the Jeffersonian traditionB.Federal responsibility for health care (Medicare/Medicaid), education funding, and voting rights enforcementC.The nationalization of major American industries including steel, healthcare, and utilitiesD.A modest set of symbolic gestures with no lasting institutional impact on American government

Question 14

Which of the following best explains why the federal government's policy toward the Plains Indians after 1865 shifted toward forced reservation confinement?

A.Plains Indian nations had launched major unprovoked offensives that forced a defensive military responseB.Railroad construction, cattle ranching, and white settlement required access to Plains land, and the government forced Native peoples onto smaller reservations to clear the wayC.Plains Indians voluntarily chose reservation life as a refuge from increasing drought and bison scarcityD.The federal government acted to protect Plains Indians from violence by white settlers by creating protected reservation zones

Question 15

The debate between Theodore Roosevelt's 'New Nationalism' and Woodrow Wilson's 'New Freedom' in 1912 centered primarily on which question?

A.Whether the United States should enter World War I on the side of Britain and FranceB.Whether large corporations should be regulated by a strong federal government (TR) or broken up to restore competition (Wilson)C.Whether women should receive the right to vote at the federal or state levelD.Whether the federal income tax should be graduated or flat, and at what rates

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Question 16

The Brown v. Board of Education decision (1954) overturned Plessy v. Ferguson's 'separate but equal' doctrine by arguing that:

A.Segregated schools violated the First Amendment's guarantee of free associationB.Racially segregated schools were inherently unequal because separation itself generated feelings of inferiority that damaged Black children's educationC.Congress had passed legislation requiring racial integration in all public schoolsD.The quality of Black schools in Topeka, Kansas was demonstrably inferior to white schools in physical resources

Question 17

How did the growth of cotton production in the Deep South between 1793 and 1860 affect the institution of slavery?

A.It accelerated slavery's decline by making free labor more profitable than enslaved laborB.It expanded and entrenched slavery westward into Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas, and made it the economic foundation of the SouthC.It caused the domestic slave trade to decline as planters bred sufficient enslaved populations locallyD.It led to a gradual shift away from slavery as industrial cotton ginning technology replaced human labor

Question 18

How did the Middle Colonies of Pennsylvania, New York, and New Jersey differ from both New England and the Chesapeake in their social characteristics?

A.The Middle Colonies were the most religiously homogeneous region, dominated by a single Protestant denominationB.The Middle Colonies had the greatest ethnic and religious diversity, featuring German, Dutch, Quaker, and other communities alongside English settlersC.The Middle Colonies had no enslaved population and were the first to abolish slaveryD.The Middle Colonies were distinguished by their exclusively aristocratic social structure with no merchant class

Question 19

Which of the following best explains the failure of land redistribution ('forty acres and a mule') during Reconstruction, and why this failure had lasting consequences?

A.Freedpeople rejected land grants because they preferred urban industrial wage labor to farmingB.President Johnson reversed land redistribution orders and restored confiscated plantations to former Confederate owners, leaving freedpeople landless and economically dependentC.The 14th Amendment prohibited property redistribution because it required compensation under due process protections for all property holdersD.Congress refused to pass any land redistribution legislation because Radical Republicans opposed it as too radical

Question 20

The Great Compromise at the Constitutional Convention of 1787 resolved the most divisive question of representation by:

A.Giving all states equal representation in both houses of the new CongressB.Creating a bicameral Congress with equal state representation in the Senate and population-based representation in the HouseC.Abolishing state governments and replacing them with a system of directly elected national representativesD.Allowing large states to appoint Supreme Court justices while small states controlled the Senate

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Question 21

Which of the following best explains why the Spanish crown imposed the New Laws of 1542 restricting the encomienda system?

A.The crown was responding purely to humanitarian arguments with no concern for its own political powerB.A combination of humanitarian pressure from clergy and crown concern that powerful encomenderos threatened royal authorityC.The indigenous population had recovered from disease and no longer needed protectionD.The New Laws were primarily designed to increase colonial revenues by replacing labor tribute with cash taxation

Question 22

The concept of Manifest Destiny, widely used in the 1840s, primarily expressed the belief that:

A.The United States should concentrate on improving conditions for its existing citizens before seeking new territoryB.The United States was divinely ordained to expand across the North American continent to the Pacific OceanC.American democracy should be spread to Europe by military forceD.The federal government should purchase all remaining Native American lands through fair market transactions

Question 23

How did the Cold War's nuclear arms race shape American domestic society and culture in the late 1940s and 1950s?

A.Americans remained unconcerned about nuclear weapons, trusting that the government's monopoly on the bomb guaranteed their safetyB.Nuclear anxiety permeated American culture through civil defense drills, suburban flight, science fiction, and political movements, reshaping everyday life under existential threatC.The nuclear arms race had no domestic impact since all atomic activities were classified and unknown to ordinary AmericansD.The atomic bomb made Americans confident of their invulnerability, reducing rather than increasing Cold War anxieties

Question 24

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 addressed which specific forms of discrimination?

A.Only racial discrimination in public schools, implementing the Brown v. Board ruling from a decade earlierB.Discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin in public accommodations and employmentC.Only racial discrimination in federal employment and government contractingD.Voting rights specifically, creating federal oversight of elections in states with a history of discrimination

Question 25

Which of the following best explains why Virginia colonists shifted from indentured servitude to enslaved African labor during the second half of the seventeenth century?

A.Indentured servants were more expensive than enslaved Africans from the outset of colonizationB.Bacon's Rebellion revealed the danger of a large class of poor, armed freedmen; enslaved Africans were a more controllable permanent labor forceC.The English government banned the use of indentured servants after 1660D.Tobacco prices rose so dramatically that planters could afford to purchase enslaved laborers for the first time

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Question 26

American imperialism in the 1890s, including the Spanish-American War, represented a departure from earlier American foreign policy because it:

A.Marked America's first involvement in any armed conflict outside its own continental territoryB.Involved the acquisition of overseas territories and populations who would not be admitted as states, creating an American colonial empireC.Was driven purely by humanitarian concerns for Cuban independence rather than economic or strategic interestsD.Represented continuity with all prior American territorial expansion, which had always involved non-contiguous overseas colonies

Question 27

The formation of the Populist Party in 1892 most directly reflected the grievances of:

A.Urban industrial workers seeking shorter hours, higher wages, and the right to organize unionsB.Southern and Western farmers who felt economically exploited by railroads, banks, and deflationary monetary policyC.Eastern business interests seeking lower tariffs to increase international tradeD.Recent immigrants in Northern cities demanding political representation and labor protections

Question 28

The Dawes Act of 1887 aimed to 'Americanize' Native peoples primarily by:

A.Granting Native peoples full U.S. citizenship immediately without conditionsB.Breaking up communally held reservation land into individual family allotments, destroying tribal landholding while transferring 'surplus' land to white settlersC.Creating a system of autonomous Native American territorial governments modeled on state governmentsD.Funding the construction of separate Native American schools in each state where reservation populations lived

Question 29

The Great Migration of African Americans from the South to Northern cities between 1910 and 1970 was primarily motivated by:

A.Federal government programs that incentivized Northern settlement for African Americans through land grantsB.The combination of Jim Crow violence and oppression in the South and the pull of industrial employment opportunities in Northern citiesC.Mandatory federal relocation programs that moved African Americans to Northern cities as part of wartime industrial mobilizationD.The collapse of Southern agriculture made impossible by boll weevil infestation alone, with no connection to racial violence

Question 30

Herbert Hoover's response to the Great Depression contrasted with FDR's New Deal primarily in that Hoover:

A.Did nothing to address the Depression, believing government had no role in economic affairs whatsoeverB.Believed voluntary private cooperation and limited federal assistance could address the Depression without direct relief or deficit spendingC.Advocated nationalizing the banks and major industries as Hoover believed capitalism had permanently failedD.Relied primarily on military public works to stimulate the economy through defense spending

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Question 31

Social Darwinism, as applied to Gilded Age society by thinkers like Herbert Spencer, was used primarily to argue that:

A.Government should redistribute wealth to help the poor overcome natural disadvantagesB.Economic inequality reflected natural law; government intervention to help the poor violated the principle of 'survival of the fittest'C.Darwin's evolution theory proved that all human races were equally capable and deserving of rightsD.Industrial corporations should be regulated to prevent monopolies from distorting the competitive selection process

Question 32

The 1676 King Philip's War in New England resulted in which of the following long-term consequences?

A.Permanent accommodation between English colonists and remaining indigenous nations in a stable peace treatyB.The near-destruction of indigenous power in southern New England, opening vast land for English expansionC.English defeat and withdrawal from Massachusetts Bay Colony for a generationD.The formation of a permanent Native American confederacy that successfully halted English expansion for fifty years

Question 33

The United States' decision to join World War I in 1917 was most directly influenced by which combination of factors?

A.A formal military alliance with France and Britain that required U.S. intervention when they were attackedB.German unrestricted submarine warfare threatening American lives at sea and the Zimmermann Telegram proposing a German-Mexican alliance against the U.S.C.The German invasion of American territory, which constituted a direct act of warD.A congressional declaration of war motivated purely by Wilsonian idealism about making the world safe for democracy

Question 34

Which of the following most accurately describes the long-term demographic consequence of the Columbian Exchange for the Americas?

A.Indigenous populations declined initially but fully recovered within one century due to European medical assistanceB.The Americas were largely depopulated by disease, enabling European colonization and creating demand for enslaved African laborC.Only coastal indigenous groups declined; interior populations were unaffected because they had no contact with EuropeansD.Population decline was limited to Central Mexico and had little effect on North American indigenous peoples

Question 35

How did the Chesapeake and New England colonies differ in their primary economic foundations during the seventeenth century?

A.Chesapeake colonists focused on small-scale subsistence farming, while New Englanders developed large tobacco plantationsB.The Chesapeake relied on tobacco export for commercial wealth, while New England diversified into fishing, shipbuilding, and tradeC.Both regions shared identical economies based on the production of grain for European marketsD.New England dominated the slave trade while the Chesapeake relied exclusively on free labor

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Question 36

A traveler describing the Great Plains around 1500 would most likely observe which of the following?

A.Mounted warriors following vast bison herds across the prairieB.Semi-sedentary peoples like the Mandan farming and hunting bison on footC.Dense urban settlements comparable in size to European capitalsD.Extensive cattle ranching operations managed by indigenous peoples

Question 37

The French and Indian War (1754–1763) contributed to the American Revolution primarily because it:

A.Convinced France to support American independence immediately after the war endedB.Left Britain deeply in debt, leading Parliament to tax the colonies, which colonists resisted as unconstitutionalC.Led Britain to grant the colonies greater self-governance as a reward for their military contributionsD.Eliminated the threat from France and Spain, making the colonies feel less dependent on British military protection

Question 38

The Progressive Era's reform movement of the early twentieth century most directly responded to which conditions?

A.Foreign threats that required a larger military and more centralized wartime governmentB.The social and economic consequences of industrialization: corporate power, urban poverty, political corruption, and unsafe conditionsC.The need to reverse the constitutional changes made during ReconstructionD.Agricultural overproduction and the need for farm price supports in rural America

Question 39

Which of the following best describes the core argument of the 'nullification crisis' of 1832–1833?

A.South Carolina argued that states had the constitutional right to declare federal laws null and void within their bordersB.South Carolina demanded that all federal tariffs be permanently abolished by constitutional amendmentC.Congress argued that the executive branch had unconstitutionally imposed tariffs without legislative approvalD.Jackson and Calhoun agreed that protective tariffs benefited no section of the country and should be repealed

Question 40

The Truman Doctrine (1947) marked a decisive turn in American foreign policy primarily because it:

A.Committed the United States to enter any war where a NATO ally was attackedB.Committed the United States to support free peoples resisting communist subversion anywhere in the world, establishing the containment doctrineC.Established a military alliance between the United States and the Soviet Union against common threatsD.Pledged American economic aid only, with no military component, to war-torn European nations

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Question 41

A Spanish chronicler writing in the 1570s noted: 'When we arrived, whole towns stood empty, the people dead and the houses still holding their corn. We took the land and the grain without contest.' This account most directly illustrates which historical process?

A.The effectiveness of Spanish military campaigns against organized indigenous resistanceB.The role of epidemic disease in creating conditions that facilitated European territorial expansionC.The voluntary abandonment of towns by indigenous peoples to avoid Spanish taxationD.The success of Spanish missionary conversion campaigns in persuading indigenous peoples to relocate

Question 42

A delegate to the Constitutional Convention writing to a colleague in 1787 argued: 'We have created not a pure democracy but a republic — a government of representatives who will filter popular passions through deliberative reason.' This reflects which key Federalist argument?

A.That the Constitution created a direct democracy giving all citizens equal legislative powerB.That representative institutions would temper majoritarian excess and protect minority rights and propertyC.That only an aristocratic elite should govern, with no popular participation at allD.That state governments should retain all significant governing power and the federal government should be advisory only

Question 43

A pamphlet circulating in Philadelphia in 1740 declared: 'You must be born again! Your wealth and church membership cannot save you — only God's sovereign grace through a direct experience of conversion.' This statement best reflects the theology of:

A.Deism, the belief that God created the world but does not intervene in human affairsB.The Great Awakening, emphasizing individual conversion, emotional religious experience, and God's sovereigntyC.Unitarianism, which rejected the doctrine of the Trinity and emphasized rational religionD.Anglican formalism, stressing liturgy and institutional authority over individual experience

Question 44

Why did the Compromise of 1877 effectively end Reconstruction?

A.The Supreme Court ruled in 1877 that the 14th Amendment did not apply to state actions restricting Black civil rightsB.The disputed 1876 election was resolved by giving Hayes the presidency in exchange for withdrawing federal troops from the South, removing protection for Black citizensC.Congress passed legislation specifically prohibiting federal enforcement of the 14th and 15th AmendmentsD.The Freedmen's Bureau was expanded and took over all Reconstruction enforcement responsibilities from the military

Question 45

Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation (January 1, 1863) is best understood as:

A.A comprehensive abolition of slavery throughout the entire United StatesB.A war measure that freed enslaved people in Confederate states, transforming the war into a struggle for human freedomC.A constitutional amendment that permanently abolished slavery and required congressional ratificationD.A diplomatic document primarily designed to prevent European nations from trading with the Union

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Question 46

NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement, 1994) was controversial in American politics primarily because its critics argued it would:

A.Create an unconstitutional transfer of American sovereignty to a supranational trade bodyB.Move American manufacturing jobs to Mexico, where wages were lower and environmental and labor standards weakerC.Harm American farmers by flooding U.S. markets with cheap Canadian and Mexican agricultural productsD.Strengthen Mexican immigration to the United States by making the border effectively open

Question 47

A colonial pamphlet from the 1760s argued: 'The power to tax is the power to destroy. An Englishman's property is his own, and Parliament, sitting three thousand miles away, has no right to take it without his consent expressed through his own representatives.' This argument draws most directly on which tradition?

A.Mercantilist theory holding that colonial economies should serve the mother country's interestsB.English constitutional tradition holding that taxation requires the consent of the governed through elected representativesC.French Enlightenment theory rejecting any hereditary monarchyD.Classical republican theory holding that republics require virtuous citizen soldiers

Question 48

The Supreme Court's decision in Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) had which lasting consequence for American society?

A.It ended the legal basis for segregation by ruling that racial separation was inherently unequalB.It provided the constitutional framework for Jim Crow segregation by upholding 'separate but equal' as consistent with the 14th AmendmentC.It limited segregation to railroads and did not apply to schools, housing, or other public facilitiesD.It was immediately condemned by all major political parties and quickly reversed by Congress

Question 49

Andrew Jackson's removal of the Cherokee Nation under the Indian Removal Act of 1830 was most directly justified by which argument?

A.The Supreme Court's decision in Worcester v. Georgia (1832) authorizing removalB.That removal would protect Native peoples from state governments' attempts to seize their lands and destroy their cultureC.A treaty ratified by all major Cherokee leaders accepting removal voluntarilyD.A constitutional amendment authorizing the federal government to relocate Native peoples

Question 50

Upton Sinclair's novel 'The Jungle' (1906) is often cited as a catalyst for Progressive legislation primarily because it:

A.Exposed the exploitation of immigrant workers in Chicago's meatpacking industry so vividly that readers demanded labor protectionsB.Described the unsanitary conditions in meatpacking plants so graphically that public outrage drove passage of the Pure Food and Drug Act and Meat Inspection ActC.Convinced Congress to grant citizenship to all immigrants who had worked in American industries for five yearsD.Led directly to the creation of the Department of Labor to protect immigrant workers from exploitation

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Question 51

How did the completion of the transcontinental railroad in 1869 transform the American West?

A.It primarily benefited small farmers by reducing the cost of shipping their produce to Eastern marketsB.It accelerated the destruction of bison herds, enabled mass white settlement, facilitated the cattle industry, and integrated the Western economy into national markets at the expense of Native peoplesC.It primarily transported manufactured goods from East to West with little effect on Western raw material extractionD.It created sustainable, diverse regional economies that protected Western communities from the volatility of national markets

Question 52

How did the financial crisis of 2008 and the federal government's response affect American attitudes toward economic institutions?

A.The bailout of financial institutions restored public trust in banks and Wall Street by demonstrating that government could effectively manage economic crisesB.The perception that banks were bailed out while homeowners were foreclosed upon fueled populist anger that contributed to both the Tea Party on the right and Occupy Wall Street on the leftC.The crisis had little lasting political impact because Obama's stimulus program quickly restored economic confidenceD.The financial crisis proved that deregulation of the banking industry had been the right policy, vindicating the Reagan-era approach

Question 53

Which of the following best characterizes the political legacy of the Reagan Revolution for the subsequent forty years of American politics?

A.It produced a lasting consensus that smaller government and lower taxes were universally preferred, ending debate over the role of governmentB.It shifted the political center rightward, so that even Democratic presidencies (Clinton, Obama) operated within frameworks of deregulation, fiscal restraint, and market-oriented policyC.It was repudiated by voters by 1992 and had no lasting impact on American political cultureD.It produced uniform prosperity that eliminated class divisions and made economic inequality a non-issue in American politics

Question 54

A former mill worker in Lowell, Massachusetts, writing in 1840, described: 'We came thinking to improve ourselves through honest labor and saving. But we find ourselves working fourteen-hour days in noise and dust, sleeping six to a room, and dismissed the moment we speak of wages.' This account most directly reflects which consequence of the Market Revolution?

A.The success of Lowell's model in creating independent, upwardly mobile female workersB.The growing gap between the republican promise of independent labor and the industrial reality of wage dependency and exploitationC.The government's successful regulation of working conditions in the early factory systemD.The rapid enrichment of the working class through industrial wages compared to farm incomes

Question 55

Ronald Reagan's 1980 campaign slogan 'Are you better off than you were four years ago?' and his presidency represented a decisive shift away from which prior political consensus?

A.The Cold War containment strategy that had guided American foreign policy since TrumanB.The New Deal / Great Society consensus that government programs and regulation could solve social and economic problemsC.The Civil Rights movement's achievements in legal equality for African AmericansD.The bipartisan foreign policy consensus that had supported détente with the Soviet Union