Sophia Learning U.S. History II Final Practice Exam 40 Questions
with Answers and Rationales
Industrial America and the West
1. A steel firm buys mines, rail transport, and mills. Which strategy is it using?
A. Horizontal integration alone
B. Vertical integration
C. Monetary deflation
D. Collective bargaining
2. Why could falling crop prices be especially harmful to a farmer with a fixed-dollar
debt?
A. The creditor was required to forgive all interest
B. The debt automatically disappeared
C. Falling prices guaranteed higher farm income
D. More crops had to be sold to repay the same nominal debt
3. Which comparison best describes the Homestead Act and Dawes Act?
A. Both were designed exclusively to regulate rail fares
B. Both promoted individual landholding, but Dawes allotment specifically broke up
tribal lands
C. Both abolished settlement in the West
D. Both guaranteed permanent communal Native ownership
4. Which situation best illustrates a political machine's patronage system?
A. A teacher compares two historical diaries
B. An independent newspaper publishes census totals
C. A court reviews a federal statute
D. A party rewards loyal supporters with municipal jobs
5. Why did the end of Reconstruction not mean the achievement of racial equality?
U.S. History II | Final | Original practice 1
material
, A. Black Americans immediately gained equal access to all resources
B. The Constitution had never prohibited slavery
C. Every Southern state abolished elections permanently
D. Segregation,
disfranchisement, and violence limited rights despite constitutional
amendments
6. Which pair best illustrates federal regulation responding to corporate power in the
late 1800s?
A. The Marshall Plan and NATO
B. The GI Bill and Medicare
C. The Voting Rights Act and Great Society
D. The Interstate Commerce Act and Sherman Antitrust Act
U.S. History II | Final | Original practice 2
material
, 7. What common objective linked boarding-school policies and Dawes allotment?
A. Preventing any expansion of U.S. settlement
B. Preserving all tribal languages and communal landholding
C. Assimilating Native peoples into dominant U.S. cultural and property systems
D. Establishing Native control over every federal agency
8. Why is the phrase Gilded Age appropriate to an interpretation of the period?
A. The United States stopped urbanizing
B. The period had no industrial growth
C. All Americans shared wealth equally
D. Visibleprosperity coexisted with inequality, corruption, and harsh working
conditions
Reform and the world wars
9. Which pattern connects Progressive food-safety laws and New Deal banking
reforms?
A. Both ended all private ownership
B. Government intervention expanded in response to failures of private markets
C. Both prohibited federal oversight
D. Both were enacted during the Civil War
10. Why did the United States acquire Pacific territories after 1898?
A. The United States sought to end all foreign trade
B. Strategic and commercial interests encouraged overseas expansion
C. Congress had permanently banned naval bases
D. The Monroe Doctrine required annexing all of Asia
11. What distinction best separates an initiative from a recall?
A. An initiative declares war, while a recall signs treaties
B. Both are terms for Supreme Court appointments
C. A recall proposes laws, while an initiative removes officials
U.S. History II | Final | Original practice 3
material
with Answers and Rationales
Industrial America and the West
1. A steel firm buys mines, rail transport, and mills. Which strategy is it using?
A. Horizontal integration alone
B. Vertical integration
C. Monetary deflation
D. Collective bargaining
2. Why could falling crop prices be especially harmful to a farmer with a fixed-dollar
debt?
A. The creditor was required to forgive all interest
B. The debt automatically disappeared
C. Falling prices guaranteed higher farm income
D. More crops had to be sold to repay the same nominal debt
3. Which comparison best describes the Homestead Act and Dawes Act?
A. Both were designed exclusively to regulate rail fares
B. Both promoted individual landholding, but Dawes allotment specifically broke up
tribal lands
C. Both abolished settlement in the West
D. Both guaranteed permanent communal Native ownership
4. Which situation best illustrates a political machine's patronage system?
A. A teacher compares two historical diaries
B. An independent newspaper publishes census totals
C. A court reviews a federal statute
D. A party rewards loyal supporters with municipal jobs
5. Why did the end of Reconstruction not mean the achievement of racial equality?
U.S. History II | Final | Original practice 1
material
, A. Black Americans immediately gained equal access to all resources
B. The Constitution had never prohibited slavery
C. Every Southern state abolished elections permanently
D. Segregation,
disfranchisement, and violence limited rights despite constitutional
amendments
6. Which pair best illustrates federal regulation responding to corporate power in the
late 1800s?
A. The Marshall Plan and NATO
B. The GI Bill and Medicare
C. The Voting Rights Act and Great Society
D. The Interstate Commerce Act and Sherman Antitrust Act
U.S. History II | Final | Original practice 2
material
, 7. What common objective linked boarding-school policies and Dawes allotment?
A. Preventing any expansion of U.S. settlement
B. Preserving all tribal languages and communal landholding
C. Assimilating Native peoples into dominant U.S. cultural and property systems
D. Establishing Native control over every federal agency
8. Why is the phrase Gilded Age appropriate to an interpretation of the period?
A. The United States stopped urbanizing
B. The period had no industrial growth
C. All Americans shared wealth equally
D. Visibleprosperity coexisted with inequality, corruption, and harsh working
conditions
Reform and the world wars
9. Which pattern connects Progressive food-safety laws and New Deal banking
reforms?
A. Both ended all private ownership
B. Government intervention expanded in response to failures of private markets
C. Both prohibited federal oversight
D. Both were enacted during the Civil War
10. Why did the United States acquire Pacific territories after 1898?
A. The United States sought to end all foreign trade
B. Strategic and commercial interests encouraged overseas expansion
C. Congress had permanently banned naval bases
D. The Monroe Doctrine required annexing all of Asia
11. What distinction best separates an initiative from a recall?
A. An initiative declares war, while a recall signs treaties
B. Both are terms for Supreme Court appointments
C. A recall proposes laws, while an initiative removes officials
U.S. History II | Final | Original practice 3
material
