U.S. History Practice Test: The Constitution and the Early Republic
- Constitution and Early Republic
- 10 questions
- 12 minutes
These 10 questions cover how the young nation wrote its Constitution and set up its first government. Many answers turn on a compromise, so ask what each side wanted.
Tap an option to mark your answer. You can change your mind, or tap the same option again to leave the question blank. The correct answers and explanations appear when you finish the test.Tap an option to answer; tap it again to leave the question blank.
Your result
- 0 correct
- 0 wrong
- 0 blank
-
Question 1
What was a major weakness of the national government under the Articles of Confederation?
Correct answer: D
Under the Articles, Congress could only ask the states for money and had no way to force them to pay. There was no president or national court, and each state had one vote.
-
Question 2
Why did Shays' Rebellion (1786-1787) worry many American leaders?
Correct answer: B
Indebted Massachusetts farmers rose up against tax collection and courts, and Congress had no army to respond. The event pushed leaders to call the Constitutional Convention of 1787.
-
Question 3
How did the Great Compromise settle the question of representation in Congress?
Correct answer: C
Large states wanted representation by population and small states wanted equal votes, so the convention created two houses. The House follows population, while the Senate gives each state two members.
-
Question 4
Under the Three-Fifths Compromise, how were enslaved people counted?
Correct answer: A
Southern states wanted enslaved people counted to gain seats in the House, and Northern states objected. The compromise counted three-fifths of them, but it gave enslaved people no rights at all.
-
Question 5
Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay wrote the essays known as the Federalist Papers mainly to
Correct answer: D
The 85 essays appeared in New York newspapers in 1787 and 1788 to win support for ratification. Arguments for keeping the Articles came from the Anti-Federalist side.
-
Question 6
What did many Anti-Federalists demand before they would accept the Constitution?
Correct answer: C
Anti-Federalists feared a strong central government, so they insisted on written protections for liberty. The first ten amendments, the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791.
-
Question 7
Which precedent did George Washington set when he retired in 1797?
Correct answer: B
Washington chose not to run for a third term, and presidents followed his example until Franklin Roosevelt. The two-term limit became law with the 22nd Amendment in 1951.
-
Question 8
Disagreements between Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson in the 1790s led to
Correct answer: A
Hamilton's supporters became the Federalists, and Jefferson's became the Democratic-Republicans. They argued about issues such as Hamilton's plan for a national bank.
-
Question 9
What principle did the Supreme Court establish in Marbury v. Madison (1803)?
Correct answer: D
Chief Justice John Marshall ruled that part of a federal law conflicted with the Constitution and was therefore void, which established judicial review. "Separate but equal" came from Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896.
-
Question 10
During the War of 1812, Francis Scott Key wrote the poem that became the national anthem while watching the British attack on
Correct answer: B
Key saw the American flag still flying over Fort McHenry after a night of bombardment in September 1814. The British did burn the White House that year, but that was not the attack Key watched.
Questions you leave blank are not counted as wrong.
More History tests
HistoryU.S. History Practice Test: Westward ExpansionWestward Expansion10 questions12 min HistoryU.S. History Practice Test: Colonial AmericaColonial America10 questions12 minHistoryU.S. History Practice Test: The American RevolutionAmerican Revolution10 questions12 minHistoryU.S. History Practice Test: The Civil WarCivil War10 questions12 minHistoryU.S. History Practice Test: ReconstructionReconstruction10 questions12 minHistoryU.S. History Practice Test: Industrialization and ImmigrationIndustrialization and Immigration10 questions12 minHistoryU.S. History Practice Test: The Progressive EraProgressive Era10 questions12 min