GED Social Studies Practice Test: U.S. History
- U.S. History: Independence to the Civil Rights Era
- 10 questions
- 12 minutes
These 10 questions follow American history in time order, from the founding era to the Cold War and the civil rights movement. On the GED, history questions usually ask about causes and effects, so connect each event with what led to it and what it changed.
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Question 1
In 1776, delegates in Philadelphia approved a document listing the colonists' complaints against King George III.
What was the main purpose of this document, the Declaration of Independence?
Correct answer: B
The Declaration explained the colonists' reasons for breaking away and declared the colonies independent. The three branches were set up later by the Constitution, written in 1787.
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Question 2
Under the Articles of Confederation, the national government could ask the states for money but could not make them pay.
What did this weakness most directly lead to?
Correct answer: C
Problems such as the inability to collect taxes convinced leaders to meet in 1787 and write a stronger Constitution. The Declaration of Independence came before the Articles, so it cannot be a result of them.
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Question 3
What was one major result of the Louisiana Purchase in 1803?
Correct answer: A
The United States bought the Louisiana Territory from France, which roughly doubled the nation's land area. California came later, after the Mexican-American War of 1846 to 1848.
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Question 4
The Emancipation Proclamation, issued by President Lincoln in 1863, declared freedom for enslaved people in which areas?
Correct answer: D
The Proclamation applied to Confederate areas still in rebellion; it did not cover border states that stayed loyal to the Union. Slavery ended everywhere in the country only with the Thirteenth Amendment in 1865.
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Question 5
After the Civil War, three amendments were added to the Constitution.
Which of these amendments abolished slavery throughout the United States?
Correct answer: A
The Thirteenth Amendment (1865) abolished slavery. The Fourteenth (1868) granted citizenship and equal protection, and the Fifteenth (1870) barred denying the vote because of race.
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Question 6
In the late 1800s, many factory workers worked long hours for low pay in unsafe conditions. Workers began to form labor unions.
What was the main goal of these unions?
Correct answer: B
Unions let workers bargain as a group, using tools such as strikes, to push for higher pay, shorter hours and safer workplaces. Lowering owners' costs was the employers' goal, not the unions'.
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Question 7
Programs such as Social Security, public works jobs and new banking rules were created in the 1930s under President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
These New Deal programs were mainly a response to
Correct answer: B
The New Deal aimed to provide relief, recovery and reform after the stock market crash of 1929 led to mass unemployment. World War I had ended in 1918, more than ten years earlier.
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Question 8
Which event led the United States to enter World War II in December 1941?
Correct answer: C
Japan attacked the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on December 7, 1941, and Congress declared war the next day. The sinking of the Lusitania happened in 1915, during World War I.
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Question 9
What did the Supreme Court decide in Brown v. Board of Education (1954)?
Correct answer: C
The Court ruled unanimously that separating public school students by race violated the Fourteenth Amendment's equal protection clause. "Separate but equal" was the rule from Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), which Brown rejected for public schools.
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Question 10
After World War II, the United States sent aid to Western Europe and formed military alliances such as NATO.
These actions were part of a Cold War policy that aimed to
Correct answer: A
The policy of containment tried to keep communism from spreading beyond the countries where it already existed. Sending aid abroad and joining alliances is the opposite of isolationism.
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